2081/The War Against Magi

The War Against Magi
Date of Scene:	23 April 2015
Location:	The Holy Empire <RKS>
Synopsis:	The Holy Empire gets loud again, people do stuff about it.
Cast of Characters:	220, 518, 560, Lezard Valeth, 617, 626, 756, 758

---

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    The Fortress-City of Zuverburg is one of the largest cities within the Holy Empire; its golden, stone architecture would surely given it an incredible look in broad daylight, but it's fairly cloudy, rainy, and late in the day besides. Warp Gates are available every other major district, making transportation here quite a breeze. Normally, Empire forces would screen people coming through, but the attack has caused them to leave their posts, making it even easier than normal to just slip in.

    The Leuchtend Church is one of several buildings to tower over the whole city (another being a clock tower), a grand golden cathedral. Unfortunately, explosions are on the menu, so it doesn't look like quite the eyecatching tourist spot right now.

    About two dozen soldiers in SWAT gear are currently using the church itself as cover, taking shots at six people just blatantly standing in the middle of the street. One has a large sword and purple hair; another is a small black-haired girl in a white animal suit with a white squid on her head; the third has red hair and a large mechanical claw over her left arm. The other tree look less impressive-- three boys, which don't really look like much.

    Amidst the SWAT team of the Empire's troops, at least two men stand a bit taller and better equipped, likely the captain and another. Their rifles and armor have runes on them, namely.

    There are plenty of corpses everywhere-- civilians caught in the crossfire or in the explosions, members of the Empire's forces. To be honest, they don't look very skilled with that equipment in the first place. And considering the architecture, one can assume the SWAT loadouts are not native.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Absolutely lost and running through the streets of Zuverburg is an incredibly energetic looking guy that barely looks like he fits in. The leisure suit really stands out in a setting like this. Slung over one of his shoulders is a big backpack, the kind people who travel for days tend to carry. It slaps against his back as he runs.
    The corpses give him some pause, but also seem to play into his personal resolve to be here. Owing to this, along with his suicidal tendencies to be the hero, Shin runs DIRECTLY between the group of gathered Magi and the SWAT officers, bullets whizzing around and narrowly missing him at every turn. With a determined *WHUMPH* that is meant to convey dramatic tension he drops down the backpack and slowly takes off his sunglasses.
    "From the aether he appears, a hero in a foreign land," He folds the glasses and puts them in the breast pocket of the suit coat he's wearing, "No origin, no destination, and a heart full of glory. He is... SHIN TOKUYAMA. Wandering Sage of the Martial Arts!" He shouts this to no one specifically, trying to make himself heard over gunfire and battle.
    Oh right, and then he starts singing to himself softly in Japanese, "This burning, intense sensation is building up inside our chests. As we depart for our final destination!"

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    Also, because I know Chloe and Shirou are going to ask:

Grollschwert, the False Demon Sword
Type: Anti-Unit
A copy of Grollschwert, the Demon Sword, created by Iris Sepperin to outfit her Grolla dolls. This three quarters of a foot wide, four foot long sword is best handled with two hands. As its wielder's health decreases, its sharpness increases. Calling out its name allows firing a sharp purple shockwave out; if the user's health is below half, the number of shockwaves increases to three, and if the wielder is near death, it becomes an Omnislash-style attack. Due to being a copy of the original sword it isn't of high quality.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    Whud. WHUD. /WHUD/!

    It sounds like someone smashing a pair of colossal fists against a door in a steady attempt to batter it down. Except that it's rather abnormal for that sound to come from the /fabric of reality itself/. But despite all reason or logic, it does so, and a series of glowing spider-web cracks weave their way out from the source of the sound not far from Krezentia herself, until with a pause and one last mighty /SLAM/, reality itself shatters open to create a jagged portal, and reveals the massive clenched fist of the Confederacy's own Soviet Muscle Wizard.

    "KNOCK KNOCK, LITTLE EMPIRE, IS COMMUNISM CALLING!"

    Shouldering his way through his own portal, the bare-chested eight-foot supersoldier slings a huge burlap sack off his shoulder and plops it right down, opening the sack to pull out a small, standard-issue Confederate radio transciever. "Comrade Einjager, I am having present!" Setting that aside, he then begins to pull out other items from the bag... namely, the parts of his Hammer and Sickle armor, which he begins donning with smooth and practiced movement.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    When Shirou arrives it's in a clumsy dash through a warp gate that sees him tripping on a badly-placed curb. He hits the ground hard, makes some angry noises into the paving stones, and rises to his feet just in time for...

    The sound of weapons firing and the stench of death to overwhelm him. Amber eyes fall on the sight of fallen civilians and bile rises up in his throat.

    Once again, too late to save everyone.

    Then he spots the source of the conflict. "...! STOP-- STOP IT!"

    Like the dolt he often is, Shirou wastes no time charging straight into the tussle. He ends up in the street standing perpendicular to the conflict. "What's the reason for this?!"

    He's not armed, but obviously not defenseless... although he doesn't look like much in his casual street clothing (with some light armor worn underneath...)

    "Trace on." The boy mutters. His Magic Circuits come alive and start circulating prana. Familiar blade designs come to mind, and he readies for a fight that he -really- doesn't want to engage in.

    Talking is SO much better.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    A quick check before leaving revealed that there WERE Union allies in the world the emergency broadcast had come from. That mattered a little less than the request for 'heavy firepower' which Kyra can certainly provide and would gladly provide. Oddly enough, she seems already prepared for a mission needing explosive ordinance today so her time spent getting ready actually isn't all that much.

    The white mage comes tearing through one of the unguarded warp gates on her Chocobo summon matrix consisting of a yellow-feathered variety of the bird with standard riding tack. She handles the conjured animal with ease, like a child would when riding a bike. Strapped to her back is the large grenade-launcher lookalike the CURE-ALL. One hand remains clutching the reins of the chocobo while the other holds onto the barrel of a hunting rifle (that is also secured to her via a strap around the shoulder). She approaches the center of the explosions with swiftness only to slow as, the closer she gets, the more bodies she sees. Even worse, she can tell right away that the majority of corpses are civillians, completely lacking in any sort of defensive equipment or armor. A look of disgust overcomes her-while not the first massacre she's seen (New Vegas has that dubious honor), seeing clusters of human corpses was not something she had been completely desensitized to. Grumbling, she closes in on the spot where the six magi are waiting and glowers.

    "Get out." she doesn't bother with asking for reasons like Emiya does.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
    For all of Shirou's clumsiness, Chloe von Einzbern's entry is less hectic, less clumsy, and involves less dashing and transition of movement.
    As per usual, the dusky skinned silver-pink haired girl in her school uniform just APPEARS. Almost from out of thin air, hands on her hips, and looking a bit put out.
    "Geeze big brother, you sure were off in a hurry. I wasn't done mopping the floor with you yet, you know."
    Two Game Boys sit alone and unloved back at Dun Realtai, waiting to continue the paused match in Super Emperor of Battles: Innocent Clockwork Royal Battle Alpha Deluxe Edition.
    Still, it looks like duty calls, and the game is going to have to wait, as the small girl sighs dramatically. It takes her a second or two to soak in the surroundings. "Oh, so you're running headfirst into another fight again." She doesn't sound surprised AT ALL.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard has Opinions about these kinds of situations.

They mostly boil down to 'Churches Suck, Up With The Mages'. Atop a nearby building, a magical circle draws itself.

"This seems almost unfair, does it not?" The question is asked from a form fading into sight, a nerdy-looking mage who happens to be a spitting image of 'shady-ass mage' appears, adjusting his glasses ominously.

He doesn't even bother waiting or asking what the hell is going on. He withdraws a ruby-tipped sceptre from his cloak, and levels it at the SWAT team. "Lightning Bolt!" There is a thunderous crack as a blast of lightning washes out towards the SWAT team.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    People need help! People in the mountains! The mountains are filled with lots of neat places. Worlds that intersect, that melange together. The frosty peaks of a nearby mountainous retreat, a TOTALLY NORMAL mansion tucked away in the snowy expanse and blankets of white, is...

    TOTALLY NOT the home of a certain simple-dressed 'hero'. Thankfully there are convenient low rooftops for the washed out pale purple dress'ed, butterfly motif mask, and barefoot girl to perch on, observing the soldiers fighting... some sort of force? It's hard to figure out. Who's right? Who's wrong?

    Pale Princess Butterfly, Ruri to the rescue! Sort of.

    She splits into hundreds of pale butterflies that swarm around into the space between the SWAT guys and the Magi/Irisbots/Team Three Girls That Matter and Three Boys That Don't.

    Ruri, as she reforms, is then immediately laid out by the tail end of a lightning bolt, falling on the ground and spasming lightly.

    "O-ow... s-so uncool..."

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    Shin's entrance does not go unnoticed; after all, he puts himself right between the two warring groups. Eventually, especially as he is joined by others, the fighting stops; rifles become silent, and the Magi just kind of stare.

    One of the Empire's men steps forward, one of the taller two. "Captain Evert Miliz. We're just defending our city from these magic-using heretics. We could really--" Use your help? Well, he doesn't get to finish.

    Crush comes in, right in front of the church. And Lezard fires a lightning bolt towards the military men, catching several of them, captain included. The lesser soldier are dead on the spot, but the captain still seems to be breathing-- though he's grounded pretty badly. This is thanks to Yuuki intercepting a chunk of that attack, almost assuredly.

    From behind Lezard, a blonde teenage-looking girl with red eyes, purple stripes under them and a video camera steps out of a purple wormhole, grinning. "I know, right? That was the point. I'm bored so I'm taking up film-making," Krezentia says. Floating next to her is a foot-tall purple fairy, struggling to hold up a large pole with a microphone at the end. "Screw you, funya~! This thing's heavy!"

    To Crush, she waves from atop the roof. "Yo, big guy! Toss it!"

    While this goes on, the Magi actually make a move. The Grolla doll hurls herself at Shirou and Chloe, the large sword in her hand trailing purple light behind it as it's swung. The Zorne doll actually leaps straight for Shin, trying to drive her claw-hand into him. The Schwer doll stays back, fidgetty and shy. The three male Magi just dash for the Empire's men, likely engaging them in EPIC BACKGROUND NPC COMBAT unless stopped.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    Strapping on the last of his armor's pieces, with a ratcheting sound to lock it in place, Crush thumps a fist against his chest. "THERE! Is good and comfy." At Krezentia's request, the tower of Russian power picks up the radio and gives it a lazy lob towards the blonde magebot. Having done so, he turns around to regard the three- I mean six Dolls and the Union forces engaging them. "Hrrrm! Is amusing little show! I wonder, who is daring to face the mighty combat prowess of... COMRADE CRUSH?!"

    You can feel free to imagine dramatic theme music. Crush probably is.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin breaks his badass stance, "MAN WHY?!" He shouts to Yuuki in an exasperated tone, "WHY HERE?" He sounds annoyed at her more than worried about her zapped condition, "I was here first! The backpack was down! I was making a speech! Theme music was going. DIBS WAS IN EFFECT! You should have chosen a roof top, or the sidelines, or anywhere but here. This was totally my spot!" Shin says, scolding Yuuki for appearing in the space between the SWAT and the Mages.
    He doesn't have much more time to react, though, since Zorne is coming right at him. In a reflexive instant, the playfulness vanishes from his demeanor when her claw thrusts at him. Despite not having been looking at her at the time, he can feel the attack coming. He turns away from Yuuki and steps in towards Zorne when the claw comes forward. One foot plants forward and he spins in place carefully.
    The razor-sharp claw digs along him, ripping through part of his shirt and a suit jacket, getting just a bit of skin for the effort. But Shin's counterattack is immediate, and he shouts, "Geiha Genkou-ryu! Tetsuzanko!"
    He uses the momentum from his spin to dash-step forward into Zorne, trying to slam his shoulder and full body-weight into a ki-reinforced shoulder-check meant to push her back and away from him.
    After the attack, Shin's body returns to a more normal stance, "Show me, then. Tell me why you fight?" She's a cute girl, after all. Narrative states she fights for a tragic reason.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Gah!" Grolla is fast! Almost too fast. Shirou barely gets his guard up in time - but guard he does. His favored yin-yang swords meet the blade in a scissor guard. Sparks fly and Shirou's sent tumbling back over the ground but he somehow manages to maintain his balance enough to roll and land on his feet, guard still up.

    "This is a disaster!" Is his reply to Chloe, as if that should explain everything. Shirou saves people who need help.

    And now Lezard has just lost major points.

    "This is some kind of conflict between the Church and magi, I get that... but what's with all the other people getting caught up in this?!" It's infuriating, disheartening, and stokes his heroic drive like nothing else.

    With teeth grit, the youth rejoins the fight with a straight-out CHARGE. He goes on the offense upon reaching close range with Grolla - a straight out combo of slashes, elbow strikes and even a kick or two when there's a moment to get those out!

    But none of his slashes are aimed for vitals and he's using the flats way too much...

    A glance is cast at Lezard. "What are you doing?! That's just slaughter!!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "/LEZARD/! You are ruining EVERYTHING!" Kyra whirls, yelling at the wizard as he casually blows away the soldiers and the captain. She can easily tell right away that the soldiers are dead...but the captain she might be able to save. In a flash of green light, her Chocobo disappears, leaving her standing on the ground. Without hesitation, she swings the huge grenade-launcher lookalike from behind her and fires off a shot at the Captain. A sphere of white light arcs over and 'explodes' on top of him, releasing healing energy.

    Looking beyond Lezard, she spots Krezentia and her fairy with a...camera? "Oh, good idea." she murmurs, pulling something from around her neck onto her forehead. The very center bears a circular apature with a faintly glowing red rim. "HEY LEZARD!" Kyra calls out, grabbing one of her aforementioned explosives-this being a flask of some kind-off her belt. "HOW ABOUT YOU SHOW THE PEOPLE OF GALIANDA WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED!" The Bomb core-based mixture is hurled at the wizard.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
    Using magic is heresy? It's easy to see the obvious roll of golden eyes as Chloe heaves quite the heavy sigh. The girl is already tapping her foot insistently, but then there's something of a problem.
    Grolla is coming right for her and Shirou. Not even a whole lot of provocation there aside from maybe Shirou being his typical heroic self. She takes a simple hop aside and actually lets Shirou soak the swordswoman's instant assault, hands folded behind her back for a moment of thought. As if observing her brother, subtly scrutinizing his every move before she stretches arms over head.
    "Trace On." It's a simple whisper- the same two words out of Shirou's mouth, in fact, resonating with a palpable power. "Alright alright, I'm in." she decides as grid-lines form from her fingers, taking on the shape of two surved and short blades before snapping Kanshou and Bakuya into existence, a fluttering flare of red cloth suddenly replacing her school uniform instantly with segmented black armor and tatter cloaks. "Heh, this'll probably be more fun than pummelling Shirou around, anyway." She decides.
    The game boys back home go further unloved as she leaps forth, the twin swords flashing in a pair of lightning strokes to test Grolla's defenses.
    Unlike Shirou she ISN'T pulling her punches with the flat of the blades.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    "Now now, little man," comes a voice from behind Shirou - behind and above, as if someone huge were looming just overhead. "Little girls have already settled into fight on their own. Is extremely ungentlemanly..."

    If Shirou has any kind of instinct for battle, it's screaming 'DODGE RIGHT THE HELL NOW'. A tremendous, red-clad fist goes right through the space where he would have been, with enough force to utterly shatter the ground where it lands. And Comrade Crush has a grin on his face as absolutely brutal as the blow he's opted to open the fight with.

    "...TO INTERRUPT!! WAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lezard Valeth has posed:
"Tsk. Heretics... Gods oppress those beneath them as they will, I see. It is something that never changes..."

When addressed by the girl, Lezard tips his head towards her, nodding in greetings. "Hello there, miss. Is there anything you would like to see in particular?" He asks. Clearly, he's willing to vogue for the camera if desired, while electrocuting the mysterious girl a bit.

He shrugs. "Hah! Do not stand between a Sorceror and their target, little girl!" He calls out. Shirou and Kyra call up to him, and he shakes his head, adjusting his glasses again. "You call it slaughter, I call it /resistance/. They would kill the magi, would they not, were they given the chance?"

Kyra, however, has a much more direct objection in the form of EXPLOSIONS.

That's a pretty good objection. Lezard is thrown from the top of the building, hurled down to land roughly as the bomb explodes, and he looks up, glaring to Kyra in anger. "I'm not sure how you could see yourself defending them, child. They would control you just as surely." He straightens himself. "But do not underestimate my magical might, child." He points with the sceptre towards Kyra. "DARK SAVIOR!" Three black blades manifest over Kyra before they spear down, slashing in towards the White Mage/Chemist.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki - well, 'Ruri' - slowly gets up, her dress quite scorched by Lezard's lightning bolt, dusting herself off. And is UP IN THE GRILL'ed by Shin Tokuyama. Utterly taken aback, as the electrical burns on her skin disappear (or were they ever there?????) as the smoke cloud rising from her dissipates. "Erm... I'm very sorry!" She offers, bowing deeply to Shin. "But... I was on that roof, over there. But those men needed to be protected! Were /you/ going to try to stop the lightning bolt? I mean..." Ruri pauses, before looking out at the Irisbots, the Magi, Crush, and Lezard. And, well, the heroes there to stop them. She takes a pointed step back, so that Shin is before her on the stairs, and gestures out. "As my apology, please, take your pick. I just wanted to try and make people not get hurt. Please, be my guest."

    She's really confused and POLITENESS LESSSONS took over.

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    The Zorne Doll remains quiet-- in that respect it isn't like the original, who'd probably scream and shout at Shin the entire way through this scuffle. Struck by the martial artist's shoulder, she's pushed back several feet, grunting at the pain. A few mechanical clicks, subtle but present, would indicate this is probably not a human opponent.

    "Because I was made for this."

    Magic builds up in her claw hand and she slams it into the ground! Underneath Shin, flames erupt in a pillar, bursting through the stone as though a bomb had been planted there.

    Shirou engages the Grolla Doll; she's skilled, although just a copy. Not that Iris' copies are especially bad. If he doesn't get serious, he's either BARELY outmatched, or roughly equal to the doll; her larger sword slams repeatedly against Shirou's own. A few hits she can't parry, and Shirou's blade smacks into her, but doesn't cut due to his refusal to.

    Chloe, on the other hand, is much more dedicated to putting that doll in her place, and she finds a hole in the doll's defenses, cutting through her armor. There's no blood; only sparks, wires and circuitry underneath, and red-colored oil, but it's definitely not blood.

    The Grolla Doll frowns, her blade shining purple as she starts attempting to pummel both sword-users in a rain of sharp shockwaves and slashes.

    Schwer finally moves-- she jumps onto Comrade Crush.

    "Ei! Geisterwand!"

    Four large silver maces start spinning around her and the massive supersoldier. It's a shield! Barrier. Whatever. It's a barrier made of large silver maces. They kinda look like shields, too.

    The squid on the little Magi's head spits a blob of ink towards Yuuki, too. Her eyes, specifically, but there's enough to cover her upper body easily.

    Krezentia grins at Lezard. "Let's go with chaos! And, action!"

    She hops the fuck off the rooftop when Kyra hurls a bomb, to find another perch to film from. Kopie follows along with the pole+microphone, whining every inch of the way.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou turns slightly, glancing up oand over a shoulder just in time to - "NO WAY?!" HOW DOES ANYONE GET THAT HUGE?!

    Or that strong!?

    Panicked, he follows that instinct and dives into a forward roll. Chunks of paving stones sent flying by the blow pelt his arms and legs and one catches him in the side - but it's just bruises and a simple cut. Nothing at all like getting pancaked would be.

    He flips to his feet. Kanshou and Bakuya are cracked from the exchange with Grolla Doll.

    "That's what you call it. Chloe's my little sister! What kind of brother... lets his sister get hurt!?" FWOOOOSH!

    Shirou hurls both the blades straight at Comrade Crush! And while he's got that time... the boy chants, "My body is made of swords, a shell of steel with fire for blood."

    A fresh copy of the married swords materialize in his hands from mystic light!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Resistance? Well what about THEM?!" Kyra points back behind her, gesturing at the dead bodies she had ridden past in order to get to the nucleus of the magi attack. "Would /they/ kill magi too? Would they?" She's actually half asking this question seriously because she doesn't yet know this world well enough. Were all magic users here really evil? That'd be kind of depressing.

    "Hey, I didn't come here to /defend/ them, I came here to stop people from being butchered! They don't control me at all!" Her words are spoken with passion-she has no doubt in her mind that the Church from this world holds zero sway over her. "Oh no, I think I know what I'm in for with you! I didn't forget what you did to Inga!"

    She pauses, looking upwards, then throwing a hand over her eyes as the blades come down, slicing her in three different directions. She's unable to prevent a squeal of pain from escaping her along with the small splotches of blood bead from her wounds. Not yet, at least, since being of white mage make would mean inevitable healing.

    But for now, she opts for something else: a shot from that hunting rifle. It contains darts though specifically this dart is filled with some kind of fast-acting flu variant. She'd been working with a lot of flu viruses lately and in this particular situation, she was honestly quite curious if Lezard was immune to diseases.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    To his surprise, Crush finds himself with a passenger. "Oh! Well, hello, little robot girl!" he greets, quite cheerfully despite being in the middle of a battle. "You are having interesting trick there! I-"

    Kanshou shatters against one of the whirling maces circling the colossal commie, but Bakuya actually manages to hit his bicep straight-on... and also shatter. But at the very least, it opens up a nice gash there! It's bleeding a fair amount, in fact.

    "-ow!" Crush turns right back towards Shirou, and favors him with an exceptionally irritated glare. "Sister, is it? Well, if you are truly wanting to protect her, at her age, then is best to let her pick her own battles! Teach her to be strong, let her handle fights she is choosing herself unless she is clearly in over head." Fist slams into palm (producing a sound like a firecracker), and knuckles are popped. "Besides. Big brother is busy... BEING BADLY BRUISED, WAHAHAHAHA!"

    For a second time, Crush brings that massive arm of his up and over, slamming it down into the street at just such an angle that it creates a fast-moving shockwave. Like an underground projectile, it rips along the street, shattering stone and releasing plumes of dirt as it goes; it's a straight-line attack, but both fast and powerful.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Oi oi oi. Captain guy," Shin says, inspecting his suit, "These aren't real girls. It's all a frame-up of some kind." He has no idea if the Captain is still conscious or not, but he just says it anyway. That's about all he can get out before a counter-attack comes out. Priorities coming first, Shin grabs his bag off the ground and backflips away, saying to Yuuki, "I'll take the girl with the claw. At least you respect the rules, though. I like that." He gives her a thumbs up AS he backflips and then lands on his feet, skidding a bit.
    "Come on! Watch the backpack, girl. It's all I've got." Shin notes before once again tossing it to the side, careful to keep track of where he put it for now. And then he realizes his suit coat is on fire, "AH!" He notes, ripping it off and tossing it to the ground. That was gonna be so expensive to replace later. He scowls a bit more.
    "If you're just a mindless being meant to frame someone else, I feel sorry for you. I would have liked to meet the original," He says carefully, slowly curling his hands into a fist to crack his knuckles, then rolling his neck and changing into an official martial arts stance. One hand comes forward away from his body, kept flat like a blade. The other is kept in a fist at his side. One foot comes forward and the other braces on the ground.
    "Hadoryuken!" Shin shouts, the curled hand surging forward. As he does so, there's an almost roar-like noise as an invisible ripple in the air flies out towards the Zorne Doll. If it strikes, it explodes in a massive blast of fire.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
    Well. That's isn't blood.
    It's red, but it's not blood. Chloe can tell that much as she abuses the gap in the doll's defense and is rewarded for it.
    "Huh." With a yank, she pulls a chipped Kanshou from the doll's body, before 'Grolla' seems to get mad. Metal clashes on metal as the fake Grollschwert rings against Kanshou and Bakuya, the married swords chipping and degrading with every blow that hammers at her defenses. It's actually enough to make her grunt as she holds her ground, swords breaking and replaced in a flare of red leg, she goes through this flurried defense repeatedly, discarding several shattered blades and tracing new ones under the lightning assault as her amror is battered in places, cuts forming on dark skin.
    "Don't worry about me, Shirou, I think I'll be fine playing with a toy." She does note when he gets sidetracked by Crush swinging in and sidetracking him mightily. She has, indeed, picked her own battle as she suddenly snaps up, a different form tracing in her grasp as Grollschwert suddenly matches Grollschwert in a riotous clash, perfectly matching the doll's stance and style- and predictably- better knowing how to parry and counter against it in the sudden swap-surprise.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Mont-....AUBAN!" Shirou, standing in a deep stance exclaims. At the same time he extends the hand holding Kanshou and spreads his fingers out without letting go! There's another sizzle-flare of prana and--

    CRAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHHH!

    The Crush Smash slams straight into a filmy, glowing white wall that wasn't there a second ago. With a marble-like texture and battlements everything, a CASTLE WALL seems to have simply shot up through the ground in the nick of time but--

    But it diverts only about half the force out and around Shirou. The White Marble Castle Shirou projected was shoddily constructed in his haste, and crumbles quickly into prana.

    The boy's sent tumbling backwards in a heap of dirt, stone, and sheer kinetic force. he tumbles and bounces but catches himself using Kanshou and Bakuya to slow the skid and return to a standing position... now dirtied, a bit bloodied. His clothes are torn but gimpses of something white can be made out through the damage... not skin. Maybe armor.

    He catches Chloe's comment and... ends up grinning. "Heh... alright, then let big brother handle the real deal!" It's bravado he doesn't quite feel!

    One glance at Crush's muscles explains why he's keeping his distance, too. "Huap!"

    The fresh set of the married swords are thrown in a repeat of the earlier assault, but that's where the similarities end. Magic again flickers in Shirou's palm...

    "I have created over a thousand blades,

    Never retreating, never knowing victory."

    The black longsword of Japanese lore, KUSANAGI, forms from nothingness in his grasp. Instantly a fierce wind kicks up around the legendary sword... and with one swing Shirou sends a fierce gale at Crush. The tailwind speeds up Kanshou and Bakuya tremendously!

    THAAAAAT will hurt if it hits. a lot.

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    Shin will find the captain is unconscious, but the other soldiers catch what he said between fending off the three namely Magi. Those are bleeding, they're actual people, not dolls.

    He strikes at the Zorne Doll with his exploding rocket fist; she shields herself with the large claw, though the explosion still makes her lose ground, and damages the metal quite badly. She's not a bad copy per se, but she's not quite on Shin's tier either. In an extended fight she would be worn down and lose, probably after that arm gets destroyed.

    "Don't take me lightly, punk. Zornesbombe!"

    She leaps up into the air, swinging the metal claw through it. Three large black bombs are hurled towards Shin, out of thin air, one directly at him, one in front, and one to the side. Once they detonate, they go off in Bomberman-style cross patterns, triggering each other.

    Chloe whips out her own Grollschwert, engaging in a mirror match with the Grolla Doll, but wielding overall superior strength and speed. It isn't long before the purple-haired robot is badly injured, several cuts across her body-- though for every cut, her sword glows a bit brighter and seems sharper, so it's a double-edged sword.

    "A copy of a copy. Grollschwert!"

    Grolla disappears, reappearing up above Chloe. The sword takes on a red and purple hue as she descends with a torrent of slashes and light rays.

    Meanwhile, Schwer remains on Crush.

    Her Geisterwand is able to endure a few hits from Shirou before the maces disappear. Zeppy (the squid on her head) swells up and fires another volley of blinding ink, this time at Shirou! Schwer herself refreshes the barrier around Crush.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    This time, Crush is ready, and both his arms come up across his body... but the gust of wind is completely unexpected, and there's only so much Schwer's barrier can protect him from. The twin blades each go right across his arms, from elbow to shoulder along the outside of his biceps - another pair of great big cuts opened and bleeding, but once again Crush seems more irritated than in pain. Or perhaps even a bit fired up now. "Hohoho! Is /very/ interesting trick you are having, little man! Conjuring swords, unleashing blast of wind... from that shape I am guessing, maybe legendary Japanese imperial treasure? What was name, ah... Kusanagi, da?" He stands up straight, and... applauds? Yes, applauds. "Splendid, splendid! Is long time since I am facing such unique tricks!"

    Starting to walk forward, the big guy rolls one shoulder. "You know, I am something of wizard, myself!" This eight-foot mountain of muscle wrapped in Soviet armor, a... wizard? "Perhaps if you are earning it, I will show you! But for this moment..." Without warning, he goes from a casual saunter to a dead run, chewing up the ground beneath him with each superhumanly powerful stride. It's like a freight train surrounded by flying maces suddenly deciding to sprint, and the rails are pointed right at Shirou.

    "I'M COMING FOR YOUUUU! WAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki leaves SHIN TOKUYAMA to karate hobo at things, before surveying the field. This is a good thing! The HEROES are dispatching with the VILLAINS - or so it seems - and the civilians aren't lookint too bad. She is about to go turn around to help the Captain and the other SWAT men when her head (and most of her chest) is covered in sticky goo. Full, dead on, she's just sludged.

    Unlike most of Yuuki's problems which are solved by 'be an insanely poweful va-TOTALLY NORMAL GIRL' and TOTALLY NORMAL GIRL healing powers. And, you know, super strength and agility. But NOTHING PREPARED HER FOR IIIIIINK!

    She flails around, tumbling down the stairs and smearing Schwersquid ink all over as she takes a dive down the stairs.

    She even bumbles right into Shin, smacking into him, falling down, cracking her head on the ground with a sickening snap, and appearing to start bleeding out onto the pavement.

    Ruri is a hero, we sweeeear.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard is expecting another explosion. He raises a magical barrier when Kyra fires the rifle, and the syringe passes through it, hitting Lezard. He hisses, knocking the dart away, but the damage is done. He stares down at his hand, blinking for a moment...

And then he turns an unpleasant shade of greend. "Hurk..." He utters unpleasantly. "What... did you do to me!?" He hisses, and he thrusts the sceptre out once more. "FIRE STORM!" He yells, an eruption of flame blasting from the ground. It is quick, painful, explosive... And poorly aimed. He's in no position to deal with Shirounanigans at the moment, either.

This might be a regrettable thing.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Surprise physical attack! From her position, Kyra watches Lezard's reaction carefully. His careful observation...leading to his sick-looking coloration. It's unlike any flu he's experienced, no doubt, the symptoms coming on fast and furious. Oddly enough it doesn't seem to kill him, just debilitate him quite a bit. He may even feel the urge to vomit! But mercifully, the agent is only temporary, lasting a good ten minutes at most.

    Unfortunately for Kyra, it doesn't stop his casting. Not only that, it seems like it made him even madder. An explosion, even poorly aimed, is still an explosion and it's enough that Kyra is knocked far off her feet, onto the ground. She doesn't get up immediately, using her magic for the first time as she lies there, healing herself and closing the cut wounds from the earlier dark blades.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Yuuki, with a faceful of ink, stumbles RIGHT into Shin Tokuyama. The impact creates a big black smudge all over his pristene white (and slightly stained red) dress shirt. He lets out an, "AW MAN. THIS WILL NEVER COME O-OH WAIT DON'T DI-!" And then she's off down the stairs and cracking her noggin open.
    Shin sighs a bit, "The duties of the wandering martial artist are many. Worry not, fair masked maiden!" He declares, momentarily forgetting the Zorne doll to chase after Yuuki. This is obviously what one would call a 'minor tactical oversight', or which would more commonly be known as 'awful battle strategy'. Great martial artist, but not that great at sticking to plans.
    And so, as Zorne's bombs explode all around him, Shin grab's the fallen Ruri (Yuuki) by the ankle and starts dragging her (facefirst along the ground) around the city, leaving a very easily followed trail. He figures she's dead (but revivable), so this shouldn't be too big a deal anyway.
    He's Kyra that he stops in front of, still dragging the Corpse-pire by the ankle as he says, "Hey! She got hurt! Can you fix her while you're healing yourself?" He asks curiously. He doesn't QUITE notice Lezard, so might be wide open to an attack there. Zorne can also probably get in some attacks here. He's really one-track minded at the moment.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
    And just like that, Grolla has a horrendous instant of putting Chloe in a very bad position.
    So why is she grining?
    The ocpy Grollschwert comes up, but from the punishment its taken already it shatters, and the blow cleaves clean through the fake blade and into Chloe herself.
    It's a vicious wound, blood splatters in a terrible arc as the sword bites deep into an unarmored segment of the girl's middle, and she crumples to the ground. She remains downed for a moment before her fingers curl, the shape of a new Grollschwert tracing in her grasp as she rises, grinning through bloodied teeth as her body suffuses with a re-purple aura.
    Funny... The blade looks sharper. A much keener killing edge as the handle saturates with the blood of its wielder dripping down her arms. "It may be a copy... But I know how to use it just fine."
    She let herself eat that blow. and despite her injury, she speed suddenly skyrockets, that heavy blade suddenly lashing in an almost machinegun flurry of blows.
    It's not gonna last, it'll probably shatter by the time she's done, but the sheer veciousness of the blade is a testament to the style that came with it.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Ink in the face is NOT COOL! But it catches Shirou at the worst possible moment: Crush rushing straight for him! The startled boy at first wipes his face but this loses him precious time.

    Can't dodge, he'll just get mowed through. Can't tank that head on. No time to project something complex, no time to AIM!

    The purest panic fills him until he's seeing red, consciousness nothing more than a rapid heartbeat. All his magic circuits fire at once. Skipping all safety checks, power flows through his bones, muscles, and tendons artlessly. Power surges through his flesh - which is good.

    He needs it for what's to come.

    "NINE--"

    Power surges out through his palms, becoming a HUGE hunk of rock that's been crudely carved into a shape kind of like an axe... or maybe a sword. SOMEHOW Shirou's managing to hold the thing. "-LIVES!!"

    Instead of dodging, instead of trying to deflect... Shirou PARRIES!

    The rock sword moves quick as lightning, faster than the eye can see! Fast enough to kick up a gale! Fast enough to surround Comrade Crush in a storm of strikes!

    The instant train of destruction meets Berserker's Axe-sword there's an EXPLOSION of wind. Rock and dirt from the ground around the two flies EVERYWHERE, as do chunks of the Rock-Sword!

    Shirou goes flying too! Straight into the wall of the church with a sickening CRUNCH-THUD. He hits the pavement groaning, one arm horribly messed up and bleeding.

    But he doesn't stay down. Still full of spirit despite the pain, the redhead rises to his feet by leaning against the wall. he's gasping for breath... but the only question is... what shape is Comrade Crush in after the onslaught?

    For now, SHirou wipes at his eyes to get the ink out and finally gets a bleary picture of... Shin running through the streets carrying Yuuki!?!

    "What happened to her...?" Grunt.

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    With Shin paying attention to Yuuki, Zorne does indeed have quite an opening! She seems extremely unhappy at being ignored, too. She produces another one of those bombs in her claw-hand, although this time it visibly gets charged with magic until it turns red and starts flashing.

    That sure is a video game cue.

    "DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!"

    The supercharged bomb is hurled at Shin! ... and Yuuki, and Kyra. It'll explode in a cross-pattern, just larger than the previous ones. Lots of fire.

    The Grolla Doll is surprised, unfortunately so, by Chloe's sudden mirroring of the technique. The little girl cleaves straight through the doll, and before long there's just a pile of scrap left, and the actual copy of the sword. Damaged from the fight, but not destroyed!

    The Schwer Doll eeps as Shirou comes charging in with that massive sword. She attempts to strengthen the Geisterwand barrier, but it won't be enough. It'll be up to Crush to handle it! Zeppy shuffles one of its tentacles into Schwer's hat, producing a blue tank with a cross on it. It lobs it towards Shirou! For what little good it'll do.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    At the last second, Crush's eyes go wide. That is a stone 'sword' that is as big as Shirou is - hell, it's the kind of weapon /he/ might use. And with his full speed applied to the charge, there's no way in hell he's slowing down. Years and years of combat experience come to the fore, intuition roaring, reflexes kicking in to protect him from what proves to be an impossible barrage that defies common sense.

    The only thing that Crush says is, "Oh, borscht."

    The sheer ridiculous amount of force involved in Comrade Crush slamming into a barrage with the strength of Hercules causes a plume of dust and craters the ground beneath the points of impact. The massive Marxist brings arms up to shield himself, but there's not that much he can do in this particular situation. Especially when he's holding his arms in a way that's seriously suboptimal for protecting himself.

    When the dust clears, Crush is battered, bruised and bloodied in several places. The Hammer and Sickle armor is dented in some spots, rent open entirely in others. In particular, the big guy's left arm is pretty badly wrecked. Covered in deep gashes and severe bruises, it looks like it only barely won a fight with a meat grinder. That would be, of course, because he used it to shield the little Schwerbot on his shoulder. It takes only a glance at her for Crush to be satisfied entirely with this outcome, however.

    "...Impressive, little man! Very impressive indeed. This magic of yours is truly capable of producing amusing weapons. VERY WELL!" He reaches up with his right hand, and thumps the big Soviet emblem on his chest, which proves to be a button. "I am honoring this display of strength, by showing mine!"

    POPPOPPOP. Catches all over Crush's armor pop and disengage with bursts of compressed air, blowing the half-wrecked armor away from his body - whereupon it immediately teleports away. Barechested once again, the boisterous Bolshevik swings both his arms around, ignoring the pain from his left to bring both limbs up and around into a picture-perfect flex that seems to make the air /thrum/ with magical energy. And from there he swings into an exaggerated, showy punch... that unleashes a crackling blast of lightning from his right fist towards Shirou. "BUT BE PREPARED! IS QUITE SHOCKING, DA?! WAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
    With the Grolla doll cut down, a very bloody Chloe just... Stabs her sword into the ground, looks for the nearest bench that isn't destroyed and plops down on it.
    Another red-outline appears in her hand before she traces a tiny stick and little blue flag with 'Go Shirou' on it.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki is not actually dead, or even unconscious. Terribly dazed, covered in ink, and losing blood from the crack in her skull, her day could be better though. She is just about to pull herself up off the ground weakly when one of her ankles is grabbed by a one Shin Tokuyama.

    And drags her away.

    Her face and front is ground into the ground, and she's about to protest, or, really, do anything. She may be downright unkillable but she still feels pain. And she's about to give Shin Bytheankleyama a piece of her mind when a giant CROSS BOMBER goes off. And, seeing as Shin is dragging her and its thrown at his retreating back... She gets BLOWN THE HELL UP TOO.

    A smoking, blackened husk of a girl in a burned once-pale purple dress and a butterfly motif mask (which has actually held up, surprisingly, and is the reason her burned, blackened, once-bleeding-but-now-cauterized husk still has a nose!) now rests on the ground.

    She looks, and to life senses, is dead. Maybe? Probably. Either that or extremely super-alive, but many life sensors also read that as dead so you know, YMMV.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    With the hand not holding Yuuki's face-down personage by the ankle, Shin makes a shrugging motion and gives the shadiest POSSIBLE answer he could at that moment in time, which is ironic because it's true, "She tripped. And fell down some stairs," He looks around a bit awkwardly, "So yeah..." He kinda trails off, rubbing the back of his head.
    "Uh anyway, gotta go," He notes, releasing the ankle as the bomb comes in. This is where Shin goes for the big plays. Like in those animes he watches. As the bomb comes in for an explosion, Shin shifts in his stance and whips his leg around in two kicks that run perpendicular to eachother, creating a moving X of rushing air. It serves to try to dissipate most of the explosion with a counter-force, though hardly all of it. The blastwave and fire still damage his clothes and burn his upper body pretty extensively.
    That doesn't work so well at protecting Yuuki, though. And he kinda looks to Kyra, "Uuuuh.... bye." And then he darts off at a sprint. He wants nothing to do with the corpse, the apparent wizard that just appeared to attack Shirou, or the Wizard up in the sky. #someoneelse'sproblem.
    He plants a foot on the ground and then launches towards Zorne, his heel coming down in an axe kick before he lands and immediately follows it up with a spinning heel kick towards her side. Now that he's back on Zorne, his offense is pretty unrelenting. If slowed a bit by his burns and injuries.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Shin drops Yuuki off in front of her much to Kyra's surprise. She sits up on her knees and reaches out, ready to grasp the discarded girl to heal her...until a cross-bomb is tossed in their direction. Unable to react fast enough, Kyra also is blown away though her injuries aren't nearly as serious as Yuuki who apparently /dies/.

    But for her, the healing she just did was completely undone.

    When she pulls herself back up again she sees two things: a Yuuki corpse and a fleeing Shin. Due to her MEDICAL LEANINGS she can judge Yuuki as VERY DEAD right now. "...." In that moment, she seems to freeze up a little, looking on at the corpse with guilt.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard is in a bad way, currently doing his best to not lose his lunch. And dinner. And maybe breakfast. It's all he can do to stand at the moment. He can't kill Kyra like this! This is untenable! UNACCEPTABLE!

But he has minions for this. And oh look, there's a /lot/ of dead bodies lying around too. Lezard holds out his hands, and begins to incant, doing his best to control his voice as he incants.

"I am he who hath entrusted his soul to the eternal vortex of time. Ye know me! And if ye do not, ye shall be made to know me. It shall be engraved on thy very soul; Lezard Valeth! If ye shall accept the brand of Hel upon thee, thy sanctions shall in turn be lowered. I shall grant thee the deliverance of thy soul, and ye shall come now before me!"

An unutterable power floods the area, and the dead bodies begin to move, spirits streaming in from dark holes that tear open in the air and begin to possess them.

A few of them hang out around Yuuki too! She's dead, right? Dead-ish? Totally normal for someone in her position to be dead.

The rest of the undead, however, begin mobbing Kyra and Shin.

Krezentia Einjager (758) has posed:
    Shin launches himself at the Zorne Doll; she shields herself with her large mechanical claw-arm again. It endures, blow after blow connecting, cracking the metal, denting it, removing sections of it, until one final punch shatters the limb. Now with only a stump left for that arm-- presumably if the copy is like that the original must also not have a left arm?-- the doll doesn't look like it could keep fighting.

    Krezentia snaps her fingers, and the Zorne Doll falls into a purple wormhole. She falls out of another one, next to the blonde girl, who keeps filming, especially as Lezard kicks it up.

    The Schwer Doll (and Zeppy) remain on Crush's shoulder, where they are quite safe and happy. Insofar as the dolls are able to be! No more attacks from them, it looks like.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "You've got to be kidding me--" Off comes Crush's armor, on with the MUSCLE WIZARDRY! Shirou gapes. he's just cleared the ink from his eyes enough to see - if with a stinging and having to squint in one eye and he almost wishes he'd kept them closed. "SPELLCASTING WITH MUSCLES?!"

    What kind of nonsense is this?!

    No more worrying about Yuuki and the weird martial artist over there. Instead he catches a glimpse of Chloe and - "Is that really helping?!"

    It would be comical if he weren't on the wrong end of a LIGHTNING SHOT!

    Kanshou and Bakuya appear in just the nick of time. The crossed blades catch the brunt of that assault and divert huge arcs of electricity off into the church walls and the ground.

    But well, they're still metal. That may not have been the smartest defense Shirou ever erected! "GAAAAAHH!!"

    Because the power courses through him, searing flesh and fusing armor to skin painfully in places. All his muscles seize up and his heart skips several beats!

    After it fades... a weird looking thing lands near him. "Now what - " Unaware of what it's supposed to be faking he just assumes it's bad to begin with, he just dives away from the darned thing!

    Good thing too because BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

    He hits the deck just in time to get caught in the fringe of the blast instead of the brunt of it. MORE PAIN assaults Shirou... but he still rises to his feet. One arm is barely responding, he's not just covered in blood but also spitting it out... but fiery determination and desperation are still aglow in his eyes.

    "I'm not done yet...! After this I need to figure out what this Empire's up to and stop the slaughter... get out of my way!"

    Another inhale, and...
    "I stand upon a hill of swords,
    Forging weapons from my flesh..."

    There's another mighty surge of prana from his circuits and out into the surrounding air. Two dozen weapons appear suspended around him, simply hovering without a wielder. Ornate weapons of all kinds.

    Flames seem to surround the ground around Shirou now, and ownerless weapons spring forth from it slowly, one after the other. The air brims with a VERY weird kind of magic. A hot, dry wind blows, filled with the burning embers cast from a smith's forge.

    But then he sees Lezard's unspeakable acts out of the corner of his eye, and his allies being mobbed by an onslaught of zombies.

    "This lonely path needs no reward.
    My whole life is..."

    The flames around Shirou gather around his one good arm. He strikes the air, sending a massive wave of flame in every dire<span class="underline bold_bg_r fg_n ++ tions!

    "chur">UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!</span>"

    A tidal wave of fire spreads over the whole battlefield, engulfing everything unfortunate enough to not outrun it. Even those far from Shirou might very well be drawn into the field that turns the world topsy-turvy!

    When the harmless flames die down, the world is changed. Shirou stands atop a short hill of iron-rich dirt. That barren soil, cracked and dry, is the only sort of terrain in sight. There's dips, hills, and valleys, but for the most part it's a flat plain impaled with hundreds of swords, spears, and other assorted melee implements. Some are wondrous, but many mundane. The sunless sky is brilliant, impeccably maintaining perpetual twilight.

    The wind carries embers as before, and the occasional wisp of smoke from a forgefire. The whole horizon seems to be one enormous wall of flame, infinitely far away...

    And the incredibly wounded Shirou looks down at Comrade Crush. "You'll wish that you'd kept the armor on!"

    The conjured weapons behind him all fire off by threes and fives, aiming to impale his arms and legs. But Shirou's not aiming for vitals. Or Schwer!

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin shatters that arm, though it looks like doing so has worn him out quite a bit. Going up against the Zorne doll has been a tiring experience for the martial artist, who pants a bit and wipes some sweat (and blood) from his brow in a tired gesture. The hand that shattered the metal shakes a bit as he blows on the knuckles, trying to sooth the pain. He may practice on stones, but actually breaking metal is a tribulation for him at his level of skill.
    He pauses a bit, panting for breath as he takes out a notebook and starts writing in it with a small pencil, "Zorne, colon, battle buddy. Masked Girl, colon, maiden in distress... question mark." As he shuts the small book after putting his notes in it, the martial artist doesn't get too much more downtime before zombies are after him.
    "Shit come on, seriously? I haven't even gotten any MONEY yet. This is all work and no reward," He puts the book into his back pocket and lifts his hands up, going back into a combat stance as tries to catch his breath. His knuckles on both hands are already bleeding and his shirt is tattered and burnt. He reaches for his breast pocket to check that his sunglasses are still there. The red-and-yellow eyes of the martial artist peek over his surroundings.
    And then people start just vanishing from reality around him as field effects come into play. And this is when Shin makes an important tactical decision: Fucking leave, "Nope, I'm out."
    He doesn't have the energy left in him to deal with hordes of undead, strange necromancy, and alterations to reality after that fight with Zorne. Because of this, he tries to roundhouse kick an undead out of his way and sprint towards his backpack. Lezard has put him into a retreat.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    Watching Shirou with interest, Crush begins to walk a slow, wary half-circle, keeping his right side towards the swordmage. "You are doing qute well!" Somewhere between jovial and manic, the massive muscle mage seems far more fired up at this point than he had been when the battle began. "Are not many who can withstand such pain. Not without some kind of special ability, at least!" Though his look of bloody enjoyment never really fades, he adopts a somewhat more wary stance in response to the spread of weapons, bringing his right arm up and clenching a fist. His forearm seems to ripple with magic in preparation for a spell. "This magic of yours... is magic of the forge! I am seeing now, da! /Impressive/!" The embers, the heat... it all makes sense.

    But before he can unleash his own spell in response, Lezard's spell prompts Shirou to step things up in retaliation. And before the colossal commie can gather himself and speak to the strange nature of this new battlefield, a torrent of magical blades unleashes itself. One after another, they bury themselves... not nearly as deeply as they should. The sound they make on impact is not that of swords piercing skin, but of cracking stone - a wave of rock passes over Crush's skin starting at his right arm, the stored magic used to heavily blunt the impact of those weapons. Even still, they stick in and stay, such that Crush is now standing there with several swords sticking out of each limb as the stoneskin retracts. "Wahahaha...! This is incredible! Is amazing work of magic, have never seen anything quite like! Endless field of legendary blades... Is space under your complete control, da?" Clap clap clap. "You are truly unique little man! Only way I can respond is by laying own cards on the table. And so...!"

    That is when Comrade Crush flexes.

    Reality seems to absolutely sing with power around him. A low, thrumming bass, a sound felt more than heard. Power, a torrent of magical power, begins to flow into Crush through his muscles, to radiate from them, to set his whole body aglow. The swords are /ejected/ from his muscles with a spray of blood and small flares of power. His flex changes, and more power surges in, the magic already filling his body pushed towards his right fist. And then another flex, followed by another, each superhumanly perfect muscle taut and tense, pouring more and more magical power into his right fist, compressing it, packing it in until his right hand shines with crimson light like a newborn star.

    Up into the air Crush rises. His fist radiates with a thoroughly ridiculous, terrifying amount of magical power, so much that no human should be able to contain it. His muscles tremble with the simple effort of keeping it contained and compressed, and yet he does, rising up and up until he floats high over the battlefield. "Wahahaha... AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! /AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!/" With a mad laugh that rolls like thunder, the monstrous Muscle Wizard hauls his arm back, his barrel chest jutting out for just a moment, before he swings his fist downward.

    It is a simple, star-bright projectile. It flies like a rocket, hits like a freight train... and then it explodes. With heinous, all-encompassing force, a blast that could level a city block or more, an explosion of pure kinetic energy unleashed by magic filtered through muscles no human man could hope to achieve. And there is but one possible name for the ultimate expression of muscle wizardry, this greatest of attack spells.

"I CAST FIST!!"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    The spirits that Lezard calls forth from beyond - wherever 'Hel' and his extremely Norse underworld are - to possess the bodies of the fallen. To subsume new spirits into the bodies of those whose spirits have passed on.

    Necromancy.

    In fact, the Masked Hero Fallen Butterfly Princess Ruri-Chan is quite easy to slip into, if you're a spirit. But there's a small problem.

    The spirits don't possess her. Oh no, it's far worse. The burned husk of Ruri begins to stand, two brightly glowing red eyes set behind her mask, and her mouth hallmarked by two long fangs where her canines would be. The blackness of her skin seems to slough off like char being knocked off a grill, to reveal pale skin underneath. Utterly unblemished. Her ink-stained and burned clothes are all that betray the fact she was ever hurt at all, though she's hunched and panting, almost ferally. And then she draws herself up straight, a cold look reasserting itself. The zombies all around are given a glance, before Yuuki just tilts her head at Lezard. "You?" She wonders, a short little asian-european girl with long hair looking up at Lezard's regal self, before taking a single step forward.

    The battlefield changes. As she steps onto the shifted ground, it just about explodes under her. Swords probably go everywhere. She looks down. "... Hmm. That's different." The Thing That Was 'Ruri' wonders, reaching towards Lezard. "You tried to control me? To brand me? Do you have any idea?" She wonders.

    "I'm so thirsty..." She breathes, looking to Kyra and...

    Pitching forward, holding her head. "Nnno..." She groans, her more normal 'struggling shojo' voice coming in from 'cold predatory murderess'.

    Ripples in the air are all that herald crushing, ground shattering waves of pure kinetic force that flows off of Yuuki as she has Head Issues, before bolts of lightning, pillars of fire, and flash-freezing shocks aim to simply annihilate the zombies, sparing Kyra (And the fleeing Shin).

    Lezard is also not touched, but there's something pretty Bad that was about to attempt Bad Things at him.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Ten minutes.

In a battle, ten minutes is an eternity. Kyra has precipitated a chain of chaos that may have long-lasting consequences. Lezard, if he has a counter for the power of Unlimited Blade Works, is in no position to deploy it. Hence him using the undead. But calling up the undead awakened something darker, more terrible than he ever expected.

The undead have it easy. The roiling, cataclysmic force from Yuuki annihilates the zombies, ripping through them like a scythe through wheat. The corpses are obliterated in the magical blasts.

Lezard, as sick as he is, might have preferred if he wasn't spared. Because he looks up at Yuuki, staring at that girl who reached for him, his eyes wide with shades of fear. "Kkkk...." He spits, stumbling backwards.

He knows of this kind of power. "What... What ARE... No, this is like /him/..."

He doesn't clarify. Instead, he immediately begins casting a teleportation circle, trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

The problem is his teleportation magic is quite slow. He's casting as quickly as possible, but compared to what is happening...

Yuuki might have all the time she needs.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin was leaving. In fact, he was all but gone. But like any martial artist-slash hero- slash protagonist, he came back. He came back for one reason: To save the possessed maiden in need of help. From outside reality, there's the roar of a motorcycle, "He was gone, but now has returned. The Combat Vagrant once more takes the fray, as a Maiden requires his help."
    The motorcycle (which is stolen, by the way) takes a speeding run and then ramps off the roof it was on (how did he get it up there?) and flies towards one of the holes that Yuuki is repeatedly blowing in reality, "Doo doo dooo! DANANA NA NA! BOOOOOW WIGGITY WOW!" Shin sings to himself as the bike descends, "Fear not, Maiden! I will save you with a purifying strike!"
    At the apex of the jump, he leaps off the bike, aiming himself in a perfect dive kick to collide the flat of his foot with the side of Yuuki's head, "Now feel the power of my devotion! I will bring you back to your senses!" His foot glows a brilliant white with Chi and the ghostly form of a roaring dragon appears around his leg. This ability has, to note, nothing special about it other than being incredibly painful and contains no capability to purify anyone. It can knock people right the fuck out, though.
    Which is what Shin tries to do to Yuuki. Immediately before attempting to throw her over his shoulder without messing up his backpack, get back on the downed bike, and then drive off into the sunset. Or what passes for a sunset in a world made of swords. It's probably a big hill.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The lack of enthusiasm when Kyra speaks is very obvious. Failing to save that /one/ person, that /one/ life left to her moments ago has hit her hard. Suddenly nothing else really could matter right now and she seems indifferent as zombies start to gather around her. The only thing that seems to get to her is Yuuki's corpse starting to move.

    It was just too cruel...but too expected out of Lezard. But even if she didn't fight, at least Shirou's sudden invokation of his reality marble would fend off the zombies around her. She doesn't want to look at 'Ruri' but when she does, she's met with confusion. Yuuki destroys everything.

    Kyra sits there, looking shocked and confused. "W...what...do you respawn or something? Please tell me you're one of the people that can /respawn/..."

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki, who had been struggling with her head and looking about ready to flip the fuck out and eat a certain man who loves INCANTING HIS NAME IN SPELLS... Is asked a question. Yuuki, still with resilient mask on, looks to Kyra, a pained look in her glowing eyes. "I never died. It still... hurts, though." She admits, before looking toward Lezard, and looking about ready to either jump him or collapse in a pile and cry.

    Then she gets rider kicked in the head as she's blowing holes all around her, causing her to get laid the hell out. And tossed harmlessly over his shoulder.

    He probably finds a conveniently sized hole annhiliated in things to even bail out from while getting SWEET AIR.

    And so Lezard's day is saved from a berserk Yuuki. By KARATE HOBO, EPIC HERO, KUNG FU GUY... Shin Tokuyama!

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's only able to gape at the spectable Crush provides. Hurling swords from his flesh with a FLEX?! Is that even possible?! That's fear playing across swordboy's face now. How is he going to STOP this guy?!

    Maybe he should've just run.

    Then a SECOND shocker happens. his attention's drawn temporarily over to the berserk Yuuki. Response? not too different from Lezard's. Shock and horror!

    "She is on our side, right...?!"

    He hopes so. But this just means that pulling out his trump card might've just been a waste of prana. might've.

    But he can't focus on that. Instead his attention locks on Comrade Crush.

    "I can't say I've met someone who uses muscles to cast spells!" Shirou, also impressed, but with nothing remotely like heroic pride or competetiveness to go on replies. he's impressed, but to him this is just a mighty obstacle. Not a meeting of legends.

    One that will probably do him in...teeth grit and spirit shivering, he makes a gamble like before and pours everything he's got into it.

    There's no complicated wait or effort in here - Shirou summons a shimmery something into his grasp across the infinite space and hurls it forward - "RHO AIAS!!"

    its name called, the greatest shield in existence blossoms open. A thick pinkish barrier hovers in front of Shirou, four of the seven petals it should display unfolding to take the hit.

    The singularity of pure muscle power collides with it and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE.

    An ear-splitting boom is only the least of anyone's worries. Blinding light of several different colors flares like the birth of a new star. Dirt and swords go flying everywhere as all of that force is stopped DEAD COLD by the shield that cannot be pierced.

    The raw violence of an UNSTOPPABLE FORCE meeting an IMMOVABLE object is a thing nobody should ever experience.

    The explosion doesn't happen immediately like it should. Instead the singularity keeps pushing like a struggling rocket into Shirou's guard. In a few moments one of the four petals shatters with a wrenching, shearing, awful racket...

    The second follows shortly thereafter with a noise like stained glass shattering.

    Around the two, the world erodes. Weird lightning and static courses across the sky and swords begin to shatter...

    But not enough.

    As Shirou struggles to hold up the shield and pump what little prana he has left into it, swords fly every which way. They erupt from the ground as though bidden by an unknown force and fly about. What few zombies Yuuki doesnt' eradicate get impaled and stuck into the ground. Priscilla's dagger flies at Lezard, accompanied by various other weapons seen in Lordran.

    The real action is happening behind Crush though!

    Dozens more weapons, all of the fantastic ones nearby, rise up into the heavens behind him... then rain down at his exposed back!

    Excalibur and Caladbolg, Joyeuse and Froberge, Gae Bolg and Clarent, Kusanagi, Kanshou and Bakuya, Monohoshi Zao, the grim reaper's scythe Thanatos... they all fly at him with lethal force.

    As a final nail on the coffin, Grollschwert joins the assault at the very end, aiming straight at Crush's back!

    But at the same time... the third petal shatters. The fourth cracks---

    The explosion that results completely engulfs Shirou, but it's so much smaller than it should be and hits at the wrong angle.

    Shirou, after a brief scream, is sent flying through the air, blood and bits of shredded and scorched flesh splashing everywhere.

    The world collapses in around him, as if it had never been there. The horizon simply collapses inwards, travels past everyone and fades as it nears him.

    He hits the pavement on the church's steps and goes sliding up to the steps. Hitting them stops the awful skid...

    Strangely, the terrain is no worse off than it -already was- before the Reality Marble was invoked.

    There's a WHOLE LOT of broken swords everywhere though, slowly eroding.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    And a bloodied, broken Shirou's motionless at the Church steps. Apparently unconscious.

    Probably for the better, given the massive hole in his side and -- ewgh. Maybe it's better not to look too closely.

    Medical attention, definitely a good idea.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra stares, "You were never dead? You looked pretty dead right there. So..very...very dead..." Kyra shudders with a distant look on her face. She is never, ever, ever going to get used to the dozens or so Elites that can just respawn after taking lethal damage in front of her. Never. Still shaking, she pulls herself to her feet and reaches for her summon matrix.

    She can't really do anything about random kung fu hobo gankings, especially when they happen that fast. Nor does she want to stick around in a world where magi are killed having just demonstrated magical proficiency. She can, however, do something about poor Shirou there and that is she'll struggle to shove him onto the Chocobo with her, stab him with a potion-filled syringe from her bandolier, and high-tail it out of there for the nearest warp gate.

Comrade Crush (220) has posed:
    There is one other broken and battered thing left behind when Unlimited Blade Works at last fades.

    Comrade Crush lies in a heap, his back a mess of bloody wounds. It's hard to tell where tough under-armor pants end and blood begins, and the crushing communist simply lies there, unmoving...

    Until fingers curl, and his right arm pushes downward, and he shifts himself up onto one knee.

    And uncurls his left arm, setting down the completely unhurt Schwerdoll and giving it a light pat on the head. Pat pat.

    And with a sway, a stumble, he pushes himself to his feet. Staggering as if drunk, he takes a step or two forward, then reaches out as if to feel the air, searching for something. Then his fingers curl into a fist again, he pulls his arm back, magic ripples through his entire arm, and he punches the air.

    And connects. Whud.

    Whud. WHUD. /WHUD/.

    Cracks appear in reality. The air itself shatters. His teleportation spell, quite literally punching a hole open in space to travel through, completes with a sound like breaking glass. And with a surprisingly ginger touch, he crouches down, picks up the Schwerbot again, and saunters (well, stumbles) into the portal.

Lezard Valeth has posed:
Lezard is attempting to escape. The terror on his face is clear as Yuuki prepares to start tearing him up. Sure, his body might be disposable but /unfotunate things happen/ to people who are killed by entities of that magnitude.

The shock on Lezard's face when Shin shows up and engages SUPER PROTAGONIST MODE is equally apparent. A mental note is made in his virus-fogged mind about that strange man as the teleportation circle completes, and he fades out.

A moment later, a number of blades strike into the wall where Lezard was backed up against harmlessly.

Lezard wants no more part of this horrible experience. This was not his best plan.