Scene #3966: Rank 4: Symbol of Swords

Owner	Pose
Kutsuuko Shiratori	The change of scenery would be nice if it wasn't so equally desolate. The endless, burnt amber sunset has been replaced with the cover of night, though it is hardly all that dark with how unnaturally bright the moon shines in the sky; enough to hurt if stared directly at. The urban wastes of the city have been left behind as well, giving way to more rolling terrain, as the only indication that it was once a countryside rather than a leveled metropolis area. The buildings here are far less damaged, mostly consisting of archetypical, almost quaint wooden and shingle housing, like one would expect to find out in the Japanese sticks in a sleepy town, though everything is covered in a thick layer of snow, completely out of season, tiny flakes endlessly drifting from above just fast enough to replace what the meager breeze blows away. Through the little crevice in the valleys, likely evacuated before the Aragami even found it, the ways are tight and narrow, save for the odd downward hill, large garden or former plaza, excepting of course the rooftops. Despite the crunch of footsteps in the snow, Kutsuuko insists that the group be as quiet as possible the entire way there, keeping any extra noise down to the sounds of steaming breath. Shiro frequently reports back from the air, too small and quiet to notice, whereupon the God Eater updates a digital map she keeps strapped to her bracelet, likely evading the bulk of the smaller creatures, and homing in on a single target. The destination is unmistakably a temple, spacious for a rural town, but bare and abandoned all the same. It seems unlikely that the villagers would have stopped to haul away hundreds of pounds of iconography and shrine equipment, so that leaves the question of why the Aragami would bother devouring useless, religious junk. There is only a single occupant, heavy enough to cause the floors to creak loudly despite not being suspended over a cellar. Something twice the size of a tour bus, easily towering over the small fry seen thus far, balanced on four, double jointed legs terminating into precarious points, with a massive, scorpion-like tail held over its head, with a stinger more like a sword the size of a small boat. The entire thing is coated head to toe in plates of armour; not chitinous or bone armour, but honest to god shining metal, segmented and articulated like an inhuman knight, and engraved with excessively ornate filigree depicting more than a little grotesque and skeletal theme. Turned around, it's hard to see what the front half of its body looks like, leaning over what seems to be some of the leftover junk; specifically a stand of ornamental katanas, which it chews away at with hisses of dissolving metal and screeching cracks of breaking steel. Every so often, it looks side to side, to check its corners, but the narrow doorframe still obscures it.
Zephyr Windstar	Zephyr doesn't normally do that 'quiet' thing, but she can follow orders, so when the local operator says 'shut up', she's quiet as the snow allows. Plated boots crunching in the snow, and the haft of her Device making a single hole as she uses it to check her footing, acting like a walking stick. She scans tha area, narrowing her eyes a little as the village comes into view. The creaking, clacking of the giant scorpion monster catches her ear first, and then she spots motion through the open door. She points forward. "That's the target, right?" she asks, keeping her voice soft and low.
Setsuko Kaminagi	When told to be quiet, Setsuko responds by floating herself off the ground, removing the sound of her footsteps entirely. "This will be fairly moot if the Aragami can sense my presence," she says, drifting along. It's a valid concern; if they can sense divinity at /all/, she stands out like a lighthouse on a clear night. But they'll worry about that if and when it becomes an issue. The desolate temple gives Setsuko brief pangs of nostalgia; it looks so much like one she saw in her youth. All the moreso, she realizes, for the fact that their fight with that huge thing is probably going to trash it. That thing... armored the way it is, it's going to be a problem. Zanjintou can carve through metal, but she suspects it's going to prove reinforced in some way, and she hopes she'll be able to get away with only one or two unveiled abilities. The katanas being treated as a snack bothers her, but for now she remains silent, simply drawing her own blade quietly and taking it up in a ready stance.
Rebecca Chambers	Whether it's all out action or stealthy approaches, S.T.A.R.S. are trained for both things, including Rebecca herself. Her steps in the snow are slow and carefully done to avoid making any noise, as she knows even the slightest noise can cause an enemy to be alerted. In addition to her usual uniform, Rebecca also wears a spandex jacket that's made to keep her warm while giving her freedom of movement all the same. Her usual MP5K is holstered while she carries a silenced Beretta in its place for the time being. She seems to be lagging behind due to the slow steps that she's taking, but she figures she'll make up the distance as best as she can when the time is right. As they get closer to the village, Rebecca takes out her binoculars to scout out the area ahead and frowns a little at the sight of the weird creature, before making a weird face at it. "Wow, that's something else," Is all she can whisper out.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard is a little out of sorts. It's not a wonder that he's quiet at the moment, the Necromancer appearing a little restrained. It takes no convincing to make him remain quiet, and the Necromancer of Midgard moves with the Fenrir operatives quickly, quietly, and efficiently, using his teleportation magics to allow the group to bypass irrelevant obstacles and reach the priority target. This is why Lezard crouches, looking down from one of the holes in the ceiling to observe the creature. He does not speak, simply looking to the others, silently conferring with them. With a sudden movement, he extends his hand, and the black, twisted Manus Catayst manifests in his hand, pulsing with the Dark. But the Dark is not what he calls forth this time. There is a sudden wash of energy about him, and he initiates an attack on the beast, calling out, "Icicle Edge!" A dozen gleaming spires of ice manifest in the air, raining down upon the beast and shredding towards one of its rear legs, the attacks focused just as recommended. He clearly expects the others will launch their own with the opening assault.
Yuna Kagurazaka	There is something highly ironic about finding the remains of a temple in a world where 'God Eaters' are not only a thing, but are one of civilization's last defenses against everything-eating monsters. Yuna chooses to think of it as a potentially good omen - that some actual deity is still paying attention on behalf of human beings. The fact that this Aragami is eating the furnishings probably means that whatever deity the temple was consecrated to is pissed off and would help if it could, but Yuna doesn't really have time to offer up a prayer; she's slower coming into the area than she wanted to be anyway. The layout doesn't really lend itself to any of her alternative forms, either, so except for Elner, the Matrix of Light is absent this trip. Yuna already has Shugoseiheki equipped on her left forearm, but she's keenly aware that all it's going to do is spread any impacts out - one swipe from the Aragami will STILL send her flying through the nearest wall, whether she takes it on the shield or on her armored body; her defenses are probably going to be heavily tested this time out. With Lezard starting up his icicle bombardment, she hunkers down - actually coming in at ground level, rather than using one of the openings in the roof - and opens fire with her pistol, focused beam pulses aimed at the same leg Lezard was targeting - but specifically trying to burn through the back of the beast's knee, where the hamstrings would be on a conventional life-form. She's also taken the additional precaution of digging Shugoseiheki's bottom corner into the dirt. That SHOULD make it harder to send her flying ... assuming the hit comes from in front of her.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Divine attacks won't work. She can't wrap her blade in her divinity for additional cutting power. No, Setsuko have to get that by pulling out what has so far been her main 'ace in the hole' - Zanjintou's full size. Empowering the weapon itself, raising it to the very heights of 'a blade', rather than making it 'a blade backed by divine energies'. That's fine. Part of her has been wondering, anyway; Kutsuuko said that shield might as well be indestructable. Setsuko has oft been known to intone that there is 'nothing Zanjintou cannot cut'. It's in her nature to want to test that. So while the others open up from afar or go in from the sides, the demigod strides forward calmly. She holds her weapon out to one side, and at once the katana changes. The handle roughly triples in length, the crossguard suddenly stretches out as if unfolding. Around the blade, there is a ribbon of blue light that quickly shoots outward, leaving behind a thoroughly massive broadsword blade in its wake. Twice as long as Setsuko is tall, wide enough for her to hide behind if she stands sidways. It's ridiculous, it's tremendous, and she swings it about herself as if it weighed nothing before lunging in at full speed. She's going straight in at the Aragami from in front. Swinging around the immense full-sized Zanjintou, starting to batter away almost immediately at its shield, with an indestructible blade of legend, sharp enough to cleave even steel with ease and backed by inhuman strength. Let the contest begin.
Rebecca Chambers	Rebecca would attack at this time, but she's concerned about the weird creature and its range of attack. The tail is bad enough, since Rebecca is more than certain it would hurt like hell, but what else is it capable of? Rebecca doesn't want to find out directly. She keeps her distance as best as she can while she switches from her Beretta to her MP5K, since she figures there's no further need for stealth right now. Enabling the laser sighting on her gun, Rebecca attempts to open fire from as far as she can aim without missing and hitting one of her allies. "This reminds me of that training simulation I did awhile back," Rebecca thinks to herself. "Almost like fighting that giant scorpion on the train, only this one was twice as large!"
Zephyr Windstar	"Well... fuck..." is all Zephyr can say as everyone just starts piling right in. "Okay then. Divine Wind, Drive Ignition!" The axe-like Device glows, and shrinks a little, one of the blades dissolving out into a pair of spinning fanblade-like drones. The haft remains long enough to use as a staff, which the girl plants into the ground. "I call upon the Great Winds. Ragios. Razgriz. Lethim." she begins to intone, eyes closed as the Bits fly out to points in the room, creating an area within where the wind aids her allies, and hinders the Aragami. "I call forth a Blizzard. Parijium. Gralith. Horaph." The area within the Bit's effect, starts to chill rapidly, ice forming along the ground and walls, focussed around the Aragami itself.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	Kutsuuko takes a position outside the opposite side of the door frame, like a SWAT officer stacking up and preparing to breach. She hand signals towards the others to move, and Lezard and Yuna round to start the attack. Appropriate for the environment, a hail of razor sharp icicles fire downwards out of nowhere, slashing, crashing and shattering on the second knee of the rear left leg, filling the temple with the loud reverberation of glass smashing on hollow metal, and the rattling ping of thirty two bullets hammering into it in two seconds. The leg jerks and skids across the floor at the volume of the bombardment, twitching reflexively as Yuna's beam pistol fires into the same joint, releasing an explosive gout of smoke, but the way it stomps back down into the wooden floor, splintering around its needle point tip, indicates that it still works. With the polished, engraved outer layer scoured away by dozens of glancing impacts, an entire separate inner layer of ominous black can be seen, still warding the inner flesh; an excessively beefy natural defense. he creature turns around immediately, its trailing tail loudly carving through the opposite wall, wheeling to face the ground. its front half is almost humanoid from the 'waist' up, like some sort of hideous centaur, resembling a suit of extremely distorted and top heavy platemail carved like a ribcage and pelvis. True to Kutsuuko's radio advice, in place of pincers on its arms, two massive plates of metal are fused to its wrists, each bearing half of the visage of a snarling skull. Its head is more like a bunker fused to its upper torso, with a slitted grille like a knight's helmet. More distinctly, there are twelve other helms fused to it as well, arranged in a circle around the central one, each of them bearing their own unique face. It's difficult to tell what she meant by 'mouth' until it rears back on its hind legs, waving its front pair like an angered horse. Its entire ribcage splits open into a single, enormous maw lined with dozens of metallic teeth, making its entire /torso/ its mouth. The first thing it does is throw itself back down and brace forward, at which point Kutsuuko rounds the corner as she does and deploys her God Arc's shield mode alongside Yuna's defense; a bulwark of red hot gold ringed in black filling the other half of the empty doorway. There is a series of tremendous impacts as the Aragami fires /something/ at both Yuna and Kutsuuko, steadily pushing the superhumanly strong God Eater back hit after hit, heels sliding down one temple step at a time as the shield chimes oddly with every hit, releasing waves of golden energy, but protecting those behind her. The fusillade spent, it charges toward the doorway, bullrushing straight for the stairs and right into Setsuko as she dashes inwards. It swings one of its shield arms out to try and bat her aside, hard enough to pulverize a regular human, intercepting her sword. It's an extremely unfavourable angle to make contact, causing Zanjintou to slide and skitter down its edge in a spray of sparks, its point carving a shallow gouge across its length. There's no arguing that it's hard, but the difficulty seems to be that it knows how to angle it. Its pointed feet briefly freeze to the floor as Zephyr releases her bits, straining and struggling to break the ice, slowly snapping one foot three at a time. To keep space, it begins jabbing forward rapidly with its massive needle, the man-sized spear point slamming into the ground hard enough to generate shockwaves, jabbing over and over at Setsuko and Zephyr almost too fast to see.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Setsuko finds her weapon deflected not by hardness or brute force, but by /skill/. She meets the strength of the thing with her own, able to stand her ground, but her weapon is battered aside and she's pressed backwards by the fury of its assault. Her opponent actually knows how to fight. She finds herself filled with the first shreds of respect for it even as it's opening up on her. Zanjintou whips up and parries one strike, two, three; it's far faster than her with those stabs, but she doesn't need to be as fast as it is. Only 'fast enough'. Having her blade in the right place to parry the nearest strikes is enough for her. The further away batter her with shockwaves, staggering her back, but she gives ground on purpose, luring it out to where she can maneuver. Then she'll go nuts. Setsuko's agility is already impressive. That she can pull it off while swinging such a tremendous sword, is nothing short of astounding. She leaps into a flip, spinning out of it into a series of battering strikes on her way back to the ground, only to roll up out of them and unload a rising slash. Her intent is to force it to extend its guard, to draw those twin shields up in such a way that she can swing Zanjintou /directly/ against them in an effort to cut in, to weaken them. It's as much to keep the thing's attention on her as to actually attack it, but it's still a deadly assault.
Zephyr Windstar	<KITE SHIELD!> chimes Divine Wind, as that massive spear of a stinger lashes out at the Mage. Sparks fly as the shield angles the blow aside, but knocks the Mage off her feet with the shockwave on impact. Zephyr bounces, gets a hand underneath her and kips back up and over, skidding to a stop. The Blizzard peters out, now the channeling has been interrupted, though the Bits remain surrounding the group, giving them a 150m area to fight in where they're being helped by the wind itself! "Right, stay mobile, can't go using any of my big spells without making sure it's distracted first." she chides herself, getting back to her feet and grasping the axe as the haft shrinks to a more managable two-hand length. "Lets see if we can't slow it down a bit." she says, earning a chime from her device as she runs around to the side, trying to flank onto that leg that Lezard and Yuna struck at first. She's /fast/ flying low and purple pixie-wings, before angling in with a heavy overhead HACK at the ominous black barding on that leg. <TEMPEST SABER!> announces the Device, as its blade literally burns with a raging sheath of purple magic.
Yuna Kagurazaka	If Yuna hadn't dug Shugoseiheki into the ground, she would probably be getting pushed back alongside Kutsuuko; as it is, with the God Eater getting pushed back, Yuna wonders if she should be keeping pace, and after a second or so, she does indeed pull the kite shield free - And nearly regrets it. Where Kutsuuko takes the steps more or less evenly, Yuna winds up 'staggering,' intermittently planting the shield's lower corner to brace herself again. The drain on her Light Suit's defensive powers is significant, too, leaving Yuna wondering if she'll need to retreat early. At any rate, it quickly becomes clear that backing away from the door was not only smart, but necessary; the Aragami comes charging out, and Yuna is glad to scramble away from it, letting Setsuko get up in the Aragami's face. Or faces. Whatever. They did some damage to the hind left leg, too, so Yuna musters herself for a sprint, trying to get into the right sort of position to snipe away at the leg some more - if Zephyr doesn't sever it outright first. Given how tough this monster is, it's probably going to keep being a joint effort. If the Aragami's attention swings towards Yuna again, though, she's probably going to want to dodge or run for cover rather than trying to tank the next wave of aggro.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard sees the beast move as expected, and the mage spreads out from the others, engaging in a wolfpack maneuver. This forces the creature to split its attention, and it chooses to go after Kutsuuko and Yuna, leaving him unsavaged. He's fine with this. As he works his way around the ceiling, he finds himself looking down on it from behind in the dogpile at the entrance. He extends his Catalyst again. "Frigid Damsel!" He intones, casting another spell... And with a swirl of chill wind, a beautiful woman of ice and show appears, called up with a long, cruel blade of ice. With a diving motion, she dances about the creature, slashing and vanishing at the leg of note, continuing to pile on assaults on the heavily armored limb. This occurs over and over, the entity seeming to flicker out and reappear every time it poises to attack again as Lezard controls the spell from a distance.
Rebecca Chambers	Rebecca stops firing long enough to load a new clip into her MP5K, and she steps back as quickly as she can, glancing only behind her to make sure she's not going to bump into anything or anyone, holding her fire this time until she's sure that the Aragami is safely in range that she can open fire without risking collateral damage. "This thing is bigger than the B.O.W. I intercepted data for recently!" Rebecca comments to no one in particular. "It's not as gross, though, so that's a plus!" Rebecca switches the gunfire mode to semi-automatic to try to cut down on ammunition usage while increasing her accuracy quite a bit. Seeing how Yuna and Zephyr are going for one leg, Rebecca decides to assist by going for another leg at the same time. She's hoping that by aiming at several legs at once, the Aragami's attention will be divided.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	"Hit it again! Same leg! It'll take a couple of tries!" was Kutsuuko's advice, yelled over the radio. It's subtle, but just her tone of voice is more aggressive; less stable. "Back out into the courtyard once you can clear some space! Fighting inside only means it can hit anywhere with its tail!" It is tactical advice well followed. Used to a great number of team operations themselves, the Elite hunting party wastes no time executing the pincer, the God Eater, demigod of war, and TSAB flight mage giving way to allow the Aragami to charge out, leaving the archmagus, STARS agent and the Saviour of Light a prime position behind it. It's like Kutsuuko had warned before. It's easy to mistake a Borg Camlann for a big, dumb, Arthurian themed monster, but its fighting is anything but stupid. It skips the steps completely, leaping down the entire flight with ease despite its massive, armoured bulk, shattering the flagstones under its foot points as it lands in the courtyard. It keeps even with Setsuko in the air, touching down right next to her, though without being able to execute the same kind of aerial gymnastics, taking several blows to the torso and face, slamming and ringing with sprays of amber sparks. The roll dives right under it, and the rising slash bites straight up into the join between its front legs, but she feels her sword grinding sharply to a halt after cutting 'only' a foot into it, like the entire thing is a solid block of metal. It takes advantage of the close range it has kept by simply trying to crush, or rather, impale Setsuko underfoot, stabbing and slamming its front legs down on her as she rolls to and fro. As the thick, almost maroon blood begins to ooze from its wound however, it slowly backs up while attacking, raising its arms to lean back from the offensive to a more balanced stance. It needs it to deal with the Frigid Damsel. The blade of ice scrapes across the damaged leg over and over with the Aragami hard pressed to keep up with it and still face Setsuko at the same time, sustaining several hits no matter which way it turns, until it pulls back, hunkers down, and then manages to spin its entire body in a lighting fast circle, alternating each of its legs so that its tail sweeps a full 360 at waist level, the sharpened edge pointing forwards. Several houses sport new, horizontal windows as the massive reach cleaves through everything within ten meters. Kutsuuko responds like she's seen it a million times before, shooting upwards off the flagstones, and then launching a second time in mid-air, accompanied by a bang and flash of white light. Her God-Arc explodes into a flurry of motion, metal and black flesh, recombining into the assault cannon, and discharging half a dozen pale grey energy rounds on her way back to the ground, followed by half a dozen more as she lands, pinging the front of the Aragami with little effect, until suddenly it seizes up, jerking and trembling erratically as if paralyzed. Zephyr has a clear sweep at the leg, coming in low, hard and fast to cleave apart the remaining, worn and cut up under layer with the blazing violet edge of her device, splitting the organic metal, widening bit by bit as Rebecca's semi-auto fire lands in the damaged zone over and over again, until it cracks and splits open completely, and the monster's blood pours from its knee, its exterior flaking off and its internal anatomy breaking down into a homogenous, golden-orange glow. It keeps over on that leg immediately, supporting itself with the point of one shield planted in the ground. The pointed helms ringing its rounded torso suddenly explode free, launching up into the air and curving back down sharply like ballistic missiles, two of them falling on each combatant and exploding into hails of razor shrapnel as an omnidirectional attack.
Zephyr Windstar	<Lost Logia Integrity decreased to ninety percent.> chimes Divine Wind, as the Mage shifts to get clear of the Aragami's attack-range before it recovers from losing its leg. She flies up at an angle, getting to a decent range, before turning. <TARGET LOCK ON. STRUGGLE BIND!> chimes the Device, as a quartet of spell circles form around the Aragami's tail stinger. They lash out of purple 'ribbons' of energy, attempting to wrap around the tail needle and keep it bound in place. Struggle Bind also has an effect of siphoning off energy, mostly suppressing magic abilities.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Ten meters. Kutsuuko was clear enough about that being the tail's reach, and Yuna made sure she was at least eleven meters away while shooting at the injured leg - which is now no longer 'injured,' but outright severed. There's no time to celebrate, though, as the 'helmets' launch in myriad directions, two of them homing in on Yuna herself with too much speed and ferocity for her to worry about anyone else. She still has Shugoseiheki, which helps somewhat - but she can only hold the kite shield in one direction, and there are two helms headed towards her; she can at least reduce the damage, but the flechette-style shrapnel rakes at Yuna's protective aura, looking for a moment like she's wearing a sheet of lightning. Judging by her cry of pain, it probably doesn't feel much better, either - but she's still on her feet. Even if she looks like she'd prefer not to be. Zephyr and Lezard are going to focus on the tail, it sounds like; Yuna moves to try and get in front of the Borg Camlann, vaguely remembering the glimpse she got of the maw on the Aragami's underbelly ... and then she starts shooting right at what amounts to the thing's face, charging her pistol's blasts as much as she can. "Setsuko, get ready!" she calls out in between shots. If the Aragami does what Yuna half-expects it's going to do while she's shooting, then it may be up to Setsuko to make sure Yuna doesn't take that 'one hit too many' which would take her out of the fight. Yuna's trying to make sure her blasts hurt the Aragami enough to make it use its shield, though - which is kind of the point: it HAS to put its shield up for Setsuko to cleave it. And if Yuna gets knocked out of the battle for that purpose ... well, there are worse ways to go down. She'd still prefer to stay standing until the Aragami is dead and devoured, though.
Rebecca Chambers	The more attacks this thing seems to sustain, the tougher it seems to get. Which is why Rebecca's starting to feel a twinge of impatience on her part. "Come on, Becky, don't quit now!" She mutters to herself angrily, feeling humiliated as she remembers her recent raid on an Umbrella facility that was a LOT harder than this due to the security force of Tyrants there. "Gotta do this!" Shifting on her feet quickly, Rebecca moves into a frontal position while reaching into her pocket to produce a fragmentation grenade. Having received orders behind the scenes, Rebecca follows them by throwing a fragmentation grenade forwards, before dodging to the side as she anticipates a big explosion!
Setsuko Kaminagi	That lashing foot is what gets Setsuko, though not as intended. Through her acrobatic leaps and spins, it manages to catch her across the back, carving a long slash that her evasion manages to keep from being too deep - but it still draws a hiss of pain, prompting her to leap back out of range. It's that which saves her from the deadly spin, and she waits there for a moment until she can gather herself and find a new window to lunge back in. Then it plants its shield and unleashes those helms as razor frag-missiles, and she's forced to move again, charging off to the side to throw off their aim. It puts her at a distance, out of the thing's direct reach but also too far to easily lunge back in. She also can't use her ranged techniques here. They'd be next to worthless against the thing. Kutsuuko has posited a plan, however, that will allow for it - and even turn her current range to an advantage. So while her enemies force the Kamran Borg into position, Setsuko has her own preparation to make. The swordswoman takes a half-step forward, planting her right foot ahead of herself. She whips her colossal blade around herself before bringing it up straight vertical, and intoning, "I am Setsuko Kaminagi. Sword of the War God! Against such a skilled enemy, to hold back my own technique would be the height of insult. So, Aragami, have a taste of my swordsmanship...!" Once more around her the blade goes, from left to right, around her front until it's pointed straight behind her. With both hands on the oversized handle, she lunges, throws herself with all her strength into a forward charge that chews up stone tile beneath her feet. Faster, faster still, building up speed until she's at a full charge. "HaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA!" As her speed rises, so does the battlecry in her throat, her entire being thrown into the charge, a bull rush that would leave her vulnerable if it weren't for Yuna drawing the thing's attention... and readying it for her attack. So swift is she, so perfect her timing, that the moment Yuna's out of the way, Setsuko's feet are already leaving the ground, her eyes closing as she takes the final leap that will add not just her momentum, but a bit of extra force from gravity, to her attack. It is a simple, overhead swing. Delivered with full strength, at full speed, while dropping towards the Aragami's shield from a ten-foot leap, but a simple swing nonetheless. One of her oldest techniques, one that she delivers with a simple roar. "CHEEEESUTOOO!!"
Lezard Valeth	The momentary exultation of disabling the leg is followed by the terrible response of the creature. Lezard, being some distance away from the battle, isn't threatened by the tail... But he does wince at the way it slashes through houses. "Such power." He says, offhandedly. "If only these creatures weren't so... deleterious." There is a moment of regret in that voice as the Necromance readies his next move... And gets shrapnel-bombed. Many of the hunks of shrapnel hit a wavering barrier around Lezard, but a few punch through, taking advantage of weaknesses as they scythe into his flesh and cut long, bleeding wounds. "Hah. The beast's fangs are hardly so blunt, it seems." He grunts. "Well then. We shall deal with this!" With a sudden surge of magical power, a magic circle expands under him, radiating blue-white light as he begins to intone. "If ye shall accept the benedictions of beauty..." As he intones, hunks of ice begin to rain down from the heavens, a frigid wind cutting down and blowing as they crash down endlessly upon the Borg Camlann's tail... But instead of shattering, each one sticks to the tail upon impact, becoming a heavy, freezing weight that seems to build upon itself as each one hits. It might not stop the tail from moving, but it might slow it down with simply physics over time... And what is he building up to?
Lezard Valeth	The ice continues to build up rapidly, the blizzard hammering down upon the beast with a rapidly increasing pile that might threaten to engulf the entire creature. "Then yea, let these chains of aster surround thee!" Finally, when the agglomerated ice seems to reach a critical point, a massive endothermic reaction occurs, seeming to abruptly /consume/ heat from the Aragami as Lezard cries out, "ABSOLUTE ZERO!"
Kutsuuko Shiratori	Rapid orders. The full salvo of paralysis rounds won't work a second time. Set Setsuko up for the shield. Harass its front. Cripple its tail to prevent a counter attack. The Borg Camlann doesn't get to hear it, but Kutsuuko could swear it's almost like fighting with her own God Eaters. Setsuko standing back and charging up is such a flagrant opening that even a conservative warrior would be hard pressed not to at least take a shot at it. The Aragami lunges towards her with frightening speed, closing a thirty foot gap in a single, powerful pounce, bearing down on her with its tail reared back like a striking snake, and then abruptly stopping just over its back as the struggle binds take hold of it. As Zephyr had indicated, Marchian Binds don't seem to want to last for long. The rings crack, break and shatter one after the other, down to the last one, before Lezard's grand spell takes hold of it, flows of ice congealing over the gargantuan needle at a dizzying pace, coating the entire thing in feet of thick, compact frost until it sags over the monster's head, swaying slowly and ponderously as it puts it back into striking position again. It takes a step backwards as Yuna begins pelting it in the face, smoldering, glowing red dents and divots appearing in its armour one after the other, causing it to hiss like a rattling snake, and then as Rebecca lobs its grenade overhead, it clamps both shield halves together, forming the full, elongated, utterly demonic skull, and the seam between them disappears, fusing together into a single plate of armour. The explosion is almost harmless on it, blowing over the Aragami as it is made to use its impervious guard for the first, and last time; the stance itself sets the other two up. The magical ice abruptly reacts on the tail blade, the first joint shuddering, cracking, and then freezing solid as the Oracle Cells inside are plunged into as close to absolute zero as it takes to actually put them into something approaching hypothermic suspension. The weapon is useless, buying Setsuko a few more seconds as it stumbles back under its weight, still miraculously keeping its balance, and then almost buckles under the weight of the swing that comes down on top of it, its back legs punching two feet into the dirt as it is forced to use its tail to brace against the ground. For the first fraction of a second, it seems as if nothing has happened, leaving Setsuko's body to absorb the shock of hitting the shield dead on. It's probably an unusual feeling for her, to feel any significant portion of the force of her swing rebound back to her, so used to carving straight through anything with a powerful enough blow, but a few dozen milliseconds later, the first splitting crack appears straight down the recently fused join, and then runs the entire length of the shield, snapping the two halves apart with a fantastic fountain of blazing sparks with the Zanjintou scraping hard between them. Why Kutsuuko had asked Setsuko to close her eyes at this moment becomes obvious. Something smaller and canister shape drops tumbling into her field of vision, and then goes off with a blaze of light ten times worse than staring right at the sun, letting off a deafening bang and continuing hiss right in the Aragami's face as well. It stands to reason that no matter how tough it is, something that sees with eyes can be blinded, after all.
Kutsuuko Shiratori	As the flash dims down, the Borg Camlann is still stumbling back, its shield broken in half and its maw wide open in a long, reflexive scream. Kutsuuko slides into view in the same slow-motion instant, flying across the ground without touching it, her God-Arc in its massive sword configuration, and in the next heartbeat, a blazing ribbon of light has smoothly slashed through the Aragami's soft innards down to the core, unfortunately spraying Setsuko with a fantastic deluge of smoking blood, and hitting her with a pulsing wave of that nauseatingly overpowering 'war presence'. By the time the Aragami collapses to the ground, Kutsuuko already has her boots on both forelegs, and Scarlet Symphony up to the hilt in its guts, the God-Arc's internal organism rampaging around inside of it with all sorts of sickening cracks and crunches until it withdraws with the core.
Setsuko Kaminagi	As soon as she has cleaved through the shield, the instant her boots hit the ground, Setsuko vaults backwards. It is not in time to avoid being drenched in foul Aragami blood. She slides to a stop, bleeding off momentum by turning her feet and digging her heels in, and with a snap-FWOOMP the oversized blade of the Zanjintou disappears, the hilt and grip collapsing to their former size to match the revealed katana once again. "There is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut," she intones, almost an incantation, while she returns her weapon to its place at her side. But there is also a faint hint of disgust to her voice. And her eyes remain closed. She's not opening them until she can wash off rather thoroughly.