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Owner	Pose
Haguro	- EARLIER - "Twenty five minutes. Is everyone ready?" "As ready as we'll ever be. Our ships are ready." "Guns ready." "Mines in position." "This is it, people. They'll all be able to rest soon." - NOW - Haguro can be seen speeding along the surface of the water as she swerves between several buoys in a line, moving almost like she's slalom skiing as she swings from one side to the other between the floating targets in the ocean. An archipelago is visible in the distance, close enough to be reached within a few minutes. As she passes the second to last one, she slows down considerably, and one of her tail mouths bites onto the last buoy to swing her around it slowly before stopping completely. "... Two minutes. That could've gone better." She sighs lightly as her gaze moves from her stopwatch to smoke rising past the horizon. Squinting briefly at it, the Abyssal cruiser starts heading that way and picks up the pace once the source of it becomes clearer. A ship is on fire, there's people screaming for help, and Haguro's found herself as the closest responder once again. "R... Remain calm, everyone! I'm here to-" And then she's blindsided by a torpedo exploding next to her. Haguro cries out in surprise as the explosion nearly sends her tipping over, and her first instinct is to start backing off rapidly. As she turns, however, she swerves sideways as she narrowly avoids running directly into a naval mine, but is caught up in gunfire as she slows down. "Die, monster! You don't belong in our sea!" Multiple smaller boats are converging on her position, firing mounted and handheld guns at the Abyssal as she's pinned down by mines and gunfire alike. The people on board those boats all seem exceedingly angry at the Abyssal, but why? Haguro, too, seems to be freaking out, but her guns are pointed in multiple directions as she prepares to fire on her assailants. This could end very badly.
Shigure	"Flagship, smoke on the horizon, kuma. Bearing 242, check... spotter plane sees muzzle flashes and subsurface explosion plumes, kuma."     Shigure nods to the cruiser. "Come about, bearing 242. Ahead flank. Take the spotter in closer to recon before we engage."     A slight pause as she adjusts her radio. <"Paladin and Hikari command. Fifth Strike Shigure and Kuma on patrol. Haguro may be also responding, stand by.">     The two ships of the Fifth Fleet turn in unison and begin speeding up to approach the site, though they may take a few minutes to get into range.
Avenger	A shadow without form, a hate without end...     It forms on the shores of one of these islands, closer to the fleet who had started to fire upon Haguro. Litteral darkness standing against the sands of the beach, seemingly sitting there. All but a pair of eyes and a mouth, twisted in a crooked frown observe. It followed this trail, followed these men, encouraged their desires for revenge...but beyond that, it did not intervine. There was no reason to, they had no desire for help, save the bonds of hate they had formed with each other. It was...hm...not disappointing, to be disappointed one would have to not see it coming. One would have to have hope that it would be different.     No, it /was/ disappointing. It told itself it never had hope that human nature would change itself...and yet here it is again, knowing that deep down, it still hoped. Even though it told itself that it was not that person, here it was...still taking the advice of a long dead mentor.     Right now, all it could do is wait, wait and hope. The demonic eyes watched the battle unhold...but interestingly enough...they observed Haguro. There was something... something else there. Anyone could fight for despiration to live...but there was something else the shadow observed. The shadow moves across the water, almost as if flying, but in reality, the legs of the shadow moved so fast that it simply was running across the water.
Midway	Deep beneath the sea, a pale figure reclines amidst rocks and twisted metal. Resting limply, hair and dress fluttering on the currents, with such ghastly white skin-- it could be a corpse, left to time.     The rumble of an explosion at the surface causes her brow to knit. A second explosion coaxes eyes to open. Thin red slits, glowing in the abyss.     A hand lifts, sparks pulling into existence a cracked white sphere, which divides into two, and again into four. This is released, the orbs floating rapidly out of sight.     At the surface, four white orbs break the surface, bobbing. The cracks widen, then split open with sounds like snapping metal to reveal mismatched teeth and glowing red interiors. The Abyssal scout planes mill about on the ocean's surface for a moment, building up speed, and then taking off into the sky.     As the engagement rapidly escalates, this trio of Abyssal scouts circles at a respectable distance.     Deep beneath the surface, the Princess of Progress narrows those glowing eyes. After a long moment, the body moves, leaning forward and rising to her feet. Her head tips back, casting a baleful crimson gaze at the surface.
Evangeline	Haguro is involved in something, and that means at the very least the Hikari force should respond. Not wanting to arrive too late to do anything, Evangeline has been racing to the area. When she sees smoke on the horizon, the little Neuroi teleports as far as she can. It takes her a bit of time to recover, but after speeding along for a good distance she teleports again.      "...Evangeline...on site..." she reports over her radio as she closes in rapidly. Her last teleport brings her in over Haguro. "...even though you attacked me Haguro...if you were attacked unprovoked we will still defend you..." she says, her arms and legs both charging up with a sinister red glow. Then her voice broadcasts over every wireless receiver in the area. "...This is Evangeline of the Hikari Defense Force and the Paladins...please hold your fire..."
August Kohler	THIS TIME, ON THE ADVENTURES OF AUGUST KOHLER AND THE CRAPPY SPEEDBOAT August is dressed in a gray winter coat, hood over his red hair, as he pilots a cheap speedboat the Watch uses through the waters. Last night was sort of a disaster - they murdered a girl, brought her back to life, and then the /Concord/ got her. To be fair, they're the ones who brought her back to life, and her murder was because she was possessed by an evil Shadow, but still. Armed with his shiny new revolver and a combat knife, the Watch leader moves through the waters, approaching the offense zone. Haguro's being ambushed and attacked, is the gist he got, and there's people shooting at her. He needs to diffuse this, and he'll do so the only way he knows how. The speedboat moves to idle. August glances into his mirrored bracelet, and calls out. "Persona!" The Tin Soldier manifests standing on the boat, next to August, as he maneuvers to give it a good shot at one of the smaller boats attack. It raises its rifle-leg...and blasts a fireball forward at one of the boats, moving to knock the gunmen aboard overboard into the water, and possibly damage their boat enough that their compatriots have to stop shooting to help them. This might bring gunfire on August's speedboat, but worst comes to worst, he'll climb onto Haguro for now.
Gilgamesh	Even in this modern age, there are still monsters.      One of the King's jobs is to slay monsters.      And he talked about it, extensively. Nagato had made it quite clear to him - it did not matter if these things could change their mind. It did not matter if these things could decide to play nice for a while. In the end, it was a creeping, spiritual corrosion. It was a disease. The cure was burning it out. The cure was purifying corroded flesh, until the flesh could heal and break free. The cure was not friendship, not allowing it to fester, but crushing the disease.      But too many people were far too weak of heart to take that effort. Far too many people were willing to stay their hand. Willing to be swayed by emotion. Willing to be swayed by pleas for friendship and kindness.      The King had no such compulsion.      The King had no such weakness. The uncompromising golden King of Heroes had no such sympathy. He, the fire, would burn away the plague.      That was what he did.      The King descends from the sky on a pair of winged boots, strolling down from the air like he belongs there. One hand is in his long coat pocket, which whips around him like a cape. The other is holding a cup of wine.      Around him, the glowing gold ripples of the Gate of Babylon emerge.      "Rejoice," the King of Heroes declares, his voice carrying across the battlefield despite the gunfire. His voice is handsome, his face is handsome, his eyes are handsome - but there's a hardness to his features. As the blades emerge from the Gate, there's the sense that he is not there to help.      He is there as an agent of punishment.      "The King is here to slay a monster."      The King holds up his hand. Then he levels it.      And the storm begins.      It is a rain of weapons of unimaginable potency. Magical weapons, each a high-quality Noble Phantasm in their own right, come storming down towards Haguro. Axes. Hammers. Spears. Swords. Everything that could be called a weapon rains down from the Gate as the King strolls his way onto the battlefield like a god from on high, his eyes a blazing red.
Leyanne	Leyanne vectors in on Shigure, the only friendlies in the area she knows of definitively; Shigure and the rest of Fifth. From the state of the crew's dress, they came here in a hurry; clothing is sloppily put on, with gloves missing and helmets askew, their shirts untucked, or just plain missing. But Leeroy's up in the plane. All three engines sing, Leyanne carving the boat in wide curves to slow down enough to keep pace with them. She's in the seat, chomping angrily on a cigar. "That stuck-up pea-brained lord-of-all-he-surveys asshole." she growls, softly.
Haguro	As more people start to arrive, they would come across the mass of boats circling around the pile of mines surrounding the Abyssal that's looking incrasingly more frightened and anxious. Haguro could easily fire on her assailants, so why doesn't she? She can see the Fifth Fleet approaching. She can see Evangeline approaching. Maybe this could be her chance to prove that she's not the monster that she's been called before. That she could still be a part of the home that she left. "Shigure...? Evangeline? Are you here to...?" She doesn't see the eyes from shore yet. She doesn't see those observing from beneath the waves or from the sky. There's an odd gleam in her eyes, and she's even holding back on firing on those ships even as bullets scratch her surface, ping off her armor, and get caught in the waiting mouths of the tailheads defending her. And then things get worse. Fireballs impact against one of the attacking boats, knocking it over where it doesn't simply blast a hole in the boat. Luckily, the people on these boats are able to swim and are aided by their allies, but some of them are now turning their gunfire on August. They're armed with military-grade assault rifles, too, although the boats themselves seem to be armed with guns of wildly varying quality. "She's the one that killed our parents!" "Our husbands!" "Our children!" "Help us! The ocean needs to be protected from the likes of her!" Their cries for help are answered by medieval weapons bearing down from the sky. Haguro's tail whips around in front of her as she brings her arms up, guarding herself against that volley of weaponry coming down and digging into her flesh, setting off more of those mines around her, and adding to the growing chaos. Haguro clutches her head as she starts huddling downwards, curling up steadily while she tries to drown out all the noise. The turmoil. The anger. And then she starts screaming. Her normally blue eye turns a bright red, and she rises again as the tailheads similarly stand at attention. "I'm just a monster, right?! If that's all I am to you, then that's what you'll get!" An unaerthly scream erupts from the Abyssal cruiser, and then she begins opening fire indiscriminately. Several of those boats go up in flames before getting shot again for good measure, mines start getting cleared from gunfire, and the ocean churns with the force of so many explosions. Things have gotten worse.
Leyanne	Leyanne turns towards the fight as Shigure flips out, dumping diesel fuel into the turbine exhausts - creating thick, choking clouds of white smoke. With Leeroy up in the full plane, Leyanne cuts the boat between Haguro and her attackers, trying a last-chance desperation move to try and save Haguro - from the others... from herself... from anyone. As she goes, Leyanne thumbs her radio, a short-range signal just to Haguro. "And proving them right is the answer?" She radios. "Please. I'm begging you. Come with us. We'll... do our best to protect you."
William Pauwel	A great big bolt of white-hot skyfire ripples across the surface of the sea. It ripples across the roiling waves, flash-boiling gouts of seafoam into clouds of roiling steam. The blast sails forth... And tears right into the rain of magical weapons. Sure, it might not do much by way of actually blasting the King of Heroes out of the air, but it serves his purposes regardless. It's a signal. A flare. A beacon that carves straight through the night. "Damn, those folks really think too much," William Pauwel mutters to himself as he flicks off the power switch to his radio. "Well, whatever. Ain't like it matters much. Just gotta do what we gotta do, right pardner?" The Light of Judgment gives no answer. Will just keeps right on gunning the engine. All around him, that little PT boat's motors rev as mightily as they possibly can. A rippling wake blasts out from behind him, pushing hard toward the distant battlefield. "Hey Haguro!" Will calls into a big ol' loudspeaker. "Do what y'all need to do! I'll give y'all as much cover as I'm able! But y'all better get movin quick, I dunno how long we can keep this overpowered golden guy off your tail!" But damnit, Will is going to try. Because in the end, he's always been a simple guy, with simple desires and simple ideas. The world is too complicated to spend all day overthinking it. He sees someone being bullied and pushed around by everyone and anyone-- and that rankles. It just /does./ And so he's staring down the Gate of Babylon on a goddamn speedboat with nothing more than a handgun to keep him alive. There's a limit to recklessness, isn't there...?
Evangeline	Gilgamesh attacks, Haguro attacks, the people Evangeline suspects might be from either the cruise boat or the assaulted pirate town attack. Discerning who is right or wrong is pointless, because to some degree everyone is right.      Evangeline doesn't fire on anyone. Instead, she dives down quickly and wraps her arms around Haguro, trying to pin down whatever weapons she can. "...Haguro...we need to go...nothing good can come of any of this...I don't know if you are a monster or a person or sick or crazy...but even after you attacked me last time...I won't give up..."      With her clinging to Haguro, she is taking plenty of damage herself from both Gilgamesh and the attacking boats, and her shield and body are both quickly being whittled away. "...please...let's just leave...fighting won't help..." She hesitates a moment. "...if you don't stop...we will have to stop you...Shigure and the others...we don't want to hurt you..."
Avenger	There is a flash of light, as the living shadow bounces from the sea, towards the fight itself. Suddenly, as quickly as it started, it stopped, right infront of Haguro. It's head turns up, as a array of beams fire upwards, towards the Golden king, burning if they are unholy (but lets be fair, he's an asshole not unholy), as beams ALSO fire towards the boats before Hagure. The figure, standing there, holds a hand out towards the Abyssal.     "If you desire this, then strike the deal. Become my master...no, become my Conspirator. Your enemies will be my enemies...your goals my goals. I will help you to the end fulfil your bloody road of revenge...or perhaps you will find the guiding light of heaven at the end of your Journey?" There is that mad grin. However, despite it...the words are genuine.     He DOES want to help.     Should the offer be taken, three command seals will appear on her arm, as his form starts becoming less of a shadow...and more of a person. The hat and coat of the man now visible, as dark light seems to wash over him as he stares up.
Shigure	Shigure slows at the edge of her weapon range, Kuma gliding along beside her. The radio chatters away, and Shigure's composure slowly erodes, until she bursts out in anger, raising her voice for the uncounted time since the falling out with Nagato and Haguro's transformation and return as an Abyssal. "THIS CYCLE HAS TO STOP!"     Shigure then unpacks her backpack, firing the cannons behind her to launch forwards. She tries to get into the line of fire from Gilgamesh and any remaining ambushers, transforming into her full sized ship form to bodyblock as much fire, from all sides as possible. "THIS. HAS. TO. STOP!"
Midway	The quartet of Abyssal scout planes wobble in their flight path, then scatter in multiple directions. The formation dissolves just as quickly as it had appeared, as the aircraft make themselves harder to eliminate. The sea erupts several meters away from Haguro, and as the water crashes back down, who stands there but the pale nightmare herself: Midway, the Princess of Progress.     She rises to her full height, beholding Haguro directly with half-lidded, glowing red eyes which burn inside with unimaginable rage in stark contrast with her noncommittal expression. The sea parts behind her as her parasite hauls itself up behind her, its toothed maw yawning widely open.     There's a moment that feels longer than it should be where Midway merely stares at the heavy cruiser.     She then turns, crouches, and then leaps from the ocean's surface. It is Shigure's deck that the Princess lands on, heavily, hunched forward with her fingertips touching the steel in an all-fours posture. The unmistakable ping of SONAR rings out from her touch, rattling through the destroyer's metal construction, but she seems to do nothing with it. Rather, her parasite's maw opens once more.     A three-barreled gun turret emerges from the opening, barrels elevating, and then opening fire on the Golden King.     All done without a word. Only a ping of active sonar. But such sudden altruism and cooperation is unusual behavior for the hate-fueled Princess of Progress.
Gilgamesh	'Our husbands.'      'Our children.'      'Help us.'      The King has come to do just that. Though he cares not a whit for the lives of human beings, he has a great distaste for the monsters that seek to impose their will upon the world of man. He is the shining, golden King, the perfect, beautiful force that slays the evils of the world. They are crying out to him. It would be foolish, irresponsible, *immoral* of him not to respond.      Haguro starts shooting at the small craft. The Gate of Babylon moves to intercept as many as it can, the blades shooting down into the way of the explosions with incredible precision. The King continues strolling forward, his eyes cold and red. The glow in them is downright menacing, matching Haguro's own.      "That's right," Gilgamesh says, "You are nothing but a monster. A virus. An infection. And I will burn the infection out. If there is anything left of the person you supposedly were under that shell, then perhaps underneath my flame you'll find the strength to awaken yourself. But..."      The King glances at the oncoming Will, at the howling Leyanne, at Neuroi Girl, at the shadow of the King of the Cave. Will's shot comes real close, grazing past his head as he tilts it to the side, drawing light blood. The King of the Cave's flame scores across his face, a black fire lighting up along it; the burn would be unsightly on anyone else, but as the flame dies, it just looks beautiful on the King. It's damage, but it's damage in the way that a thousand-year-old urn might be damaged; it enhances the King's beauty rather than depletes it. Midway's cannons rain down upon him, and he brings up his hand to block a few of them, the smoke pouring down around him as it lands. Shigure's shot smashes into the King's side, drawing blood from his superhuman torso.      "Listen to you weak-hearted fools." The King sweeps aside his damaged jacket like a royal cape. "You, too cowardly to defend your friend with blood on her hands, too cowardly stand against her and defend the innocent who fight to defend themselves. Is that the full strength of your devotion, mongrels? That you'll only fight if you can assure yourselves you are in the right? That the slightest moment of doubt shuts you down?"      "No wonder this monster was able to sway you so easily. Your hearts are so weak I'm amazed they're still able to pump blood at all! Let's see if I can provoke you into real action."      "At least you three," Gilgamesh, points at William, Midway, and the King of the Cave, "Have the will to fight for what you believe in. For that, mongrels, I'll reward your devotion."      "Gate of...Babylon."      The Gate opens.      It opens *underneath* Will, Haguro, Avenger, and Midway.      Weapons just pour out of the *water*, firing up into the air like streams of destruction. The King's hand goes to his face as he starts laughing.      "FUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"      "Behold the futility of going against the King of Heroes! Behold the difference between you and me, fools!"
Shigure	Shigure's ocean form rocks and quakes as the shower of Noble Phantasms rains down around her. Blades pierce through her thin armour belt, slice off secondary armaments and lodge into her superstructure... and then Midway lands atop her Deck, causing the Destroyer to panic at the ping of Sonar rippling through her. She can't aim any of her weapons on the suddenly appearing Abyssal, so calls. <"Kuma, Destroy Midway!">     "Kuma loves a challenge, kuma!" crows the Cruiser, as she kicks her engine on and tries to close the distance... though she holds fire so as not to inadvertently hit her flagship.
Haguro	"If it means being left alone? Not having to worry about getting stabbed in the back again and again and again?" Haguro turns to Leyanne, her teeth gritting as her cannons fire in wide arcs overhead at more of those ships that are quickly descending into chaos between not knowing whether to run or keep fighting. That hesitation Haguro showed earlier ceases as she continues firing on the ships, pausing only when Evangeline and Shigure both move to try and stop her from firing directly onto them. "I... Appreciate the offers, all of you. But enough is enugh. If this is what I have to do to be left alone, then... S-so be it. Now go." Her gaze is colder than before, but she actually manages a strained smile. And then that flash of light appears. She winces briefly at the light, but stares at the Avenger as he appears with his hand outstretched. "You're... You're that voice from earlier." What the hell is she talking about? Nobody else heard him, did they? There's a brief silence between Haguro and the strange figure, but the hesitation lasts only for a moment as she reaches out to take his hand. "I accept." It's the first firm handshake she's given in months. And then Midway appears. There's naught but silence between the two as Haguro stares at the Abyssal appearing before her, her mind racing at a mile a minute. This is the person that's caused all of this. The one that started her down this path. The one that's helping her now. The one that's helping her now. She doesn't know or understand why, but Midway is helping her. Tearing her eyes away, Haguro stares at Shigure and Evangeline next when they try to interject themselves between herself and her targets. "You're... Get out of here already!" She shouts at the pair and Leyanne, struggling to throw them off as Gilgamesh opens the Gate beneath them. She tries to punt them off, then takes cover behind her tailheads right as those weapons blast upwards. They tear up chunks of her armor and send the Cruiser hurtling back, but she skids backwards as she levels a wild glare at Gilgamesh. "That's right... That's what I am, right? Like Mister Pauwel said. That makes things a lot easier for everyone." Hissing painfully, the cruiser starts speeding backwards with the mines behind her now cleared. Swapping her standard shells for anti-air flak, she starts firing massive amounts of metallic debris at the King of Heroes, aimed more to hold him off than to score a decisive hit.
William Pauwel	Well. Maybe, just maybe, William Pauwel is slightly out of his depth. "Ah balls I know what that is," Will grumbles as Gilgamesh declares the deployment of his Noble Phantasm. There's scarcely even a moment to react as the murky depths below suddenly blaze a brilliant gold. The trouble is, of course, that Will... Is in a boat. And so he has... really no answer to 'sword barrage from below.' Nor does he exactly have a way to deal with the bombardment of a Shiratsuyu-class destroyer. For a moment, amidst the skyward blast of blades and the great clouds of surging seafoam, it seems as though Will has just been... Erased from existence. But, some of these people know him too well. Some of these people know that he's... A little too stubborn to just get flash-evaporated by a cataclysm of Too Much Firepower. There... In the sky...! "DAMNIT HAGURO," Will shouts from where he's apparently clinging to a now-airborne, blasted-out husk of a boat. He'd apparently strapped a set of retro-rockets to the sides and used them to shoot himself into the sky, temporarily escaping a grim doom at the bottom of the sea. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! All I wanted to say was that people judge too much by appearances, and they don't realize that they're just forcin' other folks into molds without considerin' the /person/ there!" Will... Stands astride his rocket boat and takes aim at the great, Golden King. "I stick to my guns, pardner. Ain't a matter to me how much it hurts to do 't. So...!" He aims again! He fires again and again and again-- but not directly. He shoots to saturate. The rounds burst as they get close enough, filling the air around the King with clouds of incendiary plasma, each one coruscating with electrical chaos like man-made thunderheads...! "I'll stand fer the memories I've made, the truths I believe in! So that someday, at the end of it all, I can look back and judge my life well-lived!" "HAGURO COME ON," Will roars, "GET OUTTA HERE! I've only got so much fuel here!"
Leyanne	Leyanne tries arguing with Haguro. She tries reasoning. She tries showing Haguro that... she doesn't have to do this. Even as Shigure's shells rain down around her, and the Gates of Babylon open up beneath Leeroy and shred his hull with blades, the mouse keeps herself under control, continuing to try and plead. And then Gilgamesh opens his trap. The mouse tries to keep her temper under control. She really does. She can be seen in the seat wrestling with herself; she really knows she should stay and plead with her. To try and convince her to come and see Lemeza. But she doesn't. Instead she wrenches the wheel around, still dumping smoke into the exhausts, and pours on the power. "Steve." She says. to her bofors gunner. "Treat Gil like he was a helicopter. Load 3P, set it to gated prox, right? Fill the air around him with tungsten carbide." The 40mm gun on the back of the PT boat swings around as the two gunners get to work, one of them inputting the King's range - grabbed with a laser rangefinder - while the other works to bring the gun onto target. As Leeroy closes, a string of four shells is sent towards Gilgamesh. "Fuck YOU and the horse... chariot... barque... whatever the fuck you rode in on!"
Midway	Midway remains steady, balanced on all fours, when the Gate of Babylon disgorges its contents beneath her. There's a certain satisfaction she gains from the damage sustained to the kanmusu she stands on. A sword cleaves through her upraised parasite, spilling oily ichor across Shigure's deck. A spear lodges in her chest, while multiple other weapons slice up through and around her.     The woman rises, then to her feet. The spear is grasped, wrenched free with a sickening sound and a spray of oil. She examines it with a bored expression, before tossing it over her shoulder and into the waiting maw of her parasitic equipment. The teeth snap shut over the discarded weapon.     Midway steps forward, crossing the destroyer's deck. Each step elicits a new sonar ping, shivering through the kanmusu's hull. At a certain point, she comes to a stop, raising her hands to either side.     "You show much ignorance, King of Heroes. And many assumptions." Her fingers curl, metal braces gleaming across her knuckles, "You know not what I am, much less my motivation nor my belief system." Those crimson eyes narrow slightly, and she lifts her hands up further, "Shall I execute you for your ignorance? Burn the lesson into your skin?" Her head tilts slightly, "Or shall I ignore you and go about my business as a Spirit of War? The conundrum you present me is quite conflicting."     The woman's head inclines, casting her eyes in shadow. Her parasite's maw opens once again, disgorging a mass of white spheres into the air above her. As they arc, the orbs crack open into nightmares of teeth and wings and weapons, scattering into clustered squadrons. As these begin attack runs on the floating King of Heroes, Midway's voice intones once again.     "You have angered me. I will kill everyone here. But you will die first."
Avenger	"The bargin has been struck. Until you have escaped your prison, I am your accomplace," The young looking man says, as his eyes turn up towards The King in Gold. However, he has a new problem first, the weapons of the king's treasury. He is forced to dance around them, and there is ONE thing about avenger...it is that he is /fast/. Very VERY fast. He dances around many of the weapons, but a few still catch his speedy form, negating a deal of the damage he would have taken were he slower, but still in pain in their own right. He grins, and looking back up towards Gilgamesh.     "I bear you no ill will, oh King of Gold, but..." he says, as his hand comes down towards him, firing another, MORE FOCUSED, beam of that black flame towards him. It burns, hotter than fire, and Midway may feel...ill at ease near it. He leaps up, moving so fast it as if he could fly, before flipping over Gilgamesh and firing another shot, aiming to trap him between BOTH blasts at the same time.     "However...my accomplace does not wish to die, and as such I am obligated to keep her alive. Besides...is she the illness? Or have you been decieved? I wonder...but..."     "Is it not the king's job to decide who is guilty? What if the King is lied to? Can he be held responsible for that as well?" He wonders.     "Besides...there is a bigger villian here who probably desires your attention more than my accomplace...the one who caused her to be the way she is now." Motioning towards Midway.     "Or we can fight. It matters not, I only do what I need to fulfil my obligation..." with a grin.
Evangeline	Evangeline is somehow avoided by Gil's onslaught. But is hit by Shigure's frantic firing. She runs through all the choices and consequences in her head as she is thrown off of Haguro. She has an order she has to carry out...but Haguro isn't aiming at the attacking ships anymore.      However, Midway has just declared her intention to kill -everyone-. This makes Evangeline's choice a bit easier. "...you will kill no one...and cause no more anger or sadness or misery if I can help it..." she says, even as the ends of her arms start to glow brightly with the sinister red light of the Neuroi. She brings her arms together and fires on Midway.      The beam of destructive red as thick as the Neuroi's torso fires toward Midway, but before it reaches her and Shigure it splits apart, vectoring in several directions so that Evangeline won't hit Shigure, though all vector back in toward Midway at angles to avoid Shigure's deck.      Even as she fires on Midway, Evangeline keeps herself between Haguro and the others as best she can, even following after Haguro, floating backward while firing.
Gilgamesh	They open fire on him. Cannon shells rain down from Shigure and Haguro. Incendiary plasma pours down, scoring past his face, narrowly missing critical hits as the King of Heroes redirects blades into its path - and even still scoring some more burns across him. His neck and face are starting to look real hurt - though, of course, he still looks just, unfairly pretty. But he's looking unfairly pretty *and* run through a cheese grater, so it's clear they're making some progress.      Bullets come pouring in on all sides. The King waves his hand, and the Gate of Babylon responds, legendary swords carving through bullets in the air. He still takes some reasonably severe wounds, and it leaves him open to Midway, who releases her monsters. They come raining down on the King, fire and missiles meeting legendary blades. Then Avenger's black flames score across his back, burning into his coat and his body. The King slumps forward only slightly, his glow dimmed a tiny bit. For a brief instant, they might believe he's finished.      That would be a very foolish instant.      The King tears off the tattered ruins of his coat. His body is, indeed, perfect. Flawless abs. Perfect pectorals. The body of a golden god. There's no ego in him when he says those words - he is *unbelievably* beautiful.      But more pressingly are the red tattoos emerging along his body, glowing a terrible, menacing red light. His hand goes to his head, pressing over one eye.      He starts laughing.      "FUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"      His fingers spread from his eye. "Amazing. Simply amazing. You think you have the power to fight me? You think any of you have the power to face me? You, Spirit of War? You, annoying little mongrels? This is too much! Stop, stop!"      "You'll kill me. You'll really kill me. I'll laugh myself to death!"      "Fuhuhahahahahahahahahahaha!"      The King's fingers sweep through his hair. He tilts his head backwards at Avenger. "I have more than enough power to spare for all of you. And I happen to enjoy this very much. I like watching mongrels try and climb to my height. I love seeing their despair when they see the truth of what they're facing."      "Why don't I show you all that truth in this moment?"      The King's Gate barrage fades. Instead, a single blade comes forth, into the King's hands. It's a long, slender, almost delicate thing, a 'gurom' blade - a hiltless katana of some sort. The King swings it once with delight, letting it sing through the air. Words blaze to life above it as he swings.      HEAVENLY WILL      The King's lips purse into a smile. "I don't often bother to bring out one of my treasures. Consider it an honor, mongrels. Look upon the strength of the King, and understand what you truly face. That you managed to find a spine and strike me will be rewarded with this image! Burn it into your minds - and the next time you think to foolishly mock me, remember the power that even one of my treasures holds!"      The sword blazes to life. The King burns with it, a brilliant gold, like a new dawn. He swings a fist forward -      - and the whole world seems to thrash from the shockwave. It's a shockwave hard enough to push aside the water, hard enough to send bullets flying. Just the force of that punch is hard enough to split the ocean in twain. The strength of a thousand men lies behind that single strike.      The King's laughter booms through the field.      He's *having fun*.
William Pauwel	There's really not much that can be done about this result. It was, as certain contracts might read, accepted of his own free will. Will was free, and so he chose to stand against the might of the King of Heroes. This.. Was probably a mistake. "Wh--" Will barely has a chance to voice his surprise when the King of Heroes thrusts his fist forward. He barely has a chance to /blink/ before that tremendous shockwave of force barrels into what's left of his speedboat and blasts him straight into the stratosphere. He feels the air being forced out of his lungs at the speed of sound, and then he feels nothing at all. Except for the brief relief that he'd remembered to wear a lifejacket today. ... ...... ......... There is a saying, an adage that has spread far and wide, all throughout the world. 'What goes up,' it says, 'must come down.' Perhaps Gilgamesh wouldn't notice, what with the shining aura of light surging all around him like the corona of a living star. Perhaps he wouldn't notice the shadow growing over him, or might think it nothing more than a cloud. But it's not. It's not a cloud. It's... It's a boat. A boat, with a young and unconscious cowboy slumped over in his seat. A boat, carrying a Will from Heaven. A boat... Carrying a Heavenly Will right through that glowing sigil of ancient significance which reads 'Heavenly Will.' As all heroes must someday learn... The universe has a really shitty sense of humor sometimes.
Midway	Standing upon Shigure's battered deck, Midway lifts a hand. Her bombers respond to the command, those who have expended their ordnance withdrawing while another wave swoops in. The bombardment has no intention of stopping. It does stop when she comes under sudden laser bombardment from the Neuroi.     With beams carving through her body and her parasite, Midway turns towards Evangeline, crimson eyes burning with fury. Her fighters promptly break off from Gilgamesh to regroup, before splitting into two distinct attack waves directed at both targets. Her face tilts forward slightly, eyes cast in shadow and their glow intensifying. She ignores the ichorous black blood that splatters across the wood and metal of the ship she stands on.     A mistake.     Her attention returns to Gilgamesh just as Heavenly Will cleaves through her body and parasite. The equipment lets out a horrendous noise as it splits, the upper quarter sloughing off, slapping wetly against the deck, then sliding over the side and into the water. Oily black ichor runs down her alabaster form and stains her tattered dress.     No, further combat with this individual would be foolish at this stage. Let him claim whatever his ego wishes. More information is needed before she can annihilate him in a satisfying manner.     With no fanfare, Midway steps back and then over Shigure's gunwale, disappearing into the sea from whence she had come.
Leyanne	Leyanne watches the punch strike... nothing. She's about to give a triumphant laugh and bring up an RPG from beside her seat when she notices that there's a ripple in the water. It's subtle, just a bit of a depression in the surface of the sea. But then again, the same sort of little ripple is seen when an explosion goes off. It's the ocean recoiling against a shockwave. "BRACE!" The mouse calls out, dropping her rocket launcher and instead grabbing hold of the console in front of her. The shockwave, when it hits, is brutal. The ripple in the water lifts him up between two wave-crests while at the same time the air slams down from above. There's a sickening CRUNCH of splintering timber, and when the boat settles low in the water, there's a definite bend do his deck. The bow sits a few inches lower in the water. For a moment, all is serene and calm around the little PT boat, and it looks like he's survived with only minor damage. But then the engines crank up to full bore without pushing the boat anywhere. Instead, the two bilge-flaps at the back of the boat are pushed open by the force of the water spewing out of the little boat's bilges. And yet, gradually, the boat continues to sink a little lower in the water. An additional pump is slung onto the side of the boat and powered into life... and slowly, he rises back to something that vaguely resembles his usual attitude. "GET THOSE BILGE PUMPS UP!" Leyanne bellows, as her crew do just that. "From the twist in the deck, the bastard's broken Leeroy's back! There's probably a shear in the hull, get someone down there to patch it!" She drops back into her seat, bringing the boat's backup engine online, allowing it to push itself - slowly - back towards safer waters, even while the mice onboard get to work fixing the boat. There are injuries on board, too... but they'll have to wait until the important job of 'not sinking' is taken care of. "Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is FMS Leeroy Jenkins..."
Avenger	There is just a grin from the King of the Craven.     "Oh I love that...I love that determination...that all flowing power from the king...the king who says he can do no wrong...who blindly acts on his justice.." he says, his face almost a mad expression of power. His partner manages to avoid the worst of it...but he..?     Once more, he moves, far too quick to watch, but this only BARELY keeps him out of the range of the Slash Emperor. Smashing into the ground, his eyes are closed for a moment. He remembers all of the pain...all of the suffering at those hands who were 'sure' of their verdict, never questioning anything because god willed it. Nevermind that three evil men used them for their own needs...Rising, the eyes of Avenger open, staring up at Gilgamesh.     "Watch, my Accomplace...feast your eyes on the power of one such as I. The one who has dedicated their lives to revenge...WATCH!"     This is said, as his body's flames expand, and he disappears. No, it isn't quite disappearing, he simply MOVES too fast. Beams of light shower against Gilgamesh from every direction, every concievable angle. The attack somehow fires from every single vector, every possible direction all at once, before the man appears, many copies of him also appearing...each one pointing a hand at Gilgamesh...     As waves upon waves of that black flame pour on him, aiming to burn away his very soul.     Pure or unpure...these flames had enough power to burn away one's life force.
Shigure	Shigure changes her order to Kuma. "Kuma, belay last order. Destroy the King of Heroes." The cruiser adjusts her approach without responding, but that becomes largely a moot point. Midway is blasted off of Shigure's deck, and Shigure herself manages to turn just so to avoid the worst of the sea going mad from the aftershocks of Heavenly Will. Shigure scans the area. Will is down, the Leeroy is foundered, and the King is cackling like a total dork.... she radios. <"Evangeline, attempt to guide Haguro away from the combat zone. I will retrieve Will. Kuma, bring the Leeroy aboard with your seaplane winch and disengage to Rendezvous point Charlie."> she says without any emotion. The Destroyer shifts back to her human form and skates over to where Will fell, scooping him up and turning away without looking at the King again.     Kuma, meanwhile, does the opposite, shifting to her Ocean Fit and moving over to the Leeroy. She drops her seaplane winch overboard, the crane cranking. "Latch on as best you can, kuma. Kuma will bring you aboard, kuma."
Haguro	"Whaaat?! I can't...!" Haguro yells back at William as she keeps speeding backwards, the yelling coming from all sides and the explosions from also all sides making it hard to tell what it is he's saying, never mind the meaning. "If that's how they want to treat me, then... Then I have to take a stand, or I'll never be free!" She's hoping that's what he really asked, anyway. She watches as Leyanne and Midway engage with Gilgamesh as well. THere's a lot of things that the Cruiser is trying to process with those two as well, but she doesn't opt to fire on either of them. The temptation is there, certainly, but... This is the opportunity she needs to get away. But isn't this an opportunity to make a name for herself as well? To show that she could be the monster she's been called by all those people? (Said people are fleeing in droves, thankfully. They thought they'd have an easy enough time just dealing with Haguro, but they /did/ survive longer than their relatives for a reason.) Avenger's words strike a chord within Haguro. Although she isn't sure what exactly to do with this man as his... Master, was it? It's only then that she notices the odd markings on her hand, but Haguro doesn't have time to figure out what that's all about when Gilgamesh brings out the big guns. Or... A sword. The shipgirl's seen enough in the Multiverse to know not to underestimate even a single weapon, and she's still backpedaling rapidly as Gilgamesh punches forward with that sword held. Distance doesn't seem to be helping as the ocean buckles from the attack being flung forward, however, and there's really not much she can do just by running away. Haguro stops, and she starts advancing again. Where to, she's not sure. There doesn't seem to be any holes in whatever it is that's breaking physics, and there's barely any cover to use out here in the middle of the goddamn ocean. What's she even supposed to do in front of that?! There's the buoys. It's a long shot, but if physics does... Something? Haguro's not any kind of science expert, and she has no expectation that it's going to actually work, but she swings herself around a buoy and holds onto it for dear life in the hopes that the shockwaves will launch her skyward or something. Except it doesn't. It's a freaking buoy. It gets obliterated, and Haguro screams as she's launched backwards. She bounces multiple times off the water while the numbness sets in, bouncing off another buoy (which gets obliterated from the impact) before finally stopping and floating in the water for a few moments. She hears the calls to evacuate. That would be the smart thing to do, wouldn't it? And yet... Today's been nothing but foolish decisions one after the other. What would running away accomplish besides making sure she lives? No. She needs to put her foot down. Hauling herself out of the water, Haguro switches to high-explosive shells as she takes aim at Gilgamesh. What kind of master would she be if she ran away after agreeing to work with this new stranger that promised to be her accomplice? "... King of Heroes!" Can he hear her from that far away? "My name is Haguro, fourth of the Myoukou class Heavy Cruisers! Even if there's hundred of weapons like that... I will fight against them all!" Haguro starts speeding forwards, aiming high far above where Gilgamesh even is to account for the distance. It's a long shot, but she's taking it. It's a stupidly long shot.
Leyanne	Leyanne gives a thankful nod to Kuma as the seaplane crane is deployed. "Don't haul us in yet." She advises, as the hooks are placed on the boat's three corners, at least to make sure he doesn't sink any more.. "Leeroy's keel is cracked if not outright broken, we'll need to lash the front and back of the boat together before we can take a tow, never mind bein' lifted! Let us... patch things up a little. We're hooked on, though so we won't sink. Nice one Kuma, how many's that we owe you now?" Leyanne and Igor, a huge piebald mouse-ogre of a Martian only slightly shorter than Tiny and several times wider, work on doing just that as Leyanne explains, using steel cable to tie the boat's forward mooring cleat to its aft mooring cleat on each side and pulling the line as taught as they can. At the same time, someone can be heard frantically working away with a nailgun below decks. Eventually, the mice have done the best they can and Leyanne signals a thumbs-up to Kuma. Even with their frantic patching and bodging, the boat creaks and sags even more as he's lifted out of the water. Yet more crunches and creaks are heard, the boat's deck shifting yet more as he's lifted, and a few more as he settles into place on Kuma's deck. His own deck now resembles a mini-golf course in a few places. "One day." Tiny vows. "I'm gonna break Gilgamesh's oh-so-perfect nose. Probably gonna get fucked up pretty bad immediately afterwards... but I'm gonna break his nose." She turns to watch Haguro launch her attack. "I know I should be telling you to leave, but..." She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts. "BREAK HIS FACE HAGURO!"
Gilgamesh	The King of the Cavern strikes.      Those black flames get a flicker of recognition from the King. Instinctively, in the back of his mind, he knows - absolutely - /do not let them hit you/.      So he does his damnedest.      The blade vanishes into the Gate. A gleaming crystalline shield emerges, shimmering into the space between the King of Heroes and the King of the Cavern. Waves of black flame come pouring out, from every possible direction; the crystalline shield splits itself into as many copies as it can to match, but there's simply not enough.      A golden blaze comes up inside the King's shield of defense.      He's pulled out his golden armor. That's the first sign in the King taking something genuinely seriously. The golden armor's powerful defenses *still* aren't enough to completely mitigate the King of the Cavern's wicked black flame, burning at a golden soul. The King will heal - he's designed to heal - but the agony is intense. He's never felt pain like this, except from Enkidu, and even that was different. He doubles forward, clutching at his throat. It's a moment of pride for the other side - that the King of Heroes would lower his head even slightly, even in pain.      That is an actual accomplishment.      The King straightens. The shield vanishes into the Gate. The golden armor does not. A look of irritation flickers across his face. "Very well. If you-"      He doesn't finish the thought, because Haguro shoots him in the face.      Or, very, very close to in the face. It's actually slightly off - whether because of the golden armor, a miscalculation, or his own battle-hardened reflexes is impossible to say. It's enough that the shell only *narrowly* misses him, that the explosion still knocks him back, the proud king sailing through the air in his golden armor. It takes him a moment to stabilize himself, to sweep his hands through his hair and sweep it upwards into spikes, to straighten his bloody and burned face, his golden armor, his roiling red sash.      He takes a breath.      They're making him work.      That's fun.      "A hundred?" Gilgamesh laughs, his fingers going back to his head. "I admire your determination, monster, if nothing else. It's good to know. You would stand against a hundred of my weapons."      "Unfortunately for you..."      The King spreads his arms. "There are more weapons in my treasury than there are stars in the sky."      The King flicks his fingers at Haguro. "But I appreciate your determination nonetheless. To look upon the King's power and wish to keep struggling is..."      "Worthwhile."      "I'll give you this opportunity." Swords start appearing behind him. "Flee. Go, monster. If you can escape my barrage with your life intact, then I'll let you and your accomplice go. If you can't..."      "...then I'm afraid you're going to die."
William Pauwel	William Pauwel is being Princess Carry'd off the battlefield by a cute boatgirl. ... ...... Maybe if he was conscious, he'd be able to more properly appreciate this. But hey. At least he'll have good (if kind of weird) dreams.
Haguro	Is that armor? That's armor. It doesn't appear to be made of the most practical material, but Haguro's got bigger things to worry about than practicality in a multiverse full of that can just make fire, armor, and themselves appear and disappear out of nowhere.      Like trying to keep up with Avenger and Gilgamesh, for one. If it was just herself here, she wouldn't know when to stop. Knowing that Avenger's around as well, though, has her rethinking things.      If she dies here, she's not going to get any stronger. She won't be able to right the wrongs that have been done. Instead of preparing to strike back again, she holds steady as she watches for the next attack. There was that sword from before, there was the rain of weapons from earlier, and there was the eruption of also more weapons from also earlier. Where's his next attack going to come from?      From above! Luckily, this attack is one Haguro can actually /see/, and she starts to dart around on the water's surface erratically! Or... Not so luckily, since dodging the sheer number of things is easier said than done. Even with her tail acting as a buffer, numerous cuts, stabs, and bruises are left on Haguro by the time the volley of weapons stops raining down on her.      She's still alive, though, and that's something. She readies her cannons once more as she takes aim at Gilgamesh, but she doesn't fire yet. Her legs are trembling beneath her, her eye has reverted to its normal cyan, and even her tailheads are having trouble staying upright.      Haguro holds her fire. "... Goodbye, King of Heroes. We'll probably meet again." She tries not to let her voice crack as she says that, starting to drift backwards slowly. She doesn't take her eyes off him, but her tail drapes over her shoulder instead of keeping its guns trained on him. Instead, she calls to Avenger. "This way, sir. Let's go. I... I have some people for you to meet."
Avenger	Avenger frowns...well, that was troublesome. He had cornered the King of Heros, but it wasn't quite enough...     All he could do now was survive...something that Avenger was /clearly good at/. The Gate opens, spilling out noble phantasm after noble phantasm. He was all he could to to just keep ahead of them, each one faster than expected, but not too fast as to overwhelm him completely. What he couldn't avoid, he moved just enough to not waste energy on dodging that would only hurt him more. The blunt of his attack is weathered...even if after wards, the King of Caves is bleeding. Even if parts of his body are slashed and cut open.     He has suffered worse to survive...and right now, he steps forward...     Only to stop as Haguro restrains herself. Looking back towards her, then at the king, he grins. "Ah, very well my Conspiritor. Well, oh King of Gold, it appears today is...inconclusive. However, I acknowledge your respect, and mercy today." he says, with a slight bow.     With a turn, he moves to leave with Haguro, but does so at her own pace.     "Meet, hmm? Perhaps it is time to take stock of your allies, hm?"
Evangeline	Evangeline follows Haguro for a short distance until she is sure that Haguro and most of the others are retreating, then she turns around and heads back to the damaged attacking ships where she helps to ensure that any ships which are still floating are secure and any people still in the water are retrieved. She did have an order to obey, even if she doesn't particularly care for the person who gave it.      Once things are settled, she starts off in the direction that Shigure went. Another order had been given, and she has to follow it as well. But, she does turn toward Gil before she goes. "...I do not believe you represented the Paladins well here..." is all she says before she continues on her way.