Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Sanary Rondel -PREVIOUSLY-

Tensions had built in the kingdom of magic and swords since Kanon's plot involving the two royal families was revealed. Elites involved in the kingdom's situation met with the old wizard and a plan of action was made to bring peace back to the kingdom: Unite the loyalists to the current crown and those seeking to restore the former crown against humanity's common enemies of the Sky and Earth Spirits.

-NOW-

Since the Elites' last meeting with Kanon, the wizard has been hard at work figuring out when and where they would be able to intercept the Sky Spirits. It had taken a few weeks, but once the trajectory of the Sky Spirits' palace was determined, the wizard sent out a summons to have the Elites reconvene at the castle to meet with the king and gain his blessing.

Despite their pre-battle prep involving the king himself, though, the castle is still oddly quiet. Soldiers are posted around the castle, of course, and armed guards wielding their kingdom's swords and donning their captain's colors are keeping a close-ish eye on the Elites. Nobody's moving supplies around, nobody's preparing the soldiers to move out, and there's even break rooms full of knights not doing anything in particular beyond eating identical sandwiches or sipping from unidentical mugs.

The bearded wizard Kanon is standing in front of the throne room, flanked by both Valgar in his usual black armor with the massive shoulderpads and skinny jeans as well as Serena in her usual red armor with her blade sheathed on the same side where her shield is held in her left hand. The princess, in turn, is flanked by Sanary as she inspects the Skeleton Warrior's golden armor, the undead knight just standing there like a statue.

"You've come. Good. We strike at the Sky Spirits today, but we'll be moving against the Earth Spirits soon. I trust you've all finished your preparations?" Kanon runs a hand through his beard before turning back to the gathered Elites with an odd smile that has Valgar frowning.

"And do be on your best behavior. You'll be meeting the King soon."
Zenos yae Galvus Above the kingdom, several half dozen airships of the gunship class have descended from the sky to hover around the castle and city both.  They bare the same colored steel of Garlemald and proudly fly her colors.  One of the ships lands, a bit later, and opens the front hatch.  

From it, walks Zenos yae Galvus, General of the Garlemald military.  He walks apace as he does normally, clad in his dark armor, with his helmet that obscures his fair features.  With him are several fully armored soldiers, each one wielding a gunblade.  They are clad from head to toe in uniform Garlean steal armor.  One of their number's armor is read, probably a leader of some type.  

Behind them are more numerous regular forces, who are less uniform, each one seemingly a different race of man.  They are clad in black and dark red armor, wielding dark steel weapons, and shields if they are carrying them.  Zenos holds a hand up to his troops, who spread out along the airship and maintain position.  They do not draw weapons but simply stand guard.  

The obviously elite guard walk with Zenos inside.  Eventually coming towards the waiting room as the warning about best behavior comes.  Zenos rolls his eyes, but luckily the motion is muted by his armor.  

"I am the Heir apparent of my nation, I know the art of statecraft.  Do not confuse me with the rest of the savages," Zenos says calmly.  "I have brought the forces and transports promised."
August Kohler August Kohler approaches the throne room, moving to stand near the undead knight, who he calls SK (pronounced Skuh). He's dressed in a thick coat, hiding the revolver and combat knife he wears almost always. He has an exposed mirrored bracelet on his wrist, and a pair of black gloves covering his scarred hands.

"Best behavior. I'm known for that." It's slightly sarcastic, as August speaks to Sanary, whispering slightly. "Anything happen while you were here waiting?" She's one of his now, so August is hoping she'll keep him in the loop if Kanon did anything suspicious. When it's time to enter, August will be ready.
Krusty     The arrival of Krusty and his fellow guild members if far less uniform than that of the Garlemald troops. The collection of adventurers ride in on horses to gather inside the castle walls. Their numbers aren't very large. But what they lack in quantity they make up for in loudness, as the group chatters amongst each other, talking about the excitement of visiting a new world and participating in a royal quest to assault a sky dungeon.

    Krusty is, of course, a lot more sedate. He's wearing his heavy armour at this point, ready for the following battle. He dismounts from his horse and proceeds inside, meeting up with the other elites at the entrance to the throne room. He nods to them in greeting before focusing on Serena and giving her his usual bow, "A pleasure as always, Princess. A group of my best stand ready to assist in the fight." He doesn't respond to Kanon, still cautious of the old man. Plus his cool, collected attitude should be sufficient evidence of his ability to behave.

    Krusty then turns to speak to Zenos, "I saw outside the transports you offered to provide. An impressive display. I expect they will be of great assistance to us in reaching the home of the Sky Spirits."
Tomoe The last meeting with Kanon had been somewhat productive still it left Tomoe being very wary of Wizard. He will almost certainly try to pull something at some point.

The Salamander arrives by flight under her own power and lands without much fanfare thinking about the message. The Sky Spirits had been located which would indicate it was time to go, Tomoe has made what preparations she was able to and was soon to arrive. As she's greeted the towering woman nods slightly.

"I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be and I plan to be on my best behaviour do not worry."

She also does fall in with Krusty and his people she too bows for the Princess.

"Princess."

She seems ready to go and will attempt to not waste any time.
Staren     The Star Hawk has landed outside, still missing its left arm and with dents in the armor here and there. Staren walks into the room where the others are meeting in his flightsuit, taking the helmet off and carrying it under one arm. "Mmh." He grunts somewhat non-commitally in response.

    Honestly he's wondering how it came to be that Kanon's trusted again, but everyone else is going along with it and the Earth and Sky spirits /are/ quite possibly threats, so...
Riku Riku arrives, stepping out of a dark hole that opens up near the castle and simply walking in. He's dressed as casually as he was before, apparently finding this situation no more deserving of formal attire than his previous visit.

The sight of the Garleans gets a squint from Riku as he walks past, but he says nothing. Kanon's appearance gets him to swivel his gaze directly onto the wizard, his eyes hard as he watches the man. "I was ready before we left the last time. Let's get this over with. Besides, isn't SHE supposed to be the one sitting on the throne?" He gestures to Serena.
Note     As always, Note's dressed ready for combat! The red and yellow outfit probably doesn't stand out a bit next to the crazy gaggle who are readying for this operation, and she's short enough to be easily missed. Which is probably why...

    "HEY!" To get some attention, she leaps up from just pacing about and hovers so her head's at other people's eye levels, letting her tail dangling in the air behind her!

    "I'm prepared as I can be! Only got the one strategy to work with. But weren't we gonna scout? Or even check up on these guys to see if they're still a problem...? Or something? If we just barge in on 'em, of COURSE they'll be fighting back..."

    It seems she is very troubled that the group has only Kanon's word to go on regarding these supposed spirits.
Stella     'Best behavior' is not something that's usually an issue with Stella, considering the fact the crystal girl is typically quiet and still as a statue, acting only with deliberate intent when told to by someone.

    She's still working on that whole 'finding her own voice' thing Staren and Septette suggested. It's hard.

    But she is, at least, somewhat excited, for a given meaning of the word, to meet a king. Any king, usually. It's like knights. A bit less than knights, but not unlike knights.

    A side-glance at Note.

    "I do not think flying about is considered best behavior," matter-of-factly.
Sanary Rondel The arrival of the Garlean airships and the Star Hawk has the populace understandably wary, and even the Royal Knights are on edge as Zenos and Krusty come forward until Valgar signals to them that no, this (probably) isn't an invading force. Conversely, the more adventurey-looking sorts of August, Note, Riku, Staren, Tomoe, and Krusty's guild members barely get a second glance as they look the part of adventurers (much like the Elites) rather than an outright army.

Stella, meanwhile, is the only one of the Elites here that actually has the Royal Knights looking less on-edge around, likely by virtue of her past assistance and despite her being the least human-like as far as her actual behavior goes.

Good crystal.

Kanon, meanwhile, just chuckles wearily while he adjusts one of his shoulderpads. Such large shoulderpads even for an old man. "Good to know you're at least dressed well-enough to be here. Mostly." He shrugs and taps his rod on the floor once. "It should be fine as long as you're not wiping your noses on a banner, and you'll have your chance to ask the King what you will."

Sanary raises a hand in greeting towards August as he arrives, shaking her head once before turning back to SK. "Nah, we've just been waiting. Still don't think those two like him any, but what else is new?" She jerks a thumb back towards Serena and Valgar, who are both keeping a close eye on Kanon despite standing at opposite ends of the throneroom door.

Riku's question about who should or shouldn't be sitting where gets mixed reactions. Understandably, Valgar disapproves! Serena approves. "We can leave that for after the threat of the Spirits is eliminated. I'm sure the King will do what's best for the kingdom by then." Kanon chuckles heartily at that, undoubtedly plotting something to spin the whole situation into something that'll make him look just great.

Note's question about scouting draws a more tired sigh from the wizard. "I've taken care of all the intel gathering. We know where they all are, and I wouldn't be telling you all this if it wasn't our-and /MY/- best options here."

A pause, and then Kanon strokes his beard. "No, killing the Spirits is certainly our best option, but if we don't pursue the Sky Sprits first... Hm. The Earth Spirits may not like us for  what we did before, but we can use revenge against the Sky Spirits. They should be easy enough to fool with that, and then we can remove them once the Sky Spirits are finished."

Kanon raises an eyebrow when he hears a cough from the door to the throne room, and both Valgar and Serena turn that way as the Royal Knights stationed in the area all salute in unison.

The King arrives, and he smiles warmly as he waves the Elites in. The resemblance to Valgar is uncanny, albeit on the more chiseled side complete with a square jaw, a boxy hairline, and standing at over 6 feet tall even with that slight hunch of his. Kanon bows and steps inside, followed by the prince, the former princess, the zombie, and the healer.
Sanary Rondel ( MUSIC: https://youtu.be/wsMlGKq-xlE )

"Thank you for the audience, King Valgar. Everything is being finalized as we speak." Kanon gestures towards the Elites. "We will begin our assault on the Sky Spirits shortly. Once they're eliminated, we will move on to the Earth Spirits and-"

He stops as the King moves with surprising agility even for someone that looks less like an athlete and more like a bodybuilder. THe King is already in front of Kanon in that instant, and he raises his hand.

"Foolish human. Did you really think you had control over the Earth Spirits? You are finished. Did you think we'd forgotten that you helped the Sky Spirits banish us to darkness?" Before Kanon can utter anything else, the King brings his hand down on Kanon's head, pivots on one foot, and swings him around his own body once before hurling Kanon into the wall with a painful crunch.  "You don't realize it at all.  Your king ceased being human.  Our power will soon be complete.  Humans need not fight the Sky Spirits.  That mission belongs to us, the Earth Spirits."

The king throws both hands into the air, and a pillar of light erupts from his body. When the light clears moments later, a demonic looking woman clad in purple and black stands before the Elites. Like most of the prominent figures in this world, she's just as statuesque and donning just as large shoulder pads along with purple bat-like wings on her back.

"Humans, don't be afraid! I, Xenovia, rule of the earth spirits, one of the two species Kanon spoke about. I've observed many human battles over the centuries,but you seem to possess something different than those I've seen before.  So now I will share a secret with you.  Kanon didn't tell you everything you need to know.  Listen and you shall learn the absolute truth.  I will show you the real evil."

The stationed knights don't know how to react. They look towards Valgar for guidance who shoots the newcomer a suspicious glare. "Another trick, huh? I'm getting tired of all these magical jokers throwing their weight around... If she is the leader, then let's just kill her and finish half the job right here!"

Serena, meanwhile, doesn't raise her blade towards Xenovia yet. "If there's information she has that Kanon didn't, then we should hear her out first." She leaves the possibility of killing Xenovia afterwards go unsaid.

"... Hey, do we care if the old guy dies?" Sanary chimes in after the prince and princess, squatting by Kanon and leaning around to check his wounds. "I can probably fix him if we need him alive, but... Uh. We could just leave him, too." She shrugs lightly, not seeming to really care much about the wizard's fate.
Krusty     Well. That was unexpected.

    Of all the possible ways Krusty had anticipated this meeting going, the King turning into a demon-not just any demon, but leader of the earth spirits-was probably very very far down his list. Some sort of betrayal was certainly high up, though Krusty was expecting it more from Kanon. Or even the Prince or Princess. Even the real King, trying to maintain his hold on the throne. But the earth spirits leader? Yeah, that's a bit of a curve ball.

    Krusty naturally draws the large two-handed axe that's on his back. He doesn't immediately attack though, both willing to listen to the reveal of the so-called 'absolute truth' and using the time her talking provides to consider the battle situation and plan things out.
August Kohler August nods to Sanary. Good to know. As everyone moves in, August awaits the audience with the king, allowing Kanon to speak first. He's never met the man or seen him, but how bad could he be?

The king kicks Kanon's ass. August immediately draws his revolver, as the king is revealed to be some sort of demon woman. But he doesn't fire immediately, mostly because Serena says they should hear her out.

And also because August needs to line up a headshot. The revolver is aimed, moving for her head, but he waves one hand forward to indicate her to speak.

As soon as she's finished...he's going to move to shoot her in the head. Without fail. It doesn't matter what she has to say - she's a monster, and she's part of the enemy. They can't trust her, but whatever she says might be useful for the war against the Spirits.
Riku Riku walks in, looking over the throne room without much reaction. The King's appearance draws barely a glance.

However, his BEHAVIOR gets far more attention. Riku flicks a hand, and Soul Eater is instantly there in a flash of darkness, but he doesn't move as the King simply smashes Kanon.

Riku shrugs at that. "Well, that solves a problem." He says, not moving an inch to help the obviously treacherous wizard. He instead turns to the false King. "Say your piece." He says to Xenovia, remaining on guard. When Kohler fires, Riku will make his own move. Gunshots are a good signal for some strange reason.
Note     Note is NOT PLEASED with Kanon's assertion that He Has Everything Under Control. That's been the whole problem with her involvement with this mess so far. But with Stella criticizing her, she sends the golem a sort of 'mind your business!' glare... but lands anyways, looking vaguely pouty at such chastisement.

    Had Stella not intervened, she might've gone so far as to start poking the Wizard's nose. Instead she adopts the grouchiest face ever, folds her arms, and looks away from him.

    When the King arrives though, Note's among the first to notice for some strange reason. Her attention snaps STRAIGHT to him, eyes widening in awed surprise.

    Kanon makes his appeal... and... pays for it, rather dearly. Note WINCES. She didn't like him one bit...

    She however, decides to take a somersault LEAP across the room to where Kanon impacted and Sanary's hanging around to check how badly he was hurt...

    She lowers her voice here to try and avoid Xenovia hearing... "He's a jerk but he's a jerk who knows a lot of stuff. Magic stuff. Might need that stuff! Maybe he'll get nicer too after getting hit on the head. Isn't that how it usually works with bullies?" That might be a leap of logic, really, but...

    But, believing Sanary will save him, Note starts walking - slowly- towards Xenovia, stopping near one of the pillars. "... How long were you the King? I thought Kanon was tricking the King and stuff... this is getting REALLY confusing now. I wanted to speak with you Earth and Sky Spirit people but..." This isn't quite how she imagined it going.

    "Really, REALLY was wondering why there had to be any big war at all. Though you feel pretty darned strong! I'd love a good match! ... anyway, evil what?"
Tomoe It looks like everyone was here for the most part and they were ready, the more question about scouting is a good one and she's thought Krusty and his people with the DDD guild where handling it. She is starting to squint at the Wizard through with his plan there may have been mistakes they can deal with them in a bit right? She will take note of the King as she arrives. Then the King does something she does not expect and even with all her experience it takes her a moment to act, she'll fall in to help aid Krusty's back liners to have something between them and this and the apparent now Earth Spirit King. Oh, this is something I did not see coming here. The smackdown of the old Wizard is so fast and so brutal she actually shocked at it and more so when the King becomes some sort of demon woman from the looks of it.

She has her sword and shield out at this point. She keeps ready whatever she thinks of the old Wizard. She is unaware of August's plan and she's holding back to hear what she has to say for the moment but gets the feeling they will just be used.
Staren     Oh F---.

    Staren backs away from the 'king'. He feels exposed, confronting an enemy without at least a powered exoskeleton -- although his flightsuit provides better armor coverage than the labcoat, at least. He puts on his helmet and pulls an oversized revolver from his bag, sliding on an attached arm brace.

    Outside, the Star Hawk stands and approaches, ready to punch through a window.

    As the subject of Kanon is brought up, Staren runs over to him. If the Earth Spirits are a problem, he probably *does* know something useful.

    He'd like to hear what the earth spirits have to say in case it's something self-incriminating, but August is pounding the RENEGADE INTERRUPT button, and in the circumstances Staren can't blame him.

    Staren grunts as he lifts the wizard and then jumps out a window if there's one big enough, or the Star Hawk punches a hole in the wall if not. Either way, Staren reunites with his robot while, barring further dramatic interference, Kanon is beamed up to the ship for medical treatment.
Stella     That's not a king at all, it's an Earth spirit!
    A queen, at best, really.

    And the reveal is so abrupt and sudden that Stella doesn't have time to interfere. At least Staren has medical equipment. Whether that'll be enough, one can only hope. Kanon is probably still useful.

    But since other people make it a point NOT to leap at Xenovia's throat, and for that matter, neither do the knight or the princess, Stella doesn't overstep her position.

    It's pretty convenient someone they resolved to kill just showed up in front of them, though!
Zenos yae Galvus There is a flash of insight once the king enters the room.  For a brief moment, Zenos' mannerisms are more...off.  Like he was gone for just a moment, and the man is almost never a man with his head in the clouds.  However, it lasts just long enough for the 'king' to do what he does, and transform.  

Zenos takes a few steps towards the Leader of the Earth Spirits.  At least the spirit proved useful to his overall goals, but right now...

"People of this kingdom!  Look at these Spirits.  Look at how they infect your people!  Kill your leaders!  This is what these things do...they live in deceit and madness.  Only following their thirsts.  Do not be deceived by their honeyed words or their offers of power from the dark...lest you be consumed like the king here."  

"You call them spirits, but in my world, we have another name for them.  Eikons.  Primals.  Leaches that feed off the world and drain the souls of man.  I can see the fear in your hearts, but today, I shall show you that even 'gods' can die." he says, and marches towards the Queen.

In his hand, a blade is drawn, as he looks right towards her.  

"Though, in our world, they know better than to challenge the might of Garlemald.  A lesson I shall send to your kind.  You have claimed your last life, Eikon."

And with that, the power around Zenos manifests.  He is no normal human, even by the standards of Elites.  His eyes flash with a red light, as the power of the Resonant washes over him.  The spirit will know at a moment that this a man that can not be swayed.  This is a man who is created to kill things like her.
Sanary Rondel Xenovia doesn't look surprised in the least when the Elites all seem to be (mostly) united in raising their weapon towards her. And why not? She /did/ just hurl their (until now) info dump into a wall. Luckily for Kanon, one of their number decides that YEETING him out of there is a better solution than leaving him to die with his neck bent in one direction, his body in another, and part of his arm going somewhere it shouldn't.

What did Kanon ever do to deserve all this?

As the white-clad healer rejoins the rest of the Elites with her weapon drawn, Xenovia turns to Note first. "Decades. The King's body was strong, but his heart was weak, and we had no trouble overpowering him. We knew what Kanon was up to, but we needed the humans' power to help us gain our freedom. As for the secret, you..."

She pauses, taking note of the apparent mistrust from... Pretty much everyone. She doesn't look surprised, and even laughs haughtily after a moment. "Good. You are brave, and yet you're not naive." Zenos' speech to the knights has her squinting,t hough, as does Valgar while he draws his own blades in preparation to skewer Xenovia once she finishes speaking.

"You will now face our people. Should you defeat us, I will acknowledge you as true ^warriors!" Xenovia's head snaps back as August's bullet smacks her right in the face, although there's no satisfying spray of blood or crumpling body following the impact. Instead, her head just tilts forward while that haughty laugh erupts from her once again despite the gaping hole in her forehead. The hole closes back up as Xenovia raises her hand and smashes it into the ground, causing massive pillars of flame to erupt around her and threatening to immolate everyone that doesn't move. Valgar leaps halfway across the throne room to avoid getting incinerated, Serena's shield holds up surprisingly well as she uses it to leap towards Xenovia with a downward slash, and Sanary drags her ice-imbued axe blade across her coat to put out the flames that she didn't quite avoid. The Skeleton Warrior, meanwhile, takes the firey pillar directly, getting launched into the ceiling and practically shrugging it off as he joins Serena in plunging towards Xenovia with the blade.

The Royal Knights aren't faring so well in comparison. Some get caught in the flames, some are freaking out, and others start calling out targets as holes left in the throne room's ground start to widen with creatures pouring out from the depths. Chunky little goblins with spiked clubs, flying gray creatures with spiked tails, and gray mushroom-y things with creepy tentacles all start to attack those present in the throne room!
Zenos yae Galvus With his power now fully active, he sees the attack coming.  Right now it isn't about the challenge, but the overall goal of keeping the hearts of man focused on himself.  He orders his personal guard to fall in to fight with the normal soldiers, while his own garrison at the front of the castle is ordered to move in.  

The blast comes, and Zenos moves with perfect action, his sword swinging down with an equal force, knowing where to strike and scatter the blow around himself.  With a flash of his motion, he appears to the right of Xenovia.

His sword comes out in a wide arch, aiming to cut through her body, aiming to try and cleave her form in twain.  However, now she was under the scrutiny of his power.  He would figure out how she kept herself alive, and how to best make sure she would not leave this place living.

"I'm not interested, Eikon.  Only with the death of your kind can humanity in this world be truly free," Zenos says, evenly.  
Riku So they save the Wizard anyway. Whatever. The teen will just stab him later when he does his treacherous thing.

The moment Xenovia moves to begin her assault, darkness washes over Riku's body, replacing his clothing with that strange purple suit. He practically blurs as he leaps off of the floor, flipping to impact one of the columns and rebounding off of it across the room as he slashes at Xenovia in passing. To him, the floor may as well be lava for all he seems to insist on staying off of it, even going so far as to rebound in the air with a pulse of magic to double-jump and keep his height up every so often.

The enemy, after all, /is/ an earth spirit.
Tomoe Tomoe keeps her weapon at the ready as she looks to the Earth Spirit she seems ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. She's not entirely shocked when Zenos issues the order to attack. There's no time to worry about it now it's time to get into the mix of things. She sees the Garleans going in, they are professionals she knows that much, Krusty and his people are skilled she's worked with Krusty and elements of his guild on and off for a while though as the battle gets going she will see the Royal Knights need help and she'll move in to their aid pipping a defence buff on the Royal Knights to help them endure this she's also trying to pull the earth spirits on to her so they attack her over the knights.

"I will keep their attention!"

The Garleans have the same idea and mind and she'll attempt to work in consort with the Imperial troops. Aiming to do what she does best, draw fire so others don't get hit. Thought he is going to end up being painful for her as she engages.
Krusty     Krusty is concerned about the lack of information they have about this woman's abilities. The display of power shown by Xenovia's regeneration just proves that his concerns are legitimate. And also begins to make him wonder if she is currently killable. Combined with the declaration of a test of strength, it would seem that the death that Zenos and August clearly seek may not be so easily achieved.

    But they have to start somewhere.

    Krusty raises a hand to cover his ear for a moment. Shortly after that, his body is encased in a subtle aura of light as he activates his Cool Defense skill. Boosting his ability to reduce damage he receives, Krusty lowers into a ready stance and then charges forward.

    As Krusty reaches the group of goblins that has begun to collect ahead of him, he doesn't start swing his axe. Or alter his charge. He just barrels straight into them, leveraging his strength and heavy armour to bowl over those who don't move, no doubt injuring a few just from the impact. As he charges, he's heading straight for Xenovia.

    Far behind the fight, the entrance to the throne room begins to get loud with the sounds of battle cries. Shortly after, the adventurers that Krusty had brought with him burst through the doors. Their excitement is palpable as they dive head first into the growing collection of earth monsters. Melee fighters clash against the goblins, archers take up the rear to unleash their arrows against the gray fliers, while magic casters unleash their elemental spells on the creepy tentacle monsters.
Stella     Flame pillars erupt around the room. Stella does not move, and disappears in the roaring flames. Her body deforms in the intense heat, crystal cracking and melting and simultaneously - but healing just as quickly. The flames are cover, more than they're a threat.

    A prismatic blade of crystal surges out of the pillar of fire, straight for Xenovia. The flickering flames reflect off its surface, the blade superheating itself in response. If it impacts her, it'll explode in a fiery gush trying to consume her - if it hits the wall behind her, it'll erupt in a pillar of fire not unlike her own, horizontal instead, aimed at her from behind - if it's stopped in the air, it'll explode outright, sending flames and crystal shrapnel in every direction.

    Stella is thorough, when it comes to weaponizing her own body. And focused, in her choice of targets.

    She won't be in view until Xenovia's own flames die down, advancing from the pillar that had consumed her. Color returns to the scorched parts of her body, soon pristine and glimmering like crystal again.

    This is a test of power.
    Finally something she can understand and excel at.
August Kohler The mirrored bracelet is raised to eye level after the bullet impacts. "Persona."

In a flash of dark red and grey, the large black knight in power armor appears, holding his big mechanical buster sword taller than he is, as the fire sears across the floor. Dietrich is hit by it...but is resistant to the flames, which lick against its armor and then are quickly repaired as the damage begins to mend itself, August staggering only slightly from the heat before he moves to leap onto Dietrich's back and hold onto hand-rails.

"We're going to kill you, and then the rest of your people before they can threaten humanity again. You think you've seen impressive? Let me show you some goddamn human spirit." Suddenly, Dietrich lurches forward in a sudden burst of speed, zigzagging against further fire pillars, and moving to just slam that sword into Xenovia with a powerful, incredibly strong strike. If it misses and hits the ground, it's going to leave a crack, but that'd be followed up by a spin and another swing into Xenovia's side. Darkness suddenly blitzes over the blade in the process, moving to empower the strike with elemental energy and try and further damage the spirit queen.
Staren     Oh, the Earth Spirits are some of THOSE people. The kind that kill a bunch of people and then go 'Ohh, it was only a TEST, to see if you're worthy!' Yeah, screw that.

    "I got a better idea: Should we defeat you, you'll be fuckin' dead!" The Star Hawk's gatling railgun spins up and takes aim at Xenovia... but then goblins start crawling up out of holes in the floor, so Staren refocuses on them, firing bursts of hypersonic metal at the holes that goblins are climbing out of, while Staren scrambles up the arm, the cockpit opens, and he uses a grapple-gun device to pull himself in before it closes again.
Note     An AWFUL lot's happening at once. With Zenos declaring WAR out of nowhere and others just going hostile, Note clenches a fist in frustration. As much as she loves a good fight, that's very different from what's being proposed here...

    But it looks like they have no choice. "All of this mess 'cuz nobody wants to talk reason... alright, FINE. Have it your way! I was -trying- to be a little more responsible than normal..."

    As chaos erupts around her, Note focuses her energy with a long shout, and her power comes out as a gale-force white aura that cracks the floor beneath her. Remaining untransformed, she simply ducks low and dives for a few of the nearest Goblins, seeking to bowl them over with well-placed palm thrusts, grab them and fling them into their colleagues, trip them up and kick them into pillars, and fire a few mild Ki blasts from her palms at some of the fliers!
Sanary Rondel After that initial shock, the Royal Knights gather their wherewithal and put up a valiant effort in fighting against the creatures emerging from the depths. What they lack in skill and raw power, they make up with in heart and the desire to show the power and will of humanity!

Also, numbers. For each soldier that's beaten down, two more arrive to take their place. Gargoyles rain down fire while goblins swing away with their spiked clubs and ropers coil themselves into stakes to fling themselves at their human(oid) opposition. Despite the fight being a test of strength, however, there's quite a lot of blood being spilled!

Thankfully, most of the blood being drawn from the brawling earth spirits against the humans (and allies) is from the former rather than the latter. Between Tomoe moving in to draw the attention of the minions and Krusty barrelling right into them, it doesn't take much for most of the (figurative) heat to be turned their way while Staren and Note fire upon the minions with impunity. Some of the goblins do aim their clubs at Note with slow, heavy swings while some of the gargoyles spit fire out of their mouths at Staren, but their attention is largely focused on the tanks of the group!

The Earth Spirits certainly aren't the smartest combatants as they just beeline for whoever's the closest front of them without any sort of strategy or maneuvers, apparently relying more on sheer numbers and raw strength and speed to overwhelm their opposition even as they themselves are being tossed about, sliced apart, shot down, and blasted by both metal and ki. Serena and Valgar both take advantage of this weakness as well, with the former joining the frontliners (along with the Skeleton Warrior charging in with her) to ease their burden in tanking attacks from the swarm of Earth Spirits while the latter zips in and out of range with blinding speed to slash them to ribbons. Sanary works on fixing up the injured soldiers and cleaving apart goblins crazy enough to come near her.

When Zenos and Riku move in to strike, Xenovia doesn't look caught off guard in the slightest. She isn't moving fast enough to evade either of them, and she merely raises her arms to defend herself as those slashes come in succession. As with August's shot earlier, no blood is spelled, but the wound lingers as large gashes are cut out of her arms and sides. Stella's explosive blade hits its mark, and the flames scorch her front while launching her back and away from the two right in front of her.

The healing begins rather quickly, but it seems to be slower where the flames still linger. When Dietrich comes in with his massive blade, Xenovia once again defends against the blow with only her left arm, getting sent flying back by the impact! Or... Rather, she purposely uses the force of the blow to get some distance from the frontline fighters. Tellingly, however, the right arm appears to have healed considerably while the left arm is still cracked and with gaping holes in spots!

Oddly enough, though, it doesn't seem like she's healing with any sort of magic at all. Is this just Earth Spirit physiology? Whatever the case is, though, Xenovia grits her teeth as that smiling facade fades.

"I ^underestimated you.  You have come this far, but you cannot turn back now.  We no longer have to hide behind humans and hoard our power.  The time has come at last!  We will destroy the sky spirits!  You foolish humans will vanish with them!" Xenovia utters a gutteral roar that sounds unlike anything a human could even possibly make as she leaps back swiftly, then launches herself towards EACH of the Elites in rapid succession legs-first, practically torpedoing herself into them with freakish speed!
Staren     The Star Hawk moves, trying to dodge the fire, though it clips its side and scorches spots on the armor there. Staren responds by directing his fire at the gargoyles (missed shots, and even those that hit, probably go through the opposite wall. Oh Well.

    "Wow. You really wanna die, huh? You have your soldiers charge at us mindlessly, and then declare your attempt to slay us all while surrounded by warriors! You weren't even competent enough to let us take out the sky spirits before stabbing us in the back. The only thing keeping you alive this long has been people /over/-estimating you, I'm sure -- otherwise Kanon probably could have manipulated you to your own demise single-handedly!"
Zenos yae Galvus "Ah.  So that is it," Zenos says, with a smile.  "Your powers are not all that you make them out to be, Eikon." Zenos says, as his analysis cuts to the heart of the matter.  In the end, like most things...just hit them hard enough.

The feet come for him, and the sword blocks against the attack, but the force was enough to cause the Garlean general to skid back.  Cracks form along his armor where the two collided.  However, he looks little affected...as his own wounds start to stitch.  

"You have underestimated much.  You have also revealed your true nature at last...how easily pressed you are!" Zenos laughs, mockingly.

However...

Three blades are dropped from the sky.  Landing around him.  Each one tethers a beam of energy to him, as a bubble of aether surges through him.  The Swords themselves start to pulse, drawing more of their aspected aether over time.

Each time enough ether is gathered, one sword releases a massive GALE, trying to sweep Xenovia from the air.  Another releases an electrical storm that attempts to hinder her movement and dull her speed, while a third fires streaks of fire in a line that seems to follow her with perfect movement and impossible speed.  

"Ahahaha!  Can you withstand this?  Do so, and you will finally see if you are capable of standing against me!"
Tomoe Tomoe has taken note of the waves as they drop one two more Earth Spirits show up, she also wonders how hard they all have been played by the Earth Spirits. She keeps fighting hacking slashing making use of her shield to slam into the seemingly endless horde of creatures. She'll keep up her supporting actions and does take note the Earth Spirits are not the sharpest tools in the shed from the looks of it and she'll attempt to play that out as the fight continues. She also sees whos going after Xenovia directly, good if the supporting forces can keep the hordes off the likes of Xenos and Riku? They should be able to do handle the lead Earth Spirit.

She'll keep the buffs up on the Royal Guard any DDD members or Garlean troops who are currently in range of her abilities as the battle rages on.

"How do you think this is going to end for your Earth Spirits?! You only do make that rat basta4rd wizard have a damn good point about you."

She does not expect much of a reply out of the enemy but something compelled her to make her thoughts known.
Stella     Xenovia crashes into Stella.

    Stella cracks, but stands her ground.
    Her hands reach out, and attempt to wrap themselves around Xenovia, as tightly as she can manage. Crystal spikes surge out of her body like tiny swords, and the golem stubbornly attempts to remain latched onto the Earth Spirit, despite the incoming triple-elemental storm.

    Actually, it would work out in her favor.

    As flames reflect off the glimmering surface of her damaged skin, Stella's body begins superheating itself, releasing the same kinds of flames as Zenos' from her spiked extremities.

    An obvious weakness should be exploited.
    And it's not like Stella cares about damage.

    But the clinging serves a secondary purpose. She reaches out with her senses. Is that regeneration like hers? Is Xenovia a being of earth? And if she is, what can she make out from that?

    It's important. Even if the information isn't tactically valuable, it's important to Stella to know how similar they are. And how that works.
Riku Riku slashes through and past Xenovia over and over again, but she just seems to begin trying to heal through it. "You have /no/ idea what you're doing, do you?" The teen asks the Queen. Her response, of course, is a terrifyingly potent leg-based assault. Riku flicks an arm up and moments before impact, a black form rises before him, taking the strike... And mitigating most of the crushing force.

This doesn't keep it from launching him straight into the wall, however, creating spiderwebbing cracks. He grunts, bouncing off the wall painfully. He launches off and air-tackles a gargoyle, twisting in the air and hurling it down at Xenovia before he follows up with a blast of darkness, hurling several spheres down at her. Finally, he comes down with a slash, driving down with a vertical impale.
August Kohler Dietrich slams into her and hits, but Xenovia is still fighting, and makes a horrible roar as she gets range, leaps back, and then launches herself at each elite swiftly. August isn't first...so he plans around it. If she finally launches at Dietrich, the massive sword suddenly unfolds into a chainsaw whip, and is lashed out to grab her by the arm. The already injured arm, that is. Since it's already cracked, August is going to try and wrap the blades of the whip around it...

Grind it down, and /rip it off/. August is hoping to dismember the Earth Spirit and see if it'll still regenerate, but in the process, she might still be able to kick into him, knocking Dietrich back and barrelling the two over. She'd be able to break out of the grip at that point, but hopefully sans arm.
Krusty     Krusty raises his arm as he sees Xenovia torpedoing towards him. She smashes into him feet first, causing him to skid back on the floor of the throne from from the impact. While he looks relatively unharmed on the outside, the pain on his face suggests otherwise.

    But as Xenovia moves off to attack someone else, Krusty doesn't immediately follow her. Keeping track of her actions thus far, along with a number of good points raised by the others, Krusty looks concerned, "There's something not right about this..." Something's nagging at him. And he has his suspicions. But right now it seems like the only option is to continue the fight.

    Krusty sweeps his axe out to his side, the blade of the weapon beginning to glow. He then swings it in front of him twice, sending twins crescents of light launching from the blade to cut into Xenovia further, trying to overwhelm her ability to regenerate.
Note     THIS kind of brawl is more Note's idea of a good time! At least her little corner of it. She's holding back significantly, not seeking to do more than beat the tar out of the Goblins and other things and leave them too winded and pulverized to get back up! This might lead to some broken bones, but she's avoiding vitals. The little martial artist is much nimbler than the goblins though, and swinging clubs at her kis met with willowy bending evasions and ducks, sidesteps, and SHARP KICKS TO THE GUT during the openings it provides. Her Ki blasts, while painful and burny, shouldn't be vaporizing anything.

    For all the good her merciful approach might do, being surrounded as she is by people who are being far more brutal about this whole matter.

    All until Xenovia decides that 'humans might as well perish with the Sky Spirits.'

    THAT brings Note grinding to a halt. A Goblin takes a swing at her with a club...

    But she reaches out with a hand and GRABS the spike, stopping the entire weapon cold.

    "What did you just say?!" And all this time she was HOPING that Kanon just had a bad experience...

    Note sucks in a breath... and begins to roar and stoke her power. With an explosion of light and a crack like thunder, golden light spreads through her aura to overtake the white... and after a half-second of seeping it ignites like a firestorm, causing her hair to spring upwards into a myriad of spikes, shifting from black to golden. She fixes now-green eyes on Xenovia, filled with a sudden ferocity that wasn't there before.

    "So much for the nice approach!" This transformation's done mere moments before Xenovia comes swooping in...

    And Note answers the call, diving straight into the blow with a FLYING KICK OF HER OWN, with an upsurge of strength far beyond what she was using on the Goblins and other goons.
Sanary Rondel "If you had listened without being so ready to strike me down, we could have worked together." Xenovia's body torpedo maneuver takes her upwards in defiance of gravity as her last target, the Skeleton Warrior, is carried up with her and slammed back into the ground via swift flip kick knocking it downwards.

It's only after that flip kick that Xenovia notices that her movements are being hampered, and she's heavier than she should be. There's a Stella attached to her! From such close range, it's easy to see that the leader of the Earth Spirits iscracking in multiple spots as the regeneration slows down, even more so when Stella turns up the heat and melts off chunks of Xenovia rapidly. If not for the lack of blood or what even seems to react like actual flesh, it'd be rather horrifying!

"But can you say that you didn't already resolve to kill us? That you didn't want to only listen long enough before killing us anyway? You humans are all the same... We cannot work peacefully. Defeating the Sky Spirits is our mission, and we will not let you get in our way!"

That seems to get the Earth Spirits riled up, starting to push back against the soldiers and adventurers as their melee continues around the throne room and spills further into the castle. Tomoe's continued efforts alongside Serena, Sanary, and Valgar keep them from making much headway against humanity's forces, though, as she holds their attention while Note pulverizes the distracted Earth Spirits.

As it is, Xenovia herself appears to be made of the earth itself given form and somehow able to move and fight against the Elites toe-to-toe, withstanding their relentless attacks even as she keeps falling apart. Zenos' triple elemental barrage is taken head on by the Earth Spirit, although apparently not by choice as Stella keeps her from being able to move all that well to begin with. The elemental barrage cleaves more chunks of earthen flesh off the Spirit, and Riku's improvised (gargoyle) body projectile strikes one of those weakened limbs hard enough that the stab from above cleaves it right off.

Her other arm, meanwhile, gets caught by Dietrich's chainsaw whip, and a tug of war begins! It lasts for all of a few seconds as she hurtles towards Dietrich as expected with another torpedoing kick just in time for Krusty's axe waves to come flying towards her. Between August's hold on the arm and the incoming blades of light, that arm is quickly removed as well by the time Note comes charging in to launch the Earth Spirit into a wall.

Truly, it looks like Xenovia should be dead already. Body parts are cracking off even as they grow back and wounds close only to reopen again moments later. Xenovia is sans arms, her legs are scorched and falling apart, and the leader of the Earth Spirits' facade is quickly crumbling despite laughter starting to reverberate in the throne room.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!  My dear humans... I am so angry at you human scum.  My blood boils!  Please excuse me while I slip into something more comfortable." Xenovia lets out one more haughty laugh before that inhuman roar erupts from her once again, and light bursts forth from her body. When the light clears, Xenovia is nowhere to be seen. Even the Earth Spirits who had been fighting the soldiers earlier have disappeared!

Instead, a massive winged snake has taken her place! It's covered in purple, white, and black scales not unlike what Xenovia was wearing earlier with arms nearly half its body length. It takes to the sky as a thin beam shoots out from its eye to sweep across the ground around the throne room. Moments later, flaming pillars erupt from the ground where the laser had drawn across, threatening to incinerate anyone in their path!
Staren     "It's too late to play the sympathy card now." Staren's voice booms from the Star Hawk's speakers, after Xenovia claims they were going to fight her no matter what. "There were more peaceful ways you could have contacted us. You're just mad you didn't think of a cleverer way to trick us now that I've already pointed it out."

    And then Xenovia turns into a giant snake. Staren is already out of the throne room and well-equipped to take to the air, so he dodges that attack easily.

    "COME ON! That's number thirty-four on the Evil Overlord List! 'I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.' You're not only a bigger target, but now that you're in the open we won't even cause any collateral damage fighting you!"

    Staren continues lecturing as the Star Hawk transforms into a fighter plane and flies around the flying snake, briefly deploying arms and legs to do impossible turns, sideways strafing runs, and other maneuvers impossible for a plane, firing the gatling railgun and a (one-handed) laser rifle.
August Kohler As the laughter reverberates through the room, and Dietrich begins to stand back up, uncoiling the arm from the sword-whip, Xenovia begins to transform. "Shit." August mutters, as the massive flaming pillars move across the ground. Dietrich suddenly bursts in speed to try and dodge, but gets clipped in the arm, burning black, and burning into August's shoulder as well. He screams in pain, even as the flesh begins to repair itself and the damage isn't as bad as it could be due to his resistance. August turns his pain into power.

Dietrich, with a burning, crippled arm, dashes around the pillars and moves for Xenovia's head. As the arm repairs itself, it slowly moves to grab the sword whip, and try and wrap it around Xenovia's massive neck as much as possible. It'll only barely get one loop around, but the chainsaw blades should catch on her scales, making it incredibly painful.

"You've had your chance." The chainsaw blades rip further and further into her neck, as August pulls with Dietrich's humongous strength. With everyone's help and attacks, hopefully, at the last second, he can /behead/ her with the sword.

Yep, he's almost forgotten all about the 'get the secret' part. He just wants her dead. "If you're going to tell us your secret, better do it now. Goodbye."
Tomoe "You replaced the King and have been manipulating thing for who knows how long?!"

Is Tomoe's report what the leader of the Earth Spirits have to say here, she also will keep alongside Sanary, Serena and Valgar for the moment as they help hold the tide back and let the other troops strike at the enemy. Then something happens which she should have seen coming that Xenovia is able to transform into a new form she'll call out to Serena and Velgar.

"Hold the line here I'm going in to help keep that thing under control!"

Her wings flare out bright red.

Given that there is a good source of light in here she can keep airborne somewhat as she flies right for Xenovia and has her shield up intending to crash into the Earth Spirit with as much force as she's able to do so. She will try to time her attack so her impact will hopefully put the Earth Spirit off balance so the likes of August, Krusty Stella, Riku and Xenos will have a far easier time just putting this Spirit down.
Riku "You're a bad liar." Riku says simply. "You're just trying to justify what you did after the fact. You want war? You got it."

But after Xenovia adopts a more... proper form, Riku falls back, taken aback for a moment. "Seriously?" He says, grating his teeth for a moment. "You just have to make everything more /difficult/, don't you?" The laser fires, and Riku dives into a swirling hole of Darkness moments before the ground erupts in flame.

Another hole opens up above and behind the snake, Riku dropping out of it to grapple onto her back and begin stabbing Soul Eater into her.
Stella     When Xenovia bursts and transforms, Stella is launched away, to crash into a wall, battered from the attacks she endured to deliver her own. As crystals burst from her skin and repeat the cracks and tears, she crawls out of the hole, standing on her one good leg while the other repairs itself from its cracked, barely intact state.

    A thin ray of fire blasts one of her arms off, exploiting the fact it was cracked and barely holding onto her shoulder in the first place. It starts regrowing, even as flames engulf Stella again.

    "I am not human," she states to the serpentine queen.
    "I am of the earth, like you," she adds.

    TECHNICALLY TRUE. Stella's a... meteor, technically, but presumably she originated somewhere and was of the earth there. Name aside, she would not consider herself a being of the sky. Or space.

    She slams her foot down, dozen crystaline shards bursting out of the ground and then firing towards Snake!Xenovia like large, pointy crystal arrows, which predictably enough, reflect the flames of her own strikes down below to become superheated, explosive projectiles.
Zenos yae Galvus "Ah...and as the fight continues, the more like an Eikon you become," Zenos says, with a smirk.  However, the Aether is ready.  The three blades finish channeling power into him.  The wave of fire washes over him, but the barrier of aether deflects the first part, and then he vanishes.  

He was fast, but now...

When the flames pass, he appears at the first blade, picking it up and swinging the very AIR ITSELF down in a massive wave of force towards the Spirit of Earth herself.  It howls worse than a tornado, as he was fully allowed to gather Aether. "SWELL!"

He appears by the lightning sword next, picking it up.  This time he swings it at her, as a violent thunderstorm erupts around her.  Lightning pounds the earth and the snake relentlessly.  The storm knows no end or at least appears not to.  "STORM!"

And then he vanishes again, picking up the blade of fire.  This time, he does not swing it at her at range, instead, he LEAPS across the field of battle in a massively speedy move.  The blade burns with a massive wave of aether, as he leaps to smash the weapon DIRECTLY into her.

Then an explosion of fire erupts in all directions, aiming to consume her body in the hellish explosion of aether.  "SWORD!" he erupts.  Laughing as the power continues to course through him.  "You are right, there is no peace between our kind.  You seek to subvert and control us.  You seek to bend us to your will and worship."

"Once you can not control us, you seek to kill us.  However, you have the power to do neither.  Now die, Eikon.  Fade into the wind like the false god you claim to be."
Note     POWER VS POWER doesn't work out that well for Note either, any better than it does Xenovia. While the Earth Spirit's slammed into a wall... the same thing happens to Note. The exchanged forces sends her flying back so hard that the moment of impact is little more than a thunderous explosion of DUST AND BRICK AND STONE and whatever else the throne room walls are made of.

    She picks herself back up from it after about five seconds though, covered in debris, wincing in pain, but not even slightly winded.

    Yeah. She gets back up just in time to see Xenovia transform! And Note's reaction? A bit of wide-eyed amazement. Is that appreciation, maybe? Her lips curve into a smile. "Heh.. alright, that's COOL." The power change is obvious to her, after all.

    Unfortuantely, this gawking leaves her ill prepapred to deal with a laser that doesn't seem to DO ANYTHING at first. Having never seen such a technique before, she simply sidesteps the laser and stands there, blinking at the winged snake. "You know--"

    KABOOOOOOOOOM! Everything becomes FIRE and Note's subjected to a searing pain that somehow leaves her skin much more scorched than her outfit. "Nnhhhhhh..." Just breathing through that was bad. She coughs and splutters, grabbing at her throat to try and BREATHE....

    But incinerated she is most certainly NOT. "Delayed... explosions... that's new...!"

    Something to look out for, definitely.

    Note lashes out in retaliation though, thrusting a palm towards Xenovia and unleashing a solid BEAM straighty for Xenovia's... well, everything.

    "I don't really get it either, Xenovia! If you live under the ground, isn't there lots of room down there? And there's plenty up here. And the Sky Spirits are up in the SKY... why's there gotta be any war? It's like you WANNA fight. Over NOTHING. Are you just that BORED or something?! 'cuz there's a hundred things you could be doing instead of THIS!"

    She lowers her hand. "But you're right. Bunch of people here were all 'lets go kill the Spirits, the Wizard who's been causing all kinds of trouble MUST be telling the truth' and didn't even wanna talk... but you're acting every bit the monster Kanon said you were!"
Krusty     Krusty raises his arm to protect his face as the laser sweeps over his position. The flames erupt upwards, engulfing him. But after they pass, Krusty is still standing there. His armor is a little scorched, the edges of his cape and tabard still smoking from the embers. He then looks up to view Xenovia's larger form.
    Seemingly shrugging off their damage and transforming into a giant snake is definitely something wrong. Though it's still not enough to make the nagging feeling within Krusty subside. But regardless of his concerns, the immediate threat is still obvious. He does take a step back though. Halting his own assault.

    "Artillery team, provide covering fire!"

    Many of the sorcerers amongst Krusty's group that are holding at the rear of the battle respond to his command. They quickly line up, beginning to channel their magic. Spell names are called out as the elemental blasts of various types are sent flying towards the flying snake.
Sanary Rondel What was once Xenovia doesn't quite respond like the humanoid Earth Spirit had earlier. Instead of speaking, it simply roars and howls, all of its efforts focused on combat rather than trying to hold any sort of meaningful dialogue with the Elites. That certainly makes things easier for everyone involved, althoug the fighting itself has become more intense with the increased power of the Great Earth Spirit.

Staren's aerial mobility gives him the edge when it comes to outrunning the creature, but the creature makes no effort to catch him physically. Instead, it opens up what had looked like its face. Energy gathers in that odd gap for all of two seconds before a massive beam of fire blasts out from it, aiming to engulf the Star Hawk in its path!

As it fires, however, Dietrich's sword whip wraps around the snake's neck and drags it back, cutting off the beam of fire after a few moments as it thrases about wildly. As with the strafing run, actual blood spurts from those wounds that get opened up, but it doesn't take them lying down as it twists itself around to jerk the Persona closer, staggering briefly when Tomoe's shield charge hits it out of nowhere. It doesn't stay still for long, though, as the Great Earth Spirit's fists become electrified shortly before it aims a massive hammer blow at Tomoe to smash her right into Dietrich!

With its focus on whats in front of it, however, it doesn't notice Riku disappearing and reappearing behind it to stab his sword of darkness into that scaly back. It swings itself around to dislodge the swordsman, taking to the sky once more before dropping backwards at the ground in an effort to crush him between itself and the architecture. By coming so close to the ground, however, it exposes itself to those crystals bursting forth directly. It roars again, but it sounds different from the previous ones.

Pushing itself back up as dust fills the air and the scent of burning blood wafts around the throne room, the Great Earth Spirit finds itself contending with Zenos' trio of sword maneuvers next. On its own, it would have little trouble flying with that massive burst of wind, absorbing that electricity with its charged fists to use for its own attacks, and devouring those flames with those pillars of flame it has favored so often in this very fight.

The Garlean general is not alone, however. He has allies in this fight, and blasts come from all directions that make it impossible to weather those attacks. Note's massive beam energy is met with a beam not unlike the one that was fired at the Star Hawk earlier, although the Great Earth Spirit's power is visibly dwindling as the clash of death lasers keeps it from budging. The barrage of sorcerous artillery courtesy of Krusty's squad tilts the beam struggle in Note's favor, and the combined elemental assault from Zenos scorches even the dragon's mighty hide from all angles while one of its arms is split the long way.

The creature lets loose one more blood-curdling scream, and those with magical senses can sense a great deal of power concentrating in the creature's core. Its tail raises as the spike on the end becomes visible, and it slams into the ground. Lightning starts to erupt through the throne room as the Great Earth Spirit lifts into the air once more. It blasts another laser into the ground beneath it not unlike those delayed lasers that created the fire pillars from before.

This time, however, the pillars don't go straight up. They blast in all directions, the flames from these pillars making the earlier pillars look like matches in comparison. The Great Earth Spirit itself is engulfed in those flames, and it erupts with another burst of light!

This time, hwoever, there's no transformation. The Great Earth Spirit is dead.
Staren     Ah, it's finally out of words. Instead, it is /clearly/ charging up for a beam attack. Staren puts his machine in a defensive posture... blocking with a shield that isn't there.

    He realizes his mistake and starts trying to dodge instead, but too late! The Star Hawk starts to tumble, armor glowing and melting on one side, but is able to right itself and land. It's meant to take some punishment, after all. Still, as it cools, the armor cracks and little metal pieces fall to the ground. Staren lets it stay on the ground in hybrid mode to cool off instead of running the thrusters, but this becomes a problem when it's at ground level for unexpected fire pillars!

    It withstands that too, but now it makes creaking and snapping sounds when it moves as thew armor's been roasted just about all over it.

    Fortunately, the foe is dead. Staren listens to how the others respond to this, curiously.
Zenos yae Galvus With the death of the spirit, he swings the blade down with a single motion.  He hides the effects of any wounds he has, as he turns towards the soldiers.  He walks towards them, once more speaking.

"Today, you have won your freedom from the corruption and manipulation of the spirits.  With the death of the Queen of the Earth Spirits, you are now free to continue this...but if you think the spirits of air will sit back then you are mistaken."

He continues to move, "There is no peace until all of these Eikons are destroyed.  Now cease your destiny...throw down the chains that you know are there.  It is time to kill these so-called gods, and take back the reigns of your destiny."
Krusty     The Great Earth Spirit is dead.

    There is a victorious roar from the group of adventurers as they begin congratulating one another on a successful battle. Already they are bragging about how many goblins they killed or the new level they just got.

    Krusty is a lot more sedate in the victory. The speech from Zenos gets a look from him, but otherwise he doesn't respond to it. He returns his axe to his back, before walking over to join the Prince and Princess, "It seems that the throne has become vacant. It may be necessary to expedite the ascension of one, or both, of you. An empty throne is dangerous."
Note     A final, desperate, spiteful attack of unleashing every erg of power she has. That's what Note faces in Xenovia's last moments. And it, as before, catches her almost completely by surprise. There's something to be said of such indirect attacks. SHOOTING THE GROUND should not be causing this sort of havoc, and that logic sees Note picked straight up off the ground and fling through the air, painfully tossed about by waves of flame and lightning and slammed again into a wall.

    THROUGH the wall. And quite a distance further.

    It'll probably take her a while to make her way BACK from that, assuming she's still conscious....
Stella     A snap and a crack as the flames die down and the queen falls, sending one last message to the golem. As Stella's head awkwardly tilts, stiffly, to stare in that direction, before her posture shifts and becomes normal again.

    She's not sure about the giant snake form, but maybe she wishes she could be that decisive and resolute, too.

    Well, there's nothing left here, then. The fact Valgar or Serena will need to step up to the throne is brought up, and Stella, looking back at the empty seat, muses aloud: "Perhaps two thrones would be ideal, since you still cannot act as one." It's not people-advice, it's kingdom-advice. "Or perhaps one will need to enforce their will on the other." But civil wars are dirty and inefficient. They divide power. That's not usually a good call.
Tomoe Tomoe has got in close has done some major damage to help bring the Queen of the Earth Spirits down once and for all or so it would seem but as she goes down one more burst of power comes Tomoe pops every defence ability she has at once. She takes it head on and it's not a good time for her, it's a very bad time for her as she's blown off her feet and she's rather smouldering in the wake of the blasts but when all is said and done. She staggers back to her feet after a moment and does seem to have taken it fairly bad that hit combined with the rapid pounding she'd been taking earlier she'll live through but it was a heck of a fight.

A thought passes into her mind and she speaks up it's clear she's not fond of it.

"Political marriage ... might be a possibility to unite both your bloodlines and keep the Kingdom stables but...I doubt it's appealing to either of you."
Riku Riku stabs and stabs and stabs. He tries to keep ahold of things, but the bodyslam attack causes him to leap off moments before impact, launching straight up... and bouncing in the air to come slashing back in. How do you even GET RID of this incredibly mobile teen? He clamps down on the creature, carving into it like he's looking for something while the others unleash their assaults... But the moment it starts screaming and gathering its power, Riku backs off, leaping into another Corridor of Darkness moments before it annihlates everything in the area. But Riku's not there to get vaporized...

And when the Spirit falls, Riku is back, hopping out of another Corridor, his suit vanishing and returning to his casual clothing as he steps forward slowly with Soul Eater. His hand dips into a pocket and pulls out containers. Containers with which he presses to the beast, collecting various swirling.... /stuff/ from it. Other containers gets bits of flesh and blood and such as he efficiently begins taking parts of it without saying a thing to anyone.
Sanary Rondel As the light from the Great Earth Spirit's destruction fades and all that's left are assorted chunks (mostly burnt), Xenovia's voice echoes through each person's head. The Elites, the royals, even the soldiers that had survived this ordeal.

"You are our enemy now.  We have nothing more to tell you.  Think how delighted he must be.  Nothing stands in his way now, and his great warriors have created."

As Xenovia's voice fades and the reality of the situation becomes more apparents, both Valgar and Serena look towards each other and the empty throne (which is also on fire). Before either of them can make their move or declare their intent, however, a more gentle light appears in front of the group of Elites. In that light, an angelic being appears clad in white with feathered wings flapping gently behind him.

For once, no shoulder pads.

"There is no need for more fighting, heroes. You did a great job.  Just as I desired, you have become great warriors.  You had more talents than I could have ever imagined." The angelic being smiles warmly, but there's a distinct lack of life in his eyes as well. "Those blinded by magic must remember humanity's true power.  Our giving humans magic was not a good idea... So we will never interfere again. You will lead your own lives from now on."

The reactions are mixed. Valgar's swords are slid back into their scabbards, but Serena's remains drawn as she keeps her gaze focused on the Sky Spirit.
"We've earned this rest. Our people can recover now." Valgar rumbles wearily.
"Will this peace last? How do we know that it will just end so conveniently?" Serena doesn't sound convinced.

That, the Sky Spirit doesn't answer. The suggestion of a political marriage has him raising his eyebrow, but is met with a resounding "NO" from both royals before he can chime in about that.

Sanary, meanwhile, continues on healing duty. Someone has to make sure more people aren't dying that don't need to be! Maybe not necessarily comfortable once they're conscious, but not dying at the very least.
Note     Note, coughing, spluttering, and MORE than a little winded, staggers through the hole in the wall, brushing off dust. She's back in her normal state, no more golden glow or spiky hair... but when she spots what's going on in here.

    "Huh?"

    Lays eyes on the angelic being. Who is far easier on the eyes than Xenovia was. "Just as YOU desired...?" She's a bit out of it, after that kind of a beating, but...

    "And here's the Sky Spirit, I guess! Do you guys really live atop of clouds somehow? That's cool." She sounds just a TAD wary, but sensing no apparent hostility from the angelic one she seems content to lean against a wall and glance around at the state of things.

    And then it dawns on her. The plan is kind of a flop.

    "... Now what?" She asks dumbly, glancing at Krusty.
Staren     "I suppose we can hear you out, if you truly want peace. But how can we be sure you're sincere?" Staren's voice comes from his machine. He's unsurprised that sky spirits look like angels. He kinda saw that coming after Xenovia's appearance. "This... is not a simple promise to be made today. I think, perhaps, the leaders of humanity and the sky spirits should meet, and work out terms of peace and how it can be guarunteed. Do you have any issue with that?"
Zenos yae Galvus Zenos looks towards the Sky spirit.  

He walks towards it, sword drawn and does not back away.  There is no movement for a moment, perhaps he waits for others to make their move.  However, after a moment, he acts.

"Who are you to limit humanity.  Who do you think you are?  There is no peace while your kind thinks to manipulate humanity.  You say the words, but they are lacking meaning."

The blade swings out, aiming for the head of the angelic being in a single motion.  

"This is how Garlemald deals with your kind.  Death to all false gods."
Tomoe Tomoe got the answer she expected but the idea needed to be brought up she looks to the Prince and Princess with an apologetic look on her face and now the Sky Spirits show themselves she looks to them long and hard for a moment but there is no sign that for the moment the Sky Spirits want to go to war right now.

She looks to the suggestion Staren has made she also has the full confidence That given the possibility that is a trap? They can handle it just from Zenos and Riku alone.

"So Krusty? Note?"

She has her lead she's just waiting out of the response to Staren it seems. She does seem suspicious of things here given all that's happened so far with this entire mess...

"Trusting your words seems to be rather hard at this point."
Krusty     It never rains, it pours.

    A sky spirit makes itself known to the group. With a superior attitude at that. That alone is enough to cause concern. For a couple of reasons.

    But now, things are quickly heating up again. Before any proper discussion can be mode, Zenos lashes out against the sky spirit. But his blade is met by Krusty's axe, who blocks the blow. Struggling against him, Krusty narrows his eyes, "It's clear what you are attempting here. Engaging in war with the sky spirits, when the earth spirits have already declared the kingdom its enemy. To overwhelm the kingdom's forces and cause them to lose defenders in great numbers. Only for your empire to sweep in, save the day, all the while facing little opposition to them being absorbed. There is no other reason why someone who so appears a skilled leader would willingly choose to fight a war on two fronts when there is no need."

    Although he keeps his eyes on Zenos, Krustry addresses both Serena and Valgar, "Do not be so willing to blindly let this man dictate the future of your kingdom. Your home. Especially when it will be a bloody one."
Zenos yae Galvus The sword and axe clash, Zenos leans into the clash, putting more of his strength and weight, but not trying to overwhelm.  Slowly trying to test the might of Krusty's sword arm...slowly pushing him towards flinching.  

"If I had wanted to do that, I would have not had my soldiers join in and defend them.  I would not have put my soldiers at risk to aid them.  Instead, I would have had them suffer massive losses here and now.  I would not continue to put my soldiers at risk with putting into this war."

"You, have not seen what beings like this have done to my world.  I can show you the Brune, the lifeless sands that push from sky to sky.  Devoid of life and aether.  I can show you the gods that steal the will of others, to continue their own existence."

"Man's hand must free itself from the yolk of beings who want to manipulate them.  Any gains to be had that come after will handled then.  I would think, peacefully after proving the might of Garlemald.  I do not blame you for your ignorance, you are not but a savage." And with that, Zenos releases the clash and steps back.  

He turns towards the Prince, staring at him.  "You are a disappointment, it appears my original choice to aid the Princess was correct.  You have not the strength to rule."
Sanary Rondel "Yes. Yes, we do." The Sky Spirit answers Note simply with that same serene smile. It's kind of creepy after a while. He turns to Staren and Tomoe next, that expression never changing.

He also hasn't blinked once.

"It's up to you whether to believe us or not. We have nothing more to offer than not meddling in your world's affair any longer. There is no need for meetings or negotiation just for that."

Zenos' reaction, however, has the Sky Spirit sighing. He doesn't flinch from the blade coming his way, but there's something different about the Sky Spirit's stance compared to Xenovia's. If Krusty had not intercepted, would the Sky Spirit have lost his head?

Entirely possible, but there's no sense of self-preservation in his movements. The fact that Krusty's weapon was raised to intercept Zenos' doesn't seem to have any bearing on him continuing to just stand there. "Strike me down if it eases your heart, but it will change nothing. So long as humanity lives on earth where it belongs, everything will be alright."

Instead of Valgar standing besides Zenos, however, it's Serena. "You cannot possibly expect us to be satisfied with that kind of existence. Humanity must be freed, and we will never know true peace so long as the Sky Spirits' domain lingers above our heads."

Valgar doesn't seem quite so ready to jump into another fight. "Isn't this the peace you wanted all along? So what if the Sky Spirits are still there? If they try anything, we'll fight them then just like we did here with the Earth Spirits." He glances towards Krusty, then Zenos in turn. "It's like he said. We don't need to fight this war when we can just as easily live without it."

Serena still seems to have misgivings about taking the Sky Spirit's offer of peace, and the angelic being notices that. He sighs, then shakes his head lightly while floating upwards slowly as the light returns around him. "Is that your answer? If humanity is so divided, then... Rest for now. In one week's time, we will hear your answer, and we will decide your fate."
Staren     "No." Staren replies, as the spirit starts to float away. The mecha's one arm points at it. "YOU do not get to dictate how people live. If they seek to fly through the sky or to space, you will NOT interfere with their efforts. IF you keep to yourselves... AND you can convince humanity that you sincerely plan to do so... you may live in peace. But now the burden of proof is on YOUR people."

    The mecha arm waves at the others assembled. "Use this week well. It looks like you'll need one hell of an argument to convince us."
Krusty     "No, I do understand. I understand you are driven by hate, by a need for revenge against those who have done harm to you and your world. And those like them. Both good reasons to get yourself, and those who believe like you, into a lethal fight. But not good reason to drag this kingdom and its people into the fued with you. Manipulating them in the process."

    Krusty backs away from the clash with Zenos too, leaving the issue there for now as the sky spirit offers them a week to consider. It's a though choice. And Krusty hopes the kingdom's two current leaders can come to some agreement one way or the other. Hopefully without undue manipulation.