Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Sanary Rondel - PREVIOUSLY ON GUARDIAN HEROES -
The plan to combat the Sky Spirits was about to begin. What was supposed to be a meeting with the king to gain his blessing, however, turned into an impromptu battle for survival as the king revealed himself to be the leader of the Earth Spirits in disguise and nearly killed the scheming wizard. Even after subsuming the power of the Earth Spirits, the Great Earth Spirit was defeated by the Elite and Royal Knight forces. With the Earth Spirits gone, the Sky Spirits sent their messenger to deliver an offer: So long as the humans remained out of the Sky Spirits' domain, the Sky Spirits would no longer involve themselves in humanity's affairs.

- NOW -

BGM: https://youtu.be/eaHeyGvbax8

After a week of deliberation and preparation, the Sky Spirits' domain is finally in reach. By flight, teleportation, or other means, the Elites have made their way to the home of the Sky Spirits. It's a land full of clouds that span the horizon, pillars that reach upwards into the endless sky, angelic statues bearing golden weapons, and a textured blue floor that makes it look like everyone's standing on the ocean itself.

Amidst the statues and pillars stands the messenger, the Sky Warrior, clad in his angelic garb of white and yellow, his wings folded behind him, and his shoulders the only bare ones anyone's seen of anyone from both the kingdom below and the Earth Spirits underground. He's already waiting besides a massive cyclops clad in white linens and a large white orb with arms. Fighters clad in golden armor dot the area as well, and it's clear from a glance that the Sky Spirits are prepared for a fight already.

"Our Lord is wroth that his Chosen have taken so long to arrive at their destiny, but your delay is forgiven. Have you made your decision?" His tone is even as he holds his arms out in a welcoming pose, both the cyclops and giant orb thing mimicking it with their own arms.

Serena stands at the front with the Skeleton Wariror besides her, her own gaze even as she turns from the Sky Warrior towards the gathered Elites. From what had been said the last time they spoke of this topic, she didn't sound like she'd be open to accepting the Sky Spirits' terms. She refrains from answering immediately, however, as if waiting to see how the rest of the group want to proceed or feels on the matter. Also, if there's anything they have to say.

Valgar, oddly enough, is not here at all. Sanary looks to be itching for a fight as well, but she seems to be deep in thought for once.

It's hard coming up with something witty and dramatic on the spot.
Zenos yae Galvus Zenos yae Galvus steps onto the cerulean floor, the Helmet he wears covers his features, the white devil-like mask covering his face, with a single pearl-like gem in the forehead.  He walks slowly towards the spirit, dark Garlean made armor and red fabric cover his features.  On his hip is a sort of caddie that holds three different blades.  

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJNR00QQKWs

He notes immediately that the prince is not here.  Hm...it appears that he was a weak ruler, after all, he would have to go with his first plan.  The Princess showed more potential as a ruler.  Though not strong enough to challenge him...perhaps she could be groomed in time.  Regardless, he turns towards the angelic features as it speaks.  

"Is the only thing to come from your mouth some form of insult to the strength of mankind?  Tch, you Eikons are all alike, pretending to be mysterious and enigmatic creatures.  Looking down your noses to those who are your betters," he says looking towards the Princess.

"I know what I would do.  However, do you have the same strength?  Are you happy to sit at the feet of these creatures?  Will you submit to their will?  Will you worship these things so that your people can live another day while seeing that there is a limit to you and your people?" he asks.

"Or...will you fight to set your own limits?  Fight to live life and rule on your own terms?  Will you join your Prince on the ground and bend the knee to these creatures?  Or will you rise up and call on me to lend you my blade to cast down these false gods?"  Zenos continues.  

"At this point, you know what my position is.  However, will you be the ruler that leads your people to a new age...or back into the dirt?"
Tomoe Things had certainly got rather strange when it turned out the King had long been taken over by not just an Earth Spirit, but their very leader. Still when all was said and done? Tomoe was unsettled and then with the Sky Spirit had shown up.

She was not sure what they had to offer she would here them out. It could be very well the sky spirit domain was some metaphysical place that was another plane connected to here? She did not know, what she did know was? She'd not cut and run even if many of her contemporaries likely were out from blood and honestly she was aware there was no clear answer here.

She'd also given the Princess her word she'd see this through to the end. So whatever happens today she will be here to see it through. She will keep near the Princess for the moment but does speak up.

"All right, what just are the details of your terms? The sky do you mean the actual sky or is this the plane that your people are native too?"

Zenos makes his case, and she does some of where the Imperial Prince is coming from or seem to be. Her own world had been in a way taken over by CARDINAL, yet it had made no demands then again it was more of a process than a god when she thought of it.

"Princess this is your nation and people. I am not the one to make the final call here."

She looks to the Spirit questioningly Krusty had stayed her hand the last time as he'd raised a point she'd agreed with. Hear what the Sky Spirits has to say the time has come, for that. Again she'll glance over to the Imperial Prince who is quite the powerful presence before her violet eyes settle on the Sky Spirit once more.
Staren     The Star Hawk has landed on one of Zenos's airships, or perhaps on the blue stone if invited to do so. Staren sends out a drone, which projects a hologram of him in his normal clothes. The hologram looks at the Sky Warrior.

    "I see no reason why humans should invade your cities. If you wish to be left alone, how can we deny that when the humans ask the same? However... You cannot deny the whole sky to them. Just as the humans cannot deny the whole earth to you. You see those flying ships back there... one day, humanity will use the sky for travel. They may even travel into space, far above. To deny them that would be unacceptable."

    "Naturally, if you accept these terms in general, we should have diplomats and lawyers work out the specifics so that, say, a sky spirit who falls into a city -- or a rogue individual acting on their own -- doesn't cause a declaration of war, just as we wouldn't want a rogue human or an accidental plane crash into your own territory to cause the same. Likewise, no covering the whole sky in cities or building so many on Earth as to prevent humanity's growth -- again, the exact specifics can be worked out by specialists."

    "Do you agree to the spirit of the agreement I propose?"
August Kohler August Kohler is exhaused after he got injured fighting a cat recently, but he's still here. He's already riding on the back of Dietrich, the large power armored black knight moving across the cerulean floor. He does not debate the spirits. He spends several moments talking over the radio, looking up at the Sky Spirit, and taking a breath. "You put humanity in darkness."

Dietrich suddenly surges forward. It's holding a massive sword, and with rapid speed and /extreme/ strength, moves to slice the sword into the sky spirit, with enough force to send a regular human flying.

"We clawed our way out. And now you want to force us to the surface. Prevent us from spreading our wings. You're untrustworthy in all regards. You'll come back and try and seal these people away again. I know it. You just want to muster your strength, because right now you're afraid, because we're succeeding."

The strike is followed up by the sword being set awash in flame. August doesn't move to strike again, but holds it up high. "Well, humanity says no. It'll go wherever it wants. It'll soar all it needs to. We can't trust you. So you need to be destroyed."
Note     Note has flown all the way up here, and had a lot of things she wanted to try to say... but her mind isn't quited for this kind of thing. She wants to FIGHT. She wants to go head-on at the Sky Spirit who showed up before and see what he can do!

    So when the question is asked of the group, she glances at the others and listens to their words.

    "So me, I wanna have a round with you guys! ... but just 'cuz you seem like some of the toughest things I've run across yet. Would be fun. That's different from this though. In case it's not obvious, I'm not a local!" She turns her REAR to the messenger and whips her tail about as proof, then faces him again.

    "I don't really see what there is to fight ove, though. It looks like there's plenty of earth and plenty of sky to go around so..." She jabs a thumb in Staren's direction.

    "What he said. Isn't that a good idea?"
Krusty     Krusty's large, heavy armour clanks together as he dismounts from the griffin that had flown him up to the appointed meeting spot. The domain of the Sky Spirits. He's alone, which might be noticeably odd given the force of adventurers he brought to the previous aborted attack. But situations change, just as this one has.

    Krusty walks up up to join the others before the messenger of the sky spirits. He does wonder at the absence of the Prince for a few moments. But decides that for whatever reason he is not here, it's proof that he is not fit to lead the kingdom.

    Moving to stand by Serena's side, Krusty looks at her for a moment, "I have been fighting with you since this all started. That will not change now, regardless of how this situation proceeds." However, despite his apparent deference to Serena's will in this matter, he appears on high alert, hand seemingly ready to reach for the large two-handed axe on his back. Apparently he already has expectations about how this is going to proceed. Despite the attempts at diplomacy from people like Staren and Tomoe.

    And sure enough, it's already beginning. Krusty quickly reaches up, drawing forth his large axe. He sweeps it out behind him, the blade beginning to glow with light. He then swings it foward, cutting through the space in front of him. The light leaps off the weapon, streaking towards the cyclops as a crescent to try and slice into the creature.
Riku Riku is present. He isn't even in his casual attire, already in that strange suit he wears to battle. the Soul Eater hangs at his side, waiting. He simply folds his arms at the lecture from the Sky Spirits.

"You're no better than the Earth Spirits. You're just trying to convince people to do what you want because you look good."

The moment August speaks and attacks, Riku is in motion, vanishing into a portal of black and reappearing above the cyclops, driving the Soul Eater downwards to stab for the eye.

"Let's get this over with." He says.
Sanary Rondel "The strength of mankind? Is that what you believe this will show us?"

The Sky Warrior's condescension does not go unnoticed by Serena as she draws her weapon, actually smirking briefly towards Zenos in response before leveling her gaze at the messenger. "Humanity will not be ruled from the sky. We will carve out our  destinies with our own power, with or without the Spirits."

The Sky Warrior sighs, looking towards Tomoe with a light shrug thats mimicked by the cyclops and golem just the same. "We mean that humans should stay on the Earth and rule the Earth while we stay here and leave each other untouched." When Staren, too, gives his terms, the messenger shakes his head. "This is our domain, and so long as humans seek to encroach here... Well. Perhaps it wasn't a mistake to show you humans magic after all."

He looks towards a shrine in the distance. "Do you really believe these events that befell you were an accident? That through your own skill, you found that sword and its wielder's resting place? That you are so mighty, you can level armies and dethrone great rulers?" The Sky Warriors's expression cracks slightly as the smugness cranks up a few notches.

"No. All of this was wrought by the powers we concealed in the sword and its divine calling. You are part of our plan. We chose you from among the scraps of humanity within and without this world as the lucky few we would craft into our ultimate warriors."

BGM: https://youtu.be/n3LB4vygX-Q

The Sky Warriors lowers his arms, then points towards the Skeleton Warrior. The cyclops and golem mimic this. "The golden one who led you here is our messenger." He leaps back as August slashes towards him with fire and sword, part of his white garb singing and his demeanor cracking from the apparent damage that's already been caused. "This is what our Lord desires. Now, fight me! Show our Lord the fruits of his labor!"

Note certainly seems like she's going to be getting what she wants at this rate. The Sky Warrior even smiles approvingly towards her. "If we cannot have your obedience, then our Lord's plan must continue."

Drawing twin blades from thin air, the Sky Warrior wastes no more time before drawing his blades back, then launching himself towards the Elites. He torpedoes himself towards them like a spinning drill, a miniature tornado following in his wake!

The golem and cyclops, meanwhile, join in on the fight with the knights moving in to support them. The cyclops rushes forward with a massive haymaker towards the group from one side, and the golem flies into the air to attack from the skies. Serena charges forward to slam her shield into the cyclops' punch to halt it in its tracks, and Sanary follows up that defensive maneuver with a mighty slash upwards to detach that arm at the elbow while Krusty's own axe beam cleaves through its other arm the long way. It throws its head back and roars in pain right on time for Riku to descend from the sky and push his sword into its face (also the long way).

So much for the cyclops, champion of the... Cyclopses.

The Skeleton Warrior, meanwhile, roars defiantly as it barrels right into the swarm of golden warriors, dispersing several of their troops. The golem raises its arm above its head as orange-red energy glows above it in a massive sphere, churning around in the air before a massive slow-moving beam of fire blasts downwards at the Elites!

The fight is on.
Stella     Nevermind how quiet Stella has been, she has totally been there all along. Just, uh... destabilized. Is she walking funny? She looks like she's semi-blind right now. Her steps are weird.

    It's probably the fact the ground is the sky.
    REEEEEEEEE.

    But she didn't really have anything to say, either. She doesn't get the whole 'this is just as planned' part, because this seems like a STRETCH, but she's not a mastermind type and won't pretend to be able to grasp how that works.

    What she is is a warrior.

    And so when beams of energy and red flames start flying about, Stella produces two swords, prismatic and crystaline, bursting out of her wrists and seized by her hands. The flames and the energy reflect in them, and the swords turn red-hot, almost as if they were lightsabers.

    If it's a demonstration of power they want, she'll wade through the hordes of golden warriors, it'll work out!

    But it's kind of weird both factions of Spirits wanted this.
    Did Kanon know he was basically being set up by both of his enemies? AT THE SAME TIME?
Tomoe Tomoe had been very wary of the Sky Spirits it's true, her personal feelings are not entirely a factor today she'd got a job to do. Also her word to keep but at what cost? She does not know at this point, the dice have been thrown with August going in right away before any attempt to hear the other side out has finished. The attacks are made not just by August either, Krusty and Riku also pile in.

The Sky Spirits other words also sink in Tomoe's expression turns from concerned.

"I'm pretty sure most of the people here had their abilities long before this world unified or we were aware of it. Next, off I am no one's plaything NO ONES!"

With that Tomoe is going to throw herself into the fight, wings.

"I am not Cardinal's, I am not Heathcliffs and no way in hell I am yours."

She's already launching into a sword art on the Sky Spirit as she closes in.

"SNAKE BITE!"

She launches two powerful blade strikes at the nearest of the Sky Spirits, she'll then move to the next launching into a combo of strikes and popping her taunt abilities.

"Oh look the Salamander has wings and is all up in your sky!"

Tomoe is not full on trying to dodge at the moment. Tomoe's main goal is to get much attention as possible. Thusly she takes a hit from the numerous assaults flying about and she's left with a red wireframe wound for her troubles, yet her assault keeps going for the moment.
Riku The Soul Eater carves into the Cyclops though the obvious weak point, and a moment later, the cyclops is no longer an issue. Riku flips off of it to land, walking away without looking back, the weapon over his shoulder while the beast falls.

He would probably look cooler if the massive golem didn't try to death beam him a moment later. Still, he hurls himself to one side, taking a glancing strike from it as the energy sizzles off of his body and leaves scorchmarks behind, causing Riku to grit his teeth. "Is that the best you have?" He asks.

A moment later, he's leaping into the swarm of warriors, the Soul Eater lashing out while he grips soldiers and hurls them into each other, flipping and sliding through them in absurd acrobatic maneuvers and teleportation tech, using his powers to knock many of them into the radius of Note's bolts. May as well cut through the chaff faster.
August Kohler As August prepares to strike, the Sky Spirits...reveal they were actually uncooperative and crazy anyways, so he's infinitely more justified than he was a few moments ago. The flaming sword is held up high, but the Sky Warrior comes spinning at him, the tornado knocking Dietrich off its feet as it is slammed into by the warrior. It rocks backwards, August holding on tight not to fall off, and uses its thrusters to regain mobility, but armor is cracked in the process from the sheer force of the winds.

The Persona can dance around far more nimbly than it looks like it should be able to. It boosts along the ground, focusing on the sky warrior, and moves to impact that sword against him, coming from overhead and trying to smash him down into the ground and stop his mobility by stunning him. And, hopefully and more importantly, set him on fire in the process. The flames leak off the blade, trying to soak into the Sky Warrior's skin and wings. "Burn in hell, you winged bastard."
Krusty     The cyclops falls easily enough, Krusty smirking a little as the creature crashes down to the blue floor, staining it with its blood. His eyes quickly dart across the quickly forming battlefield, searching for the next target. It quickly makes itself evident as the large beam of fire sweeps towards Krusty's position. Krusty stands his ground, raising an arm to protect his head as the fire washes over him.

    The slow moving beam passes by, revealing Krusty to still be standing there. A little cooked, but otherwise still looking strong. As he lowers his arm once more, the smirk on his face has grown as he stares down the golem. It might just be a little disturbing.

    Krusty launches forward into a quick dash, moving fast despite his obviously large armour. He quickly runs across the tiled floor, darting left and right as he approaches to avoid any attempts to intercept him before he reaches his target.

    As he does so, Krusty leaps into the air, bringing his large axe up over his head before swinging it down on the golem in a heavy blow.
Note     Well THAT turned out to be ... not at all what Note was hoping for on one side, and quite a bit what she was on the other. She makes an uneasy, half-happy grin at the Messenger of the Sky, one that turns into grinding teeth as she rises ten feet higher, fists clenching at her waist...

    "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa---"

    Winds whip up from nowhere around the little martial artist and white energy pours from her skin through a sustained kiai, enveloping her in an aura of growing power. With a thunderous *CRACK* golden light overtakes the white, leaving her wreathed in an ongoing bonfire of emanated power. Her aura fills the aura with a strange pulsing whoosh-noise, and now, with hair gone all spiky and golden and eyes turned light green, she turns a fierce gaze on the Sky Warrior...

    "If it's a fight you want, then you're ON! I hope you know what you've just brought on yourselves. These guys around me don't know how to show mercy!" That last sentence is delivered as almost a plea for the Sky Spirits to be reasonable... and a complaint against her allies at the same time. And given hoe she's stated that she can't fully control her Ki in this form...

    Here comes the Sky Warrior though, and Note does her best to SWERVE OUT OF THE WAY. She's not quite fast enough though, and is caught up in the drill maneuver for a good second and a half only to be flung away with several nasty cuts on her flesh, dripping blood. Could be worse, but sure doesn't look great...

    "Ow ow ow ow ow..." Looks like it's a GOOD THING she powered up to Super Saiyan, after all! Note levels her hands at the swarm of Sky Warrior, and begins lashing out with a rapid fire volley of energy bolts. Again and again she moves her arms back and forth, pumping out fist-sized balls of light that fly towards him and will explode like grenades on contact!
Zenos yae Galvus "Hmph, good.  You do not disappoint, unlike the other 'prince'.  Then consider the blade of Garlemald yours for this moment," He says and speaks into his radio.  Slowly from the skyline several Garlean airships would raise.  Each one releasing sky carriers and sky fighters, as his own troops move to join ranks with the other knights.

"Eikon, this is where you fall," He says, pointing his blade towards the Sky Warrior.  However, before he could start, a beam of fire tears into the Garlemald Scion, driving him back.  Faltering for a brief moment, but not falling, the heir smiles.  

Slowly he crouches, aiming to grab a blade from the rotating Sword Revolver.  He quickly swings the blade out, and so mighty the swing that the very air itself surges, sending what might be described as a wave of force right towards the sky warrior, aiming to drive him back.  However...

This is because a phantom sword would drop right on it, aiming to burst and explode.  Adding injury to insult, so to speak.  The man starts walking forward slowly, smiling the whole way.

"Yes, Eikon.  Let us fight, I will burn this entire place to the ground.  Your kind will die on the altar of man's advancement."
Staren     What's all this about their lord and everything going according to keikaku? Staren speaks out over the radio, <"BY THE WAY: Sky Spirits, if this turns out to have all been part of a plot to protect humanity from the nasty /space/ spirits until they proved they were ready by resisting you, and when OUR help defeats you you laugh about how we've exposed humanity to their true enemies before they were ready... well, now you don't get to laugh. Also my less scrupulous comrades might do nasty things to you.">

    The sky warrior flies right up to his mecha and... does a surprising amount of damage, the sword slicing huge gouges out of the metal before it can even raise its shield.

    The mecha finishes standing and takes a combat stance, half-turning to get most of its body behind the energy shield on the left forearm, while its right hand reaches for one of the leg packs -- which opens, revealing a cylinder that is pretty obviously a beam saber hilt. The mecha grabs it but doesn't activate it, stepping forward and swinging at the sky spirit, activating the weapon (purple energy manifests in a rod shape, it cuts with heat rather than an edge after all) at the last split-second to try and catch the sky warrior by surprise!
Stella     Blasted back not even a few seconds into her charge. Stella blocks incoming projectiles with her wrists, crossing her arms in front of herself, but where she has hardiness she lacks... footing. The ability to stand perfectly still while being punished. Which makes it easy enough to whack her back, but quite hard to keep her done.

    Wounds heal, very quickly.

    Stella grips her blades, the red energy and flames dancing in them now gone. But seeing Staren turn one back on, she angles her blades such as to reflect the purple light of his weapon, and surge enough the swords turn a vibrant purple, energized.

    The posturing is way beyond her.
    At this point she's just here to help her allies.
    An obligation, not personal stakes.

    She leaps back into the swarm of golden warriors, maybe explicitely to get a better look at the Skeleton Warrior and his fancy magic blade in action.
Sanary Rondel "You were drawn by the summons for help from other worlds, were you not? Even that was all according to our Lord's plan. Why do you not understand this?" The Sky sPirit replies to Tomoe as her blade slices blody gashes into his chest, and he staggers back to let one of the gold-clad fighters step in to aid him.

Said aid doesn't really last very long. Between the Skeleton Warrior throwing himself into them like a bowling ball alongside Riku's teleportation maneuvers bouncing them around right into Note's energy blasts, their armor winds up mattering little. Although the sky spirits are strong, the Elites are easily proving to be even stronger. The armor, made from the Sky Spirits' finest materials, still manages to look immaculate even as the warriors inside are battered and blasted. The Sky Warrior himself has to focus intently just to avoid getting pelted with those flying bodies!

The golem, meanwhile, continues firing its fire beam across the ground and towards the Elites, threatening to burn them to a crisp. As Krusty approaches, it starts to hover back once more to put some distance between itself and the axe knight. Although it escapes the brunt of his strike, the axe still clips it enough to leave sparks shooting out of the bottom of it, and its stability in flight is already dwindling from that blow.

"Tch.. Space spirits? What does that gibberish even mean? We are all that lives above this world. Our Lord's plan starts and ends here, and there is none that could ever ascend beyond our reach!" The Sky Warrior shouts towards Staren as he beats his wings start swerving around that purple beam rod, his expression cracking again as Zenos' sword wave catches him by surprise. Were he facing that wave alone, it'd be straightforward enough to avoid.

Alas, he isn't facing that wave alone. The bodies sent flying by Riku's assault have him preoccupied, and that sudden explosion from the phantom sword means the Sky Warrior is struck on multiple fronts. He swings one wing in front of himself to defend against the explosion, but it sends him hurtling back into the beam rod that carves off a wing. With his mobility hindered, the Sky Warrior doesn't have enough time to adjust when August's Persona brings that flaming sword down against him. He brings his swords up just in time to block the blade, although the flames coming from it scorch his wing and back, and the force of the blow knocks him downwards right into the golem!

Also, through the golem. The golem crackles with electricity as it explodes in midair, raining down bits of metallic sky material on the golden fighters below. They challenge Stella head on, and although they'd be able to stand their ground at least for a little while against her alone? She isn't alone, but she's working alongside her allies and the Skeleton Warrior. Indeed, the magic sword seems to working both as an incredibly sharp blade and a slab of metal simultaneously, carving off limbs as easily as it blasts people around!

The Sky Warrior staggers to his feet as he clutches the gaping wound in his chest and the burns covering his everything, somehow managing to laugh even as the golden fighters are scattered (or in pieces), the golem explodes a fair distance away, and the cyclops... Has already been laying on the ground for a while now (also in pieces). "Is this the finest humanity can produce? We were cruel to say any of you could become the ultimate warrior." He raises his swords, then glows brightly as his two wings split into six while energy crackles around him.

"HE STANDS BEFORE YOU."
Sanary Rondel BGM: https://youtu.be/JtfH_72fUHI

Light bursts forth from the Sky Warrior's body, and as the light fades, the massive serpent that looks eerily similar to the Great Earth Spirit in different colors with angelic wings stands before the group. The corpses and pieces of the other Sky Spirits are gone, leaving the serpent as the final beast that stands before the Elites. Raising its head, it flaps its wings as it holds two winged arms out, spraying both a bullet hell-level of fireballs and ice beams towards the Elites!
Staren     <"Are you KIDDING me. The giant snake strategy didn't work for the earth spirits, why do you think it's gonna work now?! You're just A BIGGER TARGET! Also, you are not STANDING before us! You could say 'He hovers before you' or 'he slithers before you' but 'he stands before you' doesn't make any sense!">

    Staren is a man with /opinions/.

    The warmachine hides behind its shield again, ice beams and explosions wearing away at the parts uncovered by it. Aside from the left arm and left side of the torso, it's starting to look beat up and scorched.

    <"All this talk about plans and your lord... are you nothing more than a videogame enemy? Placed here just to lose to us? Then you shall fulfill your purpose soon enough!"> The tops of the Star Hawk's shoulder packs open up, and a salvo of missiles -- individually big enough that a human would need a bazooka-style shoulder launcher to fire a single one -- ripple-fires out, smoke trails arcing through the sky before coming in at the serpent from all directions, exploding in shockwaves and balls of intense, ionizing heat!
Stella     "Perhaps it is different," Stella says to Staren. "This one is colored differently. Therefore, it must be different in some way."

    She's not strictly wrong!!!

    And then there's FIRE and ICE bullethell. See, it IS different! The previous snake was just fire! Awful fire and lasers. Vindication!

    And also pain as Stella is momentarily half-frozen and then on fire and then half-frozen again wow that actually sucks a lot. Not because of the pain, because it's making her sloppy ungrounded movements all clunky from the frost.

    "Your plan seems entirely too elaborate for its own good," she finally manages to vocalize at the Sky Spirit, as crystals burst out of her skin and hover around her. A few start glowing with intense flames, and a few with a frosty aura! The bullethell is being reflected in them.

    While she lets her body recover from that double whammy of effects, she raises one arm, pointing a sword at the God Snake. The crystals launch, like a mix of cryo and heat grenades with awful crystal shrapnel to boot.
Staren     <"That's just a palette swap!"> Staren shouts back when Stella points this out.
Tomoe No one is holding back much if anything as the battle gets into a fever pitch, Imperial troops show up to help with the hordes of enemies, Stella is wading into the fight already STaren is taking some heavy attacks and he's attempting to dish it out in kind. She's very glad for the access to light here as she will have far more mobility being able to fly, at this point. Note is also showing the terror of one of her ancestry can achieve with the proper motivation too.

"There was a call for help from a mortal man unless..."

WAs the one who called them a Sky Spirit who had been hiding whom they were? She doesn't know if she'll get an answer or not and she has to focus on a fight she will keep fighting her way through the Sky Spirit forces none the less.

It's a good thing Tomoe is able to endure one hell of a beating as that's what she's getting at the moment. Tomoe watches the horrific transformation in shock and she's just able to make ready with her defence abilities.

Those keep her from worse injury and now she stares at the light serpent before her.

In the wake of the attack she looks to Staren and moves to try and offer him some of her defence buffs and then will dive back for the snake reading another sword art as she does so going right for the Light Serpent's Face She launches a shield bash followed up by several sword strikes as she makes for the eyes or what might pass for them.

"I have had enough of your attitude! The old bastard wizard was a pain in the ass but you are somehow even worse!"
Zenos yae Galvus "Pathetic," Zenos says, as the fireball crashes into his blade.  The attack washes over him as it impacts, but a chunk of the force is taken out of his blow.  His armor glows red hot for but a moment, as he continues to walk towards the newly transformed figure.

"You are far from the ultimate warrior.  The ultimate warrior would not even concern themselves for this.  The perfect warrior would be above such meaningless actions.  Nor would they bother to continuously proclaim themselves to be as such," he sighs, "No you are not the challenge I seek...though your power is great enough to show you a glimmer of my own.  Be thankful."

He says as the eye holes for his mask glow briefly red.  However, by the time the spirit would look again, Zenos as vanished.  Appearing to the right of the creature, he swings the blade in a wide arc, aiming to cut through the creature, and send it from the heavens.  

Appearing on the ground, Zenos swings the blade in a wide arch, releasing a wave of energy that SHEERS through anything in its wake.

"Weak!"
Krusty     Fireballs explode against Krusty's armour, scorching it in places. Ice beams sweep across the metal, freezing parts of it. But through the onslaught, Krusty only barely staggers from the impacts. And as the damage mounts up, Krusty starts to chuckle quietly, "Ahahahaha." All this effort, for so long. And finally it's here. By the Sky Warrior's own words. The end boss sands before them.

    "Lunatic Armor."

    A sickly aura flares up around Krusty like fire, tinting his armour a deep red. There's a shadow over Krusty's face as he smirks, the light of the attacks flying around glinting off his glasses.

    Krusty takes several steps forward, more attacks blasting into his armour and causing him to stagger each time. But each time he pushes through. Gripping his large axe tighter, Krusty advances into a run to quickly close the distance to the new form of the Sky Warrior.

    Krusty then leaps into the air, going into a spin as he unleashes a battle cry, swinging his large axe around full circle to slam the blade into the side of the sky spirit's body. It doesn't end there though as Krusty lands again, foot touching the ground he launches forward. Once more closing the distance he goes into a surprisingly quick series of blows given the size of his weapon. The attack is unrelenting as he focuses full on attack, not letting up.
August Kohler August's strike is blocked, but still sets the Sky Warrior aflame. That's good. What isn't good is him becoming a giant sky spirit conglomerate snake of death with winged arms and...

Oh god, bullet hell.

Dietrich quickly spins out of the way of an ice blast, taking a fireball head-on that it mitigates with its resistance, refusing to be set aflame. This is nice, until a frost blast knocks it back, freezing August's hands to Dietrich's side and slowing it down. The large sword blocks most of the other projectiles, allowing the pair of summoner and Persona to move forward...

And the sword to be swung again, lashing out into a chainsaw whip form, and moving to grapple onto the massive snake sky god monster, and start channeling not fire...but dark energy into it. This is hopefully going to do two things.

One, it's going to really, really hurt the monster. And two...as the chainsaw-whip blades grind into it, the darkness is hopefully going to /corrode/ part of the monster, erasing some of it and leaving nothing behind. August doubts he can destroy the whole body, but he wants to try out his new power and see how far he can go on a 'creature'.
Riku Riku emerges from the burly brawl just in time to see the being shift and declare himself the Actual Boss. "Really." He shrugs. "Fine. We'll just kill you too, just like the other giant snake." He dashes forward, not making use of those dark portals this time as he spins and flips, grazing and weaving through the ice and fire, skidding forward as his Eidolon lashes out, slamming through the area to crash right into the mighty Sky Spirit.

Immediately the shadow-being lashes out, hammering with fists over and over, crashing into the thing in a flurry. "HAAAAAAAAAAA!" Riku yells... "NOW DIE!" He says, lunging right through the Eidolon like it wasn't there, Soul Eater at the ready while he slashes right past and /through/ the Sky Spirit.
Note     "All this time... the Wizard was right..." She's been doubting him the whole time. Were the Spirits truly so terrible? Was it just a bad time he'd gone through? Had they changed?

    The Wizard was right. He was completely truthful.

    If the Sky Spirits aren't stopped... it will mean DISASTER for everyone below the clouds.

    That's not a nice thing to think about. Not nice AT ALL. Note's expression falters and wavers as she does so... leaving her to get PELTED by fireballs and ice beams. She's flung away, scorched and frostbit all over... but after going sailing through the air a few hundred feet she shouts a harsh kiai and extends her limbs, BRAKING in the air with a burst of invisible Ki.

    "I'm not gonna have it. You guys don't deserve to decide what the people down below can and can't do... the only thing you guys deserve is to be taught a LESSON."

    A terrible, awful feeling's taken root in her gut now. This fight is no longer just tagging along with friends and trying to have some fun and test herself. This is a fight for everyone who lives below the clouds. Dozens and dozens of faces she's gotten pretty used to seeing in all these trips to this world.

    With a rageful roar, Note pulls in her limbs and acts on some deep instinct, leaning forward and then ROCKETING down at the Great Sky Serpent with an explosion of power. Lightning sizzles through her rushing aura and with a second *CRACK*... somehow, her spiky hair parts with a second array of spikes, one drooping over her forehead.

    And in that moment, it's no longer a question of SPEED. She's SIMPLY THERE, behind the Serpent, whipping around at hyper speed to deliver a pummeling FLIPKICK to its midsection with full-fledged, concentrated BEATDOWN!
Sanary Rondel Like the Great Earth Spirit last week, the Great Sky Spirit isn't one for words. It roars as opens its eyemouthface towards the Star Hawk, firing a massive laser forward to intercept the missiles. When the beam doesn't wipe out nearly enough of the missiles, the serpent resorts to defending itself with those winged arms, roaring as the blasts leave scorched holes in the wings.

Despite that damage, however, the Sky Spirit is still able to maneuver freely despite its size compared to its wings. It slithers between the crystalsthat Stella launches at it, moving not unlike a snake stalking its prey as it's poised to strike. The shrapnel digs into its scaley hide, but the creature is undaunted as it opens its mouth wide in preparation to chomp right down on the crystal warrior!

At which point it gets a mouthful of Tomoe's shield. In its haste to capitalize, the Great Earth Spirit has opened itself up to more attacks! It clamps down against the shield as it struggles to break free, trying to crush it and roaring yet again as both Tomoe and Zenos thrust and slash at it respectively. Unhinging its jaw to get the shield out of its eyemouthhole, it slithers back again to get some distance from the sword wielders.

... And then it slithers right back into the axe-wielder. Krusty's axe digs in deep, splitting one arm off at its source and even digging into the creature's body proper with those successive strikes. The serpent flails wildly, swinging its spiked tail at him just to get him off of it. It barely even registers that Dietrich is coming towards it, the darkness-imbued blade segments working their literal magic to burn off chunks of its wings and erasing scales on contact.

It's starting to pull out all the stops now. With Riku flying towards it, the winged serpent whirls around to try and catch him in its mighty fist! His maneuverability gives him the edge at such close range, however, as his slash indeed takes him through the Sky Spirit in a more literal sense. Shining ichor sprays from its remaining arm as he draws his sword through it the long way.

Getting limbs cut apart the worst way seems to be a trend with this battle.

Lacking functional arms to defend itself with, the Great Sky Spirit takes to the sky as it tries to get some distance between itself and the Elites once again. That proves to not be of much use to it, though, considering how many of these people can fly already as well as launch pinpoint strikes against it. Note's sudden appearance behind it not only catches it off guard, but catches it unaware as that flipkick nearly wraps it around her leg, and it goes flying upwards for several agonizing seconds before it descends into a combined beam of ice and fire launched by Serena and Sanary. Even the Skeleton Warrior is striking it with magic on its way down, sending forth flaming waves from the sword as he swings that oversized magic sword wildly in the air.

By the time the Great Sky Spirit lands again, it truly isn't in great shape. Torn up arm, detached arm, busted wings, scorches and leaking slashes everywhere...

"Alas, I chose unwisely." A disembodied voice rings out suddenly, drawing a slow turn of the Great Sky Spirit's head-face-eye-thing. "As my ultimate warriors, you were to be my greatest creation. But no matter.  I scoured the scraps of humanity, and found another diamond in the rough. The despair in his heart once theratened to break him, but he has found hope in power. By walking the path I set before him, he has been saved. Come forth, my white warrior!"
Sanary Rondel Another voice speaks up. "We've already done this fight once before. Stop wasting our time!" The air distorts around the Great Sky Spirit briefly as the sound of blades swinging rushes past the serpent, and it falls in three pieces before exploding in another burst of light.

Standing behind the explosion is Valgar, clad in white armor and facing away from the explosion the entire time. Only when the light clears does he finally turn towards the Elites, swords still drawn.

BGM: https://youtu.be/CAgMNew9H9c

"Smite these infidels, and that disloyal pile of bones at their side!" With that, Valgar draws his blades once more, and he moves to attack the group without wasting another moment. He moves with incredible speed as he snaps his blades forward in wide arcs within mere moments, sending forth blasts of wind with each swing that threaten to blow people off their feet as easily as they cut gashes into their bodies. He doesn't stop there, though, as he claps his blades together and launches orbs of lightning the size of wrecking balls towards the group as well!

"Impossible! Valgar, a champion of the light?!" Serena grimaces as the blasts strike against her shield with the force and volume a sledgehammer hitting steel. Even the Skeleton Warrior is held back when its magic blade clashes with Valgar's twin swords, the latter not even flinching as he abuses his overwhelming speed to get around the Golden Warrior's defenses and send it skidding back with a mighty kick to the face. Sanary slams her axe into the ground to hold her footing as she channels healing magic around to bolster the group.
Stella     The God Snake seems to go down deceptively easily, but Valgar's sudden appearance explains that. Stella actually takes a moment, freezing in place to... mull that over. Think about it. Process the facts.

    Lightning blasts into her, and she bounces on the ground a few times before coming to a halt. She crawls back up, slowly, the cracks and chips in her body healing as quickly as they were inflicted.

    "Those without power cannot grant power," she concludes.
    At Vargas, no doubt, if he's of mind to even listen.

    "Are you sure that was the correct choice? Are you sure that power is real? Were you not powerful enough before?" She thought he was. The leader of the knights, after all. Wasn't that power?

    Stella leaps at Valgar, both blades sparking with reflections of his lightning. "Answer. I need to know."
Zenos yae Galvus The unexpected ball of lightning is challenged by the sword of Zenos.  Even as he feels the electrical energy surge down the blade and burn the skin under his armor, he pushes through it, focusing his attacks as he finally comes out on top.  The Prince stands before them, declared a holy warrior.  

There is but a single laugh from Zenos, as he turns to face the new foe.  "Ah...while I can respect the desire and will to gain a new power, you put yourself at the mercy of the whimsy of Eikons.  I wonder, did they temper you too?  Do you serve them as a simple machine?  Pathetic."

Even as his body aches from his wounds, he leans down, sword back into the sword revolver as he gets ready for another strike.  This time, he winks out of existence, only to appear to the left of the warrior.  The fire blade swinging out and attempting to cut right through his armor, and burn away flesh as easy as one might burn through dry wood.  

However, around Zeno's blades landed.  One of Squall, one of Swell, and one of Ash.  They are already sending Aether into the Prince as he prepares something.
August Kohler As they fight through the snake, burning off chunks of wing and scale, they've almost slain it. But then it sends forth its champion.

Valgar.

"Ah, shit." August dashes his Persona to the side, but the winds still hit head on, slicing through skin and armor, causing August to bleed. He'll heal, skin knitting itself back together, but still. They need to fight. Dietrich slams forward with incredible strength against Valgar's swords...

But he's a warrior of light. His blades are able to clash against Dietrich with ease if he tries, so if they end up in a clash, August does the only thing he can do. "Do you think we're really that simple? That all I have is a sword and some elements? Think again." August reaches into his jacket. He draws his revolver.

"I have a gun."

BANG! BANG! Two shots surge out over the Persona's shoulder as it briefly falters in the sword fight, moving to shoot into Valgar's face with extreme accuracy. If he can take him out, he will.
Staren     <"Dude, we're not your creation! We're people who were quite capable of KICKING YOUR ASS before you came along! ...Oh, forget it, you're probably just a construct following a programmed speech, aren't you...">

    But then: Valgar! Staren puts away the sword and his machine transforms into a jet fighter, frantically zooming through the sky to avoid Valgar's wind blasts.

    <"Oh COME ON! Haven't you noticed how the Sky Spirits talk? Their only purpose is to /lose/. By joining them, you take on their purpose! Come to your senses before it's too late!">

    Staren doesn't seriously attack Valgar yet. The fighter plane in the sky stalls and flips, turning its nose down and firing a hail of hypersonic slugs at the ground around him, trying to keep him on the defensive.

    <"Hey! Sky spirit god dude. If you really care about this guy, come out and fight us, and we'll fight you and spare him. If you don't care and see him as nothing but a disposable pawn... well, you're doing fine, keep doin' what you're doin' I guess.">
Riku Riku turns and lands, prepared to go slashing in again on the Sky Spirit, but then the angelic serpent gets cut into pieces... And not from Zenos. The teen looks around, trying to see what just did that and spies Valgar. "Really?" he says, his eyes squinting. "Well, if that's the way you want it." Unfortunately, his urbane and cynical pose gets promptly shattered when that air blast sends him crashing back into a pillar, some very unpleasant noises coming from him as he craters into it and falls down. "Gggguh!" He grunts, shaking his head at the stunning, overwhelming attack.

"But he grits his teeth, forcing himself back up to his feet through the pain. "I'm not done yet." He declares, kicking things up a notch as he pushes himself harder and faster, hurling himself through space to rush not into Valgar, but past him, the Eidolon behind slamming out to attempt a clothesline. Riku curls around and hammers in from the side, spin-kicking to try to launch Valgar up into the air, where he and the Eidolon quickly begin swarming him with relentless slashes and impacts before a mighty hammer-blow will send him back down into the ground!
Krusty     Krusty grins gleefully as his strike severs one of the serpent's winged arms. The creature finally falls to the ground, weakened by the combined assault. Krusty casually walks forward with axe in hand, ready to finish the sky spirit off. However his look changes to one of surprise as the sky spirit is split in three and explodes into light.

    There's further surprise as Valgar places himself in front of them, clad in his white armour. Krusty looks him over for a moment before chuckling and saying, "So this is the route you've chosen? Fine. Know that there is no turning back now."

    Krusty starts running towards the Prince. He meets the orb of lightning head on. It dances across his armour and through him, causing Krusty to squint in pain. But it only slows his charge for a moment. As the arking energy fades, Krusty leaps into the air quite some distance before reaching Valgar.

    As he arcs back down towards the ground, Krusty swings his axe over his head and smashes into into the tiled floor. Said floor explodes upwards in a wave heading towards Vulgar, threatening to assault him with large chunks of stone or whatever the floor of the sky spirits home is made of.
Note     Note rebounds from the Serpent, using the force of her own attack to power a somersault flip away from it and down to some footing once more. Only to see from there... the Serpent chopped into bits and bites. None of them look very appetizing, though...

    And by, of all people... "VALGAR?!" Note was HOPING he'd show up a bit late to help out, but no... "Oh come on. You sided with these jerks?!" She dances this way and that between most of the gale slashes, but they're too dense to evade them ALL. One strikes her solidly across an arm, drawing a sharp yelp of pain from the little Saiyan-blooded...

    "You know it was looking pretty good for a while. I figured you and Serena could keep everything under control once we made sure the Spirits weren't gonna be a problem... so WHY? WHY did you turn on us?!"

    She disengages with a few backflips and lands in a fighting stance... and energy gathers around her hands and feet. A blue-white, but more of a ghostly blue. It swirls into feral shapes.

    "Well... if you wanna go at it, then fine! I'm serious this time!"

    Note's body just seems to VANISH, but the wind of her passage straight up to in front of Valgar is ferocious. A small sonic boom thunders in her wake as she's suddenly right in front of him, lashing out with swift claw-hand strikes from glowing fingers. Odd as it seems, those fingers are just like claws and fangs as ethereal - and loudly howling - wolf heads emanate from her hands at the last moment. And feet too, as she transitions into a whirling forward combo of brutal and swift strikes.
Tomoe Things are just going wild here, it's a battle which will determine ethe future of a world and she knows it. She keeps fighting there she knows she has to be aggressive and keep in the Light Spirit's face, she has to keep up the attack and keep it's attention on her as much as it can she does, however, does one hell of a thing her shield causing a lot of havoc, but Zenos follows up on it making the damage far worse than she could have done ever on her own.

She does fall back for the moment to gather herself for her next attack. She looks up at the horrible thing keeping a ready stance as others like Riku and Krusty just keep savaging it.

She watches a the Spirit is almost down and it's now gloating? Yes, it seems to be and then Valgar just cuts it to bits now.

At first she thinks he may have played the Sky Spirits hand and then that idea dies about as hard as the Light Serpent had. The powerful wind attacks come and she flares out her own wings and rides it to avoid the worse of the damage. She now looks down to Valgar

"So you made your choice, have you? So be it."

The healing is unexpected but very welcome at this point, and the Skeleton is also into the mix here.

She then drops from above to put her sword as she launches into a four-strike combo with her blade, some sword at given the telltale glow on her blade just before it goes off and then she'll attempt to kick him in the /head/.
Sanary Rondel Valgar's emotions, despite his new allegiance to the disembodied voice, are still worn on his sleeve as he zips around rapidly in fighting the Elites. "I was miserable before. I had nothing left! When he offered me power, it gave me something to cling to. A new identity." Blades clash, lightning bursts around them, and he's forced to disengage briefly as his own lightning is turned back against him and zaps him through the armor. Gritting his teeth, he turns his blades towards Stella directly, aiming to slash past her with a blindingly fast slash.

"That is right. You are special. My chosen!" The disembodied voice continues as Valgar turns his attention towards Zenos next, narrowing his eyes as he disappears and reappears moments later. "Even if I am serving them, they've given me power... Enough power to claim this world!" Valgar whirls his blades around to meet Zenos', the clash echoing through the grand shrine's halls while he opts for a more direct and immediate attack of CUT HIM NOW, delayed attacks be damned even as that fire burns him from the inside of his blessed armor.

With Dietrich still around, however, Valgar's aware enough to not let that chainsaw monster out of his sights. August being nearby means the white knight can see him drawing that gun, and Valgar's on the move to try and intercept him before he can fire. It doesn't quite work as planned as he whirls around to avoid taking the shots in his prettyboy face. The shots instead dig into the joints of his armor, but whatever pain he feels and the blood that sprays out from behind him doesn't seem to slow him down in the least! With that Persona in the way, though, Valgar's forced to fling himself into the air before launching a bolt of holy lightning towars the gunner.

"My senses are fine. So what if I'm under this thing? Power is what matters in this world, and you of all people should know that!" As those bullets come raining down on Valgar, he spins his blades rapidly to deflect the bulk of them while those he misses rattle his armor and draw blood from his less covered limbs. Bearing through the pain, he whips his swords forward to strike some of those bullets right back in a display of his mastery of the sword!

He's probably practiced doing that himself at some point in the past.

As he falls, Riku's on the attack with both blade and Eidolon. The feint works wonderfully as Valgar's sight and blades follow Riku, the clothesline catching him behind and sending him right into the followup kick. Forced to simply withstand the blows instead, it becomes apparent that the disembodied voice is more than just a voice. It's provided the knight with some truly powerful stuff!

It doesn't help him getting battered around, of course, but he's not in a position to quip in return. The hammerblow sends him down towards Krusty's waiting strike, but the prince recovers a little too quickly to get caught completely off guard even from that. He whirls his blades around to deflect those flying chunks of masonry, the size difference between the rocks and his blades not stopping his maneuver in the slightest. Like with Staren's bullets, he even starts smacking them right back at Krusty and sending some towards Riku before swinging both blades down towards the pair to launch massive vertical shockwaves that could easily cleave something in half!

When Note appears in front of him, he swings right back at her with his swords to meet those clawing strikes. Fists meet face, blades turn forwards, and there's a lot of potential stabbing going on for both people as he times his own strikes with hers to see who can withstand more punishment! He only breaks it off when Tomoe's coming in with her own swordsmanship, yet more blade clashes occurring between the two before she suddenly goes for a kick to the face. That's the only strike he even attempts to evade properly, blocking it with his forearms and flipping backwards before launching similar shockwave towards her as well.
Krusty     "Yes. That's it." Krusty raises his axe to block the large chunks of stone returned to him, breaking them apart but causing several still large pieces to strike him. As the shockwave quickly follows, Krusty meets it with a swing of his axe, cutting into the wave and dulling its blow against him. It still causes him to stumble, but he laughs in response, "Fight with all you have!"

    Krusty's glasses glint amidst the red of his berserker aura as he settles down into an attack stance. He swiftly moves his axe to the side, blade beginning to glow with a deep red light. His aura flares as he focuses his will into the attack. The strain is visible on his face. But despite it he is grinning, enjoying the deadly fight.

    "Aura-" Krusty pushes off from the tiled floor, causing it to crack from the force as he rapidly blasts towards Valgar, his axe blade swings towards the Prince, trail of light following it. It's no simple strike though, the skill designed to bypass enemy defenses and strike them dead on.

    Krusty skids to a stop on the other side of Valgar, "-Saber!" He collapses down to one knee, breathing rapidly at the exhaustion he's feeling.
August Kohler The shot does not kill Valgar, sadly. The holy lightning does strike August, though, who is highly susceptible to holy attacks, and knocks him off of Dietrich, causing the Persona to almost fall over itself as it sputters in pain. August screams out, and decides right here that he's going to kill Valgar. The only way he knows how, since Valgar's expecting Dietrich.

Pocketing his gun, August moves Dietrich to face Valgar, and then suddenly runs up the Persona. He leaps onto its shoulders, and then suddenly parkour leaps at Valgar - drawing his combat knife mid-leap. It's a dangerous avenue, but he has a trick up his sleeve. As his knife hoping is plunged into Valgar's shoulder...

Dietrich suddenly speeds up and moves to swing the sword, now in sword form again, and strike it into Valgar's back for critical damage, while August continues to stab. A real, sort of crazy, tag team.
Stella     Valgar cuts through Stella with words and sword both. Is this what disappointment is like, she wonders? When you had expectations, and someone just... dashes them, entirely?

    Her body almost shatters, cut in half cleanly. From the ground she glares up at Valgar, and then shakes her head.

    "This is not power. It is weakness."

    That's right. Valgar was weak, and fell back on beings that proved themselves weak as well, to try to remedy that. That wasn't the answer. She's not sure what she'd have done in his place, but not that. She's pretty sure... not that.

    Her regeneration kicks into overdrive, as crystal spikes burst out of her body. Large points of sharp, deadly prismatic crystals burst off her as she finishes reassembling herself, raining down on Valgar with enough zeal and force to make any Vlad the Impaler especially proud of the golem for attacking using this tactic.

    It's like an endless rain of incredibly hard crystal swords, with nothing behind them but kinetic force and the potential to explode into smaller, even more numerous projectiles.
Zenos yae Galvus "Oh, in that much you are right.  Power /IS/ everything...but you do not understand.  Power, as you have it, is not YOUR power, but the power of your master through you.  It is not yours to wield as you see fit, but as it sees fit.  You are not wielding power...but instead being wielded by it.  In the end, you are a pawn."

However, at this point, Zenos' body is just BURNING in aether.  The blade swings to catch him in retaliation.  His own catches it as the two collide.  The shockwave washes through his armor, breaking armor as the two clashes.  

"However...allow me to show you what TRUE power is.  The power that comes from only someone who uses it as they see fit, and not the borrowed power of an Eikon."

Zenos vanishes, appearing by The Swell first, the blade channeling green aether as he swings it right towards the holy knight, aiming to take him from his feet.  Then he vanishes, appearing by The Storm, the purple aether channeling as he unleashes a storm of lightning on the holy knight, aiming to reduce his ability to move.  

Then at The Ash, he grabs the blade, and flashes again, aiming to end behind the holy knight.  There is a moment delay as then if he struck true, an explosion of fire would tear through him, as well as a large slash from intensely insane speed from Zenos.  

Slowly, Zenos aims to resheath the blade, as the other swords rotate in the sword revolver.  "This is true power."
Note     "So which is it you care about more? Being something, or having power?!" Note screeches angrily at Valgar. "You were strong earlier, Valgar! And you got there all on your own! Now you're only whatever THIS VOICE says you are, isn't that right? What's so great about that? You can't even brag about it! You have NOTHING! Stop being an idiot already! You were way cooler when I saw you last time!" Blades meeting fists should go poorly for Note, and yet somehow it doesn't. The ferocious aura of Ki swirling around her hands protects them from the worst of it. Only shallow cuts are inflicted where she surges forth and turns aside Valgar's blades, then kicks off the ground and sails up into the air over him.

    Lightning continues to crackle and arc wildly around the fringes of her golden glow, all of which intensifies as she juts her hands forth, palms open... and draws them to her side in a by-now-familiar posture.

    "Kaaaaaaa Meeeee... Haaaaaaa Meeeee...." Shining blue-white, energy gathers in her hands into a tiny orb that grows slowly, straining against the compressive force of being focused down to just a single point. It grows as she chants those syllables, until it reaches her fingers and strains against the boundaries...

    "HAAAAAAAAAAA!!" And just like that, she demonstrates why the teachers at Kokkara Village REALLY dissuade her from practicing anywhere nearby. As her hands are thrust forward, palms framing Valgar in her sight, all of that energy is unleashed at once. A collossal wave that, to the target, would appear as though the a star had fallen from the sky and is coming STRAIGHT FOR YOU. Everything washed out by a grand light. The KameHameHa Wave travels with a booming roar, defeaning for anyone who might be too close to it!
Tomoe Tomoe says "You wish to be their flunky....?"

She trails off a bit this guy is a man or was a man at the very least she does not shoot any more words at Valgar now. No she focused on the fight at hand and she's being pushed so very hard here, she's not got much left at the moment and is going push whatever she can into this lates chain of attacks. She will have to however last long enough to get the attack she plans to do off. The shockwaves hit her and she's clearly hurt she brings up her Shield which helps somewhat but the damage is just rather heavy to even her she's got wireframe injuries all over her body and even some of her gear and this time it's only ever so slowly reasserting her normal form.

"I'm not done yet, you have made your choice, you still could have been something had you remained with the Kingdom."

She will launch into another chain of attacks but she's slowing it's clear, her blade glows.

"TWIN CUT!"

She'll let lose the x slash like attack and just keep pressing for now but how much more before she just collapses? Then again with the fury of her allies assaults such as Krusty, Note and Xenos? It might not be long before this fallen Prince, falls in a far more litteral senses.
Staren     Valgar /deflects bullets/. Damn it! The Star Hawk deploys its lef arm, hiding behind the shield again, but the sheer volume of redirected fire tears away at the unshielded side. The right wing is a wreck -- advanced computer programs and control over additional precision thrusters placed on the limbs are the only things keeping it flying straight at this point.

    Staren sighs, with a bit of a growl to it. <"Oh well, I tried. Maybe you can still find value as a case study.">

    As it drops closer to the cloud, the Star Hawk desploys its legs and other arm, handheld laser cannon at the ready. Staren starts to fly in a wide circle in the air around Valgar, firing bursts from the laser cannon. Hopefully Valgar can't deflect THOSE as easily.

    He also starts narrating. <"If you're watching this archival video, it is for a lesson in what NOT to do. Valgar's first mistake was in agreeing to follow someone whose plan was to LOSE to people to create the ultimate warriors. If you really want to create the ultimate warriors, there's better ways. But Valgar's /last/ mistake was this: Observe how he is fighting solo against a team of competent and powerful opponents. Even if you are following a sensible cause and not one that views you as disposable, never do this. Sometimes, plans fall through and you may find yourself in this situation. Future Concord recruits, you may have an urge to 'Show Them All' and go out in a blaze of glory. But the key thing words in that phrase are 'go out'. You die. And if you were your cause's last supporter, it dies with you. If not, your potential allies lose the benefit of your strength. If this happens to you, don't fight. Run, or agree to a comprimise with your attackers, planning to work for your cause in more subtle ways in the future. But don't do /this/.">

    <"Besides, even if you want a blaze of glory? That's not what this is. I am barely gonna remember this guy in a few months. Teams of elites like us get in fights like this ALL THE TIME. For him it's his last moments, his blaze of glory. For me it's this Friday. Just another fight I'm winning. So let this be a lesson in what NOT to do.">
Riku The chaos of the battle continues to buffet at Riku, though Valgar's response is quite a problem. The reflected masonry and projectiles wing Riku a few times despite his speedy motions, the man as fast as he is... and far more durable to boot. The shockwave, however, becomes a big issue. the rolling wave of force roars towards him, and this time, he rolls and tucks forward, falling into one of those dark portals...

And appearing above Valgar, the massive black shape of his Eidolon swirling around him. "POWER!" He yells, and he descends, a shower of dark bolts raining down on the ultimate warrior until he crashes upon the man like a burning meteor of shadow.
Sanary Rondel The battle rages on as Krusty's leap takes him towards the white knight with more speed than he could have ever expected. Becoming too confident in his own strength and skill with a blade as well as the might of his benefactor's armor, the axe technique's energy pierces everything that isn't Valgar's ability to parry attacks and drives the pain straight into his body.

Staggering back from that strike, The knight threatens to drop to a knee as his grip on his blade falters momentarily. He's about to launch one of those sonic blasts from whipping his sword forward when August's gutsy maneuver drives that knife just right between the joints of Valgar's armor and its oversized shoulderpads before he can follow through with that counterattack. That's enough to throw his aim off enough that Dietrich's sword pushes through the prince's back. Blood sprays outwards, but it doesn't have time to even hit the ground.

Instead, the blood is intercepted by the rain of crystals bearing down on the disembodied voice's champion. Only his armor and hunching over from the sudden pain coursing through Valgar stop him from being run through more than he already has. Try as he might, he's not even sure where to aim as Stella's disassembling and regeneration means she's no longer where he saw the crystal knight when she launched that attack.

Zenos, too, is nigh impossible to track with so many attacks striking true in quick succession. Swell removes his footing and his balance, Storm shocks him enough to keep his body rigid, and Ash scorches that white armor until even its blessed power can't maintain that pure white glow any longer. Tomoe's slashing technique only gets a halfhearted attempt to parry it before that, too, cuts right into the armor that's falling apart at the seams with so many weapons picking it apart like paper mache before chainsaws that aren't also whips.

By the time Valgar lands, it should be impossible for him to stand. Pure willpower drives him to continue standing defiantly before the Elites, howeverr, as he sheaths his blades and readies them for another attack. He doesn't bother with any more quips as he sees Note's massive beam of energy coming towards him, drawing his blades at the last moment to try and cleave right through to part it before him.

Keyword being try, of course. It doesn't really get him anywhere in his current state as his blades meet the beam, halting it for a moment while his swords are still moving before the beam blasts him around the shrine. Somehow, he gets back on his feet, but he's met by EVEN MORE BEAM courtesy of the Star Hawk.

The royal bloodline, false or no, does prove to be incredibly resilient. Even as Valgar's bein beaten down by so many lasers that the armor is flattened in spots, he still struggles to move and get back up. Even as the rain of dark magic from Riku's Eidolon batters him further into the ground, he hasn't died yet! Sure, he's practically stuck in a crater at this point and lacking much in the way of being-able-to-move-at-all, Valgar yet breathes!

In a crater. He's not getting back up anytime soon. It's clear that he's been defeated soundly now, and the champion of the ultimate being has been defeated.
Sanary Rondel "Hear ye warriors! I have judged you worthy, and your journey is over. You are my ultimate warriors!" The voice rings out again as a pillar of light shines from above. Electricity crackles, and a floating blue... Thing appears, a truly inhuman shape that doesn't quite look like anything recognizable in nature or even of human make.

BGM: https://youtu.be/It8XNsWyYaE

Serena's the first to speak, a saddened tone breaking the more controlled or angered voice she had during the fight and even while speaking with the Sky Spirits earlier.

"Brave warrior who died to keep my family safe, I ask you. Is this what you wanted? Did you really return to us because you served some higher power? I do not know your face, or even your name, but I wanted to believe you served us, the people. That you were our ally. Our friend!" She tenses up as the Skeleton Warrior steps towards the mysterious being steadily, looking as though it's going to lay its blade down besides the benefactor.

... Until it swings the blade upwards, then downwards, and repeatedly carving into it with its blade. "Wh-what treachery is this?! You dare strike your Lord?! You have no heart, no friends! You cannot be doing this!"
August Kohler Valgar is defeated. August almost wants to finish the job, but chooses against it. Serena can arrest him and do whatever it is she'll do. When the pillar of light shines down, though, and the weird blue creature appears, August stares. And then, as SK goes forth, August watches, wondering if he indeed was serving this thing.

And then, SK chooses them over the creature. August has a feeling that once it falls, so will SK, but...he'll probably be fine with that, right? Drawing his revolver again, August lefts off the final several rounds at the blue thing, hoping to kill it. "I'm not your ultimate warrior. I'm /his/ friend, and I fight for those who can't fight for themselves, not weird alien gods. Goodbye."

Shortly after, though, August is going to collapse. He'll move over towards Sanary so she can make sure his body doesn't get murdered, and Dietrich will disappear in the process, but he's burned himself out for right now. He's exhausted.
Riku With Valgar dispatched, Riku stands and leaves him to his crater. He breathes heavily, having been pushed rather far in this fight, but he shakes his head, forcing himself to focus. He looks up at the blue thing that appears, proclaiming them the ultimate warriors.

Riku scowls. "Who said we were /yours/?" He doesn't even miss a beat as he walks forward, Soul Eater in his hand as he approaches. "No one deserves to be saddled with you."

Something about this thing seems to /really piss Riku off/. He's already lunging in to help SKUH and cleave through this thing.
Staren     Staren doesn't have words for the entity behind this.

    He has lots of bullets though. And laser beams.
Zenos yae Galvus Zenos looks down towards the defeated prince, the blade pointed down for but a moment.  However, the voice speaks again...

"Hmph.  Later, I have bigger things to obtain than your demise," Zenos says coldly, before slowly turning towards the brain like creature.  The armored bladesman walks towards the creature watching as the Skeleton warrior does as well.  Zeno pauses, letting this play out.

A smile comes to his face when it swings, bitting the hand that fed it.  Once more, Zeno's hand comes to his blade, crouching slightly.  Then in a flash, he is on the other side of the creature, blade extended, aiming to cut and burn through his power with the power of The Ash.

"Even in death, a man is still a man.  You, false god underestimated the strength of man.  Now, perish like the Eikon you are."
Sanary Rondel "This is madness! I have honored you by making you my sword and shield! You gained that power under my guidance! Paradise is already yours! You need only follow me!" The being crackles with electricity as bullets pierce it and more blades cleave through it.
Krusty     The aura around Krusty fades along with the berserker status. Regaining some sense of calm, Krusty remains where he is, holding himself up with his axe until he can recover. His breathing slows as he feels some amount of his energy returning.

    As he stands, Krusty winces a little, feeling the pain in his body after having gone all out for that battle. For that reason when their so-called 'Lord' shows itself, Krusty doesn't move. Instead he simply watches as the Skeleton Warrior attacks its creator.

    As said being tries to convince them to follow it, Krusty simply says, "No."

    After having fought spirits from both extremes of this world in order to gain freedom for the people of the kingdom, the resolve of the people here is clear. No more needs to be said.
Sanary Rondel Sanary's up next, laying into the being with her axe with more force than sense as it starts to crackle from divine energy leaking from its core. "Paradise ain't bad, but you should know better if you're really that powerful. At the end of the day, you're just a freaky..." She gestures vaguely at the thing. "...Whatever trying to sound more important than you really are!"

Serena steps up with her own blade drawn, whirling her blade around against the being and channeling an icy explosion into it from the tip of her blade. "You see this as defiance? We see it as duty. If we follow you, the world below will be left in shambles. We refuse to accept paradise and condemn others to ruin!"

"Fools! I made the world below! It will stay forever in shambles, unless I right it! That's your concern no longer!"
Riku "Your guidance sucks." Riku says. "A lot of people died because of it. You don't deserve to be anyone's lord." Simple. Direct. Stabby. "People can rebuild their own stuff. Get out of people's business."
Staren     <"Alright, I'll give you a few more words, even though I'm pretty sure you're beyond hope."> Staren pipes up. <"You've been a complete fuckup every step of the way. We don't trust your 'paradise' or your 'guidance'. You're too thickheaded to get it, though, so we're probably gonna have to kill you to stop your meddling.">
Note     Down goes Valgar. Still alive, it would seem, and Note's quite happy with that. But she lands with the others, dropping down to the less-flashy Super Saiyan state with a heave of breath and a wobble as she does so. Whatever burst of strength let her pull that off is gone now. It doesn't seem to be something she can just up and do at will...

    If she even notices it happened.

    But this just means that with the THING appearing out of nowhere and declaring her one of its 'ultimate warriors,' she...

    Childishly sticks her tongue out at it, and pulls down an eyelid with a finger. "Am noooooooooooot!" Retracting that gesture she switches to folding her arms across her chest indignantly. "I'm my own ultimate warrior!" The girl proclaims. "Are you scared? 'cuz you oughtta be! Maybe now you'll listen to some reason--"

    And then... and then Serena's plea happens. And Note cuts off her speech because... yeah. It's getting all chopped up. By Skele-bro of all people.

    She's OKay with this, but her expression turns rather deflated, and with a *swkoowh* she powers down, hair fading back to black and falling into place.
Tomoe Tomoe is worn out she's given about everything she could give. She's breathing raggedly as she looks up at the thing for a moment she stared at them for a moment.

"Your warrior?... I am not your warrior. I will aid whom I choose, a man long ago took away the life I had for his dream of a world of swords. I'm broken by it I can not go back to being who I was before. Not after what we had to do to get out of that nightmare. So I say no."

She starts to chant golden runes dance about her body as she launches not fire or light but Lightning at the being before her.

"BE gone, we are not your playthings."
Sanary Rondel Lightning and yet more stabbing draws more leaking energy and particle effects from the brain as its howls echo through the shrine. Once everyone's gotten their blows in, both Serena and the Skeleton Warrior turn as Valgar steps forward slowly.  Despite being left in a crater earlier, despite the dripping blood, despite the smoke rising from his everything, and despite his shoulder pads crumbling to dust, he draws closer.

The being crackles, sounding desperate. "My chosen warrior! Now, do exactly as I say. Our adversaries stand before us. Strike them down!"

"No! You will not command me any longer! How is this any different from before? The world is better off without you. No more gods and monsters, and no more puppets!" Drawing his blades once more, Valgar drives his swords into the being as the Skeleton Warrior stabs into it as well. The being screeches, the crackling energy leaks out at a fever pitch, and light bursts forth as the Sky Spirits realm crumbles and explodes.

Everyone should be falling. Or dead. Or... Something. That's what happens when an entire plane of existence explodes. It should, but it doesn't.

BGM: https://youtu.be/bgdZWf5AGVg

Instead, everyone finds themselves standing on a cliffside overlooking the kingdom. The forests are still there, the castle is still there, and even the creepy graveyard next to the town where this whole mess started is still there. Serena is standing there with a thoughtful, yet finally relaxed look in her eyes while Valgar is nowhere to be seen.

Embedded into a stone besides the group is a familiar magic sword, two thinner blades resting beside it.
Krusty     Light engulfs them all, Krusty closing his eyes with a bit of a smile on his face.

    Opening his eyes again, Krusty looks out on the kingdom. Everything seems to be in order. No sudden apocalypse. No surprise new threat. No sign that anything is out of the ordinary. Satisfied, Krusty slowly returns his axe to his back.

    A quick glance at the final resting places of the swords indicates the fate of Valgar. Krusty says nothing of it.

    Turning to Serena, Krusty gives her his usual bow, "Princess. It has taken us a while reach this point and I am happy that it has turned out well. There is still a long road ahead of you though. If you have any troubles on it, please feel free to contact me and I will provide what help I can."

    "And on behalf of the Round Table, I would like to extend to you an offer of an alliance. I expect you have much to think about at this point, so you need not answer now. Just think on it."

    That said and done, Krusty turns to look at the others, "Well fought, all. We've accomplished much." He gives them nods of respect. Yes, even Zenos.
Tomoe Tomoe is spent now she pauses as the prince and skeleton moves to strike whatever this thing is it does not last long but reality breaks down it just break and explode about them she braces herself for what might be to come. This is the end, right? She'll get an answer to a question that has plagued her since the multiverse was a thing to her. Or she does not she wakes up on the cliff with everyone else. She'll look around pausing for a moment.

"This is at last over, and Princess if you ever have need of me you may just simply give me a call. I'll be happy to help."

she seems tired though and the wireframe still hasn't healed yet either.

"Same to you Krusty, I might have to hit you and your Round table up later."
Note     "Hey what--" Note starts to panic as everything's exploding and falling apart... but it all goes to white and...

    "....." ANd she opens her eyes, disoriented, on the clifftop... rubbing her forehead. "... What... what just happened..." She takes a moment to look around... and spots what's clearly a memorial. "......." Does that mean Valgar didn't make it...?

    Not flops down to her hands and knees, exhausted. "Haaah.... is this mess over...?"
Sanary Rondel Serena closes her eyes as the adrenaline from their battle finally wears off, content to let the wind wash over her. "It is, Lady Note. Whatever gods claimed dominance over us are gone. We are free." As Krusty speaks, she smiles lightly and nods. "Thank you for your continued support, Sir Krusty. An alliance would not be out of the question once the dust has settled. And... Many thanks to all of you, even if our goals may not have been aligned from the start."

Staren, Stella, and Zenos all get knowing looks. "We may not have agreed on things from the beginning, but our goals were the same." She pauses, trying not to look directly at Stella in particular.

"... I believe that to be so." She nods more confidently afterwards, chuckling once and nodding towards Tomoe. "Of course. I'll likely have my hands full once I return, but I have faith things will be okay now without anybody else to watch over us or judge us."