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Muramasa After the emotional roller coaster ride that had been the last few hours - Muramasa was left in his tiny apartment with an entire group of people to sort things out with. "I didn't know you'd felt that way," he'd apologized to Lilian in the interim, for how he'd hurt her - that she'd felt as if he had left her behind to go off with Hibiki. And while tensions between them had stifled and risen after he had said that - he'd never felt as though he was trying to cast her away. Even so, his intentions, as ever, had not mattered in the slightest to what the results had been.

And so, he had apologized for hurting her, and forgave her for hurting him - somehow. It gave him no small sense of shame that he had to overcome a bubbling resentment that he hadn't even realized had settled in deep in his chest to mean it when he suggests they start over.

With the hard work of Rita Ma and Candy, his door and floor had been repaired post-haste. They'd only been putting their back into it to keep themselves busy during the heavy conversation at hand, but their work did pay off in the end - that just left ..

" .. well, I'd offer to cook now, but I don't really have anything to make. Or room for any of you to eat if I could." he admits.

After thinking on it for a moment, Muramasa suggests they go out - though, some of the people present would need to go about disguised, given their explosive entrance that had resulted in an armed response earlier in the day - which meant Candy would probably want to ditch the maid outfit, which would be a great loss to everyone. Probably.

I still can't believe they did all that ... he thinks, waiting outside of his apartment complex for everyone else to sort themselves out and pick where they wanted to eat. It sure was a lot, just for someone like me. ... I feel uneasy. But making big decisions about your life is never something you can do without being nervous or a little regretful, right? ... what I want, what I feel responsible to do .. finding a balance between these things is hard. It's hard just to accept that it's alright for me to want anything more than this worthless life that was saved over and over.

But if he insisted that it was worthless, then what did that say for everyone and everything that was sacrificed to save it? "I don't know," he says to himself.

The hairs on the back of his neck raise and his body language becomes alert, tensing like a coil. " - something's coming..?"
Gilgamesh      It's almost too perfect a timing.

     Had he forseen this? Had that man - that demigod - seen this moment that long ago? Seen this instant? Seen this place, this apartment complex in this city? Had he known what was going to happen and where Muramasa would go and what conclusion Muramasa would take during that very conversation in which Muramasa turned down a compliment from the King?

     Just how wise is the King Who Knows All The Nations Of The World? Or, failing that, how deep did He Who Saw The Deep see?

     Before the words have even left Muramasa's mouth he's there. The Vimana is hanging above the streets, the glorious green-and-gold throne of a ship casting a shadow like a great bird of prey against the sun. On that throne is the King of Heroes in all his regal glory - his golden armor, his slicked-back hair. His knuckle is against his cheek, leaning against his elbow on the armrest of his throne.

     "Gan Jiang Lily."

     Even now, the true name of the man below must leave a bad taste in his mouth. It's probably understandable.

     Gilgamesh rises from his throne and walks forward along the Vimana's front. "You failed yourself. You failed those around you. You failed those you loved, and those who loved you. You rejected your humanity and buried yourself deep in your sorrows. You, who soared so high, fell so low as to cast off even the compliments of the King of Heroes."

     The King steps off the Vimana and drops to the ground. This is probably not a good thing.

     "And now you have made peace with those failings."

     The King waves one hand to his side. "You have gone to the Underworld and returned with the help of those around you. With the help of those very people you rejected. Those people, whom you have embraced."

     His eyes turn a brilliant, glowing red. The magical power washing over the field is undeniable, indescribable - antediluvian. Something older than old and stronger than strong, a *presence* as much as a power, an *existence* carved in certainty, carved in a perfect shape and a perfect face and a perfect form. This is Rule, Rulership, the notion thereof. He is the Crown and the King, and the King is the Crown, and to look upon him in this glory is to know that he is the King.

     "And so you must complete your journey. You must complete my journey."

     "You called yourself to glory in the Holy Grail War. You came forth from the War with power and determination. You joined with the Paladins, and then bound yourself to Hibiki, gathering comrades. You sank into despair."

     "We must now see if you have gained wisdom."

     "Gate of...Babylon."

     The sky is alight with gold. Ripples of gold. Endless, countless ripples. The whole world seems to distort around the King in golden ripples. And from those ripples, weapons begin to emerge, one by one, enough weapons to fill an armory, each of magical potency enormous. This is Power. This is raw, unbelievable, disgustingly ancient Power.

     "Come, Shirou Emiya. Come, you who walk alongside him. We will see now if the child of man has learned his lesson, and if your hearts are strong enough to support him."

     "Or if he must be cast back into the Underworld."
Rita Ma      "Ah... sushi, maybe? If that's alright with everyone else." Rita gives a forlornly hopeful smile in Candy and Lilian's direction. "But if someone has a better idea, I'll be okay. I had a good lunch."

     Rita permanently gives the impression of waiting for the other shoe to drop. When bad things happen, she accepts them with surprise but never shock. When good things happen, she takes them only with a shadow of doubt behind her eyes. Right now is one of the few times she's managed to talk herself out of that. It feels like she's fought for this happy ending enough.

     "Huh? What do you mean, Mr. Muramasa?" And then it drops anyway.

     If not for the fact that she'd just been in Muramasa's apartment, she could be just another civilian. There's nothing strange about the way she looks. The terrified deer-in-headlights look on her face is picture-perfect for a hapless bystander. Plucky bravery tries to fight up from beneath it, but it's a losing battle. Even when she settles on a determined look, it's shaky.

     "I don't understand anything about this. 'Gan Jiang', 'Shirou Emiya'. Why you have to test him. How you think he failed you. But... I let Hibiki suffer too much already. When she got hurt, I wasn't there for her. I made her feel like she'd be forcing me to choose between her and someone else."

     Her hands ball up into tight little fists. She looks like she ought to be crying, but the tears don't come out. "I've never met him before in my life. But I couldn't live with myself if I abandoned her again. I hope... that makes sense, Mr. Gilgamesh."

     Step one: the simplest attack in the world. Testing, judging. A 'blade' swings to nick Gilgamesh's cheek, totally invisible. It makes a whipcrack noise, but only in the instant it cuts- precisely aimed, no cue to dodge, no indication Rita's doing anything at all.

     In the moment after it's thrown, she steps backwards out of her disguise-wrappings and turns invisible, leaving her old position as a perfectly convincing decoy that even moves and reacts. She reappears stepping out from behind Candy as a perfect copy of him, trading a brief glance of acknowledgement with her newfound twin.
Featherman Neo Featherman Neo is about to recommend a food place, having said his peace and then helped with the clean-up afterwards.

Gilgamesh shows up. Rippling power. An airship. Awe-inspiring might. He's dangerous. He's deadly. He's *not holding back*.

Featherman is scared, but it doesn't show. He takes a step with the others, summoning two lockets to hand. The group affirms their bonds over radio, so he affirms himself to Gilgamesh.

"Oh, King of Heroes! From the Underworld and back, live or die, I will show the power of my bonds! But believe me - I intend to live!"

The lockets are slammed together, and then forced into the same slot in the belt, as they begin to merge. One has an extra copy left - the other does not. This is new. A new expression of his power, instead of just using both in separate slots.

"HIBIKI TACHIBANA! SENGO MURAMASA! FEATHERMAN NEO!"

There's no belt callout this time. Featherman calls it out himself.

"FORMA YIN-YANG!"

He presses the button on the belt, but the ability's already activating.

The belt roars to life with noise, but there's something weird. Is this use of his power...not at all related to the belt? Is this something about the man underneath the suit?

Black and white samurai armor suddenly summons into existence, mashing over his suit. A scarf, much like Hibiki's, forms around his neck and mouth. Two massive piston rocket gauntlets form on his arms, Kanshou and Bakuya knives for 'claws'.

Jumpjets fire up on the suit, as Featherman launches forward, the left piston arm moving to try and smash into Gilgamesh, while the other begins firing the claws as an absolute hailstorm of knives in an attempt to deflect Gate of Babylon's impending storm enough to allow the hit instead of getting knocked back by a rain of legendary weapons and impaled on his first strike. When the knives are deflected, they home back in, giving a little bit of pressure too.
Muramasa     - it's him.

Countless armaments appear in the sky - each one a legend in the making, a superb and peerless treasure that would birth the glory and dreams of humans, vessels for those things to inhabit. In a way, it felt like fate - that everything would come full circle like this. That the shining path that opened to him would be guarded by this man, more than any other. The King.

Unlike the shining king in front of him, Muramasa was clad in a simple pair of blue jeans, and a white cotton shirt with long sleeves. Uneasy dread fills his whole self, and the confidence he'd felt the last time he'd crossed blades with Gilgamesh was nowhere to be found. After all, back then, he'd been lying - to himself and to others - it was easy to simply write off his feelings and embrace the delusion he'd immsersed himself in.

        This is not a fight he could win.

<J-IC-Scene> Featherman Neo says, "My friend. My comrade. I can see your doubt. But we're not leaving you in your final battle of this stage of your life. What kind of friendly fools would we be if we didn't charge into this battle?"

<J-IC-Scene> Featherman Neo says, "Tonight, Featherman Neo flies! Muramasa, we have your back!"
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "And I'm not having this ruined after I just fixed it."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "So . . ."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma exhales shakily. "I think I understand. I'm scared, but..."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Well, don't think too hard about it. Even if you all break, I'll carry you there anyways. It's apparently what I do."
<J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "...Yeah. If this is a test to see if we're able to support you, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not gonna lose. No matter what, not after all of that."
<J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "I'm right here with you, Muramasa."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma sounds like she's about to protest the first part, but then: "Okay, Ms. Rook!"
<J-IC-Scene> Muramasa says, "You all .. you're - .. thank you. For standing with me, believing in me, and for taking my hand. As long as you're all at my side, and in my heart .. I refuse to lose to him. Not this time."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I... I have a reason to be here too. So I think it'll work out."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Good. Because I'll be pissed off if you eat dirt a third time."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "You still owe me for biting it in front of Hiromi. This and the other thing are separate."
<J-IC-Scene> Muramasa says, "There are still things I want to say .. and choices I have to make. The road of my life has been painted with the colors of everyone here - it'd just be too sad if I dropped dead now without having a chance to take the first step forward."
<J-IC-Scene> Muramasa says, "I'll try not to disappoint you."
Muramasa     But I'm not alone anymore..!

Sucking in a deep breath, both of his hands open up before curling around weapons that didn't exist yet - weapons that had to be brought from his mind, from his soul, into the world. "I am the bone of my sword."

In his hands, a white and black saber speckled with a red, scaled pattern apparate, as he fills up his whole body with magical energy to Reinforce himself. His bones, his muscles, his flesh, to bring out the full potential of his body.

Bolting forward, he attempts to meet Gilgamesh with the married swords, anticipating that he would need to fend off the Noble Phantasms shot by the Gate on his approach.
Lilian Rook     ...he'd apologized to Lilian in the interim...

    "That's okay. I didn't know how I felt either. Or I suppose . . . I didn't want to know. It's not your responsibility, to apologize for that. Even if I do, deep down, still appreciate that . . . you'd feel any kind of empathy for me at all, really." There's a weird, uncomfortable pause there. ". . . It's fine. You're allowed to feel that way. I wouldn't forgive me that quickly either. Feel whatever you have to; please just promise me that you'll put it away once you're done, and not wallow in it."

    Despite all of the previous tension, when Muramasa offers to cook, Lilian wanders back to the kotatsu with an airy laugh that is just a little bit too adrenaline-tinged to be convincing. "And now don't you feel stupid? Isn't it self-evident why you don't belong in this dump? Come on. Let's go somewhere with a real kitchen."

    " - something's coming..?"

    Lilian's relief dissipates in less than an instant. She blanks out, trancelike, for a second, and then all of a sudden she bolts up to her feet, shoulders clenched, fingertips digging into her palms, eyes outside, and then one hand flies to her bag, and one to her collar. Gilgamesh makes his appearance. His sheer overwhelming aura crashes into the group like a tidal wave. She locks eyes with the King of Heroes, the narrow scar over the bridge of her nose, broken off and resuming beneath one eye, some how lending her stare a sort of intensity it didn't have before, when she'd faced him down the first time. It feels, somehow, more authentic. More serious. More real.

    A sound is coming from her bag. But also from Lilian. Like a metronome. Like an engine. Like a heartbeat. A soft, delicate, silver on glass ticking. Exactly one second per second, with atomic precision. Tick. Tick. Tick. A sound that has been counting forever. She sets it down very carefully on the kotatsu, and then it disappears; moved somewhere out of the way.

<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "Good. Good. All of you have pleased the King. The first step from the Underworld is already passed."
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "Now show me the strength of these determined words, of your bonds, of your hearts."
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "Show me the wisdoms you have uncovered on your journey through the Underworld with one another."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I've just returned from my own Underworld, so I'd feel like a bad senior if I let him languish in his. Don't hold it against me, O King."
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "Hahaha. Do you think I speak only to him?"
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "Do you think that all of you are not on your own roads, with your own bonds? Do you think the King would step out here merely to fight Shirou Emiya? I know full well that I can crush Shirou Emiya. That proves nothing, to him or to me."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Haha, well-said then."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Then please allow me to choose new words."
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "As you will."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I'm dying to show you how far I've come, and the one treasure you don't have, that I've hidden from you all this time. I hope you appreciate it."
<J-IC-Scene> Gilgamesh says, "I shall enjoy it, then! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Lilian Rook     "I remember you said, what feels like a lifetime ago, O King, that humans could never hope to climb the mountain that you represent, but that the attempt, the journey in trying so, was worthwhile, because it would make them better. I really believed that back then. And I think maybe I believe it both less and more now." Lilian says to Gilgamesh, calmly, without any apparent angle.

    Her fingers lift the black pendant from her throat, and briefly expose a bracelet with a black stripe around her wrist. "Now I think . . . perhaps I was wrong to try and identify with that struggle. Someone told me that I might really just be . . . human in a way that humans aren't, but might be. And I'd like to believe that even more. So whether or not you think I still count by the end of today, I don't really mind; but I'll expect your praises regardless."

    A flick of her wrist. The chain dissipates into inky black smoke, or perhaps smoky black ink. Night Mist extends three and a half feet from her side, and every etching along it blazes all at once. The dark tattoo-like markings run up from her fingertips to her shoulder, and then halt, and fade, without reaching her face. Instead, her scar turns a strange dusty gold colour, a sliver of the same, like a crack, running through her eye. Lilian breathes in deeply, and when she exhales, her breath fogs, like smoke, tinted not-quite-red.

    "Dame Commander Rook didn't make much progress before, so . . ."
    "Eigenslayer Lilian Isabelle Rook, engaging."

    Lilian disappears, vanishing as always and appearing at the roof level of the apartment complex, out in the open air. Except, inexplicably, at the same time, multiple weapons poised and half-ready from the Gate of Babylon are suddenly sent(?) at tremendous speed at Gilgamesh, spinning at him from multiple angles, who is by necessity in the middle of them. Their holding-ends glow faintly, for just a moment, like colour inverted cherenkov radiation.
Hibiki Tachibana     The entire day was a lot, to put it bluntly. After everything was said and done, Hibiki had plenty of her own to do. Apologies of her own to Lilian for how things ended up back then - and sternly pushing aside any refusals to take them on the other girl's part - along with an apology to Tamamo once again for incidentally interrupting them today...and thanks for coming. Really, she has plenty of those to give out to everyone, from Hook and Featherman and Gareth caring so much, to Candy and Rita putting so much in even though they didn't have that kind of attachment to Muramasa.

    She also had to clean up her bloodied forehead, which is probably still going to be rocking a nasty bruise for a little bit. More than worth the pain though, so she doesn't have any complaints. Honestly, just being able to sit here and talk with him again - with everyone here, in one room - feels a little surreal after how long she had waited for something like this. But in a good way. It's the kind of thing she wishes would never have to end.


    But it does all the same before she knows it, and those impossible-feeling moments along with their excursion are cut short and brought back to earth by the arrival of the golden ship high above, and the Kingly presence aboard it. Gilgamesh--the King of Heroes. 'We will see now if the child of man has learned his lesson, and if your hearts are strong enough to support him.'

    Confusion quickly becomes understanding, more and more settling in as the air around the King fills with brilliant and rippling portals. He's here to not only test him, but every last one of them. Those two battles with Hiromi so long ago, both in the underground city and atop the mountain, flash back to her mind. She failed him both of those times, as a Master...and as a friend. She won't let that happen again. Not after everything that's happened since. And...

    "Rita..." Turning to her, Hibiki's eyes are wide, looking at the expression on her face...before settling into something that'd be resolute, if it wasn't for the softer look in her eyes and the small, slight smile. Right. She's not the only one fighting for those kinds of reasons. A couple worlds wrestle on her tongue for a moment before she ends off on a simple, "...Thank you. You're really one of the best friends I could ask for. So..." She slowly turns her head back up to Gilgamesh and takes out the crimson pendant beneath her collar to clutch.

    "Balwisyall nescell...Gungnir tron...!"

    A flash of gold overtakes her body, and her Symphogear flashes into existence piece-by-piece as formless light before solidifying into undersuit, then metal, and then the fabric of the flowing scarf behind her. And more than just the armor itself, accompanying it is music--instruments building up in intensity and speed, until Hibiki herself raises her voice.

~The shock from that day is still in my heart
    All the different pains that pierced through me... (Tears roll down)~

    A foot comes back, impacting the ground--and she uses it to kick off at full power regardless of the amount of weapons being primed and aimed at them, bursting in a straightforward path towards Gilgamesh. Air displaces around her from raw speed and force as she rears a gauntlet-clad fist back, fist clenched tight.

    There are no words given to the King of Heroes vocally in the middle of her singing, but as she closes in right alongside Featherman Neo and Muramasa, it's obvious in her eyes; they might not be able to beat him, but she's sure as hell not going to lose. For Muramasa's sake...no, everyone's sake.

    She'll beat aside every last one of these blades preparing to be launched if she has to - but it'll take a lot to stop her from throwing all her weight in to land a hook right on the cheek.

~I won't ever let it happen again...
    My fist tightens again as I remember that promise...!~
Candy      Candy does need to go disguised, inasmuch as it's possible to do. This means that neither the piratically inspired outfit he'd arrived in, nor the maid outfit. will be sufficient. There's a sigh, and then he's in a different outfit. "Bye bye, fishnets," he says dejectedly.

     You might call this new outfit 'gussied up'--a tweed vest over a partially-buttoned down work shirt, with slacks to match the vest, a bowler to tie it all together, and a silk ribbon tied in an exaggerated, cutesy bow to hold his hair back. However disappointed he might have been, this final touch seems to cheer him up.

     "Sure, sushi sounds good! What's sushi--wait, what's coming?!" His hands adopt a position, and a split second later, there appears a wood-framed submachine gun, clearly hand made, with an upwards-curved magazine doubling as a foregrip. This is a completely different person. Tense.

     Candy rushes over to a window, looking out and up at the throne. Following its shadow all the way past what casts it, to the king who sits atop it. With the gun slung against his shoulder, the other hand shades his eyes as the sky glimmers with gold. The tension eases--but only slightly.

*We're supposed to show that by fighting?*

     He looks over his shoulder at the others. *Well... if that's what we gotta do, that's what we gotta do.* "Take it from me, Mr. Blacksmith, the Underworld's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there."

     "You want some iron, Irish?"
Candy <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "No."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "The King of Heroes isn't someone I can beat with a gun."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I'm going straight to Cleasanna Lilí Dubha."

     Candy frowns, looking at the weapon in his hands.

<J-IC-Scene> Candy says, "Okay, then I guess I'm going straight to Shit Creek."

     Well, Shit Creek isn't so bad with company. He appears in the shadow of the throne, just in time to look over his shoulder and smile at his 'clone.' His fingers pull back what appears to be a thumb-sized, ridiculously hard-to-move fire selector, bolted into the weapon's wooden frame. A thick, metal charging handle at the back is pulled back with a grunt of effort. Bathed in golden light, he takes a deep breath.

     "I gotta say, Goldy, you sure know how to make a fella feel the heat." The starting gun fires, in a sense--Rita moves first, then Muramasa. Lilian reaches for Night Mist and time stops.

*Fellas, if this guy laughs off the guns like Lilian says, I'm gonna need to be dangerous up close like she is. I need an edge like her.*

That's no mean feat even with time to prepare, boy. Discounting the years of training and experience, the sword is an artifact unto itself.
*So gimme the best you got with the time we have.*
Very well. Wood, obsidian. Ololiuqui, tlitliltzin, ground. Water, cheesecloth. A purgative. The herb of the sun, to fight gold with gold.

    Time resumes.
-The first few shots of the submachine gun go off, before the weapon, abandoned in midair, goes wild, clattering to the ground.
-Candy is running alongside Muramasa. Both hands grasp the handle of a length of wood, its flat surface inscribed with motifs of skulls, throned figures and snakes. Elongated handle and all, it's slightly shorter than Night Mist.
-Candy blinks upwards, falling to strike from above. Ten prismatic obsidian blades gleam with sunlight, and ignite on their way to meet the King of Heroes, Candy's body twisting in midair to add extra force to the shoulder-hip cut.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh is *really* hard to pin down. It's a testament to Rita's attack that she hits him so precisely and draws blood - and even then she can see he's already starting to twist slightly away from the attack before it's launched, though he clearly cannot see the blade. Precognition, or senses so sharp that it might as well be. She turns invisible, leaving the pair of decoys behind.

     Gilgamesh speaks to the air. "He failed himself."

     His arms cross. "He is a man who time and time again has reached for greatness, only to fall short. His own shortcomings have stopped him from embracing that which makes a hero. His pride, his self-loathing, his self-centered sacrifices. Shirou Emiya - Gan Jiang - Muramasa - is a man who has rejected the path of glory time and time again."

     "Ask him how a blade is forged."

     That's enough for him.

     Featherman leaps forward. He takes up falsehoods of Bakyua and Kanshou and begins hurling the knives with one hand while the piston arm swings for a punch. He finds himself trying to hit air as the King leans sideways, backwards, not moving from the spot but nonetheless evading every punch. But that's not *really* the important thing here - the important thing is tying up the Gate of Babylon as much as possible. Distracting him enough to keep his blades in check is critical - and Featherman's pushing pressure on him as the swords dance an elegant dance above. Sparks crack as blades meet blades. Elegant trails in the sky. Indeed as Featherman's swings keep him on the defensive Featherman's knives hold back the storm.

     It's that very defensiveness that proves Muramasa's understanding entirely wrong. The King's not fighting like an arrogant manchild. Instead as Muramasa comes towards him there is no explosion of swords, no rain of desturction. The King waits until the very last minute for a blade to jut out of nowhere into Bakuya and Kanshou's attack. A sudden intercept at close range. That's not the Gilgamesh Muramasa fought.

     At the exact same time, from above, out of absolutely nowhere, ten blades meet Candy's own, ten nameless swords that burn with fire older than old. There's no sign that the submachine gun bullets even *met* their target. But the glowing flame does crash across the blades, scoring the King's face.

     It's not fair that even bleeding and burned the man still looks absolutely perfect. You can't make beautiful that way. It's not human.

     Blades from the Gate suddenly turn on him.

     A brief flicker of annoyance crosses the King's face as he suddenly is forced to break his otherwise rock-solid stance. After all, even his golden armor can't withstand the weight of his own blades. They are by necessity strong enough to break through it. So instead he jumps backwards, shielding himself with other blades that meet them, dancing backwards enough for Lilian to absolutely confirm that yes the King of Heroes does have some *very* powerful precognition.

     Several of the blades get him nonetheless. One of them catches him in the shoulder. One of them catches him in the leg. Fortunately, they aren't as explosive as they would be under his own power - but they're still enough to cut through his armor.

     With one hand he casually rips one of them out of his body. The blade swings around to meet Gungnir head-on - a weapon older than history itself meeting a weapon that filled the dreams from that Treasury long after its owner's death. This time there are no sparks - it's an eruption of supernatural energy that fills the air to join the dancing trails up above. Power pushes against power, music against raw might.

     Gilgamesh hops backwards. The Gate disappears. All the swords ready to launch vanish. All the blades disappear.

     That is probably a less good sign than anyone would like.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh snaps his fingers. "Good. I see that I have made no mistake. You are indeed all worth my time. That means you are worth far more entertainment than those treasures. You are worthy of my own hands."

     "I shall enjoy myself for the first time since her beautiful mind welcomed me into its frigid depths."

     A ripple appears next to him.

     Lilian and Muramasa know it instantly. But Hibiki can *feel* it. The spear he draws forth - a simple red *thing* of some monstrous bone, without adornment, without etchings, without carvings, and yet so radiant that the world sings around it. He snaps it sideways, spinning it in one hand, and there can be no doubt.

     Ascalon. Aram. Gae Bolg. Areadbhar. Gae Buide.

     Gungnir.

     That spear is the origin point of them all. All those dreams. All those hopes. All those stories. It will contain them all. And now, here, it is a brlliant testament to the King's power.

     But that is not the only thing he pulls from the Gate.

     Into his left hand falls a long, golden tube. It is graven with carvings in the Mesopotamian dialect, or perhaps older. They are warnings.

     If anyone can read Mesopotamian, they can recognize those words as a *most* anachronistic set of words.

     DANGER! HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE!.

     "Yes," the King says cheerfully, "I think these shall do."

     And then he's upon them.

     The tube is a devastating cannon of pure emerald energy. It rakes across the battlefield and leaves gutted, crackling green lightning in its wake, scoring the ground where it touches. The spear sings and whirls as the King swings it with his other hand. It seems to grow and shrink where necessary - becoming massive to swing at Lilian above, becoming small to swing at Muramasa, thrusting outwards to pierce at Candy above. The hilt catches Hibiki's fist and swings to clock her. The radioactive cannon burns at Rita and Featherman.

     It's chaos.

     Except...not quite. He's choosing his targets very, very deliberately. It's....well, Lilian can already tell he can see the future. Is he picking those who can stop time or are more dangerous close-in for the spear, and keeping Rita and Featherman at bay for some reason...?
Candy      The macuahuitl clashes with blades conjured from the Gate, the conjured weapons meeting his with enough force that his assault is stopped dead. Only the weapon's fiery wreath managed to hit Gilgamesh, as the revolutionary is held above the King via those same artifacts.

     Through gritted teeth, between grunts of effort to struggle past that array of blades, Candy chuckles. "Glad I cut the mustard, good-looking." The blades turn on him. One palm on the flat of the weapon, fingers spaced between the blades. He bats them away, rolling to the side to avoid the remainder and beginning his descent proper. They weren't the real danger--Gilgamesh has -that- in his hand now. Rocketing upwards through the space where the other relics disappeared.

     Candy, mid-descent, has a split second to react, being in the highly unfavorable position of being directly above an extending spear.

Boy has death wish?! Don't jump with Turquoise Mandate! Need hips, shoulders to swing!

     The two-handed weapon's flat clashes with the extending spear, driving it away from Candy's center of mass and painting his shoulder a deep scarlet as the spear's tip grazes it. "Might be a little big for me," coughs Candy, as his boots hit the ground and the spear is brought around for another swing. "...is somethin' I ain't never said!"

     Fully on the ground, Candy's feet are placed carefully, eyes watching not the spear, but Gilgamesh's eyes, for intent--the Mandate held outwards and forwards, tip pointed down in a cautious stance. The next attack from the spear, Candy draws back the weapon, sidesteps, and smashes downwards, locking the tip of the spear between obsidian teeth. His strength, against the King's, for a split second, as the macuahuitl's long handle trembles in Candy's grip.

     "Rita...!!"
Muramasa With flashing sparks, the edges of his swords bite into the blades produced by Gilgamesh, as he twists his hip to jam his shoed foot into the pavement in order to prevent himself from being repelled, and redirect his momentum into another attack. This dance of swords continues as Candy and Lilian go on their own offensive, and the combined assault between the entire group culminates in Gilgamesh standing tall against their tide, like a mighty rock.

Muramasa bounces back, having nothing to say to defend himself against all of Gilgamesh's accusations. It was all true, after all.

Kanshou and Bakuya .. they're already cracking, just from clashing a handful of times..

It was like before, when he'd fought him on top of that massive golem. Now that he thought about it, he'd fought side by side with Lilian then, too, hadn't he?

Gilgamesh momentarily withdraws the Gate, eliciting a surprised widening of his eyes. "What?"

Gilgamesh wasn't one to avoid fighting with his hands when serious, but this was a new one for him. In some ways it was easier, it meant that he wouldn't have to overly exert his magical energy to meet his rain of armaments. But on the other..

The way the un-erring spear shattered his swords with a single blow tells the tale. But as soon as one of his weapons was gone, an identical copy replaced it in hand, only to be shattered instantly once more in another swing. And so a quick barrage of just over a dozen trades resulted in just over a dozen copies of Kanshou and Bakuya being obliterated and remade from the image in his soul. "Steel is my body - and fire is my blood..!"

The rubber of his soles sears black smears against the pavement as he skids back, falling into a backflip that he completes by pushing the tip of Bakuya into the ground and springing to his feet, pulling it along with him before hurling it at Gilgamesh - in such a way that it would miss, seemingly gone long. But the married swords had a property of seeking eachother out, and as he turns to hurl Kanshou at Gilgamesh's opposing side, he quickly traces two new copies into his hands, causing the two he'd thrown to begin whirling back around, like boomerangs. " - the two of us cannot hold the heavens together."

    "Crane Wing Three Realms!"

Hurling Kanshou into the mix and creating three buzzing blades for Gilgamesh to contend with, he kips forward and thrusts Bakuya, which swells with magical energy and warps with Alteration, becoming a jagged greatsword with a feathered edge that explodes on contact with either Gilgamesh's armor, or his spear.

It was all to buy Muramasa a little bit of breathing room anyway, to retreat behind Hibiki and Lilian - as Featherman and Rita were being doused by the strange magic cannon that Gilgamesh had pulled out.
Muramasa Holding a hand out, Muramasa summons a long, red bow to his hand and with it, he embraces the shooting talent of Raikou-no-Minamoto to unleash a rapidfire barrage of arrows at Gilgamesh, at the pace of a machinegun. "Having carved over a thousand blades, forming a pile of swords."

    "Unaware of beginning or ending."

The bow dissipates, and in his eyes, he can see it - not the world that is, but the world as he sees it. "Even so, my flame never ends."

    "A prayer from Baseless Blade Works!"

A ring of flames expands starting at his feet and transforms the city street and buildings within its borders, changing the world around them all into a reflection of what was inside of his soul - putting the conflict squarely within the world of himself. It was a crystal clear lake that reflected a hill of endless weapons, which stuck up out of the water like elusive mirror copies. The sky above was stuck between night and daybreak, with glittering stars and a bright moon overhead, creating a path of starlight into a sun-glazed horizon. I don't know how long I can maintain this without a contract to provide me with magical energy. But..

"If it's 'here', then I can say I fought with body, mind, and soul. Come, King of Heroes!"
Lilian Rook     "I figured you'd move for your own blades, King of Heroes." says Lilian. "They're impressive, but I've seen them plenty before. Unlike some of these people, I'm not the type of girl who falls for the same thing twice. And after what I've been through, I wouldn't lose to something that simple, even if they are all legendary weapons."

    §Stay out in the open. Don't get pinned down indoors. These buildings aren't up to the task as cover against him; they'll only retrict your movements, or worse, collapse around you. Vimana doesn't give him the advantage over you in a three-dimensional battle, but-- it does for the others; take him to ground as soon as possible.§

    "So let's get to the point." A tired, half-hearted laugh forces itself from her chest. "I think I won't ask someone else about pride and self-loathing. This time."

<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Candelario. I won't say follow my lead, but you do yours and I'll do mine; let him figure out how they aren't the same."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Rita, you know what I want. Like with the bulette."
<J-IC-Scene> Candy says, "Got it!"
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Hibiki, be as straightforward as you like; I know how an idiot like you fights, so I can make it work."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Muramasa . . . don't over do it. Not just yet. You don't need to prove anything right now. So save all of that suicidal energy for the right moment."
<J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "Wouldn't have it any other way!"
<J-IC-Scene> Muramasa says, "Right. It's hard to accept that I don't need to do everything myself, but .. overcoming that is part of growing past all of the old 'me's."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I think I understand, Ms. Rook. I'll do my best, so nobody else has to worry about me."

    Lilian hangs back for just a little longer to observe Gilgamesh's defensive movements. She's not hiding the fact that she's analyzing him. She's never seen him bother to actually evade and guard, rather than simply interrupt with overwhelming firepower. Despite her confidence, it never befit her to recklessly make the first move. She's the type that fights once she's already sure she has a way to win. And then, of course, it doesn't take long to see what's happening.

    §Didn't that cagey golden bastard say he'd sealed that away? Well, if he's going to start predicting everything, that complicates things, but it works for me. I don't know how I'd stack up if I tried to outcompete him there while fighting at the same time, but I know how I don't have to. He sees potentials rather than determinism; I can cover for someone else with causal contact.§

    
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I've always sort of wanted to have a Cipher duel . . ."
<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "He's predicting everything you're up to. I know how to get around it, but I can't help all of you at once. Tag in when you need cover."

    Of course she recognizes the spear on sight. Not for the reasons Gilgamesh might expect either. Her eyes fix on it instantly with unspoken understanding. "Three months on Skye with Scáthach, and I still can't get away from it. But it seems that's for the best this time. Good taste, flawed judgement."
Lilian Rook     The archetype of 'the spear that never misses', becoming too gigantic for her to stop, misses Lilian anyways. She blinks away. And of course, Gilgamesh had likely foreseen that. The spear, necessarily, will head right for where she's probabilistically about to appear, nearly predestined from the beginning swing. Except then--

                -----[stop]-----
    Lilian crouches in place. No movement, a smooth and steady heart rate, minimum agitation, a clear mind; no causal resistance. The spear is a foot from her head, but she's not thinking about that right now. Instead, she closes her eyes, and trances out, running through, in her own mind, where Gilgamesh has already predicted she was about to move a few subjective seconds ago, by predicting her own future from where she can choose to reappear. A nested destiny within a destiny. If cause and effect is reversed, she denies cause entirely.
                -----[start]-----

    --Lilian appears somewhere completely different from where she should have been precognitively. The exact position to be in Gilgamesh's blind spot when he expects to see a strike, actually. Footprints briefly smoulder where she was standing, and fade into nothing. Lilian herself appears extremely close to Gilgamesh --practically touching-- after having scoped out what his raw reflexes are like, and instead of immediately striking him with her sword, hits him with an --why is she going so fast? she was just standing still-- combination low body tackle and leg sweep, pitting the peak of her strength against a valley in his stability to send the both of them crashing into the street, grinding a deep trench down the way to an open plaza away from the apartments, and then from a mount, aim a punch and--

                -----[stop]-----
    ". . . No. That won't work. Let's re-randomize the seed."
                -----[start]-----

    --disengage again?

    "I made the same mistake, you know." Lilian suddenly says from across the street, opposite the others. "I used to think that I had all the time in the world. It's hard to explain, but that's not what it is in the end. I'm sure you've thought through how to deal with even that; it wouldn't be the most out-there power you've ever seen, King of Heroes. But it turns out I'm so selfish that I found a way to have infinite riches in the way that every human and god is equally poor."

    "How it actually goes, is 'all the time in the world is mine'."
Rita Ma      Hibiki... you're too kind to me. I don't deserve it. For someone as pure and good as you to befriend someone like me... but there's no sense wallowing in it. Right here, right now, I can make myself just a little bit less undeserving.

     Candy's clone produces a gun of "his" own, but doesn't have time to fire it. That sweeping beam of charring energy scythes towards the clone; it evades Gilgamesh's uncanny aim with reflexes unattainable by humans, slipping and dancing just in front of the torrent of energy with every shot. It's so automatic that trying to hit it is like trying to press opposing magnets together; evasion always happens by the slimmest possible margins.

     And then, just once, it's cornered. There are no conceivable options. It is struck by the horrible, searing beam. But through the green light, it can be seen to unravel as it burns away. At what point did she shed her skin again? How many steps ahead?

     Rita crouches on a nearby rooftop, looking down on the battle. A single drop of blood, drawn by her initial attack, floats down on an invisible tentacle to Lilian for her own purposes.

     Like Ms. Rook, he uses precognition to avoid attacks. But I've hit him once already. If he wasn't just going easy, that means there's limits. What are they?

     Candy gives her a chance to test it.

     Rita leaps down from her rooftop perch in an explosive lunge, cloaking halfway through her leap. She cracks pavement on impact, reappearing as she lays a hand on Gilgamesh's spear during the straining clash. It's not to shift it off course. Instead, her hand shimmers with a red that isn't red: Mors Caelorum's energy, those who were present at the most recent Antegent fight might recognize.

     Just as that malign influence decohered the bodies of those present back then, it decoheres Gilgamesh's spear back then. The spear becomes ghostly-intangible, blurring and flickering through reality; for a moment, it can pass through Candy's guard, but it can pass through Candy himself harmlessly too. Her eyes are locked on Gilgamesh's in that moment of close proximity, searching his expression for any hint of surprise. Then she's disappeared again.

     A couple of seconds later, Gilgamesh's spear snaps back to solidity with a sharp implosion, enough to rattle the bones of his arm and bruise his hand if he doesn't let go of it.

     Does that power see far enough into the future to protect him from delayed effects? And does it extend to his possessions, and not just him?
Featherman Neo Gilgamesh predicts Featherman's attack, but Featherman is able to hold the rain of swords back. That's good enough for him, as he pulls backwards, and the nuclear shot fires out.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!"

Dodging won't be fast enough, and he's never been great at that. So instead, a gauntlet goes up, melting partially and causing a roar of pain as the blast impacts Featherman's Forma Yin-Yang. In the cover of the explosion, he calls out.

"COME FORTH!"

Featherman Engarde suddenly lances out of the explosion as Muramasa's inner world takes precedent, but Featherman doesn't have his hand on the belt. The knight-like Featherman charges holy light into the tip of his lance, moving to straight rush forward and try to persevere through any attack to pierce that armor like a drill.

But the nuke gun is a problem. To try and force Gilgamesh to make a choice between attacks, Featherman jumpjets again, going high instead of forward, blasting forward to launch a downwards claw strike on the King of Heroes!
Hibiki Tachibana ~This power of mine has a purpose...~

    Piercing spear meets primal weapon, and the resulting burst of power that results from the clash is only broken by Gilgamesh's hasty retreat. Turning the leftover momentum from her attack into a quick spin into re-entering her stance, she's just in time to see the myriad number of blades vanish...only to be replaced in short order. Her voice, mid-vocals, catches in her throat.

    Gungnir. It's not 'her' Gungnir. It's not even really Gungnir 'yet'. And yet, there's still a pull in her heart where those fragments once rested, and there's no way she'd mistake it for anything else, as unthinkably ancient as it is. But even if she has to fight something like that...her own is much more than the spear it once was. It has all sorts of feelings interwoven into it.

~Standing tall, I dig my heel into the ground
    All for the sake of your smile...!
        Ready (Ready!)~

    She gladly enters back into the fray with the King, even as the superior length of the proper spear swipes at her outstretched fists and deflects it aside, smashing straight into her in the gap in her defense. It forces her back a pace - before a hefty stomp downwards cuts her backwards movement short and braces her back into place, the spike-tipped piston jacks in her leg armor shooting themselves out a foot forward. They slam back into place a spit second later, cracking the ground behind her with a shockwave of force that shoots her leg-first back in the opposite direction. Back towards Gilgamesh.

~Fight now (Fight now!)
    Grip onto your love tight!~

    Hibiki puts that sudden burst of motion in a knee-first strike that aims to get past the defense of the prototype spear and smash right into that golden armor. A full-force strike to try and throw him off, before she flips backwards. The lance becomes incorporeal, and corporeal again - and it's the moment of that implosion, where Gilgamesh will have to decide to hold onto it or let it go, that her flip becomes a downwards kick onto the haft meant to send it straight downwards, with enough might behind it that a visible ripple in the air rings out, aside from any supernatural bursts the clashing artifacts might produce.

~(Knock out!) I want to tell you
    (Knock out!) To "never give up!"
        Our connected hands will be what creates tomorrow!~

    And still in mid-air, she breaks out into a series of blurred kicks aimed at every point of Gilgamesh's torso imaginable, layering on a barrage of blow after echoing blow - ending with a whirling kick that'll try to send him flying back off of his feet, as hard as that might be, across the waters of Muramasa's inner world.
Lilian Rook     'Hearing' Rita, Lilian briefly pulses her own powers in her direction; then thinks better of it, and shares it with everyone on her side.

    §Going by his own words, his 'omniscience' is potentialist rather than deterministic; it shows outcomes that have the potential to occur, if certain actions are taken, and not everything as it will happen in sequence. Even if he sees everything, he can't react to everything, but if it's something easy to react to as long as he knows 'it will come', you're wasting your energy. Something harder to do anything about, even if it's predictable, will do us better. We have the advantage of numbers.§

    §Plus, every time I sever and splice causality, I have subjective acausal time to run my own precognition; I don't think I can out-sight him and out-fight him at the same time, but by alternating them, I can retrocausally alter the outcome he's already foreseen. Whatever I do will be an immediate opportunity for whoever can get there faster than he can re-predict. Got it?§

    The drawn blood disappears rom Rita's offered tendril.

    §It ostensibly extends arbitrarily far, but it's not casual. There's probably a limit to how far he can get while in combat, and especially if I keep mixing him up. I can't get into his head, so I don't know what it is for sure. Try to launch an attack in tandem with me.§
Gilgamesh      The King laughs at Candy. "I would be disappointed to kill someone beautiful so easily," he responds as easily as breathing. It's second nature to him. He's the original hero. The first hero. He's been able to banter while fighting since he was a child.

     "I have never had any complaints," is all the King says as he twists the spear into the macuahuitl's teeth. The action of a madman were he anyone else. But the King's eyes blaze, and the spear that cannot miss grinds into the teeth as if to shred them away while Candy pushes. With his other hand he brings the massive cannon to bear directly into Candy's face. The beam lances directly upwards as the teeth press down into his face for a brief instant. He's distracted - by -

     Rita.

     The spear phases out. The Macuahuitl falls, crossing his face. He darts backwards, and the spear phases back in. It's only a briefest of a second before the blade vanishes in a burst of golden sparks, the briefest touch of his hand. Not enough to rattle his bones. Not enough to blow up his hand. So he can see delayed effects...sort of.

     And then it's obvious, as he turns to meet Hibiki with that hand.

     He can see anything about himself.

     He's not looking into 'their futures.' He's seeing 'his own future.'

     Featherman jumps down with his claw strike. Gilgamesh meets it with the cannon. There's a resounding force of thunder that echoes around as the sky starts to change and the waters roil. That same damaged hand moves to catch Hibiki's. To block, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven-

     -Lilian catches him by surprise.

     There's a sudden laugh as Hibiki catches him at his stomach, as Lilian's blade crosses his armor and then dives into a low-body sweep while he's destabilized. The two of them send him across the water of Muramasa's soul, where he lands in the midst of the Crane Wing Three Realms. Slash, slash, slash.

     Blood erupts from the King's chest. The armor, scored. No. Battered. Beaten. Coming apart. It collapses, and so does his hair, falling as the golden metal clangs against the ground. He steps back and discards the nuclear cannon. Blood gushes down his chest in the shape of the cuts dealt to him. His arm is bleeding. His face is bleeding.

     It's unfair that he still looks that beautiful. That he still looks so god damned perfect. That even with all that damage it still seems *right* on him.

     "All the time in the world is yours....fought with body, mind, and soul..Your connected hands will be what creates tomorrow..."

     "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Gilgamesh      The King's bloody hand sweeps through his hair, leaving a trail of red as he laughs. It's not a mocking laugh. It's a delighted laugh. A laugh of solid, real joy - joy from something more Real than Real, something more True than True. He hasn't laughed like this in a very long time. He laughs, and laughs, and laughs, as if he's gone mad, the blood rolling down his face, into his hair, along his chest. Crimson tattoos begin to light up along his body. His fingers split in front of his eye, and it, too, is glowing like the tattoos. "That's good! That's good!"

     "That's exactly what I desired! Exactly what I hoped! Exactly what I wanted!"

     "This is humanity!"

     The King flicks the blood from his hair. "This is what humanity deserves! Unity! Togetherness! Overcoming struggle! The age of heroes died with me - because, in the end, I am the limit to what one human can achieve! No one human could ever surpass me - and even if they did, what would they build that I could not? What wonder would they build that I could not?"

     "But together!"

     He points at Muramasa and Lilian with that bloody finger. "That is what I desired! That is the wisdom that comes from the Underworld! The limits of oneself - and how to face them! How to understand them! From the depths of despair did I return bearing the wisdom from the world before!"

     "And that answer you have found is correct!"

     "So once again I shall gift you with something good."

     The King snaps his fingers, and the world goes cold. No, wait. Not cold. Cold isn't...this isn't a chill. This isn't the absence of heat, exactly. It's the absence of motion. It's the absence of motion on an atomic level. The absence of entropy. The absence of..

     Oh.

     The scythe that falls into his hands is unmistakable. Perhaps not to Rita, who lived in another world, but to those who have lived on Earth that thing can only be the basis for one blade.

     It is sleek, and simple. Wood and steel. Nothing fanciful. No graven images, no runes, no magical carvings. If it was not for that aura of stillness it exudes it would be nothing but a humble farmer's blade. But then, that's what it is, isn't it? A farmer's blade, and nothing more.

     Time doesn't need anything complicated. Time needs only to cut away, bit by bit, at the grass of eternity, until all stands dead in its wake.

     He grips the handle with one hand and the handhold with the other, bringing the scythe downwards. He either learned from Priscilla or already knew how to wield it properly. But as he walks, he swings the scythe back and forth in perfect time, cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting, and with each sweep the world goes stiller and stiller. The lake does not freeze where he cuts - it *ceases*. The air does not get cold - it *stops*.

     That scythe, which is the prototype of Father Time, of Cronos, of all the great blades that are Time throughout history, of the Grim Reaper's and all those that spell the End Of Life, slices lazily through the world of the Reality Marble, and when he reaches the party, that stillness threatens to consume even them.
Lilian Rook     Lilian flickers off Gilgamesh as the landscape changes. Ripples of black static crackle from where her feet leave the water, allowing her to weightlessly spindrift back out of reach. The corner of her sleeve is soaked in a small amount of blood, but it isn't hers.

    "Oh King . . ." Lilian sighs, without the slightest release of tension. It is definitely not 'O King'. ". . . If only everyone else believed you. 'Humanity' would be so much easier to belong to. So much less painful to care about. But if we have to talk about limits . . ." She tilts her head back for a moment, hair sliding over her shoulder, light glinting off the lily hairpin. "Perhaps that's not what I'd call them, but perhaps they aren't very different regardless. I've seen what I could be, but what I'm not yet, and being able to contrast myself against that . . . it shames you, and it should, because acknowledging the damage is how you start."

    "That feeling . . . it's part of the cost you pay to be someone else. If you can't accept it, if you won't pay it with your heart, you won't ever change. If you're too scared of admitting you were doing something wrong, too terrified of wasting your life thusfar, you might just stay something you aren't, forever."

    Her gaze tracks back down with the tilt of her chin. Lilian can't ignore it. As humble as it is, she can't possibly fail to recognize what it's supposed to be. Her jaw sets, fingers tightening around Night Mist. "That scythe . . ." Lilian grimaces, posture tense, muscles vibrating with anticipation. Gilgamesh begins swinging. The world shrinks. The scythe approaches her, and where time ceases to exist-- Lilian somehow deflects it anyways. It certainly shouldn't be possible. 'Controlling time' doesn't mean anything if 'time' is erased. So . . . ?

    "Perhaps I didn't say it clearly enough, O King. All of it, linear and nonlinear, causal and retrocausal, forward or stopped or backwards, belongs to me. I don't need whatever the consensus of time is; I decide it for myself.."

                -----[stop]-----
    Lilian extends her arm, pinching the blooded sleeve and turning up her wrist as if to grip a violin. Crossing it with her sword with impossible precision, she calls out to the void Cleasa Iontach ~ Slais Gearradh Fola! and slashes through the freshly blood-drenched cloth.
                -----[start]-----

    Light and shadow invert for a split second. Lilian's 'feat of the sword' uses the blood Rita had taken from Gilgamesh as a sympathetic catalyst, cutting him through his fresh blood. It's not very much --Lilian can't do a lot of damage with it-- but it was located on his face, and hot slashing pain and blood splattered into the eyes are nearly guaranteed. The damage should amplify and spread outwards as a horrendous black burn; even if only one third divine spirit, that means Gilgamesh should be burnt one third as badly as a fairy, by this fated enterprise of someone's rejection. The bloodstain burns up and loses its potency.

    And it happens at exactly the moment Gilgamesh is braced to evade or counter the next synchronized attack, precognitively scanned in advance for when Hibiki is in the midst of her followthrough and Rita needs her cover.

    "Sorry, but I'm done with letting 'civilization' decide what I can do, decide my future, decide who I am, whether it's your 'clay dolls' or you yourself, King of Heroes. Just like you wanted us humans to do, I've outgrown those prototypes; this time is mine."
Candy      Obsidian teeth snap, and Candy blinks.

Glaring green light halts inches from his face. Sparks hang suspended in the air. Gilgamesh knows--even if he can't do anything about it right this minute, he knows, or at least, knows enough of 'his future' to guess at Candy's tricks.

*I'm actually doing okay!*

No! No!! Boy would be smear on ground if not for This! Need to watch *both weapons*! And stop flirting!

In this place--the place that comes from inside Muramasa--with buried weapons all around, worn hilts gleaming, Candy is inspired. Inspired by the way the partially buried weapons look as though clouds formed and rained them upon the earth.

*Okay, okay. Then let's do what Lilian said. Predictable's okay if it's hard to deal with and we're on him fast. I think I got something for that. Something we can let loose right when she swings. I just need some string.*


Time resumes.
-Candy is safe--from the laser, but not from Gilgamesh.
-Three decks of playing cards bound in twine appear in his right hand.
-There are stories about That Thing. Candy's charge halts mid-stride, the grip of the Turquoise Mandate clutched anxiously in his left hand.

     Now or never.

     Candy throws the cards before Gilgamesh, standing in the path of one of those sweeps of the scythe. He is cut, grievously, from hip to shoulder, his shirt torn open, vest flung from him, hat knocked from his head. Only his imitation of Lilian's fortitude keeps him standing.

     But despite the grievous harm that drags him to one knee, he smiles when the scythe cuts the twine--when it looses three sets of 52 spells. Individually they're paltry. Flashing flames, bursts of water about the strength of a normal human's thrown punch, smoke to momentarily choke or sting at the eyes. But collectively, they're a chaotic mess, raining down in uneven patterns as Candy leans upon the weapon to keep from falling completely over.

     He vanishes, reappearing between a circle of planted swords. Not ideal cover. Not even a good hiding place. But 'far enough away,' perhaps, to split attention, to force a cone of vision. To set up, with what remains of his vigor, a less risky counterattack.
Featherman Neo The King acknowledges them. That makes Featherman more scared, not happier. And that scythe proves it. As it comes forward, to freeze through time and the Reality Marble...

Featherman finally speaks up again, right as the slash hits his armor. It's narrow, and he's frozen for several long moments, and when he time dilates, he explodes into toku sparks, falling to the ground, wounded. But even so, he's still trying to speak.

"Muramasa...I should have told you everything from the beginning - if you were to be my Blue, I should have been honest with you. So I promise you, once we're done here, I'll share with you everything..."

He rises, defiantly, and points a finger out. "I used to hate myself - so, so much. But I've seen how hatred eats you up. How it tears you apart. Hibiki, you were there with me the whole time in Eldorado. You believed in me even when I was at a low. So, from this point on, the three of us...will fly together as birds of a feather!"

Featherman Neo draws that black and white knife pistol, the one belonging to his destructive urges, and charges forward. He flips a switch on it - OVERCLOCK.

The pistol charges with flaming energy, before firing off a massive blast straight at Gilgamesh, even as the wounded Featherman rushes forward to buy time for Muramasa and Hibiki.

The pistol explodes in his hand, finally spent, as he grabs his vermillion knife, and moves for a blow directly where the blast hits. The prediction will catch it, but it's not the finale of the attack.

That's Featherman Engarde appearing from the side, still there, offloading that holy lance's energy into the same wound if it gets a chance.

"I don't need this symbol of my past! Time may not be mine, but the future is still open to me!"
Rita Ma      Rita's eyes linger a little too long on that streak of red in Gilgamesh's golden hair. Something about it entrances her. She's jolted out of that fixation by his giddy pronouncement about 'humanity working together'- something that makes hot guilt flash across her face. She looks back at her allies with a quavering expression.

     "I don't think I deserve..." she begins, in a small voice. But she's cut short by the hair prickling on the back of her neck.

     Rita does recognize that scythe, somehow- Earth may be drowned, but enough culture survives for the memory of it to be retained. When she whips around to face Gilgamesh again, her eyes are already open wide with instinctive adrenaline. The world is slowing down, giving her little time to think, and geometrically less every second. "Candy! Ms. Rook!" is the first thing she thinks to say. "Are you alright?!" In a place like this, under Death's pall, will their own time manipulation still work?

     There's no sense in hiding or dodging. Rita rushes in, trying to block Gilgamesh's blade and stop it from swinging, but she's already moving in slow motion as she approaches him. Stillness closes in-

     N o .   I   n e e d   m o r e   t i m e .

     Rita's hands appear to shift, turning a chalk white that fades to red at the fingertips. A pulse of golden light washes over her- a power stolen from the monster she and Hibiki helped slay, the very first time they met. Friendship, in a sense. It accelerates her back up to normal speed for just an instant, though it isn't sustainable. Time to think. The scythe is still closing in on her.

     Oh. The world is being slowed, not me. I just have to detach from the world.

     That un-red glow from when she mucked with Gilgamesh's spear reappears, only now instead of her hand, it engulfs her whole body. Rita becomes a ghost, removed from the world; crimson and blurred, barely there. Gravity lifts from her; her hair flutters near-weightlessly. Stillness lifts from her; the Antegent's power minimizes her connection to the standstill world, and the Cryptid's accelerates her to compensate.

     Now she closes in, a flickering phantom with smearing movements. Her fingers, like claws, reach for Gilgamesh in a feral frenzy to dig into him- just solid enough to hurt, just solid enough to be stilled halfway, not quite accelerated enough to break even. Of course he can see it coming. He ought to be able to protect himself from the worst of it.

     But Lilian cuts him through that sympathetic connection, at exactly the worst moment. In the fleeting instant that her friend gives her, she falls upon him. Her claws are only half-solid, and the blood in the water is only two-thirds human, but it'll do.
Muramasa "Your expectations, your desires --" Muramasa starts, "I wouldn't know anything about that. The King who travelled to the Underworld and returned with wisdom beyond himself; another way of putting it is that you became enlightened because of your journey."

"I wouldn't say I've reached any kind of wise answer. I felt as though no matter how many times I filled my hands, it would all slip away - and so that there was no point in holding onto anything at all, least of all myself."

"For the first time, I can see the color painting the road I'm walking - they were always there. The people who invested in me, the bonds I had .. the bonds that they had with others in turn .. it all blends together to form a shining bridge that carries us all forward. I refused to see that, not because I did not know it, but because by refusing it, I could avoid drawing conclusions I didn't want to make."

Gilgamesh wields his scythe - the progenitor of the Reaper's blade, a weapon that culls time. "I won't lose heart anymore, not even if you show me that thing."

Looking at it made his skull throb painfully, but he did not cast his eyes away. "I can't change who I am right away. But I want to transform .. and become something, someone, more than I have been before. So.."

    "I won't let this story end the way it did last time."

Holding a hand out, he summons the Kingdom Key D to hand, using its golden edge to meet Gilgamesh's scythe. The cuts affected his Reality Marble by stopping it at a level past the physical; in essence, this leaves wounds in the wake of each slash that he feels poignantly. "Gh..!"

Inside of my bladeworks, the rate that my projections degrade is zero. Accordingly, the cost to project is also - zero..!

He could project as much as he wanted to, and the only cost for it would be the upkeep of magical energy to maintain his world.

Muramasa couldn't outpace the Reaper's timekeep like Lilian, but - he made an admirable show of trying to withstand it. Sparks fly from each time he crosses blows with Gilgamesh, Muramasa reaching into his repository of swordsmanship to counter and assail with a mishmash of various one-handed swordsmanships.

He can't keep up, though, even when he deflects a blow, it marrs his reality marble - and that blowback wreaks havoc on his body, bursting blood vessels, tearing apart ligaments and membranes, causing organs to quiver as they stop and restart erratically.

In the end, he winds up flopping against the surface of the water and skidding across it like solid ground, trying to force himself back up with one of his arms lame.

The reality marble had formed visible tears in its skyline and body, which allowed the cityscape behind it to peek back through.

Forced to his knees, Muramasa breathes out uneasily, This isn't good. I'm already on my last leg...

Bending over, he vomits, before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I thought that..this new life I was granted was like falling dew..that it would disappear when the time came.."

He really did feel like he was about to die, he realized - and, he also felt that for the first time, he had a reason to live. Not a reason to die.
Muramasa "That a dream is a dream, and a lie is a lie. But - this third life of mine became real, without me ever noticing it. Because of them."

I think I understand the Muramasa from Lilian's world more now than I ever did. But .. I also think that the me that is here now is a vastly different person. Rather, the truth that we sought .. the truth I've found is different.

Opening his hand as he rises to his feet, "Trace on."

The magical energy coalesces into the shape of an eastern style sword; a weapon in the frame of the Kusanagi-no-Mikoto. Gilgamesh and Lilian had seen him use it once before.

It was the incomplete image of the sword that had existed in his mind. By layering what he'd learned from tracing the Burial Swords of the other Muramasa, it began to change shape. Not just the manufacturing process or even the abilities imbued in the blades themselves, nor even their accumulated history.

Tsubasa's Ame no Habakiri, a splinter of a sword that would be later called the Kusanagi-no-Mikoto. These were all his blueprints, the essence of human hearts that filled them from their wielders - the torches passed from generation to generation..

    That is, the accumulation of wishes.

"I'm not an invincible swordsman, or a master of espionage, not even a magician worthy of praise. And .. I'm not a swordsmith, either..."

"I'm just a man. One who dreamed of swords. One who sought an ultimate sword which did not sever flesh, but that could clear the resentment. The world's resentment .. and his own also."

"To sever the bond called 'destiny' and free oneself from karma."

The sword takes on a white sheen rather than a red one and morphs once more, forming an eloquent star-shaped guard - the demon sword in his hand began to transform into a divine construct, crystallizing the many wishes that formed it in a bright green hue, like seafoam.

"All paths, cross here. All desires, flow here. All deaths, wait here."

    "That heart of my - .. no - "

Because his weak arms alone could not carry this burden, nor swing this sword, and his voice alone could not rouse its true power. He reaches, for Hibiki to grasp onto the hilt with him, and to wake it.

"The heart of our sword is here. Our Tsumugari Muramasa."

And with one slash, a miraculous light reaches out and cuts the path to a new future. For Gilgamesh and any others who could see through the complicated weave of time - it all returned to zero and burst with a shining new potential.

In the wake of it, Baseless Blade Works collapses, and Muramasa himself is held up only by putting all of his weight on Hibiki, the sword dazzling in their hands before it cracks apart and scatters into a glittering swarm that dissipates into nothing. " --- uh," Muramasa wheezes one last time, knowing that he wouldn't be able to move anymore.
Hibiki Tachibana     As Gilgamesh goes tumbling, Hibiki lands back down, Lilian is given the quickest of smiles and nods. Although, with how much damage has mounted up upon Gilgamesh, even to the point of that golden armor shattering, she can't remain that way for long. It's because she knows, even without having ever fought the King of Heroes herself before, that he's just getting started - though his pure, unfiltered laughter does catch her off-guard for just a moment.

    More than surprise though, it's what he says that hits her. 'I am the limit to what one human can achieve! But together! The limits of oneself - and how to face them! How to understand them!' And he's right. In the past, she ignored that limit and refused to face or understand it. But together, hand in hand...there's really no other way for Hibiki Tachibana to exist. And that's part of the reason she couldn't let Muramasa stay like that. And...

~I don't know how to deal with with difficult problems
    All I can ever do is just keep charging straight ahead...(Honest heart)~

    She doesn't falter even in the face of that spine-chilling scythe, halted time encroaching and putting every hair on her body on end. Seeing it happen in front of her is much different than any fight against Lilian made her feel. It comes down and threatens to consume her--and yet even as it does so, and her ability to move is cut short, she does so anyway. Just barely, whether through Gungnir's power or something else entirely. An arm in slow motion suddenly shifting and raised up in the way of the blade.

~But that's not all there is
    The world keeps spinning on, I can see that now...!~

    Sparks fly from the gauntlet used to block, and the magical girl is sent streaming backwards head-over-heels until she catches herself, skidding across the lake surface close-by to Muramasa. Panting for breath and clutching her arm, she slowly rises up alongside him. She doesn't need to ask what he's doing. That incomplete image fills her with a similar sense of vague familiarity as the prototype spear, and she can feel just one of the many hearts interwoven into it. That's all she needs.

~(Knock out!) I want to tell you
    (Knock out!) To "never give up!"
        For the sake of connecting with others...!~

    As Featherman Neo puts everything on the line to give them the moment they need, she reaches out towards the offered hilt of the weapon, and her hand grips tightly just beneath his on it. She said it before - she'd take his hand no matter what, if he needed it. If that's all too much for him to do alone--that's exactly what her hands, and this song straight from her heart is for.

~(Knock out!) Beyond our overlapping pasts
    (Knock out!) To the other side of our tears
        Let's go there together...~

    Rainbow light flashes for only an instant, the light of all her accumulated Phonic Gain added to the radiant shine of Tsumugari Muramasa as it's held high, and in unison with him--she swings straight downwards with all her might.

            (I trust, you trust!)~
        It's time to stand back up...
    (I trust, you trust!)
~...With that unbeatable love, and show your true strength!
Gilgamesh      Lilian declares herself free. Gilgamesh doesn't say anything - probably in no small part because his blood is erupting along his body. The bane may be a distant thing - he is, after all, no outsider, and even that which is divine within him is divine born of the world itself - but it's still an unpleasant burning, and a distracting one - one distracting enough to jerk his hand upwards, cutting through the spells. Indeed - weak alone, strong together. That's the point. The explosions rain down upon him, stressing his senses to the singular point that they need for Featherman. The gun points. The gun fires.

     The knife hits his side.

     The second burst of flame is enough to stumble him. It's the first real stumble he's had all fight - the first clear moment the King is not in total control of himself. Even when he was flying backwards it felt like he was still *there*, still *controlled*, like his fall was planned. But in this instant, no, he's not. He's stumbled. Like a mortal man.

     Rita pounces on the moment. He fights back, and he is not weak, but he is stumbled from the sheer magnitude of everyone else's attacks, and she's a predator. Indeed his blood is not human - she can taste it as she digs in, that it is something Other, something purer than human and yet less and yet more all at the same time, a paradoxical existence that stands apart from the world, alone and unique between Heaven and Earth.

     And then, unity.

     Zero.

     The blade falls. The King of Heroes' chains shoot from every angle to catch it. Swords and axes and daggers and everything the King can muster comes forth to meet the blade and hold it back a bit more, a bit longer, long enough for the King to push Rita away and start moving on his own, because he can see what's coming, he can see what comes and he knows there's one way to fight it. As the rainbow roars down upon him the chains begin to strain and the blades begin to struggle and for the briefest of instants, there's a flicker across his face, and he mouths the words: 'do I have enough blades'?

     Impact.

     The Baseless Blade Works collapses as the world crashes down, carried by Hibiki and Muramasa. The blue sky returns. The concrete skyscrapers. There is no gouge, no gash, nothing left of the blade. For a moment it seems as though even the King himself was obliterated.

     He was not.

     But he is missing an arm.

     In fact he's missing a fair chunk of his body. It's simply been carved away by the blade. Vanished. Turned to zero.

     The King's eyes blaze.

     The Gate opens.

     The whole world stands still. It is as if all things between Heaven and Earth know something they do not - some primordial thing within the Gate stirring to life as the King reaches inside, bloody hand drip-dripping on the ground. The sky trembles. Clouds scatter as if fleeing. The earth quakes. The buildings start to shake. Glass sings a fearful wail. Even through the power of Hibiki's song the world's terror is palpable.

     The hilt is halfway out before Gilgamesh stops. It's a thing older than even Gilgamesh himself. A hilt of gold for something that cannot exist in this world. Something that should not exist in physical form. Something that is Gilgamesh, in all the ways it can be. His true power, his true self.
Gilgamesh      And then he stops.

     He releases the hilt. It vanishes back into the Gate. The King laughs and runs his fingers back through his hair agin. "My loss."

     "After all," he says as he turns around, "I said I would not draw my treasure."

     He snaps his fingers. Water pours down upon him from a golden basin. Soap rolls over him. In moments the blood is gone, the gore is gone. Another snap of his fingers and an elegant white robe with gold clasps folds over him as cloths wrap themselves around his injuries to form bandages more expensive than most museum collections. He'll regrow his arm eventually. He's not all that concerned about it.

     "Well done."

     That's the praise of the King.

     Another snap of his fingers, and the Vimana emerges from nowhere. He steps up on the flying throne, and it vanishes into the sky.
Muramasa Unable to move so much as a single centimeter, Muramasa can only watch as Gilgamesh pulls upon that - only to allow it to recede moments later and admit his own defeat. It takes several moments more for his neurons to activate and figure out what the golden king had done, which brought a wry look of disbelief to his face. He doesn't call it out, though.

As he'd say moments later, he was just grateful that it was all over now. "It feels kind of weird," he murmurs. But it didn't feel bad, being able to say that they won and feeling like it really was the case.

A realization suddenly hit him, however - "Ah.."

"Sorry, but .. I don't think we'll be hitting up any kitchens tonight, after all." he says, putting a bit of good humor into his apology.

... this was the result of everyone's hearts beating together ... I guess - in a way it helped me settle on what I was feeling, too.

"I'm really grateful for all of you, even though I don't really know some that well," he glances off to Candy and Rita, but shoots them a tired smile. " - and .. I think I know what I'm going to do now."

"Being a part of the Paladins has been a valuable experience to me, but - to truly follow a creed, you have to give of yourself to it. I still need to figure out who I'm going to be, and become that person."

His amber eyes twinge, tired gold pools gaining just a bit more life, "What I mean to say is ... that at least for now, I think it's time for me to part ways. Of course, I'll still be seeing everyone plenty, probably."

"Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but right now .. this third life of mine - I want to use it to live the way I want to, with the people I want to, in the peaceful days I yearned for..even if it's selfish of me."

One eye closes in a small wink, "I hope .. we can all continue to support eachother into that unknown future."
Rita Ma      With the necessity of detaching herself from the physical world, Rita's ghostly claws phase through Gilgamesh with each swing, digging only half as deeply as they ought. Then again, he can't lay a hand on her either. If they kept swinging at each other- but there's no reason to keep rolling those dice.

     Not with the incoming combination attack behind her. As always, she slips out of the way, clearing the lane for Hibiki and Muramasa both.

     In the aftermath of the cataclysmic attack, Rita fades back into proper solidity. Her hands are balled up into fists; the look on her face is still sharply determined. She tenses for the next phase as Gilgamesh draws his ultimate weapon- and then exhales a deep sigh, doubling over and putting her hands on her knees, when he concedes.

     She brushes the hair back out of her face before giving Hibiki and Muramasa a brave little smile. "You really did it." A little pause; she anticipates Gilgamesh's possible objection. "Sorry, I guess we did it. Doesn't it feel like you really earned this happy ending, though?" Teasingly: "You're not going to call the cops on us after all, are you, Mr. Muramasa?"

     Rita spends a little while pushily offering first aid to everybody who's got so much as a scratch, Gilgamesh included if he hasn't left already. This is mainly for their sake, but partly for her own; she has a particular interest in stopping people from bleeding, and looks a lot less shaken when her work is done.

     "No sushi, huh?" she responds to Muramasa; she's being lighthearted, but there's still a bit of genuine disappointment in her tone. "I can't blame you. And I can't blame you... for wanting a quiet, selfish life, either. It's a rare thing that you have with your friends, Mr. Muramasa." Her eyes slide over to Hibiki, and her smile slides towards the sweet end of bittersweet. "Wouldn't it be kind of wasting it not to?"
Hibiki Tachibana     The light of zero dies down.

    And Gilgamesh is heavily injured...but not defeated yet. Bloodied and armless, and yet he gives off an even more dangerous feeling than ever. The instrumentals of her song begin simmering down to the point they're inaudible as earth and sky shudder, and for a moment, it feels as if the island itself might give way. Still working to get her breath back, Hibiki struggles to wrap her head around what existence-warping thing he could still have in reserve, when she remembers what he said at the very start of everything--

    And no sooner does she than it's put back into the Gate. There are a few surprised blinks, as she remains perfectly still...and then a soul-deep heave of something between relief and tiredness, just about doubled from the considerable amount she was feeling even before the test began. "Gilgamesh..." She tries to find something to say, as he casually redresses himself and washes his body clean. It's odd, seeing him so uncaring about taking an attack like that, but that must be why he's the King of Heroes.

    In the end, words once again fail to suffice, and she just watches him go with a lighter expression after the genuine praise. Which gives her ample time to find her footing again and glance up to Muramasa, looking almost shocked at his resolution--before her grin comes back again. "If how often I run into them is anything to go by, you'll still be seeing them just as much." A few different possible things to say run through her head. Is he sure? But in the end...she understands. "...We will, no matter what. I'm glad. Really glad. If you ask me, I think you deserve to be a little selfish."

    She looks to Rita to give her a smile and a nod. The smaller bitter half of the other girl's look doesn't go unnoticed. "...Yeah. And it's a little late to say so, Rita, but...to me, at least, you already earned it plenty." She feels a little awkward saying that out loud though, and after a bit of murmuring, she scratches at her cheek.

    "...If there's no sushi today, maybe we could all go out for something to eat tomorrow? ...Just a quiet, completely normal day."
Lilian Rook     '"The heart of our sword is here. Our Tsumugari Muramasa." And with one slash, a miraculous light reaches out and cuts the path to a new future.'

    "You . . . did it, didn't you? This time, for just a second . . ." Lilian stares at Muramasa. "That was you, wasn't it?" Lilian begins to lower her blade.

    'The whole world stands still. It is as if all things between Heaven and Earth know something they do not - some primordial thing within the Gate stirring to life as the King reaches inside'

    The sword snaps back up. Stance of the pendulum, feet at twelve and four, coalescence of energy, acceleration of blood, conversion, inversion, and eversion of the temporal monad. Eigencausality is balanced on the razor sharp edge of her blade, waiting for the first motion that will slice it in two. Lilian breathes out un-red smoke through her lips like icy fog. vantablack-infragold static wells up on the narrow border between the hypothetical reach of her sword all around her and the rest of the world, rendered as an infinitely thin halo of disortion. "So we're really doing this. Okay. I meant what I said." Lilian utters. "Cleasanna Lilí Dubha ~ Claíomh Seilge--"

    §Oh thank god we're not really doing this.§

    Lilian's stance falls apart with a sharp, glassy 'crack' sound, loud as a gunshot, and the sound of ticking disperses with all of the gathered energy. Her shoulders sag, a great big heavingly tired whine escapes her as Gilgamesh leaves, and then she checks on Muramasa for real.

    'I want to use it to live the way I want to, with the people I want to, in the peaceful days I yearned for..even if it's selfish of me.'

    "That's what you should have asked for from the start, you stupid asshole." Lilian replies. She rolls her eyes in exasperation, but her face is really back to normal. "I mean, I likely would still have talked a lot of shit at the time, but at least I'd have been able to accept it-- we'd have been able to understand more easily, is what I meant." Re-glamering her sword back into a semi-harmless pendant form, Lilian lifts her hair to fasten it around her throat, and to have an excuse to not look him directly in the eye. "If it's 'to figure out who you want to be, and to become that person' . . . I don't think I could say anything terrible about that. Stubborn teenager, atrocious with using your words."

    "You're not going to call the cops on us after all, are you, Mr. Muramasa?"

    "I still might." says Lilian, though familiarity with her modes of expression lets Rita know she's being facetious. Lilian's fingertips are barely even red, so she waves off the first aid gratefully. "But as far as anyone is concerned, after you all disappeared, Gilgamesh joined in to help beat the Watch, and left with heavy damage once the situation was contained; we've since settled terms and I declined to pursue, seeing to Muramasa's safety being of priority importance." A few moments later. "So, let's not stay here. I'll take you all somewhere nice. On me. Somewhere that does fresh fish."
Rita Ma      Rita's eyes widen. A little "ah-!" escapes her lips. Her hands come together in front of her chest, a posture of flustered defensiveness. "Hibiki, I..." Her gaze slides off to the side and falls to the ground.

     "Of course it's not your fault I feel that way. It's just like you to say something so kind like that. I never thought you'd hold it against me, but that doesn't make the guilt any easier. ... But... hearing you say it out loud does, somehow."

     She holds out her hand for Hibiki to take and squeeze. Her eyes manage to hold contact again; her face blossoms into that characteristic shaky-brave smile. "Knowing for sure that you don't hold it against me makes it harder to hold it against myself. So thank you, Hibiki. I'm really lucky to have a friend like you. I'll keep trying to convince myself that I deserve it."

     A second noise of soft surprise follows Lilian's joke, but it turns to a soft giggle when she recognizes the tone. "Got it, Ms. Rook. If anybody asks, that's what I'll say. I can't believe you don't need any help at all, but..."

     A bright, sunny gasp. She looks positively giddy. "Really?! You'll take us out after all?? Thank you so much, Ms. Rook!!" Rita, of course, goes in for the hug. Lilian doesn't need to read her mind to tell how awfully that was gnawing at her, with all the blood spilled.