Scene #3446: EoB: Unstoppable Force

Owner	Pose
Nathan Hall	We pick up where we left off. One final confrontation lies behind an ivy-sealed door. The assembly chamber of the Old State House is not here. No, instead, this is a strange and warped environment, a mixture of influences, lit by no light but what the participants in this battle bring on their own. What was once an Oblivion Orb is suspended in the middle. The massive hole shattered through its center makes it look much, much more like an eye. There are innumerable control panels arranged circularly around it, but most are shattered, or overgrown with what looks like an almost cancerous mass of 1980s telephony equipment. The massive wasp-like snake is curled around the tremendous eye. Or, no, it seems to be emerging from it, its tail slowly disappearing into the hole gouged through its center. Lines of climbing ivy lash between the many pieces of equipment, around the massive eye at the center, holding the insectoid serpent roughly in place, but only binding it to this area. All through this area. There are no walls, no windows, no doors. There's hardly any floor to speak of. The creature's form is so long and so warped that it makes up the borders of this space itself. From the walls, and floors, and ceiling, and everywhere else that the gargantuan snake's body can be found, a series of warped limbs, each belonging to one of seven different people, emerge. Massive cyborg arms, heavy raven-black wings, and even the twisted limbs of Kalameet. The snake's face itself lies over the orb that is its origin, bearing the same seven masks as before, and the same singular, massive eye. In its jaws, a giant leatherbound book is held, at least six feet or so tall, and near twice as wide. The snake looks prepared to fight, but there's a moment left to exchange words if there are any to be said.
Priscilla	As once stated, Priscilla has never seen the Oblivion Orb, and only barely heard of it. That was well before her time here in the multiverse. Having witnessed the comparison once before though, at the start of all of this with Nathan, she's had ample time to look it up, its significance, and how it might have related to him. Even now though, she's still faintly mystified to see it as an item of such central importance, even in this conceptual space defined not by the demon, but wholly or in part by Nathan himself. It's a grotesque sight either way, enough to elicit a grimace even from Priscilla, hardened veteran of undead horror and occultic ritual gone wrong. The Lifehunt Scythe angles loosely from her right hand, a fizzling black void in space, and her matched dagger is gripped tightly in reverse in her left, silver static in opposition. One eye pulses fiery orange as she looks to the central eye, ending the game of hot-cold, as her gaze specifically is drawn down to the massive book. "I supposeth there is no sense in delaying it any longer. If anyone hast any guesses as to what these two artifacts signify before we art likely to destroy them, share such now."
Kimiko Shinobu	Kimiko left those books as they were, even with the damage she may have been causing them. In some way, she felt that the choice had already been made, and could not oppose it. It may be haphazard, imprecise, and potentially will cause problems later, but she doesn't feel that this purging of Nathan's timeline is the wrong choice. Now, she stands in aroom containing a represntation of the orb--a device she still knows little of, less than Priscilla--and the Causality Demon, and litle else. "We are surrounded. Else, we are swallowed. Do we destroy all of it?"
Setsuko Kaminagi	When she isn't rushing into battle to forestall some emergency, Setsuko's usual approach to it is calm. Steady. Walking with neither hesitation nor hurry; she goes precisely as quickly as she needs to, ready for what will be, fully prepared to come alive while inches from death. So it is now, as she steps through a door that isn't a door, Zanjintou sheathed but her hand on it with readiness to draw. Beside Kimiko, near Priscilla, the swordswoman takes in her opponent and their battlefield - in this case, two words which are synonymous. "Surrounded isn't the word that I'd choose for it," she replies smoothly to Kimiko. Her eyes remain locked to the single large one of the Causality Demon, staring it down directly. "What's the phrase people in the Union tend to prefer? 'Target-rich environment'?" Now, of all times, she isn't above a bit of bravado. Not quite a bluff, but perhaps a bit more boisterous than she usually gets. It's calculated, though. "We have only to swing our blades to hit our enemy." A shift in her tone, however, makes it obvious when she begins actually speaking to the Demon. "I believe I already know the answer. But now that you seem sentient enough to speak with in ways we understand, my station and allegiance demand I ask regardless. Can we not convince you to let Hall go? To find some means for you to exist that does not remove a person from existence in turn? Or is our fight against you inevitable? It's your choice."
Mizuki	Mizuki's timeline has been repaired now, or perhaps it had never been broken. She is safe, but Shiori has somehow managed to maintain her own, separate awareness in spite of that fact. Perhaps Mizuki's mentality is still recovering? Or perhaps Shiori simply isn't willing to cede her ability to act and think autonomously just yet? Truly, after spending however many millennia sealed away as she has, perhaps she can be forgiven for that. And perhaps she can be forgiven for using that opportunity to help the group save one of their friends even after many of them had retroactively played a part in her own execution. No matter, though -- it seems she's here to stay until all this tumult with the causality demon subsides. And she'll be taking advantage of every moment of her freedom. Shiori keeps her arms folded neatly behind her back, though there's a sort of pomp and flair to her poise that has long since been abandoned by the lady more widely known. Likewise, her smile exudes a sort of bombastic confidence that could only ever be held by someone with a less than personal investment in the events that may, may have, or may not occur(ed) here. In an excruciatingly familiar tone that carries an even more painfully discordant set of emotions from Mizuki's norm, she says, "Remember, now. My offer is only good so long as your host lives and so long as YOU still live. If you surrender too late, you will certainly be destroyed. If in some fit of newly-acquired rage or fear you consume the whole of the general's timeline and run, you will likewise be obliterated by these people. I have seen their might firsthand: thinking to resist them through any method of direct combat is a death sentence." She shakes a conversational finger along with her words. "I am your hope, demon. In your time of need, call for me -- call, and I will come to help you. But if pride stays your tongue, you will never Become, nor have any further chance to Be. This will be that only state of existence you will ever know. And you will soon understand, I'm sure, what a sad, sad thing that would be." She keeps her eyes trained on the serpent at all times. Even when she speaks in response to Priscilla, she does not bother to make eye contact with her. "Clearly the book is the embodiment of the library. It is the sequence of events that has defined Nathan, and over which the serpent presently holds sovereignty. It is good to see that it still has some representative abstraction apart from the demon itself -- I had begun to worry that we might need to remove the bits and pieces more gradually, and with more care. As it is, though, we need only take it from the demon before it can be more wholly consumed. Our job is simple, in theory; a bit more finicky in practice, perhaps, but far from impossible." That said, Shiori spreads her arm to the left, opening her hand to grip Aelinos. The revolver Mizuki used to use before acquiring the crystal ring shield materializes in her right hand as a complement, and she lowers both arms to her sides in a neutral, deceptively battle-ready stance. "Show me your will, demon. Prove to me that you among so many others are worthy of a place in our realm of concrete existence, or be lost forever." Shiori is ready.
Riva Banari	Riva has never heard, seen, or even smelled something that resembles the Oblivion Orb. The fact that the Demon is crawling out of it in this conceptual space just continues to add to the unreality of the situation. Riva enters the area, the Ajoran Maul on her shoulder as she looks around. The massive limbs, the horrible beast, the mechanisms... There's meaning here, perhaps Profound Meaning, but she doesn't know enough to make more than the most basic connections. Despite her nervousness, she looks up at the beast, a sesnes of terrifying dissonance rushing through her, and on impulse she says, "Silly demon, books are for reading, not eating. Spit that out." She says, a smirk crossing her face as she sets herself. This isn't going to be resolved peacefully, and her joke serves to help try to keep the roiling nervousness that churns in her gut unter control. This seems to finally, finally, be for all the marbles.
Nathan Hall	Priscilla gets a response. The serpent isn't un-reactive to who she is and what she's done. There pulses a deep light, the light of Calamity, inside the eye. What happened...? There's little time to contemplate it. The beast's jaw opens wide. The book opens. It's not the jaw that manipulates it, it's as if the pages have a life of their own. The voice of the Causality Demon can be heard. This time, it's far, far more coherent. In this space, each syllable is lashed together with ivy, forced to become comprehensible in the traditional, standard way. It's bursting at the seams, but it functions, just enough to not be painful for the human mind to take the thought into itself. The voice itself is Nathan's, re-cut, recycled, syllables bound together hastily with lines of creeping ivy. "I continue not to UNDERSTAND." The book's pages flip to an image of Nathan displaying a confused expression. It's rare to see Nathan show any expression at all. "The parts of the LIBRARY OF TIME that I have been able to consume are enough to make it clear: You, in the 'PAST', are willing to let me do what I intend. You, in the 'PRESENT', are not. I understand this. I do not understand why. I do not understand how. In different parts of the beast of LINEARITY of which you are a part, you are so different." "It is IRRELEVANT." The pages flip through many expressions until they find one that seems determined and aggressive. Another rare one. "If you continue to force me to fight you, I will be forced to use the Greatest Power collected by the LIBRARY OF TIME, what you call 'Nathan Hall'. In the futures that exist where this occurs, you find it UNPLEASANT. It will make it impossible for any of you to 'KILL' me." The pages flip to a firm, but neutrally confident expression, shown rarely for Nathan Hall. THe illustrated glasses shine brightly in a way that utterly obfuscates one eye.
Nathan Hall	"That option is PRECLUDED. You may try. The Greatest Power will prevent this from being successful in the way you believe it to be a risk, to the LIBRARY OF TIME or to me." Well, at the very least, it doesn't seem like the most informed entity about this situation thinks that destroying all the visible important artifacts is against Kimiko's goals.
Nathan Hall	The book turns on Setsuko, flipping to an expression of grim negativity. "NO. The Library of Time, what you call 'HALL', is what I form upon my entry, and while this action is defined as 'EVIL' in the vocabulary that your linearity allows, this does not apply to me. I UNDERSTAND it, but I am unable to limit my UNDERSTANDING such that it is all I know. It is what I must attempt in order to be. If 'SURRENDER' were what was necessary, that would be the action I take." So it knows what surrender is but that's not the option available to it. "We will fight. We are fighting. We have already fought."
Nathan Hall	The beast's arms uncurl and flare out. They burn with light, with anima, with fire, with calamitous danger, and even with many of the flowing magical energies that compose Nathan's own skillset. The room is lit up by that terrible light. The high-ceilinged chamber is large enough to fly in, if you tried, and imposing even if Priscilla changed to her full height. Riva gets her response now. Shiori's statements are better responded to with action, not words. "It is MINE, as the whole LIBRARY OF TIME is MINE." The being narrows its eye to Riva, and the pages flip to an aggressive look. "You will attempt to take it. You are attempting to take it. You have attempted to take it." The pages then flip to a singular symbol. The sign of an eye. It is written in a light tracing of fresh blood. "YOU WILL FAIL. YOU ARE FAILING. YOU HAVE FAILED." The attack begins.
Setsuko Kaminagi	For a brief moment, blue light ripples around Setsuko, the ghost of a stormcloud. It was a moot question; she can sense the coming fight quite well, and already she's allowing it to sink in, submerging herself in the thought of impending life-or-death battle. "I wouldn't be myself if I didn't at least offer. But you're right, of course," she says, drawing Zanjintou out of its sheath and holding it low, to one side, where it will have plenty of room to grow. "We have fought. Will fought." Snap-FWOOMP. The massive true form of the God-Cleaving Blade erupts into existence, and the silver-haired woman whirls it around herself once. "We are fighting." Setsuko lunges. As always, she is utter stillness until the instant she attacks, and then she is decisiveness and speed. Her attack goes not for the eye itself, however. She's no fool. That's where the heaviest attacks will come. Instead, she reaches for one of the most basic tactics of warfare: 'Neutralize your enemy's ability to attack'. That means the arms. Fire, light, magic, fury, whatever they burn with, Setsuko will cleave it. Zanjintou's divine edge and massive size allow her to take swings at them much more easily and freely, and for once, she's not controlling her sword's momentum. After all, the only thing to hit here other than her allies is her enemy. If she cleaves into a 'wall' or a 'floor' composed of nothing but the Demon's own body, so much the better.
Kimiko Shinobu	She doesn't look straight at the Eye. She looks around the room, considering, in more normal, linear space-time terms, how to efficiently go about its destruction. But she responds as she is responded to. "You are a threat to Nathan Hall. If destroying you is also a risk to him, it still must be taken. You do not understand." Mild words precede the transformation of this instance of Shinobu Kimiko into her armored form. The blade that forms in her hands is huge and rough, saw-edged, designed to break more than cut. She bursts into motion, taking wide, telegraphed swings, trusting to her last-moment corrections and the size and near-immobility of her opponent. In exchange, a bone-snapping force to send those limbs flying. "You can learn only because you can fail. You are wrong, have been, and will be." Smooth transitions, foot to foot, swing to slash, seem to tire her not at all, and she speaks without hurry or exertion.
Mizuki	Somewhere else, something clicks. The butterfly nodes that were inside of Nathan before have not gone away -- they continue to rage against the advances of the demon at every possible moment. No doubt they've begun to lose steam by now, though; no doubt that the demon has caught on to their modes of operation and begun to overtake what ground they might have preserved. But that doesn't matter now. Even as the assault cells begin to dwindle, the other cells - those that began to armor themselves and stick in place at certain points of Nathan's timeline - finally show their true intent. The long tendrils that had led stretched back from each node to Shiori all solidify their links to their maker now, and their lengths 'ossify' in the strictest sense that something in a conceptual space can. They form powerful anchors between Shiori's will and Nathan's timeline, effectively giving her a makeshift link to his chronology similar to that the demon themselves has. So the device is set, now. Indeed: the time for words is over. At once, Shiori orders the tethers -- now chains -- to pull at the timeline. Even with the element of surprise on her side this won't let Shiori entirely pull Nathan's timeline apart from the demon, but it -will- with any luck distract them; weaken them at key points when the others of this group attempt to land their most consequential attacks. If it pleases, one may visualize this as something occurring within the visible manifestation of the library encountered before. Bookcases are latched on to and pulled from one side to the other. They slide across the floor as though the library itself were a ship being thrown about by a tempest of crashing waves. There's a war going on within that space just as there is a battle going on 'outside'. Back in a space more easily perceptible to others, however, Shiori is likewise preparing for the more direct aspect of this confrontation. There, she begins a slow walk forward, keeping her blade and gun arms pointed toward the ground. "I am not here to judge your actions as good or evil," She says. "I am here to indulge my own desire to Be. I know what it is like to be without that, you know -- but it is far, far worse when you have already tasted of a 'truer' state of existence. It is like trading the light of the sun permanently for that of the moon. It is dull. It is hollow. It is morosely silent. And, you know?" She cants her head slightly to its side. "Regardless of what happens to you, I am resigned to return there after this fight. Ergo, the outcome of this does not matter, not really." Soon, she continues, "But I happen to see a much greater chance of their success. It is out of a sort of sympathy, then, that I offer my hand in help. A sort of 'insurance policy' if it so happens that I am proven right. And until then? Well." She lowers her gaze a moment. "I will fight, too. I will fight because I want to Win. I want to see you Lose. I want to feel the thrill of living -- I want to taste of that distinctly human sensation of 'success' just once more before my self is again sublimated by something else. So, win or lose," She raises her gaze again, possibly brushing a bang out of her eyes. "I trust you won't disappoint me." So assuming the demon does not obstruct her from doing so, she vanishes. She reappears behind them and attempts a pair of heavy swings on several areas of the serpent's body. She tries to strike at the 'Kalameet' area first to see if it possesses similarly damage-resistant qualities before attempting another strike on one of the faces. Any one of the faces, it doesn't matter -- she's still trying to garner some impression of this thing's defensive capabilities.
Nathan Hall	A field of dismembered arms and wings forms behinds Setsuko. They don't bleed because the Causality Demon has no blood for them. But this is as good a choice as any. Streams of temporal slurry run out of them like ichor. The blades they wield, the guns they bear, the fire that they seem to summon towards Setsuko, flares up and then is dispersed by the assault. She has no trouble with the smaller limbs. The smaller limbs aren't the concern. The jaws of the beast flare wide around the book, and a scratchy sound like a scream played slowly in reverse on a broken record player can be heard. The bloody symbol glows and a gush of solar and divine energy slams out, lancing through the battlefield towards her, disregarding the damage to its own body. The beam is meters wide, and provokes rushing explosions mere seconds after its impact, alongside tearing flesh asunder.
Nathan Hall	Kimiko does much the same, tearing limbs off of their sockets on the creature's body. The mouth occupied against Setsuko, the eye is the one that turns on her. The noise it makes just before what comes next is sort of like the noise you'd hear from a phone dropped off a great height and shattering on the ground. Three masks suddenly shift in position. The EXALT mask, the DRAGON mask, and the CYBORG mask each stack over the other, forming above the eye while the eye itself OPENS somehow, the lense retracting to form something like the barrel of a gun. Unlike the attack against Setsuko, this one isn't sustained: It's a single bolt. The bolt travels at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, and its mass is a good chunk of Kimiko's own, even with the armor. It's designed at every level to outspeed the armor of the girl, and to crash through it with a heavy piercing load, like the impact of some sort of anti-vehicle cannon.
Riva Banari	Riva listens to the horror, frowning as it makes its statement. "Nathan doesn't belong to you. You've claimed him like a parasite claims him. You've carved at him, made him suffer, twisted his life into something it never should have been." Riva sweeps her weapon through the air. "I take exception to that. You claim Nathan like a parasite claims someone. I guess it doesn't matter because you don't really comprehend what it means to be a person. Even with your crazy timelines, have you even seen yourself succeed?" She begins striding forward. "Even so, I fail a lot. I fail because that's what people do. We try, fail, and adjust. We pick ourselves up off the ground when we fall down. We don't give up. And we especially don't give up on our friends. So even if I've already failed... I'm going to try anyway!" With a sudden burst of golden-trailing Anima, Riva launches through the air to join the others in the assault. She might not have the overwhelming tools of annihilation that others have in their repetoire, but she's already left her mark. She can still help more. With a swinging motion, she whips the anchor-shaped weapon around, trying to hook it into the jaws of the beast to begin prying it open, going straight for the mouth of the beast. "Time to perform a bookectomy!" She calls.
Nathan Hall	Shiori's tethers tug. There's an indescribable noise here. Pain? It sparks the instinctual interpretation of 'pain was caused', but precisely how it did that is unclear. The book flips to new pages, each not showing Nathan himself, but a variety of dismembered animal corpses and butcher's equipment. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT. YOU DID NOT HAVE IT. YOU DO NOT HAVE IT." It says, still in the calm tones of Nathan, not in reply to her words but in reply to her actions. Whatever effect that was, it was pretty obvious. The book flips back to its bloody eye. A multitude of tails from the being's body begin to slam down through the gaps at the border of the room. The body is heavily damage resistant, and occasionally regenerates somewhat; the resilience of all the past Channelers is here. Though it's obvious that the regeneration, at least, isn't at full power... The body is a threat, but it's likely that the head is what needs destroying. Until then, it smashes its massive tail segments down, crashing exoskeleton against exoskeleton to attempt to smash Mizuki between them as she darts around. The creature being as big as it is, that's literal tons of weight and force.
Priscilla	Though not quite to the same degree as the Librarian, strong expressions are a rarity to Priscilla's features as well, though becoming slowly more common with time, especially recently. One that still happens once in a blue moon however, is that look bordering on one of her rare, half-smiles, but thoroughly stained through with a kind of cold, vindictive satisfaction. It's an extreme rarity that she takes anything personal away from the destruction of another being, and more often than not it's a conflict of feelings more than anything. Though she understands this entity more than most, it is something that she can place herself completely, wholly and totally behind the extermination of. "To taketh such credit for all that Sir Hall is within the context of linearity is hubris beyond belief. There was a time well before thou were any such thing, which thou hast since inserted thineself into in retrospect, and no insistence that such is the same as something that always was will avail thee. Thine understanding is irrelevant. There is no sense in elucidating something soon to be purged from existence regardless. Our natures within the context of time and space bear no meaning within the eye of the forces which select only the fittest to survive. We art quite attached to the gate in the state that it is, and will tolerate no further meddling with it." With such a volume of both empty space and enemy presence, Priscilla does indeed take on her true, unrestrained form, power flowing outwards like a pressure wave as she triples in stature, filling the conceptual room with her mixed presence in contrast to the demon's. Here is the reason she had chosen a scythe as her weapon all those centuries ago. At this size, the weapon performs exactly as it is technically meant to; great, sweeping arcs slash through massive swaths of distorted 'flesh' with all the ease of reaping grain, swung in non-stop, dizzying spirals as the dagger dances in her off hand, plunging into any errant faces that come her way. "The only pertinent fact that thou failst to understandeth, is that the broader picture is irrelevant. As long as there exists one place and time in which we succeed, it matters not how many times we supposedly hath failed. That which hast already been, and that which hast already been decided to be, holds no power here."
Setsuko Kaminagi	Something about that noise causes Setsuko's instincts to scream. That is an attack. A powerful one. She has only a heartbeat to try and avoid it, bringing around Zanjintou at the same time to act as a shield; and neither proves effective enough to spare her entirely from the brutal attack. The brunt of it is deflected by the sheer width of Zanjintou, but most of Setsuko's left leg is engulfed, and the outside her left arm catches the wash besides; and the flat of Zanjintou won't protect her from explosions, which envelop her entirely, throwing the demigod back, hard and far. It's a single, savage strike that seems to leave Setsuko reeling. She skids to a stop and visibly goes still for a second before actually coming to her feet, flexing her left hand with a faint grimace. She's used to attacks that deal some hefty damage, but something in this feels different. Dangerous. Much more difficult to recover from. She's not sure she has the speed OR the durability to outlast this fight in the way she'd like to. But there's one thing she can do. It's decisive and, relative to how long the fight might go otherwise, quick. But it will still take her time to prepare, and during that time she'll be exposed. Here, however, at the enemy's heart, faced with such a great power... if now isn't the time, there is no time. She has to bring out one of her own. So the silver-haired woman takes a long, slow breath, and then dismisses Zanjintou's full-sized form entirely. "Everyone, please, listen to me. I need you to cover me," the demigod murmurs over the radio. "I have a technique that I think will decisively push the battle in our favor. But I need time. I won't be able to defend myself, before or possibly even after." And then she stands straight, feet together, and holds Zanjintou before herself, perfectly vertical, with the blade in front of her face, cutting edge out. There is a slow inhale, a slow exhale. Another. The air around her seems to change, almost visibly, something even the most thoroughly nonmagical can sense. Then Zanjintou's blade winks out of existence. And Setsuko's divine presence begins to expand.
Kimiko Shinobu	Kimiko cannot outrun bullets. She can react in the time a bullet is traveling, depending on its velocity, though this takes a high level of focus. Neither skill applies here, but she has never relied on either. She has her own defense. When the masks move, she sees. When the eye is on her, she tracks it. When it begins to open, she reacts, knowing already where its gaze touches her. The nature of the attack is unknown, and only one reaction will be possible. Her sword is over her shoulder, one-handed. Her left, toward the center of the cavernous room, is free--until the shield appears. Much of her armor has started to appear worn and faded, if slightly, but this shield is mirror-bright and new, a single curve of steel too thick for any arm in her world, unfortified with magic, to hold aloft. She knows she is targeted, and where, and that dodging an eye is as unlikely as hiding in plain sight. The bolt is fired, and it strikes on a line with her center of mass. The impact would require some impressive camerawork to analyze. Her arm is slammed back, and her shield is pierced--width-wise, from the forward edge the back, carving a thick, curving furrow where its layered protection as it first deflected the bolt very, very slightly, and transferred that initial impact into a kinetic force that throws Kimiko not back, but to the side, carrrying her fully out of the attack's path. The shield is ruined, but in the end, only small portion of the bolt's momentum ever reached her. All of this is over in the briefest moment. It will take moments more for Kimiko to discard her shield, heft her sword--which is now a winged spear--and let it fly in retaliation. She's already running before it has a chance to impact the eye. Setsuko called, and she answers.
Nathan Hall	Going for the book means that Riva tears the mouth away from its assault on Setsuko. But this means it's Riva facing this down now. The Raven mask and the Priest mask each slam into place around the mouth, and the book's flow of energy is forced too... Riva. Riva will have to deal with the gushing flow of solar and divine energy here, intent on burning her meat from her bones. The massive teeth warp and wrap like tusks around the book itself as the pages flip rapidly between ancient symbols, owner's manuals for old eighties phones, and images of Nathan's face, possessing a dry face of almost contempt. "I understand what 'INDIVIDUALS' are. What a 'PERSON' is. But these are lesser views. Mine is the view that sees all of LINEARITY as what it is, an organism like myself. I can understand the world as a CELL of this organism does, but I cannot cease to understand the world as the GREATER BEING. Just as you can KNOW how a CELL acts, but cannot constrain your own THOUGHTS." The book flips aggressively to the next page, where one eye is obfuscated behind the glare of the glasses. The eye can continue its battle despite the fact that the head SLAMS itself into the ground, jaw going wide to press Riva into the floor, where a few of those limbs that survived the assault can attack her, and where she can experience the heat of that beam against the floor.
Mizuki	Shiori cracks a smile. "Oh, but I already have it. You share The Library with me, now: it can no longer be said to be 'yours'. It's only a matter of time before I find the events the lead to The Librarian's acquisition of the ability that would make you impossible to kill. It's only a matter of time before you're too weak to keep The Library to yourself any longer, and the moment you falter, you will cease to exist. You won't even have the opportunity to resist it. It will happen so quickly that you will forget that you ever Were. You will never have Been. It could happen at any time. Look, look at the map of causality: see how littered it is with that outcome. At any moment, at any possible moment it could happen. It is unpredictable. Isn't it maddening?" The chains keep up their pressure, capitalizing on any and all lapses in attention by the demon to change the focus of her pulls. When resistance becomes too strong in one area, Shiori pulls somewhere else, attempting to gradually wrest more and more of Nathan's timeline - quantified as 'events' - to her side of the fight. If she ever gleans enough of these events to communicate with Nathan's soul, she would ask: "Do you know what ability it is referring to? What would make the eye impossible to kill? If you know this, do you know when this ability was first realized? Is it possible for me to cut off the entity's access to this ability?" All the relevant questions, as quickly as possible. She wants to deal with this quickly. For some reason the demon refuses to utilize this ability straight off, and she plans to capitalize on that. She'll worry about why they were holding back later, if it becomes relevant. Ah, but the tail is lashing at her now. She had become too distracted with her forward planning to pay any attention to the battle in progress. By the time she realizes the danger she's in, Shiori's right arm has been clapped in-between two parts of the serpent's tail. And her arm is obliterated. Oddly, however, Shiori shows no indications of pain whatsoever as those thousands upon thousands of miniature stars stream out of her gaping wound; she shows very little emotion whatsoever, the smile on her face as constant as the expression of an automaton. This remains true as long as it takes for the arm to reconstitute itself at her side, as it eventually does. But, she has identified its points of weakness now. Okay. She resumes her assault as before, but this time she begins to dance around one head: she continually time-teleports around one, jabbing at it continually with her blade, being as mindful a possible of any attacks similar to the one that made contact with her before. She isn't going to fall for that twice. "If you have a budding familiarity with the concept of 'evil'," She says, "then do you know what a 'hero' is? A 'hero' is a paragon of the contrasting idea of 'goodness', but they are more than that. They are people endowed with an unusual degree of skill, fortitude, or as it often happens, fortune." Strafing around the head and unloading a short burst of bullets, she adds, "You are, in fact, surrounded by these 'heroes'. You are being assaulted by those who are favored by the tides of circumstance and whose business lies in the stark defiance of causality as you understand it. You are antimatter clashing with true matter. You are fighting in a realm that you cannot understand. Here, you are completely blind." Now as before, she concludes, "Do you understand?"
Nathan Hall	Massive scythe-swings tear through the flesh of the body below. Priscilla is very much in her element. And it even feels like the whole body is shuddering from the impact. She already had a large chunk of Lifehunt built up, but now she has a great deal more, soon even enough to blast her spike of damage through the body. Unfortunately, that's where things stop going her way. The staggering and shuddering that the whole body experiences for a moment halts once. The KALAMEET mask is turned towards her, and the timelines of Nathan's possession of the WOLF RING come into action. Despite every slash, the body begins to respond in kind, ignoring the damage and refusing to be discouraged by the impacts. The walls roil with the reptilian insect's flesh, lashing out to strike with tremendous bodyslams, meant to stagger Priscilla instead, intended to set her up for a strike against her that mirrored Kimiko's. There's a bit less force behind this one; the barrel of the gun within the eye, so to speak, is warped by the heavy impact of a massive spear that hit it very recently, but it's not enough to stop the mixture of cyborg and dragon influences in the tremendous cannon's attack, hoping to catch Priscilla after she's taken a few of those body-slamming snake-lash strikes.
Nathan Hall	The soft influence of her old timelines, and her potential future timelines, can be felt for Setsuko. Whether or not it's possible for her to execute her attack NOW may be less relevant, suddenly. What matters much more is whether she can, in the future, or could, in the past. The techniquye she begins to muster, as Riva tears the continuous beam away from her and to Riva herself, will be at the peak of its potential form, past or future. Since she's not attacking at the moment, she doesn't have to bear the brunt of the assault head-on, but she's not going to be left alone by any means. The walls and ceiling have their fair share of stirring limbs and many of them are dangerous. Some look human, even clothed in a religious way, while others seem bare, light, like those of an athletic woman. Both turn on her, pointing intensely. The masks of the PRIEST and the EXALT shift along the being's head to look at her. A series of rapid-fire telepathic assaults are levelled at her, intent on making it impossible to formulate whatever plan she's got! Luckily, she has a defender incoming... Hopefully, the most she'll catch is some stray shockwave.
Nathan Hall	Kimiko's spear slams into the eye. It seems to do very little sheer damage, but it does impede the function of that eye's strange, warped combo-concept "gun" and. The book inside the mouth that presses Riva to the ground turns to a chapter that displays several warped pages of anatomy textbooks defaced with images of broken tanks and dismembered dragons when it turns to her, amid combat with Riva. Kimiko is going to have to deal with two attacks now, since this being focuses so hard on people that are attacking its head. More traitors lock in. The Raven again, now with the Angel, and the Shajem/Priestess. There's no visible motion from the beast, but the environment seems profoiundly affected. There's a quick circular light that starts at her feet, a quick spark of fire that runs along the ground, the only warning that comes before a PILLAR OF FLAME that errupts under her. Within it, there's a storm of black-winged avian shapes, like massive birds of prey, trying to latch onto her armor and tear at any gaps. This alongside the rapid-fire telepathic brute-force assault that she'll have to tank for Setsuko... But only if she doesn't DODGE!
Riva Banari	Riva gets the beast's attention more or less immediately by going for the Conceptually Important Thing. It's clear that the Book is an important part of the beast, but at the same time this means the Demon protects it with extreme force. The horrible thing drops Masks in the way, as well as barfing a doom laser at her. This is unpleasant. Riva only has the time to bring up the Maul in some futile attempt to block something bigger than she is as she gets blasted backwards. The beam seethes around her causing clothing to smoulder and flesh to burn even as the energy warps and sizzles around her from an array of subtle barriers. Lucky charms, bracelets, her belt, the dragonbone pendant from Inga, each of these shapes her Anima aura and gives her durability beyond mortal men. But this attack, too, is beyond mortal men. With a cracking noise, Riva is thrown to the ground, yelling as the assault bears down upon her. "You can't pull this off without giving that up!" She yells back in agony and desperation. "You can't maintain a coherent anchor to the multiverse while watching everything!" She actually has NO IDEA if that's actually true or not. However, that's moslty a distraction as she writhes under the assault, reaching under her coat and pulling one of the MP9s she got from Psyber. She normally uses these in pairs, but she can't drop the hammer, it's helping to try to keep the worst of the beam and the assaulting limbs off of her. With a salvo of blue-green Anima blasts, she tries to fire back, aiming at the Raven mask. Maybe if she can damage it, she could cripple the array of defenses the beast has.
Nathan Hall	"I do not know what this 'Greatest Power' is." The Soul of Nathan Hall replies, distantly, to Shiori. "The being will not speak with me, but whatever it is, I have not been able to find or observe an ability of that sort being harvested from the history and potential future array that it has taken, or may yet take. No abilities of immortality, temporal manipulation, conceptual restriction, or similar combat or conflict abilities seem to fit its meaning when it says that. It will not be able to stop you from attacking as you intend, nor gain the ability to utterly negate your attacks or their potentially lethal effect." Well, that's not helpful. And yet, the Causality Demon doesn't seem to be lying. The Causality Demon has its one massive head, and while it's currently assaulting Riva for her defiant attempt to extract the book it possesses, Mizuki does her own work. The head is torn up. There was blood before, but now, when it is cut, all one finds is shredded paper. Speaking of that, the book flips more pages, displaying what appears to be a massive collage of famous author obituaries. "NO. You can no more do this than steal a threshold from its architect. Take the FRAME, the HINGE, the DOOR of the threshold itself. Nathan is created from the very idea that I will BE." And yet, there is little it can do to stop the extraction. Maybe something's being lost in translation. But it seems to be suffering more and more. It's not a lethal kind, but the kind that seems to "defocus" it. In response, it overreacts just as it did before. There's an ominous hum, a taste of ozone in the air. The next strike will be the last at that speed, at least; the head has charged itself with an absolutely absurd amount of electrical charge, and it's enough force that the next strike will discharge so hard that it will be sufficient force to blast Shiori back, with horrific burns within and without, unless she finds a way to dodge or resist.
Kimiko Shinobu	Interception may be difficult, but given that she does know something of the history of those involved, seeing what's coming isn't impossible. Kimiko sets herself in the way of Setsuko's attackers, steeling her resolve, knowing her summoned armor won't help. The attention she gives the arms on the ceiling distracts her just long enough, the spark on the floor turning into a column of flame while she's still shoving herself back and out of it. Her legs are caught, along with the outstretched left hand. The pain of roasting alive is immense, and pieces of armor bursts off of her to prevent further burning. Discarding it this way is hardly better than having it broken. The raven-winged hawks come right after, naturally going for those unarmored areas--but a single, desperate attack is all they'll have time for before cold iron again encompasses her form, up to her visored helm. After this, burnt and bleeding, there remain no gaps. Claws clutch, and they can wrench, but this is a position that will take more than desperation to assail. Given time, perhaps, but the thin, cutting blades she slashes through air and wing with precision and whiplike motion give no chance forths. Still, her breath hisses. Pain. She'll endure the pain for awhile yet. Dangerous to do without it.
Priscilla	As one could possibly imagine, Priscilla has a natural sense for the ebb and flow of her power. She can feel it rising within the creature, great, crashing waves of anti-everything conceptual force flooding through its every wound, pouring into it through the massive openings in its existence and saturating its core being. The demon is vast, almost impossibly so, even within these artificial confines of their chosen field of battle, but it's only a matter of time, and not much time at that, before it reaches critical mass, and the demon is no longer able to stave off the inevitable. The thing's strange 'blood' whirls off of her scythe in sleeting, arcing sprays as she shifts to and fro, laying waste to every piece of it that comes anywhere into her enormous reach with supernatural prowess. Had she been the old Priscilla, the setup attacks might have suitably knocked her off balance, but her physical abilities dramatically increase as the threat does, bolstered by the raw power of the souls she's absorbed until her weapons are continuous, gleaming ribbons of black and silver. As such, she's as ready as she can be for the second cannon shot. She whirls around to face it the instant before it fires with preternatural instinct, her pupils contracting as she traces the projected path of the hypervelocity slug by sight. The projectile rips forth, and crashes immediately into a column of telekinetic force, shimmering like a fire-tinged haze in the air that emits a high pitched, electric keening, fighting against it every step of the way until it slows down just enough to be visible to the enhanced eye. Her dagger, the faster of the two weapons, whips up in a blur to intercept it, the two objects smashing into each other with a catastrophic spray of friction-melted metal, riddling her side with red-hot shrapnel, but seeing the demon's efforts to weather her blows with sheer stoicism, she refuses to falter in the face of it, staggering on her feet briefly as the blood splatters from her wounds, but ultimately strangling the corresponding sound of pain, and re-tightening her grip on her armament. She hurls her dagger towards THE EXALT that menaces Setsuko, planting the sculpted blade straight between its eyes, filling her empty hand with Moonlight next, and sending a screaming blade of grey-blue soulfire slashing through the air towards THE PRIEST.
Setsuko Kaminagi	The attack Setsuko is preparing is one she was on the verge of performing already. She had simply not had the chance to put theory and small experimentation into actual practice. Not when it would require her to spend time alone, away from her duties and off the battlefield. Perfecting this technique, drawing out her power and getting it to work the way she wants it to, would have required work. The idea of performing it at all during this operation was a more desperate one than she had cared to admit, to others or even to herself. The irony is that in shattering time, the Demon has paved the way for her being able to use it. She remembers feeling it. A bright, shining beacon in the future, a tremendous swell of power that drew her eye. She could not sense anything else about that moment, the 'memory' of it too muddled, but the means to perform this technique shone out to her clear as day. She knows how to perform this attack perfectly, now - she has been taught, in effect, by her future self. Blue eyes close in concentration. The now-bladeless Zanjintou in her hand almost seems to simmer, the air around it distorting as if from a great heat. Setsuko is still, but those with supernatural senses can feel her drawing forth more and more of her power as a demigod, calling up greater and greater stores of that divinity and, if their senses are fine enough, they can even see it begin to flow into that seemingly empty hilt. Her hair begins to float, rising as if slowly slipping the bonds of gravity, and even shifting in the backblast of the intercepted telepathic attack. Just that little leftover that gets past Kimiko is enough to leave her left side stinging. But it doesn't so much as jostle her concentration. This is by far the most power she's ever drawn out of herself for anything. A truly new technique, one that treads out of the realm of swordsmanship, only possible for the type of being she's become. Every part of her is straining. Condensing that much divinity into that small a space is taxing on her, and she just keeps adding more, and more. It's starting to go beyond 'all her available strength' and straight into 'all the strength she has'. And it's hard to tell what's even supposed to happen, until she finally moves, raising the hilt of Zanjintou up over her head, tiny arcs of blue lighting crawling across her hands... and opens her eyes, which have begun to shine a star-bright blue. "HOWL, ZANJINTOU!" Her voice reverberates with power. And her weapon responds. The handle snaps to its full length, the crossguard expands outward... and then /grows/, either end of it shifting upward to form a pair of prongs that almost cradle the empty space between them. But it does not stay empty for long, because a simmering, shimmering mass of pure divine energy begins to grow there, slowly forming its way upward. And still she continues to pour her power into it. "Just... a bit longer..."
Mizuki	Again, or rather, still, Shiori smiles. The force of her will straining to keep the chains in place abates rather suddenly, and though Shiori is careful to keep her hold on Nathan's timeline as best she can, she does not attempt to pull it away from the demon in earnest any longer. She fights only to keep what she already has -- nothing more, absolutely nothing less. For the sake of visualization, there's a sudden calm in the library: all the chains that were constantly moving the bookcases back and forth through the library simply hold fast, and there's a sudden silence, motionlessness in the previously chaotic area. Any butterfly cells still extant in the area likewise come to a standstill, only watching and acting in the interest of self-preservation as necessary. There's only one more thing Shiori has to do before she can speak again: dodge this attack. Or, well, no; there's no way she's going to dodge something like this outright, not from this distance. So she concentrates her magic of dreams and distortion around her being again. Layer after layer of the stuff begins to manifest in physical form, each tier forming an aegis of incrementally greater size. They continue to form as the electrically-endowed head continues its charge toward her. As it progresses, it breaks the first shield, the second, the third -- each aspect of Shiori's will shatters into thousands of shards before ceasing to be and scattering into the abstracted space around the body of the demon. Yet sure as each shield is broken, another one forms. There's a brief stalemate before the demon's speed finally begins to outpace Shiori's, but when it does, she has a plan. She creates a portal at the attack's intended destination. She leaves through it. She creates a second, connecting portal behind the creature where, if the attack proceeds on its current course, it will strike itself and send that same surge throughout its own body. Regardless of whether this works, however, the discharge from the intended strike will still inevitably strike Shiori. She simply doesn't have enough time to get so far away as to avoid the resonant effects of the shock. Resigned to that, she jumps only as far away as possible, tanking the pain that comes as well as she is able. It sears the feathers off of her wings several times even as they actively regenerate in some act of defiance, but in the end, she is still floating there. She still isn't down. More and more of those vital sparks pour out of her body, but Shiori does not fall. Not yet. "Very well then," She says, eager to finally have the opportunity to speak, "I will allow you to Be. If Nathan's existence is indeed substantiated by your birth, then clearly there is only one way that this can end." Shiori... desummons her sword, and wraps her arms behind her back. She puts some distance between herself and the demon, watching. What in the world is she doing? Did she decide that she doesn't want to help them anymore or something? Or does she have something up her sleeve here? Regardless, she seems to have quit fighting alltogether for the time being. Though she still looks expectant, as if she were waiting for something. It can't be too long until the rest of the group will know what her intentions are, at least...
Nathan Hall	Riva's anchor-shaped weapon remains lodged in the beast. The book is still exposed, "TRUE." THe being says, and it flips to an expression that's almost plaintive, even easygoing, before it reverts back to the more aggressive posture. The shot slams into the mask and the solar part of the damage falters... The creature begins to draw on its sources of power more, trying to reverse the shattering of the mask and fill in. What was solar, nuclear, and fusion, now becomes eldritch. Eventually, EVENTUALLY it's going to have to get to Psyber's rigged trap... But not quite yet. The fire falters, though, enough that Riva can attempt to extract the book further with a DECISIVE STRIKE, or successfully escape if she wants. With the continuous flow of damaging beam, though, going for the strike is sure to be EVEN MORE PUNISHING! And of course, it continues to speak... "YES. The same way a SURGEON has no interest in COHERENT ANCHORS upon a patient. You do not seek to become like a CELL. You seek to understand how the cell functions, you seek to understand how the organs function. So that you can do what you wish with them. But not so that you can join them in their tiny perspective on what life IS."
Nathan Hall	Kimiko stands fast. Fire rages, the inferno below her does not cease. The pillar continues. The birds continue to attack... Except, no, not quite. Riva just shattered one of the relevant masks. The feeling falters. Claws can no longer reach into the gaps of armor, not that there are any, and the fire turns on its head somewhat, becoming less divine and eldritch, becoming more like the evil that Kimiko is used to dealing with. This is a little easier. The offensive options are decreasing on this creature. The rapidity of the psionic strikes falters as well, slowly turning down... Priscilla and Riva have damaged various OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES possessed by the creature! The swarm are being dispersed. And thank goodness, Setsuko hasn't drawn too much more aggro so far. The worst that happens is a horrible gush of earthy pseudo-limbs -- Hastur power possessed by Nathan himself -- in the form of great yellow spikes, rushing over the ground, like mobile stalagmites with a vicious edge. If they can't pierce the armor and the light stuff won't work, HEAVY BASHING is the way they'll go! And of course, no dodging, or else these will have a straight shot at Setsuko in the eleventh hour!
Guest Psyber	One might wonder what Psyber has been doing this entire time. The answer is, honestly, searching for what he wants to do. And with causality beginning to solidify, moving through his timeline with Nathan is far more difficult and takes far more effort and focus. He's also limited in the range of actions he can take, but... he knows precisely the point he wants to go back to. This creature has, in at least one temporal line, killed his best friend. In all lines, it has robbed his best friend of his identity and forced him to become something outside of his control. There is only one other moment he can remember the fury that this being has placed upon him. And it's to that moment, to that righteous fury and rage, that Psyber has spent most of today drawing back to. Psyber has attempted to, temporarily, use the instability of timelines to create a link between now and the moment Elliana died. Not because he can replicate that power, and he doubts he could Shift that high quite today on such a landscape, but because it is the power of Morality that drives his weapon. He won't shift, because to destabilize the form of Adjudicator in this place is dangerous. But he's trying to put the power of a Shift behind his next shot. "One shot. For all the pain across numerous timelines that you've inflicted upon me. Conceptual wounds, physical wounds, emotional wounds. I will take timelines upon timelines of pain and fold them into eachother. And I will make the blade that cuts a way forward. Through you." Dropping to a knee, the sword shifts form into a sniper rifle. Psyber carefully lifts it and takes sight. While it will be a powerful shot, it's not intended to be a killshot. That is for someone else's finish. He takes a slow breath, "Setsuko! Move forward when you're ready! I've got one shot to cover you with!" And once the demi-god moves, Psyber will pull the trigger and unleash Lex Talionis. Harnessing the equivalent of a Shift he couldn't normally use and condensing the wounds from every parallel timeline in which this battle occurs, Psyber tries to stagger the monster with the mighty shot so that Setsuko can land her technique.
Riva Banari	Too late, Riva realizes the hammer is stuck in the maw still. Her defenses begin to falter, the shift in the deadly beam continuing to ravage her. Still stuck in the middle of the beam, Riva seems to be disintegrating slowly under the wash of force. And here... With a snap, this Riva suddenly realizes: The beast has already demonstrated the ability to reach into that place where the Bees dwell. She can truly die here. Old, terrible doubts and fears crackle with electric impulse as the most elemental force that all life possessed suddenly comes to the fore: The desire to live. To exist. Something the Demon possesses too... It's impossible to say who or what has more of it. That's not a thing to be judged here. But what's important is that people sometimes summon up surprising things when facing their doom. With a sudden explosion of Anima, Riva twists and contorts inhumanly, hurling herself out of the eldritch beam into a unble as she leaves a trail of red across the floor, coming to a skidding halt. There is a snap as she brings up the second MP9, both weapons racking without her touching them as she looks up with a scarred and bloodied gaze. From cracked and parched lips, she hisses, "You think a lot of yourself. You remind me of an old saying." There is a flash as she blurs, trying to draw that eldritch beam after her as she tumbles and dives around the machines, drawing attacks as she abruptly shifts strategies into high-speed maneuvering instead of stompy tanking. With a dull thud of Anima pulsing in the air, Riva hurls herself into an agonized somersault, pushing her battered body beyond pain as she tries to keep ahead of destruction. "Phenomenal cosmic power..." More bullets hail down upon the beast, seeking to keep its attention with volume of fire more than anything else. And then she hurls her guns in the air as she twists, darting back in towards the hammer still buried in the beast's maw. "Itty bitty living space." She comments, before putting both hands on the hammer and hauling on it with a sudden surge of superhuman strength.
Nathan Hall	Priscilla shatters the EXALT mask, disabling much of the Causality Demon's increased speed. More, more drain in order to keep up... Her strike against the priest lands a damaging blow, but only a glancing one as the heavy head turns just slightly. Just a little more, just a LITTLE more and there's going to be enough Lifehunt built up. If someone can get it to dig deep into that trap Psyber set, a vigorous burst of swipes from Priscilla should be able to force it to suffer enough Lifehunt that Priscilla can invoke it all at once.
Nathan Hall	Kimiko has the defense handled. Psyber has the active offense cover handled. Setsuko has a rather gratuitous amount of power set up and ready to go. The being, and its point of origin, are both within sight, and can be attacked simultaneously. Setsuko will have the few seconds she needs to get this charged, and she will have the precious few milliseconds she needs to execute her attack, if the others can make good on what they've said...
Mizuki	The closer they come to the moment when the demon is to be born, the more impressionable the situation becomes. The closer the demon comes to their 'victory', the more they have to internalize some of Nathan's character, fill Nathan with the light of life just as they accept it in kind. In short, the closer the demon gets to 'winning', the more they put themselves in danger. Every second elapsed is a necessary risk. So the only sensible thing for Shiori to do after realizing this was to hold every ounce of energy that she still has available for the latest possible moment, the moment of greatest impressionability, the moment of greatest impact. And though she might have liked to have waited for the very instant when the demon might have begun to 'Be', it would appear that she isn't going to have time for that after all. No -- Setsuko and Psyber have chosen this moment, now, so she will - must - defer to them. They are the only ones with the raw strength to see this through. But it's no matter, and this should work just as well. Shiori remains passive, almost inert in the air before the demon. The only movements she makes are those necessary to dodge the demon's attacks. As she has remained there, though, her aura has begun to spread. The same warbling atmosphere; the same sensation of foreboding; the same sepia taint on the color of the environment; the same malicious intent. Never before, though, has the bubble around Shiori or Mizuki been seen to grow so large. The diameter of her influence grows to at least twenty times her own height before it finally breaks away from her, plastering itself against the entity, affixing itself to its body. It's likely impossible for her field of influence to encompass the thing's entire body length, but it will reach at least as far as is feasible. If it is allowed to, then massive chains burst out of the ground and out of the ceiling, two from each direction. Two shackle themselves against the demon's lower body while the other two affix themselves against its neck. If and when the chain is comfortably in place, spikes grow -- no, it would be more appropriate to say they 'shoot', really -- out of the already extant metal with intent to pierce as much of the creature's body at once, to maximize damage. More than that, though, the chains mean to hold the thing in place. These are the same chains that once held on to the books in the library, meaning they're not coming from Shiori exactly, but from within Nathan's timeline. This means that the more the entity struggles, the more it will break and distory -itself-, or in the best case scenario even move the bookshelves closer to Shiori. Not only that, but it makes the chains significantly more difficult to break free from: since they are technicallycoming from within the demon itself, there's really nowhere to break them from, and nowhere to retreat to. It's like wire barding created inside the demon's own organs that somehow also keeps it confined externally. Not only this, but it also means that the chains have arrived from a plethora of different times and places, meaning the demon is also held from almost as many timelines as Psyber is currently attacking from. The trap is set. Now is Setsuko's time.
Nathan Hall	The lightning is slowed by the progressive shielding. And then it strikes back against the creature. The being is impacted by its own lightning, the book-face turning towards Shiori herself with a vicious look. For a moment, it seems like Nathan has an incredibly hateful expression. But then Shiori disengages and... It seems that a being of betrayal has little understanding of what lies might be. It is not suspicious in the least. "THANK YOU." That's all it says, the book pages flipping away to go back to a very original-Nathan stoic expression. It seems to be fine with just that. It will not be attacking her, and will let her be... Until the next segment, of course.
Setsuko Kaminagi	That blue energy beginning to flow out of Zanjintou's hilt, grows. And grows. More and more of Setsuko's power floods into it. It's almost like watching the birth of a star, an intensity and density of divine light so pure and bright it's like a beacon. And it just keeps growing. Higher. Higher. Twice Zanjintou's usual length. Thrice. Bigger. Bigger. Like an immense torch of blue-white. But it's more than just 'condensed power'. It begins to radiate with meaning. Concept. The air around Setsuko swirls and ripples as the very concept of 'War' rises up into a blade of pure power. Life and death. Battling one's opponet. Kill or be killed. Desperation, misery, pain and suffering. Glory, exultation, courage and determination. It is a blade which denies 'absolute victory' and 'absolute loss'. A blade which refuses to acknowledge 'I cannot be killed'. It is a power to cut down that which cannot be cut down, simply because it is the right of the warrior to slay the foe they face. It would be very easy to mistake Setsuko for a god right now, purely for the fact that this is the ultimate expression of her divine half, the full manifestation of all that she has to give. Of all that she is. "...My name is Setsuko... KAMINAGI SETSUKO! I AM THE SWORD OF THE WAR GOD!" Her arms trembling with the effort, Setsuko lowers her weapon before herself again, looking through it - through that maelstrom of furious power in the vague shape of a skyscraper blade - straight towards the very core of the Causality Demon. "If a God stands before me, I will cut it down! If a fortress looms in my path, I will carve it apart! Whether it be Mortal or Divine, Man or Beast, there is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut! And if you would stand before me, and tell me that you lay claim to all that Nathan Hall is, was, or ever will be, THEN I WILL RIP YOU FROM EXISTENCE MYSELF! PSYBER, SHIORI, /NOW/!" Setsuko waits but a moment. Waits just long enough for the two of them to enact their preparations - for Shiori to open a path, for Psyber to fire his shot. And then she steps. She pushes, she /lunges/. The entire, impossible blade of divine energy shifts above her, bending back under its own inertia, as she moves herself just enough to lend momentum to herself, and then plants her foot and transfers all that momentum into her weapon. Into one, single swing. It's not so much a slash. With the blade that big, it's like a wave of energy, an all-consuming shockwave that tears across the 'landscape' of the Causality Demon's body, seeking to erase anything it comes in contact with. To kill. To defeat. It is pure power, pure divine might. Her ultimate trump card, a technique for defeating the Gods themselves. Its name is only fitting, ringing out in Setsuko's voice above even the roar of the attack itself. "FINAL TECHNIQUE: KAMINAGI-NO-TACHI!!"
Nathan Hall	Psyber was ready. Something about the Abstractum seemed off in this space, but a few troubled flickers are nothing to worry about. They're built for handling xenoreal threats, after all. But the rifle can contain the extra-temporal energy that Psyber retains, just as Setsuko herself does. A moment of eye-for-an-eye vengeance -- in many senses of the word -- is finally had, letting the tremendous buildup of morality paradigm become a thin bolt of light that simply cannot be stopped by any defensive measure here right now. The humble beam simply has nothing here that could ever hope to stop it.
Nathan Hall	The head finally has a chance to look up, the book flicking pages between old myths and illustrated corpse disposal guides. The beam finally ceases -- it's been on ALL BATTLE so far -- and the creature lashes forward to strike. For its trouble, a tremendous cracked tooth is shattered out of place, dislodging the book. Prtially, enough to cut connections, but not enough to disconnect the timeline entirely. It's enough to force the being to draw more on the Library. And this is a mistake. Riva's key sabotage has finally pushed Psyber's trap over the edge, forcing the creature to draw on the book that was charged with Priscilla's lifehunt... Finally pushing it past the threshold. Priscilla can invoke the built-up charge any time now. This thing is bearing down on Riva now, as the most recent one to attack its head. The next strike had better draw attention or be quick. And...!
Kimiko Shinobu	Removing the sensation of pain is possible, but Kimiko makes no attempt to do so. Deadening her connection to her body doesn't make it any slower in absolute terms, but it introduces a kind of lag in reaction time. Even if not fatal, that could cause her to fail in her duty--protecting Setsuko's back, while the divine sword is raised. She endures, but suffers for it, and the pain is its own distraction to be focused through, made the harder for what remains of the brute-force telepathic assault. The fire in front of her changes in feeling, and she remembers something similar. There was a time, during which a young woman was controlled by a power she had sought to handle, when Kimiko skirted another side of her own existence. She remembers the feeling of that past, as she will remember a future in which those feelings are refined and put to purpose. As it does in another line, though not nearly as it does in another line, the distant understanding of a particular future brings focus to the fumbling of the past, for the needs of the present. She ignores the birds, more of carrion than of prey, to her. Her arms swing, and the spiked maul appears in her hands as she does, already accelerating. It strikes the ground once, fueled by a disciplined anger for both this monster and the power it draws on, to block the fire by breaking apart the ground itself. The attack carries only a hint of the purging flame. There was another time, in another place, wherein Kimiko's nature met that of another being whose power is now used against her. Uncontrollable revulsion was that reaction to Hastur, but here, too, only the feeling is taken, taken and tempered by a cluster of possible futures, and it is controlled rejection, anger against the injustice of this demon, and surety in the necessity and justice of her actions that provides the source of power to Kimiko's response. Her maul swings again, and shatters demon and earth. Objective judgment of her righteousness is, fortunately, not required by the system of Puella Magi. She is certain of what she does. Therefore, her will is an indomitable strength, transformed directly into magical power. Her statement, via action, 'We, the right, stand. You, the wrong, fall.'
Nathan Hall	The snake turns from Riva as it hears what Setsuko is saying. The book flips back to the page with the bloody eye symbol. The wave of cutting force tears towards the body. The Causality Demon, for the first time, makes to move, to get out of the way. Chains lash out, slamming into its body, binding it with deep, piercing spikes. Metal clamps down into its body, and there's a spray of ripped paper from each point of impact. It turns to face down Setsuko, intending to strike with its ranged assault. But a blast from Psyber impacts it, tearing down the length of its head and into the Orb beyond, ripping a second hole through both. The hole blasted through the being catches several of the masks, shattering them, and the hole torn through it flakes burnt paper. Denied the ability to interrupt the attack, it instead buckles down on its defense, seeming to shore up what power it has into armoring its body and reinforcing whatever functions as internal organs for the creature. The wave is bearing down on it... But there's the chance it may survive, and turn this around, if its defenses remain un-bypassed!!
Priscilla	Which is exactly what Priscilla is built for. What her power was meant for. No being of any nature, of any place and time, mortality, divinity or conceptuality, is beyond her ability to kill. No kind of barrier, no sort of magic, no manner of invincibility truly protects against that ability of hers that defies classification and description. It simply is. It ends that which could be construed to be 'life', no matter what form it might take. With a whirling overhand flourish of the scythe, Priscilla plants her primary weapon up to the depth of the blade into the creature's flesh, then a flash of pale, moonlit blue rams her soul-sword up to the hilt in the same, and /then/ a streak of ominous silver drives the dagger in alongside it, skewering the beast's fractal soul, its very existence stretched across all possible timelines, in place. The action is instinctual, both hidden and indescribable, but the signal to her allies is as ever, the sharp, resounding snap of her fingers, sparking a brief flicker of the black unknowable between them. The antithesis to all that lives, to all that breathes, thinks, grows, or acts with agency, erupts within the causality demon, exploding infinitely across its entire being like the shrapnel of a vicious, conceptual grenade planted inside the flesh of its soul. Undefinable teeth shred and savage the fabric of its being, ripping, tearing and devouring with ferocious, excruciating abandon, maiming every aspect of its manifestation. That temporal 'blood' explodes from the walls, the floor, the broken masks, and even the damaged maw. Wherever there is a wound, the demon's essence flees from it as that which gives it life is subject to forcible expulsion from its home.
Nathan Hall	Lifehunt errupts. From the eye, from the wounds in the jaw, from every inch of flesh. A gush of awful energy tearing internal parts to shreds, annihilating defenses from the inside out. The geysers of damage spew out of every part, and for a moment, Kimiko will feel the assault against her abate entirely. It seems like every part of it has been assaulted at once, killing off the small fry, leaving only the wounded main body, its insides gutted and its vitality severely drained, bleeding away its life force. And now... It cannot dodge. It cannot counterattack. It cannot defend. It can do nothing to solve this. And the massive strike is bearing down on its body, held perfectly still... And then it impacts, with a shockwave the destroys much of the faux "control center" that makes up this being's lair. The light is blinding, and the noise is deafening. Even the most non-physical or physically resilient people here will take several seconds to recover and see the damage. The body is split apart. The head is torn down the middle, the two halves barely held together. The book is ripped into hundreds of pages, torn up. The Orb in the center seems to have collapsed into the tremendously damaged central arena for all this, shattered almost enough to make it impassable. Most of the masks are broken. Fluttering fragments of paper fall through the air. There is a palpable feeling of threat. The concentrated force of War God did not successfully cleave through EVERYTHING. Something caught. Something resisted. Somewhere, deep inside, there's "IF THIS IS WHAT MUST BE, THEN I ACCEPT. I WILL USE THE GREATEST POWER POSSESSED BY THE LIBRARY OF TIME." The corpse is blasted away. A shockwave of wind and force tears it to shreds as if it were nothing. Something inside is glowing, draining the power away from it, drawing it into a single humanoid form. "YOU ARE LINEAR BEINGS, CAPABLE OF PERCEIVING THE WORLD ONLY LINEARLY. YOU HAVE SO MANY RULES. SO MANY RESTRICTIONS UPON WHAT YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU CAN BE. EVEN MORE, FOR THE SPECIFIC TYPE OF LINEAR YOU ARE. I HAVE LEARNED FROM THE GREATEST POWER, AND UNDERSTOOD THE RULES, THE BOUNDARIES, THE ACTIONS YOU ARE UNABLE TO TAKE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DESIRE TO DO SO, AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH POWER YOU AMASS." The shining light is coalescing into a cyclopian humanoid, bearing a single eye where a face ought to be, blank and featureless otherwise. It burns with power. There is an absolutely absurd degree of energy being brought into it. This feeling dwarfs the power it showed before, a merest fraction of what comes next. The sensation is mentally and emotionally overwhelming. The sheer quantity is almost impossible to comprehend. This is not a power drawn from Nathan's timelines, because he never showed it. It's a power stolen from his soul, a power that leaves no doubt in anyone's mind: However this power is about to manifest, this being will now be impossible to kill. Its hands hum with untold energies. It raises them, palms slowly opening, power at the verge of activating...