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Yuri Stinson     There are so many reasons that people are here today. The most basic reason, the one that covers everyone:

    *You guys were paid to kill someone and it has yet to happen. Kutsuuko, particularly, has been very vocal about her feelings for taking money and not completing what she was hired to do, but other people have generally echoed this sentiment.

    Still others have many different reasons. For example, few, if any, trust the motives of the Silver Princess and from the beginning most have viewed her ideas and systems as too good to be true. Among these has been Setsuko.

    Still others, like Kyra and Raylene, have discovered dark truths that lead them to this place, this kingdom, to finish out what was started months ago. And to perhaps find out who would know so far in advance what the Princess's plan was to set people on this proper course.

    Others, such as perhaps Madeline Vance if she attends, are here because they were sought after for advice on killing a Chosen.

    Regardless of the reason, the Silver Kingdom stands open to all who arrive for this last stage of the contract. Contacted in private, the message for everyone here, was simple:

    Finish the jobs. You are the only ones I believe can handle this.

    Mysteriously, one stands absent tonight. Not invited.

    There are no people in the street, they're all in their homes. The guards are gathered around the city, standing guard simply. They make no move to stop those who are arriving. There is a clear, single path towards the Throne Room of the Silver Princess.

    It's as if someone, or perhaps some duo, have alerted her that she should expect company at some point.
Setsuko Kaminagi     Setsuko was suspicious of things from the start. Her discovery of the man with memory tampering only deepened her suspicion, especially after discovering the chemical scent about him was definitely a drug cocktail to prevent short-term memory formation. The discoveries of the others only cemented her feelings on the matter; whatever's going on here, it goes too far for the sake of an unnaturally 'good and upstanding' society. As to who might have given the job? At this point, it's irrelevant. She's not one for subtlety, and the Silver Princess is going to have to do some pretty strong justifying.

    Of course, when they arrive and the kingdom isn't just peaceable, but seemingly offering them a specific welcome, her suspicion deepens. The Princess is ready for them. They're now walking into the stronghold not just of an enemy, but a /prepared/ enemy. It promises trouble. Anyone looking can see the faint tension in Setsuko's demeanor. Her divine senses are as wide open as she can make them, discarding any sense for more general 'magic' in favor of focusing entirely on her ability to sense the ebb and flow of battle, past, present, and future. The others will have magic covered. She should do what only she can do.
Kyra Hyral Expect company indeed.

    Kyra seems pretty grim as she arrives at the Silver Kingdom today. Coming here could have been certain suicide for her given the rather amazing abilities the Chosen of this world possess. But she did not come unarmed and she arrives with a purpose. She will wait until Raylene arrives and advance with her, confident in the ability of her horror to keep anyone that might come to stop them at bay.

    She doesn't say much. There is a haunted look in the green eyes of the White Mage.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Having worked her way into the palace before, via the least amount of skullduggery involved in a half-decent deception, the God Eater has few reservations about entering it again. She wouldn't be suspect of not being stopped by any guards either, since they hadn't bothered to push them around before, save for when Setsuko had made a rather large and deliberate faux pas, but their eerie non-reaction raises her hackles regardless. The fact that nobody is outside can at least be explained by the fact that they've never been here at night, but . . .

    At the very least, she has an excuse to be carrying her God Arc proudly, though in the lower light it very clearly glows with the incandescent heat of its blade reflected so carefully inwards. She's hardly a magic specialist, or even a specialist on Exalted, but she had made all the efforts she could to plot this place out, survey what to expect, and contact another native to get the fullest amount of intelligence possible. Judging by her belt, she feels prepared.

    "Own it." She says. "The hangar is inside so they can't deploy anything from there back into most of the building. The barracks aren't going to be full of sleeping soldiers if we're in for an ambush, and if they are, we can write them off for how long this should take. We don't need the escape route since killing the princess should cause her control over everything else to snap. Dicking around the city doesn't help us since she can see us everywhere we go and move anyone to our location. Take the head off the snake." She then proceeds just as boldly down that street as her advice suggests.
Raylene Dunwich     Raylene and Kyra's research hadn't been shared with the others... yet. This was partly because of Raylene's position in the Union, or lack thereof, and the questions that might arise if she presented it poorly. She's walking up to catch up with Kyra, then offhandedly says to Kutsuuko, "I wouldn't be quite so certain..."

    She glances at Kyra, nodding, then hurries alongside her to finish her thought. "It's quite likely, that even if you kill her, she will not die." A pause, and she glances back. "She's expecting us because we met with her."
Guest Madeline     With this group here, Madeline has not bothered to bring her mecha with her. She does have a sword, and two pistols, not even putting them Elsewhere. She is on foot, though she has at least changed her appearance. Even if the Princess or whomever knows who she is, it might be a little weird to walk down the street in the open like that.

    It is her first time here, though. As such, she's sticking close to anyone she recognizes, and has her occult senses tuned up to the max... well, max reasonable. Her absolute best ones are hard for her to use on foot, but she's willing to kick things up a notch to use some of the more mid-range ones that are nonetheless impressive for a younger Exalt.
Yuri Stinson     If there's a battle here, or one looming, it's difficult for Setsuko to sense. The malleability of fate and free will mean that this is a difficult battle to pin down with certainty. m There could be a fight. There could just as easily never be a fight. It will depend on how those who are present play their roles in the story tonight.

    Kyra's look is haunted and for good reason. She has discovered a deep secret about the Princess, one that she was likely better off not knowing. One that may stay with her for a very long time. Sticking near Raylene is a pretty good bet for her, and affords her a sense of security that comes from being around a weird and invisible people-eating monster.

    The walk into the palace is unimpeded, eventually taking the group up a long set of stairs and into the main hall. From there, it's a simple walk along the carpet to the throne room, which they get to see for the first time. It's massive, like the interior of a giant cathedral. Sitting at the throne is the Princess herself. Golden Flicker of the Dawn, the duelist, stands next to her, arms folded behind his back.

    Those with appropriate senses, such as Madeline's Occult or the like, will be able to tell that both of them are practically dripping with Essence. They're fairly potent, though the Princess has a posture that lacks hostility almost entirely. In fact, as the group arrives, she simply waves a hand.

    "Welcome. I've expected you for almost three weeks now. Good to see you all again."

    She considers it, "Do you wish to ask any questions?"
Kyra Hyral Having Madeline actually here in person and..well, Kyra's not entirely sure yet if she's here to help or hinder. Despite the uncertainty, Kyra is friendly, if a little subdued, towards the Exalt, seeing no reason to make more enemies right now when they were striding into the castle of one. "Chosen are pretty mysterious. I don't understand entirely how they work or the extent of their powers. I just know that it ranks right up there with the extradimensional Deep One cell sample I was looking at a little while ago."

    Upon entering and seeing the princess and her duelist, Kyra's mood gradually seems to shift. She seems /angry/, her pale fists clenching hard enough that they turn pink.

    "I'm curious. What percentage of the population here has had their will subverted?" Wasting no time on dropping that bomb, it seems.
Setsuko Kaminagi     Much like Kutsuuko, Setsuko walks straight on ahead, without slowing. There may be tension in her form, but in a situation like this, turning tail would be a harsh mistake. She turns her head slightly to the God Eater and gives a little nod of her head, stating simply, "I'm at my best when I have an army to fight." She always has had parallels to the Exalted in some ways - that, chief among them. She doesn't walk on blindly, however; almost constantly, she's looking back to check and see what the guards /behind/ them are doing as they walk. This, of course, leads her to catching sight of Kyra and Raylene's demeanor.

    By the time they reach the throne room, Setsuko is walking closer to the two, Kyra in particular. It's a silent show of protection.

    And the Princess welcomes them openly. Setsuko meets those black-and-red eyes with her own white-and-blue, nearly polar opposites, sizing her up for a moment. She had a particular question to answer, but Kyra has asked one that answers it as a side-effect. So she simply falls quiet, waiting for the answer.
Yuri Stinson     "Every member of the guard." Princess Vitri answers simply, "And almost all citizens who were unable to find places in society themselves and required the aid to integrate properly. ALL criminals were integrated to control their negative impulses." She drums her fingers on the arm of the chair, "All willing. All given a choice, to join my utopia or leave."
Setsuko Kaminagi     A question answered, but another raised. Setsuko frowns just faintly. "Was it a choice? Or were the ones sent away simply those you couldn't control? What is this 'integration'? What does it entail, what does it do to them, and why does it require you to drug them so that they won't remember?"
Raylene Dunwich     Wow, Kyra wasted no time, did she? Raylene lifts an eyebrow, but she doesn't remark on the choice to lay the cards out. Setsuko still seems confused though. "I said earlier she might be a hive mind. It's close. She injects all of these people, all of the citizens, with a piece of herself. A bit of her essence. She can possess them, transform them, and subsume them. This place is in harmony not because she has found a way to resolve everyone's differences... it's because they are all her. Individuals do not exist."
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Kutsuuko tsks in irritation at the clear shot straight to an ostentatious, grand throne room, with the duellist she had gunned for earlier standing right by their target, in her mind, lounging around like an evil overlord waiting for the hero to show up. She even sounds like one, with that line. In rebellious way, it makes her wish she had muddier boots to wipe on the carpet.

    Instead, she keeps it to "Yeah, I think I'll be the one to ask 'why'? What kind of creepy-ass kick do you get out of this whole wind-up doll collection thing? What's so appealing about building a machine out of people? And I don't want to hear any bullshit about free will vs responsibility and the ethical implications of people's actions. I'm not here for that. I want to know what motivates you, specifically, to do this." She has no problems stepping right up front, not so much in a challenging way as a way to grab attention. "I feel like that's a little more important than the 'how' for what could down here tonight."
Yuri Stinson     Vitri waves her hand a bit, "It was a choice for the normal citizens, the average person suffering in society. I gave them a clear choice, to undergo my treatment or to leave with no memory of my offer." She looks to Setsuko, "Integration is..." She thinks, "I make them a part of a greater whole. Part of myself, but more than just ME. It's a change from who 'You' are to who 'we' are. People become a part of a whole."

    She waves towards Raylene a bit, "That is as close an answer as any I could give. And easy to understand. A 'hivemind'..." She considers, "I like that term. I hadn't thought of it, myself."

    "Why..." She looks towards Kutsuuko, "A good question. It's because Creation, our homeland, is diseased. Rife with sickness and corruption. Self-interest, greed, violence. It's endemic to all of our society." She frowns, "When I took my Damned Breath and awoke anew, I was lost. One always hears in legend that the duty of the Chosen was to bring Creation to a new zenith. And yet..." She furrows her brow, "It is so divided. So sick."

    "I want to heal it. I want all of Creation to experience being part of a single whole entity. Because then there won't be self-interest. Self-interest, in that world, become interest that benefits all."
Guest Madeline     Listening to all this, it makes sense to Madeline very suddenly. She brushes her hair back and eyes the Princess, then her guardian Solar. Quite a lot of Essence. And the reasoning is quite good, on the whole. Not that Madeline agrees with it for numerous reasons.

    "This is not uniting or healing Creation," she points out. "It is subsuming it. Lessening it. Humanity are the favored ones of the Unconquered Sun, and that includes all that makes them human. In becoming what you are, you are more than human... and also less. Your kind cannot be fully human. You are either slaves to the Yozi, or you become... something else."

    She looks to Kyra and Raylene most of all, mostly because Kyra spoke to her. "You have a point, Miss Hyral. But I must point out that some of us are more relatable than others."
Setsuko Kaminagi     Until just now, Setsuko didn't have all the pieces. Now that she does, her frown deepens. Her hand doesn't yet reach over to her blade, but already there's tension in her that wasn't there before. Madeline's words echo the demigod's sentiments perfectly; she inclines her head slightly, agreeing. "In doing what you've done, you haven't saved anyone. You've only erased what they were. Their failures and successes no longer belong to them. It doesn't matter how perfect your society is- if none truly chose to make it so, then it's meaningless. The only choice you've given them, is one that shouldn't have been offered to begin with. Can it be revoked? Can you withdraw these pieces of yourself from them, without harming them?"
Kyra Hyral "Free will aside, not that destroying it isn't a terrible crime in it's own right, there is another small problem with this method. And that is when you make everyone one and the same, it becomes a whole lot more vulnerable to attack. Consider this, princess..."

    She steps forward, taking a vial out from one of the bandoliers beneath her hoodie. "Everyone you have taken in personally to support this Utopia has /you/ inside them. But what if /you/ were to decay or sicken somehow? On your world, corruption of a Chosen, fallen of a Chosen, is certainly not unheard of." Her patron Exalt comes to mind but Kyra does not say this out loud. "What if /you/ were to become unable to lead this Utopia. What would happen to those who share your essence?"

    She rolls the vial around in her palm, "Would they share your fate? Will they, without choice, decay with you?"
Yuri Stinson     Madeline gets a flat gaze from Vitri, "It is better than, say, the Radiant Empress. Who wishes to see Creation on a knee before her to satisfy her own desire and vision." Seems the disguise is working, "It is better than how Creation currently is." She says firmly, "It is the way in which I can honor the wisdom he gave me in my youth. To draw his attention, at least."

    She crosses her arms, annoyance flashing across her face, "I have saved them from themselves. Made them new people. Better people." She says, visage returning to calm cheerfulness, "There comes a point where individuality must yield. It was their choice, save for the criminals, and as in any society a criminal who hurts the whole loses their freedom." She drums her fingers a couple more times, "Are you to tell me that a world of rapists, murderers, and slavers is better than a world where all sacrifice SOME individuality for a greater unity?" She inquires, tilting her head.

    She looks towards Kyra now, "You ask a similar question to your friend. You are likely probing for if you can safely kill me without causing the death of a city. The weight of such loss on your conscience." She folds her fingers together and positions them under her chin, "I'm the first of my kind. Perhaps the society would purge itself in the event of my death and return to how they were before my influence." She looks at Kyra, "Which would, I wonder, be worse. Knowing you killed an entire city? Or perhaps knowing that, in killing me, you brought back every murderous impulse, every undue urge, all the racism, classism, and divides that separated them?" She looks to Kyra now as she did Setsuko.

    Welcome to the Grey Murky Depths of Exalted Morality.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     The God Eater sighs with more than a little displeasure. "I thought it might be something like that. I'll be the last to tell you that's a bad reason to do things. It's probably a better one than all your competition has anyways. Were it outside everything else, it'd be something I could walk away from here feeling satisfied with, even if a little hesitant."

    The back of her God Arc's blade, blunt by design, taps loudly against her shoulder, though it fails to scorch her. "I don't know much about this world. I can't really tell you whether it needs what you're doing; whether it needs /you/. But you realize what this is, right? You're not saving it, you're turning it into something else you like better. Maybe people would be happier that way, maybe it would work better, but it's not Creation, it's just you."

    Her helpless displeasure hardens into a serious frown. "And there are people who will do a lot to make sure they can change things as a part of Creation, instead of a part of you. I don't like you, and I don't like what you're doing, but just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want to hurt you."

    "But you understand, right? Ethical trash aside, there are people who are exercising their choice right now. Not your citizens who have everything to gain and little to lose from it, but people who have things that are too important to give up. I want to defend human life, but I just can't do that at the expense of letting them give away everything they could be. They might die without you, they might not, but they'll never do their humanity proud /being/ you."
Setsuko Kaminagi     "If I felt that slaying you were the right choice, I would take the blood of half the city on my hands without hesitation," Setsuko replies to Virtri evenly, not so much as batting an eye. "But I'm still trying to determine whether that's the right choice. And you and I share a fundamental disagreement over what you're doing. You have not made them better people- you have made them no longer people at all. You claim to love Creation. You claim to be saving it from itself. Had you stopped at only the truly harmful criminals, I might at least have seen the merit in your choices, even if I disagree with them. But it's like Kutsuuko says. You aren't saving anything. You have offered these people the choice to give themselves up. To forsake what makes them themselves. They made the choice without understanding it, and now they are no longer the people who made the choice."

    She turns herself sideways, her left side towards the Silver Princess. With her sword on her left hip, it's actually a very poor attack posture, one that would make defending herself OR attacking difficult. It's also a mild show of disdain, looking at the Infernal from the side rather than straight on. "And you still haven't answered my question. Could you withdraw yourself? Could you restore them to how they were? And to add another question to that- if you were to do so, right now. Withdraw your connection to every single one of them. How many of them would still make the choice to integrate with you again, now that they /understand/ what they gave up?"
Kyra Hyral "Kill you? Oh, if only I could. I'm just a white mage with a few guns. I don't think I'll ever pull off being able to /kill/ you, even if I would. You know. Even if there was the death of a city on my hands, for the sake of free will, I would do it." Kyra sighs. "The other people in this room might be able to pull it off, though."

    "But no, my question was not actually about probing. It was about a scientific curiosity. Inbreeding reduces the quality of the genetic stock. Sameness will not help in the long run for survival. If you spread the seed of yourself throughout the people, and something were to poison you...well..."

    She looks Vitri in the eye, "Like Setsuko asks, if something were to happen to you, something beyond your control, /would/ you be able to withdraw yourself before you take your city down with you? Are there any contigency plans to ensure survival should your will no longer be their to guide them?"
Raylene Dunwich     Raylene looks at Setsuko, otherwise ignoring - or pretending to ignore, to be more accurate - what others are saying. She opens her mouth, then shuts it and reconsiders with a shrug. She actually has little to say at this point that wouldn't interfere with the points of others. So she considers very carefully what she says next.

    "If these people are no longer independent of you so much that killing you would kill them, then I'd consider them all acceptable losses. Regrettable, but if they are that tightly bound they are already dead to me," she finally says. "Fortunately for you, this isn't a choice I am forced to make."

    Also she's not sure if the Horror could take Vitri, but why would she say that out loud?
Yuri Stinson     "The nature of innocoluation, of vaccines, is that they must be taken by the vast majority or by none at all." She replies to Setsuko, "Because if only some take it, they lose the immunity. You need the herd to be immune to corruption for it to work at its best." She seems patient with this explanation, considering Setsuko's actions, "Perhaps I could. Perhaps if I did, they would all make the same choice. Dealing with definites exposes my nature to you more, removes the mystery of this decision. You must decide for yourself what your choice is, in this situation."

    Vitri looks over towards Kyra and leans back some more in her seat, "Inbreeding is genetics, not mysticism. Sameness, uniformity of morality, and consistency of conscience are the pinnacle of law and order, which is what we are dealing in." She then answers Kyra plainly, "I cannot answer your question with a definitive, because I am the first and the only. Would you ask these questions of my opposite, of the Dark Hero, about his nature? We are the first two..." She pauses and bites her lip, "I believe the off world analogy would be the Adam and Eve of our kind."

    This momentary digression placed aside, she gives a friendly smile to Raylene, "You are truly one I would wish to get to know. You seem different. Curious." He strokes her cheek, "I wonder what you would gift to the Unity. What you would teach the Whole." She confesses to Raylene. She wonders over this for a few moments before Kutsuuko draws her attention.
    She nods her head to Kutsuuko, "I understand that. I can't take your free will away, I can only offer choices and make offers and invitations." The woman says as she leans back in her chair, "As the Vitriol-Curing Pancea That Innoculates Creation, my nature is passive. One of choice. If I have to wait centuries, decades, for the proper amount of people to accept me, that is how it shall be." She folds her hands in her lap and stares at the group.

    "If this is what you believe is the right path, it is the nature of our world for you to fight for that. For there to be conflict over it. This is how Creation moves forward." She doesn't stand up to fight them and, in fact, remains completely seated.

    "Shall we begin?"
Guest Madeline     Madeline considers carefully. The words that the Princess uses are not unfamiliar to her, but... she is a Zenith. She knows her place, both above and below. When the offer to 'fight' is made, she draws her sword, but she leaves it lazily at her side, not lifting it into a ready stance. Only then does she speak.

    "They call you Chosen... but that is not just a word," she states plainly. "We all have reasons for what we do. What you fail to account for is the will of the rightful ruler. The Unconquered Sun has, as I stated, declared humanity to be the rulers of Creation. If you wish to improve upon humanity, to bring them into this... organization, then perhaps that is not a bad thing. However, you must also accept that humanity may resist. You yourself called it a choice."

    Sigh. "The Chosen are Chosen to be the guardians of Creation. What you offer... will weaken it. Hard decisions are part of what we Chosen do."
Kutsuuko Shiratori     "I'm glad." Kutsuuko says honestly. "I already know I can't change your mind. I was never good at moralizing anyways. I already know . . . a lot. That's why I only wanted to know 'why'. You have your reasons. Someone else has theirs. I have mine, and it aligns more with theirs than yours. I don't expect you to think I'm right, or to think you're wrong, but you told me why you're doing it, so I'm telling you why I'm doing this."

    She swings Scarlet Symphony from down over her shoulder, immediately snapping into that unfamiliar sword stance which doesn't befit a blade of its size. Oddly, she isn't looking towards Vitri, but Flicker instead. "Don't think I'm going to let you back out this time. Your princess can't fight, isn't that right? Even if she wanted to. If you bail now, she's dead and you know it. Come and have a /fucking/ go!"
Setsuko Kaminagi     'You must decide for yourself what your choice is.'

    These are the words that prompt Setsuko to finally draw her blade.

    The sound is barely a whisper, and yet somehow Zanjintou seems to sing as she brings it out, a slow and deliberate movement. A show.

    "And now I am convinced. You don't care whether you're right or not. You have decided you are, and that's the end of it. You refuse to even /try/, to doubt yourself, to /ensure/ that you're doing the right thing that you believe you are doing. You will not subject your beliefs to the scrutiny of others. You care more about enacting your solution than whether it is the correct one. And so, I make my decision. If that is your stance, then I have no more words for you."

    Still she stands with her left shoulder towards Vritri, her sword effectively 'behind' her, but her eyes have begun to glow faintly. "My name is Setsuko... Setsuko Kaminagi. I am the Sword of the War God. If you would prove that you are not a mad tyrant, indulge my requests. Otherwise, I can only assume that you are. And I will end you before you can spread your madness to all of Creation."
Kyra Hyral "You are certainly opposite sides of the same coin. One for absolute freedom, the other for absolute law." Kyra mutters, then frowns, listening to something Kutsuuko says to the group. Yes, it makes sense now. If Vitri wasn't actually, openly committing tyranny, then she knew that Yuri couldn't do anything. It was the same reason that he couldn't act against Madeline.

    "Sure." Kyra pulls out her needlegun and loads the green-hued vial into the resevoir. Normally the green of her potion meant some kind of healing mixture. "Let's begin, then."

    She whips the gun around, not aiming at any of her allies, but at the duelist at her side, Golden Flicker of the Dawn. Contained in the vial isn't a healing potion-not in the strictest sense.

    But it /is/ Kyra's attempt at an anti-vaccine to the one looted from the processing center weeks ago. If she had more time to research, she might have been able to craft a better one and she had no idea if it would even work-but it was worth a shot! (Literally.)
Yuri Stinson     "Very well," says the blonde man to Kutsuuko. He steps forward and draws his sword, holding it up, "We shall do battle." There's a flick of his blade, starting low and going high. It opens a golden pillar of light that immediately summons his machine into the massive room. It glows with a golden light, though it feels off. Slightly tainted.

    There's the flick-noise of a dart striking him in the neck, causing him to stumble on his feet, "Tch, what manner..." In a flash, he's boarded it, seeking to avoid further injection.

    "I was once like you, but the Princess taught me to let go. To let go of what I hated, what I loved. To be like the wind. That was when I became truly powerful."

    Adorjan Solar Akuma: Golden Flicker of Dawn's Breeze

    The machine hoists up its sword and then brings it down in a golden trailing arc towards Kutsouko, the one who issued the challenge in the first place. The God Eater is a powerful weapon, but it remains to be seen if it can stop a Solar-scale weapon.

    But something about the strike is off. It SHOULD be powered by Solar Righteousness and Adorjan Swiftness, but the latter is... lacking. Minimized. As if something where attempt to purge the Yozi Influence in the Solar Pilot.

    For the others? Well...

    Myriad number of guards begin to emerge from side hallways, moving swiftly in response to a threat to their princess. They seem to move with a single purpose, and are definitely Above Human in their abilities. They form a united front between Madeline, Setsuko, Raylene, Kyra and the Princess. They're holding spears that shimmer with the essence coursing through them.

    While the Princess is a pacifist, those who defend her cause receive her boons.
Setsuko Kaminagi     Soldiers pour in as Setsuko asserts herself. Without so much as thinking about it, she moves; not a swift attack, but rather a shift in position. Moving herself to stand between Raylene and Kyra, and the bulk of the guard, in a clear nonverbal declaration. 'You'll have to go through me first.' Rather than speak her challenge to any of them, however, she brings her sword slightly closer to herself, blade still pointed backwards. There's a sudden SNAP-fwoosh, parts expanding and a massive blade forming, as the demigod's left hand wraps around the handle of Zanjintou's true shape.

    There is no cockiness in her stance. She does not look on the guards as if she disdains them. No, she's treating them as true dangers, as much a threat as an entire horde of lesser warriors - if not more. Everything about her demeanor is deadly serious. She intends to fight them all, to tangle them up in dealing with her such that Raylene and Kyra can act with impunity, whether that be to support her, to go for the Princess, or anything else.

    Even so, her first lunge comes without warning, swinging Zanjintou's mass around in a broad, sweeping strike aimed to carve through several at once. To force them all to worry about her.
Raylene Dunwich     "You shall not harm any of these emissaries," Raylene says in a strange, deeper voice. "Misfortune befall any who try, sevenfold." Simple words... powered by the eldritch lineage of her blood. Raylene's magic is not flashy or explosive, but more subtle... yet powerful in its own way. It is a curse on those surrounding the group, one that will amplify and attempt to invoke any bit of bad luck they may have.

    And the Horror... that invisible beast that has been waiting for a while... manifests. Still invisible, but now physical, it doesn't bother with threats. It surges forward, ready to feast.

    This could be bad, as Raylene ponders, "I wonder if I could research a way to break the hold?" Oh, she's only thinking of it NOW?!?
Kutsuuko Shiratori     "Hahaha! My ass you were ever like me! You can justify trading your humanity however you want; it was yours to give, but don't try and drag me into your one-way ditch!" Kutsuuko remains carefully in stance despite her loud admonishment, taking in the Warstrider's movements, its range of motion, the weight and speed of its sword, and the wind up and follow through of the strike, with the kind of practical eye one gets only from a lifetime of hunting and fighting giant enemies. Despite the hot blooded attitude, it looks like there are a million little gears turning in that moment.

    Not knowing what the full machine is capable of yet, she plays it safe with that first strike, having little to go off of on seeing that golden Essence manifest in the trail of the blade. Pieces of Scarlet Symphony's machinery explode outwards, blossoming into a solid halo of metal that intercepts the attack like a shield, radiating a wave of obstructive energy with a piercing chime along with the obligatory sparks. The sheer mass of the enormous sword lifts the God Eater up off the ground and out to Warstrider-arm's distance through the air, but she lands on her feet, glancing at her tacHUD reflexively. "Fifteen percent? Are you fucking serious?"

    She resolves to not try and tank those hits, allowing the Orchestra module to fold in the blink of an eye, then crouching so far down she's almost in a sprinter's pose. The force she shoots forward with rips the tiles from the floor and scatters them backwards as so much shrapnel, marked with swirling rings of cloudy vapour. She flashes between the Strider's legs, the colossal reach of her sword allowing to sweep both ankles at the same time in a single, rending blow, before coming to an abrupt stop by spinning back into the same, 'center stance'. She then accelerates with the same violent torque, blasting off at an angle to its left heel and attacking that joint from the back.

    The movements chain together seamlessly into a matching strike across the back of the right heel, attempting to sever both ankle joints from both sides. Playing anklebiter against a massive foe usually looks a little ridiculous, but the veteran God Eater appears to have it down to a science, and her weapon is large enough to qualify as a modestly sized daiklave for a Warstrider, making it severely less comical.
Kyra Hyral "Raylene." Kyra says quickly as she struggles to reload her gun with another green vial taken from beneath her hoodie. "You need to send it-" the horror, "-straight for her throat. I can try getting in closer but I don't know how effective I'll be against Vitri. I'm not even sure how well my counter-agent is doing." Though she can tell the robot-wielding Exalt is definitely not as strong as Yuri. Not many are, though. "I will give your summon the support it needs. Check this out."

    Kyra stops reloading for a moment to trace out a few orange-hued circles out in front of her, murmuring a few quickly-spoken words too soft to hear. But the final command is loud enough for at least Raylene to hear it.

    "HASTEGA!" she cries out, the white magic spreading outwards, infesting those here to stop Vitri with an effect that doubles their speed.
Guest Madeline     This is interesting. Madeline's sword remains out, but she is letting Setsuko be the bulwark. Kyra and Raylene have a plan. It looks like this is indeed a situation that didn't /need/ her interference... nor her Gund^H^H^H^H Exaltation. She is far from helpless, though. Only the lowest rung of Sorcery is available to her, but she still has quite a lot of skill to USE that.

    The Shaping of Sorcery might be detectable to some of those in the room, but she doesn't care. It's a simple, well-practiced spell which is a good fallback for use against mortals. From her sleeves and from the spill of dark hair behind her, fluttering shadows emerge... which crystallize into glassy black butterflies which roar in a flurry above, then dive in toward the sides, to keep the soldiers from flanking them.
Yuri Stinson     You didn't actually expect this fight to last a long time, did you? It's a PL 32, at best, and a bunch of Ascended Mortals against FIVE Elites.

    First, Kutsuuko. Her charge forward, combined with the powerful anti-agent that Kyra injected the pilot with, are an incredibly potent dual-attack. He doesn't have the Adorjan Speed he normally would have to counter her incoming charge, so he can't bring the mixture of Solar Power and Infernal Speed to bear on her. She manages to cleave through his machine at the ankles, taking BOTH of them off at the same time. The torso of the machine slams into the ground and the cockpit block opens up, the pilot spilling out.

    The blonde man is on his hands and knees, heaving violently due to the dart sticking out of his neck. He wretches and convulses before a torrent of cyan and green fluid begins to pour from his mouth onto the floor. Madeline MIGHT recognize it as pure, undilluted Chalcanth, having been given some as a gift before. The pilot then blacks out and falls over sideways. It seems Kyra's attempt at an anti-Supernal vaccine/poison, at least, converted the Yozi Influence in a single Exalt into chalcanth to purge it from his system.

    Between Setsuko's cleaving sword strike and the rampaging Horror, both of which are now fueled by Hastega, the mass of troops is only a moderate challenge at best. The cleaving sword strike cuts a good amount of them down. The bad luck cast upon them has managed to cause their spears to give way where normally they would not. They snap and break under her sword strike even more easily, despite the reinforcement of Essence in them. The Horror makes quick work of others, who can't see it, mulching in and feasting on dead and still-alive in a bloody feast.

    The ones who are still alive, still standing, are quick to adapt, though. They spin their spears and thrust in, trying to launch a pincushion attack towards Setsuko's stomach and impale her from multiple angles. They are doing the same to the Dunwich Horror.

    With the Solar down, however, the path to the Exalt sitting on the throne is pretty clear for Kyra to get a shot. Or for Kutsuuko to make a break for her while the guards are occupied by Setsuko.

    Madeline's butterflies are, in this instance, even better for that. The mass of moving crystal insects can do a lot of things to benefit the movements of the party. It keeps Setsuko from getting totally surrounded, it can keep a path open for Kutsuuko, it can keep a line of fire open for Kyra to take her shots. Skillful use of the butterflies has given Madeline a fairly strong herding ability on this battlefield.
Setsuko Kaminagi     They may be fouled by Raylene's curse, but they are still empowered, and their attacks are threat enough that Setsuko has to focus on her defense. Rather than arrest Zanjintou's momentum or bring it around completely, she heaves its mass /upward/, and herself up with it. Her ability to fly takes her over the majority of the spears, but not all, and one catches her across the abdomen hard enough to open a deep gash. It's not the impalement they hoped for, but it's a solid hit.

    Unfortunately for them, her evasion also leaves her up in the air, going upward just as the butterflies dart downward. From here, she has a great number of options. The one she takes? Dropping right back down, in amidst the enemy, and swinging Zanjintou around in another vicious, sweeping spin, trusting in Madeline's sorcery to cover her back. It takes even more advantage of her weapon's stupendous reach than her previous attack, putting her at the middle of the herd where she can further erase their numbers in as few movements as possible.
Raylene Dunwich     The Horror has Raylene's protection as its paramount goal... but it does follow her orders. While this leaves the young girl behind, she has others to defend herself, and the rotten luck of the guards... though that doesn't stop one from stabbing her shallowly in the thigh, a cut that seems pretty bad but doesn't seem to concern her overmuch for now.

    The Horror takes some stabs, but is of much sterner stuff than Raylene. Hissing blood evaporates almost as soon as it hits the ground, but gutting a guard to get through is just a secondary purpose. It's using the opening Kyra gave it to launch itself toward the Princess, to clamp down on shoulder or neck as hard as it can. It's probably trying to behead her, but failing that it's still a very large supernatural beast pinning her down. It knows she won't escape easily for one simple reason.

    Nobody wants to look up the Grapple Rules.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     If only it could always be that quick. She'll have to thank Kyra, and ask her what the hell that was, later, Kutsuuko resolves. There's no point in continuing with the neutralized target, and as expected, they're blocked off from behind by hordes of guards, which Setsuko seems to be set on handling for the moment. Though she's still not clear on what will happen when their princess dies, the God Eater sees her chance when Raylene commands the horror to strike, to do exactly what she came here for. What she was paid for, certainly, but what she knows someone else is trying to accomplish more than that.

    She rockets off the mutilated Warstrider, ignoring the vomiting pilot to close in on Vitri in a blazing rush of air, stomping down before the throne hard enough to crack the floor under her heels. It seems for a second that she's going to use the sword, but instead, the God Arc's casting unexpectedly peels away, folding backwards upon itself in a flurry of clattering, red-gold metal, and exposing the seething black core within, like black, glistening, fluid and pulsing muscle bared under the skin.

    Half a dozen 'eyes' open up in the strange, viscous material, though they are more like luminous spheres of blank, predatory yellow. They might actually /be/ eyes though, because within the same blink, the fluid mass surges outwards, splitting down the middle into two crashing waves that semi-solidify into massive, grotesquely exaggerated jaws. Predictably, they'll smash down on the Chosen Princess; likely on everything below the Horror's grip at once.

    On an ordinary human body, the effect is best described as a 'red water balloon', as the fangs don't do the work so much as every microscopic cell in its biomass. More likely to be relevant is the Predator module's Aragami-devouring design, which incorporates the behaviour of stripping and consuming the energy that holds its victim together as part of the process of devouring flesh.
Kyra Hyral Following the spell, Kyra's attention snaps over to the de-throned pilot, staring in wonder as he violently reacts to the dart, vomiting on the floor. Once he blacks out, Kyra moves over to him, plucking an empty vial out of her clothes.

    She slips on a pair of rubber gloves and takes a moment to sample some of that cyan and green fluid. She then checks the duelist for a pulse before leaving him lying sideways. That way he wouldn't accidentally choke while he's unconscious.

    She leaves him be, then moves forward, chasing after Kutsuuko. She swaps out the needlegun with her anti-vaccine in it to what appears to be a regular gun-not just any regular gun but a gun not from Galianda. In fact, it may seem familiar to those that hang out around Heaven or Hell.

    In case Raylene and Kutsuuko have not done the deed...Kyra seems ready.
Yuri Stinson     We'll spare you a lot of gruesome details of death here, both for the group of soldiers and for the woman currently trapped in the jaws of the God Arc. As she's being consumed by the vicious weapon, she still does not fight back, accepting her death. She reaches out, but not towards Kutsuuko or anyone in the group. But rather towards someone behind them all. A cloaked figure who has appeared in the doorway, "You... finally... came..." She manages to choke out before she's completely gone.

    Now... as for what happens to her energy... well. Kutsuuko gets some of it. But there's another being here that Consumes, aside from her. And the Dunwich Horror may want its tribute, if Raylene so allows it to feed. Sharing is a messy affair, however, and so neither can get a complete meal from the woman if they do share.

    A LOT of guards are taken out by Setsuko. It's a pretty bloody bit of butchery that cuts down so many troops with such efficient spinning. The area is pretty cleared. Kyra manages to get a sample of melted demon, which if she wants to drink it will replenish a surprising amount of MP later. You know, if she wants to be really WEIRD.

    Now what of that figure she was reaching out towards? It's hard to tell over the smell of blood already in the room, but that figure reeks of blood and iron. It walks forward and pulls back its hood, "You have finished it." The voice is distinctly that of Yuri Stinson, shifting his stance, "And thus, once again, there is only one of my kind in Creation. Rebellion has no rival save the Tyrant himself." He declares blandly.

    "Over the coming weeks, her influence will wane. All here are tainted with the blood of Demons, but her influence shall fade. In time, it will purge from their streams, save for those who most embrace being Demonblooded." He explains simply, monotonely, "Choice will return to them. They will make poor choices and class divides will return. Crime, power strugles, all that freedom entails shall return. The dark, the light, the violence and the individuality."

    Yuri doesn't stick around. There's actually another gust of wind and he vanishes a few moments later. A briefcase of five gold bars is left where he was once standing, the last payment being rendered by their employer.

    Moments later, the entire palace seems to rumble. Coming up from the floor, a sickening and green sphere emerges from under the floor, where many would remember the processing center to be under the palace. It hangs for a moment before zooming off and smashing a hole in the roof. Reincarnation, in Creation, moves onward.
Setsuko Kaminagi     After the final sweep of her blade, Setsuko falls still, as she so often does. Holding that posture perfectly. The calm after the storm has passed. After several seconds, she finally shifts her weight, just faintly, allowing her to stand up straight and banish the full-sized blade of Zanjintou; the sealed katana form, she returns to the sheath at her side, with a rote intonation: "There is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut."

    Part of her is unsurprised to hear the voice of Yuri Stinson. She lifts her head slightly, watching him in silence, listening, and then regarding the gold bars. She briefly considers leaving it behind. It's not the sort of deed she feels is worthy of being paid for. But even though she might not need or want it, this city probably will.

    So she takes it, and turns to leave. At some point, the bar will be converted to currency; that currency will, in turn, find its way into the hands of whatever benevolent groups step up to try and restore order in the city after all this.
Kutsuuko Shiratori     Kutsuuko doesn't want to prolong it any more than necessary. Her God Arc exists for killing Aragami. It does just as well on people, but the she'd only sought to use the Predator module to ensure a certain death rather than whatever might happen using bullets and blades. The Oracle Cells make good on demolishing what constitutes the Supernal, and she then withdraws the dripping maw immediately, allowing the casing to close back into place with electronic snaps and whines. One would expect to see blood dripping from the cracks, but would be left without.

    The passive function of the Burst module kicks in next, linked to the Predator, briefly causing its God Eater wielder to blaze with flickering, white-gold light, shining from her person in a corona of radiant energy like some kind of messiah painting, which she doesn't seem to notice. It gradually dims as she looks to Yuri, equally unsurprised. "Oh hey. You were lurking around. I guess I should have known. Not being able to raise a hand against her doesn't mean not being able to spy on her, right? We were the loophole in the first place."

    She steps down from whatever elevation the throne has as her aura wears off, sighing as she looks to the Warstrider. "I'll take care of that." she says as Yuri vanishes as mysteriously as he arrived. "Looks like a lot of good metal. Don't know if any of it will be useful, but like hell I'm letting this shady beta fuck keep his nice toys."
Raylene Dunwich     Raylene tugs out some bandages and sits down to work on her leg. "Go ahead and feed," she says to the air... and yes, the Horror does feed, once again consuming numerous life forces. The mortals just act as nourishment, nothing more, and provide little satisfaction compared to the portion of the Exalt that it draws in, briefly becoming /partly/ visible as a non-euclidean outline in the air before fading once again.

    It dematerializes, thankfully, shortly after. Raylene looks up to Yuri, but makes no sign of recognition. She will, however, take her payment easily enough. It never hurts to save something for a rainy day.
Guest Madeline     Madeline stares after Yuri, frowning faintly. Well, in this case they worked together for the same threat. That's fine. She sighs, turning away and gesturing at the Warstrider. "It will do you no good. A Solar's Warstrider always finds its way back to the pilot, short of killing him."

    Speaking of the pilot, Madeline leans over and considers him. "He's going to need medical attention. Hyral... you have familiarity with this toxin. If you would like, I will give you passage into my domain to see him and treat him, while I see if there are any lingering supernatural effects. We have excellent hospitals in the Empire. Once he has a clean bill of health and mind we will see what path he wants to take."