Scene #4832: Schism of the Waning Moon-2

Owner	Pose
Priscilla	It's dangerous for any group of people from the outside to walk the streets of the City of the Gods so brazenly during the day. Everyone seems to know. Anywhere that someone who doesn't belong is visible, people directly avoid them, keeping a wide berth or going back inside. The fact that the 'ordinary' citizenry wants no part of this is good, because the danger is the entire point. There are a million and one places to strike here, and very few places that cannot be observed or attacked, even by ordinary means, as is the entire point of the city's architecture. Where people will place themselves is up to them, but it hardly needs to be provoking. Even if they aren't visible, the old guard of the Darkmoon Blades will not let the challenge to their ultimatum stand. What is mostly worth noting, is that as the populace scatters out of the hypothetical line of fire -- especially after the amount of explosives and heavy weaponry involved last time -- what appears to be a small social group of gods and goddesses, giant and finely dressed as they are, are content to watch from the Citadel plaza, now fully repaired from its thorough blasting last week. An audience, more or less. Unlikely to be complicit, perhaps, but most certainly invested in the drama. There are no signs of crows anywhere, so it seems for now, at least, Velka has kept her side of the bargain.
Guest Psyber	Psyber had been forced to miss the last two adventures for this particular shenanigans, but Priscilla had managed to catch him up. This he was here! There's a strong chance he has Ari on his back or in storage somewhere, but he might not, depending on the player's joining or not. Psyber isn't great at subterfuge, espionage, or games. He is, however, good at fighting things and getting attention. And also good at investigation. Thus, because of the first two skills, he shows no hesitation as he walks through the street of the cities. The half-angel, knowing of the Darkmoons and having his own vendetta against them that stems back as far as Gwyndolin himself, has confidence in the deal bartered with Velka and in the ability of he and his friends to resolve this. In his hand is his most infamous weapon for this world, the Sun-Slayer Greatsword. It occasionally flickers with black fire as he goes. As people move out of the way, Psyber meanders his way confidently to a particularly open intersection within the city. He lifts up his blade and then slams it into the ground in front of him. There's a clash of sparks and black flames as he does so. Carefully, he counts his paces and walks in a very particular pattern, dragging the sword with him and carving a single, continuous groove into the ground as he moves. As he reaches the original point of entry to the ground, he hoists up the blade. The pattern he has made, in the intersection, is a single symmetrical circle. Resting the sword against his shoulder, he walks back to the center of that circle and stands in it. Despite not a word being said, Psyber has made his intent clear.
Reiji Arisu	The city is gripped with fear. Maybe the gods don't notice so much, but the people certainly do. These Darkmoon Blades have made it abundantly clear that they don't want people from outside Lordran interfering with their business, but that's the thing with the Multiverse: you can't exactly get away from it, once you're part of it. While many multiversals have vanished from Lordran's streets, there is at least a handful who have not. Reiji Arisu, the one they call Pacifier, stands at the center of the broad berth Lordran's natives have formed at one of the city's uppermost intersections. He's... appropriately armed. His suite of weapons is ready and waiting at his side. There's a cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth, billowing a trail of blue-grey smoke into the chilly air. Reiji cants his head back as Psyber makes his approach. The exorcist offers a calm salute while the other man carves out an appropriate arena. Reiji puffs out a small plume of smoke. Their message is unmistakable. 'Bring it on.'
Kushiko	It's one thing to be noticed, and another thing to be known for it, though Kushiko has her suspicions that the former Darkmoon Blades know well of her--regardless of the Warframe she employs. Not that she actually changes her color scheme much: this is as much as the Void energy that fuels her, a marker if one knows to look for it. Still, as much as the Tenno knows ways to get in, and out of places, sometimes one simply needs to send up the, 'we're over here' flag so others can do some good work. Lone Tenno Operatives, you don't count. In either event, it was Valkyr--this one most known by virtue of her work for Lordsblade Ciaran when it came to the assassination of Latria--that had ventured to the City of the Gods. Accompanied by the fairly /massive/ Huras Kubrow known as Kiras, she made her way through the City itself--sometimes scaling sheer surfaces of buildings or using her grappling hook to send herself almost gliding through the air at times, noiseless save for the wind that whipped around her body during times of acceleration. <<Stay alert, Kushiko. There are no... 'crows' so for the time being, everything looks on the level. You likely will have an audience with the 'gods and goddesses' here at the Citadel. There will be others, however that will attempt to draw out the targets.>> Indeed, it wasn't long after this was said that not just Reiji but Psyber made their presence known. This did not make the Tenno relax by any means, situated upon a roof nearby, she honestly was expecting to be attacked by being in the vicinity. Which she hoped for. And if Valkyr wasn't attacked, that meant she could just as well pounce herself, the purple-black felinoid-looking Warframe shifting and 'looking' about. As much as something seemingly faceless could actually /look/.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki Kuran, FRESHLY PACTED WITH A TOTALLY LEGIT GODDESS OF LEGITNESS, had an Excellent Plan to get this whole thing going. Because she was not allowed to render aid without payment, she had used her Arbitrary Nonsense Normal Girl Wealth to go to her local JRPG Market and buy out their entire collection of HP and MP restore consumables. Potions, Hi-Potions, X-Potions, Ethers, Mega Elixir... It was really expensive but so much easier to just go from x1 to x99 backwards than any reasonable amount. Then, she got a nice sign and a tray to deal from, wrote down POTIONS AND TINCTURES - SOULS OBO in bright lettering, and went out to become the scum purveyor of consumable healing items in Lordran, potentially tipping the scale into The Worst Era just a little more. And she did this publiclly. By going around and selling healing and spirit restoration on the cheap. She also didn't know the value of Souls so she may in fact flood lordran with cheap JRPG healing Estus Knockoff. All to literally paint a giant target on her ass and see who takes a shot. She trust that, even in daytime in a strange world while peddling the inventory of Corneria-or-wherever's Item Store, she could take whatever the Darkmoon decided to foolishly hit her with.
Tomoe	Tomoe is glad the local common folk want nothing to do with them, this means they are going to be out of harms way. When things get going. It doesn't take too long for the group of multiversals. She's here laying in wait much like Reiji is. She notes Psyber arrival as well, the Fae knight seems relaxed not concerned about much as she waits, but she knows sooner or later things are going to go down. <<Tomoe here, I'm ready and waiting, here's hoping they rise up to the bait.>>
Mel Brock	Where Psyber's interest in the Darkmoon is deeply personal, Mel Brock has no such strong ties to the situation. She has only the fact these people are essentially exploiting loopholes in the law to push out people they don't like and screw with the political situation. That alone, though, is more than enough to get her out here, even if it might not be with quite the same fervor as the half-angel. What she DOES have in common with him, aside from a love of longcoats, is a sword. In her case, the weapon presently stays sheathed, strapped to her back, but it is present nonetheless. For something that involves deliberately invoking an assassination attempt, she's not showing up with anything less than her absolute best, and right now that means Hravn. Quietly, the psychic stands aside while Psyber does his work, watching him draw the line both metaphorically and literally with an arched eyebrow. When he finally steps in, she says, "I mean, I'd have just gone walking blithely like I was completely oblivious and easy prey, but I guess this works for drawing them out too." She reaches up behind herself and draws her own blade, then turns to step in the circle with her back towards Psyber's and Hravn held low and to her right.
Lezard Valeth	Unlike the others, Lezard made no such deal with the Lady of Sin. Creating such a pact with a 'God' is unconscionable to the hubris-riddled man. So he is taking a different approach to things. Over time, a black cat has stalked through the most likely areas of battle, leaving small rings of rune-etched stone hidden away. To those of Lordran, they likely would mean nothing, simple strangeness brought from outside the world... Because the runes are the magics of Midgard. Some of them would inevitably be found and destroyed. Lezard expects that. But the Sorceror of Midgard himself seems to be engaged in rank cowardice. not having appeared to defy the Darkmoons. Even spies sent to the Archives would simply see the magus paging through a book idly, lazily, looking blankly at the pages like whatever they have done had sapped the life out of him. So much the better, right?
Heaven's Armory	Ari the greatsword is, indeed, here. Ari the human-looking girl is not here. Expecting an ambush, and thus taking this seriously from the beginning, only her true (and nigh-unbreakable) body is present. Psyber should feel a quizzical tone from the Armory sword when the Sun-Slayer is stabbed down, but it fades as he completes the circle. Hravn is drawn. Like Ari, she's not bringing her false body into combat, as inconvenient as this makes things like conversation. Mel, at least, can feel the impressions off her sword: anticipation of hard combat, and a sense like 'not to be underestimated.' She doesn't give the impression that a simple trick would work against this opponent.
Staren	Staren is here. He is expecting a fight. He's still in the combat robot body, made of super-tough futuristic materials and with heavy armor plating attached. He has a bag full of, among other things, several incredibly destructive weapons. He's as ready for a fight as he can be. His tail twitches impatiently in segmented armor as he slowly scans the area around them for threats. Although that's mostly for looks -- he has drones in the sky watching all around them, too.
Priscilla	Lezard being in his proper place buried in books is a good sign. The last thing anyone needs is him mucking stuff up with magic nukes, and it leaves a certain amount of Work in the Archives undisturbed. Yuuki patrolling the streets and polluting the local economy with colour coded bottles of questionable knockoff brews from who knows where is less acceptable. It's only the most curious who actually come to meet her for them, with most staying wisely away. She will find that it is actually very difficult to barter in souls, because the locals seem to produce them out of hand in flickering white ghost flames, of which their worth is largely indicated in size rather than number. Without an innate sense of how many 'units' one contains, and without the inherent ability to absorb them into her flesh, Yuuki winds up carrying around what amounts to an unwieldy floating armful of ghosty puffballs. Psyber is, honestly, pretty well known by now for how constantly, intentionally offensive he seems to be set on being. Perhaps that makes him a little predictable, in that sense. As such, whilst Mel, Tomoe and Reiji join him, and Valkyr remains out of sight, there is no second need to try to intimidate and make an example. The blue phantoms do not present themselves directly. The only real forewarning is when a bunch of Staren's drones simultaneously go down by surprise. First off, a new kind of fiery shriek manages to rise over the tense quiet, following a volley of fiery darts tracing trails of smog wildly through the air. Descending on the plaza with a cheap and dishonourable alpha-strike, appears to be a very admirable attempt at long ranged rockets, imitating yet another Elite's arsenal by their size and outward design. There is no heat seeking tech to be seen, and so it seems they have made up with sheer quantity and an arcing directory. As the barrage descends on the intersection where Psyber has drawn his circle, the rockets fail to actually explode, and instead shatter on impact with the ground, where they release colossal bursts of coruscating lightning with clouds of combusting, golden glitter, further evoking the source material, and also, unfortunately, making them /much/ harder to defend against. Second off comes a fresh round of projectiles, this time being the same kind of heavy, rifled, solid lead slugs as the last, save for going much faster and with much greater accuracy, and glowing with the same pale lavender hue as is often seen on their arrows and blades, briefly appearing to be energy weapons. For those familiar with the enchantment in question, it is a clear attempt to step over the limitations of shitty flintlock tech, by infusing giant minie balls with magic that pierces armour and barriers. Aggravatingly, though the locations the shots come from are obvious from several points, the dead giveaway phantom blue glow of the shooters is nowhere to be seen. Most of it comes sleeting down on, of all people, Mel and Staren in particular, though nobody is without a few blurs of light aimed at their heads. None of them actually show their faces until Yuuki is accosted by one from a rooftop quite literally upending an entire urn of 'blessed' water on her head, like an awful bucket prank, except acid to her skin. It quickly answers the question of concealment; the phantom has done something to hide his glow, and masked his armour in golden brown and pale grey cloths that blend into the masonry.
Mel Brock	When the first of the 'rockets' rain down on Psyber and Mel, they slam into an invisible wall in the air - which just means that the "explosions" are happening around them, rather than on top of them. Mel hisses in alarm and at least a little pain, and then quirks Hravn slightly, focusing through the blade to blow a blast of wind outward in an attempt to protect herself from those... and that's when the second barrage spits a bullet right through. The first armor-piercing projectile manages to slam through her barrier just as she's preparing to strengthen it; the piercing bleeds off enough force that when the slug hits the leg of her pants, it doesn't pierce the bullet-resistand fabric, but it still hits hard enough for her leg to nearly give out on the spot. The Marshal staggers, hisses, and then the barrier shifts. "I'm going rooftop!" Now a much tighter, more reinforced barrier wraps around Mel alone, leaving Psyber uncovered - but he seems to be able to handle himself. The Marshal gives Hravn another flourishing sweep, then goes running towards a building, at the same time focusing her will through the sword. It's one of the first tricks Hravn showed her, the ability to create solid 'steps' in the air so that she can seemingly run on nothing at all. It's a good way to get herself up to the rooftops, where she can start trying to hunt the hunters. "Hravn, give me the last shooting location of the nearest one, or as close as you could see.
Heaven's Armory	Hravn doesn't have much time to set up a defense, and it seems that that would not have amounted to much where Mel's own barrier failed, anyway. She blasts wind against the first attack, but that still leaves the piercing bullets. There's not much thought-feeling from her at the moment, in any understandable way, but more of a low, mental-emotional 'hum' as she processes quickly. The air-steps are easy and convenient, but she can't do much more than that while carrying out the following order, as she reaches out her air-manipulation and follows the wake left by missiles. This should get her to whatever points in space they were fired from, though this sort of flexible, ranged magic is difficult and takes up her concentration, and isn't as likely to follow the attackers themselves unless they moved pretty violently.
Reiji Arisu	Well. That's an interesting fusillade. Reiji's lips draw into a tight line at the sheer number of munitions sailing through the air. Fortunately, much of it isn't centered on /him/ in particular. Unfortunately, enough of it is that it poses a distinct problem. Reiji, for one, does not want to end today with a perforated lung. "Looks like they're making this hard for us," Reiji murmurs as the sky fills with projectiles. There's a soft click as a pair of firearms find their way into his hands. "Alright. You guys go on ahead. I'll cover best as I can." There are many, many bullets in the air- rockets and their red glare. But that's fine. The fact that they're glowing just means that they make easier targets. Bullets rain down all around him. Reiji dances through the barrage, magically infused miniballs cutting red lines across his skin where he can't dodge completely, but his attention is focused on the other projectiles. Blasts of buckshot streak into the sky, accompanied by precise slugs of pistol-fire. The combination is not unlike a barrage of flak, aimed at limiting the number of rockets that actually make landfall. For his part, Reiji seems to have avoided being zapped, though his arms and torso are still streaked with red. But as the skies clear and the barrage dwindles, Reiji... Remains where he is for now. If the others are in pursuit, then he may better serve this task by continuing to draw fire, pull them out into the open. It's a risky proposition, perhaps, but... Well, this whole thing is a gamble, isn't it?
Kushiko	The Lotus overseeing what's going on here unfortunately does not give her very much to go on--the sourcing of the attacks from afar certainly gives an idea of trajectories but it was the drones going down that was the most concerning aspect at first. Of course, that gave way to the fact that the phantom blue glows weren't anywhere to be found or surveiled or detected. Something which is immediately informed on to Kushiko, who is currently grimacing after a few those shots actually /hit/ her, and though the deceptively potent degree armoring helped a little bit, it didn't stop a spurt of darkened blood escaping Valkyr's shoulder. That... /actually hurt/ a bit, given Transference and the nature of those things. Maybe not as much as some other options those Darkmoon Blades could throw out, but it definitely caught her attention, Valkyr pivoting and moving out of the way in the wake of the other precision shots that came her way. A wicked-looking... /bone/-like blade spun forward after being unsheathed, lilac energy channeled through it and the stand-off edge of light--but even upon parrying away one of those massive minie balls she still felt /that/ arcane edge to it. Fine, if that's the way they wanted to play it, she could go with that. As Mel moved to join her on the rooftops (relatively) the Warframe sprinted forward, launching herself in a spiral at an angle upwards towards the point of origin of those shots. The air itself distorted underneath her once she reached the apex of that jump before she rolled forward midair and leapt again, adding a tremendous amount of momentum supported by her use of an energy grappling hook that practically slingshotted her towards her intended destination. Once she closed a considerable amount of distance the Warframe itself--not Kushiko--cut loose a /terrifying/ howl of furor, and it was no longer the blade she bore, but wicked energy talons extending out from each clawed fingertip as she wreathed herself in that luminescent energy of Hysteria. It was as much for her own defense as her intention to sink her claws vengefully into those that had so newly harmed her as she and Kiras made their way to where those shots came from--thought not directly. As Hravn had said, they had likely moved, and she wanted sight on one of them for that 'Indictment' Velka had mentioned first to strip their protection at the last possible moment.
Guest Psyber	Psyber tosses the greatsword up in the air and it vanishes a moment later as the shots start coming in. The half-angel takes one or two to the chest, doing just as much as before as they punch through the front and back of his torso and weirdly don't come out the back of his jacket, seeming to vanish after hitting him. The rockets and darts are a different matter, and he's thankful Mel's shield did as much as it did, though he's also quick to throw up Ari to block himself from taking more of that damage, the magical blowback still bleeding through the blade and straining him to block it. "Man. These guys are such absolute pussies, I swear." Psyber lunges forward, taking a heavy step and dragging Ari behind him. His eyes flash red as rubies and he focuses on that supernatural sight of his, using it to sift through potential spirit targets before finding one that appeals to him. There's not much hesitation or mercy to follow as Psyber darts in towards the closest identifiable hostile and tries to cut them straight through the waistline with a heavy sword strike. "Ari. Light em up."
Tomoe	Tomoe is waiting and knowing that it's going to likely be, one painful and messy. Or so she thinks. She's very much glad for the help from Mel. With Reiji here the front team should be pretty well off, also she knows Staren's here, Lezard is here and she's thankful they have the same objective today and as ever? There's a Tenno about waiting to strike. They should be ready and they hopefully should be able to keep Yuuki from major harm, or so she hopes at least. She sees they have company soon enough and Tomoe moves to pull the drawn breaker, and get the mourning wall ready. She's going to have to intercept shots and it's going to be bad even with the help of the barrier. It keeps her from ending up getting utterly mauled by a rainstorm of weapons fire. What's also more troubling she's pretty sure they likely have moved and she's now getting ready to do the same the trap's been set and while the bubble helped? Tomoe's HP has taken a hit, her actual body is not very happy with the feed back it's taken so far. She starts to get moving and her wings flare out for the event she should need them, but she holds her ground she knows this is only the start and she'll be ready to take hits for the others in the bait team where she can, as that's her job after all.
Staren	When the drones go down, Staren looks around in alarm. He doesn't immediately realize he's being copied, just that a rain of projectiles is coming in and they're bad. Thrusters and wings carry him out of the circle, his forcefield possibly absorbing some lightning... and then cracking like tough glass as bullets shoot through it. At least his sudden movement spares him the headshots they planned, but the way his systems are registering damage... damn. He wasn't sure how that enchantment worked, and hoped that having no flesh to target would mess it up somehow. Freaking /magic/. Like Kushiko, his sensors were able to track the origin points of those 'missiles'. Unfortunately, without his drones to help, he can't track where those people /went/... although his support AI is frantically (well, more like calmly and methodically, it's an AI) trying to identify any details from the individuals /before/ the fight broke out that can be used to recognize them again now. With Dawn tracking targets as long as they stay in sight, Staren snaps off a couple of beam cannon shots at the first one he sees, and then moves close to Psyber so they can cover eachother.
Yuuki Kuran	BARTERING IS HARD WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW THE VALUE OF THE LOCAL CURRENCY. OR THE REAL VALUE OF MONEY BECAUSE YOU WERE BORN TO HYPER-AFFLUENT PARENT, WANTED FOR NOTHING, BASICALLY HAVE NEVER BEEN TOLD 'NO' IN YOUR LIFE, AND WERE GIVEN BASICALLY EVERYTHING YOU WANTED, ON TOP OF HAVING NEARLY INFINITE WEALTH IN THE WINGS TO FIX ANY PROBLEM, MAKING WORK MORE OF A PASTTIME THAT YOU DABBLED IN. Oh hey, souls! Without the power to just sort of hoover them up, she instead tries putting a handful of fuzzy white energy in her mouth and swallowing. Does it work? Does it not work? WHO KNOWS?! As an anti-undead bomb drop-smashes into her, the prank goes AWFULLY as all the potions she had brought go up in a giant blaze of fire, adding more damage to the damage, because - you guessed it! - JRPG Generic Potions deal damage to TOTALLY NORMAL enemies rather than healing them. And there's some Mega Elixir in there. So after exploding for seventeen times her health bar, falling over, spilling souls everywhere, and immolating her sign and smashing her tray on the floor. After a few moments of violent explosive fire, she just sort of lays on the ground in the smoking aftermath, looking more or less fine, but... YOU NEVER KNOW with normal girls! "Ow. Owwwwww-ow. Ow. That was... not my finest moment..." She mutters, out of action for the time being due to how retarded her original plan was. She reaches over and starts eating another handful of souls to see if this will change things. Hopefully being contracted with Velka INDICTS THE SHIT out of whomever blew her up.
Heaven's Armory	Ari has even fewer options than Hravn, without being drawn. Fortunately, that state doesn't too long. Even if her magic isn't defensively oriented, her body itself can block just about anything thrown at it--but not arcane damage. This doesn't visibly damage her, but it's an extremely unpleasant feeling to have her rigid structure bypassed to damage 'her,' directly, and Psyber is going to get some level of feedback from that, too, in the midst of a sense of agreement and the feeling of 'needing to look for a trick.' She knows these guys won't play fair and forthright. Pain is temporary, and something she soldiers through as a matter of course. Ari is swung, and her magic lights up air and, if the target does not flee quickly enough, cloth and flesh. Armor will reduce her impact, but is more likely to throw off sparks as her magic pushes through it than to slow the fire down.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard, not being present, doesn't get murderbombed. This is more or less working exactly as intended. Also working as intended are the rings that weren't located or destroyed. As the lighting blasts and fusillades go off, the black cat looking out over the plaza from atop the Painting Gallery twitches a tail, the eyes glowing red for a moment. A moment later, several rings begin flaring up, shrieking Harpies rising into the sky as they are ripped from Niflheim and cast into the glaring sun of Anor Londo. As they howl and flap around, the creatures seems to orient themselves and begin working to divebomb the assailants, ripping at them with claws and working to drag them out into the plaza, pulling them into view so they are more, ah... obvious targets. The cat simply watches intently, the eyes glowing a perfectly normal red as the harpy swarm works to pick out and throw the Darkmoons to the wolves. Almost literally.
Priscilla	It's a good thing Mel doesn't get vertigo, because air steps in Anor Londo's vertical space are a harrowing experience even for the prepared. The shots coming from closest to her originate from a flat-topped church peak, where it seems someone has been imitating a traditional ornamental statue that would be so common anyone would gloss over the hundredth one on the road past. They manage to get one more shot off at close range, before tossing their gun, likely not to be recovered. As soon as Mel closes into a useful range however, a second assassin leaps off the higher roof directly behind her, clattering on the tiles, and producing some kind of white wand that he thrusts in her direction. A blast of frozen white fog immediately envelops her, not necessarily working its way inside her barrier, but plunging the temperature around her so drastically that it immediately becomes lethally cold inside, and ices over the already precarious rooftop. It isn't natural ice either, judging by the way it creeps after her. Though not exactly Buddhist elemental water-type ice, it hurts to the touch. Much the same kind of tag out arrangement waits in store for Valkyr. The followup shot that hits her barely makes a dent in the void barrier, and so the sniper perched in the crowning of an ornate buttress abandons his position, taking what should be a fatal fall down below. Everyone knows you don't take the claw meta head on, so she doesn't get a direct challenge. Instead, a handful of bronzed charms, containing reservoirs of some sloshing liquid, shatter on the shingles around her, evaporating immediately into clouds of golden smoke. These /rapidly/ drain the energy reserves sustaining her Hysteria, as if trying to eat the buffs right off of her, though they don't seem to interfere with her Ripline.. Only then does the gunman's bodyguard make his appearance, dropping down into a crouched stance, wielding an enormous, flanged lance, and charging right down the narrow lane towards his mark. Psyber's target is more taken aback at actually being found so easily. The fact that he can fly, as well, is coincidentally something he pretty much never used during the Lordran campaign, during the length the Darkmoon Blades were involved. Ari cleaves straight through a last minute attempt at a block with the length of the gun, smashing the cloaked phantom off his perch, and tumbling a long, long way down the steep chasms between Anor Londo's buildings. The bodyguard is late, in that sense, but makes his presence clear, crashing down behind Psyber and Ari, and voicing "Then if you would directly face a foe, come." Turning around, the half-angel will see that his foe is a Darkmoon knight who has obviously put most of his souls into his strength stat, because his idea of finally taking Psyber on in melee combat is of locating the most massive sword he could find. The blade looks like one of the demon slaying designs the black knights had used, as opposed to the more elegant armament of the silver guard, towering taller and heavier than its wielder is. The more complicated issue is that it too blazes with brilliant, starry light, casting sparks as the knight drags its blade along the ground in a downward feint into a powerful, launching uppercut. Even presuming the physical strength to block it, doing so is no doubt putting Ari very directly in a lot of harm's way.
Priscilla	Reiji and Tomoe staying behind would normally elicit a lesser response. This is sort of true, in the sense that their problem isn't immediately obvious, as magically silenced footsteps drop behind them. It becomes fully apparent only when a pair of viciously curved blades come at them from behind; sadistically serrated such that a casual flourish will open an artery. Knowing these guys, they're probably poisoned too. Staren's AI can easily pick up on basic things like height, presumed mass, visible pieces of armour design, and the like, but much of the phantoms' bodies are shrouded and veiled, which becomes an issue because the ghost bodies don't give off thermals, or else are masking them somehow. It's useful data, but not exactly panopticon-grade crowd recognition. A couple of his shots strike directly, forcing the target to abandon his firearm and opt for his shield instead, hunkering down behind it to present as little target as possible, since he is not in a favourable standoff position with a flying, shooting enemy. He instead waits for a fellow to maneuver and attack Staren from another angle, before relocating to heal somewhere. Yuuki, by virtue of being a normal girl, is the least combat ready, and so the one that bites it the hardest. Even the particular assassin tasked to her seems to have some disbelief for how easy it was, figuring the new factor to be as much of an obstinate brawler as the rest. He hops down, only to see the normal girl get up and start stuffing her face with souls (they don't taste of much, being more of a feeling of weird cold warmth than anything), utterly baffling him as he reaches for his estoc. As he runs his hand over the length of the blade, sheathing it in starlight, Yuuki feels as if she has definitely met the criteria to declare heretical disavowal. It's like a subconscious flash of an old memory, as if she had always known; a little mental popup that offers her the choice, like someone or something had asked. All she has to do is say the words, and the words aren't very demanding of specificity. After all, she is an unarmed innocent, who has drawn no blade. Her assassin is distracted for a moment longer by the appearance of unfamiliar monsters in Anor Londor's midst. Within seconds, what appears to be the remaining shooters and bombardiers are abandoning their perches, or being physically dragged and hurled from them. It creates a chaotic opening, but unfortunately, as Lezard clears his plans with nobody nohow, the dramatic and unannounced appearance of the creatures draws the city's defenders immediately. The flock is surrounded on all sides by knights in under a minute, where they are accosted with silver streaks of flying iron lances, as accurate fire from colossal greatbows begins pulping the swarm. Of course, this is just part of the plan, isn't it?
Guest Psyber	Between Ari's initial dislike and actual pain at the Arcane damage and Psyber's own concern over not breaking the sword, the half-angel does not try to block or parry with the massive blade. The half-angel makes a snap judgment to formulate a plan on the fly and then act on it. His plan is, in usual Psyber fashion, reckless and self-endangering. Psyber opts to block the sword strike with the bottom of his foot. There's the soft yielding of rubber, leather, and then eventually a thick metal plate concealed in the bottom of his shoe before it digs directly into Psyber's foot. The half-angel lets out a grimace of pain as he can feel the flesh and bone of the foot part and yield under the attack, but he tries to lodge the heelbone of his foot against the blade and then counter the force with his own strength, slamming the blade back down into the ground and trapping it there. Lodging the blade between his own bones and the ground, Psyber shouts, "You are about fifty years too soon to come challenge me to a bigass sword fight!" As he aims a brutal thrust straight through the man's chest. If he can cleanly impale him, Psyber then immediately tries to twist Ari 90 degrees clockwise and shout, "IGNITE!" A moment later, he also shouts, "Staren! Light this guy up for me! I got him pinned in place!"
Heaven's Armory	Most swords would probably not be vulnerable to armor-ignoring magic that targets the soul in some fashion, as most swords don't have souls. This is an unexpected weakness, at least in contrast to how little physical force can do to Heaven's Armory, and Ari is naturally consternated as Psyber opts to take the blow through to his own flesh. Creating such an opening, at least, puts her in an excellent position to strike. Though one might expect a sword as massive as her to be primarily a bashing weapon, her resistance to impact also translates to her ability to keep a remarkably sharp edge, and such a thrust would be lethally dangerous even without someone quite as strong as Psyber putting force into it, at least against most opponents. At the moment her wielder's will is felt, her magic flows in to energetically transform flesh into so much heat, light and ash.
Reiji Arisu	When Lezard Valeth is anywhere at all nearby, strange things are all but bound to happen. Not that Reiji particularly expects SUDDEN HARPIES FROM NOWHERE. But at the very least, their appearance does have one welcome side-effect. Bodies are thrown enmasse from the buildings nearby. Bodies holding cannons, guns and grenades. Reiji produces a noise that's halfway between surprise, bewilderment and gratitude. With this many out in the open, it's worth it to use that technique. Reiji reaches down deep into the wellspring of his soul for the fuel to power it. Without Xiaomu here, he needs more than he would typically use; but he doesn't intend to use anything more than this today. It will suffice- especially with some outside help. The ring Psyber carved into the ground pulses with a flash of cool, blue light. The power of the godslayer still lingers within the wounded stone, and Reiji draws on it to supplement his own strength. The pattern floods from the ring in a fraction of a second. A great, mystic square, hewn in bright blue lines. Space suddenly seems to grow thick, molasses-like, as the magic takes hold. Reiji slaps a fresh set of ammunition into each of his guns as the spell solidifies. "Juu no Kata," the exorcist mutters, "Begin." With that, he turns, aiming his guns at each of the exposed Darkmoons. Gunsmoke erupts from Gold and Hollywood as spiritually infused lead and blessed shrapnel tear into their number. He turns, readying another volley, when suddenly-- ...He comes face to face with one of the Darkmoons. An assassin. ...An assassin frozen in place, looking just a little bit scared at the fact that he /can't actually move./ "Huh." Reiji says, levelling his shotgun with the man's chest, "Bad luck." He fires. And then keeps right on firing at every other Darkmoon in range. (Also at some of the harpies, because SOMEONE DIDN'T TELL THE CLASS THAT THEY'D BE SHOWING UP, and Reiji sure doesn't recognize them.)
Kushiko	FRIGGING ENERGY LEECH EXIMUS er, wait, you aren't that but you're absolutely running down that path of irritation for the Tenno that controls the Valkyr Warframe. Nonetheless, after the shattering of those reservoirs, she quickly backflips away--energy being drained /at/ her making her simply release the rage of Hysteria--she flinches slightly as the backlash of damage impacts her, though thankfully it isn't /as/ much as it could be. Well, they wanted to play that game too, it seems--and Valkyr-Kushiko is ready to play. Valkyr isn't the only target here, however, and the Kubrow ends up at adjacent buttress, growling /angrily/ given not so much the switchout but the appearence of the sniper's bodyguard. This is when the young girl's voice projects through, regarding the pair. <"Attack us all you wish--as now, we will counter."> For her, this was her own condemnation, her indictment against the pair for their actions--not only against her, but against the others under the Lady of Sin's protection. If Valkyr could smile, it would reflect the look Kushiko held so far away on her Orbiter. A quick gesture to Kiras, and suddenly she fades momentarily fade out of sight as Valkyr shifts her stance slightly as she brings up Broken War, the remnant of Stalker's Sentient-bestowed greatsword as she faces down her opponent. Kiras on the other hand is going after the assassin--so cloaked and quite literally on ZE HUNT while Valkyr faces the bodyguard. More to the point as the bodyguard charges her as she brings the blade up at an angle to brace herself for the flanged lance, she thrusts out her hand instead. And from that hand is a grappling hook that if the bodyguard doesn't make to move, will split into several different threads of lilac-pink energy to /grab/ the bodyguard--or at least the weapon before she yanks back with terrible force as she pivots and launches herself into a spinning charge. Crimson Dervish as a Tenno sword stance is... /very/ aptly name given the crouching spin she's executing.
Staren	Staren sees the Sword Guy and turns away -- he figures Psyber can take this chump. He's considering another move -- maybe fly up to the harpies and pull helmets/masks off those guys so they can be ID'd? Then Psyber calls him in for the fight as an assist character! In one smooth motion, he pulls the JA-12 laser rifle from his back and turns around, quickly aiming roughly for center of mass and firing a full-power burst!
Tomoe	The fight is well underway at this point she knows just what sort of people they are up against, very dangerous people to be exact and she darn well knows this. She pauses for a moment as she thinks she heard something, but is not certain just is about to happen. She knows it won't be good and she's on, her guard thanks to the actions of her allies. She doesn't have all the firepower of someone like Reiji has, but she's more made to take rampant physical and magical abuse. She also too comes to run face first into a Darkmoon. 5r5df she doesn't quite have the luck that Reiji had. Her blade moves to meet with one of the attacker's own, one gets past her guard catching her and they do seem to be poisoned as Tomoe feels it, and it's not pleasant but she's going to have to worry about it later, she brings her shield about to slam it into her attacker, trying to brute force them down. "This is getting old." She doesn't banter any further she knows there's no real point to this, at least in a situation like this.
Mel Brock	This time, Mel's barrier is at full strength - she noticed that piercing effect the first time, so her bubble's focused forward and reinforced with every kilogram of force she can bring to bear. And curiously enough, it's not just flat 'push back bullet the other way'. It's a /sideways/ force, such that the bullet is not stopped or deflected but slapped aside. "Yeah, that's not gonna- shit!" Oh of course there's a second one. And of course he's using tricky bullshit magic. "Goddammit I hate cryokinetics-!" The temperature drops sharply enough to frost over Mel's clothes, and that can't be doing any good to the skin underneath, either. But before it can go any further, she wraps both hands around Hravn's grip. The first blast is simply outward; a brief burst of wind to clear out the low-temperature air. The second blast, however, is straight forward. She unloads the blade's wind at full strength, not only giving the assassin gale-force winds to contend with, but also blowing his own deathly chill back in his face. "You have no idea how tempting it is to make some cheap crack about the cold, but I'll just settle for informing you that for the crime of attacking a member of another covenant, you are hereby /indicted/!"
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki eats some souls! They are weird motey fizzy things that go down weirdly. Like cotton candy without the sweet, or packing peanuts without inedibility. Huh! That was neither great taste OR less filling! Cheated. But, bringing herself up, her opponent - and broadly, most of the other Darkmoon assassins, but specifically THIS ONE asshole - drawing a weapon and advancing, and Yuuki taking her time to dust herself off. "You can't do these things. Well, that's not true. You shouldn't - shouldn't resort to terrorism and trying to assassinate people on the streets. You can't halt the flow of time any more than you can tell the seasons to change or the sun to not rise in the morning." She looks at the Darkmoon, a representative, to her, and points a finger at him lowly almost casually, no outstretched arm or declarative imperious gesture. It's simple. Muted. Understated. "I condem your actions, your sins. Seek a better way." Then she lets her hand drop and just stands there, ready and waiting to get stabbed a bunch. She slowly eats more Souls while she waits.
Lezard Valeth	The lovely thing about expendable troops? They're /expendable/. Also, the unannounced arrival of the harpies help to assemble the Silver Knights of Anor Londo right there within shouting distance as they get to hear the Darkmoons get indicted in #crowsting2016. But honestly, this is a secondary point. Lezard intentionally thrw the Harpies into the meatgrinder and it shows. Only one of those mighty Greatbow shots is enough to pulp one of the fleshy demons, and they shriek, burning in flame as their stinking corpses fall to the ground, dissolving into ash as they are ripped back to Niflheim to suffer again for another age. The important part is that it got the Darkmoons just where Lezard wants them. The rings flare again. This time, Harpies don't appear. THIS time, massive, hulking crystalline golems arrive, the distinctive carriers of the will of Seath making a sudden appearance in the center of Anor Londo's power. While the Harpies can be written off as a monster attack... The Golems have another connotation entirely. The hulking things ignore the Knights and the Gods present. They have another target. They hunt Darkmoons. The massive beasts slam arms intothe ground, engulfing Darkmoons in waves of crystal to weaken and slow them. Any who fall are soon grabbed, the beasts attempting to pull their phantasmal forms into the massive crystalline body and engulf them. The cat, meanwhile, licks a paw, tail lashing in schadenfreude. Like Master, like Familiar.
Heaven's Armory	Magical ice is a problem for Hravn. Cold air isn't a big deal, as without constant direction from some other, intelligent source, she can simply grab it with her outreaching magic and push it away, or just blow it off using closer-by air, which is what Mel instructs her to do, and what she promptly does do. Once the ice forms, however, whether she can knock it out comes down to how tough the stuff is. There's not much she can do about the instantaneous damage from the temperature drop, either, while she's busy following the second directive. 'Full strength' is pretty heavy, depending on the wind-up. At this speed, the blast of wind coming for the Darkmoon /probably/ won't damage any buildings on the way, if only because everything around here is stone and wrought iron.
Priscilla	The trap is set, the sting operation is sprung. What is a clash of arms that the Darkmoons are increasingly well prepared for, suddenly becomes a whirl of confusion, and then a total reversal of the tides. The shoujo words which ring from Yuuki that most often go ignored in harsh and unforgiving words as this, have more profound effect than any change of heart. The assassin knight she gestured towards takes a couple of steps forward, poised to run the normal girl through even as she weirdly chugs down loose change, only for his cloaked outline to flush with his suppressed midnight blue hue, and then flicker, sputter, and fade out. Along with it, the starlit glow enshrouding his sword disintegrates into flecks of luminous dust. This has an immediate, and outright terrifying effect. One second, the Darkmoon diehard stands before Yuuki in dawning comprehension, and the moment next, he becomes a violent spray of bloody blue sparks as a dragonslayer great arrow, larger than he is, red mists him on the spot, smashing the masonry and rumbling the ground beneath Yuuki's feet. As Lezard has gathered the city's guardians to the site with his monster outbreak, the terrorist assassins are revoked their divine privilege right before their eyes, and the knights ruthlessly turn on them in the blink of an eye; or perhaps, they do so eagerly? They are hardly the most expressive of creatures, but could it be possible that they turn their bows to the task with relief? If so, their silence on the matter of being walked all over has been transcendent professionalism. One strike, two strikes, and then three; as if that were the rule, the assassins about Kushiko's Valkyr, and Mel and Hravn, lose their powers in the space of a heartbeat, and then the entire cadre's miracles collapse. Psyber's foe loses the enchanted power of his greatsword right when he needs it most, leaving it pinned beneath the half-angel's mutilated foot. He has just enough time to snapshot Psyber in the chest with a roped firebomb, before Staren blasts his phantom to pieces. The sneak attack on Reiji and Tomoe fails, as the fairy knight tanks the attack and Reiji catches them essentially inadvertently, riddling the panicking snipers dropped to the walkways with bullets, where they are mercilessly finished off by greatbow fire. Valkyr's ripline hauls her foe off of his unfortunately narrow and heavily downhill trajectory, leaving him as a soft and undefended targets without his buffs or his footing, ripped almost in two by the sword, before tumbling off the edge and taking the long way down. Mel's foes struggle to escape their own flash freeze, before going flying from their rooftop arena, hitting the pavement without fall control spells, and falling victim to the same bowfire. Only one manages to escape, and instead runs flat into the metaphorical jaws of a crystal golem, leaving his real body essentially comatose whilst his spirit double is trapped in amber. The key difference here, as opposed to a phantom wipe, is that fully half the Darkmoons defeated leave a little souvenir; sprays of ghostly, perpetually rippling blood across the ground, which refuse to disappear as the rest, despite their clearly non-physical nature. They burn faintly with dense quantities of souls severed from their phantom hosts, and thus stripped from their original holders.
Guest Psyber	The general feeling Ari would get from Psyber in return to her concern is that he values losing a heal-able foot over an un-reforgable sword. Still, after the combo attack between him and Staren, Psyber is struck square in the chest with a firebomb. The attack causes flames to wash over Psyber and scorch his chest and face, leaving blackened streaks and charred flesh all over him. It's with a limp that he hops back and away as Staren finishes off the trapped spirit. The half-angel gingerly sets his bleeding foot down on the ground, still covered by a boot that's split all the way up through the sole down the center. The half-angel turns over Ari and stabs the tip of the sword into the ground to lean on it, "Well. If American politics have taught me anything, violent retribution against terrorists tends to end the problem with no repercussions. So this should be the last we hear about all this. Mission accomplished." He grumbles a bit, trying to avoid putting weight on his wrecked foot.
Staren	1d6x10+10 mega-damage blows the phantom away. "Huh..." Staren mutters, as he sees the souls on the ground... he runs over, but not to the souls, to Psyber. "You can regenerate that, right?" He looks over the wounds. He may not be a doctor, but he's seen enough people get hurt to have some idea how bad it is... or at least, how bad it would be to a human.
Mel Brock	Mel holds her guard for a good several seconds, still quietly shivering from the cold, before she finally dares to relax. Then, cautiously, she steps over to the edge of the roof and peers downward, at the stains below. A thought crosses her mind, her attention briefly shifts inward for a moment of communication with Hravn; a moment later, she casually steps off the roof, and- it's as if she's suddenly going down a slide, a smooth and easy spiral that makes the trip down to the ground much faster, while still being safe. That's when she bends down to investigate one of her opponents' bloodstains, touching it very lightly with a furrowed brow. "What in the..."
Kushiko	SHNK! ROWRL! These are among the key noises between Kubrow and Warframe that reduces the Darkmoon Blades--now bereft of their protection--into so much bloody smears. Valkyr may be into the dismemberment thing just a bit much. In either event, the residual 'Souls' left behind is something she actually goes over to inspect--and possibly collect. After all, she had not borne direct witness to the phantom wipes of before, and this, well. This was decidedly new yet familiar for Kushiko--the dense packing of souls left behind was something she... instinctively felt that she should not leave behind. She reached to collect it, and would soon do so for the assassin that Kiras mauled and tore into. Souvenirs! And stuff. And maybe a little regenerative look once she's done chasing down what Darkmoon Blades (and murdering) that she may have encountered. Time to rendezvous with the others, she expects--there's no way it was entirely done, she felt. Assuming of course actually collecting those souls didn't give Kushiko some weird Void-Soul indigestion. ...hopefully.
Tomoe	Tomoe is able to deal with the attackers for the moment. Tomoe lunges in and will not let up until her foes it down and she's not going to consider things to be over. She pauses t the souls as her foe foes down and the phantoms basically are wiping now. She takes a deep breath and lowers her sword now. For a moment as she looks at Psyber and seems to get the joke. She lowers her weapon now and moves to sheath it. She's not sure what to do with the souls but the good news is? The Dark moon do not have these souls now. "Is everyone all right? I still don't think I'll ever fully get used to stuff like this." Yet she still comes yet again and again to help where she can. She now relaxes and puts her weapons away and her mood seems to lighten a good bit. "Hopefully we sent them the message we needed to but we should be ready for any follow ups from them."
Heaven's Armory	Ari gives Psyber a 'grumbly' impression. She seems resentful of there being weapons around here (spells, actually, but applied to weapons) that can harm her. Further, she feels confident that she can tough out some amount of damage, but this has more the taste of a personal feeling than tactical advice. Hravn is feeling better about things, and without other matters to distract her, goes ahead and constructs her air platforms into a mostly-solid, invisible slide for mel to surf down. She gives an impression of intense curiosity toward the remains of their opponent.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki is ready to do the next part of her job! Not to point at the ground and emphatically shrug, or to spin in place to prove her ability to de-lock target and confuse the opponents with gitgud prowess. No, the part she wanted to give, the absolution, the forgiveness and redemption. Instead the attacker explodes in a mist of gore that splattered all over her and the rest of her souls (which she finishes eating), seasoned wiht the taste of fear and confusion. "... Oh. Well..." She hangs her head. The sting operation worked! But nothing was really 'solved' in the way that didn't just create a wound on the other side. "I had wanted to offer you absolution for your crimes." Well... Mission Accomplished. She still didn't like the suddenness of the ending. The luxury of time was something that she, perhaps, had started to take for granted.
Reiji Arisu	Smoke and the scent of spent gunpowder rise lazily from the crossroads plaza like prayer incense. Reiji releases a long breath, exhaling a tobacco-scented haze to mingle with the rest. As the last of the invading Darkmoons are scattered, slain, or swallowed up by meandering crystal golems, Reiji takes a moment to make doubly sure nobody's about to run him through with a knife before retiring his guns. "Looks like mission accomplished," he says around the butt of his cigarette. "Needless to say, all these bastards can assume themselves to be condemned. Which means we're probably on a time limit," he looks to the sky, watching for any sign of crows. "Alright. Take a short break to recover. We'll need to move soon, before they decide it'd be easier just to wipe out the sinners than to risk us showing up at their doorstep." He glances over towards Tomoe, then. "Hey. You alright? Might need to let a doctor take a look at that wound."
Guest Psyber	"Yeah. I'll need to use it lightly for a day or two, but it'll be fine." He waves his hand, "I'll go home and slap a bandaid on it or something, don't worry." The half-angel is not clear about whether he's referring to the severe burning, the nearly severed foot, or both.
Tomoe	Tomoe says "I'll get my actual body looked at once we're done here. I'm only a little baged up I got very lucky, Reiji." Reiji might take note tht the sigh of the wound is a jagged bright red and wait some wireframes? But it's clear Tomoe /is/ feeling the injury. "Taking care of my self is something formost on my mind." She'll down a potion and then she'll seem to freeze up for a moment, it seems Tomoe is checking on her actual condtion.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard, if he is present, isn't announcing himself. Because just like Psyber, he knows this isn't over. Perhaps the stripped Darkmoons that have been subdued and are being hauled off inside crystalline golems, frozen in terror and anguish, might be an additional point in that direction. Perhaps in the end, they might have preferred to share the fate of their indicted brethren. The Darkwraith who still lives in Lezard's basement can certainly commisserate on that fact.
Priscilla	Contrarily to what blood should be, what Mel touches is ice cold. Its surface ripples periodically as if invisible raindrops were steadily dripping into its depths, though for some reason it's hard to feel the floor beneath it. Rather than a shallow pool of blood, it's like she's dipping her hand into a chill, forgotten well, with all the instinctively unsettling feeling that entails. Unlike the soul 'motes' that the residents produce for trade and storage, the silent, monochrome gas fires that burn from the ostensibly liquid pools are not items of convenience. They are the raw spiritual essence of their slain and shattered former owners, bleeding away from their 'remains' in visible form. Actually capturing that kind of resource is the domain of legitimate spirit harvesting powers. It's quite a while before anyone wants to come outdoors after that bout. They are likely not happy about another skirmish being instigated on their home streets by Multiversals and the local insurgents. There is little in the way of actual disorder, but there aren't exactly any cheers of exultation going up. In fact, the small cluster of divinities watching from the plaza like a set of golfing spectators have only just gotten up and left, apparently dissatisfied with the outcome.