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Bloody Revelations	The idea was that, if the Golden Bull, aka Yurgen Kaneko, was told of an Abyssal Exalted plotting to obtain some kind of super weapon to wipe out his armies, he would detour as soon as possible to beat her to it, and thus he would have to move fast and light, without his thousands of troops. When the famous Solar Exalted shows up at the gates of Gethamane however, it becomes clear what his idea of moving quickly was.     What shows up is not quite the Solar alone. He isn't dumb. It's also not men on horses. Those waiting at Gethamane, whether inside or at the gates themselves, are privy to the caravans scattering, the guildsmen hurrying inside, and the checkpoint clerks abandoning their posts, as fast up the southern road, comes a small team of red giants.     Roughly twenty feet tall, the mechanical colossi move astoundingly quickly, with powerful, oversized strides that carry them over the roughest rocks and rises at ten times the pace a man could ever hope for, making the ground rumble under the thunder of their footfalls. Covered head to toe in bright red metal, engraved and ornamented with all sorts of dragons and fiery visages, they look like gigantic suits of ceremonial armour with hugely oversized limbs and torsos. Four in total, there is one more at the lead a good several feet taller than the others, with more complex ornaments of gold and silver, almost certainly the leader. There's no way to see the occupants, but there's no mistake who that one is. These must be the warstriders that were spoken of earlier. The Golden Bull certainly has access to much more than hordes of barbarians and animal spirits, because all of them are bearing appropriately oversized swords and mounted ranged weapons.     Following them by air is one additional shape; smaller, but still significantly larger than a man. It is some manner of mostly humanoid creature, with a huge barrel chest, the head of a wolf with many piercings, and similar digitigrade legs, the massive talons and bright eyes of an owl, and huge, white-feathered wings much like an eagle's. It uses those to fly at a truly impressive clip, swooping down from the skies with its summoner on its back; Samea, Yurgen's second in command.     It's upon the gates much faster than the guards can scramble to close them with the massive winches and pulleys involved. They might bar out the warstriders in time, but the flying demon is too swift, diving between the shrinking gap and turning vertically to fit, where it lands with a great scraping skid of talons, and swats the pulley men back several feet. The warstriders follow quickly, teaming up to wrench open the doors with their massive combined strength.     Only after their entrance is secured, do they fan out and stand by, however temporarily. The strong, venerable voice of the Golden Bull, unmistakable for its booming intensity even when heavily muffled by his warstrider's thick helm, calls out. "Stand aside, men of the city under the mountain. Today, the Chosen of the Sun return to the halls of Gethamane, in pursuit of a great enemy. A creature of darkness. There is no need to fear, nor right to bar us entry, in the name of the Unconquered Sun. The Golden Bull demands passage beyond your doors to root out the source of evil before your city too is imperiled."     Despite ostensibly noble intentions, it seems that nobody at the gates is having it. They default to their training and mildly xenophobic creed, shutting down the gigantic gold-and-diamond portcullis that serves as the second half of the antechamber's airlock arrangement. Despite the obviously laughable disparity in power, many stalwart guards in red and white form up on this exit, forming a double-lined platoon with shields ready. A messanger runs down the tunnel behind them, no doubt to the city's leadership to ask what to do.
Starbound Flotilla	What precisely is it that the Starbound Flotilla can build in 48 hours with arbitrary local mining and a technically unified plan of action? A lot. Quite a lot. But none of it quite visible. They've kept it mostly out of the way of the gate. They've done something rather odd: They've tunnelled upwards for this, not downward. The others are invited to join them, but where they find themselves when emerging from the on-site teleporters would be strange: A series of oddly crafted chambers, six in total, at least thirty feet in every direction, cube-shaped. One below, five above.     One is crafted out of cobbled stone and styled with heavy medieval emplacements and weaponry. One is built out of heavy industrial struts and full of mechanically hazardous zones and robotically dangerous emplacements. One is full of electrified surfaces, turrets, and heavy pulsing laser hazards amid its shining steel lab walls. One is styled after an eastern dojo, saturated with futuristic bladed weapons on every inch of the walls. One is an overgrown forest area full of huge wooden pit-traps, scaled up even for a mecha. And one is a dramatic, sweeping temple-like construct, designed to enhance aerial mobility.     Six kill rooms, one for each Starbound captain and each a functional starting point for any of the allies, considering the dojo one has a heavy teleportation matrix built into it. And with six, they can box him in. That's the plan. Before he gets in, box that son of a bitch in. Demolition charges blast in the ceiling of the entry chamber, and five squared chambers slam down from above, while the ground blasts apart beneath the Warstrider's feet. The gates will remain intact, but the killrooms that intend to crush those surrounding the Bull drop harshly near them, hopefully brutalizing many of the Bull's horde as the Flotilla attempt to box him in, though whether Samea is caught in the midst of that two is another matter entirely.     It's a six-way cube of death. It's from here that the Starbound Flotilla intend to make at the very least their first defensive assault.
Gawain	Well, this ss a hell of a plan. Gawain's not in support of stealthily dropping these rooms and crushing everyone, but he doesn't know until the last moment, where he'll frown visibly at Seft. That's right, Gawain is with Seft in the medieval room, his armor materialized and his sword at hand. "That's not chivalric or honorable! Does this have a loudspeaker?" Whether it does or not, Gawain shouts, hoping the Golden Bull will hear it. "GOLDEN BULL! I am Sir Gawain, Paladin Warden, Knight of the /Sun/! Fight through these six rooms in what is an honorable duel that makes absolutely no sense to me in how it works! Your actions of conquest cannot be allowed!" And then a glance from Gawain to Seft. "Do you think that'll send him the message?"
Septette Arcubielle	Septette emulates taking a deep breath, and makes sure to smooth out her fine shawl and adjust her headband by way of preparation. Samea and the Bull still know her as the demure, damaged automaton, and she intends to hold that pretense for as long as possible before striking: in this context, it may not make them hesitate to attack her, but it may well cause them to underestimate her for just a moment longer than otherwise.      She warps into the industrial room designed for George- chaotic, trap-strewn environments are like a second home for the trailblazing adventurer, and besides, George is the most likely of the Flotilla to synergize with her analytical, weakness-abusing fighting style! That, and she's maybe just a little concerned about the old man's personal chances against a Warstrider...      "Nice setup you got here," she remarks cheerfully, just prior to deployment. "I'm going to keep up the old act for as long as I can, yeah? I mean, it's going to have to fall the first time I try to skewer one of them through the cockpit- but might buy us half an opportunity to do so."
Athela Valemore	'So much for luring him out alone', is Athela's first thought when it's made painfully clear that the Golden Bull did not rush onto the site by himself. The second thought is that it isn't really a surprise that he would be more strategic about it, considering what he's supposedly got at risk if he doesn't get inside first. So they've got to make sure he doesn't get to wherever it is the thing he is after is. Simple as that. Execution of such... won't be quite so simple, not by a long shot. But they've got allies that have set up something ingenious to try and deal with this matter. Got to be one of the first times she's been in a situation that the booby traps are on her side. But we are most definately not going to complain. She gives a nod in Moonfin's direction as she draws her divine blade. "It shall be our honor to fight at your side, amphibious one." Her Samurott gives an agreeing grunt, luxurious whiskers already bristling in anticipation of the fight. "Lead yon way once the traps have sprung."
Alucard Tepes	Honestly, Alucard has no idea what this weird contraption is that the members of the Starbound Flotilla has made. All he knows is one of the chambers resembles a forest, and he has knowledge of fighting in such an area, as Wallachia is mostly covered by forests. So that's the room he locates himself in. Through use of his Bat form, Alucard has located himself in one of the few (hopefully) safe areas in the forest room, upon a branch of one of the trees. However, as soon as he's where he needs to be, he takes his Dhampir form, leaving no doubt of who or what he is. Not his 'human' form -- that's the one that has all his powers suppressed. His Dhampir form, at full strength.     Alucard is very much Not Playing Around tonight.     With everything he's seen of the Golden Bull's capabilities, combined with all he's heard of Solar Exalted as a whole, he knows that he cannot afford to underestimate this opponent. The gloves are off here, and all seals have been removed. So, dark aura be damned, he has brought his full power to bear. If a Solar Exalted shines like the sun, Alucard radiates darkness much the same, minus any kind of glowing mark on his forehead.     He's dressed in a lot of layers, as is the fashion in his world -- thick waist-length black coat over a black vest over a white shirt with a cravat, pants and boots, and a long cloak draped over the lot. And there is an instant 'tell' that he is not normal, if that aura wasn't enough; the inside of his cloak slowly pulses a bright, bloody red.     Yeah, he's flying his freak flag pretty overtly here.
Staren	A warstrider drops into Albert's death chamber. Staren is waiting on a raised platform, decked out with the red armor with skull faceplate and everything for intimidation factor. Behind it, he frowns slightly. He was hoping for a chance to talk with the Bull. But perhaps he can at least save one life. He flips the faceplate up.     "This city has lived in peace for centuries. Destroying that peace... is that really what you're fighting for? We can find a better way to help Creation. Please. Work with us. Be part of a brighter future."     He's not good at diplomacy, but he has to try.     If they refuse, he flips the faceplate down and starts dodging. THEN the boss music can start.
Miari	Miari has chosen to have no part in the Bull's defeat. She thoroughly disagrees with this entire plan of action and has made it more than clear. Her companions will have no help from her in shedding Solar blood...     But that isn't to say that she has done nothing to help AT ALL.     For, carved into yet another chunk of rock near the killchambers, she has carved out her own chamber and put down some... 'beds', if the rock platforms can be called such. They don't look comfortable.     She's currently seated at one, staring at some Starbound Flotilla-tech monitors showing what's happening inside the rooms.     How she intends to RETRIEVE anyone from the chambers has yet to be revealed. If she even does.     "Ugh. I'll just be glad that this isn't happening in MY Creation."
Tomoe	Tomoe not happy about it but she's got a contact with Whitewall. To walk out on that woulds be very bad for her reputation. Given she had no major backing it could lead to and times. She gets the Bull will not be stopped. She kept her focus on that, o with that in mind he was geared up with the best hardware she had in common. She was moving in with Staren now backing him up she didn't seem to look like too much but she was armed. Her Shield was covered in a foreign language, that being English and the names on it would shift once and a while. She was ready as she ever was going to be. "There are other ways to do rebuild, try working with the city states rather than sticking a sword to their throats." She's not so good at it either but damn it she's going to try.
Bloody Revelations	Growing impatient with the time it takes for a messenger to reach, and most certainly gather, a city council, and even then to make an emergency decision, the Bull refuses to wait any longer. Every second that ticks by, the forces of evil could be making their move, and at any moment, the entire city could be leveled by a First Age weapon nobody knows anything about. In short order, his warstrider makes a follow motion, and the others step into the chamber, Samea remains seated atop the shoulders of her demon, focusing on another bit of magic, no doubt, judging by her deeply trance-like expression.     With her being the mystical eyes and ears of this troupe (the others all limited to looking out a mecha faceplate with no peripheral vision and muffled hearing), this is a poor decision. Then again, how were they supposed to know that weird Multiversal people would /build rooms inside the rock/? The warstriders have far too much inertia to quickly dodge out of the way, and Samea's focus is interrupted far too late, and very quickly, the entire group is split up, one to each killbox. Just as planned, so far.     Yurgen's personal elite squad wind up one each to a room, being the forest, dojo, lab and factory styles. Samea ends up entrapped in the Aztec arena, and Yurgen himself has the medieval setting drop over him.
Bloody Revelations	#LAB#:    The pilot looks around the shiny white and chrome setting in bewilderment, but even futuristic as they are, he can't mistake the weapons for what they are. Looking up to Staren with a total lack of recognition, save for 'someone in artifact armour', his warstrider raises its arm, where some kind of mounted, canister-loaded thing is emplaced. "This city is already in danger. You know of it too, don't you? The Deathknight? If you truly want to be part of the solution, step aside. The power of the Unconquered Sun will smite the creature of darkness, you have our word." Stepping aside might be a little difficult though, because when he fires to get Staren out of the way, the wooden canister explodes midair to release a torrential spray of individual arrows, probably forty or fifty in number, which riddle a wide swath of the platform and wall. #FOREST#:    In the dense forest, the pilot is at a visibility disadvantage, especially with his cumbersome armour and helmet, but even the most casual movements of the machine bend and snap trees and bamboo. It also doesn't really take a genius to figure out where Alucard is, by his aura alone. Wheeling on the patently evil thing he senses, the pilot discharges some sort of five-barreled gun, which issues a massive gout of intense flame at least 20 meters long, which blasts over the trees and incinerates Alucard's perch, along with him, if he's not quick. He seems very eager, possibly anxious, to be rid of the forest and the evil creature as soon as possible. #DOJO#:    This pilot has little care for Athela. He wants to rejoin with his leader, and merely makes a tinny grunt before unsheathing a nine foot long sword from a side scabbard, and lunges forward, sweeping the gigantic blade across the ground low enough that it shreds the flooring and pelts his chosen targets with stone and wooden shrapnel at best. They'd want to avoid being chopped straight in half. It's large and heavy enough to do that. #FACTORY#:    The pilot immediately lunges for the wall, looking to make a quick escape and bust through to safety, but is forced straight away to jump backwards from a heavy crushing trap from the ceiling, freezing and quickly reevaluating their priorities. From the sound of their voice, they're actually female though. Looking around wildly, she spies Septette, and immediately takes on a sour tone. "I should have known you'd turn against us. From the start, you were a mad little thing possessed by a spiteful spirit, weren't you. I will take pleasure in destroying you." she says, before flipping up some kind of shoulder mounted crossbow, more the size of a ballista, and firing a five foot bolt made of solid iron, almost as heavy as Septette herself. #TEMPLE#:    Samea, for reasons unknown, seems to be left by herself. Her spell is interrupted, and so she slumps momentarily with a brief wave of exhaustion, crackling golden arcs of waste energy, before deciding to stop and refocus on reality. "Florivet." she says to the demon, dismounting from its shoulders. "Demateralize and leave through the wall, then open this chamber from the outside." The winged creature bows deeply, and then dissipates into wind. #CASTLE#:    Yurgen Kaneko stands before Gawain, though going by the huge size disparity, casting the knight of the sun into his shadow, it's more like 'standing over' him. "I would entertain your request for a duel at some other point, but I have not the time for your antics now, supposed sun knight." he booms, the warstrider leaning slightly to look at him. "What is honourable about /this/? Who has swayed you to fight against the forces of righteousness? Leave and maintain your dignity and your respect. Do not let the forces of the Underworld win." Though he unsheathes a sword unlike any other, almost as tall as the warstrider itself, and made of the same scarlet metal and glowing gems, he is the only one who makes no immediately aggressive gesture.
Starbound Flotilla	Seft looks a little awkward as she shifts her battleaxe around in her hands. "Sheepish. You are correct, this is not very honorable at all. It makes me a bit uncomfortable..." There is a loudspeaker, though! Gawain manages to make a lot of feedback when he calls out. "Nervous. I believe it will...!" She makes a surprised buzzing sound and readies her battleaxe as the room drops, and reveals that the man himself has found a place in HER chamber! "Encouraging. Ready, Sir Gawain! En-garde, Bull!!"     George tosses an earpiece to Septette. "Command module!" He calls, cheerfully, waving at her in a way that makes the big robotic assembly arm wave at her simultaneously. "Don't drink and operate heavy machinery! That's my job." He lights a cigarette and readies himself.     "Mmmmh." Moonfin looks to Athela Valemore with a smug satisfaction. "A good choice, Ms. Valemore. You've freedom to take your pick and exploit any of the weapons here." He says, gesturing broadly all around the walls and their multitudes of weapons. "Consider it an expense on the house for your assistance." He readies his katana in a dramatic stance. "And a means to grant you a more expendable combat efficacy.     "Yaaaaay! Isss quiet friend!" Biteblade says, actually... Not minding the clearly inhuman form. She can barely tell meat people apart by anything but taste anyway. Once he's in place, she attempts to give him an encouraging hug. "Watch for trapsss! Floran mark on datafeed map for you. Big wood spikeholesss! Big ssstabbing!"     Albert grunts, configuring the turrets appropriately. Staren -- and Tomoe, if she joins him -- will find they can be controlled via elegant holography interfaces if they go near them, but that they also conveniently won't target them. They can make full use of the emplacements! But Albert remains relatively quiet about this.     Pavo, for her part, stays alone in the temple. She perches, hidden on a piece of vaulted temple architecture, waiting, intending to swoop and strike hard with a pair of drawn cutlasses and a heavy strike. And now, the battle begins all of a sudden...
Septette Arcubielle	Septette shifts almost imperceptibly under her cloak in the milliseconds she has to spare, twisting her spine while barely moving her legs and shoulders. The bolt passes through her cloak, and for a split second it appears as though she's been impaled- but the bolt rips the shawl from her shoulders, revealing an inhumanly skeletal physique underneath that the projectile failed to strike! At that very moment, her right arm unfolds into a hellish assemblage of blades, which swiftly begin to glow red-hot.      There's to be no hesitation or underestimation from this pilot, it seems! She takes off across the floor at blistering speeds, shredding the metal floor under her talons as she accelerates and tacks irregularly to dodge further projectiles. As soon as she's close enough, she'll dig her heels into the ground and twist her body to turn her forward momentum into a slashing strike at the Warstrider's knee joints: in these confined spaces, a ranged attacker without mobility is dead in the water!      "Blinded by the conventions of your own world," she enunciates in a dissonantly sweet and calm voice. "You do not know my limits. None of you do. And you will not learn them today."
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces to her central piratey longcoat. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.     Their chosen styles of combat vary quite intensely, though. #TEMPLE#:    Pavo releases a hawk-like screech and descends from above with both cutlasses drawn. "Break everything you want down here in the dark!" She screams. "YOU'LL NOT LIVE TO SEE THAT LIGHT AGAIN, SUNBOOOORN!!" Others might be given pause by Samea's youth. More might be given pause by her power. But Pavo sees only an opportunity. With a screeching glide, she dives with the intent to impale the young girl in the chest with both blades and pin her to one of the sweepingly tall platforms mounted against the walls, to take advantage of her aerial maneuvering ability. But with a massive rocket-boost and a sudden firing of their grappling hook, they let go of the blades -- impaled or otherwise -- and retreat, drawing another, swinging and gliding around, and intending to assault Samea with brutal and ruthless hit-and-run slices. She wants blood. She wants death. She wants the Bull to experience LOSS. She wants to TAKE from him. She's not just fighting to kill, because a Solar should die in her eyes. She's fighting to maim; to take arms and legs. If she sends Samea back, it'll be in pieces.
Alucard Tepes	Alucard first finds himself... hugged by plant. This looks rather comical, given his confused expression for the moment he allowed it to run unchecked. Clearly he wasn't expecting that. But there's the mention of the datafeed map, which he looks at for a moment to get his bearings. He nods. "Thank you. I will be careful," he notes to Biteblade. "You should take care as well."     It's about that time that HOLY CRAP FIRE happens. Alucard expected fire, as these are the guard of a warrior of the Sun. The fire will find itself catching only air and the tree, as Alucard leaps from the branch. He's not leaping forward at the Warstrider; that would be foolish. He's leaping to the side, to what seems like a big fall. But his cloak seems to catch the air in an unnatural way, one that almost looks like the flap of a pair of wings, and gives him an extra bit of boost. He lands upon another branch, a little lower down.     He pauses but a moment, to calculate his approach. And then he pauses, pulling his cloak around him. A pillar of light (?!) appears around him suddenly, and a sharp glasslike sound rings through the air, and he disappears. However, in the next instant he reappears on one of the safe areas on the floor, marked out by Biteblade.     But he's not just standing there, no. While faking out the Warstrider is definitely on the agenda, currently he's got something more aggressive planned -- literally fighting fire with fire. As when he flicks his coat aside, fireballs fly out from the inside of his cloak, at the Wastrider's legs. Seems he's got the same idea that Septette had, to cripple the Warstrider's movement.
Athela Valemore	It was rare for Athela to not fight with her chosen weapon... However, Moonfin's offer does present an oppritunity. The size of their potential opponents meant a sword meant for very close quarters combat might be at a disadvantage at first. So she sheaths Resolute Blade at her side where it is still at hand and ready, and picks one of the larger polearms off the wall instead. Gives it a few test motions to gauge its weight and balance. A little slower to strike than a sword, but better reach and a few other options. No sooner than she makes a choice than one of the constructs is trapped in the room. Immeadiately her divine insight for battle kicks in as the Warstrider winds up it's swing. "Watch the debris!" she warns the others, even as she leaps and rolls to the side as the massive terrible blade grinds into the floor and throws material around. Lancer on the other hand stands his ground, abiet out of range of the blade itself, the chunks of rock and wood bouncing off his armor as the Samurott shields his face with his plated forelimbs and digs his back legs and tail in for bracing. The collisions leave dents and scratchs in their way, but he's soaking up as much of the collateral damage as he can to give the other two a chance to engage. Athela rolls up from her evasives into a breath crouch, eyes narrowing in focus. It doesn't wanter to bother with her? It's mistake. "Use it's size to our advantage!" she calls to Moonfin as she grips the borrowed weapon. A swell of water seems to appear out of thin air as it splays behind her, sending the young warrior launching forward as Athela uses her aquakinetic powers in a similar manner to Aqua Jet. The boost of speed charges her towards the Warstrider's legs, and trying to strike the polearm through what she can best guess to be a joint or support before it has time to draw back from it's massive swing.
Starbound Flotilla	#FACTORY#:    George is not the best at handling mecha-sized foes. But he is good at improvisation, he's good at explosives, he's good at industrial-scale robotics, and you know what, despite all the irony, he's damn good at helping other people kill someone. That used to be his job, after all, even if indirectly. "Bravo arm, left grasp!" He calls to his command module as he takes cover near the leg, and it sweeps wide, trying to snag the ankle of the warstrider in Septette's room, trying to make sure that she lands that hit! "Hey hey, don't forget the rest of the mad little things possessed by spite! You don't gotta be a scary skeleton robot for that!"
Starbound Flotilla	#FOREST#:    "Hey! Heyyyy! Ssstop burn Floran treesss! Floran KILL!!" Biteblade screams out, leaping over towards the base of the Warstrider. Heavy vine ropes are gathered up in her hands as she dashes madly among the ankles, yanking at them, opening up massive TREE-SIZE WOOD-SHAFT SPIKE PITS near its feet! While Alucard goes after its mobility in one way, Biteblade works on hurting its mobility another way, forcing it to maneuver, or possibly even fall into the heavy spikes!
Tomoe	Tomoe knows things are going to be getting serious here she looks up at the pilot of the war stider and she makes ready. "I have plans for the death knight. I was also hired to protect White Run from your boss. Divine rule died screaming on my world long ago. Tomoe sees the canister come and she's already moving as the hail of arrows are coming for her. She shouts something in norse and glows brighter as she moves to intercept the arrows with her shield taking most of them but one or two do impact with her shield. "Staren do your thing I'll keep their fire busy. Hey you in the mecha come on see if you can deal with little old me! If this is going to how you roll. Fine I will promise you this, I'm very intent to ruin the corpse lady's day." There is no time to use the turrets though as she's busy taking for the moment, though she may put them to use later.
Gawain	As Seft also shares his discomfort, Gawain relaxes a bit, smiling encouragingly at the robot who is encouraging him back. "Don't worry, Dame Seft! Together, we can defeat any challenger!" And then their challenger is...the Golden Bull, the one he called out! Holding his holy sword at the ready, his shining floral-print armor manifested, Gawain looks up at the massive machine, showing no fear. "There is honor in a duel instead of being taken down like a pig for slaughter, or like a dog that needs euthanasia. You may think you are righteous, but the people of Whitewall do not want you, Golden Bull! The people of Gethamane do not permit you! You are an invader, a conqueror, and while your heart is right, and your goal is true...your methods are not, and you cannot be allowed to succeed. As a knight, I must protect the people. As a knight, I must protect /justice/. And while I wish not to slay you, our ideals branch into mutually exclusive points! Even if fighting you may lead to my death, I will do so for the rights of these people." And then, with a flick of a wrist, Excalibur Galatine starts...revving? The hilt begins to head up. "So we must battle, Golden Bull! The victor of this battle will be the one to continue, to stop the forces of evil and the underworld. I will not yield, and I expect you not to either!" Sir Gawain begins running up, and then points his blade upwards at the higher torso of the Warstrider. Finally, the heat on the hilt bursts out into full flames at various points, as the sword becomes a rocket-blade, launching the Knight of the Sun upwards and blade-first into the Warstrider's shoulder, which he attempts to climb onto as the sword hits. "Engarde!"
Starbound Flotilla	#DOJO#:        "Second Sea Hylotl Style:" Moonfin intones as the massive blade sweeps low towards him. "Sea of Mirage." He's activate the local TELEPORTATION MATRIX! Yanking his body through rapid local dodge-teleports will cause some significant contusions to him below the armor -- the kind even he won't claim the Hylotl could withstand -- but they're better than being instantly bisected. He flickers, appearing on the blade itself! "As you command, Ms. Valemore." He says, smugly. Then rocket-dashes forward along it. "Fifth Sea Hylotl Style:" He intones calmly, despite the battering bruising. "Swordfish Decapitation." And then swipes his katana along the wrist of the machine, attempting to abuse its larger size and lowered maneuvering just as Althea has commanded!
Staren	Staren barely has time to TRY to dodge the scattershot attack -- fortunately, Tomoe is there! He's not really used to having an MMORPG Tank around, but it's certainly helpful! He gives her a quick nod as he tries to fly around the warstrider, peppering it with the beam cannons and pulling a missile launcher from his bag to test how well anti-tank missiles work. /Ideally/, he'd like to use an anti-tank missile to pierce right through the cockpit and kill the pilot, ending this quickly. He doubts it'll be that easy, though.
Starbound Flotilla	#CASTLE#:    Seft makes uneasy noises. "Worried. O-of course we can..." She mutters, but shifts into a battle-ready stance. "Apologetic. Even those who seek righteousness must make sacrifices for it, Golden Bull. I offer my regrets that we must fight, but I cannot offer my mercy. I only ask you not begrudge us..." She makes a meek, fearful noise, but takes off as well, blasting with her armor's rockets in a powerful leap. She's not attempting to mount him as much, but rather, to sort of... Interpose herself just in front of Gawain, and block any strike against him with her battleaxe at the ready, clearing the way for his leap!
Starbound Flotilla	#LAB#:        "Starbound One on-station." Albert's voice calls from the environment. "Killcube is ready as fragged. Tiger for engagement. No Sun to help you here. This place is mine. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide." Tomoe intercepts the incoming fire! Thank goodness for her. "Starbound One-Three running countermeasures. Starbound One-Two, fire when ready. Covering." And he tries to make sure the enemy pilot can't strike out against Staren especially; all his turrets light up with fire against the man's massive machine, and a ring of electrification comes to life beneath him, to try to make sure he can't run at him!
Bloody Revelations	#FACTORY#:    The pilot watches for the instant it takes her bolt to travel, keeping her aim steady while she confirms its path. There's that brief hesitation that comes from seeing a direct hit, where she pauses longer to assess the damage done to her enemy, before Septette takes advantage of it by instantly blitzing towards her without actually having been struck at all. The pilot backpedals immediately. The winch of the crossbow begins reloading automatically, slowly cocking itself with the steady clack of gears, but it's going to be far too slow to do fire in time. George seizes her leg while she's distracted by the horrible skeleton robot, and yells in panic as the superheated blade of magical ceramic slips into the narrow seam of the knee, ripping through a dense volume of countless springs, gears, cables and struts, seeming to have no electronics at all. Despite its jade exterior, it seems like the internal components are only steel, because globs of molten metal come away, and the thing crunches heavily to one knee. The pilot responds by ducking into a clunky, but effective roll, having the mass to crush the two anyways, so not needing to really back off. Mid-tuck, she unslings a suitably massive hatchet, and sweeps it from her crouched posture, cleaving deep into the industrial plating. #FOREST#:    The giant fan of scorching flames obscures the pilot's vision as much as it destroys Alucard's perch and cover. By the time it clears, the Dhampir is already gone, and the pilot is left whirling around trying to find him. Just as he spots, he fires a second barrel, but Alucard is gone too fast, and in an instant too quick for the cumbersome machine to turn around, return fire nails it in the back of the legs. Unfortunately, it seems to have little effect. The red jade that plates it, signature of the Tepet legion, is attuned with the magical element of fire, and so the blasts fail to damage its armour, though the groan of glowing hot steel components can be heard from within as is turns to stomp on him with immense force. When its foot crashes down, however, it puts itself right through the cover of the stake pit, and tumbles right in. The wooden stakes are crushed to splinters beneath its sheer weight, but when it winds up on its back, the undamaged ones all around it heavily impede the range of motion of its arms, making it very difficult to get back up. #DOJO#:    The terse pilot in the room with Athela seems much more on guard than the others, and better suited to close combat. His sword is far more agile (relatively speaking, and he readies again just in time to swing the massive thing downwards and swat aside the polearm with a deafening clash of steel, sliding backwards slightly as the water jet blasts against it just after. With its arm lowered, however, Moonfin's lightning quick slash bites into its wrist, severing crucial components. Grunting, the pilot tosses the sword to his other hand from his limp fingers, apparently ambidextrous, and strikes Moonfin with the heavy flat side of the blade to launch him away.
Bloody Revelations	#TEMPLE#:    Samea waits patiently for the return of her demon, carefully shepherding her mystical energies in case of a surprise attack. Her caution is well advised, as she turns just in time to find a crazy, zealously violent bird woman swooping down on her, and just in time, releases her spell. A swirling storm of what appear to be fluttering butterflies made of black glass rushes out from her outstretched hand, surrounding Pavo in a hail of fragile obsidian knives, cutting and splintering like crazy, but the tempest is short lived before her mad plunge drives the cutlasses straight into the sorceress chest, winding her in a silent scream of pain. Under the torn robes, she can see a glimmering chain shirt of golden Orichalcum; probably the only reason she hadn't killed her instantly. Knowing that her slow, battlefield-scale sorcery is ideal for decimating armies but utter trash against such a swift opponent, Samea struggles to draw breath for several seconds, before crying out: "Whim of the Wind! Return to me at once! Obey and defend your master!" #LAB#:    While the deluge of arrows is massive and extremely high velocity, the arrows are arrows. The Bull recovered these machines from the defeated Tepet legion, and the Realm doesn't have nearly the technical knowledge required to build First Age energy weapons. The hailstorm rattles against Tomoe's shield with a great cacophony of noises and vibration, the collective force enough to push her back, but they do not pierce it. The reloading mechanism is at least much quicker than the bolt launcher used against Septette, dropping another canister right into place, but the warstrider is struck by a missile well before it can fire again, staggering heavily under the sheer explosive force. For the same reason the red jade resists Alucard's fire, the armour soaks up the detonation and molten penetrator extremely well, but the sheer force involves has clearly injured the pilot inside, judging by the unsteady way the warstrider rights itself, before discharging a cloud of anti-air fire straight in Staren's path, and then turning back to draw and hurl a thigh-sheathed knife at Tomoe. 'Knife'. It's the size of a zweihander. He begins tromping towards her right after, but then the traps activate and his foot steps right in the electric ring, sending lightning surging through the metal and paralyzing the limb, leaving him defenseless as he is instantly lit up by an explosion of energy weapon fire, rapidly superheating his Warstrider from every angle, such that the pilot's screams can be heard from inside. #CASTLE#:    "So be it." the Bull responds to Gawain, without vehemence. Raised on the harsh, icy steps, in a life of constant conflict, he is no stranger to conflict, nor an ideologue about battle. The weak perish and the strong survive. If the knight opposes him, the only course of action is to win. The rocket blast is extremely quick, but despite being somewhat larger than the other machines, Yurgen's warstrider is oddly /more/ agile, moving in a way that resembles a human in very heavy armour rather than the cumbersome mechanical motions of the others. He turns just such that the sword slams the shoulder at an angle, where the mythical strength of Galatine actually carves into the magical jade, and rips free a chunk of the armour, exposing turning gears and pumping pistons below it. He is fast on the return strike, turning his grand daiklave on the knight in a massive, revolving slash, aimed to swat him straight out of the air. His skill is clearly on another level from his soldiers, executing it swiftly and precisely, without room for error or misjudgement. Though his weapon is double the size of the others, it comes quicker, with a shriek of splitting wind. Of course, this means it strikes Seft's axe dead and true, bursting into magical flames on impact, and likely spiking her like a volleyball with its sheer heft and the warstrider's incredible strength. Gawain is fine, though. For now.
Starbound Flotilla	#TEMPLE#:    "Rrrrrrrrrhhhhh!!" Pavo screams in anger as the butterflies slam into and through her armor, lacerating her hard. "NO! I won't let you!" She cries out, hardening her mind. With a sudden rush, she slams some kind of external module full of distressingly bright chemicals into her armor, pumping it into the systems. Pain reduction. She'll suffer the same damage. But she'll ignore it. "It won't be QUICK ENOUGH! Not in time to SAVE YOU!" She calls out, coming around for another swing, intent on slamming her taloned feet into the Solar's solar plexus, trying to weaken her and prevent her from delivering further orders, or at least speaking loudly enough to catch attention of demonic forces. "None of those GLORIOUS," She tries for another swinging, swiping strike. "BEAUTIFUL," Swipe. "SHINING," Swipe. "GIFTS," Swipe. "Will HELP YOU! You're in MY TEMPLE NOW!"     She swings off to one side, planting herself on a wall, and kicking a heavy gem embedded in it. The room lights up with shining waves of laser light, dancing around the chamber and trying to clear out those butterflies, and create a delaying hazard for anything that might breach again. Another kick, and she's activated layers of defensive forcefields. It won't last under a high-level demon's assault, but the forcefields around her killroom might buy her precious seconds. "AND I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE," She kicks back into a heavy swing towards Samea, intent on impale-crashing her THROUGH one of these tremendous sweeping platform-pillars, and then just repeatedly swinging brutal punches at her face using the rocket-enhancements of her gauntlets. "WORTH BEGGING FOR A BLESSING FROM!"
Athela Valemore	Athela Valemore is sent skidding sideways as the polearm is deflected, the massive enemy being a bit faster than anticipated in the recovery. It does, however, give Moonfin the sort of opening to strike that she was hoping for so Athela won't complain. But Moonfin also appears to take the brunt of its retaliation for it, which is unfortunate. They don't need to just fight this thing harder, they need to fight it smarter. What tactics can they use against a massive construct... While Athela is re-evaliating the tactical situation Lancer moves on the offensive himself. With a fearsome roar the Samurott draws both the hilts from his armgaurds, water swirling into the shape of large blades as he pulls them apart. Then start to frost over as he lunges in and starts swinging, striking not with the blades directly but instead sending arcs of freezing crystalline mist blowing towards the Warstrider. He's trying to ice up it's moving parts with Icy Wind's slowing effect. When Athela realizes what he's doing she smiles, and capitalizes on the idea. She turns and thrusts out one hand, using her own aquakinetics to try and draw more moisture in the air around the Waterstrider to give the Icy Wind more to freeze from.
Alucard Tepes	#FOREST#     Alucard is only saved by becoming a Dhampir pancake by the spike pit and a timely application of his speed, sliding backwards and then jumping back into the air. He changes forms in the air, shrinking to the size of a large black bat, and finds another safe perch on the ground. He extracts a card from his cloak, and holds it before him for an instant; in a flash the card has disappeared and a sword appears. Not in Alucard's hand, no. Floating alongside him.     It's an elaborate thing with a golden hilt and a green blade that almost looks like glass. It could easily be mistaken for an artifact if it had been found in this world. Alucard's left hand glows, and he makes an arcane symbol in the air. The sword moves in front of Alucard, its blade pointed up, and glows with a bright blue aura. It spins once in the air, slowly, leaving afterimages of itself that linger in the air. A voice springs from the blade itself.     "Gather, brother Soul-Blades!"     The afterimages seem to explode outward from the blade, and then rain down from above on the flailing Warstrider. Alucard knows it won't be disabled long, and this is the best way to do the most damage in a short amount of time.
Starbound Flotilla	#DOJO#:        Moonfin flickers again, as if he's going to be able to teleport out of that strike, but with the flat of the blade, it doesn't trigger the same teleportation threshold. He holds his blade in both hands, planting it in a wide angle against the strike, trying to lessen the impact. "First Sea Hylot-- HRK!" but it's his katana that breaks first; the blade SHATTERS, and he goes tumbling back, spiked into the floor of the dojo, then rolling and launching back onto his feet, skidding to a stop near one of those walls full of weapons. His armor is battered intensely, brutalized hard.     "Ghhhh..." And then a glance to one side. Althea needs more moisture? The Flotilla tend to possess large amounts of physical material. "...I understand, Ms. Valemore. Our ecoengineering abilities will assist." He plants his hand on his Matter Manipulator, and begins to dump out a large amount of water! The Flotilla can barely make practical use of such huge volumes of the stuff themselves, but Athela Valemore may find it more useful!
Staren	LAB     Anti-air... and now Staren's flown away from Tomoe's protection. As the shot's about to hit him, though, his forcefield appears. The cloud of antiair fire tears it apart, shattering all but a thin, flickering layer of amber force. It can't tank another hit like that. Staren continues flying.     "You're hurt. You can't win. Please stop... oh, who am I kidding. No hero would ever listen to a 'villain''s request like that, right? When this is all over, I'll try to show you. Or at least make a better world for your reincarnation." All the while he continues firing the beam cannons every few seconds. It may not do much, but it's one more thing the pilot has to notice and decide whether it's a threat or not.     Red jade absorbs heat and energy but can be rocked by sheer force, huh? Okay. He swaps magazines on his launcher, and fires a HIGH EXPLOSIVE missile before landing behind Tomoe. Then he starts looking for opportunities to use explosions or turret fire to force the mech into more lightning traps.
Bloody Revelations	#TEMPLE#:    "FLORIVET!" Samea screams out again, her temper rising as her Demon delays. She has no idea why. Any and /all/ things a Solar can summon are slaves to their will. Having maimed and mutilated and imprisoned their masters millenia ago, the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun have the inviolable magical privilege of commanding their children however they please, and those they choose to summon are powerless to resist. So how is it that the Demon doesn't respond to her now? It couldn't possibly be dead already. A Demon of the Second Circle, though not overwhelmingly mighty, couldn't possibly be dispatched easily.     Outside, the winged creature is left puzzling over the forcefields, which resist his ability to enter intangibly. Repeatedly de/rematerializing on Samea's orders has drained a lot of his Essence, and so he is left to slash and batter at the barriers with his massive talons, one layer at a time.     Inside, Samea is practically at Pavo's mercy. As the Mother of All Tribes, she carries no weapons. People bend to her will, and Demons and warriors to her bidding. Her sorcery can level battlefields, but not deal with assassins. Each time she tries to focus, Pavo is there with another slash, steadily battering her back. Her internal energies exhausted, she is forced to draw in motes of Essence from the environment, surrounded by an escalating, radiant gold aura. The magic hardens her skin to the strength of steel, where she then hunkers down and tries to weather the onslaught with sheer fortitude born from the tundra, delaying as her butterflies do their work and hoping for Florivet's return. Unfortunately, the maelstrom of lasers makes short work of the former, and the latter will be at least a short time.     "Thief! Killer! Mercenary scum! What right do you think you have to talk to me at all, never mind with such disgusting lack of respect!" Samea cries. Her eyes flash gold, and then all around her, ignites the ethereal image of a towering white tree with leaves of gold. The force of her words slams into Pavo's mind, assaulting her with magic that demands her stop in her tracks.
Starbound Flotilla	#FOREST#:    "Badguy, very hard! Resssisting! Augh! No!! Yeah, badguy goesss into pit! Down!" Biteblade calls out, still running about. She actually did get pretty badly burned by the first rush of fire, and only now is she at work at putting herself out a bit. She resolves to keep her distance a bit from here on out. "Floran helpsss big sssword!" She calls out, equipping a heavy bow and beginning to rain down an arc of massive metal bolts to work precisely alongside those blades!
Starbound Flotilla	#LAB#:        "Never a moment of mercy, Starbound One-Two." Albert mutters grumpily. "Tally captured. Bandit is going down." That last word is spoken with an unspeakable harshness on his breath. "Loading your kill, team." He leaps down to one of his turrets, swapping it to electrical stunning rounds manually with a huge ammo box, intending to strike the mecha enough that it can't avoid final killshots from Staren and Tomoe.
Gawain	The Bull has no response? That's sad, they could have bantered! The speed of his warstrider causes a rapid glance from Gawain to Seft, as he almost expects to get struck out of the air by that massive blade. However, Seft positions her axe and takes the blow, and he shouts. "Seft! Be careful!" Now on the shoulder of the Warstrider, Gawain flicks his wrist and sets Galatine alight. Moving rapidly, he lunges at that shoulder he exposed, attempting to burn through the gears and mechanics, skidding down the torso with the blade if he has to. He's likely going to get knocked off this time...but if he can limit the use of one of the arms, it'll be worth it.
Septette Arcubielle	#FACTORY#      "Your machines won't save you from me, little one. Your god won't save you." Septette's voice remains calm and smooth as silk as she slowly steps forward to just inside the axe's reach, doubles back with inhuman speed to dodge outside the massive hatchet's swing, then darts to- hopefully- inside its effective reach! "Is this ALL?" It's a dangerous game she's playing here, but she's just arrogant enough to think she's solved it!      The yggdroid's left arm lengthens and twists into a claw-like contraption, designed more to seize and crush than to slash and impale, and tries to grab the warstrider's wrist as it recovers from the swing! Her bladed right arm twists at impossibly contorted angles to stab into the mecha's shoulder joint- if the knee was a weakpoint, why wouldn't that be too?      "I'm not some wind-up soldier like you, brainwashed and puppeteered by an absolute master," she states quietly. "I have no orders here. I have weighed your life on the scales of my calculus, and found its worth negative. Accept death."
Starbound Flotilla	#CASTLE#:    Seft emits a screaming buzz of pain. She just took a direct hit from The Bull of the North's personal warstrider. That she wasn't turned to scrap is a miracle. Her battleaxe was utterly shattered. Her armor is battered harshly, far beyond reliable high-tech function. She slams into the ground, and then THROUGH one of the heavy stone emplacements, tumbling to the floor. "D-dazed. Nnnnhhhh..." Her unsteady voice sounds out. "Dazed. S-s-sir Gawain-ain-ain *BZZT* Sir Gawain, I may not be able to further assist you in such a capacity." She stumbles back, trying to take a backup position of firing from the heavy ENERGY BALLISTAE she has set up throughout her killroom. "Apologetic. I'm sor-sor-sorrry but I can merely provide distance backup-up-up..." And only barely, at her rate of fire.
Starbound Flotilla	#FACTORY#:    "Oh fuck me." George mutters as the massive machine goes and nearly rolls right over him. He does a dig as rapid as he can, sinking himself into the terrain and barely avoiding being crushed, though debris from the roll damage him badly. Then comes the hatchet, which sever several massive arms, as well as tear up the industrial plating and send George spinning and bleeding out of his hole. "Shit shit shit, AUGH!" He lands, panting and clutching a wound. "Crusher nine, go...!" A heavy plate full of spikes slams out of the ceiling, and tries to punch into the warstrider's shoulder opposite Septette's target.
Tomoe	The arrows is nothing to laugh at after all. This is akin to explosive submuntions and she sees why the Strider even partially operational is a /very/ scary thing to deal with. She keeps going though and she's glad she's not alone int his mess either. The Warstrider is not an easy target and so she's going to worry about a good deal. Such as the knife that's thrown at her. She leaps out of the way as she knows she doesn't want to tank that much mass if she can help it. She sees the warstrider going down and she does cringe. It's not a pretty way to go but it is done. Tomoe thinks of nothing else at this she has to not think about it. Staren, Albert, she will act to protect him or the moment. "We need to get this thing down and get to the Bull pronto." Her earlier thought about it being done doesn't seem to be right and she starts to chant. Golden runes dances about her body and a moment later a barrage of light rays attempt to slam into the Strider with a focus on taking out the machine's limbs. The sooner it's down the better, and she's planning to go after the Bull it seems once this guy's down.
Bloody Revelations	#DOJO#:    Seeing Moonfin's sword break, and viewing the Hytoyl as too battered to continue, the silent warstrider operator turns on the Samurott, being the most active participant of the moment. It advances, accelerating its stride over several seconds, building up the incredible momentum it can attaim at maximum speed. It plunges face first into the icy fog, no stranger to cold or mist, and perhaps underestimating it. When Athela adds her efforts, the moisture seeps into the warstrider's joints and seams, and then rapidly freezes into thick coatings of ice. It still moves, with the loud crackling of frost, but it can't seem to break it faster than it builds up, slowing enough that its sword swing can be easily avoided by the pokemon. When the matter manipulator dumps a veritable flood of water into the room, however, the warstrider is immediately up to its knees, and then thighs, with the liquid trapped in the sealed cube. All three combatants have zero difficulty maneuvering in an aquatic environment, and slowed already by the ice as it is, it is in an incredibly bad position, especially as the surface starts to freeze as well and lock in its waist. #FOREST#:    Lying on its back, the warstrider struggles to crack and break the dense and thick spikes that cluster under its arms and around its legs and shoulders, wriggling upright into a half-seated position, desperate to escape the cunning trap the anxiety-inducing predators had laid for it. Seeing Biteblade materialize out of the foliage, it levels its gun and discharges another barrel, swamping the area in surges of flame, but it can only aim at so much of an angle, pinned as it is. It has to change that angle again to fire up at Alucard, and then in a panic, fires at the swords materializing in the air, where the flames do nothing to the immaterial projectiles. The flamethrower clicks dry as its last barrel is expended, and then all at once, soul swords and giant arrows rain down on it; a sitting duck; a fish in a barrel. Many of them glance and shatter on its thick, sloped armour plating, but there are simply so many, and it's such an easy target, that many of them find purchase and cause the whole machine to shake and shudder with the rain of impacts. One sword finds its way straight into the tiny slot of the visor, shatters the transparent quartz, and a few seconds of silence later, red blood drops from the neck seam of the machine. The pilot is dead.
Bloody Revelations	#LAB#:    Saturated in searing heat as it is, the warstrider may survive, but at this point, it looks very much like the pilot may not. The beam cannons only add to the searing crucible developing at the center of the kill cube, becoming a miniature sun that is uncomfortable even for the others to be near. When the HE missile detonates against the red jade carapace, radiant and sizzling with the sheer volume of heat it has absorbed, the warstrider, with its paralyzed leg, topples over and crashes into . . . another trap. Electricity surges through its limbs, conducting along the steel where it fuses and welds together the components. When Albert starts blasting the torso directly, sending even more waves of electricity through, the warstrider completely stops moving. Either the pilot has been cooked alive inside the essentially undamaged cockpit, or the sheer heat and electrical paralysis has caused him to pass out. There might not be much of a functional difference. If he's unconscious, he'll roast to death pretty shortly. #FACTORY#:    The female pilot is in a pretty shit position. Clearly delegated as squad artillery, and pressed into cramped and hazardous close quarters with a small, agile opponent she is absolutely not equipped to fight, her panic is audible when Septette grabs hold of her warstrider's wrist. Even so, the giant machine's strength still significantly outstripes Septette's own, and so she is shortly able to fling her free, but not before another red hot blade stabs into the shoulder with robotic precision, and renders the arm useless as well as the leg, slowly crippling the protective shell around you. "Orders aren't evil! The will of one person can make all the difference in the world for people who have nothing!" she cries out, but in this situation, she has none. The Golden Bull's tactical genius, empowered words, and supernatural control of his armies are useless here; she can neither see nor hear him. The ballista clanks loudly, signifying that it has finished reloading, but just as it is aimed at Septette, the spike plate pistons down out of the ceiling and crushes it to splinters, sending the iron spear flying at a sheer angle, though perhaps just as dangerous for its wild and erratic spin. It seems the weapon is no artifact. These things have been loaded down with large and complex, but mundane weaponry. #CASTLE#:    Gawain lands on the Noble-Class warstrider's shoulder only by Seft's intervention. Galatine cleaves deeply into its exposed gears, and the whole arm falls limp by its side. Yurgen, unlike his soldiers, doesnt falter. His other hand tosses the colossal daiklave up into the air, and then spins around to punch Gawain with the force of a train, straight into one of the cobbled walls. He turns in time to catch the tumbling weapon out of the air, and then in an impossibly quick movement, far too much for the machine to be capable of performing, he flicks it through the air with a contrail of golden energy, and swats the giant bolt aside, skewering the ground dangerously close to Seft. With one arm useless, he can't use the gigantic sword properly without constantly burning magic, though, and so quickly enough, a scintillating aura begins to build around the machine, showing his intensifying Essence expenditure.
Staren	#LAB#     After the mech collapses, Staren looks at Tomoe. After it remains motionless for a second or two, he puts away the missile launcher and flies up to the hatch. The heat doesn't bother him -- this body doesn't feel pain. Still, he endeavors to work quickly, lest his cyberbrain risk overheating. He pulls the pilot out -- if they're alive, he rushes them to Miari for aid, and if not, he heads to the teleporter. It's at least worth a shot.
Bloody Revelations	#LAB#:    The warstrider, despite its elaborate construction, appears to open manually. After a little bit of searching, Staren can locate the twist locks and handles required to pop the hatch, though with some considerable number of steps. There wouldn't be any pulling the pilot out during combat. Inside, he finds a young man, probably no older then eighteen, strapped into an elaborate suspension of leather pulleys and metal cables, attached as a harness and gloves, suspended unconscious in the chest cavity, with his head and shoulders occupying the helmet. He's badly burned, and drenched in sweat, and wearing no armour, and very little clothing, to allow the harness to fit.
Athela Valemore	Not only does Moonfin help with the icing effect, but he turns the literal environment in their favor. The Warstrider is slowed enough that Lancer is able to sidestep the construct's swing, and then bring his own elemental blades down on top of the weapon and warm, intending to shove it down into the rising water and help freeze it there. As soon as the water is deep enough Athela briefly dives into it, though just to set the polearm back on the wall. Because it's only polite to return borrowed things as they were. She then swims up to the rising surface and jumps onto it. Literally as her Tide Caller abilities allow her to do so as if it was solid ground. She heard the bit over the radio about the head and the pilot, a crutial bit of information she can take advantage of. "Hold it there!" Hopefully not a hard task with it freezing in place. Athela draws her champion's weapon again, Resolute Blade shimmering as she grips it in both hands and starts running across the flooding water back towards the Warstrider. The water rises up beneath her feet as she wills it to help, growing to enough of a wave to launch her into the air. Towards the head of the Warstrider. At the same time she hefts her sword up over her head as it starts to shine all the more brightly with divine energy. "Now the tides of Justice lay thee low... SACRED SWORD!" Athela swings down Resolute Blade with all her strength and all the divine energy charging in it, hoping the penetrating aspect of the smiting blow will be enough to cut through the head and disable the Warstrider and/or operator before it can manage to break free.
Alucard Tepes	#FOREST#     Once the rain of blades dissipates, Alucard calls the sword back into its Card, the Card appearing in a small blue flash between fingers held before him. He tucks this away again -- blades versus a large metal machine isn't a good idea. Much like blades against a skeleton -- it has no flesh to puncture or slash, and only sheer brute force makes blades effective against them anyway. Blunt weapons are better. Alucard notes the puncturing of the visor and narrows his eyes. He pauses as the machine falls still, waiting to be certain that this isn't some fake-out tactic by the pilot inside the machine. But then... the smell hits him.     Blood. A lot of it.     He emits a strangled sound, taking a step back, barely missing stepping in a trap himself. Forcing down the predator's urge to triumphantly FEED UPON HIS KILL!, he realizes something else. The pilot's dead inside its machine. There wouldn't be that much blood unless he was. Or she, Alucard didn't bother to make sure. He's no hero, he doesn't engage in righteous monologue.     Looking to Biteblade, he notes, "Are you all right?" She did get burned quite badly. "Miari has set up an infirmary. Perhaps you should go receive medical care." He pauses then, as he notes calls for assistance. He's not going to leave Biteblade there, no. "Come, we must be away from here." As far as he knows the Warstrider has no further threat. And teammates need assistance!     Thusly he heads into the CASTLE STAGE, taking his Bat form to be assured of not stepping in any traps he might not be aware of, to try and locate Seft. The Bat form is small enough that it shouldn't be noticed by the two Solar Heroes fighting. Hopefully.
Starbound Flotilla	#TEMPLE#:    Pavo falters, her whole body trembling. Leaves of gold. A towering white tree. Her hand goes slack. This isn't right. This isn't righteous. This isn't what she should be doing. It's not good. It won't help anyone. All these thoughts course through her. "Wh-what am I d..." She starts, for a moment. It's a brief pause. Her eyes empty. Everything goes dark.     In her mind, Pavo stands before a high-walled temple. A child, fascinated by the iconography, but somehow innately unconvinced. The priest can tell she's not paying attention.     "It is the will of the Sun."     Pavo stands amid a workshop. Her machines lie empty of materials. Her machines lie stripped of parts. Stargazer enforcers mutter outside.     "It is as Kluex has decided."     Pavo stands amid a wooden ship, soaring high in the sky. A hawk-like man in religious garb is tied to the mast in front of her. She draws her flintlock.     "You have no right."     Her thoughts snap back with all the force of her hand lashing out to try to grab Samea's throat. She speaks tensely, "I don't have any right, Sunborn scum." In a clean motion she draws a fresh blade. "And you have every right. Everything you want in the world is yours by right. All the power. All the people. All the world." If she's gotten a grip, she'll squeeze. Steel skin can't prevent choking. "And a thief, a murderer, a pirate, unworthy of wings, we get nothing. Not even a choice."     "All we can have is what we take from the righteous."     "I'll have a life, Sunborn." She says, drawing her blade back, letting it build up energy with a constant, increasing hum, and bright yellow shine. "And if I've got no right to it," Her face turns to a pained rage. "Then I'll take one." She slashes at Samea's midsection. Just as much with intent to maim an arm as intent to cut a deep gash into her torso.
Starbound Flotilla	#LAB#:        Albert grunts an almost exasperated grunt. "Too much mercy for a soldier." He mutters, to Staren. Eyeing the pilot, he says, "...And too much youth for a pilot." He makes a tense noise, and takes off from the lab, heading out to try to help others shortly.
Gawain	Seft is heavily wounded, and Gawain frowns. He'd move to reinforce her, but instead, as the arm goes down, Gawain is hit by the other, being slammed straight into one of the walls, bones breaking as he slides to the ground. A mortal man would no longer exist. Most Servants would probably in extreme condition. Gawain's lucky - his blessings from the sun have given him the endurance to keep fighting even with such a strike, but it's painful, as he lifts his legs and picks his sword back up, moving to position his back to Seft as he grimaces in pain. "Another hit like that and I may not get back up...!" And then, the Bull is letting off a powerful aura around his machine. It's growing steadily, and it reminds Gawain of a Noble Phantasm, almost. Some sort of dangerous power. Barking into the radio for someone to extract Seft, Gawain ponders what to do here. If the man lets off that blast...both him and Seft will likely die. But if he lets off his Noble Phantasm, he may be able to take out the Golden Bull without any other casualties. There will be no other casualties - he has hope. This will all go perfectly fine! The blood starts dripping from Gawain's armor (it seems one of the bones pierced through the skin) as he steps forward, that holy sword in hand. "Golden Bull...Sir Yurgen. With one more strike, you would kill me, and I would die proud, having fallen for my ideals. But you would slay my allies as well, and those who guard this place. So, I must take you down, but I do so without any malice. I hope that in the next life, you find happiness." As Gawain speaks, the Golden Bull can still charge his energy, but he'd notice if he has any abilities that /Gawain/ is starting to let off quite the aura as well, as the knight begins to trace his blade in a circle around him on the ground. "I am not a pretender to what I claim. I am the Knight of the Sun, Knight of the Round Table, and Knight of Camelot! With this blade, I will strike you down...Excalibur Galatine!" EXCALIBUR GALATINE ~ The Resurrected Sword of Victory As the blade is traced around the ground, a glowing golden sigil in the shape of the sun spreads out from underneath Gawain's feet, as a miniature sun appears high above him, at the ceiling. The light is blinding, and it burns as hot as a real sun - though not incinerating everyone there. As the sun manifests, the Saber throws his blade directly above him, it striking straight into the sun, before landing back in his hand. At this time, the Golden Bull may have already powered whatever he was going to do, so the following may be simultaneous with his attack. But Gawain does not falter. Excalibur Galatine appears, in his hands, to be a massive blade made out of pure sunlight. Gripping it with both hands firmly, Gawain takes a stance, looks up at the head of the Warstrider, and then swings. A massive wave of fire explodes out of the blade. Everyone in the vicinity can feel that heat. It burns through steel and concrete, through the canyon itself if the walls of the castle room don't stop it. It blows them straight open, moving to carve through everything in its path - preferably the Golden Bull, primarily, but now that it's unleashed, what else it destroys cannot be controlled. It's not like there'll be any consequences though, right?
Bloody Revelations	#TEMPLE#:    Samea's eyes burn with all the wrath and authority of the Unconquered Sun himself, betraying her age, her experience, and contempt, all in stark juxtaposition to her youth. She advances on Pavo like a queen, radiant in her god-given power and victorious. She gets within a few paces, and then commands thus: "Kneel, and repent for your crimes."     And then, instead, she is set upon by a furious, bloodthirsty pirate well beyond any salvation the sun could possibly offer. The sorceress is bowled over under Pavo, knocked flat on her back with a choked gasp as the Avian's feathered hands squeeze around her neck. Her fingers grapple with Pavo's own, but she is a magic-user with the body of a teenaged girl, and cannot possibly physically compete with a professional fighter. He gasps, squirms, kicks, and then a choked and rasping scream forces itself from her throat as the cutlass rips straight into her arm, and in a shower of vapourized blood, severs it completely above the elbow. She blacks out from pain and oxygen deprivation shortly thereafter, bleeding slowly due to the cauterization of the energy cutlass.     She's not quite dead though. The Demon is still working outside, and its orders are 'defend your master'. At that moment, the beasts claws rip straight through the cube's wall, and with a furious roar, it descends on Pavo in an instant, cleaving at her with a powerful gust of slashing, rending wind, physically tackling her out of the way if she remains. Florivet scoops up Samea in his arms, battered, bleeding, and with horrible bruises already darkening her slender neck, before he banks and dives for the exit he had made at top speed, looking to get the sorceress to safety. If she lives, she will return to her tribe permanently maimed for it.
Tomoe	The Strider goes down and it might be salvaged later not that Tomoe is thinking about that. With the pilot within down? Dead for a dream of cutting some of the cancer out of this world. She would have agreed with Gawain had she heard him. Right now she has no other thing to think of other than. She'll leave Staren to attempt to save the pilot? Who knows a small act of mercy in a hell like this? Maybe that's why she's never told Staren off entirely. There's not much time. "The Strider's done, I'm heading on to support the fight against the bull. There's nothing for me here now." There's always another thing to tank which seems to be very much true. She trusts Staren do do what he can for the pilot and she's away she doesn't wish to see it end like this but she feels trapped. She can only see it through to the end as she makes for the castle with all due speed, maybe she can get there in time to help the fight there.
Starbound Flotilla	#DOJO#:        Moonfin can only barely afford an approach as he's called to hold the foe in place. All he can do is exploit that teleportation matrix. By swimming close, then leaping onto it in a quick teleport just above it, and lashing it into place with grappling hooks! "I hope you've a strike worthy of such grand setup...!!" He calls out, and then attempts to leap out of the way of the massive divine strike!
Starbound Flotilla	#FOREST#:    "Yay yay yaaaay!" Biteblade calls out, dancing happily to Alucard. "Floran isss good! Yeah! Floran hunt great, tall prey! Gonna help more fighting! Burn isss pain, but Floran will be fine!" She dashes to the downed mecha. She'll be over at the castle to help after a quick... After a quick snack. She doesn't have the same self-restraint as Alucard.     Oh jeeze.
Alucard Tepes	#CASTLE#     Alucard is still in the process of extracting Seft from the castle area when Gawain's Noble Phantasm is activated. He feels the heat of the sun and looks up in surprise... just as the Phantasm appears. An inhuman HISS rises from his mouth as his fangs are bared. That HURTS! It's less damage though, and more just that part of him that is inhuman and flees from the sun REALLY DOES NOT LIKE the fast that there's a giant sun in the room.     It takes him a moment to get himself under control, for his more human side to reassert itself -- just long enough to realize that sun actually ISN'T burning him to ciners -- but after that he'll be able to extract Seft without any additional difficulties save those of carrying Seft.
Staren	#LAB#     "Good thing I'm not a soldier." Staren replied on the way out. #INFIRMARY#     After laying the burned pilot in one of the beds, Staren runs off again, only to see Alucard carrying Seft. He's quick to help carry her in.
Septette Arcubielle	#FACTORY#      The spinning bolt is a new wrinkle: by the time Septette has analyzed its likely trajectory, it's already too late for her dense body to shift out of the way! She can only bring her blade down to fracture the bolt before it can catch her in the spine.      Most of the metal fragments scatter around her bones, but one particularly large shard catches her in the shoulder, embedding deep in the joint's flexible tubing and drawing a spray of black hydraulic fluid. Her frame twitches on impact from the raw kinetic force, but her expression remains perfectly calm and passive as she steps forward, claws held up with palms facing inward like a surgeon preparing for an operation.      One leg down. One arm down. Main weapon broken. This machine isn't much of a threat anymore, but she still can't leave it alone with George. Inside her hyperactive mind, a single variable ticks from negative to near-zero: is it really still worth killing this pilot? If she can be removed from the fight nonlethally in a practical manner, and there's a possibility the Bull and Samea might be controlling her... one life is small in the scales Septette tends to deal in, but she can't not care. 'Close enough' isn't good enough for her.      When her claws and blades bite into the torso of the mech, it's not impaling or slashing strokes- she's trying to abrade the armor and mechanisms, peeling back each layer until she sees the pilot. With that done, she drags the woman out with her bare hands after slashing the harness to ribbons, applying electrical shocks liberally to subdue her struggling. "I don't know how much work they had to do on your mind and how much was your own choice," she says in a small and quiet voice. "I don't know if you'll ever thank me for this. But I think I'll give you the chance to."      With that, she lifts the woman into the air by the neck and squeezes very carefully along the carotid arteries- interrupting blood flow for just long enough to rob the pilot of consciousness for a few minutes. "Maybe this is still what you really want, even under all that conditioning. Or maybe it'll never wear off. But... if your life isn't worth living after this, you can make that call yourself."      That number- the utility of sparing her versus killing her- is still hovering right at zero. But it's easier to regret sparing someone and kill them later than it is to bring the dead back to life.
Starbound Flotilla	#CASTLE#:    Seft is knocked off her feet as one of the bolts is deflected right next to her, blasting her back in a sawtoned, panicked cry. She can barely get back onto her feet. Her lights flicker, and she makes buzzing coughing noise, but soon, she sights Alucard, and manages to barely wave him down, amid sputtery glitching sounds. She's easy enough to lift, albeit perhaps a little more dense and oddly weighted than the average human, being a robot. "Grate-grate-grateful. Thank you...!" She stammers through the staticky noises of damage on her way to Miari. She looks back, amazed and impressed by the incredibly dazzling display...! "Astounded. Sir-ir-ir Gawain...!"
Starbound Flotilla	#FACTORY#:    "Heyyyyy!" George says, in an easygoing tone as he stumbles to his feet. "Choke tactics! I can respect that! Now you just gotta do the little--" He does a yanking sort of motion with his hand. "Give 'em the ol' last-crack. The ol' freshness seal pop. The... You're knocking her out aren't you. Dammit Bones." He sighs heavily. "This fight's way past me. How about you run off and I'll handle taking her to the Stellar Hot Air Clinic?" He'll go hoist that lady and take her off to Miari if Septette can finish this out.
Miari	Strangely enough, Staren and Alucard both find the corridors and walls reshaping in strange ways, the stone morphing and melting to create passages where none ought to be to provide shortcuts straight to the infirmary. And those same passages seal behind them once they're through, as if they'd never been there to begin with.     Because the infirmary doesn't have any proper entrance apart from some air vents. It's a literal hollow stuck in the middle of solid rock.     And when the two arrive, they find that Miari accomplished this strange feat by planting both hands against the wall. When she removes them... the stone she was touching glows a molten green. That, though, quickly fades.     And she quickly spews forth a disgusted, exasperated sigh-throatclear. "This is such a waste..." She grumbles to nobody in particular.     And just like that, her more caring side bubbles back to the surface... though still tinged with heavy anger. She directs the two wounded to be placed on the stone platforms and touches both the young man and Seft.     Energies of pure, cold-hearted order flow through them and begin to mend the injuries they've sustained. Though the pilot's only being stabilized, not restored to fighting condition.     "If only diplomacy had worked..."
Bloody Revelations	#DOJO#:    The pilot in the dojo is practically at the aquatic trio's mercy. Trapped in a heavy shell rapidly taking on water, plunged into freezing temperatures, and swiftly locking up in ice, he struggles to move the thing's arms at all, and then no longer can retrieve his weapon when it is shunted into the icy water and sticks. He manages to wrench the hand free, but the sword drops to the bottom of the pond, and becomes impossible to retrieve. He crosses his warstrider's arms in front of Athela, aiming to guard against the downward strike barehanded, and absorb it with the force of the thing's bulky, armoured arms, but the grappling lines quickly catch it, leaving it wide open and vulnerable. The Sacred Sword crashes down on its helmet, smashing the jade down into the weaker steel below it, and essentially driving it straight into the torso cavity. Athela can even hear breaking bones from inside the cockpit, and the machine stops as a perfectly immobile statue, crumpled and useless, with a pilot who is either dead or dying. #FACTORY#:    Indeed, crippled as it is, the Warstrider can barely fight back at all. As Septette advances on it, its single functional arm swings out to bat her out of the way, the pilot screaming "Get away! Get away from me!" in panic, but failing miserably to do anything to prevent the Yggdroid from climbing up on her suit's chassis and prying it open by the seams. There's no way she can wrench herself free of the complicated harness in time to escape, and in short order, Septette has her by the throat, squeezing so hard she can no longer speak. The girl thrashes desperately in her grip, kicking viciously against the Yggdroid's impervious frame, and punching at her face until her knuckles bleed, only to finally slump limp and motionless in her grip, easily carried away by George. #CASTLE#:    "Admirable." Yurgen responds from his helmet, tone still even and confident. "But misguided. You protect allies who work towards the destruction of Creation, whether evil or merely fools. I am disappointed that you waste your talents and your honour protecting them, but I cannot revile dedication to one's comrades." The Noble warstrider's grand daiklave suddenly begins to blaze with luminous brilliance of its own, as the Bull's golden aura seems to funnel itself into the red jade alloy, and causes its gems to glow like tiny stars. Just as he lunges forward to swing, however, Gawain is slightly quicker on the draw, and the full might of Excalibur Galatine's ultimate technique catches him head on, engulfing the warstrider completely in the unbearable light of the midday sun.     The blast is tremendous. The mountain rumbles and the gates shudder against it. No doubt citizens are panicking beyond the deep tunnel. The red jade does not save the warstrider. It does not stand before elemental fire, but the god-given power of a Knight of the Round Table and a faerie forged sword. As the firestorm clears around him, the powerful relic machine is collapsed on its knee, blackened beyond recognition, with its damaged arm completely removed, and smoldering plumes of vapourized metal issuing from its joints, completely wrecked beyond repair. One of the Realm's most rare and powerful engines of war is totaled in an instant.     And then, the hatch shudders, and blasts open, and the Golden Bull of the North leaps out of it, his aura wrapping itself around him, and becoming a shining suit of golden armour and a sword made of pure sunlight, such that he is armed and armoured by his Essence, at no loss for being made to strip down to pilot. With a confident, steady stride, he tromps across the blistering floor to Gawain, and then his sword lashes out in a blinding series of slashes that leave streaks of arcing light, looking like the attacks happened simultaneously. The bonfire of light around him explodes upwards and outwards, and following in his footsteps, materializes the image of a massive, alabaster bull, towering totemic over the both of them.
Alucard Tepes	#INFIRMARY#     Alucard's not going back into that castle room until he's sure that sun is gone. He's not going to take the chance of not being able to fight in the presence of such an opponent as the Golden bull of the North. Instead, he'll assist Miari however he can -- even if that's just 'stay out of her way'.     Miaria's words draw a reaction from Alucard; the stoic look on his face softens ever so slightly, and he closes his eyes briefly. "It would have been a more ideal outcome," he agrees. "If we had had more time, perhaps we could have maneuvered the situation into a more ideal one." He doesn't go on; Miari has already made her thoughts on the matter clear. He merely wishes to note that he too had preferred a less violent solution.     And then the mountain itself shakes, and Alucard shifts to secure his stance. Looking to the monitors, Alucard winces at the damage done to the machine. Now he's glad he got out of that room while he could! The Noble Phantasm might or might not be capable of friendly fire, but he's glad he didn't stick around long enough to find out!
Staren	#INFIRMARY#     "Get ready for the Multiverse to disappoint you a lot." Staren mutters. "But sometimes... it doesn't." Then he runs off towards... #CASTLE#     The Bull is out of the armor and still fighting. Not really a surprise, from a solar exalted. Staren opens up with all those anti-tank missiles he didn't get to use on the warstriders -- a dozen missiles of varying size spread out and collapse in on the Bull from all angles, exploding into lances of molten metal.     "You would destroy Creation and build your utopia in its place. What about the lives of everyone here now?!" Staren lands behind and to the side of Gawain.
Athela Valemore	Hope that was worthy enough of the setup for you Moonfin. Having landed on the Warstrider's shoulder with her divine strike, Athela twists her sword a bit and uses it to pry the impacted head section farther open. Then grab and pull out the pilot. Or what remains of him as the case may be. She's more concerned with keeping the Warstrider deactivated than the state of the operator, but it's still proper to check. If he is dead, well... he's dead. Just because she avoids resorting to killing the enemy does not mean she cannot. It's a harsh but necessary nature of war. Especially when the death of one enemy can save dozens of more lives. Lancer dispels the elemental blades and restows the razor shell hilts in his arm-guards. Behind the visor-like form of his helmet eyes gaze with some amount of concern towards Moonfin, whiskery moustache drooping a little. "Samurooott." There's an obvious tone of both concern and respect towards the amphibious warrior, even if there is no 'speak' like the Pokemon of other worlds translate to. "Aye, Lancer thinks you should get yourself seen to," Athela agrees as she finally climbs down from the frozen, depiloted construct.
Gawain	While his Noble Phantasm struck true, destroyed the Warstrider, and smashed through quite a bit, it also drained quite a bit of Gawain's energy - the one he needs to survive. The sun vanishes after the strike, and Gawain pants, about to move up to confirm the kill. And then, the Bull is still alive, comes at him, and strikes. Each hit takes him surprise, and hits true, breaking through the Knight's armor and drawing quite a bit of blood. Gawain's only alive because of Numeral of the Saint - that strike would have killed him immediately, and he's forcing his blade up into a defensive position, trying to take a step back. When he lashes at the Golden Bull, it's all defensive strikes - there's no room for offensive right now. But luckily... Gawain has allies. Staren arrives, firing at the Bull, and Gawain nods to him. "What makes your vision true? Is it because you were chosen by the sun? Because right is not decided by your power. It is decided by your character. Even the strongest king who conquers his enemies is unfit to rule if he cannot think of those below him, of their wants and needs!" With Staren's opening, Gawain moves to take another slash at the Golden Bull. It's risky...but the fact that he has allies furthers his hope. They'll win this.
Septette Arcubielle	The comments about snapping the pilot's neck are met with a sour glare. "I don't do that. It's a shitty way to die- your brain still works, you just can't breathe. It's kinder just to decapitate, if that's what you're going for- at least that way the brain exsanguinates."      Septette glances to the searing white light in the distance, and her features harden. "Yeah, take her to the infirmary. I think that I've still got work to do here. ... Thanks for the help, George." With that, she gently lays the woman down on the factory floor and takes off towards the light at an inhuman, loping sprint.      When she leaps down into the Castle, she's traveling at nearly a hundred miles per hour horizontally- a metric ton projectile of glowing blades and magic. The air fills with a keening, staticky wail, like the shriek of a boiling teakettle filtered through audio compression- the loudest possible signal she can use to pull his attention off of Gawain for a brief moment!      In the fractions of a second before impact, a half-dozen modest spells fire: gouts of searing flame, shards of monomolecular-edged ice, arcs of electricity that leap from her blades, anything just to inflict pain and stagger him in his assault on her ally. Then she comes down on his position like a ton of bricks, giving just enough time to get out of the way if his reflexes are sharp. Even then, he may not escape her assault unscathed: curving blades lash out of her limbs, covering almost every angle of escape in rapid strikes that aim to channel the full force of her momentum into a cutting impact!
Starbound Flotilla	#TEMPLE#:    An arm. It's enough for Pavo. But she'll take more if she's given it. The blade goes back again. But that moment, Pavo is launched back by the impact of the demon slamming headlong through the wall, smashing her with wind and its body. "BASTARD!" She calls out at the creature as she tumbles back, drawing and firing a flintlock, screaming rage on her breath. But she can't catch that creature. Not like this.     When she gets back to her feet, skidding to a stop at the edge of the platform, she grunts. "Next time. All of you. Next time." She mutters. Then the screech of a warstrider's destruction sounds out behind her. She glances back, with eyes shining yellow.     +_+ #CASTLE#:    She takes up the lost arm. A trophy. She leaps down, intent on joining the others. Descending hard, she lands on a spire in the castle zone, one hand holding the arm, the other bearing a cutlass. "SUNBORN!" She calls out, holding it up. A distraction. She points dramatically down at him, designating her target. The other Flotilla members close in, manning... Those heavy emplacements! The massive ballistae fire over and over, far more rapidly now that Biteblade and Albert have rushed here to man them! Over and over and over, they pour massive energy bolts towards his body whenever there's a gap in the heavy melee. She waits for a moment to swoop in with another hawklike shriek, another heavy sword assault...
Miari	Something about Alucard now has Miari giving him QUITe a look-over... though not at the body. Admittedly, that's well-worth attention, but it's his aura that commands her more immediate analysis! "... Hmmm. I see why the Sun-Knight's evocation is not to your taste. My sympathies, Alucard!"
Alucard Tepes	Alucard looks a bit uncomfortable at Miari's words. But he nods. Explains the rather bestial hiss he emitted before he made it out of the castle room. And is one of the reasons why he is loathe to go back in. Sun Knights are scary! Particularly when one is half-vampire! However, as... well, he's basically busted, he nods. "It did cause some degree of... consternation," he admits.     he looks to the monitors again. Right now he believes there is enough. He does not want to give the Golden Bull the satisfaction of realizing that it took 'all of them' to take him down. However, he IS ready to move in if the need arises.
Tomoe	Tomoe is moving at high speed, she arrive just for the explosion caused by Gawain's sword. She is left in awe and that's only seeing the tail end of it. "Is it over?" She takes but then she sees the hatch shudder, the Golden Bull is not dead yet. She readies her own bladed and shield as he gets up. She's already running to Gawain's side to cover him. The Bull will have to get through her to get to Gawain s far as she's concerned. She also uses an ability to buff everyone fighting the bull's defences and it's /very/ clear it's coming from her when she mutters the short nordic chant to trigger it. "Might makes right...that's how this wretched world of creation is run, and I hate it. I'm not about to let you step on the people of this city or another you could have chosen to work with them and not /dominate/ them!"
Bloody Revelations	#THE GOLDEN BULL OF THE NORTH#:    Locked in the thunder dome with Gawain and Seft, there is no way for Yurgen to keep track of the rest of his forces. He can only have faith in the training he had given them, and the value of the Realm technology he had conquered and taken. His Solar saber clashes with Gawain's Galatine in a furious whirling of cuts, parries and ripostes, roaring back "I was Chosen /because/ my vision was just and true! This Age of Sorrows is already too cruel to bear, steeped in bloodshed and slavery and evil! Those who cannot see the only path this dying world has to a future will have to see it for themselves in their next lives! There can be no compromise! Righteousness cannot compromise for the comfort of the misguided!"     His faith is mistplaced. Every single one of his subordinates, even his right hand Circlemate, have been laid low. Even on his weathered, greyed and stern features, the Golden Bull of the North cannot hide his utter refusal to believe the sheer preposterousness of such decimation at the hands of mutants, automatons, and ostensibly mortal warriors. He can only stare in disbelief as the Elites pour in, one after the other, wounded but still fighting.     Staren surprise, bitch.     The Bull is /buried/ beneath an avalanche of anti-tank explosives meant for his warstrider, vanishing into the tremendous fireball that ensues, as chains of detonations rattled and crack the stones and most likely hurl Gawain free. A glowing sword rends the billowing smoke a moment later, revealing the Bull still standing behind it, but his aura crackling from exertion, matched by the heave of his barrel chest under his armour, smudged and burnt in a dozen places. Though it shouldn't be physically possible, he appears to have parried the explosions themselves, but at great cost to his mystical reserves and physical stamina.     He is in no shape to do anything about the incredibly abrupt fire from the Flotilla that chases the missile barrage before the rumbling has even died down. He moves with astonishing agility for wearing so much shining golden plate, but it's all he can do to duck, twist and slam the bolts, lasers, arrows, cannons, and everything in between aside, sustaining several strikes to his armoured arms and torso as his energies wane and wear thin. So occupied merely defending himself, weathering the storm for an opening, he can no longer respond to what comes next.     Preturnatural danger instincts warn him, and his head snaps to see Septette with a toss of his grey mane, but he cannot divert himself fast enough to deal with the strokes of lightning and hail of fire and ice, and falls back with a roar of pain, his glorious Solar plate crumbling away in chunks of dissipating Essence. Just before she reaches impact, he rights himself in a streak of gold, and howls as his sword blows up as a torrent of Solar fire, detonating itself into the Yggdroid as a stream of holy wrath.     But it doesn't have the inertia to stop a solid ton of robot moving at super-highway speed. Septette crashes into him headlong, driving out his breath, and an instant later, painting the stones with his blood. Her blades slice through his weakening Essence protection and rend the sturdy flesh beneath, exploiting his massively over-taxed guard and cutting through his ribs, causing massive internal damage and absurd bleeding, even nicking his heart.
Bloody Revelations	Finally, Yurgen Kaneko collapses, reduced to a bloody golden heap in the catastrophically burnt and shattered crater in which he held his ground. Crimson pours from every joint in his armour, and his chest shudders with the rattle of his faltering breath. Staring upwards into nothing with cloudy eyes, he gasps out, blood dripping from his lips:     "Fools. You know not what you've done. Our dreams of the First Age will not die so easily. I leave my empire, but my Circle will hunt you down and destroy you for your sins, so you may be cleansed in reincarnation. Even beyond them, I trust in the next of us who is Chosen, to carry on the will of the Unconquered Sun revealed to me; and the next, and the next. I trust in the sacred duty of every one of the Chosen of the Sun on this earth to do what is right, and ensure that one day, all of you perish. The light of the sun cannot be conquered. The Solar people cannot be broken."     And with that, Yurgen Kaneko, Golden Bull of the North, slips into unconsciousness, and moments later, death.     It's over.
Gawain	If he was alone, Gawain would have lost. But he was not. He was joined by allies. And so, when the final strikes hit the Golden Bull, Gawain is smiling despite being broken and bloodied, and there is a shine inh is eyes. Even as the man monologues about their failures in his last words, Gawain speaks to his corpse. "For as long as there are people to protect, I will be there. For as long as I have allies to shelter me and fight with me, I will prevail. Rest in peace, Yurgen Kaneko." Gawain actually moves to make sure his body is brought back to the base to be preserved and not defiled as he suspects some (Pavo) would do...before collapsing himself from his wounds. He was keeping himself up at the end there.
Tomoe	Tomoe is more than a little horrified about the Bull of the north, this is the power of an Solar unleahsed without restraine and she's right in ground zero with one gong all out, she does not break from protecting Gawain, it would be madness to do so. "There were other ways Yurgen..." She hears his threat and does not say a thing, but she wonders? Does creation have a hold on her soul? What happens to souls here is worse than damnation in hell to her. She still shutters to think that is The Bulls fate, but with such ha hard battle Tomoe seems very tired and she just goes silent but she moves to help Gawain with the body, if Pavo tries /anything/? She will have to deal with her.
Staren	Staren shows up to help Gawain, expecting a long fight.     And then ally after ally joins the fight right after him, battering down and killing the solar. He watches as dispassionately as he can as the man curses them in death.     He makes no move to heal the man, and no move to take his body. The problem wasn't the Sun. It was Yurgen Kaneko. At least two cities are better off with him dead. And there's no point lecturing a corpse about how they WILL find one of his solar brethren and help them to do better.     Instead, he kneels by Gawain. If the knight is bleeding out he bandages the wounds first, and either way, picks him up to bring to the infirmary.
Alucard Tepes	Alucard breathes a sigh of relief as he notes via the monitors Yurgen's death. It takes his shoulders with it, and his regal posture slumps. "<Rest in peace,> Yurgen. <Go with God.>" he murmurs under his breath. Maybe not quite appropriate, but it's respectful enough that his intention should carry with it moreso than the words themselves.     There's still more to be done, but for now, he can take a moment to mourn the dead, as odd as it may be to mourn one's enemies. Not only of the Golden Bull of the North, but of the pilot in the warstrider he and Biteblade had faced.
Septette Arcubielle	Silver and red rivulets of metal run down Septette's right arm and side as she picks herself back up- concentrated beams of holy wrath aren't anything to shrug off, even coming from a dying man, but she's too sturdy and decentralized to be seriously impaired by a single wound. Her eyes gutter and flicker as she reallocates power, magically forcing her limb to move despite the injuries, and flexes her fingers experimentally.      She listens to his last words in silence, with something approaching solemness on her face- but she doesn't reply to his claims of vengeance directly. There's no sense in talking to a corpse.      Then she takes a deep breath- or emulates one, anyway, expanding and contracting her hollow ribcage while emulating the sound. It's not until she starts mimicking human behavior in those subtle ways again- blinking, fidgeting, 'breathing'- that it becomes obvious she wasn't doing any of them during the fight. "Well, that was deeply unpleasant. But I think it went about as well as it possibly could have."
Starbound Flotilla	Pavo descends from her spire as he delivers his final monologue. The look on her face is grim. She strides over, full of embers of rage. The deed is done. The job is finished. Or so she'd like to make sure of. She draws a heavy flintlock. "I'll--" She starts, before Moonfin blocks her with one arm, and cants his head at Gawain in the process of recovering that body. "...Tch." Pavo says, putting her flintlock away.     "Bastard. He believed every word of it to the end. There wasn't a ruse. There wasn't a trick. There wasn't an angle. Top to bottom, back to front, that son of a bitch believed his own line." Just as much as the others admire his dedication, even while the other members of the Flotilla besides Pavo admire the dead man's dedication, Pavo expresses distaste, disgust. "Had better hope he'll reincarnate /after/ I'm long dead. Good riddance to a Sunborn."     She stares at him, and at the severed arm in her hand. "Think I've figured something out." She mutters, eyes half-lidded. "Think I've finally figured out what Thornwing was trying to sell me all those years ago. All that talk of deciding to become a god. Of /making/ yourself a god. The way these people work, the way these people decided what was right. Who had the right. I think I've learned some." She squeezes the arm in her hand. A nasty fleshy noise can be heard.     "I think I've figured out what I really want."     "I'm going to go see Thornwing."     She strides out, trailing a longcoat's flourish and her own blood.