Scene #6971: P:WtWM - The Wild Hunt

Owner	Pose
Janine Liberi	Underneath the overcast sky on the flat and empty plain, Die Reisende arrive. Having departed from the collective unconscious of man, they are weary and traumatised, frustrated and angry. And before them is the source of their woes. Wotan, the embodiment of humanity's strive for self-improvement. He stands amidst the light fog with his back to them, his chipped and crumbling form offering a glimpse at a now-familiar blackness. Within him is the same as the darkness of the cave. "You've come," he says. His voice echoes even on these plains, a sad sigh on the empty breeze. "Are you certain you will not heed my advice? You would be as kings. You have what it takes to make the world right. If I must beg once more, I shall." He turns, and his one remaining eye is weeping. "Please. Flee, and allow the Wild Hunt to happen." Janine only sneers in response and points her sabre. "Fuck you, and fuck your Hunt. You don't get to have your way with the world. You washed your hands of it once, you don't get to act the concerned grandparent now. So no, you heed my advice. Stop this shit, and leave us alone, or we beat you ass before your buddies can even get here." Wotan laughs. It's not a pleasant sound. It's cold, and harsh, and selfish. Self-actualisation is often a selfish thing after all. Improving the self can mean neglecting, or even exploiting others. Little wonder that the embodiment of it shows the same traits. "Fine. Then I'll kill you all here, and tell Mister Kohler it was your last wish that he lead the world. His sort can be easily made to feel guilt. Exploitable." He reaches into the cavernous hole in his head, and pulls out a wicked spear, still conversing all the while. "Oh, and you are quite mistaken. The Wild Hunt - or at least, the vanguard - is already here. Right boys?" Wotan laughs, and a chorus of whispered laughs joins him. It is not mist that surrounds him. It is the translucent forms of things long forgotten, massing here in this nothingness beyond the zeitgeist. Even with their faded being and quiet voices, the joined laugher reaches a booming zenith that reflect their countless numbers. "Oh but worry not. They'll not be joining this fight. I don't need their help to best you all." Wotan steps forward, and vanishes. No, not vanishes. In an instant, he occupies the blind spot of everyone present. That single small gap in human perception is filled by him and his spear. The weapon is lashed and thrust with surpassing speed and expertise, aiming to gore and gouge. He's humming. Wotan is /humming/ as he does this. Like it's a stroll in the park.
Big Boss	As Wotan and Janine argue, Big Boss pulls out some stuff. A cigar. A lighter. A cutter. As Janine gets angry, he pointedly cuts it, lights it, and puts it in his mouth. And then the Wild Hunt laughs behind him. The 'mist' is the enemy. And then, Wotan moves blindingly fast. Spear thrusts rip into Big Boss's greatcoat, revealing the battlesuit below, which, while damaged, stops the spear from doing grievous harm. "Before you begin. This isn't the time for friendship speeches. This is the time to get serious, or else everything you care about is lost. Understood?" The rifle is sheathed for the missile launcher, as Big Boss awaits the next attack. Before Wotan can strike, though, he's locking on, and fires a missile. If his eyes can't track him, perhaps the heat-seeking can.
Kotone Yamakawa	The journey here has been taxing to her mind she's not alone. That helped in the en but there's much to deal with. She looks to Wotan for a moment as he asks them to flee and to let the hunt lose. She narrows her eyes for a moment and then pauses as Janine speaks her case. "You'd dare to use him like that?" Kotone does not seem happy she pauses as there are others here she notices things start to laugh. Wotan says he doesn't even need his comrades to deal with them that he's going to use August when they are all dead. She does not seem happy about this. "Nothing that's what you think we are just nothing isn't it?" She doesn't say anything else as she grabs her matter manipulator summoning a weapon out a rail gun nearly as large as she is it's somewhat pitted but is well cared for. As this happens the attack comes. Kotone is fast, very fast and is just able to avoid being fully impaled, she's caught still sliced into. There's a sound of pain, but no blood from the wound there is an electrical sparking thought and the rail gun. She levels the hulking weapon at Wotan the instant she gets a shot she opens fire with a weapon made to take out vehicle for hulking bioweapons. A creation of people discounted as nothing, that could do nothing. A weapon born of desperation is pushed into another desperate battle.
Tina Natsumi	It's finally time. After releasing Janine from that clumsy and still shaky hug, Tina takes several deep breaths before adjusting her hat, fixing the position of her phone, then turning to Wotan. "I wouldn't put it in such a... Demonetizing sorta way, but yeah. What Janine said. Besides, you remember our answers the last time." The faux-cowgirl whips out a revolver, spinning it on her finger before pointing it at Wotan. "We ain't the leadership sorts, anyway. If you want to bring humanity down, you're gonna have to get through us and everyone crazy enough to follow us here!" Uncle Sam starts flashing red, white, and blue spotlights in the sky. "You can talk big all you want, but there ain't anything left to be said. Either you live and that Wild Hunt happens, or we live and..." She shrugs, cracking a slight smirk as she spits off to the side with an uncharacteristically foul tone coming to her voice after he brings up August. "And now you're gettin' on my nerves. Couldn't have just left it at a difference of opinion, could ya?" Tina clicks her tongue, then braces herself when Wotan disappears. She can't see where he's coming from, but she doesn't need to. She just pulls Uncle Sam in to take a defensive posture around her, taking that spear directly into a mechanical arm to keep it from sinking into the Persona-wielder directly even as her arm already starts to bleed. And now she knows where he is. Drawing a second revolver, Tina starts unloading on Wotan's position while Uncle Sam pulls a Thompson submachinegun out of its chest to blast the embodiment of self-actualization point-blank!
William Pauwel	There is hardly any time to recover. One minute, they tumble out of the darkness of the cave. The next, they're walking to a battle that will decide the fate of this world. With the way the multiverse works, with so many of them meddling in this instance of the Collective Unconscious, who's to say that it's only one world at risk? No. This has to be stopped here. It has to be stopped now. No matter what the cost might be. "Janine's right," Will murmurs, the light of his little star igniting at his hip. "You... You don't get to just show up after leaving the world to its own devices and demand that you suddenly deserve a say. These aren't your choices to make anymore!" Odin draws his spear. Gungnir. Will knows its name. He knows the legends well. He looked into them when they'd first discovered his influence. He knows that the spear is supposedly an unerringly accurate, unfailingly deadly weapon. "And now," he continues, tracing the spear's path with a practiced eye, "And now you... you want to use August too. Is that what you do? Just use up everything you can to get your way? I--" Odin is gone. Will sees him reappear in the periphery of his vision and he has a fraction of a second to respond. He bites back a curse as the spear darts up, tearing through his gunslinging coat and into the plate of ancient armor underneath. Will rolls back, taking aim in the midst of the motion. In the same instance, he fires. Once, twice, three times. Big Boss says this is no time for heroic speeches. But damnit, this is /exactly/ the time for heroic nonsense! Time to put everything on the line. Do or die...!
Rean Schwarzer	Rean shakes his head. "Not when there would be nothing left." "...Leave him be." Rean says, gritting his teeth. He probably knew him the least out of everyone here, he couldn't stand here and let Wotan threaten to drag August from the answer he'd found. Wotan suddenly strikes out of nowhere, pulling the same trick as the Wolf. Rean raises his sword to guard, reacting in a split second. Sword scrapes spear and it's deflected, right into his opposite shoulder. "...Ngh!" Rean grunts, going into a counter attack. He swings at Wotan, trying to occupy his attention. Most of the group seemed to be firing at range, so he had to be the vanguard. He expecially focuses on the concept's spear hand, trying to get him to drop the weapon.
Janine Liberi	Janine twists to minimize the impact from the thrust. "Oh no you don't, fucker." Catherine erupts from her form and fills the air with threads that wrap around Wotan. His form is akin to viscous smoke, but she's able to restrain him long enough for Big Boss to get a target lock and fire. Kotone opens fire with a heavy duty weapon, cleaving through the lingering smoke left by Big Boss' explosion, revealing the tunnel left through Wotan that fills in with darkness. It spews like blood in response to the barrage of smaller fire from Tina, staining the white earth with blackness. But as Rean rushes in, Wotan gets free, phasing through the binding strings. "Ah, the ingenuity of man. Such advanced weapons... and still, some of you insist on outdated things like swords." He sneers at Rean as he reaches into his bullet wounds and gores them with his fingers, causing more of that darkness to spill to the ground. It festers and boils, spreading to create a thick muck that sucks everyone down. "You will not live long enough to understand your folly boy. But worry not, you'll not leave this mortal coil alone." He walks across the top of the marsh, spear raised to pierce Rean through... "A sword is a symbol of courage. Do not disparage it, Wotan." A clash echoes across the plains as Siegfried charges in, meeting Wotan's spear with his sword. The marsh vanishes, leaving everyone on solid ground once more. "Siegfried! What is the meaning of this?!" Wotan demands as he pushes against his fellow archetype's bulk. "I was reminded of my own courage," the warrior responds, looking over his shoulder at Will. "Take this moment!" he barks, pushing Wotan down, leaving his sides and back exposed.
Big Boss	The explosive hits, but Wotan is still standing. Of course he is. The muck begins to suck them down, grabbing Big Boss's legs through. It damages him, causing him to tsk in pain. And then, Siegfried jumps in, the marsh getting removed, allowing Big Boss to stride forward. He just nods to Siegfried if their glances pass, but otherwise, says nothing. He has an opportunity to seize. The missile launcher is put away, as Big Boss moves to impact with strong force, having drawn a knife, moving to cut into Wotan's sides. The physicality is decent. The skill, though, is immense. Every strike is prioritizing weaknesses on a human body to debiliate and devastate Wotan and do as much damage as possible.
Tina Natsumi	"Don't knock it 'til ya try it. Who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a sword after all this is said and done." Tina still manages to joke a little despite Big Boss' warning against doing so, although she doesn't let it stop her from focusing (mostly) on the fight at hand. Even as she fires, she keeps moving, and Uncle Sam moves with her to keep her from sinking in too deeply into that marshy substance even as the boiling substance singes her and leaves darkened marks along the bottom of the Persona. Siegfried arrives, and Tina doesn't waste a moment when he presents the group with that opportunity. "Focus your fire, folks!" Tina yells to her allies as she swaps the revolvers for a shotgun pulled right out of Uncle Sam's leg. She rushes into close range for once, bringing up the shotgun as she gets close to drive the front of it right at Wotan's side. "So tell me, Wotan. You've been goin' on about all this Wild Hunt business and letting you wipe out humanity if we die, but... You ever think about what it'll be like if you die?" There's a darker tone in Tina's voice as she says that, letting it linger for a moment before she unloads with the shotgun, blast after blast of pellets bursting out point-blank again while she struggles to control the recoil right up against her target.
William Pauwel	Black blood as dark as pitch floods across the battlefield. Will feels it sting at his legs, creeping into flesh and soul alike. He remembers its touch- the identity-obliterating grip of oblivion. It's not the cloying erasure that occupies Will's thoughts, though. This stuff is /inside/ Odin. It fills the gaps in his being like stuffing in a teddy bear. He's being held up by /nothing./ Literally nothing. The substance of forgetfulness and erasure. "Odin..." Will breathes, disbelief thick in his voice. "What did you /do/ to yourself? What... what /are/ you even, anymore!?" He sees the Archetype stalk towards Rean. The two don't know each other very well, but that doesn't change Will's response. "Dangit, Rean! Move!" How? Neither of them can. He can't dart in to block the blow, and Rean can't escape it. Will does the only thing he can. He takes aim, Judgment's light flaring as it charges-- but not quickly enough. Odin lifts his spear and-- And then something happens that Will could never have expected. "Siegfried!?" Will gasps, shielding his eyes as Courage's indomitable strength scatters the mire. He meets the Archetype's gaze, and feels... Warmth. Fire burns in his gut, working its way up his gullet and fixing a fierce grin to his face. "Ahahaha! You came! You really came!" His legs are free. Will darts forward, his weapon shifting and unfolding into a wider, stockier, frame. He comes up alongside Odin's flank, opposite to Tina's position, and pulls the trigger. A short-ranged cone of sunfire erupts from the Solano's muzzle. He fires again and again and again, the Ancient superweapon needing no time at all to reload, no recoiling kickback. It fires as it has always been meant to fire. "Odin! I asked y'all a question!" Will roars over the sound of his own weapon, "What ARE you!? With all that junk inside you-- how can something calling itself Self Actualization carry so much shit that's all so /opposed/ to it all!?"
Kotone Yamakawa	It's become quite the stand here as Wotan keeps going. She's taking a moment to attempt to recover, as her weapon reloads a new rail into the firing chamber she keeps moving, she can never sit still, not against someone like this. She tracks her allies as best she can as the battle. She's scored a hit but she would be a fool to think it would be over so easily. Siegfried then makes an appearance as Rean gets into a bad state. Kotone will line her weapon up again to take another hot at Wotan. With the action of Seigfired's actions, she's got a second to line up a better shot here. She might not get another chance like this. Once she's certain she's got a clean shot she will line up firing, the rail round speeds out of the weapon followed by a second shot a second later. Kotone is on the move again not sure how long Seigfried will be able to hold Wotan in place. "Is this what the Odin the all-father has sunk to?!" She's seen the black blood she knows something is wrong and she will have to bring every bit of weaponry she has against Wotan. Seigfriend has given them a chance and she intends to make the most of it.
Rean Schwarzer	"...I know." Rean says. Even on his world, weapons had advanced past simple swords and spears. As one of his classmates put it, it was hard to see a place on the battlefield for swords when things like heavily armored tanks exist. But as he'd once said to the same classmate... "But I can't see myself fighting any other way." Rean continues, struggling to unstick himself from the muck. "It's a part of who I am at this point. Isn't that what you wanted?" Wotan raises his spear, and Rean braces for the strike... But it never comes. One of the other Archetypes, the swordsman, bursts through, making an opening for the group and clearing the marsh. Rean nods. "Thank you." He says, sheathing his sword. He then rushes forward from Wotan's side, unsheathing it again in a flash. One strike becomes many, whirling through the air as all of them strike the old man.
Janine Liberi	Wotan hisses in pain as Big Boss's knive finds his side, carving more darkness out of him in practices strikes. He has no muscle or tendon to sever, but the act of cutting is still enough to damage him. Tina pumps him with lead at point-blank range, but even as the pellets rip through him, he answers her. "I would happily die if humanity proves that they cannot crawl out of the abyss they've sunk themselves in. /Happily./" The might of the sun erupts from Judgment, searing Wotan over and over. But even that light cannot disperse the darkness. "I have done nothing to myself! Ask yourself what humanity has done to themselves! Do you know why the Black Thone is black?! It is not darkness, or evil, it is /nothingness!/ They have no drive! No ambition! Nothing that connects them together! That is what happened to me!" he screams at Will and Kotone as the latters rounds bore through him. "It is not true actualization if you choose to hold yourself back!" Wotan shouts at Rean as his many slashes bite into him. "ENOUGH!" A great black hand erupts from the hole in his head and shoves Siegfried back with an almighty push, before abruptly expanding into a sphere of microneedles that attempt to pierce all of Die Reisende. The embodiment of courage soars before crashing into the earth with a thud. The mist thickens as Wotan strides forward and places a foot upon Siegfried's chest."You were always nothing compared to me. You lived by my good graces. And now you die by my wrath." The spear lashes out, piercing its target. But it is not the one in Wotan's hand. A hand has emerged from the mist, clutching a spear that runs through where Wotan's heart would be. "Now now. The only one who gets to kill Siegfried is me!" Brynhildr says, emerging from the mist. "Ghhk... you as well Brynhildr?! YOU DARE?! Humanity will be tormented by cruelty beyond reckoning should the Wild Hunt occur! Do you not want this?!" The valkyrie smirks, and presses her spear deeper. "Perhaps... but I've been sick of your attitude for millennia! Putting you in your place sounds so muck sweeter!" Before anyone can take advantage of this opening, another hand erupts from Wotan's back and grabs Brynhildr. "I TIRE OF YOU BOTH!" the god shouts, goring Siegfried as he crushes Brynhildr. Should this go on, humanity will be deprived of two core aspects, and the world is as good as destroyed anyway.
Big Boss	The knife works, but not in the same way Big Boss wants it to work. But damage...that's good. But as he moves back, microneedles from a great black hand move to strike into Big Boss. He runs and dives, taking most of them to the side and armor instead of pincushioning him, and grabs his rifle, moving to try and make a shot. Brynhildr comes, on-cue as Big Boss expected, and... He can't take advantage of the opening. Wotan's going to kill them. That's clearly bad. The rifle fires. It moves for precision strikes against Wotan's arms and hands, trying to force him to lose his grip and allow the two Aspects to recover.
Tina Natsumi	Tina chucks that shotgun aside as she empties it into Wotan, falling back towards Uncle Sam as its shoulder opens up with an ominous home. "Humanity's pulled itself outta shitholes all the time. We mess up a lot, sure, but we pick ourselves up, clean ourselves off, and we learn from it." She starts, bringing her revolvers out again as Wotan's head-hand appears to strike Siegfried back. "Usually. Our motivations ain't always good, either, but... All it takes is one. One person out of hundreds!" Uncle Sam swings itself in front of Tina as those countless needles fly outwards, turning the Persona into a pincushion as Tina drops to a knee from the sudden spurts of blood coming from her limbs. There's a long pause as she wipes the blood away from her eyes and Uncle Sam mimics her by brushing the layers of needles off, although the holes are still plainly visible. Tina launches herself forward, and Uncle Sam drops a missile launcher before trying to slam right into Wotan and hamper him from crushing the two archetypes. "One out of thousands.. Millions, even! That one person is all humanity needs to keep pulling itself out of that hole!" As Tina reaches that dropped missile launcher, she hoists it onto her shoulder and takes aim at Wotan to get a lock on his position. "Nobody gave you the right to decide for humanity, but... Well. That's why we're here fightin' this fight, ain't that right?" Once the lock is made, she aims upwards, and a trio of missiles go flying upwards before careening right back downwards at the aspect of self-actualization.
William Pauwel	"Bullshit!" Will snaps back amidst flashes of sunfire. "We have family! We have friends! Were you not paying attention every time Janine sacrificed for the people she loves!? When August burnt himself out for the sake of everyone and everything!? What the heck is even your definition of ambition, of drive, if not them? You keep saying they're the exceptional, but at the beginning, they were just kids! And even still, look at what they've accomplished!" "When faced with hardship, they pulled themselves together. Pulled themselves up. Challenged the closest thing this place has to gods! And won!" Wotan surges. No, he deforms. He sprouts an extra limb, a thing of undefined oblivion that stings the eye to look at. And... Impales... Siegfried. Strangles Brynhildr. Even as a hail of spears rain down, stabbing him a thousand, thousand times. Will screams, pain wracking every fabric of his being. It hurts. It hurts. In a way that eats away at the very fundamental underpinnings of his self, it hurts...! But still, bleeding from countless wounds, Will fights through the pain. He fires wildly, eyes wide and furious with the agony shooting through every synapse. The shots are clustered, burning with the light of the stars, around the black pit in Wotan's skull. Around that /missing eye/ of his, and the darkness within...!
Kotone Yamakawa	Wotan's answer does make her wonder just the modern world kill old things? There's something more to that Wotan is tied to mankind and its current state is affecting him. Kotone then vanishes from view melting into seemingly nothing evading the hail of needle-like attacks. She will appear again seemingly unharmed by the latest attack and has her weapon in hand. "Are you thinking clearly or has this affected your judgement as well Wotan? Mankind slips and falls. Yet it always gets back up, somewhere someone will get back up and push forward. Or inspire someone else to get up and move, a hand offered to help someone up. It's how it goes. It's how old plagues that ravaged the world are no more. Its why people still remember you and your kin. Why our creations still will bear your names. You are a part of mankind Wotan! Siegfried! Brynhildr! Do you so badly wish for Ragnarock?" She fires a shot trying to get Wotan to get the heck back from both Seigfried and Brynhildr. "The story of humanity is it's own to write, whatever happens? It is the billion little tales that add up into the saga of man. For good or ill, I will not let it be ended like this. It will end by the actions of humanity. Not you, not some demi god, not things that are born us. WILL DICATE THAT END!"
Rean Schwarzer	Rean nods. Maybe that was true, but it wasn't like he was good at not doing things that held him back anyway. Something to think about further in the future, maybe. But for now: Rean stills, raising his sword above his head, darkness surrounding him. "Humanity needs someone to inspire them to grow stronger, and I have faith Tina and the others will be able to do that." Rean says, still ignoring the advice that the time to talk was over. Inspiring others to change also something he'd been trying to do for the people around him, even if it had been less than successful lately. "And even if they can't, perhaps one day someone else will. But that day needs to be allowed to come." A million needles fill the air as Wotan fights the other two archetypes. They pierce into Rean, tearing into his body and uniform, drawing blood as he stands there. His focus wavers a bit, the darkness around him deepening harder than it should. But he needed to win this, to not be afraid, or else Tina and Janine would lose everything. Rean's appearance shifts. Time to roll. Rean roars, dashing from point to point in the blink of an eye. He slashes at the arm holding Brynhildr, and then at the arm piercing Siegfried. He then whirls around, aiming a vertical strike at Wotan's torso.
Janine Liberi	Bullets thud into Wotan's grotesque arms, loosening his grip on his spear and on Brynhildr. As Uncle Sam tackles him, he staggers, fully relinquishing her and knocking him from Siegfried. The two quickly rally to recover, taking up their weapons once more. "WERE ANY OF YOU LISTENING?!" Wotan yells at the group, striding forward even as laser blasts rock his head. "I had nothing but praise for them! I asked them to leave so they may rule! They ARE that 'one person!' They ARE worthy! I wished to clear the way for them! And they rejected me!" He keeps walking forward, soaking up the blasts from Kotone. "They should not have to deal with the impenetrable bureaucracy, the mediocre politicians, the masses of Last Men. They have earned the right to rule. SO LET ME GIVE IT TO THEM!" Rean severs the two massive dark arms, and cleaves the god in twain. He shouts, a real shout of pain and staggers back. The darkness is starting to leak out, and he lets it. "ENOUGH! You all seem so assured that you can stand up to the heart of humanity as it stands! Let us see! BEHOLD! THAT WHICH LIES IN THE HEART OF MAN!" He plunges his spear into the ground, and the world fractures like broken glass. It all crumbles away, leaving only darkness. Darkness akin to the cave. But there is not silence here, no. Instead, it is cacophonous. The sound of a billion voices, none speaking in unison. Endless discord of humanity's train of thought, derailing and piling up unto each other until it all cancels out into nothingness. It grabs at you, overtakes you like a churning tide, trying to drag you down. For what are a few humans against a teeming mass, no matter how exceptional? A few lights cannot pierce this darkness, a few hands put something into this nothing. Nothing. N o t h i n g
Janine Liberi	There is a light. Soft, pale, and warm. It arises, illuminating the dark. A shard of glass, resplendent and bright. In it, everyone can see the moment that Janine first met Die Reisende, there in the Forest. Another shard of light, showing the underage drinking party they all had. Another light, showing the moment they found their way to the Black Queen's Castle. Another light, showing the moment of her defeat. Another light showing August's self-actualization, and another still showing the same for Janine. Meeting Tina, the faces of those who moved on. All shine bright against the dark. And it's not just them. More and more lights. Showing the soldiers of Outer Heaven, the face of a stern blonde woman, a younger, smiling girl and a cheery young man. The students of Class VII at Thors Academy. A kindly older couple and the faces of many villagers of Gale. Kotone's doctors and fellow engineers and faces from the Union and Paladins both. Tina's subscribers and followers and fellow streamers. All these shards of light come together, piece by piece, and reassemble the world. They are upon the plains once more, slumped but not defeated. Wotan looks on in shock, as does Siegfried and Brynhildr. "Impossible... how can the few of you prove greater than the collective mass of humanity?!" He stabs the ground again, and the world bends, but it does not break again. Spiderwebs of light shine to hold it all together. Janine finds her feet and gets up with a smile. "Because I don't care about them. I care about the people around me. It's easy to get lost in the flood... but you just need to find something to cling to." Wotan is fuming. More and more darkness spills from his form as he raises his spear. But in a sudden flurry of movement, something impacts him, hard. With the skidding of wheels, the god is side-checked by a horseless carriage and goes flying into the mist of forgotten things. It is the Velvet Room, driven by Agatha who offers a polite wave to everyone. The door swings open, and someone steps out. A small boy, clinging to a wooden sword and clad in a grubby green outfit. "Hi everyone," says Spriggans Jack.
Big Boss	The darkness impacts with Big Boss, as Wotan declares there is nothing. Nothing consumes him, it hurts him, burns into him, stings his eyes. He will be swallowed by it. He will lose himself to it. Nowhere to shoot. Nowhere to strike. Except when the lights show. His soldiers, recognizing them. His mentor. His 'friends'. People to fight for. Big Boss pulls himself out as the world reassembles from light, and cracks his knuckles. He does not respond to Wotan. "Thank you." He says it, the minute Spriggans Jack appears. "A hero clad in green. This is your story, too. What are you, and what will you do with your power? What springs forth from the little hero who tried his hardest?" And then, finally, Big Boss addresses Wotan. "Perhaps humanity isn't as weak as you thought."
Tina Natsumi	"What? Oh, hell no, Reany. I'm an entertainer, not a leader! But an inspiration?" Tina furrows her brow, then laughs. "Maybe part-time." She'll have to think on that more later as Wotan grows angrier, and his power grows enough to engulf the... Mindscape? The unconscious? Everything is nothing. Nothing is in the heart of man. It reminds Tina of what she had felt in the cave just a few minutes or hours or however long ago that distant, yet all too close memory was. It's terrifying, and she hates it. She can feel herself starting to scream again, but no sound comes. Why is there no sound? Is she dead? She had a good run, Tina tells herself. It's a lie. There's so much left undone, so much left unsaid, and... Really? Is this really it for her? It's going to become infuriating before not too long, and she can feel that weight in her chest growing as that light grows in front of her... There's a light in front of her, and it comforts her. The lights link together, and Tina recognizes some of what she sees. She sees familiar faces, familiar numbers, milestones that she had cherished that would be a drop in a bucket now, yet meant the world to her at the time. They still mean the world to her now. "If it weren't for all these fine folks here, the folks watching from back home, and the folks waiting for us, maybe... Nah. Sod it. You don't get a maybe now." Pulling her face off the ground, Tina shakes her head briefly and slips her torn up hat back on before getting up besides Janine, pulling an ^SA80 assault rifle out of her Persona's leg to prepare herself for battle once again despite all the bruises, the blood, the pain that sheust has to push through. "Howdy, Jack. Cavalry's all here, then?"
William Pauwel	When the system is rigged by those with control, when any forward progress is contrasted against a hundred, hundred, hundred instances of banal do-nothingisms, what level of exceptionalism can pull someone out of the pit of similarity and mundanity? You need to have the connections. You need to have power. Power grows power. In a world where billions of voices and wills are trapped in a never-ending cycle of exhaustion and busywork, draining any motivation for change and replacing it with a fear of even touching the status quo, what will is left to remake the world? When every single human pulls in their own, selfish direction, wasting and consuming and devouring the world for the sake of spinning the millstone another half-turn. There is nothing beneath the world. When reality is stripped away, there is only the empty expanse of oblivion. Will feels it blast into him again. Dragging him into the depths. Pulling him down until the infinite pressure of all of humanity's banality crushes everything that he is. There is nothing. Just like Odin said. Nothing. And yet. Even so. EVEN. SO. It doesn't matter if there's nothing. If humanity's heart is objectively empty, there is still something to cling to. Still memories and purpose. Will clings to the pastoral fields, the scent of fresh cut grass on early morning wind. The taste of hot butterscotch cinnamon pie that's set in the light of the midday sun. The sight of a spectrum of colors painting the evening sky, and the ache of a full day spent working, playing, living alongside the ones he loves. Old, wrinkled faces, eyes sparkling with the glimmer of youth and love. Familiar smiles, the dairy farmer down the road. The old mechanic living downtown with the missing teeth and treads for legs. The barkeep who endured a lifetime of people questioning his humanity, only to find a home among the outcasts and broken, tired adventurers who had abandoned their dreams of the distant horizon in favor of a stable, quiet home... But who never abandoned the pioneering spirit of adventure that once drove them. Will groans as the light gathers. As it spiderwebs out from underneath him. He forces himself up, staggering, his body-- a concept as well as a physical thing in this place-- aching and broken, one arm entirely missing, lost in the storm of identity-stripping darkness. "Jack," Will wheezes, grinning weakly on a little island of light. "It was you... Wasn't it? The one who called us back... In the cave..." "Wotan... You... Your problem is that you're missin' the trees for the forest," Will says, rounding on the man lost in the darkness. "'The few of us...' We ain't so special. You were just... Lumpin' everyone in together. Everyone with all their troubles and lives. But each one of those people have a story. Have a life. It ain't just us... It's all of them, too. Greater, smaller, it don't matter. They ain't as alone as you think. Nobody is."
Janine Liberi	"You... it was you in the cave, wasn't it?" Janine asks the young Shadow. "Yeah... I just realised what I want to do. What I want to be." He offers a big, cherry smile to everyone. "If you fall. I'll be there to lift you up. That's why I helped you in the cave, why I went to get Siegfried and Brynhildr. I think that's what I was born to do." He holds his wooden sword aloft. "I came into this Forest after you all got here. I fought Shadows because you did. Followed you around because it felt right. I've always been your Shadow." Wotan gets back to his feet and laughs. "Oh, is that all? I had thought you to be a new archetype, like me. But if you are a mere Shadow, I can dispose of you for the indignity you have imposed on me." He thrusts his spear, and Jack blocks it with his sword, the clash giving birth to a torrent of darkness and light both. "I may be a Shadow now... but just as Janine and August and everyone became something more, so will I! You won't win Wotan!" The spiderwebbing light pools from the air and begins to infuse Spriggans Jack, causing him to glow from within. The light pushes back against Wotan's darkness and sends fractures up his spear. "Damn you Spriggans Jack!" "I'm not Spriggans Jack anymore! I'm...!" A rush of light consumes the tiny Shadow. And then, in his place is something greater. A great figured, robed in green and a resplendent reflective featureless gold helmet. A great halo hangs behind it, spinning and whirling with figures of hares, tortoises, wolves and cranes engraved in it. Clutched in this humanoids hands is a great leather tome, bound in chains that shatter off as it flips it open. ===============================THE WORLD EMBODIED=============================== ----------------------------EMBODIMENT OF REFLECTION---------------------------- AESOP HE WHO IS HUMANITY'S HEROISM --------------------------YOUR JOURNEY COMES TO AN END-------------------------- ======================================XXI=======================================
Janine Liberi	"Wild Hunt! CHARGE!" Wotan bellows. The mist coalesces into figures. An impossible number of monstrous, forgotten things, stamping and shouting and hissing and roaring, growing louder and louder as the order travels into the horizon and beyond. This is beyond an army. This is a nation, all up in arms, all preparing to descend on the Forest and trample anyone in the way. "Fear not. Together, we can beat them," says Aesop as he flips through that massive tome. ===============================THE WORLD EMBODIED=============================== THE EAGLE WOUNDED BY AN ARROW ======================================XXI=======================================
Janine Liberi	Warm light infuses everyone, knitting together their every wound, even soothing old injuries. Stamina and mental focus are totally refilled, as if they had all enjoyed a long vacation. ===============================THE WORLD EMBODIED=============================== THE OAK AND THE REED ======================================XXI=======================================
Janine Liberi	Everyone's bodies are rendered totally fighting fit. A deep pool of power has been endowed on them, making them stronger, faster, tougher than they've ever been. At this point, the notion of fighting an army sounds easy. ===============================THE WORLD EMBODIED=============================== THE JAR OF BLESSINGS ======================================XXI=======================================
Janine Liberi	That power is then redoubled again. Everyone is blooming with vim and vigor. Ammunition, energy packs, and any kind of resource Die Reisende would need appears at Aesop's feet for anyone to use.Janine looks shocked, and suddenly rips at the cast holding her left arm in place. It falls away, revealing... Her arm. Whole, hale, and hearty. She chokes back a sob, and swaps the hand that holds her sabre for the first time in years. "Hey everyone," she says. "I can leave Wotan and the first five million to you, right?" She smiles, and takes off in a blur of extraordinary flight. Soaring through the air, she carves through the aerial masses of forgotten things on her way to the horizon, whereupon the speck that is her erupts into a massive, golden tornado that dominates the skyline. "You... this cannot..." Wotan is stunned, his sole eye bugging. Siegfried and Brynhildr turn and begin to depart. "Where do you think you're going?! Help me! You would let humans surpass you?" Siegfried just sniffs, while Brynhildr cackles. "Oh, but they already did. Now it's your turn, dear Wotan! Kyahahahaha!" The god looks at the humans, and he is afraid.
Big Boss	Jack transforms. Big Boss, somehow, manages to smile. Humanity's heroism, huh? Aesop. As the Wild Hunt comes marching forward, he can feel the energy wash over him. The rifle is discharged into the army, as Big Boss runs towards the ammunition packs, easily kicking one up, catching it, and reloading his rifle in one swift motion. As the Wild Hunt swarms him, he throws his rifle upwards, grabbing a Shadow and smashing it into another with a CQC throw, destroying both. As the rifle continues to flip through the air, he grabs his pistol, discharges it into the army, and grabs the rifle as it falls back down. Big Boss has a target. He pushes through the mist, blowing apart Shadows as if he was a demon-slaying space marine, and approaches Wotan's form. "This ends now. They made their choice. Now, you have to die for it." A strike goes for Wotan's 'solar plexus' equivalent, once Big Boss gets there, before Big Boss moves to grapple him. He's going to hold the Shadow in lock for the others. "Take him down!" And after they get all their attacks in... Big Boss suplexes Wotan.
Kotone Yamakawa	things are getting bad she pauses at Wotan for a moment she looks at him worthy? Fit to rule? That's the last thing in the world she think's she's fit to. She may be miss understanding but there's no time to think long on it as the darkness of the heart of man is before her it. Worse it's trying to drown her, it's trying to drag her down and soon there is nothing just nothing there. It tears at her mechanical body. alarms are going off ion her HUD. This is somehow worse than the cave, she's not sure how to put it into words it's not darkness it's void. The sort of void the human mind was not made to deal with. She still clings on to what she can. Things many in the multiverse would see as trite. Her family her friends and her stubborn refusal to let the universe dictate she should be dead. That's it then after so long in the darkness there's a light, a small soft light is there she can see the past. Memories? Some events she was there for, others that she was not. Still, they are important she sees some things from Big Boss past at least she thinks, she sees the doctor who handled her conversion the nurse who helped keep her panic in check a lot of old friends long since retired from the multiversal stage and more. Current coworkers from the Paladins. She catches sight of some of Rean's classmate and all th3ese shards seem to work to reknit the world. "Everyone has a story even if it's a tiny one that does not impact the world? Everyone has a story. It still matters to them and those who care for them." Then comes a carriage and sideswipes the god she pauses for a moment as the door swings open she looks at the boy for a moment. "Hey..." She takes a moment to look over Jack over and it takes her a moment to click, but after Jannine speaks up she now connects the dots. "You were the one who helped us find our way in the cave..." Jack confronts Wotan for a moment and more things become clear about his actions then he also confirms he aided them in the cave. Also, he found them backup from Siegfried and Brynhildr. The shadow then transcended into something else far greater than what he was before and soon comes the blessings. Kotone feels a rush of power like she's never felt before and may never feel again. For a moment she has access to the sort of power that the heroes of myth once had. Her damaged frame fixes itself power levels spike, performance levels hit a level they should not be abet. She knows what she has to so, she stares down the army of forgotten things. Things from mankind's past, She takes a moment and will level her rail gun opening fire spending the last of its ammo to shoot through several scores of forwarding ranks of the wild hunt. With that she'll banish the weapon back into strong and start building up a charge in her built-in tasers systems far past what she normally could do. Hell Thor would be approving of how much lighting is crackling about her body as she will charge into the enemy ranks and discharge it all ins a massive storm of electrical energy savaging ranks. After that she becomes like a ghost cloaking and poping here and that targeting more notable horrors or ones who seem to be directing the others if any such exist. She has power she knows it not for long and by god she's going to use this to the best of her ability Heavy weapons will come back into play as grenades, rail rounds minis guns and everything else Kotone has packed along for this battles is put to use as she keeps fighting.
Tina Natsumi	"Our connections to everyone... Each other, our friends, our families. We disagree on a whole lotta things, but when push comes to shove, we get our shit together. Even if you throw everything you got at us..." Tina pulls a second rifle out of Uncle Sam's leg. "We are humanity! The nukes could drop on our heads any day, but humanity survives! And if we can't even wipe ourselves out with everything we got at our disposal, there's no chance in hell you ever could!" It's time to finish this. With Jack... No, Aesop there, Tina can feel her wounds knitting, her energy returning, and she actually pauses to gawk when Janine just straight up flies with two entire arms to her name. "You know it. Come on. What's a gal with an armory supposed to do /but/ handle an army?" Falling back into that faux-cowgirl drawl once again, Tina brandishes the pair of SA80s not unlike a certain bandana-wearing action hero. "Alright, punks... Say hello to my little...! Wait. Wrong movie. Ah, crud. Whatever." And then she starts laying into Wotan with both guns blazing, making sure to aim high with Big Boss moving to hold the big guy down. As she does, Uncle Sam brings out a pair of missile launchers. A stacatto of beeps can be heard coming from the Persona as it locks on, firing a multitude of missiles into the air at once before they about face and start blasting downwards. They're not all aimed at Wotan, though. No, the missiles are coming down on those that would seek to trample the last wall between humanity and oblivion. The missiles home in on Wotan and the countless targets, and they fly down with pinpoint accuracy to explode with devastating force and leave mushroom clouds lingering above them in the aftermath.
William Pauwel	A miracle unfolds before his very eyes. "Jack, you... You're..." The little shadow proclaims his identity and-- unfolds. Evolves. Becomes what he had determined himself to be, what he decided he would represent. If this isn't self-actualization, then what is? Spriggans Jack is no more. "So cool... Aesop...!" But even with that, what can he do? Will staggers, his cybernetics are falling apart. His last arm is barely holding onto the little spark of starlight that is his heirloom weapon. Will swallows hard as Wotan summons the full might of his legion of the forgotten. The fog coalesces into a roiling mass of terrible, unthinkable things. Will braces himself for the inevitable impact. And yet-- And yet, something else hits him first. Warmth. Power. A spirit of exhileration that he'd thought he'd lost in the dark forever. Will gasps as if taking a breath for the first time. The air smells fresh, full of life, full of /hope./ There's a funny feeling deep in his gut, like the wingbeats of a hundred soaring eagles. But there's... Something else, too. A clatter of metal. A surge of light from a pair of mutilated, burnt-out stumps. Strands of brilliant energy weave together into shapes that he thought he'd never get to feel again. Familiar fingers wrap comfortably around the Solano's handle. Light flecks away, revealing warm, living flesh. Will's eyes widen as he sees them again. His limbs, restored. A sacrifice returned. A miracle. Suddenly, the advancing horde seems so, so much smaller. Will turns, his hands moving just like he remembers them moving-- no, even better. He moves at the speed of thought, bolts of stellar energy fanning out into the roiling mist, shattering the first wave into so many wisps of fading darkness. "This... This is saying what I wanted to, better than my words ever could," Will fights back a hot tear, his weapon whirling around his finger in a gesture every cocky gunfighter in the history of mankind knows all too well. "Why're you so surprised, Wotan? Ain't this exactly the kind of self-actualization that you were always lookin' for? Why do you look so afraid now?" "Judgment," Will murmurs to the weapon, "I ain't about to ask you for any more power than what you've already givin' me. Just... Watch. N' do what you've always done. I ain't just a nameless gunslinger. I've seen inside of you. Put you back together more times n' I can count. N' what I've learned..."
William Pauwel	Will's eyes flare. Little pinpricks of starlight flash and trace across his skin like golden tracers across a circuit board. The pulse races down across the ground. This-- this is a place where the laws of reality yield to conscious will and accumulated wisdom. If what stands against him are the things that mankind has forgotten, then... Weapons assemble, emerging out of the ground in growths of machinery and whirling, glowing parts. Will's mind burns, surging with thought and memory. Machinery lost to the humanity of his world, machinery that he and his parents and his grandparents have spent so much of their lives studying. Dissecting. Rebuilding. Will reaches into his experience in the ruins, his time piecing together the nature of Judgment's internal functions. Massive, robotic colossi rise from the ground, wielding weapons that shine with the light of the stars and the all-consuming, infinite gravity at the heart of the singularity. They are joined by a legion of smaller machines, of autonomous turrets of Ancient design armed with Ancient weapons. And even further, the hulks of enormous, black-clad vessels rise as if out of the surface of the sea, squirming like organic, living things. Abyssal vessels. Will has studied these too. Other machines. Things of his own design. Devices that have existed only in Will's imagination. An eye opens in the heavens, a second sun, glowing with the same light that shines in Judgment's own heart. He is facing a legion of things forgotten and lost... So. He confronts them... With all that he has /remembered/ and all that he has /reclaimed/ and all that he has /invented./ Spriggans was right. He is more than just the spark in the machine. He is William Pauwel, Chaser of the Horizon. Repairman. Creator... Gunslinger. Will takes aim. Judgment's barrel flashes as he resumes his deadly dance... And all around him, worlds-worth of mankind's creations join in protecting the minds that gave them life. "What I've learned, I haven't just been /sittin'/ on!" Will roars amidst the cataclysmic din, "I've learned! Grown! This is the result, and this is only the beginning! ODIN! Let's see if all the things mankind has FORGOTTEN can ever compare with the infinity of its imagination!"
Rean Schwarzer	"You don't have to be a leader to inspire people, though." Rean says. And then, the world breaks. It's dark again. But instead of silence, it's the roar of every thought, every mundanity, every self doubt of an entire world's population as it all blurs into white noise. It /hurts./ The sound breaks Rean's focus, and he lets out another roar as his mind is consumed twice over. He swings wildly at the darkness, drowning in a sea of rage and pain as he futilely tries to MAKE IT STOP. But eventually, not even that remains. Not even this part of him could withstand the weight of humanity's emptiness. Was this...really all there was to humanity? ...Maybe. But... There's a light. Many lights, filling the darkness, as memories reflect like shards of glass in the sunlight. His classmates, fighting to help solve problems in the towns they visited. The people he'd met and worked with in the multiverse. The people he loved dearly. What was it that Instructor Sara said at the start of the year? If he didn't anchor himself somewhere, he'd just get swept away on the wind? Well, he had an anchor now. People who were willing to accept him despite his mistakes and the mysteries surrounding him. And he accepted them for who they were, too. He wanted to be someone who made them proud. No...he wanted to become someone who /he/ was proud to be, too. Someone who even if he did lose everything one day, he'd still want to remain. It might take a while to get there, and he didn't objectively know what that would be right now, but...it was a start. A familiar voice speaks, and it's Spriggins Jack. Turns out he was the one who helped them in the cave, and he decided that his purpose was to help them. And help them he does. Rean stands up, his appearance returning to normal. And yet, he feels even more strength within him than he ever had using that power. Rean laughs. "Alright... Let's show him we're made of!" He then rushes forward in an instant, even faster than he could drawing on that inner power, slashing through a wave of forgotten things and scattering them to the wind. He then holds his position, focusing on an old memory of a higher ranked scroll he glanced at once. He didn't quite have the skill to pull it off normally but... He ignites his sword, and rushes Wotan, striking him multiple times as he passes. He then swings outward, before sheathing his sword again. A whirlwind of slashes surround Wotan, delayed until the exact moment Rean sheathed his sword.
Janine Liberi	Great mushroom clouds from Tina's missile barrage rise from the ground as Kotone becomes the core of a massive electrical cloud, arcing through the dust and smog to destroy forgotten things by the thousands. Big Boss' bullets achieve penetrating power beyond comprehension, each shot scoring kills in the quadruple digits. Rean's whirling cut only gets bigger and bigger, cleaving through figments he never even intended to slice, their forms only falling apart once he's sheathed his blade. Will's array of cannons cleave through the nation of the forgotten, leaving nothing in their wake. And in the distance, Janine has become a weather system of her own, the tornado mulching the rear guard of this army, ensuring that Wotan does not receive reinforcements. These attacks also score Wotan's flesh, sear his bones and dim his darkness. Big Boss' suplex creates a massive crater in the ground, the god slammed onto his neck and back viciously. As the impact lands, the sky above is rent asunder. The thick clouds are cleared by Janine's hurricane, revealing a clear blue sky and a distant sun shining down. For the first time in memory, a cool breeze blows through the collective unconscious of man. Aesop looks to the sky, and his form dissolves. He is Spriggans Jack once more, and looks beat. A moment later, Janine flies to join them, looking similarly beat. Now that the power surge provided by Aesop is gone, the aches and pains of everyone's exertions are catching up to them. Janine picks up her sling and slips it back on. "Feels fine, but just in case," she explains. Her hair is wind-whipped, and her eyes are red but she's smiling, wholly and honestly. "Incredible," Wotan gasps from inside the crater. "This might... it is enough to shrug off the emptiness of humanity's heart... but can you dispel it?" There's no judgment or anger in his tone. The shadows within him have dimmed, and he looks as if he's made of porcelain. "I bid that you try. I think... you could do it." He starts to crumble away, the chips becoming dust on that breeze. "If you do... and I return... I ask that you forgive me then. Though I deserve it not." He's gone. The Wild Hunt is destroyed. It's over.
Tina Natsumi	The fight is over, and the supernatural adrenaline rush is fading. Tina lurches slightly as she feels all that aching and pain coming back to her, too, but it's a good pain as she sees the sky. The air. The form of Spriggins Jack coming back into sight, Janine having a genuine smile on, and even Wotan... Wotan's in a crater. Tina chuckles at first, then laughs outright at Wotan's reaction. "Are you that surprised? Like I told ya..." She steps towards the crater, squatting by it to get a better look at the crumbling archetype. "Humanity's capable of some dumb stuff, but humanity can do amazing things. We'll figure it out." She reaches up to tip her hat, pausing when it crumbles in the front. "I'll think about it. But only if you don't do all this shit again." She gestures around herself at where the Wild Hunt had been earlier, letting out another laugh before settling back to take a seat right on the ground. Now feels like a good time to pass out, but Tina's not going to be able to calm down enough to sleep for a good while.
William Pauwel	At last, the thunder of the guns go silent. Will stands amidst a field of ancient weaponry, now rendered inert as the power fueling them fades. They're nothing more than husks and memories, now. Monuments to the battle fought here, that will someday be consumed by and incorporated into the metaphysical landscape. He doesn't realize it just yet, but the explorer of ruins has created one of his very own making. "...If it's not us, then we can at least chip away at it. One step at a time, one generation at a time, always getting better. That's... What we do. Isn't it?" Will offers a wan smile as the last of his bolstered strength fades, and he sinks, exhausted, into the sunny, grassy fields. It smells... nice. Like a bright, spring day. "And besides-- that emptiness, it gives us a reason to fill it. Right? That's... That's why we seek one another. Why we strive. If we got rid of it completely, we wouldn't be human anymore." He breathes a long, tired sigh, staring happily at his regenerated limbs. A reward in its own right, after all that they've been through. "...I still wish August was here," he says, then. "Maybe I should drop him a letter or... something."
Kotone Yamakawa	The power only lasts as long as it's needed but she put it to good use into dealing with the wild hunt. She will find it sagging now as she turns to see Wotan being susplexed. Rean's attack also catches it as well. She sees Wotan laid low, his arrogance done she sees something far closer to the Odin of myth that she'd heard off. She feels tired in a way shes hasn't since before she was a cyborg the power is gone and she's okay with that. "I don't know how much I can dispell but I will not stop at it." She will look to the others and she needs to rest it's been a very long trip to get here and something funny strikes her. She kept her promise in the end.
Rean Schwarzer	And with that, Wotan is defeated. Rean falls onto his back, staring up at the clear blue sky above. As the embodiment of self actualization fades, Rean gives him a nod. He couldn't do it alone, but...maybe with the others, and with him inspiring his friends, and them inspiring the people they came into contact with, they could change the world. ...Or something like that. He's a bit too tired to really think it through.