Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage

Well, talking his way out was obviously wasn’t an option anymore.

Also… Wasn’t Heaven supposed to be bright and cheerful? Where are the naked babies flying around with their widdle cloud wings? The rainbow-colored unicorns guarding the massive buffet table? Or maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t quite there yet since the transportation decided to take a pit stop. Whatever the case was, Lute concluded that he was dead and that was that since dead people weren’t supposed to reason about these kinds of things. The agitated screaming of a certain familiar woke the virtuoso to the doubtable fact that he was still alive, and even if Delilah took pains to make him understand that he wasn’t a cold corpse just yet, Lute himself had trouble believing that he survived the sudden pain that wracked his back and then that shocking and altogether pitiful flight through the Big Top. At the memory of that fresh experience, his entire rear body started throbbing again, most especially the center of his back where it seemed like two fist-shaped holes had been drilled through his skin. Lute cursed his ancestors and blearily opened an eye.

There was a girl draped over his upper half and she started ruffling his hair. By now, Lute had destroyed his previous paradigm of attempting a diplomatic closure to the proceedings, and was all but gaping at the woman who really seemed to like his hair; at least, that was what it appeared like to the poor virtuoso who still felt like everything was swimming around in circles. “Er… Thanks. I have a really good shampoo,” Lute awkwardly quipped before a roar pierced his ears. Oh great. “That chick won’t rest until I’m torn to pieces, huh?” He muttered darkly to himself, his lips twitching down into a frown as he caught sight of the blurry figure of a lion racing towards him. Since Lidya was still far away and the virtuoso wasn’t sure where to go, he glanced around, only to see a bunch of toys jumping around a prone figure which a giant turtle… thing was also waddling towards to. That feather scarf…!

“Miss, let go of my wrist,” Lute told Poppy, but she didn’t do so. With a grimace, the virtuoso backed up until he was half an arm’s length away from the acrobat, and then waited for the lioness to lunge. He got up on a crouch and focused on creating a short-length sound barrage… One that would most definitely stun both Poppy and Lidya enough for him to go and assist Aria.

Phillis Circus: Big Top

After defeating both Lily and Stevie, the quartet of Guilders had proceeded in the direction of the Big Top, the giant tent in the centre of the circus which was creating the most calamitous sounds imaginable from within. As Syed drew open the curtains to one of the tent’s many entrances, even the electro mage was shocked into stillness upon witnessing all of the various confrontations occurring within. In small pockets all around the circus, their friends were locked in battle with those performers whom worked for the circus, some who they had seen before, others that they hadn’t, all of whom were a distinct threat to their friends and all looked worse for the wear. As their eyes darted from side to side, trying to take it all in, they found themselves completely overwhelmed by it all… and wondering just what on Ddaear they should do.

Marcus was the first to speak, giving the group reason and purpose.

“Everyone, look,” Marcus pointed his staff in the direction of the pinned down Aria. The illusionist and her opponent, the dangerously alluring Guinevere, was closest to them. Aria looked to be in intense pain, with blood pooling down on the ground from where Isabella’s knife sunk deep, and she was struggling badly against the assortment of dolls that attacked her. “Aria’s in trouble. We should help her first.”

“Split up or together?” Moira asked, readying her sword. The berserker’s eyes looked over the rest of the circus – in the audience seating to her right, Trixie was engaged in battle against Tammie, and was being at by the elephant Elena and gorilla, Olga. In the centre of the circus’ performance ring was Lute, being charged at by Lidya and facing the lioness Lidya, with Sammie and Cammie quickly charging towards him. And further away from them was Estelle, Xandra and Crispin, close to Vance and Abram. She squinted her eyes, wondering if perhaps her vision was going funny with her age when it almost looked as if Xandra and Estelle were fighting.

“Together, if we can,” Marcus replied with a nod. “We’d be more easily able to soundly defeat opponents who are split apart if we work together… otherwise this could turn into a really prolonged fight and grow more complicated…”

“Easier said then done,” Syed’s body began to crackle and spark with electricity, his eyes darting between Trixie and the girl surrounded by a wall of plushes, also in the performance ring. He hadn’t seen her before, but to think there was a small child running about in all of this…! “There are civilians here, Marcus! And Trixie needs help!”

“Which is why we need to be quick,” A fresh emerald light passed from body to body, warming Moira, Syed and Amy with a fresh boost of agility. “And not waste time. Come on!”

Marcus’ body sprang forwards, leading his friends towards Guinevere and Aria.



The ringmaster turned to look at the new arrivals, a finely plucked eyebrow raised up in quizzical curiosity upon seeing yet even more strangers dare to barge into and escalate the disaster surrounding her, but her body displayed no hint of fear, unease or displeasure.

That was, however, until she saw her.



“Hey, it’s you guys!” Moira and Syed were sent flying away from Marcus and Amy, once again gripped into the air as the rocketing Max punched Moira into the side and blasted her up in front of him, Syed being dragged with them due to their magical tether. Unlike before when he shot them through the tent’s ceiling and into the sky above, Max this time kept them inside the tent so he could keep an eye on his companions inside, this time spinning around over and over, both fighters grunting in pain. “Gosh, didya think I forgot all about ya? I was just going easy on you fellas! I thought y’all might have gotten the hint to back off and go home, but it looks like you guys are too dumb for that, huh? Looks like ol’Maxie will have ta teach ya a more permanent lesson!”

---

Phillis Circus: Performance Ring

“Xan?!” Estelle exclaimed, jumping back and raising her sword in the air to block one of her friend’s attempted attacks. Xan’s metal hammer struck against Estelle’s fireblade with a ringing clang, and was sent reeling backwards as well for but a fraction of a second until she charged forwards again. Behind clenched teeth Estelle jumped again, narrowly avoiding each of Xandra’s attacks as the metallurgist surged on, her body moving beyond her control just as Estelle’s had done moments before.

“Damnit, Xan, you can beat this!”

“Help me, leader!” Xandra replied, her hammer nearly cracking against Estelle’s skull. “I… I can’t stop myself! Estelle!”

With a deft change of grip, Estelle lifted her sword in front of her, blocking Xandra’s downward swing as Xandra tried to push it further down. In the middle of their standoff, Estelle’s vision changed focus from the girl immediately in front of her, to the man a short distance away, staring at them with his hand outstretched towards them, his fingers dancing up and down. Vance Phillis… it wasn’t enough that the man had the nerve to dare to control Estelle, to warp and twist her body into doing actions she had no wish to do… but to do that to her friend as well…!

“Don’t worry, Xan,” Estelle forced a reassuring smile. “I’ll get you out of this!”

---

"You're dead to me, Vance! Dead!" Crispin shouted, a fist raised high, charged and enraptured in as bright a flame as Estelle’s sword. As the Pride’s leader fought off Xandra’s attacks, Crispin charged towards Vance, hoping to put an end to the circus’ co leader here and now. But as close as he got to Vance, his swinging fist sheer inches away from hitting the unfazed puppetmaster, his body was suddenly halted, and his attack rendered for naught.



Enclosing his burning fist was a mighty, powerful hand that covered and crushed all of Crispin’s fist. Despite the fire searing his skin and burning away at it, Abram didn’t seem hurt or bothered by it. Instead he simply had his sight cast out over the tent and the chaos that was unfolding, a great sadness welling up within his heart.

What was going on? How had this come to happen? Why was everything going so wrong? What had they done to deserve this?

He had tried to stop this… tried so hard and yet he had failed. Instead it had gotten worse. He had tried to be diplomatic, to hopefully avoid any more fighting by simply talking to their attackers, but that had been for naught as well. No matter what he had done or said to try and stop Crispin, still the young man had opposed him. Still he had continued to fan the flames of chaos throughout the circus, setting the simple peace and happiness that was Abram’s life aflame and into a burning inferno.

Well, enough was enough.

Abram increased the strength of his grip around Crispin’s hand a hundredfold. At first Crispin had done his best to resist, but then his eyes bulged wide and his mouth uttered a loud, sharp howl as Abram broke his hand, and then casually threw him down to the ground, skidding away from Vance, Estelle and Xandra.

“Little man, Abram has tried to be nice. To be kind. You won’t let him.” Abram said, shaking his head as he approached the man. “Well, Abram be kind no more, da?”

---

Elisa’s prophecy had come true. If there had been any doubt as to what the ominous fortune teller had spoken to her earlier in the day about was true or not, now there could be no question. One simple look at everything that was unfolding around them, at the chaos and anarchy quickly overthrowing the circus and sending everything and everyone she cared about into danger was proof of that.

Isabella narrowed her eyes and shook her head, her hands reaching for her knives held in the satchels around her thighs. These villains would cause no more harm. Not if she had anything to say about it.

She dashed forwards, her sights set on two of the Big Top’s newest entrants: Marcus and Amy.

---

Phillis Circus: Audience Seating

“Oh man,” Lucien said. “Oh man, this is bad,”

Struggling to sit his bound body up onto his knees, the traditionally dopey looking summoner looked up over the edge of the seats in front of him to witness the desperate battles erupting all throughout the Big Top. It looked like everyone was now here, and everybody was in danger! Even those big scary animals he had been fighting before were back in, and they were charging towards Lute and Trixie! Marcus and Amy appearing was a great relief, but no sooner had they arrived then they were already being targeted by the scary acrobat who attacked and hurt Aria… this day couldn’t have gotten any worse, he was sure.

He squirmed his arms to and fro some more, trying to break himself free from his bonds, but darnit Tammie had tied him up pretty well. Did she work as an escape artist’s assistant sometime or something?

“I can’t just sit here and be useless,” Lucien frowned. “Everyone else is fighting and working hard… what have I done other then run away, lose control and get beaten like this?”

The summoner breathed a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. He stabbed his teeth down on his lips to draw blood as he shifted his body about so he could flick one of his summoning cards out from his robe. As the blood dripped from his lip and onto his card, he concentrated as hard as he could, harder then ever to will the summon into existence, and to make absolute sure that he retained control of it this time. He would never lose control again, that he vowed.

The card he had managed to use was perhaps not the best card he could have gotten… or was it?

A big, wet, floppy tuna materialised in the air above Tammie, and fell down with a slap upon the magician girl’s face.

---

Big Top - Performance Ring
"Ah!" Poppy cried out, smacking her hands over her ears. What with the blow she had gotten just moments prior, this was certainly not welcome. Neither was Lidya in her own suprise pouncing upon her instead. Luckily, Poppy saw her last second, splitting her body to allow Lidya to jump right through. Or perhaps unlucky, depending on your perspective.

"Lidya, Lidya, burning bright," she cooed towards the lioness in an attempt to calm her, although she kept her eyes fixed on one person and one person only amid the chaos.

Her hands detached at the wrists and flew forwards, seizing a hold of Lute's ankles and pulling them back towards her - as she herself began running forward after the Virtuoso. He had given himself a head-start, sure. But she wasn't going to allow him to keep it if she had anything to do with it! She span in the air, aiming a flying kick at that mermerisingly fluffy head of his...!

---

Big Top - Air
Moira was once more reduced to grasping desperately at Max's hands, trying to reduce the extreme pressure he was forcing upon her. It felt once more like her stomach was being crushed, like her heart was going to burst from her ribs thanks to her curse. She coughed. And yet, thanks to her armour... she could still breathe.

A small smile spread across her lips. "Sure I'm too dumb..." she whispered. While ordinarily her whispering was loud enough for anyone to hear anyway, it was carried away by the air which whipped around them. The smile spread as her grip tightened - her gauntleted hands digging into his flesh.

"COURSE I AM TOO DUMB!" Moira bellowed suddenly as she whipped her head up to lock her gaze with his, her arms suddenly switching position from pushing to pulling. Pulling his arms apart, twisting as she went. "AND YOU'D BETTER FUCKIN' HOPE YOU'RE DUMBER THAN ME!"

And with that she drove her head back, before driving it forward with alarming force to hopefully meet with his.

Phillus Circus-Big Top

So her illusions didn't work on the dolls after all.

Aria clawed at the fluffy salamander that clung to her face, illusion dissipating quickly. The feeling of more fluffy bodies hurling and clinging themselves onto her made her stagger, before what felt like a mini soft cannonball barreled her down. She gave a pained scream as the dagger was pushed down even deeper, releasing the hold on the smothering plushie on her face as she slammed to the ground.

Once again she was pinned down, and with a snarl she reached for the handle of the knife, ripping it out of her shoulder. It was doing nothing but hindering now, and the wound had deepened so much that a little more blood loss didn't matter anymore. Her hand shook from the pain, but she slashed at the plush creature clinging to her face, ripping the fabric apart and spilling stuffing out onto the sandy floor.

She panted heavily, eyes darting around the tent. It had only become more chaotic, but with a start she spotted Marcus and Amy standing at entrance. A feeling of relief washed over her momentarily upon the two, before the bunny's dress obscured her face, trying to stop her from slicing at any more of its cuddly comrades.

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage

"You...!" Guinevere's jaw dropped at the very sight of the group just entering the rig. Even when Max blasted through and took the berserker and electromage with him, she was unfazed. But now her soft and delicate eyes widened slowly. Distraught. She screamed out as Isabella trailed after Amy and Marcus. "Witch! This is all your doing!" To the ringmaster, it was all clear now how and why this battle had come to be.

The small mount of plushes on the floor glowed an ominous black and continued to animate on their own. At varying speeds, they took off from their bundle and dispersed themselves among the battlefield. (Unbeknownst to everyone else, all the plushes from the cutesy carnival games outside had also started to animate on their own. One by one, large and small, they unhooked, unnetted, and untied themselves as they dropped to the floor and began making their way to the big top.)

A snake slithered out from the bottom of the pile. Instead of sliding down the stage's cliff, it merely soared off like an actual flying snake - towards Estelle. As the swordswoman and metallurgist were already in their own reluctant battle, neither of them could spot the thin, beanie plush on time. It reached Estelle by her upper calves and wrapped itself around them like a bola.

The redhead lost balance, and in that instant, Xandra's metal-morphed hammer made a direct hit in her stomach. "Leader...!"

Not too far from the dueling guilders, a porcupine and hedgehog dolls also charged their way down the aisle, towards where Marcus, Amy, and the approaching Isabella were. Their fabric quills and spines glistened; naturally they were soft and fluffy as were their other dolly companions, but now they made themselves razor sharp.



"..."

Amy said nothing. Instead she twirled her staff; her own body glowed with a golden hue, as did others throughout the tent. She put Marcus' speed buff to use in her own spell casting as opposed to fleeing from the oncoming Isabella.

Something else interfered anyway. "You leave Ames alone!"



Trixie was far from the trio, but her guns had an excellent enough reach to land direct hits on the acrobat (along with some stray bullets). Granted, the damage wasn't injurious, but perhaps it was enough to-- "Yaaa!"



Her gunshots didn't last long. With Tammie having a wrestle with Lucien's fish, it enabled Trixie a brief respite To get a clearer shot, Trixie had maneuvered into the open, but that just prompted Abram's elephant and gorilla to target her even more. Elena's sudden stomping knocked Trixie (and anyone else nearby) off-balance, while Olga leapt after her. Once Trixie regained her balance, she fled from the gorilla, who chased after her out from the aisles and along the walls.

Both Trixie and Max were basically hurtling towards one another, the latter being airborne and the former on ground.



Lidya meanwhile changed course and ran after Lute as well. She trailed beneath the flying Poppy in case the acrobat missed or was interrupted in her attack on Lute.

---

Crispin spat as he landed with a skid, a loose attempt in shrugging off the pain. But it was too much - his entire body trembled, and small tears welled in his eyes as he looked to the injury in his hand. It wasn't the first time he had gotten it broken, but that made it no less easy to bear with. "Nice! Nice nice nice!" He cried out, putting his pain into his words. His voice cracked, and he sounded much more desperate than before. "You guys kidnap a bunch of people, take control of these guys, and then-- you say you're trying to be nice." He gasped for air. "Just cut the crap already!"

As he stood himself up, Crispin slammed his uninjured fist to the ground, setting off a miniature ring of fire around his body before it dissipated into short-lived vapors. He trembled still, wobbling as he rose back to his feet - but a sense of determination, of vitality seemed to suddenly rejuvenate him. Crispin himself was unaware of the healing spell Amy cast on him (as she noticed who he was fighting) and took this warmth as his own vigor. Like a cat, he sprinted forward again towards the stage.

It was suicide. With Crispin's broken hand and Abram's tanky structure, the brawler was charging right into his death if he was looking for a fight.

Abram positioned himself to counter Crispin. As the brawler drew close however, he leapt forward and punched the ground, summoning a short-lived ring of fire around him. The flames dissipated into thin vapors almost instantly, so no damage was done to either Abram nor the circus itself - but the sudden wave of heat and smoke was enough to mislead the tamer. Abram attacked Crispin in order to stop him from reaching Vance, yet he missed entirely as Crispin sped right by.



As Xandra made direct contact with Estelle, Vance's expression remained unchanged. However, before he could position Xandra for a followup, he found himself flying across the stage from a burning fist to the face, and crash-landing by Guinevere. This freed Xandra from Vance's interference. Crispin immediately returned his attention to Abram. He resumed his bouncing fighter stance, even with a broken fist; he was prepared to dodge anything the behemoth might try against him.

Vance crash-landed beside his sister on the opposite end of the stage. Slowly he rose to his feet, his sister now in his sights instead; he had expected her to come to his aid, but her attention was completely diverted. "Gwee." He shuddered, caressing his burn wound. "What are you...?"

Still his sister did not turn to see him. "She's returned, Vance. She and her friends have all..."

Vance tuned out her words, looking up now to see the newcomers himself. There they stood by the central entrance curtain - a young platinum-haired mage, and a blond woman in red. Silk, beautiful silk wrapped her body like a budding flower, and her locks of gold shined beautifully beneath the circus' lighting. In her hands was a lovely staff... and an equally lovely gem. Vance's mouth twitched.

Still kneeling behind Guinevere, he extended his arm towards the audience seating.



Elena the elephant trumpeted loudly and began stomping after Amy and Marcus as well. The duo now had opposition incoming from three different directions.

---

During all of this, Sammie and her brother merely watched the chaos unfold from the sidelines. Battles were engaged all throughout the tent; Cammie began to worry about whether or not the tent was capable of taking any hits to its walls if Olga, Lidya, or Max were to crash into it in their chases. Sammie on the other hand was more concerned about how many guilders were surrounding the stage, including that fallen girl who had gone missing earlier.

Lashing her whip, she made her way down there as well, towards where Xandra and Estelle were. Xandra barely turned in time to see the magician heading her way before she was pounced on and forced to the ground. Downed, Sammie immediately began yanking at the metallurgist's prosthetic arm - including some wires and rusted chunks that stuck out of her injury from the stiltmens' laser.

Cammie remained where he was.

-

(A generous thank you to Pacman for giving me inspiration & ideas for Crispy this round ^^)

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage

Poppy let go of his wrist and Lute took the chance to dart away from her. In fact, if he really had to say so, his attack worked far better than he expected!

Maybe he spoke too soon.

Without even reaching two paces away from their original position, the virtuoso felt both of his ankles being grabbed at by something bony. It was probably his paranoia in action when Lute thought of a reanimated skeleton holding him back, so when he turned around to check on it… Well, let’s just say his forehead got well-acquainted with Poppy’s foot. As they were nearing the edge of the stage, the force of the kick toppled the virtuoso over the edge, where he fell down quite precariously to the ground. A loud crack sounded. Did he break his neck?

A quick peer would show the cracked remains of a bulb on the floor, whilst Lute himself was crawling- well, more like shimmying- towards the bloodied Aria. When he was alerted to the fact that Poppy and Lidya had realized his trick, the man hopped back onstage and faced them, although he was stepping backwards ever so often. The spell Amy had cast earlier was now taking its effect, as was obvious by the bounce in Lute’s step. Speaking of, he was missing both shoes, having thrown one at the bunny being overly familiar with his friend’s face. The thing had been toppled off, but he had been noticed before he could do anything more helpful.

“I …” Lute faltered and he brought his remaining shoe up in a dismissive manner as Poppy and Lidya approached, “could make jokes about how I’m armed and dangerous, but I’ll save us both the time. Have at you!” With that, he threw his sneaker at Lidya’s maw and made a run for it, screeching angrily at the creepy toys that were harassing Aria. In a few steps he was at the illusionist’s side, ready to assist her- “Oooof!” Lute exclaimed as he slipped on the blood puddle and fell on his behind- and what toys he could remove from her were hastily thrown at either Lidya or Poppy.

Phillis Circus: Big Top

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The ground quivered and rumbled as the mighty elephant Elena began to charge towards Marcus and Trixie, courtesy of Vance’s puppetry magic taking hold of the giant beast and forcing it to stampede at them. As if the giant lumbering animal wasn’t enough, the duo were besieged by other threats as well, and rendered completely surrounded – Guinevere’s control of the various dolls and plushes strewn throughout the Big Top’s interior resulted in two of them, a porcupine and hedgehog doll, racing down the aisles towards them, their usual soft and cuddly felt turning as hard as real razorsharp spikes, and on their other side was the dangerously beautiful Isabella, approaching them with one of her knives in hand.

"You leave Ames alone!" Trixie had shouted, blasting her uzis at the deadly acrobat. Isabella came to a stop, crouching and covering her body to protect herself, before realising that the diminutive prankster’s bullets, whilst stinging, did not hurt too badly. Still, her gunfire was enough to momentarily give her pause, before she was chased away by the gorilla Olga. This only left two particular threats at the moments…

Marcus stepped in front of Amy, hoping to protect her. He didn’t know who the two smartly dressed individuals before him were, but judging by their garb, he presumed the duo to possibly be the leaders of this circus? Regardless of their identities or positions within the circus infrastructure, the pair were a deadly threat, and judging from their expressions and mannerisms towards seeing Amy, it appeared as though they knew her. Adding that to the discomfort Amy shown upon learning of the Phillis Circus earlier in the day… Marcus could make a fair guess that whatever the duo might want, it’d involve harm towards Amy. And that was something he would not allow.

He swept his staff in front of his body, and a powerful gale swept in from the side before Guinevere and Vance, gripping the two hedgehog and porcupine plushies and sending them flying through the air in an unexpected arc. Their spikes stabbed against one of Elena’s legs, causing the elephant to stagger somewhat. Her stampede continued however, the injuries themselves being minor and irrelevant when her body was under control from another. Marcus frowned at the approaching beast, and summoned another powerful gale, this time underneath the feet of both himself and Amy, lifting the two into the air to dodge the dangerous threat. As well as this, he cast another speed boosting spell – this time to Elena herself. The elephant carried on at an accelerated speed, almost colliding into Isabella before Vance exasperatingly stopped her in her tracks.

“Amy,” Marcus spoke as his and her feet touched the ground again. “Do you know these people? Do you have some idea what’s going on here?”

---

“Chaos,” Isabella spoke under her breath. “This is pure… chaos…” She gritted her teeth and took a step forward after narrowly avoiding Elena’s charge, ready to resume her attack upon Marcus and Amy again, before suddenly stopping. Out of the corner of her life she saw her – Aria, her foe from throughout this entire affair now freed, one of her friends having raced to her rescue and freeing her from Guinevere’s plushies. Her brow furrowed even tighter as an bright white light enveloped Aria’s body, one of the opposition’s cleric’s healing spells rejuvenating her and dulling the pain of her injuries.

Isabella turned away from Marcus and Amy, and began to walk back towards Aria and Lute. She didn’t want to leave Guinevere against two unusual opponents, but she knew Guin could handle herself, and she had her brother with her. The woman with the feathered scarf, she Isabella did know, and very well just how dangerous she was. A woman with the most dangerous ability to throw illusions. She needed to be defeated immediately.

“Guinevere, you may focus your dolls on those two,” Isabella’s eyes darted to Marcus and Amy. “…I’ll finish that woman off once and for all.”

As Poppy and Lidya charged towards Aria and Lute from one side, another, more vengeful acrobat descended upon the two from the other, unleashing a barrage of flying knives aimed at the pair.

---

“Arraaghh!” Max yelled in distress, his entire body suddenly being knocked downwards in unexpected pain and agony, Moira’s headbutt freeing both herself and Syed and sending the human rocket cannonballing down and into the ground below. He hit it, hard, bouncing back off and spinning towards Trixie, who saw Max’s hurtling body just in time and lithely hopped over him as he skidded past. As Trixie looked back, she hoped that Max’s body might collide into Olga, but unfortunately the gorilla hopped over the human rocket as well, and continued its pursuit of Trixie. Trixie could only keep running through the circus’ audience seating, racing around the perimeter of the circus and drawing closer to Estelle and Xandra’s fight with Sammie and Cammie.



“Maxxie Moo, oh my gosh are you okay?!” A high pitched voice squealed (as a tuna slapped against the ground), and light footsteps began racing towards Max, who had finally crashed in a painful heap at the performance ring’s far wall, smoke and dust from the impact wafting into the air. A short distance away, Moira landed on the ground close to the plushie restrained Baltimore, catching Syed in her arms and lowering him down to his feet.

“Ta… Tammie…” Max groaned, coughing up blood. His hair was a dishevelled mess and his glasses were shattered, with blood freely pouring from his nose and mouth. That woman’s attack had hurt, almost knocking him out, if not nearly killing him. He hurt all over. “Tammie you’re… are you okay…?” He tried to stand back up.

---

“Leader…!” Xandra clenched her eyes shut as soon as her arm, shapeshifted into a hammer, collided with Estelle’s stomach. The swordswoman fell to her knees, coughing up blood and shaking with pain. “Estelle, I’m sorry…! I… I can’t control my body…!”

And then Vance was sent flying across the circus, Crispin’s flame empowered fist smashing into his face. With the ringleader’s concentration shattered, Xandra’s body was hers once more, and she could move freely. The sudden shock of it left her nearly paralysed at first in confusion, wondering if it had all been a dream. But Estelle was still on her knees and in pain, pain from what she had done to her.

“Estelle, I didn’t mean to-”

Xandra didn’t finish her apology, as she was suddenly dragged to the ground and pinned down from behind, courtesy of the magician girl Sammie, who violently began yanking on and twisting the exposed wires and mechanics of Xandra’s prosthetic’s arm’s injury. She howled in pain, before having her face pushed down and into the ground, denied the ability to get back up again.

The more that Sammie could see her attack was effective, the more she continued, digging and twisting Xandra’s injured arm, and making the girl cry in pain. If this was the quickest way to beat her, then…!

Sammie’s arm was pulled off Xandra’s arm, and locked in an almost impenetrable grip. She turned to face her attacker, seeing the injured Estelle glaring back at her, staggering to her feet. Xandra looked to her friend, struggling to force back the tears.



“Get. Off. My. Friend.”

Sammie was sent reeling off Xandra, spinning through the air and landing with her stomach onto the ground with a hard thud, her body knocked off from a powerful back slap colliding with her cheek. Estelle grabbed and readied her sword again, as the other hand helped to lift Xandra back up. Nobody hurt her friends.

Nobody.

Big Top
So now Isabella was getting involved... she really didn't seem to like the dark haired girl. Poppy continued in her assault, running towards them - and getting a soft toy hit her right in the face. Ouch! In her suprise she fell back onto her backside.

Owwwwww, she was getting really sore now. At least the toy was more pleasant than the back of Xan's skull. Or being thrown through the air by a wind mage. With a sigh, she flicked her hands - them once more seperating at the wrists.

Her hands flew through the air, going wide around them to minimise them being noticed. She readied herself. Should Isabella's knives miss, she was ready to push Lute and Aria into one another to open up another opportunity for either the more experianced acrobat or Lidya to attack.

---

Moira promptly spat to the floor, glaring in Max's direction. So her head was harder! Unlucky for him. She found herself hesitating regardless, however - at least until he started moving again. Okay he was alive she didn't care anymore.

Syed's hand grasped at his hurting chest as his eyes cast across the tent, rapidly switching from one thing to the other. Chaos. Animals ran rampant, creepy toys dragged themselves across the floor, people were attacking their allies... and the little girl was still here, lying on the ground with two toys on top of her.

Of course he had to prioritise her. He trusted everyone else to handle themselves just a little longer.

"Come on, come on love," he said as he scrambled to her side, his voice still rough from earlier. "We need to get you out of here..." he had reached forward to grab the blackbird and pull it from her head, only to falter in suprise by how heavy it was. He hesitated, looking around at the swarms of toys in the area. This... these toys... there were so many of them too. They were in serious trouble.

Well, what's new. He forceably pulled the toys off her, tossing them to one side as he went to help her up, quickly scanning her for injuries. Wait... didn't this girl fit the gushed description Eric gave way back earlier? The only reason he remembered it was because they were all looking for her for so long.

"...Is your name Balti?"

Meanwhile, Moira glowered down at the fat lizard toy. With one smooth moment she span her sword and stabbed it into the creature. "Stop moving you creepy little shit," she hissed, before refocusing her gaze on anything nearby.

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Central Entrance

"Amy, do you know these people?"

"'Know'... I know Vance and Guinevere all right." Amy replied in monotone. Nothing about her expression gave away her relation to the ringmasters other than it was one of contempt. "But not anyone else."

At this point Elena the elephant had stopped charging around. She looked around in mere confusion, lifting and dropping her trunk as she tried to analyze just what was going on around her. Amy re-focused her attention on the ongoing battlefield. Having already sent healing spells to Crispin and Aria before the elephant's attack, her next focus was the two girls just in front of the stage; with the way they staggered, Amy was quick to cast them both healing and defense-buffing spells in succession.

However, Amy's neutral expression had suddenly dropped when she found herself airborne again. This time, it wasn't due to Marcus' magic. Her body was crushed in a vise-like grip as she was lifted from the ground, and from that she let out an agonizing scream.

Behind her stood a giant teddy bear, just big enough to fit through the big top's curtains without breaking the whole thing down. It was a prize among the many that could be won from the numerous carnie games. The teddy was barely bigger than Abram though made entirely of soft fabrics (get it, barely), and the fact that it possessed a grip strong enough to squeeze a body like it was... Even Marcus took a moment to digest this sight.

Other plushes and toys, each enveloped in a black aura, began crawling, wobbling, dashing, and flying into the big top. Not only was the tent filled to the brim with guilders, performers, and live animals, but now it burst with armies of dolls, toys, and plushes from the stalls outside. The quickest and smallest of these incoming dolls - pink, yellow, orange, and green "congratulations, you tried!" hand-sized ducks and the like - rushed straight after Marcus. Like Poppy earlier, some of them swarmed after his staff in an attempt to disarm him.

Foam swords charged in a cluster from behind Amy as well. They formed around her, each with their blade pointed in her direction. Though not immediately apparent, the foamy blades hardened (similarly to her hedgehog's and porcupine's backsides); they were not sharp as real swords or knives, but now they carried weight. Should Marcus try his winds again, the blades were poised to strike the cleric from at least one or two directions before blowing away. Especially the one held closest to her throat. As the teddy bear slowly moved down the aisle, so too did the floating swords.

---

Onstage (Stage Left)

"Gwee," Vance muttered to his sister. "Bring her to me."

Guinevere replied with a sniff, though she held her chin up still to look anything other than distraught. "This is a catastrophe, Vance." She shook her head solemnly, still looking away from her brother. "Invidious bastards want nothing more than to see our home and loved ones destroyed. Of course the witch is among them..." She stuttered. "Perhaps this is revenge. Perhaps she is a liar, Vance. Perhaps she..."

"Gwee. Bring her. To me."

Amidst this conversation, Vance took notice of Crispin and Abram's fight onstage, where he was initially. And not too far from them were the two guilder girls offstage. Sammie had been knocked away out of range, and now the two were free to assist the brawler. Vance shook his head in a tutting manner. "This simply will not do." The redhead staggered back following her attack on the magician, and even had trouble helping her fallen companion up in a timely manner. Both were injured, but not yet totaled - that much was clear to Vance, even in his peripherals.



"Leader, please, no...!" Xandra cried out again as Estelle helped her up. Her prosthetic arm struck forward, and missed Estelle entirely. No, she tackled her companion in an attempt to bring them both back down to the floor. From Vance's eyes, both of their bodies were too tired out to make decent enough puppets to attack or stall the other - and with them being guilders, they were still dangerous together even at a fatigued state.

Which is why Vance led Xandra to strike Estelle's sword with her metal arm. If even one of them were permanently incapacitated, the match would turn in the circus' favor.

With one hand curled into a fist towards Xandra to keep her in place despite her howling in pain, he focused his other not on the elephant... but somewhere else.

---

Onstage (Center)

"...Is your name Balti?"

Whatever had been pinning Baltimore to the ground was removed amidst the chaos. The young girl looked up to her helper with a wide smile crossing her features, and nodded quickly. She then leapt up to embrace Syed tightly in gratitude, before breaking away and turning her attention back to the chaos enfolding around her.

Everyone seemed determined to get Baltimore to safety, including the enemies themselves, until they saw what she was capable of and attempted to subdue her. Now that the odds were more evened out with the arrival of all these good people, she knew they needed her help now more than ever.

Even though Vance and Guinevere had their focus elsewhere, Baltimore understood that she could not stop them in time - not when more of Guin's dolls surrounded their feet. With a gulp, she nodded to Syed a second time, though the message this time was unclear. Looking now to the battle brewing just in front of the stage between the two girls, Baltimore ran after them. Abram and Crispin were in the way, but all she had to do was run around them.

That was the plan, anyway. But of course, that changed in an instant. Baltimore sped straight off stage and passed the two girls and the fallen Sammie, and made her way towards the front entrance. Worry etched on her face as she drew nearer and nearer to Marcus, avoiding the bear to get closer to the mage.

---

Audience Seating

Trixie meanwhile had dashed through the seating aisles in hopes of losing the much bigger gorilla chasing after her. It worked enough to slow down Olga, though the monkey still chased after her. Initially she aimed to help both of the girls who were fighting each other for some reason, but not with the gorilla on her tail. Instead, with both Tammie and Max occupied, the prankster made her way back towards Lucien.

She whipped out a kunai from her belt pouch and knelt down besides the summoner. Guns stowed in her butt pockets, she worked on freeing Lucien from his ropes. "Come on, come on...!"

But before she could get through the final few strips (it was a long-ass rope), Olga the gorilla had caught up by then - and knocked Trixie off the man with a powerful swing. Trixie flew through the air with a scream before crashing painfully into the chairs further down the aisle. Olga huffed as she pursued her.

---

Outskirts

Lily was helping Stevie out of his stilts when the two heard more screaming from within the circus gates. Turning to see the commotion, a lot of game stalls and stands were falling apart. There was no rumble or wind or anything strong enough to knock them over - but rather, the toys detached themselves simultaneously and yanked out others that were more so stuck. Even the basketballs began bouncing away from their hoops and nets. Those that honed the bigger of prizes - large teddy bears, ball-shaped animals, and poor-quality dragons - crashed instantly.

Stevie began to wail. "I wanna go home now..."

Phillis Circus: Big Top: Centre Stage

“Abram ends this now, little man,” The powerful, muscular man glared at the smaller baseball cap toting youth bouncing up and down on the tips of his feet, fists enflamed. “You hurt my home, my family… even now, little puny man continues to do so!” The man unleashed a loud, deafening roar, screaming his lungs out at the tent ceiling above. After witnessing the cowardly way in which Crispin had avoided him to assault his friend, his very benefactor, Abram had been sent over the edge. There would be no more of this. No more holding back with the hope of peace. No more playing the nice guy. Crispin would be sent to the hospital for a long time.

As he screamed, his tense body in turn reacted. From his pecs to his abs and all the muscles across his body, one by one they bulged outwards, and grew ever bigger, ever stronger, as Abram summoned all of his strength within him. Crispin’s bouncing drew to a slow stop, the man staring in disbelief at the frightening form before him. He had been absolutely justified in everything he had done before this, that much he knew to be true. But against this strange foreign man, perhaps he had gone too far? The way he had reacted all throughout their fight… what if he didn’t know? His rage… seemed genuine enough…

Abram lifted a foot up in the air, and swinging it down on the ground the reverberation shot all through the circus, rattling the many wooden supports and beams strewn throughout the interior, and threatening to knock many of the others (and several of Guinevere’s plushies) off of their feet. Like a man possessed, Abram continued to growl and roar, his body growing bigger and bigger, charged with power.

A single thought ran through Crispin’s mind. Perhaps he had gone too far… perhaps he would die.

With a twinkle in Abram’s eye, the beast tamer’s roar stopped, and from his mighty powerful legs below him, he was launched forwards along the crowd. His speed had increased to frightening levels, and the monstrous behemoth was upon Crispin in the blink of an eye, one mammoth fist raised up behind him, sent hurtling down towards the fire brawler. Crispin barely managed to dodge in time, as Abram’s fist cracked against the ground, snapping it and forcing the ground to crack all about them.

Crispin had to duck again as another mighty swing sailed dangerously close to the man’s face. And then another blow, almost impacting at his stomach. Crispin was fast enough to be able to avoid Abram’s attacks at the last second, but Abram’s assault was all powerful, all consuming. He could narrowly avoid… but the opportunity for a counter attack was impossibly small. What could he do?

“Abram… will… destroy… you!!”

And then… a split second freeze. The image of a small girl fleeting at the periphery of his vision. Baltimore, the small girl whom reminded Abram of his daughters, running about the battlefield, in danger of everything that was happening around them. In danger… of him.

This was Crispin’s opportunity.

---

Phillis Circus: Big Top

“Amy!” Marcus exclaimed, turning with dismay to find his friend at first captured by an oversized, stuffed teddy bear, and then surrounded by whimsical floating foam swords. The wind mage couldn’t believe what he was seeing, left in absolute disbelief at the spectacle he was watching, with all of the animated dolls rushing about the stage, seemingly manipulated by one of the two individuals standing close together before him. Just as it was with when he encountered Poppy, he was struck with incredible disbelief at the talents he was seeing. He had witnessed a great many displays of magic and power within his lifetime, but abilities such as this was a strange first.

A quick magical incantation yielded a gust of wind that blew back all of the diminutive toy ducks that were charging at him with a quack in a tumble away from him, the wind mage frowning in thought at how he should help free Amy. The bear seemed to be of incredible strength, far more then a usual oversized toy should be in order to restrain Amy like that. And those floating foam swords, he could chance them not being as dangerously sharp as the spined plushies from before. Any attempts to break Amy free with his wind magic… it would hurt her.

So he turned around to face Guinevere and Vance Phillis. Instead of staying on the defensive, he should be moving on the offensive. Disabling the pair of them was naturally the quickest way to disable their adorable army. If he was quick enough, able to disorient them and upset their concentration, then maybe… just maybe…

And then he froze, seeing a small, unfamiliar girl racing towards him. Who was she, and what was Marcus to do…?

And then suddenly, without warning, Marcus’ decision was made for him.

From the entrance behind him that he and Amy had arrived from, two diamond tipped wires shot out from the entrance, moving and snaking through the air towards Amy as if they had a life of their own. As they moved, the gripped and snaked around the various floating foam swords, trapping the suspended weapons, and also doing the same to the giant teddy bear, wrapping around the toy’s arms. The flexible wires then suddenly became taut, completely trapping all caught within its grip. And then from there… slicing into them. The teddy bear’s arms were severed from its body, and the foam swords slashed in two, the toys’ inner stuffing and foam lining spilling out onto the floor and leaving the animated toys to clatter onto the ground, now harmless.

“Nobody hurts Balti or my friends!!”

“…you?” Marcus and Amy turned, looking in disbelief. With a whirr, the two wires shot back through the air, recoiling back to where they had come from, in the sleeves of a particular trench coat wearing man standing at the circus tent’s entrance.



“Sorry I’m late…” Eric smiled. “Had another date with the portaloo. This one didn’t have any toilet paper, though…”

"...you're not serious..." Amy recoiled.

"Yeah, can you believe it? So gross. So what I did was end up having to make do with - wait. Do you hear that?"

The sounds of the animated plushie army descending upon the Big Top echoed all around, growing louder and louder the closer they drew.

Phillus Circus-Big Top

"L-lulu!" Aria gasped as the Virtuoso all but tackled his way through the throngs of stuffed animals, throwing them off of her and releasing her from their fluffy clutches. Almost at the same time a golden glow encompassed her body, healing the smaller bruises and cuts that she had sustained. The pain in her shoulder lessened as the wound closed slightly, the flow of blood lessening. The illusionist felt rejuvenated, suddenly becoming more aware of her surroundings.

For a short moment she felt that fainting might have been a better choice. A lion and a girl with strange looking limbs were approaching fast from one side, while Isabella was coming from the other side, looking murderous once again. Aria shoved Lute down as a rain of knives came at them, snatching a small plush wolf that scampered by her feet and using it as a shield. A few knives shredded the thing into scraps of fabric and stuffing, only then Aria noticing how a large variety of stuffed animals had invaded the circus tent, all doing their best to hinder her friends' movements.

At this rate they would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers alone. No, they needed to take down whoever was controlling these squishy dolls, and her eyes landed on Guinevere. That was the woman, she had no doubt. They had no time to deal with the lion, Poppy, and especially not Isabella. Amy was in trouble, she could see, restrained by a large terrifying teddy bear with a multitude of strangely sharp toy swords pointed at her.

"We have to deal with the creepy doll lady first," she hissed out at Lute. "and then we can- where are your shoes? Aaah, whatever! Run for it!" She grabbed, Lulu's hand, yanking him into a sprint- Directly at Isabella.

She released the knives she had plucked from the poor skewered wolf plushie, chucking them at the acrobat. A small illusion was made, all that she could manage right now. It hid the real knives within a group of false ones, making it hard to discern and avoid them. The acrobat hadn't been expecting the two to make a run towards her, eyes widening as more knives than she could remember throwing flying towards her. There was no way for her to dodge them all, and yet when the first knife hit her flesh she felt nothing. Instead the blades that had reached Isabella whisped away, the real knives heading instead for the target behind her- Guinevere.

What Aria didn't expect was Eric's sudden appearance and his rescue of Amy, but it only served as a further distraction to the ruffles-wearing lady. Perhaps it would even distract her enough so that she wouldn't notice the blades flying towards her.

Phillis Circus: Big Top: Performance Ring

“Xandra… no!” Estelle looked up in horror as Xandra’s body was wrenched out of her control once more, the metallurgist’s face consumed with fear and horror as her short-lived freedom was stolen away from her again. Her body moved forwards despite her will, charging once again at Estelle with the intention to hurt, and Xandra screamed.

Her fists swiped out at Estelle, one followed by the other. Slows, easily read strikes that Estelle could effortlessly dodge and avoid, backstepping as she did to avoid Xandra’s lunges. Little realising that such obvious, poor attacks was actually a feint… for Vance’s next, twisted attack.

Lulling Estelle into a false sense of confidence, Xandra’s body suddenly picked up speed, moving at her full power. Estelle was taken aback by how quickly Xandra was upon her, and then cried out loudly as Xandra swung her fist once again.

This time straight at Estelle’s fireblade.

Xandra screamed as the sharp blade dug into her prosthetic, cleaving off a sizeable chunk of it from the top. Her screams continued on, and on, and on, as tears drained from her eyes, the pain ricocheting throughout her entire body absolutely unbearable. She wanted to collapse to the ground, to nurse and cradle her injured arm and get as far away from here as she could, but she wasn’t able. Vance’s control of her body was all consuming, a mere puppet playing upon his strings, forced to stand up despite the engulfing pain.

Estelle wept for her friend.

“Xandra… I’m sorry…!” Estelle quickly embraced her friend, and then left, turning to run as fast as she could towards Vance, her fireblade igniting with unparalleled heat. The quickest and best way to save her friend was to take this animal out now!

---

“Tam…mie…” Max groaned, shifting his body, gripping the boundary of the performance’s ring to help lift himself back up to his feet, even as his girlfriend gripped him with her arms and tried to force him to sit back down.

“No, Max, no!” Tammie scolded. “You’re hurt! You just sit down, okay? Sit back down, please…” A small tear started to well up within Tammie’s eyes, quickly wiped away however, and replaced with a determined resolve. She looked back towards Moira and Syed, glaring at them. “I’ll make the guys who hurt you pay!”

With that, Tammie left Max’s side, taking a few steps forward to face both Moira and Syed, the latter having helped Baltimore up to her feet. He wanted to chase after her and stop her from running away and into danger, but she was already gone before he could do anything, his bond to Moira also forbidding him from chasing. He sighed with worry, turning around to face Tammie as the magician girl’s shout drew their attention. Tammie began shouting at the two guilders with great anger, pointing her finger towards them and making threat after threat about how much they’d regret doing what they did.

And from where he sat, Max watched it all with horror and guilt. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t just sit it, and let Tammie try and fight the duo themselves. He’d been up against them already, so he knew how tough they were. Tammie… his dear, sweet Tammie… she was going to get hurt. He couldn’t allow it.

And he still wasn’t out of the game just yet.

“Ere, missy, shut up,” Moira shot her middle finger up at Tammie. “Your idiot boyfriend over there started on us, not my fault he got hurt. You wanna try starting something, you’ll get hurt too. So shut up and… go… away…”

“…no way…” Syed agreed, and with that Tammie turned her head to follow their line of sight, at the man standing behind her, his feet glowing and pulsing with white hot heat. The human rocket charging himself one more time.

“You… stay away… from Tammie!” Max shouted, his body exploding outwards and flying towards Moira and Syed with greater speed and power then ever before

---

Phillis Circus: Big Top: Audience Seating

“Trixie!” Lucien gasped in horror, as his sweet little saviour whom had been trying to rescue him from his bonds was sent flying away with a sickening hit from the beastial gorilla Olga, Lucien powerless to have done anything to help her bar watch. His face fell in horror as he saw Trixie slump amidst the chairs, before picking back up again in anger. He shakily forced himself to stand up.

“Hey, you!” He shouted at Olga, stopping the gorilla in her tracks, much to her confusion. “Yeah, you, ugly! I’m talking to you!” Lucien shouted. Hopefully he could keep the animal away from his friend. His arms were still bound together, with Trixie unable to fully free him moments before. But she had cut through enough of them. If he could squirm and move his body enough for just a little bit more, he’d be free…! “How about picking on someone your own size?”

Olga grew more irritated at Lucien’s noise, as opposed to any of the words he was saying. She doubled back, this time charging towards him, as Lucien struggled within the confines of his rope to desperately free himself in time. Just a little bit… more…!

Olga leapt in the air, her two fists curled behind her for an downward swinging, overhead punch. A second later, and her fists would have pounded Lucien into the ground. But before that could happen, a new form appeared in-between Olga and Lucien, catching the punch and stopping the gorilla in her tracks.

Lucien’s bear stared back at Olga, the gorilla’s eyes widening in realisation at whom she was seeing once again. A mixture of confusion and anger, as she struggled to pull herself free from his grip, to no avail. And then, Olga was sent reeling from a mighty blow to her face, skidding through the chairs and slamming into the tent’s wall.

Big Top
They were running for it! Poppy altered her course, running at the fastest she was capable of in an attempt to intercept them. Seperating her legs at the hips, knees and ankles to give her a larger, faster gait, much like the stiltmen. Her hands were still seperated at the wrists - she simply altered their trajectory as well. She balled them up into fists, and aimed them at the back of both Aria and Lute's right knees.

"Who are you people," she said flatly, her inflection more of a statement than a question. She was partly genuinely interested to know, partly trying to keep the attention away from what her hands were doing. This was more than just being mean. "I don't understand what you mean to achieve."

She leapt into the air, spinning as she went. She had done it, she had managed to get in front of them! She prepared herself to give another spinning kick towards the dark haired girl in particular, as she seemed to be the most aggressive of the pair.

What she wasn't prepared for was the illusion suddenly drop - revealing their true target. She halted, two feet handing once more on the ground directly in Aria and Lute's path as she turned to Guinevere. "MISS PHILLIS!" she yelled in warning, and for once she actually sounded with it. Shame she was actually distracted at the time.

---

He couldn't... there was no way Max was in any state to continue fighting! Syed involuntarily took a step back in fear, his hands immediately moving as swiftly as he could. Max may be badly injured, but that didn't make him any less dangerous, any less overwhelming to fight. If anything, this would make him more so. The only reason Moira had hit him before was because he had put himself in a position where he couldn't evade. He doubted he would make that same mistake twice.

Plus... even amongst the chaos, he could pick out the screams of his allies. His worry, his concern for the others... he couldn't focus on this man properly, not when the others were in so much trouble. He didn't know what was going on, he couldn't afford look around to check. He didn't know who was fighting who, he didn't know how everyone was faring... all he could do was assume the worst.

He fumbled his gestures, the spell suddenly coming to a halt. He could do nothing more than unintentionally spark up in distress, frozen to the spot in horror. There was a terrific flash, and suddenly Max had launched in the blink of an eye. It was too late.

BOOM!!!!!

He recoiled from the shockwave, crossing his arms to protect his face as the ground cracked. He peered between his arms, squinting against the wind and debris... and he couldn't believe what he saw. In the middle of it all was Max and Moira... the latter having miraculously brought her fist down between the former's shoulders and slamming him into the ground.



"Stay down," Moira growled, her scarf flapping behind herself. "For yer girlfriend's sake."

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage

Aria's illusion had worked. Isabella had taken the faux-hit; with all the chaos literally surrounding both Aria and Lute, it seemed unwieldy to target anyone outside their immediate circle. And yet, Aria acted with decisiveness. Her knives flew straight after Guinevere, and her fellow performers would not be able to stop it on time.

But a certain animal who had been resting on the sidelines and recovering her wounds had been watching quietly. When everyone made their way to the stage, she too tried to rise to her feet, to stop these strangers from hurting her friends. Yet every time she moved, an immense pain consumed her body, and she plopped back down. Doomed to watch her friends and fellow animals fight without her help.

Then Aria's knives went flying. Right after Guinevere.



Petra the panda wailed as she charged forward at full speed - and took the hit. She crashlanded right into Guinevere, causing the woman to stumble forward but not completely over. The ringmaster turned to see the circus' beloved panda bear suffering from a line of knives driven right into her body. She was injured, bleeding, but still alive and breathing; the blades had all missed any vital organs and arteries.

But Petra's whimpering, her tears, her hurting, the crimson clotting up her beautiful fur.

Ire. Fury.

Ceasing her attention on Amy, Guinevere now turned to Aria and Lute. "Stop." She knelt down beside the panda and stroked her backside, patting down her ruffled fur. "Stop." Slowly she lifted her head to see the enemies in her sights. Her eyes flared with indignation. "Recreants... I will make you suffer."

With Max's and Olga's crashes, the big top rumbled dangerously. The various animals' stomping around and crashing into things did not help the tent's sustainability. Still the tent was sent rumbling yet again; another giant teddy bear suddenly emerged from the curtained entrance nearest to Aria and Lute. Its appearance was enough to startle Lidya, but she regained her sense of awareness afterwards.

With Aria's previous illusion gone, the lioness had a better sense of where the duo had gone off to. She pounced directly over Isabella and straight after Lute, paw posed to strike at his face upon land.

"Suffer!"

Guinevere rose back to her feet, arm extended towards the teddy bear. It too rushed forward, as other dolls and items began to flood in after it. Dolphins and seahorses zipping around like bats. Basketballs bouncing all around, splitting off in every direction. Tiny, poor-quality critters crawling or flapping about after the various guilders. The longer ones glided along the floor, hoping to ensnare whoever was unlucky enough to be close by.

Two orange snakes slithered towards Moira and Syed, their puppet-like mouths opening wide. Their paper thin fangs sharpened in an instant.

The giant teddy bear followed after Lidya, but instead chose Aria as its target, with arms wide and ready. Once it was near enough, it tripped over absolutely nothing. With its arm still wide it cast a monstrous shadow over Aria and would crush her if she failed to move.

---

"How could you... How could you!" Tammie screeched as Max had fallen, finally defeated. These people were monsters - total monsters! Sure they destroyed her 'home' and attacked her friends - but for them to down her own boyfriend too!? Now they crossed the line!

Tammie rose to her feet and like any insane person, charged right after both Moira and Syed. As she ran, she hollered and screamed with the most ear-piercing thing anyone in the room had heard in a long while. She whipped out her hat and immediately began chucking more fireballs at the duo, setting nearby chairs alight from the splash. She had worked so hard to put them out - but now that Max was hurt beyond repair (as it seemed), she was too infuriated to realize the danger.

Just as Moira and Syed prepared themselves... Tammie suddenly vanished. Poof. Gone. Erased from existence.

Her screaming however had seemed to teleport, now coming from their sides. And there Tammie was, still angrily throwing fireballs at them like baseballs with tears running down her eyes and ruining her makeup.

Behind her was Sammie, leaning along a chair, her cape held to the side. Like her siblings, her cape held a power as well - to teleport people in its place with a mere swish.



Sammie breathed deeply, her cheek pulsing with red from Estelle's attack. "Have that, you shit buckets."

---

Eric Coil too found himself violently pushed over, his side throbbing with newfound pain. He looked to see Cammie standing nearby, with one of those broken whack-a-mole mallets in hand (and his hat on the floor). The magician shook his head at the trenchcoated man. "None of this makes any sense." He then lifted his mallet, aiming to slam it it into Eric again. "I don't know if what you say is true... regardless, I can't allow you to hurt my fam--"

A basketball slammed into Eric's head before bouncing off and smacking into Cammie's own, sending him whirling down. The mallet flew out of his hand and landed on the floored Eric right where it hurt.

BASH!!

Abram's moment of weakness for little Baltimore provided Crispin with the single window of opportunity he needed. The brawler launched a flaming uppercut on Abram's jaw, sending the heavy man flying into the air - then slamming back down as Crispin finished him off with - BAM!! - a secondary jab to the stomach. A couple of teeth landed right beside him submerged in blood. Despite the unbearable pain coursing throughout his head and body, Abram was still left alive and breathing.

He waited a moment to see if Abram had anything left in his power to rise back to his feet, but it became apparent that he was not. Not with the punch wounds, not with the burns. "You sound like a good guy, Abram." Crispin spat beside his own foot, a speck of blood splattering like a raindrop. "It's a shame you're part of this BS."

The brawler turned his attention next to the girls offstage; Xandra had fallen, and Estelle was coming his way, towards Vance. Crispin gave her a quick nod and turned his attention to the ringmaster as well, preparing to take on the unarmed man with everything he had left. The ringmaster looked back to the two of them, his expression hollow.



Abram had fallen. His right-hand man, his favorite among men - brought down by a scrawny broken-handed boy.

Vance's lips twitched. Ire. Fury.

He allowed Xandra to fall to the ground as both pyro-users charged after him. And in doing so, Crispin himself suddenly whirled around - "What the!?" - and faced Estelle instead, his left fist blazing with fire. Before Estelle too could realize just what was going on, Crispin leapt towards the swordswoman and punched the ground as he had before. This time, his fiery blast was focused in a single region; rather than a ring, a wall of fire erected between the two combatants.

Smoke clouded the area, shielding the brawler from Estelle's sight. His voice however gave away his position. "Get... your filthy mitts... off of me!!"

He then dashed through the firewall, aiming his punch for Estelle's head. Of course, his swing had missed and he skidded behind her, but the brawler quickly pounced after her again. "Watch out!!"

---

Vance let a deep breath through his nose as he returned his attention to Amy. Baltimore had placed herself between Amy and Marcus, her arms held out to their sides. She bit her lip, shaking her head wildly at this.

Though Vance's words were tender, his hollow expression displayed otherwise. "Now my sweet, why have you returned?"

"..."

"Is it revenge?" The puppeteer shrugged, his lips curling into a smile. "Surely you did not miss my company."

"..."

"A woman of 'hope,' wasn't that your depiction? Ah, but yet - this is rage, is it not?" Baltimore gasped as she turned around, now facing the stage. Her hands extended before her, palms open, as she spread her arms apart - creating another invisible wall between Amy and herself, Marcus, Eric, and Cammie. Then she gasped and turned back to the wall, banging on it futilely. Vance rambled on. "Oh, dearest Amaranth. Requital is such a... powerful sentiment. But for it to consume even you?"

Amy twitched. She stepped forward, out from the fallen teddy bear's stuffing and broken sword bits. "You know precisely why we're here." She shook her head solemnly. "We're here... to stop you. To put an end to all this bullshit."

"Tell me, my flower. Who is it this time?"

"We're..." Amy stuttered. She raised her staff in Vance's direction with suddenness, the gem tipping it glowing a brilliant red. "We're setting all your captives free. You will pay for--"

Vance held up a palm and shook his head. Chuckling. "No, no, do not spoil it. I love surprises." His eyes reopened to scan the room. "Allow me to guess - is it... this man?"



Lucien cried aloud as he felt something invade his body. While his mind was free from the puppeting, his actions were not of his own. Like a plaything, Vance moved him around, eager to see what it was this man was doing; he must have been the source of this bear, but Vance couldn't figure out exactly how they were connected. Still, the suddenness and unrestrained movements were too much for him to focus his control on the bear he had summoned to help Trixie.

As such, the bear lost control a second time. It barreled through the surrounding chairs and charged after whoever was nearest - in this case, Marcus and Eric. Amy watched this in silence, her expression hiding all emotion.

Vance licked his lips. "Ah... that must be a no. Could it be... that man?"



From the entrance, more smaller carnival prizes rushed in. Marcus was surrounded not only by harmless fluffies, but more of those flying foam swords with sharpened edges. They threatened to knock him around, to burrow straight into him. Though the hand-sized fluffs were feeble, they were still cumbersome working together like a hive of bees. Similar to Guinevere's shredded mouse plush, they possessed quite some weight if they were to throw themselves into somebody.

The bear still hurtled right after them, as Lucien still lost his control.

Amy hadn't even looked back to see what Vance was doing to her friend. Her expression changed not, but she jerked her staff sharply, procuring her light-whip.

Vance's grin widened further, revealing his teeth. He was so amused. "Neither of them! What a predicament you leave me in, dearest."

Vance Boss Theme:
Opheliac

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage

“It’s always the creepy doll ladies, isn’t it?” The virtuoso weakly quipped before jerking his head to the right to listen in on something, and then being distracted by yet another noise from the opposite direction. He could swear there was the oddest sound in the air, like something small flying around…

Well, he needn’t have spent so much time pondering about it, because the next thing he knew both he and Aria were on the ground, hit by Poppy’s severed fists. The acrobat asked them a question that Lute would have answered was it given earlier, and then launched herself in the air. When she stopped, the virtuoso took the chance and grabbed Poppy by the ankle, and pulled her down before she could react from after warning Guinevere, then ran forward to face the ringmistress. Delilah had solely tuned in on what was happening between Xandra and Estelle, and what he heard made the gentle features in Lute’s face disappear under a veneer of hardness. This has gone on for far too long. He and Aria had their eyes trained on the wounded panda that had bravely shielded their target.

The tent was overrun by the din of a myriad toys skittering about, and many were pooling down towards the stage where they stood. The noise was almost deafening. In front of the duo, Guinevere raised her head and glared with eyes full of spite. Lute returned the look with the same level of loathing without so much as flinching. Isabella, on the other hand, was much more vocal. “How dare you…! My family, my home…! And now you wish to murder Guinevere!” Her voice rose pitch per word in fury and indignation, “I cannot forgive you for this! I never will! You… You will suffer for this!” Her sharp gaze was directed at Aria and she pulled out her last knives.

Oh gods, that’s it. “Shut up, will you!?” Lute howled back, his voice rippling over a considerable amount of space due to Delilah’s amplification. The familiar did so in order to make him sound more threatening but in all honesty, what with how he looked now, she needn’t have tried. “You lot spout all this crap about your family being hurt… And I’ve had enough! You’re hurting my friends too, hypocrite! You’re not touching her without going through me!” The virtuoso raised his hand and curled it up into a fist, an almost invisible pulse of energy gathering at his fingers. With his other hand he shot a bolt of loud noise at Lidya, distracting the lioness and at least diverting her trajectory so that her paw raked down his collar instead. The two fell to the ground; while the lion readjusted her course to run after them again, Isabella went after Aria, flinging her knives in a frenzy before the virtuoso finally got up and, free hand pressed against his wounded chest, staggered after the acrobat.

“Look at me!” She did, and Lute unfurled his hand, releasing a sound wave. It was shaky, unlike his normal assaults, and were extremely short-ranged. What it differed from his usual attacks, however, was that it was created to maim, not to distract. With what he had left of the distance between the two of them, he charged at the acrobat, who dropped her weapons with a jarring cry and covered her ears, and tackled her with his shoulder.

Phillis Circus: Big Top

Isabella was sent skidding back by the force of Lute’s attacks, her legs quivering and body shaking as she struggled to remain standing amidst the reel of the virtuoso’s blows. At first all was quiet and still, the fighters around her all watching Isabella in silence and awe, amazed and enraptured in seeing what the cool and calm acrobat’s reaction would be. She was one of the circus’ most pried performers- diligent and hardworking, her talents keenly displayed throughout each and every single one of her performances, enough to earn the admiration and jealousy of all her peers. A woman such as Isabella Raine would not be so easily defeated… and once again here she was, proving such a fact.

The results of Lute’s attack however, was not what anyone could have expected. Even Poppy was stunned into silence at seeing her mentor brought to such a state, unable to comprehend it. This was… impossible for Isabella…!

The blonde, pigtailed acrobat wearily lifted up her head to face Lute and Aria, a hauntingly pained visage staring back at them. Blood trickled down Isabella’s nose and mouth, with a great volume of it running down from her ears. Lute’s attack was no mere sound attack, it had weight and power behind it too. The assault had reverberated throughout her body, attacking her from within, and the following shoulder tackle had only served to exacerbate it. Her hearing was shot, with nothing more other then a dull whine audible for her. She could no longer hear the chaotic screams and shouts of her fellows and their foes about her, only that unceasing, constant whine.

She tried to take a step forward, and almost collapsed as well. Her sense of balance was gone. She could only hope it was temporary, otherwise… otherwise that boy had killed her. He had destroyed her life. Destroyed all sense and meaning in her existence. It would be a fate worse then death.

Anger and rage consumed Isabella’s body. Despite the pain and difficulty, she broke out into a run, charging one last time towards Lute and Aria. Their attacks upon her home and friends, the audacity and nerve, the pure sacrilege it meant to try and hurt Guinevere… she could take no more.

Her body crouched low, swiping up one of her dropped knives, holding it tightly in both hands as she charged towards Lute. Tears intermingled with the blood running free down her face, as images flashed through Isabella’s mind. Pictures of a young and lonely, traumatised girl staring at a burning village, all hope and love dashed in an instance. A girl on the brink of death, saved only by the warm and inviting smile of a teenage girl in a wonderful green dress, talking to and taking the crying girl to meet with and play with all of her wonderful friends… a life spent growing up and looking up to her friend and saviour, and the dedication and effort she put into paying her back, and become someone her friend could be proud of…

Isabella screamed as she swung her knife at Lute.

Phillis Circus: Big Top: Performance Ring

The many plushies and stuffed toys that belonged to Guinevere and served as given prizes from the circus’ stalls continued to besiege the Big Top, spilling into and overflowing inwards from every entrance like an almighty tidal wave, seemingly without end. On and on they bounced and floated, joining the battle inside and causing mayhem wherever they could succeed.

Marcus’ entire body was surrounded by them. Individually they were weak and nebulous, a distraction at best, but with Guinevere’s masterful control and focus of them, they became a dangerous threat, especially in high numbers. And high numbers there were. Marcus became battered on all sides by the plushies, weighted down and hit all around his body, the various dolls and toys obscuring his vision. For every one he would knock back and blow away, two more would take their place, and two more for them. It was all becoming too much.

“Argh!” Marcus cried, as two of the foam swords swung through the air at opposite angles, lightly slashing his opposite arms and legs. With a gritting of his teeth, Marcus reopened his eyes, both glowing a powerful emerald hue. Spiralling out from his body, a massive, powerful tornado gust swept outwards, gripping the toys and sending them blowing out away from him to rain down all over the circus.

‘Too many,’ Marcus tried to think, maintaining his wind magic to keep the toys at bay, but also to limit the strength of his spell lest it afflict the nearby Eric or any of his other close friends. He did not recognise the other two nearby, the charming girl or the strangely androgynous man in the big hat, but considering the latter’s assault on Eric and the two others dressed similarly about the tent attacking his friends, he could wager they were an enemy. ‘Too many to fight like this. We need to disable her, as quickly as we can.’

Lucien’s wild and erratic bear drew close towards Marcus, the wind mage snapping his head to face it. Twitching his eye, Marcus twirled his staff within his hands, as he quickly deliberated what he should do.

Another powerful burst of wind shot out from the tip of Marcus’ staff, blowing out and enveloping the entire bear’s body. To its surprise, the sheer force and power of the wind ripped the bear off its feet and sent it flying back to crash against another of the Big Top tent’s walls, further destabilising and rocking the entire area.

Perhaps this could be a suitable tactic?

Marcus turned his attention back again towards Vance and Guinevere, as Amy drew close towards Vance. On the other side of them, he could see another particular person charging at the puppeteer. He took a step forward to try and assist them, but was swamped by yet more stuffed dolls and toys surging in his path.



“Damnit!” Estelle cursed, ducking low underneath Crispin’s fiery assault, dodging and weaving throughout his errant strikes and using the back of her Fireblade to deflect the attacks too close for comfort. Sparks rained through the air as the two fire wielders danced about the stage. Crispin’s strikes continued to direct Estelle back to the wall of fire he had summoned, with Estelle dropping to her knees and rolling out of the path of his next strike which reverberated against the flames. “Fight it, Crispin, you idiot!” Estelle yelled, swinging her leg out and tripping Crispin onto his behind.

As the man fell to his behind, Estelle quickly picked herself up and began dashing against towards Vance, her fireblade raised in hand. She was growing tired of him and his insulting antics. They needed to take him down. Now.

Big Top
"What the fuck is with you people?!" Moira shrieked as she brought her sword before her, holding the flat of it's broad blade out to block the next flameball. Damnit! Sweat began to drip down her face. She couldn't keep this up, the heat was simply getting to her. All her armor was doing was conducting it! She adjusted her stance, tightening her grip, waiting for the opportunity...

Now! She leapt forward, sword glinting as she slashed away another fireball, rapidly approaching on the girl in return. She wasn't aiming to cut or cleave, but rather to strike the girl with the flat of her blade. To knock her out. She would do it with her fists, if she didn't think the girl would set her alight in the process.

Except the girl vanished in the swoosh of a cape. Moira didn't at first process it, blinking rapidly in the space where she had just dissapeared from. And at the face of the girl who had joined the battle. Wait, was that her?

She certainly wasn't prepared for something to suddenly ensnare her legs, winding up and up before sinking it's strangely sharp plush teeth into the back of her leg. Neither was she prepared for the fireball to arrive from a completely different direction. The fireball struck her before she had a chance to react, igniting the snake and engulfing her in flames. She screamed a horrible, inhuman noise as she fell, the flames dissipating once more.


"Moira?!" Syed shouted in alarm, the second snake falling charred and motionless to the ground before it could reach him. "Moira!" His eyes desperately darted to the other two girls. They worked well as a team, and with him on his own...!

He took a deep breath. His heart felt like it was smashing itself across his ribs, his head was absolutely full of thoughts of death and fire and screams and helplessness and agonised faces. But he had to let it go. He had to concentrate.

He began to cast, his hands moving in broard gestures as he began to move his feet, partly to facilitate with the movements and partly to make himself difficult to target. Electricity began to swarm his body as he narrowly avoided fireball after fireball, as more and more toys swarmed around them. It was only by virtue of his electricity that they weren't getting under his feet altogether.

And finally he stopped, one hand extended towards Sammie with his index and middle fingers outstretched before her. His chest heaved and his eyes glowed, but for a moment nothing seemed to happen. "Wh-" Cammie started.

At least until a chair from the seating area slammed into the back of her, magnetised by it's metallic legs. Syed had used himself as a distraction.

"Sorry!" He shook as he continued to spark and arc with electricity, to try and keep the toys at bay. "But you're not the only ones with someone important counting on you!"

Phillis Circus: Big Top - Onstage (Stage Left)

Guinevere grimaced as Lute's voice exploded, but she quickly shook off the ringing in her ears. Aria and Lute were starting to draw in too close for comfort, but still the ringmaster was confident Isabella and Poppy could handle them deftly. Lidya was still there as well, but she stood off from the enemies, pawing uncomfortably at her own face and ears. More inanimate prizes flowed into that area, but rather than distancing herself or focusing on the two guilders, Guinevere allowed the nearest toys to do her bidding.

Five more foam swords hovered around the quad, a couple in Poppy's reach(es) with their blades pointed at Lute and Aria. Once more they hardened and sharpened themselves, ready to fling at their opponents once they had a clear shot. There still remained the giant waddling teddy bear as well. Other hovering dolls arranged themselves into a flying fluffy fence, blocking off the guilders from easily reaching Guinevere. Still her injured panda laid beside her feet as well.

Lute cried out about hypocrisy, which only prompted Guinevere to snap back. "You forget who barged into whose home first!! Nobody would be getting hurt had it not been..."



"Ohhh my gods," Crispin cried out, his body still fighting like a machine despite his attempts to override it. "Cut it with the 'innocent' game, will you!? I'm so sick of--ack!"

Estelle's leg knocked him down. She then used this opportunity to gain a headstart after Vance. As much as Crispin wanted to root for her, his body painfully jumped up and charged after her. Legs like noodles, he groaned with each step as he charged after her. "Ugh! To your left!"

With his one working hand, he punched forward, sending out a fiery projectile after Estelle. The flame was weak however, and even as Estelle shifted her direction to dodge it, it dissipated before it could even reach her. This only propelled Vance to move him faster, with as much agonizing speed as the brawler had left in him. Even then he had underestimated Estelle's versatility. Crispin continued to cry out as he ran after Estelle and sent more dying projectiles her way. He managed a jump, quickly gaining on the swordswoman, and attempted another punch at her face.

Of course, that punch missed entirely, and Vance forced him to follow up with his second hand. This hit landed; Crispin had loosely jabbed her shoulder... with his broken hand. While it did nothing more than harmlessly push the swordswoman away from him, Crispin began to howl in pain yet again. His entire body flooded in agony, begging him to stop, to cool off. His pyrokinesis was nowhere near trained enough to be used in prolonged battles like this, nor did he enjoy fighting with broken bones - but Vance pushed his limits regardless.

After that final jab, Crispin's movements became more erratic than normal. He staggered forward, after the fleeing swordswoman, but his legs wobbled with each step. The fire engulfing both of his hands flickered before going out.

Suddenly the brawler hunched over and fell onto his side. Trembling wildly, he cradled his busted hand and erratic fingers. Thin vapors emitted from his body but evaporated soon enough. "I'm gonna be sick..."