Joseph straightened himself a bit as he stared down Espada. “Just like I remembered.” His tone was calm, but anyone could tell by looking at him that he wasn’t anywhere near such a state of mind. Joseph wouldn’t be calm until this was over. Until everything was over. Still, despite the deep seeded resentment he held for Espada he couldn’t help, but feel some sort of enjoyment in the feeling he was getting. The feeling of a high stakes battle like this. During the first war with the Shades he was the hero, but more than that it felt good to fight. To take on someone he wasn’t sure he could beat.

Since then he hadn’t really had the privilege of being able to seriously go all out. Sure there was the occasional training. But even with his parents or Hana it was lacking. Maybe he was crazy. But aside from the joy of helping and defending people he just couldn’t match the feeling of a battle such as this. He was so angry. He hated Espada. But more so than wanting revenge… Right now… he wanted Espada to fight him all out. Why hadn’t he realized this before? Why?

“Fuck… You and your insane family sure did do a number on me.” Joseph said as he rolled his shoulders and his head. He was loosening himself up. Something about all this… It all just felt so right. Like this was where he was meant to be. Twisted as it may have been he felt something more than just Hatred for Espada. This applied to all the Shades really. But only now was it dawning on him. “Better not hold back.” He seemed to be ordering his opponent. “I wanna get all I can out of this before I kill you.” He said before charging again. This was a clash that wouldn’t be settled so easily.

---

Upon Luka’s arrival Tamotsu scoffed lightly. “So glad you could join me.” He said in a somewhat sarcastic tone. Wait… Could Tamotsu even effectively use sarcasm? He was almost always so straight forward. It wasn’t like him. And to Luka of all people? “Well whatever. Not like I’d wanna have anybody else at my side.” He said before letting out a small laugh. “Don’t tell Misa I said that.” He managed to joke as he continued towards Takashi and Zephyr mowing down enemy after enemy. Soon they would be at the room.

“Neither. To be honest… I’m not sure either of them could really kill me.” He said subtly implying that Zephyr was the only one at risk of dying for a second time. “That’s what worries me.” He added before sighing. Soon the sounds of footsteps could be heard. So close. They were so close! And then Zephyr spoke again. He had a point. They could attack at any time. But even so. Takashi knew better than to think Tamotsu would be caught so far off guard like that.

“Don’t worry about them.” Takashi said calmly. Funny thing is Tamotsu was saying the exact same thing to Luka at the time. Things were about o get really heated.

---

Chris stood up straight after landing while staring down Kuro. “You know… You don’t seem as hell bent on following through with this as the rest of your family.” He said having heard what Kuro was saying. If that’s the case why are you even really helping?” It was strange, but this uncertainty in his and Amelia’s would-be opponent was somewhat annoying. “What reason could you have for continuing something so… Wait… What exactly did you mean when you said we’d all become magic?” He then asked the words just actually striking him as odd.

---

Rook smirked and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go!” He cheered as he reverted to his smaller form. It was easier to conserve energy for his battle form for when he actually needed it. In one quick motion he picked up Melissa and was flying upwards alongside Skyler. “Geez Sky. We sure picked a fun group to join right?” The red exceed asked his long time bud.

"And we're so glad you guys joined us." Melissa chimed in with a smile hearing Rook. Then, she glanced at Misa. “Man… Too bad Ryuji isn’t here to enjoy this fight with us.” In all honestly Melissa wasn’t as much of a battle nut as Misaki. Sure she liked fighting, but not for such high stakes. Inside she was a little unsure about whether or not everyone would make it out of this safe and sound.

"Don't kid yourself! You're the one who's not walking away from this alive, Emiya!" Espada roared back as he engulfed his arm in another blade-shaped wave of raw magic power. He swept it across the huge platform, neatly cutting stone ornaments and small buildings down. Not that he expected it would be enough...

"Heh, but regardless of who lives or dies, we're all going to be unable to fight after tonight. Can't be much longer now!"

---

"Minerva believes we were magic once, but we've been confined to these bodies... Not just humans - everything was just a magical presence. Energy." Kuro lifted his guns slowly to the two mages, the pressure around him growing as he prepared to fight. "Minerva found a way to obliterate existence, so that we can all return to our true form, together. Personally I don't care what she does or where it takes us... She's my sister, and Espada is my brother. Even if their insanity comes into question, I will defend them to my last breath. You won't get me to stand down - not unless I can be assured of their safety... If they died I would have nothing. This is why I fight you people!"

Amelia raised her finger as if to suggest something, but she was cut off by the sudden attack.

As Kuro finished, he flipped high above Chris & Amelia, unleashing a hail of elemental bullets on them that even the likes of Joseph would have trouble dodging. Ice, fire, water, rock, light, darkness and more - this was his true power and skill in unison - not the raw magic energy and simple gunplay he fought Tamotsu with. He fully intended to mow his opponents down with more variety than they could handle.

"WALL OF FLAMES!" Amelia called above the gunfire. With a sweep of her engulfed arm and a gasp in exertion, a massive barrier of fire appeared between the two sides. It was a lot of effort to pull off something like this without time to prepare, so much that it tired Amelia physically. Before she could join Chris for a counterattack, a stray shard of ice dug into her right shoulder, followed by a brief lightning strike that caused her to jolt and shake herself off. And as if that wasn't enough, an invisible wind bullet caught her feet and she tumbled forward clumsily. The barrier wasn't incinerating everything that got fired through... So much for being ready!

"Chris~... I need a bandaid for my shoulder." Amelia pouted playfully. Of course she wasn't taking the deadly battle seriously! This was Amelia - she didn't even take her short fight with Kinzoku seriously a few years ago.

(Misa & Meli will join in here soon/when it goes bad ^_^ So let's assume they're still kicking the crap out of another wave of grunts)

---

As Jessica's pet reached the top level of the mountain-fortress, the highest tower, Arthur dove off the creature's back. As he landed, the platform of the tower was engulfed in a storm of dark and light magic. "Knock knock," he murmured as he began throwing dark mages around with his dual-casting.

The Neko from the screenshots left the magic cannon to charge in the hands of the weapon crew, so that she could deal with the new arrivals. As she stopped and waited for Jessie and Arthur, she held her arm nervously. The poor girl had a shock collar, so she clearly wasn't here by choice... But that was a terror tool - no wonder she helped the enemy in favour of being electrocuted.

"This is the only warning I'll give you... I have to ask you to leave..." Mari gulped as Arthur stopped his attack. This girl was the only one left now... His eyes flicked to the cannon as it's aim adjusted, the charging had just begun. The next shot would mean curtains for the innocent people of London, and they couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

---

The moment Luka and Tamotsu entered the shield room, a dagger of ice flew at each of them. Needless to say it was a predictable thing, and Luka easily rolled underneath it and brought her twin guns up ready to fight. "Ah, we meet again, Ice-bastard. I guess I didn't shoot you hard enough last time... How is it that you're still breathing?" she growled at Zephyr, as he wasn't fighting for the moment. Her eyes flicked to Takashi for a moment and she smiled brightly, "Hey, Takashi!"

Zephyr rolled his eyes as he fell out of the spotlight. Seemed like Minerva was giving the four a little reunion time before she started dishing out commands. "...Tamotsu didn't turn me into vapour, actually. You know that magic the evil boss lady uses? Saved me at the last second. But not for tea and crumpets. As you can probably guess, we're fucking slaves now~ ...And we don't have much time before we start trying to kill you two against our will."

Luka just shrugged before looking back at Zephyr with a game-on smirk, "It's fine - I don't have a problem shooting you in the face, Icey," she chirped innocently.

Joseph leaped over the incoming attack from Espada. “There you go underestimating your opponent.” The mage laughed as he came down again. “We beat your father when he tried fucking shit up and we’re gonna beat you too!” Joseph roared sending a powerful blast at Espada. The white dragon’s roar. Powerful and deadly. “Just try not to disappoint me.” Joseph cut the blast from his mouth and land quickly lunging at Espada whom he’d assume would dodge the attack or deflect it somehow. He couldn’t afford to give the mage room to breathe.

---

Chris had listened to Kuro. He kind of understood. He wasn’t sure he could oppose Jessia and meli if they wanted to do something like this after all. Still he wasn’t about to let the Shade’s fuck over the entire world at their own leisure.

Amelia tried to speak, but soon was cut off by a barrage of attacks. This was bad. They couldn’t dodge. Or at least she couldn’t. It was a bit easier for him. Especially, since he’d been drinking more blood in the time that he’d known her. Still what bothered him more than Kuro’s disregard for the words Amelia probably would have wasted on him was the fact that she got hurt. “Poor Amelia. Just what am I going to do with you?” He said calmly. Similar to her he’d been hit a bit too. Three ice bullets. He pulled them out quickly wincing slightly at the pain. The wound would heal rather quickly. Maybe it was the blood, but his vampiric abilities had become more prominent. Awakened so to speak.

“You should think about keeping your guard up. You aren’t much like me after all.” He said to her calmly before summoning a lizardman and merging with it. Okay so the powers were great. He could heal easily. But that didn’t mean he liked being hurt. He wasn’t some masochist who enjoyed that shit. Although, he did wonder if Saren was. He could probably learn a bit from the older Vampire. Now wasn’t the time for such casual thoughts though. His eyes quickly found Kuro. The look on his face was deadly serious. “Is it just about my turn now?” He asked giving Amelia a chance to get herself together.

---

Jessica followed Arthur ordering her pet to “Heel.” Her order was simply and it obeyed. “Arthur.” She was more serious now than earlier. It just went to show that she could drop the ridiculousness when the time called for it. She’d taken a glanced around taking in the smaller details Arthur may have missed. One in particular was the collar around the neko girl’s neck. The nervousness and fear. She sighed. This girl probably didn’t want anything to do with this. Her initial plan was to take her down without any remorse, but now.

“We’ll need to make sure not to hurt this girl and get that thing off her neck.” She got very close to Arthur as she whispered in a tone low enough so that even the neko couldn’t hear. “Do you understand?” She asked stepping away from. “This’ll take a little more finesse than usual if it’s even possible. And we’ll need to work hard.” She paused. “You can handle yourself under pressure when things get hard right?” She giggled and winked ready to get things started.

---

“Luka. Relax. If we can we need to try and save BOTH of them.” Tamotsu stated quickly after dodging the first attack as well. “Well… Isn’t this just…” Takashi tried to speak, but didn’t even get the chance as Tamotsu’s hand was on his face. “Fire Dragon’s Grip Strike!” He shouted pushing Takashi back into the wall behind him with a blaze releasing onto the blonde’s face. Point blank fire from a fire dragon… Not really something you would wanna experience.

“Gah! What the fuck?!” Takashi shouted after Tamotsu released him. “You were about to get all sappy and awkward and shit now that you, me AND Luka are here.” Tamotsu said calmly. He and Takashi had that kind of connection. They just knew each other. From what they were feeling to how they felt about others. It was easy to gauge each other and catch up with just a look. They could read each other like open books. “Well…” Takashi tried again, but received a knee to the gut before he was thrown in Zephyr’s direction.

“Let’s get one thing straight! Whatever happens happens. Got it?! But regardless of all the personal shit. Me and Luka are gonna get you two out of here. We’ll set you free and it won’t matter if we have to beat you both down before we do it.” Well he didn’t care about hurting Takashi. He wasn’t sure if Luka could say the same. He often fought his brother seriously in the past anyway. Takashi was speechless after that.

"Such a tease..." Arthur sighed at Jessica as he shoved his hands in his coat pockets, "Look, you don't need to fight. I'm sure Minerva's far too busy with Hana right now to notice you playing insubordinate. Just stand to one side and let us do our job, we're not going to hurt-"

Without the poor girl having a chance to reply, the shock collar made a loud snapping sound, and the expression on the Neko's face... She couldn't be in more pain at the electric pulse. It felt like she'd just been dipped in lava, and that pain only meant one thing to her: obey, or it gets far worse. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Mari screamed before sending an unnaturally large wave of Arthur's combined dark & light magics at the two. Pain fuelled her willpower, providing her with immense power - all she wanted was to be free. To be free, she had to do what Minerva told her.

Arthur simply held his hand out and stopped the attack before it reached the two. Being a master of the two elements, he could toy with this Mimicry Magic. But if the Neko began to use Jessica's magic, ...that would hurt, and he'd count on Ms. Daniels to do something about it! "Damn it, this is so inhumane... We still need to deal with the cannon, too. Otherwise it's curtains for most of London," he murmured as the mimic'd spell got absorbed into the palm of his hand.

"Lady Minerva is controlling my collar, a complex magic ritual and two Dragon Slayers all at the same time she's fighting with our enemy. You can't win!" Mari sobbed, clearly beginning to break down thanks to the abusive treatment. But she sounded so regretful, so sorry, ...and she seriously underestimated everyone's chances. But then, she didn't know these people at all. 'Lose' wasn't a part of their vocabulary!

---

Zephyr didn't have the control to catch Takashi, so he more or less just watched his only ally tumble by. Then, out of nowhere, they received their single instruction: kill.

"I dunno, Tamotsu. Takashi will be, but Zephyr might not be alive after this is over," Luka shrugged a shoulder and started unloading at the two with non-lethal shots as they became active, but panels of thickened ice formed in the air and absorbed every single bullet. This meant he and Takashi were being made to keep each other alive, too... So there was no advantage with Tamotsu & Luka coordinating as a team.

"I wouldn't be so sure, pink hair!" Zephyr challenged, diving over his shields and lobbing a spear of ice at each of his opponents. "Sorry about that! I hope no one bites the dust, but.. let's still make this a blast, whatever happens!"

---

"Knock yourself out, Chris... Better yet, knock Kuro out!" Amelia giggled as her shield of flame fell apart. Conserving power might be a better way to go about all this. The firepower being dished out by that gunslinger mage was ridiculous... Better avoided than taken on with barriers and the like. At least Chris wouldn't die if he got riddled with holes.

Amelia made an effort to distract Kuro, dodging magic bullets left and right so he had only one gun to fight Chris with.

---

Espada formed two of his raw magic blades on his arms, large and potent-looking. "Who's underestimating who, Emiya!?" he cackled as he charged straight into the White Dragon's Roar, cutting a path straight through it as he ran. When it finished, Joseph lunged at him, and Espada typically made a horizontal cross-slash with his arms, aiming to cut an unsuspecting Joseph in two. Unlikely, but Espada was out for blood.

Chris smirked and stretched himself out just a bit. "Right. Right." He said before darting off in Kuro's direction. With Amelia distracting him Chris was free to charge forward. He couldn't predict where the bullets were likely to go, but in his more animal forms he could work a little more on instinct. Still he couldn't dodge all, but those that would hit wouldn't do much damage. "You and your siblings are going down Kuro." He spoke as he began to slash at the man once he got close enough. That would go on for a bit before he began to use his legs and add combinations into his assault. Though what might really surprise Kuro would be the powerful tail he was waiting to utilize at the proper moment.

---

It didn't take anything for Joseph to dodge the horizontal slash. A simple movement and he was at Espada's side. "I learned the lesson about underestimating my opponents a long time ago." He responded as he threw a powerful punch aimed his opponents face. Simultaneously was another punch aimed at the side. He wasn't planning to lose this one. And he wasn't planning to get any help on it. He was planning to win. Which is why he'd follow up with a powerful kick to the gut. Of course, each powerful attack would be intensified by the white dragon's light which in the past few years had become even stronger, as Joseph had grown more in each physical and mental aspect one could possibly train.

---

Jessica narrowed her eyes staring down the fellow Neko. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she had to take her seriously and help take her down. She sent her larger pet back to it's home and then opened three portals. Out of them appeared one red, one blue and one grey wolf. The Grey wolf studied the Neko girl for a moment before running back through his portal. His job was to spread the word about this particular Neko just in case she used Jessica's ability. If she did whatever creature she summoned would likely turn on her at the sight of one of their true masters.

"We tried this the easy way." She said with a smirk as she came up behind Arthur and wrapped her arms around him. She held him a bit tightly and grinned. "Now my friend here is going to need to get a little rough with you." As she spoke talking up Arthur in a rather uncomfortably close, for most anyway, manner she discreetly slipped a tiny creature into one of his pocket. A tiny magical imp known for tinkering with magical and technological items. "Get the little guy close." She whispered opting to let him do most of the big stuff while directing the red fire and blue ice wolves so as not to show what else could be done. It could prove very dangerous if she attempted to use Jessica's custom magic. It could cause serious physical and mental backlash.

---

Tamotsu, in the blink of an eye, was in front of Luka his fist set ablaze as he threw a punch. It collided with the spear causing the tip to melt and the rest of the icy weapon to shatter due to the sheer force behind the flame fueled punch. "Now get back!" He shouted as he jumped back and pulled the backed of Luka's collar to come along with him. He was, of course, moving completely on instinct at the time because he knew what was coming. Luckily the feeling he got in his gut was proven correct by the lightning blast which came flying by. "Cover me." Was all the flame dragon said before he charged forward. His fists and feet with fire coated and he rocketed off the ground towards Zephyr who'd so recently leapt over his barrier. He launched a flurry of punches.

Takashi and Zephyr's control was strong, but it was likely they'd be hardwired to take out the most troublesome. It'd likely be Tamotsu. And luckily... "Lightning Dragon's ROAR!" Takashi shouted releasing a blast in both Tamotsu and Zephyr's direction. Tamotsu waitedattacking and keeping Zephyr glue down. Just before impact he aimed a punch for the center of Zephyr's eyes and nose. Hopefully, this would daze him, but Tamotsu couldn't wait to see. He jumped out of the way of the attack and turned sending a roar of his own at Takashi. Of course, Takashi cut his attack and dodged as well. "Do better bro! You and Luka need to take us down!" Takashi shouted. Tamotsu didn't say anything to Luka. He trusted she could handle getting good shots in without killing Takashi or Zephyr.