Is she... flustered? He thought.

She sounded upset, but he had no idea why she would be. He was pretty damn sure he hadn't done anything yet, all he'd really said was she definitely wasn't a guy. There was only one thing he could really think about at that moment. It felt reeeeeeally wrong that he was thinking it but still...

That's freakin' adorable. He thought.

She seemed to be trying to get angry at him, but she was so smol(small)! (>.<) The people he fought were always taller than him, his avatar was basically a 13 year old after all. Now that he was fighting someone his own size, he found it hard to take her seriously. She was like a frightened kitten, he really wanted to pet her.

"It doesn't matter to me if you hold back or not," Kosuke said, trying to keep a straight face. He got into a battle stance and pointed his lance forward. "You're on the hit list, and I don't get paid until you're off of it!"

But suddenly, a piercing howl cut through the air. He looked up and sure enough, there was a massive dissolution smashing up the Black City.

Um, what? He thought.

He saw a flash of silver behind its leg and he strained his eyes trying to see what it was. He could barely make it out but it was... a muscle-bound naked guy delivering a flying kick?

What the hell is going on? He thought.

Naked silver man aside, the giant dissolution was sort of heading in their direction. That was a problem.

"Hey actually," He said, turning to Flan. "You think we should go take care of that first?"

@unlucky0013

"I'd suggest getting a car or something, but listening to you guys, I don't think thats a good idea."

Why would she be worried about that getting a car? Nies must have almost hit her or something “No worries, I don’t think the Sanctuary is too far away! Besides, I wouldn’t let Nies behind the wheel if we were!” with a cheeky grin Jukebox grabbed Nies and Static by the hand and led the trio in a direction he thought was to the Sanctuary.

“Wow, a Healer and Warrior’s hands really do feel different. I always suspected since DGO is so detailed, but I never had the opportunity to prove it before now!” as he was talking he got a reply message from Arms Slave,



Oh for fuck sake... did he not read my message? Saying creepy shit for the sake of it isn’t really that intimidating!



Hitting send Jukebox, hearing a boom and a Dissolution’s roar not too far away, stopped in his tracks. Well now, that sounds like EXP calling my name!
“Soooo... you two wouldn’t mind a change of plans and investigating what manner of Dissolution made that, hopefully getting that extra bit of EXP on the way?” Not waiting for a reply Jukebox let go of his new friends and almost ran towards what he hoped would be sweet, sweet EXP.

@Lucius Cypher@Scarifar@Caits

@Scarifar@McFazzer

Nies gave a blush as Static said about a car. "It wasn't that bad!" She said, in an almost squeaky voice, "I Only cashed after the desolutions attacked, and just before the force log out! I drove here! I have a car! I didn't crash it!" She said enthusiastically, wanting to prove she wasn't that bad of a driver.

She smiled though, thrilled with her situation now. She had Jukebox, and Static, so now she had people to help, and they could help her too! Even if it was just for one day, it still made her happy. She was jigging slightly, excited for what was to come.

Jukebox dragged them along, and Nies quickly got her feet under her, jogging to stay next to him. She blushed at the comment about their hands, and imagined that her's were much like they were in real life-soft and smooth. No doubt Statics were rough, being a warrior, "Ah. Well. There isn't that much chance to fight as a healer, supporting our partners takes most of our time"

She noticed that Jukebox seemed a bit distracted, but didn't ask, stopping when he stopped at the roar and boom. She frowned slightly, and nodded, "Ye-" But Jukebox was already gone. Nies cursed lightly under her breath, before jogging after him, figuring he would need some support from what she had seen so far.

@Caits@McFazzer

Static couldn't help but laugh at Nies' response. It was just too funny. Then Jukebox grabbed their hands, which made Static blush in surprise, and started leading them to the sanctuary. No guy ever took her hand, and Static wasn't quite sure how it made her feel. However, she did show mock indignation on the remark about how their hands felt. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Megumi asked, really letting the tone of mock indignation show in her voice. However, it seemed Jukebox was preoccupied with something. Static was going to ask him what it was when a loud roar caught their attention.

"What was that?" Static asked as they stopped in their tracks. Jukebox asked them if they wanted to go check out whatever made that sound, and Megumi quickly made her decision. After all, there was some sweet, sweet EXP to be gained. "Sure," Static barely said before Jukebox took off running. "Hey, wait up!" Static called out after him, quickly catching up to him. "Don't get too excited without me and Nies," Static said, flashing a smile at him.

Smitten Kitten hide behind a corner, her heart racing. The gunshots didn't hit her but they were close. "Of course she would know where I'm at. She must be a rogue or something. I guess hiding isn't really an option right now... But as long as I don't go outlaw, I can still get close to her." Smitten Kitten looked around for another exit, leaving by running down the ally. Assuming that Moon Rider was going to stay put, she could possibly intercept her from another alley.

But just as Smitten Kitten left, she spotted an absolutely massive Dissolution in the distance. "Oh fiddlesticks..." This was going to put a dent into Smitten Kitten's plan. Not only that but she also noted a bunch of players showing up that weren't outlaws. Either they were outlaws who were just looking for targets, or they may be Moon Rider's allies. Whoever they were Smitten Kitten had to act fast so she ran up the opposite side of the street. She would try to catch Moon Rider when the black king wasn't paying attention to her. That was a small window, but that just meant Smitten Kitten needed to be near by at all times.

The massive Dissolution was suddenly halted in its ongoing campaign to destroy the Black City. Its body lurched forward ever so slightly before it turned its ugly maw towards the source of the attack. Unnatural and beady eyes gleamed in the dark as they spotted the Silver Streaker, a hiss escaping its bony lips.

With a snarl, it unleashed a steady fog of poison from its open mouth in the attempt to choke out the Streaker and drain his HP. And while Vargus attacked the beast with is powerful magic, its stream of deadly gases did not waver despite the small damage it was taking. The Dissolution merely swerved its head to aim at both Players now, arms reaching forward in the attempt to grab them.

Further away, the Corpse Collector looked from Flan, to Rocket Lancer, then back to Flan again. Though she really didn’t care for the weak Player, something about the way Lancer spoke to the other Avatar made the Corpse Collector frown. It didn’t help that Lancer was getting in a battle stance even with the presence of the rouge Dissolution upon them all.

“Yeah, maybe we should,” Corpse Collector said when Lancer suggested they check out whatever it was causing those ripples. “But next time fuck face, you really should make sure you hunt down the right people. I doubt Cream Puff here is strong enough to warrant Outlaw status, the weak ass. Still, you touch her ass and I pump a bullet in yours. Got it?”

What the hell was she doing? No seriously, what the actual hell? Did she really feel sympathy for poor Flan? The answer….was no. And yet she didn’t think the other girl was supposed to be on whatever list Lancer was spouting on about. Probably some rookie Eraser or some shit like that, Corpse Collector thought to herself with a grin. Yeah, she knew about that stuff. It came with her profession after all.

---

@Lord Santa, @Eklispe, @Unlucky0013, @RoflsMazoy

Newt ran after Moon Rider, following not so closely. The rouge was much faster than her. Moon Rider suddenly halted. For a moment Newt thought she was waiting for her, but then her pistol appeared and she shot in a seemingly random direction. What's she doing? Did she spot someone? Evidently she did, as she was now threatening the unseen individual. Newt heard the sound of running. A portal opened near her, the exit coming out where Moon Rider had shot. She was getting ready to chase the individual, but halted as something caught her attention. A massive dissolution had lurched into view.

Newt turned to Moon Rider, the portal closing. "Well, I'm sure you've already noticed that," Newt said, pointing at the dissolution. "Needless to say I think it would probably be best to take care of that instead of whoever you were shooting at. If we don't stop it it'll probably level the city given enough time." She saw the creature shooting gas out of it's mouth, "There's no way that thing is an accident. If it's that strong someone must've fed it on purpose..."

The Silver Streaker's outstretched foot sailed into the monster's exposed joint, landing with a satisfying thud. It seemed to give a little as the Silver Streaker used the impact to jump off onto a nearby building. The monster seemed to buckle a little, unbalanced by the kick.

"Yeah!" the Silver Streaker yelled triumphantly.

Unfortunately, it didn't last. The giant righted himself and turned to glare at the new silver threat. Its health bar had hardly gone down at all. It hissed, and the Silver Streaker got ready to run. As the maw opened, the Silver Streaker leapt away. Poison mist came shooting out of the colossus's mouth. Despite his best efforts, he was still hit by it, though only passingly. It didn't do damage, but he wouldn't stay in it for long, because he'd likely suffer serious damage.

As he ran, the head followed him, chasing him as he jumped to the next rooftop, breathing death behind him. Suddenly, a bolt of magic appeared and struck the dissolution, distracting the dissolution. The Silver Streaker whirled around to see who'd done it and saw a supporting player behind him. He grinned, glad that someone was helping him.

"Thanks, buddy!" The Silver Streaker exclaimed.

But the dissolution didn't even stop. Instead, it opened its mouth even wider. The Silver Streaker turned back around to the sight of the massive arms reaching out to grab them.

This isn't looking good. The Silver Streaker thought.

He sighed and relaxed as the arms reached out to him, before suddenly leaping forward, sprinting towards the approaching arm and toxic cloud.

"Be careful, dude! Arm incoming!" The Streaker called out.

The Silver Streaker hoped that his new team mate could deal with the arm, because he had to deal with the poison gas. Holding his breath, he sprinted into the mist, darting through the dark fog before emerging into the light to see the arm speeding towards him, fingers outstretched. The Silver Streaker jumped with all of his might, sailing over the poison, over the reaching fingers, landing on the giant's long arm. The Silver Streaker sprinted up the arm, even while it was moving.

"Stop being such a dick!" The Streaker yelled, reaching its head. "Eat this!"

Jumping up once again, the Streaker performed a forward somersault, rising above the giant's face. At the apex of the jump, just above the titan's head, the Silver Streaker stretched his foot out using the momentum from his somersault to bring it down onto the dissolution's misshapen head.

"Spinning Silver Axe Kick!" He yelled.

@Eklispe and also maybe @TheWindel

Jukebox was glad that the others decided to follow him, Static seemed like a good warrior and Nies was a healer, a good basic party. Grinning widely he almost laughed in relief
"Thanks for joining me... I would probably be in an awful situation without you two. Well I'd probably die and that would hinder my growth a bit. All those outlaws I threw off roofs would be useless!" Jukebox slid around the last corner and came face-to-back with the Level 5 Dissolution.



Two other avatars were engaging the beast and were having mixed success. Sure they were damaging it, but Jukebox couldn't call it much, plus the claws and what looked like a poison gas of some kind were clearly damaging and acted as an effective crowd control method.

It's big... but it's also worth a lot of EXP... Realising that the sudden burst of music would soon get the Dissolution's attention, Jukebox resolved to engage it and raised the fire axe above his head before throwing it at the monster's back, he also dropped a grenade near the creature before running away as fast as he could.

"It's a very big one! Be careful!" as Fireworks activated causing a bright blue explosion firework he yelled out "It's also probably looking this way! Nies! Where'd you park?" ran further along as he equipped his PPK, hoping that hitting the creature with some vehicles would do some decent damage.

Nies grumbled under her breath, as the two ran offf, and she tried to catch up to them. "Oh, no don't wait up for me, Jeez, why can't my legs be longer?" She grumbled, before focusing on running, looking to keep Static and Jukebox in her site. She was panting as she caught up to them, "If you don't want to die, why run so fast?! I can't run as fast as either of you!" She said exasperated, slowing as they turned the corner.

She immediately began to invoke a spell, to be ready to unleash it if Jukebox did something stupid, like nearly getting himself killed as the massive Desolution looked their way, probably brought on my Jukebox's inability to be quite. As Jukebox asked about the car, she hesitated briefly. If they all died here, this was probably the only time she had to ask a question, but then she said "Over that way, just inside the city limits" She said, pointing in the direction she had parked the car,

She seemed to grasp what he wanted to do, and exclaimed, "Don't wreck the car! The guild might not let us have anymore if you do! You totaled the bike, the first car was probably on its last legs before you totaled that one too! Don't total this one! I've just learned to drive, learned the freedom of it!" She said, quickly, not taking a breath almost running the words together in her desperation to get them out.

She backed away, realising that she had to keep alive to protect, or assist with health, for both Static and Jukebox, so she stayed behind them for now, close enough that her spells would work, but not close enough that she'd be damaged, for now "it's too far away, and I"m not leaving you guys!" Apart from the fact that she'd probably run into danger, she wouldn't get back in time with the car, she wasn't fast, damn it!.

She tried to think of another way that she could help, beside using her spells. She had a pretty basic knife, and doubted that would be much help here. She let out a frustrated sound.
@McFazzer@Scarifar

"Gya ha ha ha ha!"

Arms Slave continued to attack, until he could feel his body get sluggish. He was... Slowing down? Must have been the witch doctor. Sure enough he felt one of his axe arms just stop moving. Still alive, but still. Must have been some sort of stunning spell. Soon the rest of his body would follow and Arms Slave would have precious little time to mount a proper defense. His own attacks were hardly breaking through Azga's Barrier, and the cooldown for his Chain Catch wouldn't finish just yet. The best he could do was get his shield up and use them to keep him standing up, but soon his entire body went limp. "Shite."

That's when Midnight Soloist decided to step in and try to finish him off. A quick read on her allowed him to know she was only level 2, but those massive arms were quite discontenting. As he was pushed forward, he figured he might as well taunt the two of them. "Gya ha ha ha... Azga the Amazing... Do you call yourself that name because you're not? Do you think you're so pathetic that you need such a thing? Titles, names, honors... We never got to choose our names you know. Names are picked from our psyche, symbolic to who we are. They're appropriate, or even ironic. Philosophical questions all around. Where do you fall under, Azga? Who's the real you? This one right here, right now, in Deep Ground? Or the sad sack in her room, escaping her reality for our fantasy?"

Arms Slave was pushed down onto his stomach by Midnight Soloist, who took hold of his arms looked ready to pound into his back. This was going to hurt. "Midnight Soloist. What's truly unique about you is those arms of yours... Big fancy arms, but let me guess: No weapons. So many hands yet they'll never grasp anything. All those opportunities, those possibilities, and you never could reach for them. No grace, no style, just force in the greatest concentration you can muster. They are wonderful! And yet... Just how many people have you left behind? It's in your nature to abandon others, isn't it? You bring with you greatness, but you never put it to good use. When others would need you most you won't be there. You'd be gone, uninterested, with no loyalty. Your bonds with others erode like the sands of time. In the end you're always alone."

A sickening crunch came from Arms Slave's body as Midnight Soloist broke one of his arms, almost ripping it out of socket. His armor and bits of his flesh were the only thing keeping it attached to his body, but without a healer he doubts he could use the arm for anything more then flailing. This also transferred as losing 30% of his health in one blow. Fortunately for him he was close to max health (89%) at the beginning of the fight, but this still wasn't a pretty situation. Two more would bring him to death, maybe even more if she just crushes him with all her arms. But while his body was paralyzed, he wasn't completely helpless. Thanks to Midnight Soloist, he was able to get his arm up. "Hold up, going afk."

Once the Chain Shot cool down was over, one of the chains instantly shot out and hit the ceiling. This chain pulled him, and Midnight Soloist, upwards. But that wasn't the only thing. With very careful aiming Arms Slave's arms were pointed towards Azga, and he used another Catch Catch to grab him and pull him towards Arms Slave's body. Even if Midnight Soloist could somehow smash his chains (Harder the one might think), at this height they'd all take some serious fall damage. Might even kill Arms Slave.

@ReaptheMusic@Ashifili

The silver streaker's warning came just in time to alert Vargas of the incoming attack. He jumped backwards and summoned his golem, causing the arm to hit his golem if anything as Vargas made some room. Deciding that staying on the possibly unstable structure was unwise Vargas made his way to another building and looked at the situation again. It looked like there were some more players nearby, one of them even looked like he had fire works but more importantly Mr. Silver was now attacking the monster's head, quite impressively really.

Vargas shouted, "Hell Bolt" hurled a flaming spear through the beastie's left arm, an ethereal crimson strand tying it to one of the buildings. Though the ability probably wouldn't be as effective on such a powerful monster it should at least stun the limb when the tether was broken and he would activate it again as soon as the creature attempted to use that limb to attack. After this he would need to back off and probably switch to a more helpful summon, his golem was meant for tanking but against something this powerful even it would be killed easily so a DPS focused summon would be more logical

Slash, slash, down, slash, down, slash...

The simphony of Eclipse Princess' waltz of steel could be heard for a reasonable distance on the edges of the Ebony Strykers' territory, as the skimpily dressed female avatar hacked and slashed at a small group of lesser dissolutions that she had found her way into a few minutes ago. Princess was really going all out at it, despite fact that her brash attacks were chipping her own health slowly, but every scratch and cut only served to channel Princess' rage further and further and, before she knew, she had already given in to her inner darkness activating her [Dark Rage].

Not long after, Princess heard a howl that felt like it came from the throat of a beast straigth from the pits of hell itself, followed by the crack of buildings being toppled "What's this?" she said as she jumped away from the field that she had just finished clearing and jumped over a smaller building to try to get a better view of what was happening. From up there, Princess noticed a massive dissolution wreacking havoc on the Black City, while a few players (that might as well be ants before the monstrosity) tried to take it down I wonder, if any of they will ever survive?" Princess thought, just before the sound of a gun shot brought her back to the virtual reality.

Looking at it's source, Princess noticed that there were two other female avatars standing there, one of them was a tall buxom one that made Princess rethinking her own choices during the avatar creation. The other was a shorter one, clad in a light black armor and wielding the pistol that had just been fired as well as a strange metal rod, a kind of weapon Princess wasn't used to. "A rogue and a mage, huh? Perhaps they have the answer to my questions" Princess thought, as she jumped from roof to roof until she fell right in front of them.

Just for once, Princess didn't had her weapon in hand, to avoid any misunderstandings while her [Dark Rage] finished its cooldown. "Hey, you two!" she said to call their attention, making a short pause "Do you know what's happening here?"

---

@TheWindel@Diggerton

@Caits @McFazzer
Possibly @TheWindel

"No problem. It's always nice to get some exp," Static said with a mischievous smile on her face. Of course, she wasn't in it just for exp; it was also nice to spend time making new friends. Eventually they slowed down, with Nies complaining about their speed. Static would have responded to that, but there was something distracting her from that. Specifically, a gigantic Level 5 Dissolution. Others were already on the task of taking it down, but they was much easier said than done. Static thought she saw something silver and familiar, but she lost sight of whatever it was and just assumed that it was her imagination.

On to the task at hand, though. Jukebox was already engaging the beast, throwing a variety of things at it, and... was that music? Regardless, Static wanted to get in on the action as well. Readying her weapon, Static happily said to Nies and Jukebox, "Do what you have to do, you two! I'll keep it distracted!" Not waiting for a reply, Static charged at the Dissolution, careful to keep an eye of the poison gas above. She then swung her weapons and attempted to drag the blade along the monster's body as she ran.

Moon Rider frowned, her usual expression, before lowering her gun. What Newt said was the obvious, though the Black King didn’t comment on the fact. She didn’t sense or see any movement from their mysterious pursuer and so saw it fit to ignore it for now. The destruction of her District was more important anyway and if their stalker did pull out an Outlaw Contract there would be no way for them to win against a full-fledged Colored King.

“We’ll deal with that one later,” Moon Rider finally said, referring to the hiding Smitten Kitten. “But you’re right, we need to deal with that thing first. It wouldn’t look good for the Ebony Strykers if their Black King can’t even defend her own city.”

Suddenly, Moon Rider found herself whirling around again on instinct, aiming her gun at someone new now. The Black King was about to fire, believing this newcomer to be their pursuer, before she noticed that the female Avatar wasn’t in a battle stance. Reading above her head, she soon found the new Player to be called Eclipse Princess. Lowering her gun down yet again, Moon Rider kept her guard up just in case.

“You’re standing in the middle of Ebony Stryker territory. Right about now, that same territory will be destroyed by that thing,” Moon Rider answered, pointing to the massive Dissolution in the background. “Either you can help us destroy it or you can leave us alone. I don’t have time for stragglers.”

Further into the city, the NPCs that Hyde had approached gave him a look of pure confusion. It had been quite some time since an actual Player had interacted with them, let alone someone asking for the Black King’s presence. So it took a while for their coding to process his request before answering his call.

“The Black King is in her throne room. She never leaves her throne room,” the first one answered. The other two, making three in total, nodded in agreement to their partner’s words, mumbling that the Black King never left her throne room.

Unfortunately, such words were almost drowned out to the sound of a thunderous roar. It came from the Level 5 Dissolution, who howled in rage and pain as the Silver Striker let loose another attack. Once again, the blow did some damage, but certainly not enough to kill the thing or even cripple it. It hissed, ready to unleash another plume of murderous fog before a bright blue flame caught its unholy attention.

It pivoted its ugly maw in Unrelenting Jukebox’s direction, its beady eyes narrowing as it charged at the low leveled Player, knocking down buildings and monuments all around. Smoke from the decimated rubble covered the area, blocking both Nies’ and Jukebox’s field of vision. Raising its arm, the Dissolution roared before swiping down at him.

But before the move could connect, the arm stiffened in place, forcibly reeled back and bound to one of the Black District’s many buildings.
Finally, someone had even stabbed the beast, dragging their blade into its skin and racing atop its hide. A snarl escaped the Dissolution’s jaws before it hurled another cloud of noxious gas, this time along its own body.

The spray covered a wide area, and it seemed that the poison was even having an effect on the creature itself. Its HP began to slowly crawl back up, rendering the actions of the assaulting Players near meaningless.

---

@RoflsMazoy@TheWindel

Morgan just about lost it into her whiny 13 year-old self when Corpse Collector said that she wasn't strong enough, but took a deep breath and let it go as she was glad that the fight seemed to have moved off her and onto the giant terrorizing the city. On the exhale, she carefully went through the menus to put away her weapons before turning to face the monster. She could see the various players poking the creature with all their strength, only to no avail as it's health constantly regenerating. It was obvious that whatever added damage she could add would be meaningless without a combined effort into some sort of plan, but she couldn't think of anything in her still flustered state that would be of any use. She even thought that it might have been better to just get out of the way and log off while they deal with it, but she knew she wouldn't get any closer to her goal if she did.

"I don't suppose your gun can fire monsters as big as that to fight to the death with, could it?" she teased, a bit of a laugh in the face of the impossible. Already she was feeling calm and collected, but still out of the question for any real ideas.

She then turned to Rocket Lancer, keeping her disgust to herself. "Lead the way, hotshot."

Azga had stepped back to allow Solo to do her thing. He watched, with folded arms as she made her movements, pinning the Arm's Slave down and etc.

"Gya ha ha ha... Azga the Amazing... Do you call yourself that name because you're not? Do you think you're so pathetic that you need such a thing? Titles, names, honors... We never got to choose our names you know. Names are picked from our psyche, symbolic to who we are. They're appropriate, or even ironic. Philosophical questions all around. Where do you fall under, Azga? Who's the real you? This one right here, right now, in Deep Ground? Or the sad sack in her room, escaping her reality for our fantasy?"

The witch doctor's face remained stiff as he listened to the monster before him go off, but his hand gripped tightly at his arm. How did this jerk even know who he was offline? For that matter, it wasn't possible for anyone to know his real gender... at least, he didn't think so. His face darkened, barely registering what he was saying to Solo in that time. The sound of his arm crunching, however, did cause him to flinch and refocus as the Arm's Slave's arm was ripped off. He mentioned going AFK--odd, with his usual way of speaking with the rest of the time being completely different from this---before shooting up to the ceiling, and then sending his chains off at Azga. The Witch Doctor didn't have time to react as he was snatched up by the claw of the chain and snapped back to the Arm's Slave at breakneck speed, his virtual glasses falling off in the process. He let out a surprised yelp as he was yanked upwards without warning, finding himself looking down at the expanse of the sanctuary beneath him through squinted eyes.

Why was his eyesight even bad in virtual reality? He turned his face back at the Arms Slave, unable to see anything at all really without his glasses. With his arms pinned at his side, he couldn't exactly cast spells or reform the digital frames like he usually could. It would seem that he was just as helpless as the Arm's Slave. Even so, he couldn't help himself from smiling, confident that Solo had this in the bag.

"You only taunt because in truth you're nothing like this in reality. It's so obvious that you're trying to overcompensate by customizing a character to be so 'terrifying' and huge. You're small. Small and weak with probably no friends... Honestly, even If I lose here, I still win. I'm too fabulous not to." He moved his head to shake some blonde locks out of his eyes, grinning boldly at the paralyzed Arms Slave with his golden eyes sparkling. "Or rather, we, are too fabulous not to."
@Lucius Cypher @Ashifili

He knew.

He fucking knew.

How did he know?

Her first attack was satisfying, the crunch and the tears and the cracks confirming that it was indeed possible to take off limbs in DGO. With another rotation, she could probably take it all off. But the Midnight Soloist didn’t register that. Somehow, the person piloting Arms Slave knew who Erica was in real life, despite how much of a divide there was. How was that possible? Hacking? Stalking? Bribing? Deep Ground was something that was linked heavily with another person’s life, but as far as Yuuki knew, wasn’t their personal information protected? How did…

And then, he started speaking of herself, and the Midnight Soloist’s constant smile faded.

In that moment, Arms Slave activated his Avatar’s ability, sending the three of them hurtling towards the ceiling. Wrapping both of her human hands around his throat, more to hold onto during flight than anything else, she switched her Land Demolisher back to that of a Heavy Arm, using that to grab onto his mangled limbs and begin tearing it off. At the same time, two of her mechanized arms shifted into a piledriver, and, without any hesitation, without even listening to Azga’s fancy, frivolous words, placed a Land Demolisher against the point in which the chain was connected to the ceiling.

There was no need to destroy the chains. Nor was Azga’s compliments or insults or whatever else necessary. Yuuki was just going to break the roof.

“I hate you too,” she said, vacantly, before the hammer smashed into the roof, loosening the chains’ grip in the wall.

Unable to support the weight of three Avatars, they all fell back down, as Yuuki forced Arm Slave’s head forward, intent on watching it splitting in half against the floor of the Guild. Good thing Deep Ground wasn’t realistic! It would be such a problem if she had to mop up the mess of brains, after all!
@ReaptheMusic@Lucius Cypher

The Silver Streaker's kick had distracted the beast, enough to be relatively satisfying. The damage was quite minuscule, but it'd worked. The Streaker, kick accomplished, used the foot to jump onto the beast's head, surveying the situation. A sudden blue explosion brought his attention to another player who seemed to be emanating loud music. The Streaker grinned at the sight as his face was lit up by the blue firework.

"Nice!" He yelled.

But as the music playing figure ran back, the monster thrashed around, causing the Streaker to wobble on top of the grotesque creature's head as it brought an arm down to strike.

"You bastard!" The Streaker yelled, beating on the creature's head in an attempt to distract it.

Suddenly, the arm stopped and a figure could be seen carving its way uo the arm, dragging a bladed pole weapon across it. Tim thought he'd seen that particular figure before, and was glad that they'd come to help take the thing down. However, their damage was very small compared to the giant's gargantuan health bar, and they needed to attack the vitals if they wanted to do damage.

We're not going to do much damage like this. Tim thought. So...

They needed to become make a coordinated strike somehow, or as coordinated a strike as a group of strangers could get, and the Streaker figured he was one of the few right now that could organise one. The Silver Streaker turned to his grounded allies and cupped his hands over his mouth.

"Explosions guy! Magic guy! Don't just aim for anywhere, go for the legs!" The Silver Streaker yelled. "We want this guy down so we can beat on him! Bring him down at the foundations!"

He turned to where the weapon-wielding berserker ran up the monster's arm.

"Naginata girl!" He yelled to her. "Go for the throat! You'll get a lot more damage that way!"

He removed his hands from his mouth so he could address everyone there.

"I'll distract him! You guys focus on bringing him down!" He yelled.

The giant dissolution reared its ugly head towards the climbing berserker, breathing its toxic breath at itself, healing the damage the players had dealt, but the Silver Streaker was already in action. Jumping from the perch, the Streaker turned towards the giant's face as he fell down the dissolution's forehead, body vertical as if skydiving. The wind whipped viciously around him but the Silver Streaker prepared his arm to grab the approaching target; the giant's massive right eyebrow.

"Hey, moron!" The Streaker yelled at the dissolution.

Just before eye level, the Silver Streaker grabbed hold of the hairy outcrop and swung his legs down into a vicious double kick right into the giant's glowing eye.

"Your opponent is me!" He exclaimed as the kick connected.

@Scarifar@McFazzer@Eklispe

Nies wasn't entirely sure what was happening. She shifted at the roaring of the Dissolution, wondering what they were doing here. Fighting this thing. As it charged towards Jukebox, Nies shouted out, but it was drowned out by the roar. The t hing was running down buildings like they were nothing! Oh god, Nies was beginning to panic. Panicking couldn't help, and she tried to bring herself under control. As the Dissolution poured down on them, she was sure Jukebox wasn't going to be able to get out the way, as the smoke blocked everything. She launched herself at Jukebox, not knowing that the attack would never come.

When it didn't come, Nies spun about, trying to see. She realised that she needed to heal people, if they wanted to survive this. She swallowed, knowing she was too low a level to be truly beneficial but maybe she could do something.

She quickly went through her abilities in her mind. She took a breath, and activated healing pulse, once she was sure she was close enough to be able to touch on as many players as possible. 3...2...1...the spell cast, but Nies didn't stop to see what had happened, as she glanced about. Jukebox was the closest to her still, but Static was doing more, so she set about casting resistance casting the spell on Static, knowing Nies herself wouldn't be much of a help in the fighting part of the battle, and as the spell cast, she stepped back ,out of the way, looking at those that were fighting the Dissolution, looking to see if there was any signs of distress related to lack of health.

@Scarifar@McFazzer