[center]-=-=Eidolic Cairn=-=-[/center]

Even if the detonated darklight paintwave didn’t immediately wipe the Order knights or the Gilgamesh cyborg out, they did not manage to pique Gomory’s interest by immediately entering the fight.  With that threat dealt with for the time being, the demoness quickly examined the room for a new target.  During this time, she pressed her weapon’s tip into the ground, channeling magic into it.  She spotted Snider, currently using some sort of rocket to try and mitigate the knockback dealt to him by her previous, relentless attack, but a few seconds remained to her before he could even try to pester her once again.  When she searched for Akoni, however, she found nothing.  Smirking slightly, she thought, [i]perhaps grandfather stumbled to his feet after falling down and tumbled off.[/i]  Of course, she wouldn’t be so lucky.  More than likely, he reused the portal ability he just displayed to relocate.  Immediately wise to a potential threat, she scanned the room, but spotted no exit portal.  

[color=E0115F]”Oh,”[/color] she muttered, deadpan.  [color=E0115F]”How predictable.”[/color]  Spinning around, she spotted Akoni just as he finished tinkering with the other annoying man’s music box, having already repaired it somehow.  Contemplating various creative ways in which she could have killed him as he dabbled with the distraction, Gomory waited for him to return his attention to fighting.  To kill an unready opponent, after all, took no skill on her part.  After a moment, he did just that, apparently having deluded himself into assuredness of a stealth advantage.  At Gomory’s will, paint exploded upward from the cracked stone in front of him to catch his punch before hardening, effectively trapping him in place.  His quip, however, flew free, and upon arrival exasperated her somewhat.  [color=E0115F]”I don’t see what mentioning that accomplished,”[/color] she muttered, eyebrows furrowed.  Why did everyone always mention her breasts?

This statement she managed to utter in time to witness Snider’s recovery.  He, too, appeared oddly preoccupied with the music box.  While this failed to concern her, for no amount of ambiance would really penetrate the cacophonous combination of ghostly humming and combat magic, she found herself increasingly inclined to take advantage of the men’s foolishness and end the fight there and then.  Despite this rising urge, she wanted to learn more about their styles.  When he threw the old disk at her like a frizbee, Gomory waited, still as a statue, until it came within inches of her face.  Then she lashed out and bit it, shattering it into pieces, before returning to neutral stance.  The moonlight cascading over her waxed in anticipation for a coming duel, and dutifully Snider charged forth.  One after another, she swung her weapon, throwing shadowy lightwaves at him.  Like a man charging headlong into a blizzard, he would learn the futility of this strategy.  Gomory would not consent to play with him for long, however.  She finished this technique with a slam of her hidden Jiaolong into the ground, creating a miniature seismic wave fraught with moonlight to erupt beneath him.

[center]-=-=Underground Antechamber=-=-[/center]

Though predicting some sort of surprise attack, not much could have prepared Gideon for the five-man slaughterhouse he walked into.  The very instant he entered the antechamber, blades whirring and guns at the ready, a horrible shriek more like a demon’s than an angel’s rang out from his left while a torrent of fast-freezing liquid bombarded him from the left.  Ell ran straight for her target, hunched over in a perhaps vain hope to avoid the demon’s steely storm, while from the front Souta and Bullion let loose.  The former’s fused fire exploded toward him, while the latter emptied an entire clip in his direction.  A course of action truly befitting a general of hell would be necessary to cope with such a situation, the likes of which could kill a being even as great as Gideon should he not respond with haste and cunning.

[center]-=-=Gilgamesh Branch Office=-=-[/center]

If anything, Macbeth seemed bored by the crusader’s pronouncements.  Flipping his grip on one of his sabers, he held the hilt with a pinky while he removed a little book from a pocket that he opened and began leafing through.  After realizing her jibe went unacknowledged, meanwhile, Tickler switched to heavily-accented English to rebuke Antonio’s declarations.  “Fackink eediot.  Ve are servants of humanity.  Laguna angels are monsters veeth no care for people.  A.O.L angels ve don’t touch.  Take forgeevance and shove up ess, blyet.”  The sight of Antonio’s Michael brought a cruel smile to her face.

Before the action could begin, however, a soft murmur emanated from Macbeth.  “Where is it written…’smite my enemies’?  ‘Slay the heretics’?  Hmm.  But where is it written…’love your neighbor’?  ‘Turn the other cheek’?  Ah, yes.  Our knight has been reading the wrong books.”  Closing his little book abruptly, Macbeth tucked it away and flourished his blades, entering a Florentine stance.  He nodded, and Tickler yelled gleefully, “Fire et vill!”

As one, the four guards started shooting at Antonio.  Four fusillades of pistol gun fire flew his way, split evenly between Gene and Antonio.  No doubt his shield would protect them, for a time at least, but one of the Gilgamesh operatives saw a way to open them up.  Tickler lashed her left arm toward the ceiling, where the tips of the tentacles wrapped around a vent, and like an ape swinging from a tree she swung forward overhead, laughing.  At the peak of the arc she released her grip and fell, tucking into a roll to deal with the impact.  In a mere moment she returned to her feet, behind Antonio and ready for action.  “Medness ees endink here!”  A crimson distortion surrounded Morbuzahk as she whipped them forward.  Just one touch on skin would be enough to enable the nasty effect, though they would hurt no matter what.  Macbeth, meanwhile, bided his time.