“I had faith in your ability keep up that’s all,” Satori flashed a grin towards Eubeal.

Though the Princess of Darkness didn’t appear winded by her latest effort she was reluctant to attempt another large scale spell so soon. The APC would thunder on, slowly picking up speed into the upper seventies and beyond, uncaring for those insane three who had opted to ride atop it. Ghouls were little more than mulch beneath its treads, acid steaming off of its armored plates and thick treads to little or no effect, and even trees were smashed through with a shudder along the way.

Still the Pater kept up; just like the APC it was unlikely to be affected by those falling trees, which didn’t stop Satori from subtly judging the bulk to fall on around it. The alliance was over, if it had ever existed in the place, and there was no doubt in her mind that they were rapidly approaching another Shin-Ra showdown with the Primeval, one she intended to win definitively. For now she relegated herself to simply thumbing her nose at the beast, a wild sneer on her face even as she stared into its wide hateful eyes while the darkness pooled around her, she wasn’t out of power she was simply saving it for the right moment.

“It looks like our host is inviting us deeper,” she spies those nightmarish Nightmares splitting the mist and dashing through the burning treeline. They did not attack either, “Seems like we’ve got ourselves a regular Mexican Standoff.”

The rifle-like weapon was almost out of reach, thankfully, Eubeal manages to spatial shift the weapon into his own hands. "Now, I'm not much of a marksman, but I doubt I'd need to be." He fires once, not at anything in particular, just in the general direction behind the APC. He glances at the shot and confirms a small delay between the fire and the hit, which confirms that the thing fires projectiles. He nods and fires another round. This time, accelerating the projectile to 1.00c, the speed of light right as it leaves the barrel. The projectile leaving a large trail of hot plasma in the air as it traveled far faster than eyes could perceive, possibly arriving a bit in the past. Relativity is complicated. Although one thing is for certain, that projectile would absolutely annihilate anything it touched or it got near too, as evidenced by the remaining trees.

"Satori?" Eubeal looks back at his comrade and offers her the rifle.

Satori politely declined Eubeal’s invitation with a raised hand and a shake of her head. As jovial as she may have been the Princess of Darkness was a cold calculating hunter and she recognized one of her own in the super predator rapidly gaining on them. The Primeval would probe them for reactions until the moment he saw an opening and she planned to be ready for then. She knew the Pater’s game because it was her own…

Luckily that game included a heaping helping of ego.

The Primeval’s attempt at a connection went off without a hitch, after all Satori had unknowingly stared in the beasts eyes for quite some time, but in doing so he unknowingly invited her in. A master of illusions and darkness in her own right once she detected the intrusion she would hold tight, affixing his senses to her own and then spilling her caustic illusions into the bridge between them until it burst. The backlash would be immediate and vicious for both parties involved, a moment later Satori’s eyes burst like a pair of bloody grapes, leaving two definitively empty holes weeping blood and entrails down her cheeks. Unless the Pater had some way of closing his mind off when he had already invited her in he’d suffer much the same. Satori knew how nasty a tug of war between mentalists could get and rather than waste the time she would simply flip the board.

Not that she needed her eyes to see anyways.

Those little shadows that had been flinging trees in Pater’s way, doing little more than showering him in splinters and amusing the Primeval apparently, pooled together. Dozens of children pooling together until they formed a single large construct like a hand save for the spindly fingers and the too many eyes that dotted its form. Palms open it caught the boulder just as it left the Pater’s grip, shuddering backwards with the weight of the toss for just a moment, before chugging forward like a train and returning the beast to sender. Given the Pater’s overwhelming strength it was likely that the boulder would just shatter all over it at which point the big black paw would sweep through the shrapnel to grab the blind beast and drive it to the ground with the strength of a furious titan. At all times the limb maintained a static distance with Satori meaning that the Pater would be dragged through the ground at an ever increasing rate until even its mighty defenses were worn down.

As for Eubeal's shot? Well even if he didn't readjust he'd have the perfect opportunity to take another one.

“I warned you that you’d have to try better than that!” Eyeless and bloody Satori howled at the top of her lungs, smile splitting along her cheeks and her tongue wagging out between. “If you don’t have the guts to fight then be left in the dust, devil!”

Being stuck to the side of a mechanical caravan traveling at ridiculous speeds, Eleanor wasn't in a particularly good position to clap her hands with excitement. However, she certainly would have if she'd had the chance. Mists and monsters and magic, goodness this was an interesting trip! As it was, a small, innocent smile broke through her usual poker face.

Clever as the Magna Pater thought it was, she'd outsmarted it in this case. Did it really think someone willing to help hunt down a dark god couldn't even aim their gun properly? Eleanor's misses had been entirely intentional. She'd shot three bullets down in front of the Pater, and now, having made no effort to reduce its forward momentum or avert its course, it would be passing over them.

Another click on the pocketwatch. Rewind!

The monster could spring into the air very quickly, but it was unlikely that it could spring up quicker than the three bullets that now sprang out from the ground as if fired anew, streaking diagonally upwards along their original paths with even greater speed than they had first been unleashed. An incredibly fast attack from an unexpected angle, hitting what Eleanor hoped was a vulnerable underside (monsters had those, didn't they?) Admittedly their aim lacked the pinpoint accuracy of an actual shot from the weapon, but she had taken care in positioning her supposed misses, and the Pater wasn't exactly a minuscule target.

Assuming the monster's leap wasn't disrupted by the projectiles suddenly tearing into it from below, it would find that its subsequent plans were not so perfect as it had thought, either. It had made the mistake of activating its blindness spell in midair, thus making its action of scooping a rock up from the ground still visible to those with the right kind of vision- and Eleanor's family happened to make some of the sharpest eyes in existence. The monstrous devices that lurked behind those dark goggles of hers were watching carefully, and they weren't about to miss such an obvious ploy.

Dodging in midair was hard, dodging a bullet even more so. She could see it had a ploy, all she had to do was make sure her weapon remained steady- and as she had just demonstrated, Eleanor had a very good command of her weapon and its projectiles.

Click. Freeze!

The weapon would not fire, but neither would it budge as the rock harmlessly bounced off it. In fact, it would not budge at all, having momentarily been stopped in time, and would thus drag Eubeal backwards across the roof of the vehicle at high speed. But the effect was only temporary. Barely a moment after the threat was gone, the weapon would once again begin moving through time normally, returning to its ordinary state- and giving Eubeal, if he was quick enough, a chance to make that shot properly.

Satisfied for now, Eleanor turned her attention to the mists, watching for any sign of a greater threat.

Why did the Primeval seem so surprised? After all he had fought Shin-Ra Enterprises once before and knew well enough their stance on collateral. Which is to say that they did not care one lick about it so long as they got results. Eleanor and Eubeal were both powerful reality warping entities that had opted for this journey knowing full well that they might lose their lives, if a little thing like losing their eyesight was going to render them useless well it wasn’t Satori’s fault but she might deign to heal them with her dark magic later, and with that twisted logic her assault continued.

Eubeal had not reacted in time to adjust his aim upwards towards the Pater so his plasma bolt was primed to fire straight ahead while the rock would be spiraling down. The timing was swift but Satori was swifter, her shadows already in place thanks to their deft defense against the falling treeline and reacting with the frightening speed of fleeing shadow, which is to say nigh instantly. She needed no eyes, she saw through the darkness and could hear the drop of a pin in concert, even her skin was sensitive enough to see the Primeval as clear as day from the way it displaced the atmosphere. That she wasn’t crippled with pain was a testament to the inhuman thing she had become and went well in line with the way she was laughed at losing her eyes. Though he had tricks up his sleeves nothing he could do short of killing her would free him from her assault and even then there was no guarantee she could not strike back from the grave.

The boulder would smash into the Pater, unheeded by the kinetic shot which had been timed all along to land after the rock struck, if Eubeal's bullet struck at all it would be after the rock had shattered but more likely was that it would sail harmlessly beneath the dogfight. When the rock shattered against him and even if it broke beforehand thanks to the kinetic shot the hand of shadow would reach through to grab the beast and smash it to the ground. This was the Princess of Darkness’ guarantee to all who fault her, relentless and remorseless, regardless of what she faced. And once he was on the ground he would be whittled away until the only thing left was a miles long smear of acidic blood and leather flesh.

“Nergal, you’re going to have to take point for the time being.”

Without another second to spare Satori leapt from the APC with enough force to bounce the steel carriage against the muddy earth and fling it upwards for a few seconds of glorious seconds of air time. When the deed was done she was sailing through the night in hot pursuit of Magna Pater.

After Nergal’s initial report she was aware of how slippery the Pater could be. And so Satori’s plan had been to turn those tiny shadows that stitched together to create the larger shadow into barbs that would hold the Primeval in place. Instead the tail struck the palm and a ripple flowed through the construct before a decently sized hole exploded to life in the back of the hand and scattered a few dozen shadows with it. Barbs still appeared along the palm and the fingers, attempting to snag the beast’s leathery hide, but with how determined and how powerful the cornered Pater the best they would manage would be a few superficial wounds. Visually impressive but not nearly enough to capture the beast.

Satori came but a second later, diving through the newly created hole of a hand that was not tearing itself in two along the center line. Two and a half awkward fingers affixed themselves to her back and formed the framework for a pair of skeletal wings that beat against the air to achieve absolutely no lift. It was instead better to say that her shadows were able to fly without a problem and that they were merely towing Satori along for the ride but that wasn’t terribly impressive so wings they were. A secondary set of smaller wings formed at the base of her spine from those shadows that had been blown away and soon the framework was filled with a thin leathery film, ostensibly to let her glide.

A thud later and she landed in the mud a solid fifteen feet away from the downed Primeval who would no doubt be looking to snack on one of the many burning ghouls, and he had so many to choose from. When she landed she would already be in the process of sweeping the fake Solar Hammer from her back. Though it wasn’t a Verdissian Royal Artifact in truth the alien technology was still beautiful to watch in action, the leather wrapped grip extending and the steel head unfolding until it went from being a child’s toy into a legitimate warhammer at about three feet long, all seams created in the transformation immediately resealing themselves in a flash of heat. If the beast refused to acknowledge her then Satori would be thumping the hammer into the ground, igniting the kinetic energy generated upon landing and sending twin trails of fire not towards the Pater but its latest meal, which would then detonate right in the Pater’s face. The sticky mucus he constantly produced may have made him immune to fire but the explosion would likely deal severe damage if it hit the inside of his mouth and would at least throw him back. It wasn’t a bolt of power fired at the speed of light but it would do.

Success, failure, or something in-between the two Satori would march with her eyes crusty with blood and her four wings curled beside her. “We settle this now monster!”

In quick and in sequence, Eubeal would get his vision transferred to that of the Primeval, then, have his eyes explode, or rather dissipate, they'd be back later. What intrigued him the most was the split second the Pater was seeing the world before it closed its eyes. "I have newfound respect for you all, seeing the world in only the electro-magnetic spectrum is... limiting." He addressed to no one in particular. The caravan continued to move and he could feel the motion, and hear all the sounds, but for now he was blind, now if he was alone, he would merely shift all the land in a radius around him into space where they couldn't breathe, or just shift himself high above the clouds and leave his wake in infinite heat, but he had allies this time, he couldn't just unleash everything he had, so he waited for his eyes to become again.

Having his 'eyes' back, he now could see everything they were supposed to be, coated in the electro-magnetic spectrum, brimming with particles, lines, curves, points in time and these aspects of a universe, ever shifting. Yes, familiarity. He saw that Satori had vacated the roof of the APC and flew to meet the Pater alone. While he does not not doubt her strength, the Pater itself was quite formidable, and apparently sentient enough to plan accordingly, though not sapient that it could build tools, a monster like that would be immensely threatening, and annoying, of course. Eubeal takes off his tuxedo, revealing a white, long-sleeved undershirt, and hands it to Eleanor. "Would you kindly take care of this for me?" He asks and drops the tuxedo as he shifts space around himself and reemerges just behind Satori. Unsure if she noticed him, he begins. "I don't know if you are one of those warrior types who believe in honor and all that and wish to fight beasts alone, if you are, I will be here observing, call out at any time if you believe you need help." He walks backward for a few steps then stops and stands, observing both combatants at the ready.

There was a fizz, a spark, and then Eleanor's world went black.

"Not now..." she grumbled to herself, rapping briefly on the surface of her goggles as if frustrated. It had taken a good few moments for the effect to claim her sight, long enough for her to finish what she had started. Her eyes were no squishy constructions of mere flesh, and handled huge amounts of energy with every passing instant- but they could only hold out for so long before something critical blew up in there and did enough damage to shut both of them down. She could still feel the air rushing against her back as the APC continued on its merry way, but the stream of constant information she was used to had vanished entirely. There were also words, and a sudden soft something smacking against her. A... tuxedo?

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear." Her tone was suddenly worried. Those eyes had been priceless, precious, perfect products of years of toil by one of the greatest mechanists in the multiverse! Not in a million years would she be able to manually fix those! They were absolutely irreplaceable!

"Oh wait."

Click!

Eleanor flinched, looking out of her perfectly undamaged eyes at the strange scene before her. It seemed that within the last minute or so, the carriage had traveled over a mile, a massive dragon-thing had started chasing them, mists had covered the earth, and her two visible companions had hopped off the ride to go fight the monster. Oh, and Eleanor had somehow managed to get two slugs planted within the monster's breast, and adopted a pet tuxedo.

She pressed the same button on her pocketwatch once again, storing her current state for later reversion. That accomplished, she looked out at the scene of the battle, which was gradually growing more and more distant by the second. Should she offer help? On one hand, she did have two of her bullets now stuck inside the beast, and could wreak all sorts of havoc with those...

On the other hand, Satori and Eubeal were probably enough to handle it. Besides, she had not forgotten the powerful dark god within whose realm they were yet trespassing. While those lazy sods within the vehicle continued whatever mischief they were up to, someone had to protect the freaking carriage. She'd leave her bullets where they were, latched onto the monster's inner tissues with tiny little claws, dormant for now except for the incredibly subtle signals they pinged out to Eleanor, constantly announcing their location. If something were to dislodge them, they would initiate some more interesting functions. The monster, however, had other threats to worry about.

So, instead of trying to offer aid, Eleanor walked up the side of the carriage and made a quick hop onto the roof, before planting her buttocks comfortably down upon it, heedless of the rushing air. It wasn't exactly quiet, but things were a lot more peaceful with those two gone. Humming to herself, the girl dusted off the tuxedo and began neatly folding it, her eyes roving over the landscape as she did so. Who knew what these fell mists might yet hide?

@Doc Doctor

In a few short minutes the Plague Forest had become hell on earth. The brief passage of Quaking Fire through the material plane had set a fire that could not be quelled and for the thousands strong army of Ghouls life was a short painful thing. They weren’t in the best of health to start with and now, tumbling over one another and flattened beneath trees while their muscles sloughed from their bones, it was unlikely that more than a legion would survive this night. Not that their deaths would not serve as a suitably glorious backdrop for this battle and if nothing else the Pater seemed to like his food hot.

Meanwhile Satori reveled in the chaos, in the superficial tearing of Pater’s flesh and the explosive loss of her own eyes, more than her comrades could ever know. But the Pater would know, ever distant from the caravan in a pointless battle, after all this when Darko was slain this plagued land would be purged and every last ghoul would be hunted down. It hardly mattered that she got a head start by claiming a few thousand undead lives. But she enjoyed it nonetheless and even with Eubeal watching her back the Primeval alone with its ferocious brain would understand her urge to destroy…

Maybe he would even recognize it.

The juke caught her off guard, revealing the monsters clever side once more, but then it paused to mock her with a wag of its tail. Not a smart move. She had a dozen options to ruin the Pater’s day from the magitech handcannon at her hip to the deep blue katana standing opposite of it. The gleaming materia slotted into each weapon and the overwhelming veil of darkness taking shape around her. Even that alien hammer thrumming in her grasp could have provided a distraction. She chose none, meeting the Pater’s empty gaze with her own, and a nod of her head to the side.

‘Do it,’ her actions spoke. ‘You’ll have no handicap when I tear you apart.’

“Honor, I am the woman who will conquer Shin-Ra, what do I know of honor? In the company we fight to win, only the results matter not the method.” Her boast loud enough for the feasting Pater to hear over the roaring flames. “Chasing this monster down was merely the most logical course of action. Any pleasure I feel from the act is purely selfish. That said, I ask that you restrain the urge to use overwhelming force, I have much to learn from this creature. And if his lessons prove useless then I at least want to watch him squirm…”

A couple of women walked out of the most they looked like normal travelers and the seemed peaceful and kind. They walked up to the travelers and looked at each of them, "excuse me" one asked, "where are you going this wonderful Evening" they asked curiously, something seemed rather odd about these women they were wearing all black robes and their hoods up and theor hands covered by their sleeves. They looked like they were still living people but for some reason some lthing was off about them. They came out of the mist not from the direction of the travelers but in the direction of the ghouls, course with the mist it was hard to tell in The Plagued Forest where on earth the direction they were headed. And another thing that made them suriously questionable how did they know it was evening.

As the Magna Pater had been allowed to heal, its vitreous body would begin ejecting the bullets out from where they had entered.

She'd leave her bullets where they were, latched onto the monster's inner tissues with tiny little claws.

Unless it was literally excreting its own guts, the monster was going to have a hard time getting rid of these little buggers. Minuscule limbs had already extended from the projectiles, which quietly dug their way deeper into its body, embedding themselves further within it. Though they were too small and their movement too slow to cause much immediate damage as they crawled about, but they were more than capable of fighting against the biological processes trying to force them out.

Eleanor, meanwhile, had just witnessed the strange sight of a pair of clothed, living women emerging from the mists as if they were on some casual morning stroll. Who were these strangers? She was sure it'd be quite interesting to meet them.

On the other hand, she was still on top of a moving vehicle traveling at high speeds, and she didn't really know how to stop it. "I don't know!" she yelled back, "but you two should come with us! Hop on, quickly!"

Eleanor was still yelling to the strange women to join her in or on the relative safety of the APC as the gigantic metal shaft of a lance passed over her shoulder, taking aim at the pair of mysterious cloaked figures. A low whine behind her spooled up into a shriek as the lance -- no, the barrel -- unleashed a torrent of gunfire, a deadly spray of Mako-infused, depleted uranium rounds bearing down upon the cloaked women and most likely tearing them into bloody confetti.

"Sorry 'bout the noise." Lifting the seven-barrels of the GAU-48 'Juggernaut' gunlance from over her shoulder, the massive, armored-monstrosity known as Gever Worden kept the weapon aimed at remains of the women, confirming the threat had been neutralized before turning away from Eleanor to face the front of the APC, his head turning slowly as he scanned their surroundings.

Satori and Nergal had been given point on this operation, but they had not been the only ShinRa employees dispatched... After all, while a working knowledge of the occult would certainly serve the team well in the realm of a death god, the higher-ups had seen enough horror films to know that sometimes a victory over the dark arts came down to good old-fashioned firepower. Or at least he liked to think that they'd seen enough horror films to know that.

In any case, Satori had left to deal with an uninvited guest, and Nergal, while technically left in command, was still attending to whatever dark ritual that he had been preparing since shortly after their deployment to the Plagued Forest, and so it was left to the bullet sponge to attend to the direct protection of the APC in the meantime. As Eleanor was riding atop the vehicle as a hatch had slid open in the roof behind her, revealing the elevator that had lifted the near 9' tall Gever and the 11' tall Ares Unit he wore to the top of the where he now stood behind her.

They jumped on the moving vehicle and sat down their faces covered and their eyes pale as the moon they sat on the vehicle this is an amazing device, by why use it. The road is filled of nasties that are just dying to meet you. They giggled as they looked at each other would you two like to know a secret?" They asked strangely as they looked at the one that offered to give them a ride.