Arms Slave charged the cannons, not really having a concrete plan of attack. Each shot he either tanked or managed to avoid narrowly, but each shot has some hefty knockback. He could try to use his Chain Catch to close the distance, but these cannoneers were fairly accurate: he already tried that once and they shot him midway through. It looked like he was going to need to just keep tanking when some stranger called Phantom Reality showed up. Arms Slave wasn’t sure what was up with all these outsiders helping him (Or maybe they were Ebon Strykers who weren’t Sweepers), but he wouldn’t complain too much. 

A black fog engulfed most of the cannons, and the ones that weren’t engulfed stopped shooting Arms Slave long enough for him to charge to them. He leapt into the air and fired off three more chains, pulling in the pilots of the Wheel Cannons to him. This effectively allowed Arms Slave to not only stop the cannons, but let others commandeer them. After that, killing the three was just a simple matter of landing on them (With both his shields crushing them) and then using his spare arms to stab them to death. It was messy and rather barbaric, but it got the job done.

Around this time the cloud giant was nearing his end as well, with the rest of the team laying down as much magical firepower as they can muster onto him. But he wasn’t going out without a final moment of defiance. Though Arms Slave never fought a beast like him before, even he didn’t need to know it’s secrets to figure out that when the giant started glowing with a bright light, bad things and a lot of pain was going to happen. They needed to kill this thing fast. So he contacted Paper Moon and any other mage type to focus on the giant before he used his wipe attack.

[quote][b]To:[/b] Paper Moon, Jet Rhino, Ash Roller, Strawberry Baby, Phantom Reality, 
[b]From:[/b] Arms Slave
[b]Subject:[/b] Moar Dakka

Kill the giant before he can pull off his wipe. Pretty sure he’s doing it right now. Let’s go for clutch.

Oh and watch out for Eclipse Princess. She wants to kill us all, so after this fight scram into the city and deal with whatever outlaws managed to sneak in. I’ll take her on.[/quote]

Arms Slave commandeered a Wheel Cannon and started shooting at the other Wheel Cannons. Their ammunition were explosives instead of fireballs; good against structures, but useless against the giant.

Of course the truth was that Arms Slave was pretty sure that everyone could gang up and kill her if she did go outlaw to fight him, but a lot of people might die. And Arms Slave didn’t want anyone to lose out on their hard earn EXP just because one hot-headed player couldn’t keep her opinions to herself. Arms Slave said as much in his message to Eclipse Princess. 

[quote][b]To:[/b] Eclipse Princess
[b]From:[/b]Arms Slave
[b]Subject:[/b]Re: -

Bring it. I’ll clean filth like you out of the Ebony Strykers.

[/quote]

And with that Arms Slave continued to fire away at the Wheel Cannons, or alternatively crashing into them and then hijacking a different one, rinse, and repeat.

[hr]

Dark Wraith continued to watch CC with the new arrival of Smitten Kitten and others. Their interference was unintended, but inevitable. What was more concerning was the arrival of Stark Zealot. He wasn’t with the Ebony Strykers as far as she remembered, and more curiously his arrows were able to force her dissolutions to fight the other players. Perhaps it was an ability of his, since aside from their abnormal method of arrival, they were just normal dissolutions. Still, why an outsider was here neither helping Corpse Collector but also not actively trying to hunt her like the others made Dark Wraith concerned. It seemed like it was more than just Dark Wraith and Corpse Collector at play here. A lot of outsiders were watching and getting involved.

Dark Wraith was going to have to put her observation on hold for now. Moon Rider and Kisa should be arriving soon and they would need to have her undivided attention. Dismissing the Scrying orbs and causing her hacked orb to delete itself from existence, she went down to the main lobby area of the Sanctuary, standing in the open so that Dark Wraith could find her easily. A group of players lead by Cerulean Knight respawned and charged out of the building, looking for more battles. To those fools, Deep Ground was just a game to them. Perhaps it ought to be.

The necromancer never really fancied Deep Ground. Most see it as nothing more than a game, others know that it’s the only thing that matters in their lives, and some find their definition somewhere in between. Dark Wraith just found the whole thing despicable. It was a game that emphasis exploiting those with unique talents and abilities, destroying the lives and chances of others, all while promoting positions of power for those without the skills to handle their authority. Deep Ground was a sick caricature of today’s politics and lifestyle, and she wants to change that. That’s why she works with Moon Rider. But the real question is, what happens after she gets what she wants?

But these were just rambling thoughts. They weren’t important right now and could be saved for philosophical debates between herself or Yoshino. As much as she despised it, Dark Wraith needed to plan out to kill Corpse Collector. Playing the game was more important then why Dark Wraith plays it.
Once Kisa and Moon Rider Arrived, Dark Wraith wasted no time explaining her plan to her. [color=black]”Corpse Collector likely intends to kill Moon Rider with a method that would delete or otherwise suspend her avatar from Deep Ground. Under normal circumstances simply having Moon Rider killed in a PvP match, while demoralizing, is nothing to panic over. But Corpse Collector has shown to be a powerful hacker and it wouldn’t surprise me if she intends to remove Moon Rider from the game. But with that being said fleeing from her or staying somewhere where Corpse Collector can’t get to Moon Rider wouldn’t be better, as she’ll simply redirect her weapons onto other players and wreak havoc in the guild. Thus we need to put a decisive end to her.”[/color] Dark Wraith rolled out a topographical map of the Black City. Where she got it from was a good question, but that wasn’t important. She pointed out the last known location of Corpse Collector compared to their current location.

[color=black]”That character, Smitten Kitten, may intend to lead Corpse Collector back to the guild hall, where you two last met before she fled and rendezvoused with Corpse Collector. That would be the best place for us to confront her since we know the guild’s layout much better than she would, not to mention that it will be a central hub for the rest of our members to surround and trap Corpse Collector. But with that being said, we must minimize the amount of Avatars who fight against her. As I said before, Corpse Collector may have a means to permanently disable Moon Rider, and I’m certain it’s just as capable of being used on other Avatars as well. Thus we must keep her within the Guild Hall, but be wary of fighting her directly.”[/color]

Taking note that Kisa was here, Dark Wraith couldn’t be forward about how she intends to stop Corpse Collector. A Hacker must be fought with by an equally skilled Hacker. Corpse Collector’s cheats were obvious enough that any amature programmer would have already been outed and banned, but CC had much more complex systems up to ensure she can cheat with impunity. Thus Dark Wraith would have to put most of her efforts not to fight Corpse Collector, but to subvert whatever walls she has placed to find out who Corpse Collector truly is, and end her. It was going to be a two-pronged battle, but with Moon Rider’s martial prowess and Dark Wraith’s own technical skills, she was certain they could succeed.

Of course, Dark Wraith and Moon Rider weren’t merely fighters of the Ebony Strykers, but leaders as well. And what sort of leader would they be if they couldn’t lead others into battle? [color=black]”Kisa, you will be assisting Moon Rider. I hope you understand the risks in doing so, and I won’t be offended if you wish to decline. However you will be rewarded well for your efforts if you do chose to fight alongside our Black King. If you chose not to fight the Corpse Collector, I would like you to find the others around the Black City and bring them to the Guild Hall to entrap Corpse Collector, but only after I send you the message that she is at the Guild Hall. That way once we have nullified her as a threat, we can ensure she has no escape. Rally them under the orders of Moon Rider, though if you happened to find any of these people, use my name instead.”[/color] Dark Wraith sent Kisa a list of names. She was very unspecific about it, but these names contained a list of Sweepers. And not just Sweepers, but Cleaners at that. If there were any fighting in the city, they were likely being rallied by one of these Cleaners. Arms Slave was one of the names listed.

[color=black]”I apologize for making you come this way, but we must hurry back to the Guild Hall as soon as possible. While I can observe Corpse Collector through the scrying orbs here, I need to be present to battle her, and I can’t monitor her while I’m on the move.”[/color] Dark Wraith walked past the two and looked like she was going to get ready to go. She was actually relying on Moon Rider’s motorcycle to make for faster time, but that wouldn’t be possible if all three went. Dark Wraith also made a note that she needed to get one of those herself. Motorcycles were cool.

[@Mega Birb][@KoL][@TheWindel][@Jedly][@Kitsune]