"What? How dare they burn my roses like some wretched weed?" Victoire snarled as the Angels came down on them, burning her garden before she could even try to collect her bounty only to be joined by the Machina's indiscriminate bombardment that also killed most of her familiars that weren't already inside the Elicitor. It was humiliating, it infuriating and caused the vampire to want to growl out in rage, which is exactly what Victoire did, creases appearing on her face as she unveiled her fury. "GRRRRRR! You will pay for your insolence, mortal pests!" Victoire's growl of pure anger echoed, silencing even the cannons of the Elicitor, or the thunderous blasts of the Heavenly hosts for a brief moment.

Victoire had been trying to apply little pressure to this battle and remain hidden as she planned every move to counter the Elicitor's advance, well aware that the machine should have at least a trick or two that she didn't knew the exact nature of. But, the Angels ruined it all, a sweet easy victory for the Countess, turned into naught but humiliation and shame as Victoire's plans collapsed. At that instant, every living being on the valley, human, angel and demon alike would feel their heart skipping a beat, literally as the blood stopped flowing for a moment, reacting to Victoire's sudden change of mood.

"I'll end this battle in one fell swoop." Victoire said as she extended her hand to the sky, revealing her hiding spot for the first time as she collected every drop of blood shed on this battle in a gigantic orb above her head. What could the Primordial Vampire/Succubus be planning to do with that much blood?

"Hmm... that was a bad move." Diana commented on the fact that she had just been cornered by a duo humans, one alive and the other... not so much, even if Victoire couldn't be certain of what Shizuka was, other than the fact that she wasn't really evil. "You guys are seriously going to point your guns at an unarmed girl? A human such as you, even? That's sick." Diana kind of growled, when faced with such a cold blooded behavior. Even if death here on the Nexus is cheap, it doesn't mean that they have the right to kill for fun, especially someone such as Bastion, who seemed perfectly ignorant of the nature of this War.

To her luck, Diana's ears just noticed the sound of the oncoming horde of vampiric bats, that would likely reduce the two maids to dry husks (or one of them, at least), while actually doing the same to her and Bastion, if they didn't find a way out of here, fast.

"I don't know about you two, Nuts and Screw but, if someone stole a precious thing from me, I would go looking for a ring. Aren't you supposed to give it only to the one you love the most?" Diana replied with an innuendo heavy reply, certain that the humans would get what she meant as precious thing, the only thing every woman has and can only be given once. All of this was just a distraction tactic, to say the truth, to gain time until the bats arrived and, once they did Diana took a deep breath, letting her lungs be filled with air that was soon converted in over charged plasma, the very air around Diana crackled with power as she growled in a voice that wasn't human, for sure. "Both of you, to the ground, now!"


What followed was a deluge of energy, a beam of concentrated plasma that (while being but a mere flashlight, compared to the termonuclear nightmare that was her true form's breath attack) torched everything in front of Diana, opening a straight path to the Elicitor's hull, while killing all the bats that could have killed the human girls as well as them. Diana hoped that they had heard her and dropped out of the beam's path (and that it didn't killed any other live humans) but, didn't stayed behind to check. "We can escape through there. Hold to me, Bastion-chan!" Diana said reassuringly as she tightened her hold on Bastion, while doing her best to not touch the other girl in any strange places, before she made a run for it.

The outside of the Elicitor was still a good way away, but if nothing got in their way they could make it. At least Diana thought in her earnest naivete as she ran away, not even caring to watch for any counter attacks that might come from behind.

"Unarmed? You're the one with the sword! Put the girl down and-" Hibiki would have loved to try to reason with this dangerous stranger, but then she fired a laser at them. Predicting something like this might have happened Hibiki and Shizuka dodged out of the way, both going in separate directions before the laser would hit them.

"Whoa!"

"Sis, catch!"

Once the laser was gone Hibiki tossed her pistol to her sister (While on safety of course). Shizuka caught the second gun deftly and immediately started firing both pistols at the intruder, disregarding Bastion. While Hibiki may have not wanted to fight, Shizuka wasn't going to hold back. As for Hibiki she was more concerned about the hole in the wall. If just one intruder had enough power to do that, there was no telling what she could do if she got somewhere critical. Not to mention she just took something that the Eliticor was suppose to be protecting, which was likely the girl. Reaching into her mouth Hibiki took out two things: one was her repair drones and the other was one of her tricky bombs.

Tossing the repair drone towards the hole in the wall it transformed midflight and knew exactly what it needed to do: Repair the wall. And just as fast as it was destroyed, the drone had managed to get at least half the wall repaired. The other half was only large enough for the intruder to squeeze through, and that's where Hibiki's second bomb came in. This second bomb was a web bomb, which would coat the area in a sticky white fluid. The area she aimed for was the space between the hole and the wall and the intruder and just as it landed it exploded. It would cover the hole and hopefully the intruder, keeping them trapped there. Meanwhile Shizuka never stopped shooting, though she made sure to lead her target instead of trying to chase her with bullets, aiming in front of the girl's path instead of where she was.

"Sis, call for back up, tell an intruder took a girl from the cargo bay!"

"On it!"

The Maggot sent a glare at the necromancer for blatantly disregarding her and trying to destroy the human wholesale. It was now apparent to her that Silana had no intention of playing along to another's tune, a trait she loathed in anyone else but herself. She almost sneered to find the pure human had evaded the attack, though his nanite screen that kept her maggots from burrowing inside kept her focused on the matter at hand. Still, it was a paltry barrier that was overtasked with keeping the bats at bay and barely held up the small zone of control it mustered.

"You are an impulsive lich, aren't you? And to think I thought the undead were better at controlling their emotions, you know, being 'eternal' and all." She laughed wickedly, clearly amused at the idea of anything being eternal. Given Suparna's own role in the natural cycle of life and death, she felt like laughing at any fool that thought they could truly live forever. "Sit back and wait for eternity while I sort this out."

This time Suparna joined in the frayed, disappearing into the swarm of bats to join Chirada. The Corpse responded to an unspoken signal and burst out of the bat swarm to pierce the Nanite screen. They descended to eat away at Chirada, but their programming kept the majority at the boundary so the cloud barely frayed the tips of his feathers. Chirada didn't bother stopping to strike at the Succubus, but choose to barrel through and tackle her outside the screen and back into the darkness where it would open up and trap her in the cage of bone so maggots and bats could feast on her helpless flesh and metal. Suparna leapt through the screen once Chirada made contact with the Machina and leapt to knock the scientist to the floor even as her skin turned red from the nanites trying to eat her. If she reached him her wide sleeve would be shoved over his face and allow a torrent of maggots to eat through his eyes and crawl through orifices to get at the tasty brains inside. This wasn't a matter of controlling him, but devouring him completely for the flavor of it.

Though of course, Silana would be getting a perfectly intact skeleton for her troubles.

---

The battle was not going in the Machina's favor, though at this point it wasn't in anyone's clear advantage. The Angels and Demons had commanders who were occupied either fighting over territory control or for control of the Elicitor's deck. Even though they were drastically outnumbered, Endian and Grafdakka had done well in holding off the superior numbers attacking from above and below, while the others fought valiantly to keep their base secure. However, the Machina still had more to offer.

"Your request is acknowledged and has arrived." The maids would find that their call for help was indeed answered and found to be worthy of sending Aqua Regia herself. She'd have been more effective dealing with the sudden arrival of another angelic commander, but it was unanimously decided that preserving the Queen's treasure trumped all other concerns. Propulsion units flared to life, Regia flying across the room to alight in front of the hastily barricaded hole in the hole, rifle and sword bared to bar Diana's advance.

"You will unhand the Human and surrender yourself before you cause further harm. Further efforts to escape will only end in your demise, intruder."

~Silana Delacroix~

She paid no mind to her attack missing. A trivial thing, in the end, so was that shield of his...whatever it was made out of. She would crumble it, and she would kill them. It seemed a certain maggot had something to say to her about her actions though.

"You are an impulsive lich, aren't you? And to think I thought the undead were better at controlling their emotions, you know, being 'eternal' and all. Sit back and wait for eternity while I sort this out."

Silana almost hissed at the maggot for her impertinence in the unholy, ethereal way only an undead could. Of course, such an action would only prove the worm right and that was not something she wished to do. She simply looked at Suparna with cold, impassive eyes as the maggot went to attack the robot and her creator. Impulsive? No, she simply understood the need to finish this quickly before they lost their objective. Suparna thought she could offend her and get away with it? Her, the Queen of the undead? She who was eternal? She who withered entire kingdoms and brought even the strongest and hardiest of men to their knees, only to crumble them into decayed, rotting, corpses?

She would pay for her offenses, just as this human who was so valiantly clinging to life. She wasn't going to destroy this place with flashy magic since Suparna and her had a mutual...acquaintance, but fine. If this writhing, filthy living maggot wished to insult her...she would show her just how much of a lower creature she was.

"It is unfortunate you lack the mental capacity to 'sort this out yourself', worthless worm. Charging in like that, is only going to get you hurt." She impassively stated, the unholy book she carried with her began to burn, an eldritch, blue flame engulfing the pages. "You should return to the filth you writhe in and cherish before I make you my puppet. Altissimus enim mordax est Magia: Sathanus Suspendisse."

Several orbs of dark, acidic liquid formed around her. They dripped as the formed, the acidic substance eating away at the floor quickly. It was a higher tier spell, and typically made quick work of fleshy humans. Angels were of course, resistant to its dark magic but unguarded humans? Well, his bones would hopefully be nothing more than a black pile of goop, unfit even for resurrection.

And well, if Suparna just so happened to get caught in the crossfire, then that was her own fault for being impulsive herself.

The orbs blasted towards both human, machine, and maggot, showing to love for her own ally, intending on finishing this with a swift action. They had no time to be messing around here, after all. In fact, she had half a mind to let Suparna handle this man himself, if she wanted too so much. She needed to get further into the ship if she wanted to bring it to its knees. So, she levitated, and followed right behind her attack, intending to fly right over the human and machine so she could continue on her way.





The attack worked much better than she had expected it too. Chances were, that mechanical monstrosity's mobility had been completely taken out now. Her halberd slice right through the machine's jetpack, impaling itself in the wall of the Elicitor. She'd have to retrieve it later, not something that would be difficult. Unfortunately, things were only getting more dire. With the arrival of the demons, most of angelic brothers and sisters would now have to fight a war on two fronts. It would have been bad, if not for the timely arrival of two commanders.

She didn't get much of a chance to greet them, however. As one appeared in a flash of holy lightning behind her, Graffdakka charged. Instinctively, she raised her shield and drew her holy blade. She had expected well, a melee attack. Not an explosion. As soon as the missile exploded on deck, She was immediately caught in it. She was thrown backwards, her shield providing little protection from the resulting blast. She slammed against the ground, landing on her stomach, severe burns scorching most of her body, and likely a few broken bones as well.

Nothing she couldn't walk off a bit.

She pushed herself to her knees, addressing the newly arrived Raziel, supporting herself momentarily with her blade.

"Raziel, your timely arrival is a blessing." She said, she, however, didn't have the Luxury to speak for long. "I am confident in my abilities to handle this thing, but our units need help elsewhere inside the ship. I fear some may have fallen to demonic corruption, and the Machina are not making things easy. As much as I loathe running from a fight, we have a bigger objective here than simply winning." She stood, holy energy arcing across her body as she stared down Graffdakka, waiting for him to make his next move.

That unit she was speaking of, was of course Diana. Her original plan had been to rendezvous with the dragon once she was inside and gave her time to retrieve it. She was vague in her wording, if only because she didn't want Graffdakka to realize that they had an agent on the inside already. Her intentions should have been obvious. He should handle Graffdakka, and she could move in and swiftly help Diana retrieve the object.

---

Raizel's appearance was not only marked by the strike of lightning, but an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch it's way out of the main deck. Metal folded and blackened. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of pieces of glass and steel, a deadly rainfall, showered down. Alarms - shrill and deafening- erupted. A huge bite had been taken out of the side and the deck of the fortress.

Smoke engulfed the deck, but Raziel remained standing, his wings unfurled to reveal thier electric brilliance. On his right hip, his holy blade dangled, the wind of the explosion thrusting it about. Not a scratch had been laid on the Seraph, his holy armor shielding him from harm without rest.

Around him, the screams of angel and demon alike reached his ears. He felt for his underlings. The angels who died, pawns in a game of warlords, were for the most part dead and those who were not soon would be. Their masters would take stock of the outcome, considering their armies in numbers only. How many had fallen? How many would fall? How many remained strong and able to send to the next fight? It was painful, but he would not let thier deaths be in vain.

Allowing his rage to take over, he turned to his subordinate, a Valkyrie commanders.

"I am confident in my abilities to handle this thing, but our units need help elsewhere inside the ship. I fear some may have fallen to demonic corruption, and the Machina are not making things easy. As much as I loathe running from a fight, we have a bigger objective here than simply winning."

Just as she finished, a second explosion rocked the fortress, this time blowing right through the side of the ship. Instantly, understanding dawned upon Raziel. Diana! She had most likely retrieved the artifact and had now encountered the enemy. Rage soon filtered out of his veins and was replaced by a new motivation, excitement.

"I understand, rendezvous with Diana, I'll handle your opponent." he asserted, turning to the Machina in front of them. No doubt he would be a difficult opponent if a Valkyrie Commander was having trouble.

Each beat of the Machina's blaring speakers began to match the pace of Raziel heart, which beat right along side it. Despite the singularity, it didn't amount to much. "I can only imagine the difficulty you must of had, listening to such rubbish music. Go Gwynn! Diana won't have time to wait for you!" he affirmed as he quickly went on the offensive.

Instantly, Raizel discharged massive amounts of Holy Lightning, right into the metallic deck, and into all those he considered enemies. Machina and Demon alike. Angels would be immune. Bolts of white hot lightning broke the greyish tint of the deck, cleaving it into parts, but just for the briefest of moments. And in that violent illumination Graffdakka would see lightning arc off Raziel fingers and summon twin beasts of heavenly brilliance. Raiju.

"You have a bad taste in music." he jibbed as his Raiju went into a frenzy, launching themselves at the Graffdakka, lightning arcing off thier outstretched claws.

"Deadbolt." In that brilliance, electricity flickering of Raziel, all were laid bare. Internally though, he took note of the orb of blood above them all.

With blinding light and golden flames was Azaezel burning away the grounded legions of demons. Some, smarter than their average brethren, though to put an end to the onslaught. Yet as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, their stench hit Azaezel’s nose. With barely giving them a look he threw a bolt of pure, crackling sunlight. Piercing the demons before they exploded in a bloody mess. “Simple beasts, can you not see that you are no match for me?” As Azaezel kept his barrage going, he witnessed how the field of flowers slowly burned. The field was filled with fires, smoke, and ash. The way all corruption should be, if it was to Azaezel.

But when the bloody countess spoke for the entire valley, even Azaezel felt a shudder. Not that he knew what it was. Fear was a long forgotten, distant and now almost foreign thought. But his body did not forget. He looked for the source and saw the vampire drawing the blood from the battlefield. With wide eyes, suddenly realizing what sorcerer stood before him, he flew up. Like a radiant star below the steel-gray clouds he shined. His wings, glowing a golden hue. From above the light of the sun pierced the veil of clouds and bore down on Azaezel. “Face me! You carnal witch!” he shouted, challenging the infamous countess. While he charged a spell of his own. A beam that was to pierce the bloody orb and the concentration of magic stored within. Many would see it as a foolish and impulsive challenge. But Azaezel knew that should the orb hit, the battle would be all but lost. So he planned on using its massive power against itself. By piercing it, he believed he could destabilize the magic, making it backfire.

It didn't take a grand tactician to see that Falz and Shii'Ell were in a bad situation. They were blind, couldn't escape and couldn't see their enemy. They needed to retreat, or at least get rid of these bats if they wanted be able to stand a chance. And even then it would still be a disadvantage, Shii'Ell was strong but was still only one person. She would have a hard time in a fight against two especially if she had to focus on protecting Falz as well. They needed a plan, and fast. Falz knew the enemy wouldn't take their time in launching their next attack and Shii'Ell was too focused on watching the bats for any sign of an attack, he needed to think. What could turn this situation around? What could give them the edge or an opening to escape? The bats were blocking off either sides of the corridor and even if they could see the door it's possible that they'd just run straight into the enemy trying to go through it. And it's not like they could just go through the floor into the lower level unless... That's exactly what they would do. Falz brought up his terminal, sending the orders to his nanobots and sending his plan to Shii'Ell to prevent it being overheard by their opponents. He ordered the nanobots to ignore the bats, letting them overtake him and Shii'Ell once more, hopefully it would mask his plans as well. Using the now free nanobots, he ordered them to the floor, quickly chewing the area underneath him and Shii'Ell. It didn't take long for the floor to give away, both Falz and Shii'Ell dropping to the lower floor. Shii'Ell grabbed Falz before hitting the ground and took off in a full sprint as soon as she on the floor, fleeing the swarm of bats as they poured through the hole. He would've liked to rebuild the floor with his repair nanobots to prevent pursuit but he didn't have enough time, for no they'd just have to rely on Shii'Ell's extreme speed to get them away.

~Bastion~

---

“E-Eh? What’s going on?” Bastion asked as her piggy-back ride was halted by two maids. Truthfully she didn’t know what was going on nor could she remember why she was in this space ship anyway. Maybe it wasn’t a space ship but it certainly looked and felt like one. But in the time she could consider asking what was going on, all sorts of events happened at once.

First was having a gun turned on her by the maids. Then Diana began preaching to the two maids about the morality of their actions. While Bastion appreciated being defended, she did hope they could resolve this without violence. So once again she tried to manage some calming words for everyone to just settle down so they could resolve this. And then Diana shot plasma from her mouth.

“Eeep! W-Well, she did tell you to duck,” Bastion tried to add as consolation to the two maids. “Miss Diana, shouldn’t we at least apologize-hey, slow down!” she protested as the dragon girl clenched onto her with a tighter hold and zipped off in the direction of escape. They would have made it too had the maids not retaliated with shooting at the fleeing rogue.

“Agghh!” Bastion said, gripping her arm as something small and sharp grazed it. A look down made her gasp as she saw the white of her straight-jacket sleeve slowly become seeped with red. One of the maid’s stray bullets had hit her and while it wasn’t enough to incapacitate her, it still hurt like hell. There was no telling what sort of punishment High Queen Eos would enact if their prize was damaged in any way. A prize the maids were supposed to be protecting.

The duo’s attempts to flee would only go so far before another Machina unit appeared before them, this one holding an icy stare that made Bastion shiver despite the pain in her arm. Blood continued to drip to the floor, Bastion biting her lip to keep from crying out. She didn’t know who these people were but so far Diana was the only one who hadn’t tried to harm her. That alone made her want to stick with the dragon girl as opposed to the robot or the two cosplayers.

---

Grafdakka's body was smokey and on fire, but he didn't care. He liked being on fire; it made him look intimidating. Not only that, but being on fire made it harder for his opponents to stay near him if they didn't want to get melted. What Grafdakka didn't know however was that he was on fire thanks to his jetpack fuel, which had ignited him. Still, didn't matter to the war machine. What only mattered was that he was now fighting two angels, both who seemed to be the leader of their armies.

"HA. HA HA HA. FINALLY. A CHALLENGE."

A new song blared over Grafdakka's speakers as he readied himself for battle. He reloaded his Rocket Launcher, aimed his Gatling guns at his new enemies, and his saw roared for blood. And if that wasn't enough, the fortress started... Sinking. No. It wasn't sinking. It was tunneling. With the overwhelming ambush of Angel's and Demons, it seemed like now was time for the Elicitor to escape. Much like Grafdakka, it all happened so fast. One moment the Elicitor was standing indomitable over the battle, and the next it was mostly underground. The demons near the ground who had been racing to it took the chance to hop onto the deck, attacking anything that was an Angel or Machina. However the weapons of the Elicitor made short work of them, and those not smart enough to know better tried to charge Grafdakka and his enemies.

As for his enemies, the newcomer summoned two metrical creatures to attack him, as well as shooting lightning at Grafedakka himself. The claws of the beasts meat the flaming body of Graf, but try as they might they could only succeed in putting scratches into him. Even the angel's bolt of lightning only succeeded in making Graf more smokey than he already was, causing the war machine to scoff.

"YOU WILL NEED HELP."

Now it was Grafdakka's turn. Before the ground swallowed up the Elicitor whole, Grafdakka unleashed a cloud of bullets at both his new and old opponent as he charged, ripping apart anything in it's line of effect without thousands of bullets tearing apart flesh and metal. Knowing that he also should deal with the beasts, Grafdakka also brought his saw to the creatures that were attacking him, striking out at them with deadly speed and precision.

@LokiLeo789@Rune_Alchemist

Suparna wasn't too surprised to find Silana would resort to treachery and was tempted to laugh as the Necromancer proved the Maggot's jeers to be of merit. The smell of rot assailed her, which really only served to make the Maggot hungry as her mind pictured a field of corpses in the hot sun, ripe and ready for her to eat. She didn't need to concern herself with dodging the orbs thrown her way as the hallway was flush with flying meat shields, the bats themselves being dissolved by the dozen as they slowed the globs of acid till they sputtered halfway to Suparna's back.

It would have been a perfect moment of glory and vindication if her prey didn't abandon all defense and escape through a hole in the metal floor the nanites created. Suparna flew cleanly over them, missing by a mile before it could flare its wings and come to a stop. The Maggot herself leapt over the hole, her gaze flickering downwards to find the Machina were nowhere insight and likely fled at the first chance they had with the utmost speed.

"How droll. You failed to kill all of us, and I had my prey escape. I may be of the nature to wallow in the muck, but what excuse do you have for your idiocy?" Suparna turned back to floating necromancer and clicked her tongue in disgust. She raised a hand into the air, her sleeve falling back to reveal the overwhelming mass of carrion coating the arm past the wrist. "Perhaps you need actual corpses to be useful. Here, let me provide some for you, withering woman."

A snap of Suparna's fingers, and the Sleeper Agents awoke.

On the bridge with Endian, things were about to go horribly wrong. The security officer went inert for a microsecond before rebooting, new orders received as it turned the Elicitor's internal defenses off and unsealed the doors before locking the system down to hamper any efforts to undue the damage. With the Elicitor now tunneling beneath the ground, the navigation officer adjusted course to direct the fortress towards the demonic controlled territory. Its console was locked soon after and both rose from their stations to approach Endian with a mocking salute as they sneered cruelly.

"Hail King Rufus!"

And promptly detonated their own self destruct functionality.

---

"You two. The Queen's Treasure has been harmed by your inaccuracy." The arctic Machina chastised harshly, sensors indicating the human had received a negligible injury which was causing her to have an elevated heart rate. Concerning, but a manageable concern if she was treated immediately.

The fluid in one injector tube was replaced with the actual nanites that produced it, a process that was grossly inefficient for her to do but necessary at the moment. Regia floated towards the dragon, rifle shouldered to a magnetic lock on her back while her sword remained ready to skewer the dragon and freeze her solid from the inside. "Do not make any sudden movement. I am relinquishing you of the humans custody and applying first aid." The nanite filled tube coiled around Bastion's midsection and lifted her from Diana's arms to pull her back and away from danger, while the injector at the end released a spray of nanites that would begin closing the wound as well working into her bloodstream like a tranquilizer, attempting to put her back to sleep.

"You two, restrain the infiltrator before more contacts show themselves."

@KoL @Shyla Nesthorn@TheWindel@Flamelord @Ryonara @Rune_Alchemist

"Tsc!" To say that Victoire was mad, was an understatement. No, she was boiling with rage as a testament of the foul temperament bred into the members of the vampire race. In fact there were once legends from the world where Victoire came from of one of the Primordials (the most powerful members of their race, directly descended from the first vampire) got so possessed by a murderous rage, that she committed genocide against her own race, nearly destroying all of the vampirekind.

Well, Victoire wasn't nearly that mad... yet but, she was certainly only thinking of murdering every single being on this whole valley. And, even such a simple desire for revenge was cut off when Victoire was faced directly against an angel of the highest echelons. There was no words to describe how humiliated Victoire felt and how much that fueled her fury yet, there was nothing she could do right now.

Fighting Azaezel headon was suicide for a being like Victoire, a half-vampire, half-succubus, being doubly or more as weak to anything he could spew on her and Victoire is way too selfish to just die like that. Instead, the vampire grinned a wicked grin that could freeze the blood of even the most pious man. She would take her revenge, survive, escape and even save one of her trump cards for later. "Make your choice, heavenly pest. Your allies, or my head." With those words, Victoire ceased her concentration, letting her magic run wild on purpose which caused a torrent of corrosive, poisonous blood to crash over the battlefield, washing it all it the substance that was way more concentrated than before.

Azaezel would have to choose between trying to kill Victoire and getting hit by the deadly substance, or fall back and try to control that carnage that Victoire unleashed out of petty spite. The reason was simple enough, as soon as the blood touched the soil, the roses sprang back to life, their very roots becoming a bramble maze that engulfed Azaezel's disciples and shred them to blood pieces in a horrid display of what Victoire could do when provoked for too long. The brambles also got one of the Elicitor's feet, shredding it with easy as they tried to engulf and crush the whole fortress while, it dug underground, if no one tried to counter, fast. Above the earth, the plant sought blood and darted, dashing and weaving as they shoot through the air (to the clouds if need be) as it pursued the Angels that flew above.

Victoire used the opportunity to disengage, rending a portal in space to the insides of the Elicitor, right besides the most powerful ally of the Demons, other than Victoire herself, that she could feel on the battlefield, that being the lich, Silana. This battle simply wasn't worthy of her time, anymore.

"Alright, I give just don't hurt Bastion anymore. She doesn't have anything to do with this war, you are the ones who captured her in fist place. I just wanted to get her away from this all, ever since I found the prize was a person, I would never give her to the Angels to do the same as you Machina did." Diana's eyes burned with an inner rage as she was forced to give up but, she couldn't bring herself to do any more damaging move if it would only hurt Bastion and that other human girl. It had been long since Diana swore not to kill, or seriously harm, a human ever again as a penitence for the massacres she did while being a feral beast.

"If you promise me that she'll be alright, I'll give myself in without resistance." It was better to become a prisoner once again and hope that luck would present a chance for her to escape, than break her vow, such was Diana's will. "I'm sorry, in the end, I couldn't save you at all, Bastion. Such a hero, am I... heh." Was the last thing Diana said before surrendering.

---

Shizuka stopped shooting when Regis berated her about hurting the important cargo. Which was a surprise to both sisters, as they didn't know the girl was what they were taking with them. In hindsight Hibiki should have known, seeing that the intruder had the girl with her when the cargo was open and it looked like the girl was suppose to be restrained. There were many questions in Hibiki's mind, but they would have to wait. Fortunately the intruder surrendered, so Hibiki and Shizuka approached her.

Hibiki approached the intruder, taking her weapons away as well as sealing the girl's hands using one of her tricky bombs. In this instance, it turned into a pair of handcuffs strong enough to restrain boats from floating out to sea, so hopefully they'd be strong enough to make sure the girl doesn't escape. "I'm sorry about this. But please understand we don't want anyone hurt either." Hibiki used another tricky bomb and it turned into a sort of gag/muzzle. After seeing the intruder breath lightning at them, Hibiki didn't want to take any chances. Shizuka helped keep the intruder docile, aiming her guns at her back. However when she walked pasted Bastion she could only whisper an apology for hurting her. "Sorry..."

While they secured the intruder, both the sisters felt something odd happening to the Elicitor. It was moving, but not... Forward. Neither of the sisters knew what was going on. This worried the sisters, and both wanted to gear up and help defend the ship. However they still needed to protect their VIP and figure out what to do with the prisoner. So Hibiki activated her other two drones and in addition to the one she had already activated, told them to get her's and Shizuka's equipment. They would be strong enough to bring at least their armor and guns.

"Arctic Sorceress, where would you like us to take the intruder?"

@KoL@Lonewolf685@TheWindel

@Lucius Cypher - Breaking off combat with Grafdakka
@LokiLeo789 - Leaves Raziel to retrieve Diana
@TheWindel - Bastion is present
@KoL - Also present.
@Ryonara - present
@Lonewolf685 - basically cloaks herself in lightning, and attempts to elbow Regina right in the stomach.

As soon as Raziel made his decision, Gwynn moved into action. While he distracted Grafdakka, she readied her shield, guarding her from any bullets and projectiles that would be shot at her. There was no time she could spare, she had to get into the Elicitor. Filling her body with holy energy, she swiftly flew past the machine, pulling her halberd out of the metal hull where it was impaled. It was then she noticed the Elicitor...sinking? She didn't have time to question or ponder how or why it was doing that exactly. She had to get to Diana. She knew roughly where the girl's entrance point was and where she was heading, but that was it. She simply prayed she made it in time.

She hopped off of the metal wall, with Grafdakka still spewing a stream of bullets at her. It didn't matter, however. She would not be stopped. She charged right past Grafdakka, shield protecting her against the bullets as they harmlessly ricocheted off of it. She landed on the ground, in front of a door leading inside of the ship. Before the ground swallowed it completely, she dove inside of the landship.

Without even waiting to take a look at her surroundings, she charged forward. The hallways were too narrow to allow her to fly comfortably, but she had other methods of getting somewhere. Her Halberd would be useless in this small corridor, but that didn't matter. Holy energy arced across her body, righteous fury coursing through her veins as she glowed with a holy light. All the Machina agents standing in her way knew, was a sound similar to a bolt of thunder as a bright flash of light coursed down the hallway followed by each of the humans falling to her sword blade as she stood at the opposite end of the hallway, merely looking back at the corpses of the now dead soldiers with mild disdain.

A fairly physically draining attack, traveling in such a manner, but the completion of this mission fell above anything else. Gwynn traveled in this method all the way through the Elicitor, cutting down swathes of Machina agents in the process. It didn't take her long to reach the location where Diana was supposed to be, and it took the Valkyrie only moments to analyze the situation. All the warning the Machina would have of her approach, was the same as the earlier ones had as she appeared at the end of the hallway.

Diana was being apprehended by Machina.
She was also being threatened by a rather powerful looking Machina.
There was an unknown human there that didn't look like she was with the Machina. Possibly their target?
Two other machina were also present. Both of which, had restrained Diana which meant she would be of little help here.

She had to close the distance before they escaped or ran off, but doing so in the manner she had been using ran the risk of harming both Diana and the human. She had to be swift. Still, there wasn't much else she could do in this scenario to get both of them...so, her first target should be the one holding the human. It was still a bit risky, but it would mean there was less of a chance she would accidentally harm the prize.

Without a word, she cloaked her body in holy lightning once again, and charged towards the Machina holding the human, stopping right in front of her. She brought her sword in a swift upwards motion, slicing right through the contraption holding the human. Using her free hand, she then grabbed the human and rather roughly tossed her behind her.

The action would likely leave her open to a counterattack, but it meant little in the grand scheme of things. She could let the humans get their hands on the prize.

~Silana Delacroix~

@Lonewolf685 - completely ignores Suparna, further insults her while talking to Victoire.
@KoL - Greets Victoire

Silana landed gracefully on the other side of the hole the machina and man had created. Unfortunate, but it wasn't something she was going to linger on. She had completed her objective of removing the obstacle before them, and that was it. With that goal completed, they now had fairly unhindered access to the Elicitor. By now though, Silana had more or less completely forgotten Suparna's existence. The Carrion Queen as she called herself or whatever, was not worth the Liches time, and complete and utter indifference was the biggest insult you could ever give someone in her opinion.

"How droll. You failed to kill all of us, and I had my prey escape. I may be of the nature to wallow in the muck, but what excuse do you have for your idiocy? Perhaps you need actual corpses to be useful. Here, let me provide some for you, withering woman."

Silana completely ignored Suparna...and made her way further down the hallway as she tucked her unholy tome into her robes. She had to find where this prize was before the angels found it, after all. The Machina were likely not going to be to happy to have intruders, and whatever Suparna just did was likely to catch their attention.

Ah well, just something else to file under unnecessary at the moment.

It was then, another presence made themselves known. Or rather, they had disengaged the enemies above and decided to pay them a little visit down here. The portal momentarily put her on alert, but it was short lived as The Blood Countess, Victoire Bordeaux made herself known. That was something she hadn't been expecting.

"The Blood Countess...Greetings." She offered the vampire a small smile. Her voice was amicable, though not overly friendly. "I was not expecting your presence. Do be careful...some loathsome, annoying, maggots have seen fit to follow me in since they were too uncreative to find their own way in."

---

Arms crossed and wings unfurled to truly show his divine splendor, Raziel oozed confidence and superiority. So much so, that it seemed to suffocate the air. His face was deadpan, expressionless as he took in the world around him and formulated a plan to win this war. Unfortunately, he couldn't account for the sudden burst of movement from the fortress. There was a terrible rumble from deep in the belly of the ship that struck fear into every living beast underneath it. Then the earth began to move as if it were a wave on the sea as the whole fortress burrowed itself into the earth, giving those around it a grisly death by crushing.

The Holy Bolt stood stood though, unfazed by the event, he was intrigued even. The machines must have been getting desperate. Despite the fact that he was deep in thought, he was more than capable of taking on his enemy. With the machines vile music blaring, Raizel went on the defensive. Taking that into consideration, Raizel fed the Raiju with electricity, filling them to the brim with holy energy.

The armor of the Machina was thick, annoyingly so. His discharge only seemed to hide the being all the more, but that wasn't the half of the Holy Bolts power. Raziel decided to focus on the task at hand, dealing with the Machina. Suddenly, he became aware of everything aware around him, focusing his killing intent of the machine. The deafening thunder of bombs and artillery shells exploding. The earsplitting sounds of nearby rockets and grenades exploding. The clamor of orders being issued. The screams of injured angels pleading for medical aid. 
The clashing of mechanized equipment on patrol or advancing on the enemy. The piercing sounds of bullets flying through the air nearby. 

Bullets? Lightning flashed and pushed its inverted limbs down to the deck. In one, two, three seconds, the loud boom of the thunder struck. The stream of bullets found nothing but air. If the Machina was curious as to where Raizel had went, he would find the general in the air above him, arms still crossed.

"Your judgement. . . he bellowed as his beasts were cut down by the Machina, its saw cleaving right through the Raiju, unfortunately, he had fallen into Raizel's trap. ". . . is death! Instantly both Raiju exploded, but this was much more than just an explosion. In the moments that followed, both machine and demon on the deck would find themselves caught in an explosion of holy energy. There was a sudden blinding flash followed by a shockwave of pure electricity that ate everything in its path.

Raizel and just set off a holy pulse of electricity, point blank in Grafdakka's face. The Holy Bolt had no doubt in his mind that the pulse wouldn't kill that Machina, but it sure as hell would hurt him. With that taken care of, Raizel turned to find blood rushing towards him. His holy armor would protect him from the acidic rain of blood, creating a force field around his person, or so he thought. His shield folded and smoldered, blood oozing through the force field and dripping onto his right shoulder. Pain shot through his body, the smell of burning flesh filled Raizel's nostrils. Agonizing screams echoed throughout the battlefield, bouncing off the earthen walls of the whole that the Elicitor was creating. The sizzling flesh on his right shoulder oozed like sap from the trunk of a tree, a thousand knives stabbed repeatedly all over his arm. The pain was blinding, so much that Raizel couldn't think straight for a few seconds.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. Tendrils of fauna began to race after angels, ripping all without prejudice. Two raced at him, but his forced field would stop the vines in the tracks, but the fauna was relentless. Twin bolts of electricity would take care of that. In an attempt to rid himself of the vampires vile essence, he sent an electric current through his body, cleansing himself, and slowly healing his wound. Slowly.

"How troublesome." the general murmured as he turned to find the culprits. Higher in sky's above him, stood a demon he knew by name, Victoire, and his subordinate, Azaezel. Both seemed to be in combat, although it seemed a bit one sided at the moment. As much as he wanted to join in the fray, the thousands of roses that littered the battlefield became a sore sight. Without as much as forethought, Raizel summoned streaks of pure white lightning, fighting through the burning pain. Crackling against the bloodly blanket of red, shrouding hot silver clouds with its blinding incandescence, emanating the might of an imminent tempest. Jagged bolts endlessly protruded, filling the sky with undying flashes of radiance. With each strike, roses were burned, slowly being eaten by the fires of his heavenly lightning, despite his efforts, many remained. That wasn't the end of it though. In the heavens above, Raizel prepared a bolt with enough power to light an entire city for months. The lightning was a creature, desperate to escape the vicious bonds of the dark grey storm clouds. Lightning jagged across the sky ripping the once peaceful sky like paper, jumping from cloud to cloud above Victoire's head.

Unfortunately, just as the bolt was to hit, the vampire disappeared, rushing through a portal that led into the unknown. Coward. Unfortunately, the Seraph wouldn't leave such a powerful bolt to waste. Although he didn't sacrifice an arm and a leg to make it, it took plenty of energy to make. Before the smoke of his last attack cleared, a clanking sound could be heard from the sky. It was if a huge anvil was being dragged across the vault of heaven against its will. Branched lightning lit up the Stygian sky. Buzzing and hissing, they trembled with the anger of being shackled to the sky since time began.

Lightning was the megawatt smile of nature, but there was nothing friendly about the terrawatts of violence it unleashed as it rushed towards the Warboss instead. The general found himself saddened by the fact that he had to launch the bolt so quickly. The spell was meant to be weaved for a longer amount of time, that meant, launching it now would weaken its power tremendously, by he fired is anyway. Transforming into what he embodied, Raizel assimilated within the bolt, surging with energy in his intangible form, traveling at the speeds lightning it was known for; right into the chasm left behind by the Elicitor.

---

"Hmm... The Whitering Queen, Silana Delacroix? I thought that it could be you that I sensed by the sheer power of your aura, but I couldn't confirm it while fending off the Heavenly pests. You mustn't bother, the pleasure of such a meeting is mine." Victoire curtsied briefly as her noble blood demanded to treat others of equal status, such as the ancient necromancer, with proper education and politeness, before grin took her face. "You must speak of the Queen of Carrion, Suparna Wolgen. While I do agree that she's not one of the most finesse, we are outnumbered and outmatched on this skirmish, every asset we can gather is very much appreciated, if we still want to walk away victorious."

"First, I would like to summon them to our side, if you have no complaints, then we can trace a proper strategy, based on what knowledge we do have of the situation." Victoire said, sending a mental notice to both Fran and Suparna (the only other Demon operatives inside the Elicitor), "We require your presence, this battle is not over yet, but, we must regroup and draw new plans before striking again." before blood portals would open before of them, connecting wherever they were to Victoire's location.

"It's unfortunate that we were forced into such position but, the force the Heavenly pests deployed was of unexpected potency, it set the whole battle into disarray. Yet, we are here now, why not show the humans why their kind was born with fear of the darkness coded on their very blood?" Victoire said to her gathered allies.

"He-hey, are you sure this is really necessary? We can think things through, y'know, just don't do thi-Hmmph!" What the hell was it those maids? Not only did they restrained Diana's hand, but also they gagged her without even asking first. That was humiliating but, the fact that her tail was still free (Maybe they though it wasn't something to get woried about, or were just dumb? Who knows?) was a major advantage for Diana, who decided to play low for the while, just grunting behind the gag as some drool began to escape her mouth while she chewed at the though ball of spongy material.

"Dompht wohmph, I'hmph hermph." Diana tried to say to Bastion, though the gagged was a bother as they followed their captors just when Gwynn arrived spewing lightning everywhere as she charged the robot that had just captured Diana. What was the Valkyrie's problem? She could see an innocent girl in the way, right? Would an Angel really flash fry a girl that barely could take a grazing hi from a bullet?

Bastion was clearly on the harm's way again, which was cause enough for Diana to lose her cool and escape the Sister's grip as she run before stepping between Bastion and Gwynn, shielding the younger looking girl with her own draconic body. This way Bastion would not be further harmed would she?

What could be this girl's importance, to merit such an unjust treatment?

~Bastion~

---

Bastion breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and that wasn’t just because she was bleeding out at the moment. She was thankful that no fighting would be had at the moment, given the fact that she and Diana were outnumbered. Apparently she was a person of great value; that much she could deduce from the robot’s manner of speech and words. And the maids had been guarding her?

But wait, what was that the cold robot had said? Queen’s Treasure? Surely she wasn’t that important? Before she could question anything else, the cold robot wrapped a coil around her and brought her closer. Bastion widened her eyes before yelping, a sharp needle injected into her skin while a slow phenomenon began to come over her, entering her bloodstream and making her eye lids heavy.

“W-Wait, please….just don’t hurt Diana…my friend,” Bastion mumbled, leaning against the robot with a woozy mind and a decreasing voice. Her mismatched eyes became glaze as she felt slumber gently tug against her consciousness. Had they drugged her? That much could be made out but at least her bullet wound was patched up and she could have sworn she had heard one of the maids apologizing to her.

“Diana…all right…not your fault…just do…what they want,” Bastion continued to say in a groggy manner, only slightly aware of the restrained state her friend had been put in. What else would she call the person that had “saved” her? They were friends now. Friends captured together as well. Or so it appeared.

Something happened that made Bastion gasp and at once her consciousness was brought back with a crash. Something fast and hard had slammed into the robot holding her while shoving her aside. If the sudden impact wasn’t enough to wake her up, the rough landing on the cold, near-pristine floor would jolt her for good.

She clenched her shot arm in pain having landed right on it; for although the wound was healed, the lingering effects would take time. That and she was being thrashed around again. She opened her eyes at that moment to see Diana standing in front of her, shielding her from some sort of bolt of piercing light that sparked all over the area.

“Diana, wait a minute, don’t!” Bastion said, fear for her friend getting hurt rooting her in place as she stared with wide eyes at the scene. “What are you doing? Help her!” she said once more, turning to the Machina with pleading eyes, not aware that both factions were enemies to each other.

---

Endian

The Machina Commander resisted the urge to growl from frustration as she watched the tactical flow of the battle, not exactly appreciating how things were going at the moment. The defenses that had been carefully planned for the Elicitor were proving less than admirable against the angels that assaulted them on the decks. Oh, Grafdakka was proving good enough, but he was sadly appearing to be the exception to the rule here.

Several things vied for her attention all at once, proving less than welcome in those moments. For example, the giant plasma torch set off inside the ship, perilously close to the Cargo that they were transporting home. Fortunately there were units nearby, who seemed to be handling the situation already. There was also the arrival of the Angelic special unit, though Grafdakka seemed to be able to handle him when he wasn't busy dealing with the Demons. Endian was fine with that, since the more the demons fought each other, the less of a chance they had to fight the Machina. Third was the tripping of internal sensors inside the Elicitor, indicating that they had intruders. She had already acted to try and deal with that, but it was proving to merely be a deterrent, and not a solution. Oh, and the swarm of bats. That wasn't helping either.

Most annoying though was the fact that one minute they were striding along, and the next thing she knew the submersion protocols had been activated, the Fortress starting to burrow underground. "Who ordered that," Endian snapped as she accessed logs, practically doing a double take to see that it was Grafdakka who had activated it. Oh, she was going to have a serious talk with him once this was over.

Her eyes widened then as things rapidly went off the rials again, alarms flaring as internal systems locked down, defenses shut down, and bulkheads unsealed to allow free access for anyone inside. "What is the meaning of this," she muttered as hse tried to override,even as officers abandoned their posts.

Turning to face them, she was taken off guard by the proclamation, and it was only a swift reaction from her drones that projected a shielc, deflecting the blast away from her and her assistant, keeping them intact even as the explosion blew out the windows of the bridge and damaged the equipment. For a moment the Machina simply stood there, surveying the damage and coping with what had happened, before her face darkened in anger.

Turning to her assistant, she gestured quickly. "Guard this door. No one gets inside." She couldn't do so herself, not when she had to focus.

Walking over to one of the still intact consoles, she jacked in and let her mind open, striking out into the system to try and brute force it open any way that she could. It wouldn't be impossible, of course, but it was going to take time. Time that they might not have. So to compensate, she activated the intercom (which wasn't locked out due to being a non-vital system) "All units be aware, we have corrupted units on board, and enemy infiltrators. Be on alert, and use your initiative to determine if erratic behavior is a threat."

That said, she returned to what she had been doing, trying to break through the encryptions and such. The sooner that was done, the quicker they could get back to fighting this fight. It certainly distracted from the sudden return of the rose petals that began to interfere with the Submersion Protocols, sending up more alerts and alarms that Endian couldn't do anything about.

Meanwhile the Machina reacted as best they could to the sudden news. The group down in the cargo hold would find units approaching rapidly, well armed and ready to assist Regia and the maids in resisting the now in progress escape attempt. They might be small in number for w, but soon more would appear. They were there to command if Regia deemed it necessary.

Fighting broke out across the Fortress, the Machina reacting to sabotage and destruction, beginning the hunt for the corrupted Machina, as well as the demonic infiltrators. They had some openings now, but it would not be long before surprise wore off, control was reasserted, and they were trapped again. They would have to act quick if they wanted their prize.

Meanwhile automated guns fell silent, leaving the exterior of the Fortress defenseless. Needless to say, the Machina were in a bit of a situation.

---

@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Ryonara@Lonewolf685@TheWindel@Shyla Nesthorn

Hibiki and Shizuka were just about to take the intruder away when a new enemy rushed inside. "How do these people get here!?" Hibiki said with exasperation. Everything happened too quickly for Hibiki to react, but Shizuka was on point. Just as the infiltrator had escaped, Shizuka rushed towards her. Since she was so close to the VIP, Shizuka could not shoot her without hitting the VIP, so she had to settle for the next best thing: knocking them both out of the way.

Shizuka tackled the infiltrator to the ground as well as pulling the other girk down as Shizuka fell, saving them both from stray lightning sparks. A little rough, but Shizuka needed to get this done, clean or not. Sitting up Shizuka then aimed her gun to shoot at the new intruder, but Hibiki stopped her.

"Shizuka don't! You might hit Artic Sorceress. We have to take these two out of here and somewhere safe!"

"But she needs out help-"

"She is strong and prepared for a fight. We're not, so we need to stay out of her way. We can come back later, lets go!"

Hibiki didn't give Shizuka much time to argue as ass he used a simile smoke grenade to cover their escape. Hibiki would help Bastion out of the room while Shizuka followed right behind her carrying away Diana, even if she was resisting. Hibiki would also toss out a few more trick bomb mines, mostly sticky bombs so that if the angel girl gave chase she'd get immobilized. She would have an hard time seeing them in the smoke.

Hibiki heard the announcement Endian made, putting the girl's on high alert. Now they couldn't even rely on the others to secure the VIP and the prisoners, not on on the off chance they're actually traitors. But that just meant Hibiki and Shizuka would need to do a good job protecting the VIP and prisoner. They heard stomping outside the cargo hold and hoped it was friendlies.

@TheWindel@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Flamelord

---

Suparna's face was a mask of horrific rage about to boil over and consume everything not part of the Whole within the corridor, the affront dealt to her cutting to the quick with so very little effort. Chirada's head rose in a silent screech as the four wings spread in primal challenge. The Maggot and Puppet were near moments away from chasing her down and leaping atop the necromancer's back to crush her bones to dust even if they must lose much of their internal carrion to do so. Luckily for the Demonic army their only competent infiltrators would not be tearing each other to pieces as a third party intervened with a portal before them. Finding no reason not to take the portal of their own faction, they stalked through it to find their hated ally along with another figure they were aware of.

"Victoire Bordeaux. How delightful you join us now in out...time of need." Suparna growled out, far too angered by the necromancer maintain much courtesy for the recent arrival. Besides, she held no love for the ancient vampire, yet another creature that looked down upon from afar. If not for the import of their objective Suparna and Chirada would have forsaken any alliance in order to strike down the Withered Woman who would dare to insult her, the Maggot! The creature that devours all things once living in the end, and even if they thought magic alone would sustain them, Suparna would devour them till their was nothing left to maintain.

But for now, she could only still her frenzied breath and agree with the vampire that they needed a plan. "The bats were appreciated in harrying my foes, but this fortress seems to have rebuked the rest of your efforts handily-" Suparna raised a finger as though struck by an idea, when in reality it was more like receiving a report from her scattered maggots around the Elicitor, carried along on the backs of bats and inside the skulls of fallen angels that shambled through the Elicitor, who had found their way into the Elicitor blocked off previously and were forced to turn around back to the deck were battle raged between Angels and Machina.

Raziel would find an outpouring of a few dozen Angel captured by Fran and turned into the moaning puppets of Suparna, maggots pouring from their orifices as she devoured their innards to make more of their kind, yet keeping their minds intact so they could experience every moment of their consumption till the very end. They saw the Angelic Commander and ceased their shambling, going alert at the sight of prey and sprinting at their former leader with garbled screams. Whether it be with Heavenly blades, spears, or their own hands, they sought to pierce his tanned skin and fill him with writhing carrion like they had been.

"-Yes, I have a good picture of the Elicitor's inner workings. Our objective was last seen in a cargo hold down below. It's a human girl, frail little thing who was being contested over by Angels and Machina. If we want to complete this mission, we should take her for ourselves and kill everyone else here. I may be lacking finesse, but I would recommend we take a direct approach. Feel free to hurl acid at my back if you want, but I am getting this done even if the Withered Woman wants to harry me the entire way."

A GRNT unit turned the corner, isolated from its forces but still intent on pursuing the intruders. Before it could even raise its weapon Chirada was upon it, jaw unhinging with the sound of her tearing flesh before snapping closed around the GRNT. The head was gone instantly, and the body was stuffed down Suparna's throat without the Maggot seeming at all troubled eating a humanoid a foot taller than her.

Suparna turned back to the vampire and necromancer, her stomach rapidly deflating from the bulge inside being devoured till she returned to being the lithe Lolita she liked. "The humans can fear the dark or bask in the light. They will be devoured all the same."




The situation which had once seemed remarkably under control was about to deteriorate rapidly. A second Angel had reached the cargo hold and was upon them with enviable speed as her sword cleanly severed the injector tube holding Bastion aloft. Luckily for everyone involved the tube had been emptied of LN2 or Bastion and Gwynn would have been splashed by the dangerous substance.

The Valkyrie had taken the time to toss Bastion away like a sack of potatoes, a precaution that Regia could appreciate as it allowed her to strike Gwynn without fear of harming the treasure. Her sensors could detect that Diana was loose of the sisters grasp, but Regia could predict that her course was set to position herself between Bastion and the others, not interrupting the Machina's reprisal. The options were considered and Regia found that Diana was in no position to escape with Bastion, thus she could be spared an immediate and violent reprisal.

Gwynn was overextended from her charging attack and taking the time to remove Bastion from immediate vicinity only left her with poor footing and a wide opening for Regia to exploit. The Machina's sword was already raised from threatening Diana, so it was with the greatest of ease that she swung the sword till the jagged, freezing edge was digging into the flesh of Gywnn's neck, the slightest movement on the Angel's part being all that was needed to cut her neck open and freeze it solid. The intact injector tube came about to coil around her sword arm and force it behind her back as thought ready to dislocate it from the socket, while the injector itself pricked her hand to freeze it in order to force Gywnn to release the sword.

"Your haste has cost you, Valkyrie. Surrender now before more harm comes to the Queen's Treasure and your own kin." Regia didn't take her eyes away from the bound Valkyrie but her next words were clearly directed to the Sisters in the room, who were trying to beat a hasty retreat under the cover of smoke. Her voice was amplified by internal speakers to reach them from her position."You two. Secure the dragon and the Queen's Treasure. They are...both, to be treated with care. The Dragon done well to try and ensure the safety of our objective, unlike others." The Machina's gaze bored deep into the Valkyrie's soul, even as the long awaited reinforcements arrived to properly restrain her. It wasn't a full response unit, a third of their number missing and others showing signs of damage from having dealt with a sudden fire fight among their own ranks.

That is to say, they would have come to reinforce the maids and aid in securing the prisoners, but walked right in on a hastily placed minefield that momentarily imprisoned their members in sticky webbing with only two were left standing unbound. The imperious gaze of the two unhindered members of the Bondage and Discipline division glared in passing at the bombardiers before making their way to Regia and flanking Gywnn on either side. Her captivity would be far less 'tender' and 'loving' than Diana if she continued to resist.
@KoL @Ryonara @Flamelord @TheWindel@Rune_Alchemist@LokiLeo789@Lucius Cypher

As the battle on top of the steel-clad Titan named Elicitor raged on it became more and more clear. Despite countless deaths on all three sides and the never ceasing reinforcement making it hard to tell who held the advantage, it became apparent. Fodder was fodder, the pseudo-gods battled amongst each other, and in-between were victims like Suyiketsu - not weak enough to just die like that but by no means possessing the power to challenge a god ... yet.

Despite only having fought in sparing matches up until now the Oni held herself rather well. Stained in the blood of angels and human as well as the oil of Machina, she managed to avoid any too serious injury while her petty regeneration took care of the rest. With the exception of her left hand, which was covered in countless smaller and deeper wounds thanks to her tendency to openly parry weapons with them just to simply crush them with pure strength, overall, the Oni Princess, no, King, wasn't in too much of a bad shape.

Still, despite knowing she did not have to fear death inside the Nexus, as Rufus told her, something about this situation was just off. Suyi couldn't quite tell, or maybe she was in simple denial. It just made no sense. All these years she had spend in a civilized manner nurtured through peace couldn't have been for nothing. So why, just why was she standing here butchering those weaker than her with a satisfied grin on her face? Taking even more pleasure in the despair of those that begged for mercy, defenseless on the ground. Long had she forgotten about why she even participated here in the first place, long had she stopped to look for the steel-winged angel when she looked up in the sky trying to avoid divine retribution.

No.
The Oni King simply enjoyed the slaughter. Driven by the most truthful and basics of demonic instincts she was like a freed prisoner, jailed away for centuries just to witness a whole new world. Still, despite all this, there was a little bit of hope left. A small strand of common sense that barely told her to NOT engage those above her just out of pure battle-lust. After all, her initial goal was to proof herself to those she would probably call comrades in the battles to come, and despite death not being a real threat she would have been taken out of commission anyways. Just cannon-fodder like those around her.

It was then that it happened. A ray of hope. A shaking fortress ready to burry itself underground. A heart thirsting for blood strangled by vile magic. Suyi stopped.

"...?" It was now or never. Having been granted a moment of peace, long enough to make her think of an eternity, her brain started to work.

It was wrong. But it felt so good. It wasn't supposed to go like that. But it was better that way. She didn't want it to be true. So she made up lies. She wasn't such a monster. She was fated to be worse.

The pleasured smile faded, replaced by a calm, blood-drenched, poker face that didn't seem to be disturbed in the least. Suyi's mind wasn't finished yet. Having made up enough excuses quickly reflected upon the wrongdoings she just committed. The Oni Princess knew she had no time to just be dumb footed like that.

She came here with clear intentions. And now, with the Elicitor trying to escape through the protection of the very earth the situation had changed. Only a few were still fighting on top of the deck. Others trying to flee some bloody rain of doom either through simply getting inside one of the few forced-open entries or just trying to escape the battle in general. Fleeing like they cowards they were. For Suyi, however, this chance was godsend. Never did she plan to spend her entire time butchering fodder. No, Suyiketsu initially planned to make herself her own entrance inside this ship, using her superior Oni strength, but never got to do so thanks to the countless angels, machines and backstabbing demons that she luckily haven't encountered too many yet. Now, however, nobody paid any attention to her, and she was able to do as she pleased.

*Clank*
*Clank*
*Clank*

The weakened metal started to bend.

*Clank*

It was a duet.

*Clank*

A duet between the mud-digging sounds of the Elicitor and her metal bending fists.

*Clank*

And then, after way too many punches, the metal finally yielded, opening yet another entrance, brought forth through her own power - special to her. And thus, the girl, like many others, submerged into the inner workings of the Machina Weapon.

Even inside, fighting was still happening, periodically meeting new, weak, challengers that tested her newfound resolve each time her blade struck them down. Suyi wouldn't succumb to the inner beast inside her again. No, this time, she knew what she wanted to do. Hurrying along the halls - sadly without any clue of direction - all she had to find was this apparent super weapon. That way, the Oni Princess was sure to get the recognition she didn't deserve, but needed.