@KoL@floodtalon



"I am alright with this turn of events." Miyu noticed the Leviathan leave, and, as the ice started breaking away from her mech, decided to move out for Alpha, leaving the fight here behind. The Daimyo V was heavily armored, and further enhanced against demonic corruption by her Mantle of Unconquerable Sun spell, and so was doing alright for now. No point staying here though, so she speed out with her speedboat shoes, giving Henry a wide berth and throwing a decent portion of her shields on preventing him from attacking her.

.Deleted Stuff.

Dora had taken a beating. First, right after activating the Altar, the LEVIATHAN awoke. "Shite." To make matters worse, it begun it's attack by grabbing onto Dora's arm. "SHITE!" Dora slammed the blade of her weapon into the Leviathan's face, however despite it's sharp edge Dora could not cut through the scales. She shouldn't be too surprised, it is a legendary beast after all. It started to gnaw at her arm and thrash about, but Dora didn't relent. If her blade won't piece it, then she'd smash it instead. Calling forth her strength Dora smashed the Leviathan in the face, doing a slightly more tangible amount of damage than before. She was at least doing a scratch. Dora was then released, and while she was floating she grabbed a scale from the Leviathan. "Gotcha."

But that wasn't the end of Dora's woes. She saw an orange light flowing towards her, and she could guess it was an attack. Right before it hit her Dora moved her right arm, which was mangled and damaged from the Leviathan's maw, and intercepted the arrow with a fist. An explosion between the arrow and Dora's fist ensued and she was sent further into the depths. Dora's vision was fading; her right arm obliterated. But her stump did not reveal flesh and bone; instead it appeared that inside of Dora's flesh was steel and fire. It was thanks to this that she didn't simply die from blood lost or having her arm torn off, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel the pain. Dora sank towards the bottom of the ocean when she felt something grab her. She was faded in and out of consciences and couldn't really tell who or what was until a few minutes later.

Hibiki and Shizuka swam to the surface of the ice, after the Leviathan had left to the neighboring sector. It was attacking the contender, but fortunately that did at least give Sector Eta a moment to rally themselves. Shizuka and Hibiki sat near Dora's form as Hibiki tried to apply first aid, though seeing that Dora wasn't a flesh-and-blood angel, there wasn't really much aid Hibiki could do. "This form... It's not her true body, I think. It's hard to tell but... She'll be okay." Shizuka had a certain eye for these angel types. She also noticed a bright blue scale in Dora's pocket, and absentmindedly she reached out for it. But when she did, Hibiki picked up her gun and aimed to the sky. Some angels had found them and had their weapons trained on the sisters.

"Wait."

Dora raised her good arm up to keep the angels from attacking. It was evident that she was saved by these two Machina soldiers. And she could imagine why they saved her. Slowly and painfully sitting up Dora looked between the two. "Alright... So yer saved me from a watery grave. I s'ppose someone has to lead these men to battle somehow. But the real question is why. Wouldn't it be in yer favor to just let me die?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But right now we have a bigger, more challenging foe to face." Lowering her weapon Hibiki stood up and extended her hand out to Dora.

Smirking, Dora took Hibiki's hand and stood up, picking up the Fragment of Ukonvasara. "Aye, I get ya. You want our help against the Leviathan. Can't say I'd deny that help. But yer know this doesn't make us allies. In the end, only one of us can win this battle." Dora looked over at the destruction the Leviathan was causing to the Machinas. Dora could rally her forces and try to take on the beast themselves, after they bring ruin to the Machinas. but that would only strengthen the demons hold over this battle and give them another win.

Hibiki removed her helmet, letting her pink locks flow from underneath. She smiled at Dora and extended her hand out once more. "I understand. I wish we could end these war without further violence... But as I dream for those days, I will continue to fight. And at the very least we can ensure that today's victory will not go to the demons. If this is acceptable to you then let us join forces, however temporary, to defeat our common enemy."

Dora looked at Hibiki with some concern and distrust. Now, Dora was all fine and dandy with teamwork and cooperation. But working alongside the Machina? Their enemy? That was a bit much. True it was against the demons and right now they had a massive advantage over the both of them. But still, it was very odd just how willing Hibiki would ally with them. Dora was expecting this to be a trap. But she really was in a bind here. None of her forces at the time could defeat the Leviathan, and it was too soon to play their trump card. They need to be able to use it in a decisive moment, where the enemy wouldn't be in a position to effectively defend against it. Not to mention that without an arm, Dora wasn't exactly in fighting shape. She'd have to rely on commanding her units to attack the sectors and take control of Altars. Clenching her teeth, Dora shook Hibiki's hand.

"Aye. Together then. Men! Give me a full status report on our ships, and assist these two on board. They will remain under my watch and company. Let's move out!"

All three characters moved onto one of Dora's few remaining ships. Fortunately for her, most of her crew members survived and Dora's own ship, while damaged, was still sea worthy. However they did lose two ships during the Leviathan's attack, leaving Dora's fleet with only two ironclads left. With four challenging the Leviathan was going to be a feat, but with only two Dora knew it would be impossible. Fortunately for Dora, ocean combat was never an angel's forte. But taking to the skies was something they could always do. "Ready yourselves! Close the hatches, and keep steady! Fly!"

Even if the ships could not touch the sea due to the ice, the Angel's magics allowed the ships to take to the skies. Slowly they moved off the ice bergs and made their course towards Sector Iota where the Leviathan was heading towards. Already it was attacking the contender, but before it arrived Dora had to speak to the sisters. Namely, how exactly they planned to kill the Leviathan. "I'm sure yer people have great weapons, as do we Angels, but the Leviathan is no easy prey. Even if I had a full fleet under my commander we would struggle."

The twins were rather impressed with the Angel's craftsmanship. While not a technological marvel compared to the Machinas, they made due with their magics. Initially Hibiki was dismissive of the Angel's ships and wondered how they intended to escape Eta while surrounded by ice, but seeing that Dora's ships could fly in the air made her retract those thoughts. Hibiki made a mental note about seeing if the Machinas could replicate something similar. As Dora also mentioned, Hibiki and Shizuka stayed near her. Both the sisters could feel the looks of the angels at their backs, and Shizuka was most uncomfortable. Before she met Hibiki, Shizuka was once on the side of the angels. She was a common soldier in their ranks, sure, but she had sworn herself to them. And then she abandoned all of that when she found her sister. She wondered if anyone here would recognize her, and prayed to whatever god watching over her that no one here remembered her.

Eventually the sisters arrived to Dora's captain quarters were they would plan their attack. "To put it simply, my sister possess a sword that could slay the Leviathan. She only needs to get close enough to engage it in melee combat. The trouble is, however, is the Leviathan's magic and the demon's armies. They would surely try to stop my sister once they have her in their sights, and she despite possessing the sword she won't survive the Leviathan's attacks."

Dora nodded her head contemplatively. She had heard rumors that the Machinas had a weapon to slay the Leviathan, though honestly she did not expect it to be a sword. She had thought it was going to be a cannon or a mech. "May I see this weapon?"

Hibiki looked to her sister. While Hibiki was the brains of this operation, Shizuka was the one who was going to risk the most. After all, she was the one who had to go down and actually kill the Leviathan somehow. And as much Hibiki wanted to help her sister, she knew that if she died, Shizuka would vanish. They might have been able to work around the range limitation, but Shizuka was still linked to her sisters lifeforce. So Hibiki needed to stay where it was safe, which was away from the Leviathan. To Shizuka however, she didn't hesitate to draw Ascalon from it's sheath. She did not let Dora touch it, but she did show it to her.

"Good gods... This... Yes, this would work. Even my weapon, a fragment of a godly hammer, could do naught but crack it's scales. But with a sword like this, ye could sunder through it's very bones. Hmm... So be it. We know wot we need to do." Dora took a piece of the Leviathan's scale out from her pocket and onto the table. "We need to get yer sister close to the Leviathan. But that armor won't last a second if it so much as takes a swipe at ya. So... Let me use the Leviathan's own scale to protect you from it's attacks. And... We'll use one of these." Dora reached into her pocket and took out a jet black stone.

Shizuka tilted her head when she noticed the stone. "What's that?" Hibiki was also curious. And a bit worried. While she appreciated Dora's help, she wasn't too comfortable letting the Angel's mess with her sister's armor. True Shizuka might not survive, but she didn't want the Angel's to sabotage her sister either. "Yes, what are you going to do with those? That just looks like a piece of rock and a scale from the Leviathan. Not a very good one either..."

Snorting at the sister's comments Dora picked up both objects with her only hand. "This 'ere is a thunderstone. A shard of a divine weapon. I won't bore ye with stories, we ain't got that time, but essentially with this stone, my magic, and my hammer, I can strength your weapon or armor. And this scale I can use to double that protection. Right now this scale has no power, not even that good at protectin' things since it's so flimsy, but with my magic I can awaken it's true power. I'll infuse both into yer sister's armor so that she can survive whatever the Leviathan can throw at her and more. No doubt the demons will have some tricks up their sleeves too, so the more the merrier. This is the only help I can provide ye with. I understand ya don't think us angel types can handle yer soulless machinery and I won't argue with ya on that point. But I've trusted you enough to be let on my ship. I think you ought to trust me to help ya out."

Hibiki sighed. Dora isn't wrong, and Hibiki doesn't have too many options either. Both the Machina and Angels were relying on each other to defeat the demon forces here, so it was a give and take. But that didn't mean Hibiki wasn't going to keep a close eye on Dora. "Fine. Let's do it." Shizuka didn't say a word. She trusted that Hibiki knew what she was doing, and right now Shizuka was getting herself focused on the battle ahead. "Let's just get this over with."

It wasn't long before the angel's ships were within range of Iota. Dora would have made better preparations, but unfortunately time was against them. The leviathan was growing in power by the second and if they were too late, even Dora's enhancements won't help. So she simply infused the thunderstone and the Leviathan's scale, charged with magic thanks to Dora's magic hammer, and empowered Shizuka's armor. It began to glow with an awesome power now, making it not only more durable but resistant towards the Leviathan's power. Be it the monster's crushing teeth or elemental magic, Shizuka's armor was protected from it just as the Leviathan was protected from itself. Additionally, Dora added a few blessings of her own to protect Shizuka from any demonic influences. All of this was temporary of course, and Dora figured that Shizuka had a good hour before the magic ran out. Hopefully it would be more than enough to deal with the Leviathan, but considering how this battle was going it might not be enough.

Once the Angel's ships were above the Contender and the Leviathan, Shizuka and Hibiki were about ready to drop. Before they went Dora went over to them. "Ayo. I just wanted to say three things. First, after the Leviathan is dead, we... We be enemies again. If we happen to meet in battle, I promise to treat you well under our care. Second, my fleet and I ain't stayin. As much as I'd love to fight that big ugly snake, the demon's are close to winning even without it. So I'm doin' my part in stoppin' the demons from winnin. And last... Glad to have met y'all. If we weren't on opposite sides, I'm sure we'd be friends. One day maybe we stand side-by-side stead of against one another, eh?"

Shizuka stood at the bow of the ship with Ascalon drawn and her shield in her hand. She could feel a great power surge through her body thanks to Dora's enchantments. It was a familiar feeling, but Shizuka couldn't place her finger on why. Hibiki had put her helmet back on and was just glad that her sister was prepared for the fight ahead. Honestly, Hibiki had no real clue how to approach this. Nothing she had could really help; the best she could hope to do is make sure everything worked out for her sister. When Dora came to speak to them the twins listened. Beneath her helmet Hibiki smiled at Dora's honest. The two shared a glance and then bowed in sync to Dora.

"It was our honor. I hope that one day, we could look back at this moment and remember a time were both Angels and Machinas could work alongside each other for a shared goal. Ah! That reminds me, I don't think we've ever caught your name. I am Hibiki Meido."

"I am Shizuka Meido."

Dora smirked at the two sisters. What an odd pair they were. And she thought only demons had insane people on their side. "Dorafraki Goldion. But you can call me Dora." The roars of the Leviathan grew louder and louder, and soon the ships were right above it and the Contender. "This is where we part ways. God speed, Hibiki and Shizuka!"

The two Twins nodded their heads and jumped off the ship. Shizuka was poised to land on the Leviathan's constricted body around the Contender, while Hibiki was going to land in the ocean. Shizuka's armor began to glow and ready itself for the impact so she wouldn't get killed from falling from such a height while Hibiki had preemptively prepared some utility bombs to help her landing if something goes wrong. Shizuka aimed for the Leviathan's head, knowing that anything could happen in a split second. So she was ready to react in a quarter of a second.

Dora watched the two go before quickly turning towards her crew. "The Leviathan's death is in their hands now. All hands! Head towards Alpha! Expect heavy resistance from the demon forces there. Prepare for evasive maneuvers and direct combat!"

Looking skyward Dora sighed. She was going to regret this. She really was... But it's as Dora said. Once those two girls left the ship, they would be enemies now. "It's time." As the angels started to move into sector Alpha, Dora raised her hammer high into the skies. She sent a purple bolt of lightning from her hammer into space, a signal to her allies in the heavens. It was time to use their secret weapon. A meteor will drop in the Iota Sector, destroying everything within. Machina, Angels, Demons... Dora prayed that those girls could slay the beast before then. She'd hate to see their efforts go to waste because of Dora's own rush.

@KoL@TheWindel@Lonewolf685@Lucius Cypher@Flamelord@Awesomoman64@Mega Birb@floodtalon@The 42nd Gecko

(Ignore]

Following Victoire's commands to harass the Angelic forces in Sector Eta, Sliske instead decided to drift on the currents for a little bit, watching the battle unfold around his oddly peaceful state. That was, until the mental link he shared with the vampire was swiftly cut, and he decided to kick himself into gear. If one of their best fighters had just kicked it, he'd actually need to get involved. He took full advantage of his fish-like state and swam off for Eta. Upon his arrival, rather the border of Sector Iota and Eta, his destination was flash-frozen with the roar of the Leviathan. He chuckled to himself and pulled himself up onto the ice sheet, spotting the beast for himself before it took off to murder the Contender... with Henry riding it like a horse. "This kid is probably the dumbest person I've met..." In the event he'd have to bail into the ocean again, the incubus kept his aquatic enhancements while he dashed across the ice, floating just above the sheet with little concern for anything he happened to pass, following the Leviathan's movements to hopefully get a cut of the action.

@KoL@floodtalon

---

Marquis

Marquis emerged from below the deck of the HMS Contender just to see the Leviathan wrap itself around the massive ship, trying to crush it like a snake would its prey. He set his left hand on top of his hat to hold it in place as he took of at a sprint for the port side of the vessel, looking for an angle to take his shot. Luckily, from what he could tell, the beast wasn't thrashing at the moment, merely attempting to coil itself tighter around the flagship. With a little too much force, he pushed past a deckhand and found an open space with a view of the behemoth's head, and it's one obvious weak point; the eyes, the downfall of any organic being. While they were about the size of your average bird of prey, the orbs were an easy enough target for a shot as skilled as Marquis. He took a duelist's stance and held Bindlebane out in his right hand, and in his left hand was a glowing pocket watch. A loud hissing could be heard from the robot's back as he took aim, sent his processors into overdrive for a brief second, and squeezed the trigger of his rifle.

A loud crack rang out as the bullet left Bindlebane's barrel, the copper-jacketed projectile rocketing for the space centimeters in front of the Leviathan's eye, the target led with unmatched precision. It would take a miracle for that bullet to miss.

@KoL

As he was being dragged along with the leviathan, the water around him started to turn red. Grafdakka vaguely remembered that this was the handy work of Victoire and knew that it would start to eat away at his body if he stayed too long. Not that he was too concerned; out of everyone in the Machina faction, he was the most likely to actually be able to survive the effects. Not that he was going to be in the water long; the Leviathan started to attack the contender, wrapping it’s massive body around it. This actually allowed Grafdakka to get out of the ocean and back onto the Contender, and more importantly, kept the Leviathan from escaping him.

”YOU ARE MINES NOW.”

Grafdakka marched towards the head of the massive serpent, climbing onto the beast’s back and holding on tight when it thrashed and tighten around the Contender. He was certain that the Machina’s flagship could hold out; no matter how powerful the Leviathan was, even the Contender could match it blow for blow. Or so Grafdakka figured. And with Endian controlling it, surely she could use it to hold it’s own against the Leviathan.

Once he was near the beast’s head, Grafdakka tossed his anchor at the beast. In one throw he was able to toss his anchor between the Leviathan’s teeth where it hooked into his scales on the other side of his mouth. ”GET OVER HERE!” Grafdakka started to pull, but immediately the chain went tight. The Leviathan wasn’t going anywhere. Grafdakka pulled again, but his second time didn’t do much more. He grunted and pulled, harder and harder, trying to drag the Leviathan’s head towards him. That’s when Grafdakka saw the angel’s ships flying above. This was no time for them to get involved; the honor of slaying the beast would be the Machinas! However near the front of the ship, Grafdakka saw two familiar figures; Hibiki and Shizuka. They both dived off the ship, Hibiki into the water and Shizuka towards the Leviathan.

”OF COURSE.” Grafdakka did say if the Leviathan showed up, Shizuka was to kill it. However even with her sword, Gradakka doubted she could pierce through it’s scales and bones. No, she needed to get to the softer flesh inside… And where would be a better place than inside the Leviathan itself. ”STRENGTH, DO NOT FAIL ME NOW!” Grafdakka resumed pulling, gripping his chains so tight they might break at any moment. But without the strength to pull the leviathan, his efforts would be for naught. That’s when something awakened inside of Grafdakka. Something he doesn’t quite understand, but he knows that somehow he has High Queen Eos to thank for it.

The giant’s glowing red eyes blinked before turning gold. His body began to surround itself with an underworldly aura, golden in color, and he could feel himself moving. No; he was feeling the Leviathan moving. With his new found strength, Grafdakka started to pull the Leviathan’s head upwards, high enough for Shizuka to dive straight into it’s mouth. To defeat a beast like this, she needed to get to it’s most vulnerable part of it’s body: It’s heart.

@Kol@Ryonara

Henry rode the Leviathan and laughed as it shrugged off all of the damage done to it, even capturing a few torpedos with the Gates of Tartarus for himself. He started to laugh a little less when he saw Leviathan heading straight for the Contender. "Hey, I think we should stop now buddy. Like, right now. God damnit you dumb fucking fish stop!" Henry yelled as he let go before the Leviathan breached the surface, latching onto the Contender. He started cursing under his breath as he decided to swim away and avoid the ensuing battle. Besides, he still needed to find his personal goal.

He headed over to Sector Alpha and smiled when he saw Miyu throwing up shields to stop an attack. "Aww, you think that would stop me. That's absolutely adorable." As he said this a portal opened beneath his feet and a slab of iron rose underneath him, giving him something to stand on. "I'll tell ya what, you step out of the Machina and swim to your base as fast as you can, I'll only chop off a hand or two. Henry smiled as he said that, subtly tending up and preparing to draw his sword when she inevitably declined.

Miyu flicked her shields full to forward. She lowered the cockpit. She raised both her hands, the palms facing herself, fingers closed. The middle finger of each hand rose. She raised and lowered each hand independently, as the cockpit slowly resealed.

"In case that wasn't clear enough for you, come and get some." The footing of the mech shifted, as she turned her side to face Henry, shifting the shields as necessary, obscuring much of her sword from him, perhaps to hide some maneuver or preparation.

Henry laughed as the Angel flipped him off and prepared for battle. "I like you Angel. You're going to regret that though." With that being said he drew his sword and cut directly in front of himself, creating a vacuum blade that headed straight for Miyu. After that he pushed off of the iron slab and letting it sink back into the Gates before reclosing them.

He landed on the ground and began circling Miyu to find a good spot to strike from. Finally he stopped a few yards behind her and jumped to strike at her back.

The vacuum slash smashed across the shields, hexagonal panels of hard light becoming visible as the impact rippled across them. Miyu's shields were designed to shield infantry from artillery barrages, and a plain ranged attack would not pierce, though he could still impair her vision with it. As Henry maneuvered at her back, she kept her movements slow, to try and convince him she didn't have enough speed to keep up. Which, to be fair, she couldn't.

But as Henry struck forward, Miyu hardened a portion the shields behind him, and jumped backwards, aiming to crush him between the shields and the sheer weight of the mech. If Henry managed to dodge, she had her sword ready, held in a half-swording grip for fine control of the tip. That said, no matter how this plan went, she'd be smacking off a decent portion of her shields with the impact of the maneuver.

Henry watched her jump towards him hoping to crush him and responded by jumping straight up about 5 feet. He then opened up the Gates and released a steel bar from his collection, using that as a foot hold to jump up an additional 7 feet and letting it fall to his previous position. He landed on Miyu's upper back and poised his sword to stab directly into her. He wasn't really holding on, so any real attempt to throw him off would easily get him off.

Miyu thrust upward, her point aimed between Henry's legs, such that the blade would cut him in an uncomfortable place as the point slipped past him. Her left hand stayed relatively still stabilizing the thrust, as the right hand provided the motive force. This would end with her left hand on the back of the blade, just above the hilt.

Henry abandoned his assault after Miyu attempted to chop off his unmentionables, jumping off before she could slice him.

The point of Miyu's thrust had been behind him, meaning that the blow would have only done minor (albeit embarrassing) damage if it had completed as straightforwardly shown. This was because Miyu had already guessed Henry would jump forward to dodge, this being her feint swordsmanship in action. The grip on her sword was such so that her main hand could pull back while her left hand pushed forward to create an incredibly fast swing of the blade, to attempt to slice him in half during his jump. Miyu knew she was slower than Henry and so her only option had been to predict his action before he even started it.

Henry had only been glanced though due to his armor created by the various charms he wore. His armor absorbed most of the blow, Henry only having felt some minor brute force from his own jump. He landed on the ground and began circling her once more, stopping a few yards away from her front. "You're not too shabby in the swordfighting department. This is going to make my conquest all the more satisfying." Henry licked his lips and cracked his neck with a psychotic grin plastered onto his face.

Henry began the assault again, dashing straight for her this time while moving left and right in unpredictable patterns. He moved fast enough that he was a veritable blur, finally appearing from her right to slash at her leg.

"Will it? You fight like you've never had to fight someone stronger than you in your whole life. You rely on your body's speed, your eye's reactions, your gear's power, there's no yomi in your blade, only straightforward skill and brute power. Sounds about as satisfying a conquest as vanilla." As Henry approached, Miyu abused her reach advantage and swept her sword out in a meter high horizontal arc, her blade starting from her absolulte left she could reach to her absolute right, no amount of lateral movement would dodge this unless Henry could get all the way to her backside in the time of a single attack. Miyu was with her left hand picking up her sheath, wielding it like the wakazashi in a daisho set, albeit, clumsier as it was a sheath and not a blade. She had intended to strike down vertically with it as Henry likely either jumped over or slid under the horizontal swing (with another layer of prediction and trickery beyond even that for good measure), but Henry's final approach being from the right prevented her from being able to strike effectively with the left hand. Miyu simply had to hope that what had been intended to be her feint had enough power to buy her enough time to turn and fight.

"I fight like that because I don't have to fight someone stronger than me! Just you!" Henry vaulted over Miyu's sword strike and lost no momentum, instead landing in a roll and continuing to run as he rolled to his feet. He circled behind her and cut through the leg completely, knowing he would have to get that welded together later for his trophy room.

~Shit, that cut straight through my spell... Well, no point keeping it online then.~ Miyu though as she staggered to one knee, her right hand falling to catch her mech's fall, at least slightly. Henry was in position to strike the killing blow, but also close in, and there wasn't any point to her shields and spell anymore... So she burned them out, activing the Holy Hand Grenade mode, the holy magic and shields blowing up in an omni-directional fragmentation blast of holy hard light. Miyu gritted her teeth, expecting Henry to survive that, what with how he handled the earlier sword blow. If a two-handed downward strike hadn't damaged him, with a leg out and the fragmentation ability popped, the Daimyo didn't have any powerful enough attack options left unless Henry was polite enough to lay under it Miyu to fall on him. "Tch, can't deny that. With our fearless commander fleeing the field, and the rest of us getting one shot by that fish of yours, it's just a matter of how many times I can flip you off before the demon's take the field. I think I'm betting I'm two for three."

Henry just took a step back and opened The Gates to let a ornate wall covered in Angel wings fall in front of him, the Angel wings facing towards the explosion. His reasoning was maybe they would absorb light mana, if not the wall would certainly protect him. It was an idea he had wanted to test. The explosion was blocked and he then let the wall sink back into the Gates. "I can appreciate that way of thinking. If I was going to die then I would probably just fuck over everyone else as hard as possible as well. This was fun." Henry walked around the Machina and started opening up a portal to release a large steel beam. With that he actually propped up the Machina from the front, just to make sure it didn't crush him.

"Its funny, I started this battle wanting the Machina, but I don't really want it anymore. I think I want the pilot. Good bodyguards are so hard to come by nowadays ya know?" Henry reached into a portal and pulled out a crowbar and a choker adorned with red spikes, holding them with his left hand and his sword with his right. "So here's how it'll work. Either you get out now and put on the choker, signifying your allegiance to me, or I take this crowbar and this sword and begin chopping up the Machina until I get you out by force. And then I torture you until you work for me. Any thoughts?" Henry spoke all this with a pleasant smile on his face and a tight grip on his sword. He kinda hoped it would be the second option.

"Pffft... Hah! The mech stumbled as Miyu pressed a button or two on accident, the auto-calibration obviously not adjusting to having a steel beam instead of a leg, and it fell over onto it's side. "And I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a date on Thursday, what with the interesting straightforward honesty and my own limited dating prospects as a machina obsessed angel. But now you tell me you only want me for my body-guarding? When you're literally stronger and more flexible than me in every way? I don't believe it."

"What can I say? Sometimes it's nice to have a bodyguard on hand so I don't have to deal with the boring threats." Henry shrugged at this statement and continued his nonchalant smiling.

The mech rolled over onto its back, and the cockpit started opening. Miyu started strolling forward and circling Henry, while sloooowly unbuckling one of her swords and dropping it to the ground, before starting to do the same with her rifle. "So, before we get into a commited relationship, I'm thinking I should tell you something about me. My favorite prayer. 'Yea, and though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for I am driving a house sized mass of fuck you.' Humans came up with it. It's also the command code for self-destruct." Hoping she had bought enough time, Miyu fired her rifle at Henry, while on the opposite side of him as the explosion occured, jumping back to hopefully fall in the water before getting incinerated, hoping that this two pronged attack might at least distract him. She didn't have much hope it'd stop him permanently, and clenched her other sword in her teeth, and started arming a micromissile she had snatched from the ammo of the Daimyo before jumping out.

"Well that's just rude, I wanted to quote my favorite quote from the Demonic Bible." Henry began to chase after Miyu when she pulled a rifle on him. He continued to run after her, either dodging the bullets or just deflecting them with his sword. Any that did hit were mostly absorbed by his invisible armor. He dived into the water just as the explosion rushed past him, swimming towards Miyu as she armed what appeared to be a missile. Henry shook his head at her and continued to swim anyways, confident in his ability to negate the missiles.

Henry's far superior speed, and the fact that he was actually swimming made him catch up with Miyu almost immediately. If it wasn't for her nigh unhealthy lack of bodyfat, she would have barely been below the surface by the time Henry caught her. Miyu's missile tactic was pretty unusual. She attempted to slam it into him with a reverse knife grip to the chest, while grabbing her sword out of her teeth with her right hand. Whether or not Miyu was trying to kill herself and deal maybe a sliver of damage, or just hadn't actually had time to perform rocket surgery was unknown to Henry.

Henry let go of the crowbar and choker using his left hand to grab the missile and pull it into a small gate he opened in front of his chest, yanking it out of her hands and closing the portal as soon as it went in. As for the sword, he used his own blade to slice cleanly through it, reducing it to a quarter of its length.

Miyu finally got to use her strategy she had intended for earlier in the fight when she was going to use the scabbard, and stab at his neck with the broken blade, predicting that her blade wouldn't stand up to Henry's. But... After that probably failed, Miyu really didn't have much left other than flailing like a child.

Henry let the broken blade glance off his armor by moving his body slightly, and then grabbed the blade out of her hands tossing it into a portal. "Say night night." Henry mocked her one last time as he grabbed her by the wrist and hit her on the face with the pommel of his blade, attempting to knock her out.

"Fu.." Miyu was attempting to curse at him one last time before being rudely interrupted by bleeding concussion wound to the face and ocean. Miyu didn't seem to be 100% out of it... she went limp enough that she probably wasn't going anywhere, and would have certainly fallen over if she wasn't currently drowning, but she seemed to be more staggered and in shock than unconscious. Getting the exact force right for unconsciousness and not death was difficult when your opponent was this much weaker than you. That said, whether she'd recover eventually or slip into unconsciousness momentarily was up in the air.

Henry dragged her up to the surface once more and laid her out on the beach of the island they jumped off of. Henry got up on dry land as well and kneeled down next to her. 'She was drowning right? How do you get water out of lungs again? You do the mouth to mouth thing right?' Henry looked at her lips for a moment.

Miyu's reaction was a bit of cross-eyed panic before coughing up some water and lolling backwards into unconsciousness.

He then shook his head. That doesn't sound right. She'll probably be fine. With this Henry reached into a portal and pulled out a pair of hand cuffs with a chain leading out to be held by a guard. He attached the handcuffs to her, grabbed the chain and sat down on the beach, wondering how the rest of the demons were doing. He should get her to some sort of holding cell soon so he can rejoin the fight.

Battle Field Report:

• The Angels' Secret Weapon has appeared on the Sky over Sector Iota, it'll fall in the next Update Post.
• The waters of Sector Beta reached their Turn 03 upgrade, any non-Demon target, should take care when approaching it.
• The waters of Sector Iota reached their Turn 03 upgrade, any non-Demon target, should take care when approaching it.
• The Leviathan has reached its Turn 03 upgrade, it's now at its full power.

* Moved to the Collab.

---

With the armies of heaven close behind Omega followed Tartys for a moment, but stopped when he got a feeling something wasn’t right. Raising a fist in the air he halted the troops from advancing and turned around to see the pillar they had “claimed” wasn’t active. “The hell? Hey Tartys!” He shouted to his angel companion before she got out of ear shot, “I don’t think we did it right. Mind coming on back real quick and trying this again?”

Moving right back to the pillar Omega waited for Tartys to catch up, but took his time to survey the distance. From what he could tell, the Machina’s ship had moved in to fight the Leviathan but was now being constricted by the mighty serpent. On top of all that, literally, their dwarven allies had summoned their giant iron ball and it seemed they were ready to drop it right on Iota. “Well, seems to me like our assistance wouldn’t do a heck of a lot over there. We’re gonna need a new plan.” Omega thought out loud.

His gaze looked upon the battle, then over to their army of angels, then back to the battle. “Say, how many them demons do you think they got over there? Must be an awful lot.” he asked with genuine curiosity. Waiting for an answer he tightened his grip on his revolvers and gave them another good charge. Might as well get them primed while he waited, right?


@Flamelord

Tartys was well on her way to assisting her comrades when she heard Omega call out behind her. She didn't know why until she looked back, realizing that the sector had not yet been captured for some reason. It was only after she had thought about it for a second that she realized why, suddenly more angry that the booby traps the Machina had set off kept them from actually taking the territory.

"Seriously," she grumbled as she turned about and followed after Omega back into the sector. If they got any prisoners from this then she was definitely going to have one of them fix her feathers. Her wings were going to be ruined after this, she was sure of it. But it didn't stop her from moving as quickly as she could, rejoining Omega at the pillar and slapping it in a sign of how angry she was to have to come back.

Glancing off, she followed his gaze to the nearby sector. "It looks like everyone is busy with the Leviathan." A further look carried her to one of the other nearby sectors. "the other demon sectors aren't looking very nice either. But there are definitely a lot of them" The red tint in the water made that obvious.

With that said she looked back to Omega. "So what next," she asked as she readied her spear.



@Awesomoman64

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

Henry had put a choker on Miyu to protect her from the Demonic corruption in the water and was now swimming towards Sector Beta to drop her off at a Demon Base. He was keeping her above water to prevent drowning her and also had the chain from her handcuffs attached to his arm so he wouldn't lose her if accidentally dropped.

Henry made it to Sector Beta and dropped her off in the Demon Base for imprisonment. "If anyone touches her in a manner I seem inappropriate, I will slaughter everyone on guard. Before that though I will slowly torture you all though, so make sure to keep her safe for your own sakes." He said this with a cheery grin on his face and walked out of the Camp, heading towards Sector Gamma after he was told the Angels had just captured it.

He arrived in Sector Gamma and set up camp on a island near the altar. He pulled out a Machina sniper he had stolen a few decades ago, not as advanced as the one that killed Victoire, but it would probably maintain lethal velocity through water.

Henry peered through the scope and searched for the Angels near the Altar, smiling when he saw his target. "Ooh, you look nice and glowy. He muttered as he aimed directly at Omega's torso, not trusting himself to make a headshot.

Before he would fired though he needed to get Sliske's attention. He needed to have another person to cap the altar after all. Henry reached into The Gates of Tartarus and pulled out a flare to get his attention, lighting it and dropping next to him.

---

@Flamelord@Awesomoman64@Mega Birb

Sliske paused for a moment, watching the Leviathan get the absolute shit knocked out of it at this point. A robot was practically pulling the serpent from the Contender, and girl with a giant sword looked like she was gonna stab the thing in the throat, and one of its eyes was bleeding profusely, probably from a bullet of some kind. The thing would be dead by the time he got there, so he turned around to see a bright red flare burning, along with a small force of Angels in view. He groaned and turned around, now taking a path for Sector Gamma and morphing back to his original form. "If I don't kill something today..." He cracked his knuckles while he glided over the surface of the ice, soon shifting to a watery variation as he entered the adjacent sector.

As he arrived at Henry's location, he set down on the small landmass beside his fellow demon, and squatted down. In a faint flash of green magic, the top half of his ensemble reappeared on his body while he took stock of the situation. The rash demon beside him had a high-powered and was taking aim at what looked like a green flame that was standing beside an angel of some influence. "Don't shoot the spirit, take out the important looking bitch beside him. Something tells me magic is the only way to kill it." He stood up, towering over Henry as he started to form a fireball between his hands. After a moment the fiery orb had reached the size of a mortar shell, he tossed it into the air and caught it a couple times, trying to gauge the distance between himself and the altar. After a moment, he hurled the ball into the air, its destination being the altar of Sector Gamma.


@floodtalon@Flamelord@Awesomoman64

Henry looked at Sliske with indifference as he adjusted his aim towards Tartys. "Yeah, it's good to see you too Sliske. What have I done this battle? Thanks for asking, I captured two Altars and an enemy Angel, while also crippling the Angelic fleet of ships with the GOD DAMN LEVIATHAN. Nothing too big, how about you?" He remarked sarcastically as he fired upon Tartys, aiming for her torso and immediately dropping the rifle. Henry stood up and let the dirt fall off of his forcefield. As he finished his rant Sliske had thrown a mortar shell of magic energy, which was heading directly for the Gamma Sector Altar.

”Well, assuming them demons are off with their big snake, I’m thinking Beta is...What in the?” Omega stopped explaining his plan when a small glint got his attention. It almost looked like the sun glaring off the scope of a- ”SNIPER GET DOWN!” Omega shouted practically tackling Tartys out of the way just as the shot rang off. Quickly moving to cover Omega cursed under his breath, ”Damn it. Of course they come right as we get the point” He peaked out from behind his cover and noticed a large fireball headed toward the altar. Taking action Omega started commanding the troops ”Well that’s just peachy. Everybody away from the altar! Ranged units, start firing on the enemy’s position!” Bolts of magic and holy arrows began flying from the angelic army toward Henry and Sliske’s position.

Sliske rolled his eyes at Henry's rant, largely blocking out what the younger demon said until he was towards the end of his dialouge. "Oh, you know, went for a swim, watched a snake destroy a ship, the usual." He squinted slightly as a sharp object travelling at a high speed approached the pair, and moved slightly to the right to avoid an anticlimactic death. "Well, they know we're here now. Kinda surprised the cowboy over there hasn't shot that fireball out of the sky yet." He watched the descending ball make contact with the altar and explode around the immediate area, leaving whatever earth there was nearby scorched. Anyone caught within the relatively small blast would die a fiery death, and become a well-done meal for any wildlife that happened upon the corpses.

Tartys was completely unaware of any imminent threat, focused as she was on watching the Battle with the Leviathan nearby. it seemed that the Machina were really going a it, a surprise when they were weaker against demonic forces. As such she was in no position to complain as she was tackled by Omega, a grunt escaping as she hit the ground even as the sound of the sniper shot range in the air. Eyes widened as she took that in, and she bit back the complaint she had prepared. There was no time for that while they were under attack.

Once he had gotten off of her she moved as well, darting to the side to obscure the view of the demons beyond, even as she held on to her spear and surveyed the scene. "Understood," she replied to Omega with a nod as she began to channel her divine energy. Light blossomed on the tip of her spear before striking at the attacking duo, a tight beam that would scald, burn, and melt wherever it struck. These demons had made a mistake attacking them, as they would soon realize, and she planned to show them that error.

Henry swiftly moved out of the way of the many holy attacks, also putting up several pillars from his Gates of Tartarus for cover if they needed it. "I say we let them come to us. I'm not a fan of underwater fighting really." Henry suggested with a casual air as he moved behind one of the pillars he summoned. He opened up another Gate near the beach and a cannon peeked out of it, shooting out underwater mines to slow their approach. Anyone who touched one of them would be blown to pieces, and shooting them would just give them a good dust cover to let Henry and Sliske move out of sight.

Omega watched the fireball smack into the altar though very few were caught in it as they had been ordered away from that area. Likewise the current barrage of arrows and magic was making short work of the mines they were attempting to place, but the blasts from them were covering the enemy’s location taking away their line of sight and hindering any change at sharpshooting them. Omega took in the situation and came to a conclusion, ”We got the numbers and the point, best bet for us is to keep moving and push em back” Charging his guns one last time Omega jumped out of cover and advanced on the enemy position while signaling the others to do the same.

Sliske muttered a quick, indistinguishable phrase and grew a pair of scaly wings out of his back, along with the skin of his right arm peeling away to leave nothing but a skeletal forearm. Within moments, the bone sharpened into a hard, sword-like appendage, and the demon gave the wings an experimental flap before jumping into the air. "If you wanna join in, by all means, Henry! He flew directly up for about a dozen feet and paused for a moment, aiming for the angelic figure of Tartys with his weaponized arm and readying another fireball of a smaller caliber to smite Omega with.

While the enemy attacks had done some damage, the Angelic forces had recovered pretty quickly and were no longer on the backfoot. Machina would have been a problem, but against Demons Tartys was more confident of her chances for success in this engagement, and she was ready to take the fight to their foes, even as underwater ines detonated. "Agreed," she replied to Omega with a nod before joining him in the offensive, moving forward with spear in a ready position. As she rocketed forward she saw one of the demons headed towards her, having apparently made his arm into a sword or something. A flash of white ran along her spear before she struck when he drew into range, moving to deflect the incoming sword before stabbing at him, using her superior range to hit him before he could hit her.

Henry began opening portals in mid air, releasing small platforms of metal for him to hop to and from. He ended up a few yards away from Sliske on top of a metal platform he left in the air. He reached into another portal and pulled out one of his three super weapons as he liked to call them. This was Mjolnir, a hammer stolen from the Angels with the ability to summon holy lightning. Or it used to be holy before Henry got his demon mitts on it, now it was dark and cracked. He raised the mighty hammer and pointed it at Tartys who saw fit to take his eyes off of him. "It is unwise to take your eyes off an opponent!" Before he even finished speaking, black lightning cracked from Mjolnir, heading straight for Tartys at intense speeds.

Upon seeing his enemies leave their cover of dust and fly into the open, Omega halted his advancement seeing an opportunity. ”Maybe you should have taken yer own advice.” he muttered at Henry raising his left arm to chest level. With both opponents focused on Tartys, Omega had plenty of time to size up his shots. With lightning fast reflexes Omega raised his right arm and fired off two shots the first aimed at Henry’s head, the second at the convenient explosive Sliske just formed next to him.

Sliske reacted quickly to Tartys' jab, shifting to the left and letting the sharp end of her spear graze his upper arm and spill some of his black blood. "It's rude to stick your enemies immediantly, you know!" He used the momentum gained from his deflected sword to hook his right elbow around the girl's neck, and swung around her. Within a quick moment, he kicked off her back and sent her directly into the path of Henry's attack, then paused with a haughty smirk. "You know, I've always wondered what fried ang- GAAH!" The incubus had been interrupted by the fireball he had foolishly kept in his left hand exploding, burning the entirity of his left side and sending him plummeting into the waters below. He broke the water with a loud hiss, rising to the surface after a short moment, disoriented and vunerable for the moment.

Tartys ignored the comments and verbal jabs that the demons threw her way, figuring that it was irrelevant in the scheme of the fight. She couldn't allow it to distract her from the battle, and give the demons an opening that they could take advantage of. At least she managed to land first blood, though she was thrown off by the sheer speed that her enemy displayed, which rendered her superior length practically useless in this fight. Pain flared as she was kicked away, only for the flare to be replaced by a bright nova as she was struck by the lightning, black bolts crackling along her form. Her own magic flared in return, but it was not enough to overcome, merely to reduce. Once it had ended she needed a moment to recover, shaking her head to clear away the dizziness from the lightning strike, her wings fluttering in place to keep her hanging in the sky. Turning, she quickly assessed the situation and acted, twirling her spear before unleashing a blast of light magic down at Sliske, even as she moved to get away from Henry.

Henry's head snapped towards the sound of a gunshot and he instinctively opened a portal in front of him to block the gunfire. The portal caught the bullets and Henry closed the portal so he could glare at the offending party. "That was rude." He stated simply as he reopened the portal and the bullets were spat back out at Omega at the speed they entered the portal. Henry's eyes widened as he realised what he just did. He was going to have to experiment with that later.

It was rather pleasing to see Omega’s plan with the fireball go accordingly as the demon was consumed by his own flame. His other plan, however, hadn’t gone as well. Unaware his shot had been returned to sender, Omega was caught off guard when the bullet slammed into his revolver knocking it out of his hand while he let out a loud ”Whoa!”. The cowboy gave a low growl displeased the demon had disarmed him, ”So it’s gonna be like that huh?” Shaking it off Omega moved in closer to get a better angle. He raised his left revolver and aimed very carefully at Henry, before adjusting his aim to the edge of the metal platform behind him. After giving a quick silent prayer to Deva, Omega pulled the trigger and watched as his last charged shot perfectly ricocheted off the metal edge toward the Prince of Portals.

Meanwhile, with the majority of the mines and traps destroyed, the angelic army began closing the distance between them and the two demons.

Sliske's eyes fluttered open in time to see a bright light racing towards him from above. He attempted to do a quick shapeshift to get out of the way, but with his left side charred from his own magic and his right arm a now-useless sword of bone, there was little in the way of which he could recover now. He did, however, have enough left in him to take something with him to the temporary afterlife. He raised his right arm and pointed the tip of the blade in Omega's direction, a purple, crackling orb forming on the end. "I'll not enter the void alone any time soon!" A dark beam went straight for Omega's chest, homing in on him as the demon was killed by Tartys' magical attack, a large hole punched in his torso and the waters around him darkening swiftly. The beam would surely make contact with the spirit and cause some heavy damage, if not destroying the being.

Tartys watched with satisfaction as her magic slammed into the injured demon, dealing what was undoubtedly a fatal blow through her holy power. It was something she would have been grateful for, had he not been able to get off a shot at Omega. She was no in a position to intervene, could only hope that the cowboy spirit was able to dodge it before he was taken out. She turned to focus on the remaining demon, the one who had proven to be a much greater threat. Angelic words pealed off her lips as she twirled her spear, tracing out a circle that turned into a hanging aperture of light, from which flew two majestic falcons, swift and with sharp claws. "Attack," she indicated to them, gesturing towards Henry and allowing them to lead the way as they dive bombed him with claws ready to strike and beaks ready to peck, while she followed on their heels with her spear ready as she closed the distance between them to attack.

Henry listened for the next shot and made sure to jump to another platform he formed, considering the speed the first one had gone he didn't want to get hit by one of those. Sliske had been taken down unfortunately, so he couldn't capture this outpost. Annoying but he would have to make do. A few falcons began to divebomb him, so he casually smacked them out of the air with his hammer, letting one give him a glancing blow, but ultimately only scratching his forcefield. He threw the hammer to the side and let it fly into a portal, then withdrawing his sword from the same portal, preparing to defend.

This guy was unreal! Being the skilled gunslinger he was, Omega was getting real sick of this guy avoiding all his shots. Clearly single shots wouldn’t work, and since he lost his other revolver, he’d have to make due with a classic. Aiming straight at Henry, Omega began fanning the hammer sending a barrage of bullets his way. Though not many would hit, it would definitely distract him long enough for Tartys to get a hit in. It came at a cost though as his focus on the demon prince left him unaware of the beam Sliske had cast with his dying breath. The dark magic ripped through the spirit who cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees. Had it been anyone else they would have died instantly as it would have torn through their vitals. But since Omega lacked any organs or vital areas, he was able to cling to life; but just barely.

The falcons seemed to be not as effective as Tartys would have hoped, but they did do a bit of damage to the demon and distracted him enough for her to close in, Omega adding to that before he was unfortunately hit by the dying attack. It gave her time to close the range even as he produced a sword to fight her with, something to her advantage with the range that he possessed, assuming that he wasn't as fast as the now-departed demon had been. "Prepare yourself for the end," she promised before murmuring in ancient tones, her spear shining as she enchanted it with her magic before lashing out, wings suddenly redirecting her once she had closed into range before lashing out with a quick stab at Henry from the side. time to see how good he was with that sword.

Henry was getting very annoyed by these angelic warriors. They had killed the only demon other than him on the battlefield, destroying their chances of capturing more altars and maybe screwing them over. Omega started firing at him rapidly so Henry just opened up a portal big enough to obscure both him and Tartys from Omega's view. Them Henry straight up cut Tartys' spear in half as she struck at him. "Your battle ends now. I should have gone all out from the start." Henry wasn't just annoyed actually. He was straight up angry, these insects had done enough.

Omega knew he wouldn’t last much longer. He could already feel the powers that kept him together dissipating, but he wasn’t going to let go just yet, not while there was still a threat. But what could he do? Henry had opened a portal obscuring his position and any attempt to ricochet a shot would most likely miss. That’s when it hit him, there was nothing he could do, but there was still plenty Tartys could! Crawling through the pain Omega pulled himself over to his other revolver that had been previously shot out of his hand. Holding both guns he pushed himsefl off the ground and pointed them above the portal. Once lined up he flipped his guns and grabbed them by the top of the barrels and shouted, ”TARTYS! HEADS UP!” With every last ounce of strength he threw his trusty sidearms clearing the portal perfectly for the angel to grab.

Tarty's eyes widened in surprise as the sword that the demon used cut right through her spear in spite of the magic that she had enhanced it with. The threat that he represented rose immensely higher, even if she didn't have many options at this point. "I agree," she replied with a nod as she let light start to glimmer around her fists, prepared to enter into melee combat to win this fight. But she wouldn't have to as the yell came from Omega, the guns cresting the portal obstructing him. She acted swiftly, wings flaring and launching her upwards to grab the revolvers before Henry could interfere. That stored magical power illuminated and ran through the guns as she reoriented and fired, taking whatever shot she could get to end this quickly, and favorably for her.

Henry's eyes widened as Tartys jumped into the air to grab the dual revolvers. A shot like that at point blank range would destroy him! She fired the revolvers at the same time and Henry had to act. He sliced one bullet in half, sending it flying into the water, but there was no way to dodge the other. 'No way... I'm not ready to die... Not to these maggots!' Time practically slowed for Henry as his eyes widened further as the bullet was a foot away from him. If you looked closely, you would see something in Henry's eyes. Fear. And a morph from his usual green eyes, to Silver.

A glowing silver shield formed in front of his chest, the bullet puncturing the shield but it's momentum slowing enough that while it penetrated his forcefield, it only sunk into his stomach, rather than blowing a hole into him like it would have. The shield fell onto the ground and Henry trembled as his eyes went back to their former green. "I don't know what just happened. But that hurt a lot, so I'm going to hurt you." Henry opened a portal in front of him and Mjolnir came flying out at high speeds, straight for Tartys' head.

It seemed as though Tartys couldn't really widen her eyes anymore, to express the surprise that appeared as some sort of silver shield formed, protecting the demon from the brunt of the blast thrown at him from the pistols (aside from the bullet he sliced in half) She took the opportunity to back off, pulling out of range of the sword before he could use it to cut her guns in half. That was unfortunate to say the least, even if she had dealt some damage. the hammer suddenly flying at her head was even more distressing, and she had no choice but to raise one of her guns to try and deflect it, dodging to the side at the same time to avoid getting clobbered, even if the impact rang through her arm, rendering it numb for the moment. But she grit her teeth and fought through the trauma, using the momentum from the blow to twirl to the side as she fire agai. She was not out of this fight yet.

Henry sliced another bullet in half and proceeded to throw the sword into a portal. He pulled out the Macabre Dancers and began firing their incendiary rounds at her. If she wanted a gun battle than she would get one. He started moving closer to her, periodically opening portals for his bullets to fly through and then opening portals at different angles for the bullets to fly at her from unusual directions. If she was hit she would be burned by the bullets as they went through her, maybe even setting her on fire.

“HALT! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” a powerful voice boomed from the heavenly forces that now surrounded the demon. From the skies to the ground below angels stood all with holy weapons and magic focused on him. There was no room for escape and any hostility would be met with such angelic fury no portal would stop it. Lieutenant Sharn stepped forward, the left side of his face freshly singed from the mortar earlier. He spoke strong and firm to demon prince, “You have no chance. Surrender now or perish where you stand!”

Henry stopped in his tracks and turned to the loud voice. "Well this is annoying. If I was at full strength I would feel much more confident about this I imagine. I surrender." Henry dropped his weapons into a portal and closed all the portals he had open besides the one holding his platform. He walked towards Sharn with a frown on his face and his hands extended before him. Suddenly a portal opened above them both and Henry smiled. "Just kidding. Go fuck yourself." All of the missiles that Henry had captured during his Leviathan ride fell towards him, ready to detonate the moment they hit, destroying both Henry and Sharn.

Tartys danced in the wind, firing and quickly reacting as she adjusted to the sort of combat that she wasn't entirely used to. Her wings kept her moving quick, but even she wasn't perfect enough to escape completely unharmed from all that had been thrown at her. No lethal wounds, fortunately, but it was only a matter of time as the flesh wounds and burning added up. She was about ready for whatever act of desperation she could come up with when the duel wa ssuddenly ended, the rest of the heavenly reinforcements having arrived at some point without her noticing. There was a sigh of relief, but she didn't let her guard down as the demon appeared to surrender, something justified as he revealed his own treachery at the last second before he could do so. "No!" Her cry matched rapid, action, the angel desperately reaching out as she fired at the demon, a burst of light flashing from her other hand as she dropped the gun and shot razor beams of superheated light at the oncoming missiles, hoping to destroy them. Whether it succeeded was another matter entirely.

Tartys was quick to the draw and her efforts perhaps saved Sharn from a fiery doom as the destruction of the first missile cause a chain reaction with the others detonating in air. However the first missile was still in close enough proximity that it’s shockwave blew both the demon and the Lieutenant to the ground with great force. Sharn was dazed and disoriented but a few soldiers rushed to him and helped him to his feet. “Tricky bastard.” He murmured under his breath, “Quick, check on the demon. See if it’s still breathing.” One of the soldiers close by ran and checked on Henry, “He’s bleeding out, sir.

Henry had metal shrapnel stuck in his body in various places, one piece having cut a major artery and he was bleeding out fast. Henry's arm was trembling as he lifted it to his own blood and began writing a message on the ground. When he finished the light finally faded from his eyes and he dissolved into a flurry of light and dust. The message read as such. "You can take all my riches and weapons. But you can't take my freedom." A fitting final message for the Prince of Greed.

Honestly it had been a close run thing, but Tartys was pleased to see that her efforts had kept the demon from taking anyone else with him in his final suicide attack. "Try to not make a habit of that," she noted to Sharn before turning her attention to the demon, taking in his current condition as well as the message he wrote. There was nothing to be done, no time to heal him as he accelerated his own demise, and in mere moments they were left with nothing but a bloody message on the ground. She huffed, shaking her head before retrieving the dropped gun. Once she had done that she looked back to the Angelic forces nearby. "Let's go," she said to them. This skkirmish had ended, but the battle was not over yet.

PS: The Meteor should come after the collab, to not kill everyone mid fight, that's why I'm not counting it here yet. Players within the range of it have one post to get the hell away from it or the are gonna have an ugly death.

---

Shizuka was moving fast towards the Leviathan. She saw Grafdakka trying to attack it by pulling it's head up, it's mouth at her. "What the hell is he doing!? Shizuka didn't have time to change her course however. She was hoping to stab it in the eyes, but now it looks like she was doing to just dive right into the maw. Creating her Force Shield, she used ti to protect her if the leviathan attacked her or if she ran into any of it's many sharp teeth.

Needless to say things had not worked out exactly as intended, as far as Endian was concerned. She had hoped to preempt the Leviathan and arrive in the sector before it could, giving her something of a dominating position to shower down firepower upon it and create an opening for those more capable than her (such as the Twins) to come in and finish off the Leviathan. This had no worked out, the Leviathan attacking before the Contender could even get a second shot off. Now the beast was wrapped around the ship which was in increasingly acidic waters, eating away at the hull and making action difficult at best. They couldn't use their main weaponry on the Leviathan without blowing themselves up, which did limit their options a bit.

Fortunately they weren't entirely without hope, Grafdakka and Shizuka arriving to battle the thing, and Marquis taking to the field once again. Whether it was enough, well, they would see. Fortunately they weren't alone, and it was shortly after being snagged that Endian would emerge onto the deck as well, avoiding whatever sprays of water that managed to crest the deck. She scanned the situation, her drones hovering nearby as she incorporated different viewpoints from various units on the field to get a more comprehensive picture.

Eyes widened as Graf manifested newfound abilities, not the simple strength from his body but from what was unmistakably Golden Eyes, an artificial variant that had been under development by the Machina. She just wished that she had been informed of this before the battle started. Still, she quickly deduced what he was trying to do, allowing Shizuka to strike at more unprotected areas, even if she thought it was a stupid idea due to the nature of the Leviathan's anatomy.

"Emplacements, open fire," she intoned over the comms, accessing the Contender internal systems to take over their weapons. Not the main guns, no, but the anti-personnel weaponry. The air would rip with the sound of autocannons coming to life and firing, pelting the Leviathan from multiple angles as they attempted to hit whatever opening in the scales might exist, or simply trying to divide the Leviathan's attention. It would have to do for the moment as she strode forward, her drones firing energy blasts instead of holograms as they floated nearby. This was not over yet.

"RRRRRRR!!!" The Leviathan let out a sky splitting roar as the final countdown for his chains to be broken was reached, Despite unleashing its full titanic power, the beast was at a dire situation, an eye taken by Marquis' bullet, the emplacements of the Contender petering it with AA fire, and finally Grafdakka holding it down for Suzuka to achieve the killing blow. Yet, the eye of the Serpent of the Abyss flashed gold before a huge surge of power was unleashed from water below as the very liquid was being reduced to a atomized mist as the heat was being drained from it, causing the water's pressure to fall and freeze almost instantly and become a cloud of tiny crystals of corrosive water.

The Leviathan grew hotter and hotter as the heat of everything near it was being drained and concentrated on the beast's gaping mouth, if nothing was done soon enough the Leviathan would unleash its full power on them. To turn things worse, Dora's underhanded move became evident when the Angel's secret weapon made it's appearance on the battlefield. Far above the skies of Ruthria, the giant lump of iron began to fall like an anvil dropped from the workshop of the God of Forge, spelling doom in big, bold letters.

Shizuka dived down into the Leviathan's throat. She vaguely knew the anatomy of a snake (learned it from watching television), but she had no idea if the Leviathan even worked like that. She couldn't waste time trying to chip away at the Leviathan's inner walls, she needed to get to it's heart or whatever other important organs it had and destroy them. She could feel that the monster was going to make some sort of an attack, so Shizuka had to hurry. Further down into the bowels she went, even when the Leviathan's body would try to crush her Shizuka pushed on, cutting her way through if she needed to. Eventually she heard deep, echoing beats. "I'm getting close now!" Shizuka quickened her pace, but kept aware for any danger. Now that she was so close she knew that something, or even someone, might try to stop her.

The momentary celebration of Marquis' bullet removing the beast's depth perception was cut short by a massive heatwave, followed by something close to an acidic cloud coating the entire sector. While he couldn't necessarily feel pain directly, being a robot an all, he was beginning to notice the heavy jacket that made up a good part of his outfit and armor begin to corrode away. Panic swept over the AI once he realized exactly what was causing it, and he took off running for the nearest ladder than would get him below deck. To his dismay, the nearest one was locked tight by the crew within, all of them unwilling to risk a biological weapon getting inside the ship. His outer plating was starting to melt away faster than he would be able to find a place to hide, so the intelligence decided to cut his losses. The body, being physically bound to him, would return from death if it was destroyed beyond repair, and acid rain tended to do that. He allowed the now-molten titanium shell to slump to the ground while the digital entity jumped into the Contender, assuming control of a couple autocannons and focusing their fire on the lower regions of the beast.

They were doing damage, that much was apparent, but it wasn't going to be enough. That much was obvious as indicated by the readings, but in the end it probably didn't matter. Shizuka had made it inside the Leviathan, her readings appeared to be stable, and there wasn't much that they could do besides wait and hope that she succeeded. At least, that was Endian's assessment. There weren't any facts to contradict it at the moment, so she was comfortable in making it. If things changed then she was perfectly willing to alter it.

For the moment though she had other things on her mind. The Leviathan was only growing in power, and she was quick to detect the heat draining from the water, ice crystallizing around their vessel. The power was being concentrated in the beasts mouth, indicating that it was about to unleash some sort of powerful attack. And if that wasn't enough there was an incoming overhead, some sort of orbital weapon being deployed on their location. As if they didn't have enough to worry about.

Her own alarms sprang up from internal systems, and she noted Marquis trying to beat a retreat, but instead she continued on, ordering nanites to construct additional armor on her form to stall the acid. "Contender, retreat immediately," she ordered, even as she focused their offensive firepower on the beasts mouth, trying to disrupt that attack. Meanwhile the engines would rise in volume as they strained against the tumultuous water, trying to pull back into untainted and unaffected sectors, where they weren't under aerial threat and could better challenge their current foe. It was just a race against time now.

Grafdakka fell back onto the deck of the Contender when the chain snapped and his anchor fell into the ocean, where it would slowly be eroded to the demon's flowers. To make matters worse, the Leviathan had created some sort of acidic mist that was eating away at his body. Not that Grafdakka cared; if anything, this just meant that now he would have to die fighting. Fortunately Grafdakka's body was thick enough that the acid would take some time to eat away at him, even if it did gradually weaken him. "YOU FUCKING GROT. I AM YOUR OPPONENT!" Grafdakka, despite being disarmed, would still fight as he began to scale the leviathan's body, using his considerable strength to grab hold of it's scales as he scaled the titanic beast. Even as it would flail and attempt to make him fall, Grafdakka would sooner die than let go. And until he was nothing but dust, that's exactly what would have to happen as he made his way towards the Leviathan's face, doing his best to avoid friendly fire when he can, so he can go to the Leviathan's other eye and punch it.

Crawling deeper and deeper inside the bowls of the beast, Shizuka knew she was on the right path when she felt the walls around her vibrate rapidly. She felt the heart beating so loud, that if she didn't have her armor on she would be battered by the force. Cutting her way through the fat and muscles, eventually she found what she was looking for: The Heart of the Leviathan. There was no time for ceremonies or doubt. Shizuka stabilized herself and charged forward, stabbing her blade through the heart, slashing outwards to pull the blade out before slashing again and again. She could feel the screams of the Leviathan as she cut through it's heart, and soon it started thrashing about. "Just die already!"

This was getting annoying. Her first mission as a benefactor of the Demonic forces and she had seen no action at all. Not only that, but her mistress Victoire had also been vanquished in battle as well. There was nothing for her to do now. Sure, she had seen a few bobbing cabbages in the water and had to wrangle in her beast from eating the floating vegetables, but that was about the whole highlight of her day. Now she lay on her back and stared at the sky above her blankly, letting the water soothe her mind to float aimlessly.

Hibiki saw Bastion from afar. It wasn't hard to find her, despite Bastion's transformation. She rode with a large monster of some sort, no doubt to make traveling these treacherous waters easier. Hibiki took advantage of the red mist in the water to hide herself as she took aim at the beast she rode. Even if the Machina lose this battle, if they could just bring back Bastion, then this battle won't be a total lost. Hibiki fired twice; one shot to the beast's heart and another right into the head. Once it was dead Hibiki moved her position to get a better view of Bastion from her current sector, planning out a way to subdue her.

The creature beneath Bastion gave out a howl of rage and pain, startling Bastion at once. She leapt to her feet and glared down at the red waters below, knowing it had to be an enemy. Lucky for her that the demonic monster she was riding atop of had a thick exterior; that meant Hibiki's bullets, although burying themselves into the creature's flesh and skin, would not reach the vital organs quite so easily. Bastion raised demonic blade out in defense, mismatched eyes narrowing as she scanned the water for movement...there. At once she launched her demonic arm into the water, massive claw reaching straight for Hibiki.

Hibiki was surprised that Bastion was able to see her from so far, but considering she was precious to High Queen Eos, it would only make sense that she had some hidden power within her. Not to mention that whatever the demons did to Bastion, they must have done something to weaponize her. Hibiki moved quickly, avoiding Bastion's claw while releasing a bomb to paralyze her arm. Hibiki dove into a formation of rocks in hopes to use it as cover and sneak up on Bastion while she was recovering. There was still the matter of her beast as well, as two shots didn't kill it.

"Don't waste my time," Bastion growled. At once her paralyzed claw split off from her arm and became a strong, oozing substance that would spread and permeate the waters. It would head towards Hibiki slowly but surely, searching her out and seeking to suffocate her under the waves. Meanwhile, Bastion's beast snarled as it too searched for the swimming maid, eager to rip her apart with its jaws. To futher draw her out, it smacked its tail to and for against the water. Bastion would watch as well, a total of three threats against Hibiki as her demonic arm slowly grew back.

Hibiki stayed hidden for now, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she was found. She could tell that the monster was a demon, so if she got close enough she could use one of her holy hand grenades to kill it, or at least cripple it. But Bastion was what Hibiki was most worried about. She knew that if Hibiki killed Bastion, she'd only return to the demon's hands. However, just how much of Bastion was a demon now, Hibiki didn't know. If fact she had no idea if Bastion was a demon in the first place or if this was just corruption. This really limited Hibiki's options. Even less when she noticed something swimming towards her. She couldn't make out the details, but whatever it was it was likely hostile. Hibiki moved from her position to get closer to Bastion. Outnumbered and possibly outgunned Hibiki needed to eliminate these threats quickly. So she grabbed another one of her bombs, sticking it to the barrel of her rifle. Even as she was swimming away from Bastion, her mount, and the thing in the water, Hibiki had no problems lining up a shot. She fired the bomb using a super charged plasma bolt to quickly propel it forward, and when it was right underneath the beast, it exploded in holy energy. Hibiki intentionally aimed it in such a way that the beast would shield Bastion from the blast, while also taking the full brunt of the damage. Hibiki never stopped moving and actually started to swim out of the sector.

"Ghnn...!" was all Bastion could manage out as she realized Hibiki's ploy too little, too late. The water all around them exploded in a massive pillar of red wetness, the demon reacting just as Hibiki had anticipated. Because for how smart it was, it was still just a denizen of Hell, its instincts driving it to protect its controller first and foremost. Even the separated demonic claw had been pulverized by the explosion, but Bastion was nowhere to be found. That is, until she made her presence known with a strong grip upon Hibiki's left ankle, regrown demonic claw urging to pierce through flesh and bleed Hibiki out. Bastion glared with hatred as she was pulled along by the maid's swimming, raising her blade up to take Hibiki's leg with her. In addition to this, more of that same ooze was spilling from Bastion's demonic claw, the tar-like substance slowly creeping up Hibiki's leg to no doubt incapacitate her more.

"How!?" Hibiki was certain that she was going to be able to out swim Bastion and her tricks. Instead it seemed like Hibiki's explosion propelled Bastion straight towards HIbiki instead. "I didn't want to do this, but now I have no choice!" Bastion was too close for Hibiki to shoot with her rifle, so instead she took out her pistol and aimed it at Bastion. While it looked like she was aiming for a headshot, Hibiki actually was going to shoot Bastion's arm, and then her legs. She needed to incapacitate her, and if Bastion was tough enough to surviving losing one arm, then she could afford to lose the others. One last thing that Hibiki also did however was take another bomb from her pouch, this one a special one; it was a bomb that could seal demons inside, but with two specific conditions: first it needs to fully form, which took a few seconds, and it had to make contact with the demon. Hibiki might not have a few seconds to live however, which is why she needed to shoot Bastion's arm. It was a race to see who could finish each other off faster now.

The only reply Hibiki would get from her opponent was a grunt of pain and a snarl of rage. Even with the bullets hitting her dead on, spilling her blood into the murky waters, her grip did not lessen. The ooze from her claw continued to seep upwards, clenching tightly as if to crush Hibiki in her armor. It hurt like hell, but Bastion continued her assault with jerky swings of her blade; now that her arms were filled with bullets, precision was going to be difficult to manage. But she wasn't looking for clean cuts; whatever sought to end Hibiki's life, she would take it as is. But suddenly the game changed with the reveal of Hibiki's bomb. Bastion narrowed her expression, knowing at least some of the anti-demonic weapons utilized thanks to Victoire's teachings. She would not let Hibiki live, yet capture was also not an option...so then, it was time to reveal why everyone wanted her in the first place.

At once her mismatched eyes began to shift in coloration and it was evident that something was wrong. Soon the orbs became a golden hue and at once it felt as if the pressure all around them had spiked significantly. But her sights were not on the armored mermaid but rather on the bomb held in her hand. All she had to do was concentrate....and at once, the bomb would implode on itself. Whether or not it would succeed in taking Hibiki out was left to be seen, but Bastion was confident in her durability to survive such an attack. After all, what better usage to experiment with her own, natural Golden Eyes of Destruction?

"Aaaah!" As she screamed in pain, Hibiki's mind processed everything as fast as it could. First, her bullets weren't doing nearly as much damage as she had wanted. That isn't too unexpected from a demon, many of the Machina weapons were useless against them. Hibiki could feel her leg getting compressed even more and more as she tried to get away, and by now she was certain that her foot was broken at least. But what made Hibiki really worried was when Bastion's eyes changed. Hibiki had heard tales of warriors from all factions having been blessed by whatever power that watches over the Nexus. Silver eyes that created armor and protected the use from harm. Golden eyes that made weapons and creates destruction for all. And Bastion had golden eyes.

Hibiki could not hesitate, and the race was not over yet. As soon as Hibiki felt the crushing sensation in her leg shift to her knee, HIbiki dropped her gun and took out her knife. But instead of trying to stab Bastion, Hibiki stabbed herself right above the knee. Activating the blasma cutters, in one swift motion Hibiki had cut off her leg, and freed herself from Bastion's grasp. But instead of using this chance to swim away Hibiki took her bomb and pressed it right into Bastion's chest. She didn't know what would happen first; for the bomb to be destroyed or for Bastion to be captured. If the bomb had gone off, there would be no explosion. Instead, Bastion would be engulfed in a red light, before dematerializing into data as it was absorbed into the bomb. Because it was not actually a bomb, but a pokeball.

But it was too little, too late. Bastion's eyes were already aimed at the bomb in Hibiki's hands, sealing its fate in a matter of moments. The maid was too slow, even if she did buy herself time with cutting her leg off, something that did catch Bastion off guard but ultimately did not deter her from her end goal. As such, her eyes flashed once before the bomb between the two of them exploded. Regardless of its features and functions, the Golden Eyes were meant to bring about destruction. And destruction it brought, the force from its rupturing core blowing both girls back in the water and leaving behind a heavy mist of bubbles and blood from Hibiki's severed leg.

Bad news, the bomb didn't work. Good news, Bastion was so focused on getting rid of her bomb that Hibiki at least was able to get close enough to use her arms to push against Bastion, making a bit of distance between the two. And with that distance, Hibiki activated her Stalker Cloak. Evidently capturing Bastion wasn't going to be easy. It seemed like the demons could see through all forms of stealth, and Hibiki had doubts that even her Stalker Cloak could hide her for long. But she was relying on it as Hibiki continued towards Gamma. With any luck most of her traps were still there, or at the very least there were some angel forces who could weaken Bastion. Morphing her legs into a singular, mermaid like fin, Hibiki also knew she was working off borrowed time. The plasma cauterized her wound so she won't bleed out, but if Hibiki didn't return to the contender soon she wasn't sure what was going to happen to her. And Hibiki couldn't die before Shizuka could kill the Leviathan.

"C'mon, let's play!" Hibiki thought to herself. And play Bastion would, the demon rocketing forward to where she could somewhat sense Hibiki's presence. The maid had turned insivible through some kind of technology so the demonic warrior had to rely on instinct to locate the mermaid. As such, she had only a rough estimate to where Hibiki was; but that didn't matter in the end. Eyes gleaming gold ever still, she began to detonate the water in front of her, smirking in victory as plumes of space began to ruprture, water colliding in on itself and bubbles foaming. It didn't matter if she could see Hibiki or not because as long as the maid was in fact in front of her, she could detonate the area all she liked, keeping pace with the invisible enemy.

Of course as soon as she turned invisible, Hibiki did everything in her power to get away from her. She stayed no where in front of Bastion and instead swam towards the edge of Gamma, back towards that rock formation that she was at before to snipe Victoire. Here Parum set up a few traps hidden among the rocks. She knew that if she revealed herself there, Bastion would just use her Golden Eyes to destroy the entire rock formation. But if she hid some bombs in the cracks, then even if they did get destroyed then they could still blow up in Bastion's face. Hibiki made holy bombs specifically, the ones that weaken a demon when they get caught in the blast. Bastion was already wounded, and all Hibiki needed to do now was weaken her further to capture her. There was also the ruins around the altar that Hibiki could try and lead Bastion towards, but she knew she didn't have enough time on her stalker cloak to get there, lay traps, and come back. She did spread a few more bombs hidden in the sand and a few more that Hibiki could drop at a moment's notice.

The last thing that Hibiki did was set up her last Bastion turret. It was a twisted irony that Hibiki's own turrent is named the same as the girl she was fighting. But she didn't spend too much time dwelling on it. Manually controlling the turret through her HUD, she had the turret fire towards Bastion to get her attention. Hibiki was floating just a few yards away and her stalker cloak was about to run out. Once she got Bastion's attention, Hibiki would run away again and lead Bastion through her traps. Even so, it would be cutting it close as Bastion was right on her despite the distance between them. The possibility of Hibiki's traps being destroyed through Bastion's eyes were very real given the demonic soldier was firing every which way and wherever her sight landed on was a prime target. Yet when she saw Hibiki finally reveal herself, she ceased in her rampage to rocket forward and strike with blade in hand. The bullets of the turret would be deflected by Bastion's weapon but given her damaged state, she could not block all of them. Thus she growled as bullets grazed her form, zipping about in rage right after Hibiki, unaware of the traps laid in set for her.

HIbiki continued to fire at Bastion until Bastion ran across the first set of traps; the holy water. It would burn Bastion's demonic essence and weaken her, perhaps not much, but certainly enough for the next part of the trap to work. As the water around Bastion turned into a milky white due to the holy water, bright flashes of holy light would fry her vision. These were the same bombs Hibiki had set up at the altar, and because Bastion was a demon, she would find those abilities crippled to the point of uselessness. Perhaps not for long, but Hibiki only needed some time. The next bombs that went off was a simple net bomb. Made of a para-aramid synthetic fiber, it would be strong enough to hold even Grafdakka. It was specially designed to be most resistant against cutting and slashing. But Hibiki worried it won't be enough, so she moved in. She hoped that Bastion had been sufficiently blinded by Hibiki's bomb, and used her Bastion Turret to cover any possible sound Hibiki would make as she swam towards Bastion to capture her once more. Hibiki had two ready to use, and in her other hand she had another holy water bomb in case Bastion was still fighting. Once Shizuka was close enough to throw the bomb, but far away enough not to get struck by Bastion's blade, she tossed the bomb to capture Bastion.

"Grrnn!" growled Bastion, a mix of pain and rage echoing in her voice. She couldn't even use her Golden Eyes due to her vision sinking in a seat of white, both from the holy water and the holy grenades. An assault on her senses taking place, all Bastion could do was flail around in place to hack and slash whatever was nearby. But soon even that would be restricted thanks to the net keeping her arms pinned to her side and the rest of her limbs in place. Blinded and unable to move, the best she could do was snarl in hate, whipping her head to and fro in the efforts to spot Hibiki. Such actions were meaningless, Bastion unaware how close Hibiki was to her until it was too late. With a gasp, she found the capturing bomb make contact with her flesh. At once she knew that the battle had come to a close. She had lost.

Hibiki sighed in relief as she managed to capture Bastion. However her vision was starting to get blurry. She had worked up quite a lot of energy trying to capture Bastion, and she was still down a leg. Her mermaid tail at least prevented her from bleeding out, but she was exhausted. But alas, Hibiki couldn't rest yet. Putting the captured Bastion inside her bomb pouch, Hibiki tried to swim as fast as she could back to the Contender. She could see the giant meteor in the sky when she surfaced, which no doubt was meant for the leviathan. Not wanting to get caught in that mess, Hibiki would have to try and swim through Gamma, Eta, and then into Theta, where hopefully the Machina forces have already captured. She sent out a one-way distress signal to the Contender to alert them of her approach.

"Contender, this is Hibiki Meido. I have reclaimed the Queen's treasure. I'm currently in the Gamma sector and on my way to Theta. Please send assistance if you can, I'm severely wounded. Over."

@Flamelord@TheWindel

Grafdakka punched the leviathan in the eye just as Shizuka plunged her blade into it’s heart. This made him think that he had actually done some damage as it began to flail about causing the titan to hold on for dear life. When he eventually fell, he had the good fortune of falling onto the Contender, leaving a sizable dent on the deck. The Leviathan was dying, and that was a good win for Grafdakka. However celebrations would have to be hold for later; they still needed to win this battle. Additionally, Grafdakka heard a desperate message from Hibiki. She had managed to recapture the Queen’s Treasure, the very thing that the Machina were suppose to escort during the last battle. However she was deep in hostiles waters between the demon forces and the angels.

”HAH! THOSE GIRLS ALWAYS HAVE ALL THE FUN!”

Grafdakka got to his feet and went to procure himself a new anchor. It wasn’t the same as the one he had before, which unfortunately was now lost to the ocean, but it would have to do. Linking this anchor to his chain Grafdakka hefted it onto his shoulders as he called for his throne. Although he wasn’t in his usual body, the Throne should still be able to launch him straight towards the enemy. However if he was going to save Hibiki, he felt it was necessary as a commander to organize a little squad.

Calling over the Commander channel Grafdakka called for Endian and Stark Zealot. ”You heard Hibiki’s call, correct? I am ready to mobilize to her position in five minutes. Meet me on the deck of the Contender when you can. Endian, this is your time to prove yourself. Stark, protect the Contender from all enemies.” Grafdakka called in his oddly smooth voice once again. He tested his body and knew that if he went into this fight, he’d probably fall apart. While he avoided the worse of the Leviathan’s acid, there was no way Grafdakka was in any state to continue fighting. If he was an actual machine he would be nonfunctional. But High Queen Eos didn’t give him this body to run from battle.

Grafdakka sat on his Throne and waited for the others to arrive before remembering one minor detail. He shouted at max volume, loud enough that he was probably heard in neighboring sectors. ”SHIZUKA WE’RE GOING TO SAVE YOUR SISTER, GET OUT HERE!”

@TheWindel@Ryonara@Flamelord

---

Dora and her fleet flew above the waters of Beta, watching from afar the battle between Hibiki and Bastion. Dora had hoped to get Miyu’s assistance in capturing the altar here, as Dora had means to suppress the roses long enough for them to acquire it, but with her recent defeat Dora knew there was no time. Fortunately the other angelic forces wiped out the demons in the Alpha sector, and with the meteor enroute that should destroy the Iota sector, and with it deprive the demons of just enough resources that they won’t be able to win this battle just yet.

However there was still the Machina to worry about, though as the Leviathan had taken all their attention, Dora doubts they could post too much of a threat themselves. And to ensure they didn’t, Dora and her fleet flew down towards the Gamma sector. They were going to capture Hibiki. Stepping to the bow of the ship, Dora and her fleet tailed Hibiki when she surfaced. They released nets into the waters around Hibiki, knowing that based off how many bombs she used against Bastion, Hibiki was in no condition to fight.

”Surrender peacefully, Hibiki! I’d rather not kill you, but I will take you as my prisoner, one way or another.”

@Ryonara

Endian

Endian watched with a frown as the Leviathan screeched and struggled, before at last slumping over dead. It seemed that Shizuka had been successful in finishing off the beast, and with the Leviathan dead the hold that its powers held on the environment of the sector itself began to wane. That meant that the Contender could pull itself out of the sectors poisonous waters that much quicker, and soon they were back in a more calming shade of blue rather than disturbing red.

"Get this thing off the deck," she directed, gesturing for crewmembers to begin cleaning off the acid that had landed on the ship thus far from the water and the things blood, more of them moving to retrieve Shizuka from the hole she had cut in the beast before they got to work removing Leviathan from the vessel itself. They didn't need that thing curled around their ship and dragging them down, not with the damage that they already had.

While they did that, she was able to take stock of their situation. Graf was still functional, but Marquis was down. They were currently the lowest in terms of territory, but they had the most units left in the field as far as she was aware. Now was the time to push, and see if they could turn this around somehow. She was in the process of doing so when Hibiki's message came in, the Commander nodding even if she was surprised by it. Honestly she hadn't expected Hibiki to succeed in what she had set out to do, and to hear that they had the treasure that they had lost previously was quite the good news.

"Acknowledged," she replied smoothly as she activated her comms. "There will be-"

She cut herself off as radar returns came up, pinging a fleet headed towards their Machina comrade, who was currently a bit disabled at the moment. "Unit Hibiki, you have incoming hostiles," she snapped off before turning to a general channel. "All units, divert to Sector Gamma immediately. Expect hostile action."

Noting that Grafdakka was moving for his throne, Endian went for her own transport, open top transport vehicles appearing from the hangars of the Contender alongside hovering interceptors and gunships. Naval guns reoriented as targeting solutions were brought up, and they were ready by the time that Endian had boarded her own transport, drones hovering nearby. She was not the only one prepped, and she made sure that Graf was ready and Shizuka was also ready to come along before taking her next action.

"Execute." With those words the naval guns barked, throwing high powered shells towards the dwarven fleet. Even if they didn't hit anything it would serve to cast disarray into their ranks, something to be taken advantage of as the interceptors roared ahead, moving to clear a path for the transports and gunships as they followed behind. Graf's throne would also launch off, casting him towards the dwarven fleet, while in the meanwhile the Contender followed behind them. One way or another, this fight would end.

@Lucius Cypher@Ryonara@TheWindel

---

Tartys

A sigh escaped as the Angel let her tiredness slip out, the energy from the beginning of this battle already starting to wear away now that things seemed to be nearing their conclusion. A quick slap to her cheek arrested that downward motion though, the angel not allowing herself to grow too fatigued. The battle was not over just yet, and until she had quit the battlefield she had to give it her all. Her duty to Heaven demanded no less.

But what could she do? Her forces were mostly intact but Omega was basically done, even if he had been ferried off for medical attention as quickly as their forces could manage. But things did not look too good. In territory they equaled the demons, but still had a significant resource disadvantage. It was a difficult problem to overcome. At least the Leviathan seemed like it had been vanquished, and their meteor was still on track to fall and hit the ground.

After a moment she made up her mind. They might be at a disadvantage but they weren't out of this just yet. "Let's move out," she called to the units who were with her before taking off towards Gamma Sector, where Dorafraki's fleet waited. It was a quick trip all told, and soon enough her units had linked up with the Dwarven fleet. "I hope you don't mind me adding my forces," she called as she drew near the dwarf, eyeing the Machina down below in the water. "Omega has been critically wounded, but the remaining demon commanders have been dispatched from this battle. They should pose us no more problems." Now they just had to handle the Machina.

@Lucius Cypher@Ryonara@Awesomoman64

~???~

“Here lies the end of this conflict. The Battle of Ruthria has come to a close,” said a voice in the shadows. The owner of said voice watched the rumbles that boiled the surface of the ocean from a good distance away, feet planted upon a tree high up in a local forest. A nearby beach side would serve as the being’s temporary station.

She looked to be of the Demons, but one could never be too sure in an ever shifting location such as the Nexus. And as such, she felt no obligation to join in the battle. Her only role thus far was to watch, wait, and observe. That was her purpose unless told otherwise; until then, she would continue to take note of every loss, every victory, and every life taken.

The girl known as Bastion was still unconscious, unaware that Hibiki’s fate would decide her own as well. The Leviathan was dead, body already dissipating and becoming one with the Nexus; though concerning that monster, the observer suspected some sort of foul play. Stark would do as he was told, defending the Contender from any and all threats; and then there was the mighty meteor that was slowly descending on the battlefield to no doubt decimate anything that wasn’t an Angel.

The newcomer suspected that the Sector Theta would be obtained soon and with it, the end of the battle. Though she would argue that the conflict was over anyway. Perhaps…but for now, it was time to retreat. She would let the last inklings of this battle play out on their own; there was no more reason for her to remain present.

With a nod to herself, the mysterious being stepped away into a patch of darkness to leave the beings of the Nexus to their fate. The next battle was already brewing and the faster this one ended, the sooner the trio of forces could direct their sites to new ambitions and greater conquests.

---

Things weren't looking good for Hibiki. As she was swimming towards friendly waters, she spotted the shadow of the Angel's fleet above her. She swam deeper into the water as fast as she could but then she saw nets get deployed. Without her blade she wouldn't be able to cut through, and she had doubts her repair drones could cut through the netting fast enough. Still she deployed a few to follow her just in case, but regardless she was trapped. Hibiki heard Dora ask for her surrender, which Hibiki was hesitant to accept. They were allies not too long ago, though enemies now, and hopefully Dora would treat her well as she promised. However Hibiki also wanted to return to the Contender and give Endian back the Queen's Treasure, and she couldn't do that while captured by the angels.

Meanwhile back at the contender, Shizuka was trying to cut her way out of the Leviathan. Though now it was dead, it wasn't easy for her to go out the same way she came even as it's body slowly vanished. It wasn't until she heard Graf's loud declaration that Shizuka redid her efforts, quickly slashing her way out from the Leviathan's body with the help of Endian. Ascalon busted out from the back of the Leviathan, nearly impaling a helpless drone, followed by Shizuka crawling out covered in blood. She wasted no time getting ready to save her sister, rearming herself and getting a quick repair job by one of the repair drones. Dora's enchantment had worn off by now but with the Leviathan dead Shizuka wouldn't need it. Once she was armed Shizuka joined up with Endian. She simply saluted her commander and awaited for deployment.

Soon after the roar of cannons and engines erupted from the contender, and the final battle between the Machina and Angels was on. Shizuka honestly cared less about winning this battle so much as she wanted to save her sister. Hibiki herself had doubts that the Machina could win, but if she could return with Bastion, then perhaps they could at least redeem their lost from the last battle. Hibiki did not move as the nets started to get closer to her, hiding her drone to get ready to use it.

@Flamelord@Lucius Cypher