The light from Omega faded and he took the opportunity to find and finish off any remaining Kans, but that still left the invisible foe. Not sure how he could take it on initially, Tartys gave him the answer by shooting a sort of heat attack. It worked perfectly as the silhouette of their enemy was soon revealed. Omega aimed where its head would be and softly boasted, “Gottch ya.” He got off two good shots before his concentration was broken by the ground violently shaking. "What the hell!?!” he blurted out looking around to find the source.

Between Juno having taken a new form and Grafdakka becoming a metal titan, it wasn’t hard to guess that either of them were the cause. The question now was what could they do in the face of such raw power? Clearly Juno needed no help, but even if she did none were readily equipped to handle such a monstrosity. A quick glance at the wounded Tartys and Omega knew the answer; they had to retreat and hope that Juno could handle this.

But nothing is ever simple is it? Practically the moment Omega decided on a retreat ten more Killa Kans headed straight towards them. ”Tartys,” Omega knelt down next to his injured comrade, ”Yer no use to us like this and even less if you die. You gotta retreat into the base and find someone to heal you, alright? I’ll deal with these hunks of junk.”

Hoping she would heed his advice, Omega left Tartys side and slowly walked toward the Killa Kans descending toward them. ”I’ve had enough of this messing around. Y’all wanna fight? Then bring it!”

The first Kan to land didn’t last long. It slammed into the ground next to Omega who almost effortlessly plunged his guns into the machine and opened fire destroying internal circuity and leaving it motionless. The rest had landed by now and were beginning to move. Omega met them head on rushing with incredible speeds. Any paying close enough attention would notice he wasn’t actually running, but simply gliding across the ground. His speed was enough to topple the Kan as he rammed into it stabbing it over and over as they hit the ground.

The third Kan tried to open fire but, like the one before it, found it had no effect on the spirit. This information took just a little too long to process as the cowboy jumped to the Kan and with both pistols stabbed into it’s side and forced its fire upon its brothers taking two other Kans down before switching the guns off. With his guns already in the machine, Omega blasted a hole out the other end destroying it.

That left four Kans all who knew their bullets had no effect. Revving their saws the remaining Kans circled Omega ready to strike at any second. Omega stood watching them carefully waiting for one to strike. Sure enough, the one currently behind him took the charge and attempted to separate his torso from his legs. With split second timing Omega rolled backwards just under the blade and with a single swipe relieved the bot of its saw arm. Another thought this would be the perfect chance to strike only to miss its attack as Omega sidestepped letting its saw shred the other one.

With its back to him, Omega plugged both revolvers into the machines back and with inhuman strength lifted it off the ground and pointed it at the last two Kans now charging simultaneously. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t the only things charging. Pulling both triggers Omega’s revolvers shot with all the power they had been absorbing annihilating the Kan he held and blowing holes right through the other two,

Throwing the remains of the Kan off his guns Omega stood silent amidst the smoke wreckage of his enemies. Feeling rather proud of himself he spun both his revolvers before holstering them and sliding his fingers along the brim of his hat. ”Well, that wasn’t so bad.”

@Flamelord@Lucius Cypher@TheWindel

Was the deads. Oops.

@Ryonara

Tartys

Things could definitely be going better. At least the immediate problem of people throwing down attacks that would destroy the entire area with no regard to faction or allegiance. That had been more than a bit annoying, and Tartys was given the opportunity to relax and bit and try to recover, even as she dealt with the invisible unit that had proven such an issue before.

Her blow allowed Omega to finish it off though, which was better than nothing at all. With her blast of magic fading away, Tartys sagged a bit under the pain she was currently experiencing. She gasped for breath, shoulders heaving as she struggled against the burning inside of her from protesting muscles, practically blinded in one eye. Needless to say she could be better, even if she had managed to fight Henry to a standstill that one time. This was a bit outside the realm of her experience.

That recover was interrupted by the shaking of the ground, and Tartys was able to look over to see that both the Machina and the Angels had taken this to another stage, though how much Juno could be considered an Angel was very much in debate at this point. She hadn't done a good job of proving her allegiances thus far after all.

Her musing was interrupted by Omega, who moved close before ordering her to retreat from the field. She was loathe to do so, but in her state she supposed she had little choice. At the very least it would give her some time to heal without being repeatedly attacked by whomever came around. "Alright. Take care," she replied before heaving herself forward and back towards the volcano, to enter the fortress itself and recover from her wounds. Hopefully all these previous attacks hadn't overloaded their medical facilities.

@Awesomoman64@KoL@Lucius Cypher

A creature showed itself, machine, nothing he had faced before, but possessed the same threat as the others he did face. The Flower reacted quick, and one of the sisters hooked the machine's blade that nearly sliced the front of his face. The pacing of everything felt quick, but at the same time it felt exhilarating, almost euphoric. The sound of war at the wall opening itself up to vulnerability would accelerate the fighting, but until then he had one issue to deal with.

No....two.

The other machine, the one that tried to raise hell on top of the Flower had grabbed the foot of the angel, and from it's body language and the sound it was making it was going to try and make a cowardly, if effective, move.

He reacted fast, pushing the machine away while facing his arm towards the injure machine, hoping the shield would take the impact.

It did, but upon exploding the Flower was thrown into the air. The force, the wind, the cold air despite the location. It was a sensation that was new to him, he felt...odd.

'Strange, this feeling, is this what you're feeling?' he muttered to himself, as the leg the machine grabbed onto started stinging with agonising pain. Made the Flower slightly dizzy, combined with the other elements acting against him. 'Is this vulnerability? Is this the pain you are going through my friend?'

The fight around him as his rise started to slow, not going well for the angels nor for himself. He took a breath.

'Don't worry.'

The gaze showed itself.

'I'll see you again soon.'

The energy built, and within a quick fit of fury, unleashed his weapon's power towards the one that recently showed itself. He flew behind it, gravity working with him, it would meet him and the sisters soon.

@TheWindel@Lucius Cypher

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

@The 42nd Gecko@Ryonara

---

Henry wandered through the halls of Alt Signia slowly, muttering under his breath several quantities of swords and axes he had lost as he mentally reorganized the Gates of Tartarus. He held his ribs in place with one arm as they slowly knit back together, while the other arm held the Cheater's Blade in case something attacked.

The halls were suprisingly well lit in this volcano so he had very few problems seeing things. And the place definitely had some good echo going on judging by the metallic stomping and female chanting he was hearing up ahead, he turned a corner and noted the other hallway which lead to the one he was now in.

Up ahead was a very familiar giant Mech along with what appeared to be a girl in a maid outfit. Anger flared as he saw the traitor who had destroyed any chance of the Demon's victory, but it died down as he had honestly expended all his rage for the day. Now he was just tired and he wanted to go home and relax with his Hounds. The maid was of course going to be a hostage, anything else would just be embarrassing. She was dressed as a maid for gods sakes. Henry quietly walked up behind Miyu and swung hard, aiming to cut through both of her Mech's legs.

He then turned to Shizuka and sighed. Henry shook his head and looked her in the eyes as she continued to chant. "I'm not in the mood to be angry right now, so let's get this over with. Shut up and let me kidnap you." The Bastion turrets aimed towards Henry and Miyu as they prepared to fire, Henry's eyes glowed in response. Shields adorned with snarling demon faces surrounded him, strong enough to deflect any bullets that hit them while Henry dropped his sword on the ground and pulled out a grenade launcher filled with acid bombs from the Gates of Tartarus. "Be glad I'm nicer than every other Demon in the army." He said loudly enough for Miyu to hear only. He aimed above his shields and fired off a few grenades at the general direction of the turrets. If they got shot out of the air then the contents would be released all over the turrets anyways.

The further they went in, the hotter the area around then became. While Hibiki wasn’t privy to everything happening to the fortress she could tell that there was some sort of leak in the power core, and if what Dawkbreaker said was true then trying to blow it up prematurely was going to be harder than she had planned. Hibiki had a few workarounds to send her payload where it needs to go but it wasn’t going to be foolproof. Namely, she would stick her bombs onto one of her drones and activate a barrier on it, but the energy from a leaking power core might eat through the barrier before the bombs got close enough. She needed something stronger.

Fortunately, it seemed like Grafdakka wasn’t entirely useless, as one of his minions had managed to get deep in the fortress for Hibiki to find them. She didn’t know the specs to his “Killa Kans”, but if they were even just a fraction as tough as Graf himself, then she could use them to deliver her package into the inner core. Though still invisible, Hibiki sent them orders over her command line, directing them towards the power core. Before they left, she planted her bombs on one of them as well as her barrier bomb, and let one of her drones escort them to monitor their movement.

As she was setting that up Hibiki noted that her Bastion turrets had found an enemy. ”Shit!” The first foe Hibiki saw was some sort of mech, not one on their side despite what it was. Hibiki didn’t detect any friendly signals from it, so she had no issues letting the Bastion turret shoot it down. However shortly after it arrived, Henry from the demon’s side had arrived. Hibiki knew all about him and some of his abilities from the last battle, and she knew he possessed silver eyes. Sure enough he used his abilities to defend himself from the turrets and launched a few explosives at them. ”You’re not the only one who can play with bombs…”

Unlike the last battle, Hibiki made sure to plant bombs effective for both demon and angelic forces, knowing that this chaotic situation might attract both. A few explosives went off, damaging no one but it did throw the acid bombs off course and allowed the Bastion Turrets to continue their sustained fire. Shizuka sprung into action at that point and Hibiki spoke towards Titania. ”I’ll escort these mechs to the power core myself. Return to the teleporter room and provide assistance to Shizuka. Don’t hold anything back, one of the demon’s commanders is there, and he has Silver Eyes.” Hibiki and the KIlla Kans moved towards the power core room, only a two minutes away. Once she can ensure that her explosives will make it, she’d have to quickly return to the teleporter room and assist the others.

Shizuka had maintained ritual long enough that it no longer needed her concentration. As long as she stayed in the room the ritual will be complete, allowing her to properly defend this place. And sure enough shortly after she was finished someone arrived. Although they arrived in a mech, Shizuka didn’t recognize who it was and neither did the turrets. They fired upon the robot, unleashing a hail of bullets. However it wasn’t just the mech who arrived, but Henry, one of the demon commanders. How he managed to get this deep into the fortress, Shizuka didn’t know, but he demanded that Shizuka be taken prisoner. ”No.”

It was just as an explosion occurred that Shizuka noticed the bombs that Henry had fired at the turrets. Not wasting the opportunity Shizuka took to the air, large golden wings at her back. With one beat of these mighty wings, she blasted a gust of air strong enough to throw the bombs back towards Henry’s general direction. ”Leave this place at once. There is nothing for you here. Neither victory,” Drawing the Valkyrie's Sword and Shield, Shizuka leveled her blade towards Henry as the Bastion Turrets continued to roar. ”Nor mercy.”

An ethereal choir, accompanied by spectral instruments, boomed throughout the room. They continued the chanting that Shizuka began, and even the instrumental parts sustained and empowered the ritual, as well as Shizuka herself. Hearing the music filled the lone maid with determination, knowing fully well that there was more than just her personal safety at stake here. So much about this mission was riding on chaotic factors that no one had any real control over. Just powers that Shizuka couldn’t hope to grasp. But she could grasp her sword, and with it, she’ll overcome any of her enemies.

@Flamelord@The 42nd Gecko@floodtalon

“Hmm. Alright, fine. Take her then,” said Bastion who kicked Diana forward and towards Torag. A moment later and her massive rifle was on the ground as well, though she kept the handgun in her holster. The STLTH Units too backed down, their blades held ready to strike just in case either one of their opponents decided to use some sort of counter-measure.

However, it wasn’t Torag and Diana she was worried about, eyes shifting back to their red and blue coloration to stare at Suparna. Demons were natural liars and outlets of corruption so if anyone was going to betray this temporary cease fire, it was the maggot loli. Crossing her arms, she waited for what the little girl had to say in getting this over with.

“So you can call off your pets,” she said with a mild glare before hearing her requests. “We all want part of the cut then, huh? Fine, but I say the demon brat gets the least since she wants two of my toys. Alt Signia is burning as you probably know. I would think the Angels want to preserve some of their spoils from this battle. The Machina take what we’ve already gathered, you keep whatever can be salvaged from the wreckage, and the loli gets the scraps. Deal?”

Outside the Forge, Juno taking on a new form was of little concern to the STLH Units currently in action. The one near Omega and Tartys felt his was the optimal time to rush in and strike now that the barrier was down. But the beams of light coming from the Angel’s spear forced it to keep its distance, dashing and dancing about and occasionally deflecting the beams with its blade.

That action would allow the pair to pinpoint its location, a fact the Machina was unfortunately aware of. Thus is tried to move even faster but alas the beams kept coming, forcing it to continue a strategy of defense, deflecting them and giving away its position. At least the Kans were doing their job…. for all of a few minutes. Realizing it was now alone against these two, the STLTH Unit gritted its teeth and reached for another kunai to hurl at the unsuspecting Omega and Tartys who had apparently forgotten she was still there and were now trying to escape.

The second STLTH Unit tensed as its opponent, the Flower of Death, was suddenly rejuvenated by a burst of power. Blocking Flos’ initial strike left it wide open for the Angel to appear behind it. A last second move allowed it to release a kunai and parry whatever blow he would enact on its back, but not without some backlash damage that sent the cyborg hurling forward.

---

Torag nodded and slid his claymore into it's sheathe on his left hip and caught Diana, setting a protective arm across her before dusting her off and standing her up to the side. He left his hand on her shoulder for a moment to make sure she would stay standing after this encounter, then crossed the dried appendages while he listened to both of their propositions. "I see the conditions of the Queen's Treasure as fair. I shall tell Juno to stand down, as well as the other warriors under my command." He extended is arms and began to trace a sort of golden pentagram into the air before him with his bony fingers. A moment later, the spell took effect and the voice of Torag wormed it's way into the minds of the significant units and commanders of Heaven, causing both an uneasy sensation with welcome news. A deal has been struck with the Queen's Treasure and the Queen of Carrion. For all intents and purposes, this battle is over. These two are to leave Alt Signia peacefully." The spell broke and the lich's voice faded from the heads of those he addressed, forever leaving the haunting image of his voice in their heads.

With little left to do now, he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall behind him, crossing his legs. "Maybe, just maybe, war isn't our eternal existence. We've entertained that here today." He looked up at Bastion and Suprana, chuckling hollowly to himself at just how cheesy that line was, though it was quite clear that he had a point. He honestly had a hard time believing that a warmonger such as himself had said such a thing...

Maybe this warmonger had enough fighting for his lifetime.

---

After the initial rage from only winging Henry and disabling his flight faded, Marquis resumed his scans of the battlefield through the scope of Bindlebane, searching for another target. Unfortunately for him, his swept over Omega once again just in time to watch him basically become a burning stick of magnesium. Under normal circumstances, purely just from the distance, the AI would've been perfectly fine up in his flying nest... however, a 10x scope tends to complicate the matter just a little. He was blasted with the light, forcing his optical sensor into an overloaded state for a few minutes, during which his back flared open to vent as much heat as it possibly could. He fell to the floor in the process, laying prone and minimizing movement to maximize the process' efficiency, though his comm channel flared up as well, only with the voice of his royal charge. High Queen Eos.

She spoke of Grafdakka being mentally impaired at the moment and command shifting to him, and a goal to reach a peaceful solution as quick as possible. Plans had changed drastically, it seemed. The second his eye came back online, his own, robotically Germanic voice took over the mic and blasted out some orders in quick succession. "Commanders Hibiki and Shizuka, I advise you pause your infiltration. A peaceful solution is very much available at this point. Endian, keep Grafdakka focused on Juno in a hope to keep her occupied. She can floor us all if not stopped, wear down his program if need be." With that, he quickly patched together a code fragment to override the stock commands of the Killa Kans to pacify them, and peered through the scope of his rifle again. He focused in on Omega and made use of the scope glare to grab his attention. Following a pair of flashes, he began to lean the scope in and out of the harsh sunlight to signal a form of treaty in a way he'd understand; Morse Code.

S-T-A-N-D D-O-W-N T-H-E M-A-C-H-I-N-A S-E-E-K-S P-E-A-C-E

With the message sent, he enacted the Kan-pacification code via a signal broadcast, the entirety of the amalgamated mechs stopping their attacks, some even in mid swing and falling over from the momentum.

Tartys

Stumbling inside, Tartys paused momentarily as the voice of Torag rang in her head, indicating to her that the battle was over due to a settled truce. That came as a surprise, and to be honest she found herself more than a bit discontented by it. It did prevent additional loss of life, but it also meant that they had to cede their victory, when they had been so close to actually winning this fight. What had there been left to challenge them, aside from that abomination fighting their 'ally'.

Still, she wasn't the one in charge, and could only accept it. Resuming her motion, she was soon able to find one of the makeshift medical areas where she would soon be patched up and ready to get to the fight once again, or to wherever they were sent next. It was better than nothing she supposed, since she wouldn't be seeing any more action on this day.

Though if the mountain could stop feeling like it was going to explode, that would be great.

---

Tatiana Lorenz

The mission had proceeded fairly nicely thus far, that much was obvious. There had been no real trouble even as they headed for their new destination, and Tatiana would admit that she was getting a bit of an itchy trigger finger. She had come all this way, yet not a single fight had occurred that was worth mentioning. There were those grunts, but they hadn't really stood a chance. She wanted something that was worth her time.

Before they could actually get there though, she found herself interrupted by a message from Hibiki, warning her that an enemy had appeared in the teleporter room that required her attention. "On my way," she replied swiftly, wasting no time in idle chit chat. They couldn't let anything happen to Shizuka, or else they'd be cut off from their escape.

At that point she abandoned stealth, turning on her heels and activating her armor fully as thrusters flared to life with aa burst in the air. Wings extended slightly to allow for greater maneuverability as she took off, practically flying down the hallways as she retraced her steps back to the teleporter room. At the same time she prepared for combat, adjusting inputs and vectors slightly to maximize her flight speed. There were a few close calls, but she didn't crash and that was what counted.

Quickly she arrived and assessed the situation. Turrets hammered away at a demon, while Shizuka had her blade ready. Into that flew Tatiana, another gun springing to her grip from her holster as she dynamically entered the room, moving along the wall as she fired. The biotic rifle and her standard plasma rifle would hopefully do some damage, and she kept up the fire to give Shizuka time to do what she needed to do. Now she could have a real fight.

@Ryonara@floodtalon

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

@The 42nd Gecko@Ryonara@Flamelord

---

Henry caught the bombs with his Gates and looked at Shizuka with a blank expression on his face. He threw his rifle into a Gate and kicked up his blade into his hand. He smoothly inserted it into its sheathe and raised his hands in defeat. "Alright enough with the light show, it's bright and obnoxious. You're very intimidating. I quit. I'm injured, physically exhausted, and emotionally exhausted. My only option would he to blow myself up to try and kill everyone here and I don't want to do that again. It hurt enough the last time."

Some other Machina chick burst in and began firing at him, most of it was still blocked by the shields but he caught a few stray bullets with the Gates. "I hope you caught that because I hate repeating myself. Anyways, can I just leave with the Angel bitch? I'll even offer up the Mech as a peace offering." Henry sighed and shook his head. This entire battle has been a conplete shit show. Of course the maid was going to be strong as fuck. She probably has some twin who's just as strong if we're going off every single cliche.

---

Demons may be liars and cheats, but they also placed a great deal of stock in the art of the Deal. Even if no one had sold their soul here, barring the two STLTH units Bastion so callously called her toys, Suparna wasn't just going to backstab someone after the negotiations were made and she came out on top.

"Pardon me?" The Queen of Carrion turned from lich to glare with no small amount of venom at the Queen's Treasure, insulted that she would be such a sore loser about this. "We strike a deal and the ink hasn't even dried before you try to renege on it? There is a being a statesmen and then there is being impossible to work with. The ruling was for a fair division between us all along with two of your marvelous Machina you so cruelly discredit. Since you fail to grasp the idea of haggling or possess any integrity, I'll over look your greed for the time being."

This was making Suparna real glad she had abandoned the Elicitor and missed out on capturing Bastion in the first place. Even as a broken slave, Suparna wouldn't want anything to do with her.

The Queen of Carrion turned her back on Bastion to find the lich hadn't stabbed her in the back with his claymore, instead, was leaning against the wall and waxing poetic like an old soul. There was a charm to it, and did well in making him seem the most reasonable person present at the moment. It wasn't hard to imagine herself cooperating with him in the future for the mutual benefit of their interests, but only time would tell in that regard.

"If you are so inclined as to believe I need to earn my part of the bargain, then I can offer the services of my carrion to tend to your wounded. There are undoubtedly countless burns and other detritus that coat your wounded which must be cleared before they can heal. The human surgeons of old used maggots for their disposition towards eating dead flesh, a talent we have no lost completely, if you so wish. I can understand if your people would not enjoy a demon tending to them, but considering the devastation that must have occurred above us, you may require any aid available to you while my share of the supplies are being sent home."

It also served the added benefits of generating good will between them for future negotiations, and insurance so the Angels wouldn't backstab her once the Machina pull out the remnants of the demon forces return to lick their wounds.

---

@KoL@TheWindel @Mega Birb

After taking a swing at Juno, Grafdakka began to charge his cannon. It was almost like Balrog's Hellfire Cannon, but fueled by Graf's own golden eyes to increase it's power tenfold. Even if it wasn't enough to slay Juno even with a direct hit, Graf aimed his cannon for Alt Signia itself. He didn't know how powerful it was, only that whatever was going to happen, the explosion was going to be massive. Graf did receive the word from Bastion to stand down, but in his corrupted state he ignored it. Normally he would follow the commands of his allies stronger than him, but in this corrupted state the only thing he wanted was destruction. "LEAVE NO SURVIVORS!"

But just as the colossal titan was about to fire his cannon, an axe slammed into it. It was far too small to have done any real damage, but the 200 pound cleaver had just enough weight to send Grafdakka's laser beam shooting over the horizon, hitting a planet in the distant void of space light years away. Graf could see a small demonness, a succubus, now running up his arm. A variety of guns and cannons fired at her, many of them knocking her off his arm. But she continued to climb onto him using her chain and axe, forcing him to try to grab hold of her. But she was swift, just like Juno, and try as he might Graf couldn't touch her directly. He resorted to causing his body to heat up and expel hellfire from every port and opening in his body, hoping to burn the demon through sheer fire power. But in doing so, in that brief moment he wasn't actively trying to swat or gun her down, she used her chain to get right at eye level with Grafdakka. The last thing he saw before his mind was twisted by illusions was the demon's phallus.

He smashed the demon to the ground with his head, stomping on her with enough force to create a miniature earth quake. With that pest removed, Grafdakka resumed his work towards destroying Alt Signia. However it seemed that while he was distracted, the angel's forces were on the retreat. Flying ships like the one from Ruthria were carrying away the supplies as well as survivors of the battle. The volcano that Alt Signia sat on was erupt, it's fallen fortifications now being consumed by the magma flow. As far as the demons and machina may care, this was a victory. But for Grafdakka, he hasn't won until he is the last warrior standing. "WAAAAAARGH!" The titan fired upon the retreating airships, his storm of bullets and missiles grazing the fast moving ships. he began to chase, knowing that if they go too far his weapons would not reach them. They would try to fire back at him with their weapons, from small arrows to large cannons, but nothing could break through his thick armor. Even heaven's might could not stop the power that Grafdakka possessed now!

At least that's what Grafdakka thought.

In truth, there were no airships. Alt Signia was not consumed by lava. And Grafdakka wasn't attacking anyone. The demon had placed an illusion on Graf, normally impossible, but due to his demonic corruption he no longer had the same immunity to mind-effecting illusions. He was chasing after nothing, simply running away from the battle towards the demon's territory. Once he was far from the angel's fortress and away from any Machina rescuers, the demons would swarm him en masses, using their own profane magics to further corrupt and control the newly demonic Grafdakka. He fought valiantly, killing as many as he could, but ultimately he was taken down by the sheer numbers of each demon invading his body and corrupting it beyond his control. And leading the conquest of the titan was that demonic hermaphrodite.



The killa Kans, without Endian commanding them or Graf yelling at them, continued their work or followed the others of whomever was in authority. However those who were sufficiently damaged did initiate their self destruct, regardless of whatever orders were given to them. As many of the Killa Kans were in battle, even after the cease fire was given many of the Killa Kans proceeded to explode from their injuries, causing some destruction here and there. Including the many which Omega had just shot.

---

The skeleton man seemed like an interesting fight! Sure, he wasn't exactly the soft angel she was hoping to bag, but she supposed she could make due with a good fight. The skeleton man had grabbed her chain and tossed a few sticks at her. He probally had some sort of plant based magic that would turn the sticks into trees, so Fran made sure she was ready. Extending her hand out, Love Tap zoomed from it's fall back to her hand, giving Fran her axe back. She swung her weapon with furious abandonment towards the sticks, but that was just to build the momentum to cleave the skeleton man in half.

But right as they were within range, Fran noticed that the giant robot from the machina side had finally awakened. Henry was no where to be seen, likely killed by that angel. In fact the angel herself was gone too. Did the machine win? Fran could hardly believe it. Right as she and the skeleton man would collide, Fran seperated the chain, giving the skeleton nothing but a useless length of steel. Fran herself blocked whatever attack the skeleton may have tried with her axe, before finally falling to the ground with a thud. "Hmph! Looks like things are getting quiet now. I don't know about you skeleton man, but I have some obligations to take care of... So I'll finish this quick!"

What happened was that Fran created two illusions: one was simply an illusion of Fran. Another was an illusion that made Fran invisible. The illusion jumped towards the Skeleton man to cleave him from head to groin while the real Fran promptly jumped away from the fight and towards the giant robot. Good fights were nice, but even Fran was all too aware that the demons have effectively lost this battle, or at least the Machina would complete their objectives. Thus Fran wanted to complete a different, more personal objective: capturing prisoners. No doubt Suparna had already gotten new toys for them to play with, but Fran would look foolish if she returned empty-handed. So Fran intended to capture either Juno or Graf, whichever was still standing by the time she arrived.

Graf was aiming his giant laser arm towards Alt Signia, which Fran knew was going to be bad. If he's really using parts from Balrog, then he likely has Balrog's souped up hellfire cannon, and without Miyu's sabotage this one was probably going to do a proper job of what it was suppose to before. In short, a really big explosion. Fran was all up for killing everyone and all, but as far as she knows Suparna was still in the fortress with prisoners in tow. She wasn't about to let this giant scrapheap break all her toys. So Fran hurled her axe towards the titan, her weapon hitting with enough force to throw off the giant's aim even if she failed to really do any harm from it. "Looks like you've joined the wild side, Mr. Roboto. Then let the hazing begin!"

Using her chain to swing up onto Graf's arm, Fran got her axe and started running. She created multiple mirror images of herself to take counter fire; while they would "die" upon getting it, they at least misdirected any attacks that could have hit Fran. Fran did get hit with a few and they certainly hurt, even if she tried to block the damage. Just as she was about to reach the elbow Fran got hit by an explosion, which was about to hurl her to the ground. She used the Bonds of Matrimony once again to grapple herself back onto Grafdakka's body, fortunately managing to latch onto something on his chin. Creating a few more illusions to draw fire Fran began to climb up the chain as fast as she could. There were more gunfire and explosions which struck Fran, and now the big robot was trying to swipe at her with his giant hand. But she made use of it, timing her jump just as one of the claws was underneath her feet. She then jumped off the claw with great force, propelling herself towards Grafdakka's face.

"Kyu~"

Fran blew a kiss right into Grafdakka's face. Since he didn't have a mouth, Fran would just have to make due with his face. Normally illusions didn't work on machines, since they lacked the "mind" for her to affect. However since Grafdakka had obviously fused himself with Balrog, Graf now shared Balrog's senses. The fact that Graf was struggling with the various demonic energies corrupting him (Balrog, Henry, and now Fran) only made it easier for Fran to trick him with his illusions. And just as he nearly smacked Fran down, she dug her axe into his face and hung on tightly, just narrowly missing the titan's claws by an inch. When he started firing into empty air and walking away from the battle, Fran knew that her illusions had worked. Climbing onto the top of the mech's head she continued to maintain the illusion and direct Gradakka back to Demon territory. No doubt that their forces would notice the engine of destruction come their way, so Fran made sure to try to get ahead of Grafdakka to inform them. She wanted to capture the war machine and all she needed was demons to soak up the attacks. Once she managed to convince a few legions of low-ranking grunts to die en masses, Fran was able to capture Grafdakka.



@Banana

---

When the skeleton finally landed on the ground with the chain, he staggered when he tried to stand back up from the fall and fell to his knee. The swordsman felt a very sharp pain in his leg when he tried to stand, so he checked underneath his pant leg, and to his misfortune, he found a cracked fibula, which was a terrible thing. He could not stand due to it's condition, and trying to dodge anything would just result in making the matter worse. No time to think about that though, as a very annoying succubus was rocketing through the air towards him, and was prepared to strike him down. With haste, Bonesword quickly turned around and drew his blade in a swift motion and pointed it towards the succubus, stabbing the illusion through the heart and making it disappear in a barrage of light.

The skeleton remained kneeling, not wishing to stand due to the risk of ruining his leg even more. The ground around him began sprouting small tufts of vegetation, and soon a pumpkin began growing to immense size beside him, with the inside of the pumpkin hollowing out and providing a place to sit in for protection. "...I respect you, succubus. Next time, don't count on being able to flee." The large pumpkin finished growing and sprouted legs made out of roots, and with one large claw it grabbed the wounded skeleton and put him inside the beast. It began running towards the Machina sidelines, while the skeleton looked out the top of the pumpkin beast back at the battlefield. Next time a battle broke out, he wanted to be either on the front lines or with a group of more able-bodied fighters instead of grunts.

With his sword sheathed and cape flowing in the wind, the skeleton had fled the scene.

Hibiki wasn't able to receive the ceasefire order. She had already gone too deep into the mountain, where just about everything short of Eos herself wasn't going to get a signal from her. But she continued her mission nonetheless. Despite the setback, she was going to see this job through to the end. Accompanying Hibiki was two of the Killa Kans, who were barely small enough to fit and had to walk behind one another. She'd only need one to carry the bomb, but she could make use of the second one if it wasn't needed. And it wasn't long before they finally arrived.

Sure enough the temperature rapidly shot up. From an already sweltering 45°C, once she was close enough to see The Forge the tempature shot up to 260°C, and was showing no signs of lowering. Hibiki stopped before she would end up frying herself, planting the barrier bomb around the Killa Kan carrying the payload. Already the barrier was crackling from the sheet heat, but it was holding. "Go to the core and whatever you do, survive for the next two minutes!" Two minutes was all the time Hibiki's barrier would last. She wasn't sure how long the Killa Kan could withstand the heat, so Hibiki had set her bombs to explode within those two minutes. So long as the Killa Kan doesn't go anywhere else, he should be close enough for the demolition charges to destroy the power core and cause a violent eruption that will destroy the fortress.

"I don't know how much longer I have left, but I better hurry. Killa Kan, don't let our enemies past here! Shizuka, I'm coming..." Leaving the Killa Kan to defend this area, Hibiki ran back as fast as she could to the teleporter room. Her strealth field was bound to fall any second now, and once it did everyone could see her. And knowing that Shizuka was just fighting Henry, Hibiki couldn't slow down for anything. Once she was far enough that she could receive signals, she sent a message to all the Machina soldiers.

"All units, this is Commander Hibiki. I am marking the location of the teleporter room on your maps. Meet me at this location within the next two minutes, and we will teleport out of here. Be ready to deal with any hostiles that may follow or are already there."

Meanwhile Shizuka stared down Henry. To her surprise the demon lord casually gave up, though he was still putting up his defenses against the Bastion turrets. Shizuka had no way to tell them to shot shooting, only Hibiki could. Still Henry was willing to walk away, only wanting the pilot of the mech. Shizuka had no real interest in the mech, only the supplies, so she didn't really care for it. Just then Titania burst in and started to attack Henry, giving Shizuka even more support. Granted none of the shots hit, but even so Henry was outnumbered, outgunned, and thoroughly done with this battle. Not once did Shizuka lower her guard and only gave Henry a stern glare. "Leave. Quickly." As she spoke, Shizuka felt a surge of energy flowing through her body. The ritual was done. All she needed now was for her sister and the others to arrive and they could all teleport back home. And possibly...

"But the angel stays here. She isn't worth the trouble, don't you think?"

@Flamelord@The 42nd Gecko@floodtalon@Mega Birb@TheWindel@Banana

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

@The 42nd Gecko@Ryonara@Flamelord

---

Henry thought about his situation and whether it was really worth fighting just to take an untrustworthy Angel, no matter how much he liked her attitude. He looked at her and sighed as he reached into his portal and pulled out a single pair of glasses that matched with the pair Miyu was wearing. He set them down on the floor and began backing away into the corridor.

"I left her some glasses on the floor. Make sure she gets them and knows they're from me." Henry left the shields up to protect Miyu from the mass gunfire and turned to leave. "Ciao." With that being said Henry began to wander through Alt Signia and eventually exited the fiery battlefield. While looting everything he could find on his way out.

Tatiana Lorenz

A huff of annoyance escaped as the demon emerged relatively unscathed from her initial strike, but she didn't worry about it too much. He might have managed that but he was outnumbered and outgunned. There was no way that they would lose to him that easy, she knew that for a fact.

Yet she was caught off guard by the demon not fighting back, and instead raising his hands in defeat and then having the gall to complain at her for something she couldn't have known in the heat of the moment. At least he was offering to leave, though that didn't stop her from halting in midair and training both rifles upon him in case of deception. He was a demon after all, so they had no reason to simply trust his good word that he was actually going to do what he claimed and retreat. If you simply trusted the word of a demon you were liable to get burned, and she didn't. Not for a single second.

Yet ultimately it wasn't up to her, and Shizuka held back the attack so she did the same. She could only grumble as the demon was taken up on his offer and left the teleporter room unmolested, so the two Machina could get back doing what they needed to do without having to worry about being attacked. That just left them here, with a volcano that was feeling more and more unstable every second.

Holstering her rifles, Tatiana dropped to the ground before looking to Shizuka. "I think we need to get out of here, sooner rather than later. Hibiki had better hurry up before we all get roasted." She had no desire to experience that, at least today.

@floodtalon@Ryonara

Diana listened to Bastion's reply but, as the rumbling on the mountain slowly resumed, Diana was snapped back to reality. Yeah, she would have time to talk to Bastion later but she should be returning the plug to the core, otherwise there was no way any of them could even get out of here in first place. Well, maybe the Machina could, but not the Angels and they had a bunch of injured to transport back to Celestia along with whatever resources they could secure out of the truce deal. "Hehe, I guess that I should, huh... put this back in places so that we can use the portal?" Diana pointed to the cylinder of black metal hanging from her hips.

By now, the plug had cooled enough to make a few runic inscriptions along its shaft readable. "Hmm... what's it here? 'Turn left to shut down the power, right to activate it; WARNING!: Open all lava ports before removing the plug for maintenance. The pressure may the volcano to erupt'..." Diana's eyes grew wide as she read out the instructions, which were written on a place no one could see before removing the plug and waiting a lot of time for it to cool.

"Why in all of Celestia would anyone put the warning in a place where you can read it only after you screwed up!? Who's the idiot who built this place? Anyway, I better get this thing there ASAP, before the whole mountain goes boom. I'll talk with ya later, Bastion. See ya!" Diana's indignation as she set out running, before summoning a pair of golden light wings and jumping back to the tunnel she used to arrive here, was very evident in the way her cheeks flared to a reddish pink color. Someone had to tell those dwarves to do their job before getting drunk, maybe Diana would do it later... perhaps.

---

^{@TheWindel, @LHudson, @floodtalon, @The 42nd Gecko, @Mega Birb, @Awesomoman64, @Ryonara, @Flamelord, @Lucius Cypher, @Lonewolf685.}

Though the Kans had been destroyed, there was still that sniper Omega had to deal with. He was in the middle of deciding whether or not he should take down the entire ship or just eliminate the sniper when the voice of Torag rang in his head. They had struck a deal? The news had Omega taken back. Sure he was glad things ended without a massacre for once but a battle ending from a truce was unheard of in the Nexus. After all, why settle anything diplomatic when death has no real weight to it?

Not only did this mean things wouldn’t end in a bloodbath, but it showed that the three factions did in fact have the capability of working together. Perhaps, there might actually be hope of this war ending after all? Perhaps peace could be achieved between the three and the killing could finally-

”DO YOU MIND?!?” Omega shouted at the sniper who interrupted his train of thought with several flashes from the glare on his scope. It took a few moments but now that he was focused on it, Omega realized the morse code pattern in the flashes. Guess he was just trying to tell him they too heard of the cease fire. Whoops. Omega gave the sniper a thumbs up letting him know he read him loud and clear before setting his sights on the forge entrance. No doubt they would need help with repairs and such.

Just as he started walking away, though, the Kans he had busted began violently exploding. Omega paid it no mind. Most of the debris wouldn’t be able to harm him anyway, and even if one of the saws had launched his way it was worth the risk to look like a badass and not look at the explosions.

@Lucius Cypher@Mega Birb

“Those words are a bit corny coming from you, don’t you think?” Bastion said to the walking skeleton in drab garments. Even so, his words would do well in halting the forces of Heaven from fighting further and soon, even the Machina would stand down as well in what was to be a temporary truce. Only the Demons seemed to be either hesitant or insistent in their fighting, though Bastion suspected Suparna would take care of that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the words of her former friend, Bastion turning to meet Diana even as the dragon refused to. Perhaps there was the spark of something that moved her in her chest, but war was war. It was a shame Diana was on the opposition, but such was life and the fate of all who resided within the Nexus. Conflict was all everyone ever knew.

“Spare me your words Diana. I expect nothing but opposition when meeting you on the battlefield. Don’t hesitate to kill me and I won’t hesitate to kill you,” she said blankly, a surge of apathy in the grip of her voice. Such was the case in how she blatantly ignored Suparna as well, giving her only a flick of a glare before turning to more important matters, such as collecting her probes; each of which had collected a good amount of the resources stolen from Ruthria.

Then Diana began to halt the shaking of the mountain and Bastion turned to move out with the remainder of her STLTH Units. As promised, two would stay behind for Suparna to do what she pleased; yet just before she took off, she was halted by Diana’s parting words. The human stared at the dragon, confused on how cheery Diana could still be towards her…whatever. Matters of the heart weren’t something to worry about for now.

“Yeah, bye,” she said and then looking at Torag. “I wouldn’t trust the demon if I were you. No telling what she could do for sabotage with those slimy maggots,” she warned before zipping off back the way she came. By the time she had exited Alt Signia, the shaking had ceased. This battle was over and to ensure it, Bastion raised her communicator up.

“Hibiki, Shizuka, retreat for now. I have a good amount of the resources from the Forge. Round up any Machina near you so we can head back home,” were her parting words. She then tried contacting the two STLTH Units above ground who were dueling Flos and Omega respectively. But for some reason none of them were responding, a cause for concern. Little did she know that the both had been bisected and had gone offline. Dead. Unseen by anyone now that their attention was directed towards retreating, the portal of darkness that had manifested beside each broken STLTH Unit dispersed from sight.