There was no time to lose. After getting somewhere safe, both Retsu and Asahi had logged into DGO. They both more or less had a general idea of what was going on around the Ebony Strykers by the time they were in, and they both were going to rally some players to attack. That's when they both met up at the entrance of the Ebony Stryker guild hall. Arms Slave was a bit surprised to see Dark Wraith, knowing that she's supposedly the second to Moon Rider. Dark Wraith herself cared very little about Arms Slave usually, but this time around she was going to have to make use of him. If he's going to be a loudmouth and keep doing things on his own, then Dark Wraith will at least point him in the direction of things that need to be dealt with.

"D-Dark Wraith? Surprised to see you here. The festival didn't really pan out as I had hoped."

"Shut up about that. It doesn't matter anymore. Take your forces and head to the Scarlet Harley's and stop the Fanged Rangers there."

This surprised Arms Slave. He had planned to go to the aid of the Cobalt Bruisers. "What? What about the Cobalt Bruisers? They need our help!"

"I'm heading over there with my own force. The Scarlet Harleys are still neutral in this war. Go to their aid and help them with the Fanged Rangers to earn some trust. I know you have something personal against the Ivory Masks, and that's why they want you to go over there. You're going to do something stupid." Those words stung Arms Slave and he nearly lashed out, but Dark Wraith pointed a finger at him as it she knew what he was going to do. "Exactly as you're about to do right now. There isn't time for arguing. If you leave now, you may be able to arrive before the Scarlet Harley sustain too much damage. The Ivory Mask hasn't sent their full force at the Cobalt Bruisers, otherwise it'd be too late for us. But who knows who else is coming, so I'm leaving now. You'd best do the same."

Arms Slave had a lot of mixed feelings about being bossed around like this. Sure, Dark Wraith was suppose to be Moon Rider's lieutenant or something, but she hasn't exactly proven to be useful. Then again neither has Arms Slave. But she was right: There was no time to argue. Arms Slave had to hold back his spite for now and focus on the task at hand. "Fine then. Ah, what a shit show this is... Well, good luck out there Dark Wraith. Don't get yourself killed now." Arms Slave headed into the Ebony Stryker guild hall as Dark Wraith made her way towards the city gates. She had already assembled a small contingent of tanks for the purpose of flanking the Ivory Mask encampment. What was important wasn't defeating anyone in particular, but breaking the siege. Assuming that the Cobalt Bruisers haven't already lost, Dark Wraith knew they'd get there fast.

All of those present were Sweepers still with Dark Wraith. They were few, but they were the only ones she trust. They were both loyal and disposable. And more importantly, there was enough of them to man the tanks as they left the Black City and blazed across the Faded City. Outside of the combat zone, Dark Wraith altered the speed of the tanks subtly, allowing them to move far faster than they normally should. It was an "upgrade" that the Ebony Strykers put in, that is to say, something that Dark Wraith just added shortly before the tanks were activated. Normally something people would have to pay time and EXP to add, which Dark Wraith just gave because she has no time to work with sub-standard equipment.

As for Arms Slave he rallied everyone within the Guild Hall, taking into account what tanks they had available, including Arms Slave's own. He sent a message through everyone in the guild so they could catch up to him, since they weren't going to wait for anyone. "Alright everyone, no time for a long briefing. Gather up as many people as you can, load up into tanks, and follow me! We're heading to the Scarlet Harley's and taking out Verdent Grin!" Rushing to the bottom of the Guild Hall, Arms Slave arrived to his personal vehicle: A huge flat-bed truck of sorts, with no viable cannons but big wheels and a thick shell. It was a tank in name only: it could certainly take a beating by lacked any direct means to do harm aside from crashing into things. But there was one trick it had and he would make the most out of it. He climbed into the cockpit which has been specially designed to only be operable by him, since it needs for arms to use correctly. Anyone else would need to be highly coordinated or stack two people in the seat who are also highly coordinated.

"Here we go! Arms Slave out!"

@Mega Birb@RoflsMazoy@Jedly@Lonewolf685@TheWindel@KoL

---

While moving to his ironically defensive position lower on the golem’s back, a singularity opened up between Nyx and Verdant Grin and pulled them both in, along with whatever caltrops hadn’t settled yet. As such, the two enemies were caught floating in grappling range of each other with sharp spikes flying in every direction, a true recipe for disaster. Both fighters were now slowly being bled to death thanks to the combination of abilities, and this would likely come down to whoever could rip attacks off quicker.

“You’re a real fucking jerk, you know that,” muttered Verdant Grin, kicking at the Red player while in midair. Had the idiot had some basic knowledge of his abilities, he’d realize that Minion Gate would spare him from all of the damage taken, Nyx’s precious bullets wasted on some half-ass, low level demon Grin had chosen at random on the field. But whatever. At least he would pay for it in full now that the Green King was kicking Nyx’s face in.

For all the flailing Verdant had made in the last few seconds, two of the kicks connected well with the assassin that had made an attempt on his life. The first got him in the stomach and the second in the face, damage reduced thanks to the mask that covered his face. ”Alright buddy, you could’ve laid down and died, but we can do this the hard way.” He decided to make use of the temporary lack of gravity by giving the Green King a swift kick across the face, hoping to both stun him and catch him at least slightly off guard. Who knows, maybe that level disadvantage would end up playing out in Nyx’s favor.

Oh, the kick connected alright. But perhaps not in the way Nyx may have wanted, Grin slamming his face forward while his hand snapped around his ankle. With a manic smile befitting his name, he unlatched the knife that served as his weapon before moving to stab at his leg. But of course, there was this annoying black hole thing that kept them in the air. No doubt it had some use besides pulling enemies in…

Figuring that, Verdant Grin stabbed, stabbed, and stabbed, all the while shoving Nyx’s body closer to the epicenter of the storm. “If I’m going to get my ass melted off, you’re going to at least get a leg into it well buddy,” the Green King snarled, already thinking two steps ahead.

”Oh shit…” Right when that kick connected, Nyx regretted it immediately. And now his leg was being stabbed into repeatedly and he was being pushed closer to the center of the singularity. His vision was slowly growing more red with the loss of health at each shank, though he was more than prepared to break a few eggs, so to speak. With the action he had in that moment, he decided to break physics for a moment and swing himself around, throwing the King closer to the epicenter of the oncoming explosion.

“Oh fuck you-”

Grin’s words were drowned out by the sound of the explosion taking hold, encompassing both Players in a miniature wave of white. Once sight and sound settled, the battlefield that was the Red Guild’s territory had a noticeable crater in the middle of it. And one would think that both Avatars would have been damaged by the attack. One would think…

“You son of a bitch,” Grin snarled, lunging at wherever Nyx had fallen to with knife in motion, hands moving like a possessed demon to slice the Red Player apart. If Nyx would notice, he’d see that in the middle of the crater was a fading demon, erased from the game and destroyed. “Ahah, you thought you’d be the hero and take on a King, did you? That’s fine. Makes it better for me to turn your skin into cow leather!”

That explosion hurt, absolutely destroyed the assassin’s health bar. It would’ve taken a butterfly to land on him to finish the job were it for Euphoria ticking and restoring a small amount of his health to give him slight viability for the next few seconds. Out of left field came Verdant once again, swinging wildly with what looked like a dull knife. ”Oh for the love of… we get it, you hate everyone.” For as monotonous as he sounded in the face of slow butter-knife death, he jumped up into action with knife in hand and met one of the blows, locking crossguards with the superior foe. ”Long as you keep swapping with minions, I stay alive. So you might as well puss out now.” To capitalize on his point, he gave Verdant a swift headbutt.

While the headbutt connected, taking a dent out of Grin’s health, his tenacity didn’t. By tanking the blows head on, his momentum never stopped and he sliced a clean cut from the other Player. “Check my health dipshit,” he said, having used Vampiric Fang to drain some of Nyx’s health and replenish his own; hopefully enough to end this loser.

And, in his most desperate moment, Nyx vanished from sight. With a grand total of 1% of his health left and the caltrops finally wearing off, it was time to retreat from direct combat with the Green King to fight another day in a more isolated corner of the city. However, he did give Verdant a parting message. ”I’ll have a friend come and visit you in a few. Her name’s Lodestar, you might know her.” For all intents and purposes, Nyx had taken that loss, but he still had all the XP to his name he walked in with. Not a total loss.

The tight grip of Michaels hand on her own made her heart flutter when he quickly ran, the two of their hands clasped, to the ports in the school. The sensation of knowing that she was beside him now, despite the odds of the situation, was something extraordinary. Making it there with the weight in her stomach that he was in danger, it was on impulse that before going into their ports, Erika tugged on his hand and pressed a chaste, but meaningful, kiss against his lips. Then she pushed him away, breathless, blushing, and hurrying to hook up to the ports. Erika felt, deeply, that she wished she had the right words to say. In the end, she said all she could at that moment in time.

"Be safe."

---

A deep, honey laden voiced exhale stemmed from his lips and his eyes fluttered open. His arms slowly uncurled themselves, opening up wide with a flourish--and a stretch. The Red King's domain, so this is what it looked like. Azga had spawned on the top one of the broken columns inside of it, near the entrance above the thick of the battle. His arms crossed, his unglassed-eyes narrowing. Where was the Red King?

Looking up, he caught the final moments of the Green King having his ass somewhat handed to him, and he reciprocating it right back. Honestly, it was Azga's own fault he didn't keep up with the in-game politics and honestly had only a sliver of an idea of what was going on and who belonged to what guild. As his personal blue and white jewelry rung out in the wind, he decided it would be best to make himself useful. No doubt Azga's boyfriend would be logging in at any moment.

His staff spun in a small circle, a white glowing orb, small, forming within it. A force-field spell. Azga tilted his hand into it, murmuring.

"Crimson Streak."

Like that, the orb shot shimmered away, undoubtedly reappearing before Crimson Streak whenever he came into the game to grant him a one-time use force field for magical attacks. It was the best Azga could do for now, until being able to meet up with him in-avatar, he'd be able to protect him then.

No matter from whatever angle one observed the scenario, Rocket Lancer was in quite a predicament. While he had succeeded in dispatching two adversaries, an equal amount remained in their steed. Just to add insult to injury the duo were rangers. They currently held on tight to the leverage in the encounter, with their weapons trained on either flank the Stryker could take. They had all of the cards in their hands, and weren't to keen on dealing any to the flyboy. Though the odds would soon tip- very starkly at that.

A faint rumbling encroached upon the street corner and gradually intensified. Pebbles and debris danced at the rangers' feet, the two now lost at the crossroads between maintaining their aim or investigating the source of the noise. One of them was about to set off to perform the latter task, yet the process suddenly became expedited. Unfortunately for them, it was not of their own accord. A hunk of reinforced armored and bonafide democracy nonchalantly entered the scene after it rounded a street corner, as if it was on just the usual casual morning stroll. The tank came to an abrupt halt and traversed its turret, which lead to a stare down with 150 millimeters of pure regret. The players didn't even have enough time to shit their britches before the vehicle's coaxial HMG opened up on them. Their models jerked and burst into plumes of ones and zeroes as limbs were blown off by rounds intended for anti-materiel utilization. The engagement came to a quick close, with technology as the omnipotent victor.

Smoke rose from the heated metal once the bullets stopped flying. Distant engagements and cheers of the enemy's retreat echoed through the maze of skyscrapers which had once again become caked in conflict. Though the Black Kingdom would surely be smeared with bloodshed in the near future. The hatch of one of the tank's cupolas flung open, instantly shattering the silence. Metal that was in real need of some lubrication screeched and clanked against the roof of the turret. First an embroidered staff flew from its interior, followed by a petite redhead. She picked herself out of the vehicle and slid down its angled front, somewhat relieved to finally have her feet on solid asphalt. The girl straightened out her vermilion locks and fixed the meager bastion of cover with a piercing stare, "The coast is clear, Lancer. Now come on, we're convening at the Guild Hall. If you don't get a move on, Shiro's pet flying lizard... snake... whatever the hell it is will be our only air support. I'm sure that's the last thing you'd want hurting your pride." Strawberry Baby kept her gaze on the dilapidated facade of concrete, her patience quickly dwindling.
@RoflsMazoy (If you had something in mind for those two, I can edit.)

---

Was there really a God? The query's solidity has been time and time again by a certain philosopher whose works Shiro recently took a liking to, thanks to an unexpected individual. While Nihilism didn't exactly mesh with his happy-go-lucky demeanor, he was able to tune with a concept or two. These series of events almost had him rushing into town like Nietzche's Madman and declaring that humanity held the dagger dripping with God's blood. At least that's how he would feel if the shitshow really got out of whack. For now such quandaries had to be cast aside. There was a war to fight.

In addition to the outfit of tanks, the Strykers still had a number of War Machines in their arsenal. Though instead of burning rubber without a care as a fleet of expeditious speeders, the more agile vehicles were leashed by the five heavy-hitters which would be punching through the Rangers' lines. Due to this contingency the War Machines could only scout so far, otherwise they risk being cut off from the pack. They'd really come in handy within the denser parts of town, which their tentative route seemed to be chock full of. Paper Moon whistled at the breadth expanse of land between them and the Scarlet Harleys. He minimized the heads-up display when the War Machine's suspension was compressed. With his arms still thrown behind his head, Moon looked back from the driver seat and flickered up to White Noise's gaze. The rims of her pink irises remained stagnant and gave no sign of angst or camaraderie. She wordlessly took his seat, followed by her escorts from earlier. Frankly, the rogue expected the girl to remain on city defense, since this wasn't really her fight. By finally cashing in a favor, he had hired a qualified individual to manage the production of vehicles and occasionally lend a hand to training. Just like her expression, she hid her motive and many other things behind that mask. All the boy had to go off of was an unenthused kssh.

Paper Moon perked up at the sight of a necromancer lingering among the echelons of Strykers. He instantly rose from his seat and waved the player over, "Oi, Spoopy Regal, over here! C'mon, we've still got a seat with your bum's name on it!" A few emaciated brain cells later, the Sweeper- former Sweeper brought the APC's engine to life. A number of vehicles followed suit, creating a cacophony of determination.

@Mega Birb@Lucius Cypher

Rocket Lancer would be replying but 1. He was hoovering up the EXP crystals the Ivory Mask players had dropped, and 2. He didn't know who the hell she was. She came in; stole his kills, and acted all annoyed like she'd had to help him. And it wasn't even like he'd gotten an advance notice of their supposed group meeting. As far as he was concerned; if he didn't get any direct orders for it, he didn't need to give a shit.

"I didn't need your help bitch!" He said, mounting his lance for takeoff. The longer he waited, the more his precious EXP points would disappear over the horizon. As much as he hated admitting it, even though he was exactly the person who wouldn't let the horizon stop him from slaughtering fools there were people on the other side that would be able to kick his ass into next week if he wasn't careful enough. That's why he needed to get them while he could.

"Just for the record, the only thing I take pride in is my Spaghetti. Bolognese, Alfredo, Carbonara. You name any sauce, and I guarantee you that I'll make the best." He fired up his rocket booster and started lifting off the ground. "Oh yeah, and if Paper Moon was the one that called the meeting, tell him to go fuck himself."

---

@Jedly (Not sure what you meant about having something else in mind. It's still something I guess?)

---

From his high point above the battlements, it was plain to see that the ferocious bout between king and usurper ended as swiftly as it began, though with a disappointing lack of casualities in Warped's opinion. That there was a sizable chunk missing from the top of the wall really couldn't serve as consolation when the detonation of his Singularity didn't even have shrapnel left to rain on the defenders still atop it. 

"I suppose you really can only expect to get out what one puts into an endeavor." He remarked off the cuff, eyes momentarilly considering the grounds below  for an sign of the wounded Nyx to finish off, but it become clear his skills where better suited for fleeing then regicide. In the midst of this fruitless search he caught sight of a flicker of crimson energy darting across the city scape, a spell aimed for targets unknown nor cared for in the eyes of the mischevious mage. "Now where did that come from?"

Without a word he opened a portal before him and stepped out farther into the city, atop nearest high rise looking down upon the spell's origin. What waited before him had all the hall marks of a spell caster, staff still beared from the casting seconds prior. "By Jove, i think I see a Healer! And here i thought they were as extinct as the dinosaurs!"

"Hmn~?" A nearby voice had Azga lifting his head to find its origin. An avatar with a striking blue and white color scheme, for all intents and purposes appearing to be a spellcaster themselves, rested atop the next column over not far off. The displayed avatar name bore his alignment; Ivory Masks. An enemy to Crimson Streak. 

Now that's a shame.

Azga thoughtfully rubbed at his chin, tilting his head up to the mage.

"I agree. It's not exactly the most useful class afterall. What can I say?" Azga shrugged his shoulders, his hands outward as his blonde lockes fluttered in the well timed, dramatic breeze. Beneath them both, the sounds of a war while up here it was eerily silent with only the wind to carry their speech. 

"I suppose it takes a certain amount more skill and style to be able to level up this way than the average avatar class, wouldn't you say?" He ended his statement with a wink, perhaps with an air of flirtaciousness to it. His deep throated laugh echoed around them before he dropped his hands, one hand on his waist and the other resting his staff against his shoulder.

"Azga the Amazing. A pleasure."

"Oh there wasn't a doubt in my mind. Truly, Deep Ground is a better place with those like yourself waiting in the wings." Warped praised through a broad smile, struggling vainly to not double over with delight. The simple pleasure of banter between showmen was not often found among the sea of racers, tankers, and beligerent pugilists who would be hard pressed to form a retort not pertaining to vulgarity or one's mother. "On behalf of the Ivory Masks, Warped Reality. Charmed to greet you."

"Though talking over such distance is a mite inconvienent. How about you step on up here for a proper confrontation?" His staff swung about and aimed down to the ground beneath Azga the Amazing's feet, opening a portal just as he had with the Green King. As though swinging a blade, Warped carved his staff upwards towards the heavens and created the exist fifty feet above. "I do hope you can stick the landing."

Azga hadn't been expecting Warped Reality's portal abilities, and so fell through at first with much surprised. As he free fell, he righted himself, his white robes dancing around him in the wind as his legs crossed midair, his blonde hair also trailing upward with the sky. The bitter wind as he fell made him tear up, only slightly as he considered something. 

"You want me to get closer to you then...? Heh..." 

Azga couldn't stop the wide grin from forming on his face, chuckling. 

"Sorry, I'm not that easy." He swung his staff up into the sky with two hands, the likes of which fell limp into a strong, long chain with a hook at the end that snaked down and wrapped itself around the column which Reality stood upon as he fell into its range, the chain retracting quickly and pulling him to his location. His feet hit the sides of the column and he ran up along it vertically, a spell forming in his free hand. "You'll have to buy me dinner first~!" 
 
Coming to the top of the column, he lunged at Reality, a simple fireball in hand, outstretched for his body.

A dextrous healer? Not unheard of in the game's current paradigm, even if Healer were a rare breed in and of themselves. A healer hurling fireballs? Witch Doctors were a thing.

So Warped didn't find himself taken aback when Azga lived up to his title by surmounting the paltry challenge raised before him and went so far as to retaliate with a flare of his own. The flickering orb of baleful flame rushed up the column within the palm of Azga's hand, and as tempting as it was to shake the showman's hand, Warped would have to save that for another life. 

"Dinner is on me then, but for now, you'll have to settle for this meager offering." Azga's charge would be met with open air as the Ivory Mask tilted backwards and fell from the opposite side of the pillar. Plummeting in his inverted state, his staff remained pointed upwards and fell in line with the rising Healer. Utilizing his Twin Spells feat, Warped launch two bolts of Antimatter Cascade, firing the projectiles straigh into the piller seperating them to explode with tremendous force. The pillar lessened the blow, but the stone yielded and blew outwards in a chaotic gale of shrapnel. "Tuck in!"

"Huh?!" 

Azga's eyes widened as not only did his hand hit nothing as the opposing mage fell back--momentarily giving a sense of panic as he saw him fall on impulse, but also as the ground beneath his own feet shuddered and exploded outward with him still standing upon it. His fireball, not meeting its target, launched harmlessly up into the air and across the battlefield, crashing into the side of the walls and causing a few well placed bricks to tumble from their holding spot. Azga gave a grunt as he fell backward, the chain in his hand snapping back into shape in his hand as his staff whilst the top portion of the column fell. He inhaled the dust of the breaking stone, coughing ungracefully.

Well, that's no good.

With a scowl, Azga's feet found themselves on one of the falling pieces of shrapnel and pushed upward, moving from stone to stone in the thick fog of dust, his staff twirling in hand while his free one clenched over a ball of ice forming this time. He launched his hand over where he'd last seen Reality, intent to freeze him in place before his staff cracked with a flourish against the pillar itself as well, sending volts of lightning cascading around the stone while still partially free falling; rock beneath his feet the only thing keeping him from plummeting at this moment.

"Really now? Are Elementalists a class now?" Warped barked back in amusement, still falling like a white comet with the fringe of his coat fluttering madly above his inverted form. Timers where in his favor and it appeared his portal would be off cool down before. 

Not being disheartened from the rain of stone, ice, and electricity, Warped Reality unleashed his strongest ability to turn Azga's efforts upon himself, when a Singularity would open upon the stone he rode upon. It's gravitational pull tugged upon the debris, pulling it inwards towards the epicenter as though swirling around the eye of a whirlpool. 

This didn't mean much to icy projectile still in transit, the singularities pull unable to stop the arcane power. There wasn't the option to kick off the pillar when it would have shocked him, so ultimately Warped decided to accept a bit of fall damage in order to be a cheeky bastard.

"As much as i appreciate these gifts of yours, i simply can not accept your generosity." Burning the portal just as it comes off cooldown, the first was opened behind Azga while the second came to form directly in the path of the icy missle, looping it back on its caster. As enjoyable as this was, Rufus was left with little time to right himself and hit the ground, bones creaking as his health bar was nearly halved from the fall. 

The next few moments for Azga were absolute hell. Not only did the impossible amount of electrified stone all swarm into him at once, implode against him and take down half his health bar, but the sound of a portal opening behind him registered the fact that it wasn't over. The ice crashed into his lower back, curling around him and dealing a slow chip at his health bar. One fourth left. He felt winded.

He had enough sense, free falling with his head toward the ground, to save himself from the fall damage. His hand flung out and the vision of wings spreading from his back glittered, righted himself to ease the last of the fall while his body swooped down. He landed in a crouch, the temporary wings fading away, feathers fluttering up into the air and disappearing like embers. His blue eyes found Reality's, his chest heaving slightly and a smirk on his face.

"Awh, after all the work I put into them? You heartbreaker, you." 

Azga stood with a grunt, eyes glimmering as he raised his staff in front of him, letting it hover and spin in midair. A white aura surrounded Azga.

His health bar dialed up to full very quickly.

Then he grabbed his staff, running his fingers through his own hair with a sigh of relief, as one might give when stepping out of the shower. 

"Well, since you don't seem to be the type for a typical bout of roses and candies anyway..." The blonde avatar lifted his fingers to his lips, kissing them as one might do after a superb meal, or marking something as exquisite. Reality was slippery, but there were certainly a few things even a synergized avatar could not run from. "How about a curse?"

The snap of his fingers were distinct and clear even amidst the chaos that had seemed to pool around them. A status ailment; Curse, appearing on Reality's status screens. Curse is known for chipping away at health fairly quickly, as well as imparting bad luck onto the afflicted player. 

"Honestly, Reality, it's been fun, but there's someone I need to find. Hate to kiss and run, but, you know how fast the world of show business is~" 

Azga pressed his fingers to his lips, his blue jewelry chiming in the wind. He wasn't going to turn his back on Warped Reality yet, however. He felt it would actually be, quite rude, to simply dip out now.

Having exhausted his bag of tricks, and really having no such counter to immaterial attacks such as Azga's curse, it was no wonder that the Ivory Mask found his Health Bar steadily on the decline while his feet reacquanted themselves with solid ground. 

"Oh you wound me. Quite literally, in this case." He said with a wince, rapidly coming to the conclusion he may have bitten off more then he could chew when Azga seemed to have the monopoly on abilities from Rogue to Mage. "Still...it would be rather improper to just let you go without a parting spectacle. Sadly I've run a bit dry on the fantastical, and I appear to only have time for the bombastic!"

Forsaking evasion and defense while the doomsday clock rapidly drew towards 12, he opted for leveling his staff on the unalligned player and unleashing  his Antimatter Cascade two at a time, hoping the 1 action cool down and the volume of Twin Spell would trump Azga with brute force. 

"I really would rather you survive here. Falling to this feels a little lacking, but what can i say, I have to go down swinging. "

Azga moved to react as soon as he saw Reality's staff raised, but was too slow in raising his force field against the first strike, the second being hit and exploding over the white barrier. Azga gasped, falling back with a significant amount of health down, his heels digging into the dirt and pushing back immediately. The second hit imploded over the barrier, the taste of rust in his mouth, Azga lunged forward after the second spell was cast. The light over his shoulder glitched out, an armored shoulder pad forming and his staff also glitching into a broadsword. 

The defenses of the mage down, Azga's former staff impaled through the wilting avatar he'd been going up against, panting heavilly. It would be the last needed bit of damage to get the mage down, he was certain of that. Being in such close proximity to the player he'd been fighting, his lips slowly leaned closer to Reality's ear. 

"Hey," A smile on his lips. "Gg."

"Gg." Warped Reality said, fate sealed on the end of a sword. Considering the profligation of vehicles and artillery, it was a far better end then most could expect to find during the present conflict. Gaze rising to Azga's name above his head, it took only a moment to send a friend request to the surprisingly unalligned player. "See you around, Azga."

And with a shattering of glass and burst of partical effect, Warped Reality departed with only a pile of EXP crystals left in his place.

Azga the Amazing stared down at the particles, breathless, then shifted his attention over to his status screen.

Friend request accepted. 

He smiled, then sighed, kneeling down and collecting the EXP crystals.  He leaned against the side of the column when his task was complete, healing himself again, and opened up a new message.

To: Warped Reality
From: Azga the Amazing
Subject: GG

Lunch tomorrow? I'm buying.

-Azga

Azga sent off his message, a slight chuckle at the edge of his tone. Then he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Enough fooling around, time to find Crimson Streak. With a huff, he generated temporary wings again to lift him up to the column then shift, phasing to different columns and peering at the ground to keep an eye open for the Red King. 

“Assassination.”

With but a single word whispered in the dark, a knife was pushed in the helpless avatar’s back, a small hand-- was it a girl?-- covered the young boy’s mouth. Thinking was hard, thoughts coming far in between each other as the blood ebbed from his, poison took the place of the displaced crimson fluid, burning his veins, bursting his heart, frying his brain. Death came shortly after, painful and silent as the serrated blade was twisted and pulled back, crushing bone and rending flesh, leaving a gash no heal could patch.

Soon it was over, the young boy whose right to cry even for his last breath was no more. In his place stood a small pile of EXP Crystals which were quickly fetched by his executioner.

“All’s clear.” Dusk Razor said drily to her allies over their party’s channel.

“You sure are a scary person, y’know?” Argent Maiden commented as she got out of the tunnel, followed by a Level 02 Warrior, leaving Thunder Knight and Level 03 Sniper behind to guard their exit.

“I think that a Berserker Healer is even more fearsome.” Razor snarked back, referring to Maiden’s infamy for enjoying to do her job directly from the frontlines, instead of hiding behind meat shields.

“I’m not a-” Maiden dropped the issue as she began speaking, when the group noticed a duo of Bruisers running on the walls just above their head. “You know what, let’s do this and get away from here. I can show you who’s the Berserker Healer after we are back to our base.” Maiden twirled her staff, dropping into a combat stance just as their Tank took the spearhead of their formation.

“And then you say you are not one…” Dusk Razor deadpanned, disappearing from sight as she activated her stealth ability once more.



“So, you accept our terms without even trying to negotiate?” It was hard to discern if the expression on Eclipse Princess’ face was one of bafflement or dejection, most likely a mix of both. Not only her chance to engage in a fight was cut sabotaged by her own hands, also she had to find a way to deal with Broker of Fortune that honored the words from before.

“Ahem,” the Berserker straightened her posture before continuing, “very well then. If that’s your choice, abandon your current legion and accept this invitation to join our ranks. Once you have done so, join the left flank, that’s where we have taken the most losses, your machine’s help will be appreciated and rewarded. I’ll have Mint be the escort you requested.” Eris wasn’t stupid, of course she wasn’t going to send Broker to the back of the main forces, putting her on a tight spot would be the best way to test rogue’s newly acquired alliances.

“Talking about this… Mint, you can come over here I’ll have you look for the safety of our newest recruit.” Princess turned to the convenience store, in time to get an alarming reply from Icy Mint. Someone had snuck behind them and was trying to attack the Sorceress even now. Not that it would be easy, mind you. “I’m coming to assist you! Get down here and leave the area with Broker of Fortune.” The dark night girl said before teleporting away.



A little time before that. Icy Mint wasn’t surprised by Stinging Butterfly’s charge, after all she was looking for potential counter ambushes from the very beginning. Unless a stealth able Rogue came by, it wasn’t like she was going to miss any incoming threats.

As soon as she was targeted and dashed by the unsubtle avatar, Mint’s first action was to call on Eclipse Princess’ support. “I cannot go there now, someone is attacking me. Let’s trade places, please.” As soon as she received the confirmation, Mint turned her full attention back to the fight. However, the moment of distraction left her with little to no time to dodge the first move from Stinging Butterfly.

With the little reaction time she had, Mint attempted a sidestep causing the rapier to hit her in the shoulder, for a far less damaging attack. Not that a single hit from Butterfly was going to do much damage in first place, judging from his looks.

Either way, Mint used the time she had before Princess arrived and performed another action. This time she took another step back, focusing her mind as she channeled the arcane power to cast a spell. “Minty Ballad!” the Sorceress called on her magic, summoning the Spirits of Winter to freeze all close to her, naturally hitting Stinging Butterfly, dealing some small damage and encasing him in a block of stiff frozen ice.

“Here I come! Mint, get away!” A yell from above was the only warning that Princess would give and the only one that Mint needed, to know that she should use the rest of her movement to run the hell away from the incoming attack and rendezvous with Broker, leaving the rest of the fight for Princess as the two of them evaded this area on the tank.



A moment later the ceiling of the crumbling building would be completely destroyed as Eclipse Princess fell from the skies, like a bolt from the Gods, impaling Stinging Butterfly’s icy skiff with extreme prejudice and power, very likely inflicting some serious damage thanks to both her Icarus Attack and Mint’s spell.

“Do you want to be a true warrior and fight me, or your braveness is only enough to attack a lone Mage? Come and face me!” The Dark Knight yelled as a smile began to creep on her face, spinning her body as she attempted to kick some large chunks of debris on her quarry. Yeah, that was going to be a good appetizer which Eris would be sure to savor to its fullest, until the main course presented itself.



Away from there, Warhawk would find that her tactic was likely going to be fooled by a mere strike of misfortune as Edel Faust bent down, holding her skirt against a sudden gust of wind. After all, she wasn’t all too willing to flash her avatar’s underwear to the pilot of a certain 40ft tall, bipedal war machine that was behind the building and came into the jumping avatar’s view as Warhawk reached the apex of her jump’s arc.

Much more worrying was the auto-cannon that opened fire as soon as the enemy threat became apparent, unleashing a salvo of armor piercing, incendiary rounds against the leaping Berserker. If Warhawk couldn’t avoid it, things would get grin to her, especially now that Faust noticed the attack too and was ready to fight, after Warhawk was away from the mech’s lino of sight, already summoning four Astral Spirits to flank herself in a defensive formation… if Hawk survived, that is.



It looked like the tide of war was finally going to change with the ingress of the Ebony Strykers into the fray. After all, the gathering of misfits and irregulars that became expressively popular over the past month, threatening to break the years long hegemony of the Ivory Masks over the world of Deep Ground Online and forever break the balance of power in the virtual world was indeed a force to be reckoned.

The armored vehicles lent by their allies, the Cobalt Bruisers, as well as their war machines and generally superior numbers would turn the White/Green Alliance's advantage and save the day, right?

… just no.



The first proof of that was going to hit Rocket Lancer last and hard as he sailed through the skies. It came in the form of a hail of white-hot metal shot at high velocities from the muzzle of a Gatling cannon mounted on the underside of a camouflaged, heavily armed and armoured attack helicopter, one of the combat vehicles belonging to the Fanged Rangers. The thundering beast of steel rose from between the crumbling buildings of the Faded City, unleashing aerial death on those who dared give chase to the ‘fleeing’ troops, just like Lancer did.

Another one of the same kind of helicopter was laying in wait inside an old warehouse, on the vicinity of the Blue City, waiting the order to attack.

In a similar manner, the tank currently occupied by Strawberry Baby would see itself in a dire predicament as a mech came screeching its feet across the dilapidated tarmac of the Faded City’s street, using fast movement wheels, while unloading suppressive fire from a shoulder mounted rocket launcher. The pilot’s intent was evident as he heaved the machine’s left arm, equipped with a heavy pile bunker, aimed at the tank, if the attack connected, the battle would be over before it even began. If not, there was always other tactics to consider, given that mechs could run literal circles around tanks any day of the week.

No one would be hit harder than the war machines that were about to make it to the actual war front of the Scarlet Harley’s siege, including Arms’s Slave personal vehicle as the thundering sound of the engines of a heavy aircraft roared into the battle zone. Six thousand feet above their heads, the source of the noise came into view as it aligned its arsenal of heavy arms at the Ebony Stryker forces. Nothing less than a heavy gunship, unleashing first a salvo of its twin 25mm Gatling cannons opening a gash at the ground as it exterminated a few of the loose war machines which were a tad too grouped.

Next was the 105mm howitzer, aimed to intercept Arms Slave’s path by shooting down the buildings around him. After all, instead of trying to hit the semi agile machine, it was much easier to just drop a literal building on it, with a gun that could fire at targets a few kilometers away with near zero error, that wasn’t going to be hard, if they didn’t found a way to defend themselves.

---

* Undisclosing this right away, there's a 3rd mech, but its location is not revealed at the moment.

Finn's phone rang. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, only this time he was in a rather odd situation.
"Can you just... Let me just..." Finn said, adjusting his grip so that one of his arms was wrapped securely around his torso.
He fished his phone out of the pockets as the ringtone silenced itself. He scanned the message and he swore loudly.
"Thomas!" Finn said.
"What?" The black haired boy replied, already looking at him.
"Blue guild distress call! We're being raided!" He exclaimed.
That would explain the commotion outside. It was highly likely that the guild war had begun, white vs black, which meant their respective allies were also under the crosshairs, the blue and green guilds. It would be a theoretically even fight, although the odds would be slightly stacked against green considering their numbers were mainly newbies, but there was a reason they hadn't been steamrolled despite their odds and they were a formidable force regardless. No need to think about the white guild, they were powerhouses. The blue guild wouldn't lose out, but only if their king was there to command them. And right now, she wasn't.

Thomas sighed and came to a decision.
"Go, Finn." Thomas said.
"You don't need to tell me twice!" He said, quickly releasing Alex. "Take care of my body, Tommy!"
With that, Finn unceremoniously slumped onto a nearby wall as he dove into deep ground. Thomas clicked his tongue and shifted it into a slightly more comfortable position next to the practically comatose king. Thomas sighed once again; it seemed his workload had increased. He decided to study the blue king's prone form, poking her in the cheek. He tried listening for any signs of activity, or even life. He was sure she wasn't dying or anything... Actually, he wasn't. He didn't have any idea what was going on.
"You, Alex." Thomas said, turning to the boy. "I don't know you very well, but I'm going to have to trust you."
The boy was the only lead there was right now, and Thomas didn't have the resources to play this how he liked. He didn't quite know Alex that much but he was close enough to Maribel to be somewhat trustworthy.
"Right now we need to get the blue king to wake up and be normal." He said. "If we don't, it's highly likely that there won't be a blue guild to be king of any more."

@McFazzer@TheWindel

---

A white guild warrior with two swords chased a hapless blue guild rogue with no ammo. A classic scenario. The rogue sprinted around a corner in abject terror. The warrior followed closely behind, only to be brought to a screeching halt due to a liberal application of metal knuckles onto his face. The white warrior glanced around as best he could to find the owner of the fist that obstructed his stampede, seeing a figure shrouded by shadows.
"Don't you think that's a little... stupid?" The figure said.
The arm behind the fist tensed and the figure's hand began emitting a harsh blue light, illuminating the figure's single eye.
"Chasing an enemy through their own territory..." Blue Nova said. "Just who the hell do you think we are!?"
The Blue Nova burst into action as his nova burst exploded out, sending his fist straight through the warrior's head. The body collapsed and disappeared into exp crystals as the Blue Nova stepped forward, cracking his neck.
"People have no respect these days." Blue Nova muttered.

Behind him the rogue picked up the dropped exp and ran off, probably towards the citadel to get healed up and restock on ammo. Finn didn't really care about the exp so he let him go and stepped forward towards the frontline.
Who's in charge around here? Bel's out cold, so it's probably Absynthe. Finn thought.
He shuddered at that. There wasn't anything really wrong with the girl, it's just she wasn't exactly an ideal leader. And she was pretty new, he was worried about whether she'd gotten used to it yet.

An explosion snapped Nova out of his musings and Finn remembered who he was and what he needed to do. He'd leave the thinking for Thomas, or Absynthe, or whoever it was that needed to think. He was Blue Nova, and he was here to fight.

Blue Nova quickly jumped up to the top of a nearby wall to survey the carnage.
"Hoo boy. This is way worse than I thought it was." He said out loud.
It would get worse if Bel didn't come back but no use worrying about that. Thomas would do something. He took a deep breath and declared his presence to the enemies nearby.
"Hey, losers, don't you have something better to do than bully my guildmates!?" He yelled. "You better be ready for the consequences, I aint stoppin till you drop!"
With that the Blue Nova jumped into the fray, fists ready to pound some dudes into the ground.

@KoL and anyone who's blue side right now

At the order of Arms Slave, Phantom Regality clambered into one of the nearby tanks. Rather, he would, were it not for the sound of Noah Webster rolling in his grave by a brand new APC. He looked up to find Paper Moon calling him over and groaned, climbing down from the lid of the tank, giving it a kick closed. "You could've just invited me on normally, y'know. Also, what happened to that dragon you had?" He closed the distance between him and the carrier in a short moment, then climbed up the side and dropped into the top. Behind him he closed the lid and leaned on the ladder that went up to the main gun. "Gotta say, this is better than a tank. Now let's get going, we'll need the Harleys if we wanna kick some ass in this war." And so, he took his seat, ready to get moving to secure their next ally.

---

Warhawk's target was in sight, standing perfectly still, as if she wanted to get destroyed in a single hit. And then misfortune reared its ugly head as Edel Faust bend over to fix her skirt. As promised, the sound of broken ankles followed her impacted with the ground and a massive 50% of her health was shaven off just from the fall damage. This would surely get Faust's attention as the would-be assassin rolled a couple feet before stopping. "Ugh... and that mech's coming too, isn't it?" Her suspicion was confirmed as a hail of bullets basically outlined her, prompting her to roll into cover and discard shovel that would've branded Faust's right cheek. All she could hope for at the moment was that the mech didn't have rockets and that Faust would come around a blind corner into the lance she was forming at that moment.

The reality for Nies Hellum was that she had to find her way to Eclipse Princess, at least for the moment, to then get her bearings. There were many things that Nies Hellum knew in an instant. She knew that she was not strong, physically here. A healer, Nies wsa at her weakest alone. She knew that the chances of her getting to where she needed to be unsacthed were slim. And yet...Nies Hellum had come to believe in the slim chance. If she hadn't....she wouldn't be where she was. So Nies Hellum started to walk.

One thing she would never know was how she got to where she needed to go. She witnessed many things, and Nies Hellum rolled them all through her mind, and she wasn't sure what her view on it all was. Perhaps neither side was good in itself. Which just made what she should do all the harder, Holding her staff, Nies Hellum continued to walk, keeping to herself. She bowed her head, and sighed softly. Her staff going [i]tap, tap, tap[/o] as she walked along the ground. she let that sound reassure her, The young healer continued to walk, knowing that at any moment, she might be attacked by either side.

And she didn't care.
Finlly, she sighed knowing she needed to get to eclipse princess, Because whereever Eclipse was, Nies Hellum was sure that wouuld be where she would find answers, to the unanswered questions flowing through her mind like a constant storm now, weaving in and out of her consciousness.

Yet she had absolutely no ide how to find her.

Arms Slave didn't exactly wait for everyone to rally around him, knowing that time was of the essence. If the White and Green Guild were truly on the attack, then they'd strike hard and fast. He had no doubts that the defenses of the Black City could fend for itself, along with the rest of it's defenders. After taking so many attacks in short succession, much resources went into giving the Ebony Strykers the best defenses they could get, with the help of the Cobalt Bruisers of course. But you don't win wars sitting at home. Arms Slave poured most of his funds into his War Machine so that his guild had something to use when it's time for them to attack someone. Though he was a bit surprised about how soon he'd have to put it to work.

The first thing Arms Slave heard was the roar of Fanged Ranger war machines. Aircraft that moved swiftly and carried payloads you'd expect on tanks. Whether or not it was actually from those machines Arms Slave didn't know, but he did know that buildings were collapsing around him. He could guess their intentions: Not wanting to test the War Machine's durability they intended to crush him with buildings, or at least block their path. But Arms Slave was actually happy; of all the ways they could have stopped him they wanted to drop buildings onto him. Just goes to show that it was an Ivory Masks leading them; they couldn't do things by half. Arms Slave anticipated this course of action and went to work.

He increased the speed of the War Machine to blaze ahead towards the ruins. However he wasn't trying to outrun the falling buildings, quite the opposite. He was trying to get there just in time to catch each piece of rubble as it would have fallen on his War Machine. Thanks to his Readied Mind feat, Arms Slave was able to process different bits of information at once as time seemed to slow in his perspective. Very necessary since he had a lot he needed to do very quickly. First he needed to assess the location of his enemies. The War Machine was equipped with a powerful radar that could stretch to see the entire city. A city map on it's own may not be impressive, but when Arms Slave zooms into specific sectors he is in, he has much clearer view. He'd essentially get a live bird's eye view of whatever is happening in the sector he's in, allowing Arms Slave to find the Fanged Ranger aircraft and the howitzer firing on his position. But there was one slight issue; though he had a bird's eye view, he had no idea what the altitude of most of these aircraft were. he'd guess somewhere within the ballpark of 3000 feet. He was likely wrong, but he'd test it by the thousands.

Next was the special part. Pulling on various levers, buttons, and switches Arms Slave began to calibrate the War Machine's teleporter. In relatively "short ranges" Arms Slave didn't need to be too precise about where things are teleported. "3000 feet over here" he'd point out to the machine, and it would do the complicated equations to teleport whatever lands on the War Machine to where he wanted it to go. Hence why Arms Slave was trying to catch the rubble as it passed; every building that would land on top of him would suddenly find itself thousands of feet in the air, far away from Arms Slave and his War Machine, and dangerously close to the Fanged Ranger's air craft. Their clear faded skies suddenly started raining ruins. And Arms Slave wasn't trying to be precise either; he knew that even with Readied Mind he couldn't coordinate a drop directly onto the aircraft. So instead he had everything dropped in a massive around almost like an actual rain storm. Only instead of raindrops falling from the skies, it was bits of cement, rebar, glass, and whatever else was falling on him. Which at the speeds most of these aircraft were going, may as well be bullets. Arms Slave did much the same for the howitzer aimed in his direction, raining buildings upon the location as it made them fall on Arms Slave and his vehicle.

Grabbed the communicator in his cockpit Arms Slave shouted out to anyone in a Ebony Stryker vehicle, since he knew he couldn't yell over the sound of the chaos around him. "I'll clear us a way, keep an eye on those aircraft and follow close. We'll get out of the city soon enough and I'm providing covering fire. Anyone who wants to take on these things without armor support is on their own!"

@Mega Birb@RoflsMazoy@Jedly@KoL

---

"Halt. This is good enough." Dark Wraith and her two tanks came to a stop outside of the Cobalt Bruiser territory. They were still a long ways away from the city itself, and the fighting. A good place to observe, but not a place for tanks to be duking it out. Normally. Dark Wraith needed to gather whatever information she could as quickly as possible and figure out what needed to take priority. Broker may take offense once she finds out, but Dark Wraith took it upon herself to peek into the Cobalt Bruiser's surveillance and see what was happening in their city. A small drone came to live somewhere within the Cobalt Bruisers, and took to the skies to see what was going on.

Obviously the first thing it saw was Eclipse Princess making an entrance. Dark Wraith was assigned to deal with her, but that could really go both ways. Fighting her in DGO wouldn't be a good idea, and the easiest thing would be to just cut off Eris's connecting to DGO entirely. That's not even something unique to Retsu and she could contract a different Cleaner to do something as simple as that. Certainly, it would fit the Sweeper's underhanded tactics and be it's own way to match Eclipse Princess's overwhelming power. And Retsu did intend to do that sometime later today, but for now she had to pretend that this battle in DGO is more important. The drone moved on and spotted in the distance Broker of Fortune, oddly enough speaking to some players that Dark Wraith was able to identify as Ivory Masks. She couldn't hear what they were speaking about, but the Masks didn't seem to be prisoners. Were they negotiating? Betrayal? And if so, who was betraying whom? Dark Wraith was going to have to investigate this as well.

Keeping the drone high in the sky, as well as a few others in standby in case someone wises up, it was time for Dark Wraith to fight. She hasn't yet seen any of the Ivory Mask or Fanged Range war machines, but she has no doubts that they will be making an appearance soon. They'd coverage onto the Blue City of course, and Dark Wraith made sure to keep her distance. Not like she needs to be any closer for what she was about to do right now. "All tanks, be ready to fire at my coordinates and get ready to move." Dark Wraith cheated in additional upgrades for the tanks, increasing the range, precision, and power of their cannons. While she was at it she also added some new armor which was somewhat more protective, but more importantly stealthy. Sure it'd be hard to miss a tank normally, but most people couldn't see things 4000+ meters away, and this way they should be undetectable by radar as well. Afterwards Dark Wraith opened up a screen in front of her eyes that only she was able to perceive. This was her debugging menu, and she selected the tab called "Aimbot". She'd try to make the calculations herself in her head, but for Dark Wraith it was much simpler to just let the machines do the thinking for her. All she needed to do was give it a target.

So while nearly a mile away, Dark Wraith had the tanks-turned-artillery aimed close to Broker's position. She'd need the drone to get a bit closer if she wanted to catch a snippet of the conversation, but in the event that it gets shot down Dark Wraith would be able to commandeer a few other drones still in the city. If Broker was speaking to the Ivory Masks to negotiate some sort of cease fire then Dark Wraith wished to be privvy of it. But she didn't simply ask because there was also the chance that Broker could be betraying the Cobalt Bruisers, just as Bel had, and potentially many other of Dark Wraith's "allies". Or it could all be a trap, Dark Wraith doesn't know, but she'll figure it out soon enough.

@Lonewolf685@TheWindel@KoL

---

The disappointment radiating from the Ivory Mask was palpable, a miasma clinging to her in the way a puppy would look when you scold them for trying to swipe food off the counter. An amusing expression to come across on most anyone, but with a player as renown as Eclipse Princess, it was borderline surreal.

However, she wasn't in any position to enjoy the absurdity of the moment when she herself had to pay the piper. While Princess' sudden departure to pursue some unlucky soul who sought to outmaneuver the berserker's cohorts may have spared Broker from making a definitive commitment at the tip of her spear, it did little to delay the inevitable. Her amicable expression grew strained as Princess departed from the predicted blast radius of the King Tiger, and with it, taking away the best chance to remove Princess from the conflict.

It would have been a waste anyway. She's damn good, but she's not even a factor in battle if she's back here. Going up now is like cancelling an issurance policy without bothering to cause the disaster it would have covered. Best I can do is keep carrying on and wait for a target...

"Guess I'm going to need a few buckets of white paint for this bastard." Broker said, the sound of her boot scuffing the tank's roof echoing the feeling of resignation that clung to her continued ruse. There really wasn't much to be loyal to in the Bruisers anymore, but there was still a lot pride to be had in those who had the mercantile spirit she had. Briefly, she considered how many would be changing factions after this battle while she sifted through the menu's for the Leave Guild function. Regardless of the outcome, the balance of power had already been thrown into total disarray, and there would be plenty of opportunity for people like her to nab up some scraps of power for themselves.

With a metaphorical 'click' of the mouse, she cast aside the blue to don the Ivory Masks white. Mint's dash to the tank would be met with the welcoming hand of a color coded ally pulling her atop the tank and guiding her through the hatch to sit inside.

"Alright, looks like i'll be following the roads now, so feel free to pipe in if I'm about to drive over a minefield." Broker drawled easily, back to being buddy-buddy as the King Tiger pulled away form Princess' impromptu checkpoint and through the Faded City streets. There were ample twists and turns, with no small number of Ivory Masks waiting at choke points even Broker wouldn't have wanted to try blasting through if she wasn't sporting their IFF.

"Huh?" The King Tiger once more came to a halt before an Ivory Mask, but rather then an imposing figure clad in armor and edge, there was a befuddled looking Mask walking through the street to the tapping of her staff. The mercantile rogue had the newcomer pegged as a mage or healer from the get go, but from the look of things, she wasn't part of any of the rear guard check points among the Faded City. "Well, no sense leaving her to wonder, am I right?"

Not giving her co-pilot much chance to answer, Broker popped the hatch once more and stuck her upper torso out, one arm curling inwards to beckon Nies over. "Hey, climb aboard! Eclipse Princess says we need people on the left flank yesterday!"

The attack helicopter didn't surprise him. Just because the Ebony Strykers had almost only tanks, didn't mean there were other kinds of vehicle out there in Deep Ground. The White City was the center of commerce after all, the richest guild would definitely have all the best toys. That was not to say that it didn't catch him by surprise, though. Flying so close to building level was a pretty ballsy move from someone who wasn't him, and Kosuke couldn't manage it very well either. And as much as he was probably faster than a certain airborne rocketing avatar with a name similar to fight eagle, he wasn't faster than the White Hot Varied mm Anti-Armor Shrapnel^TM for Attack Helicopter grade Gatling Guns being fired at him.

He immediately jumped off his lance as the first volley shredded it to pieces. His lance wasn't rare or anything, and he hadn't repaired it in about a week or so. It went up in a small explosion thanks to his passive making it a piece of tech, which gave him a split-second distraction. He immediately equipped another lance, but it would take a full action to finish materializing so he needed to do something else or else he'd get swiss cheesed just lik his Lance.

As a Sweeper, it was a general rule of thumb that Sweepers almost exclusively hunted other players. As a result, they didn't get many rare equipment drops, but they did usually get extra EXP from their contracts which meant that they could buy them more easily. There weren't many people who used lances meaning that he couldn't even get uncommon or rare ones just from killing players. But that did also mean there were a lot of spare lances in the market for relatively cheap, so there was that.

However, Kosuke had been preoccupied with his crafting recently, and he'd been too busy trying to get as much EXP as possible to make up for the defecit from buying equip and Kosuke's crafting. Fortunately though, one of Kosuke's recent innovations discoveries in his Bounty Hunter profession was exactly what he needed for this situaion. He took out a molotov bottle, only this one was filled with something completely black. He couldn't light it from this position, but he wouldn't need to. He threw it towards the attack helicopter, and the barrage of White Hot Varied mm Anti-Armor Shrapnel^TM redirected momentarily to shoot it down in mid-air.

The bottle exploded into a massive cloud of black smoke. It was no normal smoke bomb, this was a Bounty Hunter Original Smoke Cocktail^TM. It used some specially crafted smoke powder which was only used for that specific recipe, so it was damn good smoke. If you fucked it up while crafting it in an enclosed area you would be at serious risk of dying from smoke inhalation, that's how thick it was.

Fortunately he wouldn't be spending too long in there, just the back-end of his first second in combat, so he wasn't at risk of dying. Unfortunately he couldn't be spending more than a second in there, meaning he'd only gotten one extra second between him and the gatling gun going straight through his torso and ending his life.

The Smoke Cocktail was expensive resource wise as well, and he'd only had one. It was necessary but he hated that he had to do it. They were behind in level, that much was for certain. In the increasingly hostile environment of Deep Ground, he could see that Kosuke had the potential to become a key threat for their enemies, but he needed to keep up for that vision to become a reality. But leveling was leveling, and dealing with an attack helicopter was supposed to be his first priority right now.

His Lance was half-way formed as he dropped out of the smoke. He put himself in a nosedive to accelerate his drop, to give himself more lee-way between him and the stream of White Hot Varied mm Anti-Armor Shrapnel^TM. The Attack Helicopter had been expecting his exit position, there being only one way to go and was in hot pursuit. He quickly dropped below the Helicopter's level, and it also began descending to match his movements. He'd be able to run away if he wanted to, it wouldn't be very difficult since he could run circles around the helicopter if he wanted to. But, even with the differences between Kosuke and him, there was one large thing which made him serve his interests.

He wanted to become part of something bigger than he was, because it wasn't like he was an existence worth caring about. In the grand scheme of things, he had come from nothing, and if allowed to continue like he was, they would both end up as nothing. For the average person in today's society, they'd be handed a job from their time in Deep Ground and work that job until something happened. You could get promoted, demoted or whatever but in the end you were just another gear in society, like the old days. There were two ways to avoid becoming something like that, which was either have talent in some area and find a job outside of the one Deep Ground gave you, or get brain surgery to remove the chip in your brain that everybody had to escape into the mountains and become a hermit.

But Kosuke showed no talent or interest in anything but Deep Ground. This was the only thing they had between the two of them, and even then he wished it didn't tie down a whole generation. He loved Deep Ground and he hated Deep Ground, which is why he respected the Black King's wish to destroy it once and for all. It was never made to last, and in just over a year's time Kosuke's time would be over. But between then and now, he wanted a hand in Deep Ground's destruction, and he wanted to make Rocket Lancer legendary. The time had come for his first act, he'd show them that even an Attack Helicopter wouldn't be enough to stop him.

His Lance finished materializing while he was in his ready position and already spamming his passive to work. The gatling gun fire closed in on him, but then he did something the pilot and gunner were definitely not expecting. To put it in abstract terms, he went from 0 to 75 downwards, then 75 to 100 straight upwards.

A little tidbit about Fatal Acceleration was that regardless of how short you charged it for, even if he didn't hit a charge level the initial thrust power was still more powerful than his normal thrust. It wasn't very much more than normal, but the acceleration component of Fatal Acceleration was instantaneous and could instantly transition into normal maximum power from his rocket booster. It allowed him to change momentum extremely quickly, and needless to say it caught the Attack Helicopter by surprise.

Just as he'd hoped, he boosted through the stream of Gatling gun fire and only took three hits. Those three hits chunked him, but it didn't end him like it would've if he didn't have the element of surprise. But the surprise wouldn't last long so he needed to act fast.

After getting past the stream, he went for the Helicopter. He charged towards it, and as the Gatling Gun reared it's ugly head towards him yet again, he barreled to the side. The closer he got to the gun, the easier it'd be to match his movements, but his aerial maneuverability was second to none. He ducked and weaved, zigged and zagged, only taking a couple of stray hits before completely closing the distance.

This isn't a great plan, but fuck these guys. They WILL die. He thought.

He zeroed in on the pilot and rammed straight into the windshield.

---

@KoL

Stinging Butterfly managed to get a hit on the mage he was attacking. It seemed like she had already spotted him, though, and managed to mitigate the damage by moving away. No matter, Carnel thought to himself as he landed on the ground. He moved in and lunged for another thrust, but he had not been expecting to get frozen, his blade falling short by centimeters. He had underestimated the mage, but he had underestimated her companion as well, having not anticipated her crashing through the ceiling to land an Icarus Strike on him. The blow took out a sizable portion of his HP, and he was sent flying, bouncing off the ground before regaining his footing and planted his feet firmly on the ground, sliding several more feet before finally stopping. He was quick to move once more however, being forced to dodge the pieces of debris being launched at him by the female Warrior. Now that he got a better look at her, he cursed his luck. It was Eclipse Princess. He knew of her reputation, but to think he would actually face her...

At the same time, though, he could not help but be excited. As a fighter himself, getting to fight someone like Eclipse was quite the treat. He would have preferred to be at a higher level first before actually fighting her, and perhaps learn more about her Abilities as well. He contemplated the thought of retreat for a moment, but that lasted only for a moment. Before doing so, he reasoned that he should test the waters first. Jumping over the next piece of debris thrown at him, Stinging Butterfly lunged towards Eclipse Princess without fear. He went in to deliver a number of thrusts, while also anticipating a counterattack the Berserker could throw at him.

@KoL

”Understood” Reothadh affirmed the orders he had been given in his cold robotic voice and began looking through both the guild and public chat. Locating a single enemy out of an army might seem daunting; but in DGO, if someone is special enough to be singled out, there usually will be a lot of noise about them. The good news, Burning Blossom had just been engaged by Golden Tiger East of his location. The bad news, it looked as though the Harleys had cut off Tiger from the main force, meaning he’d have to go through a good number of Harleys to get to her.

There was one option, since the Rangers had broken through, the Harley’s would probably abandon defending the wall in favor of pushing out the invaders. If he were climb the wall and use that as a pathway it would avoid most of the enemies. It was a bit of a gamble but it was his best bet to getting to Tiger. Breaking from the main forces, Reothadh ascended a set of stairs next to the main gate to the top where he was met with the scimitar of a Harley warrior. Jumping back to avoid the attack he was quickly grappled by another of the Reds waiting behind him. “I got him! Now take him down!” As the grappler shouted the warrior stepped to the side revealing a ranger behind him with her rifle pointed right at Reothadh.

”Quite a good trap you got here. Just one problem.” Reothadh smirked behind his helmet as he looked at the arms of the grappler and saw the blue tint they now had, ”It’s nearly impossible to hold someone while taking damage.” Just as the Ranger pulled the trigger, Reothadh broke from the grapplers hold and swung his sword sending a Frost Wave at the two Harleys. The bullet froze mid air and dropped harmlessly to the ground while the wave continued and slammed into the Harleys doing substantial damage and giving them the same blue tint their companion now had.

“Sh-sh-sh-sh-shit!” The ranger cursed through her chattering teeth. The last thing an agility based group like them needed was an enemy that deals cold damage. Taking advantage of their surprised shivering, Reothadh charged the Red warrior bashing him with the hilt of his sword and giving him a good shove right over the edge of the wall.

Spinning around he brought his blade down on the ranger’s rifle knocking it away before she could fire another shot, then sliced up across her torso. Changing his grip to hold the sword backwards, he drove the blade through the ranger’s skull dealing more than enough damage to deplete her HP. There was a small bit of twitching from her before the ranger finally gave into death falling limp as she was replaced with EXP crystals.

“You son of a bitch!” the last of the ambush group had shaken off the cold effects and now stood with vengeance in his eyes ready to face the tundra knight. Reothadh didn’t even take a stance, instead resting his sword on his shoulder and replying calmly. ”you know he’s still alive right?”

“W-what?”

”Your friend I pushed off. No way that fall did fatal damage. Might be a little beat up, but he’s still kicking. At least, until me boys get to him. And with how many Rangers we got swarming this place, that won’t be very long at all.” Reothadh took a relaxed step closer to the Harley, ”If it were me, I’d have jumped down right about now to help fend off the enemy until we could get support. But if you’d rather let him die and just settle for getting revenge, then that’s your choice.”

The Harley’s eyes darted back and forth from Reothadh to where his friend had been knocked off. His fists clenched tighter in frustration turning his knuckles white until he growled, “Damn you.” and vaulted off the bridge to assist his friend below. Reothadh chuckled as his opponent left the fight, ”Good lad.”

He didn’t have far to go before Reothadh caught sight of Golden Tiger in a shouting match with Burning Blossom, and a number of the Harleys on her flank. Sliding down a convenient ladder, the Tundra Knight was able to take a stance behind Tiger before anyone had a chance to strike. ”Mind if I help?”

@KoL

As Nies Hellum continued to walk, she tapped her staff, now merely trying to make a tune and give her something to focus on, her thoughts still churning away inside of her. At this rate, she'd end up never getting to Eclipse Princess, never finding any answers, and she was just contemplating stealing a vehicle, when someone called out to her, from a vehicle.

"Hey, climb aboard! Eclipse Princess says we need people on the left flank yesterday!"

Curious at the timing, the chance of fate, she flashed them a smile, grateful for the chance to at least get somewhat closer to her destination, she approached, slipping her staff to its holster on her back, she figured that, perhaps niavely, they weren't going to kill her. "Well, I'm always happy to help. Is that where eclipse is? i was suppose to meet her at the gate, but I appear to have gotten myself wonderfully lost" She said with confidence, that surprised her somewhat, but what really did she have to lose? She'd either get there or she wouldn't, she'd live or die, but one way or the other, she was going to get answers.

Ensuring her staff wasn't going to fall, she climbed in, saying "Thank you for stopping, I was just thinking what a long journey it is on foot. I'm Nies Hellum" She said, rather cheerfully. Where was this peppy, confident person coming from? Was it really as simple as she had nothing to lose? She could lose everything! And maybe that was it. Maybe...in the face of fear...she could find who she truly was. Contemplating that for a moment, Nies looked to her companions, and smiled. "Forgive me, i must appear crazier then a cuckoo bird" Was that even a saying? Nies found that she was beyond caring. "i apologise"

---

"Eh, don't worry about it. You and Mint here are far from the weirdest people I've met today." Broker responded as the hatch closed behind Nies and the King Tiger rolled onwards without any further delay. Already she'd been faced with countless Green Rangers bereft of their pants, a ghost in the coding of DGO, and the thrice damned Corpse Collector before the war had even started, so seeing a nervous girl make an awkward introduction was hardly noteworthy in the grand scheme of things.

"Anyway, you were asking about Eclipse Princess. Sorry to disappoint you, but she's actually holding down the rear while everyone else pushes forward. Not as glamorous as the vanguard, but it's nice to know that we have nothing to fear from behind us."

There wasn't any reason to mention Princess was busy fighting by herself when the bluenette left her. It was only the one Bruiser, and Broker didn't think he was anyone high up enough to last long on his own against the Ivory Mask's infamous berserker.

"I know you said you were supposed to meet her, but if you're a healer then there are people that could use you a lot more up at the front. If you want to meet her at the Blue City gates, then we are going to have to take them and lay out the red carpet ourselves!" Her voice rose an octave, enthusiasm radiating off of her at the prospect of all the EXP just waiting to be collected on the battlefield. The best lies were ensorcelled around a kernel of truth after all, and her eagerness wasn't feigned in the least, though Broker's intentions were far from being set in stone. With the deck so heavily stacked against the Bruisers thanks to Blue Joker's sabotage, it was becoming clear that the nails which stuck out was now being met with an Ivory hammer.

Unlike Dark Wraith, Broker's powerbase had lain primarily in the Cobalt Bruisers and their industrial capacity to fuel a small but stable trade network of her own. Wraith could drop the Strykers and still have the Erasers, Sweepers, and whoever else she has dirt on at her beck and call. Sure, Broker could have stuck to her guns and fought the good fight, but what would that have accomplished? Best case scenario, she killed Princess without losing the King Tiger, but even that would have left her slogging through miles of alert and heavily entrenched enemy territory. At this point, Broker could step out of the Ivory Mask's castle with White Sun's head in one hand and Verdant Grins in the other, and that still wouldn't change the tide of what's to come.

A not-so-distant rumble tore the former Bruiser from her contemplations, and confronted her with the long awaited battlefield. Any doubts about her course of action were swiftly dashed when she gazed upon the tide of White pressing upon the walls whose battlements, what few remained, fired with little affect upon the encroaching invaders. Artillery was a potent tool, but with nothing to hold back the Ivory Masks approach, there was little that could be done before they were simply too close for cannon fire to properly target and the defenses themselves came under fire.

Factor in that no one present could really be called rank and file, every player having their own feats and abilities that makes them exceptionally potent, and it really was a dreadful situation. Weaving past wrecks of vehicles, smoldering craters, and taking the time to drive over loose piles of EXP crystals from fallen Masks, it wasn't long before Broker came upon the left most flank and found the cause of causalities to be a daring- and desperate- counter offensive from some of the Bruisers. At the center of this appeared to be a blue blur by the auspicious name of Blue Nova.

"Crazy bastards..." The King Tiger reared to a halt some 300 feet away, its barrel aligning itself with the defiant Bruisers who leapt from their ramparts to do battle. "Alright you two, hop out and go assist the offensive. There should be plenty that need healing and resurrection, but keep your head low if you want to keep it on your shoulders. And here, take these in case you can't pass a DPS check."

On the laps of Nies and Mint would be two each of the improvised explosives that were once intended to ravage the Ivory Masks ranks. Broker intended to use a detonator which she still kept snug in her inventory, but each device had a secondary timer which could be adjusted in terms of minutes or seconds. After that, she popped open the hatch for them to disembark and directed her attention to the King Tiger's sights, adjusting for the difference in elevation and distance to get it lined just right on the center of the Bruiser's small force.

"Overhaul." Her ability flared to life, giving herself and the tank a 50% damage increase for several rounds. Considering the base damage of an HE shell was already monstrous, something of a savage grin tugged her lips to unleash the bolstered armament. A tug of the trigger, and the King Tiger unleashed hell upon Blue Nova.

"Well, that must be the the last of them. With these in place we can leave, before the fireworks begin." Dusk Razor said as she finished planting the explosive devices they brought. With the strategic points of the Blue City all covered, getting out of there was the only thing they needed to do.

"That's ok, we even got a fine haul," Argent Maiden said. In her hands she was holding nothing but the unconscious body of Absinthe Blue, who had the misfortune of crossing the Ivory Masks strike party when she went to check one of the gatehouses which failed to send back a report in time. "Let's retreat, our mission is more than complete."



A few minutes later, a set of huge explosions shaking the critical points of the Cobalt Bruisers defenses, opening the gates in the process, along with the arrival of the third — and last — of the mechs deployed by the Ivory Masks would turn the tide of the battle dramatically against the Blue Guild.

However, the coup d'grace to their resistance would come when Argent Maiden's party joined the battle at the main Gate, holding a very interesting hostage along with them.

"What do you pretend to do," Absinthe said, demonstrating some very evident nervousness, "Do you think that anyone would drop the fight just because you have me as a hostage? On a game like this, that's stupid."

"I kinda know that, right?" Maiden retorted. "I'm not holding you because of any tactical advantage. It's just that I know that there's someone on the Ebony Strykers who has hurt my younger sister that has an unhealthy fixation on you. I just want for them to feel a bit of the pain she suffered. It's not like I'm threatening you in the real world like they did threaten my sister, is it? I wouldn't go so far because of a game, you can rest assured."

Following that, Maiden cast both her Consecration and Argent Shield Spells, immediately buffing a sizeable wing of the Ivory Masks army with tougher armor and a damage absorption/delayed healing shield. At this point the battle of the Blue City was all but won, all that the Ivory Masks needed to do is a final push for the victory.





"Oh, someone who will not run away like a stray mutt?" Eclipse Princess' expression suddenly took a turn away from her default frown as Butterfly stood against her. The look on his face made it evident that he had recognized her somehow, yet decided to stand his ground and fight back, instead of fleeing.

Well now, Eclipse Princess didn't have anything personal against the Cobalt Bruisers. Indulging both herself and her 'guest', while also making sure that Butterfly would learn the difference between them and their guilds couldn't possibly hurt anyone, right?

The Berserker readied herself to the incoming lunge, avoiding it would be easy, had Princess decided to do so. Nevertheless, it would never have the same effect as sacrificing a few Hit Points to both gauge Butterfly's DPS output as well as grabbing the rapier with which Butterfly tried to hit her, effectively negating him of any further attacks as the blade was held firmly in Princess' grip. "That is a good weapon, but you lack proper form and discipline. If you attack someone so earnestly, without any ploys in mind, ask you are going to achieve is scratch damage", Eris said earnestly. After all, there was no point in having a duel against a duelist that didn't knew the basics of dueling.

To punctuate her statement, Princess let Butterfly's rapier go, before kicking a shopping basket that was laying on the floor nearby, straight into his face. She grabbed the plastic appliance as it rebounded harmlessly from the Bruiser's face and smashed it against him with enough force that — if the attack hit home — he would be thrown across the room once more. At least, it would deal significantly less damage than being hit by Eclipse Princess ' actual weapon, almost as if she were doing it just for fun. Which was perhaps the case, if one had to guess based on the gleeful smile Eclipse Princess had on her face just from being able to brawl with someone without restraints.



"Huh, wait, where did—?" Faust's exclamation about the sudden attack was lost in the initial burst of the mech's weapon, which followed Warhawk's roll behind a flimsy wall that for sure wouldn't make for such a good cover against a heavy war machine such as the Ivory Masks' walking tank.

"You really have guts if you came here without support, don't think that you'll be getting off easily!" The Warlock shouted to Warhawk, using her action to run around the corner—using a couple of her summons as shields, in case Warhawk had anything planned. Which proved to be prudent when one of them was skewered, losing a chunk of its health as a spear impaled it mercilessly.

As soon as Faust had the Bruiser's Warrior within her sight line, she assumed a combat stance—holding her whip over her head—and conjuring a spell: "Ethereal Chain!" At the avatar's command, the space around Warhawk rippled and eight silvery-blue chains appeared from the very air, holding the Warrior down. "I could take care of you on my own, but given that I don't know if you still has other allies lurking around, this will be a lesson for you to learn not to oppose us with your meager resolve—"

The short pause made by Faust was just enough to get the Mech's pilot to line up his aim at the immobile Warrior, waiting for the command to kill. "He's all yours." Fuast pointed to Warhawk and the mech's pilot opened fire without the least hint of remorse...





The helicopter danced over the rooftops as it tried to catch up to Rocket Lancer. The avatar's agility and small size were a big problem. Even so, the sprays of bullets kept of streaking through everywhere, filling the rooftops with holes and weakening the buildings' structures with rocket fire.

The smoke wasn't even accounted for more than a split second, the powerful gust that generated lift for the aircraft blew the black smog away with ease. Seriously, who uses smoke against a helicopter?

What wasn't predicted was the mad dash that ended with a lance trespassing the aircraft's canopy. At first the pilot almost lost control of the helicopter because of the sudden action, however he calmed down when he noticed the lance, and thereby it's wielder had become stuck to the bullet-proof acrylic. With an evil grin on his face, the pilot had the best idea ever, something that would kill this annoying lancer fast.

Making a sign for the gunner to brace himself, the helicopter's pilot dived fast, barrel rolling his way through the buildings at a height that Rocket Lancer wouldn't be able to equip a new weapon before plunging to his death. That is, is he found some miraculous way to avoid falling into the propeller and be shredded to pieces as the flying war machine spun and whipped around like a mad bull.

Meanwhile, the gunship's crew realized the danger posed by the War Machine when the debris from their last maneuver where lobbed just a few thousand feet bellow them by the vehicles rumored teleport capabilities. Thankfully the information they got in advance from the Ivory Masks was enough to let them plan for this outcome.

With change of plans the airplane trained it's guns on the city around the War Machine's path, two or three buildings in between the street it was and the buildings they were destroying. The goal wasn't hitting the War Machine anymore as the distance was such that there was no risk of the buildings hitting the vehicle or of it running into them before the scraps hit the grounds.

No, the goal was to create blockades and funnels to impede the War Machine's path, while also destroying all bridges in the way. It could be agile and have special powers, but the War Machine wouldn't be able to pass through concrete and clear gaps of the fallen bridges. As long as they made it not reach the battlefield their goal would be fulfilled.

If the War Machine managed to get stuck at a dead end in this process, well... that was just live fire target practice. None can complain about having a little fun in the line of work, obviously.



"What's it, Kit Kat? You can't handle the heat so you called the AC man?" Blossom shouted as soon as Reodath joined their duel. Despite the numeric disadvantage the smirk in her face only grew larger as the countdown of her Pyromania was missing only two charges, which would be coming in pretty soon. To that end Blossom jumped from the broken column, running down the side of a toppled wall, taking the time to cast a Lightning Bolt at both Reodath and Tiger, filling the remainder of the charges, which was very evident by the way her avatar became wreathed in a mantle of fire.

"I could handle you at any time, Shortcake. But I guess that you Harlots don't have anything against a gangbang do you?" Tiger replied. She tried to dodge the Lightning and counterattack with a charge, but it turns out that that spell is just too damn fast and ended burning some more of Tiger's body, even if she managed to avoid a direct hit.

The problem really was what was coming later. "Hehe, I hope you greens like it hot, 'cause I'm burning now! Double Fire... Ball!" Blossom yelled gleefully, shooting a pair of orbs of flame exploding with wrath, in a way that both would hit the two Rangers at the same time. Any damage from these balls of molten destruction would also add a nice stun to them, making the rest of the fight a piece of cake to Blossom, as long as they hit their mark, of course.

---

*: Mint is temporarily under Lone's control.

Masae Kanegawa

Fortunately for her back, Masae was quickly able to procure the assistance of some random student passing by once she exited from the batcave down to the regular hallway. It made things easier on her as the two of them gently carried Aderyn to the nurses office with her between them, the most care given to her leg.

Of course she had to explain the story, but it helped that she didn't really know what had happened. All she knew was that her friend had been attacked and dislocated her leg. The possibility of the guy she was with being responsible lingered somewhere in her mind, but for now she would trust him. It was better than having to carry Aderyn to the nurses office herself.

"Man, that sucks," the guy whose name she didn't know, with brown hair, blue eyes, some freckles, and clad in suitably weather appropriate clothes, said as they rounded a corner together. "Who'd think something like that would happen here?"

Obviously he had not heard the stories about the Sweepers, but she kept that to herself for the moment. Instead she nodded before glancing over at him. "Surprised you aren't on DGO right now for that war or whatever. It seems like everyone else is." The halls were practically deserted by this point as people responded to the call to arms for the fight.

The guy chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with a grin. "Actually I was on my way there when you found me. There was some stuff that I needed to pick up here first, that was all." Ah, a fairly reasonable explanation then, so she could only thank her good fortune for it. "What about you?"

Masae turned forwards as she frowned. "I...don't really do DGO, honestly. It just doesn't interest me, and there's no point risking my levels in some war that I don't care about." A bit of a lie, but she figured that it was alright. The only thing she really did care about in this war was Aderyn's well being.

"Ah, okay. Well, I can understand that. It's not for everyone." The two of them fell silent as they at last arrived at the nurses office, where at least the teachers would be waiting for them. It was lucky for her that she had been so quick, since it looked like she might have left now that the festival was effectively over. At that point Masae bid farewell to her helper, who waved as he ran off now that Adery had been handed off to the nurse. That had been helpful, but now she was back to helping her friend.

With that she fell into a supportive role, walking along as the nurse went about helping Aderyn onto a bench and preparing to set her leg before the paramedics showed up. They could have a second look, just in case she missed something. Or Masae had made an error in calling them, which wouldn't have been a complete surprise. For now she merely prepared to assist as the nurse went about applying some ice to the dislocated leg, and got ready to put it back in place.

@Mega Birb

Finn was having a good time, or at least, he had been about to have one. Lots of strong enemies to fight, explosive situations, more enemies to fight... Well, he didn't really need anything other than dudes to fight to have a good time anyway. But he unfortunately wouldn't have much time to fight all of them, or any of them for that matter, if he didn't take care of the problem right in front of him.

A tank, his mortal enemy. It was difficult to take down a tank with all that armor, and their weapons regularly shredded through lightly armored targets like him. The easiest way to beat one was to take down its pilot which would be easy enough if he got the drop on them. The easiest way for the pilot to kill Finn would be to get the drop on him. And unfortunately, that was the case this time around.

Finn barely got his shield up in time, a testament to the reflexes built into him through constant fighting. He didn't move until a few moments later, which was long enough for the first shell to bust straight through his shield. The shield was robust enough to withstand the hit, directing it just enough to miss him. As the wall behind him exploded from the impact, Blue Nova threw himself behind the closest wall.
"Oh come on, That's a bit rude isn't it?!" He yelled at the tank operator.

It was at this moment that Finn became aware of the gravity of their situation. Most of the screams and deaths were on the blue side, and he slowly became aware of the sheer amount of fire coming from non-blue guild sources. Most of the problem was probably a lack of coordination. God knows where Absynthe was, Maribel was out cold, and things were generally in chaos. He watched a blue guild member shower the tank he was facing with a sub machine gun, even while a sword wielding avatar was bearing down on him.
We're screwed.

That was a matter of fact. Even if the blue king were to show up herself right now in her personal battle tank, it would only help to mitigate the losses. The fact of the matter was that the blue city was done for. But that didn't mean the blue guild was out. Finn didn't think about the later, the only thing he needed to focus on was those in front of him. He wasn't going down without a fight.

Finn took stock: His armor, weapons, and a few grenades he'd managed to loot after the update. Weak frags they were, but they'd do something. He pulled the pin on one and threw it towards the tank before making a mad dash towards different cover. Of course he planned to fight the tank and its operator, but if that last tank shell was anything to go by, the wall wouldn't last 1 round. His shield was on cooldown and he'd need it to make his approach. Who knew what weapons the tank still had, or whoever was piloting it had? He took cover and took another grenade. He only had 2 more, so he'd have to make them last.

@Lonewolf685