The Cloud

It arrived.

Nanites entered the KC-00032 and assembled themselves into a roughly humanoid form, which its processors said was the form most suitable for interaction with other members of the Machina. It made them more comfortable, though such things could be forsaken in an emergency. They were not at that point yet.

As it moved the command from Eos was received, designating the primary objective as the protection of the factory. "Complying," it replied in the unified mass of its myriad whole, which would sound to anyone else as if there was a bunch of people talking at once. Distracting and perhaps disturbing, but it saw nothing wrong. It had conveyed its message, and that was all there was to it.

"Initiating growth processes," it intoned, dispatching nanites to leave the main collective for other parts of the factory. they would consume and multiply, devouring refuse and raw materials, those things that were not deemed vital for the functioning of the factory in the Machina mainframe. It could not bring its full mass to bear immediately, so it would have to grow before it could become a serious threat. Of course they would start with the robots that Eos was currently destroying, figuring they would be less missed.

Situational analysis indicated that there were two main threats. There was an angelic host approaching outside the factory, and inside the demons had hijacked workers to sabotage everything. Undoubtedly there were demonic reinforcements on the way as well, if only because they would not have tipped their hand and revealed their infiltrators otherwise.

With Eos actively inside the factory to counter the demonic threat, that made the angelic threat more pressing. Those dispatched elements would be left to work while his humanoid form seemed to fade out of existence into a, well, cloud, as it surged forward and moved out of the factory. 'Moving to engage Angelic forces,' it informed all Machina commanders as it took to the field. Its form was reconstituted once it was outside, facing down the running angel and those with it. It was time for the battle to begin.

"Cease and desist," it ordered, raising an arm. Nanites would swarm and reorganize into a weapon, and seconds after its demand it would open fire at Torag, spitting bits of itself at him in the form of self guiding bullets. It held no fear, merely a certainty that it would fulfill its purpose. With the rest of the Machina working together, it would succeed.

@Mega Birb@KoL

---

Tartys

Tartys could only nod in agreement with Miyu's assessment as to why Angel-Demons were not all that common in comparison to the myriad of Machina hybrids that existed in the war. "There is a tendency for one to try and overtake the other," she added. It was just her own assessment of course, since Holy power would not function once corrupted, and a Demon could hardly use a power that hurt it rather than, well, making it stronger. She imagined that they tended to not survive.

The self deprecation that Miyu presented her with was a bit more disturbing, but Tartys didn't comment on it just yet as she allowed Miyu to retrieve a chair so they could both sit down rather than standing awkwardly while ruminating on the strange machine. A cooler was soon presented as well, and she took a drink to sample while spending her time with the girl. "That sounds like quite the endeavor," she noted aloud as she surveyed the factory. To reach the stars, it would not be an easy task for a single person. Nonetheless it seemed to be quite admirable in its motivation.

"Well, I suppose if anyone could do it then this is a good place to start," she decided at last, flashing her host a warm smile. With all the resources one could find in the Nexus, she was sure that Miyu would succeed eventually. It wasn't like she had to worry about dying of old age after all.

The question brought her back to her purpose though, and she straightened up with the reminder. "Ah yes. Well you see I received this gift recently, which said something about a birthday on it. I felt it wouldn't be right to get something from the person celebrating, so I went out and acquired a small thing that I figured you would find useful." With a flick of her wrist magic blossomed, and in moments a small package would settle into her hand before passing it to Miyu. "Here you go. Happy birthday."

Inside she would find a set of crystal lenses, of varying sizes and focus. They were made from rare gems across the Nexus (though 'rare' in this case was something of a misnomer given the near infinite resources that were present). "I figured you would appreciate something more practical," she explained as she waited to see what Miyu thought. They would be good for industrial work, or if she wanted to make something that just looked pretty too.

@The 42nd Gecko

"Oh right. We're in the middle of a War, aren't we?" Lucille mused to herself, eye sight scanning her Throne Room. It rested on one particular idiot in mind all too quickly. "You. Make yourself useful. Now," she said, kicking the mutt harshly.

A Machina unit would fall to unfortunate circumstances as he finds his neck getting crushed by a metallic red-n-black arm emerging from a spiraling green portal. As its body limps to the floor, several other machina figures were alerted to his presence as they head towards the backside of the building. When the hell knight finally revealed himself from outside the portal, dressed in his Phantom Armor, the soldiers started shooting at him. However it was a futile offense as Mephilus raises his shield, deflecting the shots, and eliminates them by firing several explosive rounds. Even as a melee unit attempts to strike him, the armored simply gores it with his lance, killing it instantly as it slowly slides off the shaft.

Not even the locked doors could survive Mephilius' lance as an explosion ripples the metallic walls to shreds. The armored figure enters the facility as he raises his lance and readies his shield, ready to take on any foe that heads his way.

---

As the alarms pierced the entire factory, every Machina unit from within prepared for the epic battle that was on the verge of eruption. Yet as the forces near the surface ground level are running rampant and rushed to get to their positions, deep within the depths of the giant complex, the blaring alarms were merely a fainting whisper. Down here are several rooms dedicated to top secret research projects, with the most top-worthy scientists working against the clock in completing their research. Who knows what marvelous or devilish experiments are they commencing down there...

In Room 219-TEP, a lone scientist, wearing silverish-grey glasses and ragged, messy gray hair, sits in front of a giant monitor that is viewing the conflict that is taking place, his hands folded together below his nose. He watches with his eyes glued to the screen, sitting motionlessly as several scientists were walking or jogging to various stations. Some were even packing up various equipment and sitting them on top of giant platforms connecting to a singular track that would lead them near the surface and onto a transport train. Clearly there were some who believed that this base will not survive the conflict, along with the top secret projects being constructed here. Yet the lead scientist didn't bat an eye. It was almost like he expected this to be an inevitability.

From behind him, another scientist, a female with dark purple hair and amethyst eyes, approaches him calmly. She seemed to be worried at the situation at hand.

"Commander Karizawa." she addressed him calmly, but with a faint hint of worry, "Aren't you going to help evacuate all the work from the room? I have my doubts that this facility will survive the battle."

There was a moment of silence. Then the male scientist issues a faint sigh.

"At long last..." he responds slowly with a raspy voice and gruff undertone, "It was only a matter of time before this complex meets divine intervention... Though it was executed sooner than I predicted."

The female scientist looks at the screen uneasily.

"What else do you want us to do?" she asks.

The lead scientist slowly looks over at the female scientist, who was still standing with a data pad by her breast.

"I think its time we put her into action, Miss Tobayashi." he finishes bluntly as he adjusts his glasses.

The female scientist's eyes widened a bit in confusion and bewilderment.

"But- but the tests. She didn't complete all of the tests that she was scheduled for. We still have at least another month to~"

"Forget them." Dr. Karizawa interrupts unfazed, "All the basics have been covered for her. The rest are simply advanced or strictly specified. You've seen the scores."

He leans back into his chair as he takes a puff at his cigarette. The female doctor simply exhales to herself as she continues watches the screen.

"This is the perfect opportunity to test her capabilities on the battlefield. I can't find a better time than now."

"And if we attra~"

The lead scientist raises his hand to excuse her from talking. He knew what she was going to say and it truly didn't matter at this time. It will be dealt with later. He gets up from his seat and plans both hands into the desk.

"Deploy Unit-T into battle." he commands, his eyes still glued to the screen.

---

From the hangar bay, two streaks of yellow lights streak alongside the head sockets of Unit-T as it spurs to life with a low rumbling hum. It's back, arms, and legs were clamped by large restraining cuffs as the platform below it as a door above it began to open. Then with a violent jerk, it quickly moved vertically towards the surface. It was time for the mech to finally see combat for the first time. Of course, it wasn't simply a robot. Inside its metallic body, does it house a pilot. It was a small girl, about 4'8" in height, wearing pink wooly clothes instead of a plugsuit. This little girl is remarkably the pilot of the five meter all Unit-T and she knows rather well on how to use it.

It would take only ten seconds before it reached the surface hangar, where another door opened in the middle of a large hangar bay. Then the restraints holding the mech were casted aside, leaving the pilot in control of Unit-X, as it gave him a readying stance to go into combat. From within the mech, Tina gets a quick call from her commander.

"Here you are, little Tina." Doctor Karizawa begins in a calm tone, "Your first experience on the battlefield. It's quite unfortunate that some of the mech's tests are still in need of completion, but regardless I feel like you both are ready for what's to come. Your mission is simple. Defend this facility from the invading forces of both Heaven and Hell. Defeat every opponent that gets in your way and give em' everything you got. Remember your training. And if you do a good job, you'll receive a nice ice cream as your reward. Is that clear?"

Tina simply nods.

"Yes sir." she answers calmly.

"Good luck."

As the calls cuts off, Eos' message can be heard from around the facility. With that, Unit-T's engines activate as they fly into the battlefield at hand.

Henrietta(?) Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

Henrietta made her entrance with a bang, literally as she burst through a window throwing a large amount of acidic grenades at a random group of Machina soldiers. An insane cackle would be the last thing they heard as any survivors of the initial onslaught were wiped clean by a burst of machine gun fire courtesy of her twin SMGs. She dropped the SMGs, both falling into the Gates cleanly, and pulled out her sword to slice open a wall in front of her. A few seconds later the wall fell apart and Henrietta walked through to see a whole playground for her, full of stuff she wanted.

"New toys, all mine for the taking!" And the first thing she saw was a big ass mech flying around. She was practically salivating as he sheathed her sword and pulled out a rocket launcher to take down the giant robot dinosaur oh my god she wants it so much. With careful predictive aiming and some slow breathing she fired an RPG directly at where Unit T was going to be in an attempt to ground it so she could run in for some swordplay.

"Hmph, that'll teach you!"

The slime girl cast aside her armaments and returned to the form of Hell's adorable princess, stomach now roiling from the carnal energies it had consumed when it melted Fran in a deluge of ballistic sludge. Were she not capable of literally consuming anything then she would have liked to think eating the creature that offended her was sickening, but such was not to be.

With the parting of the red haze over her vision she noticed the throne room was significantly emptier, most everyone having departed, even the cute singing frog was nowhere to be seen!

"Momma, you want to send the puppy woman out there? I thought she was going to be an indoor pet!" And making matters even worse was Lucille insisting Artoria go out and be social, meaning Luci couldn't even cuddle an actual puppy woman all day! She gaze the supine beastkin a rough pet between her ears before patting enthusiastically. "Alright, you be a good puppy out there and don't get captured. If you make momma happy I'll get you lots of treats!"

Saying her words with the firmness of a monarch and the frivolity of a child, the slime bobbed her head in what she assumed was a solemn manner and left Artoria to enter glorious battle and bring back more cute pets for Hell, leaving the adorably feathered Ira to entertain her in the interim. "Pet the birdy~!"

---

As enjoyable a Juno and Celene's company was and how curious the presence of Deva's fursona was, battle had drawn Ananta from the comfort of Celestia amidst an outpouring of angelic warriors.

Scales danced over parched earth while the buffeting winds of a vast host whirled around her from above and amidst this cacophony of wind and gnashing metal, a serpent joined the undead revenant at the tip of the spear.

"Is this not a vibrant gathering?" The Bindings of the Triumirti remarked to Torag as the light of a distant bombardment reflected the lament of demons off her fluttering shawl. "Makes me wonder what welcome they have prepared for us."

Her curiosity was soon sated as a lone entity stood before, or perhaps it would have been apt to call the Swarm an army into and of itself, as the deluge of micro machines unleashed launched itself upon blessed blades and righteous shields with nary an eye batted. An impressive display for one lacking colossal size or monstrous power as of yet.

Serpentine eyes narrowed as the first shots were fired and intelligent projectiles came upon them. As she was lacking in armor and her shawl wasn't much of a shield against ranged attacks, the serpent was forced to pause in her tracks and hurl forth a quintet of paper tags into the air before, whereupon they stuck flat as though upon an invisible wall and prepared for impact. When the projectiles drew close an octagonal prism would form to trap the nanite bullets and render them a moot concern for the naga.

The General of the Harpies flew into the scene, decked out in her armor and happy to fight alongside the higher-ups in Heaven in order to further their cause... at least that's what she thought she felt like. She may have just wanted to kill a fair amount of demonic presence in order to get revenge on them for the torture and shit she faced. Eve was still happy to do that regardless.

But first things first, some support was likely needed for Heaven's front, and the harpy actually managed to bring her lance for this battle. Syphax offered her his sword, but she respectfully declined using it this battle. He'd need it to train the other harpies with, and hopefully he was doing that very thing right now. Nevertheless, she didn't want to know if he was or not. Eve really just wanted to dish out a deadly hit to something big and something dangerous as all hell. A quick once-over on the battlefield showed that Torag was getting the shit kicked out of him by something big and something... well... it looked like a cloud. Time to assault the cloud (as impossible as that sounded).

Eve flew up high and brought her lance to the front of her body, and she fell back down into the air into a glide, leaving behind a streamline of air as she jettisoned herself towards the Cloud, preparing to deliver a dangerous blow directly to the humanoid appearance of... whatever the fuck it is. Either way it was about to receive a lance to the shoulder.

---

"Finally I can do somethin'..."

The Doctor for the Machina was delighted to hear that she had some time off for once, and she could actually fight within this next battle. Although this really just came as a surprise to her, she was raring to test out her chemical weapons against the likes of Demons and Angels both. This being said, she wasn't willing to run up to the front lines and provide any support there (although she really should). What is she, crazy as fuck? No she isn't! That's why she was inside the factory, near the entrance, and she prepared to send a message out over the Machina comms in order to let everyone know something.

"If y'all need some healin', get as close t'the factory entrance as possible. I don't wanna lose m'head runnin' out there and tryin' ta' heal y'fucks!" Lillian said over her radio, which she jerry-rigged into her mask. Hey, if it worked, it worked.

As she said that, she readied her tool with a bit of a potion she concocted with the help of a few gearheads up in Hyperion, and she stood on standby to heal a ton of the Machina's robotic assistance.

CIEL, The Stargazer
^{KC-00032: The Angel's Fortress}

"Keep it coming, Aquila, let's make them see stars!" Ciel said. The Star Magus was quite pleased at how the battle was developing, with the Angelic forces lead by Torag, Eve and Anata making good progress into the Machina territory before being stopped by their first defensive force.

"Your sense of humor sucks, Master! Anyway let's see if you like this breeze, tin cans!" Aquila replied before commanding the winds to pick up strength until they began to break less resistant parts of KC-00032's structure.

Both the Cloud and Unit-T would see themselves bombarded by debris, or so they should...

EOS, The High Queen
^{KC-00032: The Control Room}

"Better think again, you are in Machina territory now. It's not going to be that easy, Stargazer, Ciel," Eos said as she shot another volley of lasers, destroying part of the debris targeting her forces. Around the same time, the scientists that attempted to flee the facility would find their escape route locked. Their system permissions being overridden by none but the High Queen herself. The message was clear, any who abandoned their post would be considered a betrayer and treated as such.

"You have not been forgotten, Demon," Eos said to Greg as she reestablished the power he cut. Though, the reprise she planned would come at least half in an unexpected way.

A moment after KC-00032's power source had been rerouted to come from Eos herself, the communication systems (both the intercoms and holographic projectors) of the factory came to life again. This time they showed the control room where Eos stood alone, performing a very unique song.


Any Machina troops listening to it would find that their powers, systems and even their morale had been boosted beyond their usual specs. It was as if the High Queen was sharing her own power with them, a feat that was only possible because of the deep connection Eos shared with every Machina built under her rule.

For this reason, Greg would find that even the group of six basic Combat Androids that came to intercept his rampage was much more of a credible threat than they should be. Their shots being far more accurate and damaging than any other standard troop the Machina had ever deployed, as they tried to drive him into a linear furnace. A true testament of the might of both KC-00032's production power and the High Queen of the Machina.

The Cloud

Multiplication was proceeding as planned, with plenty of material to draw on. Though it would not be visible to the naked eye, nanites would flow outside the factory to join the Cloud every second, so long as the environment allowed for it anyways. More units meant more processing power, which meant grater combat ability. There was no reason to not do this.

Wind grew more intense, causing it to alter parameters and bondage strength. That would keep its disparate parts from flying apart in the wind, though combat effectiveness would be hampered. The presence of magic did the same thing, causing a shift in targeting priorities to those individuals who seemed unable to replicate the feat of catching bullets in midair. That would be a more effective use of resources.

The incoming individual was picked up on sensors and it shifted to compensate. When Eve struck she would find her lance hitting nothing but thin air, the nanites having moved to avoid the blow for minimal loss. They would then quickly reform with a hold on the lance, keeping Eve from pulling it away. The entire mass then seemed to shift, changing to a form roughly equivalent in size to Eve herself. The purpose would quickly become clear as it positioned her between itself and her allies as a shield. Strikes then followed, with blackish tendrils weaving past armor to go directly for flesh and bone with an efficiency that was quite precise, and a lethality that was quite deadly when given time.

The intensifying of the wind caused it to stumble, though its attacks merely lessened. The debris was more concerning, though it did its best to keep a hold on Eve. The sudden surge of power coming in the form of audible sound waves from Eos (as power was contributed and processing multiplied) made that much easier, and it would make sure to defend itself at long range too as new weapons formed, extending to the sides and firing at the nearest targets of opportunity. It would fight on.

@KoL@Banana@Lonewolf685@Lmpkio

"Youch!" Artoria said as she was whacked a few feet, tumbling onto her face, her phone that she was messing with carefully caught before it could smash against the floor. "Er, hey! I was totally being useful, or something! See, I'm um, ... Checking the visual feeds from our spies to pick the right point to strike at once my Gates of Tartarus finish filling with supercharged lava!" While a few hasty swipes on her phone made it seem unlikely that that was actually what she was doing before she held the phone up for Lucille to see, it was definitely what she was doing NOW. And the Gates of Tartarus filling thing was true. That was a power that needed some prep time to reach its full potential. "You can't just chuck me into an enemy fortress, ok well, yeah you totally could, but you can't if you want results any better than usual. I'm successful because I'm all smart and planny."

@TheWindel

Neither Hibiki nor Shizuka wasted time on formalities during this battle. As High Queen Eos herself was participating, both commanders arrived promptly and proceeded to commandeer the exosuits stored at KC-00032. Hibiki took the Alpha Exo-Skeleton while Shizuka manned the Beta Exo-Skeleton. They left the Gamma Suit behind, however Hibiki made sure to secure the Gamma suit with high yield explosives; in the event that it falls into enemy hands, Hibiki would detonate these explosives to destroy the suit and whoever had it. They could be disarmed of course, with Hibiki's permission. Knowing the power these suits had she also kept a monitor on the Gamma suit to ensure that if anyone tampered with it, she would know.

Once geared up the two sisters headed straight to battle. "Sosti ola adora, kantia tasa." Speaking her improved incantation, Shizuka armed herself with wings, continuing her chanting to grant a set for Hibiki as well. Once outside the two sisters split off after Hibiki gave her the plan. "The demons and angels intend to destroy us entirely; attacking each other is not their priority. No prisoners. No mercy." Without breaking her chanting SHizuka nodded. An explosion from within the factory caught Shizuka's attention and the two sisters shared a brief glance. "Go. I'll do my part here." With a nod Shizuka finished her chant and gave Hibiki wings, which she proceeded to use to take flight and aim her biotic rifle towards the oncoming angels.

Hibiki could easily recognize Torag's form leading the army, though there were a few new faces that Hibiki has not seen before, but could recognize their power. The most notable was some sort of snake-like person using magic to shield herself from the fortress's onslaught. There was also another who Hibiki knew as Ceil the Stargazer. Based off what limited information the Machina had on her, she was a powerful sorcerer of some sort. Her motivations and exact powers weren't known, but given the hurricane that just impacted the fortress Hibiki considered her a threat as well. Stabilizing herself admits the roaring winds Hibiki ran a few quick simulations in her mind. Taking account the wind, her bullet, and the power given to her by Eos as well as any that may be augmented by the suit, Hibiki seemingly aimed her gun in the direction of no one in particular. She fired three shots, each of them roughly coordinated to strike Ceil. Among all the chaos from Ceil's hurricane and the rage of battle Hibiki was confident that even she wouldn't notice these three bullets cutting through the air, riding the very same wind she intends to use to tear apart the fortress, heading straight towards Ceil's chest and head.

But just in cast she does, Hibiki moved and sought a better vantage point to snipe from.

Meanwhile Shizuka went back inside the factory to face the demons who had infiltrated. Finding them was easy enough: All she had to do was follow their trail of destruction and the sound of steel against steel. She was getting reports of a crimson knight breaking through the back entrance of the fortress, so Shizuka wasted no time getting there. Once she arrived she saw the hulking figure; an armored demon tearing apart the soldiers and defenses. "Idia santiri asa madia dita!" The red warrior would find his next blow to fail to kill any soldier or break any fortification as a magic barrier of divine origins parried the strike. If he would turn to look at Shizuka, he would see her wielding her new weapon: Azazel. A giant gun enchanted by Shizuka's own magic as it fired a rain of blessed bullets right at him, filling the room with bullets. With the addition of High Queen Eos's performance, Shizuka's shots seem to take on otherworldly attributes, causing bullets that missed to ricochet off the walls behind him and back towards the demon.

No doubt that this demon was made of sterner stuff than most however. But Shizuka was ready for him, whether or dies, runs away, or tries to close the distance.

@KoL@Lmpkio

It was that time of the day again where Grafdakka goes to battle. Or rather, Endian-01. Having reevaluate her tactics from the last battle, she had decided that as impressive as a nuclear reactor within Grafdakka’s main body would be, it would not be as effective as simply allowing Endian-01 to pilot the mech as a whole. This way should the mech somehow become unable to continue battling, Endian could eject and fight until victory or defeat is achieved. Still, since this is a relatively new development, and because Krieg is still trying to develope the new personality for Endian-01, so long as Endian was piloting Grafdakka she would remain as Grafdakka.

Coincidentally, Grafdakka was at KC-00032 precisely for his new modifications, as well as trying to get his hands on the new devices being developed here. He’s heard in passing that the resources from the previous battles were being used to create some sort of powerful new mech, which interested Grafdakka greatly. But before he could investigate himself, the fortress was under attack. Demons have infiltrated the machina ranks and the angels were laying siege to the fortress. Grafdakka had the slight misfortune that he was not at a launch bay; he had taken an underground railway tunnel to get his modifications done. He was nowhere near a launch area. Fortunately for him, he wouldn’t need one.

Within Grafdakka, Endian sat inside the cockpit and looked at the monitors around her. Unlike before, the mech was now equipped with a variety of gadgets and equipment that gave Endian important information such as her current location, a map, and communication with her allies. Before as Grafdakka he could only make rough estimates and shout over the communications for directions. And thanks to being in Machina territory, Endian could see a vast amount of intel that she normally wouldn’t be able to see before. And perhaps it was because Endian was originally a strategist, but she valued this new and vital information. It would make her next actions much easier.

Grafdakka entered the rail tunnels he came in from. He wasn’t able to get far as thick steel walls blocked his path, no doubt done to ensure that no one could enter or leave. But Grafdakka wasn’t going to go through the tunnel; he was going to make his own tunnel up. Activating his chainsaws and putting them into drill configuration, he bore a hole through the tunnel, activating his jetpack so that he could move up and out. He made sure to collapse the tunnel behind him so that the enemy couldn’t simply use his hole to get inside the fortress, at least not unless they had a giant drill like he did.

Using the data from the fortress and looking at the map, the angel’s on the ground would feel a rumbling tremor beneath their feet. Barely a second later, Grafdakka would emerge from the ground, his saws roaring with fire and death to tear apart any angel too slow to avoid his ascension. There was no time to see who he fought with or against; Grafdakka simply knew that he was deep into angel forces, and that the easiest way to deal with them was taking out their key leaders. Grafdakka saw Torag and figured that he would be the first person Grafdakka needed to kill. Inside, Endian was getting nearly overloaded with information around her. Who was attacking, where people were, the status of the fortress, and much more. It was almost too much, but somehow the newly possessed machine was able to organize and keep track of it all while also piloting Grafdakka.

To any outside observer, all they’d notice is that Grafdakka has arrived and is charging straight at Torag, chainsaws configured into a drill and flying directly towards the skeletal paladin. Thanks to Queen Eos's power, Grafdakka's drill was instantly powered, ripping through space, time, and the fabric of reality to ensure a simple causality: to tear apart anything that touched the drill.

@Mega Birb@KoL@Banana@Lonewolf685@Lmpkio@Flamelord

---

As fun as it is to rape prisoners and laze about in hell, Fran needed to go out some more. It’s been to long since she’s gotten into a real fight and she feared that she was getting rusty. All the debauchery had really dulled her combat prowess. Good thing she heard about the attack on some Machina fortress; she wasn’t aware that the demons had sent an infiltration crew inside to possess Machina, but she heard about it soon enough that she could join the reinforcements. So a bunch of demons were lead to a place called KC-00032, where once their guys on the inside open things up, the demons would swarm the place and kill everyone inside. ”Sounds like a good time!”

Fran arrived on the back of a massive black dragon. She along with other demons would be airdropped into the fortress, assuming they didn’t get shot down. Which they did; the dragon barely got within a hundred meters before lasers and rockets killed the dragon midflight. Many demons jumped off right then and there and either died or foot-slogged the rest of the way there. However Fran was wise enough to know that even though the dragon was dead, it was able to maintain a rough glide towards the fortress. While it’s dead body wouldn’t land in the factory, it would at least save Fran the trip there when it crashed into the ground and rammped into the walls.

Though a bit dizzy Fran was no worse for wear. She and a couple of other miscreants had managed to reach the wall, and now they just needed to find a way inside. It would only be a matter of time before the machina defenders purge this area of all life, so Fran used her illusions to hide herself as she looked for a way inside. While she was looking around, apparently the High Queen herself was in attendance. That made Fran really excited. ”I wonder if I can get an autograph?” She pondered as she tossed a chain over the wall and pulled herself up.

One by one, the incoming Machina troops fall to their knees, broken and disfigured as Mephilus continues digging his way into the base. It has become a literal slaughter house, with screams of agony and the sickening splatters of blood echoing throughout the halls and corridors. The Hell Knight enjoyed the sound of his victims giving out their last breath, soothing him in a sickened way as he continues on. Yet just as he was getting used to the sound of his own killing spree, the intercoms began to blare its own song, a song which Mephilus dislikes immensely. With a scowl of annoyance, he continues to channel his rage into defeating the soldiers in their way, though he notices that they have become significantly more powerful than before.

"So this song grants them a buff in their abilities..." he thought to himself as he spears a machina soldier with his lance, "Hmmm... clever Eos."

He fires off an explosive round from his lance as it disables several other soldiers down to the ground. But before the Hell Knight can finish the group off, his lance would hit a barrier that rippled across the entire entrance to the next room. With a hiss, Mephilus turns around to see a more skilled-looking foe come into play. He recognizes her to be Shizuka, the blue haired twin of the pink-haired Hibiki, and she is holding a rather big gun. Once it begins firing, the demon doesn't attempt to dodge the attack, but rather stand his ground as he uses his shield to block the bullets. Perhaps shockingly to the blue-haired girl however, those blessed "Holy" bullets would literally do nothing but extinguish as they hit the hellish shield, its aura negating their effects entirely. Some that missed him initially began to bounce wildly around the room and hit his armor a few times, yet it was able to hold them off while he only experienced almost no pain.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Your HOLY bullets are no match for my Shield of Misery." Mephilus smirks as he shakes his head slowly.

Quickly, he lifts his lance as it makes a triple shot towards Shizuka's location, one to the left, one to the right, and one straight at her to make her cease fire. Then, using his jet boosters on the back of his armor, he charges towards the twin as he attempts to knock her back through multiple walls with his mighty shield. If his charge wasn't stopped in time, perhaps they would find themselves outside the base and back outside in a hangar area, where they would both feel the might of the forming storm...

---

As soon as Unit-T was in the air, Tina's mech began to bleep loudly as it warned of an incoming missile locking onto her.

"<:ALERT_ALERT_HOSTILE_MISSILE_LOCKING_ON:>" groaned the deep voice of the onboard voice protocol.

Tina was simply silent as she turned the mech sideways, with the back towards the missile. Suddenly a laser blasts out from in between the spines as it locks on and vaporizes the incoming projectile upon almost immediate impact. Yet they weren't out of the conflict yet, as Aquila began to initiate hurricane-force winds. The wind became so intense, that bits and pieces of KC-00032's less-resistant structure began to fly off. Suddenly, the mech began to blare again, warning of a massive bombardment of debris coming straight towards them. With the winds already beginning to jeopardizing their movement, it seems as if they're going to have to take the full force of the projectiles coming at them...

But then good fortunate smiled upon them, as they can hear a hype-sounding song coming from below. The song began to give Unit-T strength and stability as it levitates in thin air, growling with its mechanical maw. Then it opens its mouth and unleashes a wide beam of green plasma as it incinerates the debris that are in its point of view. The intense power would have it be blasted across the battlefield and off into the mountains nearby. With that done, the mech zooms swiftly down towards land, unleashing a cloud of dust as it lands. Tina can then see the Warboss roar across the sky as it charges towards its next victim, its very weapon warping the fabric of reality. Impressive to say the least.

Gregorovic, The Faceless One
^{KC-00032: Factory Floor}

"Pfft, really? A theme song? What's that gonna do for a mach-" Gregorovic's quip was interrupted by a bullet whizzing past his lack of a face, causing a miracle of his silence for a moment. He cleared his throat before starting a rapid series of teleports, which culminated in a trick knife getting thrown and bouncing into three of the bots, effectively disabling them despite the morale boost. "Let the games begin! Who can take down the jester!?" Almost like it was part of his punctuation, another bot fell as a spinning glaive ripped through the metal, leaving two to shoot at him as he kept blinking and throwing insults. All the while he made sure Eos could hear him in a simple attempt to throw off her beat.

Between beats three and four of whatever measure she happened to be on, a glaive hit her window again. Greg also took a bullet in the side for this gag. "Ow! Those hurt y'know!" The magical jumping continued through the chamber, making himself a hard target for now.

---

---

Torag, Harbinger of Light
^{KC-00032: Angelic Front}

At the head of the pack, Torag personally ignored the orders to cease his charge from what looked like an angry, metal cloud. Whatever it was, it was clearly swarming and using itself as a projectile, so he had literally no way to take it down. One pauldron was struck by the nanites, which kind of exploded and a few skittered around on his armor before falling off. A couple more of these bullets hit before a similar effect took place, one managing to worm its way underneath the heavy plates. However, there was another threat making its way to the front lines, one of massive proportions that Torag had heard stories off.

The Warboss Grafdakka, a sentient machine that existed only to fight and fight well. And it was coming straight for him, a drill humming with the energy required to rip apart space spinning. Very few sets of armor would be able to contend with such a weapon, though the Harbinger of Light thought his up to the task, nothing had managed to pierce it yet for as long as he had owned it. With a fire unseen in much of Heaven, he raised the silver sword, Alondite, high into the air as the drill came closer, and diverted Ragnell to the side. He lowered his right shoulder and intended to take the drill with that pauldron, all the while leaping at and cleaving downwards into where the arm connected to the drill would be moments in the future with the left sword.

Eve let go of her lance as the cloud reformed to match her body size. T'was a tricky little fuck, wasn't it? The harpy had only a second to decide whether she wanted to try and free her lance, which would risk her safety and livability, or if she just wanted to dodge around and retrieve it later, which would risk her lance. She let her wings do the deciding as she shot out into the skies, flying directly towards the hurricane that was present on the battlefield. The sky was her element, and the Cloud would learn that soon enough.

Eve's body began to pick up incredible speed as it circled through the air, even to the point where her wings began to smoke from sheer friction. She was used to flying at these speeds, though, and the adrenaline she felt from the wind against her face was legendary. It would give anyone a true sense of strength, or at the very least it would give them a feeling of confidence.

---

The morale boost, given to Lillian by the High Queen, didn't really do much other than give Lillian a slight sense of fear. Why was she giving off this magic when nobody had even broke into the factory just yet? Something felt awry, and Lillian wanted to figure out what was going on. The medic ran through the halls of the factory, toting her weapon behind her as she ran. She didn't really care for fighting, but if she was to simply let the High Queen die, she'd be put at the stake. On the other hand, if she tried to heal her and provide her support, then she may just be rewarded with some otherworldly amount of praise or loot. Hopefully both.

As Lillian made it close to the room where Eos was, she slowed down and moved lightly in order to keep her movements quiet. If she could get the drop on whoever else was in the room, she'd love to take that opportunity. She did, however, peer into the room with her Notebook in hand, and the notebook quickly began to chronicle the anatomy of Gregorovic as Lillian watched the scene. If she was caught, who knows? Maybe Greg would be fooled into thinking she's allied with Hell due to the mask she wore. It was a stretch, but it may work.

Lucille spent a few extra moments staring at the downed wolf girl in front of her before crossing one leg over the other. “Pardon me. I didn’t realize I was in the presence of Hell’s greatest stratagem. In that case, I’m sure you will bring our forces a stunning victory, one never once witnessed before. Surely you have the tact and skills to avoid making a complete fool of yourself,” she said. Whether Artoria was smart enough to read the sarcasm was not her concern.

Though she would have liked for more of Hell’s forces to participate in this raid, the lack of Ira and Victoire was a reminder of their injuries. Oh well. Given that the place was teeming with Machina one would think it would be a simple matter of corrupting the right people. “But of course that robot diva wouldn’t make it easy,” Lucille mused to herself, crossing the other leg over now and rearranging her position. “Pray tell your little plan won’t stretch out forever, right Furry?”

Speaking of dumb dogs, one with a bigger brain than most was scampering about within Heaven’s fortress built specifically for this mission. The blue Beastkin seen by the Imperator’s side now crawled along the ground, ears twitching and tail bristling. While the others had been sent for a more direct approach, she had been tasked for simple observation, serving as the eyes and ears of the Imperator herself.

“What a load of shit,” the angry dog said, leaping down from Heaven’s fortress and hiding behind whatever big piece of machinery could serve as her cover. “But I guess it’s better than actually doing work. Still fucking sucks. Pieces of ass,” she said, watching the individual battles around her. The worst part was that she wasn’t even being paid for this.

Ananta was satisfied to find that her preparation was indeed a wise decision, as the projectile hurtling against Aquila's celestial winds were contained in the Ofuda prison like a cloud of buzzing gnats. Having expected the Machina artillery to be some form of explosive, this was fortuitous for her to say the least, and even more so when the source deemed her not worth the time to continue its assault and changed tact.

Amidst whirling winds, ravenous nanites, and clashing armies, the lamia was entirely ignored. Even the infamous Grafdakka burst from the ground not fifty feet away and opted to stab the equally renown Torag with a reality shredding drill; A drill that Torag wanted to see if he could tank.

"You may as well go play in traffic if you are going to be so reckless, Torag."

The serpent chastised him in the manner a mother would convey supreme disappoint in their progeny, yet she was quick to save him from total annihilation in the manner most appropriate. In a flash her tail whipped around and struck the paladin in the hip, flinging him away from the straight path of the drill and hoping that wherever he landed he didn't decide to make such a gamble so lightly again.

And with Graf so close already, Ananta figured she may as well take her own shot at the mechanical Goliath and slither onto the drill arm as it passed, interested to see if she could find an access point of some kind to get inside and find something fragile to destroy.

Though if she were to find a control system of some kind, then she could put her Ashura Arms to a very spectacular use.

CIEL, The Stargazer
^{KC-00032: The Angel's Fortress}

"Oh, this song... could it be?" Ciel's face brightened into a grin of excitement as she heard the song coming from KC-00032 and observed its effect on the Machina forces. There was only one individual in the whole Nexus who could do that. Just the one Ciel wanted to see the most to say the truth. "It's really her, the High Queen in person!" she said, almost falling off the Angelic Fortress' ramparts as she saw the holographic projection of Eos all over the factory.

"Master, are you sure that you should be that excited because of the enemy?" Aquila said as she used the winds to throw even more and larger debris at the Machina forces, focusing her attacks on the biggest targets, namely Grafdakka and Unit-T. Hitting something that big with steel beams and whole sections of the infrastructure would be a piece of cake. Not to say how much the severe hurricane like wings would impair any who where exposed to it. Aquila also took care of throwing some debris in the path of the bullets shot at her distracted master. Whoever though that they could use her own holy winds against her was very wrong.

"Oh, come on, Aquila, you don't know it but I have my reasons," Ciel said, puffing her cheeks. A mischievous grin popped on the Stargazer's lips a moment later as she raised a hand, reaching for the sky. "Hey, Aquila, a show is not a show without fireworks, isn't it? How about we give a hand to my other sel- I mean the High Queen?" At Ciel's command, day turned into night as a clear, sparkling star field appeared to dance over KC-00032.

The Stargazer spread her arms, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating her power. "We are the stars: The Singing Stars..." she said in a trance-like manner, causing the world itself to shake.

"We are the stars that sing with light," A voice, or better, a chorus coming from the stars themselves responded to her call.

Aquila gulped. Not only her master was thinking of destroying the whole place from the get go. But also a certain overpowered blonde midget was now sitting beside them, grinning at the sight before her eyes, as obnoxious as ever.

"Such an awe inspiring sight, the power of Mankind, I mean, right?" None but Hohenheim, the Alchemist of Genesis, said as she sat on the wall, beside Ciel. "And to think that she was made in a world where the best technology available were touchscreen phones." Hohenheim rolled a pair of dice in her hand as she waited Ciel's reply, knowing that she had broken the Stargazer's concentration.

Ciel pouted, halting her spell casting in order to address Hohenheim. "What are you doing here, Hoho? I don't remember summoning you," she said while letting part of the power she had accumulated rain down upon KC-00032 in the form of a shower of meteors made of pure starlight.

"I'm observing, as always. You know that my job is to conduct the experiments, right?" Hohenheim replied, seemingly oddly uninterested as KC-00032 was bombarded by small fraction Ciel's star magic. "It's not like I could miss the results of having two beings like you and her fight one another. Even on this realm of eternal strife, it's not everyday that such a strong paradox happens."

"Suit yourself, then," Cel said as she got back to observing the battlefield, wondering what she would do next.

EOS, The High Queen
^{KC-00032: The Control Room}

[Coming soon]

"... Eeep.." Artoria said as she scuttled a bit backwards. "Yeah! It's totally ready now, yep, I'm off." Artoria's statement was not very reassuring.

Tearing open the fabric of space, Bunny Ears, Fox Tails, Pangolin Claws, and Magpie Wings at the ready, she flashed into the room next to the room with the Gamma suit. With Hibiki distracted by fighting, she wouldn't likely notice Artoria in time, as she both wasn't in the room with the Gamma suit, and rather than try to disengage the security mechanisms, try to wear the suit, or any of that, Artoria simply sucked Gamma and that entire wall between the two rooms into her Gates of Tartarus in a fraction of a second. And once inside the Gates of Tartarus, which had a stasis effect and a dimensional barrier, it would likely be protected it from Hibiki's explosives. Now, the suit was still rigged with explosives (even if prevented from exploding while within the Gates of Tartarus), so Artoria couldn't use it, but neither could anyone else unless they could reach into Artoria's Gates of Tartarus. @Ryonara

Then, she teleported to the top of the inside of the fortress and then Artoria surrounded herself with outward facing gates, sending hundreds of tons of superheated demonic lava with evil Valkyrie fire everywhere. By gathering up demonic lava that was already tainted, then charging it further with Ira's Black Flame and Mephila's pyrokinesis, then storing it in the stasis of Gates of Tartarus, Artoria had a rather potent combined charge up attack that she could store up massive quantities of. She had been doing this, poking her wingtips and tailtips through portals, while lounging in the throne room.

With her endless deluge of evil superheated lava, which was the only thing inside her Gates of Tartarus other than Gamma, she hoped to melt as much of the factory as she could. Hopefully she'd at least get the sound system.

@KoL@TheWindel

The Cloud

New allies joined the fight, but the Cloud was more in tun with its own battle. Grafdakka had drawn much attention away, an error that was perhaps unwise as more nanites arrived from the new entrance onto the battlefield from the factory behind. The Cloud was expanding, growing more powerful, and that opened up access to a whole new range of weaponry that it would not have been able to utilize otherwise as its size increased at a steady pace.

It was regrettable that Eve decided to disengage and fly away, leaving the Cloud with the lance embedded in its 'shoulder'. Not that it would stay that way for long as nanites rose up to engulf the weapon, beginning the process of breaking it down into its composite elements for the creation of new nanites. It was a good thing that she didn't much like the lance, because once the process was done there would be literally nothing left.

But events continued to progress, with a new song joining the old and turning the battlefield to night. It was not difficult to detect the presence of angelic magic at play, leaving the full effects to be determined. A quick survey revealed the incoming meteor strikes, which would be marked by the Cloud and transmitted to the rest of the Machina forces. That would allow the factory to react, deploying hard emplacements or mobile units through the holes that had been conveniently torn in the structure so thy could divert the attack with anti-orbital laser systems, or with counter-missile fire. Either way, it would not be so easy to remove the critical installation.

With that done though it quickly shifted to continue the fight. Weapons loadouts would shift to plasma based weaponry, gouts of blue energy flying through the air to strike down many an angel, and anyone engaging in close combat befalling as poor a fate as Eve had if not worse. It focusd its fire on Torag, not giving him the opportunity to recover from his mistake as weapons fire would head his way at a fairly rapid pace while the growing being advanced towards him. It couldn't risk dispersing in this wind, so this would hav to do for now as it pushed the offensive inexorably.

@Banana@Mega Birb@Lucius Cypher@Lonewolf685

---

Tartys

Leaving behind her conversation with Miyu, Tartys had headed off to the next battlefield that waited for her. She arrived to find them overlooking a factory, a full force gale whipping about the area though it did not seem to be affecting her at the moment. That meant it must have been their doing, rather than a natural occurrence. She could be grateful for that, since she had no desire to actually fly in how bad that wind looked to be. Without hesitation she summoned her spear and her armor, ready to get to the fight.

Right now though they needed to actually get to the factory, which seemed problematic because of the fight going on below. At least she didn't have to worry about that, and Tartys took to the skies as she rapidly flew forward, aiming for the spots in the factory structure that had been ripped open by the wind, which were less likely to be adequately defended compared to, say, the front entrance. Why do the Machina the honor of walking into their defensive line?

At the same time she added her magic power to this fight, throwing balls of holy magic that would explode when they came close enough to an enemy. It might not be all that effective against the Machina, but it could provide a distraction for them to be taken out. So she lashed out as she flew, drawing ever closer to her destination and the waiting factory.

@KoL@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher

Henrietta(?) Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

Henrietta frowned as the mech shit down her missile with relative ease, although she wasn't too disappointed really. If it had been shot down that easily it wouldnt be worth her time at all. She dropped the missile launcher into a portal and started wandering further into the compound, she had a feeling she would be able to take that mech soon if they took the factory. Plus she had heard about another cool mech suit that was even stronger around here. She also shot any speakers she came across as she didn't particularly like the music that was playing. Weird choice for lobby music.

As she wandered through the factory she would occasionally drop one or two of the Rose Buds Victoire had given Henry last battle, as they pumped their demonic corruption through the factory it would combine with the demonic lava that Artorias was spreading throughout the factory as well. All in all this would be a slow burn win for the Demons if they played their cards right.

Suddenly debris began to rain from the ceiling as Ciel's meteorshowers tore through and bombarded the entire factory. Henrietta nonchalantly opened up one or two Gates above her to capture the rogue energy, storing it alongside that one nuclear laser that got fired at her a few battles ago, but she soon came across a familiar demonic knight and a maid. Considering there was only one that meant the other was snuping from somewhere else, the usual. Henrietta jumped through a broken hole in the ceiling, making her way up to the roof where she quickly encountered some very heavy winds. Her eyes glowed silver and her boots formed spikes underneath them, anchoring her to the floor so she wasn't whipped away with the winds. One Gate later and a sniper rifle was in Henrietta's hands as she searched for Hibiki. It took her a minute to locate her and to run through some calculations in her head about where she needed to aim.

Henrietta held her breath and aimed in the direction that would lead to a direct hit on Hibiki, firing off 2 shots, one directly at her and the other slightly to the left of her if she tried to dodge. "This is payback for last battle you lowborn sniper bitch."