As Hibiki was on her way out to strafe again, she noticed that she had sustained some damage. Not enough to affect her performance, but she had underestimated the Heaven's new forces. "Hmm. I guess that's what I get for being cocky." Hibiki flew further out, roughly ten kilometers this time. She still flew low at Mach 1 in order for the radar to scan everything on the ground around her, picking up troop position as well as any other odd movement. Hibiki detected something that wasn't machine movement near the operating area of the Machina base and alerted them about it. "This is Nova 1 to forward operation, unknown activity in your area. Be advised hostiles will likely be in the area. I'm sending you coordinates now." Hibiki sent the Machina soldiers the location of where she had noticed demon activity before returning to the battle.

While defeating the angels was important to winning this conflict, Hibiki had to remember that this was demon territory, and if she doesn't stop them, then neither the machina nor the angels will win. Not only that but Hibiki had been reckless to assume that the angels lacked the firepower to actually harm Hibiki while piloting the Falken. "Let's see how well they handle the demons then." Hibiki sharply started to rise in elevation, going from one kilometer, then to five, twenty, and eventually thirty kilometers. Frost was building up on her jet but Hibiki wasn't worried; the Falken was durable enough that if needed Hibiki could do atmospheric combat. At this range Hibiki's radar couldn't pick up anything unless someone or something was sent to chase after her. At the crux of Hibiki's ascent she turned back towards the battlefield and primed her TLS. It had a max range of about 20 kilometers, and that was only because that's as far as Hibiki could see with the assistance of targeting machines. Anyone with a sharper eye could easily snipe further. Hibiki needed the range because once she hit 20 kilometers above Seaf and Farris, she fired the TLS around their position, cutting the floor beneath them into the catacbombs below. Hibiki had about ten seconds to do enough damage to the ground they stood on to cause it to collapse, and she had to avoid Farris's crystal barriers as they'd just nullify, or worse reflect Hibiki's laser right back at her.

As Hibiki was carving a hole around the angel's forces she picked up Victoire's telepathic message. This at least confirmed that she was here, and Hibiki would bet that she was the one who must have dropped in near the Machina HQ. Hibiki wasn't sure if Victoire was trying to intimidate them or trying to give them a sporting chance when she mentioned that she had full control over the graveyard. Knowing her, Hibiki suspected both. All the more reason Hibiki needed to drop these angels into the catacombs: if they got the same message then they need to hurry and deal with the demons. Looking over at all the destruction around the graveyard, Hibiki knew she needed to focus her attention elsewhere too.

@KoL@Silvan Haven

@KoL@Ryonara@BCTheEntity



The small detachment of the 1rst HMD deployed to this battlefield had never stopped firing at the Falken. It had never actually left the range of their lasers. In fact the advanced jet plane was slowing down to mach one and still hadn't taken any evasive maneuvers. The lack of significant damage after all those blasts may have had something to do with it. Perhaps the dense armor cut down on the speed and agility.

Coherent light tracked the vehicle across the sky as it arced around and then up. Specifically targeted were the engines. There was a limit to the amount of protection you could pack onto those. A single lucky shot could bring down the entire craft.

Of course that was when one of his men called his attention to something coming at them from another direction.

Is that a crow eaten Einstein-Rosen Bridge!?

He had never personally worked on them back home but several of his colleagues had. It made for some very impressive experiments and the equations involved were even more so. Those experiments had looked an awful lot like the huge...thing heading towards him and his men. Saef estimated he had ten, maybe eleven seconds before it impacted his barrier. He was fairly confident that his concept based defenses wouldn't just be swept aside by the attack.

His protective barrier would keep out any attacks. And the big ball of wibbly wobbly science stuff that was the oncoming wormhole was most definitely an attack. He just wasn't sure how much energy it would take to do so. He could pour more energy into the barrier as needed but doing so might drain him more than he was willing.

The problem was solved in part as the Falken's laser slammed into the ground just outside his barrier and began burning through the cold earth. A section crumbled and fell into the catacombs below, leaving a black gaping maw in the snow covered ground. It seemed that the pilot was trying to drop them into the tunnels. An odd move all things considered. Not many celestial beings would die from the short fall, if any. His men in particular were a hardy bunch. Although he supposed that the pilot had little way of know just his different they were.

There wasn't even anything unusual directly below them. The plethora of strong radar being used to target his company also allowed them to gain a fair understanding of the hollow spaces beneath them. A single zombie was moving within range of their limited sensors. Some spirits might have been floating around but he highly doubted there was enough down there to be any serious danger. Still it provided an opportunity.

"Get ready to move underground!"

He changed the nature of his barrier. It became more solid, still white but less see through. The now solid barrier instantly sliced through the frozen dirt and rocks it had formerly simply passed through. Unknown to the casual observer the magical construct had been a full sphere. He had made it a personal rule after a rather nasty battlefield experience. Some Demons liked to try and tunnel under a new mage's only protection.

In several areas now unsupported earth dropped into the dark catacombs below. Soldiers started to stream into the openings, spreading out past areas already cut by the oncoming fighter jet. Moving at supernatural speeds the entire company was down and under cover before either attack finished. Saef himself was just about to enter the darkness when Victoire's telepathic message reached him.

Forsaken world.

The curse was a particularly vile one that developed in the months before Heaven sent reinforcements. A lot of people's belief in a greater good had been shaken in the face of a full on Demonic invasion. Things weren't as bad here but that message changed things and not for the better. Victoire Bordeaux was an Elder Vampire and a high level general of the Demonic Hoards. And not an idiot. There was no reason for her to broadcast her presence to what was probably the entire battlefield. Either she was bluffing or had a reason to be as confident as she sounded.

From the briefings the Division's command staff had been shown the vampire possessed an abundance of deadly abilities. Saef had a couple ideas about why Victoire might be feeling so confident. Whichever it was he didn't have the time or extra energy to fight the Machina forces before him.

As he flashed below ground his scepter idly waved. Golden words forming behind him as he vanished.

Temporary truce. Going to fight Victoire.

It was up to the Machina forces overhead to decide if they would agree to the truce. He didn't have time to wait though. He had to capitalize on the Elder Vampire's mistake while he could. As Saef followed his men through the twisting tunnels symbols flashed by in his mind. The rod in his hand glowed once more as the spell was crafted. If he did this right he could track that psionic signal back to its source.

Eve's mind was cluttered with demonic thoughts, some from the voice of Victoire Bordeaux, and others from Atarah. Her vision blurred and she fell into a hunch, holding her head tightly as she fought back the tears. "D-dammit, this is going south bad." Eve couldn't scout anymore, there wasn't an easy way out of here with her head aching as bad as it was. She only had one option, and that was to take out the main problem at it's source.

It was time for a cockfight.

Eve let go of her head as she stared at Atarah and Maceroy, although her headache only increased when she saw Maceroy. She felt like she should know him somehow, and yet... she couldn't figure it out. It wasn't the time to think about that, though. Eve's body rocketed off of the ground and towards Atarah, staying parallel as she spun mid-flight, sending her foot directly into Atarah's hard back. Atarah was knocked down to the ground as Eve stayed airborne, her foot bleeding slightly as she stayed up.

(OOC - Got Gecko's permission to do that via Discord.)

---

"Ye'd be surprised. A lotta people wanna keep their original bods, but don't mind a bit'a cybernetic enhancements." Lillian climbed back up into her mech as she retrieved her Chemical Hose. "It's also kinda fun when y'got one o'these puppies." She patted the weapon affectionately before she stepped down, brandishing the item like it was her best friend. Probably because it was.

Looks like Marie's accidental shot had made a hit after all as it pierces a hole through the harpy's left wing and deep into his stomach. While it looks extremely painful, it's clear that Maceroy will not falter yet as he has only just begun to do combat with the Hellish Bounty Hunter. As her weapons morphed into her two desert eagle pistols, she begins firing her rounds carefully as she shoots against the approaching harpy. But this time her shots were blocked as the harpy angles his wings at just right angle to deflect the shots. Granted, while armor-piercing bullets are strong, they do their best when launched from a high propulsion weapon such as a sniper rifle. In pistols, they become slightly slower and perhaps not as affective, being more vulnerable to be deflected at said angles.

After firing a few more shots, one of the bullets gets deflected directly back at Marie, missing her only by inches as it whizzes past her ear. That was a close one. She better be careful with her shots now, otherwise she might kill herself with her own bullets unintentionally. With the lance in his hand, Maceroy began to get closer within jabbing distance. Before the bounty hunter considers to dodge the incoming jab, a sudden pulse of energy rippled lightly through her body. To Marie, this feeling was rather refreshing as she sighs in slight pleasure. For the harpy however, this deemed to be devastating for him as his nanobots began to act against him. It must've been due to the shockwave that the dodo-harpy released...

However, this was no time to stand around doing nothing. Needing to still save bullets, Marie transforms her guns yet again, this time taking the form of a deadly scythe. The cool blue colors of the weapons seemed to change instantly as it transforms into the melee weapon, cackling in red hellish lightning. Her right eye's pupil gleams ominously as she raises her scythe to issue a quick finishing blow against the seemingly fallen angel.

This fight seemed too easy for the demon hunter...

---

As Ghelgath continued to erect more frozen soldiers out of the ground, Apia suggested that he should combine his powers with her bees. The Ice Lich seemed to hesitate at that thought initially. Snow-Bees? Can that be a thing? Of course, there was only one way to find out if that is true or not...

"Ehhh... sure, why the hell not?" Ghelgath responds while simply shrugging.

With that, Apia's bees began to buzz in a large cluster as they prepared to be baptized by ice. With a huge huff, the Lich inhales an extremely large amount of cold air until exhaling to reveal a cloud of icy mist wash over the bees. Within seconds, the flying critters began to morph into flying icy-hybrids, earning sharp points on their body and ice armor that covers most of their bodies, with even their stinger receiving a bigger stinger. They even became 30% larger than how they were usually.

With that, it appears that Ghelgath's army is complete. With around 60+ soldiers, from the pesky ice goblins, to the frozen battle warriors, the chiller mages, the flying Ice Phantoms, and even the hulking brute Ice golems, alongside the Frozen Bees, it was time for them to go into battle.

"Finally ready..." the Lich says to himself as he issues a chilling grin.

Having recently heard about a new Heavenly force entering the area from Victoire, he couldn't help but to bring the fight to him.

"OI! Victorie!" he shouts loudly out into the cold wind as if he's a maniac, "Send us to the nearest Heaven army force! I wanna send these puppies into battle!"

Little did he know, his assistance may be taken more for granted at this very moment then ever before in his service with Hell...

"Ah?" Atarah's pulse just barely alerted her to Eve's attack at her rear but she started to turn far too late to counter, especially with their relative speeds "Hey, no fair! I was grandstanding... Serves you right!" Atarah once again started getting to her feet, dusting herself off once more, as she stuck her tongue out at Eve's injury.

"Your strikes are like nothing! I wasn't even scratched when I crashed against the.. ER, STRUCK A BLOW AGAINST CREATION. Your puny attacks have no chance!" Atarah boasted yet still against Eve, clearly not an experienced combatant. Even if, or perhaps especially if, she thought she was playing head games.

@Banana@Lmpkio@BCTheEntity



Pink continued saving up energy. She'd never know when someone would need her. Or maybe the battle would be over, and she'd get to take all this lovely food home. And then a whole bunch of the laser men from before showed up! "Oh hey, are things going well? Need anything?" She flitted back and forth on her little cloud ball of energy she had gathered.

Turns of Power Gathering: 6

Apia shivered, but she was astounded by the new arrival of the frozen bees. She grinned at their larger size, their brawnier appearance, and their overall threat vibe. She was loving it. "O-oh my god! M-my sweeties a-are even s-stronger!" A swarm of bees brought forth a yellow sweater, dropping it on Apia as she stopped shivering. The frozen bees were probably a bit close and too much for her to stay warm with, so she needed something to keep her at least semi-warm. Her swarm of frozen and non-frozen bees grouped around the icy army, joining them as she heard Victoire's telepathy call to her and Ghelgath.

After hearing Ghelgath scream to the absence of anything around them, Apia followed suit by raising her voice in the same way (although, not as loudly). "What Ghelgath said. Take us to the army, please!"

The events around Farris took a wild turn in the matter of a few seconds. Seemingly out of nowhere, an attack using the power of gravity targeted their strike team, coupled with the pilot of the aircraft doing evasive maneuvers that put her out of the reach of the retaliation Farris planned. This was indeed war at its best, the kind of event that can only be appreciated in the Nexus and nowhere else.

Just as Farris was about to create another barrier, Saef's thoughts were faster as he raised the protection level of his barrier. That said, it didn't seem like that was needed. The pilot made them a favor of opening a direct path to the catacombs, effectively sealing their strike team from the attacks of Machina weaponry. Just to be sure that they would be covered as they regrouped, Farris used her earth powers to seal the hole, not before Saef tried to send a truce proposal to the Machina all thanks to the devilish trickery of a certain vampire.

"I do not suggest that we put much stock on her words before having any proof of their worth. Indeed, the Blood Countess is dangerous, but turning out back to the Machina just to go hunt her together is tantamount to suicide. All things granted, the Demons may be interested that we form such an alliance. Who can say that they have not sneaked a corrupt soldier among the Machina ranks, just to send whatever flimsy truce we form into disarray, before pouncing on the survivors of a close quarters skirmish?" Farris said with a grave tone. Saef's intentions were good, but the Demon's excelled at treachery and cunning, following the most obvious path, would likely get them to a swift defeat, regardless of Victoire being bluffing or not.

"Without the reports from the harpies we sent to scout, it'll be nigh impossible to single out the Blood Countess, I suggest that we spread out in small teams and scour the battlefield. Nevertheless, we have to be aware traps there no telling wha—" That was just when Sapphire Pink came up to them. Before Farris could have the time to reply, a chilling wind and the buzzing of countless bees filled the tunnels around them. The stench of demonic corruption was all over them. It was too late, they had already been ambushed. "Get ready to fight and stay close! We cannot allow the Demons to use their treachery to take us down," Farris shouted just as she filled the corridors around them with jagged, holy crystal blades.
"Hah... hah... hahaha!" Victoire couldn't help but burst into laughter at the smoke demon's reaction. Her flashing fangs and unnatural paleness would make it so that no one else in the Nexus confused Victoire with another being. But this, that was something she would never expect. "Human, I? Hahaha, that was something that I have never ever been called even once up to this day. I don't even know, or never knew what it's to feel the warmth of life unless I take it from others. Know that you have amused me greatly, smoke whisp. I'll be glad to properly teach you about this world. Alas, I have work to do. Stay here, I'll come back in a moment," the vampire said before disappearing right in front of Maen's eyes, using her Shadow Jaunt to instantly travel to another exit of the catacombs.

Victoire was now close to where she set her third field of Demon Roses, back in the middle of Demon territory. The catacombs didn't have enough space to maneuver targets as big as Balrog or Gelgath's army, naturally, Victoire had to go to a place where she couldn't be ambushed before using her portals to give them a lift. A moment later, Gelgath, Apia, Fran, and Balrog would be transported to the targets of their choice. The first three right into the trio of Angels deep within the Angel territory and the last one around six meters away from the Harvester, charging at the giant Machina like a runaway locomotive. "Don't do anything too harsh, any of you. The battle is already won, don't get yourselves killed or captured by trying to play the hero," Victoire said telepathically before disappearing back to the smoke demon's side.

"Just as I was saying," Victoire flipped her hair dramatically to emphasize her words, apparently, she was in a rather good mood for the time being, "You have much to learn. How a deal? I'll indoctrinate you and show how to truly make the humans you seem to loathe so much suffering, and you'll do my bidding as I see fit. Also, if you like this little one so much, you can have it as a proof of good my good will." The shadow bat flew from Victoire's lap and began to flap its tiny wings, circling around the smoke demon, pretty much like it did until now.

The Countess summoned another cup of sipping of it delicately as she waited for a reply. At this moment, she had all the time in the world...

[D. Rose Radius: 1920/480/480/240/240 meters] [Catacombs/Underground Coverage: 3.2/1.6/0.8 %]

---

.

The girl laughed at him, and told him in no terms, that she was anything but human. Maen's mind raced as he thought over his newly acquired knowledge. Not human... Angel? Demon? He had no reference to base his conjecture, and so it fell flat. As he was thinking of the figure's origin, she disappeared. Maen looked around to see if she had gone for a smoke break or something.

When the small not-human appeared in front of him again he looked at her confusedly. He tilted his head and listened intently as she told her offer. She'll help me kill wretched humans, and I get to hang out with bat buddy? He smiled brightly, his flat teeth sharpening and elongating as she watched.

"As the humans say, 'sign me up'..." Maen paused as he thought of a form of address, "Little un-human?"

He grinned at bat buddy, excitedly awaiting their return to glory. They would have a great time playing chase again. Maybe bat buddy would even want to team up and chase someone else. Who knows... maybe the little un-human would join.



@KoL

@KoL@The 42nd Gecko@Banana@Lmpkio@Lucius Cypher



Saef didn't completely agree with Farris's reasoning but remained silent nonetheless. She was his commander on this mission even if she was letting him retain operational command of his troops. He would listen to her words. It appeared that they weren't alone down here though. The strangely cheerful dog/wolf girl from before was also here. And swimming with so much energy it almost made Saef dizzy just looking at her. Thick pink strands of magic floated through the nearby tunnels, stretching around corners and out of sight.

The armored man opened his unseen mouth to answer to her when the air was filled with a buzzing he had never expected to hear on the battlefield. It almost sounded like a swarm of bees. The air temperature also dropped by a significant margin. The wave of corruption that accompanied both was palpable.

This might have been why the Machina aboveground had been trying to force them under. Were the Demons and the Human creations already in league with each other?. It didn't seem likely but was still possible.

"Prepare for CQC." He called out over the comm net. The quantum linked particles that made it up didn't care about the literal tons of rock and dirt that lay between the members of the company. "You all know the drill."

In the tunnels around him his men were once more moving into position. Finding cover where they could and getting ready to receive a charge. Several in more cramped quarters drew their combat blades. Essentially the same as the blade mode on Saef's own weapon, they appeared to be simple white or silver handles when resting on the owner's belt. While not able to reach the same photon sharp level as his blade they still had a better edge than any mundane blade could reach. Cutting rocks was a fairly common means of practicing edge alignment.

Henry charged, his weapons put away and his powers at rest. He was ready for a fist fight and Zachariah was ready to oblige him. The heat that emanated from the flaming angels body was benign now, in the hundreds of degrees instead of thousands. The blinding light hat pierced the air from his shining halo dimmed. pain began to numbly pulse through his body. The strain slowly drained the ether from his form, flaking off in fiery bits which rose into the sky, returning to the clouds above. Zachariah's form began to loose its ethereal properties as the flames that made up his body receded, returning to flesh in small spots scattered about his limbs. In spite of it all, this didn't deter the angel.

Zachariah followed suit in Henry's charge, quickly bursting into motion with a fierce battlecry. Fire exploded behind the angel, pushing him forward with a rush of momentum. A pair of his upper most wings disintegrated in the blur of motion, fading into a trail of smoke as the energy sustaining them withered. The loss didn't hold him back, but it did begin to slow him from his blinding speeds. Zachariah led with a massive right hook, winding back to put his strength behind the blow. Then, at the last moment when he and Henry were closest, Zachariah threw his punch downward, faking the punch while making his own back vulnerable, and instead using the shift in his body weight to bring his leg up in a upside down roundhouse kick.

A battle of punches indeed.

A curious scene was taking place not very far from where some of the newest newcomers to this plane of merriment and games arrived. A small, bespectacled girl, with really long and voluminous, coal-black hair, wearing loose-fitting black and red robes, was pretty much balancing on her toe tips as tried to talk with the furry feline owner of an ice cream truck. Whatever was the case, her shocked —or was it disappointed?— expression made it pretty obvious that the girl wasn't having a good time.

"Can't you give me at least one? I already said I have money to pay for it, look," The girl said in a very soft and slightly shaky voice. Indeed she had a few of what looked to be raw gold nuggets in her petite hand that barely stuck out of her oversized sleeves. Even then, the ice cream man, erm... cat seemed unshaken.

"We can't take that here. Did your parents never tell you to not prank people, girl?" the feline said while scratching the back of his head. He apparently didn't want to be mean but there was no way he was going to take some kid's toy money and think it's worth anything.

"I just was one for a friend, you can have this much for it," the girl looked close to crying at this point, casting a sad snake gaze at the ground as she pretty much lost the hopes of getting the ice cream she wanted.

"Argh... it's meowk..." the vendor said, sighing deeply. As long as no one else saw it, indulging a girl wasn't going to break the shop. "Gimme that, girl," he took the gold, apparently still thinking it was fake, "here, you can have these. One for you and one for that friend you are talking about. Now, off with you... if someone else see what I did, I'll probably be broke by the end of the day," the vendor said, after handing a couple of bluish popsicles to the girl As soon as he did so, he pretty much shooed her away, before anyone else could see he handing free ice cream to sad children.

The girl's expression brightened quite a lot as she walked away happily. Such a shame that a couple of giant robots and a literal stampede of yelling kids appearing out of nowhere, right on her way, caused the girl to stumble and fall. Without knowing what happened, she stood there watching the lost ice cream melt in the pavement, big blobs of snake tears running down her reptilian face as she wondered what to do now.

---

Miyu sprang into action instantly. And we mean instantly, as if the neurons in her head were all connected with no transmission time, the images from her eyes could reach her brain instantly, and the commands from her brain were teleported exactly where in her body they needed to go. With no one else to use Circle of Harmonious Will on, she had used it on herself, with herself, all sorts of different parts of herself, to optimize her reaction time. No one would want to go to the happyverse, then immediately die for reals because they didn't see an oncoming truck in time and get creamed.

Speaking of cream, the goal of her action was to rescue the girl and her ice cream, activating Reach of Green Dawn to grab her with one hand and the popsicles with the other, and move her and them safely out of the way of the stampede, via unified air surfaces. It was a funky power.

Once confident she was was safe and she'd be able to grab her popsicles again, Miyu turned back to Lillian, "Some kind of liquid or gas sprayer? Maybe both? Not bad. Personally, I'm a fan of my oar.. Which I dropped to the ground." She picked it up. "For some reason, it just feels right. I know it's just a piece of wood, but it feels right, and it did fine vs Henry." Unless the girl was paying attention, the girl might not notice Miyu had even been the one to help, apart from some funny hand motions and sudden focus. Miyu made no move to try and claim credit. It was just the right thing to do. "Something about having an oar for a weapon helped remind me that I don't have enough raw power to take the enemy head on, and I needed to pull something clever they didn't expect. And nobody knows how to fight against an oar, it seems. At least out of my sample size one and a bunch of clones."

@KoL@Banana

Henry was about to block the intense hook, raising his arms in defense, only to be caught off guard as Zak abandoned his punch and spun into a roundhouse kick. The leg connected with the top of Henry's head, sending him a few feet lower in altitude as he shook his head violently. He flapped hard to regain his footing and went for a hard upwards thrust knee straight into Zak's stomach.

Burning amber fluid spilled from Zachariah's maw with a heavy grunt, sputtering into the air as the blunt force of Henry's knee collided with his gut, shattering the obsidian armor across his abdomen into bits. Zachariah hurtled upward, coughing as the wind was knocked out of him. He drew his wrist across his grimace and wiped away the leaking trail of liquid embers. Steadying himself, the fiery angel spat a wad of glowing blood toward the earth before clasping his fingers together and slamming his locked fists downward like a hammer toward the demon's shoulder.

The armor on Henry's shoulder fractured, and since there was no longer any heat sustaining the armor it simply broke under the force of the hammer blow. And so did Henry's shoulder in general yet he powered through the pain, bringing his head back and then slamming it forward directly into Zak's nose.

Zachariah reeled back in pain, clutching his face with an open hand as the impact sent him flipping head over heels downward through the air. Fire billowed through the sky, sizzling into smoke as another pair of wings diminished, leaving the archangel with his last pair, which flapped heavily to stop his descent. Fire only made up half the angels body now, as his flame emperor state drained away, flaking into the air like smoldering ashes. Zachariah growled with agony as pain shot through his nerves, before shaking away the stars from his vision. Struggling to keep himself steady, the angel launched upward with a vicious uppercut toward Henry's gut.

Henry doubled over, spitting up a bit of blood from the force of impact. He pushed himself off of Zak's fist and wiped the small trail of blood from his mouth, smiling as Zak lost yet another pair of wings. The fight was coming to a close. Henry jabbed at Zak's throat with his right hand, quickly following up with a hard right hook.

Zachariah threw up his fists, blocking the jab to his throat, but also blinded himself to the hook, spitting up a tooth as the fist solidly connected with his jaw. The archangel's form gave for a moment, nearly loosing his consciousness, but continued to bare against Henry, pushing back the fist with his face until his seething rebellious gaze locked with the demon's. Another strained battlecry escaped the angel as he threw a right hook of his own. His strength was starting to wane, and he was beginning to lose altitude.

He turned his head with the punch so it would hurt less, but he felt his skull rattle for sure. Henry's eyes glowed for a brief second and a platform formed underneath them, just enough room to continue their fight without flying but there was the small danger of falling still. Henry's smile widened as he kicked out at Zak's knee, attempting to break it and bring him to the ground, at the same time he jabbed at Zak's nose with his left hand.

An agony stricken shout rang out as Henry connected his boot to the angels knee. A sickening crack rattled out as the bone in his leg splintered. Zachariah doubled over, gripping at his leg with an absent hand when the demon threw a swift punch towards his face, aiming for his nose a second time. Zachariah barelly managed to duck, taking the strike to his eye instead. His head was knocked about and he was sent down to the fabricated ground on all fours, a spatter of blood leaking from his jaw. An enraged growl roiled from the angel as he jumped forward with his good leg, reaching to grab Henry around the waist. He left his back open doing so, but didn't have very many other options. He was losing the strength to deliver any more attacks.

Henry chuckled as his blows struck home, getting ready to kick Zak off the platform into the roiling lava below. Suddenly Zak jumped into him, tackling him to the ground with his superior size and weight. Henry began punching Zak in the ribs, hoping to knock him off or maybe make him get off to stop the pain. Something like that.

Ribs cracked and snapped as Henry struck the angel in an attempt to pry him off, but to no avail as Zachariah bared through the pain, struggling to push the demon forward, inching him toward the edge. The only flames that remained of the angel's emperor form were those of his halo, his wings, and a few random glowing patches here and there. Finally Zacharia's eyes began to glaze over and his march grew weak. With a final exertion of strength, the angel pushed himself and the demon in his arms over the edge, doing his best to keep his arms locked on Henry while throwing his weight toward the ground far below.

Henry panicked as they inched closer and closer to the edge, striking harder and harder with each blow even as he felt Zak's ribs practically turning to dust beneath his mighty fists. Zak began to slow until they were just at the edge, his eyes glazing over and Henry beginning to calm down. "Whoo, that was a close one. Crazy motherfucker nearly sent us over the-" With one final push Zak sent both of them over the edge, plummeting to the lava below. "AHH GOD DAMNIT YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH YOU'RE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF AND ME! MORE IMPORTANTLY ME!" Henry struggled to break free of Zak's grasp, but nothing was as strong as the grip of a man dying as his muscles locked into place. He began to turn them both in midair so Zak would hit the lava first, hopefully he would cushion Henry's landing and then he could fly off somewhere to heal up.

Zachariah managed a pained smile, his eyes empty. The consciousness left him, and his grip finally loosened. It seemed as though Henry was free of the angel's embrace, though as he turned to let Zachariah cushion his fall, something appeared from the lava below. A flash of blinding light pierced through the air as the Zachariah left to swim within the lava emerged, only two wings propelling him forward. His voice rang out, crossing the battlefield with a sovereign might as the angel tore through the air with a spear in hand and shot toward the falling pair. Energy vaporised in his trail as his legs and half of his body vanished. The last of the energy sustaining his form was quickly diminishing. However before he completely disappeared, launched the spear toward Henry's middle section, in an effort to cut him in half...again...before crashing into Zachariah's falling body. The explosion of fire shined out in a incendiary cloud of flames and debris. The fire was gone. The light was gone. The halo above Zak's head ceased existing, and he was left to fall to the ground.

Henry broke free of Zak in the nick of time as he began flapping his wings hard to halt his downward momentum. But the battle wasn't over yet as the final Zak burst free from the lava, tossing one last fuck you to Henry in an attempt to bisect him once again. Henry grunted in pain and prepared himself. This was gonna hurt.

The spear of holy fire almost reached Henry until he grabbed it with his good arm, straining to hold it back from his vital organs. The cleansing flame seared through the armor and into his demonic flesh, he couldn't even feel anything in that hand anymore as he held the spear back from punching straight through him. Finally with a might roar he tossed it aside into the forest, hearing a small explosion as he recovered. He then flew back to base camp to rest up for a moment and heal his injuries.



As Eve floated in the air, foot bleeding slightly from kicking Atarah, a volley of bullets would erupt from the surrounding forest towards her wings, looking to fill her full of holes from behind and remove her mobility advantage. At the same time Utada would burst from the trees, throwing a flash grenade into the center of everyone while sending Maceroy a text over the Machina communications network to cover his eyes.

The flashbang went off as soon as it hit the ground, Utada had already adjusted her eyes so that the light wouldn't blind her, after that she immediately took aim at Marie and began firing in an attempt to quickly take her out of the fight.

In the catacombs, nothing was heard but the faint sound of buzzing in the ears of Saef's men, and it was a proper sound given the circumstances. Apia stood around the corner, her bees ready to swoop in at a moments notice to cause some mayhem. She waited until she could clearly hear the enemy's footsteps before lowering her hand, signalling for her sweeties to move in.

At first, only a few moved, followed by a few more, and eventually, the whole swarm. Normal bees, wasps, frozen bees, everything was assaulting the men in the tunnels, relentlessly filling them with small holes. The swarm moved around frantically, making any effort to attack them futile at best. They were smaller targets, and trying to successfully kill them was futile unless they wanted to use grenades. Even then, the tunnels might cave in on them and leave them under rubble. Apia flew around the corner, smirking at her job. "Man, do I love my sweeties."

If it were possible for him to be angry about this turn of affairs, HR-513 would be. He’d expended a lot of energy on that attack, only for the targets to avoid it by simply burrowing underground, the blast simply carrying on in the same direction until it ultimately petered out. And they’d left behind a message of truce, no less. That said, though he had not heard Victoire’s words in his mind, he had certainly heard of the infamous demi-vampire that fought so fervently for Hell’s Oligarchy, and knew how much of a threat she could be given a chance. Best to inform Maceroy, then, especially since a pulse of demonic energy had just been emitted, though its effects were analysed and soundly negated by warping it to the opposite side of HR-513’s body as it came in range.

'One of Heaven’s bodies has suggested a truce between they and the Machina,' the Harvester advised him via a miniaturised hovering speaker warped into existence just next to his left ear - just one of the benefits of having a piece of himself in range of the scientist at all times. 'You should extend this to any other of Heaven’s scions you find. I imagine we will require it.'

Speaking of assistance required, it seemed the burst of warp energy had been noticed. A larger, bulky demonoid had just manifested within meters of HR-513, a creature of apparently-substantial strength, yet overall simplistic abilities - something the Harvester could properly acknowledge, going by its brutish build and straightforward initial charge. As it attempted to grab him, Harvester simply warped the beast to the opposite side of his body, warping in front of the demon a burst of ultra-heated solar mass intended for the angelic soldiers as its own momentum propelled it onward, into the densely-packed plasma proper. This first strike would help him gauge the monster’s durability. The next strike would be a killshot - or would at least aspire to be.

@Silvan Haven@Awesomoman64

---

Ugh. He did not need to be hit by that burst of energy from the red-feathered harpy. He already felt significantly worse than he had just a few moments ago, and it’d take several minutes for his nanomachines to replicate back to full capacity. Not to mention the sudden intrusion of somebody’s voice into his head declaring victory for the demons- And so soon? What unadulterated arrogance- which he’d certainly need to find a way to prevent from doing harm to him in the future. Though realistically, it had been on his bucket list to try and negate psychic assaults in general for some time… he’d try to figure out a way of reflecting them, too, if he had the chance, interesting to accomplish as that would be…

Not that that mattered. Though he’d even managed to deflect a bullet back towards his gun-bearing foe, he had failed to injured her seriously, being interrupted halfway through his attack by his bout of demonically-inspired headache and slight muscle pains, and her weapon had already transformed into a scythe, something she’d brought up in an effort to finish him off with one blow.

Pathetic. If something hardly worse than a cold wasn’t enough to stop him working in his lab, it certainly wouldn’t stop him from fighting on the field. Lance still spinning, Maceroy brought it round to block the demonic weapon’s strike at the hilt just below the blade, avoiding the blade proper by a few centimeters, only to mutter to the red-coat ‘Did nobody ever tell you scythes are a farming tool?’ as he stepped back on one clawed foot and angled his weapon in a way that locked the scythe in place. The holy nature of his shock lance was his most effective guard now, its own electrical charge partially negating the red lightning that otherwise threatened to arc to him - and with any luck, the drill might even have a chance to shatter the scythe entirely, the Heaven-empowered drillbit clashing with incredible rapidity against the anomalous enhancements of Marie’s blade and bearing a near-certain chance of winning out if she couldn’t draw the blade free.

And in the meantime, there was Eve to consider. Evie… goodness, but it had been a while, hadn’t it? He only hoped… well, it was a very far-reaching hope, but if she’d suffered even an iota less at their hands than he had, he’d consider his actions successful. Yet, observing from her expression that she barely recognised him; his false hope began to die mere moments after it formed. Bah, who was he trying to fool? Chances were she’d been… no, no, now was not the time to consider that. Though as the Harvester’s words reached him, he decided that he really didn’t want to fight her anyway…

The decision was rather taken away from him, however, when bullets suddenly ripped through the air towards her; in the same moment, he received a text from one Utada Mitsuda telling him to cover his eyes. Perhaps a fiftieth of a second after receiving the text, his back foot lashed upward toward the mercenary’s gut with unexpected agility, glowing grey with matter-destroying energy. He suspected that even without that extra power surrounding his oversized toes, he’d be able to shred her stomach and disembowel her with relative ease, like a raptor ripping open its prey... but it paid to make sure, and if she did happen to have some form of damage resistance, so much the better for him. What were the chances she’d see it coming, after all?

More importantly, what were the chances she’d leap back as she attempted to avoid the foot, leaving him free to actually cover his face? Pretty high, he imagined, if she didn’t actually let herself have her guts torn out. Either way, he also flapped one pair of wings to propel himself backward as he covered his eyes with the other, guarding most of his face and upper body from further attack, as well as-

Well, not that it mattered, with the flashbang going off and all. T’was still deafeningly loud, but at least he wasn’t blinded by it too the way the other three would be. And with the armed soldier now firing at the red-coated mercenary, it was practically a guaranteed victory for the two of them… the three of them, if he had his way. Quickly tapping his own communicator, he texted Utada Do not kill the harpy in the croptop. He still had words to say to her.

@Lmpkio@Banana@The 42nd Gecko@floodtalon

---

---

"Ah, so Avaritia did betray us for the Machina? Very intriguing," Victoire commented to herself once she noticed Henry taking the route back to the Machina Base Camp. The very base camp that would be overrun by her roses in a very short order. "That's the only explanation for why no one of the other Machina are trying to intercept him. Well, since he looks like he's hurt, he probably can't make use of his Silver Eyes... That poor kid still hasn't learned the meaning of restraint, I see. If I ambush him and am right, I might eliminate the biggest nuisance I could possibly have. If I'm wrong, however, I may end up fighting a losing battle, isolated and unable to coordinate the rest of the war effort. There's no one close to him, at least. I perhaps should probe the waters and beat a hasty retreat if need be..." she considered all of this for a few seconds before her eyes deviated to Maen, once more.

"My name is Victoire Bordeaux. You can call me friend, now that we are acquainted," Victoire turned to Maen. The vampire had her characteristic fanged grin embellishing her fine features as she twirled her hair around her left index. "Say it, would you like to help me take down a powerful ally of the Humans? We should take the chance to pounce on such prey while it's weak and shambling. If you succeed, I'm sure that great things will wait for you in your new home," Victoire said to Maen before creating a couple more of her wolf familiars, commanding one to retreat back to Demon territory, and another to stay put on this very chamber. Those were mere fallback measures in case the assault on Avaritia went awry. Victoire would never, ever go into a fight without means of retreating to a safe position.

Once all was said and done, Victoire opened a portal close to Henry's location, beckoning Maen to come with her. A moment later, Henry would be assaulted by a volley of Bloody Javelins, seeking to impale him without as much as a warning. In case he avoided dying to the sneak attack, Victoire would say, "Well, now, Avaritia, I knew that you were displeased with our ways, but betrayal is too low even for one such as you. Do you think you can simply mingle with the Humans and their Machines? To be one of them? That's actually personal for me, given that I placed my trust on you on more than one occasion. This is where we break up our allegiance," Victoire splashed more of her blood around, summoning a pair of her Hellhounds to blast Henry with their fiery breaths before snapping her fingers to signal who Maen should be attacking if he chose to follow Victoire through the portal.

"Like hell, I'm going to let anyone ruin all that I have done up to now. You and your cursed eyes are just too powerful to even exist. No matter how much it pains me to say so, die now, Avaritia..."

[D. Rose Radius: 3840/960/960/480/480 meters] [Catacombs/Underground Coverage: 6.4/3.2/1.6 %]

---

As Henry walked towards the Machina camp he withdrew a healing potion and popped the cap, sipping on it to fix up his fractured shoulder. He could already feel it getting to work, mending the bone and properly adapting to his tissue. Suddenly he felt a Demonic portal open and he threw aside the potion, drawing his sword and deflecting each Bloody Javelin as best he could, ducking and weaving around what he couldn't block. One javelin narrowly missed his head, cutting open his cheek and letting his blood run down his face. "Well that's just rude Victoire. I thought we were friends."

"Well, now, Avaritia, I knew that you were displeased with our ways, but betrayal is too low even for one such as you. Do you think you can simply mingle with the Humans and their Machines? To be one of them? That's actually personal for me, given that I placed my trust on you on more than one occasion. This is where we break up our allegiance." Henry frowned, it was never meant to be personal. But he had his pride, after 3 leaders had walked all over him and insulted him at every turn not even he had the loyalty to stay with the Demons.

"So I'm guessing we're not going to be doing tea parties at my place anymore?" She responded to that with a pair of Hellhounds, breathing demonic flame towards him to finish what Zak started. "I'll take that as a no." A Gate of Tartarus opened in front of Henry and released a torrent of Holy Flames he had stolen from Zak, meeting the flames of Victoire's Hellhounds and stopping them evenly.

"Like hell, I'm going to let anyone ruin all that I have done up to now. You and your cursed eyes are just too powerful to even exist. No matter how much it pains me to say so, die now, Avaritia..." Henry frowned. He was feeling this weird emotion that he hadn't felt since he killed his father. Guilt? Why the hell was he feeling guilty? He shook his head and readied his blade, maybe killing her would make that emotion stop.

As the curved blade attempts to lob the head of the harpy, it would be met by the still functioning drill which only barely blocked the attack by a close margin. The two weapons collide as sparks fly with both figures giving their all. Maceroy mutters the fact how her weapon is mostly used for farming, before gripping the weapon with one of his claws locking the weapon in place. Marie would only smirk as her left eye gleams ominously. Looks like he's still kicking.

"I take it you never met Mr. Grim Reaper, huh darling?" the bounty hunter shoots back sassily.

The lance drill begins to swerve hastily as it begins to descend on the weapon itself. Marie had to think quickly and indeed she considers a risky gamble. With a powerful hurdle, she can attempt to make a backward flip, using her right heel to implant the sharp point into the harpy's talon to have him let go of his weapon. But as she attempts to do that maneuver on Maceroy, her eyes are suddenly engulfed by a powerful flash of light. Yet another stroke of luck might've saved her skin as she can feel the talons of another claw foot come straight at her...

Only it didn't hit her stomach, but instead it would grasp the sharp pointed heel of her other secondary foot. Quickly utilizing the close call, she bends her knee and pushes herself off the foot while still holding her scythe. She would be pushed back several meters into the air as she issues three consecutive backflips before skidding her heels on the ground and against a stone wall. Dazed by the surprise flashbang, she groans slightly as she presses lightly on her forehead to recover her vision and wait for the ringing in the ears to stop. Despite this, she can still see that her weapon was still in relatively good shape, but it's clear that it won't last in this fight. She needs to switch to a different transformer. But just before she can place her weapon back within her hammerspace behind her coat, bullet fire comes raining down as the sniper Utada takes aim. Using her quick reflects, the bounty hunter rolls under a large fallen piece of cobblestone to avoid barely getting shot. It was slightly sloppy as she was under the influence of the after effects, but she does it. Reloading her weapon, she tries to listen where the shots were coming from while also giving herself some time to recooperate. They were nearby, almost as if they were coming from where the trees are located.

"You're a cheeky one now aren't you...?" says Marie quietly as she listens to the shots, "Looks like its time to put you back in your little crow's nest, blue jay."

Once she takes note of where the shooter is located, Marie quickly witches out her sniper weapon for a more heavy duty weapon, the Rocket Lance. The weapon is in its rocket/grenade launcher mode, one that was surprisingly light-weight and compact enough to maneuver with effectively. It was time to rock this place up. She then stands and uses her rocket boots to jettison herself into the sky and fires a rapid-volley of on-contact grenades that explode once hitting a surface. They fly towards Utada with surprising speed as they explode near her with impressive accuracy. Then realizing that the harpy may be flying straight towards her location, Marie quickly transforms her launcher into a gunlance and points it at his direction, one that may rival Maceroy's in durability despite not having a drill... but rather it has something better.

And hint hint... it has to do with its name.

---

With the Frozen Bees providing as a giant swarm opponent, the rest of the Grand Lich King's army rushes out of the portal to cause mayhem on the Angelic Forces. The small goblins came out first, using their mobility to dodge a fair portion of the initial swipes, followed by the Frozen Warriors, and the stronger foes. If the initial wave didn't break significantly through, the second and other waves will have a good chance at breaking through. The drills Saef's men used were somewhat more effective then if using a simple sword, but as soon as the long distance Chilly Mages came through, they would be put at a disadvantage. The mages would fire their ice spells at the soldiers from a good distance, freezing any that get too close to the explosion radius, with the Warriors and Goblins providing a make-shift barrier between them. The bees and wasps may seem to also do a good work at stinging the men to death...

As most of the regular forces came out of the portal, Ghelgath himself slowly peers out as he watches his combined forces wreck havoc on the men in front of them. He stomps with his right foot, setting the whole corridor floor to be covered in slippery ice. If the soldiers didn't have any special ice-resistant shoes or the ability to fly or levitate, they risk slipping on the ice and making themselves much more vulnerable. It seems as if the entire corridor will be painted red with holy blood...

"Mmmm?" As Utada's presence started showing up on Atarah's pulse, she turned to see Utada raise her weapon.. AT HER PREY! THAT COULD NOT STAND! Atarah with a burst of speed slipped past Eve, perhaps her lack of killing intent putting Eve off guard, and caught the bullets. With her body. The rounds pinged off her magnetic field and insanely tough skin, even the parts of herself that should be weak and vulnerable, like joints. "My prey! I'm gonna prove myself! Get your own!" Atarah angrily squawked at Utada, momentarily closing her eyes to avoid the flashbang. It seemed her eyelids when closed where just as resilient to light as the rest of her body was to bullets. Careful examination could reveal that light didn't seem to filter through her skin like it did for most creatures.

@Banana@Lmpkio@BCTheEntity@floodtalon



"Oh, bees? Bees and snowmen? This looks like fun. Let's have lots of fun everybody! I'll start the party." Pink seemed entirely happy with this turn of events of being attacked by lots of demons. Sending up her gathered energy into a sort of, hovering disco ball, spotlights started shooting out of it. Pink's demon sensing allowed her to know where her targets were efficiently, but she also aimed at all her allies as well, creating shields of the spotlight over each of them. While in the underground catacombs, one might think the range of a laser would be limited (unless you started punching through walls), but Pink's lasers were almost entirely intangible and simply went through the walls without interacting. Which was both her advantage and disadvantage against Machina or other purely physical things, that her attacks went right through them.. And that her attacks went right through them.

Such a diffuse area attack wasn't very focused. The frost goblins and mages might take some damage, but the heavier units like warriors and and the hulking ones would barely even notice. The unarmored bees on the other hand, would die nearly instantly, while even the frost armored bees would have a really bad time. With spotlights searching down their largest concentrations, and their targets all shielded in spotlights, the bees would have a tough time contributing. Meanwhile, all her allies would feel slight boosts and buffs, to fairly random stats. Spread across so many targets, both ally and enemy, the individual power wasn't that high.

@KoL

Edit: Of course, seeing that Apia and her bees weren't legitimate targets nor could Pink sense them, the lights wouldn't do anything and Pink would just be stung and die.