Bruce's nerves and muscles flared into tension. When did he get into the chamber?

He didn't move- more precisely, his instincts were shouting at him to remain still while his mind struggled to avoid going into shock at having his back taken so easily.

'Focus.' Bruce barked at himself, re-establishing his sense of awareness as the chill that had permeated his back finally faded. 'No sudden movements.'

Vale's own end seemed imminent- thinking on what he'd just been told, actually, silence or attempts to combat Yzeira with assassination techniques would be worthless, granted that he was as all-seeing as Vale claimed.

Sakki had quieted significantly, though Bruce felt seething in the back of his mind.

'He is a predator. The kind that can afford to eat only when hungry.'

Bruce slipped the hairband off his wrist, carefully gathering his hair into the ponytail he'd forsaken not days earlier. He'd spoken the truth for Vale- he wanted to earn his right to be alive. When his end came, he had his doubts about whether or not he'd go to the same place his Lucille did.

He was not going to take the chance that she didn't recognize him if they did meet again.

That done, he exhaled slowly, his breath matching the withdrawal of his blade from his sheath. Two fingers ran across the blade's edge, and a familiar red streak seeped into the golden Ki.

He flipped the blade in his hand so that the blunt end ran up his forearm, seeming to pull another identical sword out from an excess flow of Ki at its hilt that he wielded in his other hand.

It was only then that he heard Alvios.

"You."

Despite the sheer pressure of the situation and the gravitas attached to it, and maybe because of it- or perhaps having one of his allies there simply made him a bit braver, Bruce smiled a little.

"I appreciate you playing chaperone, Lightbringer."

His eyes flickered, pulling both pupils back for the briefest of moments when Bruce felt the need to summon his weapons of choice. Vale glared at Yzeira, his brow creased viciously. Yzeira looked back to him, and took another step forward. When Alvios entered the room, though, he turned his head, as to peer over with one eye. Vale chuckled.

"He's on alert," the vampire mused, snickering uncontrollably. Yzeira closed his eyes and sighed, turning back towards Vale. "What's the matter? Verbatim, 'visual prowess like mine' wasn't it?"

"You showed more promise than this. I was right to botch your mark," He breathed, stopping a few feet in front of Vale. "Know that in his final moments, that Gaian that you'd grown so fond of cowered himself into his own unconsciousness." Vale stifled a giggle, but couldn't help himself from bursting into full out laughter, kicking his legs and continuing without any sign of stopping. His laughs echoed through the chamber loudly. Between his fits of laughter, he managed to squeeze in one last sentence.

"Your lies echo louder than my laughter ever could, even now!"

"Believe what you'd like," Yzeira said quietly, focusing his gaze on Vale, "It will not dampen your knowledge." Vale's laughter stopped, and his eyes began to glow a bright silver. He and Yzeira shared a glance for a moment, before Vale's body went limp. But to Vale, it felt like he had relived his life, from beginning to end. A tear rolled down the pale man's cheek, and in his final moments, he managed a sincere smile. "You showed... More Promise than this," Yzeira said one last time, turning towards Alvios and Bruce, with a nearly identical teardrop rolling down his mask. Vale's head fell to the side, but his smile persisted. His eyes struggled to focus on Bruce as they went foggy.

"I'm glad... To... have..." He whispered, finally free of his immortal curse.

_{"Interrupted..."}

Yzeira wiped his mask clean with the tip of his thumb, slowly drying the slight imperfection in his composure. He looked at Bruce's weapons, and then towards Alvios. His eyes locked onto Alvios for a moment, looking more intensely at the light-wielding hero.

"Hello," He said quietly, looking back to Bruce.

Bruce's foot shifted to one side, lowering his center of gravity. He kept his gaze level on Yzeira, keeping his reactions to the masked... being minimal, only flexing his fingers on the hilt of his blades one by one.

He sensed Alvios' position relative to him and Yzeira. Not that it changed anything- he held his stance. If Yzeira chose to attack, he wouldn't have to bother circling Bruce again. He could tell that much.

'He whispers,' Sakki slurred. 'To make you listen.'

Finally, Bruce deigned to reply.

"Well met," Bruce said, though the greeting sounded forcedly formal, even to him. "The patriarch, I presume."

Yzeira scoffed at the term 'patriarch' rather abruptly. "I would prefer it, if you'd avoid using such silly labels when referring to me," He said quickly, "I am Yzeira. If you insist on subscribing to Damien's nonsense, then I suppose patriarch holds some level of accuracy. I am the creator of this tower." His eyes looked past Bruce, through Alvios, and out into the battlefield. "I presume Jenso has not yet decided to take me up on my generous offer, considering the condition of the vampire, and Ada." He paused and looked back to Bruce and Alvios. "That is unfortunate." He reached into his coat and pulled out a small notebook, and a pen, using his left hand. With his eyes shifting between both Bruce and Alvios, he thumbed the book open, grabbed the pen in his right hand, and began scribbling something down on the paper, eventually moving his pupils to follow his pen strokes.

Keep a cool head Alvios. We have a plan. The other Order members need to die first. You're smarter than your instincts.

He took a slow breath through his nose, his eyes still locked on Yzeira. The man still had that eerie sense of calm and aloofness that he remembered. A combination of tranquil and intimidating. The same aloofness he had while slaughtering his village. He felt his fingers tighten on the blade, but he didn't draw it. If they wanted to attack Yzeira outright, he would need the others. If they wanted to continue eliminating the rest of the Order first, then he needed to have patience. However difficult that might be.

"... I have two questions for you, Yzeira. One for knowledge, one for pride. I want to know why you are so interested in Jenso. I also want to know if you remember who I am."

"Shaidra doesn't wander off on her own as often anymore. Not after that," Yzeira said, still writing away, "I don't know whether to thank you, for teaching her some measure of caution-Or... Reprimand you, for destroying a part of her that she will never get back." His scribbling paused, and he brought the butt of the pen up to his chin for a moment, before returning to his note-taking. "I do not forget. My mind is, unfortunately, incapable of such a feat. I remember you. I have learned much more about you in recent times, as well, Alvios." He stopped writing. "Despite my repitoir of knowledge, and unparalleled intellect... I still find myself misspelling the word parallel, even now." He touched the surface of his notebook's paper with the tip of his thumb, and corrected his mistake. "Perhaps it's because, I've never known such a thing." Yzeira slammed his book shut and looked up at Alvios.

"A parallel, that is." Yzeira looked at Bruce, and put his notebook away, still addressing Alvios. "I remember you. My fascination with Jenso on the other hand, is none of your business." His eyes slowly moved towards Bruce's swords. "I would strongly advise against that, Bruce." He looked back to Alvios. "Your friend displays a much deeper urge to attack, and yet, he has not prepared himself so thoroughly. Why is that, Alvios?" Yzeira's eyes narrowed. "Do you already know, it would be pointless? Are you afraid? Or..." The man cloaked in red took a step forwards.

"Perhaps it's all that, and more?"

Bruce blinked- the fact that the guild's ultimate target had taken a notepad out, of all things, only to scribble down notes by hand, seemed just a bit ill-fitting to the whole scene.

Although Bruce had been addressed maybe twice so far, he still didn't feel any inclination to act based on Yzeira's suggestion. Inevitably, he found himself adapting, if only slightly, to the pressure he'd felt when the patriarch had first appeared.

Like Alvios, Bruce was internally counseling himself to hedge on the side of caution and be patient, though for slightly different reasons. Sakki afforded Yzeira a recognition not given to others, and so Bruce held.

"Familiar as I am with him," Bruce said slowly. "I do not presume to know the thought processes of either Jenso or the Lightbringer."

Something between an exhalation and a huff of laughter escaped Bruce.

"All due respect and credence to your knowledge, memory and sight, Yzeira, I humbly advise you also avoid doing so."

Alvios held his ground. He met Yzeira's gaze squarely, but what he said swam through his head somewhat. Would it be pointless? Was it both, or neither? The man who knew no parallel. Maybe he did stand an iota of a chance, if he drew out the full extent of his power. Was he giving Yzeira too much credit, or not enough? Alvios had waited months upon months thinking about meeting this man. He had fantasized it a few times, occasionally with despair, occasionally with hope.

He had slaughtered a village, but none of them compared to Alvios now. He was acknowledging the fact that, despite this group bringing about Armageddon, Alvios was among the strongest humans around. He had little doubt that he could have defeated Ada, and he defeated Vale.

He furrowed his brow for the few seconds this all ran through his head... and then shrugged, his demeanor shifting from his rage to his peace.

"You don't need to speak for me, Bruce. Yzeira is right. When I stepped in here and saw him, I thought, somewhere in the back of my mind, that fighting him would be pointless." His focus had never left Yzeira, but he addressed him again. "But that was the me of a minute ago. I came in here and saw you from the perspective of our first meeting, as an ant beneath your boot that you decided not to crush. Looking at you now, I'm still a few inches shorter than you I suppose."

Alvios slipped his hand off of Vale's sword. His vision was no longer red with fury, and despite still being ready to fight, it didn't feel quite right to cast the first stone. "I believe I don't attack you now because it would be rude. I am not the only one you have wronged. Whether or not I could kill you right now is irrelevant. I simply lack the right until everyone else is here to share in that victory or defeat."

A glint of white in Alvios' eyes, and his mouth turned upwards slightly, in a small smirk. "Both my allies and your own Order. I am not here to duel you. My allies, friends, are all here to do battle with you and your Order in its entirety. My revenge is insignificant. What is important is saving the world from your oblivion."

Yzeira blinked slowly at Bruce's words and looked away, waiting patiently for Alvios to respond. And that he did, slightly more confidently than he had hoped a moment earlier. The tall man rose his middle finger to the bridge of his well-defined nose, and pressed lightly, with his eyes closed. "Right," he moaned under his breath, turning away from the two men as he did so, and walking towards the blackness the filled the door next to Vale's body. Before leaving, however, he spun around quickly and rose his index finger, with his hand partly clasping at the air, as if loosely holding an apple. "You have two options. I don't care to hear you prattle on about your idiotic notions of victory, revenge, or whatever you so desperately cling to as not to bring the business end of your blade to both wrists..." He paused and lowered his hand to his side. "You can convince Jenso to surrender himself. I will take him, I will seal the dimensional fissure, and your universe will be spared. You will never see me or my family again. All issues, all dangers, all of it- All of it will be swept under the rug as an unfortunate event in history. It is the most reasonable, and least selfish option, as far as I'm concerned. Alternatively-" His hand began to thrum with a subtle red aura, and the atmosphere of the room shifted ever so slightly. Bruce's blades, despite their radiance, were especially affected by the sudden shift in energy. In a few moments, they shrank, until they were completely gone. Yzeira's meta energy began to bear down on the room like a thick fog, emitting from his body, with no intention to kill, but enough presence to dissuade any further Ki manifestation while it was active.

"You may take the petty, and ultimately futile option." Yzeira's eyes narrowed even more.

"Wherein I simply kill you all, and erase this pitiful world."

Alvios' eyes narrowed a little, but he wasn't surprised. Again, this man seemed detached from emotions. Wouldn't be too surprising; it certainly matched his personality, and maybe it was a common disposition for...what did Vale call him? A Primeiran? It didn't matter if it was important to Yzeira, it really only mattered that it was important to Alvios. And then Yzeira said something that was very important to Alvios.

The offer for Jenso was still on the table, after all this time. No doubt it was Yzeira's preferred option, or he wouldn't have bothered exerting his meta-energy like that. Alvios' hand slowly moved back to his sword, more for comfort than for intent.

Offering Jenso would save the world. Cilia, Melina, countless people. This war could end, and Alvios could live out the rest of his days fighting to protect what he could see and understand.

Offering Jenso meant letting Yzeira go. Sacrificing however many worlds would follow this one, how many realities, existences, and more. If doing things for the world was the greater good, than stopping Yzeira was the greatest good. Still...

"... I'll talk to him about reconsidering your offer."

Bruce watched his swords fade out of existence, Yzeira's meta energy finally manifesting the pressure he'd felt when the leader of the Order had entered the chamber. Weapons gone, he reached his senses into Jenso's bag for the earth he'd smuggled into the tower, though he did nothing with it beyond familiarize himself with the material again.

His hands now empty, Bruce wondered with some humor how Yzeira's own thought process worked. Did he think Bruce and Alvios being Jenso's handlers? The man couldn't be dissuaded from hitting anything he deemed deserving punishment. It would take all of the guild members the length of time Jenso's journey had spanned to bring him back to a remotely neutral opinion on the issue.

Regardless, Bruce played off of Alvios.

"We'll find you once we've consulted with one another."

'And after we've taken your tower apart!' Sakki sang.

Yzeira's eyes twitched.

"Jenso will be allowed forward. Anyone else who proceeds will be killed," He announced, turning back towards the darkness behind him. "Take what little you can, lest you lose everything." He stopped dead in his tracks, a few steps away from the shadows in front of him, and turned his head back towards the two heroes.

"And do hurry. I am not a patient man." Yzeira pointed upwards for a moment, and the entire ground began to shake. A feeling crept forwards as Yzeira's energy faded, the universe itself was on the brink of collapse. Yzeira continued forwards, and disappeared into the darkness of the doorway, pulling his notebook from his coat as his figure faded.

_{"Abnormal Ki growth is consistent in at least three of the subjects. Threat levels have risen dramatically, but still pose no real danger. Jenso's potential continues to have no ^parallel."}

The ground shook again, this time to a different effect. Outside of the tower, across the entire battlefield, purple tendrils rose up, cracking the earth and creating an array of danger from one side of the grassy plain to the other. The mound where Ada was hit by Atlas' hammer began to bubble up, and a familiar voice shrieked across the minds of everyone for miles.

Ada's psychic voice rang out, angered and crippled by a ghastly tone. From her mound rose a sphere of dark violet liquid, bend and squished like a stress ball. A tower of ooze rose it high and tendrils rose all around Jenso, Dacer, Jeff and Oswald. The sphere slowly melted away, to reveal Ada, her left arm completely drenched in blood from the shoulder down. She didn't say anything else, glaring at Oswald from across the battlefield with her piercing purple eyes. The ooze beneath her began to spread outwards, with no signs of stopping as it filled the chasm that separated them with a lake of sludge. Dacer looked up the performance and kissed his teeth angrily.

"Great. Fucking great," He barked sarcastically. Tiger hopped down from his shoulder and turned around to face the man as he struggled to stand upright. "Just... FUCKING GREAT." He turned to Jenso, and then looked up at the tear in the sky. "And with so little time to spare. This is literally the best fucking day of my entire life, I feel like a goddamn king. Roll out the red carpet for my beautiful ass, because I am just so fucking eager to greet my number 1 fan." He turned to Jenso again and pulled at the man's head. "How 'bout you? Enjoying the view?" He pointed towards Ada's gathering mass of meta goop and smiled. "As you can see, I'm rather astounded by this magnificent display of fine art." He chuckled nervously and jerked his head to the side. "I especially like how the focal point of the piece lines up oh so nicely with her rack." He paused and shook his head. "Fuck me."

"Gosh dang it Dacer.." the wind sage said as he walked next to the panicking archer and stuck a needle that came out of his gauntlet into his arm, releasing the power pill he stored into the gauntlet directly into his bloodstream to maximize his healing and thus make him battle ready. "Try having some faith in me like old times... or better yet, faith in all of us."

Even with how grim the situation might initially look, the sage could help but laugh out loud before letting out a big ass cocky grin. "Besides, I haven't even brought out the secret weapon yet." The sage shouted as he raised a hand out towards the flying castle and gave it a thumbs up of approval, which the windows for the tower seemed to spark a blue color in response, as if it had been waiting and keeping an eye on Jeff this entire time. "Suppose I'll change that real quick!"

With that motion, the Larger Tower, making up the center of the 5 smaller rotating towers, began to change shape with the upper part opening up in 3 different spots on the upper spot and two on the lower, as if it was waiting for the smaller towers to react with it. The smaller one's soon followed up, changing shapes and taking form of various body parts.

The first two smaller towers transformed into arms and hands with the cone tops of the towers splitting apart to make up the fingers which levitated around the base of the hands. The finger's as they formed released the charged energy from before in a barrage of disintegration arcane lasers and attempted to take out all of the tendrils that surrounded the allies in one fell swoop in order to allowed them a chance to fight back.

Next came the legs which made up the next 2 towers and crashed into the ground making the earth shake as it latched onto the main body and glowed with blue arcane energy.

Finally, the last tower took its place on top of the main tower as the cone that normally rested on top split into two and became shoulder plates for the arms of the creation. The top tower itself shifted shape until it took the shape of what appeared to be the head of an armored samurai with glowing red eyes which quickly shifted it's gaze towards Ada.

With the robot now formed entirely, it took on the appearance of a samurai which mimicked the pose Jeff made of pointing at the sky heroically. "BEHOLD! My secret weapon, the super castle robot! Or well or what I've been waiting to call it this entire time..."

_{"patent pending.."}

Jenso smirked at Ada as she reappeared onto the scene, injured and enraged. "Wow, you're still alive?" He muttered in a slightly surprised tone. He was confident in Oz's strength, but he also knew about the fact that the Order members weren't easy to kill. Jenso turned towards the robot for a moment and stared at it in amazement. "HOLY FUCK!!" He shrieked. As the castle robot unleashed arcane lasers into the tendrils, Jenso paid close attention to it. If pure arcane proved to be effective, it would be worth considering to use it.

Jenso began to channel energy into the ground through his feet, and coated his fists in Ki. He stomped his left foot on the floor, and a white wall of flames erupted before Oz, Jeff, Jenso and Dacer. It began to grow wider and larger as it moved forwards at the tendrils with great pushing power, intended to clear the path.

"Jeff to me! Dacer's right, we can't waste any more time on her." Oz put some pressure against his shattered arm to ward off some pain as he moved toward Jeff. "Jenso, stand by me as well. The Buster will keep her at bay. Let's combine an attack and take her out now. My veil is effective against void energy. I'll explain everything later."

Oz looked between the three of them, devising how to proceed. Finally he pointed to Jeff's arm. "We'll use your cannon as a base. I'll give the word. Put what you can muster into it." He looked to Jenso with a smile and a spark in his eye. "Jenso, are you ready for the Firestorm Cannon?"

Dacer winced and swatted Jeff's arm away, but his expression quickly changed as his body recovered. He turned around, and took a double take as Jeff pulled some stupid pose. "Faith doesn't take down giant..." He paused and looked up at the giant castle as it shifted and turned, changing its form rather quickly. "Oh." The castle took its new form, and Dacer's head tilted to the side. "Huh. Yeah, that might do it," He quipped, releasing himself from Dacer's support. He looked back at Ada, and then back to Jeff's castle. The attacks that flew out towards each tendril tore them apart, but they quickly began to reconstitute themselves without Delay. Ada watched, not amused, atop her giant podium of purple goo. Her brow remained tucked downwards, and her eyes glowed intensely. Before the robot could follow up, several massive Tendrils erupted from the ground underneath it, and apprehended each of its four appendages tightly. Dacer summoned his bow and began unleashing a flurry of Ki arrows at one of the four tendrils, quickly tearing it apart and freeing the castle robot's left arm. That's when Oz started shouting Orders. Jenso of course, acted before any sort of plan could be developed, launching a flame wall towards the tendrils. A giant wave of ooze rose above it from Ada's primary position, and consumed it with sheer mass, not allowing it to do very much damage before getting snuffed out. Dacer looked towards Oz and sighed.

"Guys, I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but you ain't gonna overpower her sludge with brute force," Dacer insisted, knocking a stream of energy onto his bow as he watched Jenso's flames get consumed. The goop only spread more and more, like an ocean. Unlike the army, it didn't have much sentience to it. But what it did have, was quantity. "As pretty and dandy as your super cool combo attacks might be, it's pretty clear that her goop is an absolute defence. If we just try to power through it, we're going to expend all of our stamina before we get anywhere near breaking through." Dacer pointed his arrow at Ada. "You gotta get her, head on. And you need to be fast about it. Those eyes of hers let her see in all directions,
like some kind of magical kaleidoscope or some shit." Dacer lowered his bow and paused.

"That's how she explained it, FYI. I don't even know what a kaleidoscope is."

Smaller tendrils rose up from the ground all around Oz, Jenso, and Dacer, lashing towards them from multiple directions, and popping up continuously, in an effort to make the entirety of the ground unsafe to stand on. Dacer immediately hopped upwards, and fired his bow downwards to propel himself towards Jeff's castle robot.

A burst of flames erupted from Jenso's feet, to launch himself out of range of the tendrils and to burn any that got too close beneath him. It was a controlled but strong burst, enough to launch him beside Dacer and not anywhere beyond that. He wasn't too surprised that his flame wall had failed. After all, he was merely testing the waters to see how Ada's goo would respond to Arki in her serious, enraged state. He'd focused on the energy he'd channeled into the ground earlier at the same time and twitched his fingers with his left hand, quickly moving it deeper underground and further away from Ada's location to avoid it from being overwhelmed by the tendrils. Although, he doubted that the flames were un noticed by Ada.

Jenso turned to Dacer and frowned. "So...do you have any plan of attack, man?" Jenso asked him. "From what I've learned and seen, her goo seems to weaken when she needs to focus on several areas at once. Should we try to approach her from several different angles, then, while the robot, and one or two of us tries to grab most of her attention as a diversion?" He asked.

Jenso turned towards Oz briefly. "Sorry...I guess we're not doing your cannon plan...but if your uh...Veil...is really that effective, maybe you have the best shot at reaching her, then.." He muttered.

As expected, the energy that Jenso released into the ground was quickly gobbled up by the amassing entropy beneath. Dacer sighed.

"If she's not playing around, I don't think her Entropik energy is going to show any signs of weakness," Dacer complained, "It's true that the more she has out, the weaker her control gets. But, without her mind split across several hundred sentient clones, something like that won't be easy to accomplish. Really, though, all we need to do is hit her with one good attack." Dacer nocked another stream of energy as the tendrils flailed below them. "I can access One With Gaia for a short while, but my flicker Dash has been losing duration, and getting increasingly more powerful the more I use it. I could reach her, but if I dash one more time, there's a chance I won't be able to actually do anything afterwards." He grunted. "Jeff might be fast enough to speed his way through that goop too, but if he gets too close, she might just bubble herself again. Hell, if she sees any sort of attack coming, she may just bubble herself. She can change the density of her goop in an instant. Unless you can somehow throw her off her game, or create an opening that'll last for more than a second, there may not be a way past all that purple shit." Dacer looked up at the sky as the castle robot was being pulled down. "Then there's the matter of that up there," He pointed at the sky with his arrow, "If we don't get to Yzeira before long, our world is fucked, anyways." Dacer jerked his arms down and fired a Ki arrow directly at Ada. Suddenly, three tendrils rose to block its path. It pierced the first, shrank through the second, and failed to penetrate the third. "Penetrating attacks work best, but even then, she can use multiple layers to dampen them... That's all I really know."