---

Diana and Suparna shared two very different ideas of adventure, as unlike Diana, the maggot collective was rather disabused of any notion of fun when it came to an environment that preserved any and all meat from rotting. What comfort she received from her new, tighter clothing was undercut by the weight of cold armor driving her deeper into the snow drifts with every haggard step. This would have been so very easy if she could simply ride on the dragon's back, but they had been told in certain terms to walk and it wasn't like she didn't need the endurance training.

It was testimony in favor of Diana's training that Suparna didn't start groaning till after the first two hundred meters past the spires comforting masonry. Moving relative to one another they kept along a straight path even as their footsteps were swept beneath the driven powder, it seemed by all of Suparna's judgement that were doing fine.

Then the sky split the earth, and Suparna was knocked back on her ass to gaze at an ax head larger then the head of the dragon she had ridden in on, held by towering creature of such height and stature it partially concealed by the clouds discharged their frigid deluge upon them.

"R-Right." She answered Diana's call through chattering teeth and scrambled to her feet to engage the elephant. Immediately she was struck with doubt pressing upon her shoulders, such a titanic creature being beyond her reach-

"Gyah!" Suparna growled at herself as the cold grasp of despair sought to steal her nerve, and shook herself loose with physical effort. "I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I. Must not. Run away!"

With her shield still holstered she drew her conical sword and flung herself upon the pachyderm's right leg, stabbing the windscorn flesh amidst a litany of mantras.

“Very well.” Wolf said as he turned around to face Alexi dead on, “If your magic is key to your fighting then I’ll allow you to use it for now, but it would be wise to learn how to fight without your powers. One day you may find yourself without them.”

Taking a few steps closer to the Knight of Winter, Wolf drew his halberd and pointed the blade toward Alexi waiting for her to cross it with her own; a tradition way to signal they were ready for the duel. Other than his powers, however, Alexi would find Wolf wasn’t pulling any punches. The second their weapons touched the Inquisitor attempted to lock their blades and pin the knight’s sword. Should his attack succeed, it would be followed by raising his arm cannon and pointing it directly at the vulnerable Alexi.

@The 42nd Gecko@Banana

It was hard to tell what Suparna was expecting from her strikes; what she got in return for landing such blows was a loud and extravagant roar. It bellowed so hard the very snow beneath the maggot girl’s feet threatened to cave in and crumble as the mighty elephant warrior screeched right into her face. All around it would echo in her ears, a death knell to discourage the foolish warrior that sought to defeat it in battle.

If anything, Suparna’s strikes made the beast angrier and although it slowed it down a little, the axe was brought up again and ready to strike downwards in retribution. However, Suparna was not alone in this brawl to the death; something the elephant warrior was acutely aware of. Little did the dragon know that the pommel of another axe would be on its way, slamming into her gut and smashing her against the ground so hard the snow did crackle at this point.

Was it a second beast come to join its comrade? Or was it a weapon belonging to something much, much worse? As the snow storm cleared a little and visibility was granted, the answer became horrifyingly clear. Jointed to the elephant warrior’s backside was the torso and upper-body of another. Jointed together by four dominating legs, both sides of the same beast snarled angrily at the two girls.

Axes gripped in both hands, the four-legged monster slowly began to twist and turn. Gaining momentum and having stunned the two fighters, each side of the elephant let loose a swing of their axes. In short time, they had become a spinning whirlwind of blades and death. Worse yet was their trampling trunk legs; if the blades didn’t chop Diana and Suparna, then they would surely be crushed to death.

---

While the Demon Aristocracy feasted and joy over a cursed night of wandering spirits and the Heavens persevered in their idyllic stasis, Hyperion lived on. The city of never-ending, never-sleeping night where all of this world's commodities are just the slice of a credit chip away, safeguarded by the eyes of of the all-knowing and benevolent High Queen of the Machina of Mankind, such it was and such it'll ever be, as long as Eos can help it.

One of the so ubiquitous holographic advertisement displays that dotted Hyperion, more exactly, one that was right in front of Bastion's window, changed from the streaming of mysterious idol's performance to a join the Machina broadcast network as the High Queen made an announcement.

"Unit-T and pilot Tina, Utada and Bonesword, you have been selected to lead the Machina's effort in the next main battle. All of you as well as any other units that desire to join the skirmish, report to the nearest dispatch bay. You'll be briefed on the objectives and conditions on route to the battlefield in order to preserve crucial intelligence," Eos said with a commanding voice as Hyperion and the remainder of the Machina domains remained silent in awe. The gravity of the High Queens tone said it all: it was time for another decisive battle.Hidden within the deepest reaches of the eternally frozen Hyperborean Sea, Lenuria's Deep is said to hold both great riches and immensurable dangers.

Unlike the raw nature of Ruthria's resources, Lenuria's treasures are of a much more refined kind. Weapons, armor and many other artifacts of great power lay within the sunken halls of the capital of the eponymous kingdom that once flourished on these waters before disappearing from the face of the Nexus in the span of a tragic evening. If the legends are to be believed, the once golden city even holds the greatest bounty the seas have to offer, the Staff of Okeanos, capable of bending the oceans to its wielder's will.

The chasm in which Lenuria rests is not without its dangers, though. An ancient evil, dreaded and baleful, inhabits these waters, spreading its murky presence like a pitch-black oil to blind and suffocate all that dare disturb its rest. Legends tell that it was because of this being, a visitor from beyond the very stars, that Lenuria fell, in the first place; its luster tarnished and the many wonders wrought by its masters, fated to never be seen again.

Whether there's any grain of truth to this story, or it remains as a baseless legend is yet to be seen.
The conditions to achieve victory in this battle are simple: Acquire the Staff of Okeanos, bring it to Lenuria's Throne Room and claim rulership over the ancient sunken city. The faction that achieves these objectives first, or is the last one standing —after all members of the others have been eradicated— wins.

That said if the Ancient Evil that sleeps within these waters raises up and defeats all of the combatants, this battle can end in a loss for everyone.
Given that the battle will take place in an underwater environment, the participants will be provided with means to breathe underwater as well as resistance against environmental hazards such as the normal water temperature and pressure, through faction specific buffs, if needed.

Nothing else will be provided but, despite Lenuria's depth, there's enough pale ghostly illumination coming from exotic life form, like algae patches, anemones, and fish to make visibility conditions similar to those of a Waning Moon in a dense forest. Other natural occurring events such as underwater geysers —or thermal vents— and underwater currents, as well as the wildlife itself, like giant crabs, man-eater polyps, can be used for combat advantage as well.

As always, all members of a same faction will be starting in the same location, around Lenuria's ruins, a retreat portal will be available for those who give up. Other than this, there'll be no external help of any sort.

The whole battlefield has around 12 kilometers in diameter, divided between underwater ruins, at the northern half, and a series of natural features leading to a seemingly bottomless pitch-black trench, with very violent underwater currents, towards the southern.

"Nothin' for it but to dive in, a'suppose." Cydone stood at the edge of the water. He didn't reckon there was much anyone could do from up here, so best to just head for the objective or something. And so he did.

Cydone glanced around at the deep sea around him, through his strange little head bubble of air that had been provided to him before leaving. "Hmph, makes me feel like one of them crazy spaceman Machina. One decent dispel and I'm a drown'd man." Shaking his head warrily at the locale and the spell that allowed him to breath in it, Cydone was rather distrusting anything that wasn't familiar or created by his own hands. "Guess we'd better get movin'. A net for fishing as good as I got. Hope someone else has better." Cydone began swimming forward towards the ruins, weaving a net with his Kandata Strings, for combing through the city in search of the staff.





"Will you be alright? You look kinda fire themed." Cassiopia stretched a little, as futile as the motion was with her physiology, as she questioned one of the other demons present, Khaine. Still the Necrolimb armor she was wearing could use the stretching.

Whether he responded or not, Cassiopia cannonballed into the water, figuring the answer wasn't too important. Either she'd be strong enough to claim the prize for herself, or she wouldn't. Whether the demons as a faction won or lost wasn't important to her.

~Well, this is kinda weird.~ Cassiopia found herself sinking, though not very fast. ~I bet I'd be buoyant if not for the Necrolimb armor. Guess I should shapeshift into some sort of aquatic creature. What's the most succubi-like aquatic animal? Eh, I dunno, I'll just roll something quick with good nightvision. Maybe a Mako?~ Cassiopia shapeshifted into one of the general fast swimmer fish types, pulling the Necrolimb armor inside of herself for reduced drag, and started swimming.

~Well, if I was a super scary magical beast, and was hiding the staff, I'd hide in the super scary chasm. Guess I'll check there first.~ Cassiopia made sure she had some decent camouflage dark top and lighter bottom with illuminated spots to mimic the lights above as she descended. Sure, it was no Machina optical camouflage, but it had served fishies well for as long as there had been fishies.

"Water, eh? Not a fan, but I'll survive," Bonesword stated as he stood in the underwater abyss, in front of the Machina retreat portal. Not everyone else had shown up yet, but he needed to be there early in order to prepare for his own plan. Seaweed was already sprouting around him, too. It might not have been much, but as it grew and grew it began to surround Bonesword, eventually forming into some kind of hardened armor... made from seaweed. Okay, maybe it wasn't the best armor, but it would at least give more protection on top of the Shooting Star. That was all he needed.

The skeleton glanced down at his watch, checking the time. He needed his plan to be here soon, but in that case, it'd be a fair while before it arrived. Not super optimal, but hey, an ambush was better than nothing.

Bonesword unsheathed his Shroomblade, and combined with the armor of seaweed, he was prepared to rush into the bulk of the battle with his weapon ready and his determination strong.

First things first. Finding that staff. Bonesword headed for the city and began to skim through the place in pursuit of the staff. If he got it, well, there's nothing that could easily stop him from there.

[ARRIVAL - 8 ROUNDS]

"Unit-T and pilot Tina, Utada and Bonesword, you have been selected to lead the Machina's effort in the next main battle. All of you as well as any other units that desire to join the skirmish, report to the nearest dispatch bay. You'll be briefed on the objectives and conditions on route to the battlefield in order to preserve crucial intelligence,"

Tina was sitting on her bed quietly looking at her phone when the announcement blared over the comms. Her only reaction was a simple pause as she looks up at the intercoms speaker for a brief second before putting her device away and exits the door. She didn't need any additional persuasion from Dr. Karizawa or even from Tobayashi to get her going. Once out the door, she exits her room and skips down the hallway to the briefing room. However, she won't be going alone as when turning around the next corner, she bumps into someone by accident as she falls flat on her butt. Tina looks up innocently to see the gentle Tobayashi looking down on her with a surprised look.

"Awww, sorry Tina." she apologizes gently as she helps the girl get up, "You should be careful running around these tight corridors like that. I take it you've heard the message, right?"

Tina nods lightly as she looks into her eyes.

"Right..." the scientist replies to herself quietly as she fiddles with her pen with one hand before talking to Tina again, "Ehm, come then. Follow me to the briefing room. I would hate to loose you in such a large and complicated building like this one."

The pilot's cheeks puffed up slightly in disappointment that she can't go by herself... but then again Tobayashi does have a point in getting lost. After all, both she and Tina know very little about this place anyways. Without anymore hesitations, she follows the scientist to the briefing room.

---

Unit-T stands on the edge of a short cliff overseeing the crystal-clear water just a few meters below. The mission in what to achieve was clear. Find the Staff of Okeanos and bring it to Lenuria's Throne Room in order to achieve victory, all while doing combat with the undersea monstrosities that lurk beneath the ruins. The mech has recently undergone some modification to her arsenal, alongside the addition of undersea modifications such as retractable fins and special fuel canisters to propel it underwater. Karizawa believes that this will be the perfect opportunity to test out its underwater capabilities.

Back at Hyperion, both Dr. Karizawa and Tobayashi oversee her deployment as Unit-T prepares to dive.

"Just test out the new equipment and abilities and we will see how they react." the scientist explains to Tina from her comms, "Everything should be fine, but if there are any malfunctions with the mech, you must return to the cavern surface immediately. We will have a small repair team access the damage and attempt to fix the problems you might be having... if you are able to return that is. But whatever you do, don't leave the battlefield unless there's an official call to retreat. We don't want Eos knocking down on our doorstep again like last time... understood?"

"Yes, Tobayashi." Tina replies bluntly as she grabs her hands on the handlebars.

With that, it seems like she's ready to go. Dr. Karizawa slowly looks at Tobayashi and nods.

"Unit-T." she announces loudly on the speaker, "You are clear to dive."

With that, Unit-T's fin flaps open on her back, arms, legs and tail and the mech dives into the water below with a splash. Once in the water, the mech's boosters burst to life as it pushes the mech deeper into the depths of the unknown...

---

---

Shortly after the little chat at the Library, Lucifus was summoned by Zeruel to partake in the next battle.

"An underwater battle?" he thinks to himself as he emerges in Heaven's Undersea Cavern, "Hmm, this ought to be interesting."

While he has rarely fought in underwater environments before, let alone being equipped for it, he has a small passion for swimming during his free time. Not only does it provide a healthy dose of physical cardio and exercise, but it also helps him prepare for any of these circumstances. He already has mastered land and air combat, so why not master submarine combat to achieve his experience. His master also recognizes this and thus he has no quarrels with it.

As the spell renders the angel capable of breathing underwater, Lucifus feels ready to descend into the depths. After doing a quick stretching routine and seeing Cydone dive first, the Archangel takes one deep breath of air, as a force of habit, and dives in as well. His wings begin to be rendered smooth and waterproof as the sunlight reformats his wings for a more aquatic lifestyle. They've basically have now turned into flippers. With that, he continues to dive deeper into Lenuria's depths.

@The 42nd Gecko@Lmpkio



As it turned out High Command had in fact decided on a punishment. While not an official demotion, he was still a Captain, his command of a full company had been switched out for a platoon. Which meant that instead of leading two hundred men and woman into the water he was reduced to just fifty. It stung and definitely changed what he could do on the battlefield. But he could work with it.

Captain Harken led his troops into the water at speed. His new tome fading into existence behind him and a bladed wall of light appeared in front of the formation. With his new power such a move was nothing and it essentially turned the platoon into a quantum particle propelled airplane. Or aquaplane as the case may be. A few quick modifications to their filtration systems had optimized them for underwater breathing. The group could stay down there for days if needed.

It was a was much smaller battlefield this time. A mere fraction of the space taken up by the vast graveyard they had recently fought in. Of course when half of that space was taken up by the ruins of the city that had to be searched it suddenly seemed much bigger. They didn't have the time to do it the the ordinary way. So it was time to cheat.

Everything had some magic in it. Even if it was pointlessly small. Saef's training in the thaumaturgical arts had taught him how to see that magic in the form of auras. Lights and colors that varried depending on the power and type of magic in play. Something with the power of the staff they were looking for should be blazing away like a bonfire. After a quick scan of the ruins he directed his men towards the largest magical concentration of power he could find, placing a digital waypoint down and letting the suit computers work out the details of the formation flying needed to get them there.

Pink hesitated as Deva's words reached her brain, looking up at Ruxen's face, then back down at her foot. Then at her own hands as she let go. "Whooah. I think you're right. I'm full. This is.. Huh." Pink normally drained people's negative emotions more or less instantly, where her main gate was how much emotions they had to eat, rather than transfer speed. When drawing from someone like Ruxen, that meant that in just a few moments, Pink was fuller than she ever been before. She patted at her stomach, which had no sort of physical indication of what Pink had just 'eaten'.

"Ah. Um. I'm sorry." Pink's brow furrowed with manual effort as she apologized to Ruxen, and she said the words with very mechanical pacing. It seemed to imply her thought process was not actual regret, but that she understood this was a thing people said to be polite to each other. "That was very rude of me, thank you for putting up with me." She rose and bowed a little. This part seemed more genuine. Pink was much better at positive emotions (such as thankfulness) than negative (such as regret or guilt).

Then Pink seemed to be puzzled with herself. She was full. This was new. Her only real 'need' was fulfilled. "Ah, what to do next? Maybe I'll do an art? That's a thing people do when their needs are met. Oooh, or I could learn how bows work, so that if someone wants one I can be one. Mmm, yeah, that will make people happy, people always like having better weapons!" Pink started wandering off in a sort of daze, before finally figuring out something to do and acquiring some purpose to her steps.

@Floodtalon @TheWindel

It seemed Hell didn't have much of a vetting process, and Khaine had been accepted into their ranks without much of a fuss. That certainly made this more convenient from his end. It turned out that these demons were quite different from the army he had once served in. Whereas the Hell he knew was a strict and organised place, this Hell was relaxed and easy-going, with a murderous undertone. It was almost off-putting, but then he expected as much. Regardless, he'd have to work with the tools he was given. First, he would recover this staff. Then, he would begin to pursue his grander schemes.

"Will you be alright? You look kinda fire themed." Khaine looked to the side, and noticed he'd been addressed by a... well, he wasn't entirely sure what it was. It looked like some kind of undead abomination was in the middle of absorbing a small child. She didn't seem very bothered by it, so he assumed that was normal. "I'll manage", Khaine retorted, as she proceeded to leap into the water. Faintly, he saw her form shifting beneath the waves. A shapeshifter, then? Whatever. She was probably one of the strange results of Hell's surprisingly accepting attitude towards inter-species mating, and the abnormally high success rate of such pairings, two facts that have undoubtedly left mortal scientists stumped for years.

Returning to the matter at hand, the environment certainly wasn't ideal. Fortunately, it would take a lot more than being submerged in water in order to harm him, but it wouldn't be comfortable. With an inward sigh, faintly resembling the death groan of an old car engine, and dropped into the water. Dropped would be the correct term. He had no need to breathe, and his sheer weight was more than enough to drop him down to the bottom. With a gesture he sent a number of chains into the face of a nearby underwater cliff and pulled himself down, like scaling a cliff but in reverse. Moving down he looked around the environment. Everyone would be searching for the artifact by now, but without some form of lead it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Lacking any sensory abilities that might help, he doubted his own ability to find the artifact in question. As such, while his other teammates searched, his role would be to prevent the enemy from doing the same.

Reaching out, Khaine focused on the ruins below him. Red lightning flashed through the water, jumping from building to building as it spread throughout the ancient city. Wherever it struck, the lightning left behind a little gift. Movement-activated mines, arcane binding seals, boobie traps on the doors, and even a number of fully automated sentry turrets. In truth Khaine's abilities were limited only by his focus, and now he was able to devote his full focus to this task. Large-scale environment manipulation was a specialty of his. He'd make sure that any enemies attempting to pass through would find their way barred in a hundred different ways. And if anyone turned out to be particularly persistent, he would get involved personally. Of course there was every risk that a demon might fall victim to these traps, but most of them had been designed not to trigger for demonic entities. Most of them. And considering the diversity among Hell's ranks, some of his more esoteric companions might not count as being 'demonic' enough. Oh well. If it was a big problem, he could always remove them from a particular area.

Having placed his traps Khaine chose to stand watch, using a series of chains to hold him in place high above the ruins. He could already see a number of other parties moving, but hadn't yet decided who he'd intervene with. Whomever turned out to be the most trouble, probably.


At last, the mighty Antaeus was called to battle! Truly, this would be a day of sorrow for the enemies of Heaven. He would make clear to the unworthy the true price for their sins, a message best conveyed through plentiful corpses. The mighty Antaeus himself stood at the edge of the water, gazing down without the least bit of apprehension. Water wasn't exactly his strong suite, but there was no need to fear! The wise Deva would not have deployed him, had she not believed in his ability to surpass such challenges. He would conquer this strange new environment without pause! And once he arrived on the battlefield, all would fear his power. Nay, the power of Heaven and Earth, which had merely chosen him as it's unworthy vessel. A messenger of certain DOOM to the fools and infidels who opposed the reign of Heaven.

.....

Glancing around, Antaeus once more made sure there wasn't some sort of alternative route. An elevator, maybe, or a nice old-fashioned set of stairs. But no, alas, no such route presented itself. Of course he had no qualms about tackling this challenge, nor was any obstacle great enough to make him hesitate from his path. However, one must always be aware of their surroundings. Indeed, he was merely being wary of all possible approaches. The forces of Evil were sneaky and treacherous, they would not hesitate to take advantage of some unknown approach in order to attack from the shadows. Not that such an attack would phase Antaeus, not in the slightest. It was merely prudent to properly consider the possibility. Just in case.

.....

Having completed his survey of the surroundings, checked for enemies, stretched, and run out of excuses, Antaeus finally stepped into the water. It was wet and cold, flowing around him like air. And yet it still had the substance to slow his descent. Upon losing contact with the ground Antaeus rapidly returned to his original size, as he began sinking down towards his target. At this size his sheer surface area slowed him down far too much, even with his immense weight, and he simply drifted down like a giant angry statue. He did his best to look intimidating, but this was hard to do when one was afraid to move. Not afraid, cautious. After all, he was completely surrounded by water, and who knew how it would react to sudden movements? Best to leave it alone, if at all possible.

Slowly, Antaeus' massive frame descended upon the sunken city. He seemed to be centred on some sort of temple-like building, and he had no way to reduce his size before impact. Hopefully he didn't crush anything important. It would be rather unfortunate if he managed to break the artifact they were after on his first mission....

A clacking echoed through the cavern as Jubilee walked to the edge of the water, her heeled boots making noise with every footstep. "Jeez, this temple better have some good tomes hidden inside. I was in the middle of some very important research when I got called here." She complained loudly to nobody in particular as she rubbed her neck with both hands, as soon as they dropped back to her sides a pair of functional gills was revealed. She cracked her neck and stretched her arms over her head, taking a deep breath before she dived into the water. She watched Cassiopia shapeshift into some sort of fish, swimming into the deep dark cavern to go search for their objective. Khaine meanwhile was going for the Ruins, leaving Jubilee to decide who to support.

"He looks like he can handle himself just fine without me, but the tomes are probably in the temple. Hmmm..." She floated in place for a moment, both options held their advantages. In the end she decided to trail behind Cassiopia, figuring she could use the support from a heavy hitter like herself. 'Who knows, maybe I'll run into something I've never seen before.'

---

Utada adjusted her helmet one last time, performing a system check on her suit to make sure everything was operating as intended. She loaded a clip of underwater bullets into her gun, making sure the safety was off and that her sights were properly lined up. All her internal systems were working as intended, she was fully charged and her internal reactor was like it had never even blown up.

>Oxygen Fabricator Systems-Online
>Underwater Mobility Systems- Operating at 100% efficiency
>Active Camo Systems- Online
>Weapons and Targeting Systems- Online
>Pressure Mitigation Systems- Online
>Armor Systems- 100%

Suit was working fine, no errors whatsoever on that part. Time to get to work. "Alright team, time to get out there and do our best! Let's win one for the Machina!" She yelled in her cutest voice, winking at some passing soldiers. She then dove into the water with grace, swimming alongside Bonesword towards the underwater city. "Alright bonehead, listen carefully because i don't like repeating myself. This is a simple capture and transport, don't get into unnecessary fights, search for the staff, get it to the throne room. If you see any Demons, pretend you're on their side or something and don't get in a fight with them. If you see any Angels make sure to yell before you die so I know to be on guard." With that being said she began to turn invisible as they approached the city, her active camo kicking in quickly and quietly.

---

"Wa—wait, that's not fair you... somekind of Siamese bully!" Diana shouted with effort, after recovering the wind that was knocked out of her, while unsteadily pointing Ascalon at the bicephalus elephant man.

Before she even had the chance to finish her complaint, it began attacking them again, with extreme prejudice. Diana ducked out of the way of the furious axe blows, but didn't avoid the crushing feet. She jammed Ascalon at the mammoth's sole, in an attempt to force it to yield before she became a bloody stain in the snow.

If it worked, Diana would backflip, aided by her dragon wings, before landing a few meter away from their foe and unleash her breath weapon at its upper torso. Following the blast of her breath, Diana would charge in, blade held in a reverse grip, to parry any incoming blows as she attempted to zero into the giant's blind spots to deliver the counter it deserved. If the giant continued to crush her, despite of the sword jammed in her foot

"Suparna, hang in there! We're gonna get out of this in one piece!" Diana shouted, hoping that her friend was faring better than her. This creature certainly wasn't allowing much time for Diana to do anything other than take care of her own tail for the time being.

---

"Why did I even bother to ask why does a rock fall?" Hoehenheim sighed out loud as Titanica turned around and began to —surprise!— stomp her way out furiously. "Seriously, this is even more boring than watching harpies molt. Such a pain in the ass lizard, I should just let that Eel Face rape you again. But..." she cursed emphatically, making quite sure to cast her annoyance to Heaven and Hell alike.

"Contrary to 'someone' know very well that a job is a job."

"Hey you! Are you sure that this is the way you want to follow?" Hohenheim said, raising her voice a notch to call the attention of the tantrum-throwing lizard, breaking trees to quell her BOILING RAGE!!! —RAWL!!! "That which you want. You know that there are... more efficient ways of acquiring it, right? Unless you want to do it the hard way, or no way, I can make some arrangements to facilitate your pursuit." she added, getting back to her feet and turning around to face the direction Titanica stomped to.

"As long as you are willing to bargain, of course," Hohenheim flashed her best smug grin, not even bothering to cover her diminutive body as the scalding water run down her silhouette. Why would she be ashamed of perfection, after all?
The tides of battle raged under the glacial waters of Lenuria. As the warriors of the Triumvirate sifted in the ancient city or its surrounding ancient, forces rose to greet them...

Kayne's booby traps weren't the only danger that Cydone as well as Saef's forces would have to face as they prowled Lenuria in search of the Staff of Okeanos. The cowboy dressed warrior was met with the only enemy that could challenge his mastery of strings. A swarm of horse-sized jellyfish coming like wraiths from behind a rock formation wove their way around him as if guided by an unseen will. Their countless caustic tentacles, barely visible to naked eye sought to sting and digest him with a cocktail strong enough to melt the best of the Machina super-alloys.

Meanwhile, Saef and his troops would be met with hermit crabs large enough to wear entire houses as shells whose claws could split rock and bone with equal ease. The ambushing monstrosities would wait until some of the men came close enough to them, to search the "empty" domiciles before snapping forth like titans of the depths. For all of their formidable defenses and brute force, they would prove to be slow foes. If Saef and his troops would be able to capitalize on this flaw or not was yet to be seen.

Cassiopeia's journey in to the abyss would be halted on the darkness became so pitch black that it was impossible to tell left from right and up from down. Certainly such an effect wasn't natural, but the result of the bitter-tasting jet of ink expelled by a kraken that lashed at her with crushing arms and vice-like beak.

Safe from the giant hermits for the moment, Bonesword would have to deal with a much more prickly problem: countless sea urchins falling from a rocky arch above. as well as dotting the walls, floors and every surface of the dark section of the city in which he arrived at first. Left alone they would be harmless but, any proximity caused them to either try to swarm to the cause of their distress, in a attempt to skewer the aggressor with their steel-sharp spikes, or to simply... explode in a chaotic chain reaction, filling all the area in their proximity with sharp spikes and gore. Whether the skeletal swordsman would avoid search this sector in order to not trigger the urchins or risk it for the chance of finding any relic was up to him to decide.

Thanks to their distance and position, all of the other combatants would have to face similar hurdles to the ones above, or be able to avoid them with some fast thinking. However, avoiding the environmental dangers —by going to other sections of the battlefield— would make it easier to engage in combat with members of the opposing factions who also had the chance to avoid the first wave of natural threats. If this was to their advantage or not, it was their choice to make.

As soon as the skeleton noticed the falling urchins, he stopped at a distance away from them. Far enough to the point where he didn't have to worry about making them hostile on himself. They'd want to destroy him, he already knew it. What to do about this situation...

Bonesword summoned a small seaweed minion to his aid as he looked ahead at the path covered with urchins. He had to get them out of the way if he was gonna pass, and this was the best way to do it without him dying. The minion had one objective, 'Divert the urchins to a far safer location', and he lurked off with that very intention, running past the urchins in his path with reckless abandon.

About a good ten seconds later, Bonesword's armor began to sprout spider-like appendages as it lifted the wearer off of the ground, carrying the skeleton above the urchin masses while keeping its feet away from the points of contact. A good arms length away at all times. The armor also sprouted a large bowl above it, reinforced with underwater bark, that collected the urchins that fell down from the arch above. Bonesword himself went into a fetal position in order to keep his body from accidentally coming into proximity with the urchins.

If things got rough, there was always the armor protecting him, and the Shooting Star protecting that.

Meanwhile, Bonesword's project was on it's way. A slow and steady journey, but one nonetheless.

[ARRIVAL - 7 ROUNDS]

It was actually several of his men that spotted the ambush predators first. Saef himself was too busy trying to figure out which of the brilliantly radiating houses was the brightest to notice the heat signatures of the "rocks" they sat upon. One by one his squad leaders called in the anomaly, pulling the Thaumaturge from his musings and directing him towards the possible threat.

They were on the ground by now, having landed nearby to proceed at a more sedate pace. So Saef had plenty of time to realize that the small hills the buildings sat atop were quite alive. And when one takes into account the fact that just about everything in the Nexus had some way to kill you the chances of them being friendly lifeforms dropped immensely. With a sigh he spoke into the comms.

"I want a full coordinated barrage on them ASAP. Bring out the missiles as well, it looks like they have some pretty hard shells."

Five minutes later all fifty men and women opened up on the crustaceans from seventy meters away. Hypervelocity missiles left trails of bubbles as they streaked into the rock like shells of their targets. Explosions erupted through the still water and were joined by the whine of the hundreds of high energy light packets following. None of the giant shellfish were likely to reach their attackers through the killbox that had been set up.

An interesting thing they had found while setting up said killbox. Apparently the entire city was booby trapped. Probably had something to do with that giant web of red lightning that had jumped over the area earlier. It hadn't done much other than slow them down of course. There was a limit to how well you could hide things with such a wide scale move. The technological traps were easily spotted by sensors and destroyed. The arcane threats were a bit trickier. Those that weren't spotted ahead of time slammed into the shields of some poor soldier, draining them but not doing much else.

"You alright there partner?" Cydone glances worriedly at Antaeus, watching as he sunk with all the grace of keeling horse. Casting his net at Antaeus, Cydone figured he'd cast some inertia reduction so that Antaeus'd have a soft landing with the aid of something to grab. However, he noticed when a small bit of his net melted. Or, well, at least that's what it looked like to Cydone's not particularly chemically trained eyes.

Cydone started spotting the slightest hints of the wraithlike jellyfish and.. "Nope, nope, I don't do ghosts. I'm out. See you later, fellers." Cydone applied a very slight amount of deceleration to Antaeus as he used him as an anchor to pull on with his strings. Cydone pulled out his sword with his hand that wasn't busy pulling on the string and slashed in front of himself nearly a dozen times. The normal "windslash" effect was more of a "waveslash" in this environment, a frothy mix of gas and water caught up in it, but nonetheless, he cleared the way in front of himself as he headed for Antaeus. The water around him flowed out of the way far easier than it should, letting him keep up speed. Just before landing on Antaeus' back, Cydone reduced his own inertia and that of his waveslashes so that they would land lighter than a feather.

Of course, with all that fancy manipulation going on, he forgot to do what he originally was intending and lighten Antaeus' landing.





"Um.. Uh oh..." Cassiopia muttered, a bit panicked as everything went black and her skin tasted the ink around her. The disadvantage of being able to taste and eat through your skin was that you could taste through your skin. At least she didn't have a biology to speak of to poison by most poisons. ~Man, I'm like the only demon trying to be sneaky and I'm the first one attacked.. That's just my luck. :( ~ She despaired and moaned internally, as she was battered around with clubbing tentacles. Her gelatinous form easily withstood the blunt attacks, a few bits getting spattered away, balling up protectively around her Necrolimb armor that wasn't quite as resilient to physical trauma.

Without much ado, she was eaten. It was after the eating that most of the ado occurred. Just past the beak, before she could reach the potentially dangerous stomach, if the being's acids were stronger than hers, her Necrolimb's blade and grasping arms shot forth, stabbing into the "esophagus" of the Kraken and anchoring herself in place very painfully.

~These won't do much damage out and abroad in the ocean, but fired inside an enemy might do some damage. Let's ricochet some rounds inside the mantle.~ Cassiopia Necrolimb armor unfolded a few heavy machine guns barrels from Cassiopia's torso. Unlike the Machina, Cassiopia didn't have the industrial knowledge or base to swap out or mod her weapons for the fight, being a scavenger rather than an original creator. But her weapons could still fire in wet conditions (seeing they were frequently fired from inside her body), even if the bullets normally wouldn't travel very far underwater at all. But inside the Kraken, pretty much anything they traveled through would be damaging the Kraken, and its protective/bouyant mantle would serve to cause the machine gun rounds ricochet inside it's soft fleshy bits. She fired, lighting up the inside of the Kraken.

If that was enough to kill it, she'd open the beak, reclaim the parts of herself that had been splattered away, and begin zombifying the Kraken.

---

Amidst the rain of spittle striking the snow around Suparna from the beasts bellowing roar there came a sickening surety in her own demise, one strangling her all the tighter as it turned to reveal it booasted twice the appendages then was first thought, when all it really needed to flatten either Diana or herself was but one. Flickering against the dread was the literal flames of defiance Diana spouted against their attacker, following forth with steel flashing through the snow without a care for the difference in size between her blade and the pachyderm's axes.

An egregious display of martial force rained down upon her in the form of a whirling dervish, axes careening in long, broad strokes while a quartet of feet stamped madly, intent solely upon crushing them through brute force alone. Reacting off of her sparring among the angelic warriors she strained to duck against the blows with a frightfully narrow margin, each pass of the Elephant one iota closer to rending her in two, and she found herself cursing at the absence of Chirada leaving her bereft of any flight with which she could easily evade this marauder.

With Diana locked in combat and their adversary being swift for its size, Suparna was certain she couldn't flee from this fight, and after throwing herself clear of another swipe, new she had to press her own attack before her luck ran out.

It was fortunate then, that the smell of singed hair and burst flesh roused a simple idea into the forefront of Suparna's mind. Ducking amidst the snow, her clothing and hair a shroud in this environment, the idea struck her fancy and sent her stomach rumbling in agreement with it's devilish outcome.

"Alright big guy, I'll give you something to dance about." She sneered from ear to ear as she shouldered her shield and raised the unencumbered arm overhead, right into the axes keening path. The obvious occurred, and the limb was torn free, cartwheeling overhead before falling with a dull thud beside her. There was no need to scream in pain when only a minuscule number of her collective perished, and the rest were quick to staunch the openings with walls of writhing white bodies.

She grabbed the severed limb and chucked it with all her might towards the puncture wound she'd put into one of its legs, the arms contents erupting forth on contact with pachyderm flesh till the limb was discarded and the hoarse grey flesh now sported a growing patch of milky white. Gnawing and tearing, reproducing for every bit of flesh they could gorge themselves upon, Suparna watched from the snow as she could finally devour an enemy whose flesh was bare and held no holy light to repel her from burrowing to the bone and grinding it to powder beneath the weight of numbers boring upon it.

@KoL, @The 42nd Gecko

---

As Titanica begins walking out of the hot springs, she couldn't help but to overhear the pompous scientist sigh in the background in a shot of tiring anger. Clearly the scientist has forgotten about her target's standing within the entire War... well, basically every Vassal member for that matter. She's also lucky that her words would reach upon "deaf" ears as Titanica simply payed the words mentioned no mind, not even saying a word or showing a spark of anger. If anything, the Saurian Vassal feels rather annoyed at this point dealing with the snotty Alchemist.

But before she can enter into the thick brush of the jungle, Hoho raises her voice one last time to acquire her attention.

"You know that there are... more efficient ways of acquiring it, right? Unless you want to do it the hard way, or no way, I can make some arrangements to facilitate your pursuit... As long as you are willing to bargain, of course,"" she added.

Titanica suddenly halts as soon as Hoho finished, slowly looking back faintly as she contemplated her offer. Offered help by the Alchemist to pursue her goal, even though she has no idea of what it is? Then again, this is a supercilious being she will be dealing with and she usually hates being ordered around. And who knows, Hoho might lead her into a trap, not like she wouldn't be capable of getting out of trouble that is. However, the Saurian couldn't help but to contemplate the offer which stood. Perhaps this tree may bear fruit of where she needs to go if it doesn’t turn out to be lies and deception in the end, which may also happen to be fairly true. Even then, she'd probably crush the frail creature later down the line if she fails to keep her barging upon realizing everything would simply be a rouse.

There's only one way to find out however. Turning slowly towards the tiny naked girl, Titanica approaches in a slightly cautious way as she stands over the Alchemist.

"Fine…" the Saurian Vassal growls as she awaits on what Hoho wants her to do in order to potentially gain some valuable information, "I’ll play your little game this time, provided you keep to your bargain as well... What do you want?"

---

@Banana

---

As the creatures of the sea begin to slowly wake up from their slumber, Unit-T's eyes began to flare up slightly as it encounters the same sea urchins that Bonesword made contact with which were falling from the roof of the cave. Tina accesses them carefully from inside the mech and while she was hesitant to fire, one look at the nearest partner prompted her to hold her fire. Sure she can fire off missiles or lasers to disintegrate them on by one... but they were pretty close to one another. One explosion may seem to promptly initiate a chain reaction, leading into a dangerous and gory mess. Even Tobayashi seemed to agree with her silent thinking...

"Don't engage those urchins." the scientist orders concerningly, "They seem to buoyant and close to one another to be harmful. Just swim by them and don't get hit."

Indeed, Tina acknowledges as she carefully navigates Unit-T through the organic minefield. She tries to find passages that are spacious enough to allow her vehicle to pass but is careful not to get too close. Even if they were to explode, the mech's armor is completely capable of mitigating most of the explosive damage as well as the spines that may happen to be launched at her.

But surely this wouldn't be the deadliest things here... especially the deeper they descend.

---

@The 42nd Gecko @thewizardguy

---

As Lucifus continues to dive deeper into the ruins, he sees Captain Saef and his troops to his right commencing combat with several giant hermit crab-like beasts and in front of him a large swarm of giant jellyfish that threaten to zap anyone that gets entangled in their stinging tentacles. To his right the Archangel can see that Cydone and the giant rock-creature Antaeus are also entering the swarm as well. They were trying to be careful around them by dodging and keeping their distance while tip-toeing to the otherside. A shame that they didn't wield the powers of an archangel...

Lucifus looks at the jellyfish blocking his way and simply smirks as his eyes glow hot-yellow with intense heat. Despite being underwater, the heat emitted from his eyes were nearly as hot as a star, negating the water's effects to douche the heat. With that, the Archangel fires off two thin rays of stellar energy as he points straight into a jellyfish blocking his path. As it pierces the gelatinous blob, it suddenly explodes after only two seconds of exposure, leaving behind a mangled mess of tentacles and flesh. Pleased with the work his optic beams did, he continues to carve a path straight into the jellyfish horde as he quickly makes his way to the other side.

Jubilee stared at the kraken as it hit Cassiopia several times, splattering globs of the slime throughout the water to little effect. Eventually it straight up ate her with little fanfare, turning it's attention to Jubilee. A moment passed before she frowned at the mighty squid, waggling her finger at it as though it were a naughty child. "No! That's a bad squid, we don't eat Demons! Demons eat you!" Shadows all around began to contort and twist as they latched onto the kraken, eating away at its hide as it writhed and contorted in pain. The ink it had created actively worked against it, creating more darkness for Jubilee to use in consuming the many armed monster. It swiped at the darkness covering it in an attempt to scrape it off, but only succeeded in covering it's arms as it was consumed by the ravenous shadows. While all this happened Jubilee chose to just float in the water and wait for the monster to die off.

---

Utada was especially cautious of the immeasurable amount of sea urchins that rained from above, her armor would be able to protect her from one or two explosions, but this was absolutely insane. She carefully made her way through the minefield with the help of her suit's navigational systems and jet boosters, zipping in between the urchins with room to spare. Of course she had to turn off her cloaking due to the power being used by her nav systems, but it was worth it to avoid being shish kebabed. A message notification would pop up on Unit T's screen as she made her way through the black snow, if she accepted a direct video connection would open between the two of them.

"I'm almost through Unit-T, what's your progress on making it to the city?" She simply didn't have the concentration needed to look at how Unit-T was doing, it was everything she had to just barely avoid setting off the dangerous creatures.

The battle continues...

Utada, Unit-T, and Bonesword would all realize the error of the skeleton's judgment a little too late. Indeed the Urchins flocked to the first minion, crushing it like a living meat grinder. However, the idea to approach them on "spider leg" like appendages wasn't all that smart. Even if Bonesword himself didn't touch even one of the critters, the walking devices did, causing several explosions to happen. In a matter of seconds, the area was filled with gory remains and spikes flying everywhere. Nevertheless, what followed this flesh fireworks show was even worse.

Several enormous moray eels, at least 6 meters in length each, some even big enough to eat a grown human alive, swarmed to the area, attracted by the fresh gore that covered everything after the detonations subsided. They attacked everything in sight, with savage aggression, but left the urchins in peace as part of their symbiotic relationship. The urchins attract prey to the moray and feed on their waste, meanwhile, the morays defend the colony, in case it's in danger, a perfect deal for both sides.

Saef's and his men would find the battle going nice and easy to their side, the crabs being all but unable to counter-attack at ranges greater than their claws. However, their sensory apparatus would also catch the constant glimpses of the magic treasures that attract Saef's troops here in first place fading as their high-powered weaponry hit the crabs directly. What would they do about it?

While Cydone and Anteus escaped the wraith jellyfish, landing at the sandy bottom safely, with no signs of imminent threat in their vicinity, just the thunder and flashes coming from Lenuria. From their position, they had a more or less clear shot at Khaine's position, an as well as easy access to the dark abyss on the other edge of the battlefield. All that was needed is to choose a course of action.

Meanwhile, Lucifus would have two bad realizations coming his way: First, using extremely fast, extremely hot attacks underwater isn't a good thing because of vapor explosions right in your face causing immense damage with the sheer force of both the initial explosion and the several aftershocks that may follow. Second, jellyfish are considerably more dangerous dead than alive, especially after dismembered. Thousands of barely visible stings floating on the water with no possible way for you to avoid them, especially when you are swimming right through the mass of corrosive death. Escaping unscathed of all of this self-inflicted punishment would require some really creative thinking.

Jubilee and Cassiopeia's battle against the kraken wouldn't be a hard one. The beast wasn't able to defend itself while being attacked from inside and out. Its fall was only a matter of split moments. However, the water currents were getting stronger and stronger as the kraken tried the only defense left for it, escape to waters too deep for his foes to survive. If the demonic duo didn't think of a solution they could end up being either washed away to god-knows-where or smashed against the jagged cliffs.

Bonesword immediately prayed as soon as he heard the explosions go off, remembering he is a skeleton and even he is not immune to what was coming. However, his prayer was answered as he felt the water feel closer to him his form staying intact. That's when he remembered he had the Shooting Star. The shield depleted itself with the explosion, but it was just enough to get Bonesword out of the explosion unscathed! Alright!

Then the moray eels came, and honestly, Bonesword wasn't troubled. The lack of any urchins below him due to the explosion made it easy for him to fall down to the ground and sit there. The stingers shot at him hit the seaweed armor, blocking the blunt of the attack from the skeleton, and making it more or less easy camouflage. The stingers also provided some level of versatility as defense should Bonesword get attacked by the eels trying to eat him at the additional cost of some defense. The thought of not a ton of defense bothered Bonesword at first, as he had no shield charged and not-as-defensive armor, but as he was on the ground as a lump of stingers and seaweed, he was honestly fine with the situation. Not getting hit was better than getting hit, after all.

Plus, Bonesword could explode the armor off him in the case something bad happened.

The skeleton began to inch his way towards the rest of the city, moving slowly to not draw the eels to him while still making progress, even if it was extremely slow.

---