Not doing anything in his previous post, just searching ruins and occasionally defending himself from a Khaine trap probably.

@thewizardguy





Still riding the wave. Or current as the case may be.

@KoL





"And you're telling me this as if I'm not aware."

"But why are we still doing it? Is she trustworthy enough to give you useful help and not the whole 'doing the quest made you stronger and that's the help, the power was inside you all along' thing? Those are super annoying. I tried not to go on quests any more after that experience with them." Zyata wondered aloud, trying to divert the issue. She wasn't the most observant person, and hadn't noticed Titanica had noticed, but rather than admit that, she was gonna keep running her mouth until she found away out, or dug herself a hole straight to hell. ~I hope she doesn't think I think she's dumb or something. I just didn't notice a difference between grumpy and grumpy because fetch quest. Er... Wait, that doesn't sound much better now that I think about it... Uhhhmmm.~

"We're not alone... Change of plan... we're going for the goat first."

"You can make portals? Awesome! Why were we walking everywhere?" Zyata dropped the Griffon wing she had been tearing off in surprise. Sure, the portal looked a bit questionable and like it'd probably take her to some bleak hellscape, but she already trusted Titanica with not squishing her and that seemed to have worked alright? What could possibly go wrong?

"Follow me."

"GERONIMO!" Zyata entered the portal much as she had entered the hot spring, with perhaps overwhelming enthusiasm. ~I'll land on my feet, cause cat. Right?~



"Oww..." Zyata rubbed her ass a little, not expecting as short of a drop as it had been, but she was walking it off fine. She was probably about to complain a little more when robo-raptors showed up. A smile took her face! Time to show them what for... Ok wow, that's fast.

Not trusting herself to get a solid bead on a weak point in their armor with their speed as they approached, Zyata shifted her rifle to her front, the barrel resting between her relative meager breasts, with one hand while the other drew her spear as she ran forward towards the swarm. Her eyes scanned back and forth.. for something, and with a smile she seemed to have found it as she picked a target.

Even with the reach advantage of a spear and a downhill momentum advantage, it was kind of dumb to attempt to charge when you were a 80 kg tiger-girl vs a god knows how much robo-raptor. Even if the spear did breach its armor, sheer momentum would lead to her being crushed under its weight like a child against a boar.

Which was, why instead of attempting to spear the robo-raptor, she used it more like a quarterstaff, thrusting the shaft horizontally into its outstretched teeth and claws as she slid under it. The friction tore up her back with the extreme speed and the rockiness of the mountain, but what was a few more stripes? But more importantly, it also tore her rifle strap, which began bouncing up. Letting go of the spear, she twisted as she slid, the ground falling away from her as she jumped a tiny cliff, and she sighted down the rifle in mid flight. The raptor machine slowed and turned, its speed momentarily zero, and Zyata had her shot, the anti-material rifle finding a chink in its armor and tearing its insides apart violently.

Once again, the cat landed with horrible form as far protecting herself went, but her gun was held high and safe. But, the landing zone was less good than she had hoped. She had been trying to break out of the encirclement but the enemy seemed to be numberless and she found herself isolated in their midst, without her melee weapon. And they had grown ice weapons and... That looked like the windup for a projectile attack. Zyata leapt away in an undignified, almost on all fours, scrabbling to a nearby shale rock outcropping. On the plus side, seeing she was being fired at from all angles, any missed shots had a decent chance of hitting other raptors. On the downsides, regular bullet shots probably bounced off these things unless they hit a weak point, and she was being fired at from all sides. Reaching the shale, she fired two round, one smashing its connection to the cliff, and another to set it moving faster, as she slid her way down the mountain, struggling to stay atop her little mini-avalanche that could hopefully get her out of the encirclement and not get buried underneath it.

"And gotta stay low.. I don't need the left arm if I don't have my spear anyway. And the other one feels like a flesh wound, barely hit me, I'll be fine." She tried to psyche herself up through the pain. She was damned lucky or quick to act to have not died immediately in the hail of ice bullets from every direction, but she wasn't fast enough to evade all of them, and had already been shot once in the left upper arm, and once near her waist, fortunately a few inches above shattering a hip. Even her gun had been hit, but she didn't have time to check the damage.

@Lmpkio@TheWindel

---

"I don't think that it would work on this g— Ghhh!" Diana didn't have much time to reply to Suparna before being violently shoved away, grabbed, spun and tossed by the enemy that didn't even say a single word. If she were the one performing such a combo, Diana would feel proud of it; being on the receiving end was far more unsavory, however.

Just as unsavory as the soil that Diana spat as she said, "I guess that Valhalla is really a land of warriors, eh? These encounters are only getting worse."

Diana brushed away a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth as she got back to her feet right in time to watch as their silent assailant produced a weapon with the clear intent of slaying her. "Really, if you want some dragon ass, go get it somewhere else. I'm beginning to get pissed off that I can't spend a day off with my friend without some weirdo trying to skin us. This is the only thing that you'l get from me," she said before letting unleashing another breath attack, trying to destroy or at least knock their foe back.
While one conflict raged on the snowy slopes of Valhalla, another one thundered through Lenuria's abyssal depths...

Saef's men's countermeasures would prove to be successful in reducing the number of missing magical signatures coming from the ever so thin numbers of the gigantic crabs. The few crab who yet lived began to retreat as far away from Saef's men as they could. This massacre was far beyond what their self-preservation instincts allowed them to push themselves. If they couldn't get away, at least they would try to hide inside of their stone carapaces and hope that the barrage stops soon enough.

A cloud of muddy dust would blind those fighting in the inner parts of the city as not only their battle unsettled the long still sediments from above but also when the ground suddenly cracked under the sheer pressure of Anteus weight. The stone giant's presence caused the main streets around him to crack and crumble, plummeting he and Cydone —if the later continue to hold on to him— to the even darker depths of Lenuria's former sewer systems, where all sort of unsavory beings like giant, acid-excreting sea worms and magic-devouring se cucumbers waited for them. The flip side of this fate was that, for begin the first ones to reach these depths, maybe they would have some greater luck while looking for magical sources or clues to lead to victory.

The currents that dragged Jubilee and Cassiopeia —still inside of the Kraken— would certainly throw them against the jagged faces of many underwater cliffs with great force, on their way down to the literal maw of the darkness. However, what waited them was not just a barrage of crushing rocks meant to turn them into mince meat.

Deep within the cold, bone-crushing depths of the ocean floor something waited for them. A truly humongous monster exhaling a black, oily cloud as it rose from the dust emitting a massive low roar that could be heard anywhere on the proximity of Lenuria.

But Utada would not cease her pursuit, only cranking up the speed as she batted aside the orb of light with her shield. The orb bursted far away from her, the outermost orbs singing her suit but not quite hurting her. Her superior Machina shield was holding up against the onslaught of energy the Archangel unleashed, but it was quickly running out of juice. Utada suddenly halted and jetted backwards, straight through the window of the nearby church that Lucifus had been studying.

She deactivated her shield and tossed a mine onto the wall near the window, if Lucifus pursued from there he would get a face full of hot plasma for his troubles. She ducked behind a timeworn bench and quickly activated the camouflage function of her suit, blending in with faded white of the church floor and the rotting brown of the bench she was hiding under. Her sword was sheathed and her twin pistols were out, aimed at the window and waiting for Lucifus. However her focus was broken by something monstrous roaring in the distance, something had awoken.

---

Jubilee grunted as she collided with several rocky cliff faces, the only thing keeping her from being torn apart being the ball of darkness she had surrounded herself with. Even then she was quite bruised when she finally came to a stop near the floor of the ocean, letting the shadows fade as she took a look around her new location. "Oh fuck me." What she saw was not very good.

It was like nothing she had ever seen, numerous teeth like a shark, a blowhole like a whale, arms like a man, but nothing like any of those common creatures. This was a monster, plain and simple. Unfortunately this monster was hungry, likely for the flesh of anything that came near. Jubilee would not be its breakfast, she had already decided that. A ball of shadow formed in front of Jubilee, shooting towards the monster and splattering itself on where the eyes should be. The Darkness got to work, consuming the flesh of the monster to try and get to the brain. But it would be a slow process judging by the thing's size, god it was big. In the meantime Jubilee swam towards the dead kraken and began kicking it, Cass needed to get the fuck out right now and help her kill this. "Slime girl! Hurry up and get out here right now, we have another giant monster to kill before it eats us!"

---

Henry felt it before he heard it, his sixth sense that any soldier worth their salt going haywire as he folded his wings as close to his body as he could and dropped to the mountainside, impaling his sword into the rock just in time for a blue laser to pass inches away from him, searing his back from the raw heat emanating off of it. It was too soon to breath a sigh a relief however, as his sword was just a little too good at cutting through things for his own good. The blade continued to cut through the rock as gravity did it's work, with Henry rapidly descending towards Titanica. Wow he was actually descending really fast. TOOFASTTOOFASTTOOFAS-

Henry pulled his sword out of the mountain and grabbed into Titanica from behind, instinctively batting away a raptor that had managed to make it's way past the Vassal's defenses. "What the fuck is wrong with you! Why the fuck did you shoot at me you psycho bitch!?" A Gate opened in mid air and shot a fireball towards an ice spike that was en route to Titanica's face, melting it in midair and blowing up the raptor that had shot it in the first place.

“Titanica, is that you?” It was then that Henry noticed that these raptors were definitely not Eos's. Not anymore at least. With glowing red eyes, ice jutting out like dinosaur spines and attacking one of their own with reckless abandon, these had very clearly been taken over by something malevolent. Also did they were talking. They didn't do that before. Suddenly Henry felt ice cold claws tear through his kidney, one of the raptors had managed to escape both of their notices and had managed to get on Titanica's back as well. “Of course it’s you. Who else would be this angry. Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look climbing the mountain side? Of course you do.” Henry roared as a silver Gauntlet formed over his usual invisible armor and he punched the raptor in its snout, the metal crunching like tin foil as the robot fell thousands of feet to the ground below.

"Alright lady, as much as I want to decapitate you and feed you to my dogs, we have bigger fish to fry. Let's get to the top of the mountain so we can kill these fuckers on terra firma, capiche?" Another Gate opened just in the nick of time, a sword emerging and skewering a raptor that was about to chomp down on Titanica straight through it's throat. The raptor died and the sword drew back into the Gate, taking the corpse with it.

@Silvan Haven

Those shields were quite effective, but seemed vulnerable to repeated attacks. A single heavy blow might have a hard time getting through, but two attacks were far more effective. Of course the soldiers soon picked up on Khaine's method of attack and changed their tactics, attempting to break line of sight with Khaine while also firing on the crabs. A figure Khaine assumed to be their leader broke off from the main group and rushed towards him, surrounded by a golden aura that clearly identified him as one of Heaven's champions. So it seemed that this leader figure would be his first opponent in this battle. Interesting. He'd seen what the soldiers were capable of, but from what steel was the general forged? Only one way to find out.

As over a dozen glowing projectiles zoomed towards Khaine from a variety of different directions, the demonic knight was forced to put a halt to his attacks. His powers were dependent on his focus, after all, and it would be hard to focus on both the soldiers and the general. For now he'd engage this enemy in single combat. With a flash of red light he vanished, the projectiles striking the water where he'd been a moment ago. Being underwater had it's upsides and downsides, but they certainly made any form of projectile less effective. Despite their appearance those attacks must have been physical to some degree, considering they were slowed by water drag. It seemed that this opponent wasn't used to underwater combat. But to be fair, who was? As long as he possessed the Wayfarer's Stone he'd be able to avoid any such attack, and this enemy had displayed no other ranged abilities, so Khaine decided to maintain long distance. Now how to deal with this enemy as quickly as possible?

Red lightning flashed through the water, signifying another use of Khaine's powers. This time he had called forth a network of chains, building on the ones he had previously created. Lacking anchor points several of the chains simply hung from glowing red portals. He would weave a web of steel to trap Saef. From all sides the chains approached like the tightening of a knot, aiming to constrict and immobilize him. If the general didn't have a way to avoid or break through the demonsteel chains, then this battle was as good as over. Without having to worry about the target dodging, Khaine would be able to unleash a devastating amount of firepower.

A soft digitized noise played from Bonesword's shield as he felt the ground shake and something roar nearby. Nothing he really worried about right now, though. At least, he didn't have a reason to worry about it right now. He'd be able to hide if things went awry, or better yet, he could try and take it on... no... not right now, anyway. His secret weapon had to be around halfway here, so he had to hold out for just a bit longer.

Right now, he was concerned with that Khaine guy he met in the Oblivion Dungeon and whoever he was engaging. The crabs kept leaking shards of gold and such, possibly magical artifacts as well, but the real thing here was the power that Khane had. The red lightning was not a good sign of things to come, and even though Bonesword didn't like Heaven, he didn't have a quarrel with them either. He despised demons and Hell alike though, so there was that.

Bonesword sifted through his bag, simply full of swords, and pulled one out. The Vulcan Yew wouldn't work well in this situation, but Bonesword could still throw his swords efficiently. He'd just have to aim true. After a moment or two of aiming, the skeleton threw the ordinary sword at Khaine, the blade cutting through the water like one of those child torpedoes, and the sword aiming for the back of Khaine's neck. It was on target for a hit, but how effective would it be in the long run?

---

---

@floodtalon, @The 42nd Gecko, @TheWindel

---

As Titanica makes it to a small cliffside checkpoint, around roughly 60 maybe 70% the way up the mountain, she begins to recognize the behavior of the raptors becoming suddenly more aggressive. This wasn't simply the natural state of them getting more angry or frustrated, it seemed almost unnatural as their eyes turned crimson in color. Even physically, they began growing larger teeth and claws imbued with ice, an even stranger phenomenon to say the least. The raptors were going into some berserk stage, like something activated their "kill-switch" to the maximum. Clearly whoever is controlling them is nearby... perhaps at the top of the mountain.

So as the raptors began to jump and lash at Titanica, they began to literally throw themselves at her in a ravenous fury as they attempted to inflict serious damage onto her. The vassal roars furiously as she swipes a few from the air with her bare hands, even popping a few heads off a few of them. Even as a whole bunch began to literally cover her from head to tail did the Vassal not move back, covering her body with scratches all over her body. With a rapid flash of her spines, she unleashed a nuclear pulse to knockback the competition and free herself from the horde for the meantime. She then leaps onto the wall and begins to climb again, this time at a much quicker pace. Her rage continued to boil, allowing for more of her adrenaline to kick into over drive as her ascent quickens even more.

She didn't even realize that Zayata had finally kicked the bucket as she fell back down the mountain. Not like it mattered though... Titanica was perfectly fine without carrying luggage like her. In fact, now would be a good time to create a portal to avoid all of these raptors trying to weigh her down.

But what she didn't see coming was the rapid descent from Henry down towards her position. Her atomic breath managed to hit him and he was falling really... REALLY fast. So when the ex-demon managed to grab onto the Vassal's spines, the force of the impact caused the Vassal to stall for a minute as she swung to the left.

"FUCK!" roars the Vassal infuriatingly as she finally get her other hand back onto the other rock and continues to climb

She looks behind her to see the new "intruder" as she initially tries to shake him off violently through sheer instinct, even as he whacked an incoming raptor from reaching her.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! Why the fuck did you shoot at me you psycho bitch!?" yells the infuriated ex-demon as he melts an icicle that just formed above them.

Titanica says nothing as she continues climbing the mountain, forcing to acknowledge his presence as she gave a glare of slight disapproval before focusing back on the mountain at hand. But that's when she heard a voice... a familiar one at best. Yet this wasn't Eos' voice as the Vassal thought originally.

“Titanica, is that you?” the voice said coming out of one of the mechanical raptors just before Titanica used her atomic breath to obliterate it. Just then another pounced onto her again, although it was scratching through Henry as he managed to shrug it off. Then the voice began to emit from another raptor.

“Of course it’s you. Who else would be this angry. Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look climbing the mountain side? Of course you do.”

That voice... who did it belong to? It sounds familiar yet it felt so far away. But it didn't matter at this point. Yes, she does look a little ridiculous climbing up this mountain, however before she could portal her way to avoid these swarming raptors, this jerk came falling out of the sky. Speaking of this jerk, Henry comments again.

"Alright lady, as much as I want to decapitate you and feed you to my dogs, we have bigger fish to fry. Let's get to the top of the mountain so we can kill these fuckers on terra firma, capiche?"

Glad he understands the situation at least. Titanica couldn't do anything else but simply give a nod in acknowledgement.

"Then hold on." was the only response the Vassal had.

With him now stable on her back, it's time to make one last short cut through this hell... by literally going through hell as the Vassal quickly opens a portal by simply smashing the wall with atomic energy seeming from her fist. Quickly do they enter the portal as they find themselves at the top of the mountain seconds later as the Vassal pierces the ring and grips the smooth flat rocky ground as she lifts herself from the portal. As she stands up, her eyes begin to glimmer bright blue, with her mouth beginning to also excrete blue fiery smoke.

"Alright... show yourself you little BITCH!" growls the Vassal aggressively as one can hear her heavy breathing as she awaits for the mastermind to appear.

If she even is here in the first place...

---

@floodtalon

---

Even as Utada struck away the ball of holy energy, Lucifus didn't seem to care as he continues flying through the water as if he was playing a game. He was about to conjure up a beam in his hands towards the machina unit, before realizing that she was turning away quickly towards the church building. Testing his luck underwater, the archangel attempts to fire a beam at her but missed as the target ducks into one of the windows of the building. The plasma made a decent explosion as it exposed a descent hole through the ruins. Looks like his luck wasn't with him at this moment, already damaging some ancient architecture in the process. But no matter, at least it wasn't too serious.

As he continues circles the building, he readies himself as if he's about to charge in to get Utada, but alas he didn't. Something about this seemed too suspicious. Through his experience in battle, no doubt does this look as if a trap was set to close. Even if it wasn't so, he still fears that his initial strike will damage a piece of priceless ancient history that was already peaking his interest. He'll either have to set her free or simply sacrifice the building forever...

Oh well.

"This is going to sting..." he mutters to himself regrettably.

Rather than charging into the building however, his six wings began to extend to their fullest as they began glowing a yellow hue. He knew he's going to destroy a piece of history, something he may come back on his own turns to study, but sacrifices have to be made in battle, great or small. As he closes his eyes to advert his eyes from seeing the ruin's destruction, he suddenly hears a monstrous roar coming from somewhere deeper in the depths, almost as if the battle woken up something up from its nap. His wings nullified slowly as the archangel's attention was drawn onto the sound of the wakening beast, wherever it may be.

"Oh what fun." he states to himself bluntly with a slight smirk on his face, "Finally a giant leviathan comes out to play... this should be interesting."

Lucifus looks at the church and then at the depths below... and made his choice.

His wings relaxed as they resumed to swimming position as the Angel began to investigate the noise. He wasn't planning on engaging it specifically, but rather see what it is and then alert everyone else if possible. If he has to lure it into a trap, by himself even, he will... whatever trap he may think up of.

---

Unit-T continued to investigate every nook and cranny for the staff until the sound of the monstrous sea monster boomed throughout the entirety of Lenuria. Tina takes note of this as she pauses Unit-T into defense position as she tries to determine where it was coming from. Fortunately, it seems to be coming more from the depths rather then in this general location. Either way, it's most likely beginning to head this direction. She has to find that staff fast or otherwise face the monster alone...

Indeed with great haste, Unit-T continues to scan the entire ruins as they continue scanning the ruins for any sign of the staff...

---

@thewizardguy@KoL



Ordinarily procedure would be to deal with every threat in an area before searching corpses. The battlefield has a way of messing with procedure however. Two squads moved in to search the downed crabs for the staff while the rest stayed on overwatch, keeping an eye on their surroundings. There were no significant forces nearby. Although a singular Demon was showing up on sensors, apparently watching. It was making no move to attack so they let Bonesword be. This was not a search and destroy mission after all.

In the waters above Saef was having only a mildly more difficult time. A flick of his wrist turned his scepter into a blade. The golden blade that sprang forth was ten feet long and easily sliced through the Demonic chains on one side of the trap. As he shot through the gap the Thaumaturge's attention was drawn to the portals from which the chains had sprung. His mind tracing out the patterns of magic holding them open.

Hmmmm. Not massively different from the portal back home. And these aren't being powered by an apocalyptic storm and human sacrifice. If I do this...

A countetspell shot from his shell of light and slammed into the nearest portal. It flickered and wavered for several seconds before resolidifying. A grin crept over his face beneath the helmet. That hadn't worked, but it had been close. A little longer and he would be able to dispel them with ease.

The spikes of light continued doing what they had formed to do. Homing in on Khaine once more. The swarm of significantly more than a dozen projectiles flew with essentially no water resistance. With very sharp tips and almost frictionless sides there wasn't a whole lot the water could do to slow them down.

OOC: The shields don't work on any strange, "Less is More" principles. If you take one strong hit and split into two strikes that each have half the power of the original strike it will still take the same amount of power from the shield to block them. What I said earlier is that there is a minimum amount of power needed to activate and block an attack. That means that you could do what Apia's bees did and put less energy into the attack than it takes to activate and block it.

Of course this is a comparatively long term form of attack. It might save you energy but it won't save you time.

Upon the sight of more acid-eaty type enemies, and enemies that drained the only thing that elevated him above "drowned corpse", Cydone again figured it was time to retreat. When a tentative slash was answered with the magic being eaten on one half and corrosiveness on the other, Cydone decided this wasn't a valid ground to fight for him. One close shave with either of those and he'd be down for the count, having no counter to acid if any of it touched him or his weapons, and destined to ignominiously drown if his water breathing spell was removed, as he had no way to recast it. "Sorry partner, fraid I've got to sit this one out. Bad match ups against either of those creatures for me. Good luck, I'll head back up to the city surface and look around there. Maybe I can find this temple thing." Cydone apologized to Antaeus before making his exit.

Alighting atop a ruined building corner back on the surface, not like he really needed to what with the water, Cydone took another look around. He spotted Unit-T, and figured he might as well wait until after one of them found the staff to start fighting. Be a real shame if it got destroyed in a brawl before anyone found it. He didn't see the need to be the first striker.

@thewizardguy@Lmpkio





Cassiopia was more or less unharmed. Being splattered against wall, after wall, after wall, wasn't really a problem. For starters, she was inside a Kraken. For finishers, she was made of slime, which was not all that vulnerable to blunt physical trauma. Sure, she got smushed around a lot and couldn't concentrate on any magic, but she just pulled herself together after the smacking stopped. And then the roaring started, of two different types.

"Slime girl! Hurry up and get out here right now, we have another giant monster to kill before it eats us!"

"Er, you go on ahead, I'm a necromancer! This is, um.. Exactly where I want to be. I have a plan. I definitely have plan.

The limp wave the Kraken gave through one of its tentacles Cassiopia managed to animate wasn't all that encouraging. But Cassiopia did have a plan. Maybe she could have the Necrolimb armor throw some external lighting on this thing, try to draw the monster's attention. She prepared her spell, not going for reanimation, but having her corpse explosion in mind. All those smacks against the cliff put together shouldn't make a horrible attack. And if it ignored her instead.. Well, that was also a win!

@KoL@floodtalon

Even as the Angelic mage cut through his chains, Khaine suddenly spotted another attack from a different direction. Instinctively he flashed across the battlefield once more, a mere instant before the blade struck the water where he had been. Where had that attack come from? It seemed that another demon had joined the battle. So why had Khaine been attacked? This must be a traitor, a Demon who had joined the ranks of the Machina. Not that Khaine had any right to judge them. But in this situation it was certainly inconvenient. To make things worse those blades of light once more changed their course, homing in on his location. Teleportation was an excellent defense tactic, especially against multiple opponents, but it wasn't doing anything more than stalling for time. Honestly the demon seemed like the less threatening of the two opponents, and Khaine's preferred strategy would be to teleport towards this new adversary for a surprise attack. But, unfortunately, it seemed he didn't have the luxury of choosing his targets.

Even as he took a moment to decide on his next course of action the mage unleashed some sort of dispel-like ability. It seemed he was facing a true mage, someone who didn't merely channel magic into specific abilities but rather focused on the understanding of magic as a whole. A dangerous prospect indeed. While Khaine had studied the topic somewhat, he lacked the talent to use it properly. Previously time was on his side, after all he could keep dodging till kingdom come. But if this mage managed to perfect that dispell, this battle would suddenly get significantly more troublesome. So it was time for a change of tactics. Mages were at their best when they had time to think, so he'd have to take that away. Push him back with heavy aggression, see if he was able to break the mage's defenses before the mage was able to formulate a counter. Deal with the demon later.

First, Khaine needed to keep his demonic adversary busy. Lightning arched around Bonesword, as a cage of dark steel seemed to spontaneously materialize around him. The cage itself was capable of taking a very solid beating, but Khaine wasn't confident it would hold the Demon, so he added a little bit extra. Large tubes filled with unstable explosives were wrapped around the bars, clearly marked as such. Any attempt to escape the cage was likely to set off the explosion, unless extreme care was used. The point was not to damage Bonesword, but rather to force him to move slowly. The explosion was unlikely to be lethal, but would certainly hurt like Hell. Literally. If Khaine could just keep the demon occupied for a bit, he'd be able to take on the mage properly.

Next step was actually getting through the shield. While Khaine was confident he could deal more damage than the shield was able to soak up, the problem was the mage's ability to cast while the shield was up. Physical trauma could force a mage to abort a spell, even when most of the shock was absorbed by armour. Likely this was the reason this particular mage had opted for a forcefield. So then Khaine would have to rely on shock and awe, combined with concentrated high-powered attacks. Keep the enemy off their guard while dealing large amounts of damage.

With a flash, Khaine appeared inches away from the mage's face, arm outstretched. This was not the leadup to an attack, but rather intended to get a quick reaction. As a trained warrior the mage was likely to attack Khaine out of reflex, an attack that would inevitably miss as Khaine instantly moved behind the mage. As long as he was able to teleport, it would be incredibly difficult to pin him down with any directed attacks, melee or ranged. Of course, that wasn't likely to do much to reflex. After all, it was only natural for a warrior to lash out when an enemy appears spontaneously near them. But behind the mage, also, wasn't Khaine's final destination. Instead he appeared right above the mage, just outside of his field of vision. In three quick teleports he'd hoped to confuse and disorient his opponent, while also setting himself up for a powerful attack. For Khaine's arm was still outstretched, and now it held the mighty cannon Godfall. This fusion of demonic magic and Machina technology was easily one of the most powerful weapons in Khaine's arsenal, capable of ripping through even the most powerful of angelic defensive magic.

So then, the most powerful weapon at the perfect angle. It would be interesting to see how the mage attempted to dodge an attack like this. After all, even assuming this shield was far more powerful than the ones equipped on the more 'standard' infantry units, it was unlikely to survive a point-blank shot from the Godfall rail-canon.

With grim satisfaction, Khaine pulled the trigger.

“That is you, isn’t it? Always hot-headed and charging into the throes of action…it’s this intuition that makes you so weak.” The voice echoed all around the transported Vassal and her demonic companion, the mechanical raptors halting in their ascent. They were left to cling to the mountain sides, jutting their heads upwards in an attempt to watch the coming spectacle.

To Titanica’s chagrin, the immediate threat was not present; why would they be? Yet there was a voice coming much closer than the raptors and all either she or Henry needed to do was look to the skies. Something was slowly descending atop the flat mountain’s peak; something huge that seemed to rival Titanica’s own size, if not eclipse it entirely.

“That’s the problem with you….things. Flesh and blood can only work so much until finally, finally you slip up. You make a mistake, and your intuitions are rendered obsolete,” the voice boomed, its carrier finally landing in front of Henry and Titanica. To the demon prince, it was an unfamiliar machine that somewhat resembled Titanica’s own frame. But the Vassal should have known her opponent, the robot empress’ amplified voice as chilling as the cold that crept over both their shoulders.

Icy winds and buffeting skies gave way to the great machine that landed with a thud upon already frozen ground. “Yes, it’s been a long time my fellow Vassal,” the voice of Archorus, Vassal of Ice, spoke from within the massive machine. “To think you wouldn’t recognize your own spawn kind…more foolishness of the flesh and blood. Mayhaps you enjoy what I have done to them.”

The mechanical saurian swept an arm towards the raptors down below in indication. “I did do well in making their adjustments. To think they would believe I was their goddess….it is a tremendous glory…and my machines tell me you bring a soldier of that malfunctioned trash as well,” the mecha continued, sensors scanning Henry.

“An informant spoke of your appearance here. I intend to run some tests on this model using your combat abilities. Crushing the servant of that false queen will also be due reward….” Eyes gleaming, the machine opened fire at the both of them, chest opening up with a blast of icy bolts. If they were to fall to this, then all the failure to them. But at least Archorus would have her precious battle data.

---

With the grace of a dancer and the brutality of Ira, the armor proved itself better at following Suparna's direction then the dragon was.

"Well that escalated quickly." Suparna spat as she picked up her slackened jaw and affixed the armor with a serious gaze. It was fast, strong, and rather obviously heavilly armored with just a glance, but as Suparna drew in the smells around her, she found it odd that past the ionized air and driven snow, there was a lack of scent from within the armor. The grill upon the helm suggested it wasn't an enclosed environment like something a Machina soldier would produce, and if she were to further hazard to guess, this wasn't the product of advanced technology either.

"Just our luck. Even the armor in Valhalla wants in on the fighting." Seeing Diana rally from the attack and rebuke the armor with a stream of plasma, the Queen of Carrion surged into action as well atop a wave of fast moving maggots. "Diana, keep it pinned. I'm going to try and get inside and stuff it into bursting!"

Riding parallel to the plasma she charged the swarm forward, intent to crash upon the armor and drag it her excess mass before it had a chance to do any harm to Diana with further dueling. If her hunch was correct she didn't expect a meal to be waiting inside there, but she'd like to see the thing move when it was buried inside and out.

@thewizardguy@Gardevoiran



It wasn't a half bad combo, if not one that was particularly effective against a warrior who had any idea how to fight teleporters. Especially when said opponent lacked the traditional blind spots. Saef's onboard computer chirped at him at each teleportation. First in front, then behind and finally, above and holding a weapon that radiated immense power.

Thankfully Saef had never actually stopped moving since leaving the trap. After the first teleportation he had simply upped his speed. Khaine's second teleportation had probably resulted in a face full of highly energetic quantum particles. So on the third teleportation the Demon was not in fact firing at a stationary target confused and unaware of his location.

Saef was in fact several feet away from the intended line of fire when the mighty godfall cannon was fired. It was a weakness of rapid teleportation like that. They only gave you a slideshow view of the world, making it difficult to adjust for unplanned variables. In this case it meant that the Captain got jostled by the turbulence of the shot but not much more.

Such a prime target could not go unexploited either. As Khaine was pulling the trigger he was met with a beam of holy light from the glowing shell around the Thaumaturge. The man had superhuman reflexes and the added time needed to fire the weapon provided an opportunity. The beam was purely nonphysical in nature. Water would have no effect on the lance of holy power as it crossed the less than ten feet between the two combatants.

Of course it was a snap shot fired using sensor data but Khaine was huge and the two were close. It might not hit anything vital but it should at least impact.

And of course the spikes were making their way towards the Demon once again.

The skeleton felt the water shift around him as if something was there, but was surprised to find that there really wasn't anything there. The lightning did happen, but nothing was really there at all, not that Bonesword was complaining.

Bonesword drew the Shroomblade as he sprinted over towards Saef and Khaine, leaping up into the water as if he was preparing a mighty downward slash towards Khaine, emphasized even more by the spontaneous growth of plant life around Bonesword's waist, extending up to his hand in a long cord made of vines. The skeleton began to swing the vine around and around before tossing it towards Khaine, the end of the vine turning into a grappling hook mid-swing. His goal? Wrap it around Khaine and try to immobilize the target. Either that or maybe start chasing him when he teleports. Contact could teleport him too, right?

Either way, Bonesword had his shield at full capacity and his trump card was almost here.

---

~BGM~

A dragon was expected to fight to the death and use all its abilities to the fullest. The lingering armor expected no less as a stream of burning, seething plasma was fired from Diana’s downed form. Walking closer, it raised an armored gauntlet up. Diana’s flames crashed against the surface of the metal, bursting in all directions except where the intended target was.

The crunch of snow indicated the armor was unfazed by this barrage, closing distance between itself and Diana. All the while, the stream was held at bay by its hand, melting the snow beneath in whichever direction it was splayed off to. But there were two combatants in this fray and the armor turned its helmeted head to the wave of maggots heading right for it.

So Suparna intended to fight back. Unfortunate, but it would not stop the Lingering Will. With movement from its hand, it slowly shifted the direction of Diana’s flames back to Suparna. If the maggot wanted to continue her foolish plight, she would be rushing right into the wave of Diana’s plasma. As Lingering Will held the stream in Suparana’s direction, its other hand revealed itself.

The weapon it had conjured up was now revealed with full splendor. Hefting the massive blade like it was a mere toy, it launched in a downwards strike at Diana. Both girls were not going to be defeating it so easily, of this much was for certain. But what was it? And where did it even come from? Did it matter?

@TheWindel, @floodtalon

---

“That is you, isn’t it? Always hot-headed and charging into the throes of action… it’s this intuition that makes you so weak.”

Titanica simply stands still as she awaits the arrival of this newfound threat. She won't back down by a mere insult to her strength and endurance, especially the fact that this character engaged them first. She still has no idea why this character attempted to attack her in the first place, other than the fact that she may have stepped in enemy territory. But no matter. This will not deter her in any stretch.

She does however notice that the raptors had stopped following her and the newfound "ally", which can only mean that they were ordered to cease. No doubt their master is ready to step into the heat of battle and good riddance at that. Titanica wants a proper challenge ever since that disaster revolving around a certain particular battle. She feels like she's ready this time and with her strength boiling within her gut, it's ready to explode. She just wants to beat this guy, take that black goat leather and walk out of here.

But then the vassal hears the sound of something climbing up the mountain... something massive. And when it finally peered it's metallic head above the cliff top, did Titanica dawn a wrathful beast as she watches it raise higher... and higher... into the sky.

“That’s the problem with you… things. Flesh and blood can only work so much until finally, finally you slip up. You make a mistake, and your intuitions are rendered obsolete.”

Titanica knows who she is... and she's not amused at her opponent.

"Archorus." growls Titanica disgustingly with her upper-lip flaring as she sees her giant mechanical suit, looking much like her beast form, slowly ascend and then plopping right on the cliffside surface.

The mech towers at least fifty meters into the frigid sky, it's silver metallic hull was cold and bleak. The red crimson eyes didn't help warm the mech in anyway as it presents an aggressive nature of its own. This may be the closest thing to a mechanized Titanica as it can get for the Vassal of Nether, at least for now. But the Vassal of Nether didn't care on who she was. All she knows is that Archorus is in the way of progress... and that she'll get what's coming to her if she doesn't move aside.

“Yes, it’s been a long time my fellow Vassal,” the opposing voice spoke from within the massive machine. “To think you wouldn’t recognize your own spawn kind… more foolishness of the flesh and blood. Mayhaps you enjoy what I have done to them.”

The organic vassal ganders at the bots that were crowding around her and her partner. So these raptors worshipped her in the flesh once upon a time? Interesting. She didn't recognize she had such a cult following. Sure there were native humans who worshipped her as a god once upon a time, but these were different. Then again, she is the vassal where all Saurian lifeforms evolved into their current state. But these mechanical raptors did not spark any more additional emotions other than the anger she already emits. Yet the Vassal of Ice continues to boast magnificently.

“I did do well in making their adjustments. To think they would believe I was their goddess… it is a tremendous glory…and my machines tell me you bring a soldier of that malfunctioned trash as well.”

Titanica snarls at Archorus before taking a few light steps forward.

"I do not have time to pummel your ass to the ground." the organic vassal retorts, rolling her eyes in exasperation, "I'm only here to~"

But it only fell upon deaf ears.

“An informant spoke of your appearance here. I intend to run some tests on this model using your combat abilities. Crushing the servant of that false queen will also be due reward…” the mech finishes as her eyes light up menacingly and her chest opens up to reveal a blast of icy bolts coming straight at them.

Looks like she's going to have to fight her way out of this one. With a surprising burst of speed, Titanica bursts forwards towards the massive mech just moments before the bolts could hit her. The point of view which the mighty mech was looking down would block most of her sight to where Titanica was... perhaps she may have considered the fact of her already being eliminated foolishly by standing still.

Yet this wouldn't be the case.



Once Titanica was right underneath Archorus, the vassal leaps into the air as her body begins to rapidly morph into her kaiju form. Her mouth opens to fire her atomic beam straight into the open chest in an attempt to disable it, followed by her massive arm reaching out to grasp her mechanical doppelganger's throat. Even if more bolts began to fire at her body, her armored abs would be able to mostly protect her from the cold shards of ice.

The battle of Fire and Ice has just begun.

The two of them quickly dove through a portal that Titanica had made, emerging at the top of the mountain with Henry still clinging to her back as the voice of their assailant echoed from above. “That is you, isn’t it? Always hot-headed and charging into the throes of action…it’s this intuition that makes you so weak.” Henry looked up and pursed his lips together as he saw what the current threat was. Yup, this was going to be one of those days. A giant robot dinosaur was falling from the sky and was probably about to try to kill them. “That’s the problem with you….things. Flesh and blood can only work so much until finally, finally you slip up. You make a mistake, and your intuitions are rendered obsolete,” As she continued her extensive monologue, Henry finally put two and two together as he recalled the name of the lizard woman he was currently clinging to. Fuck. It really was one of those days, yet another Vassal was trying to kill him. This must be some sort of record, this is the third Vassal in the past month that's tried to kill him.

"Archorus." Titanica growled out as Henry slowly climbed off of Titanica, touching upon the ground lightly as he pulled out a healing potion to seal his bleeding wound. Wait did she just say Archorus?

"OH COME THE FUCK ON! WHO DID I FUCK OVER IN A PAST LIFE TO DESERVE THIS?!" Henry took a deep breath as the two Vassals had their conversation, thinking about how the fuck he was going to get out of this alive. Any other day this would be pretty cool, but right now he had an important job that did not involve being stepped on by a giant robot. Henry turned around and began walking away, he had a goat to look for and Archorus could wait for another day.

“An informant spoke of your appearance here. I intend to run some tests on this model using your combat abilities. Crushing the servant of that false queen will also be due reward….” Henry sighed once more and shook his head. Today was just not his lucky day. He turned towards Archorus and drew his sword swiftly, rapidly slicing through several bolts of ice before they could impale him. But the stream was never ending, he was already getting tired from deflecting and destroying the storm of spikes that descended upon him. This was when Titanica came to the rescue, probably by accident, turning into her own dino form and blocking the ice with her own body.

"I suppose I need to defend my new Master's honor, even if I'm not technically her apprentice yet." Henry's eyes began to glow Silver as a suit of armor formed around him, supplementing his usual defenses and enhancing its speed by feeding off the heat Titanica was producing just by existing. His wings unfurled behind him as he took off into the air with a sonic boom, the ground beneath him cracking as his feet left the ground.

Henry began zipping around Archorus, launching swords out of his Gates at her head as fast as he could, each one supplemented by Silver energy he had created and imbued them with. Basically the swords were really hot, he had put as much energy as he could into each one without melting them.

"Ain't this a sodden day. If I keep having to retreat, there may not be much room left to run to." Cydone mused as the Spawns showed up. Whipping out a wire experimentally, the wire scored deep into the spawn before disintegrating from the force of impact. "Can't kill 'em en mass." Swiping with his sword, he sent waveslash after waveslash into it, the tough bugger taking several in addition to its deep wound from the wire before falling. All the while, more and more poured from the darkness, scrambling forth. Using those safe ranged attacks just wouldn't be enough to cut them down before he was overrun.

"Mmm.. Guess we'll have to try something a little tougher." Cydone attached his wires to his blade, getting ready.





Cassiopia was quite happy the monster left, and that she didn't have to detonate her Kraken with her inside of it. She cheered to Jubilee "See, everything is going according to plan! I'm not dead, hence, the plan was successful. Oh, hey, is that what we're looking for?" Cassiopia went ahead and moved herself into the siphon, shaped herself, and then exploded the squid, sending her forth towards the golden light. As her momentum began to slow, she once again shapeshifted into a quick fishy, aiming to find the golden thingy, snatch it in her teeth, and then swim to somewhere safe and have a look at it. Rather reckless and all, but Cassiopia was excited to have avoided the fight and maybe done something good.

@KoL@floodtalon

And so a battle of great devastation had begun upon the Nexus’ land. Two Vassals had clashed, rocking the earth of which they stood. Still, Archorus had some sense not to devastate the world, lest she earn herself a lecture from Iona and, worse yet, Harley. After all, this was only just a test run and as expected, Titanica was performing beautifully, if a bit predictable.

A loud sigh echoed around the mountain as Titanica grabbed the machine’s throat, holding it in place. “Not bad. But this is just the tip of what prior data shows you can do,” the voice of Archorus boomed from the mecha. The blast to its chest would be nullified by a solid layer of hardened ice forming around it. As atomic power made contact, the ice shield shattered, doing its job with defending the weapon for now.

“Is it just coincidence you brought this inferior lifeform with you? Or do you require assistance in defeating me?” the robot said. At once a chill would overtake Titanica’s hand, ice quickly forming over her grip on the mecha. Rooting her in place, the machine raised its own arm to deliver a rocket-powered punch into the other Vassal’s gut. But whatever power it had in its blow was weakened because Archorus soon noticed said inferior creature buzzing about her machine.

“You reek of the Machina,” the mecha boomed, opening panels along its sides to fire off missiles aimed at Henry. Some were meant to take care of the fiery hell he rained down while others sought to seek the demon out personally. All exploded into constructs of icy shard with each impact, Archorus keeping focus on both her enemies now. “If you survive this demon, then perhaps I will modify you as my own herald. A being like that is better serving me than your false queen. That obsolete model, Eos.”

But there were battles on both sides, happening at all paces within the contained Nexus. Much like how a battle between Vassals was bound to be revolutionary, so too were other events occurring that would ultimately change the Nexus. Such was the case down in the inky depths below, a battle being waged between the three Factions of the Nexus.

In the wake of the massive monster of the sea, all sorts of horrors had emerged to wreak havoc and mayhem in the submerged city. But something else had awoken in these shadowy waters. Something intrusive and coiling; something wrong. And as the natives of the ocean were busy with their hunger, something more had slithered its way into the fray.

In the skirmish of Saef, Bonesword, and Khaine’s fight, something large loomed over their forms in the water. It greatly outsized the rocks they stood upon, let alone the city beneath them. If either of them dared to look up, they would see a great, feral eye staring back at them. No malice or hatred, only a great stare that belonged to an equally fearsome creature. Just what was this new monster?