---

Driven by the adrenal rush of combat rather then her typical hunger for meat, Suparna rode the wave of maggots with a more focused fervor for slaying their flesh-less foe. She watched it for signs of attack and true to form it didn't disappoint as Diana's breath attack was redirected in a sweeping faster then the dragon herself could cancel the attack. Gritting her teeth she willed her swarm to split, a small portion clinging to her upper back before she leaped over the roaring plasma and left the rest of the mass to flatten against the snow to duck beneath the brunt of the attack.

"That's it bastard, I'm dragging you down now." The maggot growled as rolled across and sprang to her feet in a dead sprint, swinging her sword prematurely to fling globs of carrion trailing down her arms and the length of her sword at the Lingering Will, a prelude to another running leap before she thrust the tip of her sword through the armor's visor with her clinging swarm quick to follow through the potential breach even as bullets of fire swarmed all around them.

@TheWindel, @floodtalon

---

As the mighty Titanica attempted to rip Archorus' head straight off with using only her bare hand, the mech seemed to be bored of this attempt, even as her ice projectiles bounced off her organic counterpart's armored belly. She seems to admit that it was an admirable effort, but that she only recognizes that there's "more" to her then she knows according to her precious "data". It was at that point the organic monster attempts to lift the rival vassal off the ground as she attempts to clamp harder on its neck.

But before Titanica was anywhere near in breaking the thick mechanical hide, her upper arm began to feel a chilling embrace as it slowly becomes enveloped in ice. True to her title, the Vassal was using her ice abilities against it's bitter and much hotter adversary. And yet the organic simply didn't show much panic, if not for a tad-bit of surprise as she seems to still free her arm. Yet the machine still had more to say... and it regards to her "ally".

“Is it just coincidence you brought this inferior lifeform with you? Or do you require assistance in defeating me?”

The beast would only grunt mockingly at the mech as she issues a toothy smirk.

"Consider him an unexpected guest." Titanica speaks to the machine mentally to herself.

It would be interrupted by a rocket punch from the mech right to her gut, causing her to stagger slightly. Yet due to Henry interrupting her plan of attack, it was weaker than it seemed. As Archous was concentrating her attention towards the demon, Titanica took the opportunity to strike back. Using the slight bit of pain she felt from the metal-fist's impact, she reels back while clenching a fist of roaring blue atomic aura. She aims for the mech's as she was monologuing towards Henry, basically anywhere near her chest as she realizes that an ice shield was broken briefly around that location. If she can break through it, it may give her a chance to gut-n'-melt her opponent.

And with all of her might, the beast issues a mighty uppercut towards that location, threatening to punch a hole through the chest as it can possibly shatter or melt it given the right angle. Even if it fails, she has plenty of more abilities up her sleeves... perhaps a few that Archorus cannot predict or fathom.

After Utada realised that Lucifus was not going to be coming after her, she deactivated all of her traps and left the church. Wondering what could have possibly caught his attention, she began to swim up and towards the castle in the distance. On her way she finally realised what had caught Lucifus's attention, spotting the swarm of monsters that fell off an even more monstrous being in the distance. And some of them were heading straight towards her.

One of them was quickly put down by a bullet to the head, but the other two were already upon her and ready to sink their fangs into the android soldier. Her assault rifle was dropped and shield was activated as they descended upon her, blocking one of them with the hardened energy and deterring the other with a shot from her energy pistol. It backed off for a moment, which was just enough time for Utada to draw her sword and cleave off the head of the monster that would dare attack her. The other one fell shortly after from having its neck sliced open and bleeding out. When all was said and done she continued her journey to the castle.

---

The monster had pretty much decided to ignore them, instead swimming off to look for larger prey than the mere appetizers they were. Not that she was complaining, they would've been swatted like flies by that monster. What mattered now was getting that shiny thing in the water below them, it was probably their objective. Cass darted toward it as fast as she could, Jubilee was content with letting her be the one to grab it. No telling what kind of nasty traps that thing could hold. "Just make it quick slime, we have a battle to win."

---

“You reek of the Machina. 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.” Well that's fucking rude. Henry showered quite regularly in the blood of his enemies, there's no way he should smell like Machina. Griffon maybe, but not Machina. Henry continued his dodging around, shifting his focus from directly attacking Archorus to just defending himself from the many missiles that were fired at him. Each missile was sliced in half by a sword from the Gates, but that only added to his problems as each time that happened he would be peppered by a spray of icy shrapnel. His armor could take it, but not for long at this rate.

"Titanica, I need an opening! Just for a second!" Whether she had actually listened to him or not didn't matter, because she provided an opening. She threw yet another atomic punch into Archorus's gut to try and tear through the monolithic mecha, throwing her off balance for just a split second. Henry capitalised by swooping towards Archorus and dodge rolling past the missiles heading his way as he focused on the missile launcher on her left side. Two portals opened up, enveloping a good amount of the space where missiles would fire out of. Several missiles entered his Gates through one portal, while the other portal spat them out just as quickly into the holes they fired out of. Hopefully it would destroy any chance of those missiles being used, the launcher would be clogged from the ice at the very least. But he wasn't done there, no chances would be taken with a Vassal whose entire gimmick was ice.

Henry swerved upwards mere feet away from Archorus as he began slicing through the mech with his blade, hoping to damage some sort of vital machinery while he was at it. After his sweep was done he would quickly back off, continuing his normal assault with the swords.

So it seemed this warrior was not inexperienced at fighting teleportation. Annoying. No matter how powerful a gun was useless if it didn't hit, and it had left Khaine open, however momentarily, for a counterattack. He had intended to teleport away immediately after firing, but a ray of light cut past his side just before he vanished. Appearing a good few hundred meters away from Saef, Khaine noticed the demon attacking the space he had just occupied. Fortunately, he'd had the common sense to disengage immediately. Fighting two opponents would be annoying, but at least this fungus-themed demon didn't seem to possess very fast attacks. As long as Khaine was able to react to an attack, teleportation would make it useless. However, dealing with the general would be rather more difficult. A shield left no real weaknesses to exploit, and fast attacks were an issue.

For just a moment, Khaine contemplated his next step. The process took only a half a second, but allowed him some insight into the situation. The water around his shallow wound bubbled as it was exposed to the heat of his internal fire. Despite being outnumbered, his opponents were currently in an advantageous situation. Grouped up. Godfall would take a bit to recharge, but that was far from his only weapon. If tricks and strategy didn't work, raw power would have to do.

The water flashed red, as portals opened up all around Saef and Bonesword. Even as they popped into existence they began rapidly freezing the water around them, regardless of salt content. These portals led directly to the frozen lakes of the ninth layer of hell, and the touch of that place could freeze any body of water. Of course it wouldn't be enough to freeze the ocean, but certainly create a large block of ice around his two adversaries. The portals themselves were arranged in a sphere, and as such the water Bonesword and Saef were in would rapidly become encased in ice. Breaking the ice might work, but the water would immediately refreeze, and the frost would continuously grow inward and outward. Maintaining this many portals took continuous effort from Khaine so he wouldn't be able to do anything else while he maintained this, not even move. However according to his calculations he'd be able to freeze that entire area solid well before the blades of light reached him.

Of course, that was when an ancient horror from the depths of the ocean emerged out of nowhere and spawned a horde of frenzied abominations of nature to devour all life that had intruded on it's domain. Because OF COURSE it did. This wasn't exactly great timing. Khaine had kind of committed here, and had no way of defending himself without halting his attack. Without any nearby allies to call on that left him with... well, nothing. He was just left standing there, stretching out his arms and concentrating while the monsters roamed ever closer, hoping that they didn't attack him. He was made of metal and fire, so he probably wasn't very tasty anyway. Actually, nevermind. Eldritch abominations. All bets were off. Maybe they ate souls or something. And he had a bunch of those.

This situation was in no way improved when Khaine noticed ANOTHER titanic sea creature observing the battle from above. This one looked even more massive than the tentacled one. And it slightly resembled the aquatic variant of a certain vassal. At least this one didn't look like it wanted to eat anyone, yet, but that didn't make it any less worrisome. Hopefully Khaine would be able to defeat these two quickly and move on to the big monster things.

@thewizardguy@Gardevoiran@KoL



One gauntleted hand grabbed the vine rope as it swept through empty water, its target having once again vanished. Saef's original plan had been to whip the Demon on its end around like a flail the next time the teleporting pest appeared. He wasn't sure why one of the fell creatures was attacking its fellow nor did he particularly care. It just meant that many less to hunt down himself. The sphere of freezing portals appearing around him put a hold on that unfortunately.

Now moving towards an expanding wall of ice he acted quickly. Spells formed in his mind and rippled out ahead of with a flick of his reformed scepter. The almost invisible bolts of energy slammed into the portals freezing the water ahead of them. Icy gateways flickered and wavered, not completely negated but certainly strained and unable to convey their full chill.

Pouring on an extra burst of speed he crossed the remaining few meters in a flash. Flipping around at the last second to deliver a flying kick to the frigid barrier. Only feet thick instead of yards due to the disrupted portals, the ice shattered at the kinetic forces brought to bear upon it. Saef continued his spin as his momentum carried him out past the sphere. Hauling the Demon on the vine out behind him and hurling him at Khaine.

Karzani's great ugly mug that's a ####ing huge snake! And that noise came from...the #### is that?

Back down on the ground the 1st Mechanized troops had been busy sifting through the treasures of the dead crabs. Normally stuff like this would have waited for after the battle but what with the whole reason for this battle possibly lying within the hoards of glittering and magical items they had to step up the timetable a bit. It certainly didn't hurt that the sale of such treasures would help purchase the massive amount of raw materials the 1st Mechanized was using in their construction projects.

Further in-field resource gathering was cut short by the whine of laser fire from the outer pickets. Reports came in moments later as the pickets fell back towards the platoon. Some new force had showed up and there were a lot of them. Teeth, claws, aquatic looking. Pretty much everything one would expect from a deep sea horror movie.

Well at least they knew the genre for today's battle. Yay.

Wasting no time Saef's second in command pulled the platoon out of the exposed square and into a series of easily defendable buildings at its edge. With interlocking lines of fire and an open kill field they would be able to hold out until the Captain finished his fight overhead.

An icy sphere began to form around Saef and Bonesword, but thankfully, the angel had managed to pull both himself and the skeleton out of the sphere's influence, only to swing the skeleton around one more time at Khaine, aiming to hit the demon with his (and by extension, Bonesword's) full force. Any hits that Bonesword would've taken, namely him shattering through the icy sphere and shards along with Saef, were absorbed by the bulk of the Shooting Star Shield, depleting it's power and causing Bonesword to be a bit of a vulnerable target. That was a bit of a worry at first, but with the way this was going, Bonesword wasn't too worried.

In the split second of decision making Bonesword had, he analyzed what he could do. Saef seemed like a threat for the skeleton only for his numbers and influence, but Khaine seemed like the immediate threat because of the power he wielded. That cannon was incredible, and likely could just eviscerate the skeleton easily. Right now, though, he seemed occupied with the sphere, and it left him open for an attack.

Bonesword let himself be thrown through the water, Saef sending the skeleton flying towards Khaine with the Shroomblade drawn. Bonesword brought the blade around for a slash at Khaine's side, aiming to use the power of the Shooting Star Shield's projectiles and the demonic potency of the Shroomblade for an attack that would devastate Khaine. It hadn't connected, but a golden star formed over Bonesword in preparation for the strike.

---

With frustrating ease the angel escaped the orb of ice, taking the demon with him. Did these two know each other? They certainly seemed to be working together a lot for creatures that were supposed to be on opposing sides. He had thought the demon served the machina, but was it possible that Heaven was accepting demons into it's ranks now? That would certainly be new. Regardless it was time to move on to the next plan. The portals flickered fully out of existence as Khaine shifted his focus.

Luckily for everyone involved the giant sea creatures seemed intent on different prey. In fact, it almost seemed like the giant snake thing was scaring them away. No time to think about what that meant, there was an angry mushroom rushing him. The general had launched the skeleton right at Khaine in a time-tested strategy for those who valued offense over survival. With the momentum of the flight behind him added onto his own strength he would indeed be able to output a large amount of power with that sword. However, lacking any kind of flight ability as far as Khaine could see, the demon was left completely vulnerable. In addition it seemed like some sort of protective field had flickered and waned when escaping the ice shell, presumably further lowering the demon's defense. A powerful attack made for a glaring weakness, a bad choice against an opponent specializing in mobility and precision.

Even as the icy shell crashed to the seafloor in the background Khaine conjured forth four pristine abyssal blades. Each was the size of a greatsword, designed to be wielded with two hands, but Khaine's power held them in position around him. A four-sword fighting style used only by the Knights of the Forge, the ideal amount of focus to divide over each weapon in order to be able to fight effectively. Two of the blades shot forward with unexpected speed, intercepting Bonesword mid-flight. One of the blades moved in while tilted, aiming to strike and lock up Bonesword's own weapon. The other sword rushed straight for Bonesword's throat, prepared to combine Bonesword's momentum with Khaine's power to impale the demon on it's razor-sharp point. Blocking even one sword would be hard, they bobbed and weaved as if wielded by an expert swordsman, but if either of them remained free Bonesword risked a nasty blow. Even if he got past those blades, two swords remained close to Khaine for defensive purposes. Both would combine to block the assault as the two 'attack' swords rushed up from behind, an easy pincer attack to deal a fatal blow. Unless Saef managed to occupy at least one of the infernal blades, Bonesword would have a hard time not getting skewered.

Khaine held the Stone in his left hand, even as he directed his blades with his right. All defenses were focused on the demon, but the two swords he had left orbitting himself would be more than enough to deal with any sudden attacks from the general at this distance. The blades of light would reach him moments before Bonesword himself would hit him, but he'd already timed his teleportation to leave before they became a risk. A glaring opening like this in the opponent's defense only showed up every once in a while, so he'd have to make the most of this chance. Everything was lining up quite nicely.



This entire situation was worthless. Antaeus slowly made his way through these foul tunnels, dealing with all manner of foul creature. The acid did little to him, his powers allowed him to increase the acid-resistance of his outer layer to be greater than that of even glass, a substance that was virtually unaffected by acid already. The magic-eaters were far more troublesome. Once one had latched onto him and started removing his shrinking, nearly getting him stuck in the tunnel. Had it continued it might have drained the magic that kept him animated and sentient, which would have been an embarrassing way to die. Slain by vermin in underwater sewers. From that point on he just collapsed the tunnel onto them whenever he saw one, using his command over earth. Nothing they could do about getting squished by the decidedly nonmagical power of gravity. Which was definitely the reason he did that, and not because they were icky and gross.

After spending some time trudging through the sewers with no noticeably progress, he heard a loud roar from up above. The ground was rumbling, and it didn't take a genius to figure out something big had just happened. How could Antaeus be missing it? Deciding to abandon this disgusting place Khaine opened up a hole in the ceiling, using the earth below his feet to move himself up through it. What he saw there was a special kind of chaos. Giant whale monsters were tearing through the city, eating everything they came across, even as an immense twisted behemoth spawned still more of the twisted creatures. Random houses exploded with flashes of red light. An immense serpent hovered above the city with no clear intention. Clearly everything had gone horrifically wrong, and it was beautiful. Now THIS was the kind of fight he had been looking for!

With a roar like a jolly avalanche Antaeus expanded to his full size, an immense mountain giant towering over the surrounding buildings. Despite this, the giant whale monster was larger than him still. This was infuriating. Being huge was his ability. He would have to show it that there was only one giant monster in this ocean, and it was him! Angered, Antaeus stomped down with full force on a nearby smaller monster, which at this point didn't reach higher than his knees. The force of the impact caused the ground to tremble, and nearby houses collapses as the monster exploded into a cloud of floating gore. With massive but slow steps Antaeus charged the giant monster, yelling his challenge. "Come to me, you oversized sardine, and I will show you the power of the earth!" Anything between Antaeus and his target, whether it be monsters, houses or warriors, would find itself trampled by the angered giant and it's immense weight.

@thewizardguy@Gardevoiran



It was obvious that the swarm of glowing spikes were being less than effective. In fact all they were doing was preventing the enemy champion from staying in place long enough to get shot. Time to change tactics.

Saef reached out with his mind, latching onto the spell work of the swarm and changing it as it moved. The adjustments only took a few seconds and the Thaumaturge nodded in satisfaction as he finished. The behavior of the swarm immediately changed, spreading out into a wide half circle as if to come at the flaming Demon from as many directions as possible. Once they reached their assigned positions the projectiles changed from solid spikes to energetic lasers.

Fifty or so lasers leapt through the water at speeds much closer to that of a normal photon. Individually they wouldn't kill, not with the limited energy within each spike. But all of them together would certainly do the trick. And the beshroomed skeleton...probably wouldn't get caught in the attack. Assuming he made it past the giant floating blades coming for him.

Meanwhile Saef was busy setting up another spell as he blasted around in a random evasive maneuver. Balls of light were appearing around him at various distances. And in short order a score of them were circling around him, keeping up with his eratic movements and increasing speed.

Bonesword flew, his blade shifting directions accordingly to the incoming blades towards him, narrowly missing the attacks at the expense of whatever clothes he was wearing, save for his belt and trousers. Honestly, they were just weighing the skeleton down and making him less mobile in the water. The sword aiming for the skeleton's neck flew past the skeleton with a thud as the sudden delay in speed from the first sword caused the attack to miss. Bonesword was still going, though, and his blade was still ready to strike down a demon with anger.

The two swords protecting Khaine rushed to his aid, but ultimately failed due to the sudden appearance of vines from the ocean floor rising up to hold the swords back, halting their movements and keeping them at bay.. Additionally, one vine shot out from the ocean floor towards Khaine, aiming to distract him and cause an opening for Bonesword to utilize for maximum damage.

Then there were two swords rushing at Bonesword's back, and as they attempted to skewer the skeleton, they did not manage a thing. Stabbing something without meat didn't work well, as there was only space to hit. The only thing they did was clash against eachother as Bonesword continued on his path, bringing his sword down towards Khaine. It was almost certain to hit, but even if it didn't, there was a shining star that shot forward as well, ready to explode on Khaine.

---

Within the endless strife that was Valhalla, a battle most grand was taking place. The Lingering Sentiment was motionless and speachless, even with Diana’s words and movements. With the dragon girl having put some distance between them, her weapon changed form and a new tactic was implemented. But like the foolish child she was, she believed these new strategies would have any effect. Such as it were then that the armor only stood still even as fiery chains circled it.

“……” At once Diana’s flames sizzled out before being overcome with a rusting, icy metal. Every one of them were snuffed of their light and the chains were easily broken like tattered tools. In response, the Lingering Sentiment held out its free palm once again, aiming at the circling dragon girl. Its own runic symbols, incantations alien to both of its enemies, would form along its hand.

And with a sudden burst of motion, chains of its own began to sprout forth. They snaked and snared, catching Diana by the ankle and halting her motion just before the last of her lines could be completed on the ground. Each energy bullet bounced off its armor and with a mighty heave, the Lingering Sentiment forcibly dragged Diana’s form closer to its waiting blade.

But Suparna was making this difficult, much more so than it needed to be. With globs of maggots flying toward it, the living armor instead suited its blade best to swiping at the crawling things. It was just enough time for the maggot girl to strike, her blade landing into its helmet with more of her hellion spawn crawling in. “……….” Unfazed, the armor slowly began wrapping its sword arm around Suparna’s waist, applying enough pressure to keep her still; and possibly break her spine if she wanted to still be feisty.

Back inside the Nexus, the battle between Vassals was becoming more intense. Archorus’ machine was working in double layers, focusing on the two enemies attacking it on either side. Keeping note of Titanica’s blazing fists, the machine lurched backwards with a boost of its rockets. Moments later, a wide swipe of flame would just barely graze its chest as it dodged Titanica’s uppercut.

This left the AI to scramble against Henry’s pressure, the missiles it fired at him being returned in no less than a few heartbeats. Stunned and rocked by the impact of it, both Henry and Titanica would see a massive construct of ice forming on the machine’s shoulder where its left launcher had originally been. “Not bad. This model is starting to become obsolete,” Archorus’ voice mused, optic sensors seeming to narrow on Henry.

Some damage was done by his attack run but not much. With its free hand, the machine broke off a hunk of its iced shoulder and moved to slam it into Titanica’s face. The Machina soldier could be dealt with any time, but it was her fellow Vassal that interested Archorus more. As the machine continued to use the massive ice spike as a weapon to bludgeon Titanica, that same ice structure suddenly grew and bended, eagerly stretching out to impale and stab the flying Henry.

Below them was a battle that rocked the very oceans, ancient creatures of the deep beginning to resurface into the light once more. And the great snake that studied Bonesword, Khaine, and Saef was as impassive as ever. There was something familiar to it that might have been noted by Khaine; but it didn’t seem like it would attack. In fact, it was unconsciously scaring away the other creatures from this location, its serpentine eye never once blinking. A monster that belonged to no Faction usually resided in the dark crevices of the Nexus or deep into Neutral Territory. But this one, this massive snake, chose to swim up and abandon the battle below it.

Its slithering form was large enough to be seen by all in the underwater ruins, its scales somewhat glinting in the lowlight of the water. It would be breaching the surface soon, eager to seek out the purpose it was tasked and given. And as it did so, entering the open world of the Nexus anew, every Faction Leader was watching very closely. What was the meaning of this.

Power without technique was power wasted. With a twist of his wrist Khaine rotated the blades lodged in Bonesword's ribs. The first spun to the side, slicing the skeleton in half, while the second used a vertical spin to slice off his right arm. The two defensive swords were teleported out of the grasp of the plants, easily deflecting the dismembered skeleton's blow and batting aside his body. An undignified end, perhaps, but perhaps it would serve as a valuable lesson. Considering Khaine was now once again active on the battlefields of the Nexus, he would likely meet the skeleton again. Khaine allowed himself to muse for a moment that perhaps, next time they met, he might find out exactly why this skeleton-thing had abandoned it's origins.

Suddenly, Khaine was surrounded by bright light. Water glowed and boiled as the heat suddenly increased, and Khaine uttered an involuntary curse-word in a long-forgotten demonic tongue. These temperatures were not normally enough to do much harm to him. What to most lifeforms was lethal, he would consider merely mildly uncomfortable. A result of the particular method of his creation, the essence of his being was forever tied to the element of fire. However, these beams had been imbued with the magic of Heaven, vastly reducing his normal resistance to such attacks. Khaine hissed as the light subsided, his external armour plates quickly losing their superheated glow as the evaporation process stole the heat from him. In truth it hadn't dealt much damage. Even without his natural resistance to heat attacks it was very difficult to destroy him using heat, due to the lack of internal organs. But it had hurt a lot, and the divine essence of the attack left him momentarily weakened. It was therefore rather unfortunate that the Shooting Star chose this moment to impact. A moment after Bonesword would have had a chance to actually strike Khaine.

Warrior's instinct warned Khaine a moment before the attack impacted. His swords flashed to his defense, two of them catching the attack before it struck him, but there was no power behind the parry. The streak of light and power broke through his defenses and slammed into his side, knocking him back and through a nearby pillar. He caught himself before he crashed into the floor, but the metal plate on his side had been dented. Again his resistance to heat-based attacks had assisted, but the combination of the two attacks had once more dealt a wound to him. He possessed some supernatural recovery, but the cut he'd received earlier was still healing. It seemed that fighting two opponents at this level was no easy task, even for one as versed in combat as he was. It was a good thing he'd dealt with the skeleton when he did. That made this much easier.

Glancing around, Khaine noticed Saef preparing another attack of some sort. That man was proving to be a significant adversary. Unlike the skeleton he had kept his distance, and adapted his tactics in order to exploit weaknesses in Khaine's defence. Despite it making his job harder, Khaine couldn't suppress some semblance of joy at being presented with a challenging fight. He had hoped to prove his worth in the battlefields of the Nexus through feats of strength and skill in battle, but being faced with an opponent capable of matching him blow for blow made that hard. In fact Khaine had been tagged twice now without being able to land a solid hit of his own. It seemed that he would need to up his game if he intended to make it out of this fight victorious.

A red portal opened, and when Khaine stepped through he was but a meter or two away from Saef. His blades teleported with him, now with all four orbiting around him in defensive formation. Khaine made no move to attack, rather he observed his opponent. Saef was likely preparing for a powerful attack, but Khaine decided to allow him that preparation. It was a foolish move, perhaps, but reckless offense had left him ill prepared to deal with the crafty mortal's counters. Clearly just attacking wouldn't work so Khaine just took a moment to observe, reading the patterns in the armour's seemingly erratic movements. He spoke up, his magically generated voice having little trouble with the interference caused by water. "Mortal. Tell me your name." Something in Khaine enjoyed being challenged, and Khaine decided to indulge himself a bit for a moment. After all, talent should be applauded. In enemies as well as allies. Even among the self-righteous slaves of Deva there were those who could be admired for their skill, if nothing else.

Well...

This was how he was going out, eh?

At the bottom of the ocean to a person that he couldn't even land a hit on.

As the skull of Bonesword watched Khaine take the hits from the angel, he couldn't help but remember his past. The past where he was in this same situation. Without his body. Without his sword. With nothing. A lime-green energy surged through the spots on Bonesword's mushroom crown as he remembered, an Honor Strike channeling with no target but himself.

Was he gonna die here? Hell no! His trump was here, and he wanted to see it bloom.

The skull of Bonesword rose from his dismembered body as the earth below him shook, vines pulling age-old bones from the dirt in order to get bones that would replace those he had lost. On the surface, thick vines grew to act as replacements for what he had lost, forming a body made from coils and bound together by barked joints. It wasn't going to last long against Khaine, but it was something for sure.

The Shroomblade, landing in the dirt, was lifted up by a thick vine as Bonesword began to act. His eyes ignited with a new kind of power, one that was tired of fighting in a way so ineffective and troublesome. The vine being didn't engage, oh no, rather its hand touched the sea floor as a line of Mockroses formed from it, leading all the way around a good radius of about 10 meters all around the current fighters.

Of course, the Mockroses didn't do their intended effect, but they did do something interesting. The water around the fighters began to fog up, becoming a murky shade of lavender. Within a short time, the entire area of battle was obscured by the lavender cloud of murky water, seemingly endless unless someone wanted to escape. Underground, the roots of the mockroses grew to encompass the arena underground, allowing Bonesword to feel everywhere that the fighters stepped. Every movement they took, Bonesword would know unless it was a jump. If vision was obscured, the teleporting would be limited.

---

Unbeknownst to the fighters below, Charlie the basilisk dug through Leuneria's cavernous reaches carrying on his back a particular bulb of magical ability, a strong magical ability at that. The snake roared through the waters as he rushed to Bonesword's side, rocketing his way towards the cloud of pollen-filled water in preparation for the attacks that would hit Bonesword. He was resilient, that was certain, and he was loyal to his master. Anything that would try to strike Bonesword ran a large risk of hitting Charlie, who was more than willing to take the hit.

The bulb on Charlie's back glowed through the murk, highlighting Charlie's position, but for what purpose it did, only Bonesword knew. Maybe there was candy in it. Maybe it held a superweapon of ungodly proportions. Only Bonesword knew what was hidden in it.

@TheWindel, @floodtalon

---

The titanic kaiju's fist was close in hitting its mark, but alas the giant mech proved to be a bit more agile then it looks. Archorus' thrusters were able to barely avoid the uppercut, only the flame aura grazing its chest, as it prepares its next move. Titanica growls as she prepares to issue her next offensive against the opponent, only to pause briefly as a large piece of ice begins to form on its shoulder where its left launcher had originally been. It appears this mech is capable of morphing it's own body parts through ice... although it shouldn't be surprising coming from a Vassal that literally manipulates this matter.

Yet the fire-breathing kaiju wasn't going to let her finish her transforming into whatever it's going to do as she charges at Archorus, claws primed and her maw ablaze. But before Titanica could reach the vassal, the opponent ripped a large piece of ice from her shoulder and used it to swing at her like a bat. Yet the organic Vassal figured out what she was doing as soon as she heard the audible snap, and with quick thinking she lowered her head towards her chest raised her thick arm to block the swing. She could feel the impact slamming against her thick arms and while it did stall her briefly, it allowed the kaiju to take a quick peak at her surroundings... more specifically Archorus' side thrusters and the cliffside. If she can disable Archorus' thrusters and push her off the edge, not only will the mech be slowed down significantly, but considering she isn't capable of creating jet fuel and thrusters, she might as fall to her "doom". Even if one is disabled, the other will be unable to produce the velocity it needs to fly effectively.

Only one way to find out.

As Archorus readied the same ice bludgeon to strike at Henry by stretching towards him, Titanica took this opportunity to rush forward at the distracted Vassal and grabs hold of one of the thrusters with her massive clawed hands. Using all the strength she has, she attempts to rip it off with such power, it caused her to twirl back a direct 180 degrees within a mere second. Even if she didn't rip it completely, her tail was ready to meet the rival Vassal's metallic head at near-crack whip speeds. It's seems assuringly that it'll cause the mech more than simply some minor paint-chipping if it connects.

---

@KoL

---

As Lucifus continued to dive deeper and unknowingly closer to the center, the archangel suddenly witnesses a massive serpentine figure slowly swimming towards the surface in the distance. He halts his advance just to take a glance at the monster swimming casually without a single care, despite it being roughly where Saef and his men are. What was it doing here? Why is it heading to the surface? Surely there were lots of questions regarding this creature's existence and yet it seems to post little "threat" to them.

"I bet that's Juno waking up from a nap of her's or something..." the Archangel jokes to himself as he continues watching it rise to the surface.

Yet this monster was the least of his problems that he'll face today. Suddenly, he hears a massive titanic roar bellowing nearby, the same sound that he heard just minutes earlier. But before he can see where it can be coming, he sees a volley of a black oily substance coming straight towards him. He was taken briefly off guard by what was coming, but alas it didn't mean he wasn't prepared. So as the substance began to engulf him, Lucifus stretched his wings to issue a Stellar Repulse to repel the black substance from completely blocking his view, creating a bubble of clean water space for him to travel in. Yet it barely gave him any sight advantage at the situation.

"Just what kind of cursed substance is this...?" he monologues to himself again as he makes a quick dash upwards to escape it.

Once he reached the right depth, he looks down at the black oil oozing throughout his nearby location. Lucifus can hardly see anything that's going on due to the thickness of the oil, but yet notices a rapid current shift within the oily substance. That can only mean one thing... that monster was on the move. And it was also huge. Yet within it... a shiny glint can be vaguely seen illuminating from the blackness. The archangel wasn't sure on what it was exactly, but he takes a blind guess.

"If it has what I think it has... then the search may be near its end."

However, instead of directly attacking the monster, it decides to follow it from a safe distance, trying to figure out a good time to attack the monster. Perhaps he should strike when it fully reveals itself... or wait for reinforcements to weaken it. Either way, he's prepared to strike when need be and is standing by for a sign.

---

@KoL

---

Tina also notices the black substance rushing towards her and immediately does Unit-T detect a massive signature approaching the middle of the city. Estimates claim that this beast was 100 meters long and that it has a mass similar to both a shark and a whale, yet it was something far more sinister than simply a peaceful filter-feeding creature. And yet the scans also detect something illuminating from the creature. While it can't fully detect what was inside, the glow pattern seemed to be more ovular than spherical in shape. Like Lucifus, Tina also concludes that the staff was inside that beast and that there was only one way to get it out.

Instead of retreating, Unit-T holds its ground as it literally faces the direction of where the beast is coming from. It seemed foolish for a small mech of its stature to go up against as massive 100-meter long beast that's ready to swallow you up in one massive gulp. Yet Unit-T's engagement with the vassal Taura may prove otherwise... as Unit-T presses a big red button.

"M-Maximum Growth Engagement... Go."

With that, Unit-T begins to slowly grow in size, growing continuously until becoming a massive 50 meters in height. Even though it was only half as big as the monster it's going to face, it definitely shifts the tide of battle from simply running away to actually being able to put up a fight. But one thing's still certain... this is going to be one hellova battle to engage in. The mech readies the shock gauntlets as it opens its chest-flaps to reveal a large triple-maser cannon, primed and ready to shoot. As soon as the monster was in range, the mech fires in its direction, hoping it would damage the creature enough before preparing to escape once it gets close.

Cydone stood amidst the gore of a half-dozen minions of that whale-giant-monster-thing. Sure, they were stronger and tougher, but that didn't mean a whole lot against a blade that pierced everything. As long as Cydone kept his guard up, and took them one at time by manipulating the battlefield with his wires, he could take them down. But, well, the tide seemed endless, and eventually someone was going to have to do something about that giant monster. Or run away again, but Cydone figured he'd done enough for today.

Glancing behind him while he held his sword forward to ward off a few circling spawn, Cydone looked for the biggest, fanciest looking tower he could find. With a smile, he spotted a decent sized one and jumped up, speeding through the water like it was air thanks to his powers. "Hyup." With a twist, he sent a braid of wire spiraling towards it, cutting the tower's base. But before it could fall, the wires latched onto it, and Cydone reduced the tower and the water's around it inertia, while increasing that of his boots to give himself a stable platform. "Hyah!" Cydone pulled the tower forward, sending it towards the giant monster. Just before the swimming spawn could catch up to him, he reversed the inertia of himself and the tower, letting himself be yanked towards it.

"Truce till it's dead, giant robo-lizard feller?" Cydone yelled at Unit-T as he rode past on his giant tower. Hopefully, it wouldn't vaporize him with the big shiny beam gun, and would keep aiming at the monster. With Antaeus on his side as well, Cydone felt reasonably confident. As he approached the murky blackness, Cydone kept a sensory web of wires out around himself to keep himself aware of incoming attacks.

@thewizardguy@Lmpkio





Cass wrenched open the seal... and was immediately sucked inside. The bumpy ride inside wasn't to bad for a slime, but the impact at the other end where Cass broke through the other seal by hitting it really really hard, was a little less fun. She had to take a moment to gather herself together. But fortunately, even if reduced to a fine mist of droplets, she could still pull herself together fairly quickly, thanks to not having a core like some slimes. "Man, I haven't gotten to do any succubus-ee things today. Just slime slime slime. There'd better be some cool treasure around here." She irritatingly humphed while searching for loot.

@KoL@floodtalon

@thewizardguy@Gardevoiran



It wasn't that Saef wouldn't have engaged his opponent in conversation. No, it was always a good idea to learn what you could about the guy you were trying to kill. And a good reputation was a tool to be sharpened or used when the opportunity arose. No the problem was that Khaine had done the same thing to talk that he would have done to attack.

The instant the flaming Demon exited his portal the spells surrounding Saef activated. Half of the orbs of light erupted forth as lances of energy. Each one was several times stronger than the reworked spells earlier. They were also much more focused and had less water to travel through. All in all it probably wasn't one of Khaine's more pleasant teleports.

It certainly didn't help that the Thaumaturge was gone almost instantly, his velocity now about as high as it could go while still allowing for agile changes in direction. He took half a second to take stock of the battlefield as he swam.

Below them his platoon was busy fighting off hordes of deep sea monsters. The giant snake above seemed to have lost interest and was now slithering away. To where he wasn't sure. Over towards the center of the city several of the champions from different sides had decided to start a battle of the titans. A glance answered why they would bother fighting the kaiju at all. A golden glow shone out through the inky blackness surrounding the monster. Chances were sadistically good that that was where the staff had been hiding this whole time.

As Khaine stepped through the portal he was immediately attacked by the orbs of light that had previously been placed. Immediately a large black shield flickered into existence. As the beams of light struck it the shield seemed to shimmer, the edges fading away as it disintegrated under the force of the attack. The heat of these attacks was virtually irrelevant to arms and armour forged in burning magma, but each of these tools was infused with the same dark magic that animated Khaine. Powerful holy magic disrupted that essence, and as in many things damage to the essence is mirrored by the body. Had Khaine not seen the attack coming this would not have ended well for him, and either way he needed to get the shield replaced. It seemed his opponent was not up for conversation. Oh well. He'd just have to finish this quickly. With the giant snake apparently making it's exit, they might have to deal with the strange abominations soon. With a flick of his wrist Khaine summoned his swords once more, mentally moving through his armoury to select another shield.

Before Khaine could initiate his next attack a cloud of strange lavender gas filled the water around him. Before it clouded his vision completely he was able to identify the cause as a series of clearly supernatural flowers that had covered the ground. While possibly simply an effect of this area, Khaine suspected it had something to do with the similarly plant-themed skeleton he'd dealt with before. This was reinforced by the appearance of a bright glow where he had previously seen the skeleton. Whether the glow was necessary for some form of 'reanimation' process or was being used to purposefully attract attention in the fog was unknown. Regardless, Khaine would need to deal with this situation.

First, he needed to eliminate the mage. He had yet to land a significant blow on the elusive wizard, but he'd been able to learn valuable information. For one, the mage's light-based abilities made him a clear target in a fog like this. No doubt he would dim this display soon after the fog appeared, but it did give Khaine an opportunity to strike. One of the blades flickered out of existence, reappearing directly in front of Saef. As Saef had accelerated himself to maximum speed it would be nigh-impossible to move out of the way of this sword, which was itself launching itself at him from just outside his shield. As usual, however, Khaine would dedicate two swords to offense. Regardless of whether the first sword dealt major damage he would move the second sword once more in Saef's path, repeating the attack. If Saef was somehow able to alter his path before his first sword hit he'd find his escape route cut off by the second. Accelerating traded control for speed, a dangerous idea when facing such a precise opponent. This was the same mistake that had dealt with the demon, although it apparently wasn't as effective as Khaine had initially believed.

Of course, he kept two swords by his side in order to defend against counterattacks. Within this fog he'd have to rely on his sense of hearing above all others, and he couldn't guarantee that either of his opponents were similarly limited. There were ways of seeing that didn't rely on light in any way. But with his fine warrior instincts, honed senses, and natural ability to sense incoming attacks, he should be able to deflect any incoming fire.




So this was what passed for a challenge? While Antaeus couldn't clearly see his opponent, the beast had shrunk down to about half it's full size. Clearly it was shrinking in terror! Or did it perhaps intend to face Antaeus in a fair fight? Such bravery was commendable, but foolish. None could best Antaeus when it came to sheer force. The darkness lit up as his opponent charged some form of canon, but Antaeus was already preparing. He met the attack with an outstretched hand, whom's defensive properties had been maximised. Even with this enhanced durability his hand suffered some minor damage - although such damage would likely have been lethal to a smaller opponent. No minor blasts could hope to triumph against Antaeus! Champion of Heaven!

In fact, this is exactly what Antaeus declared. [color=green]"No minor blasts can hope to triumph against Antaeus! Champion of Heaven!" Laughing like a jolly avalanche the stone giant barrelled towards his opponent. Of course his movements were restricted by his power, and as such could more accurately be described as 'jogging' rather than running. It was the thought that counted, however, and as he moved Antaeus increased his own mass beyond it's current level, to the degree that anything he hit would surely cave in. Whatever beast or structure stood in his path would be devastated by the lumbering giant.

Of course, such powers would be rather noticable to Cydone, who had detected them previously. The mass-shifting abilities employed by Antaeus functioned within the same sphere of influence wielded by the cowboy-themed warrior. Even within this strange twisting illusion, it would be clear that not all was as it seemed.

When Cydone sensed reality warping behind him, specifically Antaeus', and looked to see another monster, he figured something was up. This oily fog must not really be an oily fog. He was probably aiming at another ally then. Switching up his inertia again, Cydone decided to just send the tower towards the portal back to Angel controlled territory (sensing it's direction through his Reality Check), riding it back. If the goal was control of this city, well, Cydone would just take at least this piece of it. That would at least be one probably worthless hunk of rock more than nothing.

@thewizardguy@Lmpkio@KoL





Cass figured she wasn't quite good enough at figuring to figure out the puzzle here, so she decided to try resurrecting one of the dead guards (And only one in case it turned violent. Never raise more demons/undead than you can put down and all. Summoning/Necromancy 101.) and asking them some things. Of course, if the spirit and memory was too far gone, it'd just be a minion that couldn't tell her anything, but well, minions were good too.

@KoL@floodtalon