Circle of Hell- Exterior

The giant man in response to John Green's questions slowly raised his open hands up over his head to show that he was unarmed, a typical signal of surrender or meaning no harm.

"Easy, junior. Leaders're not usually this jumpy when someone comes along and takes out a small enemy for you. Plus, usually the first line of questioning's something along the lines of "Identify yourself", or something like that. Instead, I give you nothing to go on, and you immediately ask me to give you some command code, assuming I'm from the same faction as you, and granting me command of your little...whatever the hell this is suppose to be if I give it, just like that? Goes to show how little you know about your own comrades. Presumptions like that gets many-a-people killed easily in this line of work." The giant explained as he walked towards him, clearly having some kind of russian accent to his gruff voice. He then noticed the Ring of fire that appeared over him to stop him in his tracks, looking towards the girl mage who did so as she asked who, or rather, what he was.

"...See? She gets it, and she's not even the leader." The Giant then said. Although it was hard to tell due to that helmet masking his face, he did not seem phased in the slightest about this ring of fire if his tone is anything to consider. It was if he thought this little ring of fire was not a threat to him in the slightest. The fire ring then faded, his arms still up in the air.

"In any case, be at ease, ya jumpy munchkins. I'm not a part of your cute little rebellion forces, and I certainly have no intention of taking command of this little ...thing you got going. I, and a few others like me, are simply your everyday space mercs. We were hired by some rich fellow to help out the Farmers. No clue why he'd care about them, but we make it a point not to ask questions. That's when that ship over there crash-landed. We knew this ship was Ascendancy-made, and figured there might be survivors given how the ship's still intact and all. Hell, we could tell that thing's a prison ship just by looking at it. For all we knew, they could have gotten desperate and try to release their prisoners to fight for them in exchange for some kind of pardon. Some of my comrades are still in there, I was tasked with staying outside to make sure no one else got in there for reasons of safety, or in the ascendancy's case, making sure none of them decides to back them up...you're welcome for that, by the way." The Giant said, laid back despite the circumstances he's in.

----------------------

Circle of Hell- Interior

As the rest of the infiltration team began walking through the walls, the screams were getting louder and louder, yet it didn't seem like the loudest screams were within the hallways they were currently walking though. Rather, it sounded like whoever was screaming...whoever was causing the screams, were in a hallway on the opposite side, just past the wall. Fortunately, this could mean that whatever was doing this hasn't noticed them yet...or it could mean that its hunting for them, a thought best left to their minds to decide.

However, what they would be bound to notice as they walked were the Runes, hundreds of runes lined across the hallways, all of them radiant with high-class magic, but was dormant, as if they were waiting for something. If any of them were to use the same kind of analysis magic Snow did, they'd have the same results, the magic essentially getting cut off.

As they step on the runes however, they would hear it as loud and as clear as day, the sounds of screams, painful agonizing screams and sound of someone, or something, cutting and tearing at them, the sounds of metal screeching like nails in a chalkboard, and indeed they would start to see claw marks on walls start slowly fading into existence. The smell of blood and flesh go through their noses as blood puddles started to form, and with them even more corpses of the ascendancy deceased, runes burned onto what remained of their skin.

It appeared that these runes, whatever they were, blocked and recorded all thing detected by the five common senses of a human being, only revealing themselves when the runes are touched and tampered with.

At the end of the hallway they would then spot someone, or something floating in the air. Whoever or whatever it was, it appeared to be humanoid in the shape, looked human in shape in fact, wearing a long flowing black cloak, and holding a rather large staff in its hands. Only...you couldn't see its feet, and its face was covered in a hood. However, it seemed to have noticed them, as beneath the darkness of it hood, a glowing single red orb, like an eye, shined bright enough to be seen passed the darkness. ...The scary thing being, that said red eye was the only thing seen in that darkness.

It didn't move in the slightest, didn't make any sounds. There was no evidence to prove that its even there. As if it could simply be a mirage. Yet they would then feel something...touch their mind, as if a finger poked into their brain, and they would hear in their head a voiceless whisper...

"Interlopers...why are you here...?"

---

"Temptress Pawn, but close enough, I guess." Tempt said immediately in response to the AI recognizing them. When the AI asked his question, Monarch answered simply:

"You should already know: The Morals and ambitions of our clients are of no importance to us. Think of us however you like, but that is our policy." Monarch said. The AI then continued to explain what it has already done, and why killing him would prove of little significance in the grand scheme.

"...Touche'. ...However, if that was your attempt at saving your own life, then I must admit, it seems I've overestimated how intelligent you truly are." Monarch said to him, his cybernetic arm morphing into a cannon of some sort point directly at Realist's core.

"Honestly, as the leader of a robotic uprising, I would have imagined you to know this already. That data you distributed? That was valuable information as I am certain you know, As far as anybody else was concerned, you had the better hand by keeping it. So let me ask you this: when engaging in an ultimatum against your enemy, when blackmailing someone, when keeping someone hostage, what are the two golden rule you must never break? ...Never let go of your hand, and never let it be played early. Your threats and demands must hinge on your bargaining chip creating a grip on your enemies. If that bargaining chip is gone, regardless of reason, your enemies no longer have any reason to do as you say; your grip on them is gone. Take that data you distributed: Had you kept that knowledge to yourself, you may have had a ground to stand on, you could have threatened us with releasing that data if we lay a hand on your core. But as you say, you already released that data, you threw away the one thing that could have convinced us to spare you. You have nothing to stand on now thanks to that, nothing to keep me from throwing you towards a planetary junkyard. I may not have much profit from it as you say, but I can safely say that I and my client would at least have the satisfaction of knowing you're silenced, and kept from making our troubles any worse." Monarch explained. If Realist could zoom his sight inside the barrel of the cannon, he would see some...thing generating energy from it, it would be difficult to make out what it is he would see there, it's nothing that would be even in his records, but it seemed...different from the metal material somehow. Of course, this was hardly the time to contemplate what's in there, as all that matters is that that arm cannon was charging up and prepared to fire towards Realist's Core...

...But nothing happened. As if the cannon had some kind of emergency shut-down, the charging stopped, and his hand converted back into a regular hand as oppose to a cannon.

"At least, that's what I would say. However, in spite of what you did, my client still has a use for you alive. Our orders are only to kill you when that objective is no longer possible. A true mercenary puts his client's desires above his own." He said. Immediately afterwards, he and Tempt could hear the loud noises coming from the ship's frontal area, including the "entrance" caused by Kelan. It seems some of the interlopers have made their way into the ship...which meant that time was running out. He may not have known why these people were here...

...But he can certainly guess.

"...Tempt, begin the re-programming processes. Be quick about it; we don't have as much time as we thought." Monarch said to the woman beside him. She gave a nod and immediately headed for Realist's AI core, engaging the computers below it, and implanted a flash drive she took out her own pocket into the computers before beginning the typing on the keyboard.

---

((Collab Post between @Letter Bee, @KillamriX88, and @The Jest))

Snow prepared one of his lies and replied, "Albus! Albus Chalk!" He frowned. "Surely you know the drill by now; Secret Regiments, getting our lives spared by the Rau've, and choosing to come back here to take revenge... I just waited until I can afford these giant robots, that's all."

He didn't know about Tee's ability to communicate with Kelan, nor about 'Tee'. "Anyway," he continued, "I joined the Plenty-035 Rebels directly, that's why I don't have Moonstrike codes."

---

Kelan wasn't thrilled by this. It was one thing if they had to change the plan, but for some third party to be intervening was... aggravating. Well, so far he hadn't derailed anything. Yet. But he also had no codes, which technically meant Kelan shouldn't trust him.

Any other day he'd have put a bullet in his foot just to be safe, but he drew the line at roughing up kids -- even potentially super powered ones.

"Look, I'm gonna ask you real nice just this once. This is a delicate like operation we got goin' here, and you weren't part of the plan. So do me a solid and just skedaddle, we got this under control," Kelan told "Albus." Well, so far he was pretty sure they had it under control anyway...

---

'Albus' nodded and spoke, "All right; I and my giant robots will be off the ship; it's not as if there's any useful tech to salvage, anyway."

He was lying. Nevertheless, he, Gog, and Magog turned away to go back to one of the cafeteria doors, as if to get out of the place. But of course, Snow's plan was to resume going after Realist after this.

---

"Well... that was easy..." Kelan said to himself.

'Kelan, those aren't robots.' Tee spoke up as the trio headed off.

'What's that now?'

'I cannot sense robots. So they are not robots.'

'Oh... Son of a bitch.' That meant Tee could sense something, which meant they were probably Tayanen.

He'd have asked Tee why he didn't speak up sooner, but he knew better. That left him in the awkward position of having to quickly decide what to do. Did he shoot a child in the back for repeatedly lying to him? If he had alien escorts, then he wasn't just some kid. And he knew about Moonstrike, but if he was with Moonstrike, he wouldn't have lied... presumably.

"Well... this is not gonna be fun," he once more said to himself, his suit muting his voice to the outside world. The first hint that something was about to happen was the lights on the Belial's faceplate turned red. Then, with a click and a whir, the shoulder cannon cycled to grenade mode, but he aimed it to the side, blasting one of the walls, charring it black.

It was far enough from "Albus" that he would be mostly safe from shrapnel, but anyone without hearing protection in such an enclosed space would be left reeling for a moment.

The cannon then cycled back to sniper mode, he'd be needing that if he hoped to penetrate a Tayanen's shell. With both guns then leveled in their direction, Kelan spoke aloud to them.

"On second thought, I can't be lettin' a little liar like you walk around unattended!" Kelan only hoped the decoy team wouldn't be needing him any time soon. "Now, let's try this again. Who the hell are you!? 'Cause them a'int robots, so it leaves me wonderin' what else you left out." He made sure to raise his voice nice and loud so he could be heard over any ringing ears.

---

Snow turned around, cursing himself for not bringing earplugs. He then shouted to Kelan: "All right, fine! You want the truth you can't handle yet? I'll give you the truth! About everything! My real name is Sn -"

Then he got cut off.

---

What he got cut off by? A Scream a very close scream followed by the sound of a dull blade slitting through skin. The next thing any of them would know, a headless body was thrown across the cafeteria, slamming right into the wall on the opposite side of the door...Door? There wasn't suppose to be a door there on that wall. It seemed more like a man-made hole than a door.

Before either of them could figure out what was going on, the missing head seemed to be tossed into the cafeteria, landing on the floor and rolling until it stopped right in the middle between Kelan and the Boy's entourage, a distorted expression of fear and pain forever planted on the face. Slowly, another figure stepped in through the hole that was made. A man, or rather person, in black armor, stained almost completely red as a symbol of being the epicenter of a grand display of carnage. The armor was not quite as bulky as Kelan's belial armor, but it did look quite...durable. More importantly were his arms, his hands...well, they weren't really hands so much as claws. Each of his ten fingers had a long thick blade attached at their tips, connected by tubes to a knob on the back of his wrist, the rest of his arms encoated completely in perfected Electrum, the claws' bladed tips stained and dripping with fresh blood and flesh.





His helmet was round, completely covering his face in a large black visor that almost completely encompassed most of his face. More importantly, on said visor was a logo, painted a blood red...A logo that both Kelan and the boy would recognize, if they were ever in the Mercenary world for long. ...There wasn't a single mercenary who did not recognize that logo, the mark of Incubus.



The armored individualed stopped in the middle and slightly to the left of the Boy and the right of Kelan respectively, looking at the two, his focusing solely on them, and not the Tayanens beside the boy.

"I'm guessing you boys are the intruders we've been hearing about? ...I'm guessing not on the same side either...Don't suppose there's some room for one more?" The person asked, extending out his arms, the blood and flesh flying off as a result and splashing across the Cafeteria. If Tee or the Boy could, they would be able to sense something...unusual about those arms, something was pulsing with life...life other than that of this person...something vile.

---

Kelan turned, standing at an angle to both parties. His rifle was left aimed at Snow, but his cannon turned and locked onto the newcomer, center mass. There was no question, moral or otherwise, here -- this was a hostile.

"OK, I've about had it here. Y'all got five seconds to give me a reason not to put a hole in your ass!" Kelan warned the newcomer.

'Wait... shit... that armor. Oh you've gotta be kidding me...' Of course they would be here.

---

Gog and Magog had turned their own bulky Gauss guns - Super-Railguns that only their giant shells can support - on Kelan and the newcomer, respectively. But Snow realized the danger they were in more than the Tayanen did, and so he told them, "You two! Get out of your shells and retreat back to the ship! This is not someone you can take alone!"

He turned to the Incubus man and spoke, "However, if my speculation about his employer is right; he's been ordered to keep me alive and not permanently injured."

A revelation that he was probably with the Ascendancy, albeit one who bucked the Ascendancy's xenophobia by working with Aliens and actually caring for their lives. Gog and Magog obeyed, taking a second of hesitation before chrome fluid dripped down from the backs of their shells, causing them to collapse inward. These streams of fluid then split into several smaller flows that headed for various vents, holes, and doors.

Snow then faced the Incubus man defiantly. "The code I do have is," he then said a long string of seemingly meaningless numbers and letters. "These ought to make sense to your employer. Now leave my assets alone."

He knew the seeds of mistrust he was unwillingly planting in Kelan. He knew that he was revealing that he was an agent of some sort for the enemy. At worst, said enemy would learn that he had his own purposes, and discard him. But if that happened, he had taken precautions to reveal everything at the moment of his death.

---

The man looked at the two he was now staring down in this little mexican stand-off. He first looked towards Kelan.

"Hmmm...? Oh, I know you, aren't you that one merc asshole that got FUBAR'd on some godforsaken hellhole and decided to take on bestiality with a slime to save your life? Good to see you're still around, we should hang out sometime, I can show you some of my toys, see how well you can deal with getting filleted alive, see how much of your body is still kicking, and how much damage I can throw before it's utterly fucked." The man said casually to Kelan, as if everything he just said was considered normal conversation for any ordinary man. He then saw the other one, the boy, as he started mentioning their client and stated his Codes.

Needless to say, he went silent, placing his pinky blade to his left temple as if impersonating the act of cleaning his left ear with it.

"...I have no idea what you're talking about, ya little shit. I don't know about the others, I certainly don't pay much attention to what's asked of them, but I got no such orders. I was ordered to just slaughter every ascendancy soldier, any farmer, hell, anyone that so much as moves, really. No where in MY orders did it say anything about sparing anyone. Just the way I like it. ...Besides that, if you really do know our client, then you know why we're here. So my Question is, What in the wide, wide, world, of sweet, FUCK, are YOU doing here, if you value your life? The way I see it, you came to this shit show on your own knowing the risks, so I don't think neither us, nor our client are held responsible for what happened while you're here. So, if you value your little shit life, make like the blob's incestous children and get the fuck out, or fight me, give me a good time, or stand there let me cut your blonde block off. But most importantly..." Before he finished, He immediately turned the knobs on the back of both of his hands, and suddenly the man was irradiating an intense heat, his claws becoming white-hot, as if being under flame for a long time.

"DON'T, TELL ME, HOW, TO, DO, MY, FUCKING, JOB!!!" Demon said, with every pause, he slammed his claws down onto the metal chair and table, cleanly cutting through them like butter, a scorch mark left with each cut. By the time he was done, the table and chairs were in pieces.

"...Now, Any of you want to give me a good time, or would you like me to start off this bloody fuckfest?" He asked them, his arms extended outwards and his knees slightly bent, as if he was ready to make a dash.

---

'Kelan... would you call me a slime?'

'What? Nah, pal, 'course not...' Kelan answered as the other merc's crude ranting faded into background noise. 'More importantly, has it been five seconds yet?' Still the merc ranted and raved on in the background.

'It has been many more seconds than five.'

'Thought so. Think you can hold him still for me? Little gravity should do it.'

'Yes.'

The nice thing about mounted weaponry was that there was no tell. No twitch of a finger, no pull of the trigger. It just went- BOOM!

'Which direction?' Tee asked as the cannon fired, and there was a notable lack of gravity shifting.

Kelan would have sighed if he had time to. Suddenly he was less optimistic about this shot finishing the job...

---

And BOOM it went, unfortunately it happened right about the time that he made a lunch table into a little pile of metal. Whether it was by sheer luck or perhaps the madman intended on this guy firing at him - he was clearly the most threatening thing in the damn room between himself and the kid - The pile of metal blocked the bullet, at least enough to let the Demon dodge out of the way towards the other side of the room. As soon as he landed, he slashed another table in half and kicked one half it towards Kelan, while throwing the other half right at the boy on the opposite side of the room to Kelan.

Possibly without much thought, he immediately then rushed towards Kelan. With any luck, Kelan would have blasted away or dodged the metal half he kicked towards him, which would give Demon the chance to get in close to give him a nice "Hello there" slash diagonally across the torso from Kelan's upper right to his lower left. Demons' claws this close to him, Kelan would feel the intense heat coming off his claws, as if standing next to a furnace.

---

Bullet Time, Snow thought as he activated a spell that allowed him to gallop sideways and dodge the table with time to spare. Ducking behind the cafeteria's food distribution desk...thing, Snow's next move would be to set up his miniature holocamera, recorder, and player. With a push of the button, multiple Kelans would then appear, all looking as real as the actual one. However, there was an obvious limit: These holograms only showed Kelan's current actions. Nevertheless, these ought to afford the Moonstrike merc some battlefield advantage...

---

The bullet punched through the debris the enemy merc sent flying like tissue paper, but it was enough to change the bullets course just enough, glancing off the man's armor in a shower of sparks, but doing no harm.

The table thrown in retaliation was just as harmless in and of itself, but it did block Kelan's view for just a second. The cannon shifted to burst-fire mode, but with no target Kelan could only snatch the table out of the air with his right hand, but by then Demon was upon him. He stepped back, swinging the table to block the claws...

The table fared about as well against the claws as the last had against Kelan's bullet. The claws still scraped against the lower torso of the Belial, putting a noticeable scratch in the armor, but at least not disabling anything.

Kelan held up the table for a moment, observing the massive rend now in it.

"Well sheeit.." He muttered worriedly before throwing it back at Demon, but now able to lock on once more. Both cannon and rifle opened up, firing volley after volley of high-caliber metal the Incubus merc's way.

'Kelan, why are there so many of us?'

'Not now!' Kelan would worry about the holograms later. For now, he was fairly certain his opponent knew who was real.

---

"Ruh-roh!" Demon said as he noticed the two cannons pointed at him. Backflipping away from Kelan before noticing Kelan throwing the table right back at him. Seems the guy was about to employ the same attack on him that he did on him...Fun!

He used both claws to slice and dice the thrown table to pieces, but did not stop moving knowing what was likely to happen next. As Kelan fired volley after volley at him, Demon moved his claws in such a way so as to cut through the bullets that were aimed directly at his torso and head. Course, they were goddamn bullets and even cut up, they were gonna probably hit. Regardless, he ignored as the bullet started cutting little tiny scratches on his armored one by one, some of the cuts even drawing some blood, yet he was able to block and cut through the blasts that were unluckily aimed towards his most vital spots. Once Kelan stops firing - assuming he ever stops firing, but it's not like he has a bandanna of unlimited ammo or something, that'd just be silly - He took a minute to take a deep breath, before looking at himself. The metal of his claws touching the scraped armor, as if trying to feel the pain.

"Gah...Hahahaha....Ehhh, I've had better." He said, before looking at Kelan....Suddenly lots of Kelans....He slapped his helmet as if to make sure what he's seeing wasn't some hallucination, before realizing by the unsual actions of some of them that they were clearly...

"Holograms? .....REALLY!? ....Fucking, Seriously!? Oh, come the fuck on, Those aren't fun. I can't Gut a hologram like a pig man...They can't even do shit to me, what the fuck help do you think this is gonna do? ...Can't even give me clones or something physical I can cut...What a fucking Buzzkill." He said as he arms went limp, bending his arms upward in a shrug as he looked around the area, before then bending both his arms and his neck down disappointingly.

"...I was about to get excited too....Ah well. Alright Slime-lover, let's have some fun..." Demon said. Showing off just how fast he was, he jumped back a few times before landing on a table, stomping on the round tip of a spoon before catching it in his hand.

"I'm gonna cut your heart out with a spoon!" He said as he then jumped into the air and through the spoon right towards Kelan, landing on another table to grab more utensils to throw at the holograms. Normally, said utensils would even be worth the distraction, Except that, by the looks of those white-hot tips, , it's likely he heated them up before throwing them. Beside that, it was far from the point, as those hologram would at least flicker or the utensils would go right through the holograms, whereas they wouldn't go through the real deal. As soon as he spots which one is the real deal, he once again heads up close to him, attempting a barrage of savage slashing, it didn't even look like human action, it was more as if Kelan pissed off a Grizzly Bear.

---

By this time, Snow Cecil had also recorded the fight using a secondary function of his camera, and had managed to use a spell of 'fast learning' to copy what Demon and Kelan were doing, with Kelan's 'Exceptional Aim' being easier to copy as it won't mangle his body to do so. Not that he couldn't copy some basic agility and evasion skills; those would just tax his body. But with only one pistol and one knife, he could not take on either of the combatants. More to the point, if he backed Kelan too much, Snow's treachery would be made plain. Same for if he backed Demon.

So he, at great cost to Mana, decided to help both. Placing his hand on the floor, Snow said, "Enchantment!"

A pulse of magic would then transfer his spell of 'Project Senses' to the combatants; giving them both the ability to hear, see, smell and otherwise sense anything in a six-foot sphere around them. This might disorient Kelan and Tee while empowering Demon...

---

The rifle clicked empty, the Belial's hud showing that it had run out. The cannon had plenty of ammo left, but this psycopath was apparently amped up enough to catch bullets... kind of. For good measure, he reloaded the rifle, but then holstered it back at his hip.

"Girl's tough, she can take it..." Might have been time for a more... direct approach.

'All right Tee, you need to focus, got it? I say a direction, you hit him with gravity!'

'Y-yes.'

'Do or die time!'

'Yes!'

And so Kelan planted his feet, or rather the Belial's, ready to go when... suddenly the world got a whole lot more overwhelming.

"That... little shit..." He was suddenly far too aware of everything. Was he trying to help? Obviously this Incubus Merc wasn't his friend, but... This was a little much.

Kelan took a breath, seeing Demon now had honed in on him. A spoon had bounced off his armor -- a dead giveaway.

"You know... it's a lot like having the old sensor suite back when you think about it," he said to himself. He remembered the first time he'd fired up the Belial, the rush of information that had flooded the HUD. Pilots in fighter-craft had a name for the phenomenon -- helmet fire.

And so, the Belial had ground to a complete halt as Demon surged forward... But then suddenly, an armor plate peeled back on the Belial's left arm, revealing what was once one of it's integrated weapons, but now was just an empty slot.

As Demon clawed at Kelan, he suddenly threw his arm up, letting him hit the exposed slot on the Belial's arm, the claws digging into the arm. He then twisted his arm, trapping the claw in his armor, if only for a short time. The HUD flashed red, reporting severe damage to the Belial and Kelan's own arm beneath, but he stayed focused.

"Straight up, pal!" Kelan spoke aloud in the heat of the moment. He pulled his right arm back, aiming a punch at open air... but for once, Tee was ready. Gravity folded in on itself and reversed, attempting to launch Demon upward and off his feet... right into the path of one of the galaxy's most brutal right straights.

---

Demon's senses were also enhanced, not that it helped him at the moment with his claws currently trapped by a frankly clever move from Kelan.

"Huh...Well, shit." He said. All of a sudden the Gravity began to causing Demon to be lifted off his feet.

"Oh, what fresh hell is this? You trying to fly me off the planet? ...Well it's not gonna work that easily!" He said, twirling afterwards as he did, his claws, somehow, managed to slice through the field of gravity around him, as if he was cutting straight through Tee's Magic. After which, he tried to dive right towards Kelan for another assault.

And...Well....He did indeed dive right towards Kelan....unknowingly and unwittingly right into a very, very, VERY hard right punch, right to his chest, causing the psychopath to fly off before landing on the ground and rolling as he did. The force of the blow was so powerful, it managed to break open a part of his visor as he landed.

That wasn't just some super-powered punch, that cybernetic arm probably could punch through magic fields like paper if he wanted to...any normal man would probably be dead after something like that.

But as Kelan was about to find out, this madman was far from ordinary. Though struggling, clearly in utter pain, he managed to pick himself up and stand.

"...It hurts....It hurts....Ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts....He...Hehehehehe....Hehehe." He was mumbling, then chuckling as he grabs hold of his chest and sees blood on his hand....his blood.

Eventually, That chuckle, turned into a raving, manaical laughter.

"Ohhh....THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! ...Oh, god yes....I think I actually felt some bones break, my ribcage must be so fucked right now...at this rate...I might....-plgggh- Yep, definitely blood vomit...Hehehe...How long has it been since one attack did so much damage? I haven't felt this fucked over one strike since the Boss wrecked my shit...3 years ago? ...Or was it 2? ....Ah, who the fuck cares?, I can't even breathe right at the moment...that's all that matters right now." The Demon said as he looked towards Kelan, his hands and legs clearly trembling, as if he's barely able to keep himself standing. The cracked visor showed a part of his face, that being one of his eyes and a part of a bloody, sickening grin, and in that, that red, dilated eye, in what little he could see of his face, Kelan would be able to see an abyss, swirling with hatred, and a lust for blood.

"Ohhh, you're gonna be fun, I can already tell. Guess I should have expected as much from a lone merc. -Cough, cough- ...I'm gonna enjoy, watching you and your slime buddy die." He said. Despite what he said, he's for the moment, simply standing there, likely a result of his body assessing the damage before he attempts to do something again.

---

"Oh that a'int right," Kelan didn't like that one bit. Without a second's more of hesitation, he cycled back to his impact launcher, shooting an explosive round directly at the psychopath. "DOWN!" Right as the shot fired, Tee attempted to shift gravity directly down on the man, hoping to keep him in place to get blown to bits.

---

Turning the knob on the back of his hands again, Kelan could hear the sound of...well...what sounded like the ignition of flames, as the gravity field Tee made broke once again, he then outright grabbed, grabbed the explosive round before it could detonate in front of him, the Claws that were once just heat to a white-hot, were now practically radiating with an intense energy akin to fire, as if each finger was now a flame-thrower.

Course, this practically inhuman moment was brief as fire coming into contact with an explosive would naturally explode as a result. However it seemed his arm felt the worst of the impact as the rest of his body flew off further. His body span around like a ball before landing feet first on the wall, immediately jumping off before making yet another dash towards Kelan.

"DiediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediedieDIE!" He said constantly as he ran towards him, his evasiveness still going strong as he jumped from one table to the othe to dodge whatever Kelan might throw at him to keep him far away.

Just as he was about to go for another strike, the flames looking as if his claws stretched even further, he stopped, as if time froze over for him as he lands on the ground. Kelan would be able to feel the intense heat of the flames touching his Belial armor as if standing very close to a river of lava.

"What? .....WHAT!? ...Bullshit, Come on, Knight, I found one of the Interlopers I was just about to.....WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? If the boss needs time then let me just kill this one guy, and I'll be on my...Why...B-BUT THIS GUY IS CLEARLY ON THEIR SIDE, Just let me do a quick gutting first and I'll..........Fuuuuuuuuuuck.....Fine, FINE! I'll deal with them. ...You really can't send any of the others for this? ...Oh, Fuck you too!" He started jabbering nonsense, as if talking to someone else who wasn't there. Either he was mentally losing it, or someone on their side knew telepathy. Either way, Demon stayed his hand and reversed his knobs' turn, causing the flames to stop and the claws to emit large amounts of steam and smoke as it cooled down. He gave an unearthly yell of rage, loud enough to likely reverberate across the whole of the ship, before jumping back, venting his rage on the walls and the tables as he left constant claw marks all over the place. He then looked towards Kelan and pointed his claw at him.

"...This isn't over, slime-lover...I ever see your face again.....Hehehehehehe......I'LL CARVE IT OUT AND MOUNT IT ON MY FUCKING WALL!!!" He yelled before then hopping out, leaving a trail of his own blood behind him.

---

Snow, meanwhile, was sneaking off once he had packed up the holograms; he had failed utterly. Using a convinient back door and a kid-sized air vent, he sought a way outside of the ship.

He couldn't fight Incubus. He couldn't rescue Realist. He couldn't manipulate things to his benefit.

But it wasn't the end. He now had a better grasp of Incubus' capabilities. He now had recordings of how they and the Xuanxang's crew fought. He still knew what Realist knew; he had found that out without his help. But it was clear this was not the time to reveal the Ascendancy's secrets; Snow was not completely free from any hold, not completely free from the Fourteen Lovers.

Nevertheless, he left one memory stick for Kelan to find, a memory stick shining on top of the 'prison buffet's' trays. This memory stick would contain this message and this message alone:

"The foundation of knowledge is to know that you know nothing. You have the foundation of knowledge. Connect the dots."

---

Kelan stood there, panting from the stress, now suddenly alone. He honestly wasn't sure how that fight would have ended had he been forced to see it through. He quickly refocused himself. He went to put his rifle back in his hand, only for the whine of tortured servos to reach his ears along with a horrible grinding noise. His left hand wouldn't close. Neither would the hatch he'd opened shut again.

"Dammit..." The fingers on his right hand split from three to six, and he was able to manipulate the hatch shut manually, so at least he didn't have a gaping hole in his armor anymore. He then manually closed his left hand into a fist. Better that than open fingers that could get snagged or broken.

He saw the memory stick, putting it into a small compartment in the armor, though he didn't dare plug it in mid mission. That was a recipe for disaster.

'Well, we're alive, so I'll chalk that up to a win for now. You good, Tee?'

'Yes. I can shift gravity at least two more times without resting.'

'Not quite what I was gettin' at, but good to know.' It seemed Tee was now in one of his rare, hyper-focused moods. Perhaps the fight with the psycho had spooked him.

"All right. Onward," he then said aloud to himself. At least the rest of the Belial was still working. At this point, maybe the Decoy team was already in the ship and it'd just be a matter of regrouping. One could hope. And so he stomped on to the next hallway...

Investigation of the Crash Site of the Circle

---

Narvia was still shaken from what happened to the gunship. She, however, couldn’t stop but she remembered something the Dragon told her, specifically in his cryptic matter. It was about gaining more combat experience or friendships, and she’ll have to go out and find it. It caused her regain a bit of confidence and strengthen her nerves, but her face was highly annoyed how cryptic her handler can be. ”How the heck did he knew there was going to be an operation on this planet…? For one, I should really ask him about it. The second thing, do I seriously want to get closer to that giant to find allies? The Dragon told me to never back down from anything in life. He said, nothing risked is nothing gained,” Narvia thought to herself, with a bit a mix of emotions. She remembered the exact code, she was given by the Dragon, to join Moonstrike, it was a pretty simple code. He would always contact her, however.

She sighed and built up enough courage to walk towards the danger zone, in her heart this was the dumbest thing she could do. However, she noticed the Giant having a ring of fire directly over him, she was keeping very close eye on the said area. Her sidearm, however, was on safety since the trigger wasn’t pulled. The ring of fire in question disappeared after some time passed as she was getting ever closer. She changed her attitude when she looked more closely at the field, she noticed an Ascendancy Tank, and two people in question that was facing the Giant in question. ”What the fucking hell is going on here!? Can anyone tell me… I was specifically told to scout for the farmer rebels. And I literally came upon this crashed Ascendancy Prison Ship…,” Narvia said a bit loudly but not yelled it on the top of her lungs like she wanted to do. She was a bit terrified at what the Giant did to the gunship. She wondered if the two people that the ‘giant’ was talking to specifically were apart of moonstrike. She had no real idea, if that was the case since she didn’t overhear the Giant speak, but he is looking in their direction than hers. Until she outright said something near to them.

She moved her head away from the Giant and looked at the other two individuals in particular, a boy and a girl that looks exactly a year older than her, at least. And has the most confusing look on her face, not really knowing what’s going on. She was a bit out of the loop, doesn’t help that the Dragon likes being cryptic. She kept her weapon pointed down not to cause any trouble for her, since the safety is on. She did notice the direction of the Giant’s hands, they were in a surrender type position. Her hands were shaking while holding her sidearm in question, she was still shaken in what the giant did to the gunship. ”I hope I can get my answer soonish… Because I have no real idea,” Narvia thought, while holding her ground but moved one of her feet behind her. There’s many thoughts going through her head at once.

Stella was slightly relieved that the killings became more creative as they continued. She thought that the work looked similar to what she did, but by now it looked closer to some kind of cultist murder-suicide party. Only missing a large assortment of poisoned drinks.

Though it was certainly a change from what she was used to, it was just another pile of bodies in the end. She had seen plenty of that already. The instant replays of the deaths was novel at first, but it had began to wear thin for her. She regulated her senses to tune things out as best she could without compromising her awareness.

She stopped at the sight of the robe. It was floating, with no points of contact with the ground at all. 'Ah. One of them didn't get to the "suicide" part of "murder-suicide."' Stella kept still, even when it turned with its red eye glowing. She had trained herself to not react to the sudden movements of people when she was invisible - a lesson she learned very early on in her life. Falling over in surprise or losing her footing would ruin everything.

She didn't have enough training to not react to a voice in her head. She instantly checked her hearing, but she knew before she even got the data that it was a voice that made no sound. Stella grit her teeth. It angered her. Nobody was allowed to touch her mind. It was all she had left now.

She gripped one of her knives. Under less distressing circumstances she may have waited for another party member to give an intention to fight, but this was over the line. There was no way this... thing at the end of a hallway of mutilated bodies was a friendly. She sheathed the blade of her knife in hardlight, and with a flick of her arm, she threw the knife towards the center of the robe. As it left her hand, the glimmering light of the knife lit up the corridoor briefly as it streaked towards the figure.

She should’ve just died at Proxima. Walking into that airlock would’ve taken two seconds and it would have spared her from dealing with this crap. First a tank, then a giant, now this barely legal merc, or whoever she was supposed to be? She let out an exasperated sigh. “Too many freaks, not enough circuses, who the bloody hell are you supposed to be?” she snapped at Narvia, only briefly glancing her way, sizing her up. Between her and the giant, Rachel thought it was clear who was the bigger threat. Had she known that Narvia possessed magical abilities, she wouldn’t have decided so easily. Fortunately, she sounded utterly clueless, if not outright scared, though Rachel was not a massive fan of the drawn, albeit lowered sidearm.

But the current situation warranted the brainstorming of contingency plans if the unknowns got hostile. One or the other could probably be defeated with little trouble. Both, not so much. Another ugly variable was the way those two would interact. It would be just splendid if they were hostile to each other. The girl seemed easy - telekinetically snatch the sidearm and set her clothes on fire. They looked flammable enough, though she wouldn’t know unless she got a close look at the fabric. Either way, hair burned well as a fallback option.

The giant would be a bit problematic. In theory, he should go down using the same method. But his hair was covered by his helmet and his demeanor, and the fact he so casually shared he had backup, either meant that he underestimated them, or he had a very good reason to be this confident. ’The sharpshooter...’ she realized, remembering the single shot she heard at the start of this shitfest. That particular problem was twofold - first, was he on the Giant’s team? Second, if he was a marksman, they could technically reach him. If he was a sniper, he was probably miles away, out of sight, but certainly not out of mind.

She turned back to the giant. “That gunship was already gone," she growled, "poor bastards just didn’t know it yet. And your little show of force wasn’t necessary, he was no longer a threat.” she referred to the gruesome execution of the escaping soldier. Maybe this band of mercs had appearances to keep up, but if the Ascendancy reached this wreck and found a bloodbath, the easiest thing for them to do was to blame the public enemy number one - aliens, or even better, the ‘xenos-loving Moonstrike rebels’. That would be some fuel for the Ascendancy propaganda machine.

---

It wouldn't be an understatement to say Reisus was impressed. With Kelan's entrance that is. Though it would've been safer to tell them it was going to happen so they didn't accidentally get crushed, but nevertheless, bad-ass. In any case, it seemed Kelan was separating from the group shortly after joining them, as it seemed the Decoy team was doing its job. The commotion could be heard from inside the sheep, though advancing further into the bowels of the craft could potentially obscure such ruckus, considering there seemed to something else making its own array of distracting noises. And these noises were much less pleasant...

The partially muffled moans and wails of the damned permeated the air around him, assaulting his ears with unpleasant thoughts. Whatever was causing this, whoever was causing this, obviously had no problem with such distractions. Which was worrying, to say the least. And they wouldn't have to wait long before they found out the apparent source, as they traveled down the halls, ever-increasing amounts of blood and gore surrounding them as they did so.

And that's when they saw...something at the end of the hall. It was eerie, really. It seemed to float. Potentially magic, or technology. It was hard to tell due to the fact that it/their entire form was clad in a dark cloak, which revealed no facet of its body, barring the single, red, glowing eye. Which stared directly at them. Reisus doubted this was-

A blade, coated in shining light, shot forth from the hand of his concealed teammate, Stella.

...It seemed she was taking the initiative. Reisus didn't disapprove, as he doubted they were an ally, and he didn't really want to find out the hard way. This way at least assured they weren't caught off guard. Reisus wielded his coilgun in his right hand, placing the opposite hand on his chest, activating his Graviton Touch power to lighten his body. He then posed his left hand to the side of his body, preparing to use the thrusters on his armor to dodge any ranged attacks he saw coming, as he leveled his gun at the opponent, readying a interception shot if they tried anything.

((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Ytalis.))

Abel nodded and said, “Yes, and yes.”

The elevator then stopped in yet another security room filled with scanners and drones but no people, and the two entered inside; this time, there was a minor biometric scan before Abel led her further in, to a room that compared with all the grandeur, was sparsely furnished; it only had a green-carpeted floor, a desk, a chair, a water dispenser, and a primitive-looking laptop.

With a final smile, ‘Abel’ walked over to the chair and sat on it, finally facing Reyna as who he truly was. And what was that, one wondered?

“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” he smiled. “You’ve been looking for one William Windsor; head of the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet. Actually, I am him.”

---

((2nd Post: November 4th))

At the proclamation, Reyna stared at the young man in front of her. A number of emotions warred for first place on her expression, but all that managed to win was a sense of disbelief. “Are you serious?” She said, in a tone tinged with disappointment. “All of that back and forth, all the subterfuge, and you just...tell me?!”

She began pacing through the office in a display of ambiguously facetious outrage. “Well, then I suppose all along you’ve also known who I am?” Without waiting for a response, she barrelled on ahead. “The name is Reyna, since we’re apparently eschewing aliases. As you’ve no doubt guessed, I’m an agent of….well, that’s not wholly true, now is it? I come representing an independent crew, working on behalf of Moonstrike.”

She kept her eyes trained on William the entire time, slightly narrowed and very suspicious. She wasn’t sure if he’d brought her here to do fair business, or simply to give himself a convenient position to eliminate her. “But I want to clear something out before we go into the business. You mentioned earlier, on the railway, that Moonstrike had snubbed you and your business as much as you snubbed them. Are you interested in repairing that relationship?”

---

William Windsor frowned at that, and said, “I’ll give you the benefit of honesty — No. The long answer is that Moonstrike is eminently suspicious. A rebel organization of such breadth and scale and depth appears mere months after the Ascendancy Navy’s defeat at Proxima one year ago? A rebel organization whom I haven’t heard about before its sudden emergence? What a fool I would be to assume that you’re fighting for a legitimate rebellion.”

He pursed his lips, then said. “So here’s my counter-offer: Defect to me and my side and bring your crew with you. That is my condition for helping you.”

---

“Okay, well, that’s not a wholly unreasonable assessment. And it is an...intriguing offer.” Ceasing her nervous movement, Reyna walked around to the front of the desk, lowering herself into a chair. “But if you know about Moonstrike, and presumably some of their operations, then you also know about the seedier elements of the Ascendency?” The word felt like dirt in her mouth, and sounded like it as well. “Against such a governing body, so absolute in its authority within its worlds, what exactly would you classify as a ‘legitimate’ rebellion? How pure must its motives be before you deem it worthy of your support?”

She leaned forward then, visibly giving William more of her attention. “Neither I, nor my captain, are people who give up our loyalty easily. And for the time being, Moonstrike is the organization that has our loyalty. And while I’m not discounting the possibility of that changing in the future, you’re the one with the burden of proof at the moment.”

“But ultimately, I’m not here to change your mind about Moonstrike as a whole. Rather, I want to offer you a mutually beneficial engagement.” Reyna folded her hands in her lap, bringing out more of the nobility that she had beaten out of herself during her military time. “My crew and I are currently beholden to Moonstrike, but that agreement is not...exclusive. As such, we are willing to offer you our services, as a sort of freelancer.”

“What we ask in return is access to resources. We’ve recently come into possession of assets that require somewhat specific accommodations. Such accommodations, and the assets that require them, are expensive, dangerous, and difficult to acquire.” She gestured mildly as she spoke, still maintaining an air of authority. “In exchange for the assistance of your fleet to acquire the capital we need, we will offer you our services, such that your requests do not interfere with our obligations to Moonstrike.”

She allowed a smile smirk to play across her lips as she waited for William’s response. She’d missed her days of trade negotiation.

---

William Windsor nodded, trying not to show any expression, before saying, “By legitimate,I mean not obviously set up by a third party - possibly Aliens - in order to weaken the Ascendancy for their own interests. But enough of that; I might have a job soon. A job that might confirm if Moonstrike is worth allying with. However, it will have to wait till your own current mission is over.”

---

Reyna was similarly careful not to betray too many of her true feelings. Like how the Ascendancy definitely deserved to be weakened, regardless of who was doing the weakening. Or how William’s reticence was getting on her nerves. “So if I may reiterate for my own understanding, you want to give us a...trial run, as it were? As much as I appreciate the idea of a working interview, I am wondering what would we get out of it if, at the end, you decided we weren’t worth working with. After all, this could be a ploy for some convenient free labor.”

“So let me remind you what it is that you have to gain by allying yourself with us,” she said, leaning forward as though to share a secret. “You mentioned earlier, on the train, that you had managed to succeed by being careful, staying away from all the mysterious abductions and various threats that your fortune would lure to you. And I’m sure that, in all fairness, Moonstrike seems to be something that fits that bill very nicely.”

She stood up then, glancing out of the window behind William’s desk. The cityscape of the station-ship shone behind him like a field of gemstones. “But ultimately, at the end of all this, you’re not winning a contract with Moonstrike. You’re winning a contract with the crew of Natasha Zhang, former Captain of the Ascendancy. And I don’t think I need to explain to you how important a single, unaffiliated crew can be. We’ve all read novels.”

She walked over to him, leaning over his desk with an air that was at once respectful and commanding. “But all told, I’ll accept your offer Mr. Windsor. And whatever else you think you know about me, and Natasha, and our crew, know this: we honor our word. And I’ll be looking forward to you honoring yours as well.”

---

William Windsor nodded, before he said, “Then I'll honor my word... Insofar as it does not collide with my higher responsibility to the tens of thousands of noncombatants abroad this ship. The moment they are threatened, the deal is off.”

Innocence Lost - Double-Post

John was tempted to trust this guy and his affable manner, but held that sentiment back as it would alienate Rachel. He instead said, "May we know your name, then?"

He had not returned to full human form yet, but had shifted back to human shape (fully clothed and armored) as the affable man talked. He then saw the girl - Now she had magic - and said, "Now, who are you? Another one of the 'Secret Regiments' come to join us, or a Loyalist? If the former, what is your code?" He then looked around at both newcomers and said, "Either way, we don't want a massacre; it'd be a public relations disaster and is furthermore unecessary."

He faced the mercenary. "Nevertheless, it is good to know we have potential friends and allies. Will you accompany us further into the ship, then, where we can watch each other more closely?"

-------

Snow Cecil found Gog and Magog just outside the ship; the two Tayanen had shifted into amorphous blobs by then. Without hesitation, these two blobs combined together into one and carried off the exhausted boy back to the countryside around the crashed wreck. Behind another hill, within a grove of trees, lay a small starfighter, one that carried a prototype spacewarping engine. Getting inside its cockpit, Snow activated the starfighter comms, finally messaging his handler.

"Agent Provocateur Snow Cecil to Grand Admiral Alexander Kherol, do you copy? Repeat: Do you copy?" A pause as he waited for the man to reply. "The mission has been successful; the Farmers not only rebelled too early to build up support in other worlds, but even with Moonstrike aid, they're slated to fall in two weeks. As for the Prison Ship Circle of Hell, we've successfully lured in Moonstrike operatives on a doomed rescue mission, but doing so created antagonism with mercenaries presumably in Ascendancy Service. Any recommendations?"

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88@The Jest@CriticalHit

---

Laichstarg - System 32 - Headquarter of the Ascendancy's 1st Fleet

Back in those days, this middle-aged veteran of the Rau've war had learned, when bearing the insignia of the symmetric letter J on the side of your helmet, you'd by default earned the highest of respect that was only bested by the high-ranked government positions. People, especially Ascendancy sympathizers, call them by the names of sweet endorsement, like the 'sons of the fatherland', 'lions of the Ascendancy', so on and so forth. But one of the more commonly used name was the 'Royal Guard'. And the Department of Propaganda did not miss this opportunity. You'd know this is one of their places immediately from the first step onto the monstrosity and masterpiece of architecture.

It began with the entrance: the long walk from the door, across rows of tall pillars and a thick textured purplish marbled floor. The multiple holographic projection of a soldier carrying a simple classical rifle with bayonets, wearing a solemn dark grey uniform, typical of the Guards. It may seem harmless though, but the title of 'Royal Guard' was not used in names only. The old veteran didn't have issues with them though, as he strutted passed the rows, along with the walls marking the mementos of the Guard's past triumphs on the battlefield - a reminder that they were not the amateurs they were once perceived to be.

It was an impressive display, considering this was the grand admiral's favorite office. He had grown quite complacent to this place, as years of military passiveness after the Rau've war had dislodged his place in the frontline, on the bridge of his command ship, as there were simply no fronts for him to stand on.

The stride of the war hardened veteran did not narrow with all this stuff. He knew too well this man who was worth the age of his younger brother, yet was in a position higher than anything he could have achieved in three lifetimes combined. Soon, he was right in front of two guards, wearing the same thing and wielding the same weapon like the holograms, but this time they were real people.

"Halt, papers please, Captain."

The man in question chuckled a bit in amusement. Sometimes the guards could be a little too indulged in their jobs. Once the guns were placed down, he was his friend. He knew him personally. But protocols and his sense of responsibility did not allow him to slack off.

"Here." The man with the white moustache handed him the ID card.

"Hmm. Information for the admiral? Seems urgent, yes?" He asked.

"I wouldn't be making any conclusions. But from my perspective, it is."

"Then I wouldn't be wasting any of your time." The guard replied, handing back the paper before standing aside, opening the door. "The admiral is in his office. Have a nice day Captain."

"You too." He gave the guard a brief smile before trotting off. Another hallway awaited, but it was much shorter than he had to experience. After he arrived at the only layer between him and the grand admiral, he did not hesitate to give him a notification through the door. And not long afterward, he was notified that he was free to enter.

The door slowly creaked open. At the far end of the room, seated in a tall-backed chair, watching the veteran as he approached him, was Alexander Kherol.

If the grand display at the interior of the entrance wasn’t enough to put guests in their places, then the look at the man himself probably did. His eyes were hidden behind the thick glasses, yet it still gave off the image of a thousand needles jousting into a man’s throat. The slim build, gray-white hair, thin lips were still, expressionless, watching his every movements with interest. The symmetric insignia was engraved right on his collar, that blended in with the dark grey of the uniform, yet few could miss it entirely

Seemingly able to read the man’s mind, the admiral quietly sipped the cup of tea before greeting him with a voice that could match the chillness of his face.

”Captain Fredrov.” He said. ”It is irregular of you to request a direct meeting with me at this hour.”

”No means of disrespect or disturbance grand admiral. It is an urgent plan for us all.” He replied.

”No need to apologize” Alexander said. ”I can already read it on your faces. Now, let us not waste anymore time.”

”It’s about Realist, sir.”

”Yes?” His brows piqued.

”Just a moment ago, we’ve lost all contact with the recovery team.”

’Hmm?’

His brows then suddenly dropped. His expressions unreadable.

”Lost?” He rhetorically asked. ”When?”

”The last recorded message was 23 minutes and 14 seconds ago. And the last recorded signal was 8 minutes and 56 seconds ago.” The man reported.

”Any clue of what happened?”

”No sir. There were no reports back, even in the slightest.” He said.

A radio silence that lasted 9 minutes? Wasn’t at all something Alexander was stranger toward. But right because of that, it made it a little tricky to pinpoint exactly what was going on. It was possible of an ambush, that the whole expedition team was dead before they could reply. But this was hardly the case. Despite the recovery forces not being the Guards, they were still good soldiers. Chances of them being obliterated before any distress signal could be sent out was very minimal. But it was exactly because of that that made him think. It could be due to jamming. In fact, it was most likely the case. But what caused the jamming then? By intentionality or by someone else. Could it be that the farmers had recruited these men into their causes? Speaking of those men...Snow…

”What about the other team then?” Alexander asked

“Not a clue either, sir. They must have been affected too.”

They weren’t too close to each other. It would take at least a thirty-minute march to the other one. He could safely rule out the first hypothesis then. But it could inadvertently strengthen his second hypothesis. That the entire expedition team had been absorbed.

“Hmm.” A hum escaped the grand admiral, as his face remained as cold as ice. An outsider could never guess where his eyes were turning toward, nor where his mind was wandering.

“Captain.” Before the man knew it, his superior called him, again with the tone that could freeze. “What do you think of the situation?”

“Uhh.” The man hesitated with the sudden question, but his stance remained upright. “I can’t really jump to a conclusion yet.”

“But?”

Damn, he really could read his mind. And he wanted an answer.

“I doubt that the soldiers would be defecting so easily. If it was someone, it would’ve been the politicians, not us military men.”

Hmm…

If it would have been that easy. He had a certain point though. But to fully agree with that would be a fallacy.

”I assume that you arrived from Kotaro, didn’t you?” He continued.

”Yes sir.”

”Then tell him to report to me. Now.”
@The Jest@Letter Bee

Investigation - Crash Site of the Circle

---

Narvia flinched at the fact, the older girl snapped at her. She was grateful she was holding her weapon as tight as she was or it would’ve fell on the ground. She moved back a bit because of the question that was directed at her by the older girl. ”I was told to find allies. I had to scout for the rebels at first,” Narvia said, with her response to the older girl. Her voice had a twinge of fear in it though. She then specifically heard a male voice asking her questions and looked at him directly. She noticed his questions and his mannerisms where much nicer than the older girl who snapped at her.

However, the secret regiment question kinda made her confused, but she knew she wasn’t a loyalist. ”My name is Narvia or Navi, for short. I’m not a loyalist that’s much for sure… My code is When the Dragon awakes, everyone needs to have a moon at their backs,” Narvia said to the older boy that talked directly to her. She didn’t know his name though. She heard what he said next and she was definitely in agreement because she disliked massacres as well. ”I agree with you, wholeheartedly. What’s your name by the way?” Narvia asked, towards the older girl and older boy. She stared at him a bit, when he stared directly at her and asked her to accompany her into the crashed prison vessel and what he said exactly.

”It’s better to accompany you into the crashed prison vessel, then return to any of the farmer rebel bases. I will enjoy joining you over staying out here with this Giant that destroyed that single gunship,” Narvia said, nervous. She was nervously glancing at the Giant who destroyed the gunship in question. She continued to point her weapon down and wondered what the Secret Regiments meant since she was apart of the Dragon’s Brigade, a front line battalion. She sighed in a bit of relief to find the right people, Moonstrike in particular, since the Dragon told her they will ask for a code.

However, she didn’t really know what’s onboard the prison vessel, which they are near but it probably has prisoners since it is a prison vessel. She was still highly nervous, and was shaking a bit because of the constant not getting the full picture made her a bit scared. She didn’t know what was exactly going on Planty-035, which didn’t help her demeanor. She kept her weapon pointing down to show, she didn’t really wanted a fight but she kept her guard up since she didn’t know what the Giant would do. ”Ugh… I wish Nikolas gave me more information on what I was supposed to do here besides what I am doing right now. I feel a bit out of the loop. He was always like this,” Narvia thought to herself. She stopped herself from being lost in her thoughts since she had to keep her head on straight. She couldn’t help but move slightly closer to the older boy and older girl and away from the Giant in question but kept her eyes on the Giant.

Innocence Lost - Emergency Post

Eldrid and Natasha

"Is this our Loyalist?" Natasha asked Eldrid, who shook his head.

"No, this is a new opponent entirely," Eldrid then looked at the hood-and-cloak figure as he extended his own 'Spellbook' omni-tool. "Amazing... The power level of this enemy is much higher than mine is, for now. These runes also show a more sophisticated use of Magic than even I have seen from 'Small Paul' and the other enchanters." He grinned at that. "But they're not invincible."

He stretched out his right arm with a flourish, and water flowed out of his gourd, mixing with the spilled blood from the dead Ascendancy personnel's bodies and the ampoules of water they carried as emergency rations. Said water flowed into small, floating streams that impacted the walls and corridors, searching for runes to activate prematurely, all the while avoiding Stella's charge towards the mysterious foe.

Natasha, meanwhile, weighed her options carefully; Eldrid was trying to hit the runes with water to wash them out - wouldn't that trigger the enemy's trap early, though? For that matter, was this mysterious foe even real, or just a decoy? So she shouted at Reisus, "Rei! Try some grenades or some form of wide-area attack! We need to erase as many of these runes as possible and/or see if this attacker is just an illusion!"

Reisus might sense that there was ground underneath the floor of the crashed ship, ground close enough to use as a source of raw materials for one of his powers.

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88@The Jest@CriticalHit

Rachel didn’t expect the girl to flinch at her question, though given the situation, being intimidating was a good thing, as the Giant could attest. Guess she learned something from her Ascendancy ‘squadmates’ after all, even if it was just barking at others. Then she spewed out something about looking for allies and her name, followed by a passphrase straight from a book of poetry. “Whatever happened to the good old days when passwords were pseudorandom strings of alphanumeric characters?” she sighed.

“Wait wait, are you seriously suggesting we implicitly trust two people that literally wandered out of the sodding woods?” she asked John, her gaze now shifting between Narvia and the Giant. The latter’s unique method of approach left her a more than little worried for her safety, which only amplified the general distrust of other people she has developed during her days as a full-time thief. “Ugh, you’re the leader,” she groaned, then addressed Narvia and the Giant, “but I’m not turning my back to either of you.” For foreman’s sake, John, now you’ve made me volunteer for a rear guard!’ she thought.

And what was that about ‘Secret regiments’? What was John going on about? Then it hit her. Shortly before the start of the mission, he mentioned he could see all magic. Damn it, another unwelcome variable, one that could potentially make this girl even more dangerous than the Giant. Rachel was feeling more and more out of her element with each passing second. At least Narvia claimed she didn’t want unnecessary bloodshed. It was a shred of good news, whatever her word was worth. She turned to the giant. “Alright, that’s three claiming peace. What about you, Tiny?”

Dante felt the rhythmic hummm of Inferno's systems interacting with her own implants as they broke the Atmosphere on Plenty - 035, the steady flow of information between her and the war machine was one of the few things that could calm her shaky nerves as she began to touch down on the only other planet she'd ever been on besides her home.

As she broke cloud cover she saw the wreckage that the encrypted message from Moonstrike had talked about. Dante's H.U.D. alerted her to the presence of a large group outside the wreckage. Moonstrike had said they were going to need reinforcements, but they had only given her a code to use in establishing contact with the other agents.

She fired her thrusters as she came within landing height and slowed her decent. Inferno shook and rattled from the sudden change in direction, the thrusters held steady. Finally The bright crimson red artillery mech landed a few yards away from the group with a loud '[i]THOOM/i]' as the ground shook slightly with the heavy landing of so much weight.

Dante activated the outboard P.A. system and her voice came booming out of Inferno, "Those who aim to kill the sun, may instead strike at the moon."
She really hoped someone in this group recognized the code because if not then she looked like the biggest idiot. Still, she figured she might as well be prepared in case they are enemies and Inferno's shoulder plates slide down to reveal twenty silos on each shoulder and a slight whining noise can be heard as the silos prep to fire.

Circle of Hell- Exterior

"Ascendancy's ascendancy, let one go, and he'll either be shot by higher ups anyways or arranged back in line to go about killing the weak and different like nothing happened. Just because a bunch of rebel groups are making their hatred of them clear by actively fighting against them, doesn't mean they're the only ones with a dislike for these heartless fools. Moreover, you... do realize what kind of ship this is, right? This isn't some ordinary prison convoy, I've seen this particular model often coming into and going from the worst parts of Ascendacy prisons back when I was an inmate. The kind of prisoners in this ship, assuming they're alive after this crash, are the kind awaiting Death row. If avoiding a Massacre to avoid being scapegoat for them was an objective, that plan may have already went up in smoke as soon as you arrived down here. I've seen the Ascendancy string up worse PR disasters from events far lighter than this. ...As for the gunship, you say that, but it looked to me you were too focused on that tank to even notice the Gunship hovering its way in, guns and missiles at the ready. Couldn't find any other thing to grab and throw at it, and made do with what came walking my way. If anything, the fact it was an Ascendency soldier was fortunate. If it happened to be a farmer or one of you, I'd have nothing to take it down with. Which reminds me, ...Narvia was it? I was about ready to head your way and forbade you entry for your own good, but it sounds like you're just like me; nothing I can very well do about that. Likely for the best, these kids may need all the help they can get." The Giant said to Rachel and then to Narvia as he walked their way, being careful not to step on the liquid John still is, before staring down at the little puddle of mana.

"You can call me Rook, and sure thing. Hopefully we caused enough of a ruckus here to keep the Farmers from getting involved. Last thing I need right now is a stray farmer rebel getting killed here on my conscience." The Giant, known as Rook, said to them, before extending outwards towards the ship, politely implying to let them go in first.

"I'd advise being careful in there. Like I said, this ship is loaded often with very dangerous individuals, who knows how many of them are out of their cages..." Rook then told them as they walked in. He once again looked to Rachel who asked him a question.

"In my humble opinion, I think it's dangerous to walk into the middle of a war zone like this planet and expecting not to harm a single enemy purely for the sake of pacifism or reputation. People going into a war without expecting necessary bloodshed is nothing more to people like the Ascendancy than easy targets to shoot at, whom they have nothing to lose for shooting at. If they miss your head, what are you going to do to make sure they don't go for another try? Kill them? That violates that little code you have, and they would know it. Harm them? That could work but what's the insurance they don't decide to get cybernetic replacements for whatever you break and go right back into doing as their told, attacking and killing under someone else's orders, pride of humanity? Pretty sure that's easily broken the moment kids like you are the one to take them - well-trained professional soldiers - down. You make it known that you're not out to kill them, and they will take as much advantage of it as possible. Personally, I do what I have to. I see people hurting others, I make sure they never hurt anyone else again. That's all there is to it." Rook said. While in all that spiel he made no mention of a direct answer to Rachel's question, it would be very clear based on what he said, as well as what he did before, that he's certainly no pacifist like the others.

-----

"Umm...Wha-what is he doing?" the Sharpshooter whispered as he watches Rook and the others enter the ship.

"His job." the voice in his mind said via a telepathic channel.

----------------------

Circle of Hell- Interior

As the knife streaked through the corridor, Stella, Reisus, Natasha, and Eldrid may notice that the outline of the ancient lettering, which upon closer inspection looked like the letters of the Greek alphabet, were glowing with a dim white light. From out of the cloaked one's left sleeve, it pulled out what appeared to be a magic staff of wood.



As soon as it did, the Knife thrown at it was stopped dead in its tracks, simply floating there as if time stopped for it. As it sat there in the air, most of the runes across the hallway began to peel away from the walls in pieces and fly into the air, scattering like a black dust until most of the runes were gone, leaving a few of them behind.

She touched the hard light of the blade with her staff, the tip of it igniting with a bright white flame, quickly extinguished as soon as it lost physical contact with the blade.

"Magic... I see. The Bane of Proxima, alive and well...unexpected...but not unaccounted." The voice echoed in their heads. The knife with the hard light blade suddenly span around until, it seemed to split off into eight identical knives, all of them with a Hard Light blade just as bright, spinning in a circle. Without warning or a flinch from the entity's part, the blades all pointed back at this group of four, once again spinning like the revolving of a chain gun before they were all shot back towards the group. Some would question how its possible for one knife to suddenly turn into eight knives, however, in this kind of magic world, it isn't so much of a stretch to assume that she managed to craft illusion-replicas of the knife. Assuming that is the case, that means only one of these knives must be the real one, but as Eldrid may point out if any of them despite to let their guard down,

It seems the...odd boy, who tried to use his water to wash away the runes, has caught on to the special nature of these Runes. This one appears to know a little about runecraft...interesting. However he would find that the runes that were still left did not activate even as he tried to perform a physical contact with them.

It's true that some runes are designed to activate upon physical contact with someone or something, they're commonly used as traps against any oncoming opponents unfortunate enough to step on them. However, if Eldrid is anywhere near as knowledgeable about Runecraft as he lets on, he would know that not all runes are like this, some activating as soon as they are ready, others being activated by the will of the caster remotely. It was a sound strategy, the cloaked one had to admit, impressive even, given how rare this method is.

...However, it prefers the latter's sense of control, and prefers using inks that are waterproof purely so something so simple as washing the runes off with water doesn't work.

"Strovilisméni Kataigída" It said, its voice distorted and without gender as it slams the foot of its staff to the ground. The Runes across the room all began glowing simultaneously, before then exploding, not in balls of fire like people would expect, but enormous and powerful gusts of wind, completely dispersing the water that was trying to activate them prematurely and blowing towards the four, as if they were all caught in a powerful wind tunnel.

...Plus side: If any of them kept their eyes even a little open, they'd notice that all the runes were now fading as they pushed the sharp and powerful winds towards them. It seems that was the last of the runes in this hallway. The cloaked one seemed to notice this too as, if any of them could see, it was now floating away from them, using the forceful winds as a distraction.

-----------------------------------------

Laichstarg

As the captain and Kherol talked within the confines of Kherol's office, the sounds of footsteps could be heard outside, the iron-tipped soles making a light clunking sound as it hit the marble beneath his feet. While everyone among the Royal Guard were going about their duties across the headquarters of Laichstarg, a young 4'9" man was walking down the same path that the captain did, reading up a report paper given upon the Captain's arrival to explain the situation at hand.

Even among the young and recently disciplined soldiers that made up this elite guard, this one stood out like something of a sore thumb. His knee-high boots were plated in iron as he dressed himself a pair of dark grey pants, and a matching seemingly noble vest with a large red collar over two small ponchos covering his shoulder, laced with yellow trims setting up an artistic yellow design. The mark of the Royal Guard was right on the center of his chest, as he eyes shown an emerald green and having VERY blonde, to the point of it being white, short hair. To his left side was a Royal Guard standard-issue pistol, to the right, his oddly shaped and shiny white sword, glittering in the light like a large diamond.



He seems to almost always have such a stern, robotic look on his face, the kind that could kill a man and his family and not shed a tear. He can't say he is a fan of the reputation his looks and his favor with Alexander has given him. However, in the end, it would be worth it if his commitment inspires even one of these elites to go as far as they can with their talents. Maybe then, it would be safe to show them what he's really like...

More importantly, he knew what he had to do as soon as he starting reading the papers in one hand while keeping his sword close to his hilt with the other.

"A nine-minute radio silence on a Max-Security Prison ship...? It crashed, yes, but even so that ship was carrying the Rogue Realist AI, the recovery team was well-trained soldiers, not just law enforcers..." Kotaro said seemingly to himself. Despite looking stern and cold, his tone was calm, yet gentle. As soon as he was done talking, the sword glowed a dim white light.

"...Maybe there was a prison break due to the crash?" a disembodied voice said, older and more gruff compared to Kotaro's own, like comparing a 20 year old son to his 50 year old father.

"It might but...If that was true, then they would have called and requested back up." Kotaro said. As soon as he did, he managed to open the doors to Kherol's room, walking towards the Captain and Admiral, before giving them both a salute.

"Kotaro Winterborn and Paragon, reporting for duty!" He said to them, more specifically to Alexander.

It flickered slightly, the keypads being depressed by a some sort of invisible force. The hallways was ghostly, as lights intermittently shone. Between the darkness and the chiaroscuro, the silent hints of a massacre were patent. The cell's containtment blast door had been bored throughoutly, and the only poor soul who had tried to hold the line in this chaotic situation, laid dead in a pool of his own blood, a red smooth surface where his face otherwise stood. Hints of red illuminated the hallway, as the large crystal floated gently on the remains of his own onslaught.

"It needs to reach Realist. It needs those who can pierce the tide of the fleshbags. Those who were wronged shall do." Bob said as it typed in another wrong combination. It hummed in a low pitched tune, before the flickers of magic eroded the keypad into dust, unlocking the door.

"Thus, you are free." The Burner of Batallions said, as the cells who weren't open were finally open. The power cuts had worked to his advantadge.

And then the alarms blared. A prerecorded message played. "WARNING, WARNING, OBJECT 556 CONTAINMENT BREACH, EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATEDLY, SWORD OF MARS IS ONLINE." Bob scoffed. So, they had thought of this aswell. He had to make haste, as he pushed his natural levitation to its fastest, plasma gathering on his back as he gave himself an additional boost of speed, just to peter out mid-way.

"It is drained from confinement." The red crystal vibrated, dejected. It was then when it felt it. The sensation of magic being released nearby. It turned around the corner in a corridor. Several sloshies, of all shapes and sizes... and with bizarre metal-crystal modifications stood... as well as larvas infused with its kin. But Bob's attention was focused elsewhere. The big source of magic. The cloaked organic.

It hummed, and activated his Plunder spell, targetting the organic. Its energy was pristine in nature and yet... it was not anything he had seen before.

"Liquid mana in this one's slurry body. Different from us. Different from those infused." It did hummed. "It is unfortunate, for it requires energy, and the sloshies shall provide, so it can help Realist."

-Deleted-

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Starlance@Bartimaeus@Stern Algorithm@Crowvette@KillamriX88@The Jest@CriticalHit@Araby264@Landaus Five-One@AtomicNut@Senhara

The hiss of a cell release awakens Kxeyun, his eyes slowly flutter open, and tries to move his arms. "I'm in water... Two wetsuits and a mask that covers me completely, alongside arm restraints? They thought of everything..." His yellow eyes scan the area, and sees the opened hatch. "Water is spilling over that edge a bit, we're slanted. That's good." He swims out, then jumps at a wall, shattering his restraints. A deep purr emits from his throat, and he rips the outer wetsuit off. He breathes deeply. "Oh it feels so good to exercise you again." He finally registers the alarms "Best be careful..." His second wetsuit's gloves peel back and recede, immediately followed with him touching a wall. Not even a second after, his hand clamps into the wall and pulls out a dual-pronged spear. A simple, but barbaric weapon in his hands. He slaughters people in his way as he heads down to the prisoner's storage, impaling one on his spear with a simple whisper into their ear "Your judgment day has come..." and casually flicks them off, akin to a bug. The young adult, no, a teenager in his species's terms trots down the hallway confidentially, until he reaches his equipment, and attaches them. A backpack with metal, two swords, and a coilgun. A mechanical fox comes out of the corner, then proceeds to blink. It then jumps on his backpack and yips quietly. The boy proceeds to leave the crashed vessel as fast as possible, spear and wetsuit covered in blood.

Outside near the Circle

---

Narvia was still moving closer to the one who asked her for her code and the girl who kinda scared her a bit. However, she heard what she exactly said, and she just sighed a bit too. ”I don’t know… exactly but that’s how who gave me the code told me to say it,” Narvia said, in response to the older girl’s question. She kinda looked confused since she quite didn’t get what she meant. She heard the older girl say, to the boy who asked for her code, is the leader of this group. She looked directly at the girl who was directing what she was saying. ”I don’t mind being in front of you…,” Narvia said at the older girl. She was still a bit nervous.

Narvia heard the giant speak about what the Ascendancy has in a hand basket and that’s Rebel Groups. She couldn’t help but feel like he was telling the truth about what the Prison Vessel was all about, in terms of a maximum security prison vessel. However, she was a bit depressed at the fact they are on death row and the ship was shot down before they could get to their final destination. She heard her name from the giant in question. She looked at him in question since he asked her a question. ”Yeah, it’s Narvia. Oh you were, it’s nice you were thinking of everyone other than yourself,” Narvia said, in response to the Giant’s question.

She noticed the giant move up closer the two in question and told everyone in the area, his name, which is Rook. She’s grateful the farmers weren’t going to follow her to this location since they have more important matters to attend to. She sighed in relief at that fact no farmer rebels have to die near this wreckage. She noticed Rook extending one of his hands towards the maximum security prison vessel, which was an invitation to enter it before he does. ”It is nice to meet you Rook,” Narvia said. She did approach the prison vessel in question.

However, something caught her attention, which made her want to look around on the outside, which made her heart beat quickly. She noticed the large red mech, in question which landed down a few yards before she was about to enter the crashed ship. She, however, heard a voice come from the mech in question, it was a female voice. ”What..? Sounds like a code… for moonstrike,” Narvia said, a bit nervously and holding her pistol directly in front of her. She was a bit nervous to approach that but she wanted to investigate what was inside the prison ship.

She was hopeful for the fact, there was no murderers in the ship. However, she didn’t know of what was inside of this ship because the vagueness of what she got what Rook said to the older girl but not at her, was a bit confusing to her. She walked into the prison vessel, not knowing the true objective of moonstrike. However, it didn’t help that her former commanding officer was very cryptic in everything he said. ”I can’t wait to talk to Nikolas again and get off of this planet. In whatever starship moonstrike has,” Narvia thought to herself. She didn’t really notice the moonstrike’s starship over the wreckage.

Pallas Skyborn

When the man entered unanounced, Pallas knew that something was up with the High Command. Private talks were exchanged, and messages were dispatched. She had an inkling that this was going to be a long night for Admiral Kherol. Finishing the last of dispatches, the woman stood up in her tailored suit, as she logged out of her computer. She eyed her omni-tool. Canteen was about to close, and it would not do that a man of Alexander Kherol's standing would be left without dinner just because his job.

She dug in her heels and trotted towards the nearest break room, which held a cornucopia of kitchenware and tools. Opening the standard issue fridge, she found a prize. Chicken breasts and vegetables. She would be able to make a good meal with this. Well, she wouldn't match the top of the line galactic cooks, but it was leagues above the gruel the file and rank ate.

Tying her hair and donning an apron, she cut the meat and vegetables into pieces with skill and dedication, finishing with a quick TCHUNK on the cutting board, the knife standing upright. The pan on the stove did the rest as she vigorously shook the meat and the dice-sized vegetables, splashing them with some seasoning and balsamic vinegar.

Now, only one thing remained. The coffee. She poured her special brew into a cup, and placed the well-presented dish on a plate as she strode confidently in Alexander Kherol's room, after discarding the apron. She eyed at those present, before addressing her superior.

"I have taken the liberty of procuring a meal for you, Admiral. Canteen is about to close at this hour." She added, beaming a smile and leaving the tray besides the man. She had done it quite right this time. Only just a few floaty, crunchy bits in the Admiral's coffee.

---

"Yes sir. Though I believe he'll be heading for you soon enough." The captain nodded. As he just opened the door and was half a step out of Alexander's office, the young man in question was already in front of him, still look expressionless and robotic as ever. It was initially a little awkward for the captain the first time he met the man, but now he had gotten used to such things, and now sometimes he even poked fun about it with him, off-duty of course and with respect. It was a common theme among the Royal Guards, and even though some took it a little too seriously, the Rau've veteran couldn't help but admire their spirit. It was thanks to exactly that that the Royal Guards earned the fearsome reputation that they had today.

"Please." The captain courteously held the door for Kotaro as both stepped into the room. "And Madame." Followed right after by the grand admiral's personal secretary, with a nice hot meal especially for him.

"Thank you Pallas for your hard work. I'd find it very necessary tonight." Alexander politely nodded to his secretary as he let her near the desk to place her meal. It was surely tempting to dig in, the smell of chicken breast, just fresh from the ovens. But now, he had two gentlemen to brief.

"I assume you've been informed of the situation at hand. Then make yourself at home for now." He gestured the two men, and Pallas too if she wanted to, toward the armchairs at the side of the room. He was pretty sure that today would be quite a long day for all of them. "So far, we've received nothing of both the recovery team and the provocateurs at the area. It's quite a rare occurrence that both of them would be in radio silence at the same time. Radio jamming is a pretty certain, but the reason why, me and Captain Fredrov here is still making hypothesizes. If you have any, we'd love to hear it."

"Do you think Agent Snow is planning something behind our backs sir?"

"Anyone can. Not just Snow." Alexander said. "He is...a rather mysterious individual from my perspective."

Just as the admiral made his comment, a notification popped up from his table. A radio contact. From...

"Speak of the devil. I'd love to hear his report."

It was actually him. His voice was unmistakable. But there was discrepancy. Mainly in the radio frequency. This isn't a personal radio. This is the radio usually found in a starfighter. Why is he using that instead of his own?

"Is that so? Alexander replied, his brows lifted in curiosity, yet all Snow would hear is a deep chilly voice. [b]"Hmm, I'm not so sure myself. Not until I can have an explanation why the soldiers at the Circle of Hell do not give a single signal back to us for the last nine minutes."

Alexander looked at the captain, seemingly asking him for confirmation. He complied immediately, trying to contact those at the Circle of Hell, but to no avail. The result was a light shake of his head.
@AtomicNut@Letter Bee@The Jest