_{@Ponn@Crusader Lord@FamishedPants@Izurich@SilverPaw}
Tucked into a ball and arcing through the air, Orion was akin to the Sun itself, the light of the entire lobby dimming as they gathered around her wand, her arcane power manifesting into the purest form of destruction: a death ray made of solar energy. Prismatic power blasted out, vaporizing what vines were caught in the beam’s path, but before light could expose the innards of the rider’s skull, its steed acted. Twisting its six gangly limbs, the monster spun in the air, causing the beam to rip into the rider’s right shoulder instead, blasting off its bound arm and instantly cauterizing the wound. Not an instant kill. It was hard to even tell if it was a major one. What was one limb when one had a total of eight?

As the afterimage of her beam was blinked out of her vision, the Knight of Tomorrow found that her own shield was entangled by those vines that she had tried to block. Thorns meshed with each other, forming a link between individual vines, and with a snapping back of its head, Orion lurched forwards, downwards, towards the scything blade-limbs of the chimeric beast.

It wasn’t an attack, but a pull!

A shot sounded in that instant, echoing against her spine. Breacher’s melody struck moments before Orion could be turned into mincemeat, debris forming behind her and pushing her in a separate direction. Twinned pull spells accelerated vertical descent but reduced horizontal movement, sending the wand-bearing Esper past the monster she faced, and right onto the ledge of the portal. Her shield bounced against tiled ledge, absorbing most of the impact, yet was insufficient from stopping her from falling over the ledge into the portal. Moments before she could disappear completely, Orion had time to unfurl, reach out, and…

…Grasp Su’s hand.

Three-fourths of the way into the portal, and yet not wholly swallowed by it. There was a chance still, to pull her out. The Dragon Breacher’s muscles tautened, shield raised overhead to protect from any attack by the monster, while her other hand managed both a pistol and Orion, superhuman athleticism allowing her to keep the other woman from falling deeper, allowing her to pull the Knight of Tomorrow up higher and higher.

Then, they heard it. The whirring of a metal ball, the screeching of shrapnel, the humming of spell-slaying melodies reverberating through silvered spikes. Jacqueline’s melody, powerful as it was, was also slower by a single, decisive second. A half dozen what-ifs played out in that moment, a half dozen pathways. But the life of an esper was a one-way road, and melodies, once sung, could not be unheard.
The portal closed.

Orion’s hand slipped out of Su’s grasp, the newbie agent sucked into the other side of the portal.
Su’s hand pressed against a bare, concrete foundation, the original state of the mansion.
And above, hanging upside down on the ceiling, the rider opened its mouth once more and unleashed a cloud of toxic fumes upon those who remained below: Wukong, Valkyrie, Silhouette, Breacher.

“Thanks Jacky!” The armored nun called out, her voice chipper as a starling. “I’ll Paypal you the rest after this!”

A ringing clang resounded as steel met steel, Silhouette’s blade intercepting the nun’s as the shadowed assassin dove in to assist GEMINI’s sole sniper. Arcane sparks burst upon the encounter, but between a dagger held one-handed and a falchion held two-handed, the sheer difference in force caused Silhouette’s left arm to be blown off to the side, opening his entire body up to a second blow. If he was to survive, he would have to use Slash elsewhere or end up losing his head instead.

That, then, was the inherent weakness of a touch spell.

A mass of shadows thrust upwards instead of downwards, answering the beheading strike of a blade that gleamed with black light. Arcane restraints consumed the nun’s weapon in its entirety, yet that unholy light seared at it from within, dampening its effect while forcing Silhouette’s blade off-center once more. It was clear in two strikes who would hold the advantage, who would continue to maintain the advantage in this melee. In a one on one, he would doubtlessly be turned to minced meat over the course of multiple exchanges. But this wasn’t a one on one. Behind him, Valkyrie must be repositioning, must be aiming.

So why wasn’t she firing?

Silhouette noticed then, that this entire time, the nun’s eye was upon Valkyrie, gleaming that carmine sheen, and even though the steampunk sniper’s body shook with magically enhanced power, she couldn’t will her body to move back. A compulsion dominated her form, urging her to stand her ground or advance. She hadn’t moved an inch since Silhouette charged in, and subsequently, he himself had no room to retreat.

A foot planted itself upon his chest and forcefully kicked, sending both Silhouette and Valkyrie tumbling back. Together, they crashed into one of the gray statues, all three tumbling down as the statue broke to bits. A sticky, black fluid coated the two government esper’s bodies, a familiar acrid stench revealing exactly what it was.

Petroleum.

And Wukong, momentarily perplexed by how she could even go about fighting an invisible enemy, was summarily unable to respond when the unseen blade changed course and sliced one of the fire lamps in half. The object toppled. It’s contents spilled.

And the embers fell, glowing brighter as they neared the accelerant drenching the prone agents.

But whatever befell her allies were behind Jacqueline now. The Eternal Knight broke out from the toxic fog, sickly green trails slipping off her form as she hefted Havoc up. Upon the red carpet, between the different-colored statues, her sprint went unimpeded as she closed onto Arzendale. The vampire himself smiled wide at her, and only her advance, his left hand swinging out and snapping his fingers.

As Jacqueline crossed the spot of darkness in the center of the room, one head from each pillar dropped onto the floor. The bags fell off. The heads rolled. One an office lady in her early-twenties, freshly-graduated with unblemished skin. One a daycare volunteer in his teens, curly-haired and freckled. From the stumps of their necks, blood flowed smoothly, converging onto the tip of Arzendale’s wand to forming a shield of hot blood. Like that, two lives ended. Like that, Jacqueline advanced, her great axe curving through the air and smashing into the vampire mage’s barrier. A single blow sliced through the blood, but before the second could descend, the Eternal Knight felt her arms drop down, as if her Instrument had become immensely heavy.

This was no ‘as if’.

Her eyes flicked downwards, towards the sanguine mass that had coagulated upon the head of her axe, making it near-impossible for her to lift with the strength of a mere Esper. And Arzendale himself simply took a measured step back, his head tilting up to look down their nose onto Jacqueline, his wand extended still with a condensed ball of the remaining blood he had pilfered from those bound humans.

“Such impatience,” he chortled, leaning against the organ. It truly was a measured step. Too far for Jacqueline’s axe to reach, even on the off chance she could indeed lift her weapon back up for a swing. “The age of barbaric might and solitary heroics have long passed, child of man. Have you forgotten so swiftly, how it was that you survived the gauntlet within the gaol?”

The gem-studded tip of the Sovereign grew brighter, chaotic energies pulsating like a water cutter moments before unleashing its liquid blade, its raw power matching, perhaps even surpassing, Orion’s own beam.

Was there a melody Jacqueline could unleash to block the spell? Should she try to raise her weapon up anyways, irrespective of the damage she risked upon her joints, tendons, and muscles? Or was this time to forsake her Instrument and her transformation in order to save her life?
The seconds ticked. The seconds tocked.

.

..

…

Splat.

Orion struck some squishy, something wet. Her surroundings were pitch-black, the air smelling of rot and blood, feces and fear. It was comparable to her experience in the sewers, and yet there was something worse about it. The sewers, as much as they were in disarray, still had function, still had use. It transported garbage out of the city, into sewage treatment plants.

But this place? This dark place, suffocating and claustrophobic? What was the purpose of this place? Just to keep a monster before the time was right?

Chains clinked alongside the shuffling of rags. Coughs sounded alongside groans. Weak voices sounded, filled with desperation, filled with need.

“F-food?”

“It’s been so long…”

“God, not again, not again!”

“I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t”

“Justin, please, you’re there, aren’t you! I’ll do it! Just let me out!”

“Leave! Run! I, we, T H I R S T!”

Flashing one by one by one, sets of glowing red eyes filled the sinister surroundings. Orion knew where she was now, knew what she was encountering.

Vampiric thralls, their humanity, their dignity, robbed by their starvation.

And, as a GEMINI agent, the path was obvious.

Kill. Them. All.

---

_{@OwO@mantou@ERode@Majoras End}

”Oh.” Was Tetrad’s response to Klava sealing away the pyromancers. She wasn’t sure if she agreed with her choice to force everyone into a bottle neck, but denying the enemy room to advance couldn’t be a bad thing. Luna looked at Apollo. ”I guess we’ll just stick to the back then?” It was quite the change from her last operation. Regina was more focused on making the team conform to her fighting style, and Marrie struck Tetrad as more of a follower. But Klava may have been a true tactician. She was acting as a leader, but it was more that she was adapting to her allies strengths. This was probably not the first time they worked together.

While Luna was running up behind Klava, melodies, barrels, and jackets were flying. A saturated jacket would burn regardless of how much you patted it, so Finn made the wise choice to strip it off and cast it aside. The temptation to say something like “too bad you’re not older” did come to Luna’s mind, but she figured that would be best to say that later. She could only screw around so much in the middle of an operation.

Barrel and spark collided, and an explosion of splinters resulted. Fable had successfully intercepted the barrel, and the spirits contained within fell to the floor. Protector used the opening to fire an ensnaring melody at the hunter/butler power couple. Her projectile split off and spread around one of Bob’s legs and the gunner’s arm.

”I do say, it’s a good thing- Gah!”

The older woman looked up just in time to see a bare chested faceless man hurl a ball of light at her. Even with her legs free, she was sitting down and noticed far too late that such a spell was coming at her. Her eyes widened, her brow flicked up, and her pupils shrank. But Bob’s arm came up just in time to absorb the blow. Light and sound filled the small corridor, but when the light faded, the back of bob’s hand had been dented in. But he wiggled his fingers, demonstrating the attack’s limited impact..

”YOU_RUFFIANS_HAVE_MADE_ME_FEEL_A_GENUINE_EMOTION.” The shaken “lady Jane” stood up and ran around to Bob’s back. It became evident how much larger Bob was than Protector. While he was only a few feet taller, he was quite broad, and each of his limbs were as thick as tree trunks. He dropped onto his hands, digging his fingers into the stone floor and preparing his legs for a sprint. While Jane was still struggling to free her arm from the web-like bindings, Bob’s hydraulics easily overpowered such meager arcane restraints, and snapped them with the extension of its leg. ”I_FEEL_PITY_FOR_YOU…HA_HA_HA_HA_HA_HA!” His eyes glowed a brilliant azure, and his body arced with arcane electricity.

Bob hadn’t even finished laughing before an explosion shoved several barrels into the isle right in front of Protector. A few flaming barrels bounced into the wall at Protector and Finn’s right flank before slamming into them. While the espers had been pushed into the wall, Protector’s spell had saved them from taking any damage. The barrels hadn’t been touching them long enough to catch them on fire.Though the path ahead was littered with burning debris, and Bob’s power only surged as time went on.

The red haired pyromancer lowered her hands and took a deep breath. White smoke wafted off of her hands as she regained her composure. ”Black, Brown, shoot anything that moves!” The three pyromancers positioned themselves so that they could look through the newly made hole in the wall of barrels and fire.

Billy balled his hands into fists. Even if he was critical to this mission, there might be something he could do without wearing himself down before the fight with Justin. He was prepared to break off a chunk of the foundation and send it down the hall, but then the barrels at their end started to shake, and false lids fell to the ground. Then more pyromancers scrambled out of the barrels. There were four in total, with two in each path. They were quite young in appearance, and couldn’t have been a day over sixteen. The two behind the group of espers fighting Jane and Bob (white and green hair) took turns hurling fire balls at Klava and Tetrad in the back line, while the two in the iceberg lane (purple and blue) bombarded Apollo and Billy. Billy snapped a chunk of stone wall off and hid behind it. He could throw the flat stone, but Apollo was right there.

”Geez!” Luna placed her hand on a keg and cast a weightless melody, which made it much easier to pull off the wall. It did this in a most unusual way, removing all oxygen around the vicinity. This caused Luna’s face to turn blue as she held her breath. Man she hated her magic sometimes. She didn’t wait, and threw the keg at one of the pyromancers. The barrel was struck and caught fire, but it was moving so fast it collided with the white haired pyromancer before bouncing away. The pyromancer stumbled backwards, but the barrel was floating along the ceiling now.. Luna opened fire with Pit Boss, but it was apparent the superior arcane defense of her mystic opponents was reducing the effectiveness of her weapon. They’d need to do something fast if they wanted to get the pressure off of them.

And still, more dangers rolled in. Something was happening in the path Klava had closed off. A ghost in a tuxedo rose out of the floor and hovered in the air. He looked human in all aspects but his face, which looked like a white blob of cream with lips and eyes attached to it. ”Hello beauties!” He said with a notable amount of lisp. ”I had a brunchen to prepare, but now that I’m all done, Handsome Gunter is here to serve you!” Gunter drew a book from his vest and cracked it open, causing a single white flame to fly out of it and hover around his hand. ”Oh you guys are just gunna love love love what I do next!”

And with all of this going on, there was still more. Among the burning barrels and fireballs was a lone violin player. Hair as white as snow, complexion as pale as marble, And a steady hand on her violin’s bow. At the back of the wine cellar, Finn could see just a glimpse of the girl he spoke with a week ago. Betty was here.

---

_{@The World}

Marrie made the wise decision to not fight a powerful behemoth solo. While a bouncy projectile did allow her to blink much further than she normally would, it also meant she had to spend more time in front of the snake before she blinked to safety. Marrie had just enough time to run into one of the tunnels before Highway to Hell wedged its head inside of it. It hissed, sending droplets of acid down the tunnel. By this point Marrie’s melody had triggered, making her safe for the moment.

Or was she?

Now that she was closer to the noise, the sound was a bit more familiar to Marrie. It wasn’t just any two-stroke engine, it belonged to a chainsaw. And it was getting louder with every passing second, until she saw it.

”Ow! Owowowowowo!” a zombie cheerleader wandered out from behind a rock formation. She had a chainsaw run through her back, and seemed to be doing her best to hold her head on. The chainsaw itself didn’t seem to be causing her any harm, if the way she ignored it was any indication. ”I jumped off of that wagon just a little too early. Next time-” As soon as she noticed Marrie, her expression brightened up like the sun emerging from overcast clouds. ”Oh hey! A person!” She let go of her neck and and a circle or two around Marrie. ”Person person person person!” She stopped in front of Marrie, with the chainsaw in her chest hovering a few inches away from the esper. ”Are you here looking for that coin with everyone else? No matter! Wherever you’re trying to get, we gotta get access to the wagon system the goblins are building! Well, pretty sure they are just burrows, but you can ride wagons in them and build up a lot of speed! I’ll tell you more about it once we get inside! So we just need to punt the little green goofballs in order to get inside.”

The cave system had opened up into a giant cave, with two pillars and a pool of water between them. There was also a group of goblins huddled around a small campfire in the distance. Unlike the last group, these ones were armed with weapons and appeared to be standing guard. Behind them was a wooden door. It didn’t look especially durable, but it didn’t look like it was something a group of goblins could have made.

Regardless of how Marrie felt about helping the zombie, she could hear Highway to Hell coming closer. Perhaps the goblins were too good at avoiding it.

"Just had to get the Beast's number as my remaining MP, huh???"
Current Location: Von Carnage Mansion, Wine Cellar

While he was able to save his shirt from burning up too badly, his jacket was far less fortunate. The Timekeeper was forced to throw the burning article off and drop kick it aside. Without it, the others could see a hint of his mechanical nature; the kid's arms were built similar to a ball-jointed doll. It irritated him that his retaliation against the opposing duo failed to stagger Bob, but it gave some of the others a short time to act. Protector attempted to restrain the huntress and the robot (Fable rose a brow in seeing only one of the latter's legs get entangled), giving the Pepsi-Man-Without-His-Paint an in to attack.

Unfortunately, they were only leaving dents in the both of them. Jane hid behind Bob like a coward while the latter shrugged off their attempts like they were nothing. The boy tensed up once he saw the robotic butler preparing to charge at them, atleast, that's what he assumed. Several of the flame barrels found a way to their side of the fight, and with a startled yelp from the boy, the Timekeeper and the Protector were knocked to the wall by the blasted things. He concidered himself lucky that their earlier melody kept the both of them from getting hurt, but the path ahead of them was now conciderably hazardous.

As if things hadn't escalated enough, reinforcments for the opposing team started to appear out of the woodwork. A note that they've stalled for too long. Even Billy and Tetrad were starting to act. More pyromancers appeared to harass the vaguard, some weird ghost thing rose up on the other side, and-

Oh god.

At the glimpse of the one he was most concerned about, Fable could feel his heart drop to his stomach. If he was being honest, he didn't expect Betty to appear until some point later. So to see the thralled violinist this early? He felt...relieved. A stressed, selfish sort of joy, but one none the less. And the only thing standing in his way was that damn robot that he didn't think they could take out so easily. The ghost would be a nussance too, but the rest can atleast bleed. He'd have to trust Klava's plan.

With a nod to the Maiden, he casted a speed boost on himself, sprinting up to and across the wall to avoid the firery debris. Once he neared Bob, he hopped off the wall and hopefully past the robot. If anyone would deal with Betty, it'd be him.

...It has to be.

@BrokenPromise @Ponn @Crusader Lord @FamishedPants @SilverPaw

As the battle raged in the carmine hall, Valkyrie's attention was justifiably occupied by her immediate enemy. She didn't particularly notice that an invisible enemy charged at Wukong, how the airborne Avenir vaporized one of the arachnid centaur's limb, Breacher's attempt to save her, nor Leroux charging at the vampiric conductor. Right here, right now, she must purify this sacrilegious sister before attending to her allies. The sniper gritted her teeth as she braced for impact with her weapon, a marksman being forced to defend against a swordswoman at melee, definitely not ideal in any stretch of the word.

Fortunately, the Malice Incarnate himself swooped in like a guardian devil, intercepting the zweihander falchion with his blade; his dagger didn't have enough to strength to overpower the faux nun, but it did achieve its purpose of deflecting the attack away from its intended target. Even then, his dark melody managed to coil and restrain around their foe's blade; not having any intention to squander this opportunity, Valkyrie immediately took aim and-...

"...?!"

...-stood still, not by her own volition; Valkyrie's face contorted into a furious wince as she stared fiercely at the clergy charlatan's single visible carmine eye. Her mind was already sending commands to her feet to step back so she could maneuver Teslic Gauss’ long barrel, yet control over her own body was magically restricted from her. Silmeria tried her damndest to just fucking move back! But whether she'd eventually succeed or not, she didn't have the time to find out as Silhouette's thrown form crashed against her, sending both of them to smash against a nearby statue.

As the sniper groaned in pain, she felt a strange substance drenching her frame, its pungent smell assaulting her olfactory senses. This is... kerosene?! Why in the name of the Allfather did a fucking vampire keep flammable material in his home? Either real vampires had no particular weakness against flames or Justin was just crazy like that, she's inclined to believe the latter. Right now, however, she had his thralls to worry about.

With so many chaotic events happening at once, even the toxic fog of the arachnid-centaur-abomination-thing didn't consciously register in Valkyrie's mind as its smell was masked by the oil. This wasn't good, she's supposed to provide fire support to the team, but the nun was too strong for Silhouette to face alone; she's drenched in oil, and a strange affliction was gripping her body. She didn't like this, no one in her position would, perhaps this was where her story would end? Perhaps it'd be easier to just give up and let the void take her...?

Then Helena's visage tore through the fog of doubt of her mind.

"..." Valkyrie's unblinking gaze hardened, vengeful hatred concentrated into a tranquil fury coursing through her veins. Yes, right now, she wasn't a mere human, an instrument of divine will instead. Shifting the symbol of Thor's might in her hands, she took aim at the perverse mockery of a nun, it was time to free the impure of their curse.

So as the forebears who came before me, I vow to cleanse the world of those whose presence become a haunt for mankind. This shall be known... Nibelung Valesti!

Teslic Gauss pulsated with thunderous power, then... BOOM!!

Arcane lightning tore through space, swifter than any esper, faster than any vehicle, and dwarfing all conventional firearms; only the photons of light could hope to match it as the melody homed toward the nun's heart.

May her wicked soul be baptized by thunder!

---

In the blink of an eye, Ashley’s energy lance shot forth, vaporizing the vines that had sought to impale her. However, the undead-arachnid-centaur-thing was swift… Moving with a speed most surprising for a creature of its size, the monstrosity repositioned itself just before the searing beam could blow its head apart. Well, one of its heads, at any rate… Instead, the neon green shaft of incandescent annihilation pierced the “rider’s” shoulder, slicing off his bound arm in the process.

Ashely barely had time to scowl at this turn of events, before she was yanked downwards. It appeared that some of the remaining vines had managed to wrap around her shield and were now pulling her towards the creature’s scythed limbs. A small ray of hope emerged a moment later, as Breacher fired a melody into Ashley’s back, seeking to pull the agent to safety. For a moment, the Knight of Tomorrow was caught in the midst of a strange game of tug-of-war. But only for a moment. The twin forces exerted upon her only accelerating her descent, the high-tech heroine found herself plummeting past the nightmarish beast and into the portal it had emerged from.

Oh crap…!

Her energy shield glowing as it bounced off the portal’s rim, Ashley could feel herself begin to sink into its inky depths. In a last ditch effort to avoid whatever terrifyingly unknown fate awaited her beyond that dark doorway, she reached out her hand, and, to her immense relief, found purchase within the grasp of Breacher’s own. As the draconic esper strained with all her considerable might, while her greatshield absorbed blow after blow from the undead arachni-centaur’s scythed appendages, Ashley felt herself slowly, but inexorably, rise out of the portal. First her chest. Then her waist. In only a few more seconds she would be free…

Unfortunately, it was at that exact moment that the well-intentioned actions of Agent Leroux caused those hopes to be rent asunder. Presumably in an effort to prevent any further uninvited guests from appearing, the armored agent had lobed a melody intended to close the portal, and, naturally, it struck the portal just as Ashley was about to be yanked out of it. Not even having time to process what had just occurred, the Knight of Tomorrow gasped in horror as the formerly still, pitch-black pool was rapidly transformed into a swirling vortex. The increased suction generated by the portal’s imminent demise caused Breacher’s grip to fail, and, an instant later, the portal winked out of existence, taking Ashley Avenir with it…

.

..

…

The disgusting sound of a wet squish announced Ashley’s arrival into whatever unknown place lay on the other side of the portal. Although the space in which she now found herself was pitch-black, the young esper couldn’t help but notice a distinct similarity to the Pax Septimus sewer system. In particular, it had the same vomit-inducing smell… Then she noticed the eyes… Several dozen crimson pinpoints seemed to glow in the darkness, before the sound of several desperate, half-insane voices reached her ears. Despite her rising nausea and fear, Ashley’s kind heart couldn’t help but ache upon hearing their pitiful pleas and anguished cries. To her horror, the Knight of Tomorrow soon realized what these creatures were- vampiric thralls, tortured souls enslaved to Justin’s dark will. These were the people she had come here to save from such a horrid fate, and yet, she also knew that she might be forced to free them in an altogether different manner than she had originally intended…

Bracing herself against the nightmarish sight soon to be revealed, Ashley allowed the energy of her Genre to flow through her body, causing her Instrument and Style to emit an emerald glow of ambient light. If she was to help these poor creatures, the high-tech heroine knew she needed to get a better grasp of her surroundings. In particular, she needed to ascertain if there was an exit, which would allow her to make her way back to her team. If not, then she would just have to create one…

Unfortunately, the neon glow only confirmed her worst fears. She was standing in the center of a fairly small room, which was filled with dozens of tightly packed, emaciated figures. Although chained to the walls, they were still more than capable of reaching her, and several were beginning to do so, their clawed, trembling fingers slowly stretching out to grasp her. Far more worrying to Ashley, however, was the fact that no exit was immediately discernible, although perhaps that was merely because her eyes had not yet fully acclimated to the light. She needed time, even if that was only a few seconds. Preparing a melody, the Knight of Tomorrow raised her shield to block the closest sets of hands. A moment later, the rest of her body was coated in a glowing aura of emerald energy, which would hopefully keep her at least somewhat safe, until she could decide upon her next course of action…

---

There is no currency more valuable than time.

This is common advice everyone has probably heard before, but the disappointing truth is that not enough people take it to heart and they pay for it in some way: a teenager neglecting his study to play games will often score low on a sudden test, a criminal too invested in grabbing everything they can have a higher chance of running into the police, and a fighter thinking too hard on how to defend may just eat the punch entirely.

It is not as though Samuel wanted to try to parry solely with his dagger in this circumstance. He knew the woman would have the momentum and weight advantage. But he did have to properly position himself in front of Valkyrie, and he wasn't confident he could get his sword into a position any more stable than that with what remained. It was more that this was all he thought he could afford to do.

But even then, his budgeting was not entirely perfect. He had blown a portion of his funds on the parry but was convinced he had enough leftover to purchase the stab to her leg. He got as far as to put that action in his cart before he realized his math was wrong and that wouldn't be happening. In a quiet panic, he backed out of that deal and hurriedly bought a meager defense against the Nun instead.

God damned sales tax gets me every time.

S-she's quite fast! Or maybe I'm just too slow?

Yeah, she was much faster than he anticipated, able to edge him out even when he'd started his attack before her. Worse yet, his melody found no purchase before the nun purified the attempted restraint. To be neutered so thoroughly in a second was disheartening... but Samuel wasn't going to cave and crumble just from that. It wasn't like he was alone.

Valkyrie should be lining up a shot.

That's why he went for a restraint melody in the first place. He was fine just making the opening his ally needed to land a decisive shot with her railgun. The only problem was... it was taking far longer than he expected, and he felt he wouldn't be able to keep up these trades with her for an extended period of time. But he knew she was still there since he still felt her right behind him.

Wait, she hasn't moved...

She had some room to move around behind her yet she hadn't taken it. What was the deal? In the nun's eyes laid the answer. The quite real potential of being killed in that exchange did shake him just enough that he didn't catch what he otherwise would have: that this woman's eyes had yet to leave his ally.

Is it sight-based, then? If she's the reason I'm not getting any backup, then if I can just plac---

There wasn't even truly a pause. Samuel hadn't decided to daydream mid-combat, she was just that quick with her kick.

With a loud grunt, Samuel was sent crashing into Valkyrie and they both collided with a statue that crumbled with them, covering them in a black substance he instantly identified as something he didn't want to be drenched in.

Despite the pain and embarrassment, Samuel jumped to his feet as soon as he could, but he was presented with a multitude of problems.

What should I do? What can I do?

There were so many expenses and yet he simply could not afford the costs to cover all of them. But none of these threats could be ignored, as they would be collected by gruesome ends. A terribly painful death by burns if he ignored the embers, he didn't want to imagine what kind of unpleasant surprise those fumes held, and he somehow knew the nun wasn't about to have any change of heart. At best, she'd decapitate them for a swift end.

...but the bodies in the room suggested that given the chance, nobody would be so lucky.

No, he only had two problems. He could not think of a third. Dealing with three problems when one of them was proving too much for him simply was impossible. He had the nun and the flames, the toxic fumes were up to someone who wasn't about to burn alive.

And as for the burning alive...

There wasn't enough time for him to simply run out of the pooled petroleum, and he had to admit he wasn't confident he could perfectly time and nail every ember there was with a single intangible note at the exact moment he would need to in order for that to even work out.

If I only had a push note, this might be easier to deal with. Ah! That's right! I vaguely recall Valkyrie having access to that? Maybe she'll hand--

The only reason sheer terror didn't appear on Silhouette's face was that his altered form simply did not allow it.

She's shooting? Right now? I'm not equipped to...! Uh, well here goes nothing!

Agent Silhouette of G.E.M.I.N.I had few options he could take at the present, but he took one. Valkyrie had given the nun her attention and left him to deal with the imminent threat of the embers, and he simply wasn't given enough of an allowance to confirm everyone's positions and their ability to help, not while he had this much stuff to ponder. Under the assumption that the others would be busy and he could only rely on Valkyrie and himself, he went ahead with the only action he could think of to avoid the flame.

No... I'm not confident it'd get us both far enough away like that. Only one.

...only one.

"Brace yourself, Valkyrie."

At the very least, he managed to sound calm when he notified the agent. But that was all the warning she would get before she felt his hand on her chest. Though the sensation lasted a mere moment as in the next, she would find herself taken by a strong pulling force courtesy of a melody he provided. He imagined the petroleum on the floor hadn't managed to cover that far.

Samuel didn't have a way to escape himself, however. He'd spent the time casting his melody and used it on Valkyrie. What time there was left, if any, wouldn't amount to much. He had spent what he had, but perhaps someone would be willing to spot him theirs? That's the best he could hope for.

_{@Crusader Lord@FamishedPants@Izurich@SilverPaw@ERode}

Su hadn’t ruled out the possibility that the vines were intended to pull, but she had also hoped that Ashley’s own spell would have been enough to destroy them. When that wasn’t the case, Su quickened her steps.

”Got…You!”

Su must have been crushing Ashley’s hand between her fingers and her gun. But it was the only thing she could do to save her squad mate. Her shield was braced against her shoulder, but each blow caused her to sink lower and lower, and Ashley in turn sank deeper and deeper into the portal. Su wasn’t any stronger than most espers, it was just her determination to not let go that kept her strong, but determination could only go as far as one's ability lets them.

But once Jacqueline sealed the portal, Ashley was pulled to the other side. Ashley’s warm hand had been replaced by the cold tile floor. Su probably would have ended up falling in herself, but Iitwas hard not to feel a little upset with this outcome. Ashley was a young woman. Some would even call her a girl. She couldn’t have been too much older than Mika. Facing death was something the agents did on every operation, but dying was one thing and disappearing was another. One of the things that kept Su up at night was the idea of her daughter just disappearing. Ashley wasn’t her daughter, but she was someone’s daughter. If it cost Su her life, she’d find Ashley. Maybe if they wrapped things up here fast enough, she might even be alive. Su pushed her distress back into the recess of her mind. Now was not the time to worry. She needed to help those that she still could.

There were plenty of people for Su to help, the question was who needed it more. She couldn’t quite make out what was happening over by Jaqueline, save for the fact that the vampire was still alive. But Su’s attention was immediately stolen away by a flash of movement. Samuel and Silmeria flew past her left flank into a statue, which sprayed them with gas as soon as it struck it. She didn’t need to see the lamp getting sliced in half to know something bad was going to happen soon. She trusted in Jaqueline's ability, believing she could hold her own without additional assistance. Her other allies were just moments away from getting burned alive. And even more of them were going to be poisoned. She ran towards Silmeria and Samuel.

Broken tile swirled around Su’s hand canon, but she was merely preparing her melody. Su swung her gun over towards the nun and fired a bullet. Though she was not aiming at the nun herself, but the statue she was standing next to. Su reasoned that something like statues filled with gasoline were not the sort of thing that someone could actively scatter among their non-petrol-loaded statues. It would take a tremendous amount of forethought to decide which statues should be loaded with gas. If Su was right, then the nun would also be bathed in gas shortly. If Su was wrong, well, at least she knew one of the statues wasn’t filled with gas. And with that one shot out of the way, she would swing her gun back towards her ally.

”Silhouette!”

The tile fragments flew towards Samuel and, much like the plant debris did with Ashley, expanded outwards and shoved him away from the puddle of petrol before it became a puddle of flames.

But that was hardly the only thing that was going to happen.

As soon as Samuel was pulled clear of the area, Su’s melody transformed into a whittling vortex. The ground under their feet was getting churned up and turned into even more debris. Broken tiles, statue fragments, even bits of carpet were rapidly entering the vortex before being blasted under everyone’s feet. The vortex continued to spin and churn, and the floating debris piled up underneath them. Breacher, Samuel, Silmeria, Lilliah, and even the nun would be lifted into the air by these debris. Because the debris were floating on swirling winds, the toxic cloud had plenty of room to fall between the fragments. Despite how arid the debris cluster was, everyone’s footing was remarkably stable.

Once they were over the poison fog, it stopped and grew several pillars with a fair bit of space between them, which reached to the ceiling. The human sized creatures would have little problem maneuvering between them. Though the giant multi-limbed monstrosity would have difficulty squeezing its massive body around the pillars. But the floor continued to rise. Even a railing emerged, which was just tall enough to reach Su’s waist. Once the structure had finished, the winds would subside and the structure would remain, with a stability that could only be granted by arcane means.

The playing field looked a bit more agreeable to Su. She kept her shield raised and her gun focused on the nun. As potent as Silmeria’s shot was, Su hardly noticed more than a flash from her muzzle. She was her team’s shield, and she had been more focused on keeping Samuel out of the proverbial fire to gawk at her squad mate's use of excessive force. Besides, you’re always supposed to double tap your targets.

Jacqueline only noticed the disaster her melody wrought after she’d fired it off. Orion had been sliding towards the portal, and was then partially swallowed into it, but that had been all in her blind spot while she was running forward. Time slowed down as adrenaline surged, her eyes widening as she watched the train wreck unfold.

Fuck!

She could do nothing for Orion now, though, and continued to jog forward. One of the vampires behind her jeered at her, but she didn’t acknowledge her. She gritted her teeth, and controlled her mounting murderous rage. She really didn’t need more recklessness just then.

Something released noxious gas behind her, but she was out of range before it affected her. Jacqueline tracked Arzendale’s movements. A snap of fingers, and two heads rolled. She narrowed her eyes, surveying the hostages. It was an action as swift as when she’d been facing Lada, and like her, Arzendale seemed capable of blood magic. Whether it was something inherent to him being a vampire, or because he was a blood mage, she wasn’t sure.

Then, the vampire was talking. His mention of the jail…Did he know exactly what had undergone there? At least one gang member had been a vampire, but none of the ones she had fought. So, what were his information sources? That one vampire even had her first name – which, okay, part of the risk going merely by her last name on the field. Still, Arzendale talked as if he knew what her every move in the previous mission had been. That was concerning.

However, the more pressing issue was the blood barrier he had formed. Jacqueline didn’t waste time breaking through it with her war pick. However, as Havoc passed the shield, blood clung to it, and coagulated swiftly, increasing its weight. She wouldn’t be able to lift it easily, now, if at all. Gritting her teeth, she started working another melody, a simply variation of her previous one. As she waited for it to take effect, she also strained her muscles. She wanted to be lift her weapon as soon as possible, but she was also aware that she needed to be extremely careful with how her force would affect her swing. If she put too much into it, and the melody took effect at a moment she wasn’t prepared for it, she might unbalance, or miss.

Given the magic Arzendale was working right now, she could afford neither of those things. She was already shifting her feet so that she could step forward to follow him into range once her weapon was in the air. Whether melody or muscles took precedence, Jacqueline would direct Havoc towards Arzendale, aiming to hook his wand and push its tip forward. If all went according to plan, she’d force his beam to unleash into the ceiling.

She couldn’t afford anything else; if she merely avoided, he could direct it behind her, where her allies were. He had a disadvantage even there – he could see the overall situation behind her back, while she could follow only his movements. Nevertheless, Jacqueline was grimly determined to get this one thing done right. If and when she succeeded, she would need to press her advantage swiftly, keeping him occupied in melee so he couldn’t prepare his magic as easily anymore.

---

---

Flames all around, exploding beside her as she ducked and wove. VIP and healer cut off from the rest. Titan in front, pyros behind. Ghost off to the side, naturally able to bypass any obstacles. And in the distance stood a violinist, a pale-skinned aberration amongst the increasing chaos. Smoke wafted down, soot coating her skin before cool waters naturally washed it off. The heat did not sting her eyes, nor did the flames ignite her traumas.

Through the haze, Klava recognized the violinist. The one that was kidnapped, the one that was enthralled. Finn, clad in lightning, was already off. Did he have a personal connection? Did it matter? Youthful passions lent itself easily to a desire to save the damsel above all else, but the Maiden did not feel such passions herself. She was as fair as frost. She was as cold as laws.

She brushed her hands against the sides of her head, pulling back her bangs and clearing up her vision.

One breath.

Compared to the fantastical capabilities of monsters and magi, unrestrained by the laws of Melodies and Notes, Espers were individuals bound by scarce resources. It was in that scarcity, though, that an Esper’s greatest strength could be unveiled. Imagination and resourcefulness, rounded out by the knowledge that they had two lives compared to the one of their foes.

Her blade hissed coldly. Her mind rested at a razor point.

I hadn’t realized storms were so gentle.

Well, there were no grandpas here.

“Protector, switch and take care of the backline. Weapons only, team with Apollo to restrain and kill the pyros. Tetrad, your wand shoots magic. Focus the ghost. Don’t need you to kill it, just occupy it. We’ll secure our back first. I’ll handle Big Bob. Stay frosty all.” Another breath, deeper, for a voice loud enough to be heard over a blizzard. “And Timekeeper! Focus on evasion and keep the girl between you and the pyros!”

Her piece said, Klava clapped Protector on the back as she stepped forth, right to the edge of the charred and blazing heap that cut the pathway in half. Here, the pyromancers wouldn’t have a shot on her unless they wanted to get right up at the gap. She raised one leg up, then stomped it down onto the ground, the chiming of bells sounding brightly as the Esper adopted a wide stance. Her arms raised out to the side, palms facing the gargantuan foe as if to embrace them.

“Ha ha ha ha,” the dark-haired esper said, mimicking the robotic laughter of her foe. “You’re proof enough that the strength of machinery is a sham. I’ll rent out your lady with the money I make off your scraps.”

Arcane power built beneath her skin, the resonance of a melody sending chills down her spine. It was always a gamble, but Klava was compulsive.

At the moment it broke into a sprint, she would Construct a curved slope, Slicked enough to prevent any sudden deceleration. A slope that would extend right into the ceiling, to send the robotic cretin right into stone and dirt. It had proven resistant to magic. Now the question: was it resistant to itself?

Well, if she had to run because it actually turned out to be a lightning beam cannon that Big Bob was building up, that was fine too. Klava’s Mark on Apollo’s ass, after all, still remained as her get-out-of-jail card.

Marrie turned the corner and ran into a girl with a chainsaw in her stomach. How it was stuck there while running was beyond her, magic presumably. Otherwise it would cut through her thanks to gravity, right? So the girl must not just be a zombie, but likely an Esper as well. She managed to procure that much before the zombie made her final lap around her, stopping too close for comfort with the chainsaw in relation to Marrie.

"Can't we, like... convince them to let us through? And why do we need... oh, right, the giant snake. Alright, sure, let's go talk to them."

If nothing else, if the goblins started a fight, Marrie was confident she could get past them and that they'd then distract the HFIL out of the HFHL.

... Maybe the fact that she made dragonball jokes in life or death situations had something to do with why god hated her enough to send the serpent after her. She began walking towards the goblins, turning the light off.

---

With new pyromancers appearing, Apollo had suddenly found himself bombarded by fireballs. Of course, he did have a large indestructible way to defend himself. As the fireballs from purple and two-tone came at him, he swatted them away with his spear. Sure, it fucking stung as the pyrokinetics burst on his mantrap and the vibrations carried themselves to his hands, but he was fine. If Billy's hunk of rock could stop it with very little damage, Apollo swatting them out of the way wouldn't be much damage.

"Fucking christ!" He yelled in annoyance. "Why does every mission have to be fire everywhere and people coming out of shit like it's a clown car!"

Rather than saying this to nobody, it looked like he was directly yelling it at two-tone, briefly recharging after he threw a few fireballs.

In his fit of annoyance, Apollo went, for lack of a better term, berserk. Quickly turning around, he swung his mantrap at green-hair's skull, absolutely cranking him with the hunk of metal.

Once he had done so, he spun to deal with the two pyromancers who had been blasting him. In a feat of reckless abandon, he charged two-tone with his man trap with the aim of locking him within its jaws. Once collected, he'd push him directly into purple and go from there.

He'd probably just hide behind the two of them if needed. Ghost-gurt man would probably do something. Might as well use the teenagers for something.

---

Her moment of daze hadn't lent itself well to anything, at least in the simian esper's mind. The enemies were already moving to take them down, Orion was gone, Sil and Valkyrie were sent flying back covered in something, someone had already charged the vampire mage, and a cloud of toxic fumes was coming down on them. By the time the fire lamp was cut, Lilliah reflexively was about to try to launch herself to the side to get away. Yet her actions would be interrupted as a certain dragon lady's melody would sweep herself, and a lot more, off of the ground.

Wukong, as it was, was then left standing on a piece of debris as her coworker's spell seemingly saved their collective hides in some manner or another. At least until it all landed back down and Su's construction arose around them. Yet the protection of the columns and railing, however, would not be forever. If they all did make it, however, she was tempted to secretly send Su that bottle of alcohol for this (the one she'd kept from the safe) as thanks.

But more pressing matters needed to be attended to.

Yet the vile enemy rider atop that horrid beast, still hanging above, remained. Wukong would then immediately move to cast a melody against the vile mount itself as Merry made her move to take a shot at the nun. She just hoped the end result worked to better her and her alies' own situation. Somehow. She would track the target as best as she could if it moved, however, prior to the melody firing off if it came down to it.



@Izurich@BrokenPromise@Ponn@FamishedPants@SilverPaw@ERode

_{Reporting to: Billy Black}

---

_{@ERode@OwO@Majoras End@BrokenPromise}

_{@Ponn@Crusader Lord@FamishedPants@Izurich@SilverPaw}

Vengeance-wrought incantations rang through the air as more than half of Valkyrie’s mana burned through her veins, expelling out into her grimoire before unleashing a singularly blinding bolt of lightning, one filled to the brim with a myriad of arcane effects.

But through the scope of her sniper rifle, within the sickening fumes of poison and petroleum, Valkyrie could only see the widening smile of the armored nun, her lips pulling back to reveal human teeth.

Lightning roared.

She raised her sword, her Instrument.

Sparks scattered, the Piercing note unable to penetrate magical steel.

Blacklight pulsated, the Paralysis note consumed by Purity’s anti-debuff effects.

Tiles cracked, the Push note driving her back only six feet, pressed against the opposing statue.

Blood was let, a scorched dent in her armored habit the only sign that the Damage X note had left a mark. Whatever hurt Valkyrie had applied was hard to tell through the woman’s dark attire and her grinning countenance. Was it just a surface level wound? Did she manage to pierce through? Break a rib or two? The fatigue of magic consumption seeped into the sniper’s mind, reminding her that she had never been an accomplished mage to begin with. The wrong choice, to prioritize retaliation over safety, and to choose subpar magic over a reliable bullet.

“Wanna try again? I’m sure you’ll get me on the second one, little birdie,” the nun drawled, her falchion resting on her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s give it a g-”

Light flashed and she twitched her head. A bullet shot from Breacher pierced through the statue behind her, powerful enough to pierce the stone sculpture but unable to cause it to explode in the same way that the nun had. Petroleum leaked out all the same though, and that moment’s distraction was enough for both Breacher’s and Silhouette’s gambits to pay off. Though their clothing were saturated with gas, they were all pulled away before the ember fell, and great flames raged at their escape. Breacher’s work was not done yet though, as the debris from battle swirled, tearing into the floor to propagate even more. A Construction, a citadel of four grand towers, rose to slam against the ceiling, causing the skeletal steed to relinquish its position right as Wukong’s bolt of wind blasted off one of its middle legs. Bone splintered out, but five remained, more than enough for it to remain mobile.

“Centrocius!” The nun had hopped off her own tower as well, her monstrous ally’s whip-like tail wrapping around her waist as the two retreated away from Breacher’s domain. Another explosion of flame lit up their own departure, fiery breath streaming out from the holes that the shieldbearing Esper had made in the statue. Her Construction must have knocked over the other firelamp while that storm of debris whipped around, and now brighter lights illuminated the room, causing stark, chaotic shadows to snake out.

This was good. Their fortifications had made their enemies retreat.

This was good? They were just at the entrance and hadn’t made any headway at all.

This was bad. Jacqueline was now incredibly outnumbered!

And before the gaze of Breacher, Wukong, Silhouette, and Valkyrie, the nun smirked at them and wove another melody, threaded with false light.

But, as Jacqueline had previously surmised, she had no way of seeing it coming.

Her body readjusted to the new weight, legs bending down solidly as she maintained the straightness of her back as much as possible. As a weapon, Havoc had become unwieldy, but with proper form and the magical athleticism of her transformed state, she could lift it without injury, especially so as saw blades emerged within Havoc’s form, whirring with a vengeance as they ripped through the coagulated blood. It wasn’t enough to completely dispel the magical effect, but as chunks of blood slid off her axe, the weight decreased further and further. Her form was perfect. Her body was in alignment. Her mind had already visualized all the steps she would have to take.
Jacqueline executed.

Yet the pressurized beam of blood struck before she could deflect the wand.

A Powerful melody was a slow melody, and even as Havoc swung upwards on the inertia of the heavy weapon, knocking the wand upwards and causing the beam to slice rather than blast, Jacqueline could feel a sharp, hot pain run up her left shoulder. Her armor was rent where the blood beam had gone through, a deep but not mortal laceration scarring her pale skin. If it was a true spell, perhaps it would have been worse, but she was an Esper, naturally resistant to the effects that chaos wrought in the world, and besides, it was much easier to swing a weapon down than up.

“Oh, my apologies,” Arzendale laughed, even as his path to retreat was blocked by his own grandiose organ. “My lady friend is beckoning.”

Blacklight shone, near-blinding, and the vampire was gone, replaced by the nun. Her dark hair flowed, her carmine eye shone, and her own falchion was already in position, a swifter weapon than Jacqueline’s.

A Transplace melody, spawning upon a non-resisting target.

Havoc dropped, smashing the organ.

The Falchion sang, gliding through her side.

And as her intestines began to roll out of the gash, the lonesome knight turned around just in time to see Centrocius, the Harbinger of Mayhem, barreling down towards her with the speed of a possessed beast, frontal limbs raised in anticipation of goring her. What could she do to escape? What could she do to survive?

Where were her allies?

Her allies were stuck on a tower, watching the Sanguine Sovereign as he materialized past the center of the room, his expression a curated mixture of pity and bemusement. The nun had joined him again, her sword freshly stained with the blood of their ally, her eyes set, as always, upon Valkyrie. “Well, well, well,” Arzendale spoke, stretching his arms out to the side once more, four fingers extended on his free hand, “I would like, once more, to remind you all.”

Two heads fell on each pillar, bags rolling off to reveal the heads of the four slain humans. A construction worker, bearing the countenance of the ragged but determined mien of a high school drop out. A programmer, complete with curly hair and square-framed glasses. A cheerleader, her mascara running black streaks down her face. A child, so young as to not even have acne scarring her skin. Their paths in life were disparate, but their deaths wove them together, sanguine essence tying a cruel end and fashioning their existence into fuel for a monster’s magic.

“The blood would not be upon your hands, if you had simply stayed your hands.”

Crimson spheres the size of bowling balls orbited around Arzendale, and with a flick of his wand, he sent them flying towards the clustered GEMINI agents at curving trajectories.

No, not the agents.

Just Valkyrie.

After all, against fortifications, one used siege weaponry, and against a group, one targeted the most vulnerable link.

.

..

…

The emerald glow washed over the disposal room, coating everything in the sickly green pallor that night vision goggles would have. Unlike the ostentatious décor of the main entrance, this was a place that appeared almost entirely designed to be as miserable and disgusting as possible. Bumpy granite made up the floor and the walls, while the cramped corners had made the air itself suffused with the humidity of human odors. There was still no discernible doorway, but even through all the humidity, there had to be ventilation somewhere.

Orion had been studious before the mission. Had the opportunity to study not only vampires, but the thralls they could create as well. These thralls fell under the category of those granted Dark Blessings, and though they may be somewhat tougher than the normal human being, ones that remained humans were, by definition, still human. They still needed to breathe then. So there may still be a place for her to escape to.

But human will, faced against monstrous craving, could not hold back for long.

Orion’s shield caught the hands of the first thrall that lunged for her, their fingers cracking against the hardened light structure. Two more found themselves repelled her protective melody, their fanged faces mashing against the dome she had encapsulated herself within, and she smacked away the fourth after her barrier dropped. Then the fifth snatched at her ankles. The sixth caught her arm. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth. Tenth. A swarm, each individual weaker than her, collapsed upon Orion, forcing her to the ground with the sheer mass of their flesh. Her bolstered physical defenses helped prevent any immediately terrible injuries, but her bodysuit was designed to shield against the savagery of monsters, not humans. Broken fingernails tore her skin off her flesh. Chipped teeth too round to be called fangs left bloodied bruises that were lapped up to sate the frenzied hunger of the mob. Her bones and joints creaked with the effort of her struggle, but Espers were not titans of superhuman strength, and in the job she worked, there was a saying.

What killed Espers most were other human beings.

A weight squeezed down against her ribs. A green-lit form arced back. Rounded canines and cracked lips exposed themselves. Reddened eyes traced the pulsations of her throat.

And then traced her face.

A glimmer of recognition, an instance of self-loathing. The young boy froze, tears welling even as his body spasmed, rebelling against his hesitation.

“Save me.”

But the other thralls did not stop.

This was no respite, only opportunity.

For Pax Septimus was a city of blood, built upon the bones of the destitute and the labour of the oppressed. And in the reluctance of the weak-willed, the cold-blooded could begin their retaliation, could grasp at a viscera-stained victory.

For, above the head of the weeping, struggling teenager, stood the opening of a garbage chute.

This truly was a waste disposal room.

Now, did Orion have what it took to win?

---

_{@OwO@mantou@ERode@Majoras End}

Finn was a swift esper. A single melody could let him run along walls and bypass the moat of burning kegs. That speed would carry him past Bob, who didn’t even pass him a glance. The pyromancers were unable to land a shot on him as they only caught a glimpse of his after image. Grandma sniper finished cutting the mana bindings off of her rifle when Finn breezed past her shoulder. By his swift actions, the enemy’s positioning, and dumb luck, he had cut all the way to the back of their lines.

Betty tipped her head up to meet Finn’s gaze. If there was any doubt she had been bitten, it could be put to rest. There were two black holes where fangs had met flesh. A blemish on what was otherwise perfect skin. Upon seeing Finn, her lips rolled back into a snarl before casting aside her bow. His first thought might have been that Betty was angry with him. Perhaps for leaving her when she needed him most. But there was no way she could recognize him now. He was running towards her as the Time Keeper, not Finn. Not even Fable. She lunged for the incoming boy. Her undead strength was on clear display as she glided through the air.

But the first thing to hit him wouldn’t be Betty, but a firebolt.

In his haste to get to Betty, he had neglected the entire pyromancer firing line. It was true that the two men had been unable to land a hit on such a swift target, but the red-head backed out of her cubby hole and fired from around the center wall, where she was able to score a direct hit. It wasn’t serious, it felt more like a stomach punch than a serious threat to his life. But it left him unable to defend himself from Betty’s follow up attack. She took hold of his head and dragged his body down to earth. He fell flat on his back, and suffered a concussion for his troubles. Betty screamed like a lunatic in an insane asylum before lifting his head and slamming him into the ground, over and over again.

Behind Finn, Bob was all revved up and ready to sprint. Klava held back her melody and waited for the right time to throw it down.

”IMITATION_IS_THE_GREATEST_FORM_OF_FLATTERY!”

Despite Bob’s size, there was virtually no acceleration time. He just started at max speed and charged through burning debris and whatever else impeded his path. Bob had almost reached her when Klava enacted her melody. Bob disappeared behind a ramp of ice. She could hear a crash, followed by the entire ice ramp cracking. It seemed that when Bob sprinted for Klava, it had slipped on the ramp and fell into it. More cracks were appearing as Bob pounded on the obstacle.

Behind Klava, Apollo was having a hell of a time putting up with fire. Well, he was performing well. Instruments were indestructible by nature, and he had little issue batting the incoming fireballs away from himself. The mancatcher cleft through the fire bolts like they weren’t even there, and he was fast enough to keep up with his opponents' attacks. Though eventually his emotions soared, and he shouted at the two-toned pyromancer.

”Wha-” two-tone was momentarily stunned by Apollo’s outburst. ”Setting things on fire is just what we do!”

But Apollo was too furious to listen. In a sudden shift of focus, he managed to crack the green-haired boy over the head. While Apollo's instrument wasn’t known for its high damage output, the blow was enough to draw blood. The boy clutched his head and sank to one knee. He was clearly in a state of vertigo.

Two-tone managed to get a shot on Apollo’s face. It burned and threw his head back, But some scorched skin wasn’t going to stop him from hitting his target. They only managed to get out a yelp before Apollo locked one of their arms right below their shoulder. Purple had stopped firing at Billy to deal with the new threat, but seemed unwilling to attack their partner. He too would be unable to escape before being pinned against the wall. Apollo moved to stand behind the wall of teenagers he had set up and, if his rage subsided enough, he might have realized two-tone was a girl. Though her face lacked certain feminine features, like a slender neckline, and long hair. The shape of the rest of her body made it clear what she was, if one could look past the male bartender’s outfit she was wearing.

Meanwhile, Luna was hoofin’ it to the ghost. Not that she knew what ghost Klava was talking about, but Luna figured she was referring to that “Handsome Gunther” fellow, who she had yet to see. But there were two pyromancers in the way that had to be dealt with.

Protector’s melody flew true. The sight of a soft, glowing white pellet was almost peaceful to behold. But the pyromancer it was aimed at knew better, and gasped as soon as she saw the white energy. She had just been shoved into a wall, and realized the spell was coming far too late to do anything about it. It slammed into her chest. She placed a hand over her wound, but it was just an empty cavity where her heart and part of her lung used to be. White sunk into a heap, her face frozen in terror.

Before Luna could even exclaim at the grizzly sight, Protector rushed down the green haired pyromancer and dropped their shield on top of their head, slamming them into the concrete floor. Tetrad fought at range when she could, so she was not used to things like watching people’s skulls getting cracked open mere feet away from her. When it did happen it was often to a cultist or ape she felt little pity for. But this was someone even younger than she was, just a child! Was killing them like that the only way? She shook her head and pushed forth, choosing not to think about it right now.

But then white flames rose out of their bodies. It wouldn’t be until Luna looked around the corner that she’d notice that the ghost, Handsome Gunther, also had a white flame floating around him.

”Mmmmm, mmmm! Those rock hard abs are just stunning on you, sweet cheeks! ” Gunther kept his arms folded across his lap. ”But men who hide behind children aren’t too strong in spirit.” His eyes moved onto Protector. ”Maybe you’d like to see what those kids can do when freed from their mortal vessels?”

The white flames sunk back into the ground, and it happened.

One of the kegs jumped off of the rack and fell towards Protector, while another one was flung directly at Apollo and the two remaining pyromancers. None of the barrels were moving especially fast, but 60 gallon kegs weighed enough to crush a man. Six hundred pounds, or two-hundred-and-seventy-two kilograms, was enough to even crush an esper at moderate speeds. So while the barrels were moving just a bit slower than a standard stone toss, they were best to avoid.

Another keg by Klava slid out and smashed into her side, throwing her against the opposing wall with a solid thump.This one was moving slower as it had to drag itself across the floor, but it was still a surprise. This happened moments before Bob broke through the ice ramp. Once thoroughly shattered, the magical ice melted into the nether as Bob surged forward. The front half of his chassis was all scratched up; he likely had fallen forward all along.

”CHICKEN,_FIGHT_LIKE_A_ROBOT!”

Bob reached for Klava with his dented hand. His moves were swift, and the hydraulic pistons in his fingers hissed before they prepared to coil around the esper’s exposed skull.

Things were looking hairy, so Luna decided to cast an extra potent melody. Hopefully it will work out. Hopefully.

Luna flicked a card through the air, and when it landed on the ground, a field of flying “suits” was created. Little hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades filled the zone and attempted to stop anything that soared through. Despite her luck earlier, it seemed that her fortune had changed, and her magic was working much better this time.

”Jackpot!”

But even with Luna’s extra potent magic, the barrels were still moving through the zone she had created. Though when they came out the other side, they were only moving at half the speed they entered at.

While her allies dealt with the first volley of barrels, she trained Pit Boss on Gunther and fired. But by this point his spirits had returned and he was able to use three more barrels to block incoming fire. It wouldn’t be long before Gunther fired another salvo of barrels.

---

_{@The World}

The zombie’s ears perked up when Marrie spoke. ”Well yes! We can convince them by punting them! I’m sure once they realize we can punt them further than they can punt us, they’ll be forced to let us by!” She stepped beside the sharken girl. ”I’ve never tried to talk to goblins about punting them before punting them. I imagine it’ll be hard to get their consent for something like that, just because of the language barrier!” After taking a few steps she added. ”I’m Stacy Stitches. If there’s a stunt to be done, I’m there!”

It was hard to tell when Marrie was further away, but the group of camping goblins were on alert. Not only were their weapons drawn, but they were looking in her direction. They hadn’t been tipped off by her light this time, as she had turned that off. Maybe their vision was so good they could spot the esper(s?) when they approached, Maybe they could pick up the sound of Stacy’s chainsaw idling in her chest. There was also the earth devouring snake thrashing behind them. They weren’t going to run off like the others had. They were prepared to defend the door, regardless of the approaching duo’s intent.

They assembled in a loose formation, putting plenty of space between each other. The front line was made up of three goblins armed with swords and shields. Only on closer inspection, one would soon discover they were wielding machetes and garbage can lids. Behind them were several goblins with slingshots, and one at the very back held a staff and barked out orders. They would be attacking shortly.

The scattered light from the campfire couldn’t fully illuminate the cave behind them, but the onyx eyes of Highway to Hell needed little light to properly shine. It twisted its body in the small space like a corkscrew working its way into a cork. The pacifist esper had a snake to her back, goblins to her front, and a punt-loving zombie at her side. Would any of them survive this encounter?

---

With the wine cellar and foyer erupting into chaos, Sofron scuffed his way into Justin’s office. It was the safest room in the entire place. None of the walls faced the outside, which meant that no one could just skip past security and enter through a window. There were also a number of security features. The building had been constructed during the red scare, and the office itself was just the top half of a fallout shelter. Its walls and roof were made extra durable so that they could provide a way out of the rubble in the event of nuclear disaster. While the room was rugged, it was also luxurious. The wallpaper was black with gold leaf lines, as were era appropriate for the art deco historic district. Several paintings and tapestries lined the room, with Justin’s desk located in the center. He didn’t “look” up from his paperwork when Sofron entered the room.

”They are attacking.” The vampire used a fountain pen to sign his name on a document.

”G.E.M.I.N.I.’s espers are attacking the foyer as we speak. They have Dr. Binky with them."

Justin turned over a document in his hand. ”Did some of them slip by?”

”No." Sofron folded his arms. ”Like we expected, Billy Black has rallied the freelancers. But they started an attack on the wine cellar just moments ago. "

The vampire “stared” at the document, frozen in place. He then swung his head towards Sofron. ”They’re attacking at the same time?”

The butler nodded. ”I assumed it would be best if I remained by your side."

”That is wise.” Justin set down the document and placed a finger on his chin. ”Something foul is afoot. G.e.M.I.N.I. and Maverick are unable to cooperate. Their ideas are fundamentally different. I would be surprised if they could decide on the color of their own refuse.”

”It is unusual to think that they have decided to work together now."

”This had to have been mastermind by an outside force.” Justin’s gloved hand slid over his chin. ”It has to be Oros the mad. Penny disappeared weeks after her arrival. I would not be surprised if she is going after the rest of us now.”

”With all due respect, master, I think you are giving Oros far more credit than she is due." Sofron approached the desk. ”She does know more than she should, but working with a cultist goes far beyond what G.E.M.I.N.I. and Maverick are willing to do. It would take them more than a week to accept assistance from their common enemy."

”What do you think is going on?.”

”If we think about it logically, only one side needs to know when the other is attacking." Sofron began to pace in front of the desk. ”G.E.M.I.N.I. made it quite evident they wanted to attack us themselves, which explains why they are attacking us so soon. If Maverick knew about the date of the assault, they could arrange for the freelancers to arrive in secret. Their chances of success are much higher if they attack us at the same time, and the attacks happened seconds apart."

Justin raised an eyebrow. ”Our own spies were unable to acquire the exact time of the G.E.M.I.N.I. assault. I doubt the freelancers or Maverick have the means to collect that kind of information. It seems far more likely that a freelancer was bought to relay Maverick’s arrival time to G.E.M.I.N.I..”

”But which freelancers would you buy out? " Sofron adjusted his tie. ”To my knowledge, Maverick never hosted a job on Shimr openly. Nor do any of Pax Septimus’s espers have any history of working with or sympathizing with Maverick, ergo there are no clear freelance espers who would jump at the chance to take the operation. Moreover, government influence in Pax Septimus is quite weak. I doubt G.E.M.I.N.I. has the manpower to look into that many freelance espers. Not in such a short period of time."

”We’re missing something, but it is of little concern.” The corners of Justin’s lips curled into a smile. ”Aristocrats come into power by spotting opportunities, and I am not about to squander the one that we have been provided.” He slammed the document onto his desk and hastily sketched his name across it. ”Finish preparations for our guests' arrival. I will join you shortly.”
””Of course, master Carnage."

"Like Alice chasing down a white rabbit."
Current Location: Von Carnage Mansion, Wine Cellar

By some luck, the Timekeeper managed to bypass both flame and steel nuisance and found himself in the back of enemy lines. He hopped down from the wall, and pushed his goggles back up once Betty saw him. He frowned as she snarled at him. Concidering the circumstances, it wasn't surprising if she only saw a threat in him, and not the boy that unwillingly failed her. If there was still a glimpse of her humanity trying to resist, if that a part of her scorned him, he didn't care. He probably deserved it. He couldn't waste this chance.

Whether or not his melody was still active, he hurried over to the violinist, gulping down any nervousness he felt. The Timekeeper dared not to raise his weapon, but instead held a careful arm out, as if he was trying to calm down a feral beast. To reassure. The boy overheard Klava calling out another order, and something crossed his mind.

Wait, aren't all the pyros distra-

As if he payed with his own foolishness, Fable forgot about the red-haired pyromancer stalking the back of the cellar until she fired a firebolt square in his stomach. As if the equivalent of getting punched wasn't good enough, he didn't have time to reorient himself before Betty slammed his head onto the ground.

"Hrk?!?" Fortunately the trauma to his skull wasn't severe enough to knock him outright, but the resulting dizzyness felt worse than when he was knocked aside by a giant crab. As Betty prepared to slam his head back down, Fable instinctively grabbed her arm and attempted to pry himself out of her grip.

"B-Betty!! Stop, it's-" His pleas were cut short upon impact. Again. "It's me, Fabl-" And again. Fable couldn't bring himself to fight her. He wouldn't bring himself to fight any of the thralls in fact. But he still wanted to survive this, damnit! Running on whatever adrenaline he had, he quickly weaved another single melody. And if he somehow managed to kick the girl away from him, a couple of ribbons of lightning would hold her back like chains.

Was there any way to snap her out of it, without the use of lethal force?? The redhead he'd have to worry about at some point, but there were too many things going on to keep proper track of. What a headache.

Impact.

Klava’s breath escaped between clenched teeth as a wine barrel bounced against her side, six hundred pounds of weight slamming her against the adjacent wall. She could feel the sharp, throbbing pain of a cracked, perhaps broken, rib as her stomach broiled in nausea from the impact that travelled into her organs, but there was nothing to puke out, and there was no reason to just stay still. The melody that travelled through her body flooded out with adrenal urgency, her entire body glowing with an icy sheen as she applied Slick to herself.

In one moment, Klava slipped up and over the barrel, tumbling to the ground.

In the next, her Construction, over three hundred cubic meters of glacial ice, exploded, revealing a Bob that was dented, yet undamaged.

“I’ll fight you when you’re my size, junkbot.”

The machine reached out with precision that could only be granted by automation. The Maiden drove her beloved blade into the ground, pushing her forward even while prone. His fingers snagged her hair, but the strands were much too silky to be held by dented machinery, and Klava slid right between the behemoth’s legs, opening up her eyes to all that was before her.

Sniper lady unrestrained, pyromancer leader ready to fire, Timekeeper struggling against the maniac that vaguely resembled Betty. Thank god she hadn’t taken her Blink out. If she did, Timekeeper was going to be absolutely murdered by three older ladies. Klava pressed her elbows against the ground to press herself upwards even as smouldering embers from the flames that Bob had just trampled shot up into her face. Inconsequential burns, nothing compared to Sofron’s searing. Easy to ignore, and more importantly, offering up just enough rough terrain that she could kick off of and accelerate on. Poised like an ice skater, Klava adopted a low profile as she sped into, then past the firing lines of the male pyromancers, her target in sight.

The old-fashioned huntress.

Moya-no-Yume gleamed as it thrust forth, mist trailing off its honed edge, Klava beelining straight for Jane…only to kick off to the right instead, dropping low and driving her dagger into the ground. Slick as the rest of her body was, her Instrument itself remained sharp, transforming into an anchoring point that allowed her to swing in the opposite direction, converting her true attack against the huntress into a sweeping kick.

Invariably less fatal, but intentionally so. A berserk butler avenging his master would be a problem. A butler running to get his master to the hospital would be very much less so.

@BrokenPromise @Ponn @Crusader Lord @FamishedPants @SilverPaw

"..." The sniper stared wide-eyed, pupils stayed unblinking but her brows shifted from one of tranquil fury into genuine shock as the unholy nun seemingly shrugged off her melody, one that she flexed all of her arcane muscles into at that. This goddamned human held all of that power and she used it to side with a bloodsucking abomination... well, not that Valkyrie was surprised, some humans were practically monsters after all, thus they should too be considered as enemies of humanity, just like their monstrous masters. The only right thing to do was to cull them like the disease they are.

Valkyrie was indeed about to try again, hey, she was no knight-in-shining-armor, if the enemy allowed her to score a free hit, then she'd graciously take it. If Melodies don't work, she'd simply use regular bullets this time. "Eh...?" But that was when she felt a demonic hand against her chest; being familiar with said hand meant she could immediately identify it as Silhouette's, but what she didn't expect was the sudden feel of being pulled away via magical force, the brunette winced as the oil made both her body and the floor quite slick, causing her to continue sliding until she practically bumped against... something; was it a pillar, a statue, or even a teammate? The chaotic situation didn't provide her with much opportunities to investigate...

For she spotted - and felt - the heat of flames swiftly approaching, their rage fed by the petroleum splashed haphazardly on the hall. With her lying on her back, slick with the very same substance, there'd be not enough time to recover, let alone evade! "Nnngh...!" Fortunately, neither of those would prove necessary as Breacher's magical towers brought her out of harm's way, in addition to giving her a much-needed vantage point. Valkyrie sighed, feeling relieved for a brief moment before she steeled herself again, the battle was far from over.

By the time she had scanned the battlefield and spotted Leroux's position, the hammer paladin was already facing off against the... nun? Huh? Wasn't her opponent the smug pianist? How could the fake sister get there so fast? Magical shenanigans, obviously. Orange eyes widened as the swordsnun struck Leroux's belly, grievously wounding her there. Not only that, some kind of centaur-spider creature thing was barreling toward her too. To say that she should do something to assist her ally was incredibly obvious.

She recovered into an aiming position as that bloodsucker - what was his name again? - started another tirade, yet again proving why monsters must be purged from existence as he murdered more innocents. At this point, her mind had tuned out whatever bile Arzendale could spout as the moment she saw those chained hostages, she knew their lives were already forfeit.

She and her comrades wouldn't be able to save them, that much was true...

However, they could prevent these subhuman scum from ending more lives.

"..." Her composure regained, the Nordic Warrioress' eyes focused on her scope as she trained her aim at Centrocious. Yes, she saw how Arzendale used the victims' blood to lob blood spheres at her, but her personal safety was second to her obligation to Leroux, for she knew that none of them was alone, not Leroux, nor herself.

"Breacher, cover me." Valkyrie informed the shielded dragon, her voice cold without emotion even as orange sparks coalesced along Teslic Gauss' barrel.

She pulled the trigger, launching a bolt straight at the back of Centrocious' humanoid head.

---

No sooner had Ashley raised her defenses, then the starving thralls crashed against them, her shield and full-body energy barrier glowing as clawed hands desperately sought to break through. And break though they did, for although the Knight of Tomorrow could withstand the assault of two or three such opponents, far more assailed her now, and she soon found herself overwhelmed by their sheer weight of numbers. Her full-body energy field having completely faded under the relentless torrent of blows, Ashley batted away a crazed thrall aiming for her throat, before several more pulled her to the ground. At this point, the high-tech heroine was in serious trouble, and she gasped in pain as the frenzied mob clawed at her legs and gnawed on her arms. While her injuries were currently at the level of “mere” cuts, bruises, and shallow puncture wounds, Ashley knew that if she didn’t quickly find a way to escape, she would meet with the exceptionally horrific fate of being eaten alive…

It was then that one of the thralls crawled atop her, its knees pressing against her ribs and pinning her to the floor. As the malnourished creature reared up, Ashley was able to see that the thrall was only a young teenager, and as it’s weeping visage shifted between revulsion and hunger, its cracked lips mouthed two simple words-

“Save me.”

.

..

…

“Save me, sis!” her brother begged, as he barged into her room. “I’ve got a big science test tomorrow, and if I don’t pass it, Coach says I’ll be suspended from the team! Help me, O’ Sorceress of Science,” he added, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands together. You’re my only hope!”

“How can I say no to a request like that?” Ashely asked with a giggle. “So, I take it you haven’t studied at all, huh?” she asked with a knowing smirk.

“I-I have,” her brother protested. “It’s just that Mr. Elderman hates us, so he puts stuff on the test that we never covered in class,” he explained. “So, uh, could you please go over the chapter with me, and help me prepare for anything unexpected he might throw at us?”

“Sure,” Ashely told him warmly, as she patted a soft spot on her bed next to where she was sitting at her desk. “Let’s start by making sure you understand the core concepts, then we can work on some derived applications for them. Don’t worry,” she reassured him as she ruffled his hair affectionately. “The Tomasville Tigers won’t have to play without their star pitcher,” she added with a confident grin. “At least, not if I have anything to say about it!”

“You’re the best, sis!” the young teen cheered, while jumping up to give her a hug. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you here to save me!”

…

..

.

“Save me,” the boy repeated as his trembling form slowly descended upon her.

Ashley couldn’t help but weep at the sight. Not for herself, but for the boy above her. This boy, who could have so easily been her own little brother. As painful as the starving thralls’ attempts to devourer her were, they paled when placed against the pain she felt for them. They did not ask for this, they did not want to do this to her. They were merely victims, victims she had come here to save, but, in the end, she had been powerless to help them. They had needed her, and she had failed them…

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, steeling herself for what she was about to do.

The boy’s momentary hesitation had allowed her to glimpse the possible path to her salvation, the opening of a garbage chute, directly above her. However, if she were to reach it, she needed to act with decisiveness. Even if she could not save these poor souls, she could at least ensure that no one else would suffer their cruel fate.

Closing her eyes and gathering her strength, Ashley raised her glowing techno-wand, before slamming it into the ground with all her might. Immediately, an expulsion of emerald energy surged outwards, engulfing all the thralls within five feet of the prone esper. Since she was so close to her targets, the Knight of Tomorrow also experienced no small amount of discomfort, but it was no greater than what she had already experienced, and it was significantly less than what the thralls would feel…

With the energy pulse momentarily stunning the pitiful creatures, Ashely would force herself to her feet, before leaping up into the garbage chute, whereupon she would begin slowly working her way along the narrow passage, her back and knees braced against its cramped walls, while bitter tears flowed down her cheeks.

Justin would pay for what he had done, for what he had forced her to do. She would make sure of it…

---

'Stacy Stiches'? That was a bit too on-the-nose to not be an alias. As she walked towards the goblins, she thought on how to respond, eventually settling on something far out in left field. After all, there was Knuckles, who unlike Sonic did not chuckle, and there was Sonic, who was the Knight of the Wind. Why not borrow the mantle of a hero? Though it was a bit of a mouthful... She opened her mouth to say something before realizing that she'd be giving half her name if she went by "Knight," stopping herself. Maybe something equally abstract, though? Marrie had a little lamb, and the -apex predator- of lambs was a wolf, right? Unfortunately, there was no wolf in Sonic lore.

... Why the hell was she obsessing over Sonic the motherfucking Hedgehog as her alias' origin? There had to be something easier. Let's see... She was running from Jörmungandr, so if she took inspiration from Norse, she could replace it with Nidhöggr, which would make the perfect match with Vedfolnir. "Wind-Bleached" indeed. It was this thought that occupied her as she nearly bumped into the foremost goblin, so deep in thought that she forgot her surroundings. In the end, she didn't give an alias to Stacy. She merely looked to the goblins, raised a hand, and waved at them.

"Hello. May we borrow your... Wagons?" She turned to Stacy. "It was wagons you're after, right?"

She resolved to come up with an alias once this mission was over. After all, "MKUltra," while the username she went by on Shimr, wasn't exactly something that rolled off the tongue.

---

_{@Crusader Lord@FamishedPants@Izurich@SilverPaw@ERode}

Her squad was being sufficiently harassed by the enemy. They had yet to do any real damage, but such an outcome was expected with the sort of start they had. They walked into a trap, and the less experienced espers were struggling against their stronger, more cunning opponents. Well, not really. Su was confident if she had a few days, she could make her home into quite the death trap too. Scratch that, even on Su’s worst days, she’d never do something as barbaric as use civilians to weaken the resolve of her opponents. Experience and training told her that they were already dead. Even if they turned around and left when the fighting started, there was no guarantee that the vampire wouldn’t just drain them as a snack. But it was still tragic to see. She bit her lower lip as the next set of heads rolled. She groaned through her teeth, and tightened her grip on her pistol.

But that said something about their opponents. That and the way they grinned and giggled after every successful move. These creatures were a deplorable sort. They were outnumbered, and couldn’t afford to fight fair. They only had an advantage because they extensively trapped the place. Even now, Su was sure they had more traps waiting for them. Nothing they did was honest. They were standing where they were because they were hoping to lead them into another such trap. That was a damn certainty.

As much as Su wanted to just focus them down one at a time, that wasn’t going to work. Centrocius needed to be occupied before it did too much damage, the nun was a dangerous opponent to leave alone for how easily she could jump in and out of combat, and Arzendale killed more civilians any time he cast a spell. But they still outnumbered their opponents. They just needed to avoid their traps and keep pressure on them. Now that they knew the nun was an esper while Arzendale and Centrocius were monsters, it made deciding who should go after who fairly easy. They just needed to get to them, and fast.

While Binky was technically the leader of this operation, there wasn’t much she could do to direct the team from outside the mansion. Su was one of the most senior agents present, and while she wasn’t the most comfortable in a leader position, some direction for the squad was better than no direction. With their opponents so far away, there was no reason to not just speak with her squad directly. “Attack monsters with magic. Wukong, follow me, we attack nun shortly. Silhouette, follow or stay, Valkyrie may need assistance soon.” Su groaned when Silmeria told her to cover her. It wasn’t like there was a lot of room in front of her railgun, and she’d have difficulty backing away with the nun looking at her.

But Su could fix that.

Su lept over the edge of the railing. She did not fall too far before landing on her castle, which was continuing to expand towards the opposition. Su had cast a melody when she took hold of the railing, and now a steep ramp was building itself in front of her, faster than she could run. Along with the ramp at either side was a wall, which was as tall as the towers she had just left.

The swerving blood projectiles were coming right her way. Her shield was up but something didn’t feel right. She had no doubt that she could just take the bloody projectiles with her shield, but it just seemed too simple. This entire fight her opponent had been using their magic in really creative ways. There was no reason to assume these projectiles didn’t have other effects tied to them. Maybe they could change their heading, or explode.

The ramp in front of Su suddenly curled upward, creating a sort of cavern below her. The blood projectiles should have flown just under her. If any fortune was still with them, that would be enough to deter the attack. Otherwise, well, she left Silmeria a balcony to hide behind.

As Su got closer, she wondered what sort of trap awaited her (and Lilliah/Samuel if they followed). Did the rug conceal another portal? Maybe siege engines were located at the ends of the halls to either side of the room. Or maybe…

The chandelier?

It was a simple enough ruse to use. The entire band of Gemini agents would rush to help their friend, only to get a big chandelier dropped on their heads. Due to it being a physical threat, it wouldn’t do as much harm to any of the monsters present. Only the nun really had to worry about being crushed by such an attack, and she had the ability to transplace, which would be bad if used at the wrong time. Which meant-

”Stay hidden!”

As Su got to the end of the ramp, a large barrier came up in front of Lilliah and herself. When the trajectory looked good, Su aimed her hand cannon into the air and fired. Afterwards, she raised her shield over her head and walked along the edge of the wall with anyone who followed her, waiting for the chandelier to hit the ground. The idea was that if the nun or vampire tried to lob a projectile over the wall, it would hit her shield instead of any of the espers. Though hopefully by moving her position in a quiet manner, such an attack would miss anyway.

She didn’t care if she managed to hit any targets with such a play. One less trap was one less trap. She was the shield between her fellow agents and harm. Though even Su had to admit there was a certain joy in the possibility of catching their harassers in their own trap.

Jacqueline hissed when the beam, not entirely redirected in time, sliced into her left arm. If it hadn’t been for the fact that a vampire was a monster and thus could only work Chaotic magic, she’d have lost a whole limb. So, while this was not the optimal outcome, it was acceptable. What wasn’t was her target getting transplaced by the nun esper. Jacqueline was mid-swing, but honestly, if she got one enemy instead of another, she wouldn’t have minded. Except, that wasn’t what happened. Not only did she get gutted by the nun’s falchion, the bitch switched again, placing the damn organ in Havoc’s way. Now, that was bullshit in her opinion. Not that anyone was asking her.

With a roar, Jacqueline tore through the flimsy musical instrument, and turned around. She’d been expecting to dash after the two who’d easily escaped her grasp, but was stopped by two things. One, her guts were beginning to trickle out of her gash, and she briefly had to adjust the hold on Havoc in such a way that part of her left arm was braced against the stomach wound, preventing any unfortunate spills. Two, Centrocius was barreling her way, blocking the path towards Arzendale and the nun, who were standing at the center of the room with their backs to her.

Grunting, Jacqueline tracked the positioning of the vampire and esper all the while cataloguing how fast the five-legged one-armed critter was approaching. It’d been the target of at least one fatal attack last she’d seen, but had only lost two limbs so far. The remaining six were still more bladed limbs she could easily block, not to mention it might simply decide to ram her with its horns, or wrap her in its vines…The best thing to do was time a good evasive move, and hope Centrocius rammed right into the trashed organ. However, what Jacqueline wanted to do first and foremost was launch an offensive while pretending to defend.

So, she quickly dropped into crouch, Havoc positioned to block, hoping her movements might conceal the preparation of a melody. Instead of an elbow, one of her knees was now putting pressure on her belly, staunching the wound. Her muscles were primed for action. Metal particles were gathering around the tip of her right boot. When the melody was ready, she barely raised it, and the resulting beam of whirling metal razors flied a millimeter above the ground, heading swiftly towards Arzendale in a line underneath Centrocius. Then (her guts be damned), she stomped her foot down, combining the action with a powerful all-body lunge to the side.

---

---