[center][h3]Deep Blue Seaside: Mafia Town[/h3]
Junior and Rika’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Therion’s [@Yankee], Juri’s [@Zoey Boey], Captain Falcon’s [@Double], Venom Snake’s [@DisturbedSpec][/center]

Oblivious to the mounting tension and explosive tempers at work in the theatrical throne room of their boss, the handful of grunts assigned to take Mabuchi away carried out their task dutifully. Two of them, hands hooked under his arms, dragged him out through the casino while a third performed the essential act of gloating. “Nothing gets past Mafia in Mafia Town. Only present, and glorious Mafia future. That why Mafia Town has no museums,” he told the would-be usurper. Still conscious but unable to fight with the injuries inflicted on him by Juri and Snake, Mabuchi just glared at his captors, his loathing absolute. “Bad guy chose poorly, picking fight with Boss. In entire life, Boss never lose anything,” the braggart declared as his companions dragged Mabuchi across the red-checkered carpet toward a side room. “Not even virginity.”

His squad’s entrance into the adjoining room brought his boasting to an end. This makeshift jail contained a wall of reinforced metal bars, without a door or locking mechanism of any kind, but a conspicuously large brown button with concentric yellow rings on it protruded from the floor just in front of the wall, indicating that it worked like a portcullis. However, the Mafia grunts stopped just short of the button, confronted with a perplexing conundrum. Unbeknownst to any of them, this cell already contained a captive -the large-nosed local [url=https://i.imgur.com/8gfg2we.png]Dr. Tot[/url] who’d refused to raise the prices on his medicine to give the Mafia a bigger cut- and it happened to be the only cell the Mafia had. “Hmm…” Crossing his arms, the talkative Mafia thought about the situation. “Mafia honestly not remember what schnoz man do. But suit man attack Boss, and that worst crime of all. Plus, most recent orders also most important. Everybody knows that.” He beckoned to one of his fellows. “Here, stand on button while I throw schnoz man out.”

With a grunt the other goon complied, leaving just one Mafia holding Mabuchi. Ever the opportunist, the man saw his chance and started to move immediately, slow enough to not attract attention. As if reaching down to press a hand on his battered ribs, he slipped his hand into a pocket in his suit and withdrew a [url=https://i.imgur.com/q7zQ237.png]small amber bottle[/url] with a big red X on its label. As the Mafia weighed down the button to make the gate lift into the ceiling, he popped the cap off and downed the bottle. In an instant, the Staminan X restored his health completely, and after planting a foot he rose with explosive force. Before his surprised captor could react, he grabbed the top-heavy thug by his shoulders and hurled him into the cell, where he knocked over the Mafia holding Dr. Tot like a bowling pin. The Mafia on the button turned toward Mabuchi only to receive a strong kick to the gut, and once he rolled beneath the portcullis, the bars slammed shut the next instant.

“Idiots,” Mabuchi spat as he straightened up, dusting off his suit with a nasty grin. “How a syndicate full of braindead morons like you ever took over this place is beyond me. Once I’m in charge, you’ll be far more useful as fish food.” Loud noises from the throne room down the hall got his attention, and with a grimace he turned to go. “But that’ll have to wait.”

Thanks to all the stooges summoned for use in the boss’s Mafia Ball, fighting was out of the question. Mabuchi threw his dignity to the wind as he fled the scene, fleeing out of the Mafia HQ and out into the night. Once he reached the edge of the great dish, he set his sights on a glass roof above an indoor swimming pool and leaped to what he hoped would be safety.

[center][h3]Sandswept Sky: Skyworld[/h3]
Midna and Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Pit’s [@Yankee] Roxas’ [@Double], Edelgard’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3545 (+4)[/center]

With a swing of his axe, the heart of the corruption hurled a scatter spray of projectiles towards the seekers and their angelic squads, and for the latter, this was incredibly dangerous. Fighting in tight formations as they did a single shot landing brought explosive devastation to a whole unit.

[color=Aquamarine]”Back back! We’ll handle this!”[/color] Midna commanded as soon as the threat to her troops became clear, while Edward recommended that they [color=ea590c]”Set up a fall back point for the wounded!”[/color] 

Even as they insisted the rank and file fall back, the Seekers pushed forward. Or, in Edward’s case, his expendable golems pushed forwards while he circled to find a firing position.

Absalom welcomed his challengers with open arms. “Come, come!” he rumbled, brandishing his enormous axe with one hand as his corrupted left arm beckoned. The globules he littered across the arena remained where they fell, bulbous as bubbles from a primordial tar pit and just as prone to popping. 

After a somewhat exaggerated show of covering his nose due to the concentrated stench of impurity, the captain of Palutena's royal guard obliged him. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"C'mon, let's purge this guy!"[/color]

Pit opened up with his trusty bow, firing upon the monstrous champion of corruption. His own unit stationed themselves outside of the arena's doors and beyond, keeping the corruption's reinforcements from interfering.

Though revolted by the abhorrent being before her, twisting her expression into one of indignant hatred, Uriel forced herself to keep a cool head. Sacrifices were inevitable in times of war, but in this climactic showdown, excessive zeal would be the angels’ undoing. They couldn’t afford to throw themselves into the melee when getting their hands dirty meant corruption. This close to the progenitor of pestilence, the air was so dense with rotten fumes that Uriel’s vision was already swimming. In the worst case scenario, a single wound could be the vector that Absalom’s plague needed to corrupt one’s body from the inside out. If that was the case, she would simply need to fight without taking a hit.

Uriel beat her wings and floated upward, using the cathedral locomotive’s interior space to get a height advantage and avoid the spot where the miasma was thickest. Absalom’s glare followed her, and the tentacles extending from his back seemed to move with instinctive hatred toward the Hellguard’s commander. Uriel hurled a handful of light spikes down to detonate around her foe. Their radiant chain explosion worked well against corruption, but the Avatar of Chaos harbored a huge health pool, so it would take a lot more than that. Still, her golden blast also ruptured the plague mines around him, if for whatever reason one of the Seekers felt like squaring off against the brute in close quarters. 

Angered, Absalom leaped toward Uriel with terrifying speed. His tentacles wound around Absolution’s shaft to extend his reach, lifting the axe up to bring down on the angel like a massive guillotine. Speed was Uriel’s forte, luckily, and with a swallow’s grace she managed to dart out of the way of certain death, but she would not be so confident about her own safety in the air going forward. When Absalom slammed down the next moment, the impact of his unyielding axeblade against the ground unleashed a vertical cutter of corruption that scythed forward along the ground toward the door. It forced the incoming Seekers to swerve to either side, then left them separated by a wall of corrupt tentacles that cropped up in its wake.

Midna, Edward and their minions went left though the princess and her steed did this far faster, naturally. With the troops falling back, and each and every one of those blows looking incredibly lethal, the princess tossed her lyre into a portal as she spurred her wolfos to charge forward into the fray.

With nimble paws, her steed darted between mines, and then as she closed in, the princess placed a palm to a purple crystalline pyramid mounted upon the beast’s armor, prompting the psystone of dissonance to unleash a staggering psychic blast towards Absalom. Her target raised his arm like a shield to block the mental energy, but its nonphysical component gave him just enough pause for a follow-up. She then struck out with a shadow fist strike, to try and keep him off balance, before darting to the side while her intangible beast legion darted the other way.

As she did, a gunshot rang out from Edward’s pistol as he found a high angle firing position, intending to mostly try and keep stacking his debuffs, while his squad of two bronze golems slowly picked their way through the minefield. Sure enough, his shot hit, but its initial impact didn’t even seem to register. Hopefully his long game would prove more potent.

Sectonia helped with her own debuffs, applying a slow to Absalom making him easier to hit and dodge, using her own Antlers to help advance, but mostly just hovered at the range of her damaging aura and acted like heavy artillery, charging a reality shatter to hit him with as all the minions kept him distracted. Unfortunately, her footsoldiers soon bumbled into corrupt mines, miring down their progress.

Roxas wanted to use the start of the fight to try and apply Tailwind buffs to some of his allies, but only had enough time to use one on Edelgard before Absalom brought the axe down in an attack that forced him to dodge to the right. It also summoned up a wall of tentacles that split the Seekers into two attacking groups. Maybe one of the Nobody’s new Strikers could help them reposition themselves if needed, but it didn’t seem necessary at the moment.

The wall basically kept him from being able to spread around the buffs he wanted to share, which meant his only next step now was to carry out some kind of attack, especially with the debuffs against Absalom coming from the other side of the wall. He summoned his Keyblades and proceeded to hurl one and then the other immediately after for a double strike raid. But that was meant to only distract so he could lock on and use his StepSword to instantly move himself to a position to slash at Absalom from behind with the ignited energy sword. And he figured since he was in close proximity, he might as well try to use [i]Steal[/i] to make a grab for Absalom’s axe. He knew the chances of that working was slim, but there was no harm in trying, especially if it meant potentially disarming the boss of his weapon early on. His speedy attacks landed, but did little to phase the giant Nephilim, and to the keyblade wielder’s chagrin his Steal failed outright. With more foes inbound, Absalom retorted with a quick half-turn to jab at Roxas with the butt of his axe, its reach and power remarkable for so unceremonious a strike.

Edelgard went right with Roxas as the Heart of Corruption separated the Seekers’ group, and the Tailwind buff from Roxas meant that she stood a chance of keeping up. She didn’t have the same speed as the Nobody, nor the means of quickly striking at Absalom’s back, but as long as she wasn’t Corrupted, she could fight. Careful to avoid the mines on the ground, Edelgard lunged for Absalom, Amyr lifting high and coming down in a brutal swing to begin what would surely be a pitched battle. Her axeblade came down on her foe’s left arm, leaving only a surface wound among the corrupted crystals–and leaving Edelgard within spitting distance of a titan comparable in size to Beloved.

Despite seeing that Absalom could reach his flying opponents just as easily as his land bound ones, Pit still wished he could take wing alongside Uriel. The Power of Flight wouldn't work as well in this kind of situation, and absorbing fallen Featherwings during the course of the war seemed wrong somehow (though after it was over, he'd see about it). For once he didn't voice his wish, focusing on the battle.

It wasn't like fighting on foot put him at a disadvantage. Land battles were what he'd been accustomed to all his life, including boss battles like this. He kept on the move, making generous use of the larger minions summoned by his allies to hop onto, bounce off of, or skirt behind to avoid globules of corruption, corrosive blasts, and ensure he was making the best shots he could. Thankfully he never needed to be spot on accurate, as the shots themselves could twist in flight. Pit was a formidable fighter on his own, and with a whole crew of fighters around too he knew it was just a matter of time until this corrupted monster was put down and the forces of light were victorious. Pit kept up his own assault on Absalom, his arrows flying swiftly through the air around the arena as streaks of warm yellow light. Normal shots were interspersed with the more powerful versions whenever possible as the energetic captain dashed around the cathedral's interior.

Once the debuffs cast on the source of the corruption began to take effect, he changed up his attacks slightly. He was still getting the hang of how his electro arrows interacted with other elements, but there was one effect he'd learned early on that he would make the most of here. He came to a halt in order to better line up his shot, pulling the ethereal bowstring back as far as it would go and holding the charge. The color of the light arrow changed from golden yellow to electric purple, and small fireballs formed in the air around the arrow's head, circling it. When Pit let it loose the arrow shot straight forward at Absalom, and if it struck would explode on impact thanks to the instant Overloaded reaction of the fire and lightning combo. Noting that Edelgard was headed in to tackle the monster in melee combat, he prepared another explosive arrow to give her an opening.


Taking Absolution in both hands, Absalom whirled around in a wheeling cleave to drive Roxas and Edelgard back, or risk an infectious deathblow then and there. The additional space gained brought the problem posed by the other Seekers into sharp relief, however. As spells and projectiles rained down, debuffs mounted and minions amassed. “Hmph!” Seeing a priority target, the Avatar of Chaos hurled his axe at Sectonia, a flying guillotine almost as big as she was. Then he plunged his coiled tentacles into the ground around him, gathering pestilential power.

Edelgard hopped back as Absalom swung, a curse on her lips. [color=crimson]”Damn! I’ll need a better opening, then.”[/color] Stepping further back, she instead lobbed one of her four remaining Fire spells at Absalom, not expecting it to do much damage, but needing to keep up the pressure. She didn’t know what the Source of Corruption was doing, but something told her not to be close to him whenever he did it.

“Weaklings!” Tendrils of corruption slithered around him that extinguished Edelgard’s flames, then fattened as they accelerated. An orb of rippling, lambent impurity swelled in his engorged palm. “There is no strength in numbers. Not against me!” When he thrust his palm into the ground, the whole room shook, and a wave of corrupt earth spread out around him. It covered the whole floor in under two seconds, and while a couple small patches died off and left openings, his corrupt seeding quickly bore fruit. Wriggling tentacles emerged beneath all foes still on or right above the infestation, then attempted to bore into them like screwworms and rapidly corrupt them from the inside out. Even if the Seekers shook them off with only minor damage, the golems, antlers, and other minions weren’t so lucky. In moments the heroes’ helpers were on Absalom’s side. Worse still, corrupt tentacles seized the thrown axe and dragged it back through the mire to its master.

Both Edward and Midna took to the skies to avoid this. The Dreadnought, already at an elevated position near the edge of the combat zone, using his new wings to get extra clearance from the corrupt ground, while the princess by shoving her wolfos down into a portal while leaping off of it, letting it leave and her ascend just in time for the corruption to sweep under them. She also summoned her flygon, but not for her, and instead sent it to grab and hoist Edelgard into the air with a simplistic shout of it being [color=Aquamarine]”A ride!”[/color] 

Whether she could mount it or not after being hoisted was her issue to solve.

Edward’s constructs were not able to do such a maneuver, and the tendrils wormed their way up into them, prompting their creator to cut off their connection to the 4 mana fuel cells that had been powering them, calling out that he was [color=ea590c]”Shutting them down”[/color] as he glided towards one of the patches free of corruption.

Midna meanwhile landed, not on the corrupt floor, but on the back of her Beast Legion, the intangible being not touching the physical world enough to be graspable by the corruption. In doing so, and bringing her and it together, she also completed their encirclement of him and binding the astral chain around him to complete the binding ploy she’d been engaging in. This bind took effect just as Absalom stood to capitalize on the chaos he released, restricting him only a moment until the chain snapped, but enough to give the others a little breathing room.

The clearance it granted was only barely enough for her to outpace the grabbing tendrils, and so rather than being able to follow up her strike the princess rapidly retreated, the beast legion just barely letting her outpace the grabbing tendrils as it sprinted full pelt around the arena. 

Edelgard let out an undignified gasp as something grabbed her and lifted her into the air, but with Midna’s voice confirming that it was friend, not foe, she held on for dear life. Grabbing the thing, she stowed Aymr in her Inventory, then waited for it to stabilize before swinging herself onto its back and sighing in relief. [color=crimson]”Thank you for that.”[/color] She said, addressing both the Flygon and Midna. Pulling out her throwing axes, Edelgard went to work, emulating the Wyvern Lords from her world and harrying Absalom from a distance. Even while bound he extended his tentacles in order to defend himself, but Uriel swooped in to let loose a high-speed assault, forcing Absalom to divide his attention. After enough hits, her Dawnbreaker blade triggered a fiery explosion that blew open his guard and allowed Edelgard’s next axes to strike true.

At the onset of Absalom's massive spreading corruption, Pit had to put his wings to work in order to get clear of the contaminated ground. Two or three flaps could get him far enough that he could land in a relatively clear area, though he would have to fend off the dark tendrils that shot up after him all the while. Pit hunkered down to put strength into his legs before leaping high into the air. The bladed edges of his bow hacked away at the tentacles, spinning wildly as Pit whirled the weapon around himself. He definitely didn't want any part of those touching him if he could help it. He got up even higher with his wings, finally clearing the grasping corruption. With the higher point of view he noted everyone else's escapes, and the champion of corruption about to rearm himself. Rather than try and stop the axe from getting back into Absalom's hands, Pit went to assist one of the Seekers that would have a harder time avoiding the wide reaching attack: their keyblade wielder.

Though flightless, Pit still had [i]some[/i] aerial options. He splayed his feathers out, twisting the limbs so that he could swiftly swoop down towards Roxas and to an open patch beyond him. It would be a bit of a rough ride, dangerously close to the reach of the corrupted tentacles, but it would also be a quick getaway. So long as Pit didn't miss, since he wouldn't be able to just fly back around.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Roxas! Here!"[/color] he called, stretching an arm out to his friend as he glided close to him. And he was just in time, considering Roxas had precious few options to avoid the tentacles. The Nobody launched himself up to grab the angel’s hand.

[color=gold]”Thanks for the lift.”[/color] Was about all Roxas could get out due to the bumpy nature of their getaway after that. The boys landed roughly in the nearest clear patch of ground, not too worse for wear and ready to jump back into action.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Don't mention it!"[/color] Pit replied.

Sectonia, having been charging a reality shatter. One of her golden antlers, before it would be lost to the corruption wave, used its shield to intercept the axe headed her way in order to protect its queen. However there wasn’t much it could do against the corruption wave and all the antlers and Sectonia took the erupting corruption, but in trade for that damage, fired off her reality shatter, destroying her now converted antlers as well as any other nearby corruption as the area around Absolution shattered like glass and became pure white with some slight black lines to show basic outlines of the area as all the enemies within the area took large amount of damage, with Absalom and any of Sectonia’s allies being the only things in color within the area. 

With her big spell thrown out, Sectonia started to use much faster spells and attacks, seeing as Absalom wouldn’t just be sitting there and getting hit anymore, causing the area to rain holy swords over Absalom. This more emphasis on mobility at this point would let her dodge the axe throw if it happened again, since summoning antlers would be out of the question now.

With there only being random patches of safe ground to stand on, Roxas sagged his shoulders and let out a frustrated groan. [color=gold]”Great, just what a dangerous boss battle needs: A game of ‘The Floor is Lava’ to make it even harder.”[/color] He said with a thick, sarcastic tone. Well he couldn’t stand around like a sitting duck, so Roxas scanned around to see how far away some of the safe patches of ground were from each other. After that he came up with his plan. He would have to summon a series of virtual cubes that he could platform across using Flow Motion in order to move between safe spots. Not ideal, when he was going to have to also look for some kind of opportunity to attack as well.

So instead of looking for a chance to rush at Absalom, Roxas instead used charged shots from his RockGun to get off potshots at him. It was about the best option he had for the time being unless he wanted to risk getting thrown around into the corrupted spots and snagged by those tentacles. He could throw Firaga spells, sure, but that seemed like a waste of MP for something he could freely do with the RockGun.

If Sectonia intended to try and destroy Absalom’s weapon by targeting it with her reality break, she would wind up disappointed. Absolution withstood the intense spell, neither truly alive nor dead to begin with, but the wasp queen’s magic worked wonders to swing the situation back in her favor. It annihilated a huge swath of corrupt ground, cleansing it for her allies to use in the fight, and it also wiped away the corrupted antlers and golems that had just begun to move of their own volition. Furthermore, it destroyed the tentacles attempting to return Absolution to its owner, prolonging his disarmament. That allowed several Seekers to press the attack while the Nephilim broke free of the Astral Chain, though as they advanced they might notice the whole battlefield a little shakier than before; it seemed that Sectonia’s magic had dealt a blow to the structural integrity of the Infernal Train’s locomotive, as well.

By now the floor had returned to normal, or at least, a normal level of corruption. The instant Absalom broke free, he roared, tentacles lashing around him. Most of his opponents were still in the air. Enduring summoned swords and light stakes for a moment, he sprouted a foul spike with which he took aim at the largest group of fliers. Uriel, the fasted among them, dodged reflexively. But Absalom adjusted his aim upward and fired the spike into the ceiling above them, where it embedded itself with a heft impact. As soon as it took root, tendrils of corruption sprouted that reached down to ensnare Absalom’s foes by their throats or wings. He then charged across the arena, away from Sectonia’s blade rain, and quickly reached his axe. The former Nephilim took Absolution in hand, then passed it to his left arm for a wildly extended slash at Roxas, Pit, and Edward. Without missing a beat he coated his axeblade in corruption, then swung it to launch a barrage of explosive clusters at the fliers. This battle was far from over.

[center][h3]Forbidden Kingdom: Meridi-at-Han[/h3]
Level 8 Goldlewis (95/80) Level 2 [color=ef6069]Grimm[/color] (5/20)
Primrose’s [@Yankee] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] Zenkichi’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] the Witch’s [@Drifting Pollen]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1995 [/center]

Not knowing how the gaunt ringmaster of the phantom troupe would take the news, Goldlewis was glad that his mention of a campaign to eliminate Galeem seemed to pique Grimm’s interest. Before he could elaborate, he received another pleasant surprise: that the Witch seemed to be tagging along as well. With his focus on the uneven footpath ahead, or on Grimm when he could spare it, he hadn’t noticed the slight, darkly-dressed magician materialize out of Meridi-at-han’s darkness until she announced herself. All sorts of nebulous phantasms danced in the torchlight after all, even without any nightmarish flame-rituals in progress. He was still somewhat on edge thanks to the chaotic nighttime fights and frights, a situation that Sandalphon’s unforeseen announcement didn’t exactly help, but the fact that both former combatants chose to give the Seekers a chance still amused him as a funny twist of fate.

That said, soon after the group waved goodbye to Kayna and Avmar, the Witch made her personality known along with her presence. After weaseling her way in rather closely, practically joining herself to Goldlewis at the hip, she requested more details in a way that elicited a raised eyebrow. Her voice carried a certain level of zest, which combined with her somewhat hammy word choice suggested to the veteran that this spellcaster wasn’t all there. When his perturbed glance drove them to meet eyes, he couldn’t help but note that strange fervor that glittered within the Witch’s unusually vivid blue eyes. Eyes like those weren’t exactly common on the battlefield, but Goldlewis had seen soldiers with a similar sort of gusto before, and he knew to be wary of them. Those weren’t the men who enlisted for the money, or out of a sense of duty. They were men possessed by some instinctive drive to kill, an impulse passed down through the ages from the brains of primitive man, strained through the sieve of civilization but never wholly filtered out. Such urges had their uses when one’s objective was ultimately to kill something, and the Seekers needed all the help they could get in the fight against Galeem, but Goldlewis resolved then and there to watch his back around this newcomer. The fresh corpses shambling in her wake spoke to a ghoulish disregard for the sanctity of both life and death, and if this Witch’s wicked appetites went unsatisfied for too long, his back would be much easier to stab than Galeem’s. His grip tightened around the chain of the massive coffin carried over his shoulder.

At the very least, if the Witch chose to proceed with the Seekers, she would soon find herself divested of her cadaverous companions. Goldlewis continued his explanation as his team drew nearer to the plateau city’s main gate. “Well, here’s the deal,” he told the two initiates. “Galeem floats high above the hole in the continent’s center. But even if we flew up there we couldn’t do anythin’ about it, ‘cause it’s protected by its chosen Guardians. Thirteen of ‘em, scattered across this here World o’ Light, each doggone one sustainin’ some kind o’ barrier that keeps the big cheese safe an’ sound. Some of ‘em out in the open, others buried deep in hidin’ beneath layers of buildin’s and bureaucracy. Trackin’ ‘em down as sortin’ ‘em out has been our mission so far, and it’s challenged us somethin’ fierce.” He put on a reassuring grin. “Luckily, you folks came at a good time. So far our crew’s taken out six of the sumbitches, leavin’ just seven before Galeam’s ripe for the pickin’. And if Sandy’s roundin’ us up, chances are good we’re just about ready to scratch one more off the list. So y’all ain’t gonna have to wait long for things to heat up.” Hopefully the Witch wouldn’t get too excited, though given her macabre proclivities and what he’d learned about the Dead Zone, she very well might end up being in her element.

Just over a minute later, the team passed beneath Meridi-at-han’s main gate. Outside, the city lights gave way to the dark of night, with only the eerie light of the decrepit moon illuminating the vast expanse of dense rainforest. A veritable mountain of well-worn stairs led down, down, down to the banks of the great river that snaked through the region. Beyond the reach of its jungled tributaries, Goldlewis could see the fiery glow of Death Mountain to the north, smoking and smoldering roughly halfway between the Hannish city-state and the sinister shroud of darkness that hung over the City That Never Was. At his back hung Meridi-at-han’s iconic [url=https://i.imgur.com/bx7lUjQ.png]all-seeing eye[/url], affixed to the main gate as a baleful reminder that all duplicity would in time be laid bare beneath the light. After a momentary pause to catch his breath, Goldlewis lifted his index and forefinger to his ear, resummoning the magic glyph. “We’ve reached the extraction zone, Halo. Gonna need two extra Fultons. Over.”

“Perfect timing, Mustang” the operator answered, her response immediate. “ETA five seconds. Over.”

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Right on time, a beam of light dropped from the starry heavens. The radiant sky-blue pillar lasted only an instant, and when the flash subsided, a woman stood atop a sigil burned into the ground. She was tall, a few inches over six feet, with pale skin and short, silvery-white hair with a couple long curls like little wings in flight. Her gray lipstick matched the bags under her eyes, which possessed black irises and pupils of bright greenish turquoise, not dots but thick rings with a vertical line at the apex. Most remarkable, maybe, was the extravagant halo that hung over her head, lavishly embellished with gold and an additional loop on each side. From the joints dangled long, flexible cords with golden widgets on the ends, one pinched between the woman’s long, slender fingers and held to her lips like a microphone. Her triple halo shone with soft golden light, like sunbeams through gray stormclouds, and it illuminated a rather businesslike outfit. A black tie hung down from the collar of her blue office shirt, itself split at her ample chest into an upper portion with her sleeves and a lower portion resembling a button-up tube top, and several black belts adorned her darkly-colored slacks. Over it all she sported a long white coat with a decidedly western fringe, worn low around her shoulders, and her boots matched its color. In the crook of her arm was tucked a high-tech [url=https://i.imgur.com/YAQnNGb.png]gunstaff[/url] with featherlike protrusions on its head, and she held a satchel in her hand. To some  [url=https://i.imgur.com/H0cxffd.png]this woman[/url] might seem beautiful; to others, an otherworldly entity that did not at all belong.

“Good evening.” From moment one, the newcomer’s eyes were on Zenkichi. Her pupils changed into sparkles, and a smile flitted across her otherwise placid face, but she composed herself a second later. Seeing Grimm and the Witch, she bowed her head respectfully. “I am the archangel Sandalphon, servant of the Illian Church. In the past I have led the Apostles of Grams, the Apostolic Knights of Laterano, and the YoRHa subunit of DespoRHado Enforcement, LLC. It would be my pleasure to welcome you to our organization, and aid you from here on out.” Releasing her microphone, she took her satchel in hand, opened it to reveal a number of [url=https://i.imgur.com/wbOaODE.png]drab nylon packs[/url], and then placed it on the ground. “Everyone, please take and affix a Fulton device, then prepare for ascension.”

Sandalphon’s odd eyes, which had yet to blink, settled on the Witch’s zombies. “I’m afraid we don’t have enough Fultons to bring along your…entourage.” With a wave of her hand, the stone step beneath her turned cerulean blue. Then in a single, fluid motion she flipped her staff around, and fired a bolt of ether from the hip. It shot straight through a zombie’s eye, and with a groan it slumped to the ground. “Since we are not scheduled to return here, we should eliminate any potential hazards,” the archangel explained impassively. Another pull of the trigger, and the Witch’s second zombie was dead once more.

Her decisive action elicited a raised eyebrow from Goldlewis, who resumed putting on his Fulton once the bodies hit the floor. “These damn things. Still ain’t used to ‘em.” He shrugged in resignation, then cleared his throat.  “Ahem. Just put it on, pull the cord, and keep your eyes shut. If you don’t pass out…well, don’t look down.” Yet again Grimm didn’t know what he was looking at, but if he had any concerns, the troupe master didn’t voice them. Instead he reached a long arm down and selected a Fulton that he lifted by one edge held between his bladelike claws. As he mimicked Goldlewis in order to put it on, the veteran furrowed his brows. “Come to think of it, ain’t you got a circus to run? You’re fine just leavin’ all your buddies behind?”

The question didn’t seem to bother Grimm. [color=ef6069]“We all have our parts to play. Even if the flames beckon us in different directions, our paths will surely converge. Just as they always have.”[/color]

One by one, the Seekers fastened on their Fultons and yanked their cords. From each device, a balloon exploded outward and inflated incredibly quickly, and a second after each reached its full size, it yanked its wearer skyward at terrifying -and somewhat comical- speeds. Goldlewis blacked out once again, and not even Grimm could withstand the absurd g-force. Sandalphon, meanwhile, just watched them go, and after the final one shot up into the night, she simply teleported back from whence she came.

Goldlewis regained his senses in a long, spacious room that resembled a hangar, albeit one with a very low roof. Just as he remembered it, it contained plenty of navigation equipment, racks of Fulton devices, four Hellpod launching systems, and the belt of pods that fed into it. This was the [url=https://i.imgur.com/0KIazOQ.png]Deployment Bay[/url], which along with the steady hum of alien engines and the subtle movement of the metal floor beneath his feet, indicated that he was back aboard the Avenger at last. He and the others had been picked up and deposited in the belly of the beast–how, he wasn’t quite sure, but the veteran figured neither he nor anyone else needed to know. The fact that it worked reliably was good enough. It had been almost a week since he last set foot aboard this [url=https://i.imgur.com/FBmHQb4.png]titanic airship[/url]. Given his past aboard military vessels he’d adjusted pretty well, and figured he would again, but the new initiates (who he guessed came from fantasy worlds) would probably need some help.

“Welcome aboard.” Once Sandalphon teleported in, she assumed the task of newcomer orientation. “This is the Avenger, our mobile base of operations. Think of it like a flying fortress. It comes equipped with various amenities, including living quarters, restrooms, a mess haul, and various workshops with different specialties. Please feel free to explore within reason and speak to the Lost Numbers, should you have any questions or concerns.” She pointed Grimm and the Witch toward an [url=https://i.imgur.com/0SyTZou.png]interior map[/url] on the wall. “It is likely that your first mission will start tomorrow.” 

Intrigued, Goldlewis crossed his arms. “Y’all got the rain issue figured out?”

The archangel nodded. “We believe so. I’ll relate the details during tomorrow’s brief.” With that, she turned to leave. “If you need me, I’ll be in the communications center. We have two more pickups to coordinate tonight.” Realizing how late she’d be up, yet again, Sandalphon let out an uncharacteristic sigh. “I should requisition another serving of coffee.”