[IC] The War of the Three

[TheWendil]

~Bastion~
^{Current Location: In Route to the Portal}

Even this far away from the main conflict, Bastion could feel the slight shift in gravity. Her eyes widened just a little with the tingling of her footsteps becoming that much heavier as she ran for her destination. To be able to generate that amount of power…it was frightening to think what kind of force was out there on the front lines. Even so, she had a mission to complete and she would do it without distraction.

Being fed information from the maids, Bastion found the quickest way towards an entrance and zipped forward. As she ran, the four remaining STLTH Units around her activated their camouflage, images invisible to the naked eye; combined with their fast-moving action, it would be quite difficult to pick up their signatures directly. That assured, she checked her locations and realized she wasn’t too far away from Hibiki and Shizuka but what caught her concern was the big and sudden rumbling that shook all of Alt Signia.

Given how violent the jerks were, she could tell that the source of the rumbles was nearby. Had someone already made it inside and was sabotaging the furnaces within? Before she could have time to verify that, the sound of squishing wetness rang in her ears. She grimaced, only to look around and realize that the darkened tunnel she was running in was full of maggots. Lots of maggots.

“Disgusting,” she muttered, unaware of the silent head nods her STLTH Units gave her in response. With a deft motion of her hands, she released the sniper rifle latched behind her back and took aim while still in motion. Firing off a single bullet, she shot at an angle towards the nearest maggot; a chain reaction would follow, the bullet ricocheting off the walls and killing as many of the damn things as possible.

The bullet would keep going in front of her, making sure her group wouldn’t run into more of the nuisances. At the end of the tunnel, the bullet entered a wide-open room and zipped right by a familiar dragon’s ear. Bastion narrowed her eyes and halted in her pursuit, coming face to face with Diana of all people.

Back in the battlefield, the two still invisible STLTH Units furrowed their eyes behind their visors. The two causing the most destruction on the field was the Eclipse Princess and one of their own, Grafdakka. Analyzing the shift in gravity, their top running speed was greatly reduced, sensors picking up the large power disruption coming from Juno. Right then. Let Grafdakka handle her while they pick off the small fry.

Thus, the two of them split off. One of them zipped around the battleground, throwing a barrage of sharp kunai that were aimed right for Omega and Tartys; whether they would be able to dodge or deflect was determinant on their ability to fight invisible foes. The second STLTH Unit spotted a peculiar Angel afoot and rushed towards them with sword in hand, ready to dual with the Flower of Death himself.

---

@KoL, @Flamelord, @Awesomoman64, @LHudson, @Lonewolf685

[The 42nd Gecko]

Miyu

Was the deads. Oops.

[Flamelord]

Tartys

For some time Tartys' existence was pain, the feeling like a sledgehammer was pounding at her skull in an unrelenting reverberation that shook her body. Her thoughts were muddled, and there was a ringing in her ears that made it hard to hear anything. Eventually she did manage to haul herself back to her feet though, body swaying slightly as streaks of blood ran down the side of her face from her wound. Dull eyes looked over the battlefield as it developed, while the angel herself focused on dealing with the pain and everything else.

Her teammates weren't much help there, sadly, acting as if she hadn't just been shot in the head. Sure, it wasn't lethal to the point where she was dead, but it did take her out of it for a while. That was why she needed a minute or so of staring dumbly at the armor that had been tossed her way before she could grab it, trying to figure out some way to make it work with her spear.

Just in time too as she found that the robot she had previously disabled was not actually dead, and she shook her head as she jumped back, wings flapping to try and get out of range of it so she could better recover and fight back. That worked well enough until suddenly it felt like she got heavier, and was sent plummeting to the ground, along with everything else nearby as the gravity increased courtesy of the Eclipse Princess. For being their 'ally' she was doing a very good job of explaining why she had been locked up earlier.

"Gah!" She tumbled as she hit the ground, to find that the robot was still coming at them and there was even more to worry about. Her anger and frustration grew before at last she lashed out, slamming the butt of her spear into the ground as she panted. A dome of light appeared around her and Omega, protecting them for the moment so they could recover and otherwise allow the Killa Kan to blow up without there being a problem.

Not that it came up totally in time as a kunai sank into her other arm, earning a cry and pretty much rendering the limb useless. "This could have gone better," she grunted to herself as she got back to her feet, maintaining the shimmering barrier for the moment. "Any plans?"

@KoL@Lucius Cypher@Mega Birb@Awesomoman64@TheWindel

[LHudson]

- FLOS - THE FLOWER OF DEATH -

Didn't take long for the monstrosity to eye the angel and act upon it. The distance helped Flos determine a predicable move, and dropped Gaze in favour of Machina technology. Small arms extended from his left arm, and with the garish electricity emitting from it, was able to take down the projectiles that hit it's front. He tucked in his wings, but the pain he felt on his arm and shoulder were growing. The technology was useful, but it was clear it wasn't meant for Angels. The projectiles stopped, but when the shield dropped he saw what approached.

Sharp lift upward, and one of the flaming monstrosities arms hit the Gaze. The quick scrape gave off bright sparks, though another managed to slice the angel's foot. He'll live, but the sharp pain caused him to wince as he catapulted himself in the air.

Eyes closed, sister joining her twin, and both hands now of the Gaze. Slow breaths, the blade shone brighter by the second, before the Flower of Death opened his eyes and twisted his body.

"Give your queen my regards," he muttered, before he arched the blade to emit the slice it built. The large, bright edge shot downwards towards his enemy as he landed on the floor. His foot was in pain, but he would fight. It was what he wanted, and he would savour the opportunity. Didn't take long for another opportunity to come along. Another foolish monstrosity, smaller, so be it. He clutched the Gaze, two seconds, and it's wrath shot towards it.

@Lucius Cypher @TheWindel

[Awesomoman64]

Omega

After firing a few more times towards the airship, Omega noticed that the sniper had yet to return fire. Either he had somehow nailed him from this distance or was close enough to keep him suppressed. Either way, it was working. That was until a certain Killa Kan came back even after it’s armor had been ripped away and used as cover. Even more bad news was it finally got it through it’s head that bullets didn’t work and opted for another approach; attacking with a holy blade.

Omega raised his guns just in time to catch the blade with his own. ”Well now. Where did you get something like that?” he asked noting the heavenly origin of the Kan’s saw. Holy alloys were something only angels had immediate access too. Sure a shipment or two could be intercepted every now and then, but usually not enough to be mass produced on bots such as this. Omega would have to look into this when the battle was over, but for now, it was time to put this one down for good. Twisting his guns he managed to point the barrels at the machine while keeping its saw at bay. Once they were lined up with its shoulder join, Omega pulled the triggers and blasted its arm clean off.

With no armor or way to block, Omega unloaded into the Kan hoping to finally drop this thing. But of course things are never that simple. Before he could confirm the machines death a flurry of kunai shot out of nowhere. Had Tartys not placed a shield over him at just that moment they would have struck him, though whether or not they would actually hurt him was still in question as they didn’t look magical at all.

Ready for another fight Omega scanned the area to find the ones who threw the kunai, but instead found Tartys badly wounded and surrounded. ”TARTYS! Dammit all!” Omega cursed at his own stupidity. Sure he was fine facing all these physical attacks, but Tartys and the others were very much vulnerable and he had done nothing to keep them safe. Well, it was time to fix that. ”Tartys.” He called to the angel, ”Close your eyes.”

Once he made sure her eyes were covered, Omega unleashed Heavenly Light, becoming a beacon of pure light. Anyone unfortunate enough to even glance at the spirit would be instantly blinded or have their optics completely overloaded. Hopefully this would disorient their enemies enough to give them the advantage or an opportunity for a quick escape.

@Flamelord@Lucius Cypher@Mega Birb@TheWindel

[KoL]

Eclipse Princess
^{Current Location: Alt Signia, Outer Ramparts}

Before Grafdaka even had the chance to try to raise up from the gravity field and face Juno using the power of his eyes, a series of disturbances ended with Henry standing atop the black metal giant, adding the power of his own eyes to the hulkig abomination that Grafdaka was becoming. How did they even overcame Juno's power and kept on dragging parts to him like that? The limits of Graf and Endian's powers intrigued Princess, the smile in her face made it too evident.

Either way, Henry's interruption wasn't a welcome one, when Juno wished to have a fight with the reputed Machina champion. The interference of a cocky Demon that thought too high of himself was the last thing she wanted. However, if Henry too wanted to face her, there was no reason to turn him down. Even if Grafdaka's idea of adding Balrog's and Henry's power to his own should actually make him weaker against Juno, the addition of a second set of special eyes more than made up for it.

"You are really determined annoy me by letting those conceited fools do as they wish, right? At least you could have thrown Queen Hildr or that Alchemist at me, if you wanted me to go all out just for your pleasure, instead of those... buffoons." Juno said to none in particular, even if she was sure a certain masked man who was even now observing the conflicts ensuing on his "playground" got the message either way, which was totally her intention, to begin with.

"You have earned what you wanted. If you wanted to see how strong I can really be without even having to rely on 'His' gifts, you achieved it." The moment Juno said that, all of Alt Signia rumbled, the very air and the earth resonating with the infinite void that was visible on the Nexus' skies. The gravity around the Fortress got so strong that it almost looked like the surface had turned into the bottom of abyssal depths of the Sea of Ruthria, crushing rocks and downing planes as Juno's aura expanded and shaped itself in a serpent no less impressive than the Leviathan --perhaps much more-- before collapsing, enveloping her in a coccon of warped space.

What emerged from the rift was a completely different Juno, her eyes filled with nothing but hatred and power seeping from every of her pores, not so say anything of the fact that she had a much greater deal of skin exposed, as if defense didn't mattered for this form at all. "I'm the end of all that exists and the beginning of all nothingness. To face me is to face oblivion itself. Get ready to meet your end on my hands for I'm Jormungandr, the Serpent of the World, Master of Space and you are... nothing."

Jorm finished her introduction by suddenly dispelling the gravity field, liberating the potential energy it accumulated in the form of a titanic explosion of kinetic force that rocked the mountain to it's very core. Following that, she disappeard from where she stood and appeared behind Henry in the blink of an eye. Endian's sensors would be able detect it that Juno hadn't teleported, but instead moved with extreme speed, to the point of leaving after images behind her as she flash stepped.

"..." Without a word, Juno extended her open palm at point-blank to Henry's face and let the collapsing gravity crush the air around them into plasma and then the plasma into degenerate neutron matter, all in the span of a moment, letting the power waver to free a miniature Gamma ray burst in Henry's face, knowing that Endian's Dimensional Anchor would make it impossible for Henry to try to use his Gates of Tartarus to absorb the lethal dose of million degrees hot radioactive matter. Well now, if such an ability such as blocking teleportation and interdimensional movement wasn't a double edged sword...

To not leave any openings, Juno finished her assault with a spinning attack from Raison d'Être that rippled through the air, extending the range of the slash far being the blade's edge, to be sure that she would bisect Henry unless he was really that good of dodger.

Diana
^{Current Location: Alt Signia, The Forge}

BGM

Diana traversed the majority of Alt Signia unnoticed, avoiding to run into any opposing force that might have penetrated the fortress as she made her way to the Portal Room, though it wasn't until she reached the the heart of the Alt Signia, the place known as The Forge that Diana ran out of luck.

"What the!?" Diana yelled as she was brought to a sudden halt, throwing herself on the floor to avoid
a bullet she heard zipping by her on the very last moment. Even then, the rogue was left with an impromptu ear piercing as she scampered around, getting back to her feet and looking for the source of the deadly shot.

As yet more shockwaves rocked the mountain with their sheer force, Diana saw the last person she thought she would see here on Alt Signia. "Ba-Bastion? What are you doing here?" Diana's question would be answered not by her friend, but by a couple of the androids that accompanied Bastion charging in to eliminate the threat before their eyes. Diana dodged at the last moment again, as her draconic senses let her hear the invisible blades threatened to slice her in half moments before they hit her. "I see. I thought this would happen someday, but I hoped it could be later." Diana replied as she used the moment of her dodge to hit one of the robots with her tail and parry the next incoming blade with Ascalon.

The strength of the STHLT unit was enough to launch the poor footed Diana a few meters away, put the rogue used her tail to grab a hold of a chain in a display of agility more proper for a monkey than a dragon. Slashing the chain with Ascalon, rocketed Diana up to the shadows of the above bridges from where she could cast her voice all over the room using the echo. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Bastion, but this time, I can't let you go away."

"If you are not going to retreat, then be prepared to fight!" Somehow, Diana ended her statement by appearing behind Bastion, trying to grab to other girl from behind and use her as a "hostage" against the STHL units, even though it was obvious that Diana wouldn't simply stab her friend through the neck, thought Diana could always hope that the robots would buy it.

At least one of her plans had to work in the end, after all, damn it!

Meanwhile, in another part of Alt Signia, a bit away from the chaos of the battlefield. Miyu would find a, up to now unknown, backdoor tunnel that probably lead to the insides of the fortress, away from all prying eyes. The exact nature of the place where it led was yet unknown, but for sure it would be better than her current predicament.

At the very least it was a good place to rest as long as it didn't collapse over her head with all those earthquakes, that is.

---

^{@TheWindel, @LHudson, @floodtalon, @The 42nd Gecko, @Mega Birb, @Awesomoman64, @Ryonara, @Flamelord, @Lucius Cypher, @Lonewolf685.}

[The 42nd Gecko]

@KoL

Miyu

Was the deads. Ooops.

[Lonewolf685]

Suparna Wolgen

---

It was clear that Suparna was not alone in her infiltration, though she had the unique benefit of still being undetected despite the presence of maggots being discovered. The Whole was just that, a collective intrinsically joined together in harmonious communication and connection, so Suparna could witness the egress of Bastion and Diana desperate efforts to reach the treasures that everyone else sought to destroy. Even more surprising was the detection of the invisible figures following in Bastion's wake, for no matter how silent they may be, the footfalls of Machine could still be felt in the ground by the tiny maggots they disturbed.

She almost laughed when Bastion decided the best coarse of action to deal with creatures as small as the pad of your finger was to shoot them with a high caliber rifle, an exercise that was far less effective then simply stepping on them like everyone else did. Watching. Waiting. Suparna could have stayed in concealment, and anonymity, until after the old friends had their battle, but she didn't feel like it.

It wasn't because the explosions up above were a cause for concern, or that the sudden halt in the forges processes had alarmed her. On the contrary, Suparna could leave at that very moment and be assured that the Demons had won this day as Alt Signia would surely be ravaged beyond use by the battle above. By their own conditions of victory, the Demons would be successful if the supplies were destroyed or stolen by them, and the former would certainly come to pass when the structures collapsed atop them and flooded with lava from the bursting pipes.

Ironically, for all Miyu's efforts, the Angels and Machina were the ones to build the bigger bomb that would level this installation, which was a far greater loss of production for Heaven then a lump sum of resources. Now all that was left to do was get some personal satisfaction in form Bastion, Diana, and those cat eared STLTH units.

Both sides of the stand off had already noticed that every tunnel they took there was crawling with maggots, but only know while they were embroiled in their conflict did they surge outwards en masse, a veritable ride of tiny teeth and wriggling bodies to carpet the floor. No longer passively allowing themselves to be trodden upon, the tens of thousands of maggots would all throw themselves into burrowing into their prey and infest the body from within.

With all eyes on each other or the more blatant show of force by the tide of carrion, none would be the wiser to those the clung to ceiling in a wall of solid white that was so still it could almost be considered the natural paint job, except for the black eyes of Suparna staring down upon them from within Chirada's embrace. I'm looking forward to dining on Dragon tonight.

---

@KoL@TheWindel

[Mega Birb]

Torag Draken

While he walked for the center of the forge, Torag glanced around at the dwarves running about frantically. Each of them was busy with one task or another as the mountain rumbled once more, summing up the threat they were all under for the moment. Sure, everyone in the Nexus was essentially immortal, although locations didn't have that luxury. Everyone here would be fighting to defend this place, the smiths included. The wraith looked up slightly as a swelling pipe a few feet above and behind him suddenly burst, and maggots around the size of coins began to pour like water out of the brass tubes. One of the dwarves that had been arming himself was the first victim of the rain, getting covered in the grubs and screaming in agony while they burrowed into his skin. The commander looked on in disgust and stopped a small group of his companions from advancing to help their friend. "Those insects are covered in a demonic taint... the Queen of Carrion must be nearby. Avoid those things at all costs, unless you can get the lavaflow working again and purge the halls." How he knew that was a possibility was a mystery to all, although that was a secondary goal for now. He turned and continued on his path to the central chamber, intent to kill whatever intruder had gotten in and disabled Alt Signia.

He soon came to a door made of bloodstone with golden dwarvish writing, indicating the central chamber to be beyond it, and a warning to not go in without the proper equipment. He grasped the handle and forced the door inwards, only to find the hall to be full of maggots. He grimaced as they started a slow advance towards him, giving him time to figure out the best way to deal with this infestation. "This is why I hate demons... this is exactly why I was a priest!" He grasped his scythe and raised it over his head, then slammed it into the ground. A series of cracks formed in the ground outwards from the point of impact, covering the entire hall and soon blasting everything with an intense light, burning everything in the vicinity with a demonic taint to a crisp. The Harbinger of Light proceeded on his way, now up to his ankles in the burned carcasses of maggots. At the end of this hall was the central chamber, which apparently already had Diana and Bastion attempting to kill each other for one reason or another. He stood as still as the grave for a brief moment, drawing his claymore from the scabbard on his back and stepping forward. "Now, this is a fair fight." He nodded to Diana and took up a proper fighting stance, tightening his grip on both his weapons.

@Lonewolf685@KoL@TheWindel

[Flood]

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

@KoL

---

Henry quickly constructed a massive wall in front of him in an attempt to block the massive rush of kinetic energy that was attempting to atomize him. The wall was blown apart but luckily it absorbed enough impact to only make the force a solid punch to the gut. He began coughing slightly and his eyes widened as he shuddered in fear. Fear and excitement.

Henry turned around immediately knowing she would try the obvious sneak attack, backing his head away from her palm as she pressed it into his face. "Rude." He opened a Gate of Tartarus in response to the mass flow of radioactive goo, closing the Gate immediately in preparation for another attack. His forethought was rewarded when Princess swung at him in an attempt to bisect him. Henry opened a portal at the side she swung from, but with a twist.

Air began to violently rush into the portal, attempting to wrench her blade put of her hands. "What do you think? I sectioned off a portion of my pocket dimension like a vacuum. It's like opening a door in space!" If he actually managed to steal her sword, the portal would close and reopen next to her head, shooting the sword out at nearly 500 MPH in an attempt to stab her with her own blade. Meanwhile Henry was just going to go for a punch to the gut to see what would happen.

[Ryonara]

Hibiki & Shizuka

Hibiki sneaked up on one of the angels on patrols, deftly grabbing him by his helmet and snapping his neck. She laid him down gently so he didn’t make a noise before turning around the corner just as Tatiana attacked, shooting down one of the angels with her new biotic rifle. When her bullet hit her target, the nanomachines inside reacted to the angel’s body and began to break it down, first numbing his body before corroding his flesh and armor like acid. Fortunately it was a quick, painless death, and he died by the time he landed. The last target was taken out with a shot from Shizuka’s rifle, gun down at the same time as the other two girls. With the angels dealt with they moved in.

Hibiki immediately started to set up the area as a defensible position. She had her drones set up fortifications and reinforcing the walls, to prevent any unexpected entrances via explosions or particularly sharp swords. She also set up her Bastion turrets towards the entrance to turn that into a kill zone, as well as putting them in a defensible location to handle counter fire. Lastly she laid a few explosives around, making sure to inform the others of their location so they could avoid them or use them.

But as Hibiki was doing that, Shizuka realized something was wrong. ”Hibiki, the teleporter isn’t working!” Hibiki turned to her sister just as she received some messages from Queen Eos. This mission just got a lot more complicated. Hibiki forwarded the message to the others and explained the situation to her sister and Titiana. ”Not good. Looks like someone went ahead to shut off that power source from before. A volcanic eruption will make air extraction harder for us, and without any power in this place we’ll have to force or find our way around obstructions.” If this place was anything like the Elicitor, direct pathways to critical areas were likely blocked off, and with the power core down they wouldn’t be opening any time soon.

Shizuka only had more bad news to add. ”And… I can’t get the teleporter to work. This circle must have been connected to that power source, and if it’s off I… Well…” Looking at her sister Hibiki was wondering what Shizuka was hesitating about. She walked over to her sister, her voice filled with both concern and authority. ”Shizuka…” Shizuka looked at Hibiki and continued as she examined the runes on the teleporter panel. ”I could… Use all my strength to power the teleporter. Over charge it and teleport everything in this room back to mother base. I’ll still take over the teleporter and prevent the angels from using it, but I can only do it once. And once I do it, the teleporter won’t work again.”

This meant that they wouldn’t be able to take back all the supplies here at the base. While they could take everything in this room, which was quite a lot, the angels could still make use of what supplies they had in other parts of the facility. But not if this place was Destoryed. So hibiki had to change her plans.

”How long will it take you to do this?”

”Ten minutes.”

”Then we have ten minutes to finish our mission. Tatiana, you and I will head to the core that Dawnbreaker had told me and see if we can destroy this place through it. Our plan to take over the teleporter and steal all the supplies won’t be possible, but we’ll take what we can and burn the rest.”

As Shizuka began the ritual to take over the teleporter, Hibiki handed out some barrier bombs. They weren't as good as actual combat armor, certainly not like the armor the maids usually wear to battle, but it was better than nothing. It would provide some kinetic protection as well as immunity to extreme temperatures and suffocation. However all these things could be overpowered with sufficient strength or if the barrier device is destroyed, not to mention that this bomb only works for five minutes. Hibiki was about to leave when she stopped with Titiania. ”I'm going to go on ahead stealth. I'll send you a constant feed of my location so you can keep up. I'll warn you ahead of time if I find any danger so we can move around them.” Giving Titiana her signature maid smile, Hibiki activated her Stealth field and vanished.

As she was leaving the teleporter room Hibiki tried to contact Eos again. Hibiki was certain that she could try and plant her demolition charges in the lava core and cause it to go critical, though she had to be careful not to destroy herself in the process. Granted, destroying the entire fortress also completed their objective but she wanted to get something out of it. ”Dawnbreaker, this is Commander Hibiki. Due to unforeseen circumstances there has been a slight change in plans. Commander Shizuka will only be able to activate the teleporter once, where we will try to bring back as many supplies as we can. I am en route to the power source you spoke of and intend to utilize it for the destruction of Alt Signia. Do you have any intel that would assist me?”

While the others left Shizuka was in the middle of her ritual, entering a trance to take over the teleporter. She wouldn’t need to be actively trancing for the entire ten minutes, but she would need to stay nearby, at least within the room. While at the same time she activated a few of her other rituals as well, namely her Wings. Both these things wouldn’t occur immediately, but she could trance for all three rituals at once. Closing her eyes and kneeling in prayer, Shizuka began chanting.

"Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi..."

@Flamelord@KoL

[The 42nd Gecko]

Miyu

Was the deads. Ooops.

[TheWendil]

~Bastion~
^{Current Location: Alt Signia, The Forge}

“I could ask you the same thing and still wouldn’t get an answer that satisfies me Diana,” the Machina soldier said, glaring down the dragon like a bitter enemy. Her STLTH Units moved on their own, invisible flows in the air rippling as they lunged forward at Diana with swipes of their blade. Bastion would casually walk around the fight, eyes tracing to the massive forges of energy that housed the spoils and treasures of Ruthria.

“Our mission boils down to two objectives. Either obtain the power that was stolen from us in Ruthria or simply destroy it to cripple the Angels. You’ve done a good job of the latter Diana but I would still like to come out of this battle with something to show for it,” Bastion said in the face of the dragon’s announcements. Reaching into her pocket, she revealed several small disks.

With a flick of her hand, the tools would move on their own and latch onto the forges directly, immediately draining away the energy. Storage devices specifically meant to syphon away power; so, that was Bastion’s true mission. The meltdown occurring would halt, at least temporarily so that the draining toys could do their dark work.

“Gahh!” said Bastion, suddenly held tersely by Diana. The STLTH Units paused in their actions, slowly turning their invisibility off one by one. “You think that’s enough to stop me?” Bastion said before swiftly delivering her elbow into the dragon’s gut. Twisting around, she forced Diana’s right arm behind her back and kicked her legs out, placing the dragon on her knees.

With a twirl of her hand, she unholstered a pistol by her side and aimed the muzzle right at Diana’s head. Yet the sound of her STLTH Units reacting distracted her from doing the grisly deed and she looked around them to notice they were surrounded by maggots. Hundreds and hundreds of maggots. At once the cyborgs created a perimeter around human and dragon, slashing away at inhuman speeds, barring all from making passage.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked up to see the gargantuan bird corpse staring back at them. So they thought she could be taken as a fool? Glaring, her right, red eye slowly morphed into a shade of brilliant gold and soon a burst of fire the same coloration would ignite right Chirada was perched. Or it would have, had the sudden rumble of power not made her almost trip, the flames exploding just a few inches from Chirada.

“What the hell is going on up there?” she growled, raising a hand up to open communications to someone from the surface. “Grafdaka, pick up now. This is the Queen’s Treasure. I don’t know what’s going on but deal with it and do it quickly. Team up with the opposing faction if you have to, just kill it and kill it hard,” she said, not going to let Juno’s temper tantrum ruin the energy collecting process. That taken care of, she looked up to Chirada and launched another explosion of golden fire. This time she wouldn’t miss.

That was when she finally noticed Torag's impending form heading straight for her. Really not in the mood right now, she gave the bag of bones a dark glare, her left, blue eye heating up to the hue of a bright silver. Be it Angels or Demons, the Machina would prevail. It was time to show why the Queen's Treasure was so highly sought over in the haunting Battle of Dianex.

At the actual battlefield, the first STLTH Unit paused as it made direct contact, letting its image show just once before dashing forward once more. The enemy had raised a barrier around themselves but that wouldn’t hold for long. As such, the cyborg zipped from all sides, tossing shurikens all over at Tartys and Omega. But at once a flash of brilliant light halted the machine in its tracks and it stumbled forward. While it was rolling forward, the kunai it had thrown were still a factor. Some of them would be halted by the barrier, and yet some would shred away at the magic, digging deeper and deeper into the protected interior until it would find its mark. It was only a matter of time.

The second STLTH Unit was busy engaging with Flos, to which the cyborg now revealed its visibility. Quite frankly it didn’t see this Angel as a challenge given how he was fighting alone. Unless one had extraordinary power, it was dangerous to do such a thing in a solitary fashion in the Nexus. As such, the Machina lunged forward with blade in hand, ready to strike.

And as for Miyu…well, her prayers would be answered but perhaps not in the form she was expecting. A brilliant flash of light would shine down upon her before a strange new tool would manifest in her hands. As if that would solve all her problems. She should have known better since the Imperator was a busy woman and didn’t have time for prayer. The shield would have to make do for now. But it wasn’t just any shield. It was a magic shield. Made of magic.

---

@KoL, @Flamelord, @Awesomoman64, @LHudson, @Lonewolf685, @The 42nd Gecko, @Lucius Cypher, @Mega Birb

[Mega Birb]

Torag Draken

Torag's looming figure paused ever so slightly when he stepped into the forge proper, and he looked around from under his hood. The first thing he noticed, of course, was the kneeling figure of Diana with a gun to her head. Secondary to this was the heterochromic eyes sported by her captor, the infamous Bastion. One of her eyes glowed a bright silver, and the other a dull gold, truly something unique. Lastly, he took note of the four catgirls in latex jumpsuits that looked ready to kill the world and the demon clinging to the ceiling. By the look of it, everyone in the room had something the other wanted, and he knew they would all attempt to take it from each other. Torag himself could take the STLTH Units, their swords would be unlikely to pierce his armor unless they went to stab at a joint, and the kunai they had were virtually useless against him. Bastion, on the other hand... the rifle on her back could probably punch straight through his breastplate, all things considered. The demon suspended from the high ceiling wasn't an issue, given he could get her down here. There was only one option available in which Heaven wouldn't suffer a total loss, a trick he's rarely used since his initial death.

"Queen's Treasure, Queen of Carrion, it seems we've reached an impasse. Drop your weapons and release your hostages, and we'll talk this out." This demand was mostly directed towards Bastion and her entourage of assassins, though he let Bloodletter clatter to the floor beside him as a show of good faith. His claymore, however, still remained in his left hand. "If we reach an agreement, I'll make sure you leave with a fair amount of the resources from Ruthria." He stood on edge, knowing he'd likely have a single move to save himself and the battle if things went awry. For all intents and purposes, all the weapons in the room were pointed at him.

@TheWindel@Lonewolf685@KoL

[Flamelord]

Tartys

The pounding against her barrier did not do Tartys any favors as she struggled to maintain it, doing her best to keep it up as long as possible. That would give Omega time to deal with all the foes that they were currently up against, something desperately needed with the sudden assault. It was just a pity that it had to be the Machina, given their magic would be less effective against them.

Power seemed to drain away, but she was nonetheless cognizant enough to hear his demand, as she closed her eyes and merely focused on the barrier. Yet even with her eyes closed she could still see some trace of the light that illuminated the area beyond, she just managed to not take the full brunt of it. Thank goodness for small favors, though they would have to see whether that made a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Not that she had the chance to find out, for just as it faded away she was practically floored by a sudden surge in gravity, hitting the ground with a grunt. With the shock, and the impact of the kunai, the barrier couldn't hold up and she allowed it to fade away rather than try and maintain it in such a weakened state. It wouldn't do any real good except tire her out further.

Her eye blinking rapidly against the blood and dust that sought to try and blind her, Tartys grabbed her spear and hauled herself back to her feet, facing down the area that they attacks had come from. "The enemy is invisible," she huffed as she stumbled a bit. But it didn't stop her as she drew on what power she still had access to, glimmering light manifesting on the tip of her spear as she gestured it in that direction.

Rays of light shot out, a spiraling kaleidoscope of burning heat that was aimed at covering as much ground as possible in order to hit the invisible target. She could only hope that it landed, and that Omega could take advantage of it to finish the thing off.

@Awesomoman64@TheWindel@KoL

---

Tatiana Lorenz

Well, it wasn't her energy rifles but this biotic rifle would do, Tatiana supposed as she and her companions secured the teleporter room for themselves, with little opposition from the guards that were present. With the area under their control they went about securing it, with her scouting to make sure there wasn't anyone hiding around the place while the others set up more permanent defenses for the room. Speed was still of the essence here.

But really at this point there wasn't much to do. Not for her anyway. She was just here to provide some security while they handled the teleporter, and given that there wasn't anything attacking them at the moment she thought she did it quite well. Hopefully they'd get to actually fight someone, rather than all this sneaking around soon.

Then they hit a snag. Tatiana walked over as Hibiki explained the situation, the fact that the teleporter was no longer functional because someone decided to mess with the power, which had in turn set this entire place to explode. That seemed like a serious design flaw from her point of view, but she didn't think they'd let her lodge a complaint about it. "I guess it was too much to expect that this would be easy," she noted aloud.

Still, it seemed they had a backup plan. They just had ten minutes and could only teleport once. Fortunately Shizuka would be fine once the mountain exploded, so Tatiana didn't feel too bad about leaving her behind. Instead she nodded to Hibiki as the commander explained their new mission. "Sounds good to me," she agreed as she holstered the barrier bomb and watched Hibiki go ahead of her to scout the way.

She gave the girl a good ten count before moving after her, the other feed popping up in her HUD as she followed with rifle at he ready for any threats that appeared. They were on the clock now so they had better move fast, something emphasized as she felt the entire mountain itself shake in a manner that was not natural. Just what was going on up there?

@Ryonara

[KoL]

Eclipse Princess
^{Current Location: Alt Signia, Outer Ramparts}

"Ho? Space, you say?" Juno smirked. Perhaps Henry didn't heard her introduction, or was just being his usual self-centered, arrogant prick, but if he wanted to brag about spatial powers, the Snake of the World would be more than glad to remember he who was the master of all space and gravity.

The sword that Henry stole would turn to be a veritable Trojan horse. With a snap of Juno's fingers, the blade returned to it's original form, undoing the highly compressed layers of void that made up the entirety of Raison d'Être. The blast of expanding space inside of Henry's gate caused its walls to tear apart thanks to the sheer amount of energy liberated by Raison d'Être's burst.

The tears vomited the contents of the Gate of Tartarus' bowels into the ground earth beneath them, Juno's powers working like a bar lock that forbid the fissures from being closed, no doubt to Henry's great frustration but, Juno wasn't done yet. To rub salt on the wound, Juno threw an unstable black hole inside of the Gate, torching a good portion of Henry's goods, before they could even leave their storage.

Death may be cheap on the Nexus, but that kind of aggravated insult could very well last forever within one's mind. Juno knew that all too well and the smile of satisfaction on her face made it quite clear. "Next time, think twice before placing a blade made to cut through spatial barriers, inside of a pocket dimension." Seemed to be written all over her face.

Given that she was outside of the range of Endian's Dimensional Anchor, Juno teleported to over Henry's head and fell, letting the gravity add power to the roundhouse kick she aimed at him, only to disappear a fraction of a moment before making contact and rematerialize behind Henry, to avoid his silver barriers with her agility.

If the kick connected, the strength of it would be enough to send Henry flying and burrow him on the rocky side of Alt Signia.

Diana
^{Current Location: Alt Signia, The Forge}

"Ghh!" Diana gasped as the wind was knocked out of her by Bastion's elbow hit. Her mind was still dizzy when the events of the fight turned all too crazy all of a sudden and then, the world turned upside down.

It took a few moments for Diana to make out the she was under Bastion's aim, while Torag, Suparna and Bastion were locked in a stand-off. How did such a simple mission turned so chaotic? To make it worse, Alt Signia was rambling stronger than before. But, if Bastion's machine's slowed the meltdown of the lava core, what was causing those rumbles? Did something catastrophic happened on the battlefront?

Either way, Diana didn't had much time to think. Torag was proposing a sort of truce and Diana had no reason to not go along with it fo the time being. If they could avoid the need to kill everyone here it would be much to her liking than any other victory at the spence of people's lives.

"I-I can stop the eruption for good... If you promise me that you will keep your word. Otherwise everyone here will lose." Diana said out between groans, as the dizziness began to leave her head slowly.

"Commander Hibiki, this is Dawnbreaker. According to my calculations the charges you have won't be able to make it, unless you place then by the inner core, otherwise you'll just cause the lava flow to leak before the rupture point is reached." Eos replied to Hibiki's first question pausing for a moment.

"Thermal readings indicate that the temperature of the inner core is close is close to 3.000 degrees, absolute scale. The internal pressure is of 5 atmospheres." After another moment of pause, Eos added. "Structural analysis indicates that there must be a control rod, probably made of thermoresistant material that can shutdown the heat to bearable levels and reestablish the power to Point Hephaestus. That's all the information I have at the moment. Proceed with caution."

Following that, Eos contacted all the Machina units engaged with the Angels on the outside of Alt Signia. "Attention, all Units. If the Snake of the World is not incapacitated before the remaining Angels have the chance to storm Point Hephaestus, all out efforts in this conflict will come to naught. Forge a truce with our enemies if need be. Given that Unit Krieg has been impaired mentally, command will be given to Marquis. Killing the target is highly unlikely to happen, but if you inflict a crippling wound, she is bound to retire from the battle."

Meanwhile, Miyu would come into one more choice on her quest through the tunnels of Alt Signia, a fork on the path, one end bound to take her to the core where Hibiki and Tatiana were at this very moment and the other higher up, to the forges, where the stand-off that might as well decide the future of this battle was taking place.

Which route would she choose, in her delirious state?

---

^{@TheWindel, @LHudson, @floodtalon, @The 42nd Gecko, @Mega Birb, @Awesomoman64, @Ryonara, @Flamelord, @Lucius Cypher, @Lonewolf685.}

[Lonewolf685]

Suparna Wolgen

---

The Queen of Carrion was decidedly unimpressed with the Machina's defense, as momentary as it may be in holding back the masses. Slashing swords can only strike along a narrow arc and had to complete their swing before returning again, a process which would leave gaps for egress no matter how fast it was. They could have eventually started clinging to the flat of the blade and forced the STLTH's to risk losing their hands, but Bastion's perception had saved everyone from being showered in the maggots.

Bastion's first blast of ocular power had only scorched Chirada's wings and a small portion of the ceiling, the angelic corpse releasing a shrill cry of pain as it detached itself and darted to the side to evade the second attempt on its life. "You've got good eyes, Queen's Treasure. I'll be sure to savor them when I eat-"

Whatever she was intending to say died on her lips as Chirada turned to the door where a burst of holy light had just erased a great deal of maggots from the equation. "Great. The Holy Lich is hear." Suparna growled before he even opened the door. A fight with him was the very last thing she wanted as he could have scoured the room clean of all the maggots outside of Chirada and Suparna, and from there it was easy to see that the Angels would clear out their Demon and Machina infestation shortly.

Then Torag did the unthinkable, and Suparna couldn't help but release a sigh of relief.

"Some loot is better then none." The Queen of Carrion descended from on high and emerged from the protective shell of Chirada to alight on the ground within Claymore range of Torag, a broad slasher's smile on her face. She clicked her tongue and the maggots ceased their assault upon the Machina and Diana as a show of good faith, even going so far as to withdraw themselves back into Chirada so people didn't feel threatened...and it would shield them if Torag decided to try and purify the room like he had the last one. But it wasn't just the maggots here. Across the entirety of Alt Signia the maggots ceased their activities, even going so far as to pause in mid bite of the poor dwarves and Angels who found themselves being eaten alive.

"So yes, I will take you up on your offer. Consider all your compatriots spared from my teeth for till the fruition of our arrangement. I'll even go so far as to remove myself from the bodies of those who my carrion already infest, though if you don't mind I will refrain from doing so until I have left with my share of the resources...and two of those." Suparna pointed behind her to the STLTH units that had been mincing her maggots moments before. "I'm sure the Machina can manufacture more, so it would be no great loss to part with two of them."

---

@KoL@TheWindel @Mega Birb

[Flood]

Henry Pearl Avaritia The 2nd

@KoL

---

Henry panicked as he began storing everything in his Gates into different compartments away from the massive tear, saving as much as he could with giant hands of Silver from the giant ground fissures and throwing the treasures into other portals that he had to open and close on a dime. A large amount of his non magical axes were destroyed by the black hole, about 20,370 of them to he exact, and he lost 15,722 swords the the giant ground fissures. One of those swords had belonged to his father, not his father's first sword which was kept in its own special place in the Gates, but one of the swords his father had used nonetheless.

Henry was so focused on saving as much stuff as he could that he barely noticed the smug smile on Princess's face, nor any of her actions in general. He didn't mind if he died right now, he definitely minded if he lost a lot of stuff though. Which is why he made absolutely no note of her teleportation above him. He did notice her teleport in front of him however and he definitely noticed her almost bone breaking kick to the chest.

Henry's heart stopped beating for a few moments as he went flying through the air but it definitely restarted when he hit the mountain and went flying through several walls. He finally impacted against one last wall and he fell to the ground coughing up blood and struggling to breathe. He had no idea where he was anymore, but it definitely looked dwarven in nature so that might be good. He tried to get up and noted that his ribs were definitely broken and his spine was definitely broken as well. Yeah he can't move his legs. Probably about 5 minutes until he bled out.

A minute passed and Henry finally had the strength to reach into the Gates of Tartarus and pull out a bottle of human blood infused with healing magic. He popped the top off and struggled to drink it without spilling to on himself or coughing it back up. It wouldn't heal him all the way, but it would get him through the rest of the battle. Or at least the rest of the next ten minutes. The potion went to work on the most serious injuries first, which was his spine and his ribs. Another minute passed and his spine was healed enough to let him get up and walk, he was going to have to hold his ribs in place for a while though to let that heal properly. Henry finally stood up and began walking in a random direction, muttering under his breath about space whores.

[Lucius Cypher]

WARBOSS GRAFDAKKA DESTROYA

Grafdakka was fighting a battle on two fronts; the very real battle around him against Juno, and the internal struggle against the demons. Grafdakka knew, and had accepted, the idea of demons taking over his body in order to obtain the powers needed to destory Juno. But now that same power threats to destroy him, or at the very least completely wipe out his consciousness. Normally not a problem in the world of the Nexus, least of all for someone like Krieg, if not for one minor issue.

It meant Krieg wouldn't get to fight.

If Grafdakka's consciencess was taken over, then he would not longer be fighting. Sure, Grafdakka's body would continue to fight, but under demonic possession. He wanted power, not to let someone else win his battles. So initially, Henry wouldn't get much help from Grafdakka as he was struggling against the demonic forces inside his own being to regain control over his body. But fortunately, Juno helped Grafdakka inadvertently by kicking Henry away. While his influence was still strong in Grafdakka's mind, it gave him an opening to regain control.

Juno may have never noticed seeing that Graf hadn't done anything since he flashed, but while she was distracted fighting Henry a giant metal fist, covered in silver armor, raised from the ground beneath her and was slammed towards her. Rising out of the fissue in the ground the new and improved Grafdakka stood. He was flamboyant, gaudy, and huge. Yet despite the ostentatious display of power, this was an upgrade. Fueled by his golden eyes and reinforced by Henry's silver eyes, Grafdakka was finally able to materialize into his final form. He was practically as large as the volcano itself, and had firepower to match. Grafdakka remembered seeing a movie once. A movie that inspired him to be a giant robot instead of say, a big gun or something like the Eliticor.

"To fight monsters, we created monsters.... There are things you can't fight, acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win."

A song roared through Grafdakka's new and improved speaker system, absolutely deafening everyone around him. He was only loosely in control of his senses now, forgetting all about his mission, his alliances, or even his enemies. No, in this state of unholy high, there was only one thing that Grafdakka knew what to do: destroy everything.

Else where, the Killa Kans were nearing their purpose as well. The ones on the walls detonated, spreading destruction and collapsing a wall for their kin to overrun. While Omega and Tartys were safe from the explosions themselves, now they had a new problem in the form of at least ten more Killa Kans bearing down upon them, intending to crush the two angelic warriors underneath their metal feet. They roared and charged, shooting their machine guns in their general direction.

As Flos, his strikes landed true, slicing off the right limbs of the Killa Kan. It feel, unable to move on it's own, but not yet dead. In it's final moment before self-destructing, it used it's claw to reach out and grab hold of Flos before blowing up, hoping to catch the warrior by surprise and kill them both.

Inside the base the Killa Kans were limited by their size, but otherwise were mostly holding out against what was left of the angel's defenders and the random maggots. As they had no biological parts to speak of, the maggots were hardly an issue to the Killa kans, but knowing that they were somehow related to the demons they killed them when possible anyways. For Hibiki and Tatiana, two of these Killa Kans were close by, unknowingly near the destination they were looking for. While they showed signs of having fought the angels, they were among the few Killa Kans still fully operational, having taken only superficial damage so far. While they normally only followed the commands of Grafdakka, Endian, the one who actually commands them when they are out of Grafdakka's shouting range, had given them permission to follow the orders of the other commanders if they did so.

@Flamelord@Awesomoman64@The 42nd Gecko@KoL@Mega Birb@LHudson@floodtalon@Ryonara

---

Francisca Labrys Seax Luxuria

Fran smirked as the skeleton warrior seemed to have some magic to help him out. Didn't matter to Fran though, she had magic too! She raised her hand up as if she was commanding her axe to come back and in a sense she was. Except she could control the path in which the axe returns to her, so the path she chose was to make the axe fly straight up, high into the skies. If the skeleton was still holding on, assuming that her axe didn't rip his arm off when it suddenly exploded from the ground, then he'd find himself a hundred feet into the air. Fran then took out her Bonds of Matrimony, or her magic chain, wrapping it around one of her arms and having a good length in her other hand. Now she had a sort of makeshift shield and whip of her own.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be real close soon!" Of course just as she said that, hte ground beneath Fran's feet cracked. She looked back and saw that Juno was going full out, and did something to the gravity that cause the giant robot to sink into the ground. THe shockwave was enough to cause some chunks of earth even as far as Fran and skeleton man to start breaking apart, inadvertently sending Fran airborne too. But she adapted and got ready to attack, hurling a change at the skeleton with the intent of returning him back into the earth. Fran's axe simply fell back to the ground after she "decided" she didn't need it just yet.

@Banana

[Gardevoiran]

Bonesword

---

When the axe started to fly, the skeleton flew through the air with it, his arm almost coming clean off his frame and soaring back to the succubus. It was a very hard tug on him, but the skeleton chuckled as he simply let go of the axe right after it flew out of the ground and into the air, just enough for him to get a very high jump out of the momentum he gained from the axe. He saw the ground break beneath him as he launched into the air, and he also saw his smaller trees snap off into the air, from either the pressure of the shockwave or maybe because of the axe. Either way he had sticks whizzing in the air beside him, which was very convenient for him.

He analyzed his situation with a very small amount of detail. He had sticks, was about a good... seventy? Eh, sixty-five feet in the air, and saw the succubus a good 50 feet away, also airborne. This was probably not a good situation to try and get closer, since he couldn't control his flight path, but he could control where he threw sticks, so that's what he did. He sheathed his sword and grabbed one of the flying sticks, his eyes surging as his hand glowed. The Sharpswordsman entered the scene and threw each stick he could grab nearby in the air towards the succubus, totaling at 7. It was a long distance, so he would be inaccurate, but if it worked it may just be great. He saw the chain going for him from the succubus' makeshift whip, and reacted by grabbing onto that after he threw the seventh stick and began to climb it. "I guess you can say I'm already coming onto you!"

@Lucius Cypher