Lugubrious

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Qliphoth - Dead On Arrival

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (139/140) Lvl 9 Goldlewis (88/90) Lvl 4 Grimm (11/40)
Midna, Junior, Rika & Edward’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate, Sectonia & Roland’s @Archmage MC Geralt, Zenkichi & Edelgard’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Ace Cadet, Pit, Primrose & Therion’s @Yankee Juri’s @Zoey Boey Roxas, Ganondorf, & Falcon’s @Double
Word Count: 2394

Though Nadia helped set a casual and chipper tone at first, the Seekers’ upward journey through the Qliphoth on foot quickly became a challenge unto itself, demanding a not-insignificant amount of tension. Still, with such a large group and so many helping hands around, the team could deal with any setbacks that arose and ran into no true roadblocks. When valves contracted between the demon tree’s organic caves to block the interlopers’ way, it took only a few moments -or a few volunteers going off on their own- to locate and strike the nerve clusters that would make the fleshy doors relax again. When a passageway opened up into a hollow with tricky terrain suspended above explosive acid, toothy spikes, or explosive systems, the more agile and aerial Seekers could be trusted to find or make a way. And when parasitic monsters wriggled out of the floodfested woodwork, or gangs of demons arose to defend their territory, the threat was soon dealt with.

After a little over twenty minutes, a narrow tunnel with a treacherously steep grade opened up into what looked like a crossroads. About a half-dozen tunnels opened up into various directions, with no indicator of which route the Seekers ought to take. The impromptu race between Pit, Roxas, and Nadia -who was always up for a little fun and games- came to an end in that intersection, the three participants so neck-and-neck as they burst from the mouth of their tunnel that the winner wasn’t immediately apparent. Before any bickering over who took first place could break out, however, their sudden arrival flushed a rabbit from its hole. A carrier form lurched from the cozy ventricle where it had been resting, taking Nadia by surprise for a moment. Once she saw what it was, though, the feral relaxed. These bloated bags had been common sights around the Qliphoth so far, and not particularly threatening ones either. To Nadia, it was almost cute the way they toddled toward the heroes, their only goal in life to get as close as possible before they got killed and spilled the beans. Or popcorn, in this case. This carrier, however, seemed to be toddling away from the intruders rather than toward them. It made a beeline for one of the more unassuming tunnels as fast as its stubby little legs could carry it–which, of course, wasn’t very fast. Nadia whipped out the alien pistols she’d received from Midna like a cowboy at high noon, taking aim at the carrier as it retreated. “I got it!”

For Nadia

Item obtained:
Twin Gigerian Handgun
Bio-engineered pistols with exchangeable barrels and firing mechanisms. They’re capable of firing almost any bullet-sized pellet of hard organic matter, but doing so tends to fracture the ammunition and cause a shotgun-life spread of fragments. Holding down the trigger can charge the shot to reduce spread. Their fire rate is slow at just 1 shot per second, their stopping power is only middling, and they can only store seven shots that must be inserted into pits on the back of the gun when it’s pulled apart

Two pulls of the trigger was enough to burst the carrier like a zit and send a handful of chihuahua-sized infection forms flying all over. As the pests rained down a couple dozen feet away Nadia took potshots at them, popping them one or two at a time. To the trigger-happy catgirl it was like shooting fish in a barrel, and with help from both Pit and Roxas, the floodfested spawn would be dealt with in no time. Still, those that found their footing tried to scurry away into the tunnel, forcing Nadia to charge her last shot. With a grin, Nadia closed one eye and stuck out her tongue to line up the shot, only for a black claw to settle on her shoulder.

“Huh?” She peeked down to see the featureless white face of Grimm, rather unsettlingly close, and averted her aim. “Grimm? What’s up?”

The Troupe Master watched the infection form scurry up into the tunnel, passing by several possible hidey-holes as it went. ”It flees for the safety of its brood. We should follow it.”

Goldlewis, who’d arrived just a moment ago, narrowed his eyes at the very particular path that the parasitical nugget had taken. He could see the wisdom in Grimm’s suggestion, but the veteran didn’t trust in luck. “Could be a trap.”

With a snort, Nadia returned her new guns to her belt. “Aw, c’mon. These things are just mindless monsters. No need to be pair-annoyed!”

“I guess...” Goldlewis watched the more intrepid members of the team go after the runaway creep. Since the Dead Zone Guardian was probably the biggest and baddest monster around, the worst-case scenario here was also technically the best case. If the infection form led the Seekers to anything else, they could just squash it and be on their way. Goldlewis shrugged, then followed along with the others.

Before long, the veteran’s intuition began to be proven correct. After only a minute or so, the new tunnel opened up into a large hallway. It was very dark, illuminated only by a crimson light that shone eerily between what looked like two giant doors at the far end.

That abhorrent radiance illuminated almost rocky walls, pitted and scarred, as well as countless still, indecipherable shapes along them. It was unnervingly quiet, and the atmosphere was thick. Goldlewis almost had a heart attack when one of the nearest figures suddenly turned toward him, scarlet eyes aglow, only for him to realize it was Grimm. “Gah! For Pete’s sake, don’t ffff-!” Catching sight of Rika and Junior, he managed to control himself in the nick of time and keep both his voice and profanity down. “-fffffudgin’ do that, ya…gosh darn bug!”

”Ssh,” Grimm whispered, a claw held up to his face. ”They’re listening.”

The hairs on the back of Nadia’s neck stood up, her ears rigid, and she slowly lowered herself to the ground. As she crept through the hallway, toward what looked rather like carved stone steps at the foot of the great doorway, she became more and more sure about what her instincts told her. The shapes along the corridor’s sides weren’t outcrops, nor statues, nor even Qliphoth flora, but monsters. There were flood forms and infested freaks of all shapes and sizes pressed against the walls. Though all but motionless, they couldn’t help but move their eyes, heads, and feelers to slowly track the Seekers’ progress. A chill ran down her spine as Nadia remembered the otherworldly garden beneath Carcass Isle, a procession of abyssal supplicants and bioluminescent plants in the gloom that preceded the beach.

”They’re expecting us,” the Troupe Master rasped.

Nadia slowly rose to her feet, but the floodfested monsters didn’t react. Not even attacking them would prompt a response, she suspected, but she wasn’t too keen to put that to the test. She looked back at the others, then toward the doors at the end of the hall, and sighed. So much for 'mindless monsters', though if anything, this was even creepier. “Guess we’re doin’ this,” she muttered. “Well, I ain’t a-fur-aid. Let’s do this.”

Goldlewis shook his head and stepped forward. “God help us…”

Her cohorts had no choice but to proceed through the corridor. None of the horrors in the darkness reacted until the Seekers reached the stairs at the far end, at which point two juggernauts stepped from the shadows to lay their tentacles against the massive doors. Deep, heavy creaks echoed through the hall, the juggernauts threw open the door, and the wary Seekers stepped through.

The door opened onto a semicircular promontory, about a dozen feet high, that overlooked a wide-open semicircular hollow, its walls a purplish lattice reminiscent of the Great Bole’s and its floor mostly flat. Almost every inch of space, however, was occupied by a floodfested monster, a motionless horde that blanketed the floor. At the center, across a moat of fetid blood, at the base of a huge column that gleamed with spirals of hellish light, lay an enormous mound of undead flesh several stories high. A small portion of its front had been carved to resemble a nightmarish throne, and there sat a broad-shouldered Consul in armor of burnished red.

“They’re here,” a wizened male voice announced. When Goldlewis looked upward, he found a pair of large, disembodied eyes glaring back at him from the air. Narrowed coldly, they sported burgundy irises, and lemniscate-shaped pupils that glowed vivid red. As he watched, the eyes turned and floated back down toward the throne. They positioned themselves next to it, and as they turned another Consul popped out of the ground nearby, this one with a tall helmet. When the voice returned, though, it emanated from the eyes, which suggested to Goldlewis that three Consuls were in play. And not one of them is the Guardian.

“Welcome, esteemed guests,” the aged voice wheezed. “I must apologize for the horde’s lack of hospitality. Once we knew who it was, though, we called them off straight away. After all…” The eyes narrowed slightly, as if the rest of the entity’s face was smiling. “What kind of hero gets killed by mere fodder? Thus, we arranged to bring you here, and even allowed you to rest in our parlor, such as it is. To ensure that each and everyone one of you would reach this burial ground, and be blessed with a true and proper death, hehehehehe!”

At that point, the Consul on the throne gave a bored groan. “Enough foreplay, O. We’ve all waited long enough.” After sipping from his wine glass through his helmet, the Consul raised his hand. “Let’s show them what they came for.”

Immediately, the floodfested horde began to move, but instead of the Seekers, they made a break for the throne. They threw themselves at the fleshy heap like lemmings, and were in an instant unmade, their biomass added to the pile. Noise from the hallways behind the team alerted Nadia with a twitch of her ear, and when she turned she saw the monsters from before pouring outward. She readied herself for battle and slashed at the first wretch to come her way, but even as her claws parted a leg from its body, it did not relent. It flew past her and flopped down into the arena, where it used its arms to drag itself toward the throne. None of the floodfested attacked, in fact; they just wove around or between the Seekers in order to join the stampede of self-annihilation, heedless of any damage that befell them.

As it accumulated biomass, the mound began to grow, upward and outward. Four enormous tentacles took shape, two on either side of the throne, and the eyes watched it all with glee. “Heeheehee! You poor little heroes, thought so highly of by that fool S…I hope you've made your peace. Today, you have the honor of dying at our hands…at the glorious hands of Moebius D, O, and A!”

Just then, a horrific, guttural noise resounded through the final hollow, something between a roar, a scream, and a battle cry. From the mass of diseased flesh a trunk took shape, then a maw. A million voices cried out in terror and pain, and then, all was silent.

”...THIS IS NOT YOUR TOMB, BUT YOU ARE WELCOME IN IT. I HAVE PITY WITHIN ME, AND INFINITE TIME. BUT I ALSO HAVE IMPATIENCE - FOR I AM ALL THINGS! COME! JOIN WITH ME IN TIMELESS CHORUS, AND SING VICTORY EVERLASTING!

Warning - boss discovered!

Sufferer of Infinitude

GRAVEMIND

As it raised its tentacles, the floating eyes of Moebius O flew upward and outward toward the left side of the arena, while Moebius A paced toward the right, his hands behind his back. “I was much aggrieved to learn that the Orphan was summarily executed whilst both L and I were otherwise engaged,” he intoned in a deep, refined voice. “Here and now, I will remedy my grievous oversight.” When he came to a stop, he snapped his fingers, and three perfect duplicates arose alongside him. “You still foolishly consider yourself an entity separate from the whole. I know better. And I. Will. Show you.”

“Did he say A?” Sandalphon’s voice filtered through the sigil by her allies’ heads. “When I spoke with Dawn, she told of her parents’ encounter with this selfsame Consul, who were forced to ‘choose’ and lost half their party. Please, be wary of A. If you require my aid, please do not hesitate to call me. I will not fail you.”

Goldlewis took a deep breath in through his nose. Just like in Midgar, Moebius was upping the ante by fighting alongside their Guardian, but this time instead of one Consul alongside various local legends, three Consuls -including one from a different region, apparently- were here to snuff the Seekers out. “Got it. Thanks, Halo.” He emptied his lungs, hefted his coffin, and raised his voice. “Big talk, but you bozos are goin’ down just like the rest!” He started his stopwatch with a beep.

Beside him, Grimm stared at his own burning claws, then snuffed out the flames with a clamped fist and turned his eyes on the Gravemind.

Nadia grinned. Using Rosetta’s Roll and Gun, she reloaded her empty handguns, then trained them on the seated Consul. Out of all three Consuls, only D had yet to get a move on. “Better get that ass in gear, bud, ‘cause you’re about to be over-throne!”

The Gravemind’s tentacles slammed the ground, shaking the whole hollow. ”DO NOT BE AFRAID, LITTLE LAMBS. YOU’VE WANDERED FAR AND LONG…BUT IT IS TIME TO WELCOME YOU HOME!”

Umbra Rose Condos

@Lugubrious I love how your dude is like, they're sneaky and like to linger in the corner of your eye. While pur wonderful gm has one literally dropping down into our dear foxes food lol

@BunniesOfDoom

Theory vs reality and all that.

Umbra Rose Condos

Once Alphonse joined in, the makeshift team of three was ready to begin their search. Though amused at first by the idea that an ideal team-building exercise had fallen right into his lap, Khalid quickly realized that this veritable snipe hunt wouldn't be all fun and games. For one, while it seemed like the gremlin hunt and the Mischief Accord responsible for it were somewhat well-known and well-established within the Umbra Rose Condos, the same couldn't be said for Khalid himself. Owing to his relatively recent arrival within the complex, he'd never participated in such an event before. Whether this occurrence represented officially sanctioned collaborative activity with the gremlins or merely some sort of trumped-up ritual, the occultist was a complete novice, without any idea of where or how to begin.

Khalid knew just enough about gremlins themselves to know that this would be extremely difficult. After all, the core conceit of the little monsters was causing mayhem with such discretion that a victim would never in a million years imagine that an actual troublemaker was behind it, as opposed to technological incompetence and sheer bad luck. Still, Khalid supposed that in this case, the destination wasn't the point so much as the journey. Winning this little game would be a nice feather in his hat, and a solid start to his professional relationship with his client, but as long as they built some sort of rapport it would still be worthwhile. On a semi-related note, he couldn't help but wonder what other secrets Umbra Rose might be hiding. The name of the complex was so tantalizingly evocative, after all--if a beautiful flower could bloom in the shade, those shadows could conceal just about anything.

The three set off together, Khalid puzzling over a satisfactory answer to give to Alphonse. It would take time to concoct a solid plan of attack, but since this was a competition, time was a luxury the three didn't have. Gremlins could be lurking anywhere and everywhere, and the places most likely to hide them would probably be off-limits to residents, making them difficult to access. There was no end to the amount of chaos the gremlins could cause if they went for the condos' electrical or plumbing utilities. Conversely, Khalid didn't know why a gremlin would hide in a vent, as opposed to the air conditioning units themselves, but he didn't want to rain on Alphonse's parade. As the taciturn therapist-to-be continued to workshop a plan in his head, Iris detected something, but after a moment's investigation it turned out to be a false start.

"Two days?" Khalid repeated, his brow furrowed. Considering the gremlins running rampant in Umbra Rose right this instant, could she really find nothing more recent? Or perhaps, as with dogs, she was simply more attuned to certain kinds of smells. With that in mind, the trace she found could even be a red herring, left purposefully to mess with condo residents like her. "If any perishable is left unrefrigerated for two hours, it should be considered as spoiled," he replied to her absent-mindedly, his lips pursed in a frown. "Hmm. Rather than chase our own tails, we should compose a strategy. Gremlins are extremely quick, stealthy, and perceptive. I'm reasonably sure that I can snatch one if I see one, but a good gremlin never allows itself to be seen. They lurk in our peripheral vision, so subtle that we can never be sure they're truly there at all." He pinched the end of his mustache as he thought. "We can, however, use their impulsive natures against them. If we can make them underestimate us, we can lure them into a trap." A serpentine smile spread across his features. "Let's go somewhere where they're sure to be. The electric room. Of course, we'll need help from a janitor or technician. Or...someone small enough to squeeze beneath the door and unlock it from the inside. Once we're in, we must make a scene of calling them out and bumbling around uselessly. Demonstrating that we're nothing to be afraid of will entice them to make sport of us, like children poking a tiger through the bars of the cage. Their confidence will be their undoing." He looked around at the others, curious to see if they'd agree.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Qliphoth - Scarlet Swamp

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (132/140) Lvl 9 Goldlewis (82/90) Lvl 7 Sandalphon (67/70) Lvl 4 Grimm (8/40)
Midna Junior, Rika & Edward’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate, Sectonia & Roland’s @Archmage MC Geralt, Zenkichi & Edelgard’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Ace Cadet, Pit, Primrose & Therion’s @Yankee Juri’s @Zoey Boey Roxas, Ganondorf, & Captain Falcon’s @Double
Word Count: 2218

Though pleased with herself for yet another great idea at first, Nadia quickly found her commitment to the bit wearing thin when her scheme to get clean did not work as well as she hoped. After all, the copycats created by her Oceanid striker weren’t technically water, but pure Hydro elemental energy. They couldn’t wash her so much as repeatedly smack her to inflict the Wet status, which gradually washed the xylem off but left her soaked instead. Given the humidity in here, the poor feral wasn’t going to dry off anytime soon, either. With a deep sigh she set off across the blood-red bog to scale the terraced falls and face the aperture in the Qliphoth’s trunk, where she shivered beneath the bluster of frigid high-altitude winds.

While up there, Nadia looked around to see how the others were doing. Now by herself, Emily had spurned the site of golden grace in favor of a softly shining bone-white plant she spotted near some of the other strange plants. It didn’t look like anything special to the catgirl, but its serene glow seemed to offer Emily some sort of comfort, so she was grateful. There was no telling how many more survivors like her might be trapped in here, and Nadia knew she couldn’t save everyone, but as long as she could rescue one person, maybe there was some hope for her as a heroine after all.

It took her longer to figure out what Midna was doing, but eventually Nadia realized that Midna must be using her weird powers to fish in the crimson mire. Calling any of the verminous critters she pulled from the muck ‘fish’ was something of a stretch, but if it helped the Twilight Princess de-stress, the feral was all for it. Too many back-to-back battles would take a toll on even the most energetic Seekers. And who knew how many more dangers still lay between them and their goal?

Naturally, Midna ran into trouble, and a skirmish erupted at the shoreline when some monsters popped up from below. Nadia stood up to get a better look, wondering if she’d need to help, but she could see only a couple critters and not a whole horde. Midna and her summons quickly wiped them out with a localized lightning storm and a little dark magic. Though intense in the moment, the scuffle was small compared to the Qliphoth hollow, so it didn’t end up concerning anyone else, and Nadia turned her attention elsewhere.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, more Seekers began to arrive. Roxas, Zenkichi, Primrose, and Grimm bubbled up from an unseen vein beneath the swamp’s surface. “Heya!” Nadia called, her distant voice echoing across the hollow as she waved. She pushed off the terrace where she’d taken a seat by the opening, landed, and began to jog over. Not wanting to disturb any lurking horrors like Midna had, she skirted around each pool of murky, ruddy xylem until she’d reached the newcomers. While all of them received her cheerful smile, only Primrose got a hug. They were a mess, but they were alive. “Ya made it! You guys alright?” She quickly let go, then jabbed a finger over her shoulder. “I was just lookin’ out the window there. Couldn’t even see the ground! This swamp’s so high up, it really bog-gles the mind. Nyaha.” She wiggled her eyebrows, then turned and threw her hand in the vague direction of the Site of Grace. “Anyway, since nunna the big shots’re here to give us our marsh-ing orders, mire-ecommendation is to take it easy and relax ‘til the others catch up.” She pulled a pitcher of lemonade from her pouch and offered it to the others. “Wanna drink? It’s ‘sour’ little secret~”

After shaking the xylem from his cloak with remarkable ease, Grimm offered her a polite bow of greeting, then heeded her advice in silence and took refuge in the warmth of the golden grace.

Not even a minute later, another squad of Seekers arrived. Ganondorf, Pit, Goldlewis, and Sectonia all washed up in quick succession, and while none of them looked especially happy, Sectonia seemed downright livid. While she fumed and raved about the unclean, ugly innards of the demon tree, Nadia was impressed she’d managed -or agreed- to fit inside a bloodstream at all. “Sheesh, just one soak and you’re seeing red, Toni? All-red-y? Shame you can’t just fly outside and wash off in the rain ‘cause it ages you, but that’s old news, I guess~” Nadia then turned her attention to Goldlewis and put on an egregious southern accent. “Howdy, partner! That color really ‘suits’ you!”

“Ugh,” Goldlewis groaned as he pulled off his suit jacket. He tried once to squeeze the xylem from it, then gave up and tossed it aside. “No salvagin’ that one, I s’pose.” When he saw Primrose, he tried to flag her down. “‘Scuse me miss Primrose, but could I possibly persuade ya to cast one o’ yer healin’ spells? We got ourselves into a real pickle down there without any doggone medics to patch us up.” As he made his request he reflected that if not for the shielding abilities he’d gained from Hank in Arahabaki, the showdown against the Corruptor might have gone a whole lot worse. Goldlewis knew he was lucky to be standing here, and he made sure to count his blessings.

Next to bob up from the swamp were Blazermate, Geralt, and Ace. Nadia was happy to see all three, having been by their side through thick and thin, but her heart especially soared to see Ace alive and well. “There you are!’ She ran over to hug them one by one. When she reached the hunter, she jumped into his arms, both as a sign of affection as a prank given her effective weight. As the others greeted one another, Goldlewis narrowed down his count of Seekers who had yet to return. Sandalphon, the kids, Roland, that li’l fella, Juri, and both newcomers. The veteran pursed his lips as he scratched at his beard. With the Qliphoth’s convoluted circulatory system somehow bringing everyone to the same place, there could be little ambiguity about what happened if anyone failed to show. He worried about the soldier and the witch especially–this was one hell of a first assignment. “Shoulda known better than to bring ‘em along,” he mumbled.

Before long, Goldlewis had his answer. A sudden fountain of xylem heralded the arrival of Roland, Rika, Bowser Jr, and finally, Sandalphon. Though all appeared to be healthy at first glance despite their inundation in the demon tree’s blood, Sandalphon’s body language implied otherwise. Only with difficulty, and the aid of her summoned gunstaff as a walking stick, could she rise and begin to make her way to the edge. It was clear that she could use some help, and once he saw her in distress, Zenkichi was all too quick to rush in and lend a hand.

‘...Thank you.” Sandalphon suppressed her impulse to thoroughly scan her surroundings and focused on not being too much of a burden until Zenkichi saw her safely to the site of grace that several others were treating like a bonfire. Its golden luster briefly captivated her, but before seating herself she planted her gunstaff to expand a healing field for the others. Then she eased down onto the ground.

“Repetitious exposure to severe injury and healing has rapidly accumulated fatigue in my body,” she explained. “While I could have more effectively avoided injury in the previous battle, the primary reason is my lack of athleticism.” Though everyone had encountered opposition throughout the Qliphoth so far, nobody seemed as depleted by the ordeal as she. It frustrated her, but so did her teammates’ reactions after the fight with Lilith concluded. They owed their survival to her and her experience, but only two had even acknowledged her. Still, she knew that she couldn’t succumb to arrogance. Upon reflection, she was simply grateful for her good fortune in running into Lilith–not because any part of that experience appealed to her whatsoever, but because her challengers would have likely perished otherwise.

The real -and much more galling- problem was her current condition. Even if Sandalphon was the only Seeker to show such weakness, she could not allow pride to silence her. “I don’t believe I can continue in this state,” she admitted. “I should return to the ship. I may be able to return later if properly treated.” After a moment, Sandalphon lowered her voice, her next words for Zenkichi only. “I have one other task aboard the Avenger in mind. De-fusion with at least two of my human spirits.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, but her pupils were stress marks. “Human weakness is compromising my physical and mental state. I almost got everyone killed back in that canyon. Reversion is the logical option. And yet…I know it’s this humanity that…allows me to express how I feel. I am conflicted.” Sandalphon couldn’t say much more than that.

After another moment, Emily tentatively approached. “Excuse me, ma’am. My name is Emily, Nadia found me in here. Did you say that you have a way to get out?”

The archangel straightened up, her usual air of stiff formality restored. “My method would not work for you, but now that I see that hole in the Qliphoth exterior, I could guide the shuttle back to this spot. The Lost Numbers should be able to extract any number of us in such a manner.” She looked around the assembled Seekers. “Does anyone else wish to return to the ship?”

“I will,” Snake spoke up suddenly. He’d faded into the background since arriving with Juri, Therion, and Edward, but now the mercenary took center stage. “I’ve managed to keep a low profile so far, but I can tell when I’m out of my element. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll back you up some other day.

Goldlewis nodded, unexpectedly supportive. “Fine by me. We got plenty o’ manpower, don’t need any o’ y’all dyin’ needlessly.”

A minute or so after everything was sorted out, Grimm returned to the group. The Troupe Master had gone with his Grimmchild to scout ahead, and both seemed to be in good spirits. ”I have discovered a means of ascendance. The going will not be easy, but I can feel our grand finale close at hand. A showman’s intuition.” His scarlet eyes seemed to scour the Seekers around him. He then rasped, ”If you are rested, we must away.”

Grimm’s words helped get the team moving. As everyone who would be proceeding got ready to set out, Goldlewis took his final tally. Everyone was here…except the Witch. Nobody willing to say anything about it had seen the Witch since the standoff against the horde. The revelation aggrieved Goldlewis, but it did not stop him. During his military career he’d lost more men than he cared to admit, and newbies were always the quickest to go. He could not let it bother him, lest all the weight he’d been forced to carry come crashing down. He simply caught his breath, accepted some lemonade from Ms. Fortune, and joined the convoy of heroes on the climb to the Qliphoth’s canopy.

♫

Once the team took to the upward path through the tunnels, the going quickly got rough. Right away the infestation began to thicken. Though as unmistakably -and disgustingly- fleshy as the cancerous Flood growths down below, this infestation seemed to be of a slightly different strain, more fungal than anything. It grew into and melded with the Qliphoth itself in strange ways, creating structures that blurred the line between plant and animal. Sinuous ganglions and fibrous nerve clusters gleamed an unnatural orange above pools of still, stagnant rainwater leaked in from outside, and undead horrors reared their ugly heads around every turn. With almost two dozen Seekers present no Floodfested persisted long enough to pose a threat or call for reinforcements, but the tunnels’ twisted denizens kept their intruders on their toes. Several times they needed to deal with peculiar growths, such as passages blocked by hardy organic valves that would only open once certain nerve clusters were stimulated, sometimes in sequence.

Between the odd puzzles, enemies, and the terrain itself, it was a difficult hike. Still, there were plenty of opportunities while traveling to strike up a little conversation. Nadia, in a good mood thanks to Emily’s impending rescue, took the first opportunity to blabber away to Ace about her encounters with the Successor of the Claw, Something Unto Death, and the mysterious bartender Gallagher. The feral did not hesitate to embellish a little, and her motor mouth seldom skipped a beat, even when a handful of Floodfested monsters showed up to crash the party. Before long she was hearkening back to their shared misery on the Maw as well, only too happy to fill other listeners in on all the gory details. Her energetic chatter -and nonstop puns- helped keep the mood light as the team climbed closer and closer to the final showdown.

Umbra Rose Condos

If she were to ever look for a job, given how tech-savvy this drider is, I bet she'd make for a great web developer.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Lilith’s Encroaching Shadow III

Lvl 7 Sandalphon (59/70), Bowser Junior, Rika, Roland
Word Count: 4523 (+5)

Jr added to Sandalphon’s healing with a cast of ”Medica!” after the laser barrage to top them up even more, although between attacking and healing with magic, he was now running low on mana again.

Rika meanwhile agreed that ”She is super annoying” in something close to a growl, before bullet jumping and dashing towards the foe with the intent to get her to ”shut up!” by way of raising her Grizzco blaster up and unloading a stream of rapid-fire flak cannon shots that burst into showers of explosive goop, all aimed specifically at Lilith’s face.

”Try and talk with a mouthful of slime you peon!”

Roland joined in with the ‘silencing’ of Lilith by throwing his ink spirit at her again, granted at this point it only did damage thanks to Lilith’s raid boss resistances to debuffs like Silence. The screeching ghost did make her words fairly intelligible though. He then moved behind Sandalphon to break line of sight from Lilith and as she focused on the koopa kids, Roland moved around the battlefield to get behind Lilith and attack her with his swords.

“Gah!” Momentarily blinded by Roland’s ink spectre, Lilith fell prey to the volatile fusillade from Rika, pounded again and again by the non-stop bombardment until all the slime went off in one giant blast. “AAAGH!” As the smoke cleared it revealed Lilith bruised, seared, and very pissed off, too mad to do much more than send flecks of spittle flying in all directions. When she felt the bite of Roland’s blades, though, the demon seemed to regain her senses. She fended him off with a quick, solid kick -her first physical attack so far- then crossed her arms over her head. “Okay, change of plans. I wanna hear you suckers sizzle!” A moment later the dark magic around her detonated in a spurt of flame, and from her hands a column of sparks streamed upward. Three more orbs appeared over each Seeker, fiery this time instead of tenebrous, and after a brief delay they plummeted down, one after another. “Burn to death!”

Sandalphon paused her fire support for a moment as Lilith switched modes, then gave an affirmative nod as tongues of flame surrounded her. “She’s now vulnerable to water. If only I actually wielded water-aligned miracles.” Her healing skills couldn’t take advantage of her elemental advantage, and with its purpose being crowd control rather than damage, even her Frost Lock wouldn’t be much use. Instead she began to move as the new Candy Shower took form, skirting around the edge of the arena so that the napalm puddles would trouble the team as little as possible. Toward the end of her strafing run she spotted a blue tile she made earlier and headed that way. Her side had made good progress, but only by taking advantage of every little opportunity would the Seekers get through this.

”We can do water” Jr said as he put paintbrush to the ground and proceeded to sail after Sandalphon, painting a path as he went, with Rika riding along on his coattails. Step one of that was plucking a pokeball from his bandolier and chucking it behind him with a call of ”Sis, catch!”

It wasn’t the pokeball she was meant to catch however, but instead the mon inside: Dazzle the Brionne

”Bubblebeam her!” Jr then instructed the pair, prompting Rika to pivot as they sailed, holding the sealion pokemon in one hand almost like a pistol, and for the mon in question to then shoot forth a high pressure beam of water surrounded by cutsier bubbles from his mouth at their target.

The prince himself then set about preparing the other half of their attack strategy, namely by rummaging around in his duffle bag in search of a specific cassette tape.

Elemental attacks weren’t something Roland had, not really. All he could do was make himself into a nuisance by keeping up his melee assault on Lilith, countering her retaliatory melee strike. Although going into a fire phase gave Roland some flashbacks to a certain fire EGO user he had to fight, and he really didn’t feel like burning today. As she summoned fireballs over everyone, Roland pulled out his hammer and managed to knock 2 out of 3 of the fireballs away with it, meaning there was still a napalm puddle near Lilith, but that just meant Roland had to come from a different angle. He’d also have to step out of the way of the water attacks coming from the koopa kids, but that wasn’t too difficult as keeping Lilith distracted with his own weapon attacks was more beneficial to the fight, as Roland hit her with a couple combos from his daggers, mace, and one with his sword. Low damaging attacks, but then the point was to help the others hit their water attacks.

If the sizzling sound was anything to go by, Dazzle’s Bubblebeam was doing good work, and even if they didn’t get any bonus damage Roland’s own efforts helped. Since Candy Shower wasn’t that dangerous, though, they wouldn’t have much of a chance to pile on damage afterward. For the most part the team had managed to space the fire patches out, but they would have to be extra careful either way given what came next. Sandalphon watched at rapt attention as Lilith summoned three staves that floated in the air through magical means. At her direction, one of them flew forward toward Junior and Rika, laid out and spinning horizontally like an enormous boomerang. As it began to slow down the next one began to whirl toward Roland. They weren’t too difficult to avoid–deceptively easy, in fact, given what Sandalphon remembered about this little trick.

As Junior and Rika sailed away from the first staff, the archangel jogged toward it. She tried to call out the answer, but after all her shouting, all she could manage was a hoarse croak. Instead she pinged the first staff with her powers as its spin petered out, indicating that the others should go there. Once she reached that spot herself, Sandalphon looked over toward the second staff to ping it as well, just as a cyclone of flame consumed the entire arena except for a small circular area around the first staff.

”Ohhhh- that’s a tricky, uh, trick” Jr commented with a hint of respect for the dragon’s ploy, the kids having headed back to the staff spot following the ping with confused looks on their faces after easily avoiding the attack via jumping over it, but now getting the deal after the explosion went off.

”Just annoying” was Rika’s much more derisive comment on the deal, before she blinked in confusion at being handed Jr’s paintbrush.

”Found the tape, now onto the next” Jr said, prompting rika to nod and press paintbrush to ground and lead the way for them to sail over to the next staff, while Jr focused on putting on a pair of headphones plugged into a tape player. Into said player went the cassette he’d found that had Undye written on it, and as they arrived at the next stop he hit play and promptly transformed into the ritual fish monster knight

”Yeahhhhh, now we’re talking! Let’s bring the rain!” the prince bellowed in the bombastic woman’s voice, before of all things thrusting her hand out into the fiery blast that erupted around the second safe zone. Rather than suffer greatly for this however, the fish woman came alive with a burning passion that was then channeled into a torrent of watery spears that erupted beneath Lilith, tips forming harmlessly on the ground before shooting up in a peppering watery barrage.

Rika, naturally, joined in, bringing up the sea-lion beam cannon and having him shoot another watery blast at the foe, while she herself deployed an electro swarm from her gauntlet hangers to try and combo with all the water damage they were blasting their foe with.

This whole “dance” thing was getting kinda old. But he knew he had to follow it and as such, once Sandalphon started to rush for the first swirling staff, Roland ran his way over there as well as she seemed to know exactly what to do. Same with the second and third. As he did the dance, he saw Jr. turn into a different creature. ”Oh, you have EGO too?” Roland said, although what Jr. did was a bit different, since his whole body changed. It didn’t look like he distorted either, since this was something on command. That’d be something for after this fight. Being unable to get into melee range until this staff attack was over, Roland fired his gun at Lilith.

Already aggravated that Sandalphon was guiding her teammates on how to deal with her various spells, Lilith had hoped that special spell would finally spell her enemies’ ends, but it was not to be. When the wall of flames from the final blast died down, the demon was greeted not by the sight of her challengers’ charred corpses, but by a torrent of water spears, pistol rounds, and shotgun shells. Even Sandalphon joined in as she made for a cerulean tile to shoot from, lobbing a Frost Lock at Lilith as she ran. To some the usage of ice against a fire-type foe might seem suspect, but Sandalphon knew better than most that in her world, ice counted as water. The frigid cluster burst against Lilith in a cloud of diamond dust that riddled her pale skin with goosebumps, but it would take another to freeze her. Twelve second to go.

The Frost Lock also got Lilith’s attention. She wanted everyone dead very badly, but nobody more so than the angel. Thanks to her, this was going poorly, and as much as she hated to admit it, targeted attack wasn’t her forte. In order to win, the demon would need to turn Sandalphon’s prior knowledge against her. “Ugh!” she spat, whipping up vivid red flames. A devilish look appeared on her face as she summoned three more staves for another round of Sugary Spinners. ”I’m gonna wipe you out!”

She threw the first one not at one of the Seekers, but at the arena’s 2 o’clock position. The second she threw toward six o’clock, and the third to ten o’clock. As soon as she realized what was happening, Sandalphon’s eyes widened, her pupils turned to stress marks. Given how fast the fireblasts went off in succession, the sequential safe zones were impossibly far apart. “That’s not…”

”Heehee! Let’s see you weasel outta this one, Sandy!”

By that point, though, Sandalphon’s pupils had turned to spinning gears. As the first staff began to slow down, she took off toward the second staff, doing calculations in her head. Then she dropped three pings, two on the first staff, and one not near any staff, but exactly halfway between the first and third. If Lilith was going to cheat, so would Sandalphon. But she couldn’t do this alone; the others needed to trust her, even though it looked like she was sending one of them to their death. This was it: the final test, and this one was for all the marbles.

”Are we really gonna try and run through that or… what?” Jr began to ask, not quite getting the pings' intent and assuming they were intending to run from staff 1 to three. Rika however, got the gist of the plan, calling to her brother to ”Catch” before she tossed him Dazzle and then proceeded to legged it for the third ping, out in the middle of the death zone, ping.

Like a good soldier following orders.

She did not do so entirely blindly however, nor without preparation. As she ran she pulled a leed from a cassette player strapped to her rigging to a port on her helmet and then pressed play on it, transforming herself into the Beast giving herself a hefty health buffer, plus plenty of legs for running wherever she needed to be next.

Just then, Sandalphon reached the second staff, right as it planted itself in the floor. With no time to hesitate, the archangel seized the demonic polearm, then used her teleportation miracle to warp to Rika -now halfway between the other two staves- with the staff in hand. The two had only a moment to share a knowing glance as Sandalphon’s plan dawned on the abyssal soldier-turned-centipede; this was a desperate gambit, and neither would emerge unscathed, but it was the team’s only option.

Sandalphon closed her eyes, braced for impact, and began to cast Angelic Wings just as the first eruption went off. Junior and Roland were safely sequestered in the first safe zone, but Sandalphon and Rika disappeared in the hellish inferno. When the intense but short-lived firestorm faded, however, both remained, charred and smoking but alive. Maybe they just barely survived the blast and then healed back up, or maybe they’d been blown past the brink and restored before their bodies knew they died, but either way, there they were. Junior and Roland just needed to run to the second staff for the second blast, then help the two to the third, and the Seekers were home free.

”Wait, we can just move them?!” Jr cried out in amazement at this bit of lateral thinking, even as he jogged forwards to the second staff. Roland was just as surprised, but more exasperated, only letting out a sigh and saying ”Of course now she tells us.” in a mumble as he moved with Jr. While the explosion went off he moved Undayne’s spear to his mouth to free up his hand, grabbed Sandalphon in the now free hand and hauled her over his shoulder. If they’d had to haul Rika in Beast form as well, that would have been a problem, but fortunately the said form was an absolute pile of vitality and so as soon as it was time to run for staff three, she was able to do so on her own two-dozen feet alongside her person and pokemon hauling brother.

The sight of her enemies alive and well after her Sugary Spinners left Lilith agape. ”How? HOW!? You must have cheated! You’re supposed to be DEAD! Dead, dead-!”

Even on the ground, Sandalphon could calculate a standard trajectory without issue. Her Frost Lock struck Lilith in the middle of her furious rant, and in an instant the demon was frozen solid. A laser pointer appeared in the archangel’s hand, and she took aim to call in a Headquarter Support Request. A cluster bomb descended and shattered Lilith in a withering chain explosion, leaving her defense, elemental, and status resistance crippled for the next twenty seconds. “Dispense…justice.” With that Sandalphon slumped down, too exhausted to move. The rest was in her allies’ hands.

Rika responded first by charging in to add to the debuffs, her Beast form ramming horns first into Lilith and delivering a melee defence lowering Mountain Smash strike. SHe then pulled back a bit, using sharpen to raise her own melee attack, and then finally delivering a flurry of bites to one of the dragon’s legs, restoring her own hp in the process for half the damage dealt.

Jr, still in the form of Undyne and still carrying both Sandaphon and Dazzle around initially looked to have a bit of an issue engaging, at least until Dazzle wiggled free and used Twisting Dive to launch himself at Lilith, a wave of water carrying him forwards to crash into the dragon. Then he flopped his way onto Rika’s centipede back for transportation, using it as a firing platform to shoot more bubble beams and leaving Jr free to get into the fight.

The prince grabbed undyne’s spear from his mouth, rushed forwards, skirted around the chomping Rika to get his own angle of attack, before he thrust the spear upwards to launch an Undertow strike, creating a massive spear of water beneath Lilith that then after a notable delay that a more evasive foe could have taken advantage of, lanced up into her. The kept the spear aloft to Raised Arms and buff his melee attack, before delivering swift double slices to the foe, joining in on Rika’s melee pummeling.

Roland joined in on the melee attacks, having most of his weapons being melee. A few seconds gave him quite a bit of time to stack up enough weapons for a Furioso and recharge some of his EGO. And with how free these hits were, he could use Nether Blade on many of the heavier hitter attacks like his massive sword or swordplay, and get some free damage in with his phantom that Lilith couldn’t shake off in time. He could also prepare an Ink Swell, but he doubted she’d be stunned by such an attack.

With Lilith frozen for an extra few seconds due to Sandalphon’s new blessing from Demeter, the team had every advantage when it came to piling on the punishment. Though the demon pitched a desperate attempt to fight back once she thawed out, the damage to her mental state had already been done. The Seekers had downloaded her attack patterns and eroded her defensive buffs, so Lilith knew better than anyone that her defeat was only a matter of time. She belted out boulders of molten sugar, beams of concentrated flame, and enough foul language to make a sailor blush, but it all came to naught. By the end of Roland’s onslaught she was on her last legs, and as Sandalphon watched, the detonation of the Fixer’s Ink Swell dealt the final blow.

”Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh, damn it! Damn you!” Though she’d spent the whole fight levitating smugly, Lilith now lay in the ground, her white scales scarred and her crimson horns broken. Blood trickled across her lips as she scowled at her hated foe who she’d gotten so tantalizingly close to death. ”Sandy…you know…they’ll never love you. I’ll be back…and when I am…I’ll take…everything…!”

The archangel said nothing. Though still exhausted, she’d mustered the energy to prop herself up in a Healing Circle generated by her gunstaff, but she had no more energy to offer Lilith. Maybe some small part of her would be happy to kill Lilith, but she did not want to indulge that part of herself. She simply stared, her pupils in the shape of skulls, until the demon crumbled away and a book was left behind.

For Sandalphon

Arctic Ring - your healing skills now also deal repeated ice damage to enemies in range
Perfect Experience: Fuli - when attacking frozen enemies, there is a 100% base chance to inflict Dissociation for 10 seconds, which will cause severe damage upon thaw
Block Charm - you negate the first hit landed on you, once per battle

For Bowser Jr

Bling Charm - once pinned to someone, every last hit creates 3 gold
Stygian Turtle Shell - after taking damage 3 times in quick succession, become invulnerable for 3 seconds. 26 second cooldown
Bolt Marrow - physical projectiles that deal piercing damage home on their targets, with the amount of homing inversely proportional to projectile speed

For Rika

Typhoon’s Fury - you deal more damage slamming your foes into solid objects
H3AD-5T v2 - when hitting the ground, create a 1 meter diameter ground blast that gains 10% extra damage and 1 more meter of diameter per meter fallen beforehand, up to 100m and 1000% damage
Kill Rhythm - switching weapons will increase your attack speed by 15% for 2 seconds

For Roland

Dead Inside - maximum HP increases by 50%, but all healing is halved
Sentinel Satellite - once per battle, when your life falls below half, you get a shield that can absorb 20% of your max HP for 20 seconds
Connected Mind - when wielding the same weapon type as a nearby ally, you deal 10% more damage. Doubles if you’re wielding the same weapon

Rika had to examine the fine print of the H3AD-5T v2, but once she did, and found the willing activation needed to cause the explosion and always on fall damage negation features it became rather a no brainer. No more worrying about how to get down after she’d launched herself up was worth it on its own in her opinion.

Jr meanwhile once again got faced with a choice between what he was meant to be focusing on in fights, but, given the one they’d just been in, it was very hard to argue with the Stygian Turtle Shell’s life saving capabilities, and so he ended up going with that. Plus, you know, the time pictured was rather on brand.

Neither received a vision as a result of their boon acquisitions.

When presented with possible rewards, Sandalphon chose quickly. One option only applied if she made a mistake, and even then the benefit was not reliable. Weaponizing her healing skills could muddle her role and endanger the whole team if the incidental ice damage diverted her foes; enmity away from the frontliners. Perfect Experience, however, would make any application of Freeze much more dangerous, even without allies at her side to take advantage, and it wouldn’t interfere with her support abilities. She picked Perfect Experience, and for a moment beheld a vision of a frozen emperor, as resplendent as a perfectly preserved memory. Then it faded, and Sandalphon looked over at the others. “Well done, everyone. Are any of you injured? If so, please allow me to tend to your wounds.”

Roland looked at his rewards, and while one power said what he felt, from the looks of them, there were only two choices. And knowing how his fights tended to go, anything that’d help him get going could be a great help. So he chose Sentinel Satellite. He was debating Connected Minds, but from what he knew a lot of his allies used magic or non weapon based attacks so he doubted how often such a thing would happen. Much like when he gained an abnormality page, a bit of a flash of something entered his mind, but he was extremely desensitized to such things at this point so it didn’t leave much of an impression. Roland went over to grab the Book of Lilith before he made his way over to Sandalphon, having taken a lot of damage during the fight even with his deflections. ”Yeah I could use some. It's better than going into another fight bloody. Although with how we’ll need to get up, I think the ‘bloody’ part will still happen in a different way.”

“Understood.” Sandalphon took another brief moment to breathe, but for her ally’s sake she pushed through her own fatigue. Her body rattled under the duress of taking lethal punishment several times over, sustained only through repeated restoration. By using up her last store of Rapid Analysis, Sandalphon managed to work one more miracle in the form of Angelic Praise. Once finished, she planted the butt of her gunstaff once more and used it to prop herself up.

”Oh, and if this girl’s death got to you, you could use the words I go by. ‘That's that and this is this.’ We still have to move forward and finish the job.” Roland said, giving Sandalphon the words he gives himself. Sitting down to wait for when they’d move on to take a bit of a rest, he continued. ”Not the first crazy woman I’ve had to take out. At least this one didn’t try making spaghetti out of people’s blood vessels…” Roland said.

The Fixer’s words turned Sandalphon’s pupils into question marks, then dashes. “I care nothing for that beast’s demise. I am only grateful that this world will see a little less suffering, for a time.” Her eyes drifted to the book left behind by Lilith. “That should be destroyed immediately. A demon’s corruptive influence cannot be tolerated.” Roland was right that the team needed to move on, though. Despite her current state, the archangel knew that the Seekers only had a couple dedicated healers overall, and any teams that went without would need her help as soon as possible. She quickly pinpointed the location of another Qliphoth vein and wordlessly marked it with a screen.

By virtue of having not been putting their own actual bodies on the line for the latter part of the fight, not to mention their supernatural durability and own source of healing, Rika and Jr were in better shape than the other two after the fight. The same could not be said for the prince’s flying machine, which had been reduced to even more of a wreck since it had been abandoned.

”Urrrgh, stupid hammer stealing hat kid” Jr complained (regarding the loss of a mallet that he’d once used to rapidly repair devices that had since been stolen by a hat wearing kid) giving the machine a kick that caused it to crumple even more.

”Guess we’ll just send it back? Tora can have another go at it” Rika suggested, which got a little laugh out of Jr as he thought about how mad the guy’d be that all his hard work had been undone in less than an hour.

A few hand gestures later and the circle was charging up, preparing to send the clown car back to the armory, while the little royals headed over to the others, back in their actual shapes once more and with Dazzle stored away in his pokeball.

”Over there then?” Jr said as his eyes followed the ping Sandalphon had made, before adding that ”Those are real handy huh, and you’re pretty good with them too,” in an off handed compliment.

”Staff trick was smart too. That lady really was a big cheating sh-” Rika stopped herself with an annoyed grunt, taking the whole risk of corruption trick rather literally, and went for ”jerk huh?” instead.

Sandalphon’s pupils turned from targeting reticles back to normal as Rika amended her word choice. “Thank you. I am pleased to have been of use.” With nothing else to say, the team proceeded toward the exit.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Lewa

Silence lingered in the air after Lewa voiced his question, making the Spirit of Air wonder if they didn't have any answers, either. Then Remilia turned away from him with a scornful snort, which left him puzzled as he wondered if he'd done something to offend her. After treating the others to a condescending reply, the vampire performed an about face and marched off. Wait, what did he do? He just didn't understand. Return? Return where? Lewa still didn't know why everyone decided to pay that particular shop a visit anyway, beyond vague conjecture about some sort of trivial errand for an unknown party. He'd just listlessly followed along, without anything better to do than hope the more powerful members of his party knew what they were doing, and it looked like Remilia expected him to blindly follow the leader again.

This time, though, Lewa did not move. His lime-green gaze rested on the boundless sky, its ephemeral clouds, and the distant horizon. Only the city's ambiance stirred the momentous silence: the barking of dogs, the clatter of hooves and wagon-wheels on cobblestones, both casual conversations and heated bargaining. Over it all, the wind whispered in his ears. It brushed against his biomechanical body, that familiar and welcome touch his only companionship in a vast and alien world where he could understand, achieve, and amount to nothing. Though stifled as it filtered through the confines of this strange city, it picked up speed as it blew toward the countryside, and Lewa could feel it at his back. Urging him onward.

After another moment, Fran went after Remilia. Lewa didn't know what 'princess' she might be referring to, and he didn't care. After all, Fran didn't care that she'd almost killed him -and squashed whatever faint hope his undefended homeland had- as collateral damage in the cave-in she caused down there in the tunnels. To people like her, Remilia, Anne, and and all the others, he was as inconsequential as a gnat. They wielded such incredible power that nothing could threaten them, and most not only came from the same world, but also could apparently still communicate with acquaintances worlds apart. They did not share Lewa's hopeless isolation, nor his urgent need to return from whence he came. This situation might be a crisis for Lewa, but to them it was an amusing diversion. He'd been saddled with the unsolvable problem of the fae child, forced to put aside his own mission, while the others ran off to pursue their own ends. Lewa had to accept that he would not make any progress as long as he trailed behind these people, bereft of purpose and agency. It was just a matter of time until he got caught in the crossfire of their extravagant powers, or accidentally ran afoul of their inexplicable moods. And time was something that his people didn't have.

Lewa took a deep breath. A few moments after Remilia and Fran got moving, the toa took his first steps in the opposite direction, and he did not look back. He could not afford to waste one more second as an accessory to these otherworlders' sideshows. His brothers and sister were out there. They needed him, and he them. So he would go and find them. So long as he followed the Great Spirit, and the whispers of the wind, Lewa knew he was never truly lost. With the wind at his back, he would not rest until he finally found his way home.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Qliphoth - Scarlet Swamp

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (130/140)
Midna’s @DracoLunaris Edelgard’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Captain Falcon’s @Double
Word Count: 595

Bloodstream travel sure wasn’t pleasant, but by the third time Nadia was finally starting to get used to it, with the help of her rather potent drink from Gallagher of course. Though the firefight against Emily in her monstrous feline form had been a flashy, high-octane brawl, and the full team’s heroic stand against the floodfested horde had been exciting, her quartet’s intense back-and-forth with Something Unto Death left a much stronger impression. It had been very different from her typical fare, even if most of those differences seemed tailor-made to counter her, and combined with the strange battlefield plus the mysterious barman, that encounter would probably stick with her for a while. For now, though, she could only wait until her ride through the Qliphoth vein came to an end, and hope that her arrival wouldn’t precipitate another brawl. The feral had a lot of fight left in her, but she could definitely use a break.

After a little less than a minute -her longest ascent yet- Nadia bubbled up in what could only be described as a blood swamp. Once she bobbed to the surface, she beheld a large, broad hollow full of large pools of crimson ichor separated by small islands of aged, almost fossilized Qliphoth flesh. Some of the demon tree’s internal outcrops resembled more ordinary trees themselves, though most of the flora in here looked far stranger, almost fungal in nature. Though she spotted a few large, pulsating Flood tumors scattered among the chamber’s recesses, the overall infestation rate seemed mercifully low. On one side the floor rose in a series of stony terraces over which blood flowed like water, and the wall there was so badly damaged that a large, frayed opening gave Nadia a view of the cloudy sky beyond. She could only assume that this hollow was very high up in the tree, and that the guardian couldn’t possibly be much higher.

Bubbling springs in the xylem pools betrayed spots where a number of other veins opened into the swamp from below, indicating that this hollow was some sort of convergence point. Hopefully that meant that all of Nadia’s scattered allies would eventually wind up here, provided that they survived whatever ordeals the Qliphoth sent their way. Given what she’d faced so far, Nadia felt pretty confident that the others had run into trouble as well, but pretty much all of her fellow Seekers were more than capable of handling themselves. “Guess we’ll wait and see who shows up,” she declared cheerfully.

She and Emily helped one another along as they waded through the pool to the nearest island, where they seated themselves around a mote of golden light beneath the watchful gaze of a lion-headed statue. There was enough room for Captain Falcon, Edelgard, and Midna if they wanted to rest, but given the size of this hollow, any itch for exploration could uncover all sorts of nooks, crannies, hidden items, or veiled threats. For her part, though, Nadia just stretched herself and tried to relax. Though the Qliphoth was stiflingly warm, a cool breeze blew in through the opening. “Ahh. Pretty flowers, scenic view.” Nadia folded her arms behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. It was not a pleasant sight. “If this place had a shower, I’d be all set. Wait…”

In a fit of inspiration, she forgot all about her attempt to relax and jumped up to try something new: using Hydro Mimics from her Oceanid striker to try and wash off all the blood, sweat, and grime, with decidedly mixed results.

Umbra Rose Condos

As Khalid said his piece, he made sure to give his prospective client every bit of attention that she deserved, but he could not fail to notice others as they overheard and took interest in his pitch. The arrival of Alphonse was something of a surprise, since he wouldn't have expected the rather reclusive mothman in such a crowded public space, especially given how jam-packed the Building One cafeteria happened to be tonight. He was a welcome addition to the conversation, though--sensitive and thoughtful types like him were definitely Khalid's target audience. And if their introversion meant that they had no shoulders to cry on before him, all the better. The eruditionist made sure to meet Alphonse's shiny compound eyes a few times and send a few words in his direction to make sure the cryptid felt included.

After Khalid posed his final question to Iris and the werewolf began to mull over her thoughts in silence, it was Alphonse who spoke up with a question of his own. It concerned the location of his therapy sessions, and Khalid was only too happy to furnish him with an answer. "Not at all. My clients and I can chat wherever they feel comfortable, so long as we can be reasonably assured of privacy." He knew better than most, after all, that most folks were more liable to clam up rather than open up when exposed to Eau de Shôggôth. With that very particular fragrance involved, even basic interactions could be a hard sell.

As it turned out, though, Iris didn't need any more convincing. The werewolf announced that she'd give it a try, and while Khalid limited his expression to a politely genial smile, his inner voice was whooping with delight. Rather given to paranoia, he'd grown more convinced that he'd never even get this far as the day dragged on, and yet against all odds, here he was: sitting across from his first client. It was only the first step on his narrow road to success, but to begin was half the work, as they say. "Excellent. I'm grateful to be given the chance to help. Here." He slid an Al-Azif Shoggoth Therapy card across the table for Iris to collect. "Please call or text with a time and place that suit you. Oh...but you need a new phone, don't you?" He suddenly recalled what Iris said in the lobby that morning. "No matter, we'll figure it out. I look forward to getting to know you."

As he spoke, Khalid re-evaluated Iris somewhat. The two of them had a surprising amount in common, and it was probably no coincidence that the two found one another. They were both born human, but made monsters by the caprices of circumstance, and they shared something that set them apart in both worlds. Even if Khalid had ulterior motives, he did not want to let Iris down, nor betray her trust. This would be a tricky tightrope to walk, but if anyone could do it, it was him.

Before Alphonse could rejoin the conversation, an announcement resounded through the cafeteria. While not thrilled to be interrupted in the middle of an important pitch, Khalid tented his hands and listened with furrowed brows as Theria explained what was going on. So gremlins were the ones responsible for the technical difficulties encountered by the kitchen staff. Though the creatures were elusive even by monster standards and not well documented, he'd done enough general research to be familiar with their habits, and this fell well within their expected capabilities. What puzzled him was the fact that the condos' resident gremlin community seemed to have entered a pact with the management, displaying a capacity for reason and temperance that he'd never heard of before. As far as he knew, gremlins were more like computer viruses than thinking beings. He wasn't especially interested in a gremlin scavenger hunt, but if the population here had truly been brought to heel, that definitely warranted further study. Plus, it couldn't hurt to build a little camaraderie with his clients.

Khalid returned the smile Iris gave him as he rose, gathering his plates and silverware for disposal. "I see no reason to decline. I'll lend you a hand. After all, if you manage to win a new phone, we'll be able to stay in touch, hmm?" He checked on his satchel's contents, then readied the bag for travel. He would follow behind Iris so that the Shoggoth's pungent smell wouldn't interfere with her tracking abilities. "All set," he said with a thumbs-up. "After you."

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Lilith’s Encroaching Shadow

Lvl 7 Sandalphon (51/70), Bowser Junior, Rika, Roland
Word Count: 4371

Having arrived via drilling up out of the ground, the koopa kids’ first point of interest in all this was not about Sandalphon’s history with this big lady, nor about whatever ‘number’ she had, but instead her choice of insult, which prompted Jr to ask ”What's a ‘shit’ supposed to be?”

Rika apparently didn’t need to know to start using it, yelling angrily ”Whatever it is, you're a big one! A big shit!” up at her, incredibly furious at being called little.

Roland, popping out of one of the blood vessels using his daggers, shook himself clean. He had just heard the conversation while getting the blood off, and with the two kids’ reply to a very basic word he had a bit of a think. He looked at the two ‘kids’, looked at Lilith, looked at the two again, then seemingly decided on something. ”No point in talking with someone who insults you like that, kids. Daddy might need to get out his belt for this naughty girl though.” Roland said, drawing his gun and firing upon Lilith, before going in with his lance using the bullets as cover. Having gotten to Emotion level 5, Roland got his final EGO, and while he couldn’t re-use the page he got on this floor, having used it at a poor time, the EGO was pretty good. Sword Sharpened by Tears. He’d have to wait for a good time to use this one though.

Though she averted her eyes from the gunfire, Lilith barely seemed bothered by the impact of the bullets against her, and Roland’s lance proved no more effective. As far as Roland could tell, either the demon boasted high defense, or just a massive pool of health. Only Sandalphon knew the answer: both were true. Lilith let go off her staff and began to float, casting dark magic that streamed upward. A blazing purple orb quickly swelled in size over everyone’s heads, tracking their movements with perfect accuracy. At the same time, Sandalphon opened fire from atop a blue tile. “Get out of melee range, or deadly puddles will block you off,” the archangel called to him, her tone sharp and authoritative. When Lilith spoke up to mock and mislead, Sandalphon simply talked over her, even using her sigil to speak straight into Roland’s ear. “Listen to me. Lilith’s specialty is strong, undodgeable, arena-wide attack spells. Only constant healing will get us through this.”

At that moment Candy Shower activated. The first orbs plummeted down, followed by two more per person shortly after. The team got only a fraction of a second to dodge each one, and when each orb struck the ground it left behind a field of purple flame twenty feet in diameter. Even knowing the timing, Sandalphon got clipped thanks to her slow roll, then quickly moved out of the flames before she could take any more damage. “Only once we break her wings can her beams be avoided,” she urged. She couldn’t offer any more advice than that for now though, as Lilith kept the pain train rolling with Crossing Candy. Enormous red and purple stripes spheres of solid sugar, easily ten feet tall apiece, appeared around the edges of the arena and began to roll around. Sandalphon managed to vault over one, then drift back down to the blue tile she’d made in order to continue firing. Still, the puddles left behind by Candy Shower limited everyone’s movement, and their uncoordinated placement would be a hazard for what came next.

Well, it limited the movement of the ground pounders anyway. After rocket boosting out of the way of the falling shots, Jr and Rika took to the skies in the former’s flying machine, actively using the updraft caused by the flames below to rise higher and faster. As they flew, the prince produced a subtle shimmering blue aura that glowed brighter around any weapons around it, such as the car itself, and the pile of them Rika had equipped.

Despite this boon, Rika’s rifle fire and Disruption Cannons shots against the priority target wings still didn’t do that much damage, though they did start stacking up a poison dot and inflict a temporary 20% damage debuff onto the foe.

”Hey Sandy! If you know what she does, do you know how we can bring the pain too?!” Jr called out, as he got them up and level with, but some way away from, the giant woman’s face.

“Elemental light, divine incantations or miracles!” the archangel called.

Roland wasn’t as phased by the magic orbs as Sandalphon nor Lilith would think. Granted the 10 foot tall candy boulders he couldn’t do anything about and would have to dodge, the homing orbs he could Counter and Clash with which he did using his hammer, canceling out the first two weak starter attacks and also canceling out the puddles they’d summon around him. Meaning only one puddle actually appeared or did any damage to him. And now having dealt damage to his team, Lilith had the mark of the Villain over her head, taking 20% more damage from everyone. ”I’ve got an idea how to ” Roland said.

Using the EGO he gained at Emotion level 5, the area temporarily changed into a starlit cityscape with swords sticking out of the ground, Roland donning a starry knight’s outfit and a long black sword. Contrary to what one might think, Roland only thrusted with the sword a few times as tear stained shockwaves came from the tip and ripped into Lilith from long range, dealing moderate damage, but bypassing Lilith’s defense.

”Although that's all I’ve got for a while.” Roland said, going back to his normal weapons as the cityscape stayed for only a few moments. ”Sandalphon , are all her attacks these low damaging AoE attacks? Well, besides the candy boulders…” While he couldn’t deflect the already placed AoEs, he could deflect the things that came after him or allies if he was fast enough that placed the AoEs, granted he could only save himself OR his allies, not both.

Before Sandalphon could say anything, Lilith answered the question for him. Two huge arrays of dark vortexes appeared on opposite sides of the ceiling, stretching all the way to the roof. As they built in intensity, the archangel sprinted toward one side as fast as her legs could carry her. The demon giggled. ”Let’s try for a little more agony this time, ‘kay?”

“Get out of the middle!” Sandalphon urged.

The next moment enormous dark lasers spewed out of each vortex, filling the arena with pitch black and blue radiance. Though each side didn’t extend all the way to the other, between both arrays lasers covered the whole battlefield, undodgeable. A single one chunked Sandalphon for almost half her life, but if anyone failed to avoid the center where the two arrays’ lasers overlapped, they would be on death’s door. By now the Candy Shower had ended, so the archangel steeled herself against the pain to heal her allies for 51% percent life with ripples of holy water–unless, of course, Junior and Rika had flown beyond its range. Lilith did not sit idle, however, and unleashed Accursed Shackles. The resulting Curse of Nihility wiped the Seekers’ buffs (including the extra regen from Angelic Praise), prevented new buffs’ application, and inflicted Creeping Corrosion, followed by a room-wide dark magic pulse.

When she felt that familiar burning sensation inside her, Sandalphon’s eyes became stress marks. She knew all too well that Creeping Corrosion would slowly sap everyone’s life, steadily growing stronger until the fight ended one way or another. She could reset its drain rate with enough healing, except that it also reduced recovery by 50%. It was a curse designed to counter her. “The path to victory is narrow,” she called to the others weakly. “You must heed me! Follow my lead to minimize damage, or I cannot sustain you! If you have dispel, use it!” Roland’s ‘Villain’ mark was a good start, but if nobody on her team could dispel Lilith’s five self-applied 10% defense buffs, this fight would take even longer.

Jr and Rika were indeed outside of Sandalphon’s range of support, and for some reason didn't pause to heal themselves with jrs magic. Instead they continued their charge forward they’d used to avoid being in the center.

Right on a collision course with Lilith’s.

Worse, jr didn't even have his hand on the wheel, instead shoving the butt of his paintbrush into it to hold their course while the hand that had been on them gripped the cables linking Rika’s back to her gauntlets.

Power charged in the brush, and then flowed from arm to arm I to the ship girl, who stood, one foot on the dashboard, fists raised and glowing with power.

Holy power.

”Wait for it, wait for it, now!” Jr cried as they got right up in their foes face, before both cried out “Sibling Strike Storm” in a way that totally wasn't aped from Ness.

Still, what followed certainly was a storm of strikes, as Rika unleashed a barrage of punches at the air, each one unleashing a shockwaveof stunning holy light which thundered like a divine smite.

After a dozen punches however the shopgirls gauntlets overloaded, and with the recoil of the blows no longer holding them back, they were on a collision course. jr had to awkwardly wrench the cars controlled to the side using only the but of his staff, while also holding onto his sister so she didn't fall as gravity took full effect on her without her gauntlets holding her up.

Roland meanwhile had dashed out of the AoE towards Sandalphon, making his way out of the worst of it but taking a hefty clip of damage himself. With this attack though, and the healing from it, the only thing Roland lost was a huge chunk of stagger. Well, he decided to assist the koopa kids with his own attack, pulling out his Tearblaster and blasting Lilith with a powerful gust of wind to see if that’d help open her up.

Left somewhat dazed by the holy knuckle sandswitch Rika served up, Lilith took a little damage from Roland’s Tearblaster, but wind paled in effectiveness to light, and she didn’t have any physical armor for the compressed air to blow away. Sandalphon, meanwhile, had to spend those vital few seconds setting up a new tile with a Cerulean Mirage. With Coordination Protocol rendered useless by Curse of Nihility, she was in Concentration Protocol in order to reuse her skills with Rapid Analysis, but there would be no skill use until she charged them via attacking. And thanks to the weakness gained from her fusion with Azure, her weapon’s trigger would only unlock as long as she stood on a blue tile, unless her allies acknowledged her as their leader. “Stay near me!” she called to others, her typically deadpan voice about as raised as it could get. “Let me heal you!”, While Roland listened, Unfortunately, her other allies had other plans.

”Quiet, you. Don’tcha know that everyone learns at their own pace?” Grinning, Lilith cast a spell. Two arrays of vortexes appeared in the arena behind her, at ten, eleven, one, and two o’clock, from floor to ceiling. At the same time, a ring appeared around Sandalphon, closing in fast.

The archangel’s eyes narrowed as her pupils became exclamation marks. “She’s going to trap me! You need to-” Just then the magic completed, and heavy lasers blasted across the arena, each one passing harmlessly through Lilith to slam against the far wall. Only the cardinal directions were safe, but a flame puddle from Candy Shower still covered the opening at six o’clock, rendering it unusable. Even if the Seekers scrambled for safety and didn’t sustain a laser -or multiple overlapping lasers- they would be separated by the huge beams. At the same time Sandalphon -who’d taken refuge at nine o’clock- became sealed in a Candy Prison, unable to move a muscle while inside the sphere of translucent sugar. Dark magic began to bubble up beneath the prison, slowly but steadily, as the lasers died down.

Lilith cackled at the sight of the helpless angel. ”Forget what I said before–I don’t mind sending you to hell first!”

Roland was tired of this girl just spamming coverage abilities, so before he did what he was going to do, he parried a laser headed his way with his two hander, before dashing towards Sandalphon and hacked away at her Candy prison with his daggers, gauntlets, and mace to break it apart. Unlike Lilith, it seemed to crack with relative ease. He’d finish his flurry with one final attack at Lilith, this time swapping to his paintbrush and conjuring his vengeful spirit out of ink which rushed at and attached itself to Lilith, silencing her while it tried to rip and tear at her. Unable to speak for the moment, the demon merely curled her lip, and resolved to trap Roland next time.

Having just barely avoided slamming into Lilith post team attack, Jr and Rika’s flight path took them unhelpfully away from Sandalphon and into the 12 o'clock position and, due to the massive bright lasers separating them and her, entirely blind to what had happened to her. Instead, they took the brief moment while the beams were going off to restock on resources, Jr using Lucid Dreaming to boost his MP, while Rika merely took a rest, restoring her SP while waiting for her gauntlets to reboot post team attack.

Rika also deployed her Ichor Queen striker, who charged up lightning into her massive cleaver, which it then thrust towards Lilith, unleashing a lighting bolt, once they got visibility of her again. They also got visibility of Sandalphon’s situation at last, giving them just a moment to intervene, which Jr did via slamming a button on the clown car’s controles, which caused a hatch at its mouth to open, revealing a cannon that then sent a flaming balloon sailing towards the candy prison.

Compared to all the non-holy hits landed so far, the lightning bolt worked surprisingly well against Lilith, and it kept her busy while the rest of the team worked to free Sandalphon. Thanks to Roland’s well-placed blows, the Sweet Prison fell apart a chunk at a time, and the balloon bomb from Junior once the lasers died down sealed the deal. With Roland’s focus on his vengeful spirit rather than pulling Sandalphon to safety, however, she got floored by the dark geyser that went off a moment after she escaped. Still, it could have been much worse. “My thanks.”

Sandalphon kept her eyes on Lilith, however, as the demon kicked off yet another tricky spell. Finally she made use of her staff, with colorful magic welling up around its head. Sandalphon cottoned on to her enemy’s Saccharine Stun right away, but the archangel knew that the solution to this problem would be even harder to coordinate than the last. “Pay attention to the shapes and their order,” she warned the others. A moment later three copies of Lilith’s staff appeared around her, and when Sandalphon saw the shape of the crystals adorning them, she practically barked out her next order. “Squares, stay away!” After another second, the staves exploded into powerful square-shaped blasts, all overlapping Lilith’s position. Contrary to what one might expect, though, Sandalphon began running toward the demon as the blasts died out and three new staves appeared with circular gems embedded in them. “Circles, medium range, away from the staves!” She hurried to a specific spot, then stopped just in time to avoid Lilith’s magic as the staves exploded with circles, accompanied by a thick ring around the outer third of the arena. That left just one possibility as a final set of staves appeared. “Triangles, get to Lilith!” By Sandalphon’s estimation, however, she was not fast enough to reach Lilith by the time the next blast went off. Instead she stood still to cast Angelic Wings and heal herself to the point where Saccharine Stun couldn’t kill her.

A moment after the last set of staffs went off, Lilith snapped her fingers, and three more giant candies appeared: a pyramid, a sphere, and a cube. ”Pucker up, sweet things! You’re in for one hell of a treat!”

”This is way too much! Stop spamming like that!” Jr demanded, as he put pedal to the metal to try and follow the Sandapon’s call out. Well, after getting blasted by the first one anyway, that was certainly a good incentive to listen to the adult in the room and to dance to her tune. Tyres burned on the arena floor as he powerslid the clowncar around, blue sparks flaring at his wheels that then converted into a boost that meant they’d make it.

To make sure that arrival hurt, the kid summoned Blodia, prompting a red metal fist the size of the giant woman to slam out of the air and into the foe.

As this slammed down, Rika used her restored SP to fire off a second 4 shot barrage of disruption cannons, the blobs sticking to the foe and reducing her damage output even more, though the first set of 4 were due to expire very soon.

Then she summoned Vichya's Black Lance to the hand she wasn’t using to hold onto the clown car’s side, pointing it forwards at their foe intending to joust the woman who she demanded ”stop trying to ruin sweets for me you big shit!”

Being an agile fighter, Roland had no problems keeping up with Sandapon’s call outs. He started to notice that this was kinda like a dance or a game, instead of actual combat. There were zones of safety, and things were being clearly telegraphed. This girl wouldn’t last long in the City, that's for sure if she was going to be this combination of arrogant and ineffective. Once her wave of dodgable attacks was over, Roland moved to hit Lilith with his hammer, then jumped back ready to Furioso. Speaking of strong attacks, some of his EGO should be ready soon and he could help pile on some serious damage.

For a brief moment Sandalphon was dismayed to hear such continued profanity from Rika. Lilith was clearly corrupting the youth! The more pertinent problem, however, was that neither the children nor Roland seemed to understand her last instruction about the order of the shapes. “The sweets!” Sandalphon called after the melee fighters as they attacked Lilith, gesturing toward the giant candies they’d passed right by. To try and show them what she meant she hastily attempted to fire at the cube, forgetting that her trigger was locked. It took a heroic effort to keep her composure at that point as she ran over to whack the cube with her staff. “Break the cube!” Whack! “Then the sphere!” Whack! “Then the pyramid!” Whack! Whack! “Hurry!”

By this point, though, the cube was vibrating noticeably, and the sphere had already begun to vibrate as well.

”The wha-” Jr started to call back, only for his question to be drowned out as a volley of torpedoes Rika had launched from the shield that was paired with her lance went off. That sort of was the problem, as between the screech of his tires as he tried to pivot their vehicle around, and Rika opening up with machine gun fire over his head, it was rather difficult to hear what was being said, and that was before you got the massive room filling magical attacks Lilith was putting out.

Still, the vibrating cube certainly looked dangerous once he got eyes on it, certainly more so that it had been passively floating there when he’d weaved between it and the others, and Sandalphon smacking at it was a pretty clear visual representation of what needed to be done.

”RIKA! HIT THAT THING!” he yelled over the girl’s gunfire, prompting her to move the barrel towards the crystal, reconsider given the resulting friendly fire, and to then instead use her bullet jump, maneuvering thrusters, and grappling hook to launch herself ahead of the clowns car, and to deliver a vaultbreaker boosted punch to it.

Lacking any way to kill her momentum, she instead used the other hand to splattershot the floor before her with ink, letting her slide across it and decelerate rather than stumble and fall.

Jr arrived a moment later, dropping off Sho the ninja striker to hack at it with electrical scythes, while he himself unleashed a burst of ”Holy!” magic that struck all the shapes and Lilith as well, though odds were the stun component of that spell would not be helping. Once focused, the cube went down easily enough, though only Sandalphon knew how close it had been to detonation and she wasn’t about to share–not when the others were fixing to blow as well. She went to make another Cerulean Mirage, then hesitated, doing mental math. After a second, she conjured a mirage by Lilith.

Roland meanwhile knew it was important to do what needed to be done in fights like this, failure to adhere to the weird abilities of their opponent would be foolish and Roland knew all about the weird guests that appeared in the Library. If the goal was to destroy these shapes in a specific order, then that's what he’d have to do. With Jr. and Rika taking out the first one and the second one looking like it was going to go as well, Roland had no choice but to hit it with his stocked up Furioso. In a rapid flurry of attacks using each of his used weapons, Roland hacked at the sphere.

While the sheer power of Furioso couldn’t be denied, the act of swapping between so many weapons to strike with each -and only starting after the cube’s destruction- meant that Roland’s efforts were doomed from the start. Not even two seconds into his attack, the spherical candy detonated in a tidal wave of molten sugar that washed across the arena and sent all four Seekers tumbling, badly scalded. Thanks to her weak constitution and defense, Sandalphon got it worst of all, but she’d steeled herself for this searing pain–and what had to happen next. At this point the pyramid’s detonation was guaranteed, and while the others might survive it on death’s door she certainly wouldn’t. Not like this, anyway. As the final candy began to swell, Lilith’s eyes alight with malicious glee, Sandalphon dropped her staff and clapped her hands together. “In Ilia’s name…”

The pyramid exploded in another wave of syrupy napalm, and the archangel disappeared in a flare of holy light. When the volcanic goo washed past her, the light dispersed to reveal a draconic angel with scales of onyx and marble, and radiant wings of light. “See the light!”

Lilith ground her teeth together, her delight replaced by frustration. ”That’s cheating!”

Sandalphon extended her arms, summoning huge arrays of light screens to either side, then cast them forward in a battering barrage. Each impact charged her skills, and after just a moment, it was ready to go. With the chunk of dragon energy that the blast from Caramelized Sweets took from her, she would have time for only one skill, so she meant to make this count. “Celestial Skewer!” By raising her hands she lifted up brilliant orbs of holy water, then hurled them at Lilith as spears. Thanks to Rapid Analysis, this also healed the team by forty-two percent, but after that the show was over, and Sandalphon returned to her human form, breathing heavily.

“Listen,” she told the others. “This is far from over. I will use my powers to mark locations to run to or targets to prioritize. We can do this. We just need to focus and adapt.”

Roland’s Furioso did not allow him to dodge the sphere blast just yet, and he got hit by the pyramid wave. While his health was fine thanks to Sandalphon, especially with her healing that would come, the problem right now was Roland was close to being staggered and there wasn’t anything she could do about that.

Rika was a touch preoccupied with sprinting towards the clown car she and her brother had been using to get around to reply, which was presently flipped upside down after being blown away. Grabbing a buckled axle, she lifted the machine up, revealing her (slightly dazed from tumbling) brother beneath it.

Much to Rika’s relief she seemed mostly fine, post Sandalphon healing, but his ride was anything but, the machine having taken the brunt of the damage and being more or less shot as a result.

”Urrgh, and I just had that fixed,” the prince complained after his sister had picked him up, used her grappling hook to retrieve his dropped paintbrush and prompted him to use Esuna to clear his dizziness.

With him sorted, Rika finally had time to ask ”What did those ‘mark’s you mentioned look like?” In reply, a screen in the shape of a triangle appeared in front of her, about a foot away from her head and positioned directly over Junior.

”Neat.”

When Lilith checked her wings, she found them still operational, but visibly wounded. She hissed and turned her attention back to the Seekers with a smarmy smile. “Okay, dipshits. You’ve officially made me mad. I’m gonna savor the sweet, sweet sound of you screaming, and this time there are no more second chances to save you!”