Asuras

Arknights - Project Neptune

Chariot had already rushed over to Thunderer's side, scrambling to look over the large gash that had cut a quarter-deep into his calf. Bending a knee beside him, the kuranta's eyes contorted into one of worry. An injury to the leg, at this time in the simulation, was probably the worst possible thing they could have experienced, save the elimination of a teammate itself.

The sky of the city boomed once more, and another red beacon rose from the horizon into the sky. A warning of impending difficulty. Chariot's eyes were cast up as the alarm droned for a brief moment, before turning back to Thunderer. She didn't have her healing Arts charged quite yet, but she was already focusing on it. They had to move, and so she opted to simply pick the poor Operator up and haul him herself.

With a quick but trained maneuver, Chariot hoisted him over her shoulders. Though they were of equal size, she didn't seem to mind the weight much as she began moving. "Sorry about this friend," she said to Thunderer. Nodding to Thrones, she began off down the street, slower than her compatriots thanks to the doubled load she had. Nevertheless, through heavy breathing and strained legs, she persevered.

The group continued through the city, after several minutes of running and jogging, checking corners and diving through buildings, they at last made it to the true skyscrapers that the Scouting team had initially observed. Indeed, numerous skybridges connected the fake city here, and once they were inside would at least shield them from the watchful eyes of gunships.

Through the doors they went, and once inside were faced with the spirit of a massive corporate lobby, as well as a set of four operable elevators at the other end of the room. No doubt with someone on her shoulders, Chariot had a definite opinion as to whether or not they should use them.

"Maximum occupancy...?" she muttered to herself, scanning over the wall where the elevator doors stood. There was nothing as far as plaques went. Another shortcoming on the computer's end. "...Alright. We should probably split up then. I don't want the simulation to decide we're too heavy with all this gear for just one car."

The sound of roaring thrusters drew her ears back to the lobby entrance. Through glass panes stretching across the entrance, the team could see what appeared to be a VTOL of some design which had suddenly descended into a controlled hover mere feet above the street pavement. Mere seconds later, five more androids dropped from the side of the gunship, landing gracefully on the ground. Without pause, they raised their weapons; firearms.

A hail of bullets stormed into the building, piercing through the glass panes and shattering them in turn.

"Get down!" Chariot yelled, dropping to her knees. Desks, short walls, and other common objects to a lobby as theirs shielded them from the gunfire that surged a mere foot above their heads. She quickly settled Thunderer onto the ground of the lobby, turning in her crouched stance to the others. The gunfire seemed as if to go unabated; they either had bottomless magazines, or they were staggering their suppressive fire.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Her horse isn't a hamburger >:[

@Click This

We'll have the final say about that one.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Oh. That certainly sounded like a viable option. Annabelle's eyes drifted to the various crystals around the room, and the vague notion of some kind of "lock" came to mind. The presence of these strange structures certainly started to make more sense in her mind. Wasting no time, she retrieved her sword from the holster at her lower back, and set to work alongside Carpenter. It didn't take much effort to shatter the fragile structures, even for her tiny familiar. A sword crashed through the air, sending fragments flying about, while the little red blob simply opted to root itself into the floor and punch out with a flat cylindrical shape, impacting the crystals even quicker than Annabelle could herself.

In short work, they'd dismantled a good number, and by then Annabelle had noticed the changes occurring to the imprisoning blue crystal. A smile washed over her face, and she continued the shattering with increased fervor. Eventually, all that she could see within the room had been shattered, with Carpenter working to search for any smaller formations that might have been hidden in the nooks and crannies of the cavity.

"I think... that's all of them," Annabelle said, turning to the fallen goddess crystal. The image of a crack forming upon the surface where Cecilia's spear had struck gave her a measure of certainty that they would succeed with this puzzle, and an eagerness (and perhaps a hint of fear) warmed her spirits.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

With some careful planning, luck, and spontaneously acquired demolition expertise, we can force the floor the crystal is on to collapse and tilt, rolling everything off the side and out into the streets.

Arknights - Project Neptune

Thrones' infusion of anti-gravity into the three armored drones at the forward team proved successful, and even beside the assault that Mule and Vlad wreaked upon them, were already seeming off-kilter; their footsteps found difficulty in gripping the street as they moved about and took swings at Mule. Her shield impacted into something that reflected sturdiness, but the strength required to push them back betrayed that hardened nature. The armored droids were tossed backwards onto their backs with ease, and the moment one of them had hit the ground, Vlad secured its arm, and swiftly tossed it in an overhead swing. It's own weight and the speed that it unnaturally flew it added up to a caved-in chest plate which rapidly disabled critical components of its functioning.

Another tasted the blunt steel of Mule's axehead, bending the side of an armor piece just before it too was swept off its feet. The electronics beneath fizzled and cracked, but it remained operational, leaving the rear-guard now with two more armored droids that were way in over their heads.

While Thunderer might have been able to fend off the remaining standing droid, he failed to notice the unconventional approach of the second; crawling on the ground, it chopped outwards with its arm hand, swinging a machete into the back of his calf. Before it could do more harm, Strix's keen eye saved him from losing a virtual limb. Two shots easily knocked out their core systems, and they fell crumpled beside Thunderer.

Her third strike was a master-stroke of teamwork, and perhaps a bit of luck. It slammed into the head of slowed armored drone tussling with Dragoon, knocking the head piece to the side and exposing a portion of its neck,normally hidden by a jutting piece of armor that hung from the lower side of its box-like face. Dragoon's spear found purchase in that vulnerable spot, sinking deep past a glimpse of thin armor, pistons and joints. It crackled with electricity before its knees gave way, crashing to the ground.

Strix's fourth shot impacted the other armored droid, which had only just then pushed off the slab of debris that fell upon it. Though it was dented in many parts and had sheared cuts in its armor from the heavy stone, it remained capable of standing her bullet. Yet, disoriented, its visual systems seemed to make it difficult for the robot to go straight after Dragoon.

Feral had a straight shot back to the group in the alleyway itself, which attached back to the street where the right was happening, albeit several yards behind where the debris had crushed the Arts droids. The armored drone which was approaching Dragoon had its back exposed to the Guard, unawares of her new presence.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

I was going to suggest giving it some sunlight, but I guess throwing it off the roof would also achieve that.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Annabelle was entranced by the sight of the girl, not especially for her good looks or extravagant attire, but for the peculiar situation of it all. An imprisoning crystal, a horned girl, and all seemingly descended from the very heavens. As far as her imagination could help her, the raven-haired girl was convinced that this 'meteor' had carried with it not a treasure or rare material, but a fallen cosmic being. A girl from beyond the stars, or even the moon perhaps. Whatever she was, she was not of this world.

That she was encased in crystal and seemingly mid-defensive position spoke to Annabelle of a fight which had gone awry for her. This, coupled with her having descended in a flash of light gave her the idea of a punishment. She spoke up, standing by Ciel as Cecilia moved to touch it.

"It is almost as if... she was cursed to be imprisoned here. Encased in this crystal, and cast to our realm. Maybe she's a goddess?" Annabelle proposed. Her looks and attire certainly seemed to reflect as much, anyways. "We should be careful not to upset-" Annabelle's voice caught in her throat when the light went dark and a chill cracked into the air.

"C-careful Cecilia!" she called out, extending a hand as if to draw her away. This thing was dangerous, perhaps even angry. Annabelle was not keen on disturbing it, but she also held the same sentiment as Cecilia, if only out of a concern for the rest of the realm as well. If this trapped young girl was a powerful being, she certainly did not want some dirty and arrogant empire to offend her, and bring ruin to the land.

"Maybe... we can try waking her some other way. Maybe she can hear us if we shout?"

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Much as Annabelle's imagination would have loved it to be otherwise, Carpenter would have been a poor rope to use in getting up the tower. The little familiar was flexible and quick, but not very good at maintaining shape when it came down to tugging a whole human body straight upwards. Not at the length that was needed, anyways.

Thankfully Cecilia was well ahead of her and came with rope of her own. As Artemisia was still mounted, Annabelle took it upon herself to be up the rope first. Grabbing hold, she worked her way up, hand and foot. Carpenter suddenly morphed into a long, twisting shape, snaking up the rope much faster than she could ever hope to climb as a mere mortal.

When she had finally made it up, Annabelle huffed. No doubt such an inefficient modem of climbing was tougher on her stamina than if she'd simply had the ability to magically leap, like Cecilia. That would be nice to have. She stood herself up after pulling onto the platform, dusting her hands of the abrasion from her grip. As she turned, stepping away from the ledge, she found herself gazing out over the ruined city. They'd been a long way, and no doubt there were many others still gunning for the prize. At least being off the streets meant they'd be far safer from further interruption.

Arknights - Project Neptune

The Arts droids flipped upside down, heads dangling as the glaring mechanical eyes turned away. They could not swivel completely around on their necks, and so even as they turned in an attempt to stare down the group, they could only face the buildings on either side of the street. But even if their attacks didn't hit true...

...they would certainly terrify.

Compared to the brightness of the light being emitted, the world around the operators seemed as if to darken. A purple beam of seething, violent energy blasted out from a space mere inches in front of the Arts droids, slicing into the fake buildings. The heat of the attack itself was enough to ignite air, and the countless small explosions only made the building shatter even further. Each side of the street beside the Arts droids collapsed onto the street, raining pristine white rock-like material all over.

Chariot had only just finished cleaving the final normal droid attacking the forward group when it happened, a sudden cloud of shadows looming over her, Vlad, and Dragoon. Huge slabs were descending upon them and the two armored drones assailing Dragoon. One such massive stone slammed over the top of an armored drone, pressing it onto the ground.

The second armored droid threw a fist into the space where Dragoon was just standing, and in a blink of an eye later, something hidden within its arm units whirred and then slammed with greater force, breaking up the asphalt below its fist.

As Thunderer showed up and pelted the two armored droids still around the forward team, he foudn one of his targets suddenly obscured; the stone slab which had fallen on the aforementioned armored droid, serving as a somewhat-lucky impromptu shield against his bolts. The other one which had only just begun retracting its arm from the hole it created in the ground was not so lucky, and experienced a sudden surge in its components, jerky movements and slow movement towards Dragoon indicating his attacks were working on it.

Strix's four shots struck true, hitting each Arts droid exactly where she place the bullets, but as they continued hanging in the air -and moving- it was clear that those would not be enough to fully take them out. The bullets knocked against sturdy armor, denting their headparts but not fully penetrating. Thrones' grip on them was waning, as the scent of her own blood became more apparent.

The approaching armored droid which Strix had in the end fired upon had a chunk of its head blown away, exposing vulnerable electronic pieces hidden beneath the helm. Its lensed eye remained intact, focusing on the operator which had damaged it, and made for the ranged gunner.

Mule's steadfast gunfire dismantled two more normal droids approaching her, and further fire into the legs of the remaining four managed to dismember one of them. A leg severed as it fell to its side, relegated then to crawling along the ground with its hands, no less determined to get at her squad.

Two armored droids remained in the fight against the forward squad, one of them slowed by Thunderer's support. The other was breaking itself out of the stone prison that crumbled over it.

Two normal droids continued the assault upon the rear group, both of them quickly upon at Thunderer, though one of them could only swing at his ankles, being forced prone by Mule's dismembering shot. The third, fourth, and fifth armored droids seemed fixated upon Strix, and were just within reach of Mule, readied to trample right past the defender in their quest to pummel the gunner.

The two Arts droids heads glowed with a dwindling heat, clearly cooling down from their massive attacks.

Meanwhile...

The canines were quick to their actions, meeting Feral with near-equal speed, but far less maneuverability. As she charged, so to did they, and just after she had already leaped for the walls did they skid to a halt, swiftly turning on their four heels. Her blade struck into the long face of one of them, severing half the head and disabling it after several seconds of wobbling.

The arc also cut away the antennae, drawing out a crackling malfunction from the immobile machine. Though it still blinked and flashed, it seemed unlikely that it was still able to work. Just as soon as Feral landed, the remaining dog leaped at her with bladed fangs and a wide maw which was loaded to clamp around any limb it could find.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

"Name?" Annabelle paused. How could she forget at least that much courtesy? "My name is... Annabelle. Nice to meet you, Cecilia. Artemisia. Locke. Ciel," she greeted in turn. When she finished her quaint little cookie from the spearwoman, Annabelle stood herself up and looked to the tower which that ranger had tried climbing. That was their initial destination, wasn't it? The strange, unfamiliar crystal structures all around the area seemed like evidence enough that their star-fallen object of interest was nearby. Annabelle had half a mind to try and take on the crystals she could see -just a fragment- to figure out what kind of properties they had. Surely they had some kind of unique use? But she didn't want to waste anymore time. There was an entire army or two sifting through the city as well, after all.

"We should get moving, shouldn't we?" she asked the group. "We might actually be the closest to the target here. That would be nice, anyways. We shouldn't squander our advantage."