War of Dragons: Tear of Ice

The Mayor is missing today, which bears a lot of meaning to it on its own. The entire battlefield has been prepared around the ominous Whale that has been floating in the air in the region. Sometimes swimming further up into the air, sometimes closer to the ground, but always near. Always close to the battlefield, which still lies scarred. Vegitation has not returned since the cold warping icy attacks. The mud that has formed from the extreme moisture that was introduced has been worked away by some alchemists by super-heating the area, but has caused some strange weather patterns to the isolated biome of the fourth floor.

There is an abundance of Scale Emblem presence today. There are multiple magical 'space heaters' that have been set up, with various flame mages hard at work to keep the enchantments topped up, creating activable 'safe zones' against any uses of explosively powerful Wave Artes.

The Whale has been looking a bit worse for wear. From time to time, patches of its skin have been freezing over, only for them to wear away again. Its massive horn the only thing that has seemingly been unaffected by the struggle within.

Then, a few hours earlier than the expected time, the whale begins to writhe. The estimation of the amount of weeks has been an estimation, and that was always clear from the get-go. But now, finally, the whale's maw opens, and it spits out the powerful Machina down to the ground, in a big red glob of what looks like flem and blood combined, glistening and shining with the light of a damaged area, before the whale beats angrily into the sky and begins flying southwards, giving the Scale Emblem a chance to spring their traps!

Schneider is one of the Scale mages standing by, heating things up as necessary. He's got heat to spare and no mistake, but as the whale regurgitates the Tear of Ice, it looks like it's time to turn up the heat. "Up and at 'em!" he shouts, in case anyone was talking a break. The exact hatching time was never graven in stone, so some people have been napping in the course of maintaining a continuous watch. His own nap is due soon, but it looks like it's go time right now, and so he will have to snooze later!

"It's fire or smackdown, right?" he checks the orders from before. So, he opens fire, as it were. "Crimson blood," he chants sonorously. "Slaying summoning of Graves, Zul-art Jodorti, Adaryl!" He points and fire leaps from his hand as he shouts, "DEF LEPPARD"

Under normal circumstances, it doesn't take much for Kita to dig into her wardrobe and pull out something... provocative. However, in this particular case, with the sweltering heat from those magical 'space heaters' and so many flame mages nearby, it's damn freaking hot. So, she's as scantily clad as you can expect form a black mage, with arm bands, a black tank top, and a skirt that barely passes as such.

And... on the other hand, there is a giant pile of fur-lined clothing next to her for the inevitable shift of the weather that is bound to come with the releasing of Tear of Ice. It's an almost comical juxtaposition.

"Well, there she is. About damn time." The mage looks up from drawing in her sketchbook, then pushes her glasses up her nose with one finger before stowing it and retrieving her spellbook instead. The strange little mote of darkness that has become her constant companion makes angry-eyebrow emotes and burns a bit more intensely.

Drawing out symbols into the air around her, each one forms into a ball of fire. The dark mote seems to hover between them as if pulling the fires together until it forms into one giant fireball. The black-purple flames lash out before attack is thrown forward with a cast of Kita's hand, sending it out towards Tear of Ice.

    Wisteria is furred up, wearing her good armor, and hanging around checking each of the heaters, making sure all of the enchantments are set correctly and adjusting the MP flows to ensure she's got the best efficency so they'll last through the fight. Her first move however is to pull the jewlers loop from her inventory. "She still has a weak spot at the throat, but she also has a weakpoint with the blindfold." she announces into the Raid Chim.

Vertina was helping with the heaters, though not directly. She was putting her recently honed cooking skills to use to make sure the mages kept themselves fed while working. Hot homemade stew is filling and helps starve off the surrounding cold!

But that meant the Salamander was ready and roaring to go herself as soon as the call came up that the whale was showing signs of losing it's hold. "Sorry guys, you'll have to feed yourselves if you need more hot loving from the ovens!" she calls as she plunks the ladel in the pot and dashes off to join the front-line.

Just in time to see Tear hit the ground, covered in blood and ambergris and other ichor we probably don't want to know. "Time for Round Three, bitch!" Vertina was already building up with her dash into action, so she's already got her first attack ready. "And we're bringing the heat." She skids to a stop, swatting the flaming ball she's formed into the air with her tail, and continuing the spin to meet it's descent and send the Meteor Striker hurtling like it's namesake towards Tear of Ice with blazing (literally) speed in hopes she won't have a chance to stop or douse it this time!

    Setsuna stands watching the whale flanked by his cerberus and skeleton knight as they simply watch for the target. The moment the whale spits out the problematic metal popsicle Setsuna's facial expression shifts from a stern stoic expression to a grin. " Looks like today is the day we get to deal with this metal popsicle." With a raise of his hand his two monster allies run out infront followed by Setsuna as he wraps his arms in a ball of fire. The moment he gets in range he throws it at the Machina before shouting to the others. "Rain fire everyone."

It has been a long time coming. The wait for the Tear of Ice's reemergence was dredging up some serious feelings of impending doom... One made worse by the fact that her face and existence was akin to a scratched up portrait. Trying to remember hurt-- it wasn't impossible, which was a sign surely that she was still alive inside that massive whale but...

Well, coordinating something like this is hard enough with a war going on. But when half of the people you're trying to wrangle don't even remember what the threat is, that's something else entirely.

The doctor stands at a safe distance, the sky above the churning whale long having turned to a soupy mess of irregular stormclouds. Rain pelts his hat in sheets, and the wind twists a wrap of cinnabar and saffron cloth this way and that where it's been secured around his chest. The others have had some cold weather gear assigned, too. Now there's only the matter of waiting.

...And then, finally, she reemerges. Prophylaxis grunts, the memories vivid once more. "Hit her hard, everyone!" He shouts, raising his staff to the heavens. A bolt of lightning answers his call, crashing down into the Tear of Ice alongside the concentrated barrage of attacks raining down on the ancient Machina. All things considered, his contribution seems downright meager compared to the others, but...

This show is just getting started, after all.

Raging fire awakens the Machina, the spewing blaze of Schneider's musically inspired attack tears across the glob of crimson ooze that covers its body. Just the initial hit is enough to sear away the moisture, causing it to coat and stain the body of the normally blue Tear of Ice's body. Parts of its body turned purple from the combination of disgusting color. It grabs at one of its arms, faltering back. It looks more damaged than it had been when they last saw the Machina!

The utterance of Kita's magic follows, and as the flames of Schneider's flames wane, a devilish black and crimson fuel the pits of hell surrounding the Machina, its health very slowly ticking down. More of its body being molten apart. Pieces of its body starting to look even more molten than before. Parts of its inner mechanics starting to become visible. Some of the black and flames coming through its chest, and blaze out on the other side, but it rights itself as if no physical force was truly taking hold of it anymore. Such intense strength within all of the internal machinery.

Vertina pushes through, and the Tear of Ice lowers its body a bit, blocking the initial Meteor Striker with one arm, grimacing a bit as the arm bends in an awkward manner, before the Machina manages to redirect the spinning blazing orb to the side, into the ground, where it detonates and leaves a massive traveling and sliding crater, spewing debris upon the back lines of the formation.

It grabs that slightly mangled arm with its other hand and begins to mend its shape, before 'tendrils' of ice suddenly rise behind her like a spirit of ice itself. It begins to strike away additional firebolts, while its 'sight' seems set on the greater presence. Its body being pushed down, a crater slowly forming around it as more and more impacts from raining fire coming from Setsuna and his allies flow, creating a pool of melting stone beneath it! Ice begins to form in the area however, overwhelming the sheer power of the fire magic in the area.

As thunder joins in on keeping the ground heated, the Tear of Ice begins to move. Its feet beginning to melt away from the heated rock beneath it. Each step causing the air to hiss around her. Metal warping, bending away, the shell being eradicated and opened up by the extreme heats as it brings one arm forward and a sudden enormous magical pattern forms behind its body like a pair of 'wings' made out of cryptic magic. The symbols recognizable to some, as they look suspiciously like the language of the Alv!

The circles turn, almost like a set of decoder rings, moving from position to position, selecting letters each, until they finally land on a finalized combination, and the creature opens its mouth. A haunting call, almost like a banshee's screetch, forms, and the rings of light suddenly turn into a circular pattern of enormous icicles with blue glowing light within, which suddenly fan up into the air and line up by its hand, as it suddenly boosts forwards and tries to stab one of the front liners - Wisteria - the ice shattering the moment it makes contact with the space she was standing in, before the Tear of Ice moves again, slashing the next shard of ice like a blade for Setsuna's neck. Moving on towards Schneider, then Kita, trying to stab Schneider through the heart, before attempting to push Kita to the ground and pierce through her very head! It continues its rampage, moving, shifting, replicating Vertina's technique and punting a shard of ice straight towards her body with a backwards soccer flip, before repeating the same with ten more of the shards, letting each shotgun into the back lines of the Scale Emblem army! Moving from Melee to Ranged strikes constantly.

The element of surprise can only grant them so much against an enemy of this caliber. A single volley of attacks before it starts to move, "It does not look happy." Kita's words offer little in the way of warning. Even that mote of darkness only gives off a shuddering emote with lines of anger around it before it moves to hide behind the mage.

Unlike some of the front-liners, she has a few seconds of warning, seeing the monster dart from person to person, attacking again and again. So when Tear of Ice squares up and starts heading her way, the black mage is prepared for it.

It doesn't stop her from being barreled over, but the warding spell drawn out beneath her flares as the attack comes towards her head, stopping it in mid-air and causing it to crack against the powerful barrier spell. "I don't think so." Thankfully, the machina doesn't press the attack further, allowing Kita enough breathing room to get back to her feet, a scowl on her face and an equally irritated look form that mote of darkness as it flutters out from behind her, flaring purple flames in the direction of the monster.

"I know, I know." She rubs her hands together, the pages of her spellbook flapping slightly where it sits on the ground. She begins to weave dark magic, pulling it from around them and forming it into a series of remarkably similar fireballs, but rather than merging together, these remain and seem to pulse, growing larger.

"Heat of Stygian Inferno, answer my call. Keep the ice at bay." She lashes out both hands, the dark flames responding and all launching one after another, chasing down Tear of Ice despite her quick movements.

It hit. It hit and forced Tear to strain herself to redirect it, that is enough for Vertina. Flames are still licking from her heels as she pushes off from the ground, intending to charge into melee range while she has the chance. But the chance doesn't last long enough as Tear recovers quicker than her damaged state would suggest possible and starts hurtling the ice attacks. Even rubbing a bit of salt in the wounds by mimicing part of her own style. The ice shard slams into the Salamander even as she tries to evade, sending her hurtling backwards in the direction she came.

Followed by a loud dull *THWUNG*. That would be Vertina slamming into the side of the kettle she'd been dishing out stew from. She grabs the brim to help herself up to her feet, then pauses at feeling the warmth and looking at where she is. Considers a moment. Then grins one of those reckless 'I have a stupid idea' grins. "Sorry guys, I'm going to need this after all." She exhales at the base, cracking the heat back up to get the stew steaming and bubbling hotter than anyone, even Salamanders, should be trying to eat. Because she's not planning to eat it.

Vertina grabs the handles, hefts the kettle off the fire, and spins around. One.. two.. three times "TIME FOR YOUR LAST MEAL!"

And then lets go to HURL the kettle of scalding hot stew into the air towards the machina! That super hot liquid and food chunks getting into the exposed damage on the warmachine will hopefully be extremely not pleasant for her!

    Wisteria is thrown back as the exploding ice shards slash through her armor sending her sprawling to the ground, great gaping red meshwork showing wounds as she climbs back to her feet. The tall albino bun woman dropping to a knee even as she reaches her feet. Then she pulls out one of her crystals and starts channeling into it. A reactive sheild springing up to help encapsulate and protect the forces of Scale from the Tear's attacks. "Shield up." she calls into the Chim.

    Setsuna manages to create an illusion of himself but can't move away from it fast enough before the illusion is pierced by ice and Setsuna takes the ice shard into his collar bone. Only having moved his neck out of the way by mere moments. Even if all he gets is a red pixelated wound, collar bone injuries hurt and worse this is literally freezing him to the bone. Stepping back he gives a whistle to his minions as once again calls them to his sides.

     Once they are within arms length the trio begin to work magic together to form a ball of black fire over Setsuna's head and the monsters dump their own magic reserves into it as well to feed the flames. Once everything is prepped the Necromancer sends the ball of black flames into the Machina, with the proper challenge issue, "Absorb This!"

Here she comes...!

"You'll find us to be harder targets this time around, Tear of Ice," Prophylaxis snarls as his (current) nemesis manifests her gelid onslaught. Shards of ice, each longer than some are tall and sharp enough to bisect a boulder, split through the air with a howling whistle. Prophylaxis roars, slamming his staff into the ground. At his call, a brace of glacial ice of his own erupts out of the earth, intercepting the myriad blades aimed for his throat.

The doctor leaps away, rain freezing to sleet in his wake as he cuts the wintery power off, sealing it deep within himself for safe keeping. This time, he will not allow even a fragment of her power to be stolen away. Again, he lifts his staff to the sky. "Come, o' cosmic judge. Let fall the hammer of thine judgment...!"

The sky... answers. Arcs of golden electricity twist and coil amidst the clouds as the doctor bids the full power of the gathered storm to fall as a singular, torrential bolt. "I beseech thee! Lord of Vermillion!"

A flash of lightning, followed by a thousand more. Thunder rolls through the air, less a boom and more of a pounding, rapid-fire drumbeat. Bolts fall into the Tear of Ice by the dozen, each delivering a shock that, to /any/ other foe, would nearly be lethal on their own.

To her, this is just another chunk of HP to join the rest of the pile.

    Mizuki had been just pouring her natural... flamey-ness elemental alignment into the area, just sort of... talking to people, or managing her inventory, or doing katas and practice swings and such, *while* exuding fiery heat and drinking a mana potion every once in awhile. The freedom from having to use incantations to control fire may mean she's one of those playing 'water girl' distributing potions to the mages.

    In any case, the whale's early awakening catches her out of position, and she has to run -- on all fours, claws out for traction and wind magic pushing her forward -- to reach the battle area.

    The machina... Having seen the scars it could leave on the land in even heavily damaged condition, she has no desire to let it repair or fix or heal or anything. If heat is the way to keep it down, then they'd best keep it overheated!

    Reaching the back lines, Mizuki chugs a mana potion as she uses Earth manipulation to fling herself up in the air over the back lines, and air ninpo to quadruple-jump over the gathered Scales before taking a deep breath and exhaling a plume of fire at the machina! Confidently, she shouts, "As an IT guy," she briefly winces, "I know how badly machines prefer a cold environment... so you won't get it! If you're going to fight instead of talk, you'll be destroyed like every other threat to us!"

Schneider swirls his cape around him as that shard of ice comes for his heart, deflecting the attack a smidgen. It's not instantly lethal, but it takes an unfortunate chunk of his HP. And that was his best defense, which does not bode well for hanging tough in this fight. Still, he has a role to play in this fight, if not the one he originally planned on. Rune Knights are versatile, and while Schneider brands himself as an Exploder Wizard, he's got a number of tricks and subtle plans he can choose from.

Well, let's start with this one: "Roots of shadow, tendrils of light, smoke over water, fire in the sky, DEEP PURPLE."

The change in the battlefield is immediate. Scale players are ... no longer there. Well, the ones moving quickly can be seen, if you squint, by the blurred pixels, and no one's /completely/ concealed, every movement jars the still life a bit, but the picture of the terrain changes subtly, overlaid with a static picture of the same terrain with /no players in it/. That ought to make it harder to target us!

With some of its icy blades still available, the Tear of Ice continues to rocket and dash through the lines, occassionally clashing with a blade of a shield, being forced back into the 'circle of death' that the Scale Emblem Alliance has organized. It is forced to fully halt however, when the Stygian Inferno comes. Kita's dark flames launching one after another, and the Tear of Ice starts slashing its blades against the incoming blows. Each blast shatters another icicle, breaking glowing blue and white into the air around the Machina as it keeps up its defense valiantly. Some of the flames detonating into her face or across her body, but she holds her ground! Rooted in place, until she finally runs out of icicles to use!

Suddenly, a metalic pot just /hits her in the head/, causing her head to snap back and her entire body to falter for a moment. Scalding heat leaking over her metalic melting body. The food doesn't really do anything, but the throw itself had enough force to make her stance falter, allowing others to get in their blows. Some of Kita's final Stygian attacks rippling across its body, tearing its chest partially open, melting away a good part of the left side.

Each step she tapes, leaving behind more of a blue glow! The sprinkles of ice magic of its previous attack starting to form a massive circle of magic upon the ground that is reminiscent of the last assault that saw them having to be saved by the massive Whale.

Setsuna throws their black ball of magic, and the Tear of Ice immediately brings its hand forward, and tries to do exactly that! To absorb it. The black and dark force rattling the Machina's body as it attempts to copy the assault, only to fail and have its arm blown back for its attempt! Stumbling a few steps, before bringing her hand forward to rapidly form a shield!

Blast after blast begins to land on her position, cracking the shield. Each violent soaring beam of crackling light, jagged judgment comes down upon her body. Pushing her down to the ground, pinning her as Prophylaxis' magic continues its assault. But in the same time, the skies are growing darker and darker. The chill is returning. And the symbols upon the ground are getting worse and worse...

A storm is coming.

Flames similarly continue to gather around her, making it harder for her to focus on the coming magic. Slowing her down. Washing away puts and pieces of the massive arcane formation of her Wave Arte that is growing upon the ground and directing the forces from above! Around her, targets are disappearing, making it harder for her to 'center' the Wave Arte...

But it comes.

She screetches something out, and suddenly the weather turns. Violent glacial rain comes down upon the ground, which rapidly turns to hail! The very thing they'd prepared for! The explosive force of magic, Storm Gust! The entire battlefield suddenly going silent, as peoples' ears start to get frozen over, even though the winds are howling, cutting through. The Power Heaters lighting up, creating safe zones -- but people need to maneuver into them!

Floating near Kita's ear, the mote of darkness seems to alert her attention to the aura of magic that Tear of Ice is starting to form around herself. "Here it comes again." She reaches for that pile of clothing, pulling on the thickest, warmest jacket she can manage to get on in a short amount of time, the little mote aiding by doing some of the laces as the mage braces for what is to come.

The mote moves to hide in Kita's hood, peeking out with angry, emotive eyebrows, even as the Imp begins to call forth a barrier of shadow energy around herself, trying to ward off the worst of the initial storm. "Got to move." Keeping this power maintained, she manages to race towards one of the heaters, sliding into the range of that warmth, her hood flickering behind her as the mote clings to it.

"Not getting any closer than I have to, but..." Kita pages through her spellbook, propping the pages with one arm and then casting with the other, forming more of those runic symbols in the air. After a moment, they vanish, almost as if burning up against the cold temperatures.

The magical effect isn't gone, however. Instead, a summoning circle opens near Tear of Ice, and out of it emerges a skeletal dinosaur. A carnotaur to be specific. It has a big head, and little arms. The skeletal dinosaur chomps down with huge teeth, trying to take a bite out of the machina.

    The moment the wind begins to howl, or the machina begins to scream whichever comes first, Setsuna has an idea on what is coming and grabs his monster minions and drags them as quick as possible through the shadows to the nearest heater. The extra weight causing his wounded shoulder to ache more but at least he doesn't have a three headed pupsicle.

     Groaning as he gets to his feet and draws his dagger. Watching the Machina he takes a moment to aim before he throws his relic blade at the Machina. "Hey Terminator wanna-be, Freeze!" Yes his preparation for this showdown included one liners.

    Wisteria staggers into the radiance of one of her heaters to keep from freezing solid as she continues to pump energy into her crystal to keep the reactive shields up. Keep the attackers safe, and the fact that this enemy isn't one she can just kendo to death will not be an issue. The others can damage it and she can keep them safe.

Schneider's flaming armor seems to be entirely effective against the nuclear winter the Tear of Ice is inflicting on us, but a bit more hear would not be amiss. As the players continued movement wear out the terrain illusion, Schneider prepares his next move to hinder the Tear's deadly targeting: His magical fire is lobbed like a water balloon directly at where he thinks the Tear has its sensory apparatus. Not hot enough to damage directly, it's hopefully enough to hinder its detection capability for a bit. And to warm things up, of course. Because you always need more Fire.

Since she improvised that throwing attack Vertina is conveniently back near one of the stones, rushing into it's heat safety zone as the horrific storm is unleashed upon the battlefield. Takes a moment to glance back to the mages cranking as much magic as they can into keeping the stones' thermal projections going. Flashes a thumbs up their way. "You all get a free round of drinks at the Tavern! After the fight, of course. And mana potions. Lots of mana potions."

Charity aside, it's back to the fight that isn't quite over yet. But that hellish blizzard is going to make it hard to get into position. Then she looks towards the nearest other heat zone. And one farther past it. And the daredevilish smirk comes back. "Cover me, I'm going in!"

Vertina runs to the edge of her current hot zone, and at the last minute takes a leap into the cold, landing and rolling with it to get into the next zone. Immeadiately back onto her feet, just long enough to turn her direction to the angle to launch herself at the next. Followed by an elaborate chain of handflips and somersaults to get through the wailing wind and ice, into the next hot zone, and vault herself to the top of the rock. That's a hot foot! But she only needs the perch for a moment to home in on where the warmachine is. Throws back her arms briefly to release her own burst of fire and air from her palms to launch herself upward, midair flip, and then come surging down at Tear of Ice!

In the wind and cold there is a gleam, then a flash as Vertina strikes, lashing out with Direclaw Cestus at the previouslly called 'weak spot' in Tear of Ice's throat with her downward angle streaking past the machina!

This spell again. Prophylaxis grits his teeth as the storm-winds begin to howl, twisting out of his control. He hastily erects a barrier to weather the worst of the weather, but his earlier maneuvering left him just out of reach of one of those precious zone-heaters. All he can do instead is to grin and bear it, barrier of crystalline flame flickering around him, draining his mana pool bit by bit as he struggles to find his way to safety.

Somehow, after what seems like an eternity fumbling through the haze and the screaming blizzard, he makes his way to one of those bubbles of warmth, dropping his shield with an exhausted gasp. The doctor reaches into his inventory, procuring a half-dozen syringes full of a neon-blue fluid which he plunges altogether into his shoulder. His mana bar regenerating rapidly at the cost of a considerable amount of stamina, the doctor turns his attention back toward the Tear of Ice.

...They're almost there. They're /almost there/, against all odds. Prophylaxis sucks in a lungful of air, his staff tracing an arcane pattern into the earth. Globes of obsidian glass burst from the ground, each covered in red-orange cracks that pulse with inner firelight. Brighter and brighter, each orb flashes as he squeezes the stone tight around the blazing core at the heart of each globe... Until finally, they're ready. With a boom like an artillery barrage, the globes rocket towards the Tear of Ice, bursting as they approach in catastrophic eruptions of stone and flame and magma...!

    Mizuki realizes she's gotten too close, but... it seems the machine isn't coming for her this second, not directly. A storm is coming... freezing rain... Paradoxically, Mizuki hurries through an ice incantation: "Let the ice in my veins coat my body in frost. Ozocubu's Armor!" The magical icy armor doesn't chill HER on contact, and is more insulating than metal or stone would be, but it's still a challenge to keep herself warm without melting her own protection.

    Vertina asks for cover. "I've got you!" Mizuki holds out a hand and chants: "By my hand, slow the wheels of fate! Nightmare Sphere!" The ball of black energy forms in her palms and then flies towards the machina, expanding into an enemy-slowing field Enchanters are known for!

    "Haha, I used to play an Infiltrator, you know! This brings back memories..."

There is something to be said about the power and skill behind a Wave Arte user, when they manage to penetrate through a Machina's shielding in order to place a summoning within. But as Kita attempts to do so, she manages to get through while the Heat Barriers keep out the intense windblow. The hail still strikes through, threatening to damage the enchanted devices themselves. And the heat nearby is almost so intense, one might as well be within a sauna. The constant struggle of Heat and Cold keeps fighting eachother...

And suddenly, everyone within the Barrier Area gets a week long Debuff called <Common Cold>. Wisteria keeps having to pour in a rather absorbenant amount of mana to keep up with the weather conditions!

As the Carnotaur bites down on the Machina's shoulder, sinking in its teeth, it is soon retaliated against as ice shards suddenly grow over Tear of Ice's body, spearing the summon and rapidly sinking its health down. But it's enough to lower her barrier, permitting Setsuna's blow to go straigh through and slamming into her foot, keeping her pinned and momentarily halting her...

However, unlike what Schneider is hoping for, the spell doesn't stop! The explosive power of the Storm Gust continues to howl through the area. Here and there, they can see ice statues being built up of Adventurers who did not get to the heat areas fast enough. And as the magic is rising in power, the 'area' of each heat circle is dying down, slowly getting smaller and smaller!

The flaming 'balloon' slaps against its sensory aparatus - right to the weak point that Wisteria had pointed out at the start of the battle, and it screetches as its blindfold is swallowed up by the flame, followed by her eyes becoming exposed. Four eyes. Two central where one would expect them, and two at the top outer side of the head, which quickly focus on the magic around it, before shutting, its head tilting away, as if blinded by something. Screetching in anger!

As it screams something rather particular.

With its eye closed, Vertina manages to get get in close. It tries to maneuver away, but Setsuna's halting tip keeps it right in place, as the Cestus cuts at its throat and shatters it open. And immediately, its barrier shatters right along with it, and the Tear of Ice suddenly looks incredibly disoriented, as if a human just got hit in both ears and they were bleeding.

She does however grab for Vertina, trying to keep her in place and freeze her right where she stands!

Flaming orbs cast its way, each tearing into its body, snapping its arms back. Forcing one of the legs to SHATTER beneath its body, but it remains standing. Ugly phalanged wings spawning from its back to ensure it remains upright! A nightmare sphere pooling around it, as it is forced to remain standing almost like a statue one moment, the Storm Gust getting fiercer... harsher...

Hiding the phalanges that snap off of its back and begin to sail through the air.

The first time they learn something has gone wrong, is when one of the further away Radiant Heat circles suddenly snaps cold, along with the sound of something /shattering/ one of the heaters. The shouts over the raid being cut short by the sudden ice-storm, followed by the Raid indicator showing an entire Party suddenly being wiped out in a single moment!

More of those sharp kinetically steered phalanges rushing through the midst of the icy storm... racing straight for those sources of heat to shattering their enchantments! What's worse, some of them pierce right through people. Like needles, cutting through heads, through shoulders, through bodies as if weaving a beautiful but icy pattern between them all! The hail getting fiercer by the moment! Reaching out further! Growing!

As the storm picks up even further, the mote of darkness seems to vanish into the Imp's hood, only two beady looking angry red eyes peering out from the shadowed place. Kita, on the other hand, seems to stand against the force of it, the chill causing her nose and ears to take on a reddish hue as frostbite sets in. Her breath comes in puffs of air as the tips of her fingers start to lose feeling.

Her eyes dart to the side, taking in the losses in the party window. There is a jolt of fear that threatens to bring back those memories she often struggles with in the heat of battle, but... the girl manages to retain her composure, if only because none of the attacks come too close to her directly.

"We're losing the heaters!" She reports, pushing through the cold seeping into her bones in order to continue casting. Around the singular heater which she has taken refuge by, a large set of glowing lines begins to form. It seems to act as a buff to those standing in the area, focusing their magical energies.

"The Leylines should give a buff if you stay within them. Use it to show her the fire of Scale Emblem!" Though not attacking directly, Kita has just upped the raid damage significantly.

    The wors epart of using oracle to see the future in battle is that you see so many gruesme things happen to you and as Setsuna bobs and weaves out of the way of the phalanges he saw his own death several times. It wasn't the most pleasant experience.

     Setsuna looks at his monsters as he sends them running to protect the last heater while he looks at the source of the problem and charges towards the Machina before he leaps into the air and attempts a flying kick propelling himself with all the magic that he can. Unfortunately he fails at aiming and seems to be heading for a less vital spot.

Schneider shouts, "DAMEDO! Magic Shield!" as the frozen storm gusts and icy shards explode around us, and between that and the Fire he's pouring out, he's still shivering with cold, but also with determination. A few of the others in the Alliance have trouble getting their attacks off in the bitter cold, but Schneider is there to cover for them.

"Deep Doomsday. To the spirits of land and air, bound by the pact, fulfill your obligation now." He draws a deep breath, then intones, "MEGADETH!"

The firestorms before were mere candles beside a bonfire as he drops one of his big booms directly on the Tear of Ice. He'll give it reason for tears, the intensity of the flames peaking, then dropping off, because even a wizard can only keep it up for so long. On the other hand, that's not the end of his reservoir.

    Wistera sneezes, it's... adorable, a little bunny sneeze in the midst of all the terror and adrenalin of the battle. The shattering of heaters makes the tall albino woman growl eyes flashing the red of an attacking Caerbannog. She pulls out another crystal engraved with sigils of enchantment. She moves to a space between sever heaters ignoring the fact that it puts her in the snow and hail. She downs a potion and then settles down seiza the two crystals in her hands and she just starts dumping her mana pool. At least as far as she can push a reactive shield out she does not plan on loosing any more heaters, or the Scale support members maintaining them. The shimmering shifting light of her protective dome hardening whenever a physical attack lashes in. The girl just kneels and spends herself recklessly, acting as a mana battery for her enchantments to protect others.

She may act like a reckless tomboy adrenaline junkie but Vertina isn't just a dumb brute. She's learned quite a few things in the previous face-offs with Tear of Ice.

Perhaps the most important one being not to stand still in melee range.

The machina grabs for her attacker, but all she grasps is air and light as she disrupts one of the afterimages left in Vertina's wake as the Salamander nimbly dodges the attempt and the phalanges being launched furiously by a desperate enemy. Vertina circles, using the defensive maneuver to position herself, grinning as she feels the surge of the ley line rising up through her. She metaphysically grabs onto it, drawing it in and focusing it.

Flames roar to life, burning even more brightly than usual around her from the boost, taking on more of a reddish-purple hue just shy of that searing level of reaching blue. But it's plenty hot enough.

Vertina pivots on her heel, projecting that blazing energy to her other foot as she swings it, an inferno cloaked roundhouse kick aimed for the center of what remains of Tear of Ice's mass!

    BUNNY SNEEZE.

    Mizuki will remember that cute image and sound for as long as she lives.

    ...But did she fail to manage the heat? Mizuki feels the sniffles coming on... but NOW IS NOT THE TIME. She powers through it... and, seeing other adventurers freezing, scampers back *away* from the battle to pour fire over them before they die! If there's anything she can do to stop multiple people from going through that, it's worth taking a little longer to fight the boss, right?

    ...She may not have thought that all the way through, as evidenced by being so focused on unfreezing people she isn't watching the boss for ICY FINGERS THAT FREAKING SLICE THROUGH HER OW. Thank goodness for an intact cosmosphere and game logic, otherwise she'd have been cut in half... Mizuki stumbles as a huge chunk of her healthbar turns red and starts fading away, and pays a little more attention to avoiding followup attacks while racing between groups of adventurers...

She's discovered their countermeasures. Bolts of frozen power lance through heater after heater, turning their protective fields into zones of killing cold. Prophylaxis staggers in the aftershock of a frigid explosion as one such frigid lance shatters the nearby crystal in an instant. A wave of killing cold scatters the fleeting warmth, cutting straight to the bone.

This has to end now. To let it continue would be to risk far too many lives...!

Fingers numb, the doctor grasps at the strange cloth shawl wrapped around his torso. He whispers an incantation through chattering teeth, as a pulse of impossible heat begins to blaze outward, radiating from the shawl in a life-saving wave. The doctor himself... Has caught fire outright, but he stands in the flickering inferno as if he did not feel the touch of the flame. "We're putting an end to this, here and now," Prophylaxis promises, keenly aware that an entire party had just been wiped out a moment prior-- the longer this goes, the worse the losses. This cannot be allowed to stand.

With a sweep of his arms, the Doctor draws the inferno inward, channeling it into the very core of his being. His body blazes white-hot for a split second before he extracts the vast majority of that heat into a globe of blinding, stone-scorching light. "Tear of Ice, you go no further! By this Spirit of Flame, begone!" The doctor lobs the little globe gently into the air...

Then leans into it, swinging his staff like a baseball bat to send it sailing directly into the Machina. On impact, the sphere bursts, widening into a catastrophic dome of flame, a miniature sun going nova at point-blank range...!

Kita's buff spreads far and wide through the raid group. Though it may not touch all, it certainly is aiding those within her circle! The Ley Lines spreading out, intersecting and breaking up some of the magical patterns that control the Storm Gust itself! Setsuna's Flying Kick is empower, a heated flame forming around it. Those four eyes suddenly snapping up to meet him...

And in that moment, he sees multiple futures in which the thing grabs him by his throat. His head. His eyes. Shatters him... yet instead, his foot connects, forcing it back and on the defensive! It did not reach out!

A detonation on her position follows, as Schneider's Megadeth assault irradiates the area with light and flame, creating an utterance of pure death upon the battlefield! The ground being slagged and turned to pure glass beneath the Tear of Ice, causing some of the shards to shatter and erupt around it!

Wisteria serves as a barrier for the remaining people, in one of the areas where the heaters die down. The shield she brings to bear does nothing against the cold, and it's too small at this scale to help the entirety of the party! But the hail is halted through the shield, creating a giant 'windshield effect' for those behind her!

But even through the windshield, Wisteria can see the hue of crimson create a lensing effect through the air as Vertina's foot swings around like a roaring crescent. The sound of a lion roaring follows in the wake of her strike as she slams it right for its midriff... and CUTS through the Machina with her foot, causing it to fall to the ground!

Followed by the sinking blazing sphere, putted right to its chest, slamming the Machina to the ground, blasting it further and further, until it slams into the side of the mountain to their east... where it rests for a moment...

Before it finally stops moving for a moment.

Then, not moments later, metalic cables suddenly burst from the mountainside, and grab onto its arms, its legs, its head... and begin to bind her. Wrapping around her, almost like they're cocooning her, slowly pulling her into the mountain itself! As if the Tower itself is somehow reclaiming her!

The mana drain falters as Kita pulls her hands back, rubbing them against each other and blowing warm air across her skin before tucking her hands into the jacket. The mote of darkness peers out from her hood, making an angry expression at the still form of Tear of Ice.

"Ffff..." She mutters and the sniffles once, rubbing at her nose. Then, Kita's eyes widen at the sight of the mountainside seemingly trying to reclaim the machina. "What in the..."

But, her priority isn't in trying to figure out what is happening or why. It is on preserving the lives of as many Adventurers as she can. So, she leaves others to figuring out this dilemma, focusing instead on utilizing her fire magic to help warm those who might have a chance of surviving the after effects.

    Setsuna stands up and turns his head ready to keep going, "It's not over until we have taken her apart." He ducks and rolls to retrieve his dagger nearby and grips it tightly, turning around and seeing the Machina has stopped moving. Stepping forward he stops as tentacles rip up fromt the ground and the machine begins to get pulled into the mountain and Setsuna looks from the enemy to the others, "Do...do we keep attacking it?"

There is enough ice on the ground left by Tear's weathery assault that mist is briefly produced when Vertina puts her foot down and the heat evaporates some of it. She avoids sneezing, but holding it back does make her sniffle a few times. That's going to be a bother. But that's a problem for Tomorrow Vertina.

"I say mark the mountain so no one ever goes near it, and let the mountain be her tombstone." Vertina sniffs again. "We've got hurt people and exhausted mages to get out of this frickin' cold." Plus XP and loot to collect.

Schneider is wildly suspicious of things that don't explode into pixels, XP and loot drop notwithstanding. It was definitely defeated, but the Exploder Wizard grumbles, "I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of her." And he should know, that's -his- schtick. On the other hand, party members probably need help and/or healing, so he will go into paramedic mode, looking for people that need help. First things first, if he can't warm up the environment, he's slacking. There is some FIRE.

    Wistera sighs and lets everything drop. Her mana bar empty and an exhausted look on her bun face... and then she sneezes again, a little serries of cute little bunny sneezes. "...I think I caugh... yah in my debuffs... well at least that part is easer than back home." she sniffles. "You know when you're sick."

"You--" The Tear of Ice... is being /eaten/ by the tower? No. This is probably what happened to King Gilgamesh. The tower is... reclaiming her. For some reason. It can't be a matter of /repair/ or the tower would have replaced her missing parts the last time. What is this even, then...?

Part of him is tempted to... /try/ and cut through the wires. He finds himself wishing that Yuuki were here with her all-severing sword. But... She is not.

And so he does not.

"...You haven't seen the last of us," Prophylaxis grumbles. "We're going to need to head into the depths of Karluin's Labyrinth. I want to know where the heck Harrifenas found that thing."

But first... there is medical work to be done.