Dungeon Heart: Karluin Labyrinth

After the annihilation of so many monsters, the destruction of Tear, and barging their way through the labyrinthine mess that is the Karluin underground, it has finally been found. The Dungeon Heart.

A large raid army is making their way through, with a vanguard clashing with all of the traps and monsters to ensure that the rear of the raid can engage with the troublesome Dungeon Heart region deep within.

So much of the region still shows the signs of the massive days long battle against the Tear of Ice. There's ice crystals jutting out of various areas that still haven't melted. And there's still areas that are avoided because of the Subzero magic lingering.

When the Vanguard finally is forced to head to the rear due to exhaustion and in need of healing, the main force manages to break through into a large 'hall' area amidst the Karluin Catacombs.

Right now, there appears to only be a small undead army ahead of them. With the large red crystal being protected by a rather tall Skeleton. Due to the Scale Emblem Alliance already having reached to the 11th floor, by comparison, the force ahead of them almost seems... laughable. The army shuffling about, some of them making noises as the main army shows itself. Bones being trousled as some of them point weapons at the main force. There are not even any Liches amongst them.

"Dear Diary,

    it is with a mixture of shame and regret that I confess to a dark secret I never found the strength to utter, or lay down on paper. But the time has finally come, for reasons you will understand presently.

    I, Uta Furore, was envious.

    Envious of my fellow Adventurers, envious of the exploits they faced when clearing Dungeon Hearts, envious of the terrifying yet astonishing wonders they got to witness during those events. 'Awesome', if we want to go with the original etymological meaning of the word. Envious of their dreadful challenges as well as, or posisbly because of, the glorious triumphs that followed.

    And, yes, envious of the singular items they acquired afterwards."

There is a pause in the scribbling, and Uta shudders.

    "But then I saw it. A most disquieting and blood-curling spectacle.

    It all started after defeating Roarschach in the Gnoll dungeon. His biological notes were accurate, as far as I could tell, and that could be a reason why the Gnolls are getting better at fighting Adventurers. That led me to deduce that, given the way the system handles death, he must have kept his victims alive as he dissected them. If my Strange Mood is any indication of the novelty of the discovery, he must have done so without any form of anesthetics. In other words, he likely tortured them until their dying moments. Clearly, at this point, the best thing to do would have been to Loremaster one such dissection.

    That was the worst thing to do.

    I have no idea how, but Roarschach managed to get around the Red Light protection and get all the way to the internal organs. I shall not dwelve into further details, or dwell on his sadistic streak. Suffice to say that the horrific view is still giving me nightmares to this day, and I have no hope of them ending any time soon.

    That vision opened my eyes. How naive I was, how short-sighted! In their great Wisdom, the Goddesses, Fate, or whatever Supernatural Entity directs our lives, made sure that I never faced such insanities, insanities which, let us admit it, I am clearly unprepared to face. To quote the words of my recently found brother, 'To heal, that skill belongs to me.' Everything else is foolish Ego, senseless want.

    For the first time since the Apocalypse, I feel one of the weights that oppressed me being lifted. Finally freed through realizing what a disaster for Yours Truly it would be for me to take part in similar confrontations, I thank whoever was responsible for having kept me safe, away from the Big Fights I so idiotically craved. How irrelevant, in the grand scheme of things, are a handful of magic crystals! From now on, it shall not be the Battle, which I was repeatedly denied, that I shall crave, but the unending Failing To Join The Battle I so loathed; and I rejoice in the realization that, for the first time, my wish will be grant-"

* * * BONK * * *

The rest of the page is marred by a streak of ink, while Uta rubs her face; a mark, the same shape as the rock in front of the Spriggan, glows red across her features. "I should really look where I'm going while I write," she mumbles, and begins to look around, as if she had just been snapped out of a wandering trance. Which she probably has.

Undeads, undeads, undeads... tall skeletons... a most unique crystal... Karluin's catacombs...

...Karluin's catacombs and a crystal?!

"...aaaaAAAAaaAaaaaAaAaaAAaaaaaaaa....", Uta wheezes, as she begins to hyperventilate. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no...." And reaching into her nurse's uniform, she pulls out a squishy red ball, which she torments at a frenetic rate, in an attempt to calm down.

Raid raid raid raid o/` Souji is abuzz with excitement. Silent excitmenent. The kind that brims behind his blue eyes with enough joy that he could shoot laser beams. Samurai Laser Beams. Better than Samurai Laser Breams, if not a bit fishy an occurance. He is dressed in his red samurai garb. Excited an dressed to krill.

When the rotation with his squad cycles in, the Scale Samurai is at the tip of the formation. A tanking, vanguard position that seems almost too easy given the recent exploits. Like going into a lower level zone after outleveling it by a few tiers. But even the little things can constitute great TRAINING! Sparkle.

Tian is not a raid fighter under normal circumstances. The Uncrowned simply do not have that sort of experience with PvE combat. It's also quite possible that there is a level of fear related to death, especially for those who might already have faced the dangers of respawning somewhere under threat. Yet, Tian is here, regardless, taking the opportunity to learn and to fight beside their new-found comrades and show that the Uncrowned are willing to step up when needed.

The problem is... Tian has not taken the opportnuity that some others have, to change their allied Kingdom. As such, they sign one small note: "<If my health drops low, I will retreat.>" Two fingers are crossed over one another, placed between the fingers of the other hand and then moved outwards. "<Notify me of anything audible I need to be aware of.>" By now, most people know that Tian is deaf, which means that they require just a bit more aid for the audio-signals others might take for granted.

Once that is said, their hands drop to their sides, drawing up the twin draggers that are the Wolf-fox's favored weapons. Their golden eyes narrow behind the wolf mask that they wear, showing a sign of fanged teeth and ears slicked back, ready for a fight.

The skeletons don't seem to be the real problem, and Tian knows that. Even without the experience of the others, they are aware that these are mooks and surely not the reason that a raid party has been brought. So, reserving their strength, Tian just charges forward and slashes at a couple of the skeletal enemies, their movements trailing thunder behind them.

Gwen had her issues sure, such as she didn't show up for the floor boss. Which would be the first time ever she'd not shown up, yet here she was. After all the monsters on this floor did need to be purged. She'd had a hand in clamed. She ahd also made sure to keep near Uta she had to keep her safe, right? There was just this sort of innocence in Uta that had to be protected and even her mother didn't want to mess with it. Cute outfts sure, the sort of stuff she tries to get Gwen into not so much.

She'll check on Uta to make sure she's okay.

"Come on when this is done you can update your writing, Uta."

The lesser undead are just going to get Gwen attempting to cut them down the best way she knows how. "They who dwell aloft have spoken. Let their words echo in your empty soul. Ruination is come!"

The ball of holy light forms and explodes in ranks of the undead.

    Despite being in the distracted depths of her own Strange Mood, despite having no time to sleep, eat, or bathe, Fuka always makes time for her friends. It's one of the finest constants when it comes to the slightly weird Sylph. So, upon learning Uta was interested in getting involved in a big fight, Fuka made her own preparations. "Don't let me miss this!" she'd said. To Uta, to whoever was helping look after her. "Don't you DARE let me miss this!" she'd insisted. "Even if I'm busy! Even if I'm dead on my feet and starving! Even if it's something that really really sounds like a terrible idea!"

    And so she finds herself in Karluin, which is honestly kind of perfect. Fuka's been helping explore the dungeon a fair bit lately, and it's not like this advances the front of the tower's exploration. It just helps secure the lower floors where people are living and where refugees have put down their temporary homes. It's basically an old-school raid with nothing particularly controversial or excessively challenging, or so she thinks.

    Fuka grins at Uta, glancing over at Gwen as well. "This is going to be exciting!" she exclaims, seeing Uta pumping the stress ball and deciding that Uta's so eager to fight she's choking the crap out of a squeeze toy. "And since we have a party going on I have only one thing to say. FIYAAAAAAABAAAALLL!!!"

    Okay there's actually more chanting going on, but those were said quietly so as not to disrupt the flow of Fuka's exuberance. Nothing that would hamper the actual effectiveness of the spell, of course. It's as explosive and violent and pretty as one might expect from Fukaziroh.

Skeletons, huh. Just skeletons? That's kind of odd that it's not Goblins. Probably odd enough to raise suspicions from some people.

And that's for other people to worry about, not Vertina. She's not picky about what kind of monster they're going to be beating up to finally put this Dungeon down and out of their misery.

The Salamander Martial Artist leaps eagerly into the fray with her usual thrill seeker bravao, leaving a brief shockwave thoom in her wake as she moves with such speed, using the momentum to slam her shoulder into a skeleton and fling it backwards into the rest of the horde like a bowling ball into the pins.

Syx is doing his usual thing, where he tags along on these particularly hard raids in order to have an excuse to fight stuff. This was a dungeon heart though, so even he knew to be paying better attention. It was a good chance to work on what he'd been focusing on training though.

"You sure that's it?" He asks, as he looks across at the gathered army of skeletons, "I figured there'd be like, a huge boss or like a huge reveal that it was all secretly being manipulated by those assholes who've been messing with our stuff. Ya know?"

Oh well, no sense worrying about it now, as Syx leaps past Uta and heads straight into the fray, swinging wild, flaming punches at any skeleton dumb enough to get even close to him.

    Skeleton on skeleton violence, that is what Setsuna brings to the table today. Charging in to the mess is a skeleton knight, wearing some old leather armor with a lot of scale markings on it so everyone knows this skeleton is friendly. In it's hand is a old rusty greatsword, that it wields as if it is nothing and as it approaches one of the first skeletons still standing it raises the greeatsword as it glows with dark magic before it strikes out at it's fellow skeleton.

     Meanwhile the necromancer behind the Skeleton Warrior walks up slowly fiddling with a deck of cards, " We came all this way for...what nine skeletons? I mean we don't even have to shatter the heart we could just take it with us fully intact." Looking over at the others, before he sees the doctor, "I don't suppose we want to leave this. We could send new recruits in and they could grind here. " Setsuna says before his attention returns to the skeleton knight, "If you lose I am leaving you here and taking one of these other skeletons home, they can have your bone meal."

Though the Doctor has only been present in the vaguest of terms as of late-- he has been /quite/ occupied running frantically from floor to floor (and from angry villagers) to assemble what is to be the Tower's first inter-floor economic union-- he still wouldn't miss this for the world. It's time for a raid! Though honestly, navigating the catacombs is in many ways substantially worse than what they actually find at the end of it. The giant skeleton and assembly of lesser undead are so very underleveled that it's downright suspicious. Prophylaxis even says as much: "Is anyone getting the vague feeling that there's another shoe about to drop? Like these undead spontaneously regenerating into a bugged-out bone dragon, or something of the sort? Anyone? Anybone?"

The good doctor is somewhat late to the front. His time and attention were occupied for a short while by tending to the exhausted (somewhat frostbitten) vanguard. As one of the foremost Doctors in Yamato, his healing services are in many ways more valuable to the raid than the magical prowess his actual class combination affords him. Still, this is /weird./ Very weird. "Did the Tear of Ice tearing through the place exhaust the number of monsters ahead of time, or something...? If Dungeon Hearts are where the monsters in a dungeon come from, then maybe it's so easy because she just wiped the place out, and it hasn't had the chance to regenerate yet...?"

Oh well. One way or another, these monsters are in their way. As such, the doctor lifts his staff and... casts a few simple charged bolts and wind spells into the rattling mass of skeletons.

Then: Uta.

"Uta??" Prophylaxis boggles, before hucking a by-now familiar looking crystal directly at her noggin. "Calm down! Remember your breathing techniques!"

As the team starts working on the skeletons, blue sparks start to fly from behind them. The red Dungeon Heart starting to shine and blink. Electric sparks flying from its body...

As two large hands suddenly reach out from the sparks, and begin to 'pull out' of an invisible gate of sorts. The split in reality slowly tearing further as the large hands pull it further through.

It's easily the size of the large Skeleton behind it. Sparks flying faster and faster as it reaches through! A head follows, pale white, bearing two columns of four eyes each along the cone shaped bone-white dome.

----

Before it, skeletons are being cut to pieces. Tian's twin daggers easily tearing through old bones. They rip apart enemy after enemy, their bodies doing nothing but dull the blades a little. A few of them try to intercept them by firing arrows, but before they get a chance, a ball of light shatters them apart - detonating amidst the collective.

FIREBALL! Fukaziroh's searing blaze cascades through the enemy forces, clearing a whole chunk of them with utter ease. The flames whipping to all sides, searing the skeletons that got 'far enough away' - still lowering their health.

----

The being reaches further through, the gate widening further. Soon, its humanoid-like body, though lacking any legs and instead having another 'cone' where its legs should be. At first, the bone-white body suggested a skeleton, but as it begins to fly, it seems... Other.

Type Zero

Behind it, two more presences push through the gate. Lacking hands, instead it's like two massive blades suddenly push through. The electric shocks in the area lighting things up further.

----

Vertina gets into the mix, sending shockwaves through the region. Each shoulderslam, each punch tearing apart multiple skeletons with ease, turning them to dust... or rather, motes of light! Syx soon joins her, covering her back and sending bursts of flame through the region, creating a whirlwind of utter destruction amidst the skeletonal forces.

Skeleton Warriors join the battle, fighting other Skeleton Warriors of much lower level. Setsuna's trained troop of necromantic allies tearing through the lives of the weaker enemies. It's a strange sight. He's being assisted by Prophylaxis' lightning and wind spells, keeping any archers at bay with the airbound magics, and ripping apart a few Skeleton Mages with his far superior lighting spells.

----

The large blades push through further, yellow and green of color, as another pair of enemies flow through. Six eyes - two columns of three - push through. Armed blades, these ones do appear to have legs. Though they are also floating.

Type 28

The sparks disappear for the time being, as these strange floating 'dolls' hover in the air, almost like they are being manipulated by means of strings.

----

Soujiro rushes to the front, shattering bones, and soon reaching the larger skeleton. It takes but a few cuts to tear it down, right before...

STAB.

One of the Type 28s had begun to move, and has moved at a far faster speed than expected. In fact, there's still this 'blue shimmer' where it was just a milisecond ago. Its green eyes stare at Soujiro, as the enormous blade is cutting straight through their entire chest and coming out at the back, slowly lifting the Samurai up to inspect it.

A 'scan' appears to be in process, a green light passing over Soujiro as his health rapidly begins to drop, until the scan completes, and it slashes its blade, throwing Soujiro right into the middle of the allied troops. A pulse of its eyes, and its twin blade arms seem to suddenly sharpen, and it lands on the ground, taking a stance that looks /suspiciously/ like Soujiro's standard stance.

The one to its left, the other Type 28, similarly lands to the ground in the same stance! While the Type Zero raises its hands, and begins to absorb the lightning coming down from the skies. The electric lights quickly entering its body, before it points towards the battle region before it...

And sends this ENORMOUS wave of electrical power through. Its as if it's playing Emperor Palpatine, wave after wave of blue lightning rippling out from its fingertips, trying to touch each and every combattant on the floor. Where it misses, detonations rip apart the ground. And in the background, massive explosions seem to cut off retreat into the Labyrinth like some kind of Tokusatsu series!

As someone who has not encountered much in the way of boss monsters before, Tian actually seems to freeze, staring at the monsters that emerge from the Dungeon Heart with something akin to horror showing in their eyes. Teeth clenched tight, the Cait Sith can almost feel their heart pounding in their chest, fear spiking through their system.

A moment later, lightning is thrown through the area. Under regular circumstances, Tian tends to be able to read and react to lightning more than most other attacks, but in this case, that moment of fear is enough to have them reacting too late. Electricity surges up through their body, drawing out an audible cry of pain as their limbs twitch and the Wolf struggles to stay on their feet.

Hands gripping the daggers more firmly in their hands, Tian charges forward, focusing on what they perceive as the 'lower level' enemy. Without the training the others have, Tian isn't as confident in taking on what appears to be the main boss.

Their daggers ignite slightly, glowing faintly white as they charge forward to slash over and over again with the blades, trying to make sure that they keep awareness of their surroundings with the added help of some extra light on the subject.

Vertina bulldozes through the skeletons, almost not realizing there was something going on near the Dungeon Heart until the thing with the blades turns the Samurai into a skewer. "Soujiro!" She turns on a heel, intending to redirect towards the trouble, but before she can the other form starts absorbing electricity and sending it blasting across the battlefield. It tears along the ground, creating explosions of smoke and dirt erupting violently. It's hard to tell if the attack hit or not.

Until Vertina comes leaping out of the smoke, having used her pyrokinesis and agility to boost herself away from the violent electrocution! She hits the ground and rolls back onto her feet, leaving a trail of embers behind her as she resumes charging through the fight, this time locked on the lightning monster that's gotten betwen her and her friends. "Looks like your lightning strike struck out!"

The martial artist leaps and wheels around in the air, using her momentum to swing a chi infused dropkick upon Type 0!

    "It's fine Gwen, we were bound to outlevel old content at some point." Setsuna says as he watches his skeleton pick a bone with the others. Then the 'rift' appears and new challengers enter the arena. The floaty ones look almost like ghost type machina and then there is the gold one in the back as it wields the lightning and throws it back at them. Setsuna retreats back to a safe distance as quick as he can and pulls his skeleton back to. The deck of cards he was playing with at the beginning, left behind and now a charred messed.

     "That one without legs it absrbed the electricity, avoid tossing lightning spells at it." Setsuna tosses over the chim before the Doc's words come over and give a better strategy. Dark magic in his hand that oozes and drips as if it was black tar and throws the magic at one of the sword wielders trying to blind them and open them up for a critical attack, then again the robotic nature could mean that they don't need eyes.

Something is happening. Muddled through the haze of a Strange Mood though they may be, Prophylaxis' Gamer Senses send a shiver down his spine. The environmental cues are enough to tell him that his fears are soon to be realized--

The other shoe is dropping. Funnily enough, the things that emerge don't actually have any feet to /wear/ shoes with, but that doesn't stop them from being exactly as lethal as the doctor has come to expect from the Aincrad Tower.

"Sojirou--" Too late. The samurai is run through. A green light shines across his body, and the Doctor feels his blood run cold. "Data Drain...? No--" The damage inflicted isn't from data loss, it's from plain old ordinary injury. Still, the sight of that light seems to spark realization in the doctor's mind, one only reinforced by the fact that the Type 28 soon takes up a very familiar stance...

...And the Type Zero, likewise, seems to adapt to the magic being hurled around the area. Specifically, /his/ magic. "Machina...? Like the Tear of Ice? No, these seem more like... general security units. Damnit--" A bolt tears through him too quickly for Prophylaxis to conjure a defensive spell. His HP drops precipitously, but not fast enough to keep him from unleashing a spiraling arc of icy blue flame directly at the swordsman-types. "Everyone, alternate targets! Magic on the swordsmen, physical attacks on the tesla coils! Sightread like your lives depend on it, because they /absolutely/ do!"

Gwen concern about the nature of the enemies was warrened as one bosses show up, two a big damn attack is let lose that needs Anchor Howl to stop. As the wind from that dies down? Gwen looks up as the bosses show up.

"Oh lovely there are two of them!?"

She'll home in on the type 28. She's taken notice of some of the strange things going on with these two. A puzzel boss? A second comming of a certain infamous event? She does not know but what Gwen does know is she's going to try to hit the type Zero with the Gale of Sword as she homes in on it.

Soujiro Seta makes his way to the front of the fight, to the front of truly capable enemies. The crunch of his attacks fell the larger skeleton while putting an evasive position on cooldown. He sees it. A sort of intuition or battle sense that flickers in his blue eyes. A blue blurr. A shimmer. Then he is impaled by this marionette, raised high and assessed. If the comsosphere was down this would be brutal, instead a red line radiating like a traffic signal in the front and back of his torso as his health freefalls. Swords come down on the arm, clanging pointlessly with no footing to give it weight. It might as well be rain against a tank. Then flung, discarded back to his allies as his body rolls while bombardments of lightning strikes around him.

You knock Souji down, he just gets right back up. The samurai gets to his feet and kicks back a healing potion as the storm begins to subside around him. Eyes are on the Type 28. His voice goes to Vertina and Proph, "That is my stance," he says, "so you know how to get around it." Souji doesn't work on 'knowing', thats is Shiroe's department. He works on feeling. And that feels a lot like his. The idea of fighting a clone? That. Is. Awesome! Even as the red damage line is still in the process of fading away, he launches back in to greet Type 28's body with an opening strike from his katana blades. They glow a faint white, imbued with the Light of his purity for the thrill. A second strike follows up, the technique minted by his pursuit of prowess from training with Vert.

Well it seems that they're getting a boss fight after all. Syx dances away from a couple of the skeletons only to get blasted by the boss' attack, sending the wrestler scrambling to get back to his feet and into a better position, "Oh a wise guy, eh?!" He's about to go after the floating one to return that attack, but chatter over the raid chim makes him pause, as he changes his target to the one with the legs.

His attacks may use his punches to direct them, but the Fists of Flame from his Buster Gauntlet is about as magical of an attack as Syx can muster, hammering home flaming strikes to build up and hopefully light this monster on fire, "C'mon big guy, lets see if we can't knock you down a peg or two!"

    Fuka feels a brief thrill of excitement, or possibly just electricity, as the portal is forced open and boss mobs appear. She may be deeply obsessed with a project at the moment, but that doesn't really counter her true love... action gaming! Or possibly sweets, but that's irrelevant at this moment.

    The brain of the diminutive sylph, often dismissed as inadequate, works overtime. She's seen any number of examples of this sort of fight, and latches on fairly quickly to the gimmick of the battle. Still she hangs back, throwing out suggestions and questions to the raid group before committing. Stepping forward, she waits for others to gain the attention of the Type Zero before making her move and giving it a rapid series of thwacks with her blade! Besides, it's apparently using lightning. If anything, her weapon gives her at least a hope of absorbing a retaliatory strike and using it to switch off and provide a lightning blast to the other foe. Or, if not... well, she'll do something else! Flexibility and tactics are the key to raiding after all!

"SERIOUSLY, GODDESSES OR FATE OR WHATEVER SUPERNATURAL ENTITY DIRECTS OUR LIVES?!", Uta yells skywards, shaking her fist in an unusual outburst. "I know that I first joined ETO in an attempt to achieve catharsis and personal growth by leaving my comfort zone, but- SERIOUSLY?!"

What Uta is doing to her stress ball right now will be kept under silence, but suffice to say that it is probably forbidden by multiple real-world human rights conventions and possibly frowned upon by the Landers.

While she tosses a Dark Ball at an undead that came too close, then she looks at Gwen, agape, unable to reply anything; she then turns to her smaller Sylph friend. "Fuka!", she says, in an attempt to grab the smaller Sylph's shoulder and shake them. "This is all a big mistake! I am not supposed to be here! I am not trained for a Raid of this level! I AM GOING TO DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", she panics, and looks around, while hyperventilating.

Look left, look right, fail to breathe, and-

Silence. A crystal flies in slow motion through the air, camera zooming in on it, only soothing wooshing sounds alternating with high pitched chimes, as the item approaches.

Pling!

Back to normal speed as the crystal impacts Uta forehead. The blue light that once burned within the item dims, leaving it inert, while Uta... Uta's scream is cut off abruptly, her pupils suddenly shift in size.

She stands there, as if frozen in time for a moment, no longer shaking Fukaziroh (if she managed to earlier), no longer hyperventilating.

"Right, no time to panic," she states. She flicks her menu open, shimmers away the diary previously held under her armpit, and materializes her staff. "You know, I can just walk away. It was nice being here. I will in the back healing, as I tend to be in such circumst-"

Extreme close-up to Uta's eye. A glint. A narrowing. She caught onto something happening.

She studies every single movement of the newly appeared creatures, not one hesitation, not one wandering, and then-

-straightens her back. Tugs at her uniform. "Steady your frenzy." Her voice is level. "We are venturing in unknown territory, and we are already paying the consequences." A single, restrained yet eloquent hand gesture is directed in the direction of Soujiro Seta, and the creature mimicking his stance. "It is paramount to optimize our learning, in the safest and most fruitful way possible. Let me Loremaster, -then- we'll let our chief strategist elaborate a battle plan." A short pause. "That would be Doctor Porphylaxis, if I am not mistaken?" She asks. "I apologize in advance, I am not familiar with the intricacies of the Scale Emblem Alliance's organizational chart."

That said, fountain pen still firmly held in the hand that is not grasping the staff, she stares down one of the creatures, with a focus most people will have never seen in this particular Spriggan.

"Type Zero," She begins rattling out, professional, unshaken. "One of the experiments by Bondrewd to create the perfect Machina. It lacks a connection to a Hive, and is considered a 'failed experiment'. However, its immunity to Physical attacks and ability to use the magics it is damaged by is tactically a boon.'"

Tian rushes in towards the lower level enemies, targetting the one on the left. The now groundborn being rapidly moves its blade arms, trying to interfere with their attempt to assault it. The blades cut into one-anottheir. Daggers against the large person-sized blades! Each impact sending sparks and light out from their interaction! They can tell that their blades are cutting into it each time she makes contact - even its weapons are part of its health bar it seems - slowly chipping away at its health. Quickattack after quickattack stopping it from reacting as accurately to their allies!

A flood of dark magic then breaks against the Type 28 that Tian is fighting, and momentarily it seems like its green eyes dim. But then there's this crackle as it declares; "Visual Repairs Complete." And its eyes come to life again. It seems the magic Setsuna used did not have enough power to disrupt it!

Prophylaxis' ice magics rush for the second Type 28. But he has to follow it with his magic. It keeps moving, flashing left and right, as fast as Soujiro might move when in his element. Just before it reaches Prophylaxis, does the man get it within his grasp and sends the ice over it, finally slowing it down to a crawl before him for as long as he can keep up that spell!

This gives Soujiro the perfect opening, his blade flashing across its body, crushing the ice and throwing back the Type 28. It lets out confused mechanical noises, before retaliating, the second strike being taken with its blade, reducing the damage just a bit, as it throws its other blade right for his neck!

At the center of the battle theater, Fukaziroh rushes in. With her allies keeping the Type 28s at bay, she has full access to the Type Zero. Having to leap due to it floating off the ground, sh brings her blade down and CARVES against its body. There's sparks flying, and when she lands and looks up there's... no red light.

Vertina slams her kick into its body not moments later, and there's at least a shimmer of red this time! The light of her Ki having cut through to its body. But it's clear that her attack had a lot of trouble reaching it! Behind them, Uta seems to have undergone some kind of personality transformation and is explaining the situation about Type Zero.

As it begins to raise its hands, a large sigil appearing beneath it. Large sparks of lightning warping beneath it, rapidly darkening the area around it as it begins a Ritual Cast of some sorts!

One of the Type 28s - the one that was fighting Tian - jumps back, closer to the Type Zero. At the same time, the one fighting Soujiro has begun to... Spin. Spin like a top. Its blades coming outwards, waves of damaging slashes of air coming from its position as it picks up speed and begins to rush through the area, chasing people, trying to cut them down with its rapid top-spinning blades, tearing enormous gashes out of the ground with its massive blades!

It becomes more obvious as the fight goes on, that there are more specialized tactics at play here. While Tian cannot communicate at all on the chimlinks, they can hear what is being said over them and it offers more than a little confusion when trying to pick targets. However, that uncertainty seems to answer itself when they are able to do some damage with those daggers upon their chosen target.

There is a huff of sound from the Cait Sith, ears still slicked back, tail straight out behind them and slightly puffed with the alertness and adrenaline that has seized them. With one of the enemies starting to chase people around with blades, Tian utilizes their remarkable speed, avoiding it and nearly vanishing into the shadows momentarily before emerging again, trailing a bit of that shadow essence with them.

With a growl, the Cait Sith leaps towards the Type 28 they had been fighting, trying to catch it unawares and jab both daggers into it with that falling force.

Gwen is getting a big concerned for Uta but soon Uta gets things under control. She also spits out some very damn good information about the type Zero. She should be focusing on the other in all likelyhood now but she might just be paying for it now given her attacks. Still she's going to keep in mind what Uta has said and that she can do that. The counter attack comes and Gwen pops a divine shield as she does so. She then will change her target and will keep up her assault.

"DIVINE WIND!"

Soujiro Seta has a stance that is light on his feet. This sort of bobbing motion is typical to his Godhand friends, whereas Souji's stance is normally very calm and anchored. Both katanas are out in a parallel to each other to block the first strike. The second. Sparks fly as the momentium picks up. Thats when the light footed stance reveales itself as the Blazing Dodge he learned from GB. A kick backwards two steps that leaves a trail of fire for the puppet to spin into. A quick swordblock and kick back, luring the creature into continual ground Damage over Time while keeping a mindful pace after that opening stab to his torso.

His voice echoes throughout the chimlink in a conversation with the Raid. Battle strategy. Thats well and good. Important even. But more important than fighting a creature that is his clone? Soujiro is downright /excited/ to fight this thing. How many times has he read a manga where you face off against your evil clone. Or games where you fought your evil clone. This is happening right now and he is loving every second of it. Finally a response back to Proph about single-target melee enabling attacks. He knows exactly what to use.

The samurai holds one katana down, leaping into the metal helicopter blades with sparks along the side of it. Catching the centrifugal force as his Sword Arte activates. It does not come from the tip of his katana, but the pommel, whipping about in a full 360 before crashing a brutal pommel strike right towards its jaw. See how you like Souji's moveset when you get nailed with a cooldown debuffer.

Prophylaxis will be damned if that magical crystal of mind-clearing medicine isn't one of the best things he's whipped up. Even if getting intelligence on their new foes is all he gets out of it, that's absolutely still a win in his book. Even so, Uta's revelations are not exactly the most reassuring in the moment. After all...

"Damnit, it's /backwards!?/" Prophylaxis hisses as the Type 28 transforms into a whirling dervish, blades screaming in a hurricane of steel! The doctor steps into the attack, pressing his staff into the whirlwind attack. Normally, this would be suicidal, but...

As it turns out, ice magic is /very/ useful and, an instant before impact, the Doctor enchanted his staff, transforming the point of impact into an incredibly dense, constantly regenerating edge of frost. With a noise of exertion, he forces the creature back, only to turn towards its partner...

"Soujiro, take care of the Type 28! I'll handle the Type Zero!" Even if they can replicate incoming attacks, all that means is that the adventurers need to be /better/ at them than their erstwhile copycats. Prophylaxis rams his staff into the ground, an enormous cylinder of stone erupting out of the floor to smash directly into the Type Zero in the midst of its ritual. Others join the fray, more pillars and spikes of solid dungeon-stone erupting from below to crush the machina under their weight...!

Vertina rebounds off from her blow, doing a backflip to land on her feet in a half crouch. That attack took more effort than it should. She could feel it was the power of Light digging into the machine more than the kick, and it struggled to do so. Enough so that it probably wasn't all that overall effective. Someone says something about it having physical immunity. "Oh, tricky bastards...." Then smirks a bit to show her fangs. "Now that's a challenge."

But now one of the blade constructs is coming in as well. With a grunt Vertina digs her heels in and draws from the earth around her, forming layers of dirt and rock almost like large rock scale ridges over parts of her body. Which easily deflects the debris being ripped from the ground by the spinning blader. Need to keep her focus on Type Zero though.

Magic that doesn't do direct damage? Okay. So let's try this. Vertina sparks up some fire, but instead of slinging it directly at Type Zero she lobs the fireball at the ground near it admist Proph's pillars, where it bursts upward into a hot shearing Flame Pillar!

If it's going to reflect direct attacks, Vertina opts to try and inflict it with a Burning status effect instead.

    Shaken by Uta, the little sylph only grins in return to Uta. "It's not a mistake! And don't worry, I won't let you die a horrible death without me!" Fuka claims cheerfully. Way too cheerfully, probably. To her, this is still kind of just a game.

    Fuka's surprised as Uta is first bonked then goes all calm and analytical. Not worried though. This isn't so much a new side of the Spriggan's nature as it is something Fuka's familiar with, just a little unexpected at this particular time and place. She knows Uta as a wise and scholarly woman after all, if a little panicky and scatterbrained at times. So whatever Proph did, it hasn't changed Uta so much as just shifted her mode. Fuka can live with that! And she can focus on her own job now.

    Speaking of Fuka's own job, okay this is NOT the way these things are supposed to work! When a boss is absorbing magic and the other boss is countering physical attacks it should be clear which to attack with what! Fuka is terribly confused at the reversal of what she assumes the battle logic to be, but fortunately she's quickly straightened out both by her own experience and by the cool calm of Uta and Prophylaxis's advice. Shifting from physical attacks, Fuka mutters a low chant while remaining on the defensive, easily escaping a relatively weak attack and then stretching out a hand to fire off a ball of chilled water. Intending to freeze up the Type Zero so as to give an advantage to the others in their use of magic. Not actually making stronger attacks, she assumes, so much as reducing the defenses of this ridiculous machina so as to make the existing other attacks more effective!

    Setsuna sees the damn spinning top of doom coming at him and he gets shoved out of the way by the skeleton to protect it's owner, and then ends up getting hit itself and Setsuna watches his health drop. "You bone head! Why did you do that! What was the point." Standing up he sighs as he looks at the the monsters and listens on chims for direction. As he takes a step back away from the spinning top of death, there is just to much chatter for him to figure out right away. The chaos goes a step further and he misses the ritual casting in the back, but thats ok for now, there are others out there that have it covered, Setsuna is sure of that. Reaching in to his own shadow, it ripples for a moment as he pulls forth a ball of black flames. Taking a moment he charges the spinning top robot and leaps up dropping the ball of black fire on it for it burn the damn machina to slag. Thats when he hears his name over chims and asking if he can handle one, " I will need a moment I am on cool down after that last attack. I will handle whatever I can in a moment, and don't worry I have something that can handle them no matter what."

They can't attack the big guy with physical attacks, and magic attacks will end up getting reflected. But Syx has an idea, and it's one of those uniquely Syx ideas that will most likely wind up backfiring on him and the people around him. But they do work sometimes, and that's why he does them.

Syx rushes at the Type 28, but doesn't attack it, at least not like one would expect from him. He jumps up when he gets near it, landing one one of its shoulders for a moment, and then using it as a launching pad to send himself up as far as he can, turning over in midair and engulfing himself with flames as he rockets back down towards Type Zero. He doesn't aim for it proper, knowing the physical hit won't work, instead aiming to impact next to it, to kick off an explosion of flames from the Ragnarok Driver and hopefully engulf the big monster in said flames.

"Wait, let us stop and reason for a moment," Uta rattles out into her chimlink, with unprecedented speed. "The exact wording is 'immunity to Physical attacks and ability to use the magics it is damaged by'." One sonic boom, Uta is projected away from the approaching spinning blades. "Physical attacks are right out. BUT we can aim for magical attacks that either, A) do not damage it, or B) damage it but cannot damage us back. Remember how they inspected as regular monsters? I think I shall proceed with an attempt to channel all the energy of my most powerful Monster Handling spell into Handling the Type Zero." The blades spin in her vicinity again. A second sonic boom, and Uta gains more distance as she spins in the air. "Aim for keeping it from attacking us at the very least, try to somehow use my control to damage it, or even better, attack the other monster. I doubt the Type Zero will be able to handle us back."

Uta Lands at a distance now, and focus on Type 28-

"GHNHNHNHHNNNNNN..." She exclaims, falling to her knees and holding her head among her hands, staff nestled in her bent elbow. "Head......... Hurts.........", she grimaces.

The Cait Sith rushes after the Type-28 that is moving to protect the Type Zero. And the moment they get close enough, the Type-28 doesn't move this time. Having to play 'guard', it catches their blow with its both blades. Their sharp weapons rip into its blade, sending sparks everywhere. The Type-28 itself being slams into the ground, its legs trembling from the sheer force of the stabbing blow! Its Six eyes staring at her, analyzing her. A green light passing over her body.

From their airborn vantage point, they can see as the Ritual of Type Zero is quickly accelerating. As well as Gwen rushing their position. It isn't long before the Divine Wind cuts into the chest of the Type 28, ripping into its bodyarmor, before it finally pushes them away, slamming them into the back wall of the combat arena!

The Spintop Type 28 stops spinning - halted by Prophylaxis' ice staff - halting and getting into a proper stance once more. It shifts and points its blade to Soujiro Seta. It analyzes, watches, and the moment the Katana comes about, it tries to slash it away, failing to notice the Pommel coming in for its jaw - causing it to hurt itself in its confusion! While it's confused, Setsuna's black fire bursts across its body, sending it back into a spin to try and get the flames off of its body!

Earth bursts up around the Type Zero. Some of the pillars slamming into its body. The ritual circle changing, gaining another Circle of Yellow to go along with the Green created by the Air Magic from before!

Another burst of 'magic' comes in the form of Vertina hurling a sphere of flame towards it. It makes contact with the Type Zero construct, and engulfs it in flame! Its health dropping, but another Circle is added to the Ritual Cast. Red this time!

Fukaziroh's freezing attack luckily is of the air type, as it starts to slow down the Type Zero, and slowing its casting. Its arms slow down, its body creaking as its magic wind-up continues for a bit longer...

Soon, Syx - having jumped from the spinning Type 28, comes in. Engulfing the Type Zero in a massive wash of flame and fire. Bursting across its body as the physical attack lets its element shine, burning it down until if finally hits another HP Bar!

They're making progress!

The Type 28s both quickly try to return towards the Type Zero, stepping into the ritual circle when...

Air
Fire
Earth

Three elements combined come cascading forth. Lightning SLAMS down upon the arena. Fierce bursts of electric energy shooting out from the ceiling. At the same time, the ground quakes! Massive pillars slam upwards, trying to ram people into the ceiling itself. And the moment the pillars reach the top of the arena, they detonate into a gulf of fire, raining lava down on everyone!

Then, amidst all that chaos, the Type 28s rush forward, blades extended, trying to spear anyone that might be falling from above - Adventurer Shish-Kebab?

When Tian lands from their attack, there is a moment of watchful wariness, continuing to listen to the chatter and theorycrafting over the chimlink. However, little of it actually impacts their choices and their intentions in the fight. The Cait Sith moves forward again, as if shifting into their next attack when they are blasted up into the air.

The impact that sends them skyward isn't so much the problem, as Tian uses a bit of their own elemental energy to right themeslves for a proper landing. It's the fact that the landing takes them far too close to one of the Type 28s blades. With a quick motion, Tian spins in the air and then kicks off of one of the blades, parkours off of a wall, and then down onto the floor again, landing in a crouch.

Tian's gold eyes do a quick sweep, likely checking their cooldowns before charging again towards the Type 28s. With the battle fully engaged, they seem to have thrown off some of the initial fear and have focused on the fight.

Rather than using any elemental attacks, they simply slash over and over again, the daggers moving quickly to try to find any weak points in the unusual monsters, using any opportunity they can to find an opening.

Uta is down to her knees, in pain, clutching her head. She attempts an ominous chant, and soon her whole figure is enveloped in a smoky, writhing shroud of sheer darkness. Two slits for her eyes, monochrome, are the only feature that make her unlike a nightmarish apparition, and her chanting voice, as her mouth disappears from view, progressively shifts into a hoarse whisper at the edge of one's consciousness, giving the impression of something straight out of a sleep paralysis.

As Lava begins rains on her, it evaporates, but so does the magical aura that's protecting her, pocking away at the coating that, now reaching its limit, starts to reveal the vulnerable Spriggan Underneath. One more bit of Lava, and Uta's HP will sink into a dangerous zone...

Lightning crashes! Earth trembles! Lava erupts! That did some damage but it didn't quite go as planned as the magic animals are slung together instead of making it change!

Vertina bolts from one spot to the next as she jumps off heaving stone pillars while zigzagging between the bolts of electricity and drops of lava that continue to rain down, bobbing and swaying in a way that's hard to tell if its from the shaking ground or her evasive moves.

Unfortunately her strategy is limited as she tends to act on impulse and improvisation, and she's already decided what to do before anyone can formulate more tactical plans. As she lunges between lava splashes she conjures a ball out of thorny vines and brambles, which she launches with a kick from one of her powerful legs! It bounces off a few of the stone pillars, making it come at Zero from a different direction and angle than the attack was launched from, trying to catch it by surprise!

    Setsuna spreads illusions of himself out and about to give the damn sword things something to distract themselves with as he makes his way towards the relic caster. All he had to do was handle the damn thing, and then that is when he notices notices the red words over Chim's he shouts, " Handling will likely not work, it's to high level. Going to have to capture it instead." With his dagger in hand Setsuna leaps forward and attempts to drive the relic infused blade into the shadow of Type 0 to pin it down and inflict it with the relic enhanced 'STOP'. Setsuna looks up and grins, "Absorb that."

Oh. Maybe trying to counteract the elemental magic the Type Zero was using with magic of a different element was perhaps /not/ the best plan. A veritable storm of vengeance roars out from the machina's ritual, and the doctor visibly winces at the consequences of the tactical misstep. But now they know, and the more that they know about their enemy, the better their chances. As it turns out, though, there is one element missing from the Type Zero's assault.

One which the Doctor is /quite/ competent with.

Prophylaxis jabs his staff into the earth, encasing himself within a veritable glacier of solid ice. The elemental chaos-- and several falling Type 28s-- smash against the frigid wall. In their passage, nothing is left but a very frozen Prophylaxis...

...Who in short order breaks free from his self-imposed prison to hurl another set of boulders at the Type Zero. These, though, are all aglow with inner light. Instead of impacting directly, they explode the moment they get close, bursting in blasts of stony flechettes and oozing magma!

Syx is often way too fast to actually pull off strategies or tactics. In this case he fails to realize that the multiple elemental attacks will result in elemental returns from every element. So despite his plan working initially, he finds himself engulfed with lava a moment later. Even Syx's fire resistance from being a Salamander isn't that good, and he finds himself running for cover, and watching his health drop rapidly.

Managing to find a safe harbor of sorts, Syx retaliates against the Type Zero by throwing a rock at it. It's a pretty big rock! And it probably won't count as a physical attack, right?

Soujiro Seta keeps a steady footing and trusts in his combat instincts when the lightning begins to fall down. That comes down to last minute timing, if quick time actions have taught him anything. Complication. The ground doesnt agree with anything being 'steady'. In fact, it much prefers if Souji was up in the air. He stands on a pillar as it launches him upwards, both blade coming out as lightning runs across the metal and is redirected towards the earth itself. It shatters the pillar he is on, the action oriented samurai making his descend down with arms out. Running towards your enemy is one thing. Running DOWN a wall that is crumbling? Even better. He sees the 28s there, blades extended. Its a sword wall. Yet Soujiro is only picking up speed. He has already been impaled once, does he miss it so much he wants it to happen again?

Don't blink. You'll miss it.

The supersonic sound happens first with a burst of light being the only thing making it clear something happened at all. Then the sound comes, a thing of metal rending against metal like so many samurai movies. Soujiro is on the other side of the sword wall, his katana blades fully extended without the blade strokes being captured.

Gwen has made some success against the type 28 scoring a fairly good hit, she slams it into the wall and grins a bit at it. Okay, that did feel good she looks to the Type 28 for a moment. The fight seems to be going pretty well oh no, the bosses have a sort of .... ritual attack going on.

"Tri Dazer?!"

She does not fool around as she summons her shield triggering the power built into it and one might hear the roar of a lion as she does so. All is looking good, oh no, Uta, Ut has got herself in a fix. Given what Gwen's job is? She does not think twice before moving to take the hit in her place. The lave eats into Gwen causing an array of wire red frames. She doesn't seem to mind.

"I have your back Uta, come on let us finish this."

Once the now injured Gwen is certain Uta's okay she's going to take off charging right back at the type 28.

"SONIC LUNGE!"

Gwen is very intent to keep battering this thing as much as she can.

    Getting slightly freaked out about how much damage the raid is taking, Fuka's at least relieved to see the boss's health bars dropping in return. Looks like... half and half? And unless there are further tricks in the fight, that gives the raiders the current advantage after that initial surprise. For now at least!

    Still, getting a bit nervous indeed. Fuka notes Uta getting rather hurt. Syx too, but she has less familiarity with the wrestler, focussed mainly on her friend's problems. And getting a little frustrated and angry. And that means it's time to whip out the BIG GUNS.

    Or in this case, Fuka can't really use her guns. The Type Zero is immune to physical attacks. But she raises her sword nonetheless, charging in and swinging. As she strikes the machina though, she discharges mana through her blade, letting those lovingly-crafted enchantments turn that mana into a surge of lightning that should surely be quite effective against the physical-immune monstrosity!

The last of the now mist-like bits of nightmarish aura that previously enveloped the musical martial medical Spriggan has now evaporated, leaving her a shaking mess curled on the ground, her dark wings sticking up at an angle.

When she looks up again, be it because of the headache she recently lamented upon failure of her Loremaster power, or be it because of the natural wearing off of Prophylaxis's medicine, the laser focus is gone from her eyes.

"Thanks... Gwen...", she says, peeking up with her head like a strange turtle, for the first time. Long, long after Gwen has already left to fight Type 28. "...So this is what a tower push is like! I DON'T LIKE IT! I DON't LIKE IT ONE BIT!" A pause, a blink. "Or is it a Wave?" Confused frown. She pushes herself to stand using her staff. "I can't remember which one of the two it is, so-"

Record scratch.

Uta's eyes have just fallen on the Dungeon Heart, and she's staring at it as if she was seeing it for the first time.

Cue huge, beady eyes.

"It's about the size of a -SLIME-!", the Spriggan squeals.

And so, a catchy J-Pop song kicks off, sung by You Know Who. Tendrils of light and magic materialize on her staff, dance on it in helical shapes, focus on the anatomically-correct-heart-shaped-gem nestled at the top of the coiled snake motif of the handle; thanks to the focused energy, circles of light and pastel colors materialize all over the area, and when Uta hits the final note, she slams the staff on the ground. With the intention of popping out a MASSIVE amount of slimes, one from each 'summoning' circle.

Her goal is to handle at least one of the slimes (possibly switching slimes if one or more get detstroyed) to engulf the Dungeon Heart, but if some blobby creatures end up slowing down or hitting Type 28, hey, bonus points.

Cutting across the Type-28 that Tian has been dealing with for this long is quickly showing results. More and more of its blade is showing signs of wear and tear. The Type-28 doesn't have the kind of lasting power of the Type Zero, that much is clear!

Swooping around the extended blades trying to catch them, they reach its chest and plunges their daggers, carving downwards like a pirate down some sails - until it finally has all of its health shattered from its body and detonates into light!

Landed, they can see more flames coming from the Scale Emblem Alliance. Vertina's Bramble Ball sinking down towards the Type Zero, engulfing its body in glowing red as it makes contact, and explodes into tendrils of green! Its body starting to shine with red as it takes constant damage from the thorns. But behind it, Tian can also see sparks form again. Another pair of blades starting to reach through, trying to come out to this side, as the Dungeon Heart still remains!

It's about to start moving, when suddenly, a blade STABS into its shadow. And the entire movement pattern of the Type Zero is halted entirely, preventing it from cutting apart the vines attached to its body!

Suddenly, a right line shines from the Type Zero as Prophylaxis' earth bursts againts its body, tearing into its healthbar! Its two columns of four eyes turning from Green to Red. And a laser fires from the back of its head into the Dungeon Heart behind it.

<"COMBAT DATA GATHERING COMPLETE - TRANSFERING BATTLE DATA TO CONNECTION POINT ALPHA. RRHA KI GAGIS, RIOMO MEMORA MEA.">

Its arms spreading out as it practically starts 'T-Posing' on the crew, and begins to slowly sink back into the electric light behind it. And begins to phase through slowly, while another Type-28 is trying to breach forward through the wall!

Rocks shatter against its body, as the electic light of the 'gate' washes over it, threatening to take anyone with it that tries to grab on.

At the ground level, Gwen moves to support Soujiro as she lunges for the Type-28, stabbing right through its stomach and stopping it from moving. Soujiro's fall completes, light flashing down! Blink and you miss it - Type 28 cannot blink! But at such speeds, it still misses it!

A sudden red light cuts across its body.

And as Soujiro's Katana returns to its sheath, and the guard touches the sheath, the Type-28 shatters into a rain of light!

More light fills the battlefield closer to the Dungeon Heart, with Fukaziroh's lightning slamming into its head. Flashing electric tendrils carve and grab at its body, stunning parts of its movements, but it continues to float back through the gate...

As Slimes suddenly jump onto the Dungeon Heart...

And one after another, start disappearing through the same gate.

HOP! ZAP.

HOP! ZAP.

HOP! ZAP.

One after another, Uta can feel that her connection to them is broken, as the distance is suddenly too large to maintain!

Soujiro Seta has his katanas in their sayas, sheathed after the light-show defeat of the 28s. Tap tap tap. He begins to run towards the Dungeon Heart, feet hitting the earthen ground in a rapid rush. Arms out. Look at him go, that Samurai is fast, even when you consider the weight of his Heavy armor. Solo Dash, that rush ability that got him right into the thick of combat at the start of the raid. He targets Zero initially, as the machina attempts to escape with the heart itself. Something a combat focused person might do, no? Focus on an enemy, blindly. But Zero is not the objective. The Heart is. To end it just the way it started.

STAB

Two katana blades come out, granted a traditional V-like point from the light energy imbued by the Sword Saint. Soujiro wrestles it down from its loft, holding it high and with all his strength crashes it it down Hulk Smash style.

Gwen sees the boss running even as the fight seem to be over but she gets an idea she does two thing one she readies her scale umbreall and tow she's going to show off somethihng. Few people know she can do.

"Where do you think you are going?! SYSTEM PROTECT!"

GWen will create a barrier with just as the Zero is about to get away and as this happens the thing is cut in half exploding in a shower of shards. Gwen just looks very smug at this.

"Well now that solves that doesn't it?!"

Wait when did Gwen learn to that anyhow?!

After all that trickery and magic hijinks, the things finally go done. Or leave the arena. Or try, before Gwen literally cuts it's fleeing short. Whatever, it works regardless. Vertina throws fists in the air. "Whoo! Looks like some of these dungeons still have a trick or two to keep things interesting!" Soujira goes to smash the actual Dungeon Heart as payback for that skewering he took earlier, in a sort of poetic justice.

    Having been conserving mana in order to end the battle with a (literal) bang, Fuka's left with an actual significant reserve as the Type Zero retreats. "Hey wait! GET BACK HERE can they even do that? They're BOSSES!" she yells, clearly annoyed.

    Then Gwen cuts it off (literally).

    "Oh, okay. Well that works." Fuka shrugs, and grins, no longer annoyed. "Good one! Okay, who needs healing? Uta! Damn, girl. I know you did a lot of studying during the fight, but you need to dodge too! Do I need to teach you more blocking, hmmmm?" she asks. Then grins, approaches Uta, and begins to call upon some nice light-based healing. And some too for others similarly in the red.

Syx was back on his feet, he was hurting but he wasn't dead, so he wasn't going to back down. No physical attacks, but no way is he going to let that thing escape. Though it seems he won't get the chance, as the Type Zero bursts into pixels as he sails past and crashes into Gwen's wall.

"Ow."

With the lower-level enemies dispatched, Tian stands there, chest heaving as they flex their fingers, grip tight. There is a tense moment, as if waiting to see what will happen with the remaining boss monster. Tian has no capability to stop it from escaping, so there is a tension there...

That is, until Gwen seems to pull one of those strange abilities that the Yamato Adventurers seem to have out of thin air, with Soujiro stabbing the Dungeon Heart a moment later. Tian let's out a breath that carries with it a sound of relief. Their tail untucks, but their ears remain flattened, gold eyes still looking back and forth to make sure that this really is the end of the fight.

It takes a while for Tian to finally sheath their daggers and approach the others, looking ever so slightly shell-shocked for the experience.

    Setsuna watches the thing escape from his shadow lock, "Damn thing where the hell do you think you are goi..oh that works. " Setsuna watches it get split in half and feels vindicated as he moves towards the crystal. Watching Soujiro slice it like an onion Setsuna acquires another heart piece and tosses it into his inventory. "Four down, more to go." Setsuna makes a face for a moment before he adds as an idle thought, "I really need to do something with these, maybe monster collars."

Where is Uta? Uta is nowhere to be seen in the boss room. She's gone, possibly riding into the sunset. Atop a mount-sized slime.
.
* * *

"Dear Diary,

First of all, I would like to apologize to the Goddesses or Whatever Supernatural Entity directs our lives. I am not sure if apologizing to Fate is in order, since, by its own nature, if Fate existed, it would direct all our actions, including our apologies to it or lack thereof.

I have said not so nice things about them, but in the end, the experience was valuable.

What matters is not whether or not I am present at a battle. Like Heraclitus used to say, 'panta rhei', aka 'everything flows'. Questions change, and answers must follow. What matters is whether or not I am, in every moment, where I need to be right then. And now, thanks to my newly found brother, I have a compass to guide me there."

Uta look away from her diary, to the compass she's holding in her hand. In her navigation through the catacombs, the item points at an opening, which she crosses.

She finds herself in a room, where-

"Oh, hi folks!", she greets the party she's just left. "Seems like here is where I need to be, after all."

Flick menu open, shimmer away diary and compass, and shimmer into existence her medical bag, while her staff is firmly clutched in her other hand. "Now, who needs healing, again?", she smiles, wide.

Again, more strange alvish. The doctor's eye twitches as the words sear themselves into memory (one of the benefits to being That Kind of Obsessive, you don't easily forget things like this). "It's getting away...!?" He goes for another spell, but it seems it might be too late--

And then Gwen cuts the thing in half with a power that seems vaguely familiar, in the 'didn't those lion dogs do something like that' kind of way. The doctor breathes a long sigh as the Type Zero disappears into light. Too late, though, whatever it sent through the portal has probably already reached its destination. At least its masters will be down the actual physical unit. That's always good.

As Soujiro destroys the crystal, Prophylaxis turns towards Uta, and... she's missing.

Damnit.

Oh wait, no, she's back again! "Uta," the doctor gestures in the vague direction of the shattered dungeon heart piece, "Would you mind doing me a favor and seeing if you can't Loremaster where those things came from and what they were doing here?"