Wave Of Calamity: 7

The clouds warp and shift overhead. This is the first time they have seen a Calamity Wave right over a Kingdom City. And it appears it is the first time for the Landers as well. There's shouts from some of the windows; "Down with Scale Emblem!" A chant that starts getting heavier by the moment as the timer gets lower to zero.

Standing within the main plaza of Rulid Kingdom stands an adult, the ruler of the Kingdom, with an absolutely massive blade over his shoulder. He's staring off with this fierce look in his eyes at the storm overhead. At the strange crimsons and purples that wash into eachother. Those 'gate' like eyes in the air staring down like cancer in the skies.

For months now, there have been waves. Wave after wave coming to the land of Yamato. People are expecting a massive wave of monsters. For skeletons to rise. For dragons to come low. The army of New World Alliance and Olympus Alliance gathered, with a few pockets of Scale Emblem is well prepared. Amalthea suddenly feels a ripe tomato smash against the side of her face in the middle of it all. "Yamato is for the Landers! We don't need your kind here!"

Then, the timer hits zero.

There's a few flashes of light within the large seaside town. But... no monsters. Not 'it's just a few really strong monsters'. No massive dragon. No invisible snake or seaside assault. Things seem rediculously quiet in fact.

Then suddenly, a sickle appears around Proteus' throat as she is standing on one of the higher up places. There's this split second where she gets to react. This sheer knife's edge of a moment. This voice that might set off goosebumps. "We meet again." A redhead then cuts his scythe towards that position where her neck had been, tearing a hole in the wall and sending debris flying over onto the main square.

<< L'Arc Berg Sickle >>

Sasori watches a man approach that looks like he could be an Adventurer near the front gates, reading what looks like a book. But it's strange. He's so distracted. Barely noticing her. And just as she might be wanting to speak up, or inspect this individual, he sighs.

His book closes, and he tips up his glasses. "Fuck you, L'Arc." He grunts, right before he lifts his hands up, and a violent arcane blasts rips across Sasori's position, tearing the lives of two lower level Adventurers with her, and destroying part of the gate, and one of the houses right behind it. It's a detonation of sizable proportions, followed by a green pulsing wave... that immediately seems to resurrect the Landers that were hiding in their house as Zombies.

<< Kyo Ethnina >>

Amalthea, no doubt about to step in at the gates when she sees this, suddenly feels something in her stomach. A sudden punch with an amount of gravity she's perhaps never felt before. It's like the punch arrives before she sees the one who executed it. A mask, with a single vertical purple line in it. The outfit seems to strike this strange balance between fantasy and almost futuristic.

Her bones. She can hear them cracking within her chest while she's still in the same position. The man putting his feet on the ground, turning them slightly, creating craters right beneath him, and then finishes the punch, sending the incredibly heavily armored Amalthea flying down two blocks like she were just a rag-doll - right into the Adventurers behind her.

The man then slowly rises, staring at the other defenders. He speaks not a single word. His mask unreadable.

<< The Lord of Dawn >>

    Merek walks along and with the party of Adventurers that will be protecting the people. That is when he comes along upon the one known as Kyo. And why that man? He just kills the people in that house. An entire family, there's a look to him, while he takes a moment to look from the hood which he wears, then he begins to take both hands to his back, while he draws what looks like a greatsword, "YOU!"
    With his meeting along with Shalltear, it's clear he is not in a wonderful mood recently, and when innocents are being killed. All he can think back to is. What power do they have to take care of these people. "I keep trying to talk, and you all come in and massacre innocents, killing everyone. You talk about the world of your own. Well this is the world we protect!" The man begins to swing along and tries to swing a fireball into the man.

Well this pretty much just confirms what Kaydon and Shiruba had been talking about the day prior. How these waves weren't directly a result of the clearing of the tower. It had seemed like a mechanic at first, but now Kaydon was certain it was being used by their enemies, or maybe even the person who trapped them here, in order to sew chaos.

He rather casually turns his body as Amalthea goes flying by him. He knows she's tough enough to take that hit and keep coming, so he's not worried about her. He's worried about the big guy who's not talking.

"If you're not going to say anything during this fight, this is going to be a really boring encounter." Kaydon says, as he pulls his Damascus blade off of his back, twirls it for a moment, and then brings the longsword to bear resting over his left elbow as he assumes a combat stance, "Don't you wanna talk shit like your buddies always do? Come on!"

He rushes forward, stopping just short of the Lord of Dawn and bringing his blade around, striking with a pair of downward slashes as he pushes through the massive man's defenses.

As is common, Mikage had arrived ahead of the Wave, having taken a position up on the rooftops to be able to get a view on the shifting landscape and the arrival of the expected monsters. She can hear the chant as it goes up, but the Were Fang just rolls her eyes at it. "Stop your stupid chanting and get to shelter, unless you want to die a terrible death!" She warns, though her voice is likely drown out. "Idiots." She mutters, with her white lynx, Rama, giving a huff of agreement at her side.

Having prepared for a wave of monsters, she isn't quite as prepared for those who actually arrive. It takes a moment, and likely some explosions, for her to even look down towards the ground. That means that she doesn't have nearly as much time to react. "Shit." She curses, scooping up Rama and diving off the rooftop as part of it gets blasted.

However, she is just a few seconds too late. The Ranger lands hard on the ground, rolling. She is still for a moment, and it is a nudge from Rama that actually has her finally groaning and getting to her feet. "Still alive." She takes a breath, wincing as she puts weight on a leg showing a radiating damage marker from the ankle upwards.

"Not exactly the kind of trouble I was expecting, but we need to try to reduce the casualties." She calls out then, raising her voice, "If you're a Lander and can hear me, get the hell out of here!" It's all the warning she can offer, figuring that they've had plenty of time to prepare before now.

Then, she raises her bow, draws an arrow, and channels light magic, hoping it might be effective against the one that seemed to be able to turn the Landers into undead.

Giganpor was there with his hood up over his armored form. Mostly because he wanted to do something a bit... daring. At least until all hell broke loose as soon as the Wave hit.

Finding himself impacted by a combination of Amalthea and flying building, the large armored form of his own is tossed away from Kyo and the Lord of Dawn all the way to L'Arc's position. Pushing a chunk of building off of himself and with angry red lines from the impact, Giganpor shakes his head as the over cloak he is wearing ends up disappearing into pixels. It wasn't that sturdy, after all. Then seeing L'Arc, his primary cloak goes to a red color that envelops him.

"You!" He calls towards L'Arc, then brings his shield up as he slams the end of his hammer-axe spear into the pavement, causing a burst of ice to coat the ground and try to impale L'Arc.

"I hope that got your attention this time! I have a thought for you, one that I have kept to myself based on a particular individual's views! I want to know why you people are doing this first! What is making you appear here and attack us!" The Were-Fang Lion yells at L'Arc.

Miyako and Kotono. The duo of-

OK, now's not the time for slogans and things like that.

There's trouble coming fast, and if Kotono doesn't do something about it, things are going to get worse! Sometimes you have to really think on your feet if you want to survive. And that's what Kotono does!

With a twirling backwards jump, Kotono then follows up with a backwards somersault to get out of the way. She then turns her attention to the three enemies. "Hmmm, which am I going to go after?" She darts her eyes from side to side before settling on the Lord of Dawn. "Ready or not, here I come!" She calls out as she dashes at the Lord of Dawn with her blades at the ready.

    After not reaching Aincrad for the latest tower raid, Arashi decided to go along with Kaydon to where the newest hourglass had manifested itself. She had arrived just earlier in the day, but had kept to the outskirts when she realized the landers were pretty damn upset with Scale, and adventurers overall. Meh. She was sort of used to that from her early days as a Were-fang. So be it.

    The hour glass ticks down, the crowd gets rowdier, but then the enemies appear. A couple seem to be 'those people' from the 'other side' as Arashi had been calling it, herself, and then another one that really looks like it belonged in the game. ... Seeing how a lot of people had beef with the 'othersiders' Arashi just marches toward this 'Lord of Dawn'.

    With Kaydon moving in up front, Arashi lets him tank and flanks around, moving up to start swinging at Dawn's side in a flurry of strikes from both her weapons. "A quiet boss would be a nice change of pace," she points out to Kaydon.

    Sasori wasn't expecting that. She'd been away from things for to long to know that these fellows were not good guys. When the explosion happens she is caught unawares. By the time she manages to get her bubble up the force of the explosion is already throwing her back and rubble is collapsing on her shield. She doesn't know that there are zombies rising up nearby from the dead landers. She is busy trying to catch her breath and shrug off the pain. It must have been a lot of pain because twenty percent, still hurts.

    As the bubble collapses she draws her sword and slashes outwards with a rapid draw of her katana. The sword sheers through rubble and surges outwards, shattering stone and wood as she launches herself free from the pile and waves of steel impact into the bookish fellow who just tried to blow her up.

    She stops, sliding in the rubble and catches her breath, Sasori looking positively /incensed/ at this point. "How dare..." She is so angry she can't even get out the 'you', if she were an actual dragon, the salamander would be spitting fire. But she's not a dragon, even though her tail lashes angrily behind her and her eyes go from seething, to blazing with hatred at the sight of the zombies. She knew those people, and now they were gone... forever.

    Ah what a warm welcome. It JUST SO HAPPENS that the Scale Emblem Alliance had sent a detachment to help with this Wave, Amalthea being part of that very group, in hopes of helping both clean up the mess the usually make. You know, the usual PR stuff.
    So it would just so happen that Amalthea and maybe some others were arriving, when the old paladin gets pelted in the face by a tomato.
    "..."
    ...
    To her credit she keeps her composure as she pulls a handkerchief from her inventory and wipes her face down, quietly clearing her throat.
    "In fairness I'd leave if I could." She does mutter under her breath, but that's niether here nor there as something calls to her attention at the gates. The man approaching, reading the book, who...
    Starts causing chaos.
    That's not good.
    "Alright kids, let's go." She says motioning the others with her forwards when-
    Suddenly, Amalthea is launched.
    "Wh-...!?"
    The masked figure that had seemingly come from nowhere catches her completely flat footed. The sheer intensity and force of the blow lifts her clean off her feet.
    "GUH!"
    And just like that, the old Odysseia Knight is sent careening through the air, for two goddamn blocks.
    Slamming into a wall with shattering force, she crumples to the ground, gasping and wheezing, clutching her gut where her armor soaked way too much damage for its own good. The integrity of her breastplate sure took a hit there, and the fact that she could hear- and still feels the horrid pain of her ribs being cracked means she's a little slow to rise, panting and coughing.
    But after a moment. After a solid beat to regain her breath, she looks up with a steel in her eyes.
    Testing her traction with a scuff of boots on the ground, she breaks into a run. A run turns into a sprint. A sprint turns into a raging, full-tilt charge as she raises and braces her shield, charging back the whole two blocks in almost olympian record time as she bull-rushes the Lord of Dawn, intending to slam into him bodily, shield first.

    Miyako lets out a soft sigh as the gate opens in the sky, shaking her head. "This again..."

    But there is none of the expected surge of monsters. Just sudden attacks by the individual 'heroes' of the other world. She's not going to question this twist of fortune.

    "Good luck!" she calls to Kotono as the pair split up, and she starts twirling her naginata above her head. As she chants her spell, runes appear in the air before her, glowing bright cyan, until suddenly the flow and merge together to flow over the naginata's blade and lash out at the sickle-wielding foreigner.

    "Get your stinking butts out of our home!"

    Rizadoman frowns at the hatred from the Landers for this, it was really the first time he had seen such hate and it caught him off guard. In fact he is in his own world when the timer hits zero and he is really not paying to much attention until well it all starts. Summoning water around him the debris bounces off the bubble shielding him before he lets it go. " So today it is them." The lizardman begins to move trying to get towards the big guy but then he sees what happen when the wannabe villian in glasses kills some landers. "You are the real monster here. I pray for the cavity that is your soul." With anger in his eye he puts his hands together and literally prays for Kyo, and holy energy lashes out at him.

SpritesHero's manner of fighting is far from elegant. It more or less consists of taking cover behind the sturdiest object available while directing an assortment of magic towards whatever the current target is--in this case, L'Arc. He's barely missed by flying rubble, and narrowly misses with random vial of questionable something-or-other in the target's direction. It cracks open on a rock and emits...highly questionable smells. People probably shouldn't step in that, just in case. No commentary, no boasting, just things flying frth.

    Yuuki stands amongst the group of Olympus Adventurers that had arrived to defend against the wave. She's tapping her foot impatiently while waiting for it to begin, looking around and occasionally glancing up into the sky expecting. A few people get a grin and waves from Yuuki in greeting while waiting. Until finally, it begins...

    Nothing begins. Well, that was disapp-

    THINGS HAPPEN!

    A house explodes in magic, zombies rising, people getting scythed, Amaltheas flying. Yuuki is forced to make several jumps to get out of the way as debris from an exploding structure rains down on her location.

    Now THIS is more like it!

    Yuuki looks over the list of available Heroes to fight... A Mage... A martial artist... And a guy with a scythe. It's a shame that none of them have swords. But with ScytheGuy being the only one wielding a weapon, it seems like the obvious choice for Yuuki!

    Yuuki charges towards L'Arc, calling out, "Hey! Let's do this!" The Imp zigs left and then right to avoid more falling debris, before leaping onto one of them and into the air. Raising her sword above her she brings it down towards L'Arc as she lands beside him. But she then quickly follows up with a second strike to try and get through his guard.

Schneider is kind of paying insufficient attention as things are going down, and Scale's not popular here anyhow, which makes him all kinds of happy to be here. But he was prevailed upon. He's not contributing much, with a book open in one hand and his quill in another, scribbling notes in the margin as he reads from the book. He only looks up as Amalthea flies past in a flat arc inches from his face.

"Huh?"

At least that's got his attention, though. He flips up a magical shield way too late, or wait, it was up from before, it just flickered to life just now? He shakes his head to clear it, then growls, "Hey!" But that's not solving anything, is it? He sighs. "Tai-to-ro! Blow this enemy away! ANTHEM!" And fire leaps from his fingers, engulfing L'ARC for a moment before the flames flicker down to a small afterburn, then fade.

Scale was becoming more and more of a problem, no bot could give off hate like the Landers were for them. Also, she gets they might not be welcome her and yup there it is. Miho isn't happy about that but there's not much they can do. They can't get scale killed, no they'd have to be trapped somehow. The King is deployed to fight, okay he's not some coward at all. This is showing how serious things are if he's here.

She waits for the countdown to finish and then there they go she would looks around.

"Where are the monsters....?"

Then she narrows her eyes at the ginger before.

She's quick the parry the incoming attacks and avoids them otherwise but she'd have to be careful the huge Lord of Dawn is something to worry about at this point. She's about to make a go for the Lord of the Dawn when she catches sight of Kyo.

"Shouldn't have come here, you are in for a very bad time sir."

With that Miho will just blitz at Kyo at high speed to lunge in and rapidly strike him with her Katana before pulling back from it.

"Do these waves even have a source why not GO AFTER IT?!"

"The fact that we just finished a large, potentially world changing project only for the next Wave to appear directly over that city is way too peculiar to simply be coincidence," Kauchemar had been musing with Proteus while they waited. The timer was ticking down, but she wasn't watching that. Her eyes were glowing with that supernatural shine of using her otherworldly observation powers, a slightly fainter glow eminating from the rolled scroll held in one hand.

Yet when the timer hit 0:00... nothing. No massive portals, no hordes of monsterous super beasts, nothing. Her divination likewise turned up nothing. The glow faded from her eyes, returning them to their only normally psychedelic lavander color. Her tail gave an agitated twitch as horse's oft do. "This... is different. And that isn't a good thi--" Cue Almathea getting hammered several blocks down on the street below "--Oh, there we are! They just didn't screw around with monster mobs this time."

The sickle slammed into the wall behind her position as Proteus was attacked, the impact smashing debris from the foundation. Which Kauchemar doesn't even look back at, she just moves with her exceptional grace to avoid the tumbling rubble. The Nightmare Were Fang is briefly out of view with her movements thanks to how swiftly she moves, appearing off to L'Arc's side opposite where they struck at her Guildmade. "Now that was just rude. Not even a proper introduction. So allow me to fix your faux paus. Kauchemar Tenebrae, Bardic Muse of Plant Hwyaden." She makes a melodramatic wave with her hand to draw her Binder Sword. "You know what the Tenebrae stands for? Allow me to demonstrate! En Garde!" Kauchemar strikes a duelist pose with the sword pointed forward. From which a blast of dark cursed energy emits, drawing from spiteful spirit of the Binder posessing it.

"Probably not coincidence, Kauchemar. But what can we do about it right now? We have no way to interact with the Wave to determine how it targets things." The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The increasing animosity towards Scale Emblem is precisely what Proteus expected would happen. When the source of the problem is clearly seen, why would anyone think otherwise but to grow in dislike of the source of their pain?

But that's not something Proteus has to deal with right now. Standing here, Proteus only has concern for the incoming assault. What would it be? A horde? A massive monster? A deadly plague? The timer ticks down...

And she looks around. "Where..." She squints... Only to feel the sickle at her throat. "Wha...!" There is a gasp, and she tries to hurl herself backwards... But not quite fast enough. There is a singing slash of red across her throat as she is nicked... for a significant amount of HP. "Ggggh... /YOU/." She hisses, as she spins around.

BGM: https://youtu.be/pe3h62MrlPE
Lobotomy Corporation - Second Warning

"Tired of hiding behind minions this time, are you?" She grimaces and flicks her hands, and the gleaming burnished brass cube appears out of her Inventory. She spins it in her hands, and presses a hidden catch. There is a mechanical latch noise, and the white gem-face alights, opening up. Over the next few moments, Proteus' hands are a blur as the internals clatter and reshape into a gleaming compound bow, a taut wire drawn between reels with a bulbous assembly aside the nock.

"Do you understand regret, L'Arc? Let's find out." Proteus leaps backwards off of the building she was perched atop, a window appearing around the assembly as her fingers quickly trace the gestures to activate an Ability. ( U

A moment later, the white gem-trimmed brass bow fires a series of dark purple beams of energy, showering shots on L'Arc to try to overwhelm his defenses.

Typically, Jazuhanzu is out on the fringe of known territory. When these waves appear, they're usually so far from her that by the time she can get to them, they've already passed through and all she gets to see are the consequneces. For the first time, the Undine is present, having been present in the Fourlands when the timer started.

The warping of the clouds and the shifting above had her head turned up towards the sky, a hand up atop it its point to keep it from falling off her head. She's there in the plaza herself, and then those *figures* started to appear.

Close enough that the blast knocks her ther feet, Jazz was mostly shielded by her own water magics -- magics she tried to apply to helping the Landers nearer to her as well, for all the good that it might do her. In fact, rather than engaging in the fight immediately, she's staggering back up and looking towards the zombies with a curse. Immediately, she's looking for other Landers that might be in need of help or calling for it, to try to rush them out of the area. That's her first concern, really, above all else: the preservation of their lives.

"Ugh." Kyo grunts as Merek points that righteous commanding voice, calling him 'You'. "I have a name you know..." He seems more annoyed about this whole situation than anything. Like he really doesn't want to be here. "Well, it's not like I want to do this. But I rather live. So... I guess this is just what I am doing now." The man answers Merek as the Fireball comes his way. It's a single swing of his hand, as the pages on his book rapidly move to the next page. It shines, and a barrier quickly erects before him - shattering beneath the force of the Fireball, and causing shreds of flame to get through.

Rushing past Merek, comes Kaydon. Striking down with his blade towards the Lord of Dawn. It looks like he's about to hit him, when the man's hand suddenly comes up, grabbing him by the throat. The other hand to his hand. The purple light of his helmet almost seems to analyze the blade. "Interesting. This is a very sturdy composition." The man speaks from behind the helmet. "Quite cute." The blade sinks a bit into his hand at this position, but the hand just seems to 'casually' throw Kaydon to the side, aiming to sink him into Kotono as she comes his way. Luckily, Kotono avoids getting hit in the body with that of Kaydon, and her blades bite into the man's mantle for just a moment, before she finds her face grabbed and pushed to the ground. There's that initial press, before there's a second that cracks the very ground below her and sends a devastating wave of debris out from that position! Arashi uses that moment where he's forced to remain in place to cut at his side - getting a fierce red slash out of the exchange... right before something from behind the Lord of the Dawn slams into her belly and sends her flying as well.

Behind the crew, Mikage has the Landers run. Men, women, children running out of their doors and trying to head down alleys and away from the battle! Away from the entrance of the town and towards the docks instead. A sudden shining light follows - Mikage's bow flashing its light and sending a fierce arrow right into Kyo's shoulder - with Merek having distracted his defenses. "Ow! Hey! I mean... /Ow/." Kyo motions his hands at Mikage, giving her this indignant look. "You can't just shoot someone like this lady." He complains, as he rips the magical arrow out with his hand, and sends a bit of healing magic over it that tries to seal up the wound. But his health remains lowered. He's about to retaliate when Sasori pushes back!

Her blade impacts against his book, which seems hard as steel, and the bookish fellow is pushed back. He is /remarkably/ sturdy for a mage of his bodytype. Yet, Sasori still pushes him back, the sand and stone grinding behind him until he comes to a stop. "Could you not? It's not like those people were important or had anything interesting to say. They would have been stronger if they would have. Look, if you could just..." He glances aside as Amalthea bullrushes the Lord of Dawn. "Hey, Bondrewd! Incoming!"

The masked man grunts. "I appreciate it, but stop speaking so casually to me. I only came here for my research. We're not allies." He points out to Kyo as Amelthea's shield impacts on him. The two clash, his fist against her shield. A violent GONNNNGGGGGG echoes from the place they impact. The man having put his back into it, and a black tail now visible behind him, pushing off against the ground, rooting him in place. The shield cracking, but so are his gloves... health divesting. Until the both of them end up blown away from the force of the collective blow! The Zombies nearby getting bowled over from the shockwave.

This gives Rizadoman a chance to get in towards Kyo, with him distracted by Amalthea's rushing attack, holy energy blasting down on his position and leaving a scorchmark on the ground, with the entirety of Kyo's body glowing red for a moment. "/Rude/." Kyo tells Rizadoman. Only for Miho to get up in his face. The man quickly scrambles back, trying to get his defenses up again, as Miho's blade comes down towards his head, then a few more swipes to his body. She gets him in the arms a few times, right before he manages to cast a spell of wind that forms a ball right before him, and then blasts off against her chest to push her away from him!

Ice rushes up after L'Arc after Proteus gets away from him, grabbing his legs with the icicles - which quickly get cut by the Hero of Sickles. "Isn't it obvious? Your people are a threat to us. So we are going to take care of you first." L'Arc answers Giganpor.

Only to be joined by Miyako, bringing her glaive down towards him. She gets him right in the cheek, before the sickle comes swinging around, hooking expertly around her weapon, and PULLS on her and tries to slam her into the remains of the wall debris near him. The man then covers his face as SpritesHero's bottle smashes nearby. For a moment, it seems like it may be enough of a distraction for Yuuki to jump in, but he quickly pulls out a smaller sickle and then... 'seperates' the sickle. It seems like it is of some kind of sword-breaker design. Her sword perfectly caught between the two blades, after which the man twists Yuuki's blade all of the sudden, trying to put her into an awkward position, and then /kicks/ right for her stomach, aiming to send her into SpritesHero's body.

Flames detonate against L'Arc's body not a second later as Schneider retaliates as well! Followed immediately by Kauchemar's dark spirit lashing at him. The man's health dropping as he is forced to fall back for a moment. "Honestly, it'd be nice to hide behind some monsters. But we brought a guest who seemed to fill the power quote rather quickly on us." L'Arc answers Proteus with a grin. "Today, we're not the main course. That man is." He motions towards the Lord of Dawn. "-- Ooolla-oop! Whoah, bro! You've got a new toy!" Purple beams immediately follow after him, forcing L'Arc back. He jumps from roof to roof, letting the blasts impact against the tiles, before he lands to the ground, and he looks like he's about to casually cut the lives of two nearby Landers when...

Clash!

The scythe coming down is hooked into a massive blade. The older blue haired gentleman grunting. "I will not let you so casually assault my people!" The man remarks, cutting right into L'Arc's shoulder with a single motion of his blade, causing that arm to also come off from that single strike! A Sword Arte!

"Woah! Shit! Hey!" L'Arc quickly grabs a potion from his belt and drinks it, stopping the damage to his arm, before raising his two scythes up into the air, and bringing them down in a motion so fierce, it sends wind cutting through the region that /digs/ into the roads and sends debris splattering in every direction. One aircutter going right for the people on the roofs he'd just left, and one for those on the main road. "Now where's the harbor?" L'Arc then adds, looking around, and heading towards the Shipyard!

At the same time, at the Entrance, Kyo raises his hand. "I BIND YOU, SPIRITS OF THE WIND! HEED MY CALL! LOOOOOORD! OOOOFFFF!"

Lightning beginning to gather overhead. But rather than bringing down the spell, the area begins to grow. And grow. The clouds above warping! With the Lord of Dawn ignoring the cast and casually moving forward, looking not at the people. But their weapons. Their armor. Their shields.

Spotting something then, on Mikage specifically. "Oh? Let me see that!" He demands, before stepping in hard with a single push of his back foot, coming right for her, bringing his hand out and 'punching' the air just a few feet from her, causing the region behind her to practically detonate from the violent power of this man's attack - sending others nearby flying. Destroying another nearby house. With his other hand grabbing for her bow! Or rather... for the Crystal on the bow.

"Normally, I'd agree with you. It isn't polite to shoot someone. Then again, you're murdering Landers and turning them into monsters. So I think that's a good enough reason." Mikage replies. Normally, she isn't particularly talkative during a fight. She tends to be a bit more of the quiet sort. She only narrows her eyes at the man's response, shaking her head. Though she might not be quite onboard with Landers being equivalent to real people, she still isn't about to let someone murder them as if they were little more than NPCs.

She may have very well continued to attack the necromancer, but then the strange masked man starts making his way towards her. "I don't think so." Despite him trying to grab for her bow and the relic contained within, she backs off, rolling with remarkable speed to avoid his grasping hand and the force of the attack.

As she tries to keep distance between herself and the enemy, her hand brushes over Rama, infusing the lynx with some of her own magical enemy. "Get him." It isn't exactly the most elaborate of commands, but it is enough that Rama knows exactly what to do. The feline leaps towards the Lord of Dawn, growling as he snaps his jaws, trying to bite down into any exposed part of the man and channel ice and frost through the attack.

    Merek watches while the fireball will strike into Kyo, then he takes the time to listen to all that the man has to say to the party. There's a shift of his weapon, while he speaks, "What do you mean they weren't important? They are people! What kind of person..." Then he growls a bit while he begins to shift both hands along his weapon. There's a rage within while he begins to swing along and try to get into range of the man. "NO MORE! THIS IS NOT YOUR WORLD! NOT YOUR KIND TO PLAY WITH!"
    The man lifts up a hand while an entire field of magic begins to form. The sigil begins to appear along the entire field, extending well beyond capabilities of healing and support magic. Power, more power. Anyone that is fighting Kyo will see that their power increases, in fact it even begins to shimmer along other members of the party. The kind warmth that often will come upon people which he uses the magic on seems to gain a little bit of his rage. "MAGICAL FORCE FIELD!" And he begins to swing into the man with that weapon which he wields, throwing away hood along with that longcoat, his dark attire on in addition to the scarf that shifts upon the wind. "No more... I will not allow it anymore!"

You can't hurt what you can't hit!

Kotono's agility keeps her from getting hit by the latest attacks, while at the same time she shifts her focus around a little bit. She knows repetitive patterns can cause the enemy to recognize you, which is why she's shifting things around a bit.

"Look out!" The acrobatic Spriggan calls out as she dashes towards Kyo before leaping into the air with a backflip and attempting to deliver a flying kick.

    Sasori continues to push Kyo back until finally the momentum is spent, making sure to drive the mage further away from any Landers that might be near the gates. "You attack them. You kill them. You turn them into monsters and you act as if it is /their/ fault?!" She shouts at Kyo Ethnina, bringing her blade up in a two handed grip her eyes glance upwards at the clouds only briefly before focusing down on her opponent again, not that he's just hers, there's more than one adventurer there after all, "When these people die, they stay dead. They are more human than /you/! They are worth protecting! They are worth fighting for! They are worth dying for!"

    As the winds start to build Sasori whips her katana around in a flourishing kata that leaves heat rising from her blade, then flames spilling behind the edge, and then covering the whole blade. Heat and electricity do not mix, especially as she suddenly leaps forwards again, slashing out with her blade just as she would have been struck by the magical assault but she is no longer there.

    Several cuts slam into the book, or whatever other defenses the mage might bring to bear as Sasori tries to drive the mage even further away from his support, and the People of the Land, "If you had even half a conscience. Even an ounce of remorse, you might still be human. They're more human than you."

    Rizadoman looks at L'Arc going after something but it is not important at the moment as he is called rude, "And you turned innocence into undead creatures. For that you will pay." Rizadoman reaches into his mouth and rips out a fang of his before beginning to cast a spell, "O Sickle wings of velociraptor! Rip and Tear, Fly and Hunt" From the fang a scimitar grows and he grasps it before pointing the bone blade at Kyo. " I will cut you down." Charging in he doesn't seem to give to much concern about the growing storm as he cuts once with the scimitar before following up with a second attack with his claws.

Well, SOMETHING sent Arashi soaring through the air. She knew she got a good hit in, but she didn't quite see what sent her flying. As she takes flight for a few moments, the were-fang takes a breath, steels herself, gets her hooves under her, and then rebounds off the building she had been sent careening toward and heads upward, ending up on a roof away a bit, but above, this 'Lord of Dawn'. It's about this time she remembers that the Landers here didn't even want them there. Didn't want them to fight. The landers forgot a minor detail, something which Arashi has, now, decided to remind them. "I think the people of this village need a little reminder," she muses as her grip tightens on her blades.

"o/` As children we would wait, and watch rom far away, but we always knew that we'd be the ones that worked while you all played..."

"In youth we'd lay awake at night and scheme of all the things that we could change but it was just a dream...o/` Heh."

        "Not Any More."

Up. Up. Up some more, a massive leap sets the dire-shire on a collusion course from above, heading down toward the Lord of Dawn. As she draws near, a massive overhead swing crashes down.

"Here we are, don't turn away now," Another potent slam crashes down, with emphasis. "We are the warriors that saved these towns!" And a third, for further emphasis, before the warhorse lands a bit away, thrown back from the ferocity of those blows.

"From. Dust."

    Fist meets shield.
    Shield meets fist.
    Amalthea locks eyes on that expressionless ask as she grits her teeth and the resounding clash of impact carries far and wide. She's putting her back into her own assault, every ounce of her strength poured into that fully committed rush.
    "Rrrrgh!"
    Her shield cracks before her resolve does. The Lord of Dawn's gauntlet cracks most likely before his own resolve as well, and the two are summarily separated by a sheer wave of concussive force brought on by the impact of their respective blows.
    Amalthea lands on her feet, skidding backwards, dragging two deep furrows into the ground as she struggles to keep her footing and return to the fray.
    It's while the masked man is so intent on grabbing the crystal from Mikage's bow that Amalthea's sword glows with a divine white light.
    "Bondrewd is it? Oh no you don't, you pay attention to ME." She declares, trying to take the heat off Mikage as she pours every ounce of her might into slamming that glowing sword into the masked figure's back.

    Yuuki is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a second sickle! What kind of design is that!? Pulled into an awkward position, she can't manage to regain her balance in time to avoid the kick that's launched at her. It strikes her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying.

    Yuuki apparently avoids crashing into SpritesHero but still manages to find a nice piece of debris to land against. Adding injury to more injury. Yuuki groans quietly as she recovers, rising to her feet once more. She looks a little shaken at first, but then regains her resolve as she laughs back at L'Arc, "If that's all you've got then you're not going to have much luck taking US out!"

    Yuuki charges forward once more, running fast and low as she circles around L'Arc while he's battling the others. She quickly closes in, her sword beginning to glow with light. She swings it, the tip scraping across the ground as she brings it up into a single, solid strike that causes a mild shockwave on impact as Yuuki tries to knock the Sickle Guy's weapons upwards to create an opening.

Giganpor gives chase, going after L'Arc by leaping and swinging himself up on to the roof before charging off. Instead of stalling at the incoming air slashes, however, he actually leaps towards it as he brings his buckler around. A summoning circle appears suddenly. "Light of the heavens, bring peace to the land! Come forth, Auris!"

Giganpor's summons calls out a light elemental and flies to land on the were fang's shoulder. A brighter burst comes from his buckler shield the air sickle makes an impact and doesn't seem to do much to Giganpor himself as he charges forward. His conversation on the Raid chimlink is almost lost in the air sickle's winds.

"How are we a danger to you whenever you invade us first!?" He yells at L'Arc. "If you keep this up, we will become a danger because we will be forced to come for you instead! Some of us here are even wanting to do so!"

A single coin is suddenly hurled, backed up by Auris blasting it and sending it at an extreme velocity as the Were Fang continues to chase L'Arc. It's aimed to hopefully ping him between the eyes or at least the back of the head. Hopefully! "That's my two ^yen, L'Arc! We are defending our world, not trying to invade yours! If you are doing this because someone is making you, then tell us what is going on! There is no reason that we can not help each other with this!"

It must be admitted that Sprites wasn't having particularly much luck shooting from cover, for all that it kept him generally safe from debris. There's just too many people in the way. He doesn't have a clean line of sight. With a muttered...something or other, that -could- be a curse, he breaks cover. Carefully timing his progress across the field, and cunningly evading incoming flying objects, he comes across a tiny mound that's just high enough to give him an angle on D'arc. He ducks down, invokes his system command, and at the last moment straightens to blast a series of fireballs at his target. Coincidentally, that straightening puts him smack in the path of a sickle that had been flying at Proteus. He's not decapitated or anything, but his attempt to deflect it with his armored forearm leaves a brilliant gash of light that looks rather nasty, and leaves his hp bar a sunny yellow. He drops down again, flashing a quick grin at Yuuki (who apparently shares his cover for a moment), then returns to his own efforts.

Now it's not something Kaydon is used to, being grabbed like that, as the hand grips around his throat. He struggles, and isn't quite happy with the way he's being manhandled. Okay, this guy is definitely more than just the dumb muscle.

Kaydon gets thrown through the air, and he feels himself sailing through the sky. Still he's not quite ready to go down without a fight. He twists in midair, and then digs his blade into the ground to slow himself down, carving a nice gouge in the ground, but slowing himself down enough to land on his feet without issue. He takes a moment to pop his neck, and then readies himself again.

"Neat trick."

Kaydon doesn't have fancy magic or crazy abilities or anything. He's never needed them, and he has zero intention of letting this guy change that. Lord of Dawn or not. Kaydon pushes forward, but this time instead of coming straight at the Lord, he moves off to one side, using the multiple attacks the guy is suffering in order to attack from the flank.

Kaydon leaps off of a fallen cart, using it to propel himself upwards, and then dropping down with his Damascus Blade flashing in the light, aiming to land a wicked downward slash with the weapon.

    Miyako picks herself up from where she was thrown, shaking her head. "That was *incredibly* rude, you know. I oughta take you over my knee and teach you some manners, boy." With others closing on L'Arc, though, she bypasses him as she inscribes another spell.

    "You lot act like you're the big heroes, but all you do is come here and slaughter innocents! What the absolute ever-living FUCK is your problem?"

    She actually pauses briefly, to give time for an answer, before firing off her spell. "ICE RAIN!"

    And with that, a hail of frozen spikes rains down on the man in the mask.

Schneider's shield holds again, and he's starting to get his head back in the game. Though he's not actually paying much attention to the fight just at the moment. In fact, it seems like he's rubbernecking at the lightning crackling all through the area. "That's not right," he complains. He thinks about the lightning for a moment, then chants rhythmicly. He raises his hand over his head, and it's surrounded by a field of darkness, and he continues, the chant changing somewhat, and he shouts, "Blonde Obsession! MACE!"There's really no clear rhyme or reason in the words to his spells, but the darkness expands, and seems to be spreading out, competing with the lightning. It's not clear what's going on, but it seems to be weakening the lightning, possibly.

Cutters scream through the air as L'Arc leaps away. Being one of the faster members of the fight Kauchemar is quick to give chase. She makes a sweeping motion with her other arm as she leaps at the edge rooftop, swinging the shield off her back as she does so. Though it's noticable that she doesn't actually hold the shield, rather it floats around her like an orbiter while glowing in ghostly flames to intercept one of the cutters and deflect it away from her.

Hooves hit another rooftop without missing a stride, bounding across it with such speed and agility as she leaps off and kicks off another wall she seems to flicker in and out of clear view. Her movements are erratic as she parkours after L'arc, hard to tell where she's going to come from. It doesn't become any easier when Kauchemar starts to chant, her voice echoing in a haunting way to being as difficult to pin down and help misdirect her quarry.

o/~ With moons above, dark waters rise... You cannot slow the changing tides
From depths below, a watery grave... the undertow roars... o/~
Kauchemar is clearly visible in mid-leap just above and behind L'Arc. Her own cutters made of water and ice manifest, swirling around her shield as Kauchemar hurtles it at L'Arc in an attempt to strike him out of the rooftop chase.
o/~ SPLASHING BRAVE! o/~

Buffeted by the chaos all around her and ther attacks launched towards the Landers and Adventurers she's enar, Jazz is knocked too and fro line an an adorable undine pinball. It's almost as if she's weightless, right? In reality, it's more her letting the impact wash over her eand using her Air Artes to protect her, dispelling what would be gruesome impacts for by letting them carry her further.

Once she has a moment to recover, she's back to what she was doing, but this time she's not alone. Instead, she's called out.

"Let those who's the oceans mighty depths have claimed come serve the needs of those who yet walk land. Denizens of the blackest seas, I beseech you, release the chains."

Indeed, erupting from the ground around her are several spiritual manifestations of sailors wrapped in lenghty chains. It would appear her call was grave indeed.

Then Jazz is rooting around in some rubble, helping pull a battered Lander free from it and raising them to their feet. "You're okay? You're okay. Go, go! Go that way!" She points down the way, away from the battle, and urges them. She's gathering a small collection and is trying to navigate them out of the area, all the while letting her recent summons distract the zombies that might linger nearby.

Proteus leaps after L'arc immediately, but the Scythe Hero already seems to have the measure of such a predictable move. She's about to take the air blade right in the face, but Robert is right there to help guard her. There is a grimace as she sees him get hit, and she claps the Spriggan on the shoulder. "Thanks. I owe you one." She says, earnestly, and leaps after L'Arc, chasing after him.

"I made the exact same arguments to him before when I met him in his world, Giganpor. He's having none of it. The prophecy has been made, and he is a believer." The Imp chases further, working to keep up with the Scythe Hero and loosing several more energy arrows in his direction as he dives around. "Your friend might be the main event, Sickle, but we have plenty of Adventurers to keep him occupied. This means I have plenty of room to deal with you." She says, immediately beginning to load up another Ability. ) - O

This time, the arrow color shifts to a burning white-gold, and when she looses it, the Holy blast explodes into a wash of blinding light. "I'm not going to let you do as you please, L'Arc. You have no idea what you are meddling with!"

    As the timer moves to zero, a ship approaches the docks. The Dukedom's greatest power is in the sea and it is there that Wake arrives. Fortunately, the ship need not be tied down, nor any gangway set. The Baroness simply vaults the distance, landing and racing on towards whatever fight lies ahead.

    It's not long before she finds herself forced to weave this way and that out of attacks and their various side effects. Seeing any part of her homeland damaged leaves the Baroness wrapped in iciness. She truly hopes that someone dies for this insult. And look.. it seems someone is heading her way.

    The first strike is bladeless, a simple, physical attack. That doesn't mean its gentle, nor particularly merciful. She intends to get the attention of the one charging towards the harbor. Right towards her, as it were.

Kyo is having quite the time as defenders pile on to him she nearly gets a head shot in as she makes her attacks. Kyo is a smart mage as he cast a spell to repel the tiny little blender of a woman. Miho is forced to recover her balance and she just looks at him.

"No wonder you were sent, not bad."

The battle is now raging as the Lord and Scythe hero are hammering into thing but Miho isn't done with Kyo at all as the battle keeps going she forced to deal with more magic.

"It's always the casters!"

Lighting is going all over the place and Miho is able to catch a bolt and deflect it with her sword due to a well-timed ability use.

She's going to hang back this time level her bow takes aim at Kyo.

"FIRE BURST!"

She sends a flaming arrow right for him.

"I mean... I suppose?" Kyo answers Mikage. "They're just Landers you know?" He shrugs at this. "I mean, I am a Lander too. But look at them. They were barely even important people." The bookish one tells her while keeping his hand up in mid-cast.

Only for Merek to start yelling at him. Kyo kind of picks at his ear for a moment, giving Merek the most /uninterested/ look possible. "Ugh, I hate his type. So indignant about everything. Look, they're not important. I could kill a few hundred more and feel nothing, you know? I'm sure your world is nice and all. But as long as it is here, it'll destroy ours. By the way, have you seen a girl with a Fishing Pole around? We're trying to figure out if she's doing good. Is she eating well?"

Only for Merek to start healing the entire region of the town. Which, honestly, impresses Kyo. He whistles, nodding his head. "Oh wow... you managed to get /that/ Relic. Lucky." The sword comes for him, but Kyo quickly pushes him aside with a magical barrier, so he can get a better look at the area behind Merek.

The Lord of Dawn fails to grab hold of Mikage, but he got a close enough look. "Elemental Machine parts. Those are incredibly well woven. And using a Relic to empower it. Rather brilliant. And I do believe that is the Pale Blue, isn't it? I'm going to need that back. That was rather rudely stolen from me by the Alv." He points out, while trying to kick the Lynx away like some animal abuser.

Only for it to bite onto his foot. The armored man looks confused for a moment as the ice begins to grow over his foot, slowing his kick and protecting the Lynx. He slowly puts it down, and then slaps the Lynx away, but he's slowed down...

Luckily, he doesn't need to move to deal with Arash. As she comes down from her enormous leap, he crosses his arms and catches the blow! Her fist meets his seemingly gauntletted arms. The crash creates a crater right in the middle of the road, beneath him. Red mist bursts out from his back, only for black vines to suddenly rush out like a nest after this red glow and capturing it, pulling it back into him and restoring some of his health! It's a sickening view.

Followed by Amalthea bringing her glowing blade down on him. A fierce red line cutting right through him as the blade across his body, while Bonedrewed grabs at her throat - letting it pass across his body. Letting the damage happen. "Hrrm..." She suddenly feels it. The Law of Alba being broken once again. A green light lifting from her body, slowly draining her of... something? She can't tell what. "A Spyglass? How boorish." It's not like she had that out! He's about to try and crush her Larynx when suddenly, Kaydon comes from the flanks and hews his blade Up! The Damascus Blade cuts through the Lord of Dawn's arm, ripping it off! The hand shatters over Amalthea...

As Bondrewd laughs. "Oh? Good job. You got my hand." Right before there's a splatter of biological matter, wrapped in red light, as a new hand forms right where the last one was, restoring a bit of his health to go right along with that. "Good job." He notes, like a father speaking to his son. Right before that iced over leg flies for Kaydon's stomach, shattering the ice itself and freeing him of the slowdown!

Behind him, Kyo is having to deal with quite the assault! "Hey, I die too when I... die. Look, I am really not that interested in what you have to say. So could you not? Maybe just die for me, so I don't have to put up with all of thi~ HEY!" Sasori begins to slash at the book. Strike after strike careening into it. Wearing away pieces of the book's outer body...

Slam after slam forcing Kyo back a bit further, until suddenly.

<< ! IMMORTAL OBJECT ! >>

It stops losing integrity. "I'm still more human than you, Salamander." Kyo then points out, suddenly lifting that book and slamming her in the face with it, sending her back! This gives Rizadoman his chance to step in! The Scimitar coming down upon the book, crashing against it and sending Kyo back further - cutting partly against his arm and drawing glowing red lines across his body!

In the background, more undead appear. But these are not under control of Kyo. Jazuhanzu using them to unbury some Landers, and help their escape. They are wary - but they seem to recognize the creatures as under control of a Summoner and go right along with this, while others take care of the spawned zombies. A detonation of fire impacts on Kyo himself, Miho's attack rocking the man and sending him shambling back. But the cast hasn't been interrupted enough!

"VERMIILLLIOOOOON!" The entire air pressure seems to suddenly change near him, as green light helixes around the yellow lightning into the clouds...

Back in the main streets, Yuuki tries to take revenge for the earlier damage done to her pride. L'Arc, a bit on the defensive at the moment because of that potion still taking effect, is a bit slower this time. Her blade rings loudly against his Scythes, pushing them upwards! This allows Giganpor his moment - bringing that coin right past his defenses. The coin goes right through his left shoulder, causing a sudden surge of pain in the Hero. "Ahhh!" The man grabs at the pained area, stumbling back.

"Your invasion was inevitable. The destruction you'd bring was inevitable. We saw it! We all saw it. But not this time! This time, things will be different!" L'Arc answers Giganpor. Fireballs impact on his position, some of them giving him the momentum to further run towards the docks themselves. Towards the ship that is being built further down. The one with a metalic sheen to its rear region!

The one with the metal pipes sticking out from the top.

Rain of ice slows him down however. Impacting on the ground and weakening L'Arc's momentum, forcing him to dodge down an alley to get to the same place. However, Kauchemar being the fastest of the bunch, manages to cut him off. "Keep him there!" She hears from Bercouli Rulid, as he rushes in towards the back of L'Arc! The man turns, confused for a moment. And that's when Kauchemar gets him in the back! Cutters of ice and water ripping into his back and sending him to the ground for a moment, tumbling, only to get up and bring both sickles up in an X formation to block Bercouli's blade as it comes down!

"Geez, old man..." Huff. "You sure you're not a Hero?"

"I'm just an old man looking out for his people." Bercouli answers him, his blade rattling between L'Arc's - only for him to jump back as Proteus' light bears down on him. A shout of anguish coming from L'Arc during the attack! Toasting him a bit with holy power. He turns, and is about to move, when Baroness suddenly catches him in the chest. He grabs at her hand, twisting it in the middle of her attack - bringing his Scythe to her neck with the other, trying to CUT as his health drains from the shock of her blow!

And then, he's in the harbor. Not as close to the ship as he'd liked to be, but he takes a moment to marvel. "So, this is it... what we came here for."

He then looks up...

As lightning comes down! It veers towards the houses. The people. This intense shattering of sound. Each rocketing zap illuminates in a line down from the skies, right before the golden-yellow lightning follows it. Yet, for all of its power, something is lowering its power. Merek's massive light shield covering the town for a moment, as Schneider's dark curse races for the clouds, weakening the attack at the same time. Thanks to them, only part of the attack starts coming through! Yet, lightning still hits!

Hitting Landers trying to run. Hitting houses, which begin to burn. Jazuhanzu manages to save quite a few of the Landers luckily. But the lightning doesn't seem choosey. It comes down upon all. That includes the Adventurers!

    And that's when it's seen. Merek will look upon that Lord of Vermillion while it comes upon the Landers. Killing them, striking them down. Like they were all toys. This is too much for the man. There are limits, even their worst enemies only wanted to take over, to kill Adventurers. This, this is just pure enjoyment of doing things like this. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" The man doesn't care that his relic was complimented, he doesn't care about anything at the moment. All he cares about is killing Kyo. The man charges with his greatsword and begins to sweep into him. The man swings with every power he has. Giving it his all. He doesn't care if he takes a strike anymore, he can't let this continue, if this costs all of him. Back in his mind, he remembers that moment he learned his fiance' was murdered. People, who would do anything like that. The man is beyond his limit. "KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The man sees that Wake arrived, he doesn't register that friend of his is there. He swings along a fist with the weapon.

There is some measure of surprise that shows on Mikage's features when the strange man is able to identify her weapon quite so easily. Then again, there were those with remarkable appraisal abilities, so it is not beyond the scope of what one might expect. "Some of us are pretty clever, when given the chance."

She doesn't confirm the identity of the blue stone seated within her Elemental Machine bow, but the slight tightening around her eyes suggests that he may very well be right on the mark. "Whomever it used to belong to, it's mine now. So don't plan on getting it back easily."

Miki gives a nod to Amalthea, knowing that the Scale Tank is quite capable in a fight. Even if she might not be able to completely distract the Lord of Dawn, they can, at least, fight it together.

She presses her hand onto the bow, allowing it to fold down onto itself and then tucks it against her back, shifting the stone to the hilt of her sword, instead. Keeping it protected under her hand means that it is that much harder for anyone to reach it.

The ranger looks up briefly, seeing the lightning coming down, and then quickly moves out of the way, ducking alongside Rama under a building which takes most of the damage. Then, once the worst of the danger passes, she stands, swiping her sword three times in the air. Where the blade cut, swirling discs of storm energy form, which she then extends an open palm, sending them towards the Lord of Dawn.

Unfortunately, even the best of the best mess up at times, and Kotono is one of those Spriggans... or people if you want... but anyway.

Kotono doesn't quite avoid being caught this time, and she ends up taking a hit. "Unngh... what was I thinking?" She asks as she recovers herself and shakes her head. "Can't stop now, I gotta keep going."

Drawing her blades, Kotono goes after Kyo again with a determined look. "Nothing is gonna keep me down!"

Schneider ducks as his magic shield fails, shattering with little sparks of magic, and he recasts it with added power, "DAMEDO! Magic shield!" And not a moment too soon, as the lightning crackles, striking it dead on, but stopping. He attempts to look smug about it, but there's an undertone of 'Whew!'

He turns back to L'ARC and casts again, reaching out with raw fire, like a jet of liquid gasoline at 2000 degrees. He plays the stream of fire across the target as it etches away at his HP bar, laughing with a kind of dark chuckle.

    Spotting sickle-guy making a run for the shipyards, Miyako gives up on her spellcasting to pursue. "Oi, idiot! Stand still so I can beat some sense into you!" She gives her blade a swing, but misses the first attempt. Still, she keeps up the chase.

    "What the hell is this precious damn prophecy of yours? Don't you get it? YOU are the ones who've made it 'inevitable' by coming here in the first place! If you hadn't we'd never have even known you were there!" She keeps up swinging, trying to steer him away from the shipyard if she can.

    Sasori Kuro was hoping that the non-stop attacks would disrupt what was coming. Unfortunately it didn't. As the magic rains down, striking down so many, she doesn't pay enough attention and attempts to shield not just herself, but also as many landers as she can. She cuts through the ground with a slash of her flaming katana and opens up a rend in the earth that is far longer than it should be. Flames fire out of it and attempt to absorb the vermillion that is coming down but it's to little, to late. It even fails to protect herself.

    Sasori staggers but the salamander doesn't give when she should. She refuses to back down in the face of all this death and destruction, "If you're a Lander, then good, when we kill you, you won't be able to kill /anyone/ else." She hisses angrily through a haze of pain, her health bar flashing dangerously and she brings up her left hand, gesturing a prayer of sorts, but it's an invocation to the sea, "Vortex take my foe, whirl, blind, bind, crush." But her aim is off, staggering a bit in exhaustion she doesn't manage to hit the mage, the sphere of water that is forming is easily broken and dispelled by the more powerful mage.

    As much as the Baroness despises the one holding the scythe, there's a worse bastard about, and she's eager to slay him. First, though.. she sees lightning about to strike Proteus.

    Raising a blade a fist a shield, Wake takes the blast full-on. The explosion of it actually sends her flying forward and she lands in-stride, racing in a blur towards Kyo.

    There is no battlecry, no scream, just steely death in her eyes as an elbow as hard as steel and as sharp as a blade lashes out at the enemy's guts.

Once Arashi is back on the ground, the warhorse just glares toward the enemy. This 'Lord of Dawn. Tch. What a terrible name. She'd comment further but.. really, nah. It isn't worth it. She has a point to make to the landers and so she will continue to wage her war against this invader. The last hit was certainly impactful, but she had more to do.

One step forward is taken, and then the dire-shire is off with a boom of thunder clapping in her wake. It lets her avoid anything 'Dawn' sends her way as she brings her broken blade around. She saw those vines pull back in his health, and that's her target. The surge of speed sends her wheeling around, brings her in close, and at that point she simply STABS, stabs, stabs AGAIN, then just -twists- before ripping the blade out in the most brutal way she can. All the while, she is still calling out to the landers as she was just a moment earlier.

o/` "The time will come when we all have to rise! Above the rest and prove to you, our spirits never die. We'll have to go and take our strength beyond, but don't have fear of us, because this war's the labor of our love..." o/`

Lightning comes down as Giganpor continues to chase, and ends up with a very, very badly singed armor from it all. And his health pretty low.

Then a summon circle erupts under him and another has his Nightmare appears from his shadows. Hopping aboard the horse, the transformed Were Lion charges after L'Arc.

And in answer to L'Arc's ship gawking? Giganpor tries to go right past and swing a rather large hammer-axe with the axe head first at L'Arc to get his attention again.

Dismounting as the Nightmare disappears into his shadow once more, Giganpor turns to glare at L'Arc. "We didn't even know about your world, idiot! Literally we became trapped here and the first thing that happens after one group hits that Tower that is supposed to be our way out is this mess! How does that make us a threat to yours!? How does it make you right to do so!? Kami, man, are you seriously telling us that nothing is making you come here when we haven't even looked into more than try to get back home in a lot of cases?"

Giganpor does look like he might not survive another attack, but he's trying desperately to reason with L'Arc it seems. So much so that his cloak is going to a blue color. Not gold, not green, red, but blue. A calm, reasonable color.

"All some of us want is to go home. Yet every time they try, yours comes here. Why? Why do you have to come here every time? What is causing this in the first place!?" Giganpor yells at L'Arc, holding his hammer-axe spear and buckler ready.

    There's little satisfaction to be gained from a single good blow. Amalthea knows that even though her sword struck hard and struck true, it's probably going to take a lot more than that to put down this Lord of Dawn character. And so the old Paladin readies herself for reprisal-- and she gets it when that gauntlet-clad hand snatches her by the throat.
    "Hurgh!" She grunts, one eye squinting shut as she... She *FEELS* something wrong when that light starts shifting from her body to his.
    "That 'boorish' spyglass is pretty handy." She snaps back through a choke.
    What's worse is she can feel that hand tightening around her throat, cutting off her air, making her vision blur and tunnel as the color starts to drain from the world. She holds her breath as best she can, but--
    It's Kaydon that comes to her rescue, hacking off that arm and making her drop to a knee when the hand explodes into red pixels around her throat.
    She spends a moment caughing before she picks herself up, flipping the sword in her grasp to hold it by the blade and try to batter Bondrewd with the blunt end and cover Mikage. But alas her DPS has dropped significantly while she's busy regaining her breath.
    And then there's lightning.
    Lightning everywhere.
    The best Amalthea can do is raise her cracked shield against it as it comes down.
    Hopefully she can a least act as a lightning rod in all her heavy armor to pull some of that torrential lightning off of someone else.

Lightning rips through Jazz at one point, a blast of it passing through her and slagging stone. It sends her flying and she crashes to the ground in a smouldering (but presumably still adorable) heap.

Grimacing in pain, she slowly picks herself up off the ground. Sooner or later, he luck was going to run out, and boy did it. She lost some serious hit points there. Rippling bioluminescene, violet-hued, lights up along the scaling on the edges of her face where it melds into her hairline and she quickly directs her spirits, letting them rise up above the Landers.

...to absorb what lighning they can before dissipating into clouds of inky blackness when they're struck.

...and then she's going back for more of them, heedless of the injury she's already sustained. Let the others focus on the fight, there are lives she can yet save.

For the moment, anyway.

The shield resumes its hover near Kauchemar, being animated by a Binder spirit much the same as it's sword companion. The Nightmare tilts her head a bit, listening to what L'Arc says.

And then she laughs. "Oh, that's lovely. Just lovely! And now you're so wrapped up in your bitterness that has it not occured to you that, just maybe, what you saw was wrought by your own actions? That pushing us, forcing us, to defend our world is what CAUSES the destruction you saw rather than STOP it?"

The hairs prickle up on the back of her neck abruptly, and a mental cuss follows. Kauchemar Blinks away from where she was standing, just as a blast of electricity hammers down from the sky. Unfortunately it's not far enough, and the shockwave still throws her hard into a wall before she can completely transposition away. "... Ow ..."

With a grunt the nightmare got back up, dusted herself off. Ran a hand over her mane to partially resituate it. "Now, where was I... Ah, yes. The future. What you potentially witnessed. Take it from someone that regularly stares through the dreams of night and the depths of voids. Fate has this knack for showing what needs to happen rather than needs to stop. That is to say, you can't believe everything you see."

Kauchemar's eyes flicker, turning a frigid shade as she plants one hoof forward. Summoning runes flicker around her, though she doesn't actually draw a monster into being. Rather she draws upon their essense, and the ghostly visage of the yuki-onna briefly appears around her. The image and Kauchemar move as one, opening their mouths wide and unleashing a bitter scream of wailing wind and bitter absolute cold at L'Arc to keep him entrapped amongst his attackers.

SpritesHero gives Proteus a quick nod of agreement, but nothing more than that. There's simply too much going on for his limited multi-tasking capabilities. Seeing as how he's not about to go chasing anyone at present, he redirects his attentions towards th Lord of Dawn, and rises to his feet once more atop his handy little mound of soil, fingers rapidly flickering through the air as he keys in his next spell. It's not the smartest move. In point of fact, he's a sitting duck as he just sort of stands there, gaze following Dawn's trajectory. It does let him get off his spell perfectly, as tendrils of darkness spring upwards, gathering in a layer of corruption that begins to spread over its target. It also leaves him completely open (and ignorant, really) of the yellow bolt of lightning that streaks through the air in his direction. Which Amalthea niftily intercepts. He blinks, once, twice, clearing the clap of thunder out of his ears. "Thanks, boss," he comments with a grin once his daze wears off. "I take back all that crap I've ever given you about being around for me to hide behind."

    Yuuki is satisfied as she managed to disrupt L'Arc's guard, giving Giganpor an opening. Though it seems like L'Arc is more interested in something other than fighting them, as he makes his way further into the harbour. Yuuki, of course, gives chase! The speedy Imp rushes after him, calling out, "Hey! We were in the middle of something!"

    As Yuuki follows L'Arc into sight of a Certain ship, Yuuki realises what L'Arc is doing here. It seems pretty obvious, in retrospect. Olympus has news toys. Of course other people want them too!

    "Oh no, you're not-" Yuuki cuts herself off though as the sky quickly lights up. As the air feels electrified, Yuuki is fairly certain about what's coming. It wouldn't be the first time she's seem something like it. She glances around, before altering her run towards a pile of debris.

    Just as the lightning blasts downwards, Yuuki drops to the ground and skids into a small hole under the debris. The lightning strikes, exploding the pile into a cloud of dust and debris!

    A few seconds later, Yuuki comes walking out of the dust, coughing it up a bit. She's looking pretty dirty, but no signs of glowing red signifying a direct hit. The Imp squints, trying to pick up on the sight of L'Arc again... She spots him. But he has a good lead on her.

    Time to close it!

    The dust in the air around Yuuki begins to swirl as a dark wind forms around her, engulfing her. Yuuki leans forward and then is off in a blast! Her Sword Arte briefly pushes her speed much higher than normal, allowing her to rush straight for L'Arc and around in front of him, "And just where do you think you're going!?" She quickly unleashes a rapid combo of strikes to try and force him back.

    Rizadoman's scimitar rips through the cover of Kyo's book and the lizardman glares at the immortal object signs, " I see , your book appears to be a bit special to you. Why not put it away and fight properly before it becomes more damaged. " Then as if Kyo was answering his comment, lightning begins to rain down. "Ancestors of fallen Nagas please protect me. " A glow of energy surrounds his body but it is not enough as he is still sent back feeling the electricity, "That certainly leaves a bit of a copper taste in the mouth." Rizadoman crouches and begins to charge straight at Kyo appearing to perhaps be going for a shoulder charge, before the Lizardman leaps in the air and breathes fire upon the bookworm.

Now Kaydon does trust Amalthea to be able to handle herself. Sure they may not see eye to eye on everything when it comes to the tower, but ultimately they're still on the same side.

Which is why Kaydon comes out of nowhere and slashes the Lord of Dawn's arm clean off.

And then immediately pays for it as he's kicked in the gut and sent flying. He crashes through the cart he had jumped off of, and tumbles end over end before finally coming to a stop.

He takes a moment to huff into the dirt he's laying in. That hurt more than he's used to, even through all his armor and defense stats. But he's not down and out yet, so soon he's back on his feet. This time he rushes in again, no fancy moves or leaping off of things. Instead he focuses on going after Lord of Dawn's tail.

Everyone knows you get bonus damage if you cut off the tail!

The others quickly learn much of what Proteus has already experienced: L'Arc is a believer, and words aren't going to shake that belief. He is, however, heavily harried, and Proteus does what she can to add to that. The sheer volume of fire directed towards the man must be withering at this point. He is, however, trying to accomplish something. They're here for the boat? What could they want the boat for?

"What do Invaders want with a ship?" Proteus wonders aloud, but there's enough of that. With a flick of a hand, she raises it, preparing something... Only for the massive power of Lord of Vermillion to crash down on her. With a scream, Proteus hurls herself down, tumbling, to try to get out of the way, but it takes Baroness Wake intervening to save her. Another person needing to make up for her failure. Another person getting hurt because she isn't strong enough. Bitterness and copper fill Proteus' mouth as she grimaces. She's going to need to make up for that. With her hand, she rises and points at Sickle. "You're not going anywhere." Her hands trace a pattern:

                                   ( ! J                                    

The Ability activates, and dark locking-rings clamp down on L'Arc, trying to keep him from acting until he can break free of the debilitating interference.

Miho says "... I was about to say you are one too."

Yet hearing him say that helps to dispel some of the notions Landers were not people. Why? Because no AI in her mind could even convices to say something like that or hold people like that. She can't worry about that right now. She's hit him good but not enough to break his focus along with everyone else. Her eyes go wide at that spell that's being called out.

"Oh ... F...."

She doesn't get a chance to finish. She attempts to trigger a new ability she unlocked but it's not enough. Not even that can save her from what comes she's looking pretty beat up now and she takes a deep breath. She will draw her bow rather than racing back in on Kyo.

"BURST SHOT!"

She lets the arrow fly in reply before she gets on the move again.

Jazz is... angry.

Still smouldering from the lightning impact and glowing with her inner bioluminescene, she's looking around for any other people she can get out from the area. She doesn't see any.. which means she either did a good job, or not a good enough job. She won't know for a while. Her face screws up into of anger, though it doesn't really help that even at her most angry and frustrated, she's still ... recognizably her. Which means she's cute.

... and the adorable Sea-Witch pushes back into the fray, sees the others engaged in their struggle. She launches herself forward, skipping over broken cobblestone with gusts of wind carrying her just a little further, just a little faster, before she skids to a halt near Mikage to help engage.

"Dawn, huh? Let's see how much shade I need to throw at you."

More spirits rise from the ground. vomited out by portals to what appears to be watery, swirling abyss. They drag themselves out, grabbing on with chains and hooks, their bloated, phantasmal bodies acting as if they'd like to drag the Dawn down back down into those depths with them. Not that the could, right?

Kyo looks at Merek. Well... he looks towards the person that is Merek. He doesn't really look him in the eyes. The individual grabs his book and quickly uses it to protect himself! Strike after strike rams into Kyo, and Merek gets these satisfying pushes against him. He can see the man's legs burning red with damage, taking impact damage each time! "Can you not shout? I am right--- huff--- here!" Kyo grunts. "It's really..." He rushes up, and then suddenly raises his right hand, creating a black SPEAR of magic!

This intense sense of danger suddenly wells up within Merek. That feeling of the Law of Alba being broken, something Merek isn't used to feeling, wells up as green light powers within that spear... and just before it can come forward, there's a whip that grabs hold of that arm.

Behind Kyo, another person has arrived. A man, armored in black, stepping forward. The whip coming from him. "You are not supposed to be here." There is this instant recognition of all that are around this appearance.

The Bandit King.

"You are the one who isn't supposed to be here! What are you doing, interfering like this!?" Kyo Ethnina demands to know.

"I will protect these people from a power like that. If you wish for me not to interfere..."

Kyo grunts, and the green light fades from his attack. "Fine." He then stares back at Merek, as the green light disappears around that arcane spear, which then blasts into the ground, creating a plume of dust before him! Kotono jumps through that plume, her blade tearing across Kyo's cheek. "OW! Damnit!" Kyo quickly slams the book with both hands against the side of her face to try and get her off of him.

He then brings his hand up, a quick sigil appearing, and chains grab hold of Rizadoman mid-leap. "Hah, take that you overgrown liz~AHHH!" Fire rains down on him from Rizadoman's breath! "Damnit L'Arc!" He grunts, before motioning his hand out at the Bandit King... who remains unmoving. His whip released. Letting the Adventurers fight.

"And fuck you too Y~" GLUP! Kyo is caught within the water-sphere of Sasori's. Drowning him and making him grab for his throat. His cheeks bulge as his health begins to wake, before he finally manages to create a quick heat-spell that punctures the membrane of the water and rips it apart! "You bastard, w~" STAB.

The blade of Baroness Wake.... that hand... rips into his stomach. He stares at her in confusion, making eyecontact for just a moment before he quickly looks away in a way that suggests he really can't stand making eye-contact. "ARR... FUCK! That hurts!" He pushes her away and sends a quick rain of fire after her, blasting her position! The flames getting pierced through by Miho's shot, which rips into his chest and out the other side, causing Kyo to fall to his knees.

"Fuck this. Fuck L'Arc. I'm out!" He then declares. "I'll see you back at Orth, Bondrewd!" As he shatters a mirror he's holding, which immediately causes the man to be enveloped in light and taken away!

Back at the harbor, L'Arc continues to get lit up! Proteus using her shackles ensure that L'Arc can't so easily move and get to the ship he is clearly trying to sabotage. By means of royal use of Scythe. He's locked in place, unable to move his feet. But he manages to keep his hands free! Schneider's flames blast at his position, and he quickly begins to rotate his scythe, creating an air shield that pushes out the flames coming his way!

Miyako swings at his side at that moment, ducking into his blindspot thanks to the fire. Her blade hits him right to the hip, punching him down to the ground, and awkwardly slamming his head against a stone pillar! Only for Giganpor's hammer-axe to come out the other side, launching him further along! L'Arc bites the scythes down to the ground to stop his momentum and get his bearings! For a moment, L'arc is stuck however. Forced to listen to Giganpor. Staring at those lights.

"You are causing this, of course! Each time you climb, we get another chance! We will not let you get to us! We will not let you win! You just /think/ that you would never have learned about us. But we know better! You are merely seeing the future from a point of ignorance! Bro, we don't hate you or anything. But this has to be done. For the survival of my friends. My family! My people! This is the only way."

He's clearly heard everything they are saying before. Not just from Giganpor, or Kauchemar. It's as Proteus said. He already knows all of this. His mind won't change. He believes in the future he'd been shown. And even if he didn't, he's clearly too invested to stop now. "Not everyone is like you." He simply answers Kauchemar. "Not everyone is a Hero." Right before he's deafened by the violent screetch of the banshee-like Nightmare! The cold aiming to freeze him.

Like this, Yuuki catches L'Arc with ease. Her blade comes up as he's in the midst of covering his ears. He tries to scramble for his blades, to block Yuuki's attack, only for her attack to shatter his scythes and cut through him, launching him back towards the waters!

"Fair." The Lord of Dawn answers Mikage. "I suppose after this long, I have lost the right of its ownership. But I believe your kind understands the Right of Might. So I will simply take it from you by force, before you find the Other Three and ruined everything I worked on." He demands of Mikage.

His head moves as she moves the gem from one weapon to the other. "Hmmm... an inefficient use." As he is forced to avoid the lightning just as much as the rest of the people within town. Violent bursts of it shattering the ground nearby. The three leaps of water cutting at him. He punches down the first, kicks away the second. But as he tries to slap away the third with his tail, it cuts through the tip! Causing the man severe pain! "Arrgh!"

Arashi then comes in, cutting at his body with sharp puncturing blows! Those black vines quickly creeping out to help heal him, but Arashi cuts at those too, slowing the speed at which the man can heal! Pushing him back step after step, before he finally manages to raise his knee so fast, Arashi has no chance to avoid it. It goes right into her stomach, taking away her breath, and his both hands come together like a fist, as he slams her down into the ground with enough force that she /bounces/ off of it. His foot then comes down, trying to crush her head!

At the end of his stomp, he stares at Amalthea, but she's held back by the lightning that is still finishing coming down. This gives him a chance to move towards Mikage once again! He jumps, only to get grabbed hold of by SpritesHero's spell. The black tendrils grabbing his body, slowing him as they tangle his arms and legs for just long enough that Mikage can get out of his grabbing hands' way!

Jazuhanzu's spirits, which come flowing en-masse, are weak singularly. But in this quantity, they gab him, aiding SpritesHero's spell. Grabbing, holding him down. His body shakes, as some of them even grab onto his tail. Clawing, grabbing him. But in the end, their strength is nothing compared to this being's, as he slams two of them together, headbutts a third into oblivion, and stomps the earth enough to make spikes come up that finish the others!

Hearing Kyo's comment however, Bondrewd pauses for a moment, pondering this situation. Then... he throws his hand to the ground. There's this fierce rumble all of the sudden. And that sense of the Law of Alba begins to grow. The green pulse lunges out throughout the entire zone! It ripples across the Landers, seemingly doing nothing. It ripples out towards where Kyo was - with the Bandit King throwing his hand aside to break the 'wave' from passing over his position.

It passes of L'Arc. It passes over the Adventurers. And all of them suddenly get an icon on their status window that, most of them have likely never seen before.

<< WARNING: COSMOSPHERE EXPOSED! >>

He then rises back up, and that purple helmet glows.

"Let me see what we have here." He declares, as his head sweeps. "Goggles..." Arashi. "Sigil..." Kaydon. "Spyglass again..." Jazuhanzu. But then... SpritesHero. "Ah... of course. One of my creations." Followed by him suddenly rushing right for SpritesHero, trying to grab at his chest to take the Relic from him - whether it's exposed or not.

Those who try to intercept are left having to deal with fierce kicks to the sternum, tail swipes, and other fierce attacks while the Zombies generated by Kyo earlier lose their controller, and begin to spread out. Attacking those at the gates. Getting onto their shoulders, trying to bite. Trying to scratch. Like wild animals, instead of the organized zoning near the buildings earlier.

While L'Arc jumps out of the water and begins to wind up his scythe, spinning and sending out air-cutters in every direction, necesitating the use of shields to prevent him from damaging the ship that's being worked on!

Fortunately, Kotono's gotten back on her game again and she's moving quickly to avoid being caught. At the same time, she's also shifting her focus to L'Arc, since she believes every enemy should get an equal chance to experience her skills. "All right, I think I can do this!"

Twirling her blades and giving a wink, Kotono dashes in quickly and attempts to display the shining of her blades up close and personal!

"You can try, but you're going to fail." Sure, Mikage has no real knowledge or experience to back that up, but the blue stone had been with her from even before the Apocalypse. She and her former guild had found it, high in the mountains, in the same area where she had also found Rama. It is just as much a part of her life here as her feline companion.

Gritting her teeth, she seems to rise to the challenge, "Don't let him get anything of yours." She warns the others. While the strange man had thought her shift of the relic between weapons might be inefficient, it is enough to allow her to a moment's reprieve, focusing on her defenses as more attacks come her way.

Then, the blade is stabbed into the ground, but the relic stone is missing. She's quick enough to transfer it back in her hand, almost as if it were being moved by magic, thrust back into the bow as it extends.

"We're stronger than you give any of us credit for." She warns, then seems to growl deep in her chest, channeling storm magic which wells up along the entire length of the bow, lighting the Elemental Machine parts with that same glow of magic. Then, she fires it towards Lord of Dawn, the impact bringing with it the raw force of a typhoon, wind and water smashing together.

Standing in the way, Giganpor's shield comes up and he quickly freezes over. And becoming a frozen wall to block the air sickles from getting to him.

Getting an idea, the Were Lion suddenly has a glowing green hammer-axe. "If it has to be that way, then carry this back to your world!"

Spinning the large weapon in hand, he slams the hammer end into some spare metal. A large piece that was probably going to be a part of a ship. Then he sweeps axe head along it, causing the entire piece of metal to look shredded, "We're coming for you! RIDDLE OF STEEL!"

Said metal projectile splits in the air, becoming a lot of metal shrapnel going for L'Arc.

    Sassori launches herself into the air, a burst of sound thumps as she empowers her flight with sonic speed, accelerating up high once she's noticed that Kyo is gone, "Ok, what the /hell/ does /that/ mean?" She asks, "Guess it doesn't matter, we have to end this, now before more people die." Even as she is still leaping through the air, up high, powered by the magic that made it so she didn't get taken out with her hit points flashing so dangerously red as they are she draws her sword back to her hip, brings it up and then cuts a glowing sigil of flame in the air when she is at the apex of her leap.

    Before she starts to fall, Sasori presses her palm to the center of the sigil and announces, "Fireball." The tiny salamander launches forth a tiny, almost negligibly small fleck of fire. It's easy to miss. Maybe Dawn does miss it. Maybe he ignores it. Either way when it hits it explodes in a flash of furious crimson heat enveloping Dawn in what is akin to a pressure cooker of flame before it explodes in a flash and is done. Spent.

    Sasori Kuro arcs down to the ground, hands back on the grip of her katana as she starts to rush forwards and close the gap. "We must not let them escape to do this again."

"...well.... damn. And I thought it was a good line," says Jazz. She's not exactly surprised as her spirits are destroyed. They're not all that strong, but the hope was that they could slow him down well enough for some harm to be delivered, and by that metric, it was a success. Just not enough of one. A tail swipe is followed by a kick that lands with a sickening crunch on the Undine and she's sent hurtling back into the wall, leaving a distinctly Jazuhanzu shaped imprint in it as she falls forward and drops to a knee afterwards. She spits out some blood, a hand grabbing at her chest and stomach. That definitely didn't feel good.

"Cosmosphere?" she rasps. "...where the hell is Estelle when we need her? To the moon with her." A few more coughs as she pushes herself to her feet, her amber gaze focused directly on the Dawn.
$r She observes, she waits for her opportunity, and then hurls the ball of ice she managed to form directly at him, one that spreads across his person. She's hoping it'll do its job: weaken his defenses. Let the others through, but she's definitely on her own last legs for now. Her tentacles have gone limp, even.

    Yuuki, with help from others, is able to send L'Arc into the water. Phew. That should keep the ship safe. Assuming he doesn't try swimming over to it and attacking from underwater...

    ...

    Oh wait, it's okay. He's just jumping back onto land again and unleashing ranged aerial cutters. Could be worse.

    A soft aura of light flares up around Yuuki. Once more she's off at running at high speed, rushing forward at an angle to L'Arc as she tries to stay ahead of his aim. His cutting strikes slip through the air behind her, not managing to find purchase.

    But if Yuuki's going to attack, she's going to have to get closer.

    Yuuki curves inward, risking the distance those slices miss by decreasing with each one. Until finally Yuuki's just a few more moments away, with one heading straight towards her.

    Yuuki drops to the ground, going into a slide once more just as the cutting wind reaches her. It rushes just over her head, cutting off a few strands of her purplish-black hair. Yuuki slides past L'Arc, her sword flashing out towards his gut to try and slice through it. Before she kicks herself back up onto her feet and spins around to skid to a stop, blade ready for his counter.

    "Being there for people to hide behind is my job as a tank and as a grandmother, think nothing of it." A smoldering Amalthea replies to SpritesHero as she finally regains her breath and composure.
    When...
    That sure is an alarming Status effect.
    Where has she heard the term 'Cosmosphere' before.
    Ah right, the good doctor mentioned it after that one time...
    Whatever it means can't be anything good as she feels the Laws of Alba getting broken over a knee.
    The best she can do is try not to die as her health drops precipitously while she does some meager DPS by wailing at the Lord of Dawn with the blunt end of her sword.

    Rizadoman is grabbed by the chains but the flames hit Kyo anyway and he lets out a laugh but then he realizes what Kyo is about to do. Struggling with the chains he can't get free or to his pin, and only manages to get to the spot Kyo was by the time he broke a mirror and disappeared. There is confusion all over the lizard man's face and then a giant wave of energy and then zombies. It's always zombies. As he gets free of the zombies he makes his way to the epicenter of the green energy. The lord of dawn, and begins to chant, " Fallen Naga ancestors, I breath life back into your bones. Strike and take the one who threatens us down." Out of the ground two summoned lizardman skeletons rise up and charge the lord of dawn trying to help anyway they can.

SpritesHero looks charmingly confused. As much of an honor as it is to be singled out, he can't quite fathom -why-, and talk of 'creations' has him all kinds of mystified. "My da's gone, though," he objects, queuing up his Sonic Acceleration....just a second too late. He rockets backwards, but not before Dawn's grabby hands manage to lose his fancy scarf. Which he was in no way actually wearing. As a fashion statement, it's a bit too...well, shiny. It does not suit his theme. And so, he'd stuffed it down behind his breastplate, though a tassled end managed to come loose at some point during the battle and was peeking out the bottom. And yet, the scarf is still his, and he's not about to let anybody run off with it regardles of how shiny it is. "Hey!" He's clipped by...something, he's not sure what, and lands hard with a single roll. Leveraging himself up on one arm, he slams his free hand into the ground in frustration, sending wickedly sharp, thorned vines boiling out of the earth, grasping at Dawn's legs and biting down.

With one of the targets down and out, it leaves the other two exposed. Which in Kaydon's mind is perfect, as he's able to lunge at the armored man. This time he's not bringing his sword to bear though. No. Kaydon has a new plan.

He has his sledgehammer out, and he's focusing his Relic through it, making the head of the hammer glow with the fire of his forge. He brings the weapon down onto the Lord of Dawn's armor, with the intent being to weaken it and open up areas for the others that are attacking to bring him down for good.

Or at least as good as these guys get. They always run.

    So much happens so fast that the Baroness can only react, not really process. She is delighted to bring pain to her enemy, and though she moves as swiftly as she can, she takes a good dose of damage in return, nearly knocking her flat. She catches herself with a single hand and rolls into low crouch.
    Wake rises with narrowed yes, watching her enemy vanish before she can prevent it. Considering her condition, it's likely a blessing the fight has ended, though. She looks down and pats out a bit of a smoldering that was threatening to ignite her hair.

    She turns to face the Bandit King and slides into a curtsey, "Your timing is impeccable." She winces as notices just how damaged she is. "And greatly appreciated."

    Picking herself up from the wreckage of the building she's been thrown into, Miyako stumbles forward, closing on L'Arc again. "Stop being such an asshole!" she calls at him. Then she freezes in place as a red warning comes up on her status.

    "..." She blinks and stares at it. "Cosmosphere? What the blink?" She shakes her head. "Okay, that's weird." She gives her naginata a spin, then runs at L'Arc again, dodging to one side as she closes to twist around and slam the weapon's point at his chest.

    "Fine. Just DIE!"

"That is about the response I expected," Kauchemar admits, after wiping some frost from her snout with the back of her arm. It didn't take her long to pick up on the fact that L'Arc was too set on the course he chose to believe in, regardless of what any of them tried to say. Not that it ever stops her from saying anything. L'Arc takes a pummeling, but it's not quite reached the point to put him out of the fight as he takes to the water. "... Oh, you brave, bold but foolish boy."

The Nightmare takes off, charging to the edge of the harbor and leaping over herself. But not into the water. As her hooves touch the surface it ripples under her elemental command, and without missing a beat of her stride she charges across the water at the very gallop her technique is named for. "But now you decided to play on my surf and turf!" Kauchemar is already gathering as much of her Dark forces as she can as she closes in. After all the time and work they put into those ships and steam power he's not going to be left to run rampant across them!... And if they want to ruin the ships, then they must be important to something else. That's a string of fate to untangle later though. Right now, L'Arc needs to be cast down properly.

"o/~ My haunting voice, you shall hear... As shadows coil a binding shell.
Even fallen can still fear... as I cast them back to Hell
Shatter bone like hammer and spear...o/~"

Kauchemar lunges off the water at L'Arc, unphased by the cutters zinging extremely close to her as her momentum carries her forward. "o/~ Crushing darkness......" Violent violet and black energies swirl in her hands, that Kauchemar directs at L'Arc to engulf and drag down from his bombardment of the ships. "NIGHTMARE SPHERE!"

    Merek looks then to Kyo when he will manage to escape. That does not make the man happy, while he takes the time to look along to where everyone seems to be taken in with that green light. The man walks along to the Bandit King while he takes a moment, then he seems to consider what it was that he noticed, "I... Don't know what that was, what are they doing?" he asks. The man lifts up the weapon with him while he nods a bit, "Cosmosphere?" he asks. The man has used up just about all of his mana. "I... Wasn't able to even win. All of the people... I wasn't able to protect any, I tried."

Well. It seems like Arashi struck a nerve. The pained call from the Lord of Dawn gets the warhorse to smile a sinister smile before she regrets it just a few moments later. There's no dodging so close, resulting in a violent knee, a drum punch from above that slams her off the pavement, and then the foot that tries to put an end to it. ... Not if she can help it. The dire-shire twists hard, getting her blade in the way. The way she swings it to block the blow puts her -just- out of harms way. Her message -will- be heard.

o/` "So, here we are! Don't turn away now, We are the warriors that'll save all towns!" o/`

She ends up on her back, the foot just to the side of her head, but that's when her body gives off a dark, violet shimmer before melting away into the shadows around them both. Her voice is still there, distorted, heard probably everywhere but from no clear direction..

o/` "Here we are, don't turn on us now, we are the warriors that'll save this town!" o/`

The last word is heard from above. Both weapons are out, wide, and the comes screaming down, spinning all the way, blades tinted violet from using Edge of Shadow. Hit or miss, she'd pass by Dawn, landing the other side, before just sheathing both weapons. She didn't feel the bite of her blades, but she knows one thing. She has allies here. She trusts them, despite being a solo player most of the time, to finish the job. She just stares back at Dawn, speaking the last words of her message.

From. Dust.
<<https://youtu.be/o3W5ngVTtRE>>

Proteus doesn't bother trying to keep reaching L'Arc. Any argument she might have made had been made by the others, and perhaps more pointedly. He refuses them all. He's a true believer. He lives like a believer.

And so he will die like a believer. The air cutters scythe out, and this time Proteus is ready as she closes in. ^ S O

The Aero spell activates, swirling around her to take the incoming air strike and dissipating it around her. She swings a hand out. "I've chosen the proper solution for the likes of you, L'Arc Sickle. One ill turn begets another. Perhaps it's poor of me to be vindictive... but at the same time..."

Her hand snaps a gleaming gem of white into the bow, and there is a surge of elemental energy. "Initiate the first alignment..." The input window opens, and gesture-runes appear:

                                  + ) ! .                                  

"Maybe you can forgive me for indulging myself a little bit in the circumstances. Now... cast open the gate of light! BANISH!" The bow rises, and the gem discharges, augmenting the attack with a surge of blazing Light elemental energy. The assembly next to the nock snaps open, revealing an Elemental Machine focusing lens, and... the beam lances high into the air, twisting in a helical blaze before curving down, shattering into dozens of multicolored beams that rain down upon L'Arc's position. "Go home, Scythe Hero."

Kotono comes crashing down while the Scythe Hero is still in the air. Her blades shine down his body, carving red marks before his sickles come around and he manages to push off of her, using her as a jumping stool to remain in the air longer to keep up his attack!

Giganpor's bladed attack then gets in from underneath him. Carving up into L'Arc like a shotgun blast aimed at his feet. Red marks ripping through his body, causing severe agony to the man! "Arrg!" He calls out, grimacing. Trying to keep his defenses up. But he's brought down towards the ground as Kauchemar's Nightmare Sphere begins to push down on him. Unable to cut through the magic, he has no choice by to go down to avoid further damage... Just enough for Yuuki to reach him!

His pole comes down, stabbing into the ground, still partially damaged from the earlier attack on him. The scythe glowing white, trying to reform. But Yuuki cuts through it and catches him in the chest, causing him to land onto the docks entirely.

A naginata then stabs through his chest, causing the man to drop his weapons and instead reach into his vest, grabbing a small mirror, staring up at Miyako with an angry gaze. "This is why we must stop you before it is too late. You are too powerful. If we let you grow..." He coughs up glowing red. "It will be too late."

Followed by a loud "Arrrrgh!" As the multicolored lensing of light comes down upon his body. Proteus' demanding him to be banished. L'Arc doesn't even get the chance to break the mirror for himself. Proteus does that work for him. The light tearing it apart, activating it. The tell-tale signs of a Chaos Gate recall lighting up, and returning L'Arc to his home. His world.

Back in the main plaza, a pulse of nature's strongest magic blasts through the street. The impact slams into the helmet of the Lord of Dawn, shattering part of it and biting away, showing the green and calm eye of what appears to simply be a human. Staring back at her with this... almost caring look. But there's something /wrong/ about that look. Something like a 'god' who thinks he is looking out for his children, but also thinks they are nothing more than toys. The fierce gale continues to blast over his body, halting him from truly getting what he desires from SpritesHero, more of his armor slowly peeling off, until he's finally lifted off of the ground and flung back!

Only to be flung back again as that mote of fire left behind by Sasori suddenly expands into an engulfing flame! Feeding off of the nature's magic that Mikage had fired in that direction, it forms larger and larger, before it detonates onto Bondrewd's back and tears apart part of his tail! Ice stabs through his chest not a moment later, as black vines grab at the ice and rip it apart, freeing the man... thing?

Amalthea intercepts his attempts to heal, bringing her blade down onto his shoulder with a loud CRACK! Clearly, she just broke some bones. But in that same moment, she sees something beneath that armor. Something /warping/ his body, setting the skin back into position, though she can still hear the bones cracking each time he moves!

Zombie skeletons grab Bondrewd, only for the first to be smashed apart by his tail, and the other sinking its claws into him before it too is dispatched with incredible ease. He then kicks to Amalthea's chest - meaning he's open for SpritesHero to retaliate! Thorns vines grabbing at his leg, nailing him in place with a rough 'Ooph'.

He then turns suddenly, as if he heard Kaydon coming from behind him. His fist intercepting the hammer's blow, and causing a shockwave to expand from the severe clash between the two of them! Followed by Arashi's strike coming down, passing through him and cutting the full body of that tail off - causing it to bounce, and black mist to suddenly spread from it, before it shatters!

At the outside of town, the Bandit King merely nods to Baroness Wake, before turning his gaze towards Merek for a moment, of all people. "That, was Data Drain." The Bandit King answers the anguished man. "It is a power you too, could have. It isn't just a power that can be used to harm people like this. It can also be used to protect."

Bondrewd, panting, grabs something else. Not a mirror. It's like a shard of red. Some people will recognize it... as a Dungeon Heart piece. "I suppose without backup, this will take too long. But they were right. There are a lot of my relics out here. I will be back for them." The man remarks, before he crushes the heart, and he too suddenly is whisked away!

As the clouds begin to slowly clear. Smoke rising from broken houses around them. The sobbing of Landers around them. The cries of 'My baby!' from one corner, intermixed with the pained jubelation of some of the Lander warriors who fought this battle.

The Duke staring out over the damage that had been caused.

"This needs to stop." He grunts.

Things are not looking took good even with Kyo fleeing from the shot she place. A lot of people got torn up by Kyo's powerful magic and the other's attacks. With them going after the boat what are these people from another world is. She will turn her attention to the enemy but even then she's in bad shape very bad shape. She should run, she damn well should run, yet she does not. It's too important to run away she'll get back up. The Lord of Dawn is pretty damn powerful.

She's bad off she's closing with the Lord of the Dawn now readying the most powerful move she has access to she'll have her Katana burst into flame much like a certain magical Ginzu Sword of old.

She then launches her flaming attack at the Lord of Dawn with everything she has if they do not bring them down? She's going to get floored really quick.

"FORGE'S FURY!"

    Merek watches while the two seem to disappear, although he notes that Bondrewd uses a dungeon piece while the mirrors are used by the people from the world. He nods a bit, while he begins to sheath his weapon, then he takes a look along to the city harbor, it's... Not easy to watch. The man seems to think about it while his scarf will shift along in the wind. "You know a lot, I would be interested in power like that... To protect people."
    The man seems to think about it, "And what would people seeking that power need to even do? It..."
    The man looks to Wake from afar while he thinks about it, then up to the Wave in the sky. Well, he can't do a lot about that. All the same, he did what he could to distract that man. Perhaps, that all could've went worse, really, admittedly.

"You need but ask the right person." The Bandit King answers Merek. "I will seek you out later. I have matters to atend to right now." He points out. "But I recommend you try to learn and keep a level head, if you are ever going to protect anyone. Because if you cannot protect yourself, you are not suited to protect those around you." With that, the man turns around and walks away.

    Hitting the ground and then falling to one knee, Sasori Kuro looks up at all the devastation and she shakes her head sadly. She tries to get up, fails, tries again, but with the combat over, her health bar slowly starts to replenish itself. The flashing red stops flashing, and steadily refills.

    Finally getting to her feet when it turns yellow, Sasori walks over towards the Duke and bows deeply, respectfully, "I apologize that this place has become a battleground. I apologize that I was not able to do enough to stop all this death and destruction. I will do better. I promise." She keeps her gaze downcast and holds her bow to the Duke, "I will stay and help repair as I can, I only wish I knew healing magic to be of even more healp."

Hmph. He left. Lucky bastard. Whatever. Arashi was able to get her point across and deliver a message, even if it seems it fell upon the king's deaf ears. She'll tell it again and again if she needs to. After a quick message is sent to Kaydon, the dire-shire checks her status, grins at the mostly-green bar, and starts to make her way out. She's a fighter, not a fixer. And again, that's the trust she has of her fellow adventurers. ... It is also a long way home.

SpritesHero slowly climbs to his feet, dusting himself off and shrugging away the stiffness in his limbs. Planting his hands on his waist, he surveys the scene around him, dark eyes flickering here and there, never lingering overlong on any one piece of debris or person. His lips purse, tighten, curl into a grimace, and then he's off into the fields. No apologies from him, it would seem.

It's a good thing that the pain-factor is reduced or Jazz wouldn't be able to walk.

She'd agree with the Duke, but in truth, she just needs a minute. Just a minute. The call of the Landers who yet need help soon drives her back to her feet. She'll endure. She has to.

She gets right back to it, seeking out those seperated from their loved ones and trying to help them, first and foremost, to say nothing of searching for survivors.

    Miyako sighs, softly, as she sees L'Arc vanish in the characteristic teleport. "Damn fool. If he'd just /listen/..." She shakes her head, and tosses her naginata back into inventory. "Maybe the fisher-girl will listen, or /somebody/..."

    She turns about, looking over the town, taking in the destruction wrought. "Fools," she repeats to herself, and then begins pacing through the rubble, listening carefully for signs of anyone alive but trapped, looking for anyone in need of aid.

    As the day goes on, she shifts piles of rubble, passes out healing potions to the wounded, and does the best she can for as many as possible.

    Wake spends no more time speaking with the Bandit King. She hears the cries of the people. Her people. Somewhere in the mix of screams of pain and fear, old memories are brought to the surface and she's recalling faces from another world. Families shattered, lives ended, and love lost. Not so different, here or there.

    Fortunately, all that pain doesn't distract her. With a soft touch and a clearly worded instruction, she starts playing her role. Buildings must be evacuated and others must be prepared. She knows that all the people she can spare are already racing to this place. Castle Eas will be working with a skeleton crew until this city is restored.

    Hurt or not, the Baroness has no intention of resting until exhaustion casts her down. Whether it be directing search efforts, coordinating the distribution of rations and clean water, or simply holding a mother whose child never got a chance to grow up, she sees to it all as long as she can and turns no one away.

"It is not your fault." The Duke answers Sasori Kuro. "I am well aware that not all Adventurers are the same. Many of you came here to protect my people, at great cost to yourselves. But there are others of you who are causing this harm." He leans on the large blade, stabbing the tip to the ground. "Either way, your help will be more than welcomed." He notes. "Excuse me." The blade gets pulled back out. "I need to start organizing the repairs to my city and burials." And with that, Bercouli Rulid steps away.

"And you can let the quasi-dimensional door knob hit you on the way out!" Kauchemar quips while watching Proteus fling the Scythe Hero back to his own world with a vengence. "I mean, seriously. Conviction is good, but when you let it tunnel your vision, it's as much a weakness."

She trots up, giving the Imp a pat on the shoulder and a smirk. "Nothing wrong with a little vendetta~"

There's just going to be a lot of work cleaning up. Oh well. All the more oppritunity to sniggle their way into the Dukedom's good graces as well. Such is the Plant Duck way.

The last Hero is captivity. The Server is at peace.

No, wait, wrong script. The enemies have been driven off, but Proteus stares at the space that L'Arc occupied. She frowns, looking dissatisfied as the emptied gem shatters off of the bow, and she turns, unhooking the bow and collapsing it down, folding it this way and that, releasing latches, and reconfiguring until it has been restored to its box form. With a flick of her hand, the box vanishes back into her inventory. She is quiet, until Kauchemar catches back up with her. "That didn't feel nearly as good as I hoped it would." She says, her tone quiet as she stares into the distance. "... Come on, Kauchemar. Let's help get this cleaned up." She says. "I... need to keep my hands busy." She says, as she looks down at the gloves she's wearing, her hands closing and opening again. "..."

Kotono shakes her head. "People need to learn to listen! It's just not right!" She shakes her head before following Miyako in her quest to help those in need of aid. "Fools indeed." This is unusual considering Kotono usually doesn't like to use insulting language.

    Rizadoman watches the Lord of Dawn run as well, but it wasn't a mirror. Taking a moment he approaches the spot where Kyo disappeared and begins to look around for a moment as if trying to find signs of something or another. Finally he sits for a moment and looks at the destruction around them. There were a few things to take in to account and a few things to prioritize. For now he gets to his feet and begins to help triage the mess in front of him. Starting with search for trapped survivors.