Climb: The Floor 8 Boss

Adventurers pass through the eight floor with very little resistance. The Gnomes telling them of the Tower that has had its doors remain closed.

What lies waiting for them within the climb to the 9th floor?

Liminality
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

A quiet floor. So few monsters bother the Gnomes that live here, and the town itself seems welcoming and warm to the Adventurers that come back. It's a remarkable thing. A population that, unlike the human one on the fourth floor, has not forgotten what other races are. Even if they have not seen them in... who knows how long?

As the team approaches the tower gates, they are closed, similar to the ones of the earlier floors were. It's almost like they are on the first floor again, stepping out of Tolbana, preparing for their first floor boss once more. They know nothing about this floor boss. Gilgamesh had not memorized it, it'd seemed.

Yet, as they get close to the entrance, there's... music playing. It's like the metalic strings of an instrument are being played within. And the closer they listen, the further they open the doors, the easier it becomes noticable that someone beyond is...

Singing.

The door opens further, and they step into... a lavish palace chamber, it almost seems. There's water that runs throughout the room in various square shapes, with thick and heavy walkways between. Beautiful Koi swim within the waters themselves.

Seated upon a throne, is a beautiful woman with dark black hair, and various golden accessories. She appears to be playing some kind of chess-like game with what appears to be a human in front of her. The man's blue hair is visible from behind, as is his white tunic.

"It appears you win." The man slowly remarks to the woman on the throne before him. There's sorrow in the tone of voice he uses as he slowly rises. "I will fight this battle with you, as I promised you. But I can only stay for so long."

The man then turns around, touching his right hand to his glasses and then flourishes his cape to the side, revealing what looks almost like a pillar on his arm that covers most of his left body, and then brandishes what looks like some kind of... sword... gun?

The woman behind him rises up from her massive stoney looking throne... and lifts her hand up... starting what appears to be some kind of summoning ritual. Various red glyphs appearing all throughout the chamber as the gates close behind the Climbers. "Let us begin." The woman agrees.

Followed by the summoning ritual completing, and rings of fire collapsing in towards the team from all directions, expanding across the entire chamber, as Fire Elementals rise up from them! At the same time, then blue haired man fires a single shot into the center of the raiding party and smiles at them, beckoning them to approach like a knight protecting its queen.
Kita
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Though Kita is hardly someone who explores the reaches of the Tower, she generally finds herself dragged along whenever there is a raid on a Tower boss. It seems that Scale Emblem often had an 'all hands on deck' policy, and she was an easy enough hand to put to the task.

So, the Imp is dressed in her usual combat attire, with her black mage dress and a pair of tights underneath that offer only minimal protection to her legs. She has her spell book out, the bookmarks dangling from the pages as she hangs near the back of the gathering.

She isn't the first to spot the 'boss', but as word filters back, she does cast a curious look, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "These ones... talk." Something unusual when it comes to most monsters. There isn't much time to make conversation, however, as she is forced to throw up a defensive barrier as the shockwave from the man's gunshot flows over them.

It throws some of the force back towards the two, but it leaves her relatively unscathed other than a ruffle of her mage's hat and a few hairs out of place. She flips her spellbook open, seeming to focus on the one offering some sort of defense. "Let's see if we can't do something about you..."

She pulls up a sphere of dark energy, her fingers manipulating the surface as she tries to wrap it around the blue-haired man. If nothing else, it is meant to capture him in a sphere where he would have trouble seeing the other Adventurers, but it may not be quite as effective as Kita had intended.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

The ground rumbles faintly as Vertina kicks up some vibrations to launch herself out of the way before the fire rings can close in uncomfortably.... unfortunately one of the elementals rising from them still manages to swing a hit that slams Vertina up against the wall with an audible crunch against the lavish decor. "Ow." She tumbles down to the floor from the wall, and rolls up into a crouch. "Deal with the summoner and the summons aren't a threat..." she mutters mostly to herself. Before leaping into motion again.

This time with such intensity the Salamander seems to blurr, and in the splitting of seconds is hurtling a flying kick right for Wadjet!
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Schneider had assembled with the rest of Scale, and the allies who've come to fight the floor boss. But he's not ready for that leadoff shot, which he misjudges badly. It's not across the bow, which is what he thought was coming, or rather, the impact is much, much larger than he expected, and he's knocked head over heels, tumbling to a stop after a dozen yards. "Gah, did anyone get the license plate off that truck?" he mutters.

He picks himself up and looks around for a target. Finding everyone moving in one direction, he throws flame that way, too. "Tai-to-ro! Blow this enemy away! ANTHEM!" It's not one of his brutal spells, but it does what it can, burning the villians and cutting down their HP bar as the fire surges.
Gwen
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Gwen is not unhappy about this being a quiet floor. The locals have been pretty good to interact with. Though as the climb goes there's more and more doubt, Proteus words are running around her head more lately in regards to it. There are reasons to remain on these runs yet her resolve was starting to falter.

The music and singing is strange she was not expecting that at all. She also for those who paid attention had some sort of new shield and it was a pretty fancy-looking one too from the looks of it.

She will scan both the woman and the man for a moment.

"So here we go."

She has a bad feeling and that's what saves her she pops divine shield.

"So that's how you want to play? Fine."

With that she'll pop her tanking abilities and move right in on Ovan charging as she goes, boots clattering n the ground as she moves. The second she's in range she'll trigger a sword art.

"GALE OF SWORDS!"

She launches into a barrage of attacks upon Ovan.
Setsuna
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Setsuna and the knight move in the middle of the party as he looks at the one with the gun arm. Within moments combat has begun and fire elementals are everywhere and suddenly the man with the gun is shooting into the crowd. A coat of dark energy provides him a boost of speed as he leaps out of the way of the shot. The necromancer's eyes glow with magic as he begins to INSPECT the opponent he frowns at what he sees. "You really are an adventurer then, what are you doing helping the boss?!" Setsuna shouts as he sends the knight forward directing it to strike with dark energy, trying to find a weak point.
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Prophylaxis has been dreading this particular boss-fight for weeks. Why, one might ask, would he be so concerned when the rest of the eighth floor of the tower is so idyllic and relatively peaceful?

IT'S PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THAT REASON THAT HE HAS SO CONCERNED.

You don't just run into a completely safe floor after dealing with level after level of horrible monster bugs, goblin assassins, DOOM WHALES and angry giant lizards. Something has to be wrong. The other shoe /has/ to drop sometime. As time went on, and nothing seemed to happen, it quickly became clear that the last place it could /possibly/ drop is the boss fight.

Prophylaxis has come into this place... /monstrously/ concerned.

...Though he certainly wasn't expecting the thing that they'd found.

"Two mobs... No--" The doctor's eyes widen in sudden shock, "--That name...!"

                                  O V A N                                  

"Fuck," Prophylaxis curses as waves of flame ripple across the battlefield. Water erupts from his heels, sending him jetting this way and that. Ovan fires, and Prophylaxis gets the hell out of there before whatever he did can finish unfolding. "Fuck, fuck. Of all the times to not be able to contact Naobi--" This is bad. This is bad, they're stuck in a room with a man who has been spoken of in equally ominous tones as the Scrapped Princesses, with no way /out/ until...

"Kill the Wadjet," Prophylaxis orders, a jet of high-pressure water erupting from the head of his staff and raking through the assembled fire elementals before slashing a crimson trail across the snake-woman's torso. "We need to get rid of her, unlock the door, and get out of here as soon as we can!"
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Into the boss room and... There are people playing chess. Or at least something that looks like it.
    Perhaps not what Amalthea had expected to see on arrival. But it turns out this won't be some simple boss fight.
    Never before has she heard the name Ovan, but he doesn't seem like some pushover. Especially if he's... Apparently not drawing the boss' aggro and is working with said boss.
    "Uhhhh. Who is that?"
    She gets her answer over the raid channel just as everything is conflagrated in the flames of a fire elemental.
    Try as she might to shield herself from the flames, her HP starts to drop.
    With others unloading on Wadjet that leaves someone needing to draw this Ovan character's attention.
    Amalthea bursts free of the flames, sword gleaming in her hand as she launches herself at the blue-haired man intending to just wail on him.
Syx
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Syx has no idea what's going on. That's par for the course, though. He never has any idea what's going on. He's the kinda person who dicks around and then shows up for stuff like this because it lets him fight big bad guys.

And so that's what he does, as he uses the stone catapult maneuver that has worked many times before, using it to launch himself into the air, and then...Misses.

The infamous flying nothing. He slams into the ground after flying past Ovan. Whoops.
Mizuki
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    The last boss was a confusing time for Sam. The weird lag to his avatar making it feel like it... wasn't him. And then... Halloween! Halloween was THE BEST, the best it's been since he was a little kid. Pretending to be the character she was dressed up as was the experience he'd been looking for when he rolled Mizuki and been missing since Proteus made her self-conscious about it.

    But if the game is real life now, are they Sam or are they Mizuki? Ugh, it's a confusing thought.

    Right now, it's boss time! And whoever they are, the boss needs to be dealt with! The catgirl ninja walks with the others through the... strangely welcoming floor. They go through a peaceful city and into a boss room that seems like a throne room, with two NPCs she doesn't recognize having a talk. "...Are they here to help us fight the boss?" Suddenly, a GUN is pointing at her?! "Wait!" She moves to jump out of the way, but no amount of reflexes can dodge BULLETS! Or... whatever that shot. She tumbles across the floor and slams into the now-closed door, almost half her health already gone. She stumbles to her feet as others explain that the lady and elementals ARE the boss. "Tch... fine. Then I'll tear these guys apart! Just keep the guy with a freaking GUN from shooting me again!" Her fur begins to waver like flame as heat surrounds her, and she pounces on one of the fire elementals, trying to tear it apart with her claws!
Liminality
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Ovan's glasses gleam, and there's a remarkably calm look in his eyes as he watches the raid party split around the room after taking such a severe beating. Something seems different about the power of this boss. Certainly, it /seems/ like it's on scale for the danger level of the 8th floor. Yet something just doesn't quite seem right. Like it was too difficult to avoid and shield from all that flame. Flame resistance spells waning faster than they should under the assault...

Kita is right. These ones seem to talk. Ovan isn't a Monster - he comes across as an Adventurer on the Inspect. A Red Level risk named 'Ovan'. But Wadjet, a standard Yellow level for a raid battle they are well within the level range of, is definitely marked as a monster.

Ovan remains in the throne area, not approaching the players, starting to fire. A single shot fires right for Kita's chest with deadly aim, before he flips the weapon over, lever-rifle action reloading it and then single-armed aims at someone else, his left arm remaining down. Still, there are too many people for him to react against in order to protect Wadjet! Especially with Kita's attempts to keep him in place.

There sphere falls around him, and keeps him for a few critical moments, before he slices his gunsword and tears the spell apart with a slash of Light. Vertina gets past him, her kick slamming right into Wadjet's chest, and slamming her back against the... throne?

No, the throne moves with her. The massive coiling mass trembles and then pushes her off of the wall again, her clothing turns into a massive hood, and her two arms split into four as she grabs Vertina by her arm and flings her into the wall next to her, before she tries to coil her massive snake-coils around her to crush her!

She then moves forward to meet the rest of the raid! Flames roll over the area, Ovan cutting his blade once more, a surge of water rapidly coming right for Schneider with a sickening amount of timing. Right in the middle of Schneider's cast causing his body to pause for a moment, it comes for him - aiming to cut him down.

Yet, Wadjet is not so lucky. She crosses her arms to deal with the flames as she surges forward, and the Fire Elementals come from all other sides!

Gwen sneaks into the timing of Ovan's, managing to bring her gale blade up and tears against his clothes, which are remarkably protecting him from a sizable chunk of the damage she puts out. His narrow eyes looking to her for just a moment, before he turns and uses that 'pillar' on his left arm to slam into her face and push her back - enough force to send her through a nearby pillar, bringing the entire pillar tumbling down towards her afterwards!

"What I want to do." Ovan answers Setsuna without any context or explaination behind his words, as the sword comes in. That pillar comes up, blocking the first biting attack, but that gives Amalthea all the room she needs to get in there! His eyes slowly turning towards her however as she ducks in. His blade doesn't get there in time for the first swipe, ripping that red line across his form. But as he second strike comes back down, he easily parries her blow, turning his blade a few times, and wresting the blade from Amalthea's hand and sending it clattering across the floor. "Hrrmm... not strong enough yet." He remarks, before his attention seems to lift elsewhere.

"It is interesting Naobi mentioned me." He declares. "I suppose he's not quite over his last failure." He seems to have been hearing Prophylaxis just fine. Sound carries remarkably well in this hall. The music quieter than the voices calling out. "Let's find out what he's told you so far, shall we?" He then notes, while moving his body to avoid Syx's flying attack and then points that pillar at Prophylaxis.

Earlier, Gwen and Amalthea had felt something being active. This... this is not that thing. The moment that pillar opens, there's a strange green glow coming from the lines of seperations. There is this sudden intense sense of the Law being Broken. No... this isn't the law being broken. This is as if someone just grabbed the law, and with two hands, tore it assunder. It actually physically feels like pain. Like a song that just came to a scratching end, filled with dissonance.

"exec OVAN_FEHU_MORRIGAN_FEHU_MORRIGAN, exec mea." He calmly sings, as the device winds up, plates pulling back, and Prophylaxis suddenly feels like he... cannot move. Stuck in place, right at the climax of his waterspell cutting multiple fire elementals apart with the fierce power behind his attack. He's then lifted slightly into the air... and then things suddenly go dark for him.

On the outside, people see these red lines suddenly firing right for Prophylaxis, impacting upon him, and creating multiple 'seal' like green circles around him, before red 'dots' begin to bleed from Prophylaxis to Ovan's device.

Behind him, Wadjet is rushing towards Mizuki, trying to stop her from getting to more of her Fire Elementals. Manifesting a set of flaming blades from nowhere, using them to cut at the catgirl while some of her Fire Elementals detonate and erupt from the damage Mizuki is doing! But that's when the waterstrike of Prophylaxis' finally hits her, pushing her away from her blade can cut through Mizuki's neck!

----

For Prophylaxis, he suddenly wakes up in a strange landscape. He's standing in the middle of a stone circle, staring in confusion at what looks like... the house he grew up in a few yards away from him. But it's easy to ignore compared to the /massive/ metalic tower that seems to run through the landscale itself and down into the earth. The hill he is on gives him a kind wash of air, and allows him to see a drop-off on the large 'island' like land he's standing on.
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Schneider is dealing with the onslaught of wter which he barely deflect in time with a magic shield, and it sweeps by on either side of him, almost sweeping him off his feet, though not quite. The ground is marshy under his boots, but he keeps his footing as e fights backstriking with fire at very short range. "Fire elemental blade!" he shouts, and his starter sword is engulfed with flame, becoming flame as he uses it to strike at the foe.
Kita
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

One shot after another comes towards Kita, but her magical shields seem to hold against them. In fact, she feels far more at home against ranged attacks like these than if someone were to get up close and personal. She is able to raise a hand, allowing each projectile to deflect off, almost as if she were blocking them with her hands.

Then, things start to take a turn for the strange. She has had very limited exposure to people breaking the laws of Elder Tale, and it is likely the first time she has seen something quite so direct. "What the..." She starts, but can't seem to form words to grasp what she is seeing.

Her breath comes a bit quicker then, attention split between two very dangerous targets. "Stick to the plan, take out Wadjet first." She whispers to herself, changing her target. She weaves her hands in the air, forming a bubble of air energy which seems to solidify, dark cracks forming along the surface.

With one hand, she shoves magical energy forward, shooting it towards the naga-like boss monster. Where the orb impacts, it breaks into razor sharp shards, which create an explosion of shrapnel.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Vertina barely gets a moment to register that the -entire throne- moved when Wadjet slammed back into it, then uncoils with the rest of her to reveal a true form. Just before the snake-woman grabs her and flings the Salamander at the wall. Vertina twists in the air to land her feet against the surface though, legs compacting to absorb the recoil of the impact. At the same time she does the activation sequence for one of her elusive artes. There's a flicker around her not until the distortion of hot air rising in the desert...

The snake tail whips towards her, grabs onto Vertina, and squeezes so damn hard that she *POP* ... Oh wait, that was one of her mirage images that got caught and crushed.

The real Vertina dropped to the floor during the visual distortion, and took the moment to ready her battle gloves before charging back into the fight. "Damn woman, you got even uglier! There's no point in hitting you in the face now!" A bit of trash talk and several lashes of her direclaws at Wadjet's side to try and get some of her attention off Mizuki.
Mizuki
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Wadjet turns out to be a GIANT SNAKE LADY. Mizuki's eyes widen a bit and she grins. "Woah cool, she's a marilith? Cool boss monster after all... Bring it!" She draws her daggers as the snake slithers towards her...

    And then everything goes even more pear shaped. "Exec?! What was... wait, does that guy have some kinda console access?! Why is he FIGHTING us?! He should be helping us escape!" Wait, escape? Go back to being Sam? She freezes for a split second, and then... "Prophy?! What'd you do to WOAH you're fast..." She tries to weave around the marilith's attacks, but... too slow. A knife turns her neck into glowing red polygons and her HP drops to a little red sliver.

    Last time she ran. This time... well, there's nowhere to run to ANYWAY, but this time, she's Mizuki. This body is HERS, it doesn't feel like a frozen, numb, delayed avatar. Would Mizuki run, when her guildmates are counting on her?

    I'm Mizuki. Mizuki can do this. It's not over until while she still has HP! With feline flexibility, she tries to parry with her daggers and bend out of the way of attacks while circling around the marilith, trying to leap atop its tail and stab it in the back! "CR PLUS FIVE OR GO HOME!"
Setsuna
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Setsuna hears the call to target Ovan , but there healer was imprisoned in and unresponsive. Even his call over the chimlink went unanswered, so obviously it was time to cash in a couple of those IOUs he had given the doctor and save him. "Ashes of the fallen, I call you back into service. Follow your commander back in to battle. " Two summoned skeleton warriors rise up at Setsuna's feet and charge in working with the knight, as if they were a single trained unit. " Then I shall do what I want, and I think I want to take your arm Mr. Ovan."
Syx
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Syx went flying past Ovan. He manages to catch sight of the gun as he does though. Which now means he's never going to shut up about somebody having a gun in the game. He wants one, because he's an American and it's his god given right to own one of those.

He uses the Stoneskin power to defend against the incoming attacks, and then uses his position behind Ovan to sneak up on the man. If he's an Adventurer that means he can be fought like an Adventurer. Syx moves to throw his hands around Ovan's waist, and yank him backwards.

"Welcome to Suplex City, bitch!"

He throws his weight backwards, aiming to slam Ovan's head into the ground below them.
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

    This isn't quite right. Something is so very off about this but Amalthea has no idea what. Why did flame resists fail? How is Ovan-- supposedly a player character- in the Red?
    How the hell does he have a weapon like that, to boot?
    Questions, questions, so many questions, as she tries to keep her cool.
    The Law here is being warped- not broken but twisted- bent- torn apart. It's disorienting to her senses and the only thing that pulls her back from the twisted feeling of all of it is having her sword swatted clean from her hand.
    She'll have to trust in the others to handle the boss. The best she can do is keep Ovan off the others- assuming she can even hold his attention as he...
    He starts singing.
    *Something* happens to Prophylaxis.
    "Ah, hell...!"
    Disarmed but not down, the old Paladin braces her shield against reprisal before she reels her fist back.
    Her gauntlet creaks as she curls her fingers into a fist, hand glowing hot white with the force of Light.
    She may not be strong enough *yet*. ... But with one hell of a haymaker full-fisted swing aimed for his jaw, she intends to make Ovan *earn* a win against her.
    "'Yet' is the key word in there, sonny."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Gwen and Amalthea give plenty of warning that things are exactly as fucky as Prophylaxis' worst possible predictions. Maybe even moreso. "Of course he's messing with the rules," Prophylaxis mutters softly to himself, before his attention abruptly snaps towards the man responsible for everything going absolutely pear-shaped. "Of course you know who he is. What, you two have history together? Bad breakup at some point?" 'Last failure?' Damnit, Naobi, what have you gotten them all mixed up in? The Doctor doesn't let the fear and concern reach his eyes. Not least because shock has taken up residence across the whole of his face and doesn't seem keen on loosening its hold.

"Morrigan... fehu--" Prophylaxis doesn't feel law itself being snapped in two, but those words alone are enough to get him wide-eyed...

Right as he's frozen in mid-air, abruptly trapped in space. He struggles for a moment, but...

All goes black.

...

...

                            ---Somewhere Else---                            

"What... the hell?" Prophylaxis mutters as his eyes slowly adjust to his surroundings. "This is... Home?" Kanagawa, specifically a small suburb near Kamakura. The air is familiar, a scent of mountain and sea coming together in a nostalgic and heady aroma. It looks like his actual home is here, too, but...

That tower... was not here before. What is it? What... is this place? This strange stone-henge...

Someone screams. Prophylaxis' gaze snaps down from the tower toward the base of the hill-- toward his hometown. Someone is screaming, and they should /not/ be. Without thinking, he turns and runs toward the sound. Something tells him he needs to be there.
Liminality
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Wadjet hisses a painful sound as Schneider's fire blade whips flame towards her. Though it doesn't do as much damage as non-fire attacks, it's very clear that the raid is at a level where they can deal with this one well enough without having to have perfect tactics!

Kita's detonation of darkness erupts not moments later right next to one of the parts of Wadjet's body. Ripping a part of her snakehood apart with its red glow, erasing it with such extremely damage. The various pieces of arcane schrapnel tearing through parts of her body. This monster almost seems like it did not hone its personal defenses as well as others had. Relying on her Fire Elementals, which quickly come to the rescue, trying to intercept Vertina! But the moment one jumps in front of her in order to take the hit, Vertina just plumets right through it, taking some flaming scratch damage, before her claws dig into Wadjet's side, the snake shaking and trembling, quickly coiling its body up.

And there's a lot of body to coil. Almost like she is trying to spring-load her body. The tail's tip shaking, like a warning a rattle-snake might give! Mizuki manages to stab it right down into its spine, before being forced out as the coils move and threaten to consume her!

At the back of the battle, Setsuna sends their undead warriors forward! One bringing their blade down, the other up, trying to cut away at Ovan's arm. But they meet fierce resistance. In fact, the moment they touch the green light coming off of it, Setsuna suddenly sees their... levels go instantly lower amidst their cuts. They swipe again. Health drops from Ovan. But each swipe it's less, until the skeletons appear to be level one, and are simply /kicked/ to pieces...

A leg that was coming up as Syx grabbed around his waist and tries to suplex Ovan. Syx will notice that Ovan is /INCREDIBLY/ heavy for someone his size. No doubt some kind of effect normally aimed to reduce the effectiveness of crowd control. Yet, he succeeds! Ovan is jostled around, slammed with his head onto the ground, before Ovan suddenly spins like a capoeira dancer and slices their blade at Syx amidst jumping and getting back up. The green and red light does not stop flowing, but there's clearly an interruption!

Amalthea's fist then rings against Ovan's chin, and she feels this subtle 'crack' beneath her fingers... as her Gauntlet breaks a bit, at the same time as that jaw crunches. Ovan is forced back a few steps, wincing and gritting his teeth, staring at Amalthea. Then spits out some red glow. Gwen's Sonic Lunge reaches him, but he quickly brings the tip of his blade forward...

And catches the sonic lunge /by the tip/. The shock of which drives him back a bit, but there's this intense focus about Ovan and the eyecontact they make. "Fragment was but only the beginning of all of this."

----

As Prophylaxis runs down the hill, everything seems... smaller. Like it's not his entire village, just the parts that he clearly still remembers. That candy shop where the lady was always sweet to him. The school bully looking at him run by, giving him a stare that... for some reason, makes Prophylaxis feel young again. Terrified of the school bully. That punk with the pompadoer!

When he follows the screams, he feels small as he enters through the door. The door opens, but he had to reach up to get to the knob. And when he steps in, it's his mom, being held by Ovan. Blade pointing at her. His narrow eyes turn towards Prophylaxis. That 'ill' feeling continues.

"You are not strong enough... so I think it's important I give you some encouragement." The Ovan within Prophylaxis' area tells him, as the Airconditioner seems to suddenly turn on full blast...
Liminality
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Back on the battlefield, Wadjet begins to tremble amidst her springs, staring at the enemies. The Fire Elementals quickly climb against her, almost... hugging her scales... when her body suddenly seems to spring on fire! Not a second later, she suddenly spins like a spring being released!

The violent motion spins, circling, as Wadjet's coils rocket like a massive flaming spin through the throne chamber, aiming to tear people towards the walls and /crush/ them amidst a flaming strike!
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Schneider is lucky that his fire attacks do well enough, because that's kind of all he's got. He has another narrow escape as he casts, "DAMEDO! Magic shield!" a moment before Wadjet's coils slam into his shield. The shield flickers, but holds, smouldering around the edges. He's staggered, though, and it takes him a moment to reorient. His flaming sword stops flaming, and it takes him a key moment to channel enough fire to relight it. This boss is a problem, and no mistake, or rather he's having more difficulty than he ought to. Than he'd like to, anyhow. He doesn't even have any clever lines to say, he'll have to work on that.
Kita
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Some things are very much lost on Kita, who not only has little idea of who Ovan is, but what he might represent. Talk of Fragment is equally lost on a girl who happens to be playing her first VRMMO. So, it all seems to read as background noise in the heat of battle.

Her attention is far more focused on dealing with the enemy and getting out alive. Seeing the Elementals move closer to the boss monster, it becomes clear that they are preparing for some sort of powerful attack.

This gives Kita enough warning to raise her defenses, throwing up a massive shield of shadow energy that causes the flames to split around her, leaving the Imp unharmed. Still, with all these powerful defenses, she seems to be running a bit low on mana. "Won't... be able to keep this up for much longer."

So, she flips pages in her spellbook, finding a page filled with her own writing and notes. Pressing her palm to the page, she pulls up flickering purple energy which hovers in the air, clinging to her fingers as she traces out runes before her. They linger in the air before forming together into a ball of dark flame, which she then launches towards Wadjet.
Setsuna
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Setsuna watches as his summoned monsters are turned back to bone dust, and is fortunate they took the deleveling instead of the actual monster knight. As a reflex he pulls his monster back and just in time to as Wadjet begins rampaging through the room with flames and large coiled snake muscles. Setsuna raises a shield of bones around him , however as he watches the attack going to Mizuki he sends the knight to push her out of the way, the Skeleton knight taking the hit and he watches his own HP drop. At least he didn't have to feel it. Looking at Ovan and then at Wadjet and then back at Ovan he sighs heavily and drags his dagger before throwing it towards the boss monster trying to finish this thing before it gets any worse.
Mizuki
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Oh hey. If it comes to it, she should probably have some cool words ready to go this time. Last time was just an embarassing way to die!

                            ~~Mizuki's Imagination~~                            

    Mizuki lies on the ground, startled guildmates looking in her direction. "Don't worry about me." She smiles. "I've got seven left! Aaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaa--" She shatters into polygons.

                                      ~~~                                      

    Mizuki smirks. Yeah, something like that'll work.

    And it looks like she might need it, as the coils writhe and curl, making her stumble as she tries to dodge... and Setsuna's shield saves her. "Thanks!" She takes a moment to summon up some water and then leaps into the air at Wadjet's head, trying to grab on while making the water cover her eyes and mouth! "Guess who~~~~!"
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Moves like that are the bane of close-combat DPS.

Vertina tries to blast herself away, but the vortex created by the snake-woman spinning around to turn the elementals into a giant fire tornado quickly pulls her back in. Being inside the tornado is no more pleasant than being outside of it as she's hammered around in the fire and coils before finally being ejected into a wall.

She's getting way too personal with those walls tonight.

After the bonebreaking sound of collision Vertina slumps down the floor. Heaves a wheezing breath to get air back into her lungs, then pushses herself up onto her feet. Can't brush off the red gashes of damage but she gestures as if doing so anyways up one arm, then down the other. Then clenches her hands back into fists. "You want to play with fire? Fine. You may be the firestorm..."

A blazing corona ignites around her entire form as Vertina charges back into action, left and right to catch up to the spinning snake-monster, and then unleashes some of that fire energy like thrusters to launch herself into the air.

"But I'm a SUPERNOVA!" Surging like a shooting start she winds back, and brings a massive flaming fist hurtling at Wadjet. "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!" Her own intense firebending power pushing through the flames of the elementals surrounding the bitch.

And slam the unrelenting force of the Salamander Godhand speciality into the Floor Boss!

Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

How long has it been since he's walked these nostalgic streets? Everything seems so... vivid and familiar. The air is just as he remembers it being on those hot summer days. The houses and stores are just as they were back then, even the little electronic repair place that shut down after old Yamanaka's cataracts and arthritis finally kept him from doing the delicate soldering work that his job demanded. Missus Miura's candy store is here too, and so is that jerk Shinta with his stupid pompadour and baseball bat. He averts his gaze as the boy notices him-- but he hasn't had to do that in ages. Not since middleschool.

Why now?

Why does he feel so... small?

He reaches his home, following the screams and reaches up to throw open the door. What he finds is...

Ovan.

And his /mother./

"You... You put her down!" Prophylaxis-- Akira Kurahashi, Grade 6, demands in a voice that cracks with the earliest signs of puberty. His skinny arms, better suited to propping open a textbook than swinging a baseball bat, are not able to fight someone like Ovan. "Whatever you're doing here, it's me you want, isn't it? Put her down!"

The air chills. The air conditioner practically shrieks with activity. A frigid wind blows through the room as...

A delicate girl with pale skin appears, wearing a kimono in all the colors of winter. "Begone, invader. This is not your Cosmosphere to tamper with." She snaps her slim hand forward, unfolding a paper fan as a blast of sub-zero air reaches out to freeze this spectre of Ovan where he stands...!
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

    It's a genuinely *good* feeling. The impact of a solid slugging blow against someone else's jaw with as much force as Amalthea can muster. Her gauntlet will need fixing, but that's a problem for future Amalthea as she stares Ovan down.
    "What did you do to the Doctor?" She demands solemnly, clueless to the struggle within Prophylaxis at this very moment as she brings her shield to bear against the oncoming firestorm from Wadjet.
    "I'll give you one chance to answer before I beat the answer out of you."
    Admittedly it's something of a bluff. She can probably only *barely* keep up with Ovan, he's Red-tier compared to her, and her landed blows so far have been on pure luck.
    But right now she's willing to test out how far that luck will last as she stomps her sword off the floor, causing the blade to flip up into her hand as she snatches it by the hilt.
    Once again it glows with that divine white light as she brings it to bear against Ovan in a flurry of fierce slashes and blows.
Gwen
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

"Much like Balmung and the old man said the day we all arrived here. Don't know what you are and I'm not sure I want to know." Then comes even more attacks as Wadjet proves to be quite the problem. She will put her new shield to use and a surge of wind envelops Gwen. It keeps her safe but how the battle is going? It's not looking good the plan is to get the boss, then run like hell. She also dreads she's going to have to make a rush on the boss, so they can flee once it's down.

She does not wish to stay any longer than they have to there's no taking Ovan right now. Not with what he can seem to do to just drop someone.

She moves in at Wadjet and cries out.

"FOR THE ALLIANCE"

She rushes in attack trigging another sword art as she goes.

"DIVINE WIND!"

The sword strikes come again and again along with the cutting winds around them burning with holy fire. She's trying to put this boss down so they can get the heck out.
Syx
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Syx manages to actually suplex Ovan, which surprises him too! But then the guy comes at him with the blade, and Syx is quick to warp away with a flash of lightning.

He finds himself next to the frozen Doctor when he comes back out of his Lightningstep, and he tilts his head a little bit.

He taps on the seal a couple of times with a finger, "You okay in there Doc? Lemme help!" The fighter hauls back with one hand, and then throws a massive haymaker at the seal holding Prophylaxis in place, intent on shattering it with an epic right hand strike.
Liminality
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Schneider's flames burst to life, pushing against Wadjet, but they fail to overcome her new resistance now that the Fire Elementals are protecting her scales, covering her. Luckily, it directs some of their defenses against flame, opening her up towards Kita's volley!

The flickering runes form that ball of dark flame, and comes down like a small slow-moving meteor! It rips off a piece of tail, protecting some of the others of the fierce coils! The crimson light of damage ripping through her scales! Wadjet tries to lunge towards Kita in retaliation, moving her flaming swords out...

Only to halt right in Kita's face. As if frozen. Setsuna's dagger holding Wadjet in place for just long enough that Kita can get out of the way... before that motion resumes and Wadjet lunges along the path she started on! Mizuki's water then splashes into the monster's face, covering it, making the creature writhe, trying to get out of the way. But with the damage done to her tail, Wadjet can not move in time for what comes next...

Vertina's fist comes down, the air around her warping. A corona of heat and flame wrapped around her very presence, making her look like she's got some kind of strange lensing halo effect as the Ragnarok's Wisdom comes down towards her face... and carves through like a hot knife through butter! Tearing across her body as Wadjet stalls and spreads her arms, screaming...

Gwen jumping in, her blade carving upwards in the wake of Vertina. The air she summons falling the intense hear boiling within Wadjet...

Until she finally shatters apart!

----

Ovan doesn't look cruel, or wicked as Prophylaxis tries to stop him with his six year old body. He just looks at him in this disempassioned manner and tells him; "This is better for all of us." Until...

Ovan's eyes widen as the presence suddenly shows up next to Prophylaxis. "A Mind Guardian? How did you... oh... I see... it's..." He doesn't get to finish that sentence as Yuki Onna sends that blast of sub-zero temperature his way, and Ovan is punted out of Prophylaxis with a sudden rush of white light.

----

In that moment, reality immediately restores around Prophylaxis, and he's dropped from from air. The green lines that were holding him prisoner snap back to Ovan like a rubber band, slapping against his pillar-arm, which quickly seals back up! Prophylaxis, waking, would feel gravity taking a hold of him...

And then suddenly gets socked in the face by Syx in this mighty punch that sends him spinning through the air and down to the ground! Syx suddenly gets flagged for starting a PVP session, an orange sign appearing over his name to show this. Similar to how Ovan currently has one.

With his both 'hands free' so to say, he spins his blade as Amalthea tries to get to him, right in the middle of their victory, and as he arm reaches for him, it slams against the pillar...

<<< IMMORTAL OBJECT >>>

Before he brings his blade up in one clean motion and lobs her fist off, shattering it into light.

Ovan grunts at that point, and grabs something from inside of his pocket. "That'll be enough..." He doesn't seem to really bear any animosity towards the climbers. Instead, he holds what looks like a small mirror... and shatters it. Disappearing into the light akin to activating a Chaos Gate.
Kita
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Those who know Kita, know that she isn't a fan of monsters, or anyone really, getting up close and personal in combat. So, as Wadjet lunges in her direction, she freezes. There is that deer-in-the-headlights that lasts for longer than a couple of heartbeats before she realizes that the monster is frozen in place.

Following the line of sight, she looks towards Setsuna, giving him a quick nod as she darts backwards, her pulse racing and her entire body shaking with anxiety. Luckily, they don't seem to have to fight much longer, so she retreats to the sidelines, clutching her book against her chest and trying to force down the panic attack that had been looming.

There is some, brief relief when Prophylaxis seems to be returned and Ovan takes flight, though she doesn't seem to have the mental state to really wonder at how the teleportation worked, or how the strange green tendrils had held the good doctor prisoner. "I... need to get out of here." Kita seems to leave it at that.

With the combat over, she starts to talk quietly into her chimlink, "Yeah, it was bad. I'll see you soon." Her voice quiets as she retreats.
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Even after tearing through Wadjet's body Vertina has enough momentum that she doesn't so much land on the floor as she does skid to a stop, leaving burn streaks on the floor in her wake and smoke trailing from her heels. The Salamander rises to her full height, arms half-bent at her sides, looking all dramatic and heroic in her stance as Wadjet collapses behind her and succumbs to the attacks, detonating into pixel to provide a lightly less explosive backdrop to her pose than an actual movie would.

Feels pretty badass right now.

She has her moment. Then the moment is over and she snaps back to reality. "Okay where's that other assho--" Wisely making his escape it seems. But not before having a brutal response to Amalthea trying to Angry Old Woman answers out of him. "-- Goddess damn, that's a rude way to say goodbye." Vertina jaunts over. "How's the Doc? I think the chief lady is gonna need his special tou--" she stops herself "--dammit."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

A child can't possibly stand up to a grown man, not without some kind of Kevinesque traphouse or a gun. Ovan is more than that-- he's... Something else entirely. There's no hope for the child or his mother-- not until that woman appears.

Ovan is frozen solid. The Yuki-Onna snaps her fan shut with a dispassionate, perhaps even haughty harrumph and turns to the young Akira and mouths words that he can't make out. The world disappears into a haze of light, sound disappears into a blizzard of white noise. Prophylaxis feels his stomach turn as gravity takes hold, and--

Is immediately laid out by a massive haymaker directly to the face. He is a mage, his jaw is /basically/ glass. There's a sound like a hammer tenderizing a slab of meat as Prophylaxis is sent flying. You can almost hear a distant announcer yell 'K.O.' over the din of the fight as the doctor sprawls dizzily across the floor.

It feels vaguely like he was just hit by a truck. Shaped like a fist. Fist-truck!?
Setsuna
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Setsuna watches as Wadjet shatters before turning back to Ovan , already the knight was retrieving his dagger and soon he would be back to fighting the crazy player. "I hope you..." and before the necromancer can even finish his threat Ovan is gone. Setsuna looks over at the doctor and then at Amalthea, first thing was first though. He accesses his chimlink and gives an update to the rest of the alliance members on the status of things. "Boss is down, ran in to Ovan. I am sure the doctor will have more to say on it soon."
     Setsuna notices that the doctor hasn't stood up from whatever happened to knock him up so he looks to Vertina for help. "See if you can heal Amalthea enough for the time being. Then we can take the doctor and her back to town. " It was the best that he could come up with at the moment.
Schneider
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Schneider looks around, notes lack of bad guys, assumes win. He's not quick on the uptake in games, unfortunately. It's easier in basketball, it goes through the hoop or not, none of this fading out before a final decision happens. "So," he asks unsurely, "Did we win?" He thinks we must have, but it could have been a push, maybe? Or a fighting withdrawal that led to a no-decision? This is why he asks.
Amalthea
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

    WHAM.
    That is the sound of Amalthea's hand slamming into an <<IMMORTAL OBJECT>>
    SHINK!
    That is the sound of Amalthea's hand getting sliced at the wrist in some pretty unwarranted hand-related violence.
    It takes her a second before the pain sets in and realization sets in with it.
    "...?" She watches almost curiously as her hand detaches from her wrist and shatters into pixels, leaving the cut nice and clean and glowing red and--
    "...--- OH SHIT!" She blurts.
    It's not the first time this has happened, sure.
    But boy is it still jarring *every time it happens*.
    It's a distraction bad enough that Ovan gets away without further interference from the old Paladin.
    Ahem.
    It takes her a second to regain her composure and clear her throat as she turns away from where Ovan was with a grumble and makes her way over toward Prophylaxis, kneeling at his side.
    "... Looks like he'll live. Doctor? How are you feeling?"
    Goodness is he even conscious?
    Though she does look up, kind of waving what's left of her hand at Setsuna and Vertina. "I'll be fine, it's not the first time I've been Disarmed."
    Though she wouldn't mind someone breaking out the herb juice for her.
Mizuki
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Mizuki fumbles the attack and is scrabbling to hold onto Wadjet's head when the marilith is defeated!

    The catgirl sticks the landing, long red scarf trailing after, crosses her arms while spinning the daggers in her hands, then uncrosses them while sheathing the daggers in a smooth motion, hands following through to stick out to her sides in a fluorish, before she raises her head to see if anyone was watching that cool pose, the fading polygons reflecting in her eyes.

    She wonders if that looked as cool as it did in her head. She'll have to try it in front of a mirror. Then her ears turn behind her, listening for Prophylaxis or anyone talking about him. She stands and spins around-- "Prophy! You're... un-frozen! Are you okay?!" She hurries over to check on him. He was there when SHE got hit with weird attacks, after all...

    But she's not a healer though... ^-_-^;
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Looks like Prophylaxis isn't going to be doing any medicine for a bit. Oof.

"Hold on. I'm not a doctor but maybe this can help." Vertina unstraps Tortet's Jar from her belt, gives it a little jostle. It briefly shimmers as if doing something magically, and then Vertina takes off the lid, dabs a wad of the contents out, and goes to rub it on the end of Amalthea's arm. "At least until you can get it properly tended to." One of the Relic's special properties is creating a powerful pain tolerance medication. It'll help tough it out until the hand can get regenerated at least, seeing as they still need to hike it back home yet. Peaceful floor or not.
Syx
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Syx is actually rather surprised when he knocks Doc for a loop. He looks at his hand, and blinks, "Oh shit." He totally did not mean to do that. Also he's now flagged orange. Which he can't really hide from everyone else, "Hey uh!" He runs over towards Doc to try to help him back up
Gwen
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Gwen did not expect the last hit on the boss nor did she care about such things, to be honest. She will see the boss is down and now turns her attention to Ovan. She's talking towards him as he fights her comrades. She sees what happens Amalthea and she's moving in. It's too late though the towering Sylph is too late as Ovan gets out of there with a light effect that is much akin to a Chaos gate.

"Damn... we should clean up and get out of here. I don't wish to linger here any longer than I have to."
Prophylaxis
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Unfortunately, Prophylaxis just had a LONG DARK TEATIME OF THE SOUL, and emerged from it only to get PUNCHED IN THE FACE.

His face is presently like this: X_X

...But at least he's not dead???
Vertina
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

With Amalthea taken care of Vertina turns her attention to the other problem. "Oh someone just carry him already! Let's get out of this place before something else goes wrong."
Setsuna
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14


    Setsuna has no muscles being a necromancer, but he has muscle. So at Vertina's suggestion the skeleton knight walks over and grabs the doctor before slinging it over the bony shoulder. The doctor may smell of the dead for a little bit, but better then being left behind.
Syx
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Syx hauls Proph up onto his shoulders in order to carry him to safety. Since it's sort of his fault that Proph can't walk anyway.
Gwen
Aincrad Tower - -1 - -4 - 14

Gwen seeing thigns wrapped up Gwen just seems to look around once and now start to head out. She doesn't want to remain here any longer. She also has a lot of questions. A hell of a lot of questions now...