The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

[Kingdom Xathers]

---

LERNA's Barrier (continued)

---

"Ugh," Riley blurted out, motioning as if he was getting sick, "can we just knock it off with this soap opera crap--?"

 

"SHUT UP, RILEY!" most everyone shouted at the Ghoul, having him taken aback.

 

Ratchet sighed a bit.  "... but seriously... what's going on here?" he said, turning toward Alister. "What are you doing here?  How are you here?"

 

Alister opened his mouth to begin explaining, but almost instantly, his stomach sank, realizing where this conversation would lead if he told his story.  "Ah-I...."

 

Alexander took notice of this, realizing that he, too, wasn't willing to tell Ratchet the truth.  However....

 

Another sigh from Ratchet as he closed his eyes.  "... well, anytime the two of you feel like letting me in on this little secret of yours," Ratchet coolly stated, looking back and forth between Alexander and Alister, "be my guest, 'cuz I'm starting to get pretty sick and tired of getting jerked around here."

 

"But, Ratchet--!"

 

"Ah, well, look at the time," Azumi blurted hastily as she looked down at an imaginary watch on her wrist, "we really should get going.  C'mon, Riley!" she added as she began to drag the Ghoul away by his arm.

 

"You two!" Ratchet interjected, pointing at Azumi and Riley, causing them to freeze in their tracks.  "You're with the Divine, right?  Back in the Desert, you said that you know of Alister.  Tell me, now," he said, brows furrowed, "did Alister--?"

 

"Ratchet, wait!" Alister called out.  True, he was dreading having to tell Ratchet the truth, but... well, it cannot be helped now.  No other option now.... "... I... ... I have joined with the Divine...."

 

"Alister...," Alexander uttered quietly.

 

Upon hearing this, Ratchet's expression became one that looked pained yet angry.  "... you're at it again, aren't you...?  Trying to undo your mistake...."

 

"Well, yes... but this time--"

 

"WHAT ARE YOU, STUBBORN, OR JUST STUPID?!!" Ratchet roared out at Alister, causing the General to stumble back.  The sudden outburst caused Ratchet to cough heavily for a bit, but after a while, he resumed, "You--you know that time should not be tampered with!  Did you already forget that?!  And YOU!!" he added, sharply turning toward Alexander, "You knew about Alister's affiliation this whole time?!  And you hid that from me?!!!"

 

Taken aback, Alexander began to stammer, "I-I was... I was just trying to protect you--"

 

"From what, Alex?!  From what?!"

 

"Jeez, this kid's starting to remind me of my kid," Jecht muttered to himself as he slowly backed away from the conversation.

 

"... y'know, I really do have to have to tell you guys this time, we really do need to cut the soap opera routine right now," Riley stately calmly.  "We all have far more pressing matters to take care of, so we should seriously get to that.  If and when you guys survive this, you can have all the time in the world to discuss your little disfunction...."  With that, Riley and Azumi walked off, the Jaws of Hell following them on auto-pilot.

 

"... smartest thing that's been said all day," Ratchet hissed, still fuming as he and Clank followed after the Jaws of Hell, refusing to look at Alex or Alister as he walked past.

 

"... was I right in not telling him sooner?" Alexander said remorsefully.

 

"... to be honest... I would have done the same thing in your position, Alexander...," Alister replied, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder.  "Let's go.  We've got a Witch to slay...."

 

 

 

 

"ENTER THE GREAT JECHT-SAMA!!" Jecht howled proudly as he got closer to where LERNA was positioned, bulldozing through a whole herd of Troys, making a path for the rest of the group to rush through unopposed.

 

"Holy $#!7, that's LERNA?!" Alexander gasped out upon seeing the Witch.

 

"Well, it's about time you joined the party," Jeanne said as Alexander appeared.

 

"Good to see you too, Jeanne."

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

Nero was quickly being outnumbered, he fired many fireballs and lightning bolts at hopes of knocking some of them back into the ooze. No matter how many he seemed to drown there were still many more to take their places. One with a spear had gotten close and thrust its weapon at Nero, he quickly rose a barrier but it cracked under the pressure of the hit. The spear head went into his shoulder. "Ergh..." Nero made a sound of pain, another strike was coming, and he had no choice but to use his keyblade to defend against the blow. With a sound of shattering, a hole was made through the worn and aged keyblade and into his chest. He fell to the ground with the damaged weapon by his side and closed his eyes not in death, but in thought.

 

I see it all too clearly now, why I was aged...
For the sake of the worlds, my life was given back to me so that I might save it...

Ever since my resurrection, my heart has been plagued with the guilt and the fear that came with losing my allies; out of these emotions came darkness and confusion for you...

I thought you sent me into an inner-world of yours, but you merely transported me to a world where time flew much faster than I would have thought possible. You were hoping that I would grow wiser, smart enough to come to terms with the guilt so that you might stop being confused as to whether my heart was good enough...

You've made me accept that my role was never as Keyblade Master of Light I was a Keyblade Master of Darkness fighting for Light. One can only accept the darkness once it's inside one's own heart.

 

After the few moments of thought Nero was coated in an odd deep darkness that none could see through; the darkness remained dark despite the odd physics of LERNA's world. When it cleared, Nero stood in his younger form, the wound inflicted seeming to have been cured, and yet he weld no keyblade. "This world of darkness depresses me, it's time we finished this." Nero had more depth to his voice now, he waved his hand and a curious new keyblade was revealed. "Hmph!" Nero slashed upward with his keyblade and a wave of light pushed the Troys out of his way. He was calmer now, anger had no hold on him, his thoughts were clear and the power gained with acceptance was mightier than he could have ever imagined...

[spoiler=The Darkness Within]

 

 

Matthew Supplex

 

Matthew used large area spells to keep the Troys at bay, his Tornado spell threw them about and his Flare spell toasted them but there were so many of them he could barely keep up. His next shot was Flood, it summoned gallons upon gallons of normal water upon the troys and pushed them back into the goop. A troy was rosining up his bow with a stick arrow but Matthew quickly shot it turning it into a frog. He gave the frog a smirk before kicking it into the abyss. More were quickly jumping over to his platform. "Is there no end!?" Matthew questioned.

 

[spoiler=Effects]

~Matthew cast Tornado at the Troys.

~Matthew cast Flare at the Troys.

~Matthew cast Flood at the Troys.

~Matthew cast Frog at the Troys.

 

 

[Kōsuke Ueki]

Tsunugai's question was more or less answered by the actions of his comrades' action. Wíth Matthew, though, he was arrogant as ever. He could even tell that he was being overwhelmed. Tsunugai attempted to activate his Blood Diamond mode, but without success. Next thing he knew, he remembered what was lost to him. He remembered all that he had done to protect the innocent. If starting over without a dark side would have nearly impossible obstacles, why would he even continue to try and prove a poijt that is most likely for naught?

 

It was then he felt a warm light around him, one he could also see. A few seconds pass, and Tsunugai noticed that his sword was missing the blade. After some breif concentration, a blade of light magic appeared. And without a second thought, Tsunugai swung the sword at the direction of the Troys nearly overwhelming Matthew. A wave of light magic flew towards the Troys nearly disintegrating the entire wave as another formed. Tsunugai then jumped off of Eria's ice barrier and landed right next to Matthew. "I only have so much time before this power runs out, so let's push forward and end this, shall we?"

 

With that, the remastered Paladin activated a Lightning spell from his hand, destroying another handful of Troys...

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur (w/ Flygon) / MirageGaogamon / Eria (w/ Feraligatr) / Sora

 

Arthur turned, his eyes illuminating the area around him and allowing him to see through the darkness. He saw a pair of wings eliminating an army of Troys, and at the center of it, he saw the man he was fighting back in the Desert alongside MirageGaogamon. Arthur held his sword, but sighed. Tsunugai suggested that they should try and get behind LERNA, but the form of the large hydra seemed to get covered even more by the darkness. Looking closer, Arthur realized it wasn't simply darkness, but a black liquid, different from the dark waters down below.

 

As others fought off the Troys, Arthur was trying to formulate a plan. "We have to find a way for the Troys to disappear completely."

 

MirageGaogamon slashed through several Troys with his claws. "LERNA will summon them for as long as she wants, so the only way yo stop them is to kill her."

 

Eria nodded. "We'll have to get closer, then."

 

With Flygon carrying Arthur and MirageGaogamon flying onward, Eria made her platform move closer to LERNA, but kept it moving higher up. Arthur found Sora fighting off the Troy Wyvern, but Sora incinerated it with Double Firagun. However, the ashes began to cling together, and a pair of Troys leapt out from them, but Arthur struck them down with this sword.

 

"Thanks," Sora said.

 

Arthur looked at Sora's Keyblades, then back at his own sword. "You're considered the best of the Counter Corps, right?"

 

"Why do you ask?"

 

Arthur took a deep breath. "It's just… seeing you use your weapons so easily, taking down Troys. You can fly on your own. Out of all the humans I've seen so far, you're the only who's good or… alive." Flygon looked up at Arthur curiously. "Sorry. I don't even know I lasted as long as I did in the Digital World."

 

Sora paused for a moment, but he grabbed the floating Ultima Weapon, hovering towards Arthur. "Don't feel bad. I know you were on the Divine at first, but you're trying to make up for that."

 

"I'm only here because I was sent to take back something that was stolen, and I abandoned the two guys I had to go with. For five years, I didn't give a damn about that. I only felt bad when a monster almost killed me and MirageGaogamon. Then I took those three Void Creatures and made them my slaves. Those were Eria's friends, for crying out loud! But… why? Why is she giving me another chance? Why the hell am I still alive when so many of our friends get slaughtered?"

 

Arthur looked at Sora, who was holding his Ultima Weapon with its side towards Arthur. "Take it."

 

Arthur hesitated. "Why?"

 

Sora recalled his helmet, and Arthur could see that Sora was looking down. "I know what you're trying to say. I had a friend a lot like you, you know, but she ended up overcoming the darkness. Don't beat yourself up about it."

 

"Easy for you to say."

 

"Look, if you're going to keep jumping between helping us out and moping about what happened in the past, we'll never get things done. We're fighting to save our homes. Eria's friends, those guys you left behind, they'll all come back. But we don't have to rewrite the worlds to make that happen. If we get to the Door of Origin, all we need to do is ask for them to come back."

 

"Can you please stop making it sound so simple."

 

"Are you going to take the Keyblade or not?" Sora asked, holding the Keyblade closer to Arthur.

 

Arthur sheathed his sword and took the Keyblade. "Alright." Arthur wrapped his hand around the length of the Keyblade. "Come on, give it."

 

Sora shook his head. "That's now how this works."

 

"How does it, then?"

 

"Just wait." Flygon and Sora stood still as Arthur held on to the Keyblade. Arthur closed his eyes, waiting for what could possibly happen. After a few moments, Arthur could see a light shining in the endless darkness. Opening his eyes, he could see the light was emanating from the Keyblade itself. Sora was smiling and laughing. "Congrats, Arthur!"

 

Arthur took his hand from the Keyblade. "What just happened?"

 

"Well, it means that the Keyblade has chosen you as its successor. It knows you're stronger than you think you are. You can definitely make up for what happened in the past."

 

"So I'll get a Keyblade just like you?"

 

"Not right away. It will appear to you when the time is right."

 

"Of course. I'm always going to be saved at the last minute."

 

"That's not what I meant!"

 

"I know. Sorry."

 

"Flygon!" the Pokémon said happily.

 

"Thanks," Arthur said with a smile. "I think."

 

---

As the dark-dressed man struck down at the girl, his Keyblade hit against a cross made of light. "What?!" The man looked up around him, seeing the void surrounding them glow with a white light for a brief moment. "Hmm. Looks like Sora's performed the Inheritance Ceremony. Now then, where were we?"

 

As the man swung his Keyblade once more, he found it locked in the tooth of another Keyblade. The young girl was kneeling, trying to stand up. "Vanitas… You won't win."

 

"Ah, she's finally awake! Good. Let's make this quick, shall we? I want to make sure I can take you out before Roxas shows up."

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Matthew Supplex

 

Matthew had some more Troys about him but they were quickly dispatched with a wave of light and Tsunugai took his place next to Matthew. "Well partner, I hope this means something good for you." Matthew said and then listened to Tsunugai about getting closer to LERNA so that they might end her for good. "You've read my mind, shall we." Matthew said and started jumping platform after platform until he was at the one closest to the pillar of darkness. Matthew was about to be attacked by a leaping Troy but quickly shot a Firaga at it and a Blizaga at one that two that were getting close. He was covering Tsunugai so that he might make it to where he was. Matthew used the speed from haste to unload and empty charges and reload new ones.

 

[spoiler=Effects]

~Matthew cast Firaga at a Troy

~Matthew cast Blizaga at two Troys

 

 

 

Nero

 

Nero's new keyblade cut through Troys down below the group composed of Sora, Eria, MirageGaogamon, and Arthur. "Sora and Eria, my memory is serving me quite well now." Nero said to the group, using his new found dark abilities to see through the darkness. "I'm human too ya'know." Nero said, apparently taking Arthur's comments the wrong way. Nero kept right on fighting until he was as close as he could get to the column of darkness. Nero placed his keyblade into it but the keyblade recoiled and almost sent Nero into the ooze. "Too dark, huh?" Nero said, looking at his weapon, he quickly had to turn around to block the sword of a Troy. "You just don't give up do you..." Nero commented.

[Gαr]

LERNA's Barrier

 

Ed shrugged his shoulders when Emiya told he would better suited to fighting LERNA. Ed was about to fly when he saw several bursts of light in close proximity to him. The first came from Emiya's new sword, which he could feel the sheer power emanating from the blast. The second came from Thermo's rifle aimed directly at Ed. Before he could even react, Sora cast two spells that blocked the blast, but didn't block the heat the came from it. Ed summoned a wall of black flames which were colder than most anything to block the heat. His black flames where the polar opposite of normal fire. "Thanks, Sora!" Ed called to the passing Keyblade wielder. "Now then. Sorry Emiya, but I won't fight LERNA just yet. She...it attacked me which means it wants to fight. And you know I can't turn down a fight." He drew his sword and and point it at Thermopylae. He covered the blade in a sheath of black flames and slashed at the doll thing, creating an arc of flames that was equal and opposite of the blast it fired at him

[Kingdom Xathers]

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LERNA's Barrier (continued)

---

"Huh... wonder where that girl went...?" Jecht muttered nonchalantly as looked around, absentmindedly swinging a Troy around and striking its companions as he did so.

 

[spoiler=Meanwhile, Alister proceeded to fend off against the Troys on his own, all the while remembering the conversation he had in his "dream"...]

"... you see, Azimuth, the moment the Great Clock's energy overloaded, some of its quantum energy was "absorbed" into your body, what with you being within the epicenter of the blast."

 

"What?!  I thought my powers came from Isamy?"

 

"What she did was give you the ability to utilize its power.  Ironically enough, it was due to her own doing that you are still alive today, for more than one reason.  You see, when the event originally transpired, your body expired almost instantly--"

 

"What does that mean?"

 

"I was just getting to that, Al.  Can I call you "Al"?  Anyways, before I lose my train of thought: originally, you would have died almost instantly when the Great Clock overloaded, but, due to the damage caused to the Multiverse's space-time continuum, your body managed to survive for a lot longer, just long enough for Isamy to find you."

 

"... I see...."

 

"Do not be mistaken; what you have been granted is quite the marvelous gift, indeed.  But just like the universe and even life itself, it is not a mere toy, and should not be misused or abused."

 

"And you think I'm misusing it now?"

 

"On the contrary, Al! Despite the comany with which you are employed, you have thus far used your gift fairly.  Like when you used your power to speak with the stuffed toy, Gabriel and the Umbra Witch Bayonetta, to hear their side of the story."

 

"... so, you've been watching me."

 

"We all are, Al, not just me.  Just remember this: there are rules that must be followed...."

 

"... and I don't suppose that there's an exception of some sort."

 

"Well, if there were... actually, I'd rather you find out for yourself.  When the time is right, of course."

 

(-__-) "Well, thanks for getting all cryptic on me...."

 

"You're welcome!" ( ^_^)

 

"Heh... ... but seriously... thank you... Orvus...."

 

 

 

"Alister, watch out!!" Ratchet's cry snapped him out of his trance just as a Troy's spear was inches away from piercing through his skull.  Almost reflexively, Alister halted time right then and there, taking the opportunity to let out a bit of frustration, striking at the prone Troy repeatedly with his OmniWrench before tossing out a multitude of grenades into the area, which slowed to a halt after a short while.  Satisfied for the moment, Alister ran off to a safe distance before letting time resume, at which point his grenades went off, blasting the Troys off of their platforms and into the waters below.

 

"... are you still upset with me?" Alister asked Ratchet as he helped to take down yet another Troy.

 

"Just a little," the young lombax admitted as he fired an RPG into the Troy's "face", "but right now's not the time."

 

"We can talk about all of this later," Alexander said as he swooped into the fray, kicking the Troy repeated with his ice skates, each time adding a layer of ice until the Minion was entirely encased.  "... cuz I'm pretty sure a simple "I'm sorry" from either of us won't exactly cut it."

 

"'Scuse us, mind if we borrow this, 'k thanks," Jeanne said as she and Lucario ran past, having Madama Styx take the ice-encased Troy with them.  "Alright, Lucario," Jeanne said as she had Madama Styx throw the ice-block at another herd of Troys, "correct me if I'm wrong but... use Aura Sphere!"

 

"Caarr!!" Even before waiting for Jeanne's command, Lucario had already charged up an Aura Sphere, which he then immediately fired at the ice block, shattering it and spraying the Troy herd with ice shrapnel.

[The Warden]

|_)Magical Girl Lydia & Hellspawn Sarah(_|

 

The duo of magical girls exploded through the portal through their own respective flying mechanics. Using height to their advanatge, they ascended a bit to survey. Lydia whistled as she caught sight of all the different light shadows and their owners fighting off the Troys. "Hey! It's those s**tty stick figures from back in the desert. They must work for her. Wow, that's pathetic. How so? She has to have stickmen fight for her. How is that NOT pathetic? I don't quite get where you're coming from. Ugh, nevermind then. So, what's the plan?"

 

Lydia looked around on the lower area, before casting her gaze forwards. Up ahead was something rather unpleasant looking. She squinted hard to get a better look, but with the general darkness and warped physics, it just made her eyes sting. She rubbed them whilst she groaned at the pain. "Well, go after LERNA I guess. She's blockaded in that weird barrier over there, so I guess we have to break through that. What is that stuff? Don't know."

 

Lydia would've had a bit more time to analyze them if a waved of Troys didn't come flying right at them. Moving herself in front of Lydia, Sarah raised both her palms and thrusted them forwards, unleashing burning hellfire on the waves of stickmen. They burnt and singed, falling to the ground like leaf litter, but a new wave replaced them, and likewise, Sarah immolated them. All of their remains fluttered to the dark ocean below and sank.

 

The other Troys seemed to not notice them, so it gave a brief repose. "I f**king hate those things. Ever thought of launching flames from your elbows? ...what? That fire attack, can you launch it from your elbows? Well I, err, I don't know. Why does it matter? Oh well, if you launch flame from your elbows you could use it to speed up your attacks. This rock form of yours could punch pretty hard if boosted by your flames."

 

Sarah looked quizically at both her elbow, hell, that's a good one; why hadn't she thought of that? "Yeah well, I'll think about it and maybe I might try it. But I don't think we're going anywhere with all those stickmen around. Hmmm, I might have something. How long can you hold them off for? The Flame Thrower doesn't take much mana, so a while. Why? What are you planning? A clear path. Just hold em off."

 

Sarah shook her head in annoyance, what is it with these people and being vague and leaving her out. It was really starting to piss her off. Thankfully, a new wave of Troys were encroaching, and they were sorted with more waves of flame. Lydia on the other hand, was holding cuestick vertically as she focused intently. And, tot he observant, they would notice an unusual through that started at the ground where the Troys started, and it was moving diagonally along their masses, occasionally stitching to one of the stickmen.

 

---

 

|_)~Moe~ Scientist Frankram & The Reaper Jerii(_|

 

Not long after them, the Reaper dragged Frankram through the portal and dumped him on one of the platforms. "Here is where your commitment ends to me. You have been useful. Good job" the Reaper said and flew off.

 

Frankram laughed joviantly, this girl, demon... thing was quite the keeper. But, business at hand of course, business at hand. The yellow glyph appeared once more by his hand as he began to I.D. this dimension. Seems that the physics of light were inverted here, so light is shadow and shadow is light, as evidence now by his white shadow that stood prone on the glowing platform.

 

And it seemed that the 'water' below was something akin to pure liquid depression. Like, literally a sea of despair. Frankram had to hand it to LERNA, she certainly knew how to be thematic. Hmm, those stickmen could also be part of the theme; as in, in the pits of despair you use all identity, you feel nothing and thus become nothing. So, it would seem pretty prudent as to not to give in to despair here, lest you end up like one of them. Well, there's always the warm thought of ~moe~, yes, filling the world with ~moe~ was pretty good. The very idea warmed Frankram's heart as he summoned glowing red plasma balls that surrounded him.

 

He started to make the leaps across the platforms as the Troys took notice. They haorded en masse, but the plasma balls fired off beams of energy that knocked them back as they tried to appproach. Ah ~moe~, it can give the weak the strength to fight, the hopeless hope and the frightened courage. It is a wonderful thing.

 

Meanwhile, the Reaper wasn't thinking of such nonsense. Though she was at quite a height and flying blind, she was using her superior senses, borrowed from Espeon of course, to psychically 'see' around her. All those worthless beings fighting more worthless beings. The every important thing was the prize, which was behind a rather familiar barrier-type. "Mad Blood, made by that Butler. He is trying to take on LERNA by himself, the wretched fool. Hmmm."

 

MirageGaogamon was here as well, naturally of course. He was an asset she couldn't afford to lose. "ADR-10, reapply the Chaos Infusion. No aggression however, just improve power output to 200%. Remember, your life is on the line so don't mess this up!"

 

Again, deep with Mirage, the tumor-like ADR-10 re-inserted his incredibly dirty to write for needle into Mirage's Digicore, turning from blue to a dull red this time.

 

Satisfied, the Reaper faced off with the wall of Blood. "This substance should be inferior to Chaos. So I will make my way through to deal with LERNA. The artifact is the key to getting my core program back."

 

Chaos oozed from her cable and coated her body like a coccoon, turning her features bright red as the Chaos had fully enveloped her. Pushing her hand on the Mad Blood, she found it quite sturdy. "Of course" she sighed.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

It seemed as if everyone was gathering in closer to aid in the destruction of LERNA. Funny to see good guys and bad guys come together to defeat a common enemy. Of course Butlerok seemed to have secluded himself and tried to take on LERNA by himself. Though that was to be expected since he seemed to have made it to the boss battle first. Butler could literally feel the other presences that were entering and it looked like there was one who was disrupting his control over the pseudo Mad Blood. He sighed a tad as it was most likely a member of the Divine, who else would try to wall through a literal wall of insanity. And once he made that deduction there aren't that many members who are that confident to actually try to force their way through. Final filter was most likely who could disrupt his control. Being able to just use brute force is one thing but this is some other agent of sorts. Which most likely means its that data beast Jerii from before. Butler simply let her into this spire waiting to see how his holy orbital cannon attack was going. Maybe there was something she could do. After all she was somehow chosen to be on this team. Its hard to believe that Isamy would bring someone totally useless into the fold.

Dorian on the other hand didn't really have a problem with the Troys. He was simply hiding trying to figure out how to deal with that familiar. Though he did notice something very peculiar. She didn't seem that imposing till Bob got in the picture. In fact while it seemed strong it didn't look like it could have handled Emiya or BWG if they were alone. In addition to that  it seemed that there was another member of the Counter Corp had showed up and was ready to actually attack this creature. Dorian pondered as he wondered what could this all mean. Could there really be a power that states the more you're outnumbered. If that was the case then does that mean the opposite could be true. The more you outnumber someone the weaker you get? This was just a theory he would have to watch the fight more and see what happens before he could think of some kind of plan. As it stood he would have to do his Egyptian God battery trick again to even lay a dent in any of these creatures. He'll have to think of his next move quite carefully.

[Reinforce]

Lyon

When masses of water appeared, courtesy of one of Lyon's allies, Lyon quickly took control of the water once it's purpose was finished, bringing the water to curve around him as he knocked the last few Troys that were currently attacking him away. Now with a brief lull in the onslaught against him, Lyon jumped, forming a small ice platform underneath his feet as he did and using that to rise into the air, away from the fragile platforms. Below him the water seemed to follow him up, some of it dissipating into a fine mist surrounding the area around him, some adding to his ice armour, reinforcing it to increase it's defensive capabilities and the rest just remaining as it was, spinning around him as a barrier against the Troys. The mist would serve as his eyes in the intermediate area, allowing him to 'view' any movements within the mist through his current link to it. With those set up, Lyon finally turned his attention to the thing in the middle of the dimension, which seemed to be hidden inside a spire of some sort currently, and using some of the water from the top of the barrier, started to create a large ice spear ready to shoot at LERNA once he had a clear aim at her.

 

Darcy

As she moved closer into where the being was standing, a dark pressure seemed to bear down on Darcy's mind, as if trying to unlock all her secrets. Quite annoyed at this, though currently unable to stop it from happening, Darcy was analysing anything she could find out about this thing that was affecting her while it was going. A couple of moments later, it stopped, leaving Darcy to recover from the intrusion. I'm not going to let you into my mind again without a fight, you're not the only one with mental abilities to work with. Darcy then started to fortify her mind against the pressure, for as much as she had been able to detect, trying to prevent it from looking into her mind again. Darcy thought that to be particularly important, especially since she then saw what felt like her own telekinesis powers used by LERNA. Looking at the opposing witch, Darcy could only watch as it was engulfed in the blood it had created, the black substance quickly turning into spire around LERNA. With still no urgent need to fight at all, Darcy continued her slow movements closer to the rear of the witch, taking advantage of the Troys not attacking her. It still puzzled her why, the only other person the Troys hadn't attacked was the lady from the Counter Corps who had decided to become one of the witch's minions. From what she remembered of the discussion, and of LERNA's message back when they were in the Desert Seth, the other witch was only interested in Class 3 entities, whatever that was, which the other lady obviously was, and was needed for LERNA to activate the orb. As she had been left alone even before the lady from the Counter Corps had chosen to join LERNA, Darcy was starting to suspect that she was Class 3 entity too, as she could think of no other reason for the witch to leave her alone.

[Merci]

Emiya
 
Despite the considerable amount of force he had put into his Excalibur blast, Thermopylae dodged it simply by diving back into the waters of the ominous ocean below. Of course, being a familiar, she was immune to such influence now, and being able to move in angles that a human couldn't would certainly give her an edge in any one-on-one fight against her. Then, as quickly as she disappeared, she emerged again and sent out a powerful beam of searing sunlight aimed for Ed. Emiya cursed to himself since there was no way that he'd be able to make it in time, but then Sora noticed their battle and cast a Reflect spell, diverting the blast back towards the former goddess.
 
Deciding to go with a different approach, the Counter Guardian Emiya opened up his hands and projected a peculiar bow with an arrow, preparing to use it. It looked ordinary enough - however, it was actually the legendary bow of Sir Tristan from Arthurian folklore, named the Unfailing Bow due to its power to always hit its target. Working on a conceptual level, if it was possible to hit its target, then it would undoubtedly hit no matter how hard its opponent tried to avoid it or how far they ran away. As Ed attacked, hopefully distracting Thermopylae enough not to notice what he was about to attempt.
 
"Bow of the Hunting Forest." His voice intoned deeply, aiming it at his target. "Fail-Not!"
 
Then he let go of the string and the arrow shot forth with surprising speed, cloaked in a wave of energy as it homed in on Thermopylae. Unless this familiar was somehow able to overturn its fate, it would be struck by that arrow without fail.
 
 

---

 
 

 
LERNA wasn't quite sure what was currently happening around her. Let alone the fact that more people were pouring into her beautiful barrier, her own blood was being used against her. Even after having reverted to its original form, it was being influenced by her opponent's Mad Blood to create a tornado of black liquids that eventually merged into a huge, pitch-black spire engulfing her entire massive figure. Being immune to the effects of lesser mental torture, she had to suppress a laugh, though she was mindful enough to have her tail-head bring the Orb closer to her body in case the alien blood attempted to snatch it away.
 
Shortly afterwards, using her own blood as a conduit, the voices of over three thousand monks chanting a Gregorian Chant began to ring across the spire. For a moment, she wondered if this was supposed to mean anything, since apart from annoying her it wasn't accomplishing much. She wasn't particularly religious, and did not plan on converting back to Christianity anytime soon. Perhaps the chant might have been a little more effective when used against a demon, but alas, despite her appearance this monster was not a demon or anything even remotely related to one. If he'd been expecting it to stop her or at least slow her down, then it didn't, and all she did was groan. Loudly. Extremely, extremely loudly, while blasting about dark energy beams obtained from Darcy using all eight of her heads.

 

The black spire was shaking, heavier and heavier, as LERNA focused her power upon breaking through the condensed Mad Blood. Copying the entity's blood again to negate it would be pointless, since she would only be giving him more fuel to use against her, however there were other ways in which she could utilize her powers.

 

As a Class 0 Entity - with no actual thing that could be called a name apart from 'D-Reaper Jeri Type' and powers explained by random physical coding she wasn't even going to bother decoding - waded through the mass of madness, her answer came in the form of Chaos. Straightaway, the digital being could feel something pass through her, like a metaphysical virus intruding upon and downloading all of her data in an instant, bypassing all of her defenses. Most notably, her Ties to Chaos had been copied.

 

Only moments later, the massive spire dissolved almost instantaneously as the blood it had originally used to boost its size became highly-dangerous Chaos that rejected the Mad Blood and destroyed it. As openings in the spire were being created, it still put up a decent amount of resistance, but ultimately wiped out with a wide-ranged α Decay Boom. The huge body released out huge amounts of alpha radiation that seeped into the gaps, annihating what was left of the Mad Blood's defense and letting it be utterly overcome - all of this happened within less than three seconds.

 

"DAS IST MIR SCHEIÃEGAL!!!"

 

Letting out a loud scream in German, the next thing she did was charge. Having not utilized her physical capabilities up until that point, it might've come as a shock when the supermassive monster darted across the ocean at unexpected speeds, shattering several panels below her and possibly injuring the Jeri Type in the process, and having three of her monstrous heads attempt to chomp upon the Butler-Ragnarok entity. If it succeeded, she would attempt to decostruct his body using Chaos. More and more entities were entering her range, and it was only a matter of time before she had a wide range of abilities to choose from.

 

Not only that, but while practically all the entities in her realm had been stained by magic to some extent, there remained one who - while enhanced by technology - was completely human in every possible way, with a human soul. That was the entity known as Commander Cincinnatus Foster, otherwise known as 'Maverick'. Looking into his history was slightly interesting, but more important than that was the advantages taking control of him would give her.

 

Without him even knowing, the mark of a hydra placed over an infinity symbol began to appear on his neck, a faint voice whispering at the back of his head, Foster's mental impulses were slowly but surely overwritten. It wouldn't take long for him to have the strange desire to sabotage the Counter Corps, and turn against everyone else in favor of the Witch of Infinite Possibilites. No matter how mentally trained he was, nothing could ever possibly prepare him for the power of pure, absolute despair.

[Phantom Roxas]

Sora's Heart

 

The girl swung her Keyblade at Vanitas, but the man simply jumped to avoid the attack. He covered in the air, looking down on the girl.

 

"Xion… You know, back when Sora was working alongside the Organization, he hadn't the smallest idea of who we were. And yet, here we stand, face to face, although poor Sora is still blissfully unaware of either of us."

 

"It's been so long since Sora took in Ventus' heart, Vanitas. Why can't you just give up and accept that we're apart of both of them now?"

 

"Oh, believe me, I do. Once I take control of Sora, I simply wish to pick up where Sora left off. I will reclaim Kingdom Hearts for myself! Of course, this Witch, LERNA, has an interesting proposition as well. With her power, I could create all the Unversed I could ever hope for! Use their power to create despair throughout all of the worlds!"

 

"But you'll just be her slave!"

 

"True, but she and I have similar goals. Whether or not I'm her familiar, I still get what I want."

 

"Not if I stop you."

 

Vanitas stopped, raising his eyebrow. He chuckled for a moment, and suddenly began to burst into laughter. "Oh, please! You have got to be joking! You, stop me?"

 

Xion held her Keyblade up high, summoning four pillars of light, all of which began to move towards Vanitas. Vanitas swung his dark Keyblade, hoping to block the lights, but he was pushed back, stumbling on his feet. Xion jumped, striking at Vanitas, but he was able to lock his Keyblade against hers.

 

"Thunder!" Xion cried out. Thunderbolts began to appear around him, electrocuting Vanitas, while Xion was unharmed. As Xion attacked her with Keyblade again, Vanitas began to submerged himself within a shadow in the ground. The shadow began to move around, circling Xion, but the girl surrounded herself with more light pillars, which moved forward in different directions. However, Vanitas nonetheless emerged from the shadows, stabbing his Keyblade through Xion's stomach.

 

"One down," Vanitas boasted. As Xion fell to the ground, her Keyblade slowly began to disappear. Vanitas held out his hand, allowing the Kingdom Key to appear within his grip. The handle turned black, while the blade itself was red, and the edge more pointed. Vanitas looked up, seeing the stairs floating in the void.

 

"Roxas…" Xion muttered. Please, you have to… kill… Vanitas."

 

Crystals began to form along Xion's body while Vanitas simply ignored her, approaching the staircase. He knew Roxas was still running down, but Vanitas was hungry for another fight. "How do you like that, Roxas? One of your dearest friends, and you barely even remembered her." Vanitas turned around, knowing that someone else was nearby. "Ah, so the star of our show is finally here." He looked at a young man, suited up in his silver armor, with an Ultima Weapon in hand. "It's been a long time, Ventus."

 

---

Arthur / MirageGaogamon / Eria / Sora

 

Sora suddenly started to fall down, prompting Flygon to carry Arthur down as they flew after him. Flygon caught his tail around Sora, who see, to be startled to find himself caught off guard. Flygon loosened his grip, allowing Sora to fly back up.

 

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

 

Sora placed his hand against his heart, feeling that it was in pain. "I'm… not sure. Something in my chest."

 

"So, what, are you sick?"

 

"No, not like that. It feels like another one of our friends just died."

 

Arthur grit his teeth. "Wouldn't surprise me. But, who do you think it was?"

 

"I don't know." Sora grabbed his Keyblades and looked at Nero and Arthur. "I feel like… there's something I should give to the both of you." Sora pointed both of his Keyblades at Nero and Arthur, and each of the young men were covered in bright lights. When the light disappeared, Arthur was wearing gloves, while Nero's costume change would be a bit different. "This is something Master Yen Sid taught me once. All these extra powers I've been using are called a 'Drive'. Eventually you'll be able to use it on your own to boost various powers you have, but for now, you two have to rely on someone else's power to make it work."

 

"Why are you only giving us this power?"

 

"It only works with someone who can wield a Keyblade. Nero, I'm sorry, I should have given it to you sooner. I just didn't know how. I think… my memories have been getting all messed up ever since Emiya asked me to join the Counter Corps."

 

Arthur held out his glove. On the back of his hand was a bronze plate with the face of a wolf engraved on it. He wished for its powers to work, but nothing happened. "Nothing."

 

"You probably won't be able to use a Drive until you get your Keyblade."

 

Arthur sighed. "Let's hope that's soon." Looking down, Arthur would see Emiya using a bow against LERAN's familiar. Arthur shook his head and held up his crossbow. "I'm nothing like my father."

 

Eria and Feraligatr appeared beside Sora and Arthur, the two of them riding in on a slide made of ice. Looking on it, Arthur could see the torn up bodies of Troys lined alongside it, but as Eria approached on her ice platform, she commanded the ice slide to melt away, allowing the Troys to fall into the tainted waters below.

 

"Any luck, Eria?" Sora asked.

 

Eria shook her head. "Nothing, just more of the Troys. What's going on here?"

 

Sora turned to Arthur, trying to find the right words. "Arthur… who is your father?"

 

Arthur was silent, looking at Sora and Eria. He looked out for MirageGaogamon, but his Digimon companion was tearing through more and more Troys off in the distance, enough so that Arthur could only barely see him in the darkness even with his regular amount of "sun vision".

 

"Arthur, you said Erebos was a distant relative of yours. How?"

 

Arthur nodded to Eria. "Alright, this is going to be a bit hard to explain. I'm what's called a demigod. My father was a god, known as Apollo. He met my mother, but she died when I was born. I guess, back before I was born, there was some rebellion against the gods. My great-grandfather was Kronos, but his son, my dad's father, Zeus, overthrew him for control of the throne. Needless to say, he wanted payback for that. Turns out that after Kronos was defeated a second time, the gods felt like just giving away their kids, like they were bargaining chips or some crap like that. My dad went to a couple who used to work for Kronos and just let them take care of me, and I was raised thinking I was their kid, not a demigod or anything like that. My father said it was some kind way to show that the gods were willing to give their old enemies a chance at redemption. What a load."

 

"Arthur," Eria said. "I… I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry. That must have been why you joined the Divine."

 

"Right. I was hoping the Divine would give me the chance to make the gods know what it was like to be manipulated. If they wanted to run my life, I wanted them to know how I felt."

 

"You know you can't do that, right?"

 

"I know. And that's why I didn't care when I… when I made your friends work for me."

 

Eria held her hands tight and bit her lip, shaking her head. "I still think, no matter what happened to you in the past, you shouldn't do such horrible things."

 

"I know. And I'll do everything I can to make up for that, if you just give me a chance. When we get to the Door of Origin, we'll bring your friends back, just the way you remember them."

 

Eria stared at Arthur, trying to figure him out. In just one day, he had gone from a hateful jerk to someone who wants everything back to normal. "Is that what you really want, Arthur?"

 

Flygon looked up at Arthur. Arthur felt pity for the Pokémon. He doesn't want Silver to have died for nothing, Arthur thought. "I do. I've hated my father and his family for years. Now, I've been starting to miss them. I joined the Divine because I wanted to escape all of that. I want to help you guys, because…" He wiped his eyes with his hand, and looked up at Eria and Sora. "I'm sorry. I went back to the Digital World to join MirageGaogamon. He was my best friend, and I just… I ditched the people that were supposed to help me. They wanted to be my friends, too! But I just couldn't handle having to choose between two worlds. I just… none of our friends needed to die. The only people who need to die are that LERNA and the ones in the Divine who don't give a damn about what they've done."

 

Eria approached Arthur, holding out her hand. She smiled at him, and Arthur sheathed his sword, taking Eria's hand. He stepped off of Flygon, who began to hover above them. "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around Arthur, holding him tight. "We'll save our worlds. Just tell your father what you need to say. I'm sure he'll forgive you."

 

"You don't know what the gods from my world are like," Arthur muttered.

 

"It's okay," Sora said. Realizing that there was still other people nearby, Eria let go of Arthur and turned around, clearing her throat nonchalantly, letting Sora continue what he was saying. "Listen, Arthur, where I come from, there were all kinds of worlds. The friends I met, they never really left me. They're always a part of me, right here." Sora pointed at his heart, smiling. He thought of Yachiru and Kenpachi, how they were so happy together, like a father watching over his daughter. "And actually, one of the worlds I went to had gods like the ones you spoke of. I'm friends with Zeus' son, Hercules. His father loves him, and I'm sure your father loves you to."

 

"But… Hercules is Roman," Arthur said.

 

Sora held his hands behind his head. "What's 'Roman'?"

 

Arthur shook his head. "Nevermind. I get what you're saying, Sora."

 

Sora nodded. "Alright, then let's beat this LERNA once and for all!" Sora took off once again, flying directly towards LERNA and firing beams of light directly from his floating Keyblades.

 

Eria turned to Arthur. "So… if your family traces back to gods, where does that leave Erebos?"

 

Arthur held out his blade and his crossbow. "My uncle, with more "great"'s in front of that than I'd care to count. Don't worry, he's one relative I have no reason to be nice to if I ever meet him."

 

Eria rested a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "You're sure you can do this?"

 

Arthur looked back at Eria and nodded. "I do." Taking a step forward, Arthur closed his eyes, trying to focus. His weapons were so weak compared to everyone else. Troys, Void creatures, those were just foot soldiers and mindless monsters. He need power. Real power. He was grateful that his father was showing favor to him, but even being a demigod wasn't working out for him. He pointed his crossbow forward and laid his blade on top of it. Both of these weapons have helped me out, but I can't win with just them. And I can't put the lives of everyone in the Counter Corps on the line by making them risk their lives for me. I need something more I need… Arthur opened his eyes, which began to shine with a light bright enough to attract at least a hundred Troys. Eria turned away, trying to shield her eyes from the intense light, and surrounded Arthur and herself with tides of water. Many of the Troys that made contact with the water were frozen, while more of them were sliced apart by MirageGaogamon, who had gotten closer to them.

 

"Are you okay?" MirageGaogamon asked to Eria.

 

"Yes. Thank you."

 

"What is Arthur doing?"

 

Eria smiled. "Getting ready to fight to save us all, I guess."

 

MirageGaogamon sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

 

More Troys began to approached, and while many of them were taken down once again by Eria, MachGaogamon, Flygon, and Feraligatr, a few more approached Arthur. However, just when they were about to strike, a silver light tore through them all. In Arthur's hand, he held a silver blade, at the end which had three small blades on the side.

 

"It can't be…" MirageGaogamon muttered in surprise.

 

"The Keyblade," Arthur said. He cast a few Fire spells with his Keyblade incinerating more Troys. "MirageGaogamon, take care of the Troys. Sora gave me a couple of new powers to go along with my Keyblade." He took out his Digivice, holding it up to MirageGaogamon to heal any wounds the Digimon might have had. "We'll need you at full strength."

 

"Arthur, that Drive ability Sora mentioned. Are you going to take MirageGaogamon's power?"

 

MirageGaogamon raised an eyebrow. "What is she talking about?"

 

Arthur nodded. "You'll see. You and I are finally going to fight together once more." Arthur held up his Keyblade, and the bronze on his glove began to shine. A beam of light shot at the Keyblade, hitting at MirageGaogamon, but he felt no pain.

 

"Just like old times, huh?"

 

"That's right, old friend." MirageGaogamon completely vanished, turning into particles of light that began to cover Arthur. The young man's outfit began to change, becoming a blue cloak with a yellow collar. Arthur's black gloves had turned metallic, and golden sparks trailed behind him. Keyblade in hand, he noticed that he began to float on his own. He look at his friends, and smiled at Eria and gave Flygon a pat on the head. "Stay safe, all of you."

 

Eria walked up to Arthur and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You too."

 

Arthur smiled at Eria. "I promise we'll save Gagagigo."

 

As Arthur took off, Eria looked at Flygon and Feraligatr and nodded.

 

"So Flygon, what did you think of hanging out with her boyfriend?"

 

"It's not like I'm dating him, Feraligatr!"

 

Flygon simply muttered his name, because unlike Feraligatr, Eria was unable to understand what he said.

 

"Yeah, that's a good point," Feraligatr said. "Eria, why did you kiss him?"

 

Eria blushed. "I-it was for good luck!"

 

"Riiiiiiiight."

 

Eria groaned, although it was getting a hard to see without Arthur to serve as a light for them. She created an ice barrier around the group to stop more Troys from arriving, with spikes that would hopefully keep them in check. "I'm sure the Keyblade will help Arthur and Sora succeed."

***

It didn't take long for Arthur to catch up to Sora, but as they did, LERNA's α Decay Boom was firing towards them. Sora used Double Reflegun to absorb the attack and send it right back at LERNA. However, LERNA had charged forward just before the attack could hit, and Sora used Double Aerogun to create barriers around Arthur and himself, pushing them both out of her way.

 

"Sora, you go after LERNA," Arthur suggested. "I'll take care of the Divine from here."

 

"You're sure?"

 

Arthur turned to look at Jeriii, seeing the monstrosity that had cost Silver, Espeon, and Salamence their lives. "We've got some unfinished business from back in the Desert Seth."

 

Sora nodded, immediately understanding. "Alright. Be safe." Sora flew away, heading towards LERNA.

 

Arthur rubbed his cheek, thinking of Eria wishing him good luck. "I know." Arthur flew towards Jeriii, and without waiting for her to respond, he swung his Keyblade, sending an X-shaped shockwave the size of one of MirageGaogamon's Double Crescent Mirage attacks towards. "I'm here for you, you jabroni!"

[The Warden]

(_|The Reaper Jeriii|_)

 

The Reaper grunted non-comittedly as the Mad Blood opened wide, allowing her entry. The Chaos that shelled her drifted away, coating both pairs of wings like a glistening red shield. She took the entry as the blood closed behind her, allowing her in.

 

Very prepared to face LERNA, she felt an unusual presence. Something was observing her data, copying understanding. It must be the witch, surely. Nothing else would be able to hack into her data like that. But, it was there and gone in an instant; and her hypothesis was proven very correct as the Mad blood belonging to LERNA formed into Chaos instead. The Reaper was awashed in it, and it was glorious.

 

Perhaps it was her euphoria that left her vulnerable as one of LERNA's mighty heads charged through and sent her flying with a slam. Cuts had been made into her arms, and they leaked her precious Chaos. After the shock wore off she had the sense to slow her flight of descent, but this was cancelled by a sneak attack to her back. "I'm here for you, you b****!"

 

If not for the Chaos protecting it, her wings would have been shredded then and there; her back took the major brunt of the blow, and a deep X-shaped cut was left imprinted in it. With a quick but furious twirl she faced her assailant, but, she lowered her guard as she faced him. "Really?" was all she said as she locked eyes with Arthur.

 

The cuts from before still bled Chaos, but she used her hands to block them up until the healing protocol could intialize. She stared directly at Arthur, but, the weapon in his hands; it was, something else entirely. The light it gave, so bright. She took every effort to not avert her eyes. Was this the same power as MarineAngemon's? "You choose now of all times to commit to your petty vengeance? When the world is on the brink of oblivion, you choose to pursue your own selfish interests? How human of you. The world is crumbling around you, and yet like a human, you simply focus on the little things. Look human" she declared, pointing at the enormous hydra-being charging towards the mass of Troys and the combined force of te Counter Corps and Divine.

 

"Look; LERNA is charging forth to attack the others with her bulk, and yet you focus on me; a threat insignificant by comparison, as humiliating as that is to say. And for what? A mere moment of satisfaction? Some kind of peace for that other human? It's not my fault he died trying to protect you. It was by his own hand he overexerted himself; it was by my allies' hand that his two Pokemon fell. And you do not know, do you? It was by the true kindness in my heart that I allowed your Digimon to live. I had every right to kill him, as spoils of battle. But I did not. It was not worth the effort to destroy a stupid animal" she said, then laughed.

 

It was a warped laugh you would hear from someone, or something that had never understood, or even heard of the concept of humor. She laughed so hard she used her right hand to steady her head, which allowed the Chaos to bleed once more. When her hand was removed, it left a trail of Chaos, though in this case, it resembled blood. She grinned cruelly at Arthur as it ran down her face. "So, you still want that petty vengeance for deaths that were not my own doing? Fine, you can try. I see you are stronger than your average human partner, but you still cannot equal me. So come, strike me down... if you can" she hissed.

 

---

 

(_|Magical Girl Lydia & Hellspawn Sarah|_)

 

As Lydia channeled her spell, Sarah was still fighting off the Troys. Giving up ont he flamethrower due to low mana, she had been resorting to just unleashing swarms of punches through the air. "Y'know, if you feel like finishing this spell any time soon, that would be f**king super" she said over her shoulder as she sent another Troy flying.

 

Lydia was just focusing intently on her spell, so much though that a bead of sweat ran down her face. As Sarah sent another Troy flying, she opened her eyes, which burned with a bright orange flame, for the thread had reached the end of the wave of Troys. "ULTIMATE FIRE MAGIC!" she cried whilst doing three spins on the tome, one for each word. Her sentence ended as she held her staff back. And then... and then... and then... she thrust is forward whilst shouting: "BANG!"

 

The strange thread that had winding about detonated in a glorious chain of explosions that wound straight through the mass of Troys. The force of the explosion sent most of them flying into the ocean, though they also cracked a good deal of the platforms as well. Sarah gave her best brow raise as she punched another Troy. "Bang?"

 

Lydia scratched the back of her head as she looked a little flush. "Well, you see, I, I get to name my spells. And there was this one show i liked, with this funny joke about magic being really comlicated, then one of the characters took the wand from the wizard and just cried bang. It was pretty funny, and yeah, that's how it got named. I was still new to the magic thing, and I, thought it would be funny" she admitted.

 

Sarah shook her head in disbelief; was this girl a ditz or a gen- no, not genius. Uh, relatively above average, no. Well, she was creative; a creative ditz. "Okay, when this is all over, you've got to tell me about your world. Cause it sounds even crazier than mine" Sarah remarked.

 

Lydia laughed, but only one real ha, like the ha of someone who realized it wasn't a joke. "Oh, yeah, maybe; but, it's not as crazy as you think and I- OH CRAP!" she cried and pointed ahead.

 

LERNA was coming their way, and Sarah shrinked a little in surprise. Just looking at the beast was horrific, and, her mother. The flames. OH GOD! She gripped her head as the memories forced themselves back into her head. She screamed, rather loudly.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

Nero sat there and absorbed the conversation, during which, Sora had granted him the ability to use Drive Forms. Nero wasn't all too familiar with the usage of Drives but he could defiantly use it to his advantage. With the acceptance of the power his red cloak was replaced with a black one and nothing else had really changed about him. Nero then watched as Arthur had received his keyblade and activated his Drive abilities to use with MirageGaoGamon. Nero was trapped in a dome of ice made by Eria, to which he turned his back to her and started walking to its edge. "Will you fight LERNA as well?" Nero suddenly said to Eria. "You could join me you know, in my Drive Form, you could be strong enough to help Arthur." Nero quickly gave the ice barrier a slice with his Keyblade, shattering a hole large enough for him to walk through. "That is to say, if you wanted to be strong enough." Nero commented, his words were confusing now, edgy, nothing that Sora would have seen him saying, but Sora wasn't here.

 

Nero & Matthew Supplex

 

Nero jumped to another platform and another, making his way toward Lerna. It was then that he had seen a man fighting Troys with a gun-like weapon; Nero's memory was now fully functioning and he recalled this man flying in with Eria, and Arthur. However, he had also never seen this man within Unlimited Blade Works. "Who are you?" Nero simply asked, standing on the edge of the platform Matthew was also on. "My name is Matthew Supplex, and you might be?" The two were staring each other down, never having met before they were bound to be suspicious of each other. "Nero. Your allegiance?" Matthew looked him in the eye. "Counter Corps, former Divine. Yourself?" Nero returned Matthew's stare. "Counter Corps, formerly Deceased." Nero smirked at himself, it was a dark joke that only he would get and it showed in Matthew's confused face. "Good to meet you I suppose..." Matthew said, not really knowing what to make of the situation.

 

"How would you like to form with me and become more powerful?" Nero just blurted out, Matthew looked as if he was thinking about some sort of complication that might surface. "Hm, I don't know if that would be a good idea. Given the circumstance, I suppose more power in any area would be a good thing, hm..." Matthew debated the possibility of merging his powers with Nero's for quite some time, so long that Nero actually had to fend off a few Troys while he was thinking. "I suppose we could give it a try, how does this work?" Nero didn't reply, he just rose his Keyblade to activate the Drive Form. Nero's black cloak had split and formed into two pitch black wings, his eyes turned completely black as well. Nero had in his hand a new keyblade with a black and red design.

 

[spoiler=Burning Darkness]

 

 

 

Nero flew off with the flight speed of a jet and hovered next to Sora. "Let's finish this." Nero said but then turned to Sora. "We should go in recklessly." Nero commented and then turned to LERNA, studying her form.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

LERNA's Barrier:

 

Foster continued to drive forward as he was overwhelmed by the Witch's Kiss, burning into his very psyche and bringing forth his own doubts of what he had become. He was nothing more than the plaything of gods, a pawn in their games on boards across the multiverse. How many had he killed and tortured just so his side could continue existing? How much use was he here, in the middle of this abyss? Despair took over the proud warrior as he stepped on the gas, plunging straight towards the inky liquid in front of him, and if something wasn't done to correct their course, everyone in the Duelhog would shortly become Troys.

Thermopylae felt enriched the more people she fought. Every new combatant gave her renewed strength and power, and not even Emiya or Sora could stop her. The moment the Reflected beam of light struck her, she vanished, becoming a ball of light to travel along that beam and reappear at the other end, firing more beams of light down at anyone she could see. The more of those that fought against her, the more that she could use her own power to win. As the arrow curved up to meet her current location in midair, Thermopylae launched a wave of intense heat, several thousand degrees in intensity, at the arrow. Unable to avoid the oncoming attack, the arrow's flight went into the wave, causing it to ignite and melt. Eventually, the projectile that Emiya fired did hit Thermopylae...only it had been rendered into nothing but ash, which harmlessly brushed against her featureless face. The Familiar of Hope responded in kind with her own attack: 50 Troy javelins carried by 50 Troy hands, and being propelled by 50 bursts of flame. 50 simultaneous shockwaves erupted in the air of the barrier as the javelins hurtled towards Emiya's general vicinity at supersonic speeds, their sheer force containing as much power behind it as a missile.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

It seemed that the Gregorian Chant did not have the desired result as Butlerok would have hoped. Unfortunately things became more perilous as LERNA had changed all of her former Mad Blood to that new nasty Chaos stuff that Jerii was emitting. With this change in the balance of power Butlerok found himself in deep trouble. It seemed that his spire of Mad Blood was starting to crash down around him. He was able to regain flight quite easily and since the magic that maintain his whole universal mass theory was still active then he didn't really have to worry about the decaying effects of Chaos. What was interesting though was that this beast decided to actually decide to use her own body to start engaging in combat. Butler didn't know what to do but as the three heads were coming at him activated his Alpha Stigma once again and blasted one he with a Graviraga hoping to force it to go down. Then on the second head he managed to get off a massive Reflaga and bounced that head backwards. Unfortunately he couldn't take down the third head. It seemed as if Butlerok was to be swallowed whole. But after a second of thought that didn't seem to be a bad thing. LERNA must have thought that the Chaos could have fully dissolved the Kishin but that wasn't the case. Well it was the case but it definitely wasn't going to be anytime soon. Butlerok decided that this was a good chance to take the beast out from the inside. If LERNA truly was a soul given form then ingesting the Mad Blood without synchronizing like she did before basically is akin to eating poison. Butlerok started to ooze his Mad Blood and proceed to attempt to eat LERNA from the inside out. The Mad Blood began to encroach all inside of the super powerful creature. Luckily for her the Chaos that she had decided to resonate with was doing a good job of keeping the Mad Blood at bay. The problem with that becomes two fold. First, LERNA has to keep the Chaos going to keep Butlerok at bay. Second there was someone else who had control of Chaos. So the more Chaos LERNA makes to keep Butlerok in place the more power she gives Jerii. It definitely wasn't the worst turn of events.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A lot of interesting things started to happen as Dorian was pretty much spectating at this point. First he noticed that Butler's attack had somehow failed and what was worse some strange ooze was now flooding the scene. It looked like this was going to be something that he might not have made it through if he didn't get help at the last second from his newest friend Bob. BlackWarGreymon flew over and swooped Dorian up so they dodged the entire river of Chaos. Dorian was surveying the area, but it was pretty obvious that the lazy good guys were finally on the move and starting to level up. Both he and BlackWarGreymon noticed that the Blue Dog Digimon had somehow digivolved into the light of hope once again. Though this looked like it was once again something that was going to come up short. They didn't have the combined power to actually do anything to the beast he would have to think of a strategy to best this thing. It was then that he saw Butlerok fighting for his life and seemingly get swallowed. Dorian maintained faith in his faithful servant this wouldn't be the end of him. He just had to figure out how he would contribute. 

 

And like a magical coincidence he saw a bright flash of light come from beneath him and BlackWarGreymon and it seemed to be Arthur with his own upgrade. It seemed like he was able to manifest some weird key sword like structure but instead of attacking the massive tentacle boss creature he was attacking Jerii. Dorian did nothing but facepalm as he pointed to two new combatants and had BWG fly down there. Seriously? This is why I hate good guys. Only they would do something this stupid without having the logical excuse of insanity. That creature's ooze has the power of decay. It would be foolish to actually challenge her BlackWarGreymon said trying to be somewhat concerned for the boys well being. Dorian then had was would be the equivalent of a Jimmy Neutron Brainblast. He started to put two and two together. He figured out Butler's strategy albeit risky he could not let Jerii be distracted by this constant annoyance. 

Once he was close he jumped off of BlackWarGreymon and did a flip in the air. OSEBO HUNT! Just then two energy leopards came from the ground and tried to attack Arthur. Then BlackWarGreymon flew down and stood between Jerii and Arthur depending on how Arthur dodged Dorian's attack. Dorian looked Arthur and lifted out his hand. Then it seemed that the few drops of black blood that were on his clothes came together and from that no little floating sphere of Black blood came Kenpachi's Zanpaktou. Dorian snickered. You two go deal with the big boss he said speaking to BWG and Jerii I don't think me and this peasant here will be that much of a difference anyway. BlackWarGreymon nodded and looked back at Jerii waiting for her to make the first move.

 

So Arthur, is this what you're like when you have power? Instead of helping you actually intend to be in the way?

[Kingdom Xathers]

"Hey--HEY!! WHAT THE *EFF!* DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" a bound Melvin shouted out as he realized that Foster was about to ram the Duelhog into the inky substance before them, with Russell Oxford and Marzell yelling in horror and protest as well.

Alexander turned around upon hearing this, horror seizing him at the sight and possibility of his friends and allies being killed. "FOSTER!!!"

Almost instinctively, Umbris the Neo-Spacian Umbra Panther reappeared from Russell's shadow and, upon Alexander's unspoken request, phazed into Foster's body, momentarily assuming control of the soldier's movements; he, through Foster, immediately slammed his foot on the break and made a sharp turn, the Duelhog stopping just a few yards away from the Chaos before driving back the other way.

"Huh... damn, that was close," Umbris spoke through Foster. "What the hell got into him?"

"I dunno, but it might have something to do with that hickey on your neck," Melvin chimed in.

"Hickey? Dafuq--?!" Umbris blurted out before catching a glimpse of himself--or rather, Foster's body--in the rear-view mirror, taking note of the dark symbol of Foster's neck. "... ah, dammit, it's a Witch's Kiss, no wonder...!"

"Witch's... what?" Marzell uttered, rather confused.

"Let's just call it a "mind-control spell" and leave it at that," Umbris replied, meanwhile taking note that Foster seemed to be trying to retake control of his body. "Whatever LERNA was trying to make Foster do, it's almost completely rewritten his functions, if you will. I might not... be able to maintain a hold on Foster for much longer, but--"

"--what--what are you doing...?!" Foster's voice returned to normal, a pained expression crossing his face. His hands gave the steering wheel a jerk, causing the Duelhog to make another sharp turn. "Why are you... trying to stop me--?!"

"--dammit, this is not good," Umbris spoke, regaining control of Foster's body. "Now I see what's going on here; LERNA's trying to fill Foster's mind with despair. That's why he's acting so suicidal."

Russell and Marzell were quite shocked at this revelation. "Well," Russell spoke, "is there anything we can do about this?"

"Well, we could just toss him overboard--"

"SHUT UP, MELVIN!!"

"... well, damn," Melvin replied at this outburst from his fellow passengers. "Now I know how that Mokuba-kid feels."

Ignoring Melvin's rantings, Umbris replied to Russell, "Only thing we can do is restrain Foster, keep him tied up. In the meantime, I'll try and keep Foster's despair in check, if not dispel it outright."

"You can do that?!"

Umbris formed Foster's mouth into a small, sad smile. "Trust me... I've been doing it for Alex for years...."

 

 

 

Heaving out a sigh of relief that the crisis had been averted, at least for the moment, Alexander resumed his fight against the Troys.  That was, until his attention was brought to the porcelain doll-esque Minion dressed in red.  He could tell just by looking at it that it was ratgher powerful, much more so than the Troys running about.  But there was something else about it... something... familiar.

 

 

 

Further away from the fighting, Sayer hovered above on one of his R.O.D.s, observing the scene.  He knew that it would be folly to simply enter the fray without having a clear idea of what he'd be dealing with.  He observed LERNA, taking note of how she was capable of even duplicating the abilities of the other combatants, among the other abilities normally shared amongst most Witches.  In his arms was what appeared to be a stuffed ragdoll, primarily pink with a white, "puppy-like" face and a black bonnet.  Sayer subconsciously petted this "doll" as he continued to observe, a small, twisted smile growing across his lips....

[Reinforce]

Ayame and Naomi

As the spire around the giant hydra collapsed, the two girls were being beset by an onslaught of Troys, nearly overwhelming them on the platform. With a burst of her aura, a sound wave exploded outwards from Naomi, knocking away the whole group of Troys into the water. With some free space around them again, Naomi quickly placed another wall of wind around them, giving the two girls a brief break to recover. With the wind wall still going, Ayame was looking through it towards the massive hydra, watching it's movements and attempting to figure out a weak point to target. Obviously having seen something from her location, Ayame aimed her staff towards the being, and started to charge it up with lightning. Next to her, Naomi was continuing to control the wind wall and, seeing that Ayame had a point in mind to shoot at, opened a small gap in the wind in the direction Ayame was aiming, leaving an undistorted line of sight to aim and shoot down. With a slight crackle, a bolt of lightning sped through the air, only to miss it's intended target as the huge being charged forward, passing through the air where the Orb from the Desert Seth had been moments before. Turning, Ayame adjusted her aim for the new location of the hydra, the small gap in the air wall moving with her, and charged up a second bolt as she waited for LERNA to stop her movements before firing a second bolt directly towards the Orb once more.

 

Lyon

from his platform of ice, Lyon was focussing on aiming the massive ice shard that he had formed above him. In front of him, LERNA charged forward to attack the creature who had first decided to attack her, managing to completely eat Butlerok. That wasn't really Lyon's concern though, as with the hydra much closer to him, it would be far easier to aim it at the gigantic being. Having an idea just before he launched the spear, Lyon brought his sword up to point at the spear and brought up the black flames around the sword. Using a bit more power to control the flames as well, he sent some of it up to hit the spear, the freezing flames quickly taking hold around the whole ice shard. As the flames died back down on the sword, he threw the ice shard, flames and all, directly at LERNA's front head, hoping that it was fast enough and heavy enough to damage the gigantic being.

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur

 

"I know that I should focus on LERNA, but you said it yourself, you're insignificant compared to her. I trust Sora to be able to fight her, so while he's busy doing that, I'm taking care of you. Consider yourself more a test of my power. I lost to you lost time, and there's no way I'm going after LERNA until I'm sure I can at least defeat someone like you. However, don't even try to pretend that you're innocent in all of this. Silver may have died of exhaustion, and you're friend may have killed one of the Pokémon, but the other one sacrificed his life saving Flygon from you. At the very least, I'm avenging him."

 

Arthur could hear the sound of leopards charging from behind. Turning around, Arthur fired a Double Crescent Mirage when they were close enough before jumping back so that Jeriii was to his left and Dorian was to his right. "Of course. Stay out of this, Dorian. I'll deal with you later."

 

Holding his free hand to his side, a ball of light gathered within Arthur's grasp he tossed it up, like a flare, signaling for help. However, he knew that it painted a huge target on his back, so he had to hope that his allies would arrive first.

 

---

Eria

 

Fortunately, Eria saw the signal, so she pointed Flygon and Feragilatr towards it.

 

"Let's go!" she declared.

 

"What about LERNA?" Feraligatr asked.

 

"We'll just have to trust the others. Arthur's outnumbered right now."

 

"What, he couldn't last five minutes without us?"

 

"Shut up and hurry!" Eria used her ice slides so that she and Feraligatr could get towards Arthur faster, while Flygon flew ahead of them.

 

---

Arthur kept looking back and forth between Jeriii and Dorian, waiting to see if either of them would strike again. However, he felt the tip of a Troy's spear graze his arm, and Arthur knew that Troys were coming close to him. "Go away!" he said, swinging his Keyblade. His eyes shone on the Troys, and once the stickmen found themselves covered in the light, they were perfectly still and simply fell down to the ground. However, the Troys managed to land on some ice panels before leaping off elsewhere. Arthur was breathing heavily, but turned back to both of his opponents, deciding to answer Dorian's question. "I'd be in the way if I was trying to help. We don't need either of you to help us beat LERNA. I promise you, before this is all over, both of you will be dead. I don't see why you die now rather than later."

 

Arthur looked at BlackWarGreymon. "But you, you're a Digimon too, right? Come on, don't you want to help MirageGaogamon and me? It'd be nice, having another Digimon around." In the distance, Arthur could see that Eria and the two Pokémon were coming closer. He smiled, since it seemed that splitting up from the group didn't last very long. "Of course." Arthur increased the light in the surrounding area, shining just enough so that the others could clearly see Dorian, BlackWarGreymon, and Jeriii. Recognizing Jeriii, Flygon growled and immediately flew towards her, firing a Shadow Ball in her direction. Feraligatr merely snarled at BlackWarGreymon before following Eria, who summoned a surge of water that coiled around Dorian in an attempt to encase him in case. With no other option, Arthur charged towards BlackWarGreymon. "I'm not going to ask again!" Arthur cried out as he fired one more Double Crescent Mirage.

[Love of Ghibli]

Dorian could only raise an eyebrow at the Arthur's logic it was so defeatist and beneath him. Such words of cowardice tainted his ears. It was sickening. But of course that wouldn't be all the little man somehow asked for help. BlackWarGreymon looked as a water child and a big alligator like creature stood before him now. Dorian simply shook his head. These idiots were really going to attempt to do combat with the Divine now while that massive threat is still thrashing about. Dorian turned visibly angry and his eye started to twitch. Oso, a massive energy snake wrapped around him and repelled the water attack. Osebo, an energy leopard leaped directly into the shadow ball and ate it. Anansi, Behind the snake protecting him the more spider like manifestation of Anansi appeared. This golden spider monster stuck out two of its legs and fully intercepted Arthur's Double Crescent Mirage. 

 

Dorian looked back at Jerii and BlackWarGreymon and the rage in his face was visible. I'll take all of them. He said as that was there cue to exit. But before that BlackWarGreymon stepped forward to look at Arthur closer. You smell like that other digimon from before. I assume you're his human. If you really feel that you can have no impact on the battle with that other creature...then I truly pity the both of you. I pity him for having to rely on you and you for not understanding the concept of self worth. I admit I too have learned how weak I truly am in the time I have joined the Divine, but that will not keep me from fighting the true battle. You say you would only get in the way, but if you are the one who makes a digimon digivolve then is that not a contribution? Could you not use your powers to keep these stickmen at bay while this Sora as you call her does the major fighting? Why would I join a faction full of beings who don't believe in their own power? I cannot help but decline your offer. Even the one person who was overtly powerful and kind submitted herself to LERNA. What message can the heroes give if all you will do is give up? I will use my power to aid in this battle I would hope you do the same.

Dorian was simply rolling his eyes during this uninterrupted pep talk. 
 

Oh so Arthur gets a pep talk now? Ugh this nobility thing is getting on my nerves. He thought too himself.
Dorian...I see him Oso spoke inside the mind. See who again? The traitor with Rod you desire. He just came in the portal and is sort of in the rear. He's riding what I think is a warthog like off that shooting game you're so bad at. Did you have to add that last part? Yes. I hate you too. But wait, Melvin is here. Good Jerii can take care of herself...itself...whatever I just need that Millenium Rod. 

Bob! BlackWarGreymon turned around. There's a psycho with gray crazy looking hair somewhere back at the entrance. I need you to get him and bring him here or just bring that gold rod he has with him. Either or is good. We need back-up plans. BlackWarGreymon nodded and immediately flew away leaving his last thoughts with Arthur. Dorian then stepped forward and decided to try "reasoning" with the good guy one more time. Look I get it you're weak, useless, and too stubborn to do the smart thing and kill yourself. I understand all of that.  But right now...right now is not the best time to act all villain psycho-ish and go on a revenge plot. For this one fight can we put our differences aside and just win this fight. I promise next go around my crew and I will find your crew and you and we can duke it out there. Deal? Dorian immediately thrust his hand forward for a hand shake even though he and Arthur were clearly meters apart.   

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Matthew Supplex (Within Nero)

Matthew was able to watch and support Nero's actions from within him, but there was something else inside Nero too. Matthew didn't pay it much mind, nor would he acknowledge it if it could be avoided. "Does he know he's killing you?" It asked, Matthew didn't turn to see the copy of him that was now talking. The bodily features were exact, however, his cloths were inverted, it wearing a red suit with a white tie, it also wore Matthew's hat they he no longer possessed. "Those wings are made of the Oni Sukin, every minute he utilizes them you get ever closing to dieing." It said, Matthew still paying it no mind, he heard what it said but didn't care to respond.
 

[Astolfo]

[spoiler=Recap]A steady influx of information kept arriving into the minds of DH, a pale man with red eyes arriving through the portal, seemingly to help Emiya. a freakish being with purple hair punching a Troy, a girl with a witch hat, a red-head, and many more beings constantly entering the portal, or otherwise making significant action. Although it processed everything, it focused on the more important parts. It still didn't notice anything special for a while, and proceeded to drift around. Emiya seemed to have some strange darkness within him, although it was not visible on the exterior, and the being wondered if it could coax that out more. However, it might be overall detrimental in the success of the battle against L E R N A and Thermopylae, and it decided against it. L E R N A copied a power, seemingly telekinesis, and started to crush Butler-Ragnarok at that moment, while Thermopylae attacked Emiya and the boy. As the telekinesis proceeded to crush Butlerok, it resisted, before letting out a massive wave of energy. A strange feeling emanated from a brown-haired boy with a key-shaped blade, almost as if there were multiple beings inside him. Ignoring it for now, he continued to scan over everything. As waves of energy swept over the field briefly, it absorbed in the information, and realized an old man had turned younger, and seemed stronger now, slashing at Troys with another blade in the shape of a key, although different in look. Just then, the boy with Emiya had let out a gush of cold flames, trying to counter Thermopylae with it. Watching it with mild interest, it noted the fact that the familiar got stronger with every new enemy. The two girls from before began to attack Troys as they came towards the duo, and seemed to be holding their own. The robot the chaos lady had infected earlier seemed to get infused with the same substance, but didn't seem to affect personality. As Butlerok and L E R N A clashed over the Mad Blood, DH grew interested in this fight, and turned to get closer slightly. Emiya shot a conceptual arrow at Thermopylae, but DH wasn't interested at the moment, knowing that joining the fight would just boost the former sun-controller's strength. As the battle proceeded, L E R N A was engulfed by the black liquid, when suddenly, a red liquid poured throughout the spire, replacing it. At that very moment, the witch hydra being herself leapt forwards at a tremendous speed towards Butlerok, presumably to absorb him. At the very moment that happened, an African man began to show the effects of a control-type magic being placed upon him. Enjoying this battle very much, it laughed with glee, but frowned when two beings decided to clash with each other rather than L E R N A or Thermopylae. Wondering how foolish they were to avoid the bigger threat, it sighed. They continued to fight with full force, completely ignoring the two major threats. This was funny though, so the DH didn't mind as much after the initial disbelief. As they fought, one of the girls from the duo that were fighting the Troys started to show signs of wear, before screaming and collapsing altogether. As another burst of energy erupted, it turned, and saw that the being that was once old had evolved once yet again, taking on a demonic appearance. It didn't seem to actually possess the man though, so the DH let it go. Hypersonic blasts suddenly came in his general direction, so it leapt above the trajectory, noticing they came from Thermopylae, who had launched Troys as javelins. Butlerok resumed his attack on L E R N A though, attacking with a gravity spell, combined with a reflection, before attempting to envelop the witch. Meanwhile, another being had launched an ice shard at L E R N A's front head in hopes of hurting it - a near futile attempt. Another person had also interjected into the previous foolish fight, attacking with energy animal creatures. Eventually though, that person seemed to offer a temporary peace in lieu of the much larger problem.

As everything began to fall into place in the grand scheme of things, the Divine Hell decided to make its move. Despite many of the beings below technically being its enemy, a much larger enemy was in place, with a powerful minion as well. Killing the others would not be beneficial to defeating Thermopylae and the witch, and it planned out everything in the imaginary field of its mind. As it took in the vector qualities of everything surrounding it, it realized L E R N A had vectors, but was constantly changing in essence, and was beyond his reach to control her directly. He could certainly control near everything else though, excluding Thermopylae, whose influence of L E R N A gave her protection. Not needing to come down, it saw no point in risking lowering its own elevation, and manipulated things from above.

Gazing over the artificial reality with searching eyes, it decided the best course of action. Expanding its wings until they nearly grew almost as large as L E R N A, it let out the massive omnidirectional blast of dark matter at her. He prepared her to counter, as he knew a simple blow like this probably would not hurt her enough, if it did at all. Proceeding with his next step, in the same moment, he increased the gravity in a minuscule point just next to L E R N A's core to a horrifyingly strong pull. The dark matter being pulled in much faster than their normal rate of speed, it would make them tear through her at several thousand meters per second, erasing what they touched. To make sure that others didn't accidentally get pulled in as well, he reduced the pull on the other beings to 0. The entity itself would not feel the effects, so it did not matter. The entity hoped that L E R N A would not be able to overcome the gravitational pull, and would thus get trapped, as the deadly projectiles slam into her, but he knew that if she understood his powers, or had some superior power which could overrule his, that it would fail, and if L E R N A could copy the vast powers of vector manipulation, it would be a catastrophe. Trying to avoid this, the entity increased its power output to 500%, and while the attacks were happening, tried to assault her with its mind. Sending out a rippling spear of focused energy from the collective minds of the DH, they tried to distract her from thinking properly, and pushed forward with the spear, trying to enter L E R N A's mind. Floating just low enough that the beings on the ground could make it out if they tried to see him, he engaged L E R N A in both a battle of physical and mental. His shields were at half-strength, but this would be deceptive to many, just hearing "half", as it could still take a good hit. However, if a higher tier enemy decided to attack him now with a strong blow, the shield had a worrying chance of failing, but the being hoped no one would be idiotic enough to do that, and a single attacker would almost certainly not make it through the shield. It poured a noticeable amount of energy into this assault altogether, and weaker beings nearby would feel a pressure weighing down on them, possibly enough to force some to their knees. The wings writhing as they poured out a torrent of deadly dark matter at L E R N A, the Divine Hell would be a terrifying sight to behold, the mouth of the host contorting wildly as it screeched with laughter, rasping in an unknown language.

[Phantom Roxas]

Arthur & Eria

 

Arthur grit his teeth, insulted by Dorian offering a temporary truce. However, as much as he'd hate to admit it, BlackWarGreymon was right. He turned away from Dorian, not wanting to say anything.

 

Instead, it was Eria who spoke up. "We accept!" she said.

 

Arthur sighed, nodding his head. "Alright, fine. I guess I'll fight on your side again, for now." Suddenly, light began to form around Arthur. He was surprised, as it was not his sunlight, but rather, he could feel his power slowly slipping away. His clothes had changed back to how they were earlier, with Arthur in his red cloak, and he found himself standing on MirageGaogamon's hand. "So, this power is only temporary, I guess." He looked at his Keyblade, happy that at least it did not disappear. "Guess we have no choice." MirageGaogamon carried Arthur in the direction of LERNA, with Eria, Flygon, and Feraligatr all following behind.

 

---

Sora's Heart

 

Vanitas and Ventus were clashing Keyblades against one another, with Vanitas swinging his main one sideways, but was Ventus jumped backwards, Vanitas thrust his other Keyblade, but Ventus parried it.

 

"You can feel it, can't you?" Vanitas asked. "That other one, Arthur. He too has summoned a Keyblade. However, he's weak, even less than that fool, Nero. Wow long do you bet either of them will be able to last?"

 

"Long enough for us to stop you, that's for sure!" Ventus declared.

 

"'Us?'"

 

Turning around, Vanitas could see Roxas walking off of steps, having finally arrived at the Station.

 

"That's right," Roxas said. "Now you got to deal with both of us."

 

Vanitas broke out into laughter once again, pointing each of his Keyblades at Ventus and Roxas. "Splendid! I just have to get through the both of you, and I'll be home free!"

 

---

Sora

 

Sora could see movements within the darkness, as if someone was trying to attack LERNA on all sides. However, he found that Emiya was in danger of being attacked by Thermopylae, and although Sora tried to stop some of the attacks with a Double Blizzagun, many of the spears were still head towards Emiya. Sora bit his lip, knowing that in spite of the fact that LERNA was supposed to be his primary target, her familiar was just as dangerous. He flew down, and though the presence of a new enemy managed to empower Thermopylae, Sora didn't know that, nor would he care if he did.

 

"You used to be Itsu, right?" Sora asked the familiar in the vain hope that she still had enough of her former self that she could answer him. "I'm sorry, but… I have to take you down." Sora activated his Diamond Dust command style, surrounding himself in an aura of ice. Holding both of his Keyblades upward, eight beams of light began to appear around him, spinning in a circle before he commanded all of them to shoot towards Thermopylae.

[The Warden]

Jeriii stood by passively as once again the Dorian boy interfered with the fight, and the BlackWarGreymon. Her right eye twitched irritably that they were getting in her way again. And now that wretched human who attacked her had summoned allies. Ah, it was that green dragon that attacked her earlier; well, not her specifically, but her form in any case.

 

BAH! This was insulting. All they were doing was talk and talk, do they realize what is going on? And it was even more insulting that they weren't even trying to act as if she was here, just an after-thought. Her patience would have reached the zenith of her limit had they not dispersed, leaving her in the air. She groaned in furstration as she craddled her head. "First they want to battle, then they're all friends again? I do not, nor will I ever truly understand the inner workings of their minds. However-" she said as she touched the X-shaped cut in her back. "What he did was unforgiveable. Time to accelerate my plans to a practical level" she added as she held her hand out to the near-gone form of MirageGaogamon. "Bring him back ADR-10, we aren't done here. Bring him back to me. Use whatever excuse, but bring him back alone" she whispered.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

Dorian gave the fakest smile he could muster as the demigod reluctantly accepted his offer for a truce. It was quite hilarious as this was a hick-up in the grand scheme of things, but right now the only thing that he needed to focus on was the destruction of the foul beast LERNA. Then it seemed that something far more flashy was about to go down. Anansi, Osebo, and Oso looked up as they immediately noticed the class 4 hyper deity about to finally make his move. Dorian didn't even recognize the creature that was up in the air. It's that loud one from before. The one who attacked Isamy. Dorian looked in disbelief. This was one of the new recruits? Dorian had an internal moment of silence for the actual Counter Corps. But anyway back to this fight. It seemed that the this new creature was launching a massive attack. The force of this blast was so immense that he couldn't move under the pressure. He hoped that his spirits would be enough to deflect this attack but more interestingly enough if this attack were to hit LERNA what would happen to Butler on the inside. That didn't matter right now though there had to be something that he could do to help out in this situation. As he looked on he realized that he may have a way out of this after all. 
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BlackWarGreymon didn't realize how pitch black this world was without Dorian to act as a light-bright. It was actually hard to navigate around. But on the literal bright side he noticed that there were a lot of high power entities literally radiating with power. So he was able to glean where people were. In the distance he could see the war machines going off and the light-shadow of the machine that Dorian spoke about. As he landed he noticed the two magical being, not knowing that these were the same two who took that snipe shot at him back in the desert. He looked passed him. He looked passed everyone till he saw the crazy one with the spiky hair. This must have been the same person who Dorian referred to. After gazing at this disheveled man BlackWarGreymon looked as the only normal human seemed to be acting strangely. Unconsciously BWG just tried to swing at the back of the man's head. Hopefully knocking him unconscious would solve the problem.

As he looked at the field he actually realized that he was surrounded by members of the Counter Corp. You members of the Counter Corp I require that you hand over that man there. He pointed one of his claws at Melvin. He is instrumental in the victory over the more destructive and serious enemy LERNA. He didn't want to fight any members of the Counter Corp while still dealing with LERNA but he would if they tested him. It didn't seem as if they would be that hostile towards him but he was more than ready to stand his ground and defend himself.