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

[Reinforce]

Ayame

After her first attack failed, Ayame backed away further, trying to analyse her foe's skills. From the memories of the whole fight so far, the remnants could tell it seemed to have been copying various abilities off people, changing abilities to adapt to the situation it was in. Though not as obvious, the few people on the outside edge of the fight hadn't seemed to have their skills used yet, whether a quirk of the skill or just because the skill wasn't useful she was unsure, but decided to back further away again anyway, trying to stay far enough away to keep out of the skill's range. From her current range it would be difficult to actually hit her foe with any of her lightning, but Ayame brought her hand up and started to send more bolts of lightning towards LERNA, not caring who she hit with them in the process.

 

Darcy

Cancelling her attacks as they didn't seem to be working, instead being reflected off to the sky, Darcy looked around the area, trying to figure out her next move. Seeing that the lightning mage who had attacked LERNA had moved back, Darcy figured that whoever it was had figured out LERNA's power and was trying to avoid having her own powers copied. Not caring about if anyone copied her powers, and deciding to focus on her main goal after she caught a small glimpse of it, she slowly moved forward, trying to get a good enough view and be in close enough range to just take the orb with her telekinesis.

 

Lyon

With his black fire dragon deflected off as it tried to hit, Lyon reached out a hand to grab back control of his fire, redirecting it towards the first of the dragon-shaped Troys. As he did, it's shape seemed to shimmer, and take on a badly distorted appearance of John, with the other four seeming to look like the dead members of his former mercenary band. "You can't be real, that's impossible. All of you are dead, I've seen your bodies, lifeless and broken. Not one of you has anything to do with this fight." As he spoke, the black dragon collided with the first of those Troys, passing straight through it's body and continuing back towards Lyon before twisting around to make another charge, the area where it had hit the Troy freezing over and turning brittle. Below it, the outermost layer of Ice from Lyon's armour melted away, returning to water as it formed a crescent, before moving forward to fly right past the dragon, it's sharp edge colliding with the body of the first Troy right where the black dragon had it, cutting it directly into two pieces in the middle before reversing direction, splitting into two crescents and cutting off that Troy's wings, which had been around the same area that the fire dragon had hit straight through it.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier 

 

Its seemed as if the all powerful LERNA did not even notice the sheer awesomeness of Sliferok that made its debut. But that didn't matter because this gave the new pseudo deity plenty of time to analyze the creature and its its battle habits. Sliferok watched as she/it seemlessly tore through the offensive plays off the Counter Corp and Divine forces. He snickered at LERNA's efforts as he searched his mental Rolodex of magic. Eventually Ragnarok stumbled upon a book of magic even though this Grimoire  seemed to talk more about alchemy. Ragnarok made himself some overtly cartoonish glasses as he read the book. GOT THE ANSWER!! It sounds simple enough. By the way how's your German? I can barely read some of this. Butler simply snickered because what Ragnarok saw he saw. This new strategy was going to be pretty fun. Butler clapped his hands and Slifer opened its massive mouth and let out a very powerful roar signifying the use of the true Egyptian God's power. A massive magical array shown above the giant beast head and a massive red light was eventually cast overhead. Then Slifer began to roar even more and at this point 8 magical arrays formed on LERNA. One surrounding each of her heads. At that moment LERNA would feel the impending doom that is known as...Quincy Vollstandig. Out of Butler's back shot out two massive black bird like wings and he then had a black halo. Sliferok has now defined himself as a Quincy. ALRIGHT LET'S GET IT STARTED!

Then Ragnarok laughed as he was ready to dine on LERNA. Thanks to the magical arrays that were on LERNA her soul/body was being turned to reshi even though she is simply was a soul given form so she was probably already made of reshi but at this stage of the game they had to be sure. Sliferok was using the Vollstandig's Sklaverei to simply just take chunks of her and eat her whole. Essentially this was the same thing Butler has been trying to do with Mad Blood this entire time but LERNA just kept coming up with more creative ways to get out the Mad Blood trap. This way you couldn't phase shift out of the answer. Essentially Sliferok used that vast power of Slifer to make a global Ars Magna. With the Weaver of All Formulas pumping knowledge into Sliferok they were able to bypass the natural time limits required to fully learn Ars Magna and Sliferok was able to declare himself a Quincy and using those arrays declare that LERNA would be made of reshi (if she wasn't already). The strategy sounded solid. Normally a quincy can not go into Vollstandig if they have a shinigami's bankai, but thanks to Dorian's Perfect Balance all spiritual forces that inside Sliferok have been harmonized into one solidarity and just in case the effectiveness would go down because of the conflicting forces. The Bankai was about to be expelled in a semi-creative way.

As that plan was on the way Sliferok looked as how no one was fairing well against the first familiar and now there was a second one running around. This needed some kind of intervention and unfortunately Slifer being the main powerhouse of the Chimera was not willing to slum with a measly familiar. Ragnorak formed a version of himself inside of the Sliferok body floating in front of Butler. Hey Bob you ready? Naturally. All I ask is that you preserve my personality. Yeeeaaaa um okay. BlackWarGreymon could hear the "no" inside Ragnarok's voice and his head sunk a tad. Well you know what you're pretty strong you might not become a twisted shell of your former self. Remember I've never done this before and I KNOW that Mr. Stiff and Red Dragon Archfiend here...Ragnarok's head suddenly popped mainly because he insulted the great Slifer the Sky Dragon and Butler. After his head reformed...anywho this is risky but I'm sure it could work. You're our first Clown! So get ready. 

BlackWarGreymon floated away and bowed to the floating body of Dorian and he flew to what he thought was the wall of the creatures body but as he got closer the gold from Dorian's light faded and then BlackWarGreymon fell into the darkness. BlackWarGreymon then found himself in the vast emptiness of the Mad Blood. For some reason this loneliness was staggering and he felt the madness of being alone quicker than he ever felt before. He swallowed deeply and decided to stop resisting these emotions and he just decided to submit to the insanity. Then the Mad Blood slowly encroached upon him and he started to laugh maniacally as his body slowly became morphed into another monstrous shape. At this point somewhere towards the lower portion of Sliferok a large black sphere shot out of Sliferok and flew down towards the new familiar. After landing on a panel right next to the creature. Madness seemed to seep out of this sphere and from it came a new creature. It looked around to notice that it was apparently not alone in this aspect. It seemed that others were also fighting this familiar. Though it didn't really because being a construct of Sliferok comes with a lot of unexpected benefits. The three eyes of the Kishin revealed themselves on what should now be referred to as ClownWarGreymon started to glow gold and he noticed how Arthur and MGG had been converted. Though while this would have been important to BWG, for some odd reason CWG didn't seem to care at all. In fact he found the idea quite comical. CWG looked at the familiar and simply asked. Are you strong?

Sliferok (aka all of the consciousnesses inside of Sliferok) commended himself for the creation of the first clown. The process went pretty smooth. Then something odd happened "Are you...Dorian's Butler?" Bulter turned around sharply to notice that someone had actually made it to the top of Slifer's head unaffected and unnoticed. In what way or form was this even possible? Um yeah, Big Daddy Red here somehow kept her safe from...everything. Ragnarok explained talking to Butler inside his own head. Butler then learned (he shares a Brain with Slifer) that this was a Duel spirit or at least that was the term he was most accustomed too anyway. Eria the Water Charmer was her card name and that was seemingly everything he knew about the creature. Butler, who now had black wings, a black halo, Alpha Stigma for eyes, gold circuit outline, and no lower torso, simply nodded. He let out a cough so he could use his normal voice and not his hyper infused voice. Former butler, Dorian sacrificed himself so...he waves his arms showing his monstrous from...this. Butler is my name and I assume you know who this dragon you stand on is. I am aware of your treaty with Dorian and I will honor it. But I have to ask how can I help you?

[Phantom Roxas]

Eria resisted the urge to sigh in relief when Butler informed her of Dorian's sacrifice. If Butler had noticed any joy Eria expressed from the news, she could easily just say that she was happy to know about their truce. In addition to Slifer protecting one of his worshipers, the ring on Eria's finger was helping her maintain her sanity. Of course, this man held the power of a god, so Eria needed to choose her words carefully. She turned on her ice platform, facing LERNA, but also keeping herself at a subtle distance away from Sliferok. Then, an idea popped into her head. "Your master recognized me from the world the two of you came from. And now, you're able to call upon the power of Slifer. Tell me, do you know of someone named Gagagigo? I saw him back at the Castle of Necrophades, and I know he's in the service of the Divine. Tell me-" Eria stopped herself, remembering that she needed to be respectful, lest she anger Butler or Slifer. Or worse, both.

 

Growing desperate, she felt that she had no choice to be get on her knees. As humiliating as it was, there was little she could do anyway. "Please tell me, what can I do to make you consider setting him free? I mean, you've become one with Slifer. With him on your side, you won't need Gagagigo, right?" Not good words, Eria thought. Worst-case scenario, Butler could take her words to mean that he could kill Gagagigo. "You have to at least know how much he means to me, so please, I beg you. I know we have to go back to being enemies once we defeat LERNA, just give me my friend back."

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

Nero saw in disbelief that his mighty attack was deflected so easily. He floated backwards with his wings and looked over LERNA'S head to confirm there was no damage done. Cursing himself, he raised his keyblade to try again but noticed that his own 'The Darkness Within' was in his hand. That's when it had happened, up in the air with a cartoon-like 'pop', Nero's Drive Mode was over and he and Matthew had separated and were falling from the sky....

 

Matthew

 

The demon had Matthew cornered and down for the count. His black hand was around Matthew's collar as he rose him up and with one quick strike, the demon missed Matthew's head completely. Matthew had disappeared much to the demon's disliking, but he had soon disappeared as well.

 

Matthew saw that he and Nero were now rapidly falling out of the sky. He quickly grabbed Nero by the hand and shot himself, causing them to float down to a platform and land with their bodies tumbling. Matthew rose first and was about to say something but coughed up blood instead, he was heavily damaged and Nero didn't understand why...

 

[spoiler=Effects]

Matthew cast Float on himself and Nero.

 

 

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

Butler thought about the girls request and to be quite honest he had absolutely no idea who/what she was referring to. Of course Slifer knew and Silfer once again had to mentally inform Butler of what the water charmer meant. Butler looked back into his memory banks and he did remember actually seeing that creature walk around the Isamy's Throne room. Not only that. Dorian did actually mention that the person controlling him was also a duel monster. It was pretty interesting that he didn't recall seeing any of them after the encounter in the Shadow Realm. He wanted to help the poor lady after she was trying to control her speech patterns to sound more respectful but there wasn't anything any of the consciousnesses could do...if they don't know about it anyway. Then Butler had a brain storm. The shadow Realm was destroyed and all who were left there were also destroyed. Of course Slifer interrupted his train of thought with the theory that there is no way the entire Shadow Realm could be destroyed. Slifer internally explained that remnants of the shadow most likely still linger and its is more than obvious that a creature could probably be kept up inside a crevice of the realm. Unfortunately there is no way to send her there without being murdered. Unless...

Eria would see Butler smile as he had an answer to her problem. Sad to say but I think your pet of sorts is either dead or trapped in the shadow realm, which I think you know has been destroyed. Meaning it would be dead again. Having said that, if your bond is true I think we can reanimate your creature. Unfortunately, in order to do this I'm going to require you to become one with us. Similar to how our comrade BlackWarGreymon needed more power you yourself shall become more powerful. Powerful enough to define life and death as you see fit and as a water user, water being the giver of life, this would be easy for you. All you need to do take off that ring. Naturally he meant the ring that kept her from going insane surely he could just force the Mad Blood on her, but its always better for people to be willing to submit than forced. Butler stuck out his hand waiting for her answer and of course if she submitted she would take off the ring and then she literally sink into Sliferok and began the transformation.

 

While this whole thing was going on Ragnarok, Anansi, Osebo, Oso, and Mmomotia were scrolling the Grimoires trying to find some kind of back up plan just in case there was some counter to this quincy move they had come up with. Anansi seemed to notice that there was something a little interesting coming from one of the books. It started glowing and it had the same symbol as that quincy artifact Ragnarok ate. Anansi began to read and he learned a lot more about the quincy heritage...and through that he learned about...Hollows. So many Soul eating entities out there in the multiverse. It looks like there might be a follow-up attack on the LERNA. If she could somehow get out of the mess that she is in now.

[Phantom Roxas]

Eria was regretting approaching Sliferok, but she didn't believe his theory for even a second. "That's impossible!" she shouted, standing up. "I saw Gagagigo get taken back with the rest of the Divine! I know he's alive, just let me see him!" She clenched her hand holding the ring, but the stress pulled on the muscles of the arm, which was still hurting from the wound caused by the Troy. Eria held her other hand over the wound. As she did, she called water down toward the arm, trying to ease the pain, and as the water trickled down her skin, the wound began to heal itself. Eria looked at her hand, surprised by this power. "I guess you're right about water being the giver of life. However, if Gagagigo isn't dead, then there's no reason for me to become one with you. Either he was left behind in the Desert Seth, or he's still at Isamy's castle."

 

Raising her hands up, Eria formed an ice barrier around her, knowing that her refusal would not be taken lightly. "We can talk about Gagagigo later. Right now, we have to focus on LERNA. And for the record, Gagagigo isn't a 'pet'. He's like a brother to me." Eria hovered her ice barrier around, trying to get an idea of what LERNA was doing. LERNA was manipulating water just as Eria could, something Eria hoped she could use to her advantage. With a wave of her hand, Eria chose to manipulate the dark waters herself. After trying to freeze the waters in the Shadow Realm, drops of the water began to move. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

 

She turned to Yubel, hoping to free the draconic demon from its prison, but just as she did, a terrible sensation began to take hold of her mind. Falling to her knees, Eria held her head and began to scream, the ice barrier beginning to crumble around her. "STOP IT!" she cried. She could hear the laughter of children, followed by the collision of swords. She saw the vision of golden man in a black cloak standing in the midst of a burning village, holding a soldier by the head. "Please… No more…" A single crack form along the middle of the ring as Eria slowly began to fall into despair.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

It took a minute for Bulter to understand what just happened. It made sense that she would reject his offering but the. She went off and did something foolish. She decided that it would behoove her to use her own power to try to rectify the situation. This was tragic in so many senses of the word. The waters she was trying to manipulate happened to be liquid despair given form. Soon the tiny water sprite started to buckle under the weight of her own sadness her memories from something were holding her back, but most importantly that annoying ring had somehow gotten a crack in it. It was then that Butler raised his eyebrow and Slifer couldn't help but intervene. The Egytptian God was nit going to let one of his subjects just fall into the abyss like this.

At this moment my master would've said something cynical and sarcastic like "How is this working out for you?" or "Sucks to be you right now." I personally never understood the concept of gloating, but I think it's time you make the correct decision. Unfortunately Slifer and I have insisted that instead of falling into the depths of despair you shall fall into the depths of Madness. I think the latter is more suiting.

The massive monstrosity that is known as Sliferok simply roared at Eria and the last thing she would see is the pitch blackness of the Mad Blood swallowing her whole. There would be no more sadness there wouldn't be any need for tears. Just glorious laughter as one who was weak would now be reborned through he baptism of Mad Blood.

Of course what everyone sees inside the vision of the Mad Blood is different. BlackWarGreymon saw his own death. Butler saw his past life. What would the water priestess see? What would the second clown from the second Kishin turn out to be. This was certainly something that had Butler thinking but as he thought he noticed that there were other creatures not doing so well. Maybe the gift of madness is something that keeps on giving. But first he has to see how strong LERNA was as well. Hopefully all of his work will somehow pay off.

[Kingdom Xathers]

"Alexander!" Alister shouted, trying to get his voice heard over the vibrating note played by Alexander's harp. "What are you doing?"

 

Almost mechanically, Alexander turned his head toward the General and the younger lombax, the pale blue glow coming from his irises lending him an unsettling appearance. "... this has to be done, Alister. Itsu... should not have to go through this...," he said, any emotion that would normally have accompanied such a statement being nowhere to be found.

 

"Alex, snap out of it!" Ratchet plead, upset at seeing Alexander in such a state, devoid of his cheerfulness, his compassion.

 

Without any change to his expression, Alexander blinked his eyes once, tears dropping down from them. "Alister...," Alex spoke, this time with a hint of sadness within his otherwise soulless tone, "if I... ... if anything happens here--"

 

"Don't talk like that!!" Ratchet shouted before giving a forceful cough.

 

"--and only if I don't make it," Alexander continued, another tear falling down his cheek, "I want you... to take care of Ratchet. Doesn't matter where you decide to take him: to the Divine, the Counter Corps, or any other dimension unaffected by all of this, but please...." Alexander took a moment to close his eyes for a couple of seconds, and upon reopening them, revealed that the cold glow of his eyes vanished, revealing his vibrant green eyes once more. "... please, make sure that he stays safe."

 

"... if you don't make it...?" Alister repeated in a low voice, stunned that Alexander would ask of him--an individual who was supposed to be his enemy, no less!--to care for Ratchet's well-being in his stead. And yet he didn't feel touched by this request. No, quite the opposite, in fact; he was furious. ""IF"?! There's not going to BE an "if", Alexander!!" Alister howled at Alex, causing the otherwise stoic expression on the other lombax's face to widen its eyes in surprise. "You honestly expect to die here?! You're just going to leave Ratchet behind, thinking he's just going to be all right?!!" All the while that Alister was screaming at Alexander, visions of what had happened at the Great Clock--what was meant to happen--flashed through his mind, serving to make him even more furious not just at Alex, but himself as well... for it was the exact same thing that he did before his own death.

 

"Well, you had better damn well listen to me, Alexander!" Alister continued, now his turn for tears to run down his face. "You. ARE. Going. To live through this! If not for your own goals, then for Ratchet's sake! And if I EVER see or hear you try anything of this sort again, gods help me, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!!"

 

"Alister...," Alexander uttered, surprised to see the General talk so passionately.

 

Alister took a deep breath to calm his nerves, wiping the tears off his face with the back of his hand. "... that being said... we're running out of time here, and we're wasting it," he stated more calmly, but this time in a more commanding, authoritive tone. "If you're so intent on trying to find a way to reverse what was done to your friend, I suggest you do so quickly, Alexander. Meanwhile, Ratchet," he continued, looking toward the younger lombax and his robotic companion, "I need you and Clank to distract these Troys, and LERNA too, if possible, as long as you don't get yourself hurt." Alister placed a reassuring hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "Can you do that?"

 

Ratchet was silent for a few seconds, then gave a slight cough before stating, "Sure, that shouldn't be a problem."

 

Alister nodded, a brief smile crossing his lips. "Atta boy," he said as he pat Ratchet's head.

 

"But, wait," Ratchet spoke up just as Alister started to move away, "what do you plan on doing?"

 

Well, he should have expected this question. Still, no need to sugarcoat words now. "... I'm going to get that artifact." Not waiting for any words of protest, Alister dashed away, his Hover Boots driving him in LERNA's general direction.

 

"But wait!" Ratchet, however, was far too late, Alister already too far away to hear him. "Dammit...." Heaving a sigh, which was interrupted by yet another cough, Ratchet turned to face Clank, who had anticipated his friend's need and assumed his Giant Clank form. "So, guess we've gotta do this, huh pal?"

 

"Ready when you are, Ratchet," Clank replied as he picked Ratchet up, placing the lombax on his shoulders.

 

"Well, I can already tell ya right now, you guys ain't ready." Ratchet and Giant Clank turned around to see the Jaws of Hell standing by them, Riley similarly standing on its head. "Not without some backup from us, of course," said Riley, shouldering one of his shish kebabs.

 

"You two? You... really wanna help us?"

 

"Well, we've got a truce, right?" Azumi's voice cheerfully replied through the speakers. "Wouldn't be fair to just have you rough it out by yourselves."

 

---

Foster's Soul Room

---

 

Within the depths of Foster's mind, Umbris strode through a spacious hallway, decorated in what seemed to be a mix of modern and futuristic military styles; numerous flags from many nations and countries lined the walls, as did pictures of people that could only be assumed to be people that Foster had met with and fought alongside over the years. A few cracks here and there, radiating a sickly purple glow, marred the otherwise pristine condition of the walls. After a while, the Neo-Spacian approached a room, out of which inspirational soft rock could be heard playing from a radio inside, although the music would occasionally warp and distort every few seconds.

 

As Umbris entered the room, he spotted a desk in front of him, positioned in front of a few windows looking out to an unseen view. Behind this desk, facing toward these windows and away from Umbris, was Foster, or rather his subconsciousness. "Foster...?" the Neo-Spacian called out.

[Phantom Roxas]

As Butler told Eria how hopeless she was, Eria had broken down in tears, unable to bear what she was saying. Eria weakly turned to see Sliferok envelope her with the Mad Blood, but she did nothing to stop him. As soon as she was swallowed by the Mad Blood, the black liquid began to solidify, wrapping the Water Charmer in a cocoon as she began to transform.

The images began to change, and soon the golden man was joined by Arthur. The golden man was uttering commands into Arthur's ear, while above them, MirageGaogamon and the armored form of Gagagigo were standing over multiple bodies. Hiita, Wynn, Aussa, and three other figures. The first was a blonde woman dressed in a white robe. It was her teacher, Doriado. In each of MirageGaogamon's hands were two more Charmers, a brother and a sister, their names being Dharc and Lyna. Arthur soon turned away, joining up with MirageGaogamon, while the golden man approached Eria.

"You do not have to die as your friends did," the man said. "Gagagigo has proven to be a valuable asset, but he will not be at his full strength unless you and he are on the same side once more." He extended out his hand, smiling sinisterly. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"No," Eria said weakly. "I want Gagagigo to be as far away from people like you."

The golden man looked at MirageGaogamon and nodded. At his command, MirageGaogamon stepped down, crushing Aussa, who exploded into a pile of black blood. Gagagigo did the same with Hiita, while MirageGaogamon crushed Dharc and Lyna in his hands. Arthur approached Wynn, holding his Keyblade up high.

"Arthur, wait!" Eria cried out.

"Are you surprised?" the golden man asked. "When you met Arthur, he was among the Divine. It would not surprise me if he felt guilty of his betrayal and begged Isamy to forgive him." Arthur swung his Keyblade down, cutting of Wynn's head. While Wynn's body erupted in blood just as the others did, her head remained intact. Arthur held up Wynn's head, tossing it towards Eria. "A part of you still resents him, right? For taking your dear friends from you. Come now, Eria, you must realize that your friends might as well have been dead long before Arthur subjugated them."

Eria cringed as Wynn's head was stuck in permanent smile. Ignoring it, she walked up to the golden man, but a ring of fire began to surround her. Turning, Eria could see Hiita was holding the flame circle in place, and she was joined by Aussa, Dharc, and Lyna. A headless Wynn pick up her severed head and placed it back on, the cut in her neck healing instantly. "You're not going to make me fall for your tricks, Erebos."

Erebos laughed. "Let's test that theory, shall we?"

Eria closed her eyes and covered her ears, but she could still her the sounds of bodies exploding, and she could feel the blood spilling on her. When she opened her eyes, she noticed she was somewhere else. Arthur was standing at the lakeside, throwing rocks against the water, only to fall as soon as he threw them.

"Come on, I could do better than that." a voice teased. Eria turned and she could see Aussa, who was sitting down on the grass, lifting up three rocks, all of which suddenly flew across the river.

"Aussa, you know that's cheating," Hiita said.

"Hiita, this past-time is supposed to be a casual way to explore our natural talents. I am simply doing that with my own talents."

"Yeah, being a freaking buzzkill is more like it…"

"Will you two please be quiet?" Wynn asked.

"Alright, Your Highness," Hitta said.

As the three girls continued to talk amongst themselves, Arthur sat down beside Eria, placing an arm over her shoulder and pulling him towards her. "Come here, you."

Eria was surprised by how forward Arthur was being. "A-Arthur!"

"What's wrong?"

"This is-"

Erebos' voice interrupted Eria. "Another illusion, my dear."

Eria saw that her friends were frozen in place, and the only other person she could talk to was Erebos. "Alright, so when did you join up with the Divine?"

"Join them? Silly girl, I am not even here. I too am an illusion. The Mad Blood is simply bringing out your worst fears. And what better representation of your despair than I, the great Invader of Darkness?"

The grass began to decay, and the lake had turned from pure water to a lake full of black blood. Eria turned to Arthur, but all she saw was a skeleton. Her fellow Charmers had also turned into skeletons, their bones slowly turning to dust.

"I notice that a few of your friends didn't appear in this illusion. Those two Charmers who joined long after you did. Your teacher. Arthur's 'pet'. Why, even your dearest friend, Gagagigo, couldn't be bothered to grace this picnic with his presence. I wonder, was that Butler right? Is he truly dead? Or maybe… you've lost faith in the possibility of him being alive."

"Never!"

"Your words betray your heart, Water Charmer! Arthur, Aussa, Hiita, and Wynn are the last symbols of your hope. How childish of you to cling onto your feelings towards a boy you've only just met. Perhaps, now that you've lost so many of your friends, you're desperate for companionship? Well, I suppose everyone has their own way of motivating themselves in times of war."

Eria glared at Erebos, standing up to the man, her head just barely able to reach the height of his chest. "I'll keep telling you, I won't give up."

"And I'll keep telling you how you're just a deluded little girl."

Holding her hand out towards the lake, Eria summoned forth a torrent of blood, splashing it against Erebos, knocking him on his side. Eria held a sphere of blood in her hand, looking over Erebos. "I'm not that little girl anymore."

Erebos smiled, laughing at Eria. "You're right. You've embraced the madness."

Eria looked at her hand, letting the blood fall through her fingers. "…I guess I have."

"Now you'll see why I favored the darkness for so long. Darkness, madness, terror, despair. I may be but a shadow of the man you knew back in your world, but I know that he too would be proud to see you come so far."

"I have no intention of making you proud."

"Of course. Your desire is to serve Slifer."

"Yes. Working directly in the service of my god would be the greatest honor."

"Then go."

As the image of Erebos uttered his final words, Eria embraced herself for her new self. Below her neck, three eyes opened up, marking her as a Kishin. The image of her bunny girl transformation resurfaced in her mind, and soon it began to replace her own outfit. Her suit turned blood-red, only with her midriff being exposed, while her leggings turned pitch-black. Her sandals were replaced with red heels, and a red dress flowing from her waist. Eria's arms were covered were red sleeves that extended to just below her shoulders, with straps around her index fingers, and on her hands were white gloves. From her ears sprouted bunny ears, and her eyes completely blue.

Mad Blood formed beneath Eria's feet, forming a frozen platform to support the newly-born Clown. She held her hand out to Sliferok, smiling sadistically as she knelt before her new master. "Hail, great Sliferok! Thy Blood Priestess is here, awaiting your command!"

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

Butler stroked his chin at the sight of his newly born clown. A tad provocative but it would certainly do. And it seemed like the first clown was not alone in dealing with the second familiar. Now for more back up plans and this clown was the perfect way to initiate a back up plan. Sliferok looked at the new Eria and spoke pretty softly. You have two major duties. The first is to find LERNA's host body and just give it the Mad Blood. Nothing will obviously happen to that body itself but if everything goes according to plan, it would be a nice end game. Your other duty is to find the artifact that we as two separate factions came here for. It should be around the area where her tail is. Even if she notices your presence you will be more than safe thanks to your Mad Blood. After thinking it through that seemed to be the best use of the second clown. 

 

Randomly Sliferok looked at this world around him and he wondered how much Mad Blood would actually be needed to fill this place. Surely it would require a vast quantity, but if these vast quantities would probably not mix well with the sea of despair. Second Sliferok did witness all of the magic that was used to try to take down the massive spirit. It was at this moment Sliferok thought that maybe they were looking at this LERNA fight the wrong way. The answer may be a lot more simple, albeit more energy draining, answer to the whole LERNA debate. 

[Astolfo]

The familiar had risen out of despair, quite literally, when it noticed a figure moving towards him. It ignored it, observing the chaos of the battles, as well as the confusion from the effects he had on the Troys. Upon closer observation, the figure seemed familiar, although distorted to an evil appearance now. It tried to remember, but its memories were hazy, the time before its birth as a familiar fogged. No matter. The figure had hair the color of ink, with feral golden eyes. Something was off about him, as if he had been corrupted. An indigo cloak with a flaming collar was around the neck of the person, and it held a scythe, as well as a key-shaped blade. As it lashed out with the scythe, sending a wave of dark fire at him, it simultaneously calling upon lightning to strike from above. Completely calm, its emotions completely erased, it waited until the attacks came a bit closer to counter with maximum efficiency. Leaping backwards and up with a powerful flap of its wings, the scarf tails bashed the bolts of lightning, dispersing the energy into darkness. As he did away with that attack, he quickly reacted to attack back. Sending a half dozen Troys flying to his hands, they split and formed two swords of a dark black flecked with gold. Lashing out at ADR-11 from the spot he was now with his left hand's sword, it seemed it would not even reach. At the snap of the blow though, it whipped out into a multi-segmented bladed whip. Each segment contained a razor sharp piece of the blade. They were connected by small spheres of gravity, just strong enough to hold them mostly together, but manipulatable at will. Right now, the figure wanted it to be able to separate, and cut from multiple angles, so they were loose, but as a sword, or blocking, he would increase them to a much stronger level, to keep it together and take strong hits. His right hand blade was still fully together though, in the sharp and strong form of a sword's body. Perhaps a dozen segments flew out at the figure, and when the strike ended, Titanomachia would pull them back in, but attack with his right hand, to avoid any possible disadvantage, utilizing his ambidextrous capabilities. For now, he was testing the figure. Although it could glean a rather strong power level, it wanted to see how it would react, and what sort of things it could do. It seemed most likely to block and counter, but it was not concerned. If it could take the blow, that in itself would be a foolhardy task, as each piece could cleave through a human's bone without much resistance, which would cause necrosis to fester in the wounds. It did not seem to have much to block with either, except perhaps the cape, but it prepared itself for any possible counterattacks. The original pride which had been the downfall of the original's was not present in Titanomachia anymore either. His Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu was not active now, given it was only technically one being right now, but he could see the other effects his presence had, such as empowering Thermopylae and L E R N A. Watching as the segmented blades flew at ADR-11, he enhanced the speed of the projectiles with vector manipulation. "Foolish being, forfeit your existence."

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Foster's Soul Room:

 

Slowly, the proud warrior turned to the Neo-Spacian, and he could see the energy-based tumor that was sprouting from his subconscious. Like some sort of ethereal parasite, the Witch's Kiss had extended tendrils from its place on his neck above and beneath his idea of self's skin, while it grew on him like a cancer. Out of the one eye he had left, Umbris could see his sorrow and anguish as he wished to be fee. He didn't want to betray everything he believed in, but it was clear that this was an infection. It was up to the panther to find some way to free Foster of the Kiss...or end his misery and torture, and prevent him from being affected by the despair any more.

 

LERNA's Barrier:

 

Judaihime was not expecting for LERNA to turn her full power upon her...no...it wasn't even her entire attention, her complete focus. With just a few quick moves, her small squadron of dragons, some of the most powerful dragons she could access with her summoning, were decimated, leaving Yubel alone to counteract LERNA's might. However, with Light and Darkness Dragon gone, Judaihime would soon join the fate of her comrades, and closed her eyes, accepting to have her entire existence absolved, and as the dark ocean beneath her reached up to claim her...

"iiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnncoooooooooooommmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!"

All of a sudden, she felt something impact and twist her aching body through the air, spinning as she fell until she impacted what appeared to be one of the platforms nearer to LERNA's front, though something cushioned her impact. As she opened her eyes, she discovered a young man with insanely spiky grey hair and wearing purple robes had fallen from the sky and saved her, but he appeared to be very hurt. Summoning some of the last of her own power, she cast a curing spell on him, and immediately, the man felt relief...only to reveal a psychotic look in his eyes.

"Why hello there, littletits. Thanks for healing my injuries. How about I repay you...with a hug?"

The princess backed away slightly, rather hesitant regarding the proposal, though she didn't hear the lewd comment he made at her, or maybe she simply ignored it altogether. "No payment is necessary, sir. I am merely an instrument of Ma'at and her divine will."

"Oh, come on! I'm sure we can find something to-" Melvin stopped and stared at a nearby figure on a platform, fighting off attacks from young men with swords and giant keys. She, herself, was using her own blades that were glowing brightly through the darkness. Judaihime followed his line of sight as well, and both uttered a very simple word.

"Itsu."

They looked at each other, puzzled as to what they just said, and Judaihime spoke up. "How dost thou hath the good fortune to know of the grace of Lady Solace?"

Melvin laughed when he heard "grace". "First, littletits, Grace died thirty years ago. Second, Itsu Solace is nothing but a painted harlot who slept around with my boss because he gave her some sort of purpose and function in her miserable life."

Thoroughly insulted, the princess yelled out. "HARLOT?!? You DARE to defile her name with such unsavory titles?!?"

"Bring it, Princess Clara! I can easily take you on with my-" However, when Melvin reached around, he suddenly remembered that his weapon was no longer lodged deep up his digestive tract and in the hands of someone who probably shouldn't use that hand for quite some time. He instead pouted and looked over to her. "What does it matter? Anyone with a successful Spot check can tell that our...mutual acquaintance...has turned evil (again) and is probably going to kill all of us soon."

The princess turned to her Egyptian ally. "True. She has clearly fallen for despair...and seems to be very powerful...If only there were a way to weaken her...a way to...divide..."

Melvin rubbed his eyes, because he swore that he just saw a lightbulb appear above the girl's crown, but it might have been the blood loss. Probably the blood loss.

She then grins, kneels down, and clasps her hands. "...and conquer. I need to make a prayer to Ma'at. And then, I have a plan to take down Itsu Solace once and for all."

[Merci]

Isamy's Vault (some time ago)

 

Viligance couldn't help but be surprised as a familiar figure appeared in the form of eyeballs hidden amongst the vault. Despite his skill, he honestly hadn't detected them. As the armor questioned this being, Sayer explained his motives and actions, how he had managed to use his R.O.D.s and infiltrate Unlimited Blade Works in such an effective way that whatever Bayonetta managed to establish had been rendered meaningless. There was no reason for him to doubt the words of this man. Especially since...

 

"As to be expected of the father of Archetype Earth." Viligance muttered to himself as the presence left, something uncharacteristic to this supposedly-automated armor that lacked a true personality or emotions.

 

 

---

 

 

 

The entities before her looked like they were growing more and more desperate. It seemed that many of the warriors, whether aware of it or not, were beginning to lose their will in this battle against her. However, she could see it. She could see it all. She could see what lay within their hearts, and she knew what was happening as they began to succumb to the darkness of her world. Slowly but surely, despair was taking root in their hearts. She was sure of it, and continued to focus upon drowning Yubel until the dragonic demon had been weakened and completely submerged under the sea of despair. In such a weak state, there was no possible way for it to resist, and within the next minute it reemerged as a huge, unnaturally-shaped Troy.

 

It was only then that LERNA had noticed what exactly transpired with the Mad Blood entity she earlier expelled while she was distracted. So, they were still attempting to defy their ultimate fate, going so far as to summon a god to do so? Such a bother.

 

Her seven front heads all turned simultaneously towards the divine gigantic creature that had been summoned forth, though there was no way that even with such power that it could match her.

 

However, upon closer inspection, she was genuinely surprised as it wasn't quite the summoned monster she originally believed it to be, because the power and influence of other entities had practically overwritten the existence of this mighty god, brightly-shining golden circuits running along it to signify this. She could even sense an entity sacrificing his life to power it further, and another succumb under its presence as a Bloody Priestess. Who would ever go so far just to do so? Why would they even do that? Was there a point to such a pointless move? Did they believe that they could somehow overcome despair through sheer strength? Under the control of the irrelevant entity Melvin's rod, it hadn't been able resist as it became the forefront of what could only be described as a SUPERWEAPON. One that may threaten her, and due to its unpredictable nature and the fact that not even its own controllers knew its limits, she herself was unable to gauge its power. This knowledge spoke for herself, and it took some time for her to consider what she should do in this situation. Eventually, eventually meaning the seconds Sliferok took preparing its assault, she concluded upon something simple. She concluded that its power was dangerous to her. She concluded that it was indeed a threat, though she would ultimately triumph as preordained by despair. However, it was this notion of a 'threat' that deserved her focus.

 

Now...

 

NOW IT WAS WORTHY OF HER ATTENTION.

 

IT SEEMED THAT SOME WERE TOO PERSISTENT TO GIVE UP.

 

HOW DUMB. HOW IDIOTIC. HOW RIDICULOUS. HOW INANE. HOW ABSURD. HOW FOOLISH. HOW LAUGHABLE. HOW PAINFUL. And most it was sad in how hopeless they were. How hopeless. OW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS. HOW HOPELESS!!!

 

"مایوسیمایوسیمایوسیماسی"

 

This time, what she was laughing out with ALL EIGHT OF HER HEADS was so separated from the WORDS OF HUMANITY that it was utterly unrecognizable, ECHOING THROUGHOUT THE REST OF HER WORLD, CALLING FORTH THE WATERS AND STIRRING THEM UP.

 

These people clung onto foolish dreams and hopeless ideals. Why? They knew what it was like to suffer. They were old enough to understand the future that awaited them now. Did they deny their own fate, even now? Were they so determined as to cover their eyes in the face of despair and charge onwards? HOW STUPID! HOW DUMB!!! She was to be not be merely a monster that cursed the worlds, but a disaster that would curse all the INFINITE POSSIBILITIES of all the EXISTENCE of the MULTIVERSE with the power of the Door of Origin that she was obtain. Yet, even faced with this prospect, they still defied her? Ha. Hahaha. Haaahaahahaha. IT SEEMED THAT THE ENTITIES OF THIS PATHETIC MULTIVERSE HAD TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON. Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes YES. IT WAS TIME FOR DESPAIR.

 

Somewhere along the lines, watching the Slifer-Butler-Dorian-Ragnarok entity oppose her made the Witch snap.

 

A storm growing within the dark world of reversed physics, she reacted to the Sklaverei before it had even finished preparing. Her OVERWHELMING PRESENCE RUSHED TOWARDS LYON and SMASHED INTO HIS MIND, in such a non-subtle way that it must've been equivalent to being hit by a boulder. Without any regard for his well-being, she pushed his irrelevant existence away as she copied it into herself, and took over the waters of her realm. As she left his mind again, a fleeting memory of a girl carrying her hurt younger sister across a ruined city was left behind.

 

It was only natural to counter this assault by coating herself in her own liquid despair. Letting a thin layer of despair enshroud all eight of her heads, her body, and the orb, she remained stationary as it acted as a kind of barrier. Then, all of a sudden, the dark waters began to spread out further and let themselves be taken, or 'enslaved', . While they weren't naturally spiritual, there was something fundamentally spiritual about them that allowed them to be treated as reishi and thus be taken in. However, this 'uncertainty' was the key into consuming the Quincy-Kishin Pseudo-Deity, and as the liquid despair was being absorbed by the Sklaverei, they were mixed into Sliferok's energy source while still retaining their nature.

 

Now within, this pure, infinite despair began to react intensely against the madness around it and work to spread outwards and consume it. Madness made one blind to despair, however, even madness had hopes to be fulfilled, and it was by crushing these hopes that the despair spread out. Their greatest obstacle was the Perfect Balance, but despair resolved this problem by crushing specific sections of madness and maintaining a balanced ratio. Gradually, they grew.

 

"مایوسیمایوسیمایوسیمایوسیمایو!!!"

 

LERNA was laughing, her despair remaining undefeated, and if there was anything left of her humanity, if there was anything left of what was once a magical girl known as Galina Hikari, it was rapidly slipping away.

[The Warden]

|_)The Reaper Jeriii(_|

 

The Reaper had been fiddling with the data left behind by Arthur's Digivice. It was still relatively whole, just stuck in unusable state. The data sat in her hand as she analyzed it quickly. This Digivice was not dissimilar from the ones used by Tamers, it just has a different function: Burst Mode. A power state unleashing a Mega-class Digimon's energy, manifesting usually as a powerful aura and an aesthetic change. Very useful, very powerful.

 

It was more the pity that Chaos-borne agents could not Digivolve, but potentially, if a Digitama was located, a hybrid Agent/Digimon could be grown and trained. The perfect Digimon killer. The Reaper liked the sound of that, but- The roar of LERNA echoed through the realm as the darkness writhed in fury, like a storm. Her plans would have to take a backseat to survival for now. The bleeding had ceased, but her physical state was in jeopardy. The Chaos that had leaked from her body was still splashed on the ice platform, having been willed not to melt it away. The rest that didn't make it to the platform was lost to the sea of despair.

 

Calling upon the loose Chaos, it returned to her in a moving wave, climbing on her form and around her waist. Crystallizing, the Chaos formed a bodice around her mid-section, hiding away the cuts left by her pet. And the Digivice? She concentrated on it, and the acute data functions were quite complex, but nothing she could not handle. The physical form of the Digivice was lost, a new one would be necessary. Chaos crawle down her arm and meshed with the data, hybridizing and forming into a new form.

 

Held in her hand was a fingerless blue glove, with a red stone on the upper portion of the hand whilst the scanner for burst mode was on the palm as a blue diamond. The Counter Corps would notice, but probably too late. Humans always have a poor habit of being unperceptive. Another roar echoed across the dimension, LERNA was growing anxious, or more likely, angry.

 

It would be foolhardy to even attempt to fight her in this state, but no doubt her allies would require an intelligent mind to aid them. Gingerly flexing her wings, they allowed her to be airborne, but using Aerial Ace was quite clearly out of the question. It would be a slow journey back to the fight, but they could wait, surely?

 

---

 

|_)~Moe~ Scientist Frankram(_|

 

The Troys were ever numerous, but sadly, his power wasn't infinite. The projectile he had been launching weren't exactly magic intensive, but it was still a lot of work keeping them and aiming them at the Troys. Speaking of them, they had started to take up some fairly undefined forms now, ever since the birth of that new Familiar. Obviously it was some kind of enchantment, some psychological warfare against them. Despite this and the constant assaults against the Troys, Frank was starting to doubt that there would be an end to them or the fight with the titanic LERNA.

 

---

 

|_)Okama Queen Ivankov(_|

 

After LERNA's ramming attack, Ivankoc had managed to translate herself safely away from the impact site. LERNA was an impressive foe, and not one she could best, even with her Okama Kempo.

 

What was worse was that the Troys were gone, and replaced with them were many members of the Revolutionary Army. All the people that had been lost during their battle with the World Government. Ivankov wiped away a bitter tear as he sucker punched one of them and sent them hurtling into their group with a kick. "vI am sorry vy comrades, but choosing to side with LERNA is siding again the Revolutionary Army. Please don't think of ve badly" he said.

 

A bitter grip was holding his heart, this battle was like the fight with the World Government. Endless, and full of bloodshed.

 

---

 

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

 

Sarah closed her eyes to her flying mother, but every time she opened them, they were still there. "Okay, calm down. It's not real. It's NOT real. It's NOT real. It's a trick, a simple trick. How could she be here? And how could there be multiples of her? It's JUST a trick" she repeated over and over.

 

One of the copies of her mother snarled loudly as it came dangerously close to her. With a well aimed swing she sent it flying whilst shouting "YOU'RE NOT REAL!"

 

It hurtled off, provoking the other other copies to come hard and fast. There was a faint whistling sound as three bolts of light passed through them and sent them flying. Sarah turned to the source to find Lydia approaching. "Whatever happened to split up? Change of plans. ! LOOK!" Lydia cried, pointing at LERNA.

 

Her barrier of despair was raised high, and she was expertly fighting off the Kishin, dragon, thing? A bead of sweat formed on Lydia forehead, and beaded down her face perfectly. "Jesus. LERNA can even fight off the Kishin. How the hell are we even going to stand a chance against her. YoU cAnNoT!"

 

What the hell? That wasn't her voice. Could... could the despair be getting to her. Everything seemed really hopeless. They weren't doing damage and LERNA was taking down so many people like flies. "I'm scared" Lydia admitted.

 

"Isn't that natural when fighting anything more than twice your size? For me, no. I usually fight with courage and everything I got. But LERNA is so draining, she's like a nightmare made real. She's the embodiment of despair, what do you expect? Nothing. I... I don't know what I can really do against her. Then don't think, DO! Everything has a weakness. And she's distracted, we could probably bust through her barrier from this side and blindside her while she's busy with the demon dragon."

 

Sarah's resolve was burning, even against the torment she was still ready to guy. Lydia smiled wryly as her hands stopped shaking. "You're right. I, don't know what came over me. I think this place is getting to me, to us. It's designed to break us down, make us give up. Well, not today! NOT EVER! SCREW DESPAIR! VIVA LA HOPE!" Lydia cried.

 

She raised cuestick high, and Sarah crossed her fist over. "Give it your all!" Sarah replied.

 

Lydia twirled the cuestick expertly, strands of darkness illuminating her path as she called ont he powers of on-high. "EBON SPHERE!"

 

Sarah was simultaneously focused on the sky above, and relaity answered her call. "METEOR STORM!"

 

As simultaneously as they casted, both attacks came in perfect unity. Burning darkly from the black sky above, burning meteors hailed down, all of them aimed directly at LERNA. At the same time, a glyphic portal formed above the witch, and through it came an enormous crystal of dark energy. It had a slow descent, but many of the meteors aimed at LERNA pierced it, shattering the spear into a storm of sharp crystal chards, all them head right down at LERNA.

[Love of Ghibli]

LERNA's Barrier

 

It seemed that during his creation of the new clown LERNA was busy making an impressive counterattack. Luckily the Slifer portion of Sliferok maintained a constant gaze over everything, and everything got wild. Its seemed as if LERNA had snapped. The sheer presence of Sliferok must have been an insult to who boss tier status. As the Quincy Vollstandig was trying to enslave her existence the wicked witch pulled something out of bag of tricks and somehow took control of her sea of despair. As she coated herself in this pool of sadness the quincy skill ended up backfiring and began to absorb the infinite sea of despair instead of LERNA herself. This was not according to plan. Butler stopped focusing on his conversation with the new clown as he was trying to deal with the immense power he was receiving. Unfortunately this power was more of a contagion. By constantly assimilating despair, said despair began to take on a life of its own and attack the concept of Madness that a kishin is composed of. There is some logic in having an emotional battle in the mind, though Dorian's perfect balance should have been enough to prevent any kind of corruption from a foreign entity unless it can effect mind, body, and soul at the same time but it seemed like this despair was doing just that.

OH CRAP WHAT DO WE DO NOW!!  WE HAVE TO CUT OFF THE QUINCY HAX! Ragnarok said as it seemed he was starting to feel the effects of despair. Anansi and the other spirits just seemed to lay silent as they were doing their best to keep this "despair" in check. Slifer itself was letting out a mad roar as it too was doing all it could. But that's like trying to filter a high powered vacuum its not the best idea. Its seemed as if all hope would be lost. Bulter was about to cut off his Quincy Vollstandig everyone, including the all powerful LERNA, heard a certain arrogant voice

 

....aaaaaannnnnndddd stop. The sea of despair that was attacking the Mad Blood stopped attacking it. The liquid despair the found itself being hit with gold and red light and then that despair became madness, that madness became raw power for the kishin deity. This process repeated itself as Butler almost shed a tear and continued to use the Vollstandig. Everyone knew the voice that brought hope back to the combined super weapon. While they couldn't take the liquid despair that seemed to have been shielding LERNA it seemed like it would be enough to just keep eating this despair fuel.

 

The Mind of LERNA

LERNA would then hear the foots steps of a young golden man coming out from the shadows of her mind. Of course it was the young cocky upstart duelist from lands with the Hearts of Darkness Dorian. Of course this is all mental so nothing can actually happen to LERNA outside of a conversation. Hi. He said quite confidently. So this is happening. Dorian nodded as he was speaking to a projected image of something (depending on how LERNA sees herself inside her own mind). It sucks doesn't it? When people don't know when to give up. Yeah I understand your pain a little, but that is the beauty of hope. I guess I owe you an explanation. So lets bust out the PowerPoint shall we? The setting changed to an office conference room with Dorian showing a slideshow presentation.

Okay...so first thing. How am I talking to you? Dorian shows a picture of himself talking. It's simple Perfect Balance as I call it allows me to be safe corruption of well almost everything unless it somehow effects my mind, body, and soul all at one time. Ergo in order for Perfect Balance to even work I have to have a mind, body, and soul. New picture shows clip art images of a mind, body, and soul. Now here was the fun part...I died. Picture of BWG stabbing him through the chest. Therefore my "soul" and all of the spirits inside of it would transfer to the Mad Blood. One of the flaws of Perfect Balance is that I can't seem to free extend that ability to anyone else. I guess the Mad Blood is also some form of corruption. Anywho, so for Perfect Balance to remain active. At the moment my death my mind become one with the rest of Sliferok and my body was now considered Sliferok's body. So its like I evolved a little bit. he snickered as he pressed a button changing the image to show the initial completed Sliferok. 

Now the talking to you part, I know we're getting there. Time for the two part combo of hilarity. The new picture is that of the Alpha Stigma and what seems to just be a bunch of books. First let's talk about these books. These are 103,000 Grimiories ,aka books of magic, that dictate the secrets of the universe. Or something like that. One of them has a spell called Ars Magna where in short reality is what I dictate, and I say I meaning Sliferok. So it is because  of that spell there which allowed me to turn myself into a Quincy and you, well what was supposed to be you anyway into reshii. New image is the Quincy Vollstandig trying to assimilate LERNA. Dorian starts making a comical pump brakes hand movement. I know I know still haven't explained this conversation. That's my favorite part, the loop effect.

The new image shows the Alpha stigma and Dorian smile becomes extra wide. This is a gift from Isamy known as the Alpha Stigma. With it I can copy, understand, and if weak enough I can negate all forms of magic. IT'S SOO AWESOME! Now you are far too powerful to negate, far too unique to replicate, but understand is a grey area. Here is your one slip up. The picture turns to LERNA fully utilizing Lyon's magic. The Alpha Stigma saw this event happen and what was better it understood it. I learned how to control the sea of despair from your use of the water magic. Now I'm not stupid enough to fight you for the sea of despair I'll lose of course, but what I can do is control whatever Sliferok enslaves thanks to those Quincy shenanigans. So that brings us to the loop. The new image is a circle connecting LERNA to the despair, the despair to Sliferok, and Sliferok to LERNA. So the Despair goes into the Quincy gets filtered out and thanks to the vollstandig the actual power of this sea keeps getting tacked on to Sliferok's already grandiose amount of power. Since this is only possible because the Alpha Stigma is using your waterbending magic as the guidebook to do this that means I'm now connected to you. Ergo I can talk to you. Of course you could stop this by stop using the vampires water magic but that puts you in a bind because then I'll just resume to trying to eat you except I'll just be adding your power to the Vollstandig that allows me to eat you. 

Dorian turned off the projector and bowed ending his presentation. At that point the scenery changed to what would be a street where children were trick or treating. What Dorian neglected to mention was that since there was this connection between the two entities on a mental level they now have access to each others minds and memories. Dorian learned that this super powerful entity was just a 14 year old girl. He at least tried to his surprise. So there you have it. What do you think? A bit circuitous I admit but it gets the job done. He laughed as he changed the scenery again back to the battle where the magical girl and the Hell Spawn launched their attacks. Wow would you look at that? that sucks doesn't it. When the ants you step on aren't dead. They just keep crawling. Where I come from I tried to do the same thing. Well you probably know that already. I mean that's why I'm here fighting for the Divine. I am so sick of losing to people who I out match in every way I can think of that I am hoping that if I simply rewrite existence then that will give me a winning edge. That's the key though...hope. Its what pushes the butterfly through the cocoon, its what gives those two and the rest of the Counter Corp the strength keep fighting, and its what drove me to sacrifice myself to make Sliferok.

 

Dorian snickered and shrugged as he didn't realize he was all hero preachy. Come on now you can't tell me you didn't feel the power hope when you became a witch to take down the Kyubey. We tend to stigmatize hope as something only reserved for good guys, but in truth its some variance of hope that pushes us all forward. For example... If LERNA's heads were still looking at Sliferok the would notice the Butler portion's wings getting bigger and bigger and it was chanting something. Slifer then opened its mouth and its massive Thunder Force attack was charging in its mouth. Dorian learned that they the despair was immune to spiritual and magical energies but this wasn't anything of the sort this was pure energy-beam-cannon-Egyptian God- death about to hit this beast and the more Despair that was getting sucked in was just being converted to raw power. Watch what happens when a villain decides to hope. Sliferok released its massive blast trying to shoot through all of LERNA's defenses.   

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

LERNA's Barrier:

"You ready, littletits?"
"About as ready as I will ever be. You understand the plan?"
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"It might, if I can get a clear shot at her." Judaihime paused, and turned to her unlikely accomplice. "The odds are not in our favor of us surviving this. Especially not me."
"I figured, but if I can at least get the last laugh on Old Whorebiscuit, I think I'll be fine wherever I end up."
"Then let us end this."
 
As Thermopylae fought against Ed, she suddenly felt a brief resurgence of power as she saw someone from deep in her own memories, far back before she became a goddess, and even farther back to when she was the puppet of a man named Paradox. And it consumed her in rage as she watched him approach, not even a weapon in hand as he shouted out, arms outstretched to give her one of his legendary hugs.
"OH, WHOREBISCUIT!!! I'M BAAAAAACK!!!"

Unfortunately, he did not get to savor in his reunion, as he suddenly felt an intense pain in his gut, and something sharp emerge from his back on the other side. The spear that Thermopylae had conjured from a Troy radiated with warmth and light, and was actually surprisingly soothing to Melvin, though the spear immediately retracted to abandon him to the cold ice a few feet below him. As the life blood oozed out of his body, Thrmopylae was surprised by a second figure, another familiar face, that had used Melvin as a distraction, and leapt into the air thanks to her spear to place a hand on the doll-like Familiar's face, and cry out one final spell, the very thing that would hopefully end Thermopylae's existence.
"DE-FUSION!!!"

[Phantom Roxas]

Eria

 

The Blood Priestess nodded, understanding her master's bidding before sliding away. However, it wasn't long before LERNA began to direct all of her attention towards Sliferok, allowing Eria to get a glimpse of the artifact. The laugh echoing throughout the whole of the barrier made Eria make a "D'awww" sound, finding the lunacy of the Witch to be nothing short of adorable. While LERNA and Sliferok were locked in place, Eria chose to perform a little experiment. She tried to manipulate the water in the sea of despair, but unlike before, she was not overwhelmed by its effects. She draw a small portion of it, forming a ball of water that she could hold in her hand, but rather than trying to simply manipulate it, Eria's purpose was to "convert" it.

 

The Mad Blood was a product of the "Madness of Terror", and therefore, Eria had to find a link between "terror" and "despair". "Terror" was but another form of fear, while "despair" was a lack of hope, and as such, those who felt "despair" would in turn know "fear". Manipulating the literal meanings as Eria interpreted them, Eria turned "despair" into "fear", "fear" into "terror", and "terror" into "madness". Satisfied with her work, Eria continued to slide along, hoping to circle around LERNA while the ball of Mad Blood began to spread out in thin streams, connecting to the frozen sea of despair, infecting it with the Mad Blood.

 

ADR-11

 

As Titanomachia enhanced the speed of his projectiles, ADR-11 surrounded himself with his aura, swinging his scythe around to strike through the middle of a few of the spears while using a Fira spell against a few more, and finally he jumped back, but the blades continued to pursue him, to which ADR-11 crossed his weapons together, shouting "Double Crescent Mirage!" to obliterate the rest of them. After the attack, ADR-11 took note of ClownWarGreymon. The program was disgusted to have the Digimon from the Divine come to its aid, but it was curious how he had been transformed.

 

"Guess I'm going to need help, after all," ADR-11 said in Arthur's voice. "Even if it's from someone like you." Pointing both of his weapons at the familiar, each one began to generate a new attack. A violent orb formed within the curve of the scythe, while Chaos formed at the tip of the Keyblade. Although Chaos needed to be used sparingly, fighting this familiar certainly required relying on it. However, as ADR-11 brought his two weapons closer, the Chaos began to move around, its form shaking as it grew near to the dark energies. Annoyed by this, ADR-11 took a step back, hurling a volley of dark energy with the scythe, with exploded once it was close to Titanomachia. While the figure was still obscured by smoke, ADR-11 fired four streams of Chaos from the Keyblade. As he did, black smoke began to form around ADR-11's left hand, but he paid it no mind.

[Merci]

LERNA's Mind

 

How would one define a mind? Would it be the space in which an entity conducted thought? Would it be the neural circuitry composing the brain, simulating the consciousness? Would it be a metaphorical concept, separate from the heart, body, and soul? Whatever the case, she should not have possessed one, or at least not the same kind of mind that an ordinary entity would possess. However, there did seem to be a remnant of her mind as a human, and it was this remnant which was accessed by the former duelist. Perhaps because of this, the projection took the form of an image thought long-lost; that of a fourteen-year-old girl with wavy blue hair and aquamarine eyes.

 

Having taken such a form, she could not move. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't, because her mind was that of a monstrous hydra, and no hydra could expect to readapt to the body of a human being. And as a result, she was unable to choke the dead man before her to death as much as she wanted to, and was forced to listen to the speech he made. To her, it sounded rather unnecessarily inspirational, and the fact that that he had mentioned the word 'hope' six times disgusted her. It really really really really REALLY REALLY REAAAALLYYYY RREEEEAAAAAALLLLLLLYYYYYYY really disgusted her.

 

"Foolish." The Witch spoke, once he had mentioned Sliferok. "Surely, 'Dorian von Schroeder', you yourself have faced hardships. You were nothing but an illegible African baby, orphaned or abandoned, before you were adopted by Zigfried. How much humiliation and disgust would such a proud family have had of you at the beginning? You don't even have the blood that gives you the right to command your Butler! And you're dead as well, might I add. In vain. Why do you hope? What reason have you to HOPE?"

 

Then, just as Sliferok unleashed its blast, time slowed down within this mind room place.

 

"It is pointless to resist. I am no longer a magical girl that spreads hope. Now, I am a GOD who wishes every seed of despair...to blossom!"

 

 

---

 

 



 

LERNA did not move as the Class 2 magical girl and Hellspawn unleashed their attacks, and she found herself being bombarded by meteors and sharp crystal shards that broke through her thin layer of defense, with such a range that it successfully damaged all the heads on her right side. Trinkles of dark liquid flowed down from the heaviest of wounds, but it only served to anger her further. Perhaps because of the fact that their attacks had been unexpected, a sudden burst of hope that appeared out of nowhere, without reason, she hadn't reacted. As she suffered the hits, one of her heads turned straight to Lydia and SCREAMED AT THE MAGICAL GIRL.

 

DID SHE NOT REALIZE HOW IDIOTIC IT WAS TO HOPE? DID SHE NOT KNOW ANYTHING? The Witch of Infinite Possibilities analyzed her, going through her memories and experiences - perhaps the girl in question could've been able to feel it - and was thoroughly disgusted. Like the Witch herself, she had become a magical girl without even thinking about it, just for the two reasons 'to help support another' and 'because it was cool'. Did she honestly believe that she could support this 'Zac Armidayle' of hers? Could she honestly trust those magical powers to protect her, every time she faced a life-threatening opponent?! MAGICAL GIRLS WERE A LIE.

 

How disgusting. How truly, truly disgusting. A person like that...deserved nothing less than to be consumed by despair, DID SHE NOT?!?!?

 

However, LERNA could not focus on that childish little Class 2 Entity at the moment, for there was a far more pressing issue. Namely, the fact that the Slifer-Dorian-Butler-Ragnarok Entity had unleashed a superbly powerful blast, enough to damage her entire core. And like the previous attacks, there was hope within it. However, there was one huge flaw in Dorian's seemingly perfect plan, and it was that she was not a stationary being. The Sliferok entity must've known this by now; that she was quite fast, and did the most natural thing in other to avoid it - dodge. As the beam rushed towards her, the gigantic hydra dropped once more into the depths of the ocean of despair, sending another huge shockwave throughout the area.

 

This time, though, she did not emerge again. Her position could be seen - barely - by the huge light shadow she cast underwater, but she was not reemerging. Within these depths of despair, surely there was nothing that could reach her.

 

But while she was within the safe covers of dense, liquid despair, she couldn't help but notice that the Class 2 Entity Eria, now a Blood Temptress that served as the Clown servant of the earlier Kishin Deity, was attempting to corrupt her ultimate paradise. Ridiculous. While it did seem to have somewhat of an effect, her world was as vast as an ocean, and it would take far more than food coloring in order to pollute it. Because of that, this entity was ignored.

 

LERNA swam closer and closer to the Slifer-Dorian-Butler-Ragnarok Entity, until she was directly beneath it. Then, she proceeded to analyze and copy the powers of Darcy one last time. This time she was met with even more resistance, and it took her a total of thirty seconds to completely shatter through them all and take in her existence. In the end, though, even that impressingly-reinforced mind couldn't keep her out, and once more she had her powers. They really did suit her. While she could've used the same strategy that she had used with the Renegade Joker, utilizing the Astral Projection and water manipulation in tandem, she knew that it was not likely to work a second time.

 

There was still one more thing she could do, however, and that was transform into a DARK SIRENIX. Granting the Witch of Infinite Possibilities a tremendous amount of power, boosting her already-considerable force and having spiked tentacles emerge out from her body, it mattered not that she was injured. As she adjusted the principle of the transformation to fit her ocean, now, she felt herself ready to take on this 'Sliferok'.

 

Then the image of LERNA lashed out from the waters, and directly attacked it with an onslaught of despair and dark magical energy, hoping to obliterate it in one fell swoop.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

LERNA's Barrier:

As Judaihime burned everything she could possibly use into the spell, as she started to rapidly age from her bargain with her goddess, to exchange all of the years she would have spent as a queen with her Johan and all of the years she would have had seeing her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow and prosper, something started to happen inside of Thermopylae, and to the goddess that she was not very long ago...
 

"Brr...I keep reminding myself of how cold it is out here."
"That's what happens when you venture out into these frozen wastes."
"Lady Itsu, could you tell me a story? To pass the time?"
"A story? Alright...Let's see...I don't know if there are many stories that I could tell you that you might understand, but let me try something..."
[spoiler=Itsu's Story]
Once upon a time, there was a knight of dragons and a sorceress of nature who lived in a shining city. There, they lived with their friends, a former knight of darkness, a fortune teller who loved the dark knight, a keeper of mighty birds, and a pair of twins, a young boy and girl who were the inheritors of a great amount of wealth. The seven of them defended their shining city against all manner of foe. The knight of dragons and the sorceress of nature fell in love after many battles against those who sought to destroy the city they loved, and had a child, a beautiful princess. Meanwhile, the dark knight also had a son with the fortune teller, a strong squire. Both families loved their children very much.

But one day, the princess was kidnapped by a soothsayer that used to be a friend of the sorceress, but had fallen to the siren call of forbidden alchemy. The soothsayer and his wicked colleagues sought to give the princess incredible power, and use her as a weapon against her parents, but she managed to free herself at the cost of her sanity. All of the love in the princess was gone, and she had nothing left but hatred. It was only fitting that she become a queen of ice, mastering cold and pain to protect herself from those that wished to harm her, only she saw everyone as her enemies.

As the years passed, the shining city fell into chaos as dark forces collided with similar forces of light. The knight and his allies were powerless to stop them, for their children were involved in the conflict. The dark knight's squire of a son sought more strength, and became a dread knight of his own power. However, the dread knight discovered one part of the soothsayer's evil schemes: a homonculus crafted as a doll in the shape of the sorceress. This homonculus was able to break free of the trance her creators had given her, and only desired to be real, and to be loved.

Touched by the plight of this poor creature, the dread knight decided to take the doll girl along on his quest, and the two fell madly in love, though he was a dead man come back to life with wicked magics, and she was not even certain if she was alive herself. By using the same dark magics that turned to weak squire into a dread knight, the homonculus of a doll was able to transmute herself into a body of borrowed flesh, and become a witch, one with immense knowledge. And she knew how to end the war.

The forces of light and darkness would never end their war unless something was done to tip the balance. And the forces of light, led by their ice queen, were planning on ending the world to rid it of everything evil. Acting quickly, the forces of darkness forged an uneasy alliance with the knight of dragons and his companions. They all flew up to the floating castle of the forces of light, and feed the ice queen from her prison of despair not with force or hatred, but with kindness and love and hope.

The gods were amazed at the valiant act that had been committed, and absolved everyone of their sins, ending the curse of undeath of the forces of darkness, and letting the witch become a real girl, while the princess and the squire were reunited with their families. As a token of gratitude, the knight of dragons and the sorceress of nature adopted the former doll as their own, and the former ice queen, now a princess of snow, united with her new twin sister, who became a princess of roses.

But not all was to remain tranquil for long. Many months later, the wicked soothsayer enacted his plans of world domination, utilizing a future he had seen coming to pass before him. In this future, he was king, and all were his slaves beneath his soldiers of clockwork. But he needed powerful souls to run his clockwork army of golems and homonculi, and so, he kidnapped the sorceress and her daughters, transforming them into his puppets.

The former princess of roses managed to be freed from the soothsayer's control by the squire and his comrades, but the clockwork army was spreading throughout the city, changing those who accepted the rule of the soothsayer, and capturing those who resisted. And, in a pivotal fight, the former princess of snow was left to die. Unable to fix her sister herself, the princess of roses tried to sacrifice herself to fix her sister, but broke herself in the process. However, their immense love for each other allowed for them to become a beautiful knight of clockwork, a mechanical maiden of battle to avenge her former selves.

Utilizing the powers of machines for himself, and gathering together his allies for one final push, the squire, now a knight of his own right, and the clockwork woman besieged the soothsayer's tower. It was a long and arduous battle of wills, in which it seemed like the soothsayer would triumph, but, once more, the immense power of love shone through, and the soothsayer was defeated. As punishment, the evil soothsayer was remade using his own machines, so he, now she, would fix the kingdom of its problems. And thus, the two knights were able to have each other, and nothing would ever separate them.

"Did the knights have any more adventures?"
"Plenty of them, especially one where the mechanical maiden came to help her princess friend find a lost temple to Ma'at."
"Will that story have a happy ending?"
"Let's hope so. It's freezing out here, and I actually miss your stone palace for once."
"Itsu...can any story have a happy ending?"
"As long as you put all of your hope, love and strength into it, anything is possible."

The spell drove past the despair and the divinity of the Familiar of Hope, heading deeper and deeper into Itsu, until it stopped at her soul, and found the tiny seam in her very essence that separated her two original components from each other.
And it took the last of Judaihime's power to cause that seam to come undone.
"AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!!"
In a blinding flash, Thermopylae was knocked back, along with two female figures. The first was clearly Judaihime based on her dress and her figure, but her hair was now long and white, and her figure and face were so frail and wrinkled. She had aged decades, maybe even a century, in a matter of moments. The second also had white hair, but hers didn't seem as based on being old as her associate's. Her skin was very pale, her naked figure slender and lithe, and when she opened her eyes, her pupils were a very icy-blue. She slowly stirred and looked around the dark place where she was, before looking to the agonized Familiar behind her. Thermopylae's hair had turned a darker shade of red, approaching magenta, and small fragments of porcelain had fallen from her face. Her fingers moved to reveal a jagged crack along her faceplate, where her left eye would be, that faintly resembled a certain mark that Thermopylae's father once had, only it now had a hole big enough for a golden eye with blood-red sclera to look out of in pain and misery.

[Reinforce]

Lyon

His mind was throbbing, a massive headache brought on by the mental assault that battered his consciousness and left in its wake only a single memory, a young girl carrying an even younger girl away from a ruined city. As the throbbing started to subside, Lyon could start to figure out the image, and considering that his power was once again used by LERNA directly afterwards, he realised that the mental assault must have likewise come from there. "So that is what you started out as, an innocent little girl who fell into despair and became this monstrosity." As the being attacked from inside its ocean, Lyon brought his sword up as the ice platform he was on tilted till he was facing directly towards LERNA, at about a 45 degree angle from being vertical. At that point, the water that had been spread out around him started to group close around his body, forming an airtight wedge from the platform to the tip of his sword, partially thrust out in front of his body. After taking a moment to position himself so he was aiming at the right spot, he pushed downwards off his platform, the ice of which quickly melted to become part of the layer of water surrounding his body. Moving down, he began to spin as he rapidly flew right towards one of the left side heads, on an angle to allow him to avoid the beam of darkness and despair. With the water around his body, and the fast spin he was currently using, it should work as enough of barrier around him to stave off the corrupting effects of LERNA's ocean for long enough for him to hit and damage the hydra and get him back to the surface.

 

Darcy

It had happened again, her barriers were attacked and broken though, even the ones she threw up in a hurry to block LERNA as she attacked. The whole process did take a full 30 seconds though, much longer than the previous two times had been. So, with a determined glint in her eye, she fixed the shields that had been destroyed that time around, reinforcing them all further, and started throwing up even more layers of shielding to try and defend herself. With most of them in place, she next threw up a mental scape of a huge open sky down near the bottom of them, hoping it would work to delay the hydra even longer if she tried again, and maybe trap her consciousness in place for a bit so Darcy could get a read back on it.

 

Ayame

From her position a while away, Ayame sighed as she realised that she was absolutely useless to the fight from here, her accuracy with the lightning not good enough to hit anything. Instead, she flew forward again, quickly closing the gap between her and the main fight as she aimed towards the spiralling water that was heading directly for LERNA. Taking advantage of that, she threw a few bolts of her lightning to hit the outer border of the water as it plummeted down, keeping the dark lightning away from the water's controller itself but just inserting itself into the water to increase the damage it would do if it successfully hit. If not, if the attack missed and he couldn't return to the surface before he could be turned into a familiar, Ayame could always then have the lightning spread throughout the whole sphere and turn him into a denizen of her realm before the water could turn her into one of LERNA's familiars.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

Nero

 

"What happened to you in there?" Nero asked, and he really wanted an answer to his question, but troys had made their way over to their platform What was worse is that they had taken the form of his master, Hao, some even took the form of Ryuusaki who was once his apprentice. He looked at his keyblade in deep thought, and when the troys were in striking distance, he finally got his nerve to slash one of them. After connecting the troy turned back into a normal troy. "I don't feel any guilt about your deaths anymore, I've settled with that darkness." Nero said to the copies of his former master and pupil. He then noticed a scene in the distance happening with Thermopylae, with a swing of his keyblade he sent a wave of darkness just to push back the troys so he could escape. He jumped to another panel, then another, until he reached the portion of despair that was frozen over. Nero charge as fast as he was able at the construct her group was facing. "It's time for me to land some hits!" Nero said from behind the Thermopylae, and swung with all his might at the familiar of LERNA's...

 

Matthew Supplex

 

Matthew was about to answer Nero's question when he suddenly charged off at some troys. Matthew looked at the troys, smirked, but didn't seem affected by their appearance at all. There was only one thing on his mind at the moment, LERNA, and how he would finally join that fight as he himself and not as some Drive Mode pansy. Matthew jumped to another platform in the sea of despair, making sure no troys were on it before jumping. He slid out the charges he currently had in his weapon and stuffed them in his pocket. Matthew then proceeded to slide each individual new charge into his revolver's chamber, planning out exactly in what order he would fire them. Finally after jumping another platform or six, punching away troys with an Oni Sukin coated fist, he was close enough to see LERNA and the red dragon-like beast combination doing battle. He would wait, however, he needed a particular moment to strike and he would wait ever so patiently.

[Kingdom Xathers]

Alexander wasn't sure what on earth was happening; first, Melvin ran by, looking as if to try and hug Thermopylae and yet was quickly (and literally) shot down by a spear, and then some girl who looked like Jaden Yuki crossdressing as a princess went up and cast a De-Fusion Spell on Thermopylae, which actually appeared to have had an effect on the Familiar.  Thinking fast, Alexander caught the now-drastically-aged Judaihime as the force of her spell blasted her away from Thermopylae.  

 

"Are you... all right...?" Alexander asked Judaihime as he cradled the weakened and aged princess.  It was then that he took notice of another entity on the ice, the naked form of a pale-skinned girl with snow-white hair, then directed his attention toward Thermopylae, now having taken on a slightly darker appearance and having cracks on her porcelain face, a sinister eye peering at him through said cracks.  "Wait... did you...?" he was about to ask Judaihime again, but was cut off when Nero made his sudden dynamic entry, intent on striking down the familiar while she was possibly still disoriented--

 

"STOP!!"  Nero's advance was suddenly halted by the intense reverberations of soundwaves focused in the air around him, the same soundwaves produced by Alexander's harpstrings earlier.  "Wait, Nero, just... wait a moment," he said to Nero urgently.  "Please... wait here, milady," he added to the aged Judaihime, taking off his cloak and laying it on the icy floor before gently laying the princess on top of it.  With that done, he slowly made his way over toward Thermopylae.

 

"... Itsu," Alexander began to speak, "Itsu, I know that there's still a part of you left in there, somewhere.  Please... if you can hear me...."

---

Meanwhile, the Jaws of Hell and Giant Clank took to the air above, planning on unleashing a massive missile strike upon the Troys below... only, there was a small problem.

 

"Crap, we can't see a thing from up here!" Ratchet groaned as the realization hit him.

 

"Well, this is just fan-tuckin'-fastic," Riley growled.  "Not that I care what we hit with our attack, but what if something decides to attack us back?  We won't be able to see any oncoming attacks unless--"

 

"--unless we simply illuminate our surroundings," Clank replied, completing Riley's sentence.

 

"Yeah, exactly!"

 

"Luckily for us," Azumi chimed in, "I just so happen to have a few flare rockets on-board--"

 

"Then what're ya waitin' for, woman?!" Riley shouted, almost unhinging his jaw in the process. "Unload those suckers, already!!"

 

More than happy to oblige (with or without Riley's "enthusiastic" coaxing), the Jaws of Hell deployed about six rockets into the air, each one soon erupting in a brilliant flash of red light, now bathing the entire area of the Witch's Barrier in light.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

LERNA's Barrier:

A rasping cough could be heard from nearby while Alexander cradles the shellshocked Thermopylae, who had finally collapsed from her pain just as Nero was about to conk her on the head with a Keyblade. Melvin, on the other hand, sadly could not move other than to grin maniacally and cough up some blood. "It...worked...it f**king worked...*cough cough*...I can't believe...it worked...*hack*...that religious b*tch...she pulled through..." He turns his head just in time to drool some blood. "I guess...she isn't still...*cough*...alive...but Whorebiscuit...*cough cough*...is no more..." He turns back to face the black sky and closes his eyes, a grin on his face. "I...I did it...*spurt*...I got.....I got the.....the last.....laugh....." And with that, Melvin breathed his last breath, content that, in the cosmic scheme of things, he went out f**king someone over.

 

However, Judaihime is not dead, at least not yet, but she is far from being alright. As Alexander abandons her on the coat, she pleads weakly. "Please...don't leave me..." Tears begin to form in her eyes, as she doesn't want to die alone and cold, like Melvin.

 

Thermopylae...or whoever she is...seems rather catatonic, her porcelain body limp and not moving much. If it weren't for the occasional blink from her sole eye, uncovered from her blank faceplate thanks to the De-Fusion, she would seem dead and lifeless. The trauma of having part of her very self ripped out of her forcefully must have been quite powerful. The once-powerful Familiar had been physically and mentally broken, just as LERNA had broken her emotionally.

Slowly, the naked girl on the ice begins to stir, and starts to shiver from the intense cold around her.

[Kingdom Xathers]

His ears picking up on Judaihime's weak plea, Alexander slowed his advance toward Thermopylae... "... Itsu... I'll be right back," he uttered to the familiar before turning on his heel and skating back toward the aged Judaihime.  "I... I hope you can forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty," Alexander spoke as he once more cradled Judaihime in his arms.  He then took a quick glance at the pale-skinned, naked girl a few feet away.  "Kuriboh," he uttered, calling forth a brown fuzzball of a creature with large, yellow eyes.  "Kuriboh, could you hand my cloak over to that girl over there?  At the very least it'll help cover her modesty."

 

With an acknowledging nod, the Kuriboh grabbed hold of Alex's red cloak with its stubby hands, then hovered over to the pale woman, presenting the cloak to her while averting its gaze from her exposed form.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

With the flare rockets launched, Azumi immediately took to checking how much fuel The Jaws of Hell had for its boosters and flamethrowers, hoping to all hell she had enough to unleash her most powerful technique: the mighty Nova Flare. Riley, however, turned his attention to the rifle that Azumi kept on board for the sake of keeping on board. He pondered about it; after all, Juubey did say that they needed a weapon to defeat LERNA, and as Riley groaned about at the time, all the good ones were still inside Isamy's vault, which in turn made them impossible for anyone else to acquire. Supposing the rifle would have to do, Riley began practicing the art of looking down the scope... until Azumi decided to snatch the rifle off him for personal stuff reasons.

 

"Hands off! I'll need it for later!" Azumi scolded.

 

"The hell do you mean later? There might not actually be a later!" Riley retorted in return, but there was no response. All that could be heard were the boosters carrying The Jaws of Hell well out of range from any stray attacks of LERNA's, and to the estimate point in the sky where it would get itself a run-up start. It wasn't until Riley peered over the control panel that one of the two actually spoke up for a change.

 

"So let's get this straight; you're expecting us to abandon ship... while you set this thing into a suicidal dive-bomb... into the DRINK??!!" it was at this point that Azumi really didn't want Riley saying such a thing. The last thing she needed was a reminder of what would happen should this technique go horribly wrong. A total of nine beings already fell into the sea of despair, and most of them changed into Troys themselves. There were the two that become something more, but anyway...

 

"Just shut up and trust me for once, will ya?" asked Azumi after a brief sigh, before returning to set up The Jaws of Hell's routine...