Golden Gate Empire: Dreams of Grandeur [IC | PG-16]

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 
There are several things wrong with that offer. One: It would involve the potential murder of myself, should things go wrong. Two: Your brother's far-inaccurate insult has left me unwilling to play nice with him in specific anymore. I am no degree of demon, thank you very much!
 

'Well aren't you a lot of help?' Kai sarcastically quipped, before shrugging her shoulders, 'Meh, I guess you lied about us being able to come to an agreement after all...'

 

With that, she left the Talis-Eye, and made her way over to try and make its maker meet his. Thankfully Choros was kind enough to point out Rawal's location, and even more thankfully, Rawal had seemed to drop the invisibility. But then he decided to make a dust storm which in turn made everything impossible to see anyway. Why this old coot wouldn't fight his opponent like a man, Kai would never know, but she stormed forth through the dust and the sand regardless. After all, since she'd managed to catch a glimpse of Rawal in the far yonder before the storm started, she only needed to go in one direction for the moment.

 

...

 

Apparently even allowing Kai to stick to that one direction would be too easy, as all of a sudden, a blind serpent creature arose from the ground and spat masses of acid at her... which she had to dodge... which in turn would throw her off from the direction she was meant to go for. Seeing no weak points, Kai did the smart thing and outright avoided the creature; there was no way in hell she'd be willing to waste however many shells it would take to fell that thing, and instead kept her original bearings.

 

By some divine guidance, Kai managed to get to where she assumed Rawal would be standing, and aimed square at his chest before pulling the trigger. Although let's be honest, here; who would've expected a shot to have struck a vital organ of Rawal's in any kind of storm?

[Dad]

Sahill Cathedral

 

Lady Merl was surprised.  She was never surprised.  In a display of strength, Lace managed to free herself of Lady Merl's spell, getting just out of reach of her stone gaze before she was cursed.  But that wasn't why she was surprised.  The girl who had been distracting Lace.  She'd hid her power so well.  How?  How did she conceal this much magic, from Lady Merl?  Who was she?  What was her name again?

 

Lady Merl felt a chill down her spine.

 

Oh, right.  It was Bethany.

 

An icicle she created behind Lady Merl was projected towards the back of Lady Merl's heads.  And unfortunately for Lady Merl, Lace's concussive force pushed her backwards, creating a sort of domino effect.  Lady Merl's outer head on her left side was run clean through by Bethany's icicle spear.  There was a horrified, angry scream, almost as if they were insulted.  "Sister!" they choked, looking on in anguish.  The head went limp, and Lady Merl suddenly found a new interest in Bethany.

 

Whipping around, Lady Merl slammed her tail against the ground, shaking off the frost that accompanied Bethany.

 

"You!"

 

"Wench!"

 

"Is your soul--"

 

"--as cold as your heart?"

 

"We must know!"

 

Lady Merl's hand had begun to slowly regenerate.  However, thanks to Bethany's latest trick, the regeneration process was drastically slowed.  But, that didn't remove the danger of Lady Merl right away.  She wrapped the large boiling cauldron behind her, inside of her tail.  The black ooze was still scalding hot.  With a flick of her tail, Lady Merl launched the black ooze at Bethany, cauldron and all.  Accompanying it was Lady Merl's own saliva, which was heavily acidic.  A touch would take away a limb.

 

---

 

The A.W. Network

 

The Android quickly recovered from the Administrator's assault, returning to battle with great speed.  At the same time, the the one beside him--the human girl--knocked three arrows, and attempted to hit him from close range.  With a simple side step, he avoided Jack's arrows, leaving them on course to collide with Angelica.  He backhand slapped Jack, knocking her to the ground and taking the wind out of her.  As she lie on the ground, the Administrator took the strange looking object off its back.  Inside of it, a lengthy, and what appeared to be an ordinary steel pole.

 

However, as the Administrator brandished it, glowing, pale blue symbols of an unearthly language ran from the weapon's top to its bottom.  Two jagged blades appeared on either end, and the Administrator challenged Jack.  He twirled the weapon so quickly, that it began to hum, and glow with pale blue light.  He approached Jack slowly, the weapon inching near her chest, preparing to cleave her in half.

 

---

 

The Church of Jubilee

 

The bat-like creature was speaking.  Still.  Choros had long since forgotten about the creature.  Though it was much like an imp, it didn't compare to actual demons.  The older man, from his perspective, was the real problem.  His weapon still at his side, Choros watched as the old man and his 'demons' attempted to cloud themselves in a sandstorm.  They refused to cooperate.  That alone was enough.

 

Unaware of Kai's display, Choros took to the air, and flapped his wings thrice.  Then, the sand was removed from Jubilee's grounds, and the holy ground was clean again.  He pointed his weapon directly at Rawal, angered.  "For your insolence, I sentence you to dea--"

 

Wait.  What was that?

 

Choros, who was dead set on killing Rawal and Kai, had become distracted.  Something. . .wicked, made him shiver.  Was it the old man?  It had to be!  He tightened his grip on Gabriel's Flame, but then he felt it again.  It was coming from the west.  And it was much too familiar for someone as fragile as Kai or this human to wield.  But something was wrong.  Very wrong.  This was a threat.  This was done on purpose.  His head shifted, as he stared, almost frightened into the west.

 

Even his eyes couldn't see that far, but he could feel the blackness that stretched outwards.  Someone--something--had a very powerful dark relic.  And they were about to use it.  He turned his attention back to Kai and Rawal.

 

"It seems there are even greater threats to our world.  Something that you could not perceive."  Choros' face returned to its empty, stoic look, as he threw Gabriel's Flame at Jubilee's center.  The sword glowed, feeding holy power back into the church's grounds.  A strange aura radiated around the weapon, preventing it from being moved.  Slowly, Jubilee's grounds, its roots, and even its stone were pieced back together.  It would take some time before it was whole again.

 

"There is a dark force in the west.  I know not whom has found such a sinister relic with which to threaten this world.  But I will stop them.  And though I cannot remove you now," he continued, folding his arms.  "I will leave Gabriel's Flame to restore this place.  Since one of you have no strength to move it, this place will be strong again.  I must dawn something greater with which to combat something this black."

 

The clouds rumbled above Choros, and he raised his head.  "But you shan't be here when I return.  I will spare neither of you."

 

In a ray of holy light, Choros climbed into the heavens, and vanished above the clouds.  It took a lot to draw him away from his duty.  Whoever had done this, knew what they were doing.  They threatened balance.  And so long as one holy one remained, he had to do his duty.  So was the Angelic Law.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Well that worked infinitely better than Bethany had expected. The accidental combo attack she and Lace laid onto the snake seemed to have really caused some harm.

...Wait she actually HIT her. Bethany's gun had done squat against her but the magic had worked. Was it because it was magic or simply because the snake hadn't expected it? Whatever the case she knew she had to keep it up.

Even if she could feel herself grow colder by the moment. Frost seemed to be hanging in the air around the girl as her magic essentially tainted the air now that she had released it.

 

Whatever not like this place could get any uglier.

 

"You!"

 

"Wench!"

 

"Is your soul--"

 

"--as cold as your heart?"

 

"We must know!"

 

"Well it's probably not as tasty as an ice cream sundae I can tell you that much." Bethany said in response to the creature. It seemed to not enjoy her joke as it threw what was basically a pot of really nasty soup, and then spit, at her.

Bethany groaned. It looked really hot so she doubted it would do much but.... Bethany tapped into her magic again. This time to create a cone of cold in front of her, striking the cauldron and slowing its path. While the liquids seemed largely unaffected she banked on it, and the cauldron, slowing its advance enough for her to get out of the path of the offending liquid.

 

She had hoped the snake would have charged her on its own but evidently that was too much to ask. Bethany steeled herself and took off towards the creature, launching another cone of cold at her when she got closer, hoping to slow, and maybe freeze, the snake so that Lace could follow it up with another attack.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Oh no, you don't!"

 

Firing her thrusters on opposite direction, Angelica was pushed quite far back, giving her room to shoot down the arrows Jack had fired at her down. However, that made her lose any opportunity to hit the mysterious being again. The being then brandished his odd weapon not long after, and seemingly went to attack Jack, aiming to cleave her in half. Him being distracted by her opponent seemed to be a good opportunity for Angelica to attack him, but...actually Angelica would prefer to see him kill Jack first. If he failed, she would still have help in bringing the strange guy down, and if he succeeded, one less thing to worry about. Keeping her distance as she focused her attention to prevent herself getting surprise attacked again, Angela watched in amusement at whatever would happen between the strange being and Jack.

 

---

[Mr. Hyde]

 

It seemed as though the Louis Triple Play had gone off without a hitch.  It was a surprise to him, however, that the creature would have even been affected by a flash grenade.  Well it had eyes...so it wasn't really that strange.  

 

With the goo blinded, Louis stomped on his shadow lightly.  The small shadowy demon promptly emanated from the shadow, wiping it's eyes and yawning a bit, revealing it's vacuous mouth which held a large array of teeth.  

 

"Did she fall for the Triple Play?"  It asked with a drowsy voice.  Louis nodded before tossing the shadow imp another one of his flash grenades.  

 

"Get up close...and shove it in that thing's body.  I want to see how it reacts."  

 

"Despicably cruel Sir!  IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII love it!"  Basabth zoomed towards Mango, using unprecedented speed as it ran on all fours.  He carried the flash grenade inside his mouth as he travelled to Mango in no time flat.  Not trying to step in the goo that encased the body of the creature, Mango threw the grenade into the gelatinous substance.  Louis' shadow approached the tree that had once been turned into a pair of razor sharp claws, but now he would need the whole tree this time.  Attaching his shadow to that of the tree's, Louis tugged at it with ease, causing the tree to be uprooted entirely in almost an instant as it hovered in the air above the blob.  

 

"Bonne nuit, laide..." Louis said Sensually as he hurled the entire tree at the creature as if he were batting at a baseball.  

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

Jack's arrows were quickly dodged by the alien and flew in Angelica's direction, who dodged the arrows as well.

 

"Damn," Jack muttered in disappointment as she watched the arrows fail to hit any mark, but was promptly back-handed to the ground, feeling the air escape her lungs as her back smashed against the ground. The alien took out a pole-arm with an energy blade and back to inch the weapon closer and closer to Jack's chest. "I don't think so," Jack growled, pointed her arm to the area on the wall behind and above her, firing her tethers and feeling them latch onto the solid surface. Jack wasted no time reeling them back in, her body yanked away by an invisible source and landing against the wall with her feet. 

 

She wasn't too far above the ground, but she had managed to put some distance between herself and the imminent bisection. While she would love to use her bow, her one arm was stuck pointing backwards, the tethers keeping her anchored to her position. She could fire her own tethers at the alien, but she didn't necessarily want to risk more equipment being destroyed. However, she knew she could fight close range; the alien's armor was sparking with charged electricity, but Jack's arsenal was equipped to deal with a lot of electricity; why would she be vulnerable to it?

 

Jack used her other arm to fire her tethers at the ceiling, detaching the first and kicking off, reeling the tethers in to keep her swing from going too low. Jack flew over the alien, his energy pole-arm taking a swipe at her as she moved, and landed behind him, wasting no time to sweep her legs in a low kick to try and trip up the alien and knock him prone. As her leg moved closer, she could feel sharp prickles in her leg as the electricity danced across her armor. Jack would be lying if she said it didn't still hurt (must be some very powerful armor), but it wasn't enough to stop her in her tracks. If she could just get her hands on that pole arm...

[Yui]

---

Everything was white. No vision. No sound. However, Mango could slowly see and hear the world coming back around her. Slowly.

 

"...love it!"

 

Who is that? It's not the creepy guy, or the boy...this is fishy. Then Mango felt something. Something being put into the sludge layer around her body. Mango felt around with the blunt sides of her fingersabers...another flash grenade! He's trying to make it so I can't fight back! How underhanded! Mango knew those kinds of people existed out in the world. Humans who would do anything to win. She never suspected she'd fight one however. But she did know one thing. Those kinds of people wouldn't hesitate to kill their opponent. This fight was now a matter of life and death. She couldn't let herself just get beaten senselessly like this. Mango had some tricks up her sleeve too!

 

Mango positioned the flat side of a fingersaber between her actual body and the flash grenade stuck in her sludge, then suddenly flicked her finger outward, sending it away. She didn't care if it was anywhere near the boy; she just had to get it away from herself.

 

"Bonne nuit, laide..."

 

Where's the attack? Mango could barely see. But it was still an improvement. And even with barely having vision, one can see a tree coming at them. There wasn't enough time to slice it or anything like that though, not to mention such a reaction would be foolish. Instead, Mango leapt back, putting the tree between herself and the flash grenade that had been stuck in her sludge layer. And then she called out, "Not going to fight fair!? Fine! I am Bioweapon XRT-41-E, and on the honor of X-ertion Labs, I'm winning this fight, then we're both going back to the hotel alive!" Now then, it was time to fight back as a bioweapon was meant to.

 

What sounded like an organic grinding sound rumbled from inside Mango's body, as she raised one of her hands near her mouth, palm and blades facing down. She then opened her mouth slightly, and let out a green acidic substance, putting small amounts along the length of each fingersaber, before closing her mouth and suddenly swinging her hand horizontally, creating a spray of the acid in front of her. She had no idea where she was aiming, but this would have to do for a start. I hope I don't get his face...

---

[Tesability Black]

~Rawal's POV~

In the shadows of the sandstorm, Rawal caught sight of something approaching and raising something towards his direction. While he knew not what the shadow held, he recognized the action well enough to know to hit the dirt.

And he was glad he did as a thunderous sound echoed from in front of him before hearing a distinctive sound almost immediately behind him. While nowhere near as loud, he knew how Thorn Batons had a similar sound pattern from use to those whom would dare to try and catch them.

Scrambling up onto his feet, a few beads of sweat formed on his brow upon the realization that this world may have something far more deadly than what he's familiar with regarding long-ranged weaponry. Something that, should he hopefully win this round somehow, he may try to find out about and invest in.

Then suddenly, the sands settled themselves back onto the ground, revealing Kai being the shadow and seeing something that he thought was metallic in her hand. Rawal stood defiantly against the angel as he watched the blade be raised towards him, realizing that, if he was going to die here, he would die fighting with a literal army by his side.

"For your insolence, I sentence you to dea--"

Both Rawal and Talis-Eye caught the hiccup in Choros' sentence and noticed the timing of it alongside the sudden feeling of encroaching power towards the direction that both of them as well, as the angel, found themselves looking towards.

Demons reside here, too, Rawal asked towards Talis-Eye as a shudder crawled up his spine after recognizing what the energy felt similar to.

...from what I can understand, yes.

Is there no place safe from those infernal entities?

"It seems there are even greater threats to our world.  Something that you could not perceive." The statement drew the gazes of both back towards the angel, whom had returned to the neutral look fitting of the Judge mentality before he continued. Rawal took a step back as Choros suddenly appeared to slam the tip of the blade back into the ground, ready to run at the sight of flames erupting from beneath his feet. But this time, such did not happen. The sword glowed, feeding holy power back into the church's grounds.  A strange aura radiated around the weapon, preventing it from being moved.  Slowly, Jubilee's grounds, its roots, and even its stone began to sew itself back together, as if it was never broken or damaged to begin with.

The wounded feeling he had been getting about this place becoming destroyed by the angel slowly began to lift as the damage was slowly undone.

"There is a dark force in the west.  I know not whom has found such a sinister relic with which to threaten this world.  But I will stop them.  And though I cannot remove you now," he continued, folding his arms.  "I will leave Gabriel's Flame to restore this place.  Since one of you have no strength to move it, this place will be strong again.  I must dawn something greater with which to combat something this black."

What is with the insistence of referring to magic by color?! Rawal thought to himself a few seconds later after Talis-Eye's translation.

As soon as Choros turned away to fly off, Rawal raised his hand as a sickly green glow surrounded his left hand that was aimed at her, eyes glowing in the same coloration as he tried to fill her mind with hallucinations that would, at the very least, make it more difficult to fight him, if not cause her to flat out flee from the place.

He looked angered as he used the spell he knew as Mass Madness, angered that he would be having to use this spell against a single foe instead of many.

~Talis-Eye's POV~

Meh, I guess you lied about us being able to come to an agreement after all...

And you wonder why you have next to no power as an angel, Talis-Eye found themselves subconsciously quipping in response before continuing. Now that the thorn in my side is gone, this can go much smoother. I was more concerned at that moment with making sure I would be able to leave this battle without worry about being immediately hunted down by the 'government officials' of this strange world. Surely, the concept of 'making sure your ass stays alive and free' is understandable to you.

From behind Rawal, Talis-Eye's central eye as well as a few eyes on the eyestalks widened upon seeing Rawal raise his hand and cast his spell. Somehow, they had no idea he was going to do that! Sh!t!

[Dad]

Sahill Cathedral

 

Lady Merl's plan to boil Bethany alive had all but failed, as the cauldron came to a crash and the magic force behind Bethany's attack slowed the liquids just enough that they fell to the ground below.  Fortunately for Lady Merl, Bethany came forwards, and the Trycalon Witch licked their lips.  They dove at Bethany, while Lace was preoccupied with freeing herself from a stony prison.  And now, the Trycalon Witch had finally regrown her soul devouring hand.  

 

Slithering and whipping her massive tail, Lady Merl bounded into the air, and leaped over Bethany, blocking any route for escape.  She took Bethany as she had taken Lace before, and wrapped Bethany in her mighty, magical steel tail.  And as Bethany would struggle, Lady Merl would force the girl to look her in the eyes, preparing her for her last supper.

 

---

 

The A.W. Network

 

The Administrator was inches away from slicing Jack in half, but once more she slipped away.  He snarled beneath his mask.  The pest!  The Android had long since fallen back, and left the human to her own vices.  Good.  It would be much easier to deal with the fly first.

 

She zipped past his head, and--to the Administrator's surprise--managed to land a low kick and catch him off guard.  He fell onto his back, losing the grip on his polearm as he fell.  It rolled to Jack's feet, and the Administrator immediately hopped back up to a standing position.  He turned around slowly, waiting for Jack to pick up his weapon.  He resorted instead to the blades on his hands.  A little hand to hand combat wouldn't hurt.  It just depended on whether or not Jack was actually capable of fighting with something that. . . wasn't made for an Earthling's hands.

 

The Administrator stretched, and rolled his neck.  And in Earth-like fashion, he clicked his tongue until he was sure he was speaking English.  

 

"Go on then," he hissed through his mask.  "Pick it up."

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"Not going to fight fair!? Fine! I am Bioweapon XRT-41-E, and on the honor of X-ertion Labs, I'm winning this fight, then we're both going back to the hotel alive!"  The newly revealed bioweapon managed to leap out of harms way, before getting super sentimental with Louis.

 

"Please...as if I'd want to head back to the Hotel with an abomination such as yourself.  I'll kill you here and now, monster!  I'll send my regards to the laboratory later!"  

 

With the giant piece of lumber missing it's mark, Louis couldn't help but frown.  He stroked his chin as he started to fix his calculations.  For a giant pile of bile, the thing sure was mobile...almost impossibly so.  One would think that the sludge surrounding it's leg's would inhibit the thing's movement to a degree that in no way shape or form that that it could possibly dodge that attack, even while blinded by his grenade.  The creature was proving...difficult to kill.

 

"Louis!  Look out!"  A voice across the forest shouted, causing Louis to snap out of thought.  When he looked up, a bright liquid was approaching him at a quick pace.  Without a second thought, Louis' previous shadows had retracted, as he erected a large half-sphere in front of him.  As the slime hit the upper portion, a sharp stinging could be felt on his face.  It seared, and steamed above the surface...it could have only been one thing.  

 

"Acid." He sighed.  "If that whole thing's body is made of Acid, I guess I'll have to neutralize it, somehow."  He snapped his fingers, growing a devilish grin behind his shield.  Louis' shield transformed into that of a whip, with the resting acid on the end.  He cracked the shadow, and slang the ooze towards the bioweapon.  "You aren't playing dirty enough, creature."  It was then that Louis took his whip like creation, and used it to grab onto another tree.  However, this time, he used it as a grappling hook of sorts, and started swinging from branch to branch.  Basabth raced along the top of the trees, right next to Louis.  With his head perked into the sky, he listened carefully for the sound of...

 

"GOT IT!  This way!  This way!"  Basabth snickered as they took a sharp turn to an opening in the mountains.  

 

"Come and get us Swamp Thing!"  Louis taunted, prompting for their foe to follow them.  

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Well that didn't work either. Lace must have been more stoned than Bethany had thought. It's a shame. She's usually pretty good at telling how rock someone was or was not.

 

She supposed she'd have to brush up on her skills later. Since right now she had to worry about this large snake lady wrapping her snake tail around her. "Since when could snakes jump?" She said in annoyance as she tried to free herself from the creature's grip. She knew it'd be futile. If a superhero like Lace couldn't then surely Bethany wouldn't be able to break free.

 

Bethany wondered why the snake wasn't trying to crush her. But it seemed the thing had a different plan in mind. Bethany didn't want to look at those eyes, she saw what it had done to Lace, but it was impossible to avoid it.

 

Well, as they say, out of sight, out of mind. If she couldn't see the snake's eyes it shouldn't work, right?

 

Bethany knew she had to do it yet it still ate at her. She had used more magic in these few minutes than she had this past year. And yet now she was about to go even farther.

Her eyes changed to white as she looked directly at the snake. "Sorry, forecast  today called for...low visibility." Around Bethany and the snake creature a blizzard started. Snow, hail, wind, coming out of nowhere to surround the pair.

She tried her hardest to focus, increasing the blizzards potency as near to her as she could. Both her and the snake, though the snake's size would make it the more frequent target, would be pelted with hail. But the most important thing was that it obscured Bethany's, and likely the snake's, vision.

[Hälō]

"That took longer than expected..." Lace sighed as she stumbled out the hole she had left in the wall. Small traces of her stone shell crumbled to the floor as she final shook off the last of the snake's magic. Though she didn't have time to complain about all the places that she still felt gravel in... 

 

Seeing the predicament Bethany had found herself in, Lace prepared to charge forward to save the other girl without a second thought. However she quickly halted her advance upon witnessing magical storm of ice began to form around the pair.  "Not bad." Lace took a second to admire the raw beauty of Bethany's magic as she slid her straight sword into it's scabbard and placed both hands on Beowulf's hilt. 

 

Still able to make out Lady Merl's massive form within the blizzard, Lace brought he blade high over head and gathered her energy. "Magnum Locust!" She growled whilst contorting her body in a downwards stroke to let loose a roaring shockwave towards the snake's side. Releasing her grip on her sword in the same motion as her swing, Lace suddenly rocketed forward in a impressive display of speed.

 

A loud crash could be heard as Beowulf's surprising weight hit the ground, and as Lace followed close behind her concussive shockwave, she redrew he straight sword in a reverse grip. "Mind if I cut in?" XIII called out to the demon as she lunged forward and prepared to plunge her blade into the outside face on it's right side. 

[Yui]

---

"Please...as if I'd want to head back to the Hotel with an abomination such as yourself. I'll kill you here and now, monster! I'll send my regards to the laboratory later!"

 

A fight to the death? There has to be some other way right? Mango could figure that out after she won. It was becoming clearer and clearer that if she didn't win this fight, she would die. If Mango died, she didn't want it to be in a place like this. As a direct result, she couldn't afford to lose. The main problem however, as she saw it, was getting close to her opponent. He'd been doing an excellent job at fighting from afar; an ability which Mango generally lacked. How was she supposed to get close to him?

 

"Come and get us Swamp Thing!"

 

"My pleasure!" She was trained for this! As much as she didn't like to kill, killing was what she was specifically designed to do. This fight would have been a cakewalk if Mango were more aggressive, like she'd heard her predecessors were. She'd just have to think like them. That would win her the fight, right? Her confidence renewed, Mango took off in the direction of the boy's voice, keeping alert for any attacks or - even better - an opening to make her own. For good measure, Mango coated her fingersabers in a thin layer of acid again, swinging out in the boy's direction to lob another round at him.

---

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

The alien's pole-arm fell to the ground with a clatter, and the alien taunted her to pick it up and use it to fight him. Jack smiled under her helmet and gripped the pole. The diameter of the shaft, unfortunately, was off and Jack had a bit of difficulty gripping the weapon in a comfortable manner. Still, it was capable of changing its shape, and Jack wanted to be sure she couldn't take advantage of that herself. Jack took out an arrow and pressed it into the pole-arm, red circuitry lines spreading out across its surface as the nanites dug into the weapon's structure. The alien, however, appeared ready to fight, and Jack didn't have much time to figure out exactly how the weapon worked.

 

"So you can speak," Jack said calmly as she took a moment to get as used to the weapon's size and weight as much as she could. "But what I really wanna know is if you can scream."

 

Jack made a lunge forward with the weapon, aiming the blade directly for the alien's torso for a starting attack. If it worked, then she stabbed it and that's a good thing. If not, she had room to move depending on how the fight went. Hopefully she had time to figure out what else it could do, and take full advantage of its tech.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"My pleasure!"

 

Louis let loose a wicked smile, unseen by the opposition, but recognized straight away by his partner in the shadows.  The two continued to swing between the trees, Basabth using his prehensile-like tail to grab onto branches, while Louis tethered his shadow onto the wooden juts.  He could almost laugh, this thing was gullible to the tee.  Behind him, and muffling the sound of his snickering, was the sound of a fizzling.  Louis took a quick peek behind him to see that the sludge pile was still attempting to throw acidic slime towards him.  However, due to his mobility, the small pieces of snot hit nothing but tree bark.  

 

"Tch...this thing sure is stupid...Took the bait without a second thought." Louis shook his head.  It was a shame that his first opponent wouldn't test the limits of his skill.  It had no capabilities to challenge him, besides the fact that it seemed indestructible due to it's slimy composition, and that he couldn't get close for fear of his shadow being melted away by the experiment's skin...or lack there of.  However, where he was headed now, that wouldn't be a factor anymore. 

 

After a couple more minutes of fizzing and swinging, Louis and Basapth took a leap into a valley opening.  The sound of rushing water filled the clearing and Louis rolled his pant sleeves midway, while in midair, while also having a shadow tether take off his socks and shoes.  Louis landed in the well sized river with a splash.  

 

"Chemistry 101 don't fail me now..."  The shadowy tether that had taken his shoes off prior no turned into a snake like tube, that wound around Louis in a spiral.  The next time he spotted the monstrosity, he would blast it with as much water as this shadowy pump would push out.  

[Yui]

---

The chase was on. Mango ran as fast as she could, in the straight line she figured her opponent would be running. The chase brought her to...a river. Where the boy was. With some kind of pump. And it was firing at her. By the time Mango realized what he was up to, it was already a bit too late. "Wait! I fo--" Mango's attempt at surrender was cut off as the experiment was blasted with water, diluting and rinsing off the layer of sludge over her body. When the attack had cleared, Mango remained, sludge gone and revealing the brown-scaled creature underneath. She couldn't win the fight like this. Mango was going to die.

 

No...not like this.

 

"Without the layer of sludge, which my body was engineered to react to by lowering my body temperature," Mango started, approaching the river and making sure her opponent could hear her, "I will die. My temperature will skyrocket, and I'll begin melting from the inside out. You've completely robbed me of that sludge layer; even if the helicopters are nearby, I don't know if I'd last long enough for them to arrive. So, I won't fight you anymore. In return, please just kill me quickly. That's what you wanted, right?" At the bank of the river, Mango got down to her knees, resting the tips of her fingers on the ground. "If I die, I'd rather die quickly instead of in a horrific way like my body melting itself. And, if you ever meet the next me and she isn't hostile, be nice to her, will you?"

 

Rounds left before melting: 2

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"Wait! I fo--" The talking sludge tried to get out, before it was abruptly slammed with a stream of water.  The sound of gurgling and dripping sludge filled the air, and a sick smile was plastered across Louis' face.  From the tree top's behind the fighters, Basabth couldn't help but slightly chuckle.  It was quite the funny site.  When Louis finally stopped the onslaught of water, all that was left was the frail figure of a brown scaled girl.  Louis was drawn back a bit.  This was what he was fighting the whole time?  Some little girl?  

 

This tournament was a joke...

 

He grit his teeth before vigorously approaching the girl, a tendril from his shadow appearing and morphing into a sickle shape, raising it to the girl's throat.  

 

"I will die. My temperature will skyrocket, and I'll begin melting from the inside out. You've completely robbed me of that sludge layer; even if the helicopters are nearby, I don't know if I'd last long enough for them to arrive. So, I won't fight you anymore. In return, please just kill me quickly. That's what you wanted, right?  If I die, I'd rather die quickly instead of in a horrific way like my body melting itself. And, if you ever meet the next me and she isn't hostile, be nice to her, will you?"

 

"You really are disgusting...I'll relieve the world of one less eyesore!"  Louis prepared to run the sickle across the girl's throat, but was stopped when Basabth jumped in front of him.  Louis eyed the tiny thing with a perked eyebrow.  "Basabth...get out of my way."  The demon looked back at him, with a more serious look.  

 

"Just wait one sec Lou...there are two benefits to keeping this thing alive."  Louis, in turn, lowered his shadow sickle a bit.  

 

"Go on..."

 

"It will owe you it's life!  Maybe we can get some benefit out of that somehow, whether it's in the tournament, or in the field sometime!"  Basabth then turned an eye to Mango and smiled.  "Plus...if you leave her alive, she will suffer for a bit...whether she dies or not is not our problem.  If she's weak, then she'll die after going through all that pain."  Louis proceeded to nod, and retracted his shadow.  

 

"You're right Basabth...you're thinking long game...that's supposed to be my job!."  Louis raised a thumbs up to whoever was watching.  "I win...this fight is clearly over.  Now someone get over here and clean this mess..."  Louis said before taking a seat in his shadow, which had morphed into a beanbag chair looking object.  He crossed his leg over a knee and waited for the helicopters that would no doubt arrive soon.  

[Dad]

Xiang Battleground

 

High above the arena, cameras centered on Louis and Mango.  She was withering, dying on screen, while Louis sat, his victory claimed.  And around the world, the audience's reaction varied.  Some were disgusted, some angry, some excited, some saddened, and some disappointed at the results of this battle between Mango and Louis.  But their reactions were not important.  What was important, was that the battle had come to an end, as Louis was declared the winner.

 

In the mountains, behind Louis and Mango, a series of fireworks brightened the night sky with vivid colors.  Louis was painted among the evening, as the fireworks explosions arranged to form his face in the night, like an array of stars.  And not moments after his victory, two helicopters descended among the Xiang Battleground, to escort Louis and Mango back to the hotel.  

 

Louis was flown out first, taking a longer flight path back to the hotel.  Mango, however, was taken on an emergency route to one of Sergei's hospitals in the Xiang area, nearest Beijing.  Thanks to his connections, Sergei's doctors and scientists were able to perfectly replicate Mango's sludge compound.  There was just enough aboard the chopper to keep her alive.  However, she would be staying in Xiang until the first round was over, where she could be monitored and her health could fully be restored.

 

"Make sure you send the foods and edibles directly to her room," Sergei instructed over the telephone.

 

"Yes sir.  Which room will she be in?" asked an unidentified assistant on the opposing line.

 

"Top floor.  Room B.  It's . . . my son's old room," Sergei said with a slight pause.

 

"Yes sir.  I'll make sure Mango is completely accommodated."

 

"Thank you, Jane.  I appreciate all of your hard work."  With that, Sergei ended the call.  He sat back in his chair, and watched the helicopters lift off with Mango, and disappear from the broadcast feed.  He sighed, but he knew this was a possibility.  A number of contestants had already died in the preliminary rounds.  Most of them quick, instant deaths.  If someone was spared, it was rare.  He understood that death was a real possibility when he put this tournament together.  That's why he had help in developing its official rules.  After all, killing was permitted.

 

---

 

Sahill Cathedral

 

"What?  What!?  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, WITCH!?" Lady Merl screeched.  

 

Her powerful, steel like scales were effectively metal.  And freezing metal was a quick way to break it.  Her magic was halted as she focused on defrosting her tail, but Bethany's blizzard was relentless.  There was no way for Lady Merl to effectively fight against it.  She would have to kill Bethany.  Unfortunately, her grip was loosened and her vision was distorted as snow, ice, and sleet blocked her off.  The next thing that registered with Lady Merl, was a concussive force so great, that she was twisted out of Bethany's blizzard, and slammed against the western stone wall.

 

The ice on her tail shattered, but the end of her tail was broken, leaving a half-frozen, bleeding stump.  Lady Merl was stunned by Lace's surprise attack, and was left with no opportunity to react to her final strike.  As Lace drew back her blade, she successfully pierced through one of Lady Merl's two remaining heads, leaving her in a poor, almost powerless state.

 

With the source of her strength being all but destroyed, she would have to consume many physical meals to restore herself.  And even then, there was no substance outside of Bethany and Lace within her grasp.

 

She flopped to the floor, and weakly scrambled towards Bethany.  "Eat. . . .eat. . . .me. . . eat. . . . " she moaned.  In a last ditch effort to restore her strength, Lady Merl opened her mouth, to hopefully consume Bethany.  But considering she was on the floor, and not even able to stretch her jaws to lick Bethany's boot, there was no hope for Lady Merl.  Not anymore.

 

---

 

A.W. Network

 

The Administrator watched carefully as Jack obeyed his commands.  Behind his mask, he licked his lips.  Jack couldn't tell, but she was already being manipulated, unwillingly.

 

The moment she placed her hand on the  Pyrus Polearm, she had been inflicted.  The many tiny micro-needles that fed nutrients and increased the stamina of the Administrator, were poisonous to humans.  The same was true for all of their technology.  Granted, the poison wasn't lethal, but it would turn Jack into a turtle.  Her mind perceived everything to be perfectly normal.  But in reality, her every move was sluggish, telegraphed, and in extreme slow motion.  To her, the Administrator was moving at impossible speeds.  All he did was relieve Jack of the polearm.

 

He stood beside her as she outstretched her hand thinking the polearm was still in her control.  He examined her carefully, from head to toe.  He held her head, and extended the polearm until it was as tall as she was.  His many tongues clicked again, as he found the English language once more.  "You would make. . . quite the specimen," he mused aloud.  

 

He backed away from Jack, and examined the Pyrus Polearm.  There was a whir, and the staff twisted, before opening to reveal its hollow center.  The Administrator shook the staff until he was sure it was empty.  There, a cartridge exited its southern end.  The staff sealed itself, and glowed its alien blue hue again.  "Nanites?" he asked, picking up the cartridge.  "How primitive.  Let me try."

 

Two metallic tendrils emerged from the Administrators mask, both of them wrapped around Jack's arms, restraining her.  A series of flat threads, lined with thousands of almost invisible needles protruded from either tendril.  The threads lie gently atop Jack's suit, feeding alien technology into her suit.  It could most accurately be described as a massive invasion from a coding so complex and confusing, that attempting to alter it may very well paralyze Jack.  Or worse.  Fortunately for Jack, her suit went to work rather quickly, trying to fight off this unknown series of what would be named gentronytes and Pryus code.  However, the functionality of the right arm of her suit was, for now, completely null.  

 

"That won't hold long.  You should work quickly, lest your . . .design, turn against you."

 

The Administrator rewound his tendrils back into his mask, and turned his attention to Angelica.  "As for you."

 

The Administrator tightened his grip on his polearm, and it whirled in his hands.  It glowed brightly, as it understood what he wanted to accomplish.  He hurled it with all of his might, directly at Angelica.  

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

One minute, Jack was lunging forward at the alien with his pole-arm. The next minute, the alien was gone, and so was the pole-arm.

 

"What the f-?" something wasn't right. She glanced at her HUD, and the information normally displayed was moving at a tremendously faster rate; she couldn't read any of it. No... the alien didn't move faster... did she slow down?

 

"You would make. . . quite the specimen," the alien clicked at Jack, handling his pole-arm. Jack couldn't quite catch everything that happened; seeing something clatter to the floor. She tried to reach out for a connection to the pole-arm, but found nothing. This wasn't good. Jack felt a strange sensation; like everything around her began to slow down gradually as she herself sped up. "Nanites?" he asked, picking up the cartridge.  "How primitive.  Let me try."

 

BGM: https://makeupandvanityset.bandcamp.com/track/descent

 

"I'll show you primitive you mother fuc- hey!!" Tendrils extended from the alien's mask, gripping Jack's arms. Whatever it was that was slowing Jack down hadn't quite worn off, and even with the added strength that her suit offered her, she couldn't break free, despite her struggling. "Let... go... of... me!" Jack couldn't see it, but smaller threads ran along her suit, injecting alien technology into her system. The alien dropped Jack, as she fell to the ground with a loud thud, her reflexes still sluggish and unable to account for the sudden drop. Warnings blared off in her helmet, systems compromised, countermeasures dispatched. She could feel it as it happened; a sick, prickling on her skin like a million microscopic spiders crawling along her body. The worst was in her arm. A bright red warning flashed across her HUD.

 

RIGHT ARM SUBSYSTEMS COMPROMISED. INITIATING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.

 

At that moment, the feeling of spiders had left her arm, but the warnings continued to blare on her visor, and the prickling feeling still crawling around various parts of her body. The infection was isolated, but it wasn't gone. Jack's breathing was ragged; not only her sight, her hearing assaulted, but her feeling too. It was coming back... fire along her skin, through her veins. Knives dragged slowly up and down her arms. She forced herself to look up, the bright lights all glaring down at her, reflecting off the clean, white tile floor. Black shoes stepped in front of her, cuffed by bright, white slacks and a long lab coat.

 

"Shut it off, she's not ready," the Lead said. He knelt down and looked Jack in the eyes, his face a featureless, blurred hell. "We expected better of you. I expected better of you. Two more days of nerve treatment. I trust you'll know how important all of this is after."

 

Jack squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her head as she pushed herself onto her knees, her teeth clenched tight, fighting off a horrible scream she knew she couldn't let out. Part of her held on; knew that her life was in danger. She looked over, the alien was focused on her opponent. Jack pushed herself, fighting off the dregs of the drug that was running through her body, and as quietly as she could, leaped from her position and hid behind a pillar.

 

She wasn't safe, and she didn't know how much time she had until whatever that alien put in her took over. She needed to do something. Other systems were still operational; she had one opportunity. Generating another arrow, Jack gripped it in her intact arm, and took a few deep breaths before plunging it into her offline arm. The arrow didn't pierce anything, it didn't damage her armor, but the nanites inserted themselves into her own system. Inside, in her head, it was the mental equivalent of audio feedback; a microphone pointed at its own amplifier. She needed to fight through it, have the nanites fight whatever the alien pumped into her. If she can keep the infection at bay, she had a chance.

 

Jack peered quickly around the room. She needed to find something, quick. Jack generated a few more arrows, and worked quickly to jam them into the nearest wall. Most of the systems were offline, but there was still power running through the lines. Enough for her to find something; anything to work with. The nanites moved to a nearby entrance into the control room, and found two laser turrets defending the entrance; shut down.

 

"Perfect," Jack muttered, moving closer to the door and finding the turrets in question. She began work at getting arrows into them. She needed these weapons to take down the alien, then she can work at taking out her opponent. One by one, the arrows were inserted, and slowly but surely she allowed power back into their systems, forcing them to boot up and work for her, all while fighting through the sensory feedback generated by her own system.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Watching the two fight...well, if it could be said as that, was quite fun, but Angelica was already itching to attack, even if she knew better that it's best to observe the capabilities and potential weak points of the tinman. Something unexpected later happened however, with the Administrator dropping his spear and urged Jack to take it. Why would someone take it? It's obviously a trap. Angelica would have laughed had she was a human as Jack did just that. Ignoring the fact that she would have done the same and more in the woman's position. Her amusement peaked when Jack then just...stopped there like a weirdo, and the tinman just walked towards her and took the spear back. Nerve attack of sort? That would definitely strike a nerve on Angelica...if she had any.

 

The tinman then used his tendrils to attack Jack as Angelica continued to watch, and it was quite apparent that the tendrils were trying to inject something onto Jack, or perhaps her suit. It wasn't clear, but once he was done Angelica could detect some malfunction on the suit. Foreign nanites?

 

"That won't hold long.  You should work quickly, lest your . . .design, turn against you." Oh, that answered it faster than if Angelica pondered it herself. However, as Angela started her attempt to figure out how to deal with it, the tinman turned to her direction, finally. 

 

"As for you." He said this as he brought his spear and had it rotate really fast, moving in a drilling motion as it grew brightly. It then was fired right onto the android's direction, and while Angelica used most of her boosters to get the hell out, the spear managed to cut her left arm near the elbow as it continued to soar. While Angelica was thinking of retrieving the hand, she suddenly felt foreign object invasion coming from the cut wound. Her own nanites fought them back for now, but they wouldn't hold long forever. With a sigh, she instead cut most of the arm instead to get the invasion contained. She noticed Jack was busy with firing her arrows somewhere, but it wasn't clear yet what she was aiming to do. Angelica shook her head and stared at the tinman instead.

 

"What are you?" As she said this, a laser blade formed on her left hand, while she used most of her spare nanites to form the skeleton of her cut-off left arm, enough to fire beams at least. "Through my time in this world, never before I seen someone like you.

 

Here I thought I was cocky, but there's you. Stuck in the basement for years yet calls the people above ground primitive. Actually no, thinking about it, I have heard a lot of people like you. There goes the privilege of being unique."

 

---

[Hälō]

Lace watched as their foe scuttled towards Bethany with the last of it's strength. Swiping her long blade to the side to clean it, she casually walked behind the creature as it opened it's mouth in a final pathetic attempt to consume the ice magic user.  

 

"Eat. . . .eat. . . .me. . . eat. . . . " It moaned.

 

"Boot." Lace chimed in with her deadpan tone as she slammed her foot down on snake's head to keep her mouth shut, creating a sickening crunching sound. "You eat boot..." She sighed before driving the tip of her blade through the monster's skull, putting an end to Lady Merl once and for all. 

 

With that matter settled, Lace shifted her lavender gaze over to Bethany and studied the other girl for a moment. "And then..." She addressed the other girl was yanking her blade free from Merl's corps. "There were two." 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Perhaps just running up to Rawal and expecting him not to see a shotgun blast coming wasn't the smartest idea. If Kai could still fly again, then perhaps she could've at least carried on with a barrage of hit and run shots, though the increased gravity was really messing with her plays. However, it would soon no longer be a thorn in her side, and that time would come sooner than Kai could've possibly anticipated. 

"It seems there are even greater threats to our world.  Something that you could not perceive," Choros stated, looking away from both Kai and Rawal and folding his arms, "There is a dark force in the west. I know not whom has found such a sinister relic with which to threaten this world. But I will stop them. And though I cannot remove you now, I will leave Gabriel's Flame to restore this place. Since one of you have no strength to move it, this place will be strong again.  I must dawn something greater with which to combat something this black. But you shan't be here when I return. I will spare neither of you."
 
With that, Choros left, which in turn would mean that Kai was on her own. Not that she minded; after all, Rawal's defeat would ultimately be worth more to Kai if she could achieve that on her own. She flew in to one side of Rawal and prepared to throw her halo in order to try and bind him.
 
...
 
That's when it happened. Rawal had cast... something on Kai that caused her to lose herself in nerves, as everything around her cascaded to pitch black. She even lost sight of Rawal himself, and had been sweating bullets trying desperately to find the guy.
 
"Wh-wh-what the hell h-have you d-d-done to m-me?!" Kai screamed, trying her best not to lose herself in the chaos surrounding her.
 
Then suddenly, a long, mouthed appendage of sorts rose up from below her, with a maw opened wide as though to attempt to consume her. Kai accelerated upwards and from one lateral position to another, but it had managed to clamp right down on her torso despite her best efforts to evade it. She'd tried to squirm her way free, but that wasn't to any avail either. In a last ditch effort, Kai had tried to pry the thing's maw back open using her shotgun as leverage... only to discover that the appendage wasn't even corporeal; just a horrifying figment of a nightmare that the spell had addled her mind with.

 

"Huh? What in th-the w-world?!" unable to figure out what was going on, Kai waved her hand through the ghostly appendage and saw that passed through effortlessly, yet she could feel teeth grinding through her mid-section and pulling downward, scraping her torso apart as they threatened to tear it asunder. Without warning, another, thinner appendage bit down on Kai's right arm and pulled it away, whilst a third one devoured the left arm completely. Two large hooks were thrown skywards as well and latched onto her back, causing her to scream in agony, until the scream was cut short by what looked to be a gargantuan needle of sorts piercing straight through the chest, only just clipping the heart from below. Kai could feel her breath shortening by the second... and she wasn't sure she could make it.

 

'Is this the end...?' she asked herself, as her vision began to fail her.

[Tesability Black]

~Rawal's POV~

Rawal didn't have to verbally make any commands. As soon as both saw how Kai was reacting to the spell, Rawal looked towards the unique Ur-Ghlaak he ended up creating here, whom wrapped its long tail around Kai's middle and threw her towards the closest point that the barrier was in hopes of making her leave the arena quickly.

"Here's hoping that's that for now," Rawal dared to say without translation as he took a deep breath before closing his eyes, focusing on the other creations he had made. Outside of the White Flame Ur-Ghlaak and Talis-Eye, anything else remaining he made during the match he focused on recalling and reabsorbing, which resulted in at least two orbs of sickly green floating towards him before reaching his open palms, returning into him.

Turning towards where Kai had been flung, Rawal still kept up his guard in case she did the impossible and broke free of the hallucinations inflicted upon her...

~Talis-Eye's POV~

One chance possibly down, two more to go...I will have my freedom and sovereignty...

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"Criminy that was brutal. Must be one of those anti-hero types..." Bethany said. It was necessary, yes, but dang if that wasn't a savage way to end things.

Her hailstorm had died with the death of the snake. Just in time, too, Bethany was starting to feel the drain that particular magic had on her. She knew that once opened up her magic wouldn't be put away that easily but if she could just manage to remain calm perhaps...

 

"And then...There were two."

 

"Ah, right. That's a thing we're doing isn't it? Forgot that the mythical snake monster was just a brief detour in our happy fun mortal combat."

She sighed. Looks like she wouldn't be able to restrain her magic just yet after all. Perhaps she should stop right now to make sure she didn't lose control...But that meant giving up on the kids. And that was something she couldn't do.

"Alright, superhero, let's get right to it." She said in resignation before crouching, prepared to dive to either side if necessary, and letting loose her icy wind towards Lace.

 

The cone of cold would hopefully mitigate one of Lace's big advantages, her speed. And maybe, just maybe, Bethany could pull through this somehow.

"Yeah, when raptors wield lasers." She muttered.

[Dad]

The Network

 

The Administrator was bewildered by the Android's movements.  After suffering a glancing blow from the Pyrus Staff, she had severed her arm in a desperate attempt to prevent the gentronytes from rewiring her entire body.  She'd succeeded, but now she was going to need an extra hand to take down her opponent.  

 

Instead of replying to the Android, the Administrator ignored her completely.  He turned his back to Angelica, deeming her less of a threat than Jack.  Jack, who had begun hacking the remaining turrets and attempting to bring them back online and turn them against the Administrator.  He snarled beneath his mask, running a hand over his wrist, as his body became translucent, and then, cloaked completely against the Network.  Where would he emerge next?  Would he reach for his Pyrus Staff, and attack Angelica?  Perhaps he would sneak up on Jack, and try to stab her in the back?  No.  He had some dignity after all.  

 

He began by using the incredible strength in his legs, to leap to the ceiling and attach to it with his blades, once more.  Being targeted by his own weapons was not ideal.  He would have to take them offline, manually.  Of the three remaining turrets in the northwest, northeast, and southeast corners, he had to carefully choose which one to assault first.  If he slipped, he would be caught, and dealing with the intruders would be much more difficult.  Selecting a target, he stealthily approached the southeast corner above Angelica, where he attempted to destroy one of his own turrets.