[center][h3]Deep Ground - the Cornice[/h3]
Level 6 Goldlewis (159/60) Level 5 Sandalphon (85/50)
Blazermate, Susie, and Roland’s [@Archmage MC], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Sakura and Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Pit’s [@Yankee], Roxas’ [@Double], Giovanna
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2525[/center]

A long, low groan issued from Y as his head hung down, the chin of his featureless mask resting against his chest. The long, hair-like tentacles that extended from his head, which throughout the fight floated upward like the questing tendrils of an anemone, gently descended to splay out across the floor around him. With Hayato’s x-baton piercing -and protruding from- his chest, he couldn’t slump any farther down, but the Moebius couldn’t imagine getting much lower anyway.

[b]”...Maybe S was right about you all,”[/b] he murmured, his voice weak but still resonant enough to be audible to all. [b]”You’re strong. Of that, there can be no doubt. But what…of the rest? Those not strong enough to seize their fates for themselves? That’s why…”[/b] He paused, groaning again. [b]”...Ah, nevermind. None of that matters now. I’ve lost. After everything, I failed to transcend Moebius. It seems even the Astral Plane is held thrall. I should have known.” A gasping laugh escaped Y as he struggled to raise his head, trying to look the Seekers in the eye. “S thought you might be the ones. But if…if even I couldn’t escape…the Endless Now…what chance have you?”[/b]

Then Y’s head dropped once again, and his body dissolved, not into ashes, but into light. And when those faint purple motes disappeared, not even a spirit remained. Hayato straightened up, taking a deep breath. Without another second’s delay he stowed his x-baton and set off on his own while the Seekers looked on, headed back the way he came. He’d evidently gotten what he came here for. The rest was up to them.

Leaning on her staff for support, Sandalphon watched just a moment longer to make sure that the Moebius was really gone. Once that tense moment passed her by, she lifted her staff and cast a long-overdue Angelic Praise. The divine radiance that flowed over her allies, warm and soothing as the waters of a hot spring, washed away their wounds and left them ready for more. After all, despite the extravagant spectacle to which they’d just bore witness, the Seekers knew that an even greater battle lay in wait just ahead. Before confronting it, though, everyone could take a moment to catch their breath, and to ponder what the Moebius meant.

“The Endless Now,” Sandalphon repeated. “I’m afraid those words do not appear anywhere within my memory. Though it would be a reasonable assumption that it simply refers to the Moebius dominion over this world, something tells me that there’s more to it than that. Would that I could discern what.”

“Guess we’ll have to have a nice long chat with the next Consul we see,” a familiar voice called out from up ahead. A rare smile spread over the face of Goldlewis when he looked toward the [url=https://i.imgur.com/Lzxu2JW.png]central structure[/url] and spotted Giovanna sitting just above the doorway. The secret agent was a bit beaten-up, but still very much alive.

“There y’are,” Goldlewis hollered. “Where’d the hell’d you go, Gio? When you didn’t show up for rounds two or three I thought you mighta finally bought the farm.”

“Pssh.” Giovanna eased off her seat and landed beside the door, markedly less steady than usual despite her laudable attempt to save face. “Urgh…well, the big freak did just about knock me into next week. Sent me flying on a chunk of debris across the whole reactor. When I stopped seeing stars, I saw you all get sucked inside, but I managed to jump into this thing.” She gestured at the difficult-to-describe building behind her. “After that…well, I’ve had better days. Kinda needed a break.”

Goldlewis gave her a sympathetic look. He hadn’t seen what happened to his friend when she fought Armstrong, but it had obviously rattled her, and after that the blow from the Soul of Ambition had been icing on the cake. “Well, don’t push yourself too hard, Gio. We don’t want you kickin’ the bucket on us. You can hang back for this next fight if you need to.”

At that, Giovanna gave an appreciative nod. “Thanks, pardner.”

If she felt bad about being the only one to sit out, the secret agent certainly didn’t show it. The others were all fighting-fit, and after the multi-faceted battle with Y, thoroughly warmed up again after their hour-long trek through Deep Ground. Finally, after everything they’d been through since their arrival in Midgar, all the losses, all the myriad friends and foes they’d encountered in their three crazy days, they’d made it. Just one last fight -one more enemy- awaited them. The Guardian of Midgar.

Yet even now, after all this time, neither Goldlewis nor Sandalphon had the slightest idea who -or what- it could be. By this point, who -or what- was left?

[hr]

Within minutes, total war had engulfed the scarred borderlands between Midgar’s outskirts and the now-lifeless Valley of Ruin, and for the defenders the outlook was bleak right from the start. Without the backing of the Shinra Administration, whose forces huddled in their stronghold while the populace outside had to fend for itself, the fate of the city lay in the hands of a ramshackle legion assembled hastily and from disparate factions. The Sector 07 militia stood arm in arm with the remnants of the once-proud Hermits, while the androids of YoRHa had risen from the ashes of DespoRHado to fight alongside defectors from General Affairs and the Psych-OSF. Even Seiran, motivated to do what the Administration wouldn’t, lent its aid to the cause with the deployment of its inhumane Other Weapons. Still, despite their last-minute reinforcements, the coalition lacked numbers compared to the Machines. Outgunned and hopelessly outnumbered, but not out of options, the defenders of humanity had no choice but to fight with everything they had, and hope it was enough.

Of course, their enemy was just as determined. The Machines had sloughed most of their fodder during the fight a few days ago; today, they brought only their best. Animal-shaped machine lifeforms fought with bestial ferocity, leveraging the elements to their advantage, while the frightfully advanced Raptures brought terrifying weapons to bear. Blood spilled, sparks flew, and the window panes of Midgar -even the air itself- shuddered with the percussion of constant explosions. One by one the Machines fell, but their successors exacted retribution in kind–a price the defenders could not afford to pay. This wasn’t just a self-sacrificial bid to buy time; without knowing what the Seekers were up to, or what their actions could accomplish, the defenders were fighting for the fate of everyone in Midgar. Yet from the very beginning, the Machines made it clear that this was a lost cause. Any long-range artillery units among the Raptures not actively engaged in combat made it their priority to shell the city itself, firing indiscriminately into the undercities and up at the plates, with special attention paid to the supporting pillars. Filled with horror and anger, the defenders fought all the harder.

Protected by barriers and empowered by righteous fury, Penance let her flail fly again and again, its thorny hammerhead crumpling armor and dismantling machinery. When a gang of Clamberjaws attacked her, she held her own for a few moments with her stunning Last Word lash and Trial of Thorns, but eventually their onslaught proved to be too much and she was forced to activate Stoic Atonement. The damage reduction gave her a chance to chew through her simian assailants with radiating Arts waves, each kill replenishing her barrier, but with fateful solemnity the Judge realized that even this wouldn’t last for long. But as the Clamberjaws crowded around her, all slashing claws and gnashing teeth, help finally came. A half-dozen molotov cocktails exploded around her, getting the beasts’ attention, and a second later a nodachi plunged through a Clamberjaw’s back and pinned it to the ground. Then Kyle landed on his weapon’s hilt, releasing a massive surge of electricity that coursed through the machines, rupturing their purgewater canisters and stunning them. As they reeled, Mudrock charged in and brought her hammer down in a tremendous Crag Splitter, finishing what the Judge had started. 

Penance canceled Stoic Atonement, letting out her breath in relief. “I owe you my thanks.”

“Save your thanks ‘til later,” Kyle seemed to smirk as he perched on his blade, his holographic mask ever-grinning. Up ahead, a Sunbather began to charge up red energy within the petals of its metal flower. “We’re not out of the woods just yet.”

Nearby, a squad of YoRHa androids was being destroyed by a deadly duo of futuristic Rapture walkers, Duelring and Halo. While the former plugged away with its heavy cannons, the latter launched energy rings like giant buzz saws to slice the dolls -as well as any mooks in the way- into scrap metal. In moments the squad was nearly wiped out, with just one stunned android left staring at a bright blue ring flying her way. Instead, an energy shield sprang to life around her, projected by an Axe Legion she couldn’t even see. “Don’t worry,” a grizzled, gray-bearded policeman told her. “We’ll take it from here.” Both Raptures focused fire on the shield, which was just what Captain Maximilian’s fellow officer Jin needed to send his Arm Legion forward and wrap its chain around Duelring’s legs from the side, disabling it. Maximilian seized the opportunity. His Axe Legion cast Blue Shield to give its partner three hits of invincibility, and Maximilian used it to charge straight at the Rapture in order to jump and strike its center with his x-baton in gladius form. That heavy blow left a crack in its armor, and the Axe Legion quickly planted an energy blade inside it. Unable to see or strike back against its attacker, the Halo simply leveled its cannons at Maximilian as he landed, but before it could open fire the energy blade exploded, blowing its core in two.

Meanwhile Jin had encased himself in his Arm Legion to deliver a rapid-fire beatdown to the Halo. It broke free of its chains just after the finishing punch and leaped back, hurling energy cutters. Steely as ever, Jin swerved from side to side fast enough to leave afterimages, then sent his Arm Legion forward to stagger the Duel Ring with an uppercut. It then yanked him over, and he grabbed its shoulder as it advanced with a flurry of four overhead smashes. He missed the final sync attack, however, and the Rapture recovered with surprising speed. It brought its halos around, spinning like saws, to carve into him either side, only for a deafening howl to stun it. Jin turned to see Alicia riding her Beast Legion, a grin on her face as she charged into the fray. She struck the Rapture’s legs again and again as she galloped past, and not to be outdone, Jin sent forth his Arm Legion in a barrage of punches and lariats. After a few moments the Halo began to fall, and both officers unleashed their legions with Hit Rush to deliver fierce combos on their own. When the legions disappeared, Halo was on its last legs, allowing the officers to pull off a double gladius cleave that put it down for good.

All over, the Psych-OSF defectors were fighting in tight-knit, well-coordinated groups. Yuito and Kasane’s squads led the charge together, closing the distance on the machines to take the fight to them. Hanabi’s fire and Shiden’s lightning flared up all over the place thanks to the SAS, and with Luka’s Teleportation plus Arashi’s Hypervelocity, everyone could reposition at a moment’s notice–or vanish altogether with Kagero’s invisibility. Critical use of Gemma’s Sclerokinesis and Naomi’s Precognition saved more lives than anyone would care to admit. The sight of Septentrion Second Class Fubuki Spring on the battlefield, Song of Broken Pines in hand, was glorious to behold. His ice encased all sorts of machine lifeforms and Raptures alike, allowing his allies to shatter them. When a handful of Porters put in a surprise appearance, flinging ink-black bombs the size of beach balls, Sasha Nein’s immaculate Marksmanship put a psychic bullet through each and every one to detonate them mid-air.

Still, a firing squad of long-range Raptures was nothing to shake a stick at. As wounds piled up, desperate measures became necessary. Yuito and Kasane joined forces, combining their Psychokinesis to rip up a huge amount of terrain. Milla Vodello lent them a hand, using her Levitation to lighten their load, while Kyoka used her Duplication to fill the air with even more debris. A moment later, the psionics launched their massive barrage of metal, earth, and stone, made even weightier by Fubuki’s ice. The havoc their efforts wrought gave the defenders a much-needed, but all-too-brief reprieve.

Farther forward, though, two YoRHa androids were on their own. Using their flight units, 2B and 9S made a beeline for the three lumbering titans known as Engels. “Kill…kill…kill…kill!” the rusty colossi chorused, their distorted cries echoing through the battlefield. Barely able to hear one another over the roar of battle, the androids opened fire, lighting up the dark, cloudy morning with floods of bright yellow shots. As if their huge saw arms weren’t enough, the Engels could fire volleys of missiles from their smokestacks and even huge red lasers from their heads. 9S and 2B played a dangerous game, kiting around to make the giants bodyblock -and even hit- one another. Sooner rather than later, however, their number came up. While trying to dodge one Engels, a second clipped 9S with its immense earthsaw, which was more than enough to destroy his flight unit and send him plummeting down onto its top. 

“9S! Ugh!” Almost immediately, 2B’s flight unit received a punch from the third Engels, sending it flying for over a mile. Once it recovered, the flight unit transformed into flight mode to rush back into the fight at top speed. “Hang on. I’m coming!”

“Don’t worry about me,” 9S gasped falteringly, his tremulous voice reaching her over their sigils. “2B…I found a weakness in the target…hacking in…to provide support.” 2B said nothing, instead rolling her flight unit from side to side to avoid incoming lasers and countless shots from the Raptures. “2B…the control…on the enemy’s upper arm…” 9S piped up after another few seconds. “Use your pod…should be able to take it over…”

“Got it.”

Against all odds, 2B managed to fly in through the projectile storm, switch back to combat mode, and use her momentum to carve through the Engels’ upper arm. The enormous earthsaw fell, but before it could hit the ground, a huge halo of light appeared around it and hauled it back into the air. “Infiltrating enemy sub unit,” her pod reported calmly. “Behavior table adjusted. Balance controls overridden. Enemy unit subjugation complete.” With that, 2B went on the attack. She swung the captured arm again and again, each colossal blow taking a chunk off an Engels’ body, but even then it wasn’t enough. The arm buckled before her enemies did, and finally 2B was forced to jump for her life and land atop the Engels her companion fell onto, where she found 9S in dire straits. His human facade had been shattered, with the metal skeleton inside exposed wherever his limbs had been torn asunder. 2B knelt over him, holding him in her hands even as their enemies closed in.

9S half-laughed, half-coughed to himself. “I don’t imagine that…this is going to end well.” After a moment he held up a small object, a black cube inscribed with lines of flickering golden light. 2B stared at it, her expression vaguely terrified. The fact that her companion held it in his hand could mean only one thing, grim though it was. “The black box,” he groaned. “It’s ready.”

After pursing her lips for a moment as if pained, 2B nodded. “Right.” Immediately she withdrew her own black box, slowly holding it up.

9S breathed in deep, then spoke into his sigil. “Requesting…destruction of enemy hostiles via black-box reaction.”

There was a moment of hesitation before the response. “...Request accepted,” Sandalphon told him.

A moment passed, oddly serene. The call had been made. Their fate was sealed. “2B…it was an honor to fight with you. Truly.”

“The honor was mine.”

The two tapped their black boxes together, and among the army of machines blossomed the radiant light of total annihilation.

As the explosion went off in the distance, annihilating many of the biggest threats and most of the robotic horde alongside them, the two most pivotal fights reached their fever pitch. Unleashing up an immense storm of metal with his magnetic fields, Eve turned his battlefield into a night-impenetrable dust bowl. In that dusty shroud he attacked, his arms coated with masses of serrated scrap. Even in that mayhem, however, Chai managed to find the rhythm. Holding tight to his own scrap-metal guitar, he landed strings of musical hits, each a stylish combination of snappy lights and delayed heavies. His peppy energy even seemed to fight against the doom and gloom, coloring the dust with bright, cartoonish sound effects. Eve attacked him furiously, and Chai did his best to dodge and parry, then tag-team his opponent with attacks from his allies. His three friends supported him without fail, either lending a hand in neutral, punctuating his combos, or performing parry counters. Peppermint rattled off shots from her blasters or delivered acrobatic kicks, while Macaron dealt out punishing punches or pitted his strength against Eve’s heaviest scrap-metal slams. Korsica whipped up miniature cyclones to cut through the dust and make Eve more vulnerable.

When their teamwork finally staggered their opponent, Chai took the stage. As the world’s colors seemed to invert around him, he slid backward, then launched into action. His guitar cut into Eve with such energy that it left a bright blue streak in the air behind it, followed by another to make an X, then three from side to side. Finally, Chai brought his guitar down, yelling, “Overdrive Slash!” The blow threw Eve back, but he planted his foot, sliding to a stop. He growled, metal swirling around him. Peppermint promptly blasted him, which knocked him off balance long enough for Korsica to jump in and launch him with her staff. As he flew up, Macaron met him in the air and punched him down. He rolled to his feet with a yell, gathering a huge amount of scrap to armor himself up and coat his right arm for his biggest swing yet. The others scattered, but Chai charged forward. He slid on his knees beneath the giant limb, leaning back as his scrap became a real guitar with a slow-motion chord. 808 sprang toward their foe and swatted the scrap off Eve’s face with her claws, giving Chai the chance to follow up with a final climactic chop. “You’re TOAST!”

Meanwhile, Eve’s brother Adam took a different tact against Avalanche. At first he fought by conjuring countless pristine white cubes, some as defensive walls that could be launched, others in giant form to crush his foes, and still others as explosive projectiles. All the while pontificating about the nature of humanity. His opponents, seeing what was happening to Midgar and its defenders, had no time for this. Barrett let rip his prosthetic chaingun, tearing into Adam for all he was worth. Aerith pelted him with magic -occasionally magical beams- and provided the others healing. Meanwhile, Cloud and Tifa fought hand in hand, punishing the eldest of the twin machine overlords with an unrelenting assault. It wasn’t long before Adam began to realize what he was up against, which seemed to thrill him. Announcing his intent to risk his life in an effort to experience the purest essence of humanity, he disconnected from the machine network, then changed his fighting style completely. Wielding a sort of golden energy, he unleashed empowered kicks and punches, projectile barrages, and explosive fireballs, sometimes disappearing inside golden bubble shields or pumping out ground explosions. 

Quickly, though, the fight began to drag on, and the members of Avalanche knew that this couldn’t continue. With the melee fighters pushed back by the constant projectiles, Barrett and Aerith dialed their output up to eleven to blaze a trail with magic and lead. Plan in mind, Cloud and Tifa fought their way back in, and the minute they worked their way back into Adam’s face they threw caution to the wind.

“No more games!” Tifa called, winding up in a low stance.

“Let’s dance, asshole,” Cloud declared, brandishing his Buster Sword with both hands.

 The two unleashed their Limit Breaks, Ascension and Dolphin Flurry, at the same time. While Tifa leaped up and descended with a whirlwind kick, Cloud whipped his blade around in a fiery dance of death. At the last moment, they came together and launched into the air, Cloud with a climhazzard and Tifa with a magical dolphin uppercut. Their combined might launched Adam high into the air, and once he hit the ground hard, he did not rise. “Is this…death?” he choked out, laying in a pool of artificial blood. “So dark…so cold…”

Panting, Cloud looked over toward the other group. Though similarly haggard from his own boss battle, Chai gave a thumbs up. Then the soldier turned to survey the battlefield before him. In the aftermath of the androids’ black-box reaction, the scales had been tipped in the defenders’ favor. Without either of the twins, most of the machines seemed uncertain. Directionless.

But not all of them.

With a bloodcurdling howl, Chatterbox leaped from the dust. The enormous, apelike Rapture charged the two teams of four, eager to pound them into the dirt while weakened from their battles. Before it could reach them, however, a giant red ripped tipped with a golden spike burst from the ground and stabbed into the Rapture’s belly. Chatterbox snarled, scanning the area until it spotted a monstrous creature with many such ribbons, one currently buried in the earth. It was a freakish amalgamation of plant, statuary, mannequin, and insect, its limbs contorted in unnatural ways, yet it seemed determined to stand in the other abomination’s path. [i]”If you want them,”[/i] Peach’s telepathic voice resounded. [i]”You’ll need to go through me.”[/i]

Chatterbox leered at her, and spoke. Its low, scratchy, garbled voice sounded alien, artificial, but not in the manner of a machine–rather, like an alien tongue forced to construe its native sounds to words of a language for which it had never been designed. Not being psychic, it couldn’t have heard Peach’s voice, yet still it directed that loathsome voice her way. [b]”Fine. You first!”[/b]

It fired off Spike Missiles, corrosive Superacid Missiles, and finally its High-output Heavy Particle Cannon. Peach fought back, attacking with massive, contorted swings and bladed ribbons that burrowed through the earth. As its wounds mounted, Chatterbox growled and closed in. The two titans clashed in a tremendous impact, ribbons snaring and stabbing into Chatterbox as its massive mitts grabbed onto Peach’s marble heads. Struggling violently, Peach pounded at the Rapture’s head with a reversed fist, but no matter how grisly the damage to its head became, Chatterbox would not relent. Even if it meant dying here, it seemed determined to take Peach with it. Not even Barrett and Peppermint shooting him as the others rushed over seemed to slacken his grip. Finally, after a few more seconds, Chatterbox shattered the Other’s head  in a burst of butterflies and plaster. A moment later the Rapture slumped down, the last of its strength depleted.

Peach slumped down the next moment. [i]”I’m sorry, everyone,”[/i] she groaned, her mind flooded with misery and regret. From the very beginning, back in her castle, she’d been trying to step up and do a good job. Yet no matter where the journey took her, the princess found herself hopelessly out of her depth. Though only too happy to become the figurehead for the campaign against Galeem, she routinely fell short both on the battlefield and as a leader, relying on the others to do all the heavy lifting. It was hubris. Maybe, she thought bitterly, she should have stayed in her lane. She could have waited in her castle, sipping her tea and baking her cakes while the real heroes went out to save the world. Now, she would never have that chance.

There was no cure for metamorphosis. That revelation, delivered by the scientists at the Supernatural Life Research Facility, had shaken her to her core. Then, she’d been told just what secret ingredient went into the medicine that kept her sane. Driven by her hubris to push ever farther and ever harder in an attempt to prove herself, she’d become a bloodthirsty monster forced to consume a serum distilled from human brains just to maintain lucidity. She didn’t want to live like that. So rather than rot away in her cell until the last vestiges of her humanity atrophied completely, she’d chosen to join the fight against the Ever Crisis as an Other Weapon. At least then she could die knowing she achieved something.

The dying Other lay sprawled on the ground, a broken heap of fiberglass, foliage, and clustered butterfly. It didn’t even hurt, not really. Others didn’t have nerves and didn’t feel pain like people did. Still…it was a shame it had to end like this. Peach would’ve wanted her adventure to continue, if only it could. She wanted to see new places and meet new people. To try and make the world a better place, even if she didn’t always succeed. She wanted to go back home, to see the rolling fields, to play soccer, golf, and all the other games with her friends. To throw lavish tea parties and bake magnificent cakes. To see him face to face once more.

[i]Mario…[/i]

Chai reached the Other’s side as she crumbled into ash, then exchanged a look with 808. Not being even remotely psychic, he wasn’t sure what compelled him to jog over. As far as he knew, this was just an Other under Seiran’s control. Still, something about the monster’s sacrifice against that enormous machine struck him as oddly heroic, as well as strangely tragic. He pursed his lips. “Rest in peace, big guy.” 808 nodded her approval, and after another quiet moment, they turned to face the others. His friends and Cloud’s team were with him, while the Neuron legios and Psych-OSF defectors were approaching. In another moment, the remaining defenders had regrouped. “Hey gang. What’s up?”

As Hal’s drone finished its descent from its bird’s-eye view, its operator gave his report. “It looks like taking out Adam and Eve left most of the Machines directionless. They could still pose a threat in the future, but it looks like the invasion is over for now.” He paused for a moment. “We took heavy casualties. Even still, this might not be over. The Machines’ aerial weapons platform, Sinister, went straight for the Shinra Building, and Shinra sent out the Alpha to handle it. While they both went down over the Sector 06 bay, Sinister’s still online. But we’ve got a bigger problem. Nox.” He projected a hologram of the supposed Machine leader, who nobody present had seen since the battle began. “He’s nowhere to be found. It’s like he vanished the moment the fighting started. Which begs the question, horrible as it is…” His drone turned toward a battlefield coated in ashes and slag, dominated by the giant crater left over where 2B and 9S gave their lives. “Was this -all of this- just a diversion?”

[hr]

Despite her stolid, almost robotic demeanor, Sandalphon was not quite as emotionless as she appeared. In her centuries of faithful service to the Ilian Church, she’d seen countless mortals come and go, whether on the battlefield against demons and fiends or in the course of their daily lives. Much as it pained her, she’d even witnessed terrible tragedies, the worst of all being the horrific sacrifice of hundreds of innocent villagers during the events surrounding Satan’s revival. After everything, however, she’d never grown numb to the grim reality of death. Though her face never showed it, the archangel’s heart went out to each and every lost soul, filled with sadness that good lives had to come to an end.

Only now, however, could she feel tears welling in her eyes. It was as strange a feeling as the first time, yet Sandalphon found herself oddly grateful. Sometimes, she wondered if she really was a machine, wearing the skin of an angel. But these tears told her that she really did have a heart for humanity–and for the androids who gave their lives to protect it.

Discreetly wiping away her tears, Sandalphon dismissed the screen containing the list of names she’d just received. It would take some time to read and eulogize them all, and time was a luxury she didn’t have. “Everyone good to go?” Goldlewis asked up at the front of the group, turning around to confirm that all of the Seekers were ready for the final battle. Naturally, they were. He gave an approving nod, then turned and mashed the button beside the central drawer. The doors to the Cornice’s central structure slid open, and the team moved in to see what awaited them.

The walkway extended into a giant domed chamber, terminating in a circular disc suspended above a long fall directly into a black abyss. Most of the room was dark, though a huge ring light in the ceiling illuminated the central plate, and spaced around the walls were strange moving images like projections in a movie theater, each surrounded by strange pumps. They appeared to be magic portals with the appearance of concentric gears, and inside them the Seekers could see visions of what looked like other worlds. Mountains, forest, oceans…all seemingly drained and devoid of life. All this was just the backdrop, though. On the disc sat an enormous machine, a bizarre amalgam of fantasy and space-age technology, with angelic wings like helicopter rotors, and arms outfitted with shuttle thrusters. It loomed about thirty feet high, and though it did not react to the newcomers’ presence just yet, it harbored a degree of menace beyond its status as Midgar’s guardian. For this was not some eldritch monstrosity, nor legendary beast. It was just an artificial enigma, forged by the hands of man.

[center][h3][color=red]Warning! Boss discovered![/color][/h3]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/x3r01oP.png[/img]
[h3][color=ADD8E6]Reverse-engineered Machine God of Spacetime[/color][/h3]
[h1]Tycoon[/h1][/center]

Within a minute, the Seekers had amassed on the platform with their opponent. Still it did not aggress, and it likely wouldn’t until the newcomers attacked first. Maybe, Sandalphon considered, the machine was busy. To her, it seemed intrinsically linked both with this place and the phenomenon going on around it, and not just in the sense that it all served to keep Midgar’s Guardian under lock and key. Everything here struck the archangel as sharing one singular purpose, but whatever that was, she could not immediately tell. Did it matter, in the end? What could be more important than destroying the Guardian, after all? Putting aside her unease, Sandalphon readied her weapons and prepared to give the Seekers her support.

Just as the heroes steeled themselves to begin the fight, however, a strange noise reached their ears. It puzzled them not just with what it was, but where it came from–for it was the roar of a car’s engine, and it was coming from behind them. When they turned to look back the way they came, they saw an extravagant [url=https://i.imgur.com/llhapiS.png]six-wheeled convertible[/url], fuchsia in color and strangely familiar to a few of them. It was flying through the air of the mako reactor, and once it slammed down onto the broken bridge a moment later, it raced across the rest of the span and into the central structure. Just before reaching the arena, the driver slammed the breaks to bring the convertible to a halt. Though taken aback for a moment, Goldlewis remembered that car. He knew who it belonged to without even having to look.

“Chaos.”

“Hello, hello!” A familiar figure climbed out of the car, giving the Seekers a cheerful wave before he leaned on the convertible’s hood. Just like before, he was clad from the waist down in the dark suit and cherry-red armor of the Consuls, but showed up shirtless with his turquoise musculature on full display. This time, though, he also wore a helmet: a [url=https://i.imgur.com/Rd0N33H.png]bulbous affair[/url] with protruding rabbit-like ears, a rictus grin, and a crossed-out heart where the eyes should be. It was Midgar’s other Consul, [url=https://i.imgur.com/W8zWdxu.png]C[/url].

“Y’know, it takes a real sumbitch to hang a comrade out to dry like that,” Goldlewis told him tersely. “You shoulda helped Y out back there, hoss. You mighta stood a chance against us fightin’ together?”

C shook his head, seemingly disappointed. “Aw, c’mon. Even if he did expect me to show up, that was [i]his[/i] moment. Hayato’s, too. The culmination of their story. It’s a beautiful thing, you know. Not everyone gets the luxury of a true ending.” Crossing his arms, C tilted his head. “Besides, you got me all wrong. Remember? I don’t care who wins or loses. I’m just here for the drama.” He shrugged. “Of course, the same can’t be said for [i]them[/i].” He reached down and slapped the hood of his car. “Gentlemen?”

The hood immediately popped up. Instead of an engine, it contained an impossible staircase, made possible only by magic. As the Seekers watched, four men emerged from within. The first was one everybody recognized: [url=https://i.imgur.com/xSiPD6g.jpg]Karen Travers[/url], masked in silver, his demeanor deadly serious. A handful could claim to have seen the second and third: [url=https://i.imgur.com/awH5hak.png]Jetstream Sam[/url], one of the DespoRHado cyborgs from yesterday morning, and [url=https://i.imgur.com/BzLSV3j.png]Mephisto[/url], the sickly-looking Reunion subordinate of Jena Anderson. The last, however, nobody could identify. He appeared to be a mummy of some sort, wrapped in bandages and adorned with strange, mystical-looking armor. Once the four spread out, and C dematerialized his car with a snap of his fingers, it was the stranger who began to speak.

“I am Nox.” he told the Seekers, his coldly eloquent tone bearing a light French accent. Sandalphon’s eyes blinked into crosshairs as she recognized the name–it belonged to the ‘enemy’ that Xatow said must never be allowed to lay claim to the Guardian. “I don’t expect you all to know me. But know this. Since the World of Light began, I have been gathering Wakfu. All so that I could accomplish what even Xelor could not, and turn back the hands of time.”

He held his hands out to either side, indicating the others who’d accompanied him. “We have to go back. Mistakes to correct. Wrongs to make right. Not a matter of if, but when. So, Seekers of Light. Let us waste neither lives nor time. There is no need for us to fight; just hand it over to me. That thing, the Guardian. Its power over spacetime is the last piece of the puzzle. Then we will simply leave. Change what needs to be changed. Save what needed to be saved. You’ll never realize what changed. Barely anything, to most. But the world will be a better place. And every evil we’ve wrought…” Nox looked down at his own hands. “Will have never happened.”

Goldlewis held his tongue for a moment, absorbing what he’d been told. This was an insane revelation to receive seconds before a climactic boss battle, but the arrival of Nox’s team threw a huge wrench in the Seekers’ plan. Of course, this wasn’t really up for debate, and he felt pretty sure that the others felt the same way. Whether or not Nox spoke the truth, his team couldn’t afford to lose one of the thirteen spirits they needed to defeat Galeem. That much was an immutable fact.

“Hate to break it to you,” the veteran began. “Bad shit happens to everyone. Happens to loads o’ good folks who don’t rightly deserve, every goddamn day. It ain’t fair.” His expression hardened. “So how many good folks did [i]you[/i] happen to? How many got their lives unfairly cut short, just so that you could someday go back and right your wrongs? What makes [i]you[/i] so worthy?”” 

Sandalphon stared at Nox, trying to parse the man beneath the mask. “It’s clear that any amount of sacrifice is justified if you cannot achieve your goal. At the same time, it seems like there’s a tiny part of you that isn’t completely gone. I understand your conviction; you [i]must[/i] undo the evil you’ve wrought, so you [i]must[/i] succeed. But even if you did manage to go back and save whoever it was you mentioned needing to save, could that person live with what you’ve done to make that happen?” She narrowed her eyes, her gaze questioning. “Could you?”

For a moment, Nox’s eyes were closed. When he opened them, however, they blazed bright. “I didn’t expect you to understand. How could you? You couldn’t imagine it. The weight on my shoulders.” He lifted up his hand and beckoned. “Come, then. Stop me if you can..”

Goldlewis bulled forward with surprising speed. Nox’s allies readied themselves for battle, but he held out a hand to stop them, then lifted his left arm as if holding up a shield. A glyph appeared on his forearm of blue interlinked gears, glowing with magic as they slowly spun. “Try this on!” When the veteran’s crushing blow struck it, it came to an instantaneous stop as Nox’s magic froze both weapon and wielder in time. With mechanical precision, the Watchmaker held up his right hand, summoned summoned a [url=https://i.imgur.com/D1GPcTK.png]pendulum sword[/url], with its tip against Goldlewis’ forehead, and unceremoniously drove it in.

Putting his palm to the veteran’s chest, Nox drained his Wakfu in only a moment. Then his body fell, crumbling into ash, and with his team at the ready Nox levitated into the air. On the other side of the Seekers Tycoon stirred, roused by the disturbance, and unfolded its wings. “No further questions? Good. There’s no time to lose.”

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8rCvv1_hP-k[/youtube]

The Seekers of Light
Vs
[b]Tycoon[/b]
Vs
[color=#0087BD]Nox the Watchmaker[/color] / [color=red]Karin Travers, Brain Eater[/color] / [color=red]Jetstream Sam[/color] / [color=lime]Mephisto the Singer[/color]

[i]A boss fight has begun. For those involved in the fight, and for the entirety of the fight, tensions and stakes are high--but so are the rewards. Post XP is accelerated: <500 words is 2 points, 500-1000 is 4 points, and 1000+ is 6 points. Confer with me to include boss actions in your post

Objective: Defeat the Guardian of the Dystopiascape and claim its spirit[/i][/center]

[center][h3]The Under - the Chasm[/h3]
Level 13 Ms Fortune (87/130)
The Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Ganondorf’s [@Double], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1192[/center]

As her jeers before the ambush implied, Nadia did not believe for one moment that Consul F would actually deign to put up a fight. From the moment the Seekers set foot in the Under he’d been a thorn in their side, appearing from thin air to try and get them killed. She couldn’t have failed to notice, however, that each attempt on their lives had been indirect. First he literally cut short the heroes’ ride into the Chasm, hoping they’d fall to their deaths. Then he mind-controlled the whole population of the Home of Tears in an effort to wipe them out. And now he’d gathered together the team’s former members, maybe hoping that the mental blow would soften them up enough for his infected minions to finish the job. And with the death of the thing that had been Artorias, the most enduring of F’s newest lackeys, he’d consummately failed yet again. Even before the infected knight fully dissolved, Nadia turned toward the doorway where the Consul appeared, where she found exactly what she suspected: that the smug little snake was nowhere to be seen.

“Hee…heehee…hee…” His voice reached the Seekers, somewhat faint due to distance, and try as she might Nadia couldn’t pinpoint the source due to the echos. “You guys really get it, huh? In this world, it’s kill or be killed. Too bad you have no idea what you’re up against. Go on, then. The Hollow Knight’s waiting. It’s your funeral. Hee hee hee hee…”

The Hollow Knight? Was that the Guardian? One this was clear: that F had ditched the Seekers yet again. Nadia rolled her eyes. “I knew it,” she muttered. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she raised her voice and shouted around the cavern. “You suck! You’re traaaaaaash! At least your buddy P-brain actually tried killing us himself!” Hearing no reply, the feral gave it up with a sigh and a shrug. “Then again, that’s why he’s dead I guess. Still. Tearing that little clown a new one woulda been nice consul-ation.”

Another look around revealed no sign of Master Hand either. In the nightmarish parasite farms beneath Carcass Isle, the five-fingered enigma had appeared to confound the Seekers with a difficult challenge in the form of timed boss battles. Did this brawl really count as the Hand’s pre-Guardian trial for the Under? Though thoroughly unpleasant, it had been very easy in comparison. Maybe Mast Hand deferred to F for some reason, giving him the spotlight for this penultimate encounter. Nadia snickered. If that was the case, then maybe the Hand wanted to see F embarrass himself as much as she did. With both enemies inexplicably absent, the way into the Temple of the Black Egg was clear. Only one thing kept them from heading straight in, other than a quick breather: the spirits of the fallen. Though their bodies had been twisted by disease, their spirits appeared untainted. That included not just the infected, but also their fusions: Ten Piedad, Silitha, and a Xweetok. Nadia wanted nothing to do with any of them, except for that of the tree demon, which she promptly mashed into the ground beneath her heel. “No way I’m taking the slightest chance you get to Ground me again,” she hissed.

[center][hider=For Nadia]Item obtained:
[b]Tiento to your Thorned Hairs[/b]
A prayer that can only be cast by a practitioner of miracles. Summons the help of the thorned dame, who protects the faithful petitioner from all evil for a short while[/hider][/center]

Once everyone dealt with the spirits however they saw fit, Nadia was more than happy to get a move on and leave this sorry scene behind. None of the poor people brought here by F deserved what happened to them, but she doubted any deserved it less than Omori. He was just a kid. She couldn’t stop herself recalling the piggyback ride she’d given him back in Alcamoth, a warm memory turned painful. Though she’d taken an almost teasing tone earlier, Nadia’s hatred was strong. “You’ll pay,” she muttered venomously to herself. “Soon as I get my claws on you.”

For now, that would evidently have to wait until after the Guardian. Once the Seekers headed into the massive temple, they hurried across the infection-choked interior to the Black Egg. The great obsidian mass, so eerily flawless when Ganondorf, Primrose, and the Troop last saw it, now bore countless hairline fractures. Orange gas wafted from the cracks, and orange ichor oozed out from below. They’d reached the source of the infection. It lay behind the seal. Quickly, those who’d volunteered to carry the assembled mask produced and inserted the oblong keys. Each one fit like a glove, receding slightly into the surface. The Temple began to shake, and after a moment the [url=https://i.imgur.com/uLfSchI.png]completed seal[/url] pulsed in a flash of white, a web of glowing lines surrounding a shape like an upturned crescent moon–or a mask with enormous horns. It flashed again, stronger this time, and the seal blew apart in a shower of rubble. After a brief moment, a resounding cry echoed from within, a voiceless, mindless howl like nothing the Seekers had ever heard. It expelled a massive amount of fetid vapor, but even without the smell, it would’ve still chilled Nadia to the bone.

Inside the Black Egg, despite all the infection without, it was dark and quiet. Too dark, in fact. The heroes could see nothing but the glowing white patterns of stepping-stones leading them through the darkness, and the dull orange light to which the stones led them. “Heh,” Nadia chuckled to herself, trying to break the tension as she forged ahead. “Talk about build up, eh?”

All too soon, the team reached the other side of the darkness, and together they stepped into the light. There they found a metallic vault, murky with infected fog and strung with thick, intricate chains of almost ceremonial make. The Seekers found what they were looking for hanging several feet above the ground. Its chains had been wound tight, but not tight enough. Whoever had imprisoned this thing must have meant to contain the infection. They had failed.

[center][b][color=red][h3]Warning! Boss discovered![/h3][/color][/b]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/BirlneD.jpeg[/img][/center]

The Hollow Knight shone from within. Bright. Too bright. So bright that Nadia could scarcely force herself to look into its eyes. There was something horrible about that light. It burned, like staring into the sun. Like someone was prodding her brain with a branding iron. The Orphan had been ghastly, but this was an altogether different beast. Even killing this thing wasn’t a prerequisite for fighting Galeem, Nadia understood instinctually that it needed to be destroyed. As the Seekers approached, the monstrosity struggled against its bonds, and the room began to shake. In quick succession the chains holding the Hollow Knight snapped, and after a moment it tore free. It hit the ground, assumed its full eight feet of height, and tilted its head back to fill the Black Egg with its haunting, ungodly cry.

[center][i]A boss fight has begun. For those involved in the fight, and for the entirety of the fight, tensions and stakes are high--but so are the rewards. Post XP is accelerated: <500 words is 2 points, 500-1000 is 4 points, and 1000+ is 6 points. Confer with me to include boss actions in your post

Objective: Defeat the Guardian of the Under and claim its spirit[/i][/center]