[center][h3]Deep Ground - the Source[/h3]
[s]Level 6 Goldlewis (159/60)[/s] Level 5 Sandalphon (88/50)
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] 1722[/center]

Though Sandalphon participated in the initial conversation with Nox, she did not for a moment expect to convince the time mage of the error of his ways, nor to really understand where he was coming from. To an extent, she didn’t believe it necessary despite her proclivities for gathering data. In the end, he by his own admission sowed so much death and destruction not even for noble goals, but for selfish ones. Nox understood full well that his actions were evil, and for who knew how long bet everything on his success. Sandalphon was staring at the very embodiment of sunken cost. So she conversed with him just to goad him into trying to explain how his success would justify him, buying the team a little time as they repudiated him. The arrival of Nox’s team had thrown a lot more variables into her calculations, and the Seekers’ coordinator needed to prepare.

If the team had any chance of properly addressing the new threat, however, Goldlewis dashed it as he burst forward to lead the charge. This didn’t surprise Sandalphon inordinately, as she knew that the veteran preferred offense over defense, and that in warfare victory could be achieved by a swift and decisive blow. Unfortunately, his attempt at a blitzkrieg ended in disaster. Turning back all of time might be Nox’s goal, but it turned out that he could stop time here and now. When she saw the Pendulum Sword pierce the vital organs, Sandalphon took immediate action. She lifted her staff, conjuring divine screens that span around her as holy circuits wove themselves into being in a ring around her. This was all happening so fast, but if she could just cast her Angelic Wings miracle fast enough, she could restore enough health to bring Goldlewis back from the brink and cleanse his stopped time. But she was not fast enough. Nox expedited the process by extracting his target’s life, and by the time Angelic Wings radiated outward, Goldlewis was already dead. Sandalphon’s heart sank, horror gnawing at her soul from within. She’d not only failed to save him but also wasted her strongest miracle. It achieved only one thing: charging the remainder of her shapeshift gauge. The archangel’s grip tightened on her gunstaff. This was bad.

The sudden death prompted an immediate response, shifting gears from conversation to combat in an instant. Sakura charged forward, hopefully not to repeat the veteran’s mistake, and Karin followed her. Karen, however, sidetracked their revenge against Nox and kickstarted a fiery, fast-paced melee. At the same time, Geralt ignited herself with wrath, spreading the blazing wings of a new identity. A volley of arcing fireballs hurtled toward Mephisto and Nox like meteors, forcing them to adjust. As the singer backpedaled, the Watchmaker calmly skirted around the fire, then warped to a shielded Geralt to squash her flames with cold steel.

Despite his legendary quick draw, Sam was the last of the four off the mark, squaring up against Roland. Blazermate’s support came in the form of her new Armstrong striker just in the nick of time, backing the Fixer up with a dominating presence. A brief moment later, flashes of yellow lightning portended Karen’s turnabout against Karin and Sakura, forcing Zenkichi to intervene. Sandalphon forced herself to look past the eye-catching brawl toward Mephisto. He hung back, pistol at the ready in one half and his staff at the other. Her allies might not all know, but the archangel did. While the boy lacked the aggression of the others, he was no less dangerous, and perhaps the highest-priority target of all. “The boy is their medic,” she announced for those not present for the Reunion clash last night. Mephisto heard her and turned his icy gaze her way, but he only knew her as a sharpshooter. Once these intelligent opponents realized her role as a healer, Sandalphon would be at the top of their hit list as well. If she could headshot him before getting found out, there might be a path to victory.

That left just one opponent unaccounted for, though Sandalphon -standing with her back to it at the Seekers’ rear- was by no means unaware. Rather than open fire, she executed a dodge roll to evade Tycoon’s colossal swipe. The mountain of metal that was its arm passed within a few feet of her, the air displaced by its passage buffeting her hair and clothes. Tycoon scooted forward to advance, but by the time it geared up for another mechanical crush, Susie had arrived. Though her business suit looked like a toy in comparison, she pitted it against the Guardian bravely, and against all odds her mech actually withstood the punishment well. After a moment, though, Tycoon deployed pieces of itself to fly around the arena and unleash lasers that it froze in time. That was a problem, but Sandalphon hesitated to call it out. Fighting in the path of the lasers was flirting with danger, but any lapse in concentration against the other enemies could mean death.

Susie gave the Seekers a chance to focus on Nox’s team, at least for now. The Watchmaker himself was tackling Geralt, the biggest threat at the moment. As the Ardor Blossom, her ranged attacks couldn’t trigger a time stop, so she was uniquely well-suited for holding him off even as he pushed her back. Mephisto took potshots at Blazermate, and when Sam injured Roland, the Brazilian seized the chance to carve into the medabot’s back. Megido went off around Karen, and as the Septentrion disappeared Zenkichi grinned at his handiwork. When the dust cleared, Valjean’s magic seemed to have worked too well; no trace of Karen remained.

A split second later Karen reappeared, attacking out of Invisibility with a critical hit in the form of a stomp against the side of the detective’s knee. Zenkichi buckled, and Karen planted a fist in his ribs, then lifted both arms for a double hammer fist onto Zenkichi’s head. Sandalphon shot him in the back twice in quick succession, and when Roland charged in, Karen rounded on him for a trade of blows. Within moments the Fixer got pushed back again, and with the last of his Hypervelocity Karen took the chance for a follow-up on Blazermate. His Cryokinesis kept her locked down in exactly the wrong spot, and a moment later the Chekhov’s Gun fired. Once Tycoon’s laser consumed her, Blazermate was down for the count.

By that time, Sandalphon’s attention was elsewhere. Geralt had managed to stall Nox for a moment, burning him several times before a shattered Quen precipitated mounting slash wounds, but it would take more than that. After a moment, Nox switched tactics, banishing his Pendulum Sword to reply to her fireballs in kind. He held out his palm, the blue lens in its core powering up with an intensifying light and hum. Then a barrage of crescent-shaped projectiles shot forth, each about a foot in width, at a rate of three per second. They tracked Geralt as they flew, their absurd cutting power enough to sever limbs after only a couple hits. Sandalphon shot at Nox, causing his head to serve toward her in an unnatural fashion as the light of Tycoon’s Magitek Crossray lit up the battlefield. He turned his shots on her, only for the Archangel to teleport to Geralt’s side so that she could plant a Healing Field at her feet. It wasn’t much, and it limited the Witcher’s mobility if she hoped to heal with it, but with neither of her skills charged Sandalphon could do no better. When Nox’s gaze ratcheted toward the two of them, the archangel warped back to her original position, confounding Nox but leaving Geralt alone against him once more.

In the wake of the withering Magitek Crossray, Karen took drastic action. He activated Sclerokinesis, giving his body an indestructible rocklike texture, then slammed his fists into the ground. With his body impervious, one hundred percent of the amplified force went into the blow, enough to rock and destabilize the whole battlefield and unsteady the Seekers on the ground. Sandalphon used Vault to leap into the air, where she noted Blazermate’s fate, then switched to the Eye of Sol and took aim at Mephisto as she drifted down. Her shot took out his leg, but he gritted his teeth through the pain and brought down his staff for the first time. Immediately he, Nox, Karen, and Sam all healed for 25%, and as the medic rose, he lifted his pistol to return fire. “Can I get some goddamn assistance?” In reply, the last of Karen’s Duplication created four near-exact copies of Mephisto around him, turning the medic into a one-man firing squad who unleashed a barrage of gunshots into the Seekers. They then spread out, making it difficult to tell which Mephisto was real.

Out of the four foes, only Sam knew just how big a problem Sandalphon was. After the shockwave, he disengaged from his opponent and turned on the archangel as she landed, sheathing his sword. Expecting a lethal iaido slash, Sandalphon backed up, only for the cyborg to trigger his scabbard without his hand on his blade. His Murasama shot out like a projectile and struck Sandalphon in the eye. She reeled, seeing stars, unable to stop herself from clapping one hand to her face. After bouncing off her, the crimson katana flew into the air, and after Sam leaped up to catch it he descended in a splitting cleave. Eye squeezed shut, Sandalphon backpedaled, desperately trying to block. Sam’s blade fell just short of her body, but he did cut her gunstaff cleanly in half. “No...” Sandalphon stumbled, and with a shit-eating grin on his face Sam prepared to finish the job. Instead divine radiance welled up within the archangel, and after a moment she transformed in a burst of dazzling light. In order to survive, Sandalphon had become [url=https://i.imgur.com/O5RmMjd.png]Heavenly Wings[/url], a holy draconic angel that towered over friend and foe alike. Only Typhoon, standing at thirty feet compared to her sixteen, still eclipsed her.

But this was no time for exultation. This was a last resort in order to escape death’s door, but she’d put herself on a timer, and after her transformation expired the Seekers’ healing would end with her.