Shizuka was moving fast towards the Leviathan. She saw Grafdakka trying to attack it by pulling it's head up, it's mouth at her. [color=6ecff6]"What the hell is he doing!?[/color] Shizuka didn't have time to change her course however. She was hoping to stab it in the eyes, but now it looks like she was doing to just dive right into the maw. Creating her Force Shield, she used ti to protect her if the leviathan attacked her or if she ran into any of it's many sharp teeth.

Needless to say things had not worked out exactly as intended, as far as Endian was concerned. She had hoped to preempt the Leviathan and arrive in the sector before it could, giving her something of a dominating position to shower down firepower upon it and create an opening for those more capable than her (such as the Twins) to come in and finish off the Leviathan. This had no worked out, the Leviathan attacking before the Contender could even get a second shot off. Now the beast was wrapped around the ship which was in increasingly acidic waters, eating away at the hull and making action difficult at best. They couldn't use their main weaponry on the Leviathan without blowing themselves up, which did limit their options a bit. 

Fortunately they weren't entirely without hope, Grafdakka and Shizuka arriving to battle the thing, and Marquis taking to the field once again. Whether it was enough, well, they would see. Fortunately they weren't alone, and it was shortly after being snagged that Endian would emerge onto the deck as well, avoiding whatever sprays of water that managed to crest the deck. She scanned the situation, her drones hovering nearby as she incorporated different viewpoints from various units on the field to get a more comprehensive picture. 

Eyes widened as Graf manifested newfound abilities, not the simple strength from his body but from what was unmistakably Golden Eyes, an artificial variant that had been under development by the Machina. She just wished that she had been informed of this before the battle started. Still, she quickly deduced what he was trying to do, allowing Shizuka to strike at more unprotected areas, even if she thought it was a stupid idea due to the nature of the Leviathan's anatomy. 

"Emplacements, open fire," she intoned over the comms, accessing the Contender internal systems to take over their weapons. Not the main guns, no, but the anti-personnel weaponry. The air would rip with the sound of autocannons coming to life and firing, pelting the Leviathan from multiple angles as they attempted to hit whatever opening in the scales might exist, or simply trying to divide the Leviathan's attention. It would have to do for the moment as she strode forward, her drones firing energy blasts instead of holograms as they floated nearby. This was not over yet.

"RRRRRRR!!!" The Leviathan let out a sky splitting roar as the final countdown for his chains to be broken was reached, Despite unleashing its full titanic power, the beast was at a dire situation, an eye taken by Marquis' bullet, the emplacements of the Contender petering it with AA fire, and finally Grafdakka holding it down for Suzuka to achieve the killing blow. Yet, the eye of the Serpent of the Abyss flashed gold before a huge surge of power was unleashed from water below as the very liquid was being reduced to a atomized mist as the heat was being drained from it, causing the water's pressure to fall and freeze almost instantly and become a cloud of tiny crystals of corrosive water.

The Leviathan grew hotter and hotter as the heat of everything near it was being drained and concentrated on the beast's gaping mouth, if nothing was done soon enough the Leviathan would unleash its full power on them. To turn things worse, Dora's underhanded move became evident when the Angel's secret weapon made it's appearance on the battlefield. Far above the skies of Ruthria, the giant lump of iron began to fall like an anvil dropped from the workshop of the God of Forge, spelling doom in big, bold letters.

Shizuka dived down into the Leviathan's throat. She vaguely knew the anatomy of a snake (learned it from watching television), but she had no idea if the Leviathan even worked like that. She couldn't waste time trying to chip away at the Leviathan's inner walls, she needed to get to it's heart or whatever other important organs it had and destroy them. She could feel that the monster was going to make some sort of an attack, so Shizuka had to hurry. Further down into the bowels she went, even when the Leviathan's body would try to crush her Shizuka pushed on, cutting her way through if she needed to. Eventually she heard deep, echoing beats. [color=6ecff6]"I'm getting close now!"[/color] Shizuka quickened her pace, but kept aware for any danger. Now that she was so close she knew that something, or even someone, might try to stop her.

The momentary celebration of Marquis' bullet removing the beast's depth perception was cut short by a massive heatwave, followed by something close to an acidic cloud coating the entire sector.  While he couldn't necessarily feel pain directly, being a robot an all, he was beginning to notice the heavy jacket that made up a good part of his outfit and armor begin to corrode away.  Panic swept over the AI once he realized exactly what was causing it, and he took off running for the nearest ladder than would get him below deck.  To his dismay, the nearest one was locked tight by the crew within, all of them unwilling to risk a biological weapon getting inside the ship.  His outer plating was starting to melt away faster than he would be able to find a place to hide, so the intelligence decided to cut his losses.  The body, being physically bound to him, would return from death if it was destroyed beyond repair, and acid rain tended to do that.  He allowed the now-molten titanium shell to slump to the ground while the digital entity jumped into the Contender, assuming control of a couple autocannons and focusing their fire on the lower regions of the beast.

They were doing damage, that much was apparent, but it wasn't going to be enough. That much was obvious as indicated by the readings, but in the end it probably didn't matter. Shizuka had made it inside the Leviathan, her readings appeared to be stable, and there wasn't much that they could do besides wait and hope that she succeeded. At least, that was Endian's assessment. There weren't any facts to contradict it at the moment, so she was comfortable in making it. If things changed then she was perfectly willing to alter it.

For the moment though she had other things on her mind. The Leviathan was only growing in power, and she was quick to detect the heat draining from the water, ice crystallizing around their vessel. The power was being concentrated in the beasts mouth, indicating that it was about to unleash some sort of powerful attack. And if that wasn't enough there was an incoming overhead, some sort of orbital weapon being deployed on their location. As if they didn't have enough to worry about.

Her own alarms sprang up from internal systems, and she noted Marquis trying to beat a retreat, but instead she continued on, ordering nanites to construct additional armor on her form to stall the acid. "Contender, retreat immediately," she ordered, even as she focused their offensive firepower on the beasts mouth, trying to disrupt that attack. Meanwhile the engines would rise in volume as they strained against the tumultuous water, trying to pull back into untainted and unaffected sectors, where they weren't under aerial threat and could better challenge their current foe. It was just a race against time now. 


Grafdakka fell back onto the deck of the Contender when the chain snapped and his anchor fell into the ocean, where it would slowly be eroded to the demon's flowers. To make matters worse, the Leviathan had created some sort of acidic mist that was eating away at his body. Not that Grafdakka cared; if anything, this just meant that now he would have to die fighting. Fortunately Grafdakka's body was thick enough that the acid would take some time to eat away at him, even if it did gradually weaken him. [color=firebrick]"YOU FUCKING GROT. I AM YOUR OPPONENT!"[/color] Grafdakka, despite being disarmed, would still fight as he began to scale the leviathan's body, using his considerable strength to grab hold of it's scales as he scaled the titanic beast. Even as it would flail and attempt to make him fall, Grafdakka would sooner die than let go. And until he was nothing but dust, that's exactly what would have to happen as he made his way towards the Leviathan's face, doing his best to avoid friendly fire when he can, so he can go to the Leviathan's other eye and punch it.

Crawling deeper and deeper inside the bowls of the beast, Shizuka knew she was on the right path when she felt the walls around her vibrate rapidly. She felt the heart beating so loud, that if she didn't have her armor on she would be battered by the force. Cutting her way through the fat and muscles, eventually she found what she was looking for: The Heart of the Leviathan. There was no time for ceremonies or doubt. Shizuka stabilized herself and charged forward, stabbing her blade through the heart, slashing outwards to pull the blade out before slashing again and again. She could feel the screams of the Leviathan as she cut through it's heart, and soon it started thrashing about. [color=6ecff6]"Just die already!"[/color]