[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISM1z9BSED0][img]https://i.imgur.com/5B3hkEZ.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@Ponn][@Crusader Lord][@FamishedPants][@Izurich][@SilverPaw][/sub]


One melody, one second.

Barreling down towards her like a runaway train, Centrocius’s speed did not seem to reflect its size at all, if not for the fact that there were plenty of great beasts in the world capable of moving at tremendous speed. Without flesh to weigh its skeletal form at all, the monstrosity descended upon Jacqueline before her melody could manifest, blades swinging outwards to rip her open by her seams. She had chosen to attack before evading, and Havoc’s haft was an ill-devised Instrument for defense. What pretensions she’d have of hiding a melody were stratagems more useful for creatures that had human-like intelligence to begin with, that had any concept of deception or guile. But Centrocius was just going to rush her down and finish her off.

A light pierced through the burning air and split open the rider’s skull.

Moments before the blades dug into her, the skeletal mount spasmed as Valkyrie’s arcane blast disintegrated its rider’s head. The long-haired man, decapitated, sagged beneath his bandages, shrivelling up like a mummified corpse, while the steeds limbs lost all synchroneity for that precious second, causing it to fly overhead of Jacqueline instead, the esper managing to dive beneath the gauntlet of its scraping rib cage while her beam threaded the needle and struck right between her two main targets. She would not see the results of her own actions though, as the torturous shriek of twisted brass and sundered wood resounded beside her, splinters of the organ shooting out as debris. Her landing was imperfect, her guts were now perforated by detritus, and her vision grew woozy from the blood she had lost. But the Esper had done her job admirably despite the circumstances, and her magic laid the foundation for the counterattack.

Spellwork flew frenzied through the claustrophobic arena. Prioritizing a charge over continuing this siege, Breacher helmed the GEMINI agents’ offense instead, sliding down a ramp of her own creation while Wukong joined her. They could not engage if they constantly hid under the cover of the shieldbearer’s walls, but thankfully, their shieldbearer could construct new walls anyhow, and up at the front, another barricade craft of fallen debris rose, just as tall as the towers themselves. Indeed, it was just as tall as the towers themselves, and subsequently sealed off any line of sight for Valkyrie and Silhouette to fire from. With the splat of a rotten tomato flung against a brick wall, Silhouette’s projectile spell was cut off by Breacher’s construction, the speed of his projected hand too slow to match the activation time of a touch spell. Another error of judgment, miscommunications cropping up at critical junctures. A [i]beam[/i] would have made it. A [i]spawn[/i] would not have cared for it.

But what’s done was done, and as bloodied projectiles of Arzendal flew overhead, it was up to only Silhouette to defend against it. Shadows coalesced around Stab and Slash, extending the blackness that composed the arcane blades, whilst four sanguine balls swirled through the air, tracking Valkyrie’s own movements. She would not escape them, not when there was no room to dodge atop these tower tops. A sniper wasn’t a close combat specialist, and an assassin wasn’t a stalwart defender. But both of them still had their jobs, and Valkyrie’s job was already complete. Silhouette engaged.

Fleet of foot, the shadow above the intensifying firelight danced, his steps balancing upon the railings as his black blades sliced surgically. One, two, three, four. With two blades and against projectiles designed to mindlessly home in on a single target, the phantom swordsman made quick work of it, cutting them down to size. They halted, halves suspended in mid-air upon their severance.

That suspension itself was suspect. Arzendale’s spells, by nature, appeared to always have a trick to them. And if they were targeting someone who had been doused by petroleum moments before, the trick itself would be obvious too. Not that Silhouette was in any position to stop it now.

Blood glowed bright, bubbling and bursting into flame. They coated the shadow’s body, reducing him to a [i]true[/i] silhouette against the pyre that was his own body. Smoky, greasy flames blinded him, deafened him, suffocated him, agonized him, and involuntary responses to the heat of this chaotic flame caused him to stumble.

Once again, what options were there for Silhouette?

Aflame as he was, his job was to protect Valkyrie, but atop this small tower, it was very likely that his flaming body would cause her own gasoline-drenched clothing to be set aflame. Could he survive the long fall onto the hard ground? Could he survive the inferno at the base of the tower he was on? Could he complete his job to Fritz’s satisfaction?

And did Valkyrie, watching his skin blackened and crack, pus geysering out of raw wounds, even agree with the same pattern of logic that Silhouette followed?

Whatever choices were made could not be seen by the two who had advanced. There were no enemies left behind that either of them were aware of, after all. The invisible assailant that had charged at Wukong had left the monkey’s mind, while Breacher herself was occupied by more immediate threats. Her handgun, small as it was, had proven itself once and would do so again. The retort of the muzzle sounded bright and ferocious against the blazing hellscape that the entrance of the mansion had become. The arcane bullet broke the central chain that suspended the candle-lit chandelier, and with the rattling of chains, it fell.

Was it coincidence or teamwork that made everything click into place?

Jacqueline’s beam struck, a ripple of seismic force sending shards of checkerboard tiles everywhere. Arzendale hissing as the arcane force resonated deeply within his frame, knocking him to his feet, while Lenore withstood the force with the sheer might of her arcane defenses, her eye already upon the chandelier that was plummeting towards them. Drawing her falchion back, she swung upwards, slicing it in half with a single stroke. It parted ways for her, disparate parts smashing and scattering the many candles that composed it…and igniting the gasoline that had spilled out from the shattered statues around them. Quake, after all, was a spell of exceptional range, covering thrice the radius of an AOE melody. And ordinary flames, whilst a meager distraction for a monster, was torturous for an esper regardless of how high their physical defenses were. Toxic fumes clouded the mind, while high temperatures stiffened the skin.

But flames too, were deterrent for the espers atop the wall, and that moment of hesitation, of reluctance, gave Arzendale his time to act.

“Brilliant play,” he laughed, his smile mirthless as he exposed his fangs. “Though judging by your reactions, I suppose you too had not expected this? Lenore, if you will?”

No preamble now, no hesitation. As his unnatural physiology shielded his body from significant harm, he flicked out with his wand, and [i]four[/i] heads from each pillar fell, a total of fourteen lives now paying the vampire’s blood price. Their sanguine essence rushed out, snake-like, and snagged upon the nun’s armored habit, quenching the flames before reforming into a full set of armor equipped with branch-like wings. She had transformed fully into a blood knight now and she raised her hand into the air before bringing it down to rip off her eyepatch.

A sickly, distorted magenta lit up her iris, and with a flex of her sanguine wings, she scaled the wall with a single bound, her singed hair lifting up with the thermals caused by the flames. “It’s a raid!” Lenore crowed, her Instrument swinging for Wukong, “Time to collect your next rider!”

And from the wreckage of the organ, Centrocius burst out too, a scarlet light now covering its skeletal frame. Without a rider, the monster had become even more savage, even more frenetic. Its head twitched once, twice, shaking with violent impulses, and then, ignoring the greviously-wounded Jacqueline beside it, it rushed out, presenting a magnitude of speed even greater than it originally did, five limbs and one tail digging into the wall as it scrambled to meet the shield and gun of Breacher.

Back-to-back, pincered by opponents on both sides, they had to decide.

Stay and fight, knowing that Arzendale remained free to cast his chaotic bloodwork?

Or abandon everything and charge, hoping to strike a fatal blow before Lenore and Centrocius did?

.

..

…

The closest to her were forced back as her body itself served as the focal point for her spell. The light of tomorrow shone out to those who could not be given a tomorrow, the radiance exposing their pitiful forms for just the breadth of a camera’s flash.

But Orion had closed her eyes. She had only felt their bodies give way, her limbs free from their desperate grasp. She knew not what happened to the boy that had pleaded her to save him, nor the many who had gnawed at her limbs. But they were all the closest to her, closest to the force that emanated from her.

She could guess what would happen to a frail human when exposed to that force.
She had to stop thinking.

Springing up to her feet, leaping up to the chute, Orion pressed with all her strength against the grimy walls, even as the effort caused the many small wounds on her limbs to open up further. Blood, hot and sticky, seeped out from the wounds. There was no doubt that her wounds were infected by [i]something[/i] down there, considering the circumstances, but it mattered not. The present moment was dense, the present moment was precious.

Orion had to escape.

And the thralls had always desired escape too.

Feet trampled skull. Bodies broke bone. Five feet of damage had cleared up her surroundings, but the press of monstrous humanity went well beyond five feet. Those that had been knocked prone by her melody were trampled underneath those who were still healthy, still hungry, and upon a mountain of the dead, they rose, the very first of them clutching onto her right ankle, while others clambered up his distended body, chains growing more and more taut as they too aimed to drag her back down.

Above, she could see a warm red light. Just perhaps seven meters, and she’d be out.
Seven meters made impossible, by the weight that dragged at her.

There was a story, once, about a man in hell, climbing up to paradise on a spider’s thread.
Would Orion do the same as he?

[hider=Map]
[url=https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rIkMeqN0k9T6nbsSVNhOE_Ck95jw9t5KnCIfnjUpDn0/edit#slide=id.p]Floor 1[/url]
[/hider]

[hr]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oMNwI4Gyq0][img]https://i.imgur.com/rtlB6LL.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@OwO][@mantou][@ERode][@Majoras End][/sub]

When Betty lifted his head into the air for another smash, she froze momentarily. Hearing who he was, even in her enraged state, was enough to make her hesitate. 

[color=ade81b]”Ffffffable?“[/color] She growled.

Regardless of how an esper regards their power set, all of them share peak physical prowess.  This was perhaps the only thing that enabled Finn to retaliate in his position.That small hesitation allowed him to grab her arm and pull his body under himself. Finn kicked one of her legs out from under her, which dropped the pale woman onto one knee. Then just as he disengaged from her, he tapped Betty’s leg and rooted it in lightning. 

[color=ade81b]”And what? Is now a better time to talk after what’s happened?“[/color] Betty held her violin against the electric bindings.  [color=ade81b]”Is your name supposed to mean something to me?“[/color] And then she pressed her violin against the shocking tendrils and drew her violin outward, like she was going to slice through them. But her violin didn’t have any sharp edges. 

At least, not yet.

The pale woman’s body was consumed by [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cn_woPvjQI]fine black particles[/url] that wrapped around herself. In the next instant, Betty had been transformed into something else entirely.

Her hair had been pulled back into a long ponytail, which was a perfect contrast to the black jacket she now wore. Though Finn’s eyes were trained on the massive sword that the violin turned into. The blade alone was about as long as Betty was tall, and the handle was off center of the blade. It was instead affixed to the back of the sword’s edge. When it sliced through her restraints, the swoosh of the blade caused her jacket to fly open, while numerous straps fluttering in the wind. Under her jacket was a black Japanese school uniform, fitted with a neon pink tie. Was this [url=https://i.imgur.com/jZNYHht.png]Betty[/url]’s esper form? 

[color=ade81b]”Lord Carnage is my master now.“[/color] Betty placed her other hand on her sword’s hilt, pointing the blade forward. It  had to weigh an incredible amount, yet Betty had no problem holding it at the ready. [color=ade81b]”Draw steel or run like the [i]coward you are[/i]!“[/color]

With a roar more befitting of a beast than a young woman, Betty stepped forward and swung her sword in an arc around herself. She split several kegs on either wall in the process. Would she cut into Fable?

Klava managed to slip past Bob’s grasp and between the robot’s legs. While this did cause the robot to hesitate, its torso spun completely around, and Bob “back tracked” after Klava. It called out a childish retort, but Klava’s focus was on other things. Bob wasn’t able to sprint, but it was building up speed as it marched after her. As Klava accelerated, so too did Bob. The pyromancers were still tracking Finn, and hadn’t the chance to look back down the hall. Klava would skate right past them before they could even think to fire. Bob wasn’t far behind, and had reached out with his right hand to knock the wine kegs off the top shelf. As he charged along, the kegs were shattered under his feet, and the pyromancers were quick to set the growing puddle ablaze. It was hardly an inferno, but it wasn’t anything you’d want to stand in, unless you were a giant arcane construct. 

Fable may have gotten the thumping of his life, but the last pyromancer and the huntress did not partake in his beating. Jane’s weapon wasn’t an effective tool to assist Betty with finishing off the boy. Even the pyromancer didn’t [i]dare[/i] throw a firebolt her way. If anything, they were a bit unsettled by the young woman’s presence. Bob’s stomping drew Jane’s attention back down the hall.

[b]”I do say, what a lovely pelt you have.“[/b]


Jane was far from peak physical ability, but she looked pretty good for her age. She raised her rifle and hopped backwards just as she fired at Klava. Though because she had taken her eyes off of Finn, she hadn’t seen him backing up and ended up colliding with him just moments before Betty’s sword swung through the air. With Betty’s giant greatsword to the east, and Bob charging from the west, things were getting frantic. 

Were things less hectic behind them? 

With some quick footwork, Protector and Luna were able to dive out of the way of the incoming barrel. Luna ended up beside Billy, while Protector had rushed to Apollo’s side. The barrel would miss, and Protector would get there in time.

[b]”Y-you save us! You-Hurk!“[/b]

With a single blow, Apollo was able to cause both pyromancers quite a bit of pain. It was unlikely they would be getting up any time soon.

Protector was able to take the barrel and toss it back. While playing with the barrel’s weight was a good way to get it going really fast, it still had to pass through Tetrad’s holding field. Regardless, the barrel was moving pretty fast when it passed through to the other side. Though something that Protector may not have considered was that Gunter’s ethereal nature meant he could pass through physical objects. Without any arcane effects working on the barrel, it knocked away his defensive barrels and passed right through him.

The ball of light however, would not.

Gunther screeched and extended his hand as the projectile collided with his hand. The beams of light tore through his gloved hand, splitting his arm in two up to his elbow. This was followed by several more that minced his forearm, some even cutting as far up as his shoulder. He whimpered before slinking into the wall, at which point a chuckle seemed to reverberate through the hall.

[b]”You got me pretty good, lovelies.“[/b] He chuckled, but the pain was evident in his voice. [b]”I was going to have fun with you bunch, but now I have to take you seriously...“[/b] 

Billy cast aside his concrete barrier. [color=lightgray]”Thinkin’ we daughteled here enough, folks.”[/color] The pale giant charged down the corridor and slammed into Klava’s ice wall, sending spiderline cracks through it. Unlike the ice ramp, this was a solid block of ice. Brittle as it may be, it was an arcane construct and not something that Billy could just smash through on one good shoulder tackle.  [color=lightgray]”Enemy reinforce- I say enemy reinforcements will be here any second. We gotta push back!”[/color]

The souls scattered once again. The first sunk into the floor, or at least, that was what it looked like. But all this barrel chucking had left the ground covered in spirits. Several kegs worth bleeding into each other. Once a soul floated inside, the giant puddle pulled itself together and took shape. For a moment, it looked like a giant man. But it didn’t stick around long before forcing itself through the wall of barrels into the other lane. From there, the “spirit elemental” sauntered towards the other conflict, where a fire had broken out.

What happened to the others was less evident, but would be less so when Protector felt something club her in the back. When she looked over her shoulder, she’d see the green haired teenager was standing upright, rock in one hand with his crushed head hanging off to the side like some shambling zombie.  He grabbed Protector’s arm and pulled them off to the side. This would normally not be an issue for the much stronger esper, but the white haired girl had a club on her person, and she was beating Protector’s back with it. 

[color=75c159]”Let’s hope I roll high!”[/color] Luna aimed Pit boss at the white haired pyromancer and fired something at her face. 

*Splat*

A sock slapped into her head and knocked her backwards, but it seemed like she had retained the arcane resistance she had in life, as she seemed to shrug off the attack easily before approaching Protector again. Beatings would continue until the espers did something. 

[hider=Tetrad]
[center] 21 | Female | Maverick | Fortune
Pit Boss | Staff | Arcane | High Roller
Croupier | Graceful 
Gambit | Gravity | Draw 4
[Weightless, Suspend], Stabilize, Damage, Push, Transplace, Extend, Heal, Zone, If: Friend, Else

DAMAGE: E  | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: D | 750

[Silver projectile][Push][Damage] = 72

That old sock smell!

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: C | CHAOS: D | 416
[/center]
[/hider]

[hr]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Pzx1NDTtI][img]https://i.imgur.com/OYSa6cT.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@The World][/sub]

The goblins did not seem too interested in parting with their wagons. They instead wanted Marrie to part with her head. 

She got about half of her words out before the frenzied goblins attacked. She didn’t have much time to react before the machetes descended on her from all angles. Marrie was quite resilient to monster attacks, and that was on top of an esper’s natural resistance to chaos attacks. None of these wounds were life threatening. But being resistant to chaos damage did not change the fact that she was still essentially a human. Being hit by a machete hurt, and even if the blades didn’t cut to the bone, each blow cut deep enough into the skin to draw blood. Death by one thousand cuts was a thing, and given enough time, the goblins would reach that number. Five cuts, six cuts, seven cuts. The goblins hid behind their shields and took turns thrusting and swinging at the esper before them. 

The slingshot goblins also started firing, though they were not aiming at Marrie directly. They sought to bring stalagmites down on her head by knocking them loose. The chaos-charged rocks had little difficulty doing the job, and spears of stone would soon rain down on the esper’s head. 

[color=MediumAquamarine]”Wooooooooooo!!”[/color] Stacy cranked her fist as she called after Marrie [color=MediumAquamarine]”You’ve got this, Senator Armstrong! Just tough it out long enough and I’m sure they’ll let us through!”[/color] She sighed. [color=MediumAquamarine]”If I knew she was going to do that, I’d have offered to go in her place. ”[/color]

If  Stacy thought to look over her head, she might have noticed that Highway to Hell had gotten into the cave and was slithering up behind her. It was difficult to tell where its black eyes were pointed, save for the fact it was slithering in their direction.