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Mercy? Compassion? Ridiculous, and the notions of any of that were lost on the rampaging black beast. Hell continued to rain down on the party as a whole. Great chunks of the Abyssal ceiling and splintered off segments of what remained as fireballs crashed into the ground and scattered the already ruinous landscape that was beneath it. It was no doubt a glorious sight for Runa to see. Even Nephy had to have been ecstatic at the prospect of freedom at last, though the bestial roars of the dragon reminded her of current events.

The beast rocketed down and forward just feet away from the ground like a hurled building. By the time it picked up ascension again two stowaways somehow proxied themselves on its back, albeit one slightly scorched from Kanbaru’s lack of care for redirection. What were they trying to do? Reason with it? Absurd. The cat and her Stand further ignited a deep and unsettled rage within the black dragon with its face looking down on the world below. An attempt to destroy it? The suggestion was also futile. 

Of all the timelines that led to this conclusion, all of them led in whatever Floor they resided in burned to the ground and no victory against the fell beast. It stoked the dragon’s fires, externally and literally as the black flames leapt up and at any moving thing with a mind of their own. Billowing on the ground wherever they landed, they spread like physical wildfire to consume everything in their inky heat. The dragon puffed its wings and made way to dive again only to halt in its descent with a voice reaching its mind.

Where once before Riku’s words failed to breach even the beast’s skull, now they were magnified and reverberated like a megaphone. This was to be the work of her Serei card no doubt but to the dragon it only caused confusion and a pause in its behavior. Another roar shook the world and the winds as it thrashed its head manically, eager to drown the voice and words in its head. Its tail and body rippled, dangerously daring to toss Riku and Thomas off like bugs.
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