[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220729/023912a75a8a9b16c801799640a60148.png[/img]
[H3]Midgar[/h3][u]Deep Ground[/u]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 1,200
[b]Level 7 Roxas:[/b] 71/70
[b]Exp:[/b] +2
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 3/80[/center]

[color=Gold]”So… it’s over?”[/color] Roxas asked, gasping to catch his breath. His health wasn’t in great shape and he’d just burned all of his MP on the Limit Break he used against Tycoon. But luckily for him, Blazermate and Sandalphon were around and he could get the healing he needed from them. After that he looked around at what was left of the platform they’d all been fighting on. Namely at the four Spirits that were now laying around the area.

[color=Gold]”So many people… gone.”[/color] he said with a shake of his head. He understood that some people simply needed to be stopped… but that didn’t make the impact any less staggering. [color=Gold]”I wonder what happens now?”[/color] he asked himself. Shinra and Armstrong were both gone, so… who would be in charge now? [i]Could[/i] anyone even be in charge now? He was sure some of the others would probably be able to answer that question better than he could.

Roxas began looking around more closely at the Spirits. Strangely, they looked like books instead of how Spirits normally looked. He wasn’t sure what was up with that, but he did notice that some of the other Seekers were able to use the books as they would any normal Spirit, so Roxas could safely assume they still worked the same way. He picked up one of the books, titled [i]Infinite[/i]. Its pages contained snippets of Infinite's story. Something about a mercenary that was later fused with something called the Phantom Ruby. But everything beyond that was incomprehensible fragments. But there were intact sections that detailed Infinite's powers. He was pretty powerful from what the pages described. If fighting Mephisto and Tycoon had shown him anything, it was that Roxas was still a relatively small fish in this ever growing ocean of combatants and factions. In other words, he frankly needed to step up his game. Fusing with Spirits had made Roxas nervous before, but things had worked out well enough with RocktTrans, so maybe…

[center][hider=For Roxas]Notable spirit consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/YLaprEj.png]Infinite[/url][/b]
The host's outfit has become monotone, predominantly black and white. The robotic equipment is now predominantly silver, and smaller overall, with the helmet being more like a mask. One eye, seemingly opaque, functions as a visor that gives a HUD on the host's cooldowns if he closes his other eye. The host's eyes also happen to have bright yellow rings in the irises. His hair is a bit longer and thicker, swept back, with white tips. He does not have jackal ears, but the mask does. He's also gained a triangular ruby necklace that glows slightly, and pointy steel-toed shoes. This spirit offers the Strength [b]Phantom Boost[/b], increasing the user's flowmotion speed, aerial movability, and the potency of non-elemental power, turning it a vivid crimson in the process. it also confers the Weakness [b]Great Expense[/b], increasing mana consumption by 15%.

[i]New Power[/i]
[b]Phantom Ruby Constructs:[/b] Roxas channels the Phantom Ruby to generate virtual structures. He can construct simple objects out of 1x1x1 foot virtual cubes, which inflict constant damage to entities touching them other than himself. A total of 25 cubes can be out at any one time, and they can be instantiated within 30 feet of him. If he's in the air, he can only instantiate once until he touches a non-cube surface again. The cubes contain the durability and consistency of pure glass, and so they can be broken or destroyed if hit with high enough damage.

[i]New Strength[/i]
[b]Defender:[/b] A passive Ability that increases the user’s defense when their HP is low or critical.[/hider][/center]

Roxas gave off a brief localized flash of light, the telltale sign of a fusion. He’d picked up the book for somebody named Infinite and pressed it against his forehead. He looked around at how his outfit changed, noted the appearance of a necklace around his neck that contained a triangular ruby jewel. Not to mention the fact that his helmet had become more like a silvery mask with long pointed jackal ears, and that his now-pointy shoes were steel-toed at their tips. He also ran a hand through his now slightly-longer hair which took him a moment to realize now had white tips.

It also took Roxas a moment to notice that the right eye of his mask was covered by an opaque visor of some kind. And when he closed his other eye, that visor began to display HUD information, even showing an active ticking timer for his recharging MP, [color=Gold]”Whoa, that’s… different.”[/color] he noted to himself, then suddenly had the instinct to try something. He waved one of his hands and suddenly a row of 1x1x1 foot cubes appeared directly in front of him. They were crimson red, and looked dangerous to the touch, but Roxas found that he could touch them with no harm. Then he proceeded to vault off of them and summon a new platform of cubes underneath his feet to vault once again off of. But when he tried to do it a second time, it didn’t work and he instead went tumbling back to the ground.

Roxas then ignited the energy blade of his StepSword and noticed that the blade’s color had changed. Previously it was a bluish color, but now it was more of a crimson red tint. After he was satisfied with inspecting himself, Roxas rejoined the other Seekers to exit the arena and found himself in a mainframe room.

Around him, he listened to Midna, Goldlewis, and Sandalphon discuss and speculate on what this room was used for and what was going to happen to Midgar now, [color=Gold]”Are any of those cities even able to take in so many people at once?”[/color] he asked in reference to the evacuation options that Sandalphon provided, [color=Gold]”There were a [i]lot[/i] of people living in Midgar… maybe even too many. Is it possible to divide the population into groups that go to different places? Without splitting up families, obviously.”[/color]

Sandalphon shook her head. “The places I mentioned are all just outlying support centers for Midgar itself. There’s no chance any one could sustain the whole population. They would have to split up, if they even consent to go.”

Of course, even [i]that[/i] still sounded like a massive undertaking as well. Roxas got the feeling that no matter how the Seekers sliced it, this was going to be a very difficult time. [color=Gold]”And… are we still fugitives? Psych-OSF and the Administration are broken apart, but… how many people out there are going to be angry at us for doing this, even if it was for their own good?”[/color]

The more he thought about this, the more Roxas was starting to think that they may have just made the Ever Crisis even worse than it already was.

Goldlewis scratched his head. “Chances are good folks won’t know we had a part in it, ‘cept Luka, Yuito, an’ the like. Guess it’s up to y’all how much you wanna say in your announcements, if you say anythin’.” The big man had some ideas cooking, but he seemed reluctant to take the stage. As a longtime political aide, he knew firsthand the ramifications of public address. Something else occurred to him, though. “That is, unless the Consuls step in. Seems like Y’s history, but the rest’re bound to be more pissed than ever. They could really weaponize the storm that’s comin’. Skippin’ town sounds better by the minute.”

[color=Gold]”I hate to just leave the city in chaos like that.”[/color] Roxas said, which actually kinda surprised him. As much as this city had rubbed him the wrong way at various times, it turned out he still grew to care about it in spite of that, [color=Gold]”But I guess it really does sound like we don’t have much choice. Not unless we can somehow put together a new Administration that can fix things…”[/color]

But where would anyone even begin to do something like that? Roxas was certainly clueless about that sort of stuff. He wouldn’t have even had any ideas for potential candidates, much less be able to do any of that himself.

“People haven’t trusted the government in years, but thanks to Public Security, they got kept in line,” Goldlewis. “And thanks to how Shinra handled the Machine invasion, I figure we’re at rock bottom. Broke beyond repair. We’d have to be a helluva lot worse than Shinra to uphold rule of law now, and I ain’t fixin’ to be.” He shook his head. “Shinra and the Machines were what kept folks here. With ‘em gone, there’s gonna be nothin’ in Midgar but anarchy. Every man for himself.”

Giovanna chuckled dryly. “Guess Armstrong got his wish after all.”

Roxas could only look down at this, having nothing left he could offer to say. Despite their winning the battle… he was feeling pretty defeated.