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[h1][color=slateblue]Abyssal Forge - Gods Willing, Blood Letting[/color][/h1][/center]
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	[color=757163][i]The headless monster lurking in the depths of the city returns and threatens to destroy all who linger in the Forge, including its protectors. As the battle progresses, Xiuyang is captured by the beast and wrapped in ribbons cut of the same cloth as the prisoner suits—the Omniphage Coils. As Xiuyang confronts her fear of a fate worse than death by detaching from her identity as a human being and accepting her role as a temporary agent of the viral Solari superorganism, her Devourer manas fight back against their control and form a symbiosis, turning her into something in between Xiuyang Solari and a horrific abomination. Temporarily bereft of higher functioning, its sole purpose seems to be to take down the headless dragon—but then, it suddenly protects Seviin from a bullet. As the battle rages on, Yvain puts his life on the line in one final gambit to take down the beast for good. Seviin attempts to bring him back from the brink of death, but will it work?[/i][/color]
[hider=The Headless Dragon][color=757163]As the group approached, they could hear gunshots and explosions getting louder. Emphasis on the louder, it sounded like grenades were being tossed every second. 

They made it outside to the bottom of the hole that was the Abyssal Forge. They could grasp the scale of this facility: At least thirty stories tall with elevators constantly moving about, many without any passengers. The whole place was illuminated with powerful lights attached to nearby beams that supported the large sphere above and behind them.

Littered about were half a dozen bodies of enforcers, some of them completely drained of their flesh, others burnt to a crisp. Among them was a hulking figure with no head and shining with a rainbow of iridescent colours. As marvellous as it may have seemed to some, a simple touch via the gift told a story of hundreds of digested and compacted lives stored into these ribbons that gave this monster its power. 

But there was also a heartbeat. This thing, for how contrary it was to life, was very much a living being. A soul trapped in a body without a mind. An insult to Mother Oraff herself. 

Orvil was the last man standing in his squad, unloading beams of plasma onto the monster that, while not unfazed, did not seem to take any consequential damage. And as it got ready to attack, its torn back - a fresh wound from Kaureerah’s last ditch effort to stop it - ripped open to reveal an amalgam of these ribbons, forming four thick appendages; two on each side. 

An easily overlooked thing was the peculiar, green sludge that oozed out of its folds and had spread throughout the area. Some of it hard turned yellow, and one puddle had turned red- 

It exploded! A small, contained explosion but potent had one been close. 

Orvil shouted something but his translator wasn’t working. 

The Headless had just finished consuming yet another one of his comrades, leaving only a lifely pile of gore, bones and whatever armor she had over her jumpsuit.

Engorged with power by taking in the Forge's immense energy storage, the mindless Director readied its first and struck down toward the approaching Yvain. The impact is considerable, enough to leave a crater on the metal flooring and create a light shockwave.

But that wasn't all, the two appendages on its left size, the same side of its fist, were both outstretched and descended upon Yvain and all those directly behind him. The group would come to find out just how far these tendrils could truly go.

A tendril whipped out towards Seviin and the attack was so quick that it almost caught her unawares. It was only the time dilation that she had used to construct her defensive barrier quickly enough that allowed her to catch it in the nick of time. [color=F0FFF0]"Yvain, you.... [i]turnip[/i]!"[/color] she shouted, [color=F0FFF0]"Get out of its killzone! Do you have a [i]wish[/i] to meet Exiran early!?"[/color]

The first tendril was easily dodged, yet the main hit was a little harder to avoidas the Yasoi healer lady shouted at him. His sword was able to redirect the power from the blade in the nick of time, for he was only capable of doing so by attracting the blade towards the headless creature. [color=00e600]"Turnip?!"[/color] 

He looked confused by the insult, but he had no time to further question the other as the creature was still close to his vicinity. He could hit it back right away, yet could he bring forth enough power to critically wound it?

Of course he wouldn't. Instead he hopped back, still in range with the headless. His sword was sheathed back into the scabbard, did he have a death wish like Seviin had thought? 

Or was it something else, for a faint glow began to show within the small opening of the scabbard and the sword.

Upon retreating its three appendages from the initial assault, the mindless creature then concentrated its power on the dozens of thin layers on its legs to propel itself, initially forward and then curved slightly toward a familiar victim. All the while, its back tendrils dragged along and swept all in their way, ending with a powerful lash forward from the sudden break in momentum.

The assault ended with Yvain and Seviin avoiding the attack, however Xiuyang received the full force of the whips, knocking her towards the pillar and coating her with the lime-colored substance that had been spreading from he monster's thrashing.

The monster dashed forward and it was all that Seviin could do to avoid its lashing tendrils once more. She did not even have the chance to react to the assault on its intended target. Disgusting, corrosive slime sprayed everywhere, but the tyro priestess had eyes only for the brutal assault it had inflicted upon Xiuyang. She dashed in that direction.

Yvain chased the headless one relentlessly. His eyes remained on his target as he dodged the tendrils during his pursuit. The blade within began to hum, as if it wanted taste the essence of this beast. 

The Perrenchman's eyes widened upon the realization he was too slow to stop this thing's assault upon the Rettanese woman, but there was no time for second thoughts nor doubts. 

The trigger mechanism was launched as a blazing sword shot out of it, the full force of what Yvain could muster with the assistance of his newest scabbard went towards the right leg. He could not stop his movement before, but he might be able to stunt it now.

All that Seviin could do at the moment was to focus her efforts on Xiuyang. She would not allow her friend to suffer any further. She made to heal her of this strange slimy affliction.

By now, the result of her attempting to meet its attack head on shouldn't have surprised her. Xiuyang shook some of the excess of this strange substance off of her. [color=slateblue][i]Why me? And why does it have to be gross?[/i][/color] she thought numbly. Despite lacking a head, was this thing capable of holding a grudge? [color=slateblue]"You know what? I hope it still hurts!"[/color] she spat, hurling an arcane lance at the familiar chest wound.

Kaureerah decided to add insult to injury. [color=deb887]"Ugh! Boorn!"[/color] she shouted, letting fly with a fireball.

Yvain hopped back as people moved to help the Rettanese woman. He knew that he couldn't achieve such an attack again so soon, so he would go at it from a slightly further range. He conjured up a fireball and blasted it towards the creature's wounded back.

Yvain’s deft slash had left a deep cut in the main layers of fabric shielding the Director. Still, it didn’t bleed. It did, however, recoil back once it took its first, grave hit to its chest wound from the very same person that had inflicted it. Actual blood splattered out from the bubbling meat, quickly turning black.

Then came the flames on its back, scorching its already burnt and bony flesh, only partially shielded by the ribbons. And finally came Orvil’s assault. A barrage of bullets on the seared meat made for a gorey display.

But the Headless had long since stopped to flinch after the first attack from the arcane lance. Now it was its turn.

Taking a hop back, it landed among its puddles and outstretched its appendages.

It bulked up with energy and unleashed a silent scream - fingers hooked, muscles tensed and its drawing almost knocking out the weakest among them.

All the appendages were in attention. Left tendrils outstretched and whipped a wide area to the left, and the right did the same, culminating in a final smash right before it, where thankfully none had found themselves, but leaving a massive puddle of sludge. 

Xiuyang maintained her arcane lance, burning the headless continuously. She backed away at a brisk pace, continuing to glance up on occasion. She was obviously looking for something.

Seviin remained unshaken by the headless' assaults and shielded the nearby Kaureerah from the flurry of whips. Yvain, however, wasn't so lucky and found himself pushed back and losing his footing. The thrall near Orvill had received similar punishment with its arm being literally slapped away.

The Hegelan was of little interest to the monster, however, and its ire was directed once more to the familiar Xiuyang who had barely avoided the tendrils. This time, instead of coming toward her, she was latched onto by one of the Director's right tendrils just as she thought she had spotted a shadow stalking them behind one of the windows.

All the while, the rapidly approaching and untouched thrall dashed towards Kaureerah in an attempt to maul her.

Kaureerah was caught so off-guard by the sudden rush that she didn't see the thrall. The... creature, for that's what it was at this point, came for her with murderous intent and she barely escaped, its desiccated jaws clacking shut perhaps a centimeter from her nose. 

She shoved it free with a desperate burst of strength and ignited it. It had once been a Hegelan, she reckoned, though she could not say its age or gender. [color=deb887][i]A person, just like me: a 'prisoner'.[/i][/color] 

She scrambled back, trying, once more, to summon something with her mind's eye but, like her last attempt to weave together a fungal golem a couple of minutes earlier, it seemed to amount to naught. 

There was a nasty, deep-seated anger in there. Who were these people to play the part of Gods? In the face of such brazenly heartless cruelty, her lackadaisical sense of nihilism couldn't help but fade. The only issue was the same as it always seemed to be: what in the five hells could she really [i]do[/i] here?

Seviin had been caught. She'd been so busy defending the eeaiko girl and then - unexpectedly - herself, that she had let the Director take Xiuyang. [color=F0FFF0]"Oirase'aloi dii!"[/color] she shouted, her Avincian fleeing her in a moment of true crisis. 

The priestess dashed a few involuntary steps forward before remembering to use her magic. Pulling at the strange puddles with her blood magic, she reached out with the Gift. [abbr= Mother!][color=F0FFF0]"Aloi!"[/color][/abbr] she shouted, [abbr= Your child, Seviin, calls upon you][color=F0FFF0]"Joia bidar, Seviin, seng tuuduul joi!"[/color][/abbr] She began to swell with power. [abbr= Protect this woman, I beg of you!][color=F0FFF0]"Vith pa lelan, nash seiv sil joi!"[/color][/abbr]

Would it be enough? More importantly... would it be on [i]time[/i]?

Coiled around Xiuyang's neck and core was the yet untouched dominant appendage on the monster's right side. The grip was tight and for every fraction of a second she was bound, the faceless horror drew closer with omniphage tendrils sprouting from its body, allured by the promise of fresh flesh. The intense heat the victims felt as they were about to be consumed was about half what the Revidian was experiencing now with the corrosive chemicals added to the mix.

Repeated assaults by the Solari were valiant, tenderizing the alien-like tentacle but failing to weaken its grasp. She had shot her shot, and yet the Director's feast was yet to interrupted. That was until Yvain intervened. An unseen blade pure energy, far more than he should be able to produce, cut into the appendage. It had just barely hit the mark, failing to hit through the center for a clean severing.

This lack of accuracy did little to prevent the inevitable cutting of the tendril, but it was also too slow. Xiuyang found herself falling back on her feet, but not before the entire weight of the headless Director befell her with a dozen of its extensions piercing through various parts of her body, focused mostly on her core with a select few on her libs.

They began to feed, as they did with all other victims.

A moment of distraction was all it took. Xiuyang opened her mouth to speak, to warn, but was silenced by the strain of fending off the headless' assault. Why couldn't she focus on the enemy in front of her? Why didn't she just run away like the Solari always did? Did Seviin's presence bring this selfless side out of her, or was it always there, lurking where she who lacked understanding of herself could not see?

It didn't matter anymore. It was going to cost her life, or at least, her life as she knew it. As the Director held on to her neck, the Solari felt oddly detached from her plight—numbed, perhaps, by the inevitability of it all. 'Xiuyang' was always going to be a temporary existence—a face borrowed from a past life forgotten, and cast aside once more at some unknowable time in the future. It wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when. 'Xiuyang' was merely one of many vessels for the Solari superorganism, or as the church called it, facemimic. 'Xiuyang' was disposable. She, the Solari, would become a part of this beast, and if this was the future path of life and technology, she would outlive it when a bigger monster came along to consume it. 'Xiuyang' would die here, but no matter what manner of body she inhabited next, she would always be Solari, and for the first time in her life, she took comfort in that fact.

As the mocker of Eshiran befell her, the expression that became stuck on her face was not one of terror or regret, but of... concentration. She fought until the end.

Seviin was too late. The barriers she had summoned were either crumpled by the undead mass that was the Director, or else they crashed down on top of it.

She stood there, panting, her white-blonde hair disheveled, her eyes disturbingly wide, as Xiuyang was crushed beneath the monstrosity.

The priestess trembled. Her fingers straightened like wires and trembled in a nonexistent wind. [color=F0FFF0]"Xiu..."[/color] She let out a small, choked noise, and stood. 

Then, they snapped shut. 

Her nails - thicker and sharper than those of the huusoi or gosoi or siisoi present - dug into her palms. Thick, slick beads of blood began to swell, and then they broke and slipped down her pale skin, dripping on the ground. Her nostrils flared and her hair grew thick and bristly. Her pupils dilated and her mouth seemed - somehow - wider as it curled up in a snarl. [abbr= You piece of shit.][color=F0FFF0]"Joi pax sil spax!"[/color][/abbr] she growled, trembling. Every muscle in her body tensed and she drew - oh how she [i]drew[/i] like a thing possessed!

The omniphage appendages drank from Xiuyang. Every bit of her was going to become part of a fleshed collective, leaving only a mangled skeleton behind. She had seen it happen to another unfortunate prisoner, her fate would be cruel too. 

But it wasn't going to be like this, not for a Solari. A Revidian's strength was almost never in boisterous might or light shows, but in subterfuge. Grand explosions and deadly shots had never done much to the Director, she must've realized, but poison had always been on the table, it just had to be [b]drank[/b]. 

The headless creature stiffened before convulsing. Without a mouth, it could not express its pain, and without eyes, it could not fathom how it could be feeling this distress. Tendrils siphoned the extremely aggressive Devourer manas that, in what seemed like chance, overpowered the parasites. And threatened to spread into the monster itself.

Desperate, it sheared its own appendages to be free of what should be a dead, little woman. It then leapt back, like a cat that had been ambushed by a snake, or a cucumber. Conversely, Xiuyang was tossed forward, toward Seviin.

Orvill had taken this chance to mow down the thing's back after dispatching the thrall, giving little opportunity for the monster to have a figurative breather.

First, it trained two of its tendrils at Orvil, the one that shot him mere seconds ago, and Kaureerah, the other he recognized. A bright light flash and in a singular burst of electricity, a beams of energy was fired from the tentacles-turned-cannons.

One of the beams caught Kaureerah in the side and tore through her ribs, roasting her flank and causing the eeaiko to collapse. She was completely outgunned here and her thought magic - had it ever really even existed? - seemed to be completely ineffective. Why had she even come?

Armed tendrils steamed after unleashing their precision attacks. They were not made to cool down however, but to gather energy - all three of them. The electrical currents running through the environments were completely usurped, causing the many lights around them to burst. The alarm that had been blaring incessantly continued regardless. 

This sudden interruption in power caused the emergency evacuation elevator to detach itself from the Sphere-shaped facility behind them, with the railway passing right over the headless' charging form.

Kaureerah let out a ragged cheer. Somehow, her effort to simply... blow up a damaged tendril... [i]succeeded?[/i] She took a step back, wishing that she had learned more about binding. [color=deb887][i]Last one, Auraf-Sep,[/i][/color] she promised the deity in her head. [color=deb887][i]Last one and then I'm done.[/i][/color] Maybe they could survive this! Maybe there was a chance...

She sobered quickly from the momentary high. [color=deb887][i]But not for Xiuyang.[/i][/color] That was a person just like her - a decent one, from what little she'd known the girl, one who'd survived countless other dangers. [color=deb887][i]That fast,[/i][/color] she knew. [color=deb887][i]It can happen [b]that[/b] fast.[/i][/color]

Seviin was not herself, or perhaps she was. Perhaps [i]this[/i] was her truer self. The Director staggered back and half-collapsed and she did not so much as [i]see[/i] her gravely wounded or dead friend. 

Her form exploded into action, kinetically enhanced and, a moment later, she was tearing the elevator free and riding it down right onto the monster, springing free at the last moment before it hit. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot and her fingers thick and clawed. She snorted as steam rolled off of her form.

Behind her, Yvain set to work as only he could, slicing another tendril free, but she did not truly notice.

Instead, she beheld the small, bloodied form of Xiuyang lying still on the floor before her. Her eyes saw but, for a moment, there was a disconnect between that and the reality.

The Revidian was still alive... after a fashion. 

The Revidian was still alive.

Yvain stared at the puddles of sludge, then it turned towards the headless beast. He knew that stepping onto it could lead to his death. [color=00e600][i]True strength is achieved through sacrifice, sacrifice through courage, courage through honor.[/i][/color] He repeated the words that he kept the adrenaline in his body pumping. 

His feet began to move, charging forward towards their collective enemy with reckless abandon. To his own amazement, his steps breezed over the sludge and it did not explode. Perhaps this really means he was blessed both by Oraphe-Sept as well as Aun-Oraphe, though one was less in his mind during the current predicament. 

Once close enough, the Perrenchman's hand moved to the hilt of the blade that fitted ever so neatly in it's scabbard and in one smooth motion, he sliced one of the right tendrils off.

The remaining good tendril had been too resilient for Orvil to fully shoot down - a lithe and limber target was generally difficult to hit with a gatling gun. He approached the group in the hopes to regroup, but it would be a decision he would likely regret.

With one remaining supercharged tendril, the Director once again stood onto his two feet. The remaining three appendages, damaged but not completely uprooted, received a fractions of the power accumulated by their subling before all four dug into the ground. What followed was a mighty earthquake concentrated under the feet of the group heroes facing down the headless tyrant.

Starting from right under Yvain's position, energy burst violently from right under him, focused on a small area and spreading further into a wider area, and finally ending a massive, if less concentrated, final explosion that would destroy the door they had come from and burn the outmost layer of the Sphere-building's wall.

Xiuyang did not feel the crushing weight of the Director, nor the piercing pain of her many stab wounds. She neither saw nor heard anything, except perhaps the slow and stubborn beating of her own heart. As her reality shrunk down to the size of an ant's, she felt the domain of her manas expanding. New pathways and new doors opened, and she felt herself drawn to them, rather than spilling onto the floor. She thought it odd that a part of her consciousness remained in the old body, but perhaps this too was part of Oraff-Zept's design.

She felt the presence of many others beside herself, but instead of attacking them as invaders, as she had once done to a part of herself, she welcomed them. She joined the lost and tormented souls, seemingly forgotten by Ahn-Eshiran. At least this new existence would not be a lonely one. She could not speak with them, but she could, with a touch, exchange a form of information—and that was how she came to learn of the warden that kept these poor souls here.

Ahn-Eshiran had not forgotten them. She had just sent them their savior. The time appointed to free the prisoners was now.

[color=slateblue][i]You want to unravel me? How about I unravel [b]you,[/b] instead?

Let's see what you're made of, old man.[/i][/color]

The magnificently destructive explosion ushered in no casualties. At least, not immediately. The previously laid traps had come to bite the foolhardy Perrenchman, sending him flying and in flames. He was lucky enough to survive, but in pitiful shape.

The aftermath of the discharge left a massive wall of smoke that clouded sight, and static in the air that made sensing difficult. 

The headless had gone completely silent again, as it had each time it caught many of them off guard before. For how big it was, it seemed to excel at going undetected. 

But what would come Seviin's way would not be the Director, but a bullet.

She didn't even see it coming but, amid the haze and the noise, Seviin was already moving. She had shielded the fallen Xiuyang, unsure of how to... [i]heal[/i] the damage, or even if she should. Still, she was half animal in mind, but something had called her back. Something had stopped her. 

It would not stop a bullet, but it was then that the tendrils stopped flailing in pain, and what was left of Xiuyang remained still and quiet for but a moment. Then, one lashed out, pulling Seviin by the collar and sparing her head a bullet in favor of a graze to the shoulder. That focused expression remained on her face, but her vacant eyes did not move. No part of her original body so much as twitched. It was also wrapped in the same bandages as the thralls.

Seviin roared out in pain, nearly dropping her charge, and blood quickly stained her clothes, but... it did not spread far: not nearly so far as it might've had the wound been to something deep or vital, not nearly so far as if might've had the wildblood's absurd ability to heal not begun to kick in almost immediately. The yasoi's eyes widened, a bit more of her personhood returning.

They widened, and her ears perked up and that was when she noticed it...

The plume of smoke died down. With its death came visibility.

With its death, came more death.

Bursting from the ground was the last tendril, shooting right into Seviin's abdomen instead of the initial target - Xiuyang. 

In what seemed like an instant, the headless closed the distance to have its massive, fleshy palm squeeze the wound it had just created. The Yasoi's essence was being drained, and soon her body would be too, while the monster would be blessed with one of Oraff's finest.

She'd had only a split second to react: to choose Xiuyang or herself. It wasn't even a decision. It was Mother Oirase's will.

The monster had Seviin. It had her and it was draining her and its sheer resilience was something truly fantastic; something truly unfathomable.

... but so was hers.

The body was failing, having taken not only the discharge but also the sludge exploding where he stood, his body was giving in to the wounds it had endured. His body cracked, his skin sizzled and his back charred even further. [color=00e600][i]As long as I can raise my arms... I can fight.[/i][/color] 

Yvain started to draw, draw and draw even more. It went passed the safe limit for someone of his current capacity, but this thing had to be felled. [color=00e600][i]If I do fall, let it be together with this thing.[/i][/color]

The Director's ambitious 'hand' would not remain attached to Seviin for very long. It would not remain attached to the Director, either.

The tendrils lashed with murderous precision, breaking the headless' own tendril instantly, like a twig. A visceral struggle ensued between the two monsters, some of the tendrils attached to Xiuyang flaying away at the old man like the sickles of a mantis, as others "punched" and thrust him back. All the while, the Revidian's body remained limp and unresponsive, hanging from the tendrils like a puppet on strings.

Was Xiuyang's lingering will fighting that of the bandages on her body to protect Seviin? Had she joined the many lost souls it had devoured to fight back against the headless? Or had the separated parts of the beast created a new monster, and the two were now competing for the right to the same prey?

What were they even fighting, anymore? Did any of the others have it in them to continue fighting? Blood sprayed and lives hung in the balance, the stakes unknown.

The monster recoiled back from Xiuyang’s gargantuan strength. Arm flayed and combat tendrils destroyed, the headless was left twitching in place, a good distance away from the group. By the way it held itself, it almost looked as though it was panting. But the truth was elsewhere.

Seviin’s bestial blood coursed through it, while the exclusionary bloodtype was rendered inert in the complex system of omniphage coils. The blood of the beast had once again graced the abomination, riddled with redundant potential and inefficient accumulations of flesh. The deepest layer of coils glowed through the now dull layers on its body - a black glow that absorbed all the light around it.

Steam rolled out of its body, power was rising and dropping with every distortion of its form. Its chest bubbled and deflated, back tendrils twisted together and swelled with a fleshy addition forming between the gaps, and the neck stump began to squirt blood like a fountain. This thing was changing. The exposed parts of its body, now multiple with the excessive damage it had taken, turned dark and were riddled with ebony growths. The tendrils on its back became massive arms with unnecessarily thick and curved claws.

Then sprouted the head. Slowly, like a plant emerging from rich, mana-filled soil. It was large, just like the body that had expanded to accommodate this new transformation. Finally, they could see this thing for what it truly was. 

A dragon’s head. Black as a starless night. 

Horns curled like that of a ram’s. 

Scales as hard as some of the strongest armours in the world. Contrasted with the black sludge that was excessively heated flesh - a result of such a rapid transformation.

The Director’s true form was revealed, as it unleashed a glass-shattering roar. With it a heat that charged the air with a metallic and foul taste.

The draconic horror ascended to the air, a master of gravity and aerodynamics in spite of its magical limitations. And as it reached adequate heights, it inhaled.

Energy from all over the Abyssal Forge was commandeered, even its own corrosive creations, for its singular destructive creed. Something gigantic was coming. 

A first wave of flames descended upon the lowest floor where all its enemies still roamed. A gentle tasting before a devastating, nuclear blanket of purifying fire descended upon them.

Seviin crumpled to the ground, losing her animalistic features as she seemed to fade into herself. Thick dark blood poured from the huge wound in her abdomen and she seized up, the colour fast fading from her skin. Within moments, she was unconscious and defenseless.

Kaureerah beheld the others: Xiuyang was... not herself? The eeaiko couldn't quite make sense of it, nor was she certain that the human girl was even in control. Yvain looked something like bacon and she had to avert her eyes. The hegelan had a literal [i]hole[/i] in his chest that she could see [i]through[/i].

Now, the Director was a dragon. Alright. Kaureerah stood there for a second. [color=deb887][i]Just die,[/i][/color] the thought came to her. It wasn't a grand thing. It wasn't empowered or bitter or poignant, or anything like that. It was annoyed, and maybe a little bit exhausted. [color=deb887][i]Seriously, fuck off and just fucking die.[/i][/color] Why did evil people and evil things always have to be so maddeningly resistant? Why did they have to, just... [i]exist[/i]? It was tiresome. It was really fucking tiresome. Was this ever going to end? 

For a moment, she considered just giving up. There seemed to be no end in sight and this would just be easier, after all.

She could not save the others. She was not strong enough. She had, in fact, never been, but she kept coming out for these things. She wished, upon it, every modicum of misfortune that she could. She envisioned it combusting into flames itself. She imagined things, but not for as long as usual, not with as much intensity. Nope, the smart thing to do, she thought for herself and at the others, was to run: just to run faster than they actually could behind the nearest pillar and hope that its inevitable fiery blast was somehow slow. She didn't wait any longer before doing so herself.

The dripping, bloodied tendrils lashed at the air, furious at the Director's escape. They bristled, twitchy and insect-like in their movements, retracting slowly. Abruptly, three of them stalked off, carrying Xiuyang's ostensibly lifeless body while a third grabbed Seviin under the arm with a pair of pincer-like 'fingers,' carrying the two girls behind the nearest pillar.

Yvain realized his incoming death as the dragonized headless one prepared an even bigger attack. His head hurt. Matter of fact, there wasn't a spot that hurt like all punishments from the five hells combined. However, he could not give up, not when so many people rely on his existence. 

He had overdrawn for the sake of a finishing attack on this thing and it only seemed to be growing stronger. [color=00e600][i]What a pain.[/i][/color] A smirk appeared on his face. [color=00e600][i]If Oraphe's blessing were to run out, let it be tomorrow![/i][/color] In a desperate attempt to survive, he used the energy from his overdraw into his movement, yet his stumble did not make him the fastest either way.

For the first time, he felt true fear for his own death.

The flames consumed all, but the pillars withstood. For the most part. No casualties other than perhaps a unfortunate Hegelan enforcer arriving in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The Director, now a mutated dragon-thing, landed. Its giant back-arms rested upon the charred floor as its beady, green eyes scanned for its enemies. It could finally see after so long. And yet there was no soul to find within these animalistic optics.

Orvil, hidden behind a pillar and having lost feeling in one of his arms, radio'd something in though none in the fight understood his tongue.

As Seviin came to, she found herself lying next to Xiuyang, their conditions reversed from just a moment ago. The Revidian was perfectly unharmed—even the persistent scars on her face had finally vanished after suffering with them for so long. The tendrils loomed over Seviin and the gaping wound in her midsection, twitching with unknowable, perhaps conflicting intentions.

Once again, Kaureerah's strange powers seemed to have failed her and she began to wonder, in earnest, if they had all been the work of allies or perhaps enemies or maybe even her own overactive imagination. 

It was true that she had felt fast sliding in behind the pillar, the first licks of flame just beginning to blast by, but she now leaned towards it being a coincidence. Her magic was no longer working. Reshta had abandoned her, and perhaps it was just, for she had lost most of her belief in the Gods, or at least in their power and goodness. 

She drew and vented the heat with all of her meager capacity, still scalded and parched, and emerged to bear witness to this new horror that would try to kill her and her... allies. Glancing over at Bacon Yvain, she tried to get his attention. It was better to at least [i]try[/i] than to not. [color=deb887]"Get eet to open eets mauth!"[/color] she called, [color=deb887]"I cen freeze eet!"[/color]

Seviin's head was swimming. Her senses were dulled and, when she reached up to bat away the tendrils out of instinct, something immediately felt wrong. There was pain in her abdomen: a cold intense burning nothing, but then...

It was really [i]nothing[/i].

She began to push herself up with her arms, but she couldn't feel a thing beneath where the Director had nearly sliced her in two. [color=F0FFF0][i]My back,[/i][/color] she knew immediately, her head still swimming and senses still hazy. [color=F0FFF0][i]It's broken.[/i][/color] She'd be paralyzed until she could heal it, and that would not be easy under the current circumstances. [color=F0FFF0]"I can't -"[/color] She cut off abruptly as she looked to Xiuyang. She was somehow there, still, but also not, and it was, for a moment, all too much. It seemed unreal. It seemed absurd. What had any of them done to deserve this!?

Where she had gotten angry before, where she had found strength and resolve, the priestess now wavered. Yvain was on death's doorstep, broken and burnt almost beyond recognition. Xiuyang was, perhaps, dead but not. Pluuri had shot Seviin and now she could not walk. 

Once more, her fists balled. Why was the world such a wicked place? Why was it up to her to fix it? She tried to drag herself over to the pillar and proper herself against it. What could she honestly even [i]do[/i] at this point? Everything that they'd done seemed not to defeat this enemy but only make it stronger. 

Then it occurred to her: the simplest, stupidest thing. She let herself slide to the side so that she could see Yvain clearly. It would not be good. It would not be easy. She could hardly focus through the pain and existential fear, but she tried, for what ese could she do but what she had been put on Sagand to do:

She could heal.

Yvain's broken bones and burned flesh began to heal as the pain began to fade. The immense focus on surviving this beast too, began to fade. For just a split second he could see another face, among snowy plains, but by the next blink it had all returned to normal. The Yasoi woman whom he had been rather dismissive towards before was now the one to save him.

Yvain did not wish to look weak in a situation such as this and smiled through any other emotion he felt before. [color=00e600]"Allow me to thank you properly once we get out of this place, Seviin."[/color] She could very well expect a gift of local delicacies of his family's holdings. He did hope it was not taken strangely.

But that did not matter at the moment, for now there was still the director-turned-dragon to worry about. [color=00e600]"Open it's mouth?"[/color] He shouted at the fishy woman. [color=00e600]"How do you suggest I do that? pull it open with my bare hands?"[/color]

Orvil cranked up the volume of his translator. [color=#747d7c]“Get him over there!”[/color] he pointed right at the destroyed door they had come from. [color=#747d7c]“Quickly! It's the only way!”[/color] the veteran enforcer had too many close encounters with this monster to think they could stop it. He knew what it was, and without their full magic, they did not have the firepower alone. The Hegelan's weapon folded and slid to his back as he prepared for what was to come. [color=#747d7c]“Do you know how to drive?”[/color] an absurd question directed at Yvain.

[color=deb887]"Taunt et, grab et, skewer et!"[/color] Kaureerah shouted. [color=deb887]"I don't cere! Jaust -"[/color] Then, Orvil spoke up and she glanced his way, not quite understanding, but she also knew that he knew more than she ever would about this monstrosity. [color=deb887]"Uh... whaut he sed!"[/color]

[color=00e600]"Drive? . . !"[/color] He shouted back in confusion. [color=00e600]"You mean ride? I know how to ride many beasts, yes."[/color] He reacted rather smugly. [color=00e600]"I even managed to tame one of your steel beasts!"[/color] Yvain's attention then went back to Kaureerah. [color=00e600]"I will see what I can do!"[/color]

Orvil grinned widely at the revelation.

The draconic monster, however, did not let them indulge in more chitchatting. It hungered for flesh, for those that would trespass the sanctity of the Forge. And it recognized none within, even its Hegelan inhabitants.

But what it tolerated far less than even fleshbags ripping its layers apart was a rival predator. Its wicked, soulless eyes were trained at one of the pillars, one where hid Seviin and a Xiuyang-ish.

With a mighty roar, it charged toward them, its gargantuan new arms dragging its progressively healing body along. It was fast, and undoubtably powerful. 

But so was Xiuyang, reborn as something different. Her appendages twitched, her intinct gnawing at her ...

In the meantime, what was assumed to be wall opposite of the sphere was, perhaps, the biggest sliding door they had seen yet, along with the King of all elevators. Moreso a platform, really. But it mattered not that this was their seventh or eight lift so far. 

What mattered was what was inside. 

[color=#747d7c]“Then tame this girl.”[/color] Orvil, smirking under his helmet, up-nodded toward the platform.

There she was. A massive, horned beauty. Armor rivalling the mighty scales of the horror they had to face. And exceptionally orange.

[color=#747d7c]“We need to throw this bastard into the core!”[/color]

The Revidian rose, towering over the yasoi. Gravity rolled the human's neck, slowly cracking it. It kicked off of the pillar, launching itself forward to meet the regenerating beast—there could be only one, it seemed. Two tendrils met the beast, grabbing it by the draconic horns and slamming its scaly face into the ground.

All dread was suddenly gone as the majesty of this steel beast dawned upon his eyes. It had a simplistic beauty to them, something that even a great wyvern could not match. 

[color=00e600]"Only because you asked so nicely!"[/color] 

And thus he rushed over to this "Steel Queen of War (Read as: logistics)" as fast as he could.

The beast, by all accounts, should be mightier than this minuscule woman. In fact, it was. But its strength was rapidly sapped by the rival tendrils the moment contact was made. The might of many men and women added to the hold forced the monster into stalemate, until it was shoved to its side.

Still unaccustomed to its weight, the once-Director struggled to keep its footing. But the tug-of-war with Xiuyang had just started. The two would continue to clash.

Could Kaureerah hope to take this thing down? The answer was, definitively, 'not a chance in all five hells', but there were others who might've been able to, and as the monster roared, opening its mouth as wide as it would go for just a flicker of time, she launched her attack: a paralyzing cone of frost that might at least cause it to flinch at a critical moment and lose its advantage.

It was the same setup as the smaller version, except with a bigger steering wheel and pedals. It was intuitive for a natural like Yvain.

When activated, the engine purred mightily. The vibrations were enough to reverberate through the entire floor. And the horns? Extremely responsive. 

Orvil grasped one of the ramps and joined the fun. [color=#747d7c]“Make love to it!”[/color] an unfortunate translation.

[color=00e600]"I might rough this baby up if I do."[/color] Yvain replied to Orvil's comment. 

This seat was like a throne of unbridled power, mostly for his current self at least. [color=00e600]"Push it straight into this. . core thing, right?"[/color] He gripped the wheel, smiling brightly.

She had done what she could. Seviin slid onto the floor, amid all of the insanity around her, and tried to straighten her broken body. She could not remain like this any longer. She was no asset to anybody, least of all, herself. She closed her eyes and tried to tune everything out and focus on the delicate operation of healing a severed spinal cord.

The beasts wrestled, lashed and pummeled each other, in what was increasingly an inseparable tangle of limbs and a stalemate with no end in sight. Then came the freeze, locking up the Director's jaws and giving the Revidian the edge, landing a pin. Two tendrils began to claw at the open chest wound, trying to rip it apart even more.

The gas pedal was soon pushed down by his foot as the Steel Queen began to move, this beast was completely different from the small beast he had ridden before. This power could even be enough to push this beast.

With little care of property damage, he rammed the forks into the beast. Yvain will used this beast to wrestle with the other beast.

With a torn open chest, oozing of steaming hot blood and decaying coils, Yvain's Steel Queen rammed right into the monstrosity's weak point. The forks were rammed deep into its chest cavity with the regenerating flesh locking the impaling metal in place - a flaw many great binders experienced in the past. 

Still, it wasn't helpless. The once-Headless' massive arms took hold of the metal contraption and displayed its superior might to the inferior artificial being. Yet, as it tried to produce a flame to extinguish the lives its hussars, the excessively damp an cold conditions of its maw had delayed the attack long enough for Orvil to toss a grenade right into it. 

[color=#747d7c]“Duck!”[/color] the translator warned with a slight delay.

The beast, having an explosive detonate into its very throat, was rendered vulnerable.

Now was their chance!

Things were happening in the world beyond, but Seviin could pay them no attention. She had done what she could. She had given her all. Now, she focused on her manas, on her damaged nerves, on the torn flesh. This was a difficult heal for most any healer but the true masters. Seviin may have been too young to be counted among their number, but she had healed wounds like this before, on occasion. She had the war her homeland had started to thank for that heap of broken bodies. 

Now, it was her own at stake, and her skills did not fail her. Truly, she had given it her best. She had done all that she could. She had helped them...

Her inner monologue trailed off. It didn't feel... honest. She began to sense something in her toes: an infernal pins and needles sensation. They were coming back. She did not let her focus waver. Still, though, the thought nagged at her, prickling the back of her mind. She had not done all within her power. She had defended, but she had not protected. 

Sometimes, the best way - the only way - to protect your friends from a monster, is to stop that monster.

And then there was pain, as her fast-healing nerves began to regain their sensation in earnest, she clenched her teeth through it and reopened her eyes and banished those intrusive throughts. They were not entirely invalid, perhaps, but also best left for some other, less-desperate time. Seviin rose to her feet, restored, and to a vastly different scenario than the one she had left.

A third monster had entered the fray and dealt the decisive blow to the warden of Halge Larchelon's forgotten souls. Soon, Ahn-Eshiran's will would be fulfilled, and this place could be truly forgotten. In the end, the [i]coup de grace[/i] was delivered by something just as cold and dead as the city. A fitting end for the cursed place, its sins and fortunes concealed within, and the annoyingly persistent husk the creature had left behind.

The poetry was, perhaps, lost on the seemingly mindless being. It found no flesh to consume from this new beast, and could sense no hostility, and so it lashed at the new open wound to its quarry's neck, seemingly not satisfied until its lesser lied dead and cold.

Yvain with his Steel Queen had pushed the unkillable moster into the wide - although it did not feel so wide anymore - hall of the Forge's central dome. Walls were collapsing live with every violent movement of the draconic abomination, any second it threatened to break free to unleash some new horror.

The Director, for the first time in who knows how long, had a throat. The pain it felt when it became the subject of its enemies' ire was immense. It screeched, or tried to, in protest. Flames could not be conjured to lay waste to the pilot of the Steel Queen no matter how hard it tried.

One of the massive arms sprouting out of its back like a malformed wing readied itself to crush giant metal bull and all near it.

The Revidian had no need to use her eyes to sense the attack coming. Two tendrils met the arm nearly instantly, stopping it in place before it could gain momentum, but they were slowly losing ground even as they siphoned away its tissues with blood magic. They alone would not be enough.

The Perrechman knew it was a matter of time before this beast would fell the Steel Queen, and thus decided to list the beast off it's legs by listing the forks up. Laughter rang through the halls as the man finally was able to put this mindless beast in it's place. 

As it slowly lifted up, he kept the pedal down whilst he tried to siphon the energy the beast exerted from it's movements, trying to tire it out.

The combined efforts of Halge Larchelon's survivors caused the arm to quickly falter. It was Yvain's quick thinking that decided the outcome. The Director's entire form was shoved onto the metal ceiling and dragged through it, with its raised arm taking the brunt of the deadly chaffing. Eventually, the scaley layer of the appendage-clad arm shattered, and so did the beast's stance. The Steel Queen was safe!

The push through the linear path to the center of the dome was going to strong. They were halfway there!

But the beast was enraged. No longer did it accept mild stifles to stop its destructive will. From its mangled throat formed a flame, one so hot it became white. Heat and steam burst out of its neck's wounds, burning those nearby and hampering their efforts. It was going to claim the metal steed, and all those near it!

The tendrils recoiled at the sudden burst of heat. Bristling with rage, they reached under the former and soon-to-be headless' arms, grabbing the horns once more and pulling, trying to rip its head off while minimizing the Revidian's exposure to the pouring steam.

Tendrils ripped about one horn while Yvain's explosive slash cut off the other. It ended with a relentless barrage from Orvil and Kaureerah, aided by Seviin's intervention, to completely obliterate the monster's scale shell and jagged teeth. The creature was left stunned by the amount of resistance put against it, leaving it limp for the remainder of the Steel Queen's push.

They were nearing the bulkhead at the end of the hall. Orvil had been radioing in the situation to his colleagues, but there was no response. [color=#747d7c]“Damn it, the door won't open!”[/color] he yelled out as the machine's motor had gotten exceptionally loud. They couldn't stop and would eventually press the Director's body against the incredibly thick layers of metal. [color=#747d7c]“The Director has the code! We don't know where she is! No contact with Maiv!”[/color]

The beast was coming too, face malformed from the damage it had taken, but its inhuman healing factor was kicking in. Soon, the scales would grow back and an eventual mistake would lead to total annihilation.

The tendrils retracted, absorbing the Director's draconic horn and any other matter they could get before resuming their relentless assault, trying to gain ground against the monster's healing factor. Opening the door would have to be a task for the beings who were lacking in primal rage.

Yvain turned to Hegelan as he tried to contact the other Hegelans. [color=00e600]"Contect the controlling room! There should be others there! Maybe they can help!"[/color] He yelled out, for he had no better idea if the door did not open.

Kaureerah was not against the idea, and quickly voiced her support for it, but there had to be something that she could do, as well, to buy them time. She tried, with all of her meagre power, to pull the head from the area surrounding the struggling monstrosity. [color=deb887][i]Less heat means fewer reactions, slower reactions, and a longer time for those wounds we've bought with our blood to heal.[/i][/color]

Cooling the creature did, in fact, slow it down. The healing, its movements and even its heartbeat. Marginal but potentially significant in the grand scheme of things.

[color=#747d7c]“No answer!”[/color] Orvil announced, trying different channels. Some did reply, but none had any sort of credentials with most enforcers working on controlling the thrall outbreak. [color=#747d7c]“We need another way!”[/color]

Xiuyang's new form was taken by something else entirely - The horn. The harness and manas inside the materials made it difficult to fully digest, and the marrow within was what she would have to be content with for the time being. These were exceptionally hard. But with it came ... unsettling insight. No imagery, only feelings. The monster had SEEN nothing for decades. All she had was hunger. Then satiation. Then downright gorging in the lives of many. This thing had no mind, no tangible memories, while the omniphage coils only provided a cocktail of disjointed experiences.

No memories were perceived, only the hollow existence of the headless' long life.

At the absence of a solution, there was always an ace in the hole. An enemy to many, but a guardian angel to all in this moment.

[color=8B008B]“Yo.”[/color] Juulet atop the still semi-conscience monster's shattered and fleshy head. [color=8B008B]“Why isn't this thing deadzo? You wanna feed it that super power thing there?”[/color] she pointed her thumb at the bulkhead.

Seviin looked up to behold the scrawny girl - still a handful of years her senior - who people called the Mad Avatar. She arched an eyebrow. [abbr=I think it was the opposite: we throw it in.][color=F0FFF0]"Seviin seldii ap nash pa senthoi: luum maas ap [i]duul[/i]."[/color][/abbr]

[color=8B008B]“Oh.”[/color] Juulet realized, at this moment, that the solution was far more evident than what she proposed. It was almost embarrassing. [color=8B008B]“Okay, and looks like you can't do it.”[/color] she kept it Avincian, and with a proper Enthish accent to boot, for others to hear. [color=8B008B]“How's about we just force it in?”[/color] she shrugged before hopping off the increasingly feisty monster.

A swift motion had her point her crutch right at the door. [color=8B008B]“I just need a volunteer to help me open a big, fat portal to the room on the other side. Otherwise, we're fucked, 'cause this thing's FAT.”[/color]

Almost sheepishly, Seviin raised a hand. [color=F0FFF0]"I... may be able to help with that."[/color]

Juulet furrowed her eyebrows as she realized who Seviin was. The fact that she was alive surprised the Mad Avatar. 

[color=8B008B]“Mmkay, we got like ten seconds before this thing kills us.”[/color] she said, wasting two seconds herself.

In position, she rapidly drew from the nearby super-source and tore through time and space. Juulet's skill enabled precision, while Seviin's raw power allowed for the portal to fully materialize and expand just enough to let the entire Steel Queen inside. 

It wasn't the core they were going in, but the buffer room in between to prevent an accidental exposure to the rest of the Forge. 

[color=8B008B]“GO!”[/color]

'Yvain had all but transcended the limit of a mortal man and became one with the Steel Queen. His action became hers and vice versa, driving the beast through the portal at a speed that put even the Queen on it's maximum strain.' 

Were the gods themselves narrating his coming death? He did not know anything but to press forward. He would not stop going forward until the beast was felled.

[color=8B008B]“We're not done yet!”[/color] announced Juulet.

They were not in the core, but rather just a room away. Behind them was a rapidly closing portal. [color=8B008B]“Those that can't survive being instantly cooked better get the fuck out now.”[/color] she warned.

Those that remained were sealed in the secure room, with the Director's awakening delayed by Yvain's masterful use of the forklift's top speed. Still, they had mere seconds.

[color=8B008B]“On three-”[/color] he had forgotten Seviin's name, so she merely nodded at the teen. [color=8B008B]“One ... Two-three!”[/color]

A portal was opened once more, and with it a wave of unbreable heat washed through. The Steel Queen was rapidly deteriorating and melting, Juulet and Yvain could initially survive thanks to their blood types and they had to hope Seviin could produce the resilience to weather this decision moment. 

[color=8B008B]“DUMP IT!”[/color]

'And thus, the two unlikely allies banded together to finally put an end to this scourge of the Hegelans. The two heroes trekked through the immense heat as only they could, even the Queen was buckling and melting, this would be her swan song.'

'Would these heroes be able to fell the beast in time, or would they succumb to the heat.'

There was it again! Was his mind just playing tricks on him or was this real?
[color=00e600]"Working on it!"[/color]

He blasted it with everything that he had, using the heat within the room to creat an explosion against this beast and even by enhancing the shockwave further, but would it be enough?

The Revidian did not see nor hear, nor did the creature attached to her back. It did, however, feel. An unknowable length of years rushed past like the freezing waters of a river, disjointed memories battering her like debris, lingering regrets pulling this way and that like currents, and above it all, hunger, pressing down like a layer of ice that made it impossible to breathe. If she could just eat, everything would be okay. If she did not eat, she would never be okay again.

Then, suddenly, it was hot—unbearably hot. Was this... hell? The creature writhed and shrunk its form as it hobbled away from the melting behemoth for as long as its legs could function, then they coiled about the lifeless Revidian like the legs of a dying insect, forming a web of Oraff's regenerating shield between them. Then, the charred mass of flesh grew still like a cocoon.

They had done it. Yvain, the hussar of the century, had been as efficient as he could in ejecting the screeching monster into the fiery chamber that threatened to consume all in the room. It was hotter than any flame they had felt, searing nerves to the point where temperature couldn't even be felt, only pain. 

Juulet and Yvain survived the singular second it took to dump the thing with only minor burns to their clothes, Xiuyang had cocoon'd herself to safety and Seviin had yet to declare her status, being just out of sight.

They had done it, however. The door was closed just a second after it had opened. The heat lingered, but the vents quickly cooled the air to livable conditions.

[color=8B008B]“Fuuuuck yesssss.”[/color] a tired Juulet leaned against a still hot wall, prompting her to jump and just cool off a part of the floor before sitting down. She only realized a moment later that her nose had begun to bleed for the excessive drawing. [color=8B008B]“Bleugh.”[/color]

She then jumped in place as she heard the bulkhead sealing the core away bang and shake. [color=8B008B]“Oh COME ON!”[/color] yelled the Yasoi. [color=8B008B]“It's not dying?!”[/color]

[color=00e600]"I guess this means it really likes us, huh?"[/color] Yvain laughed awkwardly. [color=00e600]"Seems like it can survive even inside that room."[/color] He paused, disliking the idea he was thinking of.

[color=00e600]"I will push it into the core."[/color] He sighed in response to his own words. [color=00e600]"Make another portal for me."[/color]

Juulet blinked.

[color=8B008B]“Eh?”[/color] she looked toward Seviin, and then to the living cocoon. [color=8B008B]“Are you okay in the noggin?”[/color]

Seviin's eyebrows were singed away and she looked as if she had the sunburn from hell. With her complexion, this made her appear not dissimilar to a steamed ham. She was badly dehydrated from the brief flash in the core, and still did not feel quite right. She was alive, though, and functional. She took a steadying breath as that Oiraseforsaken monstrosity began banging, trying to get out, and Yvain spoke as he did.

[color=F0FFF0]"You will die, Yvain de Berbignon."[/color] Her nonexistent brows came together as she strode up to him, her complexion already beginning to normalize, wispy white hairs already beginning to reappear where they had been extirpated perhaps a minute or two earlier. [color=F0FFF0]"I do not think I will be able to heal you."[/color] For at least the third time in as many hours, she reassessed the Perrenchman. Her fists closed and then opened in a gesture that those who knew her best would recognize. [color=F0FFF0]"But if this is what you wish and there is no other way, I will do my part."[/color]

She began to gather energy from space and time.

Juulet raised both her hands at shoulder level in the universally recognized gesture for 'stop. [color=8B008B]“Woah woah wooooaaaahh.”[/color] the once tripod, now left with only her spear as a viable means of stability, hopped back on her foot. [color=8B008B]“We are NOT opening another portal. Nah, nah.”[/color]

A few hops later and she was at an arm's length from the Perrenchman. [color=8B008B]“I'll drop your stupid ass in. Then, it's all on you.”[/color]

Seviin blinked, not quite understanding, but she backed off. If Juulet really wanted to be the one to portal him in, then she supposed that the would-be Avatar of Vyshta could do it.

All the while the others discussed, a smile stained Yvain's face. [color=00e600]"If I die, I will do so with pride."[/color] He addressed Seviin. [color=00e600]"And if my actions will help save my friend, then I am content."[/color] His sword was unsheathed as the scabbard was unbound from his hip and handed it to Seviin. [color=00e600]"Be sure to hold onto this, in case I come back. If I don't, be sure to return it for me. This fine work has served me well."[/color]

It was then that his eyes turned to the Avatar of Reshta. [color=00e600]"That is enough."[/color] The Perrenchman nodded. [color=00e600]"Shall we then? It would be rude of me to keep Aun-Echeran waiting."[/color]

Juulet pursed her lips, very happy to make due without all the sentimentalism. But this was was sacrificing himself, so she withheld her comments and instead presented her hang.

[color=8B008B]“Leggo.”[/color]

No portal, only a teleport the moment her hand was touched. In an instant, they were inside the furnace, twenty or so meters from the monster that had been banging on the bulkhead. And hardly half a second afterward, the avatar was gone, outside of the first bulkheads were Kaureerah and Orvil had remained behind.

The monster was there, the heat far too powerful to create flames, it was essentially in fire. The tendrils covering its body were burning and regrowing with the energy it siphoned. Flesh too, whether scales or muscles, was regrowing at an alarming rate. Eventually would perish, surely, but would it be done fast enough before it broke out? Unlikely.

Ungodly heat reiged supreme, hotter than any desert or and more potent than any flame Yvain had ever experienced. His clothes were completely incinerated the moment he could not shield them anymore, with only his sword seeming unaffected. In fact, he could feel the manas spring to life inside of it. Just as they did in his body. Did the jammer not reach here? Or did the overwhelming power of the core supersede any such influence?

Speaking of the core, a look to his right would reveal the ball of plasma that generated what was effectively infinite power, floating in the very center of its cage. The sphere, a small sun, was as big as some of the smaller Perrench castles he had often visited in his youth, and perhaps far more beautiful. The electrical field that kept this ball of power from falling was also responsible for keeping the heat from immediately disintegrating him on the spot. 

The Director continued his relentless assault on its one exit. A single dent or crack could mean the death of those on the other side, and the completely melting of the Steel Queen.

It was now or never, Yvain. As the flesh began to peel off his skin, he knew he had to act immediately.

Yvain could feel his body struggle against the heat, to think such a monster was able to fight back with just it's sheer healing capabilities. Such a sight caused him to purse his bubbling lips before it contorted into a smile. [color=00e600][i]You really don't know when to just give up an die, huh?[/i][/color] 

As his manas sprung to life, he knew that he could finally use his favoured school of magic again without any issue. He would have to hit this thing, hit it so hard it would fall into the epicentre of this heat. He had to push it away from the door, but as he rushed towards the beast he used the radiation from this false sun to loop atomic energy through his system. 

Every step, the kinetic energy began to build up, gaining more momentum and power into his legs. The closer he got, the more his blade began to glow. Energy was being gathered into such a mass that even a High Zeno would think twice before coming close to it. 

If he got it away from there, when he knows the door was safe he could throw everything at it and blow it into this sun.

To make it fall, or in this case, rise to the the deathly inferno above. The creature took immediate notice of Yvain the moment he mad his approach, and there he could see the Director's face.

His eyes had bubbled and popped, leaving only dry sockets that could not see him - but it could sense him. Just like it had done when it lacked a head. It was almost the same for Yvain, most of her senses were gone. No odor existed other than a metallic scent covered in sulfur, his nerve endings were quickly fading as fast as all his hairs did and breathing became impossible with his tongue beginning to bubble. This was truly hell.

He and the beast clashed, with every step they took having a much greater stride than expected. Gravity was just as distorted as their senses - an opportunity for Yvain if he wanted to get rid of this thing forever.

His blade cut through scales like they were butter, while the shockwave of the wing-arms sent him flying to the other side of the oven they were fighting in. 

The beast began to charge. It did not need long. The air became more metallic and the constant, orange filter to everything shifted to a pleasant blue before balancing out to a wickedly unnatural purple.

In a blink of an eye, the monster closed the distance with its massive, thoroughly enhanced wing-arm and descended it down on Yvain.

Yvain's muscles began to show and began to bubble when his skin gave way. The wing-arm was approaching and as it was about to connect with him, his blade clashed with it, siphoning the energy it built up for himself.

If Gravity was reduced, he could use it to his advantage. He grasped the parried wing-arm and threw the beast further towards the sun. With a mighty jump he landed upon the wing-arm and began to slash it with every step he took, cutting the wing to ribbons. He knew it would probably regenerate back at some point, but it would take time and he needed every second of advantage in this hell.

As he jumped off, the bubbling Perrenchman slashed from the neck to the back. Gravity was his ally and through it tried to force it closer to the center, all the while he was trying to find out how that priest in Vossoriya was able to cast his spells so swiftly. His spells needed to be faster, he needed to be faster.

The battle was brought to the air as both neared the merciless sun - the last hope of Halge Larchelon. Yvain chopped through the last relatively untouched arm, causing scales to burst and breaking outer hard layers protecting the soft tissue below. The monster truly looked unrecognizable at this point, despite the regeneration.

But Yvain was worst for wear too. His muscles had begun to dry up and his extremities were faded - only his good arm was spared from being in proximity to his blazing sword. His feet were partially gone already, making airborne battle a convenient compromise.

The Director did not simply let itself be hurled. It could use flight too and it leverged its immense weight to rapidly gain momentum and attempt to maul the Perrenchman whilst charging a coup de grâce straight from its gut. Meters away from the electromagnetic barrier that limited the radiation that caused all this heat, this was the final leg.

As it stood, however, Yvain was going to turn to ash before this monster was even close to being a dried up skeleton. Did he truly have a chance?

Fear. 

The fear of death began to seep in, but he would not let it stop him. 

The beast still seemed to have the will to continue this brawl, to think it used to be a person. Nothing was left of the person they were before, just a feral beast who only had one goal in mind. Ironic, some people might even regard him with similar words right about now. He could not even think about intricate spells anymore, for all that mattered was to get it to die. 

Most ironic of it all was that a son of Perrence did all of this for a Bloodmouth, but it was a bloodmouth he had grown to hold dear and looked at almost like surrogate sister. Not only a Bloodmouth, but his other closest friend was a Revidian. Despite the cultural ways he had been taught at a young age, he could not help but hold them dear.

This time he could do something, he was not powerless to stop one held dear from dying and if his life were to be lost in the process, so be it. 

Yvain had to use his smaller and more nimble frame to counter the attacks, but he could barely counter them with his limbs' strength quickly disappearing. With what was left of his conscious mind he promised Oraphe-Sept that if he was just given seconds longer, just long enough to fell this beast. That he would surrender his soul to Aun-Echeran after having made their counterpart proud.

All he did was draw in the unbearable heat and putting his entire capacity into hits from his blade to redirect the monstrosity's power back into itself for he knew that any attack from it would put an end to him at this point. He had strayed far from his honourable fighting style and now embodied the Nashorn.

The sword was almost used like a club, his head a weapon in it's own right. 

They're here. They're fighting for survival, one for itself and the other for their friends.

They were locked in battle, one dragged the other, until they were cooking alive in the unfahtomably hot inferno within the ephemeral barrier they had since crossed. 

Yvain's will carried him through the pain, through the lack of air, through the inevitably horrible end he would meet. The Director fought to accomplish his one goal, to purge all intruders to the sacred Forge. One was going to succeeded in their goals.

But Yvain was no favoured. His body was starting to crumble. Torchblood manas and expert knowledge on pyromancy could only do so much. He was going to die, with Oraff-Zept remainin silent.

[color=#10401d]“Not today, green soldier.”[/color]

A feminine voice. The same one he awoke to when this all started. Behind him, a thin figure far too tall to be Hegelan and clad in two layers of the same wrappings the thralls, guards and even the Headless wore, had come for him. He could only see her eyes.

Ahn-Eshiran heard his call.

The suit was deteriorating fast, but she had just enough time to unleash the tendrils wrapped around her body to cover Yvain's. They covered every inch of him, except his eyes, all on their own. A reprieve that would likely last no more than a few seconds.

But perhaps this would be just enough. For one final push.

A familiar voice that he had not heard for a long time, it soothed his mind. The tendrils that covered his body did not lessen the pain, but it halted the crumbling of his flesh. That was enough for now.

But would it be enough to finish it? He did not know, though he could not stop. He pushed through. His body might crumble, but his will burned ever brighter.

With all his will and strength left he pushed the beast further, inch by inch. The coverings giving way while he would not, he could not. Punch after grab after just slamming his frame against it, he tried to press forward. A son of Perrench, his ancestor helped in taming a Tyrannus Gehenna back in the great heathen war. Now it was his turn to uphold the family's pride, he would slay it with all his being.

Aun-Echeran, give this lost Hegelan soul the rest it needed.

The mantle give to him mended his wounds and shielded what remained. Just long enough for his final push. It was Yvain's last chance.

At this point, even if the Perrenchman didn't realize it, both were condemned. He had succeeded, this thing was never going to leave alive. What was once endlessly healing flesh born of infinite energy became dust and ash. It starts with the mutated wing-arms, then its regular appendages, until it finally couldn't grip anything anymore. The tendrils had burnt off, leaving only the final layer of coils, now devoid of their hunger.

Finally, the fallen Director could let go. 

The monster fell into the bright ball of fire. Pieces detached and turned into absolutely nothing. All except for its head. Nothing but bone and the semblance of a conscience lingered. The very last living bits of a man that should have long since found the afterlife.

The Headless Director, Shell of the Second Founder, had finally been felled.

And Yvain, once again bare with his limbs crumbling to ash just as the Director's did, fell out of the death-zone, and eventually found the metal flooring. The heat was still monumental. Only a moment left of life. 

He could finally rest, too.

Finally, the struggle that felt like an eternity was over.

what remained of the man tried to laugh, but it was incapable of doing so. Oh, how he wanted to brag of this achievement to the others until they groaned. However, he did not have the temporal to leave this place, not the energy to crawl back to the door and beg to be let out. What was the point of victory if one could not boast about it?

Yvain was prepared to die, he told himself that he would be content, but why was he feeling this fear? 

His final moments would be one of pure agony, but all he could do was surrender itself to it despite his body, every individual mana cell fighting for survival.

But did he imagine that voice before? Or was it that Eskandr trickster goddess tricking him?

The Director's long-awaited death did not yet provide relief for the brave survivors of Halge Larchelon. The mission remained incomplete, and the group's attention divided between it and the lives that needed saving. The noble Perrenchman was not yet dead, and Seviin's focus was set on him as the mutated Xiuyang sat still in her cocoon, slowly restoring herself—or rather, being restored. It was the second time in her life she found herself about to be reborn from an egg, she realized.

Vaguely, she became aware of Seviin's struggle to save Yvain on the periphery of her consciousness, but the omniphage coils wrapped around her body continued to pull at her mind. Before, they gnawed at her flesh like a pack of ravenous wolves trying to devour her, but now, they were like a group of orphans tugging at the robes of the first adult they'd seen in ages. They starved, and needed to feed, to [i]consume.[/i] This was all they knew. They did not understand what the human girl was trying to tell them about friends. Like little children, she would have to teach them. Outside of this place, food was not in short supply. No longer would they have to know such desperation.

Seviin's struggle ended with Yvain still missing an arm and about a quarter of his skin, and any realistic chance that he had been bought anything more than a few minutes' time left on Sipenta faded away with Seviin's consciousness. Xiuyang had tried to help from within her fleshy prison, but she could do little. Only after nothing more could be done did the tendrils fused into the Revidian's cocoon begin to twitch. The webbing tore and Xiuyang was free, still wrapped from neck to toe in bandages, her arms and legs tucked away beneath the inferno blanket.

Seviin was the first to get to him, and she was certain that she was too late. He had to be gone, and she did not have the power to [i]give[/i] life - at least not yet - only to restore what was already there.

She reached out in horror and resignation, a quick sweep over the husk that was all that remained of Yvain. There were not even eyes to ceremonially close. 

But, then, she felt it. Somehow, against everything that made sense, there was yet a spark of life. She swept again, unsure, but not waiting to begin healing. Where to even [i]start[/i]!? Mother Oirase had clearly spared this man, and she was not one to question the will of the Goddess, but he was [i]so[/i] far gone. By all that was holy and made sense in this world, she could not understand what kept Yvain alive.

Dimly, she registered the others clustering round. [color=F0FFF0]"Please pray for him,"[/color] she said simply, [color=F0FFF0]"and give me space to work."[/color]

Limbs were difficult to repair. Perhaps only one in every twenty binders could repair a limb. She had fixed over a dozen in Tanso and... the other place. She had fixed a handful more since coming to Ersand'Enise, and so that was what she focused on first. Doubts gnawed at her mind. What had [i]happened[/i] to Xiuyang!? Should she have prioritized her dear friend?

She messed up. She misaligned blood vessels, but it scarcely mattered, for there was no blood. The heart. The lungs. She needed to repair those. Most of his internal organs were ruptured or shriveled. This, then, became her focus, and it was [i]difficult[/i]. Seviin continued to draw. She was almost trancelike in her concentration. It was so intricate. There was [i]so[/i] much damage but, still, he fought. She stroked his skin where she'd restored some of it. [color=F0FFF0]"Stay with me, mon gars,"[/color] she whispered. 

Next were his eyes, and the strain on her manas was truly something. Sweat dripped down her brow and her stomach felt tight and queasy. [color=F0FFF0]"Stay with me, elden'toi."[/color] She took from the floor and her own clothing and a dead hegelan nearby to rebuild a leg: bone, sinew, muscle, and a covering of fresh pink skin.

This was what it was to be a priestess of Oirase. This was her calling. Thsi was her work. He was a proud man, and maybe not always a kind one, but he was good, and the goddess had decided that he was worthy of life. Seviin's world began to swim. [color=F0FFF0]"Wiip oapen'ven, luuxii'toi."[/color] She swayed where she knelt but, still, she drew, and she created. Juulet pushed in for a moment, driven to try as well, and they were not Tarlonese and Constantian, life and death, holy and mad. They were simply two yasoi girls who were trying to help, but Juulet could not do very much. Xiuyang came to only partly, and she was able to help. Bless her. Whatever she had become, she was still Seviin's friend. She was still good, and the priestess would not judge, this time. She [i]could[/i] not.

The girl's hands trembled as she healed. She noticed the blood coming from her nose and, sounds began to grow faint and indistinct. Her vision narrowed and blurred, but Yvain drew breath more strongly now, as best he could. She gave him more. [color=F0FFF0]"Et thal joi,"[/color] she rasped, as her balance nearly faltered. There were bruises on her soft pale skin now. Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. [color=F0FFF0]"Et teng'al joi."[/color] Her world swayed, but there was more to do. Her vision cut out and Seviin was plunged into darkness. [color=F0FFF0]"Seviin teng'al... joi..."[/color]

There was no more that she could give, and unconsciousness claimed her. [color=F0FFF0][i]I am sorry. Mother, I am sorry,[/i][/color] she thought before she faded. [color=F0FFF0][i]I failed.[/i][/color][/color][/hider]

	[color=757163][i]The denizens of the Forge, the outsiders, and their puppet master have a standoff, the outsiders accused of murdering two of the Hegelans. Suddenly, Xiuyang realizes that Pluurii is behind it all—both the assassination attempt on her friend Seviin, and framing them all for murder, to buy herself time to shut down the Forge and remove several thorns in her side in the process. Xiuyang sees an opportunity to cause Pluurii's plan to backfire, by orchestrating their battle in such a way that she can accomplish Revidia's goals while denying any collaboration with Tarlon. Her allies do not know that she intends to allow Pluurii to shut down the Forge before killing her off, and unfortunately for her, they come along. Luckily, Juulet also planned to shut down the Forge, so the Forge ends up shut down regardless—but in the process, summons a monster that not even Hugo could defeat. The final battle of the Forge begins.[/i][/color]
[hider=The Snake][color=757163]Juulet could finally breathe. The thing was gone. The Forge was their's. It was her's.

But the magic wasn't back on. A detail she nearly forgot about and had nearly slipped. Her heart rushed as she nearly went off in spite of this fact, and immediately went with her plan. Two fingers to the lips, she whistled with all the energy she could reasonably spare until Leon got the job done. Surely he had made it by now.

The restoration of the Perrenchman was the next distraction, one she never excelled at. The Mad Avatar was, after all, a destroyer. She told herself that every day as did her followers. A weapon for justice, she believed. And yet she hadn't gone out of her way to help this man who accepted a most horrid fate for the sake of others. There were moments of doubt inside that crazed and corruption-addled mind. This was one of them.

Self-reflection was a short lived luxury, however, as the radio's voice echoed through the facility just as Seviin fell to the floor. [color=8B008B]“Wait.”[/color] with difficulty, she got back on her good foot after kneeling to help the healer's endeavour. [color=8B008B]“Is the magic even back on?”[/color] she wondered as if she couldn't tell.

In fact, none of them could tell, because they felt no change. Everything was the same as far as they were concerned. 

Orvil had been providing first aid kits from the nearby emergency node and offered a warm handkerchief to the passed out Yasoi. The man hardly ever used magic, in fact most of his life the magic jammer was on. 

Footsteps neared, a lot of them. Orvil drew his weapon, one now at full power after the dampener was shut off. Ready for anything, he took a deep breath. Then, he lowered his weapon. Other enforcers had converged on the group, spawning from different corridors, weapons drawn and surrounding the survivors.

They remained adamantly still, weapons up, until Maiv emerged among the flock. There was no joy in her expression, only a jaded look with her lips hidden under her well kempt beard.

Orvil spoke in his mother tongue, inquiring something like of the 'what is going on' nature. Maiv responded coldly. By the way Orvil furrowed his features, something was wrong.

[color=#b481c7]“For the murders of our Director and head Researcher, you are all under arrest.”[/color] she said through her translator. Orvil flinched in disbelief.

A mirthless, wheezing chuckle escaped the formerly motionless Revidian as she emerged from her cocoon, still hanging limp from the tendrils. Slowly, they lumbered over to Seviin and Yvain, as if the presence of the enforcers didn't disturb them in the slightest. One began to attempt to stir Seviin to consciousness.

Kaureerah made no obvious move to surrender, prancing about in her outfit made spare by the battle she had been in. There were no sudden movements, but she stretched and rolled her neck. [color=deb887]"Yoo're welcaum,"[/color] she said rather loudly, yet incongruously softly. [color=deb887]"Faur keeleng the Headless end saulveng a centurees-oold praublem faur yoo."[/color]

She considered Leon and Juulet and took a risk based on intuition. [color=deb887]"Faur dooeng exactly whaut we sed we woold do and seveng aull auf yoo even thoagh we hed to keell e caupel who woold naut let aus woork end waunted to toorn aus into 'preesauners'."[/color]

She spread her arms and took another step forward. The bullets from their strange guns would miss. She imagined it so. It [i]must[/i] be so that their luck - their aim - would falter if they decided to shoot. [color=deb887]"Yoo're welcaum foor naut keelleng yoo faur the haurreble, eevel theengs yoo heve been doeng to peepol faur haundreds of yeers here, foor naut pryeng into the aunholy experements yoo do end the caulemetees they cause the woorld."[/color] She let her arms fall and stood there. [color=deb887]"Oh,"[/color] she added, [color=deb887]"end yoo're welcaum for dyeng for yoo."[/color] She gestured towards Seviin, Xiuyang, and Yvain and returned her arms to her sides and pressed her feet together and forced the most ironic of smiles.

Many of the enforcers looked at one another as the translator struggled to properly communicate what Kaureerah was attempting to say. Maiv in particular, still a nervous wreck but driven by indignation, shook her head.

[color=#b481c7]“We did not experiment on you, that is a lie.”[/color] retorted the Hegelan, misunderstanding one of the sentences. [color=#b481c7]“You did not do this to help. You definitely want to take everything from us!”[/color] with that, she produced a touch-pad of sorts and revealed the bodies of two of their own, dead in what Juulet would recognize as the panic room the leader couple was left in. Their throats were slit.

Speaking of the Avatar, she seemed a bit out of it, flicking her wrists and snapping her fingers in the hopes of getting a stronger spark of magic and acting like the Hegelans didn't exist. They were effectively nothings if she had her full power. But then she saw the perfect illustration of the scene she had been in not too long ago. [color=8B008B]“What the fuck? I didn't do that. They were alive.”[/color] outraged, she looked at the others. [color=8B008B]“I roughed them up but we ONLY tied them up. Pinky promise.”[/color]

[color=#2d8a5f]“Shut up.”[/color] growled one of the enforcers - a woman, the same one that had interviewed Xiuyang. [color=#2d8a5f]“We know you've threatened to take over our operation. You did not do this to HELP US. You did it so you could help yourselves.”[/color] she raised her gun at Juulet. [color=#2d8a5f]“All you outsiders act moral but you all prove to be the same. You ALL want to take from us. And we have proof. No more prisoners, we're taking no quarter.”[/color] 

Maiv warned the other not too shoot, but the enforcer took the first shot, and soon the men and women that trusted in her all trained their guns and fired. 

Only to miss every single shot. Partly from Juulet teleporting a room above, partly from an unexplained phenomena that had them perfectly miss every person lined up before them.

[color=deb887][i]Something here stinks,[/i][/color] Kaureerah realized, as this stupid girl continued. Maybe they hadn't understood her. Maybe they just didn't want to. [color=deb887][i]The voice. That's the evil here.[/i][/color]

Then, they rejected her message and they fired and, for the first time since she had managed to shove the Headless into an abyss, her special magic worked. She did not have much other magic right now. Nobody did, save Seviin, who might've been starting to stir but still wasn't up. 

They would die if Kaureerah did not act. Ever the performer, she stepped forward again, making a point of raising her arm and making a sweeping motion as the last of the bullets sprayed wide. She regarded the one with the big mouth. It was time for a new approach. [color=deb887]"Yoor technaulogy,"[/color] the eeaiko hissed. [color=deb887]"Hauw it raises yoo, hauw yoo rely aupon it."[/color] She shook her head. [color=deb887]"Hauw everytheng caumes et the press auf e bautton."[/color] She conjured a lick of flame at the tip of her finger. [color=deb887]"Hauw yoo essoome it will saulve aull auf yoor praublems, with meenemaul thaught end meenemaul effoort."[/color]

She shook her head a second time and narrowed her eyes. [color=deb887]"There aur faur greter foorces in this yooneverse then yoor little tooys: megeecs thet yoo doon't know end cennaut staup."[/color] Her smile was almost sadistic. [color=deb887]"Doo yoo theenk aull auf yoor vaunted boollets missed aun their own?"[/color] She tilted her head as she strode right up to a particular short young man with a well-trimmed beard. [color=deb887]"[b][i][u]SHOOT ME![/u][/i][/b]"[/color] she roared, just as he pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. 

[color=deb887]"I em nautheng special emaung these peepol - I em naut the oonly one who is auneffected - end I coold keell yoo aull with e fleeck auf my wreest."[/color] She touched the barrel of his gun with one hand and sighed, twisting to regard Maiv. [color=deb887]"Thet I heve naut done so aulredy shoold speek to my intentiauns."[/color] She scowled. [color=deb887]"There is e greter enemy."[/color] She could not say more, for she was afraid of the consequences. She tried to shoot the dense hegelan a meaningful look.

Seviin, then, finally began to stir. She had sensed something as she came back, aside from a dim understanding of Kaureerah's words and a strange sort of energy that she had known perhaps once or twice in her life. It was something else, and she knew it. They were... anchored. She cleared her ragged throat to speak. [color=F0FFF0]"I..."[/color] Her manas were exhausted, but she could still use them. She coughed and shook her head. [color=F0FFF0]"You've killed thousands in the most horrible way imaginable to preserve your secret and your right to make mana abominations,"[/color] she growled,  [color=F0FFF0]"and you were going to kill us. Don't try to claim a moral high ground when we're both in the muck."[/color] She shook her head, rising, still dizzy and bloody. [color=F0FFF0]"Truth is, if you want to survive whatever great calamity comes next that you've vaguely spoken of, you need us. You don't have to like us and we don't have to like you, but we'll all die if we try to go it on our own: you first, and then us, so shut up, put the guns down, and let's figure this out."[/color]

Seviin arose, and the curious tendril seemed satisfied with that result. The Revidian then wandered to Kaureerah's side, paying the bullets that'd flown by no mind. She tried to reach out a supportive hand to her, to let her know that her words were understood and appreciated by at least one person, but she found that her old arms would not budge. Her body had been forcibly remapped, and everything felt out of place. She didn't feel like herself. She wondered if she even looked like herself, but it hardly mattered to her anymore. Her bold Eeaiko friend was right in every way. These... [i]backstabbing scum.[/i] These ungrateful [i]bottom-feeders.[/i] Had she not done everything they asked of her?

Biological refuse, the lot of them.

Xiuyang had watched and not quite processed in her momentary spell of helplessness, but remembered now how they trembled, even with their fancy suits and weapons. They were afraid of the heroes who survived the horrors of Halge Larchelon—as they should be. They should be afraid of them all. Most of all, however, they should be afraid of [i]her,[/i] the one who had [i]become[/i] a horror of Halge Larchelon. The omniphage coils wished to feed, and Xiuyang was not particularly inclined to stop them, but more than anything, she wanted these loathsome flies to feel [i]fear,[/i] like she had.

[color=slateblue]"Te-KKHHNOHHLllogghhyy..."[/color] the girl choked out, struggling to speak. [color=slateblue]"Yhourrr... GOD. WE KILLED... YOUR GOD. Khahaa... haa, haa..."[/color] she wheezed, laughing.

Orvil couldn't get a word it before the shooting began. He was avoided, for the most part. Not that it reassured him or stopped the veteran from jumping onto Rurin for an old-fashioned brawl. His initial punch being strong enough to knock her helmet clean off. They went at it while the other Hegelans watched semi-helplessly - what to do when two superiors went at it? Like children hiding while mommy and daddy fought. 

Kaureerah's show of anger did not go without a plethora of reactions. None knew what to do and, as the poor rookie succumbed to the demand and pulled the trigger, the lack of shot had the short youth stumble on his back. Some grew fearful like the boy, some were only hardened in their goal to burn away this rot they had allowed to spread. Some, however, were very hesitant. One of them was Maiv, the clear non-combatant that had taken a de-facto leader role. She was trembling with a device on her hand that wasn't holding the imagery pad. A remote of sorts, but she didn't bring herself to press any buttons.

The schism between Seviin's and Xiuyang's words only brought more discord among the people and their feelings. All the while the two veterans were punching each other bloody. 

Maiv was about to say something, when ...

[color=8B008B]“I'm with creepy salami here.”[/color] echoed Juulet's voice. And then suddenly, she appeared behind Maiv, spear by her neck and palm on the hair cheek. [color=8B008B]“Sorry girl, nothing personal.”[/color]

Maiv was having a panic attack. Everything was a mess. No enforcer knew what to do.

[color=#b0a158]“A God, you said?”[/color] a voice echoed just like Juulet's had. A familiar one. Without the static and filter, it would not come immediately to most that it was the box's voice. [color=#b0a158]“Lady Solari, these people wanted nothing more than to slay their God. That is why they made that ... Thing, in the image of one.”[/color]

Juulet turned her head, noticing the voice came from behind her. She stepped aside to give a better view to the others. [color=8B008B]“Huh, you're not the gun girl. Or the bloodsucker.”[/color] she remarked nonchalantly.

With Leon in tow arrived the Exemplar of Nature and Human Creation. Xiuyang and Kaureerah had seen this man before. He wore a plain smile and approached with a regular gait. [color=#b0a158]“No, I am not. But we have been working together for some time now. It is a pleasure to meet you all.”[/color]

The brawl stopped, all Hegelan eyes were on that man. Orvil began to breathe heavily. He spoke something addressed to Maiv, hushed but audible to most. He repeated it multiple times like he was coaxing her to act.

[color=#b0a158]“I, for one, agree that hostilities should cease at once.”[/color]

The Revidian briefly turned to observe the arrival of the Exemplar and coughed out a singular laugh at the notion of killing an actual god with an idol like technology. [color=slateblue]"THISSsss... is YOUR fault,"[/color] Xiuyang seethed, eyes wide with fury as she assessed Maiv and Rurin in turn. One of her tendrils gingerly lifted what remained of Yvain off of the ground, hoisting his body for all to see—like a master showing a broken piece of china to a disobedient dog.

She turned to regard the Exemplar once more, recognition in her gaze in lieu of an apologetic look for her rudeness before. [color=slateblue]"He, diessss... they, die,"[/color] she proposed simply. She wished it could be a threat, but she had felt it too, that strange sensation from the Trials that meant they were temporally anchored. This man held all of the cards, and she could only make an appeal for justice. Leon had been right about Yvain. He was the bravest soul among them and did not deserve this fate.

Leon returned to the others finding blood, death, and chaos. Seviin and Kaureerah were badly injured, Xiuyang had morphed into a nightmarish amalgam built of flesh upon flesh, and once again he was thrust into a fight for the fate of a close friend that the hegelans were insistent on wrenching away. Searching the area his eyes landed on Maiv and when they did, they did not leave her. A cold, piercing stare of grim intent that few had seen from the performer. 

This woman was not evil, a mess of anxiety and worry that culminated in rash decisions. But those rash decisions stood to kill those he cared for and hesitation by using words seemed only good for prolonging that danger and allowing it to fester. His insistence to let her live almost cost him Yvain and Kaureerah.

[color=8B008B][i]You gotta be prepared for the fact that these fuckos didn't do this for shits 'n' giggles.

You gotta be prepared to snuff out the threats and rivals no matter how justified they are. Just don't start acting like you're suddenly above 'em.[/i][/color]

She was right. He wasn't above them. Maybe one day he could be strong enough to live up to the lie he painted himself as; he wouldn't have to choose one evil over another. But for the time being, prolonging one life meant the destruction of another and it wasn't going to be Yvain who paid that price.

[colour=fff200]"It seems we're in some trouble, Cojones. If you don't think you can handle them yourself, then release me. You still have those pods in those I love, it's enough leverage."[/colour]

Don Cojones, or known by a couple of the survivors as Hu He, squinted to better assess the presented Yvain. [color=#b0a158]“Ah, I see. Are they the authors of his condition?”[/color] he gestured calmly to the Hegelans, to which Orvil was quick to deny it. [color=#747d7c]“He fought for all of us, gave his body like a hero.”[/color] to which the Rettanese interloper raised his chin too and released another 'Ah'.

Orvil wasn't finished. Producing some sort of gun-shaped device from the satchels of one of his men, he brought the item over to the waved Yvain. He trained it at the battered Perrenchman and received an unpleasant, high-pitched sound. This caused the old Hegelan to flinch and gulp.

[color=#b0a158]“Terminal. I figured as much.”[/color] a disappointed Don Cojones shook his head. [color=#b0a158]“I'm afraid we might be looking at a massacre.”[/color]

[color=#b481c7]“This wasn't our doing.”[/color] the meek Maiv spoke up. [color=#b481c7]“Tavin could fix him, if ...”[/color]

[color=8B008B]“Yeah, well, guy's deadzo. And it wasn't ME, eff-why-eye.”[/color] Juulet complained, with the last bit being particularly rough to translate.

The Rettanese raised his hand to calm the situation. [color=#b0a158]“Now, now, first and foremost I must re-iterate that the seeds to not go until our last objective is complete. That is the deal.”[/color] he stated just as calmly, hands clasping together with a business-like demeanour.

[color=8B008B]“Okay, what is it, guy?”[/color] Juulet quizzed, her grip on Maiv faltered as she salivated at the notion of being whole again.

[color=#b0a158]“Our final objective is the shutting down of the core and-”[/color]

Orvil drew his weapon while Maiv swiftly pointed her remote control and clicked.

Three ghosts manifested, all around the mysterious man the young Hegelan head technician had targeted. In an instant, they enveloped Don Cojones in a surge of electricity. The man stood paralyzed, muscles contracted and body steaming from the immense heat. What he had said did not sit well with these people.

[color=#747d7c]“No. Never again ...”[/color] Orvil muttered. And then his eyes widened as he was what became of the intruder. The First Founder.

The transition from his human-friendly form to his real form was seamless, hardly taking a couple of seconds, like the veil had just instantly dropped. Out from the deceptive, human shell was not a man, but a long, coiled up figure that surpassed even Seviin's height, and would do so by a considerable amount if unwrapped. He still wore his ornate clothes, but they only covered the upper 'torse' where his long, repitilian hands grew out. The face of what looked to be 70% snake and 30% human came to be, yellow eyes matching a similar ratio. Bronze was the dominant color of his scales with yellow spot-like patterns and dark outlines. Orvil recognized him immediately.

This Sirrahi seemed mildly inconvenienced at best.

[color=#b0a158]“... As I was ssssaying.”[/color] he cleared his throat. [color=#b0a158]“Goodness, bad habit. Ahem, we can still dedicate some time to helping Lord De Berbignon before we proceed.”[/color] he smiled - as much as a snake could smile, anyway.

In his palm was a cube-shaped device that glowed like the terminal Xiuyang and Juulet had broken. By the hole in the wall to the right, this serpentine being had likely ripped it out in the middle of the assault. 

[color=#b0a158]“Thoughts?”[/color] his tongue flicked out, another bad habit.

[color=slateblue]"Yes..."[/color] Xiuyang concurred with Orvil, her speech slowly becoming less labored. [color=slateblue]"He fought. They watched. Now they frame, us,"[/color] she accused. Then, however—and almost immediately—her eyes widened. [color=slateblue]"No. Not them,"[/color] she decided. [color=slateblue]"Tarlon, schemer. Shot Seviin. Set us, up. Find, her—she is, your, murderer,"[/color] she said to Orvil and Rurin. With equal urgency, she turned back to the Exemplar. [color=slateblue]"Please help, him. Only, you... can."[/color]

Visions through Yvain's struggling mind. A family painting with what seemed to be himself, but he looked older. The other faces were blurred and hard to make any features out, but as he was about to grasp for it, it faded. A seat most ornate, vacant. silhouettes of friends and family, their features hard to make out. Some of them were more recognizable than others, but once again, the moment his presence closed in on them. . . they faded. 

Then everything turned pitch dark again, but what followed was-

Pain.

His entire body hurt, but there was also a strange feeling beyond it. Akin to feeling sick, but not an actual sickness.

Eyes began to dawn upon the very much changed world. His ears still rang as they began to slowly pick up their hearing again. The lady who seemed ever so accommodating and nice was now sporadic and twitchy from what it seemed. There was a snake thing, and everyone seemingly on edge.

The very air brushed along his frame hurt him, had he taken too long against the beast? He was not grounded which made the assessment of his situation rather hard, but out of habit, he lifted his arms to his face, but only one hand came into his vision. That was strange, he felt them both go up. Shaking in the embrace of the tendril, the Perrenchman slowly tilted his head towards his left arm and to give credit to his own grim thoughts, it was no longer there. 

It made him want to scream, it made him want to question. . .

But either due to shock or confusion, he could not utter anything from his dry throat.

Seviin's face was unreadable. Yvain was coming to in a ruined body. She had failed him. She picked at the cuticles of her fingernails in anxiety and avoided his eyes before events in the chamber forced her attention. The seeds were a means of controlling them, it now became clear: more than just a defence against the Forge's unholy and unnatural magics. She had not taken hers, however, and, at some point, when her first set of clothes had shredded, she supposed she had lost it. There lay, within the girl, the impulse to speak out immediately, and she started to open her mouth to do so. 

Then, she stopped. If this... snake-man wanted to shut down the core and the hegelans were so firmly against it, there was no realistic way that they could work with both. He also appeared magically powerful enough that she doubted she could overcome him and... Her heart thudded and she swallowed. She could not break her oath. 

Instead, like a coward, Seviin settled for decrying Pluurii, who she now knew, beyond a doubt, had shot her during the fight against the headless monster. [color=F0FFF0]"It is true,"[/color] the tyro priestess squeaked, and her voice seemed not that of a commanding woman, but a callow girl, to her. Nonetheless, she continued: [color=F0FFF0]"She is an agent of Tarlon and my purpose, here, is not only to protect my friends and allies - "[/color] She had the good sense not to name them verbatim, for she had learned that the world was full of people who would use her emotional attachments against her. [color=F0FFF0]"But to prevent her from acting."[/color]

Seviin shook her head. [color=F0FFF0]"I do not know the full of it, but I know that, if the Abyssal Forge is shut off, something calamitous will happen: something that plays into the vile hands of Esuul and Cascal, and..."[/color] Her eyes flicked about for a moment. [color=F0FFF0][i]Possibly others with nefarious goals.[/i][/color] The pause was barely noticeable. [color=F0FFF0]"That is bad for all of us."[/color] She addressed the snake man. [color=F0FFF0]"You do not strike me as an agent of theirs."[/color]

Kaureerah, following her earlier use of magic, had been silent. The voice behind the box had arrived and it was clear that they had been pitted against the hegelans. What was also becoming apparent was that, by the way that they interacted, he and Leon had been working together, as she'd suspected at the start, way back when she'd first awoken to a conversation she wasn't supposed to have heard.

Dull acceptance of the fact that she was a bug - perhaps a butterfly - to be either stepped on or protected, that she was a tool, that people just kept doing bad things for selfish reasons: it had taken root in her after the fiasco on Moatu Suva. She had, at times, embraced it, accepted it, fought against it, and bitterly sniped at it, holding herself aloof and unaffected.

The 'seed' in her. She snorted. What if it was just a seed? A glasslily or sunflower seed? Delicious, nutritious, idly consumed on a rezain afternoon as she sat on the intertidal rocks, basking in the sun. Wouldn't that be nicer? How she longed for that to be the norm! Didn't everyone else here, on some level - or at least their own version of that - or were they all too far lost to the pursuit of power and agenda. She'd gotten pulled into causes a few times, she would admit. [color=deb887][i]A sunflower seed,[/i][/color] she thought. [color=deb887][i]Yes, only that.[/i][/color]

Yvain looked like a deadhead and sounded like one too, Seviin was giving speeches again (at least [i]someone[/i] hadn't changed much), Xiuyang was some kind of undead bandage octopus, Juulet was... [i]denying[/i] murdering people, Yuli was just about to slip towards death somewhere, and Leon was busy trying to have his cake and eat it too (alright, maybe [i]two[/i] people hadn't changed much). It sucked. 

[color=deb887]"Oh,"[/color] Kaureerah piped up, her tone conversational in contrast to everything else, [color=deb887]"what will these seeds do to us, mister friend and ally?"[/color]

The ghosts surrounding the snake man remained still. Ever since that cube was held in his hand they had remained completely docile. The piece of machinery disassembled itself into every individual piece, down to the most minuscule of nuts, and reformed after a brief observation by the serpentine interloper. There was the faintest hint of magic use.

[color=#b0a158]“Hold this for me, please.”[/color] the cube was tossed over to Leon and the specters had since then vanished. Hu He then slithered closer to Maiv, still held hostage by Juulet. Just as he took a breath to speak, he was interrupted.

[color=8B008B]“Hey, yeah,”[/color] Maiv was pushed aside with much force so that Juulet could wave her spear at the snake's general direction while staying supported by her crutch. [color=8B008B]“what gives? I'm not shutting this shit down, I came here FOR this place. And it's gotta work.”[/color]

The Sirrahi inhaled, hands clasped together and resting right before his reptilian mouth-slit. Still, he couldn't talk. [color=8B008B]“That sniper bitch, though! Why don'tcha just end her like you threatened at the start, huh?!”[/color] the snake inhaled deeply while a not-so-well Yasoi ranted about. Since he had time to spare, he raised his hand and counted all the non-Hegelans with his pointer finger.

Without any further interruptions, he finally spoke. [color=#b0a158]“Okay.”[/color] a pause, to see if anything else would come up. [color=#b0a158]“You are indeed correct, Priestess Taxoiya. Emperor Cascal and-”[/color] another pause, this time with a slight creasing of his facial features. Was it joy? Frustration? Something else entirely? It was hard to tell with such a distinct species. [color=#b0a158]“Empress Esuul. My Goodness how far we've gone.”[/color] he shook his head and centered the discussion again. [color=#b0a158]“They most certainly want this core turned of. As do some other benefactors that have sent you here.”[/color] 

Serpentine eyes grew grim as she regarded the group, and his tone matched his disposition. [color=#b0a158]“As do I. And, you are correct, priestess. Great change will occur. Great change engenders immense turmoil just as it can usher in abundant progress and good.”[/color] his clasped hands lowered until they were knitted over his linen-clad chest. [color=#b0a158]“Regardless of our actions, they will get what they want. The destruction you have wrought, the death of their guardian-kidnapper, and the termination of their defenses have insured the opening of the floodgates, my friends.”[/color] there was hardly any shift in his intonation, the picture of serenity.

Now, Kaureerah's concern. A simple question with venomous adjuncts. Hu He merely smiled - as much as a snake could. [color=#b0a158]“To ensure compliance. Experience has taught me that without a deterrent, betrayal runs rampant when glory and riches the Abyssal Forge's prestige are in play. And even now, the unknown intentions some of you may have could cause quite the mutiny.”[/color] his eyes narrowed onto the songstress, veering slightly downwards as if he could see something hand changed in her body. However, he did not seem concerned over it.

[color=#b0a158]“Now, then, feel free to make of you will of these henchmen.”[/color] he gestured at the general direction of the Hegelans. [color=#b0a158]“I've yet to show my good intentions by helping this one,”[/color] he continued his approach, eyes trained on the fallen Yvain. [color=#b0a158]“and the Tarlonese should be shutting the reactor any minute now.”[/color]

The tendrils bristled and backed away from the Sirrahi, carrying Yvain with them. Xiuyang's eyes widened and her mouth emitted a guttural hiss. By the look on her face, she seemed surprised by her own behavior. [color=slateblue]"Wait. Don't, come... close."[/color] Xiuyang's neck twitched as she tried to shake her head. Chemicals of fear coursed through her veins and for a moment, she couldn't understand why, but then she realized it. The orphans tugging at her robe were scared of this man. In fact, he was the only thing they feared.

Leon looked away from Maiv, seeing little threat in the absently standing hegelans. Unlike earlier though, a sense of guilt did not wash over him for his hidden intent. He had firmly made his decision and their pacification only present a lack of need to act on it.

Then he furrowed his brow at the mention of the bandage lady shutting off the core. [colour=fff200]"Shutting down the core now? I'm all for kicking down the ladder, but only after we have climbed it otherwise all of this has been for nothing. How do we get her to hold off on it?"[/colour]

The snake man seemed to close in on the Perrenchman. His hearing still wasn't the best, but he understood the most of it. [color=00e600]"Help? . . . "[/color] His vocal chords still slightly strained. [color=00e600]"How will. . . you help? . ."[/color] Was there any helping him? 

Yvain was at everyone's mercy. It took a lot of strength to focus on anything with the pain and exhaustion mixed together. He just wanted to close his eyes and rest, but he had to help, it was his duty as one of the strong. Just like Paradigm Hunghorasz did for his many years.

The Sirrahi stopped when requested. His serpentine gaze seemed taken by the writhing extensions. [color=#b0a158]“These are akin to the suits. But-”[/color] his eyes narrowed as he leered at the feral Xiuyang. [color=#b0a158]“They have bonded with you. That would explain the behaviour. Interesting.”[/color] he tapped his chin with his long pointer finger claw. [color=#b0a158]“Naturally, they've made them with a particular hate for me. I'm sure we can remedy this.”[/color]

[color=#747d7c]“I implore you all to reconsider.”[/color] In the meantime, it was Orvil that interjected on behalf of the Hegelans. Most were too afraid to take a shot after the surreal missing sequence they had just experienced, and the helplessness of the Ghosts toward the snake. [color=#747d7c]“A long time ago, the Forge was shut off by the meddling of foreigners, and with it came the complete ruin of Halge Larchlon.”[/color] he pointed up. [color=#747d7c]“The dead city. We cannot let this happen again. Please.”[/color]

Hu He hissed his tongue. [color=#b0a158]“Your city is gone. And, one way or another, the core will reawaken. You should know this.”[/color] there was the lightest twinge on venom in his voice as he leaned his figure forward, getting a better look at the elderly Hegelan. [color=#b0a158]“And besides, living as troglodytes have made you - and pardon my Xochi - moral degenerates.”[/color]

[color=#747d7c]“I know we are harsh, but it's YOU-”[/color] Orvil pointed accusingly at Hu He. [color=#747d7c]“You are such a horrible monster that we've had to become monsters to stop you! For the sake of US and the WORLD!”[/color] yelled the old man, almost coming off as deranged to some of his colleagues. Meanwhile, the snake remained calm.

[color=8B008B]“Hey, guys, uhm,”[/color] Juulet interjected, waving her spear around and nearly poking the Sirrahi in the meantime. He easily shuffled to the side and shot her a look. [color=8B008B]“I hate to say this but I really don't give a fuck. Be degens all you want, I want this FORGE INTACT!”[/color] it was her turn to yell petulantly. [color=8B008B]“Oh and,”[/color] she gestured toward the dying Perrenchman. [color=8B008B]“He needs help.”[/color]

Deep breaths, the snake really needed special gloves for this one. [color=#b0a158]“Yes.”[/color] he peered at Yvain who had asked about his near future. [color=#b0a158]“I am familiar with the sort of technology that may be your only chance.”[/color] then he addressed Juulet. [color=#b0a158]“It will be turned back on.”[/color] his glare was intense. [color=#b0a158]“And you may keep any spoils you wish afterward.”[/color]

Finally, Hu He twisted to address Leon. [color=#b0a158]“The emergency shut-down should be North of here. Second floor. If you wish to intercept her ...”[/color] he shrugged before snapping his fingers to unleash a weak jolt onto the wall's wiring. The floor lights turned lemon yellow and illuminated a path. [color=#b0a158]“I'd get to it now.”[/color]

[color=slateblue]"Help him, first. Please,"[/color] Xiuyang replied to the Sirrahi's proposition, keeping her distance. She did not fully trust him, and if he was capable of overriding their instincts by modifying them, he was capable of turning her into his instrument. [color=slateblue]"I can feel them pulling, but I—can—resist."[/color] It shouldn't have been possible. The Hegelan-made suit should have been controlling her, but the fact that she had yet to attack the Exemplar told the macabre craftsmen the truth of it.

Gingerly, she handed Yvain over to Seviin. [color=slateblue]"I will, go. Settle the score, with—our enemy."[/color] Speech became laborious once more as Xiuyang and the Exemplar circled around the space afforded to them by the Hegelans like two predators passing one another in a narrow trail. It helped that Xiuyang and the coils were both eager to take their leave of him. Her neck rolled as she turned as if it were beckoning Leon and Juulet to follow.

The further she strayed from the snake, the more feeling seemed to return to her—or perhaps it was simply because time had passed. In a few moments, she could move her neck and shoulders around, and cause her fingers to twitch. She could feel the sensation of her blood returning to these old pathways—limbs that now felt entirely redundant for locomotion, but still she gravitated toward them for something like the act of holding a friend like Kaureerah. So, a part of her still seemed to know and cherish the feeling of being human. Still, recovering their use felt difficult, as if it took practice—like someone trying to employ the nigh-useless muscles required to move the ears for the first time.

Fortunately, the tendrils were doing all of the walking, and despite the dead weight they were carrying, they were quite a bit faster than any human either of her companions had ever seen before.

Leon nodded to Xiuyang and was about to pivot and pursue the path Hu He had laid out when a niggling detail caught him. [colour=fff200]"What do you mean it will be turned back on?"[/colour] He spoke with a growing accusation in his tone. [colour=fff200]"What is the point in turning it off only to turn it back on later?"[/colour] 

He wanted to shut down the Forge for good while the snake and bandage woman wanted to turn it off in a restartable state for.. some reason. It was just as likely he set himself back by acting as he would make progress while he lay so far in the dark. Especially since he had no reason to believe that the snake's directions were truthful either. It seemed those two had been playing a game of chess that only got revealed once they had the winning move; half the board was still covered to him. The snake appeared to be the only one capable of giving them substantial reward for this hell trip, that could be done after it was turned back on. Would it not be better to stay with Yvain and let those event come to pass?

Hu He blessed Xiuyang's decision and resolve with a nod of approval. With Maiv having lost her composure and Rurin recovering from Orvil's pummeling, the Hegelans made timid by Kaureerah stepped aside. If anything, the foreigners could be the ones to rid them of a genuine threat.

Then came Leon's inquiry. The Sirrahi canted his head slightly with a brow raised. [color=#b0a158]“Lest the core is destroyed, the mechanisms at play will ALWAYS reawaken it, one way or another.”[/color] he stated somewhat ominously. [color=#b0a158]“I intend to take some from that core - a fragment, if you will. The Tarlonese, on the other hand, is only interested in said mechanism.”[/color] with that, he smiled. [color=#b0a158]“I trust you will all make the right decision.”[/color]

An impatient Juulet huffed and flapped her lips. [color=8B008B]“Mmkay, I'm coming with. That gun of her's is probably working now.”[/color] she whined while implying they'd likely fail without her. The Yasoi, now undergoing withdrawal, made a display of her increasingly irregular gait with needing to recover from her bad hops every few seconds with a mild spatial manipulation. 

Orvil shot a final, challenging glance at Rurin before turning toward Xiuyang. [color=#747d7c]“I've lived all my life with these machines. And I trust in those I fought with.”[/color] he stepped forward, unafraid of the volatile tendrils. [color=#747d7c]“And as imperfect as our Director was, she deserves justice too.”[/color]

The snake man seemed completely indifferent to Orvil implication of potentially interfering. He was already focused on the next task. Yvain's body was lifted in the air via an unseen kinetic force. [color=#b0a158]“Ah, yes, I'll need you too.”[/color] his long pointer finger claw was trained toward Maiv, focing her off her feet into the air, just like Yvain. Naturally, her panicked state would only get worse with the occasional struggle. [color=#b0a158]“Will any of you demoiselles be coming?”[/color] asked the serpent to the Eeaiko and the remaining Yasoi in a charming and almost mellifluous voice.

[colour=fff200]"And how long would that reawakening take? Many of us came here to use it after all."[/colour] Asked Leon, still very much in the dark about what was going on or where he should go.

The Sirrahi shrugged. [color=#b0a158]“If I had to guess ...”[/color] he pondered for a minute, mouthing some words while rolling his eyes up. The serpentine membrane occasionally clouded his eyes. [color=#b0a158]“Between ten minutes and an hour? It's not an exact science. It'd be faster if we manually reactive it, but that also depends on the state of the core itself. It is quite old.”[/color]

The snake made it sound so simple, like this whole process was a calm Victendes day's work. But nothing in this place had been simple or without hidden danger. What the hegelan's said earlier was dismissed as more rambling of those below his respect, but now it held more weight in his mind. Leon pressed further. [colour=fff200]"The hegelans said shutting this thing off destroyed this place. They were telling the truth weren't they? What happens if it turns off now?"[/colour] It was not just a question for Hu He but also the cooperative Orvil to weigh in on.

The Sirrahi shrugged. [color=#b0a158]“They are not wrong.”[/color] her uttered the half answer with a voice that sought to mitigate. [color=#b0a158]“All will surely die should said mechanism resolve itself. Should you reawaken the core before it enters full effect, however, the Forge and her people should survive.”[/color]

Xiuyang delayed her departure just enough to allow for a brief conversation with the Hegelan. [color=slateblue]"You are, brave. Not like... them."[/color] The corner of her mouth twitched upwards in approval. [color=slateblue]"When this, is over, you, should... leave, this place. They will, punish, you... all the more, for... the ones that... got, away."[/color]

Orvil shook his head. [color=#747d7c]“Most are young and scared. Most have never been outside.”[/color] the veteran glared at the snake, but opted to not say anything more - that thing may be his enemy, but he also laid bare the truth, why would he interrupt that? [color=#747d7c]“Most of our people are outside, on ships. But with the Director incident and the Founder's threat, we had to limit contact. And protect ourselves.”[/color]

Xiuyang did not reply, instead turning to leave. She did, however, appear to consider his words. She had heard whispers of the advanced ship that appeared at Kiluaho, its true contents a mystery to all but those who were there. So, these Hegelans were not alone, and would soon have the possibility of calling for backup. Perhaps they already had, and were only playing helpless for now.

Time was of the essence, and her actions here could not implicate Revidia in an act of war against the denizens of Halge Larchelon. She had maintained her innocence convincingly enough so far—perhaps because she wasn't lying, precisely—and if she lent her aid to stopping Pluurii, her plan to frame them for the murders of the director and her husband would backfire [i]perfectly.[/i]

The yasoi's actions were convenient, indeed.

Against all the hell he had been through, Leon had a small laugh at the snake's reply. How casually he had remarked on their deaths should the forge be turned off. There was no denial of the hegelans claim, in fact, he boldly confirmed it with no shame. A regular Victendes work day and all is dead quiet in the nearest fifty kilometers. The snake wasn't even aware that he had delivered the punchline for an all too grim joke.

[colour=fff200][i]Juulet considers this man an ally.[/i][/colour]

There wasn't the time to process that concern; stopping Pluuri was the top priority. Her turning off the forge meant the death of everyone else and he doubted the Tarlonese favoured reawakening the core when she could simply teleport away leaving her enemies to die in the aftermath.

[colour=fff200]"Well if its a choice between life and death then I suppose the path is already clear."[/colour] He concluded with Hu He before turning to Juulet and Xiuyang. [colour=fff200]"Shut down or not, I'm not letting the bandaged woman decide for us."[/colour]

As he turned to leave, the performer paid a last passing glance at the injured Yvain and wondered if he really needed to go. Could he trust Xiuyang and Juulet to conclude this themselves? The cosmic coincidences once again pulled him away from those he cared about to thrust him into something greater. It always been this way, but maybe only within the last year had he felt the need to ever look back. 

Outside his vigil, with his head turned away, it seemed the world was intent on delivering misfortune and pain to those he cared about. Kaureerah in Kiluaho, Yuli in the waters, Yvain put to the furnace, the scars are all too lasting and outside the abilities of a healer like Seviin to treat. A hesitation in Leon built telling him not to look away, not to leave them in the trust of a world who had broken it so many times. But he needed to go, it was for a greater good, it was for them. He kept telling himself that as he turned and walked one foot after the other away.

The lit path came with multiple corpses serving as minuscule obstacles to the implacable will of the group that separated from the main fold. Or rather, given their numbers, were essentially the main fold at this point. Xiuyang, Leon, Orvil and the crutching Juulet were rushing to the seldom used core control room, distinct from the Forge's general control center - some would call it redundant design, but perhaps the less they touched anything to do with the core, the safer they were. 

The closer they got, the more they'd find lines of corpses, Hegelan and prisoners alike, with perfect - and still steaming - holes onto their bodies. Some of the bodies were stacked with perforations that seemed to perfectly line up with one another. A telltale sign Pluurii had been here. They were close.

A door left slightly ajar provided a glimpse into the control room just a floor above where they had started. Inside was the Tarlonese, having just finished inserting the severed hand of Tavin onto a scanner. A progress bar was the main thing stifling the huntress from getting the job any quicker, leading the group to find the bandaged up sniper with her hand on her hip in the most idle of poses. To the left was Zuri, barely alive with a large, bleeding wound on her chest. She could hardly speak, let alone move. 

Pluurii hadn't noticed anything yet. Her focus on making the thing work faster via intelligible mumbles and lightly smacking the corner of the screen briefly distracted her from her surroundings.

Leon walked passed body after body lining a trail to follow the bandaged woman. She had seemed so nice at the fountain but even then something off dwelled beneath her words. This was the monster masked behind pale pleasantries, or rather she was a loyal attack dog of the Tarlonese than any senseless malicious entity. Was it the destiny of all promising mages to serve their country in the slaughter of those less talented than them? Were those conscripted from Ersand'Enise expected to leave trail of similar size? One thing was certain, he was getting all too familiar to the sight than he would like.

He saw the woman occupied readily with the filling bar on the electric screen with an all too casual demeanor for such bloodied hands. A surprise attack was in order and naturally the performer's eyes drifted to the tentacled amalgamation that somehow retained the name Xiuyang. If had anything that was going to be surprising, it was her.

Xiuyang advanced past the trail of bodies as if it weren't there. Gone was the timid healer who coped with stress by joking around. She was out for blood, and when she stopped at the door left ajar, it was not to ask for permission. She was a viper waiting to strike, watching and absorbing the information that she could.

A progress bar was an unfamiliar sight, but an intuitive concept now. The Hegelans activated the devices, and they spat out information. The bar meant something, and it was probably an indicator that time was running out. It took a moment for her to realize that Leon was looking at her to take the initiative. She returned his gaze as if she were confused. The idea that she should take point was alien to her.

It felt good, though, and after a moment, she hatched a plan. First, she would heal the Hegelan. If she served as a distraction, that was a good time to strike. If she survived to fight alongside them, even better.

Orvil's blood boiled. As imperfect as Zuri was, to have her in agony like this was unacceptable and set his mind away from the fact that she was actually alive in spite of what Maiv had shown. He stepped into the room while Xiuyang went about to heal her, his gatling gun trained at the Tarlonese with her back turned. 

Pluurii peered behind her, still mumbling. And in this decisive moment, the Hegelan did not attack. And with the same level of hastiness as the man who could not shoot, she turned to confront him. There wasn't some smug smile or a death stare. It was the same pair of wide, almost innocent eyes with her dried lips pursed as if she was more curious than anything. 

[color=#10401d]“Big-”[/color] just as she audibly spoke, her fellow Vyshta candidate materialized to her ride, spear tip pressed to her neck. [color=#10401d]“Crowd.”[/color] she raised her hands, one of which was still holding Tavin's severed limb. 

[color=8B008B]“All the audience you need is right here, bitch.”[/color] Juulet sassily retorted without holding back on the smugness. [color=8B008B]“How do we stop the thing?”[/color]

The white haired Yasoi shrugged. [color=#10401d]“No clue, ask her.”[/color] she up-nodded toward the progressively restored Director.

[color=8B008B]“Kinda done following their lead. Shut this thing off.”[/color] demanded the Mad Avatar.

Zuri was regaining full consciousness. Once she could breathe properly and expel the rest of the blood in her throat mixed with phlegm, she yelled something in her native tongue.

[color=#747d7c]“Don't damage the machine!”[/color] Orvil's translator picked up with a delay.

In that moment, the Tarlonese assassin tapped the floor with her fake leg, causing a flashbang to pop point-blank onto Juulet's face and the entire room. It was enough to have the killer slither out of her bind and take aim. 

Two killer shots. One at Orvil, one at the pretty boy. She frowned when her sights found the second one.

It was all a blur when dealing with a ruthlessly efficient assassin as Pluuri. Leon managed to guard his eyes from her surprise flashbang but the gun was aimed and her second shot was destined for him. He tried to make an illusory copy of himself to confuse her, it didn't work, she already had a lock on him. But he did take note of something, a frown as she was forced to attack him. Did she have a soft spot?

Instead, Leon decided to use his illusions offensively, a copy of himself tenderly in front of her with eyes urging her to put down the gun. After all, this copy cared for her so very, very deeply. Even if it didn't strike her heart, at least it covered her eyes.

As Pluurii leveled her rifle at Orvil, Xiuyang instinctively snatched him by the collar just as she had done with Seviin and Yvain. [color=slateblue]"Watch it. You can't block those shots."[/color] The words came out easily and decisively as she struck at Pluurii with blood magic. [color=slateblue]"End of the line,"[/color] she declared coolly, aiming for the hand that pulled the trigger on Seviin, and the arm of the girl that felt nothing but recoil at having done so.

Pluurii canted her head, curious as to what Leon was even trying. Did he have a death wish? Did he think staring would do anything here? Fortunately, upon resolving her shots, one of which struck true on Orvil's lower abdomen and barely missed an artery, her gun began to steam and the metal tube for a cannon was incandescent. 

Sights were adjusted and repositioning behind a metal beam was her priority. But before she could find shelter, one of Xiuyang's self-directing appendages had coiled around Pluurii's good arm, keen on destroying her the same way that headless thing had done to many others. [color=#10401d]“Woah.”[/color] the sniper hardly seemed flabbergasted. And soon the appendage became as cool as she was - literally. Frost quickly spread  through the tentacle and toward the host. 

Juulet did not sit around to find out, as bad as her migraine had become from the flash she wasn't going to let a bargain bin Avatar get the best of her. With a snap of her fingers, she caused the air around the freezing appendage to ignite in a small explosion, spreading right up to the sniper herself. [color=8B008B]“Get her, quick!”[/color] she yelled out.

It was Orvil's cue to act. He barely kept it together, but he had just enough to unload the last batch of bullets he had left. But instead of aiming for the menace, her focused fire on the tentacle that was rapidly turning to frost, until he could sever it. 

The endeavour was enough to break Xiuyang loose of the compromised tentacle, and eventually leading to the string of fiery explosions to hit Pluurii. Her entire right side, arm, hip, shoulder and face had the bandages burned off and light was shined upon the decaying flesh creature hidden beneath. The skin was dry and blistered, both from the burns and from the conditions. Muscle was visible on various spots, most notably the cheek and bicep. A gory display to say the least, and with these bandages also went the wide-eyed look of the sniper, her maw agape in the midst of an intense pain-induced pant.

The velocity of the bouning bullet meant that dodging was just as likely to move Leon into the bullet's path as it were to avoid it. Instead, he focused to stop it. And yet, even with the noted presence of Juulet's help, he only managed to deflect it. It tore at the top of his right shoulder in place of exploding his brains. He reeled from the pain and reflexively brought his hand up over the wound. However, as he looked back, the sniper was in a worse state than he was. Some wounds were fresh, some she had been carrying her whole life. It almost made him feel bad for her.

The bandaged woman was a dangerous woman, far too dangerous to be left to her devices. And yet, he had not the stomach to see her writhing in pain like this. [colour=fff200]"Is this really worth dying for? The vision of another who cares so little for you?"[/colour] He pleaded with her.

And yet, he wasn't going to repeat the same mistake he had with Maiv. Pluuri had been subjected to intense heat with Juulet's explosion but flesh ripping fire wasn't the only way of delivering this. Leon used the purest form of arcane, no flame, no destruction, just the focusing enough intense heat into the sniper's body to have her lose conciousness.

A clash of wills went unseen to all except Leon and Pluurii, with the latter barely scraping by with an accelerated metabolism and a dulling of her pain. She hid behind the beam of metal once more.

[color=#10401d]“Hah!”[/color] she laughed in a high pitched voice. [color=#10401d]“Care. Have you seen my face, dear?”[/color] said the woman with the skinless face. [color=#10401d]“I have a job. I do it. What is it worth? Well,”[/color] the Yasoi bit her lip before uttering the next part. [color=#10401d]“Flip a coin. I call heads. If I get it right, I blow this whoooole place up, mkay? Leave it up to the Gods if it shuts this down or not.”[/color]

Juulet, on the other hand, scoffed. [color=8B008B]“And they call me mad-”[/color] she fell to her own knee. A very specific point in her head had begun to ache more than anything she had ever felt before. [color=8B008B]“EEEEEAAAARRRRGGGG!”[/color] she roared before banging head her into the machinery by her. 

During the whole debacle, a loud [b]ding[/b] announced the completion of the progress bar. With both terminals validated, the first having been handled by Pluurii through Zuri's own hand, the latter rushed over to the single switch that lit up between the two touch screens. [color=#747d7c]“Cover me! I'll stop the shut down once and for all!”[/color] said the Director through Orvil's translator.

Xiuyang groaned, as though she only half-felt the damage to her new appendage. Still, she was furious. With her three remaining tendrils, she staggered over to Pluurii and loomed over her. [color=slateblue]"You must've liked your six-out-of-seven odds of survival, huh? But even if I can't kill you here, I can always remove a few more limbs to soften you up for next time! Back-stabbing [i]taca!"[/i][/color]

Two tendrils supported Xiuyang while the third struck at her preferred arm, pinning her down. Again, Pluurii resisted, but she was slowly losing ground. [color=slateblue][i]I hope this one isn't useful to you, Tyrel.[/i][/color]

[colour=fff200]"Flip a coin, is that how you feel like you have some control over it?"[/colour] Leon pried into Pluuri both with genuine intention and with the goal of distracting her from Zuri. [colour=fff200]"But you don't decide where that coin lands nor will chance. It is an uncaring Empress who decides what face is shown, and your decision to die on her command. Give it up."[/colour]

He hit her with another heat wave of pacification.

[color=#10401d]“Control.”[/color] it was Pluurii's turn to scoff. [color=#10401d]“No such thing.”[/color] she was about to turn to shoot down the Hegelan wobbling her way to the machine, but Xiuyang intercepted.

For a moment, gazes met as did wills. One that had lost control yet found a means to regain it, while the other had long since forsaken such notions. Order, even if shattered, versus chaos. They went tit for tat, with the appendage managing to graze the Yasoi but in retaliation was carved up by an ice-base dagger the assassin had conjured on the spot. [color=#10401d]“Should've gone for the head!”[/color] her malformed face made it seems like she was grinning toothily, and the intonation suggested some degree of amusement.

Orvil was attempting to recover from his wound, having been the second time struck and his old age did not make the experience any better. He could only work with the tinctures he had included with his suit. But as the opportunity arose, her raised his shaking hand wielding a handgun and shot at Pluurii.

He missed the head by a couple of inches, and the Yasoi laughed. 

Meanwhile Zuri had since begun to type the codes to reverse the shutdown sequence. They would soon be home free.

That is, if they could get by the Tarlonese assassin's final gambit. 

A Hegelan-made object the size of an apple rolled into the center of the room whilst Pluurii waved at Leon with a pin hanging from her burnt finger. He hadn't quite melted her insides, but he definitely had her attention.

Leon looked at Pluuri waving and almost fell for the distraction as he sensed intense heat spikes building in the object she had thrown. Even in the split second moment, he wasn't sure if it [i]was[/i] simply a distraction or if, in her twisted mind, it was truly a friendly gesture.

If the performer had a Magus for everyone one-legged crazy Avatar of Vyshta lady he was trying to save, he would have 2 Magus. While this isn't a lot, it was strange that it was happening twice and unfortunately for the bandaged woman, he could easily make a choice between the two. He looked back to Juulet still banging her head against the desk, he ran and dived them both to cover.

Sleight of hand was a excellent trick of Leon's for, when they landed toward safety, he had already brought out his lyre and played a delicate song. It had seemed to cure ill conditions, but even if it healed Juulet's self-imposed head injuries, it would be worth doing.

Xiuyang did not immediately know what the object was, precisely, but she could feel the chemical reaction building just in time to react. She began by tearing apart the floor and placing it atop the object to block its intended projectiles, and using arcane magic to stifle the reaction.

[color=slateblue]"As you wish. I'll take your head after I've finished dissecting you for the Exemplar's seeds,"[/color] she responded to the taunt, her eyes intensely focused on deflecting the grenade's blast.

The grenade went off, the debris around it softening the blast itself, but adding to the deadly projectiles that scattered about. Xiuyang easily raised her guard via her appendages to avoid the brunt of it. Orvil had dived behind a beam just before taking a minor hit from a stray piece of concrete to the chest. Zuri, on the other than, took a lot of shrapnel to the back, causing her to fall over in the middle of her operation. She wasn't out just yet, however.

Juulet came to when Leon had come to her rescue. A pathetic sight, she thought. One she couldn't just let him get away with. With a blaring headache, she extended her arm and added a fiery barrier to the performer's defense - one seemingly untethered by her supposed RAS limit. 

[color=8B008B]“Knucklehead ...”[/color] muttered the Mad Avatar under her breath. 

Smoke and dust quickly stole their vision.

What remained was Pluurii, who wasn't immune to her own antic and actually took quite the blow. In fact, she was propelled a good many feet back into the room, gun stubbornly still in her hand. She couldn't move her legs anymore, but her could move her gun. With a well-placed death shot between her legs and a tad bit of blood magic, she let the floor collapse under her for a swift retreat.

Pursuit was possible, but a new, unpleasant sound would likely capture the attention of many. A red warning symbol appeared on all screens. The alert was clear: Something had gone terrible wrong. Debris had destroyed a good part of the machinery, though the central control was unusually robust - likely for crisis scenarios. 

Speaking her own language still, Zuri crawled toward the the main control panel. Given her desperation, she was nearly finished. Sheer willpower was driving her through the intense pain, bad enough that it could easily lead to her untimely death.

This was the place where the core lived or died. While Pluuri was a threat, Leon wasn't about to be lead on a wild goose chase only for the sniper to teleport back here. His decision was to stay put and guard Zuri.

He pulled up a chair and looked back toward Xiuyang. [colour=fff200]"At least one of us should go after her. I can't imagine what she could prepare if we let go of the pressure now. I would say to keep her alive, but I don't think I have much sway in that decision."[/colour] He quipped and threw his hands up as if fully relinquishing the fate of Pluuri to the Retanese girl's hands... or tentacles.

Xiuyang didn't need much convincing to go after Seviin's would-be assassin. After only a nod to Leon as her two destroyed tendrils regenerated themselves, she took after the yasoi through the hole she'd made in the floor, moving through support structures in a manner less like a human and more like a tree monkey—or a particularly dexterous spider. It was uncanny.

Her business in the Forge was concluded. This was personal. She wasn't certain of her chances in a one-on-one, but her prey was weak. She took a moment to prepare a chemical cocktail to enhance her reaction time and steel her nerves.

Dust began to settle. Pluurii was gone and Xiuyang was in hot pursuit. Orvil remained sat against a metal beam, clutching his rapidly healing wound. Zuri reached out for the console while Leon served as a stalwart guard to the core's integrity.

But then there was Juulet. Her migraine was gone, for now, and the explosion had only just gotten a bit of dust on her hair. She ascended, crutches left to the floor as she took to hovering instead. 

[color=8B008B]“Wow.”[/color] exclaimed the Mad Avatar as she approached her partner in crime. [color=8B008B]“I wasn't expecting you to go THAT far for me.”[/color] she flashed a toothy grin. [color=8B008B]“And I don't mean the meat shield effort. You'd let that snake blow you up just so we can get this place! D'awww.”[/color] A cheek smooch was warranted.

In a flex of her gargantuan and clearly untethered magic capacity, she stopped all of Zuri's, Orvil and even Leon's momentum. They felt themselves sluggish with their naturally low defenses. And with a single flick of her pointer finger, Juulet had the Director flung into Orvil. [color=8B008B]“No, but seriously, we gotta stop fucking around here.”[/color] she said, time feeling much slower around Leon, but not slow enough to not understand her. [color=8B008B]“We got a job to finish.”[/color] her palm pressed onto the switch, and only a little bit of weight was needed to activate the shut down protocol. [color=8B008B]“And we want what's in THERE!”[/color]

Juulet, in full dramatics, pointed right at the direction of the core. All the lights went off. All of them, even the machines. And just a couple of seconds later, the emergency, dim lights turned on everywhere with a select few machines remaining active. No alarm, no announcement. Everything was just ... Dark.

Orvil, barely recovering from being smothered by an incoming Zuri, shouted a resounding "NO!". 

[color=8B008B]“Sorry, not sorry.”[/color][/color][/hider]