The massive hospital complex was hard to miss, though one could be forgiven for not identifying it as a hospital in the first place. This would be Primrose's second visit that morning, though she supposed it wasn't all that suspicious for someone to make multiple trips to a place of healing, especially in such a combat-happy city as this one. Her ki-tuning had gone well enough, though she hadn't really been able to test it out. Still, casual enough that she seemed like a local showing a couple of out of town friends around, Primrose gestured lightly to the Jeon Ryok Residence.

"That's it," she told Roland and Big Band. "Impressive, isn't it? While we're here, maybe you two can look into that ki-tuning as well."

Not wanting to fish for sensitive information like the Flame Clock's potential location over the phone magic, the small group was always going to have to stop by the hospital either way so why not get a little power boost while they were at it? It would certainly serve the actual tournament competitors better than Primrose.

The dancer made to start up the staircase to the Residence's entrance when Big Band got her attention, then directed it over to group of people huddled under the awning of a food cart. None of them were familiar to her, but then again she'd only met two UN members so far - and she very much doubted it was a small organization. She would have concurred that they were agents even if Band hadn't confirmed it with his identification of Darli.

"Alright," Prirmose agreed as the detective suggested mingling. "Let's go say hello."

Primrose's "mark" (if one could even call it that when for all intents and purposes this really was just going to be a casual lunch meeting) was Mila, identifying the woman as the easiest to approach out of the three from her body language and the snippets of conversation that the Seekers could overhear as they approached. Primrose slipped away from Band and Roland, making first contact by letting out a bubbly, "good afternoon~!" and brushing shoulders with Mila. "How lucky, we were just looking for a place to eat! How's the food? It smells wonderful!"

As many others squared themselves against the Stargazer, Sectonia took the other thing that appeared. A hideous monster made of flesh she'd expunge from the area. She had to allow a few other ugly things to live today, so being able to take that frustration out on one that wasn't being defended by either their own skill, her necessity, or the pleas of her allies/minions, was a welcome change. It also helped that she was a flyer as this thing seemed to float above the ground itself.

That left out a few of her attacks that'd punish its mobility, but she quickly learned that it was slow, but its flesh bent in weird ways that not only disgusted her more, but let it dodge rings of light or swords of light thrown at it on occasion. It seemed to have no ranged attacks, instead using its stretchy flesh to smack Sectonia like whips. Although its attack range was longer than it looked, if she flew outside of it, the creature had to approach her to attack her again, so she could bombard it with ranged attacks until it went down, but time was more of the essence here so that the group didn't get overwhelmed with more dice being rolled.

So, while she didn't like this thing touching her, she could also get close to teach it a lesson and destroy it, letting her fury take hold. Casing Haste on herself, she pulled out her swords and started with a blink strike to its back, before moving into a rapid stab with her swords into its back. It'd retaliate by whipping her, but she'd counter back with a death pulse and being in close range, both of her damaging auras also dealing some steady damage to the creature as well. She'd then, as the creature continued to attack her, use a large Ring of Light as a hola hoop around her midsection and using it as a massive saw keeping close and cutting the thing up with lots of rapid hits that its dodge chance couldn't fully deal with. While it then dodged the ring being fired at it, she was already using that dodge to isolate it for a blast of holy light. Although its dodge procced again, dodging this one too.

She had wanted that to hit as well, as this thing was looking fairly injured after her rapid flurry of attacks, especially her light ring, but it was still kicking. Although there was an attack she was sure it couldn't dodge and as she was winding up for it, this thing hit her with another whip and froze her in place for a bit, getting another hit off before she broke herself free, and essentially getting a free hit in before she could cast Reaper's Scythe on this thing and blast it with a quick close barrage of another death pulse, a fireball form her mouth, and a couple swipes of her sword before the scythe came down, ending the creature's existence. Hopefully she wouldn't need that attack for a future encounter here.

-------------------------------



While Roland did have 2 more matches lined up, he had some more time to kill before they were ready. So he went with Band and the gang to check out the high tier. Primrose mentioned Ki training, which somewhat interested Roland. Especially since it seemed to be something you could do in a relatively short timeframe. He figured he could give it or other facilities of its type a look later. He was more of a weapon master, but if it could enhance his weapons that would be useful.

As they went up, Roland asked Primrose for another linkpearl, since he had given his to Nadia. Although bringing it up in a way that Primrose wouldn't realize what that meant as she was in conversation about the UN at the time. Roland wasn't as interested in the UN as Band and the gang were, but something did pique his curiosity. They weren't the Head of the city, but if they were influential maybe they'd have some information or something.

Getting to the top tiers, things looked a lot more how Roland was used to... outside of it being clean, pristine, and downright nice. This is what he imagined a Nest looked like, which only made him angry. A fuming anger he kept inside for now as he saw Band approach a hot dog cart with some relative familiarity on his face, or as much as he could express, as he pointed them out and approached. Roland was mildly curious, so he joined them in seeing what was going on. Apparently these might be UN members, but seeing as this was a city based on fighting, Roland wondered if such an official sounding name was just a name for a fighting club.

–

Despite her apparent shyness, Sakura found Ei-san was a good game partner.. Sakura only had more wins overall because of her experience, but once Ei got the hang of the game and its rules, the winrates evened out between them. Sakura was very impressed. Skee-Ball, Air Hockey, Pinball.

The only exception were, unfortunately, the actually fun games. Not that Skee-Ball and Air Hockey and Pinball weren’t great, but Ei-san was having real trouble understanding how to operate the vehicles in racing games. Sakura didn’t even have her drivers license, and teaching people how to drive was more difficult than she thought. At some point she couldn’t even remember which one was the break and which one was the gas, she had gotten so turned around with instruction.

While she was having a good time hanging out with Ei, at some point Kasugano Sakura had to excuse herself. ”I will be right back. I… have to use the facilities. By myself.” Sakura said, totally inconspicuously.

Sakura hurried into the Retrocade’s bathroom and made sure she was by herself. Huddling up in a stall she put her finger to her ear and activated her cool linkpearl to talk to the rest of the seekers. ”Hey all, Sakura here. I am reporting in to say I got a piece of info. Apparently, a new Consul is going to be meeting up with the ones here in Esaka. Someone short and ill-tempered from the north and west? So watch out for that. Okay, that’s all I got. Sakura out!” She reported in. After a brief pause, she nodded, satisfied. Halting only to wash her hands, she rushed out of the bathroom to rejoin her friend.

Ever since the Potion Shop, Ganondorf grew increasingly weary of Tenna’s antics. And so at a certain point he made up an excuse for them to split up again to ‘cover more ground’ when really, the warlord just wanted a bit of quiet again. Well, as much quiet as one could get when they have to occasionally clear a room of hostile creatures while trying to merely traverse them. Thankfully, the combat was simple enough for him as it usually was. The main thing that was delaying Ganondorf was the random nature of the doors. It was like throwing those blasted Poke Balls in the old days, a gamble on whether or not you’d get something useful like an exploding Electrode or something useless like a Goldeen flopping around on the ground.

Eventually, though, Ganondorf found himself emerging into the Dice Room yet again. And he was fairly certain it was the same door he used the first time around, just from a different room than before. And he quickly realized he wasn’t alone as the room was quite crowded with other Seekers, enemies they were apparently fighting, and the actual college denizens themselves looking just as eager to finally get outside. Since Ganondorf had looked at the Dice Room previously, he was able to assume that whatever game it was connected to was now in progress. And based on how many people were waiting to escape through the big double doors, he concluded that finishing the game would unlock them.

A moment later, Roxas and Geralt both emerged through one of the other doors. Their time had been… frustrating to say the least. After leaving the Dining Hall, they’d found themselves stuck in a loop where they were repeatedly circling back to the Dining Hall again and again. After some trial and error, they figured out that the cause was the amulet that Geralt found in the Kitchen, and they promptly ditched it so that they could finally get away from the Dining Hall for good. Not long after that, they’re luck brought them here to this room where apparently everyone else was waiting too.

”Okay, at least we found everyone else…” Roxas murmured, the crowded room making it easy for him to get separated from Geralt. Of course, unlike Ganondorf, Roxas was here for the first time and had no context whatsoever to allow him to figure out what was happening, leaving the Nobody rather confused.

”This is where the exit is.” came the voice of Ganondorf as Roxas had wandered over to where the warlord was standing, ”The room’s connected to some kind of game that opens the exit when it is completed.”

”Oh… um, okay then.” Roxas said with a shrug.

Even amidst all the chaos that inundated the Dice Room, no new arrivals escaped Sandalphon’s notice. At the sight of Ganondorf, Roxas, and Geralt, her pupil became an exclamation mark, followed by a stress mark the next moment. “There you are, you’re alive. Why did none of you report in?” As Mokou, zipping through the upper reaches of the chamber as she fought the Cryptic Vulture summoned by the overseer, dove through a spectral tornado in order to light the place up with an explosive fireblast, Sandalphon realized that now might not be the best time for criticism. “Nevermind. Your help is required. This board game’s completion will permit our exit from Winterhold, and we are very near the end. Barring another serious stroke of misfortune, one more dice roll should suffice. Doing so will summon additional opposition, so make ready for combat.”

”Fine, then.” Ganondorf grunted, summoning Vapor - his trident. He looked expectantly at Roxas, who already summoned his Keyblades.

”I know, know. I won’t try to heal you again.” Roxas said, already casting Tailwind on himself and the Warlord.

As planned, Sandalphon sent the dice clattering. This time, the Seekers got much luckier, with a total roll of thirty-one. That was far more than they needed to reach the final space on the game board, much to the Overseer’s chagrin. ”Aw, hell,” the giant ghostly green skull groaned. ”Guess this is my last hurrah. But at least y’all rolled the School of Mensis. All them scholars had themselves a mighty bad dream, so I guess it gets to be yours, too!”

A dark rift tore open, and through it issued a distorted voice. “The doctor will see you now.” Large metal claws, one after another, reached out from the void to curl around the edges of the rift and pull it wider. After a moment, a four-armed mechanical monstrosity pushed through, a nightmarish parody of a dentist even larger than Godhead Fred. “Say…AAAAAH!”

”You’ve GOT to be kidding me.” Roxas said, already anxious at the sight of that big drill weapon.

It came faster than expected, Roxas coming dangerously close to falling victim to the drill that he managed to roll out of the way of. After that, the dentist scattered piles of colorful toothpaste around the floor that Ganondorf was unfortunately not able to avoid, which caused him to get stuck while he struggled to force himself free. The Dentist used an oversized brush to aggressively wipe at the spots where the toothpaste was. Roxas had to dodge roll out of the way of one brush, but noticed the next one was going to hit Ganondorf.

”Wind!” He called, casting an Aeroga that wrapped around the Warlord to reduce the incoming damage by half. And then he looked angry already after freeing himself.

”I’m growing tired of having to dismantle so many mechanical abominations.” Ganondorf grunted as the dentist spat out his chattering teeth to chase the two Seekers around the floor. Ganondorf could keep it at back simply enough with his trident attacks and strength, but he lacked the agility necessary to take advantage of the teeth’s weak spot.

And that was where Roxas came in. As soon he noticed the weak spot after the chattering teeth slammed shut he was on it immediately. He used momentum from Flow Motion to hit the teeth from above with a downward stab of his Keyblades. That looked like it damaged them decently, and it gave Ganondorf an opening to slam his trident down onto the weakspot as a followup.

After those attacks, the teeth lay motionless while the dentist braced himself on the floor with his mechanical hands. And Roxas, taking a page out of Sora’s handbook, decided to mount the teeth and move them over to clamp down on one of the dentist's hands and make it start chewing. And that prompted Ganondorf to throw his trident into the elbow joint of the arm and call down a lightning blast. Between the chewing teeth, and Ganondorf’s trident, the dentist reeled back now down by one arm, leaving him with three. And all three of those hands brought down oversized plastic cups, one of which captured Roxas.

”What - hey!” Roxas shouted, ”Let me ou- WHOA!”

The dentist started rearranging the cups like a shell game in front of Ganondorf, “This… will get ANNOYING!” he announced as he suddenly sped up the movements to make it even harder to track which cup Roxas was trapped in. Then he paused and waited for Ganondorf to choose.

Instead the warlord merely shrugged, ”You’ll have to try harder than that.” He summoned Phantom Ganon and some spearman. With this, he and his summoned entourage were able to hit all three cups at the same time, freeing Roxas and dealing a bit of extra damage to the dentist’s torso in the process.

“Hey, now that just’s plain CHEATING!” the Dentist protested, angrily grabbing Ganondorf with a metal hook-like tool and yanking him closer, “You might feel a little… sting!” he warned as he held up a hammer and poised it to hammer his hook tool right through the warlord’s body. But before the hammer could connect, the dentist suddenly felt weapons striking his wrist and loosening his grip to make him drop the tool.

It was Roxas, who used his StepSword to move instantly to the dentist’s hand and targeted the wrist with his energy blade and follow-up Keyblade strikes, ”Not gonna happen!” The Keybearer said as he landed back on the floor. The dentist simply grinned, undeterred from continuing his attacks.

“Clickity-clack!” His metallic voice sang as he sent out his chattering teeth again. The teeth chased Roxas around, keen to not let him take advantage of the weak spot again. But in that focus it was paying less attention to Ganondorf. And this time his summoned minions were able to help him ambush the teeth and flip them over to expose the weak spot and slam his trident into it with one brutal thrust. And this time it was one of the moblins that hopped onto the teeth and rode them around until clamping them onto the dentist’s hand again.

“Ow! Hey! What are you-?” The Dentist yelped as he tried to fling the teeth from his hand. But the restraint was enough for Roxas and Ganondorf to wail on the dentist’s arm. Between Roxas’ rapid Keyblade strikes and Ganondorf’s brutal lightning infused Trident attacks, they made quick work of the dentist’s second arm, causing it to break apart with a small explosion that left him stunned and his head lying on the floor. His drill arm lay precariously near his own mouth.

”Now DIE!” Ganondorf bellowed as he started to push the drill toward the dentist’s open mouth. His summons moved to try and restrain the robot while Roxas moved to help Ganondorf push. Together they were able to impale the dentist’s head on his own drill, seemingly defeating him.

But to their own horror and annoyance, the dentist staggered back for one more desperate charge. And that was when Roxas was the one who had enough. ”Light!” He chanted, opting to hit this mechanical nightmare with one final big attack. He and Ganondorf were both enveloped by Roxas’ light, and the Keybearer jumped high up and aimed his Keyblade down at the dentist. A massive golden Triforce was projected onto the ground, with the dentist trapped in the center triangle and unable to move while Ganondorf leaped at him with darkness charging in his fist.

The warlord came crashing into the dentist, hitting him with a Warlock Punch that was made extra powerful and flashy by virtue of being part of the Limit attack with Roxas. And that was what finally put down the nightmarish Dentist for good. Ganondorf stared at the fading Triforce mark on his hand before giving Roxas an intrigued glance, ”Huh… interesting…” He mused before kneeling to retrieve the dentist’s spirit. He had no idea who or how it was going to be used, but it was bound to better than letting it go to waste.

Whether in practice spars or official bracket fights, Pit had never played the heel before. Now, surrounded by the screams of tengu in the audience, he thought he knew how it must feel to play the bad guy. He watched Nyotengu's body dissolve even after the Heavenly Principles had declared his win. Her blood seeped into the cracks on the stone floor and ran into the hot spring where it churned pink.

A gentle but firm hand on his shoulder roused Pit out of the strange trance, and he glanced up to see Ashrah looked down at him. A moment later she lifted her head and the hand that held her kriss, holding it up high in a victorious pose. Pit swallowed the lump in his throat. Right, this was a tournament - and one where it would benefit the Seekers if they made a good impression. A beat behind and Pit lifted his fist up to mirror Ashrah's declaration of victory, though his other hand was wrapped white knuckled around the grip of his bow. The screams of the spectators changed, hisses and boos from the tengu drowned by the bright cheering of the other yokai. Some shouted how glad they were that "those damn tengu" had been taken down a notch, while others just expressed their excitement over the bloodshed.

A one-eyed oni leaned back with his arms folded behind his head, letting out a low whistle. "Nice, she didn't know what hit her! I just came to see Kanna, but who would have thought Nyotengu would go down this early! Right?"

He turned to a snake woman next to him, who narrowed her eyes. "Indeed. Ssssshe was a bully too full of herssssself and paid for it. Good riddansssssse."

Their brief conversation sparked a tengu to come over and snap at them, and all three poofed back into the spirit realm, or wherever yokai went when they didn't choose to make themselves corporeal. A lot more of the crowd followed suit, though some remained behind to wallow at their princess' loss or chatter happily between themselves, pulling up ethereal scrolls and screens to note things down or send messages. Some photos were snapped of the victorious duo right after they'd posed, but as a handful of yokai looked back to try and talk with the winners, they found the hot springs arena empty save for scattered ashes.

---

"I don't understand your grievance. Is it not in an angel's nature to destroy demons?"

"I mean, kinda, yeah, but not if they're good ones!"

"...like me, you mean?"

"Exactly! And those two didn't seem bad! Not like that Omen guy was!"

"You didn't know Nyotengu. Just because we caught her on a good day that doesn't mean she wasn't a selfish, sadistic demon. Why else do you think she chose Mortal Kombat?"

"Then what about her partner? She didn't-"

"I don't pick and choose. The kriss direct me toward evil, and I wipe it out. It reacted to her."

"...I just think you could have done something different. What if your sword isn't always right?"

Ashrah looked down at the blade in her hand. The angel and demon were tucked away in a corner of the Pools, beneath a stone arch to keep out of the rain. Pit had dismissed his bow by this point, and his arms were wrapped around his chest with his wings drawn up close against his back. Ashrah didn't look up at him when she spoke again.

"I have to believe that it is," she said solemnly. "I know that it is. I can feel it purifying me. I felt it when I slayed Kanna and Nyotengu too."

Pit's mouth was pressed into a flat line as he sorted out his thoughts. He trusted Ashrah, but he still had his doubts about her kriss. When he'd held it the other day, it had felt... wrong, somehow. But he didn't sense anything now. And technically, Ashrah was right - if yokai could be considered to be demons, then there shouldn't be any problem with slaying them. So why did Pit feel so gross about it right now? He glanced down at the pair of spirits in his hand, rubbing his thumb over the dark wings displayed inside of one of them.

It actually didn't take much thought at all. The female fighters just hadn't seemed evil to him.

"I feel the need to remind you..." Ashrah started, slowly, "...that this is Mortal Kombat. No one chasing victory will escape without facing a few fatalities - whether they are the ones suffering them or performing them."

"No, I get it, just-" Pit stopped and puffed out a sigh. It was hard to articulate his problem to Ashrah when she had been doing this for so long that she was used to it. And he knew it wasn't fair to put it all on the demonness. "I just don't wanna kill anybody. And I don't want you to either."

"These are death matches."

"Unless they really deserve it," the angel amended upon seeing his partner's raised brow.

It didn't seem like the two of them would see eye to eye on this issue, but it wasn't like they were enemies. They were even sort of friends, and they'd have to keep working together. Ashrah dismissed her kriss and placed one hand on her hip, tipping her head down for a moment or two before looking back at Pit.

"Deserving is subjective," she said. "But we can... discuss it. I'll let you know whenever the kriss alerts me to an evil demon. If I get the chance to kill it, I'd like to take it. But there will always be more, and my salvation has been a long time coming anyway."

Pit felt a sense of relief that she was at least willing to compromise. He smiled at her, his wings relaxing slightly. "Okay! Yeah, let's do that! We'll fight first, then smite later if we gotta."

It helped that in these tourney matches the competitors could beat down opponents into official submission and get around Galeem's influence that way, making sparing them easier than hoping they gave up on their own, which almost never happened. It was enough to send them to Loser's, Pit thought, and if Ashrah really felt they should be taken out then they could talk about it rather than slaying them in the middle of the match.

The demonness gave him a tentative nod.

"Thank you. And, um, you did do great. In the match I mean." Pit got a little fidgety as he hoped he hadn't starting driving a wedge between the two of them. Ashrah blinked before she returned his smile, though it was a small thing.

"You too. You held your own well. Although I do think we should work on your combos," she advised.

"I guess." He wasn't enthusiastic about it, at least not right after the rough battle. He looked over at the nearest bracket board that listed the day's fights. "Maybe later though? We got a long to free time before our last match today, right? So... we can do something else first."

Maybe even something fun to take his mind off things. Although since he now had to figure out what to do with these two spirits, that was unlikely to happen unless he dealt with them sooner than later. The thought of fusing with Nyotengu crossed his mind - the feathersword he'd fused with before hadn't granted him the ability to fly, but maybe if he had two fliers... and failing that, the yokai's wind power would at least let him be able to glide anywhere, anytime. But a moment after the thought crossed his mind Pit felt a pang of revulsion and he shook his head. If he did that, it would be like they'd killed her just for her power. That would make things worse.

Ashrah had shifted to lean her back against one of the arch's legs, folding her arms in front of her. She rested the back of her head against it too. "Sareena will be glad we avenged her loss so thoroughly," she said, driving the point home that the brutal nature of the tournament was par for the course. "We could tell her the news ourselves before it reaches her from someone else. I'm sure she'd be willing to help us train again."

She turned her head to look out across the other Pools matches still going on. "Perhaps you'd like to visit your dojo once more though, and get another meal?"

That sounded good. It would take a lot more than this to kill Pit's appetite, and he could feel the bruises already forming. His scrapes stung and the cut at his hairline was still oozing slowly despite wiping at it a few times. If only they could have enjoyed a dip in that hot spring after all. Now the thought of jumping into that one gave him goosebumps. Recalling the blood dripping into it sent a shiver through Pit again now. He pocketed the two spirits and although he'd just suggested that he and Ashrah do something together, he recognized he wasn't actually over what had happened. He would be, sooner than later, but for now... "Yeah, I'll go get fixed up! I can go on my own though. I'll meet up with you again later before our next match so we can get more practice in!"

If Ashrah saw through Pit, she was kind enough not to call him on it. "Alright. It's a plan."

She pushed off the arch and nodded to Pit, and in return the angel kept his smile firmly in place and gave her a wave. When they split up Ashrah headed for the Mid Tier where the Order of Light was housed, so Pit went right to the edge of the Pools Tier and hopped over the wall, only remembering that it was raining when the water pelted him on the way down to the Low Tier. He zipped beneath a random overhang to shake the rain off yet again, then walked a small circle around his little dry area.

He really did plan to get healed, but after that? Maybe he could meet up with some of the other Seekers? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He did still have his captain's duties to handle, as lax as they were with this group.

It was total coincidence that just when he'd been thinking of them, one of the Gold Team called in. It was Sakura, who he'd been getting to know a lot lately. Her voice perked the angel up, at least until she delivered the bombshell that Esaka was about to see another Consul.

Huh?! Wait, wait!

What is it?

Oops, sorry Lady Palutena, wrong radio!

Pit cleared his throat and touched the linkpearl in his ear, fully aware of his goddess' amusement and her peering down to check in on what was going on. Pushing everything else to the back of his mind for now, he put on his best serious voice. "This is Pit. Nice job, Sakura! Can you find out when they're coming and where they're meeting?"

After a beat he thought that even though Sakura didn't sound like she was in a dangerous situation (and probably would have mentioned it if she was) perhaps he should be helping to find this info out. So then he added, "I'll look more into it too!"

Which probably meant another trek upward? Well, at least it was definitely something to distract him.

“Sandalphon, roll again. Whatever pops out, I’ll handle it” Mokou calls out from her place in the air, glancing over at the angel in question. This was taking too long, and they needed to keep the momentum. Especially with how close they were to leaving already.

At Mokou's suggestion, Sandalphon rolled the dice again. Only nine spaces remained, after all, until her team and the college refugees would be free to go. This time, it was the Seekers' turn to be disastrously unfortunate, for the magic dice rolled an astonishing five zeroes and a one. The Cryptic Overseer burst out laughing. "Bahaha, one! Just when I thought my goose was cooked, y'all gave me an extra lease on life! Well, shoot, looks like the alchemist done flown the coop, but he did leave some freaky stuff behind." From a rift flew a number of bones, which clattered to the floor in a pile. The Overseer summoned a giant, ghostly, skeletal hand, then sprinkled green particles like a chef might sprinkle salt. "My secret recipe..." When the magic suffused the bones, they came to life and stuck themselves together to form a Cryptic Vulture with a wingspan the size of a car, which took wing with a bloodcurdling shriek. "Enjoy!"

Mokou seemed rather unsurprised at the dice rolling horrifically. Instead, she simply rubbed the back of her head as the vulture turned its attention to her, seeing as how she was the nearest to it as well as airborne. With another screech, it flapped its wings, generating numerous ghastly green projectiles that flew towards Mokou.

“Really? Of all the things you could summon, you choose a bird that does shoddy danmaku?” Mokou called out to the Overseer, lazily weaving through the air, just barely dodging the various projectiles sent her way. With a snap of her fingers though, the air around her shimmered as her signature feathers appeared, counting far above what the vulture had made initially before being fired at her foe. Some feathers simply clashed with the vulture’s own bullets, but with the sheer number of feathers being created the orbs began to lose out, resulting in the vulture being peppered by dozens of fiery projectiles. Naturally, the undead beast didn’t back down from that, and instead flapped its wings to create a massive, airborne cyclone that tore its way towards Mokou… Who simply let out an mockingly impressed whistle as she flew up higher to avoid it.

In their own corner of the room, the vulture and the phoenix created a stunning display of ethereal and flaming projectiles, along with the occasional cyclone from its wings that forced Mokou to properly reposition. But, the phoenix was far more proficient in the art of projectile duels, and it quickly became evident that the vulture was being worn down by her assault. Realizing it was losing this war of attrition, the vulture shifted tactics, folding its wings and creating a massive, ethereal shield that covered its body, Mokou's various feathers bouncing off without much visible effect. And at the same time, more and more orbs began to appear, this time falling from the sky like massive raindrops.

“Hm. A shield, neat trick” Mokou comments, still weaving between the orbs with practiced ease. She had spent much of her life understanding the art of duels like this, and while she didn’t care about hurting much… Well, with her newly weakened bones, she had to exercise some caution, “Unfortunately for you, it’s too little, too late” the phoenix adds as the feathers ceased their onslaught on the shield for a moment, with Mokou herself hovering in a spot that, for a brief moment, wasn’t threatened by the raining orbs.

Then, her fire began to shift color to blue.

Every feather, every lingering flame, every essence of Mokou’s fire shifted to a vibrant, azure color. And in that same instant, the attack resumed, this time with far more pressure than before. With the boost from her enhanced fire attacks, coupled with the increased magic damage from the witch’s hat, the vulture and its shield was incapable of weathering the storm. And as the shield finally shattered under Mokou’s continued pressure, the vulture screeched as dozens of blue feathers rained into its form, scorching its bones. But in one final, desperate act, the massive skeletal bird flew up, lifting its talons and bringing them down on Mokou, both to claw at her and also to snatch her up with them. Despite having proven capable of avoiding nearly everything the bird could throw at her, Mokou didn’t even attempt to dodge this attack, letting the claw snatching her up with nothing more than an annoyed sigh.

… Before she simply self detonated, exploding into a column of blue flame. Intense enough that she didn’t just scorch the vulture: She simply disintegrated all that her flames touched. In mere moments, both the vulture and the phoenix were gone, the remaining half burned bones falling to the ground while lone embers quickly reformed in the air with Mokou appearing completely fine. Aside from a broken foot and a broken hand from her newly acquired disorder. But as with all things, Mokou didn’t seem that bothered by the pain.

The participants (and their hidden fifth) were not technically locked into the extra stage, but the two men positioned at the only exit made it difficult to leave - especially when Dragunov slammed the shop’s door handle with the butt of the handgun, breaking it off. There wasn’t much choice in whether Rika and Therion were going to ‘play’ in this round or not. Fury, the man with the minigun, took a single step forward, hoisted the weapon up so its barrel was just above waist level, and grinned widely as he spoke the first word that either G-Corp contractor had said since entering the games grounds:

“DIE!!”

It took all of the nuance out of him and his partner’s business here, not that the lethal weaponry hadn’t done that already. Fury held the trigger down, spraying bullets at the Seekers he could see as the feeder rapidly ate up the long ammo belt.

Even as he moved to pull the trigger, Rika was already moving, used her maneuvering thrusters to boost forwards and put herself between Therion and Fury as best she could. Bullets slowed around her as they flew, a few bounced off of her energy shielding, but it was clear that wasn’t going to be enough.

Then she brought up her purchased panzer lance and started, of all things, parrying the bullets, deflecting the rapid fire shots to the side with her melee weapon even as it was dented and battered by the blows.

Despite the absurdity of this, Dragunov took it in stride as he strode forwards, looking to get an angle on the girl to shoot her in the side, which her cat-eared partner was not going to let happen.

Therion had backed off when the gunfire started, his full retreat halted only by realizing Rika had a plan when she stepped in front of him, half-baked through it was. So though technically held down with the ship girl for now, he was in a good spot to see Dragunov reposition - and to chuck a fireball his way.

Therion's wildfire spell blazed bright, consuming the mute's field of vision as it hurtled towards him. He was unconcerned by this, as seasoned fighters in Esaka were all well used to dealing with fireballs. He simply raised one arm to swiftly stop the flames, then moved to flick them away into nothingness when he felt something much harder and sharper than magic sink into him. Throwing knives, thrown after the spell and concealed by its path were embedded in Dragunov, two in his right forearm and one in his bicep. Therion had bet on the man dodging the fireball rather than blocking it, and if he had the knives would have been centered around the vital spots in his chest. Dragunov raised a brow. "..."

Fury's manic grin hadn't faded as he gradually shifted from covering the area to focusing his fire only on Rika, his eyes wide and eager to break a hole in her defense and turn the girl into mulch. The reach of the minigun was still wide but the hail of bullets got more intense now that the target was narrowed down, really putting Rika's ability to the test. It also gave Therion just enough of an opening to exploit.

The thief dove out from behind Rika's protection, and in the split second after Fury spotted him but before he could turn the gun on him, Therion pitched the pitfall seed. Its light weight combined with Therion's expert arm meant it connected immediately, poofing out of existence when it touched Fury's chest but also inexplicably sending him to the ground. No, into the ground. He sank up to his belly button so fast that the barrel of the minigun flew up, chewing into the shop's brick wall behind the Seekers and destroying the camera mounted on it. Fury made a noise of outrage as he struggled to escape.

Though if the Seekers wanted to take advantage of the man's downed state, they would have to contend with his partner while doing it. Given weapons to work with, Dragunov pulled the throwing knives out of his arm and threw them right back, two for Therion and one for Rika, though soon after he raised the pistol at the latter to try to finish taking that earlier shot.

Rika used her featherfall rune to leap into the air to avoid the knife, before aim-gliding up there, slowing her fall as she brought her batter lance to bare. She pointed it towards the ground-stuck Fury, and then crushed a trigger on its handle beneath a finger of her gauntlet.

From the tip of the lance, an anti-tank missile went flying towards the trapped would-be assassin, while the shipgirl herself was sent flying backwards from the recoil, turning what had been an easy target into a much trickier one. A round flew past where she was, and then one aimed at where she would be was slowed too much by her dated sunglasses granter aura to hit her.

Then she smacked into the back wall, dropping the now scrap metal lance which clattered to the floor as she grabbed the wall, clinging to it for a moment.

Below her, the battle did not slow down. Her missile struck Fury just as he'd dropped the minigun in order to use both arms to force himself out of the hole, the man himself looking up at the noise with an expression of surprise that quickly morphed into something more like excitement. His manic grin could be glimpsed for a moment before the explosion swallowed it up.

Immediately beforehand, Therion had dodged the first knife and caught the other by the handle. He spun it into a reverse grip and darted for Dragunov. The G-corp affiliate let him approach while he shot at (and missed) Rika, after which he stowed the pistol and met Therion's imminent assault with his fists. Therion slashed at the man with swift movements, though Dragunov proved to be an agile evader. The thief seemed to be getting nowhere until the Russian threw one fist forward that brushed aside Therion's knife-wielding arm, and in the next moment a point-blank Fugetsu formed from Therion's free hand and burst between the two of them. Intending to start a round of debuffing, Therion struck first with Abate.

Even slowed, Dragunov was no slouch. He didn't allow another one of Therion's weakening skills to touch him as he twisted out of the way of the next, flowing from that motion into a powerful left hook. The punch caught Therion by surprise, staggered long enough that Dragunov's follow up of a knee strike with his right leg easily connected and sent Therion stumbling back.

And at that point the dust and debris from the exploding missile began to fade, and in center stood a muscular silhouette. Fury -injured, alive, and inexplicably in one piece- swiped at the lingering dust cloud to dramatically clear the air, belting out a laughter-like roar. "Raaaaaaaahahaha!"

He picked up one of the wooden crates around the arena and chucked it at the shipgirl like she was a fly on the wall he wanted to squish, forcing the girl to leap to the side evasively as it smashed against the wall and a random item fell out.

The brute bent to pick up the minigun and use the last of its ammo up when something stirred in the corner of his vision. A spider descending from the ceiling, looking to punish him. Falling like an anvil, Juri picked her moment and drove her foot into the back of Bryan’s neck to crush him into the floor. Pinning him, she twisted her foot to crack his neck, and then flipped off him to kick him in the skull and knock him away.

That oughta make him sore. ”Didja like that? There’s plenty more where that came from. Why don’tcha play with me, instead?” Juri asked, beckoning him back towards her with her finger.

He wobbled to his feet after the surprise assault, flexing his neck the opposite way to release a satisfying pop before rubbing at it with one hand. Fury turned to look at the newcomer, eyes flicking up and down her body with a smile. Perhaps he sensed something in common between them. "Han, right?" He cracked his knuckles, happily disregarding the ship girl to take on a more interesting opponent. "Hahahaha, come on then!"

He wasn't the only one surprised by Juri's sudden entrance. "Juri?!"

”I’m popular with all the boys today!” Juri crowed. Juri rushed forward and began engaging with Bryan.

In the middle of contending with Dragunov (which mostly meant doing his best to keep away from the man while looking for an opening to strike back), Therion glanced her way for just a moment. Where the hell had she even come from? The thief supposed he was glad to see her either way if it meant that he and Rika had backup.

Dragunov moved to rush Therion down, but in an effort to catch the Russian off guard Therion drove toward him in kind. His body glowed with his Battle Boost, amping his strength and reducing damage against him just before trading blows. They were both glancing, Dragunov's fist grazing the thief's face and Therion's dagger -replacing the smaller throwing knife- scratching Dragunov's side. But while Dragunov whirled around to continue fighting, Therion disengaged again. He kept moving forward, vaulting over Bryan while the man was focused on Juri and tapping his palm on the man's bare skin to set his Armor Corrosive. If Juri was looking to make this guy hurt, then she'd be even more successful at it with Fury's defense lowered.

When he landed he found that Dragunov had caught back up with him thanks to a peculiar low roundhouse, the fighter's leg raised as he spun and then slamming down like a scorpion's tail that struck Therion's kneecap, crippling the limb. Therion let out a pained hiss as he went down, and not a moment later Dragunov flung him away with a straight kick to his chest.

Dragunov looked over his shoulder at Juri. He was still slowed, so rather than take her on in melee at the same time as Fury he reached behind him to grab the pistol tucked into his waist band. At least that's what he intended to do, but his fingers touched only air. He blinked when he realized the weapon was missing. "..."

”As if!” Juri had already reacted, even if the threat was null. She managed a kick on Fury’s face and spun, the resulting whirlwind sucking both of him and Dragunov towards her, before she slammed both of them away. Juri, because she had waited, of course, was fresh. At that point she realized that someone, probably Therion, had disarmed Dragunov without his notice.

Juri scoffed. ”Not that I’m scared of whatever peashooter you had, anyway. You ugly mute freak. C’mon, I’ll take you both on.” The arrogant Spider smirked, her stance low as she got ready to go on the attack once more. In Juri’s mind, things were about to get serious.

The dimmed lights accompanied by the dark blanket of stars overhead certainly set a new mood within the Dice Room. The various battles with enemies summoned one after another had a fast paced, chaotic feel. Now there was a different sort of urgency thrumming through the space. Out of the pair of monsters summoned, it was very apparent which was the larger threat.

A cold sweat had broken out on the back of the Ace Cadet's neck. Today had been stress upon stress upon stress. The uneasy, nauseating, prickling feeling that had clung to him since waking up in the college hadn't once disappeared completely, though here at the final stage it had come back to full force, a constant distraction. Even so he wasn't about to shirk his duties, and the hunter stepped up to help fight the Stargazer.

The long range bowgun was reloaded and fired twice to start, one bullet meant for the being's body and the other the glass lens of one of its telescopes. Both hit home but resulted in minimal penetration, even against the lens, which apparently had a constitution less like glass and more like a dense eyeball. Unlike the Coven and its candles, which confronted him with an immense amount of vitality to chew through but took normal damage, the bowgun shots seemed less effective against the Stargazer than they should have been.

For a moment after the otherworldly thing appeared, Heismay bided his time and observed from afar as he caught his breath. This bizarre blend of organic and inorganic matter, more reminiscent of a Human than anything he’d fought so far, proved difficult to anticipate. It seemed to lack a true body, with a multitude of limbs and telescopes that protruded from a dark, cosmic mass. The shape of its tubular organs made him think of cannons, though he seriously hoped their function did not match their appearance. With so many bystanders around, any enemies that favored area-of-effect would cause serious collateral damage. Despite the fatigue accumulating from back to back fights, Heismay knew he needed to act fast.

“Steel yourself, good hunter!” he called to his rattled companion. “Escape is within our grasp!”

"Right!"

Assuming that the Stargazer would be as resistant to dark magic as it was piercing damage, Heismay began the fight with another invocation of the Exemplar. “Abomination, vex them!” The misshapen monstrosity arose to unleash Prelude once more. An unseen force shunted the Stargazer toward Heismay and the Ace Cadet, opening blighted sores across its night-blue form. In response, the Stargazer stared with its many eyes, its gaze intense enough to ignite panic within its foes. Afraid for his life, Heismay beat a full retreat with his bullet jump, latching onto one of the chamber’s walls well out of the thing’s reach.

Ace faired a little better, as though the Stargazer's stare sent a chill down the Cadet's spine and froze him in place, it was only for a moment. He pulled on his experience facing down larger, vicious foes and forced himself through the feeling. And if this thing resisted the damage of the bowgun, then he'd just have to try something else. Ace withdrew his long sword, preparing to lash out with the blade instead.

Ramattra was quick to assess the situation from the back line, before delegating himself into intervention of Stargazers attacks. Able to avoid it’s terrifying gaze by the distance between the Omnic and his enemy, he remained calm, providing a shielding body to any allies who were close enough to gather behind him. “Try not to look into its eyes! It’s… making Heismay unlike himself!” Ramattra called out, able to notice the panic-inducing gaze it instinctively flashed.

The clumps of hands and legs would grasp and cling at the floor clumsily, scootching the beast closer to the battle field. It stood still for a moment, fixing its gaze on the Omnic who had turned his back to it. One of the telescopes retracted for a moment, along with any adjacent ones, before extending impossibly long, striking Ramattra square in the back. A low gurgling voice could be heard under the mass of cloth and limbs. “Help me… fix you…”

Blazermate listened to Ramattra, noticing that this thing didn’t really have weak points and just sticking to healing. She cleansed Heismay’s panic to help him out, and she’d need to go about doing this whenever anyone else panicked. At least she didn’t need to look at the thing to heal people in most cases.

“Evading dangerous foes is standard fare for me,” Heismay objected as the sudden panic died down. As the Stargazer attacked Ramattra, the eugief sprang off the wall and unfurled his wings to glide over his target to look for an opening. An overextended limb, perhaps, or an unaccompanied telescope. However ominous this thing was, his scythe could still slash and sever, especially with an affliction like Blight applied to make his blade cut all the more cleanly.

With both Ace and Ramattra facing it in melee range now, the Stargazer reared up, then trampled forward to kick at them with many legs. If its appearance suggested the distant wonder of the cosmos, its fighting style seemed to be one of brute force. It was a welcome departure from the expectation, for some at least. With blade in hand the Cadet evaded the stomps and kicks to stay just shy of outside his own range until he spotted a better opening, stepping in and parrying one of the Stargazer's limbs with a wide angled slice. To his dismay, however, the slash did not seem much more effective than his gunshots had been, although it did manage to hit more body parts at once.

Ramattra transformed into his Nemesis mode- blocking as much impact from each of the Stargazer’s legs as possible. With the monstrosity’s attention now shifted to the Cadet, he charged a punch with Alchemist Brew, delivering a devastating blow square in the Stargazer’s central mass. The Omnic felt satisfied with his attack, but easily foresaw the monster becoming more aggressive with him in such close proximity.

Grappling whatever limbs and telescopes were most exposed, the Omnic attempted to hold the cosmic entity back from his allies, offering them a chance to strategize and counterattack. He was sure to take the bulk of whatever damage the Stargazer could inflict, however he remained cautious of any unusual abilities it had yet to bring about.

At that moment Heismay descended, dropping as the Assassin to try and plunge his curved greatsword into the Stargazer’s body. It sunk less through the uncanny cosmic mass than he would have liked, so he yanked the blade out, reverted, and unleashed a flurry of scythe slashes to try and get as many hits in as possible while Ramattra held back the monster’s fury. If he could lop off any legs or telescopes to hinder the Stargazer, all the better.

As Heismay attacked, and Ramattra grappled with it, the Stargazer’s lens widened. Stars began to shine within its myriad eyes, increasing in celestial brilliance by the second.

Ace had continued his attack with the longsword until Ramattra started grappling with the monster, giving the Cadet the chance to back off. It wasn't a great feeling to know his weapons were ill equipped to deal with the Stargazer. If its body was tough enough to resist slashing and piercing, that left impact damage - but his shield, the only real source of blunt damage he had, was basically ruined. Time for another plan, then.

With space to swap weapons again, this time the Cadet withdrew the great bow and quiver. If he could rely on his allies to deal damage, then he could focus on utility. Though it was going to be more trial and error, trying anything was better than doing nothing. Ace popped a vial of poison coating into position before drawing and shooting, the arrows themselves not any better at hurting the Stargazer but at least able to deliver toxins with every hit. And with a wider angle view Ace was able to better see what the creature was doing.

"It's planning something...!" he warned. Regardless if it actually had the intelligence to make and execute a plan, the fact was that it was charging up for something. What the outcome was going to be was hard to tell. Without a reliable way to stagger the Stargazer, Ace instead swiftly swapped to the airborne stimulant of Haste Rain, which he shot up above to quicken Heismay and Ramattra in case they needed to beat a hasty retreat.

Once it began, the invigorating rainfall boosted Heismay’s already-impressive speed to even greater heights, but the Eugief wasn’t blind to what the Stargazer was doing. He found it too inscrutable to be able to say whether or not the Stargazer was planning something, as Ace suggested, but it did look like it was charging up. Since his scythe’s slash damage was more or less tickling the creature, Heismay had no delusions about finishing it off before its ‘plan’ came to fruition, so once the starlight reached peak effulgence he bullet jumped away. “Ramattra, get clear!”

A second later, the Stargazer unleashed Astral Vision. Streams of hydrogen and helium gas, superheated to the point of becoming plasma, blazed from its telescopes in a deadly laser light show. It proved almost impossible to evade, although seeing as the creature was preparing for an attack, Blazermate was ready herself and jumped into her team and used Holy Word Salvation to make them all immune to the damage of the oncoming attack and healing everyone for 30% of their hp. It didn’t make them immune from anything but the damage though, so any lingering statuses, such as its confusion would still affect them, but in Blazermate’s case her rain coat saved her from this effect most of the time. She still had her projectile shield if this thing tried that again, but that was it for defensive skills. For Offensive though… ”Uber is ready. Anyone wanna see how their attacks work under Kritz?”

Spared a grievous injury by Blazermate’s timely intervention, Heismay breathed heavily as he shook his head. “Twould be a waste on me. My weapon is ineffective.” He did, however, assume his Assassin form to launch a Mudo at the Stargazer in hopes that it would compound with the poison whittling away at its vitality. Instead, the Confusion that he mistook for mere dazedness as a result of Astral Vision meant that he accidentally fired the dark magic at Ramattra, much to his own horror. “What!? I didn’t-!”

The Omnic had staggered back from Stragazer’s Astral vision, but could not evade Heismay’s misfire. “Augh!” Ramattra groaned, now looking back at his companion, whose embarrassed expression clued that he had missed his target. His anger quickly subsided, and his focus returned back to the battlefield.

In much the same boat as Heismay in regards to his weaponry, and having chosen to stick with the bow that had a slower rate of fire than either his bowguns or blades, Ace went to decline the medabot's offer as well, though not without a spot of gratitude. That laser light show would have engulfed all of them if it hadn't been for her after all. "Thanks for the save Blazermate, but-!"

But soon the secondary effect of the transformed creature's attack was revealed. The lasers had been so dazzling as to instill dizziness and worse in those that saw it, and the feeling of Ace's head swimming did not fade even after the light did. On top of the discomfort of being enclosed in Blazermate's protective bubble itself, Ace meant to make even more distance between himself and the Stargazer - but at the same time that Heismay's bolt of magic went wide enough to endanger Ramattra, the hunter instead stepped towards the celestial monster, directly into its path. Alarm gripped Ace, and he felt his limbs betray him as he tried to make a last ditch evade attempt. It was like the signals between his brain and body had been scrambled, and as the Stargazer stormed forward seeking to trample the heroes beneath its many legs, it ran right over the Cadet.

Having glanced back at Heismay’s misfire, Ramattra’s attention was drawn away from the dazzling beam that surely affected the rest of his allies. Seeing the Cadet in a prime moment of need, the Omnic called Kashmir from its ball, and ordered him to “Use Avalanche to create cover! I’m going in again!”

As the Cadet was kicked and trampled with dozens of feet both large and small, the Omnic flung his Mimic Tear striker to the floor, bounding upwards as he transformed into his Nemesis form and crashed into Stargazer with the momentum of his bounce. As the two large masses clambered back to their feet, Ramattra looked back at Blazermate, who stood ready with her offer to use her Kritzkrieg. “I’m ready! Charge me!”

Well, someone took her offer and she was going to use it. Charging Ramattra, his appendages and eyes glowed with an electric blue as all of his attacks now did critical damage on top of what they did before. As Stargazer didn’t have any critical resistance, what had been it taking very little damage had changed to it taking massive damage from Ramattra’s amplified attacks.

With no natural resistance to the blunt force of Ramattra’s burly punches, each mighty blow from the Omnic’s fist being amplified were now leaving considerable wounding. The Stargazer continued to kick its blue legs into the Omnic’s body, but overall, each interaction ended with the cosmic entity taking the most damage.

For a moment, the telescopes on the beast’s face shifted, indicating that it would boom out to Ramattra again. Recognizing this attempt again, the Omnic ducked out of threat’s way, watching as the telescope shot out into empty air, before the contraption retracted, and the Stargazer recentered itself on the battlefield, surely preparing another attack. “It’s weak. I can tell by the zeal of its attacks. Your weapons aren’t very effective? Then let me use my fists.”

As Ramattra took center stage, Heismay remained at the sidelines for a few moments waiting for his vision and head to clear. Given his damage output, involving himself in that crushing melee would do a lot more harm than good. His condition improved in time to hear the Omnic’s declaration loud and clear. Heismay glanced down at the scythe still clutched in his talon and grunted. “Hm.” He stowed the weapon and ran forward, quickly picking up speed. After a brief moment spent circling around, he zeroed in one of the telescope lenses as the Stargazer prepared to swing it, then bullet jumped in to deliver an upward kick. He wasn’t trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he was of able body and a mind to help. The bludgeoning blow got deflected upward, allowing Ramattra to continue to focus on offense for the few seconds until his crits ran out.

The Stargazer's struggle against the Omnic took up enough of its focus that the unfortunate Seeker that had been stuck beneath its rampage could crawl out from under it. Ace practically threw himself from the Stargazer's shadow between a pair of its legs, landing with a tumble outside of its stomping radius. He'd definitely taken a beating, but he was still up - even as the confusion still clung to his brain, slow to dissipate. He would have jumped right back into helping Ramattra with combat if not for that. Instead he stayed in a kneeling position, catching his breath and making sure that when the daze finally did fade, he would be ready to fight again if the rest of the group still needed him.

It seemed like Blazermate's boost was doing a lot to help Ramattra deal as much damage as possible and he was really close to sealing the deal, but when the kritz faded the Stargazer still stood. It was good then that when Ace finally recovered enough that his senses and thinking were clear again, he'd already pulled one of his arrows out and prepared it for firing by scraping it along the ground a few times. When he was drawing it hard enough across the floor to create sparks that didn't disappear but instead bounced around the arrow's head it was ready.

After a breath he called, "incoming!" to give his fellow Seekers a heads up, then swung the arrow in a wide, low semi-circle with its tip sharpened on the rough ground just before nocking it. He sucked in air and held his breath as he pulled to its maximum draw weight, the arms of the bow curling in at a harsh angle. The hunter held the string to gather power in the shot for several precious seconds, twisted it just slightly, then released it with his exhale. The Dragon Piercer whistled through the air as it surged forward, a deadly sparking drill meant to tear through the toughest of hides that couldn't be fired without an opening like the one Ramattra afforded to them. It struck the metal of one of the Stargazer's telescopes and then kept on going straight through.

Heismay watched with bated breath as Ace’s Dragon Piercer tested its mettle against the Stargazer. Would it be enough to fell the fiend? After a brief but tense moment, the spiral shot finally drilled through, tunneling cleanly through the Stargazer’s semi-corporeal, semi-celestial form. It let out a guttural, gurgling sort of sound, and a second later its struggle came to an end as the starlight left its many eyes and its many legs went slack. Its body dissolved near-instantly, as if swallowed by its own darkness, and only a spirit remained.

Nadia half-expected golden letters to materialize in the air to officially begin the fight, but this was no tournament match under the purview of the Heavenly Principles. Kazuya glared at her with murderous intent in his red eyes, malicious enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. That look told her that this would be a good old-fashioned street fight, no holds barred, with lives on the line. Nadia had fought for her life plenty of times before, whether in this world or her own, but it never got easier even if her sunny smile suggested otherwise. Hopefully Beowulf, who at times seemed to think that everything (no matter how dire) was part of a highly staged wrestling match, could sense the gravitas of this situation and break kayfabe.

At the moment, though, Beowulf seemed to be looking around in an effort to find the camera crew shooting this particular backstage brawl. After a moment he shrugged and raised his hands. “Okay, ready to rumble!”

Kazuya needed no further invitation. He dashed toward the two in a peculiar fashion, moving with a very fast stutter-step just as fast as a run, although not quite as committal. Right now, Nadia really wanted nothing to do with this murderous psychopath, least of all to rush straight at him. What she really wanted was to run away, as far and as fast as she could. By surviving the attack on Banishing Flats, though, she’d proven that this man would need to handle her personally in order to get his revenge. All this for some sneakers, she thought, but some men were just that egotistical. This cruel tyrant would just keep on hurting people unless she put him down. And she couldn’t do that without getting closer.

Launching forward, Nadia closed the distance on all fours, then pulled her own hand off as she rose. A spray of blood from her stump splattered Kazuya in the face, rendering him blind, and after she reconnected her hand the feral whipped her arm back down. Her hardened nails glinted as she pulled off less of a claw slash and more of a chop, meant to slit the devil’s throat in a single razor-sharp slice.

Somehow, though, Kazuya shrugged off her blinding blood. He stepped to the outside and dipped, expertly dodging the claw slice by centimeters. Nadia had only a split second to register the sizzling steam that rose from his luminous red eyes, then the gloves fist inches away from her face, and then all she saw were stars. She stiffened and stumbled backward, her body in shock, as the punch blew her head clean off her shoulders, kept from flying into the pool only by the cords of muscle fibers that kept it connected to her neck.

Her head swung down and dangled behind her, next to her tail, as her vision swam. Had he broken her nose in one shot? It sure felt like it. In that moment of pain and uncertainty, Nadia changed her mind. “Buhhhh…” With her most genuine death rattle she slumped to the ground, her limp limbs splayed at unnatural angles, as if her body had only just now realized it had been killed. Extra blood leaked from her seams, dripping between the planks around her in a rather convincing fashion. Kazuya couldn’t possibly know about her ability to play dead, after all. Once he thought her slain by his own hand, he wouldn’t know any better than to leave her alone. It was a perfect pivot…almost.

“Fortune!?”

Crap. She’d forgotten about Beowulf. Nadia cracked open one eye to see the wrestler rush Kazuya with his triple charge attack, Wulf Blitzer. “Ao, ao, awooooo!” His foe sidestepped the first charge, backdashed away from the second, and then sidestepped again to put himself at medium range. As Beowulf grabbed his chair and turned to hurl it, Kazuya leaped forward with a flying thrust kick that struck him square in the chest. “Gah!” He flew toward the halal food cart and just barely missed it, skidding to a stop by the rest area’s railing.

With a grunt, Beowulf used the cart to help pull himself up just in time to block a back leg snap kick from Kazuya that pushed him back into the railing. He looked up to see an overhead chop incoming and blocked it with his wrestling belt, then hopped in order to strike with Naegling Knee Drop on the way up.

That actually took Kazuya by surprise, which meant Beowulf connected and could continue with an aerial knife edge chop into a double Wulf Blitzer, forward and downward. After bringing his foe back to the ground, Beowulf extended with Cheap Pop, a quick stomp, then went for his microphone drop. He held it just long enough to go for a reset, but Kazuya saw straight through it, blocked high, and grabbed him for Gates of Hell. The savage back-breaker followed by a dismissive straight kick sent Beowulf flying, and he belly flopped to the floor only a foot or two away from Nadia.

He lifted his head up, inhaling sharply through gritted teeth, and was shocked to see Nadia’s fallen head winking wildly. Stunned by the macabre sight, he just stared for a moment before swallowing and giving an almost imperceptible nod. Maybe the wrestler’s kayfabe ability would come in handy after all.

“You MONSTER!” Beowulf pounded the floorboard dramatically, his tone one of almost cheesy dismay. The catgirl’s estimation of his acting skills plummeted. Sniffling, Beowulf rose and pretended to wipe tears from his eyes as he turned to face Kazuya. “Such cruel strength…! You won’t get away with thiiiiiiiiis!” With a bellow he charged, his gait clumsy and slow as if overcome with grief. Kazuya, sneering with disdain, lowered his arms as Beowulf approached. When he dodged, the wrestler overswung with such exaggerated strength that he practically threw himself over the railing behind Kazuya, wailing as he fell toward the pool. “Waaaaaaaaaaagh-!” SPLASH!

A second passed before Kazuya peered over the railing. He found Beowulf floating face-down on the water’s surface, looking like a washed-up corpse thanks to his wolf pelt, and saw no need to besmirch his clothes by examining him any further. “Imbeciles,” he muttered as purple bat wings sprung from his back. “What a farce.”

With a powerful beat of his wings the devil disappeared into the sky. Once they thought he was gone, nearby onlookers began to emerge from their hiding places and approach the field of battle, searching among the aftermath. As far as Kazuya encounters in Esaka went, there was much less damage than usual, thanks mostly to his targets not putting up much of a fight. Splashing and sputtering from down below, however, alerted the citizens to the fact that Beowulf was still very much alive. He swam toward the nearest place where some off-duty fighters and yokai could help him up, and while that was happening, the much grislier-looking ‘corpse’ began to move as well. Nadia schlorped her head back onto her neck, wrung out the excess blood, and dusted herself off as she got to her feet. As Beowulf approached, soaking wet, she shrugged with a wry smile. “Honestly? As one-sided beatdowns go, not that bad.”

“Says you,” the wrestler sighed, shaking his head. “I’m gonna have nightmares after seein’ your head like that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re alive somehow, but my heart just about stopped. Never do that again, okay?”

The feral giggled. “No pawmises~”

Beowulf sat down at a picnic table, waving off onlookers with assurances that he was fine. Things were settling down and getting back to normal pretty quickly; fights like this were not exactly uncommon occurrences in Esaka, after all. “Well, I’ve seen the leaderboards. If I’m gonna win Tekken, I gotta face that guy again. I barely scratched him!” He threw his hands up in resignation. “Whoever’s writing this storyline coulda given me a fightin’ chance, at least!”

“Hey, you got a couple good hits in! Really helped meowt by gettin’ his attention off me, too!” Nadia plopped down by the wrestler and patted him on the shoulder. “Aw, cheer up, dude! You got a couple more days before the main event. Get some more fights under your belt, maybe a couple spirits, and you’ll be fine. And hey, maybe someone’ll take him out before then.” Beowulf gave her a doubtful look, and she shrugged. “Look, all the other Seekers want him dead too. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” She looked up at the sky, narrowing her eyes against the drizzly rain. “Would’ve been nice if he dropped a hint about where he’s goin’. Can’t see a thing through this purrecipitation.”

As the conversation trailed off, and Nadia began to feel her nose to make sure it wasn’t broken, a young man with long brown hair approached the two. “Afternoon. Just wanted to say, congrats on surviving Kazuya. That’s definitely a win in my book; the man’s infamous for a reason. And thanks for not wrecking my cart while you’re at it.” He gestured toward his food stand. “If you feel like celebrating your ‘win’ with a bite to eat, I’ll give you a discount as thanks. It’s Lebanese food, straight from my home country. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

Grinning, Nadia turned to Beowulf. “I’ll bite!”

“Gotta keep our strength up,” the wrestler agreed. The two stood to follow Sahad to his cart, careful not to step in the blood Nadia left behind before the rain washed it away.

---

As Primrose strode forward to contact the UN agents, Band hung back, turning to face a different direction and feign being otherwise occupied to keep his attention discrete. When she lightly bumped into Mila, she took the MMA practitioner by surprise. The sight of the tall, gorgeous, and well-muscled dancer stunned Mila for a brief moment, as if she’d been starstruck by a random encounter with a celebrity, before she stepped back to reaffirm her personal space. “Oh, hey there,” she greeted Primrose with a friendly smile as the other two agents looked over. Her voice was higher than one might expect, with no trace of either a New York nor Spanish accent despite her heritage. “Yeah, these are pretty good! I mean, the hotdogs are just, y’know, run-of-the-mill, but the sausages are nice. Whatcha thinking of getting?”

As the conversation began, Band furrowed his brow slightly. Did they really need to be taking this angle with UN agents? They ought to be allies, after all, ready and willing to help one another when possible. Then again, maybe Primrose didn’t really trust them, and she could very well be right to distrust them. The Seekers could never truly count on anyone still under Galeem’s spell.

His attention briefly wandered to the Jeon Ryok Residence nearby. Primrose had recommended that he and Roland experience what she’d called ‘ki tuning’, and the immense palace definitely looked more like a place of spiritual learning than a hospital. Since his new Headlok arms from the eggheads in Lab 8 had been useful but not enough of an upgrade to guarantee him wins in bracket, maybe he owed it to the team to be scrounging for any advantage he could get at this point. He was a little hesitant, though, and not just because he doubted that the tuners could squeeze in an appointment while Primrose was making friends. There were lots of elements of Esaka, both architecturally and culturally speaking, that a born-and-raised New Meridian native like himself would find ‘foreign’, but few wore their heritage on their sleeves like the Jeon Ryok Residence. It was a little intimidating. Band had never heard of ki in his life, for one. His cyborg body featured plenty of instruments that could be tuned, but ki? The detective hadn’t the foggiest.

Still, if it was for the sake of the mission, he’d give it his best shot. Just not now.

He glanced back in the direction of Primrose, listening in. The charismatic dancer had worked her magic, tactfully turning a casual chat about frankfurters and condiments toward the many wonders of Esaka itself. She described the Flame Clock without naming it directly, framing it as a sort of one-of-a-kind tourist attraction, and it seemed to ring a bell. “Oh…I think I’ve seen something like that!” Mila exclaimed. “Up at the Top Tier. It shows up on the Four Kings’ broadcasts from time to time. A big, donut-shaped glass full of purple light, set into the plaza between the four skyscrapers.” She pursed her lips, giving Primrose a sad look. “Oh, but access is restricted. No way you’re seeing it in person.”

“Well, not if you just waltz up there,” Darli grinned as she stepped forward, dwarfing her luchador companion. “But the guards live and breathe the tournaments like everyone else. If there’s a big match goin’ on, you might be able to slip in for a li’l looksie. But you didn’t hear that from me.” She winked.

A few moments later, Big Band’s linkpearl lit up. He heard Sakura’s voice as she made a public service announcement for the team, sharing a juicy detail. “Another Consul?” Band frowned. As the governors who ruled each territory throughout the World of Light, the Consuls had a lot on their plates. If two were about to meet in Esaka, that couldn’t mean anything good. They could simply be getting together to plan their next skirmishes between their respective colonies, but the detective worried that they were joining forces to take action against the Seekers, or worse, the Lost Numbers.

A moment later, he heard Pit on the linkpearl, who requested more information and said he’d look into the matter himself. Band nodded to himself. It sounded like he and the team captain were of one mind.”

Thinking about the other details that Sakura mentioned about the Consul in question, Band tried to remember the map of the World of Light he saw in the Avenger’s bridge, specifically the Forbidden Kingdom. Northwest. Northwest. While he did look at it prior to his deployment, he couldn’t fully remember the region’s layout. If nothing else, though, the Seekers had a direction, and their exploits yesterday against the Jack shipment had proved that if they could identify where this other Consul was coming from, they could intercept and maybe eliminate him. At the end of the day, the removal of one more Consul (even temporarily) could only benefit the campaign.

Once Primrose rejoined him, Band addressed his companions. “If Sakura doesn’t find out anythin’ else, we oughta get in touch with the Lost Numbers,” he murmured to her and Roland, the latter of whom had been able to hear the announcement thanks to his brand-new linkpearl. “If we can figure out the Consul’s stompin’ grounds, we might be able to figure out which way he’s comin’ from, when, and how. With a strong enough strike force, we can take him out before he and Esaka’s Consul put their heads together.” As he spoke, he felt around the inside of his trench coat. He still had the Fulton Device he (and the other Seekers) had been given just before deployment, so they could pay the Avenger a visit in person. He had no guarantee that the Lost Numbers could give him the info he wanted, but since the members of Moebius were essentially public enemy number one, the Lost Numbers had to be keeping tabs on them.

Band’s gaze returned to the UN members. “I doubt Esaka folks would know much about another colony’s Consul, but we could try ‘em, and if not, see if the Lost Numbers know what’s up.” He narrowed his eyes. “Actually, I’m curious who Sakura heard this from, too. Consul activity ain’t your everyday gossip. Guess I’ll ask next time we meet up.” Since there probably wouldn’t be matches high-profile enough to distract Top Tier guards on day two of Pools, pivoting toward this new lead made sense, but Band was open to suggestion.



One by one, the threats amassed by the Cryptic Overseer crashed against the Seekers’ shore and were broken. Sectonia disposed of the misshapen monstrosity with extreme prejudice, but only minimal difficulty. Heismay, the Ace Cadet, and Ramattra challenged the eerie Stargazer, which proved its strength through a mix of various resistances and punishing attacks, but with Blazermate to assist them the trio ultimately triumphed. Mokou engaged the Cryptic Vulture in a high-flying, spectacular dogfight of ghostly and fiery projectiles, and after some back-and-forth finally incinerated the reanimated bones. And finally, Roxas and Ganondorf tag-teamed the fearsome, four-armed nightmare dentist in a barrage of light and dark, skillfully withstanding its oversized dental tools as they dismantled the mechanical malpractitioner.

Heismay, doubled over and hyperventilating from his back-to-back fights, couldn’t help but remember the room full of corpses with toothbrushes and strange metal headgear. A mad doctor the size of a Gauntlet Runner seemed like just the kind of nightmare that could have slain them. “Tis a rare blessing we met with no such thing ourselves,” he wheezed at Ace. He they had encountered the giant dentist after arduously cleansing the Forgotten Commune, they could have easily been too weary to contend with the Coven.

Once the dentist crumbled into ash, a victim of its own grisly drill, the phantom of Sandalphon that served as her game piece automatically moved across the remainder of the Dice Room’s board. When it came to rest on the one-hundredth space, a burst of fireworks went off, and the ghostly Cryptic Overseer glared down at the heroes responsible. ”Damn it all, I can’t believe this crap! I went all in, stacked the deck against ya, and thanks to you jokers I still went bust! Gaaaaah…” The giant floating skull sighed and shook his head. ”Welp, I guess that means you’re good to go. Get the hell outta here!”

The giant double doors swung open, revealing a dark and snowy mountainside beneath a cloudy night sky. Cold air blew in, and the denizens of the labyrinth needed no further invitation to get out. Students, shopkeepers, couriers, and cats all made a break for the exit, stampeding out the doors to freedom. The Seekers got moving as well, Sandalphon using the staff Edward had given her as a crutch as she hobbled as fast as her Petrification Disease would let her. After a moment, though, she found herself lifted into the air by some unseen force as little Alice ran past her, and though momentarily alarmed Sandalphon allowed the psychic cat to carry her out.

Scoffing, the Overseer watched everyone leave. ”Yeah, you better run! Don’t let me see y’all ‘round here again! I’ve got a work to do. Gotta remake this place from scratch, do it all over again. Ain’t nobody gettin’ outta here next time.” In quick succession, the other rooms of Winterhold College began to collapse in themselves, the cacophony of destruction growing louder and louder behind the last few escapees as they hurriedly made their way out. Then the doors slammed shut, and for a brief moment, all but the biting wind was still.



It took Sandalphon a moment to adjust, both to the low light and the bitter cold. Maybe she’d just gotten used to the more temperate climate within the labyrinth, but it felt even colder out here than she remembered. Once Alice gently set her down, Sandalphon examined her surroundings and found them totally unfamiliar. There was no sign of the snowfield with the spent Drilldozer nor even the college itself, just a mountainside outfitted with some desolate ruins including the giant double doors built into the rock wall itself. White grass and snow-laden dead boughs poked up between the wind-eroded stone bricks around her, though there were a couple magical lanterns seemingly providing heat, which the college survivors and cats crowded around. A section of the ruins a story or two above the Seekers jutted out over the void, and there some kind of statue sent a beam of blue energy up into the night sky. Maybe this exit had deposited everyone higher up the mountain? When Sandalphon looked upward, she saw the moon looming overhead, very close indeed.

The archangel took a quick head count. Two teammates were missing. “Any word on Tenna or the professor?” It turned out that the last Seekers to see them were Ganondorf and Ramattra, respectively. The former had parted ways with Tenna in the labyrinth, while the latter watched Layon disappear into a hole shaped just like him. Sandalphon pursed her lips and considered the matter, her pupil a loading ring. If Tenna had still been wandering when the labyrinth collapsed, could he have been evacuated to the Christmas village by the Cadet’s felyne rescue squad? She couldn’t say for sure if that sort of demise was something the cat crew could save him from, but she thought it likely. As for Layton, she did not venture to guess what had happened to him, but she could read between the lines and tell what had become of him. Without the two of them, White Team was down to just ten. We can’t keep a new recruit for the life of us, Sandalhon thought dryly. At this point, the only new recruits to actually stick around for the past few days were Edward, Ramattra, and Heismay. It was a sobering realization.

For another moment she stared at the double doors. The spirits from Sinners’ Inn hadn’t been among the survivors. Had they managed to persist thanks to their ghostly nature? She hoped so. Such kind, innocent souls deserved to rest easy, not be the disposable playthings of some other, evil spirit.

Sandalphon turned her focus to the people still here. A quick cast of Angelic Wings helped sooth anyone still suffering at the battle, and it also helped get the survivors’ attention, many of whom already recognized her as her team’s leader. “We’ve escaped Winterhold College, but our goal lies at the top of the mountain. Yours should be to get to safety.” After geographically positioning herself, she pointed her staff down the mountain in a particular direction. “There is a village to the south at the foothills of the mountain with food and warmth to spare. I recommend making your way there via the Midnight Walk. You’ll need to descend a stone lift and cross a chasm, but it should be doable.”

Byleth stepped forward, shivering from the cold thanks to her particular fashion sense. Behind her stood Primm, Thops, the aphid twins, the silent alchemist, Aramis, Diosdado, and a ton of cats. Primm and Aramis stood arm in arm, keeping one another very warm. “You have our deepest gratitude. We’ll make our way down. Good luck with your quest.” Sandalphon bowed her head, glad to have helped save so many people, and the survivors began their trek downward. For better or worse, Winterhold College was over with.


…Or was it?

As the survivors departed, one hung behind. Though still rather frazzled in appearance, Frederic appeared to be greatly relieved by the death of so many painted Freds. He did not seem to be at peace, however. Approaching Edward and Roxas, he cleared his throat. “Excuse me. About the paintings…I can tell that most are gone. The voices are much quieter, and I almost feel like myself. I have some medical supplies, and they’re yours by way of thanks. But…it’s not over yet.” He extended his hand and pointed a quivering finger at the four-armed painter standing in the snow, staring at him with the void where his face ought to be.

“That one. Right there. That’s the last painting. You can see it, right? Faceless. The most terrifying one of the bunch…b-but with all of you here, you can definitely take it! Please!”

The faceless painter shook his head, his hands held up in placation.

“Wait a moment,” Heismay piped up with furrowed brow. “According to our hunter, that one tells a different story. He claimed to be the original, and that his face was stolen by an impersonator.” The eugief stared at Frederic. “By you.”

Fred’s lips curled in disbelief, his mustache quivering beneath big blue eyes. “W-what!? That’s insane. I’m the original, who painted all the others. Just look at me! That…that thing, it’s lying! Trying to trick you, I swear!” He pointed at the faceless one again. “Y-you can’t…you can’t let it fool you! Come on, I’m the real Fred! ME! You’ve got to believe me!”

Though Primrose heard Sakura's message while chatting with the UN members, she gave no indication of it. She kept up the conversation, her tone and body language remaining light, innocent, and curious, and by the end of it she'd thanked the three of them and ended up with a plastic bag of to-go food hung on her arm as she made her way back to Band and Roland.

"Here you are," she said, fishing two paper wrapped sandwiches (the hot dog buns were conjoined on one side but it was still meat and fillings between bread, so Primrose figured they qualified) out and handing them to the detective and fixer.

Big Band wasted no time in bringing up the new information. A second consul coming to Esaka would be disastrous after all, especially if they couldn't find a way to disable or destroy the Flame Clock beforehand. Then they would have to contend with two superpowers that could escape, heal, and return to finish the fight. If possible Primrose wanted to stop that from happening by any means possible - which meant she shared Band's line of thinking to abandon the clock for now and ambush the second consul sooner. But when he brought up fishing for more information in Esaka or going to the Lost Numbers for help, she held up one of her hands.

"No need," Primrose told him, a small, satisfied look briefly passing her features. Thanks to the week she'd spent gathering information in Meridi-at-Han, the little details Sakura gave them were all Primrose needed to know to identify which of the consuls would be visiting. "I'm certain that is Consul R. If he's coming from the northwest, it'll most likely be from the Tyrannian Plateau."

The dancer had made sure to familiarize herself with the world map, but it helped that she'd been close by the area before. Before the detective might ask how she got her own information, she volunteered it herself. "When Roland, Goldlewis, and I-" she pointed a finger between herself and the fixer. "-spent that week laying low, it was in a city north of here. Travelers passed through it all the time. It was there I learned about this region's consuls. B is here now, the Phantom Thieves eliminated J, so that leaves R... who fits Sakura's description perfectly."

She turned her head to look in the vague direction that R would arrive from, though her view was blocked by the High Tier's other large, fancy buildings. Primrose glanced back at her companions before motioning for them to follow her so that they could skirt the edge of the tier, get a look at the land outside of Esaka from this elevation, and walk while they talked.

"I actually have an... acquaintance, that lives in the Tyrannian Plateau area. If I could find a way to contact her, I'm sure she'd give us a hand. Perhaps even pinch R from two directions," Primrose mused. Now that she knew the phone magic, maybe she should start thinking about teaching it to others for just such a situation. "Regardless... that would leave when and how he'll be arriving - but so long as he doesn't travel by air, if we got a head start we could catch him on the road."

Or perhaps before he even left for Esaka, if this was some sort of scheduled meeting for later this week. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd been invited to see the end of the tournament series, or was just a fan of it.

"Therion and I had been considering ways to sneak into the Top Tier, but if it'll be easier to wait until the city is distracted to do it, then going after R seems prudent."

She didn't need to mention that going after the consul had risks, as all of the Seekers were aware of the power they wielded, but it was possible to beat them. If they took R by surprise with a strong, coordinated assault, they could get an early advantage and triumph. It might also draw out B, whom Primrose really wanted to put down. But if the Seekers decided to go for it anyway, then the dancer was all in.

She looked at Big Band and Roland for their thoughts, though she suspected she already knew where they stood. "What do you think? Shall we collect everyone before the next round of matches start to put together a strategy?"

There was just enough time between the Stargazer's defeat and the completion of the board game for the Seekers to catch their breath a little and feel some relief. When the various foes around the Dice Room fell and the ghostly game piece move towards the goal Ace could practically feel what was left of his energy bleed out through his legs, but he was professional enough not to collapse. It did take him a few seconds to rise from his firing position though, only offering Heismay a vigorous nod at the mention of the dentist-shaped bullet they'd dodged. And, unsurprisingly, he found the strength to beat a quick escape from the college once the exit doors opened.

In the right circumstances, without the whole maze being part of some ghastly spirit's game, the college could have been an amazing\, intriguing place. When the Cadet left it though, he hoped they'd be leaving it behind forever. Only once everyone was out and Sandalphon had cast her healing spell -which for once Ace did not cringe away from, merely letting the healing power wash over him- did the hunter fully relax, flopping down and letting his back hit the snow.

"We made it out!" he said, his breath puffing out in the cold air. "Fresh air...! This is the kind of chilling experience I prefer."

He remained lying in the snow while people shuffled around, got warm, and the boss did her head count. He probably should have taken this time to go over his inventory, maybe look at the spirits that had been spit out with them, but he needed the break to just decompress. And only now could Ace see the amount of people that were gathered there on the mountainside. Every one of them had been trapped in the college too? It was fortunate they'd been able to save that many, and the cats too. A handful of them had come over to him to nuzzle up against his thick fur coat, and the Cadet turned onto his side to give them all scratches and pets. It wasn't a secret that he got along well with felines of all stripes, so he was glad to run his hand over their head and backs, dodging a few of the stranger mutations they had while he did, rather than ruminate on the missing members of the team and anyone else that wouldn't have made it out of the maze. His brain and body had really been put through the ringer in there, from the simple stress of the unknown to the gauntlet of battles to the saturation of magic throughout the whole labyrinth. If he dwelt on bad news he'd probably lose his mind.

It wasn't long before the refugees gathered up to heed Sandalphon's suggestion to head down the mountain towards Christmas Village, escorted by the team's Witcher. Ace sat up then, brushing snow from his hair. Most of the cats that had gathered around him trotted towards their friends as they made to leave, though a few stayed behind and rubbed up against various members of the Seekers. One in particular (a tabby cat of warm gray and tan coloring with a rather goofy face, polydactyl toes on her front paws, and a short antler growing out of one side of her head) stayed firmly seated between Ace's legs, tilting her head to look up at him and poking her horn into his abdomen. He idly scratched behind one of her ears after turning her head slightly to move the antler.

"Oh, hold on - one of them was a healer," the Cadet mentioned. He scanned the group and found the lanky, decrepit man that one of Sectonia's antlers had carried who had purged the queen and Mokou if their curses. "Boss, maybe he can help you?"

He still had those assorted pills too, and though the chance they would cure or even just help with Sandalphon's symptoms was low he'd offer them anyway if someone could identify them.

Eventually the survivors did leave. "Good luck you guys," Ace said to the party splitting off, raising a hand high to wave. He caught Geralt's eye before the man departed with them, giving him a nod. "We'll see you again soon!"

Maybe even all of them, if they stuck around the village and the Seekers went back there to celebrate a job well done after they completed their mission. It was a nice thought, though going right back to their flying base to feast and crash would be just as good.

Ah. Dalamadammit. Ace thought to himself as food crossed his mind. Did the White Team even have any left? The peak of the mountain didn't seem too far away, but they had no idea how long they'd have to wait until the Guardian responded to their beacon - if he even really did. And they'd want to rest before facing him anyway, which was going to be hard to do if they were cold and hungry. He sat back on his hands, looking up at the what he could see of the remainder of their path. They'd have to see if there was any game to be found up here.

Sort of lost in thought, Ace hadn't even noticed that two of the college survivors (that weren't cats) had lingered behind until the kitty sitting with him let out a rumbling meow that drew the hunter's attention back down. He missed some of what the artist said at first, but caught on quickly that he was accusing the friendly, faceless man of something and asking the Seekers to... what, kill him?

Ace was on his feet again quickly, stepping forward to put himself a little between the faceless Fred and the other one. The antlered cat, who seemed a little confused when Heismay said, "our hunter," decided to play along like she knew what was going on and played her role by arching her back up high while looking at the accuser. Meanwhile, the Seekers' actual hunter spoke up.

"That's right," he said. "He can hardly communicate, so why would he waste time trying to lie? And even if he was trying to trick us, he had plenty of time already to attack us and didn't!"

There had been more than one instance where the faceless Fred was alone with only one of the little groups of Seekers that had encountered the parlor as they moved in and out of the drafting studio. If he was only pretending to be helpless and could see, then he also could have followed them into any of the other rooms they'd gone through, or trapped one or all of them by removing their improvised door stops.

"He said someone stole his face, and I believe him." Ace wasn't privy to the whole Fred story with the paintings and headaches and what not, but he could see the many similarities between the two men now - and he was inclined to side with Heismay's words about the thief being right in front of them.

Ramattra // Word count - 427 +71 EXP
LEVEL 9 - 154/90

The beams of gentle light shining through stormy clouds of snow were a welcome mix of signals in the Omnic’s circuitry. The dull dark Labyrinth they had escaped from seemed to have brought them closer to the peak than Ramattra anticipated, making the detour less than inconvenient. The scenery was magnificent, and no doubt of some fascinating magical world based on its magnificent structuring. With a sigh of relief, the cold air was a welcome sight compared to the dangerous threats the College posed.

Seeing the two Freds, Ramattra almost felt inclined toward eliminating both of them- entirely unsure whether either of them were telling the truth. Every Frederic that the Omnic had interacted with told a different story- however, two of them were more truthful than the rest… Ramattra hobbled over toward the group, immediately approaching the pair of Frederic’s who argued amongst the Seekers that the other was the imposter. There was a very simple way to discern this puzzle.

“What caused your paintings to come to life?” The Omnic’s voice was clear and stark, a commanding shout over the chatter of his allies. The Fred looked at his faceless counterpart, then at Ramattra, before speaking his case.

“We haven’t met have we? As I told the others- I was outside painting, particularly inspired by the scenery… when I created an awful painting that gave my creations life! I don’t know what happened but… that painting was the cause of all this!”

Ramattra nodded, before looking toward the faceless Fred, who without a mouth was unable to speak. Faceless shook his head, trying to discredit the other’s story. He began panickedly pantomiming opening a window- followed by painting. He pointed at the original Fred as he motioned for “painting”, trying his best to clue the Omnic.

Ramattra’s cold gaze turned to Sandalphon, his decision made. “The ‘original’ Fred’s story doesn’t stick. One of the College’s residents and the Bright painting Fred both stated that the clones were created after the original looked outside at something horrific. Besides, if looking at that supposed ‘terrible painting’ caused all of this, how would they have seen it if they weren’t alive before?”

Frederic began to grow uneasy, his expression shifting rapidly as he felt his options becoming more and more limited. “I… you… YOU JUST HAD TO GO SNOOPING AROUND HUHH?!” His form began to change rapidly, globs of paint melting rapidly from his body into a discordant rainbow.

“SANDALPHON! NOW!” He shouted the command- hoping the Archangel had enough time to blow the Facetaker to the ground

Nothing like a brush with death to make life taste sweeter, Nadia thought. In her case, it made the seasoned shawarma wrap from Sahad’s halal cart extra savory, a sublime explosion of tender rotisserie meat doused with a fragrant, delectable garlicky yoghurt and tahini sauce. The fact that it came at an appreciable discount made it even better. Maybe it was just the drizzly rain on her face, but the feral found herself practically weeping in joy as she devoured her lunch alongside Beowulf, who evidently had enough of an appetite (hyper-caloric breakfast be damned) to go in for seconds. Nadia threw caution to the wind and joined him, happily stuffing herself with marinated lamb–a rare delicacy nowhere to be found on the avenues of New Meridian. “Not baaad,” she declared through a half-full mouth, which garbled her sheep impression slightly. “No way lamb is street food where you’re from?”

Sahad nodded with a proud smile. “Certainly. Shawarma can be made from other meats, but lamb is a time-tested favorite. It originated roughly two hundred years ago in Turkey from the ‘doner kebab’ and has been a Levantine staple ever since.”

“Turkey?” Nadia blinked as she chewed. “How did lamb come from turkey?”

Chuckling, Sahad clarified. “Oh, Turkey is the name of a country where I’m from. Well, it isn’t where I’m from exactly, but you know what I mean.”

“Gotcha, gotcha. Well, don’t I feel sheepish,” Nadia giggled.

Shortly after the two wrapped up their meal and began spitballing about what to do next, Nadia started to hear voices through her newly-obtained linkpearl. She heard Sakura’s tip, then the brief responses from Pit and Band. Frowning, she mulled over the new info, wondering if this concerned her. When Beowulf shot her a curious look she held up a finger to ask for a moment as she considered the situation. After a few moments, Band announced that the team would be getting the Avenger involved, so it sounded like this would be a big deal. That seemed kind of extreme, since how did they know that this tip was reliable in the first place? She guessed that the squad that would be deployed to the Tyrannian Plateau could give word on R either way, but still.

Ultimately, the feral had a decision to make. She didn’t really want to get into another life-or-death situation today, especially with someone at the top of the World of Light’s pecking order, but oh well. If anything, her run-in with Kazuya had proved that she couldn’t just run from her problems and hope for the best, even in a place like this. If trouble would find her either way, it might be time to come clean and do her part. It would be a good while until her next match, after all.

“Got a call from my team,” Nadia told Beowulf after a few moments. “Gotta go. Good luck with your matches. If things start gettin’ rough, head to the Mortal Kombat pools and find yourself some buff dude’s spirit to fuse with. I know it’s morbid, but we gotta do what we gotta do, right?”

The wrestler furrowed his brows. “If you say so. Take care of yourself out there.”

Nadia gave him a genial smack on the back, then stood up from the picnic table and set off at a jog. It seemed like the light but persistent rain plaguing Esaka was finally beginning to let up, and streaks of early afternoon light pierced the thick, gray clouds. She took that as a good omen, and once she found a spot, Nadia sighed before flicking on her linkpearl. “This is Ms. Fortune. Where we meetin’?”

---

Though Big Band had already started the gears in his head turning in order to tackle another new investigation, Primrose intervened to reveal that there was really no need to snoop around for any more information on the inbound Consul. Thanks to her earlier fact-finding expedition elsewhere in the Forbidden Kingdom, the dancer had all the intelligence she needed to dispel the mystery surrounding Esaka’s rumored visitor. “The Tyrannian Plateau,” Band repeated. He hadn’t heard of it himself, owing to his extended stay in Edinburgh MagicaPolis while the other Seekers set up shop in Mafia Town, Skyworld, and Meridi-at-han. One of these days, the detective figured, he should really just spend an evening in the Avenger’s bridge poring over the Lost Numbers’ map and data banks with a fine-tooth comb. Neither did Band recall hearing about Consul R before, so the Seekers probably had yet to tangle with him. With Moebius, it was like pulling names out of a hat: you never knew which letter of the alphabet you were going to get. Still, just a name or two was an invaluable tip. Now the investigators knew where they needed to look.

Primrose went on to mention an acquaintance in that area, although right now it sounded like she had no way of reaching her. Even if the team couldn’t call in for help, a contact could potentially help get new arrivals situated. Given the importance of this new mission, Band found himself thinking big right off the bat, as he considered requesting an emergency pickup from Esaka and redeployment to the Plateau. Interception sounded like the best option in order to minimize casualties and interference, but it would be a tricky operation even if the Seekers knew R’s mode of travel and timeframe. One bad assumption could lead to them missing their window, or worse, alerting Moebius. “Consul L traveled by air in a huge ship,” he recalled. “The rulers of this world ain’t gonna skimp on their own convenience. Or security, for that matter.”

When Primrose suggested gathering the crew, Band pursed his lips, thinking. “Honestly, we might not have time to sit everyone down and talk shop in person. I think we gotta radio the Avenger right now. Get someone to your contact on the Plateau to get eyes on R before he leaves, so we know when and how he’s comin’. We could Fulton up and go ourselves, but it’d be faster to get someone topside to do it while we gear up for a sortie down here. Dunno if we can loop the UN into it this time, not against a Consul…”

It went without question that he’d rather prioritize this over his own more-or-less-doomed tournament run, but unless other registrants followed suit it’d be only him, Primrose, and the Koopa Kids against R. It was a bad day to have misplaced five teammates.

If Band was right about their time table being short, then his suggested course of action made more sense than delaying the Seekers' leave from Esaka, and the Avenger could set its course for the Tyrannian Plateau sooner. "Let's contact them, then."

Primrose had tipped her umbrella in such a way that any passersby that might feel like snooping on their conversation wouldn't be able to see their faces, and the rain further dampened the sound of their already lowered voices. Anything to keep their discussion a little more private while they were out in the open like this.

"I don't mind touching down in the Plateau to coordinate things there if needed. I'm sure those Power Stone Games will be over soon too, I can take Therion or someone else with me," she said. It would be better than putting a group of the Lost Numbers in danger.

Band nodded, then activated his linkpearl to address the team. “Hey now. Accordin’ to Primrose, we’re dealing with R, consul of the Tyrannian Plateau. We’re gonna call the Avenger, let the folks up there know, and get ‘em to send a squad to the Plateau to find R and keep eyes on him. Once he’s on his way, we’ll intercept him ‘fore he gets here, and we’ll need all the help we can get. I’ll keep y’all updated. Band out.”

After that, he turned off his linkpearl and attempted to tap into the mystical power connected to him by the Seekers’ leader, trying to contact her from afar. The detective had no skill or experience whatsoever with mysticism of any stripe, but he trusted that the archangel’s own ability would make up for his magic illiteracy and enable this crucial connection. “Sandalphon?” At the name, a sigil manifested by his head -rather similar to the phone magic Primrose had learned, really- and after a moment Band cleared his throat to try again. “Uh, Sandalphon?”

“This is Sandalphon speaking,” a deadpan voice replied to him out of the ether. In the background Band could hear what sounded like a strong wind. “Mr. Birdland. Good to hear from you after not reporting in for so long. What is your status?”

“Uh…” There wasn’t really time to fill Sandalphon in on everything that Gold Team had experienced, so Band cut to the chase. “I’ll report later. Right now, we got a tip that Consul R is going to travel to Esaka from the Tyrannian Plateau some time today. We don’t want two Consuls in our hair, so we’re hopin’ to cut him off and sort him out ‘fore he reaches the city. For that, we need eyes on the Plateau. Can you put me through to the Avenger?”

Sandalphon took the news in stride as she got to work on Band’s request straight away. “One moment…connecting…you’re through. Commander, do you copy?”

A synthetic voice replied. “This is SJ. What’s the situation?” Once Band reiterated the news and his request, SJ came to a quick decision. “...Very well. We’ll set a course for the Plateau. Our intelligence on R is limited, but since much of the region is wilderness, his options for departure point are limited. We cannot involve the Avenger in the interception directly in case this is a trap, but we can drop additional supplies outside Esaka ahead of time if need be. SJ out.”

“Good luck, Gold Team,” Sandalphon added after the Lost Numbers’ commander signed off. “Sandalphon out.”

Almost as soon as the long distance call was disconnected, another person patched into the linkshell network. Primrose tipped her head and then pointed to her ear to inform Band to listen in again.

"You guys found out about the other consul already?! You work fast! But if we all leave the city won't that mess up our plan of getting to the Guardians?"

“We ain’t leavin’ for long,” the detective replied. “Not all of us, either. Just those who can spare the time. Gotta hope that’ll be enough.” He paused for a moment. “Band out.”

A second or two after everything went quiet, Band let out a deep breath and nodded at his companions. “Alright, let’s spread the word, get ready, then make our way out of Esaka. Whoever’s on the case, we’ll trust ‘em to steer us in the right direction.”

With Primrose of a mind to pay the Power Stone Games (and the Seekers involved in them) a visit, she, Roland, and Band needed to discuss where the nascent strike team would meet. Before they came to a consensus, though, an unexpected voice in their linkpearls interrupted them.

“This is Ms. Fortune. Where we meetin’?”

Band raised his eyebrows, then tuned in. “Fortune. Nice to hear from you. We were thinkin’ we’d meet up in that farmin’ village north of Esaka. See you there.” With that he nodded to Roland and Primrose, then turned to make his way out of the High Tier. For now, the Flame Clock could wait. The Seekers’ new objective was as ambitious as it was short-notice, and even more so than the raid against the Qliphoth it would be a test of their entire campaign’s ability to plan, coordinate, and act. To make this takedown happen everyone would need to be firing on all cylinders, and they needed all the right people for the job.

…

Aboard the Avenger, the squat and rotund Nopon inventor Tora, flanked by his faithful companion Poppi QT-PA-2T, waddled into the Bridge to find the seamstress Anais, the businesswoman Susie, and the eerie, insectoid Grimm, an odd group if ever there was one. After blinking a couple times in confusion at the two and glancing at Poppi (who just shrugged) Tora’s gaze landed on the airship’s robotic commander SJ, the automaton responsible for summoning him here in the first place. “Meh-meh? What everypon disturbing Tora in middle of important project for?”



As the icy wind scoured the mountainside, blowing flurries of snow and whistling through long-dead boughs, and Geralt took it upon himself to lead the survivors’ descent to Christmas Town, Sandalphon’s unblinking eye remained fixed on the two opposing Frederics. With no weapons, magic, or supernatural abilities in evidence, it didn’t make for much of a showdown. The fact remained, however, that one of these Freds must be true, and the other false. Well, admittedly both could be false, but that would make for a rather anticlimactic end to this sordid tale in the archangel’s opinion. Unfortunately, she could not sneak a peek at the conclusion of this confrontation with her External Information Network, since as far as her scans could tell, neither one of them exhibited what she’d call an ordinary human biology. That meant that the Seekers would need to deduce the real Fred’s identity the old-fashioned way.

Sandalphon considered what she knew. Edward had been the first to encounter what she’d presumed to be the real Fred, with a frazzled but otherwise mundane appearance. From the first time she’d scanned him she’d known about his abnormal biology, but chalked it up to him merely being from another world, unaware at that point about the potential doppelgangers in play. She’d witnessed two other Freds, the bitey one in the bedchamber and the dramatic one in the kitchen, both of whom struck her as patently false and had likely been wiped from existence along with the Winterhold labyrinth. Then there had been ‘Godhead Fred’ as the Cryptic Overseer put it, a ghastly and outrageous abomination that made mockery of the divine, which Sectonia had rightfully slain. As she considered the matter, she did notice a handful of cats lingering around the Seekers, but right now she needed to focus on the task at hand.

As Ace stepped in to try and keep the Freds calm while everyone talked it out, Sandalphon’s mind raced. She wished that she’d been privy to the conversation, as it were, that the Ace Cadet sustained with the silent, faceless Fred. At the moment, she had very little to go on, not much more than her own observation that while both Freds seemed to be biologically inhuman, one clearly made much more of an effort to look human while the other did not, and that just so happened to be the one demanding that his counterpart be slain. Sandalphon could not argue with Edward’s notion that each painted Fred deserved to live, but if one such ‘figment’ happened to be actively dangerous, malicious, or both, the Seekers were well within their right to make the world a safer place. It seemed like Ace and Heismay both believed the faceless one’s story, much to the dismay of the other.

“That’s absurd!” Frederic cried. “Why would you believe him over me when he’s clearly a monster? He’s dribbling, and he has four arms, for Pete’s sake. It’s not like I attacked you, either. If any Fred attacked you people, it’d just sign its own death warrant, anyway. They all just want the same one thing: to be the last Fred standing.”

Ramattra stepped forward. Out of everyone on the team, he had seen and spoken to the most Freds, and his experience offered him a solution that the others lacked. He posed the two Freds a question, heard out the talkative Fred, then tried to interpret the charades of the silent one. In the discrepancy between their stories, the Omnic found his answer. He called out the accuser, pointing out his flawed story. This accusation, on top of the others’ suspicion, proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. ‘Fred’ began to transform, and Ramattra called for Sandalphon’s intervention–needlessly. The archangel was, after all, always ready.

She hurled a Frost Lock freezing the Face Taker solid mid-transformation. A targeting device appeared in her hand, and as she took aim she lifted the other for attention, then pointed two fingers forward. “All troops, open fire!”

Everyone hastened to attack, bombarding the frozen Face Taker with a fusillade of bullets, arrows, and spells. Once Sandalphon completed her Headquarter Support Request, an airstrike descended to finish the onslaught with a well-aimed, deafening cluster bomb.

The action was uproarious, but brief. When Sandalphon’s Freeze wore off and the Dissociation kicked in, its stockpiled damage proved enough to pulverize the false Frederic, splattering him across the snow like so much paint. On top of the mess lay a grisly but telling sight: a human face, skinned and stuck in a ghastly look of abject horror. Carefully, Heismay crunched through the freezing paint and lifted the face off the ground, pinched between his index and thumb claw. He then turned, approached the final Fred, and extended his hand to offer the painter his face. Gingerly the warped man accepted the scrap of flesh, plastered it atop the cavernous abyss in his head, and smoothed it out as if he were washing his face. When he raised his head, Frederic looked out at the assembled Seekers with big, watery blue eyes, nervously straightening his disheveled black mustache.

“Oh, thank god! It's back on! Egh. That feels better.” He let out a shaky, relieved sigh. “Thanks for that. For everything, all of you. The voices…the thing that took my face…all gone. A thousand thanks. I owe you, big time.” He clasped his hands. “Let me paint a duplicate of any piece of gear you want. Not guns or weapons- only clothes, other gear. I can only do this once, so think about it for a while, okay? But I owe you, and I want to do this for you.”

Heismay nodded with a tentative smile. “You’re welcome. Doing good is its own reward, as they say, but I doubt we’d decline such a reward. We’ll talk it over, I’m sure.” He glanced back at the ashy paint to make sure that the impersonator was still dead. “So…what exactly happened to you?”

After a moment, Fred’s gaze turned toward the cloudy night sky above. “It was a calm, beautiful night. The kind of night that needed to be immortalized in painting. There was something in the sky... I couldn't identify it, but I captured it anyway.” He looked down, staring at his four hands. They shook, either from the cold, from his own fear, or both. “It changed me. Whatever I painted... whatever it was... I will never be the same. Almost everything I paint now seems to come to life.“

Sandalphon immediately thought about what Primm said, about what Byleth saw, and what poor Satori read from her mind. Some kind of phenomenon or entity so eldritch in nature that the mere act of observing it, even indirectly, could irreparably alter someone. It was a terrifying notion, but luckily, whatever Byleth witnessed through the Observatory’s telescope in the maze seemed absent from the World of Light’s sky, out here. Otherwise, there was no telling what fate would befall the world and its populace. She shivered. “Frederic. If you can provide this service more than once, or help in other ways, we would be happy to offer you a safe home at our base. You would no longer be a prisoner, but one of us, a welcome member of our team. A hero, helping to save the world.”

“A hero?” Fred smiled wryly. “It sounds absurd. Childish, even. And yet, after seeing you save so many strangers, myself included, it seems almost credible. I could follow the others to Christmas Town, but perhaps this is the meaning I’ve been hoping to find and capture in my art. And I do really owe you, regardless.” He pursed his lips. “A few minutes to think about it, if I may.”

He seated himself by a lantern to warm up as he mull over the invitation, leaving the Seekers to settle down after the brief burst of excitement. Even after everything a handful of the cats from the labyrinth had yet to move on, and to their credit they’d barely flinched from the noisy lightshow that spelled the Face Taker’s end. As carefully as she could so as not to agonize her joints, Sandalphon knelt to stroke the white-striped, moss-colored fur of a scruffy, tufty, cat. Her long whiskers, tired eyes, and shriveled frame with much more fur than body gave her a very world-weary look, and the human part of Sandalphon could not help but pity the poor creature. The old soul at her feet had seen and lived through so much, and there was no telling what day might be the kitty’s last, and yet she still wanted love. A place to belong. “It looks like both our days are numbered,” she murmured quietly, slipping one arm under the cat’s belly in order to lift her up. “For as long as they last, let us spend them together.”

“Meeeeeeeow,” the cat replied. Sandalphon narrowed her eye at the feline’s heart-shaped collar. Saranwrap, she read. How exotic.

While Sandalphon found a kindred spirit, Edward interviewed a scrappy-looking cat, and Ace continued to enjoy a misshapen tabby’s affection, Heismay held back. If what he’d seen in the Dice Room was any indicator, these felines were uncommonly intelligent and capable fighters and a number seemed eager to find companions among the Seekers, but the eugief planned to exclude himself as a candidate. He shuffled away from the others, toward a dead tree. With the peak of Moon Mountain in sight, the heroes had plenty more action ahead of them, so he hopped up and hung upside-down from a sturdy branch to take this chance to rest. He closed his eyes until he heard a curious meow below him, at which point Heismay cracked open one ruby-red eye and looked down, knowing what he’d see.

Two young cats stood beneath him in the snow, gray in color, similar enough to be half-brothers, perhaps. The stripier of the two sported green eyes while the other featured a snaggletooth and knobby knees. While the latter hung back, looking a little nervous, the former sat on his haunches and reached up with fuzzy gray paws to try and bat at the bat-man like a dangling cat toy.

Heismay closed his eyes and turned his face away. “You had better throw your lot in with someone else, little ones. I am unfit as either parent or guardian. Just leave me be.” When the brothers did not retreat, Heismay let out a sigh, then extended his claw. “Look, over there. Young Roxas has several pets already, and he treasures each one. Our Cadet knows his felines, see there? You’d do well in his care. Perhaps become hunting companions. And Edward would no doubt offer stellar tutelage, master of beasts that he is.” He curled his lips, quiet for a moment. “I can avail you nothing.”

Unfortunately, neither cat seemed to get the picture. They remained right where they were, prompting a weary groan from Heismay. Maybe he’d overestimated these beasts. Why would they be able to comprehend his speech? To show that actions spoke louder than words, Heismay swung forward and flapped down, jogging back toward the group in an effort to get away from the brothers. Nevertheless, he could hear their little paws pattering through the snow behind him. “How are we doing?” He crossed his wings, ignoring the cats at his feet. “We should not dally long. With no stagecoach, time is not on our side.”

Round 2

FIGHT!

Unlike before, Terumi did not go full gung-ho with his opening. While he did immediately dash forward, he did not slash at Grima. Instead, he took advantage of her immediate blocking to grab her by the arm to open her up for a throw, only to be stopped by a shimmering field that threw him back, a small spell that Grima had thrown up in an instant once she realized what he was doing.

“Not a chance vermin. You’ve had enough opportunity to lay your lowly hands upon me” Grima says as she throws a hand up, causing an eruption of spikes to spear Terumi once again.

“Lowly? Ha! Says the child stuck using a toy to talk!” Terumi retorts, kicking the ground to throw up a wave of his own dark energy, slamming into the spikes and smashing them into pieces, jumping back as Grima leapt over the shattered spikes and slashed through the air where he was mere moments before. Then he dashed forward, swinging with his own knife at Grima’s throat, only for it to be knocked away as Grima’s sword spun in her hand. And for a moment, the two traded blows in perfect tandem, Terumi’s various knives from both his hands and shoes being redirected by Grima’s blade.

Eventually, Terumi took a step back as Grima countered a wave of his dark energy with a miniature wave of dark magic, yelling “GLEAMING FANG!” as more energy surrounded him yet again, followed by him charging forward. But unlike before, Grima did not send out a wave of spikes to futilely try to stop him… Nor did she simply block the hit. Instead, she simply narrowed her eyes… And just before the serpent reached her, she shot out her hand, two tendrils of dark magic shooting out and binding Terumi from within his own energy, which continued forth but harmlessly dispersed without its host sustaining it, “W-What?!”

“Predictable little worm” was all the retort Grima gave Terumi as she proceeded to overload the two tendrils, blasting Terumi away and sending him tumbling across the ground. However, when he nearly came to a stop, a singular dark spike erupted from the ground and slammed into his back, sending him flying back to Grima, who brought her sword up in a rising motion that slashed across Terumi’s chest, knocking him into the air and vulnerable to Grima’s downward slash that sent them both back to the ground.

With a frustrated growl, Terumi quickly recovered from his position, rolling away from Grima and back to his feet, “Cocky bitch” he grumbled, shoving his hand into the arena floor. For a moment, Grima simply tilted her head, before she glanced behind her and noticed the dark green chain erupting from the ground behind her and flying towards her back. An attack that she easily avoided by just jumping in the air, holding her hand out as a magical sigil quickly formed in front of it, “Ruination” the Fell Vessel said calmly, before similar magical sigils quickly formed around Terumi as he tore his hand from the ground, unable to recover and block fast enough as two spears of darkness formed out of the air and quickly stabbed themselves into Terumi’s body… And then erupted into an explosion of dark magic from within.

GRIMA WINS

Landing back on the ground, Grima rose to her feet with a small ‘hmph’, “So worm, still feeling confident? Or must I put you deeper into the dirt before you learn your lesson?” she asked the small smoke cloud that had formed from her attack.

It only took a few moments for Terumi to respond, the smoke clearing after a few moments… Revealing his body half blown apart, quickly repairing itself with dark energy. It wasn’t the bloody kind of damage, but rather as if a vase had been broken apart, “Got lucky with that one. Don’t expect the same result. This time, I’ll fucking kill you”

Grima couldn’t help but laugh slightly at that, “Kill me? Even if the rules allowed it… Greater mortals than you have tried. Greater gods have tried. You lack the proper methods to rid my spirit” Grima comments, causing Terumi to grin, wiping his hand on his pants as he stood back up.

“Oh, trust me. I have my ways”

Edward lowered his throwing arm, saving the last Flasks of strong Turpentine he’d been given, having thrown the other at face stealer Fred after the frost lock had ended. He’d been intending to suggest using them as a ‘test’ to see whose form ran, but logic had dictated a solution to the problem before that had been needed.

He stashed the last anti-paint being weapon, and then lowered a hand down to pet Loona, the spectral wolf having re-frozen face stealer Fred as soon as he’d unfrozen, the Seeker’s combined firepower more than enough to chewing through the regen her own freezing power caused.

”Well done”

He also offered the hulking snoruyo he’d gathered up before their exit a nod as well as an ”and you”, though the impossible creatures didn’t react much to praise.

The SomnaDrix hadn’t gotten close enough to get involved.

Notably absent from the man’s little army of creatures were the Taffy the traffikrab and the unnamed Chillanth, which he was rather disappointed in himself about. He could only hope that they would be able to group up with Tenna and somehow escape the maze, or had been evacuated by Ace’s friendly feline familiars.

Still. The man was sadly used to losses, and so he focused on the here and now rather than dwell on the past. There’d be time for that later when they weren't standing on a freezing mountain top and needing to get themselves prepared for climbing even higher.

First off, there was the offer to get a duplicate of an item, and for that, Edward suggested his Frozen Heart, as it was a powerful magic item that he expected other mages in the group might be able to make use of its mana capacity, cooldown reduction, armor boost and attack speed slowing aura.

Having put thought into what he had on his person made him more aware that he was rather overloaded at this point, prompting some inventory management. His excess melee weapons like the war scythe and infected rainfall were stored now that he had the spellcaster suiting Arche’s guardian blade first and foremost. Then he came to the bundle of papers on deadra he’d found and kept a hold on just in case they were relevant to the maze. They had not, but before he got rid of them he decided to have a quick peruse once more.

This research prompted two things. The first was when he came across the description of a Cold-Flame Antonarch, a demonic fire elemental that burned with cold instead of heat. It caused him to pause, glance around the frigid peak, and consider.

”Perhapse. Perhaps I have been a fool to fight these elements, instead of embracing them… hmm… yes perhaps if I-” he said, before holding up the sheets to the mountain top high above and channeling magic, drawing in the desolate cold from around, and also drawing down the power of the moon that loomed above. The magic and essence pooled, forming a sympathetic link with a vault of magical tomes. The one he had reached for, the Tome of the cold dark did not come, but still the powers of shadows he claimed, forging from the deadric scribblings the Tome of the Looming Frost.

The second was the triggering of a memory, spurred on by this magical creation, as he reached out his other hand towards that same said vault, and claimed what was his from within, forging the Tome of the Dreadnaught in his other hand.



With a self satisfied smile he added two tomes to his collection, which was now rather full of the books. It was good that they were magical enough to negate their own weight, more floating with him than being carried.

With the collection assembled, he got to work, first and foremost summoning forth his own creation, reading allowed from his work furthering the work of the commonwealth’s Dreadnaughts utilizing the powerful magic that had flowed in the wake of the linking of words ”Dreadnought technologies are unmatched on the battlefield. Envision a fusion of steel and craftsmanship, dominating everything in its path. Explosions shatter the earth and rain down fire on your foes. An astounding sight to behold. Truly, when an Ironclad rolls into battle, the fight is already over.”

And roll the ironclad did, a veritable tank of a machine, hissing steam and heat, a plow on the front ready to sweep snow and obstacles aside, and large enough that it could transport a few seekers, albeit rather uncomfortably.

By the time he’d finished inspecting the machine’s engine and climbed aboard to inspect its weapon, it turned out he already had a passenger: one curious kitty with a metal patched eye. Edward could hazard a guess how it had lost that eye, given the cat was in the middle of trying to steal one of the munition charges out of the ironclad’s triple cannons.

It was certainly giving the impression that the cat was smarter than a mere animal, though, again, given its attempt to handle volatile minions with paws alone, perhaps not that much smarter.

He didn’t interrupt it during this process, and only after it had got its hands on the glowing core of magic and combined with a bunch of junk to make a bomb out of it that he cleared his throat.

”And what might you be doing, hmm?” He asked, prompting Loona (who’d hopped up beside him) to growl at the cat till he waved her off.

The cat in question tried to hide its bomb behind its back and put on its best ‘im innocent’ cute look, neither of which were very effective. This did, however, reveal the tag on its collar, which Edward recognised from the collection he’d acquired from the late Satori Komeji.

A look through the ‘eyes’ of the ironclad he saw that several other seekers had already had adopted, or rather been adopted, by some of the woman’s cats as well, which caused Edward to decide to forgive the thievery and see if he could make use of this scoundrel instead.

”I’m not upset, just curious. Do you mind if I see the fruits of your labor?” He asked, prompting a thought from the cat, followed by it pulling the bomb out from behind its back… and then hurling off to the side where it exploded quite impressively (and fortunately away from any friendlies).

Apparently it had interpreted that as ‘may i see it in action’

Or maybe it just thought that was the best way for him to see it.

Certainly the cat itself seemed very happy with its kaboom, having watched it with glee as its ears flapped back from the blast wave.

”I see. Most impressive. But is that all you can do?” he asked, having taken this blast in stride, and was rewarded by a little demonstration of it making a (smaller) bomb out of scraps, before using what was clearly (to his eyes) magic to form a number of fire crackers that it threw rapidly if haphazardly.

It was certainly a novel little display of skills, and he suspected that it might be capable of more if mentored.

”Care to join me? We do seem to have similar areas of intrest” he offered this fellow magical tinkerer, prompting it to amble over in what he took as agreement. A crouch down, pet, and inspection of its collar revealed the cat to go by ‘Scrumpy’ which he guessed was a male name.


Loona didn’t seem incredibly pleased by this, the wolf moving to a spot to the other side of him from which to eye the cat with suspicion. Both she and Skrumpy were pleased, however, when Edward took out the Tome of the Looming Frost and chanted an incantation from it, enchanting them, and the other spellcasters, with a shimmering aura of frost that would empower their spells with extra frost damage and the ability to increase the odds of status effects taking effect.

This boon also applied to the pair of Cold-Flame Antonarchs squads he summoned atop their freezing steeds, intending to use them as outriders for the group.

The man also put back up his two martial enchantments as well, ones which would be helped in their application of their status effects by the spellcasters’ own. Finally he forged several squads of scout drones and sent them out to survey the surrounding area.

He then headed over and reported in to Sandalphon, his cat and dog padding along after him, informing her ”The ironclad won’t be as comfortable as the stage coach was, especially with no road available, but unless we need to start climbing they’ll be more than capable of plowing through any obstacles in our path to make our own way forwards. You are welcome to use one as transport, if you wish, or I could provide a summoned steed or the SomnaDrix as a, ah, debatably qualified mount”

After he was done he intended to stick around to keep her appraised of whatever his scouts found. He kept an eye out for any unclaimed spirits that could be converted into items.