Diana didn't really understand all that happened in the past few seconds. Suddenly everything was going alright, she even got some free snack from the bug girl, and then... "Bang!" all hell broke loose around her and her companions. The one thing that got the dragon girl feeling bad, though was seeing Khaine's next set of actions. That didn't bode well for their future.
"Why does this have to happen always?" she thought, reminiscing about the last time she encountered Bastion, all the way back to the battle of Alt Signia, now that her mind was clearer.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm here and I have a job to do. That's all that I need to know," Diana sighed deeply, before drawing Ascalon and getting ready to do battle.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot accept any of those offers. Even if I'm a failure of a knight, I'm not so much of a spineless lizard, to betray those who became my friends and family. And, right now, I have at least one person I need to protect. I'm sorry, Khaine, this is where we're gonna break up. I'm not joining any revolution today. I'm Diana, the Claw of Heavens, and I'm not going to betray my convictions so easily!" Diana yelled, replying to both Helena's proposal and Endian's sudden boost to commander status, before interposing herself between Suparna and the rest of the battle.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you, while you don't have your companion," Diana said to Suparna, with a confident grin on her lips,
"By the way, do you remember your name now?" she asked.
Diana sincerely wondered what was up with her saving amnesic girls?
The rondo of life and death continues!
All of the combatants in the grand stadium would notice one thing very easily and very fast as soon as the fight against Helena began... Everyone attacking the same small target at the same time in such a heated way wasn't going to end well.
Just as Khaine's blades broke the column Helena stood over, Bonesword's blades flew through the air at astounding speeds, and Fran decided to show her lewd side once more or trying to be smart for once —it didn't make very much difference for Helena, after all— she would find herself with a choice of either being skewered by her allies projectiles or fall into the death trap of spikes and blades below. Whatever the choice, Fran wasn't going to hit her mark. Or better, she did hit Helena, with absurd easy, as the vampire didn't even bother to move a muscle, remaining right where she was exactly to get Fran into harm's way.
However...
"Oh dear, did I get you all pumped up and hyped for this battle but forgot to deactivate my defenses?" Helena quipped as every single attack just passed through her, almost as if she wasn't standing right in front of their eyes. In fact, it wasn't almost like it, the fact was that Helena had never been there this whole, only Nothingness stood in her place, a void that could never be filled no matter whatever got thrown in it.
"How silly of me to put you all through an unbeatable boss battle right from the start. It's not fun if I don't give you a chance, however small, of showing that the 'Power of Friendship' and the 'Force of Will' can defeat even the most impossible of the odds. Isn't that right?" The vampire added, in a tone of blatant mockery, wondering if they would stop that irrational attack and listen to her now that Helena was effectively impossible to harm.
"Do, any of you," Helena said as she disappeared from her position and reappeared right behind Endian, back to back with the Machina,
"realize what I'm trying to do here? Or are your minds so small that you can't even understand subtext?" she asked, spewing quite a bit of vitriol, before changing positions once more, this time, appearing right behind Lucille.
"I want all of you out of the Nexus. I came here to offer you a chance of that. I don't care what happens once you get outside. Just leave this place alone and everything will be ok. That's," Helena said as she appeared behind Miyu, now,
"the last time I'll say it. Are, any of you, uneducated morons, going to accept my offer, or... do I have to pummel it on your thick skulls?""Geez, it looks like I'm dealing with Titanica all over again. And it's not even half as much fun to play with these low-life mutts," Helena sighed in exasperation before appearing above another of the columns.
"Anyway, if you still want to 'fight for your beliefs', how about we do it right this way?" Helena said as she snapped her fingers, for some unknown reason. Right around the same time, the first flame of the ghostly clock was extinguished.
The combatants would notice that targeting the roses was having no effect at all on the degeneration effect that slowly ate away at their lives. Instead, it looked like they were being slowly consumed by the same nothingness of which Helena was talking about a moment ago. In fact, a couple more things would become evident in the following moments. First, Helena wasn't teleporting around the battlefield, neither was she using insanely high speeds, or time control, it was certainly something else, the question is: What was it? Second, whatever aura any of them claimed to feel, it certainly wasn't coming from Helena, her presence was absolutely clear. As far as their perception was concerned, there was nothing where the vampire stood and, trying to find nothing was challenging, to say the least.
Helena was just playing with them all the time until now. How powerful could the vampire actually be?
"Ah, don't worry, I'll keep myself on this plane, just so that you can harm me. That is, if you can touch me," Helena said as she disappeared amidst a flurry of rose petals, reappearing right behind Bonesword, slashing at the trees nearest to her with a swipe of her scythe.
"The clock is ticking..." Helena smirked, flashing her pearly fangs to the demonic skeleton.
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