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In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Geralt, Zenkichi, and Edelgard

The Final Hollow- Vs Gravemind -> The Avenger
Lvl 14 Geralt (106/140) -> Lvl 14 (109/140) 140% OL Charged (Lvl 1)
Lvl 9 Zenkichi (1/90) -> (4/90)
Lvl 4 Edelgard (36/40) -> Level 4 (39/40)
Word count: 1,816 words


Geralt dove to the ground, barely avoiding a hail of fireballs from Consul D, forcing himself to stand and scan the area for the next incoming attack. However, none came. D was merely…floating there, silently. For a moment, he snarled and seemed ready to attack with renewed vigor, but it seems he knew when he was beat. Though the consul could have stayed high above the battlefield and continued fighting, taking Seekers down, with both Consul A nowhere to be found (indicating he’d been slain), and the Gravemind similarly defeated, he would be overwhelmed with sheer numbers soon.

The vampire descended, offering a hollow congratulations and a warning that the next time would go even worse for the Seekers. Geralt scoffed, not necessarily taking the threat of a retreating man at face value, but it was no easy battle that they had one. Two of those who had entered would not be showing their faces again. Looking about the battlefield, specifically where the fight with A had occurred, Geralt noticed something: they had not even left Spirits behind. Sighing, his shoulders slumped a little. “Damn. Midna and Goldlewis.” Shaking his head, he turned to the newly-appeared Sandalphon.

Zenkichi and Edelgard, for their parts, had happily allowed Ganondorf to finish off the Gravemind, letting out the tension in their bodies as D left. The departing speech of the deceased Guardian left Zenkichi with the heebie-jeebies, and Edelgard frustrated. What would happen to the Guardians if they failed? Surely Galeem, or the Consuls (Zenkichi couldn’t quite remember how that worked) would just pick more? Though, that raised the question of why more Guardians didn’t simply spring up to make their work harder now? Did it take an accumulation of energy that took a while to gather?

Pushing away that line of thought, Zenkichi also turned to Sandalphon, though unlike Geralt her appearance brought an ill-timed smile to his face. The revelation that they would be escaping via Fulton made him cheer a little, though Edelgard looked uneasy. ”Oh, how I wish I could merely teleport to the ship…” She grumbled, striding forward and taking a pack for herself. ”Nonetheless, Sandalphon, I thank you for your timely intervention earlier, and for the assistance now. I refuse to stay in this damned place a second longer.” And true to her word, the Flame Emperor found herself a clear space, and activated her Fulton without reservation, the device yoinking her into the air mercilessly.

Geralt was more slow, looking about the battlefield somberly. “Don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone and given yourselves up. It’s a damned shame. Don’t think we’ll be forgetting this anytime soon, either.” He saw Grimm carrying Goldlewis’ coffin, and walked up to the Neopteron. “Here. Let me.” Kneeling to take UMA’s coffin, Geralt grunted as he hefted the massive weight, then sighed as he realized it wasn’t as heavy as he expected. It wasn’t something he’d thought on much since coming to the World of Light, as people had taken on an even more varied assortment of forms than the Continent, but it was just another reminder that he wasn’t truly human. No normal man could heft this weight without looking like Goldlewis.

As he reached Sandalphon and the others, Geralt began wrapping the coffin’s chain about and through his armor, securing it to his body and ensuring it was on tight. It jostled much of his equipment and dug into some of the lesser-armored parts of his skin, but it would just be until this was over. Taking a Fulton pack, he nodded to Sandalphon and found an open spot to activate it, and within moments he was off.

Zenkichi was the last to take a Fulton, politely waiting behind the others, ushering them forward to take one if they seemed to be hesitant. When it was only him and Sandalphon left, he let his face fall, and he stepped forward not to take a Fulton, but to hug the archangel closely, his breath hitching for a moment. ”That…that was bad.” He admitted, swallowing a lump in his throat. ”I’m already running on empty like Midgar, but this time we’re coming back without a lot of people. I’m glad those cats managed to save a few of ‘em, but Goldlewis and Midna…shit.” Stepping back while still keeping a soft hold on Sandalphon’s arms, he gave the woman a broken smile. ”If anything happens to me while we’re out there…fighting bad guys and saving people…check on Akane every now and then for me? You don’t have to take her in, but I’d really feel better knowing somebody I can trust is helping out.” Closing his eyes with a sigh, Zenkichi carefully took the last Fulton pack and stepped back. ”See you on the ship.” He softly offered, before activating the pack.



As the Seekers awoke on board the Avenger, Geralt unlatched Goldlewis’s coffin from his body and carried it over to one of the walls nearby, setting it down carefully. “We’ll need to figure out what to do with this, now that he’s gone.” He announced dispassionately. It was not out of malice or a lack of care, but a blatant guarding of emotion. Walking over to Bracket Brace, he politely grabbed his fair share of snacks and drinks before addressing the assembled Seekers. “If anybody needs me, I’ll be visiting Tora and Poppi.” And with that, he turned and left to go find his Nopon ally and the restored Blade.

When she came to, Edelgard groaned and pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly. ”Eugh. That was just as bad as the first time. No matter. Nobody need me.” Mirroring Geralt’s own exit with a dismissive twist, Edelgard quickly made her egress from the bay, but not without grabbing a snack and a bottle of water. Her destination, unsurprisingly, was the mess hall for lunch.

Zenkichi, finally, simply sat up and watched the others with a sigh. Part of him had hoped to see Midna and Goldlewis assembled with the other Seekers, but their absence reminded the detective of what had happened down there. Pain evident on his face, the Phantom Thief collected a shot of laudanum and downed it before grabbing a can of coffee and trudging off without a word in search of his daughter.

A few minutes later, the Witcher found himself inside the Proving Ground, looking at one of the first ‘friends’ he’d made in the Seekers. “Tora.” He greeted simply, approaching the Nopon and pulling out the mine traps he’d gained from the Keeper’s Spirit. “Not sure if there’s anything you can do with these, but I figured they were unique enough you might want to get a look. Not the only reason I came by, though.” He sighed, producing the Hateful Flesh from within himself. “One of those damned Consuls managed to cut the cord on this thing that connected it to me. Made me realize it’s a hell of a weak spot.”

Putting the cleaver down onto a table, he shook his head. “I’m not sure if you heard the news. Goldlewis and Midna…aren’t coming back. The Consuls had something we just…didn’t have an answer for. And they sacrificed themselves for us. We managed to kill two of the Consuls that met us there, as well as the Guardian, but…it cost us two of our own. I thought you ought to hear it from one of us. I know you’ve taken on a roll up here, but you’re still one of the Seekers as far as the rest of us are concerned. Much as that title makes me want to vomit sometimes. Seekers of Light makes me feel like some kind of proper knight.” Letting out a rueful chuckle, he shook his head.

“It’s only going to get worse from here on out. They tried to stop us in Midgar and the Under, and when they realized we were heading for the Dead Zone next, they pulled out all the stops. Get the feeling you’ll be busy going forward.”



In Akane and Zenkichi’s bunk room, the tired Phantom Thief sat on the his bed, slowly sipping coffee. Roxas had already come to collect his Pokemon, and the pair sat in silence. While she didn’t know exactly what had happened, Sandalphon and the others got really busy really quickly and started yelling about preparing for casualties. She’d been freaking out until one of the Lost Numbers had told her to get away from the Bridge, that her dad was still okay, and that they’d do everything they could. When Sandalphon herself teleported down to heal everybody, it had been a big load off her mind, but she was still visibly worried.

”So, uh…you remember Mr. Goldlewis and Midna, right? The former Secretary and that weird-looking floaty girl?” Zenkichi asked after a while. Receiving a nod in reply, he continued, head half-hanging. ”They, uh…they didn’t make it.”

“No!” Akane gasped, shooting to her feet and barely keeping a hold of Maru in the process. “What do you mean they didn’t make it!” She yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes. “You were supposed to keep them safe! You were all supposed to keep us safe!” She cried, breathing heavily. Zenkichi stood up, putting the coffee can down on a table, before stepping forward to wrap her in a hug.

”I know, Akane, I know. We…we did our best. If it makes it any better, it was their choice. They stared death in the face, and they made the choice to give themselves over to it instead of making the rest of us do it. I…I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to you. Or to myself. I was selfish again.” Sniffling, Akane just hugged him tighter.

“NO! Don’t you dare die on me too!” She sobbed, clinging to Zenkichi as if he’d disappear if she let go. “You can’t leave me, too, dad!” It was a far cry from how she’d acted on the anniversary of Aoi’s death when he showed up with the other Phantom Thieves, but truth be told, it warmed Zenkichi’s heart a bit to know he hadn’t lost her after all.

”I’m not going anywhere, kid. Not if I have anything to say about it, and I’ve got plenty to say still.” He joked somewhat lamely, running a hand through her hair gently. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Maru rubbing against Akane’s legs while her and Zenkichi hugged, before the detective gently pulled away. ”We should probably get some lunch soon. I don’t know about you, but I worked up a hell of an appetite, and granola bars and fruit snacks wasn’t gonna cut it.” Earning a nod from his daughter, Zenkichi gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder before he led the pair down to the Mess Hall, Maru returned to her pal Sphere.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Geralt, Zenkichi, and Edelgard

The Final Hollow- Vs Gravemind
Lvl 14 Geralt (88/140) +6 +8 Collab XP -> Lvl 14 (106/140) 120% OL Charged (Lvl 1)
Lvl 8 Zenkichi (77/80) -> (1/90)
Lvl 4 Edelgard (32/40) -> Level 4 (36/40)
Word count: 1,049 words (2x2 exp)




Geralt could not even spare the energy to cast First Aid on anybody as they watched D’s supine form, laid low by Pit and Captain Falcon’s combo attack. As long as the Consul didn’t dissipate into light like Y had, he knew the vampire still lived. His suspicions were proven moments later as D rose once more, flying into the air. So, he truly had been toying with them? So confident in his success, and for once, Geralt wondered if this was where he would die. If this was to be it, then he would not go easily. He transformed into Ardor Blossom, hurling fireballs at the Consul, but there was not even the slightest shred of hope to deal damage- bats took many of the blows, and those they didn’t D simply dodged, while Geralt and the other Seekers were forced to dodge much more from the Consul. Where before he fought a battle, now D was carrying out an extermination. His spells scattered about the battlefield, blasts of energy and swarms of bats edging into the other fights, which until now had been rather self-contained.

Goldlewis’s sacrifice stopped Zenkichi dead in his tracks, even as the Gravemind’s body retreated to the hideous meteoroid above them. The Secretary of Absolute Defense himself…gone. Taken. No. Not taken. Sacrificed. Zenkichi closed his eyes and sighed, almost all the fight leaving his body. He took a deep breath, a single tear running down his cheek, as a voice within spoke to him. Is this the end of your rebellion, then? Will you give in to despair? Invisibly, within his own mindscape, chains constricted Zenkichi and Valjean, dragging them down. Was your will truly so conquerable, oh detective? This is hardly the first defeat you have faced. Outside his mindscape, Zenkichi dropped to his knees, prompting a scornful look from Edelgard.

”Get up, damn it! You can fall to pieces later, after this fight! And did the girl mean so little to you?! Ugh, fine. Wallow in self-pity for all I care.” Standing between Zenkichi and the two pieces of Gravemind, she slammed the flat of Aynr’s blade into her shield, relying on the symbol of her Imperial authority to try to draw their attention. She then hurled Aymr through the air with Returning Axe, following up with her last bouncing Fire spell, catching her axe and rushing in to clash with the Floodfested remnants as her spell launched off into the air, missing the rising chunk of Gravemind as it escaped the battlefield. ”Somebody attack that last piece!” Thankfully, Blazermate was already on it.

So, then, you choose surrender? To lay low down your sword and allow despair to take you? The voice asked, disappointment heavy in its voice. Is this what a man of justice does? Lays down and gives up when the battle grows difficult? Zenkichi grabbed his head with both hands, groaning in anguish. Remember your vow, Phantom Thief. You know what you have to do. Rising, Zenkichi stumbled, regaining his balance quickly as Valjean manifested behind him, largely transparent. ”Condemn the evil, and hunt them down!” He cried, hurling Ragnell into the air. He leapt forward, catching the holy blade before slamming down onto one of the Gravemind fragments, kicking off the ground in a backflip and slicing a deep furrow into it in retreat.

As Geralt dodged another pillar of light from D, he groaned in frustration. “We can’t do anything to this guy. But if we split off, he’s free to kill the others.” He grumbled quietly. His arrows and crossbow bolts were, like his fireballs as Ardor Blossom, simply blocked or dodged. There was nothing he could do to attack D, not enough time to cast a spell, and the Consul was too high up and too agile to attack through other means. Even if he could get a Grapeshot that high, it’d barely do anything, and Dimeritium would buy them a few seconds at most. He didn’t dare transform into the much more sluggish LCCB Assistant Manager, even if the weak pistol shots might be able to deal some light damage to the Consul. No, Geralt was well and truly out of ideas. All he could do was survive. Quen shimmered around him to shield him from blows, but it was taking all his focus and effort to avoid the onslaught of magic and summons that D was producing. “If anybody’s got any bright ideas, now’s the time!”

Edelgard slammed Aymr onto one of the Gravemind fragments, chopping into it with a series of slashes that left the abomination aflame. She slammed it with her shield, stepping around to give Zenkichi an opening, and he took it. Blocking an attack from the fragment he was fighting, he kicked off it, summoning Sosha to leap up and impale the thing from above, giving him time to relieve Edelgard and swap foes with her. He lashed out with Ragnell’s blasts of energy and she charged the one he’d been fighting, bowling it over with sheer momentum before jumping onto it and repeating Sosha’s maneuver from much closer, slamming Aymr’s blade into the thing over and over, leaving scorch marks and a deep axe wound which desperately tried to use biomass to close itself.

Zenkichi carved another line into the fragment he was attacking, the Hitch triggered by Hera’s boon further wounding the fragment Edelgard was now fighting. That boon was pretty useful now that he had more than one thing to fight at once. Feeling relatively tough thanks to all the healing he’d been getting and the re-established buff from Sandalphon’s Covenant, he activated Fury again, bathing himself in Almighty energy and cutting through the animated chunk of Guardian even more brutally. A crimson blade fell on the fragment Edelgard was carving to pieces, further destabilizing it and finally rendering it too unstable to maintain its form, and her next blow tore off a huge chunk of biomass. ”Finally!” Edelgard cried triumphantly, stomping off a chunk of flesh with her boot and chopping off yet another with a blow from Aymr, leaving behind an eviscerated, burning pile of rotting flesh as she joined Zenkichi. Between his enhanced attacks with Fury and Edelgard’s help, they made short work of the other one, destroying it as well.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Zenkichi and Edelgard

The Final Hollow- Vs Gravemind
Lvl 8 Zenkichi (73/80) -> (77/80)
Lvl 4 Edelgard (28/40) -> Level 4 (32/40)
Word count: 821 words (2x2 exp)


Aymr hurtled through the air, carving a deep wound into the Flood Tank’s arm and leaving behind a half-attached, smoldering limb. It roared, pain beyond its senses, and trudged forward, scorch marks up and down its body and covered in deep axe wounds. Edelgard shook her head at the pathetic creature, quickly casting Nosferatu to put it out of its misery and regain some more of her lost vitality. As it crumbled to ash, she quickly scooped up the Spirit it left behind and rushed towards the Guardian, careful to avoid the lingering clouds of poison.

Zenkichi sighed when Sandalphon replied: the way forward was the most obvious, and quite possibly the biggest pain in the ass. ”I was worried you’d say that…” he complained in response. Thankfully, Ganondorf, freshly transformed and on full aggro, charged the Guardian and took out one of its heads in the process. Now that was more like it! Even with the vicious counter-attack he suffered, Ganon was still going, and Zenkichi had an idea. He was damn near running on fumes, but who better to give a Heat Riser than that guy? ”Valjean! One last time! Heat Riser!” He cried, the last of his energy going to grant Ganon the coveted omniboost. He would be stronger, hardier, and even faster now, and for a whole minute to boot.

Zenkichi’s shoulders slumped even as Edelgard ran by, his breath coming in deep and heavy. ”I will cover you! Take a step back to recoup yourself!” She called, rushing headlong to attack the Gravemind, a Fire spell flying at one of its remaining heads before ricocheting off into the other remaining head. Her aim with the spell wasn’t sufficient to target the weak points, but it was still damage. No, she was focused on the legs as prescribed by Sandalphon. She’d not wasted Flickering Flower on the Flood Tank, so she unleashed the skill on one of the Gravemind’s legs, her Crest of Seiros glowing as she did. The Gravemind did not take kindly to this attack, turning to crash down on her with its scythe. Knowing she could not evade, she hunkered behind her shield even as the colossal blow landed. The momentum crushed her utterly, and Edelgard felt the bark of the Qliphoth crack and splinter beneath her as her armored form smashed into it, leaving a crater nearly two inches deep in the hardened bark of the demon tree. Groaning, she struggled to move, let alone stand.

Seeing an ally in danger, Zenkichi forced himself forward, swinging Ragnell at the limb Edelgard had attacked, dodging and diving away from toxic grenades and starting to take the long way around clouds of gas that were being placed to form a defensive blockade between the Seekers and the Gravemind’s legs. It seemed the Gravemind had already cottoned on to their ideas, but Zenkichi didn’t back down. He still had a little bit of time left on his last buff from Sandalphon’s covenant, and he planned to use it. Taking a deep breath, he ran straight through a cloud, acid and poison lingering to him and slowly leeching away at his life.

Despite the stinging pain, Zenkichi barreled ahead, slashing into the leg before him with Ragnell. He could feel the hyper-dense flesh resisting each of his blows, and groaned. This would take forever. He had no more energy to call on Valjean, though he did have one thing he could do without his Persona. Lifting the holy blade up and charging, he felt the flames growing around him and his blade, intensifying every second. Even as the leg kicked out and slammed into his body, Zenkichi stood firm as the fire around him grew. Ragnell glowed as the blue flames intensified around him, and finally Zenkichi unleashed Eruption, a series of explosions ringing out around him and consuming the Gravemind’s leg.

Before the dust from the explosions even settled, a great creaking noise could be heard as the Gravemind slowly tried to maintain its balance with one leg missing a good chunk of its lower quarter. Eruption had dealt the finishing blow, removing a solid four feet and change of the limb. Gas and toxin grenades exploded in random bursts around the battlefield as the Gravemind seemed to panic, using its scythe to try and keep its balance, but the sudden loss of a limb was too much, and the Gravemind slowly fell, its long limbs splayed out awkwardly as it crashed into the ground. ”HELL YEAH!” Zenkichi shouted, before running over to Edelgard and offering her a hand up, which she took with a sigh. ”You good there?” He asked with concern.

”Hardly.” She replied with a harsh scoff. ”But slaying this monster shall do wonders for my mood, even if I fear my bones will ache for a year after this. Let us dispose of this ‘Guardian’ and be out of this goddess-forsaken place.”
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Zenkichi and Edelgard

The Qliphoth
Lvl 8 Zenkichi (69/80) -> (73/80)
Lvl 4 Edelgard (24/40) -> Level 4 (28/40)
Word count: 811 words (2x2 exp)


As Edelgard hacked away at the base of the Gravemind, she was quick to react to its transformation, jumping back as the colossal Floodform consolidated its flesh and began to retract. ”Now what is this?!” She cried out, hefting her shield in preparation for an attack.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, was busy handling the Flood tank form that had been so kindly dropped in by the Gravemind before its transformation. Each swing of Ragnell launched a blast of energy its way, but the monster was undeterred, barreling ahead with reckless abandon and swinging its trunk like limbs violently. He was forced to dodge the attack or be launched away, but the Tank form was quick to stop and turn once it had gone past him. It roared, turning and slamming its massive arm down with enough force to kick up a small cloud of dust and lingering spores. The light of Ragnell’s energy blasts illuminated it as Zenkichi circled around the tank form, calling out to Edelgard. ”Can you handle this thing? I can at least get some ranged hits out on the big guy!” While this earned a huff from the Flame Emperor, she nonetheless obliged.

As he and Edelgard switch targets, Zenkichi rolled to avoid a glob of deadly poison, standing up and pointing his target out for Valjean. ”Agneyastra!” Of all times, now wasn’t the time to hold back, though he could feel just that one attack taking a lot of his reserves of energy. Even as he took in a deep breath, the meteors crashed into the main body of the Gravemind, a few hitting some of its heads and dealing solid damage. He didn’t have too many more of those left in him, even as he felt the three protocols of Sandalphon’s covenant healing and reinforcing him.

Edelgard met the Tank form with a charge, Aymr flashing out with Returning Axe before she even reached the Flood form, already in her hand again by the time the two clashed. The crash of its mighty arm rattled her even through her shield and armor, though the Tank form suffered Doom for its efforts, cursing it to be harmed by a spectral crimson blade a second later. She hadn’t noticed this effect actively until now, given how hectic the battle had been, but Edelgard hummed when she saw it take place, cementing the notion in her mind that taking that boon had been a good idea.

She took the offensive, crashing into the Tank form shield-first and slamming Aymr’s blade into its shoulder before kicking off and circling around to target its larger arm. While others might go for the weaker side, Edelgard meant to dislodge the limb entirely, thus rendering the Flood nearly powerless. Though her target did not give her an easy job, lashing out violently and trying to run the Flame Emperor down any time she put distance between them for even a moment to breathe. The Gravemind’s new form made this all the more treacherous, as the toxin grenades it launched left fields of toxic gas behind to turn the battlefield into a place where not one inch was safe.

As Zenkichi hurled blasts of energy from Ragnell at the now mobile Gravemind, he was forced to take a more passive approach than earlier as two of the three heads nearly continuously belched out globs and grenades of spores and toxins. He’d found himself hit a few times by now, and while the stacking defensive buffs from Preservation Protocol and Ragnell’s magical protection had kept him relatively hale, each projectile still did a noticeable amount of damage. Stashing Ragnell for a moment, he drew his revolvers and fired them at the head firing the lingering toxic clouds, quickly replacing them with the holy sword when they clicked empty and running out of the impact zone of another blast.

As soon as he paused for a moment, he saw the utterly colossal scythe coming his way along the ground in a horizontal sweep, and he hefted Ragnell in time to block the attack, only for the sheer momentum to launch him a few dozen feet away, tumbling head over heels. ”Owww…” He groaned, body aching as he stood. ”This thing is crazy. Agneyastra looked like it barely budged it. The heads are an obvious weak point, but unless we can knock it down…” Now, that was an idea. Though he certainly didn’t know how the heck they’d pull that off. Bringing his finger to his ear, Zenkichi activated the communication glyph Sandalphon had given him. ”Sandalphon, you got any ideas on something we could use to knock this giant thing over? Its heads are the obvious weak point, but half of us can’t even get to them.” It was a long shot, but if they could pull it off…they could put some serious hurt on the Guardian.

In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Geralt, Zenkichi, and Edelgard

The Qliphoth
Lvl 14 Geralt (84/140) -> Lvl 14 (88/140) 35% OL charged (Level 0)
Lvl 8 Zenkichi (65/80) -> (69/80)
Lvl 4 Edelgard (20/40) -> Level 4 (24/40)
Word count: 1,065 words (2x2 exp)




As the Gravemind burned and accumulated more and more damage, its flailing grew more frantic, more violent. More and more Floodfested were flying off the Guardian to attack, keeping Zenkichi occupied with covering his allies’ rears where he could. Triggering Fury to quickly cut down larger groups, and deactivating it to avoid the slow damage it caused him over time while he fought smaller groups, the Phantom Thief was in his element while the others worked on taking out the big boss. He swapped out his Greatsword for Ragnell to use its passive defense boost, while taking advantage of its ranged attacks to knock flying Floodfested out of the air before they could do too much damage.

Edelgard, for her part, was carving into the titanic Flood with Aymr, the flaming axe leaving behind burning furrows in the amalgamated flesh. Her shield gave her protection from the most feeble of the Guardian’s retaliations, though it did also offer a large surface area from grasping limbs to grapple, more than once forcing the Empress to break free from the grabs or cut the arms down on her own. The explosive cysts filled with acidic pus were a much more difficult problem, and when one exploded and covered her in bile, she was forced to retreat to a distance to heal. Once she had, she offered a ricocheting fireball to Zenkichi’s aid, the spell slamming into an infested charger and igniting it, before bouncing and burning a combat form to ash and popping an infection form like the cyst that had burned her.

”Purification Protocol. Tarukaja!” Zenkichi called, giving Edelgard an attack boost and cleansing the lingering acid that was weakening her defenses. Giving the Phantom Thief a nod, Edelgard returned to the fight, but not before sparing a curious glance at the glowing halo that had appeared above the man’s head. ”Alright, now that’s what I’m talking about!” He cried as Sigil Released activated, granting him the effects of Preservation, Restoration, andPurification Protocol all at once. If he kept his head, he’d be damn near unstoppable.

Geralt, not far away and fighting Consul D, meanwhile felt very much stoppable. He had been caught off guard by Dominus Hatred, the first failing to catch him, but the second and third hit him hard, sending Geralt to his knees as a swarm of bats flew his way. Pushing himself up with a grunt, Geralt incinerated the weak group of bats with Igni, after which he felt Junior’s heal on him, releasing a sigh. “Thanks, kid!” He called out over his shoulder as he summoned the Judicator and Monsoon, directing the former to heal him while the latter ran in to attack D’s wolves, throwing his sais while circling to keep them from getting to him before his time ran out.

When D launched a barrage of meteors, Geralt cursed and ran in, drawing his silver sword, bathed in Edward’s flames. He traded blows with D with surprising effectiveness, though even his twice-enhanced body could not match the power of a Consul in single combat. Geralt twirled around a punch only to eat a knee to the gut, followed by the vampire bodily grabbing him about the waist and tossing him into a pool of boiling blood. He rolled out of the liquid soon enough, but Geralt had taken quite a beating after the healing he’d already been given. Pulling out his flask of Swallow while the others kept D distracted, the Witcher downed a dose, feeling himself recovering already. As Nadia and Juri rejoined, Geralt gave the feral a nod of appreciation and pulled himself fully back to his feet, rolling his shoulders as D summoned his scythe. “Oh, we’re bringing out the big weapons now, huh? Well, you can certainly try, Consul. But the Orphan couldn’t do it, Y and C couldn’t do it, and you won’t either.” As he spoke, he sheathed his silver sword and withdrew the Hateful Flesh from his body, the self-inflicted damage quickly healed by the lingering regeneration granted by Swallow.

As the battle against D accelerated, the slow and steady destruction of the Gravemind continued. As the hordes of Floodfested grew larger, Zenkichi decided to rely on more cost-incurring tactics to beat them back. ”Valjean! Deathbound!” He cried out as a swarm of spectral hands appeared from the ground, tearing apart the weaker Floodfested, and grievously wounding anything with a good amount of bulk. Spinning on his heel, he pointed at one of the Gravemind’s three remaining tentacles and cried out. ”One-Shot Kill!” Valjean struck, the bullet slamming into the limb and carving out a great chunk of it, resulting in the Gravemind’s attention turning wholly to Zenkichi for a moment. ”uh oh…” He gulped when the wounded tentacle swiped at him, diving to the ground to avoid the hit, while a new batch of Floodfested appeared, this group lead by a Flood Tank form barreling his way.

Edelgard’s own efforts to fell the fleshy monster continued in earnest, though the Garvemind was beginning to adapt methods to thwart her efforts. Spikes grew faster and sharper, Floodfested came in greater and greater numbers to try and distract her, and once she had been bitten by a mouth that had formed as she tore Aymr from its flesh, the razor-sharp teeth grating her armor and piercing the few weak points they had been channeled to by failing to pierce the steel. Nosferatu could heal the damage she took, but the memory of a disembodied mouth gnawing at her rankled her mind. Like a damned rat. Still, she slashed and carved away at the Guardian, trusting her Crests to help keep her vitality bolstered as she attacked the Gravemind.

Geralt joined the other Seekers in harrying D, this time using the Hateful Flesh to attack from afar, whether it be by launching it from a short distance and withdrawing it using its umbilical cord-like tether, or hurling explosive flesh bombs pulled from the disgusting cleaver. He had reapplied Quen when his stamina revitalized, and when he heard Sandalphon mention the Consul’s weakness, he laughed. “Roxas! This thing’s our prey!” He cried out, knowing the Nobody also used light magic as part of his offensive repertoire. When he did move in to clash with D, he did so aggressively before quickly backing off to let another take D’s attention while he attacked from afar.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Geralt, Zenkichi, and Edelgard

The Qliphoth
Lvl 14 Geralt (66/140) +5 +7 -> Lvl 14 (84/140) (+1 pending)
Lvl 8 Zenkichi (40/80) +5 +4 +3 +4 +3 -> (65/80)
Lvl 3 Edelgard (27/30) +3 +4 +3 +3 +4 -> Level 4 (20/40)
Word count: 1,681 words (3x2 exp)






With the Spirits they’d collected crushed, Geralt and Zenkichi joined the group at large trudging onward deeper into the Demon Tree. It wasn’t terribly slow going, with the group’s sheer numbers being more than enough to wipe out the token resistance left to offer by the Qliphoth. Each of the three had their fair share of demons and undead to destroy, though far from enough to constitute more than a minor effort. By the time they found the central area where the Consuls were lying in wait, they’d had more than enough slow going to clear their heads.

”That’s an ominous entrance…” Zenkichi muttered, while Geralt sighed.

“Reminds me of when we found the Orphan. Be ready for a hell of a fight.” He warned.

”So this is it, then? One of Galeem’s Guardians? They’ve certainly put no shortage of barriers between them and us.” Edelgard inquired, hackles raising.

“Unless they’ve just suddenly gotten smarter for…fuck.” Geralt sighed as the doors opened, realizing the other reason that their enemies would suddenly become more organized, with Zenkichi’s shoulders slumping.

”Consul?” He sighed.

“Consul.” Geralt concurred as the Juggernauts pushed open the gargantuan doors, revealing not one, nor two, but three Consuls waiting for them. “Well, Edelgard, you get quite the introduction to the Seekers. Three Consuls and a Guardian. They’ve certainly gotten fed up with us.” He joked, summoning his twin hydroblades before casting Quen, as Zenkichi summoned Ragnell and Edelgard Aymr.

”Then I’ll be sure not to disappoint.” The Empress replied haughtily, raising her shield.

While the three conversed amongst themselves, the floodfested horde made its break for the throne, ignoring every attack sent their way by the Seekers. They coalesced into a truly colossal form, a hideous amalgamation of the flesh of thousands, if not millions, of denizens of the Dead Zone. As Consul A began his monologue, Geralt rolled his eyes. If the Consuls were supposed to protect the Guardians, they’d been doing a pretty terrible job of it until the Orphan and Red Eye were dead.

As the battle broke out, Geralt, Edelgard, and Zenkichi kept close to the center, each considering the fight. Geralt and Zenkichi’s minds were more occupied with O’s true nature, while Edelgard had her focus on the Gravemind. It was too large to contend with in typical fashion, and would require careful strategy to harm without being crushed beneath its sheer mass.

The Consul, on the other hand, was a more tricky situation. They could be elsewhere, projecting their abilities over great distance, or hidden within the same arena and merely using the great eyes as a distraction from their true form.

The others, of course, charged forward and leapt straight into battle, and though Edelgard was loathe to refrain, she held back. Her limited abilities were frustrating, but little was worse than being harmed due to one’s own rustiness, Galeem-induced or no. So, she stayed back even as Juri and Edward rushed onwards, contemplating her strategy. It seemed that mobility would be key here. Thankfully, with the double dragon dance, she could at least move much faster than normal. When she made her move, it would be easier to avoid being crushed.

Zenkichi, for his part, swapped to Restoration Protocol. The group would need the healing, and he could target his buffs to wounded allies, and try to time his use of offensive skills for when he was near others who needed a hand. He watched O’s actions, or more accurately, the actions of the creatures he’d summoned, and frowned. ”I mean, I know they’re actually pretty dangerous, but…hippos?” It didn’t make sense to him. He did catch, however, the Deimos drones that Gravemind had created and was sending their way. ”Incoming!” He cried, swinging Ragnell to fire a beam of energy into the swarm.

Edelgard, for her part, hefted her blazing Aymr and, memories of a forgotten technique returning to her, hurled the false Hero’s Relic into the incoming drones. The axe blazed through the drones, incinerating a few before dissipating and reappearing in Edelgard’s hand. As the drones flew even closer, Geralt stepped forward, drawing the Sign of Aard to destabilize them with a telekinetic blast.

As Zenkichi leapt forward to carve into the flying monsters, O turned his gaze onto the three isolated Seekers, and worked his magic. Hedges sprung up around them, heralding the arrival of the observation tower he had summoned. ”What the-”

“COVER!” Geralt yelled once the observation deck reached the top and began plummeting down. He cast Quen, focusing the Sign into an active bubble, even as Deimos drones crashed into it and tried to break through. Zenkichi, meanwhile, dismissed Ragnell and summoned the greatsword Sandalphon had bought for him, lifting it up to hide behind while Edelgard huddled behind her shield.

When the deck hit the ground, it exploded with a violent crunch, sending glass shards everywhere in the cramped plaza. The Deimos drones were shredded into nothingness, though not before having grabbed Zenkichi and clearing his dragon dance buffs. Geralt’s bubble shield exploded violently, with shards of glass slicing his face, though the magical properties of his bleed amulet kept the cuts from bleeding toobadly. Zenkichi fared somewhat better, the iron slab of a weapon he used for cover having deflected much of the shrapnel. Edelgard lifted her head and let out a sigh of relief, the glass having been completely blocked by her armor and shield.

They were not given any room to breathe, however, before the Gravemind’s tentacle loomed overhead, threatening to crush them if they remained still. The three scrambled away from the edge of the ruined plaza as the tentacle slammed down, leaving behind infection forms and some lingering floodfested. Geralt rolled his eyes and summoned the Judicator to heal his wounds as he rushed in to destroy the chaff that the Guardian had left behind.

Zenkichi and Edelgard took the chance to make a beeline for the edge of the fenced-in area, easily cutting the hedges down with their flaming weapons, Zenkichi’s empowered by Edward’s spell and Edelgard’s her own fiery determination. The iron fence lasted little longer, and the pair called over to Geralt to break free with them. As they escaped back into the arena proper, the trio got a good look at how things had progressed since they were imprisoned. It looked like the Consuls were commanding the most attention, though that wasn’t terribly surprising. While the Guardians were menacing in their own right, the Consuls commanded attention like little other.

“We should try to bring down the Guardian first.” Geralt suggested. “Each Consul can grow stronger and unleash a form known as Moebius,” he explained to Edelgard. “And if they do, especially if several do at once, things will get hairy fast. Take down the Guardian, though, and one of us can use its power to turn the tide. Considering what that thing looks like, it’ll come at a hell of a cost, but whether we kill it first or last, we have no choice. The Guardian will regenerate if left alone, and its Spirit can’t be destroyed or bound as a Striker.”

”I am loathe to imagine what that would transform somebody into.” Edelgard shuddered. Even the Immaculate One was far from as hideous as this creature. As for the battle, she also could see that the armored figures had taken the focus of their allies. ”Then if these Consuls seek to protect the Guardian, let them lay down their lives to do so.” She threatened, running forward with Aymr held high. Geralt rolled his eyes as he followed her, casting Quen again to protect himself, and Zenkichi lagged a bit behind, giving himself a speed boost with Sukukaja and triggering Preservation Protocol to heal up more of the damage he and Geralt had taken. They had to take a small detour around to the side in order to avoid Juri and Nadia’s fight.

As they neared D’s throne, they saw Roland and Roxas fighting to command the vampire’s attention, while Juri pummeled Nadia. Geralt paid it no mind, though he waved the other two onward, joining Roland’s efforts against the Consul to buy time for Zenkichi and Edelgard to get past the throne and attack the Gravemind directly. Quen shimmering around his form, he leapt at D like a bat out of hell, overwhelming the Consul for a brief and shining moment and landing several slashes with his hydro blades, before jumping back to evade a backhand from D. The Consul retaliated with a series of fireballs before Geralt could reposition, and though he dodged the first, the second and third crashed into him, destroying the shield from Quen and knocking him back. This was not without consequence, as a large pulse of lightning radiated from Geralt, hitting both the Consul and Nadia, mind controlled as she was.

As Geralt took D’s attention, Zenkichi and Edelgard rushed past the throne and the fight to reach the Guardian. Primrose and Midna’s lance of dark energy still pulsed within it, and the pair went to work swiftly at hacking into the overgrown flesh monster. Their weapons, enhanced by fire, dealt noticeable damage, but they were soon set upon by more Deimos drones, causing Zenkichi to sigh and break off from carving at the Guardian. ”Be right back.” He advised Edelgard, letting out a howl as he activated Fury, hefting his greatsword and launching into a combo of attacks, blasts of Almighty energy flying from the end of his blade with each swing and into the debuffers.

As the Phantom Thief fought off the nuisance of the drones, Geralt dismissed his hydro weapons and drew Odysseus’s Bow. He fired a pair of arrows D’s way before casting the Sign of Yrden in its Glyph of Warding configuration to ward off the Consul’s retaliatory projectiles. Once the Glyph was active, he returned to firing at D, while keeping himself wary for counter-attacks. He’d seen D’s speed already, and was prepared to summon the Judicator to buy himself a moment to change tactics if he was rushed.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
A Quick Heart-to-Heart

Zenkichi Hasegawa & Sandalphon
The Qliphoth
Word count: 1,416 (+3 XP/Rapport)


When Sandalphon mentioned that she'd be returning to the Avenger, Zenkichi nodded in understanding. She was far from the most durable Seeker, and the fights they'd all endured had been pretty damn grueling. When she followed it up by whispering her plans to undo her previous fusions, he gave her a small smile.

”Hey, if that's what you think is gonna work best for you, I'm with you 100%. Humanity and being emotional can be..really complicated. You've gone your whole life until now feeling things completely differently. If you’re afraid of not being able to connect with us again…maybe we could work on that together? It might just take a change in perspective. People can change and grow, and I don't think that's unique to humans.” Giving a halfway-embarrassed smile, he gently squeezed one of Sandalphon's hands reassuringly.

The archangel’s pupils became bright green sparkles when Zenkichi held her hand. She remained quiet for a moment amidst the hubbub of the team as the Seekers wound down, caught up, and sorted through the spoils of war. “As ever, my loyalties are to heaven and humankind. That has not changed, and would not. Yet…” She looked around at her allies, from the good-spirited kids like Junior, Rika, Pit, and Roxas to the dependable warriors like Geralt, Goldlewis, and Roland. “Were I unchanged, however, I would not be here on the front lines.”

Sandalphon reached up and gingerly took hold of her halo, then brought it down to wipe at the xylem-drenched ring with a handkerchief. When the cloth passed over its surface, its luster was restored bit by bit, and she continued to speak as she polished. “It would be more efficient to remain aboard the Avenger, monitor the battle from afar, and intercede only when necessary. I have always wanted to stand alongside my teammates, though. To have…friends.” Her lips pursed together in a slight, sad smile. “Regina seemed to understand that, though I never breathed a word. She was too good to me. Reminds me of you, in some ways. Albeit…a bit more put-together.”

Laughing a little, Zenkichi replied, ”Ouch. Can’t really argue that one, but dang, hold nothing back, huh?” Nonetheless, he gestured for her to continue.

Sandalphon turned her eye to Zenkichi, her pupils shaped like carets. “Forgive me, I meant no offense. All I mean to say is…while humanity is a tactical liability, it offers a great deal of benefit, as well. I can feel more, want more. Be more. In addition, humans can grow and overcome their flaws. It is a daunting prospect to embrace weakness and fear in hopes of one day overcoming them, but if I reverted to my old, mechanical self for short-term gain…I feel as though I would be sacrificing much. So…I didn’t want to throw it away without discussing it beforehand.”

Nodding slowly, Zenkichi gave her words more thought. He’d felt that her mind was pretty set on this before, but now he was realizing just how much doubt she had. Taking a deep breath, he organized his thoughts before replying. ”I think I understand. There’s more to it than just what’s more efficient on the battlefield, or what makes you happy. You’re trying to balance those things, and to avoid getting yourself killed, or holding everybody else back, at the same time. I can tell you this much. Finding a group of people with the same goals, hopes, the same ideals as you, and working with them to do real good, to help improve the world…is an amazing feeling. The pride of knowing that what you’ve done mattered, the camaraderie of working with people you can trust with your life, and the exhilaration of actually doing it. Of fighting for what you believe in. Even after some days when I was sore all over, my feet were begging for a chair, and I could barely keep my eyes open, I felt more alive than I had in years.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair.

At that point, Sandalphon tilted her head, an intrigued look on her face. With her elaborate halo more or less clean she allowed it to slip from her grasp and bob back into place, as if it had been bound to its proper spot above her head by a stretched-out spring.

”Seeing the kids again, the other Phantom Thieves, really helped me remember just how important what we’re doing is. Beyond just…doing the right thing, ya know? The bonds we make with each other, the life-long friendships we forge in fighting for our lives together for a greater cause. They change us, make us better people. For knowing each other, for choosing to stand up and fight, even when it’s hard to.” He was smiling now, looking right into Sandalphon’s eyes as he took each of her hands in his. ”So I take back what I said. I think you should give being human a chance for a little bit longer. It comes with its weaknesses, yes, but now that we’re more aware of them, we can better work around them. Besides, you’ll have me there. Comedic misunderstanding aside, I accepted your covenant for a reason, Sandalphon. I trust you. You helped make sure Aurele got back to Sector V safely back in Midgar, even when splitting your concentration like that could have jeopardized the mission. I’ll be around to help keep you safe. I promise.”

As he spoke, Sandalphon’s pupils looked like loading rings, as if the archangel were downloading every last word. For the most part at least–when Zenkichi held both of her hands, her telltale eyes seemed to glitch, quickly cycling through various symbols until they became sparkles again. Many people had trusted her with their lives throughout her storied career in the Illian Church, Lateran Church, and beyond, but Sandalphon had trusted very few in return. Why put stock in such an abstract concept, after all, when logic and numbers provided such firm footing? But being able to trust in Regina had been an invaluable experience, and now she had the chance to place her trust in someone new. Thanks to their shared covenant, she and Zenkichi were united no matter how far apart they might be. She hadn’t used their bond to spare herself during the fight against Lilith, but the option had been there. Sandalphon believed this man when he said he would keep her safe. She did trust him. When she realized that, a weight seemed to lift from her, and something deep within her was moved.

For a brief moment, the archangel’s pupils became hearts.

Then they reverted back to normal, and the archangel nodded. “I will hold you to that promise, detective,” she told him, her tone solemn. “In accordance with your advice, I will remain as I am for a while longer, and seek the betterment of bonds. Thank you for your counsel.” Though about as stiffly formal as usual, she did not retract her slender fingers from Zenkichi’s grasp.

Zenkichi had gotten pretty good at keeping an eye on Sandalphon’s pupils since that first conversation after the Quarantine Zone, but even still he barely caught the hearts in her eyes, his own skipping a beat at the sight. His lips pulled into a bright smile even as her normally-stoic demeanor started to reappear. ”Of course. I’m just glad to be here for you. I…care deeply for you, Sandalphon. It feels like we’ve known each other longer than we really have.” Gently squeezing her hands again, his gaze turned towards the hole in the Qliphoth that she’d pointed out earlier, where she had planned to have the shuttle return to evacuate Emily and Snake. ”I am really looking forward to getting out of this place. And…if it’s not too much to ask, would you be able to check on Akane? I know she worries, especially with us going up against a Guardian pretty soon.”

Without a moment’s hesitation Sandalphon nodded her agreement. “Consider it done. And…I care for you as well. All my allies, of course, but you in particular.” Her eyes lingered on Zenkichi’s for a moment longer before she looked away. She spotted Grimm on his way back to the group, and observed that the others seemed ready to move on. Sandalphon returned the man’s squeeze and then let him go. When she got to her feet, she seemed steadier than before, and her newly-polished halo shone extra bright in the gloom of the Qliphoth hollow.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Diabolical Incantation III

Lvl 3 Grimm (31/30) Zenkichi, Primrose, Lvl 9 Roxas
Word Count: 3,008


Zenkichi pushed himself to his feet even as he began to reload his revolvers, breathing heavily from the damage he’d sustained, even through his defensive buffs. ”Come on, come on, come on!” He hurried himself, pausing to dodge out of the way of a dark lance thrown his way, and finished reloading the first gun. ”Good enough! It’ll have to be.” He sighed, lifting the firearm and letting loose, firing all six shots into Malphas’s bird body, before Ragnell was summoned again. ”Should’ve dropped a Heat Riser…no going back now.” He muttered, firing another series of energy blasts as he rolled past a dark magic lance and rising. ”Valjean, Triple Down!” He called, another healing burst emanating from him as Valjean fired a trio of gun blasts at Malphas and the bird demon body.

After being forcibly brought back down to the ground due to Malphas' dark wave, Primrose found her feet just in time for a swirling portal to open up next to her. She knew what was coming, but the demon bird was fast. The talon that struck out through the portal grazed the dancer as she twisted out of the way. Rather than wait for another portal to appear next to her, Primrose's eyes flickered to Malphas' main body and she quickly crossed the arena with her own teleportation skill.

With Ravaging Confession it wasn't Roxas that appeared behind Malphas, but Primrose. She'd seen the magic the third torso was casting and countered with her own, Black Fire Orbs crashing against the demon's orbs of darkness, showering the immediate area in shadowy embers. She'd cast with one hand, the other wrapped around the hilt of her dagger to follow through with her attack.

"You underestimate us," she hissed at Malphas as she slashed at the demoness.

When Primrose took it upon herself to attack from behind this time, Roxas responded in kind. Rather than open with StepSword again, he instead transformed into a streak of light that zigzagged at Malphas and opened into a Cross Slash from the left side of one of her lower bodies. He got grazed and was knocked back by a couple of incoming spikes, but the Nobody reacted quickly enough. As soon as his feet were on the ground, Roxas summoned Kayano again. But instead of shifting everyone’s positions, she instead swapped Roxas with Primrose. This allowed the Keybearer to resume his assault on Malphas a mere moment after the dancer had neutralized the dark orbs and slashed at the demon herself. And it would hopefully protect her from the inevitable retaliation that Malphas was sure to hit back with.

Once the thundercrack of Valjean’s gunshots echoed off the hollow’s walls, the exasperated detective found himself staring down the demon bird alone, for Grimm had disappeared as well. In a scarlet flash, the Troupe Master warped in to take the fight to Malphas as well. After Primrose’s dagger cut deep through pallid, wormlike flesh and Roxas beat the devil out of Malphas with his key-shaped bludgeon, the nightmare flames of point-blank firebats blossomed amidst the dancer’s darkness. With all three bodies besieged by vicious close-quarters combat, Malphas couldn’t cast. She could only force her lower half forward in a desperate bid to buck the Seekers off, but no matter how it thrashed, the Seekers persisted.

Grimm, especially, would not be dislodged. His savage claws not only slid through her flesh like wet paper, but also set her alight thanks to his reward from the Gaster battle. That kind of punishment could not be tolerated, and in a brief moment between two of Grimm’s attacks, Malphas found her chance to retaliate. A portal appeared behind him, through which the hatchling’s leg extended to snatch the Troupe Master and pull him through. Once lifted up through the second portal beneath the demon’s bird body, the portal closed and the monster’s leg slammed down with Grimm beneath it. He burst into a swarm of tiny bugbats that streamed out between the wicked talons, swarmed up past Malphas into the air.



When Grimm coalesced, he enclosed himself in his cloak, which then bulged outward, covered with spikes and alight with inner fire like a scarlet paper lantern. ”Ssaire!” A deluge of scarlet fireballs rained down indiscriminately, with openings small enough that agile allies could get through, but not Malphas. The demon shrieked as she burned, her attempt to take back some momentum ruined, and the Seekers could finish the fight–as long as they could weather the firestorm.

Left alone on the ground while the others launched themselves into the air to attack Malphas’s actual body, Zenkichi focused on taking out the chicken demon thing again. One, putting this thing down again would take Malphas’s focus off killing them, if only for a few moments, and two, he didn’t fancy his odds of not accidentally hurting one of the others. He’d mostly gotten lucky this far, but her actual body was rather small, so the risk of friendly fire with his more area-oriented attacks would be fairly high. So, he ran in, swinging on and unleashing a combo on the demon’s body, even as Malphas used her portals to attack Grimm.

Roxas followed up on his attacks against Malphas’ actual body by continuing his own assault. When gravity inevitably pulled him back toward the ground, he turned into a streak of light that zagged back upward so he could use Cross Slash and continue his string of Keyblade attacks. Sensing the end wasn’t far away, Roxas became more liberal with throwing spells like Firaga and Blizzaga as well. He noticed them growing in size as they lurched toward their intended target thanks to the boon he had acquired in the previous room. Whether this increased their actual power, he wasn’t sure yet, but increasing a spell’s area or reach certainly had its uses regardless.

After Roxas had shifted places with her, Primrose was in a much more advantageous position from which to avoid Grimm's fiery rain and keep up her own casting. She glanced up at the troupe master's pufferfish form to see if she could note any type of pattern to the fire balls, but finding none she'd just have to rely on her evasiveness as they came down. She moved this way and that, turning gracefully in the space between the troupe master's falling flames as she once more conjured dark magic to her hands. When the Moonlight Waltz was ready she let the spell fly, bursting against Malphas and her bird.

While Zenkichi struck from below, the others bombarded Malphas with elements, and their sheer volume of magic quickly whittled the revived demon’s health back down even after Grimm’s Pufferfish attack concluded. For all of her tricks and sorceries Malphas just couldn’t regain control, and not even an emergency escape through a portal could stave off the onslaught when these Seekers stuck to her like glue. With her challengers going all-out on offense, this fight was a race to the finish, and the heroes turned out to be faster.

At last, the detonation of Primrose’s Moonlight Waltz seemed to do the job, eliciting a distorted wail from the demon as one of her three torsos withered and died, driving the rest of the fused monstrosity to thrash in what seemed to be death throws. Grimm wasn’t taking any chances, however, and whether or not it might be needless excess, the Troupe Master warped in to drive his claws into another torso and tear the pallid scion from the trunk to which it had been grafted. He leaped from the body with his prize just before the frenzied bird slammed to the ground, a wretched croak issuing from between its rotten teeth. Motes of dark magic rose like the sparks of a dying fire, and the demon began to disintegrate into dash. “How…how do you have so much…power!?” The last torso slumped down atop the ashen carcass, and the battle was over.

Grimm narrowed his eyes at the one-armed growth he’d excised as it began to dissolve in his grasp. ”An impassioned dance…I am nearly spent.” He’d lost two thirds of himself amidst the feverish revelry, so while he didn’t appear to be in bad shape, appearances could be deceiving. He tossed the corpse aside with a dramatic air.

"Impassioned is certainly a word for it."

When it was over, Roxas decided to use the last of his MP to cast Curaga. ”Heal!” Similar to when he was casting Firagas and Blizzagas earlier, the green ring for the Curaga expanded outward slightly while the spell took effect. So that Super Nova card he picked up could help his Curaga reach more allies to heal? He couldn’t deny the usefulness of that. The spell washed over the group, Grimm included, and provided those who needed it a solid amount of restoration to their health. A moment, cards appeared from the either, three apiece for the victorious few.






For Grimm, this was an easy choice. If burning his foes meant that he’d be burned, and being burned would restore him, then the fact that his previous reward gave him burning attacks meant that he could expect constant healing from now on. Once he made his pick, he felt deep within him an extravagant, soul-soothing warmth, as one might expect of a bowl of warm stew on a cold day. ”Shaaah. May the heat of battle stoke the flames of war, and the fire in our hearts sustain us evermore.”

Roxas stared at the cards before him for what felt like forever. Between the three of them, he was looking between Lucid Gain and VEP-18 Occipital Lobe. On hand, he could increase the hitting power of his Limits and Limit Breaks. On the other hand, he could potentially mitigate his MP consumption, even if only a little. After his gaze shifted between the cards a few more moments, the Nobody finally reached out and touched one, choosing Lucid Gain in the end.

But he didn’t return immediately. Instead the guy who was depicted on the card appeared before him. And then spoke. “Greetings from Olympus and well met, there, sunshine! Look, we can’t get to the Guardian, but if you truly mean to stop it, then the least I can do is light your way down!” But before Roxas could even say anything back in return, things went back to normal and he was among the others in the hollow again.

Primrose looked over her own card choices. Elemental statuses... ah, like the 'scorch' from the last choice. In the thick of battle she'd paid little attention to that boon, especially with the fire of her own and Grimm's magic a consistent presence. Primrose didn't much feel like giving up any of the abilities she'd gained, and though the thought of a slow torture by fire over time had a certain appeal to it, especially for some people she could think of... she wouldn't say no to some instant gratification, particularly if it meant she wouldn't have to suffer any similar effects herself. She selected the last card, and once warped back into the hollow she let out a small sigh.

Another battle won, another trio of cards to choose from. For Zenkichi, the choice was actually fairly easy. While the charm could prove useful in certain situations, losing out on flexibility in combat was not something he had any desire to deal with. And while he sometimes used his revolvers in close quarters as a sort of hidden strike to seriously injure opponents, it wasn’t something he was keen on doing often enough to make that boon worth it. No, the boon that showed the same woman as last time would reinforce his best strength- against large groups of enemies. And who knows, maybe if this sort of thing happened again (once was odd, twice was a pattern), focusing on one type of benefit could start to really work up how useful it was. He chose Dying Wish. Rather than return to the battlefield like last time, however, the woman depicted on the card appeared before him, speaking.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance finally, my dear! Already had enough of this world, yes? Heh, well I promised myself that once you demonstrated your resolve to us, I'd take you under my wing. And I always keep my vows.” That was…ominous, Zenkichi decided. Once she was done, though, he reappeared with the others, confusion evident on his face. ”Did…any of your cards talk to you?” he asked.

”Wait yours did, too?” Roxas almost immediately responded. ”So it’s not just me?”

"I was spoken to briefly before, but not this time," Primrose said. That was curious. Visions aside, it appeared that the rewards were still simply just that: rewards following the battle. And with everyone having chosen said reward, it also stood to reason that they could keep moving on. But before they did, the dancer went to collect Malphas' spirit, and when she returned she produced a small flame of Warmth.

"Does anyone else need a little more patching up?" she asked. Roxas' healing pulse had certainly helped, but she would rather go into whatever next awaited them as healthy as possible.

Zenkichi nodded, and so Primrose pressed the healing flame to him, though his faraway expression indicated he was still thinking about what those cards and the people that spoke to them all meant. If he saw one of them again, he’d have to try and ask.

After being restored by Roxas, Grimm definitely seemed to relax. ”Ssehhh…” Untroubled by any inexplicable visions, he lifted his arm beneath his cloak, and when the fibrous curtain fell open it revealed the Grimmchild dangling from its father’s limb like a bat. Grimm bowed his head to Roxas. ”You could learn much from the spiky one, child,” the Troupe Master rasped, gently prodding the insect’s belly with claws as soft as silk. Seemingly in reply, his progeny let go, then fluttered over toward Roxas to sit in the pointy blonde nest atop his head. After a moment, Grimm glanced over at the spirit of Malphas, then to an untouched Qliphoth vein nestled amidst the iridescent oil shell. ”If this pattern of escalation holds, this next dance may be our most spectacular yet.”

With that Primrose agreed. Though it technically did not bode well for them, it also must have meant they were getting closer and closer to their goal.

"It stands to reason that we'll reunite with more of the others as well," she said. "Moving around like this has been quite... disorienting, but we must be nearing the top of this tree."

”If we are, I can’t tell. This whole tree’s been a confusing mess.” Roxas said, tilting his head in thought. ”It’s weird though. We got split up into twos, then I guess we got put into fours? Almost the exact same thing happened to us in Midgar. Talk about history repeating itself.”

Zenkichi shrugged. ”Yeah, it’s pretty weird. Last time it made sense, super-high tech security system and all that. This is just…weird demon tree thing.” He definitely found it strange, but complaining about it wouldn’t get them anywhere. ”Let’s just hit the top and get this done with. I hate this place.” He started off without further delay, and the others fell in behind him, curious -but not optimistic- about what awaited them beyond this next bloodstream.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Return of None II

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (126/140), Midna, Edelgard, Lvl 4 Captain Falcon
Word Count: 2800 (+3)



”Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy” Midna sighed through teeth clenched with pain before glancing behind her across the bar to check on Emily. In doing so, however she spotted, in one of the small glass cupboards (read, mini fridges), a bottle that shimmered with power in her mindseye.

Restorative power.

With her shadow hand she reached across the bar and helped herself to the bottle while saying ”Not stealing if the barkeeps a creep” and then reading out loud that what she’d just retrieved was called ”Jim Roger Bread Soda”

With a sarcastic declaration of ”Well, that sounds lovely” she pulled up her helmet and got to drinking down the restorative meal in a bottle while the battle continued to rage behind her.

“Hey, whoa.” A familiar, tired voice reached Midna from beneath the bar, sounding mildly hurt. When she looked, she found the scruffy-haired, pink-wearing stranger from earlier, hunkered down almost out of sight. Unlike Emily, who only crouched down so she could see the action from her hidey-hole, he was sitting on the floor, carefully pouring a bright blue liquid into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. When she spotted him, he nodded his head over his shoulder, as if to say that she should focus on the task at hand.

Midna’s eyes widened, and then she gave a snort of a laugh at the true nature of his disappearing act that she just barely prevented from causing the bread drink coming out her nose. Still, despise this surprise reveal, she did indeed focus on the task at hand, downing the rest of her beverage, slamming the bottle down on the counter and correcting herself slightly to him being a ”sneak then” before turning back to see the state of the battle and get ready to get stuck back in, the bizarre beverage having miraculously washed away all her wounds.

By then, Nadia had rejoined the fray. Though the murderous aura given off by the memory zone meme once its shadows enshrouded the area made her hackles rise, the feral wasn’t about to sit back and do nothing–especially when it struck down the third person to attack it last time. She took off at a run, then boosted herself into the air with pressurized blood. With Charge she put her best foot forward in a lightning-fast divekick, then performed a high voltage Battery by flip-kicking back off the ground, detaching her head, and swinging it down in an energetic headbutt. Sparks flew as her noggin beaned Something Unto Death in the eye, but the next moment its pulse pushed her back, much to her chagrin. When she slid to a stop and popped her head back on, though, Nadia noticed a red peeper floating above her. “’Eye’ don’t like the looks of this…”

”Nor do I, but until we learn its true nature, we must continue to fight.” Edelgard simply replied, stepping forward to put herself at the forefront of the fight yet again, Aymr slashing out at the monster before her. As it retaliated with a Funeral kiss, Edelgard hefted her shield, the claw slamming into the steel barrier and letting off a terrible screech as its talons grated on the metal. Grunting at the impact, the Flame Emperor sighed. Even through her guard, that was quite a hit.

”Fire and Wind are apparently our best bets.” Falcon noted aloud in case any of the others hadn’t picked up on the boss’s elemental weaknesses. ”Good thing I’ve got plenty of the former to spare!”

Before he could act, however, the bounty hunter found himself paralyzed once more. Edelgard’s attack had earned her an eye sigil above her head just like Nadia’s, and a moment after it appeared, Something Unto Death faded away into the shadowy backdrop. Countless red eyes opened within the darkness before the meme itself descended from above the two women. Its feather-blade slid across their necks, cutting off Nadia’s scream with terrifying suddenness, and the next moment the monster was gone. When it reappeared, it was joined by two Sombrous Sepulchers containing the captive souls, and flanked by those eerie tombstones it now faced a team reduced by half.

”Not good!” Falcon finally said when the paralysis wore off. Now there were two team members trapped and in need of an assist. They couldn’t afford for the Captain to go ahead with his planned attack on Something Unto Death. So he turned and redirected his focus, sprinting toward the Sombrous Sepulchers. He recalled Nadia shouting something earlier about attacking the tombstones. So that’s what the bounty hunter would do. ”Not today!” Falcon cried as he began unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks against Edelgard’s tombstone. Even his usual showmanship was briefly set aside for the sake of rescuing a teammate. Sadly, the meme’s pulse shunted him backward all too soon, so the Sepulcher wasn’t down just yet. ”Midna, can you get the other one?””

”On it!” Midna called out as she slipped into the shadow of the bar, and then out of something Something Unto Death’s own inorder to cross the distance.

Once there, she declared ”Here, I’ve come up with something just for you!” before reaching her shadow hand back behind her, forming a sword grip, and then crescent moon blading the dead end express out of the twilight realm. The giant train-chainsaw mace wired and revved, bladed teeth spinning as it was slammed upwards.

Fighting gravity, it was something of a weakened strike, but the impact still unleashed a shockwave of wind that far outstripped what it should have created via momentum alone.



The massive weapon and its vacuum effect scored both a meaty wallop on Something Unto Death and some damage against the Sepulchers on either side, lowering both to just two feathers. Before Midna could push forward with the massive weapon for another assault, however, a wave of raw force sent her skidding away. Whatever this power was, it seemed that nobody could linger in the memory zone meme’s vicinity for long.

As Midna attacked, her minions appeared to strike at the main body to try and keep it off guard. Her darknut and cybernetic wolf-cycle appeared briefly to deliver a colossal overhead sword strike and point blank maw cannon lighting blast respectively, before her wolfos and beast legion leapt onto the foe, leaping up to nipping at its heels (literally) to pile on the pleasure. Their wind-aspected punishment quickly added up, but just as quickly they were sent packing like their master, leaving Something Unto Death alone with its prizes once more.

At that point, though, the fight took an unexpected turn. Emily vaulted over the bar, her saber at the ready, and ran up to stand alongside Falcon and Midna. “I appreciate you wanting to keep me safe,” she declared, turning to face the specter with a soldier’s solemnity. “But I can fight, too. I won’t stand by and let anyone die on my account!” After donning a ferocious mask, she used her saber to draw her own blood and set it alight. “If it’s fire you need, it’s fire you’ll get!”

Before she could put it to use, however, the meme struck again. It launched another Sunken Rain that assailed the Seekers with dark spikes, which forced Emily to block, then lunged toward Falcon with Funeral Kiss. The bounty hunter had temporarily stop his attacks to put up his defenses, but when he did it manifested a reddish bubble around him that absorbed the attack, causing the bubble to shrink a bit as a result. But since it was charging at him, he was able to retaliate with a ”Ryuugeki Ken!” and hitting the Meme with a close range burst of flame before the pushback kicked in.

As the Meme rushed towards the captain, Midna and her pack rushed past it and towards the tombstones holding their other allies. The wolves naturally outpaced her, but the princess merely needed to yank on her astral chain once they got close inorder to catch up, pulling herself to the beast legion, and then spring boarding off of it with the power of flowmotion. With most of her blades scattered to the four corners of the room she instead bore her dragon claws, delivering a quartet of wind power backed swipes to Nadia’s tome. With talons piercing the surface and letting her cling to it for just a moment, she raised up her shadow hand and then sent it crashing down atop of it trying to ”Crack you like an egg!” Strangely, however, the whole assault only seemed to count for one feather, meaning one remained by the time Midna got repelled once again.

As she did this, the wolves of astral and twilight darted under Edelgard’s and, chasing each other’s tails, whipped up a tornado beneath it, buffeting and rocking it before they leapt into their creation and used it to launch themselves up to bite at the Sombrous Sepulcher. Their efforts shaved off only one of the tombstone’s feathers, however, so that Sepulcher remained standing, too.

Given the speed at which Midna, her summons, and the Captain operated, Emily was only able to make good on her proud declaration just then. She swung her saber, coated in her own blazing blood, in a wide arc to launch an ember that carved its own roundabout path. It looped through one tombstone, Something Unto Death, and then the other before firing off behind her. Though her Ember Reversal didn’t inflict much injury to her adversary, it still burned away the Sepulchers’ final feathers and left them unprotected. Having observed throughout the fight’s first phase, Emily made sure to communicate. “One more should do it!”

The memory zone meme would not let the totems go down without a fight, though. It wheeled around in the shadows, hurling down another dozen flechettes with Sunken Rain, then warped to the opposite side to nail the Seekers from behind with a second. Emily, who’d managed to dodge through the first deadly deluge, had charged forward to try and destroy the undefended totems, only to receive two lances, one into the meat of her calf and the other across the ribs. “Agh!” She stumbled, teeth gritted, and fell short of the prize. Meanwhile Falcon had fared slightly better. His closeness to the memory zone meme at the time kept him from dodging the first volley before taking a glancing blow from one of the lances, but he did manage to avoid the second volley since they came from a longer ways away after the meme had teleported.

Midna sent her wolfos home and hunkered down under her shadow hand to resist the first barrage, and sent her flygon forth to strike the totems while she kept track of the meme. In doing so she was well prepared to block the second barrage as well, and to mentally inform her minion of it as well, the shadow dragon barrel rolling in the air to avoid the spines.

Rather than get to one or the other, it landed between them and vibrated its wings in such way as to produce a horrendous bug buzz that pulsed out and struck both targets at once, while Midna focused on Emily, calling out in question ”are you alright?” while mentally charting an exit route for her. Seeing this, the Captain figured he was alright to refocus his efforts on targeting Something Unto Death.

“I’ll live!” the soldier growled, ripping off strips of cloth with which to staunch the bleeding. She was more concerned about Edelgard and Nadia, but as the flygon dealt both Sepulchers their final blow, the tombstones shattered and returned the fallen to the world of the living.

Nadia gasped as she sat bolt upright, her hair and tail fluffed up in terror. She found it difficult to tell exactly what happened, but it reminded her of suddenly waking from dreamless sleep. It was easy enough to tell what lay before her, though, and with the battle against the many-eyed specter still ongoing, the feral rose to her feet.

Edelgard, similarly, forced herself up as she recovered from what was now her second ordeal trapped within the Sepulcher, and she was not pleased. Her face tightened in anger, and rather than Aymr, Absolution appeared in her hand.

Grazed by Sunken Rain but undeterred, Captain Falcon charged back into the fray. He sprinted into a leap that carried him toward Something Unto Death. ”Falcon Kick!” He shouted as his fiery boot made an impact against the meme. Naturally the pushback effect shunted the Captain back a few feet, but he’d anticipated this. ”Ryuugeki Sen!” He threw a series of 4 chi-empowered punches that hurled flaming disc projectiles at Something Unto Death as a follow up to the Falcon Kick opener.

Demonstrating a superhuman ability to push through the injury and pain, Emily rose to follow him into battle. Her bloodied sword burned bright as she lashed out with Crimson Moon, a sweeping crescent slash that kept Something Unto Death scorched. With each blow, more fiery cracks spread across its tenebrous frame, so it must be close to breaking.

Nadia lacked the elements necessary to bust the meme open, but she could still do her part. A crimson blast from her legs hurled her toward her target, and the feral dropped with all ten claws extended for a curtain shredder slash. “It’s curtains!” One on the ground, she stood on one leg, then began to rotate on that thigh scar. Using jets of blood from her arms she quickly picked up speed, spinning with her tail, upper body, and other leg extended like the rotors of a propeller. “Round and round we mow!” After only a second or two the monster’s aura began to push her away, but as she tumbled back Nadia executed one final spin to launch both arms at Something Unto Death like flying drills.

Midna didn’t exactly have the matching element to her allies fury stacks, but she had charged up plenty of wind power beating on the totems which she promptly put to good use: riding her beast legion into the frey and then leaping off of it to deliver a cyclone kick to the meme, creating a stunning shockwave of wind when her foot made impact with one of its many eyeballs.

A fireball crashed against the meme as Midna attacked it, followed shortly by a series of vicious attacks from Absalom’s axe, wielded by the Flame Emperor and literally blazing with her fury. ”ENOUGH! FALL, DEMON, BEFORE THE FLAMES OF AN EMPIRE!”



Her blazing might smashed through the last of the meme’s defense, its invisible shell bursting into fiery shards that went up in smoke as Something Unto Death dropped to the ground. Though Edelgard would still be repelled a short distance after her assault, that feeble attempt only served to delay the inevitable, since now everyone could see that their opponent was wide open. With the monster’s weakness broken, it was up to the Seekers to make sure that Something Unto Death stayed down for the count.
In World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Diabolical Incantation

Lvl 3 Grimm Zenkichi, Primrose, Lvl 9 Roxas
Word Count: 3,109


As any dedicated explorer of the Under -or indeed, the Kingdom of Hallownest- could attest, the subterranean realm generally became stranger and more exotic the deeper one went, but the Qliphoth seemed to be the opposite. The higher the Seekers climbed in their steady ascent toward the demon tree’s canopy, the denser this alien environment became. Up here the floodfestation zones were a terrible sight to behold, with entire sections of the trunk overgrown by rampant, hateful flesh, a cancer metastasized beyond any hope of removal. Yet the most powerful demons lurked up here as well, an elite cadre of inglorious devils risen from the seven hells to safeguard this stronghold on the World of Light’s surface, varied in power and form but united in common purpose. And as Grimm sliced his way out of a bloodstream to set foot in a broad cylindrical hollow lined with iridescent oil-black stone, it was one such horror that his scarlet eyes witnessed.

At first blush, it loosely resembled the spawn of some gargantuan bird, a gangly hatchling yet to grow feathers with a disproportionately large head. But its skin was yellowish brown, scaled, its head further distended as if by bloated tumors within. Inside its beak lay rows of rotten human teeth, and all over its body -but especially its wings- twitched what might have been bony fingers or arachnid legs. Yet as horrid as this was, that wasn’t all. Atop its back lay a handful of crystalline spires that ringed an arcane vortex like the contents of a swirling cauldron, and over the diabolical brew loomed a clustered trio of pale, feminine bodies, clothed only in pitch-black hair, with only one arm per torso and ritualistic marks on their faces. At the intrusion, the three heads turned, followed shortly by that of the nightmarish bird-thing. “Some manner of insect. Uninfected, too. I smell a strange, dark magic on you…”

”Well met. I am Grimm, master of the Troupe beckoned by the nightmare flame.” The newcomer bowed dramatically, a claw held over his heart and the other extended sideways. ”And I have come in search of kindling. A fine stage this is, your towering kingdom fallowed by worm and blight. Let us light it, a funeral pyre, ignited by the passionate heat of our dance.” He held out his hand, as if beckoning the creature to come and take it.

The demon spread her claws wide, leering at the dancers, detective, and nobody. “A dance, is it? Know then that you stand in the presence of Malphas, and the mightest sorceries of hell! I will squash you -all of you- like the bugs that you are!”



Wiping the bloody xylem from his body, Zenkichi slumped his shoulders a little when he realized they were in for another fight- because obviously they would be in for another fight, it’d be too easy otherwise. Ragnell appeared in his hand as he looked at his companions for this battle- Roxas, the bug guy from Meridi-At-Han whose name he didn’t remember or didn’t catch, and Primrose. Not a bad squad, all things considered, he thought. Instead of Preservation Protocol, though, this time he set up Restoration Protocol. The double-buffing was useful, but with Primrose here, he could buff and heal the whole squad at once, which might prove invaluable. ”Alright, giant chicken demon lady. That’s new.”

For Roxas, the only Seeker here he was particularly familiar with was Zenkichi. But that wasn’t going to stop him from helping them take down this demon lady person. ”Wish I could say it was new to me.” Roxas quipped in response to the Phantom Thief’s comment. Even before Galeem, Roxas had certainly seen and fought his share of bizarre enemies. Nevertheless, the Nobody brandished his Keyblades and got to work. The first thing he did was cast Tailwind on everyone present, including himself.

Then he used his StepSword to instantaneously move himself to a position to strike at one of the upper torsos from behind with the ignited energy blade and try to follow that with a quick series of Keyblade strikes.

It's like every horror in the area has come to take shelter in this tree, Primrose thought as she was freed from the vein only to find herself immediately staring yet down another monstrosity. Though for all she knew the Qliphoth had been like this the whole time. The dancer's eyes flickered over to the teammates she now found herself with, meeting each of their eyes (or in one's case, their mask) to signal that whatever they were in for, she was ready for it.

She did want to try out the mysterious reward she'd gotten after the last battle, but in the crucial opening moments of this one Primrose also chose to empower her allies. She'd seen a little of Grimm at work in Meridi-at-Han, had noticed the boy Roxas cast a spell or two, and knew that Zenkichi possessed some magic of his own... so she swiftly decided on her first performance, kicking things off with a dance most literal. The Peacock Strut, with motions as bold and confident as they were elegant, would increase the power of a Seeker's magical and elemental skills - but with just a few extra moments the effect spread to every one of them.

When the nobody had taken a second to cast, Malphas prepared herself as well. The uppermost torso jabbed two fingers forward and unleashed a wave of purple spikes toward her challengers. That naturally wouldn’t trouble Roxas, but the other two had waved their hands to conjure three murky orbs apiece, which hovered briefly in the air. After Roxas flashed with a flurry of blows, all six orbs launched his way as dark magic lances, and the bird itself stepped forward in order to whirl around. Luckily for Roxas he was quick enough on the draw - thanks to Tailwind - to generate a small platform of virtual cubes to plant his feet on in addition to a chest high wall in front of him he could crouch behind to try and avoid the lances - or at the very least slow them down or blunt them. Four crashed against the wall, but two shot down at a high enough angle to strike him.

Grimm took advantage of the distraction to use a little magic of his own. He flung wide his cape, releasing first the Grimmchild, then three firebats that hurtled through the air to blast the hatchling’s face. The next moment, though, he was forced to dodge the incoming spikes with a quick, low scuttle to the side. To his surprise the spikes curved to track him, fast enough to catch him with painful jabs from below, but it would take a lot more than that to put the Troupe Master down. He did not happen to see the uppermost torso as her extended fingers traced his path, but as Malphas turned her back he began to run forward.

With only her dagger as a means to deal physical damage, Primrose had to largely stick with her spells - though she'd known that going into the mission this morning, and as such was fine leaving her allies with the getting up close and personal. As the wave of spikes extended towards them Primrose leapt, floating up until they passed under her, and prepared to join in on the offensive. Though this demon claimed to be a powerful sorceress, she hoped it did not have some measure of magic resistance... She called upon her Moonlight Waltz to test it, even as she began to conjure Luna in her free hand. The swirl of darkness took shape to fall upon the demon's center mass, soon to be followed by silvery moonlight.

Summoning Ragnell, Zenkichi ran straight towards the multi-bodied demon, rolling to dodge the wave of spikes coming his way Much like they did with Grimm, the spikes curved to pierce his side, forcing a grunt of pain out of the Phantom Thief, who rolled his eyes. Of course they were seeking projectiles. Oh well, he'd have to either knock them out of the sky or block them next time. As soon as he got within range, he swung Ragnell a few times, launching blasts of explosive energy at Malphas.

Just as the demon delivered a monstrously powerful peck that shattered the ruby-red cubes and threw Roxas to the floor, its legs and back took a handful of empowered elements. The chick uttered a horrid squawk as it looked back, its eyeless face bulging, then lifted one leg. Two of Malphas’ torsos snapped their fingers, conjuring dark swirls by both Zenkichi and herself, and when the chick thrust its limb into one a taloned kick extended from the other to stamp down on the detective from above. Grimm dashed past him while this happened, but once the leg retracted all three of Malphas’ torsos worked together to manifest a huge portal directly above herself, into which the demon promptly disappeared.

After a second, more portals began to appear around the Seekers. In quick succession the bird’s leg or head burst through each one, each hard and fast strike delivered from an odd angle with only a moment’s notice. In the chaos, Grimm only narrowly avoided a full-force peck, sprayed by oily shards kicked up from the impact point, then committed to constant motion in order to stay ahead of the demon’s assault. A few seconds later, a large portal opened on the other side of the arena and Malphas drifted out sideways, quickly sliding to a stop.

Zenkichi was caught off guard by the kick from above, which knocked him to the ground, groaning. Once he picked himself up, he saw the many portals appearing around them, and resorted to the ancient art of rolling around like a madman, leaping and diving away from talons and beaks as they launched out of the portal. Even with his desperate dodging, he was clipped by more than one hit, though the glancing blows were far from lethal.

Primrose continued to keep her distance and cast her own magic - though unfortunately she'd learned that staying out of melee range would not protect her from that deformed chick's melee attacks. The portal barrage had taken her completely off guard, and the first strike from the thing's beak she'd suffered had been a rough one. She abandoned her offensive to devote herself to evasion as the attack continued, patching herself up by placing the flame of Warmth at her bleeding side. After several close calls the portals closed, and Primrose summoned her Makami in retaliation.

"Tarunda!" she ordered, and the willowy wolf flew towards Malphas to deliver its debuff to the demon's strength.

After those lances caught him, Roxas wasn’t able to react in time to avoid getting thrown down to the floor by the initial peck attack. But he recovered quick enough and was back on his feet, only to find that Malphas was no longer nearby. She’d used some kind of portal to move to the other side of the arena. ”You’re not getting away from us!” Roxas shouted, already locking onto the demon lady before he, too, vanished.

He reappeared once again directly above Malphas’ flank where he struck with the energy blade of his StepSword. But rather than continue attacking, he conjured up a fresh formation of virtual cubes that he pushed himself off of in order to launch himself down to the ground, hoping that his blocks would help protect him from the trajectory of any more dark lances. And as soon as his feet were back on the ground? He summoned Kayano - who used her mysterious powers to instantly pull the Nobody’s allies to his location while simultaneously pushing him backward toward theirs. Plus they all got a nice attack boost as a bonus. All Roxas had to do after that was use his StepSword again and he was immediately back into the thick of the fray.

In reply Malphas cast with all three hands to unleash a huge cone of purple spikes, into which the nobody’s allies were dragged. Grimm, at least, managed to react in time and launch himself skyward with a scything uppercut. Though it allowed him to evade the spikes it fell well short of Malphas herself, until he teleported while in the air, which released a rain of four large fireballs. Their descent preceded his reappearance on the demon’s other side, opposite Roxas. He joined in the assault with two floating claw swipes, followed by a brisk divekick.

At the same time Primrose prepared her latest spell. It was a potent one with a longer casting time, but when the crystals shot forward again Primrose trusted her Baldur Shell to protect her. The purple spikes crashed against the shell, and though it shattered it had succeeded in preventing the spikes from reaching her. The three masses of shadows she'd conjured shot forward then, her Dirge of Dusk twisting through the air towards the demon's trio of humanoid bodies.

Going from dodging like a madman to being pulled into a wall of spikes was not Zenkichi's idea of a great time, though in this case he managed to pull up Ragnell in time to block, or more accurately, deflect a couple of spikes out of his way as he narrowly avoided the rest. ”There's just no end to this, huh?!” he complained, launching a few blasts of light with Ragnell before calling for Valjean. ”Fine, then. Valjean, Triple Down!” In his experience, birdlike things didn't fare too well when presented with gun damage, and the healing burst that flowed out from him thanks to Preservation Protocol was a nice addition, as well.

Roxas was not happy seeing what he had accidentally dragged his fellow Seekers into, to say the least. He thought he was giving them an edge by giving them a means to press their attacks while simultaneously being buffed, but instead it looked more like he’d just thrown them against a wall. After his initial reappearance in the aftermath of his StepSword attack, Roxas generated a collection of scattered virtual cubes that he could launch himself between with flow motion. That kept the Keybearer himself out of the barrage of spikes on the ground. But it also put him in a position to be right in Malphas’ line of sight. For now all he could do was keep zipping between cubes and try to get in fly-by slashes. Maybe if he could harass Malphas enough it might create a window for some of the others to capitalize on with their attack boost from Kayano.

While Roxas and Grimm’s empowered attacks helped soften Malphas up, and Primrose’s tenebrous magic dealt respectable damage, it was the amped-up Triple Down that tipped the scales. When the magic bullets hit the head bird itself, rather than the demon torsos, the malformed hatchling shrieked and slumped to the ground with a massive slam. It could only write feebly as it lay there in a heap, despite Malphas’ best efforts to coax her lesser half into action. “Up, up!” she seethed. Knowing that she was a sitting duck right now better than anyone, she began to cast more orbs in a desperate attempt to keep the Seekers at bay.

With this chance presented to them, Primrose moved swiftly to make the most of it. She danced around the magic orbs flung their way, moving up slightly if only to make sure her aim would be true.

"Lights out!" she said, conjuring a large inky black lance. It hovered in the air for a moment before stabbing through the air at a harsh downward angle to skewer Malpha's triplet body. In addition to the strike itself and the waves of damaging darkness that would waft out from its impact point, it would make her allies more likely to land a critical hit.

Seeing the opportunity, Roxas wasn’t about to let it go to waste. He pushed himself from a virtual cube and launched himself down toward the toppled Malphas and stabbed both Keyblades into her with all the explosive momentum he’d built up from his previous uses of Flow Motion. Then he followed that up with a Cross Slash that then led into a flurry of rapid Keyblade strikes. And since his feet were touching the ground, Roxas decided to generate a bunch of virtual blocks right on top of the demon for good measure, since they would deal constant touch damage to anyone other than himself that touched them.

Perhaps still sore from those spikes earlier, Grimm decided to lend a hand by repaying the favor. He plunged the tips of his cape into the ground, and after a second or so, they shot up from the ground beneath Malphas to pierce her hideous lower half from beneath. His Grimmchild joined in with a little scarlet spitfire as well.

Zenkichi also rushed in, barely taking time to dodge the magic attack Malphas had launched, powering through to take advantage of her vulnerability. When he reached her body, he lifted Ragnell into the air, fire accumulating around the blade. As the flames reached their peak, he thrust the blade into the ground, a series of fiery explosions emanating out from where the holy sword hit the floor.

This time, luck was on the Seekers’ side. The Eruption from Ragnell inflicted a critical hit, explosively launching the entire demon off the ground. She smashed through the blocks left by Roxas to add insult to injury, then arced through the air in a majestic backflip before the demonic hatchling slammed back down. Grimm could hardly avert his eyes from the spectacle, convinced that no living thing could survive a spectacle like that, but to the Troupe Master’s surprise Malphas somehow galvanized the bird into action. It staggered to its feet in a berserk rage, the swellings on its head pulsating abominably, and filled the hollow with a brain-rattling shriek. To Grimm, it looked like the parasitical demoness had just lost control.

Primrose got the same impression. She breathed in deeply, slowly backing away from the demon toward a stretch of flat, solid ground from which to resume her casting. If the lower half was crazed, the battle would become all the more chaotic. Either way, they were in for it now.

Zenkichi jumped back from the screaming monster, pulling Ragnell up into a more guarded stance as his ears rang.

Roxas tightened his grip on his Keyblades. He knew an incoming phase two when he saw it. And this? This was definitely just the beginning.
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