The 42nd Gecko

The War of the Three

@KoL Anyway, if Artoria's getting perma-killed, I'm gonna at least try to get some exposition out of it first.

The War of the Three

Artoria, Master of the Maniacal Menagerie

After her attack missed, Artoria fell back down to a catwalk on the factory about near the others, still shouldering Love Tap.

"Umm... Are all your friends running even though you've asked for their help? Um.. If you don't mind me asking, if they're not your friends, why exactly are you defending them? Did someone scary tell you to? A promise or something?" Artoria asked Eos, pausing her aggression for a moment, kind of confused seeing all the Machina run away in their moment of triumph. Eos would almost certainly defeat them all, with or without her factions help, but it was symbolic and all, yeah?

@KoL

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio I knew you had collabed with Windel, I wasn't aware you collabed with KoL too. I notice the GMs frequently forget each others plot hooks, and so sometimes contradict each other. I was wondering if that slipped the radar, but if KoL gave it the sanction too, I guess Eos is suddenly not omniscient for some reason.

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio Um... Artoria didn't throw her axe, she swung it. She also intercepted Unit-T mid air before it landed.

Artoria also tried to push Mephila aside so she wouldn't get hit, but you can say you dodged her push as well as the bullets.

Also, Eos said that anyone who tried to leave the foundry would be treated as an enemy and killed, as well as locked the doors. Your scientists can't leave without defeating or convincing Eos.

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio No. There's a teleport blocker.

My post that would have given Hell a chance would have removed that.

The War of the Three

Artoria, Master of the Maniacal Menagerie

Artoria, first and foremost, wanted to run away and cry. But she couldn't.

Eos had just deflected her attacks one after another without even breaking her focus or exhausting herself. When she finally launched a serious attack, there was no way Artoria could have defended against it without the power of Henrietta's silver eyes. The silver eyes she couldn't copy. Between all the powers she couldn't copy and those of which she could only make pale imitations, like Taura's... She was coming to a very unhappy discovery. Could she only copy the form, the shape, the style of a power, not really its true power? If so, was she was a flawed creation that would never realize her dream, or get Hohenheim to recognize her?

But she couldn't mope now! Two beautiful girls were right here and needed her protection! The haughty and sultry Mephila, with such grace and refinement, even within a hardened shell! The flighty and passionate Henrietta, who knew exactly what she wanted and would stop at nothing to make it her own. They had even let her hug them without instantly killing her! This time. The destruction of such beauty could not be permitted.

"Hmph! Well, you're not the only one to have friendships or whatever! However dysfunctional they may be, I'm still gonna stand against you because Henrietta's right! We're demons because we do what we want! I'd want to run away if I was by myself, but I want to fight you because I want to stand in somewhat close proximity to Henrietta and Mephila! So, uh.. Yeah! Take that... Demon.. Power? Friendship?
Or something?" Artoria said, kinda losing momentum the further and further she got into her lame speech.

Then Eos wordlessly attacked with point blank serious bullets. This was a fast attack, with almost no space or time to react. But against Alexi, Ira's speed had proved enough to parry a sword blow at near the speed of light. Ira was fast enough, and Artoria would be too. Shoving Mephila to the ground and away at an angle, she send them under the bullets, as she herself was pushed above the bullets, pulling up her legs in a curl as she narrowly dodged. She raised a fist, crackling with demonic flame to counterattack, and opened her mouth to respond to Hohenheim when:

".... OOOF!" Artoria was interrupted as the handle of an axe slammed into her, barely catching it with one free hand and an accidentally interposed elbow, and being launched backwards at high speed given her aerial position at the moment. Looking behind her to see if she was going to slam into anything, she noticed she was going to smack into a flying robot dinosaur. It went by the name Unit-T, but Artoria didn't know that. With a quick ear swap, she located the body piloting it with precision, sensing the very potential to become a cute animal girl. And she knew just the animal for this pilot! Unless, of course, they weren't actually suited to what they were piloting. That would be awkward. Ira's wings widening, Artoria turned herself about and increased her velocity, as Taura's shape was worn again. She'd swing forth Fran's Love Tap, the inordinately heavy axe, and Unit-T would find itself with the force of Taura's throw pushing her right into the strength of Taura (and Fran, and Ira) swinging an axe to split through her battered armor with demonic corruption and bucket loads of physical force. But if the Unit-T's shell finally cracked, its pilot would not be harmed, but instead, improved, being dino-fied.

~~

One odd thing Henrietta would discover was that, in fact, her nails in the form, were copies of the power of her Cheater's blade. Her angry flailing had actually destroyed the floor underneath her, piercing through Shizuka's barriers as easily as they had once pierced through Miyu's, as the Cheater's Blade was wont to do. This would send Henrietta falling through the floor to dodge Eos' bullets, but set her face to face with Shizuka again.

@Lmpkio@KoL@floodtalon@Lucius Cypher@Ryonara I think that's everyone?

The War of the Three

@Lucius Cypher That's the thing, Artoria's plan hinges on herself taking the bullets.

So that the bullets can't dodge.

My plan is weird.

Too weird now that I think about it more.

Eeeeh... I'll just dodge and wait for another round.

The War of the Three

@Lucius Cypher Eh, the problem is that I'd be taking memory bullets and dying for realzies. Artoria without her memories is worthless, as her meaningful powers come from her will rather than her body.

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio I've had two potential posts in my head.

One would develop Artoria as a character, and add something cool to the fight, and give the demons a chance for victory, however tiny.

The other one just delays things.

The problem is that option one ends with Artoria dead. And then I'm back to playing Miyu, who is not so good at fighting, or my "no character development possible" characters.

The War of the Three

@Lmpkio Darn it.. You put the ball on me.. I was hoping to avoid it by you posting first.. Now I have to actually decide..

Or just delay facing everything and just have Artoria duck instead of doing something cool. This second option is tempting.