Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest Before Dawn
Date of Scene:	12 March 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - Outskirts
Synopsis:	It can always get worse.
Cast of Characters:	Mercade Alexander, Ember, Avira, Maira, Angantyr Vespar, Seith, Emi Dennou, Percival, Evja, Myla Mason, Kamon Lionward, Soan Sagittarius

---

Avira has posed:
The rumors had been true.

The wayward VALKYRI had been a reluctant companion of Mercade as he fled the New Orleans bayou ahead of an incoming wyvern swarm. They had been fortunate enough to escape both that and the mysterious necromancer that had arrived. There were some close calls, especially in the case of Will Sherman. Thankfully, his incredible luck and the heroics of the young gria Navya had brought this member of the TDA back safely, if harmed.

Avira has been extremely uneasy in Traverse Town today, not only because of the inherant danger she had encountered the last time she was here. Being here again and around the TDA made her guilt fester strongly. She had become very withdrawn and nervous. Every time she passed one of those posters that Hades had put up, she cringed.

She wanted to get away but it was unlikely that such an option would be offered. For now, she settled for taking a walk outside of Traverse Town with Mercade as an escort.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade isn't letting Avira go.

He's been paying very close attention to her and her surroundings. If anyone is going to get to her, they have to go through him first.

Never mind that Avira is probably a better fighter than Mercade is.

Nevertheless, he has tried to be consoling to her, for various reasons. Mercade's been tearing those posters down when he sees them. "We're not going to give up, Avira. I don't care what happens, I'm not letting Hades take you."

Avira has posed:
'It's ironic.' Avira had commented on those fliers, 'Under any other circumstance I might be proud to actually score a wanted poster. But not a lost dog poster.'

The mutate pauses to look to him as he makes his promise, an unreadable expression on her face. It's hard to tell whether or not Avira actually believes that he can. There's no doubt in Avira's mind that he will try though. The gears turn in her head. "If he does, at least it will be out here. At least the town won't suffer again."

A thought suddenly hits her. "...Mercade." she says slowly, "You remember the day that we went to Merlin to get the duplicated mutate cure, right? And all that...awkward stuff that happened afterwards, right?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade was thinking much the same thing. They lose the defenses of the town... But they won't hurt anyone else if they're out here.

Mercade grimaces to himself. It's like when Jasmine was running. Is that going to be her fate?

Mercade's hands clench for a moment. He's not going to let that happen. He looks to Avira, his expression curious. "Yeah. I remember. What about it?"

Avira has posed:
Right now, Avira's thoughts are aligned pretty closely with Mercade's. She too crossed paths with Jasmine and even guarded her for some time. At one point, they almost lost her to the Heartless. It was an exhausting task that she knew she couldn't keep up as a bodyguard.

But the idea of running still didn't feel so wrong to her. Not after the shallow deal she made with Hades. It was shocking that people could find it in themselves to forgive the choice she made.

Avira turns to face Mercade. "You made me an offer and a promise that day..." she says slowly, carefully pronouncing each word, as if she dreadfully fears she wouldn't be able to even say these things. "Do you remember that?"

Maira has posed:
Well, Maira had no luck finding Skoll, but she /did/ find Angantyr, who was comfortingly determined to drag Avira back where she belonged. She really couldn't run forever. Even Maira knows that strategy couldn't work.

Now, Avira may feel a familiar chilling presence pass her by then rapidly disappear. Uist, watching for her. The spirit moves in a blink back to where Maira is trying to keep everything at VALKYRI under control. She leaps up when Uist arrives to tell her where Avira is. Turning, she looks to Angantyr. "Found her! She's....on the outskirts of Traverse Town. Well, alright. I guess we won't have to go far then! Lets go!"

A little while later, Maira is running toward Avira and Mercade, already looking out of breath and ready to fall over. Assuming Avira and Mercade stop at the sound of her footfalls and heavy breathing, Maira reaches them and slumps over some. "Av....ira....there you...are," she says, then just sort of flails an arm in Angantyr's direction to tell her she found him, while she catches her breath.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr runs at a slower pace than Maira.

However, he's armored, but also not out of breath when he gets here. He pauses, looking at the Mutate for a long LONG moment. Then back at Mercade...huh.

He rubs the side of his head and turns around. It's not important to say anything right now...this is already pretty ackward. "You're in the open." he says to them both, "Unless you're looking for a fight with the heartless and The Shadow lords." He finally manages to get out. He says focused on the area.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason had been just going about her business really, not worrying about too much today but then she sees in the distance, it's Dragoon Man? Wait what's going on here this gets the pirate spawn's attention. She stops from her wandiner go go see hust what is going on here. She'd be an unknown to everyone but the Dragoon man, but she doesn't look too hostile from the looks of her?

"Dragoon Man?!"

Then there were more people coming in just who were they?

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade nods to her. "Sure. I remember. Why do you ask?" He blinks. "Wait, you mean..."

And suddenly he is interrupted by Maira. Mercade looks back over to her... And Angantyr. "What? You..."

Angantyr brings up the problem of being in the open." He shakes his head. "How do you expect us to hide from Hades? The only thing we can do is stay mobile until Isaac figures out until we have a way to shut him down and restore Manhattan."

Just then, DRAGOON MAN appears. "Huh? Evja has...!"

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"Mercades Alexander!" Intones a voice from above. Thanksfully in the outskirt, that is not going to be too much noticed. That voice is followed by a thud, landing over one of the hills, higher than the two are wandering by. Dragoon Man stands there, arms crossed.

"I bring forth bad news! There was a burst of darkness, and I am told that Evja has escap--"

Dragoon Man stops, noticing that the two figures running that were coming up this way, from up there, are indeed people he recognised. If not as Dragoon Man. Dragoon Man gives Agantyr and Maira a stare. Ang in particular.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Soan Sagittarius has an 'information network' that says something bad and messy is going to go down in Traverse Town. Since Kamon is already in town, he volunteered to come check it out, because clearly nothing will /actually/ happen and it's all just a misunderstanding. Right?

...right?

Kamon wanders down the streets, scouting the outskirts by just walking and looking. He got told where things are, of course, but he didn't want to bee-line towards it. He hustles as he gets closer, a bad feeling building in his gut. Soan said that there's Darkness coming for them. He has to do /something/...!

Kamon rounds a corner ahead of Avira and Mercade, stumbling to a halt. He blinks a couple of times at the two of them, and then the other people gathering up with them, the odd partly-metal young man peering at them. He lowers his phone from his ear, looking up and around. He spots Dragoon Man, but keeps looking as if he didn't. Okay. That's the information.

Kamon raises a hand. "Hey! Uh... I... heard there was trouble?"

Evja has posed:
Having been spirited away from the TDA lockup by Hades and spat out shortly thereafter in Traverse with his belongings, Evja barely had a chance to fight the order of 'You never finished your task, now go kill him' before Evja was able to actually orient himself to yet another blast of darkness causing him to, well, feel rather enraged even more at Hades, then feel a bit helpless at it all.

Yet, he had no choice. The oaths set on him when he first joined the Judges Office forced him to honor his word, not to mention Hades' contract. It only took him a few minutes to replace his armor back on before the Viera was off, leaping across rooftops in the vague direction of 'high enough to look down'.
Eventually he spotted the group and landed quietly on the nearest rooftop to watch. But what surprises him are those that seem to surround Avira and Mercade. That damned Dark Knight and... another Dragoon? That isn't good.

No matter, he /had/ to do this. And if they posed a problem, no matter how much he hated it...
Evja would have to go /through/ them.

Before Mercade and the others really have a chance to react, however, Evja had vanished from atop the roofs and in a few steps around the perimeter had appeared right behind where Mercade was, fully armored and weapons in hand.

"I am sorry."

SLAM, both spears in Evja's hands slam forward towards Mercade's back the second before he actually speaks, quite literally attempting to run him through with two spears then jump up and slam him down into the ground, his spears meant to act as something to keep the man pinned or immobilized in some fashion. Who knows how well that would work.

Seith has posed:
Oh, there is trouble alright. Whilst Evja approaches from the rooftops, there is a massively armored man cutting them off at the front. He just walks out in front of them from a small alley and then turns around towards them. He just stands there for a moment, staring at them all; Mercade and Avira in particular.

"Ah..." The man's voice booms. "It would seem I've found the 'dog'!" He pulls out a large paper scroll and turns aside, and then draws up the crude drawing of Avira's mutate form. It even has burning horns and drooling teeth. Wait, is that picture moving? The man gazes upon Avira, and then looks back to the poster once more. "A perfect match indeed."

The man then throws the poster away and it immediately incinerates in a burst of black fire. The man's gaze then tilts up a little, and stares at Evja attacking Mercade from behind in an attempt to slam him to the ground. And from the looks of it it would appear the man succeeds rather... critically at this.

"Hey! Hey now!" Seith suddenly shouts, pointing at Evja. "You are interupting my monologue! Get back on the roof, you jumped him too early!" The man then throws a hand outwards t'wards Mercade, darkness streaming towards him. "Now let's do that over, so I can properly slaughter the bunch of them, okay?"

The man then brings his hand to his mouth and makes a loud rasping sound in his throat. "Now where was I... Oh yes!"

The poster re-appears in his hand. "A perfect match!"

Ember has posed:
It seems that Katyna is unable to escape her destiny. Things had gone too far, and she had done exactly what she swore she would never do: She had come to respect and admire the very person she had been ordered to betray, by the god of the dead no less. She had been afraid, afraid like she was back then when those she loved had fallen one by one before her..

But now..Now, she realized she was still weak, and perhaps Riku was right. She was a pawn. She was their pawn and there was no turning back now. No where to go but forwards. Would she ever forgive herself? Did her own life mean more to hers than an entire world?

For now at least, it did.

She appears in a corridor of darkness, her black flaming sword at her side as she steps towards the group of gathered heroes. "Sorry, but, orders are orders. Keep out of this, and we can avoid this little bloodfest!" She exclaims in her deeper, Dark Knight voice, pointing her sword towards Maira and Angantyr as they approach. Ang, she didnt mind hurting but..She *really* didnt want to hurt Maira.

Avira has posed:
"Yes...!" she says quickly to Mercade, nodding suddenly. She tries to elaborate but...this time the words don't come out. That damn contract. She should have guessed that it would prevent her from just outright admitting the escape clause. But maybe with the right cues.

She starts to lean in towards Mercade when...

Avira's already stopped so it isn't hard for the breathless Maira to catch up with the pair. At the sound of rapid footsteps, she turns to see Maira's approach. A hybrid cringe/smile appears on her lupine face that quickly disappears when she sees Angantyr following along behind her best friend.

She stares at Angantyr in silence, slowly growing distraught. The sacrifice the dark knight made for her months ago was not forgotten. To see that, ultimately, his efforts were only able to eliminate the darkness but not the mutation...

Slowly, she lowers her head, "..." she should say something to her teacher and clanmate...but what? Maira probably filled her in on how her mutation had really 'disappeared.'

She sees something out of the corner of her eye. The scent of carrots follows. Avira quickly whirls and sees Evja behind Mercade. "NO!! MERCADE! LOOK OUT!"

She doesn't even draw her weapon, she just hurls herself bodily upon the Judge.

In that instant, her anger slowly begins to build. Only after she lunges does she realizes a pair of Shadow Lords have arrived. One is intensely familiar as the firey knight that kidnapped Maira months ago. The other...she cannot place him, but he's waving one of Hades's posters around which is exceptionally bad news.

Maira has posed:
Maira's eyes widen and she stumbles back, AS A MAN FALLS OUT OF THE SKY. Stylishly. Right. Dragoons. While Faruja has done crazy jumps like that a few times, it is still plenty unnerving!

Maira recovers from her surprise to wave and flash the man a disarming smile. "H-hello! Nice jump! I wish I could do that," she remarks. Of course, then he informs them that a darkness is coming for them. Oh, wonderful! Maira bites her lip and prepares to fight. "I'm here this time Avira...I'm sorry I wasn't before," she says, only hoping she'll somehow make a difference.

When Kamon appears, she waves to him, friendly always. "Trouble, yes! Thanks for coming to help!" she says, then looks back to Avira and Mercade just in time to see Evja appear and impale Mercade upon his spears.

Maira screams.

She looks to Evja, her amber eyes wide as her face goes pale. She'd heard Evja had 'betrayed' them, but this...this...She'd thought maybe...how could she have been so wrong?

Uist warns her of another presence incoming and she turns to see Seith, holding the poster of Avira in hand--but quickly her eyes pass over him. Mercade...Mercade!

Another. Uist growls fiercely as Ember appears.

They were surrounded.

"NO!" Maira yells to Ember, her form bursting into flame as her anger rises to choke out her fear. "We will not!"

Maira turns then and reaches toward Mercade, casting a Cure spell, the glittering energy descending in an ephemeral cloud that winks out upon contact with his body, the warm energy seeping into Mercade's body.

Percival has posed:
The russet skinned Gargoyle was gliding along the area, patrolling the lonely skies. He was playing the role of silent guardian today following his earlier conversation with the Network. His spirits certainly felt uplifted by the experience.

He considered himself back on duty, and right now that was protecting Avira first, and everyone else, second.

The quiet was broken by the attacks of the three villains. The Judge he knew all too well, the woman not at all.

It was the armored elf in particular that caught his attention. That he had a penchant for monologuing just raised his ire even more. "/YOU/!"

He would descend rapidly, coming to a landing half a step in front of him. At first he reached towards an ornate rapier in its scabbard, but then thought better of it and pulled a darkened steel runeblade instead, covered in runes. "Is it not enough that you play games with my life, but now you must test my friends as well?" He would stand there for a time, staring daggers at him, before whanging him with his shield in one quick motion. The act was not meant to do any lasting harm, merely to throw him off balance.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr turns viciously towards Mercade, "Alright. I'll accept that." he says, sounding like he was going to yell...but he controls himself...personal feelings asside. He doesn't say anything towards Avira...it was complicated, and not the time....but. Then Dragoon man, the two stare at each other for a moment...but he doesn't say anything, for now. That was...he felt something. Was he his enemy?

"Stop running away. I didn't teach you to run away, to hide behind your weakness. I taught you to master i-.." And then /everything/ goes to hell. Angantyr roars as the Bunny is back, "YOU! YOU TRIED TO KILL THE KID! And steal the keyblade!" he accuses, "Damn it...I should have finished you when I had the chance.." cursing his kindness.

And then Ember...

"YOU! Apparently my attack wasn't enough to finish it!" And then there was Seith..

"Seriously?! What the <GOOSEHONK>?!" The mace comes from his hand as he sucks in darkness from inside...the armor shifts, clading his body in that dark armor, the cape seemingly made out of darkness itself flows behind him as he stands infront of Maira.

"It is time I rectify a few mistakes I made..." he says pointing the mace at Ember, "Starting with you."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou has come down shortly after Percival, only to find out that Evja--had been missing! Did he escape? Is he going to go after Mercade again?!

Emi rushes down after him--figuring that she'll be going after Mercade, she rushes towards the last known location of him.

She stops nearby, ducking behind some rocks as she takes a moment to catch her breath and get an understanding of the situation. Evja has to be taken down hard and quick, and she needs to be able to breathe before she can do that. Pain ripples through her body from where she was stabbed before.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
"No! I'm too late!" Dragoon Man intones, prying his eyes away from Angantyr, as his senses just blares out at the whole swarm of darkness that comes in. The Shadow Lords that get in are plainfully obvious to him -- and almost painfully so. The /smell/ is almost overwhelming for the Dragoon, the smell of darkness.

From the corner of his vision, he sees Kamon arriving. Good, he's here. They're going to need it all the help the can get. Out of the ethers, Dragoon Man summon forth his ornated spear, spinning it toward the judge. Angantyr loses Dragoon Man's stare. He seems to be on their side, for the best or the worse for now. Best to focus on the others that are actively trying to destroy people.

In particular, that cowardly ...bunny... eared individual. He seems to use a spear. Is he... a dragoon? With jumps like that, he /must/ be.

"You!" Dragoon Man shouts as he leaps toward Evja, his spear spinning wildly as he tries to get between Mercades to give some cover. "That is not how a Dragoon should behave! Fight the Darkness, we are stronger than this!" He immediatedly leaps up, launching himself in the air out of view, before landing immediatedly in Evja's direction with his glowing spear, a stream of fire following his wake.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Everything moves so fast.

Mercade is just processing the escape of Evja, when he hears behind him.

He's sorry.

A moment later, lances erupt from Mercade's chest. His eyes go unfocused from sheer pain, and he falls to his knees, bleeding from savage wounds.

Seith's dark power, as well as Maira's healing spell, surges through Mercade. He looks up, his eyes focusing as the worst of his wounds close. He staggers back to his feet, and he grits his teeth against the pain. He draws a gun, the pearl-handled revolved gleaming in the faraway sunset of Traverse Town's outskirts. "Do you know what sorrow is?" Mercade asks.

"Or are you simply trying to justify your actions? What purpose do your oaths serve, Judge? WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?"

He turns his gaze between the trio of opposition. Ember, he's heard about, Evja... And this mysterious man, menacing them with a poster. "I'm not going to let you take her." Mercade simply says, as he flips off the safety on his gun. "I'm going to fight for her... And for Manhattan. No matter whether you're a demon or a god!" Mercade begins charging, taking a wide flanking maneuver as he takes a wide tack around the sudden battleground as he prepares to strafe the hell out of them.

Ember has posed:
Eyes burn dark, blood red as Ember focuses her searing glare upon Ang. Seeing him again, feeling his hatred towards her was enough to convince her that this was the only way for her. There was no going back, no reason to hold back on him. Now was her chance to get even with him after the last time they'd met..And she'd nearly died at his hands.

"You....<GOOSEHONK>! You'll be sorry you ever messed with me! This time, you're going down!" Then Maira is fleeing towards Mercades. Well, she didn't want more blood on her hands, but it doesnt mean she cant stop her, slow her down at the very least. Pointing her sword to the sky, Ember traces a rune of flames with her sword, then shoots out tendrils of dark energy towards Ang and Maira, attempting to drain them of magic.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason then comes another she looks over at Kamon

"Looks like it if Dragoon Man is here."

She doens't pull a weapon not yet but then comes a Judge not that she knows it's just got series now as the armored being heads for Mercade and his friends.

"Monologging are you some sort of ...."

The Levitani does not seme happy and she's rapidly starting see which side is which. She pulls both her pistols and looks over them as Dragoon man leaps in and that's enough for her.

"Any who aid the darkness are going to have a problem with one of the last children of Levithian."

She levels her Pistols at Seith and sometyhing mounted under the barrels fire and will explode, just what will it do not even Myla knows.

Evja has posed:
"No! I do not want to succeed! Nothing would make me happier than failing right now, but I am forced to fight! So if you want to protect your friend, you will stop me! I MUST KILL HIM!"

That's all Evja could shout in response when he had barely just jumped backwards from the attacks that came his way, primarily from Avira(whom he managed to dodge out of the way of) and the mysterious dragoon who seemed to have some amount of faith in fighting the darkness, whom impacted him mid-jump just as he charged the Dragoon to try and bowl him over.

And of course Angantyr was there being an idiot as he had the last time, twisting 'You tried to murder Sora' and 'Steal the keyblade' out of sparring with him and grabbing Sora's hand and the blade together to whack Sora in the head with his own weapon. "You are a !@#$/^& idiot, Dark Knight! I was practicing with the boy with the blunt of my spear to see if he could defend himself against the Darkness! But fine, fight me, kill me, protect these here as if I am some evil creature! PROTECT YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR WORLD FROM ME!"

And ~fwip~
Evja vanished from sight and began to appear around the battlefield with a large translucent crystally sword in hand. It was swung many times, through people, at people, about people, but the primary thing was this sword did no damage. It would simply fly through whoever it touched, unable to harm them, but making it feel like they were exposed. However... Evja does not attack Avira, or Maira, and in fact seems to be trying to avoid the two. Even if Avira was throwing herself in the way, Evja wasn't going to hurt the girl, /no matter what/. One he could logic as 'I can still kill him with her in the way', but if Maira truly stepped in the way, she would be with the others in 'I have to go through them.

Once his rounds with the sword are made Evja pulls out a spear and begins to bounce around the field in streaks of darkness like a giant armored flea.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon looks a little bit relieved that Dragoon Man is here and taking an active role in things. He looks equally relieved that someone actually seems glad for him to be here besides the super hero he definitely does not know. He smiles a little awkwardly in Maira's direction, starting down the road --

Evja comes out of nowhere and hammers spears into a detective's back. Kamon's eyes widen, staring in horror at the sudden descent by what /looks/ like a Dragoon, if a strange one, doing something so diabolical. Dragoon Man seems to be /not/ okay with this, so neither is Kamon. He runs straight ahead, heavy footsteps carrying him to the edge of the surrounded group.

Kamon swings his sheathed katana off his shoulder. He holds the plain scabbard in his left hand, letting both arms remain at his sides, looking up as Ember and Seith show up and a fight starts up in earnest. One of them is obviously terrible, and the others... he's not sure about the others. Kamon turns to face Ember and Seith, a pleading expression on his face.

"Stop! Don't make this any worse than it already is! What are you even fighting for?! You don't have to do this! Any of this! Stop fighting and /talk/!" Kamon doesn't look like he's ready for a fight. He looks totally out of place, compared to the grim-faced combatants all around him. He looks nervous, frightened even, begging for them to quit before it gets any more horrible.

He doesn't think they will.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The balde hits the dark knight...

Draining at his energy. This causes his eyes to raise...

Angantyr dives right for her, his right hand aiming to grab her, aiming to lift her from the ground and aim to CRUSH. Darkness aims to burn, aiming to sear her body, and errupt when she's hit by any darkness attack, aiming to add injury to injury. Ang quickly follows through, aiming to send the mace towards her chest, before grabbing the mace again, in both hands...

And swings the mace down with both hands, aiming to drive the powerful mace down, aiming to litterally smash the weapon into her body. The mace itself followed with a large amount of darkness, aiming to equally crush her body with it's powerful wave.

"Die!"

Seith has posed:
This is... annoying! Seith is standing there, twitching. Evja clearly stole the spotlight, and now all the attention is on him! The man lets out a desperate sigh. He's being ignored! How dare they all ignore him! Sparks of purple lightning leap between his fingers as that annoyance becomes dark power. He takes a step towards them, but halts the moment that the Gargoyle suddenly lands before him after calling out 'You!'.

Finally! Someone! The man tilts his head up and then follows Percival that last bit as the Gargoyle takes his place on the ground. Such close range. He reaches towards that Rapier, and Seith's gaze darkens... but then he hesitates and instead draws a different weapon.

Percival smashes that shield at him, and Seith simply /blocks/ it with one hand, stopping it right in place. And then, that purple spark of darkness suddenly lifts Percival up into the air, and the pulse quickly spreads out as Myla decides to 'not ignore him'. "Ember! Curb your energy a little - you will never defeat him if you let his emotions run away with you." He quickly shouts out to the girl, then turns to Myla, the purple antigravity pulse extending towards them and attempting to lift them into the air as well.

The man holds his attack, when Evja suddenly tries to make a stab at him. In that moment where Evja gets close enough and his spear stabs through the left arm's armor, carving a massive dent through Seith, the man suddenly grabs at Evja's throat in an attempt to grab him, and then slams a massive dark spell of gravity onto him with the intent of smashing him into the floor.

"YOU DARE BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU, RODENT!?" Seith shouts in anger. He then sweeps his hand away in an attempt to send Evja flying into a wall with a pulse of telekinesis before walking slowly towards a position beneath and between Myla and Perci. "Now then - you two would attempt to battle me? How cute. A angry gargoyle and... what are you my girl? Do you come from the World of Ruin?" He asks.

"It matters not." He concludes. He then slams his hands together, trying to send the gravity-magic he controls towards the two and slam them into eachother!

"Go plunge your sword into her, Gargoyle!"

Maira has posed:
Maira is relieved to see Mercade get to his feet and start to fight. Her healing must have made a difference! Which is fortunate, as she is not likely to have the opportunity to do it again.

Maira's mouth opens in a gasp of pain and anger as Ember's attack drains her mana. The fire she'd surrounded her form with grows fainter, but doesn't quite extinguish. It is obvious that the attack was very successful. Maira feel so very tired without her magic coursing through her, a bright stream she could always count on...now it was barely a trickle she grasps for, snatching it and clinging as she tries to cast a protective aura of flame around herself and Angantyr, who is trying, quite obviously, to take Ember not only out of the fight but out of /life/.

Maira's eyes move to look for Avira. They were here for her...many would protect her. Many better than Maira. Still, she would be watching her best friend. She wouldn't let her be taken while she still breathed!

Evja's words are heard and filed away, curious to her. Maybe she wasn't...completely wrong? What was going /on/? All is chaos. She needs to focus.

Maira shouts to Ember, if she can even respond. "Why are you doing this! I don't understand!"

Avira has posed:
Angantyr's words sting, but Avira could do little to refute them. He taught her to be better than this, it was fully true. She WAS better than this.

"...I..." Avira stumbles past Evja, failing to grab onto him. Her clawed feet scrabble awkwardly against the ground and she manages to turn herself back around to face the wayward judge.

Knowing the complications that came with being contracted to Hades, there is actually a scant amount of sympathy in her heart for the viera. Persisting in hurting Mercade like this made it hard to touch upon them. "...I will not let you!" she cries out, a clawed hand reaching behind her to tug the Spine free of its holder.

Evja may be avoiding her completely, but Avira will not allow it. Spreading her wings, she takes flight after the leaping judge, using her enhanced senses to sniff and hear the changes in the air as he pings around the battlefield erratically. At just the right moment, she lunges, ice magic encasing her unique weapon, driving forwards in several fierce flourishes.

Shards of ice splatter across the battlefield with each strike, embedding into the ground. In this moment, she actually seems to be fighting like...herself, as if the spirit had finally returned.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi listens to the composure and justice of a judge, as well as his desires, and she supposes that in some senses, she can be accomodating. She does not sense the metapose, but she does not think of Evja as evil. After all, what is evil really? She doesn't make judgement calls like that.

But Evja is certainly threatening to kill someone she cares a lot about AND doesn't actually want to do it, apparently, but because she's a 'judge' she has no choice but to go with the word. THat's fine. She understands.

Emi steps out from behind her cover and raises up her hands. "No reason to be cautious any longer." She elects to say, unleashing a wave of electricity, intending to pour a hefty burst of electricity into the Bunny Judge's body.

"This time we will be employing a slightly different strategy." She tells him.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason looks at Seith for a moment before she says, "No, I am one of the last of Levithan's children. You failed to consume us all." She's caught by the attack but she's not hurt too badly by it she's caughty by the sopell and she's slammed into the other she's not sure what to make of PErcy but he's clearly here to help.

"The name's Myla...i'll try to cover you."

Myla shifts and recofer opening fire with her pistols and one of the shots actually will explod prehaps blowing Seith off her feet.

"I don't have time for the likes of you out of my way."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
No, Dragoon Man is Not Ok with it. Not even remotely. Soan is regreting of having dragged Kamon into this. His friend does not enjoy fights. Not that he, himself, does, but he is more set in the reality of what being a warrior means, being in conflict. Kamon just takes another path, a path that Soan rather admires, really.

"Then if it is not so, then /fight whatever controls/ you, Dragoon!" The Armoured Superhero intones out, leaping up in the air to meet the other jumper, failing to deflect his attack with his own momentum, falling harshly into the ground. Alright, he thinks, Plan B. Rogue Dragoons were rare, but they happened. Very rarely. Every young Apprentice are told of how to deal with them -- with an outstreched hand on one side, and with extreme prejudice if the first one fails. Above all: never stop attacking.

"You are a Dragoon! Retake yourself! Remember what you are! Remember why the Dragons has chosen you! We are to fight Chaos, not be servants to it!"

Dragoon Man leaps back up, taking in a dramaticaly heavy deep breath, before breathing out a large spread of various lights, flames and electricity spreading outward, then refocusing toward the judge.

Ember has posed:
Ember glowers at Ang. "You really enjoy that, dont you. Killing, maiming, hurting. What kind of hero are you? You're no better than the Shadow Lords." She steps back, teeth gritted against the expected pain as Ang slams into her, burning her with dark magic then slamming his mace into her armour.

He flinches a bit, but doesnt cry, doesnt run away. This is what she asked for afterall, wasn't it? If she won this battle, perhaps they might finally take her seriously. Perhaps Seith might eventually teach her those secrets...

She's about to let out a fearsome battle cry..When Seith admonishes her, and she pauses. Right, focus, Kat! "R-right!" She climbs to her feet, stepping towards Maira, trying to step in between the girl and her allies to prevent her from coming to the aid of the other good guys, moments after she chants a protective spell around Ang. "I told you to stay out of this..You wouldn't understand but..This has to be done.." She points her sword at the girl, but doesn't attack her oddly enough.

Instead, she focuses upon Ang, black sword flashing briefly in blinding white energy as she slams her sword to the ground, unleashing a blast of blinding white flames towards Ang, then rushes at him, stabbing with her sword as a mysterious rune appears before her flaming weapon. Pulling her sword back, she finishes with a wide-arching slash, tracing a trail of black exploding flames at him.

Percival has posed:
Raised unbidden into the air, the Gargoyle would struggle against the force that held him. And then he found himself flung towards Myla.

You've gotta hand it to Seith though, for he gave the Gargoyle just enough warning on his intent for the Gargoyle to tuck into a ball, preventing himself from skewering the woman. The impact was still jarring, but it didn't take much for a Gargoyle to right himself.

"Apologies, M'lady!"

He began a sweeping glide around the area, grinning to himself as he had an idea that he'd never before tried. Resheathing his blade, and adjusting his shield, he would pick up speed and aim right at Seith's back.

"Ser, I would suggest..." Barreling into him, he would immediately grab his legs, and begin to spin the armored elf around rapidly in circles, before releasing him in the direction of the nearest building.

"....you learn better manners...."

Charging forward, he would rapidly climb said building at the quickest speed he could manage, before kicking off of it. Immediately he would unsheath his sword, aiming for a gap he saw in the Elf's armor, thrusting it as deeply as he could.

He'd follow up by yet another shield slam in his face before gliding away.

"...there are ladies present after all. And I know that your mother taught you better than that. What would she think if she could see her boy right now?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Let's solve one problem at a time.

"I'm not going to make it wasy on you, Judge." Mercade says. "Be as tormented as you want about it... But at least do yourself the honor of believing in yourself. This really just makes you look bad and damages your credibility even further." He gestures to Seith. "Look at him. Look at that face. That guy is /loving it/."

Mercade pauses. "On second thought, maybe that's a little too much for you."

The strange, partially metallid man causes him to pauses. He is the voice of reason here, but... "As much as I wish that could be the case, man." He calls to Kamon, "These guys are trying to take my friend to the Netherworld. And one of them is apparently honorbound to try to murder me." Evja punctuates it with an attempt to punch through him, and Mercade speed-dodges out of the way, abusing invincibility frames like a bastard. He doesn't wear armor for a reason. Backup arrives in the form of Emi, and Mercade looks to the Dennou. "All right, let's get this done." He says. They both have something to say to the terrifying Judge. He levels his gun and begins firing, working on disrupting the Judge's aim.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr's body is enveloped in light, protected from physical harm as he stares down Ember.

"I never claimed to be a hero. I have always fought for the people I believe in, and I never hesitate." he says, in response to Ember. Even as his body errupts into flames, he weathers the attack, drawling her close to him, as he SMASHES down with the mace across he legs. He goes to break bones, tear flesh away from her soft parts.

"If you're in my way, you either get out...or else!" he shouts, and then runs forward, once more aiming to close the gap between them swinging the massive mace in a upwards arch, aiming to try and smash her back, before aiming to grab her by the back of the head, and smash her viciously into the ground.

"Hero is something you used for me...I am not Kaydin, I know what I am. I don't try to be anything else, I am from the darkness, I was born this way. The darkness is not my master, nor am I scornfull of the light."

"Besides...you're the last one to be challenging another's philosphy...do you even have one of your own? You seem pretty good at sprouting Seiths, but you're nothing without someone else to prop you up. Pathetic."

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Okay. That isn't working. Nobody wants to listen to reason.

Kamon's shoulders sag. "Alright... if you won't listen to anything but fighting --" He lifts his left hand, sliding his feet apart and bringing his right arm slowly around to his left side. Still, he hesitates. He glances up and over at Mercade, his expression of gnawing worry gradually changing into one of disappointment, and then resolve. He nods.

"Okay then." Kamon lays his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Suddenly, he's in the air. There is a cloud of dust in the street from where he moved and a cracked window behind where he was, legs extended like he half-dashed and half-leapt. He blurs through the sky, bee-lining at Evja first, inhaling deeply and then exhaling a shout. "Skies of the Ramuha! /HAAAAAAAAAAAH!!/"

Kamon's sword flashes out of the sheathe with a peal of thunder. The air ripples with the shockwave, the edgeless katana slicing through the turbulent airs with a clarion cry and the ring of clear steel. He tries to catch the Dragoon on the way up with his lightning-bladed sword, then drag him to the ground along the path of lightning. He twists in mid-drop, aiming to plant a foot on him and propel himself onward --

-- at Seith, a second thunderclap accompanying his approach. He falls like a stone towards the earth, blade held one-handed and swiped across the elf's forehead, fully intending to knock him for a loop and send him to join the Judge's descent. Kamon keeps going, landing in the street and skidding as he comes down, turning on the balls of his feet as he comes to a halt, ready for another attack.

"Will you stop /now/?" he asks, desperately.

Evja has posed:
Suddenly Evja is beset by many things, some he manages to mostly dance his way of, others he simply tanks and rushes through. Ultimately, though, it's when the Judge connected with Seith and was blasted backwards and to the ground after trying to jump that something happens.

A spray of darkness leaves the Viera on impact and fragments of their armor flies off, primarily the helm and the armor on his left arm. Something from the attacks must have futzed with however he kept it on.

When he rolled to a stand, however, Evja realized that there was some kind of magical fire on him that was burning, causing her to try several times to escape it and fail only to cringe at the pain of it. Not to mention he was still twitching from the surge of electricity from Emi.

"I hope you are strong enough to stay standing!" Evja's voice, once the helm came off, was actually quite feminine! "Because I hold nothing back!"

'Wings' of Darkness sprout out from the Viera as he vanishes and leaps high into the air, darkness aiding him into heights that normally he couldn't manage. The entire field goes dark from all the light being sucked into the Viera, Darkness following soon. A single giant blue-golden spear wrapped in darkness begins to form in the Viera's hand as 'she' floats in the sky, long silver hair flowing in the air behind her.

"NIEB..." actually, that's the wrong game!

"SPEAR OF THE JUDGE!"

The giant spear is launched down at the central group of Mercade, focused primarily on him, before Evja vanishes from sight and reappears on the ground with two spears of the same size in his hands. In a flurry of movements the silver-haired Viera dances in and out of sight, stabbing, piercing, exploding and quite literally trying to raze the entire field. And given how strong the Viera was...
'She' very well might.

Maira has posed:
So much is happening. Maira wants to look after everyone at once, but she knows she can't. That is a terrible feeling.

Maira looks toward Ember, frowning deeply as she shouts unkind things at Angantyr. "He is no Shadow Lord!" she cries, lot of good it would do her. It was simply the strong impulse to defend a friend.

Ember aims her sword at Maira then, and she is sure she is about to be attacked. Why does it not come? Words, only words. This makes no sense to her. She is perfectly open. Uist is likewise puzzled and extremely suspicious. Was Ember so focused on Angantyr? Did she not know Maira would heal him? That it would be easy to take her out of the equation?

"I wouldn't understand!? I'm not stupid! Try me! Saying I wouldn't understand is just--its just an excuse! An excuse to justify what you know is wrong!" she shouts, her passions rising, the heat and brightness of her flame increasing as she finds her magic once more runs strong in her. She begins to cast, the wind in the area picking up rapidly, a gale that whips around Ember, dragging up clods of dirt and debris to batter her, followed by the purging power of fire.

"Leave...my friends....ALONE!"

Seith has posed:
"I didn't try any of the sort. But had I done so, I assure you, there would have been none of you left. Wherever you are from - pitiful child." The man remains standing right where he is, raising a fist and pulling the very pavement up to the air in an attempt to block some of the bullets fired. Others pelt off of his armor. But it's obvious by the strain his his gaze that they are hurting him!

And then there comes Percival! The armored elf doesn't even turn around to look at where he is coming from. No, he's far more interested in the other warrior that comes his way! Seith suddenly grabs at his back and brings forth a massive black staff he places above him, holding it between his both hands. The man is /forced/ towards the ground, the pavement breaking beneath him as Kamon's force is sent through Seith...

And then Percival arrives, smashing into the back of the Elf's head, sending him skittering a few steps forwards before he turns around in anger... and then... starts laughing. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" He calls out, his voice becoming more and more boisterous and amused.

"But to answer your question, no! I shall not stop! After all, we've only just begun!" The man then brings his both hands outwards along the staff, and both ends suddenly spew forth massive scythe blades of sheer darkness.

And then Maira goes and says something funny; "You think he's not a Shadow Lord?! You DO know who this PET's MASTER is, right!?" Seith then starts to laugh even more boisterously. "Ah, how cute! The so called 'heroes' have a plague rat in their midsts, and they don't even realize it is rabid!"

The man then sweeps his spear sideways and brings his hand up. "SUFFER!" Suddenly, gravity starts acting up once again. A massive purple pulse spreads out from Seith, targetting specific people. The ground shatters suddenly, and massive platforms suddenly come up from the ground, forming a second arena in the air as they try to knock Avira up into the air, right along with Percival and Myla! The man is specifically trying to cut the first off from the rest in fact!

"Ah, girl! Why would you ever want to turn back! This form is far more powerful than the 'PITIFUL' one you pride yourself on."

Then suddenly, a massive black hole forms in the air, and the specified platforms rapidly rise up in the air whilst new ones form as they rise from the ground. "SUFFER!" He then suddenly shouts, as he turns around, sweeping his scythe at the air and faces /AWAY/ from the three heroes specifically.

"AND BEGONE!"

And that's when the Black Hole explodes in an explosion of... well... darkness! And Seith stands there, with his back facing the explosion.

Ember has posed:
Ember smirks. "Right right, then I guess you just work for a Shadow Lord while defending his enemies. Like that makes any sense." She continues to advance upon Angantyr, bringing up her sword to defend his vicious attacks, staggering back under the trememdous force of each strike.

It's funny, his words make a twisted kind of sense, but her hatred towards him is enough to blind her to his reasoning. "I'm NO One's lap dog! I follow my own path, fight my own battles!"

Still, she's realizing that that's not true at all. She was just another pawn of the Shadow Lords..And she was hurting her friends. She glances briefly towards Maira and Avira..And even Evja, who seems to have his hands full fighting all those damned heroes. Who seems to fight against his will.. Why were they fighting so hard? What had they done to Evja? She grits her teeth, were they using him too, like they were using her? Was she no better than Kaydin?

Then Maira talks and she glances briefly at her. "You're right. I'm an evil person..But it doesn't matter any more! They promised me power..Power to protect myself..I wont be weak again, I wont run away and watch them die..That's why I'll fight all of you if I have to, for my own sake!" Again she ignores Maira, even as she attacks her this time, forcing her to stagger back under the weight of powerful winds and draining flames. She grits her teeth, again focusing all her might and fury solely upon Ang.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"That's right." Emi tells Mercade. "We won't--let him hurt you any further... The Network clarifies that this is stated chiefly for dramatic effect and that ultimately chances of him being able to inflict pain on you are actually quite considerable but we will try to minimize it, to be more technically accurate about it."

Evja stabs at her with giant spears, but as they close in on her--they are repelled from her body electromagnetically. She pushes them back and away from her body, smiling faintly, gripping the spears.

"Is that all you can do? Unleash everything you have with every strike? You do realize how quickly that would tire anyone out, all bite--no tactics, The Network explains."

She breathes out after saying that long phrasing--

Before intending to channel electricity through the spears and into Evja directly, trying to force her into dropping them so she can't fight as effectively--before attempting to fling Evja away from her electromagnetically!

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man indeed, remains standing. The gender of the bunny-eared thing matters very little to him. In fact, it may become later a source of confusion as of why this may seem to be a surprise to anybody later. For now, however, he is far more worried about the power of darkness that is manifested. A woman being a dragoon matters very little to him. The Dragons are not very discriminatory in this regard, after all. It's not even a /factor/ as for which monkey-shaped humans they chose.

The spread of Chaos just happening near-by menaces to overwhelm his senses, but that is a thing that he'll have to pay attention /later/. On Darkness-using threat at a time. Besides, the other one is being handled by a good acquintance and... someone else.

Dragoon Man remains standing, taking his breath back form his onslaught of elemental breath, his glowing eyes narrowing at the incoming gigantic blue spear. It comes, his focus narrowing upon it, his martial power edging up to a crawl. Slowly, as time crawls in his perception, the Dragoon lift his spectral spear, giving it a quick spin and wit for the right moment. He swings it with all his might, unloading his martial focus into it, contributing to a large part of deflecting the entire thing away from himself.

"The Darkness makes you weak." Dragoon Man intones. slamming the butt of his spear into the ground, glaring upward. "Do you not see? Dragoons do not belong in the Darkness! That is not what the First Daughters and Sons intended for us! Come back, abandon your pride! Before it consumes you!"

As he speak, an bright aura gathers around Dragoon Man, a faint aura that gives a scaled look, as his wounds begins to sew itself back together.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The Detective moves to attempt to give himself some room from Evja as she works to annihilate him. He knows he's Evja's main target. "I almost feel sorry for you." Mercade says. "Do you even understand? Hades used you as a fire and forget weapon. He doesn't even care if you succeed or not. I'm not valuable to Hades at all."

The massive spear comes down, and Mercade looks up, wondering if he is going to develop a post-traumatic stress disorder related to needles and other sharp objects after this is over.

Mercade gets impaled again, driving him back into the ground as he is stuck there like an insect. The exploding lance doesn't help, either. Mercade is launched into the air, flying and tumbling away as he bleeds. He lies there for several moments...

And then he hears Seith's words. "No..." He rasps. He looks up, blood running down his face as he looks up under the brim of his hat, eyes gleaming. "It's not like that. She's stronger than you think... And she has people who care about her. Even if we make mistakes..." He pulls himself up, refusing to fall despite his wounds. "Even if we're weak... We still have each other. You want to see strength? Don't look at her body. LOOK AT HER HEART!" Mercade yells.

Platforms rise around the area, and Mercade is launches upwards on one of them, spinning and launching from platform to platform as he rapidly closes with Evja. "You want justice, Evja... You want to know where honor is? It's not in what armor you wear... It's inside you." Mercade then punctuates this with a fusillade of bullets as he falls from above, spinning with bullets raining down upon the Viera Judge... And he hits the ground, holding a familiar implement.

KA-CHAK.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Mercade's shotgun resounds out as he unleashes quite real bullets this time at the Viera.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr once more takes the attack from Ember, the blade cutting into his armor, the pain comes...but he uses it to fuel his power. His eyes blaze, "You missunderstand, the relationship is that of master and student. I do not follow his order, he pays me as a mercinary. I learn from him.." he says, grinning as he pushes himself forward on her blade, and decks her something fierce.

It was goofy time.

However, someone invokes Chaos.

Something in Angantyr tears at him, looking at the endangered Avira.

A coordidor of darkness appears, taking him away from Maira, and right infront of Avira. The darkness washes over him, aiming to kick Avira out of the way. Raw chaos rushes over him, aiming to call out to him...

And he breaks through it...he stands, but just barely. His body singed and hurt...he is barely standing...but he laughs weakly.

"Your misconceptions of darkness are both wrong. Darkness is neither good nor evil...it just is." he says, barely above a whisper. And then he roars...

Darkness surrounds him bursting from his VERY SOUL...he is drawing it not from everywhere...but frim himself. He rears the mace back...and unleashes a single line of pure and raw darkness at Seith and then Ember. "DIE!"

Avira has posed:
Damn that viera! When Avira fought her in the tournament, she wasn't nearly this strong! Clearly this was more meddling on the part of Hades. Avira growls in frustration as she twists and wheels through the air, trying to catch the viera with her serrated blade.

It's even more frustrating to remain untouched by these miscreants. They're off to take out her friends first and that's completely unacceptable. Tilting her head back, her jaws part and she howls.

It's a terrifying and ominous sound that brings with it that strange high heat-like distortion around Avira. Experience in fighting alongside her meant that this was a familiar sight.

"Mercade!" she calls out, ready to chase after him and dive into the way-though it's far too late for that. "Maira!"

She knows she's fighting with Ember alongside Angantyr, "...be careful! Please!"

Seith goes on a tirade besmirching Angantyr's name (though given his circumstances, it doesn't take much). She literally bristles, growling an "I already know." under her breath.

Her ears fold down, "I didn't earn the power of this form! All my strength as a human, I worked towards it!" That sudden platform rises from underneath her and for a few seconds it looks like it will smash into her-until the air splits beneath her in a corridor of darkness, Angantyr emerging forth. Angantyr kicks herself out of the way and she tumbles in mid-air before recovering, remaing a flying target as she dodges Seith's rapidly rising platforms.

It slows her progress as she seems to be trying to get to where Mercade and Evja are currently locked in combat. She knows what Angantyr is about to pull, no less, and wants to be out of dodge of that.

Percival has posed:
The Gargoyle snarls as scythe blades of darkness rake against him. He raises his shield, but it still takes a good chunk of flesh from his body, leaving wisps of darkness in his passing.

A black hole forms in the sky, and he finds himself clinging to one of the rocks in the sky that Seith's magic has torn asunder from the earth.

And then he would be blasted by Seith's magic, as the implosion of a black hole became an explosion of coruscating energy.

Righting himself in mid air, he would consider the situation, sheathing away the first blade, and trading it for an ornate rapier. He took a few calming breaths as he did so to make certain his anger wouldn't bring forth what dwelled within. Gliding low, he would land beside Seith, aiming the hilt of his blade at his left temple. "Just what happened to make you as you are? What loss did you suffer? Do you truly think this conflict will make anyone stronger?" He would systematically begin to try and beat the armored elf back towards a wall with a fluorish of the rapier and shield strikes. Once against the wall, he would continue to batter him, before thrusting the rapier into a gap in his armor.

Maira has posed:
Maira looks upward towar Seith, her eyes wide as he just /laughs/ at her. They think she doesn't know that Angantyr has darkness in him? Do they think she doesn't know that Garland is his teacher? Garland is /very/ troubling, a force not to be trifled with. Maira thought that Angantyr would eventually leave. He would learn what he needed to know, and then he would leave Garland. There was Light in his heart too. He showed it each time he stood up to protect his friends, choosing more often than not to fight against the darkness.

Maira looks up at Seith, her expression defiant.

No matter what she's been told, when she looks back to see that Angantyr is in trouble, she is already running toward him, summoning Uist to help him. The platforms heave upward, the earth shaking, knocking her from her feet. Maira screams in frustration, scrambling upward to continue running toward Angan. Then her target disappears through a corridor of darkness, appearing above just in time to protect Avira. Maira screams again, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Luckily, Uist is not hampered much, and reaches Angantyr, touching him with the healing energy he carries from Maira, which should surge through him like a current of life itself.

'Uist...oh Uist, what would I ever do without you?' she thinks, calling him back to her side. No time...no time!

Maira's heart races as she lets Uist merge with her, the flame surging and growing into large wings upon her back. Her eyes glow with the magic that rages away inside of her. Maira takes flight, bursting upward to join them on the platform, landing in front of Angantyr, her burning gaze turning toward Seith and likely Ember. She says nothing. She doesn't think she has to. She's going to protect Angantyr, before he falls.

Ember has posed:
Ember smirks. "Right, call it what you like, you're still in cahoots with a Shadow Lord..Talk about playing both sides. Who're you foolin'?" Then he teleports in next to Avira and Ember frowns. She didnt want to harm Avira, but she did have her orders. She'd rather not get wasted by Hades, so...

She brings up her sword, flaring to life as Angan strikes out with a powerful wave of darkness. Gritting her teeth, she brings up the sword to block her attack. "I will be strong...I wont fall to you again!"

A brief glance is tossed in Avira's direction and she frowns. "Keep fighting and you'll get killed. If you just surrender, it'll be easier on all of us!" And then, focusing back on Ang, the Ember Knight snarls as she calls upon the darkness within her own heart, and leaps to the sky with a vicious cry, drawing orbs of darkness into her sword, then spinning it around and around, unleashing waves of her own flaming darkness, mixed with the bite of steel upon Angan and anyone else who happens to be nearby - in this case, Emi.

"Farewell!!"

It's only afterwards, when she sees Maira's tears that she pulls back, if only a little. "Sorry, Maira.." She murmurs softly, perhaps only enough for Maira to pick up. "I wont kill him, but...I will stop him!"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason looks at Seith and seems amused at him. "If he's a shadow lord then he's going to face us." She seems to be hit hard by the strange attack she seems to be suriving them however for the most part as she's airborn for a moment before she manages to land but what the heck was that there comes the explosion and she's forced to wearhter it surpisingly she does so quite well. She brings up her pistols and opens fire sending out a number of elementally charged shots before shifting the shot type and firey burst followed by another shot of the strange underslug device on onr of her pistols.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
"This is /funny/ to you? People are getting hurt, and you think it's /funny/?!" Kamon sounds incredulous. He can't believe what he's hearing. Is this the kind of people he's going to have to deal with in this world of ruin?

He doesn't have time to stand around. He has troubles almost as soon as he touches down, a purple-colored pulse shooting outward from the mage he attacked. He recognizes it immediately from his Paramagical Studies class; Gravity magic has a very distinct feel and hue.

He also knows that he does not want to get touched by it.

Kamon takes three steps and jumps, landing atop a covered cart and cracking the roof's supports as soon as he touches down. He uses it to fling himself higher, planting his feet on the side of a building and holding on until the ground settles again. Platforms rise up, but they don't come near him. He drops down from the building, onto the still-stable stones of the street.

The dark Dragoon rises up, the light above him guttering out. Kamon feels the hairs stand on the back of his neck. His rust-colored eyes scan the battlefield, looking for the next avenue of attack before anything else happens. The giant spear descends, but not to him, so how is it he feels like he's about to get --

Speed. The strange inhuman Dragoon has speed, and lots of it. He follows his gut and turns to the left, raising his blunt sword and intercepting the edge of the first huge spear before he even realizes it's there. He turns, blade dancing behind him, turning aside a second thrust, and dancing around a third. Kamon ducks, letting a sweep of the weapon go over his head, and then knocking a fourth aside before it can be properly lined up. He doesn't waste an ounce of motion or momentum, redirecting force without fighting it more than he has to. Has the Judge finally found a match for 'her' strength?

Kamon counterattacks without thinking about it. He slashes at the Viera's leg while the spear-wielder is still within reach to draw her attention away from other places, then steps around and moves to slam his pommel into the rabbit's forehead. He turns his katana again and furrows his brows in concentration, a quick slice across 'her' midsection with an edge gleaming in absent sunlight slicing through spells of protection and power.

Then, without further pause, he runs straight at Seith and repeats the process in a less subtle, elegant way: he moves to barrel right into the elf with his three-hundred-pound, largely iron weight, releasing the last of his dispelling strike amidst the charge, and then promptly punches the mage directly in the head to break his concentration.

"Cut it out!!"

Evja has posed:
And through it all, once again, Evja winds up targeted by a lot. Soan manages to catch Evja's leg, though the attempt at slashing through his midsection doesn't do much given how tough the armor is. But... then there is more than he planned for. Mercade's gunning at him flattened the Viera, though this would be why Emi's attempt at electrocuting him didn't work at all. Blown backwards by the force of the attack and landing in a heap, the words sting Evja.

Badly.

Not only was he likely going to die in this fight... they wouldn't even give him the mercy of killing him with his pride intact, by dying with his spear in hand... they had to slander him, belittle him. The shame began to tear away at the Viera as he went to stand and slumped a bit. Watching the chaos briefly swirling around and trying to compose himself for an attack, he suddenly finds himself wanting to take on Seith, to end this all here and now and protect the others. To at least protect the other world from /the shadow lords/ as best he can before he's forced to be done in at the hands of the one he was sent to kill.

That's when Evja realizes it.
'Your contract ends when Mercade is dead'
'Murder is illegal. Killing is not. I'm a god, lol'

If Hades can screw him over on technicality that it technically isn't illegal, then he can return the favor by simply carrying it out another time! Or trying to, anyways! Hades never said /when/ he had to kill him.

"I AM THROUGH WITH THE DARKNESS! MY CONTRACT ENDS WHEN MERCADE IS DEAD, SO I SHALL LIVE FOREVER IN DEBT! I WILL NOT KILL A MAN IN COLD BLOOD!"

With that shout, Evja jumps high into the air and begins to bounce off the raised platforms, making his way high enough that he can once again summon his lances. However, this time, when he charges up, the darkness seems to dissipate. Evja was fighting the darkness, forcing it out of himself, the entire area beginning to feel permeated with how much was thrown at the Viera. Evja began to glow faint, then more and more before finally both of his spears were basked in Golden Light.

Time to finish the elf, or die trying.

"SPEAR OF THE JUDGE!"
And there is suddenly a holy-charged flying Viera bulleting towards Seith with two giant spears that would explode upon impact.

Seith has posed:
"Taking orders from the Devil, wether you are paid or not, doesn't take away away the fact that you follow THE DEVIL'S ORDERS! YOU FOOOOOL!" Seith turns his head towards Angantyr as he rears his mace back and unleashes his darkness at him. "But one thing you are right in!" The man holds the scythe as well as he can, and then begins to spin it like mad around its center axis! And in this massive spin, he begins to deflect the darkness, forming waves of dark whips from the very essence that Angantyr throws at him and creating a massive backlash of dark energy.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The man calls out a monsterous battlecry, focussing his energy, before Angantyr's attack finally breaks through the man's defenses and washes over him! The platform he once stood on is entirely disintegrated and he's thrown to the ground, where he parks his boots into the ground and is forced back even further - digging massive grooves into the ground until finally, Seith throws one hand sideways and 'throws' the remainder of the pure darkness aside!

"You are right! Darkness is not good nor evil! DARKNESS IS POWER!"

"BUT!" The man turns his gaze t'wards Avira.

"Who cares if you earned it or not? POWER IS POWER! All you need... IS THE KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO USE IT! If you do not! You will simply FALL PRAY AND BE DESTROYED!"

The man turns to Percival then as he comes down with the Rapier, and brings his double-ended scythe to bear once again. "It matters not what loss I suffered!" Inadvertantly admitting that it was indeed loss that made him who he is today. "But yes! Yes I do! This conflict will make everyone stronger here! And if they fail, then another weakling has been removed!"

The man brings his weapon down up and slashes at the air, creating a tear in the fabric of gravity, and momentarily brings Percival into the grasps of that gravity anomaly. But yet, the gargoyle tears at him with that dark Rapier that calls out for blood! Yet to try and destroy darkness - to focus that force at Seith. Such are good intentions! The intentions to protect! The intentions to do away with darkness.

And as such, the rapier pierces his defenses, striking through his armor and drawing blood not once, but thrice! The man stumbles back grabbing for his wounds, gazing defiantly at Percival, as well as the woman he can see standing behind the Gargoyle; Maira.

"Not yet! You will need more! MORE POWER!"

Seith has posed:
The man rights himself, and a gravity field pushes Percival away finally, right along with some of Myla's bullets. Yet, he can only do so much! Some of the bullets contact eachother, and finally, one of the Flare spells within burst open and explode, shattering part of the man's dark armor! Pieces of sharp metal go flying, revealing the 'fragile' elf beneath as the chestpiece falls.

This is followed by Kamon, the Light Dragoon, who barrels into him and breaks the back of his armor, causing the massive construct to finally fall until there is only his greaves and arm-guards remain. The onslaught of attacks truly having caused some serious damage on him. All that remains is the tattered mantle on one shoulder, wavering within the winds. Then finally, the helm splits, and the horned 'king' shows to be just a regular elf...

An old looking elf. His eyes tired, his hair gray and white. A trickle of blood running from his forehead, down along the bridge of his nose. Yet he looks no less powerful.

"Do you really think..."

There's that suddenly pulse of purple energy once again, but this time, it extends throughout the entire district like a massive sphere. The ground cracks, the platforms in the air becoming more numerous as Gravity takes a tumble.

"YOU CAN WITHSTAND MY POWER!?"

<< BGM CHANGE :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=wIkJ7FL4JkU >>

The man's scythe too has broken. In each hand he now holds one part of it like two massive sickles. Slowly, little pebbles rise around him, and then he himself rises upon a small stone slab. Stones form in on him, and he slowly 'sits' down as the stones form a massive throne of stone beneath him.

"No, Dragoon. THIS isn't funny! You are all powerful, but what I do find amusing is that you're not putting your all into this! Come on! SHOW ME YOUR POWER! SHOW IT ALL TO ME!"

His gaze cants up when Evja suddenly breaks through with those golden lances! "YOU DARE!? YOU THINK YOU WILL EVER BE FORGIVEN!?"

The man throws both halves of the scythe towards Evja, intent on slicing into his shoulders just as those lances shatter onto his last remaining armor, pinning him to his throne.

"NOW! BEHOLD! YOUR PUNISHMENT!"

A massive black hole begins to form in the air, far stronger than the one before. The platforms begin to rise into the air even further, and shatter upon touching it. Spells of darkness proliferate throughout the area, massive orbs of darkness shattering every which way. Telekinesis grabs Avira's body suddenly, ramming her down towards the ground before he sends a massive spear of Stone towards her with the full intent of spearing her...

The entire place breaks out into Chaos, as the Black Hole descends, pulsating with massive powre... and then the ground tears up and /explodes/ from the sheer strain of the spell of his absolute gravity field...

And things just... EXPLODE!

Maira has posed:
Maira looks toward Avira, her eyes still filled with hope and determination. She intends to fight by her side, just like everyone else.

Ember is there, as expected. Maira turns her gaze toward her, listening to her words, her hatred for Angantyr, her......apology....

The world stops for Maira. Epiphany hits her like a falling anvil. How did she not see it before? How did she not put the pieces together? Shaken to her core, Maira stares, wide-eyed and horrified, at Ember. For a few moments--an eternity in battle--Maira is frozen. She mouths one word in disbelief.

Those moments cost so much. While she feels a warmth in her upon hearing Evja's proclamation in the background, Seith is attacking. The darkness, the gravity....she can't even register what is happening. Avira is falling, and Maira doesn't even have the time to call out for her before a large form is moving quickly between her an the oncoming onslaught....

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason stands firm she stands fall. "Forgiven? We do not seek the forgiven of the servants of Chaos."

she brings up a barrier of some sort as the powerful gravity magic slams into her and pulls her down the terrible force of the blast is just something to behold and the barrier sharters she lets out a cry of pain as the darkness seems to consume her in the explosion and she does not reappear for a moment after the blast fades, but she's still standing.

"It is not enough and there's a little thing you seem to not understand. Water, it's every where in the air, in me, in you, and it will answer my call."

She starts drawing upon the wate rin the local enviorment channeling forcing seeming calling it from everywhere she's not drawing from anyone leiving but water levels in the local water system for the town might be suddebly vanishing as the child of the first flood calls upon it. The forces of the magic she's challening flars up as she corss her arms over her chest still holding her pistols. Then the watter all conversged upon Seith fully forced to drown and crush him before it's cut free of Myla's hold.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
In a sudden turnabout, the Dark Dragoon turn around, ignoring her... his orders, whatever, he don't even freaking care anymore. What he do care about, is that either through his words or events... or perhaps that crazy mofo that just /unleashed a piece of Chaos into the world to smite them/.

There is very few things that makes Soan Sagittarius, AKA Dragoon Man angry. Darkness, he can support the smell, the stench that it creates. It's simply not one that he supports, or likes. Darkness is one thing. It's /something/, not a thing that he likes. As a Dragoon of his order, Black Magic is a thing they can do, in some strange shape. It's not a problem.

Chaos, on other hand, is one of the few things that makes the young man angry, with every senses yelling at him, /screaming/ into his mind that something has gone horribly wrong in the world, a sledge hammer attacking his perceptions. In Dragoon Man's case, his sense of smell.

For a brief moment, Dragoon Man staggers, staring at the darkness, holding a hand to his mouth, glaring upward at the maddening black hole that threatens to eat them all.

"YOU FOOL!" Dragoon Man retches, forcing himself to regain his composure, his bright scale halo reinforcing itself. He wasn't the direct target of this madness, but it's still a problem to deal with. "YOU FULLY REALISE WITH WHAT YOU ARE PLAYING WITH, YOU MAD MAN!?" Dragoon Man shouts as he leaps up, his glowing spear piercing through the darkness as he makes an aerial beeline toward Seith. His entire form becomes a humanoid arrow of pure bright light, a searing energy that burns the eyes of the wicked, banish away the chaos devil back into the dark corner they hide.

"FOR UNLEASHING CHAOS, IN THE NAME OF THE FIRST ONES AND THE SKIES ABOVE THE SKY," The armoured leaping man shouts, his spear, his body now a complete instrument dedicated at eradicating the traces of Chaos in this world, direct itself at Seith. Even if he don't hit him, he's happy: his mere presence should make things less terrible.

"I SMITE YOU, CHAOS SPAWN, BY THEIR POWERS!"

Normally, spears don't explodes. This one does.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr barely manages to stay up after the darkness wave...he's taking too many attacks, trying to keep both of his dearest friends safe.

Ember draws on the darkness of her heart, and throws it at Angantyr...and he stands up, shimmering with his own darkness. "NOT ENOUGH!" he shouts out, defying her darkness with his own power. He breaks the stream like a boulder in a stream, taking the full force of the attack...even with Maira's help. He stands...smoking whispy strands from the attack, but he still stands...

"I am on my side." he says, "You don't have the strength or the conviction to stand for yourself...puppet." he mocks. Even as bloodied as he was, he takes great strides in mocking Ember...a small pleasure. Angantyr stands tall, starting to walk towards her...readying another strike...

And the the darkness from Seith radiates. "Damn!" he truns, right towards Maira. "NO!" he says, dropping his weapon, and lifting his arms to wrap Maira up, shielding her with his body. The darkness like gravity eats at him, breaking him down, and then spitting him back out. His body is destroyed, his armor litterally broken, and his own control slipping...

He see's Garland for a moment, "You're a softhearted fool, boy. You have always been." he remembers him telling him... "I guess you're right.." he barely whispers, and falls to his knees, and then forward. His own blood washing with the ground and the darkness stops seeping from him.

Percival has posed:
This time, Percival clings to the side of a building, as it seemed better footing than pieces of debris within the air. Exploding outward, he'd knock his head against the building, and skip along its stonework the whole way down.

Just before he hits the ground, which surely would have knocked him unconscious; he reaches out with a single taloned hand. The talons would rake the stonework, breaking his fall.

Snorting, he would climb up rapidly, to the top of the building, before leaping at the piece of stonework that Seith is sitting upon. Grasping onto it with his claws, he would climb to stand beside him, looking at the Elf with a mixture of disgust and pity. Casting aside the rapier, he would try to lift the wizened Elf by the neck off the platform with a single hand, snarling in his face.

"For my friends? I would withstand the fires of perdition itself. YOUR POWER IS MEANINGLESS!"

He would then aim to slam him down like a rag doll, before retracting his leg, and kicking him in the chest to knock him off his own platform

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi pauses a moment as Evja learns a valuable lesson--weaseling out of contracts through technical loopholes! Actually she doesn't know if that's an actual functional loophole regarding this, or how Hades will use such a clear and obvious abuse, but it's at least the attempt and that's a clear and important step towards understanding Judging. Maybe.

She blinks for a long, languid moment--

She sighs deeply. "Not really what we were going for, but it'll do for now, The Network supposes."She spins around and looks towards Kamon. "Kamon! The Network--"

ULTIMATE DARKNESS AHHHH!! The Ultimate Darkness crashes into Emi, sending her flying off her feet, burning her arms and legs with ... DARKNESS. If only she knew magic missile.

Oh wait, she kind of does know magic missile. And by Magic Missile we mean Kamon Missile.

"Kamon!" She shouts again, hissing as she pulls back up to her feet, her body shaking as she struggles to stand even as the dark flames ripple around her body.

She breathes out slowly and snaps out both hands. "Get over here!"

She unleashes special ability: ELECTROMAGNETIC PULL, literally tugging Kamon rapidly through space and into her hands, where he sticks. Magnetically.

"Apologies for the small amount of forewarning." Emi says. "But this is as good time as any. Let's do this..."

She raises up her arms, aiming... Kamon. Perhaps even Kaimon.

She doesn't say much. But she does yell, "GO! KAMON RIDER!!" as she suddenly propels Kamon for Ember at supersonic speeds, while enshrouding him in a magnetic field to protect him from the effects! Of course, Ember won't be so lucky.

Avira has posed:
"/I/ care!" Avira calls out. There's an awkward pause, as if she wants to elaborate her position to Seith. But she doesn't continue, she just leaves it at that, feeling that it sums up more than just her thoughts on power. LEXUS had pointed it out at the fight for the Light of Manhattan. She did care-an awful lot. "And furthermore.."

She turns to look down at Ember, "I own't just surrender. I won't give up on my world like that!"

They sound like bold and impressive words, though a second after she says them, she's seized in mid-air by Seith's magic. The telekinetic grip smashes her face-first into the ground. She lands hard enough that the Spine comes flying out of Avira's grip, spinning end over end to stick into the ground well out of her reach.

Magic swirls around her as the spear of stone smashes down upon her, ice magic used to prevent the spell from completely annihiliating her. Over top her, it slows as its met with sheets of ice that creep upwards, then shatter, raining down huge chunks of rock and even more ice. On one hand, she is not impaled, but on the other, she's half-buried.

Growling, she digs and claws her way out. "Mercade...Angantyr...Maira..everyone...everyone will be okay..." she mumbles.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Evja turns away from him. Mercade looks at the Judge, considering their words... And he turns away, shouldering his shotgun. "If that's your choice."

The battleground explodes in a paroxysm of annihilating force. Mercade finds himself left mostly intact as he is left on the edge of it... And he watches in horror as he everyone basically explodes. Mercade lunges into the smoking and collapsed remains, looking for everyone, but expecially for Avira. "AVIRA!" Mercade yells. "WHERE ARE YOU?" He says, trying to find her amidst the rubble. Where did she go... Who was that dangerous man who spoke of power?

The stakes are getting higher.

Ember has posed:
Ember glances around in alarm now as she recognizes the realization in Maira's eyes. No..."Get out of here.." She says between clenched teeth. She didnt want this, not at all..She didnt want to make Maira cry. She didnt want to hurt Avira, and.."Seith! nooo!!" He falls moments after knocking out Ang. She's got to do something. There's too many...

"Ugh!" she opens a portal behind Seith when he falls so that he will fall into the portal. Then, glancing towards those who fight around Avira, she unleashes a powerful blinding flash of fire to distract the others before grabbing Avira, leaping skywards and attempting to drag her into the portal too..

Time to end this...

"I dont have time for this, Farewell!"

Maira has posed:
Maira gasps as Angantyr enfolds her, shielding her from Seith's onslaught of darkness.

'No....no he's too hurt....' she thinks, cringing as the world goes dark around them, a maelstrom of chaos and darkness ripping the armor, the life, from Angantyr.

When he falls to his knees, Maira goes down too, trying to support him, but her efforts are in vain. Angantyr is a big guy, she can't hold him up. It is all she can do not to be crushed beneath him.

She pulls back from him, looking him over, her breathing rapid and panicked. He's hurt so badly. She isn't sure he is even alive. Maira reaches up to check his pulse, breathing out a sigh of relief when she finds it. He's alive. She can heal him. He'll recover. Not soon....but he'd recover. "Why did you do that...why...you idiot..." she says, tears streaming down her cheeks unchecked. She heals him again, though it won't bring him back into fighting shape. That would take days, weeks maybe.

Avira! Maira's head snaps around, scanning for her best friend. There! Ember is grabbing her, moving toward a portal. She can't possibly attack without risking hitting Avira!

Maira cries out in frustration and pure despair. "NO! DON'T DO THIS!" she screams after Ember, any composure she had completely unraveling. She is at wits end.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Technically, Kamon isn't a Dragoon, he's a Parivir. He just got jumping lessons from one.

Kamon tries to get off the ground when magic rips space a new one. It doesn't take. He gets yanked towards the epicenter of the black hole, hauled in despite digging his heels in and tearing up the ground in the process. His sword is ripped out of his grip, and he only manages to fling it with the pull of the hole, slingshotting it back at Seith. Then, everything /explodes/, and he flies into left field, crashing through the cart he landed on before and smashing it to splinters.

And then he gets up. Kamon doesn't look nearly as hurt as he should have, given the power of that magic. The trick, of course, is that he's awful at magic, and in fact is highly resistant to it. The impact hurt more than the gravitic pulse. "He's the Dragoon," he coughs out, jerking his head at Soan. "He is. I'm a Pari --"

He's yanked off his feet again. "-- viiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrr...!"

BAP. Kamon ends up in Emi's possession. He blinks at her a couple of times. He opens his mouth to ask a question --

Then, he's airborne. Kamon hurtles towards Ember like a meteor, tumbling through the air at speeds an Odynar was not meant to travel. He screams in a mix of terror and excitement as he does, flipping end over end until he finally straightens himself out. He manages to straighten himself, flying feet-first at one of the three minions of darkness trying to destroy them. Kamon feels a powerful urge well up in his chest, and it isn't just the magnetism pulling at his /metal spine/.

"KAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON --"

He sticks out a foot. Kanji might spontaneously appear freeze-framed near him as he flies.

"-- KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!"

Seith has posed:
"I am no servant of Chaos!" Seith calls out. "I serve something far greater! Something far more important than such a thing! I SERVE THE FUTURE!" The brings the throne to slowly move forwards into the direction of the fallen Avira. "And even water is not everywhere! YOUR WORLD FELL! No longer is there water! There is only darkness! Because none were strong enough! None were strong enough to stand up against the darkness! And neither will you! Even if you win today! DARKNESS ARE FOREVER!"

(( Hate it when the dubbing goes wrong ))

The man's approach continues, until Kamon's forces of magic splash against him! The water forces Seith down towards the ground, shattering the massive throne - but Seith rolls out of the way and continues that slow villain-walk towards Avira. It's like a Tonberry, only without the knife, or the DOINK.

Then Dragoon Man falls down towards him! The man brings up both hands and forms a massive shield of energy, and then recalls his broken scythe's sickles, bringing them up before himself and crossing them before him. Soan's spear rushes in for the kill, but Seith blocks it! The massive speer rattles against Seith's defenses, first that shield, then his weapons! Sparks fly, flaying the ground and his body. Singing his hair. Seith stares up at Soan.

"DARKNESS IS POWER! THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS!" Then spear erupts into a massive explosion, shattering its light and metal across his body. One massive piece stabs into his abdomen, causing the wound to trickle blood down along his waist and down to his leg. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE ME!" He pushes back, still standing, dark power lashing out from his body.

Then Percival sweeps in, grabbing him by the neck and bringing him up into the air. Seith spares no moment to bring his hand right up to Percival's chest and sending a shockwave of corrosive darkness into his chest in order to inflict severe pain, before being forced into the ground by the Gargoyle. He lets out a gasp for air, coughing up blood from the impact - his hair laying wide along his body... his gaze up to the air....

For a moment it looks like he'll remain down...

But then there's a second cough, and he slowly begins to get up once more. His body trembling, bleeding, holding one hand at his abdomen. "Hehehe..." He grins at Mercade. "YOU ARE TOO LATE BOOOOOOOYYYYY!" He calls out to him. And then he looks towards Angantyr. "Tssk... pitiful one! Don't you know?" He doubts Angantyr will hear him. "LOVING THOSE AROUND YOU WILL ONLY BRING YOU PAIN!" The man then touches his hand back towards the Portal that Ember had created for him.

"MARK MY WORDS, girl!" He looks pointedly at Maira. "He will only hurt you! It is inevitable!"

And that is when he finally steps through and lets it close behind him...

But not before letting his gravimetric hold go of those remaining platforms in the air.

LOOK OUT BELOW!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr moves...seemingly responding to something...

His hand moves towards Seith...

It makes a very rude and CENSORED gesture, before he passes out.

Seith has posed:
Elsewhere:

Seith slowly stumbles into the library, trailing a path of blood behind him. His eyes look grayer than normally, and there's blue underneath them. He almost falls, grabbing onto a library's bookshelf. "Grah!" The thing cannot support the weight, and he ends up falling over, bleeding on the valuable books. Yet still he slowly reaches to his chest, pulling out a locket... and clicks it open.

There, within, is a picture of his late wife and daughter. "This is... what must be done. They will grow stronger now. So that they may never..." He pauses, coughing loudly, cringing in pain, unable to move. "... feel my sorrow. For the future." And so he kisses the picture-face of his locket, and closes it before losing consciousness.

Avira has posed:
She can hear Maira crying. Avira's efforts to push rocks and ice off of her redouble. Half-dug out, she reaches her hand up. "Maira!" Her head pokes out and rocks roll off her back. "Maira! I'm coming!"

She feels someone take her outstretched hand. For a few seconds, she assumes it's one of her friends Mercade, most likely, because he's still standing and Angantyr is not. Or it could also be the DRAGOON MAN, who has heroically been fighting against Evja.

But it's neither. It's Ember holding her hand. Avira's lips pull back into a snarl as she's yanked away. "You're making a big mistake." she growls.

The last thing everyone will see of her before she disappears into that portal appears to be a headbutt. The Spine remains embedded in the ground, miraculously untouched by falling platforms.

Maira has posed:
Seith's words do not even penetrate Maira's distraught mind. She doesn't know where Ember is going, but if she manages to take Avira away....she'll find her. There is nothing that would stop her. There is nowhere she would not go to get her friend back.

Nowhere.

Evja has posed:
When the scythes hit the Vieran Judge, his armor shatters off and he's pinned atop one one platform that was flying up straight towards the black hole. "...so this is it." came a resigned laughing statement before impacting against the darkness and being exploded backwards like a smoking hunk of rabbit meat from a rabbit shot with a cannon.
Evja skidded across the ground with the scythes thankfully no longer pinning him down and somehow manages to stay conscious despite the heavy magic blow. Glancing across to where his armor fell, Evja could see it wasn't broken, the straps were simply cut. Which was a good thing, because suddenly a giant platform was falling! Summoning a spear to his hands, Evja reached out from where he was to try and pull the chest plate to him only to curl up and try to weather the hunks of rock that were falling by holding it over his head. Not much protection, but it did the job well enough that he didn't get bonked on the head by a bigass rock.

After such he stood and propped himself up with the spear, wandering towards the closest people to say, "Will... will everyone live?"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason sees Seith is handled and Ember us fleeing but still things have been not doing so well for everyone as she looks at the locals. "So are your lives always like this?" She pauses at the Dark Knight a bit supriseed "We should get him some help." She pauses for a moment sees Avira is gone but the one behind it is still here she puts her fingers to her mouth and whistles at a high ptich.

"SWIMMER! SICK EM!" The mechanical magitech dog comes bounding out of an ally way from where it may have been fighting the hidden war against an evil cat master mind. It bounds along at high speed snawling leaping at Ember intend to open it's jaw and take bite her maybe even taking a chunck out of her.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man lands on his feet, taking in a deep breath after the great amount of energy he just unloaded just a few moments ago. He can feel it's wasn't a one-way exchange of blows, he can feel some of the dark magic affecting him. Seith's word barely touches his mind. He has heard the rantings of a many Chaos worshippers, more than he wished he would have. These words are meaningless for him, at least right now.

What is less meaningless, however, is that blast that was directly aimed at this Mercade fellow. It may have not been the most strategic move, but it was, to his heart, the most valliant one to do. "Look out!" Dragoon Man shouts, leaping in the way of the flurry of fireballs, each impacting loudly against his armoured chestplate. It's certainly blackened, sure, but he seems barely hurt by the endavour. Unfortunately, that distracted him enough that he has no chance to get that strange mutant girl out of the portal!

"NO!" He shouts, pausing to watch Kamon be launched out of ... the Dennou's arms. Huh. That can't have been pleasant for his half-metal friend, there. That battle cry, however, he'll have to remember. Hmmmmmm!

"Come back here! Bring her back!" Dragoon Man shouts, leaping after Ember, manifesting a few more spears, tossing them after her like javelins. Evja will get his attention afterwards.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi blushes faintly and looks away from Ember, deftly sidestepping the doom fire though it may be incidental because she's got feelings okay?

Wait did he just call himself a Paravir?

"Oh my, THe Network knows two paravirs*."

*Emi is incorrect here, she actually only knows two paravirs and is incorrect about Navya being a paravir and, quite frankly, is still not entirely sure what a paravir is.

Of course, it seems the KAMON RIDER KICK came a bit too late. What was hoped to be avoided has come to pass?!

It's been a rough week. Emi jogs wherever Kamon ends up to check up on him. u.u

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade searches out for Avira, and sees a glimpse of her, moments before the blastwave hits. He gasps, trying to raise his guard... But it never hits. He looks up, to see DRAGOON MAN standing in the path of the blast. "You..." He says for a moment, shocked... "Thank you." He says to DRAGOON MAN (official spelling dammit), and he leaps over the valiant mystery man in order to try to reach Avira.

However, even as he reaches out, Avira is sent through the portal, and Ember makes her very, very painful escape. Mercade yells. "AVIRA! NOOOOO!"

The words of Seith echo in his ears as he stands there amongst the burning and shattered ground, and he looks over to the Spine, stuck upright in the ground like a grave marker. "Dammit..." He says...

And then he whispers something to himself as he walks over to the mithril-coated weapon and he looks down at it, deep in thought as emotions churn within him.

Maira has posed:
Maira is still pouring cure magic into Angantyr. She does so until she has nothing left to give and is slumping over herself. As he is unconscious, she tries to easy him over, but ugh is he heavy! Well, he's laying down now, but it was less than graceful and causes Maira to wince.

She looks up toward Myla, shaking her head. "N-no...no its not," she answers, then looks toward Evja. It is quiet likely that everyone here is still really, really angry with the viera. Maira is a forgiving type. She will wait to hear the reasons before she condemns Evja. Really, she probably doesn't have condemnation in her at all. "Will you help me with him? I need to get him back to HQ," she asks Evja, her eyes moving to include any others nearby who might be willing to help carry a giant unconscious dark knight.

Maira takes a deep breath, looking upward toward where the portal had been. Ember had taken Avira. Ember...

"We'll go after her. We'll rest...then we'll go after her...." Maira says, her voice growing stronger as her resolve hardens. "We WILL go after her. Mercade, come with me. You need to be healed too. Then...then we'll find her."

Ember has posed:
People start yelling behind Ember even as she ensures that Seith is safely on the other side before someone can deliver the killing blow. She screams out as various people she doesnt know blast into her with an assortment of deadly attacks, staggering forward with each progressive deadly strike that chips away at her armour and forces her to choke out blood.

If she felt anything she didnt show it, not in front of these people. Instead, she focuses on pushing Avira all the way in before her, snapping the portal shut behind her.

Evja has posed:
"..."

Evja stares towards Maira, then Angantyr before sighing and looking rather upset by things. What was he supposed to do. Slowly making his way over towards Angantyr, Evja looks directly at Maira as 'she' speaks, "If I am not mistaken, he is wanted in Archades for attacking an Archadian Judge. ...not to mention attacking me and trying to kill me in Fluorgis after I had a practice match with someone. By all accounts I should summon Archadian Judges and have him arrested, as I promised only a week ago to Judge Magister Gabranth I would be doing just that."

Then the Viera falls silent, waiting for some kind of reply from the woman. Especially considering Evja was in no shape to really do anything.

Maira has posed:
Maira looks up at Evja, disappointed, angry, but still....she holds. She stares Evja down. "But you won't arrest him. You won't call. You'll have to go through me," she responds, stubborn. It is clear she will /not/ budge. Indeed, she will fight if she has to.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon isn't even sure where Kamon ends up. He's pretty sure he's still on this block somewhere.

Eventually, he wanders back towards Emi, walking a little wobbly. He walks right past her, in fact, swirly-eyed and going, "W-wheeeeeee..." in a shaky voice. Kamon then (dizzily) bee-lines to the weird platforms, or where they were. He stumbles a bit, and looks around on the ground, expression a mix between worry and confusion. He eventually finds what he's looking for, picking up his sword.

It is basically twisted into a pretzel. He frowns at it, and then absent-mindedly reaches out and plucks the Spine from its spot sticking up from the ground apparently effortlessly. He doesn't even hold it awkwardly, but looks at it as if surprised to find it in his grip. "Oh. Is this, uh --?" He looks to Mercade.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man exhales. Damnit. So much for keeping that poor girl in safe hands. Again, he fails to save somebody, much like that Will fellow yesterday. The armoured man lower his spectral spears, turning his head toward Mercades. If he had any expressions on that helmet, he's be sadly smiling. "Do not lose hope." He instructs, firmly, making his way to the man and placing a gauntleted hand on his shoulder, as he grieves. "I am certain there are ways to get her back. There is always /a/ way."

Evja's comments makes him remind of the Veira's existance. After giving Kamon a look to make sure that the half-metal friend is still in good shape, the Dragoon makes his way over, sternly looking over at him. His gaze moves to Maira, then back at the Judge.

"I am certain your superiors did not ask you to get in the employ of Darkness, either, Brother." Dragoon Man says, carefully. "It would be best if you left for now. There is no need to add further bloodshed today."

Plus what the hell is wrong with your head, why do you have rabbit ears, Soan internally monologues.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi watches as Ember receives so much damage, that she /barely reacts/. It must be like one of those old games where you go so far to the right of the screen you end up on the other side. She nods, probably for the best. Kids might be reading this scene.

Emi brings her hands behind her back carefully. "Kamon?" She asks. "Are you okay?, The Network inquires as to whether you need assistance standing."

She looks towads the pretzel blade, and then towards Mercade.

She kicks the ground awkwardly.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is not bleeding out, thanks to Maira.

He doesn't wake up at sounds of the Judge's threats. Though he'd have his own words to say on the matter.

Maira has posed:
Well, Maira begins dragging Angan by and ankle...he doesn't even budge. Damn heavy dark knight!

Percival has posed:
The Gargoyle had been beaten within an inch of his life by Seith's magic. Large gouges of flesh were missing from his side, with wispy black smoke still rising from the searing darkness. Already, more flesh was bubbling away from the elf's final riposte. Several bones within one of his wings had been broken from his tumble down the side of the building, and it hurt to breathe. He was sure he'd cracked a few ribs, and he wouldn't be flying again until dawn. And so, he could only watch as Avira was spirited away by Ember.

Limping in the direction of the others, he would say nothing to them. What could he say? They'd lost the battle. None of them were happy thoughts. They ranged anywhere from derision, to pity.

Then he put that all aside, as the Elf did not matter compared to what they had lost.

Walking over to Maira, he would offer to her in a ragged voice. "Do you need help with him, Lady Maira?"

He knew that Angantyr wouldn't appreciate that, so he thought it best to omit this part in the future.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon wobbles a little bit. "Uh... I think... I just need a second." He stops and blinks a whole bunch of times, taking a few breaths and apparently centering himself. Or something like that. He shoots a quick glance to Evja and then at Soan, a slight raise of the eyebrow that is part 'is she clear' and part 'what the hell is that'.

"Okay. Okay. Wow. Uh." He looks around, and doesn't see anyone dead, but does see one person flat on their back and a girl trying to drag him around unsuccessfully. "Hey, uh. I can probably move that guy. Just... just give me a second. I need to catch my breath."

Evja has posed:
Evja sighs as Soan approaches and Maira gets in the way. "So be it. However, Maira... know that if he attacks another Judge in any way unwarranted, I will hold you personally responsible for not letting him be taken in. His charge is a death sentence in Archades, and I have nothing to do with that." Soan gets a strange look before the Viera shakes her head a bit and looks up at the sky, "Do not be so hasty to step into matters like that, though... thank you for standing against me. At heart I do not wish to be the death of anyone, but in the case of this man... he is blind to his anger and will attack anyone in my line of work, or so I understand."

Kamon Lionward has posed:
"Didn't you just get your fuzzy ass kicked up between your freaky bunny ears?" Kamon asks irritably. "Can you talk a /little/ bit less like someone who thinks they're the most important person on the block and a little /more/ like someone who's going to help clean up the mess they made? Don't go talking about holding people responsible right after you just tried to kill a bunch of people."

Kamon is way less meek when he's full of fight-adrenaline. He'll feel bad about it later.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"It was hers." Mercade says quietly to Kamon. He looks up from under the brim of his hat. "Can you use it?"

He looks to Maira, and the staredown between Evja and the healer woman. He doesn't get involved in the conversation between them all at the moment, adjusting his hat and considering his next move.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man gives Kamon back a look. It's still the same helmet, but he probably know by the way he tilted his head, how his shoulders lifted slightly at his look, that his answers is likely 'Heck if I know' to both account.

He was about to add something, rebuke to Evja's argument, before Kamon bursts in with his irritation. It's rather amusing, really, seeing the Superhero lifting a finger, about to say something, to be interrupted. His head tilts toward Kamon, then back at the Viera.

Internally, Soan claps for Kamon.

Maira has posed:
Maira looks toward Percival. Oh goodness, she'd not even remembered he was here. Everything had been so chaotic...but she smiles, warm and appreciative. At least until she sees how wounded he is. "I would love your help Percival...but you have to let me tend your wounds after," she tells him in a healers tone, leaving no room to argue.

Maira looks to Evja, nodding, grateful. She is too understanding for her own good. "I understand....and he is not blind to his anger. Did you not see? He protected me...he has a complicated...thing...with Judges, is all," she replies, though she knows the defense isn't exactly strong. But he did protect her.

Maira looks to Mercade then. She narrows her eyes slightly at his use of past tense. "It IS hers, and we are going to give it back to her when we find her," she says, standing then, finally. "Now everyone who needs to be healed follow me to VALKYRI HQ, we're preparing to take the wounded. I'll do all I can--then we find Avira. Got it?"

Um, forceful Maira! Twilight zone!?

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason lookss everything has calmed sown a bit and she goes to check up on Kamon for a moment then to mercade "Kamon you all right and we're sorry about your friend." She pauses looking at Evja she shrugs at them for a moment. She shaeks her at them. "Dragoon Man good to see your alive." She looks over to some of the others nd the Gargyole gets looked over.

"I owe you one name's Myla, Myla Mason."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi says, "You aren't an Archades Judge or anybody with any authority from The Network's understanding. I'm unsure how you could hold Maira responsible for anything, The Network remarks as they are impressed with the speed one goes from somewhat penitent to arrogant."

She probably won't feel bad about this later, thus proving that she is not an innocent naif, though she'll probably still be treated like one after despite saying this, but this is the second time Evja tried to murder her boss.

It's a great mystery. But of course internally she is probably claping for Kamon too. She can't pat him on the back because she'd probably sproing up into the air though, so she just hides a small smile with her hand, bashfully.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade turns to Myla, and looks her over for a moment. Hmm. "Hey there. I'm glad you guys showed up when you did, it was looking... unpleasant for a minute. I appreciate it." He tips his hat politely.

He looks to Maira then as she TAKES CHARGE. "All right." He says, and moves to Ang's side. "Come on. I'll help get him to the HQ." Mercade moves to pick up Ang from one side, so someone can get the other.

Percival has posed:
The Gargoyle would hold up a single finger to Evja. "One time. Just one time, I would like to hear even a single word of contrition from your lips that I thought you meant. Every time I hear you speak, you are shifting responsibility onto something else. The law. Honor. Your word. And now upon a good woman that is only trying to help a friend. This man did far more for the cause of rescuing Lady Avira than you ever did."

And then he would pick up Ang from his other side, while Mercade got the other. He would nod to Maira. "I promise that I shall, Lady Maira. But you truly don't have to worry about me."

Evja has posed:
"No, I did not just try to kill a bunch of people. I tried to kill one person... the rest of you I was trying to injure enough so you did not get in the way. Not that it makes me feel any better about not seeing the way to avoid fulfilling my contract until I did. All the same... thank you for protecting Mercade. But..."

The Viera turns and pulls a cloak out of the air, Item Management working in favor of the Judge. Hey, Judges had to deal with lots of 'loot' for the clans. They're good at storing stuff in places. Putting it on, she adds, "...I shall have to earnestly try and fulfill it another day. I truly am sorry about it. I am bound by magics to stand up to my oaths, I cannot break them." And then she begins to walk away.

Evja has posed:
Evja also, at some point in this since Seith left, wandered here and there and got the few pieces of armor that had fallen off. Totally.

Percival has posed:
"YOU TRIED TO KILL A GOOD MAN! YOU <GOOSEHONK>ING FOOL! AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS JUSTIFY JUSTIFY JUSTIFY! Why even bother speaking the rest? Just apologize for trying to Mercade, and GET OUT, if you are going to make excuses!" And then he'd nearly double over from the effort of yelling at the Viera. God, the Judge really made his head hurt.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi learns that attempting to stab people with darkness spears does not qualify as life threatening activity, today.

She stares at Evja.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon just kind of stares at Evja. He shakes his head. "That doesn't make it okay. You should be apologizing and then trying to make up for it, or finding a state-certified White Mage to break the compulsion. Just --!" He stops talking, shaking his head again and turning away. He turns and watches the other exchanges, then looks down to the Spine. He turns it over in his hand, and then holds it at arm's length, taking its measure. He swings it through the air a couple of times, muttering to himself about it all the while.

"Yeah, I can use it," he says, with some surety. "I'll just... tell me where you want it, I'll bring it along." He favors his right leg a little when he walks. Apparently he's in for the healing part.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man frowns, not that it's especially visible but by how his head tilt and how he crossed his arm, you can just FEEL the dissapointment in the masked hero's posture. He gives a look toward the others helping the wounded, before turning that gaze toward Percival. "Calm, friend, calm." He says, twisting his gaze toward Evja. "The Dragons says that there is always a choice. We blind ourselves to the hard one, fooling ourselves into thinking that there is only one."

He pauses. "I do not know how Dragoons are in this world do it, but this is part of our way. You have a long path to walk back. Now, go."

Then, he begin to walk to the others.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Fine."

Mercade looks over to Kamon and gestures, giving him a moment to pick up Ang as he slips out from under the man's arm.

He walks up to Evja, his weapons put away and body bloodied. "You're backsliding." Mercade says.

He looks over the wounded Judge, and spreads his hands. "Make a decision and stick to it. Are you going to follow your oath or not? Are you going to kill me or not? Make up your mind. You want my life? Take it."

He pauses. "It doesn't get any easier than this. Striking down an unarmed man. Just remember... Whatever you choose, it's your choice. And it's your responsibility to live with the consequences. Are you going to serve the law, or are you going to serve justice? The choice is yours."

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon takes the other side of Ang, one-armed. He takes most of the weight off Percival's hands. He's clearly way less injured than most of the other people involved in this brawl, and apparently pretty strong, too.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is now stuck to Kamon.

Magnets. How do they work?

SERIOUSLY?!

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon goes :|.

He does not turn his head like a creepy doll and stare at Emi accusingly.

He wonders if he can stub his toe and de-magnetize himself.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason looks at Evja and she is the daughter of a ship captain she walks up to Evja for a moment she stares at them for a moment she thinks about it but prehaps this one isn't the one for such a thing. She stares at the bunny person? She looks over to Percy "Come on lets give you a hand shall we?"

Evja has posed:
Nothing said truly seems to bother the Viera until Mercade walks up in front of her and spreads his arms, leaving himself wide open and seemingly able to be killed. It's when he gets that close that Mercade can probably see the stains of tears on the Viera's cheeks, if the light is right enough. Evja's hands shook a little beneath the cloak before the tremor went up to the Viera's shoulders, head looking down slowly towards the ground before she collapses to her knees, hands on her head, "I do not wish to kill you!" comes the rather exasperated sound, even though a spear did appear in one hand as she brought one down to the ground in front of her, "Please walk away. Please..."

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man also nods at Myla. "Of course I'm alive! I'm also quite glad to see some of our world has made it through! Take care of yourselves, would you?" He says, smiling, staying back to make sure Evja moves away from Mercades. He's watching the conversation, for now. It best not go where he think.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou turns her attention to Kamon and Angantyr. "...Oh, The Network apologizes. There seems to be residual effects."

She pauses. "...But still, a bit handy for this circumstance."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"It's not a question of wishing. You put so much effort into your oaths. You proclaim so much about the law and judge everyone." Mercade's eyes are piercing. "Could it be that the Judge is afraid of being Judged themselves?"

He steps forward. "It's so easy, Evja. Make a decision. Kill me and be free and know you kept your oath. You served your Law." He pauses. "But you know that it's not actually just, is it. You're going to murder a man for no reason other than it makes Avira's life more miserable because we care about each other."

He takes another step. "But now you know. So do it. Kill me and be free. Do it, Judge! Kill me! Grow a spine when you have to make the /HARD/ choices in life, or are you a COWARD who hides behing the LAW as an excuse to BULLY PEOPLE?"

Mercade's voice becomes angrier by the moment. "SO DO IT! KILL ME, JUDGE!"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi Dennou meanwhile, hopes Mercade has a backup plan in case Evja goes 'ok *stab' because she considers those even odds.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Backup plan? Uh.... Mercade will get back to you on that one.

Percival has posed:

BACKUP PLAN!

Percival would gesture with his chin at Angantyr's body, then towards Evja. And then his eyes would literally begin glowing white with anger. The Gargoyle would rip Angantyr's body off of Kamon's armor, and the two at once would lift him over their heads. Barreling forward, the two would swing him both at the same time as a hammer at Evja. Bludgeoning him repeatedly with his unconscious body.

Yes that just happened. Percival would only hope that the man's anger would be offset by the fact that he was being used to try and beat the Viera Judge silly.

And then he just gave Kamon an awkward look afterwards. Ho boy.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. The talk of death is very... grim. He's not fond of it.

Kamon turns slightly, partially magnetized to Angantyr's chainmail. He carefully puts down the Spine, and then steps forward, taking the warrior by the ankle and around the thigh. He lifts him up, letting him loll backwards a little, apparently adjusting how he's carrying him. Maybe he's planning to grab his legs and let Percival take him by the arms.

No, actually, he's not. With uncanny stealth and speed, Kamon steps up behind Evja and swings Angantyr's unconscious body down at the back of the Judge's head like a big ol' humanoid sap.

Kamon briefly wonders why he's so light. Wasn't he heavier? The angle should make it way harder to swing him, too...

Kamon glances over at Percival, blinking awkwardly.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
Dragoon Man remains tense, gripping his spear as Mercades says his piece. What the hell is that man thinking? If he keeps doing that, that unstable... whatever that is is surely just going to /snap/.

He was about to strike, himself. Percival and Kamon, in their own brilliance, were far faster than he was. The superhero is /stunned/, the bright eyes bursting wide for a moment at what he saw. He makes a few noises, opening his mouth and closing it, trying to figure out the best words.

"Nice shots." Dragoon Man settles on.

Evja has posed:
"No... you fool." Evja whispered softly, hand gripping the spear so tightly that her long fingers and, thus, nails, dig into the palm of her hand. "This magic was forced upon me when I became a Judge... I had no choice. And now..." The hand shakes again as Evja goes to stand slowly, spear raising even as tears run down her cheeks and stain her veil, "And now that I got myself into this situation by being a fool, because of them, I will be forced to kill a man in cold blood!"
Her spear was raised and just as she was about to plunge it through Mercade...

WHACK

Body Slam ~.~

The Viera crumples like a wet noodle and collapses to the ground with the spear clattering beside her.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
"Well... that worked out," Kamon says awkwardly. He peers at Percival and gently lowers Ang's body, freeing a hand to give him a hesitant thumbs-up.

Then, he picks up the Spine again. He'd probably loot the spear except that his hands are full, and he left his equipment black hole back home. "Maybe we should go before bunny-guy," Bunny-girl? Bunny-person? Whatever, "wakes up and tries to kill you again."

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi idly kicks the spear out of the way shortly after. She looks down at her for several moments, then up at Percival and Kamon, then down at Evja, then towards Kamon himself.

<3 <3 <3

"Are you alright, Mercade?, The Network inquires.", though otherwise she nods and agrees with Kamon's prognosis here.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade was about to get murderized.

Mercade breathes, turning away as Evja hits the ground, unconscious. He looks back over his shoulder at the insensate bunny, and thinks for a moment before looking away. He says nothing. There is no judgement from him. Nothing in his eyes. Nothing in his speech.

"I'll be fine, Emi. Thank you guys for your help." He says the last to Kamon and Percival. "Let's go. There's nothing left to do here."

He simply walks away, and turns to head into town, making his way towards VALKYRI HQ to get healed by Maira (he's had enough Ultra Potion for one year) and prepare his inevitable trip into Tartarus to face down a god.

Percival has posed:
And then once the Adrenaline rush wore off, and he'd finished looking awkwardly at Kamon, he'd literally crumple onto his knees, coughing and sputtering. Seith's final /gift/ was still burning away at his innards, and it really, really hurt.

Why did the good ideas always hurt so much?

After a while, he'd hesitantly give Kamon a thumbs up, while still coughing. Now that was smooth.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr makes an effective weapon.

Angantyr is also seriously injured, and was kept stable by someone pouring white magic into him,

He is now bleeding all over Evja, because he was left there.

Kamon Lionward has posed:
Kamon totally kept holding you up after all that. He doesn't know jack about white magic though.

Percival has posed:
After a while, the Gargoyle would shakily stand back up, then put an arm back under Angantyr.

The two would then very slowly make their way to VALKYRI HQ, with his unconscious body.

He'd have to have Emi calculate the odds of Angantyr shattering him in his sleep for that later.

Soan Sagittarius has posed:
For no apparent reason, the spear is gone. It went... somewhere. Somehow. It likely rolled off a cliff. Yeah.