Grendel Attacks

Grendel Attacks
Date of Scene:	23 April 2013
Location:	VALKYRI HQ
Synopsis:	VALKYRI's carefully planned party is rudely interrupted by an attacking monster.
Cast of Characters:	Faruja Senra, Tifa Lockhart, Katyna, Sarafina Carenze, Avira, Maira, Vespa, Minerva, Angantyr Vespar, Garland, TRON, Isaac Hanlon, Carnus Sirin, Ulharisk, The Cloud King

---

Avira has posed:
It was evening, or at least temporally so!

The invites have gone out and the warnings have been sskip town for the evening</span>.

Why a party though? No reason was given. Nothing exciting in particular had happened lately that was really worth celebrating. When pressed, Avira would claim that this party was 'because she felt like it.'

The inside of the VALKYRI headquarters has been decluttered significantly in preparation for the guests, extra stuff and personal items stowed in the basement below. A spread of finger foods has been arrayed out on the long table in the center of the guild hall and several coolers supporting drinks line the walls. There's even alcohol here for those who prefer more adult beverages. Music was apparently on short order and provided by nothing more than the local radio.

The only thing that seems to be at all off about this picture is Avira herself, who is still sporting her usual adventuring clothes. Her weapon, that odd-looking serrated sword called the Spine, remains sheathed at her back. Despite this, she floats around, greeting people as they come in and making small talk.

Garland has posed:
Traverse Town.

The eternal twilight of Traverse Town is a beautiful metaphor for the human soul. Lingering light and continual shadow, never truly reaching either, never truly changing. No heart is without light and shadow, so long as it is the heart of a human being - human hearts are not such simple things. No matter how much one strives, a human cannot be truly light; no matter how vile one becomes, a human cannot be truly dark. That is what humanity is, what it must be. To lack one of those qualities is to be less than human.

Or perhaps more than human.

The shadows of Twilight Town shudder as he appears. It is a subtle shudder, as if a breeze had blown across the candle that is the everpresent orange sky, sending ripples throughout the darkness. That shudder is the only thing subtle about him, though, for the world itself is rent in his passing, shadows manifesting and splitting down the center where there were none before. A massive iron foot lands against the ground, utterly, unnaturally silent as it steps forth from the Corridor; a second joins it, followed by great and terrible clawed gauntlets. Soon come the horns, the shoulderpads, the faceplate; finally comes the cape, as the Corridors of Darkness close behind him, and the shadows give a final shake and lie still in the presence of their king.

IRONCLAD NIGHTMARE
G-A-R-L-A-N-D

He moves, purposeful and silent, through the deserted streets of Traverse Town. Though he notices their emptiness, their silence, he cares not, for soon they will be filled with blood and shadow. Like some terrible Pied Piper, the Ironclad Nightmare's footsteps bring with them a miserable parade.

t From the shadows of his cape they grow, one by one - Heartless, formless and dark, springing up where he walks. At first, it is few; then, it is many; then, it is multitude. Soon, the Heartless fill the empty streets of Traverse Town, dancing a mocking dance in praise of the dark god with whom they walk. They are the only noise in the streets; they are the only noise at all.

Finally, he rounds a corner; the Champion of Chaos stands before VALKYRI headquarters, oozing shadow from his body, the Mad Parade behind him. He looks over the building calmly as the Heartless begin to fill the alleyways, block off the streets, moving into position on his command.

The dark god folds his hands behind his back and waits for the fireworks to begin.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr didn't approach VALKYRI HQ through a portal, by dropping in on it. He didn't do anything fancy, he just walked from the street, walking towards the HQ. He takes a breath, he knows why he is here...some selfish, some not selfish. Not that it matters after this...after this he will have burned his last bridge to people who actually cared about him.

Angantyr truly through he was doing this to protect them, even then...only one among them would know about this, only one knows why, and only one has used the time he had given them to clear out the surrounding area. His contract was specific...

Destroy VALKYRI HQ, and the surrounding buildings. Crush anyone who stands in his path. Angantyr opens his eyes, it is a carefully measured stare before he draws the mace, smashing it into the ground and drawing the darkness from himself, and weaving it around him.

The Aegis of darkness is formed, a dark armor, powerful and looming like stands before VALKYRI HQ. Darkness burns off of him like a heat haze, and his eyes focus on those who come out to defend their homes...and the homes of others. He doesn't say anything.

MISSION START!

Victory Conditions:
Defend VALKYRI HQ from Angantyr's attack!
Defend the Surrounding buildings from Angantyr's attack!
K.O. Angantyr!

Failure Conditions:
All Party Members are KOed.
VALKYRI HQ is destroyed.
More than three surrounding buildings are destroyed!

Battle Mastery Condition:
All buildings are left in tact...

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
'No music on short order.' Who the hell do you think we are?

VALKYRI HQ gets a visitor on short (read: no) notice, with an old-school boombox slung over one shoulder and a hastily-scrawled invitation in one hand. He presents it to Avira as he sweeps past with a sly grin and a quick salute, coat billowing as he strides across the long room with a tune on his lips and a purposeful stride. He snags a finger sandwich on the way past, pops it in his mouth, and goes out a window on the far side of the building as if it was a back door anyone can use.

The boom box gets dropped on the roof. Pale blue light rises up from it and gathers around it, coalescing into an array of sound equipment. The man in the patchwork coat stands behind it, waits for the mic to pop up, and snags it as Angantyr approaches and Garland waits in the wings. He nods a little, the darkness oddly reflected in his goggles, as if that was the cue he was looking for.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to THE ZERO HOUR! Broadcasting /live/ from VALKYRI Headquarters in Traverse Town, I'm your host, DJ ZERO, here to provide you with your evening's musical entertainment and local defense on a tight budget!"

The boombox roars. The streets suddenly get loud as the music starts.

BGM CHANGE: http://youtu.be/svTuSRiFPoc

Carnus Sirin has posed:
At one of the tables there lays a variety of foods and alcoholic beverages set before one man in particular.

Carnus, the always chuffed spellsword.

He's dressed as he always is. Fully outfitted in his battle armor and with the ornate heavy sword of his noble house hung at his waist next to a thick red book kept under lock.

"Hahaha! What a great plan, Avira!" he calls out, clearly enjoying his drink and food. One would wonder if he's not forgotten why they're here, but the fact he watches the door carefully each time someone new enters would signify otherwise. However, until the time came, he planned on enjoying himself, especially knowing that at any minute it would all end with the outbreak of violence.

After a time, he notes and end to those showing up and starts to get a bit antsy. He'd been idle too long and was ready to get involved in some action. Wandering was lovely and all, but battle had a spark to it he found irresistable. And boy was he ready for it's call to lure him onto the battlefield.

He moves from his seat to check outside after he's sure he heard something outside before Isaac started playng his loud clanging that passes for music here and opens the door, smiling deeply as he stares out into the streets. "Looks like things are about to start getting fun." he calls back over his shoulder. "The guests of honor have arrived."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart is here to party! n/ >_< Okay, well maybe not that hardcore, but at least she's not dressed as a giant banana this time, so she can relax. Having a bar in Traverse Town means she's close to most of the big events, and that's a good thing for her. She likes being social after all, and checking on her friends. Since they don't come that often to check on her at the bar. At least, not as much as she'd like. Sigh.

Anyway, all's forgotten right now, as she steps into the Valkyri HQ, looking around. She's sporting her usual wear, which might be a little hot for dancing, but there's a layer she can take off. And who wouldn't want to look at a girl dancing in a learther shorts anyway? Looking around there's a few familiar faces of course, being Valkiry's place, but some others she's not entire sure of. Oh well, if they got invitations, its likely that they are good people, after all. She walks over to Isaac's booth, smirking as she leans over the side of it "Better give me the good songs tonight, so I'm never hireing you for my place."

Vespa has posed:
"Looks like everything is set up here Avira.", Vepsa says looking over the table of finger foods. she grabs herself a beer opening it up and taking a drink from the bottle. She dressed in her usual attire, her maid outfit.

"Ahh that what I needed. I think I'm going to be needing this tonight.", she says looking at the berr bottle. She looks at Caruns, hearing what he said "Guest of honor? More like party crashers!", she tosses him a beer, hoping he can catch it. She not surpised by this turn of events at all.

Katyna has posed:
Katyna was quite surprised by the 'invitation' she had received..Although it wasn't so much a friendly invitation to a 'party' so much as a mysterious challenge of sorts, to prove that she indeed had chosen the path of light over darkness. Was it a trap? Had the Shadow Lords sent her a fake invitation to lure her out into the open, to punish her for daring to betray them? Or, was it just her over active imagination working in overdrive, again?

Whatever the case, she could not take the chance that it was a real threat..And more than that, Katyna was determined to prove to Avira that she was sincere in wanting to protect her and the rest of VALKYRI...If only to make up for her past crimes against her former friends..

When she arrives on the street, she is probably one of the last to approach VALKYRI hq, and she hesitates a long moment before stepping up to the door. Yegads, is she doing the right thing? She knows there are still lots of people who had not forgiven her. Perhaps she should leave...Kat flushes and backs away from the door, uncertain of what to do. Skoll's previous words still echo in her memory, encouraging her to return to Traverse and visit Avira with a box of chocolates as a kind of peace offering perhaps.

She had laughed at the idea, but now it sounds like a pretty darn good idea! "Oh darn it! Just get it over with, Kityana!" She openly berates herself as she reaches the doorbell and rings it once, hesitantly..It's around that time that she is suddenly aware of the immense warp of darkness in the area, shadowy heartless crawling out of the darkenned alleys..And a far bigger enemy on the horizon..

"What the...? No! I've gotta warn the others! Avira!!" She starts ringing like crazy on the doorbell now..

The Cloud King has posed:
A new face to these parts had shown up earlier in the evening. A tall, thin male in a fanciful white suit had arived and seemingly come with the intent of partying. Though his manner of 'partying' seemed to extend to bringing various supplies like those little hats and noisemakers and, of all things, his own teacup. As to why he would ever need his own teacup one must be left to their own thoughts, for all he ever gave in response to that was 'For tea, what else?'

And that, as they say, was that.

The fellow with the pink hair and wings was currently sitting in the back corner of the room in a chair with one leg crossed pleasantly over t'other, eyes roaming those who were here with a bit of an amused sparkle. There was a faint curiosity about him as if he was trying to understand why it was they were acting how they were, and in the meanwhile, he had filled his cup with tea and some kind of alcohol. The beverage had for some reason swirled with blue and pink before he began to sip at it.

Isaacs entrance and sudden depreciation of the radio with his own music caused the Cloud Kings nose to crinkle slightly as he appeared quite simply on the other side of Isaac as if he had been there all along. "I say... this noise, hardly music for the soul. As screechy as it sounds, it'd deafen a mole! Please something more fitting for a party rather than a hatters soire."

Little chance after that, though, did he have to speak as suddenly others started speaking of a Guest of Honor, or more than one! "Oh my indeed, though I would have to wonder why in the world you are throwing a party for those nasty little things? I can't say as to your world but at least for mine they came and gobbled it right up!" And gobble they had indeed as he walks over to the snack table and quickly proliferates a few sandwiches before they can gobble that too.
Damn their hunger, he'll have his own finger sandwiches!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva had been aware of what was coming sure. Just not at the full on nature of what comein she's wondering just what's coming here she seems to be bit put off and normally she's not seemingly put off by anything. She seems to be bolsterd a bit as DJ Zero pops in and plays some strange music likely from Manhattan but she can agree at least the bards singing it can be understood.

Ya there's a pile of heartless, no not a pile, not even a fearsom buck O heartless this is a damn full army.

"Tis going to be a very bad night..."

Ulharisk has posed:

'District 3... Valkyrie HQ..'
Those words stayed in Ulharisk's mind since he met Maira and the others on the beach. When they showed him kindness and even gave him something to eat-- and including that really good bread meal. Whatever it was called. It was good!

He had been trying to get use to the strange culture, but so far nothing really made sense to him. He had no one really able to explain to him things, so he didn't know about the warning or what was going to happen. He just knew Maira was very kind and she told him that she would be at this building; So that is where he has gone.

The strange humanoid looked almost humanoid, with elfish like ears, yet his light brown tan skin had the looks of almost like scales in some places finds himself taking refuge on the couch. His clawed toed feet kicked out and his clawed fingers clasps resting on his lap. He is mostly just watching everyone. Feeling still very much out of place and at times glances at the radio.

He really wants to go over there to poke it. Shake it. See if any little people fall out from it. Yet it is not his to touch. He is really here just to see Maira...

Somewhere he even closes his eyes and seems to just content to act like he is 'snoozing'. Yet when something dark makes itself known. His violet eyes snap open and he glances around. His sixth scent tingling a bit, yet he was not sure why. For the moment he just goes back to closing his eyes and trying to ignore the odd sensation. Unaware of what was about to happen, until probably noise was made which caused him to snap his eyes open once more.

Including even slowly stand up. His eyes peering around. He really was unsure of what was happening. He couldn't see outside. Probably a good thing. He would go charging out. Probably was as he started to take a closer work he saw those gold eyes. He /knew/ those gold eyes.

His eyes narrowed sharply as he growled lowly. "..Monsters of Whe'ir.." He then makes a quick gesture of his hand. White flames following his gesture with his hand, before they glow bright blue. Then suddenly from those flames a blue rod starts to form, which he takes a hold of as the blazing light travels through the air to create the Glaive and the red runes flash brightly. "You wont take this world Either!!!" He roars out.

Probably before anyone can tell him /don't/, the young Draconian is already on the move. Heartless took his world. /They/ took his family. /THEY / had taken it all. He wanted it back and he will get it back even if it means by force!

Though darkness was beyond the door and the armored figure of great terror stood their with his massive mace. Any sensible person would /not/ go charging at someone like this. Any sensible person may realize there is trouble. Ulharisk, may realize this and do a quickly one eighty mid air turn if he was being sensible -- but he wasn't. He was angry because of what he saw. He still felt the pain of not so long ago.

So out came the Draconian, the Guardian Knight. His Glaive held in his hands as he leaps in the air with a battle cry of a yell as he went to strike the Glaive down at the armored figure with the mace. Slashing the Glaive one way then the other, while yelling, "You wont have it!"

Maira has posed:
Maira isn't ready for this. There isn't anything that could prepare her for this.

That said, she's is at least dressed for the occasion. Maira has got to be the only person in the world perhaps whose battle gear involves a short pink skirt with ruffles and knee high boots that match. Alas, but these are the only clothes she has that are sure not to burn up when she wields her magic.

Maira sits inside HQ on a chair, completely stiff, her spine straight as a bored, wringing her hands in her lap. She is terrified, barely repressing it. They had done all they could, hadn't they? The townspeople should be safe...yes, that would be good. They would be safe.

She might die today. Someone she cares about might die today.

Maira closes her eyes, reaching down inside herself, trying to find courage--to grasp her light and hold on tight.

When Garland moves into the area she /feels/ it like and echo in her bones. The music starts to play and Maira 'EEP's with fright, jumping to her feet.

Then...another presence? Was that....?

Maira blinks, then begins moving toward the door, stepping outside to to confirm what she felt.

Then, she smiles. Like an idiot, she smiles. "Angantyr! You came!"

TRON has posed:
TRON has not truly understood the concept of 'social gatherings'. Celebrations after a victory, certainly! But inviting people over 'because I could' is a little harder to process. But he is here, keeping the lightshow to a minimum by being in his black suit with the circuitry lines offline, not really mingling much.

Then, there is the unholy sound of incoming partying Heartless. Realization manifests as a tremor down the spine, a clench of the core, a chill that lances through you. But the Security Program isn't frozen, turning his head to acknowledge the sound as his gloved hands flex.

"It is time." His voice murmurs distractedly, not seeming to realize he had even spoken, and he removes his Discs from the spindle on his back.

DJ Zero's music drowns out the Heartless' noise somewhat and he walks calmly towards the doors as his helmet hides his face and his Discs activate with a sharp whirring sound. Circuitry dots and dashes appear with bright bluish-white flashes across his form as the black visor reflects Angantyr's form and Garland's shadowed visage like a mirror.

"Well then," he comments over to Carnus as he passes by, "it would be rude to keep them waiting."

He lightly nudges Katyna into VALKYRI HQ as he suddenly spins over the stairs to the sidewalk, both Discs flying right towards Angantyr. One arcs upwards at the last moment to attempt knocking him off his feet, the other makes a sudden trajectory shift as if to blindside the Dark Knight. Both then cross over each other then swoop in as one on the return trajectory for a double strike.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Food, alcohol, and the lovely ladies and gents of VALKYRI. After the rather sound tail-kicking provided by a certain group of Heretics, and the events in Alexandria, this is exactly what Faruja has needed. A nice, relaxing night to kick back, soak in booze, companionship, and music. And most /definitely/ not any more fighting of wanted men.

For the occasion, Faruja decided upon whipping out the old dress uniform from his days in the Burmecian army. A long coat, slacks, and tan, button-up shirt adorned with several medals on the breast round out the outfit. Someone clearly /isn't/ in on the plan. No, Faruja simply came to party; nursing a glass of some local spirit.

That's not to say he hasn't greeted those he knows! "Lady Avira! My, my, my, 'tis just what was needed my dear! Ahh, playing up the 'adventurer' bit, hmm? Ser Hanlon, was it not? I pray thy magical studies favors thee! Ahh, Lady Tifa! My deepest apologies, I do believe I still owe a visit to thy lovely establishment! Lady Minerva, 'tis been some time, looking in good health my dear! Ahh, Maira! Good 'eve, good eve my friend! Is something wrong? You seem a touch out of sorts." Those whom he doesn't know will get general smiles, bows, and greetings from the rat should they approach him.

The unknown spellsword, however, is the one that alerts Faruja to the sudden appearance of Heartless (along with a good sense of /wrongness/)...and something far worse. Mid-slamming of his drink down his gullet, the rat's single eye peers at the man, before looking outside. The Templar very nearly drops his drink.

Sigh. There goes his wonderful party. One incantation later, and the rat clenches his spear, summoned from wherever he keeps the thing. Dutifully, he follows Maira outside with nary a word.

Any other time, and Faruja's first comments would go to Angantyr, particularly as Maira calls him out. Instead, looking upon the great Iron-Clad Abomination known as Garland, his gaze holds many things; fear, hate, anger.

"...Think thee to take this place, Abomination? It shan't happen while the lot of us live."

Stepping between Maira and Angantyr, Faruja's muzzle tugs down in a scowl. Katyna's presence as he exits the door barely phases him, other than a nod. No matter what happened between them earlier, at least he knows she's no lover of such things as Garland!

"Angantyr Vespar. The lives of Templar not enough for thee? Be gone from here and trouble these people naught."

Then, he glances back to Maira, even as he begins casting. "Stay behind me, Maira. This shan't end easily if I am any judge."

The Cloud King has posed:
And suddenly the man in the white suit chokes on his drink, coughing softly and looking towards Faruja, "What? Do not wrap me up in your need to perish! I just came for the cake!" While he lives indeed, he shant be anything short of that!

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina is sittoung around nearby, she is--effectively--not anticipating trouble from Angantyr. Considering how often he's HELPED VALKYRI and Avira, well, it would seem out of character for him to suddenly start summoning Aegis's of darkness, glowing powerfully and smashing his mace about. For a moment, Sarafina even just assumes Angantyr is just being a sourpuss because, really, sometimes Angantyr is a sourpuss. For some reason, nobody really felt Sarafina needed a warning.

She looks into Angantyr's eyes, and that explains to her just as well as to what's going on as anything else. She stands up suddenly and turns to run off--which is about when Maira opens the door.

Oh god, she thinks.

"Maira!" She shouts. "Be careful! Something's wrong!"

Avira has posed:
"Yeah...plan." Avira looks a bit distant. Weary. At the sinking feeling in her stomach, she knew the Heartless were gathering. She knew Angantyr was coming. Even for someone like her, who wasn't so sensitive to the amounts of light and darkness in the hearts of people, could feel the large darkness gathering outside. For reasons only her own, her own heart feels heavy.

There's a small smirk on her face when she takes Isaac's fauxvintation and the wizard sweeps his way past them all. She's not entirely sure what he's up to at first-until she hears DJ Zero's voice calling out, followed by the sweet, sweet sounds of the Beastie Boys.

One of their newer guests, spoken about her briefly-Ulharisk-immediately wigs out and charges outside, howling and screaming at the Heartless beyond. She knew that feeling-the rage of those who had freshly lost their world to the Heartless. The heroism that swelled inside when those creatures reared their heads again, threatening to destroy another world. That zeal was useful right now. Every bit of zeal and revenge and bravery and heroism was useful right now. They'd need it all.

Avira murmurs a few things to herself, looking over to Maira with a sad look upon her face. With each passing second, though, that sadness starts to fade, replaced with raw rage. Maira was upset. Maira was /very/ upset. This in itself felt worse than the betrayal Angantyr's act had inflicted upon her.

The huntress rushes out of the VALKYRI headquarters, ice magic shooting down the length of the Spine clutched in her gloved hand. With no words offered to the advancing Dark Knight, Avira meets him head on. The narrowed, flashing eyes and tight-lined lips upon her face are all she needs to convey just how seriously she's taking this attack.

Garland has posed:
Garland surveys the forces arrayed against Angantyr for a long, silent moment. He casts a silent gaze at DJ Zero, without a single motion, lingering there for a long moment. Then he surveys each of them in turn, carefully looking over the various defenders of VALKYRI who have trotted themselves out tonight. It is a long, silent, appraising gaze, as he considers their strength against his soldier's. He carves their faces into his eternal memory, each who stands against him carefully memorized, carefully observed, carefully scratched into the endless tablet of time. The heartless chitter eagerly at the promise of violence and destructon, ready to eat their fill of broken hearts in the wake of their master's passing.

The dark god strides over to his apprentice and lays a hand on Angantyr's shoulder, his rumbling voice breaking through even Isaac's musical interlude.

"Kill them all."

Then he laughs. He laughs, long and hard, at heroic declarations and daring (if foolish) strikes. He laughs, and laughs, and laughs, the dark and horrible echo of his mockery shaking through the streets. There would be no misunderstanding, no failure of the implication made - Angantyr is his soldier. Whatever their friendships, whatever they may have felt for him, Garland is currently the one pulling his strings into this attack.

And Garland intends to hurt VALKYRI more through that than any amount of blood ever could.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr stands there, of course Garland was here. He would be here to watch, and his heartless were here to intimidate. He knows how the man of chaos works. He almost feels proud of Avira that so many people have come to defend her. These are the bonds of friendship she has formed...

He hates himself probably more than Garland for standing here right now.

He doesn't let himself be vocal, but as people charge him, he moves, not agile, but brutally. The mace swings, darkness pouring from it as it smacks into the draconian, even as his spear hits his armor piercing it, but in the scheme of things only glancing the important parts.

The Disk smashes into The armor of the Dark knight, he turns, and swings the mace back in reaction, a dark storm of darkness cracks the earth to throw TRON away, his eyes blazing. Faruja makes his stand, protecting Maira...and he only nods once. His words, however, get a grunt, "Those Templars were harrasing a child. I am attacking warriors. Do not compare yourself and your pathetic church to me. You are scum."

"The lowest scum. Scum that abuses it's prestige and power to hurt the weak and helpless. When faced with a superior force they try and use the power of their faith to rally the weak and stupid to their cause. You are a puppet, the lowest form of a puppet...you've let your hatred of Alexandria blind you to it, you ignore the atrocities they perform, and you kill anything that says differently."

"You are a pathetic piece of garbage. Your death will not be mourned."

Angantyr looks at Maira, and he lowers his head. He takes a breath, and the Avira attacks. The ice blade cuts through the armor, even managing the throw him back a bit. He falls to the ground in an explosion of darkness to try and smack Avira back. "Good! I didn't train a weakling!" he shouts. "Figh-"

And then Garland hits him with CLASS CHANGE.

Angantyr shouts in surprise...the darkness pours out from him even more, and he is caught in a cocoon of darkness. It shatters, revealing a even LARGER armor...spiky, bulky, but powerful. It is...so similar to Garland's. Too similar. A long cape flows behind him, literally made from the darkness between the stars...both flowing and substantial, but also...other worldly.

BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1M8ddkiplg

Angantyr roars, his mace lifting up and swinging. He dives at Avira first, before swinging wildly in the group. He doesn't care WHO he hits...he just swings. The mace moves to tear at the bodies of who he fights, aiming to rip flesh or armor away with each swing.

And then he stops, swinging one of his arms around, throwing pure darkness around him in an wave, before stomping the ground in a massive bursts, causing an explosion of the same energy to tear out all around him...including the HQ.

Katyna has posed:
"What's going on?" Katyna stands bewildered on the front steps to the hq, moments before the heartless swarm the area. She's about to turn and fight them, when the door opens, and out pops some strange guy she's never seen before (Ulharisk), and then the familiar form of Maira. "Maira..!" she murmurs, turning around to deliberately place herself between Maira and the heartless..Annd....Angantyr?

"Tch, figures..Knew you couldn't trust that guy." Still, her gaze softens upon Maira, seeing the hurt in her eyes..And Avira too, as she steps up to face Angantyr. Others begin to join, fighting back the heartless...Faruja is there and as he weaves a protection spell on her, Kat smiles faintly, getting nudged back by TRON, presumably to safety in hq, although she shakes her head, stepping forward. "I'll fight too!"

Kat flinches however, as Ang attacks first, and she stumbles back, gritting her teeth before stepping towards him. She points her sword at Angantyr. "I dunno what game you're playing this time, but I wont let you hurt my friends!" and she sharges into the fray, unleashing blasts of fire from her sword as she swings it at the heartless..And Ang..

Carnus Sirin has posed:
"You... You're the one that people here thought they could trust? Believed you to be a friend." Carnus calls out toward Angantyr.

He draws his blade, holding it before him in both hands as it bursts to life with fire swirling all around the now glowing red blade.

"I don't like it when those I call friend are betrayed. Be it intentional or not. You and your parade of darkness won't be doing whatever you wish any further."

His eyes flash to Garland and he grimaces, his hands tightening on his blade. So he was the one pulling the strings and causing all this hardship. Then it was him that really needed destroying, not the one that could still be redeemed and thus cause less hurt to Maira and the other VALKYRI's he'd joined.

He gives a small nod to TRON as the program begins it's attack, his demeanor changing greatly from how it usually is. His smile receded into a look of concentration as he focuses on his magic and swordwork at the same time. He eyes up Angantyr before his eyes slide to Garland who's stood behind his army of Heartless.

He was the one who REALLY needed taking down, and it seemed as if Carnus was about to rush in and do something VERY foolish by trying to cut his way through to the knight of darkness. However, the sudden appearance change of Angantyr changes his mind, and he realises he can't leave the others to face that alone. So, his tactics change and he charges blade first toward Angantyr, a light trail of fire being left in his wake.

Ulharisk has posed:

The Draconian attempts to avoid the first blow, but its enough to knock him back. Then when the mace swings madly it slams into him and causes him to crash into a building across the way. He comes down hard onto the ground. He coughs gently as he forces himself to stand up.

"...bloody hell.." He murmurs softly, before nearly going down on his knee. "..right.. right. Calm your mind." He mumurs to himself as he stands up and swings his Glaive around in a ready position.

He then charges at Dark armored mace wielder of darkness yet again. This time he spins the Glaive around to try and out move him. Moving with quick slashes and fast foot work to move around, before swinging the Glaive around for a quick slash, and then twirling it around to bring it down in a hard cleaving motion.

Then Ulharisk attempts to flip back with the impact. Trying to make himself some room before the Mace can get him. Most likely then not, he will get smacked into a building...

Maira has posed:
"....No...no no no....that can't be right, can't be...." she whispers to herself, her eyes wide and quickly becoming shiny with unshed tears over the information she's heard over the radio. Her expression is pure horror, the color completely drained from her face as she begins to shake like a leaf caught in a tempest. People are talking to her, but she is barely even aware of them. Faruja is there, he's in front of her. Sarafina is somewhere, yelling for her about....something....The newcomer, Ulharisk, has entered the battle, not knowing anything but that Heartless took his world and he is angry, so angry. Avira, fighting against the man who taught her, a man she might have loved. It's too much. Too much.

Maira feels only despair. Through her bond to Uist however, she feels his broiling anger, more fury than she has even felt from him before. "You have to get a hold of yourself Maira...or I will. I won't let you die here," Uist tells her, his cold hand on her shoulder. The most comforting of hands is already dead. It wouldn't be so bad, would it? To join him?

Garland's laugh shakes her at the very foundation. Angantyr speaks...Angantyr changes. Then, he attacks.

"Kill Them All," she whispers...then, she starts to scream. She brings her hands to her ears, clenches her eyes shut and SCREAMS.

The light within her, the fire of her, reacts when she will not. Light will always appear to oppose the overwhelming night, and Maira light up like the sun, her entire form bursting into white-hot flame that pulses with the beating of her heart.

Maira steps forward, even though several of her friends are trying to protect her. They can't be in the way. Maira wields the fire with the ease of breathing, her hands thrusting outward to send the flames in ribbons forward toward Angantry, trying to wrap him and burn the darkness that shrouds him.

Avira has posed:
Most of it was indeed the bonds of friendship. A small part of it was also 'poor random people that actually thought this was a real party'. Well, it is a party, in a sense. It's an Angantyr-beating party. It's a 'Show Garland VALKYRI won't stand for this crap' party. It's a 'give Katyna a chance' party. It's a 'show her mentor how much she's grown' party.

Parties all around!

The considerably shorter woman is driven backwards by the lick of darkness that follows up after her fierce flurry of strikes. A hiss escapes her, as if she's about to say something, only for her to step backwards when Garland really starts 'pulling his strings.' A defiant look is thrown in the embodiment of Chaos's direction. It is not lost on her how similar Angantyr looks like to Garland right now. Similar to Garland or...

"Did he just turn you into a /Judge/?" she asks incredulously, lifting her small shield in one hand, drawing back her weapon in the other. When they collide, Avira goes flying but not without leaving her own sheathing crescent of silvery energy in her wake. The second explosion of Angantyr's impact not only blows out the windows in the surrounding area, but sends Avira smashing against the wall of the VALKYRI headquarters.

She drops down, crouched, and presses a clenched hand to her chest and directs some helpful time magic into her to speed the healing of her wounds.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa holds her ground against Angantryr display of force thought, she still felt it feeling a little sore. She stats to make her way to the door, or what's left of it, her massive axe appears in her hand as she steps outside. She points her Angantyr and the horde of heartless.

"What makes you think you can come here and trample over everything again?",she pauses taking another drink of her beer."...But I'm not all upset about that, building can be fixed, repaired. But what really has gotten me upset is you made Maria cry!!!!!", she charges rushing into the thick of the battle.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva says "Seems your cut from the same cloth as Gafgarian. Should have known."

She realises they are in a lot of trouble at this point a whole lot of trouble. She takes a deep breath at the levage of carnage that is already coming lose and about to contiune. There's no stopping this, she know sthis its' fight or die so far as she can tell. She does not know what's going on behind the the scenes she does not know what's going on for Ang, his termoriol or what he's thinking. She only sees a betryal and she's going to fight.

Still his comment to Maira is strange and makes some part of hee wonder but the darkness comes it comes for her and she shifts into another stanc she foces for a moment takes hold of it and deflects it away but it's clear it was quite strain her fists freeze over as she launches herself at Ang and launches into a array of assaults upon him she also shift the ice fanishing and a howling wind picks up as she attempts to keep him off balance.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina doesn't have any issue with Ang's 'betrayal' because for starters, Ang had always been on Garland's side. It's surprising, but not exactly strange that he would do as he asked. A soldier doesn't let their feelings get in the way of their work anyway. Not typically. Hurting Maira is unforgivable but maybe Maira will learn and grow stronger for this. She shouldn't get pissy over the matter. No, in a situation like this, she more than ever must keep her cool.%r
Angantyr swings wildly at the group. Sarafina punches the mace away from her body in a single gesture but fails to connect in her folllow through.

She breathes out. "Angantyr. What are you gaining from this?"

She swings her knuckles in a pair of strike for Angantyr's body before igniting her jetpack...

..and attempting to headbutt Angantyr across the chin and into the air, trying to keep him away from VALKYRI HQ--or at least on uncertain grounding!

The Cloud King has posed:
And suddenly things were simply... chaotic. The Cloud King shook his head a little as he stood there, seeming quite annoyed with the entire situation. Those horrible little creatures had already come and are now attempting to blot out the pretty world he was created in! Oh, that couldn't do at all. But, he was no fighter, and he knew this. He wasn't foolish, nor brave. He wasn't a man of the weapon, he wasn't even a person.

He simply was.

Which is why the man casually stepped forward to the table and slipped a hand beneath the closest cake, a large Strawberry Cheesecake. One that looked quite fancy and pretty. Someone must have brought it at some point. But who?
No matter that.

Just as soon as he picked up the cake the Cloud King began to wander forwards towards the door over the roar of the chaos and once he stepped outside one hand slipped down into his pocket, the free hand, and his wings spread and carried him into the air. But what could this man possibly be doing with a cake?

A whole Strawberry Cheesecake?

Well... if one followed where he was moving... he had slipped through the air to float casually in front of where Garland was, ignoring the man who was raging with a weapon, ignoring the ravenous heart-eating beasts, ignoring everything... but the man in the back.

"You seem a tad grumpy. Are you hungry? You can have the whole cake if you wish, but please do tell those ugly little things to return from whence they came." Yes. Yes he did.
He just offered Garland cake to leave.

And... he was being sincere about it.

Though the entire area around him did seem to smell faintly of flowers. Just a flowery breeze, a nice-smelling scent that one might find if they smelled the wind near a flower field.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
And this is where the party crashes. That certainly didn't take long! Didn't even have time to ask for a song that already a wave fo darkness sends her sprawling on the dance floor, except not on her feet. That's certainly not a nice way to ask a lady to dance, second to dragging her by the hair. Its just as painful though.

She bounecs back to her feet though, growling "Okay, can't I can ONE SINGLE NIGHT without one of your freaks coming to try to destroy everything!?!" >_<# Okay, maybe it wasn't the best of days for Tifa. Or its that time of the month. Either way, those bad guys are in for it now.

Armor or not, Ang finds the barmaid's legs coming straight for his neck, flipping him over and sending him crashing down into the floor, in a modified Meteodrive, instead using the power of her legs rather than her arms to send him hurtling. And that gives her enough bounce to go straight down on him with her fists, looking to thread her punches through the armor.

TRON has posed:
TRON only met Angantyr once in passing at a prior VALKYRI party/meeting, thus he has no opinion of him one way or another. He does not even form an opinion now, solely focusing on stopping him as quickly as possible--

The ground crumbles upwards under his feet, staggering him for just a moment as his balance is thrown off. The massive burst of darkness as Garland bestows his 'gift' on Angantyr stuns him long enough for Ang's brutal counterattack. He is knocked aside by the mace swings, flipping in mid-air to land at a staggered three-point stance, only to get bowled over entirely by the nasty burst of darkness and ground tremors that follow.

Garland's 'laugh', if one could call such a sound void of anything besides mocking scorn at their defiance, is not helping.

He doesn't hold onto his Discs as they return to him one at a time, almost seeming to breakdance as he at once flips back to his feet and sends the weapons flying once more. The Discs arc and swoop at Angantyr like birds of prey, making multiple passes while seeking places to sever armor from the Dark Knight beneath.

Faruja Senra has posed:
"In that case, Ser, then I suggest hiding or fighting for thy life! It shall be all the same in the end." Comes the Templar's response to the white-suited, cake-eating gentleman. Really, if he has his way, he'll live too. But a good bit of Templar bluster always helps with morale. In this case, his own.

Darkness seeks out his flesh, and Faruja stands resolutely against it. His glowing spear elegantly deflects the bit aimed for him, the ratling making darn sure it doesn't touch the woman behind him. The Dark Knight's words leave him seething. The white fury of his soul is stoaked, made to burn higher. He opens his muzzle, retorts and condemnations on the tip of his tongue.

Maira screams, and glorious fire erupts. It's a moment the Templar would take with him to his grave, to see a woman of such innocence burn so brilliantly. A moment he would see in nightmares. Any words he'd had die on his muzzle. Stepping aside, he dares not stop Maira. He knows a woman, nay, an angel when he sees one. And this one is on the warpath. The look he fixes Angantyr is of utter hatred, beyond even that mere words or the deaths of Templar could bring. The man had burned a woman of pure innocence.

A swirl of white light as Fire, and the attacks of his companions are laid upon the newly armored Angantyr. Warp'd into existance high above the corrupted Dark Knight, gone is that silvery spear, replaced by a weapon. Nominally a Halberd, it's true use is for hewing things like airship masts, mounted riders, and hard-shelled monsters. An unwieldy weapon that Faruja rarely uses, prefering more streamlined ones. But in his anger and righteous fury, there's not a thought to capturing the man with subtle stabs and wearing-down attacks. There is only rage and the desire for the man's life as he falls, shining blade scything downwards; aimed for the man's head.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
DJ Zero is on the roof. He is difficult to address unless you're acrobatic, flight-capable, or shouting. He's wearing big ol' headphones, bobbing his head to the music as it plays on, and only pauses in his reverie to mutter, "Everyone's a critic," off-mic. Then, Garland looks at him, his heavy gaze resting on him for a few long moments. DJ Zero stares back, his eyes concealed behind dark goggles but the focus all the same.

The shockwave rocks the building. Zero lifts an arm and casts most of the energy aside with a quarter-dome of pale light, the darkness breaking over it like a wave on the shore. He feels unnaturally cold from it, but doesn't do more than wince. He mutters a few words and puts out a pulse-pounding beat, setting the sound equipment up to continue the broadcast. He mutters into the mic, "Please stand by. We're experiencing some technical difficulties that I'm gonna go hammer out. Chill, radio land."

There's a pause as the battle breaks out in earnest, and then the rooftop Dee-Jay abandons ship. He takes a running jump off the roof, his coat billowing out behind him as he drifts forward, over the fighting and all the way out behind the deadly Angantyr. Combat boots touch down in the street, and Zero reaches up and brushes dust off a picture of a big-nosed face peeking over a wall stitched into one shoulder of the patchwork coat. He starts walking, hands in his pockets, apparently totally at ease.

DJ Zero stops. He is several long strides from Garland. He looks up at the Ironclad Nightmare, expression unreadable from behind his goggles. He's tense, though. He knows he's basically standing next to a primed nuclear bomb. To anyone who isn't an immortal lord of darkness, he probably looks pretty calm.

"Evening," he says. "I have this feeling like maybe we should have some... words."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr slowly rises, people already are moving on him, trying to tear into him. Blows come from in response to his, he doesn't care.

Katyna dives at him, her sword piercing his armor, and he swings back at her, which misses because of her agility. He grunts, but then she talks. "Oh that's great. A verbal thrashing from YOU about trust! The Shadow Lord who gave the leader of VALKYRI to Hades, who nearly destroyed Manhattan, and who /constantly/ tries to call me out on my stance."

"That's so funny. I mean, /really/ funny. It's like...you seriously try and get the moral high ground on me, constantly, like you are trying to be better than someone. No, Ember, you aren't better than anyone. You are possibly more pathetic than the rat. At least he /stands/ for something...even if it's revenge and a corrupt child killing group. You? You just do whatever strikes your fancy."

"/I/ have goals, /I/ have a plan. You just are too stupid to see it. No...maybe not stupid, blinded by your own desire to be right. How /dare/ the great Ember be wrong. She has to be right at all costs! Or else your little world shatters."

Carnus speaks, and Angantyr moves on instinct at him. His mace moves, blocking his attack. The mace moves, trying to lock with his attack, before he swings upwards, aiming to send the mace, with a storm of darkness to try and swallow him up.

"Tough words. Back them up, fetching, or get out of my way." Angantyr coldly calls to him, "Die or run, there are no other choices." And then Angantyr swings his mace right towards the Draconian. The two weapons collide, each one trying to struggle for dominance. A moment later, the force of each attack sends the other back, with nobody in a weaker position...

"Tch. Not bad." he says, "But it's not good enoug-Gah!" And then Maira's flames coat the dark knight. The Light and fire burn at him, eating away at the darkness, but it reinserts itself. He blows it back, but he does not swing at her...even now, he can not swing at her. He just ignores her, powering through her attack.

"No." Angantyr says, "It calls upon who you are. This is closer to me...the real me, or perhaps, the idealized version of myself." Angantyr shrugs. "YOU DID NOT PUSH YOUR ATTACK!" he shouts at her, "You are not going to achieve victory this day! This is not a joke nor a game! FIGHT!" he demands.

Vespa charges Angantyr, demanding retribution for Maira's feelings. Angantyr doesn't respond, only swinging the mace for her, as she leaps over him kicking him flat onto the ground. Rolling to his feet, Minerva comes at him, punching repeatedly at him. He can't block the force, the armor shattering under the force of her blows... but his eyes narrow at her.

His fist rises, aiming to grab her throat, choking her as he brings her nice and close. "Shut your mouth, you have no idea what I do, or why I do it. That man cares only for money, I have a real goal. If there isn't anything more, try and shut your mouth." he says, and throws her down back into the ground with a loud thud.

Sarafina swings for him, he blocks with the mace, and when she moves to headbutt him...he counters with his own skull. The two collide, throwing Angantyr up, but it seems that armored foreheads win over not armored foreheads. "A logical question. I am being paid for my services, and given the chance to strike at my enemies." and he whispers something to her.

And then he drops down like a stone, darkness streaming from his blade as he comes for Tifa, the two collide, and Ang's armor looks worse for it. "...You are apparently very bad at reading the signs." Angantyr grunts.

TRON's disk hits, and he is thrown back from the attack. He grunts, dragging through the earth as he swings a hand towards TRON...but just out of reach. Faruja takes advantage of this, leaping into the air and then bringing down the spear down on him. The armor shatters in places, darkness rushing to reform it. Angantyr swings for the Rat's face, aiming to drag him down towards the earth with him. Aiming to literally drag him through the earth.

Isaac flies over his head, and the Ice ki-Cloud King, is also messing with Garland.

Angantyr is a mean mother-<GOOSEHONK> but...even he has limits. Those men are dead. Lest not make it any more suffering than it was already going to be.

Angantyr laughs...

"Impressive! Such strength brought to bear! You want to stop me! Good! Now lets TEST the limits of your resolve..." he says, and the darkness becomes a overwhelming spring. It flows in all directions, as he swings the mace upwards.

Darkness churns, as his eyes glow crimson. And then, he swings the mace in a single swipe, as a large beam of darkness tears out. The darkness expands out, farther and farther...until it aims to consume all! Do you try to evade...leaving the building you are defending to be consumed...or do you challenge the darkness?

BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-obYm3ScLg

Garland has posed:
The Cloud King is afforded exactly one glance before Garland turns away from him. Ignorance is, perhaps, the only true mercy Garland understands; someone foolish enough to walk up to the dark god among his own kind and actually mock him to his face wasn't going to last long anyway. Garland doesn't even speak to him; he's far more interested in, well, the other person entering his zone of absolute control.

"Yes," Garland's dark voice echoes through the field; it is cold, and bleak, and filled with a rage barely concealed - or perhaps rather barely restrained, as though his rage were a physical entity that needed to be forcibly chained up in the dark recesses of his soul and unleashed when Garland felt it necessry. It is not controlled; it is not suppressed; it is bound and gagged and chained, like a prisoner in a great asylum.

Garland's head tilts to the side, finally acknowledging the Cloud King. "Leave. I give you this single chance."

Then he lowers his head back to stare at Isaac. Garland, again mercifully, does not force Isaac to see what is behind the helmet; he does not offer to Isaac the nightmare that is truly clad in iron. Instead, he simply nods, slowly. "Speak your piece, boy. And quickly...before the reserves of your courage fail you."

Carnus Sirin has posed:
Carnus Sirin charge was, after all, very reckless. And as such, he's caught unprepared as the mace collides knocking him and his missed attacks backwards. The wave of darkness that crashes into him after that nearly takes him with it, but he perseveres and decides it's best to just rush this thing with all he's got.

A perfect plan, if he didn't need time to charge up his abilities. He grits his teeth and decides that just in case, he should focus on personal wards and protections before making another rush. He jumps a few feet backwards and away from Angantyr as he prepares himself.

Besides, Maira has gone supernova. It's best he put his flame wards up now. Before she burns everything to a cinder and it's too late.

The Cloud King has posed:
"..."

Silence. It wasn't exactly a lack of fear or perhaps abundance of bravery, or suicidal feelings that keeps the Cloud King standing there. It was the cake he was holding in his hand, outstretched like a waiter at a fancy restaurant. His free hand tucked into his left pocket all the same he looks towards Isaac as if considering then nods towards him. Bad taste in music, but at least this man had some sense. It was so rare to find people willing to talk about things like proper gents instead of slugging it out or shouting.

Cue the Cloud King looking over his shoulder at all the flurry of fists and weapons slugging it out and cracking over one another. As he turned to look at them the white-suited man seemed to pivot in the air with his right hand staying perfectly still, cake not moving an inch even as he turned to look them over.
And just as casually he waves towards the group and gives a little, "Yes, you go, um... fight the fight." he wasn't too good at cheering.
Or knowing exactly how to handle the convenetion of these people outside Wonderland. Always so shouty and angry and fightey. A good match for the world-gobbling creatures.

But back towards Garland the Cloud King was left to look at as if considering. The Darkness was obvious, yes, but something like Garland was foreign enough to him that he couldn't simply grasp the concept of 'You smell like a Heartless, but look and speak like a person!', which is why he pulled his hand back from the cake and for the time being it continued to float there in front of Garland. A careful eye would see a flower petal sitting perfectly beneath it, resting at the direct center of the dish the cake was on and floating in mid-air. That would require someone looking closely, however, and caring enough to inspect the floating cake.

Honestly, who would care that much.

"Thank you so very much for the chance to leave. However, I must insist you take these creatures and depart. Would you like a plate of sandwiches as well to go with the cake? I could fetch them for you." Yes, try to placate the demon. Try to offer finger foods and cake. Why, he'd even give him a cup of tea! Eventually even this fellow had to come around and join the party. And after that, perhaps the shouty fellow could be placated with something. But what...
The Cloud King stands there idly a moment and stares up at the sky, thougtfully, one finger tapping his chin in thought.

Katyna has posed:
Katyna stares long and hard at Angantyr as he changes form, although she's not entirely surprised. She's seen the darkness do some pretty remarkable things to people, twisting and warping them into true monsters. She narrows her eyes however, peering into the darkness beyond Angantyr's fearsome form, then back to the others.

"Judge, huh?" she smirks and shrugs at Sarafina's comment. "He's really just Garland's puppet. Always has been.." Hmph. Idiot. Not like she gives a damn if he lives or dies..Except that he made Maira cry..No, scream, and that makes her mad.

She too, is familiar with the sudden burst of heat radiating from Maira and she steps back as the other fiery girl comes at Angantyr. Katyna has some measure of resistance against flames, but she can still feel the intense, burning rage from Maira's spell. "Guh..Maira, be careful.."

Angantyr strikes back again, accompanied by another mouthful of <GOOSEHONK> Towards her and the others and she flinches as she staggers out of the way, blood dripping from cracks in her armour. She grits her teeth, pulling out a couple of hipotions to heal herself with before glaring back at the monstrosity that Angantyr is, and always has been in her eyes.

"Heh, funny coming from you, the guy who pretended to care about Maira and Avira one moment, then quickly runs off to his master, a Shadow Lord no less, in the next moment, so he can be his weak little puppet over and over again. Well you've gone too far this time, Angantyr! At least I owned up to my mistakes and am trying to redeem myself, You however, I see no conviction in your actions!"

Climbing unsteadily to her feet, she rushes at Angantyr again, swinging out her sword as flames wrap around its glowing red blade, then lash out like a flaming hand at Angantyr, attempting to wrap around him and absorb some of his life force.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hmphs "I didn't see ANY signs, you should put them up clearly when you got something to-WOAH!" as the wave of darkness washes over her again. This one seems to get into the deepest of her soul too.

For a moment, all of Tifa's mind is just darkness. Darkness and pain. There's no way to desribe it. Its like one of those infinite rooms, you can walk into any direction forever, and you'd never find your way. She could have stayed in that darkness forever.

But despite her own inner demons, there's always a ray of light hiding somewhere, even in the deepest darkness, a bit of light exists. And moving toward that light, she finally embraces, returning to the world of 'living' once again, looking pained as as she slumps to her knees, gasping for breath. Looks like she wasn't ready for the darkness to take her just yet. She raises to her feet a bit shakingly, staring at Ang "Nice try... but I'm still alive." Even if by a thread, from the looks of it.

And that light she holds, its never been a light only for herself, its one she shares with many. She summons the power contained in her materias, spreading beneficial magic to her teammates. Even if she's going down on the next turn, what she leaves behind will outlast her.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja, missing his plate mail today, is far squishier than normal. Not to mention lighter. Thus, between that ever-churning darkness than radiates outward in a beam, and his face-grab-dredging through the earth courtesy of Angantyr, the ratling gets to take a nice trip to the world of pain. Sent careening, there's a rat-shaped rut left in the road. Luckily, he's not /too/ banged up by the initial attack.

Then the beam arrives. Dodging is out of the question. To do so would put homes, and more importantly, lives at stake. The quick Protect spell Faruja flashes onto himself shatters like glass, hardy taking the edge off as what feels like years of pain enters his bones. Falling to his knees, for a moment, he passes out.

Only to stand a moment later, coughing up blood and bits of finger food. A cure spell has him standing, before he begins to tends to his allies. Then there's the horde. Even more than Angantyr, that's what worries him.

"Do not forget the Heartless! No matter how strong, 'tis but one man, corrupt and ensorcelled or not! Stand firm, for the fate of this town and the people within rests upon our shoulders!" His magic would then enter his allies, speech perhaps inspiring them to greater acts of strength and courage!

Vespa has posed:
"All you can seen to do is ta..erk!", is all Vespa can get out as Angantyr attack hits, she might have heard a rib crack, she coughs up a bit of blood as well. She's not sure she could remaind standing if he does another attack like that. Time to go all out

"Okay if that you want to play FINE!", she grips her axe tightly with both hands, letting out a primal rage and swinging her axe twice at Angatyr!

Garland has posed:
"The fate of this town?" Garland inquires, breaking his attention away from Isaac for all of an instant in favor of Faruja. "Did you really think evacuating them would take them from my reach? This is nothing but a play for my amusement."

"As usual, Apprentice...your friends are nothing if not.../adorable/."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina gets an answer. She imagines there is more to it than the answer she received, but her thoughts are interrupted by Ang's forehead colliding into hers, sending her flying around and to the ground. She hits the floor roughly, but his ultimate magic of ultimate pain, doom, and death--largely just glances off the armor she is wearing, burnining her arms--but the damage is ultimately fairly negligible. Moms, it has been prophecized, are tough. The expanding darkness outward is more worrisome since it can't be avoided.

She thinks about Ang's answer. And then she understands.

She flits forward back towards Angantyr, intending to close in as quickly as possible. She swings her chainsaw back and whispers back to Angantyr. Or actually, it's more like a shout--but the chainsaw is so LOUD, VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMING and drowning out most noise, she has to shout for Ang to have any chance of hearing her.

She swings the chainsaw out quickly, intending to plow it into Angantyr repeatedly--each blow is powerful should they connect, but as ever--the chainsaw is made for airships, not Angantyrs.

Her eyes are focused, her lips pressed together in determination. She isn't frightened, but she is taking this very seriously. Angantyr has her full focus.

Avira has posed:
"Don't you lecture me on that now." Avira hisses at Angantyr, pulling herself to her feet, minor wounds upon her closing up. She pushes away from the wall, rushing past everyone. A few words are muttered into her linkpearl, wishing Isaac luck to the no doubt stupid thing he's about to do. Maybe doubly stupid since the very reason for all this violence rested on both her and Isaac's shoulders.

Undaunted by Angantyr's rising darkness, Avira leaps willingly into the abyss. She's felt this before. She's felt his darkness literally rip her apart, just as it threatens to do so right now. Before she had a far greater reserve of light to fight back. Now...not so much.

And yet...

Avira holds, her bleeding form smashing through the abyss that Angantyr has created, a silvery sheen surrounding her battered form. Her eyes remain focused and resolute as she drops down on Angantyr from high, Spine lifted. A howl of exertion escapes her as she brings her weapon down in a magnificent cleave, the blow extending beyond the physical existance of the Spine.

When she lands, she takes one step backwards, then swings upwards. A blast of ice magic follows that temporarily weaves itself into the enormous head of a snarling beast.

The darkness beyond Angantyr as it blows through the surrounding warriors tears up the streets and, as it expands, starts to eat away at the face of the VALKYRI Headquarters and the surrounding buildings. Debris floats into the air as it crumbles under the pressure of the darkness.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is actuyally being pushed hard she sees the attack she's not in any condtion dodge and there's thingd about them. She's going to let out a yell and charge the attack head on. Prehaps this is a mistake but she's caught int he darkness she's not consumed but the pain and her clothing's pretty ragged after this. She's hurt very badly from the looks of her yet she's still standing he was going to attack but she was pressered so hard she's grimaces as sher's forced to fall back for a moment.

Maira has posed:
Test. Test. TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST! Maira screams again. She is so VERY tired of being TESTED. She screams again, a primal sound right from the core of her. The fire is so bright and so hot it would force people away from her. Faruja and Katyna, though they want to guard her, had better move or they may be burned themselves. It lucky she has wandered away from the building, for the structure is in danger of being set on flame by Maira, in her fury and her pain.

Screams fill the air, metal crashing against metal, flesh sburning...burning burning burning...</span>

The darkness lashes out from Angantyr's attack and many, many are hurt. It does not completely escape her attention that Angantyr is /not/ hitting her. The darkness though, the darkness moves in only to be scorched as the white hot flames flare and snake out to burn away the darkness, leaving tiny motes of light--like the spots of a bright light burned into your retina from a sudden flash of lightning. From where she stands, the darkness does not penetrate.

The building is PROBABLY on fire though.

Uist is screaming, frothing for her to lash out again, but Maira refuses. People are hurting, badly. They will not be able to keep fighting. Maira takes a deep breath, and like or or not Uist moves out to carry her healing energy to some of her friends. It isn't much, but its all she can do right now.

Maira walks toward Angantyr, her screams finally given way to thought, thought giving way to speech. Her voice is hoarse, but clear as she shouts, "How could you do this! I trusted you! I /cared/ about you! I defended you every--single--time someone insulted you! Tried to tell me you were a bad person, that you were nothing but a bloodthirsty monster! I DEFENDED YOU. I BELIEVED IN YOU!"

Her tears can be heard in the shaking of her voice, but not seen. They burn up before they can even fully form.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk finds his glaive caught in struggle with the far larger opponent. His bare feet slide across the ground as he growls at Angantyr. Each strike and re-strike causes the sparks to fly to the ground. When he is shoved back he slides a bit across the ground. Crouching down almost as his cape bellows out from the sheer force.

His eyes look at the dark knight before his brows narrow. There is more going on here. Something is amiss. Think Ulharisk. Think.

He watches as Maira attempts to stop Angantyr, then how he doesn't attack her. He ignores her. His eyes slowly cast back to Angantyr as he deals with the others. He glances between the two again. Trying to make sense of what is going on, but there is no time.

Suddenly a massive wave of darkness rushes for the HQ and Ulharisk decides to meet it headlong instead of running. His Glaive glows brightly as he roars into the darkness. Embracing for the sudden massive impact. The sheer power of the darkness slams into his unarmored form, tearing at his body ripping into him. He grits his teeth, baring those sharp canine fangs, before it at last knocks him right over and he he slams hard into the ground. Rolling a bit before his body comes to a halt near the entrance of the HQ.

He groans softly before he rises to his feet, using his Glaive to help him up. He almost falls back down to his knee. "..Why?" Ulharisk says softly, before those violet eyes goes to seek Angantyr's own. "Why does someone with such strength work for a force that just wishes to destroy?!" He then tries to ready himself.

"What purpose does any of this serve?! Just to watch lives suffer? Is that all?!!" Ulharisk almost goes back down again, coughing gently. His claw hands holding tight onto the Glaive. "..I do not know this world.. but I know this is not right... the one you are working for.. they don't care about worlds.. they don't care about people.. but you do.." He looks at him, "..Don't you?" His violet eyes looking over at Maira for only a moment, before he closes his eyes and then stands up. Trying to find renew strength as he sudden places out his Glaive in front of him. His body seems to glow gently as it almost takes a slight ghostly look for a moment.

He does find his focus lacking for perhaps what he hopes, but he seems to be drawing from the magic around him, pulling it to himself. Yet he does not attack. Not yet...

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
DJ Zero glances back at the Cloud King and nods fractionally in return. He can at least be polite to the crazy person trying to buy off Garland with cake and finger sandwiches. It may be the last thing said crazy person ever tries to do.

He turns back to Garland. He's still got his hands in his pockets, still his reserve of stoicism and aura of calm. His lips quirk into a small smile. "I've had a lot of chances to make the well from which I draw that much deeper," he remarks. It's a fancy way to say, 'I have seen some /crazy/ shit' without sounding like he's talking smack to a Lord of Chaos. "Courage is a muscle strengthened by use." He glances back at the battle, inhaling slowly as he feels himself speed up and get a touch stronger. He feels overcaffeinated, like he has to /move/.

Suddenly, he turns right back to the Cloud King. "He's not really a fan of cake or sandwiches; seems more of nearly-eternal-torment and, I think, destruction-for-destruction kind of guy. I think that you might have better luck with him," he adds, nodding at the besieged Angantyr, "or trying to salvage the party back there," he finishes, looking towards the building. He looks back up at the Cloud King for a second. It will be somehow eminently clear to the somewhat touched man that Zero is trying to give him an exit before Garland does something awful to him.

DJ Zero turns back to the Ironclad Nightmare. He doesn't think about what dwells beneath his helm. He has a lot of practice not thinking about things. "I'd like to apologize for my behavior the last time we met. I'd also like to apologize for forcing you to replace some of your intelligence assets." There's a bit of a chill in his voice when he says that. You can be sure the cold would reach his eyes if they weren't concealed. "We got off on the wrong foot. I don't really like having to look over my shoulder more than I already do."

"So, I'll ask you right out." Zero looks at Garland straight on. "What could I do for you to get you and yours to leave this place, and all the people in it, in peace?"

TRON has posed:
TRON catches his Discs and recombines them into one even as Angantyr swings his mace and sends a blast of darkness outwards. He stands his ground, programmed instinct holding his Disc in front of him as if such a small object could bare the full brunt of the darkness.

Obviously, it doesn't work. The Darkness slams home, piercing data through and through and sending spiderwebbing fragmentation lines throughout the Program's form. He skids back from the force, feet digging in against it, and somehow manages to weather the dark typhoon--but it was costly. Voxels drip from his form like water, black fragmenting into a sickly bluish semi-transparent and the clean slashes and dots falling apart like holes in deteriorating armor.

He sags for a moment in the calm that follows, standing haphazardly like an awkwardly-hung marionette, then he whirls in newfound motion. A single Disc arcs, driving towards Angantyr and striking once before splitting apart into two. They return, striking one after the other before returning to the Program's grasp.

Garland has posed:
The Cloud King rejects Garland's kindness; Garland's apathy for the creature is immense. The power of darkness pouring off of Garland is immense, enough to draw all these Heartless to him like flies to a porchlight; they stir around him, hungry, eager to feed, and the Cloud King hangs above them, dangling itself as food for them all. If not for Garland's fearsome mental command that the Heartless leave this to the boy - for what would be the point of Garland striking down VALKYRI? It would be meaningless, a waste of resources. But Angantyr striking down VALKYRI....that was pain. Physical pain, yes, but emotional pain, too - the pain of seeing a friend turn upon friends, the pain of the heart. This is not simple violence - this is art, cruel and vicious art. It was a lesson to them all, that friends would eventually betray you, that the world is dark and full of cruelty, and that cruelty is the only true strength.

So despite the foolish creature dangling itself above the Heartless, the sheer presence of Garland and his mental command is more overwhelming than even the hunger. For the dark god he is a speck, a flea, a fine cover of dust to be wiped aside at Garland's leisure. He does not speak again; his attention is focused wholly on Isaac, insofar as Garland's whole focus is ever on anything.

Not that Garland needs to be focused to fight.

Garland is not the sort to become enraged over intelligence assets. He isn't the sort to become enraged over petty things that happen in the line of battle; the Samsara of Battle, the endless cycle of war and despair, was his to call his own. He was Chaos; Chaos was him. But it is the question that Isaac asks that truly piques Garland's attention.

He starts to laugh again. This time, the Heartless laugh with him; the effect is maddening. A hundred, two hundred, perhaps three hundred chittering creatures joining in, their laughter mingling with the impossible void of mockery that is Garland's voice in a great and grand crescendo; their laughter fills the streets and the alleys of Traverse Town.

Then it stops, as abruptly as it begun, and all the terrible little yelllow eyes focus on Isaac as Garland does the same. If courage is Isaac's muscle...

The implications are not pleasant.

"You are a bold one, I shall grant you thus, to stride into my army and offer me a deal. Or you are a mad one, like the pathetic creature that floats here, as if its petty taunts are enough to dissuade my wrath."

Garland taps his finger against his wrist. Then he says something; the words shake the air, unintelligible but filled with terrible and blasphemous power. Only Isaac can understand them, for they are meant only for Isaac; Angantyr might, perhaps, if he is paying close attention...but such is unlikely.

"You heaped the sins of the thief upon yourself and those you love, and you come before me to beg forgiveness for their lives. The mercy of Garland does not come cheap, boy; the mercy of Garland does not come kind. But if you are so interested in my mercy...then you will offer to me something of value equal to that which was ripped from my grasp."

Garland leans down to Isaac and murmurs something into his ear.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr rights himself from his attack. Many people threw themselves in the way of his strike, even he could not pierce them all...even as the damage starts to build up, they fight and fight. Angantyr is impressed at the strength they managed to assemble here.

They'll need it. Perhaps, after all, it was better this way. To attack at them, to force them to be stronger. Maybe he could not be the hero, but he could be the thing that forces them to be the hero. There is some solace in this, something that makes it all worth it. Even if his path against Arcadia comes to naught but devastation...something good could come from it all.

Carnus and the rat go on the defensive. People start pulling things out that they need to survive another onslaught. Angantyr can feel the darkness rising again...he knows he could unleash another wave...but he does not. Not yet.

Tifa too, joins in aiding her friends...tactically, he thinks this is dumb, but at the same time...to make sure your friends fight harder, even after one's passing touches a nerve. He respects that.

Vespa dives at him once more, simple but effective. The axe hits, and Angantyr braces, defending instead of attacking. Sarafina joins in the bloodshed, and she too dives with the chainsaw. Her words heard, and he only nods as he attempts to defend...but the chainsaw that cleaves anything cleaves darkness...because it's a thing.

Angantyr feels it, and it hurts. He can only defend when Avira comes to try and take advantage. Once more, defending instead of attacking...once more, he grunts in pain, forcing himself to not scream as the darkness struggles to reform the armor, keeping it's master whole.

Maira's words cause Angantyr to wince. He does not answer her, he only accepts the words as truth. He steels himself, this is how things have to be. The draconian's words on the end of this cause him to stare at him for a moment. He grunts, "Shut up and fight. If you think as you do, then back up your words with your sword!"

Tron's disks beat into Angantyr's armor. Angnatyr swings at them aiming to smack one back at Tron, while the other digs into his armor. He staggers, grunting, and looks at the Program.

He gives him a rude gesture.

Then Katyna screams at him, he hears her words, and moves to smash her into the ground as she thrusts at him. The two attacks collide and move to their individual targets. His eyes narrow as he moves closer into her attack range...

"You just really don't know when to quit? You have to be right about every little thing. That you have to constantly have the high ground."

"Very well, lets make you a martyr then." Angantyr's mace rises up...

And then he brings it down at her, trying to catch her in the wave of the attack. Swinging at her brutally, each swing trying to break through her, her armor, her weapons...everything she has.

And then his hand shifts, his form becoming demon-like as he reaches into the darkness even more. The mace swings forward...before shifting into just a massive arm of darkness. Aiming to literally shatter her being, aiming to have pure darkness CONSUME her.

"There, you win. You are right. Take that as your prize in your next life."

Angantyr swings, again, the mace smashing into the ground, and leaving a burst of darkness that aims to swallow up the area, many claws tear up, aiming to dig into the flesh of those all around him. Aiming to tear into the buildings and devour them, as an afterthought.

"I am not even a little sorry about that." he says towards...someone, referring to Katyna. "NOW LET US FINISH IT! THIS IS THE PATH OF YOUR CHOOSING!"

BGM change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8sjLttxCc

Carnus Sirin has posed:
Another swing of the mace brings another flurry of claws and darkness screaming toward the spellsword. However, his armor proves enough to not allow anything other than glancing hits.

Enough was enough though. Carnus had developed a soft spot for Maira in particular. She was young, and his favorite type of person. An orphan. He'd spent countless hours playing with the orphans and giving them treats whenever he had visited a new town. Maira was as special to him as each and every one of those children. And this... thing... whatever he used to be he was corrupted by Darkness into something completely different, he comes along and causes Maira such distress? Well, this simply won't do.

"That's enough. I'm done watching people get hurt just because you have a burning desire for destruction and am ambition that requires others to fall before you." He moves slowly to his feet, clutching his blade tightly in his hands. "I'll rid the worlds of all of this darkness once and for all!"

Perhaps it was just seeing Maira launch feel such distress. Or perhaps it's Garland and his army of laughing heartless. More than likely, it has a little to do with Angantyr's brutal assault on Katyna as he tries to swallow her into darkness. But Carnus has had enough, he points his blade at Angantyr. "You'll answer for every tear, Angantyr! I, Carnus Sirin of House Sirin will see to that on this day!" And in a flash he's shot forward again, trying to skewer Angantyr on his inferno that he calls a blade.

Ulharisk has posed:


The Draconian narrows his eyes. His hands tightening on his Glaive, before he inhales deeply. He doesn't reply to Angantyr instead he suddenly bolts, even though it is Maira's healing magic that protects him from the first wave of darkness, the second wave tears into his clothing and skin. Blood rushes out from the wounds, but he continues to run.

He lets out a loud battle cry, before he leaps into the air and slams down his Glaive for Angantyr's armor. Those violet eyes going to meet Angantyr with defiance. With pride. With Strength. He knew now words were wasted. They would be wasted. So he would have to try and fight this through now-- or be knocked away.

As for the burning building -- Anyone got any water magic on hand?!!

The Draconian suddenly comes at Angantyr with several more blows. Each swing a cleaving motion with all the power he could muster behind his strikes. Each Cleaving blow in all directions he could swing the Glaive. His teeth snarling. Ignoring the pain. Ignoring the drips of blood coursing down his body.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Someone was late to the party, or at least the plan. The odd emptiness of the place certainly had been noticed by Faruja, but it's Garland's words that bring it all together.

"I shan't waste my words upon daemons!" Retorts the Burmecian, rather lamely. Between Angantyr, the horde of Heartless, and Maira's pain the rat doesn't have enough concentration for decent comebacks. He saves it all for the man that's hurt a dear friend. One who screams out her betrayals, each piercing the rat's heart. The thought that someone could betray such a pure and innocent woman for an act such as /this/ gives his attacks all the more of a keen bite.

Faruja has always fought at his best when it became personal.

Rather than dodge, the Templar bodily absorbs many of those dark, clawing hands. Like a true knight, even as he bleeds and has flesh and armor torn away, he bites his cheek to prevent a horrid squeak of agony. The rat thrusts his blade. "Armor won't help the Heart stay sharp. Particularly such a rotten, blackened one as thy own. FARAM TAKE THEE, HERETIC VESPAR! SHELLBURST STAB!"

Purple crescents of holy fury scythe down from above, attempting to cleave through unholy armor and into the man beneath, the rat's rage and righteous anger striking down with the holy technique.

Vespa has posed:
They are wearing him down Vespa thinks. They have to be! She coughs spitting up some more blood, she hasn't felt this bad in a long time.. She gathers herself up using her axe to steady herself, then gripping her axe she lets out another flurry of attacks.

The Cloud King has posed:
Garland monologues further and Isaac responds with a decent idea. This fellow was beyond reasoning, apparently. Or... perhaps the other man simply wanted to reason with him instead. The Cloud King looked between the two as if trying to figure something out and eventually shrugged before a knife appears and slices the cake, a piece being sliced and floated towards each before he turns to walk off through the air until he was closer to Angantyr.

From above, he watches. Blood, carnage, chaos. Anger, betrayal, misery. Sadness.
The Cloud Kings eyes wander towards Maira, the flaming woman, then towards Katyna, Carnus, Faruja... various people in the crowd seem to stick out as targets of anger or the bearers of such. A damned pity that this party was ruined. A true pity. It was actually quite the nice party until these world-gobblers showed up, world-gobblers and scaliwags and hooligans alike. Why, the Queen of Hearts would look like a saint in comparison!

"Hah, Saint Queen of Hearts indeed." The King of the Clouds mumbles to himself before raising a hand slowly into the air. That heavy flowery smell begins to be prevelant on the air again over the chaos and din and scent of blood and sweat and misery, of fear, of hope. Just a soothing scent. The ground outside the area began to shine a soft pink until the Cloud King descended and upon touching his foot to it, the entire area seemed to burst into a field of petals and flowers shimmering in the air. Illusions and trickery to be sure, given there was no actual flowers here. The petals were solid enough to touch, however, even as he said, "Let this nonsense come to an end. We should all be feasting, teaing, nibbling and merrymaking, not wallowing around. After all, did we not come for a party?"

The Cloud King sighed dramatically before flicking his hand up and snapping once. A giant flower burst forth from the ground, a flower of Gigant proportions. It shot up well over the heads of even the tallest before suddenly blooming. Giant Pistils arose out of it, the Stamens atop glowing brightly, sickeningly, like it was suddenly charging up. Charging, but for what?

"Why do you not enjoy the Have some cake</span>." And in a brilliant display of 'Wait, what?', the charging Pistils suddenly blast down towards where Angantyr is, trying to knock him down and flatten the man, all the while /yet another/ piece of cake floats over from nowhere towards where Angantyr is, floating there for him. Waiting, as if offering it to him even though he just tried to knock the man onto his back and side to disrupt this foolishness.

But what was this fellows real plan? To join the fray? Or simply trying to draw attention towards himself so perhaps the others can get away? Or is it something else entirely? Who knows but the Cloud King. And he isn't telling.

Katyna has posed:
Katyna glances around, watching as Avira gets wasted by Angantyr, and that just makes her angrier. "Avira..." It seems Maira already has a healing spell on her lips to help her, however. Kat focuses on her own wounds, but she's not the only one stumbling here. How long can they hang in there? "Hang in there! We can beat him, I know we can!"

She flinches at Maira's words, knowing how she did similar things to her dear friend, betraying her..And she frowns, glaring back at Angantyr. "Y'know, I dont even like you, never have..And I sure as heck never trusted you! But if you still care at all about Maira at all, then quit this <GOOSEHONK>! I've already seen her cry way too much. Dont you see what you're doing to her? Doesn't it matter at all to you?! Quit being Garland's puppet! Stop this madness!!"

And then he blurts out words that seem more appropriate for his own actions and words then hers. She screams then, as he tears violently into her, tossing her around like a rag doll. The pain's enough that she almost feels numb by it, and she falls to the ground, broken and bloody, barely able to stand even.

"Heh...." She closes her eyes, clutching her bloody wounds. "You just dont get it, do you...It's not about winning or losing, or having the last word. It's about doing the right thing, being true to yourself and others. But I guess you're either too blind or too stupid to practice what you preach.." she smirks, coughing up blood and wincing at the numerous wounds. Tears stream down her eyes as she tries to fight the pain. "Maybe I'll die here today, but at least I wont die as a monster!"

TRON has posed:
The Disc that Angantyr smacks back towards TRON is the chakram Disc, sending the ring-like weapon bouncing along the ground with a few scratches from the mace's spikes. The Security Program emits a screech akin to audio feedback as he suddenly falls to one knee, clutching at his chest as if stabbed right through the proverbial heart, but he has no idea why. Something CHIEF once told him plays back in his memories, a possibility he is not ready to accept, and certainly not willing to entertain under the circumstances.

That is a much bigger '<GOOSEHONK>-You' than any rude gesture Ang could make.

The waves of Darkness that follow, the claws that tear, shatter more of his form and bluish liquid seeps from between cracks as he staggers. He honestly looks like he is about to fall apart into a pile of voxels any moment now, but he regathers his wits and restabilizes his stance. His eyes blaze solid white as he picks up his Discs, his form tensing as energy is routed to the circular weapons.

Then, in a blur of movement above human limits, TRON charges in and aims a punch right for Angantyr's chest, the black Disc acting akin to brass knuckles, then he throws both Discs to converge with the Dark Knight in between. And upon impact, they expend all their stored energy in a burst of light.

Avira has posed:
The VALKYRI Headquarters is most definitely ON FIRE right now. The front has crumbled away, the oft-kicked-in door no longer existant.

Now in close quarters with Angantyr, she quickly circles around him after her wolf-shaped ice magic is unleashed. The amount of attention he could give her was limited and she was happy to take advantage of that-though at the same time, she knew his darkness could come from any angle and at any direction. She was prepared.

His darkness lashes out around her, the soul-crushing feeling a familiar one. The rage-she is no stranger. She's felt this all many times before and even that tiny flicker of light left deep inside her can withstand it. Experience wins this battle.

As she circles and looks for an opening, the dark echo of her tormenter suddenly rings in her head. A shiver overcomes her form and yet, she forces herself to concentrate on the belamb. She doesn't let his words of despair stay her hand nor encourage it further. From the start of this event, she knew what she was to do-and it was a decision she made. Not Angantyr. Not Garland.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way." Avira admits quietly. "But your master is intent on teaching a lesson." With a mighty flourish of her blade, she spirals upwards, striking with a one handed blow, then using the momentum of her spin to follow up with a kick to the Dark Knight.

She murmurs something under her breath, then straightens, eyes narrowed. "But thank you." she slams into him from behind with all her might, "For all you've done and shown me."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart isn't feeling too well. Thankfully, Faruja's healing is there to pep her up some, but all of this darkness is getting to her. She feels queasy. Those repeated attacks are hurting her morale more than her body at this point. But would she give up? No, not that easily. Not while she can fight and others depend on her. She's given her magic to her teammates, now she can use what power she has left to strike back, before she hurls it all out. Someone always gets sick at one of these parties, don't they?

She moves in a prone position, a hand touching the ground, before disapearing, moving it to kick the armored Ang upward with a strong kick under the chin. As he's lifted up, she throws an open hand toward the ground, yet nothing happens there. She simply jumps upward, grabbing his head with two hands, to THROW him back down at the ground is pointed at.

Before he can even touch the ground, it explodes underneath him, where she released her ki, another version of her Final Heaven as she uses the explosive ki to bounce him back around instead. He doesn't get to hit the ground. Instead he's bounced back by an explosion. Its you to judge which hurts most.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
People can say what they want when they fight, Sarafina reminds herself. It doesn't have to be accurate or bright or anything, people say these things because fighting is dangerous and scary. Make your opponent seem inhuman so that it's easier to hurt them. Infantilize their behavior so you don't have to fear them. In a fight, you do what you have to to survive. That's all you need to do.

Darkness rips across her body, shredding armor and skin, blood bursts free from her body, spraying thickly. She hisses and stumbles before collapsing into a crouch, panting heavily. She really went all out there, she's seen this guy plant a dark knight into sand so hard he became a cactus, after all.

She stumbles into a standing position before saying, "Maira..." to her, intending to rest a hand on her shoulder, slick with her own blood. "...Calm down--" MAira's flame ripples across Sarafina's arm, burning at her body, but she doesn't cry out or scream.

"You have to control your fire, Maira." She says quietly before cringing in pain suddenly and stepping back, because she really has to.

"We'll make everything better."

And she darts forward, tripping over her own feet halfway to Ang, but she shakes her head, pausing to reorient herself. "Ngh..."

"Steel yourself, Ang!" She shouts, jetting forward once more, slamming her fist up and--then flits into the air, only to come down, Chainsaw first, for Ang's body!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is pushed very hard she's already chruching through her own energies to keep in this fight and Ang just keeps coming like the engine of destruction he is.. She does however pauses for a moment at Tron's action and Ang's response, then Kat well shat has got to hurt and she knows that she's got no time left. She lets out a cry and then charges at Ang her hand bursting into holy flames, the incoming strike is deflected barely even though she's physically unahrmed it's taken out a lot of her and she then leaps for him and starts punchign intending to end it by trying to grab a point on his body and unleashing a holy explosion.

Maira has posed:
It is exceedingly difficult to concentrate. The screaming...she hears her name what seems like a dozen times. Tears? What tears? Maira cries FIRE!

As Seraphina reaches to try to touch her, the flames will indeed burn her, getting Maira's attention. She turns toward her, eyes wide (thought it could be hard to tell, so bright is she). With some effort she tries to draw her flames away from Sarafina, but there is too much going on. There is too much pain, too much /darkness/ and the fire in her is reacting. It is like a thing alive.

Everyone is fighting so hard. Angantyr is strong, one of the strongest she can even imagine, but surely he will fall against this. He's hurt, he bleeds, and damn it but it still hurts her to see it. Her heart, stubborn and stupid, still hurts to see him bleed.

The flames will not still, but she knows she had to get in control! She just....she tries to pull it in but they just will not budge. Thus, Maira walks, trying to put distance between herself and the others, though she is still moving toward Angantyr. There are words still to be said. "Why....? You don't do things without a reason. What could be worth this!? What about your dream!? You said you heard me! Stop this, PLEASE," she cries.

But its probably too late. It seems like its always too late.

Maira looks toward Garland and his army of Heartless, Isaac trying to...talk him down? She doesn't know.

All she knows is that this all needs to end. Maira closes her eyes for a moment, then stretches outward toward Angantyr, the light on Holy in her hands.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
The BGM refuses to change.

The clawing darkness around Angantyr strikes out as Carnus makes his proclamation and stab. The powerful strikes and darkness collide...but Angantyr is not ending up on the successful side of that attack. Angantyr is bleeding, he is hurting, and he grunts under the strain of pushing himself against a army.

"Words, good words, but back them up with actions...or be silent." he says, harshly.

The Draconian and Ang collide, the two clash. Windows shatter, as the force of the two come to bare. Angantyr, however, is thrown back. Even as claws swipe at the draconian, the spear takes another chunk of the darkness away. He growls...but it isn't enough to take him down, but it was close.

The spear from Faruja stabs, and Angantyr counters with his own mace personally. The two collide, the spear shattering his defenses, but his mace making him pay for every blow. "Good! I am sick of hearing your voice. The next sound I want to hear from you is your gurgling screams!" Angantyr harshly responds.

Vespa takes advantage of this, her axe tearing into his side. He tries to defend, but the warrior was fierce. He swings to try and get her to back away, and the claws dig into her flesh...and let her drop like a rock.

Katyna dives at him too, making a last stand. The sword and mace collide, flames licking Angantyr's body, but he swings his arm down, aiming to punch her into the ground into some awaiting claws...but she does not DIE. However...words she says, cause him to wince. 'At least I won't die a monster..'

"Some of us can only walk the path of the demon." Angantyr responds, "My path was preordained from birth. Yours is not. Remember your words, and live each day with them in your heart...or die."

TRON is back on his feet, Disk fired, and blocked by the mace...but it still digs through...and the armor is shattered. Angantyr's body is revealed. He's hurt, bloodied, and barely standing. The armor was just hiding the truth. He was taking these attacks...the armor was just keeping the fatal blows from being...well fatal.

The Spine comes down, ice charged to try and pierce the dark Knight. However, he swings the mace, catching the weapon and aiming to grab Avira, and drag her into the ground. He nods once to her, but he doesn't say anything more. She knows why...and how this has to be.

The Final heaven and Chainsaw X slash right for Angantyr. Darkness tries to dig at them both, but it was too late. Both end up on either side of him, and Angantyr is already falling. Angantyr's taken too many shots, he can't concentrate on the darkness.

Minerva dives through the darkness, and uses holy to pierce through Angantyr's darkness. The darkness is finally completely disbursed, but Angantyr is no more weak to holy than anything else. However, he has a hand in his chest, and he staggers back, even as he swings wildly, possibly in death throws towards her with his mace. He is determined to die fighting, if nothing else.

And then Maira's overflowing love could not be stopped.

Angantyr's body is seared by the light. Once more, the light rejects his very presence in this world. People shout at him to give up something that is his very nature...the light spurns him because it is his presence that brings more darkness...but it is the light's very nature that causes him to be the bearer in the first place.

Angantyr just falls, first to his knees and then falling back. For him it takes forever, he just see's the spinning world around him. He coughs up blood, but there isn't anything more he can do. He hits the ground, unable to hear the words for Maira, too hurt to say anything else.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Garland says something to Isaac that makes the eyes and ears of good men everywhere bleed from the sheer wrongness it imparts on the world when spoken. Perhaps because of his proximity and his purpose, or perhaps because he was intended to be the recipient, Isaac is unmoved. He rocks back on his heels for a second, pulled as his coat is blasted backwards from the air itself recoiling in terror from the Ironclad Nightmare.

The mage settles on his feet. He's looking down, standing in the shadow of Garland and surrounded by innumerable Heartless. No one would envy his position. It's astounding he made it this far. His shoulders shake, shivering as if from a sudden chill. He --

-- is laughing.

Isaac Hanlon, DJ Zero, takes a step back, putting a hand to his chest as he laughs. The sound is quiet but definitely present, a sharp counterpoint to the blasphemous words that mere seconds ago echoed in the streets of Traverse Town. He lifts his other hand, pushing his hair off his goggles and throwing his head back. He looks back up at Garland, spreading his hands as he stops snorting and snickering.

"I'm sorry -- you said something particularly poignant and it -- it just --" He suppresses a snicker, barely, by clearing his throat. "I'm sorry. I think we've hit a snag somewhere along the line. You're misunderstanding me. I'm not /begging/ you for anything. I'm certainly not asking you to 'forgive my sins.' And I'm certainly not dumb enough to take /that/ at face value." DJ Zero turns on his heel and stalks a couple steps away, circling somewhat within the gap in the army of Heartless. "Let me tell you something about me, so we understand each other better."

"I've been living with the 'sins of the thief' for far, far longer than you think. I've been called a thief of words and magic both. Hell, I've been called a thief of hearts by some of my more petty detractors," he adds almost offhandedly, with a casual shrug. He looks sharply back at Garland, now several steps away. "But there are some things in this world that I /didn't/ take, by force or cunning. That I /didn't/ trick out of someone, or swipe while they weren't looking. And they're far more valuable than what /you've/ lost."

Isaac rounds on Garland, planting his feet firmly on the road. He reaches up and pulls his goggles down, letting them dangle around his neck. He stares at Garland with eyes full of power and resolve. He isn't going to use the darkened things like a shield. Garland can hide behind his own armor -- Isaac needs none.

"My soul is my own, Garland. I have given of it only once, to try and save the life of one I loved with all my heart, something you couldn't /possibly/ comprehend. She gave it back to me with her last breath and a wish to live on." Isaac narrows his eyes. He clenches his hands into fists. "I'm not going to sully her memory by handing a fragment over to /you/."

There is a pause. Isaac smiles, very slightly. "So let me make you a counter-offer, since now you've got a better idea of where you're standing."

The tops of the buildings all around the street suddenly come alive. Figures rise up all along them. Men and women dressed outlandishly, garbed equally like strange street punks and regular people from Manhattan, stand along the edges. Some of them stand together in groups, wielding medieval weapons of obvious power; others hold modern firearms and instruments of exorcism and divine might, all thrumming with energy. The air seems to fill with a static charge from the sheer number of them, all ready to bear down on the Heartless. There must be dozens, all standing still as statues, eyes downcast, focused on the scene.

Isaac stares at Garland, wreathed in cold, pale blue light. He radiates magical power like it was mist coming off a geyser, gathering it in his hand. His eyes alight with the same luminescence, and his expression is one of grim, barely-restrained fury.

"Your apprentice is down. Your Heartless are outnumbered and, frankly, outgunned. You've got nothing, /old man/," he says, spitting the words in a nearly-snarling response to constantly being called 'boy' by the Ironclad Nightmare. "This isn't your domain, and this isn't a fight you can win. Take your student, take your boogeymen, and get the /hell/ out of our town."

Isaac stares at the holes in Garland's helmet that pass for eyes. He barely restrains himself from physically spitting in his eye.

"You get one chance. I /won't/ say it again."

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk is knocked back by the claws and lands down hard onto the ground, rolling a bit. Before he just lays there for a bit. His body not wanting to get back up. The darkness like venom in his blood trying to drain his strength away.

He uses his Glaive once more to help him at least kneel up. His breathing heavy, tired from the exhaustion of the hard battle. His eyes focus over as Maira's bright light causes him to quickly look away from how brilliant it is. He doesn't see what happens, but he can hear it. The loud 'clunk' of the armor. His eyes gently shift over. Careful on how he tries to look.

His eyes scan over everyone. The odd man with the blue blood; if it could even be called that. The man of some strange sub-spices of human with a long tail and rounded ears. The different humans gathered. Yet his eyes try to scan now for the those dark monsters and the one who controls them.

Though he could not fight him; not like this; Maybe not for several years, but he wanted to see the man. He wanted to see if /he/ was the one who brought the monsters out of the portal to consume his world not so long ago. Only a few days ago, or so it felt. Yet no. No. He wasn't right. Close. But not right.

Ulharisk for now stayed quiet, glancing over at the now burning building and tsking softly. If he-- just had better control of mana weaving. He growled in some frustration as he tried to stand, but found his body just wanting kneel back down once more. Yet his eyes slowly looked back at Garland once more and his heartless.

Just what was this really about?
%tHe does listen to the words spoken by Isaac, listening and watching. It was a curious thing about this place. A place of no sun or moon. Void of anything beyond the stars of constant twilight. Curious place with curious people.

Yet somewhere in the distance, far behind the battle, mostly out of mind. Up high on the roof tops, a lone figure stands. The inside of the red cape moving only slightly in the high wind. Cast in the shadows of where light does not touch so high up. How long they have been there is unknown, perhaps from the start, perhaps only at the middle. But there interest has seem to stayed unit the very end.

Once the battle ends, the figure turns and seems to vanish in a poof of smoke vapors. Perhaps just in time it would seem. Right before the people came from all shapes and sizes. From those of the people of Traverse Town, to the programs that have come to call this place home, and who knows what else.

Avira has posed:
The samsara of battle.

Avira understands it. In practice, here tonight, she sees it demonstrated. She has felt the strength that can only be attained by continuous trial by fire-not by the amount of light within a heart or by friendship or love or anything like that. While it brought her survival today and perhaps even victory-

-the VALKYRI headquarters burns-

-for certain definitions of victory, there was one thing she noticed that it did not bring. Happiness. Nor did it really bring what she desired.

"If I do not love or trust...if I live in fear of hurt and betrayal...then I would be no better than that miserable dark elf that tried to steal the fiend. I understand this philosophy but I also reject it."

Her weapon locks with Angantyr's mace. One of his clawed hands reaches out to grab her and she jerks backwards, out of his grasp. Remaining there, she dances around him, distracting and evading the attacks of her fellow fighters.

The holy is blinding, but a familiar sight to Avira. She's seen this before from Maira, unleashed upon the Dark Knight when he came knocking. Once it fades, Avira's actually a little surprised to see Angantyr in his current state. Then again, Maira's raw magical power was kind of amazing.

Avira hovers over Angantyr, her weapon at the ready, and slowly turns to look in Garland and Isaac's direction. Despite her position, she makes no move to actually try to kill him.

Angantyr would know why.

Garland has posed:
Isaac's voice is strong. It is defiant. It is fierce and full of spirit; it is filled with the will Garland cannot help but admire, the will to bend reality with a mere brush of his hand. You cannot be a sorceror without being willful; that is the truth. Even doddering old Merlin is filled with a fire that cannot be denied, a heart that will not be silenced by threats, intimidation or anything else. The sorcerous are those that Garland respects, for they are those who earned their power. They do not back down.

Isaac is no different. The rooftops come alive with alien figures, dressed in anachronism and ready for assault. Isaac, too, comes alive; magic explodes off of him, powerful enough to attract Garland's attention. For a moment, Garland hesitates - an infinitesimal moment, where aeons of experience and ages of understanding come together as his tie to the cycle of war and destruction, the so-called Samsara of Battle, is pulled. The odds are enormously against him. Though not one weapon among them could truly do him lasting harm, though he could fight to the last, die, and simply stand and walk away in a new and youthful form, the old man is not a foolish warrior. He cannot help but pause and consider his position. But...

But Isaac has miscalculated about one, single thing.

It's understandable. Isaac doesn't know Garland. Isaac doesn't know Garland's psychology, doesn't understand Garland. Isaac sees Garland as a human being - one subject to mortal terror, to self-preservation, to the psychologies of the human mind. But Garland has not been such a thing for a long time. Only in the face of a threat to his own life - one that can /threaten/ his eternal existence, one that might *disrupt* his unending samsara - does Garland truly lash out on his own. That is why he trains his children, why he wields them like weapons, why he breaks their souls and makes them into creatures of darkness - that he might have weapons to avoid risking his own life. It is not cowardice, exactly; it is simply...tactics.

But now, one of his weapons as been knocked out. Now, Garland stands face to face with one who has the will to kill him, if not the means. Now, Garland stands toe to toe with one who is bringing forth sorcerous power, with his heart full of fire and pride. Now, Garland stands face to face with one who reminds him of someone /from his past/.

Worse, Isaac speaks to him of love. He speaks to him of something he thinks that Garland cannot possibly understand, and as the words reach Garland, link by link, the chain becomes undone. Garland's mighty metal fists tighten as Isaac lectures, as Isaac speaks, as Isaac dares to tell Garland to leave, as Isaac dares to give Garland a /chance/.

There are no words. There is no reply, no mocking laughter, no cacophanous rage. The only hint Isaac gets of what is about to happen is the sudden vanishing of the Heartless, as if, as one, they understood what was about to happen. As if, as one, they realized what was about to occur. As if, as one, they had to get the heck out of there.

Then, there is a sound. It is a sound made by no creature on Earth, by no creature that has ever been or ever existed. It is as if it is the opposite of a roar, the noiseless sound of entropy itself, the void in the silence of space, the dull ringing in the ears of all when absolute silence falls. All other noises die in its presence, subsumed, consumed; words, screams, anger, vanish.

Then the lights die. The eternal twilight of Traverse Town dies instantly, the sun vanishing into a terrible blackness. The candles, the torches, the flashlights, the lightbulbs, they all die as one with the sun, leaving Traverse Town wreathed in a terrible, cold darkness, the sort of darkness you lie awake at night in, where even the smallest noise is imagined to be a monster, a burglar, a disaster waiting to happen.

Silence and darkness.

Fear.

Then it ends, mercifully, and Garland has turned away from Isaac, and the lights and the sun and the noise come rushing back as Garland very very calmly walks away, the words echoing in his head even as he wrestles with his own endless rage.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart phews as Ang goes down. "What was the point of such an attack... why disturb the peace and celebration by this pointlessness." Shed like to know why they just keep comming for them constantly. She just doesn't understand what drives people to do this. She rests against the wall, catching her breath... when she hears more fighting "Looks like its not quite done over there..." She lifts herself up, and goes to give a hand to Isaac, not knowing if he needs one or not. She'll know when she gets there. She lets the other handle the armored menace.

Carnus Sirin has posed:
His charge having proven successful, Carnus jumps back to allow the other strikes to hit. He's caught completely off guard and has to shield his eyes from the Holy that Maira produces and yet continues to try to watch it in awe. She was something. And with that, Angantyr and his dark form fall.

It is only now that Carnus stops to take note of his injuries. He's bleeding from the head, and the rest is all hidden under his tattered red clothing and scratched chestplate. "Ugh, another trip to the blacksmith to get this thing repaired." He says moving to his feet, suddenly unsteady now that he has let go of his adrenaline. He looks around at the army of heartless and Garland who stands among them.

"You!" he calls out, pushing himself forward by sheer will at this point. "You caused all this. This doesn't stop until you're gone does it?" he shouts out toward the chaos-bringer. "Putting you down will be a step in the direction of ending all this chaos."

He's not seriously trying to head toward Garland is he? Oh Gods, he really is. Someone should probably stop him. With all the blood and the amount of power he's expelled already, it'd not be wise for him to try and start slashing through heartless.

He can't stop himself. This was the one who caused everything here tonight, from what he could tell. And had been the bane of his newfound allies in the past. His own sense of morality wouldn't let him just sit around and let the man walk away to cause pain to others or his friends.

As the lights fade away into darkness he doesn't pause, he knows the direction he's headed and continues. When the light comes back he's still trundling along, driven by sheer willpower and not any semblance of intelligence at this point. If he stops, chances are he'll fall unconscious from his injuries.

Maira has posed:
Maira watches, the world slowing around her, as Angantyr falls, his armor shattered, the darkness burned away, his blood flowing like a river from his body.

Maira chokes on a sob, dropping forward onto her knees as she watches Angantyr bleed. Heal him...heal him...don't let him die...he saved your life, once.

Heal him. Everyone will know you are crazy, but heal him.

Maira exhales and a cure spell would wash over Angantyr, enough to keep him from just bleeding out, from dying. Not that it was likely Garland would let that happen. "You protected me....but I don't know how I can possibly protect you. But I'll try," she says quietly.

Maira, still burning like a torch, turns and heals Katyna and TRON. "Please, hang in there...." she says to them, turning her attention toward Garland, sensing.....No way would she be quick enough. The darkness falls, darker than any night. Even Maira's light suffers, like flame deprived of oxygen.

Carnus passes by her, she grabs him. No going for Garland, no...no. Bad plan. Bad plan she was considering moments before.

Avira has posed:
When the unnatural darkness falls, Avira wants to scream out. She wants to ask Isaac what the HELL he just said to Garland. No sounds come out and that terrifies her even further. What is it that Isaac did beyond just threatening the embodiment of chaos with the bluffed forces atop every rooftop anyway? In her heart, Avira did know that on some rooftops there really were people waiting there.

DPS agents, mostly.

But the darkness does bring one small advantage and that is when the light is snuffed, the fire upon the VALKYRI headquarters is as well.

"Maira." Avira says as the mage actually heals Angantyr, "Find Vespa, she needs some care as well."

Katyna has posed:
Katyna stares up at Angantyr, struggling to climb to her feet, but she doesn't have much life left in her battered body either. Still, she braces for another attack that never comes...And then, *finally* he says something worth listenning to. Katyna crawls a little nearer to him, trying to catch his last words as he seems about to utter his last dying breath, and she nods with a slight frown.

"I think I understand now..I'll remember. I wont let myself founder again, I promise..." Finally, Maira too, joins the battle, and Katyna watches as he coughs up blood, saying little more after her powerful holy attack hits. "Is he...?" She swallows, not wanting him dead, knowing how much that would hurt Maira and Avira too, perhaps, but...

She squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head. "I...Cant believe his destiny was preordained from the start! People choose what future they want..Dont they?" She stares back at Garland however, her gaze empty and hollow. She knows that Ang believed Garland was helping him control the darkness within. And she remembers him speaking of being born with the darkness, having no choice in the matter. Was it all for nothing?

If he's still alive however, Katyna makes no move to try and finish him off either, smiling faintly at Maira as she heals her. But what about Ang..."What do we do now?"

Vespa has posed:
Vespa shoudn't be too hard to find she stands out in her maid outfit blooded and torn as it is. Her massive axe will close to her.

Faruja Senra has posed:
"The feeling is mutual, Heretic." Faruja mutters as the man falls, the Templar scraping his body up from the ground. Knowing a stalemate when he sees one, and given quite a bit to contemplate upon the exchange between Garland and the odd DJ, the Paladin-Rat chooses to focus on his allies while the stalemate goes on. The first being, of course, Vespa. With how had she got hit, the poor maid of the axe needs judicious healing! Faruja is quick to apply it, hopefully getting her onto her feet. Or at the very least, stable. Then on to those worse wounded, such as Katyna and Ulharisk. The rat doesn't bother healing himself

Once done, Faruja will stand, striding over to Angantyr as Avira guards him. There's no death blow from the rat, tempting though it may be. He wants the man alive for the Inquisition after all.

Night seeks to destroy Isaac. Unnatural, unholy might summoned from the might of an Abomination that Faruja can barely fathom. Normally, he would rage against such power. Yet the fight took far too much out of the rat. His soul can only smolder, particularly with what Angantyr's actions have done to Maira. Concern for his friends and a cold sense of duty are left as well as a feeling of helplessness. For all that he's a healer, the Templar isn't sure he has the skill to fix what may have been done to innocent, pure Maira.

All he can do is pray, and help pick up the pieces of this horrid night.

Then she heals him. Indeed, Faruja stares at Maira as though she had lost her mind. The pure compassion the woman shows, even to someone so seemingly corrupt and /evil/, astounds the Burmecian. Someone so zealous and focused on vengeance such as him couldn't understand. Yet so too does it touch his heart, hope filling it despite all that he's seen tonight.

It's almost enough to make him consider leaving Angantyr to those around him. But the rat has a duty to several dead men of his Order.

"He is a wanted man." Faruja replies simply to Katyna, quietly. Between Archadia, the Church, and no doubt now Datapoint Security, the fight for the fallen man before them will be a fierce one indeed if the rat's any judge; one fought with pens and words rather than blades.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is wounded but alive most if not all of Valkyrie is alive she'll call that a win as much s possible. She's just going to try to recover as best she can. She looks to Avira for a moment she looks to her allies she looks to maira and breathsd ragglely before saying. "We live....good..." Whatever Ang's fate it's Avira's call in the end. She's too weak to want to fight but if she mush she will but she knows she'll fall.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina breathes out and looks at her horribly burnt hand. She shakes it out a bit but really that was a bad idea, now it just hurts more.

"You did well, Maira." She tells her, giving her a smile and then--

--well Isaac happens. There is a 99 percent chance she gapes for a while at that.

TRON has posed:
TRON backs off as Angantyr falls, his opaque helm cracked but still holding together just enough to shield his face from view. He redocks his black chakram Disc to the spindle on his upper back, flinching and twitching as damaged code speaks with damaged code. He will have to fully evaluate the damage done to his Disc later, as well as determine why it had that kind of effect on /himself/.

Maira's light helps in the recovery, as it has always done, and the destabilized voxeled appearance of his black form re-coalesce and smooth to appear to be leather once more--save the actual damage sustained in battle: the slashes, spiderwebbing, and blunt force trauma in particular.

Then darkness falls, enveloping everything around them, swallowing light and sound alike. Deep, soul-crushing cold clamps around his core like an ever tightening vice, and even his hearing inverts in the absolute silence. He stands, barely able to do much else, and endures what is most likely the void itself.

As soon as it ends and Garland begins walking away, TRON snaps up one arm--still holding his silver Disc--to block Carnus' path before more Garland aggro is incurred. He says nothing, but slowly shakes his head from side to side at the newest VALKYRI member, the movement jerky and canting the helm slightly in the process. It's an odd sight, just this side of the uncanny valley.

Compared to what Garland just did, though, it's downright normal.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr's body is inert. Even the healing is only enough to keep him stable. He isn't bleeding out anymore, but he is extremely brutalize. His unconcious figure doesn't rouse, even to sass Faruja.

Then the darkness washes over the area, putting out all light. A corridor appears under Ang, slowly, he starts falling in, the darkness creeping over his form.

When the lights come back on, all you can see is Ang's hand, before he falls through. %

Faruja Senra has posed:
Angantyr's body slips away, and Faruja stares. Somewhere, a Disney censor faints from the resulting words out of the Templar's mouth.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk nods to Faruja when he tries to heal him and cleanse him with light. Which was very interesting weave of magics really. Yet Ulharisk still didn't feel all to well. He stays quiet until Garland is gone. His eyes focused in that direction.

His voice was quiet and his brows furrowed. "Who.." He says softly, "..Who was that..?"

He then looks over to some here, then over to Maira as she tries to save the man who was trying to kill them. Compassion. Such a strong emotion. He knows it well. He sighs softly and just sits down now, letting the glaive vanish in flicker of blue light until it is gone in wisps of light.

"..why would they ever do this.. torment worlds.. lives.." He lowers his head gently closing his eyes.

However when he opens them the dark knight was sinking into a pool of darkness. The draconian blinked his eyes a few times, "..what the?!" He just stared, dumb founded by what he is seeing.

Maira has posed:
Dumbly, Maira nods to Avira as she tells her about Vespa. She has to pick up the pieces...she has to heal them, has to....

"You knew, didn't you," she says to Avira. "You knew and you didn't tell me and I...I was just too stupid to figure it out, wasn't I?" she asks.

Maira is still burning, but the flames calm significantly as Garland begins to walk away and Angantyr drifts into a portal to disappear. She looks around, spotting Vespa. "Uist..." she breaths, and the ghost carries her healing energy to her fellow VALKYRI--then to Isaac. He most certainly needs it.

Once done, Maira's fire is snuffed like a candle and she falls to her knees. Tears flow freely now, but they steam as they touch her cheeks. She curls up on herself and just sobs. She doesn't care.

Carnus Sirin has posed:
Carnus Sirin stops in his tracks as both Maira and TRON halt his progress. He looks down at Maira and his eyes soften almost instantly. "Just focus on healing that man. If there's any light left in him, I'm sure you can find it." He gives her a soft smile and moves to continue as TRON's arm darts in front of him, truly impeding his weary movements toward the now tactically retreating Garland.

"Fine..." is all he says before suddenly collapsing backwards onto the cold hard ground, spreading himself out. "I... I'll just take a quick nap. Then I'll go get him." The spellsword's words barely make it out before he begins to drift off to sleep. He really can sleep anywhere, can't he?

Sadly, the sleep looks less like a casual snooze and more like someone dying. As a pool of blood is beginning to form around the already red-clad man.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa mutters and grips her axe pulling herself up into a sitting postion.. She looks around.. "dammit.... dammit.. dammit..", she no going to try been enough of that today...

Avira has posed:
Avira immediately draws close to Maira and sweeps her up into a tight hug. Quietly and quickly she murmurs something into her ear. Her voice sounds weary and apologetic, from those bystandards that try to listen in, but little more can be heard.

Isaac Hanlon has posed:
Garland has a problem that Isaac didn't account for. Isaac assumed that Garland was one of the primal evils that he'd heard about, the people with nothing that passes for a heart and nothing that can possibly feel love or hope or anything of the sort. He assumed that Garland was simply incapable of it.

You know what they say about assumptions.

Isaac makes a small miscalculation. He pays for it.

The silence falls, and darkness follows. The towering font of mana turns to a mere sliver of light in the all-consuming darkness, stubbornly resisting the utter nightfall. It vanishes all the same, one of the last sources of brightness to be snuffed out by the unholy power of Chaos. The sorcerer at the middle of it all stands firm, ready to fight even what he cannot see. He'll find a way to do it. He's always got a way. He tries to call light, to see through the pitch darkness.

He immediately wishes he hadn't.

ELSEWHERE...?

He isn't in the street anymore. The chamber is vast and infinitely high, with walls that stretch to heights that defy imagination. The darkness is all-consuming, filling it at a vast and alarming rate. Isaac looks back, suddenly knowing what he'll find. He sees the body of a man, sprawled out on the stair within the infinitely high tower, holding a bloodied revolver in his dead hands and staring in glassy-eyed in terror back at him. He turns back, disbelieving, but suddenly pulled upwards by hands he didn't see before.

A kid, a teenager. Big hat, a strange look. The kid pushes past him, shoving him up the stairs and thrusting his hands downward at the hordes of yellow-eyed monsters that ascend. "Get moving! I'll hold them off!" he yells, moving his fingers like tugging on invisible strings. Isaac's mouth moves, but nothing comes out. He squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them again, the sight of spectral wolves tearing at the tide of darkness and falling beneath them is what he sees.

"No," Isaac whispers. He takes a step back, up the stair. "This can't be real. This can't --" He's jarred. He turns around, ready to attack, near a panic from the sights and sounds and smells and /everything/. He sees a young woman, moving unsteadily, shrouded in the same darkness with eyes the color of blood. She pulls on him, saying words he doesn't hear. All he hears is his heart pounding in his chest. She pulls him further up the stairs and then stop him, throwing the darkness around her into the Heartless that swarm down from above. It only spurs them on.

The world starts to vanish around him. Everything closes in. He sees everyone falling, one by one, disappearing or torn apart, turning into the /things/ that come from every which way. He turns back to the girl, reaching his hand out desperately. His voice is totally panicked, and he feels a wrenching in his chest, a coldness spreading as she's pulled away. The tide of darkness overtakes her, a pleading look on her face. Asking him for help. Only him.

"No! Not again! Not again!! I'm not letting it happen again!" Isaac thrusts his arm forward, into the darkness. He pits arcane might against endless, unfathomable, ravenous shadows, desperately putting everything he has and is into saving just her. He takes hold of a hand, trying to draw it from the horde with a wordless cry.

She comes back, yellow-eyed, her body wholly comprised of the same darkness. The blackness spreads up his arm as she draws herself to him, fingers like claws reaching for his face. He screams, in terror and despair.

REALITY

The darkness fades away.

The figures on the rooftops are gone when the lights come back on. Vague, white outlines of them remain for a few seconds, and then vanish along with them. The illusions fade, and the haze of magic disappears, subsumed in the reality that is the power of a soul that has wholly embraced Chaos.

Isaac lies in the street, face-down, partially on his side. He looks like he's reaching out with one hand for someone who isn't there, lying in a pool of bright blood. The source of it is clear: the hand he's reaching out with is missing. All that's left is a ragged wound near his shoulder, with a dark shadow of ash burned into the ground where the limb should be. The spot reeks of darkness, of Chaos, even from a distance. Despite it, he writhes, still blindly reaching, voice a rasp.

"N... ot... aga... in..."

He stops moving.

Faruja Senra has posed:
With Maira being handled by Avira, Faruja is quick to come to Isaac's side. Chugging down an Ether, he gets to work, pulling out a healer's kit even as he lays on curative spells. "No mortal man should survive such a thing. 'Tis by the Lord's own hand that you remain. You shan't slip away." Mutters the rat as he works, desperately trying to heal the man before he bleeds out.

Maira has posed:
Maira can't even respond to Avira, she can't form the words between her sobs. She just nods a little, which may not even be seen with her shaking as she is. She leans into the embrace, just complete inconsolable.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk watches as the darkness suddenly comes and is then gone just as quick. Only a man remaining, broken who is being healed. Maira in tears. The only one he knows here being cuddled by her friend. He slowly forces himself to stand up.

He glances around, unsure of what to do. How to help. He frowns, before he grits his teeth. He carefully walks over to Avira. Looking down at her with his violet eyes. "..Do you.. would you like me to go to the inn and see about rooms for everyone?" He asks softly. "..or seek out other weavers of light that could be here?"

His eyes do slowly roam over to Isaac is at. Where Faruja is tending to him. He frowns even deeper and lowers his head slightly. This wasn't at all a victory. It was a defeat. A damn, bloody, defeat.

TRON has posed:
TRON only nods once to Carnus as the spellsword relents, though flinches as the man instead collapses to the ground under the premise of taking a nap. But blood does not flow from mere exhaustion, and the Program immediately kneels at Carnus' side to try to give some first aid. Find what is causing so much bleeding and trying to stop it until the more medically minded can reach them.

His visor cants towards where Avira and Maira are kneeling on the ground, a call for help dying in his apparently-damaged vocalizer before it could be voiced. He barely even lets himself think about their victory, pyhrric or otherwise, focusing now on helping those wounded far worse than himself.

Angantyr was stopped, Traverse Town is safe for now. It is enough.

Avira has posed:
"Please." Avira says quietly to Ulharisk. The VALKYRI building, the half-burned, half-collapsed shell that it was, was certainly too unsafe to house people right now. It'd have to be rebuilt. Someday. If they every got a reprieve.

She continues to hug Maira, letting her cry into her chest, gently brushing her best friend's hair. Over Maira's shoulder, she stares in horror at Isaac-a man she had relied upon so much, saw as so powerful and so cocky. Now he was lying there, missing an arm, gibbering about something upsetting that Avira couldn't divine right now. Who knows what Garland showed him in the darkness.

A lump forms in her throat.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk gives a nod to Maira, before he looks over to Faruja, then to others who may be able. "Once you are done tending to the wounded. Bring them to the hotel not far from here. I will see too the rooms be prepared." He then looks away. Walking in the direction of the hotel. Though in a great deal of pain, though wounds healed thanks to Faruja earlier, his body was still complaining at him.

Yet focus was what was driving him. There was wounded to be taken care of and beds that needed to be made. The people always came first. His own needs were second. That is what his father taught him.

Maira has posed:
A linkpearl in her ear. A voice suddenly. She'd forgotten that was there....he was here.

Maira cries harder if that is at all possible. "It didn't do any good! It didn't help! It didn't stop ANYTHING," she cries into her linkpearl.