There were others. Cursed senshi or lesser agents, it didn’t matter. They were blips in Ganymede’s awareness, there but not there, of so little significance they didn’t earn so much as a glance.
She had eyes only for Laurelite.
Laurelite passed her scythe to Valhalla.
Ganymede tensed. Her eyes tracked the scythe from Laurelite’s small, pale hands to Valhalla’s—sun tanned and baseball calloused. She remembered one of those pale hands within Valhalla’s chest, the pain she wrought without corrupting or killing him, leaving him only a fraction of himself. Ganymede remembered that scythe splitting the skin of her back, the warmth of blood drenching her corset. She remembered it tearing through muscle and bone, leaving a pile of bodies in its wake.
She watched, frozen, as Laurelite ascended her spiral staircase, as an evil edge came upon Laurelite’s temperate smile, as Laurelite raised her arms to the sky above.
Then, Chaos.
Ganymede gave a start, then shuddered. She had felt Chaos before, countless times—as it fought to poison the souls of those she’d saved; as it spread over a battlefield; as it tainted and destroyed everything in its path. Twice she’d been in the Dark Kingdom, once in a failed effort to find Metallia and destroy her, and once as a prisoner, cut down and dragged before Laurelite by an ambitious General turned General King.
Never had Chaos felt like this.
It crawled over her skin, a festering toxin she had no antidote for. It sank into her, so deep it reached her heart and squeezed. Her starseed burned with it, searing like her own magic. Ganymede winced from it, then forced herself to grit her teeth and bear it.
Throughout her years as a Senshi, Ganymede had known powerlessness and hopelessness.
This was worse.
She watched, horrorstruck.
Had Laurelite always been capable of this? Were the General Sovereigns capable of it? If they could reach the Calamitous Hollow here, in this middle plane, could they reach all the worlds beyond Earth?
Ganymede had thought she’d overcome fear. She could recognize it and set it aside before it took control. She could compartmentalize. She could conquer it.
She couldn’t conquer this.
The Calamitous Hollow seemed to wither. A dozen scales fell off, but a shield erupted to curtail the damage they would have done to the crowd below. The Velencians, Ganymede was certain, had come through for them just in time. She wished she could be grateful for it, wished she could feel anything but sickening dread and fierce hatred.
Ganymede watched Laurelite descend—oblivious, for the moment, of the sought after sixth spike gleaming from the Calamitous Hollow’s tail, her attention as laser focused on her decade-long nemesis as it had been before.
How’s the family? Laurelite had said. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll see them soon enough.
Ganymede thought of her mother and her cousin. She thought of Empyrean, gone before his time. She thought of Valhalla’s mother. She thought of their children.
Could the Negaverse reach them among the stars?
She swayed once, then lurched forward, striking out with a fist.
The Space Cauldron
Laurelite
Guine
Valhalla, Sessrumnir, Lucien. Stop her.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Come on Alastor, back her up. Jk the kids are watching.
post 123 Location: A6, with Spectrolite, Dravite, Fluorapatite, Katya Action: Joining risky behavior and dumb decisions
Rigel's eyes followed the Eternal's hand as she explained her idea, nodding somewhat in comprehension. "Sounds good to me, depending on the weight. But we'll figure that out, I'm sure!" How genuine his optimism was might be easily questionable, but Rigel trotted over to the her and the Captain, placing his hand on her arm to help facilitate the whole… teleportation bit.
“Not the snakes doing? Who else then?” She questioned aloud. It wasn’t necessarily directed at Grieve and Roka but was left to hang in the space between them as she looked around the area.
Their little captive Lieutenant was doing a damn good job at being pathetic though. Was this what the negaverse taught their new recruits? They were clearly not at all ready to deal with things of this magnitude.
“I agree with Grieve. We can fix your little mistake. There’s more than enough around who can help, but perhaps now isn’t the time?” She shot the woman a look that said both ‘good job for not killing him yet’ and also ‘keep up the good work’. If they were going to have the chance at offering this little negaverser a chance at redeeming themselves, it wasn’t going to happen if they were dead.
The world then shifted again and Hy felt as if she was going to be ill.
She spun on booted heels to the source of the energy that washed over her like a suffocating, heavy blanket.
Queen Laurelite ascended into the sky on platforms. As if a ******** god within her own right. Arms wide as that sickening sense continued to wash over the Knight with the growing energy.
The blast rocked the world they were in. The creature that took the shot writhed and shrank.
Hy used her staff to support herself as she watched the whole display with wide eyes. How the spikes worked their own magic seeking out the missing piece.
This was all ******** insane. What were they to do if a blast like that only seemed to aggravate the creature above them. Sure it shrunk, but was that useful?
Scales fell to the ground and Hy flinched as they hit the shield.
No. This wasn’t good.
“What the hell have we gotten in to?” She murmured quietly as her gaze shifted from Laurelite, to the serpent above and the spikes.
“Those spikes feel like nothing more than a bandaid, even if we can manage to get that last one.”
Page 8, Page 21, Page 35 Location: C8 Action: (-10HP) Stopping Ganymede from doing something stupid. Near Laurelite, Alastor, Valhalla, Lucien, and others that he doesn't know.
Sessrumnir hated her. Hated Laurelite. For all she stood for. He might not have had direct contact with her, but because of her, his family had been torn apart. If not from her directly, it was because of her influence. Influencing the other officers around them, too.
He didn’t want her near Valhalla or Ganymede, and yet there Valhalla was, being handed her scythe in some mock presentation. She was using him as an umbrella stand, showing how much she didn’t care if they had any power or not.
And why would she, when she could unleash such a tremendous blast of pure Chaos?
Sessrumnir cringed away from it, unable to stand the sound of it tearing into the serpent’s scales and space and time itself, probably. Where did that blast come from? How could they accomplish something like that?
There were dozens of questions whirling through his head. Fear and pain from the weight of the Chaos bearing down on them. A shield kept most of the debris from crushing them, but how could they ever manage to face something like the power Laurelite showed them?
His heart was racing, and he almost missed the movement from Ganymede, but the tell-tale signs were there.
As a Princess, she was fast. But he’d been trained in combat, and knew to spot an intended strike.
Sessrumnir jumped forward as well, throwing his arm over Ganymede’s shoulder and arm, pinning it down before she could get too close.
“Not now--” he tried to convince her as he struggled to pull her back, away from the vile woman who could easily tear her into pieces.
He took a step back, trying to pull her farther away. He knew Alastor was watching his back, but he couldn’t lose her or his brother that night. He couldn't let their son or anyone else see a Princess being struck down. Morale was already low and their chances slim. They didn't need to lose even more power with Ganymede's death.
Sunshine Alouette
Ganymede
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Alastor
The Space Cauldron
Laurelite
Quote:
Rolling for Valhalla (first die) since I missed him in his post
Fluorapatite didn’t hesitate.In an instant she teleported herself, the Captian (Dravite) and the Corrupt (Rigel) to the top of the barrier, placing them close to massive scale as possible. The air was alive with energy, charged and volatile, crackling with the static of invisible currents, as though they stood within a web of downed power lines.
Out here, the clash between the Chaos piller and the Calamitous Hollow pressed harder against their senses, more overwhelming than it felt inside the barrier.
“You two, take that side,” she instructed, her voice clear despite the oppressive atmosphere pressing all around them. As an Eternal, she possessed strength well beyond the average civilian so she should be able to handle one end of the scale on her own.
Dravite stepped forward, positioning himself near the dome’s edge, not directly opposite Fluorapatite, but angled to form a stable triangle between them. He reached towards the scale, pausing just before contact. The surface was similar to an old television screen filled with static, and the moment his gloved fingers touched it, a sharp jolt surged through him, forcing his hand back with a grimace.
post 123 Location: A6, with Rigel, Dravite, Fluorapatite, Katya Action: Not a fan of risky behavior and dumb decisions
She figured the Queen of the Negaverse would be immensely powerful... she just never guessed to what degree. While Rigel beside her was clearly enjoying all there was, Spectrolite herself leaned into him, all but tucking herself into him for cover as the intense sensation of Chaos flooded everything. She felt like she was drowning, like she was being crushed. How was she so powerful?
And she greatly reduced the creature's size. It was a marvel, but the serpent was still far too big. The shield at least was a fantastic addition, and she nearly whooped with joy. Especially since it did keep scales from crashing down into folks...
Scales that... what. "You're what?" She gaped up at Rigel as he so freely offered to go assist the Eternal (Fluorapatite) and the Captain (Dravite), that she could barely speak another word when he so calmly told her to stay there...
"Well no s**t," she huffed in disbelief, stepping back from him and somewhat closer to the Mauvian (Katya). She stared at the others, arms still crossed and unsettled. "Just... be careful up there, yeah?"
Page 8, Page 19, Page 34 Location: Moving to F3. Action: With Caia. Attempting to give the Vanguard the energy crystal he received from Caedus. Being shot by Vyn (with permission).
Oberon stared up in absolute horror as some massive blast of energy came from nowhere, directed by Queen Laurelite. He was too focused on what Lyndin was doing to see what happened to his family, but they seemed like they were still standing.
He felt the Chaos roil through him, making him feel sick to his stomach, the memory of corruption trying to crawl through his body and to his starseed a physical thing.
And then came the scales, ready to crush anyone beneath them, except--
“It was a shield!” he shouted excitedly at Caia, grabbing hold of his shoulder and shaking it, as if he couldn’t already see what was above them, blocking the scales from crashing down on them. He could have jump in celebration, but there was more to do. He could see the cracks in the shield. It wouldn’t hold if they didn’t do something about it.
“I need to see if the Vanguard needs help,” he told him, showing more enthusiasm than he might have in years. As bitter and jaded as he was over the last few years of his life, this world ending event was full of surprises.
Including being shot as soon as he crossed into the Vanguard territory.
A ball of energy exploded against his chest, making his whole body seize with a strange tingling sensation. He hissed at the sensation that brought him to his knees, his eyes darting to the blond haired Velencian (Vyn) whose rifle had turned on him.
“I want to help--” he hissed, one hand on the ground to support himself, while holding his other arm out as though trying to make sure Caia stayed back far enough not to be hit as well. “I have an old stone Caedus gave me. Like hers,” he nodded to Pendour, hoping the Vanguard would be focused on him instead of trying to shoot her.
post 12345 Location: Above C2 Action: Outside the barrier, attempting to remove the scale with Fluora and Dravite!
Getting up on to the barrier was pretty neat--if uh. Especially wild. Rigel rather wished he had his camera... the shots would be amazing.
Moving with the others, going to his spot as directed, he bent his knees, trying to get a hold of the edge of the scale--and oh, oh it was beautiful. Could he break a piece off? Keep it? It'd be amazing...
He winced, eyeing his hands. Small bits of electricity zapped along his arms, the scale itself digging into his gloves... cutting, wasn't it? Interesting. Too bad this was... he guessed a bit too heavy...
Commander Naeria Location: F3 Action: Attempting to customer service Ida.
Naeria opinions on the Negaverse had become a little less harsh over time. Her best human friend, Gabrielle, was a part of their organization, after all. Still, watching Laurelite's laser cannon shake the ground that they were standing on sent a shiver down her spine.
She did not trust them. Not at all.
Order she did not always trust either. Several of them approached as Lyndin's machine managed to generate a shield over the field. One of them was a Princess. The flowers on her dress and wings were stunning and exotic. Under other circumstances, Naeria would have liked to ask about them or study them.
At the moment, she was still taking cues from Vyn, though, and so she stood guarded, keeping her eyes on the Princess and her cat, and not the other glowing man who her friend did not seem to have problems with.
Maybe she should try to keep her a small distance from the Commodore, just in case? That seemed to be what Aliez was saying. Still, maybe they did want to help?
She did not point her gun at them like Vyn. Instead, she tried to keep her voice kind but firm, like the people in the shops who were kind but also very aware of the unspoken Earth rules.
It half worked.
"If you are here to donate energy, I, um, can help you," she said, removing her Source Stone from subspace. Then she could give it to the device without Lyndin being swarmed.
The Space Cauldron
Lyndin
tefla
Nessaela, Lysanna
Shiningamisgirl
Itztenoch
lizbot
Rhysi
Guine
Aliez + bonus Oberon
Sunshine Alouette
Vyn
Noir Songbird
Caelyna
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Andreiya
Sara Draconia
Vysynnia
Shanyume
Cypher
indigo_plateau
Fysarius
Amasis
Yggagen
Whimsical Blue
Ida
tefla
Illryia
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:44 pm
Character Name, Rank, and a link to their journalBrangane, Senshi of Duty Location: G6 Action: arriving on Destiny City only to promptly be boomeranged back into space; talking to Grieve
One: This was an unusually vivid nightmare. A sensation of a great, yawning chasm between where she was and where she ended up: catastrophic chaos, too many people running and shouting, and the blinding lights of some storm, all processed through a hibernal fuzz of confusion.
Two: She felt oddly awake, actually, as the chaos, with sudden abruptness, was somewhere else. This sudden shift of terrain being, however, entirely in keeping with the sort of things that do happen in nightmares, she still did not quite imagine this as anything but some sort of semi-lucid dream, until she realized that she was in vague and undefinable pain, her head fairly humming from being plunged into what felt like a stormy sea of energy, some of it shaped in a way that made her skin crawl.
Three: She realized - with a certainty that made her sick - that this was not the pseudowaking of a cyclical and recurring dream. Of course, you often do feel that, only to wake up later and realize that you were wrong. But it settled on her as she tried to find her unsteady feet amidst noisy chaos, amidst some apocalyptic thing unfolding nearby and the accompanying sounds of pain adjacent to it; it settled on her as she scrambled desperately and stupidly.
There was nothing to do, of course, but what she always did: attempt to make herself useful. Her duty, in short. She just had to figure out what, exactly, that was.
A quick, bewildered look at the turmoil around her threw her a sudden and unexpected lifeline - one so strange that maybe it was, after all, still the dream. She gravitated without thinking towards a shape that was blurry in her sleep-dim eyes but would have been familiar from a half-mile off: no one else looked like that, for better or worse.
“Grieve, Grieve, you beautiful creature,” she said, her voice raspy. “I never in my life thought that I would be glad to see your face.” And then, as she always had, although generally to people better equipped to answer than Grieve: “Tell me what to do.”
She realized, as soon as she said it, that there was probably no good answer to the question. If there was, people would be doing it.
Nectaris didn't remember being in the Negaverse. The thing was, she hadn't been in the Negaverse when she'd gotten corrupted. The hand in her chest, the pain? Yeah. That part she wasn't gonna forget.
And when that woman, who Nectaris felt like maybe she should recognize but she didn't, blasted the snake with the power of Chaos?
Yeah, she was feeling it all over again. She put her hands over her chest and coughed once, twice.
Why was she even fighting it, though? Wasn't it for the best? Wasn't the Queen fighting to save the Earth?
Those thoughts came out of nowhere, and she had to actively shove them away.
Emain Ablach was insisting that he was fine like someone who wasn't fine. Her eyes were a little distant as she shoved herself at him, wrapping her arms around him tighter than she'd probably every squeezed him before. If the other uncles were there, they were getting squished too.
"We're. We're okay," she told them, also not sounding very okay. "That thing we charged up on the Moon, it's gotta go off soon, right?"
post 123 Location: H2 with Lameia, Janggunite, Maikoh → Moving to F3 to Lyndin and the Vanguard Action: Energy absorption… and offering--stopping short of Velencians guarding Lyndin and the machine
Was she well? That certainly was a question, now wasn't it? The lightning that raged around them was… disturbing to her, and for the first time since she'd merged with the youma, Carnotite recoiled from the energy.
"I was able to absorb some of the lightning before from the storms… wonderful source of energy for others to drain from. I'd never felt anything so intoxicating." Her call of the void. Her edge of the cliff. Glowing eyes moved to Janggunite, brows furrowed. "But now it feels…. wrong. If I tried to reach out to it now…" She shook her head, but patted his hand over hers gently. "Still, I appreciate the help. Thank you." They were both half-youma. There were only so many others like them, who understood the complexities of such an existence. She found his inhuman traits beautiful, but she had no real chance to speak upon it.
The skies were torn open, and the Queen showed the might of the Negaverse, of Metallia, in the grandest show she'd ever seen.
Carnotite clung to the other Captain, even as she marveled at the strength of the Chaos that was blasting the serpent. "Beautiful," she murmured, in awe. The creature shrank, and Carnotite jerked slightly where she stood as she felt a… a shift.
Frowning, she looked about, third eye open and watching the heavy traces of energy and electricity in the air around them. It was dense but… not hostile to the degree that the lightning raging and hissing through the clouds were. It coated the ground, static crackling at their feet--no pain but…
Carnotite let go of Janggunite, chin up and smile radiating the burst of confidence she felt again. "You best step back a bit, I don't want to shock you… I'll be back soon as I can, please keep an eye on Lamiea? I think I can help the aliens with their shield. It'll be rather useful to us."
Stepping away from him, and waving down complaints from Lameia, Carnotite let her senses stretch out again, calling to her the electricity as she had before… in a way. It wasn't calling down the lightning, but it was calling the electricity along the ground, at least some of it, into her. As before, purple-white energy coursed through her, racing beneath her skin and sparking in the air along with her own energy. It wasn't quite the same as the lightning… but it was more energy.
Carefully, Carnotite made her way towards the Vanguard, pace slowing as she neared the guards (Aliez and Vyn)--and lifting a brow at the senshi (Oberon) they'd just shot… funny. There were other senshi around… and a Princess. Carnotite kept her features calm, even as the energy around her snapped and sparked. The disgusting grate of Order signatures was hardly appealing to linger around if she could help it…
Eyeing the guards, she inclined her head slightly to them in a sort of greeting and acknowledgement of their stance. She crackled with energy, similar to how she had on the rooftop. The Captain didn't move any closer to them, but instead lifted her voice, "Commodore Lyndin, I have energy I can share as well, though I first wish to confirm your device will not be harmed in any way by the electrified energy." If it wasn't a proper way to send the energy… well, maybe someone else could drain it out of her.
Or she could try to blast the stupid serpent, either or.
Indigo_Plateau
Janggunite
Guine
Aliez, Oberon
Sunshine Alouette
Vyn
The Space Cauldron
Lyndin
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Caia, Andreiya
Noir Songbird
Kerberos
tefla
Illyria
Whimsical Blue
Ida
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2025 6:59 pm
General-King Faustite Location: A4 Action: Summoning the rest of his team to A4; spreading the spike's effects to them because he's a good boss
Faustite was a boy-shaped vortex of fire for the moments that Laurelite donned power in her polite, understated demeanor. Even with his preoccupations with the spike, with Hestia, her show drew the unseen eye and he shifted his gone-from-the-nose-up flaming flicker of a face in her direction.
Her chaotic manipulations were ever confident, unwavering. Ever practiced at it was she, such that she could walk upon pure negative energy in a manner that Faustite had never witnessed. And, above all, summon to bear such a vitriolic outpouring of malice that burst into another dimension unchallenged. For a moment, however brief, Faustite thought that, surely, the Negaverse had amassed enough energy to blow a hole clean through the Calamitous Hollow. It should have, for how the sheer presence of it churned his stomach and sickened him with the familiar potency of Metallia. In those intervening seconds, his heart and his pride beat for Queen Laurelite alone.
Then it was over, and that thing still loitered in the sky. Pieces of it fell off like unkempt garbage, and while he couldn't determine where those impossibly large scales would land as they rained down, he drew his thoughts about him to begin summoning the rest of his team.
Luckily, such a tactic wasn't needed. A shield shot into the sky and poured over them, and at first, Faustite couldn't find the source. More peering about drew his attention to Lyndin, messing with a device that he had never seen before. And, helpfully enough, that shield prevented those enormous scales from crushing anyone from the Negaverse — even if it seemed demonstrably weak and flimsy in comparison to Laurelite's show of force. They were safe, for now.
But there was little time to dwell on meager survival. Faustite's attention was seized once again by the spike after it had struck the ground, A shock of energy bolted up his person and it stole his breath away; at first, he wasn't certain what to do with it, how to respond to it. But soon he was in command of himself again, riding a foreign sensation of a rally. He didn't trust it, this feeling — it seemed bold. Careless. He recalled well what happened in such unifying circumstances as these. He had a generator to protect, then more than half his body was replaced by a foreign magic that left him sick with concern for months.
Whatever his feelings told him in that moment, Faustite knew better. With a flicker of his arm, he summoned the scattered portions of his team to himself in invitation. Should they find stronger purpose elsewhere, he would not wrench them away from it.
They wouldn't lose because of his personal weakness this time. No longer did he have to rely on his piecemeal body or his personal shortcomings when he had a team loyal and capable enough to counterbalance his ineptitudes. Never before had he encountered something simultaneously invigorating and stultifying like the effects of the spike, but he would not bear it alone.
Arriving on this plane of existence was almost as bad as the after effects of the medications he'd endure after coming out of catatonia. Okay, no, it was worse. That was a close second though. Hieropolis had little time to weigh the two when the suffocating and disgusting power of Chaos came in to compete with in the 'which is worse' olympics. He was vaguely aware of falling scales and a shield but everything was just....a lot right now. And he doubted it would let up any time soon.
Steins, Eternal Senshi of Patchwork Location: E5 Action: Spectating w/ the Cybele gang Roll: 89 Stein worried for Hieropolis - everything that was going on - would it trigger an episode for him? If it did, what could she do? She immediately wished she'd had him stay home, but knew he never would have - not is she went. She could have stayed, then...but she'd have felt horrible about it. But she felt horrible now too. Steins thought about all they were fighting for and held on to it in her heart and mind.
