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An eruption of lattice behind him rightly diverted his attention, and the creature looked over his shoulder and between long bones to quirk a brow at it. "Interesting trick." He glanced back to Cassandra afterward with no further comment on the new wall barring his path.

"Zirconia and Alfheim haf' a point. It's not like I'm willingly holding onto zis chaos, and if you're such an adept magician zat you can rule your own realm, zen removing it should be simple. If you can't do it, unseal Zirconia's powers and she can do it." However, Bischofite's mood soon soured as he fast realized he was running into the same dilemma that prevented him from purifying in his natural world - no one knew how to do it. Or perhaps there wasn't power enough to do it, or certain undetectable conditions weren't met, or he simply lacked the moral compass required by all Order-abiding organisms of the universe. "Besides, zere is no guarantee zat ze Chaos in me would proliferate in your world - absent any and all connection to Metallia, I expect I wouldn't actually haf' much power. If any."

The play of devolving Zirconia to feline form earned its own favorable glimpse from Bischofite, and the further scruffing earned a reaction from the lilac feline that the creature himself never managed. "Oh, so you scruff her and suddenly it means somesing..." He muttered under his breath.

But tensions only compounded further when Cassandra claimed to sense one soul in the body of the cat - which Bischofite supposed referred to the prior concerns about Alfheim's sister, whoever that was. Likely the emotional strain would build to the head and rash decisions might start cropping up at a quicker clip... Like Iris' magical rainbow hovering in her hands and waiting for release. Between the wall and the potential burning doom heralded in Iris' hands, he lacked the means to adhere to his threat and go frolicking into the forest.

He wasn't entirely certain that an instigated manhunt into a potentially dangerous forest really suited his aims regardless.

"Any body will do, in zis world or ze next. It doesn't haf' to be your dimension if you are capable of placing my starseed in a human body zat will not suddenly manifest strange and useless appendages like zese." He kicked at the splay of bony spines at his feet to prove his point. "If such a sing may occur, zen I expect you excise ze chaos from my starseed before placing it in anozzer body. Failure to agree to zis will result in your exciting little crystal being buried in ze Rift."

But certain keywords from Zirconia's mouth piqued the creature's interest, prompting a renewed inspection of the box and its contents. "Wait, ze crystal you were mumbling about is a starseed...?" Prying open the lid, Bischofite peered inside, and soon donned a broad grin from what he discovered within. "A starseed indeed..." Afterward he curled his arms about the box and held it close to bony, carapace-ridden chest. "Well played. Cassandra, I sink you haf' more to worry about here zan whezzer or not your so-prized starseed will be corrupted. Catch."

With latch engaged, the box was tossed toward the high priestess herself.

"...What about that mirrored starseed you brought home?" Kairatos spoke up, though his fists were clenched, and his arms folded across his breastplate, and his challenging stare was fixed at this strange creature that used to be Zia... and now was whatever cannibalized ruin seemed to remain of her and Zirconia.

"If you've still got it, maybe that will help..." He shot a sidelong look at Bishophite. "Negotiations."

He did not like how Bishophite had gone about this, but Iris had already failed, and the senshi it belonged to had not become any less dead... it might as well be of some use here, especially if it was finally able to free Bisophite of his corruption.

"You'd fit right in around here as far as I can tell." He added. It... didn't sound like a compliment per-say.

"So sings are starting to change..." The writhing of vines offered the first sign, followed by a notable dimming while the stars soon shimmered and died. Brilliant evening blooms of color on the horizon soon rotted and wilted away, revealing a darker, more foreboding presence hanging overhead.

Cassandra herself looked absolutely livid with the discovery of their treachery. Her following outburst gave rise to that same name they heard before - the Dead Moon Circus. He wasn't certain what to think of the whole affair; Cassandra's visible disturbance seemed to coincide with the shifting exterior for this strange dimension, but beyond that, he lacked necessary knowledge to make inferences. Anyone could determine that, from context, Zirconia might be a powerful sorceress, but neither of the two entities fostered impeccable credibility for their claims. All in all, they stood hostage to a political debate that fast approached deadly proportions.

Zirconia seemed to drive her point home to a marginally acceptable deal, save for the portion where she was barred any ability to return home - permanent excommunication. With that, Cassandra added another barb, this time toward him.

Bischofite was not terribly pleased with this result.

"Yes, well, I don't know of anyone else who has ze ability and inclination to rip out ze contents of people's chests to check for tiny slivers of starseeds for your near and dear Castellan, Cassandra. I haf' my uses. And if you're still disinclined to grant me passage to a new body, zen I suppose I'll haf' to rely on my amicable and extravagant personality to plead my case." While sarcastic, his typically stoic inflections didn't offer much of a hint to strangers.

"And to you, Kairatos, if I am such a ******** nightmare zen you should'f tried harder to help me find a way to purify myself!" The creature quaked with rage at the insult, taloned hands curling into fists to prevent further expression of his exasperation with the Mars knight. "And if you're so inclined to slight me wherever we meet, zen-..." He trailed off abruptly when he caught sight of further changes to his body.

No... She can't possibly have any effect on how I look here. Can she?

"Sorry I don't have a ******** crystal sword to help you out of the ******** mess you got yourself in!" Kairatos started to snarl back to Bishophite, since they were apparently back at the same old impasse...<sorry trying to get someone to take a chance on you wasn't enough. sorry for encouraging you not to give up, Sorry for being pissed you were lying in wait for my room mate>

and then everything really went to hell.

He summoned his net in a jolt of surprise, though he wasn't sure what it could possibly do when the landscape itself was changing. What was he going to do? Terrify a bush into submitting?

He wasn't even sure if Cassandra would have actually been able to give the Half Youma what he wanted, but now it seemed like that was definitely off the table, and possibly so was surviving. God he wished he'd never gotten up this morning. Anything where he could pretend his room mate hadn't just betrayed all of them and possibly doomed them all to death.

"Zirconia!" He shouted in protest, whipping his net at encroaching nightmare figures that dragged themselves in their hands, dragging warped and twisted back limbs, their bodies half composed of twisted machinery and medical gear. A twisted thing with feathered black wings and white hair the color of ice laughed as it looked on, seeming to produce more of the twisted creations, who wore uniforms that looked faintly like Realgar's negaverse uniform, from the shadow of it's wings.

It was dizzying to try and keep up with the nightmare world lashing out and all of the bits and pieces of Zirconia and Cassandra's exchange, but out of the tidbits that Iris could catch at this point, the Princess couldn't help but be grateful that her own world had never been so political and power-hungry.

Squinting as she attempted to keep facing the duo, she was barely able to see the hand as it drew closer to the Mauvian's chest.

It was quiet and cracked, but Alfheim was possibly able to hear the words "...no... don't..." escape the Princess' mouth.

However, even with her practically inaudible plea, it was too late.

It was a sudden surge of energy, forcing Iris' already squinting eyes to pinch tightly as her wings surrounded her and her companion in an effort to shield the both of them.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she remained for a moment, wings surrounding the pair like feathered curtains. It was as the curtain seemed to lift that the form of the Priestess crashed immediately within sight, debris showering down upon them.

"Sh*t!!!" was the instinctive thing to shout out as she forced herself to stay in her current position, fighting the urge to check up on the mangled Nightmare Priestess.

Instead, her body crumpled down, no longer serving as any sort of crutch to the Squire. Despite her new position, the rainbow she clung onto fiercely continued to lash out about the pair in self defense. The occasional sight of a dead loved one from the Silver Millennium attempted to haunt her in this state, but the situation in front of her, the reality of this Nightmare Realm, was far more distressing.

"ZIRCONIA!!!! WHAT. THE. HELL?!!!!!"

Cassandra was not in the right, but now seeing her crippled form writhing in agony, it was clear that the odd being before them also was not in the right.

The Priestess' suffering became too much, and soon enough the momentary defense vanished completely. Clapping her hands together, when they parted a small crystal lifted up, breaking the basic rules of gravity as it glowed of a pale colored light.

What her motives were at this point, even she didn't know, but soon enough her voice raggedly cried out "IRIS CRYSTAL POWER!!!"

Colored light formed behind her and soon enough began to carve out a sort of rainbow bridge over the majority of the local area.

Please.... please work...

The harrowing landscape of the nightmare realm only continued to worsen while Cassandra wailed out her dying ire toward the Sorceress and Usurper of her own realm. The screech of her sorrow and disdain reached pitches unconscionable for Bischofite, who found the sound so warped into one uncannily similar to Malicious'. Still, the replicas of his so hated youma approached, claws outstretched, and he slinked away with the help of his desperately beating heart.

Everything compounded. Everything twisted and surged, plunging into the ghastly depths of his psyche for every last fear they might wrench out of him. Onward they lurched, deforming into greater abominations than before as they clawed their way toward the horrified general that all but collapsed beneath the weight of his own fears. The great burden of abject pain soon befell him by the massive rainbow reigning over the scene, further paralyzing him in his place. Yet, just before the lot of eldritch, reviled creatures enclosed on his body, they simply ceased.

Initially Bischofite's mind was so fraught with horror that he simply couldn't comprehend it.

There they all stood, mouths agape, mutated or mutilated or missing appendages outreached toward the one creature in this plane of existence that they intended to destroy, and somehow... Somehow it looked all the more intimidating than before. Many long seconds stretched into minutes as he forced himself with the last scraps of his will power to avoid blinking, as if the creatures might suddenly pounce in the span of seconds spent replenishing his tear fluid. Only when his involuntary reflexes fought back so strongly did he finally give in and blink, wholesale flinching in the process.

But they did not move.

After several seconds, they started their retreat. It proved painfully slow for the pace that he wished to escape them, but for now no damage was incurred on his person. Slowly Bischofite pulled himself into a seated position, still staring feverishly at the ghouls that now retreated through perfect motions. Zirconia spoke, or whichever soul possessed her body, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't. All attention remained focused on, captivated by, the horrors that now surrounded him.

Yet their spell of silence broke as Zirconia's psyche collapsed beneath their weight. Again they surged with renewed energy, and s smattering of claws and suckered tendrils caught hold of him in an instant. They started their crawl back into the twisted woods soon afterward, leaving Bischofite to writhe helplessly against their power. They caught and tore at his muscle, tendons. And just as jarringly as they resumed their assault, Bischofite was effectively ejected from the realm without warning.

There he lay on the dirtied floor of he office building basement, beset by the pain of having both wings torn off his body and the crushing despair of coming all too close to rectifying his current visage. He was unable to face the others right now. He was unable to come to grips with the fact that he was promised a new body shortly before that privilege was wrenched away from him by Zirconia's poisonous powerplay. Instead he exerted a great portion of his willpower by biting back any vocalizations of such anguish, and the remaining amount on teleporting out of the building entirely. Soon he met with a different floor, equally cold yet devoid of other life, on which he could curl into his own fading terrors and newly-blooming miseries.

It's not enough

The thought pulsed through her consciousness as she maintained her crystal's rainbow. Now that she was no longer outright offensive with her magic, the shapes of familiar faces from her past drew closer. Babba, Verin, Marjah, Kafid, even Mariengeld and Scepiet's forms drew close before rotting away to mere skeletons as they lashed out at her body.

It was too much and soon enough the crystal in her hands flickered and faded away. As her body cringed beneath the onslaught, wings attempting to absorb the bulk of the assault, gold eyes lifted to one of the skeletons in particular.

"...my Queen... why?"

It was about this time that everything seemed to freeze around her. The blonde's body initially drooped a bit from her current spot upon the ground, but soon enough was forced back up, legs wobbling to get herself back into a standing position.

Iris' concentration upon the surroundings had been lacking as the nightmare finally managed to get her in their grasps, but now she was able to see the Final Act.

Iris' magic seemed to have done little good for the Priestess, as Cassandra screeched like a hysterical harpy. However, as Zirconia approached, the Princess was able to spot who had been pulling the strings all along. The way that Alfheim opened up to the sorceress only seemed to further prove the suspicious feeling starting to well up in her chest.

"...YOU..." she growled, her stance hunching forward aggressively. However, any sort of grievances the Princess was about to vocalize were soon enough cut off as the Priestess' cackle began to fill the realm. Energy began to crackle out from Zirconia's newly unsealed form, singeing Iris' wings as they once more attempted to shield her body.

"Get out!" was all she heard as the Princess' surroundings all went black.

Iris' eyes were slow to open, but it wasn't because she was tired. It was because her body was sore. As she pushed her body up, a hand went to reach for her own back. The wings weren't there anymore, but the pain in the phantom limbs still seemed to linger after that magic had burned into the limbs.

With the assistance of a wall, Iris eventually stood up to her feet, her fuku now clinging to her form rather than the elegant Princess dress. Her energy had dropped quite a bit after using her crystal, but the frantic movements of a squire had managed to catch her attention. Thanks to his activity, the blonde was able to piece together what happened.

...f*cking Zirconia...

Even knowing that it had been Zia's personality in control, as far as the senshi was concerned, Zia and Zirconia were one and the same now. Leaning against the wall, her fist beat against the wall in frustration.

One of the other forms covered in black phased out from the ground. It was only once the presence of chaos had vanished that Iris' fuku faded out.

Where Kairatos seemed to offer his sympathies to the Squire, the now Ellie Spectre turned around and made her way towards the elevator.

"...yer not gonna want t'hear what I got to say..." A pause as she inhaled slowly. "...later..." was all she offered in a low grumble