Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ashura's soul gem shifts and becomes the silvery blade, mounted on the side of Raiden's arm. He jumps away from the thorns, slashing defensively. It actually does require focus, but Raiden attempts to play it off as though he's simply shifting aside casually. He sighs as he does so and glances up at his opponent.

Ok look...I can't say I blame you for that plan I mean...I am fairly good looking so I can't exactly blame ya dude for wanting to get all up in this.

Raiden turns to the side and points to his own butt, giving it the slightest suggestive wiggle as he does so.

But that's really not a good idea for several reasons. My body? Horribly unstable as a changeling. I only became a changeling because my genes got sort of magically confused. So even if you went after my bod in a literal act of butt piracy, you might get stuck as like...a big fluffy bunny or something. For like a year! I was a troll for a while...the fuzzy eared kind, not the kind that comes from a broken home and finds self worth in teasing people on the internet.

Raiden remains composed as the soul gem shifts out of weapon form. However, if his internal reaction showed on the outside, Raiden's jaw would have punched through the floor and popped out on the other side of purgatory. He had hoped his confidence would work, but he's fairly shocked that it worked so well and so quickly. Instead of showing this surprise though, he wanders up to Orlok casually with a grin on his face.

Right? I mean why fight each other? That's been pretty much all we've done since we got here. Yokoshima is such a drama queen. I don't mind helping a bro out. I mean I figure...unless you're an asshat like Murk, you're pretty much here because you got screwed over...and not in a fun way. Might as well take an ally when you can find one. Besides, when you do get back to Gaia...well let's just say the world has changed a lot since you've been stuck in this tacky purgatory. Wanna know how you get simple minded shmucks to be your ever loyal servants in the modern age? You tell them you're a vampire. 100% guarantee they will just offer themselves as walking blood banks, no tricks, no deception. You just go, "Hey babe, I'm a vampire." Bam...instant harem. If some wandering heroic type has a problem with that...well...too bad. You can't rescue people who consented to being walking blood farms.

"...cheddar..? Gah!" *Murk hesitates for a moment as Corbenik's camera flash distracts him. Out of all of his plans, he didn't expect Corbenik to use light of all things.* ""Meddlesome...."



*During this distraction, Brimmstone contemplates Kyla's words. Even after all of this, she would still consider him an ally. mouth is charred, so he can't speak. Or more accurately, his will and resolve had been damaged. He thinks to himself, 'I was so focused on avenging the past, that I had ignored the present. There were times where I could have been happy....but....it wasn't all bad. Comrades, eh...?'
Brimmstone, on the precipice of dreaming, thinks of his comrades in arms. He thinks about how if he had heeded their warnings, they wouldn't be in this situation. 'Midori. Varne. AMH. Sky Wolf......'


His thoughts trail off....and at the same time....Brimmstone's right boot falls off his foot, and into the twilight abyss below him. Horizon seems to react to them and the contents of his most recent thought. Instead of manifesting as a vision....something else happens. Ghosts surround the boot and form into something resembling a large blazing yellow comet. It bursts through the trees and lands in front of Kyla.



A huge charred wolf with burning wings emerges from the yellow flames. It leaps towards Murk with its gaping jaws, charring Murk and burning its head off in the process.

((Big surprise. I envision this happening to this music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tuWvGee4T0 ))

The great charred wolf seems highly unnatural, and not complete as an apparition. There are yellow flames emerging from where its eyes and teeth would be. It howls and flaps its wings, blowing away a bit of the ghost fog, revealing a more clear path of where the threads are coming from. The threads twist and weave through the trees upward, but at one point they loop back downward, like a rope in a pulley.

The strings are tugged, and Brimmstone begins to be whisked away once more. But this time...it's more clear where that will be. The wolf howls, then crumbles into ashes. The yellow flames and ashes fade away, leaving Brimmstone's oh-so-loyal boot. Strangely, the flames did not damage the twilight trees.


Despite being burned and having its head bitten off, the Murk distracted by Corbenik resumes its poisonous swing at Kyla's weapon, intending to corrode it upon impact.

*Murk's omnipresent voice echoes.* "Gya ha ha ha! What a pathetic attempt! I'll make as many of me as I need!"

As the scythe swings, another group of bugs split off to form another Murk. This one is younger, and is identical to one seen in the vision. Its blade is dripping with blood. It appears mid-air between Kyla and the retreating Brimmstone.*

*while the headless, charred Murk is swinging at Kyla's sword in front of her, the younger Murk swings his great axe and the blood travels like a cutting wave towards her from above and behind her.*

(Kokujo)

*As Kokujo approaches the Particle Beam Cannon, a slicing sound can be heard. A myriad of branches fall downward from the tree directly above Kokujo. A buzzing sound can be heard, and one of the branches draws ghosts into it and changes it into a manifestation of a 16-year old Murk. The young reverend falls towards Kokujo and chants an incantation. He has a calm, almost bored, expression on his face.*



"Devil Sorcery #665: Dead Silence.

*The Murk's hand glows with a dark red aura and he slams it on the Shadechigo mech. The moment this happens, the branch bounces off harmlessly....but the buzzing persists. It gets progressively louder, and a single Plague insect lands in the cockpit. It exudes the weakest Devil Sorcery into the cockpit upon landing.

Despite the bug still moving its wings, the buzzing stops. All sound within the cockpit ceases. Complete silence envelops the cockpit. The insect is highly poisonous, and getting stung by it would be trouble. For now, it's just sitting there in the cockpit, waiting.*

Just then, another buzzing sound can be heard from the tree Kokujo is standing on. Another bug rises up and attracts ghosts, turning it into an image of Kold.*


"We're nothing but killers, you and I. Do you really think using Holy Magic will somehow make you redeemable? We're not heroes. Just do everyone a favor and die already."

*"Kold" jumps back and makes a Glacial Cannon motion. Though it seems to have come from behind him, the ice beam launches through his hand like normal. He runs out of sight. And then...*


Glacial Corridor!

*a ray of cold air touches the Shadechigo mech and Kold is pulled towards him. He grasps his sword and coats his blade in Dry Ice. He prepares a diving stab attack at Kokujo.*

"You're not getting away, Murk!"

Kokujo’s attention was abruptly drawn by the sound of cracking branches above him, and his gaze quickly met the visage of the descending Murk conjured from the felled branches. In reaction Kokujo brought his mech’s tie sword round in a swift arc towards his assailant, though it seemed his reaction had not come quite fast enough, and the dapper blade cleaved through nothing but deadened sticks after their previous form had deposited Murk’s sorcery.

Kokujo glanced around for any more signs of the younger Murk, finding none, but presuming the strike to have done something more than had met the eye, as seemed prudent when fighting the deranged assassin. That annoying buzzing he’d heard just served to reinforce this sentiment, and as a twisted looking insect rose from the scenery and began gathering spirits, he became better aware as to the cause. He could have sworn that bug looked familiar to him, but from where he couldn’t quite place as view of it was shortly blocked as it assumed the form of his frosty companion.

“You must take me for a fool, Murk…” Kokujo scoffed at the obvious conjuration, or at least he would have if any sound had escaped his mouth. Instead, only jarringly acute silence permeated the cockpit.

”so, that’s what the devil sorcery earlier must have been for. ‘Dead Silence’; makes sense” the shadow mage thought, but the real question was why. Considering how little Kokujo tended to say in general, silencing him hardly seemed to serve any purpose. This had to come together somehow, Murk had to have some plan for this.

Catching his shuriken - clasped somewhat awkwardly in the larger mech hand - Kokujo readied himself as he saw the fake Kold prepared to cast his Glacial Cannon. He had to assume, at least for now, that the phantoms could mimic powers as well as forms. Something seemed off about the way he cast it though, but as Kokujo raised his shuriken like a shield and took the brunt of the glacial cannon on Shadichigo’s left arm, he found it no less potent than the real deal.

”hmf, interesting, but something still doesn’t add up” Kokujo considered as he readied his sword arm for a defence. He could feel the reactions of the mech slow, joints temporarily chilled by the previous ice attack. Knowing he’d have little chance to dodge in this state, he prepared Shadichigo’s tie sword for a parry as the glacial corridor connected, pulling Kold towards him.

"You're not getting away, Murk!"

”Murk?!”

Kokujo’s surprise at Kold’s unexpected exclamation cost him a shallow slash across his ad-hoc mecha’s chest plate. He barely managed to raise his own weapon in time, diverting the stab as it descended and using the momentum to twist the blade around so the two weapons were locked. At least for now, this would buy Kokujo some precious moments.

Things were starting to make some semblance of sense now. Murk’s peculiar strategy, the obfuscation, the way-too-obvious Kold clone. Kokujo fancied that he had an idea of what Murk’s plan was, how insidious indeed. Had Kokujo not seen Murk’s cunning previously he may have not assumed the solipsistic psychopath had the smarts to pull of such a strategy. The question now however, was how - even if he was correct - could he get through to Kold?

Could he even say anything to convince Kold it was him and not Murk? Certainly not currently as his efforts to make sound were frustrated by Murk’s earlier sorcery. He could sense the insect as it moved silently around, creating subtle ripples in the aethereal fabric of the shadows, and radiating unnerving sensations of mortal dread that would be surprising for a mere bug, at least had Kokujo not had a fair guess as to where, or whom, it had come from. He didn’t have time to spare hunting it down right now though, yet he had a plan B, or hoped so, but how to get Kold’s attention…

Then it abruptly came to him, he remembered Kold’s psychic message to him earlier. Of course, Kold was telepathic! Surely if he could make a connection, Kold would know Kokujo was real. The disturbed flows of magics cast into chaos by the spirits had perhaps blocked this ability somewhat, but Kokujo reckoned if he could just get close enough…

Channelling his shadowmancy through shadichimech, the metallic suit’s ample shadow suddenly grew, casting itself long across the branch the combatants were standing on, and splitting off into many clawed limbs that looked to try and attack Kold from the back. This however, was just a distraction tactic. Kokujo needed to divert Kold’s attention, split his focus for just a moment to assure an element of surprise for his next move.

Suddenly Kokujo popped the front hatch of the mech, practically throwing himself out of the mechanised armour at his frosty rival. As his did so, his good arm shot out, aiming to grab the frost ninja by the forehead. If that wasn’t close enough for Kold’s telepathy to work, Kokujo didn’t know what would be. As he was now outside of the cockpit, Murk’s silencing would, he reasoned, be nullified, though he only had time to string together a few short words to try and sway his bitter frienemy into meeting him halfway.

“KOLD! USE PSYCHIC!” He shouted, not really considering the word choice, so long as the point was made.

Of course, there was always the chance this Kold was actually just a puppet, that Kokujo had been fooled again, but at this point he had more to gain than to lose by trying. If he could break Murk’s isolation strategy, then there was a chance.

You know...I thought fighting you was going to be difficult Murk...you're a creep for sure and pretty tough. But you're not very swift on the uptake are you? I guess most are thrown off by how gross you are and that's enough to intimidate them. But you've made a really dangerous mistake...yet again. You took your eyes off Corbenik again.

*Kyla shifts her focus to Brimmstone who's being pulled away. She had feared cutting his threads might hurt him, but now is unwilling to have Brimmstone separated from the group. She drops down on all fours. A golden light sparks around her hands and feet and seems to build up power. She then leaps into the air, propelled by the golden energy and slices at Brimmstone's tethers with Hien. Her intention is to sever the ties, catch Brimmstone, and land*

(Kold)

As Reishi's heart is snagged by the demonic thread, Kold quickly forms an ice pillar beneath him to propel him towards the thread and grabs onto it. He'll use Reishi's heart as bait to end this.*

(Brimmstone)
*As the tethers are cut, a red light flashes on Brimmstone's back. Upon closer inspection, there's a timed bomb strapped to his back, camouflaged by soot.

The thread was fed into it was "the wire not to cut if you want to deactivate the bomb". The device has an eerie Black Kat Industries insignia on it, and a timer with bright red numbers counting down from 10.....9....8...



*In that moment, blood pours out of the bone and generates Count Orlok von Stoker.*



*He's cut off (heh) when Raiden activates him between the two Murks' attacks. Since Kyla moved out of the way to go after Brimmstone, Orlok is essentially right where Kyla was...between the two copy-Murks' attacks. He's promptly sliced in half...with a stream of blood connecting his chopped off torso.*

"I believe I told you to summon me when you reached the source...." *The stream of blood moves and reconnects the two halves back into one body, not concerned with his superficial wound.

He flicks his wings and sends blood needles outwards, which slice through the bugs, washing away the control Murk had over the souls in Horizon.*

"What an odd realm. To think Mercutio could bring The Fallen's insects here...." *he turns to Raiden.* "Follow that thread to its source. The true Mercutio Crallows will be there."

*Orlok sends a trail of blood down the thread in front of Raiden. They should be able to reach the source that way.*