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Lloyd grew alarmed as he saw that Meteo was looking to make a killing blow. He began to move to try to intercept it. "Hey wait! We don't want him dead, he could be taken in for---" He was interrupted by Emil, Colette, and Jason's attacks knocking Torus off course, which relieved him. The bull-like man hit the ground, where the next part of Jason's attack took effect; earthen chains sprouted and tightly wrapped around his upper body. "Nice catch, you guys!" Lloyd exclaimed, relieved. The swordsman then rushed his way over to where the foe stopped and pointed one of his blades at his head. "It's over..."

Torus made a low growl as he scowled up at Lloyd then looked back to see where his device landed. It was now in the possession of Zaul, who was standing next to the Lamia-woman who caught it. He held it in his right hand with the left hovering over it as he used magic to make currents of electricity flicker along his fingers. He then channeled it into the device until it short-circuited then loudly cracked and fell apart. After dropping the rest of the pieces that remained in his hand, he gave Lloyd a thumbs-up sign.

"...Now come quietly," Lloyd continued, "and maybe we'll go easy on you."

Torus clenched his fists, and his red eyes let out a soft glow before he leaned forward. "I'm not going to..." He mustered enough force to break out of the chains and knocked the tip of Lloyd's blade away with one of his horns. "...go down that easily!" The movement surprised Lloyd. Before he could react further, he quickly shifted so that he could push off from the ground and headbutt him right in the stomach.

"Hwoaarghh!" Lloyd was sent flying back a short distance, but fortunately he caught himself and landed on his feet.

Seeing that Torus was still going to push back, Zaul drew his pistols once more. Torus was seizing the opportunity to retrieve his spear, and along the way, the gunman set a Sessive Bullet barrage on him. However, though all 16 bullets connected along his back, he didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest. Whuh-oh. Think he's startin' ta tip inta his hyper mode, he thought to himself.

Torus reached his spear, finding that it was now in the vines of one of the Mandragora-people. Though looking frightened, he also looked about willing to fight back now that the explosion trigger device was destroyed. He attempted to thrust the spear at Torus, but the bull-man caught it with ease and used it to pull the plant-person closer to him. "You think you can stand a chance against me with that thing gone. That's pathetically amusing," he taunted, before delivering a forceful punch to the abdomen that would blast him clear away. Greatly pained, the Mandragora-man stayed lying on the ground but weakly tried to reach for some of the scattered gels.

Torus was considering finishing him off, but Lloyd had rushed close enough to release that familiar, lion-headed energy blast upon him. "Beast!"

Torus grunted as the blast made a direct hit, and he stumbled forward a bit but did not fall over. "These lowlifes can be disposed of with close to no effort. But I want to have a little fun. I'll take on the challenge of crushing you first." As he faced Lloyd, he wore an insane grin and his eyes were glowing a brighter red...along with his own green Exsphere on his chest. Then, before everyone's very eyes, he started to transform, growing into a hulking black minotaur of about eight feet in height. The armor fell off, too small for his larger frame, but he did gain thickened skin.

The rest of the monster-people that were his minions scrambled to the other side of the battlefield, desperate to keep a great distance away from the greater monster that Torus had become as he let out a loud, guttural bellow.

"Lloyd!" Zaul called out, "At this point, ya can ferget 'bout th' interragatin'. He thinks he can control this, but he can't. If left unchecked, he could rampage inta th' nearest town. An' then...his cohorts'll off 'im anyway fer slippin' like that."

Lloyd sighed. He tried to avoid his fights ending in killing as much as possible, but when it all burned down to it, if the enemy needed to be completely destroyed...it can't be helped. Tightening his grip on his swords, he nodded in understanding at Zaul. "You heard him, guys!" he shouted to the others, "Let's go all out!"

Meteo simply shook his head as the others threw off his killing stroke. They could have saved so much trouble. When the monster began to grow, he already had his axes loose and hurled three in rapid succession at the monster's head while racing on foot to be beneath the monster. He'd make one turn and slash, and it was bye bye legs. Then he'd decapitate it and leave the body to rot.

Both Colette and Emil's eyes were widen as they watched Torus transform into the form of a minotaur. She was thankful for Hina using a healing arte. She would then begin to concentrate. "Thy faithful servant asketh for they blessing. Honor us with the splendor of thy song...Holy Song!" An invigorating light was sent across the entire battlefield, giving all in the group a boost in attack and defense.

Emil glance over to Lloyd for a moment when he mentioned to go all out. "Right! Let's do this!" He would rush at Torus. "Heavenly Tempest!" Jumping into the air, he would deliver two foward slashes at the minotaur before somersaulting in the air as he would slash at him multiple times while being airborne.

Cinkel stood out of the battle for the rest of the fight. He didn't move from his original distance. Once Torus grew in size, he raised a brow, "Oh." He sounded indifferent and kept a smile on his face. "Hmm, if you don't mind, I think it would be best to contain this battle. Wouldn't want him wondering off now, would we? Make sure the fires of battle don't spread." At the final, chant-like sentence, Cinkel snapped his fingers. At that, a white spell circle formed under him and remained there. The spell is meant to keep the battle contain, keeping rubble, fires, and the like from spreading or flying off. He crossed his arms and observed the battles progression.

Cleo stopped attacking at first. She figured the others could handle him, but as Torus grew in size, her mouth dropped. "Wow, that's a huge hunk of meat." She jumped back out of the way and moved to behind their target. "Let's try this. O incandescent locus, annihilate the vulgar before me! Spiral Flare!" Cleo thrust her spear forward and a blast of flame shot forward aimed at the center of her targets back.

The monster-people that were once Torus' minions were left safe outside of Cinkel's containment circle. Anything that happened within couldn't touch them. They watched intently for the minotaur's fall, sticking around after the Lamia-woman who had spoken with Zaul spread the word that he had some way to help them.

Thick skin meant thick skin. Torus raised an arm to shield his face from Meteo's axes, and each one of them got embedded along the forearm. Before the mute could reach him, he leaped into an overhead flip to avoid his blade. Once he touched ground, he pulled off the axes and threw them aside. He had such a strong throw that they reached the boundary of Cinkel's spell circle, but stayed in the air as if they got stuck in an invisible wall. After a few seconds, they simply fell and stayed along that edge.

Indeed, Meteo's initial attack left deep wounds, but he didn't appear fazed in the slightest. There was pain, but he could stand to ignore it.

However, the minotaur was successfully ensnared in Jason's chains. He made an angered bellow as the dwarf tried to trip him up, pulling his leg in the opposite direction as he struggled to keep balance.

Before the creature could make a tug strong enough to fling Jason off, the buffing effects of Colette's Holy Song fully set in for the team. Everyone gained a blue aura of heightened defense, and their weapons took on the red aura signifying increased attack. Being kept in place, he was struck multiple times at the front by Emil's Heavenly Tempest, then was engulfed in a flaming tornado once the blast of Cleo's Spiral Flare reached him. Given no time to act, he was also faced with the onslaught of all twelve arrows of Hina's spell.

Zaul, who had made his way opposite Hina's side, was charging his pistols all the while until he could fire two lightning-charged energy bullets. Once they connected, they set off the Spark Wave effect, exploding into large spheres of electricity.

Being hit with equal force from all sides kept Torus balanced, but that was about to change once Lloyd was running up to him. "Hunting Beast!" The initial blast of energy knocked the monster onto his back. Then, after a flip, the red-clad swordsman sharply descended and plunged the entire length of both his swords into his stomach, the red aura enveloping the blades enabling them to pierce effectively through that thick skin. He let out another guttural roar, starting to cough up blood.

As Lloyd stood upon the creature, starting to pull out his swords, he was grabbed by the waist by one of its big hands and tossed aside. "Whoa!" Fortunately, he was still able to land into a defensive stance on his feet after a mid-air flip.

Relentless, Torus fought his way back up to his feet, revealing wounds at his back that showed that Lloyd had pierced him clean through.

"Man, what is the deal with this thing??" Lloyd ranted in a tone that was a mixture of annoyment and astonishment with a twitch in his eye.

Pure, unhinged rage taking over, the minotaur started to make a blind charge for Colette.

((I know this has been dragging and it's my fault, but it's just about time for everyone to land one last attack? It's just...Torus shouldn't seem like a pushover.))

"'Ho cares, Lloyd me lad? 'E's about ta get a new 'un!" Jason prepared to introduce Torus to his new "deal".
Torus was certainly powerful enough to break free of his entanglement, and the dwarf knew this. Instead of futilely attempting to retain his chains' hold on the leg, he altered his pulling efforts. Instead of trying to pull the leg around, he pulled himself closer to the leg, sending him spiraling through the air in its general direction, following it on its path toward Colette. With a flick and a spin to liberate his chain, he turned around, now slightly to the side of the minotaur. With a nod, he stepped behind the leg to keep Colette out of his upcoming attack's path. "'Scuse me, lass. After Yeh!"
In a strangely floppy (and familiar to those who had experience with a certain gentlemanly monster) move, he kicked at the back of Torus' ankle. While this looked silly at first, it would be anything but when he flipped up his chain to complete his combination.

((I realize I may be posting out-of-turn, but it would be out-of-character for Lloyd not to take some action by now.))

"No! Colette!" The Exsphere on his hand began to make a soft glow. From where he stood, he made quite a broad leap to land in front of Colette and assume a defensive stance, waiting to make his move until Torus was closer.

Torus was too heavy to be lifted into the air by the finishing blast of Emil's attack, but it still did do quite the damage. It caused him to stop and tip to the left, and then he was struck from behind by Jason's attack. That, in turn, made him teeter forward until being blasted by Cleo's Dimensional Suns, and her spear successfully sunk into his shoulder.

Finding this the right opportunity, Lloyd made a jump at Torus' head with an "Omega Tempest!" shredding up his face. After landing all his hits, he kicked off and landed right in front of Colette again.

There was also a soft glow beneath Zaul's eyepatch, but it was hardly noticeable. Having charged another spell all the while, he leaped high into the air that resulted in a flip right over Torus' head at the peak. Pointing his pistols down at the minotaur, he cried, "Freeze Lancer!" He hoped Cleo could avoid the onslaught of his following attack in time. A large arcane circle that glowed light blue appeared at the ends of the barrels, a storm of twenty large icicles raining down from it. The bombardment weighing him down, the hulking minotaur flopped onto its face.

But Torus wasn't quite down for the count just yet. Weakened, but stubborn, he tried to push himself back up to his hooves.

((Since Schwarz, Oro, and Cinkel seem to be sitting this one out, I guess that's two people left to land the finishing blows? Three if Colette's gonna do something after all. xd ))