The chaos sweeping across the field did not scare Tincalconite the way he could see it scaring the enemy. The sight of Queen Laurelite did not scare him. Rather, both of these things exhilarated him. His reproach to Borax for summoning him died on Tincalconite's tongue, withering in the face of that much raw power. He knew instantly that he had no regrets about choosing to align himself with the Negaverse, even if it had initially been done just to save his own life from the man standing next to him.
No matter, that. Tincalconite tasted that power, that sheer negative energy, and he wanted more of it. He glanced surreptitiously up toward Borax. Even if he had to deal with that b*****d bossing him around, the access to power would be worth it. Besides–he would get his in the end. He would not have to labour under Borax forever. All it would take would be one moment of weakness on Borax's part.
Tincalconite resolved to wait for that moment of weakness, to bide his time in the meantime. And in the meantime, that meant sharing some of the burden that Faustite was dealing with. No matter. He'd do it gladly.
The sheer, incredible power the Queen unleashed had Diaboleite in awe.
He knew that he knew nothing, when it came to the greater mechanics of this seemingly never-ending war. He knew that every answer he had was only a piece. And that hearing about things wasn’t the same as witnessing the sheer power of a Queen in action.
He had no idea how spectacular it would be.
It had seemed impossibly large, before. But now?
Now, it seemed much more like something they could beat.
Diaboleite held his spear at the ready. They would bring that thing down, and when they did, they would lock it away. And he would be ready to make that happen.
Dark Mirror Eternal Lacerta Location: H9 Action: On edge from the display of power that has just taken place. Still under a protected area of shielding but taking a closer look at the section that is bowing under pressure.
There was nothing funny or amazing about the amount of power wielded by one member of the Negaverse. Acubens had once mentioned to her that she couldn't trust the other chaotically aligned organization and perhaps this was what she meant. If that amount of energy was turned onto their small group or Mirrorspace what would happen? Even as a Mirror senshi of Eternal ranking did the woman pale momentarily at the implications.
The energy seemed to have affected the beast that they'd all come to fight. With each second that it had been in the direct line of fire did it seem to shrink down in size. What used to be a single bus-sized scale that could crush with impunity now seemed to be only car sized. A dozen of these car-sized scales broke off from the creature and even though nine seemed to hit some sort of shielding that had sprung up and splintered, ricocheting back up into the sky to strike the thing they'd all gathered to fight. The other three scales struck the shield but did nothing but sit there. The weight of the things began to buckle the shield and while two of the affected areas were further away from the small group of the court present, the final scale was resting all too close for comfort. She edged closer to the affected portion of the shield in order to stare up at the scale resting there before knowing that nothing would get her to move into a space with that sort of lingering threat resting above her head.
Serpentine eyes narrowed as Surtur watched the horrible blast of Chaos come from the abyss and into the Calamitous Hollow.
But what was that power? It made his skin crawl and his heart race. He didn’t want to alarm Rainier or Helene, but he felt an awful sense of dread wash over him.
And then a moment of reprieve when he heard a familiar voice.
“Beira,” he greeted, although it was much less enthusiastically than he normally would have greeted his friend. He stepped forward and placed an arm around him in a tight, hug. He already had a hand out to make sure Rainier stayed close, so he pulled her closer as well and squeezed them both.
“Your good health is most reassuring. Please, accompany us as we prevent the end of the world,” he said as he took a step back, nodding to Rainier as well.
Corrupt Sailor Industria Location: A8 Action: Standing with Cryptomelane to back up everyone in A7 as necessary!
Industria had let Cryptomelane bring her to stand near the General with the spike, and near Jet, and then she had frozen in her tracks, in awe.
“Oh,” she said, softly. “Is this…truly the power we have?”
Perhaps not her, herself. Perhaps she would never reach such lofty heights as their Queen, effortlessly commanding a blast so powerful it sent scales falling from a creature large enough to consume worlds. But if the Negaverse was truly capable of such things?
Oh, Industria was so glad Cryptomelane had brought her in in time to witness this glorious sight.
“Well. Let us stand ready. We need that spike in its tail, no?” She sighed. “Do you think we could find a way to get a hand on one of its scales? I’d love to study that, too.” Ever entranced by the possibilities before her. But she wasn't inclined to go running for one, just yet. Far too large. Perhaps if they shrunk it further....
Danube didn't have magic of any kind, but that just meant she wasn't the right person for the job this time. There was plenty of time for her to lend a hand later. Assuming Cybele was able to succeed in getting the spike out of the snake's tail, of course. And if not her, then someone. The only other path Danube could see that would lead to successfully trapping the snake was to lure it down wholesale and hope that the connection held and trapped it down there.
Down there, with all of them.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, crossing her fingers that someone would be able to boost Cybele's shot. It would make enduring that horrible wave of chaos worth it, to be able to drag down the snake the blast had been aimed at.
Varuna smiled softly at Adria, holding both hands to give them a squeeze.
“I look forward to reading it. I’m excited as well. And proud of you and what you’ve accomplished,” she said just loud enough that he could hear her over the noise around them.
And then the sickening blast of Chaos colliding with the serpent.
She pulled Adria a bit closer as she looked up, watching the shield spread across the field above them.
“I don’t think it will hold. We should find the others, but I do not know which way to look,” she admitted. But they would be going home, there was no question about that. They had no other choice.
Connie would have liked to stare into the sky some more, but things took a scary turn. Not only did the Negaverse Queen rise up to unleash some horrible blast on the giant serpent in the sky, but giant scales began showering down on them as well!
She squeaked in distress, immediately turning to shrink against Belmont, as though doing so would make them less of a target.
“Maybe this was a bad idea!” she gasped in alarm, momentarily relieved about some kind of shield that appeared over them, but. Oh! She didn’t mean to cling so much! Was it weird for him that she liked being next to him all the time? He was safe! And so nice! And was always fun to be around.
“Thank you for being here with me! I always worry about these places having bugs,” she laughed, but whimpered with a displeased grimace as well.
Eternal Sailor Elsa Location: E10 Action: With Muri's group; speaking to Namaka and offering Muri help
Elsa felt his heart twist a little, when Murikabushi kissed him back.
He’d had a lot of doubts, this entire time. A lot of fears about how Murikabushi might feel about the man who’d brought him into the Court. But the truth was—he’d loved him all along, had known that for longer than he’d been able to say, and had simply accepted that friendship was all he needed, that romance was off the table.
But he was tired of making assumptions that got in the way of his own happiness. Wasn’t that supposed to be what he’d chosen to get himself away from? Wasn’t that supposed to be what he was free of?
“Of course I do,” he said. And he went, standing firm next to Murikabushi, glad to see all the people gathering around them.
Even when Laurelite ripped the ******** sky open to take shots at the beast.
It hurt. Being exposed to pure, unadulterated Chaos like this made his starseed ache. Made a tiny part of him—very tiny, and very quickly quashed—wonder if he’d made a mistake, leaving the Mirror, if maybe there wasn’t something to what Chaos was selling—
No. That was safety at the expense of the person he wanted to be. And Elsa was never going to make that choice ******** me sideways,” he breathed quietly. “What the s**t is that.”
Not that anyone around him was going to have an answer to that question.
He saw the poor, scared Senshi (Namaka) and gave her what he hoped was a welcoming smile.
“Stick with us,” he told her. “You’ll be safer here. We all will be.” The poor thing was probably terrified out of her mind by that show of power. Which honestly was probably a more reasonable response than getting pissed. Alas, Elsa had never been reasonable.
His eyes drifted to Murikabushi, holding the spike.
“Are you okay?” He asked. “What can we do?”
Quote:
there are a lot of people here so i only quoted the folks elsa is directly interacting with, but ilu all!
Kamacite didn’t know what to expect, but he was grateful to be with two people he was quickly growing to trust. He knew Lopezite from missions, of course. But he was glad to get to know him a little better in the previous weeks. Even if they were only trying to figure out ways to protect Earth from being destroyed.
Jasper was the same. Kamacite wasn’t sure how to feel about him, but he was quiet and polite and even if he had a brother that Kamacite couldn’t stand, Jasper himself was very observant and attentive.
Kamacite quietly thanked him for keeping him upright, because he doubted he would have remained stable without assistance.
Not knowing what to expect was one thing, but the power of Metallia being unleashed was both terrifying and welcoming. He didn’t know how much extra energy they all had stored up, but surely it was a significant enough blow to make a difference.
“The Velencians made a shield?” he asked in astonishment as he looked up at the dome above them. He could see a scale that hadn’t broken apart, lodged in the barrier. He was worried it would break through and hurt those under it. Thankfully, it seemed as though many had already moved away.
Once again, he couldn’t help but hope the Negaverse wouldn’t change their stance on whether or not they considered their own senshi as aliens.
Captain Sodalite Location: G9 Action: Feeling his skin crawl with the impressive blast of energy directed by Laurelite.
The effects of the passage through time and space were finally diminishing to a degree where Sodalite knew that he could effectively battle once more. Looking out from where their group was positioned did the Captain notice, for the first time, the huddled group of other chaotically-aligned individuals clustered together around their own royal. These people were an anomaly to him as he'd never actually met a Dark Mirror Senshi yet. Maybe he would have to remedy that.
Only seconds later did the Captain recoil just a little at the impressive display of power that Queen Laurelite put on. It was effective at seemingly taming the beast by a small amount as the creature got smaller and just a little bit slower. The scales that rained down never connected with the ground and Sodalite saw the flickering shield that had sprung up before simply counting his blessings. The team was safe, for now, and that was all that mattered. He shifted his grip on the staff portion of the whip that was his weapon before finally deciding to slip the bracelet onto his wrist proper. It was better to be safe than sorry.
Seeing Hatsya ask for, and receive, one of Prehnite's daggers in order to equip Hylonome caused the Captain a little bit of consternation. Would the other corrupt even know how to use the weapon handed over to her?
Shanyume
Hatsya
MiddyGlow
Actaea
Shiningamisgirl
Prehnite
Super Corrupt Hylonome Location: G9 Action: On edge from the display of power witnessed .. and getting a dagger from Hatsya via Prehnite. Debating what to do.
The look that she caught from Prehnite after feeling her goosebumps subside had Hylonome turning her gaze away from him for a moment. There was some sort of point that her general was trying to get across to her in brief contact that their eyes had met and even though no words were said, the corrupt knew the gist of what he was trying to communicate with her.
Shaking her head slowly did Hylonome try to ignore the pinched feeling of guilt that washed over her before catching movement from the corner of her eye. Turning back around to watch the interaction between Hatsya and Prehnite. What was Hatsya doing asking for a dagger? Teal eyes followed the movements as Hatsya gave Prehnite a gentle kiss on the cheek before moving to stand in front of her. The dagger that she'd taken from Prehnite was placed in her hand and she stared down at it before hearing the instruction to keep them safe.
Hylonome continued to stare down at the dagger before fighting the impulse to simply throw it down on the ground. She didn't exactly feel like she deserved it and it came from Prehnite. But now was clearly not the time and place to disagree with her teammate. "I don't think I know how to fight with a weapon," and here Hylonome paused to lock her gaze with Hatsya, "but I'll do my best."
The grip on Prehnite's dagger tightened in response before she cast a glance back at the general before closing her eyes. The dagger simply felt wrong in her grasp but she would try to get used to the heft and motion. She was a healer, not a fighter so this was going to either end well or very very badly.
Captain Akaganeite Location: A7 Action: Answering Reidite and Ako, in awe of the Queen
What a show.
Akaganeite watched the cannon blast into the Calamitous Hollow. Watched it shrink under the assault. And saw the flicker of metal in its tail.
“Well,” she said, just loud enough for Reidite to hear, “there’s our sixth spike.”
It seemed as if they were perhaps not as doomed as they’d feared.
She longed, suddenly, for a bow and arrow. It felt as if one ought to be in her hands—and not for the first time, she wondered what sort of Knight she had been. What she had wielded. Perhaps that was it.
But now, as Akaganeite, she had her blade, and that would have to do.
Ako drew her full attention in an instant, though. And her heart stopped, for just an instant.
She had not feared the word herself, had only waited because Ako seemed so skittish of all of it. But apparently, the end of the world was inspiring, even if perhaps Akaganeite felt like the end was not so much on the horizon anymore.
”Daisuki da yo,” she said, softly, in return, bringing Ako’s hand up to her lips. She only had a moment to luxuriate in it, though, because her eyes flicked back to the monster in the sky.
“Let us fight for each other, then. To ensure we both go home.”
Har was taken by surprise by the very affectionate and abrupt display of affection by the senshi in the coat to Muri. And judging by the look on Muri’s face, he was also incredibly taken by surprise. A blush creeped across her cheeks as she practically swooned at the display. It was so romantic and tragic. She didn’t really know the two, but she hoped with all her being that this all turned out well for them all.
They no sooner made it to the location pulling Muri to it, when Queen Laurelite’s signature seemed to drown everything out. Har felt physically sick from the sensation of all of that energy. It felt so wrong in a way she couldn’t explain.
But it was at least used against the serpent above.
Things didn’t get better though. The serpent (dragon maybe? Dragon sounded more epic and went with the tales in her books) didn’t seemed all that phased. Sure it got smaller and all, but it didn’t even look at them.
The magic of the spikes was a curious thing. And she watched in fascination as it reached for the serpent/dragon.
Scales fell around them and she flinched for the sounds of them hitting a shield that was erected just in time.
It was chaos to the Eternal.
”Um. Look, I am not sure if this is helpful right now or not, but maybe I can help someone maybe reach the last spike? My magic, uh…it can increase power and strength.” Her voice was soft, probably just barely audible over the sounds around them, but she addressed everyone there. Her green eyes shifted from one person to the other in curiosity.
It was moments like this that she regretted her lack of knowing others and their abilities. She may be more useful if she knew whom she should be assisting.
Captain Nagyagite Location: E9 Action: Approaching Murtikabushi's group, then hesitating and stopping a square away!
At least that General was off somewhere else now, so whatever his game was, Nagyagite didn’t have to worry about it.
Not that he was feeling much reassured.
He could recognize a show of power when it was in front of him. Could recognize the kind fo peacocking that Laurelite was doing, and it was working.
Maybe it hadn’t been meant to intimidate her own people, but it sure as ******** was intimidating him.
A reminder: the Negaverse was powerful. Inescapable.
And yet.
Nagyagite found his feet moving almost on their own. Not towards one of the Generals, which would have been safer and smarter. No, towards an Order Eternal with big, fancy skirts (Murikabushi) because he would rather help them. It wasn’t Order that was likely to turn treacherous after this, he was pretty sure.
But he hesitated, again. Close, but not quite all the way. Maybe he was still too afraid to take those last few steps, or maybe he didn’t want to startle the rather large group over there. Either way, he was close enough that he could get involved if things got sticky.
Half-youma General Lavendulan and Personal Youma - Tallulah Location: I4 moving to H3 Action: Putting her sparkling earring on Wolframite, knowing he's itching to fight the creature in the sky, bringing Staurolite with her.
All of her senses felt overwhelmed.
Shielding her eyes from the blinding white energy that arched like lighting from the spike Benoitoite held on to. One connected to another held by a spike-bearer elsewhere, while the other flailed freely like a whip seeking a grounding point that they did not have.
There was so much chatter that it was difficult to discern what anyone was saying and then there was the crashing sound of something inexplicably large slamming into a shield that had suddenly appeared. Tallulah bucked, kicking his hind legs wildly until she was able to grab hold of his beard and make him stand still.
Her skin prickled with the sensation of charged air around them, it hummed like a live wire, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end.
She turned towards Wolframite who had a look of pride on his face as he watched Queen Laurelite’s display of awe-inspiring power. A devoted General through and through. But she knew that inside the Warden was snarling, snapping it’s teeth, salivating at the prospect of rending scales and flesh with sharp claws and powerful jaws.
He would leave and she would not stop him, such was the nature of a hunter such as him. Keeper, though agitated, did not seek a bloody battle the same way his feral instincts demanded.
She carefully unclasped the silver cuff from her own ear, then reached up to place it on his. Her finger traced a gentle line along the outer edge of his ear as she adjusted it before she quietly stepped back.
“I don’t feel comfortable being this close to the lightning,” she spoke loud enough for Wolframite and Staurotlite to hear. “I need to move,” Lavendulan’s gaze settled on the Captain with the expectation that he would come with her.
One moment, Ran was greeting the newcomers who were helping guard the spike holder, the next he was awash with chaos as a woman that radiated it ascended a magic staircase and blasted the snake. For one long, terrible moment, all Ran could see was a form twisting, warping, crystals growing out of it.
For one long, terrible moment, he imagined that he could feel the same crystals growing from his own flesh and bone.
One moment, the woman from the Negaverse side was attacking the snake, the next, Stromboli felt himself plunged into a nauseatingly icy pit of despair as the chaos hit him. It was a pit that, for a second, Stromboli did not see a way out of. It seemed to stretch on and on, and even thought of escape seemed too daunting to even try. What was he doing there? What did he think he could possible accomplish--
A low, terrified moan brought him out of it, and he turned his head to see Ran staring straight ahead but seeing nothing. It was a look Stromboli recognized, though he had not seen it in a very long time. "Hey, hey." He didn't touch Ran, but he did get in front of him, leaning down to be eye-to-eye. "You're okay." Stromboli repeated this calmly, and again, and again, especially when Ran began to respond to it.
When Ran's eyes finally snapped to Stromboli's, Stromboli relaxed and only now did he put a hand on Ran's shoulder. "See? You're okay."
Onasilos turned his focus back to the senshi with the spike when it looked like the boy was being taken care of. Not a trained soldier, then. Onasilos thought back to the child in the animal suit he had conversed with. It was truly a dire situation if the powers that be were awakening all of these senshi unprepared, or even as children. Or maybe it was just more common in other societies for their senshi to awaken so young–
He couldn't afford to be distracted. The blast of chaos had twisted his stomach in knots in ways that he was taking long, slow, deep breaths to counteract. Memories of the last survivors of his world flashed across his mind, and Onasilos grit his teeth and shoved it away.
