Order efforts are paying off — the tides of the operation are beginning to shift!
There are now fewer youma under direct control, thanks to Oberon and Perdita! Plans to trap Order and the on-site Princess have been leaked thanks to Puck! Sumner, Ganymede, Megrez, Pendour and others (infer NPCs) have made progress in distracting officers!
However, there's still a very large Chaos presence that's armed with energy and starseeds!
Puck growled as he felt Faustite's clenched fist being pushed further into his mouth, but he just bit harder, tasting the General's burnt blood. He was getting to Faustite, he knew it. Pissing the man off so that he was distracted from sending orders and giving commands that hurt civilians and Order operatives alike. If he was to be a sacrificial lamb to the cause, so be it.
Then the copse withered and vanished -- great timing, that.
Exposed to the full wrath of Faustite, Puck felt himself pulled down into a tuck; before he could brace himself or react with a punch or a head-butt, he was jettisoned high into the air and crashed through one of the Farnsworth Building's huge windows, landing on his back in some office on the third floor. Gasping after having been kicked in the stomach, the wind knocked out of him from his landing, he spat out the combined mix of the youma General's blood and his own, the spittle staining his white uniform tunic. "s**t," he muttered, "that hurt."
He lay there for a minute to catch his breath, letting the water from the sprinkler spray over him, before getting up. Running to the window, he looked down to assess where he was and more importantly, where Faustite was. His foe had already left the scene, apparently, but his youma squid was still with the Corrupt, which was good -- meant Faustite was after Puck and not issuing more orders.
Then an idea came to him. With a grin, he trotted out into the hall and found the emergency stairwell. Opening the door, he called out with a sing-song bratty voice, "Oi, that mean General Faustite yeeted me arse onto the third floor! I sure hope he don't find me to finish the job!" His words echoed hollowly up and down and through the rest of the building -- he was bound to be heard somewhere by Faustite. Maybe he could lure him into a fight to keep him occupied and therefore unable to execute his plan!
Her gaze slipped to the Page who arrived from the alleyway. There was no familiarity rising in her chest when she looked her over. She didn't think that the woman saw a ghost in Cybele's face, the way that the others that were kind to her had, and yet there was a warmth in her voice as she offered help.
Ganymede's questions were calm but pointed, even as the other senshi continued her fit of rage. Cybele thought about snapping something about how she wouldn't have been taken if she hadn't been wanted, but she held her tongue. She didn't particularly care what that one thought.
Not- not that she cared what Ganymede thought, exactly, but something about her questions had Cybele dangerously close to doing more than answering reflexively.
They had her close to thinking.
The feeling of a General on her heels cut that temptation short.
"Of course I reported you," she said. Her shoulders raised in a shrug. "We're enemies."
Although she still felt the expectant gaze of everyone on her, even as the General came into earshot. She pressed her lips together, breathing quickly, and then quoted, "I am in blood stepped so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as to go o'er." Her voice was low and gravely, as if it were a threat, but there was something about the set of her eyes that suggested it might be something more.
She took a step back, some of the odd feeling in her head fading as she looked Benitoite directly in the face. "They've caught on to the trap," she said. "Suggestions?"
Sami-Fire
Sunshine Alouette
Ask those questions in 24 hours and you might get a different answer haha
Pendour squinted. "Who is it that leads the Generals?" she asked. It was an educated guess that there even was such a position. She did not know much about the upper ranks of the Negaverse, but she could feel the dark auras of Generals all around, now, nearly swarming the area. With as rigid of a structure as the organization had, she couldn't imagine that they had so many leaders.
"How likely is it that you'll end up the one leading something like this before they let you reach that height?" Her tone went slightly softer as he handed her his victim and agreed to lay low, although she could tell that his head was still twisted up by Chaos in its own way.
Another time, if they were both in better headspaces, she would have pushed more, maybe, but as it was, she settled the woman in her arms and turned back to Takamizawa, finally giving herself a single second to look over his wings.
"A Princess?" she said, focusing on the auras again. There were powerful ones, true, but none that were quite as overwhelming as a Royal's. "There's people on the edges of things, so that should be okay, right?"
Well, okay might be a strong word, but at least it was being watched over.
She nodded towards the building that was still blaring with alarms. "Should we make sure nobody is suffocating or something in there, once I get her taken care of?" There were auras in the building, too, but they were Order and Chaos alike, and that meant injured people might be caught in the crossfire.
The returned kick struck her squarely; the cold held her so stiffly that she pulled a muscle in her side trying to get away, and still failed to avoid the attack. She'd stumbled with it, tripped over her own two legs for how frosty they were, but Pavo kept herself upright. Whatever that magic was, it was assuredly more useful than hers.
"C-can't let you k-k-keep killing people out here," she got out between frosty breaths. There had to be more senshi, she told herself. She could feel them. She just had to reach them.
She knew she was outmatched — she could feel it both in the strength of the spell and the aura of her attacker. Had the youma not left, she'd likely be in dire straits by now. That left her with one option —
She spun toward him, extended a kick that was meant more to keep him away than connect, and threw herself off this building and onto the next. She had to go looking for help. She had to have an ally on her side to take down someone more powerful than her.
sleet tempest snape
sorry for slowness!
noir songbird
permission to accidentally run across your lovelies instead of order?
Faustite shook out his hand; the gnarled, blackened lacerations on his knuckles stood out hardly at all compared to the blood that gushed down Kamacite's face, but pain coursed heavy through his hand, and he couldn't straighten his fingers completely. He held his bleeding hand out in a vague claw shape, let it drip until it coagulated as he approached the building.
The only broken window on this side of the Farnsworth was the very window that Puck shattered with his flimsy human body. The flamebound General leapt for it, tucked into a somersault, and landed on the third floor after breaking away another spray of glass.
Inside, only natural light was available. The electricity had cut due to the fire alarms that screeched the same echoing pattern, and sprinkler heads steadily filled and degraded every wood-based surface. The first patters of droplets startled Faustite — he wiped the steam from his cheek quickly, then glanced at his unprotected core — but he soon accepted that his vital fire seemed unaffected. He stalked further in, pulling his hood up as he went.
"You're a useless piece of s**t, Puck." Faustite glanced over the cubicles as he passed them, checked under their desks and behind their chairs for the source of the frustratingly difficult to source aura. "Your magic lasts about thirty seconds. Less if I burn it down." His overgrown fingernails scraped slowly along the top of a cubicle.
Puck, still in the hallway holding the stairwell door open, heard more glass break in the office he'd landed in -- then he heard talking over the droning fire alarm. Even though he couldn't make out the words being said, he knew who it had to be without even trying to detect the aura. Faustite must have followed him up that way instead of through the building. That was okay, though, he could still taunt him. He could still have his fun.
Jamming the stairwell door so it wouldn't shut, he quietly slipped down the stairs to the second floor, opening the door down there. He held the door open with his body and used his best punk singing voice to project throughout the stairwell. "Fauuustiiiiite, come out and plaaaaay-yaaaaay! Fauuuustiiiiite, come out and plaaaaay-yaaaaaay!"
Then he quietly closed the stairwell door and took off for the first office he could find, leaping over the counter in front of the desks and cubicles to play hide-and-seek.
Strickenized
Posted: Thu May 27, 2021 7:49 pm
General Benitoite.
Making his approach, quick and short steps, as the cape he wore was unfastened and sent off to subspace. He didn't need his cape getting in his way, it was too much long trailing fabric, and his coat even came off and was also vanished. Again, more fabric than he needed and it would cause over heating.
As he heard Cybele he found his head nodding. "Understood. I suggest a strong hand be used in cases like this. We may all be strong enough to force the issue with this one." Nodding his head towards Ganymede. He was familiar with her, very familiar, and as the grip on his weapon tightened he relaxed. He didn't have the worry over where the Royal was hanging over his head - he knew where they were. He didn't like surprises, especially this sort, he felt better knowing things.
"You're alright Cybele?" Taking the time to look her over, clearly looking for injuries and anything she might be trying to hide. "I can't say I have energy or starseeds to offer but I'm sure I can find a youma who does." And he was sure any youma with a starseed would offer it to her if he asked nicely. Gray eyes glanced towards those they were facing now, he didn't trust the senshi not to attack whilst they were busy talking. "It's been a long time since we've crossed paths. I take it you're well also..." Trailing off as he tilted his head a bit.
"I was going to go on a bit of a killing spree if I had to in order to force you to show yourself. Looks like some lives have been spared." Oh so casually the words spilled from his lips, and why shouldn't they? It wasn't like he was new to killing, far from it.
"Arsenopyrite, I do hope you're prepared. This isn't going to be an easy fight I can assure you." He might not like Ganymede, not one bit, but he also didn't think her some weak and insignificant senshi either. He wasn't so stupid.
He was successful in getting the Youma to back off for a moment but felt himself falling to the ground where he hit his side, luckily not on his arm, and for the moment had the wind knocked out of him. He looked to see who had decided to fight with him and it appeared to be a Senshi on the Nega side. Just his luck. There was no way he could beat the Senshi just by raw strength and his magic was a buff/debuff, he couldn't get around to playing his harp while he was fighting.
For the moment he caught a breath and was able to roll away from the Youma that had attempted to eat him once again. Still, he had to make sure to keep away from the Senshi if possible, and he could tell that the Youma was trying to move him in the direction of the building as it kept attacking from one side. He only barely hopped to his feet, but knew that the Senshi could try to use their magic again and he had no idea how far it lasted, if he had to be looking, whatever.
The Youma was the main problem though. Even if it was harder for the Senshi to attack him, it was still 2 versus one, and unless someone came to help him, then he might just have an arm ripped off or whatever a Youma preferred to do to Knights. Still, he could only try his best and hopefully not get eaten by the youma...
It appeared that the Captain was backing off for now, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the Captain mentioning that if he joined the ranks of General that this wouldn't happen again. "Yeah, I don't think that's how it works." Especially if they had others above the Generals.
He made sure to keep an eye on the Captain as the Squire faced him. He gave her a shrug when she asked her question. "I've never met one in person. I've heard there aren't too many of them, and even less active ones. So if there's one around here, we might be able to turn the situation in our favor, though I don't know how powerful they were." Were they twice as powerful as Eternals? He didn't know, and unless they could find the Princess who he was sure would have quite the aura standing out if she was in her Princess mode or whatever, then they probably wouldn't be able to tell who she was just by looking.
He thought about her question for a small moment. "We can, though I suggest that we don't go in if we can help it. They got all of those people out of the building for a reason. Though I doubt they left the building totally empty of Agents. We need to keep our eyes out for any Chaos trickery." He said, giving the Captain a look. He held his hand out to the Squire. "I'll help you get away from here with her so that we can put her down somewhere safe if you still want to see if we can get in."
Arseno had followed Beni and it appeared that they were now with a Corrupted Eternal and another Eternal that appeared to be some sort of musical stage-show performer. He had to make sure he didn't say that out loud with his still sleep-deprived brain only having a bit of stimulus to it. Apparently she was a Princess? Like an Earth Princess or Senshi Princess? Were there King and Queen Senshi?
He blinked, trying to keep a focus on the situation ahead of him. His brain managed to interpret the noises that found their way to his ears about Beni killing people or something. Arseno hoped he pulled some starseeds or energy, otherwise that would have been a waste.
And Beni said it wouldn't be an easy fight. He decided he wouldn't summon his Youma, just in case it could be dusted, and he didn't want to lose the honker, even if he hadn't seen it in ages. He decided not to summon his weapon for the moment, in case it could be used for surprise. And he didn't want to hit himself with it somehow. "As ready as I'll be." He said back to the other General.
He had just been doing some parkour as a civilian, the sun in the background making it a bit more interesting to try it out as the shadows made some places a bit harder to see where they were, but he had been able to move around without hitting himself.
Until he literally ran into a Youma that appeared to have been trying to chase after something. What it was he couldn't tell, but they had tumbled as he had crashed full speed into it and they were both dazed for a moment before the Youma realized that he was a civilian, and that he realized the Youma was a Youma.
The Youma went to pounce on him, but in that moment he had taken out his pen, transformed, and immediately punched the Youma, dusting it.
For a moment he wondered why such a thing was here, but when he felt the auras of Chaos and Order mixing, something had been going on that he had clearly missed and so he decided to move into the direction of where he thought it was concentrating. It was hard to tell though with all of the alleyways, but getting on a roof he could see that the Farnsworth building appeared to be the epicenter if the others on roofs and the people moving away from it was any indication.
He headed towards the front of it and when he looked down, could see that a Squire was attempting to fight both a Youma and an Eternal at the same time. That just wasn't fair now was it espcially since Caliban didn't know what the Eternal's powers were like. Still, he had to give the Squire a helping hand and jumped down right on top of the Youma before sending a punch its way and yelling "Seal Matrix!" Immediately dusting the Youma as he hit it.
He looked at the Eternal that had been going after the Squire. "Looks like it's a bit more even between you two now isn't it?" He said, glaring at the Eternal Corrupt.
Quote:
Seal Matrix When he hits an opponent with his fists, causes them to be temporarily paralyzed for 15 seconds, where he hit his opponent (the same was as in the basic attack), but can be used 4 times. If he hits in quick succession, then the effect stacks (so if he hits twice quickly, that's 8 seconds). However, for the stack effect to take place, he must hit a different spot. He cannot hit the same spot. Starting at this stage his hands glow as he is about to hit.
Guine
Apologies if you get 3 quotes from me! Wanted to throw another character in, he does not have to fight Kamacite, he was really just used for dusting that Youma, I can have him move elsewhere
Posted: Thu May 27, 2021 9:36 pm
Super Corrupt Miyamoto
"Keep killing? I've yet to start....and the only people I want to kill are your kind." She was the sort of person he wanted to kill, and here she was already at his mercy. Approaching her again, his intent more than clear, he was going to kill her. He'd never killed before but he was sure he could do it, his dislike and hate for the white moon strong as it was, he was sure he could yank her starseed and find Wolframite and show it to him. He would show it to the half youma before he turned it in, let him know and see that bringing him in was not for nothing.
He wasn't expecting her sudden move, sudden and risky as it was, and stumbled back. Landing on the ground, as he caught on his toes, he watched as she went off the roof top and onto the next one. So she was running away. Laughing, as the ground under him turned to frost, he took his time in climbing to his feet. His tail bone, and his a**, hurt from the landing. He'd also scraped up the palm of a hand and bent his wrist in a bad way, that landing had not gone very well.
Staggering to his feet, his balance a bit off at the moment, the super corrupt senshi took off as soon as his feet were under him properly. He took off after the retreating senshi - he wasn't letting her get away from him. Trailing frost after him, with every step he made, it was only because it vanished when he got far enough away that kept him from being easy to track and find.
"I'm coming for you little senshi." Spoken to himself more than anything as he went after the senshi he'd just fought. Hopefully she crossed paths with someone else on his side.
Squiddy burbled at Kamacite, as if that was supposed to mean anything to the Eternal. The creature still clutched Faustite's communicator in one arm, considered it, then decided that it wasn't a fitting bludgeoning or cutting tool. Besides, it was Faustite's, and that meant the squid had to take care of it.
Like this bloody Eternal.
Where his new senshi companion raced off, the squid followed, legs articulating through the air too quickly to look graceful. Where Kamacite jumped, Squiddy propelled himself to the same height. Where Kamacite was kicking at the back of the Squire's leg, Squiddy was only seconds behind. It saw a distant friend — a youma that Squiddy had spent some time with in the Rift, and even gotten to know as Faustite spent his years there, but an enemy Eternal (Caliban) careening out of the sky had crushed it beneath his magic. To this, Squiddy blew a stream of angry bubbles.
But the youma would regenerate, and Kamacite was attacking someone else. With no one to tell it what to do, Squiddy swished around the pair until it could reach for the Squire's (Sumner) arms, intending to impede his movements and make him an easier target for Faustite's friend.
In answer to Megrez’s shock, Ganymede gave a single shake of her head.
No, she would not be going with them. Not willingly, anyway. Years ago, when they invaded the Dark Kingdom, she’d been prepared to sacrifice herself so that her allies might be able to escape; she’d nearly done it, too. But this situation was not like that. There were many avenues of escape, and they were in broad daylight. Surely the Negaverse wouldn’t risk too much collateral damage in the heart of the city, in the middle of the afternoon, when they could not hide their darkness and their schemes as effectively.
Ganymede sensed the auras approaching, but gave Cybele her undivided attention instead of seeking them out. Two more Generals approached from the ground (Benitoite and Arsenopyrite), another from… somewhere (Aquamarine) — not as close as the others, but not distant enough that it wasn’t a concern. Alongside Cybele, their strength was formidable.
To face them, Ganymede had Megrez — strong, dependable, and experienced, but a bit emotional, perhaps, in the face of a former ally — and a new Page (Paradise) who Ganymede suspected would be even less willing to harm someone than Valhalla typically was.
Not the worst odds, but victory was also far from assured.
She let Cybele and the two Generals have their brief little chat, staring sadly at Cybele all the while, but listening, too, though she showed no concern or fear. To Megrez, Ganymede whispered low, “Get ready. Do whatever you can to protect that Page.”
Then, when Benitoite greeted her, Ganymede smiled and said, “You should heed your own advice, Benitoite. If Laurelite couldn’t kill me with an army at her back, this isn’t likely to go in your favor.”
She didn’t give him the chance to respond. All at once, she pressed the app for another distress signal on her phone, murmured, “Searing Passion!” and directed her magic toward Benitoite. With that accomplished, she drew upon the well of strength within herself, bright and glowing, standing before them not as an Eternal Senshi, but as a Princess.
Brilliant and powerful, coupled with the distress signal, the sudden flare of Ganymede’s aura seemed to say, This way. Come to me.
Guine
Sami-Fire
stari_maga
SSBrosB
Sleet Tempest Snape
Eternal Sailor Attack:Searing Passion The enemy's focus temporarily narrows upon a single, abstract desire that manifests itself in a physical sensation, a heating of the body that grows progressively stronger throughout the duration of the attack, until the target feels as if they are burning up from the inside. They're likely to feel weak and disoriented once the attack has burned itself out.
The attack itself reaches its peak after about 45 seconds, and can only be used on a single enemy within a twenty foot radius. While it could be used twice if absolutely necessary, it is physically draining on Ganymede and would commonly only be used once during battle.
Quote:
Ganymede has sent out another distress signal and also powered up op Princess, so... big, bright aura!
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
Sleet Tempest Snape
Noble Vampire
Offline
Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 12:59 pm
General Benitoite
Finally, she had decided to show her true colors. He would have been happy but she had attacked him and he couldn't exactly feel happy whilst dealing with her magic and the heat it brought with it. He had been under the assault of her magic before btu it had been awhile, something he was greatful for, he did not like her magic. It was right up there with Kallichore's magic.
But that wasn't on his mind right now, not much was honestly. All that seemed to be on his mind was something he wanted - no - something he needed. What it was he wasn't sure...it wasn't a thing or a person but rather something he wanted to feel but putting a name to it was difficult. As he felt himself warming up, made worse by the uniform he wore, he was tempted to remove a bit more of the clothing he wore but managed to not do so. The heating though was becoming more than a simple discomfort and more than a simple over heating.
Soon his attention was off whatever feeling he wanted and more on the overwhelimg heat he felt - too hot. Grasping as his clothing and curling inward as he grit his teeth. Late he might consider how weak he must look, not something he ever wanted to look in front of others, but as he gasped and panted he tried to hold himself as together as possible - which wasn't very much at all.
Sweating, his bangs sticking to the sides of his face, he felt like he might pass out. The sway in the step he took had him stumbling and winding up in a crouch on the ground.
After what seemed like forever the heat started to melt away before vanishing all together, like a cool breeze sweeping through him. It wasn't all so sudden but that sudden change left him letting out a sigh of pleasure, of greatfulness, as he looked up from where he'd been looking at his feet. "I always did hate you for a reason." Not just because they were a senshi but because their magic was vicious. He could appreciate it but he would appreciate it more if Ganymede was on their side and using it against knights and senshi. Instead he had to suffer her magic.
Somewhere along the line he'd dropped his spear and was now summoning it back into his hand, planning to use it to support himself back onto his feet. Though it wobbled as did he, he really hated Ganymede and her magic. Righting himself finally he shook his head. "At least everyone knows where you are now." Which was what he wanted. He wanted every officer to know right where she was - so they could converge on her.
Claire-- no, that wasn’t right. Even though no one was there to explain to her what she was feeling, she knew she was no longer Claire in this form. The name Paradise of Cosmos resonated so strongly with her, that she had no choice but to believe its truth.
“Macbeth was wrong,” she said, her voice quiet and maybe not loud enough to be heard. At least not by more than the three Senshi closest to her. “He was deceived, and then responsible for his own downfall. There’s always another choice.” Unfortunately, this was not a good time to discuss Shakespeare...
She was aware enough of what the Senshi Cybele was telling what could only be Negaverse Generals. Their auras were so dark that she couldn’t imagine what else they would be. Quietly, she took a step back into the alley, quickly looking around for a weapon. If she could feel them, then they could feel her, and she only had a limited amount of time to be a help or hindrance, and she preferred not causing her daughter-in-law or her friends to get hurt.
There was a discarded, snapped pole of a broom that she found, although she cringed at how filthy it was and used her gown to try and wipe the grime off before getting a comfortable grip on the handle. She could hear them talking about a trap and one of the Generals talking about going on a killing spree. Well, that wasn’t right! They definitely couldn’t allow that to happen!
Paradise poked back around the corner as she felt the suddenly bright aura, and gasped excitedly at the beautiful gown and wings and crystals all over Ganymede. As much as she wanted to tell her she looked lovely, she held tight to her broken broom to prepare for any retaliation.
Cybele nodded at Benitoite. For a moment, everything seemed reasonable and straightforward again. "We can take them here," she said. It did not give them the advantage that cornering the enemy in a confined space would have, but that was fine. She was not afraid of being at a disadvantage.
She was not afraid of much at all.
Then Ganymede said something about a battle against Laurelite, and Cybele watched as her clothes shimmered and shifted into a pure white gown. Her aura grew brighter and brighter until it was nearly painful. Benitoite seemed off in his own head, under the effect of some sort of mind magic.
Cybele simply stared.
She always watched the people she had known closely, as if that alone would put together the nonexistent pieces of her past life. It had been a useless effort, up until now, but in that moment, seeing the Princess in her full glory, something shifted.
At first, her eyebrows knitted slightly, and then her eyes went wide. "I remember," she said. "I was there, wasn't I?"
The visuals were blurry, but she knew she'd seen Ganymede in that dress before. She remembered Laurelite, too, blue-haired, dangerous. The feelings came through stronger. There was admiration. Loyalty. They'd fought side by side.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The Macbeth comment barely registered. She swung a fist at Megrez, desperately trying to get out of her head, but it was wide with no real force behind it.
She did not notice the tears beginning to drip down her face.
