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Collecting the wisps hadn’t been a particularly difficult venture, though it was unarguably a bit time consuming. It was hardly much of an effort; all the Merchant had to do was sit at his table and patiently make exchanges to return each and every little wisp back to his collection.

And--he had.

His wares were modestly depleted, but it was no great cost considering how much he could make with this.

The wisps swarmed together, crammed tightly into the oversized crystal chalice he’d set atop his desk.

One merged with another, and they bubbled once and grew in size.

And, it repeated--again, and again, until there were only four left.

Then two.

Then one.

It bubbled in the chalice, and the Merchant watched eagerly, hopefully.

It grew larger. And larger.

In a burst of light it exploded from the chalice, and grew into something twisting, and writhing.

Which, was not exactly what the Merchant had planned, and as such, this was an unimaginable disappointment--and not something he particularly wanted to be involved with. He rose from his seat almost immediately and began to rapidly pack up as the creature began to shape and take form.

The protective barrier the merchant had put up was no match for it, and it split right through it as it continued to grow.

It hummed with energy as its form seemed to take on something a bit more solidified. It was an enormous, reptilian beast, shrouded in bright white light reminiscent of the once soft glow of the wisps. Only, there was nothing soft about this thing.

It stood on two chunky legs and seemed to have great talons that dug into the ground and ruptured the earth beneath it. It’s body was equally thick and sturdy, though its arms with disproportionately large. Its claws hands pressed into the ground even as it stood completely upright. It had a long tail that dragged behind it, and a snout that looked like it was part rhinoceros and part crocodile. With a great, bellowing roar, it announced its presence to the city.

Lights flickered, and alarms began to ring. There were fireworks going off in the distance, but this thing was a beast of its own and it looked into the sky and with another roar it sent out a burst of energy that shone like a blinding spotlight into the clouds.

It had an undeniably powerful energy signature, and while it was still a bit away from the city, it wouldn’t take it long to reach. The merchant was ignored and forgotten, and the barrier around him and his wares was up again, sealing him safely away from everything else that might transpire.

The monster stood easily eighty feet tall, and it was bubbling with energy.

There was no denying that it was hostile--and needed to be taken care of, now.

Hyperborea, Transcended Knight of the Cosmos - 7 damage

Hyperborea felt the sudden appearance of a massive aura. It stopped her dead in her tracks as she turned with wide eyes towards the sudden aura. She could tell through her crown of stars that it was nothing like any creature she had fought in the past. She turned back to her patrol companion. "Caer do you sense that? We need to go." She said to her fellow Cosmos knight.

She summoned Cerynitis to her side as she climbed on and offered a hand to help pull Caer Sidi. "Hold on to me." She instructed the page before she urged the cosmic doe forward into a sprint in the direction of the power source.

In a matter of moments they had crossed the city to the rampaging creature. It looked like some horrible albino cross between a crocodile and a rhino. If she didn't know better she would assume that this was one of the monstrous kajiu esk youma that she had fought only occasionally through the years but no this was something unique. "Be careful, we don't know what it is capable of." She warned the page as she summoned her staff. She charged the unknown monster swing her staff at the thing with her great strength smacking it with the solid body of the staff.

Lieutenant Roselite - 5

This was not good

This was terrible.

This was the absolute worst way to spend the fourth of July, and Roselite already hated the holiday due to the fireworks. They were loud and erratic, and people liked to set them off at all hours of the night for at least a week leading up to the day itself. In his opinion, all fireworks should be illegal.

Unlike many in the city, he wasn’t out watching said fireworks. He was out with Captain Bloodstone, wandering the streets on the less active side of town, searching for Senshi and Knights to dispose of.

Well, Bloodstone did the disposing. Roselite stood back and took notes.

They were both content with this arrangement until the creature appeared. Roselite didn’t know what else to call it. The energy signature was startling, and the creature itself was enormous, but nothing about it felt familiar to Roselite.

“Um… That’s not a youma,” he said, needlessly, because of course Bloodstone would be able to determine that for himself.

Roselite didn’t want to confront it, but Bloodstone went, and so he followed, summoning the dinky butter knife that served as his weapon. There wasn’t much he could do with it against something so massive, so from what seemed to be a safe distance, Roselite threw it as hard as he could.

Captain Bloodstone - 5

Ever since Celeste made such a big deal about how Jonah was a horrible fighter, Bloodstone did what he could to make sure Roselite went with him to at least observe. Maybe if he had an idea of how to fight, he would be able to do so if he ever needed to.

Hopefully not, because Bloodstone was also very aware of the fact that Roselite was a horrible fighter and much better at pushing papers.

He didn’t say anything when Roselite commented on the creature not being a youma, but instead made his way towards. Did they want to kill it? Maybe they should just antagonize it enough to get it to rampage and kill a bunch of Senshi and Knights.

Ah, but then he would probably end up busy at the hospital. He was certain to get a dozen desperate pages soon.

To test the waters, he took his weapon and followed Roselite’s action by hurling his horseman’s pick at the monster, before summoning it back. “Good, at least you’ve picked up on something.

Captain Prehnite - 8

The screaming malice of the distant aura halted Reed in his tracks, and had him groaning with his next breath as he realized which direction it was coming from.

This was the exact reason Reed had stopped coming to festivals years ago. He remembered now, vividly, all the specific circumstances and anomalies that had befallen other events. Things that should have been simple enjoyments that, every time, like clockwork, had always gone awry. He should have expected it, he'd been hopeful that this time around it'd be different, but no...

It gave him no excuse to ignore the problem simply because would have rather enjoyed his time in the park than dealt with some abstract abomination. So he slipped away from what he'd been doing, pulled on the guise of Captain like a well worn cloak, and joined in the fray.

Noting the myriad of signatures, moon and verse alike, Prehnite was careful in how he approached the towering chimera of a beast. Finding it easiest to do as others had, and turn his trowel into a throwing knife, knowing he could call it back should it become embedded in the creature.

Siegfried Knight of Neptune - 11 Damage

He was late but quite suddenly it didn't really matter. The blue haired knight dropped down from a nearby rooftop and slid into place in front of Albireo, fists up in a defensive stance.

"Sorry for being late, but you seem to be doing okay, love!" he said, flashing her a grin he only sported while fighting. It was odd, the smile that broke his face. Almost a bit manic, a tad bit almost... chaotic. A remnant of a life long forgotten and burned out his soul.

A freedom to maim, to harm, to destroy.

"Let's do this Albireo!" The knight shot forward, slamming his fists and boots into the glowing creature... thing with expert precision, returning to his place in front of the Super Senshi of Swans afterwards.

Asphodel Meadows Knight of Saturn: 8

The scene was already full of unfamiliar faces and crowded with power signatures of all flavors when Asphodel arrived. It was overwhelming, and he didn't even remember exactly where or when he powered up on the way there. It happened on pure impulse after the creature's presence flung him back into more memories of this godforsaken city. He could just hear Camelot sighing about it.

He took a brief moment to consider his situation. One day, he was determined to return to Destiny City in a bid to know himself and reclaim his life. The next day, he had rediscovered and resumed the part he had played in an ongoing cosmic war that would determine the fate of the Earth. And today, he was running headlong into a monster that didn't seem to have a god damned thing to do with that war at all.

"I hate this town," he growled to no one in particular. And then, looking incredibly clueless and silly, he took a satisfying whack at the monster's scales with a magical shovel he had no clue how to actually use.

Chibi Super Sailor Ara, Senshi of Illumination - 9 Damage

Ara was out on patrol with Charybdis, she was expecting tonight to just be a fun night of hanging out and chatting with her best friend after all she hadn't felt any youma or negaverse agents nearby. However her assumption didn't last long when an enormous aura suddenly appeared on the scene. "Char did you feel that. What is it? It feels bad but not like chaos bad." She tried to make sense of what she was feeling she was pretty sure it wasn't a youma or even a mirror wraith but she was still pretty sure it was a threat.

Ara bit her lip as she looked from the direction of the aura back to her younger friend. She briefly debated telling Charybdis to head home. This was a serious power not just another youma. She was older and she was a higher rank senshi she had to do the responsible thing.

But on the other hand she had also been a senshi for several years and she had every right to this fight as much as Ara did. Ultimately Ara decided if anything went wrong she would just make sure she protected the younger senshi. "Come on lets go check it out." She said taking the other girls hand before the two of them sped off into the night.

The soon approached the strange crocodile rhino monstrosity. "Wow that's big." She observed. She also observed several others attacking the creature. "Come on lets do our part." She said as she turned to the monster. "Infinite Light Parade!" She called out as six motes of pure light appeared in the air behind her all firing at the creatures face.