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It's not lovely was May's first thought as she stepped off the train into Central. It was gloomy and stained with soot, gleaming spires strove above the constant murk, reaching for the heavens.

May used her map (bought at the travel store for ONLY 25 coins!) to make her way over to the tavern. The city widened and narrowed, making more paths than the deer trails May had followed as a kid. And the people....there were so many, and all of them yelling or crying, moving or standing. It was amazing, and May found herself walking quickly with a big grin on her face.

The Honey Bee was, interesting. It was floating, somehow, in the harbor. But the odd part was that it was floating above the water. May couldn't shake the feeling of being late, and resisted the urge to disassemble the nearest engine as she opened the door. Inside, there was a bar filled with golden jars, a band near the back, and several people, none of them human.

Nervously, May sat down at the table closest to the door and ordered a drink, wondering what to do next.

More and more strange folk streamed in, Eslai noted idly. In total, a man with chains, an elf, a dwarf, another elf but with feathers, a goblin, again another elf, too many elves, strange, strange folk.

Then she walked in and Eslai choked, giving a sort of strangled gasp from his vocaliser. Immediately, his sensors snapped awake into an active state, unable to believe what he was seeing. That girl, that human girl, she was, she was..

Pain lanced through his head, something of an impossibility considering his machine form.

Click, whirr. Click, snap.

Eslai brought his hand to his head in a very human manner, struggling to contain the agony. The girl.. She was so familiar, he knew her, her name was on the tip of his tongue, he'd almost forgotten once before, he could not forget again-

"May!"

The girl turned, curious gaze locking temporarily on him, then scanning the other faces for who knew what. She was May.. But she would never know him, she would never remember him, not in this wretched form of steel and iron. Eslai forced himself to stay still. Why was May here? Was she one of the heroes as well? If so, then his own personal quest would be fulfilled. How could he approach her?

Not directly, Eslai decided with great reluctance. Already, she would think him odd for his abrupt outburst. He clenched his fist and unclenched it over and over again, feeling every subtle and intricate interconnection of his joints moving, trying to distract himself. And what then if she wasn't May?

Deliberately staring at the ceiling, he tried to distract himself, all the while his lutescent and dispassionate eyes drifted to May.

As he descended the stairs, Julian's active photoreceptors found themselves focused on his former quarry, hunched over in one of the darker corners of the room. He felt somewhat unnerved walking into Procyon's field of vision without being cloaked, but mentally reassured himself that there was little chance the shapeshifted dragon had even known he was being followed, let alone by whom, among other things.

With that, he turned to survey the rest of the room. Six of the others Timekeeper command had identified were present; only the human was absent. The two female elves were sharing a table with the goblin alchemist, while the clockwork man had one to himself. The dwarf and elven swordsman were seated at the counter, each of them downing keg after keg of alcohol. None of them had noticed him.

A flicker of motion out of the corner of one optic caught Julian's attention as he neared the bottom of the steps, and he shifted his gaze in that direction while moving his head as little as possible, just in case- Procyon's gone. All right, then, he knows something's up.

Keeping his gaze focused on the customers that hadn't left his sight, Julian concentrated on his audio receptors, attempting to get a feel for where the dragon had gone from sound alone. A faint rustling of fabric, a slightly less faint clinking of metal on metal... Evidently, his target was somewhere behind and above him; logically, a higher step on the staircase-

A new sound was added to the mix, softer than the other two, one he couldn't quite place, and suddenly the rustling and clinking was right behind him, and Procyon whispered, "Greetings, Machine. You've chosen quite the... interesting method of approach. I wonder... Why would one such as you hide here in the shadows like a thief? Care to... enlighten me?"

Well, that answers plenty of questions. Julian left his posture unchanged, letting a bit of his tension into his voice while removing the smoothness he usually put into it. "Well, to avoid situations like, uh, this. I'm not exactly a very outgoing person, you know. I stick to a couple friends, and that's about it. Now, could you please leave me alone? It's getting kind of uncomfortable talking like this."

The small silence after his question told Procyon that, as he had intended, he had swapped places with the clockwork, if this was indeed him. The hunter was now the hunted, and both of them knew it. However, he gained much more info by the lack of physical response to his sudden materialization. The machine, probably due to intense training, had automatically suppressed any clues his body might feel like giving the dragon, and that in and of itself was a clue.

When he answered a moment later, Procyon had no doubt that the tension his tone carried was not an act. "Well, to avoid situations like, uh, this. I'm not exactly a very outgoing person, you know." Beneath his mask, Procyon smiled. Regardless of whether this was his hunter or not, he was most definitely up to something suspicious. However, he was also certainly a worthy opponent in this duel of minds. To so quickly react to his disadvantageous position by stating the truth in such a way that he seemed innocent was clever. "I stick to a couple friends, and that's about it. Now, could you please leave me alone? It's getting kind of uncomfortable talking like this."

The dragon had no doubt it was. The construct would not afford him answers for now, however, there was one more thing he could gain from this conversation. Flickering from view with an unsettling silence, he reappeared mysteriously floating at a height even with the clockwork on the other side of the banister, a few feet above the stairwell down to the engine room for the island. Of course, he wasn't actually flying - he had materialized a small platform below his feet - but from the clockwork man's angle, that was invisible. The end result, however, was quite disturbing either way, as Procyon quietly floated and stared intently at the machine with his single visible eye gleaming inhumanly in the darkness. He let the construct sweat, metaphorically that is, for a few moments before he finally spoke.

"Is that so? Well, it is still quite strange, isn't it? A clockwork coming to a bar in the first place is odd, but I noticed they carry flavor chips here. And yet, you seem to just be intent on staying right here in these shadows." Procyon slowly seemed to close in on the clockwork, despite not visibly moving, as his voice began to ring with sarcasm. "An intriguing decision for a being as free of deceit as yourself, no?"

Leaving the sound of his amused voice behind him, Procyon vanished once more, and calmly stepped out of a side doorway on the opposite end of the main room and moved back towards his corner booth, as though he had merely stood up and taken a walk while no one was looking. He idly noted as he passed that the cape was gone from the mysterious figure from before, revealing her brightly colored wings, but again he ignored her and the rest of the group. On his way back to his seat, he passed soundlessly behind an entering human, his path keeping him out of her line of sight as she headed for the bar.

Retaking his shadowy vantage, Procyon ignored the shout of surprise from the up until now dormant clockwork being as he saw the alchemist and settled back down in the darkness, sparing a quiet, ominous glance towards the stairwell with his single eye...

So, his hand does bear the same symbol as the rest of us. Interesting...

From within the safety of his mind, Julian groaned. Oh, shut up, you condescending, smug little shapeshifter, he thought. "An intriguing decision"? Really? If you want to taunt the guy that's been tracking you as you slaughtered your way through multiple countries, you could at least bother to come up with better material.

Out loud, he sighed. "Again, I-" he began to say, but then the odd noise from the last time Procyon had teleported reached his audio receptors once more, and he craned his head around to find the masked dragon casually exiting a side door halfway across the room. Had he a normal mouth, Julian would've gaped at his former target's audacity; as it was, he simply groaned again, out loud this time, and watched Procyon make his way to where he'd been seated earlier.

There was a muffled clank as the palm of Julian's hand impacted his forehead. Well, that didn't go as planned. I was hoping he'd stick around to match wits, not run with his tail between his legs after a few moronic quips. He shook his head and looked back up at the other occupants of the room, noting how the other clockwork man, the one his superiors had regarded with such disdain, react with a surprised shout at the arrival of the only absent emblem-bearer up until that point, a human female with a penchant for alchemy. It was tempting to go over to him to find out exactly what had driven him to leave his country, but as long as he didn't know what the others with the mark had gathered for, staying on the sidelines would likely be for the best.

Strider smiled in dark glee and raised his hand to the sky. "Begin the attack!" all around the city twenty Jackal Wanders who had been in hiding opened their cloaks and released six hundred Jackals into the city. The creatures moved like a plague and their first targets were the outside military units known as the Timekeepers. They moved like blurs up the buildings and by the time they had fired their second shots the Jackals had already reached them and ripped them apart. The creatures chewed through metal like flesh and left behind broken corpses in their paths, a few Jackals were killed but compared to the force that had been gathered it was a small number.

One of which just so happened to be in a bar known as the Honey Bee. The man standing in the back stood up and pushed the table away. He opened up his cloak and all that anyone could see was darkness under it. That is until a group of massive eyes seemed to appear from under it. The eyes flew out and around them formed a shadow like body. They looked almost human like but they had pure black sexless bodies. Their fingers ended in claws and when they opened their mouths one could see rows of razor sharp teeth and a strangely long tongue. And the most disturbing thing was the massive eye that took up the large part of its head. A ground of them jumped onto the bands stage and preceded to rip to shreds. Another group did he same to he bartender and the serving girl. After the last of the thirty Beta Jackals left the coat someone else walked out. Strider walked out of the coat and seemed to brush himself off. "Well that was odd" The Jackals gathered in front of him and he gave a bow to the Heroes. "Well met so called heroes, I am Lord of Black Strider, and these are my assistants, you might remember them from such classics as almost bringing about the end of he world" a dark power surrounded him the likes of which the Heroes had never seen before.

Strider snapped his fingers and ten of the jackals paired up in groups of twos and seemed to meld together and become a new form. The new form stood seven feet tall and their bodies seemed to be covered with pure black muscles. They still retained the mouths and teeth and tongue. But now they looked much stronger. "Understand that the last Heroes were a fluke, they stole a victory that belonged to the end, and me and my group are here to make sure that mistake is fixed, we will bring about the end of this world as it was meant to happen all those years ago, and just to make sure I make myself perfectly clear" he pulled a black orb with the symbol of an eye on it. He tossed it into the water and waved at them. "I have chaos to cause, so I suppose the next time we meet we will both be in hell" he laughed as he wall facing the water was ripped out and they saw what the orb had become.

In the sea outside of the Tavern floated a massive kraken with a giant eye on the front of it and twenty long tentacles with spikes covering them. It gave a massive roar and began to break the wood work and spit out jets of flames. The man jumped on top of it. "To you I must say ado, please enjoy my friends here, they will kill you and make sure your spirits will be sent to the underworld in a timely manner" he bowed and disappeared in a sudden tornado of black roses. The Jackals gathered and got ready to fight. There would be death all over the city, but most of the guards would be too busy taking care of the people in the center of the city.

Their marks began to glow a bright white and they felt an influx of strength to prepare to do battle with the worlds enemy. In their minds they heard the voice that had told them to come here. Be ready, this is your first test, show the Chaos that their is still light in this world, destroy the creatures who would destroy this world

(so total count twenty beta jackals, five muscle jackals, and a massive Kraken like jackal. Play fair and make sure you don't kill to many of them, fight turn order is Pixel, Eli, Qara, Guy, agoraoptera, Sicon, Victin, Mimsy, Endless Info on monsters in the Bestiary)

Noise, words, movement and the familiar sound of things breaking. Rissien woke up form his nap to find the room in chaos. He whistled. Jackals out of nowhere! Whoo! Noticing however that they had killed the barkeep, band and waitress. Killing non-fighters is not funny though.

"Hey!" He called, to the crowd in general, noticing that none of the other people were dead. The Beta Jackals were mindless, two of them going towards him even without his call. But it did draw attention of three Muscle ones. He was still in his awkward sleeping position, so actually fighting would be troublesome. He stretched quickly, and rammed his foot down on the edge of the table, flipping it up to hit one of the Beta Jackals in the face and giving him enough space to stand up.

"Lowly Jackals, can you provide me with a real challenge?!" He braved, as the Jackals converged on him, and just as he drew his swords, the whole room got filled with smoke. Low visibility? Remembers me of that time against the heat-sensor clockwork team... Man that was almost pitch black. In the cacophony of the battle breaking out, navigating with sound would be impossible. He grinned, hammering the base of both sword's hilts in the wall behind his back, charging his magic along with the vibrations to send a short range shockwave from the blades.

The effect was simple, for a few moments he had clear vision within the short radius of his body, about the distance of his swords' reach. The Muscle Jackal that was right in front of him at that time, however, got treated to one very special effect. Being nearly point blank in the fog, the impact threw him up and away, disappearing inside the fog towards the place were others no doubt ware already fighting.

The other four assailants merely flinched and were already moving in on him again. He pushed himself forward using the wall, spinning as he went, both swords slicing clean through the two Beta Jackal's and wounding the two of the Muscle category.

"Won't fall for free, uh?" He said blocking both opponents' clawed hand with his swords. He sighed as they moved their free claws to kill him. Was it you who kill the waitress? Where's my food? He rolled out of the way, back in the direction he had come from, leaving his swords behind as he did. The two Jackals turned to him once again.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you're not bright at all are you?" He taunted the foes yanking the magical silver chains stretching from his hands, bouncing his swords up from behind them in an unseen move. He stood in the same place were he began the fight, pondering what to do next.

The dead are dead. I can't do anything for you. He thought about the innocent staff who couldn't defend themselves. But rest assured, whoever sent Jackals into this place will be joining that side soon. That, I promise. Now, goddammit I'm hungry! Couldn't they have attacked after my lunch was ready and eaten?

Remaining Enemy Count:
Beta Jackals: 18.
Muscle Jackals: 3. (One was sent flying towards your general area, someone should deal with that. )
Kraken: Alive.
The smoke is Victin's and the room is still filled with it.

May was sitting by the door when the shadow-man stood up. She had spent the past hour sitting quietly, drawing hypothetical circles and trying to solve some of the formulae that had always stumped her. The waitress may have stopped by, asking about a drink, but May had been engrossed in a puzzle and ignored her entirely. In fact, May had just solved a puzzle involving ducks and pineapples when she heard all hell break loose around her.

Jackals snarled and snapped as they began the brutal murder of the persons in the restaurant. May's head snapped up as a rather stinky Jackal swooped down, intent on biting her head off. Ducking under the booth, May began digging furiously through her pack, no, not the ginger. Ginger's useless. where is the damn acid when you need it..OHH. With a grim smile, May pulled out a bottle of month old lime juice and splashed it in the jackals eye. The jackal was motionless for a moment, teeth bared, venom dripping from it's lethal tongue. Then it's eye began to stream, and it tucked its tail between it's legs as it bashed into friend in foe alike, stopping in front of some... elf.. maiden.. thing.

She was miniscule compared to the hulking monster. Even blinded by curdled lime juice, the monster was attempting to kill the little elf girl. She didn't move in the face of the monster, a small pendant began to glow on her neck. Her white hair began to stand on end, floating around her as if she was under water. The monster stood mesmerized by the light, its breathing slowed and it became docile. Until an arrow whizzed right by the little elf girl breaking her concentration. The light faltered and the beast snarled as he lunged for the girl.

The monster stopped inches from the elf girls neck as a yipping sound was heard through the room. Twisting around, the monster collided with five others, forming a pyramid structure that oozed darkness. Well, THAT doesn't look good May saw the elf girl move in front of the building darkness as she began running closer to the fight, taking care not to be noticed as she took out some chalk and grabbed a salt shaker. The mage moved calmly, slow and serene like a lake duck in fall. Her arm began to rise slowly as the pendant on her neck glowed brighter to meet the swelling darkness. With a crash that echoed in the restaurant the light and dark magic collided. There was a moment of struggle as the jackals' magic fought with the elf-mages', but the Jackals were outclassed.

There was an explosion of rainbows as the light magic overwhelmed the dark and the shadow form fell apart. Three of the Jackals lay on the floor, stunned. The others began snarling as they padded closer to the elf-mage.

"Hey Citrus Breath!" May shouted at the lupine beasts.

The jackals whirled around to face the short alchemist. Oops. May threw the salt shaker to the ground, smashing it, and activated the transmutation circle that had been hastily drawn on the floor below I really hope they don't make me pay for this May thought as she then poured a nearby glass of water onto the separated elements.

There was a bright flash and a loud bang as three of the closest Jackals were consumed by the flames of the explosion.

BGM: Shrek - True Love's First Kiss

Everything happened so fast. One moment Alina was sitting at the table, waiting for something to happen or for someone, anyone, to break the awkward silence; the next, a man had risen, unseen, from the shadows and released monsters of legend into the room.

Alina stood, turning her back to the table where she had been sitting. If only Caranor was here... But, of course, the beautiful unicorn was tucked away in the stables, useless to her elf bond at the moment. She'd have to do her best with what she had...

One of the creatures seemed to be rampaging more violently than the rest, as though something had irritated it. It came to a stop in front of her, focusing on her lithe form as a potential target. Without time to think through the blind panic, not daring to close her eyes for proper focus lest she miss something in the scene that her mind was still beginning to process, Alina called up the first spell to mind, a simple dazzler that caused some of her hair to rise as she cast bright white light, dazing and confusing the monster. It was a simple thing, but for a simple enough enemy, it seemed to be doing the trick. Alina took a deep breath, stabilizing her power, and--

An arrow flew by, narrowly missing the albino elf's ear. The combination of seeing that motion out of the corner of her eye and the spike in adrenaline from the near miss caused her to lose the threads of the spell; the dazzle was broken, as the glassy look left the Jackal's eye. I knew I should have closed my eyes for this...

Well, at least there's only one of it-- As though she had tempted the Fates by even thinking it, five more of the creatures approached, and formed a darkly resonant pyramid with the one that had already been facing her. For all these creatures had not been seen in hundreds, maybe thousands of years, Alina didn't need to wonder what they were wreaking; she knew. She could feel it in her bones, in her very soul, and just as she instinctively recognized the Hell Laser, she could feel Fate guiding her hand to know how to counter it.

Closing her eyes-- she wouldn't allow her concentration to be broken this time-- Alina lifted up her right hand, matching the jet of Dark light with her own stream of Light. There was no spell behind this; it was the Light that ran through her life-force, her own raw power, pure and simple.

The black and the white light met in the middle with a resounding bang, as they grappled with one another, equally matched. But equal wasn't good enough. "Caranor, I need you," whispered Alina, knowing that saying it would do no good. Then-- a thought. Caranor might not be by her side, the unicorn's flanks rippling powerfully under her leg, but she was hardly far away, either. She curled her free left hand, looking inwardly to follow the golden thread that always connected her to her mount. She reached mental fingers along that link, drawing strength from her familiar, which she pushed behind the stream she was already directing at the pyramid.

To her relief, she saw success before she drained all her life-force on the endeavour; the pyramid fell apart, and the Hell Laser vanished as though it had never been. As swift as the beating of a hummingbirds wings, Alina recalled her power from the air back into her. With the Light magic no longer lingering in the air, the fog seemed to flow over to obscure the full room once again, though it hardly bothered the mage, who worked better with her eyes closed in any case. I could really use a distraction, before they rebuild the formation, she thought ruefully.

As though she had read Alina's mind, the human girl-- was she the one called May?-- shouted something from under a table.
"Hey, Citrus Breath!" Alina realized that the woman must be an alchemist or chemist of some sort, as she threw something that burst brightly into flames, and exploded the three Jackals furthest from Alina.

Perfect. Now I can focus on the other three... As the creatures loped closer, Alina seated herself cross-legged on the ground and closed her eyes again. Palms out, she reached mentally to find the threads of the Jackals' life-forces. She almost choked when she found them, a corrosive taste in her mouth. Their threads were entirely black, ugly webs of Dark power and not-life. The tarnish of illness on that little bird was to these as a raindrop is to the ocean.

Still, the theory is the same, whether building a hovel or a palace. Stretching out her soothing power, Alina began to heal them, burning away the blackness as she transmuted it into something healthy, something whole. The bird, with its little weakness, had taken her mere seconds; these creatures, though they stopped attacking and sat quietly, ranged around her, as the evil slowly seeped from their systems, took close to twenty minutes. When at last Alina opened her eyes, before she could even register what else had changed in the room around her, a soft yipping reached her ears.

Somehow, what had once been three Jackals, creatures of evil Dark magic, had shrunk and changed, responding to her healing touch; the three creatures who surrounded her now resembled nothing so much as a trio of fluffy puppies. Alina laughed musically as the puppies clamoured for her attention.

---BGM cut----


Remaining Enemy Count:
Beta Jackals: 12 (3 were exploded by May, 3 puppyfied by Alina)
Muscle Jackals: 3 (one still flying to the middle, presumably)
Kraken: alive
There's still a smokescreen thanks to Victin, though some of it was broken up by the Light from Alina's power
There are 3 puppies in the room now, but they are totally harmless.

BGM: Kingdom Hearts 2- Rowdy rumble

I wassu on myyy…tenff? Elfenf? Tenff pint wenh thish guy who had juss been sitthing in the chorner. Thish guy shands up an he opensh is coat. And then hish coat turnsh into thish pak’o nashty beashties, followed by shome ashhole who givesh shome big speesh about evil or shometing anhe shummunsss shom monshter. Sherioushly, ish da trut. I’m not ash think ash you drunk am

Den the Elfis showrdshman fightsh someo the tingsss. Nd Shome of da wemon in the bar fight wit brightlightsh and deres shmok and I donno whatsh happenin no moresho I goss back to ma drinksh buthen tish big guyy knocksh in-ta me. ‘Nd I spillsh my liquor. Sho I yellsh out: “If yous wantsh my alle take itsh.” Thens I brekss da nex glassh over hish head. Dens I burpee nd I asshidentally light him on fires. But He wasssh evil sho I gueessh itsh ok.

Buts ehsh still sqirmin’ nd shtuf. Sos I grbb mahy shychte and I ssshallsh him ‘crossh hish fash. All treeof em. But den shome of his budishs sho’up nd knock me off mah sheat. Am bout to get mahy fheet when one of dem piksh me up. Sho I trashm- tarnh- I change mim in-ta lik shalt or shomting.I dunno and dan hish buddy comesh at me but I knok’im in-ta da bigg nashty, who eatsh him. Lastsh guy comes at me. I missh da firstsh one’o him but I getshda second on of ‘im in the shtomach whish my shychte and shtrt pull’im him down tills I ghet ‘im on da groundsh. Whersh I acsplode ‘im. Den I fallsh down.
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*Ahem*
Yes well, for those who were a bit unclear on that, or are just to lazy to decipher the ramblings of a drunk alchemist here is our remaining enemy counter:(There was some double vision involved but trust me these are the numbers)
Beta Jackals: 9
Muscle Jackals: 2 (The one I got was the one that went flying)
Kraken:Alive (Its still there. Why hasn't it attacked yet?)
Smokescreen: Mostly still intact one explosion and one immolation probably just added to the smoke.
Additional: Gux is on the ground right now. I can not say for certain whether he is conscious or not.

Strider raised an eyebrow of annoyance half the continent away sitting on a throne of gold and silver watching the battle on a crystal ball. "Well this isn't boding well for us, Warbeast, slay them!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Kraken head its masters command even from this far away. It raised each of its massive tentacles to bring down on the bar and began charging its own special Hell Laser to fire at them. Whatever else may happen it would make sure it destroyed every living thing inside of that bar. On its own if it had to. The Jackals regrouped in front of the massive hole in the wall to protect any access to the beast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"A Warbeast Strider, one would think that you were slightly worried about these new heroes." a feminine voice mocked playfully from the shadows of Strider's throne room.

"One must take processions less they fall into the trap of pride dearest Dread Rose," Strider replied watching the battle closely. "That and I don't expect to win this fight with them, just to show them I am here and show the world that the end is coming, as soon as they kill those Jackals I am sure that she will make contact with them, and after that send them somewhere they are less likely to receive help, and after understand them I can make Warbeasts that will rip them to shreds much easier"

"So you are saying you messed up but will try better next time?" The womans voice mocked.

"... Shut up"

What, by all the saints, was going on?

First, May, then those.. things bursting out and killing people and then some crazy man giving some fool speech about heroism and now madness! Even as smoke obscured the room and light poured out from one of the elf girls, Eslai's attention shot towards May.

She.. was taking care of herself admirably, he saw. Some kind of acid was thrown into one of the beasts' one-eyed face and then she threw something to the ground. Evidently, that 'something' was an explosive of a sort, for the Jackals surrounding her were thrown away in a concussive immolation.

Then there was no more time for him to stand and look. One of the cyclopean Jackals came at him, snarling and hissing with a tongue barbed at the end, flicking venom onto his magitech body. Good thing he was a clockwork.

In the blink of an eye, the pistol appeared in Eslai's hand and, barrel directly at the beast's throat, fired. As if by sleight of hand, but truly by the intricate mechanisms embedded within his frame, the smoking firearm changed, smoke vanishing, design being subtly different. In fact, it was an entirely different weapon, one of many stored within and Eslai fired another time. So quick were the reloading and changing mechanisms, that in the space of three seconds, he was able to launch at least six of the lethal ball bearings at the black beast, widening the ragged, gaping hole in its neck. Flipping the flintlock pistol around, Eslai brought the butt of the weapon across in a horizontal arc, tearing off the Jackal's head, a blunt, simple and effective decapitation.

The one foe finally collapsed. Damnation!, Eslai thought. It had taken too much, far too much to kill even one of them and there were still so many about! The other 'Heroes', if so they were, were also dealing with the Jackals in their own ways and the number of foes had considerably thinned out by the time Eslai got his single kill. There had to be some better method, something more efficient!

Time seemed to slow down as another of the Jackals, this one larger than its demonic kin roared and leapt, not at him, but towards the only human in the room. Its dark muscles rippled and stretched to tautness, a ferocious roar from its muzzle and Eslai knew that May would never be able to react in time to get away.

The pistol slid back into his metal form. Steam hissed, hydraulics groaned. From his leg shot up a far longer firearm, slim and deadly. Taking barely a moment to sight down the slender barrel, the trigger pulled twice and the Jackal's eye sparked, then exploded. May's head turned to see the Jackal's orb erupted in a spray of black viscous humour, its body collapsing to the ground limply, surprise and gratefulness colouring her expression. She looked to Eslai, rifle still held with one hand, and he nodded in warm acceptance of her thanks, telling her silently that he was glad that she was unharmed.

But all she could see were the coldly insensitive and callous yellow orbs, dispassionately observing her. At the peripheral edge of his machine vision, the Jackals were regrouping by hole in the wall facing the waterfront, guarding something.

-----------------

Beta Jackals: 8
Muscle Jackals: 1
Kraken: Alive
Smokescreen: Half there? I'm supposing some of it must have leaked out into the open air already..

"...Please enjoy my friends here. They will kill you and make sure your spirits will be sent to the underworld in a timely manner."

As the strange man vanished from the room, Procyon stared around at the awkward silence that ensued, arching an eyebrow incredulously under his mask. This had come entirely out of nowhere to the dragon, and his mind was still attempting to process it. Then the creature outside let loose a mighty roar, the wall of sound hitting the building with enough physical force to blow out all of the windows in an instant.

Procyon laughed. Normally, the sound of his amusement would be twisted with sadism, but at the sight before him all he could do was laugh in genuine amusement. These little things were supposed to kill him? He doubted they would even be able to seriously harm most of the rest of the building's empowered inhabitants. Getting control of himself, Procyon tossed himself backwards in the booth, relaxing in his dark corner and kicking his boots up onto the table. "How cute. I really must say, when I came here, I was hardly expecting entertainment! But, here you are giving me a free show for my trouble! If this wasn't already worth the trip, this seals the deal!"

As he talked, his voice almost dripping with twisted amusement, a smoke screen exploded from across the room. It had to have been one of the other 'heroes'. Procyon's mouth turned downward. Disappointing. He had wanted to watch that. Oh well, he knew these people would be annoying when he showed up. Instead, he closed his golden eye and listened to the sounds of magic slamming into magic, followed by some gunshots and a large detonation. The latter event, coming from off to one side of his booth, blew away a little bit of the smoke around him, allowing him to see the two shadows moving towards him threateningly.

He barely even opened his eye as the Jackals approached, though he did sneer condescendingly, even if they couldn't see it. "That is not a wise move, little ones. I suggest you run along back to your friends and have your fun elsewhere." Offhandedly waving them away, Procyon leaned back once more and closed his eyes. "Shoo. Shoo." He got some kind of screaming noise in response. Boredly, he theorized that it was some kind of battle-cry, but then it wasn't like he cared.

The first Jackal leaped towards him. "Annoying. Shut up." His booted foot slammed down on the table before him, sending it and the utensils on it spinning into the air. Without even opening his eyes, he kicked the table again as it fell back past him, launching it at the Jackal with enough force to make the creature stumble and the wooden piece of furniture shatter, leaving the jagged fragments to embed themselves in the opposite wall. The second creature lashed out at him, but his only response was to catch a dinner knife about to land on the booth next to him and flick it through the air, putting out the unfortunate monstrosity's single eye.

Giving a long-suffering sigh, Procyon stood up, hands in his pockets, glaring at the two beings before him, one dazed and slowly regaining its feet, and the other kneeling and grasping at the metal that had blinded it, screaming in pain. He stepped out of the corner, his form leaving the shadows for the first time in the battle. His foot hit the ground, and a controlled pulse of magic shattered the smoke-screen on his side of the room. Narrowing his eye at the sight before him, he watched as one of the bigger creatures grabbed two more Beta-Jackals and approached to support the bothersome ones that had made him actually do something.

BGM: Shiro Sagisu ~ Pleasures Of Combat

"Oh look, you brought friends. How nice." His tone had dropped the amused undercurrent it held previously and was now bitingly sarcastic. "You know what? I can't be bothered to play with you right now. Just die, alright?" The foremost Jackal seemed to overcome its daze, and leaped at him screaming once more. "Wow, you really are boring."

The spike of killing intent from the dragon-man standing relaxed before his charging enemy came far too late for the Jackals to realize their mistake. His hands flying out of his pockets so fast that they left afterimages as they blurred through the air, Procyon hurled his two chains, one out to either side. The spikes flew through the air even as Procyon vanished from sight, his speed far too fast for the pitiful creatures to follow. Concrete and wood shattered as metal spikes embedded themselves into the wall and floor, respectively. The Jackals had a fraction of a second to stare confused at the attack which had seemingly been launched in the complete opposite direction from them. That was when, in defiance of all logic and physics, the spikes rebounded back and up, looping through the wall and floor as though making a stitch. Slamming into the building and different places and angles, ever accelerating, the chains rebounded once more, and then once more again, by this point moving almost as fast as their master had been when he dissipated. Again and again they slammed through various surfaces, and in the space of a second, they had created an enormous, extremely complex net woven through half the room, the total length of the chains far exceeding that of moments before. Both spikes, reaching the end of their impossible flight, slammed through the roof beside each other, then looped back down, even as Procyon appeared, grasping each chain at its end, pulling them taught as he landed in a crouch.

The immense crash, resulting from chunks of the walls, floor, and roof being violently ripped out, was loud enough to be heard by all the combatants. The net contracted. Blood, gore, and crushed bits of Jackal flew all around the room, as, in a stomach-turning demonstration of unrestrained violence, Procyon's chains contracted around the four Beta-Jackals and obliterated them in an instant. Chain hurtled through the room, yanked back towards the crouching dragon, inexplicably returning to their former length as they flew, though no physical change could be seen in them.

Glancing around it at its fallen comrades, the larger creature roared in anger, leaping at Procyon, fist extended. The floor buckled around the mighty attack, but the dragon was long gone, vanished into another flash-step. Confused, the being turned around, then around the other way, looking for signs of its target, but the black coat was nowhere to be found.

Chains rattles behind the Muscle Jackal, and it spun, starting to scream out its battle shout, then froze, staring at Procyon's gloved left fist that was extended right in front of its huge eye. Transfixed by the gold stare, the beast stared dumbly at the fist before it as Procyon slowly opened his hand, letting a small cube quietly float out. Ignoring the presence of gravity, the tiny blue construct of magic ponderously spun end over end as it gently closed the distance between it and the huge eye. Procyon vanished. The cube detonated.

A sphere of destruction perhaps only slightly larger than the blast of a hand grenade tore through the air, the shockwave dissipating the smoke entirely, and shattering some critical support beams in the walls and roof. Procyon flickered into existence outside as ever so slowly the Honey Bee wavered, then collapsed in on itself with a roar, sending a cloud of dust high into the air behind the dragon.

That was about when the tentacle came flying at Procyon from the side. The dragon, caught off-guard, barely had time to widen his eye before the huge mass of flesh cut through his position from the side. As it passed, there was no trace of him remaining on the platform, and for a moment it looked as though he had been flung off into the harbor. Then the tip of the tentacle exploded in blue fire as he came soaring out of the destruction, chains whirling around him. A flick of his wrist embedded a spike into the side of another tentacle passing overhead, and he swung himself onto a third, sending a pulse of magic down the chain even as it detached, burning and charring the monster's second unlucky appendage. The Warbeast screamed with rage and pain even as Procyon began to effortlessly slide down the undulating tentacle he was standing on, using the slick surface almost as though he was grinding down a rail.

In an attempt to dislodge its unwanted rider, the kraken cracked the appendage he was on like a whip, hurling him high into the air even as another magic coated chain lashed out and severed the end off of it. Kicking off the tentacle that was turning to slap him from the sky, Procyon landed on the side of the severed appendage. "I've had quite enough of this, you pathetic waste of flesh! You should have stayed to picking on people smaller than you! DIE!" Two white gloved hands extended and glowed with blue power. Then a hail of blue cubes, pulsing with much more energy that the previous one, lanced out from each hand, firing off faster than a machine gun right into the center of the beast. Procyon was a strict adherent to the practice of overkill. Even if it wasn't needed, he found blowing up an enemy so completely that only ash was left to be quite cathartic. That was the reason that he did not at all slow his firing rate when the huge blue sphere completely engulfed the beast's main body, and instead continued to fire more and more blasts into it, each cube expanding the sphere's radius by roughly an inch as the water of the harbor began to boil beneath him and gale-force winds roared across the sea.

Halting his fire for just a moment, Procyon raised his hands into the air, placing them together above him as a truly massive cube of power began to grow above his head. "TAKE THI-"

-----------------BGM CUT------------------

Procyon's shout was cut off by a sudden lack of breath, probably due to the enormous tentacle that lashed out of the destruction and slammed into his ribcage. Before his face could even begin to twist into a look of shock, he was already hurling backwards and downwards, slamming through the wreckage of the Honey Bee like a bullet, before skidding to a halt somewhere in the deepest part of the mess. Outside, the attack he had been charging whirled away and detonated near the dock area, creating a wave of water that crushed the warehouses closest to the shore.

Gasping for breath, Procyon opened and closed his fists, confirming that he could still move. "What... the... hell... is that thing made of?" Procyon panted. The daze from his collision began to wear off as anger shot through him. "If that scum thinks I'm done, then it has another thing coming." As Procyon growled, a crack ran down the left side of his mask just beneath his eye. Blue-white energy began to slowly appear in the air around the dragon, floating this way and that like dust. His voice twisted, distorting and echoing with power and rage. "I'll crush them. I'll crush them ALL!" The motes of glowing dust suddenly collapsed inward on his location as energy shot through him, rejuvenating him temporarily.

The moment that his power reached its peak was about the time the building behind him exploded in a pillar of fire. An image of the odd winged being from before flashed through his mind as he connected energy to a source, and the unfortunate dragon had just enough time to swear violently in about four different languages simultaneously before he was launched out of the wreckage and into the ocean.

Remaining Enemy Count:
Beta Jackals: 4
Muscle Jackals: Got the last one
Kraken: Alive, charred, missing a couple of its thirty or forty tentacles and VERY VERY angry.

The Honey Bee also just caved in. If you aren't squishy, you should be fine. If you are and are also near a wall, you are also probably more or less OK, since the building caved in towards the center. However, a flying dragon just shot through the wreckage, and then Mimsy blew it up, so the faster you get out of there, the better. (Oh, and a severed tentacle probably crashed elsewhere in the rubble and spewed blood everywhere, so there is that.)

Also, Procyon's first chain attack had exactly two supernatural elements involved: The extending chain length, and the flash-step. How did the chains bounce then? There is an explanation, but let's see if you can guess it.

Noise, running and death. The "man" she had seen on the room wasn't one of the heroes, but a demon. He had summoned beasts out of nowhere. "Whomever is pulling this out doesn't mind calling out attention. Not only he killed innocent people, but also didn't leave me have my alcohol. That motherfucker has to pay..." As Chris finished thinking, another "man" who had appeared out of nowhere finished speaking, but she didn't stayed to watch where he was going. She conjured a cloud of black smoke and jumped over the balcony, hiding herself from the chaos.

"I could use my arrows to kill everyone here, but with this smoke and tumult I barely will be able to hit a killing arrow. Fuck-Whoa wh-Be ready, this is your first test, show the Chaos that their is still light in this world, destroy the creatures who would destroy this world. Uhm... Thanks, I guess. At least I feel energized..." Chris drew her bow and arrow. She turned herself to the battlefield, and had to stood on the tip of her feet if she wanted to look at it clearly. Thank the gods she hadn't to see anything. She heard the battlefield perfectly, but shooting blind still was problem. She knew where were the targets, but didn't knew if she would hit or not, and she could even hit another chosen one. She wouldn't mind, but yet...

She fired her first arrow when the elven swordsman moved back to her side. She didn't think he had noticed her, but she could hear him. Chris shot another two arrows. A short time after, she heard the sound of an explosion coming from where she had shot her first arrow. She then fired another arrow, but before she could fire again she heard... An interesting sound. "Dogs? Does one of those mages has a puppy swarm as a familiar? What the hell?"

Christine flinched for a second at the unexpected sound, but she quickly went back to her modus operandi. She shot three arrows in quick succession, even though she had heard another explosion by this point. She fired two more arrows as she heard the sound of bullets being shot. Then it came. An explosion of blue light happened in the corner of the room. Most of the smoke dissipated, and it gave Chris some room to see the outside. There was a massive and montrous octopus fighting angainst what she presumed was Procyon.

"Okay now... Whatever that fucking thing is... I'm gonna send it straight back to hell." Chris could see three Jackals blocking her way out, and one more about to attack the harpy from behind. She drew an arrow and fired, it glowing with a sickening dark green color. The arrow hit the Jackal in the back of its head and it quickly was paralyzed. Christine leaped over the balcony while drawing one more arrow. She fired it, and the arrow shone with a dark purple glow. Two of the Jackals covered their eyes, while other ran away. But it wasn't supposed to hit them. It hit the floor in front of them, and exploded, without smoke nor fire. The ones that tried to defend themselves were thrown on the water outside the Honey Bee, while the other was sent to the side, while a tentacle fell onto him. Chris cut the distance between her and the exit quickly, but then the unexpected happened.

A pillar of fire erupted behind her in the middle of the Honey Bee. The resulting structural damage made the building cave in, and Chris fell of it onto some floating debris. She had lost her balance, and now was about to face two angry Jackals and a tentacle right behind them, all moving closer to her. The face of the kraken couldn't be clearly saw by her, but she knew it was facing the Honey Bee. She got up and drew her weapons. "Well, I can't die now, can I?" She smirked. "Hey! Fuckheads! Explosion!" And she fired an arrow.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remaining Enemy Count:
Beta Jackals: 0 (One is about to be killed by Mimsy's fire while two are being exploded by me in the end)
Muscle Jackals: 0
Kraken: Alive. Missing a couple of tentacles and very, very angry.

I am also at a really bad place, and since I'm close to the kraken, Mimsy and Endless if you want my character to do something during your posts, just PM me. Oh, and one of you probably will save Chris, directly or indirectly.

Mokou's eyes slowly opened to find the bar in complete chaos. Apparently, while she'd been napping, an enemy of some sort or another had arrived, dropping off his own personal army to slaughter the Humans inside the establishment before quickly making his exit. All those patrons save the chosen heroes, as well as the employees of the unfortunate Honey Bee, were now nothing but bloodied, mauled corpses. For a moment, the tired phoenix gazed silently upon the dead, before in the next, the entire room was obscured by a screen of smoke.

Right... Those mortals aren't like me. They... won't be coming back, will they? Mokou thought silently, slowly rising from her chair as though the carnage breaking out all around her was something in a completely different world from herself. As the other heroes dealt with the Jackals, Mokou merely stood silently amidst the battle, watching as bodies fell amidst the smoke. They're just mortals. They were killed... permanently. So... does that mean I should grieve for their sake? Do I mourn for the world that comes after us? Or... should I feel happy for them? Envious, maybe? I... I don't know. I don't understand mortals. But right now, I think the emotion I should settle upon... The phoenix's train of thought was abruptly cut off as the ceiling collapsed atop her, suddenly burying her along with a group of mutilated jackals amidst a hill of random rubble. Mokou raised an eyebrow, now fully awakened.

The emotion I should be feeling right now... it's...

As the rest of the Honey Bee collapsed atop her, Mokou's body slowly flickered, gleaming with its own light as a scarlet brilliance began to burn forth from across every inch of her being. Her eyes gleamed scarlet as slowly, the wings on her back unfolded. Then, in the next instant, from the very center of the collapsed building, a tremendous pillar of fire rose up into the sky, like a sword made from the very heart of the sun, piercing upward and into the endless heavens. Then, as the rubble ignited in murderous crimson flames beneath her, the phoenix slowly rose from amidst the infernal blaze, appearing at the very heart of the pillar of flames as it slowly resolved itself into a gigantic form, silhouetting her with the shape of a true phoenix.



BGM: Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Hate. That's right... This sort of mindless being is one enemy I can finally burn without holding anything back!

A mirthless, crowing laugh rang out from above as the giant phoenix-shape flying over what had once been the Honey Bee raised its head, as though giving a roaring cry to the heavens, and spread its gigantic wings, forming a single curtain of flame that spread across the entire air across the dock. At the same time, the Humanoid shape at the heart of this infernal blaze slowly raised a single white hand, matching the movements of the flaming aura surrounding it. Ripples appeared across the surface of the giant phoenix aura's wings as countless blazing feathers detached themselves from the flames around them, slowly forming up in front of the phoenix like a tiny, burning legion. These flames then condensed inward, each gigantic feather changing shape into at least half a dozen small slips of paper, shrouded in the divine blaze of the phoenix from whose wings they'd been shed. In instants, more than a hundred Ofuda had taken form across the sky, all aimed downward at the raging black beast in the water below.

Then, with a resounding crack like the shattering of the heavens themselves, Mokou snapped her fingers, and swept her hand forward. In that instant, silently, every last one of the small, burning projectiles launched itself directly forward and down, aimed in a cloud of blazing, murderous flames right at the Warbeast in the waters below. The Kraken, too busy attempting to crush the Archer on the floating establishment below, didn't even notice that it was under fire until it was already wreathed in a shroud of flames so hot that not even the water in which the Warbeast floated could put the blaze out. The creature screamed as the ichor coating its body began to boil across its own skin, causing it to flail and writhe madly, its tentacles reaching upward in a futile attempt to grasp the one now bombarding it. Mokou simply laughed, and simply spawned another volley, letting loose once more with a truly tremendous shower of flames. Individually, the phoenix-fire sigils she was hurling held very little power. But, with this many being fired directly into such a large target at once, she might as well have been slapping the Kraken in the face repeatedly with her very wings themselves, and all of the flames within them.

The Warbeast howled in agony as several more of its tendrils were melted clean through by the second barrage, seared off of its body and sent splashing limply down into the water below. And yet, to Mokou's surprise, its main body remained largely unharmed. Hmm. How odd. Boiling a target alive usually worked. Well, it wasn't like that was the only option, though. She could always try roasting or frying instead!

Folding her wings, the phoenix allowed herself to begin plummeting downward, the giant avian shape behind her swiftly expanding over her, overlaying itself over her body in a curtain of flames as its gigantic wings spread and gave a single beat. In that instant, the silhouette at the heart of the giant bird was sent flipping backward while, at the same time, the mammoth, blazing phoenix was sent streaking downward, countless projectiles exploding forth from its wings as, at the same time, its many blazing tail feathers swept upward, spreading an arc of fire across all before it. Colliding with the flailing Warbeast, the colossus of flames swept over it like a literal tsunami of pure flames. An explosion of hellish scarlet light blazed forth across the harbor, and a tremendous backlash of wind spread across the sky from the heat of the blast. Mokou laughed and spread her wings, floating over the chaos as fire whirled and spread in every direction, burning even upon the surface of the water, sending up clouds of steam into the sky.

"Hahaha...! Ah, it's been far too long since I've been able to let loose with my flames like that. Finally, an enemy I can utterly destroy without a second thought!" This triumphant laugh was, however, cut off by a sudden explosion of power from amidst the heat, as the fire scattered outward in all directions, the Kraken giving a mighty roar as it returned fire with a tremendously powerful Hell Laser, scattering the blaze that, in another few seconds, doubtless would have immolated its body completely. The phoenix darted aside as quickly as she could, barely grazing past the sudden blast of dark power as it tore upward into the heavens and exploded across the sky. A small streak of flames began spreading across her side, in an instant replacing the small flow of blood that otherwise would have begun to appear there as she cauterized her own injury the moment it was inflicted, at the same time transforming the damaged flesh torn away by the laser attack directly into flames so as not to lose it.

"Tch. Tough guy, huh?" Mokou remarked, instinctively clutching the rather painful but utterly insignificant wound on her side as she swiftly recalled her flames to herself, the giant phoenix that had enshrouded her instantly fading into her wings, becoming much smaller, and more condensed - just a blazing silhouette behind her, made up up wings and tailfeathers without actually manifesting a body or head. The Kraken only roared mindlessly in reply, its dark power gathering once more as it prepared in a similar manner to the phoenix.

"Well, I don't care if you withstand my flames once, twice, or thrice! I'll still burn my image into those disgusting eyes of yours! An endlessly-resurrecting phoenix, shrouded amidst the blazing sky... That'll be the last thing you ever see!" With this roar of challenge, matched by the bestial howl of the Warbeast, punctuated both combatants releasing their powers. At the same time, a storm of blazing ofuda erupted downward, while a tremendous shower of Bullet Hell Lasers burst forth from the water below, matching, if not exceeding, the number of projectiles fired by the phoenix. Blazing scarlet and malevolent blackness clashed across the heavens, spreading a truly staggering explosion over the harbor as, with pinpoint accuracy, the Kraken began to target and shoot down each and every one of the incoming ofuda, the projectiles colliding in midair as the phoenix was forced to cut off her bombarment and streak to the side to evade a curtain of hellish bullets, briefly accelerating to her full speed and vanishing with a sonic explosion as countless lasers tore through where she'd just been. Grimacing, she appeared several hundred yards to the left, several small lacerations already taking shape across her body from the strain of the sudden movement, before all of these wounds in the next instant transformed into flames. But Mokou had no time to stop, for in the next instant, the beast's attack had targeted her once again, forcing her to dive as yet another barrage of dark lasers streamed across the heavens, blazing through where the phoenix had just been and striking the buildings opposite the dock, sending the buildings on the water's edge toppling backward amidst an explosive shower of destruction that leveled at least two city blocks.

Downward the phoenix rolled, darting back and forth between hails of magical attacks as the Kraken continued firing salvo after salvo of shots her way. Streaking across the surface of the water, Mokou found herself just barely outstripping countless blasts of power that struck the harbor just a short distance behind her, sending up jets of blinding spray that swiftly turned to steam as she tore like a hot knife through them, the enemy's shots just a short distance behind. Mokou grimaced and gave a stifled cry of pain. At her current velocity, the impact of the water against her fast-moving body was enough to break several bones. But, she had no time to think on this. Just then, a tentacle swept into her view, forcing her to dart upward just seconds before it swung through where she'd just been, followed by an upward hailstorm of dark magic as the Warbeast once more opened fire. Rolling about, Mokou turned to face the enemy, at the same time giving a mighty flap of her wings in an attempt to escape the enemy's reach as it once more lashed out with its numerous tendrils, at the same time firing off another barrage of her own Ofuda to shoot down a cloud of incoming lasers, using the shockwave of the resulting explosion to launch herself upward just in time to escape the encircling grasp of the Warbeast's tendrils as they reached around the blast of the failed attack, sweeping in from the sides only to grasp empty air as the blazing phoenix streaked skyward, and out of its reach. Turning her gaze ahead once again, however, Mokou had just enough time to widen her eyes...

...before a sickening gurgle, tearing of flesh, and crunching of bones became audible even over the sound of the exploding waterfront in the wake of the Kraken's last bombardment. The phoenix opened her mouth to gasp in pain, only to make nary a sound, as her lungs had currently vanished beneath the weight of a giant tentacle driven like a spike clean through her torso. The angry Kraken began to bring down the limb it had raised to ensnare its opponent, impaling her just before she could escape its reach. Bringing back its tendril like a fisherman might haul in his line after getting a bite, the creature gave a clearly triumphant roar. The phoenix hung lifelessly from the enemy's limb, her entire upper body pierced completely through on its snakelike tentacle. Yet despite this, in the next instant, the Warbeast cried out in pain, and began to thrash amidst the water, as in the next instant, a bright scarlet light flared to life once again, searing, ultra-condensed flames erupting all across its main body as, using the limb impaling her as a conduit, Mokou pre-emptively transformed her upper body into phoenix form, then channeled her blazing power directly into the creature's torso, causing its body to explode violently in searing flames.

"Ah," The phoenix said contentedly, her voice emanating not from her body, but from the blazing aura of flames sprouting from her back that once more assumed the shape of a giant bird. "Good. Trying to slip my shots past those attacks of yours was getting rather tiresome. Thanks for bringing me so close and giving me a direct line to your main body, beast. Now, then, back to burning away every last inch of your loathsome form until not even any ash is left!" With this triumphant roar, Mokou raised her arm one last time, her scarlet eyes flashing with triumph as she laid hold of the enemy's tendril with a vise-like iron grip. The phoenix surged forth, then collapsed upon this limb, condensing down into a single, blazing torrent that erupted from her hand, rushing down the beast's tentacle in an instant. The Warbeast screamed, trying to shake the limb it had used to impale the phoenix free, only to have said tendril turned to ash by a tremendous surge of power as Mokou channeled her full strength right into its body. The beast erupted violently in flames, several of its tentacles exploding from the inside out as its core began to burn. It shook, then exploded with the force of a large bomb, releasing its own full power indiscriminately, without direction nor control. A staggering surge of darkness erupted in all directions, once more dousing the flames that raged across the creature's form while at the same time picking up the limp body of the Phoenix and sending her flying violently backward, her flames recoiling to once more enshroud her form, an unconscious act of self-defense which was, perhaps, the only thing that saved her from being turned to dust by the sheer force of the enemy's shockwave, her fragile body reduced to nothing by the sheer wave of uncontrolled power that washed over her. As it was, her right arm was too far extended to be saved, and was torn apart by the force of the explosion. Fortunately, she managed to contain the damage by sacrificing this limb, and so emerged from the blast alive - if only in a certain sense of the word. Her entire torso had been almost entirely reduced to flames, and her arm was a simmering stump. She landed like a torn ragdoll on the dock, rolling limply backward and crashing into a pile of debris, which swiftly ignited as her many cuts turned to fire, her mortal body beginning to burn away as her phoenix form erupted from within her broken elven shell.

Ah...! Damnit! This pain... I'd almost forgotten what dying feels like. Ow... it hurts! I can't die, but it still hurts... Compared to this, dying of thirst or starvation is like a simple slap on the wrist...! What the hell is that thing made of, anyway?! I turned its insides to ash, yet it's still alive?! Shit... And I can't even move anymore... If that thing's immortal, too, I hope it feels just as bad as I do right now...

.....

Character Status:

Beta Jackals: 0
Muscle Jackals: 0
Kraken: Still alive, but only barely. Most of its insides were burned away by Mokou's final attack, and it also lost many tentacles from being blown up so many times. Still, it's alive, kicking, and very angry. It used up most of its power to save itself from Mokou's finisher, but that power is still in the air, and under its control. Most likely, it'll try to destroy everything and everyone while they're recovering from either being blasted by it or from the collapse of the building, probably using a Mega Hell Laser.

Mokou: Missing her upper torso and her right arm, and what's left of her body is covered by countless deep lacerations and other cuts caused by air resistance due to her ridiculous speed. Most of her remaining bones are broken, as well, so she's having to transform herself into flames to recover. Good Thing You Can Heal.

Julian glared up at the roughly avian-shaped burst of flame emerging from the cloud of darkness the beast had emitted. Still not dead yet, apparently. She'd better not try anything bigger than what she pulled just now; barely got out of the way of the dragon's attack, and now this...

This is 808-Quartz. 914-Diamond, you still alive?

Brilliant timing as usual, Natalia. Growling, Julian activated his transmitter. Barely. There’s a good chunk of the tavern that got smashed into the water; I managed to jump to a floating door before the firebird went to town on everything. He shifted his position as the door in question rocked beneath his feet. You know, considering how much time the primary target's monologue was taking, I could have taken him down in time if you hadn't spent a full minute turning a single sentence's intel into five.

914, this is not-

I know, I know, I can issue a formal complaint when I report in. Julian eyed the wounded creature, the greater whole of its body quivering and and compressing as it attempted to minimize the size of the hole in its abdomen through muscle contractions alone. Just beneath the surface of the water, the stumps of its tentacles flailed about vehemently, tossing up two-meter waves and spraying seawater as high as the tavern the Timekeeper agent had leaped from to reach it. I'll have to ask for more equipment, too, then, since I'm fairly certain my knives weren't designed with something like this in mind. You're sure you can't spare any explosives? Long-range rifles?

As I mentioned before, 914, every agent in the city is currently occupied with the Jackal infestation. We don’t have any time to spare, even on resupplying a comrade.

Fine. The cloud of darkness above Julian began to condense into a vortex, draining into the maimed abomination’s wound. No time to lose, then, he thought. Wish me luck, I guess. 914 out. Switching off his transmitter, he gauged the distance between him and the enemy, then stabilized his footing on the door and took a running leap forwards.

His target reacted immediately when the Timekeeper agent landed, letting out a burbling screech and convulsing with even greater vigor in an attempt to throw off the very sharp pair of objects that had suddenly buried themselves in its skin. Flailing, however, would only do so much against a practiced assassin who’d honed his athletic skills for over a century, and Julian managed to knife his way up the the creature’s side and climb into the rapidly-closing hole in its gut without much difficulty.

After about ten seconds of stabbing everything that looked important, he hit something vital.

Three seconds after that, he hit something extremely vital.

The creature’s body seized up- involuntarily, for once- and it let out a noise halfway between a wail and a screech that carried halfway across the city, its eye rolling madly in its socket. The tentacle stumps fell limp beneath the water’s surface as it shuddered one last time and collapsed backwards into the sea, oily black smoke already sublimating from its bruise-colored flesh.
_____

Character Status: EVERYTHING IS DEAD AHAHAHAHAHAHA

...um.

Beta Jackals: 0
Muscle Jackals: 0
GIGANTIC TENTACLE MONSTER: Currently dissolving into black smoke.
Julian: Needs immediate evac. :P

Each of the Heroes felt a sudden lightness in their beings as they were taken from the spot they had been in during the fight to a small plot of land a mile or two from the city. The one who had summoned them stood in front of the group. He appeared to be an old man dressed in the robes of a high archmage. "Hello my children" the man said with a very feminine sounding voice. "My name is Lumeria, you may know me as the Goddess of Light" she looked at their reactions and laughed fondly. "Oh you are most likely wondering why I am in the body of a man, while it was the only body with enough magic power to allow me to walk among you, and even then it won't be long before this body burns out, so I must be quick" she snapped her fingers and their bodies were brought to the same condition they had been in before they had entered the pub. "as I said I must be quick, you must travel north to the High Church of the Moon, there you will find High Lord Pardoner, he can help you continue your journey, but before I go some of you will need motivation so allow me to show you future where you abandoned your duties for whatever reasons"

She snapped and they found themselves high above the ground and over the city they had just been in. The sea was pure black and boiling. City streets where overrun with Jackals who were eating the still bodies of all of the people who had once lived in the city. They saw massive creatures made of pure darkness which infected everything they touched. Nothing was left of life, the world had been consumed by darkness.

"Now that you see what will happen if it comes to pass, now I have a few more gifts for you" she snapped and a bag full of gold appeared at their feet. "Enough to finance your journey to a local township known as Kingas that was sparred of the Jackal assault, you should be able to buy a horse and carts to carry yourselves in, and food of course" the goddess within the wizards body grabbed his/her chest. "I must be gone to preserve this form, be safe my children, never forget I am there even when I am not" the goddess disappeared in a flash of light. At the same time thousands of beams fell upon the city destroying every Jackal that had invaded it.

(okay any gear or items are with you, you are back to peak condition, you can talk and decide what to do and if so inclined the group can begin traveling, you have as much time as you want and you might need to camp out if you take long enough but if you start moving fast you can make it there in half a days travel, talk as much as you want and do as you feel you need)

Gahh! What is wrong with her? Is there a godly edict that states that she is unable to explain things in a normal way ? Why does she keep flooding our skulls with information? Our heads could explode, I’ve seen it happen! Wait a minute. I’m not drunk anymore.I looked around. We were out in the countryside.

“Interesting, teleportation” I stated out loud.

“Seems that it was done without the use of a circle. I’ve only seen that done in books.” A voice spoke beside me, sounding increasingly excited. “A whole new form of alchemy, and maybe he can teach me!”
I looked over at the young human. “only partially alchemy, deconstructing and reconstructing molecules certainly. However no alchemy can bend the fabric of space and time. The circles thing is just something you need enough concentration to hold in your mind”

The human didn’t bother making eye contact, instead fumbling around for a pen and paper to write with. The girl began taking notes and drawing models in the notebook, a steady stream of disjointed words that accompanied the scribbling of the notebook. “Partial.... time displacement... new.... monkeys.... Honey B-”

The girl paused, pen hovering over the paper, she turned to look at the shorter goblin. She began to say something, stopped herself, turned in a circle gazing at the other new arrivals, then turned back and said, “We just teleported. Someone JUST teleported us. What the hell kind of energy is that?!”

“Yes we teleported I just said that, and I do believe are employer was the one to do it, as to the energy...magic. Insanely powerful magic.” I ran a few quick mental calculations in my head the conclusions those calculations led me too were not pleasant. In fact I really hoped I was wrong for the first time in my life. “In any case don’t use monkeys as test subjects, the cleanup is far too much effort” I noted offhandedly.

“Well yes, but they are the closest thing I can get to... Humans seem dreadfully opposed to being experimented on.” The girl said, beginning a new page of notes, completely ignoring the mage with the feminine voice.

“Use cows for test subjects, I don't know what it is about their biology but when they explode all the gore stays in a single column, saves hours on clean-up” I paused to catch my breath while the goddess threw a bag of money at the feet of out group.

The girls eyes bugged out when she saw the enormous bag of money suddenly appear. “First teleporting ten people miles away from their original point, now money?!” The girl paused, walked over and grabbed a coin, then walked back over to the goblin and began drawing a circle, “I wonder if this stuff is real? How did she do it? Who is she? Why US of all people?”

“It has to be real or we’ll be seeing the inside of a jail cell for forgery.”I said snatching the coin from her hand. “As to how and who I believe that man is playing host to a deity, and I don't know about you but I was clearly chosen for my brilliance.

The girl’s eyes narrowed as the goblin snatched the coin away, “I’m sure you were also chosen for your humility. We could all learn from you and your beneficence.”


I grinned back at her as I began walking the coin along the back of my hand. “Snark all you want but how many alchemists do you know that can manage battle transmutations without a circle, hmm?”

“Heh, no one can do a successful battle transmutation without a circle. You are insane.” The girl replied simply. “It does seem like we’re stuck together though, and you seem to be the only other alchemist, so I’d rather avoid senseless conflicts. I’m May.”

“Hmph, Impossible. If that what you want to think but you could at least stand to learn how to accomplish the feat outside of battle. But you seem far to strong-headed to take instruction from me. Little twerp” muttering the last bit. “ Oh and my name is Gux by the way.”

Gux turned to see a small explosion go off as May transmuted the coin, separating the the molecules into their respective groups. May was busy comparing the notes in her sketchbook to a reference manual that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. “Hm? You said something?”

Well if its a contest she wants... My eyes flared with a deep scarlet as I activated my alchemy. Placing my hand on the ground vibrating a mass of molecules between her and I until a large fire sprang up. “I’m waiting to be impressed May.”

May reacted as any sane person would when confronted by a glowy eyed goblin alchemist that could control fire. She picked up her stuff, and took off in the other direction, dropping slips of paper and used pens along the way.

Stopping a few meters away from the fire, May began furiously scribbling in the dirt, using pens and bits of chalk, until she had made a complete circle. Then, focusing her energy May created a circular pool of water, then, May transmuted the ground around the fire, forcing it into a depression and sending the recently transmuted fire on top of it in order to put it out.

Well it looks like she’s not without talent after all. But two can play at transmutation. I put my hand down lightly so it was barely touching the water and called upon my power to transform the water into glass. As the change took effect I pulled my hand from the glass crushing small bit of the stuff in my scaled hand. “I think against my better judgement I like you, shall we call it a draw?”

‘Fine, wouldn’t want to waste all my good chalk on you anyway.” May huffed as she began putting all her stuff back into her backpack. “Draw. That was fun though, creepy red eyes and all. I’ll have to figure that out sometime.”

A violent fit of coughing erupted from closeby the group as a surge of flames whirled outward, displaced by a sudden mass of flesh that had abruptly been reformed far faster than even the phoenix's regenerative capacities could cope with. Suddenly with lungs but without air in them, the wounded firebird lay upon the ground, gasping for breath between pained coughs as her body tried to recover from being abruptly forced back into mortal form. What had just happened? Mokou had died and been resurrected several times in her unnaturally long life, but it had never been anything close to this sudden. It was almost as though her body had simply been restored to a previous state, and, her flames, with nowhere else to go, swiftly collapsed upon her, simply forcing themselves back inside her.

I'm alive... But... how? And this place.. it's different from where I passed out. Right now, I should be comatose, at the very least. So... there's a being with healing powers even more absolute than my own? I suppose I should be impressed, but I think I like my way of reincarnating better. Much simpler to ease into these things than to resurrect... all at once. Mokou gave another hacking cough, and slowly rose on all fours, beginning to look around herself and size up the situation. To her surprise, it wasn't just her mortal body that had been repaired. Her phoenix self's flames had been replenished, the feathers she'd used up in the previous battle already having been replaced. So, this being claiming to be Lumeria the goddess even had the power to alter her metaphysical body when it wasn't in use? Mokou, not exactly a skeptical sort - Look, she was an undying phoenix in the body of an elf, was it really that big of a stretch to assume that a goddess could inhabit the body of a mortal man? - decided she'd take things at face value, for now placing her trust in the goddess, the vision of the future she'd just been forced to witness, Lumeria's directions, and the "reward" they'd been given. There was just one small problem, though - one thing that the phoenix didn't have.

Mokou sighed. "'Go to Kingas,' huh? It would help if I knew where and what exactly that destination was."

Having disposed of the Jackals that attacked him, Rissien made his way to the kitchen of the the Honey Bee during the fight that ensued. These guys can fight, uh? Well, let them handle it. Minding his own business, or rather, stomach he snatched a chicken wing laying in the a plate nearby, ready to be served, and made his way to the stockpile to look for more food. Distracting explosions and a rocky environment weren't very helpful to his search, but he managed to locate the fridge. When he stretched his hand to seize a slice of cake, the fridge was no longer there.

In fact, nothing else was there. The elf stood in a clearing a few ways away from the city, visible only in the distance. His hand still stretched and his mouth gaping in disbelief.

"... know me as the..." Some voice was talking, he wasn't particularly paying attention. What the? But it was right there!

"... must travel north to..." Rissien was vaguely aware of the others around. But... It was cake! Just who, nooooo!

"... township known as Kingas..." The elf noticed a pouch of coins at his feet, and the lone chicken wing still grasped in his left hand. He finally lowered his right hand, picking up the pouch of coins and staring, dreamy, at the tiny piece of food.

"...and food of course." The voice said, drawing Rissien's attention for the first time, shortly before vanishing. Yes, food. It was your fault wasn't it? He felt annoyed, but stayed quiet.

Others reacted with surprise, two of them seemed to play a game of comparing their magic. Were this any other situation, the elf warrior wouldn't hesitate to start a fight then and there. But he decided to ponder while he munched the only piece of food he managed to save. Slowly, making sure to savor it completely. Going to a still inhabited town and getting food wasn't such a bad idea.

"Well, listen up strange people, I have no bloody idea who you are or what you intend to do." Rissien said while stretching, directed at the group in general. "But, sounds like there's food in this Kingas town, so I'm going there. If you want me to guide you there let me know now and I'll walk slowly enough for you to follow. Otherwise I'm taking off."

After exploding two Jackals and one of the demonic beast's tentacles, Chris tried to protect herself from the latter attacks, but surprisingly, none happened. What happened, was that, something or someone brought hell down to the real world and layed it on top of the mighty leviathan. The only heroic move someone that didn't have archmage-level magic powers could do at that time was to run away. Or in her case, swim away. The underwater environment wasn't receptive, the kraken's battle wasn't enough to stir the sea as a massive storm, but Christine managed to move pretty well, as she was used to dark and dangerous environments, and she already have had to swim for her life before so, not much different from her daily habits. Under the Honey Bee there was barely enough room to breath, but thankfully there was a hole in the middle of it.

But suddenly she wasn't there anymore. She was teleported to somewhre else, but she couldn't see where because since she was swimming, the confusion she had after being teleported and suddenly not swimming anymore made she fell with her face straight into the ground. At least the dirt tasted good. Chris raised her head and saw an old archmage speaking with a very feminine voice. The okama identified himself as "Lumeria, the Goddess of Light". Why she had appeared after the beasts had been fought and why had she told them to go straight into a trap and wasn't there to help Christine didn't know. Once again she told them where they had to go, much to Chris' dismay. The goddess showed them a vision of the possible dark future of the world, much like what Christine had in mind, but with less fire. Lumeria snapped her fingers and Chris' clothes dried up and the items she would have lost while swimming where all there, including all of her money. Then the goddess gave her even more money. Not that Chris was complaining, but if she was to receive money, at least she could receive so when she could spent it. When her finatial problems finally were solved, she had to spent it to save the world. "Heh... Destiny sure likes to screw with me..."

After the "fireworks", that had destroyed all the evil upon the city - Which made Chris wonder what kind of evil she would be fighting, because not even the goddess could destroy it with the raise of an eyebrow. "Well, we have a mission. Better gather this group of heroes and see who is the leader here. Judging by everyone here it seems like it will be me... Fuck it, hope I ain't right." She put her bag of gold together with the one she had in her backpack after standing up. She cleaned herself while watching two alchemists have a small challenge. "Heh, why not. One of them is human, at least."

"Hey, you! Fifty bucks to the one that discovers how my quiver makes arrows out of nuthin'."

Procyon knelt on the sand, coughing the water from his lungs. Fragments of grey, stone-like material lay on the ground beneath him, apparently from his mask. However, the coughs kept his head down and his lower face in shadow. When he finally raised his head, tiny sparks of blue light fell to the ground, and his mask was strangely seamless once more.

"Damn it. If that firebird hadn't interfered..!" Slamming his hand down on the partially glassed beach beneath him, courtesy of the very same firebire he was cursing, Procyon turned over and sat down. He could already feel the familiar weight of his spell book in the pouch under his jacket, but he reached in to check the ones he had "borrowed" from the library. Pulling them out, he relaxed as he saw that they had not been damaged during his swim. Water protection charms were common on most valuable spell books, but Procyon had never gotten the chance to check these specific ones. Perhaps he should find a pouch with a similar charm though, just in case next time something like this happened he wasn't so lucky.

As the dragon stood up and dusted the sand from his coat, he looked around at the burning buildings, even as one of the majestic towers toppled deeper into the city. It was an indication of the immensity of the structure that the gust of wind created by its fall slammed into Procyon even as far away as he was. Roiling, pitch-black clouds blotted out the sky, and the world was lit only by the raging inferno consuming the city, part of which had also been started by the phoenix from before.

Not that Procyon particularly cared what happened to the city. He wandered up the beach casually, with his hands in his pockets and started strolling amongst the dying metropolis, listening to, or rather ignoring the screeching cries of jackals and the screams of the dying. Actually, this is quite fortunate. Sure, no one here had a chance of catching me for that incident at the library, but now no one who was present is probably even alive, and even if they do survive, what the hell will they care for a couple books when their city and everyone they've ever known is dead? Procyon, with his twisted sense of humor, found that situation inherently funny. Chuckling to himself, he ignored the crash of a building caving in next to him as he strolled on down the road, leaving the fire-covered remains to collapse behind him. Oh, that's right, on the subject of collapsing buildings, I wonder how many of those fools back there survived that? Meh, even if they did, they probably have better things to worry about. Except perhaps that clockwork... Maybe it would be best to go back and make sure...

Procyon casually tossed one of his chains into the wall of a building next to him as he approached an alleyway. A moment later, one of the large, muscled jackals from before leaped out of the dark shadows, screeching a war cry which was abruptly cut off as Procyon's chain mysteriously rebounded, slammed into the creature's spine, and then released a miniature explosion of blue fire, annihilating the upper body of the jackal in an instant. Catching his chain and giving it a tug to free it from the wall it was looped through, an action that also caused the collapse of another building behind him - the city was already pretty much gone, so no one was going to care about a little extra destruction - Procyon strolled onwards... right into a teleportation spell.

-----------------------

There was a moment of silence as the old man vanished into a flash of light. Procyon stood in the shadow of a tree off to one side of the area where the others had been teleported, leaning quietly against the trunk. His outline was broken by the tree, and in the dim light of the word around them - the sky was still filled with ominous clouds, but they were now much farther from the city, which at least provided a decent source of light, what with the burning and all - he was almost invisible at first glance, though if someone actually looked he wasn't making any active attempt to conceal himself.

No one knew quite what to say, until all of a sudden, the clouds were torn asunder and immense beams of white fire rained from the heavens as the light of the sun violently forced its way through the cloud cover. The group stared in surprise as the city was engulfed in an explosion of unprecedented brilliance and size. Then Procyon laughed. The back lash of the blast sent a wall of dust flying at the so-called heroes borne on gale force winds, but Procyon walked into it, arms spread wide, as his cackling was drowned out by the roaring wind.

As the debris settled, the dragon glanced over at the tree behind him, which had been ripped out of the ground, then let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. "All this time I was sure the gods were assholes, and what do you know? They have a sense of humor!" Kicking aside a bag full of gold that happened to be in his path, then violently obliterating it with a snap of his fingers and a wave of blue fire, he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned back in the direction of the crater where the city had once been. "I'm certain you can still hear me, woman. Let me make this as clear as I know how. You think showing me that gives me a reason to fight? What, did you think that would horrify me or something? I'm not a little lemming like you normally deal with. On the contrary, that looked hilarious! I'm half tempted to join them! I mean, they made the ocean boil! I could just drop my enemies into it from a few hundred feet up - not enough to kill them, just shatter most of their bones - and then watch them roast! The gurgling sound they would make as they went under would make it all worth it..." He stared off into space and lapsed into silence, making it quite obvious what he was imagining.

Suddenly shrugging and turning away, he let out another chuckle. "But... as tempting as that is, I work alone. Though boiling the sea is a good idea anyhow. I'll have to figure out how to do that sometime. And if those fools don't like me stealing their idea, I guess I'll just have to test out my new world-wide hot tub on them first." Suddenly, he paused, as if a genius idea had occurred you him. "Oh. OH." It was quite obvious by his tone that under his mask, he was grinning psychotically. "Actually, tell you what, you give me some new spell books, I play your little game, and we call it even. Yes, yes, I know, very generous of me. But you see, I just had the most wonderful thought, so I'm in a great mood right now!" Hands still in his pockets, he strolled away from the group and in the general direction of the town the goddess had indicated. "Until you show up next, I'll let you think it over. I won't even blow up these random people again in the meantime!"

It was then that an elf walked out of the group and addressed everyone as a whole. "Well, listen up strange people, I have no bloody idea who you are or what you intend to do. But, sounds like there's food in this Kingas town, so I'm going there. If you want me to guide you there let me know now and I'll walk slowly enough for you to follow. Otherwise I'm taking off."

"Hmph. I have no need of a guide, Elf, and I neither know, nor care who you are. You have fun walking. I'll be waiting for you people at the other end. Who knows, maybe some of you will even die on the way over." With that said, Procyon's weight shifted ever so slightly, as though he were about to take a step. Then, with a whooshing of displaced air frantically trying to keep up with his speed, Procyon vanished from sight in an instant, leaving only a little cloud of dust where he had been standing.

Still seated at the top of his tree, Julian ignored the ranting Procyon and continued with his self-inspection, giving his arm a few experimental swings, clenching and unclenching his hands. Hm. No damage. No gore. No drowning in black smoke and seawater. I'm even still cloaked. He let his arm drop. All right, then, we'll go with the deity explanation, although I don't believe I've heard of any Lumeria, Goddess of Light in any of the pantheons I've read up on so far, even the ones with a history of intervening in mortal affairs-

"Listen up, strange people!"

Julian mentally groaned and looked down at the elven swordsman. Well, I'm supposed to be working with everyone here, to a degree. I might as well listen to what he has to say.

"I have no bloody idea who you are," the elf continued, stretching his arms to his sides, "or what you intend to do, but it sounds like there's food in this Kingas town, so I'm going there. If you want me to guide you there, let me know now and I'll walk slowly enough for you to follow. Otherwise? I'm taking off."

Off to the side, Procyon let out a short bark of laughter. "I've no need of a guide, elf, and I neither know nor care who you are. You have fun walking; I'll be waiting for you people at the other end. Who knows? Maybe some of you'll even die on the way over." Shifting his weight, the dragon flickered and disappeared.

Typical. Julian dropped from his perch, making sure to stay behind the tree relative to the group and make as little noise as possible as he fell. His magitech shell had already reverted to his disguise from the tavern by the time his feet hit the ground. I suppose it'd be best if I officially joined them now, he mused as he stepped out from behind the evergreen, what with the mission and all. At least some of them are heading to town, and I should be able to report in there just as easily as at the capitol.

As soon as he moved into vision range, a few of the group's heads quickly jerked around to look at the newcomer, the swordsman included. Julian shrugged and put a bit of a waver into his voice as he called out, "N-no, no, don't mind me, I was, uh... I just wanted to say, um, I'd like to go along with you." He looked down for a second, trying to put across the impression that he was debating what to say next, then added slightly more fluidly, "But, uh, you don't have to bother, really, with slowing down and all. I'm fairly certain I can keep up with the lot of you, no problem."

The first thing Alina noticed when she came to was the puppies; the second thing she noticed was that she was no longer actually in the Honey Bee. She could tell from the scrunched-up, wet parts of her shirt, covered in horse slobber, that while she was out, she had been dragged out of the building by Caranor-- whose liberty was explained by the ruins of a stable nearby, which seemed to have been mostly kicked down by a frantic unicorn. The puppies, presumably, had followed, loyal to their new de facto mistress. Her familiar had shown up not a moment too soon, she could see, as the building that had formerly been an inn crumbled in around itself, several parts clearly on fire, tentacles flailing in the distance.

Her ability to take in these new developments was short-lived, however, as a moment later she felt a sensation of being lighter than air, the scene before her vanishing as she landed gently in a clearing which was evidently some ways out of the city. The eight whose fates were bound up with hers likewise appeared here, facing a robed man whose essence blazed in her mind with a power not his own.

The mage, if mage he was, began to speak in the Goddess' voice and Alina understood, if not in her conscious mind then in some deeper level of her being, dropping to her knees before the one whose body played host to her Patroness.

"...You must travel north to the High Church of the Moon. There you will find High Lord Pardoner; he can help you continue your journey. But before I go, some of you will need motivation, so allow me to show you future where you abandoned your duties for whatever reasons." At this, Alina gave a small gasp. Abandon their duties? How could that be possible? This was the Goddess Lumeria addressing them, and who was Alina to question her word-- but this was their fate, their path to walk. They could not choose to walk another, could not simply turn away from their destinies. No matter how awful the vision of such a world was, more awful to Alina was the concept that they could cause such a world to exist.

Only when the radiant Lumeria disappeared did Alina open her eyes, and get to her feet again, taking inventory of her person and surroundings. She was pleased to note that the cloth of her white dress was no longer wet with horse spittle, but rather as starched and smooth as it had been when she donned it that morning (which now felt like ages ago). Much as she loved her familiar, and was grateful to the unicorn for having saved her, it would have been bothersome to have ruined perfectly good clothes. Speaking of Caranor, the beautiful unicorn herself was standing dutifully beside Alina, clearly none the worse for the sudden teleportation. Beyond that... there was a bag of gold at her feet, which she picked up only as an afterthought-- if the Goddess said she might need it, she supposed she would, though she could hardly imagine a situation where it would be entirely necessary for her. Around her, a pair of her companions-- the alchemist girl and the odd goblin-- were engaging in some sort of petty competition, and the others were, like her, adjusting to their new surroundings, or so it seemed. Everyone and everything seemed to be 'reset' to as they had been before the battle at the Honey Bee.

Alina smiled beatifically. Well, not everything. One of the golden "puppies" was perched on Caranor's back, gazing at the albino elf adoringly. She hoped the other two would be able, wherever they were, to adequately take care of herself. She reached out a hand to stroke the creature-- she supposed it wasn't really a puppy, being made of pure Light, but she couldn't help herself thinking of it in those terms-- as her fellow elf stepped forward to speak.

"Well, listen up strange people. I have no bloody idea who you are or what you intend to do. But sounds like there's food in this Kingas town, so I'm going there. If you want me to guide you there, let me know now, and I'll walk slowly enough for you to follow. Otherwise, I'm taking off." He had barely spoken before that other one, the one whose wrongness had tickled her mind since his first appearance like an itch she couldn't scratch, took off on his own, rapidly disappearing from sight. She supposed she should be relieved, that now she wouldn't be as bothered by whatever was off about him, but instead this attitude simply irked her more. They were supposed to be a team, a unit; here he was, separating himself from the group, weakening them by one member and undermining their overall cohesiveness. What little of it there was to begin with.

She pushed these negative thoughts from her mind, where they did not belong, and strode forward to follow the clockwork soldier who had just joined the other elf. She mounted Caranor in one swift movement, the puppy snuggling against her side as soon as she was settled, and placed her hand on the taller elf's arm. "I will go with you," she declared, her eyes flicking over the rest of the group; "we all will. We are destined to. We are the heroes this world has been waiting for, after all; we will walk the path the Fates and the Gods set out for us. Lead the way, brother; Caranor will be sure to match your speed."