middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Finale: All teams

The Will to Fight: Finale: All teams

The Far Gate

Given that people have scouted ahead, it will be no surprise when those who arrive at the Red objective find an army of demons there. Unlike the other packs they have encountered, these ones are not roaming, and don't appear to be heading towards the city. Instead, they are guarding something.

A gate. It is larger than the others they have seen so far by an order of magnitude, and if there are this many demons outside, the keystone must be guarded just as well.

For those who are actually on the red team their SCA will flash up a message: This gate has multiple keystones. It is the focal point for other gates closer to the city. Close it.

Around the City

In the Caverns

Once the rockfall was cleared, those that wished to could make their way back towards the city. They might come across demons on the way, small packs scouting the land and hunting survivors, but for the most part their way will be clear until they get to the city and to the Voidtrecker camp.

For everyone else, there are plenty of non-combatants that need protecting. The cavern itself remains warded against demons, but patrols still pass and keeping everyone safe and hidden is important.

Almost all the citizens have thrown off the mind control now. Some of the younger children have started having nightmares, and keeping everyone positive and calm is harder than it was before with a goal in sight.

In the City

The sigils hum and glow. For those feeding them power it's a very long couple of days; though once the monks are free they join in, brusquely waving off any questions or concern about their wellbeing to focus on the task at hand: protecting the city. They will of course accept any extra energy. The wards are not meant to go out completely, it will take a lot of energy to restart them.

By the eleventh day it is clear something else is wrong. Some of the focus stones on the city walls are out of place, either knocked awry in the battles before the false peace, or sabotaged by demons. Either way, for the wards to fully activate they will need those not giving energy to go out onto the walls, to find the stones and align them. It's not too technical but might be dangerous, because outside the walls, a fight is about to begin…

The Battle for the City

The attacks have gotten more frequent but on the evening of day ten they stop. Silence. No gates open, no demons attack. The whole night is spent in a tense, almost eerie silence.

It is broken at dawn the next day, two massive gates open, one to the north of the city and one to the south. Demons march out, heading towards the city.

Not just demons, they each have two large structures, siege machines. It seems they wish to knock this city down completely, securing their victory over the humans.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Got it!" Tidus had answered Allen, pulling from his arms band an elixir, chugging the small phial, to deal with his drain on both sides. Either good timing or poor as the chain had come to wrap around him, and--oh, word, those just got twisted up? Thank whoever did that.

So Tidus manages to get up on his feet, a glance at the siege machine to see its condition (not upright? good), realising a sense of apprehension and dread that isn't his own, but--he looks, can't see across the battlefield with the demons, and he starts to make some way through them, distracted by foe, stopping, the ground rumbling.

Not good. Please don't tell him it's a second machine. His destination had been to where the few of his blue higgledies were, gathered by Roland, fussing and trying to soothe him with spells. But he tries to reach out through to the man by the connection of Gibbers and Rannygazoo, concern intermingled with a greater sense of hope.

He hopes himself for some time of answer, but there are demons around, he knows he still has to fight--!

Not the first time someone had pulled a gun on him, not even the first time that it was a former ally, and really not even the first time it was Roland holding the gun aimed at him. Altogether it was a rather unfortunately familiar position. Reno held up his hands in the universal surrender sign, palms facing Roland to show his hands were empty--indeed, he even let his baton slip out of his hand to dangle on his wrist from its strap so that he was well and truly defenseless.

It didn't seem to make a difference. Roland didn't look pissed off at him this time, instead he looked a bit confused and pained, like he was fighting something on the inside that hurt more than physical wounds. Like he was anguished and simply reacting--like he didn't really see what was in front of him. Luckily for Reno, something made a difference in the split-second before the gun fired because he damn well noticed the sudden motion of the arm being pushed aside as the trigger was pulled. Reno flinched as the bullet grazed past his arm, ripping his clothing and leaving a nice mark across his skin which quickly began to seep red.

He wasn't quite certain breathing a sigh of relief was appropriate yet so he held it instead as he watched Roland carefully, expression neutral. The dark haired man definitely looked more than a bit confused now and Reno frowned slightly as he let his arms drop back to his sides.

"Yeah, asshole, it's me. I know you hate me but could you wait until we're finished with the mission to try and get the drop on me? Tch." A beat. "Can we consider this makes us even?"

NOT THE TIME, RENO.

But leave it to the morally questionable Turk to ask such a thing right in the middle of a battlefield with a mental crisis going on. Yes, he was the worst. No, he felt no remorse for it.

"You better now? Or do I need to get you out of here?"

That was probably as close to concern as the redhead was going to get as he stared cautiously (and perhaps worriedly?) at the former president. It was, at least, a genuine question and offer. Definitely a good thing they had a minute to spare for the time being, thanks everyone. Hopefully they wouldn't need it for much longer.

Meanwhile, it had been a hot minute on the battlefield since the King of Dragons was summoned and his time was rapidly coming to an end. A glowing red aura somewhat like sparks flying outwards from the great beast began to emanate from the dragon. Any hostile entity standing within the aura would feel it effecting them negatively, causing damage in repeated waves as it pulsed out from the dragon. (Friendlies would see it, but not suffer from it.)

Bahamut took another clawed swipe at his latest opponent. He hovered for a pregnant moment in the air with nothing but the aura surrounding him. Then, with a great beat of his wings, the large black dragon rose higher into the air and looked down on the battlefield. He took a deep breath and as he did so a great force of energy formed within his gaping maul--and when he breathed out an awesome blast of energy flew rapidly down to the battlefield and struck the area where the largest foes stood, hitting a multitude of demons with his fearsome Megaflare.

Then the dragon flew straight up into the air at a seemingly impossible rate for a winged creature and disappeared. It's time was up, it had done what it was Summoned to do, and that was that. It was gone.

Edited 2021-03-25 05:32 (UTC)

"Thank you!"

With the help of first Xingchen, then Demyx, Vexen is able to pry his arm free of the demon's jaws. Ice crystals condense on his uninjured arm and, in a flash of blue light, form into Frozen Pride, seeming no worse for its trip through the demonic whips. Then the dead rise, and he looks alarmed for a moment before...they're attacking other demons? Well, interesting, but not his immediate priority.

"That rain had an...unanticipated interaction with that heart irritant of mine. It was on me before I had time to recall Frozen Pride."

As the ground shakes, his feet lift up into the air without so much as a moment's stumble, as though he's already used to dealing with sudden earthquakes. Too bad it doesn't seem to throw the demons off...if anything, it seems to encourage them. He scowls, and decides now seems like a good time to take a moment to prepare, while the enemy is on their way back from a retreat. Magic swirls around the spiked end of his shield, and ice starts forming into a long, thick blade.

"I suspect something else is about to happen."

Edited 2021-03-25 05:39 (UTC)

This wasn’t really the best fight of Demyx’s life. He was full of emotions, for some reason, that needed to be stuffed down and dealt with later and he’d already taken a serious blow and had to be brought back from the brink of death.

He’d found his footing, done some damage and now he was all full up thanks to that Hi-Ether and that brief chance to breathe that they had.

The tide was turning, and he was here for it.

Until it wasn’t. The ground rumbled dangerously all of a sudden and Demyx who’d been about to take off on a watery dash suddenly found himself faceplanted in the dirt.

“Ugh, what the heck?!” He asked, sitting up, a bit confused where that earthquake came from, but one thing was for sure - it was ominous.

Edited (I know what I meant. Just like Demyx.) 2021-03-25 05:48 (UTC)

Alright, so. There are demons rising that suddenly are going after their own? Yondu's been a roommate of a Wei for a while and this is pretty new. And the dragon thing is still happening, now to a greater degree. You know what, he's trying to keep up? But the fact of the matter is they just lost a healer that had been covering their ass as best she could the whole time, and Vexen just got mauled (luckily a couple of people jumped right onto saving him pretty damn quick).

The ground rumbles and while those clones are still protecting Kumoko, he catches his arrow and actually goes to stand by her. He's not strong enough to move her cause that's a whole lotta spider parts he doesn't really know what to do with, but he can protect her until she is moved.

Yondu catches his arrow, waiting for the worst. "I think you're right!" he hollers at Vexen. "We gotta get her outa here if we can't get her up! She can't do nothin' like this!"

He looses the arrow to take care of some of the demons around them for the time being. Just providing cover 'cause now that their big machine's down, they're really bearing down on 'em. And that rumble? He's not liking if that relates to any of the visions they saw.

[Kyoko redoubles her efforts to take out the remaining demons, rather literally as she creates four more clones to fight them. If there's something she's learned during her time fighting Witches, it's that when the mooks start getting aggressive like this, that means the boss is on it's way.]

"Just need to get higher.' as Thea grabbed arrows and keeps firing into mooks. She aims volleys to help Yondu and Vexen plus cover fire as needed.

There's a strange revving noise, almost like... a car? But there can't be any cars here. Not in a world like this.

Oh, but there is, driving into the battle at top speed. It knocks into several of the smaller demons and starts firing sickle-shaped projectiles of magical energy, aiming to blast whatever's around it.

With relief to see his roommate is saved, "You're welcome." Xingchen recognizes his nephew's power, and he isn't afraid much, but with the demons double down their attacks, he needs to fight.

With the quake, he nearly loses his balance, but once he regains it, he continues to fight the more aggressive demons with his sword. In the chaos, he sees the second siege machine, but he has his hands tied.

Only to be relieved to see a car knocking the demons he's fighting. That freed up the monsters he's fighting and gives him a breather.

Once Allen was sure that Tidus was okay, using his cowl grab any who had gone even close to pull them in and cut them down. It was for a brief moment that he honestly looked and felt bad about killing them, but he also didn't have much time to really understand thier own situation considering they were trying to kill them.

So for the time being Allen's focus was once again back on keeping a path clear for others while at the same time trying to not get too badly hurt himself... which was much more easier said than done.

Reno's voice feels unnatural, like it's a sound that shouldn't be there, or coming out of the image of the demons that surround him. But with some help - the tug of a strong, hopeful force inside of him; the rain of magic that makes it easier to see through the thick fog - it cracks enough of the veil for Roland's greater sense to push aside. He blinks rapidly, hand across his temple, and finally, and somewhat ironically, it's the face of the last person he expects that stands out amidst a sea of otherwise vicious looking creatures.

Which is all the evidence he needs to figure out that he was hit by something bad.

"Reno." He says, almost out of relief. "It's you. It's - " Not dead, not dead, no one is dead? "No...No, I'm - " He stammers out, trying to stand. It's disorienting still, not quite shaken out of it but the fight has returned even if it comes in small doses. He opens his eyes, half-lidded but seeing as clear as any, and tries to steady himself on both feet. No one's dead. Relax. Get it together. The grit, the struggle, is almost palpable.

"I'm fine." He says, stubborn as always. Though out of logic, he will concede to one thing, Reno's sense of special humor lost on him for now. "I can't...I don't know what's happening." Roland shakes his head. "Who do we need to take out? I can still fight, but you have to tell me where to aim."

Looks like they're gonna have to buddy cop their way out of this; otherwise, they'll both be sitting ducks to the mess around them. It's not over yet.

Relieved to see the corpses rise, Wei Wuxian continues to play the eerie music that commands them, calling two of them over by his side as a better defense while he has the others attack their former allies. It's risky but Wen Ning isn't around to have his back.

Then the ground rumbles as he stumbles in his backstepping, but retains his balance if only just barely. And then a... Car? Showing up attacking demons. Okay sure, strange things have happened like becoming host to a Kitsune and then a passenger on the train, but that's the strangest yet so far. At least it's friendly, he thinks. Right, focus, he continues to focus on playing the creepy music to not make any freshly undead demons attack his allies. He can't let a repeat of that terrible night happen.

The list of strange things she has seen today, if it gets much longer, might start to take up an appreciable percentage of her processing power, really. She has no metrics or explanations for any of it, but doubt isn't something she suffers from - so at least she's not slowed down by it.

She's finished off the last of her own melee when the ground shakes, and she braces herself to not fall.

"Who needs help?" she calls out. "Available to assist!"

"Anyone who needs a birds-eye, come up!"

Mami wobbles dangerously, sending down another few pillars to keep her platform in place as she creates a railing. Rosetta emerges to clear her gem, the small hedgehog clearly disapproving of so much reckless magic use. But what choice do they have?

The magical girl sends down a ladder behind her if anyone else would like to snipe---but of course, she's ready to pull it up if demons approach it.

Feeling much like she just got hit by a truck and sent spinning into a whole new series, the spider blinks awake to... a lot of yelling. And an earthquake? And an engine, so, hey, there's the truck...

Blue guy's the yelling. Okay. What's the earthquake?

Blegh.

"S'going on?" she slurs to Yondu, tongue thick in her mouth.

So far this fight had seen a dragon, magical hopeful creatures, clones, magical arrows, firey summons, weapons appearing from the ground, magical rain, corpses rising from the dead and far more water than was perhaps appropriate to a battlefield. So it might as well add a car. The demons that are left alive don't look so much surprised as resigned as Otoha joins the fray.

A few more demons rush out the gate but between all the fighters cutting down demons, the undead demons controlled by Wei Wuxian and Bahamut's parting attack they are quickly dispatched.

There is another rumble, the ground cracking beneath their feet, just small cracks, spreading from the gate.

A hand, larger than two demons in of itself emerges from gate first as the land shakes again.

But then... A pulse. A ripple that seems to come from within the gate itself and the hand is pulled back as the portal swirls and then closes. Cutting off the demon world from this one.

There is a silence for a moment before the remaining demons lunge at the nearest Voidtreckers. One last desperate attack. There aren't many remaining, but they have nothing left to lose.

Edited 2021-03-28 11:10 (UTC)

The playing abruptly stops as soon as the third quake happens, seeing the hand. But then it's... Pulled back to where it came from? A good thing it was, both he and the fox had a bad feeling, not unlike the fight with the farm spirit.

"Fuck, that could have been worse." Is all he can mutter before pressing his lips back to the ink black flute as he sends the corpses at their former allies, this time putting in more of a killing intent than before as he pulls out all the stops. Much to the advice against doing so from the fox, since it'll wear him out quicker.

Alright, well, Kumoko is stirring so maybe he can help. He's pretty sure he can defend a small area successfully, enough to keep them covered until she's up and moving. So he crouches down beside her and awkwardly puts his arm underneath her human parts to sit her up some.

"Some bullshit. There's a lot of bullshit. The dragon's out there. I think there's gonna be more water. There's a vehicle runnin' over demons now, and some of 'em been risin' from the dead an' fightin' their kin. That's just on our side." He can't see the Higgledies and maybe the fact he's not pure of heart is actually a saving grace he wouldn't even know how to incorporate that new information into a personal battle strategy in this moment. "Siege engine is down and now the demons are doin' somethin' big 'cause there is a big hand. So I need to get ya up, alright?"

Then he calls out to Guri, because she offered. "Can ya grab one of them potions off somebody!? We need it over here." His ass isn't magic and don't know what to ask for, they'll figure it out. He'll just defend this 20 ft radius with his arrow for now, until he's sure that the healers are good. But in the middle of that, the hand... goes away? The portal goes away? He'll keep defending until the demons are gone, but seems like those gates people were working on might be gone.

You know what? She's tired of this. She's very tired.

"I think I'm finished, actually," is what she grumbles before tackling the nearest set of demons into the shadows and popping back up without them.

She will, in fact, repeat this process as long as she has to, before simply collapsing on the ground and letting her armor pull off. Eugh.

Hell yeah! Looks like we win you necrotic bastards!

[Kyoko's Soul Gem shines with her relief as the portal closes. She and her clones fight with a renewed vigor, her elation wiping away any exhaustion.]

Reno gave Roland an are you sure? look but otherwise kept his opinion on Roland's state of health to himself. The guy looked wrung out and ready to collapse. Who was he to deny the fight still left in the former president though? Reno certainly wouldn't have appreciated it if the roles had been switched.

Besides, there wasn't time to argue over it. There was still a horde of demons to fight.

Now seemed like a good time for a second wind so before they got down to business Reno snatched an elixir from his pocket and drank it quickly. He tossed the bottle away and with a roll of his shoulders turned to face the demons with his usual languid demeanor. He glanced back at Roland.

"Nope problem. I stun it, you shoot it. Got it, yo?"

The redhead didn't wait for an answer though before he zipped right into the fray. Blue electricity pooled out around him, lashing at his enemies as he dashed fleet of foot around the demons headed their way. As they ran into his electrical field demons were knocked back and stunned briefly. If that didn't catch them off guard then Reno pointed his baton at them and sent out an EM shot to do the trick. For the most part he kept moving though, relying on his speed to get around quickly and Roland's follow-up shots to finish off the enemies he left behind.

Those earthquakes were no joke. Demyx was bracing himself for some kind of worst case scenario, now at Vexen’s side. He was tired, exhausted and a huge mess.

He’d honestly not been pushed this hard in fight since the last time he met his untimely demise.

Strangely enough, he wasn’t alone here, not on this battlefield, it seemed like everyone else was bracing themselves too.

The gate stopped suddenly, closed off, the demons seemed kind of mad about that.

He smirked at their misfortune.

He took a deep breath and began to play, thanks to the ether, he was more than prepared to shoot as many into the air as he could with his geysers of whatever remained. They could win this, couldn’t they?

"On your right!" as Thea speed fires a volley at the demons before heading for a nearby ledge.

A potion is acquired sooner or later, and she makes her way over to Yondu. With the demons now disorganized, she's able to pick them off individually with single blaster shots.

She makes her way to Yondu, offering the potion. She has no idea how that works, or much of any of this - but it clearly does, so she has to accept it.

That hand was...disturbing. But something has taken care of that for them - it has to be their fellows elsewhere.

Xingchen watches the whole scenerio and he can't believe it, but it looks like they're winning. There isn't many demons left, so he's going to help out and kill the last desperate demons left and wipe them out.

Taking a deep breath, he's going to drink his healing potion, and continue the fight until their task is over.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Will to Fight: Finale: All teams

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ROUND

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject