World Tree MUSH

    There are many reasons that might make one come here, ranging from wanting to see Aloy, to wanting to check on Ernest, the Adept that was saved from Copen and Elise, to pure chance. And then there's the sudden flash of bright cyan and blue light that might attract people too.

    It isn't far from the place where Ernest is resting. In fact it's very deliberately close. If Aloy has security systems set up around her manor, she can immediatly tell there's a boy outside it now, past the wall.

    Merak, thirteen year old Adept prodigy, has brown, unruly hair, not quite spiky, with blue headphones on. He's wearing a black and gold uniform, not unlike the one Elise had during the attack, though the vest is open to reveal a white shirt undeath, a more casual look.

    "Aww man are you kidding? I thought I got the coordinates right. Did I forget to account for something?" The Tree, probably. Merak sighs, shrugging. "Oh well."

    He produces a megaphone and talks into it. "Yo guys. So I don't really care to do heavy lifting right now, it'd be super swell if you could just hand the Adept over. I didn't bring any kind of quest reward though, so how about I just not trash this place for a reward?"

    Well at least he's saying hi.

    "Like, please hurry up, you're gonna make me waste time and I raid tonight, so I'm short on it to begin with."

     "Then," Copen says as his armor blazes to life, red light spreading throughout his arms and legs, "I apologize once again." 

     "But I am going to go through you and kill that creature. And you are not going to be able to stop me." 

     Copen moves forward only seconds before the megaphone booms out. And the second it does, he stops, mid-motion. His eyes narrow, and he turns over his shoulder. Yahiko and Aloy hear him hiss a single name. 

     "/Sumeragi/." 

     He turns back to them, looking at the door the Adept is through. He looks at the two of them. He looks at the door out of the manor. His eyes are exhausted, his face is exhausted, and the two of them can already tell - Copen is putting his mind to work trying to figure out a way out of this situation. 

     A moment later, he shakes his head. "You two. That's Merak. I know its voice. It's the commander of Sumeragi's military. If it says it'll attack the city..." 

     Copen's eyes flash. "It will kill countless people, and probably plunge you into a war that you can't win." 

     Copen turns away from them and raises his gun. He shakes his head, trying to clear it. Another packet of dry, instant coffee pops out of his gauntlet. Last emergency supply. Just a shot, to stop his hand from shaking. To stop him from shaking. To focus him. 

     "I'm going to go kill it. The Adept in the back room cannot fall into Sumeragi's hands. If I have to come back for it later, I will." 

     "Remember this. These lives, the blood spilled today, is the price of your compassion. We'll see if you feel it's worth it when you see these monsters' true faces." 

     And with that, Copen surges out of the manor, along the side. He leaps over the wall in a single bound and begins firing on Merak without a single word, the ponderously heavy, disgustingly dangerous bullets breaking free from his gun like the thunder of God. Don't give him a chance to activate his Glaive. Don't give him a chance to activate his Septima. Get him off the grounds, away from the innocent. 

     Get him into the killing field.

    It's a tense moment, because Aloy isn't fully prepared to fight Copen. She will if she has to, but her weapons are in the corner, not right on her person. That makes it pretty hard to fight the ready for battle hoodie-armor. She tenses and prepares to roll aside, maybe going to try for her weapons while Yahiko keeps him busy or... something."

    The 'distraction' is not much more welcome. "Maybe, but I only had your word on it." It doesn't matter, now. The place is being attacked, that much Aloy can understand, so she just does exactly what she was going to do anyway: make a dive for her spear and quiver.

    As for what Aloy does to get into position... she calls to Yahiko, "Be careful, Yahiko. More of these people are out there." How many? She doesn't know. "Might want to stay in close quarters." That'd be good for a swordsman like him. For herself? She's climbing to the roof, where her bow can be readied and find a target. Unlike Copen and Yahiko, Aloy doesn't actually have any problems with killing.

    "Going to have to turn you down, I'm afraid! Go home." She nocks a tearblast arrow, ready for a fight.

Just when you think things couldn't get any worse... 

Coincidence has a way of making life miserable for everyone equally. Someone had been walking through the area that very much doesn't belong. A young man in garb suited for a world of fantasy, who is drawn by the loud declaration and equally loud response of the manor's occupants. 

Lezard Valeth arrives in the gate of the manor, looking over the growing firefight with an arched eyebrow. "My my, this can't merely be some kind of local disturbence." He comments aloud. With a snap of a hand, a book is pulled from a distortion in space, and he flips it open, pages turning rapidly as he looks over what's going on for several moments, watching for... opportunities. No, the book won't have anything useful to say, but it will be handy to have it at the ready for... other reasons.

    Cities with large buildings have always felt like home to Xion, even though she has no idea why.

    No one has really noticed a person wearing all black, including a hood pulled up to entirely conceal their face, wandering the city for several days now. One would normally expect people to take note of something like that - especially when the person has the build of a child rather than an adult - but for some reason... Maybe it's just that the city is too large for people to care about that sort of thing.

    Right now, the figure is just standing a fair ways away, staring at the manor. One assumes, anyway. That's the way the hood is pointing, at least. The boy with the megaphone is regarded passively.

    Gunshots make the figure flinch, taking a step forward - which it then seems to reconsider, taking that step right back again.

    Xion isn't really sure what's going on. Well, no, she's entirely sure there's a fight going on, but she's not totally in the clear who the 'good guy' is at the moment.

    The sight of a small girl riding a massive yellow bird through the streets of Meridian is probably... Pretty out of the ordinary in a world where mechanical animals and dinosaurs are the norm. The fact that she's trailing a pokemon close by her floating in a bubble of her own water is probably even more of a reason for a bunch of staring, but that doesn't quite matter to Rydia of Mist.
    The girl hasn't exactly been the best travel companion though. Sullen and sucked into her own little universe, she mostly let her chocobo do the navigating, still disappointed in her failed shot at revenge against Vivian. So for the most part she's been huddled in her saddle, occasionally muttering or grunting vague replies to anything Miwa has had to say along the way.
    It was supposed to be a simple trip, just to bring a few things from Snowpeak to Aloy. There wasn't supposed to be a boy with a megaphone outside Aloy's home making demands.
    And there most certainly should NOT be a madman in white and red coming OUT of the manor, leaping the wall and opening fire on the boy. Rydia is instantly awake and alert in her saddle as soon as she hears Voder go off. Briefly, a thrill of terror grips the Summoner's heart as soon as she *sees* Copen. Flashbacks of her bloodless dagger come to mind, and she immediately chokes up on her mount's reins, causing the confused chocobo to start backing up.
    "Not here... Not here too." Whispered more to herself than to her companion, before she tugs the reins, turning her bird toward the wall.
    "U-up!"
    "Kweh!"
    Briefly, the big golden bird twitters, powerful legs coiling, feathers ruffling as its haunches tense... And then with a powerful springing leap and a few flaps of his wings, the bird clears the wall, putting Rydia firmly on the other side. Away from Copen, away from Merak, away from Lezard. Just as Aloy comes climbing up onto the roof.
    "What the HELL is going on?!"

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> I'm here with Miwa to visit Aloy and-- well SOD THIS.

Miwa had been hanging out with Rydia for a bit so the two came together. While floating along behind Rydia, she looked around. In better circumstances she would love to see more of this world, it looked rather beautiful. But tonight she was with Rydia to help Aloy, and while she had much the same question burning on her tongue, she decided repeating more or less what Rydia just said would be rather redundant, so she kept quiet for now.

>> SUMMARY[Miwa] >> Miwa is along for the ride, and at a loss for what exactly is happening.

    This fight is giving Yahiko a chance. Unarmed, he stood little chance against Copen at all, even with the various handicaps. Now, he has a breather, enough time to snatch up his sakabato and to ready it to fight. He doesn't argue, not now. "Then we'll just have to beat them, right? That should solve it!" Well... kind of a naive view, but he's not TECHNICALLY wrong.

    Aloy's advice makes sense though. Rather than rushing out into the yard, Yahiko lingers, keeping blade drawn but staying in the open room. Big enough to maneuver, small enough to eliminate the advantage of ranged attacks.

    "Wow, rude dudes," Merak says as he turns.

    Bright cyan holes rip open in space. Copen's unfairly large bullets are swallowed in the light, and Merak waves his hand, the holes disappearing.

    "You're not even gonna hear me out? Let me give a speech, say what my offer is, hell, don't you know a transformation sequence is sacred? At least let me have that," Merak says, distantly.

    He looks at Copen, then, and his Glaive appears in his hand. It's the same as Elise's, but the weapon is cyan where hers is purple. It's a grey, black and silver sort of technosword, sheathed.

    "Look. If that kid comes with us, we can put his Septimosome in one of these and he can live like a human if that's what he wants. Or he can join us, and lemme tell you, these things are powerful. Pretty OP!"

    Case in point, he points it up. He's swallowed by a twister of black and cyan light as his Glaive clicks open, and when the light fades, Merak is wearing a decidedly more robotic outfit, his scleras black and his eyes bright cyan, as is his hair.

    A huge wormhole tears open behind him. A chair pops out, and he hops back onto it. The chair is floating, and it has big, armored arms. The wormhole closes.

    "I mean, 'sup to you, guys. I can take him by force, or he can make the sensible decision and join us. The faction grind with Sumeragi really isn't that bad, it's worth it. Vendor's got all kinds of cool shit."

    Merak waves his hand.

    A few smaller wormholes open up around him. The bullets Copen shot, that moments ago could have torn him into shreds if they'd hit, come flying out, directed at Aloy, at Copen, at Yahiko, and at the walls of the manor with no regards for the collateral damage. There are way more now than Copen had fired, but boy do they pack the same punch.

     Copen doesn't even have time to hit the ground before his bullets are turned back upon him, multiplied. They're coming at Aloy and Yahiko, too; Copen registers this out of the corner of his eye. 

     "AIXGEAR!" 

     The shield unfolds on his arm, spreading out in the shape of a cross. The bullets crash against it as he swings his own gun downwards, firing shots not at Merak, but at the storm of bullets coming at Yahiko and Aloy. Each shot is computer-guided, aimed to give them just enough space, just enough aid, to make it through on their own. 

     Copen lands outside the manor wall and rises to his feet. Lezard Valeth gets a glance. Floating book, but not immediately Sumeragi. Copen etches the man's face into his mind. Xion gets a glance, too. No indication. The little girl Adept he's been chasing is here, and his back smarts slightly from the blow, from the bandage he's got over it and the wound he's already reopened just doing this. 

     He doesn't really have a choice. 

     "Slothful Conjurer Merak." 

     Copen strides forward, making a show of reloading as he musters his energy, as he forces down the ache of exhaustion in his muscles and tries to will away the bags beneath his eyes. Voder's heavy bullets slot into place as he walks, slowly, inexorably, his armor blazing red. In the corner of his eye a holographic display is telling him just how much charge he has left. 

     He ignores it. 

     "I was here for some smaller concern." Copen's lips split in a wide, hateful grin as his eyes fixate on Merak, red pupils narrowing to pinpricks. "But it turns out that devil was more useful as bait." 

     "Come, Sumeragi monster. You who believe yourself above God...I'll show you that you are not even above man!" 

     Copen flicks the gun upwards and fires. He's varying up the shots, more unpredictable, harder to track. No matter how fast Merak's reflexes, he must have some weak point.

>> SUMMARY[Copen] >> Copen Skillshots the bullets to help Yahiko and Aloy not die (but not enough that he can clear them), lands, reloads, and draws Merak's attention, on purpose. Then he shoots some more. He's just looking for Merak's trick. Also he aggros Lezard Valeth.

    It's a big switch to suddenly be working with the fanatic. Especially when the bullets fly toward her and Copen /defends/ Aloy. The huntress grimaces, stumbling and sliding down one side of the roof, only to tumble and leap to land on the edge of the wall instead. "Yahiko! Changed my mind, this might be where we need you! I'll cover you so you can get in close!"

    And cover him she intends to do. What is this thing? She has a method that worked on a Jedi though... and that's the very arrow she had readied. Expensive but effective, she draws and launches, then dives for cover as the concussive payload of the simple arrow launches toward Merak. She's almost sure it won't hit the chair or him, but the concussion blast might do something.

>> SUMMARY[Aloy] >> Calling for Yahiko's help, firing a concussive blast arrow in an attempt to throw off the portal-making abilities.

The conflict between the technomage and the murderface isn't really something that concerns the Sorceror of Midgard. He doesn't even seem to care that the kid in the chair seems heavily outmatched. 

However, the banter takes a turn that piques Lezard's interest. He doesn't open with a clever quip. He's more goal-oriented than that. 

What goal would that be, perhaps?

"PRISMATIC MISSILE!" A searing wave of multicolored beams of light shear out, ripping through the air towards... Copen! What with Merak already saturating the area with murder, this just makes it worse. 

Lezard stands there on the grounds, a magical circle below him glowing with light as power flows around him, setting his clothing fluttering dramatically as his tome floats before him. "Your mistake, sir, is not placing Man above God in the first place!" Lezard retorts. "Let those who enslave themselves to the fallacy of incorruptible, unreachable divinity earn the just rewards of their /faith/!"

>> SUMMARY[Lezard Valeth] >> Lezard shoots homing status effect-laden laser death at Copen because people just can't not trigger Iconoclast.

    Xion continues to just stand there and watch while she tries to figure out what's going on.

    She's already decided to intervene. Just has to figure out who the actual bad guys are...

    When Merak summons his armour and his giant floating robot chair, Xion comes to the snap decision that he must therefore be the bad guy. Only bad guys sat in flying thrones and used magic to fight their battles for them, right? That seems perfectly rational to her, anyway.

    Oh hey, and speaking of someone using magic to fight his battles for him, that guy with the book just decided to shoot lasers! At... the boy in white fighting the obvious boss character.

    Okay, decision made. "Strike Raid!" comes the sudden shout of a teenaged girl as the black-coated person throws an irridecent sword right at Lezard Valeth, even as she starts charging towards him, another sword clutched in her left hand.

    Who the heck is this 'God' person people keep yelling about anyway?

>> SUMMARY[Xion] >> I can call attacks too! Also filling the air with more ranged attacks is probably a terrible plan.

    Yahiko knows what's going on, supposedly, and he's still confused. Who are all these other people? He's using the distraction that Aloy provides though. And very welcome for the save against bullets. His saving throw against them is bad. "Uh... thanks, Copen, I guess!" He's used to working with former enemies but this is a quicker flipflop than he's used to.

    There are also others at play, with Lezard and Xion. "Be-" He's about to yell be careful to Xion, but then it looks like Xion can... take care of herself. Okay, that's good. He still needs to close in with Merak though, and the boy with the sword does just that, bounding off the wall and racing toward the 'throne' with the intent to disable.

    At least Merak's age doesn't make him hesitate. Kid's a few years older than Yahiko when he did most of his adventures.

Miwa still doesn't really know what is happening here and all the unfamiliar faces don't help, but it's becoming clear that once again, it's something that isn't good as she sees a few that she does recognize. Notably, Yahiko, whom she would consider an ally despite the fact that she only met him once before, and Lezard, whom she'd like very much to give some payback for zapping her out of the sky. 

 She decides to provide Yahiko with some backup, moving to his location as quickly as she can, walking on her flippers. As she gets close, she powers up a Moonblast, pink orb of energy forming in her open mouth as she watches Yahiko's movements. She decides to go for his target as well, firing the orb of energy toward Merak.

>> SUMMARY[Miwa] >> Miwa tries to provide Yahiko with some cover.

    More shots. Arrows, too. Flying swords and a wizard throwing rainbow projectiles around. This just got incredibly complicated.

    Merak's limitation is pretty obvious. You can have the ability to make as many wormholes as you want, as big or small as you want, it's not useful if you can't keep track of everything you need to be doing with it. And Merak might be a genius, but he only has so much attention to go around.

    Copen's shots, not all of them sadly, end up sucked into bright cyan wormholes again - one crashes into the arm of his chair, which moved to shield the pilot from certain death. The arm has a nasty gash on it now, a few pieces of the plating having torn straight off, but it has an advantage living beings don't against Copen's shots: that thing is heavily armored without regards for there needing to be someone inside it, just ON it.

    It's the arrow that, when it reaches a wormhole, detonates and throws the Adept off. The explosion shuts the wormwhole down and blows the chair back slightly. Merak seems exasperated.

    "Wow this sucks way more than I was told it would. I thought it'd be in and out, not..." Not a fight he can't win alone. Well, he has Lezard, apparently?

    The damaged arm swings towards Yahiko, to try to catch his blade! Sadly, the damage done by Copen's bullets means that even if the blade is caught, the impact lobs off a few fingers. It still tries to tighten its grip on the sword. Even as Miwa's orb impacts it and tears off the remaining armor - it'll be an easy target next time someone singles it out.

    "Fucking melee classes with their charges. What's the point of playing ranged if everyone can just close in? Ugh!" A wormhole opens behind Yahiko, and the arm holding his sword tries to rocket punch straight into the wormhole, with the samurai and all.

    Another wormhole opens by Copen, which is where the rocket punch (and probably Yahiko) exit to try to slam into the Adept Slayer.

    Another wormhole. This one sucks up some of Lezard's prismatic projectiles. Five more. These ones spit the projectiles back out, multiplied, aimed at Aloy and Miwa.

    "And hunters and mages with their damn slows and interrupts! Let's see you spam that stuff when you're under fire!"

    If he had a moment he'd address Lezard, but the fact he doesn't also means he can't double up on Xion! So there's some advantages there. He sure would love someone shaved off him though.

    "Damnit, all this aggro and not a tank in sight. Maybe I should bring in one?" But HQ is so far. He's not sure he can nail the hangars from here AND nail the landing too.

     Copen's whole attention is focused on Merak. Consumed by him. Hate, fury, directed not only at an Adept but a Sumeragi Adept, a chained devil of the organization he would dismantle piece by piece. His mind is racing, stumbling, splintering. He hasn't slept in too long. Battle plans form and die in an instant. How to deal with the space-warping? How to- 

     The suit jerks him backwards an instant before one of Lezard's prismatic missiles hits him. It's such a narrow miss; it vanishes inches in front of the Aixgear into Merak's portal. The flash of light a mere instant in front of his face draws his attention to the other incoming missiles. If he- 

     No time to think about ifs. Copen's movements are unreal, unnatural. He jerks backwards, twists sideways. He's about to duck straight backwards when the wound Rydia gave him suddenly throbs with pain. He swears, nearly dropping Voder, and- 

     -and gets hit in the chest with Lezard's missile. 

     The shot sends him falling backwards. There's burn marks on his immaculate armor. If not for that armor, he might've died. 

     If not for that girl, he might not have- 

     No, no time for mights, either. The Rocket Punch (and probably Yahiko) comes smashing out of nowhere, sending Copen rolling. He bites his lip, hard. He won't give them the satisfaction of his pain. He won't give them the satisfaction of knowing that he was wounded. 

     Copen pulls himself to his feet, swaying momentarily. His hood hangs over his eyes, but Lezard can hear the hate in his voice. Every word drips with spite. Every word is soaked in pure and unimaginable loathing. 

     "An arrogance like that. Only an Adept could think that way. Witch-plague, do you truly believe yourself to be a man?" Copen's lips twist in a sneer in Lezard's direction, "You, a lowly poison, rise above God? You, a lowly poison, as part of man?" 

     "Fine, then. I'll send you both to rise to God." 

     Copen surges forward. He's fast - technologically fast, his feet moving in rapid time, the lines on his legs glowing a pulsating red. He races towards Lezard like lightning, moving up into a whirling kick. It's a feint - the real threat is the underside of Voder. The enormously heavy revolver is made to be a melee weapon, too, a weapon that would easily be a mace even in hands that didn't have power armor wrapped around them. As he lands and swings the gun back up, he fires - not at Lezard, but around Lezard, at Merak. 

     He's trying to split his attention. 

     And it's painfully obvious his attention just isn't there to split.

    Being hurled out of a portal is a new experience for Yahiko, that's for sure. Disoriented, he crashes to the ground... and Copen. This would be a good chance to attack Copen, but that isn't Yahiko's way, is it? Copen is helping them defend, and for NOW that is all he can do. Keep Ernest safe.

    Worse, there are some allies! Well, one ally. Yahiko makes a little tch noise, rolling to his feet and charging forward at high speed again. But... the charge isn't just toward Merak. He kicks off the wall to change direction, assuming Lezard is a direct ally and moving to change targets and direct a crushing, blunt-edge sword strike at the wizard's arm. "How many worlds have crazy magic in them, anyway!?"

Merak is wise enough to take Lezard's attack and combine it with his own abilities. The boy has promise, even if Lezard has no idea what he's saying half the time with the gamerspeak. He doesn't respond to Merak either, as both of them have more important things to be doing than bantering at the moment. The opposition is quite dangerous, after all. 

Meanwhile, Copen's spite just immediately feeds into Lezard's own derision. "I am a man!" Lezard replies. "More one than you, slave! Mage-hunter! Have you seen the face of your God? Have you heard their voice? Have they consoled you in your time of need? Show me the shape of your zealotry, fool, so I may condemn you properly!" 

Copen streaks in at incredible speed, the strike whirling right for his head. The mage's own reflexes are impressive enough, but the incoming impact of Voder threatens him as he falls for the feint. The revolver threatens to crush his face... When there is a roar of pages, the tome before him splaying out in a wave of interlocking paper stronger than steel to take the blow. The impact scatters the pages but also gives Lezard a moment to leap backwards... 

Only for Xion and Yahiko to strike. The impacts of Keyblade and sword strike Lezard, hurling him backwards to send him landing on one knee. "Ghhh!" He hisses. "So many /interferences/." He grunts. While the damaged arm is cradled against him for the moment, it doesn't keep him from reaching out to the tome with the other hand, cycling more of that ever-growing magical power through the focus. "FIRE STORM!" He says, the energy swelling crimson as it erupts around him in an inferno blast, burning outwards in a shockwave towards the three melee-range combatants (Copen, Xion, Yahiko) around him!

>> SUMMARY[Lezard Valeth] >> Lezard uses the Philosopher's Stone to not get his face crushed by a pistol whipping but this leaves him open to get X-Bludgeoned by Yahiko and Xion. He falls back and retaliates with a big fiery explosion blastwave. Hope you didn't need the yard.

    Well this is chaos. Aloy isn't all that pleased that he fight came to her friend's house, but what is she supposed to do? Fight, apparently, and hope that she can help drive off this attack. What to do about Copen is... kind of not important right now. Normally, she'd let two of them fight it out themselves, but right now the collateral damage is kind of important!

    She doesn't have much chance to plan her next move. Prismatic bullets rain down, blasting the wall she's on and forcing her to roll off. Aloy comes up, panting and wiping the blood off her cheek, and favoring a leg. This is too much to avoid getting some injuries, isn't it? But her earlier thought did give her an idea. She sends out a shrill, piercing whistle.

    This is HER world, and that means the broadhead that gallops from the ridge is hers, glowing blue with her Override codes telling it to protect her. She's calling the bull-like machine to lower its horns right behind Merak, taking him in a pincer and hopefully by surprise.

Having noticed the effects of the wormholes, Miwa expected that there would be a counter attack aimed at her. So she prepares for it, backing up to a wall, and using her aquakinesis to shape a glob of water into a crude shield, then quickly firing an Ice Beam attack, aiming a blast of light blue energy at the water barrier freezing it into an ice shield. She huddles under her makeshift shield for a moment, hoping it would hold up to the prismatic projectiles. The ice does crack under the barrage and the last projectile makes it crumble, but it serves it's purpose of protecting Miwa from harm. 

 She tries her best to follow what is going on in this chaotic fight, wincing a bit as she sees Yahiko get thrown through a portal at Copen, but despite crashing to the ground, he seems to be alright and goes after Lezard. As much as she doesn't like Lezard, she has to admit he has his hands full right now and she doesn't want to risk hitting her allies trying to attack him, so she turns her attention to Merak instead. Deciding projectiles were maybe not the best idea with the wormholes, she decides to try a different tactic. She moves in as close as she can, and takes a deep breath before blowing out a mighty Icy Wind, the powerful blast of extremely cold air blowing toward Merak with very sharp shards of ice blowing along with it like tiny blades. She holds back the urge to make a horrible pun about chilling out.

>> SUMMARY[Miwa] >> Miwa tries to cool Merak off.

    As her Strike Raid collides with Lezard, Xion has already crossed most of the distance to start menacing him up close in melee! With a snap of her fingers the not-Keyblade that struck Valeth vanishes in a flash of light, to reappear in her right hand. Both weapons cross as she winds up for double horizontal slice...

    And then a FIRE STORM right to the face. Luckily, she's wearing a body-length, heavy leather coat, leather gloves and heavy boots, so she's not that exposed to the flames - but the impact still sends her reeling backwards, also blasting back her hood and scorching her face. She sails quite a distance - as if she barely weighs anything - and smacks down on the ground, back-first. 'Crack' goes the back of her head against the ground!

    There's several long moments before she starts to groggily scramble to her feet. Her right hand reaches up to the back of her head, only to come away with quite a lot of blood. Well that's not good.

    She should probably heal herself.

    Instead, she charges back into the fray - aiming at the back of Merak's hoverchair with a lunging stab from her left hand, not-Keyblade surrounded by golden light. "Sonic Rave!" In the blink of an eye, one stab becomes about thirteen in rapid succession, leaving behind a shimmering golden trail.

>> SUMMARY[Xion] >> You always get hit when trying to heal in boss fights, anyway

    Everywhere Rydia goes. Everywhere she goes, something goes horribly wrong.R    Be it having the misfortune of having her home burned to the ground, to come across homicidal zealots, or bloodshed, Rydia of Mist has not known a day of peace since the day she turned seven. She is riddled with anguish, guilt, trauma, and terror at an age that is just far too young for someone to experience such things.
    It is absolutely wearying upon the soul.
    For once. For once she wishes she could just hide during conflict. And that is what she had been doing up until now. Curled up against the wall of the house, trying to be as absolutely a small and unnoticable presence, occasionally peeking a worried eye out around the corner before flinching back into her hiding place.
    For every time Voder barks, she flinches, for each clashing of steel on Merak's throne, she cowers. For every spell flung, she huddles more tightly against the wall. Until she hears the worst thing of all of them called to bear.
    Rydia dares peek back out at the worst possible moment; as Lezard Valeth calls upon the raging, uncontrollable, unforgiving menace that is fire. Jade eyes widen in abject horror, pupils dilating as adrenaline surges through her veins, coursing through her as though her fight or flight reflexes had just opened what becomes an immediately broken floodgate.
    The child scrambles away from the wall, stumbling and tripping over herself in her desperate bid to get away from the flames, whether she's already out of range of the spell or not, she flees all the same. Before something within her breaks.
    Rydia's terror reaches its peak, and her flight stops. She is overcome by a calmness that is not natural. She turns around as though something else has hold of her body, like a puppet on strings, as faint glow overtakes her diminutive frame, and the words that come to her lips are spoken distantly, as though in a trance...
    Lady of Ice... Queen of Frost... Impart your soothing breath upon the scorched earth... Shiva... Come *now*!"
    The sky... Darkens. Clouds roll in and blot out the sun, and all warmth leaves the world. In an instant, seemingly from nowhere, a freak snowstorm rolls over Meridian, a haze of white and hoary frost rolling in with blinding mist.
    Rydia begins to shiver, pulling the fur of her Wolfos cloak around herself more tightly, it has no effect as a statuesque, gorgeous, woman with blue skin emerges from the mists. Rydia's shivering becomes uncontrolled, violent, as the air around her grows so cold she begins to choke on her own breath when the woman sets a hand upon her shoulder.
    Before Shiva lifts that hand before her lips. A slow exhale over her palm becomes a gale force blizzard, a wave of hyperborean cold washing over everything and everyone indiscriminately in its path to quell Lezard's spell.

>> GAME >> Rydia spends an Edge for: Summon Shiva - Diamond Dust

>> SUMMARY[Rydia] >> I hope you all like winter. Friendly Fire is also turned on.

    Copen cheats and uses Lezard as cover to fire at him. The damaged arm raises to shield him, and gets torn to shreds by the bullets. While Merak is intact, the same can't be said of his chair, now missing an arm.

    "Oh come on, do you know what the cooldown on repairing this thing is?! I'm gonna get yelled at!" Better the arm than his face, really.

    Then everything gets SO MUCH WORSE. "What! That's stupid, you're clearly survival spec with those cool gadget arrows, not beast mastery!" Merak says, as he objects to the sudden machine stomp that almost knocks him off his chair. The remaining arm catches the machine's horns, but struggles to keep it at bay, the joints sparking under the pressure.

    This is followed by a blast of ice from Miwa, AND FROM SHIVA, which momentarily encases the Adept and his chair, and then an onslaught from Xion, that cuts apart the ice and weakened armor together with trivial ease. The chair sparks and whines, and a wormhole opens to the side, Merak's chair strafing into it before it can incur any more punishment.

    It reappears overhead, almost out of reach. What's going on? The mouth on the chair appears to be charging up, like a cannon. The energy build up is pretty intense. On the chair, Merak breaks off some of the ice still on his own armor.

    "This is why I hate PvP, my mad skillz can't cope with a damn zerg swarm! And now there's a second pet class on the field, that's BULL!" Rydia does in fact infuriate him. A wormhole appears under the chair, and said chair rocket punches into it.

    A significantly larger (3+ meters) wormhole appears not far under it, pointed down at the ground. The ROCKET FIST is now a GIANT ROCKET FIST and aimed at the entire courtyard all at once, including a chunk of the mansion! One presumes Ernest is ducking under a bed somewhere, but it could be bad if it hits.

    "GG, scrubs! I'm almost charged up!"
    Well he suddenly seems in a better mood than moments ago.

     "Arrogant." 

     But Copen doesn't say anything else, because the sudden, resulting firestorm forces him to throw up the Aixgear and try to ride the shockwave back. Ordinarily this would work great. Ordinarily he doesn't have a gaping sore for a wound. He stumbles at the last minute and is treated to a blast of scorching fire as his shoulder throbs and his eyes come unfocused. Only the hood saves him; pulling it down enough to shield his face keeps his face from being left with an identifiable burn. The hood, too, is power armor, after all. 

     But he's wounded. He can't keep fighting like this. Lezard is too strong, and Merak is too strong. If he was in optimal condition, he could. If he was in optimal condition. 

     It's his own stupid fault, isn't it? He went chasing the radiation Adept. If he hadn't done that- 

     -then this would all be happening, except he wouldn't be there to fight Merak and Lezard. Being well-rested only helps when you've got time. 

     The front of his armor scored black, Copen is struggling to stand, but there's defiance burning in his eyes. He wants to stay and fight Lezard. He wants to stay and KILL Lezard. 

     But Merak is *right there*. Merak is Sumeragi. Lezard Valeth may be everything Copen hates, espousing the very same philosophy that is Copen's literal antithesis... 

     ...but Merak is Sumeragi. Long-term gains from destroying Merak would be enormous. Merak's power in Aixgear would be a huge help. 

     Tch. Copen's teeth click together in frustration. "I'll be back for you, plague. But the Sumeragi devil can't walk away from this." 

     Copen leaps. It's a crazy jump; it's the kind of jump that leaves people nearby staggered by the force of the air pressure, a jump to send him well over Lezard and back towards Merak. If Lezard shoots him in the back, then so be it - but he'll probably be more overwhelmed by the cold. 

     For Copen, the sudden cold is an ambrosia. It sharpens his senses. It's freezing, yes, but it's the kind of cold that makes his mind run sharper. 

     Merak shows off his hand. His giant hand. With the sudden cold snap, Copen's mind is running sharper than it was a moment ago. That's the secret. That's the trick. 

     Copen throws himself forward, into the one place he knows the rocket fist won't hit: Merak's direct melee radius. He slides into range on the sudden blast of ice on the battlefield, using it to close unpredictably. He swings Voder upwards, levelling it at the Adept with hate in his eyes. 

     "Stop talking and die. I have others to kill today, chained Sumeragi devil." 

     BLAM.

>> GAME >> Lezard Valeth spends an Edge for: Using it to boost the narrative power of using Great Magic: Meteor Swarm in the scene.

    This is not going well. Even with Copen on their side, the combat monster of a youth can't take on both of the opponents here. Aloy needs to think fast and come up with something to help out... especially with so much going on. Giant fists and blizzards and- oh here's her ride.

    Leaping on the broadhead, Aloy shouts out, "I have no idea what you're talking about. This must be an old world thing. Like this Death Metal I heard about." It was mentioned on an old recording! Why someone would make music about weapons is something that makes sense to her at least. But now she is going to need to cope with a giant hand and... giant firestorm, and...

    Freezing weather. Shuddering, the increasingly chaotic battlefield convinces Aloy that she needs to get going. But there's one more thing she can do. Tapping her Focus, she scans Merak and looks for some sort of vulnerability in the armor... and fires off a Shock Arrow, before kicking the broadhead into gear. Have to get away from the impact point. "This way! We need to get under cover!" Hopefully Rydia, Miwa, Xion, and Yahiko are up for finding a spot to hide from all this chaos. She's aiming for the wall near the building, where they don't need to abandon Ernest.

The Sumeragi fighter is almost prepared. He says he is almost prepared, but the situation has grown rapidly intolerable. Copen threatens him. The others rush Merak. 

But what really gets him is the sight of that green-haired girl. He looks up, his glasses gleaming in that ominous way as she calls forth the power of Shiva even as he stands amidst the inferno he called forth.

The world grows cold. The harsh chill of the Ice Queen roars across the field, the diamond dust of the Lady of Ice's breath superseding and snuffing out the flames in a wash of pure, fragile, beautiful white. Ice roils up over Lezard, crackling frost coating him to rapidly entomb him in a shuddering mound of rampant ice, sealing away that darkness in beautiful blue-white. 

For several seconds, he remains still. Is he dead? 

But then a sound can be heard. A dark, unholy mantra that continues to be uttered over and over again. "No. No. No... NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" The ice cracks, seething magic boiling out from the shards as it begins to shudder and fragment under a burst of incandescent Power. "I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!" 

There is a sudden explosion of light and heat as the frigid tomb shatters, Lezard rising up on a column of sizzling force. "You /dare/." He says, spitting daggerlike venom towards Rydia, towards Copen. Towards all those who have touched him, wounded him, assaulted him. "You dare malign /me/? You mock /me/? You call me poison, summon up your spirits, strike at me? I WILL STAND FOR THIS NO LONGER!"

Energy roars around him as the tome before him rises, glittering arcane lines seething about him in ever-growing patterns, rushing outwards over the icy ground in expanding circles, etching his designs into the earth to channel that intense force he has grasped. "I AM HE WHO HATH ENTRUSTED HIS SOUL TO THE ETERNAL VORTEX OF TIME!" He clenches a hand. "YE KNOW ME! AND IF YE DO KNOW KNOW ME, YE SHALL BE /MADE/ TO KNOW ME! IT SHALL BE ENGRAVED UPON THY VERY SOUL... LEZARD VALETH!" 

 As he cries out, his hands rise up, the power surging into the arcane array he had laid into the area. A massive burst of light spears up from the ground. The overcast clouds are blown through like a spear, showing the sparkling light roaring up into the heavens and spreading out like a glittering, beautifu, terrible flower. 

High above the land, those beams of light reach out to collide with flying debris and rocks. "No mercy for the damned!" Lezard intones, then draws down his hand, clenching it. 

The sky ignites, seething with descending fire and destruction as that debris is yanked down, raining over the entire manor grounds. "Thus thou hast no escape from the grip of catastrophe!" 

Meteorites begin to slam into the ground, ramming at high speed to blast the grounds, shattering whatever they strike as they dig deep, smouldering craters. Above, the largest piece descends, falling directly into the midst of the area. 

                              "METEOR SWARM!"                               

The final meteor drives down, crashing with overwhelming force to blast through the area. To the titanic impact, one can hear Lezard's unhinged laughter.

>> SUMMARY[Lezard Valeth] >> https://youtu.be/jTfRJkMNiPE

>> GAME >> Miwa spends an Edge for: Fighting a meteor shower with a Blizzard? Probably not ideal, but it's the best this Primarina has.

    The bethroned jerk manages to teleport away before Xion can land the blow that'll take out his machine. Skidding to a halt, and nearly falling over, she looks up at Merak, one hand above her eyes as if it'll help her actually see what he's doing with better clarity.

    And then Lady Shiva is freezing the battlefield. Xion is glad she's wearing a thick coat right about now, although the ridiculous cold still makes her hug herself, shivering. She doesn't react as Lezard starts to cast his spell - she's too focused on trying to cast her own Fire spell in order to warm herself up...

    And then she takes a small meteor right to the head.

    Her head snaps back. Time seems to slow down as she stumbles back a step, staring straight up at the sky, blood oozing down her face. Tiny motes of light start to pour upwards from her wounds, looking almost like twinkling gemstones. They slowly form into an aura around her body, although the aura looks... slightly too big for her. And she does NOT have that much hair.

    Nobodies are made of Nothingness. They're powered by the void of non-existence. As a result, unlike most beings, they can sometimes actually get STRONGER the more beaten up they get.

    Xion suddenly leaps into the air, surrounded by a ring of blazing white light. One sword is discarded, as the other is surrounded by a similar twinkling aura as her body - which soon extends way past the tip of the blade, forming a sword of shining light.

    "Event!" Xion shouts as she slashes that sword of light at the falling meteor.

    "HORIZON!" she screams as four pillars of light rise up out of the ground to meet her, converging into one solid beam that crashes into Lezard's attack.

>> GAME >> Xion spends an Edge for: Trying to counter Lezard's Meteor Swarm with Limit Break: Event Horizon! (Or at least, trying to not die.)

    And what of Rydia?
    When Shiva's blizzard comes to an end and the Eidolon vanishes, the Summoner is left wobbling on her feet.
    Pale, shivering, eyes barely focused from using every ounce of power in her body to call something from the Feymarch, she collapses to her knees when Lezard's voice reaches her.
    "... No..."
    Turning her gaze skyward to see it hailing down with destruction from up above, the sky blazing on fire is the last thing she sees before collapsing to the ground, leaving her panicked chocobo to start dragging her to safety.

Miwa's eyes widen to the point where they look like they may pop out of her skull at the sight of the giant rocket fist and she quickly uses Aqua Jet to get the hell out of dodge. She envelopes herself in water before suddenly shooting away like a water propelled rocket. Once she lands, she looks back to see Lezard beginning to cast a spell, and from the look and sound of things, it was something big. 

 Remembering what he did to her last time, she decided to fight back this time with everything she's got. She just hopes it's enough. Taking in a deep breath, filling her lungs to capacity, her internal temperature chills rapidly as the inside of her mouth starts to glow light blue. After a moment, she lets out a blast that makes the icy wind she used on Marek earlier look like a light breeze. This time it's a full on blizzard, strong bone chilling wind, hail, and thick snow all wrap up into one very cold attack which is aimed in Lezard's direction.

    Looking at all that's going on, Yahiko considers for an instant. The battlefield is now TRULY a battlefield, and it looks like the manor isn't long for this world. That's... not leaving him much choice. Even brave as he can be(some might say foolhardy), the now shivering and burned boy climbs to his feet and realizes that going all out through a battlefield of fireballs and blizzards would be less brave and more a waste of time.

    "ERNEST!"

    A name like that is hard for him to say, but Yahiko makes a bolt for the house, to see if he can make it in time to use the bed as cover or something. Maybe pitch them into the cellar if it has one.

    It's fortunate for Merak that everyone (bar Aloy and Copen) is currently very, very busy dealing with Lezard. In fact, even Merak can spare him some attention. "Damn, that's a cool Septima." A bit dangerous for his tastes - a stray meteor disappears in a wormhole, but Merak is far too lazy to argue with the mage. Or begrudge him, even.

    He's also busy trying to keep his chair afloat.

    Let's be honest, Xion managed to screw it up GOOD after Miwa and Rydia's ice queen froze it. It's sputtering, and things aren't helped by the sudden shock arrow or shots.

    One shot burries itself in his shoulder. He can thank his armor for still having that arm at all, and when the shock arrow impacts the exposed innards of his chair and sends electricity all up in his face, he doesn't look like he's having fun anymore.

    Merak is in pain, and he's not being paid enough for this. He is absolutely not being paid enough for pain.

    When he looks down again, there is SNOW EVERYWHERE. He can't see anyone from up high! He can't AIM. He slams his (good) arm on his chair in frustration. Damn that fuzzy... female... THING and its ice powers.

    "You know what, fine, I can do indiscriminate destruction too!" The chair's mouth shines brightly. It's charged.

    Wormwholes open EVERYWHERE. In pairs. Plus one up front.

    Light whose fell pillars
    Leave rifts in the wider world
    And lead it towards ruin.
    "Lazy Laser!"

    The chair fires its WAVE MOTION CANNON into a wormwhole.
    It starts spreading!
    Soon the entire screen will be lasers, and that's fine with Merak.

    MEANWHILE:

    Ernest isn't hard to find, and doesn't argue in the slightest when Yahiko drags him to cover. This is a good plan and the teen seems utterly terrified. He really doesn't want to be anywhere NEAR fighting.

    Luckily, he hasn't been injured so far.

     Lezard Valeth proves to be more dangerous than Copen gave him any sort of credit for. The sky turns black. The heavens rip open, the storm from the green-haired infection split by a meteor from the madman. This gives even Copen a moment's pause, a moment's hesitation, as his mind attempts to take it in. He's studied Adepts for years. He knows the Lifewave perhaps better than anyone alive. He knows what it's capable of, and it is capable of some *terrifying* abilities. Merak is a testament to that. But it's one thing to know that, and another to experience it, and it even the Adept Slayer, for a brief instant, recognizes fear in the back of his mind. 

     And then Merak gives him an answer. 

     The wormhole opens. Copen surges forward. There's no time to think, no time to plan further, no time to go over the thoughts in his mind. Too many people at stake. Merak's range could be anywhere. He could open a wormhole over the city nearby. He could burn the whole village to the ground. Merak is too dangerous. Merak needs to be stopped, interrupted. 

     Copen can't let innocent humans die. 

     Copen throws himself in the way of the Lazy Laser's origin point. He crouches. The Aixgear comes down at an angle - an angle precisely calculated to send the Lazy Laser firing upwards into the meteor. 

     This is a dumb, bad, stupid plan, and he knows it. He can already feel his shoulder screaming in agony. He's trying to plug a firehose with a finger and direct the spray into a different fire. 

     The Aixgear holds, but the man who holds it is not. It's made worse by the impending meteor - even if he succeeds, even if he can break up as many fragments as possible, the one he can't break up is the one heading for him. The angle is wrong. 

     The Lazy Laser is going to break his arm. 

     The meteor is going to hit his head. 

     He can't die yet. There's too much left to do. Too many to kill. Too many Adepts to end. Too many horrors that will prey on humanity. Too many. Too many! 

     Copen's eyes flare with renewed determination. He plants his foot in the ground. He'll take that meteor. He'll take the laser. 

     And then he feels his arm break under the pressure, even with his armor reinforcing, and he feels the weight of the Aixgear press down upon his body, and he screams. It's not a scream of pain. He refuses to scream in pain. 

     It's a scream of determination. 

     The Aixgear is glowing white. Copen is glowing white. Energy reserves are dropping rapidly. He pushes forward, holding the shield with both hands, now, Voder back at his side. He pushes forward, heedless of the impending danger of the meteor, heedless of his broken arm, heedless of the impossible heat. 

     "I AM THE DEMON OF GOD!" Copen's voice roars over the sound of thunder and death, "YOU DEVILS WHO THINK YOURSELVES GREATER THAN MEN, YOU PLAGUE THAT WEARS THE SKIN OF HUMANKIND, KNOW THIS!" 

     "I!" 

     "AM!" 

     "YOUR!" 

     "CURE!" 

     Raising Voder is the act of a madman. He swings it around the shield. He can feel the heat and pressure on his arm even through the power armor. He can barely see. The pain is blinding, from all sides. The pain in his head is splitting. He can barely aim. 

     But he doesn't really need to. 

     He just fires two bullets - one into the stream, and one for the meteor behimd him, hoping it's been fragmented into pieces by his sacrificial defense. For the first time in a very long time, Adept Slayer Copen prays: 

     Please.

Madness reigns upon the battlefield. Power laid upon power laid upon power to attempt to slow, to dissuade the Metwor Swarm. Blizzards and pillars of light roar, shattering several of them and undoubtedly saving many lives as their homes are spared from the devastation. The massive beam of the Event Horizon matches with Copen's mad attempt to stop the most terrible blow, his attempt to use power against power as he sacrifices his flesh in the throes of massive determination. 

If it were only not so misplaced, Lezard could respect such dogged attempts. "If I were to slay you, would /she/ arrive to claim you, I wonder..." He mutters, the Sorceror looking over the heroic attempt. 

But beams crash into the meteors, most of them vaporizing as the rest fall, far more scattered than the original dense cloud. The massive, central meteor takes the Lazy Laser head on, the massive thing rumbling and splitting into dissolving fragments, hammering down into a smaller, less overwhelming but still deadly shower that appear to be focused on the manor grounds themselves. The impacts crush through the house, the removal of the Adept a wise choice as they find cover from the annihilating storm... And that last meteor, headed straight for Copen... 

A bullet rings out, crashing into it, shifting it by centimeters with the powerful shot. 

It is enough. 

The meteor impactts not into Copen, but behind him instead, allowing his armor to take the blast wave from behind. Perhaps that might be little solace to the Demon of God, but it's better than a direct hit. He might actually live through it. 

Lezard looks over the results of the conflagaration, and he sighs, adjusting his glasses as blood seeps from his coat. One arm hangs, injured, at his side while his body shudders, flesh patchy with the look of frostburn from the multiple ice attacks. 

"Enough." He says, turning with a weary voice. "Enough." He repeates, the tome floating along with him as he simply begins to walk off through the fire and ice, leaving the rest to pick up the pieces. 

What did he have to gain from this? Who knows? But the meeting did not go without incident.

>> SUMMARY[Lezard Valeth] >> Results: The town ends up mostly unscathed by meteors, the manor is probably trashed. Copen doesn't die from a chunk of rock falling at terminal velocity. Probably. Lezard has had enough of this, having taken a ton of damage out of a fit of pique, and withdraws.

    "What-- COME ON MAN! CUTSCENE ATTACKS AREN'T SACRED FOR YOU EITHER?!" intones Merak, pissed, as Copen interrupts the Lazy Laser before it can fire into the first wormwhole, which would have spread it to the countless others.

    And that bullet, fired directly into the stream, too. It's pure luck that causes Merak's chair to short out and drop several meters from firing the beam, stopping the bullet from doing what it did to Elise, to him. And HE sure can't respawn, so he wouldn't have liked it.

    And now it's cold because of the blizzard too.
    What a /day/.

    "You know what, fine, you keep your stupid... radiation poisoning dude. We didn't want him that much anyway! Plenty more fish in the sea, plenty more noobs to pick off."

    A wormhole opens under Merak.

    As he lowers into it, he shoots towards Copen. "By the way, ~Adept Slayer~. You know you're the one who set her free, right? The bodies have been piling up. That's a lotta innocent blood on your hands. You should finish the job better next time, because you sure made a mess of the last one, and it's about to catch up to you!"

    Merak drops into the wormhole, vanishing from sight.

    ... and reappearing out of another, in Lezard's path. "Yo wiz dude, we got Netflix in the medbay, you wanna come hang out and have some popcorn? Boss is gonna wanna meet someone like you."