World Tree MUSH

    Terminus Seven might sound like an odd name for a city... and it is. That's because it is a hub city, a shopping mall sprung up around the orbital elevator, with all the rest of the services of a city grown out to support the mall and the customs and imports. Nobody can say it's a pretty city, but there are numerous reasons why most established cities don't allow orbital elevators to be built in them or even near them.

    The cable stretching up into the sky seems to be a giant, rigid pillar, even though it actually does sway. It overshadows the entire city, but it's also shut down right now due to the strange weather. One of the best parts about this location is that while it might get cold, snowfall and freezing rain are rare. Right now, the elevator is shut down thanks to ice on the mechanisms. The heaters to keep this from being a problem keep failing, according to the scuttlebutt.

    More ominiously, the local police, which aare basically paramilitary, are scrambling about to deal with the sudden problem of an odd, localized storm blasting lightning in the downtown area. Their forces are split due to no less than THREE Vines opening up in the area, and they haven't determined which of the two are transient, or even if the third is more long term. Within the last hour, chaos has broken out in the mechanized, hi-tech but incredibly dirty city.

    WHUMPH! 

    There's a loud crashing sound as one of the portals abruptly spits out one Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel of the famed, but probably not actually famed in most places, Fairy Tail Guild. 

    "Owwwww..." Natsu, who has landed firmly on his rear, looks around a bit and tries to determine what is going on. Particularly because there are paramilitary people pointing guns at him. This is really becoming a pattern, based on his last interaction with Nort and Scar's World. And the interaction with 2B's world and the robots. 

    He's not completely sure what a gun is, since only one or two members of Fairy Tail used to use them. He just knows they get pointed in his direction a lot lately.

Emily Nyx has taken the form of a somewhat ethereal-looking woman with unnaturally pale skin, white hair, and her usual glowing purple eyes, dressed in a cheap ghostly-white cocktail dress and with what appears to be a pair of gloves resting on her shoulders.

She hovers out of a staticky portal not far from Natsu, singing a cheerful ditty. "-- all ... returns ... to nothiiiiing! It all comes TUM-- huh?" She looks around in confusion. "Well, this isn't Pandemonium. Hi, Natsu!" she adds; she has the same voice she always has, and her eyes might be familiar as well, even if everything else about her is a slightly different kind of weird from her usual. She looks around at the armed police, hands slightly raised. "Hey guys!" she says cheerfully. "What's up?"

Mariam Highscribe thinks this place doesn't feel super magical, but sometimes the strangest of places might get leads on what she needs to save home. If magic can't fix it. Maybe science can! You never know! Hooty tries to fly off the broom and she grabs him. "This no place for owls, I think." she says as she places him back on the broom and pats his head. He grumpily hoots.

She'd just fly through on her broom- 'The End, But With a Number Seven' doesn't sound like the most hospitable of places. Then suddenly there's a storm. She tries to throw up an electric shield but it hits too sudden and fast and soon she's descending too fast and with a resounding THUMP.... hits paydirt into a dumpster. She tries not to think about the last time it was emptied as she crawls out of it and brushes herself off as best she can... pulls off her hat. Empties out more garbage and puts her hat back on. Hooty, who flew off at the last moment and landed on a pipe nearby, can't help but point, hoothoothoot! loudly and she glares at Hooty. "Sure, hoot it up while you can." she says as she motions for the bird to take a shoulder.

She peeks out of an alley . She's landed in an alley near one of the portals it seems. She looks upwards a moment, and then steps out. She has no idea who Natsu is. Emily looks different than she last remembers and there is police. Oh dear! Did something bad happen!?

    Surveying the city from high above, straddling a whining and laboring surveillance drone intended to monitor the streets, is an armored knight. Yes, a knight in full armor, complete with a large, horned helmet that completely covers the face. One might wonder how they are riding a drone in full plate mail.... but unsurprisingly, the drone is not gaining any altitude, and wobbles and steadily drops with every passing second. How did the knight get up there in the first place? Another good question, which is irrelevant to this scene!

    "Hah! What a mess! Guess this really is one of those things, huh?" Who are you talking to, Saber? The knight speaking pats the drone, then leaps off to fall about two stories before impacting the street. Footprints crack the asphalt, but... that's the limit of the damage done. A few rifles snap toward the knight, but the hollow echoing voice just waves, "Yo. Relax, just seeing what weirdness is around. I mean the storm, not the adventurers-slash-rubberneckers-slash-murderhobos over there." Saber is down the street from the commotion Natsu caused, but within sight.

    He doesn't clank. Despite the fact that Duncan wears that armor, he doesn't clank and clatter as he moves. No, he clicks softly. His armor makes hollow clicking sounds as pieces of it gently tap against itself. It makes for an unsettling sound in silence... as it sounds like the chitin of a great insect clicking gently as it moves.

    Of course, that's not exactly a problem here, since a localized storm isn't going to make for a very quiet area! Nonetheless, here comes a rather large, darkly-armored knight on the back of a pale mount, charging into the city. That mount is not a horse though. It's a bird. A big ostrich-like bird.

    He stops immediately, the bird all but screeching to a halt, seeming confused. "...This is not where I was," he notes. Which uh. Yeah, obviously. He quickly dismounts and approaches the scene, but being careful not to get in the direct line of anything's fire.

    Where there are shopping malls there are electronics. Where there are electronics, there are bound to be shinki. Where there are shinki there are bound to be... A population of homeless, masterless shinki living in secrecy in the dark spaces under the city, having been unfortunate enough to fall through society's cracks and end up forced to take up shelter underground in shoddily made enclaves called shink cities. And not everything is alright in one such shinki city located under Terminus Seven.

    "What even made mew THINK nyou'd be let in?" An angry Maochao hisses.
    "You've got some nerve." Says a disgruntled Zelnogrard.
    "The Angel of Death? In MY city? Yeah, no, get your sorry shinki-killing ass out of here." Says a Xiphos, dressed in gaudy, albeit dirty little doll robes.

    And that is why Alty is FLUNG from a street grate with a squeal, out into the cold as she lands in a tumbled heap on the pavement, ass-over-head and in a sprawl.
    Right at Natsu and Emily's feet.
    "Ow ow ow ow owwwwww..." Muttered as she sits herself up and--.
    "WEH!?" Finds herself suddenly wondering why guns are being waved around.

    Yep, that's right. The police have guns pointed at Natsu, and things are already getting tense when Emily adds to the problem. Clicks and ominous whines sound out as a mix of conventional and even a few energy weapons ready to fire, but fortunately... this place has been a Blossom for some time.

    One shot does go off, but it's in the air. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" calls a voice. But it's just from Duncan's bird startling one of the rookies! The squad leader is making a quick motion to stop, which is good. "It's just a Flash Mob! We're near a Vine!" Yep, they have a term for this.

    In the meantime one rifle barrel is poking toward Alty. "The hell is this?" asks the policeman. Fortunately another is in the know. "Ah, that's a Shinki. They're like these... robot pet things. My daughter wants one but getting them through customs is still a little pricey."

    Saber's arrival gets more guns pointed at HER, not that they know she's a girl. "SIR! Please keep your hands away from your weapon and state your business!" This squad's shout makes the other shape up, and the first group do mostly lower their guns, before the leader says something.

    "We have a situation here. If you're offworlders who know what you're doing, fine. If you're tourists, get out for your own safety."

    One of the others asks, "Is that safe, sir?"

    He shrugs, "This is obviously not native, let the offworlders deal with it if they can. Pretty sure they aren't the cause."

    As the only one who DID NOT arrive in a weird way, Mariam gets a polite nod. "Ma'am, might want to clear out, or..." Oh, name usage. "Are you with these?" Emily is getting odd looks but she was not sudden or hostile enough to have many guns pointed at her.

    Saber points at the one who spoke. "You called me Sir! That's my actual title! If I were doing the villain thing I'd say something like 'you get to live' or 'I'll kill you last!' but sorry, I'm just here to clean up a mess. Looks like you got a little underworld poking through here. I'm gonna grab these losers and go stab some ghosts or something. That works for you guys, right?"

    Saber waves a hand, the echoing, neither masculine nor feminine voice calling out, "Hey, dorks! Over here! Let's go kill some ghosts and warm this place up a bit!" Then the knight stops... and stares. "That is a BITCHIN' giant bird. I want one! I'll arm wrestle you for it?"

Emily's head rotates a hundred and eighty degrees as if it wasn't actually attached to her neck but rather resting awkwardly on top of it. "Oh, hi, Mariam!" she says. "I was just thinking of dropping by -- Oh! Alty!" If you're watching Emily's face at just the right minute, you might catch sight of an expression of alarm which briefly crosses her face, there and gone as quick as a wink. She looks back at the grate the little Shinki just got thrown from, and ... smiles. For a moment, her eyes turn into completely black voids that reflect no light, like a rip in space or a graphical glitch, and she gives an ominous little wave at whoever has apparently violently launched her friend out of the grating.

Her eyes return to normal as she looks around, and this time her head appears to be behaving itself normally on her neck. Ah, there's the Saber. And someone else riding a chocobo, which means he's from one of two worlds Emily might be familiar with, unless there's a third. (Or more; very few species on the World Tree are entirely unique, she's found.) Still, she turns back to the police and politely nods. "Sounds like an ordinary Monday on the World Tree," she quips. "Can you describe the situation for us, just so we --" She starts giggling uncontrollably at Saber's sudden challenge to Duncan.

    Natsu has not really bothered to stand up yet. The sandal-wearing Wizard is sitting on the ground and staring into the barrels of the guns pointed at him. He lets out a bit of a tired yawn, fire licking from the corners of his mouth as he does so. When Emily greets him, he tilts his head a bit. It's the same gesture you would see from a dog that did not recognize someone it had not seen in a while. 

    Then he leans forward and sniffs a couple times at the air, "Oh! Hey Emily! You look different! How've you been?" He asks casually as he looks up towards her and then looks around a bit. Fortunately, the situation is defusing itself and people are putting away the boom-stick-metal-ouchies and all that stuff. 

    Ghosts are not really Natsu's bag. But when someone says 'Warm this place up', Natsu lights up like a kid on Christmas, "I dunno about fighting ghosts! But I can definitely warm things up!" 

    He steps a few steps away from other people and then claps his hands together as if focusing. Immmediately, actual WAVES of furnace-like heat start rolling off of him like an industrial smelters. People who are too close can feel that it is scorchingly hot. Like... hot enough to warm up metal and start melting clothing made of synthetic fiber as Natsu starts to just randomly generate heat.

>> SUMMARY[Natsu Dragneel] >> Natsu begins emitting an uncomfortable amount of heat.

    Oh god that gun is pointed right at her. Alty freezes up completely, staring like a doe caught in the lights of an oncoming mack truck as she stares down the barrel.
    She rallies just enough to scramble behind someone-- it really doesn't matter who so we'll go with Emily in this case as she hids behind her leg, peeking out just long enough to counter:
    "I- I'm not a pet!"
    She doesn't recognize Saber, in the least, in their armor, so she's suddenly more focused on... Staying behind Emily away from Natsu, now, as a tiny hologram screen appears in front of her face displaying a thermometer with temperatures rising dangerously fast.
    "I think I preferred the cold--" Pause. "... Kill ghosts? How does that even work...?" PAUSE. "... Wait, ghosts?!"

>> SUMMARY[Alty] >> Alty no likey.

Mariam probably still smells like garbage when the policeman comes up near her. "Huh?" she says. "What? I dunno!" she says as she walks out and brushes herself off. She'd just... water douse herself but that's a bad idea in 'cold'. She huffs. "What. Is going on here." she says. Hooty is looking around. He's probably looking for 'magical stuff'. But the air may currently be too thick with it to determine much.

She stares at Saber for a few moments, before she scoffs. "You don't just walk up to someone and demand to arm wrestle for items! or creatures! OR BIRDS!." she says aghast. She rubs the side of her head a bit.

"Underwhere?" she asks. When Saber mentions an underworld breach of some sort. She also doesn't know what she just said.

She eyes Alty with a blink and looks up to Emily and then over to the increasing temperature. She takes a few steps away from heat. "You know. Going from... really cold to really hot can't be good for like. Anything. I don't think." she says.

    The chocobo might have startled the rookie, but the shot startles the chocobo, too. "WAAAAAARK!" the bird declares angrily. Then again, it's hard to tell when she's angry, since she kind of always looks that way. The red eyes don't help, either. Nemesis starts to scratch at the ground with her feet, and to snap her beak nervously. Thankfully Duncan has hold of her reins, and is accustomed to her moods.

    Saber's words draw his attention, and he looks up. He does smirk, visible. "Thank you -- she is quite a beauty," he agrees. Which might be odd to say when she's gnashing her beak and clawing at the ground like she's about to eat the first person who happens to get to get too close. "However, she isn't up for grabs. I do know where you can get one of your own. I can show you later, if you wish."

    Hopefully he's not too near Natsu and the suddenly dragon heat-wave. If he is, he'll back up. Though he does ask the nearest guard, "Would creating heat help, do you think?" he inquires. "I do have some fire magic... if it will be useful, I will gladly offer that." A pause. "Though... perhaps aiming it at the storm itself would be better? Perhaps it would disrupt it," he suggests.

    Mariam gets a chuckle. "It's quite all right. His words were meant as a compliment," he soothes. Not knowing Saber is female under that armor, he does the natural thing and ASSUMES GENDER. "I can show him where these birds can be acquired, so he may get one of his own."

    "Uh..." The policemen/soldiers are pretty confused at first, not sure if Saber is threatening them, but the sudden challenge to arm wrestle for a bird at least means Saber isn't an immediate threat. Also Saber is saying they want to stab ghosts. This is something that is not 'killing humans' so that's good.

    The ring of guns retreats, and the squad leader grumbles, "Well, like I said earlier... if you're gonna handle the uh... stabbing ghosts thing, do that. If you aren't going to, get out, for your own safety. We've had some weird reports there."

    And... that's when the final piece of the puzzle falls into place, as a young lady hurries by... and skids to a halt. Emily will recognize her of course. It's Kore. "Oh... just who I needed." She doesn't recognize Emily, having not heard her speak yet, but the girl rapidly gestures. "Be a few dears and take care of the ghosts that slipped out from the crack, will you? If they get to the souls of the dead first, then it's much harder for me to claim them for their proper journey. I have my hands busy taking care of this little um... mishap with Cocytus." She pauses and looks around. "Ah, I don't know anyone else here..." Else? "Well... I don't expect something for nothing. Thanatos isn't about so I dooooo have some discretion and could, you know, 'forget' to claim some of the poorer areas nearby until they can recover. Ah, I'd better get moving!"

    And then she dashes down the street toward the storm, where ghostly figures are already forming.

Emily reaches through a staticky portal and presses down on Natsu's head. "Whoa, there, kiddo! No need to turn the temperature up that high! -- In fact, ow!" She quickly pulls her hand back through the portal and closes it. "Okay," she says calmly, regarding the silvery scars on her hand from the damage to her nanomachines. "That was not the smartest thing I've done this week." There's a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter as the damage vanishes (although in actuality it's just being swept under the rug).

She turns around and sees Kore. "Oh, now I know where we are," she says with a smirk. "Mariam, Alty, this is Persephone, this world's Goddess of Death." She sighs. "Aaaaand there she goes, I'll have to ask her about the Executioner later. Guess you were right, Saber, this is a ghost-stabbing adventure! Releasing capacitor seals three and two!"

She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one golden, one silver, and one pearlescent. The first two shatter, and the third fades, and in a much larger swirl of silvery glitter, she's wearing an elegant ballgown, the gloves on her shoulders have vanished, and there's a pair of large falchion swords strapped to her back. Oh, and she has four arms now.

    The heat begins to reside, fading and fading until Natsu is functioning more similar to a space heater turned to maximum. Which is still uncomfortably hot, and there is definitely steam coming off him, but at least he's not in danger of melting anyone besides Emily's hand when she touches him, "Fine, fine!" 

    He waves his hands a couple times and then lets them go into his pocket as the Space Heater Dragon Wizard looks towards Emily, "OH! Percival! Of course. That makes sense. I know her," Natsu says, nodding several times in a way that demonstrates he probably has no idea who Persephone is in like... any capacity. At all. But he doesn't want to deal with having to learn something new today, so he's hoping there's no follow-up questions related to pretending he knows what is going on. 

    He sighs a small plume of flame, "What the heck. I'm here now, might as well help."

    A tiny hand raises much like a student at school for attention.
    "I am not handling stabbing ghosts. There will be no ghost stabbing adventure for me." Alty says and--
    And Kore dashes off.
    "Should. Should she be going towards that? That looks really scary." She does point out
    Oh but she's the goddess of death. That means she can handle it right? Right?

>> SUMMARY[Alty] >> Coward.

    Saber watches Kore rush past and... surprisingly, groans, a hollow and echoing noise. "Yeah yeah..." Oh well. The knight looks at Duncan, "Right, we'll have to raincheck that. Another time, maybe." She snrks at Mariam, "See? He can say no! I'm not a bandit! Anyway, I'm a Knight, so call me Sir if you're being a dweeb, or just call me my Class, Saber. Makes it easy on every-... oh hey, Emily! I didn't recognize you!"

    Saber starts toward the group, then steps back again. "Woah... tone down the space heater there, guy. We need it a little warmer, not roasting! This armor is hot!" Huff. Saber doesn't actually mind people seeing her in this group though... nobody here looks likely to recognize her identity, so the reckless knight turns around and heads toward the ghostly images. Along the way, the helmet folds back and collapses, revealing her true voice, face, and blonde hair, with a little shake of the unkempt locks.

    She draws her sword. "Right, these ghosts have bodies, kinda, so you can stab 'em just fine, unlike the last lot." Then she points at Alty. "You, Lady Quiverlots, grab a knife or something, show me what you can do." She grins. "Did you miss me?"

    And just like that, Alty was roped into a ghost stabbing adventure, once she realizes who Saber actually is. "H-hey! L-Lady Quiverlots?!"

    And then Saber is introducing herself and it seems to jog Natsu into remembering he needs to introduce himself, "Oh right! Natsu Dragneel. Fairy Tail Wizard!" He really, REALLY does not look like a Wizard.

Mariam goes to introduce herself properly and by the time that can happen she leaves and Emily has to do the pleasantries for her. The prim and proper witch huffs something about manners but she got the gist of it at least. Something something... a word that sounded like cactus... something.. ghosts. Wait Ghosts?

"W..wait I'm not that kind of witch! I can't do exorcisms! I'M NOT TRAINED FOR EXORCISM!" she calls out. Then Saber explains the ghosts can be stabbed. "Oh. Okay." she says as she hefts her broom up by that strange handle. She leans down to Alty and then whispers. "She's calling you scared. Don't worry. I am too." she says. "Ghosts are like. Not what I came here to find!" she says. She'll lean back up and mutters something into the air, as fire dances around her finger for a moment and she snaps it into her broom as a little meter on the side fills up.

Pause.

"Wait, he's a Wizard? WHERE'S THE HAT!?"

    "Stabbing ghosts tends not to be very effective..." Duncan remarks. "However, I believe I do have some way to help." He does have a sword, yes. Less visibly, he does have magic that can help, where stabbing and dark energy might fail him. So he nods to the guard. "I will assist however I can."

    Kore arrives then, and she seems to be, if not in charge, someone with a relatively good understanding of what's going on. He's not sure what she means by 'forget to claim the poorer areas', but he assumes she means as some sort of reward. He shakes his head. "I seek no reward. If these people are in trouble, I will help," he replies. It's not a heroic speech with his chest out -- no, this man presents himself as no hero.

    But he does present himself more properly, with a bow to Saber as the knight gives a... well, it's not a name, but it will do other than 'hey you'. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintence, Saber. My name is Duncan," he offers. Apparently Duncan is not a dweeb!

    There are ghosts to stab, though, and he does have some ability to do something. So he finds a relatively safe place to tie Nemesis's reins (not too tightly, though, in case she needs to get free to get out of danger) and draws his sword. He pauses, though, seeing Saber reveal the face that was hiding behind the armor. And blinks. Well. It's a surprise, but not too terribly much so. Besides that, yes. Stabbing ghosts. There's a moment of concentration and the sword is wreather in flames briefly -- he is 'cementing' the magic there so he can call it easily again. And then he goes to follow the group to where the ghosts are who need ventilation.

    Kore's already run off so can't clarify what her responsibilities actually are. She is looking a little harried, so this either isn't her doing, or something went WAY off-kilter if it's her plan that sparked this.

    There are ghosts, too! A faint keening wail rises up as one of them fully forms, a skeletal and glowing, cloaked figure. Sharp skeletal fingers wiggle, then reach out toward the approaching group. Gunfire is heard in the distance as the police remember they are here after the strange series of events, opening fire as well, but with shaky aim.

    Everyone will feel a faint tug on their life force, but it's very slight. These beings 'feed' on the dying or the very sickly, and their attempts on healthy humans, let alone strong combatants, are useless aside from feeling vageuly uncomfortable. The claws that slash forward toward the nearest one approaching - likely Saber - are a lot more dangerous if people aren't careful, but one of these isn't a big deal. Unfortunately five more are forming as well.

    As for the ground? It looks /weird/ right now. Part of the street is flickering in and out of existence, briefly replaced by a sluggish flowing river in bits and pieces, with cries and wails rising from the water. That is PROBABLY not supposed to be happening.

Emily just grins at Natsu's 'Percival' comment, and shakes her head, but doesn't make any further comment. "I'm Emily Nyx," she says by way of introduction. "I'm a Eudaemon, created to serve the extinct Masters of my world, now known as the halcyon remnant. I'm cool with stabbing things that are already dead and which are nevertheless still moving."

She glides forward above the ground after Saber, and draws both falchions. "Such as these jokers!" she says, slashing wildly at the nearest skeletal figure.

>> SUMMARY[Emily Nyx] >> Skill Level: "Slashing Things"

    "I know she's calling me scared! I am scared!" The shinki bleats back at Mariam. But there's no helping it. Alty heaves a heavy sigh and reaches into her Slipway space, to pull out a red bladed longsword. Well, it's a longsword for her, for anyone else it's about the size of maybe a pinky or ring finger.
    Anyway she's holding this little sword clasped tightly in both hands as she scrambles to keep up with the others on foot. Only to run into honest to goodness, pure, sheer, horrorterror ghosts from beyond the grave.
    As it turns out, shinki are expressive enough to go completely pale, because the Altines turns as white as a sheet, and the wails rising from the river that replaces the ground in places only worsens the littlest shinki's panic, further shaking what little resolve Alty even had in the first place.
    "Ah..."
    She reacts almost entirely on auto-pilot, like a cornered rat forced to fight the cat, she lunges at the first ghost that nears her; that tiny blade flashing as she tries to hack out anything that so much as looks like an ankle or a knee bone.

>> SUMMARY[Alty] >> I'll be over here. Biting ankles.

    "A hat would get in the way!" Natsu replies to Miriam in a pretty matter-of-fact tone, "If I was jumping around and punching and kicking all the time, my hat would just fall off. I'd need a chin strap. And if I had a chin strap, I couldn't use biting or headbutts! And I might melt the hat. Really, the hat is just... not for me." 

    "Hey anyone else see a River in the middle of the city?" Natsu points at the flickering ground to indicate where he is seeing the river try to phase into and out of existence. This weird like... soul stuff. And that is a level of magecraft too complex for someone like him. 

    As such, Natsu does what Natsu always does when faced a complex situation: Burn it. 

    Natsu takes a huge inhale and then says, "Fire dragon... ROAR!" 

    He leans forward and actually does roar, a massive blast of flame ripping from his mouth and down the street, trying to take out as many of the forming ghosts as possible.

    "HAH! Nice one!" Saber calls out to Mariam! "I woulda figured he was a Berserker, myself! Or maybe Archer, because he doesn't have a bow!" As usual, Saber is spouting apparent nonsense while rushing into the fray. "C'mon, little robot, you can slay a mouse-ghost or something!"

    Yeah she's dragging Alty into it. Her further commentary has to wait, because she was rushing in, and has to leap back with her sword screeching across the talons swiping at her. Maybe these things aren't a match for a Servant, but she still has to parry it! Huff. "Eudaemon huh? And you offworlders have the coolest skills! I mean, fire sword, summon sword-" Natsu blasts flame. "... fire breath. Damn, you'd think having drabon blood would let you do that but noooo."

    She isn't just chatting though. The ground explodes underneath her as mana is discharged, making her leap forward at high speed to back up Alty with a leaping slash. "Heh. Probably don't have to tell you guys. This isn't my world, but I'm gonna guess that falling in the river there would be capital B Bad."

    Duncan grimaces at the pull to his life force. He can definitely feel that... he has experience with life-draining measures. Unfortunately, it's also likely that, if HE were to try to turn the tables, it would just exacerbate the effect... Trying to life drain the undead tends to actually heal them and hurt the one trying to drain. So he's not going to do that.

    Instead, he's going to lash out at the nearest claw with that sword. As the weapon swings through the air, Duncan speaks a word, setting the blade alight. Not just a slash with a sword, but a slash with a FLAMING sword.

    He also nods to Natsu's words. "I see it too," he notes. "Yet only flickers every so often. What sort of enchantment is this?" A response to Natsu, but not necessarily a question for him. It's aimed at the group in general, to anyone who might be able to answer it. There's little he can do about it, so he can't worry about it now. But Saber's warning gets a nod as well. "That is very likely," he agrees.

    He /is/ trying to 'tank' for Alty as much as he can -- he doesn't doubt her training and combat prowess, but she's so little, and she does seem rather scared. He doesn't want to chance her fear getting her hurt. Of course, he doesn't know who she is, either...

Mariam frowns as she turns towards the five more ones forming as others go for the individuals. She aims towards the ground as it begins to shift?.... she blinks once hard and shakes her head. Hooty points at the ground. Okay. That isn't a stress hallucination. Something is happening.

Regardless, she fires at the ground as she unleashes a wall of flame at the emerging ghosts, depleting the charge she gave her broom in one go as the wall moves until she raises her hands and snaps it away. Not wanting it to travel too far. She frowns a little more, as she snaps her hand and mutters again, her hand sparking as she smacks the side of her broom again, recharging her broom again with an electric charge.

"WIZARDS SHOULD HAVE A HAT!" she yells back at Saber. "He can't have mine. HE NEEDS TO GET HIS OWN!"

    It would not be horribly difficult to fall in, but it would not be easy either. The ground flickers for several moments before it finally vanishes, so there's enough time to get out of the way. Of course, it does make it harder to fight the ghosts.

    Alty's stabs ARE effective, though it would take a while to disperse one with those alone. Ghostly joints don't break like bones, but they have substance, and tearing at that makes them howl. With Duncan and Saber both turning on this one, the flame sword and Saber's blade make short work of one, the trio causing another howl as an arm is lopped off, then a side slashed, while the lower portion is frayed by the tinier but frantic Shinki.

    Flame doesn't work extra well on these cold and ghostly figures, but neither is it something they resist... and magical fire breath and fire walls from Mariam and Natsu send two more evaporating into the air. Emily engages in melee, and while not as fast as the three-on-one battle her companions are having, the shrieks of the hungry dead rise up, before falling away with a wail of despair. Because she killed it slower, she can see it more easily being tugged back into the waters of the river below.

    A few more rise up, but they seem weaker, as the flickering begins to cover smaller areas and open areas seal up again. It looks like the river is 'retreating' now.

    "I had to have a dragon teach me!" Natsu says to Saber as his flames retreat. He adjusts the scarf he wears around his neck and then pops his back a bit, "Learned all sorts of great tricks. Like how to break a boulder with my head. And how to break a boulder with my hand. And how to break a boulder with my foot. You know. The kinda stuff dragons do." 

    Natsu puts his hands on his hips and grins, "I'm the world's only master of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic!" He states with pride in his voice, puffing out his chest a bit as he talks to Saber. 

    He spares a look over his shoulder at Duncan, "Yeah, it's not sticking around. Looks like it's just spitting out those skeletons and getting weaker." 

    And then to Mariam, "I... I don't really want your hat! I don't like hats! Most of the Wizards I know don't wear hats. Except Juvia. And sometimes Lucy. And like... whatever those things Wendy wears are. I think they're like hair ties, which aren't really a hat? Are hair ties a hat if they sit on top of your head to hold your hair tail things?"

>> SUMMARY[Natsu Dragneel] >> Asking really important questions.

Emily raises her eyebrows. "... huh! I see!" she says. "So 'killing ghosts' ... is simply sending them back to the Underworld. Didn't get that close a look at it before!" Beat. "Unless this is just something idiosyncratic to this so-called 'mishap with Cocytus'. Anyway!"

She summons five bolts of golden light, and launches them into the new ghosts, stopping some of them in mid-form. "No, I don't think it does count, Natsu," she says. "Unless it's part of the larger category of 'head accessories' or 'hair accessories' and stuff like that. Or maybe it is, I dunno." She shakes her head, quadruple-stabbing another ghost that formed too close. "My fashion knowledge is all practical rather than theoretical. I'm a shapeshifter, not a ... tailor. Or ... tailor for hats?" She shrugs; with four arms, she has a lot more to shrug. "See, I don't even know what that's called!"

    "Huh," Saber grunts, skidding across flickering ground. It vanishes from under her as she kicks off with a burst of mana, slashing through one of the weaker, still-forming ghosts. "Yeah this is Cocytus. The river of lamentations. It's in the mythology of my world, but this place has a bunch of different rules about stuff. Must be why it's so noisy."

    She whips her blade back as the ghosts seem to be petering out. "And the word you're looking for is milliner. See you gotta ask the knight from the age of chivalry this stuff. People here, they don't know the value of a good cobbler and junk."

    Huff. "Huh. That was quick. You guys know your stuff."

    Alty is scared, but that's her secret.
    She's always scared.
    At best she's a nuisance, though, darting between legs, hacking at joints, tumbling and rolling around and making herself hard to hit, hiding behind Duncan when she needs a beat, a breath, or to look for a new opening. Much like her fights back in the arena, she operates on pure instinct; fighting with a feral, survivalist, tenacity that's kept her alive. And that means the little coward only gets more brutal in her assault; summoning a larger blade and one-handing it, darting between feet and hacking out legs and joints where she can-- until a good, solid, kick launches her with a squeak.
    She lands, and it's bad. A tumbling sprawl that sees her silent and unmoving for a long moment. Until a tiny holoscreen pops up at her side.
    Pain Suppression at 35 percent.
    She picks herself up, soundlessly.
    "This is the worst. I hate this." Uttered as a flare of white light suffuses her body, dark armor snapping into place as she tugs her visor down and hops up-- percing herself on Duncan's shoulder, opting to stay latched there until the rest of the ghost re-killing is over.

Mariam yells. "I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH CACTUSES!---" pause. "....wait. "Wait, did you say something else? Cocytus? Is that like... a Cactus, but it's Cocky? Like..." she thinks a moment. "I'm imagining a cactus with sunglasses." she says.

Mariam mutters something "mutter...mutter... rain down from above!" she calls out near the end as lighting shoots into the sky from her hand, depleting the broom again as lighting smashes down from the sky into various ghosts. The Elemental Witch lowers her hand as she 'huuuufffssss' and practically exhales half her soul as she wavers.

"BOWS AREN'T HATS! HATS ARE HATS!" she yells at Natsu finally pointing at him, dramatically. "I don't even know who all those people are!" she yells.

    Seeing the figures seeming to weaken, Duncan does something that might seem a little strange. He backs off from the immediate battle, to let others claim the final blows. However, he doesn't back off too far -- just enough to be out of immediate range; it's more he moves off to the side a little. He'll move back in to parry or block with his sword whatever attacks against the others that he can manage.

    "It seems so," Duncan replies to Natsu. "Hopefully with these things defeated, that will solve the problem." For now, anyway... whatever caused this 'break' might return, and that could mean a repeat of this situation...

    Saber's got information! "Hm... I see. So these escaped from it... but are trying to bring the river with them?" he inquires. "Breaking their influence does seem to be making the situation correct itself... What might have caused it, do you think?"

    Duncan makes certain not to throw Alty off of his shoulder as she perches there. "Are you all right?" he inquires of the Shinki. He also adds, "You did well." He's not going nuts praising her fighting technique, but he does want to give her a bit of something positive to take away from all this.

    Yes, things are fading into quiet. This was the worst area, but there were others... the sporadic gunfire in the distance could make that clear, but it took most squads their full attention to bring down one or two. These are police, not hardened soldiers and gladiators.

    But eventually the last fades away and the flickering stops. It's still cold, though with all the fire thrown around not in the immediate area, but undead aren't springing out. The chaos is fading, and the storm reduced to light rumbling.

    Kore shuffles back from down the street. "Whew. That's not one I'd like to repeat! I'm so tired I think I might skip a second round, I'm sure I got everyone this time around." She smiles. "This was a big help, both to the stability of the underworld, and to keep it from turning into a mass grave. So we all win today, isn't that great!"