The Fall of Elfen High (IC, Closed)

[The Inritus Extraho]

Jade froze for a fraction of a second, then shook her head. "No... no, I don't think so." she replied - a bit redundantly, as the newcomer had already dismissed the notion - before smiling. "She is quite religious, it would seem. It warms the heart to see such faith, even in such trying times." She nodded, as if affirming herself of that belief, then continued, a second later. "A war is brewing, and it will be nothing good in the end. They never are."

A few moments later, Grace stood up and crossed herself, before walking out of the chamber, careful not to bump against whoever was entering it. The moment she saw Lily standing next to the doorframe, Grace had a small surge of happiness: even if she hadn't known her for much time, she pretty much considered Lily a good friend, and a nice person to work with.

"Good morning, Lily!" Grace greeted her former exchange schoolmate, grasping her hands with her own ones. "Sanchez told me that you would have participated in the operation with us. I'm so glad that you managed to make it here!" she added, with a smile. "Are you alright, anyways?"

Lily smiled back, surprised that Grace was this happy to see her. "I'm quite alright, thank you. And yourself? You seemed..." she trailed off, trying to find the right word. "A bit concerned, I guess." She shrugged. "I'm not very good at reading people." Lily never had, of course; back on the base with Sanchez, she was practically infamous for the level of obliviousness she embodied.

[Agritum]

A few moments later, Grace stood up and crossed herself, before walking out of the chamber, careful not to bump against whoever was entering it. The moment she saw Lily standing next to the doorframe, Grace had a small surge of happiness: even if she hadn't known her for much time, she pretty much considered Lily a good friend, and a nice person to work with.

"Good morning, Lily!" Grace greeted her former exchange schoolmate, grasping her hands with her own ones. "Sanchez told me that you would have participated in the operation with us. I'm so glad that you managed to make it here!" she added, with a smile. "Are you alright, anyways?"

Lily smiled back, surprised that Grace was this happy to see her. "I'm quite alright, thank you. And yourself? You seemed..." she trailed off, trying to find the right word. "A bit concerned, I guess." She shrugged. "I'm not very good at reading people." Lily never had, of course; back on the base with Sanchez, she was practically infamous for the level of obliviousness she embodied.

Grace gave a small nod. "I guess so. Stress and concern tend to rise before important events and happenings, such as this operation. Everyone has got different ways to cope with it." she replied, motioning to the chamber from which she had just emerged.

"Anyways, have you been assigned to an active combat role, Lily?"

[The Inritus Extraho]

Lily smiled back, surprised that Grace was this happy to see her. "I'm quite alright, thank you. And yourself? You seemed..." she trailed off, trying to find the right word. "A bit concerned, I guess." She shrugged. "I'm not very good at reading people." Lily never had, of course; back on the base with Sanchez, she was practically infamous for the level of obliviousness she embodied.

Grace gave a small nod. "I guess so. Stress and concern tend to rise before important events and happenings, such as this operation. Everyone has got different ways to cope with it." she replied, motioning to the chamber from which she had just emerged.

"Anyways, have you been assigned to an active combat role, Lily?"

Lily nodded. "War isn't Hell, after all... war is worse." She shook her head. "It's a horrible endeavor, as necessary as it is." She paused, climbing up the ladder out of the basilica before Grace, and turned, waiting for her. "I'm in active combat, though; it's about all I'm good for. Front-line fighter, myself. What about you?"

[Agritum]

Grace gave a small nod. "I guess so. Stress and concern tend to rise before important events and happenings, such as this operation. Everyone has got different ways to cope with it." she replied, motioning to the chamber from which she had just emerged.

"Anyways, have you been assigned to an active combat role, Lily?"

Lily nodded. "War isn't Hell, after all... war is worse." She shook her head. "It's a horrible endeavor, as necessary as it is." She paused, climbing up the ladder out of the basilica before Grace, and turned, waiting for her. "I'm in active combat, though; it's about all I'm good for. Front-line fighter, myself. What about you?"

Grace emerged from the basilica, finishing to put on her helmet. "I guess I am an all-rounder, if that's the right word to describe myself and my...fighting style." Grace softly replied to Lily, sounding quite awkward when she uttered the words 'fighting style'. While she was conditioned enough to fight and kill without much regrets, Grace was definitely not a violent person, even less so a militaristic one.

[The Inritus Extraho]

Lily nodded. "War isn't Hell, after all... war is worse." She shook her head. "It's a horrible endeavor, as necessary as it is." She paused, climbing up the ladder out of the basilica before Grace, and turned, waiting for her. "I'm in active combat, though; it's about all I'm good for. Front-line fighter, myself. What about you?"

Grace emerged from the basilica, finishing to put on her helmet. "I guess I am an all-rounder, if that's the right word to describe myself and my...fighting style." Grace softly replied to Lily, sounding quite awkward when she uttered the words 'fighting style'. While she was conditioned enough to fight and kill without much regrets, Grace was definitely not a violent person, even less so a militaristic one.

Lily half-laughed, hiding it behind an upraised hand. "If I can take a guess, you don't like combat much, do you?" she asked Grace, nodding to the helmet. "I like the armor, though... camouflage, smart. Getting the jump on people is always good." She gestured in front of her, motioning for her friend to lead the way. "Do you know where our first assignment is, Grace?" she asked, picking her words carefully.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Grace emerged from the basilica, finishing to put on her helmet. "I guess I am an all-rounder, if that's the right word to describe myself and my...fighting style." Grace softly replied to Lily, sounding quite awkward when she uttered the words 'fighting style'. While she was conditioned enough to fight and kill without much regrets, Grace was definitely not a violent person, even less so a militaristic one.

Lily half-laughed, hiding it behind an upraised hand. "If I can take a guess, you don't like combat much, do you?" she asked Grace, nodding to the helmet. "I like the armor, though... camouflage, smart. Getting the jump on people is always good." She gestured in front of her, motioning for her friend to lead the way. "Do you know where our first assignment is, Grace?" she asked, picking her words carefully.

Calliel frowned. "You have some time before that happens. The rest of Elfen High arrives tomorrow. That is when the war begins in earnest." he extended a hand to them both, equally comfortable shaking with both left and right. "My name is Calliel," he introduced himself, Grace perhaps recognising himself from old news reports where he was stated as an important angel warrior in the Abrahamic War, and Jade had seen him several times when she had been at Elfen High. "I am an angel of the Lord. Pleased to meet you."

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Jade froze for a fraction of a second, then shook her head. "No... no, I don't think so." she replied - a bit redundantly, as the newcomer had already dismissed the notion - before smiling. "She is quite religious, it would seem. It warms the heart to see such faith, even in such trying times." She nodded, as if affirming herself of that belief, then continued, a second later. "A war is brewing, and it will be nothing good in the end. They never are."

A few moments later, Grace stood up and crossed herself, before walking out of the chamber, careful not to bump against whoever was entering it. The moment she saw Lily standing next to the doorframe, Grace had a small surge of happiness: even if she hadn't known her for much time, she pretty much considered Lily a good friend, and a nice person to work with.

"Good morning, Lily!" Grace greeted her former exchange schoolmate, grasping her hands with her own ones. "Sanchez told me that you would have participated in the operation with us. I'm so glad that you managed to make it here!" she added, with a smile. "Are you alright, anyways?"

Zoryana chuckled. "I was here for two weeks." She rebuked the younger girl. "Not specifically for you." She sat down. "My job here was for Crowley, preparing for the upcoming war. Not involving you at all- I was rather surprised to bump into you." She finished. "So, no, I don't have an offer directed at you. I thought it was the reverse."

"Oh, then that's a very interesting coincidence, Miss." Hilde replied, taking a sip from a cup of cappuccino which had been just brought by one of her bodyguards. "That said, I feel that the Union State could definitely be a perfect ally in the fight for human independence and survival, Miss. I bear no ill to your particular union, currently."

Zoryana gave a nod, switching to German that was more fluent than her English, which wasn't bad either. "I agree that the Union State and Germany can work well together. Unfortunately, I - and it may surprise that much of the leadership agrees- am not particularly fond of your racist attitude. I've gained many non-human friends and allies. It's best to keep away your rhetoric and just speak plainly."

[Norvenia]

Crowley paused. "A lot of people went missing at the end of the Fae War. Dead, we had guessed. And the dragons and Fae had disappeared. I raise this merely as a hypothesis, but Set could be bringing them here to our time-" he paused. "Which does make a sort of sense, though it starts to hurt my head to consider it."

Zoryana frowned, furrowing her brow. "I think there's a lot of information we're missing here." she said. "We can't solidly try and claim we know what's happening."

"Yes, that's what a hypothesis is." Crowley snarked, shutting Zoryana up for the moment. He sighed. "It's something else we'll need to consider. I'll see if I can get someone to go talk to Apollo and Athena and figure this out with them. They were there, at the last battles. Apollo drew the painting, so he obviously remembers somethings. Athena's quite intelligent and can help us deduce this. I'll assemble a party for that soon. Calliel, when did Armenio go missing?"

"Two hours, four minutes and forty two seconds ago." the angel replied promptly.

Crowley frowned. "Then that may disprove the army theory. Logically, the army from the past should be here already. But time travel is always hard. Set and Kronos may have overshot and gone a century later than they should have, and we'll have a nasty surprise in 2130. I can't risk that, unfortunately." he paused, thinking. "The first priority should likely be Heaven though. That's something we can understand."

Daniel nodded slowly, still studying the two images. What are you up to, Set? The priest knew that the Egyptian would never have overshot, not when he was working with Kronos. The one created being in the universe with the most profound control of time isn't just going to mess up time travel by a hundred years. And Crowley was right: if Set had gone back in time to get an army, then it ought to already have arrived. Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. So what? What's the point?

The priest stayed there, hunched over the computer screen, for a moment more; then he gave a frustrated grunt and straightened. "If this is about using Armenio as a time machine," Daniel said slowly to whoever was still around, "and Set hasn't brought an army into our time, then only two possibilities remain. One is that Set is using the moon to bring something into our time that's not an army, and which we wouldn't necessarily notice until it's too late. And the other is that Set is using the moon to take something from our time back to before the Fae War - that he is altering events in some way back then. From our perspective, whatever he's doing has already happened, so we can't change it; we would be changing our own past. At which point we have already succeeded or failed, three thousand years ago."

"Which isn't a good attitude to have on the eve of battle," Daniel concluded. "So best not to dwell on it, I think. We need to keep our eyes open on the off chance that Set has brought something forward into our timeline, albeit something subtle. And otherwise, Headmaster, I agree: we have to focus on the battles that we can win. Striking at heaven will be enough of a challenge even if it's all that we're thinking about. We cannot afford to be distracted."

There was a pause, and then the priest gave a rueful grin and ran one hand through his pale blond hair. "But if you find out anything more," he admitted, "I'd still like to know."

Daniel glanced around, and noticed that Zoryana seemed to have wandered off after Crowley had snarked at her. The Sabbatanos couldn't blame her. Now, Daniel raised his own eyebrows at the headmaster, and said: "If there's nothing else, I have some last preparations that I should attend to."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Just pushing things along a little bit here.

Frederick, who had appeared alongside Peter (Yuzuki, as per her RPers post, was nowhere nearby), saw the damn thing that looked like out of a videogame and pushed the boy (Probably old enough to be called a man now, though Fred didn't give a lot of shits about that) away from its path, before getting into position. When the Garangan was close enough, the dragon slayer took hold of two of its spikes and used his newfound grip to redirect the beast away from there.

And straight into the other Garangan, who was about to crash into Alastor and company.

The Demon Lord merely watched the events unfold, mildly amused. "Good throw." He complimented the man.

"Thanks." Frederick replied, walking up to Peter. "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

Alastor, meanwhile, looked at the rest of the Garangans. There were four more of them, all ready to roll and impale, and the other two which had been thrown off-course weren't quite defeated yet, so that could prove to be troublesome.

"Six, some exposition." The Demon Lord spoke, snapping his fingers. Almost instantly, the Zealot began talking.

"Garangans. Amphibian subspecies of the most common variety of demon, the Rakkans, who have adapted to life underwater and can tread on both sea and land with equal ease. Their shells offer great protection and the spikes on them allow them to easily hunt prey underwater. They possess the faculty to spin at rapid velocities and propel themselves forward, making them able to cross long distances with ease whether on water or ground. As this ability allows them to cause whirlpools, it is believed that some Garangans have migrated to the depths of Earth's oceans and occasionally their spinning force reaches the surface. They spoke their own dialect, Garan, before the Abrahamic War, but Garangans who have adapted to society now speak Unified Demonic. They have an instinctual fear of Italian greetings combined with vulgar American curses." The Zealot said.

"See? Interesting stuff, this." Alastor said.

Then the Garangans, deciding that they'd waited enough, charged again, all six of them this time. Since there were six of them and five PCs, one of them charged at Fred, one at Cat, one at Peter, one at Will and one at Alastor, with the other one charging at the Zealots because hey, why not?

"I guess it could be good practice," Yuzuki said, plopping into the sim.

"Humph. A place like this should have something better than a mere computer simulation."

Oh, shut up.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for the both of them, Yuzuki wound up quite far away from Catrin and the Cerberus she was riding. At least there were a lot of demons nearby Yuzuki could kill.

There weren't many, but indeed there were some demons for her to kill. Not that she didn't go through all of them rather quickly, or at least, I assume she did. Maybe she had her fun with them. Hard to know.

Regardless, the thing was, she was on the very rooftop of the hotel, you know, the same one where everyone else spawned.

Suddenly, Ciel got out onto the rooftop as well. She was covered in bluish ichor and seemed to be wielding what appeared to be an enormous tail like that of a scorpion, covered in metal save for the tip. A battle trophy from the looks of it, and also a fearsome weapon given its properties. She was also rather annoyed, because just when she was about to have to fight a hellish locust, Fen and Emi ditched her. Sure, they had some sort of bug, but the fact that the only one who didn't leave you was some sort of mentally handicapped demonic supersoldier wasn't exactly uplifting.

Regardless, at least she was there now, with the Zealot following her.

"Hey." She greeted Yuzuki dryly, before walking over to the edge of the rooftop and looking around, until she spotted the Mosque. What she saw there surprised her, so it took her a bit before she spoke again.

"Relay message." She told the Zealot. "I see the Mosque... I think. It's covered in some sort of dark fog and heavily guarded. There's a lot of demons, demon dogs and other stuff gathered down there. Sure seems like a stronghold of sorts from up here." She said, though she wasn't entirely certain how to tell the thing that she was done. Fortunately, it spoke again soon enough.

"Relaying message." It said. Ciel nodded and was about to say 'good', when all of the sudden another horde of demons manifested from God knows where, ready to attack Ciel and the Zealot, as well as Yuzuki, who had the misfortune of being there.

"Fuck." Ciel sighed.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

"Sure. Protheans." replied the puzzled Merlin, who had no idea what Mass Effect was. He had a good idea of Pacman and Pokemon though. "In any case-" Merlin tapped his staff on the ground, causing the attention of some of the warriors.

Amongst this group, an elephant headed young man appeared, large and obviously strong, covered in golden armour. His elephant head looked at Merlin. "Who's this?" he asked, sounding polite - a strong contrast to the Ganesh of our time.

"Damien Seward," he replied. "I'm a time-traveller. I fought with a man named Crowley, who doesn't go by that name at this time. And the Fae are being assholes in the future, but - and you'll be glad to hear - that they didn't do so well after this war. You're Ganesh, right? We've met... er, we will meet, rather. Time travel is bullshit, I'm sure you understand."

He shrugged. "We're here to do some magic bullshit because I remember my life, when this body is that of my new incarnation."

Ganesh paused, looking at Damien. "Interesting. I know you. Not you you, per se. But your body. You were in Egypt not too long ago, fighting against the war. A soldier." He sat back on a recently materialised chair, his eyes glowing as he searched his memory. "Ahmose, your name was. But I suppose it'd be best for you to go by Damien for now, since you have no memory of Ahmose."

The stones suddenly began to glow red behind them. Merlin suddenly turned to Ganesh. "How bad is it?" he asked rapidly.

Ganesh looked at the blinking of the stones, how the light flashed on and off, faster and faster. "Bad. We have to go now." he paused. "Well, I have to go. Merlin, best that you come with me."

Merlin shook his head. "I cannot. I must stay here. Especially now. Stonehenge has to be protected. Find Richard instead, take him with you." he frowned. "Your plan is likely to backfire." he warned the Hindu god.

Another soldier looked at Damien bemusedly. "I have no idea what they're doing either." the soldier admitted, using a Gaulic accent. Damien realised that everyone was speaking Greek, and he somehow was fluent in it (though with an Egyptian accent). Must have been something from Ahmose's memories.

Ganesh looked at Damien. "Back on your horse. An attack is coming here, but we need to go elsewhere. Stonehenge will be safe in Merlin's hands. If you're here and alive, hopefully our plan will eventually succeed. But something big is happening soon, even if I don't know wha-"

A massive boom was heard in the sky, causing a shudder down on the Earth. The rain in the sky went berserk, the wind torrenting as the boom became a long crackling noise, like a continuous thunderclap. To quote another greater writer "Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!"

The sound died down eventually, and then, fearful and curious, everyone turned to the sky.

And saw the second moon that had appeared, not too far from the normal one. Both moons full.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Gabriel frowned. "That's a shame. Explains things though. The man went crazy at the end. But it's useful information. Now, the Fae have a king - Oberon. Powerful man, it appears. The Fae are old, older than we can imagine properly. Can even best Death itself. Perhaps that how you're alive. And perhaps that how Azazel came back to life." Gabriel noted. He looked at their surprise. "Oh, you didn't know? I had found out just a while ago. It appears that Azazel returned to life not too long ago. I was informed by a text message from a source of mine."

Gwen looked on with interest. "Is Azazel the demon who attacked Caspian and Ivy's universe, by chance? If so, I believe that we should hurry up before he plans another invasion on your Earth." the Welsh queen said, glancing over at the two of them. "Anyways, what else does that book say about Oberon and his people, Gabriel?"

"That's the one, yes. Now, Oberon is shown as being a bastard beyond belief, but that's to be expected by the King of the Fae, insofar as chaotic beings like them can have leaders. The Fae feed on an interesting source - they feed upon stories and tales, upon music and passion, and so on. You would know of the fairy tales that involve fairies stealing musicians and writers? It's quite common. And they steal children too, for their potential and creativity. They're quite bastards in that respect." Gabriel noted.

[Lazarian]

Gwen looked on with interest. "Is Azazel the demon who attacked Caspian and Ivy's universe, by chance? If so, I believe that we should hurry up before he plans another invasion on your Earth." the Welsh queen said, glancing over at the two of them. "Anyways, what else does that book say about Oberon and his people, Gabriel?"

"That's the one, yes. Now, Oberon is shown as being a bastard beyond belief, but that's to be expected by the King of the Fae, insofar as chaotic beings like them can have leaders. The Fae feed on an interesting source - they feed upon stories and tales, upon music and passion, and so on. You would know of the fairy tales that involve fairies stealing musicians and writers? It's quite common. And they steal children too, for their potential and creativity. They're quite bastards in that respect." Gabriel noted.

Ivy paused.

"Azazel is...rather dead." she said bluntly. "Can the Fae defeat Death itself? And, if so...why are we fighting them, Gabriel? Humans will never cease with music and passion; and, frankly, even angels are passionate. And we're not going to stop having children. So, if these are the things they feed on, and, assuming they can come back from the dead, or cause things to come back from the dead, like in the case of Azazel...why are we attempting to prevent their invasion in the first place? Can the Fae be appeased?"

She was rather concerned at this. The more she heard about the Lords and Ladies, the less their collective chances of survival seemed. She would never defect to them, though. It would be preferable to die. She remembered Pierre and what had happened to him: he had been a greedy, selfish bastard in life, and, once converting to the Fae, it was as if all those qualities were magnified and enhanced. The Fae valued destruction and chaos. And...that wasn't something she could ever really stand for. Life was meant to be stable and to make sense.

[Astrolinium]

Just pushing things along a little bit here.

Frederick, who had appeared alongside Peter (Yuzuki, as per her RPers post, was nowhere nearby), saw the damn thing that looked like out of a videogame and pushed the boy (Probably old enough to be called a man now, though Fred didn't give a lot of shits about that) away from its path, before getting into position. When the Garangan was close enough, the dragon slayer took hold of two of its spikes and used his newfound grip to redirect the beast away from there.

And straight into the other Garangan, who was about to crash into Alastor and company.

The Demon Lord merely watched the events unfold, mildly amused. "Good throw." He complimented the man.

"Thanks." Frederick replied, walking up to Peter. "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

Peter breathed heavily, hand over his chest. "Yeah. Hell."

His nostrils flared, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. Something was bubbling inside him; his forehead was growing hotter.

Then the Garangans, deciding that they'd waited enough, charged again, all six of them this time. Since there were six of them and five PCs, one of them charged at Fred, one at Cat, one at Peter, one at Will and one at Alastor, with the other one charging at the Zealots because hey, why not?

With lightning speed, Peter transformed into the shape of the Sphinx. With a yowl, he leapt into the air and spat toxic bile at the charging garangan.

[Agritum]

Lily half-laughed, hiding it behind an upraised hand. "If I can take a guess, you don't like combat much, do you?" she asked Grace, nodding to the helmet. "I like the armor, though... camouflage, smart. Getting the jump on people is always good." She gestured in front of her, motioning for her friend to lead the way. "Do you know where our first assignment is, Grace?" she asked, picking her words carefully.

Calliel frowned. "You have some time before that happens. The rest of Elfen High arrives tomorrow. That is when the war begins in earnest." he extended a hand to them both, equally comfortable shaking with both left and right. "My name is Calliel," he introduced himself, Grace perhaps recognising himself from old news reports where he was stated as an important angel warrior in the Abrahamic War, and Jade had seen him several times when she had been at Elfen High. "I am an angel of the Lord. Pleased to meet you."

Grace replied with a respectful bow and a nod. "The pleasure is mine, Angel Calliel. I'm honoured of making acquaintance with a messenger of the Lord." she said, before standing up and shaking his hand. "Will you be in the same combat unit as me and Lily, Angel?"

A few moments later, Grace stood up and crossed herself, before walking out of the chamber, careful not to bump against whoever was entering it. The moment she saw Lily standing next to the doorframe, Grace had a small surge of happiness: even if she hadn't known her for much time, she pretty much considered Lily a good friend, and a nice person to work with.

"Good morning, Lily!" Grace greeted her former exchange schoolmate, grasping her hands with her own ones. "Sanchez told me that you would have participated in the operation with us. I'm so glad that you managed to make it here!" she added, with a smile. "Are you alright, anyways?"



"Oh, then that's a very interesting coincidence, Miss." Hilde replied, taking a sip from a cup of cappuccino which had been just brought by one of her bodyguards. "That said, I feel that the Union State could definitely be a perfect ally in the fight for human independence and survival, Miss. I bear no ill to your particular union, currently."

Zoryana gave a nod, switching to German that was more fluent than her English, which wasn't bad either. "I agree that the Union State and Germany can work well together. Unfortunately, I - and it may surprise that much of the leadership agrees- am not particularly fond of your racist attitude. I've gained many non-human friends and allies. It's best to keep away your rhetoric and just speak plainly."

Hilde smiled, evidently pleased at Zoryana's decision to address the Chancellor in her native English. "But dear miss, how could you call my party platform a racist one, given that it pushes for the respect of all types of human beings and plans to fight racial discrimination between human beings? I hope the Union State doesn't think that protecting the identity and heritage of mankind is 'racist'. But I digress: the Union State would definitely benefit from an alliance with Germany and the rest of the EU, Miss. If the USA ever tried to enter a cold war against such an alliance, they would find themselves quickly crushed by the alliance's massed diplomatic and economic power. And in the end, the people who inhabit Eurasia will benefit from it. Myself, I'd love to have the support of human Slavs. Truly a wonderful people." she told Zoryana.

[Constaniana]

Just pushing things along a little bit here.

Frederick, who had appeared alongside Peter (Yuzuki, as per her RPers post, was nowhere nearby), saw the damn thing that looked like out of a videogame and pushed the boy (Probably old enough to be called a man now, though Fred didn't give a lot of shits about that) away from its path, before getting into position. When the Garangan was close enough, the dragon slayer took hold of two of its spikes and used his newfound grip to redirect the beast away from there.

And straight into the other Garangan, who was about to crash into Alastor and company.

The Demon Lord merely watched the events unfold, mildly amused. "Good throw." He complimented the man.

"Thanks." Frederick replied, walking up to Peter. "Hey, kid, are you alright?"

Alastor, meanwhile, looked at the rest of the Garangans. There were four more of them, all ready to roll and impale, and the other two which had been thrown off-course weren't quite defeated yet, so that could prove to be troublesome.

"Six, some exposition." The Demon Lord spoke, snapping his fingers. Almost instantly, the Zealot began talking.

"Garangans. Amphibian subspecies of the most common variety of demon, the Rakkans, who have adapted to life underwater and can tread on both sea and land with equal ease. Their shells offer great protection and the spikes on them allow them to easily hunt prey underwater. They possess the faculty to spin at rapid velocities and propel themselves forward, making them able to cross long distances with ease whether on water or ground. As this ability allows them to cause whirlpools, it is believed that some Garangans have migrated to the depths of Earth's oceans and occasionally their spinning force reaches the surface. They spoke their own dialect, Garan, before the Abrahamic War, but Garangans who have adapted to society now speak Unified Demonic. They have an instinctual fear of Italian greetings combined with vulgar American curses." The Zealot said.

"See? Interesting stuff, this." Alastor said.

Then the Garangans, deciding that they'd waited enough, charged again, all six of them this time. Since there were six of them and five PCs, one of them charged at Fred, one at Cat, one at Peter, one at Will and one at Alastor, with the other one charging at the Zealots because hey, why not?

Sir Nilark's first idea to fight the Garangan was to jump on its head repeatedly, but he wasn't sure if that idea would work as well in practice as it did in video games. Instead, he went with tossing radiant blasts at the creature's shell like fireballs or snowballs and any other form of ranged magic powerup in Super Mario Bros., before rushing at it with his sword raised. He reasoned that such an incredibly powerful weapon would have no trouble cutting through the demon like a knife through hot butter.

"Go stuff a lasagne up your bums, twats," William spat, thrusting with Excalibur.

[Rupudska]

Then the Garangans, deciding that they'd waited enough, charged again, all six of them this time. Since there were six of them and five PCs, one of them charged at Fred, one at Cat, one at Peter, one at Will and one at Alastor, with the other one charging at the Zealots because hey, why not?

Catrin did exactly as was expected of a 44-year-old spider-bitch.

Which is to say that she blasted at the charging Garangan's face with sticky spider silk and opened fire on its soft underbelly. While screaming.

There weren't many, but indeed there were some demons for her to kill. Not that she didn't go through all of them rather quickly, or at least, I assume she did. Maybe she had her fun with them. Hard to know.

Regardless, the thing was, she was on the very rooftop of the hotel, you know, the same one where everyone else spawned.

Suddenly, Ciel got out onto the rooftop as well. She was covered in bluish ichor and seemed to be wielding what appeared to be an enormous tail like that of a scorpion, covered in metal save for the tip. A battle trophy from the looks of it, and also a fearsome weapon given its properties. She was also rather annoyed, because just when she was about to have to fight a hellish locust, Fen and Emi ditched her. Sure, they had some sort of bug, but the fact that the only one who didn't leave you was some sort of mentally handicapped demonic supersoldier wasn't exactly uplifting.

Regardless, at least she was there now, with the Zealot following her.

"Hey." She greeted Yuzuki dryly, before walking over to the edge of the rooftop and looking around, until she spotted the Mosque. What she saw there surprised her, so it took her a bit before she spoke again.

"Relay message." She told the Zealot. "I see the Mosque... I think. It's covered in some sort of dark fog and heavily guarded. There's a lot of demons, demon dogs and other stuff gathered down there. Sure seems like a stronghold of sorts from up here." She said, though she wasn't entirely certain how to tell the thing that she was done. Fortunately, it spoke again soon enough.

"Relaying message." It said. Ciel nodded and was about to say 'good', when all of the sudden another horde of demons manifested from God knows where, ready to attack Ciel and the Zealot, as well as Yuzuki, who had the misfortune of being there.

"Fuck." Ciel sighed.

"A rush of mooks? Well this should be slow and tedious."

Out came Yuzuki's sword. Tekketsu still had yet to activate, and he was getting antsy. "You could at least test me out before you fought off those heavy guards by the mosque."

"Oh, shut up. You can only stay active for half an hour before you put me in danger. I'll need you then."

"Blah, blah. With me active, these mooks won't take a minute."

"Probably. But I still need practice with fighting without using you." It must be noted that Tekketsu cannot be heard by other people while being worn by Yuzuki.

"Oi! Shouldn't you be focusing more on the demons?"

"Ah, yes. Of course." She charged for the demons and lopped off the head of the first one she ran into.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Peter breathed heavily, hand over his chest. "Yeah. Hell."

His nostrils flared, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. Something was bubbling inside him; his forehead was growing hotter.

Frederick seemed relieved. Even if the kid was acting oddly, at least he was alright, so that was something. Turning his attention back to the enemy, Fred raised both of his arms, training them on the Garangan charging towards him, and began firing both machine guns at the beast vehemently. Sure, it might not stop the creature or divert it from its mad charge, but if that thing got to where he was then it would do in the form of a swiss cheese.

With lightning speed, Peter transformed into the shape of the Sphinx. With a yowl, he leapt into the air and spat toxic bile at the charging garangan.

Peter, meanwhile, had a spinning shell of spikes and toxic bile charging toward him. Sure, it was eating away at the shell and would probably cause the thing quite a bit of pain, but that hardly meant much at the present moment.

However, Peter was indeed flying, so, knowing it couldn't reach him while he was airborne, the Garangan stopped, used its strong legs to jump into the air, and immediately went back to being a wheel of spikes and bile headed straight towards the young Sphinx, its centrifugal force helping it stay airborne as it headed towards its target.

Or something.

Sir Nilark's first idea to fight the Garangan was to jump on its head repeatedly, but he wasn't sure if that idea would work as well in practice as it did in video games. Instead, he went with tossing radiant blasts at the creature's shell like fireballs or snowballs and any other form of ranged magic powerup in Super Mario Bros., before rushing at it with his sword raised. He reasoned that such an incredibly powerful weapon would have no trouble cutting through the demon like a knife through hot butter.

"Go stuff a lasagne up your bums, twats," William spat, thrusting with Excalibur.

Unfortunately, the British Knight found that, with surprising agility, the Garangan leapt into the air from its shelled form just in time to avoid being eviscerated. There was also a large shadow cast over William, who was about to get made into an English tortilla if he didn't move.

Catrin did exactly as was expected of a 44-year-old spider-bitch.

Which is to say that she blasted at the charging Garangan's face with sticky spider silk and opened fire on its soft underbelly. While screaming.

Catrin did manage to damage the Garangan quite a bit.

It would probably die of blood loss in a few hours.

It was still charging.


Alastor, meanwhile, didn't complicate himself with gunfire or direct attacks. Instead, he charged a powerful bolt which he fired at the ground in front of the chaging Garangan, causing an explosion that made the beast fly up into the air for a few moments. The Demon Lord was readying another bolt of magic to fire at the creature when, all of the sudden, it landed violently on its but, causing a small tremor due to its weight, and then leapt forward, trying to claw at him. Alastor dodged and pulled out his gatling gun, but the beast began spinning quickly on its place, deflecting the magic bolts. The King of Hell took the opportunity to get close, though, and managed to touch one of the spikes, beginning to send insane ammounts of dark energy into the creature, trying to overload it and make it explode.


Meanwhile, a rain of blood and guts would soak the area where the PCs were. It just so happened that, in a surprising feat of intelligence, the five Zealots surrounded the Garangan that was charging at them and activated all of their Matter Diodes at the same time, crushing the being between the five force-fields and causing its remains to fly up into the air.

"A rush of mooks? Well this should be slow and tedious."

Out came Yuzuki's sword. Tekketsu still had yet to activate, and he was getting antsy. "You could at least test me out before you fought off those heavy guards by the mosque."

"Oh, shut up. You can only stay active for half an hour before you put me in danger. I'll need you then."

"Blah, blah. With me active, these mooks won't take a minute."

"Probably. But I still need practice with fighting without using you." It must be noted that Tekketsu cannot be heard by other people while being worn by Yuzuki.

"Oi! Shouldn't you be focusing more on the demons?"

"Ah, yes. Of course." She charged for the demons and lopped off the head of the first one she ran into.

"Crazy bitch, talking to herself in the middle of battle." Ciel muttered to herself rather ironically as she charged into battle as well, swinging the scorpion tail around wildly, slashing several demons and swatting aside many more. Those swatted aside, for the most part, fell off the rooftop of the hotel and to their deaths, while those slashed were infectef with the Locust toxin, nearly immediately putting them to suffer through immense agony that left them essentially crippled.

A lot of them were beginning to surround Yuzuki, though. And instead of getting close, some of them began firing energy beams from their mouths at her.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Calliel frowned. "You have some time before that happens. The rest of Elfen High arrives tomorrow. That is when the war begins in earnest." he extended a hand to them both, equally comfortable shaking with both left and right. "My name is Calliel," he introduced himself, Grace perhaps recognising himself from old news reports where he was stated as an important angel warrior in the Abrahamic War, and Jade had seen him several times when she had been at Elfen High. "I am an angel of the Lord. Pleased to meet you."

Grace replied with a respectful bow and a nod. "The pleasure is mine, Angel Calliel. I'm honoured of making acquaintance with a messenger of the Lord." she said, before standing up and shaking his hand. "Will you be in the same combat unit as me and Lily, Angel?"

Zoryana gave a nod, switching to German that was more fluent than her English, which wasn't bad either. "I agree that the Union State and Germany can work well together. Unfortunately, I - and it may surprise that much of the leadership agrees- am not particularly fond of your racist attitude. I've gained many non-human friends and allies. It's best to keep away your rhetoric and just speak plainly."

Hilde smiled, evidently pleased at Zoryana's decision to address the Chancellor in her native English. "But dear miss, how could you call my party platform a racist one, given that it pushes for the respect of all types of human beings and plans to fight racial discrimination between human beings? I hope the Union State doesn't think that protecting the identity and heritage of mankind is 'racist'. But I digress: the Union State would definitely benefit from an alliance with Germany and the rest of the EU, Miss. If the USA ever tried to enter a cold war against such an alliance, they would find themselves quickly crushed by the alliance's massed diplomatic and economic power. And in the end, the people who inhabit Eurasia will benefit from it. Myself, I'd love to have the support of human Slavs. Truly a wonderful people." she told Zoryana.

Zoryana rolled her eyes and proceeded to leave without giving Hilde even the dignity of a response.

[Agritum]

Grace replied with a respectful bow and a nod. "The pleasure is mine, Angel Calliel. I'm honoured of making acquaintance with a messenger of the Lord." she said, before standing up and shaking his hand. "Will you be in the same combat unit as me and Lily, Angel?"


Hilde smiled, evidently pleased at Zoryana's decision to address the Chancellor in her native English. "But dear miss, how could you call my party platform a racist one, given that it pushes for the respect of all types of human beings and plans to fight racial discrimination between human beings? I hope the Union State doesn't think that protecting the identity and heritage of mankind is 'racist'. But I digress: the Union State would definitely benefit from an alliance with Germany and the rest of the EU, Miss. If the USA ever tried to enter a cold war against such an alliance, they would find themselves quickly crushed by the alliance's massed diplomatic and economic power. And in the end, the people who inhabit Eurasia will benefit from it. Myself, I'd love to have the support of human Slavs. Truly a wonderful people." she told Zoryana.

Zoryana rolled her eyes and proceeded to leave without giving Hilde even the dignity of a response.

Hilde proceeded to stand up, looking relatively pissed off, before walking away and motioning her bodyguards to follow her. "Don't care about here, boys. She's just yet another ignorant liberal species-traitor, though this time she takes orders from Czar Putin rather than the Global Non-Human Elite Cabal. Maybe she's a disguised non-human, too."

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Zoryana rolled her eyes and proceeded to leave without giving Hilde even the dignity of a response.

Hilde proceeded to stand up, looking relatively pissed off, before walking away and motioning her bodyguards to follow her. "Don't care about here, boys. She's just yet another ignorant liberal species-traitor, though this time she takes orders from Czar Putin rather than the Global Non-Human Elite Cabal. Maybe she's a disguised non-human, too."

"And you're a cunt." Noted Hilde's old schoolmate Laz as he passed her by, dusting along.

[Constaniana]

William did indeed do what the narrator suggested, jumping back to avoid the Garangan's attack. Hoping to capitalise on the demon being unable to immediately get back up after its fall, the knight lunged forward with his blade again in an effort to cleave it open. He got a sick feeling in his stomach, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up a little knowing something was going badly and he was going to suffer for it.

"Oh good Lord, Hilde's pissed off now," thought the Yorkshireman grimly.

[The Inritus Extraho]

Calliel frowned. "You have some time before that happens. The rest of Elfen High arrives tomorrow. That is when the war begins in earnest." he extended a hand to them both, equally comfortable shaking with both left and right. "My name is Calliel," he introduced himself, Grace perhaps recognising himself from old news reports where he was stated as an important angel warrior in the Abrahamic War, and Jade had seen him several times when she had been at Elfen High. "I am an angel of the Lord. Pleased to meet you."

Grace replied with a respectful bow and a nod. "The pleasure is mine, Angel Calliel. I'm honoured of making acquaintance with a messenger of the Lord." she said, before standing up and shaking his hand. "Will you be in the same combat unit as me and Lily, Angel?"

Lily shrugged. "It would be interesting to fight alongside him, though..." She looked Calliel up and down, seeming to judge him carefully. "I have to wonder why he's assaulting his home with us."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

William did indeed do what the narrator suggested, jumping back to avoid the Garangan's attack. Hoping to capitalise on the demon being unable to immediately get back up after its fall, the knight lunged forward with his blade again in an effort to cleave it open. He got a sick feeling in his stomach, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up a little knowing something was going badly and he was going to suffer for it.

"Oh good Lord, Hilde's pissed off now," thought the Yorkshireman grimly.

Normally, the attack would have eviscerated the Garangan cleanly. However, in this one case, there was something rather odd happening. Namely, the Garangan was glitching the fuck out. Some parts of it started fluctuating in such way that at one point the beast had its tail sticking out of its eye and a claw on its anus. It also appeared to be untouchable, given that William's sword went right through it with no discernable effect, and it seemed to be trasluscent, as well.

In fact, all of the Garangans had started glitching the fuck out, and nobody had the slightest flipping idea why.

But allow me to explain, simply by mentioning that apparently, no one was perceptive enough to notice the asshole rat that quickly made its way out of the simulation room, a flash drive in its mouth which had at one point contained the apocalypse.

In case it wasn't obvious, what that asshole rat had done was what caused the glitching mess.

There was a bug in the system.

"Nightmare protocol activated." A heavily distorted voice spoke from the heavens within the simulation, and immediately the environment began to change, the landscape turning trasluscent and glitchy as well before adopting its new appearance. Everything now seemed ruined, and the sky was a dark and sick shade of red. Nothing seemed to be the way it had been a few moments ago, not in the slightest. The Garangans had disappeared entirely by now. Coincidentally, Yuzuki, Ciel and the remaining Zealot were also dumped right next to the rest of the party, thanks to another glitch induced by the bug in the system.

"Someone explain right now what the fuck is happening." Ciel demanded, annoyed, though nobody answered. And not long after that, something appeared.

Something... Something just plain odd, to be honest.

It was, however, twice as tall as a human, resistant as a mountain, and irradiated power, its fists perpetually ignited. It was ready to fight to death, apparently, and unfortunately the only people there were to fight around were the PCs.

On the plus side, at least now everyone had jetpacks, save for Peter, because he obviously doesn't need one. Why the jetpacks, you ask? Bug in the system, that's why. Also, fuck you.

"Who in blazes comes up with these things?" Alastor asked.

---

"Is this good, Mr. Voltaire?" The girl said, showing him her drawing.

"In seconds the sun is beating like drums in all hearts eat the ear of noise." Came the reply.

"...So not creepy enough, then. Okay, I'll get back to drawing."

---

"I don't think that's the biggest concern right now, demon." Frederick commented.

The white beast proceeded to prove the dragon slayer's point by promptly charging at Yuzuki with utterly baffling speed, amorphous fist coated in flames.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Crowley paused. "A lot of people went missing at the end of the Fae War. Dead, we had guessed. And the dragons and Fae had disappeared. I raise this merely as a hypothesis, but Set could be bringing them here to our time-" he paused. "Which does make a sort of sense, though it starts to hurt my head to consider it."

Zoryana frowned, furrowing her brow. "I think there's a lot of information we're missing here." she said. "We can't solidly try and claim we know what's happening."

"Yes, that's what a hypothesis is." Crowley snarked, shutting Zoryana up for the moment. He sighed. "It's something else we'll need to consider. I'll see if I can get someone to go talk to Apollo and Athena and figure this out with them. They were there, at the last battles. Apollo drew the painting, so he obviously remembers somethings. Athena's quite intelligent and can help us deduce this. I'll assemble a party for that soon. Calliel, when did Armenio go missing?"

"Two hours, four minutes and forty two seconds ago." the angel replied promptly.

Crowley frowned. "Then that may disprove the army theory. Logically, the army from the past should be here already. But time travel is always hard. Set and Kronos may have overshot and gone a century later than they should have, and we'll have a nasty surprise in 2130. I can't risk that, unfortunately." he paused, thinking. "The first priority should likely be Heaven though. That's something we can understand."

Daniel nodded slowly, still studying the two images. What are you up to, Set? The priest knew that the Egyptian would never have overshot, not when he was working with Kronos. The one created being in the universe with the most profound control of time isn't just going to mess up time travel by a hundred years. And Crowley was right: if Set had gone back in time to get an army, then it ought to already have arrived. Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. So what? What's the point?

The priest stayed there, hunched over the computer screen, for a moment more; then he gave a frustrated grunt and straightened. "If this is about using Armenio as a time machine," Daniel said slowly to whoever was still around, "and Set hasn't brought an army into our time, then only two possibilities remain. One is that Set is using the moon to bring something into our time that's not an army, and which we wouldn't necessarily notice until it's too late. And the other is that Set is using the moon to take something from our time back to before the Fae War - that he is altering events in some way back then. From our perspective, whatever he's doing has already happened, so we can't change it; we would be changing our own past. At which point we have already succeeded or failed, three thousand years ago."

"Which isn't a good attitude to have on the eve of battle," Daniel concluded. "So best not to dwell on it, I think. We need to keep our eyes open on the off chance that Set has brought something forward into our timeline, albeit something subtle. And otherwise, Headmaster, I agree: we have to focus on the battles that we can win. Striking at heaven will be enough of a challenge even if it's all that we're thinking about. We cannot afford to be distracted."

There was a pause, and then the priest gave a rueful grin and ran one hand through his pale blond hair. "But if you find out anything more," he admitted, "I'd still like to know."

Daniel glanced around, and noticed that Zoryana seemed to have wandered off after Crowley had snarked at her. The Sabbatanos couldn't blame her. Now, Daniel raised his own eyebrows at the headmaster, and said: "If there's nothing else, I have some last preparations that I should attend to."

Crowley gave a nod. "Go ahead." he said. "I have some things to do myself." The wizard seemed to think on some things, annoyed by a fact just beyond the horizon that he couldn't quite realise. But he just shrugged and wandered off toward his office, to mediate on a few things.

As Daniel walked along, he'd see Nicholas Carry sitting on a couch in a break room, an American basketball match on in the background - it was the Dallas Mavericks vs the Portland Trailblazers. Carry watched the match with some interest, glancing at Daniel. "Not a bad sport, basketball." he said appreciatively. "In my time in America, I never quite cared for football or baseball, but this is a distinctive sport from there that I can enjoy indeed. How are you?"

[Rupudska]

A lot of them were beginning to surround Yuzuki, though. And instead of getting close, some of them began firing energy beams from their mouths at her.

Yuzuki was undeterred. In fact, she seemed to be quite enjoying the increase in difficulty the lasers provided. She was now working up a bit of a sweat. Moving faster than earlier, she would duck or jump over the beams, charge at the demons firing, and slice its head off. Simple, quick, and predictable enough to memorize herself but complex enough for the programmed demons not to get it. Probably.

Catrin did manage to damage the Garangan quite a bit.

It would probably die of blood loss in a few hours.

It was still charging.

Catrin then did the next logical thing. She emptied out her magazines into the Garangan then sidestepped it. In the place she was standing, and in a general area between herself and the Garangan, she created a nice, sticky field of silk. Unless the Garangan was fatter than she thought, it'd get nice and stuck, making it a perfect target.

For biting. With venom. What, did you expect her to reload?

"Nightmare protocol activated." A heavily distorted voice spoke from the heavens within the simulation, and immediately the environment began to change, the landscape turning trasluscent and glitchy as well before adopting its new appearance. Everything now seemed ruined, and the sky was a dark and sick shade of red. Nothing seemed to be the way it had been a few moments ago, not in the slightest. The Garangans had disappeared entirely by now. Coincidentally, Yuzuki, Ciel and the remaining Zealot were also dumped right next to the rest of the party, thanks to another glitch induced by the bug in the system.

"Someone explain right now what the fuck is happening." Ciel demanded, annoyed, though nobody answered. And not long after that, something appeared.

Something... Something just plain odd, to be honest.

It was, however, twice as tall as a human, resistant as a mountain, and irradiated power, its fists perpetually ignited. It was ready to fight to death, apparently, and unfortunately the only people there were to fight around were the PCs.

On the plus side, at least now everyone had jetpacks, save for Peter, because he obviously doesn't need one. Why the jetpacks, you ask? Bug in the system, that's why. Also, fuck you.

"Who in blazes comes up with these things?" Alastor asked.

The first thing Catrin did was ditch the jetpack. She didn't need a jetpack, she could swing on a string from... whatever. Hey, she could at least shoot strings at the thing and charge it like Eren Jaeger.

"I think I saw something similar on a Japanese imageboard once."

She could feel the others staring.

"What? I was looking for parts for a Datsun."

"I don't think that's the biggest concern right now, demon." Frederick commented.

The white beast proceeded to prove the dragon slayer's point by promptly charging at Yuzuki with utterly baffling speed, amorphous fist coated in flames.

"Well that is a stage boss if I ever saw one."

"Indeed." Yuzuki flipped the switch on her uniform's belt. At once, the transformation began. All but the first four inches of the skirt detached and wrapped around her legs, merging with her shoes to form long thigh boots with short, wide heels. The rest of the skirt broke away entirely from the shirt, and the shirt itself receded upwards until it only just went past her areolae. This was connected to the skirt by a pair of straps on Yuzuki's front and back. The 'scarf' expanded, thickened, and rose over her shoulders to form a pair of big shoulder fins, with Tekketsu's scarf's 'eye' on the front of each fin. On her back, a split pair of exhaust vents, with numerous bright blue slats, formed to cover most of the upper half of her back. The only part of Tekketsu that was really unchanged was its sleeves, which were skintight now.

"Well then. Let's see what loot this guy drops."

Yuzuki charged forward at the beast, travelling a little over six times as fast as she could possibly have gone without activating Tekketsu. Were anyone willing to race her in a car at that point, they would have needed at least a Veyron to keep up.

"Come on, ya bastard, do yer worst!" She slashed at the monster's exposed shin, with her full, boosted strength.