bravenewworld | Operation: Gigas Freedom Event Start

Before the party can move, a voice echoes inside their minds. The voice is aged, but it has a powerful, commanding presence that feels almost inhuman.

Are you children quite finished? It's quite rude to speak behind the backs of others.

Santiago's eyes widen and he immediately unleashes a blast of lightning that wipes out two of the bearers on the right of the giant package, as Nero's blitz lops the heads of both of the men on the left clean off. The package seems to fall a bit, but a huge mailed arm extends out with blinding speed as the object begins to unfurl into a large steel suit. The hand wraps around Nero's neck and begins to squeeze.

Long have I been bound by immobility. Marvel at the new technology my servants have wrought!

Within the armor of steel contained in a container of glass is the head of an impossibly old man, his long beard falling beyond sight. His eyes glow with soft blue luminescence, and his gnarled mouth is upturned in a contemptuous sneer.

"Screw you and your fishbowl!" Maka barks out the first sentence she's spoken aloud since the mission started. A Dazzling Gleam would only serve to blind her companions and might not even work on the old man, thus when Maka leaps down to join her team it's to swing her scythe at the arm holding onto Nero.

Quickly and quietly is no longer an option, not when this...thing is a threat right now. Metaphorical death flew off the table when it decided to stare them in the face.

Well, the stealthy approach just went out the window, that was for damn sure. And it definitely looks like they encountered something very unexpected... and nasty.

But Adell wasn't one for inaction. He had rushed forward to try to grab the other side of the object like was planned, but had an immediate shift happened when it transformed and the steel suit grabbed Nero by the throat.

He didn't bother with a verbal response. Time to let his strength do the talking. His fists wreathing in flame, he went straight for using a Vulcan Blaze, a savage fiery beatdown of the machine, looking to do some damage or disable it.

The soldiers went down without too much fuss, and Ryuko grinned for a moment before their moment of triumph was cut off by the psychic voice suddenly booming in everyone's head.

She jumped a bit at the voice and whipped around just in time for the huge metal suit to open up and grab Nero.

"Marvel my ass! You're toast, ya stupid old fart!" Immediately, she joined Maka and Adell in lunging at the mecha-geezer, jumping right up into his face to swing her sword with all the strength she could put behind it.

Nero had just decapitated two guards. This was going away from their plan, Rose reflected.

"What the hell is that!?" Rose shouted, as she got a good look at the suit of armor. She grunted softly but sharply when the arm extended, grabbing at Nero's neck. Her eyes widened, and then she went rushing at the old man.

"Who are you?" she snapped. Then she leaped into the air. Flame swirled about her as she did, forming -- if only for a brief moment -- an aura about her.

Then Rose came crashing down, trying to strike feet-first into his chest. "Rising Phoenix!" she yelled, kicking off the armor to send herself backward -- though it was an open question if she could be that quick.

"Hrk."

That was about the only sound Nero was capable of making with her neck in that grip. Thankfully, it didn't last for long. Years on the battlefield hadn't made her reaction time that slow, and the instant she's able to get her head back together she Teleports several yards away and resets her position, rubbing her neck.

This has to be the Emperor, and believe it or not? Nero has no reverence for her former homeland's leader. If he allowed her to be harmed, and promoted her treacherous underlings? Then he was an enemy.

"It doesn't matter who he is. Kill this mechanical wretch, and let us be on our way."

And with that said, she flashed forward like a bolt of lightning, swinging her sword as she passed by with Extreme Speed.

Edited 2016-06-09 02:57 (UTC)

As the machine rises to full height, the image of the gigantic rock Gigas seems to appear over it. The body hardens with Iron Defense as Maka's scythe bounces off it. Adell's succession of punches seem to hold little weight - it feels like he is punching pure stone. The attacks of Rose, Ryuko, and Nero fare little better, striking and causing minor cuts but no major damage.

"Useless!"

Still channeling the great stone Gigas, the right hand of the giant turns into a giant blade of stone as it unleashes an enormously powerful Stone Edge at Adell, blasting him backwards and into a wall and sending pain lancing through his entire body.

The Seeker, Santiago, turns to face the man, nay, the Emperor of all Gigas. His black eyes are blazing with rage and his hair is standing on end as a storm of lightning sizzles around him. An aura of pressure, of intense fear bursts forth from him, causing his Union allies to feel like they should tremble as mere ants in his presence, but the Emperor is unmoved. Channeling the lightning into a single point, he launches it at the Emperor, who blocks it with the stone blade, giving the Union members an opening - for now.

The emperor's assault was swift and brutal, sending Adell flying backward and crashing into a wall with a sickening crunch. Almost every nerve ending in his body flared with pain, but once he slid down the wall and to the floor, he checked to see if anything was broken.

For now, everything looked fine, though his... well, everything hurt.

He pushed himself back to his feet, teeth gritting through the pain. He wouldn't be downed that easily... even if the Emperor was a foe stronger than any he had ever faced by a wide magnitude. Still, he needed a moment before going back on offense...

So he took the time instead to make sure his allies were protected, even if it felt like Santiago didn't need protecting. He popped off a Safeguard to prevent everyone from getting any nasty lingering effects...

And then afterward, started focusing his own strength, a light fiery aura growing around him. Adell is getting pumped!

"Damn, he's tough!" Rose hisses. She feels the Safeguard wash over her; she feels the aura of fear off Santiago, too, and does her best to not let it grip her mind too much.

Who is this guy?

Instead, she brings up both knives. She nods onces, and they glimmer with darkness. Then, Rose goes running forward, sprinting right at the Emperor. As she does, shadowy images of Rose form, rushing about to each side. They leap at one, and when Rose throws her knives, a chorus of shadow-knives join.

"Jade Luminescence!" she yells, as the shadow-clones loose their knives -- and vanish after, leaving Rose kneeling.

"He's tough, but our righteous fury will break through soon enough!"

Nero takes full advantage of that opening, whipping around and striking for the opening that their guide created with another Sacred Sword: the Emperor's back. She follows up on the stroke with her signature attack, Red Flash. The cut lashes at his back, and raises the critical strike rate of allied attacks, while propelling her clear of his melee range once more.

Some part of Ryuko's mind notes the effects washing over her, both the helpful ones and that pressure coming from Santiago but none of them are what she's focused on.

She grunts as her sword bounces off the Emperor's armor, leaving just a scratch, before she grits her teeth and lunges back in again. There's no trickery or particular strategy in her attack. She gets right in the old geezer's face, planting her feet and hammering away at that armor, each blow a little stronger than the last thanks to the Power-Up Punch propelling them.

"RAAAAAAAGGH!" And that's all she has to say on the subject.

Rise's voice crackles out of the Warp Bands.

"Looks like you guys drew their trump card," she says. "Starting analysis on that robot suit thing. If he's got a weak point, I'll find it."

Rise focuses all of her power on Analyzing the Emperor and his armor through the monitor feeds in the command center.

Analysis would be great right now because while her more brutal team members are striking at the Emperor, Maka's doing her best to keep her arms from shaking at the sudden weight of her weapon and the pressure building up around the environment.

She is afraid. She's very afraid. Their trump card? And Santiago...just what exactly have they been led to in this mission? Why couldn't she foresee it, why couldn't Stella? --Or, did she and just not tell...

Her wings dissipate into a crackling psychic aura. Yes, Maka's terrified, but that doesn't mean she's going to stop trying to crack at the Emperor when everyone else is working so hard too. Psycho Cut flashes out from a swing of her scythe as she charges forward again. Screw you!

As Rise's eyes fall upon the Emperor, she feels stricken, as if by a physical blow to her face. She can see some things, the typing, currently Rock, but rapidly shifting to steel, and she feels within it the power of four great gods screaming in rage against shackles of an iron will that seems both utterly inhuman and intensely human in its ego and sheer unyielding resolve. The weight of centuries, not in the eyes of an unchanging god but in the eyes of a human living long past their due are reflected here, and the pressure nearly knocks Rise out. The level is unfathomable. The power is unfathomable. And here, in this place, the seat of his power, the Emperor rules, he will not be defeated, and he will not yield.

A field of Amnesia descends over the armor, as well as a second layer of Iron Defense as he continues to raise its defense. Maka's Psycho Cut strikes true as it bites deeply into the arm of the machine armor, just as deep cracks begin to appear under the barrage of Ryuko's punches. Two deep cuts open in the armor from the onslaught of Nero's attacks, and cracks appear in the glass container from the barrage of knives. But the Emperor remains unperturbed.

"Union's finest disappoint me. Disappear!"

The image of a great steel Gigas seems to appear over it as the typing shifts fully to Steel in Rise's eyes. A shockwave strikes, interrupting Santiago's lightning stream and pushing back the melee attackers as the armor quickly regenerates - and even begins reinforcing itself with new layers of metal. The left arm opens, the hand disappearing into it revealing a hollow cannon barrel that begins gathering light into it, before releasing it in several powerful blasts at the party members, unleashing a Flash Cannon at each.

Santiago doesn't move, but spectral wings, jagged and yellow with black underneath, reminiscent of bolts of lightning form, blocking the attack as he begins gathering lightning for another strike. The wings fall away, but the power and pressure of his aura is only rising as his black eyes blaze.

Rise has the wherwithal to cut comms for a moment so she can let out a small scream without the people in battle overhearing her. Everything about this...this whatever it is is wrong. A "human" mind like that shouldn't exist.

She eventually gets herself mostly under control, relaying instructions in a pained voice. "That's...he's connected to all the trapped gods. Giving them commands and taking their power. He's as strong as one of them, here. Maybe even all of them."

Then she shakes her head, clearing it. "You're not gonna get through the armor itself while he can regenerate it. Focus all your attacks on the glass for now. I'm gonna look for more weak points."

Rise's far from an engineer of any kind, but she did watch and look around carefully when she was here before. Gigas uses technology for everything, and as powerful as this Emperor is, she can't believe that even he could reach into the minds of multiple gods and channel their power simultaneously without some kind of boost. She uses her regular and third eyes all together to look for anything on the armor that looks like a transmitter or feels like a Psychic link of any kind.

Rose's relief that Rise is giving them advice is short lived. Connected to all of the gods. She doesn't begin to fathom how that works, but she doubts that it's anything good. Her eyes widen, before she nods once. She can see the fat lot of good her previous attack did, and that's the best she had. She grits her teeth, staring at the thing, then she nods.

"The glass," she agrees. She runs forward, leaping at the front of it. However, that is when the Flash Cannon fires. The blast slams into Rose bodily and throws her across the battlefield. She smashes into the side of the wall, leaving a sizeable dent in it. She crumples down, forcing herself to stand.

Her Combusken rushes forward, beak opening -- and then leaps with a loud caw. He comes down with perfect form, fire swirling around his foot -- and tries to kick into the glass on the emperor's armor.

"Efreet!" she yells. "Careful!" Then, she looks at the emperor. "Who the hell are you!?"

The glow around Adell intensified, his energy now completely focused. Ready for more, the earthkin shouted.

"Never give up! Take him down! He's no god, just some corpse in a fancy suit!"

Adell, now pumped up, called for Andy to join him at his side. He glanced over to the Blaziken, who gave a firm nod. In this one together, they rushed toward the Emperor's machine, and right after Rose's Combusken clears the area from its attack, Adell and Andy leapt into the air with a mutual shout and caw. Both descended down upon the glass cockpit using two of their signature moves: Soaring Fire and Blaze Kick.

Ryuko grunts as the shockwave forces her backwards, coming to a stop several feet away. Recovering her balance, she prepares to lunge again when she sees the Flash Cannon blasting her way.

"Like I give a damn if he's leeching up some god's power!" She slams her blade into the ground and hunkers down behind it as the blast strikes. She strains against the force of it, leans into it. When it clears, she's battered, scratched, steam rising from her body as the red in her hair begins to glow. But she's still on her feet. "Go dry up and die already, you old bastard!"

The glass.... She yanks her sword out of the ground and continues her charge, but she she does, her Warp Band flares up and a reeking pile of sludge and filth drops into the battlefield.

"Make a mess of 'im, Blob!" Issuing her order, she changes her path to put herself between her Pokemon and any attacks the Emperor might launch back and then wraps herself up in a fiery aura and blasts forward to tackle the behemoth with a powerful Dragon Rush.

Blob, meanwhile, digs a hand into his gloppy body and hurls a glob of thick, sticky sludge for the glass covering the Emperor's face. Between that and Ryuko's reckless charge, maybe her allies could score a couple of hits on that hopeful weakpoint.

The powerful attacks strike true, the Emperor not even bothering to dodge as they all strike the glass. However, with each successive attack, no cracks appear. Instead, a pattern of seven black eyes appear, each one igniting in turn as the attacks strike until all seven glow an angry red.

"Clever, but ultimately useless. Die before the might of the true divine power."

Two of the hands morph as layers of steel construct themselves into two pincering claws as it reaches out toward Ryuko and Rose, intending to grab both and crush them. The spirit of the greatest of the Gigases can be seen behind it.

Rise, meanwhile, sees the ley lines of power flowing all throughout the structure. The building seems to be centering the divine energy into one singular point - the Emperor himself. From him stream his will and commands as he controls all Gigases even as he draws power from them. It seems most of the energy is concentrated on one Gigas, but it's hard to make out which.

The glass isn't cracking. He keeps attacking. He's channeling the power of a god. Surviving the Flash Cannon by barricading herself as best as she could and holding her scythe against the force came first, then heavily leaning on it while trying to figure out what to do next became priority.

Maka isn't an analyst, but she does feel the roiling emotions and power of the gods flaming all around them. Shit.

Ah--he's attacking again. No time for thinking, Maka taps out her Warp Band to summon her Luxray. Ariel understands as soon as she's summoned what to do and shoots out a Spark at the claw while Maka concentrates a Psybeam for the same target. There's no strength for witty verbal commentary, but the sentiment of we're not falling before some glorified leech! is clearly felt.

Nothing?! All that and it hadn't even put a dent in this freakshow? She'd thrown everything she had into those attacks!

For the first time since they got here, Ryuko considered that this might be a little tough.

That thought is terribly interrupted by the huge claw suddenly snapping shut around her. She has just enough time to bring her arms up and sprout several sharp blades from her body, pushing back against the claws. She's holding but it's clearly taking everything she's got to not be instantly crushed into a pulp.

Her Warp Band flares again and her Flygon, Chompers, bursts out of it. Immediately, the Dragon lands on the pincer holding her trainer and attacks the joint with her Dragon Claw in an attempt to free her.

"Don't give us that 'divine power' line of crap! You don't have any power, you're just stealing it from something that does!"

Well, no dents in the armor or even cracks in the glass meant this was going to be a hell of a problem. For now, it meant their attacks weren't hitting hard enough to get through... or hitting in the right place. Adell's only strategy at that point would be to hit it again...

But he'd need to hit it harder.

The Enlightened looked over to his Blaziken companion, who nodded back. They didn't attack this time and instead opted to both power up using Bulk Up. The Attack and Defense were probably going to be needed here...

Especially when the claws form and shoot out.

"Rose! Look out!"

The attacks coming in dazed Nero, almost cracking into the walls of her own ego. She staggered back and took around to recover, but all that about divine power? That was too much. She flashed bright pink, a nimbus of power blazing up around her.

"You're naught but a thief! Die, Cur!"

She launches herself forward once more, leaping into the air and summoning her Rapidash. The fiery horse caught her easily, and since Nero was pretty short...she didn't hit the roof. Whew.

"Ride him down, Sextus!"

And forward the Pokemon went, coming in for a Flare Blitz, while Nero herself struck out with another Critical Enhancing Red Flash. Her aim wasn't on the Emperor's main body though, but rather on the hands reaching for Rose. Maybe she couldn't kill him in a single strike, but she could hopefully stop him from hurting anyone else. That was the right thing to do. Protect one's soldiers where one could.

The claw grabs Rose. Her eyes widen -- she screams, even -- and then it squeezes. She crumples after a moment, with a panicked and terrified shout. Her sense of place is suddenly gone; at the moment, all she can think about is that pressure, and the way she feels her ribs (most of them) crack audibly. Her left arm, too, snaps like a twig and there is a bone-chilling shriek of pain.

Then she goes limp, though she is still breathing. Tears bud in her eyes. It's lucky, then, that Nero's shot is coming when it does; Rose can't respond.

Efreet the Combusken stares at this. Then, he begins to panic. He clucks, before he rushes at the Emperor. A clawed swings back; flame ignites around it, and he swipes the three fiery claws down again and again at the Emperor's armor.

"KEN!"

The attacks slam into the Emperor and the claw reaching for Ryuko is pushed back, while the claw holding the Emperor releases Rose, dropping her to the ground. Immediately, they begin reforming into enormous hammer-like arms, but there's a flash of crackling lightning and an enormous bird slams into the Emperor's armor. It's form is familiar, having fought for Union on the day the Elite Four attacked, and it stands now where Santiago once was. The force of the charge is immense and pushes the Emperor back, but the might armored arms move to catch it, halting the charge as they grip the bird tightly.

"So much the better! Another false god to add to my collection!"

Spinning the bird around, he launches it into the ceiling, where it bursts through the ground, revealing open sky. There are screams as several civilians suddenly fall through the new hole that appeared beneath their city and begin falling through the complex, surely to their death if none intervene.

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24 hour advancement

I only use the most serious icons

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