Another Roll of the Die

Part 1: Collect call

Another Roll of the Die- Rp pg. 1- Anime Vice.htm (122.08 KB)

Another Roll of the Die- Rp pg. 2- Anime Vice.htm (114.96 KB)

Another Roll of the Die- Rp pg. 3- Anime Vice.htm (116.82 KB)

Part 2: First Wave- Dark Engines

"Oh, come on, there are giant robots out there and you want to talk? I give you one hundred words." He parroted Arthur's phrasing from earlier as Leora dashed off. He couldn't break free of Arthur's grip anyway, not that he would tell him that. "I have plenty of other names. However, they are given to me by people who have distinguished themselves thoroughly. You have in some worlds, but not this one. However, if it makes you feel better, I'll tolerate Yami." He impatiently spun his sword while waiting for the robots to reach shore. Ironside. He knew this for certain because he had brought them here. A family with the tech of the Ironsides was highly desirable in this battle, as there would surely be enough of these things left over after he was done with them to help with the Demon Gods.

___

"Hmpf, you used 122 words. I counted. But fine." Arthur said and listened to the Master's answer. To be honest, he wasn't sure if the Master chose the nickname Yami because of the Yugioh, the fact that it means Darkness or the fact that it's the name of a Hindu death goddess. Still, it was an acceptable choice.

"Last question, do you plan on taking Warden and Ariana back to 2014?" Arthur asked and summoned his ice wings and an ice sword.

___

The bullets bounced off Kenway's armour as if repelled by a magnetic force as the pirate assassin rolled on the ground. "You should be thinking about your own priorities mate." He told warden, referring to the emerald flags that were fast approaching the island. "Ironsiders, the lot of them." He explained. "We boarded one before realising we'd been had, but the Jackdaw was able to outrun 'em in the storm. The ships themselves are machines, there's nothing you can do here mate." He said with a shrug. "Best grab your girl and get moving. I'll take what you can't carry."

___

"Always for a nice girl who's so polite." Jardsam told Ariana with a smile, offering her the bag again. "And Warden does seem to be taking care of things, doesn't he?" He asked. "But I do have to ask what he did with the brothel?"

___

A large, imposing man stepped off the boat and onto the shore, with his small boat transforming into a human-sized robot clad in wooden armour. "A disgusting little hovel." He spat, kicking a rat against a tree as he walked towards the walls.

He sniffed, then turned. "One of them is near." He said, looking around and spotting the blonde samurai. "That one." He ordered. "Contain and transport him to the island."

The robots emerging from the water got to work, surrounding and encasing the sleeping Arsenal inside a cage of green energy, before carrying him back to their ship.

___

"Sounds like a pretty boring life. But just think, you're living in the golden age of piracy! You guys should be traveling the world, not sitting around here." Haruko says, smiling at Ariana.

Over against the wall, Sarah notices the Ironside ships arriving into port. Just what was this maniac doing here...oh right, Jardsam and Arsenal. Perhaps her skills would be more needed over there instead of keeping an eye on Conrad. Leaping out the window, the ninja sprints across the sandy beach and arrives next to Warden in no time at all.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but there are several ships from the future docking into port right now. You might want to have a chat with them, because they aren't as pleasant as Leora or Haruko." Sarah deliberately didn't give her name to Warden or Eve, not wanting to mess with the past any more than she should.

___

Looking out the window at the ships, Haruko motions for Jardsam to look out the window. "Hey...who are they and what are they doing with Arsenal?" From her viewpoint, she could see the sleeping Arsenal being carried off inside of a cage.

___

Leora finally arrives close to the sound where she heard the metal clashing with metal before and notices Warden with Eve talking to some pirate. Leora then looks at the shore to see the metal ships coming. This isn't looking good. When Leora looks back to see what was happening with Warden, she notices that one of the other girls with quick, yet silent movements, was moving towards the group on the beach. The Ninja girl arrives and was followed by Leora, who arrived a couple seconds after her.

Leora came into the group and says, "Thank goodness that no one is hurt." Leora was relieve to see that no one was killed or injured in the previous fight. "I think you might have notice by now, but it looks like we are going to have some new guests here soon enough and they don't seem to be friendly." Leora took a second to think and she asks, "So what's the plan?"

___

"Of course I'll take them back. Leaving them here would just cause more trouble. Warden can't be trusted to not wreck any timeline unsupervised." Of course, there were other functions to getting them in close quarters, but that was besides the point. "So, want to go talk to Ironside and mention that we have a common threat, or stab his stuff for a while first? I did kinda call him here, and it'd be rude not to give him a proper welcome."

___

Eve cursed bitterly as her attack rebounded off of Edward's armor and Warden abandoned her. She had forgotten just how tough it was. "What are you doing standing around like a bunch of wide eyed brats? Get to work! I'll handle this pansy myself!" Her chest opened, pushing aside her jacket and revealing the machinery inside. One piece of machinery seemed out of place- a full on industrial blow torch. Warden's knowledge of advanced chemistry and future engineering had served him well. It ignited and she reached up to pull him into the flames. "You were a handsome man. This was not the embrace I wanted you to end up in." Her jaws opened wider than her head and she attempted to bite down on his as her torch got to work on his chest.

___

It was the busty one who had gotten him to leave. She had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Stealthy or just fast? Didn't matter. Only the warning did. He turned to three pirates amusing themselves with Eve's fight. "You three. Tell our guests they may check the armory in my basement for weapons and armor. Leave the best for Eve's crew." Of course, they didn't even know where the best was, but just in case was always good with pirates.

"Man the canons but don't fire. Not the big ones. I'm going to see if I can talk with this Ironside." Warden brushed past bustling soldiers, the pirates of yesterday molded in his elite guard. Many would die today. Not him. Not Araina. Leora came up to him and gave him the same warning that the other woman had. "Don't worry, I'll handle it. Keep your powers ready. I don't know if you can knock out Ironside's robots, but you can take Ironside."

He kept his ordinary form as he approached the large man, ignoring the robots that aimed their mighty weapons at his head. Ironside likely wouldn't be intimidated by any monstrous form he could take, but he might underestimate the somber looking man who had just woken up and had no armor or weapons to speak of. "Ironside. What brings you to my shores, and what will make you leave them?"

___

Ariana's brain was not preoccupied with a word like brothel. It had very little importance to her, just another boring thing that Warden would chew people out over at meetings. The only reason she remembered it at all was because... "Eve started going there because she got Warden to say men could work there, so she goes to visit her friends. And he fired everybody who was sick. It's mostly the same." Despite jelly beans, Ariana looked sad at Haruko's words. "I want to go out and find treasure, but he says the sea's no place for little girls, and all the treasure already belongs to somebody else, meaning I'd have to take it from them and they wouldn't like me, and he'd rather they not like him and Ed. But I bet I could find new treasure that nobody owned!"

She adventurously drew a dagger from the belt by her bed and waved it around. She only stopped when Haruko waved her over to the window. Peeking out, she was amazed. "Wow, giant robots! Oh, remember when we rode dinosaurs? Go get dinosaurs and make them fight the robots!" She nearly exploded with enthusiasm as she demanded dinosaurs from Jardsam, bouncing up and down and squealing excitedly.

___

Jardsam listened to Ariana as she explained the situation. Damn, a brothel filled with dudes.

Worse than that though, this girl was being held a prisoner. That was not a good thing.

At Haruko's call, Jardsam looked at the fleet. Ironside. He'd be taking Arsenal to the encampment.

___

That would be a good thing, actually. If anyone would be able to instil an uprising, it would be him.

Jardsam trusted Arsenal to thrive in captivity.

"No, it's fine." Jardsam told the seamstress, before turning to Ariana with a smile. "I'd love to get some dinosaurs, maybe some dragons too." He told the young girl, extending his hand to her invitingly. "Please would you come help me find them?"

___

"Wait, those are Ironside's? Why didn't you tell me sooner!"Arthur completely forgot about the Master's less then satisfying answer as soon as he heard Ironside's name being spoken. He let go of the Master and summoned Accel End to accompany his ice sword and wings. "Sure, we should have a chat with him. Though I don't plan on letting him get out of that chat alive. Lets go."

Truth be told, despite seeming so ready for combat, Arthur wasn't too confident. He remembered the one fight with Ironside's robot he had and how beat up he was until he used time manipulation, which he specifically prohibited so that he wouldn't make it too easy. But then, that robot was specifically made so that ice attacks wouldn't be that effective against it. These ones should be easier.

___

"Sure, just don't kill to many of his robots. They could be useful when my siblings show up." He guessed he didn't need Ironside to use his machines. He dashed for the nearest mech, zigzaging back and forth to make his already small body harder to hit. When close, he sprang upwards, climbing easily to the shoulder. He stabbed at the neck with his rapier, hopefully opening a large enough hole for Arthur to do some real damage.

___

Leora decided to go with Warden to face Ironside. She actually started to wonder if Compassion's powers can even work on robots, which Compassion just says inside her very existence, [ Yes, but your not ready to wield my power in such a way yet. For the meantime just stay with Warden, you are going to be needed in order to help him deal with Ironside. This will be a vital. ]

Leora finally reaches Warden and looks to see Ironside. A giant of a man, who's appearance makes him look to be the type of man to get violent real quick. In order to prevent the man from going all out on them right away, Leora uses her Physical Happiness ability to cause the man to relax and calm down, hopefully enough to want to talk with them rather than fighting right off the bat. Leora looks around and notices the robots all pointing their weapons on them waiting for their master's command.

___

The robots raised their arms and opened fire on the oncoming Arthur and Warden. They fired countless bullets, but these older machines had a very unusual feature neither Warden nor Arthur were prepared for.

Vents.

Every joint emitted smoke, steam, or even open flames. Fighting on cruder fuels, these machines advanced onto the fortress, mowing down everything in their path.

As they did this, Ironside looked up at Leora with a look of contempt.

"Leora." He said in a booming voice that echoed across the island. "Champion Of Compassion. You Would Attempt To Quell The Furnace Of Hatred Within My Heart? Know That It Resides Not In My Body, For I Removed That Human Error Decades Ago For A Mind Without Weakness."

He spoke the truth. Melefico Von Ironside was even more heartless than the machines he created."Kill Them All." He ordered. "Bring Me The Shinoda."

___

Conrad was leaned besides the door all the time.

The brothel story sounded interesting enough, he should probably try visiting that place once.

But right now it wasn't really what he was searching for.

Hearing the commotion he went outside however. Oh grand... robots. That was a great start actually. As much as he wanted to charge in and start taking those things apart, he knew that with how he currently was, he would be completely massacred by them one way or another. Which means he'd have to keep a low profile. There seemed to be a fancy looking dude down there however.

Time to check that out, Conrad told himself as he went to the side avoiding the battlefield and essentially start approaching Ironside from behind.

___

Warden shifted his stance and sighed. These people never did things the easy way. He raised a very distinctly non 18th century piece of tech to his face. "All ships off shore, fire at my position." He spoke into the transmitter turned into a walkie-talkie. Ironside's first batch he sent here had given Warden some wonderful gifts. He made his body a wall for Leora and Sarah as the horizon flared and iron rained over them. One cannonball smashed his face. He ignored it. What he didn't ignore was the shiny red button popping up on his chest after the barrage ended. God he hated the Master.

___

The Master fell from the machine, smouldering. Grumbling irritably, he rolled around to put himself out. Being a dry husk, fire sucked. Coming to a kneel, he waved to Arthur. "Watch out, they- oh, never mind, you know." He let Arthur throw his blade and dashed past the machine, realizing that these things were a bit much for the team. "Rule." His voice echoed in the minds of all on the island. "Robots have self destruct buttons." A big shiny red button sparkled into existence on each robot's upper back, right between the shoulder blades. That should make things a bit more fair. And just for fun...

"Self destruct buttons for everybody!" A similar button appeared on everybody within a football field's distance of him on all sides. With most it was dead center on their chests, but Leora's was off by just a touch, over her true weak spot as he saw it. The button felt weightless and like it wasn't really attached to the body, but anybody taking off their shirt would find the button still underneath. "Now, how about we go poke some of Ironside's buttons?"

___

A bored lookout stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean opposite of the group. "Hey. You hear about what's happening down the hill? Ed's back and he's wrestin with Eve." An especially bearded pirate came up to bug him. "Really? Woulda thought the she-devil would at least get a room." "Don't caller that, the boss has ears all oer the place. And they're fightin, not fuckin." The lookout adjusted his telescope as something appeared on the horizon. Were those whales? "Hopefully he'll take the bitch out. Get a woman who's not a whore to lead the guard." He ignored his friend's advise. "Eh, yer just jealous she's ne'er chosen ya." The lookout dropped his telescope, letting it fall to the rocks below. "Boss's gonna be mad you broke that." The lookout just paley stepped back from the cliff. "Uh... yeah, he will. How about you go tell him?" He didn't wait for a response and just started running for the church, because he had just seen the army of the devil and he needed some prayer.

___

"Champion Of Compassion. You Would Attempt To Quell The Furnace Of Hatred Within My Heart? Know That It Resides Not In My Body, For I Removed That Human Error Decades Ago For A Mind Without Weakness." [ Don't fear Leora, even without a heart he still has the rest of his body, mind, and soul for my powers to work on, but you must stay strong and belief in yourself ] However Leora was less concern with the heartless man in front of her and was worried for everyone once the robots started firing and as the robots fired, Warden unless his own orders. Warden then transform into a wall to protect them from the bombardment of Warden's ships. As Leora was behind cover she feels Compassion powers protecting her.

She was wondering if there was an attack behind her or if Warden's Wall failed to protect them, but Compassion just speaks into her once more, [ Don't worry about an attack from the bombardment or from behind, I'm just protecting you from the Master of Games' power right now. Notice the buttons on your teammates ] Leora looks and with Compassion guiding her sense she sees the buttons. [ They're place on both the living and machine right now. If one presses the button, the person attach to the button will die ] Leora then asks, "By why would he place them on everyone?" Compassion responds, [ Because it is fun and fair in his eyes to do it this way. Regardless you must not worry about him this second. You must focus on stopping the man in front of you. ]

Leora then walks and a part of the wall just moves around her as her body steps forward. The bombardment now was raining on Leora, but she was protected by Compassion, which didn't even let a piece of Leora's clothing get damage. Leora continues to walk towards Ironside. She needed to somehow touch him in order to stop this, but she wasn't planning on pressing his button, but instead she planned to close the distance in order to increase the power of her abilities. She was going to try to stop him without taking his life, however; if needed she will assist in stopping him even if that means another person was going to finish him off.

___

Once the robots began attacking, Sarah immediately draws her katana from her waist and begins analyzing the situation. Multiple robots, each with thick metal armor. Special condition; that smug piece of shit put supposed self destruction buttons on everyone and everything. Optimal course of action; get in close and press the button on the robots, avoiding having my own button pressed. Finished thinking of her strategy, Sarah sprints behind a nearby hut and begins circling around one of the advancing robots, keeping herself hidden behind the houses. Once she was sufficiently behind the enemy lines, Sarah stealthily sprints from her cover and at one of the robots. Taking into account they might have motion sensors, the captain of the HWIC stealth force turns her body sideways and attempts to slash at the button on it's back. Then, picking up a nearby rock, the hurls it at the button of another robot closer to the front lines, one that was taking aim at Arthur.

___

Meanwhile, Haruko heard the Master of Games announce self destruction buttons for everyone, and a quick glance confirmed her suspicion. Strangely, there didn't seem to be a button on Ariana, Jardsam or herself. If these robots were advancing toward this hut, she needed to help everyone out. "Ariana, wait here. Jardsam...lending a hand would be fantastic." Regardless if Jardsam came to help or not, Haruko leaves the house and jumps on top of the roof. She had a decent line of sight to all the fighting, and noticed that all the robot's buttons where on their backs. Time to get to work.

Taking out a knife from her jacket, Haruko slows her breathing down and stares at one particular robot trying to fire bullets at Sarah, who was sprinting behind enemy lines. Her trained seamstress eyes could spot a tiny piece of wire in almost any light, so judging long distances was simple for her. Lining up her shot and adjusting for the robot's movements, Haruko tosses it at one of the robots that had it's back to her, hopefully pressing it's button and destroying it.

___

Ariana was uncontrollably amazed at the prospect of going off and capturing dragons. After a lifetime of danger always being just around the corner, it was enticing. "Ohhhhhh! Yesyesyes!" She happily took his hand. Before she could drag him to the office, Haruko jumped out the window. "Wait! Aren't you coming?" Ariana ran to the window. "I'm afraid she's not. Of course, neither are you." The Master of Games was leaning against the wall. He was also out on the battlefield. He had flickered out for a second. This was merely a detour.

"I was going to wait until we were on the Office for this." He helpfully explained as he raised his rapier, leveling it at Ariana's heart. "I'm sorry Jardsam, but it'd take too long to explain why she has to die."

___

Jardsam was skipping merrily away with the room when the Master of Games drew a sword in the young girl. "Well that just won't do." Jardsam replied, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a small metal cylinder. There was a green flash, and suddenly the cylinder was gone, but the Accountant was holding a wooden pencil.

"Did you know?" The time traveller asked. "When wood strikes a metal, it releases spores that cause the metal to liquefy at room temperature? Of course you didn't know that, because I just changed the laws of physics to make it so."

Outside the palace, Ironside's machines stated sustaining serious damage by brushing against trees or shacks.

"Now, I'm going to take this little girl to see some lizards." Jardsam told the Master of Games slowly and carefully, getting into stance and bringing the pencil closer to the other's rapier, ready to parry it at the slightest hint of a thrust towards Ariana. "And you're going to play nice, Moggy, before-"

SMASH!!

___

Edward abandoned his squabble with Eve and ran to the edge of the wall. "Sodding hell..." He swore.

Ironside had anticipated the move, and had unleashed reinforced wooden robot soldiers that were smashing through metals like they were butter.

The heartless scientist chuckled at the pitiful fools attempts to reach him, as he stood safe behind his energy barriers, surrounded by various machines.

___

The shaking woke Blondie, and he knew the plan had been a success. Using a lollypop stick from his pocket, he filed out of his cage and began exploring the ship.

"Operation Ebony Virtue is go." He whispered with glee, drawing a wooden blade from his Arsenal and sneaking through the craft.

___

Conrad was a little bit disappointed that he missed the chance to play around with the self-destruct buttons that appeared on everyone while he sneaked around. Whoever did that was bloody amazing. If that wasn't a feat of supernatural extravaganza then nothing was. Even more so when the robots started melting after the slightest touch with wood.

He never saw that before, and quite frankly he was excited. In fact he was currently restraining himself from jumping onto one of the robots and ride it to make it collide with either a tree or another robot to cause the self-destruction to activate. Of course it was mostly wishful thinking. With his current stats he'd most likely die or at the very least put himself into a wheelchair for the rest of his life if he tried something like that. That didn't stop him from being filled with glee while imagining the scenario however. One way or another, this was the situation he dreamed about, this felt right and this is where he belonged. A place where all the science and logic he adored so much meant nothing. A place of unpredictable laws and circumstance.

A deadly place.

He continued walking towards Ironside before noticing that there was a forcefield erected around him.

"Hey, old fart! Over here!" Conrad yelled casually as he punched the forcefield a few times trying to get Ironside's attention.

___

"Oh, that's just fascinating. To bad this isn't metal." Another of him popped up and ran to the side, trying to slip around Jardsam and strike the stunned Ariana, as he himself lashed out right for Jardsam's face, seeking to pierce it. He was unsurprised by the way the earth shook and the roar of a nuke going off that followed it, using the distraction to his advantage as he readied another weapon. The robots were demolishing the island without much resistance, but it wouldn't matter soon. Soon, none of that would matter.

___

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Eve yelled as Edward rolled off of her and ran to the wall. She followed, loading her canon with a solid ball to turn his head into abstract art. She froze as she saw the scene below them. The Ironside machines were tearing through the defensive perimeters Warden had set up, withstanding the canons on them... killing her men! "Edward! Gather everybody you can! I want every in Warden's basement! The arsenal's there and it can serve as shelter for the children. All able bodied men and woman are to be armed with what you find in the basement. I'll hold them off!"

She jumped off the wall, seeking to land on a nearby wooden robot's head and fire downwards into it with power rivaling a full sized canon.

___

Warden saw a possible chance at an attack when Conrad started attacking the barrier. Clearly, it would be durable. But he wasn't going to check. If this didn't work, he'd have to think of something else. His muscles bunched up, again like a flea's. He got a lot of mileage out this technique. He crouched for a second, targeted himself perfectly, and launched for a robot's chest with the intention of knocking it into the barrier, thinking that possibly his own machines could go through it.

If not, it was time to leave.

___

Sarah observed the situation, amazed at how it seemed like all the robots were blowing up after merely touching a wooden object. Has their mad game-inclined host made another rule, or has the accountant decided to bend the laws of physics again? Thinking back to her mission, Sarah remembers clearly that Jardsam is one of the few people on the HWIC's most wanted list, having been tracked in some form by the organization for centuries. Normally the stealth captain would have been overjoyed at the prospect of being around such a high profile target...but knew full well she couldn't even begin to face him without backup. So as much as it pained her, she had to accept his presence for now.

Raising her sword into the air, the blade slowly begins to dissolve into a flurry of leafs. Once the entire blade was gone, the leafs fly back into the handle and soon form a long wooden sword. Normally she'd only use this form for sparring, but the situation here seemed to unfavorable toward metal objects. Still keeping behind cover, Sarah begins to slash at the robots with her wooden blade, causing them to melt upon impact.

___

Meanwhile, Haruko hears a struggle coming from inside. Jumping off the roof, she saw Ariana huddled in a corner, being protected by Jardsam from the spikey-haired man from before. Just what the hell did he think he was doing?! Regardless, she knew Jardsam was much stronger than her, and didn't want to potentially ruin his formation. So the battle seamstress turns toward the advancing robots.

Figuring that most of the robots were much taller than humans, Haruko begins to lay many layers of wire on the ground, every few feet stopping to set up a trip wire across the rooftops. Normal things under 7 foot could pass harmlessly through, but the taller robots would cross the wire, causing that pile of wires to snap up and wrap tightly around the machine's legs, hopefully causing it to fall over, whereupon pressing it's button would be much easier. The pink-haired seamstress makes a few of these traps near her previous location, and begins to spread out from there.

___

First thing Arthur did after he noticed the shining red button on his chest and hearing the Master's rule shout was create a breastplate out of ice to shield the button. Can't have himself getting blown up, can he?

Second thing he did was rush towards the robot armies that were going through the defenses Warden set up. This time, he didn't need Accel End. He could fire ice shards at the robot's self destruct buttons before they could even come close to unleashing their fire and steam.

But his protecting the barriers didn't last long. Something was telling him that that is not where he should be. Wad it instinct? No, it seemed... Foreign. Could it be a message from his goddess? It was telling him to go to that brothel place where Warden was before and Ariana should be there, too. Hm, well, it was worth checking out.

Arthur dashed off towards Ariana, Jardsam and MoG, destroying any robots he encountered along the way.

___

Mog's blade pierced Jardsam's eye, causing him to freeze for half a second. It didn't last long, however, as Jardsam grinned, turning his head to wrench the weapon from his opponents grip and stabbing forward with his pencil to tear out the Master of Game's throat.

___

"Blasted wench!" Edward shouted as Eve ran into the attack, but he started to direct the evacuation to the shelters. The robot Eve was fighting fell to her attack, but the ensuing explosion was directed entire at her in a concentrated blast of heat and flame.

Robots fell to Sarah's assault, until smaller, wooden ones flew around her, tying her up in thick strands of enhanced spiders silk. Similar drones began cutting the wires set up by Haruko, allowing the larger machines to continue their advance undeterred.

Unfortunately for the ice mage, no machine built by Ironside had a self-destruct button. What a foolish design flaw that would be. Since the rule began, however, this glaring flaw was implemented onto all of his machines.

Ironside smirked at this. A reality warper that wasn't a Shinoda. What a wonderful day it would be to exterminate them all. However, he didn't have time for that.

With the combined mayhem caused by Conrad and Warden, with one vying to attract Ironside's attention and the other aiming to use that distraction to break through the barrier, it was a simple matter to reposition the strength of the shields and also to rotate the ground that Conrad was stood on, as if bringing him closer to Ironside. Warden's assault should crush the annoying piece of mutton pretending to be lamb, and the impact provide a perfect opportunity to enfold the barriers around Warden, capturing him.

___

Conrad was in luck. If not for his newly gained powers this situation right here would have been his death as he would have completely missed what was going on. Luckily for him his brain was working a bit differently now and he did know what was going on as soon as the ground started turning. He went a bit to the side avoiding Warden.

He found himself directly behind Ironside, the forcefield still separating them. "Hey old man. I'm as violent as you are any day, but bloody hell, rip those locks out of your ears for a moment and listen up!"

___

Leora continues to make her way to Ironside. As she walks, a forcefield appears right in front of Leora. Wow that was close, thinks Leora. Compassion's protects Leora, but so long as the force field wasn't a threat, Leora could not do anything about it. She takes a deep breath, while a lot of machines were trying their best to kill her, yet none of their attacks were doing anything to her,

Leora looks around and notices that Warden was going to try to enter the barrier by using the machine. Wow he's smart. Leora wonders if she could get in by machine and realize that the chances of that happening for her would probably be 0. Leora then tries her best to get to Ironside and finds herself next to Conrad, who was trying to get Ironside attention.

Leora then asks Conrad in a low voice, "So, what are you trying to do here?"

___

Arthur cleared the way to Warden's house with ease thanks to MoG's rule and once he got close enough, he jumped and entered Ariana's room through the window. The scene awaiting inside was one that would make him sigh if it hadn't made him angry first.

He jumped forward to grab the Master's rapier and Jardsam's pencil and hopefully to make them stop fighting. "What the hell are you two idiots doing?" Arthur shouted. "There's enough fighting going on outside, you don't have to fight each other!"

___

Eve was taken off guard by the explosion. It engulfed her, burning away a good portion of the flesh on her legs. She fell painfully to the ground, legs now just sheets of metal. She gasped in pain. She hadn't had the years necessary to acclimate herself to this sort of damage. Now was not the time to learn. She turned off the loudest nerves and lashed out a few tendrils to attach to the metal, making four shorter legs from the plates. She managed to pull herself up and scuttled like an insect, providing new nightmares for the already terrified pirates.

She retreated up the hill, loading her canon for another shot, when the glare off of her own metal became unbearable. "What the fuck?" She questioned as she looked into the sky and was awestruck.

___

Warden found himself somehow surrounded by the forcefield when his plan to break through with one of Ironside's own machines failed. Ironside seemed to have control over these fields. But he was limited in their shape. Warden was not. His hands became oversized, shovel-like claws, and he dove, changing as he tore through the ground. He burrowed forward, keeping where Ironside was in mind but not needing too. After all, he might just move people around again. Instead of coming up under Ironside, he spread out, and soon an army of tendrils rose from the earth, looking with tiny eyes for Ironside, not seeing the horrible light above.

___

The Master of Games smiled as his weapon passed through Jardsam's head, but was mildly disappointed that it did no lasting damage. He was hoping that his weapon, made to damage his more spectral siblings, would more permanently harm him. The pencil came fast, tearing through his throat. There was no blood, just an odd whistle as he blew air out of his throat. Not lethal. He slipped out of the timeline. Glancing at his omniwatch and the gorgeous sheet of time before him, he stepped back into the start of the fight.

He had already done this. He saw himself attacking Jardsam. He hadn't seen Jardsam do anything to this version of himself. He flanked him and readied his sword to pierce Ariana's head, giving her a quick death. Before the strike landed, Arthur interfered, pulling his rapier aside. "Come on, I almost had it!" He declared with mild annoyance. He could try again later, but he had come so close. He rested his hand at the gun that lay invisibly on his hip and wondered if he could get a shot off without Arthur or Jardsam stopping him.

Before he could calculate the gamble, everything changed.

Part 3: Second wave- Dark Souls



The temperature began rising rapidly, and sky became impenetrably bright. The Master jumped out the window to look at the source of the problem. Through the light, dimming the sun in comparison, he picked out his sinister sisters. They were immeasurably huge, maybe 30 feet tall and maybe bigger than the island. Their images billowed like they were made of sheets or just wrapped in them, constantly expanding and contracting.

The Song of Summer was impossible to see, being the source of the light. He knew that under it was a face that was all mouth and many other pleasant features. Flanking her were the Harvester of Autumn and the Heart of Spring. The Heart of Spring was more substantial than the others, somewhere between stone and crystal but flowing behind her like some sort of Aurora Borealis. She waved her hand, and the wooden robots began to take root as their plant parts took over, slowly turning them to trees.

The Harvester of Autumn was something else entirely. Her body was a spectral gray, dull red, orange, and yellow wings, uncountable because of the way they faded in and out that filled the air around her resembling leaves in fall. It was hard to tell if she was truly humanoid, because her limbs and head always seemed to be in multiple places at once. Her occupation was revealed by the hood, changing between the colors of her wings, that entirely hid her face and the scythe she carried, a simple black shaft with a blood-red blade.

WHERE IS OUR SISTER? The Harvester's "voice" was an assault on the souls of all present, filling it with jumbled images and feelings that coalesced to words. A familiar face repeated itself over and over in connection with the word "sister" along with another being that resembled them. The Master of Games shook his head, glad he was a bit more used to her than most. The battering was hard on mortals. "So, our second group of guests is here. Want to talk to them?" He yelled back into the window.

___

In the midst of this battle against the Master of Games, something very interesting was happening. Heading to the window and swinging on the top beam, Jardsam stood on the wall and leaned up, looking at the three girls while putting the pencil in his pocket, Ariana forgotten.

This was far more interesting.

"Oh, now you three are beautiful." Jardsam said, very impressed. Light started to bend around him, flecks of metal pulling themselves from the wall to rotate around Jardsam as he admired the girls. "Whoops." He added, laughing. "Almost undressed myself."

Stepping forward, Jardsam walked across the sky, almost swaggering as he approached the three immortal entities. "The Accountant." He said, introducing himself. "Tell me about your sister and we'll see how we can help each other."

___

The old man in a youth's skin was calling to Ironside, and Warden had invaded the ground, seeking him. The goddesses from the sky had decimated what remained of his army, so Ironside turned around and strode back to his ship.

He ignored these unimportant annoyances, for the day was done.

The Shinoda was still wild.

But his spawn was in Ironside's grip.

It was time to cut his losses and depart from this time and place.

___

Leora was paying attention to Conrad as he was smiling. He seem to be enjoying the chaos that was happening all around them. Leora also sees Ironside leave as if he no longer had any business here. Leora then looks up still shock at what she was seeing. [ Well it's not a surprise to see the The Song of Summer, The Harvester of Autumn, and The Heart of Spring here ] says Compassion. You know them, asks Leora. [ Not on a personal level, but I do know of them. They are extremely dangerous, but I don't think you need me to tell you that Leora. ] Well i can see two of them, but the other is too bright, says Leora. [ Trust me when I say that it better not to see her real form Leora. ] What should I do? asks Leora. [ Babysit ]

Before Leora could reply back, a massive bright blue light wraps around her and takes her into Ariana's room. Once there Leora was with Arthur, the Master of Games, and Ariana. Leora appears right next to Ariana and greets the child with one of her smiles. Then she looks at the Master of Games and Arthur. Leora uses her compassionate understanding ability to follow the situation that was happening here. She then looks at the Master of Games and asks "So this what you were talking about earlier then?" Leora looks back at Ariana and for the first time that day, there was a slight hint of sadness in Leora's eyes, which was quickly replace with her confidence. "I won't let you do this" she says to the master of games.

___

For a second, Arthur thought the Master was attacking Ariana. But he quickly banished the thought, surely the Master wouldn't do that. He was a strange man, but not an evil one. Right?

Regardless, new enemies appeared and from the looks of them they deserved Arthur's full attention. So, whom should he attack? He crossed off the shining one from his list as someone who shone so brightly probably radiated so much heat that merely swinging at them would be the death of him. The one made of stone was a more likely target as Accel End could probably cut through those. But the most likely target of Arthur's assault would be the one with wings. Besides Jardsam and Master, he was probably the only one suited for areal combat and Jardsam was too busy trying to get more Shinodaborn into the world. Not to mention that, from the way her body seemed to be changing shape and form, most attacks would simply pass through her unless she was forced to stay still by something like a prison of ice.

"Right, I'll talk to the leaf monster." He informed the Master and jumped out the window just as Leora appeared in the room.

___

Noticing that all the robots have now been destroyed, Sarah sheaths her blade and turns her attention towards the 3 newcomers. A quick scan with her ninja eyes revealed that they were powerful indeed. The sociopathic time traveler and game master were already approaching the three, and neither were good for the scenario at hand. Walking with authority, Sarah approaches the 3 women.

"Sarah Albane, Captain of the HWIC's stealth force. Just who is this sister you are looking for?"

___

Meanwhile, Haruko rejoins the group inside of the house, now seeing only Leora and Ariana present, with Arthur just having jumped out the window. Turning to Leora, Haruko motions toward the 3 powerful women. "Leora...was it? Just who are those two, and what do they want with this island?"

___

Eve stared up at the things above her, feeling the uncomfortable heat especially harshly under her coat. She didn't remove it. She just charged under them and past Sarah, surprised to take no fire from them. She arrived at the door to Warden's house with no further damage. The bullets that greeted her were no issue. "It's me, idiots!" She screamed at the pirates who had fired upon her. "Lead won't cut it against these things. All of you, man the canon. If Edward is out there, have him try out his fancy knives on them."

They gladly fled her new form and she scrambled up the stairs, entering the bedroom just as a strange song permeated the world. "What's going on, and what do you and the time fucker have to do with it?" Her canon aimed at the Master.

___

Ariana was amazed by the things hovering outside. They were beautiful... Then one spoke, and she went reeling. Her mind retreated at its touch, but she grasped the general message. The words and images that flooded into her mind didn't make any sense though. She leaned back on Leora to process her thoughts, grateful for her comforting presence. The Master prepared to follow Jardsam, stopping briefly when Leora appeared.

"I won't let you do this." She told him, showing her determination clearly. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And even if I did..." His grin revealed hideous fangs and an inhuman jaw structure. "You can't stop me." He stuck his head out the window, seeing Jardsam showing off and Sarah down below. "Sarah Albane, Captain of the HWIC's stealth force. Just who is this sister you are looking for?" The Harvester's mind touched their again. SHE IS ENCASED IN FLESH. HE USES HER.

The Master blinked in surprise. This was new. "Care to elaborate, sis?" And then Jardsam started talking. It didn't really matter what he was saying. His tone drew the Song's eye, although she had none, and her blind sight picked up that he was some sort of hole in reality. The Master saw her head twitch Jardsam's way and ducked back in. "Arthur, as cold as possible please." His sister sang a note to Jardsam, and reality screamed in response. Metal walls dripped. Every unprotected piece of grass and flesh within hundreds of feet burst into flame. The very air burned. Now where the hell was Warden? He needed a word with him.

___

Warden was underground.

___

Leora looks as Arthur jumps through the window, wondering if he gone insane from the mental images that the sisters were sending, but quickly realizes that it was actions under his own will. Then Leora looks at the master of games' twisted smile and had a feeling that he could do it if he wanted to, so why doesn't he?, thinks Leora.

Leora rests her hand on Ariana's hand and pets her head saying with a warm smile, "Don't worry Ariana, I'll take care of you." . Leora could sense that her mind and the mind of the others were receiving messages from the sisters. In order to help Ariana, Leora uses her Mental Happiness ability to replace the messages in her head with happier thoughts in hopes of relieving her of the powerful mental images that the sisters were sending. Just as Leora was helping Ariana, she notices Haruko joining them.

"Leora...was it? Just who are those two, and what do they want with this island?" asks Haruko. Before Leora could respond, Reality seemed to turn upside down along with turning up the heat. Metal started to melt making the walls appear to drip like extremely wet paint. Glass started to quickly combust and the air itself become a giant flame that spread over the island.

Compassion then releases a gentle, yet magical, breeze that covered everyone to insure that no one was going to turn into ashes from the result of a single note from the Song of Summer. Normally Compassion would only protect Leora, but Compassion felt the need to balance the situation. That was not the only thing that breeze did. It also took Leora and Haruko outside of space and time, sending them to another dimension.

Leora and Haruko found themselves standing in a garden, a garden so perfect, that Leora and Haruko started to stare in complete awe of what they saw before them. The garden was out of this world, no matter where you look there were flowers in all directions. Some of them look almost completely alike and other were more different then night and day, yet somehow no two flowers were ever perfectly the same nor perfectly different. The flowers would stretch across to meet the horizon and beyond. Even though the flowers were mixed in different combinations with each other, everywhere they look, the flowers were arrange in a sense of perfect harmony with one another.

[ Well Haruko, if you don't mind, I would like to answer your question ] Leora and Haruko already could feel the presence before they turn around and faced an elderly looking woman. The women clearly looked old, but was still very beautiful as if the years only redefine her beauty. She had very long white hair that fell perfectly on her body and around her face. Her eyes were so blue that they seem to glow and shine like the brightest stars. Her smiled seems to be the source of all the light and energy in the world. Her skin had only a few wrinkles, enough to indicate her age, but somehow her skin still looked perfect on her. She wore a classic blue robe with a very decorated hood. Her clothes were not thine or large, but was in the middle. Yet her appearance alone was not as note worthy as her presence.

The amount of powerful emotions that was washing over and blending together could not be described. The closest thing that could compare this feeling would be what it must feel like to be in heaven. The air around her would shine with a blue aura that would emitted the greatest warmth that one could only dream of feeling. Her presence seemed to somehow make the garden's atmosphere around her feel insignificant to her own and that her simply being her was brining this perfect garden to a whole new level of perfection. Leora and Haruko no longer could feel anything, but true happiness, so much so that Leora even cried in joy. Haruko on the other hand even though she was being flooded with overwhelming emotions she remained dried eyed due to her strong will of trying to stay professional.

[ Please take a sit girls, we have all the time we could ever need. ] Suddenly out of thine air a set of artistic white chairs and a table appears with simple cups filled with golden liquid that looked similar to honey, but much lighter in color. [ Before we start I insist that you try my tea. They are design to enhance the taste of your favorite drink along with removing any negative side effects, so don't feel the need to hold back ] the elderly lady said as she gracefully places her hand over the tea as she was giving her explanation and inviting the girls to sit down.

Haruko admired the scenery, having never seen anywhere even remotely as pleasant as this before. The older woman in front of her gave off an aura that made her appear to be the nicest person alive. Taking her seat, the seamstress smiles pleasantly at the woman and takes a small sip of the tea.

"Thank you for the tea. My name is Haruko Miyata. If I may...what is your name, miss, and where are we?"

[ I can go by countless names, but you can simply call me Compassion ] just as the woman said one of her many names, the word, compassion, peacefully echoes throughout the entire garden, and the flowers started to move around as if they were dancing in joy. [ As for where we are my dear Haruko, we are in one of the many "gardens" that I look after or at least to you it appears to be a garden ] The elderly woman then takes a slow sip from her tea. [ By the way Haruko, the cup always refills itself once placed on the table, so don't feel the need to be so careful ]

Leora wipes the tears of joy off her face then bows her head in a respectful manner and says, "Thank you Compassion for not only the tea, but for saving us as well." Compassion takes another sip and continues by saying [ Don't need to thank me Leora. The same goes for you as well Haruko. I was glad I could help.] she says with a smile. [ Yet the Demon Gods are still a current issue. Which brings me back to you Haruko. Do you wish to relax a bit or do you prefer to go straight to the business at hand ? ] Compassion could already sense the answer from Haruko, but wanted to give her the choice anyway.

[ For your information, you both are currently outside the barriers of space and time, so you don't have to feel the need to rush. Once our business is done here, I'll send you both back within the same instance that you left. Basically it will be as if you never left at all and in terms of time and space, you girls really never did leave. But if you feel the need to hurry that is fine by me as well ] Compassion then looks at Haruko, while quietly waiting for a answer.

Compassion, huh? This lady seemed to have plenty of that. It was so strange...most cosmic beings Haruko has met up to this point have either been eccentric time travelers, or giant rampaging ladies. Funnily enough, both of which were back in Nassau. Taking another sip from her tea, Haruko looks at Compassion.

"If you could, the situation at hand would be great to talk about. I know it doesn't matter how long we wait here...but I am still concerned about the 3 new arrivals back in Nassau." Crossing her legs, Haruko takes another sip...then puts her cup down onto the table. "So, just who are those giant women back there?"

[ And what about you, Leora?] Leora just simply replies, " I'm with Haruko. I want to know more about them." Compassion takes another sip and says, [ I see, straight to business then ] Suddenly the air behind Compassion starts to form into three circles and then the circles start to become solid. Various colors move into the circles from all angles and then the circles transform into mirrors, with each mirror showing a different Demon God, except for one mirror that only showed a bright color as if it was the reflection of the sun.

[ These are the new arrivals that you girls wish to know about. I shall first go over each and every single one of them, so that you can get an idea of who they are. ] Then the mirrors slowly floated directly above the table in the perfect location, so Haruko and Leora could get the best view of the Demon Gods.

[ The one on the right, who is of stone and crystal, is known as the The Heart of Spring. She has powers over plants and stone. She was also the one who had turn all of Ironside's inventions into trees. Her goal is very straightforward, in that all she wants to do is get rid of the "animals" of the world. To her, she sees animals as parasites that ruin her garden, so she isn't very fond of Humans as you can imagine. ]

[ The one in the middle, who is too bright for you guys to see, is known as the Song of Summer. She has powers over heat, which she creates through her song. She was the one, who was going to burn you guys into ashes. She probably wanted to see if Jardsam could survive one of her notes. You see, she seeks a mate and anything that stands out to her, she sings to. If the person survives her full song then she will consider that person to be her mate. As of now, no one who she sings to has survived, including the planets that she performs on.

[ And lastly the one on the left that seems to fade from reality with the unique body is known as the The Harvester of Autumn . That Demon God has yet to reveal her power, which is probably the most dangerous out of all three of them. She is an employee of Death... ] Compassion stops speaking for a moment and quickly pulls out a pen and paper. She writes something down and puts her letter inside of an envelope. She then kisses the envelope and it disappears in a bright blue light. Compassion then says [ That reminds me. I need to invite Death over for tea one of these days. Anyway, she usually only appears for the extinction events on a global scale. So for her to make an appearance, is not really a good sign for the living. ]

Leora the says, "Compassion, I want to also know who their sister is." Compassion looks at Leora and says [ As you know, they are currently looking for their sister. It goes by the name Bringer of Winter. The Bringer of Winter is basically a black hole of heat, who is a lone soul due to her very nature. The other Demon Gods can't stand to be in her chilling presence for very long so she seeks companionship because of this. Truth be told I feel for sorry for The Bringer of Winter, but I mostly feel sorry it's avatar. "Avatar?" asks Leora. [ It would be easier for you to think about Avatar's position like our own. You are my vessel and the Avatar is the vessel for the Bringer of Winter, yet one of the major differences is that the Bringer of Winter is sealed inside of Avatar }

[ Also in order for the Demon God that is inside the vessel to be release, it has to wait for the right moment for the vessel to be sacrifice. Once the Avatar matures then it will be ready to undergo the process, which results in the Demon God manifesting itself or being "reborn" , but the Avatar dies. ] "So who is the Avatar?' asks Leora. [ It might be better if you girls don't know, it would save you from the pain of knowing what is to come ] Leora herself started to feel sorry for the Demon God and it's Avatar. Compassion stares at Leora and thinks how incredible it was to find someone with her personality to be her vessel.

Putting her cup down once more, Haruko looked at Compassion with a concerned look on her face. "So we can't know who this Avatar is...so how should we go about dealing with these...demon gods? I don't think anyone aside from the time traveler could even phase these women. Is there something you think we could perhaps say to them, Compassion?"

[ Sadly the Demon Gods do not like humans, so your words will be almost meaningless to them, perhaps even make them angry. As for dealing with them , you are going to have to trust the Master of Games, even though he could be consider to be the worst out of all of them. He already has a plan to deal with them, yet do be careful around him. Try to get the Demon Gods to pay attention to the Master of Games and everyone else. That is all i can tell you. If I give you too many details I fear a change for the worst ]

Leora then says, "Compassion why...." Compassion give Leora a smile and cuts her off saying, [ Leora, I know what you are going to say and No I will not protected everything and everyone from the Demon Gods myself. I already sent you and protected everyone once from them along with giving you girls information. Sadly I can't avoid to intervene anymore than I already have or else I could threaten the balance itself. ] "The balance?" Leora asked. "How does you power result in anything bad happening?"

Compassion points with her eyes in a direction and says [ Do you see those flowers over there? ] Leora and Haruko both look at the flowers and saw a group of dead flowers numbering in the thousands. The girls did not notice them before and wonder how something so sad could exist inside a perfect place. [ Every flower that died in that group was the result of Demon Gods. You see every flower in this garden represents a single universe or rather the life of the universe and this garden represents the life of the multiverse. I already lost entire gardens to the Demon Gods and this is the next one they plan to kill. ]

"Then...." Leora was about to ask why then did Compassion let this this happen and Compassion once again cuts her off by saying, [ Because it's part of the balance. To understand why I don't step in myself you have to think of me as water for the flowers. Now what happens to a flower when they have too much water. That's right the flower will die as well. You see these flowers need just the right amount of water and if I'm not careful I could upset the balance of the entire garden itself. Too be honest it's a lot more complex then that, but understand I want to give you this in simple terms. Water is without a doubt good for the flower, but just as one of your famous philosophers, a man by the name of Aristotle believed, too much of something good is harmful. And in this case, his belief hits the nail right on the head. ]

[ Anyway you girls have learn what I needed you to know and it's time for you to return. But first..] Compassion snaps her fingers and the world changed. They no longer were in the garden, but instead at a beach. Compassion stands at the shore and picks up a something. She walks over to Haruko and places a small yet beautiful pink seashell in her hands. [ Haruko, you have an amazing journey ahead of you and I want you to know that you are never alone on this path that you are walking. This is my gift to you as a reminder that compassion is always with you wherever you go. ] Compassion then kisses Haruko on her forehead and sends them back.

Leora and Haruko were now back at Ariana's room. Leora notices that Ariana was still in her arms and that Haruko was in the same exact spot as before. The only difference was that reality was no longer broken as if Compassion had fix all the damage the Demon God's presence has done to it. Leora then looks back at Haruko, who was staring at the pink seashell that Compassion gave her.

Leora then asks, "Ariana are you feeling better now?" as she gently brushes the young girl's hair.

___

Ariana leaned back into Leora, grateful for some comfort. "I want daddy." She complained. She felt sickened and confused by the way the Harvester spoke. She kept seeing herself, but something else at the same time, indistinct. She couldn't tell if it was in her or vice versa. The Master of Games ignored Eve and jumped outside, glad for Compassion's presence for once. Without it, Ariana's ashes would never come out of the rug. For now, he wanted her intact. How was Warden using her? He had to know.

Eve glared out the window, but there were other matters to attend to. She briefly considered comforting Ariana, but she only knew how to inflame the hearts of soldiers, not help little girls. Not even her sister. She gave Leora a thankful smile before getting to business. Addressing the newcomers to the island she protected for the first time, she revealed a few quirks. Her voice was flat and cold, but wrapped in a patchwork quilt of the accents she had grown up among. Pirates from Africa, France, Britain, and elsewhere had left their mark on her voice. It was almost charming, if a bit indecipherable. "I don't know what you came here for or where you're from, and I'm sending you back as soon as this all ends. But in the meantime, you are going to help me protect my island." She scuttled to the stairs, hopefully not too fearsome for them to follow.

"As you might have noticed, the demon gods fly. So any of you who can't and don't have a way to attack on your own are coming with me. We're manning the canons."

"Arthur. Leave Harvester alone." MOG warned from his vantage place on the wall, serious look on his face for once. "She's one of my more rational siblings, harmless unless provoked. Besides, even if you "kill" her, she can enter any universe she wants under the authority of death, so it'd be pointless anyway." He could see the unburnt grass growing on the hills around them, beginning to grab at the feet of any animal remaining outside. Grin returned, he jumped up, easily scrambling to the roof. "My my, Jardsam seems to be getting lucky. Looks like you're enough of an anomaly to attract Song's attention. Too bad she's going to burn the world now. And doesn't really have... oh, you'll figure it out if she takes you home." The thrilled Song's body changed, chest opening up to be reveled as another mouth and she drew in breath. She had seen Jardsam survive the first note. Now to sing the world to sleep and see if he still stood.

___

"Alright, I have a plan." He gleefully announced to the others. "But I need some time to enact it, and my sisters are going to kill basically everything before I can. So Arthur, help me get them on the ground so the others can take a whack at them. But remember, leave Harvester- the Halloween themed one- out of this. She we can talk to." Thinking about this, they could use some help in getting them down. His rules could only do so much. He looked in his coat pocket. There was a collection of dice there, each unique, missing their match. Time for a new set. He vanished.

Several hours his time, less than a second in this timeline, he returned. He wasn't alone. He tossed a stainless steel die with glowing blue holes and caught it. "Not something you've seen before I imagine?" He asked the gun wielding girl with far too little clothing. "Shoot the glowy ones. Leave the leafy one alone. Got it?" He drew his own gun, Lucky Shot. It was a strange thing, bright lights and a layered chamber marked like a slot machine on the side. He spun the chamber, leaving the attack to chance. Triple blank. The sounds of his swearing filled the ears of every single person on the planet as the gun's lights blinked out for the next hour.

___

Jardsam smiled as Song transformed, stepping out as she drew breath. "There's a calm surrender... to the rush of day…" He sang, stepping out across the sky, over the fire and sand as he looked towards the three goddesses. "When the heat of a rolling wiiiiiiiiiiind can be turned awaaaaay… An enchanted moment, and it sees me through… It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you!"

He spread his arms wide, singing loud enough to shake the island, hitting every note perfectly in a manner that could only have been attained by one who had spent centuries in vocal training as the accountant had once done. "And cAAAAAAAAan you feeeeeeeeeeeel the looooooooove toniiiiiiiiiiiiight? It is wheeeeeere we arrrrrrre! It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer, That we got this far! And cAAAAAAAAan you feeeeeeeeeeeel the looooooooove toniiiiiiiiiiiiight? How it's laaaaaaaaid to rest! It's enough, to make kings and vagabonds, Believe the very beeeest!"

___

Oh, wonderful... The only one Arthur was confident about attacking was off limits. Plus, he was somehow supposed to keep two of them on the ground so that the others could attack them or whatever? And on top of that, Jardsam was singing now, of all times.

So, Arthur decided to take care of thing methodically, easiest to hardest. He started by filling Jardsam's mouth with ice. "Casanova, stop your singing and hold them down. You can have sex with them later. Or while holding them down, I don't care. Just hold them down."

Hoping that his words had some effect on the horny accountant, he moved on to figuring out how to keep the goddesses occupied. Plan A: encase the stone one in ice and hope that her plants won't move if she doesn't move. And even if they do, they can be mowed down with ice saws. In the meantime, Jardsam can have fun with the shining one.

Satisfied with the plan, Arthur proceeded to attempt putting it into action.

___

Conrad frowned. Too bad he couldn't fly nor fire off projectile attacks. That meant that if he wanted to do anything in this scenario he'd be stuck with manning the cannons. Far away from the actual battlefield. That was problematic to say the very least. There wasn't much use to having a demonic god of destruction in front of you if you couldn't touch it or interact with it. But given what he called that thing in his head and how everyone was acting up, those were probably dangerous and careless moves would result in certain death. A thrilling as the risk was, Conrad was not prepared to take it just yet.

Off to the cannons for him it was. He casually strolled over and got to preparing one. As archaic the weapon was Conrad would be able to put it to decently good use here thanks to his brain power. He should be able to place perfect shots on the beings. Of course his plan wasn't even to kill any of those. Just incapacitate them enough to avoid death as soon as he approached them.

Well, time to use some cannons.

___

Charlotte looked around. She couldn't understand any of this. One moment ago she was at her home. But now she was here. How did that man do that? And why? And why did he want her to do the things he just described. Charlotte was very confused but she did somewhat understand one thing. Those things that the Master of Games wanted her to attack, they seemed threatening. Threatening and scary so it was understandable. She looked around once more no way to run or leave this place. With that established she nodded, she knew what she had to do to get back home. She got down onto the ground. In her hands blue flames started burning as Gungnir materialized. A giant sniper, nearly twice as tall as Charlotte herself. Laying down with it on the ground she took aim and fire a shot at the Heart of Spring firing a bullet right at it's head. The bullets of the sniper were enormous and in fact started to melt under the friction. The final projectile was a molten slab of metal, burning hot but with a solid core in the middle.

___

Leora continues to comfort Ariana, but couldn't help wondering what's going on outside these walls. The only thing she could hear was the Master of Game's curse words, which was a little to mature for someone at Ariana's age. Leora places her hands on her ears to block out the Master of Game's words from reaching Ariana's ears, most likely without much success. The last thing this poor child needed was to hear the man's yelling, yet again she was probably suffering too much to even be able to hear his words. Leora uses even more energy to calm Ariana down both physically and mentally, but Leora knew that no matter of power she could muster, it wouldn't be enough to protect Ariana from her suffering, at least not from all of it.

Leora looks at Haruko and says, "Don't worry, I'll keep her company. You go and see what's going on out there."

___

Sarah had already disappeared before Song began playing her note for Jardsam, taking cover behind a stone wall. Just who were these women, and how could one attack scorch the land like that?! Regardless, she sprints toward the cannons, ready to fire one at Heart.

___

Meanwhile, Haruko nods at Leora, giving a polite smile. "Alright, I will be back. Just have to check out some demon gods first. Demon gods...really? I have seen ink monsters and cyborgs, but demon gods? Crazy. Walking out of the house, Haruko notices the three demon gods, as well as MOG, Jardsam and Arthur. Since Heart appeared to be encased in crystal and Harvester was said to be reasonable, that just left Song. Taking aim, Haruko readies 10 explosive knives, ready to throw them at Song when an opening appeared.

Part 4: Pain of the World and a Little God

Song continued to be distracted by the fascinating Jardsam. The Heart continued to be a disaster in herself, trees beginning to strike at nearby animals of any sort. When ice encased her torso, she glared at the pest who attacked her and a tree reached up for his feet to drag him down. She shrugged the ice off of her right shoulder without too much effort. But it distracted her from the cannon strike smashing into her back, sending a spiderweb of cracks over the right side of her body. She howled and flickered down towards Conrad. The grass began growing to entangle him and her arm raised to swat him.

More cannon fire struck her from two directions, one from Eve up the hill, another from Sarah. Eve's smashed through her raised arm, sending stained shards flying into the air. She shrieked and withdrew right as Sarah's shot embedded itself in her chest, spreading more cracks. Before she could recover, a molten slug slammed across her face, leaving a canyon in her cheek. She stared in disbelief at her injuries, her immortality betrayed. Pure, vengeful rage filled her eyes and her voice like shattering glass called out. Every plant on the island reached out to choke, to consume, too many to fight, hopeless odds-

She was gone. A gray blur that quickly became a mountain had replaced her. Her last wail still hung in the air for a moment before fading away. Warden had returned. Vaster than a whale, a multitude of limbs grabbing the surviving shards of the Heart and crushing them even smaller. His fury brought terror to his surviving troops but hope to Ariana. Her dad was so awesome. And he had been prepared.
___

Song tore her eyes away from her dance partner. Her sister lay shattered across much of the island. She was going to be next. She had been dumbfounded by her suitor's behavior, but the response was clear. She drew in breath and spread her arms. The Master looked up and saw. Well. This was going to suck. He appeared nearer the others, next to Eve. "Rule. Nobody dies of heat. Addendum. Wounds inflicted by it will heal as soon as this rule is rescinded." Of course, blood will still become steam and muscles would twist amusingly, but they would live.

And Song sang. Warden fell, an endless burning trunk. The island shook, pieces breaking off and flying away. The sky became bloodred. Clouds twisted into screaming trails that danced into impossible shapes and plowed through the earth, presenting a real threat to those below. The song broke into tendrils, each unique and a different assault on reality and the souls of those within range, quickly becoming the whole planet, the ocean darkening to ink and raising in insane walls.

One tendril was of love, for Jardsam. More darted down, encompassing those below. They meant nothing. They were beautiful. They were hideous. One tendril found its way to Ariana. It had meaning. She pulled away into Leora's arms, but the tendril filled the room. She and Leora were exposed to it. Something within Ariana twisted it into something she and Leora could understand, put words to the madness. And she screamed.



Harvester was behind them now. The girl suffered. The song laid her soul bare and forced it in front of her eyes. She could not kill her and reclaim her sister with Leora here. She could only give her the option. Her scythe slowly lowered until the blade hovered just outside of Ariana's reach. She would only need one step to touch it. TOUCH IT AND THIS ENDS. Ariana's eyes ran with tears. She didn't understand the god. But the song... it was about her somehow. She was destruction and pain. Why? What had she done? Why would it say that? She wanted that to end. She broke free of Leora and walked to place her had upon the red blade's beautiful surface. The Harvester watched. The girl would cry no more with her. She would be free of the song's truth. She liked this avatar of compassion under her. They were not so different. Ariana's hand began to fall to the blade that severed the soul from the body.
___

Jardsam was thinking. Song needed to be stopped, now, before the entire planet burned. Harvester was also an urgent danger, but of smaller consequence. Making a choice, he pulled the melted sphere of water out of his mouth and followed the tendril of Song, slipping through distance and standing in front of her, reaching out for her cheek as his skin started to burn black.

Black, but not charred. From Song's vantage point, she would be able to see shapes in the blackness- stars and galaxies, nebulae and quasars.

"It's enoooooouuugh…" Jardsam sang softly, aiming to attract all of Song's attention in order to concentrate the flames on himself before the world was scorched. "To make gods and accountants… leave the path… they're oooooooonnnnn…"

There were others around, they could handle Harvester and the monstrous mountain. This was his role in protecting the planet this day.

Singing the song that would save the world.

___

When Song drew in air and spread her arms, it didn't take a genius to figure out that whatever she was about to do was going to be big. The fact that what she previously did was fire a giant blast of flame didn't help Arthur's worry. He placed twenty layers of ice barriers between him and Song and also encased himself in icy armor as a safety precaution.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be overkill as ensuing blast melted through the barriers in seconds. Arthur screamed as it melted the armor and started burning his skin. And just as the pain started disappearing, surely a side-effect of his nerve endings being burned to a crisp, the blast disappeared too. The mage wasn't observant or even conscious enough to notice that the reason for the blast ceasing was none other then Jardsam taking it all. Who would have guessed that the universe destroyer was so kind?

Using his last bits of willpower, Arthur stayed conscious enough to cast three healing spells on himself and get rid of the molten holes, the charred flesh and the horrendous burns that littered his body. Once that was taken care of, he let himself fall asleep. If anyone needed him, the could wake him. Not like he was going to stay asleep for long anyway.

___

Conrad had nearly been crushed but luckily saved by what could be described as not-so-divine intervention. After that little life saving scene one of the gods was gone. Great, one less thing to talk to. As crazy as it was Conrad wasn't exactly thankful for what had happened just now. Not like he could complain much right now, and he wouldn't. There was still other inhuman horrors to be examined and one of them seemed to be on his side too. Might share a drink with the chap after all of this is over. He was about to shift focus to whatever next is to come, however just as his eyes panned over the area he staggered back. He felt like his head was pulsating with pain and his eyes were just rolling around on their own, his vision, doubling up, blurring, dimming or even completely disappearing for a few seconds. He fell down and leaned onto the side of the ship. Looks like he needed another shot again.

As convenient as his powers were, granting him extra organelles that enhanced his body and increasing the processing powers of his brain they did come with a drawback. They had the habit of going berserk from time to time, causing these blackouts unless Conrad took in a special kind of drug to calm them down. And that's what he was doing right now. Pulling up his sleeve he focused his vision only for a moment. He took out a vial with a needle out of the inner pocket of his jacket, a glance in there would reveal that he had several stored there safely. Not wasting a moment he jammed it right into his arm. The liquid in the vial was a murky blue color, it didn't really looks special or in any way notable. And as the liquid entered his body the effect could be seen right away. Conrad calmed down, his head stopped trying to burst in half and his vision slowly stabilized. It would take him a bit more time before his powers were fully operating again and he could get up and back into the action, but at least for now he had nothing to fear. He relaxed and started taking deep breaths, silently cursing the horrible time for now he was oblivious to what was going on with gods he became so fond of once they appeared. But whether he liked it or not, he was forced to take a time-out now.

___

Even after the giant fell Charlotte was still not catching on as to what was happening. The fact that the girl was somewhat dim-witted aside, the situation wasn't one you'd casually pick up on anyway. That being said, she didn't really need to understand what was going on to know that what was going on was frightening her, very much so. And mind you, Charlotte is someone who sees brutal battlefields and wartorn villages every day, so that wasn't a small feat. However if fear was all that was needed to stop her dead in her tracks she wouldn't be here. She'd be rotting besides so desert row and be in a shallow grave.

Thus she took aim again, this time at Harvester's back and shot again. Her instincts told her it was the right thing to do.

___

Noticing the large fire attack headed for her, Haruko hastily jumps down to the ground and, using her wires, swings into the window of the house where Leora, Harvester, Ariana and the others were in. Ariana appeared to be trying to touch the Harvester's blade, while Charlotte fired a round from her rifle at the demon god. How effective would that bullet even be against a being calling herself a Demon God? Regardless, there wasn't any way that she could attack Harvester right now with Ariana being that close. Hopefully Charlotte's round creates an opening for Haruko to strike at the Harvester without Ariana being caught in the crossfire.

___

Sarah simply watched the landscape change around her. Darkened skies, pieces of the island crumbling, tendrils headed for the ones who she'd reservedly call her allies...it was turning into a situation that would require more firepower than what she was capable of producing. The heat wave created by Song's attack had engulfed her body, causing her blood to boil and muscles to seize up. Falling down to her knees, Sarah stabs her sword into the ground to keep her at least somewhat upright. I...can't believe I'm this injured after one attack. I need to sit here and recover for a few seconds, than I will get back on that cannon and bring down this enemy as well. Then perhaps I can use that cannon on our time traveling friend as well. Ugh...not the time to be making those kinds of plans. Closing her eyes, Sarah leaned against her sword, slowly beginning to recover her strength.

___

Song found herself distracted once more by Jardsam, ignoring the bullet that struck her back, embedding it in a spine she didn't have. She was too blinded by her affection. The tiny things below were barely worth noticing with such a brilliant anomaly before her. As he changed to represent the majesty of the universe, she pulled tendrils away from the surface to surround and embrace him, her passion softening into something that could be vaguely interpreted by Jardsam's mind. While there were no real words to her song, the little tendrils played a game of association, simply bringing things to mind within his head. The world would still burn, but it cooled.

Down below, many were suffering. Eve was leaning across her canon, body dried like the meat for a voyage. She wasn't dead. She really wished she was. Every movement forced her dried and shrunken muscles to wrench out of locked pugilistic postures. She couldn't turn off her pain like she so wanted to do. Feeling was all she had to know how she was moving with her eyes dried up and ears burst from pressure. It would do no good to regenerate while the fire still bore down upon them.

The only person close enough to see was Sarah. She didn't appear to be much better off. Eve tried to stand but her coat was heavy. But she couldn't shed it. She wouldn't. She braced herself on the cannon. Her coat didn't weigh her down. With an agonizing push and the sound of dried muscle tearing like paper, she was up. She shuddered for a second but remained standing, anchored by that very coat and the armor within her.

"Stand... up." She hissed at Sarah, throat as damaged as the rest of her. She shook her head with a crackling noise. "GET UP!" She roared, agony giving her volume. "ALL OF YOU!" She reached out to yank Sarah from the ground, even if she could barely hold herself up. "MAN THE FUCKING CANNONS AND END THAT BITCH!" She stumbled back to her canon, waving for Sarah to help load it. The MAIN cannon. This Demon God was going to die.

___

"So, I've head many rumors about you." The Master approached the great burning form of Warden, salvageable pieces already becoming a new form. "Some call you the Shepherd and say you're a holy warrior against us. Others call you the Living Lie and say you have no true form or goal except to jerk us around. I kind of like the latter. A man after my own heart." Warden ignored him as he became a horrible rib serpent, still as big as a whale. "Any comment on what's true?" "Neither. I'm just her slave." The Master wasn't getting any more out of him, was he? "Fine then, be that way. I'll continue our interview later." He vanished and appeared next to Arthur, launching a kick at his side. "Wake up." His kick didn't have much force with his lack of strength. It didn't wake him up. He knelt. He leaned his head in close to Arthur's ear and grinned. "Arthur, Conrad is alone with Ariana." That should do it.

___

Leora hears Ariana's scream and turns around to face the Harvester. She was no longer a giant, but still looked impressive and powerful. Ariana's suffering increased dramatically and the poor child breaks free of Leora with tears flying off her face as she runs towards the scythe. Leora was able to understand what was happening and knew that if Ariana touches the scythe, it was going to be the end. Leora moves as fast as she possible could and runs after Ariana, yelling with every ounce of her being, "NO ARIANA!!! STOOOOP!!!!!!!".Leora releases a huge amount of her strength in order to use her physical happiness ability on Ariana. Ariana's muscle' relax and slowed down, but it doesn't stop her completely. Leora was only a few steps behind Ariana now, desperately trying to caught up to the child. Ariana's hand reaches for the scythe and tears start to form in Leora's eyes. Leora wasn't going to be able to grab her hand in time. Everything seem to slow down as Ariana's hand gets ever so closer to the scythe. As each moment passes, the distance separating Ariana's hand and the scythe was getting smaller and smaller. no no no....how could I let this happen..., thought Leora. Tears where now running down Leora's face as she continues chasing Ariana, in what appears to be a hopeless pursuit. No! NO!!! NOOO!!!!! I WON"T LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!! Leora pushes herself forward with all of her might. Leora was too late to grab Ariana, but she wasn't going to be too late to save her. Leora launches her hand out, but not aiming for Ariana. Instead Leora's intention was the scythe itself. Leora seizes the scythe, a split second before Ariana's hand could grasp it, and Leora lifts the scythe above Ariana's reach as her body stops moving. Leora tears were coming out faster now, but they were now tears of joy, Good, I made it just in time..., these were Leora's last thoughts before she died.

Even as Leora's body dropped, Harvester was reaching out to her soul, taking her hand. Leora's limp form fell onto Ariana, knocking her down with her weight. The Song briefly forgotten, Ariana struggled out. "Leora?" She asked. What just happened? The Harvester had said that the pain would stop when she touched it. Did that mean... "Leora!" She shook the body. There wasn't a scratch on it, but her teary eyes didn't blink and her smile was frozen forever.

WHY DID YOU STOP HER. Harvester asked, scythe resting on the ground. NOW HER SUFFERING NOT ONLY CONTINUES BUT INCREASES. Ariana was undefended now, helpless in her denial. But Harvester didn't strike. She wanted to know why Leora did what she did. Why she betrayed Compassion so.

Leora didn't know what was going on for a few seconds. She was being overwhelm with a feeling of release, it was neither positive or negative, just a state of being. She opens her eyes to see her body lying on the ground and Ariana trying to wake her up. Leora then notices that the Harvester was holding her hand and asking her why she did it.

Leora responds with a cute chuckle "That's a silly question." Leora looks right into the Harvester's eyes before she turns to face Ariana and continues in a much softer and sweeter voice, " I suppose her suffering will continue, but that just means she can still feel and if she can feel, then she can still be happy." Leora looks back at the Harvester, "Ariana is strong, she's also very cute, and incredible brave. Even if she doesn't look like it now, that doesn't mean she can't be happy later. Of course there is no guarantees and I can see so much sadness surrounding her, but she continues to move forward with a smile on her face. If anyone can obtain happiness is that girl there. Even if she is destine to face pain, suffering, and hell itself. I still have faith in her. I still have hope for her happiness. That's just one of the reasons why I will sacrifice myself for her. I will do everything in my power to protect her life, to give her that chance to be happy."

Ariana didn't want to do this. She couldn't tell herself that Leora was knocked out if she did this. But she did. She grabbed Leora's wrist. No blood pumped through its vessels. She began to cry. Leora was dead. She had died to protect her. It was her fault. "Leora, I'm sorry!" The Harvester still towered over her, looking too big for the room. She said nothing to the girl.

She just sighed. It was like the bitter wind of autumn just before winter took hold. THERE IS LITTLE TIME FOR HAPPINESS IN HER FUTURE. I AM NOT AT EASE REVEALING MUCH, FOR YOU MUST LIVE AGAIN, BUT I GRANT HER MERCY WITH THIS PAINLESS RELEASE. She looked sorrowfully down at the girl for a long moment. She would not take her today.

I WORK FOR DEATH. BUT I SERVE COMPASSION IN MY OWN WAY. ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU. The room was gone. They stood in the middle of a village, not too different from the one Leora had visited before this adventure. The people were skeletal. The ground was dry. THIS VILLAGE STARVES. WHAT IS THE BEST SOLUTION?

Leora doesn't even tell the Harvester her answer, after all, actions usually speak louder than words. Leora looks at the people starving and walks to one of them. Leora even as a spirit seem capable of interacting with them. They looked at her as a symbol of hope. Leora picks up the poor man's hand and he looks at Leora like she's an angel. The man started to cry and Leora asks him if he can tell her his story. Leora goes to each person, talking to them, asking them to tell her their stories. Leora's presence gave them something to focus on besides their lack of food. Leora spends hours and hours helping people. Each one died with Leora's hand around their own, yet each one had a smile on their face.

Leora then walks back to the Harvester saying, "You asks me what is the best solution for a hopeless situation, my answer is to show compassion, so that they can have hope. Hope for what is in store for them after their suffering, so that even at the end, a person can still die with a smile on their face. To still be happy even after all they went through. I don't share your thoughts on Compassion. Even though I will not say that your form of compassion is wrong, but rather I feel that Compassion should be more than just pitying people enough to put them out of their misery. You need to genuine care about their well being, both physically and spiritually.

Harvester was silent the whole time Leora worked. Her only interference was hidden from Leora's eyes. When the last villager died, she stepped forward. LEORA. Her voice didn't change, still a cacophonous assault on the mind, but the images were kinder. There was no pain, but rather Compassion's face as seen through the eyes of the Harvester.

YOU ARE WISER THAN I SUPPOSED. I OFFER MY APOLOGIES FOR THINKING YOU A FOOL. She looked lightly ashamed. I HAD SUSPECTED YOU WOULD ATTEMPT TO FEED THEM, A POINTLESS GESTURE THAT ONLY PROLONGS THEIR SUFFERING. INSTEAD, YOU OFFER THEM COMFORT BEFORE THEY SLIP INTO THE ARMS OF MY MASTER. I SEEK TO GRANT THIS ON THE JOURNY TO THE SOUL'S NEXT DESTINATION. THESE PEOPLE WILL NOT GO LONELY.

A wave of her hand brought forth the souls of the people from their bodies. I WILL TAKE THEM FROM HERE. Her embrace of the dead villagers was as comforting as it could be given her appearance. AS FOR YOU, CARRY ON YOUR WORK, SISTER IN COMPASSION. WHEN THE TIME COMES, KNOW THAT I WILL BE THERE, WAITING FOR HER WITH OPEN ARMS. The village was gone. Leora once again stood over her body, the Harvester nowhere to be seen. Just one girl, face buried in the shoulder of a dead woman, soaking her dress and apologizing over and over. Harvester appeared behind her. YOUR BODY WAS UNHARMED. I CAN RETURN YOU TO IT. YOUR WORK IS FAR FROM OVER.

Before Leora returns to her body she wanted to say something to the Harvester, "Hey Havester, for someone who is always surrounded by death, I'm happy to see that you care about people." Leora than gives the Harvester one of her classic smiles, which seem to be as flawless as it was when she was alive. Leora begins to glow in a light that could brighten up the darkest shadows. The Energy around her made her spirit shine a color more vibrant and warm then any star in the sky. A soft breeze was coming from her that could relax and relieve the evils of the world itself. Leora then moves closer to the Harvester and asks, "I know this may seem like a silly question to you, but as a fellow sister in compassion, I was wondering if we could be friends?"

Harvester didn't hesitate in the slightest when Leora made her offer. I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER, SISTER IN COMPASSION. She seemed almost giddy with joy as she floated down to Leora's body. Ariana was exactly how she was before the two had left, owing to that they had only been gone for an instant. Harvester went unseen, just a fleeting spirit, incapable of anything more than the slightest touch to the living. She briefly put her hand within Leora's and withdrew, leaving something behind.

IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK TO ME, THE INSTRUCTIONS TO DRAW MY ATTENTION ARE THERE. I WOULD BE PLEASED IF YOU SHOWED THEM TO MY BROTHER, TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A BEING WHO SLAYS US. HE IS ONE OF MY FEW OTHER FRIENDS. She stepped back and became truly tangible once more, towering over the little girl and the still-warm body she clung to like a piece of drifting wood in the middle of the ocean. NOW LEORA. THERE IS SOMEBODY WHO NEEDS YOU HERE. ARE YOU READY TO GO BACK?

Leora simply nods her head when the Harvester asks her if she was ready to go back. Leora was also wondering who was the brother that Harvester was speaking about, but Leora just agrees to give the Harvester's brother the message. Leora looks at Ariana and starts thinking how she is going to have to apologize for making her cry.

THANK YOU. NOW, LIVE AGAIN. Harvester took Leora in her arms and knelt over her body. LIVE YOUR LIFE THE WAY I KNOW YOU WILL, LEORA. SPREAD YOUR LOVE AND KINDNESS THE BEST YOU CAN. WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR YOU TO REST, I PROMISE I WILL BE THERE. She gently set Leora down in her body, nudging the parts in so they fit perfectly. She ran her finger down Leora's spine like she was zipping her up, and she was sealed once more. When her eyes focused, Harvester would be gone.

Ariana was still crying when Leora's chest suddenly moved as she took the gasping breath of one who has returned to life and needs to relearn breathing. "L... Leora?" She pulled away to see her face. She needed Leora to be alive. It was her fault she had gotten hurt. She didn't know what she'd do with that sort of guilt.

After talking her first breath back from the dead, Leora's body relaxes once more on the floor. Leora slowly opens her eyes to Ariana's face covered in tears looking straight at her. Leora lifts her hand and gently wipes Ariana's checks. "Sorry Ariana....I didn't want to make you cry. Could you ever forgive me?"

Ariana's eyes opened in wonder as Leora spoke, even if her words didn't make any sense. She cried even more in relief and joy. "Why are you apologizing? I was stupid. I got you hurt. I... I thought I killed you..." She buried her head in Leora's shoulder again. At least she hadn't. Right now, she just needed to hold something. So she would just hold Leora until Warden came back. Maybe she wouldn't even let go then.

Leora places her hand on Ariana's head and sits up to give Ariana a hug saying, "Your such a good girl, Ariana. I know, how about when this is all over we go get some ice cream and we'll get Warden to pay for it." Leora finish with a smile. Ariana was slow to respond. It took her a while to calm down and pull away from Leora's thoroughly soaked shoulder. "You... you promise?" She didn't care about the ice cream, although it would be nice after two years on this island. She just wanted to have Leora nearby. She barely knew her, but Leora had saved her life. She wouldn't forget it anytime soon.

Leora hugs Ariana one more time saying, Yeah, I promise."

___

Jardsam smiled at the emotional intercourse exchanged between Song and himself. And an intercourse it was- a form of union between two inhuman beings that both at their core existed beyond the human capacity of reason. While one chose to dwell and speak amongst humans, the other barely recognised them or their ways.

There was a culture gap, of course, but that never stopped Jardsam before.

Even as the world began to cool slightly, the Accountant felt her heat even more strongly.

He reached out, aiming to touch her and dance with her- something human but something cosmic- as any astronomer that has ever watched the planets in orbit would tell you.

Her feelings. These associations.

He started playing the game within her mind, showing things just on the edge of her comprehension, but from the other side.

___

The instant Master's words reached Arthur's brain, the ice mage was on his feet, ice sword in hand. "Where are they? If that bastard moves a hair on her head, he's dead!" A moment later, he figured out whom he was talking too, and after yet another moment, he realized what he was doing before he fell asleep. "I take it it's safe to assume you were lying? You know, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. I could have killed an innocent rapist!" Arthur said with a pinch of sarcasm.

"So, uh, do we kill your sister while she's distracted, or do we let her and Jardsam have some fun? Just so you know, I'm not sure I can do much against her."

___

Haruko simply stood inside of the room, watching all the events unfold between Harvester, Ariana and Leora before her eyes. What was so bad about grabbing the scythe? Unfortunately, her question is soon answered when Leora crashes to the ground...dead if Ariana was to be believed. Even though Haruko had barely known the woman...she couldn't shake the feeling that she had intentionally sacrificed her life to save Ariana's. While Ariana mourned over Leora's death, Haruko drew five of her rocket explosive knives and stood a few feet away from Ariana, staring down Harvester. Her intention was to protect Ariana so Leora's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain...but there was something off about the whole situation.

Why is she just standing there? Ariana is right there, completely open to an attack. I don't think my presence alone could scare away a demon god...so why the hesitation? Just as Haruko began to imagine other scenarios in her head...Leora's 'dead' body suddenly gasped for air! Wait...so was she actually dead...or just temporarily knocked out? Regardless, when she looked back, the Harvester appeared to have disappeared. Just what on Earth was going on?!

Not one to interrupt a touching moment like this between Ariana and Leora, Haruko simply smiles and walks up to Charlotte, who seemed to have been silent this entire time.

"So...Charlotte. Did you understand anything that just happened in the last two minutes?"

___

Opening her eyes slightly, Sarah saw Eve approaching her and attempt to pull her up and toward the cannons, shouting "GET UP" at all of them. Of course it had to be her as the one being singled out out of the dozen or so people that were fighting these monsters. Regardless, Sarah takes a deep breath...and completely clears her mind of all the events that were happening. Only one objective; kill the demon god playing this horrific song. Now walking with what appeared to be a normal stride, Sarah begins loading the main cannon while Eve worked the controls. Now wasn't the time for her to take command and figure out this machinery in the middle of a battle.

"Cannon's loaded. Don't miss." Sarah warns Eve as she finished loading the device. Her state of calm wouldn't last forever, so it would be best to take down the enemy before the pain would shoot back through her body.

___

Charlotte shook her head.

She didn't feel the need to attack anything right now, but she still felt bad. Not the usual kind of bad, it was a a cocktail of many different feelings, sadness, disgust, dread and melancholy. Charlotte never felt that way before and it all made her confused, she wanted to run away but knew that it came from inside her and that changing her location would do nothing. Instead of moving she just looked at Haruko, her eyes practically fixed on the other girl.

___

Conrad's breathing slowly stabilized and he was able to stand up again. "What the fuck..." he simply said as he looked around. He was out for way too long. He looked around for a second. Before dashing off in search for the other. Looks like he had already missed a fair bit of the party however. It wasn't up to him however, those were the drawbacks of his powers, whether he liked it or not.

___

Eve looked to the sky with a smile. She had wanted to use this thing all year. Her chest once again folded away and her little blowtorch spat a single candle-sized flame. It was all that was needed. The island shook. The ground beneath cracked and caved under the sheer force of the cannon firing up. Eve found herself hurled back, metallic endoskeleton not enough to anchor her. Above, Song pulled her lover into a sort of embrace, her tendrils entangling him in a delicate and yet unbreakable web.

She leaned in, seeking to truly embrace him to bring him to her realm when the song ended. And so the final notes, the world enders, reared her their heads in her throat- And she vanished. Nothing but a thin mist as a cannonball the size of a truck hit her with force that could not have been born of mere gunpowder. A last, haunting note spun down, accusing the Master, thanking Jardsam, and apologizing to Ariana. The Song was over. The Master had just begun.

___

Ariana was out of tears. She still needed to cry, but she couldn't. "Ariana. To me." The serpent was able to rear its head up to the window and had exposed ribs. It spoke in a voice like the ocean, but Ariana still knew who it was. "Don't attack, it's daddy!" She warned Haruko and the girl with the guns. She hugged an offered tendril and was pulled onto his head. "Haruko. Gather the others if you must. We need to leave immediately."

He slithered around the house, but as he was leaving the Master's range of influence, Ariana bounced back with a thunk. Her eyes closed tight as she fell back and was caught by a fringe of scales that popped up to save her from falling off. "Daddy... what happened?" Warden glanced at the Master. He had heard his rule. "I don't know. But I won't leave you." Ariana hugged his head. She was so glad he was here.

___

"You are correct. But Ariana is in danger." The ground shook and Song was gone. The damage caused by the heat faded away, leaving the fighters healthy. "But from me, not Conrad. Remember my fight with Jardsam?" Another version of himself was walking up the hill behind him. "That's me a few minutes ago. What he's about to do will destroy this world and save thousands of others. And I will save one more when Ariana is on the end of my blade." He contemplated his rapier. "Unless you want to play a game. Hold me off until your companions are safely away and I will not harm Ariana. Fail and I will show you her body before I finish you off. Deal?" He looked into Arthur's eyes for his delicious rage.

___

The past Master glanced over at his future self as he stepped in. Oh, good, he was toying with Arthur. That was going to be fun. He tossed his rapier to stand quivering in the ground at the highest point in the island. "Rule. No demon god can leave my territory." His sword hand raised to the sky and light flared from his open palm, filling the sky. When it cleared, thousands of dice floated in the space around him.

In an instant, they were there. Thousands of his siblings. Crawling things with thousands of arms. Towering clouds of chaos. Things that just crouched and grinned in the dark. Heart chased down a screaming pirate, one of the few survivors on the island, and crushed him to paste. Song hovered at the edge of the bubble, starting longingly up at Jardsam up above it, unable to break through. Harvester stood behind him, back turned. She would be needed. "Rule. All languages are one. Siblings!" His voice cut through reality, ringing in all minds, a language that was transmitted by bending spacetime but was made sound for the mortal bystanders.

"My brothers, sisters, and otherwise! It has come to my attention that we have a dilemma. We rely on these little worlds for our goals. But aside from me and Harvester, we can't enter them directly. You can't whittle your aspects down enough to enter them without an avatar. So annoying. But I think we can change that." It was insane. He would never do this unless he was certain it would work. "I have a rule to make. One that if we all agree upon will effect you outside of my territory, in all universes. So I declare- Demon Gods don't need avatars!" There was a moment of stunned silence. Then chaos. The voices of so many begging for the permanence of this rule. Harvester alone was silent. She didn't need it when she had the authority of death.

This seemed like madness, but it was a calculated effort. All the siblings he had allowed to be here didn't directly target worlds with sapient life. They just happened to always ruin them because they were called onto them by cults, the only way they could currently get to the lower realms. By allowing them to come directly, he saved trillions of sapient lives. "So it's settled. I declare it law!" The clamor raised even higher, even as one voice, a grinding scream rose above the rest. "Heart, I'm not letting you out to tear this universe a... actually, yes. Let's celebrate. I declare all former rules null!"

The territory lost its holding power. Warden was slithering even before the sentence finished, heading right for the Office. Behind him, a thousand demon gods were free to do as they wished with the world. The Master stood in the middle of it. Song flying back up to Jardsam, Heart tearing off for Europe, Harvester preparing herself for her job of managing the death of worlds. Sometimes, he did love his family.

Part 5: Family Reunion

Leora tries to get up, but she slowly collapses on the floor. [Leora, you need to rest now.] Leora takes a few deep breaths before she responds back, Compassion, I need to help out. [Leora, you just return from the dead. Your soul needs some time to readjust itself again. I'm sorry that I didn't prevent the Harvester's attack.] Leora remains silent for a second before she asks, Why didn't you stop it? Leora didn't ask in anger or in a negative tone. She was just curious. [Leora, you needed to experience what you experience, and you needed to speak to the Harvester. Believe me, I would never let it happen if I didn't think it would help.] Leora looks outside and asks, Can you stop this? [Leora, you simply can't wield enough of my power to stop this, and if I was to directly stop this, I would end up flooding the "garden", and it would result in consequences worse than what is currently going on.]

Leora struggles to lift herself up, and takes a good look of the situation outside. With her compassionate understanding ability, Leora was able to comprehend the situation before her. Is there any hope? [There is always Hope.]

___

Arthur looked into the Master's eyes. "Do you take me for a fool, Yami? You will destroy this world and yet somehow, Ariana will be spared? I find it hard to believe. And what about the other kids on this world? So I propose you save this world too when I kick your ass."

Arthur summoned Accel End and a shorter ice sword to go with it. "Oh, and one more thing... My deal is non-negotiable!"

Without delaying the fight a second longer, Arthur charged forward with Accel End aiming at the Master's heart. his other sword was held in reverse grip to make cutting off the demon god's head easier if Accel End strikes it's target, or to parry if he thinks offense to be the best defense. To cut of the master's escape, Arthur also made an ice sword fly at the master from the right and another one to attack from the back.

___

The Master grumbled as Arthur changed the deal. "Fine then. Final deal, you defeat me and when everybody has left with Jardsam, I will banish my siblings. But because you pissed me off by messing with the rules, fuck you, I'm gonna do this." He spoke as the temporal blade slid right into his empty chest. As the ice blade swung for his neck, he simply stepped back off the weapon and tossed something onto the ground right in front of Arthur.

Upon closer inspection, it was a die, made of wild and ragged orange hair, dots marking numbers sharp spikes of black iron. And then a girl stood there, crouched in a feral position, teeth gnashing. She wore what seemed to have once been a dress, shredded into a tattered loincloth, her otherwise unclothed body covered by wild orange hair that reached her knees. She couldn't have been more than 13, but the rage and panic that filled her eyes had been growing for thousands of years. The shadows between her fingers became claws, and she pounced for Arthur's throat while Yami ran to flank him, rapier flicking out for Arthur's ribs.

"This is a playmate, Arthur. She made a deal with me and I gave her her heart's desire. But the cost? She's mine. Forever. Wanna guess how long I've had her?" Oh, Arty was gonna be so mad. He almost giggled.

___

The other Master vanished again, reappearing sitting on Conrad's cannon. "Listen quick, pretty boy." He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't already here. "Eve is about to recruit you to save her people. You're going to make sure every last one of them dies. Preferably right before her eyes. In return, I will grant you one week with me. I will take you to the realms of my siblings and let you speak with them and examine them as you please. I will also prevent her from killing you if you fuck up and don't make it look like you tried your hardest." He opened his palm and tossed its contents, a shiny plastic die, holes marking the numbers showing rust within, into Conrad's hand.

He was gone the next second. Just over the hill, Eve got moving. "Come on! It's my job to protect this island, and if I can't do that I can at least save the civilians!" She yelled to Sarah, charging over the hill and passing Conrad, coat flowing like a cape. "You too!" She grabbed his arm. "If we can get the civilians to that time machine, we can get them out of here and to safety!" The town loomed near, very few people clinging to life in the streets, the dead lying in puddles of blood or in ashes. One building remained somewhat intact, a likely hiding spot for survivors. Eve ran into the brothel, Conrad in tow.

___

Arthur jumped back at the last moment, avoiding a slit throat but earning a gash across his chest. He did a backflip to get some distance between himself and the girl. When he landed, he noticed movement in the corner of his vision and ducked, barely avoiding the Master's sword. He did a leg sweep and rolled away to gather his barrings.

"Far too long, I'd say." Arthur answered the Master's question and lunged forward again, this time aiming the black blade straight between the master's eyes. "Just out of curiosity, what was her heart's desire?"

___

Haruko watched Charlotte shake her head, confirming her suspicion that Charlotte didn't know anything either. Though Charlotte's staring did kind of creep her out.

Before she could say anything more, Warden slithered into the room and took Ariana from Leora. Good, she was safe again. She was about to start pushing people out the door...until a loud roar echoed through the area. The battle seamstress looks out the window to find...thousands of hideous monsters, all looking at what appeared to be MOG. Just what we're these things?! Her answer came when all of the demon gods took off to different parts of the planet, each most likely to cause as much chaos as the previous abominations. How can they stop these things?!

"Ok, party's over. Everyone, out of the house and follow Warden to the Office!" Haruko says, hoisting Leora up and putting her arm behind Leora's back to hold her up. "Hang on Leora, i gotcha." The seamstress then takes off toward the Office, taking Leora with her and with Charlotte hopefully close behind.

___

Sarah looks on at the demon god meeting, taking pictures of as many of the monsters as she could on her phone. She knew full well that there was nothing she could do against this many monsters, but perhaps the Intelligence and R&D divisions can use this information to come up with weaknesses for them. Once all the demon gods ran off, Sarah places her phone back into her pocket and frowns at Eve, who was running around frantically to try and save whatever citizens she could. "And just what authority does that woman have on me? I am not one of her soldiers, hell I am only here as a favor. But I suppose I must see this to the end."

Sighing, the vice captain of the Enforcement division takes off into the town at high speeds, slashing holes in the houses to free any potential survivors from the burning buildings, and keeping an eye out for anyone still alive.

___

The song ended, and Jardsam reverted it his natural state of being. The dance was great while it lasted.

Until she came back, rushing at him like a clingy ex-girlfriend seeing the object of her obsession in town for the first time in months, only this time she brought her whole family to stay for the week.

That little mongrel had brought about armageddon.

Catching Song in his embrace, Jardsam span her through the air and voiced his intention to return to her, before hurling himself down towards the Master with all speed and momentum could be hoped for by slingshotting around a being of Song's temporal mass.

He summoned his axe.

He would cleave that prankster in two.

___

Charlotte didn't know what her purpose here was. Why she was there and what she just did there. She felt like she was some sort of help to the people, but she didn't know the people. She was pulled out of her rather comfortable day and tossed into this chaos of a situation. So when she heard that they were leaving Charlotte didn't think twice about it, she quickly followed Haruko.

She wanted to get out.

She wanted to go home.

___

Before Conrad could even say something the being was gone. Instead of words his delayed response came in the form of a grin. This was beautiful. He couldn't have made a better deal offer himself. He'd do something that would prove no problem for him, heck he might even enjoy it and in exchange he'd get a rather interesting week in return.

Before he could express his joy any further however Eve pulled him along into a brothel. Alright, he could live with that. A bit chaotic and run down but he was used to the location at least. "Hey easy there miss. Maybe you're rushing things just a bit too fast!" he yelled at Eve as he was pulled along, putting up very little resistance himself.

___

Eve glanced back at Conrad's complaint. "Shut up and get to work." The reluctant survivors who emerged from the holes Sarah cut coughed in the smoke, moving in confusion. The Heart of Spring screamed and plunged a crystalline fist through a woman, reducing her to paste spread across hundreds of feet. Eve aimed out a window of the brothel, snarled, and fired a cannonball with a noise like thunder. The abomination swatted it away, chipping her arm. She screamed again, rage grown. "Sword bitch! Help me hold her off! Pale guy! Get everybody to safety!!" She turned her full attention to the beast that loomed ahead and prepared herself for battle.

___

The Master laughed at the blade nearing his throat and yanked a leash that had formerly gone unnoticed in the girl's wild hair, pulling her in the way of the stab in his place. "She wanted me to save her village from one of my siblings. With a friend of mine, I did just that. Fair deal considering what horrors that sister tends to unleash." He raised his blade to return fire, but found himself distracted by the rushing sound from above. He looked up just in time to see the incoming Jardsam. He didn't raise his blade. He wasn't strong enough to stop somebody moving that fast. Instead he dodged as fast as he could, using his playmate as a base to wheel around. He used the momentum of his swing to close distance and attempt to bite Arthur's throat. "Jardsam, stay out of this. It's one on one." His voice took an edge.

___

Warden writhed in annoyance in front of the office. Where was Jardsam? He needed to leave now. Ariana squirmed on his back. "Where are Haruko and Leora?" "Back at the house. They can get here them-" A shadow loomed over them as a thing, thousands of feet long and seemingly made out of multi-jointed arms, hovered towards them, tearing apart and collecting everything in its path. "Leora? Haruko!? Help would be lovely!" He called with enhanced lungs.

___

Arthur changed his sword's trajectory at the last moment to avoid hitting Master's pet and lost balance as a result. Luckily, Jardsam's sudden interruption gave him time to regain his footing and move back before Master's retaliation.

He avoided the Master's attack by jumping back and replacing Accel End with an ice bat aimed at Master's face.

"You should listen to him, Mr. J. The others can't get away if you don't pilot the office."

___

Leora hears Warden's words and tries her best to move to his location as quickly as possible, but she ends up collapsing by the door. Leora pants heavy as she thinks to herself, Who knew that coming back from the dead will be this hard on the body? Leora struggles to stand up and continues to make her way to Warden. Every step she takes causes her body to feel heavier and heavier, her breathing becomes slower and slower, her vision fading more and more each second. After going through what felt like forever, Leora finally manages to spot Warden and the upcoming danger he would face soon. Leora wonders if she could help from this distance, but quickly dismiss the idea.

I barely have enough strength to move, let alone use my abilities. From here, i wouldn't be helping anyone plus I'll just be wasting my remaining strength like that. But maybe if I can get within a much closer range, I might be able to help out.

___

On cue, a flurry of knives fly toward the approaching arms, each violently exploding upon impact and sending small shards of metal at the approaching figure. Haruko approaches Warden and Ariana, looking at the grotesque figure in front of them.

"What on Earth is going on?! What are all of these things doing here, it's an absolute mess!" Regaining her composure, the battle seamstress notices that Leora was lagging behind, while the beast was still approaching. Think Haruko...think! Do I stand and fight this thing until everyone shows up, or do I try and get Leora over and and see if she can drive the monster away? The answer came easier than she thought.

Taking off using ki to enhance her speed, Haruko grabs Leora and throws her over her shoulder, using more ki to enhance her strength. After arriving back onto the scene, Haruko sets Leroa down and positions her in front of the figure. "I know you're weak right now, but if there is anything you can do to slow this thing down, I'm sure everyone will appreciate it." Regardless of Leora's response, Haruko takes out 20 more explosive knives and aims them at the approaching arms, setting them flying once again to slow the approach.

___


"That's not my name, mechanical bitch!" Sarah yells as she draws her katana. Why did she have to work with this noisy woman? Regardless, she initiated her teleport spell and disappeared in a flurry of leafs, reappearing in a similar fashion behind the demon god. With surgical precision, Sarah slashes her blade hard toward Heart's neck in an attempt to decapitate the opponent. She knew she couldn't put this thing down for good, but perhaps decapitating it will buy them some more time.
___

Charlotte was standing still without saying a word. Though she was apparently removed from the world her weapon was in her hands and she was more than ready to shoot at a moment's notice. The thing before her worried her, it even scared her a bit. However she trusted Haruko for now. She'd let her do things her way but if there was even the slightest possibility of being attacked Charlotte would retaliate right away, for her own safety and for the safety of everyone else. She gave both Haruko and Leora a confident nod and then gripped her weapon tighter, both of her eyes focused on the monster in front of them.

___

Conrad smiled warmly before distancing himself and the civilians a bit. He looked at them and waved at them. He gestured to them to follow him if they wanted to stay safe. Right now Conrad had a hard time hiding a wide grin on his face. It was like taking lambs to the slaughterhouse, all of them innocent and blissfully unaware.

He was going to lead them to the heart of the storm.

___


Rolling in the sand, Jardsam stomped onto the ground as he rose to his feet, sand rising and rotating around him at incredible speeds as he drew his sword from within the scabbard of his axe.

"Bring it, cowboy." He taunted, oblivious to those who needed his help.

Oblivious?

No.

Uncaring.

He was no taxi driver.

He was no joke.

He was an accountant of reality. And it was time to balance the books.

___

The Heart screamed again as more chips flew from where Sarah's sword impacted, but seemed overall unharmed. This wasn't going well at all. Nothing these two could throw at her would put her down for good. Eve glanced to Conrad to see if he was doing fine, and he fortunately seemed to be just okay. She would seriously owe both these two if they succeed in this work. But they wouldn't if this thing slaughtered them. Eve glanced around for support and saw something dark move in the water. Dark and massive. Bigger than Warden had been. She had no idea what it was, and by the size of its jaws and glowing red eyes(four of them, an especially bad sign) it wasn't friendly. She also remembered something from guarding Ariana with Warden, where she learned much of their ways- Demon Gods didn't always get along. And she could indeed already see some battling furiously. So perhaps this thing could be of some use?

"Well I never got your name, sword girl." She yelled at her comrade. "I'm Eve, and we're going that way! RUN!" She threw a rock at Heart, drawing her attention away from making grass attempt to drag Sarah to her knees. Eve took off running and the Heart's hatred for all moving things kicked in. She hovered after Eve far faster than anticipated. "Attack her arms! Keep her off balance! We need to reach the coast!"

While Eve and Sarah started their mad dash, the people of the town nervously muttered for a moment. Who was this pale man, allied with a known demonic beast and a woman from the far east? But with demons all around them, tearing what appeared to be the entire world apart, who would know better how to survive than the devils? They reluctantly began to file along behind him.

___

The Collector collected. It was what it did. Pretty things. Interesting things. The sharps that struck it were sharp and exploded. They were pretty. Pretty things did not always last long. They hurt the Collector, and some arms were lost. Other arms caught them. Arms were pretty. The Living Lie was not pretty. The avatar it carried was pretty and interesting and want. The one who threw sharps was not pretty. The blue box was want and pretty and good, and the vessel of Compassion was very want and interesting and good. Three arms reached down. One clutched the blue box, shaking it gently next to the great drum of its ear. Interesting. The second picked up a thrashing avatar between two fingers, crushing the Living Lie into paste with its others when it bit one. Pretty The third reached for the vessel of Compassion, seeking to gently take it and hold it and feel its warmth. Good.

___

The Master was distracted enough by Jardsam’s interference that he was late in ducking back from the bat. It struck home with a hollow crack. Little bits of skull were thrown to the wind and carried away. What was left behind was less than pleasant. A full half of his face was basically annihilated, caved in and scattered on the ground. The exposed skull had the consistency of a ceramic plate that a toddler had thrown against the wall. And inside it was hollow. Just empty pitch black. Even where light should reveal the other side it seemed to be swallowed up like a stray fly. But his remaining eye stared at Jardsam, not Arthur, with blistering hatred.

"You... are breaking... THE RULES!" For a small creature, his bellow was impressive as his glamor entirely failed. Skeletal claws flexed around the leash and his sword. He was no larger, but the spikes that replaced his hair made him look taller. The same dog-toothed grin, populated with many times too many canines, grinned without any emotion but rage, and his remaining eye seemed just like another hole in his head it was so black. RULE. The voice, still disconcertingly like a radio show host's, blazed into Arthur and Jardsam's heads without the cratered face of the demon moving a muscle. TO THE PAIN. The understanding automatically spilled into their heads with the words. The goal was to inflict a single wound. The pain of that wound would be so great as to end the fight. This went for both sides in the combat.

The Master raised the Lucky Shot rather than his blade and spun the barrel. Two bars, one wild. Not bad. "Looks like it's a penalty round, ladies and gentlemen!" He called in that same voice as a dozen blasts of energy launched out of the barrel of his gun, spreading in a wide cone towards Jardsam and Arthur. His pet ducked under the shots before jumping at Arthur, pulling up shadow to swing as a flexible club at his head. It danced around her body in an arc as she swung madly, over and over.

___

Nearly fainting, Leora struggles to say, "Tha..nk...you..." to Haruko. Barely able to look up, she sees the Collector trying to reach out for her. However, before the arm could reach her, a burst of blue light remerges from Leora, creating a bright blue barrier sphere, which covers and protects Leora. Lifting her hand towards the creature, Leora prepares to give it her all, or whats left of it, to hold back the creature long enough for everyone to escape.

Leora was using not only her physical happiness ability, but her mental and spiritual happiness as well. She aim to target every single area that the creature exists on. Physically, the goal was to make the body of the Collector so peacefully relax, to the point of blissful paralysis. Mentally, the Collector was going to experience the perfect dream, so realistic, the creature should not know it was a dream. In this perfect dream world, the Collector goes on to win this battle, and collect everything that his heart desires and much more. Basically putting the creature in its own perfect little heaven, which transcends the imagination of the creature's own thoughts. Creating countless objects, people, and whatever that both the creature knew existed, and many more that was created for the purpose of the Dream World. Spiritually, the creature's spirit was being purify on an massive scale, trying to purge the spirit in an attempt to remove the evil taint of the Collector, and if not, this should at least have a chance to send the Demon God back to where it came from long enough for everyone to escape, or it will simply just increase the success rate of Leora's other techniques.

Leora's eyes were close as she focuses on the task in front of her. She will at best be able to keep this going for a few short minutes before she completely faints from her exhaustion. Even then, Compassion will continue to protect her body, because of this, Leora didn't need to worry about herself at all her. But, even if Compassion wasn't able to protect her after she loses consciousness, Leora would still risk her own life to protect everyone.

___

The Master was pissed. He did not look pleasant while pissed. And there was only one person Arthur could blame for this.

"Goddammit, Jardsam! This is all your fault! You better finish this fight and do it fast!" The ice mage shouted and barely slipped between Master's blasts.

A split second later, Master's pet was swinging a strange black club at Arthur's head. He quickly made an ice shield on his arm to defend himself. The strike made the sand beneath give in and pushed him back but the girl kept attacking. Again. And again. On the fifth strike, he pushed his shield forward as it connected to knock the club to the side and unbalance the girl.

What would usually make a perfect opportunity to strike now only served as an opportunity to jump back several meters and get distance since Arthur couldn't bring himself to attack the poor girl. He landed on one knee and encased his body in an armor of ice. He figured that if this was a fight to a single wound, armor was going to be really useful. While on one knee, he also used the opportunity to secretly grab a bit of sand. You never know when it could come in handy.

___

Good, it seemed as if the arrogant cannon girl had begun showing her allies some respect. Let's see if Eve can keep up this trend, and Sarah might actually start respecting her as well. Disappearing into a flurry of leafs, Sarah teleports directly to the right of Heart, her sword raised above her right shoulder. In one quick motion, she skillfully slices down at one of Heart's arms, following the advice she was given from Eve. Before Heart could respond with an attack of it's own, the Stealth Force captain disappears once more and teleports a few feet ahead of Eve, taking off in the direction of the Office.

"My name is Sarah, pleasure to make your acquaintence. Keep running and don't look back at the pissed off monster!" She shouts back at Eve, continue to run to their destination. What the hell was that monster holding the Office?

---

Haruko watched as Leora wrapped the Collector in a ray of light, which would make the monster placated in happiness...hopefully. She knew that if she attacked, it may break Leora's illusion, so she decided against it. Instead, the seamstress began concentrating her ki control upon Ariana, trying to levitate her out of the Collector's hands and hopefully back onto the ground. Once Ariana was free, Haruko would focus her attention upon the Office.