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Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

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Even though Swan did not witness Phoenix's reaction to her bufu grenade, she did however catch his irritation with his leg being damaged and needing to heal the damage that was done to it. She briefly thought that he was going to come after her for it, but was thankful that he turned his attention to Heartbreak like he had hoped since she was more closer to him. Swan then quickly scanned back to Mona in time to process he had just used a Miracle Punch attack and taking her with him when he transformed into a bus. Seeing the shock on Crow's face when he was met with a cat-bus, Swan knew that they had the element of surprise in this moment. Within the next instant, it seemed that both her and Mona were in sync as she pressed a boot down on a pedal to rev the (engine?) as well in an attempt to run him over. What she didn't anticipate was for Crow to laugh while making no attempt to move out of the way. The Merc faced the danger head on with his saber drawn to clash with Mona. Swan felt the rumble from Mona's engine grow louder, noticing that he was trying his best to combat the force that opposed him as the smell of burning rubber emanated from his wheels. Throughout this time, she listened as this stranger was spouting confusing statements about Baron. She wondered just how much of the words he was speaking was something that she should look into. Though she kept in mind to take it with a grain of assault since this was coming from someone that was calling them Succubi.

As a result of this collision, the two thieves became airborne from being blasted upward then swiftly back down. She couldn't see through the sparks in the first place and it all happened so fast that Swan wasn't able to quite comprehend what all occurred as she was thrashed around in the bus causing whiplash in the process. She was then ejected from Mona's bus form and skidded onto the cobblestone which slightly scraped her arm as Mona reverted back to his regular form. While Mona called out to make sure she was okay, Swan got up. "Don't worry about me! Just stick to the plan no matter what," She reminded Mona as it was obvious that Swan was starting to reach her limit on exerting herself. It would only take one more hard hit before her situation turned very grave and it wasn't long before such came.

"Marakukaja," she incanted to strengthen her and Mona's defenses at impeccable timing right when Phoenix began gearing up for a large attack. But even that wasn't enough to keep from it being a devastating blow. Blinding brightness lit up the sky before the fire balls erupted, one of which landed directed onto Swan, shattering the purple defensive layer with ease. Among the embers, she heard Heartbreak fight back valiantly against Phoenix as she willed herself to try and get up, though this time she didn't have the strength. The thief had just enough in her to summon Scheherazade, though she knew she would be taking a big risk at this point. In the event that someone would attack her in this state, she knew exactly what she should do to prevent banishment even if it was a bit longer. "Mona is right you know. It's funny that he's never mentioned you...." Swan coughed, "Must be worth nothing to him. I mean he does seem the type to favor a fanciful Swan over a shrewd Crow, if you want to compare birds."

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream TreasureSniper TreasureSniper Anthem Anthem Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
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At first it seemed like the girl had bought into her lie by asking if she was alright, although she had then surprisingly laughed as she decidedly did not take her outstretched hand. Furthermore, she even began to call her out to being disguised as Heartbreak.

"How-?" So perceptive, just how did she see through my flawless performance!? Literally taken aback by this accusation, she took a step away while speechless and confused on how to proceed. Syren suddenly broke into a smile herself, realizing that her mouth had been gaping in disbelief and was now trying to not show her concern over the situation by underestimating Panther.

"Well, no matter. I was growing tired of this form way too quickly. And since you didn't let me have as much fun as I wanted to, I suppose we should skip the foreplay..." As she spoke, her guise blurred out of existence to reveal herself as a merc and not a mere shadow. As she did this, Syren summoned her trusty Trident and slowly drew a figure 8 in the air in front of her. When she directed her weapon upward on one side, a pillar of water amassed from the nearby waterway just outside the building they were in. Then when she directed her trident upward on the other side of her figure 8, a second pillar accumulated from the large fountain at the square. Each of them could be seen from the windows of the building.

"Let's see how the little kitten fares in water!" With that, Syren pointed the trident now right at Panther, now commanding the pillars to bend and break through the windows targeting Panther, seeming like tunnels of water if one were to look into them.


That Weird girl That Weird girl
 
~SPIDER RIDER SKATING ANYONE~
Anthem Anthem

In the chaos of their tumbling Oracle, and Cryptic would both panic at the sight of the giant spider lady coming at them Cryptic did his best attempt at a cartwheel regaining his footing as Tragedy the mad man he was caught up to them catching Oracle before in a following scream of confusion threw her into the air as her UFO persona phased back into reality catching her from the side pulling her in followed by a lot of choice words. Atop that Tragedy used his own body to help Cryptic moments deteriorate as the spider came a running.

"Why do I feel like this is a carbon copy instance of a idea from the mind of Swan to equate a insane persons gamble," Cryptic spoke in a uncertain panic as the two skidding down the street with Tragedy's direction to freeze the road clearly aiming for only one insane choice of design. The insane request was followed by a even more insane volley with Tragedy making demands of someone else's cognitive state. Yet in the turn of the damn century Rasputin correlated a response giving Tragedy what he wanted as the cast of Prophets voice yelling out MAPSIO out in the distance could briefly be caught. With Rasputins casting the detonation caught Jorogumo lifting her into the air, but in a mere moment. That was until it was assisted by a hailstorm of upward fire as the fire volleys kept the spider impacted in the sky a little longer. Upon Tragedys que Cryptic shook his head in disbelief at the insane fact this was going to work.

"You heard him Count ABSOLUTE ZERO," the Two Hands of the Count of Monte Crisco appear to each of Cryptic sides slamming into the ground as they followed their backwards masters descent. The cold chill of frost overtook the path of the thieves becoming a solid layer upon the road outstretching like a pure sheet of ice. Jorogumo's return to the ground saw to it a intense session of lost footing with the spider's eight legs all over the place fighting to regain some sensation of placement. The problem was no such footing existed as it fell onto its lower body... yet unpredictably this created a new issue as now do to its weight it was speeding at them like a bullet.

"UHHHH PLEASE TELL ME IS THAT PART OF THE PLAN," Cryptic asked in extreme alarm. Before impact with the insectoid Rasputin having regained momentum jumped in-between the Thieves and the spider blocking a pair deadly javelin pointed feet from attempting to skewer them or snatch them to be eaten with his malicious saber. The road was starting to come to a end with their gate nearly in sight they needed to get rid of the spider if they wanted any hopes of handling that damn gate without interruption. Options were now extremely low as Count had done to much of a good job freezing the entire roadway given the Thieves little leg room to work with as the spider used its hands to gouge into Rasputin's shoulder before two of its middle feet jammed into the mad monks sides causing distortions to start appearing meaning Prophet would be on the receiving end of it.

"Aight time to swat this bug with the winning pitch," before the isolation of options would be able to overwhelm them the Necronomicon would fly low behind the chaos snatching both Tragedy, and Cryptic with its tentacles as a very vulgarly rambunctious gremlin yelled out to them apparently some sort of plan as the tentacles holding them took more of a cupping effect like a baseball glove it probably wouldn't take to long to catch onto their ascension was perfectly aligning them with Jorogomo's head.

"I still refuse to accept the concept of something outlandish as aliens... that being said we really should go over the ecological shared concept of a spider using a netting format to purpose moths like that to bewilder its prey. Atop this out line dialog of mine. Why can't we gain a sane member... or someone at least who will lend to help the research rather than the nigh destruction of the cryptids constantly around us," Cryptic surrendered to the madness of the fights charts of progression as he prepped for the expect down ward spinning descent before with one intense tentacle throw both Tragedy, and Cryptic were catapulted right at a grid locked Jorogomo.

............................................................................................

~Caution In The Wind~
TreasureSniper TreasureSniper

"I figured you would follow the information road here eventually," Abyss's voice spoke through the line with a unnatural gruffed serious tone. It was rare for the behemoth to addresses anyone in this manner especially at a distance, but the powers or better yet the forces that be stated such would be the case.

"I heard what happen with Tanuki in my region of control. As such I am ashamed of such actions taken by members of our potential future higher echelon. As you know Honor is the cusp of my teachings," Abyss spoke clearly left with a distaste for what had happen on the grounds of the palace. Even in his day of age training those of the likes of future Elites had never seen one so boldly go against organizational standards of process or against that which was deemed taboo.

"As such I deem it only right to warn you the shield that once held the All-Fathers sigil of protection on you... its at its limit. If your Phantom Thieves are successful again in being a thorn on the Meta-Mercs side a storm will brew. Whatever fondness the All Father has for you wont mean anything, and your actions will be treated as all others would be," Abyss spoke giving Baron a underlining warning before no doubt a real one would appear. Everyone knew stepping towards Baron was suicidal in a sense, but their was always that looming shadow of sense being surpassed by desires mortal creatures were always hunted by other. Yet in this sense the idea to be aloud to hunt a legend, or worse those that helped a legend was dangerous morsel on a hook.

"Of course you will be fine I weather I remember a great many fights trying to topple you ending with me unconscious late at night HAHAHA...hahaha... Yet all the same the Elites are a different story that once unshelled of their chains... well you know better than most death or banishment becomes all to real. I wish well journeys ahead, but something tells me you know where your sailing, and the waves to come from it," the phone line was silent upon the message the giant elevator doors closing the end of a known balanced life style of the metaverse.
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~Fight or Flight~
Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Anthem Anthem

Crow was ignoring most of the world around him. Panthers surviving crash, Phoenix's immediate buffs granted to Crow, white blinding light from a collision of shields, the flying plumes of flames descent... it meant nothing to him Phoenix's warning. No all that mattered... was the disgusting words that had escaped Mona's & Swan's mouth as the air was plundered by the rising heat from Phoenix's fight with Heartbreak. The burning waves came first as Crow mad a narrow march towards his opponents the distance they had made with Mona's bus charge pushing them far enough away from Phoenix's area destroyer attacks.

"Recognized abilities? Hahahaha oh you poor souls you don't get it do you," Crow seethed with frustation halting his march bending downward a bit with saber, and pistol in hand a mental tick forged by blasphemous words not helped by the sudden Pulpina that had made its mark adding unfortunately to the derangement in a negative way as he flung back up right bending backwards now laughing like a psycho path. Robin Hood dropped heavy into the ground before rushing forward in defense of its user taking all the shots head on before raising fist up into the air punching the very ground before detonating a holy Kougan blast into the very ground attempting to destroy, and upheave Mona's footing. In the midst of madness Robin Hood in equal confusion violently jumped into a grappled match with Zoro before lifting the person via lock with its arms, and with malicious intent started spinning wildly ramming the gentleman thief persona into numerous buildings along the way.

"You think your allies...hehehe, your not, your his expendable solider ants that he prepping for his use. Which he is born right to. All those who grovel in the dredges of society are nothing but trash, and trash is only as good as it is to throw away in the splendor of a true goal," Crow laughed the Pulinpa effecting dying down as he spoke again his eyes set on Swan as he pulled pushed a button on his mask activating a communicator. The flames extending out his shadows silhouette like a concentration of pure hatred reaching out as if to strangle Swans shadow out of existence. The level of hate was unique so malformed yet so perfected.

"Countess hunt down that team that went down the road towards that mental block, and regardless who is there deal with them with extreme... enjoyment," he smiled taunting at Swan. From what he understood these Phantom Thieves had a bit of a family/friendship mentality to which he was clearly playing a heavy mind game on Swan letting her know the hunt was on with the matador based Meta-Merc. The extremely viscous one at that as the girl casted her defenses to her allies as blinding white took the stage once more with Swan taking a blast in particular from the raining hell well encompassed now behind Crow as he again continued his march towards her.

"Make peace with whatever god you believe watches you. For it is not the one of the golden throne of the metaverse," Crow smiled wildly in a disturbing glee of dominance as a drained & weakened Swan ruthlessly cut sharply back with her jagged words wiping the smile clean off the mad nobles faces as he slouched turning to his left side pointing his luger at her ready to end her... no she didn't deserve the easy out that was the bullet.

"Kougaon," the whisper of word escape his lips like venom. His eyes dilated wildly as he looked at her as the vermin she was looking down upon her as heavy blessed light further brighten his beam swords blade to a deifying white light as if to wipe the girl purely, and cleanly from existence he charged straight for her like a blur closing in almost to what appeared to be at Mach speed on foot creating the illusion of blinding white lit wings in the trail behind him. Whatever madness of cards Swan believed she could play would now come down to a blink of a second in execution.
 
Oh This "shadow" was apparently one of the Meta Mercs and one with a trident too. So Panther deduced that she had water based powers and she looked beautiful in her armor. Panther was going to be at a disadvantage with the typing of Syren, so she couldn't rely on any fire based attacks that Carmine had. Oh boy, she was going to have to fight her without ripping off her mask and feeling safe under a protection of a persona. Nothing that Panther couldn't handle through...she been through quite a bit and was more experienced in fighting Meta mercs.

"That's cute that you think that wate-" Panther was about to say a quip but was bombarded by the water hitting her from all directions. She gasped as the water was cold and tried to stay above the current and breathe. Her costume was soaking wet and was weighing her down a little, oh how Panther hated this! She was definitely not expecting this after literally being punted by Phoenix across the palace. Well, this was a perfect time to use her swimming skills from gym class.

Panther realized that she should probably start to swim unless she wanted to drown or go out the window. She flutter kicked her way forward to avoid being dropped out of the window and headed straight for Syren. Her workouts with Roadkill had paid off because she had more endurance now. Panther attempted to strike Syren with her whip across the chest to hopefully get her to stagger or stop using the trident for a moment. She did not want to mess with that trident so she would keep her distance as she swam to the other end of the room.

She then kicked off the wall towards Syren and body slammed into her which would hopefully knock her off balance despite Panther's petite frame. Panther would recover after a little groan and start to strike her multiple times with her whip like a combo.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor
 
Well, the plan that was formulated within the maddened mind of Tragedy did certainly work as Jorogumo had taken decent damage from the barrage of Psi and Agi, added with crashing into a field of Bufu. Though the last variable took the Fool by surprise as the spider-woman started to descend upon them even quicker, thanks to the reduced friction on the ground now. “I can’t lie and say that it was! But we can make this work!” Preparing to use his grappling hook to avoid the arachnid’s incoming attack, Tragedy was shocked when Rasputin had appeared in front of the dual thieves to tank the sharp blows.

“Shit!” Crimson eyes darted around as he tried to think of what to possibly do, even as Oracle had used Necronomicon to lift them off the iced ground he was forming another plan in his mind. A glint lit up his eyes and a devilish grin found its way onto his face once more, a telltale sign that he had another high-risk high-reward plan. “Cryptic, if we survive this encounter I’ll help you study all the cryptids you’d like!” Tragedy offered right before Necronomicon launched the two at the Garu-user’s Persona at high velocity.

“So your user fancies herself a grappler? Let’s see what it's like when the tables turn!” In what could only be described as a spark of madness in the darkness of uncertainty, Tragedy’s determination was on full display as he unleashed his grapple. The wire wrapped itself around Jorogumo’s neck, allowing the Fool to kick his momentum in a way where he would land atop the spider woman’s upper back. The tight grip on the wire turned the thief’s pale skin even whiter along his knuckles, constricting the persona even further. “BOW.” The horned brute roared out as a command before stomping down on the back of Jorogumo, sending the face of the yokai-influenced persona dragging across the iced ground.

Even though his stamina dropped by the minute, and even in cognitive form his body was screaming for a moment of rest. Persistence was necessary, and failure wasn’t an option within the mind of the crazed warrior. Like a wild animal baring its fangs, Tragedy gritted his teeth as he held the arachnid to the ground using every fiber of every muscle to pull off such a feat. “Mind assisting our holy friend, Cryptic?” Calling for his ally once more, the madman was hoping that the Bufu-user was capable of removing the spiked limbs from Rasputin and defending against any attempts of retaliation.

Though, the crazed boy also hoped in silence that his friend was capable of getting away in time before this sled-ride of epic proportions would reach its abrupt end.
Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
"Hm". Baron carefully listened to what the speaker had to relay through the phone and was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was Abyss, an older meta-merc member he was familiar with. The whale merc, Abyss was a frequent sparring partner he had. Despite how many times the young he triumphed over him, he just keeps coming back again and again. Madness. "Hmm clearly, they are no student of yours." Despite their status as enemies, there is still some level of mutual respect that Baron held towards the old guard especially. "I don't need anything from the old man apart from what was taken from me." Baron retorted, clearly a bit irate at the mention of him being "protected".

"Speaking to me with a threatening tone is never a good idea," Baron spoke in passing. While he was a bit annoyed by his tone, he was nonetheless wise enough to listen to the wisdom of an older member of the meta mercs. "You say that as if there isn't a storm brewing already." Once again, Fixer's banishment continued to plague his plan, easily the most powerful catalyst on the Meta merc's increase in hostility towards the thieves.

"And I wish you well on your journey as well. But know this...." Baron paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "If you cross me or the thieves...there will be consequences.. for all of you." Even in his current state, there were only a handful of places where people were truly out of his reach. Each and every one of the mercs would knew how vengeful Baron was. But even so, he was getting tired of all these ominous words being spoken to him and said nothing else. With nothing else in mind, he took the elevator and ascended to the higher levels.


Being struck in a vulnerable moment wasn't foreign to the fiery feathered merc, but even so, there were only a few individuals capable of sending someone like him flying through multiple structures with a single blow, the Valkyrie was one of them. Plowing through whatever remained of the buildings nearby, the already fragile highrise building gave way from all the punishment it had received, collapsing into shadows, mercs and thieves alike.

For a short moment, it seemed that all was over for the avian, being buried beneath several layers of debris, he was no wear to be seen, not even the great oracle's readings would be able to pick him up.

"Maestro...will this all be worth it? he recalled a memorable conversation he had during his performance review.

*Few days ago*

"This "new" world that we are building, will we even live long enough to reap it's rewards?" The bird merc questioned, speaking freely for the first time to the second in command. It was the first time, he would even dare impose such a question, but he did so because he wanted answers, answers that were worth fighting for, killing for and perhaps even to die for. Why exactly are they fighting for the dreams of an old man that they barely know about? Sure they were all compensated handsomely through generous amounts of financial support or material needs but what was the point of all this?

Fortunately for him, Maestro's answer would give him the resolve to continue forward.

*Present day*

Pillars of fire erupted from the ground. Random intervals columns of flames shot out, haphazardly putting both friend and foe alike in the firing line. He may be a good healer, but Phoenix has always had a very bad reputation for friendly fire. Slicing through melting rubble, Phoenix emerges from the rubble, battered and bruised but still very much alive and now wielding a very big fiery sword. "I can see it now, the beauty that comes from within. Valkyrie..." While his armor is broken a few places, they are gradually being restored by his passive aura of regeneration. "Yes...I use to think you were nothing but a barbarian masquerading as valkyrie. You may not look like one, but you have their strong resolve. ..Now...show me the strength you have mustered." Phoenix beckoned Heartbreak to him, issuing a challenge.
 
The hammering blow that hit Phoenix struck true, sending him flying like a cannonball beyond Heartbreak's expectation. Surely, that would be enough to prevent him from interfering further. Knocking him clear granted Heartbreak and Thrud a moment's respite, though the moment couldn't last. Chaos continued unabated through the mental projection of a port city. The Shadows, while seemingly inexhaustible, had been thinned out by the indiscriminate attacks of the mercs (and really, the thieves as well). Whether they could continue to fulfill their purpose as a distraction remained in question.

While she had managed to take Phoenix out of the fight, it seemed Swan might not have had the same luck with Crow. He continued to show his own unique brand of defiance, though his words betrayed his egotism on top of his devotion to another. His sword became wreathed in indifferent light, burning without regard for good or evil. His impending blow might banish Swan if it landed...

"Not on your life!" Heartbreak grunted, whirling her gun around to bear. Still unsteady, she did her best to keep her gun pointing in the right general direction as she showered Crow with lead, desperately trying to fend him off from Swan and allow her an opening to escape or counterattack. Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

Regardless of her success or failure, the hail of bullets lasted shorter than she expected, as she had expended a good amount of her weapon's seemingly abundant ammo supply repelling Phoenix's feather attack.

The gun went click, and she reached for another belt of ammunition-

And the world burst into flames.

Phoenix rose again, issuing his challenge to her.

"You..." Heartbreak let go of her gun, letting it swing to her side on its sling. He was running himself ragged, devoted utterly to his mission, or so it seemed. So be it. She did not want to wound someone like this, risk erasing an essential part of him. But if he persisted...she would not plead with him to stop. "...Do not test your ability to rise from the flames. I will extinguish them if I must, with the strength I have demonstrated time and again."

The wounds on Thrud's armor had cooled into black char, thought the damage remained. She ignited her jets, throwing her all into a high-speed dash at Phoenix. Fighting a foe like him was like facing an inevitable disaster. Like grasping burning coals in one's hand. But to ensure his defeat, she had to throw both parts of herself at him, and damn the consequences.

Heartbreak leapt into the air, setting her lance with the shield before her serving almost like a welder's mask. Except this was probably far hotter. As Thrud closed in to Phoenix, she drew both arms back and fired off a flurry of punches. Any other foe would take one good hit to put down, but with his speed and determination, she had to hit as many times as she could manage.

Heartbreak angled herself to strike right behind where Phoenix currently was. If he avoided Thrud's punches, she could potentially pierce him straight on. She committed, this time.

TreasureSniper TreasureSniper
 
With Crow illuminating the area, every object still casted a shadow on the other side of the light source. Swan was no exception. "Make peace with my God? I think you forgot something..."

Within the blinding light, she doubted Crow could see through his own light he was emanating and on top of that, Heartbreak was also shooting bullets at him, so she took this chance to stand and take off her mask to summon Scheherazade. For a moment, Swan's shadow and the silhouetted form of her persona were one until Scheherazade shot up from the ground. Once the flash of light disappeared, it would be seen that Scheherazade was trying to block Crow's charge with her own claymore looking down at him. "What God would listen to someone that is cursed?! I make my own prayers come true!" Swan's green and black aura swirled violently around her and her persona while it was mostly around Scheherazades blade, combatting with the brightness of Crow's. Though this aura was slightly different unbeknownst to Swan. As if it were on the cusp of taking a different form other than just swirls, but not quite there yet.

In essence, the two contrasted each other in many ways. The dark Swan against the white Crow. At first, it seemed that this attempt had worked to hold him off, yet in the end it still was not enough. Scheherazade was forcibly dismissed as Crow was able to finish out his attack yet because of the obstacle that was Scheherazade, the attack didn't hit nearly as hard as it would have otherwise. In conclusion, Swan had been stabbed in the shoulder and slid away from the blade, falling to the ground once more. Laying there as she began to lose consciousness, even though she didn't pray to anything, she still had hoped this would not be it for her. She had so much left to do. Too much to lose. Swan finally closed her eyes with her last thought being a vow to become strong enough to complete her goals if she were to make it out of this unbanished.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
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The water-wielder chuckled at the girl thinking that she could outswim the waves of her tunnel. She wasn't going to go anywhere and she was going to make sure of it with her next attack which was to freeze it all. Syren was about to do so with the swipe of her hand, but was promptly interrupted with an unexpected whip snapping at her torso. This ceased all control she had over the water, making the floor become flooded. "Owch! I'm usually all for whips under the right circumstances, but honey that better not have left a mark!" She looked around to see where Panther ended up among the water until she spotted how the girl was about to collide into her by shooting herself away from a wall. Which had ended up working since Syren's frame was also slim.

After being knocked away for a second time, Syren had enough of this fight. "That is it!" Syren dodged the whip the first couple of times until she suddenly angled her trident to tangle up the whip in its prongs and tugged hard on it to pull Panther to her. She then brought her knee up to Panther's stomach followed by a kick to her side and creating a wave to hit her, moving her a bit away. It was then that she heard her communicator (that was thankfully waterproof) went off. Looking down at it, she saw that it was a message from Arachne letting her know that "the Holy Man" has been acquired along with coordinates. With a big smirk she swam away, practically gliding over to the window that was closest to the street side before looking back at Panther. "I'd love to stay and play with you a bit more, but looks like I have a date with one of your pals. Tata~" with the blow of a kiss in her direction, Syren let herself fall backwards out of the window and then turned herself around to have her feet bounce off an awning and gracefully land on the floor. She then ran off in the direction of the coodinates given to her, expecting Panther to probably chase after her after that statement and display.

That Weird girl That Weird girl
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Sheer glee accompanied by a maniacal grin crept from the face of the very person Crow had just spoken to over the comms. "About time. And here I thought you couldn't speak my language Crow," Countess said with off-putting giddiness as she referred to Crow giving her permission to proceed with reckless abandon.

Stationed atop a balcony, Countess jumped to grab hold of the downspout to a gutter and slid down all the while tearing it apart with her claws. As soon as she touched the ground she burst into a sprint towards where she was told to go. In the way of her path was a blockade of food located in an alleyway for what one would assume to be for a market. Even with the large stacks of boxes, at full force she rapidly slashed her way through, causing the shadows of a intersecting busy street to be reasonably concerned. For the shadows that did look in the direction of the alley, they saw the girl with outstretched arms and elongated claws cutting deeply into the bricked buildings enough to dislodge some of them. This of course cause a commotion as the shadows ran away from the crazed woman who was leaving more and more destruction with each passing moment. "That's right, run, RUN PATHETIC SHADOWS AHAHAHAHAHA."

Countess exuded energy saturated in despair and despondency so much that whatever poor shadow came in contact would drop to their knees with inconsolable anguish. But they were not her target. She only sped past them and came to an abrupt halt when she spotted a space where the ground had somehow frozen over. At first she looked to her scanner and saw that Syren had been no where near this area and she was the only Bufu user out of the Mercs that were present. So it must have been caused by one of the thieves, meaning they were close. And not long after coming to this conclusion, she heard the loud combative tone of someone she knew to make her black heart flutter. "BOW"

"Tragedy?" Countess looked up to see her beloved atop of Jorogumo along with an ally of his as they sliding at top speed right toward her. Unfazed by this and retaining a smile, Countess stabbed into the ground, creating a crack in the ice and quickly moved back to pry the slab upward just in time for Jorogumo to crash into it and stop further movement. Bust she failed to notice what was in the clutches of Jorogumo. Following that, the Merc jumped onto the slab then launched off it making the slab begin to fall away as Countess landed directly onto Tragedy. "It's been too long darling. Would you like to continue our dance?" she threatened pointing her claws down at him with one of the blades pressing under his chin from the dull side while the ice slab fell heavily behind her back into place of where it was. While she knew about his allegiance to the MetaMercs, it didn't mean she couldn't rough him up.

"As for you, I suggest you stay out of this if you know what's good for you. Tragedy and I have much catching up to do." Countess swiftly pointed her other set of claws at Cryptic as she kept her eyes down on Tragedy the whole time.

Anthem Anthem
 
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~ Mona

How much more of a nuisance could Crow become? Mona's smirk turned into a grimace as his and Swan's insults only seemed to deepen how far the merc was willing to go to bring about their ends and "clean the filth from Baron's presence". Pulpina didn't do as the cat had wished, instead only fueling Crow's frenzy as he started with painfully launching the Faux-Neko into the air as Robin Hood soon started clearing the environment with Zorro as his tool. A screaming pain shot through Mona's mind with every building Zorro crashed into until the persona was forced to retreat or face being completely immobilized.

"He's strong... I hate to admit it but he's really strong..." Morgana cursed under his breath after striking the ground, he took a few moments to finally stand back up only to witness Swan be struck down by Crow's holy blade. It was the Matriarch's palace all over again, Swan being vulnerable to execution as Tragedy was back then. With Heartbreak facing the likes of Phoenix there was no one else to rely on but himself, but as if by instinct he already felt himself dashing over to his allies' aid as fast as his body could take him. Zorro was summoned forth once again as his swift rapier was enveloped by the twisting, spiraling energy of another Garu-spell on the horizon.

"LOOK AT ME YOU... BASTARD! WE'RE NOT FINISHED YET! ZORRO, GARULA!" With a brilliant green flash, zephyr scythes started to rip into Crow with even more intensity than before as it was clear Mona's wind-based attacks had gained a boost of some kind. Zorro retreated to lift Swan's unconscious body in his mighty arms as Mona continued to rush towards Crow, a violent glint in his blue eyes as he jumped towards the fancily-dressed merc. He knew he wasn't as strong as Tragedy or Heartbreak, not as cunning as Cryptic or Prophet, not as swift Swan or Panther but where he lacked in physical capability he placed his trust in one force...

Dumb Luck.

Rearing back his clenched... paw, Mona would do the unexpected as he jumped through the spiraling vortex and struck Crow across the face with an enchanted strike. "MIRACLE PUNCH!" Sending Crow as far as a strike such as that could, Mona used the time to quickly dashed back to his Persona and Ally to get away from the volatile area as fast as they could. Transforming into his van form once again, Swan was safely strapped inside as the Faux-Neko put the pedal to the metal to get moving ASAP. "Swan is down! I repeat, Swan is down! I need time to cast Recarm and I doubt Crow is going to give me the chance! I'll protect her all I can, but I can't do it alone!" Calling out through his communicator, Morgana hoped he wouldn't have to fend off the likes of Crow on his own because as much as didn't want to admit it... He was too weak to handle someone like him right now.

~ Tragedy

The damning sled-ride was anything but calm as Jorogumo was leading them to a crash-impact with the mental barrier at the end of this perilous decent, Tragedy however was quick to notice the blockade set up by none other than the bloody queen, Countess. Using his quick reaction speed, he quickly pulled up on his threaded cane to lift up the spider-persona's upper body so she would take the brunt of the impact. However this left him wide-open to be taken to the ground as Countess landed upon him. While he normally wouldn't have any quarrels with such a... predicament, there was too much on the line with this assault to play Romeo & Juliet with someone who stands in their way. "I suppose I don't really have a choice in the matter now do I?" Gritting his teeth, the brute would grab Countess' claw by the blunt side and forced her off of him enough, allowing him to swiftly reposition a bit further up the decent and use his cane to stay put on the icy grounds.

This would be a temporary set-back, Countess was another foe they needed to fend off so they could get Oracle to the mental block and unlock it. With the three of them focusing their prowess to take the bloody queen down a notch it shouldn't take more tha-

"Swan is down! I repeat, Swan is down!"

The Fool's breath hitched in his throat for a moment as he heard Mona calling out for assistance, warning them of Swan's fall and vulnerable state. 'No... Swan can't get banished here, Oracle and Cryptic need to break down that block. It's up to me then. Fine, I'll take her down.' Tragedy would take a deep breath as he would then look to the Navigator and Bufu-user respectively, oddly enough with a smile upon his visage. "I got it from here, you two go on without me. 'Kay?" The brute spoke softly spoke to his allies before his crimson eyes locked back onto Countess, his gaze growing dark and sharp as he pulled his weapon from the ground.

With a sudden spin, the Fool's threaded cane would extend and grind along the frozen ground kicking up dust and mist all over. In a moment's notice, the ice from the grounds had been completely peeled away as a chill filled the air. As the dust settled, Tragedy stood tall as his coat bellowed in the winds caused by his fearsome movements, his razor-sharp weapon now enchanted with Bufu. "You want to dance Countess? Then I implore you, let us perform the Danse Macabre." Slowly raising his cane to point at Countess, a tainted snow began to fall upon them. An effect caused by the violent removal of the sheet of ice caused by The Count just a few moments beforehand.

The tainted snow swirled around the Frei-user as a new aura started to flare around him, it was intense similarly to the feeling of Tarukaja but different in origin entirely. This violence, this bloodlust... This was Tragedy's presence, finally showing itself as the crimtane energy radiated from his very being. "Now my love, let us commence." With that, Tragedy dashed forward and swung the frosted cane with the intent of disabling Countess' claws as fast as possible.
 
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~ There Will Be Blood~

Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

"Why are all your plans based on a scale of probability balanced against us," Cryptic impressively asked and stated in a form of disdain as the two were rocket-propelled in a perfect pitch as the ice phantom thieve had no choice, but to follow Tragedy's gambling methodology. Within first contact, Tragedy landed his as he tried to mount the spider demoness. The wrangling process was unprecedented drenched in inertia built upon a notion of expectation that could truly only be built on the hand of madness played up to this point. In what could be considered either the luckiest or strategically handed moment Tragedy's white knuckled noose held its merit as Jorogomo's face careened into the spinning faceplant skiing out of control.

Cryptic unfortunately was not as lucky on the landing instead barely latching onto Rasputin's shoulder on a side wind as all for were tornadoing out of control. In a hostile attempt to regain control, Jorogomo released a loud screech as all of its legs pierced dragging into the ground regaining it some control as it caused them to be retrofitted with her body now in reverse of the descent. With a a heavy tilt to the left Tragedy was introduced to the favor returning as he was completely bashed through multiple buildings unable to pull away as he was pinned between the debris and Jorogomo's body. Seeing his only chance to counter Cryptic wove his hands as he summoned the Count of Monte Crisco to embed his blade with bufu magic jumping over Rasputin's shoulder using the persona's hands as a grounded placement the boy proceeded to deliver a hail marry torrent of ice slashes all over the humanoid body parts of Jorogumo. With each slice more and more ice built up weighing her down before finally it forced her to pull Tragedy away from the torrent of wrecking ball damage.

It was then Tragedy called out to him to remove the spikes plaguing the Prophet's persona. Looking all around there was no definitive... what was that sound? The sudden staunch sound of a choir of screams could be heard yet what truly caused Cryptic to turn around was the lurching caving sound of solid earth being asundered from its post as off in the distance a massive earth plate was planted in their trajected course. Wide-eyed in complete disbelief at the sudden imposing terrain change Cryptic starts to violently tap on Rasputin's shoulder.

"Mad Monk you need to mental disperse, cease-desist existing, cognitively bounce, pop the mind bubble, DO THE THING THAT RETURNS YOU TO YOUR OWNER," He yelled out as the mad monk growled in annoyance to the very notion of abandoning what it wanted to do yet upon being direct ahead to what was coming... there was legitimately no choice. In a splash of purple and black mist, Raputin was no more in the facility.

"Tragedy I believe our lucky hand is about to go blunt south," was the only warning Cryptic could call out to Tragedy as Rasputin dispersed returning to Prophet as the giant spider collided with the chunk of earthed ice uplifted by the one, and only Countess. Jorogomo's panged scream echoed in the air alerting shadows in all directions to the location of those involved. Cryptic himself lunged forward barely caught by the Necronomicon mid-flight... okay maybe he needed to ease up on the concept of Aliens... being saved by them twice in one sitting now, but he would be damned if his reputable knowledge of the very real cryptids would be slandered by him turning in any such works on the deranged notion of life out in the stars.

"Is it just me or is the concept/attraction to mentally unwell girls way too popular with this... cast," Cryptic mumbled as he was rudely told to stay out of the fight, and then was precedingly forced to watch the awkward mating dance call between violent folk. There was however a weird aQuantive feeling between the two forces which to Cryptic's knowledge Tragedy had only ever... ugh "tangoed"... with Countess one other time. Cryptic was about to speak up before a tentacle latched over his mouth as a comm line from Oracle came in.

"No let this play out better she doesn't know what we're up to, or have reason to cut us off. Tragedy knows what he's doing," the gremlin surprisingly spoke giving faith to Tragedy though equally creep out by the weird ass flirting taking place its like neither of them had ever actually had any experience on the matter, and because of that the level of awkwardness on her personal scanner was climbing high. Cryptic just grumbled through the tentacle nodding his head before the comes opened up with Mona immediately reporting Swan's situation. As quickly as possible Oracles directed her screening to the placement of Mona's comm line along with Swan's from what she could see there was no one close enough to get to her, and atop the chaotic placement of the Meta-Mercs no one who could get to anytime soon without ensuring the meta-mercs ganging up on said individual.

"Cryptic you're going to have to play my part for now."

"What? I know nothing of hacking especially a mental wall... which are words I did not expect to utter today," he spoke unsure of this idea as Oracle proceeded to hiss at him causing him to reel back in no way knowing how to respond.

"Well, none of you are likely to pull off a rescue mission as well as I can given the situation. So crash, and learn. Or delay, and lose someone," she growled to which Cryptic surprisingly responded fast.

"Understood," jumping out of Oracle's tendrils he shot off towards the gate eyeing Tragedy as what Swan said echoed in his head.

"I suggest we just keep an eye on him and don't confront him about it just yet. Not until more is revealed as to what's potentially going on with him. Though, at one point during a lull in the fight, Koga mentioned to me that he was on the verge of a psychotic break... What's more worrying is that she seemed very confident in that statement as if it were a matter of fact..."
​
Was this the right decision? Cryptic constantly made assumptions on the basis that he only did things of his own prerogative. Trying to mess with someone else's way was simply another way to get one alienated. It happened his whole life his life's work of obsession with cryptids to prove to the people their truth had never gone much further than him being laughed at upon their realization of his seriousness. Any attempt to change people's minds ended with brutal hostility mentally with a chain of chastizing elements. As such he learned to be just as jaded and a bit cutthroat through his mumblings as he had with Masami, or Ann upon his first interactions with how they acted.

Yet here he was with a group of people who were all so different never conforming to one particular person's way, and yet they were solid a foundation for it. A plethora of different walks of life, and ideologies never boil in submission to others' truths or logic. They made their right, and wrong what was more worthy of the title of cryptid than that? Originally had he been asked that question by Oracle before the Phantom Thieves he would have gone the other route mission first people later. Research first people second yet ever since his bizarre adventure with his fellow Phantom Thieves... he realized truth, and logic were allowed to be wrong in terms of what one would do. Further than ever since he met them they oddly approved of his research like Masami had, given weight to his ideas like Ann had, offered a hand to help like Imato had, and so much more a presence of people that didn't find him creepy willingly spending time around him. He found himself as concerned about this group of people that had come together as much as his research Tragedy was no different given Tragedy's insane gambler strategy.

"YOU BETTER STILL BE OF SOLID MATTER AND IN ONE PIECE WHEN I RETURN TO HELP YOU KICK THAT KUCHISAKA-ONNA KNOCK-OFFS FLAT ASS," Yay that was a good taunt right that how people cheered up friends and gave enemies a what for he yelled out with his minor voice impressively speeding at an unexpected pace break that mental wall down so he could than return to kick that girl in the derriere with Tragedy a clean sign of trust as thankfully Jorogomo dispersed from existence to return to Arachnee.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

~Rift Raft He Was Taking A Moth Bath~

Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Nellancholy Nellancholy TreasureSniper TreasureSniper

"And pray to tell what is that," Crow amusingly asked basking in clear victorious reverberating choir from amongst the blinding light closing in on Swan. What Crow hadn't predicted though was the sudden hailstorm of Heartbreak's break-in followed by a biblically relentless torrent of LMG fire cleverly aiming where he was going to be rather than where he was ushering a volley of sure-fire hits landing past the light. Yet the noble bird was far from being battered out of the projected pattern instead psychotically tanking it adding a flurry of orange sparks, and small tythes of crimson showers to the white blinding mix until the valkyries ammo cache depleted in its defiant attempt.

In the mix of it all the abundant bullet hail had accomplished a distraction as Swan's answer came in the last second of possibility as the towering storyteller Scherazade took form in fusion with its master's shadow creating a moment of undeniable spirit from the wounded songbird. Her words rang in the collision as massive claymore attempted to block in a mighty darkened swing the piercing arrow of light that Crow had become. Any on-lookers would be visually overwhelmed by light, and dark spinning out of control trying to consume each other. Though while for a brief moment it seemed the two were equals the darkness was burned out by the light yet for a moment in that mix Crow could have sworn he saw something akin to green embers in the mix trying to trigger some alchemic other element.

Yet the moment was gone as Crow won the struggle match as the nobleman's blade forced back and broke the mental pillar in his way forcing Scheherazade back into the mental recess of Swan's mind before piercing Swan with a crippling burning light blow into her shoulder sending her back flying like a rocket-propelled missile dropping into a sputtering slid crashing into some debris as the light dimmed out leaving Crow revealed to be riddled with cuts, and bruises all over from Heartbreak's attempt to stop him. At the moment he stood there slouched, and silent only staring at the place Swan had once been. Pillars of light haphazardly appeared around his field, but none came close to him only illuminated the area of which he glared upon.

That trash... had held him off. Even if for only a moment she showed potential to resist him at his level. Originally the abnormal hatred he had for Swan had been a proxy effect from her staining of the once well-revered Kaiser of Mememntos, but now in a singular moment, it had warped into a personal grudge. She had insulted the system of things, and how they were to go. His body straightened upright as his eyes slowly moved along the path Swan had taken latching onto where the defiant songbird now rested unconscious... the bitch was still drawing breath. He had thrown a serious attack at her giving it his full attention not allowing anything to impede him, and she still lived. His breath was short almost at the cusp of hyperventilation as his eyes dilated for a moment before he paused.

Taking in one particular deep breath he lurched backward exhaling for a moment as he turned off his beam saber placing the blade handle back on his belt before pulling out a disturbingly wide-bladed gutting knife. Slowly with acute fixation, he started to walk in Swan's direction... mistakes were not allowed, accidents were a sin, and yet all were easily erased by the deletion of the one that caused them. Yet upon one particular step the white, and red knight was consumed by the blades of winds called forth by the mysterious heroic Zorro. Reddish-brown eyes followed the persona as it snatched the sinful feather from its granted roost all while he was further cut up by the torrent of tornadoes. Acting as if like pain was no longer a concern on the current matters he turned to where the persona went ignoring the shouting of the cat behind it until the cat went for a second Miracle Punch. This time, however? This time it wouldn't meet its mark as with a single toss-up of the knife Crow took one step forward to an aggravated forward slash blocking the attack as the cat impressively went for the blind strategy by jumping into his tornado. The lucky-built attack however once again triggered its successful addition of strength pushing both parties out of the Garula's eye.

Unfortunately, while it seemed like Mona had made for a good getaway not even a whole mile out right at the end of his comm line report something collisioned onto Zorro from above before the intense searing sound of burning rubber fighting an unnatural halt could be heard, and no doubt felt by the cat as Robin Hood pinning/choking Zorro with one hand used its other to latch onto Mona's bumper holding the speeding car in place. The smell of burning rubber emitted the dangers of being in the grasp of the forest thief's grasp. With a horrifying display of strength with a single spin Robin Hood uplifted both Cat Mobile and Gentleman Thief around like a bunch of ragdolls. Letting go of Zoro mid-spin spelled utter brutality as the catmobile was slammed into its persona before being shot off like a bullet into a water tower submerging the battered down Phantoms into a watery mess. With the Mona mobile upside down dented into the pile of metal that once was the water tower an ominously approaching Robin Hood would force the cat's passenger door wide open as Crow climbed up grasping onto the back of Swan's mask pulling it down and backward to make sure her unconscious eyes were fixated in view with his as he lifted his knife with all intended murderous intent.

"If it makes you feel better. No matter who Baron would have chosen to be his replacement army none would ever succeed as we the Meta-Mercs, and one day he will come back to us with full understanding that we are his rightful ho.... SMACK....," right as he went to bring the knife down a loud powerful resounding tentacle smacked across Crow's face. Utter confusion, stinging, rejection of rightful action, and many other baffling emotions suddenly surged through Crow distracting him as numerous other tentacles went to work destroying the barely functioning leggings of what was left of the water tower. A metal groan was the only warning as the tower started to collapse and spin flinging both a distracted Crow and Robin Hood off Mona revealing a quick at-work Necronomicon prying out Mona from his indented state as the Water tower crashed with the ground potentially with any luck crushing Crow in the process.

"Okay that guy is on my freaky creep list," Oracle announced to Mona as a few of her persona's tentacles took Swan into its body following with pulling in Mona once he transformed back into a cat. Once both parties were aboard the limited space was thankfully enough to work a medical run Recarm while Oracle operated on damage control on the field yet before the cat could speak.

"No time for talk or ask why I am here. Get to work on getting her back up okay? Good. Heartbreak this is Oracle calling I got Swan, and Mona. The mission is somewhat in a chaotic stance. Most of the meta mercs have trickled down to the halfway point, but the parties that be are on top of things. Still, we can't let that Phoenix guy move down with them or this mission will be a loss keep him up in this area as long as possible. His area effects will tear down the gate access if he gets close enough, or if they realize what we are up to. I'll get Mona to you as quick as I can," Oracle explained with what little time she had before she swapped comms back to Cryptic.

"???"

"It's doing what now? Dear freaking lord is this woman's mind a damn jumbled mess?"

"???"

"Fair point. Alright just explain the screen to me."

"???"

"That is not a viable sequence of words to a sentence, but try pulling it out."

"???"

"HA excellent treat it like a puzzle, and report to me when you go it OH SHIT," Oracle went wide-eyed as the Necronomicon spun wildly to the left barely dodging a thrown decimated water tower thrown at them by the hands of Robin Hood who had tanked the falling damage that had not crushed Crow like originally hoped. Mona, and the unconscious Swan would no doubt be sliding all around in the back as Oracle immediately had a screen lock on Crow pulling out his pistol as a small strange multi-bleeping sound could be heard on her radar.

"Geeeeeet reeeeeeeeady for a bumpy ride back there," with quick precise keystroke numerous formulations on an advanced calculus stance started appearing all around the screen over the pistol barrel of Crows gun right to the moment he pulled the trigger. Crow began to unleash laser fire running after the UFO to his forsaken surprise however his shots were being danced around via unnatural flight movement up, down, left, right, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal the bizarre ability of the flight projection possible via Necronomicon was disorienting to anyone who had an understanding natural flight movement. While they were aware of Prophet in their records since the last palace this unknown member was only documented via their persona Crow had nothing more to go off of other than its The passengers and pilot though were being thrown in each direction as Oracle violently kept projecting/calculating Crow's shots knowing that even one would be fatal to potentially anyone inside as the beeping from her radar intensified. When the ire of denial of comeuppance reached its boiling point Crow screamed like a wild animal reloading his gun as he bellowed out.

"SHINING ARROW," Robin Hood pulled out its majestically heavenly boy as not one, not two, not three, nor four, but eight magically holy embedded arrows appeared on his golden bow. Oracle at the peak of a toothy gremlin sweating bullets, and calculating panic now found herself outside the realm of mathematics, and into the unpredictable realm of magic. With her mind racing with procedural flight maneuvers as she finally turned to her radar that was now furiously bleeping. What might have been taken as a stroke of broken connection to approaching death turned into the concept of a smile of an idea fully realized that came ear to ear on her face.

"You better have not used up all our luck CAAAAAAAAATTTTT," Oracle cried like a child knowing what they were doing was the equivalent of self-detonation from life with breaking their parent's prized possession for one chance at a sliver of something momentarily amazing in execution as she, Mona, and potentially waking Swan would be alerted to an out of control spin of madness as for one moment on the screen they would see a hellish swarm of Moth Man coming right at them.

"FIRE," Crow executed as he unleashed bullet hell with his persona's powerful burst of the white fury of drilling arrows right as it would seem every single shot would shred the Phantom Thieves to pieces a chain reaction of shadow-mistified explosions blotted the sky as the attacks murdered droves of Mothman in a drove that consumed the very sight of the UFO Necronomicon out of existence of sight. Crow's gun arm dropped to his side unable to register what he was dealing with anymore beyond the scope of reality. He had decemated their members in perfect calculation as he had always done. Their Banishments were his to claim, and yet... the devil's luck had beat out pure skill... as he watched the hoard of Moth Man decimated fall eroding from the sky like stained angels he couldn't bear the madness of logical dejection. Everything Bruja had trained him on as her prodigy elite in training seemed challenging now... no...

"I swear Swan your denial of how things are to be won't be tolerated. I won't rest peacefully... until I've snapped that pretty... disgusting little neck of yours," he hissed to himself about to give chase until his own comm channel opened up the voice that spoke through confused him even going so far as to cause a twitch of unsettled feelings through his body, but his punctuality remained efficient.

"Yes Ma'am? I see... I may not like it... but I know better than to not respect orders from the top. Yes, I'll inform my mentor and Abyss," the call ended he gripped his fists for a moment, but the emotional annoyance passed orders were orders.

"Phoenix, Countess, Syren, Arachnee. Finish up your scenarios as best you can a recall is about to be executed I'll delay it as long as I can so it better damn get some results," Crow warned the others out counter now placed on how much longer they could keep this hunt on. If they came back empty handed it would be on them at this point. He looked one last time to where the Swan had taken flight with her little outer space teammate a new feeling of the direct line of hatred now being bonded with a girl with no worth to her name.

"WHY DID I THINK THIS A SOUND OPTION AHHHHHH," Oracle screamed as Necronomicon spun out of control colliding with too many MothMan to the point her persona holding its form was dangerously in question as they spun out of the torrent of Mothman still dangerously flying wy to close to the edge of the left side of the palaces expansion. With all her mental might Oracle tried to careen control of Necronomicon holding its flight so close to impact that a hair could be used to measure the distance between them and the ground. However as de-acceleration was achieved collision was unavoidable as they hit digging, and pumping a few times until Oracle was able to mentally command a distorted blotched mess of a Necronomicon back into the sky though low enough to use the buildings as cover from sight. With the worst of it all over Oracle fell off the tendrils that held her to the console collapsing as she breathed wildly into a hyperventaled fit. She had never pushed herself to that extreme before and never wanted to again.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

~The Syrens Web~

That Weird girl That Weird girl Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

CRASSSHHHHH

Both Arachnee and Prophet found themselves interlocked into an aerial pursuit with Shotgun, and scythe. Spurring a spinning flurry of sparks as the two bulleted straight through a glass window rampaging, and rolling throughout a supply depot. Finally breaking their interlock Prophet found himself pushed off with Arachnee's feet giving an advantage of strength she pole-vaulted him straight into a collection of cement bags causing him to wince from the contact as he landed hard behind the stack.

"Not going to lie I am not as bothered by the whole Fixer thing, but Skewering you will really get me some good rubbing it in smack talk points if not award bell over my piscine friend," she laughed spinning like a sideways saw blade jumping over the cement pile to saw him in half. Rolling away from the maniacal girl magic saw trick Prophet charged right in using the buttstock of his weapon to ram into her leg disorienting her movement long enough to catch her armor sash. Pulling with all he had Prophet flipped her into a shoulder against a cement pile before jumping back, and unleashing a point-blank shotgun blast piercing her through the bags and creating a nasty explosion of cement dust covered in black blood to overtake the room.

"Not going to lie the hyper fixation you all have on that is disturbingly unprofessional," Prophet annoyingly murmured as he slowly took a step to the side waiting for any sign of his opponent unaware of her transition of the scythe to mechanical spider legs having her high above him unnoticeable thanks to the cement with a simple release of placement she dropped ready to impale him in four different ways until her mind spasmed so hard she let off a deafening scream as she could feel Jorogomo being overwhelmed by psio, and agi energy attacks. With the element of surprise Prophet was able to counter extending out his left hand as his arm launcher trigger shot an agi grenade colliding with two of Arachnee's mechanical limbs burning the hair stings holding them together. Even in the intensity of the moment Prophet aimed in to take advantage of the opening made for him firing the last volley in his shotgun upwards breaking the guard of her other two mechanical limbs as he jumped up delivering a legit mid-air uppercut.

The shock of the double whammy to the brain causes Arachnee a complex disorientation as Prophet reloads his tri-barrel shotgun before spinning into an elbow bombing. Crashing with Arachnee back into the ground a violent cough up of black blood escapes her lips. Attaining the goal to end this now in interrogation his hands moved to point the barrel at her to get her to surrender, but as the moment came it was unfortunately lost as it was his turn to receive an extreme wave of pain pierced into his own brain as Rasputin was impaled by Jorogomo off in the distance. Stumbling back from the mental pangs Arachnee seeing her moment flipped back up delivering a fast roundhouse kick guiding his face right into the wall behind him.

Before Prophet could reorient himself as he turned to where Arachnee had been he was instead greeted by a barrel thrown into his very being slamming him up against the wall as a wave of pain took over his entire body from the impact. The spider girl having now recovered her other mechanical parts reformed them into her scythe as she rushed forward with a precise slash slicing through the barrel, and Prophet's left shoulder. Clenching his teeth as black blood escaped his wound Prophet took mental action rolling forward as Arachnee winded up for another swing as he sprawled out into a slide away from her before kicking off the ground mad rushing for her.

"You dumb moutherfucker let's go kekekekeke," Arachnee laughed in excitement at her opponent's lack of self-preservation as she pulled out her six shooters however as he extended out his left hand she mentally twitched in reaction immediately rolling away in preparation for another agi grenade instead was met with an empty click sound revealing he had spooked her into a false action.

"Sure about that profile you're making on me," Prophet chuckled in a taunt causing a flustered blush on a peeved off Arachnee's cheeks as she stomped in frustration before her mechanical limbs extended out snatching four more barrels before unleashing bullet hell upon her opponent reloading his arm launcher with a bufu grenade he continued his pursuit of the red/white spider zigzagging left, and right past her gunfire. Infuriated by his picking up tempo she barrel tossed one of the four barrels at him like donkey kong forcing him to leap over into a roll earning a shot threw the left hip halting him. Triggering his grapple hook Prophet snagged the thrown barrel pulling with all of his might to bring it back swining into the path of a barrel hammering down for him bashing the attack away, but only momentarily as it came back swinign. With a quick lung backward he blasted the barrel into pieces with his shotgun before grabbing a hammer from one of the supplie barrels throwing it at the spider girl disarming her left pistol with a painful precision on the backhand of her left arm.

Deteriorating the gunfire he went for it again into a long stride as she screamed obscenities of his crude mannerisms of evolving fighting style. As he neared the edge she purposefully slammed the last two barrels together creating a blunderbuss ricochet of wooden debris to stagnant his approach yet wildly he took it on getting jabbed, and pierced by quite a few pieces of debris as he finally closed in on her tackling her at full speed uplifting her as her mechanical arms latched onto him in a painfully back popping bear hug as they both went through another plummeting downhill from the supply building. The grip on each other was broken as they crashed through a wooden wall splitting the two up on each end of the bar they had crash coursed into. With neither willing to let the other have the edge almost in a synced pattern they both barrel rolled into a slide unleashing torrents of bullet fire upon each other. Small bursts of black blood geyser off both their bodies as no one can swap into defense for fear of giving the round to their opponent. Upon both running out of ammo Prophet finally took further action kicking himself midslide underneath a table that he uplifted before tossing at Arachnee.

"Kekekekeke times up... clever son of a bitch...," Arachnee broke into a summersault regaining her footing as she reformed her scythe slashing the table in half ready to snatch her target but as the two slices of the table past her reveal a zio grenade made her eyes go wide as at point blank range it discharged her weakness sending overwhelming short-circuiting waves through her being as Prophet finally was able to close the distance on her grabbing the front of her necks armor he proceeded to toss her over his shoulder before spinning into a perfect mach punch into her abdomen sending her sprawling out another window wrecking into the roof of the building lower downhill than the one she had just been in. As Prophet gave chase he could suddenly feel Rasputin returning to him the information of what was happening over there quickly loading into his brain... another meta-merc had made it past the defense team... shit. Landing he suddenly realized this fight was strangely far away from the gate to the side. Something wasn't right here Arachnee's mission should have been to assist, or at the least cut off before returning.

"What are you up to," he pondered while pointing his gun now having Arachnee legitimately trapped into an interrogation stance.

"Heh, like I said there's a lot of brownie points people are willing to spend to get at you for Fixer, or any of you for that matter. Your groups growing too wild for anyone's comfort," Arachnee smiled as it suddenly clicked the meta-mercs weren't counter-attacking their raid on the Palace... they were simply going staright for them. They didn't care at this point about the Palace. The Phantom Thieves were seen as the bigger prize. A growl escaped Prophet's lips as this was something that couldn't have been projected given what info the PT's, and Baron had informed him about them this was rather left field. They wanted them in particular and were willing to throw this contract right out the door for that. The "why webs" of potential expanded way too far for validating logistically, rationally, or even emotionally. Even with Baron's warning that taking down Fixer would make waves this was different their whole system was based on professionalism even with something of their ire in sight the goal of their image would be still more important so what was the push here? Why did this not match at all with how these Meta-Mercs function... there was something more to this again ringing in his head.

Unfortunately, Prophet's overthinking would be his undoing as Arachnee in her moment of recovery stabbed into multiple parts of the old school roof causing the tiles to cave and slide destroying the holy man's footing as he dropped and slid down with the swarm of tiles making it impossible to regain footing or stop momentum pulling out his gun to trigger his grapple hook only for it to get shot out of his hand by Arachnee as she jumped after him as he fell off the building. Yet before she could trigger whatever she was doing Jorogomo returned to her in a painful spurt thanks to Countess. Falling off to the side pass Prophet in pain the green-garbed monk went for the capture until suddenly, and unnaturally he started to move. Left, right, up, down, sideways, spinning, flipping in every single direction possible was being performed by the holy monk before suddenly he came to an abrupt halt suspended in the air slanted to the left with his hands stretched out wide. It took only a moment of persistence through nausea, and disorientation to realize that what Prophet had befallen was a string LITERAL series of hair strings wrapping around his body latching, and tying him up a foot above the ground. Any attempt to resist or break caused the strings to tighten or pull on other parts of his body.

"That matador backscratcher wanna be bitchy love sick puppy... oh imma hit her with a metal chair when I get my webs on her," Arachnee shot up into view from where she had crashed originally hissing in pain from both the mental return of Jorogomo, and the impact with the ground she had just laid experience to thanks to the after mentions matador meta-merc. During the huffs of pain from their engagement Arachnee touched onto her communicator as Prophet did the same thing letting the comm line open up to Oracle.

"Kekekeke your freaking insane man kekekeke... oh the pain. You rushed at me like death, and life was an afterthought. It is a wonder you're still alive in this sort of world, but I think I can see why you were able to overwhelm Fixer. Only someone willing to run straight into death's Maw without any concern for themselves could have done that," Arachnee laughed pulling out and crushing a healing item as her bullet wounds, and bruises started to heal, and warp out of existence.

"Oye Syren... the Holy Man's in the Web coordinate section 4.567 to 8.213," Arachnee hissed into her comms.
 
"I'd love to stay and play with you a bit more, but looks like I have a date with one of your pals. Tata~"

Panther pondered what she meant by this as she collapsed to the ground holding her gut. She was also moved back by the wave to the far side of the room. She groaned and felt like she was dead but she wasn't. Why didn't the merc banish her? That was a big mistake on her part because Panther was going to chase after her. "Jeez, she would make a terrible date," Panther mused to herself as the girl got up and took out a gem and crushing it to heal herself. She felt like she should notify one of her teammates that she was alive but that could wait for later. Panther wondered if she could manage to catch up to Syren before she had a date with one of her pals.

Who was it? Imato? Shiro? Mona? Masami? Even Sougo?

Panther wondered who it was, as she scaled down the budding carefully. She was like a superhero in the Metaverse but she did not want to fall from this height. Panther made it on the ground and chased after the glimpse of Syren in the distance determining to finish what they started. She was concerned about her parting words though and was fearful of what that might mean.

"Hey I am not done with you yet," Panther yelled out after her while trying to shoot her with her submachine gun. Unlikely the bullets would hit but it would hopefully spark a reaction for the mermaid merc.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
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And so this chaotic bout of metamercs and phantom thieves nears its climax. This region of the specific palace could only take so much more punishment, lest they want the ruler in the real world experience adverse effects. The higher ups had warned each and everyone of the mercs to be careful with their operations, especially when it involved entering a client's palace. And yet Maestro had purposely omitted such warnings on this specific operations.

The sword of Surtur was Maestro's latest creation, a powerful weapon that consumed the vitality of it's user with each swing in exchange for exponential destructive power. Of course, such a weapon would eventually take its toll on its user, but thanks to Phoenix's innate ability, he was able to wield it longer and more effectively than other candidates. "Is that so, Valkyrie?" The aura of heat from phoenix dissipated as he converged his energy into the blade which grew more radiant by the second. "Do you think you are the first one to make such a threat? Do think you will be the last?" Even as he spoke, he felt fiery the of flames gradually weaken as he struggles to remain conscious.

"Hehe...always the same all of you..." Phoenix did not offer any resistance towards the moves against him, in fact, he mostly took the strikes head on. Each punch from Thrud shatter whatever armor that remained, revealing the black under suit of a young man. From the small rips and tears, it was obvious that phoenix was someone took very good care of their skin, making sure that it smooth and pristine. Heartbreak's decisive thrust struck true, her spear piercing through whatever armor was left on Phoenix, leaving it's tip protruding on the on the other side of the avian merc's body. "ughh.."

Glowing blood began to trickle down from her spear, whatever heat it once had was almost completely absent. And yet the blade's glow remained as strong as ever.

Maestro, watching all the way from the meta merc's stronghold couldn't help but smile, in anticipation of the second awakening.

The energy from glowing sword began to flow back into the limp body, immediately prompting Phoenix to push back against the two entities sandwiching him. Once freed from their grasp, a humanoid phoenix would appear behind him, slowly burning itself away to fuel its master's recovery. "Fret not, my dear master, for this is not the end for you. Your passion and fiery shall continue burning long after I am gone....but worry not there will soon be another to accompany you..." and with those final words, the phoenix begins burn away into cinders, ashes of dark. "Suzaku..." The merc spoke, clutching onto remnants of his old persona.

And from the same hand that had clutch the ashes, something else had awakened. A new flame was ignited, burning brighter than before. The azure flame would travel to his face and then to his body, burning away his old form and reforming it into something new. With his armor full reformed, he sets his eyes on Heartbreak, eager to thank her for her "encouragement" towards his reincarnation.
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"I see. Maestro always did like pushing us to our limits. I must thank you, Heartbreak. You have played your part well in the contribution of my reincarnation." Phoenix spoke, sounding a lot calmer than before. The merc was still busy studying the new features of his armor to formulate a plan of attack. But if the legends are to be believed, reincarnations of a being tend to be a lot stronger than the older versions.


Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
~ Mona

The faux-neko was sure that both of his gambling-attempts via Miracle Punch had basically struck jackpot considering the rush of power he felt when unleashing the attack during both instances, but if he really had then how the hell was Crow still standing?! Sure it was nothing like striking the elemental weakness he and Robin Hood held but the fact that neither critical strike seemed to phase the royally-dressed merc was causing the Garu-user more stress than he'd like to admit. But that didn't matter! At least with the launch he should have more than enough time to get Swan away from the other murderous avian which will allow him to simply revive-

Something wasn't right, a searing pain upstarted in Mona's cognition as all his forward momentum was stopped. How persistent was this bastard..?

Zorro was recalled upon Mona's vehicular form striking the persona, causing an intense amount of stress upon the faux-neko but that was only the start of their problems as his metal frame became well acquainted with the nearby water tower. Even with the metal hide he boasted while in this form, there was nothing he could call upon as Crow grew ever closer to not wanting to banish the lovely yet unconscious Swan, but having the desire to kill her. Though like a cryptic angel sent to save them, Oracle had smacked Crow away via Necronomicon's swift appendages before descending the already beaten water-tower onto the merc. A quick shift from van to thief, and Morgana had promptly joined his downed ally and the navigator within the oddity of a persona. Surprisingly he wouldn't argue with the navigator, and instantly brought Zorro forth to start his work.

"I can do this... Their not the only ones who can bestow a second chance." Mona spoke to himself, seemingly trying to calm his quaking nerves before casting the spell with a simple heavy breath. "Zorro, Recarm..!" Having learned the skill shortly after Swan had preformed it on the brutish Tragedy back in the Matriarch's palace, it was clear the cat was not as efficient with the healing capabilities his persona held as it took the masked gentleman resting glowing green hands upon Swan before the effect fully took place to bring their lovely bird back into the fight, albeit still relatively weakened due to the limited capabilities of Recarm.

The next few moments were merely nothing more than utter chaos within the confines of Necronomicon. Everything from the erratic flying to the constant changes of speed to ensure they wouldn't be caught into Crow's assault was causing Mona's head to spin more than it already was. "I'M NOT A CAAAAAAAT... YOU STUPID FROOOOOOOOOOG!!!!" From Crow's onslaught to them being entangled in a murder of dying Mothmen caused even more mayhem until the trio eventually found themselves among the buildings to conceal their position. "M... Mediarama..." Mona called upon Zorro once more to moderately heal all of their physical stamina before the cat would fall onto his back due to dizziness and general exhaustion, sharing the ground with Oracle.
 
Blue hair fluttered behind Syren as she zigzagged through the streets to get to Arachnee and Prophet. She glanced back at one point, only to find herself doing a double-take because the Thief clad in red was following and keeping up with her quite easily. "Persistent little thing isn't she?" Syren smile yet if it wasn't for the visor, her eyes would contradict with an irate expression upon the top half of her face. She then turned sharply left into one of the streets that ran next to a river-way of the city.

"Well if she hasn't had enough, let's see if she's had her fill after this." She then launched a Bufu attack into the wall that kept the river from flowing into the streets and cracked it. Water flooded the area violently and sloshed large waves against the sides as Syren used more of her bufu ability to ice up some of the water to create a platform beneath her. With it she slid over the water, surfing with the unruly waves as shadows tried to take cover. What she didn't consider was the fact that Panther could just jump onto the set of buildings on Syren's right to still catch up to her while safely steering clear of the water.

Thinking that this maneuver surely got Panther to back off, this soon was off the forefront of her mind as a large, black tentacle shot up from the water in front of her. She almost crashed into and barely was able to swerve around it. She then noticed more began sprouting up and down the street as some of them grabbed screaming shadows who were begging for their lives to be spared. "Shit! I totally forgot this palace had one of these!" She frustratingly yelled as she threw her trident at another tentacle in front of her that would have been another obstacle.

That Weird girl That Weird girl
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After Tragedy forced Countess off of him, she rolled on her side and back to her feet while crouched. When she looked back up at Tragedy at first he seemed to have his usual defiant look until his expression turned grave. With how distant his gaze suddenly became, it seemed as if he was listening intently over something. Was it something over his comms maybe? Regardless, whatever it was he was reacting to, it created a shift in his attitude. Curious with this sudden change in tone and what his next move will be, she let him pick up his blade. As he buffed up his weapon, Countess decided to take this chance to do that same in preparation as a purple wisps began to seap from her claws. Even though she also knew him as Jester, she still felt the need to take a precautionary measure when it came to him. "Bold of you to assume you can take me on all by your lonesome. I didn't think we were that close yet."

When Tragedy finally made his first attack by going straight for her claws, she was able to successfully block it and swiped at him with her other set of blades. "Nice try! I was forced to upgrade since our last little encounter. Here, let me give you a demonstration of what these girls can do now, hahaha!" To further prove the integrity of her weapons she gave an onslaught of rapid slashes directly onto his chain blade yet with the force to push him back slightly with each swipe. It was as if she were openly mocking him by using his prior tactic knowing this it would be futile yet entertaining to herself. With the last attack, it pushed him back further than the other times, leaving just enough of a gap for Countess to perform a cartwheel. She balancing momentarily on her claws before doing an airborne barrelroll jump, and with an outstretched hand towards the end she tried to do another slash yet this time, she wasn't aiming for his weapon. She was making an attempt to slice his torso. Whether the attack would land or not, Tragedy would be able to sense the negative energy of despair coming off her blades.

Anthem Anthem
 
And of every moment for this to happen, it had to be this one. Heartbreak had committed to banishing Phoenix if she had to, only for him to be revived by some dastardly miracle contrived by this Maestro. And his Persona in turn sacrificed its original form, soon to awaken anew. The flames seemed to seethe within him, as if a long-active volcano on the verge of its true, most devastating eruption.

But it was at this moment that Heartbreak and Thrud could not back down. His destructive power could only have grown from what it was a minute ago. They had to contain it as long as possible, until the other Thieves pulled off their goal.

So it was now or never, then.

"Let us...conclude this struggle." She had not suffered from the heat so severely since the first time she and Ann dove into a palace, faced with a power that uniquely threatened her, and threatened to outpace her...

Heartbreak let out a furious bellow as she leapt forward with all her strength, moving in sync with Thrud. Soaring through the air, both of them connected with their fists against Phoenix...and that was the trigger for the volcano to erupt.

A pillar of flame, perhaps not even fully under his control, exploded forth from the point of contact. The devastating impact flung the thief and her Persona back several meters, flames continuing to lick at them for several seconds before dying down.

Despite their determination, Heartbreak fell on one knee next to Thrud, her armor not only singed but melting at the edges. Not destroyed, but close to it. The both of them could use a rescue from someone else capable of operating at long range...

TreasureSniper TreasureSniper Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Anthem Anthem
 
~ Tragedy

"I assure you, I am more than enough." Tragedy would say in quick retaliation before his attack was blocked, the clashing of metal sending reverberations through his arms. So she wasn't kidding about the upgrades, obviously, considering during their last meeting his cane was able to break down the bladed appendages like a hammer to rubble. As Countess unleash her assault, a mimicry of his own lashing out from the previous palace, the Fool remained quick on his feet as he was able to evade the first few swipes but eventually had to give in and allow the hemomaniac to strike her blades against his cane a few times. The despair that they let off, it was certainly an odd enchantment but perfect for how she acted in battle and even for how she fought in general. Dust lightly kicked up from the ground as the boy was sent back a couple of meters from the last strike upon his weapon, leaving his breathing intensified by the slightest amount compared to before. But to have such a reaction from just blocking alone, he was starting to feel the effects of being unable to properly rest before this incursion.

Though the lovely Countess wouldn't give him a moment to breath, as to be expected she had immediately used the momentum of a cartwheel to transition into a dangerous slashing attack. Even blocking with his own powerful weapon most likely wouldn't mitigate all the damage this time, though a new idea came to the Fool's mind. Cryptic was a decent distance away, not only that but he was hyper-focused on hacking the mental barrier and alongside Oracle being elsewhere... now was a better chance than ever. With a quick smack to his smartwatch, Tragedy was equipped with the armor he dawned as Jester though not the full suit. His arms were armored while the rest of his body remain in his Phantom Attire, luckily the arms were more than enough for the boy to block with one and draw his semi-loaded revolver with the other. "Well isn't this Deja Vu, my love?" A shot rung out from the firearm, striking Countess dead-on with the intention to knock her out of the air.

Her despair versus his mania, the odds were equalized by a slight amount thanks to the gauntlets he dawned but both would know that this idea had to be short-lived if the thief wanted to remain unsuspected by the other Phantoms. But with the few moments he had, Tragedy was prepared to do what he does best and put on a show. Tragedy rushed forward with his usual swiftness, using his cold metal grip to grasp Countess by the neck and lift her enough to where her feet were unable to make contact with the ground. "Which one of us will falter first..? Haha... Who will be the first to bleed?" With his own little psychotic chuckle, Tragedy dropped Countess into a point where he struck her abdomen with the handle of his iced cane before kicking the bloody royal away to create distance once again.

"First one to do so buys dinner, I'd say that's fair~" Against Countess, the boy couldn't help it but to flirt and even imply a date. Though he was quick to return to the heat of combat as he sent out two more shots from his revolver, leaving him with no more ammo left. No other options left, he charged forward while wielding his iced cane similar to that of a tonfa to attack the merc head-on.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor
 
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~Minimum Knowledge, High Hazard~

Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

Cryptics rush to the wall was hosted with ease thanks to Tragedy's stratagem, yet just like he had predicted upon the approach with the monolith wall the puzzle in question originally seen as a chalkboard morphed into something more complicated swishing around before becoming a glob of imagery. The pieces themself became dry almost wooden covered in paint creating a more direct mind-numbing vision of half sphere on the wall. Blinking a few times uncertain how to proceed he slowly lifted a finger about to turn to the fight in the distance aiming to request some jolly cooperation on this madness. Yet upon the ultra-violence scene of Countess'es, and Tragedy's tango, he did not want to gain... ire from either party. With that said though...

"Oracle... the wall puzzle board has dehydrated, Pinocchio'ed, and turned into a sphere..."

"It's doing what now? Dear freaking lord is this woman's mind a damn jumbled mess?"

"I think that was a given when she shot someone over a film career... and then filled her mind with pirates, ballroom folk, and tentacles..."

"Fair point. Alright just explain the screen to me."

"Well, it's wooden with two different types of painting, and kinda reminds me of a Rubix cube... oh it also has heightened edges of handle-like protrusions that remind me of a cauldron of the Baba Yaga maybes it's an egg that we need to hatch the Dancing Hut, or a cauldron to which we must sacrifice a monstrosity to hallucinogenic nightmares... I nominate the Kuchisaka-Onna Tragedy seems... wanting to mingle with."

"That is not a viable sequence of words to a sentence, but try pulling it out."

"Alright. Oh, it came right out now it is a Rubix cube. Actually, I think I am noticing a pattern of letters. Maybe I can form the answer Time Current from it."

"HA, excellent treat it like a puzzle, and report to me when you got it OH SHIT."

Cryptic flinched in tympanic membrane-induced pain as his ears rang from the sudden sequence of screams from both the navigator and the neko cryptid as he cut the call off. Starting to work aggressively on the placement and sequence of the sphere given his ability to be a one-track mind Cryptic forgot about all around him silencing the world around him with his trust in Tragedy as high as one could have placing their life in the hands of another. The boy started to move quickly, figuring out which color was sequenced to which word. At a fast pace non-stop spinning of Rubix Cube parts Cryptic's analytical mind bleeds true. The boy only paused at the sudden roulette of explosions out in the distance from other fights sounding a lot closer than originally planned.

"Case Closed," Cryptic nodded happy with his work as his hands slapped onto the sphere halting on the spinning to create a forefront ball that easily read "Time Current". Yet as he attempted to push it back in the echo of gunshots he halted looking off into the distance where Tragedy was fighting Countess. Given the collected number of prior echoes, Tragedy was out of ammo against someone immune to physical damage, with a mentality to charge when cornered rather than be strategic, combined with mental lapse of judgment... shit. Cryptic hesitantly started to unsheath his tanto watching the sphere slowly lock into place a wave of trembling overtaking the mental gate as he again turned to the battlefield only briefly noticing the sphere fade from existence.

"...Curse the concept of emotional baggage," Cryptic muttered under his breath as he ran off in the direction of the fight.

...............................................................................

~Well... Didn't See That Coming...~

Nellancholy Nellancholy

As Heartbreak, and Thrud were thrown into the pits of the destruction of volcanic plumage the strange loud sound of aggressively spinning wooden wheels could be heard out in the distance behind her as a volley of what appeared to be bags of coins were launched all around Phoenix. Upon impact with the ground, and the meta merc himself a mass erupting of coin, and smoke overtook the battlefield blinding the Meta Merc from the Phantom Thieves wherabout. Improbably the very same wagon that had saved Heartbreak, Panther, and Tragedy last trip appeared with Shadow Takeshi manning it once more. Before much time could be expressed the behemoth of a chef Shadow Oppai lugged Thrud up on top of the Wagon surprisingly supporting her weight as Shadow Tabano opened the wagon sheet.

"Come on this challenge is a little wild for anyone's liking. I hear there is a better ticket chance target down near the supply district," she spoke pulling Heartbreak into the Wagon as the Kelpie horse shadows started to pull the Wagon away from the scene as Shadow Tabano started to chant some Dia string spell to slowly heal up Heartbreaks wounds.

"What's the firebird doing? Is it giving chase... Little lady that was a hell of a solo showing your one insane lass. Why were you holding out so stubbornly to win that fight," Shadow Takeshi first asked Shadow Oppai with the happenings of Phoenix before directing a compliment to Heartbreak for her unrelenting valor in the face of such insane odds. The three shadows had seen the whole thing originally planning to have to jump Phoenix until all the insanity ignited with them realizing how unlikely they were to succeed. However, since Shadow Tabano had recognized Heartbreak the trio had decided to pick her up to work together on another target down the port town fighting another one of her friends figuring five versus one would be better odds.

"No it seems to be strangely stationary," Shadow Oppai said with some extreme concern as to why he wasn't chasing them with extreme malicious intent.

..............................................

TreasureSniper TreasureSniper

The answer of such only being privy to Phoenix himself as his comm line was opened by none other than Abyss himself.

"Young man I am honored to see you take to NEW HEIGHTS. Your very adjusting presence is a danger to the mission's contract itself. Follow immediate Awakening procedures and abort to Valhalla immediately for a cool down inspection I'll be taking reign again to judge further due process," Abyss spoke into Phoenix's lines as the smokescreen cleared up returning him to the sight of where Heartbreak and Thrud had absconded to. Yet Abyss's unusually collected tone made a big divet to how far off procedure they had all gone in his absence. Disobeying a direct order at this point was likely to follow punishment even with Abyss'es unknowing of the abort order on the Palace itself.

However high above the remaining storm of Mothman were converging towards him as his bright light of energy signaled them forth in a flurry of madness hurdling towards him as if threatening to engulf him with their sheer numbers.

......................................................

Nellancholy Nellancholy

"If it lost interest it lost interest come on everyone we has a chance to get a ticket we can't lose sight now," Shadow Tabano gleefully hummed as she finished healing Heartbreak's wounds before opening the wagon side to reveal the fight between Tragedy, and Countess out in the distance. With the absence of Cryptic, Prophet, and Oracle no doubt the shield maiden could put together how off course the mission objective was.

"Don't worry we will provide assistance that way we can all cash in together," Shadow Tabano gleefully, and a bit greedily smiled at the chance to take to the final adventure of the palace Ruler. It was unending the oddity of the mind that was the palace ruler's effect on these equally unusual shadow doppels it was as if they were projecting the weight of her actions to doing what she did to take off in her adventure all at the violent cost of another.

.....................................................................................................................
 
Tragedy's attack did indeed stop Countess' forward momentum as well her onslaught of attacks. At first, the shot didn't seem to do much as she staggered which left her vulnerable to be caught in his grasp. Countess slightly grimaced as she being head up by the neck and Countess' eyes looked into his. The foreign feeling of fear invaded her mind as a brief thought came to her mind by seeing his psychotic smile. Is this what many of my enemies in the past have felt before their demise? The powerful feeling of having someone at your mercy. The endless options of what one can do when prey has been cornered. The riveting anticipation of what you might do next when adrenaline is rushing through and you are unhinged. Whether it was one-sided or not, Countess felt a connection to Tragedy so much that she felt that she understood him and he had the potential to understanding her. This in turn oddly enough made her break out into a grin as well. With each encounter Countess had with this individual, she seemed to be more and more convinced that he was a good fit for her creepy affection. "Deja vu... indeed..." Countess managed to croak out the words right before he dropped her back down and was kicked away with a witty response he made.

Her eerie smile remained plastered as she remained stationary while he blatantly was asking her out before then shooting at her. The red merc stepped forward a bit as the bullets landed into each of her shoulders making them pull back with each impact and she would roll them back into her regular posture. Judging from her performance thus far, she clearly was quick enough to have done something about not completely taking the bullets. No, she purposely took them. It was only when he charged at her that she took significant action by blocking his cane with one of her claws in such a way that it tilted forward and one of the appendages caught the very corner of his mouth. With the blade remaining and the effects it gave off, there would be a weird sensation of being able to taste desolation. It would be strangely enough be best described as numbing; almost as if the senses were desperately trying to grasp and was close to feeling something, anything, yet there was nothing. "That is a deal I would love to make..."

While in a deadlock with him, with her other hand she took the other side of his cane and pulled so that it could extend out to expose the bladed chain that was within it. As this was going on, the blood that came from her bullet wounds became more bloody until the two bullets were seemingly pushed out by her own ichor. "If it weren't for the fact that it's too late! It's a bet I'm more than willing to lose for!"

Countess placed the top of her arms against the blade and released the cane so that retracted as it sliced her. At the same time her claws slashed Tragedy as well, tearing through the flesh of his cheek, elongating the corner of his mouth farther back as she pulled away. Her arms dripped heavily with blood as it poured down, covering her claws but slowly the blood began to be manipulated to coagulate over the rest of her body to form a second layer of armor.

"I have just one question for you now." The deranged noble threw her arms up with a cackle, causing splatters of arched bloody marks to trail around her and Tragedy. Suddenly red spiked stalagmites shot out of the trails of blood all aiming towards Tragedy. By now her second layer of armor had finished forming, taking on the unsettling image of someone with deep red exposed muscle for most of it yet she still retained her feminine figure. "Was winning this little bet worth it... my darling Jester?" The horrific woman asked as she looked upon his face which now fit his moniker fairly well.

Anthem Anthem
 
"He had conviction and power in equal measure." Heartbreak remarked to Takeshi's Shadow. "To prevent it burning out of control and sweeping up others in its wake, I had to meet him in kind." She felt no need to justify herself further to a Shadow, least of all one of a person who she had never met and who would likely not remember whatever she said. She let the healing spell work on her in silence, the pain of white-hot fire receding until only a phantom of that pain remained. She was tired, in body and mind. Her body was whole once more, but the energy fueling it was lacking. And it was not like her Persona was one of those devious forms that could drain the life from others...she had given all she had today, but there was a little more to go before they were done.

The light at the end of the tunnel burned instead of soothed.

Disregarding the Shadows' buzz about the ticket (they were still on that, despite their chances of victory against any of their targets being practically zero), Heartbreak lifted the latch on her gun, pulling a fresh belt of ammunition in and closing it.

And as the cart skidded to a stop and the doors flew open, a chill ran down her spine. Even looking at that person from a distance unsettled her. It was like she could see through- no, see into her. But there was everything at stake. Heartbreak would not let her take anyone's life, let alone her friend's.

Standing to her feet, Heartbreak leapt off the cart, Thrud instantly appearing to carry her on her back.

Thrud's jets spun up and ignited, a familiar motion that was no less forceful than the first time she did it.

There were people who threw themselves into danger without heed of the consequences. But some would say that real courage was knowing, even being afraid, but doing it anyway.

With that, they took to the air, the open sky allowing them blinding speed as they rushed at Countess.

"Your dance is OVER, parasite! You'll not take a life under MY protection today!"

She forced herself to raise her voice as high as she could, over the sound of Thrud's jets.

In a split second, Thrud angled down, not cutting the jets for a controlled descent but continuing at full speed, straight at Countess. Her metal wings were outstretched, aiming to buzz Countess and cut her open if she had to. Just like Phoenix: if she became more durable, Thrud would simply have to hit harder.

Shortly before Thrud could get in striking range, Heartbreak leapt off, allowing the momentum to carry her towards Tragedy. With a great sweep of her lance she passed, hoping to smash enough of the rapidly-sprouting blood spikes that he could escape.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Anthem Anthem
 
~ Tragedy

The numb sensation the blade when against Tragedy's cheek left him excited yet frightened all at the same time as the bloody dance between him and his lovely Countess was growing ever more intense. Though his mind started to race in confusion as the bloody royal started to use his weapon to bring herself harm, and the bullets he had shot before... they were pushed out sheerly by her own dark blood? No, that shouldn't have been possible to do considering how she allowed the projectiles to imbed themselves into her flesh. Before a word could even come to his mind, the harm had already come and despite the numbing the teen felt the cold steel cleaving through his skin causing him to recoil a bit from the pain and shock of it all. His mind wavered, causing the armor he had adorned to flicker in and out of corporality before shatter like glass, removing the boost they gave to the Fool's defense and attack.

Dark, crimtane essence leaked in-between Tragedy's fingers as he put his free hand to his face, in shock of the injury that occurred. Tragedy would carefully feel the area, his ruby-red digits widening as he realized just how severe the mutilation of his face was. Along the right side of his visage, skin that normally covered the teeth and gums had been completely cleaved away leaving the Fool's mouth a bloody and ripped mess. His gaze hardened into a glare as he looked back up to the Empress, no matter how angered, how injured he was, he just couldn't deny the excitement revving in his heart. Even with a damaged visage, Tragedy grinned as blood continued to drip from his own wounds. "I couldn't be happier with the results, my love!" Looking like a beast from horror media, the extended grin etched into the boy's face didn't stop him from letting out a fit of laughter even as he was surrounded by spikes of ichor awaiting their time to strike him down.

Though that time never came.

Heartbreak's lance was a saving grace that allowed the Fool to jump back without the worry of being impaled, he would quickly take out a small bottle of pills from his satchel, downing the item almost instantly. It seems Baron's contacts had actually come in handy, the medicine would restore a moderate amount of physical stamina and small amount of mental stamina, though his ugly wound remained. "I apologize my love, show's over." Even though Countess was showing a great threat with her usage of hemokinesis, going as far as even granting herself a gnarly set of armor, Tragedy would stand tall beside Heartbreak with a wicked grin. "The sword and shield of the thieves, allied once more. I like our odds." A nod of gratitude went to Heartbreak, before the boy's mask started to burn away for but a moment.

"Loki! Megido!" Tragedy's cane, Heartbreak's lance, both weapons would receive an enchantment of Almighty upon them as a burning white glow emitted from both armaments. Even though this left the Fool empty on mental stamina once again, this gave both brawlers a way to strike without triggering Countess' damned absorption.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
With new power surging through his veins, Phoenix was struggling to focus on the battlefield. His aura of heat was debilitating even to him, forcing him to stumble to the ground a few times. It was obvious enough to everyone around that he hadn't gotten used to his newfound condition. "It….burns it burns so strong…" it was different from before, he felt this heat himself, almost as if he's burning himself away.

It took him a few seconds of listening before realizing that he was receiving commands from Abyss. With some effort, he propped himself up with his blazing blade before finally replying to the whale of a man. "Understood, preparing for exit." With a shaky voice, phoenix prepared to take flight. With great speed and power, he rocketed upwards into the sky, his light piercing through the clouds high above. Even he was surprised at how much faster he was compared to his previous form.

But before he could leave, a massive swarm of Mothman converged towards him, drawn to his radiant light. The wave of insects wildly pressed on, closing the distance and earning a look of disdain from the merc. Seeing this as a good opportunity to test the potency of his newfound power, Phoenix halted his ascent and decided to call upon his new persona. “Reduce them to ash, ICARUS” His new persona was a lot brighter than his previous one, appearing much more human, with only his incandescent wings giving away an avian motif. “Maragidyne!” With flick of his fingers, Icarus unleashed a concentrated beam of fire, instantly incinerating the swarm of insects that were caught within the beam. Even the groups close enough to the proximity of the initial area of effect would catch fire, violently burn away, fall dead, and reduce nothing to but cinders. Fortunately, the endpoint of the beam was towards a large body of water, one that quickly evaporated, leaving behind a large sinkhole-like formation full of evaporating water.
Uk50o4SvyVr56zTAIvoKQyoxc9GAHupMMVdbSwdV6J_umm0atbZ7huyVjEnBarS9Yfsf1x7H5XfP_zV4rci3lsCWhPfe3NNUOsuEiCv1kumnJDDt7p-qW-sv5ghFyij39sjaetk9VWw4BvJ30PsLK-c



As the beam dissipated, Phoenix flickered for a few seconds before returning his attention to exiting the palace. From the elevated position, he watched their adversaries continue to clash with one another. They were free-spirited people, fighting with the zeal of youth and ignorance. And despite that he found himself envying them. "Phantom…thieves." Where were these people fighting for exactly? Why are they so determined to get through this palace?

Nellancholy Nellancholy Azurian Dream Azurian Dream That Weird girl That Weird girl Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

Either way, the avian's body was not taking too well with these changes. Still needing time to fully adjust to the intensity of the power. “Phoenix..heading out..” He had some second thoughts about taking Maestro’s enhancements, but even so, he was the one who agreed to it in the first place.
 
The sigh of relief Heartbreak and Tragedy shared in the split second she crashed down to aid him seemed to solidify, turning into a swirl of white energy that engulfed them at Tragedy's behest. Strength not her own filled her lance, like a gravitational force pulling at the bulky weapon, threatening to wrench it out of her hand at any moment. But her grip, like her posture, was steadfast.

There was little time to lose: She had yet to directly strike Countess, and a woman like her was nothing but relentless. For every drop of blood she lost, she would take a pint. That had to end here.

Heartbreak's muscles pulled as she put her back into her next attack, not aiming to directly strike her but giving every impression that she was.

"Countess...!" She forced her voice to turn fear into anger. "I will ensure your stench never rises again!"

She drew her lance into a wide, low sweep, the almighty energy surrounding it carving a broad gash into the ground. More than enough to sweep Countess off her feet, or mangle them if she failed to dodge.

But she was counting on that.

With such a wide ranging attack, Tragedy's more precise weapon would be able to pierce her with unerring accuracy...she bet.

Anthem Anthem Maeve Valor Maeve Valor
 
As Panther was chasing Syren, she noticed that the blue merc had attacked the wall holding the river back. The water violently flooded the area and Panther didn’t have enough time to react before she was knocked back by the waves. Hitting the ground and struggling to keep herself from being pulled back by the river’s current. Yet, the pony tailed thief did not give up as she knew that she had to stop that female merc.

Panther saw a ledge to her right where she could grab and hoist herself onto. She swam over to it, hoisting herself up and taking a quick breath. Although she didn’t have that much time to spend because a few tentacles popped out of the water. They went straight for her and grabbed her leg.

Holy shit!” Panther yelped as a few of the black tentacles popped out of the water and grabbed her. leg. She internally panicked and started to hit it with her whip to get it to let go. She managed to beat it back and bolted away from it.

Panther jumped to a building with a few tentacles following her. She didn’t dare look behind her because she knew that they were close. She then ran and jumped onto another building with the hopes of outrunning the tentacles. She across the rooftop until the tentacles stopped following her and she could afford a break.

It seemed like someone was leaving as Panther saw a bright angel like persona exit. She wondered who that was, not realizing that it was Phoenix.

The clad in red continued her chase as she jumped across buildings in the hopes of catching up with her.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor TreasureSniper TreasureSniper
 
~ Tragedy

Heartbreak was an ally Tragedy couldn't help but be inspired by, her mindset to defend and remain an never-faltering force to be reckoned with as if she was a force of nature herself. It was no wonder that the Strength Arcana was the path her Persona was aligned to. The Fool would take a deep breath before he started to step forward, watching his ally start the next assault upon the hemomaniac before them. Countess was starting to hold dear, but as long as he continued to take on the mantle of a thief he couldn't allow his thoughts and feelings stop him from assisting his allies in a combat where banishment had become a serious threat. So with the bloodied royal having dawned a brutal armor, it meant that Tragedy had no hard feelings to cope with as another battle-craze started to engulf his mind. An extra-wide grin took his visage, fueled by the injury at the corner of his mouth.

As Heartbreak charged forth to deliver a wide, sweeping blow to disorientate their foe, Tragedy would change his threaded cane into it's chain-like state once more. He would start to build momentum with the weapon, spinning it around like a ribbon-dance performance to gain enough speed that one could hear the steel cutting through the air around him. Crimson eyes locked onto Countess with newfound determination, his grin faded as it became clear his focus became absolute. "Gotcha." With a low, almost growl coming from his wound, the blaz-blue devil would unleash the built-up momentum in a singular attack that made the most of the chance bestowed upon him by Heartbreak. The end of his threaded cane would launch forth, the spear-like structure aimed for Countess' chest as it burned a brilliant white thanks to its enchantment.

~ Mona

With a low groan under faint breath, Mona would finally raise back to his… feet? Paws? Raise up from the flooring within Necronomicon after a few moments. Recarm had taken its effect as he was able to detect vitals from Swan, her HP raised to around half which should’ve been more than enough to assist the avian. Beeping from the navigating persona’s map would take the faux-neko’s attention as a major change was detected right around Panther’s position causing the garu-user to let out a deep sigh.

“Oracle, keep Lady Swan safe. I'm gonna go save Lady Panther’s tail!” The neko would declare before leaving the safety of Necronomicon. His lil’ stubby legs were moving as fast as they would carry him until he finally had enough energy to transform into his van form once more, the tires squealing as he sped off.

Mona was capable of speeding through the streets of the port with ease until he was met with the buildings, the cat shifted back to normal as he jumped up landing with surprising grace. Being met with monstrous tentacles coming from flooding wakes, the neko unleashed his scimitar upon them via slicing and dicing through them to make a twisted form of calamari. Soon enough, the garu-user would catch up with Panther as his breath was getting heavy from how physically taxing this whole incursion was. “Worry not Panther! I’ll assist you in stopping that fishy fiend!”
 
With each passing moment, the air of madness thickened around her little amorous, nuclear flame. Despite the warm blood that was encompassing her, she felt goosebumps in expectation of having her play thing bleed even more from her attack of sprouting ichor. But much to her disappointment, the moment was absolutely ruined due to a meddling, audacious pest who picked the wrong time to get involved in the battle. How dare she call ME the parasite when she is clearly the one in the way and leeching away his delicious sadistic energy from me! Countess thought as she noticed Tragedy begin to calm down as her mania only grew from having some of her fun taken away. At first, she gave Heartbreak a look filled with unwavering murderous intent until she saw that the lance was trying desperately to impale her pass the armor. "Can't you take a hint? Couldn't you tell that we were having a romantic moment?!" Towards the end her voice turned into a malevolent shriek.

Noticing that she wasn't getting anywhere with this attack, her frown quickly switched to glee... then to shock as she heard Tragedy make the command for his persona to enchant their weapons. In that instant, both of their weapons did damage though because of how her armor was designed it was hard to decipher what blood was caused by the attacks and which is the armor itself. The only way to be tell would be at an angle gauging the depth, but they wouldn't be able to since she was blasted away against a building. Dust flew into the air along with a bit of rubble. There was a moment of reprieve before a voice erupted. "Bathory!!! Make them taste their own blood!"

As the dust began to settle the intimidating and unpredictable figure approached the two as she looked like she was gliding across the floor because her narrow dress covered her legs. With the snap of her wrist holding her bladed fan, it extended out to twice its normal size as she twirled, attempting to cut both Loki and Tragedy. Countess took this time to quickly regain her footing and swayed from side to side before she tilted her head holding a crazed look at Heartbreak.

"Heartbreak the shield of the Phantom Thieves? Don't make me laugh. I'll admit that you have more of a bite than last time, but is it hard enough to break through skin?!" Countess used the remaining blood on her blades to throw out needles in her direction.

Anthem Anthem Nellancholy Nellancholy
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When the street was beginning to merge into a different one, the rushing water also began to die down until Syren smoothly jumped off her makeshift icy surfboard. She then looked back to see that Panther had surprisingly kept up with her. At first she had found her tenacity as entertaining, but now it can possibly be a hindrance. Syren knew she didn't have that much farther to go until she reached the destination so she looked farther down the street and noticed some familiar webs were placed in the area. Smiling at this Syren said aloud, "Thank goodness Arachnee always thinks ahead." Syren assumed Arachnee foresaw this happening, but was she giving her more credit than deserved? Possibly. Although this was typical of Syren to believe Arachnee was always meticulous.

As Syren sprinted towards the area with all the webs, she used her ability to go invisible and make it more difficult for Panther to find and catch her. Hopefully this way those tentacles could delay her a bit more as well. Being invisible like this made her feel more comfortable to carefully make her way to the location Arachnee sent her. It didn't take long before she finally reached the two and made herself visible as she began speaking to Arachnee, "I get that you wanted the place covered, but was this many webs necessary? It took me way too long to get here, no thanks to that one prissy bi-" Syren cut herself off as she saw Prophet. "Oh, hi sweetie~" she acknowledged Prophet as she then pointed her trident in his direction, "Miss me?"

That Weird girl That Weird girl
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Stars. No, LED lights? Swan began to wake up, unsure of what she was looking up at as she thought she vaguely remembered hearing Mona just now say something then leave. When her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she sat up carefully to see Oracle sitting at a control panel and suddenly Swan remembered that she was fighting against Phoenix. From there, she pieced together that Mona and Oracle probably helped her to get into the Necronomicon. Oracle was quickly typing away at the panel with a look of concentration as various screens were displayed in from of them. It occurred to Swan that this was the first she had ever seen the inside of the Necronomicon. Sure she had been saved by it, but she was never inside the weird persona that made her uneasy. UFOs were not on her list of things that she trusted. Although setting this aside for the time being, Swan had much more important subjects to be concerned about. Like the state of her fellow teammates.

Swan observed each of the screens until the image of Tragedy's came up on one of the screens. Mainly the state of his face was what she honed in on; Seeing that he was cut up pretty badly and looked like he was on the verge of exhaustion. She then saw that Heartbreak was with him, but even she looked down on her fighting spirit. They were up against Countess who looked... different as well, wearing different armor or something. She wasn't sure all of what was going on, but she knew she had to do something. Aching from pain still, Swan stood up and leaned against the inside the Necronomicon. "Oracle, let me down. They need help."

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
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