Chevaleresse

Hiroki barely avoided a frustrated sigh. She should have expected something along those lines, but all she had to go off of was the word of Blink and the other gods for this man being wrong, and his own for him being right. Hiroki wanted to do what was right, if she could. She hadn't thought much about it up until now; there'd been no need. Crush the opponent before you, think about how to avoid being crushed by the next. It's not as if she had to kill anyone or make a decision that affected anyone but herself. At least, until she would have claimed her prize. . . "Why should I trust you instead of the gods? And what about Cardinal trying to kill people?"

Chelchis growled again. Some other form of sorcery, and now her shield was down, too. She shouldn't have delayed. Still, there wasn't much else to do. Chelchis shoots more scrap at Yoko.

Main Cannon on where the previous attack hit the remaining Greater Lahmu. Divine Challenge Gil, I guess.

Chelchis could feel her bloodlust rising. The human was growing weak, and it showed on her face. She was tempted to go in for the kill. . . but the experienced hunter knew that prey fought the most desperately just before it fell. She didn't bother taunting her again; the feeling of Chelchis's lash, and that for all her boasting she had still failed to even wound the Baron, would be enough. Chelchis prepares to Blink once again.

Fists bursting into flame and the whole body glowing. It didn't look like a Hive sorcery, but closer to what the Guardians did. She'd have to stay wary of her; the flame wouldn't chew through her shields as easily as the techniques of some Guardians, but all signs pointed to her being much more dangerous than before, at least for the time being. None of those techniques, though, kept going if the offender was dead. More shrapnel!

"ACTIONS WILL MEAN YOUR DEATH, WRETCH. SO BE IT." The weapon in her hands roared to life again, spraying (rather indiscriminately) molten metal at Yoko. Truthfully, the human was proving more dangerous than Chelchis had anticipated, discharging that much energy from her shields with a single blow. It only steeled her resolve, though; best to eliminate this servant of Darkness now, rather than wait for the knife at her throat down the line. Scrap Cannon again.

"YOU CLAIM STRENGTH, BUT CANNOT EVEN SHATTER MY SHIELDS WITH A BLOW? I EXPECTED MORE, CONTAMINANT." She was fairly certain she couldn't dodge the next blow, but she would be able to endure it, and would almost certainly avoid the next. The Baron focused for a moment, preparing that slight push against reality with her Ether that would allow her to slip through space when Yoko attempted to hit her again. Chelchis uses Blink.

"SO YOU ARE LOWER THAN AN ANIMAL, THEN. YOUR WORDS ECHO FOUL DOCTRINES OF WHIRLWIND. THE DARKNESS THAT CAUSED YOUR PATHETIC KIND TO CALL US FALLEN IN THE FIRST PLACE! I SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED NO LESS FROM HUMANS." The shrapnel cannon snapped up, the pilot light on the end igniting as the weapon was aimed straight at Yoko. "YOU WANT VIOLENCE? I WILL CLEANSE YOUR TAINT FROM THIS WORLD, STAIN." Without further hesitation, the muzzle of the weapon let out a crack, flinging a burst of flaming shrapnel at Yoko.

"WEAK? YES, YOU ARE WEAK IF YOU ARE BEATEN DOWN. YOU ARE ALSO WEAK IF YOU FAIL TO PUT SERVANTS IN PLACE." This remark was punctuated by a pointed glance back at Yvette, before the piercing blue gaze returned to Yoko. "YOU ARE A FOOL. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. EVEN ANIMALS UNDERSTAND STRENGTH OF THE PACK. PACK DOES NOT MAKE YOU WEAK." A sort of snarl emanated from beneath the mask, left untranslated by whatever device on Chelchis's person was allowing her to speak human language. "YOU BOTH MAKE GRAVE MISTAKE AS WELL. I STAY BARON BECAUSE I AM STRONG LEADER. I BECAME BARON BECAUSE I AM STRONG. YOU WOULD BE WISE TO REMEMBER THIS, SAVAGES."

"AND YOU, HUMAN, ARE NOT CONCERNED ENOUGH WITH RESPECT. LETTING UNDERLINGS MOUTH OFF IS SIGN OF WEAKNESS. IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO DISCIPLINE THEM, YOU INVITE STRONGER LEADER TO TAKE YOUR PLACE. SAME WITH DISCARDING TITLE. MEANS YOU ARE UNWILLING TO TAKE BURDEN." Chelchis made some equivalent to a "hmph," crossing one pair of arms. "NOT THAT I EXPECT SAVAGES LIKE YOU TO UNDERSTAND."

"DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OF RESPECT, DREG." The four glowing points of Chelchis's eyes didn't seem to change (it was possible they couldn't), but they managed to hold a haughty malice nonetheless as the alien glowered at the demon before she glanced back at the magic user. The look of that vague dismissal that nobles were oh so fond of did little to lessen the latent hostility in the Baron's masked countenance. "YOUR UNDERLING HAS NOT FELT THE LASH ENOUGH. HOUSE WOLVES HOLDS NO LANDS NOW, ONLY TEETH AND DEATH FOR MACHINE-STEALERS. NOT HUMAN PLEASANTRIES."

Chelchis set about rewiring the circuitry in the rather hastily constructed cybernetics that animated the thing. It still made her vaguely uneasy, but she couldn't stand the poor work done on the thing, and hopefully stabilizing it would make it more useful in the fights to come. The energy it was giving off, while seemingly not related to the bad wiring at all, did seem fairly appealing, though. . . The new arrival prompted her to stand up from her work (having finished just as she walked in) and rise to her full height. "YOU STAND BEFORE CHELCHIS, BARON OF WOLVES." She looked the newcomer up and down. Another human, she noted with distaste, though the other smelled of something else. Something fouler, maybe, but at least it wasn't another human.

"I SEE." The blue lights behind the mask shifted slightly, as Chelchis looked over the thing again. A disconcerting creature, it was, but a fair degree less foul than other things she'd seen. "I WOULD HOPE IT WAS LESS THAN HARMLESS, AS IT DOES NOT SEEM USEFUL FOR ANYTHING ELSE." That red energy was concerning. It was likely not this SIVA, unless Hirata's world shared some deep connection with the world of the Machine-Stealers, but it reminded her of it. On a simpler level, it seemed there was something physically wrong with how it was constructed. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YOUR WIRING? CYBERNETICS NOT SUPPOSED TO SPARK."

Chelchis arrived in the room, and was met with the sight of. . . something. . . that the human scientist seemed to be finishing work on. "HUMAN. WHAT IS THIS CREATURE YOU HAVE CREATED?" The shrapnel cannon made its way into Chelchis's primary arms, though she didn't seem quite ready to fire on the thing, simply unsure. Not that the alien's body language was easy to read. . . The thing reminded her of something the Devils had been seen doing, not long before she was swept up in this strange scheme. Playing with ancient human machines they didn't understand, making it part of themselves and their Prime. Sacrilege.

Elias couldn't help his eyebrow gaining altitude again. An apparent fop, but one that already knew his way around the palace, and was eager to see a butler's less domestic skillset put to action. He supposed the latter was excusable, but there were a great many things about this man that might've been excusable held in isolation. Together, though. . . "That we should." He took off down the hall at a brisk pace; Elias moved as quickly as he could manage without risking winding himself before the upcoming physical confrontation - if there was one, anyway. He supposed that was something from his life growing up that would never quite leave him, but now wasn't exactly the time to be pondering the past. And sure enough, Pris and her assailant were already coming into view, in such a way that if he actually wanted to get away, he'd be forced to retreat further back into the mansion. "Excuse me, sir, but would you mind explaining your treatment of the good lady?" he called out, faux politeness still in his voice.

Chelchis makes something approximating a "hmph" and walks back out of the room. No other paths of exploration presenting themselves, she headed back down the other hallway, the one with the orange piping. She idly shook the hand that had been pulling parts out of the machine; she didn't want blood to set in and rust the armor, after all. Her weapon was held loosely in her lower limbs, leaving the more powerful upper ones free for the moment.

T5 Iron Lance Monk, canto to W5

Chelchis rumbled irritably at the damage. At least they hadn't mistreated the life-giving machines, but this sort of damage only came about deliberately or via gross negligence. It was good to note the hazards of the outside world; it seemed that unlike most of the solar system of the humans, this place had not been touched by the Great Machine. Not that it always created entirely peaceful worlds, but this would be called "uninhabitable" by most. And indeed, this place seemed entirely dependent on external shipments of materiel and food to survive. The Baron turned away from the computer for the moment, taking a look at the machine near it. The human parts were removed, yes, but it hadn't restarted on its own. Manual interference might be necessary. . . She immediately set about prying open some of the surrounding panels, seeing if she could get more access to the wiring and internals of the machine without damaging it, and trying to manually restart it.

Ritsu dives for cover behind Alexandria's barrier and patches herself up for [15] HP. Edmond also darts in for a quick tune-up, straining himself for a net [5] damage but healing Ritsu for [22] HP. The second of the flying beasts swoops at Venus, dealing [4] damage. Atton forms a quick plan involving himself and Venus, boosting the effective intelligence of each by 7. Bridgett blows the strange object apart with her Magic Arrow. It detonates violently, damaging the nearby Greater Lahmu for [13]. The first Bel Lahmu dives at Atton, snapping at him with too-human teeth for [13] damage before flying off. Venus fires a shot at Greater Lahmu B, blowing a hole clean through it for [71] damage! It collapses limply. Venus also recovers back to full health. Three of the lesser Lahmu jump at Ritsu again, but they clatter against Alexandria's barrier instead, dealing [11] damage to her. The other two leap at Venus, dealing [6] damage altogether. The remaining Greater Lahmu manages to swipe at Edmond as he flies past, dealing [10] damage to him. Alexandria routes power to her shields. Friedhold ducks and covers. Gilgamesh looks vaguely annoyed by the bugs swarming him. Initiative Status

Kusuke goes South. He'll fire the SHOT Trebuchet at Horde 1, and store one action for later use. Loadout+Stats

Next, investigate the screen. If there's an obvious interface nearby, piddle around with that until Chelchis can find the "on" button. If there isn't, see if it's a touchscreen and do the same.

S5 Iron Lance canto back to T5

Hiroki was taken aback, and for more than just the man's terrifying aura. "Your side? Why are you doing this, then?" She stared back at the sword defiantly from under her cowl, not that anyone save perhaps the man holding it. "You have to have a reason for endangering us all." Part of her screamed that facing this man and continuing to question him was a horrible idea; Lord had already savaged her in combat, she clearly wasn't strong enough to take opponents on of that caliber. This man would have to be godlike or an absolute idiot to challenge her at this point, and she didn't get the impression he was the latter. The other part of her, though, told her to accept the challenge; she wasn't about to let herself be intimidated because someone was taller than her, she was supposed to be one of the top fighters in all of Tempest, damnit.

Chelchis shrugged at the corpse. The smell was something she noticed, but having an ether rebreather meant she was largely isolated from such things. And it wasn't as if she hadn't seen human corpses in worse states; she'd rendered them that way herself more than once. Still, had to get that machine running. . . Chelchis reaches over and yanks the corpse out of the machine.

Investigate the funny-smelling one. Where's the smell coming from, and does it have something to do with the malfunction? Also, does anything appear to link to a computer/mainframe/datacenter/etc room?