Sutoratosu

".... damn...sleep staves..." Try as she might, the fight against the spellwork was a losing one. Her anger burned hot, only growing greater at not only being made a complete fool not just once, but now twice, only this time by some little staff-wielding harlot on a horse. Her mind worked savagely, picking and tearing at the magic, frenzied calculations and attempts at creating mental barriers to block it out only met by the thing finding another vulnerability, another way through. Her wall was crumbling, her limbs heavy. She lifted her blade, eyes burning a bright ruby as she spotted the god-forsaken opening she'd been fired on, preparing to fire off a spell of her own; if she was going to sleep, the little harlot would as well, for a very, very long time... The wind coiled around her blade, barked, bayed, practically begged to be released- she did not care if it was beyond the optimal range, she would hit that apostate no matter the amount of extra energy it took or the consequences of expending it... But before the command could be made, her eyes grew too heavy to sustain. "You...got... lucky... bitch..." She snarled under her breath, through teeth clenched so hard her jaw felt as though it would give out under it's own force. Slowly, but surely, the wind dissipated, the blade fell limp to her side, and the girl slumped against the doorframe, hovering between wake and dreams, and soon enough, totally out. But she dreamed all the while of doing nothing more... than gutting that Troubador.

"He, yeah sorry bout that. Got quite a bit to tend to tomorrow, so I figured might as well get a drink in while I can." He turned around to look at some of the others as she asked about them, taking the tankard in hand "I guess you could call us friends, sure. More like Colleagues though really- we've had a pretty long day, so when we heard about this place, we figured it'd be best to stop and stay the night." He of course, neglected to mention anything about the slaying of a Baron or the chaos and fighting that had preceded the noble's death. Those were matters far from fit to reach the keeper's ears, and he'd be damned if he was the one who got them all put out or reported because he flapped his lips more than he should've

The rider walked up to the bar, not overly concerned with the gossip of the two shipmates nearby. He figured the Monk would probably have his curiosity peaked or somethin', so he just left the ol chap to it, watching from his stool as he ordered "A pint of ale, miss, and please, skip on the foam if ya would" he said as he placed a few coins on the counter before him, enough to cover the drink itself plus a decent tip for the innkeeper.

"Well what can I say?" the rider chuckled "Ya walk into the bar dressed in your full uniform or armor after a long day's patrol, and no one really bothers to ask your age. If you're old enough to be a soldier, risk your life and what not, I guess they just figure there's no real point denying ya service. Your loss though. Anyways, enough blabbing mah man, let's go~" and with that said, the dragoon turned and headed towards the bar, confident the monk wouldn't be too far behind.

"Fair enough I guess. The dude honestly seemed a bit delusional, it was Probably was gonna end badly either way. But eh, we tried at least..." "The Tavern sounds pretty nice about now though, been a long day and all. Tell ya what, how bout I buy ya a round? We're right in between the frying pan and fire afterall, so might as well enjoy ourselves while we can."

"Uh huh, sure then." He honestly doubted that was entirely the truth, but eh, "anyways, hope they've been broadened enough here, mate. Chances are, we're gonna have us some explaining to do. If we even, ya know, go back at all. Bet that'll be reeeeal fun." "But hell, it was worth it, man." he laughed, resting both arms behind his head "You see the look on Capt'n Wandrought's face when the two of us talked back to him? Ha, classic! You'd think the guy had never met a person willing to call him out on his bullshit before. Walkin' up to us, face all scrunched up like a sour-puss and dropping judgement like he was hot shit or something."

The Dragoon finishes his Chant, leaving the monk there in silence for several moments longer. The sphere before him soon seems to have been satiated, it's pulsing coming to an end and finally rising high enough into the heavens to fade to a mere pinprick of black against the face of the full moon, and eventually, vanishing from sight altogether. Marek turned to face the man at long last, revealing the ornate blade in his hand as a he wiped the blood from it with a black cloth- an Athame, guard fashioned to resemble the crescent and full phases of the moon on either side, hilt bedecked in silver and copper accents entwining around the handle, coming to a head in a serpentine effigy serving as the pommel, eyes of ruby that gleamed like fire. "Yes. I only do so when the waters ahead are turbulent though" he began, "My family, we've a pact with the father, and so long as we uphold our end, our mere actions are enough for him. There are still times when it's better to seek additional favor with him though, ask for his explicit aid. What you just saw was me asking him for protection in battle...the power to keep destroying those who prey on the weak." He stowed the blade into a sheath beneath his armor and robes, tucking the cloth into the hem of one of his gloves. "Look, about earlier today... I don't regret what happened with Leofric and his captain, and like I said before, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I'm sure you would too. But our Merc friends were right, no matter how much of a rotten scum bag he may have been, what he did was nonetheless deemed as accepted in this society; A Baron in good standing who acts like an ass, breaths suffering, and shits hot misery is still a Baron in good standing at the end of the day. I've asked the Elder ones to show me something of what's ahead, all I got in response was shadows and clouds. It's always meant a mixed signal before... so I decided to come out here, get some air, make a blood offering. Juuuuuuust encase things go south from here and joining her majesty's knights proved to be a mistake." "But that's enough about me, friend. You wouldn't have recognized that prayer just now unless you were a Lestlian Clergy. Now, I wouldn't be surprised to find ya wandering outside our borders trying to spread the word of the Lunar Father and helping the sick and needy or something, but... working directly under a foreign queen as one of her sworn knights? Color me Curious: who's bad side did you get on back home? Or did you just... have enough and decide it was time to put the theocracy behind you?"

The air outside was still, temperate. The waves crashed against the wharf with rhythmic vigor in the distance, the moon shining down upon the Lestlian Knight's face as he gazed up at the stars. He stood alone, outside of the Inn, eyes closed and words uttered in a strange tongue that few in this land would've understood. A sphere of pure, inklike black pulsed in rhythm with his prayer, the surrounding light seeming to vanish the moment it touched it's boundaries... A Lestlian would've easily recognized the words he spoke, thinking them merely some muttered spell. A Priest from his homeland however, would've known it to be a prayer, the sphere pulsing before him as it rose towards the sky, an offering to the Lunar Father...

They had arrived on scene just as the once high and mighty Leofric took an arrow to the knee, courtesy of the Archer, and probably for the first time in his high-born life was forced to kneel before another man. As he watched from Erce's back, Mareek had to admit, there was something... deeply satisfying about the irony on a base level, something that he couldn't help but make him smirk. Yes... this was how an asshole like leo should face his final moments. Kneeling, bloodied, haggard. He hadn't even heard what outrages had been exchanged and made Erce snarl in disgust earlier, but in all honesty, the Lestlian-born knight had no need to. Cutting down a path through his hired goons earlier, what the Gladiator boy had told them at the beginning, and the predicament of Rooz and his buddies had been more than enough to make up his mind. Just like the many bandits and predators who preyed upon the weak and defenseless; behind the cloak of noble birth and supposed social etiquettes, the man seemed little better than his and Erce's usual prey. Just like them, if Leofric wouldn't cease and atone for his actions, then he needed to die for them instead. And it mattered not by who's hand at the end of the day. For a bandit by any other name, was still, and would always be, just another bandit. But the fact that his end came from the very boy who'd virtually been his slave up till they happened upon him... was exquisitely poetic. But the moment lasted no longer than a few seconds before familiar faces came, and they were given other concerns besides the well-deserved death of this high-born dog. "Eh, guess it's not unexpected. If I had to though, I'd oppose his noble-born ass and do this all over again, just like I'm sure most of us would. These messes just have a way of happening, sometimes the biggest assholes are the guys who are supposed to be on your own side... ain't that right Erce?" The flame-scaled wyvern snorted in disdain, to think Marek would dare remind her of Gestalt and his god forsaken mountain of a mount. She still had the scars from that engagement, and no matter how many times the two of them could have ended those traitors rightly, it would've never been enough. She gave a low, rumbling growl, glaring up at the boy, eyes like smoldering coals... "Eh, alright, alright, I get it.... still don't like that subject." he said, patting her scales in placation. There was still the matter of getting out of dodge to worry about thouh, as he returned his attention to his fellow knights "Neeways, a few hours on foot ain't gonna be pleasant, so if any of ya want a ride, just speak up." Another grumble, this one not as agitated. Her rider smirked coyly "Can probably take... 2, maybe 3 of ya. She's vetoing anything more than that right now though, so... first come, first serve, mates."

"I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves, immediately trying to focus on these individual... 'servants' themselves." Ghost finally said in the wake of lexiel's... thorough bout of questions, "It would be wise to learn about the apparent source of this mess first, the summons may simply be a symptom of the issue, but not the root. And I'm certain none of us here want to waste the effort hunting down and killing the others, only to find that they've resurrected or some other such nonsense has occurred." With that said, she turned to the figure in red "Nobunaga, was it? This rift you spoke of, what world do you and these other servants hail from? How do things usually work with this 'Grail', Just what exactly does it do besides giving you a physical prescence? And Why did it surprise you so much that it was a mere chalice as it's namesake actually suggested, if it still imparted you all with these physical forms regardless?"

"Look, I know you, and I know what you're about to say, but I think this is the most we're going to get out of her for the time being" ah Asmodius, once more acting as the voice of reason in their trio. Solomon didn't even have the chance to open his mouth before the AI intervened, "you came here for more than just personal reasons, remember? and besides, this has obviously turned into a bit of quid pro quo; if you want to get that lead on your sister, we're going to have to comply here..." The mechanic ground his teeth, but otherwise deferred to the AI's assessment "Fine," he said, not bothering to hide his reluctance "Who is he then, and how the hell does he manage to steal memories right out of peoples heads? I'm gonna need more than just an alias and a trait here. And just how is he gonna help take down the tenth god, what are you guys gonna send him in for some sort of espionage? Have him befriend them, get their secrets, then walk away without anyone the wiser? He might be able to wipe memories all he likes, but it obviously didn't stop you guys from getting wind of him. How do you know the Tenth hasn't too?"

"This group got a name? Someone in charge, anything?" Solomon pressed. Asmodeus couldn't help but be taken aback at how serious the Mechanic had become... but he had a feeling as to why "If I'm right, and Tesla really was doing what I think she was for all those years... they might just be the last ones who saw her. Or not. I don't care... either way, they could still give me more leads on what the hell happened to her than I've ever had."

"..." The wyvern snarled it what almost seemed a motley mix of disgust and contempt as they flew away from the forested Cache. Her rider knew naught exactly why she stared so fixedly upon the Lordling they'd sworn to kill in the distance. But he'd known her long enough to interpret enough of her overall judgement from... whatever it was she was hearing that he could not. "What's that Erce? That dastardly asshole of a nobleman definitely deserves to die? Huh, wonder what they're talking about over there...ah well, you got better hearing than me, so I'll just take your word for whatever's going on. A real shame though, looks like we're much too far away to join in on the fun...and here I was saying I'd down the bastard myself. Whatever, I'm sure this will all be over in a few minutes, one way or another... come on." S20, hold ((not like it matters at this point anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯))

"This my friends. this is how you train."

Ghost simply rolled her eyes as some voice spouted off about the woman's manner of addressing them. As if it was anything worth trying to reprimand over, given the god damned situation called for a special sense of urgency... considering their entire base of operations was surrounded, her men were quite obviously outgunned, out-manned, and in due time her unit would be accosted even further, if those Seige engines they'd seen outside were completed. In all honesty, Ghost would've found it troubling if the woman hadn't spoken to them in such a manner right now. It showed she was competent enough to realize the true gravity of the odds against her men... "I've put most of my service days behind me, but... I was the commander of my liege's" Ghost sighed, just under her breath. Old habits died hard, even after more than a decade or two. She may have shaken off most of the mental conditioning, but of course the god damn formalities remained... "-of the Emperor's Praetorian guard for approximately 30 years, before I left. During my time answering to him, I carried out whatever orders he saw fit- staging the assassination of a pivotal enemy, gathering information within and beyond the imperial borders, taking control of campaigns when he deemed the Commanders in place to be incompetent... Other tasks as well. I was the closest thing he had to a right-hand man, so I suppose I could... suffice if it's really needed."

"Well you did just walk into a can of worms that was right in the middle of bein' opened." Solomon said flatly, not even turning around to look at the girl. Of fucking course someone else had walked in, of course. That wouldn't stop him though, not here, not now... not when it regarded tesla and that... cheating little shit. "If you wanna leave, then leave. Or stay, I don't care, I'm getting my answers here either way..." His eyes narrowed as he returned focus to lord, filled with a mixture of disgust and... something else. Something not even he was quite sure of. "...so what you're telling me is, those motherfuckers have entire kennels filled with their own damn kids, just... just kept sitting around in dark ass cells or cages or whatever until it's time for mom or pop to come and cut them up for some experiment?" that... actually brought some solace to the revelation. Well, as far as tesla and her relation to fuckboi was concerned; hell Tesla probably had a few half siblings running around or whatever, if it was as the God said...still, it was even more fucked up than she'd ever told him about. Then again, she'd hardly ever wanted to even talk about it so... perhaps it all made sense, in the long run. "The fucking hell man... is anyone doing anything about-" Don't worry Sully, there's just something I gotta do. I'll be back soon~ He stopped, mid sentence, stroking his goatee in thought as he paced away. Tesla. It all made sense. All the times she left the garage, walked beyond the horizon... came back hours, sometimes days later, it wasn't just foraging trips. She had always told him the same thing, up until the last time. Most of the time she'd come back a bit scuffed up, with... this look on her face. This odd cross between emptiness and satisfaction... sometimes she hauled in parts that he nor their old man had any idea where she could've gotten them... looking back on it now though... all those components, they were far too advanced for to have simply... found them, lost or abandoned out in the wastes by chance. No...no... it couldn't be... "Tesla... was that it? All those times, and you never told us?" It was only a guess in his mind. But he knew that there was at least some kernal of truth to it; when he'd been a boy, he had never been able to peice all the subtle clues together, now though, after so long without her... after so long since she left on that final errand, could he see clearly what had to have been going on. Of course she'd feel some vendetta... "How many?" Solomon asked, finally seeming to return to the conversation they were having, "Rough estimate, ballpark number, shot in the dark, I don't care, I know it's almost impossible to know for certain... but how many of these types of operations are going on across Tempest? Someone's gotta be doing something about them; hunting them down, trying to get the kids out... and I doubt it would be like you or any of the other Gods to just sit idly by and let that shit continue in your domains."

Ghost continued her own attacks as the boy engaged in his deadly game of free-for-all tennis, firing off yet more and more blasts of sound and energy to intercept some of the rampant spells flying; she had seen how the projectiles seemed to grow stronger and stronger with each rebound, and she figured the more she could keep off of him, the more focus he could put into not getting fried. And he most definitely looked on the edge of being fried. Aurora meanwhile, continued to cast golden webs here and there around the bookcraft, wherever fires sprung up or smoke began to rise. Snake meanwhile, having somehow slept through most of the chaos, god knows how, rose his hooded head to inspect the ongoing battle and saw one thing, and one thing only: food. Glorious, fiery food. As Aurora took to sealing the flames that spouted, the Gaia Serpent drew on his natural abilities and opened his jaws wide, drawing in the fireballs and embers she missed with a strange, vacuum like force, swiveling here and there periodically to maximize the amount of flame that was absorbed into his mouth.

"Hwhat?" were he'd been drinking something, anything, which at the moment, he really wished he did have a fucking drink, he would've done a spit take. Instead he just stared at the God as if he'd been told the most preposterous thing in his whole life. Which he kinda had. "This some sort of sick joke?" The mechanic took a deep breath, for once trying to steady himself, gripping the bridge of his nose "Tesla. And that asshole? Siblings? Ball-boy looks absolutely nothing like my sister; as far as I can tell he ain't even the same god damn ethnicity. How the hell could they possible be related? Unless there's some hanky-panky Genetic modification shit going on..." He wasn't of course, mentally denying the idea of Tesla having any family beyond the one that had adopted her as their own. Up until his father had found her, she'd been more or less a blank slate, no past she remember beyond the shit they did in those labs. No, what he was fighting against was the notion that the asswipe who'd just fucked him over not even a few hours ago, was somehow related to her in any way. He knew his sister, what little of her there was left behind ever since she left, and by the gods there was no way he'd let her memory be tainted by some blood connection to that waste of space. besides... there was the issue of timing... "Besides... The dude doesn't even look old enough to drink yet, and Tesla would be somewhere in her early thirties. It ain't like they could've been separated at birth or... whatever the hell happened that landed her with those damn eggheads. So what the hell is going here? What, you somehow found her parents or something?"

"...Got another tweak to make" the mechanic answered, glancing back and forth between the Diviner and the woman- he knew who she was, it was hard for a denizen of pride not to know their own ruler, and considering eveyrthing Tesla had told him about when they were young... But not even the appearance of the God of pride would shake him from why he was here. He approached the diviner, continuing, "Besides, I wanted to ask you a few things... stuff like how common it is for some fuckwit to actually be willing to dismiss his mech in the middle of a fight, and risk his god damn life just to cheat. I heard you two just now; there's only one of us here who's spouted crap about being a successor or whatever. I'm guessing that stunt Ball-boy pulled ain't anything new for him then, not surprised..."

"...I think I'll just stick to the cannons then..." Tesla answered "Weird though, wonder where the hell the rest of em went...anyway" she turned to address the only other apparent person in the room, Alexandria, as well "so... you guys already got a design or anything particularly special in mind for these guns? If not, I'm sure I could come up with something from what we have on hand. I've got a few components that can generate electricity in pretty high doses, so that might be an idea for a power source, if ya wanna go that route; I could make a rail-gun or something pretty easy with it, and seeing as how you guys are using those cans as the ammo cases, It should still work regardless what you actually decide to put inside of em."

"Uh... oookay then." Tesla said as the orc began to leave and bring back the various assorted materials... none of which to her looked anything like something one would craft a sophisticated weapon out of "just so ya know though; I'm a lot better with machines than... this stuff. So I don't know how much help I'll really be here..." regardless, she followed behind the orc. "By the way, did you see anyone else around while you were checking the other parts? It seems pretty quiet for some reason..."

"Huh, wonder which thicket the guy meant... there's like four of em around here. Geez..." The wyvern grumbled in response, seizing control away from him and wheeling herself about towards the trees furthest from their position. The rider simply went along with it; obviously she had picked up something he couldn't. Soon enough though, he too saw something sticking out from behind one of the trunks... "Heh, well look at that. Let's see what we got here- hopefully it's something good..." V17, check out this supposed Gift

"That cheating little fuck boi..." Solomon snarled under his breath as headed for the Diviner's chamber "We had that shit in the bag asmo, and then he pulled that bullshit... stole that win right from under me." Asmodeus meanwhile, remained silent. The mechanic still couldn't believe someone was that batshit crazy- to dismiss their mech in the middle of a match. Shit, if he'd shocked the bastard while he was pulling the stunt. At the time, of course, that had been a bit too fucked up, even for him to consider- for Sully actually had boundaries in the ring. Regardless how competitive he got, there was still a fine line where the ferocity stopped being about a friendly brawl, and instead changed into an all out death match. A line that for the most part, Sully had always been unwilling to cross. But that was mostly because no opponent he'd fought before had been so hell bent on pulling a win out of their ass as to cheat as hard as Ball boy did. And in hindsight, he really did consider it a mistake that he hadn't acted in those brief few moments, could've easily said it was an accident, a product of the heat of battle- how the hell was he to know his opponent would be crazy enough to temporarily dismiss their only means of defense for the sake of fraudulently bettering their position? But no. He hadn't. And so now, here he was, in his feelings over something that in all honesty, he could've very easily prevented if he'd just been so willing. "Try taking solace in the fact that even when we lost, we pushed them all to the brink?" Asmo finally spoke up. Sully was just about to scoff when he continued, "think about it. the girl, Strider, she literally exploded not even seconds after firing that laser- her little ability may have saved her in the end, but we did enough that she suffered critical damage as well in the process of securing that win. Then there's the fuckboi, Silent Requeim, I beleive the handle was. We both know we had him sully, once you pulled your shit together and started working with me like a team. There was no way for him to get out of it, once that happened, I knew it, you knew it, and he knew it most of all. No legitimate way at least. We pushed him so far, that he knew the only way he could possibly win at that point was to cheat; that he couldn't secure a victory on his own merits and skill alone. And so cheat was exactly what he did. There are two ways to look at this situation sully. Either you can fixate yourself on the negative, sulk and let it affect your performance, like you did when seeker came around asking about Tesla... or you can choose to see the silver lining here, the fact that despite how we might have lost, we pushed the opponent to the breaking point both times before we did... and if even a single thing had gone differently, it could've been a different story. Besides. this wasn't all for nothing. I think I know how his little ability works now... there was something... very peculiar that happened, just before Revenant took over back there. Something I did, that I know he picked up on, it's the only thing he could've. With what the girl already told you about it, it wasn't hard to peice together afterwards." To accentuate the point, the AI flashed his end-of-battle report up in the mechanic's mind, letting him peruse the analytics and conclusion. Solomon dismissed the text, laughing bitterly "so it was you. You were that "Single thing" that could've gone differently..." "You laugh as if that fact refutes my point here. It doesn't. If anything, it reinforces the argument. Had I felt nothing at all, suppressed my shock, he likely would've never had a window to use his ability after that stunt he pulled. And you and Revenant would've finished it. But as I said, Solomon. Now we know how he operates, from what Strider told us and the data we gathered first hand. I'd say the dossier is more or less complete. Hell, if you so desired, we could spread what we've gathered, fuck him over much harder than he did us. It'll be hard to pull the same stunts if everyone knows what to expect from him..." "...." "Silence? Not what I expected from this proposition." "Look... Yeah, sure, we could fuck him over like that, and don't get me wrong- that Asshole is at the top of my shit list. But I'd rather get at him man to man, kick his ass outside of any mech or arena, without resorting to some pansy cloak and dagger crap like a coward. It might be the easy way Asmo, but it's the way that makes us no better than that fuck boi, in the end. I'll get him someday, with my own two hands. Might not be today. Might not be tomorrow. But eventually, his ass will be mine." He tapped in the code on the transporter for the Diviner's Car, and stepped inside, vanishing moments later.

"So, looks like the thief was smart enough to run. None of the damn knights blinked an eye either. Fine, there's an easy solution..." and said solution was to advance and simply cut the fuckers down where each of them insisted on standing, since they didn't want to make the first move... time to show them what happens when you trap a group of heavily armed and highly agitated law enforcement in a small space with a shit load of murderous criminals. Hint: it tends to not end well for the criminals. D8, Hold

This new development was particularly unwelcome by Aurora, as the flames began to slowly overtake the craft. Firing off a burst of healing starlight via Starsign: Virgo upon Laver, she turned her attention from trying to kill the archers to instead keeping the vehicle in tact. Drawing several Threads of Arachania from the spinnerets hidden on her wrists, she cast the golden strands outward in a complex web, falling upon the worst of the fires plaguing the book mobile before robbing them of their heat and energy, just as she'd done back on the barren world when Venus had requested she melt down and purify the golden trinkets he'd provided. Putting the current flames out however, wouldn't mean much in the long run if the damn knights just shot more at them. She turned her attention to the Albino woman, silver eyes transitioning to green as she called out, rather annoyed "Stop focusing on the arrows, you fool! Arrows aren't going to burn us all to a crisp and send us to our deaths in a fiery crash~" "Oh shut up, Cursed..." Ghost muttered beneath her breath. Despite all the spider had done, she still could not shake the initial impression out of her mind- how much the being resembled one of the Cursed races of her homeworld... resembled some half-man, half god-knows-what else hybrid born of the stock of criminals and worse, born of deeds heinous enough to warrant a fate worse than death as punishment. She certainly seemed to have the same murderous demeanor of one; in all honesty, the Caller doubted she'd ever be able to truly be at ease around her. Especially with this apparently two sided nature, where she showed exceeding coherence and articulation one minute and was little more than a hungering animal the next... Regardless how little she trusted the demi-god to not kill and consume her the moment she felt she'd outlived her usefulness though, the spider still had a point. She turned her instrument on the incoming blasts of fire and other spells instead, countering the knights magic with the power of her own Mantra, sending blast after blast of Resonating energies masked by harrowing sound bursts to meet the oncoming onslaughts alongside laver.