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Gawain PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
LATE EVENING

The chaos has already begun, as the night goes on. As per the report of your contacts, Felt Haddask and Cu Chulainn of the Mage's Association, a bunch of teenagers snuck into one of the oldest synagogues in Prague while drunk on New Years Eve and stole a weird looking statue, all wrapped up. Except, it wasn't exactly a statue.

A massive giant walks through the streets of Prague, having killed those teenagers and grown by absorbing their power, apparently. It's like a smaller version of a monster movie monster, not quite tall enough to tower over buildings, except it's more robotic - the giant is made of some sort of brownish-gray clay-like material, with a round head, two large black bead-like eyes, a grimacing maw, and a giant circular rune on its chest. Two large arms sweep through windows, as it reaches down and crushes those in its path. It's on a murderous rampage.

Felt Haddask, the purple-haired young man assigned to this duty, as well as Cu Chulainn, the blue bodysuited Servant with the red spear, are not on fight duty. They're on 'rescue and suppression', grabbing civilians and bringing them to safety. Felt does not think they can actually suppress this, not after all the previous cracks to the mask. This is a local occurence, and it's pretty big. News helicopters are already in sight, and people have video cameras and the like.

Looters have already started getting to work, smashing through windows and trying to weave in between the legs of the giant with whatever they can carry. The water area near the grand bridge is visible in this clustered part of the city, and several buildings have already been ripped apart.

It's gonna be messy.
Gilgamesh      The King of Heroes is here.

     He is not here to help the citizens.

     The King is here to Pass Judgement. He is here to Pass Judgement upon an organization that claims to execute the law, an organization that claims to hold dominion over the magic of the world. He is here to Pass Judgement and drop the Sword of Damocles (possibly literally!) upon the most sacred of its tenets, and tear asunder the last pieces of the veil between the world of the magic and the world of the mundane.

     He will provoke the Counter Force into acting, for there will be no choice; the Counter Force, the world's guardian soul, will not be able to stand the shredding of the veil. It will not be able to fail to respond. More than likely it will send Heroic Spirits. More than likely it will work to help those who arrive to try and restrain the Golem.

     So the King of Heroes will stand to hold it off.

     The golem, sadly, is a poor fascimile. Gilgamesh's eyes glaze over the monster from a building high above as it tears through the streets. A poor mage's attempt to reach the power of legend. The mage was probably consumed in its creation; the children certainly were consumed by its awakening. For the King of Heroes, the King who holds all the treasures of the world, a fake is as easy to spot as can be.

     Still. It doesn't take the genuine article to do the job.

     The King hops off of the building, landing on the Golem's shoulder gracefully. Around him the golden lights of the Gate of Babylon light up, rippling around the Golem's head.

     The King of Heroes means to defend it.
Haguro Down the waterway comes a ship, but not any regular ship. It's not even normal by warship standards, looking rather distorted with all manner of snarling mouths decorating its turrets, snapping jaws on the front and back, and a whole bunch of odd black and white formations sticking out of it that look less like built armor and more like jagged teeth.

This is one of the good guys, apparently. "If you're not here to fight the golem, clear out of the city! Looters will be treated as the extensions of the golem and shot on sight!" haguro's voice rings out of several of the warship's mouths at once and, as if to show the intent behind her warning, she fires a shell into a random street to cause a nice, meaty explosion. She's pretty sure she didn't see anyone in that section, but she didn't look all that long before firing.

Besides, she needs to show that she's willing to fire on people at the drop of a hat if she wants to get the looters out of the firing line. That'll make it easier to focus on the golem as it smashes windows apart, although she holds her fire for a moment as Gilgamesh appears to take a position on the golem.

"... King of Heroes. I don't think that's a good place to be standing. The golem's going to be fired on soon." Haguro's voice rings out again, the turrets wriggling once while a few of the mouth even snap and chatter in anticipation.

She doesn't sound like she's particularly surprised or concerned about his health.
Athela Valemore There was no more time for talk and posturing. Action is what was needed. The conversation and bluster, as mostly one-sided as it was, over the communications was already shoved back and forgotten, deemed unimportant. A city and it's people were in danger. Athela cared not right now what source brought the monster upon it, or whatever 'point' some ego is trying to make over it. Only that it was a tremendous danger that needed to be put end to mattered to her.

It would see that Haguro is not the only one that has chosen the waterway as a means of traversing into Prague. But with the great ship-girl bristling with animate cannons and announcing action to be taken against monster and criminal alike, the human simply running across the water's surface is a lot easier to overlook. Athela came via this way to avoid the streets likely congested with civilians fleeing and the local support trying to get them to saftey. The small wake of water kicking up behind her as she travels down the waterway is not much to see, but it is getting her where she needs to go. There's the golem looming ahead.

...And Gilgamesh coming in to land upon it. Great, the so-called King was going to make an obstruction of himself over whatever petty vindication he was talking about. Just wonderful. Just what they didn't need.

Athela scowled more firmly, grip tightening upon her weapon. The water seemed to respond to her gritting emotion, actually surging around her heels as she charged across it, kicking the wake behind her up more like a small wave. Her focus was entirely on the monster and it's presented threat. The arrogant so-called king standing upon it was not her issue.
Sarracenia      The call goes out, and it is only a few minutes before a trio of wooden airship silhouettes cast their shadows upon the ground. As they approach the ground it is obvious that the lead ship is the flagship of the Sundew Navy with two escort ships at its flanks. They fly in over the rampaging golem and move into broadsiding position as dozens of cannons run out along their sides as piranha plant sailors scramble about above deck.

     On the flagship's stern, Princess Sarracenia stands with her hammer resting on the deck. Once the golem moves closer, the ships move to surround it. Huge cargo doors open in the undersides of each, and preconstructed walls fall from them in an attempt to box in the golem. They circle the creature, steadily building the interlocking wood and stone wall thicker. It probably won't hold the creature for long, but it should at least give them a safe place to fire upon it for a minute or two.

     The princess gives her hair a toss, then smirks. "I am surprised at you, King of Heroes! I understand your distaste for the average man and these mages, but to merely stand by while a monster rampages? That does not seem heroic to me, regardless of one's definition of hero." she says, and clanking can be heard all through the many guns aimed downward as the gunnery crews load the cannons in the three airships. "Stand aside. You know I do not fear you, and I will not allow this creature to take any more lives than it already has. Shatter the veil some other way."
Muramasa         "It's alright, help is on the way."

With an unconscious man in one arm and a young teenager in the other, Saber gently places them on the ground away from the immediate vicinity. As soon as he arrived, he set onto the 'rescue' part of the mission in an effort to get as many out of the crossfire as possible before it started. After all, they were but as ants before Golem. Furthermore...

The King of Heroes perched himself atop of it. Intuitively, he surmised his intentions from their earlier conversation. He would tear down the veil of secrecy and provoke the world's defense mechanism. When threatened to the extreme, it was possible that a genuine disaster would wipe the entire area clean ... but, he wouldn't let it get that far. If Counter Guardians were deployed, then things would be well out of hand. In other words, if he wanted to try and save everyone in Prague, he would need to defeat both Gilgamesh and Golem before things progressed to this point.

The swordsman surges forth, blurring down the walk way and hopping onto and off of various cars to gain the momentum needed to move upwards. With a kick, he makes it onto the wandering Golem's arm and begins to run up it.
Nanoha Takamachi     A streak of pink rockets through the sky, heading towards the center of the growing catastrophe. Engulfed by the magic aura, Nanoha angles herself down towards the rampaging golem, already visible given its size. She flies in closer, quickly diving down to street level.

    Nanoha flies along close to the ground, slipping under Sarracenia's falling walls. She flies between the golem's legs, before spinning around to face it from the front, slowing to a stop. She hovers a few feet in the air, ignoring Gilgamesh as she raises her hand up towards the lumbering, artificial creature and calls out, "Ring Bind!"

    Several rings of pink appear around each of the golems feet and legs. After a few moments they shrink, attempting to bind the golem in place and keep it from advancing any further.

    Nanoha doesn't expect the binds to last for very long. But it should hopefully buy people a little more time to escape. Also to that end, Nanoha glances at her staff, "Raising Heart, we need to find anyone who hasn't been able to get clear yet."

    Nanoha raises her staff into the air, the Device chiming in response, <Yes, Master. Wide Area Search.> Small pink spheres appear around Nanoha, before darting off into the surrounding buildings as they begin to search them for any signs of life.
Shyra     Shyra is arriving with the other Paladins, working to help preserve as many of the people present as possible. She isn't here to get involved in complicated issues like the fate of the Clock Tower. No, she's simply here to do one thing:

    Save as many people as possible. That's her duty as a Holy Healer, and one that she takes fairly seriously. The first priority are those who need healing: She waves her silver cross-topped staff, Azkrepys, and a box appears in the air.

                                   HEAL3                                    

A moment later, waves of powerful healing magic rush out over a group of wounded, causing wounds to close, bruises to heal, and invigorating them. Hurry! Escape from the area! She calls.

    That said, she keeps behind Saber of Shimousa, following him around and using him as an anchor point in the chaos. Indeed, she seems to all but latch onto his back, following him closely in a direct line. You can do it! I'm right behind you! Shyra says to the Saber as she gasps, running after the speedy swordsman and trying to keep up. With a yelp, she leaps to the side of the Golem and scrabbles along it, climbing after. Eeeeeeh! This is so dangerous!
Song of Rainbows Prague is a city of beauty. A city of spires, of old history and ancient waterways. A river bisects the city, and it is no babbling stream of water, but a grand waterway dotted with bridges. Famous bridges! Less famous bridges! The city is at home along the water, and the water is at home in Prague.

Then an enormous Golem or Spriggan or Whatever shows up. This is the side show. The true, MAIN ATTRACTION, drifts gently down the river, under bridges - a single wooden boat, like off a ship, with two oars stowed on one of the splintering sides of the rough 'vessel', and a single occupant.

A sailor of some sort, with long, dark, twisted locks of hair dotted with golden rings for color and accessorizing contained by a bright bandanna and tanned dark olive complexion, a loose white collared drawstring shirt, and a pair of patched trousers that had seen better days tied at the bottom to reveal bare feet sits in the boat, yawning and looking up at the sky.

Squinting into the cloud-dappled blue with some vague curiousity while her dark eyebrows work against vibrant yellow eyes that coil in a strange pattern, like the iris tried to split into two and only managed to smear itself horizontally, the large female sailor sighs. "Off course, again? I've done this story before." She complains.

Leaping off the boat in a smooth motion, she lands casually on a bridge, meandering towards the city centre when a...

Huge... golem appears? And a shouting, spiky-haired golden king?

"That's new." The sailor muses, before cupping hands to her lips and calling up at Gilgamesh. "ARE YOU A FAIRY?"

Then a heavily armed girl with pale skin and gun tenta-pods starts shouting up at the golden king.

The tenta-pod woman decries looters.

Song of Rainbows, sailor on the sea of stories, looks between the Golden King and the Black-armored pale skinned person studded with black armor and evil zombie guns.

Finding this particular decision easy, Song pivots on her heel while staring at Haguro, and smashes the nearest jewelry store window in, before pointedly pawing over the wares in the street display.
Lilian Rook     The Clock Tower, or rather, the Mage's Association as a whole, is something Lilian has been looking to for an opening in for a little while now --not to join, but for a hook. A place to dig in and leverage her influence. Along with a couple of others, she'd smelled the blood in the water months ago, but has entirely different designs than to tear it to pieces and cast it to the wind.

    That'd be excreedingly wasteful.

    The situation regarding the golem, then, is a braindead easy call to make. She'd be far beyond remiss to pass it up. The *reality* when she arrives, however, is made immediately, intensely frustrating by Gilgamesh. She knows better than to attempt to appeal to his sympathy, for the people scattering at the golem's feet, especially the looters, he could not care less about. There's nothing she could say so openly about the Association as to convince him, and burning the useful connection she has in him is unacceptable. Only just now, for a short time only, does she get a taste of the vexation everyone else suffers when dealing with him on the regular. 'Why'd that big selfish jackass have to get up on stage and make this all about him?', a hypothetical mind reader would be far too polite in phrasing it.

    Scarcely hours out of her pact, Lilian arrives in much the same way as she usually does, in merely being there. Considering the nature of the emergency call, she comes clad in her second year combat outfit, the glamered sword fastened to a hardpoint at the back of her grey-black bodysuit, slim armoured inserts attached at the usual places, but dispensing entirely with the formalities of sidearms and restraints for a job of this size, and the fine etching under the surface glows dimly already.

    She walks up the length of the square towards the Golem and the King of Heroes, braving its arms reach to gesture up at him, unarmed (He could probably swear she's like an inch taller than when he last saw her, and several fine degrees prettier that'd take a discerning eye to recognize) and shouts to have her voice carried.

    "Though I can only surmise the rest of why you'd want to drag out this debacle any further, King of Heroes, I'd be so bold as to make a request of you anyways." She lowers her hand, for a moment seeming like she's about to gesture at the destruction all around her, only to place it on her own collarbone. "This will pose an immense amount of difficulty for me, personally, to keep pursuing something I assure you is entirely necessary here, in this world, if the performance is drawn out any further than the critical point you're anticipating."

    "I'd request, as a personal favour, that this be a settled matter at the soonest possible opportunity. While we're stuck at cross purposes for the same goal, please prioritize expediency and elegance in making this point over the undoubtedly deserved outcome I know you're thinking of, if you would."

    i.e. 'I hate to interrupt your fun or your job but it'd be *really* troublesome for me specifically if this became a Denmark type thing and I know it absolutely will be if you get carried away proving this point.'

    She actually waits out for a reply first, with a sort of almost-courtesy vastly better suited to a duel than this clusterfuck.

    That and she told someone like a million times that this was work and they needn't follow her and just ughhhh.
Gawain Gilgamesh chooses to end the masquerade. He leaps to the Golem's shoulder, where it is about to remove him, a magus's creation, when he speaks and gives the order. A billowing, horrible laugh bursts out, as it deems him 'master'.

"HUHUHAHAHAHA."

It does not remove him. But others come to fight. The Golem peers down, as Athela comes up on the water, gripping her weapon. As Sarracenia's forces build a barricade, blocking it in. As Saber scales up it, and Shyra heals the weak and wounded, patching them together, it grimaces. As Nanoha tries to bind it. As Haguro threatens it with turrets. It ignores Shyra, who isn't being hostile towards it, but the others...

An arm goes swiping out, moving to smash into those in range, like it was swatting flies out of the air or killing a spider. It will likely hit Nanoha, Sarracenia, and Athela outright, hurtling cars and such into them.

Saber of Shimousa can avoid it as long as he dodges the arms as he runs up, but for the others, it hits hard, its body like metal despite clearly being made of clay.

Those with magical senses, meanwhile, can feel a strange disturbance just from the Golem, as it moves to try and break the barricades actively, trying to push so it can continue to smash bodies and take lives. It smashes through them, ignoring civilians for this purpose.
Gilgamesh      Haguro half-heartedly warns him. Gilgamesh snaps his fingers and orders the Golem to laugh to make a point. He could stop this pitiable imitation at any time he wanted.

     He doesn't want to.

     This is a weapon against the Association. It is a weapon set loose by men, upon men, because of men who claim to rule. There can be no excusing it. There can be no avoiding it. The King's will is that this deserves execution, and so the organization will be executed, with the same weapon that one of its own, or some renegade from it, designed. A single stroke to destroy what they have tried so hard to preserve and tear forth the veil.

     Someone shouts up at the King, asking if he's a fairy. He quirks a glorious golden eyebrow and looks down at her.

     "I am Gilgamesh, King of Heroes." His voice radiates outwards, a commanding aura, still taking hold of the golem. "I am the King of All That Is, Was, And Ever Shall Be. I am not some fumbling elemental, some pitiable fairy. I am the Wedge of Heaven, who rejects the gods on behalf of Men."

     Not...not *these* men, obviously. The people the Golem is killing mean nothing to him. Less than nothing. Insects to be scorned. Insects to be *crushed*. Lilian's intuition is right - the King has no sympathy for these.

     Lilian walks up the Golem's arm. Gilgamesh doesn't discard her. Instead, he glances at her appraisingly, and, as she approaches, says immediately, "You look more appealing than before." It's a neutral statement - there's no flirtation in his voice at all. A detached observation as he listens to her speak.

     After a few moments he closes his eyes. Muramasa is already running up the Golem's arm. He's aware of that. As Muramasa draws closer, Shyra climbing up after him, Gilgamesh waves a hand.

     "I never intended it to go beyond the point I require," Gilgamesh says finally, "And unlike the Clock Tower I am perfectly able to reign this creature in when I am done with it."

     "There's no need for excess." Gilgamesh makes a motion with his hand. "The Association will be dealt a critical blow so long as the Concealment of the Mystics cannot be ignored."

     "And the Lords responsible will undoubtedly start purging their departments," he says, his bright red eyes locking onto hers, "And seeking new and talented resources to help them regain their status."

     "Say someone who distinguished themselves by surviving the King of Heroes, with a distinguished and notable lineage."

     Gilgamesh snaps his fingers. The weapons of the Gate start to emerge, the gleaming, golden, godlike artifice of countless Noble Phantasms, weapons beyond counting, weapons beyond craftsmanship. The building blocks of countless legends.

     The King of Heroes simply makes a motion.

     He's that arrogant.
Haguro A fellow lady of the sea appears! Alas, she appears to be a lot more pirate-y than a soldier or even a peacekeeper, and she punctuates her arrival by looking Haguro square in the face and getting her looting on.

There's a visible twitch in Haguro's eye as she comes out of her ship form. It's a tactical decision more than a practical one, but it also makes things rather convenient in terms of doing a quick head count and knowing who's actually saying those things she says.

"You're... Are you just doing that to be contra... Contradictory?" She pauses, furrowing her brow. "No, that's... Contrary?"

This is going to bother her. Luckily, the golem's massive blow against the surrounding area snaps Haguro's mind back to more important things, and she steps back as that giant swing narrowly misses her. Gilgamesh's words don't, though, and she narrows her eyes as she takes a slower look around to survey the damage.

"... Nn. I don't really have any reason to stop you or the golem, then. People will be safer knowing what's lurking here." She grumbles while seeming content to ignore the physical safety of anyone that might still be in those buildings. Necessary costs and all that.

Her attention shifts from those facing Gilgamesh and the golem to that strange sailor once again, and her gut-tail bristles as it growls in front of the Abyssal. "Looters and thieves trying to profit off this kind of situation, though... Despicable!" And so, the shipgirl fires off a single shot at the stranger from her wrist turrets, the explosives likely to leave a mark on whatever it winds up exploding against.
Muramasa Shyra's help in treating the wounded was more than greatly appreciated; he had no capability in healing magecraft. While he was able to drag them out of the proverbial fire, he couldn't do more than that. But even if he couldn't do it on his own, that was fine, they saved those people together. They'd save these people together, standing against Gilgamesh.

The sword he held thrummed with a powerful prescence. It was not like the other swords he wielded, because it was not a sword he designed. Indeed, it was a sword he created, yet ... its origin did not belong to him. It was not a forgery, but it was not an original piece, either. Rather...

It was a simple black tachi with a silver handle, wrapped in black leather. Its scabbard was a bluish color so dark it was nearly pitch, wrapped with purple twine. it was a weapon on the level of a divine construct, the Kusanagi; Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.

He hadn't wielded it nearly two years, yet its grip was comfortable to him. Saber stands upon Golem's shoulder and draws his blade in a steady motion, taking a one-handed stance with the blade held perpendicular to the ground. It was a gleaming and shining steel, decorated with a wavy hamon along its edge. "King of Heroes. You aren't wrong, but...that does not mean you're right."

Saber focuses his sword ki, raising his blade slightly. "Those treasures of yours...fire away. I'll stake my life on it, this sword will defeat them."

Moving forward in a surging motion, Saber goes on the attack with a flowing, ligthning fast thrust that splits the wind into a whirling spiral!
Tamamo     Whether or not it is work, she had already stated that she would observe, to Gilgamesh, no less. Lilian's protests fall on momentarily deaf ears, for all their size.

    A divine fox of certain repute, Tamamo no Mae arrives some time after the others. In accordance with the winter weather common to Prague (freezing nights and near-freezing days), as well as to her previous location, she is dressed for the occasion in a form-fitting coat, predominantly blue with gold, of exquite craftsmanship. While there are wavey designs across it that resemble traditional Japanese artwork, it is pointedly not anything like a shrine maiden's dress, regardless of what inexplicable assumptions her name might otherwise summon. Likewise, her long boots bear no significant resemblance to sandals taller than a tengu's geta.

    She holds no obligations toward the Clock Tower, even less than the sum of her obligations toward those living in this world. The method by which the King of Heroes has chosen to force the issue, however, call for further thought. The details of these thoughts will be omitted over runtime and budgetary concerns.

    "Leaving me behind like that." Murmuring her polite disapproval of a recent disappearing act, one that forced her to hurry in the obvious direction of the action, Tamamo shakes her head side to side. She's arrived to find walls dropping, ships circling, and magic discharging, but it's still Lilian and Gilgamesh on which she focuses, taking in the sight of Saber's charge up the golem in the process. She'd arrived with intention of limiting the golem's rampage, perhaps by slowing its advance, but any such plan flies out of mind at the sight of the young woman who'd summoned her facing up against the demigod king. At the inevitability of that conflict, and without doubt that Gilgamesh would make Lilian earn the particular, distinguished honor of which he spoke, any thought of keeping instead to the golem, or even to caring for the (mostly, probably) innocent people suffering from merely being nearby, is reflexively impossible. The prayers of the (probably, mostly) innocent misfortunate enough to be nearby will need be answered at a very slightly later date.

    Fresh supplies, courtesy of an import shop she had honored with her presence, have been put to good use in the crafting of onmyouji-style talismans, strips of paper with thick, precise scrawls of ink in red and black. "Hm. Yes, that is enough talk, is it not?"
Lilian Rook     Lilian looks right back up at Gilgamesh. The difference in height between the two at the moment is appropriately considerable, but her grass green holds his crimson for the full length of the exchange without trouble. In fact, the ghost of a smile plays out across the poker face she so firmly wears to the occasion. She hadn't spelled it all out, but leave it to the King of Heroes to get the gist.

    "I appreciate that very much, King." she says, beginning to slowly step backwards now, as the golem revs up to begin bashing its way through its containment, though she doesn't specify which part she appreciates. "The inconvenient fact is that, if I'm to allow your golem to exist long enough to accomplish your purposes here, I shant be able to fight it head on."

    "Code Eight: Thou shalt use the fullest of thy competence at all times, and thou shalt demand the fullest. Thou shalt not accept substitutes, imitations, or shortcuts, from thyself or any other." she says, equal parts dutifully rehearsed and slightly singsong.

    "Since I also can't turn and leave, or wait and do nothing, however, this is just how it'll have to be." she continues. Two more steps, and tiny waves of black static ripple once from each heel, severing her agreement with gravity and setting her free from the ground with the uncanny drift of a ghost. Rising to a few feet, she waits with bated breath until the first golden ripples of the gate appear, focused intently on Gilgamesh, impressing the rise and route of his magic into her mind's eye. The air touching her body briefly shivers, like bits of glass on a vibrating speaker face, unsettled by some great disjoint.

    The instant the first streaks of gold come loose, her hand snaps to the hilt of the sword on her back. The glamer falls away, revealing glassy black iron-lodestone and bloodred floral filigree, and it smokes to the touch. She grasps it, draws it, swings it, crosses it over with a legendary treasure of the vault in the same frame of motion, black flashing against gold, and sends it crashing into the ground at her feet.

    The debris that flies up to her face gets only halfway there, and there is a blur of movement, and it tears off towards Gilgamesh instead, in the form of yet smaller, faster splinters, unable to survive such a sudden change of direction in as many pieces. The sound when she vanishes isn't quite like the proper 'boom' that should go with hyperaccelerated movement; it's as if it were mixed with something crying out from the bottom of a deep well. An uncanny chill and a dark streak of motion, accented red from the blurred light of her sword.

    She actually beelines straight up to Gilgamesh, right through the hail of the Vault, in all but an instant. She has the hilt of the sword over him, her last two fingers raised from the pommel, aiming to bring the celtic knot of un-steel down across his perfect temple and clobber him off the construct right from the start --until she hears that voice.

    "W-- Tamamo?!" she blurts out, missing the shot for her followup on Gilgamesh and having to divert into an overhead flip past him and a dive over and down the Golem's back. "I didn't-- I said this was work! It's complicated! And dangerous! I'm handling it! Please don't get in harm's way!"
Nanoha Takamachi     The large arm comes sweeping in towards Nanoha. She grips her staff tighter, raising it in front of her. A pink spell circle appears beyond the staff, forming a quick shield moments before the arm reaches Nanoha.

    The barrier shatters under the impact, the arm still managing to smash into Nanoha and send her flying backwards. She hits one of Sarracenia's walls with a thud, briefly disorienting her. But as she recoves, she sees the golem advancing, swinging again, though this time at those walls holding it in.

    Nanoha quickly bursts up into the air, briefly gaining distance on the creature so she can have a moment to recover. She watches it smash through the makeshift barricades as it tries to continue onwards. If they're going to delay this thing, they need something a bit stronger. Nanoha glances around from her spot in the air, before catching sight of something and getting an idea, "Raising Heart-"

    Already aware of what her master plans, the Device chimes, <Acknowledged. Redirecting search.> A few of the orbs that have been watching out for any civilians that might get caught in the golem's path break off from their search and dart into the drains along the street's edge. After a short time, the device chimes back, <Locations identified.>

    Nanoha nods, "Right. Let's go." Nanoha raises her staff above her. More orbs of pink appear around her, though they are brighter than the search probes she had sent out. Nanoha then swings her staff down and the orbs burst forward. They fly down towards the golem. A couple attempt to crash into it and explode. The majority though fly right past it, also darting into drains but not yet exploding.
Athela Valemore People have the right idea, trying to restrict where the monstrousity can move it's rampage. But barricades and bindings will take an on-going effort to make effective against such a towering foe.

A point the golem makes with a thunderous swing that tears through what is left of it's vicinity and hurtles debris into the air. Athela zigs and zags a few times as chunks of building hurtle into the water around her a few time, then jumps onto one of the chunks just as it's coming down, springing off it like a stepping stone.

The car catapulted by the attack is a bit harder of an obstacle to deal with. On a whim Athela braces herself, impacting it with an armor-clad shoulder. It buckles under the collision of opposing directions and by taking the hit with the door she tumbles into the vehicle instead of being crushed by it.
Then the butt end of her weapon slams into the opposite door to break it off, and she leaps out as the wreckage rolls though the air and crashes into the ground.

Athela also skids on the ground as she lands, the stunt having gotten her closer to the actual threat at least, near where Sarracenia's followers had put the barricades up. Let's see what we can do to help keep this situation from getting more out of control.

Interestingly instead of bringing her weapon to bear Athela uses one of the glimmering gems that are her world's equivilent to pokeballs. Supernatural energy briefly swirls near her, then an echoing thud rumbles forth as a large rusted anchor, covered in seaweed, drops out of the spectral essence. A ship's steering wheel sits atop it as a head would, compass on one side and a busted gauge on the other in lieu of actual eyes. It emits a sound more like the haunting rasp of a stormy wind than anything else, sturdily in place dug into the pavement.

Probably no surprise that the amphibious knight would have the haunted shipgear as support.

"Aim for an arm, Fathom. Anchor Shot!" At Athela's command the haunted anchor rasps once more, using it's already dug in position to sling it's heavy chain up at one of the Golem's arms in an attempt to limit it from swinging around so much, even if just temporarily.
Sarracenia      Several other people show up. Sarracenia wouldn't mind fighting Gilgamesh again. It was fun! But, that isn't really why she is here. Stopping the monster is more important. She isn't really sure what the Mage's Association is beyond a bunch of stuffy mages in a tower doing mage things, or what this veil is that Gilgamesh is talking about, but that isn't all that important, either.

     Gilgamesh defends his actions, and Sarracenia shakes her head. "Excess is not the point. And that you could stop this creature with barely a thought simply makes it worse!" she calls down from her airship. She raises a hand and plant people on the other two ships do the same. "If you are the King of Heroes, then I am going to intensify my endeavor to become a hero and outdo you as the Queen of Heroes!" she declares.

     It is probably all bluster knowing her, but she does look rather upset that the King of Heroes isn't going to be heroic here! Her ship is hit with cars and debris, knocking holes in the hull and nearly knocking Sarracenia off her perch, but with flailing arms and some swaying she manages to keep her balance. She huffs, then raises her hand again. "I suggest you get clear!" she calls down to all those below.

     She lowers that hand in a sharp slicing motion...and those dozens of cannons start firing down on the golem. The heavy bombardment consists of Bob-omb cannonballs and Bullet Bill shells, all of which explode on impact. Hopefully no one down below gets caught in the blast! At least civilians should be safe thanks to the walls.
Song of Rainbows The Golden Man claims to be 'king of everything'. The gears turn in the sailor's mind, a grimace, and then a frown, and then a shrug, and she's over it. "King. Well, don't get in my way!"

It's the sort of vague 'I could think about this more, but I haven't the patience to sit down and map out why the arrangement seems both correct and incorrect, and which side that needle falls' utterance. The King has no reason to stop a looter from the city he's tearing apart. The Sailor has no reason to stop the King, or his golem.

And she has every reason to react to being shouted at, called despicable, and then shot.

The cannon shell cracks against her body, aimed well, and it penetrates...

And stops, stuck in her side, the fuse doused by burying itself in her viscous innards.

Turning to fully face Haguro, the sailor's horizontal-slit eyes twinkle. "You wanna scrap, ship-girlie? You wanna go?"

Her ring-studded dreadlocks continue to waggle at riches, filling her trouser pockets autonomously with watches and jewels and baubles like animate snakes, as her mouth splits into a three-fanged grin - both canines, pointing down, and a jagged beak which points up from the center of her mouth. "I'm just liberating this, savvy? Just because you put it in a glass case and say 'this is mine', doesn't mean you own it. See, love..."

Reaching into her dripping shell-wound, her fist pulls out the unexploded round, bringing it up to one eye, which favors the shell intently, while the other, like a lizard, remains locked onto Haguro. "That's some nice firewands you've got studded all over you. I'd very much like to have 'em. So..."

Popping the shell into her mouth like a jawbreaker, it makes a noticible bulge in her cheek before she bites down with the grind of metal and black powder, chewing loudly.

"Gimmie."

Transitioning smoothly from 'standing at rest' to, between heartbeats, slipping right into Haguro's arms-reach, both hands wrapped around her Gut Parasite and tugging, heaving. "C'mon, pale girl! You can't use 'em anyway!"
Haguro Those sailor's eyes are rather unnerving to stare at for too long. Sure, Haguro's are glowing a weird shade of cyan, sure, but people pupils don't go in that direction! Probably.

"Impressive... You're not just a looter, are you?" Shifting her feet ever so slightly, the shipgirl shifts into a more defensive pose as she watches the sailor's transformation from human to beaked snake... Metal eating thing.

Wait. Metal-eating? "Are you an Abyssal, too?" There's surprise in her tone as she says that, but not enough time to really reflect on the other key differences as the stranger goes from being way over there to suddenly grabbing Haguro by the gut-tail and tossing her almost effortlessly.

"Gah... What's your purpose in being here, miss? There's no reason to be looting now of all times!" As she tumbles in the air, Haguro very nearly wraps around a street light, but blinks out of existence for a second just in time to phase right through it and land on her feet somewhat clumsily. She charges right back at the snake-sailor, though, opting to take the fight directly to her rather than drawing things out with excessive shots and shouting the entire time.

"It's... Setting a bad example!" As she scolds the woman, Haguro swings both arms forward to try and smash her opponent between her forearms while her gut-tail goes for a sudden bite right at the opposite gut!
Shyra     Shyra scrambles and runs along. As normal, her appearance seems to fly under the figurative radar of the Golem, the thing crushing after others but leaving her be for critical moments. Even if she's not quite as adroit as the Saber of Shimousa, she does eventually rush up to gather with the others, gasping heavily. She's not quite in the same level of fitness as the others? Or is there something else at work as for why she seems to have less enduracne?

    Huff.... Huff... we're here... gasp... to stop this pointless loss of life! Shyra declares dramatically as she forms up behind the primary combatants, and she raises her staff. Saber hasn't been significantly wounded... yet. So she focuses her magic upon something else.

                                   LIGHT                                    

    A sparkle of light gathers around Gilgamesh... And then it detonates in a flash, blasting the King with a wave of basic but perfectly significant holy energy. Significant... ish. As Lillian and Tamamo join them, she nods, determined! It's just like having a party again! Come on, everyone! Let's do our best! she rallies, her spirits high.
Gawain Nanoha fires pink orbs, A few explode into it, but not in a way that force it to really shift, throwing off any of the battlers. It peels against the armor, but the golem is mostly Fine. It's still moving. It's tough as hell.

Athela comes in with an anchor shot, as the chain is wrapped around the arm. As it moves to bind it, the Golem is slowed in swinging, but /ignores/ it desptie the damage the chains are doing to the clay. It doesn't feel pain.

Sarracenia's big attack requires some more attention, though. As the bullet bills and cannons explode into it, the arms move, blocking the shots and blistering many holes into it's armor. It responds by ripping out a chunk of building that fell, a fire escape...

And using it as a club, smashing the fire escape into the three of them and their allies! The metal twists, bends, and breaks on impact, but it hurts. Also, the magical feeling is getting Stronger. It's going to do something soon, clearly, as the rune starts to glow bright blue.
Athela Valemore Athela knows it's only a temporary, mitigative effort at best. But ever little bit they can take out of the Golem's rampage is worth the effort even if the returns don't seem so impactful at first. "Hold it as long as you can!" The Dhelmise rasps something in response and leans back, digging it's weight into the ground farther and pulling the chain taunt. It can't completely stop the golem from lashing out, evident as it uses it's other arm to rip free a fire escape, but it tries to keep it from swinging at full force if nothing else.

As the monsterous automaton tears another building apart with it's great clay hand Athela growls and steps forward, bringing her weapon up and to bear.

*KRSHING*

A flashing slice follows, cleaving through the fire escape and sending parts of it tumbling aside of her. Some of the jagged edges scrape against her armored figure as the rubble collapses aside but that's it.

It's probably not specifically weak to Water attacks like a Ground type would be, but that's more than enough of a strategy for Athela to work with. She sweeps her weapon to the side to balance it as she hops onto Dhelmise's chain and uses it to run up towards the monsterous golem. Aquamarine swirls appear shimming about the weapons blade as it draws on her aquamancy. Athela doesn't go all the way to the arm though. Instead she leaps off once she's gotten far enough up to launch herself at the midsection of the golem. Resolute Blade is swung around with its hydrophilic charge, slicing an watery arc as close as possible to the golem's center of mass as possible, the pressurized stream having as much cutting force as the blade itself.
Gilgamesh      "If you're going to say something that stupid you may as well not speak at all."

     The splitting wind narrowly hits the King. It's very narrow, but it's enough to skid him backwards as his golden armor properly folds around him out of sparkles, as he hits the side of the Golem's head.

     "Really. You'll stake your life on that?" The King's eyes flick over the sword thoughtfully, "Very well then."

     "I'll also stake your life on that."

     A blade emerges from the Gate of Babylon.

     It is a simple black tachi with a silver handle, wrapped in black leather. It pulses with divinity, a weapon beyond compare. It is a sword of absolute glory, the building block upon which legends are made. There is no question, no doubt. It is an insult of the highest order.

     It is the weapon that would inspire the one he holds, the divine construct that would eventually come to be the building blocks of the legend of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. It is a sword that has no name, which, in front of the Blacksmith's identical work, makes that sword look like a paltry toy.

     Gilgamesh flicks his hand and the sword goes shooting at Muramasa like a bolt of lightning.

     The debris from Lilian almost manages to hit him; the bits of golem are intercepted by magical blades, which strike down into the creature, pinning the clay back to it. Lilian comes charging in, preparing to hit him in the temple - and he simply tilts his head to the side and lets a blade of his own emerge from right next to his neck. Her hilt smacks him, but not nearly as hard as she'd like.

     It's enough to distract him from Shyra's burst of LIGHT. Holy magic burns around him, blinding him momentarily. The Gate still knows to protect him, but without his orders, his will, the unparalleled Noble Phantasm is much less precise - and so Tamamo's charms get through the storm of blades and hit him, burning against his armor.

     Gilgamesh's vision clears in an instant.

     He slicks back his hair.

     "Good."

     "I had hoped this wouldn't be boring."

     The Gate opens once again. This time it isn't weapons at all that emerge, but staves - magical staves of all stripe, pulsing with overwhelming divine power. These are Mysteries of the highest order, each a Noble Phantasm containing powerful magecraft from the age before Magecraft even existed. A stone book falls into his hand, a tablet of the most literal sense that glows with odd runes as Gilgamesh hops away from the assault.

     He runs his finger across the book.

     The staves activate, a storm of golden lightning roaring across the battlefield. "Huhuhahahahahaha!"

     "Don't forget that no matter how much you struggle, you still face the King of Heroes! Show me your finest and struggle with all your might! Don't worry! If you are strong enough, you will survive!"

     *God* that's an arrogant laugh.
Nanoha Takamachi     Some of Nanoha's orbs explode against the golem. They don't do a lot of damage. Nanoha didn't expect them too. She's focused on preparing her upcoming attack so is only trying to keep the golem distracted for the moment. And it seems to be working!

    Nanoha blasts off, darting through the air once more as a large fire escape is swung in her direction. She twists in the air, managing to fly between bars of the warped metal structure. Though one of them manages to catch her in the foot as she escapes. The impact causes Nanoha's flight path to wobble a little, the Mage wincing in pain.

    Flying down to street level once again, even more of those orbs she's been creating appear in the air around Nanoha. They quickly darting off, diving into the drains as Nanoha flies past them. The Mage then flies up to circle around the golem and those fighting on it, before coming to a stop above it.

    Nanoha spins around, facing downwards as she points her staff in that direction. Magic gathers at the tip, quickly growing in strength as Nanoha calls out, "Burst Smasher!"

    The magic bursts, splitting into one large beam that streaks directly down towards the golem, along with several smaller beams that fly out and pepper the golem from the sides.
Song of Rainbows Locking eyes with Song of Rainbows is dangerous! She has...

Dangerous eyes!

"I'm a scourge of endless stories, the secret main character you always are forced to admire even when they force their way into your narrative!" She pumps both fists. "Or at least that's what those fairies would probably say. Gossamer and gold and always about their stories! But what I'm not - is that. Sounds wrong. Right, but wrong."

The tossing occurs, and Song raises a hand to watch Haguro's arc through the air with great interest.

"There's every reason! I'm so hungry, I've got to find something exciting! The first thing you do, when you wake up, is really get going!"

Hammerblown by Haguro's arm swing, right into having a quarter-chunk of her side be bit down on like a piece of steak, her ironlike skin soaking much of the chewing damage but still pouring out thick sticky ichor out, a goo-like paste with a rich bloody flavor.

Because certainly Haguro wants to know that.

Laughing, the whole time, like it's all one grand joke as she's chomped into like dinner, she spreads out her arms in a broad, all encompassing gesture. "You get it! You get it exactly! You've got to feast!"

Clapping both hands in, in a swift motion her fingers curl around Haguro's ears and into her hair as she grips the Abyssal.

"Slake your thirst! And there's nothing better than plundering, first thing! Seize it! Take it! That's what's worth living for - whatever you want, whenever you want it!"

Her dreadlocked hair surging up like choking snakes around Haguro's neck, as the crazy octopus-eyed woman brings her head forward in a thunderous headbutt.

The hands and hair-tentacles fall away - shove away - just after, as her flesh flows around the chomping bite, sliding her deformed torso out of the way of the teeth and releasing her from the hold.

"But a good fight's fine too! It gets your blood going!"

Panting and grandstanding, Song pulls slightly away, circling with quick steps.
Sarracenia      The fire escape club smashes solidly into one airship, sending wooden debris raining down below. It starts to list to one side, but Sarracenia raises her hand once again. "And to think, I was actually questioning my dedication to the Watch..." the princess mutters to herself. They may not always handle things the way she thinks they should be handled, but in the end she agrees with what they stand for.

     Heavy thunking of cannons being reloaded can be heard from the three airships. And Sarracenia pouts slightly. She knows he is busy, but he could have said something! Still, the golem takes precedence for now. But while the gunnery crews are busy reloading, Sarracenia pulls out a fire flower power-up and holds it up for the ships to see. It then disappears in a puff of smoke and leaves her in much more fiery colors. She hops up onto the railing of her ship and starts shooting fireballs down on the golem.

     And she is joined by the deck crews of the airships! A veritable waterfall of fireballs fall from the sky, then bounce along the ground toward the creature.
Shyra     The dramatic words, the ominous battle. The power of the golden being before them... The smell of fire and the sounds of screaming rise around her. Her mind locks on something, and she trembles as her thoughts go back. No... It can't be...

    Different in form, but perhaps all the same in the ways that count to her. She stands there, petrified as she is assaulted by memories, familiar sights and sounds, drawing parallels of terrible potency.

    The crashing blast of the Lightning Staves being her to her senses through the application of pain and fire. She cries out, blasted backwards as the pink Holy Healer is driven to her knees in a single blow.

                                    269                                    

    So much power... We did this before... We have to do it again!

    What is she even talking about? She forces herself back to her feet and steps forward gain, looking that the Saber has fared even worse. You can't fall yet! She calls, throwing green sparkling lights in his direction before she turns to focus on Gilgamesh. We can't allow this to happen again! Come on, everyone! We have to stop this here!

    The staff rises once again, and this time the light blazes even brighter, the holy power simply, but direct as energy beams of light flash down and try to zap Gilgamesh!
Muramasa The Golem shudders under the assault of its assailants, but Saber's footing remains true. He drives the golden king back, ever so slightly. And sure enough...before his eyes, Gilgamesh draws forth the original sword. The weapon that would eventually become his Kusanagi, one way or another. The weapon is immaculate -- it's a perfect foundation. He can tell, because his natural affinity with bladed weapons allows him to sympathize with them. The material they're made with. Their structure. The forging process. Their accumulated history. Yet....

It was empty. It was devoid of everything. It was a weapon that had no history, and had no name.

            BOOM!

Kusanagi meets it and an explosion of sparks erupt into a shockwave that halts him in his tracks. Saber's shoulder dislocates and every bone in his arm fractures. "Huaaaaaah!"

The cracks are filled with magical energy. Using Reinforcement he instantly regains the ability to use his arm. The pain doesn't disappear, but he forges through it, batting the weapon fired at him far into the night sky. It did not shatter, but .... neither did his Kusanagi.

Saber advances again. Each of the Noble Phantasms, he could discern immediately, were the foundations of a great legend. It was terrifying. A Noble Phantasm was the legend, the deeds, the worth of a hero accumulated and made manifest...and yet...devoid of their history. Devoid of their accomplishment, still, they were what they were, and they were wielded with impunity. Saber interposes himself between Tamamo, Shyra, Lilian, and Gilgamesh. The lightning arcs in a roar as his blade moves to meet the multi-angled attack. He can't stop all of it, but, focusing his sword ki into a swipe that revolves his whole body, he takes the thunder of god into himself in a flash that scars his body and tatters his haori. Even the holy shroud on his arm begins to singe as he casts his sword forward and launches the condensed blast back at Gilgamesh in a cobalt flash.
Tamamo     Tamamo adopts an expression clearly indicating her sincerity as she responds to Saber of Shimousa, fully in agreement with her actual opponent on this matter. "The foolishness of this man somehow pains me more than that of the mages who seek to hide this giant tool." Just how their veil of secrecy could cover up such a spectacle isn't a great concern of hers, despite the tearing of the veil's relevance to the current machinations of those present.

    "And oh, a familiar voice. But none of that is important here, Saber. I am performing my work as a deity, in answering a prayer, in the manner I promised. I did tell you, Lilian, did I not? I would see you survive to the dawn. Do not worry overly for me." As she said, the dawn has not yet arrived. Marking the beginning of a day as the midpoint from sunset to sunrise is nonsense unworthy of her consideration. "Oh, a little bit of worry is fine. Merely keep me in your thoughts." She doesn't sound especially concerned for her own well-being, on the other hand.

    Some of the reasons for this soon become clear. When the staves begin to rain down magic, she pulls in front of her the heavy, ornamented mirror, the materialization of the Eightfold Blessings. Then, she leaps. The ground is left away immediately, and the mirror floats with her as if securely, invisibly tethered. She weaves a path through three-dimensional space, dodging the rain, lightly touching feet to wall, lamp post, rooftop, circling the battlefield and approaching closer to the golem, and to Gilgamesh, with each step. What she doesn't dodge strikes and, as one might expect of an artifact of this type, reflects off the mirror's surface. It is a real possibility that even her luck was enhanced for this moment, intentionally bolstered by her own blessings, and merely a coincidence that both she and the king draw on sources of power that preceded magecraft itself.

    "Hmm. I have no quarrel, but... no, that does not matter in this moment. The struggle is important in itself, is it not?" Her voice raises, "Ill fortune befalls the powerful, the smallest troubles compound, the titan sees not the gnat." Landing so close now that even that much might have been unnecessary to be certain she was heard, Tamamo tosses no talismans, but makes a gesture and pushes something invisible toward Gilgamesh, then tears her hand away, pulling whatever is was back to herself.

    Saber's ill fortune was not enough to earn such sympathy, alas, as to grant him a portion of the king's fortune, instead.
Gawain Athela's Dhelmise comes in as the fire escape proves ineffective, and is used to ascend the Golem. Athela climbs up, and finds her sword slicing into the Golem. Good news and bad news. Good news is that the sword slices up some of the clay, definitely doing damage. The bad news is it still refuses to stagger, and the clay is /tough/, so it can't just be sliced to bits. It gets thicker the deeper in you go.

Nanoha fires her Burst Smasher as she flies by, beams peppering holes into the Golem that cause it to grimace further. It turns towards her, giving her a baleful look, but doesn't attack just yet.

Sarracenia's array of fireballs blasts into the Golem, but it swats them away with the last remains of the fire escape, the flames dancing harmlessly away on its body.

Instead of immediately attacking, the rune grows brighter and brighter. And then, something happens. It's immediately reported, and it's visible - every corpse in the area releases a transluscent ghost, blue-ish white, that begins to float towards the Golem. The ghosts look at themselves, look at the area, try and interact, fail, and then one reaches the Golem's head.

The Golem opens its mouth, and then swallows the ghost whole, crunching it down with razor sharp teeth. And then another. And then another.

The rune starts gaining in potency. It seems like it'll be some sort of special attack, soon, if it hits.

For now, it slams its arms into the ships and those on the ground, a downwards slapping motion, and moves to tear up the terrain in the process. More corpses are created of those still in range, and their ghosts, too, appear and start gravitating towards the Golem.

This is probably bad.
Haguro "The secret...? Am I on some kind of weird show or...?" Haguro sounds utterly bewildered by Song's announcement of her purpose and reason, the mention of fae giving her some small amount of understanding if only because of the fact that the shipgirl isn't particularly well-versed in how fae work.

It's all kind of weird, but it'll have to do. Until it doesn't. "Wait, so you're not the thing you say you are, but you are the... What?"

So confused. Bringing up hunger is easy enough to understand, though, and that helps put things into perspective for Haguro despite the half-grimace half-hungering look on her face. That reaction is enough to get the shipgirl to withdraw that gut-tail, the more bestial appendage chattering its teeth again while Haguro herself looks conflicted.

"N.. No! Abyssals are supposed to eat metal, not other stuff and definitely not people! Just because I haven't eaten real.." She trails off, looking intensely uncomfortable with the mere idea of being okay with eating people.

Just one more bite wouldn't hurt, would it?

That gut-tail starts growling again, and Haguro finds herself distracted just long enough for Song to get uncomfortably close with her hands on the shipgirl's ears and her hair choking the crap out of her. That headbutt makes direct contact, and Haguro staggers back from both the strike and the shove that follows it up.

"Maybe I... No, I do enjoy fighting more than I should, but just because I was made for it doesn't mean I can just... Indulge in that whenever I want. That's what makes people different from beasts!" As she shouts back at Song, she takes aim with her myriad turrets. Shots start firing evey which way both at and around Song to try and keep her off balance, collateral damage be damned.

Some of that collateral damage has Haguro's attention shifting, though, when she notices ghosts rising from the corpses of other looters, Mage Association personnel, or whoever they're from since Haguro hasn't really cared to identify any of them. That has Haguro adjusting her movements more still, likely because she's a spirit already! She doesn't want to get eaten by a freaky golem, and she's more than happy to keep out of arm's reach of that thing.
Nanoha Takamachi     Nanoha just floats there in the air, watching with a look of shock as the golem seems to summon the spirits of those it has killed.

    And proceeds to eat them.

    Spirits are not something Nanoha has had a lot of experience with. She's not quite sure how to respond to the sight. Though some disgust is probably warranted. And it shows as Nanoha looks away for several moments.

    Nanoha doesn't look again until Raising Heart chimes up, <It has reached the location A.>

    Nanoha opens her eyes once more and nods, "Right."

    Nanoha flies backwards and up into the air, quickly moving clear of the golems downward swipe. She raises her hand into the air and snaps her fingers.

    Some of the orbs that Nanoha had sent into the drains gather together in a large open intersection of the city's underground sewers. They merge together, growing brighter as they do before finally exploding in a large blast of light!

    The street beneath the golem cracks, light pouring outwards, before the large explosion blasts upwards to engulf the the golem.

    Once the light fades, it reveals a large hole in the street created by the explosive force. Hopefully large enough to trap the golem. Or if not, at least restrict its movement for a few moments.
Sarracenia      The fiery barrage might be ineffective, but that isn't what worries Sarra most. That downward slap catches the damaged airship and sends it crashing down into the arena, shattering its lower hull and breaking its masts. Plant people start repairs, but it will probably be a while before that ship gets airborn again.

     But, that still isn't the most worrisome thing. Those ghosts getting summoned and then...eaten? That is what makes Sarracenia's eyes widen and a rather horrified look appear on her face. "What...what is it doing?!" she exclaims, then growls angrily. "Alright! It is time for the Big Guns!" she declares, and with some quick orders to the crew of the two remaining ships the undersides open again.

     But this time, rather than building materials both ships lower a cannon large enough for a person to stand up inside of! There is a grinding metal sound and a heavy thunk as a big shark-faced projectile appears in each barrel. "Fire!!" Sarracenia shouts, and with a thunderous KABOOM both cannons fire. But, rather than sending a projectile screaming through the air, each one unleashes a car-sized shell that moves only about as fast as someone sprinting. They track the golem and close in, giving anyone who wants or needs to a chance to clear out.

     And then they impact. Both explode, sending shrapnel flying about. But, that initial explosion is followed by a chain of growing explosions, each one slightly stronger and larger than the last until there is finally one last even larger explosion. By the end, two large mushroom clouds are billowing upward into the air.
Lilian Rook     At the moment, even in the midst of battle, Lilian can't help but have about a dozen things she could do to make Saber face an 'unfortunate accident' for his earlier bouts of rudeness flash through her mind. Two or three dozen, if she doesn't care to make it untraceable. It'd be so very easy, to see the man eat it against the King of Heroes, as a just reward. The invisible hand of karma, or so she'd call it.

    But he throws himself in the way of Gilgamesh, and breaks his arm defending the others, seemingly out of sheer, stubborn habit. It twists Lilian's lips in bitterness, but she loses the taste for it for the moment.

    "That's that and this is this! The two are-- Of course I'm going to worry!" she begins hurriedly yelling towards Tamamo, before just as hurriedly giving up on it. "Oh, whatever! I guess I'll just take care of this quickly so that nobody gets seriously hurt."

    While the Saber of Shimousa is doing all the work, Lilian thrusts her sword into the ground, then reaches out with her arms at opposite angles, circling both hands inward and closer together through a complete clockwise arc, alternating the arrangement of her fingers through each 'hand'. The eerie vibration reappears around her, at a hundredfold strength. The flagstones crack and pulverize silently beneath her feet. Arcs of energy link her fingertips together and coruscate into the surroundings. A deep, powerful thrumming causes nearby damaged signage and masonry to collapse.

    Drawing one hand all the way back down to her shoulder and thrusting the other outward towards Gilgamesh, Lilian lets a multi-layered black and gold magic circle spring from her wrist down to her forearm, and unleash a torrent of light and dark right back at him. It pops and strobes in dizzying, unsettling ways, both absorbing light completely and bursting too brightly to see. Alternating rays of energy --scores of them-- diffuse outwards in several directions, then gracefully arc back together, entwining through the barrage from the Gate --threading the enemy volley with sheer finesse-- and converging on Gilgamesh with unerring, rapid fire accuracy.

    It's a shocking amount of energy dumped into one attack. Orders of magnitude higher than a magus from this world could access. It is also, if Gilgamesh has an 'ear' for it, not strictly all magical. The way it pops and tears and implodes and shreds what it hits in all sorts of viciously unstable and irregular ways; it's an incredibly unique sort of physical abuse.
Athela Valemore No, it absorbing ghosts is not a good thing. That in itself is evident, and the rune glowing more brightly makes Athela's divine intuition flare. Whatever that is charging, it is not going to be good for the city or those trying to defend it.

But she can't immeadiately deal with that. She hits the ground after her assault and dives to roll out of the way as the hands come down, not wanting to be smashed beneath them. The ground heaves with the impact, finally knocking Fantom loose from its mooring and sending the Dhelmise tumbling a bit. It may be a Ghost but because it's posessing that ship wreckage it can't do the phasing thing other specters do.

Athela gets back up in a crouch, eyes narrowing. The desecration of the deceased for it's own empowerment is just as angering as it's rampage. She eyes the glowing rune, and that gives her an idea as she starts sprinting back towards the center of the fight. "Fanthom, are you okay?!" There's the ominous creaking of wood and metal as the anchor and wheel collect themselves off the ground and realign as in their ghastly visage. "Good." Athela skids to a stop next to it, scowling at the glowing rune. Then looking down to were she gouged the thing, only to find it's body is more impacted the deeper it goes. But maybe... A long shot, but that's how battles are won is it not?

Athela jabs her weapon into the ground for a moment, and grabs onto the anchor shaft of Dhelmise instead. She pulls it from the ground, drawing on more of her aquatic powers and aiming towards the golem. "Anchors away!" The building pressure is released and it works like a cannon of shorts to launch the Dhelmise towards the golem.

For its part the pokemon just strenghtens its manifestation as it is used as a projectile, now aimed to slam into the monster with the hefty force of it's bulk moving faster than it ever could on its own power!
Song of Rainbows There's no cityscape around her as Song barrels right through walls and streetsigns and lamp-poles as she circles, casually elbowing or hand-sweeping through the detritus of civilization.

There's no little shops full of baubles, or people screaming and running, or even a massive golemn. No, no no. Song of Rainbows only had eyes for the Abyssal, Haguro. And she had eyes. A third, vertical slit eye peeled open from her forehead, this eye with the color of purest silver with a single slit through it, throbbing with an inner power and glow.

It fixes itself upon Haguro, staring unblinkingly. "I am the Song of Rainbows, chosen, scourge of the sea of stories, and you..."

She licks her lips slowly. "... Are so delightful! Maybe you're the one! There's something about the way you..."

Her nose flares as she breathes in, audibly sucking in air for a few moments. She finishes the sentence just as creepily as she starts it. "... smell. But this thing needs to go!"

Blasted, Song is engulfed in smoke and shrapnel as explosions cascade around her, bringing up her arms, folded, to shield her face. Her eyes, locked on Haguro, with the one at the crown of her brow, pouring out argent light like molten silver. She rushes Haguro down, moving in tear at her armor, peel away her gifted plate, and arm-lock the gut-mouth with the crook of her forearm and bicep, arm wrapped around the appendage fit to snap it open like a crab claw in a vice.

"There's something about you driving me mad! Do you know? Why you're special? Tell me! Go wild with me! Indulge, indulge!"
Gilgamesh      Tamamo no Mae reaches for the luck of the King of Heroes.

     She finds an *endless* wellspring.

     For so it is written at the end of his tale, at the tale he has not yet completed and may yet never:

The destiny decreed for Gilgamesh by the father of the gods was fulfilled.
For all mankind to come none shall ever leave a monument that can compare to his.
The heroes and wise men will have wax and wane, but all men will say that none has ever ruled with might and power and wisdom like his.
This was the meaning of the dreams of the King - that he was not to live forever but to stand forever apart.
             That he was the darkness and the light of mankind.            
       That he was unrivaled in his supremacy over both man and war.        
That he would not abuse this might but deal justly before the face of the Sun.

     She, Tamamo, is a goddess of the Sun. Those words burn in her vision as she attempts to pull from him boundless luck, a boundless destiny that stretches across the whole of existence. That he is protected, that he is loved, that he is exalted by gods older than she, is evident. There is no way she could take that meaningfully; it would be like trying to drain the ocean with a thimble, even for her.

     But she can still pull him off-guard.

     Which, well, she does. The sudden tug pulls him physically forward - so connected is he to his destiny, to his essential self, to the idea of GILGAMESH that predates all other legends engraved upon the world - into Lilian's strike. The barrage of rays go streaking towards him; his eyes open as he reads the incoming attack, but the tug has him off-guard enough that all he can do is brace himself. The Gate is too slow to respond.

     The rays crash against the golden armor. That armor that can withstand Noble Phantasms, which can protect from the Magecraft of this world. That armor that can take hits from relics.

     It's *scorched*. Black spots have spread all over it. Might even have cracked in a couple places; it's hard to tell. The Gate can probably repair it, even clean it, but that's a *major* hit by his standards. There's an approving look as he rises back to his height.

     Interrupted by Shyra's spell, which hits him clear in the head, knocking him forward into the Ki Strike.

     The cobalt blast hits him in the chest. The King goes sliding backwards again, through one of the ghosts, which explodes on contact with his golden armor in a shower of spectral particles. With the blackened spot from Lilian, Tamamo's tug, Shyra's blast, and the strike from Shimousa, the armor actually, physically cracks. Bits of gold fall to the ground.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh snaps his fingers.

     The armor vanishes.

     His hair falls down.

     Instead of his armor it is his perfect form, his gorgeous, impossible body, constructed by the gods themselves for the purpose of reigning over all mankind. It is covered in red magical circuits of incredible density, glowing passively and ominously as he pulls himself to his full height. He's not tall. But he certainly seems like the imposing mountain he claims to be as he waves his hand.

     "Good."

     "Huhuhahahahahahahahha!"

     "Good, good!"

     His lips twist into a wild grin. "Do you know how disappointed I'd be if you weren't capable of at least that much? Do you know how boring this would be if all you could do was glint off my armor?"

     "Look upon the form of the King and see the mountain that rises before you! All that is between Earth and Heaven is mine to rule!"

     The tablet hangs there in the air before him. He swipes upwards, then downwards, and the light from the tablet turns from blue to red in an instant. It folds in on itself and vanishes.

     "Congratulations, you who stand against me! You have earned the right to see a glimmer of the true power of the Wedge of Heaven! This will be your reward!"

     A gleaming golden sword emerges from the ground. Muramasa recognizes instantly that it is made of Adamant. It is sharp enough that even emerging from the golden ripple cleaves the air around it, vacuum rippling around it with every motion. To be cut by that sword is to be cut with something more than a blade, something that imposes the idea of Being Cut upon a person. It is a Conceptual Weapon that would become the foundation of a poem, the sword Chrysaor of Sir Artegal of the Faerie Queene.

     But in the King's hands it is merely one of his countless toys, a thing of glory pouring forth from the source of all mankind's glories.

     The King raises the sword in his hand lazily. The circuits in his arm flare with red light, an unimaginable amount of magical power as the First Demigod awakens the nameless blade.

     He swings.

     The slashes do not come shooting out. There are no sword waves here, no rippling strikes, no glorious golden slash. Instead there are *cuts* - the idea of *cutting* simply slashing across the party at point blank, as if the King stood directly in front of them. Reflexes may be fast enough to dodge it; preternatural senses will certainly feel it coming as the blade is lifted. Gilgamesh swings it over and over, a dance of a single blade becoming countless, imposing "the very notion of being cut".

     It is an absurd thing, to cut without distance or space, and yet here it is, in the hands of the King, no more than a plaything by the look on his face, something he is simply showing off for the fun of it.
Haguro As Song's focus remains locked onto Haguro through their battle, so too does Haguro's start to focus almost solely on the stranger before her. That golem's presence and ghost-eating habits have her adjusting her footing, to be sure, but...

It's hard to ignore the fact that getting in to a proper fight like this doesn't happen every day, so she might as well enjoy it. Even that third eye appearing doesn't horrify her as much as Song's transformation earlier, focused as she is on blasting the strange sailor woman.

It doesn't make the rest of what Song says any less confusing or concerning, though. "My name is Haguro, vice Admiral of the Luthan Fleet, fourth of the Myoukou-class Heavy Cruisers, and Ne-Class Abyssal. And you're..."

She furrows her brow, still trying to get a grasp of what she's even feeling about Song of Rainbows. "Wh... What's wrong with the way I smell? I still make sure to groom and clean every day, even like this!" Getting flustered for thatmoment, she brings her arms up in preparation to defend herself, but that does little to stop Song's next assault as armor gets shorn off and the gut-tail cracks from being forced to bend in that way it's not supposed to.

Haguro screams a guttural scream, and that cyan glow of her eye starts blinking red every now and then. "Ggh...! H-how should I know?! I'm not..."

What isn't she? Haguro doesn't even know, and she can't answer that. Unless it's... "Is something wrong with you? Is something wrong with me? Is it because... I've stopped following them?" A grin creeps across her face for just a brief moment, but it's long enough to be noticeable even to a casual observer, never mind Song being right there in front of her. With the transformed sailor at such close range, Haguro shifts to a decidedly more wrestling-like strategy.

Namely, she tries clamping her arms around Song's arms on her appendage. Although the pain has her biting down on her lip and drawing blood, she's banking on doing more damage to her opponent now that she has the woman right where she wants her. Haguro tilts backwards suddenly, aiming to force something in Song's arms out of place while lifting her overhead and swinging her back down straight at the ground to try and flatten her right on the spot!
Gawain Nanoha creates a massive explosion with the orbs. The ground shakes, and the golem falls into the hole. The torso is exposed, and those runes are still glowing, but it's badly hurt, clay breaking apart.

Sarracenia launches car-sized rounds straight at the Golem, who gets massive holes in its armor, staggering backwards finally. Athela's big anchor strike goes /slamming/ into it, cracking more armor and exposing raw energy inside.

The same energy that's building up.

The same energy that /detonates/ outwards, as it finally reaches peak from eating all of the ghosts.

Everyone in the area can feel the raw magical energy pouring out. The golem's energy beam blasts out, moving to catch Sarracenia's ships, Athela and the Dhelmise, and the flying Nanoha in a sweeping arc. Nanoha gets it /focused/ on her for trapping it, trying to incinerate her completely.

The blast goes high into the sky. People can see it for miles. They can film it. They can witness it. Gilgamesh, a smart man, knows for certain that this is the death of the Concealment of the Mystics. After all the cracks it had between him, Rhongomyniad, the Presiking, the giant green bug, the Foreigner...

It can't hold out any longer.

But the golem is still going. And it won't stop going until it is destroyed.
Nanoha Takamachi     Nanoha's eyes go wide as she feels the magic rolling off the golem. She had expected something like this would be the end result of it charging itself using the ghosts. But actually experiencing it... It is all the more worrisome. So much so that even Nanoha's Device offers up a warning, <Caution, Master.>

    "I know." As she floats there, Nanoha swings her staff down to point at the golem. A pair of spell rings appear around the head, a large orb of pink light starting to gather at the tip.

    As Nanoha charges her spell, she sees the golem launching its own attack, its beam blasting out towards Sarracenia's ship first. Raising Heart chimes once more, <Master->

    Nanoha interupts her quickly, "I know! We'll make it! Divine..."

    The golem's beam sweeps past Athela. The cartridge system in the neck of Nanoha's staff slides back three times, KA-CHUNK, KA-CHUNK, KA-CHUNK. The sudden infusion of concentrated mana boosts the size of the growing spell considerably, also creating an aura of pink around Nanoha.

    Finally, just as the opposing beam carves through the air towards her, Nanoha cries out, "BUSTER!" Nanoha's energy bursts, quickly rushing out as a large beam of light that streaks towards the golem. The golem's own beam aligns with Nanoha's, the two colliding with a flash.

    At first it looks like Nanoha's beam engulfs the golem's as it pushes forward, closing the distance to the artificial creature. But soon the truth is revealed. Just as Nanoha's beam reaches the golem, its own pierces out the end of hers. Having drilled right through the center of Nanoha's, its course altered just barely by the clashing energies, it rushes past the head of Nanoha's staff and strikes the Mage in the shoulder before continuing off into the air.

    Nanoha cries out in pain as her defensive magics only dent the power of the glancing blow. Nanoha quickly moves a hand to hold her singed shoulder, floating down out of the air to land on the street below once more, dropping down to a knee as she does so. She grimaces at the pain, but looks up to see the result of her own attack.
Athela Valemore That divine 'danger sense' goes from a buzz to nearly screaming in Athela's mind as the golem fractures apart and unleases the energy that was building within. The blast being released flings Dhelmise back out of it's crumbling form, the ghostly anchor landing... somewhere. By this point there's more rubble than Prague and it's hard to keep track of where anything lands. The spectre will survive, but it's pretty out of the battle for the time being while it's likely pulling itself back together in a somewhat literal manner.

In response to the ringing in her head Athela jabs her weapon into the ground blade first. Both to brace herself against the surging energy and to channel her elemental power through it. Water wells up around her, only to freeze over and turn into a jagged hemisphere of ice intermingled with chunks of debris that were caught up in the rise. The shockwave of magical energies slam into that barrier as she hunkers behind it, tearing into the formation with little difficulty. It only takes seconds for the ice to crack, then entire chunks to break off as debris flung up by the blast hammer into it. But it's seconds of exposure Athela isn't taking directly and that is a small blessing of its own, until the ice blockage finally collapses completely under the assault.

Athela skids backwards, dragging the sword-glaive to keep from being thrown entirely off her feet in the wave of the assault. She's down on one knee, huffing a few times to recover from the experience. Then the determined scowl returns, teeth clenching. The fight was not yet over.

The young knight pushed herself back to her feet, cape flapping out behind her as she grabbed the hilt of her weapon and pulled it from the ground. Resolute Blade responds almost immeadiately, starting to glow until it's almost audibly humming with energy. The other hand took a moment to push crimson bangs out of her face and readjust her headpiece to keep them there, then also gripped the weapon.

Then she was off, rushing back across the broken landscape towards where the remaining innards of the golem was partially entrapped in the ground. The weapon was brought forward, held as one would a lance in a charge. "Back to the depths that spawned you, abomination!"

She lunged and thrust, aiming to drive the divine weapon as deep as she could into the churning mess of energy that was the golem's remaining form.
Sarracenia      Sarracenia's airships are above the blast, and it catches the two remaining ships as they float there above the battle. The downed escort ship is completely obliterated. The second escort is engulfed and heads toward the ground as well, trailing smoke and fire. The flagship is only caught with a glancing blow, but it is enough to knock it sideways and send it toward the ground as well. The flagship manages to avoid crashing, but both escorts lie as smoking heaps on the ground now. The piranha plant sailors are quickly clearing out of the downed ships, many on stretchers or carried by others.

     The remaining airship moves in to pick up survivors, and Sarracenia leaps off the bow of the ship and down toward the golem. Her dress is smoldering and her hair is frazzled, and that is likely driving her anger as much as anything else that has happened so far. She rides her hammer down, aiming for the head of the creature. Of course, she isn't really thinking about how the attack from the creature probably acted like a big magical beacon that couldn't be missed by the people, she's just thinking that this thing needs to be defeated! It isn't as strong a hit as she would like to be using right now, but she does need to get her flagship and her sailors out of here unless she wishes to add them to the deathtoll. "Go down already, you stupid monster!" she tries to drive the head of her hammer into the golem using the force of gravity as the other two warrior women deal big hits!
Song of Rainbows Dislocating both of Song's arms is distressingly easy, but decidedly unsatisfying - both pop out with empty meat-squelches, as her silver lamp-eye is spun around and powerbombed. The ground shatters, Haguro's incredible strength crashing Song's skull right into the cobblestone pavement.

And powdering the stone pavers.

And smearing most of her head into a compressed crater, legs bonelessly falling to ether side of her torso.

And then there's the shuddering laughter, pouring through one, and then two, and then four mouths, full of those same three pointed teeth that stick out more than all the rest.

Eyes open like seams on her bare midriff, on the palms of her hands, along her forearm.

"It's like a perfume. An air about you. Not yours. No, no, not yours."

Her legs unspool, and her arms lose their definition, becoming ropes of slimy tendrils that double back on themselves, until sitting in the crater is the dripping wet face of the sailor, central forehead-eye burning like a lighthouse in argent, both hands wrapped around Haguro's palms.

"You've tasted it, Admiral. The freedom of open waters. Beholden to none but yourself. Ain'tcha? It's grand!"

With a torqueing twist, Song leaps up to grab Haguro's real head between her trouser'ed thighs, twist her neck, and spin-dive the boat into the ground.

"Nothing wrong with knowing what you want, and seizing it whenever you can!"
Lilian Rook     "Eugh. Feeding on ghosts. That's disgusting." says Lilian, lowering her hands again, visibly smoking with excess energy bleeding into the air, toxic to breathe in. She looks to the golem with an expression approaching regret, now. Regret that she'd not dealt with it immediately, because . . .

    She hadn't seemed that concerned with the property damage and looter stomping, but something about sucking up ghosts ruffles her badly? Enough to have second thoughts about Gilgamesh having his way for now, certainly.

    "I know *I'd* be incredibly disappointed if that were the case." Lilian says back, though without some of her previous enthusiasm, slowly hardening into a shell of something else. "Insulted, even. I've been working hard, and so I'd hate to somehow fall short of the usual fools who catapult themselves at you so eagerly. Then again, I also hate showing my cards for no reason."

    That sword isn't no reason. She knows that before he even draws it. The mesh of invisible, gossamer-fine threads of potential futures all fall slack around that distortion, cut clean off and terminated in permutative swathes. It's telling, extremely so, that Lilian isn't actually watching his sword arm. When Gilgamesh brandishes it in her direction, she has her *eyes closes*, taking in a deep breath and holding it, feeling the lines whittled away ten at a time, the miliseconds shaved away, potential slashes --the potential to be cut-- narrowing down to the smallest cluster of possible variants. Too late to be unexpected, too late for the outcome to change, and thus too late to do anything about it. Without distance or space, the eventuality of Being Cut is decided, and layered upon Lilian, who--

                -----[stop]-----
    She opens her eyes. She can see it 'now'; those lines where different parts of the world don't match up in front of her. Where the view has slid fractionally along hair-fine splits, and not instantaneously rejoined. There is no such thing as an instant here, after all.

    Lilian carefully weaves her way through the cluster of cuts all around her, navigating the invisible lines like tripwires, extricating herself from the determinism of Being Cut; what is determinism if not an event decided in time? She leaps up to the golem, frozen in motion, using its stone still body as ample terrain to accelerate towards Gilgamesh again as quickly as possible. Blossoms of dust and black static sprout up along her path, then freeze, preserved, motionless, for the last instant of their lives. She swerves narrowly behind him, winds back the flickering black ribbon of her sword, and . . .
                -----[start]-----

    --brings Night Mist through a perfect, clean, severing arc down past Gilgamesh's shoulder and across his side. A brush stroke of black and red twines long around the Golem of Prague. The cobblestones where she'd been are split to hundreds of tiny fragments, but she's really right by the King of Heroes, just like that.

    He hadn't picked up any magic. There isn't a wake of air or force ahead of her to announce her closing. The residual, sticky, mental haze of an illusion is nowhere to be felt. It's jarringly understated. Unnerving in the way that it is when one is suddenly uncertain they can trust their eyes or their memory. Singularly unique.

    Also, a cold, biting, bloodthirsty, fae sword.
Muramasa Spasms of pain shoot through his body. Burn marks dot his face and chest, electricicity cracking throughout the cracking samurai armor adorning his lower body. Jumping ahead like that had been second nature to him, as if it were the only thing to do; for him, it might as well be true. Without needing to think about it, he'd gladly give up his life for others. There were no regrets for him to have, he'd follow his path to the very end.

His aches were soothed by the healing powers of Shyra, who showered him in a green haze that shimmered and flickered. The black burns became smaller, and the pain accosting him become more bearable. "Trace On."

The damage to his internal organs from having the lightning course through his body was made manageable. Saber reinforces his muscles, his bones, and forces himself to fight at his full capacity. If a muscle tore, he'd just reinforce it. If his bones continued to break, he'd reinforce them. If an organ ruptiured, he'd reinforce it. There'd be a toll taken out on him in the end, but it didn't matter. Not to Saber.

Gilgamesh's armor is dispelled after taking critical damage. The man begins to take them seriously, at least by comparison from before and congratulates them, his magical circuits thrumming a vivid red. And the sword he draws .... --- what a terrible, incredible weapon. It was a sword that 'cut'. Rather, it imposed the concept of cutting, he understood. It did not inflict a mystery so much as it simply changed the order of action. When it swings, it cuts. It was as if they were being struck with an invisible sword, and even feeling the attacks coming, even reading Gilgamesh's stance and blocking expertly, he still found himself lacerated.

Saber realizes he was out of time after nearly being knocked off of Golem, a gash splitting apart his side. His feet dug into the clay, the air awash with mystery and magical energy. Golem was on a full blown rampage.

        "Gh....this is bad. Any more, and..!"

Shakily, Muramasa stands. The Golem rocks back and furth under the pressure of its attackers, steam raising from the mud and superheating his pauldrons. Saber closes his eyes, sheathing his sword. Sizzling, the sound of his blood striking the Golem's shell resounds. "It's no good, like I thought. I'm just a blacksmith after all. However...yes, even so, there is one thing I can do. I'll defeat you right here, right now, and stop this Golem in its tracks."

        Saber takes a deep breath, holding his scabbard before him.
Muramasa "I am a humble blacksmith. Indeed, I am not the swordmaster Jubei. I am not Hanzo, the spymaster, nor am I a Seimei. This is why I, in this moment, have the capacity to defeat you.

"I sought the ultimate blade."        "A blade of steel that cuts no flesh"    "Nor bones"
    "And neither life"    "What I seek is to clear resentment"

        "To cut bonds and destiny"
        "To sever karma."
"Years of toil to reach this place"    "Forging thousands of swords"
            To create a barrow of blades"

Saber's heart beat echoed with the beating of the internal hammer.

        "Many paths cross here."
        "Enduring desires flow here."
        "Unjust deaths gather here.
        "The heart of my sword!."

Saber draws his Kusanagi from its scabbard. Its blade had turned white hot and shone with an incredible glimmer, bright red something surrounding its edge, engulfing it, flowing out of it, flowing into it. It was something that humans were never meant to grasp. Even if it was only a flicker of the Truth it was none the less something far beyond the mortal coil. Yet, he had reached further than the realms of human possibility. This was his Noble Phantasm. It was ...

    MY TSUMUGARI MURAMASAAAAAAA!"

Saber attacks with a slash, the mystery within the air was pierced. Reality tore and folded, the glimmer Muramasa had obtained in his life shining within the cut all too briefly before expanding into a flash to try and rend both Gilgamesh and the Golem into two.
Shyra     The beam flares into the sky. Shyra is ignorant about what it means for the world at large, she has never had to deal with trying to hide magic from the common man. Why would she want to? She has always used magic to help people, after all. Her gaze moves from that shining lance to the battle at hand and again she is struck by a glorious sight.

    Namely, that of the King of Heroes. That perfect appearance makes her speechless as the perfect musculature and artful decorations cause her to gasp. How can someone so handsome be like this? She asks no one in particular.

    Still, there is the matter of the blade as Gilgamesh shows them the leading edge of legendary cutting power. Flashing slashes carve across her over and over again, SHING SHING SHING in the air as the damage numbers pop up over her head rapidly.

                                     33                                    
                                     66                                    
                                    100                                    
                                     14                                    

As the cuts end, the wounds begin sealing, her holy power asserting itself in the intense vitality that she possesses as well. We can't... stop here! But he's so strong...! Before her, the swordsman who is valiantly fighting is wounded again. If something isn't done... Even has he begins to channel his own powerful attack, she gathers the light around her. Sparkles rise, fountaining up towards the sky and swirling, gathering into a single point... And then it cascades down, solidifying into bands of light that begin curling around Gilgamesh, attempting to sap away his ability to move, to restrain that which is semi-divine.

                                    BIND                                    

    It might not be fancy, but she's not the one that got the special effects budget on development.
Haguro Haguro's hold on Song of Rainbows is much less steady than she was expecting. Rather, it was strong, but it didn't feel like how she was expecting. There's an almost confused look in her eyes as she stares at the odd crater left by thatslam, only fading away when she continues hearing that otherworldly laughter.

Also, the distressing amount of teeth, eyes, and the placement of all of them in places where there shouldn't be any of those things. "An air, huh...? Yes, that's... That's not wrong." She grips those hands in her own tightly, but not so hard as to inflict pain. It's just a solid grip, much stronger than she had ever shaken anyone's hand those many years ago.

"Being able to pursue things on my own, to choose things on my own... It was. It still is." She forgets where she is, and that's the opportunity Song of Rainbows needs to get Haguro's head locked in. The shipgirl's seen this maneuver done plenty of times before, but having it done to herself?

That's just unheard of. That was jerks something out of place with a sickening crack and noiseless cry from the cruiser, and the spin only exacerbates it further. She stops herself from being crushed entirely into what little is left of the pavement by slamming her elbows into the ground, though, drawing blood and tearing the black armor and cloth apart beneath herself all the while.

"Y... You know... I've tried not to do that too much. Knowing when to hold back is... Important. For working with other people. For pursuing common goals. For... Making sure I don't become some kind of monster."

Haguro reaches up, grasping at Song's thighs again to hold her steady while picking herself up with her head in the same spot as before. "It makes those times I get to let loose... Much more satisfying!" And then she leaps upwards, bringing Song with her on both the ascent and descent as she dives right at the ground, aiming to plant them both right into the ground with one last power bomb-esque maneuver!

Try to explain /that/ away, Mage's Association.
Tamamo     Tamamo covers her mouth with her sleeve as the golem begins to feed. The gesture would appear more graceful with the flowing sleeves she's not presently wearing. However half her face is hidden, the disgust is still present in her voice. "How distasteful." Spirits siezed from their appointed destiny. All that can be done is to free them from their prison, afterward. "Please be sure to break the clay upon stone once its use is complete. It would be more valuable as so many shards."

    Things are more chaotic than well-ordered, with cannons firing explosive rounds, underground explosions, Saber of Shimousa shielding others from attacks with a body rather less capable of taking the punishment than a divine artifact would have, and the golem continuing to pound the ground. The constant motion makes it difficult to stay atop any part of it, while the explosions make it decidedly dangerous. Tamamo leaps back away, a frown passing her lips at the unbidden feel of Gilgamesh's destiny.

    Alighting upon a yet-standing rooftop, Tamamo's frown disappears at Lilian's words. "A good answer, though you may be late for one old man. How fortunate that another is present to see to his wounds." It's just as well that Shyra can see to him, instead of relying upon divine blessings, given his temperament toward the latter.

    It's not perfectly clear to her just how serious Gilgamesh is at any given point, but this is certainly a more impressive display of magical treasures than the last. Narrowed eyes considering the coming onslaught, the slashes traveling toward her more like a curse than a physical action, she soon confirms her impression. Dodging through the intersecting paths of attacks, nothing manages to solidly hit her, yet her fingers, her legs, her cheeks, all begin to sprout a bright red. She had forsaken her own defense a little too much. It is more damaging yet not so immediately painful as it would have been had she been struck by a lesser weapon; a dull sword would feel less pleasant less than a sharp one. The pain from these comes afterward, wincingly, as any movement pulls at the severed skin. Her new boots are practically a loss.

    Still, her actions were for a purpose. Her maneuvering, dangerous as her path was, brought her again into a position from which to strike. The wounds, even if healed, annoy her pride as much as pain her, and the superhuman agility she displays only makes it worse, taxing her body to move through it. All to make another pass at striking the King of Heroes.

    And then, Tamamo no Mae stops. She looks up to the sky, out over the cratered ground, across to the seemingly unhurt knight who brought her here, brings one finger to her bloodied cheek, and wipes any expression from her face. "This is enough, is it not? O King Gilgamesh, please, cease."

    It's rather unfair to ask someone to stop while there's still anyone striking him. It should be against the rules to ask for a time out while a Saber-class Servant is shouting the name of his weapon. Many things may Tamamo no Mae be, but fanatically supportive of fair fights, she is not.

    For a moment, there is not merely a woman with the features of a fox, but a deity clear even to mortal eyes. Glowing like a summer noon, though the city is closer to midnight. It is, again, not a mere talisman that is thrown toward Gilgamesh, but distractingly relaxing, divine light. The urges against his ego are unlikely to have an effect, but it is a curse more than a charm, a deception harmless on its own, but one that momentarily draws away both attention and energy. An ordinary man would have no choice but to stare in fascination until he died. For now, only a moment should be enough.
Gawain Nanoha's attack blitzes into the Golem's chest, ripping a hole through it. It keeps moving, keeps alive, but it's very badly damaged, same as when comes Athela's finishing blow, the divine weapon stabs into the muscles and energy that makes up its innards.

The Resolute Blade glowing brightly, it pierces the Golem, staggering it back, but the Golem pushes her away quickly, stopping it from being as critical with sheer bulk.

The hammer comes on down, and smashes straight into the golem, cracking more of it. It moves to try and smash her out of the way, angered by her blow, when it happens.

It's about to fire up another blast. But it needs more ghosts. But there are no more corpses.

The golem runs out of power.

It collapses onto its hands, just sitting there, motionless. The corpse of the golem cannot move, but is still huge - it doesn't crumble apart. At least, not until Saber of Shimousa's sword blade splits it in half, two perfectly divided sides.

As it finally falls and crumbles, Felt Haddask and Cu Chulainn come in. The colorful haired boys are sweating and exhausted, but they've done what they can, as much as it's clear on Felt's face he knows he's failed most of his job. "We're so dead, Cu..." He mutters, before he turns to the group as the fighting ends. "Felt Haddask, Mage's Association. Thank you for your assistance. We'll call in transport and escort out the remains from here, sight unseen."

"That's not necessary, Agent Haddask. We'll handle it from here, thank you."

Felt doubletakes as a group approaches, and a pair of helicopters fly overhead. The real reason this is weird, is that the group approaching are several men in the clothes of holy Christian priests, flanked by bodyguards. At their front is the weirdest of them all. A young man with spiky white hair, wearing a crucifix, a black shirt and pants, and a red cloak with several white markings, including crucifixes, on it. He is wearing a golden mask, similar to an opera mask shaped sort of like a butterfly, right over his eyes, but it doesn't hide his tan skin. His identity is hard to divulge on site.

Felt can't figure out what to say. "The Church? You're going to fight us over the Golem? You're not even Jewish!"

"It doesn't matter. This is a relic we believe we have more of a claim to, due to the origin." His voice is pleasant. "You must understand, don't you? Besides, the Association will be very busy. They're not even here yet."

The men, if not stopped, move to start trying to clear the site and prepare for extraction with their Vatican helicopters. The young man simply grabs a radio, as Felt radios in his own superiors and moves off-site, since he can't fight them off with how exhausted he is.
Song of Rainbows "Zombies are monsters, pale girl." Song snortlaughs, innocent and bubbly and not at all coherent with the image of her dripping-wet animate dreadlocks, studded with fat rings, as they hiss like snakes, their ends tipped with copies of her cephalopod eyes.

It's not congruent with the way she heaves with breath, steam rising in puffs from her nose and mouth. It's like a steam around her, of exertion. A sauna of heat.

"I know all about forbearance. But you're not a monster when you indulge. Life's about challenges! Experiences! When you're dead, you don't get to make more. Stuck with the stories you wrote. So denying yourself - is the greatest evil! Ahahahahaha!"

Her laughter, from more than one mouth, echoing with herself as she grapples with Haguro all the way up...

    ...and all the way back down to earth, an explosive, groudshattering finale that cracks the ground of Prague in half, sending a chunk of the earth sliding nearly a foot towards the river so shattered and displaced it is.

At the epicenter is Haguro, and something aphotically blue, with eyes of dotted rainbows cut by a single horizontal line, depressed into the countour like berry preserves.

The boneless, cephalopodic mass lifts a tentacle to dap a single slick tip against Haguro's nose, and, with a trill that almost sounds like a groan, slide on a carpet of ink and ichor and slime back to the waterfront with one contraction, and then slide into the river like oversauced noodles.
Haguro Haguro pants heavily as the battle-induced adrenaline rush finally starts wearing off, pushing her head off the ground slowly and staring at the strange octopus-like mass in front of her. "Is... Is that so? I don't know if..."

Is she really wrong, though? Or would denying her own reason for being created and what feels right be more wrong as Song just said?

The shipgirl's going to need some time to think about that. She snaps out of her daze at that nose boop, though, her eyes finally settling on that steady cyan glow once more. "R... Right. Uh. I'll... I'll have to get back to you on that."

She isn't quite sure what happened, but it'll make sense once she sleeps on it. In the meantime, though, Haguro finally gets to see the aftermath of the rest of the fighting. There's people from the Church, that familiar Servant and Master combo, the craters and destruction everywhere...

Lots to think about tonight.
Athela Valemore Several blocks away from the fight a pile of rubble shifts as what looks like lengths of seaweed spread around the largest chunk of wreckage. Though rather than try to move it simply digs in, and with a shimmer of ghastly green palor the masonary crumbles away to dust from the Giga Drain. That gives the Dhelmise free space to move, rising up and retching its chain free. Sometimes not being able to pass through solid materials like other ghosts kind of sucks.

Athela growls as she's pushed away before she can fully force the Golem down, but it becomes a mute point after the others' assaults and the monster crumbles. She lets out a tired breath and stands, resheathing Resolute Blade across her back. "That was only the battle." She nods a little to Haddask and Chulainn. "You have a much more difficult path yet ahead of you." If she is refering to the devestated city, or the ominous approaching helicopters, is left to your own impression.

By the time they've landed and the men debarking Athela has already turned and walked away, going to retrieve her pokemon and depart.

The secret wars, politics and religious docturines mean little to the knight. They were nothing more than an inescapable mire, one she avoided with as much determination as she fought with.

The monster golem is wrecked, the city is severely damaged but standing, and the lives of fled civilians spared. That is what mattered.
Gilgamesh      The binding spell is the first layer.

     The spell tightens around him. It latches onto him, latches onto his magic. Shyra's magic is odd, strange; it's outside his experience, the King who has only ever touched a video game for the sake of the Tower of Santaga (rerun next year???? GilWorks, Please). He does not understand what's going on, and that makes him hesitate in breaking the bonds, makes him pause as his brain tries to rapidly process what's going on.

     Lilian disrupts that processing.

     That bloodthirsty fae sword hunts the King's blood. She swings, as hard as she can, dodging past the concept of being sliced in order to deliver one of her own in a singularly impressive motion. All he can do is tilt his head to the side and force one of the Noble Phantasms of the Gate, some long axe, out to *try* and deflect Lilian's strike - and even then it still carves across his cheek, leaving a (damnably perfect) cut across his (still damnably perfect) face. The blood trickles down his face like makeup, accentuating those lines.

     But he bleeds. He can be made to bleed. And the chill around his face freezes that blood in an instant as the sword tastes the flesh of the strongest demigod.

     The book emerges from the Gate once more, the heavy stone tablet blazing red. The red light matches his own as he cracks out of the binding - and is struck by divine light. Indeed Tamamo is correct - a mortal man would be enraptured. Gilgamesh is distracted. He is, after all, a thing of divinity. He *cannot* simply ignore a divine act in front of him; it may be from a foreign god but it is still a Divine Spirit's action, and considering what she already did, he's already bracing for another conceptual attack, another attack on one of his parameters.
Gilgamesh      That mistake, that distraction, is very nearly a ruinous one.

     Indeed were it not for that moment of the Truth tearing, that moment of imitation of his greatest treasure, of his most beloved wonder, he would not have noticed. As it stands he has almost no time to react to it thanks to Tamamo's charm, thanks to the bindings, thanks to Lilian's strike. The cut comes down, cleaving through everything.

     It is met with overwhelming, unbelievable force.

     The blade that has reached the level of a divine mystery is met with a weapon that holds the divine in thrall.

     The golden chains come from everywhere. Quite literally everywhere. There are holes all across the world rippling with gold, holes all over the fracturing reality. They grab the Tsumugari Muramasa from every angle as it comes down. They wrap around it. They bind it.

     They struggle.

     That is itself an impossibility. These chains hold gods. They will hold the Bull of Heaven, the greatest of all calamities of the ancient world, whose very existence is a disruption of the highest order. The Tsumugari Muramasa pushes downwards despite them, pushing down, down, down. The chains push. They drag. They, which will have the name of his one and only Friend in his honor, are having trouble holding this thing, this thing that broaches into the Divine but from the realm of Men. The sword continues its descent as more and more chains wrap around it.

     It is an inch from Gilgamesh's face when the nameless golden chains finally still it. The Truth ripples around him.

     For a brief instant, there is a glimpse of him as he truly is. It is...more than human. It is less than human. It is something Other, a machine for Rule crafted from the ground up, two thirds god and one third man. Beyond him is a glimpse of the Gate and all its treasures - the endless, roiling hell of gold, a landscape of infinite treasures gathered over the course of his life, of all the wonders of human achievement, of all its glories and all its legends.

     And then the sword's power dies, and the vision collapses, and the chains disappear in golden sparkles.

     Gilgamesh tilts his head downwards.

     Yes. That would do.

     The golem is already dealt with, so he simply waves his hand. "Do as you like," he says, turning away from them. "You've earned that much."
Sarracenia      That last arm swing sends Sarracenia flying clear of the golem just in time to avoid the slash incoming from Shimousa. The princess has seen better days and is limping a bit after riding her hammer down and being tossed away by the golem, but all things considered she avoided being seriously injured. Her remaining airship moves back in overhead and lowers a rope ladder for her.

     She grabs onto it and places a foot on the bottom rung, and it starts to lift off and away. But, it doesn't actually leave until she witnesses Tamamo destroy the golem. And of course she gets to gaze at Gil a bit longer! She even gives Lilian a slight bow of respect.
Tamamo     A binding, a gentle but dangerous light, and two, incomparable sword strikes. It is the second, that of the man some called Shimousa, that brings out the chains of god-binding. Tamamo watches, as she said she would. It should be enough for her that she came, saw, and protected what was necessary. Staying to watch the concerted efforts of this uncultured smith is... a courtesy to the craft. And in the end, Gilgamesh also accepts this ending.

    But, though the divine light fades to smoldering, then disappearing in all but her golden eyes as if it never was, that isn't the end. Not yet.

    She tells them, "It should be immediately destroyed."

    Brooking no argument, "You may handle its destruction while I observe. Is that acceptable? If not, I will dispose of it, myself."

    Her demand is accepted. "You have chosen wisely."

    Her reasons for this are not given.
Muramasa         Clink. Clink. Clink.

The sound of grinding chains echoes in his hears. His sword was so close that all it would take would be less than an inch. But even so, it wasn't able to break through. " --!"

It's only the barest, briefest moment, but he was able to see it. Gilgamesh's true face. The machine that was created to embody mankind. In this instance, as his Noble Phantasm finally dies out and the battle reaches its conclusion, he thought he'd feel empty. Or perhaps he'd despair. But ... rather, all he could do was smile.

After all, he'd saved everyone he could. He was grateful to the others for all their help in doing so, even Tamamo no Mae. And he felt ... satisfied, even though he was unable to defeat Gilgamesh as he'd claimed he would, he was able to see it.

How much farther he had to go. Two years ago, he wondered if it had been the correct choice to leave everything behind in his life in pursuit of his goal. But now he finally had his answer.

He was not the person who had sacrificed everything to reach smithing on the level of divinity, nor was he the boy who dreamed of swords. He was neither, but he was both, and it was only here that he was able to understand and come to terms with the path he was walking on.

There were no regrets. There was no other possible path for him, where it led wasn't important. It was an endless horizon, but he would continue to pursue it, like the end of a rainbow.
Lilian Rook     It's an odd thing, to cut the King of Heroes. Even with multiple other Elites she (uniquely) deems essentially competent collaborating on the effort, Lilian can't help but feel a surge of surprise and adrenaline along with the slightest feedback of the edge splitting divine flesh. It's not nearly what she'd gone for, yet the fact that she drew blood from that glowing golden larger-than-life legend of a man, that she is always, calculatedly, never head-to-head with . . .

    Chills. That's the best she could describe it, were she so inclined, though without any idea why.

    She evacuates the area as soon as she's struck, both to launch herself out of the way of any following rain of swords and staves, or a new instrument of ancient mystery and destruction, and to be nowhere near the Tsumugiri Muramasa when it comes through. She has little idea of what effect it'll have, but darts to the nearest ruined building and skips through several more to lose the King of Heroes' attention, gathering her energy to strike in the split second that responding to it no doubt leaves an opening.

    But the golem crumbles first. Of course it would. The giant forgery wouldn't last as long as Gilgamesh would in a sustained brawl against so many Elites. True to his agreement, the King of Heroes quits the field, and Lilian breathes a sigh of relief. It steams.

    Immediately, she arrives at Tamamo's side, taking in the state of her clothes in one glance, her first words being "Would apologizing for leaving you alone be insulting? I mean, I was obviously worrying a little . . . far too much, after seeing that, but . . ." She reaches out and gingerly touches one of the red smears. Something in the pit of her stomach knots in a way that she doesn't recognize and doesn't like. An uncertain, unhappy, slightly disoriented, but very difficult to place look creeps into her eyes and onto her lips. "You didn't . . . *need* to. Be harmed, that is. You could've just . . ."

    Lilian claps her hands to her cheeks, makes a bit of a face, and then breathes out, shaking off the weird and unfamiliar feeling like a sleeping arm. "Those clothes looked so nice too. Please hold still a second, and I'll fix them." she says, sliding her fingers down to the places where the expensive outerwear she'd only just bought dammit has been slashed open. The cleanly bisected edges vibrate very briefly, and then seamlessly melt back together one at a time as she goes over them.

    Yeah she can fix outfits but not heal people. So what?

    Finally, when that's done, she gets to heave at Shimousa, and begrudgingly utter "I'll let it slide this one time." She follows a second later with "Are you sure a sword that impressive really suits you though? To be swinging that around, for someone like you."

    Vatican helicopter showing up is borderling on much more familiar for her at that point. Naturally, she gets right up to the man in the golden mask as if she were the officer in charge of everyone else, assuming the position of implied leadership. "'Claim to', certainly. 'Right to take back home', absolutely not. As with aggressive dogs and unregistered weapons, I expect this means you'll be taking responsibility for it." There's a bit of a radio discussion, and then she steps away seeming pleased by them acquiescing to Tamamo's terms.
Shyra     The clash is epic. There is no way that Shyra could truly hold the King of Heroes, not under these circumstances. Perhaps not any. How can you bind what you cannot understand?

    And so much here is something so outside the realm of her understanding that it is all a blur, the Holy Healer working to break things down into their simplest forms, those she can understand. The powers at play, the politics, the magical vagaries, all of it is new to her, things that are far more complicated and overwhelming than anything she had experienced before.

    But even so, there are some things that don't change. People are hurt. Even as she reels at the idea that she had just been involved in a brutal near-death scrape with someone who is presumably their ally, she goes to Saber first. She will start with him. Healing energy washes out, more focused, more intense as she begins to cast her spells once more to restore him as much as she can.

    Once she is done there, she will move to the others in her party. Lilian and Tamamo, and provide them the same. Healing without question, just her attempts to soothe the pain and provide solace and care. She can heal people, but not fix outfits, so Lilian is covered.

    Her expression is pleasant, but there is a haunted cast to her eyes every time she looks out on the destruction that afflicted the city. She's going to be busy for a while.
Gawain Negotiations are made over the radio. As the news breaks that the masquerade is gone, the man in the mask, Church Island Mask, acquieses to Tamamo's terms of watching them destroy it. As he moves to leave, though, he removes something from his coat, as he turns to Lilian. "You must be their commander. I wouldn't say it's /our/ responsibility by origin, as we didn't create it, but, we know about where it originates, yes. You can say not snuffing it out when we had the chance was /our/ mistake. My apologies for all the tragedy, then."

And then, as the other men move to take it in the helicopters to the disposal site, the thing in the coat is thrown into the air. It is not a weapon. It is not an explosive. It will land harmlessly by Lilian, unless she catches it.

It's a rose, made out of weird metal sword-like objects, clearly once magical but having expended their magic. Attached is a calling card - 'Church Island Mask', and a contact point.