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Damocles PLANET NAME: Agrippa
CLASSIFICATION: Agriworld
STATUS: Xeno incursion detected
Imperial Guard reinforcements dispatched. Arrival pending...

The Imperial world of Agrippa is an old one in the Imperium, but also a relatively unpopulated one, with a total population of just under 2 billion. Due to the worlds lush native plantlife, it was marked out as an Agriworld, and produces a large volume of food which is shipped out to other worlds in the sector as one part of the impossibly huge Imperium Logistics network that keeps the Empire of Man alive.

The world was largely unremarkable, until several days ago.

It started with outlying settlements going dark. Then, a small town center reported an attack by unknown Xenos before being silenced. When the time the Planetary Defense Forces arrived, they found themselves faced with a slow, unstoppable march by The Necron: An impossibly advanced race of soulless, skeletal aliens devoted to nothing less than the extermination of all life.

The scene was largely the same after that. The Necrons easily overwhelmed any defense the humans could put up, slaughtered any who could not flee, and moved on. In an effort to preserve the major planetary hubs, the Planetary Governor ordered the complete evacuation of all nonessential settlements. Anyone who could not retreat to the major cities were abandoned. The Necrons, in turn, swept over them like wildfire, slaughtering everyone and moving on.
Damocles Now, a thousand miles away, the capital city is currently fighting a fierce siege. With so many humans hiding there, the Necrons were drawn to it as their primary target, and the local military forces battle desperately to hold out until the Imperial Guard can arrive to reinforce them.

Those who were unable to arrive on their own find a transport arranged by Damocles. Its a small planetary skimmer run by a local smugglers operation. Not very savory company, but absolutely the only type of person who would be willing to break the battle line for cash. The journey is tense, but turns out to be uneventful, as the Necrons have more than enough to occupy them.

The skimmer touches down on the outskirts of an abandoned town just after midmorning. The sky is bright and sunny, and it would have been a nice day, if not for the environment.

This area used to be a midsized city. It has already seen the Necrons march through it, and there are signs of Imperial defense everywhere. Charred skeletons litter the ground like leaves in autumn, and most buildings are reduced to blasted out rubble left by Imperial artillery and Necron gauss flayers.

Within the ruins, signs of movement are visible. Occasional clouds of large insects swarm through, while here and there, a skeletal machine will still stalk the streets. In the distance, a large vehicle of some sort can be seen moving across the far side of the ruins like a dark cloud.
Damocles Damocles exits the skimmer, a little nervous as he looks around. Hes never seen a Necron, and they are one of the least understood threats in the universe. He had never even heard the name until after joining Chaos, but what hes learned does not comfort him. The Imperium of Man knows nearly nothing about these aliens, and theres a good reason for that. Almost nobody survives encounters with them.

He doesnt push forward, but takes his time to scope out what he can see from the city. The ominous vehicle looming above the ruins gets a soft sigh from him, before he nods. "Thats it," He motions towards the machine.

"Thats the command vehicle. From what I can tell, all the Necrons remaining in this area are being directed from there. It should blind the Necrons in this zone long enough for us to activate the Teleportarum."

Damocles takes a deep breath, glancing back to the others. "I dont know how well armed it is, but Id imagine a lot of those Gauss Flayers they use. Probably big ones. Id expect some kind of commander to be stationed on it as well. Itll be difficult, but if were going to do this, we need that thing dead.
Forte Forte sits at the back of the skimmer. He doesn't wear a seatbelt. If anyone comments on it he ignores them.

After the skimmer lands, he floats out of it, cloak billowing out around him. He takes in the abandoned town, the ruined defenses, the corpses and the rubble.

"..."

Any expression he has on observing the destruction is hidden by the cloak.

Damocles points out the target. Forte floats a bit up higher to get a better vantage point on it. "Is the target the commander, or the entire vehicle?"

A bit of movement catches his eye, and he turns his attention towards the town.

"..."

Wordlessly, he takes off, singling out one of the skeletal machines - ideally one isolated - and looking for an input port.

And when not finding one, proceeding to start dissecting it till one presents itself.
Kotone Yamakawa The last thing Kotone had expected was to be contacted Damocles about a job but it would be best to keep an eye on what he was up to. She'll worry about Karian being angry with her later. things came to a small sector by Imperial standards something was up on this farming world was under attack by robotic undead for lack of a better term. She looked concerned about this and already had her normal wireless connections? Shut off as a precaution and she was clad in stealth gear when she arrived. She already for trouble form the looks of it. She knows there's a lot of people caught up in the siege and she resolved to do what she could.

She had arrived by her ship and had beamed off it leaving her roommate/second officer to handle the ship.

"Also that would take the pressure off the PDF here as well."

Kotone knows if the Necrons lost their command it might give the local defenders a better chance to survive.

"mmm any other things we can do to trip up these horrors? Also are they vulnerable to electronic warfare?"
Big Boss The skiff might have a weight problem, because there is a /very/ large man covered in ritualistic tattoos carrying a minigun. No, sorry.

An aircraft turret, modified and strapped to his back.

Vulcan Raven is quiet. He waits for the rest of the group to move forward before leaping off the skiff, carrying his massive gun forward...until he crouches next to a charred skeleton.

"May the weary and the damned rest their eyes. May they take a second to speak through the air, to breathe fortune into our hands. Tell me, O spirits, what you have seen." Ravens flutter by. There shouldn't be ravens in this area.

Vulcan Raven closes his eyes and hums. When he's done, he opens them and turns to the rest of the group, taking the rear.

"The dead do not rest here. They rebuild these accursed machines and bring them back to fight once again. Be wary of the scarabs, as well - destroy them before they can recover the bodies."

And, as his eyes move to track enemies, but not shooting, he says the last thing. "And find the sorcerer. He is likely the most difficult threat of all."
Nova Terra     As the skimmer flies down towards the ruined town, it is joined by several other dropships. These craft touch down not too far from the skinner, their bay doors opening. Large men in power armor suits begin to pile out of the transports. Did someone call in the Space Marines?

    Well this aint them.

    These be Terran Marines, son. That's a world a difference.

    As the Marines disembark from a couple of the drop ships, a large tank rolls out of the third, while a couple of hovering utility mechs roll out of the fourth carrying a pair of large boxes. The Siege Tank rolls over to a spot not far from the landing zone, before it stops and deploys its stabilizers against the ground. Its large turret spinning around as the barrel splits in half and extends outwards. Meanwhile the SCVs place their boxes down nearby. They turn out to be prefab units that open up, beginning to assemble into some kind of defensive emplacement with the assistance of the SCVs.

    Nova herself finally walks off one of the Marine dropships, swinging her large rifle up to rest over her shoulder. She lowers her visor down over her eyes as she takes in the sight of the town. It's a bit of a mess. And that smell of burnt flesh. Never pleasant. Nova zooms in on the insect swarms and the skeletal machine and muses, "Killer robots, huh? I've met a few of those. Even liked a few of them." Nova begins walking towards the town, calling out to her troops, "Squad one with me! Squad two hold this position." Most of the couple dozen Marines fall in behind Nova as the Terran force begins approaching the town.

    As they are quickly briefed, Nova smirks, "So. Blow everything to pieces? Nice and simple." Nova chambers a round into her canister rifle as she marches into the town proper with a squad of beefy men in heavy armor behind her.

    Back at the landing site, the defense turrets are already finished building. The small towers slowly rotate, their missile batteries aimed upwards just in case of unexpected aerial guests.
Klaus Ridell      It's beautiful.

     The starlit sky is beautiful. A glittering night that stretches on into infinity. Countless pinpricks of light dance past the viewport of the descending skimmer. How many of them had their own worlds? Their own stories? Their own people, gliding through, living their lives and getting through the day with whatever smiles they could manage?

     Beautiful.

     Klaus's fingers brush against the vista as the ship descends. Countless worlds, countless stories. So much. So overwhelming.

     He's dressed in a uniform that in no way match the quiet smile on his face. A dynamic set of blue plate over a blue tunic; a faded green cape; black boots tucked into navy-blue pants. A black belt wraps around his waist with an Imperial insignia. Fixed to the cape is a gold compass clasp. Klaus looks every bit the heroic soldier one might expect down on a battlefield, aside from that quiet good cheer. No soldier has ever had a smile at heading into battle.

     As they descend, Klaus plays with the compass absentmindedly, chewing on some local snack or another (it is not very tasty, but that has never stopped Klaus. It is probably some sort of rationized gruel). He flicks the little spinner on the inside.

     It points upwards, so Klaus turns around and waves at Forte. A spectral circle with a line scratched through it drifts out of Forte and into the compass. It abruptly stops spinning.

     "Hi," he says. When it quickly becomes apparent that Forte isn't interested in having a chat, he turns back around, whistling a tune. He's very good at whistling. It feels like listening to a rolling, peaceful landscape under a distant red sun, farmlands of strange plants peeking up through green grass. It is, for Damocles's reference, completely original, and has a whimsical, idyllic taste to the notes. It is *also*, for Damocles's reference, *perfectly* timed, even without a metronome.

     When they finally touch down, Klaus swings his legs forward and hops up. He follows Damocles out. He whistles that cheerful, whimsical, calming, Chill-JRPG-Field-Theme tune until they're actually outside, at which point he immediately shuts up and listens to Damocles. As they're waiting, he spins the compass point again; it whirls around and lands on Damocles, and a little fragment of a nine-pointed set of arrows flutters out of Damocles and into it.

     "Hmmm," comes the idle thought. Klaus crouches down and picks up a fallen Necron arm, fiddling with it thoughtfully. They're Machina. Much scarier Machina than he's used to, but Machina. That's nice. Comforting, in its own way.

     He hangs back with Vulcan Raven for a minute, listening. You usually listen to prophetic visions! They probably know better than you. When Forte starts heading off, though, Klaus turns around and walks backwards, waving at the party.

     "Well, nothing to it!" He says cheerfully, and then whirls back around, the green cape fluttering around him. He's mostly following Forte; they're all going in the same direction, right?
Amelris Belthrone      Space is still something wonderous to peer and get into. There's a lot in the Multiverse that he's had yet to see. It positively makes all the airship in Eorzea look like little paddlers. What worried him more -- and hurts his heart more -- is just the sheer slaughter he's been witnessing the pieces off on their way here. The Miqo'te look determined outside the skimmer, taking in a deep breath as he stands up from his seat, get stuck, sit back down, unbuckle himself and then stands straight up.

     He makes some silent prayers for the departed. Not for the dead Necrons. Since, apparently, they get /back up/ anyway.

     "Just to be perfectly clear, they aren't ashkins? I mean, undead." Amelris asks, stepping off the skimmer by taking out his rapier, his gem floating up above his free, open palm. "Not that it matters /too/ much, I suppose."

     He takes the moment to look out to the horizon, peering down at the skeletons with a frown. As exciting this is going to be, he's got something of a bad feeling with theses sort of foes.

     "Well, we better get to it, people." Amelris declares, cheerfully as he strides onward.
Damocles Forte doesn't have much trouble finding an isolated Necron. The Necrons clearly did not expect any further resistance here, and are spread out, searching the city for any holdouts. Forte manages to find one easily, and descends on it, but finds no import port. Or indeed, any machinery of any kind. The Necron Warrior is unlike any 'machine' as the Imperium knows it. It has no internals at all. It is simply a solid form of metal shaped into the form of a Necron warrior. Yet somehow, completely mobile, even aware.

That awareness becomes a problem for Forte, as the machine's glowing green eyes focus on him. The machine is eerily silent. It says nothing. There is no clanging of gears or humming of engines as it moves. There is no breath, no heartbeat, nothing as its cold, green eyes turn to Fotre and it brings up the flickering green energy cannon towards him. From it, a blast of powerful green lightning is fired: The Gauss Flayer is a pure energy weapon that strips the very molecules of its target apart, blasting them to nothing whenever it hits. If Forte gets too close, the Necron begins swinging the bladed tip of his rifle at him, unnaturally strong limbs forcing the curved bayonet with as much destructive force as the beam itself.

Meanwhile, back at the others, Nova's hasty base construction has not gone unnoticed. A few Necrons begin emerging from the ruins. Their ghostly silhouette forming in the dust of the ruins, only to be blasted down by the heavy maelstrom rounds of the siege tank.

They keep coming, however. More and more emerge from the dust, stalking out of the city silently. Among them, swarms of insects also dart out. As they get closer, you can begin to see that they aren't insects at all. They are, in fact, machines: Rounded scarab-like constructs, each one near the size of a man's head, traveling in tightly packed swarms as they dart towards the gathered team on wings that buzz unnaturally.

In the distance, the Ghost Ark, the huge Necron vessel, also begins turning towards the group.

And then, the sky darkens. The clouds move in so fast that it's like someone threw a blanket over the entire area. In less than half a minute, the bright morning sun turns dark as a thick, dark cloud covers the entire area, casting everything into unnatural shadow.

And from the shadow of the city, one Necron form emerges, but does not approach. Instead, it stands tall on a broken wall, a slight, green glow from it distinguishing it from the others. It is taller, and carries a heavy staff nearly as tall as it is. It also wears a cape of flowing gold. The cape is tattered and torn, but still billows slightly in the sudden wind which is kicked up.

Then, the Necron speaks. Its voice is like the hiss of a tesla coil: Crackling and cold, yet loud enough to easily carry over the battlefield as it speaks.

"More vermin? Whenever I think we've finally purged your infestation, another warren emerges. Wait, no. You are not like the native pests. You are different. You are...Outsiders."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "Some sort of machines."

She looks to Amelris for a moment as she speaks to him and then Klaus's arrival has got her attention she looks Klaus over for a moment. Seeing Big Boss operative makes her grimace for the moment but she has to agree.

"Thank you for the warning and the intel."

She means it too, it might get them through alive and she will note that Vulcan Raven also looks like he'd be some serious support. Forte she's not sure what to make of him and well she's keenly aware of how dangerous Nova is.

Also Nova's troops' support is quite welcome too. Kotone will launch a few small recon camera drones just as a Nacerone comes to them and starts talking? That was not expected.

"Yes, yes we are Outsiders. I never expected one of you to even be able to address us, to be honest."

She scrubs the drones for now as they are being charged by a carpet of small insect-like machines. She does not shoot, that's' not the best idea, what she does start doing as she takes some measure of cover? She lobs plasma grenades into the incoming tide of mechanical horrors that are coming at them.
Forte Forte's still ready for it. The necron gets in one good hit with the gauss cannon as he closes in, though it mostly succeeds in tearing a hole through Forte's cloak and grazing his side, but then as it swings its bayonet around-

<<AUTONAVI SLOT IN>>
VARSWORD V - EXECUTE


- a dark energy blade rezzes in suddenly on Forte's wrist, intercepting the swung weapon.

"Feel honored," says Forte, moving in closer and grabbing for the necron's head with his other hand. It's a hand that's glowing in a particularly unhealthy-looking way - a glow that speaks deeply to the part of one's brain that screams 'do not touch'.

"You're worthwhile, if only barely," finishes Forte, with only the slightest bit of emotion or tone behind it.
Klaus Ridell      Whoops. Klaus hanging back with Vulcan Raven gave Forte a substantial enough lead that Klaus can't just go up to help him out. That's probably for the best, though - there's all sorts of problems *right here* to deal with. Like the flying machina killer bugs! That is a *slightly* more immediate problem than Forte's well-being.

     In fact it is a very immediate problem, or will be shortly. Charging through those to back up Forte is sort of a lethal option!

     A finger flicks the Compass point. It starts to spin. Slowly, at first. Klaus brandishes the Necron arm, a weapon he has no idea how to use. In fact, his very amateur stance proves immediately to anyone with even the slightest bit of experience that Klaus very much has no idea what he's doing. At all. He has never used a weapon in his life.

     The whirring becomes light. The light dies in a flash.

     A ring slides onto his left index finger. It's a silver skull. Inscribed on it is the eight-spike circle of Chaos.

     The skull's eyes light up.

     "Hoah!"

     Purple lightning blazes along the Necron arm. When Klaus flicks it forward, the wrist snaps up like a whip.

     It's a ball of purple lightning. It warps and weaves the air as it fires past some of the Terran Marines, an acrid and twisting brimstone scent in its passing. The bolt blasts into a cloud of incoming monsters and *twists* at the last moment. Space drills through them in the shape of an angry purple spike.

     The hand snaps back down.

     The sky turns black. That's...not great. Actually, that's really bad. The Wanderer's head tilts back to look up at the sudden burst of clouds blotting out the sun. His lips purse into a musical whistle. It's a defense mechanism, really. This is quite a bit different from the pleasant little village of oppressed mutants he went to yesterday. This is...big. This is Strange. This is...uh, frightening.

     But he's got to be himself.

     So when the Necron lord comes rolling up, cape of flowing gold at its back, accusing them of being outsides, Klaus hesitantly raises the Necron arm.

     He waggles it back and forth.

     It waves at the Necron Lord.

     "Hi. I'm new here."

     That's pretty much it. He's sort of too stunned to be snappy or chatty or smarmy.

     *Talking Machina!* Machina that can *control the weather!*

     What a sight.
Big Boss Vulcan Raven's gun is aimed as the swarm comes. Others go into the ruins, but he's staying outside. The gatling gun is revved up, and...

Fired, to just /decimate/ the scarab swarms with too much firepower. The roar of bullets and casings may rip them apart, as Vulcan tries to push forward through the swarm.

He doesn't deal with the Necron up top. He's watching, listening, but Vulcan Raven needs to get through this swarm, first.
Nova Terra     Nova stops walking as the battlefield quickly starts to change. She watches as her tank begins to rain down chunks of super-heated tungsten down on the skeletal robots. Even after having walked some distance from her make-shift base, she can feel the vibrations of its shots through the ground. But for each one it destroys, more begin to rise. But that's not quite as concerning as the swarms of flying scarabs begin to swarm towards them. Nova raises her hand to point towards them, ordering her troops, "Leave the ground troops to the tank, focus fire on those fliers!"

    The small squad of Marines unleash battle cries as they spread out, raising their gauss rifles. Numerous metal spikes begin to rapidly fire up into the air as the Marines try to stem the swarm of robots. Further back the missile turrets spin around to aim towards the scarabs, missiles beginning to lurch out and through the air to explode amidst their numbers.

    Through the quickly growing battle, Nova frowns a little as the weather quickly changes, the sky darkening rapidly. This is not a good sign. The voice of the caped Necron echoes out over the area. Through her visor, Nova zooms in on it, remaking to no one in particular, "That must be their leader..."

    Nova's rifle snaps up as she quickly and she pulls the trigger. It's a quick shot. It's a long distance to the target. And still it's a good shot, the large bullet flying across the large space separating the two forces. Its trajectory slowly drops as it arcs back down towards the Necron lord.
Amelris Belthrone      "That's kind of darkly funny, considering... you were the ones lying underground in tombs, if I gather it correctly?" Amelris, on the way, have been taking the time to launch several attacks at some bordering, long-distance targets. Some of them are simple blasts of lightning, some more of rock, alternating between the two, each exploding out into a small area of effect.

     The Red Mage stops, a good enough distance to not be in the face of the talking 'Sorcerer', looking up at the CHANGING WEATHER. Well! Now that's a bit more impressive.

     "Yes, hi! We're Outsiders, well spotted, we've tried our best to fit in but clearly that failed." The Warrior of Light comments, adjusting his hat with a pinkie, frowning a bit. "I take it you'll want to try to 'exterminate us' along with the 'rest of the warrens', aren't you?"

     As he talk, Amelris takes a moment to look around, trying to find the best way to go through to this said Teleportarium. What needs to blow up?
Damocles The Necron warrior facing off against Forte shows no fear when it is grabbed. No fear, no pain, no hate. There is nothing but cold emptiness as it is grabbed. It responds by doing the same, reaching a hand out to strike at Forte's chest. Even as its head is bathed in sickly energy, the Necron cares nothing for its own life, interested only in trying to kill the one attacking it.

A rumbling of thunder starts in the clouds, and the flickering light of cloud lightning flashes here and there, a constant storm overhead. However, each flicker is tinted the same sickly green as the Necron energy, bathing the entire battlefield in cold, green light.

The Necron who speaks continues to talk, his voice getting an edge of disdain. "Know the name of your end, Outsiders. I am Shaitan the Devouring Sands. Ethermancer and scourge of ten thousand worlds! We have been awakened again, only to find -this- pitiful vermin as our only resistance. I am half tempted to go back to sleep and see if a million more years might allow you to evolve into something worth the effort of raising my foot to crush you beneath. Yet I fear if you are allowed to live one moment longer, we may never fully rid this universe of your stink."

His last words are punctuated as the round fired from Nova strikes against his chest place, sparking solidly as the round strikes the armored Necron Cryptek. The damage it does is clear, but also less than lethal, and the Necron looks down at his chest and then back up to Nova.

In response, the Ghost Ark far behind in the city rises into the air, and with an alarming speed, skims over the ruins, and rushes into the battlefield. Missiles strike against the Necrodermis hull of the vehicle, and while they do damage, the armor is substantial. The vehicle lands in the middle of the battlefield, the massive Ark like a floating longboat, providing cover for the advancing Necrons.

From it, more warriors emerge, and more swarms of scarabs pour out to replace their losses. Meanwhile, heavy Gauss Flayer broadsides on the Ghost Ark itself, manned turret weapons, are aimed into Nova's base. Eight cannons in all, some aimed at the tanks, and others at the missile launchers fire, beams of green lightning launching from them, rapid-fire lightning flickering from each cannon towards their targets.
Damocles Meanwhile, the Necrons on the ground continue to advance. Plasma grenades prove pretty effective at knocking down the Necron warriors. One warrior is blasted to pieces, and another is folded nearly in half by the shock. However, as you look on, the warrior that was broken in half grabs its own legs, using its arms to snap its body back into position. It takes a little while, but it grabs each piece, forces it back into place, and in a minute or so, has repaired itself. Once back in its original shape, it picks its rifle back up, and shoots a blast of emerald energy at Kotune.

The scarab swarms prove a difficult target to kill, as each 'swarm' is made up of dozens upon dozens of robots. While they leave a trail of killed robots behind as fire is poured into them, many inevitably break through the lines. When the swarms are thinned out too much, they effortly merge with other depleted swarms to form new groups. One of these swarms descend
directly at Vulcan Raven. His heavy cannon knocks them out of the air in a constant rain, but too many still survive as the swarm descends on him, looking to cover him in robots that try and grab onto him and tear him to pieces with their claws. Another swarm darts towards Klaus, their goal much the same.

The Cryptek, meanwhile, turns his head towards Forte. He can't see him, but he looks directly towards him anyway, alerted to the fight through despite the rubble in the way. He leaps into the air, carried high by glowing green energy, and lands a minute or so later with a loud crash, a respectable distance from Forte.

"Well well, what are you? A pitiful creation of a pitiful creation. Repulsive. Your existence offends me, wretch. You will burn first!" The Cryptek raises it staff at Forte, and from it, a powerful arc of green energy is fired. This is not a Gauss weapon, but is actual, good ol' fashion lightning, with a green Necron flair.
Klaus Ridell      Sickly green light crackles above. Crackles below. The storm is wicked, evil. The bolts are not the storms of Aluria Vale, the dancing green and purple dragon lightning racing amidst rollicking storms. These bolts do not dance. They menace. These bolts do not arc. They malevol. These are not joyous. They are wrong. They are a sickness of another time, or another people, a Machina that have no purpose but to kill. But, no, they aren't Machina, are they? They're not Machina. They're people. They're talking like people. They're angry, hateful, wicked people, but they're not Machina at all. They just...look like Machina.

     Machina can be turned off. Machina can be switched off, or ducked around. Even the worst Machina is just doing what it's meant to do, sometimes wrong, sometimes right, but always what it's meant to do.

     This...isn't. It's a person. It's making person decisions. Person ideals rattle about in its metal head. It has a name.

     Shaitan the Devouring Sands.

     The name has weight. It has meaning. It has power. It has purpose. It's more than just a name. It's a title. The Devouring Sands. What did they devour? Where were the Devouring Sands?

     It's a story.

     He has to know.

     Klaus breaks into a run. The Compass begins to spin once again. Ripples of light burst out in front of Klaus and trail behind him as he passes through them. Bit by bit, his clothing changes.

     The long green cape is replaced by a flowing red one, wrapped around his mouth. A four-pointed blue diamond with a symbol like a crescent moon inside it embeds itself on his head. A black bodysuit forms on his body as red lines race up the sides. An oversized black gauntlet clicks into place on his right hand and crackles with purple energy.
                          OUTFIT: RED_AVENGET.BAT                          

     Suddenly, a surge of motion. The light rings die as Klaus goes shooting towards the Necron Lord in a straight line. Purple warp energy trails around him. His arm snaps out.

     What should have been a long green blade is instead a long, ominous, crackling purple one. It warps the air around it. It twists and wavers. It is unpleasant to look at, a violation of the Rules of the World that should not exist, levelled directly forward. What was a simple run is now a magical charge, balancing two colors of mana and one very purple psychic energy.

     The charge sends him past the Ghost Ark's firing, straight through the Scarabs towards the Lord. The Ghost Ark isn't shooting him anyway - it's got the tanks to worry about. The Scarabs coming right at him find that blade rippling the world as he passes through them. It is probably not great for them.

     "Shaitan of the Devouring Sands!"

     "I have to know!"

     "Where are the Devouring Sands, Shaitan? What did they devour? What have you done in your life?"

     The blade gets longer, much, much longer. He swings it around at the Scarabs in a wide arc. More of that purple energy ripples out from it. It's just blade beams now. "I want to know your story, Shaitan! Before it ends, I want to know! So that somebody remembers you!"
Big Boss Vulcan Raven is able to destroy scarabs, but not as many as he'd like. They leap onto his flesh, ripping and tearing, causing bleeding wounds - but they have trouble with his dense musculature, and also the fact he's fighting bad. The gatling gun goes wide, swinging and crushing them off, and he's just plain strong and can smash them with his hands. Taking a few steps back, he's too much in melee to fire the weapon at them, so instead, he sweeps it downwards, moving to use the pure heavy metal to crush the scarabs undergun.

"Does the enemy's story matter, even if they are one among many?" It's a hypothetical. Raven has his own beliefs...and he wants to know Klaus's.
Forte get_ability.bat eats away at the necron - just enough for Forte to get a taste of it. A taste is enough.

Wordlessly, as it swings its arm out towards Forte, trying to get a grip, Forte simply... withdraws, floating up and away, his cloak (slightly more tattered from the attack it took earlier) drawing back closed around him. He flies up and away, turning around as he goes.

The lone necron is no longer worth his attention. He's already on to seeking out his next target, and the large vehicle that's causing all of this seems worthwhile...

As Forte's planning out his approach, he becomes aware of the Cryptek landing nearby. He pauses for a moment, turning his head just slightly, just enough to look at the Cryptek out of the corner of his eye while the Cryptek speaks.

There is no other motion, no other acknowledgement. Just a slight turn of the head, and the motion of Forte's eyes towards the corners of their range of vision to examine the Cryptek, and there's no other motion (or emotion) displayed during the entire time the Cryptek is talking.

Lightning blasts out. Forte takes the hit dead-on. He's damaged, but he's still not moving.

"... Disappointing."

< <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> >
AREA_STEAL A - EXECUTE


And then he's gone, blipping forward across the battlefield, closing in on the ghost ark's defenses, trying to cut apart its turrets with his variable energy swords!
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris lets out a cry, sliding down on the mud to avoid out of the DEADLY ENERGY BLASTS of the Gauss Flayers. He kicks up to his feet, his rapier swinging up as he leaps into the air into an arc, flying high above the line of incoming Necron Warriors to land in middle of them. His sword dive down, glowing with his inner magic pushed out into the weapon. "Theses things gives me the creep, I'm not going to lie."

     Amelris' plan is pretty simple. Keep moving, his rapier moving and singing in his path, cutting into the enemy's weapons and then unloading up with a large blast of purple energy, spreading out into geometric patterns. He tries to aim for specific spots -- like, say, the weapons. The eyes. Theses things don't have any CLEAR critical areas, which makes it rather difficult to keep them down.
Nova Terra     Nova looks a little disappointed that her shot didn't blast through that Necron's chest and out the other side. That would have been so much simpler. It seems she'll have to get closer if she wants to inflict greater damage on it. But first, there's a bit of a problem. Nova watches as the Ghost Ark streaks overhead, heading towards her defenses at the rear, "Shit!"
    Distracted as they are by the swarms of flying scarabs, the missile turrets don't shift targets quickly enough to delay the Ghost Ark. Its Gauss Flayers unleash their emerald bolts of energy against them. The missile turrets getting ripped up, one exploding as its payload of missiles is caught in a beam and detonates, showering the immediate area with shrapnel. A few of the Marines that had stayed back to guard the small emplacement are also caught by stray bolts from the flying Necron craft, their armor being torn apart as they cry out in agony before finally dieing.

    The Siege Tank fares better against the Ghost Ark's assault thanks to its thicker armor. And also thanks to Nova barking orders over her radio, "SCVs, focus repairs on the tank!" The hovering mechs float over to the tank, laser welders and power clamps getting to work as they seal up holes in the vehicle, replacing damaged armor sections with spares in a matter of moments.

    The siege tank is probably the main thing keeping the majority of the ground Necrons at bay, for now. Nova doesn't want to lose it while they're being swarmed. They've already lost the advantage of range as the scarabs quickly close in on them, Nova shouting, "Circle up!" The black power armor Marines form up into a circle around Nova, still firing the gauss rifles on automatic into the streams of scarabs. As the machine critters close in on the edges of the Marine formation, they begin to rip and tear at their suits. The large men fight back, trying to bash them with the butts of their large rifles, shoot and tear them off their fellows. Not all the Marines are so lucky though, one getting dragged off into a swarm with a cry for help as the bots breach his armor and rip into his flesh.

    Nova herself is not firing. There's too many of them and she doesn't have enough bullets for every single one. She's leaving the swarm to her Marines, instead turning her attention to the Ghost Ark that's assaulting her small base. Raising her rifle, she can see Forte beginning to slash at the flying longboat's weapons. She provides him support/uses him as a distraction as she turns her aim on the craft's engines and begins firing, trying to put large holes in those thrusters and bring it down.
Kotone Yamakawa Necrons were not something to take lightly Shaitan of the Devouring Sands? Kotone admits to herself that's a rather catchy and apt name. She knows the Necorn are still coming and that the scarabs are Vulcan Raven warned them about? Could wreck their day and get all the fallen Necron's back up. The plasma grenades seem to be working pretty well all things considered but there are so many of them and the scarabs are going to be very hard to take out in general.

Kotone's cover will not last long, as the green energy of the gauss flayer shots just /ate/ what little remained of it she's flushed out and force on the move. Switching from grenades to pulling a heavy weapon from her matter manipulator out, she starts firing with a large and somewhat worn looking rail gun trying to pick off Warriors as she's forced to be on the move. These actions make her shots not as well-aimed as she tries to find some new cover for all the good that would do her. It's just one of those days at this point for Kotone.
Damocles Amelris's plan to strike at the glowing weakpoints on the Necrons proves to be a pretty good one. Striking the eyes of the Necron produces a good reaction, causing the Necron warrior to stumble back as the green energy inside its head flickers. However, striking at the rifle the Necron carries proves even better. The rifle's barrel is a long, clear tube with crackling energy held within, and when the rapier of the Red Mage strikes it, a small crack emerges. The glowing green energy gathers at that crack, and a moment later it bursts forth in a shattering explosion, the Gauss Flayer erupting in a torrent of green energy that flashes for just an instant, but leaves little remaining of the Necron Warrior in its wake.

Several other Necron warriors take note of the blast, their heads turning as once to face Amelris. They stride into melee with him, their steps slow and measured as they walks in, aiming to use the curved blade on their rifle as an axe, swinging them down with powerful chopping strikes aimed at the red mage. A new group of Necrons, stalking out from the dust of the city, takes aim at Kotone, her railgun picking off two of them, while three more close in, their gauss flayers flickering as they rapidly return fire.

The scarabs grappling with Vulcan Raven slam to the ground and are shattered by the surprising strength of the massive soldier and the weight of the weapon he swings at them. The scarabs that remain hover around him for a moment, clacking their legs together in a way that seems to show more frustration than any of the warriors manage. After a moment, their AI seems to come up with a new attack plan, and they swarm him again. This time, they don't aim to latch onto his body, but instead they swarm his weapon, looking to cover his heavy weapon. They don't tear at it with their legs either, but instead lean in to devour the metal with their 'faces', trying to latch onto the gun like ticks and literally 'eat' the weapon apart.

Forte finds the Ghost Ark an easy enough target to attack, the skiff huge and imposing. He also finds the ship manned with several more Necron warriors. Some of them are manning the gun turrets, while others are being worked on by prehensile mechanical arms that collect the nonfunctional bodies and stitch them back together. The Gauss turrets are clear targets, and the first attack manages to strike through the containment cell on one of them, causing it to explode in another huge, bright green flash, that does a good bit of damage across the Ark. Unfortunately, this also gets the attention of several Necron warriors. Half of the warriors, eight in total their attention to him. Four aim their cannons at Forte, while the four closest to him abandon their cannons and stalk towards him, their personal rifles swinging their axe-blades down at him.

The other half of the cannons, the half pointed at Nova's base, continue firing into it. The Ghost Ark's commander is not a mindless drone, and takes note of Nova's efforts to focus repairs on the tank, so it, in turn, directs its turrets to focus their fire on the tanks, all eight broadsides turning their heavy energy blasts on the siege tanks. The blasts are very effective against armor, and the Necron commander aims to turn this into a DPS race to bring down the tanks faster than they can be repaired. This effort is stimed a good bit as the Ark shudders and lurches, Nova's shots finding their mark and damaging one of its engines.
Damocles The Cryptek is about to charge after Forte, when someone else calls him out. His sharp green eyes focus on Klaus, even as the man cleaves through the Necron units while casually talking to him. "You would use the cursed power of the dead gods to strike as me, and still dare to ask such a thing?!"

He raises up to his full height, lightning flickering around him, striking the ground over and over again. "I have burned a thousand worlds in the War in Heaven! Green, verdant worlds like this, reduced to blasted, lifeless husks by my storms! My power called on to murder our very gods! You do not deserve to know our glory, only death at our hand!"

He raises his staff again, the weapon crackling with energy. It is not the weapon itself that strikes however, as the skies themselves respond to its command, and three bolts of green lightning strike down from the storm above, one right after another, all three aimed at Klaus.
Kotone Yamakawa The Necrons are still coming and this time Kotone is not fast enough, to avoid a hit one of the gauss shots grazes her. If it had been a direct hit it would be bad, sit still is bad. The flayer cuts though some of her armour and into her shell.

Kotone has a glowing green wound that has eaten where it struck and the edges are glowing green. She contorts her face in a look of pain as she forces herself to keep moving. What would have a direct hit done? She has an idea now and doesn't want to get first-hand information.

The Cryptek's words are heeded this being is old and dangerous to be certain and they are still in for a fight of it.

Kotone will risk holding still long enough to line up several shots with her Rail Gun, in an attempt to down the warriors who are stalking her.
Klaus Ridell      Uh-oh.

     The lightning comes rocketing down. The Variable Blade (Red Chaos) eats the first hit, purple light meeting green lightning. The thunderclap throws Klaus backwards. He is not substantially stronger or faster than the average human. Adventurer strong, not superhero strong.

     He hits the ground.

     He drags the cloak around his neck forward, wrapping it around his arms and holding it up into the second bolt. Magical cloth and magicked blade come together, dragging green lightning into purple blade once again. Another dynamic flash as green and purple lightning dance. The mere act of it burns his arms, crackling green wrapping around his back. He can feel the parts of the skin the lightning burned off. Klaus curls sideways.

     It is probably the only thing that saves his life.

     The bolt of lightning crashes down directly behind him. It's a narrow miss, and not enough of one that Klaus is not flung forward by the explosion, is not burned down the back. The black bodysuit is torn open. The skin smolders. He rolls until he hits against one of the dead Necrons, bumping up against it and burning.

     Pain.

     This is the worst pain he's ever been in. Machina don't do this kind of thing. Machina cut, or shoot. Traps have lasers. Magic blasts. They don't...they don't rock you with lightning. They don't burn into you.

     He sits there for a moment as the battle rages around him, curled up in agony. Fingers twitch on his left hand. His right hand's Variable Blade (Red Chaos) flickers. Agony.

     A cough. There's no blood, thank God. He's not bleeding internally. That's good.

     Klaus claws himself upward, leveraging the Necron corpse to avoid any further attacks against him. He staggers to his feet. Cough, cough.

     "I'm sorry."

     He's not apologizing for the blade.

     "I don't...I don't know how your story started. I don't know what brought you here. I want to, but I can't force you. I'm part of it now. I chose..."

     He wobbles. "I chose."

     "I chose to be one of the people who's going to write your end."

     And that's when it hits him. It's more potent than any blast of lightning, more painful than any Gauss weapon rending flesh from bone. Eyes widen. Fingers already trembling from magical shock suddenly tremble worse. The Variable Blade (Red Chaos) wavers.

     He's going to kill a person.

     It's a monster, yes. An evil monster, a Machina that decided a long time ago that the world was full of things it hated and had to get rid of. And that would be fine. He could say, Sure. It Was An Evil Machina. It Was Doing What It Was Supposed To Do.

     But it wasn't. It had a name. It had a story. It had a choice. He'd chosen to write the end.

     The circumstances had put him here. But...but he'd said, 'this is how it's going to end. I'm going to fight you.'

     'I'm going to end you.'

     Klaus wavers again. He lowers his head. He made a choice. It's a painful choice. It's a hurtful choice. It's a choice that feels wrong, no matter how much horror, no matter how much devastation, is raging around him. It doesn't matter. He chose to bring the story to an end.

     "I'm sorry," he repeats, quietly, as he raises the Variable Blade (Red Chaos).

     The diamond on his head turns gold. A crown emblem all in red blazes inside it. His hair turns strawberry red.
Klaus Ridell      The blade shoots forward.

     It's a spike. A spike of pure purple Chaos. Of pure purple rejection of the Rules of the World. The blade leaves its own mooring as it shoots towards Shaitan the Devourer's chest. It's not a blade anymore, just a bolt, a sharp, piercing bolt of Wyrdfire.

     It is also just a distraction.

     He's right there. He rode the Red Magic straight forward, the ludicrous, suicidal charge chasing behind the flare of purple light. Right up under the Necron Lord. His left hand grips his right. The blade crackles and explodes forth.

     The hammer projects itself from the mooring of the Variable Blade. It crackles with purple energy. It's made of Forte's own weapon, of Amelris's Red Magic. It's charged with Chaos.

     And it's carrying Sarracenia's enormous strength.

     The hammer comes swinging upwards to discharge itself.

     I'm going to kill someone.

     I have to kill someone.

     I chose to kill someone.

     I chose this. I did this. I said 'I will help kill you.'

     At the last instant, the hammer shrinks. The shockwave hits the air. It's not a dead-on strike.

     He chose to end the chapter. If the Necron Lord chooses to die, then that's not his fault. He can't stop that.

     The shockwave is an enormous burst of purple and red that rocks the air around him. A discharge of Wyrdfire and Red Magic borne on a hammer made of chaos and light. It won't kill the Lord. It's not a close enough hit for that.

     But it sure might make him regret life for long enough that someone else does the deed.

     Is that cowardly? To want to preserve that innocence as long as possible?

     Maybe.

     It's certainly hesitation.

     He'll probably pay for it.
Amelris Belthrone      "WOAH!" Amelris was expecting a reaction of some sort, sure. Screaming, or shattering. MASSIVE EXPLOSION, however, is probably the one that he should've spent the most time preparing for, in hindsight. He barely have time to pull his weapon back and sliding away, lifting his cape infront of himself to protect from the torrent of green energy. It have some effect, making it difficult to see for a moment and scorching his aetherically-reinforced cape.

     "Be careful when you strike the glowing green thing on their weapons!" Amelris calls out, hoping at least to be heard over the chaos of the fight. He can tell that he got the attention of a few more of theses Metal Skeletons. They are slow, sure, but methodical and relentless, which is a bit of a problem when they outnumber you. The Red Mage swing his rapier to block the first axe swing, giving a kick back to push a second and dodging out of the way out of a third -- that's about where runs out of ways to avoid raw attacks, instead trying to mitigate them. One axe slices through his lower leg, the other barely misses his head, cutting some of his hair off. His ears are roughly fine, flattened as they are.

     Amelris lets out a wordless cry, pushing against the parried Necron to leap back, then up in the air as he spreads his arms out, forming a swarm of crystal blades that he let loose below him, exploding into bursts of energy on impact.
Nova Terra     The firepower being directed at it is too much for the Siege Tank to withstand, even supported by the SCVs repairing it. The arcing beams of green rip down the center of the tank, vaporizing its internal machinery and pilots alike until the majority of the vehicle has been gutted. Its gun silenced, the SCVs break off their repair attempts, making a run for the dropships behind them.

    The squad of Marines with Nova are slowly being picked off by the scarab swarms. One grasps desperately at his suit as the robots crawl over it, ripping at his armor and chewing through his body. His screams quickly die off and go silent. Another Marine is pulled out of formation by a larger group of the critters, likely to be used as raw resources for some future construction.

    Amidst the chaos, Nova's head whips around as she tries to keep track of the battle, the number of men she's lost quickly rising. Her eyes flicker with a blue light as she tries to figure out a way to break turn the tide, to break through. But she keeps coming up short.

    Suddenly, Nova cries out in pain, clutching the back of her head. The reason isn't clear, as she didn't take a hit. Nor have the scarabs managed to break through the defense circle of Marines in order to reach her. As she continues to hold her head, eyes closed, she says relatively quietly, "Get down..." A couple of the Marines closest to her turn to look at her with confusion.

    Nova raises her head, wisps of blue seeping out from beneath her eyelids. She opens them, revealing them to be flooded with blue light. Not only does she say it more forcefully, but her words echo in the heads of her troops, grabbing their attention, "GET DOWN!" Unclear of what their commander is doing, the Marines nonetheless follow the order, all of them dropping to the ground for cover even as a powerful psychic aura flares up around Nova.

    Nova unleashes a cry, psychic energy forcefully bursting out all around her. It quickly expands like a storm, washing over her own troops before continuing outwards to engulf the scarabs. The Marines only suffer a portion of the psionic power, the energies gouging indentations into their armor. But the scarabs... They experience the full force of Nova's mind as it rips into them, vaporizing them in much the same way the Necron weapons did to the Terran forces.
Forte Forte brings his variable blades - in twinsword configuration - around to slash through the next turret... and finds himself facing down warriors with axes, and then more with cannon blasts backing them up.

Abruptly, he reverses course in the air and ascends, trying to put some distance between himself and the skiff full of well-armed skeletons.

"Careless..." he says to himself, as he spirals upwards through the air, evading incoming fire. "I'm being careless and sloppy. I shouldn't have let that one hit me like that..."

The cannon fire rips away the rest of his cloak, and an unlucky shot hits him in the leg as he ascends, causing it to de-rez a little bit.

"Hfff..."

< <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> >
SWORD_____ S - LOADING


The blade on Forte's arm changes - a more bladelike color, although one still crackling with energy.

"I am not in a world of familiar weakling navi and viruses anymore... I need to take them more seriously..."

< <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> >
WIDE_SWORD S - LOADING


A second sword appears on Forte's offhand - a large greatblade.

"Weaklings or not, I am in unfamiliar lands, with unfamiliar foes..."

< <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> >
LONG_SWORD S - LOADING


Forte brings the two blades together - and they're joined by a third, appearing between them, the data in them fusing all three together.

"I can't take risks. I have to view them as full threats..."

Forte drops from the sky, drops like a stone, angling his body in freefall as he lets gravity take hold and send him back down towards earth. As he does, the three sword chips finish their fusion -

-=-=-=PROGRAM--ADVANCE=-=-=-
SWORD_____ ::>              
WIDE_SWORD ::>>>> LIFE_SWORD
LONG_SWORD ::>              


E X E C U T E

- and become one MASSIVE blade, meters long and wide, that Forte brings down across the middle of the ship!

"AND DELETE EVERYTHING IN MY PATH!"
Big Boss The scarabs are smart, as they stop attacking Raven and go for the gun. But the shaman is both also smart, and also angry. As they start tearing apart his massive gun, he speaks.

"You're intelligent, to some degree. That means you understand me. I'll give you one second to stop what you're doing." A pause. "One."

And then, The gun is slammed into the ground to knock off any on the bottom, before Raven lets it go. It clatters, as he suddenly reaches down to pick up a scarab, and in a show of force to the others, moves to /rip it apart/ with his bare hands, though it takes some effort. He kicks another backwards, and starts smashing them, before picking it back up once the immediate swarm is off. The gun is damaged, but it should still work - briefly, at least, as Raven immediately scatters backwards to make some distance with the others.

"Come, bugs of the damned! Show me what you're made of! Fear the Vulcan Raven, for he sends you to your next life!"
Damocles Klaus's attack hits, and the Necron raises his staff in response. A crackling field of electricity forms around him from the staff to meet the blast, the lightning field instantly erected to meet the fury of the incoming attack. However, when the violet fire of Chaos energy strikes it, the lighting flickers and falters. The Immaterium has always been the weakness for the Necron, and the blast does its job of weakening the field.

There are however, other consequences to channeling the power of Chaos here, though. And Kalus made a decision.



Yes, kill him...Crush out the existence of the pathetic worm that would challenge your power, and make him respect the true, undeniable strength you possess...


The voice is like a soft whisper just beyond hearing. A sound that blends in with his other senses. It tastes of copper and smells of ash. It is soft and slick and blood red.
Damocles \
As Nova begins to build her shockwave, she would feel something odd, not in the space but in her mind. Space here is not like elsewhere. When she builds up psionic power, she would feel space 'respond' to it. Like the very fabric of existence is scrawled on top of something else, something deeper, and something that responds to her power. It strains against the universe, called by her power, a thousand thousand tiny tendrils scratching against space, searching for a way to reach her.

Then, she releases her power, and the bubble straining against the edge of reality pops along with it, the shockwave she releases enhanced by the rippling undercurrent of power. The blue shockwave strikes the scarabs and the response is immediate and devastating. The machines spark and explode, some flying erratically and crashing into the ground, others bursting into sparking green flashes instantly. The Necron warriors struck by the power don't fare any better. They are blasted apart, and even those that remain intact fall over, the sickly green energy snuffed out, leaving only dull, black metal husks.

The Ghost Ark responds, the commander pointing a staff at Nova. He emits a mechanical clicking that is loud but only barely audible by human hears, but his frantic gesturing and pointing towards Nova should leave no doubt what he's ordering.

The Ghost Ark turns, a full broadside of eight cannons spinning around to take aim at the Ghost.

And then, Forte's attack smashes through it. The vehicle is tough, made of solid Necrodermis. However, Forte's massive blade strikes true, smashing cleanly through the center of the vessel. THe Ghost Ark, already damaged from the assaults, shakes violently. A low, ominous hum begins in the center, building up in pitch and intensity until, at all once, the center of the machine explodes in a violent crackle of green plasma. The ribs of the Ghost Ark fly in all directions, the Necrons onboard thrown every which way.

The rest of the warriors redouble their efforts when the Ghost Ark goes down. Several warriors are shot down by Amelris and Kotone's attacks. One Necron is blasted clearly in half by Kotone's railgun, but continues to crawl forward, using its hands to drag itself along to try and close enough to her to grab her and crush her in its immensely powerful arms. Another Necron warrior, the only one to survive Amelris's swarm, throws a dark orb at him. The orb glows green for a second, and then explodes in a bright flash of plasma.

The Cryptek, meanwhile, does not look amused by the destruction. "How...? I have not fought for a million years across this universe to falter here! You will KNOW the FURY I possess!" He raises his staff high, and a powerful field of lightning forms around him. Arcs of lightning shoot from him in all directions. The arcs are not aimed at the attackers, but rather at the Necrons themselves. Scarabs and warriors get stuck with the arcing energy as they advance, and every warrior that's struck gains a small shield of lightning themselves, which sends powerful shocks towards anyone who closes to attack them.
Klaus Ridell      The taste of copper and ash. Red paint across his ears. Drip, drip. Drip, drip. Hot blood pooling in eyes. The taste of corpse-blade rust on the tip of the tongue.

     Klaus has been angry before. Of course he has. He's only Adonen. Nothing special, nothing magical. Just a person. He's been angry at machina that tore a person apart. He's been angry at a shifty baker who overcharged for bread because he didn't like a little boy. He's been angry to the point of violence before, too, at a mayor who thought the town and everyone in it belonged to him, at a woman who beat her child in the hope that the child would grow up strong enough to survive without a father. He's been angry enough to hurt.

     He's never been angry enough to kill.

     The pulse in the back of his mind is angry enough to kill. It wants him to *kill* the Necron. It wants him to use his borrowed powers to just destroy the Necron utterly. To smash it to bits. To just...obliterate it. Entirely. To make it go away and never talk to him like that again.

     To never tell him he doesn't *deserve* something.

     "A lot of people," Klaus says quietly, "Don't deserve what happens to them."

     "Don't deserve what you do."

     "Don't deserve what *you do to them*."

     "You choose the end to their story."

     His blue hair hangs down in front of his face as he raises the Variable Hammer (Red Chaos). The purple lightning crackles along the weapon. "You break into the lives of people who just want to go on with their day, who choose to go on with their day, because they aren't the kind of people you're okay with."

     "You don't get to tell me what I do and don't deserve. You don't deserve to feel big."

     Strawberry-blonde hair ripples over the deep gold of the forehead diamond. "So I'm going to make you small."

     The hammer comes down.

     Klaus's foot steps down on the Necron's.

     The hammer blows off an arm. The shockwave is intense - Klaus nearly blows *himself* backwards with it - and aimed, pointedly, at the arm. It won't kill the Necron. It will probably leave him in *tremendous, agonizing pain* as the Warp Energy burns at the stump, but it very pointedly will not kill him.

     The red voice wants him to know domination. Wants him to know the taste of victory.

     The red voice wants him to cause pain.

     But he still won't kill it.

     It's a thing that deserves to die. There's no question. It's a monster. It can't be reasoned with. It isn't kind. It made the choice to be a monster. Not killing it is purely cowardice.

     But it's cowardice he can indulge in. *Klaus Ridell* makes Klaus Ridell's choices. Nobody else.
Forte Forte comes to a stop on the ground after swinging the Life Sword. A lesser navi would be winded - hell, a lesser navi wouldn't be able to maintain it for the full swing - but Forte only really needs a second to collect himself.

The massive blade's gone. It's only ever good for the one attack, but that's usually all it ever really needs. Case in point, the ship is gone, and there are other targets to go after.

Like that shouting guy with the staff.

< <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> >
AREA_STEAL A - EXECUTE


Forte blips in close - above and behind the Cryptek, if he can manage it - and goes to grasp onto the staff with both hands.

If he can get a good grip, the staff just simply starts eroding away where Forte touches it, being broken down bit by literal bit into data and absorbed!

"Nothing personal," he says, shortly.
Nova Terra     The remains of the the scarabs and warriors around the Terran formation rain down. The Marines proceed to rise, looking around at the results of the destruction their commander just wrought. They slowly begin to turn towards her, shocked and surprised expressions on their face. They knew she had a strong psychic power, but never had they seen something like this before.

    For her part, Nova can't remember the last few times she unleashed this level of destruction. The job hazard of being a Ghost. Or possibly a blessing, given what happened during a couple of those times. But a part of her feels it. This is different. There's something else empowering her, something about this world. That may explain why her neural inhibitor shorted out. Why she was able to do this at all.

    The psychic aura is still radiating around Nova as she begins to walk forward. There are still Necrons moving and Nova is of the mind to destroy every single last one of them. As the Necron warriors take up their assault once more, now empowered by their own magics, Nova unleashes more of that psionic energy at any that try to get too close. Not quite as large as the last blast, but likely just as deadly.

    Behind Nova, one of the Marines watches her pushing forward. He turns to his fellows and asks, "Uhh... So do we follow her?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone brings one down but it's not out she finds it grabbing ahold of it but while it feels like flesh at first? It is not it is only a mimicry of such. Kotone quickly one triggers her built-in taser system and fires it off at the highest level she can. With the intent to just zap the Necron.

The second thing she does I will wretch one of her feet free and aim to bring it down full force on the Necron's head. Given her superior strength to a human, it might just be possible to pull that off. If she does not pull it off the stress warning she's getting from the Necron trying to crush her legs has going to become major damage ones real damn fast.
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris lands, a gloved on the ground. His free hand twirls into a flourish, calling in his gem to float idily above his palm as he straightens up, turning around to face the last Necron Warrior. He lets out a sigh. "It's not really great to banter at something that can't banter back, geeze." Amelris muses, not letting his guard down either way by lifting his rapier up in preparation of another axe attack.

     It does not come. Instead, he tosses a grenade. He believe this to be a grenade, it do not look like any he's known before from the Garleans designs, but it certainly feels like one. Adding to this, the lightning field spreads to this one necro, making his initial idea of rushing in to skewer it in the Greenie Fieldy to be dismissed.

     The Red Mage leaps up in the air, flying into a wide backward arc just as the plasma grenade explodes. It sends his flight a bit awire, landing into a skid a few metres beyond where he intended, but he's not atomised into bits. Energy gathers from the tip of his gem, pointing his rapier at the one remaining Necron Warrior and his Field, unleashing a quick barrage of large flying stones aimed at it. Hopefully, that ought to do the trick.

     "You COULD'VE just let us go through and you COULD'VE just buggered off and you COULD'VE just stopped killing people." Amelris shouts out at the Cryptek. "But hey! Your decisions have led you to here, to where you will lie in the dirt for a few million years forever more!"
Damocles The Necrons amass for a final assault. The scattered forces join into squads, driven by an unheard command directing their actions. Despite the full force of the battle, the Necrons seem unphased. They move as one, with a slow, measured, unstoppable force.

The Necron Amelris fights wastes no time picking up its Gauss Flayer and turning it back on the red mage, but is struck, again and again by his blasts. One strike fractures his rips. Another breaks his weapon. A third knocks the Necron down. It does not get back.

More and more Necrons are felled by Nova's power. The powerful physic blasts hit the Necrodermis in a strange way. They inflict predictable damage, but the Necrons actually respond to it. They flinch. The recoil. They hurt. And they die. And every time they die, they fall to the ground, the green light in their eyes flickering out.

The massive power field around the Cryptek strikes out in all directions, and as Klaus charges in, he is met with an arc of green power that strikes against Klaus's own energy. The arc of power isn't enough to stop, or even slow down Klaus though, forcing the Cryptek to turns and look at him, the green eyes narrowing in hate. He steps back, raises an arm to shield himself and channels another blast of power, focusing his energy to try and knock Klaus away...

The two crash. The blast of energy as Voltaic Staff and hammer clash is blinding. When the light fades, the Necron Cryptek stands smoking in a crater. The Cryptek is missing an arm. Despite his face being cast in metal, the look of absolute shock and disdain is clear.

Shitan raises his staff to aim it at Klaus again, the strange Necron weapon crackling with astounding energy now. However, before he can point it at his foe, it's grabbed by another one. Forte suddenly grabs a hold of it, and begins destroying it. Nothing, not even any weapons of the Old Ones, could break apart Necrodermis like this. The Cryptek looks, for the first time, with an expression of shock and horror.

"You DARE!?" He shrieks. As the staff breaks apart, Shitan channels everything in it. The staff generates more powerful than every human generator on the entire planet put together, and is designed to focus this energy in blasts of destructive force. All of it is released. The space where the Necron Cryptek stands is filled with a scattering scrawl of arcing green energy for a moment.

Then, all at once, the entire area becomes a single, massive column of lightning. The bolt of green lightning is massive. It punches up through the clouds, out of the atmosphere and arcs into space. The crack of thunder is deafening. Everyone in the field can feel their skin energized by the lightning. For miles around, even as far as the battle in the city 1000 miles away, the flicker of green light can be seen in the sky.
Damocles The Necron that is grappling Kotone is struck repeatedly by her. Her attacks are powerful, but so is its armor. The energy arcs through it, causing the metal creature to twitch and spasm, and eventually its grip slips. It falls, and its head is smashed into the ground. The Necron flickers, and then is enveloped in a flickering green energy, which absorbs it completely. A moment later, and nothing remains of the thing save a smoking crater.
Klaus Ridell      The lightning burns.

     Klaus is not, again, a superhuman being. He is a human. He is a slightly more durable, slightly more powerful, human, but a human. The lightning is agonizing. Burns dance on his face. He has to close his eyes on his way to blowing the arm off just to ensure he doesn't get *killed*. The Red Magic takes him through in a very literal description of his own decision-making - he's committed so he's going, no matter how bad it gets.

     The impact.

     The hammer fades into merely the Variable Blade (Chaos). It ripples with the power of Chaos, a twitching glitch in existence as long as it needs to be. He's about to tear off the other arm when the Cryptek reacts to Forte's deconstruction with outright horror.

     Klaus has extremely good reflexes.

     More than that, Klaus's sense of time is unbelievably precise. As the Staff starts to disintegrate and the electricity starts to roar, Klaus throws himself backwards as hard as he can. He hits the ground and rolls and keeps rolling on purpose until he is "safely" behind one of the ribs of the fallen Ghost Ark.

     Lightning roars into the sky. Klaus ducks his head down as far as it can go. Every hair on his body tingles. Every burn aches twice as much, repeating wounds rippling in sympathetic echo.

     Pain.

     But alive.

     To his feet again. The burns hurt twice as bad as he raises the Variable Blade (Chaos). What oncoming Necrons Nova has not killed line up in his eyes. Those things? Those are *not* people. They have not spoken, have not chosen. They are Machina, puppets. He is fairly sure of that.

     He has no problem destroying Machina.

     The Variable Blade (Chaos) grows to twice the size of Klaus himself. He grips his wrist with his other hand.

     He swings.

     The Wyrdfire Bolt is a cut in the air. It streaks forward, exposing the multicolored glow of another world as it carves into what Necrons might be up. He swings again, and again, launching more and more bolts of Wyrdfire at the puppets, the stupid, marching puppets, the puppets in the hands of a cruel thing.

     It's all he's got left.
Nova Terra     The Necrons in Nova's immediate area lay lifeless about her. The Ghost glances between them. There's no remorse. Why should there be for the murderous machines? The Ncron force is in ruins, its leader dead or gone. Thankfully she can relax now.

    The psychic aura fades away and Nova collapses in a heap. Her surviving Marines rush over to her to check up on her. Hurried communications go between the squad leader and their command ship in the nearby vicinity. Soon enough, a couple of the Marines lift up Nova, who appears to be unconscious, and begin to carry her back to a dropship.

    The rest of the Marines remain behind to finish the mission, beginning to fan out to check on the Necron remains to make sure they're all dead.
Big Boss Vulcan Raven made a smart moving distancign himself when he did. As the energy comes down, he stays put, preparing. When the lightning comes down, it crackles into him, sending him backwards, but not as bad as the others getting hit directly. As he rises back up with a smoking gun, he moves towards the closest Necron assault and uses his broken gun as an improvised melee weapon - or more accurately, 'as a giant piece of metal to hit other pieces of metal'.

<"Requisitioning a new gun. Have it ready when I return, please.">

And then, Vulcan Raven tries to push through once the gun is scrap, and make it towards the teleporter. They need to secure it.
Forte "No matter how tempted I am by the prospect of unlimited power        
           I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head."            
                         Evil Overlord List - Rule #22                          


To be fair, Forte didn't know what he was getting into, at least at the start. He just wanted to break the Cryptek's toy. He didn't know that it was some sort of planetary scale artifact.

"I dare," returns Forte, with a massive grin on his face.

And then the grin rapidly fades as energy starts getting released. He frowns...

... And then he doubles down, gripping onto it tighter, trying to *take* the energy.

"I dare!" he repeats. "This energy, this power..."

It flows up into him, but - it's becoming clear that just how much of it he can take is in question.

"This power, is mi-"

And then all at once, the entire area becomes one single massive column of lightning.

A smart person would attempt to try to disengage, teleport out, retreat, or just brace.

Forte, though, is stunned only for a second by the sudden outpouring of energy - blinded, literally, by the blast going off point blank, but a rarely seen shocked expression crosses his face.

And then it turns into a shit-eating grin.

And then he QUADRUPLES DOWN, hands going to grip the (by this point disintegrating one way or another) staff down, and absorb everything it's giving out, point-blank explosion of lightning going off in his face be damned!

He is Forte - the survivor, the Shadow of the Undernet, the Dark Messiah, the scourge of nightmares and the stuff of digital campfire tales!

HE CAN TAKE IT.
HE CAN *EAT* IT.
Damocles The blast of lightning passes in a flash.  In its wake, there is a smoking crater where the ground one.  The Voltaic Staff carried by the Cryptek is gone.  Whatever remained after it reached a damage threshold vanished a flash of green light.

As for the Cryptek himself, he also lays motionless in a heap, about 30 meters away, smashed through the remains of a concrete wall. Missing an arm, his staff, and a lot of his upper body. A few seconds pass, and then he also begins to crackle with green energy, that rapidly envelops him, and then he, too, vanishes. 

Any remaining Necron have the same experience.  Green energy, a consuming flash, and then in an instant, they are gone, as if they were never there.  Several Necron bodies laying around do the same.  Several more, most notably any killed by Nova's psionic power, remain.  Some move here and there, an arm swinging around to attempt to rebuild itself, or a half-destroyed torso dragging itself along, but none of these respond to your presence at all.  The remains of the Ghost Ark also stay, scattered around.  Any remaining scarabs all disengage and rush into the city, attempting to disperse into the rubble.

For all intents and purposes, the battle is won.
Klaus Ridell      Klaus wobbles for a moment. His outfit disappears, replaced once again with the blue local military armor and the faded green cape.

     He walks over to the arm he blew off Shaitan landed. It takes him a few seconds to actually find it. When he does, though, he picks it up and stares at it for a very, very long time.

     Eventually, it just vanishes, into some otherworldly space within the Compass. He started shuffling his way over to Amelris. Amelris said he'd heal up. He needs healing badly.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is lucky she finally gets the Necron attacking her forcing it into recall not that she knows that. She thinks she got it and is very pleased with herself over it. She looks to the primary fight and is lost in more than ait of awe. From what happened with the Necron leader to just the scale of the fighting.

She will move to assist Nova's marines to recover their wounded. She will also make sure the Necron's that are scattered about don't get back up any time soon.

She will search for any of the locals who might have survived the whole mess. Other than some of Nova's people she finds nothing living thing.
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris have a bad feeling about the static he heard on the Linkpearl. This Forte -- he think it was Forte -- is doing something, potentially, very unwise. Unfortunately, there is very /little/ he can do at the moment to stop a man from engaging into his destiny. Self-inflicted destiny.

     For the moment, Amelris lowers his arms, taking in a deep breath and turning to look at the rest of the field of battle. By the sounds of it, he came out of this one pretty much unscathed compared to some others.

     He sheaths his weapon and keeping his gem squeezed into his hand, he make his way to the frontline where they fought the Cryptek. Muttering and channeling aether, spinning his gem between his fingers and targeting Klaus in his mind's eye, then snaps his fingers, approaching Klaus that's just painfully picked himself up.

     A shower of light spreads around him, digging into his form to give him some strength and clarity of mind back, closing some wounds and accelrating some of his natural healing.

     With another snap of his fingers, he bounces back from his original casting and flinging another healing spell at someone else near -- one of the Marines.

     "Hey." He toss at Klaus. "You'll be alright."
Forte The good news: Forte is still in one piece.

The bad news: this is because everything that isn't that 'one piece' has vaporized. There's large chunks of Forte that are just... missing.

No guts or blood or internal squishy bits, just... bits missing here and there, like someone's been chiseling away haphazardly at the surface of a statue.

He's *very much* unconscious, lying face-up next to the crater. This is probably a good thing. That he's unconscious.