Final Five

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There was a groan in the walls where the machine had exploded, and after a moment the steel and pipes cracked and burst outwards. A jet of water about as wide as a basketball surged into the hallway, quickly dousing the flames in its way and spreading outwards. Nary a few seconds later, the hallway erupted in a deafening electronic buzzing. Yellow lights periodically illuminated the area as the alarm rang. They had a few choices.

There was always the option of escaping back the way they came, despite the complete lack of actual danger present in the leak -it would take quite some time before the water flow filled the place in any significant manner- but would ultimately result in them losing the quick opportunity to find the White Coat facility. If they stayed for too long, though, they might face some unsavory mechanized investigation forces. The Shanhu police were welcoming of the Final Five's exploits more often than not, and while they were willing to turn a blind eye to questionable activities such as trespassing, they only did so in person. It wasn't often, but the former Final Five were known to have encountered the police's attack robots on occasion. While their human counterparts were capable of being reasonable and understanding, an investigating death machine faced with clearly dangerous individuals wasn't so empathetic. If they were to send one down into their hallway, it'd delay them considerably.

Their other option, then, was to hurry as fast as possible before any authorities arrived. The further deep they went, the more likely they were to avoid any police-robot-deathmachine conflict as well. It wasn't particularly hard to decide, in the end. Following Iphigenia's sixth sense, they eventually came across another hallway. It initially appeared long, though with Iphigenia's perception, it seemed as, this time, the cloaked entity before them was simply a door.

Approaching it, a mere hand through the cloak dispelled the illusion, revealing a heavy steel door. A console behind the cloak afforded the Final Five's computer genius to quickly hack her way into access, opening up what was apparently an elevator to even deeper levels in the submarine locale.

While the elevator had a glass wall at the back, the elevator shaft itself was enclosed and dark. After a minute's descent, the shaft disappeared though the elevator continued to descend. Outside, a massive facility, enclosed by pristine white structures, revealed itself beneath the waves. It looked like a small village of homes and labs, as if countless individuals actually lived within. From above, however, it seemed vacant.

Ding.

The elevator reached the end and opened up quietly into what seemed like a metal street, surrounded on all sides by countless pathways and doors into buildings. It was dead quiet, save for the occasional groan of the exterior walls against the water pressure outside.


'All personnel participating in the recapture process; please proceed to Facility 11 and report to officer Bernard Toland', said a female voice over an intercom. Looking above, there seemed to be a massive jumbo-tron displaying a number of meaningless scientific jargon beside time schedules. An error message flashed at the top it all.

'Error 1094B: Instruction package expected. Received null. Cannot update.'

'All personnel participating in- gzzrt'. The intercom halted. The lights at the top of the massive cavern of steel began to flicker, and a phantasmal howl like wind washed through the area. Slowly, a blackish haze seeped down into the street from the buildings around the Final Five, collecting into a fog that permeated their street.

From behind the curtain of blackness, a shadowy figure stepped forth. Much like the abyssal they had fought mere hours before, the figure was but an utterly black mass, save for a pair of human, reddish eyes, unblinking. The shadows collected around their form like great and plentiful robes, dragging along the ground. It did not speak.

Raising a hand, a red energy sprouted upwards like lightning, but disappeared into the air. Instantly, the same red energy gathered around Ling. The red energy swirled about before becoming a perfect circle of red at his chest. The same symbol appeared right after on the shadowy figure. Ling felt a strange pull towards the individual, nearly walking straight towards them. He could resist it, but only if he focused.

The shadow lifted up from the ground, hovering on dark mist a few feet from the street below. With a flourish, it extended its arms to its sides, as if taunting the Final Five to attack.
 
True to Iphigenia's intuition, it seemed that doing even a slight amount of damage to the underground infrastructure of the city would cause disproportionate flooding. So when the disabled sentry bot exploded for the second time and damaged the pipes, she knew that it was not the time to dawdle and examine the robot, as much as she wished to do. The only two proper courses of action for the moment were to retreat or to push on. The alarm that sounded in the subterranean corridor did little to ease her concerns, with its irritating klaxon sirens. In light of this and other less appetizing prospects, the group elected to move forward, especially since the location of the lab seemed almost in-your-face to Iphie.

The long corridor they followed eventually terminated in another cloaked object, although it was quickly determined by Iphie to be a more simple and innocuous door rather than another evil mad scientist death robot. A simple wave of the hand against the slightly reflective illusion dropped its disguise, revealing a plain steel bulkhead, secured by a terminal. This enemy line of defense quickly fell to the wayside under Iphigenia's expertise, taking but a mere few minutes to gain administrative permissions and unlock the door, revealing a large industrial elevator that took them to an even deeper level of the city.

The elevator took some time to descend, and as it did, it revealed a massive underground chamber. The breathtaking view seemed almost like a skyline of an impressive underground city, like a complex of scientific labs and streets. It reminded her of the underground Sakuradite chamber from that anime. Interestingly though, despite the sheer size of the place, there seemed to be no human presence at all. Despite the infrastructure in place and a rather informative-looking jumbotron, there seemed to be nobody to follow the instructions of the announcement over the intercom even when the Final Five arrived at the lowest level. Looking at the massive message board that towered over the buildings, she could surmise that anybody they might have encountered were probably in 'facility 11' and error message pertained to the now dead abyssal, although she could be wrong. But with nobody around, Iphie took a few minutes to take in the sheer size of the place, because she was pretty damn impressed.

Because seriously, this place looked well-funded and well-equipped. She could guess they had powerful sponsors, but she was also thinking how productive the place might be if it could be repurposed. It would definitely make for an interesting R&D facility for a fab or energy research… And if it could be seized legally, it could even be all free~! But of course, she didn't let herself get carried away, especially as the towering lights began to flicker and ominous black smoke began to permeate the entire cavern. Iphigenia was worried that it might be some sort of poisonous gas, but as it began to form into a faintly recognizable shape, she wasn't sure if she should be relieved it was not gas or even more alarmed that it seemed to be some sort of sentient being.

"Ling, what's going on?"

Eying it slowly as she spoke, she watched as red energy circled around Ling before concentrating into a ball. She wasn't sure what to make of it as another formed around the main mass of the shadowy blob, and raised an eyebrow as the figure raised its 'arms' as if to say 'come at me bro.' Of course, Iphie was as in the dark about this thing as much as the others were, and she was not suicidal, so she didn't immediately resort to a hostile attack against the thing.

Instead, she noted the high-tech appearance of the facility, making a calculated guess that whatever this thing was might be controlled from a remote location or something important in the facility might communicate over the air. With this in mind, she made clear her intentions to the others. Looking above at the jumbotron, the air around them seemed to charge with mild static, and the hairs on the skin of the other four would rise slightly as the space around them filled with electromagnetic energy. If they checked, their cell phones would still seem to have signal though, if there was any such thing in this particular underground cave. Putting her electromagnetic 'suite' into full effect, she hoped that she could cut off any potential additional threats the black-thing or anything else external might pose.

"What do you think, Tian? Seen anything like this thing before?"
 
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Any victory celebrations were cut short by the flooding and sirens. Fighting in places like this one were dangerous, but at least they hadn't brought the ceiling down on their own heads, or anything. Runa briefly considered plugging the hole torn in the damaged pipe, but the urgency of the situation, and more importantly the rest of the group moving forward decided against that course of action. She had to do a little catching up, but it seemed they had no trouble tracing a path further down, to a nice hidden door.

Turned out, it was an elevator, which had Runa's attention mostly for the glass wall in the back. "Ooh, I love glass elevators like this. They're so cool." She spent the entire trip down staring out the window, even if there was nothing to see but the elevator shaft itself. That it eventually led to a small city underground, and more properly underwater, drew an impressed whistle from her lips. "Man, whoever built this must have some serious clout." This sort of facility didn't just spring up overnight, and it was clearly huge. Runa got the feeling they were dealing with something far more organized and well-funded than the usual White Coat operation. "Hell of a set-up they've got, whoever they are."

When they arrived, some sort of notification played over a PA system, conveniently dropping a name and a place, not that any of the five new arrivals would have a clue just where Facility 11 would even be without a map. The nice jumbotron didn't really mean a thing to Runa whatsoever. She had enough trouble with high school, she couldn't understand a word of the crap they had playing up there on the thing. The sudden disruption to the lights and announcements couldn't be anything good, and it quickly proved to be the case, as a phantasmal howl presaged a gathering black mist. Runa was very quickly and clearly on edge, glancing this way and that for the first sign of a concrete threat, which wasn't long in coming, in the form of a humanoid figure composed of shadows, with awfully familiar red, glowing eyes. It did...something to Ling, and Runa could only stand by and watch.

She quickly got into a fighting stance and faced down the shadow figure as it invitingly spread its arms wide, but she didn't move in to take the clear invitation. "This is where I'd really hope someone would conveniently explain their evil plan or something," she complained, her voice a bit shaky. "Anyone remember if Abyssals took human forms before? The one from earlier wasn't, but this looks a lot like it, otherwise."
 
"Tch…" Course the surrounding structure would prove too weak to withstand the blast. Unanimously the group decided to push on ahead, through the flooding section and whatever the mechanical sentry guarded. Ihpigenia proved rather useful once more, and disabled the cloak with a handwave, cracked the heavy door open, and activated the elevator. It was a bit of squeeze for all five to fit inside given him and Tian's bulky forms, but ultimately only slightly uncomfortable for the three actually made of flesh.

"Jeez…" Ling was a bit bewildered when the elevator's surroundings opened up to reveal the open ocean, but more importantly the facility beneath their feet. He hummed in agreement with Runa and wondered exactly how the hell something like this had escaped their support's notice. Sure their organization was far from the most powerful in the world, but still… He supposed it would be a question to keep in mind for later.

It was a bit odd to hear such an ordinary sound in the situation, but the sound that announced their arrival was rather mundane. Ling floated out of the elevator without a sound next to his companions and surveyed the surroundings albeit to no real success before being interrupted. If he had any, Ling's hairs would have probably stood on end at the noise that filled the air momentarily. His attention immediately focused on the black smoke that gathered before the group, somewhat off put by the similarities to his unbound form.

"I have no idea," he replied honestly as the smoke gathered into a thicker cloud from where a humanoid form stepped out of. Again somewhat similar, but closer to the Abyssal they had dealt with earlier. While he attempted to get the first strike in, the strange being seemed quicker on the draw. A release of energy that quickly disappeared only to reappear around himself. Before Ling could even react, it had coalesced into a circle of the Coffin's chest piece. The urge to move towards the creature hit him before Ling could reign it in, and he managed to stifle it before he had moved any notable distance.

An annoyance to be sure, but resistable as Ling began to drift away from the group and most importantly the unknown hostile. It was a bit slower than usual, but he had to deal with the afflicted urge. At the same time he tried to tap into his magic, cautious of any effects the unknown spell might have. As far as he could tell, his ability to utilize magic hadn't been affected as part of the mark he had been afflicted with. Thus, as per usual, a number of spheres popped up into existence around Ling as he watched and waited. At Tian's signal, he began to carefully lob the magical projectiles at the armored hero.
 
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The mechanical beast was much more easily dealt with than Tian-Gui had expected, turned into scrap metal by the combined attacks of Runa, Iphie, and Ling. It appeared that the guard dog of the scientists was strong, but not durable. Annoying little robot.

Placing a hand against the wall that he had constructed, the armored hero deconstructed the crystal barrier, satisfied at the fact that there was not a single scratch on the structure from the explosion. The Flamestone wall turned into fine dust, blown away by an impossible wind. It looked like there were no other robots planning on attacking, and with that, he took a step down the corridor once more. As if on cue, the walls of the corridor caved in, spewing out water that was followed by the sound of emergency alarms. Thankfully, his helmet filtered out most of the unpleasant noise, but it was still clear that they had to move fast. Picking up the pace and motioning the others to follow, Tian-Gui allowed the supernaturally gifted Iphie to lead the way, eventually showing them to what appeared to be an elevator.

An elevator that went into the undersea depths of Shanhu, revealing an operation that was clearly well-funded. He'd have to ask the support organization to search for a money trail in the future. There was no way that someone would be able to fund an operation this big and not leave any tracks. It did make sense that the White Coat's facility was underwater though.

After all, that's where the Abyssals came from.

When the elevator opened once again, it was Tian-Gui that stepped out first, his bulky body blocking the entire doorway in case there was another round of surprise attacks. There weren't though, and instead, the Final Five was treated to a spiel of incomprehensible language, as well as a screen polluted with an error message. It was all meaningless to Tian-Gui, but he memorized as much of it as he could regardless. That was, until that appeared.

Cloaked in darkness, it seeped into the underwater city, an enigmatic figure that appeared all too similar to the Abyssal, and yet simultaneously had the same 'intelligent' countenance as Ling. Its red eyes reminded Tian-Gui of traffic lights, and instinctively, the walking fortress took a step back. It was in that moment of indecision that the shadow acted, a bolt of red lightning lashing upwards before dissipating, seemingly rematerializing on Ling's armor. The Idol of Destruction didn't appear to be under any duress though, so for now…

Oh, what was this?

Was this freak of nature taunting them?

Good, it was smart, at least.

"If Ling ever made a baby with an Abyssal, I'm guessing that's the result," Tian-Gui joked, before getting serious, "The original Abyssals were just spherical masses, Runa. Today's been the only time I've seen Abyssals take a shape other than that."

"But if this thing isn't going to attack…"

Tian-Gui made a gesture, signaling Ling to charge him up again.

"Hey there, friend!" the giant waved, "We just got here ourselves, so care to tell us what happened? Where's everyone else?"
 
Just like in movies, the killer robot exploded violently after being dunked, because every robot had to do that! And just like in movies, the explosion screwed more things up. However, the danger of flooding the entire level didn't change much for the Quintet as they pressed forward, ultimately meeting with another invisible locked obstacle that Iphie made quick work of.

"I didn't know there were even deeper levels!" Having said that, they soon descended towards a scenery that'd truly fit some mad evil genius' secret lair with lots of henchmen! "Now, that's worthy the title of a Super Secret Monkey Lair!" Kyouko was just as fascinated as Runa about this scenery - too bad they weren't here for vacation.

As the elevator finally stopped and allowed them to continue their way, a single error message made sure to keep them at bay for just enough time to give appearance for yet another baddie. This time some blackish phantasm humanoid thing being that quickly got to work on their coffin friend. Regardless, it didn't look much harm was done, in fact, unlike with the robot guardian her allies seemed a bit reluctant to attack. "Hehe..."

Kyouko grinned, she failed the first time, but now, she felt full of energy. "I am used to having monsters as friends BUT this one is clearly evil!" The self-proclaimed most important protagonist of this show could even imagine some evil theme boss music to this thing, that's how evil it was!

Ready to redeem herself, she didn't waste any more seconds before charging at top human speed towards the black mist thing. "SUPER DEATHBLOW ATTACK!!" This time she had no items to work in her favour, thus, the brunette kneeled deep down just a few metres away from the thing, followed by a jump high into the air. There, she continued to make a few pointless spins to gain momentum for her attack she was about to do:

"HYPER KYOUKO FINAAAAAAL!"​

Starting to lessen the space between ground and herself, Kyouko had the force of a jumbo jet behind her smashing aerial top down kick that was about to meet with the slim abyssal.

*CRACK*

For a brief second, the earth shaked as cement and other materials that were used to even the ground were thrown up in the air. "FUCK!" As the mandatory dust started to clear it was obvious what happened: Kyouko missed, instead of an expected dead Abyssal, Kyouko only created a crater. The baddie didn't even move as much as an imaginary muscle, in fact, Kyouko hit, it was just that the being had apparently no physical form whatsoever that the young heroine was capable of damaging. "Fuck! That's unfair!" Kyouko could only cuss again, expecting some merciless counter-attack from the magical being.
 
The shadow barely blinked as Kyouko passed straight through it, eyes still trained forward at the others gathered before it. Raising one of its hands towards Tian-Gui, its form briefly glimmered with a grey energy, looking as if it's body had somehow become glass for but a second. The red mark upon hovering in front of Ling's chest surged, and suddenly the hero found himself pulled into a strange location. It was the same as the White Coat facility, save for the strange sparks of light that permeated the area. His friends had disappeared, as well as the shadowy enemy. He was alone... wherever he was.

As Ling vanished from sight, the shadow suddenly compressed into a much more tangible form, the mist now a solid black body of feminine figure. As the entity coalesced, it's arm still pointed towards Tian-Gui, a shimmering appeared around him. Before he could avoid the oncoming attack, Tian-Gui was stricken by the most painful experience he'd felt in his life. Beyond merely his body, his mind too was seemingly affected. It felt as if every fiber of his existence were just punched by an unseen fist. Nothing was left unharmed. He staggered from the blow, and as he recouperated, realized that bits of his armor were passively falling off of their own accord. The color of his armor dulled, as if the very material, regardless of being inanimate, had become sick and diseased.

As soon as the entity lowered its arm, its body spread back into a thick black mist, and Ling suddenly appeared exactly where he stood before. The red mark reappeared on his chest, and he felt even more drawn to the shadowy being.
 
There was no answer from the shadow-monster, even as Kyouko cratered the floor with her fist. It was sorta impressive, but…why would she hit a shadow with a physical object? About to erect a wall between the glass cannon and the shadowy being, to give her enough time to back off, Tian-Gui was shocked when Ling suddenly disappeared, vanishing with a flash of red light. Following that, the shadow gained form, becoming an effeminate figure that struck with…

For a moment there, Tian-Gui blanked out, a hot white flash running through his mind as indescribable pain overwhelmed his senses. Way beyond the beam of the Abyssal or Lotte's strikes, the psychic strike forced him onto his knees, his entire body battered by an invisible force. Bile rushed up his throat as nausea overcame him, before he forced it down, his fists tightening as he suppressed those urges. He forced himself up, and, only then realized that his armor, the impenetrable bastion, was rusting. Without any hesitation, Tian-Gui thumped his right fist against his chest, and called out, "Armor Purge!"

In an instant, all the pieces making up his battle suit broke off, cracking the floor as the diseased pieces fell. For a moment, his glorious pecs and his toned abs were on display for all to see…and then the Flamestone grew over it all and formed a new set of armor. It was a psychic attack, definitely. No wonder it could bypass his Flamestone.

Ling was brought back soon after, and following that, the odd red mark shone once more, first on Ling's body, then the monster's, and finally, it lost its shape.

"Kyouko, get away from there! Ling, where did you go? Seems like this thing uses psychic attacks, so be on your guard, everyone!"

There was an answer to this problem. The only question was…could they get that answer before they all fell? Well, nevertheless, Tian-Gui called forth a wall, diagonally bisecting the shadowy mist, and allowing it to remain there. At the very least, if it had to physically manifest itself, it would have to deal with the Flamestone wall interfering with that now.

"Troublesome little shit…"
 
Iphie put her hand just above her mouth in a half-facepalm. Shaking her head at Kyouko's indiscrete use of language and her rather obviously futile attack, the purple-haired girl chided her colleague for her premature attack. "It's smoke, Kyouko. I'm not sure what you expected."

That said, if the enemy was as transient as it seemed, fighting it was going to pose an issue. Kyouko's attack confirmed that it was impervious or near so to physical damage, and luck had it that almost everybody in the party dealt attacks that were grounded in the realm of physics. It didn't seem like they had much time to create a battle plan either, as Kyouko's obscenely loud and obnoxious attack had spurred the black form into action. The strange orb glowed, and a moment later, Ling was nowhere to be seen. With barely enough time to react to that new development, the figure changed its attention to Tian. Before he could fully defend himself, he was set upon by the shadowy figure and seemingly attacked.

At this point, Iphie retreated to a more tenable position, watching as their tank dropped his armor and reformed one once again. As this happened, Ling reappeared too, although she questioned if he was still in one piece, figuratively and literally speaking. She was going to inquire of his condition, but decided Tian's comments and question to him would suffice. Nodding at his evaluation of its method of attack, she wracked her brain for something creative. She could guess that pumping it full of electricity was likely going to be useless and waste energy. They needed something that could obliterate it in one hit, or at the very least, some method of attack that would not result in it splitting around and reforming. Iphie blew air out of her mouth as she mulled over this. "Somebody engineered this thing…?"

Biting her lip, she called out to the other four. "Any ideas? It's a cloud, maybe I can try ionizing it."
 
"Now how the hell am I supposed to fight something I can't punch," Runa wondered out loud. Kyouko's attack was impressive, but the simple fact that it passed right through their current foe made her worried for her own chances. She considered her options, most of which were some form of direct attack which would likely miss, the rest of which were running away. Running away was sadly not much of an option, things hadn't even gone south yet.

"My only other idea is, um we could just cut and run. What would ionizing it even do?" She didn't have a clue what Iphigenia was after, but any idea was probably better than none. "Um, do it anyway," she added as she quickly moved up to the shadow being, which seemed quite unphased by the wall formed through it. It definitely didn't care about physical attacks, although it did go and change its shape and look completely earlier, before it attacked Tian. She had an idea, though it wasn't the best plan, either. And it depended on their adversary cooperating. If it did start putting distance between itself and her, she wouldn't chase it down, yet.

She waited for it to make a move, and as soon as it seemed to change, she lashed out with an extremely fast punch, lunging forward and bringing one arm out in a blow as quickly as possible. As the shadow solidifies, Runa feelt her hand land a strong, physical punch on its glass-like black surface. The form shattered into countless fragments and a shockwave of energy pushed Runa back. The shadow returned to a misty form, and the red circle on it rippled before detonating in a flash of red. The circle around Ling, too, detonated, but also harms him severely. His body seems to be partially transparent, as if fading in and out of their world.

Runa did a double-take between Ling and the shadow. "Ah crap! Are you okay?"
 
And Kyouko...continued to live! The baddie didn't even seem to care about her and instead unleashed some sort...of attack? On someone behind her. The heroine didn't plan to move her eyes away from the thing for one moment, as that could proof fatal. What she did do however was a heroic retreat! For now. Getting back on her feet Kyouko moved backward through a few jumping motions before being with the generality of the group again.

Back in relative safety Kyouko only confirmed again what she found out. "It doesn't seem to care about physical attacks! Though it did look like it was able to be ha-" In that moment Runa was putting the words Kyouko was about to say next literally into reality, and in fact, the thing actually took damage?! Success! Though her joy was cut short as both red sigils detonated, wrecking the coffin while doing so. Did it even hurt him? Kyouko was not sure, after all he looked kinda...did he actually always look that fishy? Regardless, the mark soon popped up on Runa's body and Kyouko had another fool proof plan!

"How about trying to hit the mark on Runa's body?!" Considering what she showed so far, a little bit of pain shouldn't hurt her too much, right? But even if it was Kyouko would have gotten marked, she would have very much said the same.
 
Unsurprisingly Kyouko's overeager but powerful attack failed to do anything against their current adversary, passing through its body harmlessly and shattering the ground beneath it. He barely had time to recognize the creature's gesture before a surge of red light blinded him. By the time it faded, Ling realized that he had somehow been displaced; the surroundings were all the same, but he was completely alone. Projectiles flared to life around him, but they had barely formed before he was snapped back to reality.

Disoriented, Ling drifted towards the creature before he could catch himself. The urge was definitely harder to resist this time around, worthy of a scowl if he still made expressions. "Fuck if I know," he grumbled out towards Tian as he resisted the pull, barely moving back this time around, "some mirror world?" From what he could gather it seemed only Tian had been injured in the time he had disappeared, albeit it was bad enough that his companion had felt the need to purge his layers of armor. Definitely not a great sign, but better than one of the other members crippled from the same attack.

Projectiles shuddered into existence around Ling as Tian bisected the shadow with a wall of Flamestone, sadly to little effect though. Before he could actually fire off the explosive magic projectiles though, Runa darted forward and managed to land a hit against the creature as it solidified. If it was actually effective remained to be seen as the creature simply reformed in its shadow form before the circle marking it detonated. If he had any eyes they might have widened in realization as the circle around him detonated similarly, blanking his mind out in a wave of pain as pieces of his body were ripped away.

The projectiles vanished instantly as it became impossible to focus on anything. His vision flickered and the others disappeared only to reappear moments later as Ling was displaced numerous times rapidly. Mixed with the pain and Ling was completely out of it, unresponsive to Runa's question or anything else really.
 
The shadow seemed to return to its senses after Runa's own newly-formed red circle fully materialized and settled itself in the same chest-level area. The mist rippled as if surging with anger before it once again compressed inwards. As a fully discernible human figure of blackness, the entity began to charge something unseen, its arms turned inwards with palms facing close to one another. Runa, this time, disappeared from the area, and found herself in the same alternate dimension Ling once traveled to. Ling was spared of the continued dimensional shifting, finally (and permanently) rooted to the real world.

However, as Kyouko was assailed by an insidious and unseen energy, she too disappeared from her comrade's sight. For Kyouko, the moment was... without time. Her memory suddenly seemed jumbled, and certain recollections completely vanished from her mind. She could remember words she had said weeks in the past, but could not remember where she had lived, or even her own name. Her history was rearranged, as far as she could perceive, as if she had suddenly split into countless copies, each of which returned to the past to change something random about her life.

It ended in a void. The young girl was trapped in pure darkness, floating aimlessly. Even her voice seemed empty as she drifted in nothing. In the real world, the Final... Four were still faced with the shadowy entity. The memory of Kyouko itself was gone from their minds, and for the time they remembered themselves only as the Final Four. A fifth teammate was nonsensical. The shadow became mist once again, and Runa returned to the world, red circle still at her chest.
 
The next target of the entities assault was no one other than Kyouko. Could she have dodged? Maybe. But now it was too late, and a creeping feel of danger told her that she was fucked real, real, bad. Opening her mouth to at least verbally assault the monstrosity the girl found herself... nowhere.

Was she still alive? She couldn't feel, she couldn't see nor speak, she only knew for certain that she was conscious, for now. Regardless, in what felt like an eternity, the brunette recalled all kinds of memories she made in the past, the good ones and the bad ones. Or did she? Kyouko could tell something was not right, it was like her memory was a giant completed jigsaw puzzle that was suddenly torn apart, tiles changed or destroyed by no one other than herself. 'Stop it!' Was something she wanted to cry out, why was she even here? Was this a dream? Was she alive? Dead? Did Kyouko Hiruma even exist?

As her mind continued to float in in the eternal dark void, she, too, was ready to let go. Give up might have been the right word if the heroine knew what happened in the first place, but for her, it was the most natural thing to do in the world. Getting dizzier by the second, as the last proof of her existence was about to vanish, it was then than she heard a voice.

"Little one..." The voice called out to her, it was a female voice, a voice she had definitely never heard before, yet, seemed more familiar than anything she ever encountered. And above all else, the voice had a motherly warmth that made Kyouko wanna cry. "Little one, are you sure about this? Are you satisfied? Are you happy?" Happy? Satisfied? About what? She was just... No. She did not belong here, wherever that was, there was something else but... "Of course not. Little one, your story hasn't ended yet. Currently, you don't even exist, you have no future or a past. Neither alive, nor dead." Yeah, thanks for telling, that sure would help herself to settle her mind. "But fear not. You have the power to rewrite history." She...what? "Kyouko Hiruma. You have that power, you only need to grasp it. Look deep inside yourself. You have a duty to fulfill and I won't allow you to cast it aside."

With those last few words the feeling of the voice changed, but with it came the light, it felt colder and...ancient, but with the light came another surge of memories. Kyouko felt pain, a lot of pain, more pain than she ever felt before. Like putting a pear(Memories) through a bottleneck(Kyouko). And then the bottle shattered, and Kyouko had one answer.


"NEU ANFANG."
​
In a sudden light of flash the fifth member made her heroic return! At the same place she disappeared just mere seconds ago.

"KYOUKO HIRUMA RETURNS TO THE PARTY!" Kyouko pointed her finger towards the shadowy being. "Fuck you!" The brunette was now fully aware of what happened to her and...not so sure about what she actually did to counter the shadow woman's attack. Nonetheless, she had to enjoy the moment. "I won't let you reverse my existence again! In fact, I'm gonna kill you so hard, you will die to death! Any last words?!" A very heroic thing to say indeed. Of course, even if she rescued herself and...probably had a new power unlocked?; their foe was still a formidable enemy.
 
In her brief visit to that alternate space, Runa managed to catch something through the gloom. Her vision was hazy, but she could discern that the shadow entity's form was present in the same dimension, but appeared much more solid and human. It was only the briefest glimpse before she was shunted back to proper reality, and the midst of the others.

"Hey guys, I think I saw something wherever I got dragged to." Runa was going to say more, but at that moment, Kyouko reappeared. "Huh?" she blinked a few times. "Did you get shoved somewhere too?" She was a bit confused by Kyouko calling out their enemy in such a way. What did she even mean by that? The brunette was right there, and she never got wiped out of existence...did she. Runa got the feeling there was something a bit off in her recent memories, but shook it away, because she had her own important things to say.

"How are you gonna beat them, though? You saw what happened when I tried hitting them here. Ah!" Her eyes lit up and she slammed a fist into her open palm. "Maybe the one in the other dimension!" She ran toward Kyouko and extended a hand, along with several tendrils of hair, toward the other girl. "Maybe I can take you with me, then you can try attacking them that way." Never mind that she had no control over whatever their shadow-enemy was doing with this funny mark thing, and it maybe almost killed their ghost guy. This was for revenge! Or...something.
 
It went poorly so quickly. In an instant, the rash decision of Runa to attack before they properly comprehended their opponent led to a violent explosion that disabled Ling and made her the next bearer of the odd sigil. Soon afterwards, the shadowy enigma counterattacked regardless, this time removing both Runa and Kyouko from the stage…and then not doing anything else.

Yes, it was definitely getting worse, but for now…

Tian-Gui narrowed his eyes. The new Final Five was lacking greatly in teamwork and communication, with their individual strengths not meshing at all together. They were capable of 'attacking' together, but when it came to planning together? Waiting? Staying focused? It was probably due to their passion for heroics, but every one of them were definitely on the 'attack first, think second' side of things. As Kyouko and Runa both returned, seemingly without incident, he closed his eyes. The Final Five needed a leader, and they needed discipline.

The eldritch girl imparted some interesting information, and now, they had all the pieces they needed to 'solve' this problem. It existed in another world, and could not properly manifest itself if there's an object in the way. However, doesn't that mean that the opposite is also true? What would happen, then, if something happened in the other world that prevented the shadow-being from returning? Perhaps…if it was filled to the brim with seawater? If it was utterly and completely destroyed, rubble covering up the entirety of everything? Runa had the right idea, but sending Kyouko in there was a death sentence of the energetic girl. After all, if only those with the red circle could traverse between different dimensions, then bring Kyouko there would end up in losing one of their members.

There needed to be a 'bomb'.

And that was exactly what Tian-Gui had.

"Iphie, Runa, charge me up! Kyouko, take the vanguard and catch that being's attention! We have all the facts we need, and the perfect way to counter it now!"

Thrusting his right fist into the air, Tian-Gui's eyes dimmed, before almost all of his armor detached.

"FINAL FIVE FINISHER! Amalgamation set!"

Swirling around in a tornado of separate parts, they locked together over his arm, forming a golden lance radiating with power. Shining brilliantly in the fluorescent light of the underwater battlefield, red runes ran up and down the Flamestone lance, pulsating hungrily.

"Runa, Iphie, now!"
 
"On it," Runa replied, moving a little from her current location toward Tian, although she didn't get much closer, instead trusting a rapidly elongating tentacle to bridge the distance for her. It gingerly coiled around the lance, additional tendrils of flesh extending from the trunk of the main tentacle in places and wrapping around the flamestone weapon almost like runners growing from a vine. Parts of the tentacle glimmered with energy as Runa delivered what she could as a charge to the strange material. She wasn't as efficient a converter as Ling was, nor could she just throw bolts of pure energy that was immediately compatible, but she still did her part to contribute.
 
Being a bit of an off-hand suggestion, Iphigenia too had doubts on what charging the mist cloud would do. Saying this, she shrugged it off, because what they needed was a clear plan of action before things went bottom up, not rash experimental avenues of attack that could get her and the others killed or worse. Iphie was about to vocalize this thought when Runa went ahead and did it anyway, punching the bugger as it solidified into a less transient form. As it turned out, that certainly was not the best course of action to take, as the enemy returned to a formless state and lashed out in response. Exploding in a sea of red, the form's tether to Ling also exploded in an ad-hoc manner, almost taking him down for the count.

But the shadow didn't seem to stop there. In a frightening fast sequence of events, it placed a red circle on Runa, before spiriting both her and Kyouko away, leaving only Iphie, Tian, and a seemingly crippled Ling on the battlefield. With the rapidly deteriorating tide in battle, Iphie found it well justified in muttering a succinct "Well shite." To her, this was more alarming to Iphigenia than when Ling had been sucked in, perhaps because of his similar nature. But seeing the other two girls straight up disappearing put her even more on an edge. Iphie had signed up to keep things nice and tidy from obnoxious buggers, but being disappeared into who knows where or what, regardless of resistance, was not much of an appetizing thought.

Thankfully, their disappearing act was but for a brief moment, with Runa and Kyouko returning, seemingly untouched. Something did feel a bit off about Kyouko this time around, but she didn't put much stock into this. They were in the middle of a fight, after all. But from what Runa observed after returning, there did seem to be a method in its madness. What if it anchored itself somewhere else, like another location or another dimension? If they could hit it at its roots, where it was more likely to be vulnerable, perhaps they could have a shot at beating the thing. It seemed Tian had a similar idea from his excited shouting and commands as he made to start one of his finishing moves.

She didn't know the extent of his skill-set, or the specifics of his newly formed tactic, but she obliged his request on his cue. From her position, she summoned up as much energy as she thought the improvised lance could take and sent that on its way in a brilliant flash. It empowered the weapon such that along with Runa's contribution, it surged and crackled with energy.

"That should do it."
 
Both Runa's and Kyouko's disappearance hadn't been noticed by Ling as he struggled to regain his bearings. It took a few moments for him to work through the pain and by the time he had recollected himself, there was nothing particularly wrong with the picture he saw. As far as he knew nothing had happened to any of the other four while he had been incapacitated, though Kyouko's little rant implied otherwise.

Despite the red circle having been placed on Runa now instead, Ling continued to linger a distance away from the group. Though it seemed like he wasn't in immediate danger, Ling was more than a bit antsy about his prospects. It already took a bit of effort on his part to maintain his form within the Coffin; dispersion was his body's natural response to things that actually managed to hurt its odd form. He didn't know if he would be able to keep maintain himself if he took another good hit. He still managed to get the gist of the group's plan, not that it wasn't obvious thanks to Tian, and concentrated as best as possible to contribute. The projectiles didn't quite pop into existence as usual, slowly coalescing together instead. Nonetheless they still flew true and were readily absorbed by the Flamestone.
 
First, it was gravity, a heavy pressure settling over the Flamestone lance, as Runa's tentacles fed it power.

Then, it was lightning, electric power coursing through the surface of the golden spear, the smell of ozone permeating the air.

And finally, as Ling recovered, it was pure power, coursing through the crystalline veins of the Final Five Finisher, filling it up with an obscene amount of destructive power.

Against a typical opponent, he would charge now, activating the propulsion portion of the Flamestone lance and piercing whatever stood in his way. But for this opponent…

"Eject."

With an almost painful sound, the lance disconnected from his right arm, taking off a good portion of skin with it. It hurt, but it wasn't going to stop him. Taking it in his uninjured hand, Tian-Gui walked up to Runa, presenting it to her, not even looking at the shadowy enigma.

"This is your mission, Runa. Take the lance into your body and drop it off into the world that you are transported to. Use your powers to float it upwards. On impact, it will explode, so when you are brought back to ours, it should fall and explode."

"During that time, after Runa reappears," he called out, turning back to the others, "It's our mission to block all attempts of materialization from shadow! My wall has proven that it cannot, or, at the very least, is unwilling to materialize when a physical object is inbetween it! We will strike it down with the FFF in its world, while ensuring that it can't escape back to ours!"

"Kyouko Hiruma, Iphiegenia Courtlandt, you two will be central to this. Kyouko, use your physical strength to uproot my wall and use that to check it. Iphie, if you can use your electricity to create a magnetic effect, bring all metal things down on that thing. Runa, tentacles. And Ling, if all our attempts are for naught, and the shadow evades everything, strike it down right as it materializes."

"Everyone understand? LET'S GO!"

One more time, the crystalline armor burst from the hero's body, and Tian-Gui marched up towards shadowy enigma, his eyes burning as he prepared for whatever it would do next.

"Now bring it, you damned monster."
 
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