OPEN MAIN STORY The Evrensel Conflict: Act I, Chapter 1 -- Quando a Roma

[Camleen]

As Ruby searches the city from on high, she nods vaguely in response to Mr. Knights's sentiment. She has seen Petal Burst have… nauseating.. effects on those she has not had proper time for preparation. But he did way better than many (poor Juane!).

Presently then she would refocus her efforts on the query at hand. Marketplace type deal first (or how she thinks a marketplace would look in this setting (Ruby's experience with marketplaces are usually malls)). Nothing stands out to her in that regard. "No.." she utters as her scope scans along the scene before her. "nope… no… wait is that… no.." The enhanced visual acuity allowed her by her rifle's scope… well she starts to notice something. Many of people below suddenly directing their gazes in a particular direction. Her scope follows their collective gazes.. and she pauses when she sees the robed men, guards and rolling cage come out from behind a building and into her line of sight. Carefully she follows the crowd with her eyes.. stopping on those marching soldiers. "hm?" comes softly from her throat. The whole of the crowd seems very agitated about something.. or perhaps someone? A really big cage is drawn forward, lead by a pair of horses. In her head… she is 'awwww'ing at the horsies.

Focus!

Her gaze moves to the large cage itself. Her left hand reaches forward carefully to turn a small dial on the side of the rifle's scope, allowing better focus. It takes a moment for her brain to put together exactly what she is seeing… but with realization comes horror. A woman! She, for a few moments, cannot comprehend exactly what it is she is seeing. It isnt't the woman that has her mind reeling… or the guards.. or the cage… or the robed men.. it is all of that in the same picture, together.

The blood would drain from her face when the horned woman is forced from the cage, and its then Ruby leaps to her feet. "I'm goin down there!" the tone one of quiet anger. Holding her rifle in front of her, left hand slips to the underside of the weapon and she pulls off the large ammunition clip. Her hand moves to her waist and she tucks it into a pouch and then pulls another out. It looks identical to the first, but with a black stylized lightning bolt on its side. With a soft 'clack' she pushes the clip into the magazine into the bottom of the gun. Now she kneels and pulls back the bolt oh her rifle as the woman below is forced into a kneeling, humiliating position before an angry crowd. "Keep lookin for the box, Mr. Knight. Its up to you now. I have to help that woman… she's from Renmant." her eyes narrow with that last part. Ruby knows that woman is a Faunus, from her own world.

Without another word or waiting on him to respond, Ruby leaps upwards and over the ledge. The young girl goes into a forward flip… and becomes a flowing ribbon of crimson. Downwards she plummets, heading right to where the woman was being held. Some in the crowd notice the strange thing in the air descending… and some of them cry out in warning… or fear. To them.. another demon approaches! And Ruby were to actually hear them call her such, she would probably exclaim she is the demon to those that worship evil!

Because Ruby is a dork.



She hits the ground with a burst of rose petals exploding from underfoot, but she does not stop moving. Towards the closest astonished guard she goes… and suddenly she is holding a red hued scythe! She twirls it vertically at her side as she goes. A downwards swipe cleanly slices through the first pole. Another down swing, another pole cleaved in to 2 separate pieces. Then she twirls to almost dance around Xeir.. and though she is spinning her scythe rapidly in close proximity to her, it never once comes close to hitting her. But she might feel the wind created by the velocity and motions. 2 more clean hits, and suddenly all of the poles are detached from the parts of the poles still hanging now limply from the collar. From the time Ruby hit the ground to when the last pole was sliced through, perhaps a second and a half has passed. All of the slices are clean, not a blemish upon the scythe. She skids to a halt, her back to Xeir and in front of the woman. The scythe is twirled once more above her head, and then she holds it behind her as she glares at the men.. at the crowd. Her silver eyes glisten along with the long curved blade of the scythe she holds. Keeping her eyes on them, she is ready for anything. Her head turns and she speaks over her shoulder towards Xeir, her gaze not shifting from the rowdy angry crowd. "We're gonna get outta here! Just gimme a sec!" She then speaks once more, now towards the crowd. "I don't wanna hurt any of ya, but you better b'lieve I will if ya come any closer!"

 

[Valkan]

L'Arathras

Rath sighed. As Moon Knight was too absorbed in his own head to pay him heed, while the girl, giving her some credit, was doing her due diligence surveying with her peculiar mechanical weapon. Regardless, both ignored him. Then, the scout girl caught eye of someone who apparently was from her world. "Lass, wait!" It was futile. The girl dropped down to the streets, where a lady with horns and scales was being paraded, as a demon, no less. She resembled a dragniar in his eyes more than a demon, but to each world their own. One thing was for sure, their time for a calm investigation was pretty much over.

Before reuniting with the group down below, Rath took a second to survey what the shadow crows were seeing on the various marketplaces across the area. Nothing. He mumbled a curse under his breath. "Raum." Down with the main group, the yamigara hidden on Kota manifested as a familiar voice coming from his chest, confidently speaking, knowing the lass with the "demon" were distraction enough. "Ahem! My buddy says there are no suspicious boxes in any nearby marketplace. He's open to suggestions."

 

[Otomos]

Sevestre

Results from observing the young woman in red conclude that she has a strong sense of Justice and protection. Said observation also concludes that from this point on, Sevestre will have precious few moments at any point of time where he will simply have the chance to just observe with nothing else requiring his attention. With a wave of his hand, and some application of aether, his clothes returned to the way they originally appeared, as he no longer needed to keep them away from sewer water.

Turning the appropriate corners to reach her, he found a curious event unfolding. The young woman had her weapon drawn against the mob, shouting out that some person in a cage was from her own world. He spotted the newcomer surveying the situation, but paid him no heed, as he hadn't been noticed by anyone else yet. Sevestre hadn't committed their names to memory just yet, but their unique appearances and tendency to brazenly jump into situations.

Sevestre did his own assessment of the situation. The person in the cage looked like an Au Ra, but as he had seen and met many an aspiring academic hailing from the Steppe, he immediately recognized the woman was not of their race. The scales were not in the same general area, and the horns do not fit the female Au Ra placements or shapes. Now, the young woman in red may be correct in her words, and the caged one may be from the same world as her, but Sevestre had a suspicion that it may not have been the case. Put it aside, it is not relevant at the moment.

The crowd they were up against were much more simple to figure out. Their clothes were similar to that of priests belonging to the Church of Halone, the Fury. Specifically, Ishgard's priests. This was not ideal, as many of the priests and their knights from Ishgard were corrupt from the large amounts of power and influence they once held, and considering these individuals had a someone locked in a cage… This world truly was filled vermin after all.

These people were prime examples for why giving Sharlayan's knowledge to just anyone was a bad idea. If given to people like these, they would abuse it, weaponize it, turn it against anyone they wish for whatever reason they wish. He would waste no words on them…

The smell of rice was strange. It had no part in any of this, and yet its scent was so strong that it invaded his sense of smell regardless. He had figured that it was coming from inside one the buildings, but it had to be put aside for now. He made his way to Ruby and the formerly caged woman, who was freed after the cage fell apart from the young lady's scythe.

He was there to provide support. Healing and protection as needed. He spoke to the two women,

"If either of you have chosen a destination, I suggest we head there now before these people begin their assault."

 

[Wade Von Doom]

T-851-Character Sheet

Her search does not yield results until reaching the dead man's ring: an energy signature with an unknown profile. Thea had just initiated planning to create a distraction to acquire the ring when the supposedly dead man suddenly speaks to her.

This does not affect the stone face of Thea; she looks from him, to around at the crowd. Their attention was being drawn and centered on the front of the Pantheon; a woman was being paraded before the civilians and denounced as a demon. This woman very likely could be a 'demon' as the populace are being told, but unless one of the others felt this was their cause to take on, Thea only sees an opportunity to pursue her lead.

After another look around to confirm no eyes were actively observing her, Thea leaps up onto the gallows scaffold. A dull THUD might alert others to Thea reaching around the Bard to grab the rope and pull it in opposing directions. The rope snaps from the torsion strength Thea applies, freeing the man.

"Your ring. What is this energy I am detecting?" She grabs him by the hand with the ring and holds it up staring into his eyes. The window for this opportunity could be short, Thea would get an answer now or take the ring if he was not obliged to answer; or unable by other circumstances.

The bard falls to the ground through the open trapped door; landing on his hands and knees. When he stands back up, he dusted himself off all the dirt and grime, as this place was in an absolute state of disgust. "What?" He quickly asks aloud to Thea, who grabbed his hand so rudely like a curious child without manners.

"Stop that!" He then shouted to her, pulling his hand away. In doing so, his entire hand popped off with an actual 'pop' noise. "It's neither the time nor the place for hand on hand analysis!" He scolded, unbothered by the loss of his hand. Thea would notice that the skin covering his hand was fake. It felt like leather dressed as skin. She would feel no muscle, just bone under it. Not only that, but when she looked back up to the bards face, half of it was drooping down like he was having a stroke.

"Oh, wait, I see," he didn't seem to notice the issues with his face while continuing his berating. "You rescue me, and now suddenly you expect a reward. Or, better yet, you hoped to finish me off when the rope couldn't do the job. Well, I may not look the part, but I know a fair bit of fisticuffs, and I will gladly sing to you the dirge of defeat by my hand!" In all his annoyance at Thea's insistence of looking at his ring, he didn't even realize, or maybe he just didn't care, at Ruby's rescue attempt.

As Ruby searches the city from on high, she nods vaguely in response to Mr. Knights's sentiment. She has seen Petal Burst have… nauseating.. effects on those she has not had proper time for preparation. But he did way better than many (poor Juane!).

Presently then she would refocus her efforts on the query at hand. Marketplace type deal first (or how she thinks a marketplace would look in this setting (Ruby's experience with marketplaces are usually malls)). Nothing stands out to her in that regard. "No.." she utters as her scope scans along the scene before her. "nope… no… wait is that… no.." The enhanced visual acuity allowed her by her rifle's scope… well she starts to notice something. Many of people below suddenly directing their gazes in a particular direction. Her scope follows their collective gazes.. and she pauses when she sees the robed men, guards and rolling cage come out from behind a building and into her line of sight. Carefully she follows the crowd with her eyes.. stopping on those marching soldiers. "hm?" comes softly from her throat. The whole of the crowd seems very agitated about something.. or perhaps someone? A really big cage is drawn forward, lead by a pair of horses. In her head… she is 'awwww'ing at the horsies.

Focus!

Her gaze moves to the large cage itself. Her left hand reaches forward carefully to turn a small dial on the side of the rifle's scope, allowing better focus. It takes a moment for her brain to put together exactly what she is seeing… but with realization comes horror. A woman! She, for a few moments, cannot comprehend exactly what it is she is seeing. It isnt't the woman that has her mind reeling… or the guards.. or the cage… or the robed men.. it is all of that in the same picture, together.

The blood would drain from her face when the horned woman is forced from the cage, and its then Ruby leaps to her feet. "I'm goin down there!" the tone one of quiet anger. Holding her rifle in front of her, left hand slips to the underside of the weapon and she pulls off the large ammunition clip. Her hand moves to her waist and she tucks it into a pouch and then pulls another out. It looks identical to the first, but with a black stylized lightning bolt on its side. With a soft 'clack' she pushes the clip into the magazine into the bottom of the gun. Now she kneels and pulls back the bolt oh her rifle as the woman below is forced into a kneeling, humiliating position before an angry crowd. "Keep lookin for the box, Mr. Knight. Its up to you now. I have to help that woman… she's from Renmant." her eyes narrow with that last part. Ruby knows that woman is a Faunus, from her own world.

Without another word or waiting on him to respond, Ruby leaps upwards and over the ledge. The young girl goes into a forward flip… and becomes a flowing ribbon of crimson. Downwards she plummets, heading right to where the woman was being held. Some in the crowd notice the strange thing in the air descending… and some of them cry out in warning… or fear. To them.. another demon approaches! And Ruby were to actually hear them call her such, she would probably exclaim she is the demon to those that worship evil!

Because Ruby is a dork.

View attachment 245090

She hits the ground with a burst of rose petals exploding from underfoot, but she does not stop moving. Towards the closest astonished guard she goes… and suddenly she is holding a red hued scythe! She twirls it vertically at her side as she goes. A downwards swipe cleanly slices through the first pole. Another down swing, another pole cleaved in to 2 separate pieces. Then she twirls to almost dance around Xeir.. and though she is spinning her scythe rapidly in close proximity to her, it never once comes close to hitting her. But she might feel the wind created by the velocity and motions. 2 more clean hits, and suddenly all of the poles are detached from the parts of the poles still hanging now limply from the collar. From the time Ruby hit the ground to when the last pole was sliced through, perhaps a second and a half has passed. All of the slices are clean, not a blemish upon the scythe. She skids to a halt, her back to Xeir and in front of the woman. The scythe is twirled once more above her head, and then she holds it behind her as she glares at the men.. at the crowd. Her silver eyes glisten along with the long curved blade of the scythe she holds. Keeping her eyes on them, she is ready for anything. Her head turns and she speaks over her shoulder towards Xeir, her gaze not shifting from the rowdy angry crowd. "We're gonna get outta here! Just gimme a sec!" She then speaks once more, now towards the crowd. "I don't wanna hurt any of ya, but you better b'lieve I will if ya come any closer!"

To be fair to Mr. Knight, he was just busy trying not to vomit while Rath was talking. But, once Ruby jumped down, he took his attention back to her. "Waitwaitwait!" He tried calling to her, even running over to grab her hand before she made the leap, but too late. Down she went. ".... Boy, we're bad at this... Being quiet, that is," Knight told Rath. Why can they never just be subtle about things?

The priest down below, taking from his brothers in robes a book of prayer, opened it to Ephesians 6:12; grabbing his cross with his free hand. The other priests, surrounding Xeir, did the same, making a sign of the cross along their bodies, before kissing the feet of Christ engraved on their crosses. Each one had holy water prepared in small bottles, awaiting their signal from the main priest himself.

He began to speak. "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

"Amen~"

"Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in "our battle against principalities and
powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.".... In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints. And powerful in the holy authority of our ministry, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil. God arises; His enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God--" The Priests prayer was joined by his brothers, who threw at Xeir small drops of holy water from their bottles.

But, well before the priest could finish the exorcism, the sudden speed of Ruby broke their concentration, and the bonds that held Xeir to the guards surrounding her. While her hands were still bound, Xeir was now free to move again. The crowd quickly turned to gasps of shock and surprise, while the guards and priests hadn't a clue what just happened.

"More demons on the devil's behalf! Kill them!" The main priest cried out to the guards, who immediately began to back away to disappear into the crowd. The other priests just stood there aimlessly, confused and baffled their brother had begun to abandon them. It was when Sev tried joining Ruby and Xeir that the guards finally acted.

"Another one!" A guard shouted to the others, drawing out his sword quickly to stab at Sev before he could get any closer. The rest moved in quickly to encircle the two ladies.

Up above, Knight was looking down at all the action with concern. The crowd were frightened already, and they were going to panic was bloodshed happened. "Uh... Should we help 'em?" He asked Rath the crow. He knew Ruby said to keep looking out for boxes, but this seemed more important.

Whatever Rath answered, it was interrupted by the sounds of gunshots. Arquebusiers had finally formed up along the buildings surrounding the Pantheon, taking aim and firing right for Moon Knight himself. Several hit him, while a stray shot missed Knight and blasted Rath's crow through the chest. Knight then took a LONG fall from the top of the Pantheon, right to the ground below; splatting against the Pantheon steps.

Now the crowd went into a panic.

 

[Awinita]

The first thing Xeir felt was the blasted water, were these humans really going to try and make it rain and soak her ? Did they really think it could work ? it only made her wet. She never could understand the words the Man was saying, But she somehow did understand Ruby's words to her. The poles broken and falle nt othe ground. Xeir saw her reflection in Ruby's blade, the blade was clean, she missed her own blade. the Black God Sword was more then likely kept somewhere nearby, it had to be nearby.

The scent of Rice, that would be it, the blade would be near it for sure! Free of the poles holding her in place the guiards surrounded them as she freely looked around, A guard swung at the man who showed up, why did he look familar ? It didnt matter. She twisted her body and felt something give at her wrists as her hands were freed from the guards own movements.

A scaled arm reached toher neck and wrenched the collar from it. She tossed the thing aside and turned towards the building behind her, the smell of rice was strongest through the door. She focused her eyes, trying tpo pick out her sword, she had it on her when she had found herself in that field, but then it was taken from here... there!

Her words were soft as she spoke to Ruby. her voice, when a human could understand was one either royalty or in this case, just tiredness. "Thank you, Human, that was starting to chafe" Sharp claws grew from her fingernails as she settled into a stance, Next to Sevestre she settled into a combat stance. Something Ruby or even Moon Knight could be familar with. She looked to Sevestre, and with an equally soft voice, which to the guards sounded like roars of some kind of demonic thing she said simply, "Are you harmed ?"

But all bets were off when Mr Knight himself landed. Xeir cast her gaze up. and was half tempted to produce her wings to get to the rooftops. But she needed the Muya Crystal, and her sword, and both were inside the Pantheon, somewhere. With him on the ground could be a problem, Without thinking she jumped over a guard with a spear and ran for Moon Knight on the ground before the Pantheon doorway.

How did Humans do it again ? Oh right! She asked herself as she tried to remebmer how to check for life, she put two fingers to his nose,... where it should be at least, and felt for breathing with her right hand, her left hand, coated in her scales of iridicent silver glittered in the sunlight in a defensive pose in the case of attack. She growled something, Damn, no breathing! She started to panic, looking around she took stock of the situation.

Xeir then saw the total number of soldiers, a good dozen or so. So she said the most lolgical thing she could think of. "Shall we go inside ?" She looked down to Moon Kight and briefly was torn, should she carry the dead or let someone else clean him up ? She chose that she might as well help those who helped her. She looked for the best way to pick him up, or even just drag him along

 

[Amber Franklin]

T-851-Character Sheet

Just as the Bard is not bothered by the loss of his hand, Thea only looks at the hand as he expresses his indignation. She pulls the ring off his hand, possibly taking more faux skin with it, and places it on her own ring finger. All of this while the crowd was enraptured and joined in prayer.

"If you want your ring back, you will come with me and answer my questions. These people will soon panic to see you are not dead." Thea tells the Bard sternly. It is about this time that Ruby and the others start their rescue of the accused demon. Gunshots ring out and Thea identifies their origin. The crowd panics, and Thea stands as a rock in a river formulating a plan.

First, she needed to secure projectile weapons to at least incapacitate the gunners. She looks around. Nearby, a merchant and his help do their best to calm an ox tied to a wagon filled with their wares. Of those wares are four barrels.

Thea leaps onto the wagon, and heaves one up. It's heavy with salt, but she lifts it high over her head and back, to launch it at one of the snipers in an arc to hit him unless he can leap out of its trajectory.. She does this three more times with each barrel and sniper, while the merchant is torn between his oxen and valuable wares.

With at least four attackers either neutralized or delayed to fire again, Thea leaps off the wagon and bull rushes through the crowd to where Moon Knight lies prone on the stairs of the Pantheon. Anyone unlucky enough to be in her direct path is shoved aside with just enough force to knock the wind out of their lungs.

"Retreat and fortify." She says to the others as she feels around Mr. Knights neck for a pulse, resorting to pull at his mask to check his eyes.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

The bard only looked down to his missing hand once he saw Thea with it. Then looked back at her with an expression of surprise. "... Bugger." The skin around the whole ring finger would be torn off by Thea, leaning nothing by a bone dry skeleton finger. It felt as easy as peeling off dry skin. But, once she put on the ring, she would feel... nothing.

Nothing happened. Bit anti-climatic really. Then she ran off and dropped his hand on the ground when she got what she needed from it. "Wait, wait!" He tried stopping her from dropping it, but too late. Upon impact, all the individual bones broke off and scattered across the ground. "Oh, for the love of--" The bard sighed under his breath.

The Arquebusiers were still reloading by the time Thea launched her barrel offense at them. The first one was a direct hit, crushing the sharpshooter as salt and wood chips splattered everywhere along the roof. The second also hit, but the third and fourth were misses, once the Arquebusiers realizing what was happening, making a retreat to better positions to avoid Thea's barreling rampage.

The crowd, having entered into a panicked frenzy, began trampling over each other to escape the fighting. More guards were quick to try and join their comrades, but were blocked by the fleeing pedestrians. But, yet again, it was no trouble for Thea, who pushed her way through everyone so fast and so hard, several people went flying in the air.

When did this become an anime?

Three guards were flattened by Thea once she pushed her way through their encirclement to join her team once again. Small puddles of blood were starting to form around Mr. Knight's body from the bullet wounds he received, and like Xeir felt, the man wasn't breathing or showing any signs of life at all.

Then Thea tried grabbing his mask. Both his hands reached up to grab her wrist, and with remarkable strength, threw her to the side to get out of his way. Once again, in the blink of an eye, Moon Knight transformed; this time from his dashing three-piece suit, to modern day body armor with Kevlar plating, and a thick black jumpsuit under it.

​

With a kip up, Moon Knight scanned the remaining guards that began charging in after everyone. A swordsman tried slashing at his chest, but Knight was quickly to dodge, throwing a roundhouse to the side of the man's skull and dropping him to the floor cold.

 

[Amber Franklin]

T-851-Character Sheet

Moon Knights' sudden movement and strength sends Thea onto her back, but she leaps up onto her feet in the same time it takes him to roundhouse kick a guard. Another guard thrusts his sword at her. Thea side-steps the thrust; punches him in the throat; catches the sword when he drops it; steps back to kick him in the chest with the force to send him flying back into another guard. She fixes her face into a mask of restrained rage as she stares down the remaining or incoming guards and walks backwards.

"Retreat into the Pantheon." Thea says again, with more force. She picks up the sword of the guard Moon Knight had kicked and holds it up in the air, the other out front of herself at a forty-five degree angle.

 

[Otomos]

Sevestre

Sevestre was not a warmonger. He didn't go out of his way to find battles to participate in, so by all means he was not a warrior. That being said, he was ALWAYS ready for the savagery and violent tendencies of others. So when they started shouting accusations that would lead to violence, he prepared himself for someone to jump at him. Sure enough, one of them did, trying to strike him with a blade. For a scholar and mage, his dodging ability left something to be desired, but when a man shouts out his presence and winds up his attack, avoiding said attack was simple when done by a normal man. A simple sidestep and the man's own momentum would have him out of the way long enough for the action to start. One after the other, people began to move and act, causing a stir, even the woman that was imprisoned went to break free of her remaining restraints with what seemed to be a shapeshifting ability.

When the formerly caged woman asked if he was okay, he responded with a quick, "I am fine." Given that the situation was escalating, such brief exchanges were necessary. As the panic and violence kept going, they would eventually agree to retreat to a pantheon building. On Sevestre's face was a look of annoyance. It was always violence that people jumped to first. Talking was always left for when one side was victorious over the other, or when both sides have lost too much. As a Sharlayan, the anger he felt towards this series of events was genuine and personal…a story for another time, perhaps.

They needed to enter the building, and so he did, alongside the others.

 

[Foxes81_of_Anime]

Kota Mizuhara​

---

He snapped out of his trance once again, tears filling his eyes and he finally started to process everything going on.
"…Sh-t! Sh-t!!" he began to curse under his breath, tears filling his eyes as he registered the trouble he was causing the group.

He slowed them down, he had to make them watch him like some little kid—and-and-he couldn't even figure out anything to give any input on! He was just…just useless, wasn't he?

'Just…slowing them down?' he mouthed to himself as his breaths started quickening, coming in short, sharp gasps as he began to silently sob.

"useless, useless…" he muttered quietly to himself as he glanced around wildly, hearing various voices that he knew weren't there.
'I knew I shouldn't have saved you that day.' Chika's voice.
'Useless.'
'It's all your fault-!' he heard over and over again before recognizing the voice. *His own mother.*

A startled sob tore out of his throat, lost in the din of noises as he took a shaky step backwards, then another, before turning around and trying to bolt, looking for the quickest hiding spot as his breaths became louder and more erratic.

"Hide…hide…" he muttered to himself animalistically before his eyes widened. As he ran, he reached into his hoodie pocket and produced the knife, a small smile coming to his lips as he began to unsheathe it, raising it to his neck slower than he thought- giving someone just enough time to knock it out of his hands if they so wished.

 

[Camleen]

Yeah things were starting to escalate. Ruby can recognize that much. She can hear Xeir's soft voice, and she chances to glance over her shoulder to her. "My pleasure." she returns in the same soft tone. Her focus once more then moves to in front of herself, fearing that crowd at any moment could surge forward. She has a plan to impede such an action, she thinks.

But she jumps with the sudden sound of gunshots, and she looks around herself as she backs up a few big steps. She is unable to see where those gunshots are coming from, but out of instinct she twirls her scythe in her hands in front of her. After just a moment, the scythe folds itself up and she is now holding her rifle. She catches sight of Thea coming… or the parting of the crowd she creates as she moves towards them. Now there is a lot going on, and Ruby doesn't see Mr. Knight fall. Which is good, because that would have put her offtrack big time. Thea's voice, though, she is able to hear despite the crowd. Perhaps she had been waiting for it.

Now the guards are closing in, and Ruby has her orders. Now a small smirk draws across her lips and she raises her rifle as she walks backwards towards the Pantheon entrance. She holds her rifle with her right hand, her left hand reaches over the gun and she pulls the bolt back. She fires with a loud 'KAPOW'… and the sound of static? A yellow bolt fires forth, hitting one of the guards in the chest. A guard with armor. Metal armor. Just like some of his pals. Remember the clip she loaded into her rifle? The one with the lightning bolt painted on its side? It's a magazine loaded with Electric Dust rounds. So when her shot hits the guard… he is electrified. And that yellow electricity arcs from his armor to the armor of those guards around him. Basically anyone with metal near him gets hit, going to about 10 feet out. Now it won't kill them… but it would feel more like a very strong taser. Enough to drop a big person to their knees, at least. Ruby fires 4 more rounds as she turns and runs towards the Pantheon, even firing up towards the upper ledges of buildings when she sees gun barrels aiming down towards them. She fires a few more times as she bounds into the Pantheon, huffing as she does. She is trailing behind Kota, catching up to him as her rifle folds out into its scythe mode.

And out of the corner of her eyes she sees Kota pull a knife from his hoodie. In the back of her mind, she doesn't think anything of it. But when he starts to draw it up to himself… she realizes what he is doing. "Hey!" She shouts as her scythe swings downwards. It catches the arm holding the knife at the point of her staff where the blade meets the staff itself she holds. A place that wouldn't cut him with the blade, but the heaviness of the weapon would keep his hand pinned down. She speaks in an angry tone, her eyes wide as she holds his hand… but still moving forward now in a walk. Needing to get inside and safe and all. "Don't do that again! You're too important!"

 

[Valkan]

L'Arathras

"Hey, I tried..." he answered to Moon Knight, then added with a sigh "...But it's hard to cooperate with strangers". Rath observed as chaos ensued around the scythe girl, the dragon lady, and the mage. "We could, but tha-" the crow-shaped dullahan was cut off as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A projectile from an archaic firearm had hit him along with more hitting Moon Knight. In a rush, Rath called all the crows, who still yielded no results from their search, to reform his body. His small body tumbled down the roof of The Pantheon and then fell relatively slow with his wings extended. The murder of crows converged into a mass in the stairs below where they caught Rath. From the black mass, the armored figure emerged, this time with a spear in hand.

Meanwhile, Raum had a little bit of a predicament of his own. The kid was succumbing to the chaos around him for some reason. "Oi, kid. Kid! OI!" the voice of the yamigara echoing from his chest. He was not about to let a poor kid off himself just because the situation clearly triggered something awful within his head. That's when the scythe lass stepped in, trying to pin his arm down with her weapon, but Raum had a better idea.

As they walked, Raum spoke up again "Lass, don't worry. I got the kid. Go with the rest fast, we'll be right behind you." While he said so, a black mass formed something akin to a body armor all over Kota's body. As it did, it pulled from Ruby's hold and put away the knife. The yamigara also gave Kota a pair of black feathered wings "Sorry kid, I'll be taking over for a moment". With that said, Kota would feel as his body would move on its own momentarily, taking a few speedy strides before a flap of his wings rocketed him towards The Pantheon, entering without a second to waste.

Once everyone else was in, Rath would swing his spear in front of him, creating a wall of blue flames between the two sides. Said flames would flash freeze flesh in seconds, so it would give them a bit of time to regroup. Once the wall was created, he rushed into the building as well. His first concern was Moon Knight, who he knew took one hell of a beating, yet still stood. Concerningly, his attire changed yet again, which was very strange. "Hey, Moon Knight. Do you need help with the wounds? I can heal you, should you need it." the dullahan offered as he rubbed his own chest from where he was hit, using a sliver of prana to mend the dent on his torso.

Meanwhile, Raum was still holding Kota. Though now that they were relatively safe, he decided to ask "Hey, kid, how you holding up? I will let you go if you promise to not pull a fast one on yourself again. How does that sound?" After a moment of contemplation, the bird added "...I can even lend you some of my strength like just now so that you don't feel so scared."

Armor on Kota

 

[Wade Von Doom]

~~GM~~

The wall stopped any oncoming guards that made their way through the panicked group. Yet, when Rath asked if Moon Knight needed healing, he didn't respond. He was too busy beating another guard's head into a bloody pulp, using the pointy ends of crescent darts in both hands to stab through the skull.

His white suit became covered in red blotches, and the guard's face became a crater in a matter of moments. When there was almost a hole through the poor man, Moon Knight kicked the body away with enough force to fly several feet through the wall. Panting, he moved past Rath without saying a word; small droplets of blood falling from his attire with each step into the Pantheon.

With enough of the crowd dissipating, more guards came running into the Pantheon square. They took position a few feet from the fiery wall itself, pikemen taking up the front line with long weapons aimed forward. If anyone tried charging out, they would be met with a wall of spears and halberds.

Once the heroes were inside the Pantheon itself, outside its staggering architectural beauty, they would find seven large chests before an altar of a large cross. Each chest contained different items, all of which looked like they didn't belong in this world.

A curved sword that emitted a strange magic, a crown encrusted with jewels that gives a dark and disturbing feeling when stared at, a set of armor made entirely of Amber, one filled to the brim with gold coins, an amulet necklace with ten bloodred ruby', a strange rune that was made from whale bone, and of course, Xeir's missing crystal she was looking for. It was a unique collection of items, gathered from scattered that likely arrived in this world similarly to how Kota, Sev, Kat and co did. And were unfortunate enough to meet their end at the hands of the Borgia militia, or those wolf pelt cultists in the sewers.

Someone had compiled them here, likely to be delivered elsewhere. Whatever they found inside the chests, they still had a problem. In looking around the place, they would see only one exit out besides the front door they came in from. The ceiling. The hole up there was plenty big enough, but they now attracted a lot more attention. And already, reinforcements were on their way.

So what now?

 

[Awinita]

Xeir didnt need to be told twice, after nearly getting trampled by Thea when trying to see if Moon Knight was breathing, when he suddenly was back on his feet, Xeir sighed, today was just getting better and better. the overwhelming pleasent scent of the freshly steamed rice filled her nose again and she turned and followed Sevestre while running on all fours after him.

She stood on two feet as she neared the many chests and crates; the smell of rice filling the Primoridals nose as she briefly scanned the chests and crates.

There

She went to one, a sword laid atop it, straght and thin, unlike any other steel ever seen. It glittered an unearthly hue of pale black and silver. Picking up the blade she set it where it belonged, on her back. She then reached for the lid of the chest where the smell of rice came from and wnreched off the lid. a single crystal the size of a mans head was inside. a gorgeous shade of white trailed across it as if it were shedding steam. she reached for the crystal and picked it up. As she did so her torn and damaged dress began to repair thanks to the crystal.

The horns on her head even seemed to shine a bit brighter as the crystal did its work. Reaching into the chest she pulled out a cloth and wrapped the crystal in it, before having it fit itself in a pocket on her belt that formed when she placed her sword on her back.

She looked to the others; her first thought was Ruby and briefly looked for the woman. Then she spotted Sevestre. Somehow the primoridal Dragon felt a brief bit of relief, the Human was fine her gaze then went to Moon Knight and Tyhea, who did not smell like a human, and infact if Xeir didnt know any better, Moon Knight didnt smell like a human either ? She couldnt really understand why he smelled as if dead. But the woman who nearly ran into her when Moon Knight was down didnt smell like a human, smelled like a drone of some kind, something the Humans made to spy out ruins to hunt monsters within back where she was from.

She took a deep breath then let it out. Now what ? was her unasked question

 

[Foxes81_of_Anime]

Kota Mizuhara​

---

He protested as he was dragged back to the Pantheon.
"But- I- Uhm- Er-" he shut his mouth as he meekly let himself be lead back...until Raum...magically formed armor onto him? He tried struggling against it before squeaking as he was pulled forward, his eyes rolling back and he momentarily passed out before waking up, disoriented.

"Wh-? I..." he slurred, hesitating before snapping back to reality, eyes widening.

"I don't wanna be a bother..." he whispered as he tried looking for his knife again but failing. "Dammit. Dammit!"

"I think..that'd be nice." he confessed as he looked around. "I won-I'll tr-I won't do anything ever again..." he muttered weakly as he looked around, eyes settling on the crown.

"What's that thing?"

 

[Wade Von Doom]

~~GM~~

Didn't take long until The Pantheon was surrounded. More pike-men circled around the entrance, making the halberd barrier even stronger, while behind them Militia soldiers gathered behind them in force; well over several dozen and more incoming still. They were prepared, taking formation like they were prepared for an onslaught. Like they were expecting this to happen.

Three horses then rode into the square. Two were Papal Guards, while the third was a young man dressed in Officer attire. "Is it him?" He asked one of the Militia men, quickly taking charge.

"No, Signore. It was someone else. A woman dressed in red, before several others joined her. None wore Assassin uniforms." The soldier answered.

"Ah. More Sparpagliato. How many?"

"Eight. Three women, five men. But, Signore, even with our forces, I don't believe we can match them. Some are wielding powers that no mortal man could."

More Arquebusiers had taken position on the nearby rooftops, while Crossbowmen joined them to help add more manpower. They watched both the entrance, and the hole in the ceiling. The Officer took note of that. "They may wield such power. But we are protected by the blessings of the Church. Keep to your faith, and we shall prevail against them," The Officer told his men. "Now gather two squads of thirty men, and have each cover a corner of the entrance. If one of them steps even a foot through the columns, I want you to pounce on them without mercy or hesitation."

"Yes, Signore!" The soldier ran off to join his men, while the Officer took it upon himself to move up to his pike-men.

"Attention!" He called out, loud enough for the heroes inside to hear him. "You are surrounded! There is no escape beyond the entrance to this holy place! You may either surrender yourselves to us, and be treated as a prisoner of war, or be shot down and gored by our armaments!"

 

[Camleen]

Ruby's eyes trace along those that now are gathered around her in the Pantheon. She strides deeper into the structure, and her scythe folds itself up into a rectangular shape. She mounts it onto her back, under her cloak.
She made sure everyone she knew of was accounted for. The chests that lay there within, they didn't really catch her attention. More her focus was on the situation, those around her. She uses this brief respite to calm her nerves, this is not something she ever thought she could be involved in. But then, heroes rarely do see these sorts of things coming.
"Ya know…" she says softly when she hears the Officer's decree from the outside. As she speaks, her eyes would linger upon Thea. "Maybe if we calmly explain to them… they can help us? I mean… I feel like we're not actually their enemies. I mean we shouldn't be their enemies. This is their home, and all. Maybe we can just negotiate, explain our situation…"

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Ruby's eyes trace along those that now are gathered around her in the Pantheon. She strides deeper into the structure, and her scythe folds itself up into a rectangular shape. She mounts it onto her back, under her cloak.
She made sure everyone she knew of was accounted for. The chests that lay there within, they didn't really catch her attention. More her focus was on the situation, those around her. She uses this brief respite to calm her nerves, this is not something she ever thought she could be involved in. But then, heroes rarely do see these sorts of things coming.
"Ya know…" she says softly when she hears the Officer's decree from the outside. As she speaks, her eyes would linger upon Thea. "Maybe if we calmly explain to them… they can help us? I mean… I feel like we're not actually their enemies. I mean we shouldn't be their enemies. This is their home, and all. Maybe we can just negotiate, explain our situation…"

In the middle of her sentence, without making a noise or any presence known, Moon Knight wrapped his arm around Ruby's neck for a choke hold; twisting it so she was looking down at the ground and off balance. "You attacked them!" Knight told her in an aggressive tone. "We don't know a damn thing about this world, its rules, its people, and without any thought given, you decided to play hero. And now look," he shoved her head towards the entrance where the spear wall was.

He then let go of her neck, letting Ruby breath again, but grabbing the collar of her uniform in the process so she could look him in the eyes. "The mission is to find The Doctor, not save her," Knight pointed to Xeir, "what these people do to scattered like us isn't our priority or concern, and now they know what you look like, how you fight, and if they can capture someone like her, they'll try it with you and put your face on posters all over this city until that happens." With that, he let her go with a small shove.

"We can't take risks or get involved until we know what we're dealing with. If at all." Turning to leave, he snatched Kota's knife so he couldn't try for it again.

"If the kid wants to die, then throw him out there. At least he can distract them." He stared up at the ceiling, looking through the hole at the sky.

 

[Amber Franklin]

T-851-Character Sheet

A sword is swiftly at Moon Knights' throat when he looks up at the ceiling. Thea holds the other at his femoral artery. She looks at him with her brow furrowed and a harsh if dispassionate tone to her voice.

"Do not assault a member of the team again. You will be terminated." Thea presses the blades against their targets; a hair's width from cutting. "Terminated by decapitation and dismemberment." Thea calculates only a forty-three percent probability of being successful in her threat, but only does so due to the eighty-eight percent that Moon Knight would cause their mission to fail when his psychosis undermines the team's cohesion without intervention and threat of fatal consequences.

There is also the anomalous triggering of her caretaker subroutine upon witnessing Ruby being threatened. That subroutine was used in previous missions to gain the trust of human resistance cells through caretaking of vulnerable humans. Ruby's file is far outside the parameters to trigger it.

In the midst of Thea's problem solving, and soon to be murder spree with Moon Knight, the terminator would experience a small 'tick' in her programming. One of the many errors that had started to accumulate from when she touched the black crystal back on the Pathfinder, but this one was different. Someone was hacking into her processor, and her firewall security was broken through like a wrecking ball.

Yet, nothing would happen to her. She still had full control over her body, not detections of reprogramming, not even a virus upload. Something had connected to her though. And within moments of it, white static noise would begin ringing through her cybernetic ears.

"D-D-D-D-D-D-Don'tDon'tDon'tDon't Don't worry," The words repeated themselves as the hacker tuned their comm frequency to match with Thea's. "You're still you. All I've done is copy your internal schematics from the source. You can keep going. I won't stop you." He seems eager to see her try and murder Moon Knight.

"I do not have the capability to be concerned" Thea replies to the voice directly through her comm without need to move her lips.

"Then you wouldn't try stabbing your compatriot," he challenges.

"I am addressing a potential hazard to the mission." She replies.

The others see Thea draw her swords away from Moon Knight and speak to them as she walks to the chests.

"We cannot risk appealing to their mercy, Ruby. They believe we are agents of evil in their dichotomy, and it is unlikely we can convince them otherwise before they detain us for eventual execution." Thea rationalizes as she opens a chest, and seeing it full of Florin gold currency, forms an idea that she could voice in it's entirety, but another anomaly occurs and she decides not to.

"We need a distraction to escape. This chest contains a nation's Treasury of gold. Any thoughts?" Thea states and asks while she deftly picks up one Florin with the flat of one sword, and flips it towards the others to catch or allow to fall as they were able or willing.

 

[Otomos]

Sevestre

Such a mess… The group was able to make it into the building, but apparently they couldn't be together for five minutes before at least one of them ignored the situation in favor of airing out their grievances. The Au Ra-like former captive seemed to be one of the few that did something of worth. She seemed more powerful now, and a sight more healthy than moments ago. Ruby, on her end, was also productive, trying to think of a way to deal with the angry mob outside. The young woman even earned a bit of respect from Sevestre. She was thinking to calm the mob and try to negotiate a peaceful solution. It wasn't likely to work, but it was admirable nonetheless.

Then Moon Knight decided to whine. He was understandably angry. The mission was delayed, and the person responsible was in the same room as him. Still, to complain about a setback when the mission was difficult in the first place was not just unprofessional, but annoyingly distracting. If he was truly so focused the quest, he would accept the delay, and set about thinking up or enacting a new plan of action. Thea's reaction was understandable, but also a distraction. To threaten someone was to merely warn of possible violence.

For now, he would ignore the drama, and look to where Kota was looking. It was where the former captive had gone to and returned from, and apparently whatever she found was but one of many treasures. Thea had also gone over and recommended a distraction, possibly involving the treasure chests and the riches within.

Sevestre looked at the crown that Kota made note of. Just looking at it gave a feeling of unease. The artifacts each had a different feel to them. A shame that there's no time to truly examine them.

"I recommend not touching the crown, Kota. It seems a little too risky to randomly try artifacts we have no knowledge of. As for a distraction, the treasure alone would not likely be enough. The crowd outside didn't seem the type to put money over their mania."

Sevestre looks to Xeir.

"Perhaps our formerly caged acquaintance has an idea?"