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>>35102909

(Gentlemen: Given the brevity of the time involved, the next cycle of Hollow Sun charge will be at the conclusion of the day. Research will continue as usual, however.)

HOLLOW SUN: 0.6%

http://pastebin.com/ddVJ0qQK

RESEARCH:

[X] MASS DRIVER
[X] INDUCTION BLASTERS
[X] DISINTEGRATOR CANNON
[X] MACHINE CANNON
[X] MICRO-SCALE SUSPENSORS
[X] POSITRON LANCE
[X] DISTORTION CANNON
[X] REACTIVE PLATING
[X] RESEARCH: HELIOS MATRIX
[X] ASSIMILATION FACILITY
[X] FIRMWARE UPGRADE
[X] RESEARCH: SUPERHEAVY CHASSIS

VOID ANCHORS:

ORIGINAL HIVE
THE TRIBUNAL
NARAKA
THE VAULT
TUSITA

HOLDING: 1

RED COMET GUIDE:

http://pastebin.com/LJAfQmXy

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>>35102915

The chapel is dark, now. Evening has come, and with it the first touch of true night - The wan glow of light-orbs casting a faint illumination in the half-gloom, a slow-burning light that flickers and pools. Though the doors are closed, a sound breaths through the dim space, a sound like the beginnings of a gust, a breeze...Or just a long, low exhalation, with the faint scent of sandalwood and grace.

"-Anon-kun."

Mio's voice is low, soft, as if unwilling to break the silence - Almost a whisper. The dark wood of the pew is smooth, almost silken, the varnish worn away by time; Mio's slim fingers tracing lightly against the surface, the small, beribboned box resting on her lap.

The chapel should feel empty - isolated - dark - but there's something intimate about this moment, this point in time; Even after the fleeting glimpse of the aching, alien vista of Arcadia faded, the stained-glass figures silhouetted against a backdrop of velvet sky.

There's something in Mio's voice. A mix of trepidation and some secret emotion - An expression that could almost be troubled, if not for the faintest smile, as she looks down, unseeing. Mio's hair shimmers lightly in the dim illumination, as the silence lingers for a few moments more; When she turns to face you, you glimpse a brief, troubled flicker in her eyes - Mingling with a kind of quiet acceptance, a deep-running affection.

Then:

"Anon-kun." A slight shift in her stance - Her hands folded in her lap, now, slim fingers circling the small box...as if holding something infinitely precious, her gaze demurely lowered. There's an odd sense of familiarity to the gesture, to the way she holds herself - Like a half-glimpsed memory, a dream you can't quite remember having...

"...Today was - really fun, wasn't it?"

(Continued)

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>>35103045

Again, that finality to her voice. Her movements are slow, almost affected - As if she's unwilling to interrupt this moment, a soft sigh teased forth.

"-Right now, I'm really happy. I'm so happy - It feels like a dream, like I'm going to wake up at any moment..." a low laugh, her smile lingering for a moment longer - "It's strange, isn't it? It's just been one day, but...I already miss it. Even though you're still here with me..."

Her gaze meets yours, holding it.

"So - No matter what happens next-"

"...Anon-kun, thank you for today."

There's a slight tremor to Mio's voice, her fingers crimping the wrapping paper - A tension in the line of her slim shoulders, her slender arms. She seems to be steeling herself from something, for what might come next.

[ ] "-Mio, what's wrong?"
[ ] "It was fun."
[ ] "You should open it, you know."
[ ] "This place...There's something familiar about it."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35103102
>[X] "-Mio, what's wrong?"
>[X] "This place...There's something familiar about it."
"What do you think is going to happen next?"

This is Kotone's cathedral, isn't it?

>>35103102
>[ ] "-Mio, what's wrong?"


"You have a feeling something bad is going to happen, don't you? I do, too."

Evening OP. Don't know how long I'm here for, but I hope you're doing well.

>>35103102
>[X] "-Mio, what's wrong?"
>[X] "It was fun."
"What was that out there?"

>>35103117
How about "What do you think should happen next?"

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> [X] "This place...There's something familiar about it."

Familiar.

Is it? The church of Mikogami's great, failed ambition - This chapel, dimly glimpsed as if through a fog...Perhaps they're more similar than you know. But still, there's something in the air...

Mio nods, slowly - "...I know. It feels...nostaglic, somehow." She looks up, up and away - Her gaze fixed on the altarpiece, her eyes going distant. "I always - I always felt *safe* here. No-one ever came here, so - sometimes - I'd come here to cr-"

She catches herself, embarrassed at her own words.

"-to be alone."

"But still-" pensive now, thoughtful - "...It's nice."

> "What do you think is going to happen next?"
> "You have a feeling something bad is going to happen, don't you? I do, too."
> "What do you think should happen next?"

She doesn't answer - Not right away - but her troubled expression lingers.

> "What was that out there?"

"Sometimes-"

"Sometimes, at sunset, you can see-" she gestures, words apparently failing her. "-I don't know. A city, maybe...Like the ones in the books, something great and grand and...and, oh, alien. Alien, and so far away..."

Her voice trails off.

"I - I'm glad you saw that, Anon-kun. Why this place is special to me..."

> [X] "It was fun."

"Mmmn~! It was only for a while, but...We did a lot of things. Having you escort me - Meeting Kazuya-kun, Asuna-chan - walking together, hand-in-hand...It felt like - Like we were..."

Mio's voice falters. It takes a moment to find her focus, the will to continue.

(Continued)

Wow fuck forgot to check the twitter this evening. At least I made it in time for the thread.

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>>35103272

Then-

"...Anon-kun - This is enough, you know." Her fingers press together just above her heart - a shiver to her voice. "I - I know that you've been tolerating me all this time, but...You don't *have* to, any more."

Every word is hurting her, but Mio presses on - Her smile forced, aching, her voice level and all the worse for that.

"Before, I wasn't sure, but-" Her gaze turns inward, her perfect teeth working against her lip. "But-"

A hitch in her breath. A sound that might be a sob.

"-After yesterday...Anon-kun, I've been thinking a lot about things. And-"

"...There's something you *want* from me, isn't there?"

"It's all right if you tell me - I can bear it. There's something you need me to d-do, or..." Mio's fingers bite into her palms, her knuckles slowly turning white. "-something."

"I - know you want to make me happy. Really, I do. And I'm so, so happy right now - I'm so happy, I feel like crying." And she might be, her eyes glimmering with tears. Another deep breath - Then...

"You've already - you've already gone this far for me. So-"

"-it's all right, now. You don't have to pretend any more."

"Now we're alone..."

"...What-"

"What do you *want* from me?"

Her voice wavers, but beneath it, there's an odd note - A note that might be hope. As if she's been expecting this, yet...

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35103371

Well, shit.

>>35103371
Goddamnit. I feel bad about wanting to crown her as the CQ but we really don't have any better alternatives.

>>35103371
"I want you. I want what we had today. I want something real, without any strings, or lies, or secrets. I want to make you happy. I want to be happy myself."

>>35103371
Well, see, you can actually turn into a robot (so can I by the way) and the particular robot you turn into is key to the end of a game of sorts played between a number of other people who can also turn into robots and if you don't turn into a robot then either all of your fellow students die when a ghost turns into a robot or no one turns into a robot and we fuck up the game and destroy the city. Again.

>>35103435
I am so glad I finally learned how to detect sarcasm on the internet.

"I want you to live. No matter what the consequences might be, I want you to live."

>>35103447
Actually that was only semi-sarcastic. I'd like to tell her about the whole thing, just not in a way that makes Joker come off as autistic. Unfortunately I would probably severely injure myself or my computer in attempting to write it.

>>35103456
No that's stupid, we need a Chalice Queen. Might as well get the one that's not going to kill a school full of people to activate.

>>35103456

Something something we wish there was a way to save everyone, but if it comes down to it we'll pick the path that will save her. I guess apologize, too.

>>35103460
I... probably could do it. I want to get a better feel for the conversation, but I have an idea or two.

>>35103475
Anon, we suspect that the Smilers plan to use her or harvest her somehow. Making her Chalice Queen IS protecting her; otherwise she's a Moratorium if she ends up in the Red World.

>>35103371
You know what? Hell to this. I'm getting that sick and twisted feeling in my stomach and I'm not even a Miofag.

Walk up to her, wrap her up in our coat and give her the biggest hug we can without hurting her.

> "I want you. I want what we had today. I want something real, without any strings, or lies, or secrets. I want to make you happy. I want to be happy myself."

A long, long silence.

Then:

"Happy..." Mio echoes, her head down. For a moment, she sounds very, very alone.

"Anon-kun - If you really want me to be happy..." There's something resigned in her expression, almost fatalistic. "-then, from the beginning..."

Her gaze goes to the side, away. "At the start, I really thought - I really thought you liked me for...For who I *was*-" A low, shuddering breath. "-But now...I *don't know*. That's...That's the worst part. I *don't know*-"

Cracks in the facade, now. On the verge of tears.

"Everyone - everyone always thinks that, that...That the *truth* is something we want. But - That hurts, too."

"Anon-kun...I wanted - I wanted you to be *happy*, too. That's why - Even when I was worried, or jealous, or sad...I couldn't show it to you. And now - Now you want me to know the truth-"

> "I want you to live. No matter what the consequences might be, I want you to live."

A shivery breath. Then, very quietly-

"...It's worse over there, isn't it?"

Slowly - "...No matter how bad things are, here - They're worse where you are."

(Continued)

>>35103605
>"...It's worse over there, isn't it?"
"So much worse. But nothing ever gets better without someone doing something."

>>35103605

"-even if it's bad here, over there it's..."

Her face crumples, as the tremors begin - "I can't - I *can't*-"

>>35103560

She starts, as if about to flinch back - A soft "No-" coaxed from her lips - and she struggles, when your arms close around her. Not hard, just a token resistance - Her hands against your chest, pushing...Until a shudder races through her, and she slumps against you for support.

And then she begins to cry. It is a low, hopeless weeping - A sound with little rise or fall, he low, constant crying of a girl whose spirit is broken. Her face is against your shoulder, her slender arms trembling with mingled antipathy and longing - Mio wants to push you away, but at the same time, she longs for comfort.

It's uncaring, unhearing - Heedless of who might be watching, bone-deep sobs that come from deep within, that rip through her as she cries.

When she subsides - she's clinging to you, her fingers biting into your shoulders, so hard it hurts. Then:

"-One more day..."

A low whisper-

"...I-if only we could pretend - For just *one day more*-"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35103681
"No. I put it off as much as I could, but it's no longer safe, for you or for anyone."

"And I'd like to say it's your choice, but even if you hate me for it, I'll force you. I want you to live."

>>35103681
"If you believe anything I ever say again, make it that I loved you before I knew anything about that. Because it's true as I know."

>>35103735
Oh, I like this one.

Quick recap, what can we expect when she becomes CQ?

>>35103721
>>35103681
Yeah, this.

>>35103755

Suffering.

>>35103681
"Mio, you're stronger than you think you are."

>"...I-if only we could pretend - For just *one day more*-"
"Inconsiderate of them, isn't it? But you know, after it's over it'll never need to be pretending at all."

>>35103681
"Natsumi and Kazuya... they're all that's left of the old me. It's taken everything else, and now that it's coming back I can see it reaching for you, too. And I can't stop it; I *tried* but it's too big and too old and too many people want it to win. I would give you all the time in the world, but it's already up. I have had enough of losing, and I will *not* lose you now."

>>35103721
Leave off the bit about forcing and it's fine.

>>35103766
Yeeeep.

>>35103681
You people are terrible at being comforting. Just hold her tight and tell her "It's all right" over and over. The rest can follow.

I can't even begin to imagine how the Smilers will react to Mio becoming CQ.

Is this where the Cybele train stops forever?

>>35103833
We don't need her to be comfortable. We need her to be the Chalice Queen.

>>35103833
Well, we're kind of a pretty cold robot.

>>35103851
The Cybele train never made it onto the tracks.

>>35103721

> "No. I put it off as much as I could, but it's no longer safe, for you or for anyone."
> "If you believe anything I ever say again, make it that I loved you before I knew anything about that. Because it's true as I know."

Mio doesn't answer. Her head is lowered, but in the steady, golden light, you glimpse her expression - Docile, accepting, almost resigned. There's something chilling about it; at this moment, if you told her to fling herself from the highest tower, she might just obey.

And for the first time, you have absolutely no idea what she might be thinking.

> "Mio, you're stronger than you think you are."

She doesn't say anything. Again.

Perhaps the slight twitch to her lips is a smile, or a memory - There is a sense that all this is familiar to her. A defensive measure, perhaps: In this light, it appears that she may have heard terrible things before.

Or come to expect them.

>>35103805

She looks up - At you. Or rather, through you.

For a moment it seems like she's about to say something-

Then, dully - And without any inflection at all, as if none of it matters - Mio says:

"-Go on."

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35103755
>Quick recap, what can we expect when she becomes CQ?
As soon as the last non-Cybele Hyades dies we'll be taken to a vault where we can unlock one super armor. It's supposed to be Cybele's but with Hellebore's power in the Emblem we can choose to bring out that one instead. Doing that will make Mio a Player, but what exactly will follow is unknown. There's also no telling what'll be happening in the real world at the time; lot of us think there's going to be something awful, like a Smiler raid or smash and grab.

>>35103851
Badly, we hope. It never left the station.

>>35103873

"Tomorrow, you're going to inherit a great power. The world as you know it will change, forever. But don't be afraid: I'll protect you. I'll do everything I can to guide you through it. Just trust me this one time."

>>35103873
Time to drop the bomb, people.

Or perhaps just give her a rundown of instructions, rather than infodump and possibly shake her resolve.

Or maybe. "Do you like robots?"

>>35103918

(I'll accept a general summary of what you want to tell her, but being specific would likely be better.)

>>35103929
yer mum's a robot, girl.

>>35103873

JQOP, why is she taking it so badly?

>>35103950
Possibly because we haven't actually told her anything, and she's used to being cryptically hinted at terrible, terrible things.

Maybe we should try being a bit irreverent now?

>>35103975

Sure, that's going to go over well. We basically admitted that we were using her all along, TO HER FACE. I just realized that if we wanted to stay on her good side, we'd have abandoned this idea entirely for cuddling.

On top of any of the real details
>>35103873
>Perhaps the slight twitch to her lips is a smile, or a memory - There is a sense that all this is familiar to her.
"...she told you all of this too, didn't she."

"I know this is all going to sound cliched, but she wanted you to know that she's proud of you, and that she loves you so very much. She asked me to take care of you too, you know. I would've regardless."

"And one personal request? Please don't be too angry at her. I think she must've had a harder time with this than even I am."

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>>35103999
Hey, we weren't using her. It's just... complicated.

>>35103929

(Also: Gentlemen, I appreciate that this is difficult. But I'll need something to work with, for the next post.)

>>35103873
I sort of want to give her the rundown of the red, then explain why we hate Naoya & Boxman, then tell her we figured out why she has super special light powers.

>>35104085
Yeah, this.

Something along the lines of "there's a whole different world out there, a harsh, dangerous world. But it's also an amazing world, filled with wonders... I'm one of those wonders, and so are you."

>>35104085

Why do we hate Naoya and Boxman, again? Have we actually confirmed who they are?

>>35103873
"Asuna cheats. Her play? Her stories? The names are made up, but everything that happens in them happened there. In the Red World, ten years ago."

"It's a city. Most of it is called Dis, but there are special stages too. On the other side of here is Arcadia. My school has a couple; Yomi and the Tribunal. The cafe used to be connected to the Armory, but it's gone now."

"Over there, Red Joker is my Player name. It's sort of like Char custom; three times faster, cool red color that is not at all pink. We have to wear armor to protect ourselves from... monsters. And other Players."

"You've met others. Ren is Enfer. Kouichi is Bishamon, the samurai. Megumi and Kou are Bell Zephyr and Rust Kaiser. Renji is Utopia Ruler. Ebara Fumito--he paid for our meal on your birthday--is Argent Prominence. Natsumi is Chrome Cypher. There are others around us who I haven't identified yet. Most of them don't like each other much. There's too much power, and no trust."

"What's important right now is that there's a contest. Five Players who make it to the end get... something. Wonderful, or awful, no one knows. The only thing that we do know is that the Red Joker always goes. The other four are either special, or have a special item. A sword that can cut anything. The strongest armor in the world--I accidentally stole that. Funny story actually--something called the Crux... and the armor of the Chalice Queen."

"This one's really special. Champions from all over the Red World fight for their ladies, the Hyades, for the chance to make them real again. The Queen is why you have to know: The one ten years ago was named Hellebore. And she looks just like you, except for her blue eyes."

"I was lucky enough to meet her. She said if I had the chance, I should tell you that she has always loved you, and that she's so proud of you."

>>35103950
Why would anyone take this well?

>>35104062
Sorry, took a while to get my thoughts straight.

Anything I'm missing, anons?

>>35103873
"Your mother wasn't an ordinary person. She was someone from the other side, who died once and then was reborn.
Now there is a tournament going on. To determine the next girl in line to be reborn. And the girl that is reborn will kill all the girls at this school.
But there is one exception. You aren't part of the tournament, but your mother arranged you to gain this power without killing any of the girls. Well, technically you could, but I know that you wouldn't want to.

It would grant you control over the accidents that happen in your life.
However, it would also make you part of the other world. A world where people kill each other on a constant basis. That is why I hesitated to tell you.

And, because of your significance, you are now a target for a group of terrorists. I was told that they will want to get you tomorrow."

I hope this isn't too harsh. I tried to make it factual and give her the drawbacks clearly.
Sorry if it clashes with any of the other posts. Haven't read them yet.

>>35104113
No, but the near-worship of Kotone combined with Naoya's continued interest in Mio and Fuma's approval of Mio set off the usual alarms, combined with extra shadowruns.

>>35103875
>It never left the station.
Quick note: Anyone who wants Cybele to suffer is no better than the "let's torture Megumi" guy,

>>35104152

Is there any way to keep her from suffering? Honest question.

>>35104156
Use relic on self.

>>35104158

But that means Bishamon or Iron Ogre dies, or hates us forever. I still think we should free Bishamon, because he's genuinely a good guy.

>>35104156
One little slip of a knife, and a lifetime of pain can just drain away.

>>35104158
That only breaks the contract. She'll stay alone on the Black Moon until she runs out of energy. I suppose it would spare her the physical agony of the breaking, but that way is mostly a convenience for Anon.

>>35104171
Remember that there are emotions at work.
Sure, they won't have the mind control. But if their Hyades is anything like Cybele (i.e. not a total abusive bitch), they might resolve to try to save her somehow anyway.
They'd hate us with all their might if we removed their link, because it would remove their ability to save their Hyades. They might even challenge us outside of the tournament.

>>35104186
It's supposed to leave them with nothing but a lingering fondness for their Hyades. Unless they fall in love without the bond enforcing that, but I frankly don't think any Hyades could resist using the bond to enforce it, and I doubt there's a Terry Goodkind-style loophole here.

>>35104156
I think the flower might be intended to allow us to send her off happily.

>>35104116
>Anything I'm missing
The schoolgirls.

>>35104203
Bishamon and Iron Ogre are good guys at heart.
Especially Bishamon. There is a reason why we used to call him spaghetti.
If he sees a girl in need, he might play the shonen protagonist, even without the magical bond.
The Athame doesn't delete memories. It removes the brainwashing.
Obviously, they'll happily let the girl rot if the girl had been abusing her power over them.
But you've seen some of the girls, who were actually loyal to their champions and were on good terms with them. If Bishamon has such a girl, he might not want to give up his position as champion.

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>>35104145
>>35104116
>>35104085
>>35103907

You tell her-

...You tell her what you can. You tell her everything.

About a world parallel to this one. About the Players - wandering, forever forlorn, though the half-dream of the iron city. Of the realms you've seen, explored, battled in; Some better than Heaven, others worse than Hell.

A tale that began an eternity ago, a tale of the city and the long, long mourning that followed.

Of the Five, coming together for the first and last time. Of the Joker, always wild, always crimson - Of violet fire licking at your heels, the burning symbol of yourself carved into the world.

And of the Hyades - Those distant, lonely, cold stars, peering down forever on a world they hunger for -

You don't tell her about Cybele.

The story is dark, in the retelling. Darker than you remember.

You don't tell her about the beach of black sand, acid breakers rolling in with slow and eternal majesty, as inevitable as the passage as time - Or the whisper in the depths of the underworld, the voices you only half-remember.

The wonder and the terror of it. But there is so much, you may have forgotten.

When the story reaches the end, when your voice falls silent at last, true night has descended.

(Continued)

>>35104218
Augh.

>>35104222
Bishamon yes, Ogre not so much. He's gregarious because he's a SMT Chaos Hero. If you're strong he'll respect you, otherwise he'll do whatever the fuck he wants to you.

Anyway, the Hyades bond is supposed to induce love and affection and overwrite the feelings that are naturally there. It might not matter that Kouichi would have loved Uzume without it, she was crafted to be his partner and she bound their souls together.

I do think that Bishamon is the romantic type. But I think that the removal of the bond will leave him wondering how much was real more than anything else.

>>35104290
>But I think that the removal of the bond will leave him wondering how much was real more than anything else.
Now I have this mental image of him being scarred for the rest of his life because of this.

>>35104282
Maybe we should tell her about the time in the hive one day.
Maybe when we get PTSD-infused nightmares and she wonders why we can't sleep properly.

>>35104282
Incoming Mio brainderps

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>>35104315
I need reaction images of confused chibified girls.

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>>35104282
I can't watch.

>>35104311
Everyone who survives is coming out with scars. The lucky ones will be physical.

>>35104282

You don't tell her about your role in things. Or of Hecate, or of the battles - rending, tearing, singular in their fury - down in the dark.

But you impress upon her the danger that might come from Naoya, from Ren, from Megumi - And of this school, this engine for ascension, of the coming of the black moon and the Diadem looming above all-

And of the memory of a woman, a fragment in the ruins of paradise-

It's...A lot to take in. There is something grotesque in the story, something that defies reason - Sometimes, it feels like you've lost the thread, like you must start again in the middle of the retelling. You feel the beginnings of a pressure-pulse in your temples, as the world outside the windows shades from black to red-

Then-

When silence descends at last-

Mio sits quietly. Not speaking, looking at nothing in particular.

Faintly:

"-My *mother*-" A complex melange of emotions flits across her face. There's horror, of course - there's disbelief, incredulity...But it goes beyond that. Perhaps on some level, she might already know - She might have glimpsed the secret nature of the world from the corner of her eye, in passing "...And everyone..."

She doesn't want to believe you. But she cannot...*not*.

"All along, she-" Mio's lips tremble. "-she's not...she *wanted*-"

Then: Her face upturned towards yours-

"...Anon-kun, what-"

"What will I-"

A deep breath-

"What will I *become*-?"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

"That is up to you. I'll protect you, either way."

>>35104396
Might as well not fuck around.
"A monster".

>>35104396
"A Player. A Queen of Players, able to interface with that world in ways I can only imagine."

"You won't change. The Essence is already part of you, after all. But you'll have control at last. People won't go strange around you anymore, unless you WANT them to. You can be exactly as normal as you want to... though I hope there's space for me."

>>35104396
"The same thing as me. Feared as a monster on the other side. A normal, albeit unusually lucky, person on this side.
You will be living two lives. Whenever you enter the other world, your body in this world will act on its own. Maybe you already noticed that it sometimes happened to me."

>>35104454
Vetoing just in case this isn't someone trying to be funny/ironic.

>>35104396
"Even I can't say for sure. The only thing I truly know is that you will have the potential to save countless lives."

Did we tell her that Kotone is her stepsister?

>>35104495
I'm not, but I couldn't think of anything better than "monster" that conveys the same idea. She isn't going to remain some innocent highschool girl who works at a fucking maid cafe.

>>35104502

Better not. This will get even more fucked, and fast.

>>35104454
That's pretty tacky.

>>35104489
>Feared as a monster on the other side
Not likely, actually. The Chalice Queen seems to be revered from what we've seen.

>>35104396
>"What will I *become*-?"
"At the very least, you'd be saving the lives of the girls that bothered you all your life.
And they will know. Almost all of them can enter the other world and they know that they were destined to be killed by the Chalice Queen. What they didn't know, is that there might be a Queen who doesn't need to kill them."

>>35104509
Try and think about something with better connotations then.

>>35104515
What, and 99% of the other write-ins in this quest aren't?

>>35104445
Change that to "Whoever you wish to become. I'll be on your side, either way."

>>35104529
Dude, we are trying to improve.

>>35104529
Honestly? Yes.

With the understanding that everything on the site could use two passes by an excisive editor.

>>35104542
Now that's not bad.

>>35104527
I don't think there is a word in existence with better connotations that tells someone that they're about to turn into a robot designed solely for killing shit.
Killing machine? That's slightly less horrible.
>>35104543
Yeah it wasn't meant to be insulting. I'm going to just unplug my keyboard.

>>35104396
"I really don't know what will happen. It's the first time it it's going to happen this way. But as for what you'll become?

My partner. For as long as the Red World still stands and then some."

>>35104558
>Killing machine?
My first thought was "fighting robot MEGAMAN" and I feel a burning shame.

And there's no need, most posters on 4chan have thick skins. We need someone to be the brutal voice, if only to shock us out of complacency.

>>35104477
>>35104526

> "Even I can't say for sure. The only thing I truly know is that you will have the potential to save countless lives."
> "A Player. A Queen of Players, able to interface with that world in ways I can only imagine."

Faintly, the light casting odd shadows as she looks down at her hands-

"The power - to make this world the way I want-" It's an echo, as if she's repeating something she's heard before - A thread of memory, a fragment-

"To control-"

> And they will know. Almost all of them can enter the other world and they know that they were destined to be killed by the Chalice Queen. What they didn't know, is that there might be a Queen who doesn't need to kill them."
> "You will be living two lives. Whenever you enter the other world, your body in this world will act on its own. Maybe you already noticed that it sometimes happened to me."

>>35104445
>>35104542

"I don't - I have to-"

There is an indescribable loneliness in Mio's voice - And terror. Not just fear for herself, but an existential horror; as if the very foundations of her world are crumbling.

And it is the end. Not just of her own existence, but the world as she understands it.

Mio stumbles to her feet. The tiny box falls to the ground, forgotten - There is stark horror on her face. It is heart-stopping in it's intensity, tempered with a kind of acknowledgment; that the choice is coming, one way or another, and-

"-have to-"

"Everyone is-"

"-I'm-"

Her gaze focuses on you, for a long, damned moment - Then down at her hands, as if things are only now beginning to make sense to her -

And abruptly, without warning, she whirls and runs for the doors.

[ ] "-Mio, wait!"
[ ] Chase after her.
[ ] Retrieve the box.
[ ] Let her go.
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35104623
>[X] Retrieve the box.
>[X] Chase after her.
And make it fast. The box matters, but not as much as her.

>>35104623
>Let her go.
>Retrieve the box.

>>35104623
Best bet would be to have Natsumi or someone support her now.
Unfortunately, she isn't close to Natsumi.

So I guess we have to run after her like a retard. Fuck.

>Chase after her
>Retrieve the box

I would prefer to let her go if she wasn't 100% sure to be kidnapped for running around alone in the dark.

>>35104623

Shit, she's rabbited.

Is this chase as in we can catch her before she even makes it out, or chase as in we're going to lose her anyway to satisfy the next plot point?

>>35104698

Gee, I don't know. Maybe she wouldn't be running if we hadn't SCARED HER SHITLESS.

>>35104707
>SCARED HER SHITLESS.
Shit happpens.
She will catch herself after a good night's sleep.
Too bad that we gave her the information just ONE DAY before shit goes down.
Should have done so like a week ago.

>>35104718
>Should have done so like a week ago.
We didn't have a reason to.

>>35104733
Hindsight is best sight.

>>35104718
A week ago we had only the slightest hint she was involved, and rightly didn't want to bring her in.

This is about as need to know as it gets.

>>35104745
I know.
Still, easing her slowly into the information would have paid off by now

>>35104757
There's no such thing as slowly with this. There's enough to make an impression and there's not being taken seriously.

If we could have thought of a way to solve the issue, we'd have taken it in a heartbeat, but it just wasn't there.

>>35104775
Actually, we could have started with the whole "oh shit I accidentally the world" moment.
We could have answered a few light questions for her. Maybe gave a few hints.
Over the weeks we'd form a puzzle that she could assemble in her mind.

Had we known that it would have been necessary for her to know, we could have done so.

>>35104623
Chase after her and get that box.

>>35104647
>>35104650
>>35104661
>>35104797

> [X] Retrieve the box
> [X] Chase after her.

You snatch up the box. It takes you the space of a moment - Then you're sprinting after her, as Mio reaches the doors, first. She pushes at them, forgetting herself in her panic - Then pulls, as they swing open without a sound.

You reach out for her-

-A glance back, over her shoulder, full of terror-

And Mio *repels* at you.

It is unfocused, instinctive, but it has the full force of her fear behind it.

Your muscles lock up. You taste blood, rich and coppery, in your mouth. Dark spots dance in your vision, as the floor rushes up to meet you: You get your hands out in front of you as your knees hit the red, red carpet - Your lungs burn, fighting to draw in air. It is a deadly malaise - For a singular, terrible moment, you can actually *feel* yourself dying-

Your hand grasps the worn wood of the pew, and you haul yourself upright-

Your heart hammers spasmodically, in your chest. You're on your feet, staggering forward - Forcing yourself ahead, to the doors. Around you, the walls seem to bulge, seem to swell-

No.

No, not *now*-

You force yourself onward, another aching step-

And once more, you find yourself in the desert.

(Continued)

>>35104791
I'll jump in to say no we could not have. She didn't want to know. She wouldn't have formed a puzzle or connected the dots or asked any questions. That's how awful this is.

>>35104812
At least we can let off a little stress by brutally murdering someone!

>>35104791
That seems a bit too hopeful. I really don't think it would have helped, or softened the blow at all. If anything, it would have stretched out the confusion and fear even farther.

>>35104826
Couldn't it be Megaera?

>>35104812
On the bright side, she now knows about our autopilot.

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>>35104812

STAGE: TIR NA NÓG

Underfoot: Black iron sand. The sky, burning black from the smoldering funeral pyres of volcanoes - A sullen, filthy orange-red, the molten blood of the earth oozing forth. The swollen malignancy of the poisoned sun - Hard radiation fuzzing your sensors, the horizon darkening with the coming maelstrom.

The wind picks up. The sand clatters against your crimson armor, in a ceaseless, rasping barrage. It is all too easy to imagine that this place hates you - As if this broken world's soul senses the last defiler upon it's surface, wheezing forth its last, dirty breaths to spite you.

In this private Paradise that is now very much like Hell-

A flicker. A pulse on your HUD. A form, darkly solid, trudging through the winds - bound in plates of pitted iron. Across one shoulder, a great mace; An immense maul, a bludgeon of darkened metal, the spiked head alone as large as your entire armoured torso. Red veins pulse dully across the surface, visible even at this distance...Like the dull beat of a failing heart, as if the weapon itself is a living thing.

A click, over the Dirac transmitter. A voice, on the channel you share - Your sensors registering a familiar figure, marked by the silver crest he bears-

IRON OGRE

"-Joker."

His voice is deeper, more resonant than before - A fuzz of distortion from the wash of hard radiation. He doesn't sound like himself.

"All life is war."

"To exist is to thrive on suffering. To live is to feast on the lives of others."

His great maul lowers to his side. Spined gauntlets curl around the haft, red veins scrawling across his grasping fists.

"Joker-"

Red light burns in the eyeslits of his helm, crowned by pagan horns.

"Kill me - If you can."

HP: 257.4%
COBALT BOOSTER: 170%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 144%
METER: 15%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35105053
"You could NOT have chosen a worse time, Ogre."

>>35105053
>He doesn't sound like himself.
Now that's suggestive.

"I have so many better things to do than deal with you. Iron Ogre, Exec_Dictum: SCREAM."

Carnifex 2. Dispel the shroud on the Midas, configure it into the Crisis Arm and emulate it. Use the Abruption Jets to deliver a smash while he's howling his lungs out. Prepare all five Lucifer Bits for launch and fire a volley of Shrike blades.

That should start things off on a high note.

>>35105053
Can't we just go Maximum Joker, rocket knee charge, shroud afterimages to go right in for Crisis Arm, while Lucifer Bits charge on our back?

>>35105053
"Why now, of all times?"
Shit. Do we free Brogre or hold out for Spaghettimon?

I also think we should try and end this quick, so I want to start with the good ol' Fex.

>>35105112
Add afterimages, as an insurance.

>>35105118
Yes let's get close to him, nothing can go wrong

>>35105053
>Red veins pulse dully across the surface, visible even at this distance...Like the dull beat of a failing heart, as if the weapon itself is a living thing.
I suspect that thing will being and smash us by itself if we get close.

>>35105144
*bend

Oh fuck, is this the Hyades match? Are we seriously killing him to spare Bishamonten?

>>35105169
Do we have a choice?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5FH7R76BZY

So, full dual Crisis Bullet Time?

>>35105169
I think he's been infected by the same stuff that got Rook. Except worse, since he caught it from the similarly deranged Arrow. Clever Alura.

Holy shit, this quest is still running?
how much it is now, two years?

>>35105233
Keep in mind that Hecate is dead and may or may not be a magical moon princess who may or may not be uniqe due to still technically being alive.

>>35105233
Two and a half, give or take.

>>35105301
That has nothing to do with anything.

>>35105233
Two years and, I think, four months.

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>>35105093

> "You could NOT have chosen a worse time, Ogre."
> "Why now, of all times?"

Over the channel: A dark, dirty chuckle.

"No regrets, little brother," Ogre growls. "-Hold nothing back."

>>35105112
>>35105118

The Carnifex's crusher snaps into place. Your mono-optic sensor retracts - Twin emerald lens glowing with harsh internal light. The world slows, your armor's limiters disengaged; Until you can *think* the world into slow motion, as power kindles within you-

And erupts forth in a mantle of pellucid blue flame.

The storm howls, around you - Your Assault Shroud shedding afterimages, your segmented plate expanding...And then *detonating*, discharging, fragmenting to reveal interlocking secondary armor and the sapphire glow of supercharged myomer musculature.

The fire engulfs you - A scorching nimbus of roaring flame, from everywhere and nowhere at once, enveloping you in a blazing halo. Great pinions of swirling fire unfold in a burning mantle, a ravening cloak of flame; Momentarily stilling the gale around you, black iron sand hissing as it disintegrates against the searing halo...

The hand of Midas reconfigures. The great, wrecking fist of the Crisis Arm sketches itself into existence, elbow thrusters flaring: Your Lucifer Bits pulsing with death-heat, the Emulator Module at the base of your spine warming up - And then a second battering-ram powerfist sheaths your left arm, a ghostly shimmer that gains deadly solidity as your Tempest Scrander swoons to life, in a surge of dizzying acceleration as you leave the ground-

You go for him. Right for him. You are a speeding bullet, a powerful linear distortion. Buffeted by the scouring winds, the sound oddly modulated by your inertia field, you are a crimson bullet cloaked in blue flame, on it's first and final journey. The air fills with knives - Iron Ogre turns his maul, and the red-threaded veins pulse as the darkened metal expands, shifts, *reconfigures*-

(Continued)

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>>35105053
NOOOOOO

>>35105318
>That has nothing to do with anything.
I thought that he implied that he hasn't read the quest in a while and now stumbled upon it.

>>35105336
>"No regrets, little brother," Ogre growls. "-Hold nothing back."
It might just be because I feel like shit in general but this made me tear up a little.

>>35105301
First, thanks for the spoilers retard
second, I hope all that dickery doesn't mean quest shat itself and became modern /tg/ garbage, since it was one of the few I enjoyed reading
>>35105318
>>35105323
shit. op what the fuck are you planning

>>35105354
>second, I hope all that dickery doesn't mean quest shat itself and became modern /tg/ garbage,

Heh

>>35105354
Oh get over yourself.

>>35105354
There are more post-Hecate threads than there are pre-Hecate threads. You mean a harem, pseudo-harem? It kind of does, but from what I remember people decided on Mio why pretty early on. Or, at least, didn't pursue anyone else.

>>35105336

> Exec_Dictum: SCREAM.

A great, shuddering roar builds within Iron Ogre - A full-throated predator's howl-

The winds howl with him. His guard falters.

You're within reach - The world blurring past, torquing with the force of the acceleration as you prepare to drive a punch at him, through him, a punch meant to rip him entirely in half-

It is your altered senses that save you. Your Abruption Jets flare - Not to cover the remaining distance, but to bring your momentum to an abrupt halt...

The ground heaves, with a furious internal momentum. It surges upwards, a thicket of impaling spikes - Sparks flying from your left leg as you wrench back just in time - black iron sand bleeding from the cruel barbs, as it thickens, solidifies-

-A wall.

(Continued)

>>35105464
Fucking Hyades

>>35105464
Right then. Iron Ogre is a straightforward person, his hyades is not. "No fair, Ogre. This is a fight between men. Leave your Hyades out of it."

It will keep us from using ours, but he won't use his either. A good test battle for when Mio becomes out Hyades, since we won't have healing.

>>35105464
>protective walls
Guess we should save up the Cobalt Boost for Exec_Smite or Sotto Voca and Meter for the Railgun.

>>35105597
I don't think it's his Hyades. The mark didn't show up. She created the field, but he's the one using the power. He's IRON Ogre, remember?

(Gentlemen, I assume that you're using Cobalt Booster to power your Lucifer Bits, as you currently can apply it to everything.)

>>35105464

In the space of a breath. Half a meter thick, arising solid and impenetrable from the black iron sands - A spontaneous creation you're half a meter from ploughing into, your Tempest Scrander still blazing fitfully at your back-

And then it explodes outwards in a hail of fist-sized sharpnel, as Iron Ogre's maul smashes it to flinders.

There is momentous force behind the blow - A force out of all proportion to what he should be able to muster, a strength beyond mere myomer musculature and internal structure. It feels less like an impact and more like a detonation - Like a depth-charge, a naval mine, suddenly and abruptly detonated-

The projectiles smolder as they hurtle through your nimbus of blue flame. They're slowed further by your inertia field, but too dense to be entirely incinerated - You take glancing blows that crack against your knee joint, that glance against your left pauldron with stunning force...

Right as Iron Ogre comes through the barrier, and let loose with one great swing. Threads of bloody plasma ooze over his knuckles, up his limbs - Black tendrils scaling his form, like ivy, like kudzu, the red smoke that boils forth from his furnace heart glowing with the sickly green light of Essence.

You leap back. A jet of thrust flings you away from the maiming sweep of his maul - A snarl of thwarted fury wrenched from his throat, his drillspikes at combat revolutions. There is an eerie calm around you - As if you're in the eye of the storm, while it thickens on all sides into a whirling hurricane.

HP: 206.3%
COBALT BOOSTER: 98%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 126%
METER: 18%

BITS: 5/5 (LEVEL 2)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35105464
>The ground heaves, with a furious internal momentum. It surges upwards, a thicket of impaling spikes - Sparks flying from your left leg as you wrench back just in time - black iron sand bleeding from the cruel barbs, as it thickens, solidifies-
>-A wall.
So much for "it would be too much effort for the Hyades".
Then again, the winners absorb the losers. This might mean a power boost for the girls.

>>35105606
Agreed. Speaking of, what's the fastest way to up our meter? Vulcans?

>>35105628
We barely did any damage and he has that pesky wall.
Do you think we can catch him with the Axel Grips while he is swinging around his mace?

Also, Lucifer is about to launch.

Anyone got clever ideas?

>>35105668

(To be completely fair, he also missed a chance to do massive damage to you.)

>>35105668
Maybe we could try and get our bits to cut the tendrils?

>>35105628
Right. Same thing, with lucifer bits and an Exec_Smite when that wall comes up so we can penetrate him with our fist.

>>35105628
Let's see how those walls work against double Tau Guns. Take to the skies, keep his attention off the bits with napalm triskelion missiles too while they configure.

>>35105628
Vulcan time. Dismiss the Crisis Arms, start building meter so we can pay for the bits with it. Get the bits out and dealing damage. Have them cut at his legs. I'll bet he's real good at moving without one.

Do an Argus Scan, let's see what his big energy drain is.

Next time he brings his arms back cut them off with the Axel Grips.

>>35105710
Do we stay at maximum Joker?
I guess we can do one or two more rounds.

>>35105697
Absolutely not. Are you reading this? He can form a wall whenever he wants using the dust. The Tau Gun has a VERY OBVIOUS charging time.

Vetoed.

>>35105668
You know what? He's Ogre. If anyone deserves a sendoff from the stars themselves, it's Brolaf the Berserker.

Engage the Leukocyte.

>>35105628
Turn off the flame to recharge Booster. Use one of the Axel Grips to cut him while dashing back using the Jets and Tempest Scrander. Fire a few missiles to keep him distracted while aiming the Tau.

>>35105681
Reminds me of those movie fights that play out like ballet.
Everyone is throwing around insta-kill shots and everyone is dodging them.

>>35105726
How the fuck do you expect him to stay in place for an accurate shot?

>>35105710

Why not JUST PUNCH HIM?

>>35105726
This place is hell on accuracy. No.

>>35105740
Because he has a mace and an instant wall.

Our best bet is to kite him with cobalt boosted vulcans.
They should do nicely to nick away at his health while we build meter.

>>35105740
Because he could probably take us out in a single punch?

>>35105738
Easy. We rain down the Vulcans on him, assist charging with cobalt booster.

>>35105760

We have double Crisis Arm, and he has an absurdly heavy weapon. Punch the shit out of him.

>>35105719
There's no reason to keep using Maximum Joker. We're at a clear disadvantage in melee now. We should use the Sotto Voca to blow up his new weapon.

>>35105710
Stay at medium range.
Too far away is likely to cause him to engage something nasty.
Too close is flat-out deadly.

>>35105775
That's actually a pretty good idea.

>>35105737
Both grips go off at once. There's no "one at a time". Also we need the meter for the bits, so no missiles please.

>>35105740
Because when we tried he nearly caught Joker for a one shot counter?

>>35105767
Are you the same idiot who suggested going melee in the last fight?

>>35105779
To elaborate: Do circling movements, assisted by our afterimages.

>>35105791
"Because there's no way he's actually strong!"

"People can't move that fast when you're within their guard!"

What a fucking moron.

(Gentlemen, I'm reading through this, but there's a lot of differing posts. So far, I'm getting:

> Turn off Carnifex 2.
> Retreat using Tempest Scrander, while shooting him with Plasma Vulcans and deployed Bits.)

>>35105775
Actually there is. The Lucifer Bits take less time to get to the next stage when they're boosted. The cost for Carnifex 2 is the same as the cost to boost all five. There's no reason not to, but we'll disengage it next turn.

>>35105831
Keep Carnifex 2, Try and keep outside his melee range while shooting him with Vulcans.

>>35105831
Retreat in arc, so that he can't just rush us in a straight line. use the Argus to scan him.
Also, use the Axel Grips the moments it becomes viable.

>>35105831
That's about right, unless the Scrander has a noticeable lag.
However, keep Carnifex 2 for one or two more rounds.

>>35105831
When he goes for the swing, try and decapitate using axel grips.

>>35105860
No more than one. Going for two will prevent us from using the Sotto Voca or a Codeburst in time.

>>35105862
Remember, folks:
HP is a measure of durability, endurance and plot armor.
Endurance doesn't matter in this system, but you can bet your ass that we can't just kill him like that.

Then again, OP might have offloaded the plot armor/luck part onto the dice instead.

>>35105908
Crits happen and individual parts have health. Getting a decapitation is possible but real unlikely. That's why I said arms or legs or major energy sources.

>>35105934
If it's an overhead swing, the same motion will cut his arms off. At the elbows, if we miss.

>>35105950
But why would he do an overhead swing if we aren't stunned?

>>35105950
Problem is that the beams have a short lifespan--a handful of seconds at most, meaning they work well only in close quarters. At even midrange it's center of mass or luck.

>>35105973
Guess we just feign stunned, then.

>>35105980
Risk < Reward

>>35105989
Not with a oneshot weapon and a dude who loves to close in. We can afford to wait for a good opportunity.

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>>35105862

In the split-second between one blow and the next, you level your Axel Grips, blue light burning at the pinions-

Zayin's Hyades mark pulses with furious emerald light-

The ground beneath your feet *heaves*. Not much - A spasm, rather than convulsion - but it shoves you off-balance, the sweeping lines of the Axel Grips going wide -

Your first shot sears over Ogre's shoulder. The burning line - So close you can actually see the ozone sheath - misses by the fraction of an inch. The second shot flickers sideways - A lethal caress - and carves a great bite from his right arm, a mass of armor calving, sheared off in the split-second line of annhilation.

Your Lucifer Bits deploy. Vector-thrust predators, they bank and weave furiously - The storm is eroding them, hampering their mobility, but the first rays of searing magma-light pulse across the distance. The ray splinters as it impacts against Ogre's pauldron - Three more joining it, as the last one is swept away from the storm - his armor beginning to slag, to *melt*, to run in glowing rivulets as your Tempest Scrander flings you skyward-

Armored forearm sheaths retract. Your Plasma Vulcans deploy, the barrels spinning up - Already spitting a hail of shots at Iron Ogre, streaming bolts like searing blue stars. They punch into him - He staggers back, swinging his shield into position as you take flight - your shots hammer into the surface as you catch him in a crossfire, scorched by the burning lava-light of your Lucifer Bits, the black mass of his red-threaded shield bubbling, rippling as it takes the shots.

(Continued)

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1.79 MB JPG

>>35106020
>the black mass of his red-threaded shield
Wait a moment...

>>35106097
Oh dear god no please...

>>35106097
This isn't going to be pleasant at all.

>>35106020

You have the space of a second to wonder why he isn't raising a barrier to protect himself, why he takes the punishment with a snarl - his rear armor beginning to glow red-hot under the molten claws of your Lucifer Bits-

The storm breaks. A thunderhead of black sand roars down, like a fury of whirling dust-devils, like an artillery barrage from above-

-You bank-

Everything vanishes in a torrent of howling wind and choking smog. Your cobalt flame boils around you - The vents clogging, snuffing out your fire for brief, guttering moments before it roars forth again - roaring down, drowning you, sweeping you beneath the breakers. There's the hideous scraping of your armor being eroded, being worn away molecule by molecule - but the real struggle is trying to stay in the air, to make out *anything* in the pitch-black storm...

Your Tempest Scrander sputters, fitfully, and dies.

The ground rushes up to meet you, and it hits you like a fist in the face. It's less damaging than stunning, your caul of blue flame boiling the sands around you to nothing - But for one blank moment as your sensors recohere, you're utterly blind-

...Except for the squeal of electronic feedback, as Iron Ogre smashes one of your Lucifer Bits. The remaining three fight valiantly to stay aloft, in the maelstorm of sands - Dark, fitful lightning flickers within the whirring cloud, as you haul yourself to your feet, black grit cascading from your joints in the instant before it vaporizes.

Iron Ogre turns. The weapon in his hand is no longer a maul.

It's a chain.

(Continued)

>>35106218
>Iron Ogre smashes one of your Lucifer Bits
25/9-26/9 Never forget.

>>35106218

(Your Lucifer Bits are currently Level 2, but they'll be Level 3 next turn.)

It whistles out, oiled black links rattling through the air - There's something vicious, something sentient about it, as the black-threaded lengths coil *towards* you against all physics and sense, even as your Bits spit forth searing rays that scorch the sands to glass and slag on all sides-

The lash *cracks* against your visor, with stunning force. A flaw splinters through your right-eye optic - Sparks flying, blue fire dancing across the links...Limining them in flame, but not scorching them. You dodge, as the rattling links loop over your head - Your Sinistral's edge flicks out and deflects it, the ghost-steel fizzing with pellucid fire-

"-No more *flying*," Iron Ogre growls, darkly, as his burning gaze turns to you. Your armor groans, as the spike gouges into the elbow joint of your left-arm; The ground is actively slowing you down, now, clutching at your ankles, at your heels as a terrible sense of acceleration builds-

HP: 179.5%
COBALT BOOSTER: 76%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 99%
METER: 25%

BITS: 3/5 (LEVEL 2)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35106218
It is.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

>>35106272
Wonderful. We are fighting against Rock Bison with control over iron sand and Alex Mercer as his weapon.

OP, does his weapon change shape instantly?

>>35106272
Lightning bolt through the chain.

>>35106330

(It's very quick. Not quite instantly, but close.)

>>35106272
Ugh. Again the interceptor system proves to be Joker Quest's biggest sucker bet. Scrub the whole thing first chance we get.

Anyway, Carnifex off.

>>35106272
Fuck, our flames are protecting us.
But we need to regenerate booster. In order to get a disrupt off.

Right now he's in our face with the chain.

Lightning bolt? We still have our thrusters for evasion if all else fails.

>>35106272
Turn off Carnifex 2 and use what remains of the Scrander's charge to shock him. Don't stop moving or shooting him with the Plasma Vulcans. We can't have him attack our Bits.

>>35106402
Wait, aren't we basically in a situation where we shoot him with Vulcans while he shoots us with the chain?
Shouldn't we use something with more oomph in this situation?

Would the tau be a sensible switch?

>>35106427
No, because he's about to smash us into the ground. Not enough time to summon and aim and charge it.

>>35106427
We don't have anything like that, which is why we should first stun him and then wait out for the Bits to charge. By then we'lkl have enough Booster to use the Sotto Voca to blow his new weapon to kingdom come.

>>35106272
"Correct. No more flying."
Shoot the lightning bolt in his face.
While he's grilling, he will be stunned. What do we do?

Turn off our fire. Let the Bits murder him.
Continue with the Vulcan fire and constant movement.
Use our thrusters to evade if necessary.

Eh, guys, did we ever Argus scan him?
This might be a good idea.

>>35106337
>>35106393
>>35106398

The chain pulls taut - Bristling with new spikes, barbs fighting to gouge into your armor, the pressure tightening like an immense vice; It's coiled around the emitter of your Sinistral, the ghost steel groaning - The charged blade can't cut through the links, which are beginning to smolder slowly, taking on a tarry consistency...

Your right arm comes up, and you hammer a hail of shots at Iron Ogre. The black sand ripples around him, churning in a protective haze - He's hard-pressed, your three remaining Lucifer Bits circling him: In their final configuration, they retch out wrist-thick beams of burning energy, energy with the bloody consistency of lava, of the deepest hatred. Iron Ogre's hide might be resistant to fire, but his armor is beginning to slough off, to run, melting beneath the onslaught as his own internal fires bank higher-

>>35106402

The flames around you gutter, die-

And instantly, the full force of the storm comes crashing down onto you. Without the burning nimbus to keep the howling winds at bay, you're battered mercilessly, hammered in one direction then other - the scouring, scraping hail nearly wrenching you from your feet-

> "Correct. No more flying."

...But your left arm is locked to the chain that circles you, that constricts you, barbs gouging deeper with every passing moment...

As you channel the full charge of the Tempest Scrander into a howling bolt of electric wrath.

It is nothing - Nothing - like the ones before. Not even against Adamant Aegis. Here, you have a direct link to Iron Ogre - and the malicious lightnings crackle across the chain's oil-black links and-

And light him up from within.

(Continued)

>>35106687
Should have said "Happy Christmas, Ogre."

I really hoped we'd just get a cage match with Igre with no Enviro-Bullshit

>>35106687

Even through the sandstorm, you hear his howl. His roar. The chain spasms like a living thing, convulsing, thrashing like a serpent - the bolts searing into the myomer fibre of his armor's systems, a calvacade of ruin blowing out armor panels, destroying systems as it wrenches back...

-It takes your left arm with it.

Everything from the elbow down, wrenched away - The feedback punches through your systems, staggers you as black iron sand whips around Ogre, spurred into a gale, a torrent-

A terrible acceleration. The storm erupts, tumbling your Bits aside - Scorched, blackened, Ogre ploughs through the vapor and the black smoke. He leads shoulder-first, his drillspikes ready to rip you to shreds; Sparks of discharge dance across his form, smoke wisping from his limbs, his armor glowing with molten heat.

"JOKER-"

You're turning to meet him - Your Tempest Scrander only mustering fitful sparks, left arm reduced to splintered shards-

You can *see* him coming. But even with enhanced senses, even with your armor's limiters removed - The churning black desert is *slowing you down*-

HP: 140.3%
COBALT BOOSTER: 54%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 61%
METER: 39%
BITS: 2/5 (LEVEL 3)

TIER TWO WEAPONS UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35106867
All I can think of is a boosted Fusion Annihilator, if we have enough time to fire it.

>>35106867
Evade with our thrusters, while firing the Fusion Annihilator in single-shot mode.

Keep the Lucifers active, as well as the after-images.

>>35106867
Dude. Dodge.

Prep a railgun, discharge at point blank when he comes by.

Guys, I plan to use the swarm in the next round.
Is this a good idea?

>>35106953
>railgun
Railgun is tier 3.
It's also a long-range weapon.

Are you trying to kill us?

>>35106970
On second thought...
Activate the swarm NOW, with our shroud as fuel.
It's a good diversion.

>>35106986
>>35106970
Swarm this round sounds good.

>>35106986
Read it wrong.

Mine, then. Leave them where they are, use the last of our scrander power to jettison us away at the last moment.

>>35106939
>>35106986
Here.
I change vote from single-fire Annihilator to boosted Annihilator.
The swarm will buy us time to charge a few shots.

>>35106912
What about the Plasma Caster?

Flash him with the Tyrant Burst, evade, then plasma cast cobalt boosted?

>>35106867
Whelp, can't use the Sotto Voca now.

Jet out of the way, use EXEC_SWARM to distract him blast him with a charged Fusion Annihilator and send the Chain Mine.

>>35107051
That's the low-level version.
We are doing the high-level version, where we Swarm and Fusion Annihilator instead of Tyrant Burst and Plasma Caster.
The effect is the same, just with more damage and higher resource cost.

>>35107051
>Flash him with the Tyrant Burst, evade, then plasma cast cobalt boosted?
Tyrant Burst doesn't work against him, we tried in our first fight.

>>35107009
Mines, yes. Let him run into them while we dodge.

He won't see them with the swarm

On the topic of Tyrant system:
Don't forget that lvl 2 is a short-range photonic burst. Which comes from our chest.
It might save our ass in melee.

>>35107089
Eh I just thought the charge time on the Fusion might be too long and the storm would fuck up the swarm if Ogre somehow doesn't

>>35107136
I was originally voting for single-shot mode on the Annihilator.
Then I realized that the swarm will buy us a bit of time. Especially as the dude is currently melting from the inside out.

>>35107134
see >>35107099

>>35107134
Ogre can't be blinded by photonic weapons and is too heavily armored for anything below Tyrant Burst lvl 3 to hurt him.

>>35107155
Lvl 1 is a FLASHBANG.
Lvl 2 is a PHOTONIC ATTACK.
That's a major difference.

>>35107180
1.) A brilliant flash of light. (5-15% per blast.)
2.) A short-ranged photonic burst. (10-25% per blast.)
3.) A focused particle beam. (25%-40% per beam.)
4.) Multiple arching (but inaccurate) energy beams. (50% onwards, 10 - 15% per volley.)

Note the energy prices. I'd wager that those attacks must be very powerful to be so expensive.

>>35106912
>>35106939
>>35107023

The ground - tarry, with the sickening consistency of quicksand, sucking you down - it holds you long enough for Iron Ogre's glaive to come around in a unfurling sweep...

You trigger your Abruption Jets, thruster banks flaring at your shoulders, your knees, your boots as you wrench free, his weapon raking a line across your cuirass, a deep gouging stroke. The writhing sands clutch at you as you pull free from their grip, levelling your right arm. The Fusion Annihilator cycles into existence, as your Cobalt Booster burns with cold strength, the green telltales winking blue-

Iron Ogre lets out a roar, as his left arm whips across - His glaive now paired cleavers, ugly and notched and with wicked killing edges. Brittle sparks fly, a scream of metal-on-metal, as the hide-scraping blade smashes your arm out wide, the first cycled shot scorching a trail of destruction across the burning sands. When he wheels to bring the killing blade into play, your Lucifer Bits vomit forth death - Something detonates deep in his armor, superheated vapor boiling forth as components rupture...

And then the storm's roar reaches a crescendo, the laser-point of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the desert becoming the true eye of the storm, as Zayin's gift batters your Interceptors apart.

That twitch in concentration costs Iron Ogre, as you swing your Fusion Annihilator back into line with his ravaged torso. You fire, backing away as he lunges - The beam sears deep, expanding in a molten line of destruction. It exploits the pinpoint rents left in his armor by your Plasma Vulcan barrage, heat sinks rupturing beneath the blast; Even as his right-hand cleaver crunches brutally into your side-

His horned head ploughs forward, in a brutal headbutt - Just as you have exactly the same idea.

CRUNCH

(Continued)

>>35107240
>His horned head ploughs forward, in a brutal headbutt - Just as you have exactly the same idea.
ORKZ ORKZ ORKZ

Love this callback to the original fight.

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>>35107240
>His horned head ploughs forward, in a brutal headbutt - Just as you have exactly the same idea.

I-is it time?

>>35107354
No, Anon. His time is ogre.

>>35107211
Not really. Good AP though.

>>35107240

Pounding your helmet against Ogre's dense, riveted helm - Metal crumples. Your head snaps back - But you rear back, and power your crested helmet against his helmet grille a second time. Then a third-

The dual impacts are battering, savage, the metal-on-metal CRUNCH giving way to a CRUMP as something cracks in your optic sensor - Hydraulic fluid sheeting across your visor, as fragments of Iron Ogre's faceplate splinter into the air-

"RRRRRRRR-"

Ogre's horn snaps off. The fifth headbutt sends you both reeling - Your internal gyros whirring, fighting to keep your balance as you're momentarily blinded; Checked a step, Iron Ogre staggers back, burning eyes glaring at you from the ruins of his helm-

A vicious hack of his cleaver rings against your right arm. His left-hand cleaver is buried too deep for him to retrieve - You wrench to the side, inside his guard, thought-impulse triggering your Fusion Annihilator...

You hear - ffssssshhhhhttttt. Misfire - But it doesn't stop you from punching the white-hot barrel into the ruins of his chest anyway, the Tyrant Burst system gathering light-

-Iron Ogre brings his arm up-

The short-ranged photonic burst erupts at a point-blank range, peppering him with destruction. Tiny fireballs ripple across his pitted armor, a roiling wave gnawing shreds of metal from his ravaged limbs.

"JOKER-" A primal sound - Full of exhausted fury - as he rakes his cleaver back, with the hideous sound of rending, tearing metal, your Assault Shroud reduced to tatters...

-Tatters that erupt forth into the gnawing parasites of EXEC_SWARM.

(Continued)

>>35107409
>armor penetrating burning bear hug

That makes me wonder: Does burning Joker modify the Tyrant Burst system?

>>35107469
Nope.

>>35107462
>But it doesn't stop you from punching the white-hot barrel into the ruins of his chest anyway
We are going full berserker right now.

(Gentlemen, your left arm is still gone - And you're almost blind, which is going to affect your ability to target/defend yourself until it's healed.)

>>35107462

He howls. He reels back from you, as death-head locusts swarm across him - Some are incinerated by the terrible heat boiling from his form, that pulses forth as his reactor fights to dissipate the pent-up inferno; It boils out of him in jets of torrential heat, the waspish buzzing, buzzing rising above the howl of the wind - They're crawling in and out of his helmet, eating their hissing way into the eye lens below.

And that has to fuck with his targeting - Ogre's swinging his head, as if he's not quite sure which eye he's looking out of - almost losing his balance, as the cleaver buried in your left armor began to *disintegrate*. Becoming smoke, becoming shadow, becoming coils of vapor looping around the blade he still clutches; A blade gaining mass, becoming the brutal crescent blade of an *axe*-

He attacks anyway. You bring your right arm up too late - The haft of the axe cracks against the Hand of Midas, but the blade carves into your helmet. It shears about a quarter away, sparks fizzing as your lens splinter beneath the impact...

The world goes dark. There's a dim figure before you, clawing, striking - A fist pistons in your chest, and your cuirass crumples inwards. Your sensors can barely make out of a blur of motion, in front of you - The tense growl of wounded Player armor-

HP: 100.7%
COBALT BOOSTER: 8%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 12%
METER: 58%
BITS: 0/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35107622
Shoot a boosted Plasma Caster into the center of his chest.

>>35107622

HEAL. Heal our left arm and our sensors. If there isn't enough Cobalt booster, use Meter to do it.

>>35107622
FULL POWER boost backwards.
Repair eye damage as priority.

Meanwhile, get the Hailfire Chaingun and spray in his general direction, while running around and zig-zagging with boosts whenever possible.

>>35107711
Do this while boosting backwards.
Don't boost the caster, as boosting it reduces spread.
We NEED spread right now.

>>35107622
Fuck I wish we had the power for a harrow right now

>>35107622
Maybe we should heal that eye, guys. Unless we can use oh whatever it is, as a sensor ping. Our nihil stone thingy, and press the attack. Pretty sure Brogre would be happy if we out-beserked him.

>>35107622
Why not just leave some boosted mines in his chest and jetpack back?

>>35107748
Don't hesitate to Cobalt Assist our movement to make a longer leap.

>>35107782
Using the Argus System now would be good, yes.

>>35107869
Did you somehow forget that our left arm was ripped off?

>>35107886
Rather, I keep forgetting that the Argus is mounted on our left arm specifically.

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>>35107904

(My apologies, I should have posted the visual sheet.)

>>35107904
Isn't it on the right?

>>35107622
Hit him with a chainmine.

We should Immolator him too, just to complete the reference to the original fight.

>>35107924
You know, we really need redundant sensors in our chest and legs.

>>35107999
Eh, didn't mean to link.

>>35107748
>>35107782
>>35107812

Jumping back, blind - Abruption Jets flaring, feathering the thrust - that, or collide with the churning stormwall that whips up flurries of scouring black sand-

A crushing blow to the chest - Iron Ogre's weapon a mace again, the great spike punching into your torso. The Cobalt Booster ruptures, the containment sphere damaged - The energy bleeding out as it fights to regenerate, a fitful flicker limining you in a cold blue glow.

"Rip your arm off-"

Your vision returns, just in time. He's pushing forward, constantly attacking, constantly swinging his maul in a flurry of blows, a relentless engine of destruction-

"Beat you with it-"

Your left arm sketches itself back into existence - An architect's schematics, myomer fibres tensing, sensation returning to the digits as they flex. The overlapping plates of armor are the last to form: You sense more than see the shadow rising above you, the distinctive thrum of Iron Ogre's hammer unmistakeable-

He brings it down-

Your right arm comes up, the ruin of the Fusion Annihilator retracting, becoming the three-taloned fist of the Crisis Arm. Not to strike - Your fist locking around the haft of his weapon, pitting your enhanced strength against his-

The Hand of Midas is - effectively, to all intents and purposes - indestructible. The servoes and hydraulics of your right arm are not. Already overtaxed, your shoulder joint blows out, from the strain - Gears whirring madly beneath the gleaming gold, points of stress flaring on your HUD. But you put all your strength into it, even as you're forced to one knee - The blow meant to smash you into the earth coming down like a cast-iron meteor.

Your pauldron shatters. The shoulder, too. The bands of your cuirass splinter, burst, shards piercing into your internal structure, crimson plate bulging outwards from within-

And then you bring your left arm up.

"What-"

(Continued)

>>35108151

Iron Ogre is already moving. His head ducks down - His shoulder rises, turning to take the impact like a linebacker into a charge...

Before, it might have worked. If his armor hadn't been weakened from the punishment you've wreaked upon him. If the furious, point-blank battle - Boxed-in, vicious, like two fighting spiders in a web - hadn't turned his myomer musculature to dust and powder. If his arms - subcutaneously strengthed, reinforced as they are - hadn't already been borne the brunt of the onslaught.

The damage you've done to each other.

As the blunt, brutal ingot of the Plasma Caster flares to life, he's just-

-too slow-

In the split-second between the reforming of your arm and when you bring it to bear, your Argus Sensor plays across him. It finds the seam of weakness beneath his arm, where your Interceptors have fused the plate to slag - Armor reduced to something far more fragile, riddled by the terrible alchemy of Vulcan fire.

You fire. There is a bang like a sonic boom, a flare of fire. The blast does not snatch him away - His armor is too weakened for that. The concussive backwash of the shot limns you in a superheated halo - The barrel warps, buckling, smoke wisping from the heat-sinks as the swathe of destruction eats into him like acid-

And guts him from within.

(Continued)

>>35108255

Fire boils forth. It erupts from his gorget, as his internal reactor detonates. It surges from the vent in his armor, from red to choking black, the terrible shriek of machinery failing, of internal processes yielding to the inevitable at last. Most of the force vents itself from his back, a geyser of plasma flame - A gust that wobbles into the air, whipped away by the howling sands.

The opposite shoulder blows out. His arm, still clutching his mace, comes away at the joint.

"Hhhhkkkk-"

It's a choking gurgle, a growl. Iron Ogre is not in pain - If anything, he's astonished, to find himself so suddenly an irrevocably dead.

As tongues of flame lick at his helm from below, lending a lurid glow to the scene as the winds fall silent at last, he crashes to his knees. Your right arm is locked in place, still clutching his weapon - The shift in weight drags it down, down to your side as Iron Ogre vomits smoking hydraulic fluid onto the ruin of his torso. Flames swirl in and out - Sometimes, they flash green, his Essence Core already breached.

A hand reaches out for you, as he judders - Fidgeting, trembling, wracked by internal convulsions. The tips of his clawed gauntlet touch against your chestplate, two on either side: The touch is almost gentle, as he falls forward. The four points make a shrieking sound as they drag across the secondary plating, leaving bare metal scratches in the dull crimson.

"-Little..."

"...bro-"

Ogre's gaze, the ruined lens cycling in the dim remnant of his helm.

"Zayin-"

"...even now, you-"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35108364
"I wish we could have had that drink."

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>>35108364

>>35108364
Use Exec_Reap. Let's find out what happened to that Void Anchor.

"You weren't bad Ogre. Maybe another ten years and you could have won."

>>35108364
>"I'll meet you when this is over. Don't drink all the booze."

Reach in and crush his reactor, bare-handed.

>>35108364
"Zayin, if you don't want to see your Champion die in front of your eyes, you better show yourself now."

>>35108405

Dude. Not now. We're having a moment here.

>>35108364
"No regrets and no holding back, right?"

>>35108405
Doesn't REAP basically mind rape the dieing person?
This suggestion seems kinda offensive, even if I like it on a purely technical level.

...I would almost like to ask him how he wants his essence to be spent.
But that's probably very tactless.

>>35108364
Wait, do we still have a hand on his weapon? Item get that right now.

>>35108419
When he actually dies. There's no point in saying that after he's dead.

>>35108470

Yeah, no using REAP. That's rather disrespectful, currently.

>>35108461
What? No, not at all. As the player dies you look at their visual data. It's Stories Bones Tell at the moment of expiration if anything.

Seriously where'd you get that idea?

>>35108414
He's already dead you dumb fuck.

>>35108528
>Seriously where'd you get that idea?
It's a power from one of the Killerclown-type players in the game. Specifically, the one who gave us powers by storing them in decapitated heads.

>>35108567
Read the description. It's not mindrape.

>>35108414
He's pretty much dying already. There's no saving him.

>>35108528
Not that anon but maybe it was this part

>reaping the data directly from their stored memory - By staring into their optic sensors/eyes and focusing on the subject of your inquiry.

>>35108405
Yeah, do it.

>>35108405

Normally I'd say yes, but it's just one Void Anchor.

>>35108617
And how Calcite Arrow beat him. Hell, I don't think Joker knows in-universe that it happened.

The Anchor is the stepping stone to it.

I wonder if the Tyrant Burst system can be upgraded. The Cobalt Booster upgrade didn't affect it, after all.

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>>35108396
>>35108413
>>35108421

Your left arm pistons forward. Through the great breach, through the rents in his armor, caved-in to give vent to the inferno beneath. Tongues of flame lick at the articulated digits, as they close around the humming, faintly-palpitating Core - A Core that pulses almost in spite of itself, fighting for the next beat even as it fades to nothing.

It is glassy, brittle in your grasp - Wisps of green Essence bleeding out, your Accumulators drinking in the swirling motes. Your fist vices down - Cracks skittering across the surface, joining the web of flaws...

-It splinters. Power swirls, gathers, as Ogre stiffens - The fiery light pulsing one last time in the eyeslits of his helm, fading to dim embers.

Against all reason, he moves. With a slow, aching effort - Impossible - his left hand closes on your own...Clenching, with all the force he can muster, as black pixels rise in a fog from his ravaged armor. All those black specks, resurrected as flame.

And he says-

"-Strong-"

Then he says nothing more.

A molten glow gathers - A forge-fire gleam, on the arm of Midas. The gleaming orichalcum shimmers, as a crest takes form: Bull-headed, with sweeping horns - Not of gold, but of red iron, furious blue light burning in the slits of the eyes.

>>35108414

Only the moan of the wind answers you, as the Reaper Circuit drinks in the Essence. The crusher of your Carnifex disengages; the cracks in your armor sealing over, sensation and input returning to your right arm, canted high as you turn the great maul in your hand-

> RELIC ACQUIRED: [KURA]

(Continued)

>>35108737
We have a mace.

We have a shield.

We are now a crusader.

Melee options is go.

Side note, we should upgrade the shit outta this thing. See if we can take our grinding relics from other fighters and make attachments for Kura.

>>35108779
>We have a mace.

Isn't it a shapeshifting mace, too?

>>35108811
It's a fragment of Alex Mercer, controlled by chuuni robots.

>>35108737
So, Ogre is able to bless people with powers, by deeming them strong?

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>>35108737

The black sands are receding, like a dream of the acid ocean. They take with it the husk of Iron Ogre, slowly yet surely disintegrating - The grand clash of Hyades demenses ended at last, the two becoming one.

Great shutters close over the sky. Like portcullises, closing - The grey sky shading to blue, a gentle breeze picking up - the grass rising around your armored boots, a whisper carried on the winds.

Before you, a lake - Infinitely clear, serene - now with the flicker-motion of koi, darting back-and-forth amongst the weeds. And behind you, casting a shadow, the familiar shape of a pavilion...

You hear her before you see her. The faint rustle of her silken sleeves, the patient clack of her wooden sandals against the curving bridge.

And Cybele says, in a voice hushed with regret-

"Joker-kun..."

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 108

TO BE CONTINUED

>>35108811
What isn't, in this place? Point is, it's a smashy smashy. We can make it awesomer at the hollow sun.

>>35108779
Not if it costs a level. Need more armor asap, and Adamant isn't worth what it costs.

>>35108838
Well, this will be an interesting talk.

Mio may or may not be out of the running.
The question is if Cybele can become the Chalice Queen without eating souls and instead live by fighting and killing armed opponents.

>>35108838
Uh oh.

>>35108867
She cannot.

>>35108838

(Gentlemen - My apologies, but I'm entirely exhausted. This looks like a natural break-point for the chapter: I would love to continue, but I'm afraid that writing quality would suffer.

You've been a wonderful audience - Good night and God bless, and I hope to see you again soon.)

>>35108811
>>35108779

(Yes, it's a shapeshifting weapon. Effectively, it can take almost any form - Though generally glaive, mace, cleavers, axe, chain or scythe - and is a superlative weapon. It does, however, drain your HP as you use it.

I'll define it more clearly in the next chapter.)

>>35108854
Agreed. Maybe we can get the Hollow Sun to work the Adamant's weight into the mace? That'd be a fun effect.

>>35108854
>We will never upgrade our armaments
By the way, would you consider a Shroud upgrade to be better armor?

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>>35108364
>>35108737
Goodbye, Ogre.

>>35108779
The Shield would probably have to be attuned then the Red Crusader is born

>>35108867
Impossible. We can't possibly find and kill enough Players to feed Cybele, assuming we don't get killed in the process.

>>35108838

Oh shit. She's back.

>>35108908
The shield is the Sinistral.

Looks like the hope for TEAM JOKER is now ogre

>>35108908
>>35108854
The SInistral still counts as a shield...

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>>35108930
I dunno, Joker and Ogre would've fought each other sooner or later. It's an honor thing.

>>35108881
Unfortunately it's never done anything like that before.

>>35108887
No actually. The nanomaterial isn't quite as good as armor proper at reducing damage, and there's the hilarious energy weapon weakness.

>>35108966

The Lucifer Bits turned out to actually be quite useful. I'm surprised,.

>>35108930
It was dead the second you decided it had to include Enfer.

>>35108966
First time for everything.

>>35108987
I think they didn't pull their weight for their energy cost. Too long of a start up time and they were wiped out as they would have been the most useful.

>>35108933
>>35108926
>Infused with Adamant Aegis's Essence, the ADAMANT - Also known as the AEGIS OF WRATH - is a superheavy shield of surpassing craftsmanship and lethality. Forged from a superdense adamantite-neutronium alloy, this black-banded kite shield bears Aegis's personal symbol, forever glowing a sullen, molten red. Derived from the war-forges of the Hollow Sun, the ADAMANT is a not a shield meant for defense - It is a shield meant for attack.

>Existing as a solid, physical object that cannot be de-manifested, the ADAMANT requires constant contact with at least two charging elements, and superhuman strength to utilize. (With a Talon at the bare minimum.) The sheer weight of the ADAMANT precludes the use of any other object on that arm.

>In return, the ADAMANT grants a flat +60% bonus to the user's HP - Additionally, when the shield is struck in melee combat, it releases a shockwave of black flame: One with equal intensity to the force directed against it. This effect automatically activates once per round, on the first blow parried - Requiring a moment to recharge before it can function again. (tl;dr - Only once per round.)

>At present, the shield merely functions as an impressive bulwark against ranged attacks - Though it undoubtedly has further powers that are yet to be unlocked.

I maintain the belief that it is and can be made better than the sinistral

Even though we'll never use it and that makes my dick sad

>>35109048
Of course, deploying them in the middle of a goddamn controlled sandstorm probably didn't do them any favors.

>>35109065
The problem with the Adamant is that it basically renders a lot of our EXP investments useless.

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>>35108878
What's in the fucking box JQOP?

>>35109007
Anon, would you bet on that? Because I sure as hell wouldn't.

>>35109065
It would need more levels than we put into force, and we'd have to abandon half of our Relics and all of our two-handed weapons.

>>35109118
Ogre's head.

>>35109048
Well considering the fact that they were in a player armor eroding environment they still did good Jim

>>35109102
>>35109149
The problem isn't their durability, it's their energy drain relative to their damage. They pulled 40 meter before they fired a shot. The only reason it wasn't more is that Joker was Carnifex 2'd.