Yesterday my father died.
Today Joker Quest will teach me even worse pain.

Life is wonderful.

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>>37921851
I'm sorry that your father died and all but that post was hilarious

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The skies of Arcadia are on fire.

Beneath the flickering dome of the great shield - Shedding filthy yellow light - long trails of smoke churn forth from the countless fires throughout the city, sooty arcs of dust and debris fountaining skywards all across the horizon. The alien city spreads out beneath you, all angry right angles and fluting spires, stretching away into the distance.

From the rooftop, the city looks like a night-shrouded volcanic plin; a vast, dark field pocked with calderas that open onto hell. Dimly, you can hear the chatter of gunfire, the flames from other buildings around lighting the walls and cast twisting shadows towards the shrouded stars-

And now, only now, you realize where you are. You stand atop the vaulted roof of Seisin High's concert hall - A place you departed less than an hour ago...Or longer.

A lifetime.

In the distance, the Diadem; at the very heart of the doomed city, a great spike driven through the skies and into the earth. Over the hunting shrieks of Correctors- damnation swarms boiling overhead - you glimpse the flash-flicker of distant explosions...

The beginnings of a flash.

A dozen blocks away, the street erupts like a chain of volcanos. Explosions at the terminal points of scarlet particle beams that rain down from the circumference of the Diadem's twisted crown - the ground beginning to ripple and distort as it sprouts sudden forests of blooming dust, thrown-up earth and writhing fireballs. A juddering, flickering carpet of destruction engulfs the target zone, billowing dark smoke and vaporised sand back into the edges of the pale fog that engulfs everything-

The ground is shaking. Even from here, you can feel the relentless, plosive concussion of the onslaught quaking through you, like the echo of someone else's war.

And dimly, you realize - The Diadem's new masters have, evidently, found a way to bring the great structure's weapons online.

(Continued)

>>37921940
Fucking killstealers.
We need to harvest those Correctors for some nice level ups.

>>37921909
>>37921973
Jesus, this quest brings out the worst in people, doesn't it? I laughed too. I don't even know why

>>37921940

Beneath your feet, the tiles of the rooftop are tarred with black Lachryma. Some curious alchemy has caused it to solidify, to form a glassy black surface that collects light, like black diamonds - You glimpse your tattered reflection in them, over and over again.

The first storm has ended.

The worst, you know, is yet to come.

Cybele's crumpled form - unmarked, her hair tangled around her face - lies where she has fallen, her head turned to the side to hide the worse of the damage; so very much like a doll's, the swollen malignancy of the grand shield's suppurating radiance casting odd illuminations on her pale skin.

And you think-

A shudder races through you. The world spans, sickeningly - A sensation akin to nausea, a bone-deep sickness that gnaws into the very core of your being. Like what you've felt before, at Alura's hands...Except it begins deep within you, the myomer fibres of your form cording in an involuntary spasm-

Your Emblem - Cybele's Emblem - is burning. You can *feel* it - a slow-building ache from your pauldron, flowing down to your forearm - and it doesn't *stop*, like the nauseous fascination that comes with shock at a spreading injury, as wisps of emerald light bleed from the lines of the crest. The world begins to blur at the edges-

-You know what this is. You know what's about to happen.

(Continued)

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>>37922072

A rasp from deep within you-

Something wet and black drips from the mouth grille of your helm, thinner than oil, thicker than blood, hissing like acid as it falls to the stone. You're on your knees - a greasy blurt of static flaring in your sensors, your gauntleted fingers digging into the ground, scraping deep furrows-

You're cold. Cold, even though you shouldn't - can't - feel anything. The screech of your armor against the roof echoes, each time your form gives another shudder in time to the faltering pulse within you; You can't seem to-

Black.

Pain. A haze of it. You can hear sounds - Ragged, choking, feral - sounds that are nothing like speech...

There's something in your left hand. Grey, pitiless, gripped so tight you can feel the scarred crimson of your plated fists beginning to dent and deform around it-

Dimly, a word enters your mind-

Athame.

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>37922172
Well, might as well use it. We've got nobody else to use it on.

Unless we want to use it on Mio.

>>37922172
Might as well use it. What else can we do with it? Kill Alura if she survived?

>>37922172
So uh, the obvious option is to stab ourselves with the Athame now.

>>37922184
There's no real way to get it to her now, and there's no telling how it may affect Mio's dual possession thing.

>>37922172
Fuck man, we need this shit to take revenge on Alura.
We did one revenge trip already.
We'll take another one.

Pocket the Athame, flood our systems with Cobalt Booster and beat those bitches to a pulp.

>>37922172
At this point, I doubt what Hellebore said about its effects is true. Don't use it.

>>37922172

DO IT, FAGGOT.

>>37922300
Actually, you do have a point there. But do we really have other options?

>>37922327
Try to clench our teeth and use our axilliary reactors to power through until we get time to rest?

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>Six replies
>Six IPs

>>37922184
>>37922188
>>37922194

Black.

The world swims back into view. Your vision, guttering, jumping. HUD scrolling with streamers of alien code-

The Athame, in your hand. A grey spike coming to a razor point. Your fist trembles around it, until nothing you see makes sense; Even through this all-consuming agony, pain so intense that you can no longer stand, you know that this is just the beginning. It feels like the inside of your armor has turned into needles - Stabbing every centimeter of you, from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head. Lancing deeper into your flesh; In your bloodstream, tearing at you from the inside.

You feel them by what they cut away.

The Athame's point scratches against your battered, scarred cuirass - just above the waning light of your Cobalt Booster. You barely recognize your own voice, the awful tangled blurts of solitary and miserable agony that pulse through your speakers, lost in the vision of ruin before you-

-You can't-

One last effort. One brutal motion.

The Athame punches home. It punches through the seam of weakness in your plate - a sound that jarrs you, a spontaneous convulsion sending chained-lighting agony pulsing up your spine. You can *feel* it; a heavy, scraping pressure that bores into you, snapping through your armor - It sinks deep, almost all the way to the hilt...

-Almost.

You have to. Have to. Have t-

Your gauntleted fingers ball into a trembling fist. They come down on the Athame's hilt, like a hammer on an anvil.

CRUNCH.

(Continued)

>>37922339
Like last thread. Oh man. Hope we don't fuck this up.

>>37922343
So, it would have been a dead end had we waited for the effects to subside on their own, considering that we are apparently surrounded by correctors?

>>37922375

(Not quite. It'd hardly be pleasant, though.)

>>37922343

And in that moment-

Hellebore told the truth. Not all of it, but enough to suit her purposes. All except the last, fatal detail-

The Athame is not of her hand.

-It is a creation of the Red Joker.

It was not the first thing he ever made - The first time he ever took a thought and tempered it in the Red. But like every one of his other creations - Unforgettable, indelible - the Athame is, first and foremost, a weapon.

When it bites into the very heart of your being - When the stake impales your Essence Core-

Your form locks up. The light of your mono-optic sensor gutters out. It feels like you are falling, icy-cold; an endless descent into the dark-

But still aware. Aware, and agonizingly awake, within the shell of your armor.

Trapped within a dead body.

(Continued)

>>37922434
Oh shit man.
We found the power of the Joker.
Does that mean the Misericode is actually similar in make to the Athame?

>>37922447
Wasn't that always implied?

>>37922484
Yes, but now it's official.
The Red Joker is powered by chuuni.

>>37922484
It was, but the hints gave birth to two different theories and this is the first time we've gotten actual proof for one of them.

>>37922434

Just long enough. Just long enough to think - this is forever, and forever is to lie here and hear the endless crash of acid waves against the beach of black sand. To hear the howl in the voice of the wind, to know the slow inevitability of the yawning abyss of days-

Your vision goes dark. You can't even see the burning city any longer.

There is just a sound, a persistent whining note. It cuts through your empty, dreamless darkness, droning, squealing, monotonous.

A beat.

Another.

The pulse of a distant heart-

Black Lachryma wells out around the wound. Bleeding forth *from* you, like arterial spray - Rivulets trickling down the joints of your armor. And deep within secret nerve-matrices, a tiny worm of electricity, of intention, flickers. It flexes, sparking for a split-second to accept the transmission instructions - to form a closed circuit with the code-form of the Joker's Memory, compiling the inload between them-

Only a blink, before the suffocating fog - the awful buzzing, buzzing - comes frothing up from deep within.

But enough.

Within the Red Joker's core, an intelligence wakes.

And once more, you hear the crash of the waves - Forcing you to your feet. Turning you to face the rising tide. Shutters retract, intricate mechanisms turning one-by-one; Irising open, tendrils of absolute black coiling around the Athame's blade, scaling it. You can hear the unceasing hammer of your pulse-

No. Not *your* pulse.

(Continued)

>>37922532
Well shit.

>>37922532
>crysis2WAKE_UP_MARINE.webm

>>37922532
We just got Black Joker'd, I think.
If we're lucky (?) it's the Old Joker. He's not gonna be a bad guy, right?

>>37922588
I think it will be Old Joker.
And he will churn us out.

I wish I had the Crysis 2 cutscene where the exact same thing happens.

>>37922616
>And he will churn us out.
lewd
Though we do seem to be sweating out the Lachryma, yeah. Makes me wonder how exactly it would've worked on others, though.

>>37922532
So this was Hellebore's great plan? Make Mio her own vessel while making us Old Joker's vessel? She wanted to let herself and the man she loved reincarnate in real human bodies?
That is one fucking intricate plan.

>>37922636
Maybe the lachryma was the corrupted essence that we gained a few times.

I can't imagine Red Joker using lachryma in his device.
Unless Black Joker used to not be Cthullhu.

>>37922532

Flaws spiderweb across your armor. There is a shattering, a *splintering* - as the Athame rotates, then locks in place; grey giving way to crimson. Your vision returns; optical sensors integrate light and shadow into a razor-sharp simulacrum of the world around you, trickling meaning directly into your brain-

-At the very centre of your being. A shape you've glimpsed only once, within the Singularity Cannon. No longer a sphere, or a core - But something that extrudes veins and arteries, that sinks barbed hooks into the systems around it, that connect it to everything; like an infection, a parasite, pulsing with a seething internal life...

Diseased. Tumorous. Alive.

An unquiet, ever-beating heart.

The last of Cybele's Emblem bleeds away into the void; it takes part of you with it, a haze boiling, swirling around you-

And then the fire comes, as you begin to brighten from the outside in - painted with the color of stars seen through the smoke of a burning world. All those black specks, resurrected; All that ash turned back into flame. Except that the smoke is not *rising* from you - It is falling *into* you, precipitating, condensing down into the light-

(Your MAXIMUM HP is now 153%.)

The air churns. Tiles splinter, struck by some whirring object - invisibly fast - each blow impacting with enough power to shatter the ground underfoot like a short-fused grenade. Slake, the spidery device articulating into furious motion; Each shuddering crash sending flaws skittering across the whirring arms, violent convulsions that echo the turmoil that churns within you, with the rotation that threatens a storm...

And then the last shreds of armor splinter away from the hydraulic arms. What remains is extensile, muscular, bristling with cilia, with talons, like spinal centipedes - they slice the air with a whirring shriek, with the red-threaded black shimmer of corded myomer muscle, juddering with internal stresses.

(Continued)

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>>37922676
>(Your MAXIMUM HP is now 153%.)

>>37922676
Wait, are we getting reforged? Nice.
This seems to be going pretty well.

>>37922707
Isn't that what we had before the whole 'Alura fisting our Essence Core' thing?

>>37922676
Could it be that all Jokers are powered by the same source, from the black world?

>>37922720
>Isn't that what we had before the whole 'Alura fisting our Essence Core' thing?
No.
160% is what we have without the 100% boost from Cybele's emblem.
It's 153% because Alura made love to our ribcage.

>>37922720
Discounting Alura fondling our core, yes. We had 160% HP, then Cybele's Emblem boosted it to 260%. So pretty much this was coming, when we decided to pigstick ourselves with the Athame.

It doesn't mean I have to like it, though. All that delicious HP, gone.

>>37922720
>Wait, are we getting reforged? Nice.
It feels more like some kind of corruption or something.
It has bad vibes.

>>37922730
>>37922733
Oh. I've made a terrible mistake, then.

I'm still optimistic, though!

>>37922743
>I'm still optimistic, though!
Oh innocent anon.

So, now we've got an activated core.
How will Daegal react?

>>37922743
>I'm still optimistic, though!
This is JokerQuest, where optimism goes to die.
>>37922769
Gold Joker would be pretty cool.

>>37922434
>(Not quite. It'd hardly be pleasant, though.)
Why does this give me flashbacks to the beginning of Metroid Prime 2?

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>>37922676

Industrial claws clatter in frenetic motion, like chattering mandibles-

-Until they rip open, to reveal jagged maws that give vent to the howls you cannot voice. Violet light burns within those shrieking, eyeless faces - the light of EXEC_CONSUME, gnashing the air in mindless hunger.

(SLAKE has been upgraded to SCYLLA - The cost of utilizing each arm has been reduced to 5%/round, and the range of each limb has been increased to eight meters. In addition, you can now use EXEC_CONSUME when SCYLLA's maws bite into a target. As an integrated system, SCYLLA no longer occupies the appropriate weapon slot - Allowing you to install another system.)

Cybele's power - The power to remake yourself -

The fibres of the Leech Module bite deep. There is a terrible pressure in your skull, in your helm - Pain knifing through every cell in your body - you can feel your fingers scrabbling at your armor, tearing; Plate crumbling beneath your fists, as you rip segments free-

You are-

You are *becoming*.

(You can no longer use CYBELE's healing ability. You now regain HP whenever you damage a Player.)

You're on your feet. Lurching, staggering. Your arm - Your right arm - burns, all the way down to the bone. Your form is warping, shifting; the only unchanging thing is the Hand of Midas, untouched amid that morphic chaos that racks you. The peerless gleam of oriachulum - It feels like your arm, your *arm* is packed with red-hot gravel...

The Argus System sinks into your distorted silhouette, your vision blurs with supernova heat shimmers.

The grating purr of your crimson armor - the snarling of the servo-joints; Color floods your vision - Not the green-tinted haze of your optic sensors. You are seeing the world - the Red world - not through the filter of your HUD, but through something approximating your own eyes, streamers of code crawling along the edges of perception-

Predator's eyes.

(Continued)

>>37922743
>I'm still optimistic, though!

Don't worry, that feeling will fade soon enough.

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>>37922876
>As an integrated system, SCYLLA no longer occupies the appropriate weapon slot - Allowing you to install another system.
Time to re-equip our interceptors.

>>37922781
>>37922760
>>37922878
You all doubted me. But these are some nice upgrades. >>37922876
It's a combat situation, so Joker will do well. Now if I'd said I was optimistic about his social life, then you could rightfully call me retarded.

>>37922896
That, or the Distortion Halo.

>>37922876
FULL RELIC ATTUNEMENT

Also, we got our interceptors back.

>>37922876

OP please I have to know, what would have happened if we still had the Carnifex?

>>37922907
We don't regain HP from killing Correctors, which might be an issue in this case.

>>37922922
Huh?
Why?
Correctors drop essence, from what I remember.

>>37922922
They aren't done yet. We'll see what else comes up.
Also, we don't have a mono-eye anymore?
>Color floods your vision - Not the green-tinted haze of your optic sensors. You are seeing the world - the Red world - not through the filter of your HUD, but through something approximating your own eyes, streamers of code crawling along the edges of perception-
>Predator's eyes.

>>37922941
Looks like it. Could just be under the mono-eye, like the eyes we get/got when using the Carnifex.

>>37922941
Next post will likely clarify.
The idea seems to be that Argus is now our primary sensor.

Shit, are we now immune to disrupt?

>>37922935
The Leech Module only ever worked on Players because it was meant to hijack the Armor's last attempt to restore itself and even this upgrade limits it to healing from dealing damage to Players specifically.
This upgrade gives a massive advantage when fighting Players. Luckily, we can now use the Scylla to grab Correctors and CONSUME them from HP.

Shit, we can now fly through Corrector swarms and eat them with Scylla.

Let's see if we get some NIHL integration.
Oh and Scrander and Emulator. And Koleos and Assault Shroud. And the Sinistral.
Shit man, this is glorious.

Wish we'd still have the chaingun. And the signal booster/ECM for the Argus.

I wonder if we'll now have full affinity for all relics that we find, or if it'll just be for the ones we currently have.

>>37923016
If it's the first, we need to get back to the Hollow Sun fucking ASAP.

>>37923034
Thank fuck for the bike.

>>37922935

(Yes, they drop Essence - But this is specifically the integration of the Leech Module, which only functions with Players.)

>>37922914

(My apologies, but I can't say - That would be plot-relevant information.)

>>37922876

(Your Argus System's passive functions are constantly enabled, and no longer requires a charging element to use. Active scans still require expenditure of Meter/Cobalt Booster.)

-And the churning ash mantles you, gathering into your Assault Shroud; Swirling in your wake like a tattered flag, the wind whipping past as sparks fly up like lost prayers into the sky.

(Your Assault Shroud now regenerates up to 10% a round.)

Sensory data returns, in a rush. There, in the distance - An answering pulse. Your icons, broadcasting-

To the north - Steppenwulf and Vector Geist's symbols, burning like brands in your vision. Further east, from this blasted rooftop - bitter ozone and the spit of electrostatic discharge, the crackling sounds almost but not quite enough to drown out the solitary, irregular pulses of feedback to the south - Muted, distant...

Another wave of seething heat. Another surge of agony, through your right arm. It feels like the peerless gold is red-hot from the forge, dragging you down; As the first leathery wingbeats, the first shrilling cries, enter the very edge of your altered perceptions...

[ ] North.
[ ] East.
[ ] South.
[ ] West.
[ ] Descend into the Concert Hall.
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>37923034
>inb4 the Corruption will take away our Access to the Hollow Sun

>>37923081
(My apologies, but I can't say - That would be plot-relevant information.)

Well shit, I'm sure it would have been awesome.

>>37923081

JQOP, is the hall the same place as the play?

>>37923081
>North.
I kind of want to go with Daegal wants, but no doubt these two will be in trouble.

>>37923081
Shit, allies!

Didn't we already get the communication upgrade for the icons?
We should be able to contact Steppenwulf and Vector Geist, while we go check out the South.

>>37923108

(Yes.)

>>37923111
Huh, I guess you could read it like that.
But I'd say people come first.

>>37923081
>(My apologies, but I can't say - That would be plot-relevant information.)
Ah, Naoya. Ruining us from beyond the grave. Cunt.

>(Your Assault Shroud now regenerates up to 10% a round.)
There go some of our HP concerns.

Seems like Daegal isn't reacting too well to the alterations.
I've got the feeling following it will lead to more PLOT. Let's contact our allies first.
>[X] North

>>37923122

Fuck, then Kazuya and the others might be inside. Head
> [X] Down.

>>37923127
We can now cast SWARM all the fucking time.

>>37923081
Cast Swarm thrice, from our Shroud.
Let it feast on the correctors, to increase in size.

We gotta make full use of Koleos.

>>37923138
Shit man. That sounds possible.

Yeah, go there.

>>37923138
Yeah, you're right.
Civilians first.
Correcting >>37923127 to
>[X] Down.

>>37923122

> [X] Descend into the Concert Hall.
> [X] North.

We're already here, so let's head down first.

The pimp hand wants us to go into the concert hall, right?

[x] Descend into the Concert Hall.

>>37923081

5 bucks says Kazuya is Daegals host.

>>37923257
>5 bucks says Kazuya is Daegals host.
Argent was supposed to be Daeugal's host.

>>37923270
Well, Kazuya worked for Argent for a while.
It's actually a distinct possibility.

>>37923138
>>37923153
>>37923168
>>37923170
>>37923206

Down.

There is a service entrance, at the end of the roof - the hatch's manual dogs locked in place, a touch of mundanity amid the madness. Scylla's arms reach out - Your fingers sink into the metal, and *pull* until plaster dust fumes forth.

The hatch yields, with an ominous groan - Ripping free, crumpling leaving a ragged entrance into the yawning darkness beyond. There are strange noises from within the darkened halls, as you let descend-

It's a straight drop. Longer than it should be, as your world fills with redness-

And you land in-

It is only a small chamber - which doesn't help at all. The heat from the walls is palpable, more sensed than felt - White blooms on your altered vision, before it adjusts...

A thin strand of redness parts company with the ceiling and falls, a syrupy teardrop that patters lightly against the slick ground underfoot.

You can't begin to guess how many *people* there may have been, originally. Anonymous strands of gore dapple the interior, sluglike lumps of tissue and muscle that slither to the ground in great arterial trails; clumps of hair breaking up the light-catching wetness - An arm flopping against your boot, still grasping uselessly at the air, three fingers shredded to a pulp...

-Like womb. The walls wet with warmth, and blood.

(Continued)

>>37923318
Jeeeesus Christ.

>>37923287
Daegal requires someone with an immense amount of essence and Argent, being the strongest Player and last surviving finalist, was the only one stated to be qualified. I don't really see how Kazuya could be the host.

>>37923318
Christ

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>My Fucking Face right now

>>37923344
>strongest Player
Debatable.
>Daegal requires someone with an immense amount of essence
They were experimenting with Players, though.
And with those Manifold towers.
I'm saying if all Argent's resources were pooled, it's conceivable he could've completed Daegal, maybe lowering the essence drain.
We still don't know how Kazuya's anti-Red aura works, either.

>>37922914
We would've became True Joker

We've changed from destroyer to predator

I wonder if that white shitbird saw this coming?

Is there any way for us to scan ourselves that whole parasite/Cancer at our core only intensifies my worry further

>>37923400
Worst case Daegal tries to reject us and find a host that doesn't suck.
Which would mean that we lose Hollow Sun access.

But Kazuya... Well, he willfully ignored everything up until now. Would he be okay?

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>>37923417
>Implying that isn't his arm flopping about

>>37923318

What - *happened* - here...?

There are shreds of clothing, of armor, lying embedded amongst the pulped meat - A sense of surreal unreality descending. You find your gaze fixing, distantly, on an upturned shoe; the buckle gleaming despite the blood that flecks it, the leather supple with polish-

It is not empty.

Here - Here, within the walls - they must have been sheltered from the black rain.

So what-

A sound, behind you. A scraping.

You turn, and you see the answer to your question.

The shape emerges from the shadows, winding around the corner, spooling its vast swaying bulk up - like a fat, bloated constrictor - through the gaping chasm of the floor; hundreds of mismatched vestigial limbs, ending in talons, squirm forth from that hideous mass, writhing like psuedopods - Bloodshot eyes dimpling the abomination's hide, that great beaked head bludgeoning the roof about, hard enough to make the ground quake-

When this place - When all of the school - was plunged into the Red world, these things must have been waiting. Waiting, and hungry-

It rears up, beak going wide. A colossal booming noise sounds - the Corrector's immense tail end, hooves clattering against the walls, dragging the suppurating mass forward as it thrashes in a pain-frenzy, a hungry-frenzy, milk-white hide stained anew with looping arcs of gore.

It *hisses*.

HP: 80.1%
COBALT BOOSTER: 150%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 86%
METER: 34%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

Our of curiosity what side of the planet to do you guys live on?

Its about to be 8Am over here

>>37923469

(Gentlemen, to describe the tactical situation; You're in a wide hallway, likely in the upper floors of the concert hall - Most probably some distance before the main stage.

The corridor extends a significant distance; this was a lift lobby, and there are some administrative offices behind you. The creature likely smashed itself an entrance up through one of the lower floors.)

>>37923469
Use our new tentacles to feed on the essence of this fucking thing.
Close the distance at the same time and beat it up with dual Crisis Arms.
Use Cobalt Booster to augment our attacks and Muleta and our interceptors for further attack.

MAKE. IT. DEAD.

>>37923469
Turn on the Aquila, shoot a double Tau. Try to grab it with the Scylla and CONSUME it. We need the HP.

>>37923476
14:00 here

>>37923469
>80.1%
Well whatever we do we'd better add in a swarm.
>>37923503
I'll support this plan, but we haven't had a chance to re-equip our interceptors.
>>37923476
Almost 12 AM.

>>37923518
Right, swarm is a good idea.
It can feed here, costs only replenishing resources and distracts the enemy.

I'll add the after-images of the shroud. Let's go full power.
Fuck this fucking thing.

>>37923469
>It *hisses*.

Fuck you too giant snake thing. Rude ass motherfucker

Time for some high impact high octane dodging

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>>37923476
Belgium. It's 14:00 here.

>>37923469
Attack it with the Scylla and CONSUME it. Meanwhile, punch it. Punch it a lot.

So, do we hate this thing because it murdered bystanders, do we hate it because we are still full of hatred at Alura for Cybele's fate or hatred at ourselves, or do we just want to try out our new gimmicks?

>>37923557
All of those at the same time?

>>37923543
Aww man I'm fucking hyped for that new Garo

>>37923557
Can't it be all of it?

OP, do we still look mechanical or are we now more organic?

Also, am I the only one who forgot that Argus had a passive mode that occupied a charging element?

>>37923557
Yes

>>37923557
All of that? Joker was never fond of Correctors anyway.

I'm eager to see the level-up options and how Daegal changes.

>>37923587
I think the organic material in our core that was awakened is going to have a cage match with The Golden Boy over our delicious essence

>TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR THE HELL IN THE CELL MATCH OF THE CENTURY FOLKS!

Or we try to just like push them together and keep adding glue and duct tape until something happens

>>37923617
>Or we try to just like push them together and keep adding glue and duct tape until something happens
Orange Joker?

>>37923617
Y'know what, let's take Naoya's Essence, just to try and get as many colors in us as possible.
RAINBOW JOKER GOOOOO~

>>37923624
JOKER GAIM

>>37923617
It's worked so far.

I'm a fan of new and improved Joker. Everyone else has bullshit Lachyrma powers, now we've got a piece of that action.

Black Joker and Red Joker = Crimson Joker?

>>37923624
Or we just force JokerOP to burn his plans and make new ones.

Again.

>>37923650
>Crimson Joker?
We used to be chrimson.
Now we are darker, due to the armor upgrade.

>>37923647
Not gonna lie, Fruit Salad Joker would be really cool.

>>37923650
Edgy Joker. Anon starts dressing exclusively in black and spouting off shitty(ier) one-liners in fights.

>>37923575

(More organic.)

>>37923537
>>37923543
>>37923503
>>37923518
>>37923534

In the split-second before the Corrector can lash out - Before that awful mass can come down - the Cobalt Booster flares, your limbs stinging with cold strength; The Tempest Scrander howls to life at you back, and you accelerate to meet it - Assault Shroud shedding afterimages, phantoms that turn your charge into a speeding blue-flamed rush-

-the wicked scimitar of the beak shears one of your trailing decoys in half-

...As acceleration rings accrue for the first and final impact of your Crisis Arm, and you land a punch that connects with a thunderclap of overpressure, the impact shaking the hall around you. Tumorous eyes rupture beneath the blow; the Corrector thrashing as it reels back, beak turned aside, cracks skittering through the caul of bone that shields that warped skull. Your second punch ruptures white scales, opening bright pink meat and transparent bone-

-And body parts spew wide in an outrush of gastric fluid. Partially digested, reeking with acid - they spatter out of the deep, gutting wound you've delivered, a convulsion of agony rippling through that vast, hideous form; When that bludgeoning weight comes down like a sledgehammer, the static flares of your Abruption Jets fling you free...

Scylla's maws sink into vile, reeking flesh. Great gouts of tainted ichor gush forth - The frenetic writhing of the creature's vestigal limbs become more frantic still, flailing at the eyeless bear-trap jaws that flare with violet light...

But for EXEC_CONSUME to take hold - Even as the Corrector's corrupt bulk begins to blacken, to blister - means that you've tethered yourself to the monster.

And when it surges forward - An explosive burst of motion, a violent lurch that forces that oversized form, all pained apocalyptic fury and mindless hunger, down the narrow hall - you simply have no room left to dodge.

(Continued)

>>37923651
Was pretty close, apparently. His computer crashed yesterday, remember?

>>37923650
Hmmm. Scarlet Joker? Bordeaux Joker? Burgundy Joker? There are a shitton of shades of red, honestly.

>>37923638
I want to see the look on his face when Red Joker comes back as a Lachryma hybrid monstrosity with mouths everywhere that eats players to repair itself.

I want to see the looks on a lot of faces, actually.

>>37923683
>And when it surges forward - An explosive burst of motion, a violent lurch that forces that oversized form, all pained apocalyptic fury and mindless hunger, down the narrow hall - you simply have no room left to dodge.
ffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuck.
Let's hope CONSUME is faster.

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>>37923693
>Volt's face when

>>37923683
This is like the last level of Metroid Prime 3.
Except the health snack enemies are actual threats.

You know what we need?
An ally with regenerative powers.
Endless leech!

Shit, I wonder where Haze is.
And if Bishamon will try to murder us.

As an aside, what happened to Cybele?
Did her body dissolve?

>>37923761

(Her body was gradually dissolving. You left it on the roof.)

>>37923683

It slams into you. No longer even trying to bite - Like a runaway train, like a primal behemoth. The catastrophic force *drives* forward, vestigal limbs - Ending in claws and hooks and, mostly horribly of all, grasping *hands* - clutching at you, your armor scraping and screeching, drawing shrieking sparks-

The thrashing bulk barrels forward, with blind, surging force - Scylla's fanged maw ripping out chunks of suppurating flesh, lunging in to bite again as the Tempest Scrander flares against your back, as your Crisis Arm smashes into the Corrector's skull again-

Again-

*Again*-

And then you glimpse the far wall at the end of the grand hall blurring towards you with the speed of destiny-

You've run out of corridor.

The impact is an absolute one. Total, all-consuming. You hit the wall so hard, black cracks star across your vision - the terrible pressure of a vise *crushing* you as myomer muscles rupture within your armor, as you smash into it-

*Through* it.

In a word: WHAM.

(Continued)

>>37923745
>Bishamon
Unless he gets an upgrade himself he's going to get fucked.

>>37923803
He will likely meditate somewhere and unlock his true sword skills with that and find some secret power of his armor.

>>37923803
>he's going to get fucked.
Not with his waifu dead he isn't.

>>37923802
Okay guys, let's chalk this one up to not being used to New Joker yet, because getting our ass kicked by a mook corrector is embarrassing.

>>37923802
So, net gain in HP but a few crits that disabled one of our limbs?

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>>37923803
But anon he has already given himself over to the edge.

He has achieved perfection within his player form.

>>37923838
Vs Bishamon II: Sword Harder

>>37923861
It actually seems like a rather strong corrector.
It would probably kill ordinary players by the dozens.
Remember, AP used organized strike forces with special upgrades against those things.

>>37923863
>>37923869
Bishamon Returns: Revengeance

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>>37923880
>TFW we will never have organized strike forces

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>>37923880
>Bishamon Returns: Revengeance

>My fucking face when he proclaims thatwe are bat shit insane

>>37923905
We had relatively organised strike forces before they all died/fucked off.

>>37923928
To be fair we killed one of the squadleaders ourselves. Twice. Ogre ;_;

>>37923905
Soon, anon, soon.
We had one shining moment.
We will get another one. Two of our guys saw our signal, as we saw theirs.

Time to collect our people and get them to the Sun.

>>37923939
We have this bad habit of getting our favorite characters murdered.
Often by our own weapons.

>>37923951
Well, Hecate wasn't our fault.

>>37923951
It's because JQOP is one of the rare QMs who lets us suffer the consequences of our terrible decisions.

>>37923941
You know this would be a great way to get more bodies on our side.

It was a lot of people at this school, we get the word out that the Smiler's and co did this and I'd bet we'd get a steady stream of players who want revenge on them almost as much as we do. Almost.

Come battle brothers its time for the next great crusade

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>>37923802

You're falling. Falling, into a vast space - The air whipping past, fist-sized chunks of plaster clattering from your armor; You glimpse serried rows of seating, vast spotlights now flickering with a surreal illumination, the balcony ripped free of the curving wall, giving way beneath the immense violence of the suppurating bulk smashing through the main hall, crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar...

-Your Tempest Scrander spits electric fire, as you try to right yourself-

The ground smashes into you so hard your armor cracks, spontaneous fires bursting to life as the backwash of your Scrander sends electric charge forking and spitting and crazing across the thick carpet underfoot, now stained black-

And you hurl yourself away as the Corrector's head comes down with the force of an artillery shell.

The impact smashes a deep furrow through the crazed rows - Seating splintering beneath the thrashing bulk, dust fuming; An overhead light crashes down like a meteor, the roar echoing in your sensors - As you stagger to your feet, Scylla's limbs thrashing, you see-

There are things in the rows, in the aisles. Lurching things, articulating on arachnoid limbs. Ivory masks with perfect white teeth. Mantled in gore and black Lachryma. About a dozen of them, picking their way through-

...When you left, less than an hour ago, the hall was almost full.

Heads twist - With a sound like snapping twigs - to center on you. They shamble forward, dragging themselves onwards - there are barbs on their oddly-jointed limbs.

And you hear - again - the static, the buzzing static...

HP: 67.6%
COBALT BOOSTER: 118%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 43%
METER: 46%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>37924022
Cobalt move the fuck out of here Scrander, Jets, whatever we can.

Also Scan and Raise our shield while on the move

>>37924022
Argus scan to find the source of the static.

Use the Tempest Scrander to jump over the seats towards the stage while we strafe the Correctors with plasma vulcan fire.

>>37924022

(Gentlemen, to clarify the tactical situation; The fight has moved to the main concert hall. You've managed to disengage from the Corrector's massive bulk in the fall, and there's significantly more space to maneuver.

There are around a dozen of the figures already in the hall. The stage (and the relevant wings) are at the far end.)

>>37924022
Zombies as well? Wow.

>>37924058
Hm. While firing our Vulcans at the Corrector, move towards the stage. I don't exactly remelber the role of the wings, but seeing as how JQOP just mentioned them, they must be important.

>>37924058
Move towards the stage.
Use Aquila to allow us to shoot our Vulcans while moving backwards.
Keep the after-images active.

Fire occasional missiles at the smaller bodies. If the big corrector crops up, use the chain mine.
Keep Sinistral ready. If a small one comes close, we consume it.

I'm going offline.
Don't you dare fuck this up, fuckers.

>>37924092
>Use Aquila to allow us to shoot our Vulcans while moving backwards.
To clarify: I intend to fire full throttle at the incoming masses while doing this move. Hit them all.
Engage cobalt boosted Vulcans if the lack of armor penetration shows to be a disadvantage.

>>37924022
They're covered in Lachryma, which burns easily. Cover them with Boosted fire from the Immolator. Aim a Chain Mine at the damn Corrector. We want it dead and ready to be eaten.

>>37924108
We'll do our best, anon. I realize that's not very reassuring, though.

>>37924133

We have better options than the chain mine.

if fire is the order of business, use our regular missile launchers in addition to non-meter hard-weapon artifacts.

>>37923993
Did we ever come up with a name for our forces?

>>37924245
No /tg/ sucks at names

>>37924048
>>37924056
>>37924076
>>37924092
>>37924130
>>37924133

You focus-

Your right arm - the Hand of Midas - the burning returns. It is a spasm of agony, a molten-metal *hiss* of peerless gold; It feels like - It feels like your arm is about to *tear free*-

Focus. Active scanning.

Backstage - A guttering, half-kindled flame. Just a glimpse, more of a *sensation* than a vision - But it's there. A beacon, like the distant flicker from a lighthouse's windows...

And in that moment, the first of the lurching figures are upon you. They move with eerie speed, their limbs flailing - Lashing out, with flaying intent. You bring the Sinistral's field up, and the first barbed length cracks against the ghost-steel and recoils, stung by the brittle flare of energy...

Then you bring up the Immolator, and bathe them in napalm flame. The actinic blue fire is like a searing wall of acid, gouting forth in a searing cone; the thick carpeting underfoot ignites. The lurching figures ignite, too, like stick-effigies; Lachryma catches light, and turns them into staggering torches-

And still they come on, blade-limbs grasping out for you. The brass railing the borders the central aisle slews away in a waxlike sheen; the plastic back of seats dissolving before the immense heat, as the staggering figures catch light in less than a second as the fire eats into them, leaving asymmetrical frames to twitch and shudder as they crumple-

More of them. A pair, springing for you-

Your Sinistral comes across in a blurred sweep, and you cut them in half with a single swing. Bisected, they don't bleed ichor or Essence - Instead, you feel the unmistakeable resistance that can only come from internal structure and myomer muscle-

They're not Correctors.

They're Players.

Somehow, these things - These unholy, twitching monstrosities of masked and grinning death - they're *Players*.

(Continued)

>>37924294
>They're Players
Snack time!

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>>37924294
Delicious players

>>37924294
>They're Players.

Count Joker needs to feed before retiring to his coffin.

>>37922876
THIS IS BAD THIS IS VERY VERY BAD

But...Now we get to be the Villain~

>>37924294
Shit if this is all the players that went to the play then fuck there goes my plans of building an army

>>37924395

Damnit guys, why did you trust hellebore.

I think we made a mistake not going gold joker.

>>37924448
>>37924395
Calm your tits. It's all been relatively good under the hood so far.

>>37924448
At the time Anon was in such pain that he could barely focus not to mention there's battles and correctors raging all around us.

I've wanted to go Gold for a long ass time but what we did seemed necessary at the moment to keep surviving. I highly doubt this is the end to Joker's metamorphic paths.

>>37924461
You're an idiot. We've become as monstrous as Kraken, Rust Kaiser and Pazuzu. Nobody is going to trust us anymore. Really, all of our selfish, evil actions have turned us into this. We did so many schemes to make peoples lives better and to make things *easier* and now its all gone to shit.

And the moment it seemed dangerous to keep Cybele with us, we cut her loose and let the corruption of the Black World fill up where our Heart is.

I told you all we should have gotten the Joker's Heart. Now, the Black Joker's infested us as much as he has the White Joker. The world's fucked.

>>37924497
>>37924461

I dunno. JQOP is kind of highly suggesting we're about to lose gold armor mode -entirely-

The only way we're getting out of this is to feed the containment system as much essence as possible in as short order as we can.

That means close combat, melee mode, and consumtion everywhere. Feed the nihl, and try to overpower what >>37924503
is saying..

>>37924516
This guy's right. We can STILL head back. We can fix this. We can try and get our heart back and purify the Joker.

Even if we beat the White Joker now, we can't win against Black Joker if we're MADE from it.

>>37924503
Don't be such a drama whore. What good will your bitching do?

>>37924516
That, I do agree with. We're kind of in the middle of two segments now, though.
Next time we have control, let's let Daegal feast.

>>37924294

Scylla's maw sinks down on one - Fangs punching through carapace, violet light fuming forth-

No Essence. Nothing to consume. But then how-

The sweep of your Immolator turns the rows of seating into a field of fire. Hungry blue flame - Roaring up towards the ceiling, licking hungrily at the thrashing shapes, still staggering towards you with singular intent...

The last of the not-Players stumbles into you from behind. The Emulator Module pulses, at the base of your spine - Even as the barbs of it's limbs scrape futilely against your armor, seeking purchase. The Crisis Arm lashes out, in a casual backhand - The impact, amplified, is enormous. It flings the skeletal figure away, as if shot from a catapult - When it hits the far wall, it comes apart like a doll in the hands of a cruel child.

As the serpent-Corrector rears up from the ragged crater it's descending mass has left in the ruined theatre. That shearing beak wrenches wide, wide enough to scissor you in half - Drawing back, riling back upon itself, ready to lunge for an all-consuming bite...

-Enough.

You turn. The boxy launcher of the Chain Mine sketches itself into existence; Oversize, the singular warhead roaring forth on wings of jetair and flame. Your Assault Shroud swirls around you, fanning out - Stiffening into a palisade, a canopy, as you turn to the side-

When the explosion comes, the blast makes the earth quake. Vaporized gore - the contained pressure - erupts in a tight, extreme geyser of flame and debris that jets up and burns out across the chamber ceiling. In the liquid drizzle that follows, the sickly light grows brighter still - Motes of green Essence illuminating your armor from within-

(Continued)

>>37924545
Oh c'mon, we all know I'm right. The last few chapters have been proving Joker's a fucking asshole and now, we just chopped off Cybele like she was nothing.

Can we even use the Red Joker meter powers anymore or have those changed as well?

>>37924503
>And the moment it seemed dangerous to keep Cybele with us, we cut her loose and let the corruption of the Black World fill up where our Heart is.

She was literally dying, or emblem was burning away, Our existence was pain, the shit was hitting the fan all around us.

What would you have us do then?

>>37924553

As the echoes of the detonation die away, a silence descends. Just for a moment, just enough to take in the scale of the desolation.

JOKER

A score of voices, speaking as one. From half-melted speakers, overlaid by the crackle and spit of the flames.

At your feet - the severed half from one of the black figures. It drags itself across the smoldering floor, head rotating jerkily around the brittle stump of the neck - the eyeless face canting back, as if to look upon you.

YOU YET LIVE

And every word bears its own echo, coming from the shattered space around you - The Hand of Midas continuing to send pulses of agony through the nerve-matrices of your form, as your fingers curl into a fist.

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>37924571
>Oh c'mon, we all know I'm right. The last few chapters have been proving Joker's a fucking asshole and now, we just chopped off Cybele like she was nothing.
Cybele was already dead and her Emblem was disappearing. There was nothing Joker could do at that point.

>>37924572
She wasn't dead. We killed her. We killed her when we didn't need her anymore.

Though I'm DELIGHTED to find the Black Joker powers are everything I hoped.

>>37924576
DEFINE 'LIFE'

BECAUSE WHATEVER I AM NOW, IT ISN'T THAT.

>>37924576
I feel like we're wasting time fighting these things. Let's leave and go south

>>37924576
Stomp it and leave.

>>37924571
>Oh c'mon, we all know I'm right.
No we don't. You're jumping to conclusions about what's happened to us.
> The last few chapters have been proving Joker's a fucking asshole and now, we just chopped off Cybele like she was nothing.
Do you think I particularly agree with the path that led us here? Shit no. Getting involved with her was a mistake that cost us Bishamon, Mio, and more.
However, again, what good will crying "We're all doomed, the Black Joker has taken us, the world is fucked!" do?

>>37924576
Shit. Is that Naoya? IIRC he vaguely said something about multiple bodies, right?
Anyway, kill it.
Then go look for something that could help us retake Daegal.

>>37924630
>>37924600
>>37924572
We still had her Emblem.

>>37922434
OP said here we didn't have to carve her out of us and give room for the Black Joker to creep in.

>>37924576
"How do I fix this? How do I make amends?"

Also, can Scyalla use weapons?

>>37924576
>[ ] Free

Indulge the hand. Let it feed. The hollow sun reacted with physical agony to the presence of the joker virus in its system, daegal is the embodyment of that FUNCTION. We've just kind of been carrying it around this entire time. This is the first time its spoken up as needing to act.

We can attempt to tame the beast, or guide its ride. So let it loose.

Grab the skull in our fist and crush it along with witty one-liners.

>>37924630
>Then go look for something that could help us retake Daegal.
At this point its basically going to be the terminus scanner or bust. The hollow sun might reject us entirely also so think about what you all just done. We need to play this very, VERY very carefully.

>>37924658

> Also, can Scylla use weapons?

(No. Technically, it's not even a Relic any more.)

>>37924658
>OP said here we didn't have to carve her out of us and give room for the Black Joker to creep in.
Nor Joker, nor we knew that. As far he was concerned, the Athame would simply end the contract that only served to put him in agony over the death of his Hyades.

>>37924687
So now its just, what? Mouths on top of tendrils?

>>37924604
What part of she was dying do you not understand? If not then how was we going to bring her from deaths door?

>>37924658
>Your Emblem - Cybele's Emblem - is burning. You can *feel* it - a slow-building ache from your pauldron, flowing down to your forearm - and it doesn't *stop*, like the nauseous fascination that comes with shock at a spreading injury, as wisps of emerald light bleed from the lines of the crest. The world begins to blur at the edges-

It was burning away. Anons keep using their perfect hindsight vision but have yet to suggest any alternatives that weren't at the time Suffer immense pain while everything is going to shit.

It happened bitching about it and keep saying we should've done X, Y, Z doesn't help. The most we can do is focus on getting our bearings, getting our people that are here safe, then figure out where to go next

>>37924746
>>37924716

We still had the Emblem. Hellebore survived as an Emblem and it symbolises or connection with her. She still existed, just living off of us.

>>37924732
A corrector graft, or something very very similar.

Red Joker is become Calamari

>>37924763
Oh, yeah. Perfect example there, someone who we should strive to emulate.

Guys we really need to find Mio

>>37924767
Seems that way. I'd rather we'd have done this in another route, but still.

I suggest we go save Regios (South) and then, go see if we can try and get our Heart back? Then we can get the crew together and try to save Mio.

>>37924777
It's just proof that they can live on even as Emblems.

>>37924763
You dense motherfucker

>>37924763
The Emblem was clearly disappearing and OP outright stated last thread that Cybele's Essence Core was destroyed.
Hellebore also didn't alive as an Emblem.

>>37924732

(Technically, they're eyeless hydra heads atop tentacles, bordered by clutching mandibles.)

>>37924609
>>37924610
>>37924622
>>37924630

You reach down. Your fingers-

-claws-

...curl around the frame's brittle ivory skull, with inhuman care. For a moment, you simply watch - As your talons catch the flickering blue light that exists in the ever-present darkness of the chamber, the shadows leaping and capering around you.

YOU ARE DIFFERENT, JOK-

The expression you make-

The faceplate of your helm splits, and the visage beneath leers. Tiny servoes within your visor articulate - Or perhaps it is merely your face now, with the fall of the Shroud. Perhaps the line between the two has blurred, or perhaps the difference no longer matters.

And you curl your knuckles, and slowly-

Carefully-

-*squeeze.*

It crumples inwards, like an eggshell. When you releasing the twitching torso, it continues to spasm for the span of a few moments - Before you bring your foot down on it, and grind it into powder.

The voices end in a screech of feedback.

(Continued)

>>37924788
We can't. She's not in the Real or the Red right now.

>>37924814
HAHAHAHAHA

New Joker™ is going to disturb the hell out of our comrades.

>>37924797
I'm pretty happy with it, in all honesty.

Everyone else has been using bullshit corrector powers from the start. Our turn, now.

>>37924814

Your footfalls are the only sound in the world, as you stride onto the stage. A distant spotlight still flickers, casting a pale circle of illumination. When you stand within it, and turn to look - Just once - over your shoulder...

Everything is fire. The remains of the stage's facade are spattered with gore and unspeakable fluids. Bright streamers flutter weakly as - From far, far away - the distant sounds of destruction come to you like far-off thunder. Dust sifts down from the ceiling, a dark trickle that merges with the distant crash of the waves.

Dust.

Everything returns to dust, and everything is reduced to blind fighting in the shadowed ruins of cities when death comes, growling, to find you out.

And still the Hand of Midas continues to send urgent pangs of agony through your arm. Preemptive phantom pain, from an arm you have yet to lose. Your wavering shadow merges with the trailing curtains, as you push them aside - Not looking, at least not for long, at the blood that slimes the floor under your feet.

Or the contorted shapes - untidy, like so much debris - scattered at the far corners, where they struggled to find shelter.

-----------------------------

The corridor beyond is a brief one, but the ruin is no less complete. You proceed forward over a scatter of limbs that could almost be dolls, the walls and floor smeared with abstract, forlorn twists of solitary color. There are forms scattered amongst them, as the buzz of static grows louder - The fingers of your right hand, your gilded hand, clenching involuntarily with a nerve spasm that should be impossible.

You wonder where they thought they were going.

You wonder if they thought they could hide.

(Continued)

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>>37924972
>You wonder where they thought they were going.You wonder if they thought they could hide.

Predator pls

>>37924972

-The creak of rusty hinges. There, at the far end of the charnel house of scrunched and ruined forms, the long swipe of a handprint leaving ghostly marks against the surface-

There's an open door. Swinging back, then forth, lazily - Almost temptingly. Each time it completes an arc, it bumps against the crumpled form in the door - A Corrector's form, collapsed. It has teeth - rotten, broken pegs of teeth - all the way around its yawning mouth, big enough to swallow your head hold, back-jointed legs splayed untidily beneath it.

Another. A spider-thing, done to death with desperate force - Only four limbs remaining, a glint of metal protruding from one brittle eyesocket-

A curious artifact. A straight shaft, snapped off along its own length, coming to a jagged point - Ending in the curling bars of a guard, coiled around a hilt.

A sword-

No. Not quite.

A *stage* sword.

And beyond, you hear - Weak, wavering, hoarse-

"Who's..."

"-Who's there?"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>37925058

"Is that you, Kazuya?"

>>37925058
Oh hey, seems like we found Kazuya. He's gonna flip the fuck out if he sees us, though.
Call out to him, try and reassure him it's us, by repeating some details only we'd know.

>>37925058
>[ ] Free

Regarding Daegal: Remove the nihl sphere from the slot in the gauntlet. Its a containment unit. This is hardly the time to contain it - let it spill over, eat away at infections inside us that its fighting already, only shackled. Sure its taking the nihl out of play and slightly more vulnerable for a little bit, but this is a time-sensitive operation: we have to use the window before the damage is entirely down.
Then use Consume to siphon the nihl energies into the midas gauntlet - its a massive charge that we've been using to contain it, not to fuel it. (im' not advocating an entire drain, but enough to seal the deal so to speak).

>>37925058
"I have come to help."

>>37925058
"Someone who's not here to eat you and yet here to hunt these beasts. Sounds good enough?"

>>37925111
Not that bad of an idea, but let's keep "trying massive alterations to our very being" for after the socializing, kay?

>>37925058
>A curious artifact. A straight shaft, snapped off along its own length, coming to a jagged point - Ending in the curling bars of a guard, coiled around a hilt.

This sounds a lot like a mirror of bishamon's snapping of the apex blade.

I say grasp it, symbolically accepting that part of our responsibility at least.

>>37925146
The point being to do it before whatever happens to be attacking/infecting the gauntlet runs its course. talking is wasting time. Time we can't afford. So.. no, not kay.

>>37925164
Alright, then. Let's do this.
Remove NIHL, consume it and direct the energy toward Daegal. Shifting from >37925082
to this.

>>37925111
>>37925164
You do realize that acting based on headcannon bullshit won't do anything, right?

>>37925223
Using breadcrumps that the op has left isn't headcanon, its engaging on the already-present metalevel that we've been ignoring - and getting our ass kicked by - up until now.

It should have been the first thing we did when we had the FREE prompt entirely honestly.

>>37925114
>>37925116

Only silence greets you.

>>37925079
>>37925082

> "Is that you, Kazuya?"

Then-

"...Anon?"

There is utter exhaustion, utter relief in his voice - Tortured, agonized beyond belief. His voice wavers, with that surreal edge of unreality - As if, even now, he cannot be sure that the world he's found himself in is more than a vivid nightmare.

"I-"

His voice breaks.

"-I can't see you. I can't see...anything-"

The room beyond is as dark as a cave. The only light is what you bring with you - the crackling flame that continues to roar in the distance as it steadily consumes the hall, the interior materalizing as if drawing substance from the haze itself.

In here, too, the floor is treacherously slippery.

Bodies are everywhere. Piled along the walls. Draped over the tables. Facedown on the floor in black pools.

Some are missing pieces.

All is silence and death-

Except the very end of it.

Kazuya lies where he has fallen, propped against the wall, his legs out straight in front of him. Breathing hard, his skin nearly translucent - Speckled with blood, some of it drying and streaking, staining the tatters of his gilded coat. Every breath produces a blood mist, his lungs laboring-

He has no eyes.

His face, hanging low, is drenched in gore.

There is a form cradled in his lap, a form he shields with his left arm - As if protecting something infinitely precious. Hair so dark it is nearly blue-

Yui.

Her hair is black and sticky with her own blood. Through the gap in Kazuya's fingers, you see bone, and worse than bone - A tangled, clotted, weeping mess.

And Kazuya says - Turning his head towards the sound-

"-Look."

"Anon, look."

"I kept her safe."

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 122

TO BE CONTINUED

>>37925343
Jesus Christ. This fucking school, man.
There goes another waifu. And likely our best and only friend.

>>37925343

(Gentlemen, my sincerest apologies for the abrupt ending. It is extremely late on my part - While I would love to continue, this looks like a natural breakpoint.

Good night, and God bless - I hope to see you all again next week.)

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>>37925343
Every time.

>>37925343
shitshitshit
Fuck this gay nigger shit holy fuck oh god

It seems like he's gone completely crazy.

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>>37925343
>He has no eyes.

>>37925343
Okay, fuck it. Everyone even remotely involved in this is dead. Every single motherfucker.
Time to go full Villain.

>>37925407
JQOP, if you're still reading: was there ever any chance of avoiding this outcome during this thread?

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They will burn
They will suffer
They will wish they've killed us
The time for games is Ogre

>>37925407

good night, sweet game, thans for running it..
in your opinion how badly did we fuck up this session?

I can't contain all this healing.

So, what exactly corrupted us?
The lack of an emblem?
The Athame itself?
Slake?
Or was our core always corrupt?
If so, did the losing of the Hyades bond awaken it? Or was it the Athame?

Guys, I wonder if we could give Daegal to Kazuya.
Worst case, it eats him. Best case, we've got our butt buddy ghetto Chalice Queen.

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>>37925343
Holy hell

>>37925722
Lachryma.

I'm thinking that the Athame opened Red Joker up to the corruption.

Incidentally, what Old Joker did with that was very clever. The Red Joker can only destroy, and in that, it can only create weapons. So he created a weapon that would destroy in a different direction, one which lead to a different path.

>>37925797
For once not. The Athame worked together with the Joker's Memory to wake up the black sphere inside the armor. The fact that the Memory had Black Joker's mark hiding inside it was very telling, even then. I never thought the Athame was the key to unlocking it though.

>>37925875
Where the fuck have you been all thread, Wata?

>>37925875
It's weird that the Athame has this freaky effect on us.
I wonder what it would have done on other people.

It seems to be a result of random interaction more than intention. Maybe the Beam Magnum would have done similar things.

So, do we remove the black sphere or something?

>>37926032
It's apparently currently working as our heart. Wouldn't recommend it. The best thing to do is probably try and boost Daegal up so that it can take over that function.

>>37925875
But the corruption mechanism is still Lachryma based. Red Joker was bleeding black earlier.

>>37926032
This was definitely intended. It almost looks like a way to get the benefits of lachryma without the drawbacks. Might have done something similar to other players, but without something equivalent to the sphere inside them there wouldn't be as drastic a change. The Relic integration is much more interesting, especially if it continues.

As for removing it... Well it would always have required open Joker surgery, not the best of ideas. And now it's integrated itself into the core and is integrating other components into the armor. The attempt would end very, very badly.

>>37926032
Uh, no. It's currently the only thing keeping us alive. It'd be like tearing out a pacemaker which also gives you superpowers.

We do have to work out the compatability issues between the Daegal and the Heart though, since I doubt they are going to play nice with each other.

>>37926233
So what do you recommend we do from here?
Obviously, if possible, we should get Kazuya to safety and work on healing him. If he still can be.

>>37926256
Well, the main problem is how. Feeding Daegal the NIHL sphere's Essence was one proposed solution.
Another was to find a Terminus Scanner. For that, contacting AP's faction would be best.
The last can currently think of is visiting the Hollow Sun, though we don't know if we even still have access.

>>37926233
Indeed. I really, really wish we still had the Carnifex.

And I find it really, really ironic that Red Joker has become something very, very similar to Kraken. He has tendrils that end in jagged maws which can eat people, and a cloak of ash which regenerates.

>>37926233
>especially if it continues.
You think that each level up will now cause automatic integration of additional relics?

Also, I wonder how Alura couldn't find the sphere.

Shit man, imagine if we would have used that thing on ourselves when we first got it, after some discussion with Cybele.
Mio would have been kept out of it and Cybele could have re-created our contract or something.

>>37926320
I'd veto visiting the Hollow Sun. Chances are it would just regard us as an abberation. If it didn't, it might have some interesting stuff, but it's not worth the risk.

Also, I think Kazuya has been through quite enough Healing for one day.

>>37926339
Kraken had literal corrector parts.
We have pimp-ass relics that became part of our system.

>>37926346
>Mio would have been kept out of it and Cybele could have re-created our contract or something.
Mio would've become Black Joker's vessel.

>>37926346
>Shit man, imagine if we would have used that thing on ourselves when we first got it, after some discussion with Cybele.
Can you imagine JQOP's face if that was what he intended?
Like, I'm just imagining us getting in so much trouble now when there was just a simple upgrade waiting for us all along, and he just got frustrated.
It'd be morbidly hilarious if it turned out shit like this was waiting around every corner, begging to be used, and then we continually disregarded it.

>>37926226
Unless I'm reading this wrong he was vomiting lachryma before using the Athame. The black stuff clearly was involved in the change, but it wasn't due to bleeding it from the mouth.

Guess I'm saying this isn't corruption so much as a controlled change using the cancer cells as a base.

Ah, so THIS is what Utopia Ruler was referring to way back when. I'd thought it was the Armor of Midas, honestly.

>>37926320
Well first off I told Tyrian Edge to find a Device for a reason very close to this. Secondly FIND NATSUMI should be the most important, seeing as everything we've seen until now is dead or worse.

>>37926339
He's more of a reflection of White Joker as we saw him in Imagos's flashback.

>>37926346
I think it might. Maybe. Don't bet on it. It's most likely certain Relics will respond to integration under the proper circumstances even going forward.

>>37926435
Yep. Though I suspect that trying a Hyades bond like this would kill one or both sides outright where it once only caused excruciating pain.

>>37924108
Sorry, anon. We fucked up after all.

>>37926574
>Ah, so THIS is what Utopia Ruler was referring to way back when.
What are you referring to?
Did he comment on our arsenal or something?

>Secondly FIND NATSUMI should be the most important, seeing as everything we've seen until now is dead or worse.
Definitely.
Wait, didn't we give her a Joker icon?

Also, what do we tell Kazuya.
>"So, bro, don't freak out but I'm kinda a robot now. I know, I know.
>I tried to tell you, but you never wanted to listen. Well, now you can't ignore it anymore."

>>37926574
We should integrate the Distortion Halo now. Now that Slake is fused to us.

>>37926664
He commented on, well, this. Right before Red Joker's tactical espionage action bit he asked for the Nihl Sphere and said (paraphrased) he could barely feel Joker had it under the tumor. Since it's hidden in the Gauntlet and Daegal DOES replace healthy Essence wih copies of itself it seemed like a safe guess.

She has an Icon, yes. Should be able to find her, especially if the radio upgrade comes online.

And dude, Kazuya's dying. Funny, but not the time.

>>37926755
The thing is, though, Steppenwulf and Vector Geist are still out there, and the Corrector Swarm is too.
Also, what will we do with Nazumi once we do find her?
Maybe contacting AP's faction for help is a good idea.

I remember when we used to get Hollow Sun charge...
Or had a Hollow Sun pastebin...

Thats not suspicious or anything. Nope

>>37927327
More suspicious is the lack of update character sheet, actually.

>>37927327
Eh, that's been true for the last few threads.

>>37927440
Alright, now that is suspicious.

So the plan is to re-organize the strike team and contact AP's faction for help?

>>37928131
Yeah.
And find all of our remaining friends.

Shit, is Asuna now in Pythia form?

>>37928131
After we do what we can for Kazuya, yes.
I'm sincerely hoping we can save him.

>>37928404
>Shit, is Asuna now in Pythia form?
She got away before all of this started, I think.

>>37928490
>I'm sincerely hoping we can save him.
If our access to the Hollow Sun was guaranteed, I'd place him there.
But it might turn against us at any time.
Safest place might be the tank. It's unfortunate that we don't have the guardian AI right now.

As long as we keep pinging as "Red Joker" we should have access to the Hollow Sun. The Terminus Scanner should be able to identify any sources of corruption and hopefully purge it from our systems.

>>37929691
Actually, the little bit of Lachryma caused Hellion defenses to attack us.
And back then we were pure.