>>3463372

ALEPH FUESIL.

First amongst equals, or merely the first to forget. The all-seeing singularity, a moment in time and space that contains all others.

From the beginning, he always saw more than you did. Perhaps that was his curse.

How he survived being devoured, you'll never know. Did he fold himself into the interstices of proximate space? Remove himself from time, like a frame snatched from a flickering projector, until the leviathan had crumbled to dust around him?

But you know what came next.

The fall into oblivion. The waking, and the long, long mourning that followed.

The voyage across the plains of silence, lost in the span of deep time.

One foot in front of the other, crossing the lightless desert, finding the place where one comes to end of himself.

Something, circling without taking hold.

If you dream, sometimes, you dream of that: If you had been the one to be devoured-

If he had been the one to find the Red Joker, in his endless, lonely vigil-

Would you have Fuesil's life, now? Would he have had yours?

Eons, down in the dark. Down in the time-eaten chasms, through places of fire-fallen and mournful memory. Finding orichalcum, making it his own. Mustering an army-

All for this moment. All to escape.

Perhaps you were wrong. Perhaps, in spite of everything, VOIVOID never did forget.

C̶͙̙̦͕̞̻͙͎̮͖͙͕͉̙̬ͫ͊͒̉ͦͨ̏ͨͣͣͪͣ̄ͬ̽͂̀E̢̛͖̬̖̺̊̆̿͊͆͆͛̉ͪͫ̈́̌̚̚̚͘S̷̸͕̦͇͉͕̫͎̳͙͍̣͈͕̹̠͈̗̟͌ͫ̇̑͢Ţ̛̠̖̟͍͚̝̩̼̳̥̑̃̍ͣ̊ͯ͜͜͝Ư̴̛̯͕̭͖̼̠̖̘͓̥̱̼̹̙̖̈ͬ͗ͣͬ̈͒̓ͭͮ̃̔̒̔̍ͬ̇͜ͅS̢̛͓͓̣̬̃̈͛̊͊͗̎͂ͫ̂ͬ́ͨ̒̓ͬ̈́̕͡͡

Somehow, somehow, VOIVOID's voice is a gunshot in the static-streaked, storm-tossed nothingness, breaking the silence in a way the clatter and throb of the Gate's machines does not. Jags of power crawl across the peerless edges of his gold-chased swords, as if squirming away from the defiling sound of speech.

(Continued)

>>3463481

"Fucking hell-"

Daegal breathes the words, the sound a low rasp. He remembers what you told him, by the flickering flames.

"-You're..."

Yes.

The moment is a frozen one, building the rotation that threatens a storm.

Beneath you, the iron path shudders. The arcane mechanisms of the Gate pitch and buck, shorn conduits crackling from TRIGON's death. But VOIVOID's gaze - even through the aura of misdirection that flickers around him, a shimmer of fractured reality that slides and pops with every motion - is locked solely upon you.

Perhaps he's been waiting for this for a long, long time. For the reckoning that would - someday, somehow - come.

Or perhaps VOIVOID sees only-

J͋̽O̟̤̠̟ͯ̂̏̎̐͋͘Ǩ̦̹͙͇̱͍͈̆ͨ̐̚͞Ȇͤ̃R̮̻̣̜̈́͠

And that's all you need to know.

But Kazuya - Still operating according to the parameters of a sane world, heedless of that terrible, lightless, black-in-black stare - blurts out:

"Why, for fuck's sake...?"

The answer comes, in a buzzing rasp. Every second that passes is a second for the Heart to pump Lachryma through coolant lines and tubing, to coalesce into armor and hydraulics and phantom nerves.

Black oil seeps through a splintered greave, becoming solid, becoming alloy-steel. A warning light winks out - a subtle shift in your gyros informing you that your leg can take your weight.

(Continued)

>>3463582

ţr͒̾͜i̋̾̔e͆̑͋ͩͦ͜d͒ͦ͂̈ͨ̚͟ ̋tͯ͒͑ͧͬͩ̈́òͮ͋ͣ̆͟
́̓͌ͣ̕
ͫͯ̔̒ͪ͘g̔ͦ̃o͊ͪ͊̿ͣ̚̚ ̆HO͗Ṁ̸͌̓́Ęͤ̒͑
̨̋̉̓̂̃̎̂
͠b̡̐ͣu̿̏ͯͨt̏̃ͦͭ̑̕ ͧͧ͘c̵o̓ͭ͌ͮͫư̂lͭ̏̈dͤ͋͊n̾ͨͧͩ͛̒'̴̂̀͒̆t̑͌̃̇ͨ̑͢ d̈́̃̓̏oͭ̉̓ ͤ̐i̡ţ̇̊̈̍͗ͧ ̽͆̀̎́ͣc̢̄ͦͯ̇o̓uͪld̓ņ̄͌͗̄'͒ͫ̈͊͟t̢̀̀͒ͪͭͪ̚ ͛̃́͒ͦd͌͑ő̴̎̇ͩ̉ ̧ͯ̃ͦ̾̽̓iͯ͑t̕ ̄cͯͪ̄ͩ̊ou̍ld̐nͪ̾̎̉̽̊͟'̈̚͞t̂͊̋ͮ͐̚
́ͧ̈́̾
ͩ͆͆ͦ́sͫ̑o̢ ͬ̓l̂̈̌ͬ̈́̍o͗ͧ͒nͮͪͤ̾eͯ̒̒͋̆̚l̒͘y̓̆̈́ͪͮ̑
̸͊̎
s͗ͫ͞õͯ ̇̎̆s͆͌͐͊̂̍c̵ͧ͆̿̑̉áͮ̈rͧ͌̓ęͦ̒̑d
ͣ
̧s̨̀͒͊ͩ͛̐̃o̾̋ͩ͂́ ͒͆ͤ͑̈́̊́e̵̋ͣx̀̉̿ͭ̽ͩ͡ci̷̽̃̆̍̀̚tͦͨe͛̈́d́͌͆ͧͯ̂͡
̨ͩ͆̄̉̔ͭ
f̕o̐̔͊̈͑̏r͆̇ͪͤ̃͗ ͊̓͟s̾ͣͩ̋͗͟oͤ̋ͪ̌ͧͦ ̷͆̏̽͋́͋̆Lͬ͊̚O̢͑̔ͯNG
ͪ̔̃̑̒ͣ́͞
͆g̨̔͛ǫ̇̑̌tͨ͌̽ ̐ͤ́̐́tͤh̏ͭ́͢eͤ̔́ͧ̀̾͠ ̈́͒̏ͦliͧt̆̂͟t͊ͭleͪ̋̊̒̌͐͟ ̶͂p̒̉̀̚ěͫͮ̍̍ͭ̚͠op̈̎̈́̿́l̽͐ͬ̓̿͠e̡ͯ ̀̋̋̈́͌gͦ̓̒oͦ̕tͫͤͪ͋̽̌ ̎͛̾ͤͦ̍t̛ͯ̿h̢͊e͛̊̌́ ͭ͆̌͂ͫͮ́t͂̒ͤ͋o̾ͮyͯ̊͘s̽̉͆̃͊ ̢͛͆͂ģͧ̐͆͊͒̚oͬ͗͛ͣ͒̌̀t̓ ͐̈́i̋̀͂ͮ̂͂t͘ ̐͊aͣlͬ͑̓ͧ́͘l ̾̑̓ͩ̚r̃̇͂ͫ̔ͫe͗ͤ̃̍͛aͨ͒ͯͧ͛͐dͧ̄́y͑͋͐̽
̛̇͂
ͤ́ͧͨb̈̂͑̽ͩͣ̽e̸̽c̍̌ãͧ͛u͒ͤͨ͂̾s̍eͤ̐̑͒̆͡

A shudder of effort. A spasm. Something seems to writhe in those wire-pinned eyes, ringed with creased lines.

The words that come out are affectless, flat. Not the cancerous, venomous swell of VOIVOID's speech, but machine-perfect - all the more so for the *strain* that beats against you in an almost palpable force.

"Because only the Red Joker gets to leave."

Black bile dribbles from beneath the corners of VOIVOID's mask, the thin sheet of gold that engulfs the lower half of that sculpted, sneering face.

"What-?"

There's a slow-dawning horror in Daegal's voice - A horror made more profound by how impossible it is to express. It rocks him - Checks him a step - an involuntary flinch. He can't help himself: He half-turns, the faintest shift in his focus, a glance over his shoulder for assurance-

> [FOREWARN activated]

And everyone moves at once.

HP: 149.7%
VITAE BOOSTER: 113% (SIGMA CHARGE ACTIVE)
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0%
METER: 56%
ENCROACHMENT: 28%
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (4/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (2/6)
CARTRIDGES: N/A

CRUX: HP
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>3463662
Bit outside of your usual time there JQOP. Don't think many people are currently around at this time. That and you didn't announce the thread on twitter.

>>3463662
Wait, so we can't take Kazuma home? He's stuck here forever? Did we actually know this?

>>3463674
(My apologies - I'm in a unique position at the moment, and had the opportunity to finally post this. I'll update Twitter when I have the chance.

I'll leave this up as a placeholder for now.)

>>3463678
(No, you have no knowledge of this limitation.)

>>3463678
I see no reason to assume the gate can't take us both, and I hardly consider the words of a 10,000 year old madman to be a good reason.

if what VOIVOID said was true how did NAOYA get Kraken out of the Black then, i'm sure Kraken made some illusions to the Black when we were fighting him at one point.

>>3464076
Kraken was Naoya's experiment, though.

Fuck, if Kazuya can't go home, things are going to get a lot uglier. I think Vovoy is lying, but does he even know he's wrong? It may be that he DOESN'T know.

But if you can't leave, how is it that you can enter with no problem? Have we met anyone who escaped except WJ?

>>3464088
Well if he can't leave should be bring Natsumi to him?

>>3464088
To my knowledge it was never explained how we escaped the black originally but if Viovod is to be believed only a joker can escape the black. I interpret this to mean both suits of joker armor have some method of getting back to the red. I think Viovod came to this conclusion after seeing rj and wj escape. Basically what I'm saying is that the gate can still be used by both of us but there's an alternate escape only available to joker's.

>>3464076
Ignore what i said i found what i was talking about.
from Thread #117: >>37286979
THERE WERE THIRTEEN OF US, DOWN IN THE DARK.

A THOUSAND YEARS LATER, THERE WERE TWO.

>>3464179
the other question this raises is how did all of the others get to the Black in the first place. more importantly how did we get out with the Red Joker(the Marshal) if we killed him in the real after we got out. There has to be a way out for non jokers.

>>3464179
Is he referring to Kraken or to himself AND us? It's a Biblical reference, but there were twelve Apostles. Thirteen would be bad luck.

>>3464222
You should reread thread's 158 and 159
as during the dream sequence this gets said here >>2967924
"You are not one of my thirteen, and so I know you are not of the church." A pause - "It will be Naoya, of course. He will succeed me - For he doesn't just believe. "He *loves*."

>>3463662
OP, status report please. What do we have that's functioning? What do we have that isn't functioning? Are any of our relics or pieces damaged? Are we missing any weapons? Is the Carnifex still on?

Also, Fuseil is lying.

>>3464379
(You're wearing the Carnifex, and your limbs are all functioning - But there's significant damage to your leg, which is still regenerating. Your Assault Shroud is still in Fortress Mode around the Gate's controls, along with Daegal's.

Your Sinistral has been burned-out, and will need repairs before it can function. While you've suffered significant damage to your armor, your internal structure has largely been repaired.)

>>3464386
Is there any way we can repair the Sinistral that we know of? Are we covered head to toe in the brass reactive armor? Or does it just cover our arms and legs?

Right, time to rock.
>Over the Dirac, tell Daegal "I told you Kraken was in the Black and managed to get out. He could just be talking about the Gate or the way it opens. I honestly can't be sure Daegal but I know others besides the Red Joker have entered and left the Black; I can't promise this will work but it's been working so far."
>Put the Crux into Booster, Bandlioer Cell to refuel Caesar. Buy Nocturne with Booster.
>"You always did talk too much." to Vovoid. Argus + 16 Essence Missiles. Rip through his fucking armor.
>Move away from Daegal and the Gate, open fire with Caesar and Axanael when he tries to dodge the Essence Missiles. Send the Sword Bits to attack when he tries to dodge.
>Load up 1 Silver Cartridge.

How's this sound?

>>3464400
I am voting for this let's get the ball rolling op doesn't have all day

>>3464400
>Is there any way we can repair the Sinistral that we know of?

(The easiest way would be to leave the Red World.)

> Are we covered head to toe in the brass reactive armor? Or does it just cover our arms and legs?

(My apologies, I meant to say arms only.)

>>3464400
We can talk later. Right now, what matter is fucking VOVOID up. I think just telling him to watch out is good enough.

>>3464400
>>3464403
>>3464422

And now – At last – you know what VOIVOID believes. You know what drives him – the thing that has brought him to this place, over the unfurling span of deep time.

For him to live, both of you must die.

But is it *true*?

You remember KRAKEN. You remember Naoya's words: From thirteen, two.

Was he lying, then? You don't know – You can't know.

The CAESAR is in your hand, as you rake it across your bandolier in a single unfurling sweep. Brass-tipped bullets trickle into the spinning chamber, like a magician's trick, as you fill your hand with lead. The scarlet blaze of your photonic mantle snaps and crackles in static-laden air, schematic lines sketching themselves into NOCTURNE's lightless shape.

You're already pivoting to meet VOIVOID's rush, the rush that must come, as the Triskelion Launchers at your back spin up, black-tipped munitions racking for their first and final flight-

[FOREBODE activated]

The flicker of a premonition-

VOIVOID *moves*.

Reality folds around him, in a splintering of obscene light.

And all of intervening space becomes a single step.

There is a shriek, a hateful buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. Shards of iron are suddenly hurled upwards into the air, tiles torn free from a roof in a cyclone. VOIVOID *blurs* as he accelerates, and – abruptly, without ever seeming to move – is in front of you, in his full, ghastly aspect.

Your warning flickers across the Dirac channel. Not much – A blurt of sound, nothing more – but it's enough. The Condemner is in Daegal's hand, and it wrenches up as VOIVOID's blades scythe down-

Orichalcum meets a pulse disruption field, meets the burning edge of the PROVIDENCE. For one frozen moment, all three of you are locked, corospant spitting and sparking, flashes of sickly light illuminating the frozen tableau. There is a hideous strength to VOIVOID's limbs, a strength out of all proportion – the heat of the SIGMA CHARGE pulses through your limbs, fractured shards of iron clattering down like spontaneous hail.

He does not strike with two swords.

He strikes with ten.

The blades that hover around VOIVOID, locked in rigid formation, snap down like bolts of lightning. Your Sword Bits leap to meet them, with a splintering crash of oblate fire – the impact shoots feedback across your systems, a dopplering squeal that grates across your nerve connectors.

“-Fuck-”

Metal screams, as three hiltless blades smash past Daegal's guard. They shear through his Assault Shroud, raking across his side – carving great furrows in his gleaming plate, shards of priceless metal tumbling away. The tremendous force sends him reeling, half-twisted as his legs buckle – Somehow, somehow, the Condemner's field holds, spinning in desperate defensive velocities to fend off the incoming blades-

(Continued)

>>3464457
Right. He can teleport into melee. Keep away is going to be impossible. It's all Cestus now lads.

>>3464457
Activate Blutsauger. Smash him with boosted Crisis Arms.

>>3464460
It was always going to come down to the cestus

>>3464457

You're too close to use the missiles. PROVIDENCE sears through the air, and smites into VOIVOID's gorget – It's a tremendous blow, tachyon flame scaling across the warlord's armor, hard enough to drive him back a step.

It doesn't penetrate. The point of contact spits like an arc-welder's flare, the crawling fire guttering as it fights to find a hold.

But that is merely a feint.

AXANEL is in your hand, and the big iron is levelled directly as VOIVOID's skull. He sees the threat, as your finger clenches down on the trigger – You can't aim up or down, for the shot would tear through the Gate's superstructure.

You can only aim directly at him.

The hammer slams, the revolver's violet recoil almost wrenching it from your grasp-

There is a bang of displacement. Space folds, with a fierce implosion – worms of yellow light squirming in your field of vision, static crackling across your HUD. The defensive shift wrenches VOIVOID away, as the neutronium round's rippling wake shears towards the field envelope, lost in the swarming static.

“Behind you-”

A desperate whirl to the side saves you. It makes what would have been a smoking hole in your chest into a line of scorch that opens your armor from the hip outwards. Sparks fly, from the rents in your armor – Your slash-block buys you enough time to leap away, to disengage...

And four swords are already orbiting him, like rogue satellites, your Sword Bits pulling close in defensive velocities-

The nature of the battle has changed. Now VOIVOID stands between you and Daegal, along the perilously narrow span of iron. As sickly vapor wisps from the new gash in your crimson plate, Kazuya staggers to his feet, readdressing – the crimson lines of the hypersphere swirling before him, more densely than you've ever seen before, the twisting radiance coiling in writhing lines of light.

Across the Dirac channel-

> “Joker – There's something I can...”
> “-I need time.”

HP: 121.4%
VITAE BOOSTER: 66%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0%
METER: 21%
ENCROACHMENT: 14%
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (6/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (1/6) / NOCTURNE (6/6)
CARTRIDGES: SILVER CARTRIDGE (X1)

CRUX: BOOSTER
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>3464472
>>3464474
(Gentlemen, I'll keep that in mind for the next round. I have to depart for a while, but I'll get a post up as soon as possible.)

>>3464484
>Crux into booster
>but all 120% of booster and 20% meter into 3 silvers
>use all 4 silvers on Level 4 Frost
>Dual Crisis Arms smash him away from Daegal
>Activate Blutsauger.
We go Golgotha next turn.

>>3464484
Switch to Golgotha, and charge. He's dead if we get in a solid hit with the axe.

>>3464508
We should go Black Frost lvl 4 first so we can just keep whaling on him and absorb his hits while golgotha does what golgotha does best.

>>3464516
We should also use the lacrama version as we're only at 14% encroachment.

>>3464484

>disengage fortress mode
>crux to booster
>load silver cartridge ×2
>Black ice
>switch to providence and crisis arm.

precog could save us, and he will just warp space on ranged attacks.

>attack with jabs from crisis arm and super charged sword bits from vitae

>Fire the axle grips if/when we have an opening.

he might be quick, but he can't dodge light at point blank.

>>3466786
This is a really bad idea.
>Providence can't do any damage to his outer armor
>Having only 2 turns of Frost
>Not having limb regen
>relying on axel grips
Rwally bad idea. It's better to go all 4 cartridges into Black Frost because then we can shatter blast at will, use an unbreakable sword like the blade of cocytus on him and we can use lachryma to make each effect corrosive.

Plus, we could go Golgotha next turn.

>>3466952
we already have 1 silver cartridge loaded. silver cartridges can't be combined with lachryma.

I agree we should go full black ice, so amend >>3466786 to load 3 silver cartridges.

I'm just not sure we have the meter/booster to pull it off.

Also, providence isn't for damage at this point. We would be wielding it solely for defensive precognition while dealing damage mainly with the crisis arm. plus providence can still parry his attacks making it useful. since CA is currently a light weapon we can jab quickly with it.

The axle grips are a bit risky if he sees it coming, but their armor penetration is likely higher than almost any other weapon we have. If anything can cut a chunk out of him, they can.

As an aside, I'm currently very upset we loaned the Apex Blade to Bishamon. As I recall it can cut through orichalcum.

>>3464500
Supporting this.

We need Lvl 4 frost for the rest of the fight. We also get a massive Ice blade that can't be destroyed and free shotgun punches to amplify our regular punches, and of course can't lose any limbs to one of the deadlier kinds of weapons In the red which he has several of.

>>3466202
What lacryma version? Silver cartridges don't have a lacryma variant, just the Bronze and Chrome.

>>3466786
>>3466952
>>3467585
You know, the fact that Fimbulwinter is an entity capable of acting on its own might actually make it perfect in a fight against a teleporting enemy.
The question is whether its blades would actually do him sufficient harm.

>>3467868
I'm reluctant for Fimbulwinter for a couple of reasons.

I highly suspect he would just quickly destroy It for one, wasting our time and resources.

I also suspect we have a high chance of harming the gate by accident this way even though It *aims*. These are meter long thick blades of weaponized Ice, fired like artillery. This Isn't an attack without significant collateral potential.

Also yes, they'd probably do some damage from the Impact but not actually hurt his armor or break through.

File: 40AC8A26-FD54-4E00-B4C0-A(...).jpg (730 KB, 1280x1825)

730 KB JPG

>>3463372
yo, JQOP. I’ve been reading your quest for a few weeks now and i have to say. It might be the best one on the web overall. It singlehandedly gave me an appreciation for the sci-fi/mech setting which ive never found interesting before.
Quick question; was the joker armor inspired by etherows armor from Aposimz or is it just a massive coincidence? i started reading it today on a recommendation from /x/ and the similarity to the joker is striking (pic related).
Congrats on a legendary quest, and would it be possible for you to release the mechanics you use for the quest when its done? also, why’d you change trips? i suppose ill find out when i begin to catch up.

>>3468124
Aposimz began in 2017, Joker has been running since 2012. He's used other Nihei art before, though.

>>3468124
That's fucking sick, I'll check it out. Anyway, JQ has said before the main inspiration was, to paraphase, "Accelworld but not cancer". It's just a coincidence that they were alike and even then, there's details missing like the monooptic sensor.

JQ's also told us a bit about the system, like how the RJ is a 'player plus' which is why he's broken as hell. He said he'd out it out whne it's done.

>>3467868
>>3467880
We can't use level 1/2 or 3 of Fimbulwinter as they'll lack the force to breakthrough him; if a lvl 0 Providence can't, there's no way the ice shards will. If we use level 4, it will blow this place the fuck up.

Lets use Level 4 Black Frost + Auspex. That way he can't actually do any *real* damage to us and we can track how his essence is moving and warping and potentially predict where he's going to go. I think, if we don't go with Golgotha after dual crisis arms next turn, a lachryma boosted Blade of Cocytus followed by a lachryma boosted Shatterblast could be good; melt his armor, wail on him with an unbreakable blade and then slow AND poison him once we've cracked open his armor a bit?

It could work.

>>3467585
We have enough if we put the Crux into booster.
66 + 60 = 126 + 21% meter = 147% total.
-45 -45 -45 = -135
147 - 135 = 12%

We should have a little bit of a margin of error.

>>3468128
>Anyway, JQ has said before the main inspiration was, to paraphase, "Accelworld but not cancer"
The first thread literally used the "competing spheres in the sky that display your health" gimmick of [C], in addition to the whole Red World gimmick and the credit card thing.

It was an Accel World/[C] crossover.
I guess White Joker is Masakaki.

>>3468128
I seem to remember him saying that it took inspiration from persona, or maybe that was watashiwa. Come to think of it, what happened to him and the other tripfags that used to frequent JQ? watashiwa is prbably the first (non-QM) tripfag that i haven’t found completely unbearable personalitywise, so id actually be a bit sad to see him gone.

>>3468127
oh yeah? i assumed that Aposimz was older based on the artstyle, but i suppose it may just be the artists style thats cluttery and older looking.

>>3468132
whats is [C]? i assumed that the red world stuff was adapted from Persona.

>>3468128
Oh, and i assumed that the mono-optic sensor was just a single large eye on the left side, like in the image i posted but larger and green. Isn’t that what it is?

>>3468145
>i assumed that Aposimz was older based on the artstyle
Nihei's been around a while. Aposimz is actually him modernising his style a lot. Check out Blame for what his older work looks like.
>whats is [C]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(TV_series)
Digimon but with credit cards.

>>3468150
he’s the same guy who made abara right? i read it earlier today and it made the cluttery style of aposimz look clean.
i did enjoy the digimortal part of it, but damn there were a lot of unecessary lines in those panels.
maybe nihei lurks JQ and based etherow on anon?

>>3468151
He made Abara too, yeah.
But I seriously doubt a Japanese manga artist pays much attention to the English-speaking side of the internet, especially not 4chan. The Aposimz armours look more Kamen Rider-y than most things described in Joker Quest.

>>3468153
it was a joke, but you have to admit that both the powers and look of etherows armor is very similar to red joker.
his ability is a targetingsystem and a cannon that is hidden under a plate in his forearm ffs

>>3468145
I'm 'I've read this too long anon". Tgere hasn't been a need to tripfag so I haven't. Keep meaning to do the fucking player list/episode guides but labwork is kicking my ass. I'm still chuffed about the decisions I made that helped the quest so far.

Wata is fine as a person, I just gate his decision making. He kept pushing for us to obey Argent, waifufag and wanted to nuke Imago for literally no reason. He also wanted to betray tophat illusion man for no reason. He was also against getting Limiter lvl 3 immediately which was the biggest midtsje in the quest ever imo.

>>3468327
>which was the biggest midtsje in the quest ever imo.
No, I'm pretty sure that was deciding to bang the moonwaifu.

>>3468374
More like waifuing Mio.
Banging Cybele and sacrificing the Seisin High girls who would have died anyway would have been the sensible option.

>>3468380
Really, in the end, this quest is definite proof: multiple waifu will ruin your laifu.

>>3468374
>>3468380
Nah guys. See, we could have gotten limiter 3 after the Adamant Aegis fight. That means we'd have gotten
>Faster level ups
>Faster oblivions husk
>More Eidiolons from assimilations
That means no over relying on Moonwaifu, which means no bang. It also means we're a way higher level and able to support/save the Thief and Haze from dying. It means a ton more upgrades, super early Forbode and a smoother game in general.

>>3468483
You are probably oversimplifying the impact of a single upgrade a little. what would you have swapped out for the Limiter 3 upgrade?

>>3468493
My bad, it was actually at the Ixion fight we could first get it. What we got instead were;
> IMPACT REINFORCEMENT UPGRADE: Your endosteel plating has been upgraded to a ferro-fibrous alloy, increasing your resistance to physical and energy attacks. While not as light as your initial endosteel armour, the capacity of your myomer musculature has been similarly enhanced - Increasing your physical strength, and reinforcing your internal structure, for a net 10% increase in your maximum HP.

The Carnifex's structure shifts, subtly - The filaments concealed within the crusher dispersing through your form, rewiring secondary connections, establishing parallel processing. Deep within, the embers of your Cobalt Booster flicker into an inchoate glow, blue fire searing down the circuit-lines.

> CARNIFEX UPGRADE: Now attuned with the Carnifex, the Red Joker's armour has been modified to accommodate both the explosive release of armour, and the hypertrophy of your myomer musculature. In addition to reducing your relative vulnerability, activating the Carnifex now allows you to constantly channel the Cobalt Booster - Effectively engulfing you in photonic flame, and enhancing your weapons and Relics accordingly.

We could have gotten Carnifex and Limiter BEFORE the raid. Fuck. Or gotten Limiter and weapons 2.5. Or fuck, Evolve.

>>3468609
I wonder how much the Carnifex upgrade actually affects the Red Joker's version of the relic.
There should be some but not total overlap.

...I hope Naoya doesn't find a way to repair his version.

>>3468765
He's a creator so I'd be amazed if he couldn't.

>>3468327
im only at thread 115 (wow, its not often that sentence comes up in a quest) so i havent seen you yet, but ill be sure to come back and remind you of all the embarassing stuff you’ve said over the years when i catch up.
its less that i like watashiwa and more that the vast majority of anons back then were absolute morons, making him look good in comparison. As for obeying Argent, with the information availible at the time i think it was the best possible course of action. Of course im not caught up so i might just not know about the old stooge trying to sacrifice us as a cataclyst for closing the barrier forever, but neither did you guys back then.
and yeah the waifushit is inexcusable and gay as fuck. Im pretty sure the whole ”joker lacks a heart” thing came from the players tendencies to m’lady every female within tippingdistance whenever possible, even when his old girlfriends immaterial corpse was still cooling in Bardiel ”Big Bird”’s talons.
the limiter was mostly a question of whether the quest was going to last long enough to let joker level five times, and considering how most quests fare on this godless site i cant say i blame people choosing the immidiate boost

>>3468380
but anon, Cybele is a pickled ghost and cant sustain herself in the red. Mio was made to circumvent the system and fuck the smilers’ plans over

>>3469746
I only namefagged super recently because someone wanted a lore breakdown and I did a shitty job to explain. Also, the main issue with Argent is that we trusted him and followed his ideas even when it was obvious he had no idea what he was doing and, whatever his plan was, it wasn't working.
I could forgive the Limited but we knew we weren't close to the end game and also we were JUST about to do a Hive Raid which was going to involve butchering a bunch of dudes; it's just a tremendous fuck up and really stupid.
The biggest issue with the waifu shit is that most of the ones we went for were fucking *dogshit* as well and kept us from exploring the most interesting thing about the quest, the fucking Red. In fact, Players seemed to treat the Red as something to avoid and run away from instead of being the main fucking appeal of the fucking quest.

>>3468374
>biggest mistake of the quest

wow, where the fuck do I begin?

I'm not sure I agree with my fellow anon about the waifu. To me it seemed like every candidate was linked to the Red somehow. Natsumi is chrome cipher, Hecate is Hecate, Asuna is Pythia, Mio is the heir to the Chalice queen. yeah any girl we chose would have ended up being relevant.

That being said, screwing Cybele was a massive mistake. There were other, less extreme, ways to bring her around. As we saw, she knew she needed Joker even if he didn't love her. From the second she made the offer for him to be her champion she was stuck. Not having sex with her might have resulted in her withholding her healing ability, but we could have made do. Instead we chose to fuck her so she would work for us.

having sex with her on the other hand came back to bite us in the ass hard. Rescuing Mio would have made several of the subsequent battles easier at the very least.

But to me, giving the flower to Cybele was a mistake that blew that entirely out of the water. It was quite clear that the path not taken was waking up Hecate, and that she was "anons princess". most likely the flower was a key to Hecate's Quantum Vault.

Potentially even more ruinous was killing Bishamon's Hyades. I cannot in any way fathom what made that seem like a sound idea. especially since there was nothing either of them could do at the moment. We could at LEAST have talked to them. forced her to tell him the REAL price for her existence in the REAL, or tried to get her to forfeit and try again the next cycle.

There was also all the times Joker OP asked "are you guys REALLY sure you want to do that?" and we all said "yeah sure!"

Not saving Hecate, not helping Akira more, not being a better boyfriend to Mio, emotionless sex with Cybele just for her power, lying to Asuna when all she asked for was honesty, not dealing decisively with Megumi and Rust when we had the chance (either subverting them by killing IMAGO, and promising to fix Rust, or killing them both), not realizing Naoya's plan even when we were shown video of his preperations...

Anons made a lot of mistakes. But I believe that if we can find PAZUZU and rip the Nihil Eye out of his head we might be able to save Hecate. Then all we have to do is reckon with Bishamon, kill the white joker, and kill the undying Black Joker to save Mio. Then Hecate, Mio, Anon, Kazuya, and Natsumi can ride off into the fucking sunset.

>>3470526
>each of the waifus had a Red form
This is true but the issue isn't so much that we spoke to each or didn't really choose a singular path, which might have helped us advance the game quicker like it did with Mio, but it was more the biggest issue was that we spent more time in the real than the Red when the Red was always the most interesting part of the quest and the main reason we were here; we never tried to form a gang, we never got to make a fortress and we learned basically fuck all, instead just kind of flopping around like a stupid fish.
>cybele and the flower
Giving the flower was a sign of a path you are *deliberately* giving up and not choosing to go down again. If we gave it to Hecate, there would be no way to save her at all.
>Bishamon's Hyades
None of the Hyades actually understand the cost of what they need to enter the Real; Alura only did because of all the work the Black Cardinal and then the White Joker did into consciousness and how the Red impacts the real.
>Megumi and Kou
Red herring IMO. There was no way we could ever save them; by the time Rust Kaiser appeared, he was already lost. Megumi might have left him if we targeted her from the start but it's really unlikely.

Right now I'm vaguely concerned that Daegal is listening to Voivoid's ranting and is gonna heroic sacrifice himself really soon so Joker can leave, but we're in dire enough straits that I don't think we have time to say "I'm pretty sure he's full of shit so don't tackle him off the platform."

>>3470674
Something tells me Naoya has his own Daegal equivalent. He's repeatedly implied that he didn't escape alone.

>>3470598
I agree that we needed to have a more concise goal, and that forming a coalition would have been amazingly useful.

I read the entire situation differently. Anon had not chosen to follow the path that lead to his hearts desire (Hecate, as votes would have it). Instead he was pursuing the princess (literally the daughter of the chalice queen). In order to reach his true goal he needed to give up on Mio's love. Ergo, by sacrificing the ability to wake Mio's armor he would have used the flower to open a new path. Also fits with regards to Cybele because he would have been giving up on her affections as well. literally sacrificing love to reach his hearts desire.

Of course, Mio would then have been mind raped by Naoya without the benefit of Hellebore's protection and we would have faced her corrupted chalice queen form.

Even if she didn't know, we could have at least told them what was at stake and offered the Athame as a solution.

There are more ways to win a girl over than waifuing her anon. She knew Kaiser was dying. We might have been able to save him with info from the Hollow Sun, or Argent Prominences help. Failing that we should have killed them both then and there.

>>3470776
Mio would have absolutely trivialized fights. She has three gigantic Correctors as her dowry, and one is utterly unkillable.

>>3470776
>Mio and Hecate
The flower was given to us with specific instructions that it cuts ties with whoever we gave it to. I don't think giving it to Hecate would have helped.
>tell Bishamon and his Hyades
We actually did do this. Neithet cared or believed us.
>Rust Kaiser
My point is, he could NEVER be saved. Imago had already destroyed him and been killed by him before we even met Hecate

>>3470776
It honestly seems that Anon works better by himself. In this whole Underworld jaunt, we never really NEEDED Kazuya's help, he's tagging along. He has literally only lived this long because his armour is indestructible.

on the topic of Finding / REVIVING Hecate's body here a list of what we know.

>She was interred at the METROPOLITAN GENERAL HOSPITAL. in the The SOUICHIROU MIKOGAMI WING.
her name was: KANAME TSUKIMI.
There was ONE match located.
> ID: 4-5-1-8-9-2 (may be related to DOOR NUMBER)
Just row after row after row of doors, each one individually labelled with a four-digit number (what was the Number on the plaque attached to the that we entered door?
and what happened to / where is the CASSETTE PLAYER after / if we got it back from Megumi/ when we are in the RED/BLACK re investigating the SALVATION CHILREN'S HOME / THE CHURCH OF THE LAST HOUR)
> if we can't revive the body / find / destroy / lose the OTHER NHIL SPHERE it may be worth getting the HOLLOW SUN to analize a cradle in the hope of moving the body.

>>3471548
He was essential to the armory guardian and Vovoid fights and his showing the Diadem run was amazing.

>>3471570
I would have to agree especially considering how new he was.

>>3471569
There's also the book from the Black we took.
>casette player
>book from the black
>killing Pazuzu for the Cruz/the Nihil Sphere (pretty sure White Joker probably did this already)
>shoving Daegal into the Holloe Sun so he can ge his neutronium+tachyon upgrade
>use the Dirac Transmitter 2 to organise and sort fucking everything
>use the Nihil Eyes to restore/heal Hecate
>see if we can use Harmonia to do something for Cybele
Lotta things to do once this scrap is over.

other assorted things
WHITE JOKER / NAOYA : what he was trying to do with Mio (Revive KOTONE?)
> Finding him will be instrumental to the completion of the INSTRUMENT and therefor closing the RIFT
> We cant leave him too long because he can create players and we don't know how the power interacts with whatever LACHRYMA he has imbued himself with provides any other effects
> Where did he get his BEAM MAGNUM?
> Why couldn't he have let us kill KRAKEN (SALT everywhere)

THE INSTRUMENT/ CLOSING THE RIFT?
> Can we Pass off (or give a copy of) the incomplete Schematics to KAZYUZA to pass on to the HOLLOW SUN to see what it spits out
> Completion of THE INSTRUMENT requires the WHITE JOKER’S CORE and the BLACK JOKER’S HEART
(According to the most resent edition of the ARMOURY [7.5], our newly upgraded ARMOUR is containment for the BLACK JOKER'S HEART) the LIKELY source for the WHITE JOKER'S CORE is NAOYA

OTHER
> COMMEMORATE THE FALLEN (WE could probably carve their names into a wall near the RED JOKER MEMORIAL (using the MISERICORDE ) for the fallen ALLIED players and CYBELE,
> finding the trophy / plaque from winning the performance at SESIN for of the PLAY'S CAST
> Having that DRINK that we promised
> ACTIVATING THE REMAINING MANIFOLD TOWERS ( MAY SEPERATE THE RED FROM THE REAL )
> FIRING THE HOLLOW SUN (after completeing the upgrade tree? and making more HELLIONS)

>>3471572
He's leveled up once and has never actually bonded to the Hollow Sun which is basically his relic. The fact he's not just *lasted* this long but that he's been murdering the fuck out of Players left and right despite no experience, especially compared to say Calcite or Haze who had way more experience, is crazy.

I wonder who survived the siege of the Manifold Towers. I bet one or a few of the Senshien Players will be absolute killing machines now. I hope the crew's at least somewhat intact; loved every member of that squad.

>>3471577
Although he did get our current kit when he bonded with DEAGAL so that kind of gave him a leg up on the competition as our kit was pretty advanced.

>>3464500
>>3466786
>>3466952
>>3467585
>>3467860
>>3468128

(Gentlemen, my apologies for the delay - To confirm, you're performing the following actions?)

> Load 3 Silver Cartridges
> Activate BLACK FROST
> Attack VOIVOID with twin CRISIS ARMs, with Sword Bits supporting.
> Draw GOLGOTHA for use the next turn.

Are you activating BLACK FROST before or after attacking VOIVOID? There'll be a delay if you activate BLACK FROST first.)

>>3471692
Yes, go ahead with that course of action. Activate Black Frost first, I believe In Kazuya to last one action before we pounce on Voivod and we need It's effects BADLY.

>>3471692
Yes op please proceed.
Daegals better have an ace up his sleeve

>>3471576
>OTHER
> COMMEMORATE THE FALLEN (WE could probably carve their names into a wall near the RED JOKER MEMORIAL (using the MISERICORDE ) for the fallen ALLIED players and CYBELE,
> finding the trophy / plaque from winning the performance at SESIN for of the PLAY'S CAST
> Having that DRINK that we promised
I like these.
Add their names to a plaque in the Hollow Sun.

> ACTIVATING THE REMAINING MANIFOLD TOWERS ( MAY SEPERATE THE RED FROM THE REAL )
Isn't their function the exact opposite?

> FIRING THE HOLLOW SUN (after completeing the upgrade tree? and making more HELLIONS)
Firing at which target?
I guess it could be good against the Black Joker, in addition to the Instrument.

I like the idea of letting the Hollow Sun scan the Instrument schematics.

>>3471692
I think we should attack first, then activate. There's nothing Daegal can do to defend hinself and whatever damage we get, level 4 black frost should fix.

For the love of god, we are NOT letting Daegal get fucking AKIRAED. Vovoid doesn't have a ton of swords right now and the sword income shown themselves to be quite effective.

>>3471764
Then we have some Sword bits protect Daegal. Daegal Is unbelievably sturdy In comparison to Akira, and Voivod doesn't seem to have the One-Shot bullshit Pazuzu does. He opts to teleport Into melee because that's where he's best, and yet Daegal has shown he can block the Voivod's attacks. If you are really really concerned for him, then have the sword bits move to protect him for a moment while we activate black frost, then since we'll be moving to Voivod they can just continue their job of Intercepting his attacks with us.

>>3471785
If we have to , we can use the crest to swap ourselves and daegal. If totally necessary

>>3471701
>>3471714
>>3471734
>>3471764

Pistons grind within you, feeding cartridges into the CESTUS's breech. You wrench yourself to your feet, the industrial talons of the CRISIS ARM cising with sparks – The Emulator Module at the base of your spine humming, schematic lines coiling around your left arm. Even as the CESTUS's chambers rotate, the throaty mechanical *clunk-clunk-clunk* of your autoloader filling the air with rising noise, the weight of the CRISIS ARM's twin settles in place like a lead shadow. Patient tics of lightning leap between the brass spines, exo-armor plates bristling across each crushing fist-

Damage telltales flicker across your HUD. Torso breach – the lacerations in your armor are narrow, but deep and rending. VOIVOID's blades have an impossibly fine edge; Your entropic field slowed their bite, extinguished the ripple of disruption-lightning that plays across their gleaming edges, but it doesn't stop them from cutting.

Almost unnoticed, the barrier behind Daegal crumbles. Nanomaterial motes churn, drawn to you like iron fillings to a magnet – the tatters of your Assault Shroud gathering around your frame, twisting into shreds.

A flicker, like lightning, in VOIVOID's lightless gaze-

The lucid blades gleam like gold-chased lightning, like slicked oil. They move like ribbons of light, describing vicious arcs – VOIVOID lunges at Daegal, both swords weaving a blurringly-fast web of evisceration, cutting and cutting again-

“Bastard-”

Kazuya wrenches the Condemner up to meet the assault. The crimson light of his VECTOR TRAP continues to churn around him, like blood in the water. Sparks spray as the photonic edge meets peerless oriachulum, raking it at VOIVOID's grinning mask in a desperate swipe-

VOIVOID simply leans back from the blow. The Condemner sears past him, missing by a finger's-breadth. There's something contempous in the motion, his half-shrouded features locked in that perpetual smirk.

(Continued)

>>3471834

The warlord's blade slashes Daegal across the eyes. Glass sprays, as a lens-unit shatters – It rakes across the crest of Kazuya's helm, scoring the intricate inscriptions in the gleaming metal, incising ugly new additions.

“Fuck-” Daegal reels, dazed – A hand snatching at the ruin of his optic sensor, as he tries for a desperate thrust-

VOIVOID's next swing smashes the Condemner from Daegal's hand. The golden horror kicks out, savagely, and scythes Kazuya's legs out from under him. Daegal smashes down on his back, a blurt of static crackling from his speakers, as VOIVOID's twinned blade draws back, about to piston through Kazuya's chest-

And your Sword Bits lance at VOIVOID from behind. All five of them spear at him, each one rotating so fiercely the buzzsaw shriek of their acceleration makes the air keen as it is cut – the arsenal of razor spines that bristle from his back articulating in sudden motion, flaring out to intercept them.

Except you're not aiming at him. Not directly.

The first Sword Bit is sheared in half, lengthwise – Something bright and lethal spears it right through the gravimetric impellers, the hiltless blade shorting out with a brittle *kzzzzzkkkkk*. VOIVOID half-turns, as the second one catches him across the shoulder-plate, a brilliant line flaring along the point of contact before the Interceptor reels dizzily away.

The other three wrench themselves in the way, as VOIVOID's sword flashes out. A terrible grinding sound - the sound of blade-fields meeting something equally, impossibly sharp – shudders in the intervening space, flashes of discharge flash-flickering in the air...

And Daegal – Lurching, clumsy – rolls to the side, flat to the floor, and vanishes.

He vanishes so abruptly, so totally, that – For one moment – you think he's fallen from the platform. But AUSPEX reveals the truth; A distortion churns around him, a gap in the flow of space just *slightly* out of synch with the blurred surroundings-

Not an Assault Shroud after all, then. A Mirage Shroud.

(Continued)

>>3471850
I knew he'd manage, just barely, but he managed.

Time to knock this fucker flat

Just throwing this out there, we might want to toss him Providence If he doesn't have a sword, but only once he's played his trump card and abandons stealth.

>>3471872
Seconding this

>>3471872
>>3471881
If we can, do it.

>>3471850

VOIVOID's blade plunges into the corroded iron of the great ring, half a meter into the ground.

Nothing. A miss.

-f͍̻͔̥̟l̡̼e͝s̨̺̙͚h̟̠̺̹͎̣ -

There is nothing human in that rasping, echoing snarl. The sword shrieks as it cuts free, with appalling ease; VOIVOID whips it across, a glittering constellation of barbs shearing the air as he turns in time to meet your rush-

But you are already upon him.

Cold surges through you. The ferocious alchemy of your Silver Cartridges has already transmuted your form to black ice; It surges and bucks from within, constantly fracturing to release coiled streamers of vapor – Only to reseal itself a heartbeat later, the flinty core of inexhaustible ice as dense and as unyielding as a glacier core.

The air fills with blades. Barbs and spines of twisted metal splinter around you in razorbursts, drilled chips of black ice shattering from your form – the ground shaking as you charge, the bleak glow of your mono-optic sensor blinking above the fluid-filled dark. VOIVOID's pinions slam into your torso - *through* your torso, your sensors blurring with threat markers as the impacts carve at you. There is an ugly grinding, as cryo-vapor boils around you in your own personal storm, the rents in your armor sealing over as fast as they form-

A meter-long blade punches through your side, just above your core. It rips free, supercompressed cryo-fluid spraying out like vapor – Another rips your left arm away, twists you to the side as you charge; But the limb's already reforming as frost flashes across your surface, weaving itself into existence from the mist that churns around you.

Even with the Sigma Charge boiling through you, your frozen surface is cratered and blistered, tarry black fluid boiling away to nothing on contact with the air-

But it doesn't stop you. Nothing stops you, as you bound up the sloped front, fist rising. Acceleration rings cohere, pistons ramming the tank-wrecking fist forward with hideous strength.

C̴̨͔̙̠͖̜͙̳͍ͧ̒ͧ͋̍̄E̵̝̺̝̺̗̬̻̱̮͆ͨ̔ͤ̒̈͛̃͑ͦ͛̾̕ͅS̛̞̬͖̹͔̜͉̭̱͕͇̣̰̰̘̞̰̣̾͒̑ͪ͊̃̓̒͆̋ͫͮ̓̓̕͢Ţ̵̛̳̺̝̙̙̬̠̰̬̠͍̰̤ͪ͒̓͂͐͐͌̓ͩ͛̆̍ͯ̃ͮ͝͝Ṷ̵̢̣̝̱̜̰̳͇̝̫͍̠̥͖ͫ̋́̌ͫ̄̒͋ͤ͟S̷̨̗͍̳̥͓̹̜̯͆ͯͦ͐̓ͬͣ͂͛̾ͮ̀̚͢

VOIVOID makes that single word a screeching curse, feedback blistering across your mind. Five black-chased blades wrench themselves in the way, like great talons cut from a titan - the cold finds them first, frost spidering across the gold-chased steel as your fist cannons into the barrier like a battering ram-

There is a sound like splintering glass. The whirring shield fractures beneath that tremendous impact, the interlocking blades hurled in every direction at once, like leaves in a tempest.

Your left fist smashes into VOIVOID's skull - a terrible, scouring blow - and rips him out of your line of sight.

(Continued)

>>3471931
Well gents. Turns out the plan is going pretty fucking swimmingly. Lets crush this cunt.

>>3471931
OP, does this level 4 black frost look different to our level 2 black frost? You're saying black ice for this one and it was red ice for that one.

>>3471993

(Yes, it looks different.)

>>3471931

His form is unnaturally heavy, unnaturally dense. The CRISIS ARM smashes his half-visor, with a rending screech – the plates twist apart, fragments of metal spraying out, revealing the killing rictus of VOIVOID's sneer. It seems deformed, somehow, subtly warped by the mauling impact as VOIVOID smashes down to the path, sparks flying as his bulk skids and scrapes across the surface-

But then – In an eyeblink – he's up. He surges forward, that half-ruptured visor hanging loose, the mask beneath still intact – both swords becoming blurs.

His first slash sears across your torso. It opens you up, ripping right through the dense ice, cryofluid gushing from the rent. It is a killing blow, a blow meant to rip apart your mechanisms, to sever your spine.

Here and now, you have neither.

Your boots bite into the ground, as you surge forward. VOIVOID's sword flickers out, faster than a serpent's tongue, searing right towards the churning orb of BLACK FROST's core.

You swing your Crisis Arm to meet it. The lucid blade severs a talon, carves deep into the alloy-fist, punches out through the back of the augmented gauntlet-

This time, you slam your other fist into VOIVOID's cuirass. You feel mechanisms shatter within, as VOIVOID's gleaming plate tolls like bell – the brass spines on the Crisis Arm gouge across the surface, seeking purchase, seeking to punch through...

-And then they snap off.

A flicker of premonition-

> [FOREBODE ACTIVATED]

You twist away, but it's too late. A fury of heat and light sears from VOIVOID's core, just above his Aegis Amulet – A beam of light, shockingly, overwhelmingly bright. It punches through the great rent in your freezing form, and out your back – Frost fumes across the boiling surface, flash-frozen cryofluid sealing off the wound – thrusting you back for just one moment...

VOIVOID's blades flash. They slash down, blurringly-fast.

But not at you.

(Continued)

>>3472058

They carve into the Gate's iron ring. They slice into it - *through* it – without slowing, drawing die-straight lines across the corroded metal.

The ground rips away beneath you. Without warning, the world goes *downwards* - Static buzzing, buzzing as your footing slips, your field of vision wrenching up and over at a sharp angle, as you hear the shriek of iron tearing apart under it's own weight, cables snapping, shorn ends writhing like agitated serpents-

He's severed your half of the walkway.

The dampening fields – the faint, shimmering overspill of the Gate that keeps that seething swathe of unreality at bay – cut out. Static streaks your vision, your autoreactive talons shrieking as they leave deep grooves in the iron, the shorn segment beginning to tilt back from the sudden shock of severance, a rush of white noise pouring in. You grab on, augmented gauntlets snatching at the edge as it wrenches away from the great ring, a terrible hungry gravity dragging it down-

HP: 97.9%
VITAE BOOSTER: 37% (SIGMA CHARGE ACTIVE)
ASSAULT SHROUD: 42%
METER: 44%
ENCROACHMENT: 23%
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (6/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (1/6) / NOCTURNE (6/6)
CARTRIDGES: N/A

CRUX: BOOSTER
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>3472065
Can we Orthus Crest with Vovoid?

>>3472071
(No, but Daegal is an acceptable target. Your Tempest Scrander and your Abruption Jets are still functioning, too.)

>>3472076
>Activate Blutsauger
>Have the boosted Sword Bits backstab him since he's focused on us and they should be behind him
>Boosted Tempest Scrander + Abjuration Jets to slam into him at ultra high speed when he has to react to them
>USE GOLGOTHA TO END IT

>>3472065
>>3472076
Then fly back to the platform and switch to GOLGOTHA. Can we throw the cut-off part at him?

>>3472083
(Yes, if you use the zero-point field. Note that you might further damage the already-denuded superstructure, however.)

>>3472083
Lets not throw the platform at him; could destroy the gate.

>>3472080
Seconding this , throwing the platform at him is beyond retarded

>>3472080
This

>>3472083
If we didn't need the area to survive I'd declare that metal as fuck and support It, but the gates been on It's last legs for a while, we just can't risk damaging It anymore.

>>3472065
>>3472080
This, but use the Sigma/Carnifex Hulk Strength synergy to completely overpower Voivod. We can't risk a system malfunction In Black Ice mode, we might as well.

WAIT. WAIT Can we do this OP?

>Use Terrorsight to ensure that Golgatha's strike does not miss no matter what
or
>Use Terrorsight to find a mircroflaw In his defenses and exploit It using Golgatha

Can we do either of those with Golgatha as the weapon JQOP?

>>3472104
We could but lets save that for the next turn if that doesn't work.

OP, go maximum full sigma booster hulk strength, blutsauger, the boosted blades in the back.

We'll save Terrorsight for next turn. We have at least 1 or 2 turns left before we're fucked. Lets crush him.

>>3472108
>>3472104
(Gentlemen, it's unfortunately extremely late here - I must turn in for now, but I'll continue at the first opportunity.)

>>3472112
That's fine OP have a goodnight, but before you go, Is Golgatha viable to use as a 'precision weapon' for terrorsight?

>>3472119
(Technically, it's a precision attack, not a precision weapon. And yes, Terrorsight can be used with Golgotha. Note that this is for a *single*, terrible attack.)

>>3472125
Can we use Carnifex boosted mode continuously now, seeing as we're in Black Frost level 4?

>>3472125
>>3472125
I think we should save it for next turn or the turn after. Don't know if we're going back to the Real and I'd rather use it when we've already fucked him up a bit/we're standing on solid ground and can really fucking destroy him. We've still got 5 turns to go and Daegal's charging his shit.

>>3472058
>Vovoid has an Aegis Amulet
Okay do NOT fucking use any code bursts on this cunt

>>3472125
I'm aware It's a one use. Thank you JQOP for the clarification, I know you must be tired. Goodnight OP.

Now to everyone else, save It or use It? If we whiff this attack we're going to look like damn fools, and If we hit and It Isn't a major crippling blow or death we'll also look like fools. That said If we blow Terrorsight and It doesn't do the job we'll *also* look like fools, we can't use It twice and we'll be out our vision bonuses.

That said again, might It be worth It to end this with the blow to end all blows? Cut through his sword, him and all with a single sweeping arc of destruction, riding on a wave of fury and death?

We wouldn't even need to slow down, we could just teleport to Deagal to get the room to slow down before we crashed off the side Into the abyss, we have the meter.

>>3472147
It's a mistake. We don't even have Golgotha out yet and we aren't on solid ground.

Here's what I think, modified version of >>3472080
>Activate Blutsauger, Auspex and push the Sigma Charge since we can't take system damage to be continuous
>Have the 4 boosted sword bits shank him in the back or else force him to move
>Abjuration jets + boosted Scrander to smash into the cunt
>END IT WITH GOLGOTHA.

We can't warp to Daegal either, we'd just be throwing him over the edge; Orthus Crest lets you swap things, not teleport to and from them.

Oh, also, fun tidbit
>At this speed, the Tempest Scrander creates a flaying wave of distortion, one capable of ripping through lesser targets and shearing apart incoming projectiles or obstructions. At full speed, it’s possible to fly *through* opponents, bisecting them in passing. Note that this form of flight is highly destructive to your surroundings. In addition, the boost can be fired in any direction - Allowing you to perform incredible and frankly dangerous maneuvers. Be warned: The forces exerted on your form can be *extremely* damaging.
We're Black Frost, we don't take systems damage. We can just boost forward and if we're close to the edge of the ring, boost back.

Terrorsight will mean losing Auspex, which has been super helpful as always, and Argus. I think it might be a good idea if we're nearing the end of Black Frost and this guy is *still alive* and we need to end it with one final Golgotha swing but otherwise, lets just use the
>Auspex
>Golgotha
>Boosted Scrander
>Maximum Sigma Charge
The fact he's feeling like he *has* to damage the platform shows he's getting worried.

>>3472159
Damn, I just checked and you're right. I misremembered how Joker's arsenal works again.

That's a good point about the Scrander, we can't damage us or It so we can just go crazy with It. I still think we should consider Terrorsight as a last ditch fuck you If we don't want to all In right now. You never know, we might just manage to kill him with that one attack though.

The reason I want to go overkill Is Orichalcum can withstand Neutronium to a point, so I don't want to just hack Into him, I want It to go through him and all his vital systems at once, utter death. Maybe we should just decapitate him? If we use terrorsight I doubt his neck would have enough armor to withstand It, and If he's still technically alive we can just doubletap before he pulls any bullshit to put himself back together.

>>3472176
Actually...

The Lord of the Hollow Sun, *Daegal's armor is forged from orichalcum - Rendering it extraordinarily resilient to anything short of a Neutronium weapon.* In addition to his Condemner, Immolator and Adamant shield, Daegal is armed with an integrated Assault Shroud, a single-shot variant of the Axel Grips focusing on kinetic impact instead of cutting power, a Cobalt Booster and a modified Argus Sensor. Daegal's primary ability - for now - is to augment the power and function of a Relic in his possession, an effect he has been unable to extend to other Players. The effect diminishes the moment the Relic is not actively in use.

Neutronium can and will destroy orichalcum like how Axanael destroyed his sword. We've got the Carnifex on and the sigma charge; faster, stronger and more able to sling around Golgotha.

Again, I think using terrorsight is a good idea once we've run out of options and choices or when Black Frost is about to run out. Using it now *while* jumping up probably isn't smart though as we're more likely to miss. Lets get on solid ground first and consider it.

I don't see Golgotha failing though. It sliced through a Meridian Weapon AND a Player from head to toe like he was nothing. It's basically designed to be used with the Carnifex. Not only that, we can't have usage of it striped from us because we heal too quickly to get an arm or leg disabled and force us to drop it.

Also, are we MADE of frozen lachryma right now?

>>3472065
okay, we need to be airborne from now on so we don't incentivize him to stupidly shear any more platform off.

>crux to HP
>Scrander on
>Fire a set of void missiles around one side of the platform.
>command the sword bits to attack from behind
>vitae booster to strength AND speed
>fly up from the opposite side as the missles and hit him with a shatter blast to slow him
>pull golgotha
>attack him twice with golgotha

no to using terrorist. We might need argus to keep track of Kazuya. I /think/ Kazuya has summoned a positron rifle and is getting set up for a shot. It's automatic critical could go a long way towards ending this fight if we can keep VOIVOD distracted. So let's throw the kitchen sink at him eh?

that's 5 actions attacking him from 3 directions and debuffing his speed while boosting ours.

void missiles target HP directly and don't damage the structure so they are ideal for this fight.

>>3472259
We should make sure we have regenerated the broken incoms before we perform any of the actions.

You know, I keep seeing these every few months, and saying I'll catch up. Still haven't but I promise I will.

Avoiding looking too close at the posts to avoid spoilers. But I enjoy how where I'm at, everything is already going crazy and to absolute shit. Yet each time I look at the OP recap post, things seem to have gone so much worse.

I promise I'll try to get caught up, if no other reason than to be a polyanna in the anon hivemind. Surely we can make things better! I believe in you all, anon!

>>3473351
What thread are you up to?

>>3473355
128 or so. The stuff at the festival/moon girls just happened and Joker's trying to deal with the immediate fall out and save his forces. Been a little while, so might have to go and reread that thread again to refresh.

All I know after that is that it apparently turns into a buddy cop journey through hell with Daegal for a while.

>>3473351
Even now I still hope we can save Hecate.

Every shitful thing will be fine if we can see her again.

>>3473344
We have the meter, lets see if we can make a new one this turn.

>>3463372
So we all agree Vovoid is the best enemy we've faced so far and that this fight surpasses even Ixion, right?

>>3473390
The minor problems I have with this encounter is that with how its been drawn out over a couple of threads. It reminds me of the descent and assault on the SMILER'S LACHRYMA DRILL RIG and it's sort of hard to tell how close to death he is through all of the prose.

>>3473406
I'd say he's beneath half health at this point. Maybe even approaching a third; we've done structural damage to his armor 3 times now, he's lost his death mask and now he's fighting unorthodoxically.

This has been the most Joker Quest fight ever to me. Just ridiculous shit after ridiculous shit and there is nothing more orgasmic than seething enemies screaming in rage at Joker, with Vovoid being the king of that.

>CESTUS
>punched into the fucking floor
God I kinda wanna go twin crisis arms and hurl a few blizzard rushes and freezing buster at him to fuck up his pretty face some more.

>>3473375
Srsly mate we have bigger fish to fru

>>3472080
>>3472083
>>3472092
>>3472097
>>3472098
>>3472104
>>3472108
>>3472259

The VITAE BOOSTER's heat churns through your form, as the storm-streaked nothingness boils in from all sides. Your frozen armor is black upon you, and – in spite of the cold – your bones are burned with the heat.

Red, red, a flare of insulted rage-

Your talons dig into the buckled metal of your perch, as you claw your way along the tumbling platform. The shredded lip of it is already gone, in the sudden, jarring lurch of severance – It slides off into the gulf of oblivion, down, down towards the terminator of the field-bubble that encases the gate.

You leap up the face of it, as it rushes down at you. Hurling yourself *up*, shorting power lines lashing as your armor in a flurry of sparks as the Tempest Scrander swoons to life-

The Tempest Scrander roars, and flings you back towards the melee like bullet down a barrel. The twin reactors flare, synapse feedback spiking across your HUD as you jink to the side, lofting out of the seething storm – A rasping fork of charge fuming in your wake. Your black shadow races along the Gate's hull, towards VOIVOID's gleaming shape above-

And then you hear it. A roiling, churning sound, like an angry mass of flies. The sound of a thousand swords – though less than before, now – individual, razor-sharp cutting blades chirring and rattling in furious rotation, iron scraping and grinding from cursory impacts. VOIVOID's war shape churns like an industrial grinder, black and gold rotating so fast it becomes a cyclone of negative lightning.

Yet, there are gaps in the interlacing, slicing formation. You can glimpse the gleaming gold core through the whirring cloud of blades, where your Silver Cartridges blasted through – the cloud is taller, thinner now, the perfect circle of spinning knives stretched into an oval-

It's looking for Daegal, as it rises – as it drifts forward, along the outer arc of the ring. It is hunting, blind – Where the spiked crown of the blade meets the Gate's iron, it slices through the metal like a hot knife through butter.

It can't see where he is. But it is slowly, surely closing in – Like a predator cornering prey. Daegal's icon registers on your peripheral vision, as he does exactly what you'd expect him to do – Back away, putting as much space between him and the storm of swords as possible, buying time...

-But for what?

With a spiteful crackle, your Sword Bits are sheared apart. Three swords versus a thousand – It's not even a contest. They wink out, excised in cross-section, before those sections too are sectioned – the sliding, slithering blades drawing colorless sparks as they lacerate the ground, relentlessly scourging the remaining space to nothing-

(Continued)

>>3473459

Like the pupil of a great machine eye, the BLUTSAUGER wrenches itself open in your frozen chest. You can taste electricity on your iron teeth, tendrils of sickly light pouring across the disc as if draining into a hole – twisting ribbons of purple-wreathed blackness dragging free from VOIVOID's core, drawn inexorably towards you as power builds within the VITAE BOOSTER.

When you loft over the edge of the Gate's platform, VOIVOID is ready for you. The wail of the blade-wheel rises, rises, dopplering into the very edge of hearing, as – in terrible unison – fully half of the swords scissor around to point at you, spurring forward to meet your frozen form-

But this time, you have both hands clamped around the throat of GOLGOTHA's. Spined knuckles flex on the shaft, a backwash of blue fire burning around you as tics of lightning leap across your fists, the axe's crescent smile grinning crimson.

You put the full force of your strength behind your axe, as you drive forward into the churning mass of blades. There is a terrible sound as you swing, the grinding of some infernal engine, as GOLGOTHA carves downwards.

Nothing stops it. Nothing.

The tongues of VOIVOID's sword crack, as GOLGOTHA's death-edge comes down. The air shrieks as it is cut, as the pitch-black blade smashes into the hailing swords – It shears through gold, through black steel, through gold again. The splintering *crack* is louder than anything that came before it, like a strangulated shriek, as shards of oriachulum fly into the air – the great downsweep showering the area in fragments of gold-chased steel, shards rattling off your frozen form like distant hail. GOLGOTHA carves deep into the walkway, breaking iron, the Gate's entire structure seeming to shudder, to convulse, beneath that single massive blow.

The fury of the storm shears into you. It slashes deep gouges into your form – As blades skitter and lacerate your surface, the Argus Sensor's green gem dies with a nasty crackle. Conduits are severed, vanes slashed free from the Tempest Scrander, the whirl of swords carving into the BLUTSAUGER's lidless eye, cryomatter gouting like ichor from your wounds-

And your axe rips free from the iron path. It chortles as it cuts the air, chopping around in a figure of eight. There is a buzzing, buzzing sound – A sound that is not quite frustrated pain – as it smashes the storm back, smites it away even as it carves into you. GOLGOTHA's lethality is not just in the hungering edge, but the equally terrible weight – When it carves through VOIVOID's swords, there is an awful, tooth-grind squeal, mowing upwards in a single unfurling sweep.

The shriek of that single impact – repeated over and over again – shoots a chill through your phantom nerves.

(Continued)

>>3473460
"A million years. All this planning. All this preparation. And it was always going to end the same way."

>>3473460
Wait, I thought Joker subjectively experienced Golgotha as weightless, or at least a lot lighter than it actually was. If we didn't want to carve through that gate even worse than Voivoid did, and we did not, then we should have been able to pull it back regardless of the momentum it built up.

Also did we even land a hit on Voivoid or just the swords he's able to infinitely generate.

>>3473468
No we don't ignore the physics of momentum or the effects of Golgothas mass in the environment. It just feels light when we hold and Move it. Deposited it being made of neutronium

>>3473468
We experience it as weightless. Our targets do not. Also, damaging the warform swords damages Vovoid; he was in agony after the 3 AZs and when he returned to normal he was covered head to toe in frost and quivering for a moment.

I think the war mode works by Vovoid putting more essence into the blades at his back and regressing his armor into a sphere, to maximise the material he can use for swords.

>>3473470
He drops all pretense of defense and goes all out attack. He is using his essence to directly control and manipulate the blades. He gets feedback from that when we break time

>>3473468

(It's made of solid neutronium. It should literally be near-impossible to lift by raw physical strength. While you can wield it without trouble, you're still subject to momentum.)

>>3473460

Dimly, you sense something – Like an arc of potential, the pull of like to like – between the Carnifex and Golgotha. There's a *connection* - Muted, but intuitive – between both Relics, that almost pulls you forward, that turns each unstoppable swing into something utterly ruinous.

You feel the war-shape recoil. It recedes, with an angry crackle – that chirring, keening rotation slowing as it shifts, folding and shearing and twisting into new patterns. Shrinking, coalescing back into VOIVOID's, smaller yet somehow indomitable-

Vapor streams from his armor – Still golden, but with scabbed gashes, discolorations, that make him look closer to scorched bronze. As the array of blades folds back into him, you can see how their razor edges are blunted and chipped, clinking as he moves. Scratches and scars marr the perfect finish, the integrity unbroken – Yet cut to the quick, like something forced up against a grinding lathe.

> "A million years. All this planning. All this preparation. And it was always going to end the same way."

That ever-smirking gold mark smirks. He makes a sound, low, a rasping buzz – A sound that is almost, but not quite, a laugh. VOIVOID's lightless gaze settles on one arm, rotating the limb with insect precison, taking in the lacerations that have obliterated the gleam of his vambrace.

why̱̻͜ ̗̗ḍ̬̥̤̠o͙̠͚ͅn͎'͇̬̯̱t̺̠͎̭͘ ̠͖̗̼yo͕̤̜̻͚ư͎ ̖͍r̵͚̳̼̭̜͔̟ún̹̯?͍̭̘͝ͅ
̭͕̣͚̬
̕y͖̹̠o̝u̢̝ ̛̰͎̘͈̺͚a̯̠̞̪l̛̤͙̮w͍a̹̙̝̘̗̙ỵ͓̯ͅs̰ ̥͉͈͟ù͓̫͍̤̗͕s͎̙e̻̱d͢ ț̷o ̺̺͍̻͎̪r̪͙̻̟͙̹͇u͡ṇ̻
̜̜̠
The words are affectless, but you can hear the mockery in them.

VOIVOID's swords come up. They blur around him in a liquid flurry, as he readdresses. Twin hums drone at they come alive, coated in jagged licks of corospant, wet with ripples of patient lightning. Behind him, his hanging blades rotate, orbiting him in looping arcs, his war-form in microcosm.

Those black eyes glitter like marbles, as you face each other across the span of the great ring – dampener fields muting the storm's roiling chaos to a low, subliminal hum. Frost blistered the ground beneath your feet, parts of your form rupturing and re-freezing in a constant cycle of change. You hold GOLGOTHA at the ready, in a double-handed brace – Hydraulics humming beneath the ice, the weird light playing across the great axe's smile.

HP: 111.5%
VITAE BOOSTER: 71% (SIGMA CHARGE ACTIVE)
ASSAULT SHROUD: 7%
METER: 16%
ENCROACHMENT: 48%
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (6/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (1/6) / NOCTURNE (6/6)
CARTRIDGES: N/A

CRUX: BOOSTER
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>3473478
OP what manuevers can we not do while using Golgotha? What can we do while using it?

Also i fucking KNEW golgotha and carnifex were connected

>>3473480
Well according to oblivion's husk at one point they probably would have been wielded together for a significant amount time, as the Golgotha we are currently using is the original not a copy.

>>3473480
(Basically, both of your hands are full. You can't do anything with them while attacking with GOLGOTHA.)

>>3473478

(My apologies, your profile should read:

HP: 111.5%
VITAE BOOSTER: 98% (SIGMA CHARGE ACTIVE)
ASSAULT SHROUD: 7%
METER: 16%
ENCROACHMENT: 68% (38%)
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (6/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (1/6) / NOCTURNE (6/6)
CARTRIDGES: N/A

CRUX: BOOSTER
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

>>3473478
What is the Status of the Gate?

>>3473487
(It's still functional. Your luck's holding so far, though parts of it are no longer properly shielded. As long as you stay close to the circumference of the ring itself, you're fine.)

>>3473486
Ok op
> Dirac transmit to daegal, ask him how much more time does he need?
> Regen the broken incomes using booster.
> Change incoms to cannon mode. Aim at vovoid firing in a staggered pattern , two firing at a time from different vectors.to stagger and break his posture
> If the scrander is still active switch to Aquila mode and charge vovoid.

>If scrander is not active use three of the incoms to in boost mode attached to torso to charge us forward.
> Remaining two incoms will go into cannon mode and blast vovoid on the different vectors as per plan one.

>>3473493
How many more turns of black frost do we have?

>>3473497
(Three.)

>>3473486
>Replace all incoms
>Wait until all incoms are regened the have them in rifle mode and fire at him along with familiars
>No crux
>Auspex + Full sigma charge. Use Golgotha to butcher him and try to circle so we force him onto the outer ring. Use abjuration jets + scrander to out maneuver him, Golgotha, Carnifex and Sigma to out muscle him
>"Why don't you beg Fuseil? Why don't you whine?"
>"You'll always be the lapdog trailing at my heels."

>>3473501
We need an update from daegal as we are waiting on him to do something.
We need a back up plan in case the scrander is damaged

>>3473501
This

>>3473503
We don't need the scrander for speed rn as we're in so close but Jets/Carnifex should do it.

Contacting Daegal is something I'm ambivalent on.

>>3473501
The problem is that circling him means we're putting ourselves between him and Daegal which seems unwise since Daegal is probably getting ready to shoot Vovoid.

Also making anime villain taunts doesn't seem to be accomplishing anything except make it seem like we deserve to lose.

>>3473501
>Auspex
We just used Terrorsight. No Auspex for us.

>>3473375
People are still on about her?
We knew her for like a week, then found out she worked for the enemy later.
I'm still thinking she's straight up dead, and kind of hope it stays that way. It takes a lot of the bite out of her death if she manages to come back.

>>3473548
>then found out she worked for the enemy later.
That wasn't exactly a shocking revelation anyway.

>>3473548
I guess more to clarify, her death was a really big deal for joker and the early part of the story. It also really impressed me with OP, that he was fully willing to kill off main characters. Not just a main character but a waifu at that.
I feel it would cheapen the experience if she came back.

>>3473554
But how much has Joker gone through since she left us. If we ever happen across the other Eye of Night we should at least attempt to wake her.

>>3473527
We don't know where Daegal is right now relative to us and we can force Vovoid away from him; the goal is to force Vovoid into a worse position against the void behind him so when he inevitably has to roll aside or try to push past us, Daegal can shoot him.

>anime villain
Okay first of all we are fighting someone who's only facial expressionis smug contempt and sadistic glee.
Second, how is anything the Red Joker would hypothetically say here inaccurate? Uncharitable, yes. But Fuseil *did* act like this AND we hate him. It's a canonical statement OP made that RJ hated this guy forever. More so than anyone else, we have hated him.
Third, I don't give a shit about taunting him to look cool. I want to goad him. To make him hotheaded, angry and bait him to keep focusing on us at all costsand make him forget Daegal temporally. There is method to my madness here.

>>3473531
We didn't use terrorsight, OP would have said so and made it clearer; the argus just got fucked by being hit.

>>3473460
>argus
>scrander
>blutsauger
Can these be damaged right now while we're in Black Frost OP?

>>3473576
Vitae booster*

>>3473573
I know you're trying to goad him, I just think the exchange in the last post indicates that's an unlikely outcome. Firstly because Voivoid is insane, secondly because I suspect that he is constantly as angry at Joker as it is possible to be.

>>3473576
(Yes, he can still wreck your equipment. Your components - limbs, core and so on - can't be damaged, however.)

>>3473496
>>3473501
>>3473503
>>3473505
>>3473527

Schematic lines jag through the air, as the Incom Rouzer pulses – Leeching the Vitae Booster's charge, the crimson glow dimming - remote weapons flickering into existence around you. The arc rings of their chargers glow, a low buzz droning from their gravimetric suspensors.

Red beams, ringed with concentric circles, flash out. They sear across the distance, outracing the circles of energy that radiate from their barrels. The bolts of light simply reflect off VOIVOID's gleaming form, even as the very air crisps and ionises – Riochets punch deep shot-craters into the walkway's surface, the disruption blasts deflecting from the oriachulum of VOIVOID's sheathing armor. There is a flash of ash and heat, as the beams scatter past-

You take two running steps. The first sends tremors through the iron underfoot, the second gouges deep scars into the metal as you kick off from it, leaping into the air. The Abruption Jets punch into your spine, flinging you forward in a single brutal motion as GOLGOTHA heaves down in an over-arm swing.

There is a thunderclap. VOIVOID vanishes in an oily smudge of air, and your axe carves through empty space. Reality flickers, as you wrench your axe back up – But then he bounds forward, not even breaking stride as he comes for you. The golden swords trail blurs of lightning, frost fuming as they sear through your defensive field – They smash into you, chips of ice spraying away as you're snapped back. Shards scatter like hailstones, like a rain of black diamonds, the patient ripple of electricity crawling across your form-

It doesn't slow you. You rotate, GOLGOTHA carving across in a reverse sweep – VOIVOID's hovering swords lunge forward, spearing into the way, and the pitch-black smashes them to flinders with a sound like shattering glass. The gold-chased pinions splinter apart, as VOIVOID moves aside.

Even layered in armor, he's fast. Not just fast, but precise. There is an economy to his movements – He does not weave to evade the blow: He simply is not there to receive it.

The muttering edge sears past him, and his sword plunges into the gap. The stab rings off GOLGOTHA's haft – Deflected high – and punches through your chest, ichor fuming and leaking from your split breastplate. The blade *twists*, and – for one moment – you can feel it raking inside you, slicing towards the core of unmelting ice-

You head-butt him savagely, and your helmet smashes into VOIVOID's grin. The killing rictus never falters – His sword slices out of you, a vicious transverse whip that scours a deep gouge across your frozen cuirass, ripping free in a spray of ice.

GOLGOTHA isn't a subtle weapon. You deliver a full, chest-height swing, a furious half-circle blow-

-A flicker of premonition-

(Continued)

>>3473582
I'd agree with you but his sheer rage when we decked him in the face makes me think we can make him lose his cool, however temporarily.

I don't mind not saying it though. Also sorry for typos, phone posting.

>>3473587
He's literally seething already, he can't want to kill us anymore then He already does

>>3473583
This is black frost level 4, hence our instant limb regen correct?

>>3473590

(Yes, you can't suffer limb loss.)

>>3473583

Your swing angles upwards, VOIVOID's pinions spearing down towards you. You turn it into a rotation, slicing through the blades stabbing at you – They shiver aside, notched and chipped, showers of fragments flying up like gleaming petals.

He's aiming for your head. Aiming for BLACK FROST's heart.

If you could just-

There is a violent *snap* as the world rocks off it's axis. Panes of glossy black material converge on you, lurching out of the storm-streaked chaos. They *contract*, catching you between them, slamming around you with a sickening lurch – Not biting, but *crushing*, the angular shapes pinning you in place between them. They *compress*, and you hear a brittle *crunch* as you're locked between the impossibly thin walls, fitting against each other so perfectly that there is no space between them for anything else to exist.

FUESIL's power. Twin distortions, solidified space turned into a relentless vise. Your frozen form is crushed between them, beneath that inexorable force, with no room to bring GOLGOTHA to bear-

-Over the Dirac channel, a static-burst crackle-

> “ANON-”

(Continued)

>>3473592
EXEC REND NOW

>>3473593
Yeah, might as well use one of the Harmonica charges.

>>3473621
Lets just use booster, we've gor over 80

We can also use the nihil sphere and get an enhanced effect

>>3473592

Then there is light.

Blinding light.

It is a harsh radiance, swelling, spilling out from everywhere and nowhere at once. Something ignites, as golden filaments spear outwards, racing across the torn and corroded metal of the Gate's great ring, jagging like circuitry. There is a thump, a series of rattling clanks – You hear gears beginning to turn, cogs beginning to spin, arcane mechanisms roaring to new life-

The moan of the storm ceases. The subliminal buzzing, buzzing is gone, as a ripple plays across the shield's surface – the tattered reality-sphere shimmers, becoming more solid, becoming more defined, the amber glow radiating up the churning black Lachryma at the very core of the ring. Angular shapes emerge, as the air becomes radiant with yellow light. Amber lightning flares out from the disrupted areas – Where it touches, power forks and crackles, over the serene, golden layers of undamaged structure.

It is a sweeping change, radiating outward in an unstoppable wave. Where it touches, old iron takes on the gleam of hammered bronze in firelight, baroque symbols swarming across the surface. Twisting glyphs, deep-inscribed devices and engravings, the grand transmutation engulfing all in it's wake.

It happens in less time than it takes to realize it. The vast superstructure is reinforced – no, *remade* - as a corona of seething energies dances around gilded spires, with the distinctive gleam of-

Oriachulum.

The entire Gate is being transmuted to oriachulum.

VOIVOID's golden head jerks around. Cocked on one side, as it curious.

And then he turns, blades whirring in vicious scything strokes. The speed, the precision, is as breathtaking as it is utterly inhuman; ozone mist trailing from both swords, as they burn and rasp through the frozen air-

Daegal lets out a wordless yell, as his optic camouflage tears away. His Mirage Shroud is ripped apart, raked to shreds – the tatters still reflecting his surroundings for a heartbeat more, even as they lose cohesion, nanomaterial scraps shearing away from the cut.

In one hand, he has the ADAMANT. In the other, he has ASCALON.

Before, it was a great slab of a weapon, nearly too heavy for him to wield – But it has been remade, his gauntlet locked around the silver hilt. Circuitry lattices the blade, gold filgree against pitch-black neutronium – Flame rippling along Ascalon's length, the fire spitting and crackling as Daegal brings Armaros's sword down.

“Eat-”

VOIVOID's swords explode. Their blades shatter like smashed glass, flechettes slicing into that golden mask – Already deformed by the CRISIS ARM, now notched and chipped by the flying, flaying hail. Metal fragments drive into VOIVOID's face like buckshot, something like mercury sobbing out from the gashes-

(Continued)

>>3473643
OH SHIT OH SHIT

KILL HIM! FUCKING KILL HIM SMASH HIM TO FUCKING BITS WITH THE AXE

>>3473643
>tfw Kaz Blinged out the Gate to be more durable
>*whistles in appreciation across the channel*

>>3473658
>"Kept me waiting buddy kick his ass"

>>3473643
NEUTRONIUM SWORD
NEUTRONIUM SHIELD
NEUTRONIUM AXE

SPITROASTING A MILLENIA OLD BITCH WITH OUR GIRTH

So, am I reading it correctly that Ascalon has been augmented further than was already the case? Or is it just Daegal's normal augmentation?

>>3473658
>>3473660
Nah. Lets join in, kill him together.

Do >>3473661
"Together as one."
AND FUCK. THIS. CUNT.

>>3473661
It's been adjusted so a normal player can wield it properly without needing both hands and having to drag it. i.e. it's for a human sized Player, not Armaros.

>>3473661
Basically Kaz split the Neutronium Greatsword's mass and divided it into two pieces; a sword and a shield set.

>>3473667
No, the Adamant was already a one handed tower shield. He's just made the Ascalaon able to be wielded in one hand so now it can be paired with the Adamant instead of the Condemner

>>3473661
>NEUTRONIUM SHIELD
IIRC the Adamant isn't Neutronium. It's tough as hell but nowhere near as dense, since Daegal's always wielded it with greater ease than Ascalon and it actually bent under Rust Kaiser's assault.

>>3473669
https://pastebin.com/23UjEeRx
It's neutronium-adamantine composite.

>>3473675
I guess now it's full neutronium, otherwise what happened to the excess neutronium from ascalon

>>3473679
Folded 1 jillion times

>>3473681
GLORIOUS NEUTRONIUM STEEL.

>>3473681
>>3473684
You know, this makes me realize how weird it is that we gain fucking brass armor when we use our new Carnifex.

>>3473685
I think it has to do with the crisis arm.

What colour is the crisis arm now? It used to be white at the start, right? But now it's like red/brass, isn't it?

>>3473681
A 1000 thousand fold neutronium blade. I think I need to use the bathroom

>>3473661

(It's a super-augmentation. This is Daegal's Tier 3 (i.e. 100%) special ability.)

>>3473643

You hear him snarl, the buzzing swarming through your sensors. VOIVOID lashes out, hooked blades ratcheting into place from the slots in his fingers, multiple edges singing at they slice the air. They shear outwards at Daegal, in a single ripping blow-

“-this-”

Daegal wrenches the Adamant up. He handles the great shield like it weighs nothing at all – And perhaps it does, hair-thin filaments spidering across the shield's face as VOIVOID's claws rake across the surface. They draw deep, parallel furrows across the Adamant, splinters of metal flying-

When VOIVOID's hooked blades complete their arc, you glimpse their notched, chipped edges – the glowing lines sheared into the Adamant's surface fading, flickering out.

Kazuya rears back to swing again-

VOIVOID's eyes light up with a violet glare.

There is an odd, hard bang, so hard it is painful to feel and hear. It is a rippling distortion, like a quick concussive vibration of air. It hits Daegal like a sledgehammer, like a tank round, so hard it actually lofts him from his feet. He yells, as he's hurled back – his armor scraping up flurries of sparks from the now-reinforced walkway, driven by a hurricane-force blast.

But VOIVOID's grip on you slips. You feel the clenching forms loosen ever so slightly, even as they fight to keep you pinned, to grind you into oblivion. With an effort that sends feedback surging through your sensors, you wrench forward, your frozen form crackling at the contortions, focused on that one stark desire to pull free...

And you bring GOLGOTHA around in a great swing, the axe carving around you like a wheel of lightning.

Reality tears as it is cut. Neutronium and compressed space tries to intersect, but meet in utter, irreconcilable conflict.

GOLGOTHA wins. Foetid energy smokes off the axe's edge, the jagged edges of the distortions receding, sheared through. Smoke-light fumes around you, a bleak, awful radiance that wells up from the cracks in the universe – Gone as soon as it is glimpsed.

You hit the ground, your boots finding a foothold at last. Hoarfrost cakes your limbs, crackling as you move – BLACK FROST expended at last, the transmutation reversed as silver casings clatter and dance from your Cestus's chambers.

>>3473664

Daegal forces himself to his feet, as fire ripples along Ascalon's edge – You grasp GOLGOTHA, leaning on the shaft as you haul yourself upright.

“Together,” Daegal rasps, as he sweeps the great sword down and to the side, in the fencer's salute. Tiny cracks spider across his remaining optic, but the light within burns a fierce blue. His Cobalt Booster sends cold strength stinging through his limbs, that glow issuing from the gaps in his golden plate – In perfect synchronity, you raise your executioner's axe in a salute of your own.

Together.

(Continued)

>>3473725
Okay, so it seems OP plays out 2 turns every time between our decisions. Important to note.

>>3473725

The nature of the battle has changed.

As before, VOIVOID stands between the two of you – An enemy on each side. But this time, his armor is scarred, his swords reduced to splintered shards in his grasp.

He does not look at either of you. His gaze is reserved solely for his weapons – Broken beyond repair, the shards darkened by scorch markings from the detonation that ruined them.

VOIVOID's fist lashes out. Kazuya tenses, but the blow is not aimed at him. It strikes space itself, and *cracks* it like glass. Flaws spiderweb across the fractal surface, a shape blurring into existence-

It is a stave – half again as long as he is tall – odd, eye-hurting glyphs winding across the black of the shaft in golden inlay. It spins in VOIVOID's grasp, the gesture so smooth and fast it makes no sound.

“What's-” Daegal voice crackles across the channel. “What's he-”

And blackness shears forth from either end of the stave. Twin blades of unutterable blackness, caged wounds in the fabric of reality. The air hisses as molecules pass over the flickering blades, and are sliced in two.

The light slithers across them, trying – and failing – to find purchase, the edges of the blades like shadows cast in smoke.

Not a stave. A *spear*.

You can feel the absolute *nullity* that radiates from them – An echo of the BLUTSAUGER's hungering void. Anti-light crackles around the spear's rifts, as – for the first time – you feel cold in your endosteel bones.

And at last, VOIVOID looks up.

And all you can see is hate.

HP: 80.5%
VITAE BOOSTER: 132%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0%
METER: 42%
ENCROACHMENT: 47% (17%)
REVOLVERS: CAESAR (6/6) / PEACEMAKER (4/6) / AXANAEL (1/6) / NOCTURNE (6/6)
CARTRIDGES: N/A

CRUX: HP
PHOTONIC MANTLE ACTIVE
BANDOLIER (CELL) ACTIVE

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>3473760
(Gentlemen, I assume you've shut off the Blutsauger in order to reduce Encroachment. As a side-note, please note that you can always change to your COBALT BOOSTER if you prefer it to the VITAE BOOSTER.)

(Unfortunately, I must turn in for now - But I'll be eager to continue as soon as I have the opportunity.)

>>3473762
How repaired is the cobalt booster? Is it still functional? Does it work?

>>3473762
is... is that a void spear? Is that a spear made out of a black hole?

>>3473766
(It's suffered some damage, but it's still functional.)

>>3473762
>As a side-note, please note that you can always change to your COBALT BOOSTER if you prefer it to the VITAE BOOSTER.
On that topic, do we still have the Lucifer Bits?
And can Kazuya make use of them?

>>3473766
That's also a good question. I sure hope that it was affected by the forge.

>>3473760
So an essence-draining weapon. It will ignore armor.
But we have jettisoned our armor anyway, so that might be less of a concern for use. It's different for Kazuya.

Fucker can still teleport around, I would assume. At the same time, we'd be best served by fighting at mid-range.

...Should we try NIHL-enhanced EXEC_DISRUPT?

Christ, I got into college, took a leave of absence, came back and graduated, and Joker Quest is still going.

This and Black Company Quest got me through a lot of things.

Man if only I had skills in animation or drawing.

>>3473779
What if we converted the quest into a script and pitched it into an anime studio? I think this quest as an Anime would be a smash hit.

>>3473790
This would require you to both have access to someone who actually has influence, as well as be capable of translating everything to good Japanese.
And even then you'd likely need to attach some animation or artwork to make the pitch more enticing.

This is the usual "I want something to happen but not actually do anything special to make it happen" suggestion.

>>3473767
It's got the same description as the Fatal Abyss. So yes.

Alright guys, what do we do? We can use anything now and here are some of my thoughts
>VB boosted Chain Mine
>More Golgotha (it's been doing great against him and it's probably one of the few weapons that can stand up to that fucking thing and will mince him if we land it)
>Blade of cocytus level 4 (unbreakable, extra turns)
>Fusion annihilator
>Freezing buster level 4 with dual crisis arms.
>Caesar + Axanael in melee (the guns suffer no cost to being shot in melee)

I'm honestly leaning Golgotha or VB boosted Chain Mine. I don't think we'll have the space to charge a fusion annihilator and twin crisis arms with cestus support, while useful, still means that our core weapon itself cannot fuck him up. Here are some things NOT TO USE.

>Providence: It can't even scratch his actual armor.
>Peacemaker: He still doesn't have any holes in him,
>Literally any codeburst targeting him: Adamant Aegis

If we do keep using Golgotha... Is now the time for a Terrorsight strike or do we wait one more turn for it? Waiting could be adviseable. I think sheer force of numbers will help.

>>3473772
No, he has an Adamant Aegis; using any Codeburst on him directly is a terrible mistake.

>>3473760
Alright, here's mu proposed suggestion
>Auspex/Sigma, natch.
>Sword Incoms orbitng ourselves defensively, bouncing away his attacks.
>Go at him with the axe, working with Daegal to take him apart. If things look grim emergency Terrorsight and Golgotha.

Golgotha + Ascalon are both capable of killing him. My plan's pretty simple; try to cause some damage, force him to choose between us and Daegal this turn. THe goal is to build health and meter for next turn, when we hit him with an AZ or 2 again.

We *have* to start doing some real fucking damage. The only real hits we've landed so far are
>Golgotha
>Axanael
>Absolute Zeroes.
>Dual Crisis Arms

We should only use weapons that can break Orichalcum now. We've spent too long in this fight fending him off.

>>3473798
How about some fucking void missiles?
They ignore armor. Just like his spear.

>>3473801
Missiles have a minimum distance for firing at him and we'd probably hit Daegal too. That's the issue with the VB Chain Mine idea as well; Daegal is too close for comfort and, honestly. if we try to pull away Vovoid will teleport to us and punish us. He *wants* us to split up right now.

>>3473790
Well unless JQOP gives his blessings, and someone in the thread is either a top anime executive or is close personal friends with one I doubt that would happen

>>3473798
Wait, can we Dirac to Daegal to try and hit the Aegis like we will? If we take out the Aegis, we can finally try hitting him with some code bursts.

>>3473825
Shit, we could even have a sword bit aim for the aegis while the other 4 defend us

>>3473868
>>3473825
Counter-thought: The spear seems to be imbued with his inherent ability.
It might be locked to him, just like our crisis arm.

>>3473888
I mean probably but then we can hit him with some smites.

>>3473760
So, reread older threads for reference; that spear has the same effects of void grenades and is very similar to the initial description for the fatal abyss when it was being used by use/Akira but *not* how it was when it was being used by Phantom Edge.

I'd be really careful of it still but it's not 'Phantom Edge with Fatal Abyss' tier I think. There's no mention of it being open to another dimension, the nullity comment is what the Fatal Abyss had but it's closer to the other void attacks we've seen.

Still, be careful lads.

>>3473798
Are we still able to use the photonic halo? If it does not fuck up the GATE's integrity I'm up for using it.

>>3474080
We can use the Photonic Halo, but JQOP basically said we shouldn't.

>>3474080
The Photonic Halo has been integrated into Desparado because OP simply couldn't balance both versions of it I think. We'll have to ask him if it'll become available again later but for now, it's a dead end.

Also, something interesting I've noticed; the description for Golgotha's been slowly changing. Before, it was just a big black blade. Powerful to be sure but not anything alive or hideous, with the occasional spark of red lightning. *Now*, it laughs when we swing it, it has a red smile and the black edge glows red when it swings. Due to this, I have some ideas for how the cursed blade works from what we know
>Golgotha stocks 'kills'; it's gone from matte black to something more alive that laughs.
>Golgotha has an enhanced effect with the Carnifex; this shouldn't be surprising, its OH ability literally calls it an executioner's axe.
>It doesn't like being robbed of its kills. Golgotha will slow us down and pin us in place while it tries to reach a new level of power from its killing.
>The weapon is hard to equip or unequip; this could be due to being cursed or being neutronium. It's hard to say.

>>3473798
we need anti-armor weapons, very high damage, or significant debuffs.

we could use Hoarfrost to encase his weapon arm or feet. the Axel grips to sever the limb, Vitae Boosted missiles or vitae boosterd plasma vulcans. alternatively antimatter works just fine on orchalcum, and the tracer beam will let us know if he warps space.

>>3474269
or, we could dual wield crisis arms and use one to crush him in place with the zero point energy field while using a lachryma freezing buster with the other one.

without anywhere to go being held in place the usual knockback should convert into extra damage, and the freezing effect will make his armor less effective.

In regards to Hecate.

There are a lot of reasons to try to save her. Emotionally, it has been proven by vote that Hecate is the girl Anon really loves. Meta-wise, it would be a huge win for the players against the trend of being utterly unable to save anyone. From a pragmatic perspective, Hecate is likely the only person still alive who has any idea where the White Joker has his lair.

To say nothing of the fact that most of our allies are dead at this point while Naoya can literally crank more minions out using lachryma.

>>3473643
HIT HIM WITH THE GODDAMN AXE
HAMMER AND ANVIL, MOTHERFUCKER

Kazuya Is a goddamn champion. I think we've finally found someone who can walk down the same path as us and make It through. With this, I think we can say Kazuya Is finally coming into his own.

We might want to git rid of Golgatha this turn. I've noticed while Golgatha Is beyond excellent at murder, It doesn't seem to do much In the way of blocking.

Now that BF Is over we have two choices the way I see things

1. Do It again.

2. Fall back on our ranged game, he's weakened and we've got meter and booster.


I say option 2 Is the better choice now. Kazuya can't compete with Feusil In melee, Feusil's got the whole 'Million years In hell' buff RJ and WJ have going for them. Not yet. That said, can he beat Kazuya when we're throwing loads of dakka his way?

Think about It, the Gate Is stabilized. In fact, It's probably safer to fire heavy weaponry now than ever now It's made of gleaming gold.

We have a gaggle of revolvers we can shoot, several of them would be useful here. Noctourne probably wouldn't work because Orichalcum resists transmutation but Calibre could probably hurt him, and considering It's just a more well rounded Anaxeal In that It Is a gun that does unstoppable gun things we could get some mileage out of It. Caesar Is obvious, Peacemaker could put him down If we could put some holes In him. Also, we could finally fire off a missle salvo like we've talked about for some time, which would be good because It's a hands-free option.

Personally I'm a sucker for going for a Cestus kill even though It'd be really unwise right now. Stock up 3Brass and 1 Lacryma and use our Hulk Strength to donut right through him, or use terrorsight with It to punch an uppercut through his core up Into his brain through his organs. We know for a fact flash-freezing works to weaken or break Orichalcum, we could do It.

>>3474269
>>3474341
How about this:
Providence to be able to evade his strikes and, at level 3, cause damage.

Either Rubicante or the TAU gun to actually deal damage. I assume both reality-distortion and antimatter shots should be able to harm orichalcum.

We can't keep him at range, we are worse at melee, so why not avoid his attacks at mid-to-low range?

>>3475081
He's objectively a better fighter than we are, and we're a better fighter than Kaz. Look at how he keeps hitting us, and we can barely hit him. We need to rush him, overwhelm his defense.

>>3474585
>We know for a fact flash-freezing works to weaken or break Orichalcum, we could do It.
Not flash-freezing.
Atomic freezing. Absolute Zero doesn't just freeze shit. It deprives it of all energy. The lower level attacks don't do that.

>>3475084
He is, but his teleporting shenanigans will be greatly offset if we have precognition on our side.

Actually, why don't we let a swarm of vector bits lock onto him from behind and try to throw him off the platform?
Either it works or he evades/counters, making him an easier target. He doesn't have his war form anymore, after all.

>>3474269
We need AZ to freeze him.

The lesser attacks will not have the same effect as AZ.

>>3474585
>>3475081
>>3475084
>>3475089
Guys did you even read the posts? He's been hitting us so much because he's had five or ten swords or more hitting us at all times while we and Kazuya have taken turns trying to parry him off.

We are now in a situation where, finally, Daegal and us both have melee weapons that can damage him, have him pinned on two sides and he doesn't have any swords out right now. We can pin him between us and finish him.

Providence can't hurt him at all; if we equip it, we're down to one neutronium weapon that can damage him, a sword that can't do anything at all and whatever is in our offhand.

Likewise, he's already shown himself to be too heavy/dense for the vector bits to move. If we keep thw sword bits defending, we can mitigate our risk of damage while we still have the axe out.

Daegal and us can hurl so many neutronium attacks off him that we will hit, regen health + meter. We need to do that so we can switch to Cestus either next turn or the turn after if we use terrorsight and try an AZ again.

Keep up Golgotha and 5 parrying sword bits while we put crux into health. Try to destroy his aegis as we attack, so we can use codebursts.

On a completely unrelated note, should we maybe use the Tyrant Burst system in conjunction with the VITAE BOOSTER?
IIRC Blutsauger and Tyrant Burst were independent of the two boosters.

So one thing to note: our Incoms are basically only useful in this fight when attached to us or Daegal for their mobility boost: Cannon forme's beams are refracted from Fusile's armor and his Warform makes an episode of "will it blend?" out of Sword forme. Just so we don't waste any more actions fucking around with the bits.

>>3475081
I have never at any other point in this quest regretted getting leukocyte instead of the tachyon revolver that ignored all armor more than I do in this fight. Rust Kaiser is currently a close second.

>>3475166
If we go full melee with golgotha then we should also use black ice to mitigate damage. However I'm not certain we -can- use the cestus while wielding golgotha.

Also, the sword bits likely cannot parry this space warping spear. It's likely on par with or better than phase fields for cutting. and the apex blade (which used a phase field for its edge) cut through orichalcum with ease. No one wants to be on the receiving end of that spear.

Hence the profusion of "cut off his arm" ideas. or armor piercing ideas.

alternatively, we need to move so God damn fast that VOIVOD can't hit us. between the carnifex, Vitae Booster, and booster bits we might be able to accomplish that.

or we could use assault shroud duplicates to force him to waste attacks.

>>3475193
>or we could use assault shroud duplicates to force him to waste attacks.
Oh yeah, afterimages and clones might be valuable here.

I wonder whether EXEC_SWARM would do anything to him. It might crawl into the nooks and crannies created by the damages that he has received.

>>3475166
Hoarfrost will still encase his limbs, shatter blast will still slow him, buster will still render his armor brittle with lachryma, etc. etc.

Yes AZ is the best direct attack, but he's wise to cestus tricks. if he warps of the way that's a lot of booster to waste

>>3475197
I was considering that, but didn't know if swarm with muletta was better than after-images and duplicates.

>>3475197
I was thinking that but his armour is scratched and scared, not cracked.

>>3475198
Yeah but I think AZ with terrorsight/golgotha and terrorsight should do it

>>3475197
I also considered smoke out, but I'm fairly sure we used terrorsight last round.

If we haven't, then smoke out is by far our best option since deagal has an argus sensor too

>>3475204
Yeah but is that just Prose or has his Armour actually been degraded?

>>3475205
>I'm fairly sure we used terrorsight last round
OP always mentions these kinds of abilities specifically.
The only thing that happened is that the Argus got damaged.

>If we haven't, then smoke out is by far our best option since deagal has an argus sensor too
It's Auspex that allows us to see through the smoke, not Argus.
We'd need to factor in Kazuya before we use it.

>>3475206
Does it matter? While we are constrained by a system, OP generally allows for creative use of abilities based on prose, like how the entire platform was destroyed.
If his armor has actual holes, our swarm will be able to enter them.

I just went through the equipment guide and realized something:
We've already gained quite a bit of essence. VOIVOID will likely take us to the next level.
We have the EIDOLON ability.

This means that we'll get his signature ability.
Just something to keep in mind.


Also, lachryma-infused smokeout actually drains energy weapons and makes them weaker.
I wonder whether this applies to void weaponry...

>>3475232
Would that destabilize the Gate though?

>>3475232
It's blind Daegal but its an idea.

>>3473760
Can we equip the Tyrant Burst as a free action OP? If we can, can we integrate the lvl 1/flash grenade version into whatever attack we do?

>>3475234
>>3475237
Wait, on second thought: Didn't Fuesil fight alongside us?
We can move inside the smoke due to experience. Shouldn't he also have that?
We still have the Auspex advantage, though.

We just need to consider Daegal in this plan.

I think we need to drop Golgotha and go lvl 4 black frost. We stay in close with the dual cestus or with th blade of cocytus. The aim is to take the amulet off him and also to pin him down close enough that he can't swing his blade spear. We use that to make an opening for daegals. I feel ww can restrict his teleport and movement of we get our hands on him and wrestle him. He can't cut us with the spear of we wrestle him. Plus daegals can stab or slash through us and we won't take as much damage as vovoid will die to bf. Most importantly he won't be expecting us to do something like this

>>3475262
Sorry I am posting on my phone.
Tldr.
> Dual crisis arm or blade of cocytus
>Lvl 4 bf.
>Stay super close to stop the blade spear from swinging at us.
> Rip off the amulet to leave him Open to codebursts.
>wrestle him down with the power up from carnifex and sigma charge.
> This could open him up to daegals attacks and should prevent him from escaping without a teleport.
> Since we don't take internal mechanism damage, daegals can stab and slash at vovoid through us of necessary.

>>3475264
We don't hace the meter or booster for BF what are you smoking? Not only that, the crisis arm isn't doing enough for the amount of damage we take with it

>>3475308
>>3475308
We can use the crux at 2 percent encroachment to get 8 percent booster back
>Lvl4 bf costs 180 meter/booster
>We currently have a combined amount of meter/booster of 174
>Crux will give us the 8 percent we are missing
Crisis arm will allow us to fight at ultra close range and restrict the movement of vovoids spear. It lacks the angle of attack and manipulation of vovoids swords.
By restricting his movement and potentially grappling with him, he won't be able to teleport away without us following.
The objective is to create an opening for daegals to strike with ascalon while minimising risk to daegals and our ownselves by using bf to tank the initial strikes/glancing blows of vovoids attack.once we are in close we can also use one of the crisis arms to target his aegis amulet and open him up to code burst attacks

>>3475324
You're forgetting the fact BF takes time to start up, even longer if its 4 cartridges. Also
>us losing our hands to grab his spear means we cannot dodge any swords or reality warping shit
>he can kick and smash us at a whim or do that purple pop thing
>he can use the panes of reality on us
>he has his back blades to still fight or hold off daegal
Why do you people never read the thread? I appreicate the out of the box thinking but what are you doing? Hell, if we don't spend meter we can build jt this turn and protect ourselves with a better Desparado which is perfect for holding off void attacks

>>3475331
He can do all that when we use Golgotha as well. But then we won't have bf,or the cestus abilities or the ultility of using our hands for anything besides wielding Golgotha.
We can use Providence to defend ourselves while we transform to black frost.

>>3475345
Yes but we'll have golgotha and a single hit will massively fuck him up uf he does that
>cestus and providence
He'll just focus down Daegal and kill him. The crisis arm can only hurt him with a big wide up, if it lands, and providence can't do shit at all.

In fact, the crisis arm kept breaking over and over again hitting his armor and stopping his swords. Now that we aren't in BF and you want to wait for BF, he will kill Daegal. His weapon can go straight through Daegal's armor.

This idea is just awful. You want us to stand back and watch Daegal die while equiping two weaponsnwhich have been repeatedly shown to not work as well.

If we were in any position besides both flanking him, with all his swords gone and the carnifex activated, you might have a point. But as things are now this idea is just terrible.

We don't have to stay still while we load and activate the cartridges we can engage him with axanel and to pressure him if he turns his back on us.
Daegals has adamant amd ascalon he should be able to survive with those two for a moment even as pressure vovoid with axanel and Providence. If daegals can't hold hi. For that long. Then he was never going to be a factor in this stage of the fight anyways. If vovoid manages to blow us away Golgotha or not. Daegals will need to fend for himself while we re-engage since can't pressure from distance with Golgotha

The crisis arm is not going to be used for attack not directly, let's use it to hold/grapple vovoid in place with the gravimetric and physical power of the arms. The objective is to take away vovoids ability to dodge and teleport away and remove his aegis amulet. .golgotha can hurt him yes. But it means we have to engage him at a distance where he can use the spear to attack and deflect Golgotha.
Without black frost if we swing wide with Golgotha he will use that moment to riposte us for big damage.

>>3475364
I agree on the Crisis Arms, but Providence at level 2 seems to be capable of going through orichalcum. And at level 3 it does full-body cumulative poison damage of a type that seems to work even on non-corrosive substances.
It is tachyon fuckery, after all.

As for the Crisis Arms, we could technically simultaneously use all of our boosts to probably inflict good damage.
- Scrander boost
- Abruption Jets
- Vector bits
- Blizzard Rush + lachryma for larger arm
- Sigma charge + Carnifex bonus

It would probably tear us apart on impact, if the guy doesn't just teleport away, but he'd surely feel the hit.

>>3475375
Providence doesn't become stronger when it increases in level. Lvl 3 might be able to do something but its a big 'might' and requires 3 more turns.

Fuck, I'd rather just terrorsight + golgotha at that point. That's better than the 'kill ourselves to do some damage with the crisis arm" idea

>>3475374
Did you not read what I just said? It's ot just the spear. He has that spatial explosion, that energy beam he fired earlier, his soace manipulation and that pulse blast plus any additional swords. He will kill Daegal and then us if we do this.

For the love of god, Golgotha is what got him from 'mildly damaged mask and a few broken mechanics' to 'smashed to a dirty coloured bronze, covered in wounds all over'. He survived last round because of his space fuckery and because he had swords out to parry. He doesn't have swords out and we have 3 neutronium weapons to stomp him with.

Next turn, when we have more meter, health and booster might be a good time to get rid of the axe but rn we can't load up anything to fuck his defenses and protect ourselves. If we attack, we can overwhelm. If we lower the pressure he will kill Daegal or us.

Jesus OP explictly fucking said this is a bad position for him.

>>3475394
I Would have to agree that we may not have any time to do anything too fancy without giving VOIVOID the time and to trounce DEAGAL.
So we should at very least keep using GOLGOTHA as we have although, we still need to prepare for the coming rounds

on the topic of the 'Spear' it was mentioned that it felt similar to BLUTSAUGER so it may have some sort of HP or Meter Vampire effect ( it may also have other effects ) or something similar, Also because he didn't lead with the spear either it is expensive to summon or it has other drawbacks.

>>3475394
Getting hit by Golgotha will kill him dead. He has repeatedly avoided the axe. He didn't even try to parry, just dodged, because his weapons can't survive the impact. We just need to overwhelm him.

>>3475410
It's description matches void grenades/the weaker forms of the fatal abyss. It works like a void weapon but the desparado is an essence like shield so it might help?

The one thing I want to do is swap in the tyrant burst if its a free action, wait until after he teleports and then blind the cunt

If we can switch to the cobalt booster and power up the tyrant burst while using golgotha I am ok to vote for using Golgotha. The tyrant burst system will provide us enough utility to cover potential complications in having both hands holding Golgotha

Just going to throw this out there: if we aren't in Black Frost, going into melee with Fuesil will result in, at a bare minimum, crippling systems damage which will fuck us for the remainder of the fight. He doesn't even need his null spear for this to be the case; earlier he was perfectly capabile of lopping off Joker's limbs and damn near bisecting us with only his Orichalcum gilt blades. I know is sucks eating an action to drop Golgotha butwe need to keep out distance while out of Black Frost unless we are certain to kill him the same turn we close the distance.

How about dropping Golgotha, attaching Vector Bits to Daegal to up his dodge and mobility, drawing Peacemaker and Caesar then unloading on Fuesil while strafing around at a medium distance and loading Silver cartridges? This will keep his focus split between Joker and Daegal which is and protect us somewhat against crippaling damage until we can go Black Frost or fire a max power Absolute Zero.

>>3475422
Remember what happen to the beams fired by the Cannon Bits? Fuesil's armor refracts beam attacks.
>Red beams, ringed with concentric circles, flash out. They sear across the distance, outracing the circles of energy that radiate from their barrels. The bolts of light simply reflect off VOIVOID's gleaming form, even as the very air crisps and ionises – Riochets punch deep shot-craters into the walkway's surface, the disruption blasts deflecting from the oriachulum of VOIVOID's sheathing armor. There is a flash of ash and heat, as the beams scatter past-

Unless you wanted to use the mode that just blinds the enemy? I feel like that has never worked on any high level or competent foe.

>>3475416
We could also barrage him with the Triskelon launcher up to 8(16?) times(with a HEAT warhead?) if we were to empower them with the Vitae booster and that doesn't use our hands and depending weather accuracy is rolled on a per attack or salvo that would make him extremely busy especially if we used it to allow us to get him into range. also we can reduce the number of rockets in the salvo to decrease the energy cost if need be to accommodate other measures.

Costs:
3(6 meter for vitae enhanced) meter per rocket x 8[16] rockets in a barrage = 24 (48) [96]
we currently have 174 total energy
Terror sight would use up 75 energy either mode would work.

>>3475422
>>3475434
>>3475440
Buddy I'm as sick of Golgotha as anyone in this quest and even I think switching from it right now is stupid.

Also it wouldn't be cool to salute with it and then immediately drop it.

>>3475434
He had multiple swords at once and we didn't have any sword bits out at that time. That's why we were getting hit so much. That and it was his fucking war form.

Look, again, this isn't a bad idea but consider at the situation we're in; we have high essence protection from the desparado, we have a guy we can secretly communicate with helping us flank Vovoid and we each have weapons which shred his armor/swords.

If we change to axanael and caesar, we can't parry his blade. He has a perfect weapon for killing Daegal, one that punches straight through armor; Daegal is very skilled but we'd be shooting into a combat with 2 guys made of orichalcum with a gun that kills guys made of orichalcum.

We cannot move away, he will kill and overwhelm Daegal who we hace to fire at as well OR he teleports over to us. We cannot change weapons as no other melee weapon rends orichalcum as well as Golgotha and if he doesn't have to worry about it, he will IMMEDIATELY ignore us and focus 100% on Daegal.

He has been, even, UNDER attacking comparing his strategy when we had the dual crisis arms vs just Golgotha.

If you guys are really this worried, just use terrorsight. Wait until he teleports again, terrorsight, undodgeable swing.

The best option, in my opinion remains:
>sword bits pulled in to defend and parry, boosted if necessary
>use dirac to combo with Daegal, work together
>if its a free action, switch to tyrant burst, warn daegal and blind Vovoid with it
>have a sword bit destroy his aegis

In this moment, it is most rational to work together with the guy we work amazingly with using our secret communication using some of the strongest weapons possible in the game to wear down Vovoid.

And again, all of this is for next turn, to bank up HP, meter and booster from damage.

>>3475447
We've used it 3 times and its worked great each time. I would prefer to experiment with the cestus more but we have so few options in an arena this small, with a teleporting opponent made of orochalcum

>>3475458
We also have the fact that we need to stay near the gate and protect iti find it a little ironic we are basically in situation witch is the reverse of the previous fight we had..

>>3475166
I'm just concerned with going balls deep In melee against someone who generally outperforms us In melee. We've ripped through so many of his swords at this point, but he can still use them. I will however take back my previous statement, we probably do need to pressure with Golgatha It's just so 1-note of a plan I feel like we're likely to get outmaneuvered.

>>3475190
I disagree. They're useful for parries, and they In fact did save Daegal free Orichalum chest surgery just a couple turns ago. We need to make five more and set them to parry and also boost them so they can better withstand his black hole weapon by using a stronger energy field.

>>3475454
This Is the right course of action, mostly.

>>3475232
We've gotten multiple levels before, and I think Voivod qualifies as someone who will give us just that, especially with us so close already. I think we won't just get Voivods signature ability, but Feusil's too.

If we can, I'd like to get Evolve to finally unlock our core ability as the Red Joker, the ability to make peerless weapons. Then we can make our first weapon from the first player we ever really met.

>>3473760
>Restore all Sword bits, Boost them, set 3 them to parry, 2 of them to attack
>Coordinate with Daegal on the Dirac comms
>Use Argus and Auspex and Vitae to boost yourself
>Attack him with Golgatha, Terrorsight only In an emergency
>If possible, load 1 Silver Cartridge

>>3475775
I think a golgotha upgrade could help mitigate the core issue of the axe; lack of options. We won't be able to one hand it or anything but it will unlock its true ability which will make the fact we can't use any other weapons with it more painful.

That said, I think deciding on abilities is premature right now. I think we will have very different options to before, as Joker seems to have maxed out some of his skill trees. The options that are likely available, that I am very interested in are
>Cestus upgrade
>Golgotha upgrade
>Incoms upgrade (they have been so incredibly useful that thet retroactively justify every expense sunk into the incoms)
>Emulator

I believe weapons/guard have already changed.

As for Vovoid, he killed 60 players singlehandedly and Trigon potentially. He might let us and Daegal level up or give us two level ups.

God this fight has been amazing. It feels like we're facing a double way more than when we dealt with the White Joker. He never panics, he's always hateful and calm, he cycles through options methodically, he refuses to believe his enemy is dead until he sees it and even when everything is going wrong, he has another ace up his sleeve. What really sold it for me was switching into his warform after knocking us offstage; if we had done literally anything else, we and Daegal would probably have died.