personavelvetroomdr | A strange invitation

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A strange invitation

[OOC: Locked to the users tagged in the post!]
Raven's message had been... curious, to say the least.

Falcon's still not sure what to make of it; he clearly hurt Raven quite a lot, and nearly killed him- a child- over bad-mouthing Shido. Not that he could help it, but still...

Perhaps he wants to pledge his eternal loyalty to Shido-san this time! We did show what a great man Shido-san was, after all!

... Right. Not likely.

Really now, he'd rather get this over with as quickle as possible. He doesn't even know why this couldn't have been done over text, but he's already agreed to meet up in Shibuya. Not that he could really refuse; no schedule means no excuse means no reason to politely decline. Any info he gains could be useful for Shido-san!

The trains here are strange, and before he knows it, he's arrived in Shibuya station, stepping out alongside a sea of cognitions, carefully avoiding bumping into one; a habit he's gotten quite good at, since he is a little... more sturdy than the average human. He allows himself to follow them as they go out to the streets, before he finds a quieter corner to himself. His scanners don't pick up sight of Raven quite yet- maybe the boy has yet to arrive.

With his ever-polite smile painted on his face, he leans against the outer wall of the station entrance. Raven probably won't be long- or maybe he set up Falcon, and is making him wait for nothing. Not undeserved, really- but that's a rather mean-spirited reading of the situation. He knows himself, he's not the type to do that, even if Raven is... a child. He doesn't think he'd do that, didn't seem the type either.

For now, all he can do is wait, so he does. He has nothing to lose from doing so, after all.

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"Fuck-"

He'd been bowled over by the force of the explosion, wheezing in pain. He was thankful, so thankful, for the protection. Ken was- bleeding? What the fuck was he doing, actually, that looked demonic as fuck-

Phoenix stood, shakily, and across the way Viper pulled herself out of a shop window, cut up, scowling, but ultimately fine. "Goro, we should retreat, he's significantly more dangerous than we bargained for-"

"No."

Inhale. This wasn't going to be like Adam. This wasn't going to be like Adam.

All he needed to do... was accept it. Stop holding back, right?

He switched Personas. "Oumitsumu." The Chariot. A little borrowed power, a borrowed song he'd heard once before, beginning as a pulse, a low growling, like a revving engine.

He cast Limelight. His plan. His fuckup. All eyes on him. Let it fill you. Don't think. Just feel. Shido's responsible for this. His need for control. His need to dominate.

He let out the breath he'd been holding, voice rising into a snarl, and the world fell into rhythm.

♫ You're keeping in step, in the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine 𝅘𝅥𝅮

He stepped forward, pointing to Falcon. Challenging. Bring it.

♫ 'Cause you do, what you're told-
But inside your heart it is black, and it's hollow and it's cold! 𝅘𝅥𝅮

—The fuck is Phoenix doing?

Never mind. Futaba is attached to the robot, and the robot is still moving, still attacking, as if the sleep ailment only affected the part of him that has a soul. Whatever programming remains isn't going to like what Futaba is up to, and Futaba is vulnerable, right in reach.

So Ren darts in, dagger in hand, and aims his blade at the robot's shoulder. It's nothing like stabbing a human or even a Shadow; metal screeches on metal, and he has to change his angle and stab again before his dagger finds a seam and sinks in. He twists the knife with all his strength, feeling something unseen give way beneath it, and yanks it out. Sparks scatter off the edge of his dagger; he leaps back again, attempting to dodge retaliation.

The funny thing about mortal bodies was that they were fragile.

This was something she was becoming painfully aware of, unfortunately, especially after a Megidolaon had blown her clean through a plate glass window.

Her Guest was starting a Song, and there could be congratulations in order later. Now, they needed to finish the operation. Eva manifested again, lifting her apple aloft- and causing ice to blossom around their target, fractals freezing upwards into a spire intended to cage him. Bufudyne.

She wasn't even far in when she noticed some systems come back online, she knew there was a strong chance of a failsafe but she didn't expect it so fast. Her whole body filled with dread as she heard the name. She was torn between letting go, but if she did there was no chance she could get back to him.

She closed her eyes as she felt it hit, it really fucking hurt. She bit back making any noise trying to focus on her screens again. She needed to shut the failsafe down first. Then disable it entirely before it can revive. So she focused on that. She had to make sure her team would withstand the rest of the battle able to keep him under control so she could work.

She knew if worse came to worse she could heal them, but it would be more effective to code. No one seemed too damaged yet. "Please relax. We are trying to help you," she whispered, very much doubting he could hear her.

[ENEMY STATUS: ALIVE]
[SECURITY BREACH IMMINENT]
[ERROR: SYSTEMS COMPROMISED]
[ERROR: MOBILITY LIMITED]
[APPLYING COUNTERMEASURES]

"Robin Hood. Heat Riser," it says, the black Persona shattering into a white and golden one, power washing over Unit #018. It is, however, not quick enough to dodge the incoming knife attack, despite its aborted attempt to twist out of the way. It sends a volley of bullets after its attacker with its other arm when they flee.

[ERROR: DAMAGE SUSTAINED]
[ERROR: LEFT SERVO NONFUNCTIONAL]

Its left arm twitches, but does not move. Frost creeps up its legs, slowly freezing it into place.

[ENEMY ATTACK INCOMING]
[INITIATING EVASIVE MANOEUVRES]

With the help of the Heat Riser, it manages to avoid getting fully encased into ice, and after a click, hiss, and the sound of ice shattering, it sheds the cosmetic extensions attached to its legs, leaving them behind in favor of more freedom of movement. The foreign Persona attached to Unit #018 gets whipped around with the sudden movement as it tries to avoid getting hit again, though it is unable to completely dodge the incoming Bufudyne- not when it's attention is forcefully pulled towards another hostile.

[HOSTILE DETECTED]
[TARGET LOCKED]

It zeros in on the singing demon, attention fully drawn.

[INITIATING SUMMONING ROUTINE]

Glass shatters, its core lighting up, and Loki appears once again, sword pointed dangerously at the singing bird.

"Laevateinn."

Eventually, the twitching slowed. Black streaks started to disfigure Ken's face, and similar (but larger) streaks started to invade his Persona. Two chains appeared around it, surrounding it in a double helix shape. One of his eyes completely changed, losing its color, before its pupil became red and started to glow.

The spasms and coughing eventually completely came to a stop, and Ken slowly got up. The incorporeal black tendrils dissolved to create some formless aura around him. At the same time, anyone able to feel emotions who was near him now felt an aura of dread, danger, Death is here, Death is coming, you are going to die, run away.

"Ker," he said, in a monotonous voice. "Transcendence."

The formless, black aura around Ken became way darker and significantly extended, also engulfing his Persona. Space and time immediately around them twisted slightly.

K̷̨̋e̴͉͝n̸̬͗'s action count increased for the battle!

"Concentrate."

Ken's mind focused, his power concentrated, surged, swelled, singed, ready to be released in one great burst of glory. There was a threat in front of him. It needed to be dealt with. That was all that mattered now.

Edited 2024-04-06 23:54 (UTC)

"Ken!" Raven pushes away from Crow, rushing over to his friend. Even with the imposing aura, even with the feelings that flood him as he draws near, he doesn't care. He hugs his friend from behind. "It's okay. I'm okay."

...But that robot powered itself up, and he knows Crow is going to need to stay focused on support.

So, exhaling slowly, Raven lets his more princely attire flake away, replaced with the black mask attire. "Loki. Debilitate."

Grinning wildly, his Persona obliges, while Crow tears his mask off once more and cries, "Kaguya!"

As the regal Persona descends, she casts Diarahan on Phoenix. Better to preserve Salvation for when everyone needs it.

The thing about Death being near was that Death had always been near.

He'd spent months knowing his death was certain. A day knowing it was imminent. Over a year knowing it could come at any time.

Years facing it, day after day, planning for its eventuality.

At his lowest moments, craving it.

Whatever Ken was doing, it was helping them, and some part of his soul sat up and snarled and spat in the eye of that closing oblivion.

The music surged, Oumitsunu raised his arms- and caught the blade on the back of its arm, sending it skittering to the side, throwing up azure sparks as the Personas clashed. It stung, but it was hardly a killing blow.

And the demon smiled.

♫ Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds? 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Oumitsunu vanished, and Robert replaced him, countering the swap to Loki.

♫ Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees? 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Robert gestured with one arm, firing a blast of light with a Kougaon.

♫ Are you brave enough to see?
Do you wanna change it?! 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Bullets embed themselves in Ren's flesh as he tries and fails to roll out of the way of the hail of gunfire. He hisses through his teeth—but it's not the worst he's had in the Metaverse, and he has a healer this time. He gets to his feet, just in time to be engulfed by a wave of unnatural dread.

But he's known for months now that death is coming for him, whether Crow wants to hear about it or not. As soon as he gets home, he's a dead man walking. Same old, same old. So he just snarls and pulls off his mask. "Veles!"

Veles manifests for the first time in this fight, tall and black-scaled with spindly limbs and an animal skull for a head, gleaming oddly in the light of the Metaverse. But unlike everyone else here, apparently, Ren hasn't fucking forgotten that Futaba's in the Persona that's latched onto the robot; instead of attacking, he casts another Debilitate, extending the life of Raven's spell. Then he sucks in a breath that pulls at his bullet wounds and raises his voice.

"Futaba is attached to him! So maybe don't just fucking nuke him!"

"Ren!" She shouted seeing the bullets make contact, pulled from her panic by being thrown around in the commotion. She hits the wall hard, going to bruise for certain. Her eyes shut for a moment before getting back to work. The faster they, no she, did this the faster she could heal the others.

Her concentration broke again when they were hit with the Kougaon. Her keyboard lit up in static as she heard a pained noise. Shit shit shit. She finished typing the code to disable the failsafe he was running on. Hitting the button and praying it worked. This was her last team outing. She was not cut out for this. She took a breath. Ren would be okay, no one would die. Crow could heal.

She jumped into trying to give him the code she had written earlier. Focus Glitch. Do your thing. He can't get to you easily. Do your fucking job.

Renée found herself fixated on the boy who'd manifested Ker.

The fear of death, unfortunately, was something she, unlike her Guest, was not used to-

And, for a moment, she froze. Not long- but long enough for Futaba's pained cry to reach her ears.

Precision work, then. Fine. She thrust her Persona in front of her like a shield, charging. Only at the last second did she drop it, instead dropping to swing her leg, throwing her body weight low, into the backs of Falcon's knees. Drop him, restrain him. She'd freeze him to the ground if she could.

Edited 2024-04-07 05:38 (UTC)

[ENEMY STATUS: ALIVE]
[ERROR: SYSTEM COMPROMISED]
[ERROR: HEAVY DAMAGE SUSTAINED]
[DEATH DETECTED]
[ADJUSTING TACTICS]

Loki disappears into a blue flare, Robin Hood coming forth once more. The Kougaon had knocked it down, but it starts jerking upright again. It's clearly too damaged to do it as quickly as it does, but it doesn't seem to care as its limbs creak and groan under the the too-fast movements.

[SECURITY BREACH DETECTED]
[ATTEMPTING TO ISOLATE...]
[...]
[ISOLATION FAILED]
[DOWNLOADING FILES... 2% COMPLETE]
[ELIMINATE HOSTILES]

It wobbles as an enemy charges into it, attempting to freeze it to the spot, but does not fall. It sends an Orgia mode boosted kick at the enemy in an attempt to dislodge it.

[DOWNLOADING FILES... 17% COMPLETE]

"Heat Riser," it repeats, shaking off the cold and the debilitate once more. It will not stop until all enemies are eliminated, especially the music demon drawing its attention.

[CORE TEMPERATURE: 101.82°C]
[WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATING]
[ABORTING ORGIA MODE RECOMMENDED]
[ABORT ORGIA MODE?
Y
>N]

Steam hisses where ice touches it, body too hot to the touch, yet it keeps going. Robin Hood appears above it.

"A̸r̷r̶o̸w̵ ̴R̵a̷i̴n̵."

The words coming from its mouth sound glitchy and garbled, but Robin Hood obeys regardless, sending a hail of arrows cascading over the group.

[DOWNLOADING FILES... 32% COMPLETE]

Edited 2024-04-07 15:16 (UTC)

As he was about to rain death on his opponent, he felt something wrapping around himself. Something... that felt nice. There was a voice, trying to reach him, trying to-

"R-Raven?"

Raven was here. Raven was okay. Raven was soothing, comforting. But the threat was here, and the power was singing, singing, demanding a release, death shall rain, the end shall be brought-

Raven- the threat- Raven- the threat- Raven

Ken was starting to relax slightly, when arrows rained accross the battlefield. He wouldn't have even noticed were he not turning around to look at Raven - only magic attacks could hurt him in that form, the arrows bounced off of him harmlessly - but Raven was hurt.

Raven was hurt.

"Diaharan," he cast on the boy hugging him. Then he turned back his attention on the threat. The threat. The threat was hurting Raven. The threat had to stop hurting Raven. The threat seemed to resist light, so, to make it stop hurting Raven...

"Megido-"

Edited 2024-04-07 16:02 (UTC)

"Ken, wait!" Perhaps it was not his place to use Ken's given name so flagrantly, but desperate times call for desperate measures. "Our goal is not to eliminate the robot. We need to give Futaba time to complete the procedure."

As he tears his mask off anew, Kaguya gives way to Kohryu once more. "Salvation!"

The dragon nods, then casts his healing magic on the party once more.

Raven refuses to let go. "I'll be all right, Ken. We just have to buy Futaba-san more time. Loki!" His Persona returns in a flash of crimson. "Debilitate again."

And so Loki complies.

Edited (grammar flub) 2024-04-07 16:15 (UTC)

Like you practiced. Move with the rhythm. Let it-

As it turned out, a hail of rapid-fire attacks, while in theory keeping time with the pulsing beat, came out faster than he'd ever expected, and covering a much wider area.

It didn't help that Renee'd just been kicked in the head, sent tumbling across the ground, which was at least mildly distracting.

To make a long story short-

Phoenix got ever so slightly pincushioned.

There wasn't much that escaped him, in terms of noise. A pained wheeze, as the music cut out and he staggered backwards.

And then another Salvation hit, and holy shit breathing feels good guys did you know that breathing feels good.

He coughed, getting back to his feet. "Okay. Okay, first in-combat test of that. Worked for a bit. Not as bullshit here. Okay."

Different tactic.

Edited 2024-04-07 20:18 (UTC)

Renée staggered to her feet, grunting. That... had been unpleasant. Note to future self: avoid being concussed.

From across the way, Phoenix called out. "Viper! Misdirect-"

Which, as a stratagem, was the only one that made sense, in the circumstances. Falcon was tearing them apart.

"Understood. Eva!"

The skeletal Persona spewed forth another gout of Foul Breath, creating a cloud that both lowered defenses-

and obscured vision.

Was this rude? Possibly.

From outside the cloud, a roughly-cylindrical hand-sized object was thrown, at approximately head height. A grenade might be the rational assumption, but instead of detonation, Phoenix drew his pistol, and fired at the moving target.

It was, in fact, a can of spray paint, now violently aerosolized and expanding outwards in a cloud of neon blue.

They could apologize later.

Thank fuck for Salvation, because between the arrows and the bullets, things were starting to get a little rough. Back at full strength, Ren takes a second to examine the field. People have stopped fucking hitting Futaba, but the robot's steaming now; that's cause for concern—

—at which point Renée and Phoenix unleash a tag-team maneuver centered on a can of spray paint. Ren's laughter rings out, a wild, raw, unsettling sound that echoes off the surrounding buildings. "Get fucked with a lead pipe, bootlicker!" he shouts at the robot, although anyone who could hear him and understand the reference seems to be missing in action.

And as he yells, he pulls a bottle of freeze spray from his pocket, which he found in the top levels of Mementos and kept around because you never know, right? Maybe someday he would meet a weak little Shadow that repelled every element but ice. Or maybe he would have to deal with his sister's overheated Persona. The Metaverse is full of surprises.

He darts back in, light on his feet but less concerned now that he's been healed and the robot can't see. In a couple of quick pivots, he reaches the position he wants, and with careful aim, he sprays the bottle directly at Futaba's Persona. An icy mist emerges, granted potency by the Metaverse, and settles on the Persona. Ren's not interested in cooling down the robot himself—he's not a tech expert or anything, but he figures if it overheats, that can only be good. But he can't let Futaba bake in there.

Right, overheating as this implemented. This wasn't great, it was causing strain on her end as well. He needed a better cooling system, she could figure that would later. Fuck Shido, she'd upgrade him herself later.... with permission. It was more than a little toasty in here, as she got hit with arrows, that caused another pain. The quick healing helped.

Then there was blue....just blue. What the hell happened? She looked away for a second to see the progress bar. Now she couldn't see shit. She glanced at her tracking screen, everyone seemed alive and not dying. She just had to operate without seeing them, and attacks coming from the bot. Did Ren just call him a bootlicker? Damn Goro was more fucked up than she thought.

Her systems cooled suddenly. It seemed Ren had gotten closer to her, which explained it. He must have had some ice skill with him. It helped her systems too. She took a breath more comfortable in her space. She hadn't had time to establish a link between her and anyone but Ren. She just had to wait for the attacks to hit her too.

[DOWNLOADING FILES... 43% COMPLETE]
[ERROR: VISION COMPROMISED]
[WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATING]
[ENEMY STATUS: UNKNOWN]

It reaches up with its functioning arm in an attempt to wipe away the paint, but only manages to spread it further. It staggers for a moment as it does so, systems stuttering from overheating.

[ADJUSTING TACTICS]
[ANALYZING LIFEFORMS]

"L̷o̶k̴i̷.̵ ̴"

New information floods its HUD, sensing nearby Persona users and attempting to get a grip on which enemy is where. Death is nearby, but it doesn't care about death. It cares about eliminating enemies.

[DOWNLOADING FILES... 61% COMPLETE]
[ERROR: LIMITS REACHED]
[ABORT ORGIA MODE?
Y
>N]
[WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATING]
[WARNING:SHUTDOWN IMMINENT]
[ABORT ORGIA MODE?
Y
>N]
[ENEMY STATUS: ALIVE]
[ELIMINATE ENEMIES]

It blindly sends a volley of bullets in the direction of the strongest enemy nearby- the one who has been keeping the other enemies alive, according to Loki's scan. However, its movements are jerky and stilted, systems getting overwhelmed by Orgia mode overclocking everything.

"D̵e̸b̸i̷l̴i̵t̴a̵t̸e̶," it orders anyway, making the enemy in front of it more vulnerable.

[WARNING:SHUTDOWN IMMINENT]

It twitches for a moment, before it raises its hand, and Loki straightens out, letting out a snarl.

[ELIMINATE HOSTILES]
[INITIATING FINAL DEFENCE]

"C̷a̵l̷l̴ ̴o̷f̵ ̵C̴h̶a̵o̶s̵."

There's a moment of nothing, as if Loki hesitates, but then-

Maddening black and red magic spreads over the battlefield, an explosion of chaos originating from Loki, and without a proper target in mind, it wildly lashes out at any target it can find; including the one who unleashed it in the first place.

Unit #018 wildly jerks, facial expression unchanging, but a horribly gutteral, robotic screech echoes from its mouth. All at once, it rushes forward blindly, following Loki's intuition in an attempt to hit it targets with kicks, punches, bullets, curse magic. Attacks go flying every which way, at any target it can find, even as its every move clearly causes it to detoriate further.

[ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERRORERRORERRORERROR]
[W̸͚͂Ã̴̠R̸̤͊̿Ň̷̛̰͖I̴͙͆̓N̵̛̩Ģ̸͋͌.̸̡͚̐̂.̵͉̔ͅ.̶̡̼̏ ̴̪͛O̸̢͓͂͐Ṟ̵̰́̄G̸͖̗̓͑I̵̧͓͑̏A̶̟͗ ̶̧̿͠M̴͈̘͝Ö̸͙͔̓D̶̪̰̂͐E̶̟̟͆̓.̴͍͝.̴̮͕̓.̶͌͜͜͝ ̴̞̀̚S̶̨̓Y̵̝͖͊̂Š̵͙̅Ṭ̶̐͗E̶̙͊M̷̠̙̓S̷̮̏.̸̺̩̇̍.̴͔̱͂.̶̞̓̓ ̵̩̋Ẅ̵̠̠A̶͍̹͌R̵̥͘ͅŃ̶͇̳I̷͖͓͆N̸̡͓͗G̷̡͗]
[D̶O̴W̷N̸L̵O̷A̵D̷I̵N̷G̸ ̶F̵I̵L̴E̴S̶.̴.̷.̸ ̷8̴9̷%̴ ̷C̶O̶M̷P̴L̶E̷T̶E̵]

"M̴̨̡̽A̷̦͂̑̚ͅE̵̞̾̉I̵̗̣͚͠Ǵ̷̯̹̺̕Ä̶̙́̍̔O̷̯̫͋N̸̡̥̓̒.̵̨͉̳̀̈́ ̵̥̈̌͊D̴͍́̀͜Ị̸͚͚̿E̷̼̋̓͘ͅ.̷̢͙̞̚͝ ̸̢̇ͅD̸͈̲̈̽Î̵̫́E̴͕̓.̷͔̯̺̽ ̶̡̮͉͆Ḋ̵̦͙͒I̶͙̟͋̿͘E̴̬̦̙͐.̶̯͎͝ ̶̨̝̆̋̚D̴͓͇̯́I̵̯̣͕̒Ȩ̴̊.̵̣̘̏̀ ̴̢̱͂̍͆"

Let Futaba do her thing...

Oh, right. A light flickered deep within his mind. Weren't they here for... something, originally? It felt like they had a goal. Raven was invested in that goal. Maybe he should stand down and -

Black and red tendrils suddenly pierced his mind, and reflexively, he tried to put himself in the way so that they wouldn't reach Raven. It felt like they were trying to reach his heart, but weren't able to find their way in, so they simply sowed even more chaos in a fragmented mind -

Bullets fired everywhere, and darkness spread. The bullets bounced, and the darkness was absorbed, but now there was even more power, and it singed, it soared, it screamed, it begged for release -

And his mind was chaos and the power needed to be set free, it was time for release, it was time for the end, the end was needed, he was the end -

But there still was that touch, that grounding touch, of the one who refused to let go. Right. Stay focused. Focus on him. Focus on Raven.

He cast a Heat Riser on his friend so that he would be better protected, and stood ready to cast a Diaharan if any stray bullet managed to hurt him.

Oh, Crow can feel that debilitate. The bullets are hardly ideal, either. He grunts as Falcon's attacks hit their mark. He could use Heat Riser on himself. It might even be the tactical thing to do, but...

"Allow me. Anubis!" A new Persona descends over Raven, nodding before casting Dekunda on Crow. That will, at the very least, return his strength to its base level. Is it a waste of the Heat Riser Ken bestowed upon him? Perhaps.

But staying alive matters more.

Freshly healed, Crow snarls at the raging robot, but nonetheless screams, "Salvation!"

Kohryu once again grants the party its healing energy. He knows that crimson light falling all around him. Call of Chaos...

"Everyone, stay calm! If anyone goes psychotic, hold them back." His eyes scan his fellow party members. "We need to ensure Futaba finishes the procedure! It shouldn't be much longer..."

"C̷a̵l̷l̴ ̴o̷f̵ ̵C̴h̶a̵o̶s̵."

He was familiar with this feeling. The pain of being hit, the frustration of his plan falling apart, the worry of whether this would even work or not, that they might be doing more harm than good-

All of it just. Fell away. Coherent thought fled. Within the metaphorical control room, alarms began blaring, numbers on important-looking screens climbing at alarming rates-

Bliss. He laughed, half mad cackle and half enraged scream, and threw himself forward, whether Crow was between him and his target or not. "TOO LONG! HE CAN'T FIGHT US OFF IF I RIP HIM APART, PIECE BY FUCKING P̴I̷E̷C̸E̷!"

Captain Nemo appeared, swinging his blade wide and summoning an unreasonably-indiscriminate Heat Wave.

So that was going well.

Edited 2024-04-08 22:52 (UTC)

So this was not going well.

She was charging, moving as soon as she heard the laugh, letting Eva take the brunt-

Too slow to stop the Heat Wave, but fast enough to get between him and Crow, stop him from turning this into a bloodbath.

"It's fine! I have him, just focus on neutralizing Falcon!"

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME-"

The newfound focus that Ken had acquired shattered as the battlefield grew more unstable. People suddenly started shouting at each other, attacking each other, a huge shockwave reached him and hurt the boy attached to him-

The whole zone became a danger. Threats. Threats. Everyone was a threat. The end. The end. Bring silence. Release power.

"Megi-"

No. No! Feel the arms around you. There is something you need to focus on. Something you need to focus on. Remember?

Ken grabbed one of the arms, and willed the space-time around him to give way. In an instant, him and Raven found themselves in a random street of the cognitive city, the fight nowhere to be seen or heard. The sudden quiet was a bit unnerving.

Unlike the others, Ren's not from a world that contains such a skill as Call of Chaos. It catches him totally unprepared, stabbing deep into his brain and twisting and cracking him open.

He laughs again; unseen behind his mask, his eyes are wide with wonder, his expression almost exultant. He almost doesn't notice the injuries he's taking from the robot as he turns to stare at Crow. And in keeping with his deepest longing, the wish he's wrapped up and kept hidden, he screams, "You SON OF A BITCH!"

He doesn't hear the pain in his voice; he doesn't even feel it, at least right now. He stalks forward, buoyed by a wave of stability as Veles drains the robot's curse spell, and another a second later as Crow himself heals the team. Ren bares his teeth. "Are you a slimy, lying shitstain or are you just a FUCKING COWARD, Crow? How many—"

An attack slices through them all, Ren and Crow alike, and the robot, and Futaba, Ren's sister, the only person in any reality who's ever looked at him and seen him and wanted him anyway, and someone DARES—

Crow slips from Ren's brain in an instant as he spins to face the attacker. "VELES!" he screams, tearing off his mask to reveal red-tinged eyes and a face maddened by rage. Veles manifests behind him, ominous and eerie, the glowing lights of his eyes fixed, as well, on Phoenix.

Ren is going to kill him. That's all he knows, all he cares about. Phoenix attacked Futaba, and he's going to pay for it with every coin he has.

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