Twilight of the Gods

Astarte received a deep cut down one of her wings and fell away from Noctis, turning in mid-air to fire a blast of lightning up at her. She landed on her feet and took a deep breath, preparing to use her second release.

Hector grabbed the shaft of the spear with his clawed hand before it could reach him.

Noct encased herself in a sphere of hard shadows, then dissipated it when the lightning cleared. She pulled out another lanza and was about to launch it at the wounded Astarte when she heard someone call her name. She looked over and found an angry, tied up for some reason, Mortal. "Noctis, take it easy! She can't regenerate her limbs!"

"What!? I'm not severing limbs! I'm going easy!"

Five clones suddenly appeared all around Noctis, each swinging a clawed hand or kick at her. Astarte remained in her place, however, charging a Cero within her mouth and balls of lightning in each of her hands.

Moe<Mr. Tsukishima says it's time to-->

*He stops as he sees Mortal turn around & is flung away from the fire by some invisible force. He stays lying on his back for a while.*

Moe<The scars are kinda nasty...but the rest of her is all...va-va-voom!>

"Ignore her. There's nothing we can do for her, until we have Tsukishima. We need to regroup, and retreat."
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*The vines simply stretch so that the spear stabs him anyway. Ginjo resumes dashing at Lilith, & slashes at her when close, but one of her wings folds over to block.*

Mortal furrows her brow and moved to stomp on Moe with her own foot at Moe's crack about her scar, but was still stick in Aroma's web. With an annoyed sigh she has the dragon cut her free.

Noct blocks her clones with clones of her own. "Come now, Astarte. You should know enough about me to know that clones aren't going to work against me." She then bringer lighted her way back down to the ground.

As Noctis reached the ground, Astarte extended her arms and fired wide sheets of lightning at her.

Hector's strings extended out of the wound and spread across the surface of the spear before weaving up Lilith's forearm.

*Lilith just goes for broke & bites into his goddamn throat. While they're fighting, vines creep towards Hector.*
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*That being way too much damn lightning for Senthose to deal with, he enters his tentacle dome. Moe dashes up to Jackie, grabs her, & starts running away.*

Noct just kept sinking into the ground at that point, and came out of a tree's shadow. She looked at Astarte a little bit angry, "You know, you seem a bit upset. Have I wronged you in some way?"

Mortal takes a step towards Astarte, "Astarte, this battle is over. Please, just stop this. If you trust me at all, please, just sit this out. You consider yourself queen, then just stay in Hueco Mundo. One way or another I'll be coming back there for you, so please just wait it out."

"Mmf..." Astarte tried to speak, forgetting for a moment that her mouth was loaded with a Cero. She turned her gaze to Senthose's dome and released the Cero into it before turning back to Mortal, her eyes seeming cloudy. "I will kill the one who turned you against me- I can not trust Aroma, Sab, the humans and not even you because of him! Why can we not just live like we did with Tsukishima at our sides? Everything was good before Senthose ruined it!"
Astarte sniffed and lifted a hand above her head, "I will use all of my power to end this. Segunda Etapa."
After an explosion of Spiritual Pressure which threw up dirt and shredded grass around her body, partially obscuring her, Astarte was transformed. Most noticeably, each of her wings had extended roughly one metre in length, an eight-pointed star had burnt itself onto her chest just above her left breast and her eyes reverted to their blue colour but now with a red rim. With her outstretched arm, she formed an entirely black scythe as long as she was tall.

A pair of strings extended from Hector's neck as Lilith moved to bite it, wrapping around her head and squeezing extremely tightly in an attempt to split her Hollow Mask open. The strings around her arm also began to slice through her skin and muscle.

Mortal smiled, "You reached Segundo Etepa? I'm proud of you, really I am, but you have to realize, this isn't your fight. Look around, it is you against five." Mortal shook her head, "Please go home, go home and wait for me to come back. I promise, one way, or another, I'll come back for you."

Noct ran a hand through her hair, and looked over at Sab, who was beginning to understand the enormity of Mortal's actions. Sab began to nibble on her thumbnail and bounce her heel as her eyes darted back and forth, lost in thought. "This is awkward..." Noct mumbled to herself

"Why don't you trust me and stand back, Mortal?" Astarte asked, sounding confident and quite content. "If I kill Senthose, you should all be better again."
Astarte rested her scythe on her shoulder and looked in Senthose's direction, her eyes flickering slightly.

*Senthose is now out of his dome.*

"I'll handle this. The rest of you, go get Hector, & return to the lair. I'll follow along once you've cleared. Every moment we waste is a moment more time Tsukishima has to catch us in a trap."
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*For a while, Lilith merely keeps ripping at his neck, trusting her Hierro to see her through. Ginjo slashes her across the back, removing one of her wings. Lilith bites her tongue.*

"Gran Rey Cero."

Astarte remained in her place, her eyes still on Senthose.

Hector was now truly concerned and not amused in the slightest. As she spoke the words to call on the Cero, he took his unused right hand and stabbed two of the giant claws through the underneath of her jaw, just deeply enough so that they would go through to cut the roof of the mouth. At the same time, he pressed his left hand to her forehead and struggled with all of his strength to position her face so that her Cero would be fired in the air.
He released all strings he was using at this point and unleashed every string available to him from his torso to restrain her arms and remaining wing so that she could not stop him. All this time, he was struggling for breath as his throat and larynx tried to regenerate.

Mortal shook her head, "What, no. I'm not going to just leave you here with her." She said, "You'd kill her if it was the best option presented to you. I can't let you do that."

Noct, on the other hand, was quick to get out of that scene, and shadow jumped her way over to Hector, just in time to, presumably, see Hector stab Lilith in the head and twist her head backwards, "What the fuck?!"

"I don't need your hel--wait, that's what you're worried about? That I might kill the person shooting lightning at us? Rude."
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*Lilith weathers the storm, like a boss, & blasts Hector with a crackling orb of energy that leaves twisted trees after it explodes. The residual force of the explosion causes all of the surrounding trees to burst into full bloom as she jumps back, sporting a broken spear, a deep gash in her lower jaw, & the lower half of her Hollow mask ripped away.*

"Alright, Arrancar, I wasn't supposed to kill you, but I think Shu will get over it. The oozing crest of corruption. The arrogant vessel of madness. Deny the seething urge. Stun and Flicker. Disrupt the sleep..."

Noct put a shadow muzzle over Lilith, "No, don't!"

--

"Yes, that is what I'm worried about," Mortal said, "This isn't her fault. I don't want you to kill her for something she can't control."

"Mortal, go." Astarte said firmly, her eyes flickering again. "I will be fine, and this will all be over soon enough."

Hector struggled to pick himself up off of the ground, seeming to be whispering to himself in a tone laced with venom. Hearing Lilith's words as he rose to his knees, he tried once again to tear open a Garganta leading to Senthose's lair. If anybody could see past his mask, they would see that he was finally afraid.

*Lilith rips the shadow mask off, & points at Hector.*

"Six Rod Light Prison. Noctis, what are you doing? Did you not see that this lunatic tried to kill me just now? Or are you all just that depraved, now that you've betrayed Tsukishima?"
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"Okay, I think I've discovered the difference between Astarte & I, the one that is causing you to only take her seriously."

*Senthose shoots a bolt of lightning at Mortal, hoping that it'll knock her unconscious & Sab will remove her & Aroma from the situation.*

Astarte's delicate brow creased slightly and she took on a combat-ready stance, with her scythe held almost horizontally before her chest. Her eyes narrowed and flickered once more.
"Should I thank you for further proving that I am in the right, or condemn you for trying to hurt her?" Astarte sighed. Eduj could now be seen in his released form, advancing from behind Senthose.

Hector's strings extended along the rods of light and began slicing into them.

It does not, but Sab follows through with her end of the plan regardless when she notices Mortal swell with anger. Mortal was about to cuss out Senthose, but wound up just yelling at a cat. She looked around and found Aroma, and Sab, who still looked like she was distracted, and thinking about something.

Mortal storms off... somewhere, and Sab looks over at Aroma, "Are you alright?"

--

Noct shook her head, "I would kill anyone that hurt you, Lilith. You are my best friend. It is taking a lot not to kill that asshole right now, but this is for your own good. Not the face stab, that was fucked up, but... you know what I mean..." With that Noct shadow jumps over to Hector, "I can't let you kill him. Lilith, please... just let this one go. You can kill him some other time, but right now it is best if everyone just went home."

--

Atae looks at Senthose, "I... I think everyone forgot I was here."

"If you won't stand back, then I'll just have to do this the slow & difficult way."

*Lilith fires a Byakurai at that guy's face.*
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*The cat hisses in the direction Mortal walks off to.*

"I'm okay. I just wish I could say the same about everyone else."
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"I told you to leave, didn't I?"

*Senthose initiates a Staring Contest with Astarte.*

Noct doesn't think the shot is enough to actually kill Hector, so she makes no move to actually stop it. "Lilith, just calm down, everyone has already left. Please, I need you to help me. I can't be with Euryale. I need you to be with her, tell her everything is going to be alright, and that I still love her, give her a shoulder to cry on."

--

Mortal, still in ressureccion, roars at the cat, using a rugido aimed at the sky. As her dragon continues roaring Mortal grills the fucking cat.

Sab ignores Mortal trying to yell at a cat and takes a step closer to Aroma, "Agreed... I... I think Mortal might like Astarte."

--

"Where can I go? I don't know where your thingy is, and I can't use garganta..."

"Soul Reaper girl, I do not know who you are and I don't care, but unless you want to be caught up in this, just go somewhere else," Astarte said without looking away from Senthose. Before either Senthose or the Soul Reaper could speak again, a clone of Astarte appeared behind Senthose and swept her scythe towards his neck, trying to deliver a decapitating blow.

Hector grunted as the Byakurai slammed into his face, moments before the Rods of Light shattered. As soon as he was free he jumped through his Garganta.

Eduj opened a Garganta leading to the lair, but did not enter. Instead he began waving to the Soul Reaper girl and gesturing to the Garganta.

*One of the tentacles smacks the handle of the scythe away. Senthose does not break his gaze.*
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*Looking tired, Lilith points at Noctis, catching her in 2 Six Rod Light Prisons.*

"Sorry, but this is for your own good. I have to get you to Tsukishima, so he can heal you. Euryale will be there, so you can tell her what you just told me."

*She then opens a Garganta.*
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*The cat stands up & raises the fur on its neck, hissing louder.*

"Oh...well...I guess she's not so bad, but I don't think it'll work out."

Astarte's clone span in the opposite direction to her previous slash and unleashed a blast of lightning into Senthose's back from her blade. Meanwhile, Astarte began charging another attack on the blade of her scythe, appearing not to have moved at all.