Twilight of the Gods

*Aroma was momentarily too busy being amazed to fear for their lives. She looks around, wide-eyed & taking everything in.*

"Wow...."
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*Senthose emerges out of a Hellganta into Noctis's living room.*
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*Lilith arrives, notices that everyone has fucked off, & takes off after Hector, sighing. The gorilla stands up, looking mad.*

<What were you doing?! I had her, & now she got away!>

"So... should we go swimming while we wait?" Sab asked.

Mortal wanted to list reasons why they shouldn't but couldn't think of any, "I, uh, guess there is no reason not to..."

--

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Noct asked Senthose.

"If Sab had not taken Mortal away with her teleporting ability, Mortal would have killed you," Astarte's clone answered. "If you think she could not have killed you to escape, you are more idiotic than even I thought."

<She was weakened, & there were dozens of us. We would have had her. What were you doing, Your Majesty?>
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*Senthose dusts himself off.*

"Your family life was a complete & utter failure, & children model their relationships after those of their parents. You knew there was a very real probability that your relationship with Euryale would fail. So you kept this apartment around to fall back on when it was all over. Did you keep the fridge stocked?"

*He goes to check.*
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"I don't want to be a spoil sport, but it seems like we should stay on guard."
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*Lilith had not forgotten Hector. She quickly enters her Hollow form & orients her wings in such a way to increase her speed. As she starts gaining on them, Ginjo runs several yards behind her on ripples of glowing green air. He swings his sword to the side & hoists it up over his shoulder, gathering green energy. The energy covers his blade & forms a much larger blade of energy. He swings his energy-enlarged sword at Lilith, who is thrown to the ground by the force of the attack, pieces of vine, flower, & mask flying off of her as she falls.*

Ginjo<I always found that the best thing to do when fighting an opponent who is faster than you is to adjust your reach to compensate.>

"You don't know me!" Noct replied, "I love Euryale!" He finds water bottles, and and vodka. Should he open the freezer he'll find ice cream.

--

Mortal nods, and points at Aroma, "Yes, listen to Aroma. We need to stay on guard." Sab frowned, but nodded.

"Did you not hear a word of what I just said?" Astarte's clone shook her head, her eyes flickering and sparking. "You would not have had her because Sab was here. Even if Sab wasn't here to teleport Mortal away, she still had a second release which she could have used to annihilate you. I don't want to hear another word of this nonsense."

Hector slowed down after Lilith was hit and opened a Garganta, which Eduj staggered through. Hector then turned to Ginjo and gestured for him to get into the Garganta. Without waiting to see if Ginjo made it, he turned and ran through the Garganta, leaving it open. Ginjo would have roughly five seconds before it slammed shut.
Meanwhile, Astarte appeared overhead and pointed at Ginjo, shooting a single arc of lightning down at him.

<Fine. Then why didn't you attack her?>

*Ginjo turns, using his bigass energy blade to block the attack. Trails of green light spark off of it as it shrinks & Ginjo is propelled back through the Garganta. He arrives with just the sword in a cave deep within the Menos Forest.*
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*He takes out some of the vodka & drinks it.*

"Believe it or not, I don't really care about your personal life. We have bigger problems. We now have no way to hide from Tsukishima, no idea where the others are, & no leads on how he created those Arrancar. You should take a few hours to sleep. Then we can resume our search in the dead of night."
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"Besides, it's going to be getting dark soon. So if we just lay low for a while, I'm sure Senthose & that gloomy girl will find us."

"I suspected that Sab would act quickly, and I was correct," She replied. "It would have been near impossible to deliver an incapacitating blow before she disappeared."

"I will cut right to the point, Ginjo," If Ginjo's vision was good enough to see clearly through the darkness, he would see that Hector had taken the form of an unremarkable Hollow with a large ape's body and a melancholy, sharp toothed mask. His Spiritual Pressure was foreign. "You have to stay down here in the darkness until Senthose arrives. Don't let any Hollows see you or sense you. Eduj and I will be down here with you."
Eduj was standing by Hector's side and had quite well hidden his own Spiritual Pressure. An outstretched hand of Hector's was quickly healing the burns Eduj received from Astarte.

Noctis turned and walked off to her old room, "Whatever. The sofa is a futon, so sleep on that, Atae."

"Uh, okay," Atae said, trying to figure out how to operate it. Noct disappeared into her room, got as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances, and went to bed.

--

"Right," Mortal said, walking around.

*Ginjo returns Cross of Scaffold to its necklace form & sits down.*

<Are you sure that Senthose will be able to find this place?>
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<I really wish that you 2 wouldn't fight so much. Besides, there's nothing that can be done about it now.>

*Tsukishima limps up the mountain & looks around.*

<Where did Lilith go?>
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A"That looks like a good place to hide out."

*Aroma points to a tunnel boat ride. If they get closer, the sign says "Tunnel of Love."*

"Yes," Mortal said, "Lets get going." She begins making her way over. Sab followed behind, taking Aroma's hand in hers.

Astarte's clone disappeared and was replaced a few moments later by Astarte holding Lilith by her wrist/carrying Lilith (depending on her level of injury). All of her clones had now disappeared.
"Tsukishima, she was injured by a human with surprising power," Astarte explained. "I believe that both Lilith and myself could use some time to rest... I have never used this power for so long..."

"To be honest, I am unsure," The Hector Hollow replied. "He simply said to split up and that he would find us. I do not know of many other places that we would not be found by the enemy."

Tsukishima<It's just as well. It will be difficult to pursue them for now. I'll take Lilith back to Euryale's home. She doesn't look to be in too bad of shape.>
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Ginjo<Then I'd say your plan has a bit of a hole in it.>
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*Aroma blushed a bit when she saw the sign, but climbed into the boat nonetheless.*

Mortal climbed in next, followed by Sab. Mortal puts her arms around both of them before the boat takes off.

"I shall return to Las Noches, then," Astarte gave Lilith to Tsukishima/placed Lilith on her feet before opening a Garganta. "Is there anything I should attend to?"

"Not a hole which I am unaware of," The Hector Hollow said. "If you have a suggestion for a better place to hide, I shall be more than happy to hear it."

Ginjo<We make occasional trips to the human world to search for Senthose. Unless Tsukishima or one of the people he's turned are close by, they won't be able to tell that your Reitsu is fake, or sense my own.>
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Tsukishima<Nothing out of the ordinary.>
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*The inside of the tunnel has slow music, hearts & flowers, & mood lighting, mostly reds & pinks.*

Sab is wide eyed as she takes in all the sights and sounds.

--

Noct wakes back up and wipes her eyes. She was apparently crying in her sleep, she hoped quietly. She came out of her room to find Atae couldn't figure out the futon, and wound up just sleeping on it without giving herself more space. Noct ignores this and makes way for the ice cream in the freezer.

"Okay, see you soon," Astarte stepped through her Garganta and into the Throne Room, reverting into her fully sealed form.

"That sounds good," The Hector Hollow nodded, withdrawing his healing hand from Eduj. "We should leave Eduj behind on these trips. He can come to our aid if we are gone for too long, but otherwise I think he could end up as a hindrance."
"Though my ability to hide Spiritual Pressure is strong, it is still more noticeable than a human's," Eduj said. "If our enemy has highly acute senses, I may alert them."

*Ginjo leans back against the wall & closes his eyes.*

<M-hm.>
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*Senthose is also getting ice cream.*

"Good, I was just about to wake you. Eat your breakfast & head out."

"Head out where?" Noct asked, getting two bowls and spoons, "And why are you eating my ice cream?"

Astarte sat down on the throne and leaned a cheek on her hand, letting out a breath which she felt she had been holding for hours.

"Now, Ginjo, do you have wounds that need healing? I can extend my regeneration to others in a less powerful form," The Hector Hollow said while Eduj took to a far side of the cave where he would stand sentinel. "If not, just sleep or whatever you want to do while we keep watch."

"I'm a nearly immortal ghost monster that shoots poison, acid, & lightning--"

*At the last word, he fires a small jolt of electricity at Atae, like a Joy Buzzer to the forehead.*

"--I generally eat whatever I want."
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*Ginjo waves him off.*

<I'm good.>

"Okay, then," Hector made his way to a corner and sat down. "When do you want to go looking for Senthose?"

"I'll shadow jump the ice cream into the garbage just to spite you."

Atae jumped up, and looked around, "What was that?"

"Tsukishima thought it would be a good idea to spite me, too. Mosquito."
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<We should wait for a couple of hours. See if he miraculously shows up.>