Looming Shadows

Th"We'll stay in formation & fight through the Heartless!"

E"Can do!"

*Euryale begins glowing, & tearing through the Heartless in front of her with the unusually fast strikes of Ars Solum. Thiera proceeds ahead, angled away from her, & fires an ice wall to destroy more Heartless. Of course, Vincent walks ahead, aiming over them to shoot the Heartless in the back rows.*

Th"But only until we reach the switchboard! Then everyone else protects Hinode while he works on it!"

Vincent<Something is coming.>

*Vincent has a funny way of saying that the purple Heartless in the back have fired enormous bolts of energy that are now rocketing towards them.*
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*[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] turns around & does a double-take.*

<Holy cow, young lady, you're bleeding! Are you alright? What happened?!>
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*Safian is unable to completely avoid the attack, but the glancing blow doesn't do much but bend 1 of the shields. Should Monu be able to weave through the rocks to get to Lilith, the metal of her glider is starting to peel away, so I suppose he could grab her hand or something. Of course the dragon comes down, by which I mean it slams its hammer down, causing the ground to explode as if it were a literal meteorite. Half of the District is now a crater & the flaming shockwave that throws the tiles into the air is strong enough that it shatters the nearby windows & causes the weakened structures to collapse. Needless to say, anyone who doesn't find a way to shield him or herself will find their Glider pretty much shot & their armor falling to pieces. The dragon is not without damage either. It was unprotected during its attack, so a few plates fell off of its back to the point where essentially its entire upper body is unprotected. It roars &--stops to reach up & [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]*
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*Wherever Xyukuse is going or whatever he's doing, he may note a small moon beginning to form above the Altar of Naught.*
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*Vega is now strolling down a random tunnel with no apparent plan of how to track the intruders that he is looking for.*

*Monu does that to the best of his ability, then grabs Lilith's hand and pulls her onto his glider. He then dives down and lands as far away from the dragon as he can before raising a diamond shield around himself and Lilith. Safian shields herself with her leaves and tries to avoid the shock wave as much as possible. As soon as it passes her, Safian fires on the dragon's neck*
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*Artexi touches the side of her face, as if she had just noticed*

<...I fell, but I'll be alright. I got lost looking for a friend and slipped.>

*She wipes away the blood with her sleeve*

<You haven't seen anyone else in a coat like mine, have you?>

Azuma attacks with Drain.

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Hitomi and Taiyo swap Keyblades, Hitomi taking the Stormfall while Taiyo takes the Pain of Solitude and move in front of the group using Bubble Ward on themselves, freezing the bubble.

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He looks up but gives less fucks that Spider-Man, so he carries on to his quarters.

Smirking, Hinode looked up with a new resolve. "I'll do you guys proud." He actually made his way into formation, and it seemed that finally he had learned to work on a team and maybe not be so much of a jerk. Apparently he'd grown a lot. Too bad his retrospective was quickly ruined by the fact that the Heartless were soon assaulting them again.

Grimacing, he leaned his Keyblade up and started to break formation, hoping to either deflect or avoid the energy that was soon being directed straight for them. This wasn't looking like it was going to be nearly as easy as he had originally hoped for.

*Roatha appears out of a Dark Corridor near Vega, folding his arms & looking cross.*

R"I got bitched out for ditching Avici's dumb ass & told to help you. What's up?"
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*Xyukuse finds a 3 foot Mushroom Heartless laying on his bed & reading his comics or whatever he does.*
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*The shield actually does a pretty good job of protecting them. Since their armor hasn't even broken up yet, Lilith races over to cast healing pollen on Azuma. Between that, Drain, & the armor, Azuma only has a few aches, bruises, & scratches. Safian's leaves were destroyed by the attack, but between Drain & Safian's lasers, several shield links pop off of the Heartless & dissolve. The Heartless then begins emitting dark flames from its body. Being closer to the ground, the Heartless sweeps the ground with its tail hammer. If the tail doesn't hit anyone standing on the ground, it will still break up the ground & cause flaming stalagmites to break out of the ground all around them.*
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*Fortunately for them, Taiyo's & Hitomi's shields deflect the blasts. Though they're fairly slow, the Devastators are far enough away that they can simply leap aside. Thiera presses a nearby crystal, opening the gate to a seemingly ordinary wall. The Strafers are fast & small enough that they streak past the group's front line defenses, firing shots at those nearby.*

Th"Anyone who can fire at long range should focus on the Devastators! Vincent, that wall contains this 'switchboard,' correct?"

V"Affirmative."

*Vincent & Thiera open fire on the Devastators. Euryale stands in front of the entrance to the tunnel, raising her Keyblade into the air. Circles appear in formation around her, rocks then home in on them, crushing the nearby Strafers.*
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*He strokes his goatee.*

<Hm...well, there was a young man who used to live around here. He started wearing that coat shortly before he moved away.>

While he realized that soon enough he was going to have to go to work on the switchboard, Hinode figured for the moment the best help that he could be of was to attack the Devastators like Vincent and Thiera had.

Continuing to run alongside of them all, he soon enough grimaced, raised his blade and shouted out:

"Light...Orbit!"

With that a stream of superheated plasma was joining their assault on the Devastator forces that they were up against. Should this have worked he would have followed it up with another, but he might soon switch to a more constant attack since the rate of fire on his Light Orbit technique wasn't particularly great.

Artexi:<What did he look like? Kinda long black hair, pretty shifty looking? Have you seen him recently?>

*She sounds excited as she says this*
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*If the hammer comes anywhere near Lilith or himself, Monu pulls her to the ground. He raises another shield around Azuma, Lilith, and himself to protect against the stalagmites. Safian continued firing on the dragon's neck, moving away from anything coming towards her*

Azuma attacks with Darkra.

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Taiyo moves alongside Euryale, firing at the Heartless with Wisdom Shot.

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Vega: "Possibility of three intruders in the castle. One female, two male."

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He goes up to the bed and raises a leg to heel drop the Mushroom.

*One of the Devastators explodes, its heart flying off to parts unknown. Vincent generates more bolts out of darkness & begins loading them into his Arrowgun.*

Vincent<These are very powerful Heartless.>

Th"My Wisdom Shots are meant mainly to push an enemy away, so I'll use them to keep the Devastators from firing!"

*Euryale glances back at Hinode as a row of rocks destroys the Strafers around him, Thiera, & Vincent.*

E"Don't worry about these things, we can hold them off for a few minutes, at least."

*Before Thiera can readjust her fire, the 3 remaining Devastators fire their blasts, concentrating on the ceiling above them.*
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*The shield had barely survived the attack, but at least they're all okay. With its wings destroyed, the Heartless is forced to crawl along the ground. It decides to charge at them, exhaling flames & snapping at anyone it comes near. Wherever its darkness touches stone, said stone begins to burn & melt. Behind it, it swings its tail to & fro, wherever it strikes kicking up debris & shaking the ground.*

L"I think it's on its last legs!"

*Lilith runs diagonally away from it, firing her seeds. Of course, she has to weave around the stalagmites, which the shockwaves cause to fall over on the nearest person, Safian being the only one safe due to being in the air.*
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*It's like kicking Jell-O as the Heartless recoils & makes a high pitched squeaking noise. It then drops whatever it's doing to jump off of the bed, doing a little flip. Once it lands--on its head--it begins spinning, creating a vortex as it approaches Xyukuse.*
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*Roatha rolls his eyes.*

R"Okay, so where are they?"
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Man<Yeah, that sounds about right. I haven't seen him, but I've heard people saying he was around town with someone else in a black coat, heading into the forest. You could maybe see if someone knows which apartment he lives in. If you want to try the forest, the quickest way is to go back into the Underground Concourse, take the No. 4 tunnel to the marketplace, then head right until you find a hole in the wall.>

Azuma stabs his Keyblade into the ground, attacking with Ice Storm.

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Hitomi & Taiyo each cast their own Blizzaga's repeatedly.

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Xyukuse calls the Chaos Ripper to block.

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Vega: "Presumably in the castle. Engaged them in the sewers, female masked their escape with a flashbang."

Even though he wanted to since he didn't want to leave Vincet, Thiera or Euryale alone, Hinode didn't hesitate as Euryale told him that they could them off. As he started to rush down the side passageway without turning back, he smiled to himself and yelled back to her.

"I'll die before I let you down!"

With that he focused on nothing else besides getting to that panel. As soon as he got to it, he began to process of looking around for which components to pull in order to short the security system out. Considering that he was a being of energy, more or less, this shouldn't have been all that difficult he didn't think.

*Artexi nods and smiles at the guy. She speaks in a kinda stereotypically "girly-girl" voice*

<I think I'll try the forest. Thanks Mr!>

*She runs back towards the underground part, the smile dying as soon as she turns around*
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*Safian flies low above the dragon's back, and continues firing on it at close range. Monu runs diagonally in the opposite direction of Lilith, firing diamonds at the dragon's face. he does his best to avoid stalagmites*

*He is successful, but the mushroom just spins away, winding its way around to attack from behind. It takes this opportunity to leap up while still being upside-down.*
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*Assuming he's used his Keyblade to unlock the panel, underneath he sees...wires & switches, I guess. I don't know, I'm out of my element here. It looks like there are a few different things he could do to short out certain parts of the first floor. But more importantly, he hears a discharge of electricity behind him.*

Avici<That is the plan.>

*Having just teleported in out of thin air, he snaps his fingers, causing the gate to start closing again. Euryale sees this & uses water dash to get inside before he can close the tunnel off, but of course Avici is able to sidestep her easily with the benefit of time magic.*
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*Outside, Thiera uses a quick tornado to intercept the blasts before they can reach the ceiling. Vincent resumes firing once he's reloaded & the Devastators are, well, Devastated by the combined attacks. The remaining Heartless, arcs of electricity sparking from where ice crystals & energy bolts are sticking out of it, opts to bum rush them, still firing its cannon.*

Th"I've been working on a new spell specifically to counter Avici's abilities, but it only works on magic! We could probably break down that gate!"

Vincent<Only for him to retreat as you strike your own comrades? Besides, it seems he did not come alone.>

*He points behind him, where a trio of Assassins are swimming through the ground, swiping at them. In the distance behind those, a pair of Snipers drifts lazily through the air, taking aim.*
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*Roatha grips the bridge of his nose, growling.*

R"How the Hell did you keep this job for so long despite being so clueless?"

*He waves a hand, causing a Shadow to emerge from the ground. It looks down each tunnel, its antennae wiggling, until it finally sinks into the ground & streaks down a tunnel to the northwest.*

R"Just follow the leader."
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*The Heartless finally falls apart, its chain body unraveling & dissolving into darkness. Its bony parts hit the ground, shattering & likewise dissolving. All that remains is a heart, which streaks past Safian, until it is finally swallowed up by a dark corridor. Monu's & Lilith's armor largely protect them from a few glancing blows by the rocks, but Azuma is not so lucky. As the Heartless was already close by & charging, Ice Storm has insufficient time to take effect before he's bathed in flames, bitten, bathed in more flames, & knocked into a bunch of sharp rocks, which collapse upon him. His armor didn't really survive the first 2 attacks, so needless to say, he's quite injured. Lilith looks around as, all over the courtyard, a swarm of Floods begins to arise.*

L"Someone knows we're here & doesn't want to give us time to regroup!"

*Worse yet, the pieces of the giant Heartless that are left begin to glow red hot, sparking & swelling in size.*
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*As she's walking around, she spies a black coated figure retreating into a Dark Corridor. On the other side, she catches a glimpse of a forested mansion.*

Having indeed used his Keyblade to unlock the panel that was in front of him, he looked underneath and saw what appeared to be wired automatic fuse boxes that should have been fairly easy to short out. Hinode spent a few moments messing with it before he suddenly found himself turning around and grasping close to his Keyblade.

"You!" Snarling as much as a human (or data-creature anyway) could, he grasped his weapon and immediately started to use a technique. Moving his Keyblade in a manner that was, at this point, far more practiced he let loose a ball of plasma that he had hoped to engulf the other individual with.

"Light...Orbiiiiiiiiit!"

That being said, he fully expected the other individual to be able to sidestep that as well, but he had to try something and he figured something like this might very well be a little harder for his time magic to compensate for.

*Monu runs over to Azuma and casts Fairy Magic on him. Safian lands nearby and dismisses her glider, moving to stand beside Lilith*

Safian:<Maybe we should get out of here and come back with reinforcements!>
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*Artexi runs off towards the dark corridor as fast as she can, hoping to arrive before it closes*

Azuma stand, startled by not being left to bleed out as would he customary in this work because no cooperating.

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Hitomi attacks the Snipers with Blizzaga while Taiyo blocks the Assassin's attacks.

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He rolls forward and spins around to block.

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He follows the Shadow that some asshat can conjure up, questioning why he went with the Organization.

*The Assassin that Taiyo blocked flies into the air, contorted into a ring. Seeing this, Vincent raises his claw in front of him as Thiera blocks the Devastator's attack with a Blizzaga.*

Th"Take care of the Snipers!"

*So Vincent does just that, holding the Assassin up to take a shot & then firing through it to keep a Sniper pinned down until it can be pelted with ice crystals. The other warps out of the way & takes a shot at the back of Thiera's head. The third assassin goes deeper into the ground, swimming under Hitomi to strike from below.*
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*He summons the Keyblade to take the attack, then an Ethereal Blade from his free hand to block Euryale's next attack. However, he does not foresee the stone spike that accompanies it, & is stabbed in the gut. Avici glares at them.*

Avici<My turn.>

*He splits into 2. As he holds his Keyblade in a blocking position, dematerializing his Ethereal Blade to fire it at them in the form of arrows, his clone phases through the wall, heading for Vincent.*
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*The Heartless reaches a hole in the roof & jumps up, climbing through rather ungracefully.*

R"Looks like they sneak in through a hole in the dungeon."

*So he jumps up & follows. Not long afterwards, the Heartless is destroyed by a shuriken, which Roatha barely has time to block. As it returns to Yuffie's hand, Squall steps in front of her to shoot a volley of fireballs at the Organization. Cloud stabs the ceiling, twists, & pulls, causing it to collapse, raining large chunks of debris down on the path.*
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L"Get DOWN!"

*Lilith casts her barrier on herself & forces the duo down as the Heartless's remains explode in a storm of hellfire, destroying even more of the local buildings. The Floods had escaped the blast by sinking back into the floor, but now piled on Lilith--who was missing her barrier & armor now--holding the trio down as they bit & scratched at them. Of course, with the Heartless gone, the music returns back to what it was before.*
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*He is successful, but unfortunately for him, the Heartless doesn't flee from stupid fights either. It rolls onto its back, spinning & using a kick to knock him over. It then bicycle kicks, creating a flaming wheel that it uses to run him over & start running around the room, including walls & ceilings.*
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*Artexi emerges from the forest, so far from the town that she can barely hear the music. The black figure stands at the entrance to the gate. He speaks with a rather hoarse voice that she doesn't recognize.*

"So you're one of the ones Senthose sent out looking for Nero. You & so many others."

*He then runs into the mansion courtyard.*

While it looked like Avici had to hold his own Keyblade up in that aforementioned blocking position for the time being, he naturally wasn't the only one. Having seen that the other was dematerializing and firing the Ethereal Blade, Kyohaku was soon forced in his own right to hold up the Photon Debugger in a stable blocking position to do his best to take Avici's attack with gritted teeth.

The arrows just seemed to keep coming, and secretly he hoped maybe something would have hit the panel behind him. In reality, though, he had more of a chance of possibly blocking one away and forcing it to hit Avici back in turn, but the chances of that would have been slight as well.

<No one sent me. I'm looking for my kidnapped friend!>

*Artexi runs after him, fast enough to keep him in sight but not fast enough that she completely ignores the surroundings, since she's pretty obviously walking into a trap*
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*Safian ducked down when the others had, and now claws at the Floods with flaming claws,doing her best not to hit anyone else. Monu struggles to get his keyblade free to swing at the nearest Flood*

Azuma casts Dark on the Floods.

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Hitomi uses Frost Surge to block and pummel the Assassin when it recoils.

Taiyo uses Bubble Ward on Thiera who despite being all about  defence, can't stop herself from being shot.

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Akashik Torment.

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Vega jumps and starts off with a Cyclone Surge to deflect that garbage and keeps it up until he can land.

*I shall say that Hitomi successfully causes the Assassin to recoil & hits it a few times, but not before it can crack her shield. Thiera throws her Keyblade so it begins traveling in a circle, slashing the Devastator each time it makes a revolution. This frees her up to use a blast of ice to help kill the Assassin & repair Hitomi's shield, though she jumps when she sees a laser arrow pass threw the water barrier. Tilted slightly, it still puts a rather nasty cut in her cheek.*

Th"Vincent, behind you!"

*Vincent destroys the Assassin & turns around, blocking with his claw as the Avici clone materializes the Keyblade. However, it is not enough, as Avici grabs his weapon with both hands & forces Vincent's arm down, stabbing into him. Darkness pours out of Vincent's chest, quickly covering him.*

Avici<Now you will see your new friend for the monster he really is.>

*The copy leaps aside as the Galian Beast emerges, charging at those in front of him while lobbing fireballs.*

Avici<And to think, this is only a taste of his true darkness.>

*Meanwhile, the Sniper fires another shot. This time, it charges the arrow so that it's thrice as large & sparking with energy when released, & it is also aimed at Taiyo. Its partner has a number of scrapes & holes in it, but seeing as it remains alive, it warps several feet to its left to get a clear shot & fires another bolt at Thiera.*
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*Euryale uses waterspout to defend herself. Avici dismisses the Darkest Hours & fires a blast of darkness at her. It strikes her arm & her armor begins to rust & then fall away. Having apparently run out of arrows, Avici materializes a pair of Ethereal Blades in icepick grips. Through the gate, they can see Vincent change into the Beast, his roar shaking the gate.*

Avici<It seems as though my true backup has finally arrived.>
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*The ceiling kind of fell on him, but I suppose he could eventually push through to the upper floor. Roatha decides not to do that & rolls back out of the hole they came from. In any case, Vega can now see a pile of debris blocking the tunnel that Cloud, Yuffie, & Squall retreated through.*
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*It lets out another squeak as it runs into him. Bounced back, it falls on its back, but quickly rolls into a handstand. When it pushes itself down, it creates a quake that knocks Hideki over. Each time it does so, another quake, like another giant hammer smacking into him from below.*
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*As many Floods as they kill, more keep coming. Lilith fares the worst, unable to dislodge the things from her back. Eventually, she forms a healing ring around them, even though it also causes some of the Floods who weren't destroyed the first time around to have their wounds close up.*
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*He runs into the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], calling over his shoulder.*

<Kidnapped? Is that what you were told? By whom? What will you do once you find him? And who would want to rescue a man they just threw off of a tower?>

*He quickly disappears into the darkness of the mansion.*

Having gotten a little more comfortable with this style of combat, Hinode really stayed on his toes during the scuffle. It had looked like the Devastator and the Assassin had been taken care of for the time being. He would have been making sure that he was getting a moment here to breath...if he wasn't a data creature that was.

At the moment, though, he paid the most attention to the breaker box that was in front of him. He figured that tripping the circuits still should have been the biggest priority. He hoped that Euryale could cover him for the time being, but then again switching out one of these should have been easy even if he weren't him. Circuits had to be wired to be easy to trip out for fire safety reasons, but something told Hinode that building codes weren't Avici's fashion so it was going to take a little time to do this.

<Because he's the only friend I have left? I want to hear from him why he abandoned me!>

*Artexi continues following the figure, summoning both of her keyblades*
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*Since there are so many floods about, Monu uses Wind Raid to hopefully take out some. Several shadow Safian clones appear around her, each one then running into the floods and blowing up*

Azuma: "Get ready to pick up the pieces."

Azuma casts Darkja.

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As Frost Surge finishes off by blowing up to repel enemies that Assassin wouldn't be in Hitomi's grill. Hopefully some space is cleared as Hitomi casts Gravity Well on Vincent.

Taiyo swings to deflect the Sniper's shot.

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As it would be more effective to find an alternate route, Vega goes to do just that.

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He rights himself with Rising Slash and hurls a Gravity Raid at the Mushroom.

*The remaining Assassin uncoils itself & slinks back into the ground. The Galian Beast is slowed down in its charge & Thiera makes it a point to use Reflect. With everyone's attacks going back from whence they came, the Devastator & Snipers are destroyed, but the fireballs just cause Vincent to glow slightly as his wounded flesh hardens into callouses. Also, the Avici clone had waited for Thiera's reflect to go down, & grabs her by the throat with an elongated Ethereal Blade, dragging her towards him.*
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*It turns out to not be that hard to shut down, likely because the setup predates Avici. Avici appears behind him, but having expected this, Euryale makes a sweeping kick, only to have to duck as he tries to decapitate her, having disappeared in midair & reappeared behind her. When she swings upward, he is once again standing across the room.*

"Argh, will you just LET ME HIT YOU?! I HATE time travel! And why are you still here, aren't you, like, made of electricity or something?"

Avici<No.>
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*The more they destroy, the more seem to keep coming. Ivy wraps around Azuma's mouth, causing the gathering darkness to dissipate.*

L"Are you insane? You'll do even more damage to us than the Floods!"

*Just then a white light comes rocketing down towards them like a meteorite. As it stops just before hitting the ground, they can see that it's a figure wearing silvery armor, helmet sloped forward & with a gold visor to resemble an eagle. Also gold is the ring on the back of its head. The figure's descent was arrested by feathery white wings, though if one looks closely, the feathers are actually very fine strips of metal, & at their base they emit a kind of gold exhaust almost like a jetpack. The figure is identified as Binah when the Master Keeper appears in her hand. As some of the Floods leap towards them, it emits a light that surges over the area, burning the Dusks into raw darkness, which breaks apart in the harsh light. Lilith squints at her as the light fades.*

L"How--"

Binah<It is a variant of Faith. The light burns creatures of darkness, such as the Unversed & Heartless, but heals other organisms.>

*Next they hear the beating of drums as Loa masks emerge from the rubble, circling them.*

Voices<Are ya ready?!>

*As Binah readies her Keyblade to guard, Maleficent flies down from the tower in her energy form, plowing into her & continuing on. A laser blast also strikes her & knocks her across the ground, Demona having fired a cannon from the roof of the Gizmo Stop. She lands near the alley, out of which Barbossa emerges. Lilith hurls the Keyblade into his chest, at which point he just laughs.*

Barbossa<Lass, that clearly didn't work the first time yeh tried it.>

*More pirates emerge behind him, pointing their weapons at the group. As well, Dark Corridors open throughout the court yard.*
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*It squeaks as it's knocked over again. Once again it spins until it rights itself & charges him stupidly. Though to its credit, a Dark Barrier DOES form over its head as it runs.*
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*He eventually manages to get back into the tunnel from a maintenance panel, though the trio is long gone. Roatha walks up behind him, having followed him.*

"This is stupid, why don't we just go to the computer room? That's where they're headed, right?"
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*In the foyer, the man stands on the balcony.*

N"You work with the Organization that hunts him even now, & you think that avoiding you is 'abandonment'?"