Where Heroes Are Made (LKE, Open)

XekuZwei · Nov 1, 2018

It appeared that the combined efforts of the trio in Sector Gamma had bought them some breathing room...for a moment.

The Arbiter's vision flicked down at his far smaller companions. While Mel and his diminutive Axio had concentrated on bolstering their defensive position, it appeared that the Gunleon's pilot intended to put his mech's specialty in repair to good use during the pause in the Dart DAMON assault. Charles extended one of the Giganscudo's battered shields toward Adachi, offering its pockmarked upper surface to his machinations. "My thanks. We haven't long, stay alert and do what you can."

No telling how long the DAMON remain cautious, that much was true. But Sir Beaumont also intended to rile the beasts far sooner, unsatisfied with allowing them the luxury of choosing their battles. Too little was known of the otherdimensional monsters; even now, nigh to every creature that had appeared was a type unknown to man. Their power had proven here to be many leagues above what had come to be expected, and there was nothing to say that their sense and cunning were any different. If the formulation of a strategy was within their capabilities, they could not be permitted to do so unchallenged.

His Giganscudo seemed to puff out its chest, and once more sparkling energy was drawn into the still-exposed collectors in its breast. The machine's systems chirped a warning at Charles, and a collection of fluctuating power readouts leapt into being in his peripheral in an effort to dissuade him from his chosen course of action. In fitting with its stature the colossal machine mounted a plasma generator not dissimilar in size to those mounted on the Lunarian battleships, but even it would face some hardship keeping up with the tremendous energy consumption of the Gigan's ranged weaponry were it used repeatedly and in rapid succession.

He disregarded it. Such things had their time and place, and this desperate situation was neither. Again the trigger for the Giga-Wide Blaster was depressed once its charge had completed, the Giganscudo's stance shifting as the column of blazing energy lanced forth in an effort to sweep the beam across the swath of Dart DAMON and strike down as many of their number as possible.

KiraHYamato · Nov 7, 2018

After giving the Giganscudo's shields a quick repair, Adachi looked towards the sky and watched the DAMON looming in the air.

"Yeah...I'd be afraid too if I ended up fighting mecha David and Goliath..." Adachi commented.

Suddenly a display popped up on his screen... "What the?" Adachi muttered when he saw it

"Huh?" Adachi muttered as he read the message. "What's a DAMON?" Adachi asked.

"Oh...Makes sense" Adachi said after reading the message. "No wait! It doesn't! Why does my repair unit have this info?!" Adachi snapped when he realized that he was gaining information about these monsters that appeared out the cracks in the sky from the mobile weapon he made.

"Wait!!" Adachi shouted at his machine. "Why do you have a protocol specifically for a situation like this?! And what's sphere?!" He asked confused as to what the absolute hell was going on with his mobile weapon. But this time his questions were left unanswered...

"What the hell are you..huh?" Adachi noticed the Giganscudo getting ready to attack the DAMON again. "Is he planning on attacking again?" Adachi said looking at the Titanic mobile weapon.

"What the hell are you on about now?!" Adachi shouted when he saw the message. At that moment the Gunleon started to power up more than it was supposed to. The status window on Adachi's screen showed that Gunleon power levels started to rise beyond the levels he initially thought was possible. His repair unit now had a power output similar to one of those Vorlent units or maybe more...

The power climb on Adachi's screen finally came to a halt and he could've sword he heard a slight mechanical roar. "I have several questions..." Adachi muttered looking at his screen.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile...

In the distance a silhouette of a man in a lab coat was standing a fair distance away from sector gamma but close enough to see the events unfold before him

"About time..." said the figure watching the Gunleon. "Now the question is whether the sphere will awaken or not... I can't wait for the results"

BlackSheep · Nov 8, 2018

The battle was raging on in Sector Gamma, which was being protected by the Giganscudo, a giant lion with a wrench, and a puny Axio. It all seemed like that giant red robot who fired great blasts of energy, had the whole situation at hand. Also, the "Wounded Lion" had started to show its battle power, however, it wasn't still enough to awaken him, he still needed to be more "wounded".

A crack formed on top of the Sector Gamma, right between the Gunleon and the Axio. This crack seemed harmless, that is until a laugh could be heard coming from the crack, a human laugh. "Fu-hahahaha!"

The crack suddenly opened, unleashing a small but powerful army of dimensional monsters. The dimensional monsters that appeared were the following:
DAMON: 15
BullDAMON: 10
RhinoDAMON: 4

Three of the Rhinodamon started to glow with energy, this energy made them faster and stronger, so, with this power, they rushed towards the Gunleon hoping to ram him with their powerful antlers. The remaining Rhinodamon went to fight the Axio, as it was running towards him, it started to fire flames from its horns, the flames were falling at the Axio's sides, creating walls of ice that weren't as tall as the robot, but enough to keep him there.

Half of the Bulldamons started to throw their tails at the Gunleon's arms, these tails started to transform into something similar to leeches, but with giant mouths with pointy teeths that could surely penetrate most of the armors. The other half focused their attention on the Giganscudo, they didn't want to defeat him, rather than that, it seemed as if they wanted to keep him busy so he couldn't help his other companions. What seemed like electricity flowed through the horns of these five monsters as they roared, they rushed towards the Giganscudo with seething rage just to bite him and, hopefully, damage him with their attacks.

The remaining DAMONs stood in the sidelines, throwing their tails at the Gunleon and Giganscudo as if they were the deadliest boomerangs, but just as those fifteen tails were cutting the air, images of more tails suddenly started to appear. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of tails covered the starry sky of the Moon, raining towards them.

But that wasn't the end, a new figure appeared from the crack, it was a new robot covered by pink crystals and with black horns in the head. In its hands that looked like claws, there were a pair of long crystals already, he was ready to attack anytime, but it seemed as if its atention was focused on the Gunleon. For the moment, he remained silent, spectating the fight that was already going on.

Jadwiga · Nov 19, 2018

Camille's lone index finger flicked across the terminal screen, surveying page after page of prospective patient profiles. With each one came a story, a tragedy in multiple acts. Name, age, rank and family history, a basic dossier of position and work history. All of that she ignored for the pertinent info on their current physical state, eyes rapidly scanning, mind rapidly weighing their prospects. Each was met with a summary judgement and discharged accordingly.

"No. No. No. Hell no. No. No..."

Her tone was flat, and, quite frankly, bored. She shifted her weight to lean on her elbows against the Caduceus module, the sizable block taking up the latter third of her Battle Racer. The other three knights were waiting on theirs in the air above, having little else to do in the meantime but gaze out over the wreckage. Here and there numbered drones floated in place to assess the survivors' plights. With each waning life she ruled beyond saving, the drones moved on to survey another. The soft hums of their soundings helped break what was otherwise an eerie silence.

It was disquieting, to say the least. Sir Kiraly sighed into her bevor. There went any notion of asking the people in charge where the off switch was.

"No. No. N- oh wait. Got one under Pod 5. Male, 42. If you can move three walls and distinctly quality desk off him."

Anything was better than standing helpless vigil over a mass grave. Val gestured to Mirko, her first two fingers extended. First to him, then to the wreckage she pointed, directing him to line up the shot for her. With a nod, the stocky stalwart glided on ahead of her, pulling the Kaiser Barricade to the fore. In this situation it really wasn't much more than a slab of overwrought metal. But with choice placement, and a fair bit of grunting on his part, that slab served well enough as a giant prybar.

The elder man lodged it as solidly as he could under the ruined bulkhead on top, using the sum of all his and his armor's strength to angle it about twenty degrees higher. And while he held it there, the captain came sweeping down, more rapid than eagles, a giant rocket-assisted hammer clutched tight in her hands.

"FORE!" she howled, as she swung the weapon out to bear. The collision issued a report in the form of a tremendous metallic THWANG, and then the sight of a twenty-meter plank of steel sailing end over end into the distance.

In the meantime, the knights on scene in the core set themselves to the task of finding the controls to the dimensional energy array.

The crew of the Fenosa watched with varying degrees of awe, pride, and surprise at the devastation wrought by the barrage. The spread of the beams from spearpoints let them pummel a sizable surface area atop the behemoth's crown, while the blasts from her adoptive fingers kept the lesser beings at bay. Ramming more such beams straight down the gullets of its vile appendages just made the moment all the sweeter. But whatever satisfaction there was to have, it was set aside the moment the glimmer appeared atop the beast. The gleam of light that glowered with a singular fury, sending alarms chiming at the magnitude of energy gestating inside it.

"... it's like a miniature sun..." Joseph whispered, ahead of a dry swallow.

"Oh my... we've kicked the hornet's nest now, haven't we?"

The levity in Sir Richard's words drew puzzled looks from the helmsmen. Despite this latest development, the only change in his demeanor was the resting of a hand thoughtfully atop his bearded chin. The light outside grew brighter at an exponential rate, and his eyes merely slid to his deputy captain.

"Lucky we know a thing or two about how to ship energy around, eh Virgil?"

The blonde quirked a brow back at him, taking a moment or two to follow the meaning in those words. Once the thought was sewn, the other brow rose to match its mate, and something approaching concern took over Virgil's features.

"You can't be-"

The broad toothy smirk Dougal shot back at him cut off the protest. It was a look the deputy knew only too well by now, that arrogant swagger the madman got when was about to do something reckless again. There would not be much arguing with it, not that they had the time for it anyway. The swell outside was becoming blinding, and something surely had to be done. He heaved a sigh like a disappointed parent, but moved back toward the power regulation station all the same to begin his work.

"Vanessa! Open the main gun, and aim her straight down the center of that thing!"
"... but sir, there's no way we'll build enough charge in time! I mean we may not even get the barrel out in-"
"Don't worry girl... we're trusting in those keen eyes of yours!"

Gritting her teeth, the young woman did as she was told, peering through her polarized lenses at her targetting screen. Staring into the sun, and aiming her weapon straight for its core. Her fingers flicked over the switches to unsheathe the biggest barrel the ship possessed, knowing full well the exact time it would take for each component to rotate, each piece to get into place. The math just wasn't there, what could the captain be planning?

Without Virgil's stoic rigor or Sir Richard's shameless bravado, the twins had only rote training to settle their heads around. While she locked herself into the sniping task at hand, Joseph dutifully kept track of the timing aloud.

"Estimate critical mass in 30 seconds. 25. 20! 15!"

Outside, the defensive fielding around the ship began to intensify around the forward bow. Whirs and clanks punctuated the shifting of relays within the goddess's belly. With ten seconds remaining, the charge array for the Gabelliot materialized in a series of arcane circles traversing the space ahead. With five seconds left, the locks on the guard plates started to unseal. Sir Richard bunched the ship-wide intercomm, leaning to one side to bark into it.

"All hands! Brace for impact!"

A flash. A flare. The sun's fury descended on them, washed over them, and erased them from sight. To anyone looking on, the Fenosa had been completely engulfed in the magnitude of the behemoth's beam. They would, then, perhaps be dumbfounded moments later. For when the beam eventually waned and fell away, the ship was sitting peaceably several meters behind where it had started. The only change was that the cuirass adorning the front of the Lady's monument had parted around a stocky cannon barrel, in which was swiftly building a charge.

What they would almost certainly not notice, of course, was that Virgil had reversed the configuration of the Gabelliot's dimensional gates, turning a barrel into a funnel. Thus when the replica solar flare had washed over the dimensional gates the innermost pulse had been whittled away section by section. The fraction that remained diminished just enough that the ship's shields could withstand it. The gates having already collapsed from the strain, a new set were being issued forth in preparation for the coming attack.

"Let's just hope that thing doesn't have another star where the sun don't shine..." the captain jested nervously. "Call back the Boreas and Notus... and tell the other two to keep firing!"

Pimster · Nov 19, 2018

Mel put down his asault rifle briefly, as the other DartDAMONs were being taken down by the Grand Arbiter. "Yes! That is our power!" exclaimed as he was preparing to fire his misile launcher back at the remaining DartDAMONs of the sector he was in at the same time the Giganscudo was firing at the beasts again.

Right as he heard the roar, he saw the crack that appeared between him and the Gunleon. "Huh? That is impossible, another one is happening?!"

In the blink of an eye, he encountered himself surrounded by walls of ice and there was a RhinoDAMON running towards him. The same sensation of fear ran through his whole body, his pupils pinned and he started to breathe heavily in panic. He wasn't ready for this, his mech wasn't ready for this, in his utter desperation he fired all he could against the beast that was running to him. In fact, he could already see life passing through his eyes.

It was at this moment that he let out a desperate cry, a cry for help. "Adachi, HELP MEEEE!" he shouted over the communication channel.

GEAR · Nov 20, 2018

Section Alpha

"T-The Fenossa!!"

Sir William could do nothing - only cry out in anguish as he saw the mighty vessel seemingly consumed in a blast of Biblical proportions. The Revive DAMON as well, seemed certain in its victory, its jaw adjusting itself as, against all reason, the thing managed to look incredibly smug. As multicolored smoke filled the vacuum above him, he felt hot tears dripping down his cheeks... And hatred, blood red hatred, boiling in his very veins.

He had failed. As a knight, as a Knight of Luna, he had allowed Bisen Fortis to fall. Some might have said that, in the face of such a foe, there was nothing he could do...

...But a son of House Exeter could never accept such excuses.

And yet...

Even as the Sapphiard swept aside another gleaming reptilian with an errant swing of its colossal mace, William's expression slowly morphed from one of grief... to pure astonishment, as against all reason... The Fenossa reappared, unharmed. He could hardly even fathom the marvel that had enabled it to do so... But, seeing was believing, and in that moment he couldn't suppress the guttural laughter that forced its way up out of his slender throat.

"...Yes! YES! Hahahahaha!"

Like a whirlwind of metal, the Sapphiard redoubled its efforts, spinning about to crush and sweep aside the hordes of Bull DAMON that the floating fortress had sent to stymie the vessel. The azure Super Robot charged forward towards the Revive DAMON, tossing aside hordes of the monstrosities as it did so, preparing to finish the job before the monstrosity could muster yet another counterattack - and indeed it appeared to be in the process of doing so, bolts of Dimensional Energy crashing down from the heavens as they coalesced about the massive crystal atop its head, as it began to prepare to unleash another monstrous blast.

"Do you see now, wretched beasts? We're not finished yet! CHAAAAARGE!"

Section Beta

The twisting and baying Rhino DAMON carried the Astranagant forward, the two machines shrouded in flames - until, at last, Derrick jabbed the Z.O Sword into the creature's throat, causing it to issue one final bellow of pain before disappearing across the event horizon, leaving only a scorched trail of devastation on the Lunar surface as a testament to its existence. For the moment, it seemed that he could breathe easy, as no further monstrosities emerged to menace the Astranagant's pilot.

...Yet, somehow, there was a sense of unease. As though, he were not entirely alone, and that the aura of uncertainty about the battlefield was starting to congeal. Whether it was a product of the arcane systems in the Black Angel, or perhaps some other, sinister machination, however... Remained unseen.

Section Gamma

The situation of Gamma's constituents had worsened with the arrival of the Arietis, whom the DAMON seemed to recognize as one of their own. Perhaps it was the vast amounts of DEC that appeared to make up the hideous machine's construction, or something more nefarious - but the results were the same. The Arbiter's well timed-blast smashed through the swarming Dart DAMON, causing the swarm to continue to stay at bay - for how long, none could say, but the Arbiter's actions had bought them time to handle the new arrival...

The sinister Black Sheep.

ZONE Interior (Reactor)

The Knights of Bisen Fortis trudged through the ruined remains of the reactor control rooms. On occasion, a destructive bolt of energy would smash into an adjoining room, or a nearby pylon, causing the entire structure to groan and rumble beneath their feet. Time, it seemed, was of the essence, as the volatility of the core was shaking apart even the ZONE itself.

At length, they would have located a master control room - one located on the upper levels overseeing the reactor. Its triangle shaped interior was, for the most part, intact - but the personnel within were completely absent, presumably having evacuated. Tipped over chairs and half-drunk cups of tea littered control panels. At the center of the room were a trio of three-sided tubes, set into the floor within a bright red border, shielded by what appeared to be reinforced glass. Instructions located at the three points of this triangular inset indicated that it was an emergency stop of sorts - but before the group could get any clearer understanding, a warning chime filled the air - pleasant in tone, yet not lacking in its severity as an automated, female voice intoned over a loudspeaker:

Within said chamber, viewable by a series of monitors located on the walls of the control center, coils of energy lashed out from the star-like core... And, against all reason, began to condense. Each individual bolt was dragged, like thread to a loom, into a central spot on a platform located on the lip of the core itself. There was... The spectral form of, what almost appeared to be... A skeleton. Bolts of dimensional energy lashed over it, concentrating even further, as though they were being dragged unwillingly into filling a certain mold. Over the bones, a nervous system was threshed together in moments - and with increasing speed, muscles, sinew, flesh.

What resulted was... A man. His dark hair whipped about his broad shoulders, and dark blue tattoos occasionally seemed to flicker - appear, and then fade - across his bronzed skin, which encased musculature that would have been the envy of every Knight on the Moon. He was clad in a heavy belt and robes from the waist down... But from even this distance, the glimmer of Dimensional Energy crystal, seemingly molded into the seams of his clothes, was apparent.

The newcomer raised a hand before his face, turning it back and forth experimentally as it finished materializing. All around him, bolts of Dimensional Energy thundered... But none seemed to touch his form... And then, he turned his head to look up - directly towards the members of Bisen Fortis...

To give a slow smile, full of sharp, pointed teeth.

Zone Interior (Residential)

As the Order picked through the debris, they would find a handful of survivors - and a great many bodies, much as Lady Valencienne had determined - yet, one by one, piece by piece, they would have begun to amass those they could. As the chunk of concrete was casually hurled aside, and a deafening impact followed with a spray of dust... As it cleared, Val might have felt a gentle pressure to her left.

"...Um. Excuse me..."

A small, pale hand reached up to tug gently at Valencienne's skirt armor, as a trembling voice made itself known to the woman's ears.

Below, having apparently sidled up undetected, a small girl peered up at the titan of a woman. She couldn't have been older than 13, with her dark hair done up in a pair of ribbon-tied twintails. Her clothes were similarly covered in dust - but, she seemed to have avoided the blood that soaked every other survivor's being thus far.

In her hands, she clutched a stuffed doll - a rabbit, it seemed. On Luna, they were popular playthings - the rabbit had been accepted as a mascot of sorts for the kingdom, in moments where the knights themselves would not serve as appropriate representatives. A pale and threadbare looking thing, it appeared as though it had been long loved, and was covered in dust and soot. It was clasped in a hand that had a provisional teal wristband - for those not yet old enough for the nanomachine implants that kept meticulous track of the lunar populace, such a device had been long accepted as a welcome alternative.

She slowly blinked, as if straining to see Val's face, high up in the sky as it was, continuing quietly:

"...Are you here to save us?"

MKR · Nov 27, 2018

The smirk on Derrick's face slowly vanished as the eerie feeling came in its place. He knew not the cause of the chill on his spine, the one that had just drained the fulfilling feeling of watching the Astranagant's form restore itself and push out every single dent made by the beast that had set it aflame. He sighed and opted to survey the battlefield for whatever could be the cause of this, although he suspected the Black Angel itself to be partly responsible.

The Zone was still going insane, but that was par for the course by now so that couldn't be it in the mind of this scientist. The Revive DAMON had been there for long enough without as much as a mention from his systems, clearly that was not worth his time and effort. Besides 'Sir' William and the Fenossa were keeping the monstrosity busy enough. That left only one option, that new dimensional event in section Gamma.

Yet, leaving a zone unattended would reflect badly on him, but on the other side he had the nagging feeling that this feeling would not stop until he acted. As such he had a simple solution.

"Remain here, alert me if any of those dimensional intruders or otherwise unwanted visitors enter this section." He commanded the Gun Familiars, they made excellent watch dogs and would be hardy enough to not get destroyed by whatever would intrude and even if they would be destroyed the Black Angel would know and he could just repair them afterwards.

With that the angel of death took to the skies, its emerald green wings carrying it to Section Gamma and the Z.O. Sword, now appropriately tested, turned off.

Without a sound it watched the Damons pour out of the crack between dimensions and grimaced. If only those blasted allies weren't there he could simply fire another attract shower and decimate them all, but that Axio would be left as little more than Swiss cheese and the machine with the wrench would in his mind not fare much better and seeing as the Grand Arbiter himself was right there it would be an easy way to ruin everything for him and whatever plot had brought him here in the first place.

So he was given little choice, he moved forwards uncaring about the swarm above him. These pests were just that to him, instead the enemies in the midst of the group already in Gamma were the more appropriate targets. Astranagant hovered still in the air and crossed its arms, the angelic wings of green spread wide, their lethal telekinetic feathers hailing down from the skies above and into the beasts below, after his initial volley he would speak up.

"I hereby graciously offer my assistance in cleaning up Sector Gamma from any dimensional intruders if the Grand Arbiter wishes to accept it." He spoke with that distinctly formal tone oh so revered in the upper ranks of the government. Although it was not exactly practiced.

As he spoke the emerald feathers whirred towards their targets and detonate on impact with either the moon herself or anything they would meet in the way, a more focused version of the attract shower but just as deadly. Should things go as intended it would likely result in two or three Bull Damons being stuck alongside what else in the crossfire. That is of course unless someone was foolish enough to stand in the path of these weapons.

KiraHYamato · Nov 29, 2018

Adachi grabbed his controls and made Gunleon pull out a rivet gun with it's left arm. "How strong is the rivet gun right now?" he asked his computer.

"In that case!" Adachi said as he fired short bursts of rivets at the giant leeches. Despite Adachi's terrible aim, he managed to get most of them. But one managed to get through.

As it closed in on the Gunleon, Adachi made his mobile weapon flip it's Rivet gun and bashed the leech's head with the it's hilt. Splashing blood over Gunleon's hand. "Urgh...That's gonna take a while to clean up..." Adachi said looking at the blood.

"Were you always this strong Gunleon?" Adachi muttered in disbelief at how much stronger Gunleon had become after it went into "Battle-Mode". "Why did dad put in a battle mode in the first place... And why the hell does this thing have info on these monsters?" Adachi started to wonder what his father's true intentions were when he build this machine... But he didn't have the time to sit around and wonder about it because now he had the 3 Rhino Damon to worry about.

The Gunleon raised it's rivet gun once again to fire at the Rhino Damon but at that moment Adachi heard a cry for help from the coms. It was the Axio. "Why the hell does that guy know my first name?" Adachi wondered as he looked in the direction of the Axio.

It was trapped between two ice pillars with a Rhino Damon charging at it in a straight line. "Tch..." Adachi clicked his tongue before he stepped on the paddle that made the caterpillar tracks in Gunleon's legs spin and move forward.

The Gunleon was much faster now but Adachi knew he wouldn't make it to the Axio in time because he had to get passed the 3 Rhino Damon. He couldn't find a way to get through them to reach the Axio in time.

"Wait a minute..." Adachi muttered looking at Gunleon's wrench. "Sure hope this works" he said as he made Gunleon throw it's giant wrench towards the Axio with all it's might. It flew over the 3 Rhino Damon and landed between the Axio and the Damon that was charging at it. This will hopefully give enough time for the Axio to get itself to safety.

After throwing it's wrench the Gunleon eyes flashed as it looked towards the 3 Rhino Damon. "Alright..." Adachi said with a slight grin across his face as he made the Gunleon pull out it's other rivet gun and fired bursts of rivets at the the incoming Damon.

"You wanna charge? Let's charge!" Adachi shouted as he holstered the rivet guns and pulled out Gunleon's Chain-Decutters from it's shoulders.

"I'm never accepting another government contract every again..." Adachi said to himself as made the Gunleon continue it's charge towards the Damon. It's chain saws spinning faster than they originally used to. At the this rate it could easily slice a Ganjal in half

"Let's go...GUNLEON!!" Adachi shouted. Gunleon's eyes flashed as it got closer towards it's target at high speed. Holding it's chain saws in front of it.

XekuZwei · Jan 2, 2019

The Giganscudo's polygonal chest snapped decisively shut once the flow of power from the Giga Blaster had run its course; despite the colossal machine's equally sizable reactor output, her energy reserves would not sustain another such blast so soon. The shot had succeeded in thinning the horde of dart-like DAMON to the Arbiter's momentary satisfaction, hopefully enough so to ward the beasts away from striking at the group again. Defending against such an assault without the use of the G-Circle or Giga Blasters would be difficult, though not impossible - and they did not know that his reserves ran low.

Regardless, it was only a moment later that Charles Beaumont would feel a pang of regret in regards to spending the Giganscudo's energy so lavishly. As if the ZONE's predicament was already messy enough, a further crack in the fabric of space blossomed into view in the Arbiter's peripheral and unceremoniously disgorged an unsettling number of the larger and more vicious DAMON strains alongside their better-known cousins. The supermecha made a lumbering turn even as the monsters hurled their tails, sling-like, at the trio of pilots. The 'scudo's arm shield swung wide as it pivoted, a gargantuan swatting strike that sent a great gout of alien ichor spraying across the lunar soil as the seemingly countless organic projectiles were shattered across its surface. Still more impacted the machine's thick body, slamming headlong into the heavy and pockmarked plate and painting its red-and-yellow hide with their gore.

Not content to merely shower the indomitable Giganscudo and company with projectiles, the majority of the big DAMON charged with clear intent to run down the group. Sir Beaumont grit his teeth; at this rate, even his defenses would be worn down with time and numbers. Steeling himself to counter-charge the approaching enemies, the Grand Arbiter was suddenly interrupted as a shower of iridescent projectiles rained down on the galloping creatures and enveloped them in emerald fire.

That impudent...! Charles shook the thought from his head. Now was not the time to chastise the Astranagant's pilot for his arrogance. His reply was instead short, grunted, and to-the-point, "Cover the Axio and Gunleon. I will be fine." And the offer came not a moment too soon, as yet a further threat emerged into their dimension from the breach, an opponent of an entirely different sort: a man-shaped construct of what appeared to be entirely Dimensional Energy Crystal. The significance of its two-legged stature as compared to the rest of these beasts was not lost on him.

"You're the boss, huh...?" A great plume of bloodstained moondust rose around the Giganscudo as its thrusters finally flared back to life, the unit's tesla drive assisting as it rose with surprising grace from the surface. Its stance shifted forward as it began to move, and the bulky machine began accelerating rather rapidly for something its size. It took only a few moments for it to achieve a velocity that was downright alarming for anything in the way, a shimmering energy field that enveloped its forward surfaces blossoming into being as it gained momentum.

The colossal unit bore down on the mysterious Black Sheep with great speed, seemingly intent on smashing this new foe with the sheer, overwhelming force of its Gigante Uragano attack.

Jadwiga · Jan 3, 2019

"... ah. Kyl get over here."

The amazon in scarlet and gold glanced down at her side to survey this new wrinkle. No sooner, it seemed, had they begun excavation than the single least conducive thing to that effort had popped up. As her eyes tracked along the girl, her helmet's optics began scanning. A HUD materialized in her line of sight, illuminating the bracelet it would recognize and accessing the data it could glean from it. Facial recognition patterns analyzed the girl's face to compare against the roster of residents, while basic visual sensors swept for signs of injury or armaments. Basic security measures all, each processing in their appointed rounds to keep the knight informed.

Val looked at and through them, more occupied with resting the hammer at her side in a way that didn't immediately flip the board over. She had to shift her weight to do so, balancing weapon and rider on their mount. Part of that shift came in lowering down to one knee, leaving one hand on the haft and letting the other elbow rest atop her thigh. Brought closer to eye level with the girl, she presented the child momentarily with a wall of reflective visor. A cursory tap behind her left ear caused the visor to turn to a hexagonal grid, the pieces cosmetically falling inward from the center on. From the outside at least, Val was left with just the bevor framing her tan features below, and her golden tresses above. Only in her eyes could the faint reflection of her HUD be seen.

"Of course, we're knights!" she chirped warmly, her voice being relayed with a mild patina of radio distortion. "I'm Sir Kiraly, what's your name?"

Sir Grahn held steady to one side, a tower of armor and muscle. Over her shoulder, Sir St. Brioche was gliding closer from the distance. Knowing that helped her keep her expression steady and kindly, even as Sir Praskowia continued to rattle off rescue targets in her ear. And to chide, in between, that the man she'd highlighted in the rubble under them wasn't getting any safer...

As they jogged through the corridor, Sir Dalgard smirked at yet another mark on his HUD. Glancing back over his shoulder, he made a curt quip to Sir Rosk. The younger man could only sigh, feeling the next barb coming.

"Hey Gus?"
"... yeah?"
"Think fast!"

Njegus barely had time to wrap his lips around a W before his partner had sidestepped and one of the ambient pulses was headed straight for the green knight's chest. His last resort was to throw himself flat on the floor, yelping in the process and then clutching at his head as the lethal discharge crackled through the air scant inches above him. When he finally ventured to look again, the beam was gone. So too was most of the squad!

Scrambling to his feet, he set into a dead run, managing to close the distance again despite Sir Dalgard's snickering in his ear. He made sure to give the man a shove as he pulled alongside.

"Dammit... you almost got me killed!"
"Not my fault if you aren't watching your sensors~"
"Target-rich environment, c'mon Dan."
"C'mon nothin' - gotta keep on your toes and focus!"
"Yeah yeah..."

Both men presently gave an involuntary grunt as a cuff landed upside each of their heads. Sir Kromow had slid behind them while they were bickering.

The group presently found their way to the control room. Sir Pritschitsch entered first, as was customary, her shields poised in front of her. Immediately behind were Sir Cascada and Sir Kovak, their eyes - and sensors - dissecting the room's status and points of interest. Sir Rossilon and Sir Bogdanovitch drew in next at their flanks, arms poised defensively. Sir Kromow was swift on their heels, leaving the two rabblerousers to bring up the rear.

Targeting sensors in her HUD picked out each cup and paper sheaf out of place, noted each entryway, and ultimately latched onto the peculiar chamber as a primary objective matching the basic schematics they'd been provided. She had just lowered her weapon and started to pivot at the waist to begin issuing orders, in fact, when the room filled with sound. As if it had been waiting for them to arrive, it chose this moment to chirp its alarms, and to begin to fill the gleaming structure with visions ominous.

"Thaaaat's... just not right..." Sir Dalgard gawked.
"You have a problem with Mr. Bones?" quipped Sir Rassilon.
Sir Kromow gruffly retorted, "I don't think Baron Samedi materializing out of cosmic string counts as a good sign."
"He looks jolly though. Look, he's putting on weight." Sir Rassilon continued.
"... that's not a happy face." said Sir Rosk, pulling his sword to the ready.
"Sure it is. Look. He's... smiling..." observed a disquieted Sir Bogdanovitch.

Sir Cascada was the one to venture nearer though, tapping behind her ear much as Sir Kiraly had, and to similar effect. Her auburn eyes and tresses soon peered through her visor - and multiple layers of containment beyond it - at the man with the dagger grin. Hers was the first voice offered aloud.

"Hello? Can you hear me in there?"

"Status on the main gun?"
"Dimensional charge at 67%. Compared against the charge time of the target, though..."

Sir Richard set his jaw, staring down yet another flare from the nascent star in the monster's crown. Even with their barrage continuing to steadily rain on the Revive DAMON, it wasn't going down quite fast enough. Nor, naturally, could they risk trying to angle the main cannon at the beast from above, lest they take out ZONE along with it. As a weapon of last resort, he wasn't even enthused about using the cannon in the first place, but if all else failed to finish the behemoth, they had to have it at the ready to try.

"Sir, the Sapphiard! It's charging at the target!"
"I guess that clinches it - refraction gates up, all available power to shields! In the meantime, send a message to the Zephyrus that they are to try to contact Sir Kiraly and get that machine back in the air!"
"Captain?!"

Squinting against the glare, Dougal the Brown angled his brow such that a shadow fell across his eyes.

"If we should be so unlucky that Sir William's assault should prove insufficient... we're going to need the Kaiser."

BlackSheep · Jan 4, 2019

An unexpected ally arrived into Sector Gamma, it could hardly pose a threat to his plans, as the Arietis pilot already had his target at sight, and nothing would be able to stop him. He stared at the angel that stood ready to attack, and as the feathers ran down to the dimensional beasts he called ignoring the swarm of tails that was raining down in the sector, he moved his fingers in the cockpit with the carefulness of a surgeon, drawing an imaginary path between the feathers as he predicted were they would impact, and after he did it, he started to introduce commands.

A giant ornament of red crystals emerged from the Arietis, it was a thing of beauty, the sun briefly reflected in it as it was charging energy, and as he fired it, ten trails of energy sweeped across the sector, following the imaginary path he drew in his mind beforehand. The trays of energy started to change, they would become trails of crystal, the expected result would be to redirect them to the others on the sector, but since he needed his dimensional beasts alive, he instead decided to continue forming the trails of dimensional crystals, creating a gigantic dome that enconpassed the area in which the Giganscudo, the Gunleon and the pitiful Axio were in, leaving the Astranagant out.

And yet, as his BullDAMON minions horribly failed in their task of stopping the Giganscudo, he decided to order around his remaining RhinoDAMONs to surround the pilot of the Gunleon. Every one of the RhinoDAMONs deployed their Dimensional Falls, creating walls of energy that surrounded them. Following the Sheep's orders, they dashed towards the Lion, including the one who was about to attack the miserable Axio. Once they were there, they surrounded him in all of the four directions: North, South, East and West, slowly crushing him between their barriers, the damage wouldn't be really severe, but rather, what would be severe would be the pain.

But it was hopeless, he would die before completing his mission. He watched completely shocked how the Giganscudo jumped, it shouldn't be like this! A giant robot jumping?! His master plan shouldn't end in such an unvigorous manner! He contempled completely powerless how the robot was about to crush him, and decided to speak for the first time.

"YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED, I WILL BE THE ONE WHO CONQUERS THE EARTH, THE MOON, THE COLONIES, THE WHOLE UNIVEEEEEEEEEEERSE!" He shouted in an awfully squeak voice (similar to Masami Kitada's when performing Jean-Michel Roget) as he loaded energy in the cannon mounted on the mouth of the Arietis, shooting a powerful beam at the falling Scudo. But unfortunately, it wouldn't change the fact that he was already dead. The Giganscudo succesfully crushed the Arietis, leaving nothing but a crushed machine.

Pimster · Jan 6, 2019

This little Axio had not any hope to continue fighting, after asking desperately for help all he could do was to stare at the horned death that was coming towards him. He couldn't even see the Giganscudo flying into the air to destroy the machine that appeared out of nowhere, nor the falling rain of feathers the Astranagant dropped.

But all that changed once the Gunleon appeared in front of him. At that moment, he saw a comrade in which he could trust, a friend. With that, came a reignited hope and will to fight, even though more reinforcements came to fight against the Gunleon.
And with blazing courage, he grabbed his missile launcher in one hand and his assault rifle in the other, shooting desperately at the beasts, hoping to distract them from damaging the Gunleon.

"Take this, evil beasts!" He said as bullets came out from the rifle, and the missiles went to explode on his objectives, he was sure his strategy will work, but he was starting to think that this would not be enough for future battles.

GEAR · Jan 11, 2019

Section Alpha

"Not this time...!" Spat William as he saw energy once again gathering in the DAMON's core, preparing to unleash another bolt of deadly energy upon the Fenossa. Here, he thought, was a chance to redeem himself for his earlier negligence. The twin blades on the Sapphiard's back were drawn once more, combining in the unit's hand into a twin-ended spear, bursts of bleach-white electric energy crackling to life about its ends.

"Pierce my enemy! W-HORN!"

The powered javelin was hurled forward with tremendous force, arcing through the void as it hurtled almost straight up... and then came crashing back down, leaving a comet-like trail behind it, to smash violently into the crystal mass mounted atop the Revive DAMON. The creature gave a wounded, shuddering shriek - and the area around it lit up as its gathered energy exploded forth, sending cascading explosions of multi-hued energy that shredded knight and DAMON alike. Tendrils of this power running wild smashed into the Sapphiard's chest, face, and arms as it rose, tearing chunks out of the gleaming Super Robot's now splattered, dented armor. Within the cockpit, William grit his teeth and did his best to ignore the various blaring warnings as he homed in on the source of the disaster, the Sapphiard now scaling the behemoth's jawline like an unstoppable arrow, cast from the bow of an angry God.

Come Hell or high water, he thought grimly, I'm going to finish this monster!

Section Gamma

As the Revive DAMON's crystal began to fracture, so too did its control over the swarm wane. Perhaps sensing their host weakening, the storm of Dart DAMON began to retract, racing away from the assembled group - trying to return to protect the massive creature, before it was too late. With the death of the mysterious intruder, it seemed that calm had come to the Gamma Sector for the moment, even as DAMON continued to amass overhead...

Zone Interior (Reactor)

The figure within didn't take his eyes from the Knights as they, understandably, gawked back. It was questionable, of course, whether he had heard them... Yet, as Cascada spoke... so too did his own lips move as well. It would have been almost impossible to hear over the din, to all but himself as he spoke, under his breath, saying:

"...De sermone Domini in servos."

Slowly, he lowered himself, dropping into a crouch... and then he leapt.

In the annals of the Over Era, there were athletes par excellence - overtechnology had enhanced supplements and training programs, pushing the human body to new limits - not to mention the ability to replace organs and muscles with performance-improved varieties, the use of which was hotly debated in academic circles... Yet, nothing ever before seen in this world could have compared with the meteoric lunge that took place before them, carrying him effortlessly through the air - and clean through the protective, reinforced glass that served as a barrier between the observation deck and the reactor, to land less than twelve feet from the Knights.

Slowly, he rose to his feet. If the glass had cut him in any way... It wasn't immediately apparent. He rose to his feet unhurriedly, and folded his arms. His almost animalistic gaze traveled slowly across the assembled group - from Dalgard, to Rassilion, to Kromow, to Bogdanovitch, to Rosk, taking in their features, and their garb.

"Warriors..."

...and finally, to Cascada. An eyebrow was raised, in what appeared to be minute surprise... Or perhaps, amusement, as the dagger-mouthed grin returned.

"And yet... a woman?"

When he spoke, it didn't seem... Ordinary. It pulsed, and rumbled with a baritone that almost seemed to reverberate with the walls around them, shaking them with its forcefulness, like an echo.

Zone Interior (Residential)

The small girl timidly held her rabbit up, protectively, as Val leaned in, giving a smile that was like a beam of concentrated sunshine.

"My name is... Morta." She said, in almost a whisper.

She blinked, slowly. It was hardly a normal child's name, but it seemed to match the information presented on the bracelet, at least - and Luna was hardly a place for the standard or ordinary in society to find any peace. After a few more moments of curious silence, Morta piped up once more:

"You should be careful, Sir Kiraly. There's a bad man here." - She pointed to her mouth, and gave a grin.

"With sharp teeth. Like a shark. Nyagh."

She made a biting motion, and a child's approximation of what a shark, supposedly, would sound like to one who had spent their life only hearing about such things, rather than seeing them. There was precious little time to ponder the meaning of her words, however, as the two were suddenly interrupted as a Knight Police member trotted up, giving a hasty salute as he did so.

"Sir Kiraly!" He gasped; "...There's something you need to see."

The adjunct led her a short distance away, over a pile of debris, approximately one housing unit over... to a curious sight. A crater, carved into the floor of the ZONE's interior, its lip ragged and rough.

At the bottom, looking for all in the world like a lost, discarded toy... Was perhaps one of the strangest machines she would have ever seen.

It was all wrong angles and obtuse proportions, with a massive, triangular head that dwarfed the rest of its composition, and three face-like masks affixed to a central array. In its right hand, it still stubbornly clutched a (now bent) staff of some kind, tipped with a pair of angel wings, and three gleaming gems that bore an uncanny resemblance to the material that had been shipped from Earth in the construction of the ZONE... Dimensional Energy Crystal.

Of particular note was the chest, which looked like it had been compacted by a single, powerful strike, crumpled almost to the point of having been hollowed out.

The entire bizarre arrangement appeared as though the machine had been smashed into the ground with such force that it had cratered the entire section beneath it, yet, there was no actual damage to the ceiling above, latticework and all.

As if it had just appeared out of nowhere.

MKR · Jan 14, 2019

The Grand Arbiter graciously acknowledging Derrick's presence made him smirk, it was one thing to offer required assistance but another to get away with it in such a tone, the small joys of life as they say, it however appeared the new machine that accompanied the dimensional beasts also acknowledged his existance with a stare and putting all its evasive efforts into dodging his attack. Leaving it wide open for the Grand Arbiter to turn it into scrap as quickly as it arrived.

But it had left a gift during the time it was active, some decorative DEC, Derrick scoffed at the new wall separating him from the three units contained within the moon's most dangerous snow globe. It was more an annoyance than an obstacle as the crystal was notoriously tough. So the black angel landed next to it, as close to the Axio and Gunleon as he could in fact and took out the Z.O. Sword once again and began to carve his way through the crystal.

Yet he could not shake that feeling that something was wrong, even as most of the DAMONs lay defeated and banished back to their home and even the largest of its ilk was nearing its death throes there was that nagging in the back of his head that things weren't right and the fight wasn't over.

KiraHYamato · Jan 18, 2019

Adachi found himself surrounded. "This can't be good" Adachi muttered in a cold sweat turning the Gunleon left and right trying to find a way to escape but there was none. He was completely trapped. "

The monsters then charged at him and started crushing the Gunleon, granted it didn't do much damage to the machine itself however the attack was causing Adachi severe pain, as if he was being electrocuted . Adachi screamed as his body endured the pain the monsters were causing him.

"No shit!!" Adachi screamed at his computer. 'You are in danger' of course he was in danger he didn't need some AI to tell him that. The pain only started to get worse and worse the longer he stayed like this. He had to do something. But what?

"Sure, here's a thought. Why is the AI in my robot which I DON'T remember installing, so goddamn useless!" Adachi screamed as he punched the screen. "Do something damn it!"

Adachi raised an eyebrow at the AI's statement. "What-"

Adachi sat still his eyes wide open. The AI was right. It's true that he was so focused on the pain that he completely forgot about his mobile weapon. He couldn't think of a comeback either. The AI had him beat. "Smart ass" he muttered.

Gathering his energy Adachi grabbed his controls and moved the Gunleon's arms towards the Damon infront him. With it's Chain-Decutters still active the Gunleon pushed it's large chainsaws towards the Damon infront of him. It clashed with the monster's barrier and sparks flew as the Decutters started sawing through the Damon's shields. Adachi endured the burning pain that was being inflicted on his body as he kept pushing the chainsaws against the Damon. Just a little more and it would be able to break through and land a direct his on the monster if things kept going the way he expects them to.

"Sorry for being stubborn Mr.Monster, but I have a dad and little sister to look after" At that moment the Gunleon's eyes started glowing brighter as if it were resonating with Adachi. But the mechanic knew that even if he'd be able to beat the monster in front of him, he'll still end up facing the other Damon.

Adachi quickly activated the Gunleon's radio and screamed "SOMEBODY THROW ME MY WRENCH! ALSO SIR RED SUMO WRESTLER! IF YOU'RE DONE CRUSHING PEOPLE TO DEATH, HELP!"

"Bite me"

XekuZwei · Jan 26, 2019

Charles grimaced as a spear of energy lanced out toward the charging Giganscudo; his course was set, the colossal mecha traveling far too quickly to suddenly alter its path, incapable of avoiding the beam. It splashed against the Gigante Barrier, splaying out into multiple smaller streams of energy that blossomed outward as the machine charged headlong down the blast's length. Yet the fury of the Arietis' cannon served only to marginally disrupt the Arbiter's descent from the heavens.

With an incredible, momentous crash that rattled its pilot to the bone, the Giganscudo impacted the lunar surface and reduced their glassy foe to a crater lined with shattered crystaline matter.

That was...easy? It took Sir Beaumont a moment to shake the stars from his vision, throwing off the disorientation brought on by the overwhelming collision. Yes, it had been easy. Too easy. Yet when the Giganscudo rose to its feet after a moment, sure enough there lay the crushed remains of the machine that had been directing the DAMON. If this was some manner of subterfuge, the method of it was beyond his immediate comprehension. Despite rhe conflict that still raged around them, the man found himself staring at the wreckage, somewhat distracted by his thoughts.

The plea for assistance snapped Charles out of his reverie. Of course, this was not the time for introspection into the nature of their opponent. No, to beat back the enemy was far more important. They could deduce precisely *what* had happened here after the fact. Swiveling back to face the way it had come, the crimson mech accelerated once more toward Adachi and the Gunleon. Its great shielded fist raised in preparation to deliver a colossal blow to the closest Rhino DAMON as soon as the beast was within range, the barrier snapping open to form five wide 'fingers' between which crackled long arcs of raw electricity.

Pimster · Jan 27, 2019

As he saw the gigantic red machine crush the machine who brought these things here, he felt shocked over how easy it was to defeat him. But that fact inspired him to fight even more, since sir Sumo Wrestler came to help against the beast that came to attack him.

Even though he didn't have the explosive power that the Gunleon and the Scudo were displaying, he still continued to battle against the beasts. But since the other ones had retired, he felt like he needed to save ammo if they were to kill the remaining ones.

And thus, he switched to a somewhat clumsy melee combat, connecting feeble blows against the beasts that were in front of him.

Jadwiga · Jan 28, 2019

The spearpoints of the Lady maintained their binary orbit, circling round at round with their noses pointing straight up, but always at opposite sides from one another, spouting their fountains of energy high into the void and back down again. The arc was precisely calculated to give their beams a spread across the colossus's crown, while still avoiding bombarding the ZONE below. Her gauntlets, however, having returned to the Fenossa, were flexing their fingers in preparation for another round. On the bridge, Sir Richard eyed the packs of DAMON closing back in toward their master.

"Don't let them rush the Sapphiard! Watch your aim carefully, we don't want to hit any of ours!" the captain bellowed.
"They're automatons. They're always precise." Virgil sighed under his breath.

Ignoring the commentary, Sir Richard looked to his comms officer.

"Any word back about the Kaiser?"
"Not yet sir. Forward units are still trying."
"Come on, Kiraly..."

Prompted to go see a thing, Val pouted momentarily, looking between the guard and the child. She then curled out her left arm at a right angle to her chest, forming a little seat for the munchkin to hop up on. More of one, anyway, than her shoulder could have provided.

"Here. Hop up." she instructed the girl cheerily enough.

Stepping up on the hoverboard again, she glided along behind the adjunct until they came in sight of the downed Special. A whistle leapt from her lips as her eyes took in the sheer depth of that blow to its chest. More importantly, though, if the locals didn't know what it was, what was it doing here? Was it part of the incident? She couldn't say she wasn't half expecting random things to pop out of dimensional space with all the energy flying around. If they could teleport here on orgone, what was stopping the haywire dimensional rift from dropping a cow on her head? Or, like, a talking tree or a killer doll, or just some more DAMON? It was a wonder there wasn't a menagerie wandering around by her reckoning, but in fairness this whole Dimensional Drive thing was still relatively new on her.

Tapping the side of her helm, she restricted her voice to the privacy of its confines again, preparing to contact the other squad. Before she could, her line chirped to life.

Within the cockpit of the Aura Kaiser, Squire Leth sat alone behind an expansive flight console. Her eyes danced from side to side scanning the incoming messages as they scrolled across an open HUD window, the lights glinting off her spectacles. They then slid smoothly over to the displays to one side showing the positions of the two squads outside and their contacts. Behind her, the unattended comms station buzzed with the chatter of the knights twelve with each other. She drew her lips tight in thought as she weighed the situation in her head. Then, with a few cursory taps across the control panel, she silently responded to the spearpoints with a request for topside visuals. As she watched their live feed of the DAMON swarms, she tapped open the line to the commander.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Sir Richard requests the Kaiser on standby to intercept."
"But we just got here! And I found a little girl and a Something."
"The big one is injured and the smaller units are massing around it, but there's a friendly in the middle of it it seems."
"Well... if we need to, you can pop out there and offer support, yeah? We can probably manage in the meantime."
"Just relaying the messages ma'am."

Sir Kiraly craned her head back to glance at the other knights with her.

"Well there's local authorities here. I guess they and Mirko would be enough but it'd be easier with two muscle units. Recall Kyl and Dan for now I guess, but I wanna make sure things are covered here first."
"Yes ma'am."
"And patch me through to Sylvi, ok?"

Sir Cascada blinked a couple times at the man before her. And then held out her hand rather matter-of-factly, not seeming the least bit flustered by his antics. A pleasant smile beamed from her features as she greeted him.

"Yup! Sir Cascada, Order of Bisen Foris. What's your name?"

In her ear, though, the line crackled to life. Her hues presently slid to the side she was listening on

"Sylvi? You seen any bad men with shark teeth?"
"... shark? No. Pointy... maybe?"
"Well I met a girl who said to watch out for him. Also a stray robot. And we need someone in Terra so I'm borrowing Dan back."

Tapping her helmet, Sylvi addressed the other knights watching her and the strange man warily.

"Dan, get back to Terra. Olga, De, with me, everyone else work on the reactor shutdown, okay?"

While they went about their assignments as best they could, she turned her eyes back to the man fully, asking brightly, "What brings you here?"

GEAR · Jan 29, 2019

Section Alpha

At last, the Sapphiard crested the brow of the Revive DAMON, sending its underlings scattering for cover as it slammed its feet into the monster's crown.

"Right." Rasped William as he tried to catch his breath, sounding less confident than he wished he were; "Everything is under control."

The engines of the colossal Super Robot roared to life once more as he charged the center mass of the creature. Ahead, swarms of Dart DAMON began to descend, their dagger-like forms slashing and tearing at his armor, beams leaving scores across its once beautiful frame - but salvation arrived from above, as radiant rays of destruction smashed down all around him, disintegrating the swarm in a single wave of total annihilation.

"Lady bless you, Bisen Fortis!" Gasped the Knight as the path cleared before him; his grip closing so tightly about the controls he feared they would shatter. Grand would be the banquet, he thought, that would be hosted in their honor - as soon as the curtain was drawn on this nightmare.

The Sapphiard rocketed forward on its final collision course, closing in on the helm of the Revive DAMON, even as it shifted its mass in a last-ditch effort to deter him-

"Back to whence you came, abomination! ROMULUS!"

The two powered maces were drawn once more, each one crackling with monstrous energy. With earth-shattering force, it was brought down onto the damaged crystal, causing even further cracks to spread across its surface. The beast gave one final world-shaking shriek of insane hatred-

"REMUS!"

...But it was the second overhead strike that finished it for good. The gigantic chunk of Dimensional Energy Crystal that had anchored the creature to the world shattered, and without it... reality began to reassert itself with a vengeance.

With a shuddering lurch, the beast began to lose altitude, its various jaws chattering and rattling as... bit by bit, piece by piece, it began to implode. Tremendous sheets of carapace armor crumpled like paper, and then were dragged into a vortex - a black hole, a tiny gap between worlds - that had formed at the center of its mass - one which dragged every last inch of its monstrous form into itself with unrelenting force, causing a slow-motion collapse that was tinged with billowing explosions of energy, as the smaller crystal growths across its surface popped and burst under the strain, creating a faint vapor that flowed across the battlefield.

Finally... The beast vanished completely from view, forced back through a pinhole in reality, leaving only the sputtering form of the Sapphiard wobbling haphazardly through the void as it too began to descend like a drunken moth.

ZONE Interior (Residential)

Morta accepted Val's outstretched arm, compliant. She kicked her feet gently as the woman carried her, looking at the surroundings with mild interest as they walked. As the two came upon the wrecked machine, however... she regarded it in dejected silence while Val spoke to her companions in the Bisen Fortis. The Adjunct, in the meantime, was radioing for assistance, attempting to cut through the interference in an attempt to find some way to remove the offending machine from the interior of the ZONE, yet having little in the ways of luck.

The young girl's hand came out to rest on Val's shoulder as she spoke - not quite willing to interrupt, but in that fashion of fidgety children who have something to say without wanting to be rude.

"Sir Kiraly?"

As Val regarded her, she gave her a serious look... Strangely level for someone of that age, leaning in close to the woman's ear as she asked a question:

"My Mama told me that knights aren't scared of anything... Not even dying. Is that true?"

It was so honeyed, so innocently voiced... yet, there was a curious undercurrent, those watery eyes watching her with curiosity that somehow seemed to be less childlike... and more like a scientist watching an experiment unfold, with none of the emotional attachment that one would otherwise expect.

Zone Interior (Reactor)

The Shark-mouthed man's eyes turned down at the Knight's extended palm... and narrowed his eyes, as though he didn't understand the meaning of the gesture. His movements were slow and relaxed... Yet the overall impression was like the unstoppable advance of magma. His gaze traveled to the rest of the knights... and a low, throaty chuckle, like gravel rattling down a disused chute, issued fort from his gullet.

"Only the woman among you deigns to ask my name?"

His raised voice caused the lights to flicker threateningly overhead, sending a wave of power pulsing through the room... Yet it seemed to quickly subside, and he gave the assembled men a contemptuous look before turning his stare back on the bubbly woman that so casually addressed him. At length, he reached down... and took her hand, closing about it with almost exaggerated gentleness. Faint pinpricks would have been felt by her through the glove - like little touches of electricity that danced along her palm from his touch.

"It has been some time... since I have been addressed in such a fashion."

Contempt and amusement peppered his words, resulting in a curious kind of joviality - as though he were used to being waited on hand and foot, and was finding the current course of events to be so absurd as to beggar belief.

"Your kind have called me many names..." He continued, releasing her grip carefully as he did so;

"For now... 'Vynatea' shall suffice."

…Suddenly interrupted, be cocked his head sideways, one ear towards the ceiling, as if... listening for something. In that moment, unbeknownst to the interior crew... the Revive DAMON breathed its last, and crumbled into nothingness. His chest fell as he exhaled, as if out of exasperation - before his gaze fell back on the perky, auburn-haired woman.

"Cascada of Bisen Fortis." An index finger came up to the side of his head, tapping it as he regarded her unblinkingly.

What kind of emotion did those mad eyes convey? It was almost impossible to tell. Was he amused? Uncaring? Or... simply making a note to follow through on something later on?

"I'll remember it."

There was a terrible crash of pulsing energy, and the lights in the room fluttered crazily, a wave of power flashing through it from the reactor, causing the entire structure to shake beneath their feet... and when the light returned, not only was the stranger gone...

But so too was the emergency deactivation handle, leaving only a sparking mess embedded in the floor where the mechanism had once remained.

Section Alpha (Cont.)

Smoke poured from the Sapphirade as it floated down to the surface of the ZONE, sparks fraying from its damaged armor, motors, limbs... Everything, really. Within the cockpit, William remained as high strung as ever, hands darting across the machine's keys in a manic attempt at keeping the D-Extractor from melting down from all the stress he had placed upon it. It dropped into a crouch on the unit, faint green and white vapors trailing its surface as the Super Robot's expression curled into a scowl.

All around the two of them, the DAMON scurried like confused insects. No matter which way they attempted to go, forces from the Kingdom closed in like a steel net, a storm of flashing blades and bolts of emerald energy driving the monsters back from whence they came. The storm was beginning to break at last, as more and more knights joined the fray, reinforcing their comrades across the battlefield.

From his position, William could survey the entire area... and he felt pride swelling within his chest for every abomination that fell before them.

"This is Exeter... We have the enemy on the run. Press the attack, we-"

Yet, it was not to be so simple.

Beneath William's feet, the lense of the ZONE glowed briefly - and he gave a yelp as a bolt of energy lashed out from its surface, smashing into the rift above. For a moment, he simply studied where it had impacted... as waves spread out from it, rippling and changing, the multi-hued Hell now being replaced by... an unfamiliar skyline, as something else now began its descent.

"Now what?!" Cursed William as the Sapphiard forced itself back to its feet, the light from above nearly blinding him - but, rise he would, for no son of Exeter would ever meet a foe on his knees.

The new arrival, silhouetted against an otherworldly light... was smaller than the Revive DAMON - considerably so, less than half its height and mass. Biomechanical "wings" spread out from a sharp-mouthed, slit-eyed center, atop which a kind of inverse jaw sat, curled about the familiar crystal of concentrated power that all of its fellows carried... Yet, at the same time, it was wholly different in construction from anything seen thus far.

No, this appeared... more like a throne.

MKR · Jan 29, 2019

With the Revive DAMON falling and returning from where it came the scientist behind the controls of the Astranagant felt he could finally relax somewhat, with any luck that was it for today and would make the inter-dimensional beasts return from where they came. All that would be left for him to do was cut a hole in the crystalline snow globe to let the three units contained within out of it.

But as the Z.O. Sword concluded cutting into the DEC Derrick saw the bolt of energy shoot up in the corner of his eye. The Astranagant turned to look at it as it collided with the rift and then as the colors of the sky shifted, changed into a sight that did not belong to this world. Sweat made its way down his brow as he gazed at the new arrival. It was similar to the DAMON yet completely different. A gut wrenching feeling came over him as for one no sly remarks escaped his lips or formed in his mind, no mockery and no belittling of this foe for once.

Silently and unceremoniously the Astranagant kicked the outline where it had cut into the crystal, causing it to collide on the ground inside the sphere and create the door needed for the Axio, Gunleon and Giganscudo to leave its confines. With that done the green hue from wings once again activated as the Black Angel once more took to the skies, its two gun familiars exiting the area they were patrolling to return to their rightful place on its wings as it took to the sky.

As the black machine flew upwards its pilot finally spoke once more, the words that he wished to say having finally come to him as the reason that caused the unease he had felt all this time became clear to him.

"You... You do not belong here!" the scientist exclaimed at the throne like being, the feeling of unease brought upon him by this monstrosity was a natural one, yet there was no familiarity between him and the DAMON. A conundrum Derrick had neither the time nor interest to pursue currently. Perhaps, he thought, this was part of the reason he had gotten the knowledge of how to create and pilot the black beast pushed upon him. Were that the reason he was not all too pleased with the idea and consequences that it entailed.

Where Heroes Are Made (LKE, Open)

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