NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC thread here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=594198
Closed to any I didn't invite. HOWEVER, if you feel you have a legit role to play in events, then contact me VIA PM.

IC:

Ten Years ago...

The Swarm and The Rotan united against a common foe. A human man by the name of Dr. Yamato Nasagori had been revealed as doing experiments on entire civilizations. Being the only two capable of fighting him, they took down his Consortium.

International tribunals and courts tried The Consortium for crimes against sentient beings. All of the members of The Consortium paid according to their level of involvement, all except one. In the final moments of the struggle, Nasagori flipped the Teleporter to random settings, and teleported away.

The Gods wanted Nasagori for the crimes he had perpetuated against their own. The Swarm wanted Nasagori for revenge. The Rotan merely to bring the last criminal to justice. Still, others hunted him for reasons of their own.

Nasagori's name was called out Through the Warp and among the stars as a wanted man, yet no matter where anyone searched, he could not be found. It seemed as though he had gotten away.

For years it seemed this way, yet some could tell trouble was brewing, those who knew, could tell Nasagori would someday return, for another name had inexplicably come to be closely associated with Nasagori's, a name most foreign to The Rotan and Swarms, a sound they could only repeat as Malal.

Malal, known to some only as a figure of history, and others, as a living legend. Malal, the Fifth God of Chaos, and arguably the most powerful, for Malal was a renegade, and his powers always matched the other four, no matter what, for his powers came from theirs. As they strengthened, so too did he, and as they weakened, so too did he. Malal it is taught, represents Chaos acting against itself, and the actions of Malal taught these lessons. Whenever his power was felt, it was always in some fashion used against the other four. For a deity set to be a nemesis to Chaos, The Swarm was a perfect target, for the swarm was conceived in a rare event known as Chaos Undivided, which was the power The Swarm worshiped. Chaos Undivided, when the four major gods of Chaos cooperated in unity on a single objective, and thus made chaos exist at its most powerful state.

Indeed, The Swarm was the perfect engine of Chaos, spreading the influence of the four gods wherever they went in search of Biomass. to destroy such a thing would grievously harm and embarrass the gods. Their perfect vehicle stolen and destroyed. The question of how became clear, when it was Malal who discovered Nasagori trapped in his very clutches.

Nasagori came to worship Malal, whether by force or by choice is unclear, but the fact remains, he was Malal's now, and he was changed. At one time, even Nasagori had limits, but under Chaos's influence, all the universe was his lab for any experiment he could conceive of, and his first was obvious, to find out if The Swarm could be controlled by any means, and destroy that which cannot.

So it was that he came to be aboard a colony ship, filled with people who did not know him for who he was. Sabotaging the computer, he made the ship crash land near The Swarms, in a system they called Gamma. The Swarm did not know Nasagori, for he had changed in appearence, and just as well, he stayed hidden while The Swarm worked out a deal with the captain of the Colony. The Colony was given the world they crashed on to grow and thrive, and in the space of two years, it did so.

Established, the time had come for Nasagori's experiment to begin. Fixing the elections, he took control of the colony, promising them rule over the system, and the people cheered him on, under the sway of his newly empowered mind. The armies marched, and the colony and The Swarm went to war...

Present day...

A strange man that was niether human nor insect moved through the hive clusters of Gamma. His goal was the central hive cluster, where the link to The Overmind was strongest.

The entire right side of his body had become insectoid, while the entire left was human. A faded name badge read "Dr. Yamato Nasagori" and a grin spoke of the terrible thoughts running through his mind.

"All in the name of Science. Science is God. Malal is God. Malal is Science. Malal is progress, the way, and the future. Only in his benevolence can we hope to achieve success with our endeavors." Nasagori said to himself, mumbling the same phrase over and over again, "All in the name of Science".

He came to a stop before the towering mound of flesh that was the central Swarmling Hive. extensions waved about in the air, breathing in the atmosphere, and spreading the hive's senses about for a great distance. Defeating them was easy, for The Hive couldn't sense anything that vibrated at certain frequencies.

He put a hand on The Hive and closed his eyes, he could feel The Overmind, and could sense everything it sensed. He saw worlds, stars, galaxies, other things no human could ever hope to fully comprehend, and it was beautiful.

"All in the name of Science."

He could feel six divisions within The Overmind. Three were greatly protected, three were easy to get at, like ripened fruit hanging on the lowest branch of a tree. These three divisions constituted over half of The Swarm, each lead by a Hive Tyrant. He used his mind, and ripped the subdivisions from The Overmind, and added them to his own, and at the same time, caused the swarm in Gamma system to receive the order to self-destruct.

The Overmind cried out in pain, it's cries of torment echoing across the stars and rebounding through each place inhabited by The Swarm. Cries filled airwaves and communications frequencies, and far away, in the Citerian Galaxy owned by the forces of Phenixica, a Hyper-Spawnling, a baby swarmling, suddenly emitted a sound it never made before, niether a hiss, nor a purr, it cried in an almost human manner while it entered convulsions, then lay still, dead from the coming of the great Psychic Backlash that was to follow.

Then, it occured, every Psion and Psyker, every Jedi and Sith, every entity even remotely psychicly sensitive in one fashion or another felt the Psychic Backlash, as all the pain of The Overmind Transferred outward, filling their minds with inhuman screams of agony, and making them feel all its agony. They saw all that it saw, seeing Nasagori standing upon the dying world of Gamma, smiling in triumph and delivering a speech.

"I promised my people rule over the system, and today I deliver. Now I promise that tomorrow we shall regain our rightful place as the secret overlords of the galaxy. I have watched and guided you for years, and under the banner of the true god of Chaos, Malal, I have given you strength beyond any other. No longer do you need to fear The Swarm, but fear what will happen to you if you fail to meet expectations.

"For I have been given the power to assault The Swarm's Overmind directly, and have ripped from it, the power of three of its six Cerebrates known as Hive Tyrants, even now they fly to my side. That which I cannot control, by divine order, I will destroy, and take from the four false rulers of Chaos, their precious swarm they created as one. Soon shall The Consortium live again, and this time, with the power of The Swarm as our weapon, none shall oppose us. Irene Kerrigan, I know you can hear me. I give you this promise. become my bride, and give me your broods, and I shall spare your life. This promise I, Dr. Yamato Nasagori, President of the colony of Gamma, make to you directly." Nasagori said, finishing his speech.

Meanwhile, all those Swarms still within the grasp of the overmind, ruled only by instinct, suddenly left off their activities to retreat to Zerus.

The Overmind recovered, and sent out a psychic distress call to The Balrogga Empire.

"My friends, you've aided me once before, and I beseech thee thine aid once more. Something terrible has happened, a human known as Nasagori has gained the power to assault The Swarm, and harm me directly. I fear he plans to take control over The Swarm and use us as a weapon. Please, aid my children."

Then, it made a general broadcast to the galaxy.

"Neighbors, we've lived among you for some years now. We've hunted some of you, and fought with others, but we've made progress on becoming peaceful, keeping mostly to ourselves. Ten years ago we took down The Inter Galactic Science Consortium because it was revealed as doing experiments on entire civilizations. Their leader has returned, more powerful than before, and he means to destroy me and take control over The Swarm. If he does so, I know he will not hesitate to use The Swarm against you as a weapon. Loath us, love us, it does not matter to me, just know that if we fight this enemy alone, we will lose, and the peace you've come to expect from us, will be over. I open the interstellar pathways and reveal the secret location of Zerus to all the galaxy. Please, gather with us that we might defeat this enemy."

Meanwhile, three Hive fleets left Zerus for Gamma, shooting their way out.

In the Citerian at Hursi, a great battle suddenly broke out between the Swarms there, a civil war that threatened to engulf Citerian.

Far away, near The White Tower of magic, Irene prepared to enter the Nydus Canal and jump to Zerus.

A service was being held when it came, with the incense burning and the smells filling the large Greek Pantheon like building ithat was the Phoenix Temple, a shiver went down the spine of all the Priest and Templar which made up the Religion of the Phenixican Empire.

It was on the back of there minds and they were quick to contact the Empress.

IPN:Glory II, Tribal Colony of Druk
"Your majesty a transmission is being sent from Devenis, it's the Phoenix Temple they request a audience"

She was sitting on a desk going over notes about recent developments, reports from Hursi were reporting some sort of disturbance down on the surface as the animals tore eachother apart.

"You felt it your Majesty?"

"What was I meant to feel Patriarch Jurgo?"

"The shiver, something is not right in universe"

"What is going on Jurgo. I have reports of major disturbances on Hursi and..."

Then it was heard over the audio

"Neighbors, we've lived among you for some years now. We've hunted some of you, and fought with others, but we've made progress on becoming peaceful, keeping mostly to ourselves. Ten years ago we took down The Inter Galactic Science Consortium because it was revealed as doing experiments on entire civilizations. Their leader has returned, more powerful than before, and he means to destroy me and take control over The Swarm. If he does so, I know he will not hesitate to use The Swarm against you as a weapon. Loath us, love us, it does not matter to me, just know that if we fight this enemy alone, we will lose, and the peace you've come to expect from us, will be over. I open the interstellar pathways and reveal the secret location of Zerus to all the galaxy. Please, gather with us that we might defeat this enemy."

The Empress then was quick to take action

"If this is true then we must glass Hursi, Jurgo please inform the Order they are to send who they can to New Mitra and prepare for things going sour. I have to contact the right people"

It was then she heard the screech from behind her as her pet given by Irene herself died, she called for a immediate autopsy to confirm the reason for death but it was obvious.....Phenixica was going to a full scale war for the first time since the Expansionist Wars.

IPN:Shiron, New Mitra
"Admiral Druk, looks like you have a chance to prove yourself after all"

"Your Majesty, what makes you call at this time?"

"The Swarm on Hursi are fighting eachother, we have received a transmission which tells us the Swarm has practically split in half and both sides are at war with eachother. You know your orders in such a circumstance"

"Your Majesty, Hursi will have defensives I might not have enough ships"

"Trust me every fleet has been told to meetup, this isint some small problem Admiral this is the start of something far darker then you can possibly imagine. With the Swarm knowing the location of our galaxy they cannot be allowed to full under the hands of somebody who would use that information to see a end to everything we have built in our 15 centuries as a Empire"

"I will prepare my fleet at once"

On the bridge
"Where is my ships?"

"They are all here Admiral, Patrols came back 2 hours ago why do you ask?"

John looks around, Harrison was leaning on the wall and nodded at John knowing exactly what was going on. John opens Audio with the fleet.

"Listen up, The Eternal Swarm has split in half and is now at Civil War. The splinter faction are under control of a Professor Nasagori working for a Chaos god to bring the swarm under his control, I know it might seem in normal circumstances what we would want but there is a catch. If Nasagori takes control of the Swarm he is hell bent on conquest in the name of Scientific Progress and he will come here with a army of Swarm and invade our glorious Empire and we cannot let that happen. We have been ordered as a first countermeasure to glass the planet of Hursi and eradicate all Swarm presence in the Citerian Galaxy to assure for now our Empire is safe from retaliation all ships get into formation and prepare to enter Hyperspace to the Hursi system"

John walks out the room and David follows

"You sure the Empress knows what she is doing?" John asks "we are not talking of putting down some rebellion, we are talking about fleets being mobilized for invasion and the first time entire Legionary Armies have had to be called together in 40 years"

"The Empress is many things but she is not stupid, if the swarm invades it will be a war which would not be decided for decades. Our best chance is to atleast make sure the Swarm have no base to attack us from"

The ship shakes a little as they go into Hyperspace, 646 ships were in the Admirals control and they could easily burn the planet with the technology they had.

Devenis
The Imperial Court was quick to agree with the Empress and started their work on coordinating the huge Phenixican fleets, Imperial Commissioner Jeson Fraud was able to convince Grand Senator Harren Frukz to put more money into the defence budget to fund construction and recruitment.

Visual tranmissions went out to tell the populance about how best to prepare for the war and help the glorious Empire crush it's enemies under it's heel, Patriotic Zeal was being encouraged as they Sang, Chanted and Danced in the streets. If you were to be in the Imperial Square infront of the Palace a thunderious roar would be heard.

"Long Live Phenixica, It's Empire and most of all it's Empress!"

Hursi, Mystic Space
As the ships arrived the Admiral was looking out the window on the bridge to the yellow star, he turns around and walks towards the square metal panel in the middle of the ship. As the map zooms in on Hursi the planet had already been marked as red and that means they were cleared to do whatever as needed to bring security to the Empire.

He opens up Audio with the fleet

"Move into position, Planet Offence Omega"

The ships move into the system and slowly start surrounding the planet and focusing all weapons at the surface, meanwhile the Leviathan was aiming at the sun. If this planet failed they were to eradicate the system.

It doesnt matter since Phenixica has the technology to rebuild it.

“Yes Overmind, what is it?”

Nhur-Galladu looked up from Udajaro he was playing. The crystalline "strings" made a surprising deep sound as he Psionically excited the molecular substructures within. The Ta’Nar Warlord set aside the musical instrument and turned to face the Kython Avatar. Overmind had used his usual ebon humanoid appearance standing just over two meters in height. The solid black Thur’Tahg composing his body moved as if it was liquid but was obviously solid.

“Grandfather, one of my Shipminds reported a telepathic communication from someone or something that claimed to be myself.”

“Really, please relay the message to myself.”

Nhur-Galladu felt Overmind reach out mentally presenting a memory which he accepted. With his inner eye he was The Afterthought patrolling the right flank of the expeditionary forces when he received a barely perceivable thought, a telepathic plea for assistance.

"My friends, you've aided me once before, and I beseech thee thine aid once more. Something terrible has happened, a human known as Nasagori has gained the power to assault The Swarm, and harm me directly. I fear he plans to take control over The Swarm and use us as a weapon. Please, aid my children."

Nhur-Galladu played the memory back again once more and sat back carefully weighing the situation. There was a report delivered by one of his Advisors of encountering this Swarm on the way back to The Fist but that was a long time ago. The only other contact immediately available was in the reports of an Irene encountered by Galvenor and his experiment with uplifting the magical skills of some of the meatbags at the White Tower. Reaching out to brush Galvenor’s mind, he quickly determined the departure of this Hivequeen from the Tower.

“Thank you Overmind. I will be sending in a representative. I have a feeling this might require several of your subparts in the near future.”

“Thank you Grandfather. Something about this disturbed me at my core so I brought it straight to you.”






An hour later:




The Cryptorchid shattered the space-time continuum as it Emerged into Real Space from T-Space. The perfect sphere was unlike any other ship the Ta’Nar used and was actually formed for this mission. The ship had been sent to where the message had been traced to originate and after arriving, it waited to be contacted.

~~~~~
Hursi
~~~~~

The ships were contacted by The Overmind.

"Thank you for your ever-vigilant attention. You have no way of knowing which Overmind I am, the original, or the new one that caused this. So I beg of you, destroy this world and all swarms present. It was not my wish that the spawnling be killed, but the psychic emanations were too powerful for it to handle. When we return, if we are enslaved, we shall come with drawn weapons. If we return in peace, then you shall know so."


~~~~~
The Cryptorchild
~~~~~

The Emanations had originated from Zerus.

The area was a total war zone, ships were fighting ships, and swarmlings were zooming about fighting each other.

A large one with a powerful mind approached the ship. It looked almost Identical to Irene, and might've even been her twin sister, except this one was colored black.

"Greetings, I am Zasz. I have not been taken by Nasagori, my link is too powerful. My Broods are in black. Daggoth remains on our side, his broods bear the color green, of a dark forest variety. Irene's broods are royal purple. All others may be shot, save for those of a blood red color, those broods belong to The Overmind itself, but are few in number." the swarmling said via psychic thought.

Then three small blue swarmlings shot at it, but missed.

"Well, duty calls, please forgive us for not being able to immediately attend to strategic meetings. Other beings of a Non-Swarmling variety are on their way. I leave it to you to greet them and relay the color code. Queen Irene is also minutes away from leaving The White Tower. I'm disappointed, I thought perhaps the others from the tower would have liked to go Swarm hunting."

"Arm the warheads, burn everything" David asked the Admiral

"what if we kill those which are part of the original swarm, it could incite war with both the original and renengade swarm" John replied

"if this spreads we will lose entire systems, the empire must come first"

The admiral nods as he opens audio with the entire fleet

"This is your Admiral speaking, fire!"

all of a sudden in space every ship fires a single warhead towards the planet, they were nuclear in origin and with technology at this level Nuclear Bombs had the power to destroy entire continents with about 3 blasts so over 600 would just do the following.

At first the sky was lit on fire, the atmosphere ceased to exist and then when the explosions died down the planet went black with dust and smoke as then eruptions started all over the planet as the Teutonic plates had been shattered into little pieces and then as the fleet got into safe distance the planet buckled as it was tearing itself apart unable to deal with the enormous damage it had just been dealt.

They had seen the simulations, after a a day the planet will break into many different pieces and in about 2 months turn into a start of a asteroid belt which in the future the Phenixicans could use to form a brand new planet in every way the same as the original Hursi.

The fleet stayed in the system to assure nothing survived the blast

OOC: Owning both The Swarm and The Rotan, playing Zasz is allowed briefly while I'm The Rotan.

Ruia...

The Overmind's message came through the Khala Network just as The Conclave was getting ready to retire for the day. However the contents of the message changed their minds.

"The leader of The Consortium, Nasagori? How did he get more power?" The executor asked.

"I know not, but one thing remains clear, if our experiences are of any value. Nasagori is not one to be trusted to do the right thing. As much of a joy as it would be for The Swarms to be destroyed, they are still little more than wild creatures with intelligence. If they were tamed by a man like Nasagori, the future of our race, and that of The Galaxy would be dim indeed. We must muster our forces and set sail for Zerus immediatly." Zeratul, leader of The Dark Templar, said.

"I know you are anxious to sink your blades into The Swarm and destroy Cerebrates as only you can, but Zerus is a long way away from here, and the defences of Ruia must be considered." Artanis, leader of The Judicators said.

"Enough. There won't be a point if we don't stop Nasagori in his tracks. We will take The Fleets of The Executor and The Matriarch, leaving the Khali defence fleets in place to defend Ruia. If these coordinates are to be believed, we have an Arbitor with one of our colony fleets, I will have it re-route momentarily to Zerus to warp us in." The Executor said.

Minutes after The Cryptorchild was greeted by Zasz...

An Arbiter came into the system. It was made of an exotic gold metal, and an equally exotic crystal substance. It paused by the ship and Zasz, and multiple blue vortexes opened, as it teleported in other Arbiters, then left.

The Arbiters in turn warped in The Rotanian fleets though they remained undetected beneath the massive and powerful cloaking field The Arbiters put out. Even The Cryptorchild and Zasz were covered in The Cloak.

"Hail and well met, it is good to see you alive again Irene." The executor hailed from his command ship.

"I'm Zasz, not Irene, I, uhh, I lost a bet with her once, now Daggoth and I are women." Zasz said. Then flew off in embarrassment.

The transmission turned to The Cryptorchild.

"Greetings, I am The Executor, leader of The Conclave that guides all Rotan throughout The Universe."

An old man in a wool coat three sizes too large sat by a desolate house on the outskirts of a village, tending to an evening fire. Some kind of bird hung seemingly in midair, rotating of what appeared to be it's own volition over the roaring blaze. A heavy volume rested on the tip of his curiously crooked index finger (most of the rest weren't in any better shape) when a message crept into his mind's ear. "Neighbors, we've lived among you for some years now. We've hunted some of you, and fought with others, but we've made progress on becoming peaceful, keeping mostly to ourselves. Ten years ago we took down The Inter Galactic Science Consortium because it was revealed as doing experiments on entire civilizations. Their leader has returned, more powerful than before, and he means to destroy me and take control over The Swarm. If he does so, I know he will not hesitate to use The Swarm against you as a weapon. Loath us, love us, it does not matter to me, just know that if we fight this enemy alone, we will lose, and the peace you've come to expect from us, will be over. I open the interstellar pathways and reveal the secret location of Zerus to all the galaxy. Please, gather with us that we might defeat this enemy."
The book fell into the fire and the pages began to blacken and crumble as the man realized the significance of this message. "Oh this can't be good." The bird too fell into the flames as he dashed into his house, forgetting the ancient tome slowly becoming glowing embers and the bird so much larger than the stout man going the same route. He rummaged through a pile of recent memos, looking for the most official looking of the ones he'd received in recent months. At the bottom of his pile he pulled out a wrinkled mess of a note, addressed to him from his former student. He'd forgotten the name of his contact, should he ever need the student's aid. "Zena Ariel Willa Montello." He muttered over and over to himself as he searched another pile for a small scroll with the same seal as the letter. He jotted down to the best of his poor memory's ability the message he had heard along with a brief thought of his own. Rolling up the letter and securing it with a length of twine, he unrolled the scroll with the seal he'd searched for. Holding down both ends with his hands, he managed to get his message onto the circle of runes in the center, cleared his throat, and wheezed his contact's name again. Light filled the cabin and the parchment vanished. He rolled up the letter with Zena's name and the paper with the circle of runes and placed them together on his crowded bedside table, certain he'd never lose them in the mountain of paperwork there. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, he returned to his fire and pulled out the charred remnants of the fascinating story he'd been reading before moving the bird onto a large platter sitting beside his stump seat. He focused on the crisp that had formed in his absence and his mind peeled it away, letting him chow down on his feast.

Hursi...

Only one thing had survived the blast, a Swarmling satellite, but even it was dying.

It beamed one last message to the Phenixican fleets.

"Thank you. Now please, come to Zerus, at least spare a few ships to help me defeat my enemy. Some other non-Swarmling entities you can trust are also gathering there. I shall open The Gateway between The Spheres for you. All you need do is fly into it."

With that, the satellite died.

Minutes later, a pink sphere and a blue sphere spontaneously appeared in its place without any reasonable or logical explanation as to how or why they got there. Scanning it would reveal it only confusing and contradicting answers. The spheres glowed.

"I am Yog-Sothoth, I am The Guardian of The Gateway between The Spheres. I, and I alone can open the gateway for you, and only I can permit access to The Gateway."

The words simply appeared on the minds of everyone present.

Then the spheres began to multiply and swell, until they were spheres no longer, but a single massive gaseous cloud. It seemed as though a massive door was inside the cloud, large enough to accommodate any and all ships that entered. Slowly, ponderously it swung open, filling the minds of all present with a great creaking and groaning, as though it turned upon rusted hinges.

Hursi
"We have orders from the Imperial Court to continue, we are to eradicate all threats to Imperial Security" said a voice from the back

The Entire fleet moves and enters into the sphere or whatever the hell it was and parks inside waiting to be taken, little did even the Admiral known that Order knights had been sent to make sure the fleet came to no harm and also the Burning Fist was also part of the Legionary army that was with the Fleet.

Every ship had a Warpgate Beacon to call for reinforcements and with Phenixica technology the size of the forces sent could triple in under 5 minutes if needed. The Admiral was in his quarters when he got a knock on the door.

"Come in"

It was Almerius Monran, soldier in the Imperial Legion based in Ex-Qwelva space and was one of it's most trusted Commanders.

"So the great Commander Almerius, looks Mirius has done your career well as with your networking skills"

"You know the monarchy has no say in promotions"

"Oh yes and reason I was promoted to Admiral was not simply to make me the Druk tribes poster boy, it was because of my skill and experience"

"Nadine wants to know if you have gotten any orders from Leonardo?"

"The Baron has not spoken to me recently, what is this about?"

"He is pushing very hard to had you put into the Imperial Court, he holds you in great esteem"

"The Baron just wants a Druk in government, so he has somebody to play with"

"The Empress does not trust his intentions, naturally because of his involvement in the breakaway"

"The Baron is many things but he is loyal to the Empire, trust me when I say I wont do anything on this mission to put Phenixica in any danger"

"Good, now lets drink"

The Admiral pulls out Phenixican Whisky for them both, toast the Empress and drink

The Phenixicans would notice that as they entered the cloud, everything and everyone seemed to stretch into infinity. Then like a rubber band snapping back into position, everything returned to normal.

They saw not just their ship, and each other, but everything. They were looking at the universe from the outside in, and looking, they could see everything that was happening. Energy moved across the universe like great fingers manipulating events here and there. Several of those fingers were clustered in one spot.

Five Minutes later in Zerus, near the Rotan fleets and The Cryptorchild:

A pair of spheres appeared, one pink, one blue. They multiplied quickly and grew into a single massive gas cloud. Most interestingly, the image of a burning phoenix appeared inside the cloud, and its wings were spread wide, though perhaps that was merely a trick of the gases. The Phenixicans were expelled from the cloud gently and left with the others.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Joshua closed his eyes, focusing on Irene. Flashes of light barely discernable as circles of runes appeared, then vanished, each time changing places as his magic felt it's way through until it found her and changed. It grew both in size and complexity before it seemed to form a solid base upon which anything could be built. Everyone in the White Tower who hoped to help out was pulled through what felt like a tube no thicker than a human hair before a sudden relief was felt as they suddenly stood not in the cafeteria, but next to their friend in need. "Hello Irene." Joshua greeted her, not as an instructor to a student, but as a colleague.

Zena felt the familiar pull of Josh's teleportation, but not the expected cram through some strange tube. The sprinkling rain signaling the start of a summer storm greeter her face as she looked up to see the clear sky of her homeworld. "So good to see you again!" Chaz shouted, running on his stubby legs to an old man in a cloak. It didn't quite reach his ankles and what tatters did offered no protection from the rain and wind, but Chaz ducked under it anyway.
"I could say the same of you, dear friend." The old man moaned in his weary voice. "Now Zena, what took you so long? It's nearly daybreak and I sent you that message before I even got to eat my dinner." She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off. "How I know your name is unimportant right now. Nor is the imposed construct we call time. Come, come, my cottage is this way and I have tea ready for us."

Zerus, interplanetary space:



The Cryptorchid listened to Zasz as “she” gave out instructions. The Shipmind understood the Black, Red, Green, and Purple were currently allies and since they were asked, they would pass the information on.

Zasz, I am not the only assistance the Ta’Nar are sending, I was just the fastest and therefore first to arrive. More vessels will be here within minutes via wormhole and I am told there will be one other arriving with Irene.

Three blue Swarmlings shot at Zasz and she hurried off to deal with them. Shipmind watched the battle before itself for a few seconds, washing the area in sensor scans to get an overall idea of the battle scene. It got the impression of multi-hued ones existing but none of them were detectable in the chaos of the battlefield.

Shipmind contacted the incoming Battlegroup to deliver its initial report and to pass on information given to it by Zasz.

Well, this looks like it will be easy, they only seem to have energy based range attacks. In melee they try to get a hands-on approach. This will be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Don’t get cocky lest you underestimate them.

What can a swarm of biologicals do to Kythons?

You never know. Keep on your toes; we will arrive in about six minutes.

A swarm of pink and blue bubbles appeared a short distance away and a fleet emerged from within the cloud. Shipmind carefully documented the arrival, especially since it was so unique.

“This is The Cryptorchid. I have been asked to relay Overmind still retains control over the Red, Black, Purple, and Dark Green Swarmlings. All others are viable targets. Happy hunting.”






White Tower:




Galvenor looked on as those rushing off to battle faded away via Josh’s teleport spell. He had felt it trying to take him along but it was unable to. He quickly created an Avatar to remain behind and then willed himself to where he felt Irene and the others were.

Galvenor was already there when the teleport brought the others; he had just arrived momentarily before. Checking to see if they all arrived safely he turned to Irene.

“What is the plan? We are not going to rush blindly in, right?”

Irene had her back to the group, she felt the teleport first, and instincts kicked in. She turned, wingblades flying, claws swinging, and scorpion sting closing in all at the nearest body, which just so happened to be marvel. They stopped millimeters from piercing him thirty two different ways as she actually got a chance to see them and recognize them.

"Do not sneak up on me like that again, or bad things will happen. As for the plan, we join your countrymen Galvenor, as well as The Rotan fleets, and incoming Phenixican fleets, and discuss strategy. The enemy is fleeing Zerus, at least for now. Now, This Hive will be put into a Comatose state once I leave. Enter first through the Nydus Canal over there, can't miss it, its the giant gaping mouth in the wall, it will take us to The Hive Ship in orbit, and from there, we will get to Zerus. Our estimated arrival time is to arrive at the same time as the others."

OOC: For expediency, I shall assume you go.
IC:

Going through the Nydus canal was literally the same as being swallowed whole, alive. Muscle contractions sped them through the tunnel, which burrowed through space and time. They would exit into The Hive Ship. There was no gravity, only free floating in zero gravity.

"If you value your lives, you will continue to free float." She said simply.

She turned and walked a few steps away.

"If you concentrate, you can extend your senses to sense what The Hive Ship senses. You don't even need any special powers. But what's coming, is The Gateway between The Spheres. Everyone sees something different. I tried to think of a fast way to Zerus, and Imagination called up the shocking form of fabulous Yog-Sothoth — only a congeries of iridescent globes, yet stupendous in its malign suggestiveness. If you don't know of Yog-Sothoth, let me tell you.

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again.

When I first experienced his presence, It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self — not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence's whole unbounded sweep — the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike.

So if you can, prepare yourself." She said.

Then her power rose, and several thousand Swarmlings grew still.

Y'AI'NG'NGAH
YOG-SOTHOTH:H'EE-L'GEB
F'AI TRHODOG
UAAAAH

Irene spoke native Swarmling, a language that could not be translated into any common tongue. Still, Chaos energies began to rise.

Y'AI'NG'NGAH
YOG-SOTHOTH:H'EE-L'GEB
F'AI TRHODOG
UAAAAH

Over and over she repeated the incantation, and suddenly the stilled swarmlings exploded, spontaneously combusting.

Out in space, an opening in space appeared, with great globes of light massing toward the opening, and not alone these, but the breaking apart of the nearest globes, and the protoplasmic flesh that flowed blackly outward to join together and form that eldritch, hideous horror from outer space, that spawn of the blankness of primal time, that tentacled amorphous monster which was the lurker at the threshold, whose mask was as a congeries of iridescent globes, the noxious Yog-Sothoth, who froths as primal slime in nuclear chaos beyond the nethermost outposts of space and time!

"Take us to Zerus." Irene whispered fiercely.

Slowly The Hive Ship entered the great unknowable horror that was Yog-Sothoth, and seemed to stretch into infinity, and then like a rubber band, snap back to normal. Everyone saw each other, the hive ship, and, absolutely everything without exception. They may not of had the understanding to go with it, but temporarily, all was revealed.

Then Everything stretching into infinity again, and snapped back to normal, and that which they had just witnessed in Yog-Sothoth seemed naught but a dream.

Zerus...

A massive an unknowable space monster greater than the gas clouds appeared right as the rest of the Balroggan ships arrived, and the Phenixican ships arrived. Everyone that was coming was coming, yet the monster disappeared, leaving behind only a single Hive Ship.

"I have arrived, let those who would dare harm my father suffer a fate far worse than death." Irene growled.

Meanwhile, the fighting was growing less and less frequent, as most of the enemy swarm had already fled to gamma.

Every teleport is a little different. Some are a little bit like going through meat grinders--they disassemble you and then put you back together again, piece by piece. Others are rather mundane--you just phase blandly out of one location and into another. Bionic Joke's was one of these, though the spell itself was demonstrably preferential, finding and involving those who wished to join The Great Blind One on his quest. When it was all over, Marvel was actually feeling rather refreshed.

It was great. He hadn't needed to do the job himself. He hadn't ended up reassembling into a form whose face needed to sit down.

As he stood there, just enjoying the fact that he was still alive, for a moment, it appeared as though Irene was going to strike Marvel down.

Instantly, a field of fire appeared around him. Every hell spawn can cast fire spells, and, though Marvel's were relatively weak in comparison, he did manage to put up a field that would have burned to a crisp anything that had gotten too close. Mind you, he did not mean to harm her--it was merely a knee-jerk reaction to a lot of pointy-looking things heading his way. And it died away instantly when the pincers stopped pincing.

Before the demon-no-more could completely shut down the spell, she was telling him where to go. He almost told her where to go, but he was too busy getting the fire spell under control for even that. He really didn't get the entire conversation, but at least he managed to shut the spell down in time for...the next teleport.

Why do they always have to have at least one Sphincter Teleport in every journey? Marvel recalled that it was a Sphincter Teleport that had originally brought him to the White Tower. At least this one didn't cover him with lubricant slime as it squeezed him down its tube-like portal. Still, it brought back some rather unsavory memories.

And then, just when he was completely distracted, he saw everything.

It was beautiful! All of existence stretched before him! There was only the small matter of the force of will of the creature that guarded it to overcome and Marvel could even know the winners of the next 50 or so poker tournaments that he was going to start up when he got back to the Tower! He could start a betting pool and clean up!

And then, just when he was about to get into the juicy details, it all faded, and there he was, standing in the middle of the air in Zerus.

Drat!

Finally, just as Marvel was about to go and find something small and helpless to kick, he heard Irene growl, "I have arrived, let those who would dare harm my father suffer a fate far worse than death."

With all that, he decided that, if he couldn't beat 'em, he might as well join 'em.

Resolved, he thought to himself, henceforth, I will not make any more long-range plans--you know, the kind that involve events that will occur any more than about five seconds from now.

"As fascinating as that whole trip was, that was a lot a lot of energy." Josh rubbed his sore eyes. "So now that we're here, what do you have planned for us, Irene?"

The old man closed the door and shrugged off his cloak, which fell in a perfect heap to block the draft from under the door. Chaz had already ran to sit by the fireplace, which desperately needed a new log or two. The man waved his hand lazily and a a few chunks of wood somersaulted into the hearth. "Now that we have a moment, Zena, let me explain. I am Maximillion, one of Joshua's first teachers. He quickly grew past what I could teach him and so I sent him to the school where I assume he met you and the story goes from there. Your abilities remind me so much of myself at your age, as do your bright eyes." Zena's face flushed red in embarrassment. "But never mind that. I assume you were dropped off here for a reason?" Zena shrugged, still astonished at the whole ordeal.

Irene ignored Josh, though indirectly. She was already in the process of answering his question. Veins, blood vessels, and nerve endings were extending from the wall, and bundling together. When they finished a few minutes later, they had become a series of monitors strongly resplendant of eyes.

One blinked on with The Executor.
Another greeted the leader of the Phenixican ships.
Finally the third sought the Balroggan Overmind.

"Now of only everyone will pick up. Then we can discuss the exact plan, and act on it."

The towering man looked around. He had been taking in the internal working of the swarm ship with a decidedly less than pleasant expression. His cloak hid his features save for his bald head. Gold colored eyes darting this way and that. He obviously wasnt comfortable inside the bowels of a living creature, even if it was a ship. The smell of the ship set his teeth on edge. It reminded him a little too much of the creatures he used to fight when he first began his training. His instincts raged inside him, urging him to tear and rip away at the walls around him....

He closed his eyes, concentrating on keeping his rage in check. But the smell, the smell was in his nose, in his mouth. He willed his rage back down, feeling the changed creeping through his body. After a moment he succeeded in suppressing it, for now. His skin darkening slightly as a very soft spread of black fur rippled over his body.

"I fear that if i do not leave this vessel soon that i may become a hindrance." He said slowly. Taking out a flask and taking a swig. The smell of what could only be moonshine wafting out. He washed it around his mouth, knocking his head back to swallow.

The Executor was at his desk. One monitor was connected to the Balroggan Overmind. Another was blinking on to a familiar face.


"IRENE!" he exclaimed over the communications channels, forgetting he was busy trying to establish a general network with all ships.

He heard someone complain about being on a Hive Ship in the backround.

"Fear not friend of Irene, For I shall rescue you." The executor said. His voice echoed upon itself. Those looking in Irene's monitor would find his eyes were black, and pulsing with white energy. He also had no mouth of any kind.

A dimensional Recall would teleport the man over to The Executor's ship, the command ship Gantrithor. It was glittering with advanced alien technologies. A similar alien greeted the man as he appeared.

"I am Zeratul, prelate of The Dark Templar, who might you be, that The Executor would bring you aboard?"

Josh fumbled with a pair of glasses in his pocket. Wearing them usually gave people a false sense that he knew everything there was to know about anything, but they let him see the way a normal person would rather than the glaring energies of the monitors. "There's been enough teleporting for one day that sooner or later someone's gonna get whiplash." He looked around the ship, taking in it's sights while at least attempting to block it's odor. "Truly a wondrous bit of technology you've got here, but I suppose admiration should wait until after we... well... do whatever it is we came to do."

The man laughed as the sound of thunder signaled the storm had been steadily moving away. "Then I suggest we take a trip." The man stood up and pulled open a closed side by side with his front door. He wandered in, though the wall couldn't have been more than a few inches thick and emerged a few minutes later holding a bright emerald cloak and a pain brown one. "Bring that with, it's saved lives on occasion." Zena quickly threw it around her shoulders. "Perfect fit, but where are we going?" The man had scooped up Chaz after putting on his own cloak and held the cat in his arms. "You'll see, now grab the cat." Zena rested her hand in Chaz's fluffy hair and the duo passed from the sight of the cabin, the blaze in the fireplace dying out with them.

"You know Executor, my ship was just fine." Irene said as she emerged with the rest of the party behind Josh and Desharzam.

The Executor had just entered.

"Fine as it might be, Hive Ships are also far more easily destroyed than all the other ships in the fleet. It would not do well for you and your friends to be destroyed. Come, I already have a connection to the Balroggan Overmind established, now I just need a Phenixican represntative and my collection will be complete, err, I mean we can begin the meeting." The executor said.

OOC: All persons from the tower are now on The Rotanian ship. Once Phenixica gets over, we can get on with this. For now, this is on hold so he might catch up. This means that aside from SS posting her initial post in this thread, NO MORE POSTING!
Also, for those confused, I own both The Rotan and The Swarm.

Some may have found the extremely bizarre, disgusting place where they have ended normal, maybe for having experience such type of things, but Yelena's face flushed red and as her nostrils took the smell of the fleshly construct while her body floated between the walls of flesh... and eventually she could no longer hold up her nausea, vomiting against the walls of flesh they were passing through as she experienced the "swallowing" feeling, until her blued face got stiff and she stopped with her constant vomits, as alleviated, Yelena saw the end of such bizarre and rotten journey. She also felt glad she wore combat boots, but a gas mask would have been welcome right now.

"I hate... I hate insects... they are disgusting, they are hideous... wait a minute? I am not going to help this plague to spread. I am not going to help abominations which might be a threat to humanity!"

Yelena's mind regretted her decision, as she began to question the motivations behind such tower as well. Perhaps Galvenor was... far less innocent than a mere teacher, and perhaps there was a greater scheme of puppeteers behind the event.

Then the insect woman began to spew nonsense... but there was more to the place. Yelena could feel a power strengthening her, but clearly not one devoid of malice and ill intentions. She felt like if could be drawn naturally, as it entered her body and left, touching her soul and... trying to taint it, suggesting for her.

"Kill these insects! Spread their green foul blood!" loud whispers suggested, as if something greater seeking the chaos of reckless carnage was trying to corrupt Yelena's mind. There was a natural aversion in her, and she did not hide the way she averted her eyes from Irene, and the way she backed off from the insect.

Something... happened. For a brief moment Yelena began to drift into irreparable insanity as she saw a glimpse of the truth behind the universe, a truth so terrible that no mortal would stand seeing, and she also witnessed for a moment, a book, and a dread word: Necronomicon. Sweating an panting, unsure of what else she has witnessed, Yelena was still showing signs of nausea, but at least she had nothing else to vomit. Tendrils from the floors challenged her sanity... until she shouted:

"Do you have a sense of smell? Because this place stinks and I would rather it had a... less definitive smell."

Yelena simply shrugged as suddenly her nausea vanished, but instead a pleasant smile came from her face... as near her the smell shifted, and the fleshly tendrils temporarily became shifting metals, without any pattern, multiple smells began to be sensed by her and those near her.

"I suppose this... thing we are inside, it does not have an extra-large toilet... or an extra-large perfume for itself." Yelena suddenly smiled to herself, as her face became... a bit different in its expression, and extending her palms to the fleshly floor, two goos from the ship began to be sucked into her own flesh, without her conscious awareness.

"Some of the best meats I ate have a terrible stench, but an amazing taste.... excuse me, I am not much of a vegetarian," she clearly was... somehow extracting the very raw chaos that existed among such ordered existence, among its individual cells, unable of proper work, the chaos of the unknown, of the unpredictable, which has been made predictable. Foolishly ignoring the taint such raw forces packed, or perhaps even the patterns of foolishness were being broken.

Until she suddenly turned back to normal again, as she looked at Marvel, trying to hold back her nausea as the strange, chaotic shifting of smell around her ended, and shrugged:

"I don't know what they have against the good old metals for building ships to sail in the luminiferous aether... they are far more resilient than organic matter, and besides, they don't stink. I... hope we can get into somewhere else here... this... I'm not feeling good, I need a very good explanation to not ask for Josh to take me back..." The nausea was only the visible symptoms, as voices continued to attempt inciting her.

"Kill the Insect! This is the cry of our Russian Earth! Maim the Insect, his abominations are a mockery against mankind! Burn! Burn their flesh ship before it destroys our world! Kill! Maim! Burn!"

Suddenly Yelena began to whisper, in Russian, the words

"Kill, maim, burn."
"Kill, maim, burn."
"Kill, maim, burn."

Sighing, Yelena shook off the thoughts, looked at Marvel and immediately said, trying to hold off her disgust and blood-lusting hatred over the place and over its insects:

"I need a very good explanation about... this! To not get back... or to not... nevermind."

Fortunately, they were escorted away from the abomination, to meet another ship travelling through the Luminiferous Aether, one which although not human, was not as nauseating and disturbing as that they just entered at. However, Yelena remained completely clueless about what was happening, and somehow, she sticked close to Marvel for a reason.

The admiral walks in, in typical Admiral attire with his neatly parted on the side black hair and walks like he was casually marching across a battlefield. John was of course a member of the Druk tribe and saw war as a way to bring glory to his tribe and to the Empire.

Behind him as a guard was David Harrison, Knight of the OBS and the first Phenixican to of come into contact with the Swarm. He was not there greatest fan but knew that the swarm as it was is a nuisance and if they were under the control of somebody interested in conquest they would become a major threat.

David was not well, the presence of the swarm was strong here and was making him feel tired and exhausted so be quickly programmed his arm to give me a minor shock every 3 minutes to keep him awake. He was not feeling physically sick which was a change.

They walk towards the group and John is quick to introduce himself

"Admiral John Druk of the Phenixican Home Fleet and this is my advisor David Harrison who is Order of the Burning Sky"

((OOC:Rushed I know, but I have a date to go to soon and I was not looking forward to having a novel to read by the time I had time to write something with more detail :P))

"Greetings Admiral, I am The Executor, and I'm sure we all know Irene. But Introductions can come later when we have a moment. Irene, this is your system, this is your nation, so this is your army to lead." The Executor said. Everyone was seated in a large conference room equipped to give all the relevant information one might need on a war.

"Lead? What is there to lead, right now all I want to do is hunt down the enemy swarm and rip them limb from limb. I'm a little to angry to think clearly right now." she said.

The Executor nodded. All the Rotanians had eyes that glowed when they were in a high emotional state, but even then, their grip on logic and reason was remarkable. In fact, aside from the glowing eyes, it was hard to tell they felt anything at all.

"Well, with that excellent strategy in mind, might I offer some expansionary points. We all have sensors on our various ships, and I'm sure they all work just fine. Ours have tracked The Anti-Swarm to one of your recently defeated Hive Systems. Already it is inhabited by the human colony that defeated you recently, though now we know why. Nasagori knows our two nations very well, and knows where to attack for the most effect. Thank whatever you will, that of all those assembled, it is only the two of us he knows.

Thus, going straight into your old Gamma system would be suicide at best. It is in essence a very heavily fortified enemy stronghold, and would need more than what we all have to offer to both break through and survive to an acceptable degree." The executor said.

The Overmind broke in on the conversation.

"I would advise trusting sensors other than your own Executor. As you have already stated, Nasagori knows us both very well, and has blinded you to his true movements. Expecting me to merely hide in a cocoon fearfully, he has ignored me, or perhaps is expecting me to rush off to gamma to try and regain my lost broods. But I have watched enough wars to know this is suicide for me. Gamma is indeed heavily defended, of that, I'll take your word, for it seems unoccupied to my senses. However, The Anti-Swarm, as you so nicely phrased the distinction, has instead split in half.

I shall trust The Balroggan's sensors to verify this for me, one overmind to another, backed up by the Phenixicans, but The Anti-Swarm has invaded the people of Tanthan. The Tanthanians are not yet fully space worthy, barely able to reach the end of their system in less than a month, much less fight something from beyond it. Thus, to test his control, it seems Nasagori has chosen them to in effect, cut his teeth on, by picking on something weaker than himself." The Overmind said, speaking through the ship's broadcast system. The image of an eye in a wall of flesh appeared on a moniter, the avatar of The Overmind. It looked about the room.

"Then this raises a troubling point of order for both our nations. How are we to track something that can be so easily hidden from us both. Yet perhaps there is a temporary solution. Would either fleet that isn't Swarm or Rotanian assist in altering our sensors as only they can, with minimal input from us? Nasagori is unlikely to know either of you, and the alterations would be temporary, only for the duration of this war. In this fashion, we will not be blinded when we go into battle. In turn, The Overmind can piggyback its senses upon our sensors, and thus have a clear sight into what's going on." The Executor said.

"As great as all this is, your forgetting the Tanthanians. They are in trouble and need help. This is an excellent opportunity for us to cut our teeth as a single unified fleet as well." A Rotan with dark purple clothing said. He was difficult to fully see, as though his powers could naturally remove him from senses.

"An excellent point Zeratul, but do you intend for us all to rush in blindly? No I'm not talking about the sensor problem. I am referring to the topography of the Tanthanian system. We need information on it least we charge into a trap. Perhaps while our sensors are being realigned, those who do not have compromised sensors could pull up as much information as they can gather on Tanthan and display it here."

"Excellent point Judicator Artanis." The executor said. Then the three Rotans looked at Irene.

"Arrghh, fine, you've made your point, I'm not currently fit to lead much of anything beyond my own broods. Executor, as you seem to take to command as naturally as most species of fish take to water, you take charge. Meanwhile, lets get started on what we need to do here." Irene said, issuing her first and last command.

OOC:

When neccessary, either as The Rotan, or as The Swarm, I shall split my posts here into IC and OOC parts, the OOC mostly to clarify the IC. Major objectives will always be listed in both threads, in the first post of the ooc thread.

The Rotan and Swarm sensors are easily fooled by Nasagori, due to his extensive "research" on both for many years. It just needs something of a slight re-alignment by methods other than what either nation normally uses. Balrogga could infact re-align The Overmind's senses, if he so chose, due to the unique nature of his characters.

But the Rotan sensors also need re-alignment, otherwise when they go into battle, they literally won't be able to find the enemy, even if their right in front of them. The Swarm is a similar story.

Meanwhile, either Phenixica, or Balrogga, or both, needs to stream in sensory data, and then in my next post, I'll fill in the details of Tanthan. Tanthan is the first part of this story. Don't worry about the second half OOCly just yet. And that is it from me.

As always, this is a meeting, so voice any IC concern or opinion you might have, or and IC strategy you might have.

Meanwhile, in a secret chamber below the offices of The New Consortium...

"Yes Master, I have attacked The Overmind." Nasagori said, speaking to a small opening to The Warp.

"No Master, I do not think they yet know of that." Nasagori said, after the opening flashed.

"Yes Master, they have, but they only expect The Swarms I have taken. They do not know about the others." Nasagori said seconds later. He was the only one in the room. It was pitch black, save for the light from The Warp, bathing only Nasagori in its malevolence making it appear as though he standing were in a dark formless void.

"Do not worry Master, for they shall be ready when the time is right." Nasagori said. He was the only one in the room, and by all appearances, no one was speaking to him.

"Yes Master, they have, but their powers are untrained at best. Only two among the entire group are worthy of any attention, one of them a high lord of Hell, or so you have told me. HE shall be a difficult nemesis indeed. As for the others, have not you yourself already moved to counter them?"

The warp flashes again, and thunder can be heard.

"I am most troubled to hear that Master. But only you can do anything about that particular situation. As I was unable to get their chosen, if that develops any further, then it will become an even greater threat than the other. I can only take care of one, and desire her."

Silence.

"Then the plan shall continue as you have desired. Thank you and goodbye, Master Malal."

"Yellena, do you realize that you're--?"

She did not move.

"Yellena?"

No one moved.

"What the?"

Without warning, Yellena receded from Marvel--but stayed exactly where she was. The demon-no-more looked around him. The whole room was doing the same.

I'm caught in a slide zone! he thought.

---------
OOC: Justin Haywood, eat your heart out!
---------
IC:

And, just for a moment--that lasted forever--the universe fell away, and Marvel found himself outside of time and space, in a realm beyond--beyond even the monster that had befriended him earlier. And there, before him, stood an Angel.

He was a fobidding sight: tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and a full, thick, well-kempt beard. White armor covered his body and a crown of strawberry gold rested upon his brow. Marvel's eyes narrowed.

"You," he said.

The Angel acknowledged the demon, showing neither approval nor dislike. "Yes," he said, "me."

"So...why no shackles this time? Why aren't you showing me who's the boss and who's a good little no-account demon?"

"Is that what you think?" he asked.

"Well...honestly...no. It was just damn unpleasant the last time we met, that's all."

"We left you alive in the middle of a war, when we should have killed you out of hand. It cost us to do so. If we had simply released you, would we have been so lucky to have survived?"

Marvel thought on that for a moment. "Given what I was like back then," he said at length, "probably, yes. You would have lived. I wouldn't."

"Then you understand the wisdom of preventing you from attacking us?"

"I...suppose. But I still don't understand why."

"Because even then, you were different. True, you were as greedy and selfish as any demon we had ever battled--the glamour of evil that is in herant in your kind covered you completely--but you thought ahead. You were willing to forsake the short-term profit for longer-term goals. You reasoned. There was hope for you to become...what you are now."

"And you just let me, your sworn enemy, go on a wish and a mumble, because of something that wasn't even a promise, and maybe not even a potential?"

The Angel looked sternly back. "One must start somewhere."

"So why are you before me now?"

"For the same reason I stood before you then: I have a gift for you.

"The war that you engage yourself in is among the False Gods of Chaos. We who work in the name of the One True God cannot be seen to take part in it. Yet, we have analyzed the potentialities and believe that the old order is better than the new--but please do not let The Swarm hear us refer to their ever-changing aggregation of opinion as 'order,' for they will not understand it as such."

"So you're telling me that I'm giong to become the Instrument of God? That's got to be the joke of the century!"

"Stranger things have happened," the Angel replied, "but no. We cannot interfere with your free will. We can merely offer a small token of aid, if you will accept it of...your own free will."

"And what might that be?"

"We have grave concerns for you. We cannot fully predict the outcome of this sequence of events. Certainly, it will pose extreme danger to your person. Therefor, we offer you the Armor of Light to counter whatever threats the forces of darkness may bring to bear against you."

"You mean Angel Armor? But the stuff barely works! Any infantryman with a week in the field can tear it to shreds!"

"No, Marvel, they only think they can, and they only think they do. Actually, the armor's protection is undiminished even if it is shorn away. It reforms in time to protect its bearer from blow after blow--and it has other powers as well."

"Oh? Like what?"

"It binds to its bearer--its power becomes him, and he it. That is what makes it so useful--and that is why you are the first Hell Spawn ever to be offered its use."

"What's the catch?"

"It must be treated with dignity and respect. Curse it, harm it, neglect it and it will weaken, or die. It is a living thing and must be cared for."

"Oh, really?" Marvel asked, his mischievous grin forming. "What does it eat? Will it be loyal, or desert me for the first hot female suit of armor that comes along?"

"It eats love," the Angel replied, "and, if the wearer is indeed faithful to it, it is intensely loyal."

"Well...to be honest, I was wondering how I was going to get through this little party. I take it that you guys want credible deniability all the way."

"If you put it that way, yes. Officially, you acquired this suit of armor in battle long ago. You took it from a victim of one of your hellion skirmishes."

Marvel guffawed. "A likely story. But I can tell that one as easy as any other. I accept your offer. Lay it on me, Ronny." He stretched out his arms...

...and found himself back in the room aboard the big, bad space ship with all its little blinking lights.

In front of him, Yellsatya was still contemplating the fading smell of the vomit in her throat.

He decided to start over.

"Yellena," he said, "you do realize that your mind is getting a little off track, no?"

"Off track is a very god way to phrase that." Josh stated. "Yelena, you've got to focus or you'll be a liability to us, not an ally." he looked like he was about to go on before he closed his mouth and a look of confusion took over his face. "Wait, this can't be right." He felt out of sync with the rest of the room, like he was a step behind and ahead all at once. Everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion, he could hear them speaking, see them moving, but it wasn't quite right. All at once everything snapped back to normal, except for the weight on his shoulders. That wasn't there a second ago. he thought, turning around. He tugged at the familiar black cloak that hadn't been anywhere near here before realizing Zena had arrived with guests.
"No more trial and error teleports!" She roared at a seemingly innocent cat laying in an old man's arms. She looked around, hoping not to see everyone staring. "Sorry, carry on." Her face flushed cherry red in embarrassment as she pulled her own cloak close around her and half hid behind Josh while the old man stood to his other side, smiling slightly. We should talk. The old man's voice rang clearly in Josh's ears, though nobody else would have heard a sound.
About? He inquired, knowing the teacher would read his thoughts. How things have been for you. his tone made it obvious that this should have been the only possible reason for communication. Later, we have a war to finish.
"Good to see you too." Joshua chuckled to Zena barely a second after she had taken refuge behind him, returning to the meeting at hand. "I'm in agreement that we can't just rush in blindly. Perhaps it would be best to pick a few spots where our help would be best used and start there. If we use the instruments we have that do work to get much knowledge about a few locations rather than some knowledge of the whole planet, we could be far more effective. Once we have more working sensors, we can spread our influence and work from there."

Desharzim breathed clean air aboard the Rotan ship. His body, which had been shaking ever so slightly calmed, his mind suppressing the rage of his ancestors now that he was free from the vile smell. He listend to the others talk. His mind running through the battles he had fought in the past for any insight. "My skills would be best utilized on a point of high ground. where i can direct my summons accurately." he put in. He seemed to be a man of few words. He seemed the embodiment of 'tall dark and creepy' he seemed to give off a vibe of primal intent. Any telepath near him could sense the continual mental struggle holding back his inner beast.

He regarded the group with a bit of interest as two more appeared with them. "What is the nature of the natural life on the planet, flora and fauna?" he asked, mentally running through the skills he had learned that would be most useful for combating swarms.

OOC: Sorry for the rushed posts, i've been really busy, what with attacks of life and the war between me and TFU

Yelena was a bit distracted by the ordeal in the rotten ship, but she still heard parts of the briefing over the matters. The insects were fighting each other, from what she listened to, and what could be wrong with that? Perhaps... with enough conflict they would be weakened enough to be exterminated.

Shifting her stare away from the meeting room and towards Marvel, she muttered something about "cannon fodder" and listened as he and Joshua tried to advise her that she was not in a good state.

"Off track is a very god way to phrase that. Yelena, you've got to focus or you'll be a liability to us, not an ally."

Yelena looked at Joshua, when suddenly Zena arrive with an old man spewing more gibberish to her ears... they were completely clueless, they were acting like fools, like puppets to the insects. Were their minds still theirs? There was no way to be sure, and somehow, Yelena feigned to show interest to their conversations, until she, feeling as if she was just an spectators to events around being rightfully ignored, turned her back to everything and said:

"So? Am I an ally just because... I was a fool to take your hand, Joshua? I see nothing... nothing worth to fight for right here. Why should I lie about this? This is not my war, this is not my people's war, this is not even a war of mankind, and you are more worried about how I could be 'useful'? Haven't you thought that flesh monstrosity could bear deadly diseases to one of us? Joshua, you are starting to think like these beings without individual consciousness."

"Besides," she then turned to the meeting, "why bother going into that planet to hunt them and die hunting them? If you can achieve superiority over the luminiferous aether, and if that world is as severely infested as the situation suggests, you can just evacuate the people from it, surround it and bomb it until nothing remains alive. And none of us here would die then."

Her opinion seemed genuine rather than a cynical comment, as somehow her madness seemed to have ended, and thus Yelena turned again to Joshua and said, hiding no longer her true opinions about such conflict:

"I have no idea why you are helping plagues of locusts that would eat us alive if they were not interested in using as as puppets for their goals... I am quite sure they will be very thankful once they decide your world, or anybody else world here, is nothing but a liability for their march to power, after you save them from becoming weaker by this conflict. You only think on short-term, and people who think such way always have others pulling strings over them, Joshua. Yes... maybe this conflict will spill beyond and claim lives. But trust me: had we helped vampires in my world because their wars were killing our people at the time, even more people would have died by now, as now my world is free from vampires, as they weakened themselves through strife."

Perhaps her lack of fear to speak the truth was part of her madness now, or perhaps part of her nature. Yelena then looked at Irene and sighed:

"I know you are not really Irene, but another extension of the... Overmind. Irene is another victim of this... we are supposed to help... kill me now if you wish, because it matters little as I know you will kill every one of us once you have the opportunity and find us no longer useful for your selfish desires. I have no fear of speaking the truth, or of death, but you'll earn nothing from killing me. Maybe... you'll turn your back on them too," she faced the Rotans briefly, "but for now they are useful, and the enemy of my enemy is something to be eliminated later and manipulated now, correct?"

She then looked at Marvel, "You may know better than me at this hypothetical question, but if the Devil and his son got into a civil war in Hell and split it to each of their sides, why should I aid any of the sides, when as long as they are fighting each other they would have less time to torment and corrupt worlds?"

She then stopped for a moment, and finished in an extremely rhetorical manner, as her questionings were just to make a point, or to cause strife and scheming among them, although even after such final words, her suggestion to wipe the planet off life seemed still to be completely unrelated to the argument at hand:

"This is what I think from the extremely limited information I was given so far... so my opinion may change a little if I am no longer kept in nearly absolute ignorance of what the hell is really happening here and about who is Nasagori other than obviously a puppet for a greater power."

"First, why does everyone assume I am just an extension of The Overmind? Yes my will is enslaved to his, but he left me my spirit and individuality. True I am not the same Irene I was before The Swarm, but I am still an individual person in charge of a very large very hungry swarm of world devouring insectoid monsters.

Secondly, for reasons beyond my comprehension, The Swarm likes the people here, and cannot imagine harming them. Thus the will to attack any of them is removed from Zasz, Daggoth, The Overmind, and myself, and because we control The Swarm, no Swarmling can harm them.

Third, Nasagori is a highly intelligent man that has researched many, many things with a large team of highly competent scientists garnering a a combined total of several hundred years worth of knowledge. The Luminous Aether, or real space, its your choice, though the chances are likely he'll have a way of dragging you out of the Aether and preventing you from returning.

Fourth, its not Nasagori that we're worried about. He's become nothing more than a pawn in a very old and very dangerous game of Chess between the higher powers of The Universe, ruled over by beings most of us here couldn't even begin to fully comprehend in their entirety. Its his superior that we're worried about. Tzeentch speaks to me and tells me that Malal is The Renegade God of Chaos, representing Chaos acting against itself. His goal is not mere rule, but the complete and utter annihilation of Chaos, and from there, everything else. This is far more dangerous than you might consider at first. Picture a stable healthy planet. Take away all its water, and watch what happens to the planet. The same thing will happen to The Universe if Chaos is destroyed. Chaos is like water. It flows through everything, allowing change, and encouraging growth. Most only see the dark side of Chaos, but I see its good side, and strive to bring it out. Thus the reason why we all fight, even if my reasoning is disjointed and skips around like a child playing hopscotch. If Malal destroys The good Swarm, only The Anti-Swarm will exist, and they shall destroy all their new master considers in his path to power." Irene said, trying her best to explain the situation.

Galvenor allowed himself to be carried by the mouth along with the others. He could have easily resisted but that would have been counter-productive. He found himself vomited out upon the Hiveship as he had expected. Irene had unconsciously broadcast images of the interior of the ship when she was explaining their destination to the others so he already knew what to expect.

When the ship took a shortcut through the essence of old Yog Galvenor took the option to slip off between moments to speak with the ancient being. Yog owed him a favor from a lost bet long ago and he needed reminding. Galvenor offered him the chance to call the bet even if he ensured he would not mess with the sanity of any he was transporting. Galvenor knew Yog well enough to know he would try something. Switching back to the hive ship it was never noticed he left. Then the ship entered the Space Inbetween.

Galvenor watched the others in the ship experience the mind of Yog and he watched for any hint he went back on his word and was pleased to see he would be able to get rid of one more favor owed him. The trip did not really bother him for ever since he had destroyed Apollyon and stole his immortal coil he had experienced every moment of his life since then in a state similar to this. (This was RPed out back in ‘05.) He had used several advanced and unique spells at the time and the Thread of Immortality he tore from Apollyon’s chest in order to slay the Great Destroyer had caused those spells to be permanent. Galvenor had hoped these events would remain unknown to the group that joined the school even with Marvel there, he figured since only the top ranks only saw Galvenor outside Apollyon’s battle armor his identity would remain a secret. If that Angel back at the College only knew the truth…

After boarding the Rotan vessel, Galvenor joined the planning table with both Overminds (his and the Swarms) as well as the others. “Why don’t we do the same thing we did with the moon SeaQuest had about a thousand years ago? We can just uplift the whole thing to Space Minus obliterating it forever? I mean once we get intel, which would be easy once the rest of my fleet gets here we could just get rid of the whole system. One big bang for the historians to talk about in class.”

Galvenor already knew the answer for that one but he decided to let someone else answer it. It was basically the same question Yelena asked but nobody seemed to hear.

David was quick to go out of place and say something, in his mind the reasons for helping the overmind keep it's place as lord of the Swarm was obvious.

"The Overmind to put it simply is the lesser of two evils, sure the swarm attacks randomly and they have destroyed worlds but that is not what is at stake here. Imagine a Swarm that is bent not on raids but on conquest, Nasagori is a mad scientist who will conquer and enslave us all in the name of Science and they wont be any stop to it. I am a child of the Phoenix, soldier of the healing blaze and even I can see that helping the Overmind is for the good of the Universe if it simply keeps the swarm from being bent on pure conquest"

David looks over to Irene, she was different to when they first met aboard the space station where he killed and guardian and in fact met Nasagori and witnessed the brutality of his scientific research first hand.

The Admiral then looks towards the others and adds on

"If Nasagori was able to learn anything from Davids work with him then you might find we are just as vulnerable, David didn't exactly share that much information but in the end we did have one of our ships at there base of operations and it's not above a man like Nasagori to go out of his way for information"

Meanwhile, technicians had been working on the sensors, adjusting them.

"All finished sir." one entered to report to The Executor.

The Executor nodded, and the technician left the room. Then The Executor turned the sensors upon Tanthan.

The first thing shown made The Executor's eyes open wide in surprise. A giant crystal tower stood atop a space station in the middle of the system. It was easily larger than most mountains, a feat of engineering. It was made of an exotic gold metal, and a similarly exotic crystal, just like all the ships in The Rotanian fleet.

"Dear gods, he's stolen our Crystal Spire! This effectively answers any questions about destroying it via an alternate dimension. We've researched Time and Space extensively in our history, and though we may not be as advanced as others, this is one of our pride and joys. Its essentially a giant Pylon, but serves other purposes too. You have heard, I am sure, of FTLi. Faster Than Light inhibitors. Such devices make FTL travel impossible. The Spire does the same thing, but it also reinforces reality in such a way, that other levels of Reality are impossible to access. Even teleportation is prevented. We have one stationed on Ruia to make any who would attack us approach us at a crawl, while our own ships are equipped with a compensator to block the Crystal Spire, effectively making it a one way wall. This means no alien gateway, no faster than light travel through The Warp, no Dimensional Recall, no alternate dimensions that make travel faster. All is not hopeless. Though the frequencies that the compensators work on are extremely complex and highly varied, it is possible for us to make one ship bypass the spire at least once.

Those of you who came with Irene, this will then be your objective. You will go with Zeratul, a probe, and Irene herself, and destroy The Spire. Only a Probe can do this effectively. Worry not about Zeratul's skills, he is Prelate of The Dark Templar, and they are all highly skilled assassins, more suited for sneaking around and striking unseen from the shadows, than direct combat like the High Templar. Only Zeratul will be able to reprogram the Probe to synchronize with The Crystal Spire and cause it to destabilize back into the very energies it was born from, but this will also cause a massive explosion, so once it begins, we will use Dimensional Recall on you and get you back to us before the crystal destabilizes to the point of explosion. Once at the tower, you will be on your own, so be careful. Sensors indicate an empty cargo bay, an ideal starting point." The Executor said.

Then he indicated the rest of the system.

"As for the rest of us, and our fleets, if we are to be bombarding it from the luminous Aether, or uplifting it into Space Minus, than the rest of this is unnecessary at best. But all the same, the innocent people do not need to suffer any more than they have.

They seem to be human like, but something different. I believe human stories call them Elves. Perhaps they are a branch of the lost race that died in the birth of Slaanesh, perhaps not. Regardless, the fact that they need the standard M-class atmosphere makes searching for a replacement system easier. There are approximately ten billion life signs in the Tanthan system, most of it Swarmling, but even assuming two or three billion elven lives, that is still a strain on rescue operations. Therefore if we are to truly rescue them all, we will need to fight the swarm head on before we annihilate the system.

The Anti-Swarm appears to be mostly concentrated on the outer half of the system, attacking the inhabited worlds there, before moving in on what I believe to be the capital world, Tanthan Prime. There are ships of a non organic type assisting The Swarm, and orbiting defenses attacking anything leaving the world. Didn't Nasagori come to lead a colony? It seems he's using the colony as well.

There is a massive space station larger than most death stars being built even as it is in operation. Sensors detect a powerful weapon on board. If he is rebuilding his old station, than that weapon is a dire threat. He had a gun he called The Supernova Cannon. It took awhile to warm up and prepare to fire, but once it did, its blast radius was several light years in radius. Reviewing his files even as they were destroyed showed that he used it on experiments he lost control over. Our first objective as a military fleet is to destroy that unfinished station, least it be used against us.

Admiral Druk, that objective I shall leave to you. Be warned, it is guarded closely.

My fleets shall begin evacuation, assisted by The Swarm.

Overmind, your fleet will fight off The Anti-Swarm, allowing Admiral Druk to destroy the station and its guardians, and once the citizens are evacuated safely, we will signal retreat so that you can begin uplifting to Space Minus even as everyone else transfer to The Luminous Aether to bombard everything else.

One more thing, if anyone with strong Psionic powers can tap into Nasagori's mind, do so, and find out where their hiding, as now that our sensors are realigned, we are showing both that gamma is abandoned, and heavily occupied. A little clarity would be appreciated, as would a few traps strewn about the madman's mind.

Irene, when your team is prepared, meet Zeratul in the Recall Chambers. But be swift in your preparations, for we cannot hold synchronicity with the Crystal Spire for long." The Executor said, then stood up, indicating it was time to get to action.

Irene cracked her knuckles and stood up.

"I'm ready now. If anyone is not, they had best prepare quickly." She said.

OOC:

MAJOR OBJECTIVES:

Character objectives:

White tower characters are to sneak aboard the enemy space station holding The Crystal Spire, and make their way to its base where Zeratul will cause a probe to destroy it. Expect combat and trouble.

Fleet Objectives:

Phenixica: Destroy Nasagori's shiny new incompleted station and most importantly, The Supernova Cannon before he has a chance to use it. It is well defended and will not be an easy task. Warning, overloading or causing a backfire in the cannon will destroy the entire system, and everything in it.

Rotan and Swarm: evacuate the innocent Tanthanians.

Balrogga: Defeat The Anti-Swarm, and once The innocents are fully evacuated, Annihilate the system using Space Minus.

Everyone besides Balrogga: Once the Innocents have been cleared, uplift to The Luminous Aether and bombard the system back to The Big Bang.

God help us if Phenixica doesn't destroy The Supernova Cannon within ten posts of The Spire being destroyed, or makes it backfire or overload before we can escape.

((OOC: No Pressure! thanks! :P))

The Admiral raises a eyebrow but in the end he understands what is at stake

"My fleet will hit it hard, if we can align the leviathan in a firing position we can fire a modified Shadow Torpedo into it's center and the whole thing will be absorbed into a mini-black hole which we can turn off at a flick of a switch. The entire station will be crushed and it's gun destroyed and if that plan backfires we do have a plan B which is much more simple yet dangerous for our Empire"

He quickly typed orders and sent them to the fleet, everywhere above lights shined as orders were given out to prepare the fleet for war. Yomato Cannons were powered up and the engineers on the Leviathan went about modifying the Shadow Torpedo to have a much weaker yield, Soldiers that were mostly stationed on Bertha Carriers were being distributed to work as mechanics and engineers to allow them to do quick repairs.

Phenixica during wartime was used to this kind of tactic of going for the heavily fortified area's as quick as possible and then mopping up resistance around it. It was what they were used too and that alone would serve them well on this mission.

Zena swallowed hard at the comment about Nasagori's mind. "I could..." The old man glared daggers at Zena. "You are not reading that mad man's mind. I'll attempt to reach his mind, I need you to shield me from any attack that would take advantage of the connection." he looked around the room. "Is there by chance another place we should be doing this?"

Joshua too took to his feet. "I'm right behind you Irene." He glanced at his old teacher and his ally. "Be careful." Was all he said before he turned to face Yelena. "I don't know if those speeches have moved you, but I'm of the belief that an evil you know is better even a partially unknown entity. If you wish to leave, tell us now and Chaz will be more than happy to take you to the Tower."

OOC: Sorry, would have had more but I've got to run.

"Your answeres, in order," Marvel said to Yellsatya, who was really earning her Marvel Name today.

"First, you are an ally because you choose to be one. If you want to quit, quit now, we'll send you back and everybody will go on about thier business. There is no dishonor in changing your mind as more information becomes available to you.

"Second, these beings are not without individual consciousness. Therefor, that question is a self-contradiction and cannot be answered.

"Third, The Swarm has a history of living responsibly and peacefully with other species, while Malal has a history of megalomania. History suggests that The Swarm would not eat us alive, even if they could. They've got scruples. Therefor, we are fighting to prevent the very kind of attack that you presumed was coming.

"Fourth, if the Devil and his son started another war, you'd want to fight for the Devil. He and God have a little bet going on the fate of the universe. The Devil thinks that it'll go to hell even if it's left to its own devices, and that's the only thing that keeps him from turning you into an overgrown pot roast. His son has no such deal. If the Devil's son wins, you're toast.

"Finally, you're absolutely right about Nasagori. He's a puppet--but we have to go through him to get to he puppet master. And you're also absolutely right about the 'complete ignorance' part, too. In fact, as I you should have garnered from my previous answeres, your ignorance is even more profound than you thought it was. I am profoundly ignorant in this situation, but, standing next to you, I look like an oracle."

Then, the demon-no-more turned to Bionic Joke. "Josh," he said, "some time before this infiltration operation starts, you and I need to finish that little hide-and-seek lesson that we started a while back. This might turn on my ability to avoid detection."

Josh nodded. "I had been wondering about that myself and I think i solved the problem of that last bit of energy showing up. First hide yourself, like you did before I pointed out you still had an energy signature. Next, compress that into as small of a point as possible, like you did. Now here's the change, don't squeeze that out of existence, cover it. Like putting a brick wall up over a doorway, hide it completely. Hopefully that cover won't leave a trace if it's done right." Clearly this was far from the game they had running earlier and had turned into a debate between colleagues. "Of course hiding yourself is all fine and dandy, but can you hide a small group, that's the real question." Hopefully Marvel would see where Joshua wanted to go with this.

"Why are you so adamant on not letting me search for Nasagori?" Zena asked the old man. She didn't like being held back, despite a deep respect for elders.
"I was hoping not to have to tell you." He sighed, knowing she would just press the point. "That green cloak is more than just a fashion statement. It's designed to protect the wearer and those around them, but only if they protect themselves first. I can track him down and go through his mind, but once I do that, my mind is wide open for an attack. With you here looking on as I do the work, you can defend us both."

The Executor walked over to the old man.

"Kind sir, if you plan on using your own mind to search for a madman's I advise you take a comfortable room near the engine cores where the Khala Mindlink Network is strongest. Let your mind ride upon our network, and though yes, your mind will still be open to attack, our network defenses will assist in the efforts to defend your mind.

Meanwhile, Zeratul walked over to Josh and Marvel.

"I believe your going for something like this?" he asked, and promptly disappeared on the spot leaving utterly no trace of his being. Even his thoughts were shielded and absent from the room. If someone were capable of seeing energy, not even his energy trace would be visible. Certainly there were bumps in the field of energy that indicated where someone was, but everyone was radiating those, and distinguishing one from the other would be next to impossible. There was no heat signature, no sound, no sensation of touch, nothing. By all appearences, he had simply teleported out of the room, though this was not the case.

He reappeared on the other side of the pair.

"Of course, I've had several hundred years of practice. Few are the numbers of my brethren who can cloak themselves to such a degree, and even then, they are subject to cracks in their cloaking field. Most of my brethren are easy to find if you put effort into it. Now, how about we go tackle that spire? We have about five minutes before our window is lost and we become unable to do anything." he said.

OOC:

The Khala Mindlink Network will make the efforts to find Nasagori's mind 50% easier, and defending the old man's mind 50% easier. No need for specific RP details, just assume that its defences are working and mention them blocking the occasional attack or two. They will not perfectly defend the old man, and if Zena does not defend his mind, he will become dominated by The Anti-Swarm and used as an inside agent.

Following Josh's instructions, Marvel winked out as completely as he could. He didn't really care if someone else could do this. It would be good to have more than one mage with that skill. If something bad happened to one of them, the other could pick up the slack. He wasn't sure it worked, but he was hoping that his colleague would tell him.

"After you," he said, momentarily giving himself away. "By the way, name's Marvel, what's yours?"

The old man listened carefully to the Executor and followed Zena from the room, though not before graciously thanking him. Upon arriving in the Mindlink Network room, the pair sat down across from each other and the old man closed his eyes. A slight white light slipped from between his eyelids as he felt out the network, first understanding the network before utilizing it. The greatest minds lit up before him like Christmas trees. Unfortunately, shielded minds were a bit harder to locate. Zena did not close her eyes, though they did stare blankly off into the distance. She too learned about the network before she felt someone probe their minds. No. she said to the intruder, forcing him back.

"Nicely done, both of you.". Josh observed only the slightest bubbles, like someone held a magnifying glass or two where they were. "Anyone not looking for you isn't going to see you. Marvel, can you extend that to cover someone else? It's great you can cover yourself, but if you can cover all of us, we can move so much easier."

"My name is Zeratul, I am prelate of The Dark Templar. I am considered to be either Swarm's greatest threat, as are my brethren, for my blades are the only ones to ever be known to have truly destroyed a Swarmling. There once was a Hive Tyrant known as Freng, and he clung to Irene like a love sick teenager. Then he made the mistake of trying to kill me to profess his love. In self-defense, I destroyed him, and it was then that The Overmind learned it, and its children could be annihilated, and all its powers could not bring it back again. Only The Dark Templar seem to be able to do this, yet with all the variety of The Universe, I do not doubt that there are others also able to do this." Zeratul said as he lead the way to the recall room.

Meanwhile on The Network...

The probing of their minds felt the same as a child's probing touch. In fact, it was a child's mind, its curiosity as it first joined the network touching as many other minds as it could. Then a much more powerful mind came over to there's, The Executor's.

It didn't touch their minds, it simply stood by waiting, and occasionally shooed away the other minds in the network.

Meanwhile...

Lights were flickering, remaining on for a few seconds at a time before going off again.
Even when they were on, they weren't very powerful. Only glimpses of something very large, and very blue could be seen. The Hive Tyrant Kaloth.

Not too far away, sat similar creatures, one white, one orange, The Hive Tyrants Shaleth and Ginso. Their eyes narrowed in suspicion as they felt a mind prob their Hive Mind. They knew who it was looking for. The Master. The Master sat between the three, directing his activites from a safe and remote location.

The three Hive Tyrants looked at one another, then at The Master, and launched an offensive.

The first attack was a weak one, a probing attack. This The Executor blocked personally, as he activated the defenses of The Khala Mindlink Network. Elsewhere, large numbers of children suddenly found themselves kicked off the network as adults reached a stopping point in their activities to concentrate on The Network.

Nasagori smiled.

"Show them that trick I showed you. Unleash The Mental Swarm. Devour their minds. Leave their vessels empty."

All over the Tanthan system, large numbers of Swarmlings, all those in space slowed their activities, and fell into a sort of stasis.

The old man would get just a glimpse of Nasagori, smiling at him, with a cruel sinister smile.

"This shall be a most interesting experiment. I wonder how much stress the network can take." Then his image exploded as a portion of The Anti-Swarm burst onto The Network, they devoured all in their path, and they were coming for Zena and The Old Man.

Off the Network, The Executor gasped in pain.

"Nasagori is attacking through the network. He's somehow given The Anti-Swarm the ability to get into The Network. Go Quickly, destroy the Crystal Spire!"

Galvenor watched the others as he carefully attuned himself to each of them, making sure none of his abilities would recognize them as the Enemy. It would be tragic if he accidently killed one of his own team members because they happened to get tossed in the way of an attack. He had seen others fail to do so before an attack and usually something went wrong. He wanted to be sure he took the correct measures to lessen accidents, especially with what he had available.

Galvenor watched he quick lesson between Marvel and Josh. They had the right idea to mask themselves but without experiencing what they were trying to mask first hand they would never truly succeed. The Ta’Nar being entities of pure thought perceived energy itself. They have as far back as living memory reaches which was quite far. He could clearly see all three as they played hide and seek but he did not let them know. Trying to hide energy signatures from those who perceive then naturally was like trying to out-fly a hummingbird withholding only two feathers. Unless you knew what to “look” for, you would not be able to hide it. Now beings who also artificially gained the ability to see energy would be easily fooled. Otherwise it would be like hiding from a drow in a dark empty room. Galvenor did approve of the direction they were heading so he did not discourage them in the least; they needed to find their way so they had the confidence to cast the spells in the crisis that would most likely soon happen. A mage without confidence in one’s own abilities would never achieve much. He suspected that was Kyle’s problem, something he will work on with his Avatar back at the Tower.

“Let’s get on our way so we can get this Spire taken out. We have a job to do and the longer we dilly-dally the harder it will be to get it done.”

OOC: So we can get on with it, I'm assuming the group follows Zeratul. I will describe everything from a normal person's point of view, letting Balrogga redefine what Galvenor actually sees however he wishes knowing its incredibly difficult to hide anything from him. Occasionally, I'll TG him the truth of a room before hand, so as to not spoil the surprise for everyone else.

IC:

Zeratul lead them to a chamber made of crystals resonating at different frequencies.
Once the infiltration team was assembled, Zeratul tapped the crystal wall in a certain spot which set off a chain reaction causing the entire room to vibrate at the same frequency. The world fell away around them, scattering to pieces, and reassembling itself into a dark room. Zeratul's glowing eyes were the only things visible, but those quickly faded away as he went into stealth mode.

"Hold, and I will find the lights, make no movement nor any sound for I smell The Swarm." Zeratul said.

What seemed like minutes, but was really only seconds later, the lights flickered on.

The room was blank by all accounts. The sizzle of an energy blade could be heard momentarily by a computer panel. Aside from the students, there was nothing visible in the room, only the cold metal walls, and the glowing computer panel by the doors.

"Guess what, we smell you too, little man." a ghastly voice said from somewhere inside the room. Suddenly, a Screamer-Killer lived up to the first part of its name, bursting out of its cloak with a horrid scream to attack the team with a huge sweep of its crab like claws and rip them to shreds. Unless someone stopped its scream before it left the bay, the alarm would have been raised quite nicely.

Zeratul ran over in his cloak to attack it from behind.

Galvenor quickly threw up a Silence spell, killing sonic vibrations within fifteen feet of the target, namely the huge ugly thing that should be in a even larger pot of boiling water. The thought made him feel a little hungry so he wished the others would make short work of it so they could get back in time for lunch.

It was about that time he remembered he cannot eat and was only slightly disappointed since the crab thing really did not look appetizing after a second look. Ick.

Yelena was getting full of the place, of the way everything implied they were nothing but fodder, playthings in the crafts of greater forces, right there, and the foolishness of people who thought there was a "lesser of two evils", that were too blind to not see the real solution to all them problems, to see that the very "steady peace" of such insects was nothing but a time to build up, and hadn't this happened, they would certainly, do it.

They began trying to justify everything, they claimed Nasagori was worse, but all Yelena could feel was that by accepting, by moving forward, she would let something tie strings over her body and began to move her as a puppet, and perhaps sacrifice her. And then, there would be no benefit from doing so, neither personal nor for all around her. They would probably call her a coward for not being a fool, they would probably slander her person when she was not hearing. Marvel was quick to reply to her:

"First, you are an ally because you choose to be one. If you want to quit, quit now, we'll send you back and everybody will go on about thier business. There is no dishonor in changing your mind as more information becomes available to you."

Before he could finish the sentence however, Yelena vanished without a word, as a pawn from a chessboard dropped over the floor where she once stood, and somehow, it was if she has never existed. She did not return to the White Tower, and her whereabouts became completely unknown. It was written that "with strange aeons even death may die", but perhaps, in truth, death was a force far greater than the paradox of such existence... or perhaps Yelena was still, somewhere.

First priority: take away its home turf. Move it. Countersurprise it.

Without so much as batting an eyelash, Marvel launched a concussion wave straight at the noisy crab. If it sunk--and the spell moves at the speed of light--it would knock the thing back into whatever it was standing in front of.

-----------------

OOC: Will place post in OOC thread detailing Marvel's combat magic, its strengths and weaknesses. Will be pertinent to this post.

Fleet Control, IPN: Leviathan
A map showing the ships in the fleet in a sort of grid was shown on the bridge, all around it were battle coordinators.

"Every ship has reported in and is ready for combat and for the Admiral to return and lead us to victory"

"what of the army? they will have no use in this conflict"

"Engineers and Mechanics every single one, try and put them where they can go and load up the shadow torpedo's we only have about 7 shots to hit this thing"

"The Fleet has never seen full on conflict before, this is the first time since the Expansionist War a entire fleet has had to be mobilized"

The next voice was that of Empress Nadine, yet again secretly coming with the Fleet without even the Imperial Senate any wiser.

"There is a first time for everything, they will go for the Leviathan naturally so we need to bring ours ships into position to guard the Leviathan and cover it from enemy fire. All we need is to get close enough that they cannot destroy a torpedo, the clock is on our side in this one all we need is to fire a Shadow Torpedo and even if we activate just outside the Sphere it will still be sucked into the black hole"

"I thought these things worked with a actual star"

"The Torpedo's need a star to reach it's maximum size, it works on the same principle as when we create planets with a Graviton Creator. It creates such a powerful Gravitational pull that the material around it is sucked around it, But naturally the Shadow Torpedo's are much larger and easier to hit then a Graviton Creator"

((OOC:Just waiting for the go ahead, be best tactically for the Phenixican fleet to be the last to arrive in the system when the Anti-Swarm have been diverted away from the sphere))

Zena, now! The old man bellowed to his young guardian. She threw up a barrier that has thus far never failed to destroy the mind of anyone trying to pass through it, how it would work on a hive mind could be another story entirely. Not willing to let them get that far, she tried to isolate that part of the network until she could pick the anti-swarm off one at a time, a bottleneck so to speak. The old man meanwhile started to bypass his attackers and focus on Nasagori again. Fool. You can't stop us that easily. He sent out for him.

Josh wasted no time in dropping to the floor, his right arm letting out an almighty clang when his palm hit the floor. He focused his energies on creating large spikes from the floor and ceiling to impede the creature's path, if not kill it outright.

Mental Swarmlings approached the barrier one at a time, throwing themselves at it. At first, they were indeed completly destroyed, their physical bodies exploding as their minds vanished. But then, but then they started making it beyond the barrier, evolving and adapting to the barrier to become immune to it. After a little while, the barrier might as well not have even existed. The Anti-Swarm had become immune to the barrier, and was coming for him again. The Network bunched up against The Anti-Swarm, and sent a powerful blast, killing several hundred Swarmling minds.

You call me a fool, yet even though I stand before you, you do not see me. I come to you with open arms, and you run away.

In the very center of The Anti-Swarm, a powerful mind waited, different from the hive mind around it, yet protected by it. The old man had bypassed the swarm, without even looking to see if Nasagori's mind was within it. Now The Anti-Swarm was between Zena and The Old Man. Only The Network could protect him.

The Anti-Swarm sent a shower of needles at Zena, each one that struck would permanently lower her IQ by one point, and if it reached 0, it would rob her of her powers forever, adding them to The Anti-Swarm's own. There were millions of needles.

Meanwhile, Nasagori shot a Mind-seeking missile at the old man that would chase him wherever he ran for it was attuned to his own mind. When hit, it would explode with extreme psionic force, and was more than capable of destroying a mind. The Network was recovering from sending out its own attack, and could not protect either of its guests for the next few seconds.

In the station...

Marvel's Concussion blast hit before Josh's attack, knocking the Carnifex back out of the way. Zeratul reached the Carnifex ran up along its back dropping his invisibility, dragging his blade through the things back all the way. He leaped over the spikes to land beside Josh and Marvel, turning just in time to see it slice through the spikes in the floor with one hand, while it finished reaching into what had appeared to be a fleshy protrousion on its side. It pulled on it, and brought forth one of the many symbiotic weapons The Swarm was famous for. It fired three flesh eating beetles at the three physical attackers, and each beetle would try its best to bore through straight for the heart and eat it.

Meanwhile, Galvenor could see this beast had the power of Regeneration, as its massive wound on top of its body was sealing itself shut quickly.

Zena's mind, quick as a fox, simply vanished from it's current location and left a nasty little void behind. A small door opened where she had been and many eyes and flashing grins could be seen before pitch black hands reached out to grab the swarmlings throwing needles, which were merely passing through the arms. Any swarmling unlucky enough to be grabbed by the Gate's Children would find themselves cut off from all but their worst fears, and baring that the child would simply take it's mind for it's own pleasures into the gate.

Zena gasped for breath as she returned to her physical body. "That was fun." She mused to herself, sarcastically, as she returned to the network. Her first act was to erect a barrier that worked much like a brick wall does in reality. The only way to the old man's mind would be to go through it, which is always easiest at it's weakest point, upon which Zena took her guard. She did her best to disguise the mind of the man that lay beyond it and make this appear as a stand against the anti-swarm. Weaker copies of her mind filled the area, each with a weapon of some variety and each ready to draw first blood from the anti swarm.

The Old Man gazed upon his finding, smiling slightly as he felt the resistance of something trying to block him. "So there's more to your little operation than just you, Nasagori. You are merely a pawn in your own game. I see the baby overmind, your queen, and something else, your king." He felt the missile nearing. "And you send your weakest defense yet." What the missile would surely sense as his mind was merely the Old Man's avatar on the network. Working in a similar fashion to Zena, he made a duplicate, but only one. It did not matter if either was destroyed, but it was easiest to not have to track down this place again. The avatars were positioned equidistant from the missile, and each was indistinguishable from the other.

Josh grew tired of the games and caught the beetle with his metal arm. "Flesh eating beetles?" He groaned as the beetle was crushed between his palm and the floor. His other hand seemed to dig into the metal beneath him and he wrenched it upward like pulling on an extra long rug. And like a rug, the floor beneath the beast was pulled out from under it's right half while the left was slowly encased in creeping steel.

Regeneration was typically combated by two elements, fire and acid because destroyed cells would not heal like damaged ones do. Ask any troll and they will admit Fire and Acid were the only things that made them have nightmares. Galvenor stepped back and began an enchantment. The spell was a variation of Melf’s Acid Arrow, just bigger and more powerful.

He held his arm out a made as if grasping a bow. A sickly green liquid formed out of thin air that was bubbling and fizzing and creating a strong acrid smell. He reached to where the string would be and a green arrow of pure acid magically appeared. He pulled back and released. The arrow flew true and if struck would pierce the shell and the acid would drain into the creature. The acid would cause enough damage to counter any regenerative abilities and with tissue destruction there was nothing to adapt to since the acid would magically change every few seconds so there was always a different acid to counter and not the same.

On the network...

The missile, unable to distinguish between the two minds, exploded on the spot. The Swarmlings falling into the gate had no fears, for that required more intelligence than what they had. Yet clearly Nasagori was not used to extensive mind games, and as the core of The Anti-Swarm's Overmind, his weariness reflected across The Anti-Swarm.

All the anti-Swarmlings slowed down and halted, melting away back into their bodies, Nasagori's mind becoming an open book as his defenses fell. He tried an attack, but it did not have enough strength and cohesion, and so exploded in his face, knocking his mind into the subconcious, and defeating him, mentally.

His memories flooded across The Network.

...

His eyes were opening, waking up from what seemed to be a very deep slumber. He caught his breath in fear, for Nasagori was standing before himself. He looked around, he was inside a large glass tube.

"I have perfected the art of The Clone. Through you I can understand the secrets of The Swarm that destroyed Choria Galaxy thirty years ago by my perception, on the very edge of The Universe. I will follow them across the stars, and through The Warp. I know their projected destination, and by the time they reach it, The Universe will be twice the size it is now. Then, I will say that I have followed The Swarm since its birth, when The Universe was half the size it is now, millions, if not billions of years ago. You, you will carry on my work, and my original memories, and all the memories of all the clones that have come before you. My soul will watch from beyond, wherever it is souls go, if such things even exist. Remember, there is no valid barrier, legal, moral, or otherwise, to stand between you and science. With my death, you shall be unleashed." The Nasagori on the floor looking up at the Nasagori in the tube said.

...

Time and clones had passed since then. Clones, clones of clones, each new generation tweaked and improved upon. Yet how much time exactly was a mystery, forgotten even by Nasagori. He had followed The Swarm from Galaxy to Galaxy, spreading The Consortium in his wake. A collection of scientists devoted to research, unaligned with any government. In his room, Nasagori was staring into the mirror.

"The fools don't even realize all I've done is steal their technology and leave them with a flawed system to call a consortium. There never has been, nor will there ever be a consortium, only The Swarm, and my pursuit of them. Perhaps someday I will gain an entire nation, or even a colony. Then I can throw all pretense of pure scientific pursuit out the window, and spread my influence accross the galaxies, forming an intergalactic empire to capture, control, and research The Swarm forevermore."

...

Time had passed yet again, and this time, only the horrifying and incomprehensible form of Malal could be seen. He remembered escaping The Swarm and The Rotan's vengence, but accidentally fell into The Warp. Drifting aimlessly, and unable to control his direction, something powerful had pulled him towards itself, something that revealed itself to be a powerful entity claiming to be known as Malal. Malal's words burned across Nasagori's mind, escaped his memories, and seared themselves into the old man's mind, Zena's mind, and the collective minds of every Rotan on the network, such was their power.

"We are the same, you and I. We both desire the same thing. You hunt The Swarm for knowledge, and I desire The Swarm for glory. Mine hated enemies who consider themselves the true gods of Chaos, but in truth are only as children against my power created The Swarm long ago, when they almost fully cooperated on a single project. The Swarm is such, that their very existence glorifies all four of them, but ignores me. I will not be ignored, for am I not the greater god of Chaos? Does not true Chaos flow only from me? Is it not true, that I can set the four children of Chaos to such bickering as to roll The Materium itself into ever evolving greater scales of conflict? Why then does The Eternal Swarm not give heed to the real God of Chaos? Yes, I seek them for my glory, to bring the light of real Chaos, true Chaos to the materium, to bend all things to my will, and even humble The Avatars of The Multi-Verse themselves before my glory. Therefore Yamato Nasagori, you will be my servant, and worship me. Only with my power enhancing your knowledge, can we achieve our desires. With The Swarm as our weapon, nothing can stand before us. Fall down before me Nasagori and Worship me, I command it. Please me, and you, and all your clones will know happiness beyond your understanding. Fail me, and not even Science can save you from my wrath."

...

The shock of the impact of a deities words broke The Khala Network temporarily, forcing Zena and The Old man off of it, separating The Anti-Swarm and Nasagori from Zena and The Old Man, but not before one last, and extremly important memory entered The Old Man's mind.

...

"My son, I have enhanced your DNA with that of The Swarm's. Go now to Tanthan, and lure The Swarm there. I will be watching from another place far away where no one will think to look for me. It will be interesting to see who, or what, comes to help The Swarm, if anyone at all, and if help does come, what they will use to assist The Swarm. I will be hidden in The Citerian, where the foolish Phenixicans, who worship a bird that isn't even a real god, have given The Swarm a world called Hursi. Once Tanthan is taken care of, I will leave with all The Swarms of Hursi and rejoin you. Do not forget the hidden caverns beneath The Temple of The Avatars in the Tanthanian captial city that Malal revealed to us." A second Dr. Yamato Nasagori said. This one had no Swarmling enhancements, and a fully completed station like the one the Phenixican fleet was to destroy.

...

But, a quick word with the Phenixicans would reveal, Hursi was destroyed, and all Swarms there eradicated with no foreign space stations to be seen anywhere. No fight was put up against the Phenixicans, which left the burning question, Where was the real Dr. Yamato Nasagori?

One important factor was revealed though, the Swarmling Nasagori was hidden in Tanthan, in the capital city, below a temple.

OOC: The Avatars of The Multi-verse are the property of Balrogga.

Zena gasped as she reoriented herself. The tiny fragments of her personality formed a compound eye of sorts when she tried to recall the events of the network. Each held a slightly different perspective of the exact same event and each was in conflict with the others. The old man simply smiled, for he had been watching and collecting each memory to cross the network. "Zena, it appears we have much knowledge Nasagori does not wish for us to hold. Let us spread the good word." His wry smile grew into a grin too big for his face as the duo stood up, intent on returning to the meeting room to pass on what they had learned. The left the cozy little place where they had connected to the network as Zena rummaged through the memories, looking for anything she missed the first time.

The Executor was seeing the representatives of the other fleets back to their fleets, Zasz had come aboard. It was then that Old Man and Zena would run into them. It was now or never, speak, or forever hold his peace.

"Ahh, what happened? I felt The Network shatter."

"Shatter is a wonderful word for it." The Old Man chortled. "If you've got a quick moment, there's time for a story. To make it short, I have seen Nasagori's deepest darkest memories. If you care to see them, we could make a mini movie night out of the whole ordeal."

The Executor looked at everyone else, looked at the briefing room.

"Well, then lets go." he said, sweeping them back to the room.

Inside, he waited for the old man.

"Our machines are controlled by our minds. Use yours, and show us your best." The Executor said.

The old man nodded. "I fear that I know nothing of your machines, so if you'd please lower your mental defenses, just for a moment, I can simply copy my recollection of what happened on the network as well as the memories I picked up from Nasagori. Well, a Nasagori at least." He did not wait for confirmation that any shields they had were lowered, he simply closed his eyes for a second and dropped the memories into their heads as easily as depositing money into a bank. "Note that the Nasagori in this system is merely a clone, but with so called 'improvements' given to him by the swarm. The Nasagori we seek is not here, though this one is equally as dangerous."

Battle for the Spire:


Galvenor pulled back on the bow, ready to let loose another Acid Arrow into the fiend if the first did not hit or if it did and failed to slow down the regeneration abilities of the creature. He muttered a quick chant to make his aim true and readied for the shot.





Overmind Fleet:





Overmind gathered his forces and readied them for a quick transference when the Phenixican fleet to give the go-ahead. From T-Space several vessels appeared by simply fading into reality as the Emerged into Real Space. Each vessel registered as having the mass of a small star and saying the power readings were incredible was a gross understatement. A whole Battlegroup of nineteen ships had arrived. There were eight 60 meter Infernal Frigates (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/InfernalFrigate-2.jpg), four 120 meter Interceptor Destroyers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/interceptor.jpg), four 140 meter Infiltrator Cruisers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/StealthCruiser.jpg), and two 160 meter Impaler Battleships (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/kythonbattleship1.jpg). The command carrier, a 1000 meter Intruder Carrier (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/intrudercarrier.jpg)took Command Position in the formation.

“This is Commander Ith’Qua of The Abigor. I have been sent to assist in this little endeavor and I wish to know where you need our presence.”

The executor raised his eyebrow, the defences weren't up in the first place, and the machines were designed to adapt to the user. Clearly someone needed a boost of confidence.

Meanwhile, The Executor sifted through the memories.

"Commander Ith’Qua, Overmind, not The Swarm's Overmind but your nations own, is acting as representative of your fleet. Right now your fleets task will be to jump in to Tanthan with the Phenixicans and combat The Anti-Swarm, making note to keep the enemy off of Phenixica's back while they destroy Nasagori's station. Any further information can and will be relayed via Overmind. Welcome to the unified Swarmling defence fleet it is a pleasure to have you aboard." Judicator Artanis said.

Meanwhile The Executor spoke.

"What I gather from his memories is that Nasagori is a crafty fellow under the control of a delusional megalomanical self-proclaimed deity. But, he did mention Hursi, what became of it? I must guess that Hursi was taken care of before you came here, I know I certainly wouldn't leave an enemy at my gates to go somewhere else, I cannot imagine anyone else doing so either. Thus it is safe to assume Swarmling Nasagori has been lied to by the other Nasagori. A being that has had Eons untold to travel the universe and steal technology all the way has likely learned places to hide no normal entity would think of. Therefore, even after we take care of The Swarm at Tanthan, this is not finished. I only wish I knew what Nasagori's next move would be." The Executor said.

The old man nodded in a way that reminded Zena of a sage. "As I told Nasagori while I still had a connection to his mind, he is a pawn in his own game. Perhaps another time I shall try to reconnect to his mind and find out more about the original. For all we know, there's more than just these two and the Nasagori previous to this swarm one is creating more clones of himself to rule different parts of the universe. Of course, this is pure speculation and the previous could be dead leaving just this new, not so improved, version. No offense, but I don't like chimera."

Josh wrinkled his nose in absolute disgust as he smelled the acid so close again. "That stuff truly is foul."

“Perhaps,” said Overmind over the Comms channels to both fleets, “If we used our Improbability Drives, we could bust through the FTLi en mass through naturally occurring flaws in the field structure. It would not only take the FTLi down but also cause havoc and confusion along with our arrival. When we arrive, we could initiate a Swarm Maneuver to take on the enemy singlehandedly while the main objective is accomplished.”

It moved so fast that Marvel barely even saw it coming. He moved his arm up to block it, and that's where it struck him. There was a flash of pure white light, and it disappeared.

It's that Angel Armor, the demon-no-more thought. It obliterated whatever was shot at me. Good boy! I'm starting to like this stuff! Marvel didn't wait to press his advantage. Rather than allow whatever that thing was to get off another round, he hit it with a half-time spell. If the spell sunk, its reaction speed would be cut (surprise!) in half. Not waiting to see if the spell had worked, he followed it quickly with a barrage of fireballs.

The spire...

Zeratul ran around to the side to cut the carnifex in half. Between all the attacks, the thing gave up and died. It was then that the sound of knocking could be heard coming from a large box crate. It was rattling and rumbling around. Zeratul approached it cautiously, and poked it.

The box exploded as Irene burst out of it. Zeratul fell backwards, the box shards rebounding off of a force field that emanated naturally from his body. Irene picked Zeratul up and shook him.

"NEXT TIME WATCH WHERE YOUR SENDING ME!" she screamed at him.

"Mercy dear lady, I had no control over it, trust me."

"ARRRGH!" she screamed some more and tossed him to the side and walked off, punching another crate previously hidden in the corner. It broke apart to reveal a Rotan probe that had been stuck in it in its type two formation which was vaguely humanoid.

She glared at Zeratul as though it were somehow all his fault.

She walked over to the door.

"Lets get this show on the road." she growled. Then she opened the door. A Gauntling jumped out at her, and in one single move she both ripped its throat out and threw the dead swarmling off to the side.

The hallway ran to the left, and to the right. Irene was busy sniffing the air.

"There are three weak Swarmlings to the right, and one strong, but not powerful swarmling to the left. Something in the air is setting my nerves on edge, as though something, wrong, lurks somewhere ahead." she said.

"I am fear no Swarmling, left or right, right or wrong, anything that stands in our way shall perish beneath my blade." Zeratul said with just the right amount of confidence to be inspiring.

At the fleet...

"To be honest, never before had I heard of such a thing as being possible, though our scientists have theorized the idea. If it is possible, then let it be done. All Commanders are to immediately depart to their fleets to get final preparations done. We leave in half an hour." The Executor said.

Josh chuckled as he recalled his various teleportations. Crap like that hasn't happened to him in years. "Reminds me of the time I teleported into the vault of a bank." He mused out loud, walking to Irene. Zeratul's little spiel failed to inspire him. Somehow the confidence came off as arrogance. He put his palm out on the wall and felt through their location. "I'd rather go to the left if my opinion matters."

The Admiral answered the question from the Executor

"We fractured the planet and then glassed it, Hursi in it's current state is so unstable nothing can survive on it's surface and whatever did would of died from the bombardment from my ships right after. The Empress sent her personal fleet to guard the system to make sure nothing survived as we are aware how hard it can be to eradicate a infestation like the Swarm"

Then he turns to another matter

"The Leviathan will have to get in close to assure the slow moving Shadow Torpedo's cannot be harmed, we hopefully have enough ships to hold back any attack by the swarm but we will be in a weak position....I do expect heavy casualties on our part if the enemy gets wind of our intentions before they can be properly distracted and bogged down"

The Admiral stands and starts to walk out

"Harrison will remain behind to answer any further questions" The Admiral hands over to Harrison a datapad which allowed for him to get quick references so he knew what would make the Empire most happy.

"I must join my fleet"

Harrison toke the Admirals place and continued

"if something survived the attack on Hursi, to put what the Admiral said in a nutshell, nothing could of survived the attack. Phenixica has had to Fracture&Glass hundreds of worlds in the past"

Home Fleet, IPN Leviathan
The Admiral was quick to arrive and take his place, he decided he could best lead the fleet with the advance systems on the Leviathan which was pretty much created to be a mobile base of operations during wartime.

He opened communications with the Allied Fleet

"Admiral Druk of the Phenixican Home Fleet, we will enter SlipSpace when everybody is ready. Our fleet is going to be on the defensive and escorting the Leviathan so we cannot offer any support to your fleets without Jeopardizing the main objective. Our idea is simply one well aimed Shadow Torpedo detonated just outside the the objective will open a small black hole and absorb the enter structure, we have 7 of them modified for such a task. If we take heavy casualties we will try and call on reinforcements from our galaxy but if it works depends on the strength of any FTL Inhibitors in the system"

"Admiral Druk, The Balroggan fleet will be giving us all the means of arrival. Additionally, it is their fleet that will, in essence, watch your back while you destroy the station, as their primary task is to combat The Anti-Swarm.

Knowing the fate of Hursi only reinforces the question of the other Nasagori's whereabouts." The Executor said.

Zasz nodded.

"The real Swarm is ready to go at a moments notice."

"Our fleets are prepared as well." The Executor said.

Judicator Artanis nodded.

"Then it seems we wait only on The Balroggans to get us there. I advise you Executor to have Colony fleet five donate the system they were considering for settlement yesterday to The Tanthanians. They have already established Gateways enabling us to send Tanthanians to the new system. It is suitable for Elven needs." Artanis said.

"Then it shall be so. Zasz, I shall send you the coordinates while you load Tanthanians into The Hive Ships." The Executor said.

"We only need the Crystal Spire taken care of to completly remove the Tanthanians." Zasz said.

Overmind spoke up.

“If you desire to use our Improbability Drives to circumvent the FTLi in the system you will have to do as I say. Our method uses and takes advantage of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In any given system there will be entropy. This means there are natural flaws that occur in the FTLi that can be sought out and used as weak point. A fleet arriving will each seek out their own flaw to enter. This means if we just bunched together and activated out drives we could be scattered about the system randomly depending where each drive found a flaw.”

“Now, if you were to get your ships as close as possible we can use our fleet to physically interlock them all together so there is one ship going through and one ship emerging in a single location. I know it sounds strange but we have used this in the past and it has worked. This will get us all there in, and excuse me for the pun, one piece.”

Knowing they would agree in order to strike at the enemy, Overmind began to prepare for his maneuver. Once the fleets were in position (including the Swarm that were riding along) the Ta’Nar vessels seemed to fragment or unravel into tiny pieces only about the size of a man or slightly larger. These pieces began to fly around as if alive and reorganized themselves into a connective webbing of some sort interconnecting each and every shit that lined up after being instructed by Overmind. After everything was locked in, space began to warp and stretch as the Ta’Nar activated the Improbability Drive.

“Be prepared, we have never tried this on corporeal beings such as you but we have never had a problem before. Things might get weird for a bit.”

Space suddenly collapsed in upon itself and bright lights seemed to flood everyone’s senses. Some among the crew felt as if the universe contracted while others felt it expand. Many saw intense geometric patterns or even scenes of worlds they have never seen before. Time seemed to stretch of through infinity and yet seemed to take no time at all. Entire lifetimes passed in moments until they were again suddenly reborn into Real Space.

(Please see OOC Thread for more details)

When they arrived, the entire trip took only a few seconds and the Ta’Nar structure binding everyone together disintegrated back into the small chunks which immediately took their normal Kython forms and flew Swarm patterns against the organic Anti-swarm. The black metallic death guarded the backs of the attack fleet with their very existence, waiting for the reaction of the defenders and the counter-attack so they could eat.

The Rotan were as giddy as school children.

"Can we go again huh can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we can we?" The executor asked in a thoroughly undignified manner whilst bouncing up and down in his chair like a five year old boy, chorused in a similar manner by every other Rotan in the fleet.


"I shink we (hic) know how that effecsh Rotannians. Boy I feel wo-woozshy(hic). Remindsh me of the drunk human I ate onsh(hic). Boy thoshe were god, gots, good timesh. (hic)" Zasz said, stumbling about like a drunk woman. The rest of The Swarm was acting in a similar manner. Clearly niether The Swarm or Rotan fleets where quite prepared for the experience they just had. Good thing they had time to recover.

Meanwhile, innumerable numbers of The Anti-Swarm descended on the fleet firing every ranged weapon they had available.

Marvel took the spell off the dead thing, returning the mojo to his control. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and went after the others.

Fun place, this. All it needed was a few mirrors.

"Well, as the only one who stated a preference, to the left we go." Irene said.

She turned and lead the way down the hall to the left. It went for about twenty feet then turned right. It went straight for a hundred feet or so with doors scattered all along the way. The doors revealed nothing spectacular. A few empty storage rooms, and a small janitorial supply closet. Then the hall curved to the right again. Irene put her hands to the wall.

"This hall curves around in a large square." she said, then moved about three feet before a death leaper leaped off the ceiling firing a ball of Bio-Plasma at her. Irene grabbed the lictor with her wings and threw it at Zeratul who robbed it of its assortment of symbiotic weapons as it fell to the ground between Marvel, Josh, and Galvenor.

The Lictor was quick though, and got to its feet swinging its deadly claws faster than most men could move for Josh's throat.

Josh vanished from the spot, not bothering with any other movement until he appeared on the creature's back. He held on with his left arm while his right hand broke it's glove becoming a blade. Wasting no time, he aimed for the back of the creature's skull and sent metal fragments into it's head. "Why is it that security is most effective when it's creatures, not devices?"

"Because creatures are instinctive and territorial. Anyways, I doubt they have anything worth breaking a sweat over kept here." Irene said as the lictor fell to the floor and died.

She opened a nearby door, and spotted both an elevator, and another door on the other side.

"Good, we can get to the rest of the station through here, come on." She said, and moved in.

The massive hold was silent, and dark.

"Something has died in here." Irene said, holding her nose against the stench of death.

The sound of something hitting the floor came seconds after the lights came on. Rather, they were always on, just blocked. That which blocked them had fallen to the floor around them, the entire upper level. Four massive Swarmlings were upon it. One a mass of Bio-steel, one an ever changing mystery, one a beautiful humanoid weilding a long barbed whip, and one a giant worm with many wounds, yet somehow still alive.

"Crap!" Irene cussed.

"These are strange abominations." Zeratul said.

"No, their the children of Chaos, each takes after one of the four primary gods of Chaos." Irene said growing pale.

The mass of Bio-steel appeared to shake itself out of its daydream, and stood up. It had four powerful arms, with claws that no publicly known substance could stop. It punched the floor causing the entire room to buckle under the shockwave. Clearly it was the son of Khorne.

Zeratul leaped over the shockwave to take on the behemoth personally, while Irene took to flight.

The Daughter of Slaanesh cracked her whip at Irene and took off running up the walls to chase her around the room and torment her with her whip.

Meanwhile, The Swarmling that kept changing on a regular basis lifted what was at first a normal human hand, then a Swarmling Claw, then a Crab pincer, and fired what was at first a pistol, then a machine gun, and finally a shoulder mounted cannon at Josh. The Projectile was a small sphere of exploding Bio-Plasma. He was The Son of Tzeentch.

But Marvel wasn't left out. The deceased carrion worm that was The Son of Nurgle crawled toward the red gargoyle demon to share Nurgle's many gifts with him. He spat a small ball of disease at the demon.

On the upper floor a coven of thirty Swarmling Prophets waved their hands, working the powers of Chaos. They were working up a group attack.

OOC: While much more difficult than the easy path, the hard path is also shorter. Congrats on finding the mission mid-boss! The Children of Chaos, a custom breed of Swarmling brought to you by The Eternal Swarm. :)

Josh swore profusely while dodging the plasma. Enjoying the thrill of constant change, he leapt with usually restrained strength toward the Son of Tzeentch. Not bothering to reform the hand he'd lost in the previous monster's head, he simply let his forearm shift into a thin into a long and broad sword. Though slower and slightly off balance, he struck at his opponent's head. At least, he thought it was the head, he couldn't be sure.

OOC: Hand picked opponents, nice. While I probably just took the hardest route, it seems it's what you were after.

The Admiral stands with his advisers around a hologram of the system, it was working on waves of light to give them a tactical overview of the system

"Cloak the ships and order all battle cruisers to charge Yomato Cannons and for fighters to be ready to launch, we are not to attack the enemy until they are all over us"

All of the sudden it was picked up on the map, the image of the station and the Admiral toke his chance

"It will take moments to reach, but we must protect the Leviathan. Order the ships to form a defensive ball around the Leviathan we all know typical formation people so lets get started. Remember that the children of the Phoenix cannot die but instead are reborn! Give this life to the Empire and sing the guardians song of victory!"

The Admiral looks at a closeup of his fleet as the ships move into formation, as long as the Leviathan survived to get close enough to fire a Shadow Torpedo the battle will be won.

OOC:Home Fleet
* 1 Leviathan
* 70 Benemoth Class Battlecruisers
* 150 Resolution Class Heavy Cruiser
* 150 Revelation Class Frigates
* 250 Valkyrie Class Light Frigates
* 25 Bertha Carriers

Marvel hit himself with two doses of double time. This gave him a moment to deliberate what to do--after he got clear of the shockwave. He decided to give the worm what it wanted and then take it away again. After all, he was no ordinary hell spawn. He had style, and he really didn't have a lot of patience--and it was going to learn this. They all were. One of these things was simply not a sufficient adversary.

-----------

OOC: Lest you forget, demons are arrogant. :) :) :)

-----------

IC:

The ball of disease hit Marvel (actually, an illusion he had constructed) and "he" crumpled into a little green ball of ooze. Then, the ball of ooze started rolling toward the worm. Thinking for a moment that its weapon had somehow been turned against it, it froze and tried to counter its own spell.

At that moment, Marvel reappeared behind it. Extending his hands, he bent the space nearby to tear a chunk out of the wall--in the shape of...a giant fly swatter.

WHAM!!!

The chunk of wall lifted to reveal a big, green stain. Then, it slammed into the behemouth, shattering on impact. Marvel doubted that it would stop the thing, but it would probably slow it down, and Zeratul could no doubt use the distraction.

Next, the demon launched a Division Wave at the Daughter of Slaanesh. This was a variant on the Concussion Wave, but, instead of driving its target back, it sliced.

Finally, the ball of disease, freed of its illusory state, appeared on the far wall. Marvel took control of the space around it and chucked it right into the mass of the changeling.

Yet still, the son of Nurgle lived. However the wounds it had sustained revealed its deadliest aspect of all, for Nurgle's Rot began to fill the air. Deadlier than any other disease, only those without a body were truly immune to it. The worm began crawling back towards Marvel.

Meanwhile, The Daughter of Slaanesh simply moved out of the way. Only a slight blur was visible when she moved, such was her speed. She ran behind Marvel to snap him in the ass with her whip, then ran off again to continue tormenting Irene with her whip.

The son of Tzeentch saw both attacks coming, and turned the disease ball upon Josh while teleporting away at the same moment.

It reappeared in the middle of the prophets who at that moment cast their energy towards the center. The son of tzeentch took it, and concentrated it into an extraordinarily powerful attack known as The Death Wave. Simply, it consisted of not one, but two concussion waves, each the length, width, and depth of the entire room, each coming from opposite sides, each with the strength to crush whomever, or whatever was caught in it, to death. The Anti-Swarmlings all began to glow red, draining only the sections they were caught in.

Zeratul tucked himself into the arms of the son of Khorne, and brought the Swarmling down on top of him, realizing what was going on.

Irene meanwhile grabbed the daughter of Slaanesh's whip and pulled her towards the chaotic swarmling. She grabbed her and drove her through the attack and then threw her down to the first level to attack the prophets.

"Its bad enough without you lot interfering. I've always despised the priest breeds, whining sniveling cowards without the ability to defend themselves." she said, and slaughtered three of them in a single pass.

Yet, something happened, and everyone could see it, when the three prophets were killed, the children of Chaos froze.

Irene looked at them, then back at the prophets.

"Listen to me, Malal is not your master, The Gods would not want you to serve him, he is their enemy. Break the control, fight him, help us fight him." she said, exhorting the children of Chaos to break the bonds the prophets had on them.

They strained, they visibly strained, obviously not wanting their current situation, but then the prophets began muttering lies to them again in Chaotic, and reinforced the bonds.

Perhaps if the prophets were all killed....

Ohhhh, it's tough. This is going to be more fun than I thought! With a sadistic smile, Marvel, still at Double Time, reached out his hand and once again took control of space--this time, the space around the disease. He increased the space density until the air inside of it became almost a solid object--nothing was going in or out, not even Nurgle's rot. Now, all he would have to do is constrict the zone until...smoosh!

It was then that the demon saw the Dominatrix move. "Now that's what I like," he said, "a fast wo--OWW!" Even at Double Time, it seemed, he wasn't fast enough to get out of the way of that whip. As the pain raced up his spine, he came to the realization that this was not to be tolerated. No one caused him pain and got away with it. He froze his little cage of space and turned to the real problem.

First, he hit himself with another Double Time. Now, at four times normal speed, he extended his arm and let loose a targeted spell--targeted right on the Dominatrix.

"Let's see you outrun this! Bolton!" And with that, he fired the bolt of Bolton, lightning on steroids, straight into her.

It was then that he heard the end of a Concussion Wave spell. He almost laughed. Concussion Waves were pathetic spells, useful only against those who know almost nothing about them, or when cast as a surprise. This was neither. He squeezed a fist. "Shaldon!" and brought up the Shaldon Shield--compete protection against any form of Concussion Wave. Unfortunately, the spell was too far along for him to move the shield--he would only be able to protect himself. But, when the thing passed, he'd have an attitude. He was already hot under the collar. These things were going down.

---------------------

OOC: Where are these prophets you're referring to? They weren't mentioned in the post that originally described the monsters.

OOC:On the upper floor a coven of thirty Swarmling Prophets waved their hands, working the powers of Chaos. They were working up a group attack.
Yes I did, right after the bit about telling you that The Son of Nurgle was attacking you. The Prophets are the key to the whole situation. The Children of Chaos are controlled not by The Overmind, but by religion. The Prophets though, are controlled by The Overmind, but this bunch was stolen by Nasagori.

IC:

AS the Bolton hit her, the daughter of Slaanesh screamed in orgasmic delight, taking pleasure in the agony of the spell to such a degree that she played with herself for a few seconds not caring who was there or who watched. When it was all over, she seemed even stronger than before.

"Oh come on Lover, surely you can do better than that." she cried almost plaintivly.

~~~

Outside in the Tanthan system...

Multiple Hive ships, both armored and unarmored turned and began firing on the fleets, even as multi-millions of Jets swarmed out of the Hives and began firing directly. They were going for everyone.

The Rotan Carriers launched their assorted compliments of fighters and began fighting back, even as the rest of the fleet descended to the planets to begin evacuation. The Swarm went with them, to combat the swarms on the planets.

But that still left over 7/8ths of The Anti-Swarm to contend with, and The Anti-Swarm was pumping them out just as quickly as they could be killed.

Meanwhile, onboard the unfinished station...

"There's the signal we were told to look for, assistance has come to Tanthan. By Nasagori's orders, FIRE THE SUPERNOVA CANNON!"

Power levels within the station began to rise to phenomenal rates.
(1/10)

On the worlds below, it just so happened that The Executor's flagship upon which Harrison, Zena, and The Old Man were gathered with The Executor and Judicator Artanis chose the exact world in which the capital of Tanthan was based.

"Zena, Harrison, Old Man who hasn't told us your name yet, you three WILL assist with Evacuations, which also happens to include killing every Anti-Swarmling you run across. Basically, if its Swarmling, and it tries to Kill you, return the favor." The Executor said, and then took all three of them to the world below. Zasz flew out of the ship as it was descending, and could be seen darting about in the distance killing Swarmlings and assaulting Hive Ships.

A large group of assorted Swarmlings tried to attack, but The Executor merely scowled in their general direction and every single one of them suddenly blew up with tremendous force into a Psionic Storm which began ravaging everything it came across without exception, Rotan, Swarmling, Tanthan, or otherwise. Fortunately, only Anti-Swarmlings felt its wrath leaving a swath of destruction it normally took heavy weaponry to create.

A man in a very nice suit and tie came running over escorted by armed guard with weaponry that didn't stand anything even remotely resembling a chance against something like The Swarm to greet them.

"Mort's Prophecy is coming true! I'm so excited to see you. It was written that Linked minds would come to fight the stolen children, and with them would come the stolen children's siblings, Scholars from The tower clothed in White, and the Children of The Firebird. There's more, but we don't have time. I can't leave my world without the most important of my people's artifacts, and its housed in The Temple of The Avatars. It is a tome held by a statue in the likeness of Beldragos upon which are the sacred writings given to us by the gods themselves." the man said.

"How old is this prophecy?" Artanis asked.

"Never mind that, if it'll get you out of here and to safety, where is it?" The executor asked.

"It's about three days old, My wife had the prophecy personally and so it was written down. The temple is this way!" the man said.

"Mr. President, we don't have time, we need to get you to safety!" his guards said.

"Nothing is more important than that Tome, it holds the key to what's to come!" the man now known as the president of Tanthan said.

"We'll all go together for safety. My people have the power of Dimensional Recall, and can use it to pull us to safety once we have the tome." The executor said.

The president nodded and took off running to lead the group.

A masochist! Ohhh, and I thought I was gonna have fun with the LAST one!

Maybe she didn't realize it, but there was a severe problem with her pleasure spikes: they immobilized her. And during that time, any mage worth his weight in horse manure could start up a batch of fireworks that she could never get away from.

And that's what Marvel did.

"For you, anything," he retorted.

"Bolton!" he hit her again...and waited...and, as the smile came over her face, he started up another of his space-contortion spells. This time, he found about ten inches around the end of her whip...and proceeded to use it to wrap the thing around her. In a moment, she was all tied up. "That should be fun," he said.

And then, he heard voices...coming from above...and looked up...and saw a whole bunch of little uglies in ugly little places making ugly little words with their ugly little faces. In fact, he recognized their language.

They're speaking in Chaotic!

Marvel had needed to learn the rudiments of the tongue back in his days as in the Diplomatic Corps.

So he began to listen. It wasn't easy--the words were being spoken four times slower than he was used to...

...and there were a few minor distractions.

*Translated from Chaotic to Galactic Common. Some meaning and intent has been lost in translation

Obey The Overmind. Destroy the intruders, protect the treasure, defend the perfection. These ones are not your friends, they are not your allies. Only Malal is your friend, only Malal is truth. Son of Tzeentch, use your power, free the daughter of Slaanesh. We are your masters, Destroy The red Gargoyle Demon wearing the armor of Angels. Do it, NOW!

The son of Tzeentch struggled against the bonds that held him enslaved to the Prophets.

"I....DON'T....WANT....TO....I....WILL....DESTROY....YOU!" The son of Tzeentch said, revealing that more swarmlings than just Cerebrates and The Overmind could speak and be understood.

A great ball of energy formed in its hands, and the lights began to flicker on and off, steadily growing dimmer with each passing second. It aimed the energy first at Marvel, then at the prophets around it switching back and forth trying to exert its free will over the commands of the prophets near it. They had all clustered into a small group. Prophets were never tactical geniuses.

Meanwhile, The daughter of Slaanesh seemed to be thoroughly enjoying being tied up.

Josh had followed the son of Tzeentch, easily avoiding the concussion wave by pure accident and had since busied himself working out a weak point in his opponent. Luckily for him, his enemies' weak points were not a tangible thing, but rather, a group he didn't really care for to begin with. His language translation spell only worked so far, picking up on things and actions, not the who or why. "Sorry we lack the shining armor, but your knights have arrived."
Almost lazily his arm returned to normal as he arrived by the cluster of morons. "You can die now." He said, forming a soundproof sphere around them and beginning to compress it. As an afterthought, he kicked the ball of prophets and sent it tumbling to the bottom of their makeshift arena, it's size not ceasing to diminish.

Marvel stepped forward.

"They lie!" he said, in bastardized Chaotic. "Malal is your enemy! We wouldn't be here if he hadn't attacked! He's using you! They're all using you! Break free!"

If it worked, there would be no need to even harm the so-called prophets. Nothing is more pathetic than a false prophet who has been exposed.

Fleet Battle:



As the defender ships and Swarmlings flew towards the attacking fleet, the Ta’Nar vessels simply seemed to disintegrate into small man-sized chunks of black metal. Each Kython then took it’s form and accelerated to meet the incoming attacks. They didn’t even try to dodge the energy attacks, instead simply absorbing them and multiplying. The power was absorbed and fed into their regenerative cycles until they split into two, then two into four, then eight doubling with each attack their numbers until the Kython Swarm was terrifying.

Too bad that was not the terrifying part of the Kythons.

As the black spiky living avatars of death clashed with the incoming attackers, they went into full combat mode. Violet dimensional blades extended from each of their appendages. These foot long blades were simple containment fields easily broken by any energy or matter allowing the dimensional rupture contained within to affect the matter, effectively slicing through anything as if they were using a light saber on a soft stick of butter. Gun and engine parts would fly off and canopies were ruptured, being the chief targets of the strikes meant to incapacitate the fighters and even larger ships. The foot long claws would make short work of airlocks and viewports, flooding the chambers beyond with vacuum.

Matter that came into contact with the bodies of the Kythons would get another nasty surprise. Black marks would begin at a touch and quickly spread through the object jumping from atom to atom until they were taken over and new Kythons would emerge. This was known as the Kython Infection so many feared for good reason, any ship devoured in this way would become under the control of the Kythons whether it was used to birth more of the Swarm or to take control. Once a vessel was absorbed into the Kythons it would become part of them, its schematics stored within Overmind for future imitation and use. Computers would be drained and the knowledge absorbed into the grand group mind the Kythons shared. Infected vessels soon had their weapons turned back upon other allied ships, opening fire upon them. Ta’Nar weapons bloomed out of infected hulls and added their power to the original weapons load out.

As the Kythons attacked, the Kython Death Scream erupted. It was a psionic attack that caused those affectively within range to hear the death cries of their loved ones played endlessly back at full volume within their minds. A typical response was to clasp one’s hands over ears in a vain attempt to shut out the voices, allowing the Kythons to tear apart the vessels unopposed. Range was a thousand meters and mind shields only lowered the volume off the attack since it was backed by the strength of thousands upon thousands of Kythons at once.

The Kythons could be seen as the perfect weapon of Chaos themselves, War blades, Infection, Psionics, and infinite energy spurred reproduction all wrapped into a single nasty package which operated as a single body. The enemy really had no idea what just hit them with the impact of a star supernova. Swarmlings fared even worse, the Infection would be carried throughout the body by their own circulatory system so once it was infected there was only a one way road to be taken.

Phenixican Fleet

The Admiral sat on his chair overlooking the battle and then heard a voice from behind him.

"The SuperNova Cannon is charging sir, they are preparing to fire!"

The Admiral looked over in shock at what he just heard he knew it was possible but he was hoping he could avoid this kind of pressure and just go for the objective. Good thing is Phenixican cloaking was simply putting so much energy into the shield that it became reflective and all that could make them stand out was looking for a powerful energy signature and then guessing what it was and not mistaking it for an anomaly in space.

The problem is the shielding is made to absorb energy weapons, so imagine what’s happens when you fire energy on a shield that has been put on almost overload.

“What are your orders Admiral?” the advisers look to him, other than rebellions the Phenixican Military has been rather lazy the last decade or so.

“We keep moving, all this does it make us have to destroy it faster than originally intended. Remember we do not fight until we are at point blank range with the enemy that’s when our ships will have the advantage”

The Fleet moves forward, in a sort of Oval Sphere like formation with the Leviathan in the middle protected from attack when it would eventually arrive. As the hive ships start firing at their allies he knew the cloaks usefulness would only last a matter of minutes before Nasagori’s forces caught on.

Harrison

David was not trained for something so vast, the Knights of the Burning Sky were more Agents then Soldiers in fact the title of Knight can be quite misleading when talking about the order. He takes his unorthodox Katana out of its sheath and quickly runs off to help bring people to the ship but of course around his first corner he finds about 4 Swarmlings clawing at a door which of course meant that he would have to fight them.

It takes his katana into both his hands and runs up preparing to swing with precision to kill the first as one quickly turns and launches at him with his only response was to throw it back by using a concentrated blast of fire.

He thought to himself all I wanted to do was serve the Empire and redeem my name, what is the point of this journey of redemption if I cannot finish it.

Another one launches at him and his response was to immediately cut off its head with his Katana while hurling a fireball which exploded like dynamite when it came into contact with the ground. His robotic arm had made him unable to channel his magic fast enough and he had been forced to have to use his sword more often than most Knights would. The Order knew that swords were impractical but they were kept around for tradition sake.

In the station...

"Let us be your prophets. You know me instinctively, the knowledge of who and what I am was burned within the deepest recesses of your mind the day you were formed as Gauntlings. If you trust no one else, trust me. You have free will, unlike any other Swarmlings, bound only by the will of Chaos." Irene said.

The son of Tzeentch released the sphere even as the prophets fell to the floor below.

"Trust me." she said soothingly, releasing her most potent non-violent power, The Deadly Allure. It was in essence, Pheromones empowered to such a degree that no fleshy organism could fully refrain from doing whatever she wished, unless there was someone else they truly loved.

"Foul traitors. Malal is the enemy of Chaos. He is Chaos attacking Chaos, a Renegade! My god is supposed to be the crafty liar, not you lot!" the son of Tzeentch growled and summoned the most powerful flame he could manage from the deepest pit of Hell he could find, and the only thing left of the prophets five seconds later the only thing left were ashes.

The children of Chaos stopped and stood down.

"I am sorry my queen, but I could not resist. Their combined power was so great, not even we could make our own decision. Please tell us how we can make up for our transgressions." He said.

"By taking us on the quickest route to the base of The Crystal Spire." Irene said. Then she stopped.

"I don't know how they did it, but somehow, the fleets are already in system. I can sense tremendous fighting. Worse than that, Nasagori's Supernova Cannon is charging. We must hurry." she said.

The son of Tzeentch took two steps forward towards a nearby elevator, then rushed to Irene's side as she passed out.

"Its The Overmind, it is weakening even further and lashing out in pain! If you value your life, shield your mind!" The son of Tzeentch said.

Zerus...

A great mountain of flesh, tentacles, and eyes was growing paler, and weaker.

A single, well known, highly wanted man stood before it.

"I love wild goose chases. It was so easy. Split my new toys in half, and send the weaker to a nameless system to distract you morons and whatever fools came to help them, while the rest circled around taking the long way to come up on the system from behind. I bet no one realizes I never even left Zerus. You Swarms are remarkably easy to hide from. Change the visible wavelengths that my physical body vibrates in to one you things can't detect yet, and take a certain pill to kill myself for a few hours to cease all brain functions, and its as though I'm nowhere to be found. I wonder how long the weak imitation clone of me will last. I estimate a few minutes at most, as without regular injections of a certain substance, he'll wash away like so much waste. The only thing standing between me and victory, is you, and I've already taken care of that, now haven't I? Yes, a certain toxin it seems you can't evolve immunity to fast enough. Within a few days, you will be dead, and without you, or another Overmind, your swarm will die.
I must admit, I wish those quacks and fools and morons would all come back here in a few days after you die, after I've established myself. Then we could discover who was mightier once and for all. Master tells me the old sigils, runes, and seals, long forgotten by mortal races for thousands of years, are beginning to light up with power. I wonder, are they really going to try, that? Who would the vessel be?" Dr. Yamato Nasagori, the real one, asked, speaking to an entity he knew couldn't hear him.

Bolts of Psionic energy began to lash out from The Overmind.

"Your quite frightened aren't you?" Nasagori said, knowing he was safe. No one could yet find him, because The Overmind couldn't find him. Any attempts to see what was happening in Zerus would only find a dying Overmind flailing about pitifully, as scans would first pass through The Overmind. But just to be safe, Nasagori actually hid inside The Overmind. Its body would naturally mask his signatures.

Back in Tanthan at the fleet...

The unfinished station began to glow as the engines The Supernova Cannon charged even further. It was currently producing enough planet to blow an entire continent off a planet without much trouble. (2/10)

The Anti-Swarm was untroubled by The Death Scream and went about business as normal. Perhaps on most other species it would work, but Swarmlings were incapable of feeling love, and so that emotion could not be used against them. The rest of the attack was extremely effective however, infact, The Anti-Swarm made no effort to resist it and was actually actively encouraging it. Information could be gleaned both ways. Just as The Kythons learned about The Anti-Swarm as they went, so too did The Anti-Swarm learn about The Kythons. Two interesting notes of information could be found amid all the data gleaned from The Anti-Overmind. It seemed that The Anti-Swarm was again split into two Overminds, and this swarm had no idea where the other was. This swarm was dying though, even without assistance.

The only other note was of tactical importance. It seemed there was an entire other fleet hidden in another layer of space that naturally reflected scanners, and was merely waiting for a signal to attack.

Meanwhile, the Phenixicans had drawn close to the unfinished station. Infact, if they were any closer, a crew member could figuratively speaking of course, reach out a hatch and knock on the stations front door.

On the primary city of Tanthan...

The Executor felt a sense of dread creeping up within him. Good thing they had reached the temple.

"This is The Executor to the entire combined allied fleet, shield your minds, a powerful Psionic attack is coming, from The Overmind, it's dying!" he said, suddenly realizing what was going on.

He shielded his mind, and cursed himself for not realizing Nasagori had likely poisoned The Overmind in his original attack.

From the good swarm that everyone was helping, came a massive scream of pain that was The Overmind's. From their bodies came great bolts of Psionic lightning that would rip through material and immaterial alike, standing a high 80% chance of killing or destroying anything it came into contact with, unless, as The Executor had warned, it was properly shielded.

Harrison...

Three Rotans threw Psionic Shields around Harrison to shield him from the attack, then shielded themselves. One was a Zealot, a common foot soldier, one was a High Templar, and boasted powers similar to that of The Executor, but much weaker in comparison, yet far more powerful than a zealot, and one was a Dark Templar, like Zeratul, but not as skilled. Knowing he was separated from the group, these three Rotans would accompany Harrison and provide assistance.

Back in The Spire...

Seconds before the attack....

A horrendous scream erupted from The Children of Chaos and the unconscious Irene, and great Psionic bolts of energy lashed out from them in The Overmind's last and most powerful attack it would ever produce. Like the rest of the attack in the fleet, it stood a high 80% chance of killing or destroying whatever it touched, unless of course, it was properly shielded against.

It was definitely a moment in which Galvenor was needed.

A full minute later, the Children of Chaos stopped screaming and returned to normal, as would the rest of The good Swarm, but Irene was missing. Only a charred outline was left on the floor where she had fallen.

"She is gone. But not dead or destroyed. I don't know how to explain what is going on, but I will try. It is common knowledge, that Irene is favored by The Overmind. A contingency was made that if something ever happened to The Overmind, she would be a part of its rebirth. But that's all I, or any other Swarmling knows. Right as The Overmind's death scream erupted, that contingency kicked into action, which took her to a nearby Hive Ship, which should be hiding behind the fleet defensively. Irene and The Overmind are one, but two, for now. We should just move on until we know more, agreed?" The Son of Tzeentch asked.

OOC: Lot going on, but nothing actually happening. Phenixica, good luck with that attack, unless your friendly neighborhood Balrogga feels generous enough to help shield you against such a powerful psionic attack, or do you have such shields?

Either way, a strong shield totally nullifies the attack. Feel free to RP that part everyone.

Also, The Overmind is not dead yet. NOT, dead yet. NOT. That will come in the next IC day or two. As for what's happening with the various Runes, Sigils, and Seals of Chaos mentioned by Nasagori will become abundantly clear in good time. If anyone guesses what it is, don't tell. Feel free to PM your guess to me though.

Finally, what is going on with Irene will also become clear in good time. I only said The Overmind would die halfway through the thread, not when the start of that death would occur. If you think there's a lot going on here in this system, just wait until after the Half-time show when all the stops get pulled out.

((OOC: In order for the shields to be thick enough to reflect light they have to be powerful but unfortunately the shielding is made solely against weapons and nothing of a Psionic Nature. But I do have reasons as to why I brought Knights along))

The Admiral was alarmed at the news, but he was also quick enough to think of a solution

“Get the Knights to prey for protection, the guardians will not let us die”

The message went out and every knight knelled with swords in hand, using all the energy they could muster plus with the Empress they were able to counter it with what would have sounded like flocks of birds singing at the dawn of the sun. Even though the Psionic Attack did not kill anybody in the fleet it did have another very serious affect.

The bridge on the Leviathan was in panic, the shields had deactivated and would take a minute to cool down and reactivate but the Admiral was quick to bring order.

“It was the dam plan anyway, we are close enough! Fire all Yomato Cannons at the station and all other ships in the fleet are to open fire at the enemy at point blank range we will take the enemy completely by surprise!”

The battlecruisers powered up and all 75 of them fired a Yomato Blast each, each blast having the power of 30 Atom Bombs all aimed at throwing the swarm off the scent of Plan A. Turrent and Cannon fire filled the area around the station as the Phenixican Fleet started firing at swarm positions at close range, Bertha Carriers started to release Fighters to add to the protection of the Leviathan.

“Prepare to fire the shadow torpedoes, we will have to get the front of the formation to back off or they will get sucked into the blast. Get those shields up otherwise we will lose more men then needed, our Ablative Armour will not last in this fight”

He turned around to a window which showed the battle not as blips on a projection but as ships turning off and firing weapons at all nearby targets, they were to cause hell before the Anti-Swarm could counter them and then soon they will have the first Shadow Torpedo ready to launch and fire.

The Leviathan just continued to be at the center of the Phenixican formation which went from a oval to one where ships were firing all they had while also preparing to turn around for when the Leviathan was able to deliver it’s payload.

The Admiral opens a transmission

“This is Admiral Druk of the Mystical Empire of Phenixica, Surprise and a Good Day to you”

As weird as it might seem for the Phenixican's it was common practice to show the enemy a somewhat smug attitude, it was actually classed as a battle tactic to make the enemy think they were overconfident.

The Admiral walks around the bridge, an unnatural calm was in the attitude of every officer as their years of training started to kick in, The Empires finest were in the Home Fleet.

Harrison

"Unexpected yet much appreciated"

He then threw another blast to the last Swarmling and started to try and hotwire the door, if people were inside it was naturally the last thing he wanted to do. As he entered he found a large hall with a few hundred people huddled inside.

"I am Harrison of the Phenixican Empire, you are being evacuated to safety out of the system. Please follow this Rotan here" he pointed to one of his followers, ever since the death of his Sidearm he was not keen on having help and did not like the responsibility.

As they slow go out Harrison moves on, he realized he might of jumped to fast to help the people but it was to late not. It was his duty while here to help them even if his Orders Tenants forbid putting anything before the will of the Empire. He was hoping his next encounter would be similar to the last.....he was stronger then when he was on the station but he the day he lost his arm was still in his nightmares.

Joshua, being a far cry from a psion, cobbled together a shield as best he could with a few moment's meditation. In all likelihood, it would probably shield him enough that his abilities would lash out in pain while he survived, moving him to who knows where or producing something horrific. He was relying on the fact that Galvenor was with them and that he would protect them to get through this endeavor. By the time it passed, it appeared he was deep enough in meditating to be asleep. Slowly, he opened his eyes. "If Irene is gone, then we're trusting the four of you to aid us in finishing what we started."

Without so much as the bat of an eyelash, the old man felt the pinpricks of his perpetual shield being attacked and extended it to cover their little traveling party. "Your Overmind really is in trouble. I cannot see this ending well without much effort on the part of the entire Swarm and it's aids. Let us get what we came for, and quickly, as things are degrading far beyond an acceptable rate."
"Agreed." Zena too had felt her shield being attacked and so focused her energies for the moment to raise it's defenses. "We need to evacuate the people here as well. We cannot let them stay here if there's this much danger."

Fleet, Phenixica only:

"Why thank you, but most unfortunately, you were expected so we prepared a little welcoming gift." A crew member replied. Still, the cannon continued its charging. (3/10)

At that exact instant, the entire other fleet that the Kythons had seen jumped out to real space from where they had been hiding before anything could be done about it.

They were half organic, and half machine, Half Swarmling, and half Rotan.

"What the hell are those things?" Zasz asked on the common communications band, and echoing the thoughts of practically every Rotan and Swarmling alive.

"These are the results of Dr. Nasagori's observations on both The Swarm, and The Rotan." the voice responded, sounding pleased.

The ships were strange to look at, half metal, half organic, and the creatures themselves were just as bizarre.

Yet something was wrong, even the most idiotic of observers could tell these were imperfect results. The entire fleet was headed on a suicide course for the Phenixican fleet to blow both fleets up. Meanwhile, the fleet had started melting.

Harrison:

The people nodded, and followed the Zealot.

"The system is fifty percent evacuated, well ahead of projected timetables." The High Templar said.

The people were lead over to a Rotan ship. It in turn lifted off after they got on.

"All that remains are The Rotan, but where is The Executor?" The Dark Templar asked.

The Executor could be seen in the distance, in the main temple of the Tanthans. Whether by fate, chance, or the intervention of higher powers, something would tell Harrison it was time to join The Executor.

Zena and Old Man:

They were with The Executor. Perhaps at one time, the temple was beautiful and a testament to the faith of the Tanthanians.

He lifted the book off a statue, and the whole thing collapsed.

"Do you like my experiment?" a hideous and disgusting voice asked. Swarmling Nasagori emerged from the shadows.

"You are under arrest for crimes against Sentient Creatures. You will be hauled before an international Tribunal to determine your fate." The Executor said.

"No, no. That doesn't fit the timetables. I am to rendezvous with the other in the new system your so kindly taking the Tanthans to in three days. There we will celebrate The Overminds death and our victory by experimenting on the Tanthans. I felt its death scream, I found it highly amusing, even entertaining. Thank Malal I recorded it. Now I can play it back whenever I want and get that same satisfaction again. With Overmind's death Zerus will be a desolate system, and The Swarm will be no more. Don't waste your breath, if you plan on altering my plans, you will do so by force." Swarmling Nasagori said.

Before The Executor could act, He found himself buried behind multiple force fields, alongside the rest of his party. Only Zena and The Old Man were free from Forcefields.

"Now, you two don't seem all that tough in the physical world. How about a rematch, just you two, and me?" Swarmling Nasagori asked.

Without waiting for reply he attacked, shooting twin bolts of Bio-Plasma at them.

The Crystal Spire:
The Swarmlings, taking Josh to be the spokesman for the group, nodded, and turned to the elevator, which had been somehow spared from attack.

"Up we go." He said.

The Daughter of Slaanesh hobbled on over, still unable to get herself free. Zeratul took a moment and unwrapped her. The Daughter of Slaanesh wrapped her arms around Marvel and kissed him on the cheek.

"Your one hell of a lover and a fighter, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

The son of Tzeentch lead them through a maze of corridors and rooms. Without expert guidance, it could've taken days to get through. Oddly, there were no Swarmlings present on this floor. A fact that the son of Khorne commented on.

"We were the guardians for this floor, along with those disgusting prophets. I hate priests. Their weak and good for nothing, not even a descent Meat shield." he said.

The son of Tzeentch lead them to the base of the Crystal Spire.

"Hmm... this is unexpected. It seems this spire has riddles attached to its security.

3 ? 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5, what number is missing from this sequence?

Ahh, there is a second riddle.

34 21 13 8 5 what number comes next in this sequence?" Zeratul asked.
OOC:

To clarify, its Swarmling Nasagori against Zena and Old Man, unless Phenixica hurries up and gets Harrison over there, then its Zena, Old Man, and Harrison against Swarmling Nasagori.

Depending on whether anyone guesses the answer to both riddles in their next post, (Phenixica not eligible for guessing) will determine how soon the spire gang gets there to let me unleash the full extent of a Nasagori's powers. But this one is not as powerful nor as skilled as the real Nasagori.

The old man nearly chuckled as he waved his hand, the bio-plasma wandering off to one side and striking a wall. "I've never put much precedence on physical strength. Of course, a healthy mind is helped by a healthy body." He could see the connections to the anti-swarm this being had and began to put up shields. Of course, his goal was not to keep anything out, he had no problems with something trying to get in to attack Nasagori, no, he wished to keep Nasagori's mind contained within it's shell.
Zena meanwhile went on the offensive, a pleasant change from the previous battle in her opinion. She began to probe her opponent's mind, looking for connections from mind to body and trying to sever them to at least give them some form of protection.

Josh dutifully followed their swarmling guides, staying close, but trying not to seem overly upset about the loss of Irene. "Number puzzles are a bit of a specialty to me." He set to work, looking upward at nothing apparent, and moving his lips silently as he worked through trying to find some rhyme or reason to the first. "Wait." He finally said. "It's not a sequence in the fact that it follows a pattern, it's a sequence in the fact that it's the ratio of a circle's diameter to it's circumference. The missing number is one." He grinned, ever so slightly, as he took a look at the second. "And this one's a piece of pie. 34 minus 21 is 13, 21 minus 13 is 8, and so on. The next number is 3, which would be followed by 2 and then 1, another 1 and so on."

OOC: I'm sorry if I killed anyone's fun, but I honestly do love math riddles, so it seemed natural to project that onto at least one character.

The Admiral was quick to reply

"By the looks of them they are anti-swarm abortions, all Battlecruisers fire your Yomato Cannons at the new targets and fighters get in close and fire your missiles"

He goes back to the holographic projection this fleet could destroy his and all would be lost but they were close, close enough to do what had to be done.

"Arm and fire shadow torpedo!"

All of a sudden a huge hatch opens in front of the Leviathan, the fleet moves back as a large missile fires out of the front. Propelled at high speeds this modified Shadow Torpedo at such close range to the station there was no way the Anti-Swarm could react to it or even know what it was going to do.

The admiral shouts to the enemy

"It will be a warm sunny day in the Void when I accept defeat from your abortions!"

The Leviathan all of a sudden starts firing all it's weapons on its side towards the oncoming fleet, almost doubling the firepower of the entire fleet combined they saw the newcomers ships crumble as they were torn apart like paper to the Phenixican Guns. Ships in the IPN were designed to fight better at point blank range and the closer the enemy got the more damage they would take, it is something that came over from wars in the Citerian where such close quarter fighting was typical.

It fires off several of it's own Yomato Blasts, while heavy cannons from the cruisers and turrent (turrents being turbo lasers, Cannons firing huge beams of Plasma like a drill) fire from Frigates were aimed at the holes created by the blasts. It was pure destructive technology, made to slice and dice ships with prisoners only being taken if they were lucky.

All ships could only take so much damage, even these Aborted Hybrids could only take so much abuse. meanwhile all shields had been reactivated and thus what looked like a electrical storm went over all the phenixican ships...the enemy has been unwise to not take advantage of that situation.

While the others were helping Dominatrix, Marvel had been busy tidying up the Worm. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to either reabsorb or burn off all of the Nurgle's Rot before it could harm anyone.

And no one paid him any heed. He'd taken on all four of the godlike mage-beings and actually neutralized two of them--and was about to start tap dancing on the face of the third--and all he got for his troubles was a little peck on the cheek!

The good news was that it seemed to heal the little red mark on the left flank of his armor. The stuff had obviously taken an ensourceled hit for him, and it wasn't healing well at the time. He was really starting to like that stuff!

So what happens next? Well...fortunately, there were no hard feelings from the Bad Guys...but that's another story. Next, they find a door with some number puzzles...and the best thing that they can come up with is Fibbunaci Numbers! EXCUSE ME, thought the demon-no-more, BUT EVERY FIRST-TERM INDUCTEE INTO THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS LEARNS THESE THINGS. YOU USE THEM IN SPY CODES--BUT NOT DIRECTLY!

And, of course Bionic Joke gets to show off for this. Hell's Bells! Marvel does all the work and everybody else gets all the credit!

The demon-no-more harumphed his way onward.

-------------

OOC: Of course, I personally do not feel that Marvel did all the work, but...you know what a jerk he can be... :) :) :)

As the psionic blast was emitted, Galvenor snapped his shields over each of the others he attuned himself to before the mission. They would not notice them but the defenses would take the brunt of the attack. Even at that strength those sheltered would only feel the minimal effects while most would not even be aware they were protected. Galvenor was not about to let them know he had intervened, it might shake their confidence, something they needed in spades if things got worse ahead.

Galvenor watched Marvel handle himself in the battle and when he was able to catch his eye nodded approvingly to him. It was a subtle recognition of his excellent tactics in the clash they just had without putting anyone else down that did not do as much nor had the chance. Galvenor was sure Marvel would understand, his ability to reason being one of the reasons he was chosen to be one of the Instructors when Marvel himself did not believe he had a chance.

Galvenor was aware of the order put against the demon by one of his lessers and chose to ignore it. It was his right since he was Warlord after all. Anyone that could keep the hunter packs away as long as he had was worth notice indeed. While he was in Galvenor’s presence no demonic agent would dare show his scales. He was safe enough for now.

Space:

The missile successfully hit, and took the station with it. That was planned of course. What wasn't, was the reaction such an attack would have with some of the things inside the station, incomplete as it was. The Black Hole never went away, it just kept growing, and growing at a phenomenal rate. In less than an hour, Tanthan would be a black hole.

Already the massive gravity was pulling at everyone, and everything in space, in the system. The surprise fleet, what was left of it, got pulled in and destroyed, and now the gravity had begun to pull on The Kythons and the Phenixicans...

The Spire...

The security opened, Zeratul stared hard at the machine, little glowing lights going off in the spire. He turned and stared at the faithful probe that had always kept out of the way, and followed along behind the group. Little sparks of electricity sparked across his body. Rotan controlled machinery with their mind, and nothing else, so there were no computer interfaces for anyone to see the monumental effort Zeratul had put in on the matter. Galvenor could, certainly, but that was due to his unique nature.

The Probe moved over to the machine, and more sparks appeared along its body. They surged forward and into the machine. It sparked a chain reaction within the spire, causing a great blue energy to surge through it, making it turn from a material object, to little more than a great devolving mass of energy in the shape of an object, and even that was rapidly losing focus.

The son of tzeentch clapped his appendages over his head(s) as knowledge suddenly began flowing into his mind.

"Great Tzeentch! with the spire gone, I can once more use my power to pull knowledge from The Warp! We are needed! The villain behind this whole event, Dr. Yamato Nasagori's false clone has been discovered. An entity known as Zena and an old man who has yet to give you his name are the only ones fighting him, they cannot hope to match the false clone's power! If you are confused, Zena can explain to you later, she knows the truth, or at least thinks she does. Tzeentch, changer of ways, I pray to thee to open the myriad mysteries of Time and Space to me, let me take these others to where they are needed!" The son of tzeentch said.

Space just fell apart as Energy exploded from The son of Tzeentch. They fell through The Warp, and could see all the many Warp Demons going about their normal activities. Then a gateway opened up, and they suddenly found themselves with Zena and Old Man right as Nasagori's attack was deflected.
OOC: Phenixica, if you want in on the last battle for the Tanthan system, its now or never to get harrison over there. I'm assuming he'll go.
~~~~~~~~~

Nasagori looked around at all the newcomers who suddenly fell into place around him.
"My, all these people, just for little old me? I'm touched, really I am. It seems then, one last struggle. I know my station has been swallowed by a black hole, a black hole that reacted with the gravity experiments I had been conducting to see if I couldn't control that physical property of the universe. Good news, I can, but I need complicated machines to do so. I would explain it to you, but I doubt your ability to comprehend the higher orders of The Universe. But back to that reaction. See, even now, that black hole is growing, and within the hour, it will have devoured the entirety of Tanthan. Even now, I can save Tanthan, but I know you won't stop while you still draw breath. I'm most certain you would want Tanthan destroyed regardless, probably already having discovered the many delightful traps I scattered through the system, including one that would make the sun explode if you kill me. Now won't that be a sight to see, an exploding star versus a growing black hole. Sadly, none of us will get to see that, because I'm going to have to kill you now. Don't worry though, I promise to steal your DNA and use you in future experiments." Swarmling Nasagori said.

A change seemed to occur internally, and a second, third, and fourth Nasagori each of them identical to the original appeared around him, all holographic projections.

"Through the centuries, I have been discovered, and attacked." the second said.

"This just wouldn't do, so I altered my clones. I think you'll like what's to come." the third said.

"From the depths of this living Clone, I summon The Anomaly!." the fourth said, but this statement to the clone.

Swarmling Nasagori screamed in pain as all three holograms rushed into him, sparking a massive chain reaction that spread out into the environment. It was unstoppable, changing both the environment, and Nasagori.

Light began to die, both from the expanding Black hole which could be seen due to the halo of light around it, and because the chain reaction was activly destroying the light itself. The ground began to melt into an oil like substance, even as the Quantum field involuntarily lifted the defenders. Those trapped behind energy shields found themselves free. A metal platform with no railing formed beneath them, and became the only other physical object within the area. Beyond them, swirling masses of energy and colors were all that could be seen, beyond the contest of strength between The Black Hole, and The Sun.

Nasagori had long since disappeared, literally collapsing into himself and becoming a black point. from that point emerged a mass comprised of every body part ever seen on a swarmling ever in history. But there was more than that. Demonic attributes, both from those of The Warp, and those of Hell could be seen along side Dragon characteristics. In the center of the mess, only a pair of white glowing sparks could be seen in the black point, and these were eyes.

With a bloody roar the likes of which could make even the hardest of veteran warriors doubt their own prowess, Anomaly Nasagori attacked.

One limb attacked Marvel, A warp Demon Claw, and this blazed with Khorne's energies, causing the field around it to become blood.

One limb attacked Josh. A Tentical. This one was empowered with Radioactive energies, and caused micro explosions in the field around it as it descended.

One Limb attacked Zena, a Hell Demon Claw. This one burned with Hellfire and ignited the field around it in similar fashion.

One limb attacked Old Man, a Dragon Claw. This one displayed Nurgle's powers, more specifically, the power of Death, and destroyed the field around it as it descended to take Old Man's life.

One Limb attacked Harrison, a Hive Tyrant claw, and this one blazed with the energies of a star.

A small explosion occured where The Executor, Zeratul, and The Sons of Chaos were gathered, knocking them away from each other. Zeratul got up and stabbed a nearby limb, a tentacle, but not the same one attacking Josh. The tentacle dissolved into energy, and Anomaly Nasagori screamed in pain, then simply grew another. The Executor used a Psionic storm on the core of Nasagori, and most curiosly, this caused the surrounding energy fields to slow temporarily.

The son of Khorne ran right up to the edge of the plaform, and assaulted Anomaly Nasagori directly. He severed three limbs, and broke four others, eliciting more screams from Anomaly Nasagori. The son of Tzeentch caused a rain of acid, even as the daughter of Slaanesh tied up part of the unused limbs with her whip. The son of Nurgle made one limb begin to rot, a disease that would spread through Anomaly.

The Tanthan president cowered in the corner in fear, having no weapon to fight with, nor any power to use. He clutched the tome protectively. When his guards fell off the platform, in full sight of everyone, the field swallowed them and devoured them.

Galvenor alone could see what others could not. He could see Nasagori's life fading with each attack, and with each successful attack, the energy field around them grew weaker, and smaller, for the field WAS Nasagori's life force.

OOC: Merging FT and fantasy, bringing the whole affair to its limit, I give you the final battle of Tanthan, but not the end of everything. Totally within the groups limit to handle, Galvenor's role is that of tactical adviser, and keeping the Tanthan president alive.

Easily seeing the radiation, Josh grew ever more thankful for a mechanical limb. Even as the radiation soaked through him, he did what he had hoped never to do again: transmutation upon a sentient being. His entire body shook as he fell to his knees, the tentacle dissolving into a fine mist as he tore through to the core of Nasagori. Every tissue connecting the tentacle to Nasagori's mind rotted away, leaving a wake of dead tissue. Whether Nasagori could clean it and regrow the tentacle, Josh didn't know as the smiles of the Gate Children surrounded him. He felt no pain as they worked their magic, but when they had left, the agony hit in full force. He doubled over and vomited blood. A simple flesh wound, he thought, it will heal.

Zena meanwhile froze. She did not speak. She did not scream, cry, or show any signs that her mind still inhabited her body. The claw struck her, and she crumpled like a house of cards under a lead weight, but her emerald cloak shone brightly. A woman stood above Zena, clothed in a robe of a hue identical to Zena's cloak. She was not plain, but beautiful wasn't the word to describe her either. If it were possible for one to be objective, she would be gorgeous. No, she radiated power, but not anger or physical strength. Her power was that of a shield. She held a bow, and a quiver of arrows was strapped to her back, though it was quite clear she would not use them. She spoke without words, "Thou shall not harm this woman."

The Old Man did not freeze, he welcomed the claw's attack. He knew what it would bring was inevitable in the near future and so instead let the true power of his mind take its leave from its prison. The Old Man's body began to instantly decay, a fine powder landing upon the ground. Despite this, his simple traveling cloak hadn't moved at all. Moments after his body had vanished, a pair of cobalt eyes shone from the hood of his cloak. "Oh that was a bad move." His voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. It had lost the growl and pain of old age, though it held no youth. The dragon's claw ceased movement, seeming to blur for a moment until it fell into individual atoms. The cloak inhabited by the mind of the old man appeared weakened by the force for a moment, though it regained it's composure soon enough.

Fleet
"What the hell is going on!" Admiral shouted at his advisers

"Its reacted with something, it's not dying like it should but getting stronger"

"Fire a Graviton Emitter, Fire several that should slow down it's growth to a snail pace"

All of a sudden several ships around the fleet launched small green balls which were quickly sucked into the black hole but a few manage to activate just before and with there power to create enough gravitational pull to create a planet out of a dust nebula it managed to calm down the vaccum of the Black Hole just enough that it almost completely slowed down.

The Admiral opens communications with everybody he can reach

"That will deal with it for now but I dont know how long such this measure will last, the blackhole shouldnt expand while the emitters are in place but they are made for creating Stars and Planets not destroying Black Holes"

The Phenixican Ships were quick to use all the power in it's fusion reactors and put it into the engines.

Harrison
It was not Harrisons good day, he managed to avoid by leaping back and with his one good hand forcing the Tyrant Claw it erupt into flames melting it's flesh and turning it's bone into charcoal. He starts whispering to himself

"Ruid look over me your warrior, give me strength"

He then stands and points his sword and to where ever the sword pointed he could channel his power and make explosions erupt all over the enemies skin. He got the message from the Admiral then repeatedit.

"The Black Hole has been held back, but it might only give us a extra hour at most"

Marvel heard a whimpering noise, and realized that something was wrong with his armor. He brought it up to full power, and saw that it was transparent--and it shouldn't have been. It must have taken the brunt of an attack of some kind so completely that Marvel himself didn't even feel it.

------------
OOC: That would be the misdirected psionic attack from the Overmind.
------------
IC:

Now was not the time for him to notice his armor was near death. Somehow, he had been brought to the AWP in charge of this whole thing...and somehow, said AWP had just decided that today was Marvel Funeral Day...and somehow, it was manifesting powers that suspiciously resembled the abilities of the Chaos godling Khorne.

Khorne was one of the few Chaotic gods whom Marvel had some modicum of respect for. Before he had been turned, the Son of Khorne had been about to square off against the demon-no-more, and Marvel seriously wondered whether he was going to walk away from it.

No longer on Double Time, the red-skinned one found himself needing to act very quickly. First, he closed the armor. It retracted to become a silver buckle around his belt. Then, he dived head-first off of the platform.

The claw hit, smashing the platform, but the platform itself deflected the claw, and Marvle got away without being hit.

Then, for the first time in days, the demon-no-more finally got to spread his wings and show what they were good for. The last few days had been distracting, but Marvel actually kept his flying skills practiced--specifically for a situation such as this one. In this respect, he was very much still a demon. His species had been bred for high performance avaition. While he would tire faster than, say, an Angel, while he was still fresh, he could turn on a dime and give seven cents change.

Ol' Vampa-Claws had a long reach--but it was obviosly not the arms that needed to be dealt with. So Marvel resolved to get in close and show the thing a little hell spawn hospitality. As he turned to fly along the arm that had tried to hit him, the barb on his tail extended. The arm swung to hit him, but, by the time it was close enough, he had already flown a considerable way up its length--so much so that the energy emissions were no longer dangerous. As it closed in on him, the tail came down, ripping a gash in the flesh, and spreading the venom. The pain from the energy that hit him only served to heighten the adrenaline rush. He cackled, a demonic laugh, as his hands spread to the monstrous face that loomed before him, and then just shot out a fireball drawn with every iota of spite that was left in the darkest, most irredemable corner of his soul.

And that's when he felt it.

As it flew from his fingers, Marvel knew the horrible news.

The fireball spell had gone awry. It was going to fail. Badly.

------

OOC: So much for Mister Macho and his Big, Bad Mojo.

ES, you are welcome to describe the spell failure under the condition that no one dies from it.

Anomaly grinned at Marvel as his fireball exploded, and then screamed in pain as it set most of his limbs on fire, exploding so very close to the core. All the hands and arms wrapped around the core, and Anomaly glowed bright white. The Platform and Anomaly moved above the black hole temporarily, which turned into an Arcane Black Hole for the moment, and its purpose was similar to a normal black hole, except an Arcane Black Hole like this one drained energy, all types. Little hands reached out from the arcane black hole to rob the fighters of their assorted energies, including their life energies.

Some energy was stolen from The Executor, Zeratul, and the children of Chaos, but not much.

Regardless of how much success, if any, the attack got, things reverted back to normal in a few seconds, with all the limbs reaching out for the fighters again, except they didn't attack, directly.

Instead they all formed fists, or the closest approximation there of, and all slammed down on the platform at once, but that wasn't the attack though the platform would rock like a rowboat in a hurricane.

No, the real attack was the meteor swarm pulled from the depths of space by Anomaly's energies, three to five meteors heading for each attacker.

The Executor diverted some towards Anomaly, Zeratul was barely able to dodge and could do nothing more. The son of Tzeentch did as the executor, and diverted those heading for him towards Anomaly. The Daughter of Slaanesh leaped nimbly from meteor to meteor, and the sons of Nurgle and Khorne took the pounding. The son of Nurgle was flattened, and slowly reconstituting, still moving. The son of Khorn had turned his back to the meteors and grabbed the last one to hurl at Anomaly.

If the woman guarding Zena had a sense of humor, she would have laughed as she used her bow. Four quick shots and the meteors destined for them were torn apart like rice paper in the hands of a small child, leaving fragments that bounced harmlessly past everyone. She looked to Josh, to see how he would handle things. Uncertainty crossed both faces.
He took the brunt of the first one, making contact with it and his left hand. This proved a bad idea when a sick snack resounded from his wrist, though the meteor was successfully reduced to a shower of feathers after a quick moment. Grasping his wrist, he prepared for the worst when the woman made her decision. She was, after all, a guardian. It was true Zena wore her cloak, not this now pathetic looking half demon, but she didn't feel like sitting idly by and fired another few arrows, making quick work of those that remained. He glanced at her and smiled. She returned with a quick nod as Zena began to stir. She looked up at what had been going on only to see a horror show. Something literally pulling itself together, some freaky cloak with blue eyes, blood surrounding her best guy friend, and a burning ball of something. Oh my what she had missed.

The newly dead man began to miss his body as he realized just how hard it was to show emotions with only a pair of glowing eyes. He peeled back a few of Anomaly's arms and began to beat him with the meteors that were supposed to attack him. Each time they broke he simply took it as being given another weapon and kept pounding.

Harrison collapsed and vomited, Chaos energy as always made Phenixicans sick. He was on the ground on all fours before he slowly climbed back up, he was quick to use what energy he could to blast the Meteors away from his position but they shot wildly out of his control. His powers were fluctuating, the Phoenix Fire in his blood was giving him a sensation like he was on fire.

He was able to stand, but it was a sensation he had never felt before as his body and mind were clashing and then when he put his sword back into position the sensation went away. For a brief moment it was if he was the phoenix itself, then it all went and he was just a knight again.

He was a liability, but he couldnt let it be known to the universe the Phenixican weakness to Chaos. As the Phenixicans like the Swarm got there start by divine intervention.

Meanwhile....

The Phenixican Fleet had managed to get away from the black hole, but unless the fight on the surface ended that would not matter. They sit just in the edge of the vaccum but unfortunately they were now to far away to intervene.

They mopped up any remaining enemies in space that were stupid enough to get in there way, but the Empress felt what had happened to Harrison and she knew only one Phenixican could make that sort of impact.

((OOC:Future plot that I may decide to use one day in the future))

As soon as Marvel got done screaming from the affects of his own magic, he...

...started screaming. There was a giant meteor headed straight for him.

Fortunately, a magic arrow landed on it and it exploded.

It was time to stop using the retail magic and go for the Good Stuff. As the others redoubled their attacks, Marvel reached into his bag of tricks and brought out some stuff to make ol' Vampa-Claws think twice about dealing with him. It was Marvel Illusion time.

"You're blind!" he yelled. "And you're in pain worse than you've ever felt and nothing can take it away!" And the illusions were cast.

Then, he dipped his wing, turned back toward the thing and headed straight for the nearest eye, tail barb extended and talons at the ready.

A claw came out of right field to bat Marvel away.

"Not all my tricks and traps required my death to activate." Anomaly warned.

A bright flash filled the system, as perhaps the deadliest trap activated, The sun became a Supernova.

The Black Hole pulled at the Supernova, eating it, absorbing it, but as it did, the deadly Supernova spun through the fleets, through the planets, and into the battlefield.

The Swarm vanished into The Warp, unable to shield itself against such a thing. The Rotan fleet shielded against most of the effects of the supernova, using their shields to remove most of the heat from the fighters on the battlefield. They could be visibly seen, taking the brunt of the attack.

Zeratul and The Executor weren't overly concerned, their physiology gave them natural energy shields, but the attack shattered them, leaving them open to the very next attacl. The Children of Chaos used their power to shield, but the power of The Supernova was so great that it shattered them too. Anomaly shielded against his own attack, and his shield was shattered too. Anomaly just hung there, weakened, almost dead.

"This is it, if we combine all our power into a single massive attack we can destroy Anomaly and exit this dying system for New Tanthan. The power of The Celestial Spear shall pierce this beasts heart." The Executor said.

Zeratul grabbed The executor's shoulders, channeling all his energy into The Executor, as did The Children of Chaos.

A great ball of energy began to crackle at the Executor's fingertips, coalescing into a spear in which the heavens themselves could be seen.

The old man's shield held, but only just. His eyes seemed a dull blue rather than their usual bright shine afterward and he just plain didn't look good. Josh was able to take himself and Zena into Limbo for a moment while the supernova passed. When they reappeared Josh laid his hand on one of the executor's elbows, flooding the spear with his constantly shifting energy while blood dripped from his chin. Zena meanwhile began to scan Anomaly, looking for the weakest point and feeding the information to the Executor while staying blissfully unaware of the woman who had protected her and now vanished. She too fed some power to the spear, but focused more on finding the best place of attack. The old man wished dearly to help the spear, but couldn't find the energy to do so without killing his mind in the process. He needed rest after all that had happened and it had to be soon. As such, he resolved to warding off any stray attacks he could, trying to give the rest their best chance at success.

Marel had gotten so close to Anomaly that Anomaly's shield had protected him. He was still a high-performance flight machine. It took the claw four swipes to actually hit him--AND, by then, the demon-no-more had struck it with several combat spells, weakening it.

This is not to say that the thing was truly weak. When it hit, it tossed Marvel back as if he were a rag doll. He flew back almost to the platform before his wings steadied. That was when he noticed the others.

He was going to be stiff and sore tomorrow, but, right then, with the adrenaline working and the avian metabolism at full power, it was exhilarating just to move. Graceful in flight, he executed another pinpoint turn, came level with the group and landed touch down beside them just in time to place his hand on the nearest shoulder and pump out the mojo.

It was going to end here.

Harrison then spoke before he gave what power he could to the spear, his voice was a mix of his old voice and also 5 others voices they all spoke in harmony.

"You will pay dearly for causing such destruction to the creators design!"

The energy of the Phoenix's themselves went into the spear, destructive energy from a Phoenix was the darkest of things. Phoenix fire is meant to bring life, to make it do the opposite was a measure only used when a lesson had to be taught.

Leviathan

The Phenixican Fleet remained safe, but the amount of sunlight from the supernova had caused several officers who were looking directly at the sun at the time to go blind. Luckily the navy uses scanners more then windows to fight in space thus as mentioned it was only several.

The ranks in the order were shocked at what had happened, the order does not approve of the Empires own Celestial Destruction technology but they do know the Empire never actually uses them unless absolutely needed. In fact they have never even used the technology before and if they have it's usually on suns about to die or barren planets.

The Anti-Swarm had just done a very stupid thing, they have given the Order of the Burning Sky a reason to use all there resources into fighting this war.

OOC: Alright Bal, your back in action after this post. It seems there's an old man that just became a pure mind. I'm sure he could use a friend experienced in this way of living to give him some advice as he recovers.

This is gonna be a lengthy post, with A LOT happening.
~~~

The Executor, empowered and guided by the others, threw the spear deadly and true. With a mighty explosion, The Celestial Spear exploded within Anomaly. Anomaly screamed one last time, a sound that devolved into a the sound of energy rushing out in every direction as he died.

"This is The Executor to the entire fleet. Initiating Dimensional Recall to New Tanthan, all available targets, do not resist. Our enemies are destroyed, we have won!"

With a flash of blue energy, everyone, everywhere, could see themselves falling through space. It was a gentle fall, as a feather drifting to earth. Stars drifted past, and time seemed non-existent. It was like drifting down a lazy river on a warm sunny day. Long distant Dimension Recalls were pleasant, if draining on Rotan power systems.

New Tanthan consisted of three habitable worlds, a strong young sun, and two Gas Giants. All the Tanthans were gathered on one world. The Swarm had been pulled along with the fleet, so all were present.

In particular, Harrison, Galvenor, The Executor, Zeratul, Artanis, The sons of Chaos, Josh, Mali, Old Man, Marvel, AND the president landed on a plain overlooking an ocean.

"Welcome home Mr. President. This world is yours. A Gift from The Conclave. We had long claimed it as our own to expand into, however, all things considered, your needs far outweigh our own. It has a diverse ecosystem and is rich in resources. It will carry you well into the future. Fear not, for the combined allied fleet needs rest, and time to repair. During that time, we will all assist you with establishing a new capital, and perhaps some outlying cities. We could do no less, without sinking to Nasagori's level." The executor said.

"Thank you. This is a beautiful spot. Right here, I think I want the new seat of power to be established, with my new presidential palace built right here on this spot." The president of Tanthan said.

A Rotan probe appeared.

"Then, I advise everyone to clear the area." The executor said. The Probe charged with energies, went into the middle of the area, and initiated a chain reaction on the Quantum field. It visible expanded, pushing everyone back, even as the sound of voluminous amounts of energy could be heard as a dull continuous roar of thunder could be heard emanating from it.

"What are you doing?" the president asked, worried.

"The Rotan have studied Time and Space extensively during our existence. We have developed many things, such as Dimensional Recall, which allows us to pull entire fleets through space like individuals teleport, though it is quite draining. Without giving away national secrets, we also discovered how to start a controlled chain reaction in the Quantum field, causing the Multi-verse itself to build whatever we want it to, though we must have certain types of resources available or it won't work. I am gifting you with a new presidential palace." The executor said.

Right about that moment, the chain reaction turned from a massive sphere, to the shape of a very large very beautiful building, and the chain reaction stopped with the sound of a massive bell being tolled from somewhere. The Tanthan people cheered.

"That shall be Rotan's gift to you. We shall build for you, your buildings. You will notice, it is not like our ships. I am afraid no outsiders may ever posses buildings our ships made of those materials. Instead, it is made of common stone and wood, and wired for most common forms of energy. Inside is a supercomputer with a detailed listing of every resource and other important pieces of knowledge you need to know of, as well as those you feel should be informed of it. I am afraid we use a special energy we cannot share, so perhaps someone else can gift you with energy.

You will also need all the common tools relevant to a successful society, perhaps between us all, we can get that established." The Executor said.

"The Swarm will gift you with agriculture. We will plow fields and plant crops, after all, everyone needs to eat." Zasz said, as she flew down from a Hive Ship.

"But first, a rest from our fighting." The Executor said.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help out back in Tanthan." a shaky, woozy voice said. It was familiar, and turning around, it was IRENE! She had landed, and appeared to be shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. It was obvious, even to the non-psionically gifted that her thoughts were in pieces and scattered about, and physically, she was almost as weak as a newborn. She almost fell, but zasz rushed to her side.

"If your not ready to be out and about yet, then you should have stayed in the Hive Ship." Zasz remonstrated. But Irene felt bad because she suddenly disappeared.

"It is alright Irene, mitigating circumstances beyond your control. I know I don't hold it against you. Really, you should be resting, if your in such a frightful state." The Executor said.

Meanwhile...

Nasagori pushed up his glasses on his nose and smiled as he hid beneath The Overmind. He felt his inferior clone die, and knew valuable data was coming in from the events in Tanthan....

OOC:

Slower middle section. This is for all your resting, and all your repairing, and all your side stories for the next few IC days. Along the way, we need to give Tanthan a new capital to help them get started. The Rotan have already given them the new presidential palace for the government. RP the rebuilding of Tanthan as you wish, and anything else you want done. One day will equal three rounds of posts. We have three days total for R, R, R, and R. (Rest, Relaxation, rebuilding, and repair.) Though days may be skipped if no one has anything for that day. It can be assumed that New Tanthan is successfully rebuilt.

Harrison went back to the fleet to get changed out of his armour which was now way to uncomfortable, the Order knights were sparring and drinking to congratulate everybody on the victory. In the background all in the system there joy spread into Phoenix Song which made the slight sound of birds singing ring in everyone's ears.

He was troubled, the sensation that he felt was not natural but it was as if somebody was controlling his actions. Nobody can actually be the voice of the Phoenix's that takes somebody of much closer relation. Also the memories that flashed into his head, they were not his own. One were he was in the middle of a arena with the stands filled with Qwelva....they just made no sense.

He drinks Phenixican Ale and tries to forget about it, but of course it still troubles him.

Empress's Quarters
"So, you did come....you realize I get tired of officials looking over my shoulder"

"Personal observation"

"The Feed went back to Devenis, good view of the battle from there"

"Yes, but my father used to fight in battle so I thought I would as well"

The Admiral tried to hold back a laugh but his face showed it

"What does that expression mean admiral"

"Emperor Belcameron II used to fight on the front line, he would of either been in my place overlooking the battle and calling the shots or he would of been with Knight Harrison and fought down on the surface. Your father was a leader, you did not fight you only watch"

"On this instance maybe...."

"This instance! you haven't fought in a single engagement since your coronation and that's why the military is losing respect for you. You just observe, you let others take lead but that's not the worst. By what I hear that's all you do in the Government you just observe as the politicians bicker and argue, hoping they don't ask your opinion because only then you will give it. Your father used to storm into the Imperial Governments and tell them what to do and guess what? it worked fantastically, we are not a democratic Republic we are a Imperialist Empire and Empires need strong leaders"

The Empress stared with such fury at the Admiral

"You do realize what you just did to your chances of becoming a Grand Admiral in the Imperial Court?"

"I never wanted to be in the dam court!"

"Why are you being so aggressive Admiral?"

"There was one reason I wanted to be in the Imperial Court, because I would stand by you my Empress to the death. Sure we are the Dark Ones, the outcasts and the heretics in the eyes of the Empire but I still love Phenixica"

The Empress was now calm and collected

"I need somebody in my court like you, you remind me of my uncle Perius before he passed away. You could prove useful"

"So I abuse you and still get the position"

"I have smart men, I have loyal men but what the Empire needs is Honest men. Also men who truly fight for the ideals of the Empire"

They continue to talk as the fleet stays in orbit with only the Phoenix Song letting the others know they are still there, they were a Isolationist people and they liked it to stay that way. They had not forgotten how they had been treated by people outside the Citerian before.

Observation Deck, Revelation Cruiser, overlooking the planet
Harrison looks at the planet below, in Phenixican religion the entire universe was created but the god named the creator which weirdly enough was fancy religious talk for the natural flow of time.

Time created all things and brings about the destruction of all things, Phenixicans being enlightened saw it as the only true god and since they were given powers by the Phoenix time was just a natural choice of a creating god figure.

He was now wearing a dark brown suit, with vest, tie and all. He decided to head down and try and make some sort of positive impact for the sake of the Empire.

He arrived back on the planet out of his combat armor, he rejoined with the others and looked as the first sparks of civilization started to appear on the planet. He looked like any typical citizen of the Empire and at the moment that was how he wanted to feel. He looked at the ocean, he was still separated from the others even if they were still so close by.

"it's a beautiful world, blue water is always the most beautiful tho the blue sky I never get used too. Sky above Phenixica is a inferno of fire"

He looks towards the others, knowing perfectly who would hear his next words.

"The Lesser of two evils, that's the only reason we enter this war. Not because it's Just or right, but because we had to pick one or the other. One that would see us all conquered with patience and another that would rush the process, before the attack I agreed it was better to stay with a enemy we know and understand....My problem is what will we become by helping? We just destroyed a system, a entire system was lost today and imagine what was lost"

He takes a deep breath, the experience was the last battle was still troubling him.

"If this keeps happening we will becomes monsters ourselves and be seen as no better then the Swarm, this was nothing but a Pyrrhic Victory in the grand scale of things"

Marvel looked at the Admiral. "We are often faced with difficult decisions," he replied. "It is how we deal with them that makes us what we are. The way that you dealt with this one makes you brave, but no mere circumstance can make anyone with free will a monster. You have to do that yourself. I know. I've been there."

-------------------------

He was right about being sore the next day. He hurt in places he'd all but forgotten he even had. He was hungry, too. Flying did that to him. The next day, he consumed almost half his body weight in food--and didn't gain an ounce of weight. Fortunately, he had kept himself in some semblance of physical condition. Otherwise, he would have been completely bedridden. Still, he was far from in fighting shape.

He gave himself two days to rest--which meant that he could basically get out of bed when he started in again--and then set up a fearsome exercise regimen.

So that was what he spent his time getting into--that, and swapping combat spells with Bionic Joke. Marvel showed him concussion waves, dissection waves, the bolt and the shield--the whole basic tool kit. In return, Josh, among other things, helped him figure out his new uberarmor.

That stuff was something else! It bonded to its wielder and enhanced his natural powers. For Marvel, that meant stealth. Now, he could assume any shape, not just 'noids and Elves and the like. Now, he could turn himself into a glass of water and no one would know the difference until they tried to drink it! Now, when he turned invisible, not even Galvenor could tell that he was there.

The armor also came with a few tools that were neat to have--the Sword of Truth, the Shield of Faith and the Eye of Wisdom, just to name a few. These things put to shame the pitiful spells he had been using. Only thing it couldn't do was stop his spells from self-jinxing at all the wrong moments. Still, the demon-no-more persevered.

Needless to say, Marvel treated it as if it were more valuable than gold--because, to him, it was. It responded by growing stronger and stronger as the days wore on.

Marvel kept at it, even past the point where he felt like quitting. He knew that Mal-ignant was still out there, and that Doctor Jap and the Seven Stupid Swarmlings were not only not far behind, but probably leading the way for the schmuck.

Their loss.

Soldiers arrived down the planet surface in the thousands, most of them setting up tents on the beaches and such to take in the rest as the Admiral had given them permission to take a break for a few days while general maintenance was carried out in the fleet.

They were brawling, practicing there aiming or watching the latest news supplied by the CIR and it would seem like even when on break they were still nothing but soldiers.

Much of the Naval Staff were still on there ships eating and drinking, some of them sleeping in there quarters which would be the first sleep most had gotten since they passed through the warpgate.

Harrison, Druk and the Empress were having a dinner with most of the command staff. Mash Potato and Sausages with gravy....a favorite of the old Emperor. They talked mostly politics and war, most of them were excited to be having dinner with the Empress has she had never done so before.

The Knights did not take the offer for time off and continued to Spar, Prey and every now and again eat. They were all now on a single battle cruiser which had been given to them to use as a temple.

They knew the peace wouldnt last, but as laughing and celebrating were heard in the camps down on the planet and in the ships in the fleet they did not care. This is what it was to be part of the Phenixican Military, to clash with hardship head on and laugh in the face of danger.

OOC: Since glossing over is what it seems is being done, I'll do two posts, one today, one tomorrow. The one tomorrow, its gonna be a heck of a post. Not that this one is any less of a post tomorrow, just that tomorrow's is gonna be slightly more important.

IC:

The swarm kept their word, and assisted the Tanthans with getting their agriculture set up. Irene could be seen briefly for the first day, but was hustled back to her hive ship by Zasz, and neither of them were seen again during the lull. Most suspiciously, Irene's command Hive Ship was notably avoided by the rest of the swarm, going miles out of their way just to avoid it. When pressed for details, Daggoth just smiled.

Meanwhile, The Rotan finished building the new capital.

But nothing good lasts forever, especially in a war. One dark and dreary new Tanthanian day, every Swarmling suddenly froze in place. Those capable of expressing emotion, such as Daggoth, gave the sad news while crying bitterly. The Overmind had succumbed to Nasagori's poison, and was no more. Irene was now the true leader of The Swarm. Daggoth at long last revealed the contingency plan that was used. All the knowledge, all the wisdom, all the experience, and all the power of The Overmind was transferred to Irene. Later that evening, she was scheduled to appear to update everyone on what was going on, having scheduled a meeting for just such an event, but only Zasz appeared, and then not by choice. She was just suddenly teleported onto The Executor's ship where the meeting was scheduled.

"Ahh, now I understand how Zasz was keeping Irene busy." Artanis whispered to Zeratul.
"Probably hasn't worn her armor in days." Zeratul whispered right back.

"I don't understand. We had just woken up after resting from a full night of mating. Then, The Warp opened up inside the Hive Ship, and I found myself here." Zasz said, thoroughly confused.

Then three things happened at once. The system of New Tanthan was covered in a massive Warp storm, even as those with a connection to The Warp felt it begin to move, as though it were clashing with itself, against itself. This was evidenced by The Executor gasping for air as he clutched his sides in pain. The last thing to happen was the most disturbing. Irene began to scream. They could all hear her fleet wide over the communications systems and across the world on Tanthan's new communications. They were screams of agony, painful screams that spoke of suffering. But they were also the screams of an entity having an experience far beyond its ability to comprehend and understand what was happening to it.

The Executor tried to teleport over and help her, but was violently thrown back through the teleport and embedded in the wall. The same thing would happen to anyone else, without exception who tried to interfere.

Minutes later, The Executor was finally pulled from the wall by two templars, and Irene's screams died, as her ship exploded. There was no trace of any remains.

"Irene." Zasz said quietly, as she pounded the wall softly with her fist. Every Swarmling went into a deep stillness, no movement, no sign of life, no sound. The Swarm had fallen into a coma.

The Rotan just kept quiet, their sadness at the sudden unexpected loss evident in their eyes.

OOC: Trust me....

OOC: !@#$ I need to spend more time online if you're gonna keep the plot moving like that.

IC: The old man had been slumbering within Zena's mind since they arrived. As he no longer had a body of his own, nor a soul for moral guidance, his mind became as self sufficient as it possibly could and at least attempted to put up some show that he was still himself, just less so. Unfortunately, one thing his mind needed that he couldn't get without a physical body was sleep. His cobalt eyes had turned as light as the sky and red cracks ran through them as if bloodshot. Now within Zena's brain, where he was invisible to all but her, he could so easily rest.
The few hours where he wasn't safe within her mind's walls, he had been visiting with Galvenor. Reading books could only get you so far, and so speaking with someone who knew more about being energy was far more valuable than simple theoretical research essays. That was until the warp storm hit.

Josh too had needed rest, but a few hours sleep and a shower to wash off the blood and for all the world, he looked just fine. When not aiding the demonic mental patient with his armor, he'd been aiding the civilians. He tried his best to help them build shops and homes as close to their old ones as possible so they could resume their day-to-day lives. When the warp storm hit, his mind was hit with a barrage of messages from his teacher and Zena, each screaming about this and that going wrong.
Guys, shut up. What's the most important thing? He finished creating a wall for an inn then seemed to stare into space.
Irene. We can't find Irene. It was unnerving hearing both of them speak the same words at the same time, but he pushed that aside and vanished, heading to Marvel as the wall fell onto the ground floor of the future inn. "There's a problem." He said, tapping his colleague on the shoulder.

Marvel was standing by the inn, leaning against one of the good walls, with his hands on his head.

"Ohh, y'think?" the demon-no-more retorted. "What was your first clue? Could it be the massive pain like your head's gonna melt?" He calmed slightly. "That was ugly, dude," was all he said. "I didn't think it was possible, but someone just shut down the Swarm's Overmind--and they didn't really care how good it felt when it happened."

Marvel blinked a few times, and his head started to clear. Josh was one of the few people whom the former demon completely trusted. The biomechanical mage had been of immeasurable assistance, especially the last few days. It really wasn't such a big surprise that he'd come to Marvel first when The Problem struck--Marvel was, in fact, getting ready to go find him.

He was lucky that he couldn't feel it the way Marvel had, though. When it hit, it was like a tidal wave of flaming lava washing right over him. He wondered how he had managed to keep from blacking out.

"So what are we going to do about this? We can't start the thing up again--trying to manage that mental network would drive something like you or me crazy before we could get it self-sustaining. What do you think our options are?"

Glossing over the nasty retorts, Josh shrugged. "Psions. There's no way anyone without their skill could do anything. Judging from the fact that Irene went with it, I have a feeling that she's somehow in the middle of this. Whether it's of her own volition, I don't know." He wracked his brains, trying to figure out what could help. "We need to see if the Children are alright or if they're suffering from this too. Maybe they can help us figure out how to create a new overmind and get things running again. Or maybe I'm just ranting about things I have no control over." He sighed. Complete species do not shut down like this. It's impossible. If the queen of an ant colony dies, the rest don't just sit around, they go nuts until a new queen can be raised and put in place.
"Galvenor might be of great assistance here. If he can act as a kind of temporary leader, maybe the Swarm in this area will listen to him." Josh tapped the wall they stood next to and gave up on helping out with work ethic and morale. The wall that had fallen righted and repaired itself before floors, rooms, and various other home-like touches filled in the empty space. When the light faded from the rooms, he refused to give Marvel the opportunity to teleport and took the duo to Galvenor.

Almost as soon as Josh said the phrase "They go nuts" The Swarm did just that as though it were his mentioning of it that set them off, reverting to animal instincts Thankfully, most of The Swarm was out beyond everyone else where they could be undisturbed. However some were not. The Arbiters of the Rotan fleet encased them in prisons of reinforced reality. Nothing could disturb them, they couldn't disturb anyone.

The children of Chaos were all deep in prayer. One of them, a son of Tzeentch, was whispering a single phrase in exuberant joy through tear filled eyes.

"They did it, finally, after several eons, they actually did it."

Meanwhile on the ship, Zasz, being in a body that was half human, continued to mourn the loss of Irene.

OOC: Big post coming tomorrow resolving this fiasco. Remember, if anyone exerts control over a Swarmling, it will turn rainbow colored and obey every thought without exception, and I mean that literally.

I just want to point out that this post is entirely sylvonia's fault, inspired by the phrase "they go nuts" which reminded me of the Tyranids ability to go to animal instincts in the abscence of The Overmind, so my Swarm did the same thing.

OOC: I trust you can easily post what you did and did not do during the timeframe of this post, ending with being caught up to the event at the end.

IC:

Exactly three days passed since the explosion of Irene's ship. All efforts to find her niether failed, nor succeeded, yielding curiously mixed results. Zasz and Daggoth, despite being grief stricken over the loss of a person they considered their sister and closest friend, were capable of handling the swarm on their own, but just weren't ready to move on yet. Just as well, there were no signs of Nasagori. Rumor began to circulate that perhaps it was simply time to go home.

The day after the explosion, the president of Tanthan made a speech, expressing his condolences for The Swarm's loss, while praising their efforts, and the efforts of the allied fleets in general.

Daggoth reported on the second day after her death, that Zasz had been heard talking to Irene in her sleep. Noting her suspicions about the soundness of Zasz's mind, but all investigations would reveal a remarkably healthy mind.

All the while, The children of Chaos continued their prayerful vigil, and would say nothing about what had been done, other than saying, "They actually did it."

On the third day, even Zasz and Daggoth had called everyone together to discuss breaking apart while watching for Nasagori. But right as everyone gathered, and before the meeting started, Zasz and Daggoth both froze, their eyes bulging in surprise. The Warp Storm had abated over the past few days, but returned fiercer than ever. A great cacophony of roars sounded in the distance as The Swarm went totally berserk, and rushed off towards a tall mountain peak that actually touched The Warp Storm.

"STAY HERE!" both Zasz and Daggoth roared at the assembly with such uncharacteristic ferocity that it was clearly a bad idea to do anything but stay put.

Zasz and Daggoth took wing and followed after the swarms accompanied by the every child of Chaos, all celebrating as though something good had just happened.

Even the Hive Ships began to descend into the atmosphere, and minutes later, explosions of light could be seen coming towards the city. It was as though it were a parade were coming. In the center of a massive column of swarmlings comprised of every genus and species was a massive Ultralisk, and on its back was a giant tent, the sort normally reserved for persons of high prestige. The way the swarm celebrated, with the sons of Tzeentch throwing off fireworks, and Swarmling Jets flying about leaving multi-colored trails in the air, it was almost a genuine parade. The most disturbing thing though, was that the warp storm was physically attached to the tent, extending inside it! The power coming from it was so great, it was immeasurable by common standards. It was as though a deity of The Warp was inside. Zasz and Daggoth led the procession through the city dancing about. The giant Ultralisk stopped in the city square where the last meeting was being held, and knelt down, laying its trunk down as a sort of carpet.

The curtains opened, and Irene stood from her throne and walked with all the air of a goddess towards the group. She was covered from head to toe, front to back, top to bottom in designs. They were the seals, Runes, and sigils of Chaos. On her chest was one that was so ancient, as to be legend, one few would know of. The designs themselves were not made of any ink, but were scars, open wounds, sores, and bruises. The one on the chest, was comprised of pure Chaos.

"That seal, you, you, you're..." The executor said by way of greeting, his blood chilled to the bone, unable to finish his thought. Irene closed her wings, and as she did, The Warp Storm simply disappeared, though indeed Chaos poured from her body as a thick smoke. Despite the mutilation of her body, she seemed even more beautiful than before.

Then Irene spoke, and her words overrode each and every sense availible to each and every person without exception within the range of one-light year. Her voice sounded exactly like that of the original Overmind.

"Awaken my Children and embrace The Glories of your Collective Birthrights. Know that I am The Overmind, The Eternal Will of The Swarm. I am Irene Kerrigan, The Queen of The Swarm. And until The Balance is restored. I am Chaos Undivided. Each and everyone of you has been created to serve me.

Behold that my long silence is broken, and I am made whole once more. The being that killed the previous Overmind is a threat unlike any ever faced before, for when he killed The Overmind, their minds were connected briefly, and all his thoughts were laid bare. The Swarm has taken from his mind, all his deepest most precious secrets. At long last our searching is over, the day of Judgement has come. Know that this Nasagori is also a clone, but he is only the fifth clone to exist since the first one arose thirty years after our own inception, millions of years ago. Nasagori has learned things not meant to ever be known by mortal man. He has learned to cheat death, without truly earning immortality, and this he does through his subordinate clones, each clone master feeding off their life essences to stay alive, young, and healthy until at long last, something slays them. But even more important, is that it is not Nasagori who serves Malal, it is Nasagori who controls Malal, through the use of a device unknown to me. It was made long ago as a teaching device by a mortal wizard I am told by higher powers that Galvenor knew well, the Magi-Master known as Xos Xilanthese. How Nasagori came to posses this orb is unclear, but he has perverted it from its original purpose to control and enslave that which was not meant to be controlled and enslaved." Irene said.

"That is quite interesting, but, I have so many questions, I do not know where to begin." The Executor said.

"Then allow me to answer them without you asking them. Three days ago, I had reached stability, and was content with that, when Zasz and I recieved guests in our bedchamber. To put it simply, I had a religious experience after that, and yes, I found it enlightening. It is how I came to look as I do now. The Gods have united in that balance must be restored, and the natural order of things set right. All that has transgressed thus far has done so according to the manifold plans of The Changer of Ways. In order that success be assured, The Gods united once more, and made me Chaos Undivided. I may posses this new found level of power, until this Nasagori is defeated. Then it shall be taken from me. But know that when my ship exploded, I did not die. I cannot be killed in such a mundane fashion, for I do not need a body. Only if every Swarmling in the swarm is killed, will I truly Die. Otherwise I shall simply return again at a later date. Instead I watched from afar as the second part of my enlightenment took place. Now I have returned, and now we must depart for Zerus. I advise you to be aware of the fact that this battle will be far more difficult than the previous one, enhanced by the fact that Zerus is not allowed to be destroyed. To my knowledge, which though enhanced, is still limited, this is the last Nasagori."

"Then perhaps it's time we went to our ships and truly talked strategy." The Executor said.

"Perhaps it is." Irene said.

OOC: Yes, you read that right. Chaos Undivided, as in Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaanesh stopped bickering long enough to agree on something. Chaos Undivided, when all the powers of Chaos become a single cohesive force.

The Phenixican Fleet did what it could to help in the search for Irene, but at the same time the Empress was pondering if this was a sign to give up on the campaign and bring the Fleet home before they had a chance of losing everything.

The Empress and Harrison were down on the surface, the Empress couldnt help but look at Harrison as his features were familiar in a way. When Irene appeared the Empress smiled as she knew now the war could continue unhindered. Harrison on the other hand was disturbed by what he felt, he had never had such a connection of the Realm of Deities before but he knew what had just happened to Irene was good for the swarm yet terrible for everyone else.

The Phoenix's did support the war, they knew that they had to fight against Nasagori to restore order in all things and to protect the designs of the universe but they also knew that the original swarm was only slightly better.

The Phoenix song which had been playing for days with a tune of happiness of victory had turned into the ringing of fear in everyone's ears, they were not happy about what had happened to Irene....not at all.

Zerus, the Phoenix's knew of this world as one of the darker ones of the Creators design. Their powers were only a whisper on a world so corrupted by Chaos, yet there children had to go and fight to shed light in all regions and who knows they could lead a taint on the world of Phoenix origin.

"Alrightie then," Marvel said, somehow managing to keep that flippant, semi-manic look on his face while rubbing his temples. "Looks like we don't have to go looking for Irene any more.

"Not sure I like where this is going, though. Who are they to say what folks should and should not know? Sounds like the one thing the gods of Chaos can unite for is thumpin' down the little guy. Great crowd."

"I don't see this ending well." The old man had Left Zena and returned to his cloak. He looked at Marvel, "I'm with you. Four divine beings should never agree on this kind of scale."

"So, uh, when do you plan on taking off again?" Josh tried, and failed miserably, to sound like this was an everyday occurrence. "And more specifically, where do we need to go?"

((picture of the Empress is under 'Characters' in factbook))

"Gods of Chaos do nothing but pick on the weak, they are nothing but bullies on the playground. Thing with bullies is they make poor allies and with this happening all of a sudden I honestly cant help but feel there is still something hidden from our sight"

The Empress was troubled, this sort of battle called for something more then just a Empress...it called for her father who was the Phoenix Reborn, a champion of there own gods. Irene had become a great threat and even tho the powers she held were temporary it was possible she could use them to destroy us all before they were taken away.

Harrison was troubled more by the fact that if the Chaos gods decided to use this to attack there was nothing the Empire could do, the Phoenix's are powerful but they are one Quasi-God seperated into 5 different enities and unless they all come together they are not powerful enough to fight back.

They both knew they had to be ready for the worse, but little did either know the wheels set in motion inside Harrison. One which if forced too might just give them the Champion they need.

A short time later...

This, the demon-no-more thought to himself as he flew invisibly through the town, is a test of your emergency combat system. This is only a test.

As The Dominatrix, the Daughter of Slaanesh, was mulling around after the little parade, he became visible, swooped down from above and forcibly grabbed her. So fast that she couldn't counter it, his lips fastened on her cheek.

::SAAAAMOOCH!!!::

Then, he just let her go, popped back into the air and turned invisible again, uttering a curt little "yahoo" as he did.

Then, he broadcast a little message back to those on the ground:


This has been a test of your emergency combat system. Had this
been an actual emergency, the incident would probably have involved
bloodshed rather than just feelin' awful darn good. This was only
a test.


Sounded just like a little intercom, too. Amazing what that ol' Angel Armor could do. Too bad Fali wasn't around.

And what are you doing!? People are terrified down here! Zena screamed in Marvel's head as she tried to calm down the various townsfolk around the Daughter of Slaanesh. Apparently people randomly appearing wasn't something they were used to. Honestly, we're supposed to be protecting them, not making them think they're gonna get killed in a minute! With a little help from Josh and a megaphone, they got people to calm down and go about their business.
"Don't worry about it." The old man said in his everywhere/nowhere voice. "We'll get him later." Zena nodded and returned to the room she'd picked out in the new inn. Everything in the room seemed to vanish, replaced by the foot of a small waterfall, complete with stream, flora, and fauna. She took her spot at the edge of the stream, just out of reach of the mist, and began to meditate. She'd been missing her "Zena" time since she'd started playing host.

Josh and his teacher meanwhile went about a tour of the town. Little things they could do to help out they did. Sure they could have built the whole town themselves from just a simple rock, but these people had lost everything just a short time ago. What they needed was morale boosters, things to make them feel useful and happy. If they had a hand in making everything their own, they could take infinitely more pride in their city.

OOC: Let us move this to the ships.

IC:

"It is time to go." The Executor said, and waved his hands. Three fourths of the army disappeared into Dimensional recall, being returned to their ships.

The different representatives were once more brought aboard The Gantrithor for strategy.

"Alright Irene, lay it on us."

"We've already been to Zerus, so surely you already know what its like. The worlds are covered in Creep upon which the various Hive structures are created. Other than being mountainous in some places, Creep is fairly easy to move upon. There is no other environment to speak of. Once again, he has every genus and species availible in the swarm, but this time, he also has the Hive Tyrants, and perfected Rotan Swarmling abominations. The Hive Tyrants know many of the secrets of The Overmind, and it is entirely possible they might summon The Great Old Ones." Irene said in her usual not quite so intimidating voice.

"Balderdash, The Great Old Ones are not real. If you want to be afraid of Imaginary Eldritch Horrors from beyond the stars then that's your business, not ours."Artanis said. Irene smiled, and erected the illusion of Cthulhu.

Artanis went pale, and almost had a heart attack. Zeratul started backing away, eyes wide in fear, and The Executor almost attacked the illusion, before he remembered it was only an illusion.
"By Adun that's the scariest thing I've ever seen. And you say we might face THAT?" Cthulhu, Azathoth, Nyarlethotep, Yog-Sothoth, and Dagon, any one of them might be summoned.

Beyond Eldritch Horrors, Nasagori holds secrets from accross the universe, but the most important item he holds is Xos's sphere. It is a magical item, and if destroyed would annihilate everything around it. While he holds it, he is quite possibly the most powerful thing in the entirety of The Multi-Verse, as with his power to enslave Gods, what limit then to his power? But don't worry about Nasagori, I'm going to take him on personally, which is why I have become what I am.

His Consortium is another problem, they share his secrets, but not his level of power. I don't know what secrets they have, I have only been told that they have secrets. The safest route is to consider everything done in Tanthan, to now be ineffective at best, and beneficial to them at worst. Now is the time to pull out the stops, if you've been holding back on anything, now is the time to stop that." Irene said.

The executor looked troubled.

"There is one secret we hold. One power we hold back on, as to use it, we must sacrifice two of our own to get it. Yet, the great old ones, I, I'm just not sure. Is power worth sacrificing innocent lives?" The executor asked.

"You mean, that law? By Adun that Law is older than all three of us combined. Yet, perhaps if those sacrificed, did so willingly, without coercion, then perhaps that would be okay." Zeratul said.

"The decision is yours, Executor." Artanis said.

"Executor, if you would allow us, we volunteer." A group of six Rotans said, the guards of the room. Three were High Templars, three were Dark Templars.

"If you volunteer, knowing what it will cost you, then, I hereby repeal the law forbidding the creation of Archons." The executor said.

The two High Templer nodded, and the two dark templar smiled. Then, the two High Templar stepped into one another, and a massive bright white sphere of energy came into being around them, almost as if they had reached Critical Mass. The two Dark Templar stepped into one another, and a great field of Darkness erupted from where they merged. The last remaining High and Dark Templar looked at each other, curious if they could unite the light and the darkness, and seconds later, did just that.

As the spheres of light subsided, three single entities stood in their place, each glowing as though they had reached critical mass.

"One hour until we reach Zerus. My fleet will clear a staging ground to begin the hunt for Nasagori on the main planet in the Zerus system." The Executor announced.

"Can't you go any faster?" Irene asked.

"We could, but we all need time to prepare, mentally at least, for what's to come." The executor said.

"By the gods I swear, if your not there in fifteen minutes I'm going to slaughter the lot of you." she threatened.

"Do not make me angry, you could no more evade my wrath, then you could your own shadow. Before you even took one of us down, my Brethren will have destroyed your swarm, leaving you as a swarm of one. By the time you took two of us down, I will have killed you myself. We did it once before, and we can do it again." Zeratul threatened right back.

Irene went pale in fear, one could smell the abject terror she felt. The swarm's greatest weakness was revealed, they were terrified of Zeratul and The Dark Templar.

"Fine, I'll wait in my own ships." She said disappearing.

"Now that she's gone, there's one other glaring weakness to discuss. Her. Her new degree of power, her new position, and the fact that she's only an insult away from turning on us. I can keep her in line only for so long before she decides my threats are idle, which they are not." Zeratul said after Irene was gone.

OOC: Three posts to go until we reach Zerus.

Josh glossed over the politics at work and moved onto business. "So if Irene's taking on Nasagori, we need more information on his Consortium. "How many, what can they do? Every scrap of information you have on them is going to help us." He was operating on the assumption that they had plenty of information to give them. He hated rushing into battle blind. For that matter, he had a slowly growing hatred of battle and a quickly growing desire to get back to the tower.

"On another note, are we sure it's a good idea to let Irene go after Nasagori alone? If he can control gods, she barely stands an ice cube's chance in hell." The old man too grew weary of battle and spoke from Zena's head, her eyes bright blue instead of their usual brilliant brown.

"I'm inclined to agree with the other half of my brain." she jested. "Though I don't feel like confronting her. We should get rid of his consortium for her. If we can do that, we'll remove his support should things actually go Irene's way. Besides all that, it will nip the future power struggle in the bud. Once Nasagori's gone, he'll create a power vacuum that those closest to him will try to fill."

"...which brings us back to Josh's question," Marvel said. "Who--what--are they? How many? What are their capabilities--at least as far as we know? Do we know of any weaknesses we can exploit?"

His mind was still a little numb from the chewing-out that Zena had given him--but it had been worth every agonizing second to see the look on her face. Besides, he'd reappeared that afternoon and done the bardly thing with a bunch of folk in the 'hood. The brats were happy because of the show. The moms were happy because they didn't have to watch the brats all day long...and the dads were happy because they didn't get as many momma bombs that day. Worked like a charm. He hadn't bothered telling her about that--and he wasn't sure he ever would. Life would be horrible if you never allowed yourself to have any fun.

And he was planning on having some real fun. He had developed his own agenda for Doctor Jap and his Consortium of Creeps...and there was no way in the universe that he was going to just let those self-important bigwig types spin away into their predestined epic sagas. Nope. The turned demon had vowed that, when the bigwigs came out to play this time, there was going to be at least one entity on hand who was going to score some points for the Little Guys.

Harrison said to the others "If Irene regains control of the swarm there is nothing that will stop her using it againsts us, we are all expendable to the Swarm. I am alright in fighting this war because atleast some good came out of it but letting the swarm fight without us means we cant keep a eye on them"

OOC: Read carefully, hints at how its going to be done, and even hints at final bosses are contained below.

IC:"I don't intend to let them fight without us. Irene's been through quite abit, so she probably doesn't remember, but Nasagori's hard to get a hold of, period. It took the entire Rotanian and swarm armies just to get him cornered, and then he simply jumped into his teleporter and disappeared. I don't know what makes her think she's just going to march in and take him down single-handedly, but even with all the might of Chaos behind her, she can't do it, especially not since he has his own Chaos at his command.

No, we're all going to take him on, either singularly, or in groups. True she might get to him last, but not before the rest of us have had a turn.

As for what he has, I am sorry to tell you, that before we got to them, most of his files were scrubbed in the one instance we did get access to his computer. However, what he did have hinted at exotic technologies the likes of which could easily be used as a weapon. He seems to have technologies that master the art of transmutation, turning one thing into another, and weapons that use variations on the concept of Chain lightning. It was Nasagori that taught us how to cause Chain Reactions to create things, so heaven knows what he can whip out and wave at us on the spot.

He also seems to have associated closely with what some might refer to as, Wizards. He obtained quite a collection of items and spells, one of which had to have been Xos's orb." The Executor said, falling silent.

"Then there are the cerebrates he kidnapped." Daggoth said, speaking up from where she had been hiding in the corner.

"DAGGOTH!" Artanis said in surprise.

"You mean your not fawning over Irene like the rest of The Swarm?" Zeratul asked.

"No, I'm not. I am under her will yes, but I am not her slave. No Cerebrate is. No Cerebrate has ever been fully enslaved to the Overmind's will, as then we would be little more than robots, instead of the free thinking individuals we were, and hopefully are, valued as. My purpose was war, fully, and absolutly. I'm sure it will still be. But enough of that.

Cerebrates know alot of things The Overmind did, and does. When he took the Cerebrates, he took alot of our secrets, including the secrets of summoning The Great Old Ones. I know Irene already mentioned it before, but he can summon any of them at will, and very likely will do so. Indeed, Zasz and I are powerful, as is Irene under normal conditions, even more powerful than the children of Chaos. But the Great Old Ones are even more powerful than us. When he took the Cerebrates, regardless of form, he took with them, the ability to summon The Great Old Ones, a secret only Irene possesses now, and a secret she does not need at the moment. She is only one entity, she cannot be everywhere at once. It is possible that one of you might get separated, and then subjected to what is likely to be the most powerful enemy you will ever face.

But beyond the Great Old Ones, he controls our old Hive structures. The very planets themselves will be attacking you, such was our defenses. Any Swarmling controlled by our side will point out key Hive structures, defeating them will reduce planetary defenses.

As we intend to retake the planets and live there once more, planetary bombardment is not an option, nor is simply destroying the system. Alot of people want to get their hands on Nasagori, and it wouldn't be fair to rob them of that chance.

But don't worry, The Swarm will go in first and spring his defenses. Death is but a temporary inconvenience to us. The rest of you should come in behind, after we do the dying." Daggoth said.

"The Phenixican Army have been itching for a ground assault since we started this campaign, We have enough equipment up there to conquer a star system without help. Attacking planets sounds like our fleets will have to mostly just be on the defence while our armies do the real attacking which in itself is very dangerous" The Empress said this calmly, she was going to lead the ground attack themselves and finally bring the military into line when they doubt there ruler.

The Archons had since taken up duty monitoring progress as they moved through the system.

"We feel your presence." one of them said to a monitor.

"What?" The executor asked.

"The power is overwhelming. It all looks so different from this side. We can see through time and space. We feel things we normally wouldn't separate. Nasagori has a complete, and upgraded space station in the system, in the atmosphere of Zerus Prime above the location The Overmind occupied. I can sense his swarm has been altered in some unknown fashion, yet largely the same." The Archon said.

"As well, there are powers like theirs there." the Dark Archon said pointing at the students and teachers from the white tower.

"Indeed, but Nasagori himself is hidden, yet is somehow, everywhere." the twilight Archon said.

They'd better be stronger--for his sake, Marvel thought. There are four Children of Chaos, and I personally whipped two of them before they were turned. And that was before I was in any semblance of fighting shape, or had learned a thing about my armor.

Then, just before he started to believe that he was completely invincible, he regained consciousness. And heard what they were saying about Doctor Jap.

"Everywhere, you say?" he responded. "Could it be possible that he has somehow...entered the Overmind...undetected?"

If so, I'm going to want to have that little talk with him sooner rather than later.

"No, not like an Overmind. I don't know quite how to explain it. Its like breaking down any one of the ships in the fleet, and scattering its parts, with each part becoming the whole once more, so instead of one ship, you have, say thirty ships. Its not entirely accurate, but I hope it provides you with understanding."

"Ok, so by everywhere do you mean you're seeing one big signal or many little ones?" Zena asked. She sincerely hoped it was many little signals. Sure it would be much more work, but it means less of a chance of completely destroying the planet. Then again, one big signal might just make their job that much harder. "I'm assuming you mean a lot of signals, but then there's gotta be one that's slightly different than all the rest. That one should be the key to getting rid of the rest."

"I'm more interested in that space station." Josh said. "It may not be much, but I think if we can eliminate that threat first, it would make the trip on the ground that much easier. Besides, we don't know exactly what kind of weapons he has there. By removing his weapons, we could cripple him enough to make our job that much easier."

"I know this doesn't help you in the slightest, but it is one big signal, divided into large numbers of little signals, each one exactly the same as the rest." The Archon said.

"As for the station, our fleets can descend into the atmosphere. If everyone descends into the atmosphere, we can most assuredly take out the station quickly, especially with the assistance of the Kythons. Then we can turn around and use our ships to assist in the ground assault." The Executor said.

"Well then that's it." Zena said, as if stating the answer to 2+2.

"Sounds good. And I'm assuming by quickly, you mean 'without the loss of any life,' correct?" Josh asked. "I'm not just concerned for their lives, but also for the simple fact that the more support we have, the easier this will get."

"Nasagori has probably intergrated himself into a hive cluster, he probably finds it easier to control the swarm if connected directly to it. That would explain why the single is large yet made up of many small signals, because the entire cluster would be Nasagori" This of course came from Harrisons basic understanding of the swarm, he never got to do the amount of research that he wanted and could only still take shots in the dark.

"The Admiral wont like the idea of taking his fleet that close to the planets, Phenixican ships mostly just serve in space and are not that well adjusting to flying near a center of gravity. Our fleet to put it simply will be at a great disadvantage" The Empress knew that losing the Home Fleet was not something she could risk, they were responsbile for keeping the Capital and other heavily populated planets protected.

Zena frowned. She had neglected to take into consideration how the swarm worked. "Your theory fails to take into account that even though their minds are connected, Nasagori's mind will be protected, keeping it's own secrets within itself. We should be able to find that wall within the network. I have a slightly different theory though. It's possible to spread the aura that sensors would pick up so it appears larger than it actually is. What if he's improved on that idea, making it so that instead of just spreading, he's also made it appear as if he's duplicated himself." Zena stopped dead, her jaw dropped at what she'd just stumbled upon.

Josh, not missing a beat, picked up where she left off. "What if he actually did duplicate himself and they're scattered about the area?"

OOC: Sylvonia, your so frighteningly close to the truth its not even funny.
I cannot reveal any more information without giving things away, so I won't.
Instead, I'll just move on to the main feature.

IC:

"Do not worry Empress, we do not want to needlessly put people at a disadvantage."

The Executor rubbed his chin in thought over Nasagori.

"As for Nasagori, then we're in for a hell of a battle. Its not that Nasagori is physically intimidating. I mean, for all intents and purposes, he's nothing more than a mean nerd."

This of course set the rotans to chuckling, along with Daggoth.

"What I mean is, its his intelligence that's intimidating, he knows just way too much. He doesn't need to physically overpower you, he knows how to find your weakest point and exploit it like a Ferengi in the bargain bin." The executor said a moment later after regaining his composure.

"It seems The executor is a bit too excited over the prospect of multiple nasagoris. The man knows how to create monsters out of ooze, and its not even the primordial variant. He has devices all over his body that let him do a wide variety of things. For all I know, he might shoot a hurricane at us. Who knows just what exactly he's done.

"Executor, we have entered Zerus System. We are five light hours from the planet, but, I don't understand what I'm seeing. There are utterly no signs The Swarm has ever been here. Now displaying on the main screen."

On the main screen, Zerus was shown, but instead of being the infested tortured planet covered with Hives and Creep bearing a red sky, it was like Earth. Jungles and Forests covered Continents except for the occasional Plain. Mountains stretched from sea to shining sea. People lived and played, oblivious to life beyond their next door neighbor, while birds sang sweetly in the air. It seemed as though they were headed to destroy an innocent civilization, barely into the bronze age.

"What is the meaning of this?" The executor asked, visibly worried and upset. The Executor NEVER showed his emotions, let alone got worried or upset over anything.

Daggoth stood up.

"I sense foul play at work here. This is a trick, without being a trick. Somehow, this is both illusion, and reality, for I can still feel Hives on that world, and sense enemy Swarmlings. I think our first task is simple, destroy that illusion."

OOC: There is more to it than that, but I need attempts at dispelling the illusion, either through technology, or magic, before I can reveal more.

"Sit back, folks, and let the master do his stuff," Marvel said.

the demon-no-more took one look at the thing and could just feel that it was an illusion. Illusion magic was, after all, his special talent.

"Hmmmmm," he said, a smile of delight taking his features as he started to play his game, "there's an intelligence of some kind behind this thing. Why don't I just try and beat it at its own game. I'm going to attempt to delude whatever's putting up that illusion into believing that it failed, even though it hasn't. An illusion about an illusion. Here we go."

Marvel reached out his hand and started to feel the mojo in the universe around him.

---------------------------------------

OOC: Without knowing more about the situation, this is the best that I can do.

The intelligence Marvel felt, was both Mechanical, and Organic, and the Organic intelligence, was Nasagori's. Same for the power in the universe about them, it was all highly controlled mechanical energy, and energies tainted with Nasagori's influence.

Zena, like Marvel, knew more than she probably should have about illusions. "The mind is my specialty and illusions are just tricks played on the mind." she tried analyzing the magic at work on the planet, sharing what she discovered with Marvel. "Perhaps if you go after the mechanical, I'll work on the organic half. Machines and I don't get along." Without waiting for an answer, she set to work going after Nasagori, though she wasn't aware of it at the time.

She quickly isolated the source of the illusion and focused on holding it within itself. Until he figured out there was a wall keeping the illusion in, only the caster of the spell should be affected by it. And when he did figure out what happened, bad things were sure to follow.

"...Aha! Got it! Now...I'm going to assert the delusion...NOW!"

With a surge of mojo, Marvel let loose the delusion that the delusion was a delusion. If it worked, they'd try to overcompensate and blow the real illusion (if there is such a thing) away.

Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. Haven't completely lost my touch, have I?

Zena caught on quick to what Marvel was doing and so let loose her shield. Hopefully in combination with his bit of trickery, the snapback of letting all that power loose at once would throw enough wrenches into the gears to gum up the whole works. "Not bad for a day's work."

And thus the entire world physically exploded before their very eyes.

Then reformed from all the dust and the ashes and continued on as thoughnothing had happened.

Nasagori's image appeared on the screen with a chuckle. He had loong black hair, pulled into a ponytail, his skin was golden yellow, and his eyes black. His eyes spoke of asian heritage.

"My, so many willing volunteers, I must say, I'm rather excited." Nasagori said.

"My friends are just as enthusiastic about meeting you face to face, why don't you drop the illusions and come on over, we've got tea." The Executor said invitingly.

"Tell me, did you really think that was an illusion? I'm afraid its not, its actually quite real, everything here is, there is no longer any such thing as fiction, illusions, or falsehood in any way, shape, or form, in this place. You see, This isn't just Zerus, Zerus is the base for what was constructed upon it, and in the process lost its individual identity."

"Why don't you turn over Xos's Orb and tell us more. Maybe even tell us how you perverted it to enslave Malal." Daggoth said.

"Oh, I didn't pervert it in the slightest. I followed its natural function, which was to teach. It taught me how to reconstruct X without machines, using only my mind. I lured Malal into X myself. See, while I am in X, I am God Almighty. There is no entity more powerful than me. I did not enslave a superior being, I enslaved an inferior being. Then, after he was my slave, I used the orb again, and it taught me how to superimpose one dimension upon another, altering the very rules of realty, so I superimposed X upon Zerus, and now I am the supreme God of The Multiverse, for as long as I stay in X. I don't need the orb anymore. Anything I want to learn, I can do to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Enjoy your stay, because I've sealed X. You cannot escape without my allowing you to, and I don't want you to go, so you'll find you can't. All teleports, all FTL drives, even propulsion, they all stop at the edge of X and wrap around to the other side." Nasagori said.

"We don't want to leave, not any one of us, but tell me, have you altered X in any way, besides imposing it upon reality?" The executor asked.

"Nope, same old X." Nasagori said.

"Then I propose an experiment." The Executor asked.

"Oh, I am intrigued, do tell." Nasagori said.

"Let us find out if an army of mortal powers can out wit, and overpower, an all powerful force. We'll play the mortal powers, you play the all powerful force. But to make this perfectly fair, you have to agree to not listen in on us as we plan strategy. Otherwise the experiment will be rendered invalid. If you can't defeat our ragtag battle group in a fair contest, what chance do you stand against the greater powers when they align to restore order?" The executor asked.

"Oh, quite right, quite right. Fine, I agree. I'll even allow Zerus to revert to its normal form so that all those pesky buildings and trees don't get in the way. But It's still X." Nasagori said, then his image winked out.

The Executor chuckled.

"Dance puppet, Dance for your masters." he said quietly.

"Well, I'm glad one of us apparently understands." Zeratul said with a slight huff.

"I understand X well. I know its weaknesses, and flaws. I know how to destroy X, Nasagori has held me here before. X is a dimensional Construct laboratory. All the normal rules of reality apply, except to Nasagori, which is the entire point. In X, he can set conditions to whatever he feels like, and cause X to run. Being the all powerful master of X, he removes himself from events, while walking among them observing.

Nasagori understands well the first principle of Creation, the principle of Psychokinesis.
The Universe is a mental creation. X reflects this understanding, for he controls his reality with his mind.

But what he doesn't understand is that everything is dual; everything has an opposing point; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes bond; all truths are but partial truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled. This is obvious in the religions of Abraham, God and Satan, opposing points, identical in nature, but different in degree. Just as Nasagori is singularly the master of X, collectivly, we are its destroyers. This doesn't mean we can simply blow it to bits, for we must work within the nature of reality to succeed.

First we must annihilate his station, as we planned originally, but Nasagori won't be there. Then we must take out his ground forces, and there we'll find Nasagori. Make it a fleet wide standing order, if you can take a shot at Nasagori, do so. Once Nasagori has sustained enough damage, he'll be forced to drop X to keep himself alive. Make sure your attacks are along the lines of poisons, or diseases, or rots, or even acids. Things that prevent healing. Nasagori might have Godlike power, but he's not used to it. I've studied my power for nearly a thousand years, Galvenor I am sure has studied even longer. We can both do amazing feats with our powers, we could probably even do something like this if we wanted. But no power can last forever. Everything must end eventually.

Add to that the Psionic attacks our more psionically gifted members will be doing, and X will fall within 24 hours." The executor said.

"So, to put it simply, X is Nasagori's weakness, and Nasagori is X's weakness, and simply doing what we were going to do in the first place will end in its destruction, and that the only real new concern we might have is Nasagori changing the environment around us, or adding a few dozen soldiers which is why we need to concentrate on Nasagori whenever, and wherever possible?" Artanis asked.

"You know I hate it when you sum up a long speech in just a few words." The Executor said.

"We have reached Zerus, and are descending into the atmosphere." The Archons said together.

Daggoth rose.

"I shall go clear a working space for your troops." she said to the empress, and The Executor then left.

"Overmind, release your Kythons on The station!" The Executor said.

The Imperial Legion and there Colonial Garrison support were preparing for war on the Phenixicans Carriers, Pelican and Thunder Dropships were being outfitted with equipment to help them survive a landing meanwhile soldiers were being given orders.

"When we land you are to find your Legionary Commander, they will be marked on your HUDS map and then you will be given orders to try and setup defence installations as we are going to try and take the heat off the other forces on the world. The Empress herself will be joining us in this assault so may I remind you to keep a eye out for her as we dont have a heir to the throne and she is the best we can get"

most of the soldiers laughed while others just remained in silence, pressure was mounting as they started being assigned to there Orbital Drop Pods, Dropships and Mobile Fortresses.

Command Center, Leviathan
"Admiral we have managed to get the fusion reactors to heat up a bit giving us about 10% more power which hopefully will allow us to move around more in low orbit"

"When we do get into position remember we cant absolutely destroy any nearby Hive Cluster but infact can only really fight Nasagori's Swarm. Our main job is giving orbital support of our men down on the surface and making sure there positions cannot be overrun by so much as a fly"

"Admiral one of the Knights is requesting your presence"

The Admiral nods and heads into a back room where Harrison was waiting, he pulls out a vial of water with a seed inside glowing in the middle.

"Phoenix Water and a seed of a tree thats been soaked in it since we plucked it from it's parent, isint it beautiful as the seed itself will be able to spread the touch of the Phoenix on any world it lands on"

The Admiral takes the vial and looks at it "You want us to plant a tree while we are down there?"

"Ah but you see it will also weaken the Chaos hold over there servants, giving even the most simple swarmling the gift of free thought something there races have not enjoyed since their intergration into the swarm. How would you think creatures will react when they not so much see eachother...but for the few who can remember actually for the first time remember who they were and see what the swarm has done to them all"

"If the swarm found this they would declare war" he chucks the vial to Harrison who catches it without any effort at all "Do your own dirty work, the Empire will not take responsbility for this and if they catch you, you better tell them exactly that"

"I dont think I will be returning to serve the Empire after this battle"

"You wont die"

"No, but I have found out the meaning of the Phoenix allowing us to ressurect and I am starting to remember things that I should not. I will have to leave the Empire until I find out what is happening to me"

The Admiral was confused but pretended to understand to not appear ignorant about those older beliefs.

Back with the others
The Empress was still talking with the others in command

"When you have gotten rid of the Illusion my fleet will strike, we wont be able to exactly turn fast but we can still strike hard at enemy positions and we will use that to our advantage. I have to join with my army as they are preparing to land down when we have destroyed this...mockery of times work"

"So the only change here is that while there are set rules, Nasagori can alter reality to any way he sees fit? Sounds easy enough. I still don't understand why he can't just mask his signature though." Zena sighed.

"Don't worry about it. He may have the ability to alter the world around us, but you forget what we all can do." The old man comforted. "Our abilities cover such a wide range that he can't stop us all. Now then, we should prepare to head into battle."

"Should be fun." Josh smiled wryly. He'd been itching to do some real damage.

((OOC:Was most likely writing my last reply before that post))

Soldiers were boarding there craft, but the Empress along with Harrison and a few other knights boarded another. She was anxious and worried but not quite scared but thats when Harrison said quite out of the blue.

"It's the noise" his voice had become more down to earth and relaxed since the last time they talked over dinner, as tho he had been in this situation a million times.

"When the hatch opens when we are on the surface you will never remember what you see or smell.....but I always remember the first time I heard it all at once. The gunfire, Explosions and the screams"

"I am not scared of fighting down on the surface"

"Because your still in disbelief of what is happening around you, but that sound will make you realize what your in for and all of that confidence will disappear"

"My father was never scared"

Harrison smiled "Everybody gets scared your majesty, it is how we deal with the fear that defines Bravery or Cowardice"

She takes out her claymore, given to her at her coronation as a demand of her father. It was way to large for someone of her build but she had been training to fight with it, she was trained by her father and was never made a knight in the Orthodox fashion.

"I thought you never fought in any open war engagements"

"No....I didnt" Harrison smiled as he said this, he had a basic understanding of what was happening to him as it had been mentioned but never did he think this is what it meant.

He takes out the vial, it would have to be dropped after the X had been destroyed in order for it to not be abused. The seed in it had drawn the power in the water around it.

If a non-phenixican drinks water from the lake where the Phoenix fell all those years ago on Devenis, they are tainted to a degree and the spirit of the Phoenix's can influence the lifeform. For the creatures the swarm infects it's a beautiful thing, but who knows what happens to the swarm that had twisted them so far from natural design. It would only work on a small portion of the planet and create a sort of Garden on the planet.

Leviathan, Control Room
The Admiral was preparing his fleet to attack, he had a look of dispair as he walked around looking over the shoulders of some of the Empires finest Officers working at there panels.

The drop of ground forces had to be done as quickly as possible to try and minimalize the loses, he knew he would probably lose almost every soldier but it had to be done to try and get some out of there and he almost had come to the realization that the home fleet would lose allot of ships aswell.

He looks at his scanners and finds the battle is about to begin....he does not look forward to having to send a list of the dead to Devenis.

OOC: While I wait for Bal, who is appearently busy with RL, (I did TG him what I needed done after all) I shall go ahead and start the ground war.

IC:

Daggoth, Zasz, and Irene lead The Swarm, and The Hive Ships in the initial Ground assault, destroying Hives Clusters, and Hive structures along the way, to clear a general uninfested area for the allies to land and begin their assault.

Then the Anti-Swarm came and fought back.

"It's alright, we can tell who's who in the swarms by their colors." The executor said.

Nasagori stood in the middle of the battlefield, clearly visible, clearly undisturbed.

In the time it took for him to slowly close his eyes and reopen them, about ten seconds, all color in X disappeared, replaced with black, white, and shades of Grey. All other colors in the spectrum had simply ceased to exist.

"It's alright, just don't hurt Daggoth, Zasz, or myself. Any other swarmling is expendable, as even if only one of us survives, we can repopulate the entire swarm single-handedly. Just fight!" Irene said using her mind to speak over the fleetwide intercom.

A large drop zone had been cleared for landing of the allied troops, and in this, Nasagori stood momentarily, a nice juicy prize awaiting the first person to get to him.

With a chuckle and a laugh, he turned into a death leaper and leaped into the fray, becoming lost in the fight.

The Rotan forces moved in with Dimensional Recall, taking the visitors from The White Tower with them.

Immediatly, Probes moved out and erected Pylons, and around these they clustered Phase Cannons, which immediately began attacking everything Swarmling within firing range. The Rotan forces moved out to enter the fray. Notably, no Swarmling beyond Daggoth, Zasz, and Irene, Anti, or otherwise, ever made any signs of friendliness, because it was understood that it could simply be an Anti-Swarm trick by Nasagori.

(Field Battle countdown before ???: 1/5)

All of a sudden a voice was heard on the speaker, a Computerized Womens voice.

"Launching in 4...3...2...1"

all of a sudden in almost every Phenixican ships Dropships and Droppods fired everywhere, the dropships going into the atmosphere like Stuka Dive Bombers while the pods fall like meteorites from the sky.

The Empress along with her guards were at the center of these drops but she would soon change that when she lands. 90,000 soldiers had just been dropped in a concentrated position where they could quickly setup and prepare for the landing of the heavier artillary thats when the ground will shake.

Blaze and Wraith fighters came down from the sky and caused a huge fire to run rampant around Anti-Swarm positions around the landing zone.

When the Empress's Thunder Dropship hit the surface and the hatched opened thats when she heard the noise of war all around her and was also shocked by the lack of colour which would make it harder for the legion to recognize eachother on the field.

She walked out in daze and confusion as her head was adjusting to all the sound around the area, fighters zooming low overhead and tanks rolling foward to the front line carrying troops on there sides. Harrison meanwhile was smiling right next to her and she looked at him confused.

"Your enjoying this!"

"No, just thought I need a cigar and a trenchcoat or something. They are obviously trying to make us hit friendly swarm aswell but they forget that this is the first wave of two when it comes to our men"

"Irene gave us permission to shoot at any swarm targets regardless of colour"

Harrison pulls out his Katana and looks at it briefly

"oh they just wanted to put salt in the wound when they gave me such a weapon"

"What on earth are you talking about!"

"Nothing your Majesty, please we must move and get our hands on a regiment so we can push forward. by the looks of it the army has setup most of it's field installations allowing them to control our men"

"No Harrison for once I can tell you whats going to help us conduct this battle"

She points out as a huge vehicle plumets from the sky at about the size of a typical school hall it had large cannons on the side and even two pads for aircraft to land on the top of it.

"Phenixican Mobile Fortress, designed by Ruidian Engineering"

It hits the ground with a great thud and thanks to coordination missed allot of men.....it's great guns along with air support started to blow up Hive Clusters all around and turned them into Inferno's very fitting for the arrival of the Phoenix's Children.

Home Fleet

"Admiral the first wave as landed, they have been given enough ammunition and equipment"

"Good to hear, use the frigates and such to help in air support but otherwise no other ships are firing without my orders"

As if one mind (actually that would not be entirely far from the truth) the Kythons moved to the station. They sped up at rates that would jelly the meat-based allies left behind them and began to target the station. As they closed exceeding a major portion of C in the short distance they continued to accelerate. At this speed all it took was only one to strike the station to cause major damages, and there were literally thousands of them closing upon the structure.

Back on the command ship, Overmind watched as his units done in a seemingly suicide rush to the station. Anything getting in the way was under orders to be obliterated to allow the ones behind to make it through. Overmind received the minds from those who were destroyed and not immediately reassigned to new bodies as their Infection took over defenders.

Any who would strike the station would obviously splatter but the mass gained from velocity would most likely tear a hole through the station and right out the other side. The Thur’Tahg would undoubtedly be fragmented and splattered throughout the wreckage, spreading the Kython Infection deep inside the doomed station.

While the Swarmlings were good at what they did, it was just plain simple the Ta’Nar thought they did a better job in creating their Kythons. Of course this was pride of a race that considered themselves superior to all they have met so far but that is their mindset. Their ability to seemingly infuse concepts of the four aspects of Entropy together into the Kythons was testament to their belief and those on the battlefield would feel a sort of fear knowing there really was nothing to stop the alien creatures which was even more inhumane than the Swarm throw themselves at the station. Their zeal for destruction was unnerving to behold. Their seemingly disregard for their own survival was unnatural. Their minds completely alien to those who tried to contact them, only hearing whispers of millions of Kythons at once, something which would drive non-Kythons to the edge of sanity and beyond at just a brushing.

The destruction would continue until either there was no Kythons remaining or there was no station remaining. The station would be devoured in Kython Infection while any opening would be sliced open, venting the station whenever possible. This was what they were created for and they did not intend on failing their Creators.


OOC:

This week and next are the final two of my college classes. I have been working, sleeping, and catching up and studying for the tests. Please pardon me if I cause a delay, I did not intend for this section of the story to fall upon the same time I had tests.

OOC: Niether did I. With that in mind, look only at this post on your return. Worry about the others later. Trust me when I say there's enough Snit going on with the ground battle to keep them hooligans busy without you causing a delay. I'm going to control just a minor bit, simply redirecting their flight towards where the station jumps to. For everyone else, we shall assume a terrific air battle is going on elsewhere between Bal's forces and Nasagori's.

IC:

As the Kythons approached, time seemed to slow down for them tremendously.

"Don't worry, the slowdown is only temporary, there's something I want to say first." Nasagori said, his image appearing just outside Overmind's ship.

"I must say, I'm quite excited to meet Kythons in person. You know, I once traveled through a galaxy whose inhabitants also named it Kython? They built many marvelous weapons, some were actually useful. So I wonder, which is more effective, a Kython, or a weapon from Kython. I say we find out."

Time slowly sped up to normal again, and the station teleported itself using Rotanian Dimensional Recall technology to the otherside of the planet. Of course, this was easy to tell, and it was no secret The Kythons were going to rush over to meet it.

As they did so, large bay doors opened in the side of the observatory, and a large black cloud escaped. As the wind hit it, it began to glow with black energy. After a second, it rushed towards the Kythons head on, ripping space apart around it.

"See, what's so special about this attack is that energy. The black cloud is a swarm of Nanites. These nanites turn anything they touch into energy. But it isn't any energy, it's the energy of The Void. Anything this energy touches is destroyed, torn apart, shreded, turned into more energy. All the nanites have to do is touch the air, or lightning, or rain, anything at all, and their empowered. So I wonder, will your Kythons beat my Nanites, or will your Kythons become my Nanites?" Nasagori asked, still standing outside the overmind's ship as a holographic projection.

OOC: Bal, see TG's after this post, before you post.
Once Stench and Sylvonia post what their doing, I'll post.

Anything Swarmling met a quick and mostly painless death against Josh. He'd turned a simple stone into a sword for left hand while his right shifted into a blade as well. If the poor creature was unlucky enough to get stuck, it faced an ugly explosion from the metal lodged in it. After a few moment's work, he'd gained enough ground to touch the planet below, releasing spikes from the earth to easily penetrate anything and everything in their path. Having virtually no sense of color to begin with, Josh noticed nothing when it was taken from him.

Zena and the old man meanwhile worked as a team. She could find the connections for each swarmling and trace them back to their leader. Those that were tied to Nasagori she tossed into the air and from there the old man took over. He kept an eye on the battlefield in general, but once a swarmling left the ground, it was swiftly dealt with when he pulled it apart at the atomic level. Having the old man as an early warning system, she could deal swift, fiery justice to attackers in the form of her haphazard elemental control, which had a tendancy to set her alight too. In those few cases, a small flood not only put out the fire, but pushed back those around her.

Marvel just couldn't resist. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book, but that's because it works.

Doctor Jap had just made a BIG mistake. He had let Marvel SEE him while trying to single-handedly martial his forces. This meant that Marvel could send him a little calling card--annoy him and have some fun while he was at it, maybe even distract him enough to alter the course of the battle.

So...you want to push me into a reality emulator, huh? Well...we're going to EMULATE!

...and, with that, Marvel reached once more into his bag of old, used tricks and pulled out...

...The Magic Marker gag.

An exact replica of Doctor Jap appeared in front of the demon--except that it was just a still image, unmoving and vaporously non-solid--and in the demon's hand appeared a thick-tipped black pen.

Ohhh, I love this job!

Without any particular hurry, the demon brought the "Magic Marker" up to the picture and drew a nice, big, black mustache. As he did, a similar accoutrement appeared on the real one. Next, the demon blackened one of the image's teeth. Sure enough, Doctor Jap's smile became more distinctive. Finally, not to be outdone in his immaturity and childishness, Marvel drew a pair of big, thick glasses. Those appeared in place, too. Then, he made sure that the lenses of the glasses were completely black. Wouldn't Doctor Jap be happy when he found that he was blind, and he couldn't take the "glasses" off?

The demon threw his arms back in appreciation of his new masterpiece.

"Ahhhhhh, I'm just a budding Picasso," he said, a manic but sarcastic grin having once again spread over his face.

It was such a pity that the demon couldn't use the color brown.

----------

OOC: Marvel did actually use a variant of this spell in the "The White Tower Revisited" thread.

With the ships in the air...

They weren't left alone for very long to pick out targets on the ground. Hive Structures began shooting back at them, a powerful acid that would wear through shields, and then through the ship. As if that wasn't enough, unsettlingly large numbers of winged Swarmlings took to the air, None of them from Irene's Swarm, her numbers were thinning for the winged variety. What few were left were guarding the dwindling numbers of Hive Ships, though there were still plenty left. Thus, it was up to the allied fleet to take down the winged Swarmlings, who were coming after the ships with every attack ever known to come from The Swarm. Energy, organic, acidic, toxic, all forms of attacks were present.

The Rotan Carriers scrambled their large compliments of fighters, even as their other ships began fighting back. All except the Motherships, who hovered low to the ground battle...

The Ground Battle...

The Rotan Motherships could be seen easily by anyone who cared to look. Their edges began spinning rapidly, and a solid core of energy shot down from the middle, drilling deep holes into the planet. The Motherships moved about, burning swathes through the enemy army.

Nasagori turned towards Marvel, and screamed at an unusually high pitched scream as he sprouted wings, and dove for Marvel at speeds approaching Light. At some unknown interval, a polearm had appeard in his hands, the business end pointed at Marvel.

Meanwhile, a second Nasagori came running at Josh, with great claws for hands.

A third Nasagori had a rocket launcher, and shot off a salvo at Mali.

The Old Man could see the most disturbing fact about these Nasagori's of all. The Hives were generating them. They were all false clones, including the one dive bombing marvel.

Thus was explained the strange readings The Archons got.

Speaking of The Archons, They all three looked over the side of a cliff, and could easily see a large pocket of Anti-Swarmlings trying to make their way up the side. They exchanged glances, then leaped off the side of the cliff to take care of this pocket personally.

The Executor, Artanis, and Zeratul were busy directing a small encampment they had set up, and were expanding, pushing the enemy ever backwards. They had erected varius buildings using probes, and from one appeared a gigantic fifty foot tall war machine on three legs. A Collossi. This machine lumbered off into battle, wading through the enemy deeper than the others had yet gotten, attacking as it went.

For Phenixica (Special):

The Dr. Yamato Nasagori they were looking for, not a false clone, but the real clone, appeared before The Empress. It was easy to tell it was the real Nasagori, as he had something no other clone had, a small sea green orb that glowed brightly under its own power, Xos's Orb.

"Greetings Milady. I thought I would come and deliver the bad news personally. I'm going to summon forth an extremely powerful attack and kill you with it, or at least try. I'm deeply sorry, and wouldn't normally harm such a pretty woman as yourself, but as you insist on helping The Swarm, I must harm you." Dr. Nasagori said, revealing a weakness for pretty women. Then he disappeared. Then, The Phenixican ships would suddenly find themselves overwhelmed with aerial Swarmlings, and unable to assist their empress. The Hive Ships were too far off, as were The Rotan Ships who were busy watching their own leader's back. No one could help her, save for those around her.

A great roar filled the air. Looking up, a Meteor was headed for her position. It was not overly large, and could be avoided, but that meant running into the arms of the enemy, or knocking one of her own soldiers into the enemy. Unless she had an attack powerful enough to destroy a meteor that would certainly kill her otherwise.

2/5

OOC: Next post, Swarmling attacks intensive. Nasagori pulls a joke on Marvel.

OOC: Which one of the Nasagoris had the mustache, black tooth and glasses? Should've been the one who appeared before the Empress.

IC:

Normally, Marvel needed a piece of the victim--a lock of hair, a bit of clothing, perhaps--to make the Voodoo Option on the Magic Marker gag work. That was the beauty of what the demon had done. Nasagori was channeled in to the reality emulator. In X, EVERYTHING was a piece of him. Marvel had turned Doctor Jap's own weapons against him.

So there the demon-no-more stood, at the back of the battlefield, wreaking his unique brand of havoc. No one had thought to actually put so much as one man on him, point so much as one weapon at him, so he was completely free to have fun at their expense.

Then, that changed. Doctor Jap finally noticed and made his move. And oh boy could he move!

Marvel had been waiting.

The demon had a basic understanding of General Relativity. He knew that, when you accelerate, it slows time for you, and you don't have the reaction speed that you once did. He also knew that force equals mass times acceleration--the faster you're going when you run into something, the harder you hit.

Bearing all of this in mind, Marvel set up five walls of dense space in between himself and The Flying Monkey Boy--and topped it all off with a quick mirror teleport hole. He had just enough time to get it moving and watch the effects as--much too quick for him to see--ol' Monkey Boy slammed through all five of them, bounced through the teleport, reflecting back, and slammed through four of them again. The last one stopped him.

WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMBOINGMAHWMAHWMAHWMAHWMAHW!

"Oh, that's gotta hurt," Marvel said, smiling and waving.

A little painter's cap appeared on his head. The image on the Magic Marker spell changed to the Flying Monkey Boy.

"Ahhh," Marvel continued, "the pen is mightier than the sword."

Squigglesquiggle. Handcuffs. Squigglesquigglesquiggle. Shackles. SquigglesquigglePOP! Wing restraints.

...and, not to be outdone...

Markmark. Belly button piercing....without anesthetic.

Now, all he had to do was wear Doctor Jap down enough, and he'd be taking a little trip inside the schmuck's mind...and coming back with a little bitty secret or two...

OOC:

Better hurry up with that prank. Marvel's a turned demon, but he's a GREEEEEDY turned demon...

The swarm of Kythons hurled themselves at the station even increasing their speed as they readjusted their course. They either did not see the cloud of darkness or chose to ignore the nanobots altogether. When the two forces clashed something spectacular happened.

Relativity happened and it is a bitch.

Overmind knew that even if the boogeyman did control this bubble dimension, physics still held true. If Nasagori controlled everything he would need to concentrate on every tiny detail and regulate even the light rays bouncing off the debris from the attacks earlier. If he was doing that he would not have enough concentration left to fight a mosquito. He was too bust retaining control over the swarm and the entities he claimed to manipulate. He needed to or else they would turn on him in a heartbeat. That meant he had left the bubble dimension to run on autopilot unless he needed to usurp a specific function which he only had so much attention to divide to details. Overmind was a composite of every Kython in existence and knew intimately what it was like to experience millions of awarenesses at once and he kept track of each and every one. That is what the Ta’Nar had designed his existence to accomplish and frankly they did a very good job.

What this means is either the bad doctor had to concentrate on exerting his will upon the very laws of physics or retain control over his forces. The fireworks were a direct consequence of this.

The lead Kythons hit the cloud in excess of 0.8 C. that is 80% of the speed of light making their relative mass immense. Now, if you threw a lead slug at someone, it might sting a little. Add velocity of about 300 feet per second to it and it gains relative mass and becomes a bullet piercing through the body and protective coverings. Now, increase that tiny lead slug to about three meters and add the relative mass of a velocity of nearly 150,000 miles per second you get one hell of an impact. It is too bad only the mass of a swarm of nanobots was standing in their way.

The lead Kython encountered the cloud and instantly it was disintegrated in a spectacular pyrotechnic display that resembles an expanding tunnel of extremely violent energy discharge heading straight for the station. The massive concussion would rattle the planet below and toss aside both the swarm and the cloud, provided the Kythons were moving slower. As it was they had the same velocity as the leaders and produced their own burning tunnel of gases and energy incinerating everything in their path without protection and nanobots just did not have room for shielding, they barely had propulsion and power and their weapon.

Now, the special attacks of the Kython Infection and the nano-cloud Void Energy would not be compared this day for the Law of Physics demanded instant mass-energy conversion of all parties involved and that meant there just was no time for either effect to take place. Matter was tossed aside like rice in a hurricane wedding.

It was a good thing there were thousands of Kythons backing up the attack of their now disintegrated leaders. Overmind felt the return of hundreds of Kythons as their bodies were disintegrated but he had thousands of them still attacking and it only needed a single hit…

OOC: i'm gonna say this for the last time. It's ZENA. Mali's in the tower waiting for someone else to post.

IC: Certain laws of physics can be avoided entirely, if you knew how to bend the rules a bit. This was something Josh knew all too well and he understood how to use his magic to bend said rules. For some things though, there's no substitute for a good smackdown. Taking only the briefest of moments, he decided this was not on of those things. Back to his rule bending, he understood that everything vibrates, it's individual atoms move ever so slightly and if you can alter that frequency, you can make something solid quite intangible.

Without batting an eyelash, he called up one of the oldest tricks in his book, rows of spikes sprang from the ground. New this time was how they were appearing to pass through the clawed Nasagori until he released his spell, at which time they would pierce and turn his body into swiss cheese. After that, it was a simple enough matter to either detonate them with the force of a small nuclear bomb, or tear him apart. Of course, there's no reason both couldn't happen, and so they spread, tearing him apart until each skewer exploded in turn.

Zena meanwhile almost yawned. Mere projectile weapons were the most boring sort to her. As the salvo neared, she put out her hand and it slowed until it was mere inches from her, where it stopped completely. "Try again." The projectiles imploded, their force contained within the spheres Zena had trapped them in.

The old man meanwhile took a break from atomizing swarmlings to see where they all came from. The hives! He screamed in everyone's heads. Nasagori's not doing this himself, he's cloning himself in the hives! These are all fakes, destroy them quickly and move on! He turned his attention to the Nasagori attacking Zena and searched it's body for it's vital organs, shredding them once found.

Before Nagagori went away she was quick to quote one of the most overused Phenixican lines used in warfare.

"You cant kill a Phoenix"

The meteor which came down put fright into her eyes like nothing ever had before, Harrison was quick to bring some sense into her.

"RUN!"

As they ran torwards the swarm position it was also bloodshed as they both draw their swords and started cutting down swarm ranks, the Empress mostly using her magic to burn entire groups into charcoal while Harrison still with his robotic arm relied on his Katana to do his killing and in a moment they had managed to create a safe distance.

A few knights had managed to join them but the meteor would kill someone, the Empress shouted...

"That thing is coming in hot, focus your energy into it and you can make it explode"

She was right, even if technically the Meteorite wasnt on fire itself all around it would of been heat which was creating the fire around it. Phenixican magic loves heat as it makes it stronger and cold naturally does the opposite.

As the knights around her and Harrison kept the enemy at bay they both closed there eyes and started drawing energy which they were using to simply break apart the meteorite which they would then send hurtling torwards the Anti-Swarm forces or thats what they hoped was the Anti-Swarm.

Nadine was quick to shout to Nasagori who she hoped heard her

"I am not just another pretty face!"

Home Fleet

"Admiral Swarmlings are approuching our position in great numbers and Irenes forces are in even worse shape, we need you to order the fighters to reinforce our position up here "

Good thing this was a advisor which was told to talk to him in this way, Druk could see the bad shape Irene's space forces were and knew they without support they would be in danger....but thing is this new arrival did not exactly help them.

"We cannot spare any ships, tell the fighters on the surface to come back up here and keep the fighters off our ships"

He then saw a orange blip fade away as it was surrounded by a red cube which represent one cluster of enemy swarmlings, they had just lost a Cruiser to the onslaught. the large brown ball symbolizing the planet they were in orbit around then showed, three Orange cubes had formed showing the fighters racing back to protect the fleet.

The fighters already guarding were in terrible shape, they had the firepower but could not turn tight enough to win in a open dogfight. Frigates were the most useful with there Anti-Fightet Turrents firing like gattlings guns they were able to shoot down any swarmling before they could break into the center of the phenixican formation which consisted of the larger ships.

"Tell the fighters to try and avoid open dogfights, our advantage is in keeping the distance before they are drawn into close quarter aerial fighting. Frigates are to stay in position and keep the fighters off the heavier craft, this fleet cannot be destroyed it's to important"

Since, once again, they had underestimated him, the demon-no-more turned his eyes to the skies--and had no trouble noticing the meteor that was plowing headlong into the atmosphere.

Time for a little more Yendorian Magic. He reached up his hand and bent the space that the meteor was traveling through. This took more effort than he was used to, but it caused the thing to almost turn completely around. In a moment, it would be headed back out of the place--and it wouldn't pose any more danger to the ships in the area.

Of course, altering space density has its costs. What he had done was, in affect, to create a low pressure zone right over his head--which, if he didn't reverse it soon, would lead to torrential rains, but, for now, things were holding on their own momentum, in more ways than one.

Then, the red-skinned one looked back at the local situation. There was his Doctor Jap clone, slumped on the ground. Little wisps of vapor rose from his body--affect of flying at high speed through air. Though he didn't exactly have a shovel, Marvel couldn't help but get another dig in.

"Oh, wow!" he said, crap-eating grin never leaving his face. "I didn't know that you smoked!"

Nasagori appeared before Marvel, his green orb shining brightly, he looked down at the copy he had redirected the drawing to.

"I have some friends that would love to play with you." He said, then disappeared.

Meanwhile, a whistling sound filled the air, and looking up was a giant 16 ton Marvel seeking weight with his picture painted in the middle of a bullseye on the bottom. No matter where he ran, the weight would follow, like a classic gag out of a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes Cartoon.

But Nasagori wasn't done yet. The clones defeated by Marvel and Josh exploded, causing Nasagori to scream in pain and collapse into unconsciousness. As he did so, a great barrier erected itself around him, an impenetrable defense. He dropped the orb as it fell, and it bounced with a clear crystaline ting. Seconds passed, and the orb turned yellow. Something had awoken inside of it, that much Old man could tell.

Yet only Galvenor, with his experience and knowledge could see the truth. His old friend was trapped inside the orb.

The Orb began rolling away from Nasagori, and rebounded off the shield, several times, in several different places, trying to escape. Nasagori awoke once more, and chased ofter the orb like a child chasing after his favorite ball.

He caught it, and his arm began swinging wildly due to the power of the orb, hitting him in the face, the ribs, and the back before Nasagori caught hold of his arm with his other arm and reasserted control of The Orb, turning it green again.

Safe inside his impenitrable barrier, Nasagori ressurected his fallen swarmlings, but the spell was misdirected due to his inexperience with magic.

Every Phenixican soldier that had fallen, every phenixican fleet officer that had died, and every phenixican ship that was lost rose to join the battle once more as Mass Ressurection channeled through the world. Their wounds disappeared, the damages gone, leaving only a healthy army in its place.

Swarmling hives repaired themselves, on both sides.

Rotanian soldiers rose from the dead, on the verge of dispersing into energy no more.

Nasagori's swarm intensified, more Nasagori clones appeared, and even as a massive rush of Carnifexes descended upon Marvel, Josh, Zena, and Old Man, all of them Screamer Killers, three uglier, larger brutes could be seen in the distance. The Hive Tyrants.

One of them decided to take on The Empress Nadine personally. The Orange Tyrant, Ginso.

"I find you are mistaken, for I remember clearly eating the Phoenix Birds of Shingralim 9. They are extinct, they live no more, we killed a Phoenix. They were good, and The Swarm's first experience with Hot Wings. We want more. Perhaps we should track down your phoenix to sate our appetite." Ginso said, threatening Phenixica's deity.

Meanwhile, he reached for her to quite literally bite her head off.

OOC: Ginso and Nasagori with the orb, and the other two Hive Tyrants, my characters, I have plans for them so don't just assume things with them.

All other members of The Anti-Swarm Including Nasagori false clones, feel free to take care of entirely in your post. Assume their attacking, assume their dying, the whole nine yards, to allow for more creative freedom.

3/5

Marvel appeared inside of Doctor Jap's little impenetrable barrier. Of course, it wasn't the real thing, but nobody had said that Marvel couldn't pipe in an illusion of himself and taunt the little schmuck, so that's just what he was doing.

The illusion leaned back against one of the walls and started chewing on a carrot that just magically appeared when he needed it.

"Hey, doc," it said. "Nice accessory." munchmunchmunch. "Too bad it's not," munchmunch, "ya know," munch, "unstoppable. If it was, den dat dopey demon wouldn't be doin' something like dis." With a final munch, he ran out of carrot.

The phony demon then wiped his hand in a little circle against the wall next to him, as if he was wiping the dirt off of a window. As he did, a picture came through. Somehow, Marvel had landed touch down on the 16-ton, Marvel-seeking weight and was sitting there, on a flat stretch of ground, shooting the raspberry at Doctor Jap. Underneath it, two wings that looked suspiciously like those of the Flying Monkey Boy littered the ground.

And his tongue is a foot and a half long.

"Well," the illusion said, "just taught ya should know." Then it disappeared, and the barrier returned to its normal state.

"Oh this doesn't bode well." The old man had witnessed the orb trying to escape. Galvenor would know more about the being within than he, but all the same, it became clear what the next objective would be once Nasagori was neturalized. Shaking his metaphorical head as Marvel went to torment the man, he returned to the crisis at hand and his eyes seemed to pulse for a moment. The Carnifexes were getting close, but a wide swatch of them began to glow before they were near enough to attack. The old man tore them apart, the pieces freezing in midair before dropping to the earth below.

Zena was more delicate, as a few of them directed themselves toward her, she reached out to their minds and turned them into puree. The end result was beasts plowing into the ground, dying with no brain to direct their bodies. Following that, she put up a barrier. All within in would be protected from the Carnifexes, but their attackers would find it difficult, though not impossible, to enter. The challenge came from the intense pain contact with the barrier would cause.

Stench and Sylvonia only:

Nasagori simply glared at the illusion, pointed the orb at the real Marvel, and flooded his body with a light pain for five seconds.

Meanwhile, inside Zena's protective barrier, a small metal case appeared. On the side was written "Ye Olde Atomic Bomb, 500,000 Kilotons" And all scans of the case would tell them it was a genuine atomic bomb.

The counter hit one, the entire thing glowed bright white like it was going to explode and kill everything in a single blast, but instead of an atomic explosion, only a little flag popped out with the word "Boom" on it.

It was of course, a distraction from Nasagori's real attack.

A Tanthanian, kidnapped during the initial stages of the raid before help arrived, was running up behind him, twisted and mutilated by Nasagori's cruel experiments.

Regardless of what happened, as soon as he hit anything solid, he would explode with sizeable force.

"Wasn't he cute? I was trying to see if I could make a living bomb. Looks like it worked, he did explode after all." Nasagori said inside his barrier, his words echoing inside hers.

Nadine quickly jumped to the side and as the creatures head was came close stabbed it in the side of it's face with her fathers claymore as the creatures moves it head back up Nadine looked at it with such hatred for it's comment.

"Their is no other true Phoenix, every other one is a offspring of the original and they are held with great respect. Your comment simply insults me because you are naive enough to think we worship just some powerful celestial being"

The Phoenix no longer existed as a single being anyway, when the Phoenix crashed into the center of the Phenixican Continent after it's fight with the dragon it seperated into 5 and thus they had to share the power between them. Thats why there are 5 tribes each one belonging to one of the 5 brothers.

Harrison then stood aside and starred at the creature smiling in amusement, if Nadine couldnt defeat this creature he knew he could. He then closes his eyes and his mind flashes to starring out of the window in the Imperial Palace, the capital bustling around him....oh he knew for sure he could kill this creature if given the chance.

Nadine then said

"The Phoenix's are overlooking this battle right now, come on you abomination show them your supposed power"

She then throws her hand forward and a spiral of fire erupts from her hand it being hotter then the surface of a sun, meanwhile she was also building up energy and channeling it into her sword where it would build up and be able to inflict a deadly wound to the most powerful of beings. The spiral was for show but it would hurt Ginso, it was just a taste of the power possessed by the most powerful of Knights.

Ginso took the flames with a smile, his wounds regenerating.
"It was the phoenix birds that enhanced our Regenerative powers."

He began moving much quicker.

"Attack the mind. Psionic attacks are anathma to it. Our blades draw upon the mind naturally. With my last breath, I give you mine." A dark templar said, and threw his blade at Empress Nadine in such a fashion as to enable her to catch it in a fashionable manner.

Its strength was dependent on the strength of the mind, which was independent of any powers it possessed, though was certainly enhanced by them. Thus, if Nadine was simply a smart woman with no psionic powers of any kind, the blade would be half as strong as normal, but still effective. If she had psionic powers, it would be at its normal strength.

The Dark Templar took one of Ginso's claws to the gut and died for his gift, the gift of a blade that was counted as a psionic attack, though it was physical.

~~~
Five minutes after Nadine destroys Ginso...
~~~
Dr. Nasagori looked at the fighters. He needed something more than the swarms. Of course, he had researched them based on the data from Tanthan. He felt he had some aces up his sleeve.

From one pocket he removed a Joker card, tossing it away into the south winds towards Marvel.

From another pocket, he removed one of the rarest feathers any man could ever find, a pinion from a Phoenix. This he tossed high in the air, letting it drift towards Empress Nadine and her troops.

From another pocket he removed a beaker of goo, and twirled it in his fingers a few times. It contained brain matter from the ten greatest Psions in history. This he rolled upon the ground towards The Old Man.

From another came a strange black metal. This he warmed in his hands before burying beneath the ground. It burrowed deep into the ground beneath Josh.

From his front left breast pocket came four different locks of hair. Three blond, one white. These he sprinkled to the north wind towards Zena.

All the magic disappeared from X, and Zerus, as did all Psionic and other forms of power, invested solely in these objects, which began to glow bright white in the great darkness that had fallen in the absence of light energy.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as it lost most of its energy, and then, everything came to a rest as a bad feeling of ill intent pervaded the area...

OOC: So, can you guess what your next challenges are? I doubt it, and I'm almost certain Phenixica is going to guess wrong. 4/5!

Nadine grabs it with ease, her mind was a Phenixican mind meaning it was far stronger then a typical human she then jumped and launched herself like a rocket torwards Ginso with both swords in hand this was simply managed by conjuring fire around her body and using it to propel her forwards.

When she reached the creatures head she lunged the dark templars sword into it's eye socket and started simply scrambling it around, while with her fathers sword now bustling with raw power she unleashed it was Phoenix magic injected into the bloodstream and Phoenix Magic was just as destructive to the sons of chaos as Chaos made most Phenixicans feel sick.

She channeled everything, another source also was feeding power into it and words could be heard in Ginso's mind from the Phoenix Druk or otherwise known as the 'Dark One'

"I am going to enjoy watching you burn"

Now all I have to do is hope that good ol' Doctor Jap takes the bait and makes the weight indestructaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Allllllrightie then. I guess that didn't work. Guess I'll just have to use the thing unenhanced. Would've been fun making it hit Doctor Jap's immovable barrier if he'd made it an irresistible force. Did a neat job on the Exploding Monkey Boy, though.

Time to bring the Armor up to full power. Marvel had even given it a name.

Ohhh, Shelly...!

The demon was sorely tempted to throw an illusion of severe cramps at the not-so-good Doctor, just to let him know that he wasn't the only one with that particular trick up his sleeve, but he decided that a testosterone-spraying contest with the little schmuck wasn't in his best interests...yet.

Instead, he got Shelly going. The stuff bonds with its wearer on several levels, and, on Marvel, that even meant that it had adopted some of his fashion sense. So there he stood, silver caps over the claws on his wings, padded shoulders, a form-flattering golden V pattern on the chest plate and a visor that looked like mirror shades. And now, when he spread his wings, they had little jets on them.

The first thing that he did was to undo his little tunnel of warped space. The meteor had passed, and he didn't want to invest any more mojo in starting up a hurricane. Clouds were already starting to get thick and black.

And, with Shelly helping him along, it only took Marvel a short hop to get airborne. It didn't take him very long to go supersonic, either. He was a tough old bird, but he would never have been able to fly faster than the speed of sound without Shelly.

Doctor Jap's Skull--all 16 lead-lined tons of it--simply couldn't keep up. It lagged behind, following directly but unable to maintain the pace.

"Now," thought the turned demon, "what to strike at first...?" With the Eye of Wisdom, it was easy to discriminate between the Good Swarmlings and the Bad ones. And Marvel, as he liked to note, was a precision flying machine. Even without Shelly, he was both faster and more agile in the air than any Swarmling. So the air battle was the first thing that he went to.

Mind you, he didn't go there directly. First, he let Doctor Jap's Skull hit him a few times and started to act as if he'd just had the living daylights beaten out of him. He hadn't, but...

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable...
--Sun Tsu, The Art of Warfare

He was smaller than a Swarmling, and looked relatively harmless. And he made a point of flying like he was drunk, even as he avoided taking any serious damage. Thus, it was no surprise that, at first, they didn't bother to engage him.

Then, he took out the Sword of Truth, sped up, straightened out and started chopping them in half. That got some attention...but as the claws started to swing his way, the sword got longer...and the acid attacks simply bounced off of the Shield of Faith like rain water--thick, chunky rain water. Some of it landed on Doctor Jap's Skull, and let's just say that it didn't weigh 16 tons anymore.

It took Marvel a bit of harassing--and a couple of hits that Shelly didn't particularly care for--but he did manage to get a significant mass of Evil Swarmlings on his tail after a while.

That was when he made his move.

He flew up just over one of those thick, black clouds, and held his sword pointing down toward it. He'd only seen this spell used once, but it had been devastating. As the Bad Guys gathered 'round and started closing a circle, he brought the sword up over his head and said,

"Evildoers, be gone!"

The cloud glowed white hot as all the voltage that it contained drained out of it and into the sword. As it did, Marvel flung the weapon down and pointed it at the nearest Evil Swarmling.

Angel Magic isn't like normal magic. It is derived from--works with--nature itself. Thus, it will work when almost no other magic will.

Lightning erupted from the weapon and shot out, first through the nearest Swarmling and then through it and on to the rest of them. Using the Eye of Wisdom, Marvel followed the spell as it worked its way back through the bad guys and into the hive that spawned them. He didn't know how much of a job it would do--it got slightly weaker as it passed down the line--but that didn't matter. Doctor Jap's production edge was all but completely nullified.

With that, Marvel, in a single motion, turned and struck with the sword again. What was left of Doctor Jap's Skull cleaved in two and then blew into a million pieces as it tumbled toward the ground below.

Alright, now! he thought as he hovered in the air, Which one of you !$@##%^s is next?!?!!

The metal coated Josh's right arm, making it look somewhat normal, except for the color and the fact it was obviously metal. "Well this is interesting." He remarked, noting a sense of touch for the first time in many years in his right hand.

The old man, being energy felt weak beyond belief and so took refuge in Zena. She collected the hair for herself, which wove itself into her own black locks, and the beaker, which she simply held. Zena's eyes glowed a slight blue as the old man relaxed beyond sleep. He had fallen into Zena's subconscious, allowing her to access his power and memory. Reeling from the change, she barely noticed anything around her.

Josh meanwhile took advantage of his strength for the first time in quite a while. His almost human looking arm took on a more demonic appearance as he sprang toward the remains of the latest wave of attackers. Slipping slightly into his baser instincts, he left magic behind to tear his way though.

5/5!

Time stopped, for everyone, and as it stopped, so did everyone else, unable to move due to the absence of time.

Nasagori dropped his shield and moved among the armies, pausing for just a second to consider Josh's frozen, yet barbaric form.

"Oh yes, he's going to enjoy you." Nasagori said quietly to himself.

Then his voice flooded everyone's mind.

"So I bet your thinking your winning. Poor old Nasagori's just a fumbling fool without any real strength, an inept moron who couldn't scrap together a descent army if his life depended on it. This isn't the first time I've played the game you know. Tanthan was a trap. The entire system was a trap, and you fell right for it. The premise was simple, who would help The Swarm? The method was even simpler. Split my forces in half, and throw one half away just to find out who would come to help The Swarm, and what sort of powers they possessed. First, I noticed the children of The Phoenix." He said.

He appeared by The Phoenix Pinion that had fallen to the ground, just before Empress Nadine.

"Such loyal children, believing in their deity. I bet, like most children, you couldn't dream of harming your god. Tell me, have you ever heard of The Mirrorverse? I was there once. Its a place where everything is the same, yet diametrically opposed to this one. Good is evil, evil is good, all that stuff. While I was there I saved The Phoenix from a powerful enemy that sought to destroy it, and it granted me one favor, a favor I call upon now. Come xineohP, I summon you to destroy these imitators of your slaves." He said, empowering the phoenix Pinion.

Flames roared to the sky, taking the shape of a bird, and turning black as night. From them emerged xineohP, The Dark Phoenix of The Mirrorverse. It was their deities opposite from The Mirrorverse. Nasagori chuckled to himself as he walked off, wondering if children could willingly slay their own parent, even if it was a twisted imitation thereof, or if they would let themselves be conquered out of some twisted sense of love and devotion, unable to raise a hand to their parent.

He walked over to Josh, where the metal was beneath him deep in the ground.

"You my friend, you are something else. A wizard definatly, and a powerful one. I saw you on my cameras. I decided I'd call upon a legend. Another entity from the Mirrorverse, yet whose name is not reversed. Once upon a time, there where two powerful knights, one who was the voice and will of the one true source of all things. The other, he weilded the powers of Death itself as a weapon, and held all the fury of Hell in his heart. Both went on to found orders that exist to this day, The good knight founded the paladins, and the evil knight, The Legions of The Knights of Doom. Both where one in the same man, one from this universe, one from The Mirror, Rahegalhoff Mesquchoku. From The Infinite Depths of The Abyss, I summon back to this mortal Plane, the oridinal Knight of Doom, Rahegalhoff Mesquchoku!" Nasagori said.

Hellfire erupted from the ground around Josh as the block shot to the surface and surfaced infront of him. The metal block melted, and expanded, coalescing and transmuting into a Demon Horse, and the Hellfire enclosed upon it, crawling up it, and transmuted itself into a knight with black armor, and eyes that burned with Hell's Fury. He pulled a sword from its scabbered, and though the handle was black, the blade was red with blood. In its reflection, one could see a baby trapped within the blade. Historians and researchers discovered, to their horror, that when Rahegalhoff made the blade, he sacrificed his own newborn son to do so, forging his blade from his son's flesh and blood, and named his blade Innocence. The cries of the baby filled the air as it whistled past the blade.

Nasagori collected the floating hairs on his palm as he stopped in front of Zena.

"Meanwhile you, Not only do you have a strong mind, but you have great elemental prowess. So from another universe entirely, I decided I would call forth four sisters, their known as The Vivaldi sisters. Their powers should prove to be more than you can handle, and should adequately end this. Behold their power, behold the beautiful Vivaldi sisters, tremble at the might of, The Four Seasons." Nasagori said, as the hair disappeared.

To Zena's south, a beautiful young maiden appeared, and with her came the joys of spring. To her east, a young, self assured woman, obviously expecting her first child The power of Summer radiated around her. To her west, an older woman who obviously had her children, and from her came the the colors of Autumn. To her North, came an old Hag, wrinkled and bent with great age. Her every breath was filled with Winter's chill grasp. All four women were the exact same woman, at different stages of her life.

Nasagori stomped on the beaker of brain goo, and Psionic energies swirled around him.

"Old Man, you cheat by hiding in a young woman. I had a playmate all picked out for you, so he shall have to play with Zena instead, making the job of The Four Seasons that much easier. See, I knew you had a powerful mind, once you invaded my clone's own. Though I would like to say, I inslaved a Ta'nar, sadly, I have not yet figured out how to do so, so I did the next best thing, and made my own. Behold the pure mind Xream, a being of my own marvelous creation."

Xream allowed himself to be seen, and his form was identical to Nasagori's own.

Nasagori stopped by Marvel.

"Marvelous. Yes, Marvelous Marvel. You certainly are one of a kind, Marvelous Demon Marvel. I would say you've pranked your last prank, but that would be a lie, for you have many more to pull this day for my amusement. Yes, I'm going to fight fire with fire, and call in experts to do so. I searched for someone worthy of your talents, and, well, I guess its time to send in the clowns. Behold The Dark Circus, known to you underworlders as The Circus of Demons."

A giant purple Circus Tent sprang up around them from out of the Joker card, and Nasagori disappeared.

The Swarms and The Rotan found themselves a captive audience of The Circus of demons, with Marvel in the Center ring.

The Ringmaster appeared, a particularly sinister fellow that looked like a perfectly ordinary human with a rather large whip, wearing black boots, white pants, and a red sparkly sports coat. A top hat rested on his head. Of course, this was all apart of the show.

Time began to flow once more, allowing everyone to move again, as all energy returned to its normal levels.

OOC: All you really need do from this point on during the fights, is look for your colored section.
~~~
Phenixica:

The bird looked at the Phenixicans with an angry look in its eye, as though they were its children, and had done something naughty.
"You've disappointed me. I'm going to have to make you pay." The Dark Phoenix said, its voice crackling with death.

It swept its wings at them, burning with its black fire, fires swirled all through the ranks, and through the Phenixican Fleets, even as it screamed its outrage at them. These were not fires of life, these were fires of death and destruction, scarring the world as it went, causing it to forever be infertile wherever it touched.
~~~
Josh

The legendary doomknight smiled at Josh.

"Its a pleasure to kill you. I don't give a flying f@%$ who, or what you think you are so don't bore me with petty flowery words, fight like a legend or die like a B!&#$. You're going to die by my blade regardless, after all, we mustn't starve the baby." Rahegalhoff said in a disturbingly calm manner, swinging his blade through the air for Josh's mid-section. The baby's cries trailed after them, having the effect of being unsettling upon the listener provided they had a heart, which was why Rahegalhoff was unaffected.

If Josh tried casting a spell, any spell at all, even if it was on himself, he would notice it took twice the effort and power to cast, as the armor drained magic. Of course, being plate mail of an unidentifiable substance, it also meant physical attacks were going to be difficult to get through as well. The Demon Horse just stood there, doubting Josh's prowess, but it too wore armor of the same substance. Of course, being Demon, its skin was already difficult to get through.
~~~
Zena and Old Man:

Five attacks came simultaineously, without any word, warning, or greeting of any kind.

Xream decided to use a classic Mind Blast to affect both Old Man and Zena making it harder for Zena to concentrate, as he used it to try to kill Old Man.

Spring grew Thorny vines to entangle Zena.

Summer Set turned them into a magical variety that thrived on Fire, water, and Ice.

Fall Summoned a Razor Wind full of falling leaves, each with a knife's edge, blowing directly at Zena, fanning the Flames and making them both hotter, and higher.

Winter exhaled a mighty blizzard to Freeze Zena's very blood.
~~~
Marvel:

The Ring Master, throwing himself into the act, cracked his whip as the spotlight appeared on him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Circus of Demons where you will see and experience things that will haunt you till the day you die. I promise you, at least half of you, if not all of you, will die in this show, unless this traitor to Hell performs well. Now sit back and let the torments begin. For our First act. Shargoth, the Lion Tamer." The ring master said, walking out of the arena.

Marvel would find himself in a cage with five hungry Hellions, and Shargoth the Lion Tamer, a Giant of a demon with a spear and a whip of his own. He cracked it. The Hellions advanced on Marvel, licking their chops and growling. Shargoth leaned against the cage.

"For our first act, Marvel will tame these five Hungry Hellions without any assistance from me. If he fails, five of you will be eaten." Shargoth promised, and took away the cage, the Hellions ran towards the screaming captive audience, who was unable to fight back.

The Executor, Irene, Artanis, Zeratul, Daggoth, and Zasz were in a special box, seemingly reserved for special acts. But their forces were unprotected.

OOC: Marvel, this battle is not a physical brawl, but depends on your humor side. Essentially, you must out perform an entire circus. But I warn you, it will not be all fun and games towards the end. You'll see...

Josh nearly laughed. "No mincing words, but we'll mince each other. I almost like you!" he vanished before the blade struck him, noting the effort and wishing he'd had a bigger breakfast. He put his metal palm on the back of the knight and set to work on breaking apart the plate mail, again wishing for a larger meal.

The old man still slumbered within Zena, his natural shields blocking most of the mind blast. She didn't bother to wince as she returned the favor and simultaneously froze every leaf around her, tearing them to shreds. A part of her almost noticed the effort of setting the vines upon themselves, fire attacking ice, ice attacking water, and water attacking fire. Then the blizzard hit and for a moment, she saw her breath and shuddered from the chill. Unaware of her elemental powers kicking in, she burst into flames. "This is new." Nothing on her was burning, though the bits of leaf began to smoke and combust.

"THAT IS ENOUGH" a shockwave erupts and stops the blaze as it hit half the army and saved the fleet, the Empress looks around to where the noise originated from. Harrison stood there but his appearance had changed slightly, a scar that went over his right eye erupted from his skin and thats when it clicked like a picture in her mind...no it couldnt be....

I walk forward, passing by my dear daugther as for the first time in about 2 years I breathed free air again. Harrison infact was not that old at all and only a few months infact, the Phoenix's had resurrected their one champion when they saw the threat of the chaos gods and the words sang in my ears. Harrison was simply a vessel in which they delivered, they manipulated history to make it seem like he had been born and bred.

I look up at the abomination that thought it had a right to kill our children, this time I aim my verbal attack on both Nasagori and xineohP

"David Harrison, you know David is one of the most common names used. but infact on Earth where the Phoenix also had a influence David is a Israelite name, not only was the great Hebrew King, David a bearer of the name but it's meaning is 'Beloved' and can you see where I am going here"

As I get next to my daugther I exchange our swords so I had my old claymore, she was in shock but managed to whisper

"Father"

I turned around and smiled, my memory had been restored at the moment my children needed me the most but most of all so no harm would come to my daugther and one and only heir to the Cook Family.

"The Phoenix in this universe exist as 5 seperate beings, but you see the story goes that when the Phoenix crashed there was a man by the name of Cameron Cook who was right on the spot where it happened. He became the Phoenix Reborn and everytime the children of the Phoenix are threatened they manipulate it so he is ressurected which is normally a slow process of natural conception, birth and age but infact this time you really pissed them off Nasagori"

I point up to the sky, which appeared empty

"They have been watching this fight since it began, when we met on the station the very first time I encountered the swarm and I was put there with a fake memory and a girl which acted as a safeguard for my safety. I was put there to meet you my dear Nasagori, Druk was the one that discovered you as a threat. That is why all of a sudden the Empire has been so desperate to make the Druk Tribe equals as it is being whispered in every citizens ear by the other brothers"

I look at the black phoenix, I look at the disgusting creature in it's eyes and point my sword at it

"I am the Belcameron Ian Cook, ex-Emperor of the Phenixican Empire and Phoenix Reborn. These people are the children of the bringer of life and not death. If you dont leave them alone, if your stupid enough to try and harm them. Then I will have something to say about it"

The ground under and around my feet become rich with grass as my very footsteps brought the fire of life around it, my eyes started to burn with a golden flame then I smile and said sarcastically.

"xineohP, you have been a very naughty boy! When im done with you, I will personally make sure the one that brought you here is punished aswell"

There was a lot that Marvel didn't understand here--like how he remembered what Doctor Schmuck (he'd just earned himself a promotion) had said when all time had stopped for him. He was used to time spells, and knew their affects. They completely take over the consciousness of the victim. If you're at zero time, you're also at complete cluelessness.

Then again, Marvel completely understood that Doctor Schmuck was completely clueless without being at zero time. He liked to work through proxies. All that Marvel had to do was abandon the proxies and go afte Doctor Schmuck and the little dweeb's plan would be shattered.

Unfortunately, this was just plain too much fun to pass up.

So ya wanna play with time, eh?

"Where's your sense of drama, boys?!?" he shouted. "We need music!" And, with no furhter ado, a demon behind a huge, gaudy paino appeared and started playing the theme from the Keystone Cops.

The hel-lions didn't even slow down.

That was OK, though. As they closed in on their target, Marvel just hit them with half-time. Several times. As he did, the tempo of the tune slowed down to match their new speed, and the pitch of the song deepened. By the time he was finished, the illusionary piano player was just pounding the leftmost key once every couple-ten seconds.

Then, he ever-so-casually walked up and tied their tails together...and erected a barrier of solid space in front of each of them...and, to make the affect complete, walked over to the lead hel-lion and belched quite loudly in its face. Finally, trotting back to the center of the ring, he let time go back to normal.

The result was quite entertaining. The lead hel-lion, recognising the insult, bared its teeth and roared--which prevented it from jumping out of the barrier, which it would otherwise have easily been able to do. As this happened, the other four tried to jump over their barriers...only to find themselves being tugged back by the tail and each one landing hard in the back side of its respective barrier...to Keystone Cops Music, now back at full tempo.

For his next little number, Marvel took the visor down from around his face and went over to ol' Shaghead. As he did, his magic took a hold of the cage that they were in, tearing up a section of the floor and pulling out a few of the steel bars that lined the wall. In a moment, they were twisted and fastened together into...a giant mouse trap.

Instantly, Marvel was in ol' Shaghead's face. "Hi there, monkey boy," he said, "mmmmmahh!" And he smooched the old demon right on the face before it could make a move. The huge demon growled something in an arcane language and lunged for the red-skinned one...and landed smack dab in the middle of the giant mouse trap. With a resounding WHAM! the trap closed. Mind you, it did not kill him, but it pinned him there.

"Ooooo, you're going to pay for that!" Shaghead yelled. "I hope you've got some last words, maggot!"

"Of course I do," Marvel replied. He let down the barriers and untied the Hel-lions' tails. Raising his arm and pointing at Shaghead, he smiled his wickedest smile and said, "heeeere, kitty kitty kitty!"

The Hel-lions recognized the tormentor who had given them each a lifetime of pain...and knew that this was their opportunity to be set free. But, from a cat's point of view, the best thing about him was that he was...

...caught in a MOUSE TRAP.

Before Shaghead knew what hit him, they were on him. From the looks of things, he must have tasted much better than he looked.

...and, lo and behold, when they'd finished their meals, the Hel-lions looked to Marvel as a friend. They were completely tamed. The demon-no-more walked up to their leader and stroked his face, rubbing his hands back against its whiskers.

Softly at first, it started to purr.

~~~
Phenixica

"The Phoenix of this side errs in its judgement. You things were meant to be as slaves for the gods, not our pets. If you choose to fight me, it will cost you greatly, child of the Phoenix."

The Dark Phoenix flapped its wings, and bellowed, its fires expanding into a Firestorm, attacking ships, and people alike, but not strong enough to kill them yet, covering the entirety of the Phoenixican battlefield. Only another Phoenix, not one divided into five, and certainly not a human blessed with its powers, could put it out.

Still not satisfied, it turned itself into a mighty tide of liquid fire, and to come crashing down on Phoenix Reborn like a great Tsunami.
~~~
Josh

The metal of the Knight's armor was Organic, its own living being. It defended itself in small ways, sending a bolt of lightning up Josh's arm due to surface contact.

Meanwhile, both Knight and Demon Horse disappeared.

The Knight reappeared behind Josh slamming into him at high speeds to send him forwards into the Demon Horse's claws.

"My armor is made of the legendary metal Pandemonium. It is Sin incarnate."
~~~

Xream decided to turn his attacks on Zena personally.

He used a powerful attack called Mind Schism, which would split her mind into pieces if it hit, effectively destroying her.

Spring summoned a downpour to hit Zena and extinguish her flames.

Summer exhaled, and a swarm of Killer Bees came out of nowhere to attack her.

Fall turned the Killer Bees into evil one inch tall Pixies, each pixie carrying a great sharp sword and protected in armor.

Meanwhile Winter was mumbling to herself.

An Algorstorm, that is, an upper atmosphere ice storm, began to build.
~~~
Marvel

The audience laughed at the spectacle of the lions and cheered when the evil lion tamer was eaten. The Swarm had the disturbing habit of laughing in unison, as though it were one entity laughing, and not several. This caused the ringmaster to get a shiver down his spine

"And now for your entertainment, the clowns." The Ringmaster said.

A large troop of clowns followed by some Mimes tumbled into the arena.

They were not friendly looking clowns, in fact, they were the sort of clowns children had nightmares about.

One Clown threw a fosters banana cream pie at Marvel from one side, another decided to use a Seltzer bottle on his backside. Another one had a bag of tricks.

The Clown with the bag of tricks ran to the special box seats where the Executor was held, grabbed The Executor, and brought him down to the floor.

"Thanks for coming to the show! Here's a present for ya!" The clown said. He took out a small box and gave it to the executor.

"For me? Why, thank you!" The executor said.

He opened it, and the box exploded. His shield defended him, and the clown laughed.

The executor went to punch the clown for trying to blow him up, but a Mime Mimed a wall into place between them, so all the executor hit was an invisible wall.

Another Mime Mimed a rope around the Executor and pulled him back to his seat.

"I hope Marvel gives it to you good!" The executor yelled as he was dragged back to his seat.

"Aww, now I didn't mean nothing! Just a little innocent homicidal fun! I tells ya what, Let me show you what's inside The Riddle Box." He said, pulling out a massive box from a tiny bag, defying all explanation as to how a box the size of an outhouse could fit inside a tiny bag.

The executor refused.

"All demons are loose." Josh translated, playing a kind of reverse leapfrog with the knight as he took the brunt of another zap. This time he aimed to turn the armor in on itself, creating spikes to pierce the knight's flesh. His metal arm meanwhile turned crystalline and took the shape of a broadsword. "How tough is sin incarnate against diamond?" He thrust the sword toward the small of the knight's back.

Again the old man protected his temporary home, but this time his shield shattered. With most of the force absorbed, Zena felt something inside her snap. Brilliant idea. She laughed at Xream as four other Zena's stepped out from her. Each was Zena, with all of her memories and abilities, but each was also their own self.

The first had longer hair, but still black, pulled into a pony tail. Her cloak was scarlet and she wore the enormous grin Zena always had on her best days. She looked at Winter and charged, wrapping her hands around the hag's throat. If she'd been touching a normal person, they'd have a third degree burn within seconds.

The second wore cerulean, with her hair disheveled and her eyes bloodshot, as if she'd been bawling for weeks on end. She stood side by side with the third, who's simper shone like the sun. Her marigold cloak and long, loose hair contrasted with her "sister." The one in cerulean gave a soft "hic" as she sobbed, tears flooding down her face as she raised her arm, palm out. A small trickle of water formed just inches from the center of her palm, but could have been a geyser by the time it hit the ground. It raced toward Summer and Fall, a flash flood when it reached them. Marigold hugged Cerulean and the water crackled with electricity, enough to power New York for a few hours.

The forth stood tall and proud, her hair in a bun, though it was concealed by her peridot cloak. Her glasses shone in the sunlight while the grasses around them began to wind around Spring's ankles, barbs poking into her skin.

The original looked upon Zream with cold eyes as the old man fled from her mind. This was Zena stripped of all rage, reason, pleasure, and even sadness. This was the dark core of raw power within her, cloaked in onyx. She made no speech, and did not move, though her mind's hands closed around Xream like he was a paper doll, pinning his arms to his sides while she attempted to tunnel into his mind.

I put my hand inside my pocket and pull out the vial of water with the seed inside, I look at the dark creature and say as it came towards me.

"They are not pets, they are children with a free mind. Our relationship is more like a son or daughters worship of there father. Now lets see what happens when I throw water which has been blessed by the Phoenix towards fires of destruction..oh, wait I already know it happened to the Dragon"

Using a fireball to carry it the vial shot and shattered on the skin of the dark phoenix, a part of it's black flames turned golden as it tainted and destroyed any destructive energy around it. The Phoenix used it to blind the Dragon but the Dragon was far more powerful then the Phoenix, so what would it do against something weaker.

"xineohP, you have practically just been infected with a virus that will slowly eat away at your destructive energy. Only cure would be to dip yourself in the complete opposite of the water, but then since Nasagori saved you from splitting into 5 brothers that's means you never crashed and caused the formation of the crater which filled with water and formed the Phoenix Lake"

I laugh as it resumes it's attack, then I shoot myself at it with sword in hand like my daughter and go onto the birds head and plunge my sword into it's head. It wouldn't kill it, as a mortal wound could be easily healed by a Phoenix but I then whisper in it's ear.

"How does it feel for the first time to question your immortality? Thing is the 5 brothers are together still as strong and did I mentioned how much more powerful a charge of my energy would be inside a weapon like this claymore?"

The Dark Phoenix was a Petri Dish, the Water was a speckle of bacteria and what I did next was the nutrients. Altogether it would not kill the dark phoenix...well nothing would since it's one of the true immortal beings of the universe and I was just lying. But would it hurt? hell yes it would, as it's own body was absorbed at a fast rate, the fight would continue but I was hoping it would see reason to stop the fighting and return to the Mirrorverse.

I jump down and land on the ground, waiting for the show as it's body was destroyed until all it could do was turn into ash and resurrect itself....oh did I mentioned I also lied about the only cure? But it takes energy to resurrect and no Phoenix would be stupid enough to fight when they have about 5% of their power.

Galvenor stood there, pretending to be frozen as the insane doctor walked around to each of his students and instructors ranting and raving as any mediocre villain on a monologue will do. He told each one what he had planned as if they would be able to understand him, frozen in time and blissfully unaware of his arrogance. It was too bad Galvenor was not spared the scene. Nasagori barely was able to manipulate magic, much less be an actual threat to anyone of his talents.

When things started moving again, Galvenor went along, not letting on that the bad Doctor’s magic did not have the intended effects on Galvenor. It was actually humorous in a way. As each enemy attacked his comrades, Galvenor stood there, apparently forgotten in the attempts of Nasagori to feel superior but he was just making a fool of himself. He would step in and intervene as soon as help was needed but so far there was nothing they could not handle themselves.

Marvel was tired of doing this all alone.

What he was going to do about it would take a lot out of him, but it would be worth it if it was even only partially successful. He was going to remove the Glamour of Evil from each of the hel-lions, as Angelica had done for him so many years ago. Then, they would be free to choose their own destinies, as the former demon was free to choose now. He crossed his arms and began the meditation that focused the powers of nature on his demonic evolutionary cousins.

By the time Shelly popped the helm back over his head--it had horns now--Marvel was too deep in concentration even to move. He barely noticed the pie or the water as they hit his armor, and barely noticed as it tensed in pain as the water turned into acid and the pie exploded. It was bred for this. It would take the strain.

Softly at first, but in growing intensity, the hel-lions began to glow the soft, orange-white glow of the power of the Angels. That a demon--even a turned demon--could use this kind of power at all showed either a powerful mage or a being of extreme arrogance that was about to take a fall.

As one, but with five separate voices, the creatures screamed and roared as the light grew so blindingly bright that, for a moment, nothing in the entier circus tent could be seen. Then, with one final flash that sent a shockwave of comfort through the entire building, the spell took hold. When sight returned to normal, Marvel stumbled to his knees, and the five hel-lions, each now on the ground, began to shake their heads as if awakening from dreams.

What have you done? asked their leader, the one whose fur Marvel had stroked earlier. Freed of evil, its rudimentary intelligence began to assert itself in ways that, before, it was prevented from doing.

I have freed you, Marvel replied. Each of you can choose your own path now. You can help me, you can help them, or you can try to go off on your own. I will not prevent you.

I know these beings, the first one said. They cause pain. We must flee from them!

They will only come after you, Marvel replied. You should stay and fight them--let them know that to cause you pain will mean that they will feel it themselves.

But I...we...cannot resist them.

I will help you.

You will...help? They settled together, conversing amongst themselves.

Then we shall stay, and split the flesh of those who have put us here! Brothers and sisters, let us play!

By that time, one of the clowns was unveiling his little Pandora's Box. He was just about to unleash its contents despite the refusal of its would-be recipient when Marvel raised his hand.

"So...you want laughs, eh? OK...goochigoochiegoo!" Marvel said, raising his hands and wiggling his fingers.

The clown bent over double as the Tickle Spell took over. Marvel took a step toward the box.

A mime came up and tried to put a wall between them.

"Anyone can hit someone with a pie," Marvel said, "but how many can hit a pie with you?"

"Goochiegoochiegoo!" The mime seemed to quiver as she, too, fell under the influence. In a moment, a spasm of laughter wracked her body and she started to fall forward.

That was when Marvel put the illusion of a giant pie right there in front of her...where she landed, face first. Behind her, Marvel threw up another illusion. There was a box of his own. This one contained seven demonic-looking characters dressed in business attire. Each one held up a sign. When it was done, she'd scored a 35.4 for the dive--and a scoreboard above the box showed the judging in action.

Even some of the clowns were laughing--the ones that weren't under the tickle spells.

And the first of the hel-lions reached the Clown Pandora.

Don't let 'em open that box! Marvel sent.

But the turned demon wasn't finished. He caught the nearest of the hel-lions. It started to growl as he touched it, then lost its anger when it realized whom it was looking at.

Oh, you. Be careful.

Sure, dude. Just thought you might like to think about that little toy up there. The armored demon was pointing at the Ring Master as he spoke.

And, as the hellcat's eyes focused on the Ring Master, another memory clicked into place.

Yessssss. A fitting toy! Little mannn, let us plllaaaaayyyyy!" and it scooted off toward the Ring Master.

[i]If [the enemy] must reinforce everywhere, he is weak everywhere.--Sun Tsu, The Art of Warfare.

The plan was working to perfection. He was giving his audience the most entertaining thing that he could think of--he was borrowing a page out of Doctor Schmuck's book.

Doctor Schmuck always had someone else make the first move for him. He always had a phony attack that masked his real one. That's exactly what Marvel was doing now.

As the clowns, the mimes, even the roadies moved in to defend against the hel-lions that had been among their minions only minutes before, Marvel made his real move. He brought out the Sword of Truth--and it's called that because, though it does not enhance its bearer's strength, it never misses. This was very much to Marvel's liking. He took three steps toward the box that held his allies and--whap!--used the sword. In a single ultra-precise blow, it severed all of their bonds without harming any of them. They were free now--and every one of them was a deadly warrior in his or her own right.

Now, Marvel got ready for the mop-up. First, he went to the demon-clown with the box and asked him, "How about a little pie?"

"That thang?" it said with an arrogant snicker. "It's so little thar's naught left o' it."

"OK," Marvel replied, "then how about a big pie?"

He snapped his fingers, and the illusion of the pie grew to the volume of a medium-sized swimming pool.

"Uhhh."

"BUZZZZZ! Time's up! You get first prize!"

And then the space around the clown
Picked him up and put him down.
He screamed and cried, "Oh my! Oh my!"
Until he landed in the pie.

The judges raised their cards. Only 29.8. Not as good as the last dive.

The only thing that Marvel had to do now was be careful that the hostages weren't really demons in disguise. Unless Doctor Schmuck stepped in, the rest wouldn't take very long.

Of course, this didn't stop him from turning to them and saying, in his friendliest tone,

"Hi, folks. Wanna help me trash this place?"

-----------

OOC:

Others are free to join in now while we wait for the next round. :) :) :)

By now, the clowns had started to call in reinforcements. There were fire eaters with what would be best described as indigestion; big, blubbery trolls that sat on anything that got too close and lots and lots of clowns and mimes.

The clowns weren't doing very well. Every time one started to crawl out of Marvel's giant pie illusion, the turned demon would funnel another on into the pile. Though the pie was an illusion, the filling appeared quite real, and it blinded those who happened to blunder into it, which made it all the more difficult to roll around in a pile of clowns--and it felt slippery, making it harder for the clowns to feel the things around them. The end result was that, though the dive judges had been busy, none of the "divers" had made it out of the "pool" yet.

And all to the tune of the Keystone Cops, still being played gloriously away on that illusionary piano.

And, of course, the hel-lions had treed the ring master. He was climbing up the pole for the trapeze platform by now, yelling, "Helllp! Helllp!" into his microphone all the way.

Undefeated, the cat started to claw at the knot that held the rope that was wrapped around the pole. Unfortunately, there wouldn't be time for Marvel to set up a betting pool on how long the whole thing was going to last.

All he could do was wait there and see if anyone would answer his question.

"ENOUGH!" screamed a being that managed the unique feat of being both gaseous, and solid. Two glowing orbs stood where the eyes should be. At his mere word, everything, stopped.

"What the hell are you, the bogeyman?" Irene asked.

"Knave, The Bogeyman owns The Carnival of Lost Souls, I am his younger brother, the Boogum. It is unfortunate that The Carnival of Lost Souls weilds more power than my Dark Circus does, but my circus weilds power enough to destroy you and get Nasagori's power.

....

The Dark Phoenix took flight, and hovering in mid air, wrapped its wings around itself becoming a star. The energies of this universes Phoenix began to disappear.

....

Zasz and Daggoth looked at each other and shrugged.

"It doesn't particularly matter to us who's who. If this is your circus, you will pay for trapping us in here." Zasz said.

Both raised their claws, and rushed the Boogum.

....

Xream and The Four Seasons smiled.

All four of them joined hands, and their energies began flowing together.

"You forget the laws of the Multiverse. Each may possess they same power, but all four are still only parts of the original, thus each one of you only possesses a quarter of the original's life force. This weakens you overall severely. It was the Seasons who taught Nasagori how to make me, it was The Seasons who convinced him to put us near one another, it only worked in our favor that Old Man hid in your head." Xream said.

They began to flow into one another, all five beings becoming a single super-organism.

....

The Boogum was a hard fighter, mostly because he was gaseous. Their attacks seemed to go right through Boogum, not even effecting him. Yet Zasz and Daggoth didn't give up.

....

"Sin incarnate, the profane substance known as Pandemonium, is as strong as its wielder. It has a will of its own, it is its own living being. I know what your trying to do, for its will is my will. Obviously your not well read on ancient lore. Pandemonium cannot hurt its owner, if its owner is stronger than the Pandemonium. Neither can diamond pierce my armor, for as I already said, Pandemonium is as strong as its wielder. I've seen some wield Pandemonium, and it was weaker than gold, and yet, when I pield Pandemonium, it is stronger than black diamonds. You cannot harm me. You have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of The Omnisource. Pray to whatever false deity you believe in boy, because there's no way in hell, The Warp, or any other place of Damnation that you could possibly summon Justice, the OTHER Rahegalhoff's sword, and stand a fighting chance." Evil Rahegalhoff said.

....

Boogum yawned.

"This has been fun, but really, some of you must die now." Boogum said. He snapped his fingers, and all five Hellions exploded on the spot. Irene, Executor, Zeratul, and Artanis were put back in their restraints, and Zasz and Daggoth remained free.

Niether stopped trying to kill Boogum. Boogum became completly gaseous, split himself in half, and entered both of their bodies. Seconds later, Zasz and Daggoth exploded.

Irene's eyes went wide as Boogum reformed. She took a deep breath, and the rotan's, sensing the coming scream, covered their ears.

"NOOOO!!!!" Irene screamed, but her scream never stopped, instead the pitch rose, and rose, until it transcended mere sound. Energy poured forth from her body, twisting and warping space with such unrestrained fury that it made the very air itself bleed. Boogum took a step back.

"I, I think I might have just made a serious mistake." he admitted. The energy grew to such a great volume that it poured out from the circus tent, which had begun to grow in size and proportion by leaps and bounds, killing a great many clowns, fire eaters, and other assorted persons in The Dark Circus except Boogum.

....

Irene's scream first reached Zena. The four seasons and Xream looked in the direction of the oncoming scream, and trembled at the amount of power coming with it. The ground shook as though in an earthquake, so great was the power coming at them. It came, it hit them like a tidal wave striking a beach, flowing over them, around them, under them, through them. Everything first went red as the environment itself began to bleed with the twisting of time and space, and then went white.

....

Rahegalhoff raised his shield, as the scream reached them, enveloping them in its power.

"I feel for whoever caused that woman to get angry. Enough playtime." Rahegalhoff said, seconds before he was separated from Josh and lost in the scream.

....

The scream reached The Dark Phoenix, as a Sphere of Black Fire had surrounded it, throwing it into one of its own suns to cleanse itself of the taint.

Black turned red, as the scream enveloped The Dark Phoenix, and all the Phenixicans, plus the Air fleets. Like everywhere else, The environment began to bleed, as the unrestrained fury in that scream reached them. Then everything whited out.

....

The White out ended for everyone simultaneously. Everyone was together, in the same room. The Dark Phoenix was hovering above Boogum, who was standing next to evil Rahegalhoff, both of whom were looking at the single entity that had emerged from where Xream and The Four Seasons had stood.

From this single entity, a thirty foot giantess with black hair, dark eyes, and an even darker heart, extended a Rot so great, it began to kill the world.

"Now you will all perish. Nothing lasts forever, for with the passing of many years, even stars and Gods themselves die of old age. Eventually, even the Mutli-verse itself will fade to black. I have foreseen it, I have caused it to come to be, and I shall be there when it happens continuing long after all else is gone, for I am Dark Gaia, I am Entropy Personified. I cannot be destroyed, I cannot be beaten, I cannot be vanquished or conquered. So lay down your arms, and submit to my embrace, I promise to make your end painless and quick if you do so." Dark Gaia said, her very words rotting The Circus away to nothing, killing all remaining clowns, and The Ring Master.

Even the armies would suffer greatly from her presence. IRene's army seemed to be getting slower.

"One end begets another beginning. The flesh may go, but the spirit can never be destroyed. Even if as you say, you cannot be beaten, we can not be destroyed, and for as long as we exist, we shall continue to fight back, and eventually, we will find a way to beat you." The executor said.

Irene was glowing like a star. The force of rage coming from her was so great, it became a serious question as to whether she could contain it all or not. She made the box seat rot to nothing.

Dark Gaia shrugged, and exerted her power to create Arcane Entropy and spread it accross the field. ALL powers of a non-physical origin, regardless of what they were, Psionics, Magics, or otherwise, all powers of a Non-Physical Origin would begin to rot away from everyone, being permanently destroyed, forever. In addition to Arcane Entropy, normal Entropy was in much greater effect, causing age to occur at a much faster rate than normal, causing equipment to break down, bones and joints to break, and muscles to lose strength.

To add to the severity of this, The Dark Phoenix exploded its outer shell as its healing was complete, causing a Dark Solar Flare.

Boogum turned into a gaseous energy from which energy began to flicker, this energy would siphon away life force. He decided to go surround Marvel, and kill the red demon first.

Rahegalhoff's sword began to glow.

"Battle technique, Hyper Strike Five!"

Rahegalhoff rushed forward at the speed of sound as his sword technique took effect, to deliver a barrage of blows against Josh and the five people closest to him at the speed of sound, reacting at the speed of sound.

OOC: Everyone's together, in the same area, facing all Midbosses at once. You can react to any, and any might react to you. Boogum and Rahegalhoff do not possess group attacks. Destroy Dark Gaia, and her effects will vanish like they never happened, all your power returning to you. But can you really afford to even think about her, when there's a solar flare headed towards everyone from Dark Phoenix? Can you get to Dark Gaia before your powers disappear completely, before you become a senile old person?

Of course, Galvenor could do something, he's standing around doing little more than twiddling his thumbs. Likewise, The Rotans could destroy her, as they live a long, LONG, time. But each and every Rotanian must be freed before I'll do that.

I stood next to my daughter as she grew weak, even tho I could feel my powers slipping away at a fast rate I at least had a huge reserve of power before it was all gone. The Dark Solar flare was naturally my responsibility to take care of Taking hold of my claymore which was feeling much more heavy I talk walking Towards the flare and the Phoenix behind it saying as I went.

"Time, time is what truly creates everything"

I stop and the claymore falls out of my hand as my physical strength deteriorates but I start to channel all the power I could muster.

"It's the great hypocracy of the Phenixican Religion that we worship time as our true creator yet, we worship a being that defies time and goes on forever...a god you cannot kill by any means"

I raise both my hands, then look back at the others

"Kill the Dark Gaia, after this attack im afraid I will lose all my power until you kill it!"

I look back, close my eyes and say slowly under my breath

"Ruid, Bis, Monra, Grun and Druk"

I then move my hands apart, like to give the Dark Phoenix a encore

"I am sorry, but you forced me to do this"

I all of a sudden clap, all the Phoenix's had lent me their power to do this one attack which could save everyone it was a huge show as fire erupted from the ground and created a shield very large which would block everyone, enemy or friend, from the Solar Flare then I started to manipulate the gigantic wall longer then the great wall of china and higher then a skyscraper towards the Dark Phoenix.

I send a telepathic link to it

"Do not forget, you had your chance because the fight with the Dragon did teach the 5 brothers a few tricks on how to deal with powerful deities which you are not aware of. This wall can trap you inside it, it wont kill you and it's power will be connected to the 5 brothers and nobody can suck power from a god. Until we decide to let you go free, you will be nothing but another star in the sky for eternity"

The wall starts to circle around the Dark Phoenix, enclosing it in a ball as it fought it would notice it was healing blaze which meant it would be extremely painful to put it in a nutshell and would force it to go into egg form if it passed through it and it would take it days to hatch but if it went into egg form it could be possibly killed.

The Attack was simply a defense, I felt myself start to stumble as the orb was complete and a new star burnt in the system. Unfortunately it also meant that I had used everything I had to protect the others so they could do what was needed and I collapsed to the ground.

---Nadine---
Nadine didn't know what to do has her father collapsed but she then saw a small blue sparrow like bird fly onto his head on the ground and shake itself spraying water all over him. Then it flew off, Bis had made sure he would come back the moment that his powers were returned to him.

She starts talking to Dark Gaia

"We the Phenixican Empire submit to nobody, we are the People of the Burning Sky. Offspring of the healing blaze and most of all we...cannot...DIE!"

Her powers might of been mostly sucked away, but her sword was made out of Fire Metal which doesn't rust and ages at a slow rate. She was only about 26 which meant the aging would take longer to affect her body which was in peak physical condition.

She takes the Katana, starts twirling it around her body and threatens the Dark Gaia

"The Punishment of Death in the Phenixican Empire is considered a luxury for those who face our judgment"

Galvenor simply stood watching as everyone handled themselves in the battles. They were all doing fine and not needing any help. If he were to step in he would shake their confidence in themselves and their abilities causing more harm than good when they were doing fine upon their own. When Dark Gaia showed up and began siphoning strength from everyone he knew he had to do something. Before he could act on the incoming Flare, it seemed the man from Phenixica had taken care of the Flare and the entity that produced it using some unknown technique to contain it resulting in the man falling unconscious. His daughter began to approach Dark Gaia when Galvenor decided to do something about this. He knew the mortal would not be able to withstand the entropic draining long enough to stop the entity from really hurting everyone.

With a blur, Galvenor was suddenly standing before Dark Gaia with his back facing Nadine. He turned to look into her eyes and Nadine would hear his voice filled with Love and Hope, “Focus upon the others; I will do what I can here.” Galvenor turned back to Dark Gaia.




Elaswhere and Elsewhen:






Galvenor traveled across a seemingly endless wasteland that stretched from horizon to horizon. A massive crag reached to the sky before him and bodies lay strewn the ground everywhere. Even the very ground itself was reminiscent of a long forgotten battlefield and was colored the same as dried blood. The discoloration in the stone seemed to climb the massive peak before him under the sunless sky perpetually overcast in nearly black clouds, only lit occasionally by lightning. The empty sockets stared timelessly at the ebon clouds perpetually only kept company by its neighbors. Atop the peak the only sign of habitation, a crumbling fortress obviously wore down by the passage of time as it ground it’s eons passage through its old foundations.

Galvenor willed himself forward across the dead plains until he was greeted by a singular figure wrapped in shadow. The figure was dressed in a tattered black robe that was obviously blood spattered. His hood hid any form of identity of the wearer but he possessed an awe inspiring aura. When he spoke, his voice seemed to be coming from “someplace else” instead of directly before you.

The figure stirred as the being it sensed entering its realm finally arrived before it. The hood turned to face Galvenor and the Ta’Nar could almost feel the baleful stare coming from beneath the cloth of the hood fixing itself upon him. As it looked at him, it spoke.

”This is quite a surprise....and an honor, Lord Galvenor. I never expected one so connected to The Family to come to visit a being such as myself. And a famous one at that. I must admit, your defeat of Apollyon was most exquisite; that was quite a battle. However, enough small talk. I sense you are here for other matters.....” He seemed to pause, as if to think or suddenly sense something and then nodded.

”Ah yes....your conflict with the one known as Nasagori and his dispute with the Swarm and the Rotan. Quite a quandary you have there, Lord. It must be, for you to come to beg MY aid in this matter. After all, I am not a deity most beings wish to meet, much more seek help from.”

“I am aware of this but I figured you would take particular pleasure from your actions in opposing his minions. I know you are an Entity of Entropy, a Keeper of Chaos, one of those favored by the Harbinger himself so I figured you would take it as a professional interest in setting this pallid pretender in her rightful place. I also understand you have several talents that can be used to interfere with the minion’s abilities.”

Galvenor passed on the information his Avatar witnessing the battle in the other place and time was experiencing to the cloaked one.

“As you can see, the battle would be one you would enjoy and I am sure your followers would be pleased also.”

The figure turned to the side and held up a hand, which looked to be a powerful muscled hand and forearm, but was covered in dried blood and dirt. His hand faced upward and his fingers curled around, as if holding a ball. Crimson energy swirled inside his hand and formed a globe, which solidified and showed the image of the area they were all battling in. He watched as the Phenixicans countered the Dark Phoenix's attack and sealed it away. He sensed the field of Entropy generated by this “Dark Gaia” and the distinct sound of someone licking their lips hungrily could be heard.

”I must admit, that battle does look quite satisfying. Plenty of blood to spill....plenty of enemies to rend and tear....Besides, this amateur doesn't know how to generate a field of Entropy. She's killing them too quickly. She needs to be taught a lesson in how to.....drag out a being's suffering. How to take the mere death of all creation and make it into an art.”

He turned to face Galvenor once more. ”Very well, Ta'Nar. I will aid you in this battle. However, there are two stipulations to this: One, you will need to aid my children in a ritual that will allow me to be present, albeit relatively briefly, in this battle. Due to the warping of reality caused by this battle, the seal has been weakened enough for my Avatar to walk. Two, you must defend my children. They are all important to me and vital to my freedom out of this prison.”

“I agree, I will protect them and allow them to bring in your Avatar temporarily so you may have fun in thwarting these pretenders. I find your conditions satisfactory and I know you will not betray me. Besides, this will bring your Faith to those who have never had the chance to know of it before and might net you a couple more Followers.” Galvenor knew his agreement was secure; the Entity would never do anything against someone in a position to place a good word in the ear of one of the Avatars.

A dark chuckle could be heard from the figure as he waved a hand and reality screamed as he forced it along his designs and eight beings appeared out of a ever-shifting portal that showed what could only be described as Hell, and would drive most mortals to insanity upon seeing it.

”My children, welcome. I am afraid your journey must be postponed. You are needed.”

One of the figures, a human woman in a dark red robe and hood, stepped forward. She had long black hair flowing down her shoulders, and her skin was quite pale. Her eyes were blue but they had shifted to become more feline. The air crackled and hissed around her, as her magical aura flared upon sensing Galvenor. The figure held out a hand.

”Do not worry, Tanitva. He is a friend, an ally of sorts. He is the one who has called you to fight those who would falsely use my power.”

Tantiva turned to the figure. “Are you sure about this, Father? Every delay allows our enemies to get closer to you?”

The Blood Father chuckled. ”Dear daughter...do not worry about them. This battle will not take very long. In fact, due to the warping caused by it, when it is over, you will return and only have lost a second of time for your efforts. Trust this being, this Ta'Nar, this...Lord Galvenor. He will protect you and aid you in what you must do. The enemies you face are powerful but nothing you can't handle, especially with a guide such as he by your side. Show them the might of blood and chaos, and return to me.”

The Father then turned to Galvenor. ”You may leave when ready. I will await for when my Avatar walks.”

Galvenor bowed in respect and thanks to the eight who appeared. “Prepare yourself; my other Avatar will let me know when to send you to his location.”



Back at the Battle:





Galvenor stood before Dark Gaia and everyone nearby could hear him chuckling. Without warning he reached out and slapped the entity across the face with a loud SMACK! The look of shock on her face told great depths to her naivety and her thought she was untouchable. The stinging slap brought into perspective she was very touchable and could have been killed in that instant if Galvenor wished it to be instead of merely humiliated.

“What a pitiful attempt at being an Avatar of Entropy. You are an utter embarrassment. You are a mistake that needs to be corrected.”

Still smiling, Galvenor walked around Dark Gaia forcing her to face away from the mere mortals or allow a being that could not only touch her but seemed to be completely unaffected by her entropic attacks.

“Do you have any idea how pitiful you are? You stand there lauding yourself over these humans like a little boy with a magnifying glass. You forget that those very same ants could be fire ants and do more than just sting. You are the Mighty Avatar of Entropy? HA! I have met more Entities better suited for that title than you can dream of.”

Galvenor continued circling the Dark Lady as he spoke.

“We Ta’Nar do not believe in deities for we know the absolute Truth of the matter. We not only know of the Avatars but BelDragos is our Patron. With a single word, I can inform him of your pretending and he will tell Uncle Morte there is a Pretender taking his name in vain. Uncle Morte would undoubtedly come to punish you and send you back to your pink powder-puff room until you can play better with others.”

Galvenor suddenly stopped. “I have a better idea; I will bring one of those Entropic Entities who is favored by Morte to teach you a valuable and less painful lesson. At least I think it might be less painful in the end…”

Without a word or gesture a rift opened showing an endless plain full of bodies. Standing upon that plain Dark Gaia could see from her vantage point eight people, another Galvenor holding the gate open, and a being wrapped in black robes. The eight were transported through the rift and it closed behind them.

“In case you have not figured out why your magic didn’t affect me it is because I am not Mortal, stupid Bitch.”

Placeholder for a post.

...and, as Fartforbrains flatulated the two warriors to death, Irene began to scream...and scream...and scream...until the sheer might of her rage began to injure reality itself.

And Marvel just barely had time to get the Shaldon Shield up before the shockwave hit...for all the good that it did.

Marvel was at ground zero. Smashmouth Diplomatic Magic was never intended to match up against something like this. Surprisingly, the shield actually held up for two or three entire seconds before being completely swept aside.

Shelly took the brunt of the blast from then on. Swept back on the wave, Marvel used his wings to turn into the blast, minimizing the contact area. It helped, but Shelly still took a pounding. Then, it was all over, and Marvel found himself too weak to stay in the air. All he could do was keep his wings spread and fall to the ground with a mighty

"Ohhh sh--!" SPLAT!

For a moment, Marvel found himself on a nother plane of existence. It was a sandy place, with a pyramid not far away. At the top of he pyramid stood an altar, upon which burned two black fires, set in pots that rested at the bottom of poles with funny spiral markings going up and down their sides. Behind them, beneath a black canopy that held out the white light of the sunless sky, sat a being whom Marvel recognized: the Chaos god Khorne.

"Well, well, well, little demon," the god's voice said, "it looks like you've finally found your way into my home."

"You're no more than an avatar," Marvel replied. "If you let yourself into Doctor Schmuck's Reality Emulator, he'd do the same thing to you that he did to that other Chaos God."

"Because you are new to this world, I will forgive you for referring to that piece of garbage as a god," Khorne replied, "this time."

"You're still not the real Khorne," Marvel said.

"Did it matter," Khorne shot back, "that, when you spoke to the one you call 'Doctor Schmuck,' you did so through an illusion? Did it make your words any less what they were?"

"Alright--so you're here to talk. What do you want?"

"Marvel, Marvel, Marvel. You mortals are so impatient. Relax. You've fought well. The one you call 'Fartforbrains' is not telling you this, but he was quite unnerved at the ease with which you made sport of his hoarde of demons--and I must say that I, too, was not unimpressed."

This was coming from the one god of Chaos who really scared Marvel.

"Does that mean," the god said with a cynical chuckle, "that there might be someone in this multiverse whom you'll actually show some respect for?"

Marvel hated it when they got in his head like that--but... "Of course it does."

"Good."

"So what do you want?" the demon-no-more repeated.

Khorne laughed. "It's not so much what I want, as what you want."

"And that would be?"

"I know something you don't know," the god sing-songed, mockery filling his voice. "I know why your spells jinx."

"Oh, and let me guess--for a small fee, like, say, my mind and soul, you'll just, out of the vast goodness of your heart, let me know what it is."

"Fee's not that big. All you have to do is work for me."

"Forever?"

"No, only until you die."

"No thanks, I'm not into servitude."

"I knew you'd say that. So I'm going to give you a little while to consider your choice--and, best of all, you get to wait here instead of being in that poor, beat up body of yours while you're making up your mind. But don't wait too long. There's a battle going on, you know."

And the bottom dropped out of Marvel's stomach just as Khorne disappeared. That crazy jerk was going to hold him here until they killed his body unless he converted on the spot. And, with no idea where he was, there was nothing--

Wait a minute. He knew exactly where he was. He was in the middle of that stinking reality emulator, and any time you tried to teleport out, it would...

...Marvel smiled. "I don't think so," he said. And then, he thought about Khatt--the anchor that pulled you in any time you needed someplace to teleport to.

And the next thing that he knew, Marvel was in the void between the dimensions, on his way back to the White Tower...and the next thing he knew after that, he hit something. It must have been Doctor Schmuck's wall...and, as he bounced off of it, it pitched him...

...right back into his body.

He shook his head and blinked his eyes...and smiled. He'd just outsmarted a god. He still had the ol' mojo going for him.

Shelly was translucent now--she'd been hurt bad, and she was getting weaker by the second. He could feel himself starting to weaken slightly, too, but not as fast. Something was eating his life force. The only thing keeping him from going completely was that Red Gargoyles have very long life spans. No one really knew how long. No Red Gargoyle had ever died a natural death.

So he got himself up off the ground with a vengeance, and looked straight at what was coming for him.

"Alright, Fartforbrains!" he called out. "You want it, you got it! You're next!"

And this time he started with the a plan and an attitude. He started with the Yendorian stuff. Using space and energy spells in combination, he picked up the sand from the floor under him and siphoned off some of the energy from the bleeding air around him. The "wounds" healed as he channeled it into heat and used it to turn the sand molton. So fast that Fartforbrains barely saw it coming, the demon-no-more wrapped him up in a little ball of sodium and silicon--a nice, hot little ball. Then, he made another energy conduit and froze the sand in place.

Then, he looked at Dark Gaia, as she called herself. "Now, it's your turn. You can mumble all your mumbo-jumbo psychobabble all you want, but you're talking to an analytical mind now. You know as well as I do that there's order even in chaos, and it only takes the tiniest of tweaks to nudge even chaos back into line." And he reached out his hand, felt the Chaos Field around her and PUSHED.

A 50-foot cobweb formed right over her head, and dropped right down onto it. "Death, rue the day!" he yelled. "You consume yourself!"

And something of Chaos was left within the web, for it began to do just that--right there in front of the scions of the true god of Chaos, the pretender started to age.

"I'm tired of dealing with errand boys!" Marve yelled. "If you've got anything here that can stand up to me, bring it on! I'm waiting!"

...and he was actually hoping that he could distract the major players long enough for his friends to do what they had to do. The honest truth was that he expected Dark Panties to chew through that cobweb in no time flat, and Fartforbrains to bust out of his little cell before Shelly could recover enough to form an air-tight seal.

But he wasn't going to let them know that!

All of a sudden the small blue bird landed on Nadines shoulder looking at the battle going on around her, time started to slow down as Nadine looked over to see Rahegalhoff attacking some of her allies nearby. Bis was sparking energy inside her but it was only enough to keep her strength up and not return some of her abilities.

As Rahegalhoff was making his first swing, Nadine jumped over the gap between them and with the Katana in her hand she managed to blocked his blow. The bird stilling resting on her shoulder, any attempt to harm the bird would be useless as it was not a servant but a form which the Phoenix called Bis itself had taken.

Nadine then pushes Rahegalhoff back from the others, she starts twirling the Katana around her body preparing to attack. His attacks were still as fast as before but Bis had empowered her reflexes and perception so she could fight at the same speed.

The bird looks into Rahegalhoff eyes with curiosity, Bis who was born of the Phoenix with all it's memories age went back to before time existed which is why it's one of the few beings who can defy it's natural law. It starts to tweet at Rahegalhoff but while it was doing that Nadine finally spoke.

"Little boys who play with fire get themselves burnt"

Space
The ships had been broken up a bit but most were still functional, others simply lost all power with only life support working. The Fleet was still completely intact but couldn't retaliate. Inside the Admiral was talking with his Advisors and Captains.

"What the hell happened!"

"Admiral we have shifted our location, by the looks of it we are still above the battle but weapon systems are down all we can do is watch"

"Is that a new sun?"

"Yes, inside is that dark phoenix....Harrison used his remaining power to trap it inside a sun made entirely out of the Healing Blaze, noway that thing is getting out without dying"

"What about the army"

"Most are still alive, but they are in no shape to fight Admiral. Dropships are still working and we are thinking of just air lifting them out of the fight altogether"

"Get onto it and in the meantime get the fighters completely deployed and protecting the fleet until we have weapons back, Noway we are out of this fight just yet"

OOC: Since I'm using characters from times past, might as well call one more for Dark Gaia's defeat.

IC: As Boogum was defeated, and Dark Phoenix taken away, Dark Gaia realized it was only her and evil Rahegalhoff. Someone had dropped a net on her head in a vain attempt to organize non-existent Chaos within her, someone else had summoned a being she thought was Death itself, and the woman with the blue bird on her shoulder seemed intent on joining everyone else in destroying her, but was focused on evil Rahegalhoff.

She threw her arms up to the heaven.

"FATHER! SAVE ME! I CALL UPON YOU TO JOIN ME!" she cried out.

With a thunderous boom a man in black clothes appeared. His eyes, like his lips, were black. His skin, and his hair were as white as the driven snow. There was utterly no trace of any other color anywhere on his person.

Bis and Galvenor would both recognize this man. Galvenor from personal experience, Bis from simply being around since before time. This man was even older, older than The Avatars, older than existence itself, predating all of creation, The Multi-verse and all other beings, for this man was The Spirit of Nothingness, known in more recent times as Kajeenith, The Great Devourer. Other than seeing him, utterly no one could prove he was there, for no other sense could detect him. Ship sensors couldn't even detect him.

"You ask me to save you from something you yourself have done? I shall do no such thing.I will tell you what I will do though, I shall stand here beside you and watch you get your ass handed to you. Then I'll drag you back to The Void where you belong. Don't even bother trying to use my powers yourself, I've temporarily removed that ability from you." He said. He looked Bis in the eye.

"Lest the Balance be undone and I become forced to invade once more, see to it that Dark Phoenix is sent back to The Mirrorverse sometime within the next year. There should only be one of you per side. regardless of whether your in five pieces or one"

Then he meandered on over to Evil Rahegalhoff.

"You, you need to come back with me after you're finished getting beaten by a woman. I know not why either you or Dark Gaia decided to join forces with a two bit wanna be scientist who couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag, but I'll chalk it up to temporary insanity." Kajeenith said. He pulled up a patch of Solid air and sat down next to Galvenor to watch and do nothing more.

Dark Gaia, embarrassed that her original tactic failed, tried a new one.

She brought her hands together and sent out a black wave of pure force, spreading out like a tsunami. It was one of the Twelve Forbidden Magics of The Magi-Masters, The Death Knell, the ultimate Death spell. Unless one had experience with Death, one could not stop it. It fed on all energies to grow larger and more powerful, the secret was in knowing where to pick the spell apart, a feat few could boast of.

Dark Gaia smiled as Rotan and Swarm soldiers began dropping like flies.

"It looks like climbing The Tower of The Magi-Masters was worth the effort after all, shame I never made it past floor 700."

Dark Rahegalhoff meanwhile shrugged, and raised his blade towards Nadine.

"I live in fire. You'll have to try another threat, that one's less than intimidating, infact, it's more of an invitation than a threat. I know, I think I'll use that Blade Technique." he said, and the proceeded to kill himself.

As he dropped to the ground, his body literally exploded with the force of a bomb, sending out not death energy as one might expect, but water, forcing it up the nose and into the lungs to drown the enemy. His body, and his horse, disappeared, leaving only Dark Gaia and her Death Knell.

OOC: Do not attack Kajeenith, you'll only be wasting your time. He's an observer, there only as Dark Gaia's failed tactic to win.

The portal Galvenor opened filled the surrounding area with the screeching of souls and ones who were attuned to the fabric of reality itself could feel it writhing and squirming in pain as a great force forced it to obey its whims. The nine robed figures stepped through the portal to arrive in the battleground that was currently underway. They could see the dark figure raise a hand in farewell and the other Galvenor vanish as the portal closed. The nine beings stood there, taking in the surrounding are and the battles going on. They staggered a bit as they felt the entropy fields that the being known as Dark Gaia had raised, to drain them of life and magic. But they all merely smirked and Tanitva laughed. They were the followers of the God of Entropy, the Blood Father. Something like this was what they fed on to increase their strength. A being as strong as Gaia could still affect them but it would be slowed down to a crawl affecting beings like them. Tanitva stood in thought, gazing about the area with her magical senses, looking for what she needed. Upon finding it, she nodded. Turning to Galvenor, she spoke.

"Lord Galvenor, if you would aid us with your magics....." The Ta'Nar immortal nodded and moved to stand over by Tanitva. The other eight members formed a circle around them and knelt, gathering their magical energies for the ritual. Tanitva allowed the Ta'Nar to link to her mind and see the spell she was going to use. Both began to draw upon their considerable powers and a large crimson shield formed around them. With Galvenor's magic in the mix, the entropy fields no longer affect them, due to the shield. As long as it was up, they were safe. Tanitva and Galvenor began to chant as one, calling upon eldritch magics long forgotten by those who followed the ways of entropy and death and waves of magic began to fill the air, causing static electricity to flit about them. The many dead bodies of the warriors who had died so far in the conflict: Swarm, Anti-Swarm, Rotan, and others, stirred and then bulged as they exploded into fountains of blood, that then swept towards the circle, swirling around it like a tornado. The chant began to get louder and faster, as the blood swirled faster and faster. The body fragments of the dead also joined the blood now, mixing with the blood and forming...something. Tanitva brandished a dagger now and sliced both of her wrists, allowing her blood to flow outward and join the tornado.

Their chants reached a crescendo and then with a final, terrible word of command, there was a flash of blinding light, followed by the scream of a terrible being that sent concussive shockwaves outward. When the light died down, there stood a simple human, wearing a familiar tattered dark robe and hood, only with his eyes now visible, burning red with power and divinity. Dark laughter ripped through him as he screamed in joy. "I HAVE RETURNED!"

The Avatar of the Blood Father had been summoned. If one was to combat a being as powerful as Dark Gaia, one summoned a proper being of Entropy. Tanitva stood, panting, as she waved her hands over her wrists, sealing them back up. Her followers also took a moment to breath and Galvenor simply watched as the spectacle continued. Just then, however, Dark Gaia summoned a strange being, calling it Father, to try and aid her. Obviously seeing the stupidity of aiding her little fiasco, he walked over by Galvenor to watch what was happening. The Father, knowing who this being was, simply nodded at him and looked back at Dark Gaia.

When she unleashed a powerful magic, from the Tower of Magi-Masters no less, the Father merely grinned. "Oh, you plan to try and wipe everyone out with Death? Tsk tsk tsk, Mort is very angry with you, I imagine." He teleported from his position to where the incoming wave was about to get into range to hit everyone. Extending his hands in front of him, he began to chuckle.

"Pity you didn't use something else. Sending a wave of pure death is mere child's play for one such as myself." The wave slammed into his hands, and he was pushed back, as he strained to hold back the wave. The Father grinned. He was, after all, only in an Avatar and his full power was still sealed away. But something like this....he could handle. His hands slit open, to reveal a dark void, and the wave began to get sucked into it. The wave destabilized as more and more of itself was drawn into the Avatar. Finally, the wave dispersed as it no longer had enough energy to continue and the Father's hands healed themselves over. His magical aura had increased exponentially and small stabs of black lightning coursed over him. He looked up at the much larger figure of Dark Gaia, and smiled.

"Good effort, child. It was quite tasty, and refreshing to boot. Would you like to try that again or have you had enough embarrassment for one day?"

Bis laughed, the cry of laughter was great as Rahegalhoff tried to use water to kill his allies. Nadine then said

"Or they evaporate" a shield of heat erupted around whoever was in harms way of the water which made it evaporate instantly, Bis started tweeting in beautiful song as it turns around to face Dark Gaia. It sends a telepathic link that the entire group could here and speaks in a way for the first time.

"Naive child, you honestly thought we would of left our children to be killed at the hands of Nasagori or any of his puppets. We knew you would use such cowardly tactics to win this fight and you proved us right by taking away the ability for them to fight you on equal terms. I am sorry but that death knell thing just wont do"

The bird flies off Nadine's shoulder towards the Dark Gaia quite peacefully even going through the wave, it lands on it's head and whispers so only the Dark Gaia can hear.

"Like Nadine said, Death is a luxury compared to what happens to those who see our judgment. Just remember even when separated into 5 we are still extremely powerful"

Bis jumped down and plunged it's beak all across the Dark Gaia's face, mostly focusing on it's eyes giving it permanent blindness that would last for eternity.

The appearance of Bis changed from a simple blue sparrow to a bird the size of a Albatross engulfed in blue flames, when Bis was done it went onto the ground and looked at the new arrival. The Dark Gaia was blinded, even if it didn't need eyes it's mind was now unable to process information for any kind of sight.

"The Dark Gaia is all yours, you look like the kind with the stomach to do what has to be done"

Bis flew off and landed on Nadines shoulder again just a Sparrow, Nadine patted the bird with a smile on it's face. Phoenix's knew about punishment...killing something just goes against what the Phoenix's stand for and they cant bring themselves to do the act. They prefer others to do their dirty work.

The sun which encased the Dark Phoenix collapsed and sent it back to the Mirrorverse, fair is fair in the end and who were the brothers to argue about what it did in the other dimension.

((OOC:must of not seen Telros's post))

With all that had happened, Marvel hoped that the bunch of them wouldn't forget ol' Fartforbrains. True, he was all bottled up for the moment, but the bottle was made of glass, and, unless he needed more oxygen than Marvel thought he did, he could blow himself up and turn his prison into a bunch of shards any time he felt like it.

Somehow, Marvel decided that he was going to wait for that to happen before he had any more dealings with the genie in that little bottle.

Right then, he had another matter to settle. Dark Rag had launched an attack against him. It wasn't going to work--even in its injured state, Shelly could seal air (or water) tight and give the turned demon about ten minutes of breathable air. If Shelly had been in better shape, Marvel would have liked to turn the Sword of Truth on its Pandemonium blade. Angel alloys were made ot handle that kind of stuff, and Marvel was well-schooled in how to use a blade such as he carried. It would have been quite a match-up.

As Marvel watched, Shelly grew a bit darker--a sign that it was healing even as they fought. Damn, that armor was impressive!

This changed things slightly. He wasn't up to a head-on confrontation, but now at least he could give ol' Dark Rag a little piece of his mind.

Without batting an eyelash, Marvel turned and launched a good ol' fashioned concussion wave at the choker--JUST to let him know how much he was appreciated.

The five Zenas stood with the four parts of her mind surrounding her core. "Kill it, now." Rage hissed in reference to Dark Gaia.
"She seems to be in enough pain already." Depression countered.
"Don't be a spoil sport." Joy giggled.
"She is a dangerous priority." Reason observed.
A voice escaped Zena. "She dies." It sounded like her, but not at the same time, like it was the passing whim of the moment and a calculated move all at once and devoid of anything that seemed to make Zena who she was.

"That settles it!" Joy was, if possible, even more elated than moments ago. She lifted the personas off the ground and they began to circle Gaia's head. Depression was first, prying open Gaia's mind and filling it with wave after wave of sorrow greater than most beings, mortal or immortal, could handle. It was a crippling move, so distracting and devastating mortals would have taken a dagger to their heart if they felt it. Of course, Gaia wasn't mortal.

Rage followed, taking her chance and sewing the seeds of blind fury. Another distraction. She goaded her opponent on, almost baiting her to attack, while fires cropped up haphazardly around them. Her aim was thrown off by her very nature, though most made their way to Dark Gaia.

Reason was simple, taking vegetation in the area and encouraging it's growth to insane proportions. She twisted them, wrapping Gaia in their ever increasing strength. She barely started when Zena herself arrived. Joy brought the personas to her side while Zena followed Depression's doorway. "Worthless little spoiled brat." She spat in Gaia's mind, consuming it, pulling it within her own. She drowned out everything else, leaving only fear and terror as she pulled at the physical fibers of Gaia's being, working to tear the monstrosity to shreds and annihilate the remains.


The old man watched in absolute horror at what Zena had done from the relative comfort of Josh's mind. Josh didn't mind, he had a labyrinth within his mind within which a beast roamed. And right now the beast was free. As the old man observed Zena, he tried to calm Josh, who was beyond words. He chased the demon, who took advantage of being loose and seized control from the rational Josh. The human side who could wield demonic powers lay weak within the center of his own mind, to terrified to chase down his nightmare self.

The demon seized the bottle Boogum was in and for a moment, was tempted to set him free. Something told him it would be infinitely more fun to turn glass to diamond and shrink the bottle. With no self control, he followed through with his passing thought. Though it did not appear to change size, the walls of the bottle became thicker and much harder, compressing the being within as a manic grin spread across his already wild looking face.

Boogum was destroyed by Josh's efforts, squeezed to death.

Kajeenith looked at Rahegalhoff as he reappeared by his side.

"Nasagori's shield prevents us from leaving too. It has sealed all the cracks in the multi-verse in this area." Rahegalhoff said.

"Oh well. Guess that means The Avatar of The Blood Father and his children will have to stick around too. Popcorn?" Kajeenith asked handing over a large bowl of popcorn.

"So, how do you think its going to end?" Evil Rahegalhoff asked.

"Simple, Gaia's going to try something beyond her powers. She doesn't control the right energies. I can already see the gears working in her mind. She's going to try to use the most powerful spell ever written and concieved of. Xos Xilanthese's Energy Flare. It has the power to annihilate Entropy. It has the power to Annihilate anything. But she is lacking the crucial element to the puzzle. See, she knows how it works, in theory. Every educated spell caster does. Its in history books. But do you know why she can only cast the one forbidden spell? All the others require an element no one can use. The power of the Light of The Omnisource, my opposite, and the father of the Avatars. Its very difficult to earn his light, even for gods, which is why, despite eons of study, no one has cracked the secret of The Forbidden Magics. But, even though she fails, we're still going to see Energy Flare this day. Something happened when no one was paying attention to the good doctor." Kajeenith said, munching on some popcorn.

Dark Gaia did in fact stand up laughing.

"Fools. I've learned the secrets of The Forbidden Magics. Now die under the might of Energy flare." Dark Gaia said, grinning.

She tried to cast energy flare, but all it did was make her explode.

Irene burst out laughing.

"Yes, we'll die alright, die laughing!" she managed before she completly collapsed into gales of laughter.

Zeratul felt relief.

"No more Anti-Swarm, no more enemies. Where'd Nasagori go?" he asked.

Kajeenith stood up, teleported next to him, turned him around to look over the side of a ridge, and pointed at a large gathering of The Children of Chaos.

All that remained of The Swarm, one drone, 200 each of the children of Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle, were all standing around in a great big circle, watching 200 daughters of slaanesh crawl all over each other in a massive orgy. Buried beneath that pile of woman, was Dr. Yamato Nasagori, with a grin that stretched the utter limits of his entire facial structure.

"Lucky bastard. I wish two hundred Daughters of Slaanesh would choose to distract me by piling on top of me like that." Kajeenith said.

"Its, its like a train wreck. I want to avert my eyes, but I can't, its too, fascinating." Zerautl whispered.

"Yes, while everyone else was busy being distracted, Nasagori absorbed Xos and his orb and gained all of his powers and knowledge. Thank whomever you will he didn't get the experience." Kajeenith said, now by Rahegalhoff again, and enjoying a second bowl of popcorn.

"Xos and his orb? I thought it was just an orb." Irene said, recovering from her laughing fit.

"No, no. I've reviewed time, and it seemed fairly obvious to me, such as when the orb started attacking Nasagori, or when Xos's individual energies became active giving someone like Galvenor, who was familiar with Xos, the chance to discover the man was trapped inside his own orb. But, nobody bothered to pay attention, or if they did, no body bothered to try and do something about it, so now Nasagori is a weird Xos Nasagori hybrid entity. The Daughters of Slaanesh, not knowing what else to do, and clearly not having the power on their own to fight Nasagori now, decided to distract him the best way they could, and have an daughter of Slaanesh orgy on him." Kajeenith said.

"Enough of this, ENERGY FLARE!" Nasagori shouted from beneath the pile of women.

Time suddenly slowed to a crawl, as a bright white light started from the pile, and quickly overtook it, blowing past the entire armies, and enveloping the world, flowing accross every plane and dimension, every universe and alternate reality that was currently intersected with Zerus, yet only affecting as much space in these other places, as Zerus currently took up in real space. White was replaced with a Golden White explosion.

When the smoke cleared, The Hives and Hive structures had all been replaced with a super dense rainforest, new life crawling along every availible surface. From inside a tree, Nasagori could be heard saying one thing, and only one thing only before he blacked out, and was automaticially removed from reach.

"Crap, right spell, wrong objective. Stupid lack of experience."

But the new rainforest wasn't the only new thing. One Hive Cluster remained, and this had grown the size of a mountain, reaching out into space.

Meanwhile, as The Executor stood beside empress Nadine, he looked up into the sky.

"Well, isn't that going to present some interesting property rights issues." he said, pointing at where all the debris of all the defeated Phenixican and Rotanian ships had clustered and merged into a sort of Phenixican/Rotanian Mega Ship of some sort that was an exact, perfect, Dyson Sphere in shape.

"I suggust we rest up. There's two missing Hive Tyrants and a missing section of the Anti-Swarm. They'll return soon enough, but I fear what they might bring them." Irene said.

Kajeenith meanwhile, ressurected his daughter, opened a Void Nexus, and threw her inside.

"I thought we couldn't escape." Evil rahegalhoff said.

"Now, what kind of Spirit of Nothingness would I be if I couldn't defeat something as simple as Nasagori's enti Escape Shield. It doesn't effect me. I don't exist." Kajeenith said.

Evil Rahegalhoff rode inside.

"Well Galvenor, until next we meet at the end of time, or possibly before, take care of yourself." Kajeenith said. Then stepped inside and was gone, the Void Nexus closed behind him.

Meanwhile, deep underground, protected by naturally occurring shields that heavily obscured their presence...

The remaining Hive Tyrants drew symbols on the walls in the blood of the slaughtered Anti-Swarm. They were no longer controlled, but they had been embarrassed by their weakness. They would never rejoin Irene, and instead would sacrifice themselves to bring down something that could, and would devour and eat them all.

They stepped back, eyes glittering in the darkness, as the symbols glowed, revealing the phrase that would spell the doom of all on Zerus.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Empress smirks at the comment

"We can draw up plans on where to cut when this is all done, think my army should head back to the fleet while they still can. This fight is way out of there league"

Pelicans and other transport carried the soldiers up during the lull, I in the meantime had woken up and was now standing overlooking the others. During the fight I atleast didnt have to explain myself so I simply stay outside the main group and look around at the devastation. Bis flew off, but all 5 of them were waiting to pounce again when they were needed.

"You died, I was at the funeral and saw you in the coffin" It was my daugther, was expecting a more colourful response

"I did die, but the Chaos Gods were a bit of a surprise. The Brothers thought it was best to send me back to bring them into line"

"No dont think you can change the subject like that, a year you have been gone and you decide to return now!"

"Nadine, look at me. No grey hair, a working right leg and I dont need my glasses for anything other then reading. You honestly think I planned to come back?"

"So what happened to Harrison?"

"I am David, he was nothing more then a shallow shell of a disguise meant to hide who I really was until the time called for it. I mean look" I pull out my arm which before was a robotic skeleton but now a arm of flesh and bone.

"I am by all means my old self, except allot younger"

"You coming back home?"

I smiled, finally she was acting like my daugther

"No"

I walk off torwards the others to be honest Nadine was the one it was most akward talking too.

"I never thought I would see the day where so many Strangers and Enemies were brought together in the very noble goal of saving their own hides. I am honoured I must say"

The introduction was made to simply push buttons, I havent had the chance to do this in a year so I have missed the simple pleasures in life.

Joy joined in laughing with Irene when she made her comment on death. Unfortunately, she also kept on going once she saw the daughters of Slaanesh. Depression began to sob again at the death of Dark Gaia. Though her enemy, it was another death that shouldn't have happened. Reason and Rage stood by, neither caring for the events that transpired nor anxious for another battle. Reason paid rapt attention to the conversation of what was to come. "I'm going to agree with Irene. We need a quick break. A chance to pull our thoughts together." Another roar of laughter from Joy as she almost fell over.

Zena stood over Josh, who had finally sat down on the ground. There wasn't much the demon could do right now and so he had fallen asleep. The old man emerged from Josh, looking as exhausted as a pair of eyes within a cloak could. "He's sleeping. Don't wake him unless you absolutely need to." He warned. His tone made it sound like a few centuries of torture awaited anyone who defied him. "Sleep is good." Zena said simply. Her tone wasn't as severe as his, but her demeanor made her threat seem somehow worse.

And it all went for the better. Marvel could almost relate--Doctor Schmuck's spell had jinxed on him. Whom does that remind you of? Better yet, between Dark Panties getting washed up and Doctor Schmuck jinxing his spell, not only did the aging problem go away, but Shelly was completely healed. In fact, she had a shine to her that Marvel had never seen before. Looked like she was happy with her role in life.

First thing the turned demon did was to put Shelly into dress mode. She turned into a belt buckle when her full abilities weren't needed.

And there it was...in rhinestones...written quite gaudily right in the middle of the belt buckle.

S&M

The demon-no-more hoped that it stood for "Shelly and Marvel," but at this point he wasn't quite sure. That armor was starting to acquire a sense of humor. He loved it.

For his next number, Marvel decided, he would be testing out his new fashion accessory with a daughter of Slaanesh. Who better?

Then, however, his magic sense alerted him to something else.

"Uhh, guys--maybe we'd better postpone the vacation. I don't know what it is, but there's big mojo going on under us. It's too heavily shielded for me to tell what it is, but it's BIG. Maybe we'd better all get out of here, and I don't mean slowly."

and right as Marvel mentioned something about it, they could all hear it in their ears. It was too late...

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

The sky began to glimmer like an ocean. Teleports no longer worked properly, leaving the planet was but a dream.

Depression wailing seemed to increase ten fold as Joy finally stopped laughing. "I don't see this ending well at all.". Reason sighed. "Agreed, though it could be entertaining.". Rage chuckled.

"We have bigger problems.". The old man scowled. "Irene, I don't suppose you care to hazard a guess as to what's going on?"

"We have bigger problems.". The old man scowled. "Irene, I don't suppose you care to hazard a guess as to what's going on?"

"Death quickly approaches on horrid wings." Irene said simply.


"I suppose you've never heard of The Great Old Ones, or The Necronomicon, or the hidden city of R'lyeh. It is written it is the source of the famous statement 'That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons even Death may die.' The point is, that phrase that you're hearing is the very phrase to summon a creature so horrific, fifty percent of our forces are going to die simply from the sight of it. I wish I could say that's an exaggeration, but its not, and is actually more of a conservative estimate. If the rest of us don't die from hearing it speak, we'll be lucky. This creature's name is Cthulhu. Cthulhu lies dreaming in deathless slumber in the hidden city of R'lyeh. He is the High Priest of the Elder Gods, known collectively as The Great Old Ones. Cthulhu himself is one of The Great Old Ones.

I find it fitting that this should be The Swarm's end, for we're responsible for ressurecting these things, having assimilated them into The Swarm. But to our surprise, we CAN'T control them. No, try though we did, we cannot control Eldritch Horrors from beyond the stars."

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

This time the words dragged Nasagori out of hiding, and destroyed X returning everyone to normal space! Teleporting was still impossible.

"All according to plan." Nasagori said smiling, sounding eerily like Tzeentch in the process.

PLACEHOLDER where I summon the Cthulhu Counter when I get home from worh and can use something better than a phone to post...

The Avatar waited for Dark Gaia to respond to his words and waited for her next attack. As he was doing so, suddenly some strange birds came flying in and began to attack her face. They seemed to stabbing at her eyes, seeking to rid her of her sight. The Father could only watch, curious, as an Albatross came down and the words of the one known as Bis rang in his head. He merely nodded in response; Dark Gaia was his to destroy.....or so he thought. Another strange girl, who seemed to have split into parts, began to attack Gaia. He could sense the attacks were both mental and physical, seeking to bring her down. Irritated that they were joining in on his game, the Father decided to let them play. He only had so much energy to work with and while that last attack had given him a great power boost, it still wasn't enough to last him long if he chose to unleash some of his greater powers.

Suddenly, Dark Gaia stood up, grinning. She yelled something about how they were all going to die, seeing as she has some all powerful spell at her disposal. When she tried to use it, however, something unexpected happened. She blew up in a powerful wave of magic. The Father seemed stunned for a few moments, before he broke out laughing. "Hahahahah....kids these days; thinking they can handle things far beyond them...." With nothing else to fight, he turned to see what was causing so much noise in the distance and saw the orgy taking place. The Father sighed and shook his head.

"So this is what has become of the mighty Chaos Gods and their servants...what a disgrace." His eyes snapped open when he sensed a strange aura coming from Nasagori and he immediately swept a hand one, speaking a dark word as he did so. A dark shield enveloped him, his servants and Galvenor as the spell lashed out, washing over them. When the golden white light had ended, he released the shield and saw how the world had changed and how Nasagori was gone. Tanitva walked up by his side.

"We seem to be caught in a whirlwind of madness, my Father."

"Indeed; these mortals just don't make sense in their actions. And I see-" The Father stopped talking as his eyes narrowed. The nine warriors suddenly felt an ancient and powerful entity coming close, it's magical aura quite powerful. The Father focused his senses and searched for the source. Once he managed to find it, he grimaced. Turning to Galvenor, he spoke.

"I do not know the series of events that had you helping this Swarm, Lord Galvenor, but I cannot see how you deigned to help them, since some piece of them always wants to use some spell that has every chance of destroying them. And now, it appears, they wish to summon THAT being which has laid dormant for who knows how long. I am afraid that unless I gain a large boost in power, I cannot deal with such a threat alone. "

Upon seeing Nasagori return and the strange area known as X vanish, the Father made a gesture, his eyes covered in a black aura, as runed chains, bristling with magical might, swarmed around Nasagori as they burst from the ground. Seeking to trap him and bind him onto the ground. "You can stay there and lie still until this is over. Then we'll see about your fate."

Upon hearing Irene speak, he turned and glared at her. "I find it HIGHLY unlikely, girl, that you managed to absorb such beings into your......mass of organic weaponry. You may be empowered by the Chaos Gods, but I find it rather hard to believe your measly powers could have brought THEM into your fold." He shook his head. If anyone but Lord Galvenor had requested this......

He sat on the ground, crossing his legs, and focused. The many bodies and blood pools from the battle began to flow to him, sinking into his body as he called them. All he could do was strengthen himself as best he could and wait for the coming assault. Tanitva felt his call and turned to the others who had come with her. "The master calls. We must go to his side!" They ran over to his side and became enveloped in a similar shield as before, keeping them safe as things came to a head.

A fold in space caught Marvel, and he found himself back in Khorne's little palace of wonders.

"Hello again, monkey boy," Khorne said, mocking the demon with his own words.

It wasn't fair! Marvel had outwitted him!! He shouldn't NEED another round!

Khorne chuckled. "Oh, that was just the entrance exam," he said. "You passed, by the way. The problem is that, with that avian metablolism of yours, you're so high strung that it's hard to tell just how smart you are. In fact, three certain friends of mine had a little bet with me about that."

And now they were making sport of him!

"Oh, come now, monkey boy," Khorne said with an arrogant smile. "When you're as old as we are, you need something to ease the boredom. But I'm surprised. A selfish creature like you, one would think that you'd be interested to know, now that you've won the bet, what your prize is."

"Don't tell me, I get to work for you until one of us dies."

Khorne laughed again. "You're already working for me," he said. "That's the delicious irony of it all. No, I already offered you your prize--only, this time, I'm offering it again with no strings attached."

"Huh?"

"Your spells, monkey boy. I'm going to tell you why they jinx."

"Why?"

"Because, if I don't, that overgrown octopus Cthulu is going to have your brain for lunch, along with everything else on Zeros that can be eaten--and I mean everything."

"OK. I get it. It's in both of our self-interest. Fine. Lay it on me, Johnny."

Khorne chuckled again. "Sure thing, Bing," he said. "Magic ain't quite what you think it is. You've been taught that it's a combination of words and gestures, and that, if you dance the right little dance, a spell will just automatically, mechanically take shape and do what it's supposed to do. No such luck. In fact, the caster is as much a part of the spell as the motions. Some mages are ruled by reason and some are ruled by emotion--but you're a strange one. Your mind uses both in almost equal measure. You got me so far, monkey boy?"

"Doesn't do me much good, but OK."

"Didn't get it, huh? OK. Let me spell it out for you: your spells jinx when you put too much of one or the other into them. When you use your emotions to the exclusion of your intellect, or vice versa, your soul can't channel a spell, and it jinxes. It's that simple. You've got to use both.

"And now that you know, I'm sending you back to see what you can do with a real adversary."

"WAIT!"

"OK, but every second you stay is another second that Cthulu can use to warp right into your face--or warp you right into his big, fat, hungry mouth."

"I just want the answer to ONE question. I think I've earned it, putting up with you."

Khonre laughed again. "Spoken like one of my warriors. Let's hear it."

"It's Galvenor. He's on awfully friendly terms with some folk that I've heard some nasty things about. How is this? Who is he really?"

"Ohh, thaaaat," Khorne said, his smile widening, becoming more sadistic. "Well...it's really very simple. Galvenor just happens to be the Warlord of the Underworld." The god began to laugh after that, harder and harder, until the sound drowned everything else out.

The maniacal laughter was still ringing in the demon-no-more's ears as he returned to the exact moment when he had left. Khorne hadn't been completely truthful, it seemed. Marvel wondered how far he could trust the war god's words. He'd have to mull that one over later.

Right now, there was something much more important for him to do.

"Everybody brace yourselves!" he yelled. "CTHULU'S COMING!"

Nadine was scared out of her mind, I look over to her and smile

"We will live, just stand strong my dear daugther otherwise you will be blown off your feet"

"I just wanted to prove myself"

I embrace her, holding her close as I whisper in her ear

"Dont worry, I personally will see nothing happen to you. Cthulu is powerful but not powerful enough to ever let me, let you die"

I let her go and then say to Irene

"You ressurected the Old Ones and tried to put them on a leash, to put it differently you ressurected the most evil twisted things in the cosmos and thought you could control it! The demon of Vhoorl could never be controlled by something so weak, I would know I was bloody there when they were created. When will the swarm realize that compared to the Ancient powers in this universe they are nothing but ants"

Naturally I meant the Phoenix's but our memory is very much tied together but because the Phoenix rarely travel outside the Citerian in the last few thousand years they only know the most ancient of history and current events slips them.

Nadine was quick to send orders to the fleet

"Cut all communications and visuals of the planet until you get a order from me, repeat Cut all Communications and Visuals of the planet. We are about to have company that is far beyond your capabilities Admiral and it's your duty to protect the Fleet and Army from suffering any further casualties"

She looks to me

"Without the fleet we dont have aerial support, we cant escape and most of all if it doesnt work we will lose half of the home fleet"

"Get your sword out and just get ready to fight, rationality at the moment is best left for after Cthulu"

My sword remains in the sheath on my back, it wasnt going to be the best weapon in this fight.

"Chaos, out of all the powerful gods that manipulate the Universe I have to worry about the spoiled children"

Galvenor watched as Kajeenith and the Blood Father stood by, illuminated by the light of the failed Flare. It really is sad even those beings did not truly know the True Secret of Magic. Very few have learned it throughout the History of the Multiverse and usually ones somehow connected to the Source itself, BelDragos the Avatar of Magic. From Kajeenith’s own words it appeared even he failed to recognize it. Someday that will be his downfall but obviously it was not today. He seemed to actually be amused by the way the opposing force was degenerating into a slapstick comedy of ignorance and errors. All we needed was a piano player for the soundtrack and a big tub of popcorn. Hopefully his Illusion Instructor did not think of that, it would really dishearten the others because it would make a mockery of their valiant efforts at combating them, something that would cause more defeat than all the powers conjured up by the renegade Doctor put together.


Then he felt it.


I take that back, there are worse things, Galvenor said to himself. The fool went and summoned an Old One? What a blithering idiot! Not even an anime based idiot would dare summon one of those, they were uncontrollable. No mortal power could defeat them; only postpone their plans by removing their minions. Throughout history, there has only been one group that successfully opposed them and bound them away. The Elder Gods.

But who to contact?

The disruption of the bubble dimension by the deep psychic rumblings of the summoning told him what was needed.


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn


Galvenor instantly knew what to do. He spread his arms wide and sent a Great Thought into the Void. He was seeking out one individual who would oppose Cthuhlu. At the speed of thought, the communications flashed through several realities and realms until it entered Elysia. The Great Thought sought out his Eminence as he sat upon his huge throne. Curtains of the finest silks hung everywhere as an immense golden Crystal shimmered before the being. The image within shifted to the being who sent him the Great Thought out of curiosity and instantly Galvenor was recognized. The being waved one talonedhand and several of the silks shimmered and opened upon their own accord. As they spread, reality was also opened paired with the location Galvenor stood.

As the space between Real Space and Elysia was bridged, a window formed looking into the fabled land.

“Greetings Ka’Loth, I have heart your Great Thought and am curious. Why do you call to me?”

And madness sprang up in me as I tottered on paralyzed legs within the curtain of the great alcove, gazing at the thing on the throne - at the massive body, the wings folded back, the great head with its proliferation of face-tentacles. For this, except for those eyes, might well have been Cthulhu himself! Kin to the Lord of R'lyeh this being most certainly was, and close to him at that, so that only his eyes saved me from the rushing madness. The very soul of goodness and mercy, those massive golden eyes were lucid depths through which passes all the love and compassion of a father for his children, all the joy of a great artist at the perfection of his composition. And he reached down to me and touched me, and all fear and awe, all terror of the unknown, all uneasiness of soul and psyche fled me at his touch.
-The Transition of Titus Crow, Brian Lumley

http://img.zonafandom.com/2008/11/nocthulhusinokthanid.jpg

Galvenor looked into those great golden eyes and could feel the Love and Caring even through the window. This was indeed Kthanid.

“I have contacted you because someone foolishly shattered the chains you have lain upon your ill brother. He again stirs and rages in his lunacy spreading destruction and death wherever he tramples. I know you would wish to know that an ignorant one unknowing of the proper stellar alignments had awakened your brother before your healing sleep could finish its Curitives.”

Kthanid arises from his massive throne and shambles toward the aperture. As he approaches it he changes his size and simply steps through the opening to stand beside the others. When he entered Real Space, all those nearby could suddenly feel pure Love and Hope flow through them, encouraging them to perform to their utmost best in the coming fight.

"I have decided it would be wrong to allow my brother to roam unchecked. I am sure I will be able to subdue him again; I have many times in the past. If he continues to rage, I might have to bring Cthylla, perhaps the sight of his daughter will becalm him enough.”

“I thank you My Lord for assisting. What if more Outer Gods or Ancient Ones are summoned?”

“That is simple Ka’Loth, I will inform more of the Elder Gods of this atrocity and together we will bind the whole lot again. We have done it before and we will do it again. Besides, Ulthar is now notified of this and will inform Nodens, Bast, Hypnos, Vorvadoss, and Yad-Thaddag. Meanwhile, please take these stones, they will help to not only protect you but also fortify you against the machinations of any of the Ancient Ones or the Outer Gods.”

Kthanid produced several star shaped stones and began to hand them out to everyone. They were composed of some sort of greenish stone that none recognized with a star carved in relief. In the center of the star was a flaming eye which upon closer look one might actually make out a single line with five others branching off of it reflecting off the eye due to some unknown way. As each person, including the Blood Father’s Avatar and Galvenor was given one, they each felt at peace with themselves and was filled with confidence that they had the strength to stand against anything.

http://www.dragoncaverns.com/Images/Other/Stone/Elder%20Sign%202.jpg

“Let us stand before my Brother and send him back into the Chains of Slumber. Afterwards I wish to speak to those that would try to circumvent our bindings of things that should not be messed with.”

Today was a day of revelation. Today, Marvel had learned how out-and-out powerful he truly was; and today, he had learned how out-and-out insignificant that power could be--and that there may be some significance in his insignificance.

Today, Marvel had looked upon a true god, and he just knew. He just knew that this amazing being would care for him as if he were...family. He just knew that the god was named Kthanid, and that he was almost as ancient as time itself. He knew that none of the pettiness that marked the so-called gods of chaos so much as sought entry into this being's soul. He knew that this god was simply in another league altogether--and yet, he was willing to do what he needed to intervene on behalf of a tiny, powerless, fragile little thing like Marvel. He knew all of this simply because Kthanid desired that it be known--and, with no effort of any kind from anyone, it simply was known.

It was truly a revelation. Never before had Marvel encountered a god who was truly, undeniably good.

And he personally took the time to hand out talismans of protection--strange little stones with star-shaped runes that drew power from somewhere-nowhere-incalculable non-space non-time pure existence.

It was all that Marvel could do to tell him, "Thank you," as he went his way past the turned demon into the rest of his rounds.

Before the insane god-of-gods could arrive, Marvel remembered to bring Shelly back to Active Mode. As he did, she absorbed--merged with--the stone in his hand. Something about her simply allowed her to become one with the thing.

The effects were immediate. The empty space on her chest plate took on the logo of the rune--only this one glowed with the ancient power that the rune drew upon. And her plating wasn't the mundane white of the Angels any longer--now, it shown as starlight, and the trim now shined like polished gold.

Ohhhh, the Angels are going to want to repossess this--.

And then, he just knew again. He just knew that Angel Armor was one of a kind. You didn't just hand it over to someone, you found a match. And Shelly had been sitting in a corner, gathering dust for centuries because no Angel had what it took to wear her. She and Marvel were...truly kindred.

Alone, either Shelly or the stone would have enhanced his abilities. When they acted together, the affect was multiplied. Power coursed through Marvel, body and soul. He could feel himself strengthening--his arms felt like steel girders, his sensitivity to mojo must have increased at least a hundred fold. It was as if he could almost feel the pulse of the cosmos as it churned around him. He could even feel...the soul of the Boogum trapped within its diamond prison.

With hardly effort at all, he caused the diamond sphere to crack, setting the tormented soul free. It sparked and crackled, angrily turning toward those who had deprived it of its life--and then it beheld the good god, too. It changed. Perhaps it would never be good, but it realized that a favor had been done for it, and, in peace--for a moment, perhaps its first ever, at peace--it left for other realms.

And Marvel looked at the good god again as it took its place beside the others. And Marvel took a page out of his book. The good god knew--he just knew--that the day would dawn when Marvel would find him...just to give him a proper display of gratitude. And they both just knew that, on that day, Kthanid would welcome the spawn of hell as a friend.

The sole remaining massive Hive began to pulsate and throb, and spew forth a new Never-before-seen breed of Swarmling, Cthulhu Minis.

Irene smiled.

"Indeed, The Original Overmind had failed in its power hungry quest to control something greater than itself, but we still assimilated them into The Swarm all the same, by obtaining their genetic data. Therefore, yes, we have taken them into our fold, not the originals, certainly, but copies of them, yes." Irene said.

Then something happened that not even Irene expected.

All the Cthulhu minis clustered in one spot and began growing into a mountain! from out of the mountain came one massive claw, turning the mountain of cthulhu minis into a sort of gateway from which emerged the real Cthulhu, but the real Cthulhu was different, bearing Swarmling enhancements to his already frightening features. He stood, and looked around in what was either confusion, or joy, it was hard to tell. Then he created a giant mirror on the spot, and in that mirror he could see his original body, still bound in slumber in R'lyeh.

Cthulhu had two bodies now. One created by The Swarm, and his original.

"That, was thoroughly unexpected. I thought it was only going to be a whole bunch of Cthulhu Minis, I hadn't the faintest notion they could gang up and form a giant Cthulhu and transfer his mind. That's alright though, in fact, its perfectly fine, he's still as securely bound to the hives as the rest of us."

Cthulhu meanwhile shrugged, and let out a terrific bellow that rent time and space.

More Great Old One strains of Swarmling began to pour out of Hive Mountain. Dagon Mini's, Nyarlethotep Minis, Azathoth Minis, and even Yog-Sothoth Minis. All imitations of the real thing, and only a fraction of their power.

The Dagon Minis had been transformed by The Swarm from sea going to Space faring, and as such, flew as a massive group towards the fleets to take them down. The Rotanian/Phenixican Dyson Sphere, hereafter referred to as the RPDS, initiated the Rotanian autopilot which began attacking with everything it had.

The rest meanwhile descended upon the Allied fleets on the ground each as deadly as their real, larger, original counterparts, just not as powerful.

Irene, full of enthusiasm and energy, rushed towards Original Cthulhu, and met the minis head on.

Everyone could see the minis cover her, not even stopping in the slightest, slowing or hesitating.

Everyone could see that all that remained of Irene were fragments of her carapace. Her essence was gone, as was her mind and her energy. To all appearances, Irene had been destroyed.

OOC: All minis are of average human height. Don't worry about Irene, pay attention to the epilogue.

Druk walked over and kicked the holograpis Panel, it started to spark to life and it showed the massive Minis Dagon group being attacks at the Dyson Sphere."Weapons report!"

"Most ships are back online, never seen this strain before so I dont know what to expect"

"Activate the Electro-Magentic Shielding, All guns are to aim and fire when they come torwards us. No point blank range at this fight, we have to stop them from getting close so we dont lose anymore ships"

Meanwhile, on the planet below
Nadine cuts off the head of a Nyarlathotep Minis, she was focuson mainly on killing them meanwhile I simply walk torwards the Cthulu yet again the ground under my feet because fertile soil which pushes creep or any other substance out of it.

Nadine was scared, but she was using the katana with such grace compared to her fathers claymore. Belcameron had always preferred a weapon which went with his natural strength he could use it like it was a Gladius.

Anything that attacked me got it's head chopped off, I decided that maybe a sword was a alright measure to take. Irene was running forward with no clue what she was doing, either her devotion to the Swarm had finally overridden her mind or she had something much more sinister in mind.

It doesnt matter, I would personally see that the swarm never benefits from having even copies of the old ones. I might not be as powerful as Cthulu, unfortunately The Phoenix was a ancient god but only in it's age and not power. Sure the 5 brothers were still extremely powerful and so was I, but that power had been split but I had not choice but to kill Cthulu and if Irene carried on acting like this I would have to put her in her place aswell.

I had no loyalty to this alliance, you could call me a wildcard

They'd forgotten about Marvel again. They'd made their attacks as if he was insignificant. He was not. Maybe a few minutes ago, he might have been too weak for them to care about, but not any more. This was a New Marvel, and the New Marvel was a force to be reckoned with!

Shelly started to glow as Marvel summoned the mojo from the world around him, and the skies started to crackle with magic power. This was new. Before, he only had his personal mojo at his disposal, but now, with his sensitivity increased, he could channel the stuff from outside sources. So, when he had gathered enough power, he raised his hand and turned it on the cheap copies of the Old Gods who were attacking the sphere around the sun. They began to explode by the score. Perhaps the ORIGINAL would be immune to his wrath, but these cheap imitations certainly were NOT. He would have turned the hive mound into a crater, but Irene had asked that the hives be saved, and Marvel was going to honor her request. He did, however, manage to wipe out most of the minis, all the way back into it.

The demon-no-more watched with a certain detachment as Obscene went off to another suicide. He was not impressed. She had done this earlier--leaving the others to fend for themselves while she enhanced her powers. Today, Marvel would shed no tears for her.

Today would be different. Today, Marvel would stop fighting Doctor Schmuck's errant boys and, after leaving the message for the Elder Clods that this was going to be no walk in the park, he was going to take his arguments directly to the source of the problem.

With no particular haste, Marvel found the mojo shields that had been put up in the ground under him. With no particular effort, he squashed them like bugs.

Next step would be to take a good look and see what he could see. After that...well, Bionic Joke had a little friend, and maybe, just maybe, Marvel would wake him up and together the two of them would do lunch.

OOC:

I'm going to leave it to others to describe what Marvel sees beyond the "mojo shields" that he has taken down (these are the magical structures that the Hive Tyrants erected).

The old man set the charm upon Josh, fastening it to the gold chain already on his neck, beside a gold circle. The Zena quintuplets each took one, though they just put them in their pockets. The old man took his and it floated between his eyes as he observed the battle

Rage, Joy, and Reason were strong in the fact that they had near pinpoint accuracy combined with their strength. Rage made it appear that minis were spontaneously combusting around the area while Joy had brought with her a storm. Violent winds coupled with lightning were slowing their progress, the winds being Reason's contribution.

Their sister though wasn't as strong as them, but her lack of focus allowed her excellent group attacks. Depression shook like she was having a seizure and let loose a piercing cry as she called a flood from beyond the horizon. It rose and towered above the minis before it crashed down upon them. Joy seized her opportunity and struck the water with as much of her power as she could muster, electrocuting any mini unlucky enough to be caught within the wave.

Zena stepped up next, she made no move, no sign that she she cared to do anything other than observe. That was until the water froze. Not literally, but it stopped moving. Then it vanished, torn apart into individual atoms along with the minis inside. She turned to face the remaining minis and threw a large chunk into the air, allowing her fragments to deal with them accordingly. Still maintaining his meditative pose, Josh awoke, still locking away the beast within his mind. It would not be forever, but enough to save him for this fight.

Marvel stopped. He looked at Zena--all five of her--and smiled. Shelly had an image-processing facility that worked through her heads-up display. Quickly, so that no one noticed, he made an enhanced image of the bunch of them. This one had only one change from the actual image: it showed them all without a stitch of clothing on.

Now, all he had to do was live long enough to post it on an appropriate bulletin board...

------------

OOC: Idle hands are the devil's workshop.

OOC: Once again, I strongly urge you to focus more on destroying Hive Mountain than anything else. It's all tied into Hive Mountain.

IC: For each eldritch swarmling killed, Hive Mountain just wiggled and jiggled and produced more.

Cthulhu stood up to his full heighth, and began making his way towards the offensive.

Most men would run in fear, certainly few could blame The Executor if he chose this moment to run, but not him. Either he simply did not know how exactly to define fear and when to follow its behests, or he simply didn't want to lose face. Thus explains the most memorable battle cry ever to be heard from the man.

"SOMEBODY FETCH MY BROWN PANTS!"

Followed by the single most heroic, if stupid, charge straight toward Cthulhu and the rest of the rotanian military.

The RPDS was fracturing, but holding up under the continued onslaught.

Nasagori was laughing manically.

Josh could no longer hold his meditation when the Executor let loose his battle cry. "Well, off we go again, down the rabbit hole to Wonderland." He took to his feet, but not before brushing the ground, getting a feel for the hive mountain and his surroundings in general. He strode with a steady pace, if it was a bit slow, toward the hive while grabbing the face of any mini in his path and blowing it's head to tiny bits.

The Zenas figured out where to aim their attacks for the largest effect. Depression, Reason, and Joy joined their abilities into conjuring a true storm. By pulling water from the air into clouds, depression gained bullets of rain, and slowly, whips and blades too. Working with a storm's natural lightning, Joy could direct and amplify it far beyond what she could do alone. Together they took on the minis that got in the way of their allies, slowly working toward the mountain. Reason was a bit more passive. Any mini around them that didn't go where she wanted it would find it nearly impossible to pass her winds. As such, she corralled those coming from the mountain toward their group and through a funnel, slowing their progress while making it easier for the storm. She also took on the responsibility of shoving corpses out of their way and piling them up at random intervals to further slow the minis progress.

Rage and Zena stood together, an invisible platform high above the crowd created from Zena's mind. They could observe the battle but that was not their focus. Every planet had a molten core, however small, and that could be manipulated if you knew what to do. Rage was one of those people that knew and had the ability. She pulled, warming the core even more and working upward toward the mountain with her pocket of magma while the natural winds of the atmosphere blew their cloaks about their ankles.

Josh met the winds of Reason and stood just beyond them. Crouching down, he touched the ground again, causing spikes to riddle the ranks of the minis. With less of a crowd to deal with, he passed through the winds and started working toward the mountain, fearing nothing from the Zena fragments and noticing the minis only long enough to kill them if they were stupid enough to attack.

"You have no clue, laughing boy."

Marvel would still be leaving ol' Tentacle-face to the others. He still had something better to do with his time. Though perhaps he couldn't reach Doctor Schmuck physically, there were still some things he could do, even at this distance.

Marvel could still feel the essence of Xos as distinct from Doctor Schmuck. They were so antithetical to one another that it would take days for the two of them to completely merge--if he let 'em. And he had no intention of letting 'em.

He reached out his hand, grabbed the mojo between himself and Doctor Schmuck, and started using it to cut and wrench the two souls apart. When this worked, it would allow the demon-no-more another ally--perhaps enough of one to turn the tables on this little show.

And, best of all, it just had to hurt ol' Doctor Schmuck to no friggin' end!

Yyyyyeesssssssss!

OOC: Congratulations stench, you have successfully unlocked a hidden character!

IC:

As Zenas and Josh continued making their way toward Hive Mountain, Cthulhu made their way to them, bringing down one massive hand on their position to grab all of them and eat them.

Meanwhile, Nasagori let out a gurgle, not a shriek, and melted before Marvel's very eyes.
It seemed that the only thing keeping him alive, was Xos's own life force.

So it was that energy floated free of the runic chains, and coalesced into one highly confused man. His robes were either black, or white. It was impossible to tell, for one instant they seemed to be black with white symbols, the next, white with black symbols. Even the slightest turning of the head changed what they were. The same went for his boots, his pointed hat, and his gloves. The symbols themselves were niether entirely magical, nor entirely scientific in origin, for they were both, the symbols of Magiscience.

On his hand he wore an expensive looking gold ring, upon which was a diamond, pointed North, a Ruby, pointed south, and emerald, pointed east, and a Sapphire, pointed west, all of the highest quality.

His beard was white and flowing, and was racing the long hair from his head to see who could reach his waste first. His eyes were Grey, and full of confusion.

He wielded so much magic, it was physically visible as it flowed through his body, yet showed such restraint, that Marvel could only feel the slightest blip of power from him.

"I would ask what's going on, but I'm not sure I'd like the answer since I already know what it is. By the gods, I remember everything her did with my power, everything. Has things unbalanced that greatly since my closest companions and I faded quietly into the background? They had to of. I think perhaps its time that was changed. I feel something horrible walking the stars, and I don't mean Cthulhu and his band of imitators. He's only a symptom, not the actual cause. But that's for later. Let's at least treat this most irritating symptom." He said.

By this point he was faced with an onslaught of minis.

He simply inhaled deeply, and then exhaled in a mighty gust of wind. The breath reached the first line, and blew their flesh right off, turning it into a fine dust. Their insides and skeletons followed suit in the same instant.

The dust turned into a wave of sharp pointed implements of death that skewered into the minis behind them, leaving behind a large wave of death. The entire spell took as much energy as the average lightning bolt to cast.

This of course caused looks of impressed surprise from the Rotanians who saw it, which happened to be all of them.

"Simple, yet surprisingly complex spell I made up a few years back. I'd teach it to you if I thought you were interested, but, nah, you're probably not."

"Oh no wise sage, I would love to hear what you have to say later after this is over. Is it true you can bend space as easily as I can bend a piece of paper?"

Xos turned his head to the side, and space accross the battle field visibly bent in a myriad of directions resulting in multiple mid-air collisions. Mysteriously, the allied fleet seemed immune, but anything Swarmling suddenly appeared to have lost its navigational abilities.

Meanwhile, Minis were running about every which way, but getting no where.

Cthulhu ripped through the bends to continue his attacks, sending a wave of concussion energy at Xos, who did utterly nothing to sidestep it, as it went right past him, having teleported himself to Josh and Zena's sides.

"I say, young man, young ladies, if your intent on attack yon Hive, may I advise you start with the central birthing chambers? They act as a heart." Xos said, as Cthulhu's other claw came for the group in a repeated attempt to grab and eat the group.

Josh stopped to stare in awe at the man before him, but not before kicking at the ground, large spears shooting toward the beast to stop it for a few moments. "It appears I have much to learn. Perhaps if we find some time when this is finished, I might be able to learn from one as great as yourself." Taking the mage's advice he crouched down and touched the ground. He felt out the hive, ignoring the energy and focusing on the physical. "Birthing chambers... This is actually kinda fun." His eyes were closed as an explosion echoed from the hive.

"I was gonna do that!" Rage bellowed as she and Zena descended upon the group. She stomped her foot and cracks appeared in the earth around the hive, lava spilling forth. Once the aftershock subsided, her scowl lessened, but only slightly. Joy giggled slightly, ignoring the sobbing coming from Depression at the death of the birthing chambers.

"Perhaps now is a good time to pull myself together?" Reason asked her counterparts. Zena closed her eyes and one by one the four fragments vanished, receding back into her mind. "Woah, that's a psych trip." Zena said before her voice switched. "Tell me about it." Her expression was a scowl before turning calculating. "Hopefully my split personality will go away soon."

"Give her some time to heal. Getting her mind broken into a few pieces isn't something she's used to." The old man sighed. "And of course, there's the shards that didn't end up with the five. It's like shattering a glass orb. You see clearly the big chunks, but there's plenty of shrapnel.

OOC: Congrats go to Sylvonia for destroying The Anti-Swarm! (It was just enormous, nothing more.)

IC:

The destruction of the birthing chambers started a domino cascade effect, destroying other linked systems which in turn fed other systems.

Within minutes Hive Mountain was gone, neither Swarm had any Hives.

The effect on the minis was immediate and obvious. They all simply died on the spot.

Cthulhu however kept going.

"Right, I think we've had enough fighting for one day." Xos said.

He looked up at Cthulhu, and like he was commanding a wayward dog, shook his fist at the Eldritch horror and shouted "SHOO!"

a giant foot came down, only to miss Xos as he suddenly appeared behind Cthulhu.

"SHOO! You heard me, Go home, go back to sleep!"

Hands, feet, claws, nothing seemed to hit Xos, but without the Hive, Cthulhu was slowing down.

It was obvious what he was doing, he was wearing the eldritch horror out. This body couldn't last very long without a Hive. Cthulhu was simply more powerful in his original body.

"Shoo!"

"Why does he not go mad?" The executor asked.

"I studied Cthulhu and the rest of them during previous Lives. Its easy to control something once you know how it works. Of course, it took a few more lives to get good at it, and spent three life times locked away in an insane asylum, gibbering on about the eldritch horrors, mixed in with other events from previous lives, like tackling the fiends of the elements, or trying to explain to trained psychiatrists why a God that doesn't exist is more of a threat than a God that does."

"Only three life times?" Artanis asked.

"I don't have time for the whole story, manipulating both a shadow body and a real body, talking with one and wearing out Cthulhu so someone can take the final blow is quite a task." Xos said from an illusionary body by the Rotanians.

Of course, the horror would die soon anyway, as there was no Hive.

"I, for one, would love to study under such an accomplished wizard as yourself," Marvel said to Xox. "Unfortunately, I've been busy pulling your accomplished little buns out of the fire, and haven't had time...for this!"

With very little effort, Marvel turned and hurled a beam of super-heat at the lumbering behemouth that was attacking him. As it went, he spread his wings and extended the little jets that Shelly so politely provided. Rising into the air, he was soon out of range of direct physical contact.

With the swarmlings there, he would merely have been the group's Champion of the Skies. Without them, he was their king. And he doubted that even Cthulu could stay in the air with him in the condition that he was in then.

Kthanid looked upon Xos and the way he was tormenting his brother with those golden eyes of his and anyone looking at the Elder God would have had their heard bread from the sadness they would perceive in his eyes. The sadness seemed to spread to those around him as the Elder God’s emotions were emitted and felt by Gods and Avatars, Mortals and Immortals, they all were susceptible it seems to the emotional states of Kthanid.

Kthanid sighed and stepped forward. “This has gone on long enough. I see no reason to torture my brother any longer. It is not his fault a fragment of one of his dreams was stolen from him while he slept and then placed into an Avatar body, one quite substandard in my opinion.”

The Elder God sent one of his Great Thoughts into the shadow body and it dispelled it instantly without any sort of resistance. He then turned to Xos, “You should be ashamed of yourself. Being a bully does not fit you favorably in the least. Grow up and become an adult instead of acting like a child. Also, a word of advice, don’t get stuck in one of your toys, which is a sign of ineptitude.”

Kthanid turned his back to Xos and walked toward the bad character of Cthulhu. As he walked, his size increased until he was the same size as his brother’s form. He began to speak to Cthulhu in a language that made everyone’s ears hurt and if not covered, possibly bleed. The words were older than time and not fit to be perceived by ears. From the body language it appeared Kthanid was calming Cthulhu and with a golden flash that temporarily blinded everyone both were gone.

After Galvenor’s vision cleared he said, “We better find the Doctor before Kthanid finishes with Cthulhu or there will be nothing left to stop.”

From his place in the skies, Marvel looked down at Galvenor. He spread his wings and slowed to a stop, hovering on Shelly's jet engines.

"Didn't I finish Doctor Schmuck off when I liberated Xos?" he asked.

Nadine and I had spent the fight keeping the enemy off our friends to allow them to do what was needed, I was studying everybody so I can use it for if we meet in the future. I was going to have to go into exile when this was over and I needed to know everything possible.

The destruction of the Anti-Swarm was cause for celebration and I was almost cheering for the fact that the Swarm was now in a terrible shape and would take time to recover. I was wondering how weak, the Swarm were to me the enemy I was brought back to destroy. Irene was naive to not realize that in reality I am a threat to the swarm. Phoenix's brought me back because of the threat the Swarm presented and not just to counter Nasagori, but I was now immortality and had allot of time to destroy them.


"I dont even wish to think about what is next, but I imagine without the Anti-Swarm the good doctor will become desperate to atleast take us down with him. Atleast our fleet is in a ragtag shape at best, without the anti-swarm we can call on aerial support" Nadine was thinking on a simple level, naturally she was used to the concept of explosions solve everyones problems.

I stand away from the main group again, without the Anti-Swarm and such I bet the knights in the fleet were feeling allot stronger. Chaos had been dealt a serious blow.

((OOC:sorry for the absence guys, had a cold the last few days and have been recovering then had writers block so had to listen to 'The March unto Death' to inspire me :P))

"I don't believe he is finished. If he had been, the Cthulhu parody would have been released from it's bindings and went back to it's whole right after you did your deed. He still is arround planning something."

Galvenor paused before continuing.

"You did a good job up there. I am thankful I picked you as an Instructor."

"So we track him down and slaughter him." Rage had control of Zena for the moment.

"I'm inclined to agree, though perhaps we can find a use for him or simply lock him away. A brilliant mind, however twisted, shouldn't be destroyed if it can be avoided." Josh suggested.

"Unless there is no way he can ever be a Threat again, elimination may be the only choice he gives us. We will know when the situation presents itself to us, for now we need to locate where he is hiding so we can end this."

The Truth in Galvenor's words rang in their ears. They might have to put him down when they caught up with Doctor Twisted. It really would depend upon what happened next. Judging from the recient past, it will be something big that willt ake everyone to put down.

"Perhaps it is time you heard some truth. You may not like what you hear, but it is important you hear it anyway." Xos said. He began to sit down, and by the time he was fully sat, he had come to be sat upon a wicker rocking chair.

"Let's start with Nasagori. You are both entirely and utterly correct. THIS Nasagori is dead, the battle is over. There are two Nasagori's remaining. I know this, because the sharing of knowledge was bi-directional and tapped into greater secrets than I wished to know.

"There is the original Dr. Yamato Nasagori, kept alive only by life support and prevented from normally completing the normal cycles of life through complex technology I care not to go into detail about at the moment. He has spent the last few millions of years praying fervently for his own death, going through a personal hell of his own creation worse than anything any deity could create. The only way to make it worse is to make it to where he won't ever die, no matter what. Immortal, but not truly so, for when one gains immortality through normal approved means, other benefits come along with it that allow you to enjoy a never ending life. If this wasn't so, Galvenor would have gone insane by now, not to mention the myriad self-proclaimed Gods, like those of Chaos, though I find their sanity questionable anyway.

"The other Nasagori is the very first clone the original made. He himself is thoroughly insane, and is responsible for keeping the original alive. The original desired only to study the universe peacefully, not as his clones have. He desired to watch suns rise and chart weather patterns, maybe even formulate cures for diseases. To this end, he cloned himself, believing his clone would carry on exactly as he did. Remember, this was back when all the old tricks were still fresh, so he was genuinely surprised when his clone turned on him. But this was with a twist. The Clone, knowing his father was almost dead, acted out of love and fear, desiring to find immortality to keep his father with him forever, afraid of losing him. It was not hatred.

Yet for all that, I know not where they are, only that they are a number of galaxies away and pose us no threat for the next few years or so.

One thing bothers me though, there is a missing piece to this puzzle. It was never Nasagori's idea to attack The Swarm. He was contacted by someone within The Swarm.

I would press Irene for details, but she is gone. Her body was devoured, and her mind fled the planet into The Warp, more specifically, the section where Tzeentch's power is strongest. The ambient power of The Lord of Change has thoroughly masked her trail.

It is easy to tell though, that she will return in time, when her swarms are back to full strength with a few new tricks up their sleeves. That is her nature. She needs to assert her dominance over the lot of you to prove something. I hate to say it of her without proof, but she might have been behind the entire thing from the beginning. Look at what she's gained, a massive living weapon that bows to her will and her will alone." Xos said, rocking in his chair.

"But as you say, there is no proof. With years to wait in either case, there is no more point to remaining here. Perhaps it is time we parted and went our separate ways until then." The Executor said.

"Perhaps, but stay alert." Xos said, waiting for questions, there almost always were.
~~~
Meanwhile...

Irene had stood before Tzeentch in The Warp.

You have lied to all those who would call you friend. You have caused your father to be killed in a mad quest for power. You have falsely used our powers to create a pseudo Chaos-Undivided, and caused a dishonest scientist to be killed in action. I'm proud of you, you deceitful little creature. It was a brilliant stroke pretending to be surprised and distressed over The Overmind's death when you yourself Masterminded Nasagori's entire war and attack to take his throne. You have glorified not only me, but Khorne, Slaanesh, and Nurgle greatly. Just please don't override Nasagori's mind with images of Malal again. It's bad enough we can't thoroughly rid ourselves of that pretender without you glorifying him as well by turning Chaos against itself in your civil war when you had alien gods summoned.

Regardless, I am sending you to an outlying Galaxy where none will find, or look for, you as you repopulate The Swarm.

Irene recalled the favor as she found herself standing on a world rich in Biomass. Already, she had impregnated herself, and in a few weeks, she would give birth to a Hyper-Spawnling, which would evolve into a Drone, which would mutate into a Hive Cluster. The Swarm would live, and when she returned, she decided she would eat her friends personally. To think they thought she had really changed The Swarm.

In ten years, they would know the true face of The Swarm.
~~~

Elsewhere, far far away...

Nasagori read through his clone's memories and knowledge.

"At last Father, the secret to perfect cloning, and immortality. I've found The Swarm for you again. This, this requires my personal attention. I won't lose you to death, I swear it." The clone said.

"Just let me die, please." the original whispered softly, unable to speak any louder. A tear rolled down his cheek.

A massive ship the size of Jupiter began to move. In ten years, it would reach Milky Way...

Marvel set down again, and, convinced that the danger was relatively small for the moment, brought Shelly back to Passive Mode. She was stronger with the addition of the rhunestone, and, as a result, the belt buckle was now gold, the letters "S&M" were inlaid in diamonds and there was a little red light that traced a square around the edge of the belt buckle. This was starting to get out of hand.

"Whoever is behind this," he said, "they've made some mistakes. They underestimated us all. Let 'em bring it. I'll be waiting."

"There is one note of strategy that I advise following, though I myself am not a strategist. There are three separate factions here that represent the largest targets to The Swarm. The Rotan, The Phenixicans, and the students of The White Tower. I advise you three keep in contact with one another, for when the time comes, you'll most assuredly need each others help again. For Nations such as Phenixica and Rotan, this is easiest done by establishing embassies with one another, as for keeping in contact with The White Tower, well, what's a couple more students at a school, especially if their valid students?" Xos said.

The Empress looks to the others

"We would be happy to setup a embasy with the Rotan, Phenixica has lost allot of it's allies over the years and this fight has done a great deal of damage to our home fleet. The Ships we can replace in 2 years but Officers is another matter. The White Tower we might send a some untrained future knights to learn and keep the peace. I would like everybody here to know that when danger arises they can count of the almighty fleets of the Phenixican Empire, infact we will send Warpgates Buoys to everybody here which when activated will give us the signal to attack"

The Empress was troubled by everything, if she had been fooled by the Swarm then it was a good trick and had weakened her fleet and to a extent had stirred up the warlust that was in every Phenixica. This victory over the swarm would turn Phenixica into a much more active nation and she could bet propaganda was already playing over the Civilian Information Report.

"Phenixica might also use these planets to have a presence in the Milky Way, they can be terraformed into colonies which we can use to keep on eye on the Milky Way"

Also it would be bait for the Swarm when they return, they would attack these colonies to try and send a message. But if they had enough time they could rig them all to fall under the 'Last Resort' and be capable of weakening the return of the swarm.

I in the meantime managed to find a Pelican, blood was all inside it meaning it didnt have the time to lift off before it was overwealmed. I was going to take it too the fleet then I can make preparations for the return of the swarm.

OOC: And now as thanks for sticking it through to the end, allow me to impart a few gifts via The Omnisource before we part ways.

IC:"Indeed, I have no problems with establishing embassies either, and can send appropriate personel back to Phenixica as early as today. Don't worry about building us something, we'll build it ourselves to meet our unique needs. As for students, that is another problem." The Executor said.

"Executor, let us go with them to The Tower. Archons have not existed in so long, this is as a new experience once more. There under the guidance of experts, we can truly learn to use our powers effectively."

"Alright, but only if Galvenor agrees, as its his school." The Executor said.

"This can be discussed later through transmission. For now, I believe I shall give each of you a gift, as thanks for securing my freedom, an experience of something you might never have again. Many pseudo gods and real gods have been present today, their powers seen, their presence felt. Now behold the power of MY GOD." Xos said. He dropped to his knees, clasped his hands together, and prayed silently.

In direct response the light began to grow and envelop each and every one of them. A feeling of deep and profound peace seeped into them. They were apart of the light, separate from the light, the source of the light. There was utterly no difference between them, and The Light and anything else, for The Light was all there was.

Then the light faded, and certain changes were immediately noticeable.

In Empress Nadine's hands was the deed of ownership of Zerus System. The planet itself had been completely restored and healed, already prepared for colonization and ripe with many different natural resources, all they needed to add was an actual colony. As an auspicious sign of this world's future with Nadine and her people, an actual honest to Bis and his brothers Phoenix could be seen in the distance.

The Dyson Sphere was restored, and doubled into two separate spheres, one made of Rotanian technology, one of Phenixican. Getting it home was their responsibility.

Marvel would discover Shelly had been enhanced and evolved, but how was up to him to discover.

Josh had a ring of wishing. It contained a single solitary wish, his whenever he wanted it. But he would be wise to be careful what he wished for, he might just get it.

Zena meanwhile had been given a gift important to her. A book bound in leather and edged in pure gold. The ink of the letters inside was of the highest quality and the writing itself perfectly ledgible. It was a magic book, unfinished, but with good reason, for it was the book of her life, a gift designed to help her heal naturally, and bore the exact details of every single second of her life, while still being only an inch thick, a foot long, five inches deep, and a pound in weight.

Old Man had simply been refreshed, or so it seemed. Yet in due time, his energy would seem inexhaustible. In truth, his endurance had been improved, greatly.

As for Galvenor, he held a note that was more of a warning.
"I have nothing to give you, that you do not already have, or no longer need, without unbalancing things further than they already are. The Twilight is coming, warn Xos." The Twilight of course, being an occurrence thought only to occur in imagination, when The Light and The Darkness joined forces against a single foe.

The individual members of The Armies would walk away only with the memories of being apart of something as powerful as The Light, even if only for a second.

As for The Blood Lord and Kthanid, they already knew what awaited them when they returned from whence they came.

Xos seemed prepared to leave, as did The Executor and his fleets.

OOC: I tried to give as seemed to fit. In some cases, I did not know how to give exactly.

Perhaps a followup post on what happened when you all got home would be nice in addition to a reaction to your gifts.

Then, we're done.

When I'm ready, I'll tell the second half of this story.

As the feelings of extreme confidence began to fade after Kthanid left, Galvenor looked at the note. The note seemed to be consisting of incredibly ancient but indestructible parchment and was written in a hand that would only reveal itself to the viewer when it was time for them to see. At this time, the message was Fated to be read by Galvenor. The Fates also whispered into his “ear” and gave him an idea.

“It seems I am to deliver this message but there is no way for me to know when so it is best if I do so now.”

Galvenor began to glow slightly and his words took on a mysterious echo. His eyes seemed to look through everyone as if a Power filled him. It seemed as if he was possessed by another.

The future and past has come
The tears will soon follow
In half a generation
These worlds will become fallow
When those you love fall
And you hear their death cries
Only then will the words
Be revealed before your eyes
The message will be kept
Upon you it shall wait
Only to be removed
By the hands of Fate

Galvenor flowed toward Xos and the parchment touched his skin and stuck fast. An explosion of light tossed both Xos and Galvenor away from each other and Galvenor sat up from where he lay shaking his head.

“What just happened?”

"Bad Tidings," the Undemon replied. "Something took over your Avatar. Seems that there's going to be some bad times ahead, and there's a message involved in it--but whoever sent the thing isn't talking much.

"I guess I can let this situation rest. I have a good mind to try and track down both the Swarm AND Doctor Schmuck...but I have a funny feeling that they're both going to come to me--and you, too. Let's not let 'em catch us flatfooted.

"In the meantime, I've got some research to do...though I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with doing it. See you folks back at school, if I make it."

And with that, Marvel teleported away--and, for a change, he arrived exactly at the place he set out for.

--------------------------

Clouds spread out under the marble-walled building like a huge, airborne mountain. The beautiful, blue sky above and the sunlight that glinted off of the vapor's white surface gave the place a clean, perfectionist look that would drive a hellion mad if he let it.

It wasn't Marvel's day to appreciate the architecture, though. Today, he had work to do.

With Shelly on, in Full Battle Mode, it was all but impossible to distinguish him from an Avenging Angel--and that was what he was counting on. This place was none other than Heaven's Great Archive, with every moment of time available for the perusal of those who could gain admittance...and Marvel had just found his ticket in.

The undemon did not waste time. He got in and got himself started on a search engine. Subject: Galvenor. Specifically, one of those little friends of his had let the name "Ka'Loth" slip out while Marvel was in a place to hear it. That was a name that brought back some old memories.

Very quickly, Marvel found himself in "Security Enhanced" terratory. Just as quickly, he found that something had happened to Shelly. Her internal systems were fast now--and she could do things that were impossible for normal Angel Armor...such as...bypassing the security codes like they almost weren't even there.

Still, it wasn't surprising when a little instant message popped up in the display.

We have noted security irregularities in your attempts to access sensitive data. Please explain.

So Marvel let them know exactly what was going on...and hoped that they would presume that he was something that he was not...

Recently, we have assigned a scribe to a place called 'The White Tower.' I am researching possible connections between its Headmaster and the Demonic Underworld. I will make you aware of my findings.

Understood. Proceed.

They'd bought it! Now, all he had to do was pick the place clean and get out before they figured out who--what--was really in this suit of armor!

And it made for some interesting reading. It didn't take long for Marvel to put two and two together. As he signed off, Marvel decided that there were going to have to be some words exchanged. With a strong sense of purpose, he strode straight out the door and through...

...a teleport trap.

He found himself in a Heavenly Holding Cell, with three little Angels fluttering above him--and, judging by the looks on their faces, oh boy were they full of themselves.

"Did you honestly think you could just waltz into heaven and pilfer our records, demon?"

"I'm not a demon," he replied.

"Really, demon?" said the second.

"Yeah, really," he replied.

"Perhaps we should remove that armor that you stole and see for ourselves," said the third.

"Oh, I'll let you see what's under it," Marvel retorted, bringing Shelly to Passive Mode. "Won't do you much good, though."

It was far brighter than he thought it was going to be, and far colder--but he managed to contain his discomfort. They seemed mildly surprised. Still, they recovered their smirks quickly enough.

"You certainly look like a demon," the first said.

"Look carefully," Marvel said. "And then answer me this: if I'm a demon, why aren't I trying to kill you?"

"If you're not, why are you arguing with us? Telling obvious lies?"

"Look, guys, you're fun to talk to, but I'm really not in the mood for twenty questions. If you look, you'll find that the Glamour of Evil that enshrouds most demons is missing from my being. Now, last I knew, the information in your records was available for public access. I haven't broken any of your rules that I know of."

"There was secure information."

"Since when does Big Father keep secrets?"

They looked at each other...uncomfortably. "That is not your business," the second said.

"Well, you'd better make it your business before you get overrun with something far less pleasant than I am," Marvel replied. "In the meantime, I really have no quarrel with you, so, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

There was a pause. "You're really not threatening us, are you?" the third asked.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

"Alright, then," the first said, his expression turning more serious, "you're free to go."

"Thanks, I'll just be--."

"--but the Armor stays with us. Can't let you profit from theft, now, can we?"

"I didn't--."

ZAP! Someone--some thing tried to rip Shelly away with a precision teleport. She screamed--and unleashed an electrical spell that blew the teleport away.

Now, the faces weren't so arrogant any more.

"How did you do that?" the second one asked.

"Do what," Marvel asked, forming an arrogant smile of his own.

"You know what we're talking about," said the third. "Our armor is loyal. It cannot resist a direct command."

"Well, mine is special, like me. In fact, it has something that you don't. That's called 'free will,' and you should try it sometime."

"But--but--."

"I'll be in touch," the undemon said. And with that, Marvel pictured Khat in his mind and...completed another successful teleport.

Marvel stepped into the White Tower, in the best shape he'd been in in years, and with a new belt buckle that had a big 'S&M' in its center...and instantly put up a spell that jammed all telepathy set against his mind. Looking around him, he saw Khat standing there in front of him. He was in Dra'gon La'dee's room, and she was sound asleep.

"Anybody for a nice, big boo?" he asked--though he was deliberately quiet, not to scare them out of their sleep.

A Thunder Transport flew down with a escort for the Empress, she turns to the others.

"Lets be sure to keep in touch, the Swarm and Nasagori will abuse any form of fighting between all of us. Like I said if you need our help call for us using the warpgate buoys which will be sent seperately. May the healing blaze keep you safe, goodbye"

She walks in has the back hatch closes, it takes her up to the ship which is when she got a call over intercom.

"Empress why did you give everyone on the IPN:Glory II orders to leave the ship immeadiately? our ships are cramped enough as it is"

"I gave no such order, I have only just left the surface"

"But we saw a Pelican Transport enter the ship, you sure you didnt give the order?"

Nadine was shocked, the IPN:Glory II was in a weird way the most advanced ship in the fleet. Her father had ordered it to be upgraded out of the Royal Treasuary every 3 months, that ship could fly in the hands of a single monkey.

When she arrived back to the Leviathan she arrived on the bridge, she orders Druk to ignore the Glory as David had taken it to fufil a special mission on behalf of the Empire.

"Also I look forward to placing you by my side in the Imperial Court, I hope I won your respect today"

Druk smiles as both of them order the call home and in a flash of blue light a portal opened to take them home, the fleet slowly passes through. Using well manipulated Magnetic fields to pull the Phenixica Part of the Sphere back with them.

A colony will be on Zerus in 1 week, give it a few years and it will be the Phenixican power base in the Milky Way and Capital of all systems in this foreign space.

IPN:Glory II, Zerus System
Has the fleet went back home I look around my old ship, the metal walls and the bland design in general didnt quite suit me. I toke out a chip from my pocket and place it in the bridges main computer, what would look like a torch standing up at the front on the bridge between two tactical stations started to shine until a holographic women appeared.

"Hello Rebecca, how is the ship?"

"Straight to that? No excitement at seeing me again?"

"Well I already knew it would be you, not exactly a surprise and thus not excited now how is the ship?"

"systems completely functional, scutter droids have been activated and awaiting their first orders"

"I was thinking of re-decoration, here are the details and I want them on it right away"

"Anything else?"

"SlipSpace us out of here, we have places to see and people to meet"

I walk torwards the command chair at the back of the bridge overlooking the entire room, I put my claymore on a slot in the side which allowed me to use the end of the hilt as a handrest. The ship makes a random jump into Slip-Space and I was out of the system.

((OOC:Assume you have the Warpgate Buoys on you, they are simply Metal Orbs with remote control activation which can be as simple at a TV remote control))

"We too must depart. We shall meet again, know that you have the respect of Rotan behind you, Lords Galvenor and Xos, and that, is as sure as a written treaty. Our Archons shall go with you, to learn how to use their newly advanced powers in a structured environment. If anyone can help them, it is the scholars of The White Tower." The executor said.

With a flash, the entire combined fleets of Rotan disappeared, taking their Dyson Sphere with them.

"Galvenor, based on what you said, I think I need to return with you to The White Tower. You know what I left there. I think I might need it back. Besides, it'll make an excellent gathering point for the rest of us." Xos said.

He looked at the Parchment, and immediatly paled.

"Dear gods, The Twilight. I definitely need it back." He whispered.

"If you think Galvenor and I are impressive, wait until the old gang is reunited. Finally, after several eons, it is time for The Eleven Magi-Masters to come together once more.

Scria Esselnvia, Archwizardess of Written Magic. Runes, Seals, Sigils, all are under her domain.

Agrinja Desenthall, Archwizard of Creative and Destructive Magic. Name something, anything, he can create it, or has destroyed it.

Ray Ignintantus, Archwizard of Fire. It is said that within his chest beats not the heart of a man, but that of a star.

Rose Le'Lanshire, Archwizardess of Earth Magic. In her garden grows rare and exotic plants found nowhere else.

Kado Ventus-Pulsus, Archwizardess of the Sky. Some think that on even the slightest stirring of wind, she can smell what's happening on the other side of the world.

Chris Morganson, Archwizard of Water. Son of the legendary Pirate Captain Morgan, whose line of rum exists even to this day, Chris has been known to fish the Leviathan out from the bottom of the ocean.

Chron Jugis, Archwizard of Time. Chron can go to any location, and tell you what's happened in that spot since the beginning of time, and what will most likely happen until the end of time.

Stella Jugis, Archwizardess of Space. Wife of Chron, she controls the very fabric of reality. Together they are the masters of Dimensional Magic.

Kalia Xilanthes, Archwizardess of the powers of Life and Death. My own wife, she has the rarest of all magics, the power of Ressurection. Healers everywhere look up to her for her mastery over the arts of healing. But beware her temper, for she also has complete mastery over the dead and the undead, and has been called Death's apprentice on occasion.

I myself, Xos Xilanthes, am called by others as the great sage. I have researched and studied the great mysteries of The Multi-verse for longer than I care to remember. I am unlimited by domain or element, and can cast from any school of magic. I am known for creating the school of Magi-science.

Together we are collectively known as The Magi-Masters, though we ourselves claim no such title.

Then there is the Eleventh Magi-Master. Rahegalhoff Mesquchoku, the very first Paladin, known as The Voice, and The Will of The Omnisource. The man's holiness and truthfulness is incontestable and legendary. He rides the rarest of all beasts, a War Alicorn, that is, a Unicorn with the wings of a pegasus. His is the power of Faith, which, though not magic itself, is just as powerful, if not more powerful.

Come, let us away to the tower." Xos said, and teleported away, simply disappearing on the spot without theatrics of any kind.

OOC: Their only going to gather, maybe visit a few days, then collectively depart. I will not post as TES, or Rotan with them. Instead, I shall use my original Identity.

Except for Bal and Sylvonia's parting posts, this thread is done.

Zena sighed, thumbing through the book and seeing what it was. "Oh I really don't feel like reading some of these chapters." She winced as painful memories tried to bubble to the surface. She'd pretty well mastered controlling her thoughts and so managed to keep them at bay.

"The time will come when you're ready. Until then, simply add to it." The old man instructed. It wasn't an order, but rather, a suggestion Zena herself had been toying with. Broad, youthful hands appeared from under his cloak and he pulled back the hood, revealing the face of a man who didn't look a day over thirty. Clearly he had taken advantage of his stamina to produce an illusion who looked like he knew what he was doing, but could still do it. His new visage was really quite old, for it was a recreation of his younger days. Josh saw through the illusion for what it was but put on a pair of glasses just to see how it suited him.

"You've got to be kidding me." Josh's face paled as he mentally compared the face to the one he'd seen from all of his reading. "Deliumien, I'll guarantee Sylvonia does not see the likes of you again." The war criminal smiled, his cobalt eyes crinkling a bit in the process.

"But I'm your teacher, you won't turn your back on me." The memory of the human chimera he'd created so many years ago that had cost him his youth brought a slight chuckle from his false lips.

"Watch me." Josh and Zena vanished while letting his emotions run rampant, allowing the rune to burn the ground below where they had stood and leave a clear trace to their reentry into the White Tower. It's defenses would keep Deliumien out, but it showed him exactly where they were. Following Josh's example, he vanished, returning to the Sylvonian border upon which his cottage rested. It was time he returned to power.

OOC: Hinting at something I've been planning for a while now. Don't worry, you'll be invited when I get around to working out the details.

Galvenor looked around.

“It seems everything is done here. I will open a Gate to the Tower courtyard.”

He simply evaporated, turning into a cloud of mist which began to twist and swirl until a vortex appeared. Through the vortex the front door of the White Tower could be easily seen, just a dozen feet away. When the last of the students passed through, the window closed leaving no sign of Galvenor.