Argenti's Palace

[beautifulknight]

The stage is set they say;
They don their masks and shields,
Shadows creep and cover their minds;
Now, what beautiful role shall they play?

𝓜𝓮𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮


♫

Comments

FINAL BATTLE PHASE: ROUND 1

[beautifulknight]

[ Thanks to everyone's efforts, working together to tackle what other people could not, as well as bonding fiercely in either spite, goodness, or something complex, what remains of the mirrors disperse into nothingness. The broken pieces seem to flicker with red petals before turning into nothing, and the fog immediately disperses, leaving behind...

The Omen of Evil: Beast.

This is an extremely large Shadow, towering easily over the Beauty, with an almost entirely shapeless and undefined body figure. There are thirteen yellow eyes peering out from where one assume must be the head, four clawed hands, two pincers, and a terrifying brilliant red spear clenched in two normal-like, but large hands. The spear emanates a strange, eerie pulse that can be heard throughout the room, not unlike a heartbeat.

Shadows obscure its feet, but evidently there are two legs that are certainly fully formed. Behind it is a strange painting, of something resembling a colorful but large stained-glass-like or rainbow-colored (?) image, though the specific details are hard to make out or see thanks to how big the creature is in the first place.

Then, the Beast opens his mouth, and screams, an unholy loud noise that feels almost paralyzing. Sorry for your ears, did you need those?

That is all the reprieve everyone gets as it is immediately on the offense, swinging hard with a Heat Wave upon Izou but missing (2), catching Fray (12), hitting Kirumi (12), and whapping Aaron (16). Following that, it appears to stomp the ground, and sends out a blast of Maeigaon a heavy curse-level spell on Aerith which misses (5), goes wide past Maika (6), hits McGillis pretty hard (18), and manages a hit on Richard (12). After that, he seems to clench tighter the spear on hand. At least compared to last time, the start is less...a bit much?

Mechanics can be found here for the Final Battle Phase! ]

[destage]

[The beast is a startling thing, to say the least--Sayaka at least tries to be quick on the uptake despite how tired she is, and the first thing she does is send a media to Fray, Kirumi, and Aaron.

Of course, Atropos itself tries to launch an Agilao (8), but misses entirely in the process. It's a bit startling, but Sayaka sees those two legs underneath. She's not sure what can be done, if this is Argenti lashing out at this point, but...]

Argenti! Argenti, can you hear us at all?!

[bloodweapon]

[This might as well happen, Fray supposes. The attack hurts, certainly, but he's more angry than injured and his eyes flash red yet again.]

Enough, Argenti! Your attempts to dissuade us, turn us against one another, and hurt us have been for naught; we are still here and we will not stop.

[Here's a Media for himself, McGillis, Aaron, and Richard.]

Nothing will stop me from bringing you back! I promised you I would free you and this will not stop me!

[And with yet another Thunderous Rage (18) he intends to prove just that. Fray's blade flashes in a downward arc as he strikes at the beast, aiming to deal as much damage as possible in one swing.]

[gardenful]

[ Ah... the Shadow that now stands before them isn't what she was expecting to see, something so terrifying in the midst of a gilded and beautiful palace. Is this how Argenti sees himself? Is this a representation of what he's been fighting within himself? Only time will tell, she thinks. ]

Argenti... We're going to bring you back!

[ She says it more for herself than anything, but her determination isn't to be trifled with—she sends a Makouha (15) straight at the Shadow. ]

[beathollow]

( all the care she was given earlier, she'll pay back tenfold... starting diarama on mcgillis! )

Are you okay?

( regardless, she's still in the fight too... though, maybe she's still too shaken up by the stabbing and then that awful scream to do anything actually worthwhile with her arrows (5). )

[vogelfrei]

[ It's starting to feel like Argenti's shadow self is punishing McGillis for all his big talk about brute force, but McGillis is not about to back down over it. Despite being severely handicapped and not used to this form of combat to begin with, he did want Argenti to come at him honestly.

Thus, that Maeigaon may hurt (a lot. it hurts a lot.) but McGillis resists falling down and instead remains standing, breathing heavily. With a heal from Fray, he's... still in a lot of pain, but at least capable of focusing his gaze properly.

They're close, it's easy to feel. He'll leave the talking to everyone else for now, and instead focus his remaining energy into his next Garula (18).

And then, before he'll try to catch his breath, he tosses a Media at himself, Aaron, Fray and Kirumi. ]

[goei]

[Fray seems like he's fucking cooking with gas, so Izou throws a Rakukaja his way. Go get'em, Can Opener. For his part;]

Shut the hell up ya ugly bastard! Stop tryin' ta mess with us and give us Argenti back! I'm gonna carve ya into a million pieces fer tryin' ta use Kei against me!!

[So he says, but he must've gotten a little too worked up since his sword swing misses (4)]

[bloodweapon]

[Thanks, Izou! He's a little busy fighting but he has noticed!!]

[ledbythewind]

[That Maeigaon hurts, to be sure, but ironically it is exactly that pain that helps keep Richard grounded, remind him that what he'd just seen was little more than an illusion woven to prey on his own weaknesses. (He didn't need Argenti to remind him of those, not when he replays his father's murder in his head every day and wishes that he could have strength like Asbel's.)

He almost feels that pulse from the spear more than he hears it. In the back of his mind, Lambda nudges at him, encouraging.

And so he forgoes trying to strike the beast itself, instead leaping up for a Tiger's Prowl (18) aimed directly at that spear.]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Eli pauses to throw out a rare non-attack spell! Wow! McGillis gets a Rakukaja to buff his defense! ]

Stop getting hit, Gills! You're already too big a target!

[ You know, because his tits are so huge and all. Anyway, Eli then throws himself back into attack mode with an icy Bufula (14) at the Omen of Evil which is, as he previously said to the knight they met before, super uggo. ]

[bloodandstars]

[ Now they're getting somewhere... probably. Closer to the heart of whatever this mess is. The form that probably looks so monstrous to everyone, to Argenti, to her just looks...

Well. It still wouldn't be the prettiest Old One, by a long shot. Maika swings for the nearest pincher-thing with a Fang, Claw, and Fulguration (5) that doesn't come remotely close, maybe because the scream hits her just as she's trying to pounce.

Bastard. ]

[cirquedesang]

[The scream rings in his ears, the sound drowning out everything else and making his adrenaline spike as a result. This... seems as though it's the end, or near to it. If the creature melts away and they end up having to fight Argenti, too...

Well that'll be a problem for the future.

As it is, he'll cast a Rakukaja on himself, in preparation to do a Potentially Stupid Thing. He does notice that tight clench on the spear, and figures the shadow is planning to do something with it next, so he runs up to grab the spear and swing up onto the shadow's wrist (15), hopefully confusing it out of its attack pattern if nothing else.]

[imperiosity]

[Oof, that smarts. The heals from Sayaka, Fray and McGillis do a good job at keeping him from feeling it too much, and he will also toss a Rakukaja to Aerith before attempting a Garula that whiffs (3).]