Nondescript News

[Anonymouse]

"Squeak squeak..."

(There will be two posts so I can break things up and have a more coherent train of thought. Also, limited on time. So here we go!)

*The Ruined City*

Flying forward, Cornelia's boot heel lands true upon John Doe's nose as a sound much like glass shattering can be heard as they two of them fly forward until darkness consumes them.

Without warning, Cornelia finds herself again standing where she was, having snapped out of an apparent daydream, as though she had never acted with John Doe similarly standing where he was.

"Ku... ku ku ku. Such an entertaining declaration wind, but attempting to demean me in your fantasies and daydreams do you no good against me."

Suddenly, the saw-guillotine looks much more menacing than before as he spreads his feet subtly and raises his left hand with the saillotine(?) in to the air, a faintly blue glow coming from it while his eyes continue to glow red from their dark pits.

"Fine, if that's how it will be, you have six minutes. Six minutes is all the time I can spare for you, Wind."

Elsewhere, the other armored people find themselves in their respective positions with the cats still scurrying for cover. They can plainly see John Doe and Cornelia standing in their respective positions, even though they could've sworn that she had landed a solid kick to the face. But now, given how things are progressing, the situation just got real.

Meanwhile, the CTC troops have the sensation that something just happened, but once they leave the Ruined City, these thoughts soon leave their minds. It is the SIBLINGS from the CTC alone that perceive something unfathomable just occurred, but given their hurried retreat, it's likely better they continue what they were doing in the interests of their well being.

"Squeak...?"

[Anonymouse]

"Squeak!"

*The Wasteland Battle*

Plodding forward, the mecha-beast is struck several times by Corvus' and Shadow's arcane attacks, apparently the shielding is picking the hits it takes, because immediately afterwards, a blazing aegis of energy gobbles up the blast from the Steel Talon's MARV. Though, as the Steel Talons approach the outer boundary of the protective field of the Colossus, the twin strikes from the Ramiel Units punches through the shielding and immediately sears an impressive portion of the outer armor of the monstrosity.

And yet, it continues to march forwards, albeit with slow, staggering strides. But it marches.

The orbital batteries do their fair share of damage too, but not before the head unit expands, flicks a pair of red lines at them, and ignites a blazing storm of plasma at them. Though the attack doesn't match the firepower of the initial attack that it used on the rebels before and attempted to use before Kriega's interference, the attack is more than sufficient for melting most bunkers and mounted weapons into a molten slag. The front end of the head unit seems even more burnt than before, but the Colossus seems to be hell-bent on doing whatever damage it can at this point.

Meanwhile, the ongoing siege from the Steel Talons is met with a surprising lack of retaliation- except the barrier begins to strengthen again, and rather than canceling out attacks, it begins to redirect them. At first, the redirected attacks are haphazard, going everywhere, but eventually, it begins to aim attacks back at the Steel Talons' units.

*CTC Base (for anyone that's left there)*

As the massive footfalls of the Colossus grow ever louder at the base, a shooting star streaks from the sky above as an immense golden lance pierces the back leg of the Colossus. Another shooting star crashes into the ground before the CTC base, stopping just before impact to reveal Kriega. Though her aura is noticeably less than before, she seems to have done her job as the mecha stumbles and falls, her immense conjured weapon piercing the leg and nailing it to the ground. Despite such, a red barrier forms around the Colossus as it begins to charge it's primary weapon again, the twin lines of red aimed at the center RAMIEL unit, which hasn't attacked yet, as though it knows what's coming next.

"Squeak squeak..."

[Raleigh]

*From out of the gate Raleigh's agents have left open appear a few of the orbs from before. They begin to swarm about all the action taking data on all combatants and weapons in use. It would seem a few are even moving out of the likely fallout range in preparation for no doubt collecting whatever may remain after the dust settles.* Scarlet: Heh, the heat of battle is always best for data collection. People forget to hide what they can do then.

[Teddy]

Shadow and Corvus stop their barrage, looking at the barrier. Shadow hrms, and starts to try and weave countermagic around it, now taking a purely defensive stance. With any luck, Shadow's pure focus on pulling the barrier down for Corvus, who has since taken a few steps back.

"Balls. I wasted too much on our entrance, Shadow. But, hey, I got that army, right?"

"That doesn't count~" Shadow looks more like a conductor than a mage, waving his hands through the air, runes attempting to eat away at the colossus's shielding. "If you can't go 'LAW' and keep it from spatially warping, it makes everything much much harder on people like me!"

[Jello Shot Mischa]

*The Ruined City*

Meanwhile, the CTC troops have the sensation that something just happened, but once they leave the Ruined City, these thoughts soon leave their minds. It is the SIBLINGS from the CTC alone that perceive something unfathomable just occurred, but given their hurried retreat, it's likely better they continue what they were doing in the interests of their well being.

The CTC monitor the fight between the two as long as they can, but soon enough they blast through the boundary, exiting the Ruined City. "All right, get us in contact with command!" Darius shouts, but pauses as soon as the giant mecha comes into view. "What the..."

"Sir, I've got command on the line! They're telling us to evacuate, NOW!"

"Dammit!" Darius swears. "Okay, the rally point's probably too far... Hey, Raleigh! I bet you can hear me! Can you get us out of here?"

*The Wasteland Battle*

Plodding forward, the mecha-beast is struck several times by Corvus' and Shadow's arcane attacks, apparently the shielding is picking the hits it takes, because immediately afterwards, a blazing aegis of energy gobbles up the blast from the Steel Talon's MARV. Though, as the Steel Talons approach the outer boundary of the protective field of the Colossus, the twin strikes from the Ramiel Units punches through the shielding and immediately sears an impressive portion of the outer armor of the monstrosity.

And yet, it continues to march forwards, albeit with slow, staggering strides. But it marches.

The orbital batteries do their fair share of damage too, but not before the head unit expands, flicks a pair of red lines at them, and ignites a blazing storm of plasma at them. Though the attack doesn't match the firepower of the initial attack that it used on the rebels before and attempted to use before Kriega's interference, the attack is more than sufficient for melting most bunkers and mounted weapons into a molten slag. The front end of the head unit seems even more burnt than before, but the Colossus seems to be hell-bent on doing whatever damage it can at this point.

Meanwhile, the ongoing siege from the Steel Talons is met with a surprising lack of retaliation- except the barrier begins to strengthen again, and rather than canceling out attacks, it begins to redirect them. At first, the redirected attacks are haphazard, going everywhere, but eventually, it begins to aim attacks back at the Steel Talons' units.

*CTC Base (for anyone that's left there)*

As the massive footfalls of the Colossus grow ever louder at the base, a shooting star streaks from the sky above as an immense golden lance pierces the back leg of the Colossus. Another shooting star crashes into the ground before the CTC base, stopping just before impact to reveal Kriega. Though her aura is noticeably less than before, she seems to have done her job as the mecha stumbles and falls, her immense conjured weapon piercing the leg and nailing it to the ground. Despite such, a red barrier forms around the Colossus as it begins to charge it's primary weapon again, the twin lines of red aimed at the center RAMIEL unit, which hasn't attacked yet, as though it knows what's coming next.

"Squeak squeak..."

The makeshift barricade protecting the surface-to-orbit lasers lasts only a second against the incredible energy directed against it, the composite armor sheathing the three lasers lasting only a little longer. Blinding white flashes erupt as the weapon explode under the barrage!

Meanwhile, the third RAMIEL continues to power up, a shrill shriek piercing through the air as it fires! A thin beam of energy lances out from its core, directed straight towards the head of the mecha -- but a beam of energy with enough energy to mount half of a mountain down into slag. The earth between the floating crystalline form ignites in flames, rock softening and melting into liquid as the earth is superheated, forming a trench of red-hot magma in the mecha's path as the RAMIEL fires!

Even as it fires, however, the other two RAMIEL units seem to be unfolding as it did. The mecha may be able to withstand one such beam... but can it withstand two?

[Raleigh]

No need to shout my good man. I'm right here. *He appears next to the soldier.* One exit coming up. *His form disappears as a wave of spectral energy sweeps over the CTC and their equipment. In moments the wave arrives at the gateway that was to be this groups exit and reforms into the entire collective of soldiers and their machines. Raleigh forms, for the first time, in his full armor and cape sweeping out behind him.* Alright boys and girls. Hop to and get on the glyph. It'll send you to a staging area so we can make sure none of you were contaminated before sending you back to the other continent. We don't have much time before this location is blown to hell either so anything not critical leave.

I'm going to be staying though. Someone made the mistake of stealing from me and that can only end one way.

[??????? ?? ????]

**CTC Base, near the center**

Amidst the chaos, the armored lady has spent more time watching a certain point in the sky, then paying attention to the ensuing battle closing in on them. She spares a glance over at Elly

"Radius? Why, total of course"

She pulls from within her cloak a small gun like device, pointing it to the sky, a green laser dot streaking forward, up and away…

**The Ruined City**

"Six minutes is it? Thats all the time you'll spare? You are gravely underestimating your situation creature. Do you think that we are all ignorant of you? That we do not know the power your represent?"

Away from the impending fight, the two other armored figures are regarding the exchange of words, though their faces shrouded by the masks, you can have no doubt that they are seeing more than whats put before them. The one in blue makes a signal towards the white armored figure, who promptly ejects a magazine from her heavy rifle, moving over to the back of the bike to pull out an attachment, securing it to her weapon, making it look even heavier, with a substantial scope atop. Not even thirty seconds is all this took, before she takes aim, steadies on the bike, and lets loose a salvo towards John Doe, the barrel spitting out a meter of blue flame.

As this is happening, the armored lady begins to sheath her light sword, hand moving over her shoulder to grasp the handle of the larger blade strapped there, discarding the light guard attached to her left arm. A heavy clunk is heard, as locks disengage as she begins to draw the sword, as the first shots from White find their target.

"We came fully prepared for you, so tell me creature, what happens when this lasts longer than six minutes?"

**Before the Storm**

On the bridge of an unknown vessel, coordinates unknown in relation to anomaly's position. A raised command section over looks various crew areas, a bustle with various military type persons hunched over a variety of consoles and controls. On the command section, three men in pristine grey uniforms converse amongst each other, one sitting at helm controls, another viewing a large chart of the area, marked 'Dis.' The third stands slightly behind them, his shoulder boards indicating that he is the commander of this vessel.

"Are we certain of the coordinates? The latest reports I have said certainty is not something we can really have with this distortion before us."

The officer hunched over the chart shrugs "It is as certain as we can get it. We've got three indirect confirmations from our advance team and the array is responding at a 87.4% synchronization rate."

The commander turns towards him, arching an eyebrow. "Only three? why not four? Which three are we talking about it."

The shrug turns into an annoyed sigh, as he taps a clipboard against his leg. "Do you have to guess? The final report is that the fourth has engaged a Priority 1 target against orders AND ahead of schedule. Any confirmation, be it direct or indirect was not received before we got word of the battle joined. We know there is at least one layer of defense in depth with the fourth, but they are holding currently"

The captain's hand clenches, like he is going to hit something. "Damn them anyways…what is the point of having a recon force such as them if they do not follow their orders?"

At the back of the command section, a door opens, from it a large imposing figure strides out.

"Ours is not to reason why captain, you know that" He's dressed from to to neck in thick, heavy plated armor, white with silver and blue detail work. His hair is a golden blonde, his eyes twinkling blue, as if thinning about some good joke.

"That might be true, but our job would be a lot easier if they did not operate outside the chain of command." He sighs again, turning to fully face the new entry.

"Is my ship ready captain?" He moves and sits down in the command chair, overlooking the entire bridge and command section.

At the question, the captain's back straightens, his posture that of a parade ground inspection. "The Ascendant Class Dreadnaught Fiat Justitia is at your full command Admiral"

"Very good. Helmsman, plot a course"

"To Hell sire?"

"Our duty is done when we are dead. Not a second before. Go"

[Jello Shot Mischa]

No need to shout my good man. I'm right here. *He appears next to the soldier.* One exit coming up. *His form disappears as a wave of spectral energy sweeps over the CTC and their equipment. In moments the wave arrives at the gateway that was to be this groups exit and reforms into the entire collective of soldiers and their machines. Raleigh forms, for the first time, in his full armor and cape sweeping out behind him.* Alright boys and girls. Hop to and get on the glyph. It'll send you to a staging area so we can make sure none of you were contaminated before sending you back to the other continent. We don't have much time before this location is blown to hell either so anything not critical leave.

I'm going to be staying though. Someone made the mistake of stealing from me and that can only end one way.

The soldiers begin gathering up their gear, the techs downloading their data to portable devices. Darius glances at Raleigh. "Can the vehicles travel through, or do we need to abandon them?" he asks.

**CTC Base, near the center**

Amidst the chaos, the armored lady has spent more time watching a certain point in the sky, then paying attention to the ensuing battle closing in on them. She spares a glance over at Elly

"Radius? Why, total of course"

She pulls from within her cloak a small gun like device, pointing it to the sky, a green laser dot streaking forward, up and away…

Elly's eyes narrow at the armored figure's explanation. "I see... well, I won't take up any more of your time then." She turns and begins walking seaward, tapping her commlink. "Major, I believe we need to increase our situational threat assessment. We are likely looking at a thread-wide phenomenon."

On board the Vigilant, buried deep in its hull, the Major's face pales as she studies the holographic displays. "Are you certain of this?"

"As certain as I can be, major. Given the kind of power levels we're looking at her, I'd recommend erring on the side of caution."

"Very well. I just hope Raleigh can get our expeditionary team away far enough. Arm the fuse, and then get out of there."

"Yes ma'am." Tapping her commlink again, Elly sends one last transmission, and then vanishes from sight.

Meanwhile, on board the aircraft carrier, Major Durant straightens up, and then slams her fist down on a glass-protected button. A loud klaxon sounds throughout the ship, accompanied by flashing red warning lights.

"This is Major Durant to all vessels. Commence transdimensional evacuation. I repeat, commence immediate transdimensional evacuation!"

Even as she ships steam away from the continent at full speed, they begin to be enveloped by glowing light, vanishing from view one by one!

[Raleigh]

Hm... I suppose we have room for them if they must. They will be stored in a different location than your troops though at first. We will need to make sure nothing sneaked aboard along with them for both your safety and that of my employees. Will that be alright with you?

[Funny Hat + Funny Accent]

"Squeak!"

*The Wasteland Battle*

Plodding forward, the mecha-beast is struck several times by Corvus' and Shadow's arcane attacks, apparently the shielding is picking the hits it takes, because immediately afterwards, a blazing aegis of energy gobbles up the blast from the Steel Talon's MARV. Though, as the Steel Talons approach the outer boundary of the protective field of the Colossus, the twin strikes from the Ramiel Units punches through the shielding and immediately sears an impressive portion of the outer armor of the monstrosity.

And yet, it continues to march forwards, albeit with slow, staggering strides. But it marches.

The orbital batteries do their fair share of damage too, but not before the head unit expands, flicks a pair of red lines at them, and ignites a blazing storm of plasma at them. Though the attack doesn't match the firepower of the initial attack that it used on the rebels before and attempted to use before Kriega's interference, the attack is more than sufficient for melting most bunkers and mounted weapons into a molten slag. The front end of the head unit seems even more burnt than before, but the Colossus seems to be hell-bent on doing whatever damage it can at this point.

Meanwhile, the ongoing siege from the Steel Talons is met with a surprising lack of retaliation- except the barrier begins to strengthen again, and rather than canceling out attacks, it begins to redirect them. At first, the redirected attacks are haphazard, going everywhere, but eventually, it begins to aim attacks back at the Steel Talons' units.

<Cease fire! Pull back! INCOMING!>

*Indeed, there was an incoming projectile streaking at the Colossus with unerring accuracy as the infantry and lighter vehicles pulled back from the failed attempt to breach the barriers while evading their own reflected weapon-fire. Upon reaching a certain distance, the projectile, fired from the primary weapon of the MARV, blew itself apart and scattered fragmented pieces of hollow shell at the barrier.

If one were to look closely at the MARV, then Borealis would be no where to be seen.*

[Anonymouse]

"Squeak Squeak..."

*The Ruined City*

John Doe regards Cornelia a moment before abruptly breaking out into laughter. As his laughter ends, he rests his odd weapon across his back as a faint blue haze emits from his body, the two red lights from the dark pits of his eyes still glimmering ominously.

"What happens, fair wind, is you will be sealed away, trapped in the nightmare reality you currently stand at the boundary off. The pillar cycle ends it connection to this world in five minutes no-"

And then his cranium explodes with what a crack that sounds like a glass ball hitting the ground and then shattering. Yet despite John Doe "losing his head", his body doesn't so much as flinch as reality seems to distort again where his head was, the glow becoming more intense until his head is "replaced" with a black void and two red pits for eyes. When it speaks, there is no discernible mouth, but John Doe sounds much the same.

"It is unfortunate, but it seems the time to talk is ended. Leave now or face death."

In an instant, John Doe disappears with a cracking sound and reappears again with his head back to how it was as he swings his sawollitine at the woman's neck.

Just outside the Ruined City, the remaining CTC soldiers are able to withdraw without much trouble- though they may notice the city core seems hazy and almost blacked out whereas before it was much easier to see it. Even at a great distance, the city in the distance is obscured by the unusual black pillar forming around it and rising into the sky. in fact, there seems to another pillar forming, faaaaar to the south east.

*The Wasteland Battle*

As the immense Colossus readies itself to fire, the RAMIEL's beam slams into the barrier around it, superheating the air around it instantly as the barrier struggles to withstand the barrage. It's at this point that Shadow finds he can most easily manipulate the barrier, as barrier's effectiveness is limited by the fact it is extremely precise by nature. Jostling it even a centimeter, the beam from the RAMIEL slips through the barrier, slamming into the head unit of the Colossus and gouging out its core instantly before laying waste to the, uh, wasteland behind it.

What's left of the Colossus' head crackles and oozes onto its body and the ground before, molten metal searing everything it touches. The unit continues to stagger forward, brainlessly, still intent on wrecking destruction even in its death throes. The weapon units have all begun to fire in every direction- at least those still left- but with the head wrecked, the shielding unit and main weapon are definitely out of commission, rendering most of the Colossus' attacks not nearly as dangerous. With the shrapnel of the MARV's exploding shell, even more wounds are cut into the Colossus, as the remaining armor isn't able to do anything to stop the jagged metal.

Of course, for anyone monitoring power emissions may notice that the body of the mechanized monster is still giving off a lot of power- which is beginning to bleed through the armor which may mean it's close to self destructing outright- which could do considerable damage if it isn't stopped.

Just a little more and it'll go down like the mad dog it is!

*Out at Sea/CTC Base/Dark Continent in General*

The CTC's ships begin to disappear from the treacherous seas bordering the dark continent, and as previous transports found, leaving is much easier than entering. How convenient! Regardless, the longer they take to leave, the more ominous the clouds above become.

"Squeak squeak..."

[Raleigh]

Tell your commander I will be expecting you guys to return when the explosion is cleared away. *He chuckles.* Just want you guys to join in on the fun too. At least I'm expecting some once we get on the offensive finally.

[Teddy]

Shadow seems extremely pleased by this turn of events, pulling Corvus into a biiiiig hug as it cheers. It nibbles on it's 'brothers' ear as it begins to weave another set of spells, Corvus beginning to flare that blue again. "Don't worry, this shouldn't hurt. ...Much. I'm pretty sure since you're not dead, it means you're tough enough to not die!" As Corvus opens his mouth to protest, Shadow begins to produce a barrier to stand up around the colossus. Which causes his brother to double over with pain and coughing fits. With any luck, the massive blue dome can contain the explosion.

Blue and green specks start inside the barrier. With his other hand clenching into a fist, he begins to look at the composition of the colossus. If he could reproduce something very similar to that metal. "Don't be such a girl~ You can just replace this Jotun sometime."

[Funny Hat + Funny Accent]

As the immense Colossus readies itself to fire, the RAMIEL's beam slams into the barrier around it, superheating the air around it instantly as the barrier struggles to withstand the barrage. It's at this point that Shadow finds he can most easily manipulate the barrier, as barrier's effectiveness is limited by the fact it is extremely precise by nature. Jostling it even a centimeter, the beam from the RAMIEL slips through the barrier, slamming into the head unit of the Colossus and gouging out its core instantly before laying waste to the, uh, wasteland behind it.

What's left of the Colossus' head crackles and oozes onto its body and the ground before, molten metal searing everything it touches. The unit continues to stagger forward, brainlessly, still intent on wrecking destruction even in its death throes. The weapon units have all begun to fire in every direction- at least those still left- but with the head wrecked, the shielding unit and main weapon are definitely out of commission, rendering most of the Colossus' attacks not nearly as dangerous. With the shrapnel of the MARV's exploding shell, even more wounds are cut into the Colossus, as the remaining armor isn't able to do anything to stop the jagged metal.

Of course, for anyone monitoring power emissions may notice that the body of the mechanized monster is still giving off a lot of power- which is beginning to bleed through the armor which may mean it's close to self destructing outright- which could do considerable damage if it isn't stopped.

Just a little more and it'll go down like the mad dog it is!

*As the MARV's shell bursts open and rains destruction upon the Colossus, a far more lethal payload is revealed: Borealis himself. He crashes into the behemoth's midsection fist-first and releases a sudden burst of destructive Essence moments after contact with the behemoth's protections.

MEanwhile, sensing the sudden weakness of the monstrosity, the various other Steel Talons lend their own destructive might in the battle, even as they continue to pull back. There's no telling what it could do if it's destroyed, after all.*

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Tell your commander I will be expecting you guys to return when the explosion is cleared away. *He chuckles.* Just want you guys to join in on the fun too. At least I'm expecting some once we get on the offensive finally.

Darius quirks an eyebrow at Raleigh's comments, but nods. "I'm not sure why they chose to evacuate, but they likely had a good reason. I suppose we'll find out." He and the rest of his troops move through the portal!

*The Wasteland Battle*

As the immense Colossus readies itself to fire, the RAMIEL's beam slams into the barrier around it, superheating the air around it instantly as the barrier struggles to withstand the barrage. It's at this point that Shadow finds he can most easily manipulate the barrier, as barrier's effectiveness is limited by the fact it is extremely precise by nature. Jostling it even a centimeter, the beam from the RAMIEL slips through the barrier, slamming into the head unit of the Colossus and gouging out its core instantly before laying waste to the, uh, wasteland behind it.

What's left of the Colossus' head crackles and oozes onto its body and the ground before, molten metal searing everything it touches. The unit continues to stagger forward, brainlessly, still intent on wrecking destruction even in its death throes. The weapon units have all begun to fire in every direction- at least those still left- but with the head wrecked, the shielding unit and main weapon are definitely out of commission, rendering most of the Colossus' attacks not nearly as dangerous. With the shrapnel of the MARV's exploding shell, even more wounds are cut into the Colossus, as the remaining armor isn't able to do anything to stop the jagged metal.

Of course, for anyone monitoring power emissions may notice that the body of the mechanized monster is still giving off a lot of power- which is beginning to bleed through the armor which may mean it's close to self destructing outright- which could do considerable damage if it isn't stopped.

Just a little more and it'll go down like the mad dog it is!

*Out at Sea/CTC Base/Dark Continent in General*

The CTC's ships begin to disappear from the treacherous seas bordering the dark continent, and as previous transports found, leaving is much easier than entering. How convenient! Regardless, the longer they take to leave, the more ominous the clouds above become.

"Squeak squeak..."

The RAMIEL units pause, as they consider the tactical situation. If the artificial intelligence of the lead unit could feel surprise, it would as its beam unexpectedly cripples the massive mecha. Certainly, the expected trope had been a Beam War between the two, and so the sudden result causes it to take time to reanalyze the situation, searching for any other potential cause for the failures in the mecha. The secondary weapons on the massive machine aren't nearly as much of a threat to the RAMIEL's nanocomposite construction, so the three units simply float ominously around the abandoned base, observing the situation.

As the CTC fleet retreats, the island is not left entirely unattended, however. Satellites above continue to monitor the situation, taking note of the black pillars starting to form.