2401/The Crown of Succession: King's End

The Crown of Succession: King's End
Date of Scene:	12 March 2025
Location:	The Infinite Void
Synopsis:	The final battle with the King's End comes, and empowered by the Jewels of Succession, the heroes fight to end the Incident, once and for all!
Cast of Characters:	Aloisia Stauss, Zephyr Windstar, Rashmi Terios, Takuto Tsunashi, Yuki Hoshino, Veronica Perenna, Koji Silvia, Sugata Shindo, Amanda Faust, Catra
Tinyplot:	The Crown of Succession

---

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"PLASMABOLZEN!"

As that Moment of relief ends for the gathered mahoujin, they had all ended in the same way, as golden energy consumed them, and then they shot off into the Void... chasing and spinning after the plasma bolt shooting off into the distance, until it eventually impacted with ...

Something.

And then a massive three-pointed Belkan magical circle appeared, three figures at the points of it, standing in circles. The Unstoppable Sister and ... Weisser Ritter standing at the two bottom corners, while the top corner is inhabited by the Bishop. In unison, the three call out.

"FRIOHELGI!"
"FRIOHELGI!"
<FRIOHELGI.>

And a sanctuary of prismatic golden light sparks into existence around them, not entirely unlike a Barrier, and the group finds themselves standing within what was likely once a beautiful, vibrant garden.

But the stones that make up the pathway have been turned a dull brown.
The plants are black and dead, almost burned looking.
This garden, this land, is dead.

And the thing that Plasmabolzen struck?

The King's End floats beyond the edge of that small garden island, a twisted, massive knight that has shed most of its humanity, its left arm from the elbow down a massive lance, its right arm long and ending in clawed hands. It seemingly has forsaken the shield that was the Unstoppable Sister, either by its own decision or otherwise.

Its head is still reminiscent of Prinzessin Nichts, with the same yellow eyes and long flowing silver hair that falls down into the void below, torso covered in black armor.

...And below that ...

Nothing. Its ribcage open, the ends of it hanging down as black, sharp spikes, and inside of its chest, a slowly beating red crystal that functions as its heart, its spine hanging down and ending in a point.

Hanging from that giant red crystal 'heart', is...

Aloisia Stauss. Half-absorbed, her head hanging low, clearly unconscious.

"Hm. One jewel was not enough to erase you, it seems."

Yellow eyes look towards the group as the King's End regards them.

"No matter. I shall just have to finish you off, myself."

The two remaining crystals, the Knight and the Rook float around the edges of the battlefield, and all of the Mahoujin feel a passive empowerment by the Jewels.

From the Knight, an icy enhancement of enduring Strength.
From the Rook, the unending flow of Wind.
From the Bishop, the light of life that is Fire, and finally, from the Unstoppable Sister, the tingling energy of Plasma, and a sense that, no matter what.

Their light cannot be extinguished.

And from the Queen, though still trapped within the King's End...

Those Cerulean flecks still fall.

And Amy, in particular, has her Soul Gem protected by an Emerald and cerulean glow.

The Rocket Girl Red is protected from Despair.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Zephyr lands in the garden in a three-point 'Hero Pose', Tenraikaze held out at an angle behind her. She stands pushing up and twirls her Device before leveling it at the King's End. "Push us to the edge, and we'll just fight back even more. You cannot stop us, not when we work together." she states firmly. "Tenraikaze. Drive Ignition. Shift up. Drive Max."

    < PING > < SWITCH ENGINE DRIVE. SHIFT UP. TEMPEST MODE. SQUALL MODE, ACTIVE. STORM MODE, ACTIVE. TEMPEST MODE, ACTIVE. BITS CYCLING. >

    The battle-ax shifts to a smaller hand-ax frame, and five turbine blade-like Bits spall off, surrounding the Wind Dance in a lazy orbit.

    < Chief. Support Magic is empowering our Wind Conversion Affinity. Optimal Output at 150% > "Good... Area Formation, lets give the others some of the love."

    < PING > < MAELSTROM TEMPEST, AREA FORMATION EMPOWER MODE. >

    The Bits flit out, and interlocking purple lines form a fairly large circle around Zephyr's position. The Wind within, helps to buffer her allies, increasing their speed and agility, and assisting in deflecting some attacks from sheer pressure.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It has been a long, long road to get here, but the end is in sight.

...In a lot of ways, really.

As Rashmi rockets toward the glimmering, ruined garden, detemination sets roots deep in her heart.

They are going to win this fight.
They are *going* to rescue Aloisia.
Then they are going to go back home, maybe punch Otto in the nose a few dozen times, and get to work on the rest of the problems.

But first... oh boy that is a large torso-man.

Rashmi's feet don't touch the ground; instead, she floats a few centimeters up off the blackened cobbles, staring down the King's End. "If you think you're going to beat us, after *all we've done to get here,* then you just haven't been *paying attention!*" she shouts, as Nicomachea unlatches and opens wide. "This might be your domain, but we've fought worse than you, *harder* then you, and *I want my friend back!*"

One gets the feeling that this might be more than a little cathartic for the bespectacled Devicer, as a Mid-childan spell seal spreads out beneath her feet. "Nicomachea Exia! Show her why she can't stop us!"

With that, she slips a module from her Device's cover, and slots it into place over his pages, and the seal redoubles in size.

    << *BONG!* >> << BLAZE INDEX: ETA BARRET -- BOOST UP >>

Seven wispy balls of foxfire blaze into existence around her, streaking out to infuse her allies with an extra measure of hope, joy, and the burning desire to win the day, and it feels like their very mana catches fire.

When you buff the buffer, things can begin to get out of hand *very* quickly.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
Out of the Nothing and into the Here, wherever 'here' is-- or was, considering the shape it's in, comes the brightly glowing red/white/gold armor of Ginga Bishounen Tauburn, the shape of his Cybody significantly less cinched at the waist than Tauburn's is normally and the white-cyan rocket nimbus around his feet cuts out before he SMACKS INTO Ginga Kingu Samekh, arms out, laughing out a very loudly clanked armor-hug. "Sugata!" he crows as the mantle-of-swords makes sword-klong sounds against each other--

"--let's do a combo!"

<< Uhf. If we must, sir, but do consider-- >>

"I'm considering Sugata, Tauburn, not Samekh."

<< *I* have to consider Samekh. >>

"Then tell him we'll kill him again but in pastels if he doesn't cooperate," Takuto says cheerfully, then hip-bumps Sugata with another clank. "Let's c-c-combo," he stage-whispers, then places his hand over the glowing red gem in the center of his armored chest, and pulls out a big blue-white energy sword. "Star Swordo! SAPHIR!"

Then he THROWS it up in the air, like a javelin aimed high and nearly weightless. "Eccentric Tau Pillar!!!"

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Darkness. Nothingness. The Void.

The world, the struggle, Aloisia's life, their own lives, *will not* end this day. Thus has determined the Knight, because every darkness ends with *Dawn*.

"We're gonna try it, partner. Load up Danmaku version 1.3."

<"Loading. Compile successful. Generating photon bullets.">

Octagons of light appear, orbiting around the young Knight as she soars towards the thing holding the Princess. Not the handful that she normall calls up, but triplets of them, each orbiting the others of their set, replacing the singletons of her older spell.

She pauses in the air, watching another attack strike the monster, and raises her hand to trigger her own. "Let rise the dawn! LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

<"Argent Danmaku. Let there be light!">

And as Yuki's hand slashes down, the orbiting octagons loose their darts... and there is light.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Back from her reprieve and talk with the Unstoppable Sister, the Phantom Thief had set out in search of other mahoujin, jumping and leaping from darkness to darkness, making cautious use of her light magic to provide her with a semblance of existing in the oppressive darkness called forth by the King's End.

That isn't needed for much longer, however, with the presence of the three protectors giving a direction and soon after, a sense of actual space. "Just about time! Well met, everyone", the blonde thief smiles at the newfound company."

She spares a look at the once beautiful garden, appreciating the sight the place even if it's no longer what it had been. When the primal energy of the elements start flowing around, there is a reaction from the feline princess, her cane glowing with white light, and the ruby ring on her finger releasing sparks of fire at intervals.

Moreover, she can feel herself reinvigorated within this space, filled by the convinction and strength to see this to its end with nothing to space. "That won't be happening, you know that. With all this hard work, do you think you have anything on us? What you have is literally nothing. Let us close the curtain on this play.

The ruby glows, and the sparks of fire attach themselves to the Princess of Sarek's cane, and from its handle, the usual rainbow fire emerges, the blessing of the jewels making it burn all the brighter. "Seven-hued Flame!"

Koji Silvia has posed:
When one is fashionably late to the fight, one should always take great pains to make as stunning an entrance as possible.

Having come in late to the end of this affair, Koji had been outside of the Time-Space Barrier, and had done his best to put a secondary shield around the whole affair to block a certain annoying Belkan who incited the whole affair. He hadn't been there for the statues, the trials, but now he was, and once he had his communication disruption in place outside, it was a leap... and a fall into darkness. But that had given him time to do something more important. To Study. For his Device to scan all the energies out there, what data he could glean from where some of the previous conflict had gone on, and to feel that there is some extra power somehow flowing into him now from other sources that could only be pinpointed as he got closer to the rest.

Somehow... Hanzo floats down through the barrier to land softly on his feet, though anyone looking close might see some swirls of wind around them before he settles.

Instead of coming up with something snarky or witty to says, he just points the kunai-Shaped Device right at the huge King's End/Nichts, aiming right for it's heart-shaped-gem. Below him and around his feel, a Midchildian magic circle appears, but inside of that is a Belkan tri-gram, which is specific to only Hanzo and one special ability they carry. Rashmi's Fire boost cause columns of blue-white flame to erupt from each of the tri-circles, those slowly spinning around him. Wind begins to pick up, rustling his scarf and Barrier Jacket, the air starts to crackle with lightning around him, gathering all the extra power and forming it inside, until finally, he can flip the blade-Device in his hand over and down and stab it into the center of the circle to activate it.

    << DISRUPTOR EX - CORONATION. >>

What appears is obviously the work of consideration, and time, as suddenly, there is a Seal that appears on the giant Heart... one that begins to spread blue-white roots like veins along the surface, but also down towards Aloisia, as he attacks the spell itself, trying to weaken it's hold on Aloisia and by extension, give everyone else a chance to save her.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
For an instant, everything was gone - and then, there was a Moment, an instant of conversation, and the awareness that after the battle, for there would be an after the battle, there would be a need for support.

That was then. This is now.

Hovering near the otherwise familiar group is a tall, menacing figure, who's ghostly black armor is made all the larger by a mantle of swords, a dramatic cape of bladed metal lit only by a single gleaming line of red along their bladed edges. His face is shrouded in a mask of ghostly-gold and his eyes burn a solid, pupil-less red.

Through all the black ghostly, it's difficult to see the blue, white, and gold of Ginga Kingu's military-esque uniform, though the smug miniature robot - an excellent copy of the ghostly armor - in a pale blue-white bubble beside him is helpful for identification.

He did say he'd look like a supervillain.

Gina Kingu Samekh looks about at those gathered, frowning as he doesn't see the person he's looking for -

Sugata!

Aaand the clash of ghostly metal against metal, as the two Star Drivers collide. The request/demand/command registers, and behind the gold mask a wicked grin spreads.

"Yes, let's." Tauburn raises concern - and it's always strange to hear his voice, given how rarely Takuto's partner speaks, but Sugata shakes his head. "I understand the concern, but don't worry about him -"

"For once, I will agree to aiding your meager plans. This upstart has dared to consume this world before me!"

An eyeroll, before Sugata begrudgingly returns the hip bump, thrusting out a hand that glows with energy, as the space between them ignites with light.

"King's Pillar!"

But the light does not crash from above in a terrible orbital strike - instead, as blue-white energy sword is hurled upwards, the blue-white energy of King's Pillar flies from Ginga Kingu Samekh's hand, chasing it into the air -

"Eccentric Tau Pillar!"

And strikes the pommel of the sword, energy-meeting-energy with the crackle of plasma, as Plazmabolzen's effect ignites within the attack - the energy of King's Pillar combines with the Star Sword and plasma. The attack rockets through the air, corkscrewing and darting at wild angles through the air, around the enormous claw of the King's End, before flying erratically towards the gleaming red crystal, all set to collide with devastating force aimed at a single point.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    After holding her mind togther for... she's not sure how long, Amy is relieved to see the Unstoppable Sister. "Thank you..."

    And it seems they're now... somewhere. Amy pokes at herself and hugs herself, relieved to be again.

    And then she faces...

    Prinzessin Nicht.

    The... aesthetic, of the construct, is kind of familiar. That painting in which Amy was a robot. That red core in the chest, like a soul gem.

    But hanging from it is...

    "Aloisia! We're here! Just... try to hold on! Please!" As Amy comes into view of the others, in this space her hair is white and her eyes are blue, like in that painting.

    But how to actually attack? Dare she shoot the core so close to Aloisia?

    Her heart soars with hope and joy and elements. "Mmh. So this is your domain. And this is your form? A menacing warbot left by the ancients for some terrible purpose..."

    Amy points. "But you have no heart. You have to steal hers and drain it. And you think you'll stand against us?"

    She scratches her head. "Eh... are you even listening? Ah well, let's make you listen."

    She's used to improvising a bit with her powers, and now... she can feel so much power to draw on, and think of ways to apply it. She focuses, and a swarm of mini-missiles appears around her, flying towards the head and torso, boosted by wind, aimed to explode into balls of superheated plasma...

    And then her armor turns blue and she holds out her right hand, rocket-propelled icicles firing out to freeze what was just heated. She'll see how much thermal stress this awful warbot can take!

Catra has posed:
For Catra, the most important thing is quite simple: She's no longer stuck in sensory deprivation hell. That said, it takes her a moment to piece together what's going on; there's a bunch of people she's generally enemies with fighting a big horrible monster that's got a coworker she doesn't know overly well trapped inside it, and Rashmi's here.

But it's pretty obvious who's side she needs to be on, particularly if she wants to not end up staying her for, basically, forever. So, once again, Powersend is drawn from its scabbard hanging off her belt with a soft 'schwing', and with her other hand she touches the Spirit Ember before conjuring a ball of flame that doesn't so much hover over her palm as engulfs it (which seems to be fine).

"Alright, let's get this over with a second time," she says, heaving a sigh and shaking her head. Her ears flatten as she splits into three, and her doubles dash off to either side, running around the outside of the battlefield; until in unison they all point their palms upwards and unleash in unison three of the most powerful jets of flame she's been able to accomplish yet; all with a little plasma thrown in for good measure.

As she attacks, her veings glow bright orange and it almost looks like her flesh is charring around them. Not used to t his level of power, perhaps? But, it doesn't seem to be slowing her down. At least...

Not yet.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
"I am the inevitable end. You cannot destroy me. I have felled nations with more than the sum of your power."

Is the response from the King's End, as the clawed hand lifts over the group, though it does not swipe down, instead black energy with a red core gathering into the center of its hand, starting wider, before ... condensing.

And much like with Konigsende, a wave of darkness consumes... attempting to tear them back into that empty Void.

Darkness settles in.

And Sequoia's voice rings out, "I *AM A WALL!*"

And the Light persists.

The darkness washes over that Sanctuary of golden light, leaving only some dark drips of darkness that drip through, falling to the ground and creating several zones of darkness, hands reaching up from said darkness to try to grab and DRAG anyone unfortunate enough to still be standing in that area when they spread, the screams of those previously lost to the Void echoing through that puddle. Attempting to extinguish that Light and bring them down into the darkness of eternity with them.

Let's Combo!

A sword launched high into the air, seeming to lock into place over the massive form of King's End -- a not particularly dextrous one evidently, from its presence. And the defenses it began to bring to bear are disrupted.

As the Knight lets loose a series of shining Darts, their Light infused with CERULEAN energy as it intersects with the Seven-Hued Flame to strike against the barrier brought to bear, intense fire and shining darts causing the barrier to crack... crack... and then SHATTER.

Allowing a Seal to appear on that heart, spreading across the heart, attacking the spell binding Aloisia to it, and... isolating her, in a way, from the massive figure... though darkness was already starting to try to eat away at that seal, as the beating of a heart can be heard echoing through the area.

ECCENTRIC TAU PILLAR!

And then Plasma, Light, and King's Pillar...

Strikes that heart.

Crack.

And that sword is stuck in it, an impossibly powerful attack striking an impossibly hard target.. and yet.

...The attack damaged it.

And swarms of mini missiles shoot towards the head and torso of the King's End, exploding around it in balls of superheated plasma and then followed up by ice, as that clawed hand moves to protect its face.

A barrier sparking into existence as those rocketcicles impact them.

But even as that barrier sparks into existence, a series of three jets of flame strike it in unison, causing the Barrier to falter for the moment, glowing brightly and then subsiding as the final volley of ice and fire strike that protective arm, ice and fire causing it to CRACK, fissures appearing in its skin... though they are slowly closing.

The response to all of those attacks are that the ...

Ribs...

Of the King's End reach out, their sharp ends slicing out over the battlefield like a cage for those flying, as they RAKE across the battlefield, more of that inky black darkness pooling in the wake of them, and while there is space for people to avoid it, anyone that does not would find the ribs simply .... passing through them, but in their wake, the feeling that energy has been /torn/ away from them.

For some reason, Ginga Bishounen would find it... difficult to simply recall his sword in the wake of his attack.

As it lingers there.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Boost Up.

    The Eta Barret strikes Zephyr, and she lifts up into the air, her flight spell spinning like a band of purple around her ankles. "Having a little trouble backing up the bluster. Let's see if you can really walk the walk!" she cries, adjusting her grip on her Device. The handle extends so she can grip it two-handed, and then she brings it around to level at the King's End. The ribs come slashing in, and her Wind Area pushes back at them, slowing their progress just a little bit. "THIS IS MY WORLD! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!"

    She brings her Device around and slams it into one of the ribs coming her way to parry it away, using the impact to launch herself clear from another.

    She twists in the air, and sweeps her Device in an arc, forming multiple Barrets in the wake of its passing.

    < PING > < TEMPEST BARRET. > "SUMATRA SHIFT! FIRE!"

    The barrets expand with boiling Wind mana... and then catch fire, the two energies combining into Storm Barrets. They lance out with the sound of violent thunderclaps, aiming to slam into the King's End core, each Barret exploding like a shaped charge at the point of impact.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"We don't *have* to destroy you!" Rashmi shouts back. "We just have to do what good people have *always* done, stare you in the face and say '*Not today!*'"

A new source of flame catches Rashmi's attention, and she *smiles* when she can identify Catra. Because ally or enemy, Catra's absolute, elemental stubbornness will *always* be a thing you want on your side.

And just as she's about to demonstrate her defiance... giant ribs stretch out to rake the Garden, which forces her to spend more time flying evasively, and less time on offense. A hurriedly-erected bubble of a Shield saves her from a grievous impact, the force of the blow knocking Rashmi to one side and utterly shattering the yet-empowered spell.

But once she's reoriented, she decides to go on the attack herself. "Nicomachea, can you pull in some of that energy?"

<< COMMAND INPUT EXECUTE. >>

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRAGE -- STELLAR SHIFT >>

And Nicomachea draws on the plasma energies offered up for use, melding it with his own firey spell parameters to create Barrets like miniature suns, full of roiling plasma and searing-hot fire. While the machine-gun stream of projectiles may not look impressive compared to the target... When one has a target the size of most of a TSAB starship, homing ability is't really *necessary* beyond 'point at face, unload.'

Catra has posed:
Catra's doubles vanish as they get doused in darkness; and she herself is raked by... ribs? She leaps out of the way, of course, but there's so much of it that it's impossible to doge it all and she doesn't benefit from things like shields the way device users do.

What on Etheria even is this?! The feline backpedals, clasping her free hand over herself; the fire goes out, her veins stop glowing, and she stops looking charred around the edges. Well, mostly. She's still a little bit charred.

As she drops to one knee, she pauses; she's not giving up, she's just... evaluating. She's bleeding, too; in spite of her feline agility she still got hit, and it hurts.

"You felled nations?" she inquires with a tone of poisoned honey, despite her injury, "That's nice, I destroyed a planet." Well, maybe she didn't, and maybe she's starting to believe that she didn't, but it sounds great nonetheless.

So this thing is all about darkness and nothingness, is it? Well, that's fine; she can do something about that. Fire doesn't just burn, afterall. Catra rises back to her feet and thrusts her empty hand upwards; and in her mind, she's willing the Spirit Ember to do what she needs it to do as she summons a ball of flame; the fire engulfs her hand and spreads, consuming her shoulders and body and head and legs in fire of growing intensity; her skin once again looks like it's charring as her blood vessels glow an intense orange, and she screams loudly before a wave of fire radiates out from around her.

it doesn't burn anything; it's just... bright. In its passing it fills the air with tiny, glowing embers that float where they form, sparking and glowing and casting just a little bit of light in the space around them. Just a little bit of light; but there are just... so many of them.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki nods as she watches the various spells and other attacks hit the monster. "Keep it up, partner," she asks of her Device, and indeed the darts keep coming. The octagons simply generate new darts a few seconds after each is fired, keeping up a rolling barrage.

<"Firing. Warning. Internal temperature rising.">

The young Knight looks to the Device strapped to her arm, and starts to answer. "Okay. Warn me if it reaches - "

<"ALERT. Attack incoming. Diverting energy to shield."">

The flow of darts slackens for a time as an octagonal shield forms in front of her... just in time to block the impact of the monster's slashing ribs. The shield shatters under the force of it, sending the Knight flying back.

Her tumble slows to a stop after carrying her some distance away, and she straightens slowly, directing a glare at the would-be world destroyer. She takes a moment to gather herself, and then, as more darts start to gather around her, launches herself back towards the fray.

"No darkness can stop the dawn."

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
"Nations mustn't have the power of our hearts!" yells Ginga Bishounen Tauburn, and then he turns and grins at Sugata. "I'm gonna see if I can cut her loose or something. Oh shit fly!!"

Again he's off the ground, blue-white rocket nimbus around and beneath his feet, and he draws his other sword from his chest. "Star Swordo! EMERAUDE!"

And then he pulls buffs to him, one by one. One by one! More damage? Certainly. Tauburn's armor gets taller, wider. Lots of firepower? Taller, wider. Takuto in his coat looks smaller inside the armor, that cinched waist growing proportionally thinner. Speed? Agility? Larger but faster, as Tauburn reaches out to grab more power, head inclined just slightly as he grows. Ice, and the red X on Takuto's chest beneath his henshins glows brighter and brighter, and his sword is immense in his hand--

--and then there's Tauburn, brilliant cavalier of a giant mecha with the plume of steam curling up from his dashing haberdashery, growing up and out of the ribs as they slice power from him on passing, but there's still, there's still so much power.

TAUBURN is on the scene! One immense high-heeled up-toed boot takes a step over a patch of dripped nothingness, big enough to bridge the entire grasping hole without being appreciably affected, without falling in. Another immense step forward, and he's in King's End's face, and he hauls back a glowing white-gold Humongous Mecha Fist and PAUUUUUUUUUUNCH!

Koji Silvia has posed:
There really isn't an option to dodge, not when trying to focus on a sustained magical assault like this. Inside of Koji's head, it is like there is two wars of lines of light and darkness, negating each other when they come in contact, or just blocks that more and smaller lines spring forth from to try and continue the course.

Which is why two of those 'ribs' pass right through him, and he can feel a good chunk of the boost he was given ripped away. The columns of fire in his incantation become just floating torchlight now, and he pants audibly as the circles continue to move inside, only a faint and momentary glitch-ness happening from when those blasts passed through him. But even then... there's a faint grin.

    << ANALYZING ENERGY PATTERN AND ADAPTING DISRUPTOR. >>

    << WORKING... >>

    << WORKING... >>

    << WORKING... >>

    << COMPLETED. >>

And on his mental 'gameboard' a fresh Macross-missile like barrage of lines springs forth, more deftly avoiding the blocks and the cancellations for a short time, and the Seal on the Heart begins to pulse brighter as the magic seems to get a second wind, those tendrils crawling closer and closer to Aloisia with that blue-white that seems to be an anti-thesis to the dark red of the gemstone.

    << Master. The odds for success of this gambit remain low. Physical-Magical Force is showing signs of progress. >>

     << If we don't start reversing and isolating what it's doing to her now... it has a chance of just forcing itself into her body if it's desperate. We didn't come here to fight another giant monster. We came here to stop it from coming back. >>

    << ...very well... >>

     <<Careful there, you almost sound smug.>>

Sugata Shindo has posed:
The King's End believes them doomed, touting it's accomplishments. Unfortunately?

"All you have to accomplished is the felling of nations? As if it were a challenge to destroy what these meager minds create."

...Sugata shares his mind with a being of monstrous appetite and sneering superiority, so it doesn't particularly work.

"Of course," he nods, when Takuto says that he'll try to cut Aloisia free, and then - RIBS!

With a shift of his energy, blue-violet jets of energy emerge from the soles of his armored feet, and Ginga Kingu Samekh flies free of the ribs attack, spiraling into the air, boosted by Wind and Strength and Speed. If one sword was enough to damage the crystal...

"Star Swordo! Diamante!"

And with a fist thrust to his chest, the glowing white energy sword is free of the ghostly black armor. Plazmabolzen's elemental energy is immediately attracted - in an instant, the sword is not simply energy but plasma in the shape of a sword, and it is launched for the red crystal, spiraling at terrific speed with all the boosts about.

"Star Crash!"

TAUBURN takes to the field, an enormous mecha that Ginga Kingu Samekh knows all too well, and as Takuto and his partner begin a battle of punching a giant monster, Sugata dives below, heading straight for Aloisia.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Hey, it's Catra again! They sure seem to cross paths a whole lot recently. Good for her that she is starting to get involved in activities besides Obsidian's. How would she react if she started being messaged on random anti-youma activities? Memo for later: ask her how she feels about it.

"Did you ad-rib that attack?", the Princess of Sarek grins at her mischievous question to the King's End while leaping backwards to avoid being hit by the inky darkness, a feat that proves much more effective than it would have been between the power of the jewels and the Wind Dancer's spell.

"We have an Unstoppable Sister watching over us and we are all together as one, we don't need the power of nations.", the cat thief tells the corrupt ritual. ,"Your fall has already been written already, just sit back and enjoy the spectacle while we put an end to your darkness", she affirms with a wink.

Thanks to the light that cannot be estinguished, the gathering moonlight hops behind her, and the Princess of Sarek announces the uncorruptible light's attack, the sphere on her cane firing shots of moonlight, accompanied by the elements of Ice and Wind.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The inevitable end? Amy just starts laughing at that declaration. "It turns out nothing is inevitable! There are--"

    Darkness washes over her.

    Sequoia pushes it back. Pools of dark near Amy, reaching hands towards her, have missiles fly over to them and burn, the incomplete attack she used on the Hand Witch now able to manifest in its true form, superheating large portions of space so much that molecules, that atoms cease to be in a soup of nucleii and free electrons.

    Darkness isn't made of atoms, but such a manifestation of elemental heat, further empowered by fire magic, burns at it anyway...

    In this... space, the look of her is diverging from human, her costume shifting to cover her in rigid armor, with details that look like mechanical joints. Extended from behind her shoulders are armatures with missile racks or recoiless cannons or gyrojet racks firing multiple shots from each barrel like a metal storm weapon... Parts of her costume shouldn't be able to move, but wind pushes and realigns them and most of her weapons home anyway.

    Similar effects are helping her move as metallic-looking boots extend under her legs, and big mechanical claws cover her real hands, reinforcing the aesthetic of 'thin' metal limbs that her arms and legs still fit inside.

    When the going gets tough, Amy, despite her words about heart, hardens herself, tries to be push the feelings away because if she stops and fears she'll be dead, and it's so easy to liken oneself to a machine when humanity made her feel othered and less for so long...

    So far, though, this is only manifesting through costume and color changing and the extra powers supporting them all right now, though... right?

    "Even entropy itself is pushed back! People travel in time and sometimes, the dead come back!" Amy screams. "My soul and so many others paid for the Universe to keep going, and you think you can just undo that?! Make your own wish, make your own contract, thousands of times, and burn to nothing and become a curse against everything you stood for, thousands of times, and then you can talk to me about how you'll end--"

    The ribs come for Amy, and in a moment of overconfidence she turns that heat and energy on them, blocks by lifting lighter-than-they-look mechanical claws firing rocket-bullets from holes in the palms...

    and the darkness goes through her and the changes are gone and a puella magi is left lying on the ground, surrounded by darkness and fire, looking shocked at being knocked out of her rant.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
The boiling, burning wind of Storm Barrets shoot into the core of the King's End, striking around that sword impact and causing another CRACK, as heartbeats continue to ring out over the battlefield. "..." The King's End does not respond immediately to that respond, the attack having struck true... either because it is humbled, but there is a rumbling, growing sense of energy building in the form nonetheless.

NOT TODAY.

Roiling plasma and searing how fire launch towards the King's End, as a barrier is brought up defensively once more, a mockery of Aloisia's Wall spells, overlaid twin triangles that create a six-pointed-pentagram of dark and red energy as it holds its hand forward towards that oncoming barrage.

And that barrage continues firing, blasting, explosions of plasma and heat against the Wall.

Glowing Embers and impossibly hot burning energy from Amy Faust burn away at the Darkness, spreading through that Sanctuary, those inky puddles evaporating as the screams of the dead disappear. Even entropy itself is pushed back. People TRAVEL IN TIME and sometimes the dead come back.

"Destroyed a world? You? It must have been a rather weak one." The King's end responds, golden eyes staring down at Catra, the kind of Gaze that sends shivers down spines... but...

...Even if it isn't, the Song plays in the back of each person's mind again. That song of Light and Friendship and Power when working together. That, hand-in-hand.

We're invincible.

And a stolen power like Konigsend can't understand such things.

Glowing darts launch towards that Wall of defense, striking at key points as cracks begin to form under the unending barrage... and...

Then? Then there is a giant Tauburn.

And a fist, coming towards that wall, along with more of those plasma-infused barrets and darts of light.

Crack... CRACK.... CRACK!

Plasma breaks through the Wall, and Fist follows it, both shooting through and finding their purchase true.

Right on the King's End's face. Causing it to twist, as it recoils, head turned around impossibly, until it is...

Facing them again.

"...Pointless. You cannot destroy me. This is MY REALM A--"

Crackle.

Blue-White energy crackles over that core as that seal grows stronger, causing the King's End to give a cry of mixed frustration and *pain* in response.

Ba-dump.

Aloisia Stauss still hangs unconscious.

And a plasma sword is brought towards her, launched at the red crystal, spiraling and boosting towards the red crystal, as a blast of moonlight shoots out at the same time, Ice, Wind, and Plasma swirling together mid-flight to create a crackling STORM of energy that swirls, striking at that core and heart, beginning to drill and dig into the pulsing red orb... and then..

"Fine. You wish to see what I have felled? Then see it."

A pulse of familiar energy, the Field of Nothing, though not intoned, pushes back the attackers, extinguishing the worst of the oncoming attacks -- though Koji's disruptive magic lingers, infuriatingly.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
And the King's End lifts its hand above, as the...

Empty crust of a planet.

Once likely vibrant.

Now dead. Is compressed down into a rocky form.

And the King's End brings its hand down, pointing at the gathered Mahoujin. The massive, burning form of a meteor falling, attacks towards it effective, but the sheer amount of rock and fire falling towards them...

It seems almost inevitable that it was going to crash. And that there was no escape.

The burning sound of the approaching meteor roaring in the gathered Mahoujin's ears. And then? At the last moment?

Lights begin to shoot out from the Void.

Many of them familiar. The golden energy of Goldenweb Yorotsuchi along with five different colored, smaller energies surrounding it, the blue energy of Adora, a Cute Wolf's howl ringing and cutting through that roar. The soothing, sure energy of the Enforcer Harlaown, a swarm of bunny-shaped energies flying towards it. All pressing against that oncoming meteor. Just before it strikes...

The Light Persists.

Because the King's End does not fight simply a gathering of mahou.

...It fights a nation.

And that Darkness begins to change, not an empty void with flecks of cerulean floating, but more like a shimmering night's sky of lights in the distance.

Other floating land masses growing visible as the meteor is met head-on by Tauburn, and between shared energy and FIST...

The meteor is SHATTERED.

...Which still leaves some burning fragments of rock falling down into that Sanctuary, but, well.

...That's a lot more managable.

And then those energies that had stopped the meteor turn to empower the gathering of heroes.

Some, perhaps, less powerful than others, but nonetheless, each person receiving a piece of swirling power, Catra and Rashmi feeling the familiar presence of Hinoiri, in particular, while others feel the presence of their family, their friends, even those without magic feeling drawn to lend their strength, as that sea of stars begins to gather. Much-needed Purifying energy lent by Madoka Kaname as the chearing of her Chara can be heard in the background... and the familiar power (to some) of Sailor Pluto. Each, in their own way, saying the same thing:

It's time to end this.

...Also more than one of them is mentioning 'Spirit Bomb' and 'kamehameha' which is weird but whatever.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    Tenraikaze purges steam after the barrage. She looks up at that meteor being formed, then grins. "Like I said. You push us. We just keep pushing back even harder. You cannot win! You don't just face a small group of Magi... you face all of us. Every single soul on this planet cries out against you." She closes her eyes as she feels the soft warmth of her adopted puppies, the ephemeral form of the trio nuzzling against her before rejoining the general glow of power.

    "It's time. TENRAIKAZE!"

    < PING > < UNDERSTOOD. SHIFT TO BOMBARDMENT MODE. ALL MANA CHANNELS CONNECTED. >

    As she brandishes her Device, the Bits draw back in, their purpose complete. Reassignment is in order. They collect around the 'head' of the Device as a spell seal forms under Zephyr's feet. Little lines of purple link the Bits to the gemstone at the axe's head.

    < ANCHOR POINTS AND RECOIL DAMPENERS. LOCKED. >

    Ribbons of magic lock Zephyr down onto the spell seal, as it expands out, pulling the anchors tight. Her flight spell vanishes, moving instead to her back, becoming swirling vortexes ready to counter whatever she's doing.

    < LINKER CORE PRESSURE RISING NORMALLY. TEMPEST RING HAS STARTED REVOLVING. >

    The Bits begin to orbit the axe's head, spinning faster as they siphon power in, and form a massive ball of mana that continues to expand.

    < PING > < READY TO FIRE. >

    "TAKE THIS! My love, my hope and every ounce of my friendship. MAELSTROM BREAKER! FIRE!)]

    The sphere distends, elongating before bursting, a rushing torrent of magic cascading out at the King's End.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
That's a LOT OF METEOR, and there are a lot of people down there who are not as big as Tauburn, so yeah he half bends over everyone, taking the brunt of it on his back, driving him down to one knee. While he's there, reeling a little bit, he looks down at Sugata with his enigmatic smile, and then he sees Amy there on her back. "Want a ride?" Takuto's voice shouts from inside the silent Cybody, and his hand comes down for her to step on. His other hand comes down to scoop Sugata up, and he brings them both up to the red sphere glowing in his chest, way up there.

There's Takuto, in his gear, in the process of standing up with Tauburn, hands currently empty and held up in front of his chest, looking out of the red-glowing sphere at Sugata and Amy, and then he puts his hands over his heart, and the sphere's briefly lit red from within, only, as Ginga Kingu Samekh and Rocket Girl Red end up in the spherical cockpit with him.

"Gonna yeet you," he says to Sugata, laughing, and then he leans over and puts a gloved hand on Amy's shoulder. Bright cyan-white energy crackles from the joints of Amy's power armor, and then he turns around and takes a step over to Rashmi. He scoops a huge handful of burning meteor bits and throws them, making them bigger, making Amy's missiles bigger, and then--

He pulls the super ultra mega charged buffed overpowering Amy Faust from his chest like a Star Swordo -- "STAR ROCKET -- AMY!" -- and deposits her gently in the air next to Rashmi. "Fuck 'em up, your Grace."

Then he holds his hands up to his chest again, turning back around to face Konigsend, and a bright blue light starts growing between them.

In the cockpit? Takuto is reaching out to put his hands, here, inside Tauburn, through Samekh's armor so he can grab Sugata's incredible shirt and jacket close to him, and he puts his face through Samekh's face to kiss Sugata!!! right on the mouth! Before pulling back with a huge smirk.

"Eccentric Tau Missile!" he bellows, and YEETS Sugata right out from between his hands in front of Tauburn's chest.

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
The Knight of Dawn surveys the broken crust of a planet that floats beneath the mahoujin. It is a world already dead, a sight meant to intimidate them. But even then, the Light struggles. Fights back.

"So long as a single light shines, the darkness will never win!" she shouts, launching herself back into the fray, translucent black wings shining behind her.

She thrusts her Device-bearing hand forward, conjuring a new wave of light-darts to cast against the Darkness. Uncaring of Argent Dawn's repeated warnings of overheating.

"You boast of what you can destroy. Of what you have killed. Tell me, oh Ender of Kings, what have you *created*? What *light* have you brought to the universe? What *worth* is there in your destructions?"

Nothing, is the obvious, unstated answer. Nothing at all.

"Release the Princess. End this farce. LET HER LIGHT SHINE!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Hey, King's End, have you ever stopped to think about what you are? What you are doing?" the Princess of Sarek speaks up, reaching towards the skeletal formation. "You are just a mass of shadow bones that corrupts and breaks down. But just like this garden, something will always be born in its place. That's where your nothing leads."

Those surviving meteor shards raining down are dodged and avoided almost like a dance and a game to prevent them from touching the ground and disrupting the balance of this Sanctuary. For those within reach of the cat thief, split apart further by her cane and taken away by her hat.

She can feel the presence of those she holds dear in that spectacle of bonds and magic. Even her friends she left behind all the way in England are here with her, and those she made here, rising together. Thank you very much for that, and see you again, ok?

She even feels her sweet Emery, the one who could stay with her from her old life, and the bridge between what she knew then, and what she has now. She can feel her cane surround itself with all the elements of the Jewels now, and her moonlight and fire accompanying them, a resolute strike against the shadow skeleton's face.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
There are meteors falling towards them, as the withered husk of a planet King's End destroyed rains down - but they bounce off Tauburn's back, and Sugata and Samekh scowl in unison as he's driven to one knee.

It's concern, that turns Sugata's mouth down. It's scorn, that tightens Samekh's; how dare the enemy that defeated him falter for even a moment before anyone else!

nd then there's the hand, come down, scooping Sugata up, bringing him to the familiar-unfamiliar space of a Cybody's cockpit - of Tauburn's cockpit - and they are, the three of them, in the center of that red-glowing sphere, as they face the enemy.

"Of course you are," Sugata replies dryly, but he knows the plan. Tau Missile is all about getting someone out of their cockpit, while destroying that which they inhabited.

Destroy the cybody without hurting the pilot. Wreck havoc on King's End without Aloisia Stauss paying for it.

He nods, as Amy is filled with Tauburn's bright power, strengthened with the power of a Cybody - the Cybody, of all of them, meant to aid humans - and then his train of thought crashes to a halt as Takuto reaches through his ghostly arm to kiss him.

It's a pretty good kiss, if he's to judge. He's judging it. Nothing is found wanting -

Aaaaaaaand then he's YEETED out of the cockpit and across the endless expanse between Takuto and King's End and what is THAT supposed to mean, you kiss him and throw him and say HE'S the king of mixed signals?!

"Star Swordo! Diamante!"

One of the swords embedded in King's End disappears, only to be hurriedly yanked from Ginga Kingu Samekh's chest as he hurtles through the air, energy streaming behind him in cyan and blue-violet and white, filled not only with Takuto's power, but the soothing, refreshing purity of the gentle moon, the reassuring steadiness of the earth.

Vaguely, he registers that the trail behind him is forming hearts and roses, but the focus is on Aloisia, tangled in connection to the red crystal that is King's End's heart, and the distance between them is closing -

And then they connect, with the Star Sword sweeping through chains weakened by the undeniable power of Hanzo's magic breaking hacks as Ginga Kingu Samekh gets his arms around the girl at the center of the war of succession.

Koji Silvia has posed:
With his hooks still in and Nichts forced to have to go to the lengths of throwing a dead planet at them, Koji is forced to at least looks up for a few seconds from his work as that shadow comes looming over the sanctuary... only to be shattered and the chunks come raining down.

    << DRAW ME, MASTER. >>

The words cause him to hesitate...

    << DRAW ME AND STRIKE, MASTER. >>

Pulling Hanzo from the middle of the circle does momentarily weaken the magic, but what comes up is a slender sword-like blade of pure plasma. Immediately, he swings it, moving light as if it was nothing, and slices any incoming meteor chunks into generally harmless slivers. With little time to consider that, he slams the blade back down into the incantation circle, sending all the extra power flowing into him, in turn, into his work...

The Seal not only flares to new light, but it extends 3 smaller circles, forming another tri-gram, then another circle outside to lock it in, fully mimicking the one at his feet. The tendrils surge like magical vines, encircling the gemstone heart, and going down to touch the connecting points where Aloisia is, the disruptive code eroding at all the work that Nichts had done, feeding all the positive energy that was given to them into her, for the barely-conscious mind underneath to feel all that hope and light, and the feelings of those who could only be here in spirit.

    "LET."

    "HER."

And he twists the knife in the circle, like he's gutting the massive thing!

    "GO!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lies in a puddle of darkness, the strange extra armor pieces lying disconnected around her. Those ribs phasing through her didn't knock her completely insensate, and a ring of fire burns up around her, to burn away the darkness.

    But can she really win like this? She looks at her soul gem, over a third corrupted. Can she really fight like this...?

    Above her, a dead planet is crushed and dropped. Tauburn is here -- TAUBURN IS HERE, MECHA ARE REAL AND THE DREAMS OF A YOUNG AMY PLAYING WITH A MEGAZORD HAVE COME TRUE, SHE SAW A REAL GIANT ROBOT BEFORE SHE DIED, whatever else happens today, THAT IS A THING THAT HAPPENED -- but will even a super robot be enough to stop this?

    And then lights come in from all around them...

    (Among the gathered energy, a bit of night-and-falling-stars darkness helps eat away at the meteor even a tiny bit, because THIS NOTHING IS WRONG)

    'Want a ride?' Amy looks up, and then realization flashes on her face and she scrambles to her feet and hops onto the hand and is LIFTED INTO THE COCKPIT OF A MECHA! The child inside her has dreamed of this moment for almost twenty years.

    And Takuto pours his energy into her, and she grins and her eyes and hair burn red once more, and

    She's deposited next to Rashmi, surrounded by the aura of blue-white energy and swirling elemental colors, like a moment out of a goddamn anime and right now, she could do anything--

    She looks at Rashmi's giant bowl-shaped forcefield, and that gives her the beginnings of an idea for a future attack, but NOW... right NOW...! She can feel Takuto's energy pouring through her alongside the challenge's elements and Unstoppable Sister and Weisser Ritter, and she smiles. She knows what she has to do.

    And she laughs as how to do it becomes so clear. Of course. She flies over the gathered meteor chunks, spinning rocket-drills dropping from around her into the rock, some drilling deep inside, some sticking near the surface.

    "You challenged the wrong world, King's End!" Amy points, barely limned in blue-white light now, holding onto just enough power to keep flying a moment longer. "If you'd just asked anyone from another world... They could have told you how impossible Earth is! Here, we can fight with our hearts! It's not just stories!"

    "Even the Incubators could see that our hearts hold back the end! Kyubey understands something better than you. You can crush the human spirit, but even blinded in despair we fight to change things! We will NEVER! BE! NOTHING!"

    "To put it another way..." Amy looks thoughtful, but she's frantically trying to speech in her head just ahead of her talking, and then grins:

    "OURS IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE NOTHINGNESS! KING'S END, YOU END HERE!"

    And when Rashmi launches those meteor chunks, as they sail towards Konig's End, Amy's explosives go off -- the ones near the surface blowing parts of the outer layer of the meteor-chunks to dust, tearing apart with ice and wind... and the ones that drilled deep inside burning with fire and plasma, magically more heat than any explosive can contain, igniting a massive stardust explosion-- and then *still* being heavy, magically superheated cores to slam into Konig's End!

Catra has posed:
Catra drops back to one knee as she stops what she's doing; using the Spirit Ember like that was an incredible strain and smoke is rising off her shoulders as she gasps for air. This time the charring on her skin doesn't look like it was just a special effect, and her veins are still glowing. She grits her teeth as she looks down at her hands, one holding Powersend and the other clenching into a fist, as she gazes at her own blood vessels, visible through flesh.

That can't be ideal... but it doesn't hurt.

Well, okay, it hurts but not nearly as much as it should.

Above her, a meteor is coming down to end everything, and there is no feline agility that can get her out of the way of that. There's also really nothing she can do about it; it's going to hit and it's going to do what it's going to do, so she just... looks up and watches it coming. Either her allies and enemies will solve this problem, or they won't.

Turns out, they solve th eproblem, as the meteor is blasted out of the sky, and debris rains down harmlessly. A corner of the cat's mouth quirks upwards, just for a moment, before her previous, snarling glower returns.

"Time to end this," Catra growls. And maybe it feels like she's echoing something she said once before, that feels so long ago now; looking up at Hordak, Adora bound to a post and screaming, Glimmer and Shadow Weaver and Bow all rushing to stop her, but the lever, the PORTAL, ready to be opened and possibly destroy Etheria.

But this time, it's different, she's fighting to s ave a world instead of end one. Does that count for something? Can the scales be balanced?

Does it matter? Whatever. obviously this thing needs to die regardless. And with everything flowing through her -- the gifts from Rashmi, from the chess pieces (Catra isn't sure what else to call them), and now from Hinoiri, has she ever been stronger?

Plasma wreathes Catra's sword, fire rises off her shoulders, and a little darkness of her own flashes in her eyes. She plants the tip of Powersend on the ground and scratches a semi-circle in front of her, before raising the sword to adopt Jodan-no-Kamae stance; and instead of moving forwards one of her illusions appears in front of her, a third of the way to the King's End, appearing partway through a strike, then another double two thirds of the way, and then Catra is there.

The sword flashes, as she uses the wind gifts from Zephyr to bounce up int othe air, not so much flying as just dashing upwards to cut at the King, slashing him from the side. Her doubles summon fire, bolstered by Rashmi and Hinoiri's power, and each time Catra's sword flashes out to attack and unleashes its built up energy into the King a beam from one of her doubles replaces it, leaving Catra herself free to slash and stab and yell, until at last she's exhausted everything she's got; she lands on the other side of the King and doesn't bother to turn around, slamming Powersend back into the scabbard as she stalks away.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Just as it claims this to be its world, *everyone Rashmi knows and cares for* rise up in denial.

'Give 'em hell, honey,'
'*This* looks like a suitable target.'
'Break their faces! ...With love, of course.'
'So, when are you and my Chrono getting engaged?'

"Lindy-mama?!" The surprised blurt simply *cannot* be suppressed, because how often is your boyfriend's amnesiac mother speaking into your soul across time and space? But she shakes off the surprised, and takes a deep breath.

"...No," Rashmi says, looking up to stare into the baleful gaze of the King's End. "This is *not* your world! This is *our world,* the proof of that is *all around you!* All you've done is take, and take, and claim that what you've taken is yours by right! Well if you wanna claim that, *you have to hold onto it,* and *we won't let you!*"

    << *BONG!* >> << AREA INDEX: SOLAR SHIELD >>

Another module is slotted into place, a spell-seal spreads out, and a bowl-shaped hemispherical Shield snaps into view, impossibly wide, and scoops up the burning pieces of meteor for Amy tu augment. It's a stupid idea, it's insane, and if Chrono were physically present, instead of in her heart, his head would probably fly off its shoulders at the sheer impossibility of the whole thing.

But then the bowl orients on King's End, and she draws in *more* energy, packing the construct of the forcefield with many times the amount of mana that the spell would be designed to hold.

"GIVE."

"HER."

"*BACK!!!*"

<< *BONG!* >> << RED SHIFT >>

The 'bowl' glows almost too bright to look at, then glimmers... And shatters inward, all that energy transformed into kinetic force that *hurls* the explosive-enhanced chunks of a dead world right back into King's End's face.

Because *that* is how mahou roll.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
As attacks begin to gather in power, begin to roll in, the King's End is not about to take it lying down, its hand beginning to lift again, beginning to form layers of magical circles beginning to write themselves in the air.

...And then a force reaches from beyond Time.

The soft ~ticking~ of a clock audible, as King's End... simply... Freezes. Magical circles left half-written.

Incomplete.

And a rushing torrent of magic cascades, shooting out over the King's End's form, cutting through it as purifying energy infuses the attack.

A burning fire slices through it as Catra sends herself flying through the air with the power of Clones and Fire. The slice of plasma cut into the side of the still-frozen King's End, the attacks seeming to leave glowing patterns as each one slows and stops right on contact (But thankfully Catra doesn't).

Burning rock is chucked at the massive form of Konigsend, giant missiles flying in... and then... Star Rocket Amy is unleashed! ... Gently.

Less gently, there is a Sugata flying towards its form!

As a cane surrounded with all of the elements of the jewels -- along with a seeping in Light, as the flecks of Cerulean that fall turn into falling cerulean hearts around them. Unleashing a resolute strike across the frozen skeleton's face, slicing through it, leaving a glowing mark in the wake of her strike! As time slowly begins to tick again. To resume once more.

As light darts rain down upon its form, slowing down until just the moment before they strike, just like the other attacks.

Ginga Kingu grabs hold of the sword that had been embedded in King's End, sending it flying /right back/ into place, only this time infused with the power of the Moon, the Earth, and a Cybody!

Blades cut through the chains, through the crystal that she was embedded in.

And the continued hacking is weakened, momentarily, as Hanzo is drawn... and then struck once more, slicing towards meteors and seal and magical vines encircle the gemstone heart... disrupting code eroding... weakening...

And a knife is twisted.

And Sugata pulls Aloisia Stauss free from her bindings.

And revealing that, in spite of everything.
In spite of being slowly eroded.
In spite of being slowly erased.
In spite of being used as a battery for attacks, she had managed one thing.
In her hands, was the glittering sapphire.

And time resumes for the King's End.

Attacks that had been slowed and paused glowing brightly as their energy begins to be imparted, all at once.

And meteor pieces impact, twisting, turning, drilling against the heart of the King's End, as it starts to SCREAM, its form beginning to *glow*.

"YOU WILL NOT END ME!" Screams the massive form, as waves of Darkness start to pulse out from it.

Darkness settles in.
But the light resists.
Darkness settles in.
But the light resists.
Darkness set--
The light /burns through/.

GIVE.
HER.
BACK!

And the crust of a world that had once been the King's End's conquest.

Encases it.

The gathered energy of the various attacks growing unstable, glowing brighter... brighter... brighter.

And then *explodes*.

And all that is left of the King's End is what can only be described, visually, as 'A love nuke'.

A massive heart-shaped cloud that blows away the darkness, leaving them in a floating pink realm, pieces of Tokyo floating around them.

...And then the Sapphire begins to glow.

And then the other jewels lose their forms, starting to swirl with the Sapphire, glowing as it manifests as a pair of twin shield bearing Princesses, the crown of succession -- beautiful, blessed, and closer to the form it was likely originally meant to be on their brows.

They clasp non-shield-bearing hands, calling out in unison.

"INDOMITABLE."
"WORLD!"

A pulse of energy washes over the realm.

And then... they are back in those ruins of Edo palace.

Where that Void had been originally created.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
All that is left of the twin princesses being an overlapped, twisted, broken, and coreless lance and shield, with the Crown of Succession laying atop the two of them.

...And Aloisia hangs, unmoving, but gently breathing, in Sugata's arms.

Zephyr Windstar has posed:
    CRRRRK. TSSSSSSSHHHHH.

    Tenraikaze vents its overheat once more.

    CRRRRKCHNK.

    And Zephyr gently pats the gem at its head. Without a word, she returns the axe to its standby form, and walks over toward Sugata and Aloisia.

    The Enforcer nods to Sugata, offering him a smile before reaching out to gently place a hand on Aloisia's shoulder. "Welcome home." she says to the unconscious Knight.

Takuto Tsunashi has posed:
TAUBURN is losing steam: there's an explosion to make even El Exigente approve, and Tauburn watches it in silent satisfaction, but flickers. There's a pulse of the combined power of two of the Sisters, and then the twisted, coreless devices and the Crown are on the ground, and Tauburn looks down at them, and suddenly his enigmatic smile looks like an enigmatic frown.

He turns his head and flickers out of sight, leaving an exhausted redheaded boy in a white military coat abruptly sitting on the ground, exhausted. But absolutely gleeful.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Sometimes...

    Sometimes, life being like an anime is really cool!

    "That was so awesome!" Amy tells her friends excitedly, at the same time as Ginga Bishounen is saying much the same, fists balled and held up almost to her chin, and she GRINS at Takuto!

    And then she notices they're back in the ruins.

    And Aloisia is in Sugata's arms. "Aloisia!" Amy runs over to look at her in hopeful concern. "Aloisia, we got her, we stopped her, you're free, I'm sorry it took so long! ...Aloisia...? Stauss-san?"

Yuki Hoshino has posed:
Yuki alights nearby, walking closer with a nod. "She'll need friends. People who can help her adjust." She dismisses the remaining dart-spells, letting everything fade into the simplicity of a Knight at rest. She's never quite sure what to say at times like these, so she just makes it up as she goes along.

"I get the feeling there's a lot of story I've missed out here," she muses, considering the sleeping princess. "Someone will have to introduce me... when she's awake."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Ginga Kingu Samekh holds Aloisia in a princess carry, because it genuinely is the best way to support an unconscious person for their comfort.

Abruptly - his ghostly armor disappears, leaving him in his regular henshin, and he looks around, until he spies Rashmi, and shifts Aloisia so that he can point at her.

"I've been reliably informed that she'll need support, to recover from this, and so will the devices." The look on his face says 'surely you won't condemn us to a world where I'm offering the emotional support, right?'

The Enforcer is given a nod, then, her approach having been accepted.

Catra has posed:
It's over.

They're back in the ruins of the Edo Castle. Back where this whole battle started, where it seemed so straightforward until suddenly it wasn't.

Catra already has her back turned to everyone else; but she looks over her shoulder, just long enough to see that yes, indeed, that would seem to be Aloisia laying there on the floor. She's no longer the Prinzessin Nicht; that's good. And she's not dead, that's also good.

Good enough for Catra.

The feline turns away, and just... keeps going. Even though she's still smoldering and looks, in a word, burnt, she just... wanders off, and as she rounds a corner she restores her illusory disguise and returns to being Rachel Miller, the obnoxious tourist.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It's over.

This long nightmare is *finally* over.

...Well, one out of three nightmares. Which is pretty good progress, all considered. As the world comes back, and Rashmi's feet touch down outside of Edo Castle, the redhead looks around herself, at her fellow exhausted, triumphant warriors, then at the world beyond.

It all seems so peaceful...

A flicker of magic catches the corner of her eye, and she turns to see Rachel Miller, hands in her pockets, walking away.

<< Catra-chan! >> she calls out, in a private mental link. Oh no, is she gonna be unbearably sappy?

<< Thank you, Catra-chan. I owe you *big time.* Just let me know if there's anything I can do for you. >>

Huh. Maybe not?

And she turns, to see Sugata begging her with his eyes, to not make *him* be the support she needs, and she can't help but chuckle. "You have my word," she says, stepping forward... and first kneeling down to take the twisted Sisters, and store them in Nicomachea where they'll be safe. Then, she rises, and relieves Sugata of his burden. "She'll get the best help I can get my hands on. All three of them will."

As Yuki comes up, Rashmi nods. "The short version? She's a very, very noble warrior, who got trapped in horrible circumstances, and *then* even worse ones. But she's free now, thanks to all of you. Thank you.... *everyone*... for getting me my friend back."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Aloisia is unmoving, at first, as people talk around her, as people run up and talk to her. Others shout their joy and how things are 'so cool'.

Breathing.
Possibly still stuck in those endless dreams?

            Wake up, Prinzessin.

She was ... changed, by all of this, even after being 'freed', though her skin had returned to a healthy peach, her hair still remained that silver it had been as Prinzessin Nichts. But lavender eyes open, slowly.

"..."
"...This dream... seems nicer..."

She mumbles, before closing her eyes as she passes back out, exhaustion plain on her face.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Normality finally re-establishes itself, and Koji looks down to make sure that Hanzo has not damaged the floor. Bringing his Device up, he checks it over before finally reattaching it to the underside of his forearm, "Best thing to do now is to get her back to the campus. The protections there will keep her safe from her uncle."

If he had pockets and a hoodie, the latter would be up, and the former would be stuffed, "My old room is cleaned and unattended, and it's right next door to your boyfriend... I can't think of a better place for her to be safe tonight." With that, he turns and waves over his shoulder, "C'mon... I've got fresh ramen, onigiri, and a bunch of cold drinks."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
All the exploding energies around are a bit blinding, now that the King's End has reached its conclusion, and Veronica shields her eyes by bringing the brim of her hat down, waiting it out until it can truly be called over, and the devices of the twin shields join forces for one last time as the world is restored.

Good job, Unstoppable Sister. You earned your rest now, she finds herself thinking in the newfound light of the Edo Castle. That was the single time she could appear in that form, couldn't she? Maybe she could put her memories on something tangible later, to celebrate the return from nothingness.

A happy smile appears on Veronica's face when she sees Aloisia held by the Galactic King, and she approaches him calmly. "That is a fair bet", she tells the bluenette. "It has been a long time since has been herself. We can help keep watch while she recovers", she says, already thinking of what Aloisia could be brought within this time.

"You know, Page Mage, I'd wager you were in this fight too", Veronica turns over to the redhead with a swish of her tail and a wider smile. "Most excellent work with your spells, and getting Aloisia-san back", Veronica turns the congratulations back to her.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...You got a point," Rashmi chuckles at Sarek. "But I could not have *begun* to do it all without all of you, so... Thanks."

At Koji's suggestion, Rashmi nods. "Yeah... then to get her to Setsuchan tomorrow, and start work on getting her her sisters back. Lotta work ahead, but--"

'This is a much nicer dream.'

Rashmi blinks, looking down at the girl in her arms, and chuckles. "Yeah... Yeah it probably is, Alo-chan. C'mon... I got a bed to get you tucked into."

With that, and a final, thankful bow of the head to all gathered, she turns to follow Koji. Back to the Academy.

Where Aloisia Stauss can start on her new life.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy smiles at Rashmi's thanks. She didn't realize the two were that close... Also she is feeling overfull of enthusiastic energy, so Rashmi gets a hug! "Yeah, that red shift trick kicked ass! And us all being buffed to hell... Made so much more possible."

    Aloisia is conscious! Briefly. Amy winces a little at hearing she thinks this must be a dream, but... Let her rest. There can be something like a welcome back party later, maybe!

    "So does this mean... she's now the rightful ruler of Tharkad?"

    Amy hopes that if Hannah ever comes back, she'll take it well. And Amy had not, since Hannah left, considered the possibility of a future as princess-consort seriously, but this does finally close the door on that. ...She finds that she doesn't mind.

    As people prepare to head out, Amy takes a few steps away from the others and turns her back to look at her soul gem.

    Corruption fills two fifths of it -- only two-fifths, thanks to the protection of the two gems. Amy then wants to thank them, and remembers the state she just saw them in, and her heart sinks a little, but Rashmi said they'd be alright, right?

    She pulls her grief seed -- from Spelleiter, the miniature wargaming Witch -- from her pocket and holds it to her gem, watching the corruption get sucked away into the seed.

    And then it stops.

    There isn't much. The corruption doesn't fill even a tenth of her gem... but it's there, and the grief seed can hold no more.

    "..."

    She can worry about that tomorrow. She slips the grief seed into her belt pouch to give to Madoka later, and turns back to the others with a smile. "Getting some food sounds good!"