Final -V- IC

Despite the wounds, despite the blood shed, despite all the damage he had taken, both physical and psychological, Tian-Gui remained resolute, unflinching as Valentine was sent through his wall, crashing and falling unconscious before the inexplicable might of Kyouko. The transformation was reset, golden armor bursting out over his body once more, as his stopgap measures reformed themselves. Bloodstains were covered by Flamestone coating, and slowly, the titan whose defenses had been broken oh so many times this day, let out a deep breath.

Every part of his body throbbed, and he was sure his organs were a mess at this point, but his superhuman constitution still held. The meteor shard embedded in his solar plexus remained, the anchor that kept him sane regardless of the abuse he put himself through. This was still nothing compared to training with Gigakill. Compared to Lotte's love taps. Compared to Ling's endless array of destruction spells. Nothing.

"Yeah, we are monsters," Tian-Gui said, walking steadily even after losing enough blood to fill a bathtub, "It's what we need to be to slay beings as otherworldly as us, and if you can't reach that same unnatural pinnacle with the strength of your ambition…then that's where your dream ends, Valentine."

There was still a final boss. A great adversary that he'll be facing when he was already driven to the brink of exhaustion. But against unfair odds, against impossibilities mounted upon impossibilities, Tian-Gui took the path Valentine didn't.

"Kyouko, let's finish this."

The fate of the Thremonts wasn't his to decide.

Heavy steps brought him onwards, to the heart of the mechanical tyrant.


The eldritch girl. The lightning magnate. The avenging cyborg. The fated anomaly. The golden titan.

Two joined with three within the veins of the beast, marching resolutely to grandest chamber within, Tian-Gui pushing open the ornate doors, every fried fiber of his being hyper alert, eyes lightning blue as he tracked down the sole individual within the room.

Black as death. The father of the Thremont sisters. A man who cast aside his mortal shell to attain true enlightenment within machine oil and circuitry.

He felt the boundless energy of the hovering object, understood that there was a high chance that their final foe could draw strength from the container of the Abyssal Orb. They had to strike fast, strike him down and retrieve the all-powerful orb, before continuing on to ensure that the titan didn't impact the lands below with devastating force. A blitzkrieg was the most apt path here, but…

…dialogue must still be made.

"You're quite relaxed for someone whose daughters are in mortal peril," Tian-Gui remarked, two steps taken to set himself in front of the others. "Do you share their ambitions and ideals? Or are you simply doing your duty as a detached father, Thremont?"
 
The battle outside finally over, Runa flew toward the colossal flagship, cradling Iphigenia carefully in her arms. "Sometimes, I feel a little like a glorified taxi service." It wasn't difficult between the two of them to smash a fresh entrance into the flagship. Runa had to coordinate a bit over the radio to navigate a rendezvous, but eventually she and Iphie joined up with the rest of the Five.

The girl stopped floating, to stride into the ornate throne room at the heart of the flying fortress. She still looked the part of the monsters Valentine accused them of being, her body still clad in shifting armor formed from her own flesh. The charring from the earlier fight outside had almost completely healed by the time they arrived on the scene. She'd need to eat after this. Even converting ambient mana to mass could only go so far. Everyone was probably lucky they didn't run across anyone else on their way over, or she might have had a quick snack.

Runa whistled at the ostentatious nature of the command room. "Talk about fancy. Whoever made this really wanted a certain look." Plenty of things to look at, too. There was the obvious supertech...thing, that was totally getting shot at at some point. And a...man sitting on the throne. Runa's own inhuman face regarded him with curiosity. "Huh, I would've expected the other sister. Where is she, anyway?"
 
At first, Kyouko hadn't put too much thought into it. Her sole purpose was to defeat the enemy in front of her which, surprisingly, only took a singular second punch. Kyouko had never intended to kill Valentine in the first place, but her words made the girl think.

The power she attained. The power to turn back time. The power to bend armor made out of whatever it was made of with her bare hands. It was... made possible through the power of science, right? She was an unwilling experiment. Born human or... the brunette shuddered at the thought going through her head. What was she? She used to have a mother and a loving father or...

Tian's voice brought Kyouko back into reality as she stood there dazed for a few seconds before ultimately following him. But spend some words to Valentine herself. "We won't kill you." She started. "Human, Monster, Machine, it doesn't really matter, does it? Our actions are what defines us. And I fight for the good side. I may not yet be aware of what it fully entails but... killing is definitely not a good thing. So I try my best to avoid it...! You can stand up again and again if you'd like, but we just beat you up over and over until you get it into that thick skull of yours!" Kyouko wasn't even so sure herself. There was no doubt in her words, but her hearts. How were words she couldn't really believe herself supposed to resonate with the enemy?

...

"Have some super special Kyouko First Aid!" The hero girl talked to Tian as they made their way through the flagship. Apparently, the others were finished, too. Just how far could the girl's powers carry her?
Fancy, was the first thought Kyouko had as they entered what could have just as well been a throne room of sorts. Were they in some sort of techno palace or rather, a flagship? The girl had expected the last of the three sisters but, instead, they found themselves facing their father. "You!" She pointed at him with her finger.

"There's still a chance to resolve this peacefully. Right here, and now. I'm sure that someone who had 3 children, read and saw enough fiction to know that the good guys always win, right?!" Kyouko couldn't be content with herself if at least she did not try. "I mean, seriously. What does he intend to do?" She asked more herself and the others than him.

"We have a ninja-cyborg, a high-school eldritch girl, a guy that can create fuckyoutanium for offense AND defense, a girl who can turn back time and... Iphie! Who does electricity things!... and can hack into everything!" That's what the brunette got for talking before thinking. But electricity things were fun!
 



"Admittedly, I've long since abandoned the fear of losing my children," Thremont began, crossing his hands at his back. "You are... familiar with concept of terror management theory, I hope? The idea that all we do as human beings is with the intent to stave off our understanding that, one day, we die. How we achieve this is different for everyone. Being a proponent of one's culture, cultivating children, achieving great things that live on after death... Each of them is, in it's own way, donating a piece of our souls to the world at large, in hopes that we live on in some way. For me, as someone who has escaped death, I need not consider these sorts of things. In some sense, I've allowed my children to be as they wish to be. I've no need to guide them in the selfish manner that a mortal father does. Though..." Thremont paused, turning aside to look at nothing in particular, "I also admittedly still have an inkling of fear of death. I'm no god, after all. There's still that chance. For example, you five stand before me. That's evidence of any that I should be worried. For that reason, I still feel the need to 'manage my terror', so to speak," he laughed. The man-made-machine turned then to the large glass window overlooking the fleet.

"Being someone quite powerful, managing my terror necessitates big things. Big ideas. I was once a part of a group of individuals with similarly lofty ideas, but where they saw a demon as the solution to a great problem, I disagreed. I saw an angel as the solution, and so I took it upon myself to see to it that their demon is never needed. What you've so diligently ravaged and destroyed is the angel I speak of," Thremont said, disdain clear in his voice. He faced the Final Five, face as featureless as ever. His gaze fell upon Kyouko.

"But there is still a chance to reverse the damage you've caused. You seem to be under the impression that I am the bad guy. Try as I did, I could not convince my daughters that it was the case, but nevertheless they still had the sense to aid my cause. Perhaps they saw its merits, perhaps they did it out of a sense of loyalty. Distant as I've become, they may have wished to make me proud. All the while, they felt they were the villains. I regret accepting their help, somewhat, as it must have made them feel conflicted endlessly. Well. Perhaps except for Carrie. She was never particularly sweet." Another chuckle.

"But what to do against, as you say, a cyborg, a little monster, a veritable juggernaut, an electrokinetic, and... whoever you are. As a man who has attained and seeks to maintain eternal life, however, I'd be remiss not to prepare myself for such a contingency." At this, Thremont took a suddenly combative stance, palm outstretched like a martial artist. "Someone planning to live forever should be able to fight like hell, no?"

A blink, and he was elsewhere. The well-dressed robot vanished and reappeared before Runa, hand already turned into a fist and placed deep into her flesh. A pause, and Runa was elsewhere. The back of the room erupted in fury as Runa slammed into the once pristine white walls, structural material crumbling around her.

"If we must debate right and wrong, let us solve it through our conviction. I tired of debates with like-minded men long ago."
 
Jin-Sun's blade landed the final blow, tearing straight through the mecha's armor and gutting its internal systems. As the mech began to fall, Jin-Sun landed in a crouch on the edge of a frigate, impassively watching Mary's form disappear into the blue void below him. Without another word, he turned to follow Runa and Iphie, extending Wire Spears to catch up with Runa's flight.

___

The Thremont patriarch was fast. Whereas Jin-Sun had been able to keep up with the previous Thremont cyborg models well enough, he was barely able to keep track of this one, almost missing his movement as the black-armored man punched Runa into a wall.

"All this proves is that you're the one to cast the first stone. Just like your daughters. You don't care how many people you harm, so long as the end result sounds worth it." The cyborg ninja brandished his aurorum blade, firing a Wire Spear up towards the ceiling to reel himself in before releasing it, thrusting downwards with his sword as he fell.
 
"Thanks."

Landing with the assistance of Runa, the purple-haired girl dusted herself off as she took in the environment of the flagship craft's inner workings. Finding bits of smashed ship clinging to her coat, she picked at them momentarily before her attention found some more pertinent things to worry about. That, primarily, was the robotic-like man in front of her that stood in front of them.

More concerning, he was Thremont himself. To think he now looked like this; internally, she shook her head. Iphie had never expected to take on her childhood friends, and she certainly never expected to face her own father's business rival. Why a dry smile, she wondered what he'd have made of the man's transformation. Iphigenia raised her eyebrows, both in mild irritation that the man behind her rivals had launched into a long monologue, but also with surprise at his apparent immortality. After all, to that end, they weren't too different. She'd been seeking the same herself, and ultimately, Iphie didn't seem too far off of it herself. Where they diverged was the paths they took. And his was wrong, of course.

Still, she felt a bit jealous.

"To think we meet like this, Thremont. The ends justify the means… is it? You're not the man my father once knew." The purple-haired girl finally stepped forward, her hands at her side, but still ready. "You do talk a lot for a person that proclaims that he tires of debate. Still… If you so claim yourself as immortal, we're going to test that. And I'm going to take it from you."

If Iphigenia was right and her assumption that he digitized himself was correct, she could end this all here in the blink of an eye. No amount of shielding would save some fancy electronics from several thousand volts of power. Snapping her finger, she drew up her arm, a long string of crackling lightning arching from the floor beneath her. Catching his figure just after he blasted Runa into the wall, she closed the distance, making sure that he was the path of least resistance, and flicked her hand and the arc straight at him with crackling fury.
 




"It's only when people are sleeping comfortably that they have the opportunity to dwell on the wrongs of their past," Thremont said, voice rising at the tail-end as he lifted a hand upwards. His gloved fingers caught the flat of Jin-Sun's blade, sliding up along until they wrapped around. Wrenching Jin-Sun and blade in one motion, he turned in place, throwing the cyborg's body into the path of Iphie's bolt. The two seamlessly met, killing two birds with one cybernetic stone.

Thremont dismissed the blade to his side, flinging Jin-Sun across the room. The glove on his hand sizzled with heat, and a small portion of it had burned completely through. Rubbing his fingers together, he put out the remaining heat, charred leather drifting to the ground.

"When bombs were dropped, when civilians were left behind, when patients were turned away... Those in leadership face obstacles which they cannot mend perfectly. There will always be discrepancies between total success, and that which was possible. But I don't expect children to understand. Such is the reason presidencies have an age requirement," he laughed.

"The alternative for me is to give up, and to place all of the burdens I seek to carry upon you five, but that requires trust, something I lack in you. I will not sit idly by like so many could and rely upon others. A man in my position, with my power, has every means and reason to take up arms himself." Thremont lifted his hand once more, gesturing to the humming sphere hanging above the room. A red glow collected around its surface until the familiar red beam that had empowered Mary's mecha struck his hand.

"Tis a shame to kill the young and hopeful such as yourself, but I know what sort of people you are," he said, clenching his now-glowing fist, "...and I tired of those sorts of heroes when I was twenty-six." Bursting into motion again, Thremont closed the distance between himself and Iphie, arm cocked and ready to strike. His speed from before had disappeared, though he still exerted an agility reminiscent of Jin-Sun himself.
 
A blazing, golden form appeared before the strike could land, the scarlet fist redirected with a gauntleted one. To most, it would have been a perfect interception. But to those that truly knew him, they'd know just how powerful the foe was when Tian 'parried' instead of 'blocked'.

And even then, bits of Flamestone chipped off, as his bones creaked and his muscles roared. It had been a long day. An impossibly long operation, one that involved Mars and giant Abyssals, while his own pride refused healing when it came. No rest until the job was done. No mercy for his body until then. The final boss was powerful, carrying the conviction to burn the world, but Tian-Gui's own resolution was unshakeable as well, the naïve ideal of a youth who never became an adult.

"Final Five! Our objective is not assassination! It's retrieval!"

And with one earthshaking stomp, the armored hero melted the floor beneath him and his quarry into slag, the two falling into melted and vaporized pipes as white flame continued to incinerate whatever was below them.
 
Jin-Sun grunted in surprise as Thremont effortlessly intercepted his blow, hurling him across the room, his sword wrenched out of his hands. As he flew through the air, Iphie's bolt of electricity struck him in the back, sending energy flowing through the cyborg's body as it was absorbed by his systems.

Jin-Sun hit the wall hard, collapsing a few feet away from Iphie. He tensed, preparing to spring back up and reengage, but paused as Thremont simply dismissed him as a threat, glancing away.

That couldn't be right. Thremont had to have known that he could absorb electricity. Hell, that was his daughter's design. But...the old man had thrown Jin-Sun to intercept Iphie's electricity. Did that mean this cyborg body didn't have an electricity absorption system? Jin-Sun laid still, daring to hope that Valentine really hadn't told dear old daddy anything about her little science project. He could use this. If old man Thremont assumed he was out of the game, he could get a surprise blow in.

Or at least, he could if Tian-Gui hadn't just melted the floor out from beneath himself and Thremont, sending the two hurtling down into the bowels of the ship. Jin-Sun cursed as he sprang up, leaping over to retrieve his sword.

"God damn it, Tian-Gui!" Jin-Sun queued his comms as he glanced towards the other three members of the Five. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm following after. Iphie, you can lower yourself down with magnetism, right? In that case, Runa, secure the artifact before you help Kyouko down. Hopefully Tian-Gui doesn't get himself killed before we catch up to him." He said to the three before diving through the hole Tian-Gui had made, already preparing his Wire Spears to try to intercept Thremont in midair.
 
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"That guy is more of an arrogant bitch than I am," Iphie complained, as she recovered from the fallout of her failed attack. Thankfully, Jin-Sun was more than capable of receiving her generated energy, benefiting from it, in fact. A small smirk danced across the purple-haired electromancer as she realized the potential implications behind Thremont's use of Jin-Sun as a human shield, but at the moment, she was unable to act on it.

Now placed in an unfortunate position, with Thremont having closed the gap, Iphigenia prepared to launch herself backwards to avoid a crippling blow by fist. So when Tian-Gui's timely interception came, it was well welcomed. Her reply of thanks quickly turned to a curt objection, however, when the Flamestone hero took out the floor from under himself and their adversary.

"…Yeah. The thing's made of metal, fortunately." Following in after her cybernetic ally, small sparks crackled between the crushed supports and herself as she too leapt down, keeping her descent controlled. At the same time, she prepared another bolt for when she once again had Thremont in her line of sight.
 
"This guy, is like, totally OP!" Said the girl with time reality-manipulation. "But WE are JUSTICE." There was no way that the bad guy could defeat them! As the big Daddy continued to do his speech-attack-pattern, Kyouko tried to look for an opening. It sounded like if they'd beat him he would acknowledge them, after all! Speaking of trust and such.

"It's just like in my magical girl shows! First you beat them then they joi- aahhhyahalsa?!" Suddenly, Tian decided to go full heater mode as part of the floor melted away. The brunette doubted they could get the core so easily but, nonetheless, without the ability to fly, jumped down. "Here I cooommmeeee~~"

Hopefully, Thremont would be somewhere below, in enough punching rage to make a punch that carried all the momentum from the fall just now! Go full dunk and everything! If not, she could always just stop herself.
 
Runa pulled herself out of the wall, bits of bloodied concrete still piercing her body. She was definitely slowing down, with the day dragging on like this, and was getting hungry enough to eat a horse. "Damn it all, fucking sucker-punching-" She paused and looked around. "Eh?" Hole in the floor, even Kyouko just diving on down into it... Damn it, did she pass out for a second there?

Debris clattered to the floor as her body's natural healing pushed shards of the wall out of her wounds. "Hey," She said to the others on the comms. "I feel like I missed something, but you really want me to go mess with this thing up here? Won't yanking it out just make this whole thing fall and lead to inevitable very bad things?"

She flew up to the black sphere to start looking it over. It certainly did a good job of absorbing light, but it wasn't like some sort of black hole. She'd notice that right away. Still, an ominous floating black sphere didn't seem like the sort of thing one can just pick up. "Gotta be some sort of weird-ass system inside that thing," Runa muttered to herself as she found a suitable-looking chunk of metal....wait, was that Jin-Sun's sword over there? That would be way better. "I'm borrowing your sword," Runa announced over the comms as she retrieved the weapon. Not that she knew how to use it properly, but it was a better implement for hitting something to see what would happen before just trying to grab it.

"Here goes nothing..." She planted her feet squarely and faced down the sphere containing their real objective, and built as much muscle mass and density as she could manage in a hurry to back it up, before taking a mighty swing at the orb.
 



Pipes and beams broke free as the entourage fell through layer upon layer, each floor and strut only serving to add greater and greater force to the fall as it joined the fray. Soon a hurricane of debris had been caught up in the descent, shrouding Thremont and the other four. Thremont slammed his fists into whatever he could reach, sending them the Final Five's way. An asteroid belt was between them and Thremont, and seemed impossible to penetrate as he maneuvered his way down. Wire Spears slammed into oncoming walls of concrete and metal, as electricity dissipated through unintended targets.

A final floor caved into a massive room, big enough to fit shipyards. The only thing left was the final crash as everything that had accumulated slammed into the thicker bottom. Dust billowed up and beams penetrated into steel as the new battlefield was drawn upon by preceding destruction.

As soon as the havoc settled, Thremont stood at the center of it all, none the worse for wear, though his once-pristine suit had seen better days. Straightening his collar with a quick tug, the corporate machine lifted a hand for the final defensive maneuver; Kyouko's fist slammed into his black-gloved palm, a massive shockwave of energy exploding outwards harmlessly. Before gravity could even regain control of her vertical posture, Thremont clenched over her hand and brought her down. Another cloud of dust erupted from the crater he'd formed with Kyouko.

"I'm thus far disappointed. If you were true heroes, you'd have wasted no time in quelling what you purport to be evil. Unless of course you revel in fighting, or this truly is the best you can offer. I cannot allow you to take myself on this Earth, if this is all you amount to," Thremont said callously. Suddenly, his attention turned upwards, through the haze-filled hole that they had formed on the way down. His composure dropped as Runa struck the black orb powering the ship. Jin-Sun's blade cracked a centimeter as it met with a seemingly impenetrable barrier surrounding the engine. Runa couldn't be sure, but something felt as if it had a budge to it.

"What are you doing?! You'll crash this ship!" Thremont shouted, "Do you want an entire country to be destroyed?! You imbeciles don't deserve to save anything!" Whilst Runa continued the assault, another red beam shot from the orb, meeting with Thremont's lifted hand. It lasted for far longer than it had previously, and the glow that collected within every tight joint of Thremont's robotic form only compounded the severity of what he had seemed to be attaining.

In a flash of red energy, the room was temporarily blinded, fading away to reveal a now-suitless Thremont. Sleek as his obsidian-black chassis was, it rippled with awesome power. Lowering into a combative stance, his passive nature before was replaced by a clear desire to fight and kill.

"None of you have what it takes to face the darkness lying in this world. Nothing less than the greatest can stop what will inevitably come." Thremont's body erupted with red energy as he shouted. "And I shall prove it to you!"

The world blinked, as if forgetting for a moment what had once stood where Thremont did. Nothing was there. And then, he was upon Tian-Gui. It was clear to Thremont that the only one who could defend against him, and protect the others, would need to be silenced first. A glowing fist stood between Tian Gui and

死滅​
 
Runa stopped to check the sword. "Seriously? The fuck is this stuff?" Pretty sure Aurorum was supposed to be indestructible or something. Not that she had much of a choice, as another red beam lanced downward into the bowels of the colossal mecha after the rest of the team. And Thremont.

Sorry Jin, Runa thought as she focused on her next attack and took another swing at the black sphere. Both the weapon and target cracked further as a sound far too loud rang out, a gong heralding the death of the mecha's black heart. Runa was sent flying by whatever backlash met her own strike, landing in a heap only to get up again. Break. The girl continued her work, pushing herself further to launch everything she had into each attack, and then digging for even more strength. Break/ Focusing every fiber of her being into one more swing, Runa shouted at the top of her lungs. "Damn it, just break already!" At this point, she didn't care if it was her, or the orb.

Something shattered. The orb, finally knocked loose from its moorings, flew through the air as its shell cracked like an egg, finally revealing a silver glow contained within. Jin-Sun's sword...well, it was probably in a similar state, not that Runa cared at this point. She pounced on her opportunity and reached in to retrieve the silver sphere that was their original objective, and pulled it out with a triumphant cry. "Yeah! Got it!"

The mecha, no, fortress they were aboard lurched, sickeningly listing to one side as soon as she claimed her prize. "Shit." They were probably just falling now. Which wasn't going to be good at all. Grand scheme of things, the world was saved. But...probably at a bit of a cost. The silver sphere itself was...warm, and as she held it, Runa could feel the same sort of power the Thremonts had no doubt been using coursing through her. Funny, it didn't feel red.

"I dunno how long it's going to last, guys, but while I can, I'm going to try and pus this thing down gently," she said over the comms. "Do try to get everyone to play nice down there."

Runa brought the silver ball close to her chest, clutching it in both hands and closing her eyes, almost as if in prayer. This was going to be a big job, but she felt like she could manage it. Tendrils of flesh exploded outward from her body, punching through floors, walls, and whatever else they immediately encountered, anchoring her in place as they continued to grow and infiltrate further through the mecha like some strange system of roots. A colossal gravity well formed above and around the metal titan, and its fall slowed. It didn't stop, and after a few moments, it didn't even slow further, but continued to move with renewed purpose. Though anyone on it could probably feel that, falling or flying, it had stabilized. Runa was going to bring this thing down, and not over a populated area, if she could help it.
 
Debris scattered against the titan like raindrops against a stone relief, not a single fragment of Flamestone lost as Tian Gui plummeted towards his foe. Jets of flame pushed him further and further, but the veritable storm of detritus decelerated him just as effectively as blue fire accelerated him. Thremont remained continuously out of grasp, and the golden monolith's own body was giving in further and further.

How much more could he take? How much further did he have to push?

Until the operation was finished.

A craterous impact echoed the Thremont's own as Tian Gui landed, steel beams crashing around the Flamestone Guardian as eyes of azure lightning glared at his archnemesis, at the composure lost once Runa had completed her task successfully. The mecha was shifting, lurching, slowly entering freefall, plummeting like a godless hammer over China. But no matter the horror…

"Saving others isn't anything that's deserved, you senile fuck," Tian Gui spat, "The great CEO of Heavyware Industries, unable to even forsee the possibility of the main power source being snatched out from under his nose, incapable of designing a back up power supply to prevent the cataclysmic aftermath of this fortress's descent?"

Golden fire wreathed his body, flamestone turned into red dust as he consumed more and more in order to fuel his might.

"Drop your self-righteous bullshit and admit it: there's no fail safe because this whole situation is just you taking hostage of the country below in case someone DOES manage to stop you."

Even as scarlet lightning seared the massive room, the resplendence of the aureate flame was not outmatched, burning like a star in a constant state of supernova. For a moment, there was naught but flame and lightning illuminating the room.

And in the next, everything faded to black.

There was nothing in the world. Nothing but the sleek, murderous frame of Thremont, surpassing the limitations of mere speed as his body seemed to disaasemble, reappearing in lethal distance to the Flamestone titan. Before him, certain death laid in the glowing fist, and all around him, there was the sanctity of 'survival' if only he retreated.

But close range was his territory, the territory of an unyielding hero.

The flames sunk back into his skin, an instant stretching to an eternity.

The gauntlet was crumbling under the pressure of the air, his bones creaking, agonizing, as he pushed through. The deathblow was too fast even in this frozen moment, but no matter his physical deficiencies, Tian Gui's will was stronger than Flamestone, more powerful than the raging flames he could summon forth. It was his core, his essence, the prominence that made him a hero before all else.

If the realm Thremont stood in was blocked by heavy gates, Tian Gui would force them all open.

A blazing blast collided with the red-wreathed one. The flames were extinguished.

A Flamestone gauntlet collided with the red-wreathed one. The Flamestone was pulverized.

A fist of flesh collided with a fist of steel. The flesh was disintegrated.

But with the cost of a single hand, the premonition of death was diverted and the masked hero, his white mane bursting with incandescent fury, clenched his other fist.

He can feel the pain later.

A glowing fist stood between Thremont and
败仗.​
 
Kyouko fell deeper and deeper through the belly of the ship as more and more debris got in her way. Clearly, she hadn't thought this through. "OUT OF MY WAY!" She yelled as broken pieces of machinery were shattered by brute force. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" She added as shattered fragments of pipes pierced her before restoring herself to former glory.

"THREEEEMOOONNNT!" Kyouko yelled as she collided, face-first, with junk the size of a giant rock, smashing right through it as her fist was about to connect with their last enemy as suddenly. "NANI?!"

The created shockwave, proof to the power behind a punch that would even shatter a Flamestone castle, was easily stopped by the machine that was once a father. Simply lifting his hand in a fashion as swatting away a mere fly, Kyouko was stopped. No, not just that. She was open.

Wide, wide, open, as she got dragged along like some ragdoll. Too late to do anything about it, the brunette hit the ground with a force similar to that of her own punch. "U-...kkkrrr...P-..." It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

Kyouko had been used to pain, but this? This was a newfound level. A new high. A new ecstasy. She felt paralyzed. Addicted.... at peace? Robbed of the ability to form any coherent thoughts, the mass of hardly recognizable mass of flesh drew its last breath. Listening to the impending doom that awaited all of them. Listening to the death of a Nation...

Until Reality itself came to a halt.

But this was all it needed.
An odd existence herself.
A being that defied the Laws of the World.
An extraterrestrial entity not supposed to exist in this timeline.
A dark miracle, intended to end them all, was all she needed.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kyouko cried out in pain as her body had been, more-or-less, restored. She screamed and screamed and screamed. The hurt, the horror, the dread. Always ever present. Changing into a bloody coughing fit as her vocal chords felt like tearing apart, the brunette got on all fours. Tears flowing from her eyes without any control.

"FUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!" She cursed. But... this wasn't the right time. She was, to an extent, still a fragile teenage girl. But now, she was also a Member of the Final Five.

Even if broken. She would keep functioning.
Even if dead. She would keep living.
Even if losing. She would keep winning.

For this was her very own conviction. Yet, right now, the supercharged Doom Machinery wasn't her target. She had to trust into Tian's survival. She had to trust into Iphie's mechanical expertise.

Kyouko herself, right now, had a nation to save. Surely, this Dreadnought had passed the ocean? Still on all fours, Kyouko closed her eyes. "I'll make it crash into the Ocean!" She proclaimed. At the very least, Thremont seemed sane enough to not stop her from doing that? Apparently, he still did care about people.

Concentrate. Focus. Gather. Seize. Expand. Seize. Expand. Focus. Focus. Rewind. Relax. Repeat.

This was quite a collosal task. But as long as Kyouko kept it to a minimum. Kept it to only reverting the ships, and their, position, she could do it... probably. As long as she kept concentrating. Finding the right moment.

The salty scent of the ocean.
The seagulls in the distance.
The calming rush of the waves.

She would find it... .
 
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Jin-Sun scowled from beneath his facemask as he considered Thremont's words. His fists clenched as he wordlessly brought up his system diagnostics in his HUD.

Operational energy at 101.2% of recommended maximum. Capacitor discharging excess power.
Right, Iphie's bolt had struck him. At least he wouldn't have to worry about recharging for now.

Torso armor compromised.

WARNING: ID-lock blade sync: HVB damaged. Further operation impossible.
Wait, what the hell? His sword was broken? Damn. That limited his offensive options. He'd question Runa about that later. But for now...

The situation wasn't looking good. They'd expended several options to little effect already, and Tian-Gui seemed to be the only one among them who could take a hard hit from the Thremont patriarch. Conventional methods weren't working. Something had to change. Though...his capacitor readout gave him an idea. Jin-Sun engaged his faceplate's scanner, looking around the room until he found what he sought.

"You disgust me, you piece of shit." The cyborg spat to his opposite number as he stepped forward a few paces before crouching down and slamming his fist into the floor. Beneath the metal paneling was one of the ship's power conduits. "You created this situation. Everyone below this ship right now is at risk due to your insane whim to prove us wrong. You said it yourself: you won't listen to reason. All we have to do to prove you're full of it is to defeat you." Electricity ran through his arms, coursing through his entire body.

Operational energy at 132% of recommended maximum.
WARNING: Recommend immediate discharge.

Operational energy at 175.7% of recommended maximum.
CRITICAL WARNING: Recommend immediate discharge. Safety limiter engaging at 200% of recommended maximum.

Jin-Sun ignored the warning as he grit his teeth. It was too bad this next part had to be activated via voice command. Made him feel cheesy.

"System override: EM Wave Absorber, release safety limiter. Activation code SHTF."

Operational energy at 250% of recommended maximum. EM Wave Absorber safety released. Rerouting excess operational power to all combat systems.

Overdrive system engaged.

Jin-Sun rose, his form crackling with power. He slammed his fists together, electricity crackling between them.

"I was going to save this for Valentine, but Tian and Kyouko already took care of that." The cyborg crouched down as Tian-Gui threw his fist forward. And he moved.

In a blur, Jin-Sun was above Tian-Gui and Thremont, flipping forward and bringing his leg crashing down in an axe kick against Thremont's head.
 
Iphie raised her eyebrows, her only response this time to roll her eyes and shake her head. Her actions and that of her comrades would speak for themselves.

The purple-haired girl quickly assessed their situation. She glanced between Tian-Gui and Jin-Sun, their actions keeping Thremont occupied in pitched combat. She turned around to look at Runa and Kyouko, watching as the former's tendrils locked themselves throughout the vessel, tugging it along under the colossal weight of an eldritch gravity well. Kyouko, well, she didn't exactly know what Kyouko was doing, but for once, the imperious electromancer put her faith in the girl's abilities.

Yet still, the castle in the sky still continued to fall. Feeling the pressure from her ears changing, Iphie sprung into action. Finding a console on the stricken vessel, she interfaced with its computer systems, patching into its primary command computer.

The purple-haired girl grimaced as a litany of warning messages flashed into her brain, but she meticulously sorted through them all.

CRITICAL WARNING. POWER DRIVE COMPROMISED. SYSTEMS POWER OPERATING AT 9%.

CRITICAL WARNING. ENGINES OFFLINE. THRUSTERS OFFLINE.

CRITICAL WARNING. OVERSPEED. ALTITUTE. PITCH. PULL UP.

REROUTING POWER TO AUXILIARY SYSTEMS… FAILED.

CRITICAL WARNING. LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS CAPACITY AT 23%.

WARNING. DORSAL CONTROL SYSTEMS COMPROMISED. AUTOPILOT DISCONNECTED. DIVERTING POWER TO ENGINES TO COMPENSATE… FAILED.

The ship was all but dead. What was still functioning was running off batteries and generators. Thankfully, navigation and flight controls were still serviceable. Gritting her teeth, she knew what to do. Summoning up every last bit of energy left in her body, she pumped power back into the failing systems. She shuddered as sparks flew from wires and the console electricity pulsed forward as she worked the main computer, initiating every reset procedure that was in the computer.

ENGINE RESTART PROCEDURE INITATIATED.

WARNING. POWER DRIVE COMPROMISED. SYSTEMS POWER SWITCHED TO AUXILIARY SOURCE.

SYSTEMS POWER AT 15%... 19%... 29%... 45%... PRIMARY FUNCTIONS RESTORED AT AUXILIARY CAPACITY.

PORT ENGINE UNIT 03 OPERATION RESTORED. STARBOARD ENGINE UNIT 08 OPERATION RESTORED.

THRUSTERS ONLINE. EMERGENCY THRUSTERS ENABLED.

Slowly, the systems of the dead ship came back online as the two engines came back online, the airframe of the dying vessel groaning as the thrusters engaged and the engine units spooled up. But only two engines were brought back online, and having already expended much of her energy, Iphie was struggling to keep up. But their fall had indeed been slowed; Iphie could only hope that the falling fortress could splash down gently enough that everybody could walk away from the ship's final landing.
 



"You are right. No needs to deserve to save anyone, but only a select few deserve to take the mantle of saving all. Any paper boy and dive in front of a bullet, but only a certain class of human being has the will and mind to prevent the apocalypse. An imbecile couldn't manage such a task!" Thremont said as he retracted his fist, now smeared with blood and bits of flesh. Tian-Gui's attack, willful as it was, merely cast wind upon his mask as he ducked aside.

"An imbecilic attack like that, is the perfect example," Thremont whispered into Tian-Gui's ear. Before he could even gather breath, the cyborg thrust his fist into the titan's chest, launching him back with enough force to dig rivers of molten steel into the floor. "Or this one..." he said preemptively, reaching up to grab Jin-sun's leg. With a mighty and quick screech, the other cyborg's leg was crushed like a bundle of paper, and summarily tossed beside his half-buried friend.

"Despite all of your determination and exceptional luck, you will learn here that such things do not launch you into eternal victory. What made you think you were the top dogs? Even if you were to fell me here, you cannot fathom the monsters that lie in wait beyond me, lurking upon this world. They wo... would..." Thremont's voice trailed off, and his voice became confused, as if he'd seen a ghost.

For him, the world turned dark. A gentle blackness seeped into the air as if being spit out from an invisible dragon. The Final Five had become frozen, temporally locked in a surreal moment that, even with his power, he could not understand.

"Wh-what is this?" he called out into the emptiness. Slowly, the mist crept around the Final Five, as if tenderly soothing their wounds and guarding them from evil. It was then that he saw it. An ethereal figure, robed in black and white, that had appeared from behind the curtain of alternate reality. Eyes of pure white glared at him like a demon, and he could hold no bravery against them. Something quelled his very will to speak further, try as he might to yell at the being.

Something
Something ineffable
Something pure
and ultimate

It crept around the Final Five invisibly and into their hearts. Wills glowed with a holy rage, and minds were cleared into a serenity like nothing they'd felt before... all at once when the world turned once again. Thremont's dark world disappeared into reality, leaving him standing in awe as to what he had just seen. Paralyzed as the Final Five regained their composure, Thremont could only grasp for straws.

The ship halted, and its circuits surged with a sudden burst of energy. The air sparked with white glints as fragments of reality were turned back to the skies above the ocean. It was like what they had felt on Mars...

Electricity shot through the floor, vaporizing steel as the massive machine could hold Iphie's surge no longer. Excesses struck at everything around them, and orbs of extreme gravity appeared from nothing, eating away at the structure around them. Thremont's attention snapped back, now fathoming what he was up against. Or perhaps, still quite unsure what it all truly was.

He offered no words. There was nothing more to be said, seemingly having now eaten his own speeches. Throwing up his arms, he gathered everything he could possibly muster to the air. An orb of violent red coalesced rapidly, and it was then that the Final Five present could recall what it had reminded them of.

The Abyssal on Mars.

Thremont let out an electronic scream as he threw his arms forward, unleashing certain death upon the two Final Five before him, and presumably, everything within the ship itself.

This was it.
 
If this was what would give him the power to press on.

If all he needed to do in order to attain victory was to reject his mantra of constant training and effort.

If, in order to save the day, the divine intervention of some unknown god was required.

Then Tian Gui cared not if he was but a puppet, a vessel, for this otherworldy might.

Golden blood flowed from the shattered stump of his arm, liquid Flamestone bursting out and encompassing the entire arena. Even as Iphie's overcharge melted steel beams and Runa's spatial distortions sundered the battlefield, Tian Gui's own Flamestone stretched out, a thousand pillars reinforcing the integrity of the battlefield.

The impossible might of the red orb, enough to immolate the surface of the planet, no longer held any precognition of death.

To face the abyssal terror, a hundred pillars rose up around Thremont, piercing into the mighty attack. Red lightning crackled all about, fractures emerging upon the Flamestone surface, but Tian Gui's eyes continued to spark like heavenly wrath, his white mane shining with radiant light.

It was with a whisper, not a bang, that Thremont's greatest attack was nulled, lost in the golden labyrinth.

And from there…

"FINAL RED!"

…the countdown began.
 
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