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And on the hundredth night, you awoke.

"-ost, get up."

Outside, the hollow darkness echoed with the crash of thunder, drowning out the pounding of the waves against the black-sand shore. Your eyes were filmy, because they had been open and unblinking all the while you'd been asleep, staring at the jagged grey iron of the ceiling - The skeletal shape of some ocean-faring leviathan, darkened by rust, cracked open to rot in the sickening light. Not a true shelter - Just a place to cower in, until the flaying winds of the storm passed.

Dark spots flickered inside the panes of your vision, and you tried to blink - Until you realized that they were real, ghostly impressions of bleeding auras and the flash-flicker of static.

"*Please* get up. Get up get up get up-"

It continued to rain, pelting down from above - Eerie light flickering with a phosphorous glow, somewhere impossibly distant yet close. You could hear the faint, serpentine *hiss* of corrosion in the silence that followed, the infernal buzzing, buzzing, buzzing of the devourer swarms...

-And the creaking, moaning howl of the wind.

Four green lights loomed above you, as Fusil's face swam into view - Backlit by the wan emerald illumination, his hand vicing against your shoulder. Too hard: The grasp of someone too frantic to know his own strength.

"-He's gone, he's *gone*, he's gone and I can't find him-"

[ ] "-I don't care."
[ ] "What? That's not possible."
[ ] "It was your turn on watch."
[ ] "Did he *say* anything?"
[ ] "We knew this was coming."
[ ] "You don't think he...?"
[ ] "Let me up. I'll go with you."

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24501118

> My computer suffered a total system crash a few days ago, which means a near-total loss of campaign materials.

Awww shit, it sucks when that happens.

>>24501139

"I'm up. I'm up. What's the situation? Who's gone?"

>>24501202

Yeah, it's even more of a pain if you do a reformat and forget to back up those all important files too.

[X] "Did he *say* anything?"

>>24501139
"Fusil, get a *grip*. What time is it? Where'd you see him last? And stop trying to crack my armor!"

At fucking last, backstory!

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> "I'm up. I'm up. What's the situation? Who's gone?"
> "Fusil, get a *grip*. What time is it? Where'd you see him last? And stop trying to crack my armor!"

He jerked, as if slapped.

The hand fell away, servoes humming sedately as Fusil's head swung to the side. It was his turn on watch, you remember - His. The words hung in the air, unspoken - Unspoken, but accusing all the same. Fusil carried his own illumination with him; The sickly emerald glow of his asymnetrical eye-lens, flickering in time to his agitation.

He didn't look at you, not directly. The pointed tips of his gauntlet clawed narrow, parallel furrows in the earth, streaking through the black sand.

"-Sable," he said, in that low whine of his. "I just closed my- And he wasn't there. He's not *here*, and there's a storm outside-"

You felt the beginnings of a phantom ache between your eyes, a pain so remote, so unfair, it made you draw a breath you didn't need. It was something in his voice, you would think later - Something needy, raw, something that scrapes your nerves raw, like fingernails on a chalkboard. It was the way he talked at you, rather than *to* you - The way Fuesil kept looking away with a quiet sulleness, preferring to address the empty night.

Fuesil, you realized - with a dull twinge - hates you.

He hates you, because he's forgotten the world outside.

> [X] "Did he *say* anything?"

"The same thing he always says-"

I'm thirsty.

And then there was that hideous, bubbling scream - The high shriek that rose, wavering, a howl of ultimate and transcendent agony. Monotone, somehow, without air to drive it; Like a siren, adding to the shriek of the knife-edged winds, a new note in the howling chorus.

By the time you found him, it was already too late.

(Continued)

>>24501633

The acid waters lapped against the shore of black sand, with a weird sucking hiss - Tendrils of smoke rising from where they met, a surreal haze hanging in the air. He'd waded out, one step at a time; The skeletal fingers of his hands clutched together, trying to cup the waters - To bring a mouthful to his helm. But then he'd wandered further, in a hunching motion, straining to reach...

He was still walking forward, even as his armor boiled away. Reaching out, towards something only he could see in the distance. That stick-thin figure in the distance, receding to nothing; Eaten away, a little bit at a time, yet still trudging on.

At last, mercifully, when the dissolving humors rushed in through the rents, he sank forward - With as little fuss as a child going to sleep. His olive-and-drab form lingered for a moment longer, as his voiceless shriek bubbled away to nothing...And then vanished beneath the churning waves.

[ ] "Well. That's that, then."
[ ] "-I'm sorry, Fuesil."
[ ] "Sable, you STUPID BASTARD-"
[ ] "Why didn't you stop him?"
[ ] "Come on. They'd have heard - We need to keep moving."

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24501747

Holy shit. We were right, this was basically hell.

>>24501747

>[ ] "Come on. They'd have heard - We need to keep moving."

Wow, that guy was a fucktard. Where the hell are we, anyway?

>>24501747

"He's gone Fusil. Whatever it was that took him, be it his own delusions or something more, we gotta get out of here."

>>24501854

Our trial by fire pretty much. Backstory time.

>>24501747
>[ ] "Come on. They'd have heard - We need to keep moving."
Well, nothing we can do for him now. Time to worry about making sure the people that are still alive stay that way...

And besides, better he lost his wits now rather than Sable deciding to take an acid bath during his own turn on watch, leaving the rest of us unguarded.

That said, is it just the two of us now?

>>24501747
"That stupid bastard couldn't have just gone and gotten himself killed alone, he had to bring all of us with him. Just for a drink of acid. At least he choked on it. Come on, if we're lucky we've still got time to lay down a false trail."

I was looking for a picture from Now and Then Here and There to add to this, but I couldn't find one I liked. Just imagine it's here. It's very appropriate.

>>24501854
This is our third consecutive month in the Red World. Seems like "six years ago" we got stuck on the other side. It also seems like at least one person lost most of his memories of the real world after being here long enough.

> [X] "He's gone Fusil. Whatever it was that took him, be it his own delusions or something more, we gotta get out of here."

"You-"

For a moment, he tensed. For an instant, he made a fist, blue pilot flames guttering to life.

Then he breathed out, with a staticky snarl, and the world kept turning.

"-You're right."

Even that, he said sullenly - begrudging, as if this was all your fault somehow. There was a core of resentment in him, rusted and grinding; A sense of being put-upon, of being wronged by the world, that flared at uneven intervals.

More and more often, now.

> That said, is it just the two of us now?

If he hadn't been the only other person you'd met, somewhere in the long, dark night - With Sable trailing along, his head down, mouthing the same phrase again and again like a broken toy - you'd have...

-You didn't like to think about it, because it could still happen.

> [X] "Come on. They'd have heard - We need to keep moving."
>>24502015

Rain tapped against your grey armor, as the iron bones of the leviathan started to rattle and fidget. It was reacting to something - And you'd learnt, through bitter experience, that it was only sensitive to things without human names.

Fusil stared at you, for a long time, as you began to trudge away. The wind was picking up, and you couldn't remain in the open for long, red warning runes crawling up the edge of your vision. Renewal was still a long time away, and there was only one direction to go:

Onward.

After a while, you heard the heavy grind of his tread, as he began to follow.

Later, you wondered if you should have left him *then*, on the shores of the acid ocean - When, an eternity later...

[ ] ...He left you to die.
[ ] ...He walked out into the ocean, too.
[ ] ...You had to kill him.
[ ] ...He fell behind.
[ ] ...You couldn't stand him a moment longer.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24502174
>rusted
Combine this with apparent mental degeneration and a certain Kaiser's hatred for us? Perfect paranoia fuel. I'm going to have to go with [x]We left HIM to die, with the understanding that it happened immediately after an argument where both sides swore undying loathing for each other, and he would have done the same to us.

>>24502174
>[ ] ...He left you to die.
This seems like the most likely, considering how very resentful he seems.

And in fact, I'm kind of in favor of having him not die since I'm hoping he turns out to be Rust Kaiser; having lost all semblance of humanity wandering around the Red World for just as long as we had, his physical body corroding from the acid much the same way his mind did from the solitude.

That, and Rust Kaiser's physical description mentioning that he's "A Player formed entirely of pitted black iron, with mismatched helmet lens."

That, with the "The sickly emerald glow of his asymnetrical eye-lens, flickering in time to his agitation." is just too accurate.

>>24502301
Well, hey, I'm not the only one who had that feeling.

>>24502301
>>24502339

You don't even remember when it was. Endless nights over an endless plain of black sand, the drone of active armor filling the void. The process of advance became mechanical, almost trance-like. There was no guiding narrative, no strategic detail; You simply moved forward, step by trudging step by step, and every now and again you stopped to rest.

It became easier, when you realized you didn't need to sleep. Your vision had condensed to one dull, blood-tipped point within you - The next step, and the next, and the next-

Fuesil made it harder. He would talk, to fill the silence; That wheedling, whining voice slowly growing hoarser with each Renewal, his shoulders - Broad and tusked, speaking of monstrous, inhuman strength - slumped. Each time the great wave swept over you, with the spasms and the convulsions that followed, he would flinch away. At first, you'd tried to count how long you'd spent, down here in the dark...But later, you decided - In a world with neither day or night - what was the point?

You'd have told him what an idiot he was, but your voice was wedged up inside you like a jammed round, unable to clear.

The end came when you were crossing the obsidian glaciers, cracking spiderwebbing out from where you put your feet. The slow, treacherous crackle of the stone beneath you was a cunning thing - It played tricks on the mind, made your weight shift, so the slightest slip meant oblivion.

"I can't," Fuesil said, with each step. "I can't."

"-I can't, I can't, I *can't*-"

When it came for you, you didn't really see it. You glimpsed the tusk-like horns, the massive, quasi-humanoid shape, the back-jointed legs and a mouth full of ragged teeth inside a mouth full of ragged teeth inside a gaping, fang-fringed
maw. You glimpsed the round, black, glossy eyes-

The earth shattered beneath it, and sanity fell through the cracks.

> "You bastard! You bastard! Help me - Help me - *Help* me-"

And you-

(Continued)

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>>24502707

"Anon - Anon-kun!"

You start. There's a bitter taste in your mouth, like iron and memory - Against your knee, your fingers have began to twitch. The habits of a lifetime die hard, especially when you remember. It's always the long drop, the long drop into the bowels of hell-

"Anon...Are you all right?"

You exhale. The fading sun gleams on the polished wood of the table, sleeting in through the windows - The horizon turning red, as evening descends. It's getting dark earlier, these days - Sliding into real winter, now. It looks to be a cold one, too.

The Cafe 'Seventh Mist' is an 'after-school cafe'...One of the places situated near a transport hub - The rattle of the rails smothered by the double-glazed walls. It usually does a brisk business, through dint of convenience: It's spacious, with well-padded seats and plenty of room to stretch your legs...And it does a fine line of desserts, making it a popular place to - Well, not hang out. 'Rest', maybe.

Natsumi sighs, softly, though her gaze is warm - "...Really, you were absolutely spacing out," she comments - Her smile wavers, though, as she senses something in your expression; Something that makes her brow furrow, her head canting slightly to the side as she regards you.

You blink, and bring yourself back to the here and now. This is reality, solid and reassuring: Sometimes, it's hard for you to tell.

> "-I just wanted to know...How did - You know, *it* - feel, the first time~?"

That was the question she'd asked, lightly - Curiosity, and a little trepidation, in her eyes. For a moment, you thought she was talking about Mio...But from the hushed way she said it, the way she looked down at the polished tabletop, you knew she meant something else entirely.

[ ] "-I don't remember."
[ ] "It was horrible beyond belief."
[ ] "I'd rather not say."
[ ] "It could have been worse."
[ ] "It was a long time ago."
[ ] "...I should be asking you that."
[ ] "Does it matter?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24502339
Your reason's better. Mine was just "Hey, that's a trope we haven't used yet, and here's one significant word. Let's do it."

>>24502863
"I don't remember. It was one thing after another and when I had enough space to think about what had happened it was done."

Awful empty in here. Slow /tg/ night?

>>24502863

Oh boy. We've really seen some serious shit, haven't we?

> [X] "It could have been worse."

No need to scare her.

>>24502863
>[ ] "It was a long time ago."
"It's almost hard to remind myself that there ever WAS a first time at this point."

"...but I can say for sure that things are definitely better now than they were then."

>>24502863

"It was a riot! I felt like I was Superman or Batman is probably what you want me to say, right?"

"How it felt the first time... how it felt the first time? Well, you ever have one of those nightmares that seem all too real and you can't wake up no matter how hard you bite the inside of your cheek? Now, imagine realizing after an extended amount of time that you realize you don't need to sleep. That little reprieve you thought you were enjoying inbetween the 'waking' and the 'sleeping' nightmare? Totally a sanity buster up until the point when you finally manage to Log Out or however."

"So, how was *yours*. It can't be as melodramatic as mine with all the running and the terror."

>>24502948

"-That's..." Natsumi begins - She nods, in understanding, a wan smile flitting over her lips. "...That's how it was for me, too. I just - I didn't know what was happening, what I'd done, until it was all over."

>>24503044

It's not *that* funny, but Natsumi laughs all the same - A laugh that says she doesn't quite understand. Not entirely, anyway. All the same, she sips her tea; Looking out the window, at the blurred forms of people passing by. "It is," she says, softly; "...It's hard to believe - They rebuilt all this in six years..."

She tenses, guiltily, as if she's been caught out. It's strange, how it's become something like an unspoken taboo - No-one likes to talk about it. It's easier to pretend that it never happened, to move on. Even the deep, riven scars in the city have been built over with concrete and rebar; New skyscrapers sprouting over the ruins of the old, as if desperate to erase the harm that was done.

(There are places beneath the metropolis, where the lightless streets have folded into one another.)

"-It's important to me, you know~?" Natsumi offers, in answer. "I want...I want things to stay like this. If there's any way I can *help* keep it peaceful..." Her voice trails off, the rest unspoken - But you can see the flicker of conviction in her eyes.

It's a thing about Natsumi that never fails to surprise you; When there's something she believes in, she holds to it - She's one of the rare few who can give something her full attention, without losing her focus or backsliding - It's almost incredible, really.

Maybe that's why Kazuya likes her so much.

>>24503087

Yes.

The thing about nightmares - The very last thing is, sooner or later, they end. When you wake up, it's over - When you wake up, there's a rush of relief.

What you lived through was non-stop, unending.

(Continued)

You didn't need to eat. You didn't need to sleep. You didn't need to *breathe*. Players went mad, in sickly green night-vision: Roaming, terrified and deadly, through the dark. The explosions of violence that came, whenever two living things encountered each other in all that blackness, were bloody in the way that happens only out of despairing madness and desperate self-preservation.

Imagine your worst nightmare, then scream as loud as you can.

You make yourself breathe out. Drink. Swallow, the warmth spreading through your chest.

When you emerged, blinded by your return to the world, it took you six weeks to get used to eating again.

> "So, how was *yours*. It can't be as melodramatic as mine with all the running and the terror."

Natsumi's silent, for a long while - Receding into herself. At last, her slim fingers brush her red hair back from her eyes - A soft hiss of breath from between her lips, her voice faraway.

"-It was three years ago," she admits. "At first, I didn't know what had happened - Where I was. How could I?"

"...I kept calling for someone - Anyone - to help me; I was lost, walking in circles, until..."

There's a catch to her voice.

"...Until I met Him. Imagine that - A silver figure, in the middle of a bad dream. The only *real* thing I'd seen, so far: I didn't know what he was, but then he said-"

"'Don't be afraid'."

Natsumi seems to think this over - "Isn't it funny? I could have been anyone - An enemy, or one of the...*bad* ones - But the first thing he told me was: 'Don't be afraid.'"

She smiles, a small, embarassed smile. "...That's it, really. And, well, you know the rest."

[ ] "...And that's how you met Argent Prominence."
[ ] "-why didn't you tell someone?"
[ ] "I didn't know."
[ ] "It must have been hard."
[ ] "That's...Quite a story."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24503555
"I like Argent, he's a nice guy. One of the few people who hasn't tried to stab me after meeting me. He's got a sense of gravitas and honor, I can see why people follow him.

Everyone deserves someone to be there for them when they get there."

>>24503555

I just got it. We're not like the other players, are we? Natsumi certainly didn't go through as much trauma as we did. We were a player for six years, she's been one for half that time.

>>24503555
[X] "-why didn't you tell someone?"

>>24503555

"Hah. Love at first sight, eh?"

"Yeah.. I can see that. He's not all that bad. He made me a bitchin' shield that saved my life. I'd stick my neck out for him if some other Players decide to off him. Again."

>>24503631
>I just got it. We're not like the other players, are we?
Well yeah.
>We were a player for six years
...give or take A HUNDRED, mentally, on our way to inheriting the mantle of Red Joker.

>>24503555
>[ ] Free
"It's funny, you know. All this time, and neither of us had even considered telling the other how deep we were into this. Just too hard to believe without having experienced it firsthand, I guess."

>>24503555
"I imagine there's more to it than that. You don't get to be the number 2 of an organization like his by meeting the boss in the wilderness.

"Did you ever think about following in his footsteps more directly? Relic creation I mean. Or is that his personal thing?"

Is Argent associated with Pentacles or Wands? I'm guessing the former since it's also called Coins, and so I'm going to assume that his place in the finals was secured either through exploration or item creation.

> "Hah. Love at first sight, eh?"

A flush blooms in Natsumi's cheeks - "Anon! It's not like *that*," she says; She knows you're teasing her, but she colors anyway.

>>24503611
> "Yeah.. I can see that. He's not all that bad. He made me a bitchin' shield that saved my life. I'd stick my neck out for him if some other Players decide to off him. Again."

"He's always been like that." Natsumi turns her attention back to the slices of marble cake: There's a soft *chink* as she spears one with her fork, dabbing it in the swirl of ice-cream at the side of her plate.

"...You know," she goes on, softly: "He made all of it. Cyph - My spear, the sword...He didn't have to, but he made them for me anyway."

>>24503840

"Well," Natsumi says - A little shy, now, though she brushes it away with a wave of her hand. "...As I said - The rest is boring." Maybe there's something dubious in your expression, because she chuckles, softly - "Really, it is. You don't want to hear about it."

> "Did you ever think about following in his footsteps more directly? Relic creation I mean."

"-I wouldn't know where to *start*," she admits, frankly. "It's complicated - Even now, I have no idea how he does it." Natsumi purses her lips, thoughtfully - "...It's like you say. It's his 'personal thing'. Maybe you could ask him..."

>>24503811
>>24503723

Silence. Natsumi's brow furrows, slightly, as if with remembered pain.

(Continued)

"-I didn't..." she begins, and draws a slow breath. "...I didn't want them to think I was *crazy*." It's a shallow sound, her voice small - "I thought - I wasn't sure if it was real. That all this was actually happening. I kept hoping, one day, I wouldn't see it any more - And I could forget all about it."

She clasps her hands in her lap, her head down.

Then, in a small voice:

"B-before...I wanted - That is, I was thinking about - I wanted to tell you." The admission costs her, you can tell; Natsumi's eyes are moist, and suddenly - It's hard to meet her gaze.

"...If I told you - I thought you might *understand*." She forces a little smile. "-Strange how things work out, isn't it?"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24504052
"I know how it is, it's huge, but you don't want to tell anyone about it, they'd either think you mad, or you'd drag them into it, and you don't want either of those, you just want to live like a human being again. Not always running, hiding, and killing.

But it is a bit of a comfort to know someone who's going through the same sort of thing. Makes you feel less alone.

Though I have to say, I didn't expect you to be Chrome, or maybe I already figured it out and just didn't want it to be true. I can't tell anymore."

>>24502707

Wow. At some point, this story went into full-out survival horror. Jesus christ, everything about that is terrifying.

>>24504052
>"-Strange how things work out, isn't it?"
",,,A little. But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what to think of coincidences anymore, not with how things have turned out lately.

"Natsumi, have you wondered what this is all for? The entire contest; the armor, the killing, the items... We might have wound up playing these characters, but why are they here at all?"

>>24504052

"Oh, I'd understand. I'd figure you'd had a bad dream and needed somebody to talk to, but actually believing you fight in a parallel world for your life? That would be pushing it even for me if I had not... experienced it for myself."

>>24504160

I love how, as the backstory unfolds, we increasingly come to understand how fucked-up Anon is.

>>24504286
I've had this theory rolling around in the back of my head for a while now that Black Joker, Pazuzu and the like are partitions of our psyche we've jettisoned off to cope with all the fucking trauma we've gained from being in the red world.

>>24504389

We've achieved Chim? That is far more terrifying than anything so far.

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>>24504203

Natsumi shakes her head. "I don't like thinking about it," she admits. "...It makes me feel-" Her sleek throat works, and she swallows. "-It makes me feel small. Small, and frightened."

>>24504146
>>24504245

"...It's easier. Not knowing, that is." There's a quiet sadness to her voice, now; "When there's something we don't *want to se-"

The world flickers, and sways. Reality lurches sideways, as colors you cannot name claw at the edge of your vision.

There's a *crash*, as Natsumi's cup slips from her fingers. In the warm light of the lamps, she puts a hand to her head, and sways - As you taste a smoky, rusty tang in your mouth-

"Oh, no-" she says, looking up into your eyes - A frightened, horrified look on her face. "Can you feel that? Did you not just *feel* tha-"

And then there's a blinding flash, like a star going nova. Then the sound hits you, like a sledgehammer - A noise that hurts you, that bruises you deep in your chest. The side of a building expands outwards, instantly replaced by a propagating mushroom cloud of overlapping, expanding fireballs that consume the entire sky.

Glittering shards of glass rain down like hail - The twilight flushing orange, the evening shadows stretching long and malevolent...Before the fastest wind hits, hot, like a furnace gale, as fire blooms inside fire.

And then you're on the floor. Your ears are ringing, the table flipped on it's side - Sounds distorted, echoing, the view before your eyes a chaotic blur; Above and to the side, through the windows, light ebbs and flows, as the firestorm blossoms outwards - Cracks spiderwebbing through the glass-

[ ] Orientate yourself.
[ ] Stay down.
[ ] Look for Natsumi.
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24504640
[X] Look for Natsumi.
[X] Free
If glass is falling we need to get under cover, the table could do. Also, transform

>>24504640
[X] Look for Natsumi.

And try to get to something resembling cover.

>>24504640
[Look for Natsumi]

>>24504640
>[ ] Stay down.
Get the flipped table between us and the glass. Make sure we're not going to get filled with shrapnel if there are more explosions incoming. Then (or even while doing so, in case she's nearby and we can get her behind cover as well)
>[ ] Look for Natsumi.
We can't make sure our friend is alright if WE'RE incapacitated, so no sense in running headlong into danger until we can see where she is.

>>24504786
Not sure how I feel about transforming until we get a better grip on what's going on.

>>24504640

Fuck, what now?

> [X] Look for Natsumi.
> [X] Stay down.

Transform as soon as we get a grip on things.

>>24504640

Again with the interrupting. Are these cafes cursed to always explode or have people spontaneously combust in them?

Hit the deck and get under the table before the glass pincushions us. Then look for Nat.

For one blank moment, you're not sure where - When - you are. You're not quite sure how you've been hit, but the impact has rattled your brain inside your skull. You're face-down, concussed and dazed and vulnerable-

Outside, you can hear the lacerating rain splinter against the street - A shower of jewelled fragments spilling out from the roiling fireballs, a razor-tipped wave born by the crest of the blast.

> [X] Stay down.

Stay down, you think - Which is good, because you're not sure you could stand. Dimly, you aware that you're safer *here* - That the echoes of the roar are dying away, the light fading as the stench of smoke reaches tendrils through the cracked glass...

-And with it, the first screams.

> [X] Look for Natsumi.

Where is -

You look around, trying to make sense of the confusion. Outside, it's a confused turmoil, pandemonium - Here, the sounds are strangely muted; The place has emptied out all of a sudden, a few legs scurrying past your field of vision...

-Natsumi's down, too. Her face is grey, unhealthy - She's slid down, her back to the wall, her eyes so very wide, the pupils dilated; There's an expression of almost painful shock etched on her face, a faint dribble of red from where she's gashed her hand on a fallen shard...

Then the tides of the Red World rolls in, and you slip into it as you draw your next breath.

(Continued)

>>24505105

STAGE: DIS

You're standing. You're *standing* on a flint road, the alkaline wind rattling against your crimson armor, with little skitterings of blown grit. Around you, the rusted iron buildings of the red city - Towering and cyclopean - still stand as silent as titanic stakes driving into the unyielding ground.

There's a reflection of the real street, outside; The road you stand on is overshadowed by winding rails framed by skeletal steel ribs, supporting pillars forming criss-crossing shadows that stretch out around you. Overhead, you can hear the distorted hum of a train rumbling past...

In front of you, all you see is fire. Here, the holocaust cloud continues to burn, greedy, flickering tendrils of luminsence spreading to utterly consume the structure before you: Great chunks of iron have sloughed off, as it continues to collapse upon itself, groaning as it dies-

Servoes thrum louder nearby, a shadow dancing at the edge of your vision. When you turn your head, the firelight flickers off Chrome Cypher's armor - The cross-blade of his great spear already in hand, the flight pack at his back pulsing with fitful force.

"-What is that?" Cypher says - All emotion filtered from his words. "What *is* that?"

HP: 130.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 150%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 150%
METER: 12%

TIER ONE WEAPONRY UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24505229
"It looks like a fire to me. As for why there's a fire I have no idea.

Can't even have a peaceful meal anymore."

>>24505229

"It's a fire, Cypher. Now get your head in the game and be on the lookout for other Players. Something is going down here. And it is most certainly not friendly."

"Let's take the high ground, see if we can make heads or tails of what is happening."

Get the Tau gun out while we're at it.

>>24505229
Power up the scrander and check the areas not consumed by fire. Maybe there's something we can save or salvage?

>Her face is grey, unhealthy - She's slid down, her back to the wall, her eyes so very wide, the pupils dilated; There's an expression of almost painful shock etched on her face
Jeez, so this is how we look to people when we're inside, doing Red World things? That's not exactly comforting.

>>24505273
>alkaline wind
>little skitterings of blown grit
>rusted iron buildings
>Great chunks of iron have sloughed off, as it continues to collapse upon itself, groaning as it dies-
We definitely have a good idea of WHO'S to blame, at least.

And we should probably explain who we think we're up against in a little better detail so Chrome Cypher doesn't think it's a great idea to just rely completely on the flight pack to get from place to place.

And maybe express a bit of concern that this guy isn't actually dead even though we literally erased the Spire from existence with him inside it.

>>24505229
Oh god I know what's going on.
Argent told me he built this place with his bare hands, if it's being attacked...
They've come to hunt him.

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>>24505385

Yeah, I thought that too. If he lived through THAT though... god help us. He has Amuro Ray levels of plot armor.

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>>24505434

> "It looks like a fire to me. As for why there's a fire I have no idea.

He makes a low, crackling sound that could be irritation or laughter. "-Look. It started *here* - But it's burning outside. Burning in both worlds at once."

He's right. The flames are chewing through cast-iron, as if fuelled by some unknown source - They make the metal run like wax beneath a blowtorch, curving back upon themselves for maximum destruction. It spews from a jagged gash in the side of the tower, where the initial detonation occurred - Continuing to spread, to burn, from the point of impact.

>>24505273
>>24505301

Cypher nods - The hum of his flight pack rising to a roar, streamers of superheated air oozing from his back in shimmering ribbons. A single bound, and he's aloft - Even as you echo the gesture, red particles fuming from the Tempest Scrander's turbines as you take to the air.

> Get the Tau gun out while we're at it.

The schematics sketch themselves into existence, in stark lines - Gaining color, solidity as the reassuring weight of the weapon encases your gauntlet, the gravitic suspensors purring softly as the world blurs past. Blue telltales wink to life from where the grip meets the charging element in your fists - Armored sheaths still encasing your forearm Vulcans.

"-There-"

You hear the edge in Cypher's voice as he hovers, laboring to stay in the air. A figure forges it's way through the inferno, one step at a time, flames licking at it's heels...

-For an instant, the broad-shouldered form seems almost familiar...Until the light glints in a certain way, off burnished, sloping plate, chains clinking lightly with each step-

...It's not Rust Kaiser.

(Continued)

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>>24505628

Below, the figure looks up - The oversized gauntlet of his left hand raised, like a man shielding his gaze from the sun. You make out a green glow cupped in his palm, a second neon sphere over his heart-

Then, as if at that gesture, the choking smog whirls up around him, a momentary visual barrier that shrouds him from view.

Cypher's flight pack sputters, as he descends through the smoke without a word; Vanishing into the miasma and flames below, the photonic glow of his spear trailing after him.

But for a moment - In the beginnings of a target lock - you caught the word:

ENFER.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24505667
Fuck, fuckity fuck fuck. Damn smokescreen.

Follow behind Chrome, get to a place where we can see Enfer, once we have a good solid shot on him hit him with EXEC_HARROW, try not to die in the process.

Once he's tagged we can keep our distance above and fill him with plasma, but we need to get this one hit in.

>>24505667

>enfer

So he's a fire-type Pokemon. Gotcha.

Going after Chrome is a shitty idea. (S)he can take care of himself momentarily at the moment.

Run overwatch. See if Enfer pops up amongst the shit he's stirred up.

>>24505667

I have to say, that armor is fucking cool.

Look at it! LOOK AT IT! God damn, that's awesome!

>>24505726
Seconding landing HARROW as a good use of our resources, especially if smokescreen tactics are going to be part of Enfer's main combat gameplan.

>>24505667
Combo time, ending this before it has time to start:

Back up a few steps and take a running jump at the figure, scrander crash him from above.
The moment you impact him engage the assault shroud's fortress mode covering the both of you.
Now that you're face to face and he has nowhere to run EXEC_HARROW point blank to his chest.
Finish with a cobalt boosted tau gun shot.

Don't give this fucker any time to pull shit.

>>24505816

That's really jumping the gun quite a bit.

I second the use of Harrow as soon as we touch down, however.

>>24505816
>>24505851
As an addendum- use the Tyrant eye flash to blow away his smokescreen while we're flying. NO ESCAPE.

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>>24505892

The Tempest Scrander growls, as you descend from the burning sky: It sucks in the fume-laden air and breathes it out as blue flame, as ashes and soot dusts your armor. The firestorm beneath gutters - If you turn your head to the side, you can almost hear the sounds of screaming and panic as your optic sensors dim to near-blackness...

-Reality is thinner here, you realize. Something has worn away the barrier, allowing the flames to *be*. The choking realness of the smoke fuzzes your senses, in a swirl of visual disorientation - But just as you're nearly through, you glimpse the bright flare of sparks, the clash of metal-

A second, briefer explosion - A blinding flash - whips the smog away, as you hit the ground in a perfect landing; The ground is cracked, splinters rippling away from the point of impact as you rise from your crouch...

And Chrome Cypher slams down - Picked up and *thrown* by some terrible impact - next to you. Flickering webs of occluded energies dance over his silver plate - His left leg ends beneath the knee, right arm snapped off like a twig, as smoke coils from his joints.

A buzzing static-rattle rises from his throat.

>>24505726
>>24505851
>>24505816
>>24505787

All of this happens in moments. The space of a few moments. Your free hand comes up, even as you're rising - Streamers of unknowable, alien letters flit across your vision, as the codeburst blasts out from you; It trails light in its wake, spiralling outwards towards the fire-lit figure...

-And Enfer convulses, suddenly, as he's struck. He sways back, slightly, his posture betraying mild surprise, then confusion; Then stiffens, in realization, his armour clanking as he turns towards you.

(Continued)

>>24505971

"...The *Red Joker*." His voice is hoarse, raspy, like a thousand-year smoker. There's a crackle in it, that reminds you of wood catching light, bursting into flame.

Your icon smoulders on his shoulder, as he lifts and turns his left arm with a kind of dull surprise, the light in his palm reduced to fitful embers.

Enfer exhales, suddenly, his breath distorted into a growl - Still bleeding light, unaware or uncaring that he's lit up like a beacon on your target sensors, the lock tone chiming in his ears.

"-And quicker on the draw, too. Well, guess it had to happen sometime."

There's a scar that bisects his left optic lens, even as his helmeted head nods towards Cypher, with a slope-shouldered weariness.

"Friend of yours?"

>>24505892

(A minor thing - That's light. It wouldn't actually blow away the smokescreen; It doesn't have any mass. It's like a camera flash.)

HP: 130.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 100%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 145%
METER: 16%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

Don't do this. I've got a hunch about who put you up to this and why, but don't... Please. Even if it's me you want, we can finish this somewhere else.

>>24506042

"Acquaintance. Lover. Enemy.... Prey. It doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you stop fucking with reality. I was enjoying breakfast before this. Cake too. It was quite good until the windows exploded."

>>24506042
"Not particularly, acquaintance of mine, we happen to kill the same things from time to time. You have no idea how uncommon it is to find someone smart enough to not try and fight me."

Open fire on him, start with the Tau Gun, but if that ends up being ineffective we'll switch back to Vulcans.

Take to the air, drag his attention away from Chrome, give Chrome a chance to crawl away from this and get her act together. Don't worry about his smoke screens and so on, we have perma-lock on the chucklefuck.

Ignore the "friend of yours?" remark until we know a little more. No sense in giving him any sort of tactical advantage by confirming even if he pretty much already figured it out.

If he goes for the typical badguy trope of attacking the protagonist's ally to try and catch him out rather than fighting head on, we can deploy the assault shroud to intercept, but better to keep the focus on the two of us for now.

>>24506042
>Well, guess it had to happen sometime.
"You act like it was inevitable we were going to have to fight like this... but believe me, despite any rumors to the contrary, there are DEFINITELY more people out there I haven't had to beat up than those I have."

"Unless you've been doing something that deserves my attention... like, for example..."

Gesture around at the fire. "You realize what this is doing out there, right?"

>"-And quicker on the draw, too."
"and wait ...quicker than what, exactly?"

>>24506058
>>24506049

"Sorry about that, hoss. A job's a job, you know?" Enfer wags his head, in a gear-grinding parody of sagely advice. "-No offense, but I got a good thing going here. To make one man's day, you have to ruin another's...Or so it goes."

>>24506116

The telltale light in his palm is strobing green, now, as he flexes his fingers, shifting his stance slightly. "Oh, it's all about *you*, isn't it?" Enfer snorts, in the same gravelly voice. "-Listen here...I'd ask you to turn a blind eye, but you don't look like the understanding type."

> "You realize what this is doing out there, right?"

He chuckles, the clunking echoes rising over the fire as he turns to address you. "-And ain't it a beautiful thing?"

"-Fire's half-in, half-out, anyway: Seems rude to keep it all on this side." There's a mounting assurance in his voice, almost an admiration. "It's a real shame to miss the show, but what do I know? I was just here to send a message."

> "And wait ...quicker than what, exactly?"

"Well. Quicker than the boss, of cou-"

>>24506079

You think that he's honestly surprised, when you shoot him in the chest. The motion is a fluid one; You level the Tau Gun and wrench both triggers, the designator beam scorching across his brass plate with a rising *hiss* - He's caught in the act of turning, as the antimatter projectile streaks across the distance a fraction of a second later...

-His shoulder explodes. *Literally* explodes; The armor plating over one pauldron comes to pieces, and fills the air with a hail of sharpnel and flechettes as he staggers to side, as if he's been kicked by a bull: The shot could've taken off his entire right arm, but it seems that his shielding took the brunt of the blast-

"SON OF A BITCH!" Enfer's voice rises over the shattering detonation - "THAT *STINGS*!"

(Continued)

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(Apologies, lost the connection.)

>>24506256

And then the ground beneath you explodes.

There's no warning whatsoever - One moment you're standing still, and the next, you vanish in a volcano of fire and exploded earth. It's so unexpected, that the blast kicks up into the air for one blind, tumbling moment - Until you thump back down so hard your optical sensors short out for a moment, your armor sleeve buckling; It's more jarring than painful, and you can hear the Tau Gun cycling as you bring it up again-

Enfer's on the move. His helmet vanishes beneath new layers of ceramite, sliding into place - His arms and legs pumping, as he breaks into a sprint, running lateral to you. The flames twist away from his breakneck rush - He's dashing for the cover of the monorail pillars, to break your line of sight-

He clicks something in his left hand, and - Thirty feet away - the ground goes up in a mushroom cloud, showering you with grit. Debris zings past you, clattering on your armor; Chrome Cypher, flipped by the blast, rolls over - His voxponder crackling to life.

"-Mined...He's mined the *entire place*-"

But that can't be possible. Your sensors should have detected it. There was nothing, noth-

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Your head snaps up, at the shout - You hear the whirring of rotors, as a half-dozen spherical drones - Each one suspended on helicopter blades - descends towards you position. Every one trails sparks, tumbling slightly as they descend: You can make out digital telltales on each one, counting down from four, three, two-

HP: 117.2%
COBALT BOOSTER: 100%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 133%
METER: 22%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24506342

That's not fire powers! That's not fire powers at all!

>>24506342
Okay, let's wreck this chump.

First, let loose Interceptor Bits, we need some serious point defense and that's exactly what they were built to do. At least 3, have them prioritize dealing with bomb drones and any other point defensible attacks he makes.

In addition turn on the Assault Shroud Afterimages, we want to screw with his targetting as much as possible.

Take to the air with the Scrander, the ground is on fire and is mined, the air has his flying bombs but we can cope with those and defend against them.

And as always keep on firing. If it looks like his rate of movement and cover will make hitting with the Tau Gun difficult switch to the Vulcans and keep him pinned under

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>>24506342

HE HAS FUCKING HOMING/PROXIMITY BiMS.

Whomever was the chucklefuck who wanted to attack was retarded.

Launch our Interceptors to cover us from the BiMRush, Dump the Cobalt Booster into the Tau to get it up *right fucking now*. Aim for center of mass. We need to get him before he hits the pillars. That is going to be an absolute nightmare.

>>24506342

Oh, I get it now. He's not a fire pokemon...

HE'S BOMBERMAN

>>24506384
Gah, submitted too early.

keep him pinned under a hail of fire. I think Harrow would still be attached to him so we don't have to worry much about keeping line of sight, just line of effect.

>>24506390
Would suggest not dumping ALL the Cobalt Booster; saving 75% for EXEC_DISRUPT completely disables his mines temporarily, which means we can close the distance with absolutely no risk regardless of how many mines he's set up, and also allows Chrome Cypher some time to get out of the immediate danger area without getting blown into even smaller pieces.

This said, Tau gun doesn't seem like the best main weapon to use while our target is actively running from us; it's better on stationary or low-mobility targets (though this might just be because I'm underestimating how its tracer beam mechanic interacts with the EXEC_HARROW lock-on.)

The Interceptors fan out from you, at a thought - They're already firing as they deploy, their particle beams slicing the air in a web of light. They pluck one, two, *three* of the whirring drones from the air; Even as humming blue light floods your Tau Gun's coils. They're too small to make a good target - But the scything sweep of the tracing beam scorches through one, making it veer wildly to the side...

-It crashes into another, and they detonate prematurely; The sudden concussion almost blasting you from your feet.

The last one ploughs into the ground and explodes, just as you take to the air. The payload expands in a halo of tiny metal balls, dozens of tiny impacts stippling your leg armor - The crimson plate marred by a thousand thousand scratches, though none of them penetrate.

As you rise over the moiling smoke and fire, swinging around to cut off Enfer's escape - Not hard, because you can see where he's going - he skids to a stop with a strangled yell; For someone on foot, he's surprisingly fast-

You fire simultaneously. He brings his oversized left arm back, then forward, like a man throwing a fastball; With your afterimages shimmering around you, he has to guess - And he guesses wrong. The pulse orb crackles as it flies past you, beginning to tumble; It slams into the rail overhead, and explodes with the force of a miniature sun.

Your Assault Shroud bursts into flame. The entire thing catches fire, scads of burning material billowing around you like the leaves of a book - You get your hand on it, and rip off the smoldering portion before it spreads, but tiny embers continue to lick away at the nanofiber.

The heat - The nova-flare of the plasma explosion - It buffets you with a hot, hard *push* as the particle beam of your Tau Gun slices a curving trail across the cobbles; You wrench the trigger, and...

-Miss. But it's a close one.

(Continued)

Behind you, a massive, perfectly spherical bite has been chewed from the tracks above: Still smoldering at the edges, as if it'd been wiped away with a single sweep of an eraser. *That*, you realize*, was the attack he used on Chrome Cypher...

Enfer throws his arms up - You think you hear him yell something as everything to his right detonates like a short-fused grenade; He's pelted by fist-sized chunks of stone, sent staggering to his left as your remaining four Rifle Bits scorch him with a concentrated hail of fire - One of them slashes across his left arm, and there's a *FZZZZZU* as his gauntlet seems to short out.

"Piece of junk - FRAG OUT!"

He has the handles of what look like antique potato-masher grenades gripped between the fingers of his right hand; With a flick of his wrist, he hurls all three at you. It's a hopeless throw...But then little jets flare to life just beneath the explosive heads, and - More like missiles than grenades - they loft towards you on plumes of jetair and flame...

Still stumbling, Enfer cuts to your left; Two beams slash across his legs, and stagger him for a moment - But he doesn't slow in the slightest. He seems to be trying to circle around you...Either breaking for the cover of the moiling flames, or for the columns of the monorail.

HP: 111.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 80%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 103% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 27%
RIFLE BITS: 4/5 (4 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24506475

Yeah. We need rapid fire, here. A direct hit would end him, but we seem to have immense amounts of difficult getting a direct hit.

>>24506546
Switch to Vulcans instead of the Tau Gun. He's moving fast, we need a larger volume of fire.

Have our Bits deal with the flying potato mashers, that's their job.

Keep in the air, make it so he has to fire/throw everything upwards giving us more time to dodge as well as giving us a wide view of the battlefield.

Keep on building that Meter.

Question, is Harrow still active on him? Do we still have the chance of it exploding on him again and do we still get Perma-Lockon.

>>24506546
So it seems the thing he's having the most trouble dealing with are the rifle bits.

We should probably use the Cobalt Booster on them; upgrading to sustained beams rather than intermittent fire seems like an excellent plan against everything Enfer has done so far.

Seriously; 100% particle beam uptime makes it incredibly risky for him to deploy any explosives at all, lest the beam drones blow up the munitions in his face as he releases them.

>>24506601
Agreed on switching back to Vulcans.

>>24506601

(Yes, it's presently still active on him - Allowing you to track him through all the visual distortion caused by the fires and the overlapping explosions.)

>>24506546
Use the missile launcher, fire six missiles, three at each location.
Force him back into our firing range.

>>24506665
Something tells me using our explosives against Explosives Guy (tm) might not be terribly effective...

Though, that said, explosives aren't terribly effective at disarming incoming missiles from a distance, so it might work out fine regardless.

Should probably stagger the missiles a little bit so that he can't take a whole volley out with a lucky helicopter mine.

>>24506641

(Also, I might need to adjust the probability chance of Harrow detonating. Perhaps it's too low, or I'm just rolling badly.)

>>24506601

You release the Nova Cannon - The weapon already unmaking itself, as it tumbles from your hands - as your forearm sheaths snap open: Your Plasma Vulcans deploying, vomiting forth a storm of searing emerald bolts; They chew up the ground in two long, parallel furrows, converging on Enfer as he breaks into a flat run...

You hit him in the back, right over his torso plating; The sledgehammer impacts send him sprawling, but he doesn't fall. His armor seems to be hideously resistant to energy - The red-hot glow dispersing over his armor, preventing you from slagging right through the dense plate-

>>24506634

As cobalt light floods into your Rifle Bits, they spasm in mid-firing, for a moment as the rocket grenades hurtle perilously close: Opening fire as one, in a criss-crossing lattice of energy fire. With the precision of laser scalpels, they carve up the incoming projectiles before they come anywhere *near* you - Each blast blossoming into a chrysanthemum of sooty fire, vapor trailing from your limbs as you plunge through.

>>24506665

You're bombarding him from above like a vengeful gunship: Your Triskelion missile racks unleash a half-dozen missiles, the staggered volley coming down - They kick up thunderous blasts of smoke as the first three explode right in front of Enfer, the other three touching down just as he seems on the verge of turning...

The device is in his right hand again, and he clicks it.

The cyclopean facade of the building you're flying past - Cluster detonations go off, one after another, pummeling you in a quad-tiered series of explosions; It's like flying through a sudden hailstorm as you're buffeted from all sides at once, as a chunk of iron masonry slams into your helmet so hard all your sensors white out-

(Continued)

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>>24506795

You hit the ground.

You hit the ground, very, very hard. Your body ploughs a deep furrow through the cracked stone, sparks shrieking from your damaged plate, until you come to a tumbling stop - Your vision is spinning, as you see Enfer charge heedlessly through the gouting blasts of your missiles, lit up by your deathmark...

And then your supercharged Rifle Bits slice his right arm off.

It happens in one blurringly fast stroke: The three remaining Interceptors fire as one, from every direction at once - The first shot spears through Enfer's wrist, the second through his damaged shoulder, the third into his side-

-Then his arm is tumbling away from him, his armored fingers still spasming feebly on the detonator: Already beginning to disintegrate, motes of essence rising like a thousand fireflies from the severed limb.

He's in front of you, in a lopsided stagger; His armor is rent and raked, now, his left arm flailing the air as keeps sprinting - Almost within reach of the monorail, now...

HP: 82.6%
COBALT BOOSTER: 64%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 71% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 45%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24506867
>>24506867
Once more, all or nothing-
Summon the plasma caster.
Cobalt boosted scrander crash into him.
Punch him with the plasma caster's barrel upon impact and fire, cobalt boost -that- too.

>>24506867

Quip "NEED A HAND?" and fire the Fusion Annihilator at him.

>>24506867
If he's close enough to us hit him straight in the center of mass with a Cobalt Boosted Plasma Caster shot.

If he's too far away for that fire a couple full volleys of Missiles, Cobalt Booster Vulcan shots, send out the rest of our bits at him and Cobalt Boost them to murderize him.

We don't want to give him a chance to get to the monorail.

>>24506928
Might work if it's Cobalt Boosted, but there's still a decent bit of charge time and we're in a hurry.

>>24506867
Let's send an EXEC_SWARM after him, he doesn't seem to have anything that can stop many small enemies.

>>24506945
>>24506951
>>24506917

(My apologies, for clarity:

He's at medium range, and widening the gap.)

>>24506795
As far as Harrow detonation; I think we probably DIDN'T want it detonating in this fight, since the permalock is presumably more valuable to us than a one-time damage effect. (Unless it's like, "WHOOPS your arm's gone"-level.)

...and speaking of "WHOOPS your arm's gone"...

>>24506867
It should be entering into our mind about now, after getting blown out of the sky by the building we were flying alongside, that maybe he's not making a break for the monorail as cover, but to lure us there for one reason or another.

Which means it's probably in our best interests to stop him before he gets there regardless of his intentions.

>>24506917
Agree on Cobalt Boosted Scrander boost to close with him; disagree with Tempest Crashing him. We already remarked that his armor seemed absurdly resistant to energy, and we will need to make sure the Scrander is charged if we need to escape from him in the event that he has a self-destruct option integrated into his armor.

Focus rifle bits on his legs in the meantime to try and trip him up as much as possible while we close the distance.

>>24506951
Also, EXEC_SWARM seems pretty useless here; fire and explosives should be VERY good at disposing of a cloud of nanobots.

>>24506951
He has massive AoE explosions, he can deal with that.

>>24506964
Thank you.

>>24506968
Considering it costs 50% Cobalt Booster it ought to be at the severe crippling injury level.

>>24507016
I mean, the explosion is a secondary utility; if it didn't count as a permanent lock-on PLUS perfect vision of the target, I'd definitely agree.

My instinct is that the Harrow mark trigger is probably similar in power to a shot from the Tau cannon, maybe with the "partly fueled by the target's own essence" line meaning it scales somewhat based on whatever our enemy's version of meter is.

You push yourself up.

Elbows, first - Then knees. Your head is ringing, and error warnings are flashing at the edges of your HUD - At first, you can't tell what's wrong, until you try to stand. Your left leg seems to have taken the brunt of the blast; You can see wires and myomer fibre sparking with it, as you drag it after you - Not severed, not yet, but close. It's just a twisted metallic ruin that probably can't take your weight.

But then the Scrander swoons to life, and you take flight. You're rising, trailing metal shards in your wake - The turbines whirring as they lift you up, red particles fuming around you like your own personal aura. They lip from red to blue, burning with cold fusion fire; Even as the Plasma Caster's blunt-nosed snout sketches itself into existence...

-You raise your right arm, the barrels of your Vulcans churning; There's a cold surge in your chest, the Cobalt Booster flickering as your limbs sting with strength. Hit, Enfer is spun by the shots - *Now* he falls, with an exhausted grunt. You can see the deep, gouging wounds left in his armor from the punishment he's taken, your Rifle Bits hovering around him as you raise the Caster...

Center-mass. Armor or not, this should *really* mess him up.

"Fucking *stop*-" His right arm comes up, and there's something in it. It's cross-shaped, four interlocking segments forming the 'arms' - The same matte-grey as the rest of Enfer's explosives. But there are two things that give you pause:

First, it's fully as large as his head, needing his oversized fingers to clutch it.

Second, there's something - Like smoked glass, like violet crystal - set into it, like a gem into a setting. He raises it like a talisman; And perhaps it is.

(Continued)

>>24507133

"...Any closer, and it's curtains for *everyone*, eh?" His voice is even hoarser than before, ragged from breathing hard.

You'd say that he's worse-off than you, at a guess: More mobile, certainly, but in tattered shape.

"Now *back off*, or I send the whole block to kingdom come."

Close by, the ground shakes, slightly; The rails humming sedately overhead.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

HP: 79.8%
COBALT BOOSTER: 44%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 63% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 50%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24507147
No. I gave you a chance, I gave ALL of you a chance. You've made your bed, sleep in it. I've been in this situation before, do you know what the difference between now and then is? I didn't have something to contain the blast.

Initiate Assault Shroud Fortress Mode on Enfer

>>24507147
>>24507163
Okay, I'm seeing 3 options here, first is to let him go, I dislike this option because he's a dick.

Second is to kill him instantly or instantly remove his hand. Difficult but possible, perhaps. Might be doable with a Cobalt Boosted shot to the arm with the Caster if we can get closer.

Third is risky but might work, take the Nihl sphere and have it nom the crystal fragmenty thing.

I advocate for a combination of 2 and 3. Basic plan, use the Assault Shroud to make a Decoy to draw his attention and to make him think we're backing off, as we do that we quietly move closer and at the right time charge forward with the Scrander, blow his arm off with the Boosted Caster and Boosted Bits, and whatever else we can bring to the table like the Tau Gun, and shove the Nihl sphere into the bomb.

>>24507214
That may contain the blast in here, but I'm worried that it'd fail to contain the blast in the real world.

>>24507214

WAIT

I think I've got it. His gimmick isn't just that he drops bombs. It's that he can drop bombs in the REAL WORLD. Hence why we were getting gobsmacked by bombs left right and center that didn't exist.

If he drops this one here, it goes off in the street. If that happens, we're all fucked.

>>24507147
>>24507163
Well, this basically leaves us with three options:
1) Back off like the nice man says since seriously, we don't want everything blowing up.
2) Sneak the Rifle Bits around, have them unload on the Harrow mark and pray that it triggers and blows the arm holding the device clean off before he can use it.
3) Stall until the Cobalt Booster recharges to 75% and hope the trigger isn't a relic that resists EXEC_DISRUPT.

I'd suggest option 3, as we're basically stuck in a good ol' fashioned Mexican Standoff at the moment.

Also gives us some time to pick his brain about who "The Boss" that put him up to this is. From our initial conversation, he seemed like a very pragmatic sort, and probably isn't the type that thinks finishing the job he was hired for is worth getting killed over. He's not a zealot; he's just doing a job he got paid to do.

We can also ask him questions about what the sphere thing he's holding is, so we know he's not bluffing us.

We know that the Nihl Sphere looks somewhat like this, and that it's capable of transitioning into the real world. I'd wager that the thing he's holding is somewhat similar; probably what's letting him interact with the real world from the Red one.

>>24507214
This seems like a very bad idea.

>>24507274
>>24507255
Well yeah, we already know he can make fires in the real world, and he's got a purply piece of smoked glass, just like Bardy used to go all reality fucking on us last time. It's like a Nihl Sphere but so much less awesome and much more disposable.

Also I'm worried that he'll get a ride on the monorail if we give him time and leave the bomb behind.

>>24507163

Oh shit, why did we use up so much Cobalt Booster? Now we can't cast our disarming spell on the fucker.

>>24507274
So basically, we tell him something like "Well, you have us at a disadvantage then. But you know as well as I do that this job you're doing isn't something you think is worth blowing yourself up for. So we're going to stand here at this stalemate until I get some answers."

>>24507321
Gnosis Engine means the Cobalt Booster recharges while not in use, so presumably we can stall until it's back to 75%.

>>24507333

Gentlemen: I apologize for ending the session on this cliffhanger, but I have an early start tomorrow - And I'm fading fast. Once again, sorry for the long delay - I've suffered a total system crash, and I've been doing my best to pick up the pieces.

However, you've been a great audience: As always, good night and god bless - And I'll see you next time.

>>24507386
Night, sleep well, see you next time.

>>24505667

Ah, bomberman zero. Unknown and unloved, because everyone who knew you hated you.