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HOLLOW SUN: 42.9%

http://pastebin.com/eWiyHevy

RED COMET GUIDE:

http://pastebin.com/7vzY4Zp2

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>>28707743
>HOLLOW SUN: 42.9%

Daym, thats alot of hollow sun.

Hope everything was settled on your side without problems.

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>>28707936

(Mostly, yes. It's been an extremely busy week.)

Above the skyline, a haze washes across the city - A fog, swathing the horizon, turning a thousand individual plumes of fire into soft orange smudges. Smoke, in vast quantities; Black clouds, with the slow rotation that threatens a storm. There is a howl, borne on the voice of the wind; A rising wail, as the flaying sandstorm sweeps through the streets in an eroding, flaying tempest, the rising black wave engulfing all in it's wake.

The sound - It's a surrusation, gritty particulates of black sand accelerated into a gale, the shimmering barrier of frozen time falling at last...As entropy returns with a vengeance. You can hear a low, seismic rumble, as buildings collapse - The grand, abandoned structures of the time-locked city vanishing within the churning storm.

At your back, the Tempest Scrander throbs with turbine power - Crimson particles fizzing in your wake, fighting to hold you aloft. Wisps of vapour boil from the ruin of your right arm, the edges of the cut glowing molten as the flare of tachyon light fades...

Windows crack, roof tiles rippling away in the rising wake - Slates wrenched away in the churning winds, cars overturning as the bow-wave of the oncoming apocalypse sweeps through the streets.

...As Ixion closes in on you like a murder-star, blazing through the heavens. Great pinions of light flare from his tachyon generators - Each one articulating a sizzling blade of golden radiance, accelerating him through the damnation storm. You can see the awful blue fires smouldering within the eyeslits of his helm, building to another death-blast.

He flies with his fists out, like a speeding bullet, like a battering ram. There's a visible linear distortion, as his tachyon field slashes through oncoming storm - Accelerating right towards you with a relentless elemental unstoppability, his wrath bleeding the world of colour.

(Continued)

>>28708103

Furious light boils from the shattered lens of his helmet - The cising sparks from your Ion Blaster crackling off his form, as Ixion blurs across the narrow distance.

The Tempest Scrander's stabilizers whirr with the effort of keeping you in the air, fizzing with building static: The detection radius of your Argus System shrinking, as the world below fills with dense black particles.

You think you might be in trouble.

HP: 111.2%
COBALT BOOSTER: 74%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 73%
METER: 41%
INTERCEPTORS: 2/5

TIER TWO WEAPONRY UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28708171

(Gentlemen, a quick recap:

You've just lost your right arm, and there's been significant damage to your right torso. Your Tempest Scrander has some stabilizer damage, which is affecting your control - At present, you have the Ion Blaster in your left hand, with the Assault Shroud's afterimages and the Argus System active.)

>>28708231

Fuck. Turn off the radar, and dive to avoid Ixion. Can we start repairing our arm and jetpack?

>>28708231

And the status of our opponent?

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>>28708310

Don't forget the rules of Ixion combat.

spoiler your real plans.

>>28708315

(He's lost his left hand and eye, as well as two of his six tachyon generators. A well-placed shot has badly damaged his torso plating, which is visibly scarred and cracked.)

Our Crisis and Helix are on our left arm, correct? Or are they on our right?

>>28708380

(Right arm, actually. Your Argus System and Sinistral are on the left.)

Evening OP. Enjoying the student's lot?

>>28708171
No idea if this worked, but just in case:

Cut the Scrander entirely, just drop. Reengage it near the ground. Activate Cybele's Emblem from the Booster, focusing on getting the arm back. Once it's back, activate its Vulcan.

>>28708315
Lost an eye, two of his generators and his... left arm?

>>28708380
Sinister=left. Shield's on the left arm, Crisis Arm is on the right.

>>28708336

Shit, I forgot.

I'm >>28708310. Changing my vote to >>28708408 but turn off afterimages.

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>>28708231

Drop a salvo of 4 Trik missiles. Detach our last interceptors for defence on us. Shoot him down.

>>28708408

Agreeing with Watashiwa here but we need a distraction. The missiles should hold his attention while we retreat but if he attempts to evade them by slipping past the salvo, cobalt boost our interceptors to target our own missiles to catch him in the explosions. The explosions should be enough to cover RJ.

>>28708396

Ah, damn. There goes my plan to punch and hit him.

Anyway...

>>28708171

We want to repair our Jetpack. If we can't maneuver, we're toast. Our missing arm is not too big of a hindrance as our Scrander being out of commission is. Devote Cybele's emblem to damage control on it.

As for the plan of attack, We want to gain distance from him so our Scrander has time to regen. Hit him with a Fish-Eye to blind him. Then follow up with another shot from our EMP pistol.

Repair our Scrander. Deploy the Sinistral. Cobalt Boost the Scrander. Fly right at him. Stab him in his damaged breastplate. And overload the Sinistral to inflict internal damage.

>>28708477

The Scrander cuts you. You free-fall, the wind howling in your audio receptors, as your Triskelion launchers snap open, revolver-chambers cycling warheads for launch-

>>28708408
>>28708432
>>28708310

Ixion collides with you, and the world blurs into a speed-distorted smear. The impact is shattering, your inertial dampeners momentarily overloaded - It's like being hit by a wall studded with tasers, nearly folding you entirely in half. It all happens at once - The warning lights flaring across your sensors as the black-and-gold Player *ploughs* into you, red warnings flickering on your HUD-

...And behind you, the looming, mirrored surface of a skyscraper.

That's all you see - Just a fleeting glimpse - a sense-impression - before you smash into it. You don't hit it head-on, but at a vicious angle; Glass shatters beneath you, as your armoured form is dragged across the quicksilver surface at the speed of sound. Mirror-shards hailing down from above, dragged into the twisting wake of your grappling forms.

Ixion's right eye smolders with cohered fury-

The ray hits your Sinistral, and splinters into a thousand shards of light.

(Continued)

>>28708614
>The ray hits your Sinistral, and splinters into a thousand shards of light.

The ray or our relic?

Since its deflected the ray before

>>28708614

>turning off the jetpack
>TURNING OFF THE JETPACK
>ACTUALLY TURNING THE FUCKING JETPACK OFF

Clearly, Joker did not think this one completely through. Our opponent was made very very clear to be faster than freefall. Hell, WE ARE faster than freefall speeds. We should have used the Scrander Crash since we knew he was going to attempt to melee us.

>>28708614

The high deflection sends the refracted blast screaming away, the brilliant flash sending sickening phantoms dancing across your sensors - Until Ixion's remaining fist drives down, and shoves you against the glass.

The *sound* it makes - It's a cancophy, the shock lurching you hard - Your skidding form *dragged* across the surface, bouncing and clattering, gouging deep scars into your crimson plate. The fizzing field of the Sinistral is locked in place; With one arm, you can't...get him...*off* -

>>28708483

The Scrander's turbines roar, cohered acceleration rings driving against your back as the afterburners flare - A violent surge of force punching through you, in one devastating instant. A gulp of brown smoke belches out of the engines, the jump pack's structure deforming like a foil...

-And then a new vector's thrown into your blind plummet, hurling you end-over-end, like a toy thrown aside by a petulant child. Sections of armour plating fracture off like scales, sparks skidding from your heels as the city spins before your eyes like a rapidly-spinning kaledioscope image-

You don't manage to break Ixion's hold.

You *do* manage to hurl both of you - Headfirst - through a building.

In a word: WHAM.

(Continued)

>>28708728

>wasting the single-shot taser

Question, will Cybele's emblem recharge the Scrander if we blow the Scrander Crash?

>>28708827

(Unfortunately, no.)

You smash through support columns and I-beams, the floor accordioning beneath you - Ixion's grip slackening, when an ancient desk clips his head, as your Tempest Scrander's wrenches you from his grasp.

You pinwheel across musty linoleum, skidding and smashing, the talons of your boots digging deep furrows into the concrete beneath-

For a moment - Just a moment - as you come to a stop, you're dazed by the impacts you've taken; You've been spiked halfway through a building, shaking off plaster dust and flecks of sheeting as you stagger to you feet. Sparks shoot from your left knee, the limb threatening to buckle beneath you...

-As across the hall, Ixion articulates a low *hiss*; A machine-calibre growl - as he pushes himself upright.

HP: 79.6%
COBALT BOOSTER: 48%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 41%
METER: 51%
INTERCEPTORS: 2/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28709070
Do we have time for the railgun to deploy?

If so, use that

>>28709093

(The railgun is available at 60% meter.)

>>28709070
Hit him with the Ion Blaster, move for cover and start healing.
Move out of his field of vision and hit him with a Chain Mine

>>28709070

Now would be the time to start laughing like a madman. We did just go through a fucking building at mach 1.

Nows the time to blow that Scrander Crash. Give him a nice fuck you. Hit him with a cluster munition as well. We haven't used our tank killing rocket once this session.

We're not going to last if this keeps up. Blind him with the Fish-Eye. Hit him with the EMP Pistol while he's blinded to kill his sensors. Plant the Sinistral in the ground and duck behind it. Lock his remaining Tachyon generators with the Argus system and hit them with missile spam. We're not going to get another opportunity to disable his generators. He is immobile and in an enclosed space.

How much of the arm is left? Enough to deploy the Crisis Arm while we regen the limb?

Level the Ion Blaster and start shooting. The knee needs to be fixed, but not as much as the arm does.

The trick is that after the first Ion Blast, the Chain Mine follows up.

Also, Jesus Ixion, if you're going to pull shenanigans, at least aim it.

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>>28709070

He wants a fight, lets give him a fight.

Crisis Arm Equip, charge!

Turn or Assault shroud after images if it was turned off. We need it now. Send an after image charging right at Ixion. Fire off Tyrant Burst level 1. Then engage argus and fire off a Phalanx while hoofing it.

The way i see it, the TB will blind him enough for the afterimage to close in which he will either dodge or kill it. That holds him stationary or moving temporarily in a constant direction, allowing the chain mine to track and detonate on him. This will let us slip away to repair.

>>28709238
Laughter is nonoptional.

Chain Mine up in this bitch

>>28709252

It's a surreal feeling, fighting your way through the ruins of an old office - You bring your Ion Blaster up, levelling it at Ixion...But that's just a feint, as you break into a staggering run, kicking over chairs and overturning desks, the livid green schematics sketching themselves into existence - Your arm, your Tempest Scrander - overlaying the raw damage chewing through your crimson plate-

You fire, and the white-cored blast crackles across the distance: It slams against the fizzing, curved surface of Ixion's tachyon field, boiling away to nothing - Though rents appear in the field of humming energies. Your Assault Shroud deploys, afterimages blurring in your wake, trailing phantoms in your sidelong rush...

Ixion's right arm stabs towards you, and the light of annhilation flares forth. The tachyon beam slices through the air, a wrist-thick ray shot through with coils of lightning; It carves downwards, and you flinch back - Your damaged leg saves you, choosing that *exact moment* to give out as everything goes *downwards* - turning hard, you wrench yourself towards him-

And trigger the Tyrant Eye.

The Cobalt Booster goes dead in your chest, as the blinding illumination rips through the dense black fog swirling into the chamber - Within his shield-bubble, Ixion flinches, his head wrenching to the side: The chiming *ping* of a target lock lightning up your sensors, as you drop to one knee...

The Phanlax Chain Mine roars across the distance, on wings of jetair and flame. This close, you can actually *see* the cluster munitions disperse; The interlocking honeycombed segments parting, falling away, into an expanding wash of micro-explosives-

The explosion, when it comes, sounds like the end of the world.

(Continued)

>>28709350
>It carves downwards, and you flinch back - Your damaged leg saves you, choosing that *exact moment* to give out as everything goes *downwards* - turning hard, you wrench yourself towards him-
Guess we got a really nice roll.

>>28709350

Danger close.

The windows blow out. The fire rises.

The overlapping blooms of the detonation - Of the demolition chain consuming itself in an ourobos of devastation - is accompanied by a vicious atmospheric decompression, that sucks in debris like a bomb-blast running backwards. Orange flames splash into the darkening skies, twisted into streamers by the monstrous gales; Jewelled glass hailing down from above, as with a slow, terrible majesty...

-The skyscraper comes down.

You wrench the Sinistral up - Deploying the field to maximum output, the azure wedge of the hard-light construct expanding: It cuts into the floor, slicing through the walls, forming a great shield-wall that annhilates the horizontal rain of debris riocheting out towards you - Through the barrier, everything is distorted, Ixion's golden form vanishing in a blossom of pellucid flame.

The ground gives way. Great cracks skitter across the surface, corrugated steel blurring past on all sides; It all goes *downwards*, as if the sky itself is falling, a steel-and-stone deluge as the great structure buckles and splits like a rotten tree falling beneath the axe.

(Continued)

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>>28709463

Several thousand tonnes come down on your head, firing you through doorways already smashed open, shooting you down halls and out broken windows, swinging you around corners like a rag doll - You smash *into* things, *through* things, past holes in the floor as the place falls inwards like a house of cards-

You keep the Sinistral up, as you slam into what must have once been a cafetaria - Buckling, splitting, gravel and dirt and the different flavours of ruin tarnishing the crimson sheen of your armour with a choking patina of gritty black dust. Through the breach, you can make out a strip of sky - Past fractured walls looming on either side, as the building comes to pieces above and below you-

Then the rattling hiss, the tingling flood of sensation as - Through the sensory overload of the dire collapse - your right arm flickers back into existence, sketched back into reality, your armoured fingers bunching into a fist.

HP: 54.2%
COBALT BOOSTER: 0%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 27%
METER: 42%
INTERCEPTORS: 2/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28709548
HP is far too low for comfort.

Where the hell is Totenaz? Do we have time to use the emblem?

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>>28709548

(My apologies, forgot my image.)

>>28709586

(Yes. Be aware that continuous damage might disrupt the repair, however.)

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>>28709548

>Low HP
>NO Booster

Yikes. Turn off Afterimages for now. Save the power.

Get out, look for our Bro, assess the situation.

>>28709548

NOW is the time to laugh like a madman. Continue to repair and regen. Iris open the Nihl and give a pulse to see if we can find this fuck. We're completely dry on Booster, disable the Argus so it does not eat into Meter. He'll be just as hurt as we are if not more. General shit mainly.

Be on guard for when he eventually comes through the floor of course. Keep the Vulcans hot.

>>28709609

I saw we need the argus.

We're not really hurting on meter and any advance notice of him attacking will help since we're really low on health.

Nice timing. Did we get the Tau Gun back? sensation back?

Quick check with the Argus System. Is Ixion around? Head perpendicular to his heading. If he cannot be spotted, shoot through the floor and descend.

>>28709548
>INTERCEPTORS: 2/5

Can we scout with those things?
Is it worth the meter?

And yeah, concur on argus sweep - though it might just draw attention.

We need to regroup with the thief.

>>28709632

Why shoot when DYNAMIC ENTRY with the Piston Punch?

>>28709644

We can pinpoint his location when he swaps one out of the sky or when one of them opens up. They can't scout per-say as they don't have an AI. They're slaved to our systems. Now, if we were to have them follow us at a set distance behind us and in front of us, we could have an advanced warning when they open fire/are destroyed.

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(My apologies, a quick clarification: The building is still coming down.)

>>28709609

A dry, gagging laugh rasps from your voxponder - It must be damaged, too, because it sounds like you're choking on grit.

The Nihl Sphere's violet light only serves to make the darkness dirty - The pulse sweeping out, lost amid the realer-than-real ruin of cinderblock and warping metal and hailing brick -

>>28709601
>>28709632

As the Tempest Scrander flares at your back, and hurls you through the devastation. You punch out of the building at an oblique angle; Instantly, the whirling smog of the constant sandstorm engulfs you, the abrasive winds raking furious claws across your armour. The jump pack sputters, as the engines begin to clog with debris - It sputters, alarmingly, turbines making an awful chugging noise as the particle condenser's gritty crimson light swirls in your wake...

>>28709632

You trigger the Argus System - With the sensors on, it's *even worse*. There's an immense amount of particulate matter in the air - Heavy in iron, in grit, ghost-readings coming back in phantom returns...

>>28709686

You wind back the Crisis Arm - The heavy gravimetric fist forming - as you smash aside a sizable chunk of debris. Where *is* Totenaz? Where's the Thief? You strain to make out something - Anything - beyond the dwindling skeletons of the buildings in the choked-black sky, as you're buffeted by the winds - He can't be out in this, he'd be...

No.

Where is *Ixion*?

(Continued)

>OP using Meguca screenshots

This can only end in suffering.

>>28709810

You trigger your Interceptors - They detach from your wing binders, tiny engines fighting to remain aloft; They begin to orbit you in defensive velocities, expanding outwards in a circle - Blurring in and out of the gale-force winds.

A jet of thrust keeps you in the air, as you angle towards the questionable safety of an outcropping of twisted metal girders; The cross looming up from beneath, the howling winds changing pitch as you come in for a landing. Sparks flicker across your forearms sheaths - Where is he?

There's a charged feel to the gritty air, as the smog swirls around you - A bitter tang of ozone, of sullen lightning, flashes of fire coming from far, far above...

Ixion spears into you from behind.

It happens without warning - The first thing you glimpse, from the corner of your eye, is a black-and-gold blur. The first thing you *hear* is the splintering impact of his right fist driving into your Tempest Scrander-

But the first thing you *feel* - As the jump pack goes dead with an awful squeal of electronics shorting out, fragments of red steel rotating out in every direction as the shattering blow smashes it to flinders -

...is the hammerblow of the road below, as you're punched headfirst through it.

(Continued)

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>>28709956

This suspense is killing me. Plus I'm curious as to what the hell Totenaz is doing. Post faster damnit.

>>28709956

You're lucky, in that you don't hit bedrock. You're luckier, in that the Sinistral is still deployed - That you manage to wrench it up as you're pitched forward, so the matter-annhilating field cuts a scorching wedge through the space before you, as a great plume of sharpnel roars upwards for the instant before it's swept away by the howling storm...

-And you smash through, into the ancient tunnels below.

Through broken pavement. Through rebar. Through cables and concrete and folding steel, like a red-hot comet - You can feel Ixion's tachyon aura beginning to disintegrate your armour, the Tempest Scrander flayed away one layer at a time, scorching your crimson plate all the way down to grey as the terrible impact piledrivers you down...

Then the icy shock of black waters blast through you, and a great gout of steam fumes upwards in a brief geyser.

Each moments unfolds in slow-motion. You get your feet under you; Half of your vision is filled with snow, your helm dented and buckled from the blows. Hydraulics have shorted out, great rents in your torso plating - The shreds of your Tempest Scrander clinging to you, one wing binder entirely ripped off, deep enough to expose the spinal column of your myomer musculature.

Underfoot, black waters lap at your boots, as shapes bob to the surface in the shallow pool...

A head. A leg. The vague shapes of limbs.

Yours.

Caught on the cusp of a realization, you look up - As through the ragged hole in the street above, Ixion comes through.

(Continued)

>>28710123
>A head. A leg. The vague shapes of limbs.
>Yours.

Aw shit.

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>>28710123

He's barely aloft. His gold-and-black armour is in ruins, pockmarked and dented by micromunition detonation; He weaves, drunkenly, as he descends - He's down to three tachyon generators, now, barely enough to support his weight. One wing flickers in and out of existence, fitfully, and he drops a meter each time it vanishes.

IMAGINE A WORM FARM IN FORCED PERSPECTIVE

EACH TUNNEL AN ACTION, EACH ACTION AN EMERGENT TIMELINE

EACH DEATH A DARKENED TIME-TUNNEL

THAT IS TACTICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

TIME IS KILLING YOU, JOKER

TIME IS KILLING ALL OF US

HP: 27.8%
COBALT BOOSTER: 20%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 8%
METER: 54%
INTERCEPTORS: 0/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28710266

(Gentlemen, a quick clarification:

At present, all your limbs are functioning - But you've taken some damage to your knee joint, which is going to hamper your motion.

Your frontal armour is in bad condition, but your rear armour is worse: You have almost no protection from behind, and a direct hit may damage your armour's 'spine', potentially crippling you.

The Tempest Scrander has been effectively destroyed, and is non-functioning.)

>>28709548
You know, this would have been perfect for fortress mode.

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Jesus christ we are in a bad way.

>>28710266

"And you. Today."

Shit shit shit... we're out of everything. Activate Assault Shroud once more. Use up everything. Is our argus still usable? Lock on and dump missiles. He can't evade very well so fire a salvo of 4, see how he handles that. One arm rains vulcan fire on him. The second holds our shotgun, since hes likely to close. When/If, he does, Tyrant Burst him and Shotgun his ass.

>>28710337

>Destroyed

The relic is completely gone or will be return after this fight?

>>28710363

(It'd return, after this fight.)

>>28710123
>Underfoot, black waters lap at your boots, as shapes bob to the surface in the shallow pool...
>A head. A leg. The vague shapes of limbs.
>Yours.

Fuck

>HP: 27.8%

FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS TOTENAZ

GOTTA FIND A MOMENT TO USE THAT EMBLEM OR WE'RE AS GOOD AS DEAD

>>28710266

Gargle out another laugh. He's coming straight at us. Hit him with a Level 3 Tyrant Burst.

Cycle up the Level 2 Tyrant Burst. We're in tight quarters so the short range won't matter shit. Deploy the Tau Gun and aim for center of mass. We have one shot at this and he knows it.

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>>28710266
>27.8%

>>28710266
Can we still use the tempest crash?

>>28710266
"In that case, as the one closest to time, aren't you also the one that is most likely to be killed first by it?"

>>28710378
>>28710382

Oh stop your bellyaching. It's not 0.0%. We still have a shot as long we do not do anything too stupid/he doesn't roll a critical success.

>just caught up
I must admit I'm impressed. He came really close to offing us for good.

>>28710389

(Unfortunately, no. Technically you *could*, but the Tempest Scrander is so badly damaged that it's more likely to explode.

To clarify, it's a miracle that it hasn't exploded yet.)

>>28710337

JokerOP, if we use the carnifex now, will it kill us or reduce 35% of current HP?

>>28710408

(It would kill you. It's 35% of your HP - And it would take you below 0. Your myomer fibres would literally rip free of your damaged internal structure.)

>>28710399
Being distressed is entirely unrelated to bellyaching.

>>28710428

Pity. If it was percentage, this would be the time to use it.

"If something would kill you, you must overcome it in turn. If you lack the strength, find a weapon. If no weapon comes to hand, BECOME the weapon.

"If it's something on which no weapon could work... how many times has this fight looped?"

We have options open to us. Shockingly, not all of them involve kill or be killed.

>>28710389
>Scrander is destroyed
I don't want to be that guy, but what do you think?

>>28710266
>METER: 54%
...I'm in favor of getting the T2.5 upgrade next time.

Anyway, throw the phase sword at him, then prime the gravity gun and murder him.
How long does it take to activate the shotgun? And how many charging elements does it use?
I want to fire Vulcan + Ion blaster at him, until he gets close enough for us to shotgun his face.
While he closes in, heal the knee and the armor on our spine.

The thief is probably dead guys. Or lost in the sandstorm in the process of being killed to death. If he was smart he would have went to ground and left us to die. He knows we'll give him the shard in the end.

Unless we don't of course.

So.

Who would want to grind this fucker down into relics?

>>28710363
>>28710379

Your Argus System chimes - Somehow, it's survived, mostly functional. A silver lightning to a pitch-black cloud: Here, insulated from the storm above, it's finally functioning without interference.

Your scan - Ixion. Four high-energy readings: He's polluting the world just by standing in it. There's a crackle; A fizzle. He fumes with power, prickling hot like a radiation leak.

Wait - Four?

Close by - Very close by. Over and behind Ixion; A blank spot in your sensor sweep. Your active sensors pick up nothing, but your echolocation sweep pings - A blurred, vaguely human-shaped silhouette. Drawing *closer*, with aching slowness, with infinite care.

(Continued)

>4chanx has been updated

Thank fuck. The inline extension is terrible. Stop changing things moot.

>>28710508
If it gives us bullet time or something, fuck yes.

But I think our concern should be on killing the time traveller right now.

>>28710532

NO ONE MENTION AKIRA. SPOILER EVERYTHIN

>>28710550
Think of the Opera users.
I love the inline extension.

>>28710508
>>28710557
Bullet time would be awesome.
Otherwise, I'd prefer mad EXP.

Actually, just upgrade the Carnifex. BAM, bullet time at more safety!


>>28710572
Don't give OP ideas.
I now expect someone to blow this up.

>>28710508
I'd be all for it. His tachyon generators are mad awesome.

>>28710508

Hell with that. Look for his base of operations he had here. Or ask the Tri-Stars to help as well. He's been here since everything went tits up. he's gotta have SOMETHING here.

So..why are we standing in water? Did we hit the sewers or some sort of aqueduct?

Alligator-correctors when?

>>28710636
He doesn't. He's been here 'waiting' for this intersection of timelines.

And by that I mean he's only here *right now*.

And by that I mean he's been here forever.

Time travel is weird. He's been here simultaneously forever and no time at all.

>>28710532

You *move.*

The Tyrant Burst system cycles up - A cold sting as the Cobalt Booster's charge cycles down - beam scatter spewing forth in a wide cone, a blinding flash followed by a wide-angle blast of energy sharpnel. Ixion's hand comes up; The feel of his tachyon field activating is like a grunt of pain, as he sweeps to the side-

...And pushes his damaged generator too far. You catch him on the fringes of the blast; his shield shreds, in a collapsing swirl of energies, shot through with holes as the scattering detonation catches him. For the first time in the fight - As Ixion's overtaxed generator shorts out with a sharp, abrupt *bang* - the winged golden figure sinks to the ground, dust boiling up from beneath him.

You have him right in your crosshairs; As you sweep your arms up - The Tau Gun sketching itself into existence - your Triskelion launchers fire. Only the left-hand launcher responds: The right-side autoloader makes a dull chugging sound as it locks into place, unable to cycle-

A volley of four missiles crosses the distance, screaming towards him in a tight, spiralling knot. Ixion's head wrenches up - With a violent sweep of his arm, the sword of tachyon light slices through the incoming barrage; The annhilating radiance fuming across in a scything swing, just above your head, as you flinch aside...

The Tau Gun is still materalizing. Too slow. The Ion Blaster, however, is already in your hand. You fire - White-cored ion shots crackling across the distance, like pulses of lightning; Your arm must be damaged, too, because your first shot misses wide. Your next two hit Ixion head-on, erupting into miniature detonations of crackling light - Heat blooms on your HUD, as you swing the heavy Tau Gun up-

(Continued)

>>28710673
Do we have anything that might make use of the water?

...We can always suicide by unloading our Scrander. It will fry us and everyone in the water.

Something to prepare:
Flashbang when Akira is in range to murder the fucker. But only when Akira isn't in the line of fire, obviously.
Also, tie Ixion down with fortress mode if he ever gets close to killing us.

>>28710691
I'm on the edge of my seat here

>>28710691

>inb4Akira backstabs us.

>>28710723
You're not the only one. Stop hogging all the space, damn you.

>>28710732
>Implying we wouldn't detonate the tempest scrander and take him with us if he did

>>28710723
>>28710737

Me three. I want off OP's wild ride.

>>28710532
>Close by - Very close by. Over and behind Ixion; A blank spot in your sensor sweep. Your active sensors pick up nothing, but your echolocation sweep pings - A blurred, vaguely human-shaped silhouette. Drawing *closer*, with aching slowness, with infinite care.

Gentlemen, important reminder:
We can't lose this fight, also there's a trick to beating this guy.
GUYS REMEMBER: He has psycho mantis mode: POST your REAL moves in spoilers, post the lure-to-make-him-screw-himself in NONspoilers

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>>28710723
>>28710737

I can't take much more of this.

>>28710746

Nah. We detonate it so nobody can get the armor. The last person to damage us was Ixion, after all. He'll be dead. So the armor goes poof.

>>28710746
I can see it already.
Joker triple-kills himself, Akira and Ixion. Which causes half of the Red to be consumed by singularity. And then the armor is finally free and finds Hecate as new host.
Hecate gains RJ's memories and finds Mio.

>>28710691

But the weapon has to swing in line with Ixion's chest.

Ixion merely has to turn his head.

The azure ray of the death-blast sears through the air, and hits the Tau Gun head-on. The blast is still charging, and you're ankle-deep in the churning waters, slogging through rippling surface-

He nearly misses.

Nearly.

The ray shears the Tau Gun in half, just above the grip. Your fingers spasm open - Releasing the overheating weapon - as it tumbles over the black water-

The explosion of the charging coils buffets you with a sweeping wave, nearly jarring you from your feet. You wrench the trigger of the Ion Blaster-

And Ixion is not there.

It's impossible. In the space of a moment - The moment where you hurled the Nova Cannon aside - the moment when you glanced back - he's *vanished*. The ion bolts scream through empty air; Empty air, dappled with the dance of golden motes-

The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.

(Continued)

>>28710770
Why exactly did you post our sweep results unspoilered you stupid fuck?

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>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.

God damn it.

>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.

FUCK YOU.

STOP.

WITH.

THE.

CONTINUED.

>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.
Funny thing is, I really can say I saw this coming.

>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.
You know..I'm starting to get worried here.

>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.
Activate Cybele's emblem and turn into double Joker.
The right half is offense, the left half is defense.

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>>28710785
Fuck fuck fuck.

>>28710790

opps

>>28710785
I am balancing on the quarks which make up the atoms of the edge of my seat. This is a scientific phenomena which has never been observed, and will never be again.

>>28710812

I wonder if our coil gun is the trigger for losing limbs. Every time we've used it we've lost a limb.

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>>28710817

>>28710785
>The swing of his tachyon sword cuts you in half.

Activate CONSUME on him at the moment of contact. Feed it with the nihl sphere if you have to - but ANYthing to get us extra health in that nick of time and contact

>>28710821
Cute as fuck.

So, have we been halved horizontally or vertically?

This is important. We need to know if we can repair our upper body and Scrander and fly away or if our Cobalt booster is ALSO halved.


One good thing, though:
We still have the assault shroud.

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>>28710863

If we cut off our legs we can fly higher.

>>28710844
Not like that. When we saw our severed arm last thread it was broadcasting "Do not use Nova Cannon". It's a very slow weapon, and Ixion is very fast. Just because a weapon is strong doesn't mean it's suited for every situation.

>>28710863
All of what's left of it you mean.

>>28710897
>All of what's left of it you mean.
Enough to lock his joints for Akira.

It's a diagonal cut. It shears through your left arm - Carving downwards - taking you just beneath the shoulder, a clean cut that hacks downwards; The blade of light slashes through the plating just beneath the dull orb of your Cobalt Booster, then out the other side.

It doesn't hurt, but it's very uncomfortable - A buzzing ache you can feel deep in the very core of your being, as it saws through crimson plate - through myomer fibre - through the steel vetebrae of your control column - then through crimson plate again...

The edges of the cut glow golden, as everything beneath your waist falls away. Sheer, dysfunctioning shocks slows you; Your mind sending signals that you *should* be dead, until-

As the Thief said, once: Players don't die right away.

You never hit the ground. Ixion's hand closes around you throat - And what remains of you - Your torso, your arm, barely enough to stay alive - slams into the far wall hard enough to crack it.

I SEE ALL POSSIBLE FUTURES BEYOND THIS POINT.

THE DOOMED ONES ARE SIMPLER: FEWER BRANCHES, AS RUIN APPROACHES.

Motes of green Essence fountains from the cut. He must've breached the azoic core of the Red Joker's armour: Not completely, but *just enough*.

THIS IS MY TRUEST GIFT, JOKER:

ALL ARE TOO TERRIBLE TO LIVE THROUGH.

>>28710770

Your arm - And the Argus System on it - is sinking into the black waters below. But the warping shimmer is very close, now -

Or maybe that's just your vision, going.

Ixion's head cants to the side, with insect curiosity.

WAIT-

HP: 2.1%
COBALT BOOSTER: 27%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0%
METER: 67%
INTERCEPTORS: 0/5

TIER THREE WEAPONS UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28710897

No. I mean. It's like our go-to weapon now. We mixed up our actions a fuckload this fight, but we still fell back on our trusted, new found toy. He was probably waiting for us to finally pull it out so he could once again cut our everything off.

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>all this fucking tension
>at the edge of my seat the entire thread
>"Ontology" from SR playing in the background
This is getting a bit too crazy for me.

>>28711007
Time waits for no man.

>>28711007
Plasma caster to the face

If we're going to die, WE'RE TAKING YOU WITH US, BITCH

Accept our fate.

>>28711007
Helix gauntlet was on our right hand, yes? Put it on, put our fingers through his chest and start absorbing him.

>>28711007
Oh dear. He got the wrong arm.
"Good bye, Ixion."
>Exec_Consume

>>28711007

(My sincerest apologies, a quick alteration: Your Cobalt Booster is at 7%, not 27%.)

>>28711007
>Ixion's hand closes around you throat - And what remains of you - Your torso, your arm, barely enough to stay alive - slams into the far wall hard enough to crack it.

That is so fucking metal

>>28711007

Akira better be doing something now.

"Akira, if you're where I think you are. Run this fucker through already."

>>28711007

Well, it's been a good run.

FLASHBANG HIM

>>28711060
>>28711072
Real smart, guys.

So we consume and flashbang and shotgun him?
I would've preferred EXP, but I guess a Tachyon hat is nice, too.

If this is a To Be Continued I'm going to fucking lose it.

>>28711007

Gargle out another laugh before he runs us through.

"There's one difference between us Ixion."

"I have friends. Akira!"

>>28711061
>7%
So much for that plan.

Tyrant Flash and Plasma Caster. Use both until respective energy pools run out of power.

>>28711107
Objects devoured by the codeburst don't release essence. No "hats" or experience possible, just health and meter.

Now that I think of it, did we hit single digits during the Bardiel fight too?

>>28711146
We've never been this close to death.

RJ is literally a torso and an arm right now.

>>28711163

True that. I really hope OP starts up another thread if we do die. This has been a blast.

>>28711143
We can later feed him to Hollow Sun for his shit, though.Assuming I'm remembering my mechanics right.

>>28711146
>>28711163
He really deserves a place in the Hall of Fame for almost accomplishing what many others wanted to.

The Tyrant Burst system flares, with incholate radiance: Ixion has seen this before, in the myriad paths of the future. He has no warning, but as the glow builds - With an instinctive motion - he turns his head away.

Just for an instant.

A instant of distraction.

That's all it takes.

Ixion stiffens. His body goes taut, ramrod-straight. You hear the brutal *crunch* of the impact, the sound of armour rupturing -

A tiny, pitch-black point - No bigger than a fingernail - emerges from his chest. You're so close to him, that it nudges against your Cobalt Booster; A hair-trigger away from shattering the orb.

The Thief's stealth field shimmers away, as he fades back into visibility. His black coat is ragged, smeared with dust; His skull-helm battered, with deep rents in the surface. The skeletal protrusions of his ribs are the dull yellow of old bone -

And both his fists are clamped around the grip of the Fatal Abyss, as the blade spears Ixion right through the spine.

(Continued)

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>>28711180

GO AKIRA

This teamup has been a blast, we need to do this more often.

>>28711180
Jesus christ

Ixion was bullshit strong. I have to wonder how he compares to the likes of Kraken and Pazazu

>>28711179
You're not. We can trade experience for a Relic, but anything that goes into the sphere stays there.

>>28711214

Thing is, do we want his relic?

We still have yet to grind down the speedster.

>>28711205

We nearly killed Kraken. Very, very close to it. Pazuzu probably has more bullshit hacks than this guy though.

>>28711205
How about Rust Kaiser?

>>28711223
Why would we get Ixion's essence? It's Akira's kill.

>>28711223
Fuck the speedster, the tachyon generators are better. Though we might want to see what he actually offers before making the choice.

>>28711229

In a 1 on 1, with him forfeiting his army, his main strength.

We'll never get a chance like that again.

>>28711223
>Thing is, do we want his relic?

How can you say no to this.

Also, make sure to get the finishign blow! don't let akira killsteal us?

>>28711241

I had completely missed the thread in which we picked up our bitching tank. Would have suggested we turn the beam cannon on Kraken himself instead of running. We will never get a chance like that again as you said.

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>>28711252

Ixion makes a sound. It's wordless, voiceless - The dry crackle of electricity, of raw, pained surprise. The smouldering blue light in his eyeslit gutters, blank with shock; In the moment of his death, he is peculiarly helpless.

The point widens, slightly. It moves up, the ebony blade vibrating so fast it remains still. It becomes a line, then a gouge - Almost imperceptible against the surface of his gold-and-black armour, filament-thin as it grows...Like a line - Milimeter-thin, sharply precise - sketched onto the very fibre of his being.

His knees give way, first. He sinks to his knees in the black waters, ripples coursing out from the distortion he leaves in his wake. It's strange, how still he remains; He can't move, speared right through the very center of his form.

He doesn't know it yet, but he trapped in his own dead body.

His fingers stay locked around your throat - Somehow - as his armour locks in place. By some miracle, he doesn't pitch over; Not even as the Thief twists the blade in the wound. Through the widening rent, you make out - deep within him - a shard, a tiny splinter of infinite blackness.

THE PAIN-

Ixion's fingers spasm. Tightening, or unclenching? You can't tell.

I HAD FORGOTTEN.

Your motions are slow, your limbs leaden - But you don't have to move *fast*. You only have to move.

You have one shot.

You take it.

The barrel of the Plasma Caster pushes up against the underside of Ixion's pointed chin, and your finger tightens on the trigger.

(Continued)

>>28711235
RK can easily take any physical punishment that Ixion can dish out. The tachyon lasers, on the other hand, are something he wouldn't be able to defend against at all.

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>>28711279

KILL STEAL.

I'm sorry, Akira but I think you'd agree that Joker deserves this essence.

>>28711279
You were a god mate.

>>28711237
The last time we fought 2on1, we shared essence.

>>28711254
If we'd paused long enough during the one time we had a clear shot we'd have died. I have my frustrations with how that thread went down, but failing to take potshots at Kraken isn't one of them.

>>28711279
I'll be damned.

Okay, I have to go thanks to idiot work schedule, but I have a suggestion: If Akira gives up the Joker's Memory, DON'T immediately absorb it. Place it into inventory, tell him it didn't do anything, and go to the Hollow Sun alone. Then and only then do you integrate the memory. Akira isn't its beneficiary, and it might well do something to the frame we don't want anyone to know about yet. Trump cards only trump if they can't be countered.

>>28711329
Pythia is an entirely unique existence, and was officially registered as an ally. Totenaz is not.

>>28711307

It's not the fact we're kill stealing. He still has a grip tighter than Stalin on our throat. We're a hair trigger away from death as it is. The quicker we kill him before he has the time to think is the higher the chance we have of him not crushing our toothpick thin neck.

>>28711352

No, no. The one energy attack is a beam if I read it right. We could of scythed shit down along with Kraken himself if we had used it.

>>28711386
One that we should definitely get:
Carnifex upgrade.

Other than that, I'm for either Vulcan or Meter Accelerator or Impact Reinforcement.

>>28711386
OH GOD OH GOD WHAT DO I CHOOSE I DON'T KNOW THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS

>[X] RELIC UPGRADE - CARNIFEX
>- [X] PRIMARY WEAPON UNLOCK - MELEE

>>28711388

This close - At point-blank range - the flare of the shot sets his helmet on fire, bathing it in plasma flame. The blast is a thunderclap, in your ears: A plosive *bang* that heralds the end of the battle. The burst finds a seam of weakness in Ixion's helm - The shattered lens of his left eye - and bathes it in lambent flame.

And all of him becomes nothing at all.

The air fills with tachyon radiance - Motes of light swirling around you, like tame fireflies. The colour is of the sun at dawn; Fiercely golden, boiling out from the husk of Ixion's form like a geyser - Until the honeyed radiance dwarfs the brooding darkness of the perpetual storm, forming a half-dome that swirls around you...*into* you, drawn into the accumulators of your armour, lighting you up from within.

You begin to brighten from the outside in.

It's a blizzard of stars, sinking into your arm, your chest - As if Ixion's soul is ablating into luminous mist.

For a moment, you're as incandescent as an angel.

(Select two from the following list.)

[ ] FORCE
- [ ] WEAPON TIER UNLOCK (2.5)
- [ ] PRIMARY WEAPON UNLOCK - RANGED
- [ ] PRIMARY WEAPON UNLOCK - MELEE
- [ ] CODEBURST UNLOCK
- [ ] WEAPON UPGRADE - PLASMA VULCAN
- [ ] WEAPON UPGRADE - NOVA CANNON

[ ] METER (FASTER METER GAIN)
- [ ] METER ACCELERATOR
- [ ] METER BOOST

[ ] GUARD (DEFENSIVE UPGRADE)
- [ ] IMPACT REINFORCEMENT
- [ ] ABILITY UNLOCK

[ ] SURVIVE (VITALITY UP)

[ ] EVOL
- [ ] ABILITY UNLOCK
- [ ] INTERCEPTOR SYSTEM UPGRADE

[ ] ROULETTE (RANDOM RELIC)
- [ ] WEAPON
- [ ] DEF.
- [ ] UTILITY

[ ] LIMITER ATTUNEMENT II

[ ] RELIC UPGRADE - ASSAULT SHROUD
[ ] RELIC UPGRADE - TEMPEST SCRANDER
[ ] RELIC UPGRADE - CARNIFEX
[ ] RELIC UPGRADE - SINISTRAL

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28711386

Upgrade: Carnifex.
Upgrade: Guard Impact Reinforcement

We are delimbed far too often.

>>28711419
(>>28711415 here, reposting for posterity)
>[X] RELIC UPGRADE - CARNIFEX
>- [X] PRIMARY WEAPON UNLOCK - MELEE

>>28711415
Why would we get a melee weapon if we have the superfister?
What we need is stronger weapons, not more weapons.
Otherwise we stretch to thin.

>>28711423
I will agree with this.
I'm >>28711413

>>28711419
>[x] RELIC UPGRADE - CARNIFEX
- [x] WEAPON TIER UNLOCK (2.5)

>>28711419
Something from the Guard tree, leaning impact reinforcement.
And then I'm split between upgrading the plasma vulcans and the meter accelerator.

>>28711423
>>28711439
>>28711440
>>28711448
So we have four votes for Carnifex. I guess that one is definitely taken.

Also, two votes for Impact Reinforcement, one for Melee and one for 2.5.

>>28711440
We don't really have all that many melee weapons, in all honesty. We can punch with the Carnifex, but if we had a better melee weapon we could really take advantage of the boosts it gives

>>28711419

What precisely does Weapon Tier 2.5 entail? New weapons or weapon upgrades?

Either way, Carnifex upgrade and meter accelerator for me.

>>28711419
- [ ] IMPACT REINFORCEMENT
- [ ] PRIMARY WEAPON UNLOCK - MELEE

Covering our weaknesses

>>28711474

We can get melee weapons from the Joker Cave bro. We're set on that front.

>>28711475
Tier 2.5 is meter-based weaponry between t2 and t3.
So somewhere between plasma caster and railgun.


So now we have:
4*Impact Reinforcement
5*Carnifex
2*Melee
1.5*Meter Accelerator
0.5*Vulcan

>>28711489
Actually, I wouldn't use that argument. There is a huge difference between Hollow Sun equipment and realy upgrades.

>>28711474
We already have the Sinistral with it's energy blades and the Phase Sword. And we are a primarily a ranged fighter. We have enough Melee weapons.

>>28711509

(Thanks for collating it! I'll wait about five to ten more minutes before the final tally, and before I start on the next post.)

>>28711509

We're not a melee frame to begin with. Sure we engage in melee but it's not our area of expertise. We have enough melee. Let's not repeat the Bardiel fight and have us jumping headlong like a moron like we did that time.

>>28711419
>[ ] METER ACCELERATION
] RELIC UPGRADE - SINISTRAL

GUYS. We always have a problem with meter. We need faster meter.

>>28711523
>We have enough Melee weapons
I'm all for new melee weapons - We actually don't have enough.
It's just that ranged equipment and force multipliers are more important.

Carnifex and Impact Reinforcement are the biggest force multipliers currently. In addition to Meter Accelerator.

>>28711566
That's why the most votes are currently for passive upgrades that allow us to take/inflict more damage and thus gain more meter.

5*Carnifex
4*Impact Reinforcement
2.5*Meter Accelerator
2*Melee
1*Sinistral
0.5*Vulcan

>>28711419
>[ ] METER ACCELERATOR
>- [ ] IMPACT REINFORCEMENT

>>28711580

Voting for the Carnifex and Impact Reinforcement.

>>28711580

I'm >>28711566

Actually, change my carnifex vote for impact reinforcement.

>>28711581
>>28711601
6*Carnifex
6*Impact Reinforcement
3.5*Meter Accelerator
2*Melee
1*Sinistral
0.5*Vulcan

>>28711608
Did you mis-quote yourself?
Your quoted post doesn't have the Carnifex.

>>28711581

this gets my vote too.

>>28711580

The Carnifex and Reinforcement is a definitive win now unless people samefag. Those are our two biggest upgrades short of the Cobalt Booster Relic we got starting out. It'll help us in the long run as we won't need to rely as heavily on Cybele's emblem to regen lost limbs. We can put that booster into regening our armor when we blow it off with the Carnifex instead.

I'd love to see a Booster level upgrade. That'd be fun.

>>28711566
>GUYS. We always have a problem with meter. We need faster meter.


>>28711419

WHATEVER GETS US TIER 5 WEAPONS

WE KNOW THEY EXIST

TRADITIONALLY THIS MEANS METER

>>28711623

....no I copy pastaed wrongly wrongly.

>>28711419
>[ ] LIMITER ATTUNEMENT II

If we're in for a penny, in for a pound.

Get this, too

I wanna see what we get when its at 5

>>28711419
>- [ ] METER ACCELERATOR
>>28711628

oh god so many choices

>>28711624
7*Impact Reinforcement
6*Carnifex
4.5*Meter Accelerator
2*Melee
1*Sinistral
1*Limiter Attunement
0.5*Vulcan

>>28711646
>5 Limiter attunements
>Unlimited EXP works from passively draining the Red World itself

>>28711655
Select two, not one.

>>28711468
Adjusting my post to go with the flow, putting the second vote wholeheartedly behind meter accelerator.

>>28711655
>>28711678
7*Impact Reinforcement
6*Carnifex
6*Meter Accelerator
2*Melee
1*Sinistral
1*Limiter Attunement

1 vote unspent.

>>28711693

Fuck, that's a tough choice. Throwing my vote behind Carnifex and Impact Reinforcement. I really want to try upgrading a Relic at least once, see how it works out.

>>28711707
8*Impact Reinforcement
7*Carnifex
6*Meter Accelerator
2*Melee
1*Sinistral
1*Limiter Attunement

1 vote unspent. (From an Acceleration voter)

>>28711678

>tied

Really? C'mon people. The Carnifex is a FORCE MULTIPLIER. This is not rocket science. Impact Reinforcement is a FORCE MULTIPLIER. We will not see this shit for another 20 or 30 threads if even then.

>>28711721
See >>28711716
It's not tied anymore.

>>28711731

Saw that post after 4chanx updated..

I guess the vote is closed an goes to Impact Reinforcement and Carnifex.
OP is likely already writing.

And missed the voting. Not that it matters. I'm still all for trading all the exp for those tachyon generators.

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>>28711780

As the golden glow of Essence disperses, the wave of change sweeps across your armour. The lightweight endosteel of your crimson plating darkens, a shade closer to carmine now - Rebuilding itself into a dense defensive matrix, reinforced by bonded ceramite and plasteel weave. Gyroscopic stabilisers hum to life, flexible myomer muscle arranging itself to encircle your internal structure - Cohering around a titanium-analogue core.

> IMPACT REINFORCEMENT UPGRADE: Your endosteel plating has been upgraded to a ferro-fibrous alloy, increasing your resistance to physical and energy attacks. While not as light as your initial endosteel armour, the capacity of your myomer musculature has been similarly enhanced - Increasing your physical strength, and reinforcing your internal structure, for a net 10% increase in your maximum HP.

The Carnifex's structure shifts, subtly - The filaments concealed within the crusher dispersing through your form, rewiring secondary connections, establishing parallel processing. Deep within, the embers of your Cobalt Booster flicker into an inchoate glow, blue fire searing down the circuit-lines.

> CARNIFEX UPGRADE: Now attuned with the Carnifex, the Red Joker's armour has been modified to accommodate both the explosive release of armour, and the hypertrophy of your myomer musculature. In addition to reducing your relative vulnerability, activating the Carnifex now allows you to constantly channel the Cobalt Booster - Effectively engulfing you in photonic flame, and enhancing your weapons and Relics accordingly.

(i.e. When the Carnifex is activated, your Cobalt Booster begins to deplete at a constant rate of 20% per round - Augmenting all your weapons and Relics in the process.)

(Continued)

>>28711890

So basically the Carnifex cancels out the passive regen of the booster and stacks on top of the booster instead of being added separately? Holy fuck.

That's overkill.

>>28711890
Jesus, 20% per round?

The returns on that had better be pretty hardcore, because that's a hell of a price to pay

>>28711890
>Increasing your physical strength
That's unexpected but nice.

Also, we now have a super-mode and lose less HP from Carnifex.
I'd say it was worth it.

>>28711910
Have you played Metroid Prime 3?
That's how I expect it to be like.
Imagine having EVERYTHING on Cobalt boost - All weapons, all movements, even our relics.
20% per round is really cheap for that kind of effect.

>>28711910

You don't understand. Prior, the Booster and Carnifex would be counted as separate rolls. Now, they're combined. WITH EVERYTHING. The Crisis Arm alone boosted was frightening. Now it's boosted as well as Carnifex'd. That's insane. This will also stack with our Railgun too if I read it correctly.

>>28711890
>Blue Flame

Super Mode: Blue Joker

>>28711890
>your Cobalt Booster begins to deplete at a constant rate of 20% per round
harblargh the fuck. I have my doubts about the worth of this upgrade.

>>28711947
How much would it cost to run across a room with Cobalt boosted movement, shoot cobalt boosted vulcans and fire cobalt boosted missiles for a single round?

>>28711935

Plus we regen, what, 10% of that? We can turn the Carnifex on and off now without the side effects being stupidly detrimental.

Hell, this might also carry over into the Real now. Side effects being less severe and all.

>>28711936
We can now basically unleash hyper meter gain at cost of booster.

>>28711945
I'd call it hypermode. Because we are blue, like Phazon.
Now we need a green Tiberium upgrade.

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>>28711909

(To clarify, when the Carnifex is activated, everything is enhanced.)

>>28711947

(It's optional. It can be activated at will, but requires at least one turn of operation to shut off - So you'll use 40% Cobalt Booster each time, at minimum.)

>>28711890

As the golden glow of Essence diminishes, fading away to nothing, the husk of Ixion's form disintegrates. All that remains, as his substance boils away, is an elegant mechanism: A half-sphere that winds and counter-circles like an antique optical instrument, an amber glow filtering from within.

-His tachyon reactor.

The Thief hasn't moved.

In one hand, he holds a fibrous tangle of wire and internal structure - Clumped together, around a pitch-black shard; A splinter of a great whole. There is a terrible anticipation in his stance, an awful rigidity that tells of inhuman patience, finally rewarded.

In the other, he holds the Fatal Abyss.

His form blurs, distorting. The ground trembles, as a *presence* gathers: A realness, a significance, that seems to bleed through the Red World...A herald of something vast, some thing ancient, across the gulf of an impossible distance.

"At last," he rasps. Naked hunger twists his voice into indecipherability.

(Continued)

>>28711890

> 10% hp increase

Way to waste an upgrade.

>>28712008
It's a fucking armor upgrade.
What did you expect?
Getting HP and strength at all is more than it should do.

>>28711981
>>28711974

I never even considered that! Holy shit! Everything is boosted now! All of our boosted attacks have a flat 20% Cobalt Booster charge for that round! We regen 10/15% of that back! We can effectively spam napalm for 15 rounds if we have the meter!

>>28712002

Does that mean for that round everything has the flat cost of 20% booster? Jesus.

>>28712008

The entire point of that upgrade was to increase our resistance to delimbing. It's not an overt upgrade.

>>28712002
I guess we take the clockwork time fuckery machine and step away a safe distance.
Just to make sure that he doesn't explode or something.

>>28711974
I think it's a waste to boost EVERYTHING when previously we could pick what to boost for optimum effectiveness. This hypermode may work as out last 'fuck you' but I don't see using it often. You still have to hit and our defense is still shit when using it. Furthermore, that means the only way we can regen is by using our meter which kills the ability to spam our boosted weapons.

Overall, meh. Not a fan of such suicide tactics.

>>28712002
I'm curious whether or not we could fight and kill Phantom Edge at his prime. You know, how we compare to the last batch of finalists and so on.

>>28712042
It's not really a suicide tactic, it just provides a massive boost to all statistics at a rather large cost.

It's not even really a last resort, it's for when you need to kill something quickly and right now.

>>28712031

>joker
>step away
>joker step

He doesn't even have legs.

"Akira, could you get my legs over there?"

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>>28712062

I guess you could say he needs to leg it

>>28711890
>When the Carnifex is activated, your Cobalt Booster begins to deplete at a constant rate of 20% per round
So does this mean that our boost meter doesn't regen? Or does it simply cost 20% per round, regen not accounted for?

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>>28712059
Yeah, it's for those situations when we need to go full Vanquish on someone.
It's for 1on1 fights or to quickly eliminate high-value targets.

>>28712002

The shadows are thickening, becoming darker. Blood, not dust at all, begins to stream down the chamber walls. Like the chorus of the dead, gathering to drag the living down into the lightless places.

Bony juts of distorted matter push against the cage of Totenaz's armour: Murky infections, bubbling and popping, spitting yellow pus.

He's rotting from within.

He has always been rotting from within.

With a terrible, sickening sound, the first shard of the Fatal Abyss tears free from within him: It rips itself out, and the Thief staggers, the red embers of his eyes banked higher - It must be agonizing, but he doesn't fall. Then another, and another - On thin lines of liquid darkness, threads of gore that hang in the air like intricate calligraphy...

As he raises the Fatal Abyss in his right hand. It's like a tempest, gathering: Voidstuff coiling, gathering around the sword, a vertical slash in the fabric of reality, the burns and twists the eye-

>>28712031
>>28712062

You're still missing your legs, but you can crawl. Your fingers clutch Ixion's tachyon reactor, as power builds, and sings. It builds to a painful pitch. A halo of filthy light flickers around the Thief: You can see flashes of his bones through his coat, like sporadic X-rays.

Something is coming - And you know, just *know* - that it is something terrible.

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28712002
>-His tachyon reactor.

Snag the reactor.

Give the thief the abyss.

Ask for the other end of our bargian

>>28712082

(The boost meter actually only begins to regenerate - At a rate of 10% a turn - after a round where it hasn't been used. Since you'd be using the Cobalt Booster constantly in that mode, it doesn't regenerate.)

>>28712102
>Something is coming - And you know, just *know* - that it is something terrible.

We need to regen, or we need to leave.

Still, he's our friend - or was.

>>28712102
Guys..I think we might want to..get the fuck out? Or atleast get in a position where we can disengage immediately and watch our friend's soul die/be taken over

>>28712102

Log out. Now. Before we're swallowed by the other murderhobos bankai. We can collect the memory at a later date when we're away from the Grim Reaper.

>>28712102
"Akira, are you okay? Are you sure that you aren't ending the world?
I have a reputation to keep. Please don't one-up me."

>>28712111

Wow.

Its worse than I though.

>>28712102
>[ ] Free
>YOU HAVE CONTROL

Prepare this following line in case he tries to gank us - but only if.

"You don't want to kill me. The red joker armor has a curse - when you take it, it resets you. Entirely. Its part of the cost of becoming the joker - you lose everything as part of the price. Including who you were before"

>>28712115
>>28712118
>>28712122
At the very least, we need to go full-force on Cybele. Heal all the vital parts and then all the non-vital parts.

>>28712128
Keep in mind that it's OPTIONAL.
The Carnifex itself has also been upgraded, it seems.

>>28712134

We're basically on death's doorstep. Figuratively and literally. One little nick is the end of it for us.

I for one welcome our old murderhobo overlord. Shit should be interesting.

>>28712132
No, we're not pleading like that. Legless or no, we still have semblance of dignity. Besides, he knows.

i vote for
>>28712123
then
>>28712118

>>28712118

If he drops his sword we want to be in a position to grab it for Spaghetti-san, afterall.

>>28712166
Do you hate Kou or something?

>>28712166
>>28712174
>RJ takes the Fatal Abyss
>Gains another FUCKYOU power that breaks the game even more
And then we are the soul-absorbing pinata or something

>>28712174

Not in the slightest. Whatever increases his chance at surviving is fair-game in my book. Even if he doesn't like it.

>>28712122
>Log out. Now. Before we're swallowed by the other murderhobos bankai. We can collect the memory at a later date when we're away from the Grim Reaper.

uh, guys. he HAS the memory. Like, on him

>>28711890
>> IMPACT REINFORCEMENT UPGRADE
You fuckers!

Come ON.

We haven't gotten an upgrade in FOREVER, because we've reached the highest tiers of power.

We fragging agreed that New Abilities and Tier 5 Weapons beat all other things, especially things we can get through the hollow sun(like defensive upgrades for the shroud)

And you ~waste~ it like this?

Come on.

Come the fuck on.

Why the hell would you get a tiny bit of xp over an ability?

Its going to be twenty threads before this comes up again, but remember this moment, asswipes!
Priorities>
Tier 5 weapons. Tier FIVE. (this means Meter, possibly other stuff)
Limiter Attunement (its the signature power of the red joker system)
Abilities: Things we can't get elsewhere. Ability unlocks, defensive abilities.
Unique Artifacts: Carnifex

>>28712184
By the looks of it, Fatal Abyss is not separable from Phantom Edge. You'd kill the poor fuck, not help him survive.

>>28712128

(It does have fringe benefits, like being constantly engulfed in a swirling cloak of blue flame.)

>>28712115
>>28712118
>>28712122
>>28712123

You're not sure that he's listening.

You don't think he *can* hear you.

The Fatal Abyss shrieks in his hand. Long and straight and heavy, the blade is the color of mirror-polished tungsten. It burns with a fire so black that your eye cannot hold it; The void shifts and twists and shimmers across the blade, sucking light from the air.

Reality has worn thin around him, thin like bleached and ancient cloth. Slits open in the material fabric of the universe: They make the air bleed, weeping poison radiance. The Thief is silhouetted by it, by the un-light of dead stars. The rising winds of infinity snatch at his coat-

The world has never seemed so dark.

It is impossible to tell where the rolling blackness of the storm ends, and twisted shadow begins. Only the Fatal Abyss lights the way, poisonous and fierce, like a baleful eye gleaming through the smoke and the fog.

The ground rumbles. Great chunks of stone tear loose from the ceiling, and plunge into the black waters below. It sounds like the city is coming to pieces - Time beginning to move, once more, within Ixion's domain.

And the Thief says - His voice echoing forever -

"It's not working."

(Continued)

>>28712183

I'm actually unsure if the shard we had a noticeable effect on our melee abilities. We barely had it for more than 5 threads and we didn't get into a fight/melee in any of those.

Plus, now we haft to worry about Akira pulling the sword into the real world too. His sword-hand was gloved. The same hand which was cut off the previous wielder. He theoretically has a Red/Real relic.

>>28712188
>xp

HP typo, fuck.

Still,the point stands

>>28712102
>Something is coming - And you know, just *know* - that it is something terrible.

Integrate the Reactor.

And.......

Either rend the next attack, or....

use Disrupt on the abyss.

Disrupt it long enough for akira to come to his senses.

Fuel it with the nihl sphere, or the tachyon reactor, meter, whatever we've got.

And remind akira he made us a promise - that fatal abyss wouldn't be a problem for him to control.

>>28712188
>possibly other stuff
That's the issue.
We got the defense upgrade for two reasons:
- Carnifex lowers defense
- We are getting chopped up way too fucking often
Now that we are more stable, we can look more at long-term investments that we don't know anything about.
I'd personally suggest unlocking weaponry if you want T5, otherwise I'm for upgrading our basic weapons.
It's more important to have a useful arsenal than a bunch of gimmicks.

>>28712188
>Tier 5 weapons. Tier FIVE. (this means Meter, possibly other stuff)Limiter Attunement (its the signature power of the red joker system)Abilities: Things we can't get elsewhere. Ability unlocks, defensive abilities.Unique Artifacts: Carnifex
i agree with this.
Though, i think we REALLY needed some survivability. I mean, we end every fight in several pieces strewn across the battlefield. And, as Thief going super saiyan near us shows, it's not a good thing.

>>28712210

Late to the party, ignore this

>>28712205
>(It does have fringe benefits, like being constantly engulfed in a swirling cloak of blue flame.)
Can we hug people to death?

>>28712210
>HP typo, fuck.
We didn't get HP.
We got ARMOR. The stuff that protects us from CONSTANTLY GETTING OUR WEAPONS DISABLED THROUGH CHOPPED-OFF LIMBS.

>>28712205

"PULL OUT NOW! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! RELEASE THE SWORD AKIRA!"

He's a bastard, but he's one of our friends damnit. Don't let him die to his own stupidity.

>>28712231

Well, ninjas can't catch you if you're on fire

>>28712240
We did. 10% to our max.

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>>28712214
>>28712217
>>28712240
Clearly the solution is to become a Monsoon.

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>>28712205

>>28712205
>"It's not working."
"Would you be okay with melting it down?
Because I think the Hollow Sun could totally do that. Might be a little bit weaker, though."

>>28712255

The gif genuinely disturbs me. And I've seen some shit thanks to this place and Tor.

>>28712252
We also gained physical strength.
But those are side-benefits. They aren't the MAIN use of that upgrade.
Just like how hypermode is only an additional ability for the Carnifex - It still works without and is upgraded even in its basic mode.

>>28712240
>We got ARMOR. The stuff that protects us from CONSTANTLY GETTING OUR WEAPONS DISABLED THROUGH CHOPPED-OFF LIMBS.

> Increasing your physical strength, and reinforcing your internal structure, for a net 10% increase in your maximum HP.

i'm SO glad we have this instead of something, you know, useful.

Should have upgraded the sinistral, or gotten the DEFENSIVE ABILITY.

Fuck you for wasting it.

I just want us to get a ~real~ upgrade. Not pissing away void anchors for no effect, or artifacts for our allies, but actually using the essence we earned for something totally kickass.

Codebursts, new powers, the ability to further gain Adminhax and reinitialize stages within the red world - something not mundane like armor or a sword. Something ~unique~ and fresh.


Also

Leveling up like this consumed all the essence you guys meant to grind into artifacts.
The speedster is gone.
The bits of the tank man? Gone too.

>>28712205
Disrupt the abyss
Chop Akira's sword hand (with something. I'm sure we still got undamaged weaponry somewhere.)
If successful, make a terrible arm pun.

>>28712284
>>28712246

Gonna veto these -

>And the Thief says - His voice echoing forever >"It's not working."

Because its, well, not quite going anywhere. Maybe.

Give the RJ a moment to scope out the situation, make a gut instinct call.

>>28712283
>artifacts for our allies
...I'm going to disregard your post.

>>28712296
And while we think, we might want to re-assemble our body.

>>28712283

Real upgrades won't do shit if we're missing our limbs. Which seems to happen at an astonishingly frequent rate

>>28712301

I can agree with the sword - it did break bishamon's death flag - but I meant more about the plan to arm all of rook's crew with the hollow sun's arsenal.

Do we SERIOUSLY need to blow half a load on shit for them?

What we need is to get void anchors planted, and pronto, and then go on an upgrading spree for the shit that's gonna go down soon - either corrector hives, a trip to hell to kick corrector's ass, argent turning on us for what we did, rescuing hecate, taking pazuzu's other eye, or other seriously high tier stuff.

>>28712205

Brief explosions of blue sparks split the darkness: Power lines, you realize. Tearing apart as the ground rises *there* but not *here*, vapour steaming upwards from walls of raw fissured bedrock, ridges of bleak stone rising and piling up and sliding back down the sides-

>>28712246

His head turns-

The storm drowns out his words. You look into the seething darkness, and you see a million faint sparks winking back and forth - All those black specks, resurrected. All that ash, turned into swirling flames.

It sounds like the world is ending around you, as great support columns crash down - Plumes of water, swirling clouds of dust, boiling skywards as the mournful howl of the wind fills your ears...

There are cracks in the air. Fissures that pulse and dim with the same sickening light, as ball-lightning frothes and bubbles, brighter than any sun. Frost spreads out from Totenaz's form, as the lightning mass sputters and begins to drip down like lava, like molten, white-hot rock...

>>28712284

You raise your remaining arm: The Ion Blaster is gone, somewhere in the beginnings of the cataclysm. But your forearm sheaths slide away, your Plasma Vulcan whirring as it spins up...

The roof falls in. There's a dry, bald scent like heated wire, a great mass of stone plunging into the black waters - The rising tide buffets you, as you try to stop yourself from being engulfed, the poisonous glow of the Fatal Abyss beaming through the dust cloud-

The Emblem on your pauldron smolders, with actinic blue radiance. Close by - Like the reflection of the moon on the water - The twin to Cybele's mark burns: It's guttering, unstable, flickering in and out of existence...Fighting to hold itself *there*, for just a moment more...

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28712332
>Close by - Like the reflection of the moon on the water - The twin to Cybele's mark burns
Wait what. Some other wielder is nearby? That the one our senses tried to warn us about?

Then disengage and get the fuck out of here.

>>28712324
>Do we SERIOUSLY need to blow half a load on shit for them?
I was in favor of just using them as cannon fodder, actually. And ferrying them some Hollow Sun weaponry with the tank, because that stuff is available in basically limitless numbers.

>>28712364

I think Cybele's trying to teleport us out of here. Go for it. This is a VERY BAD PLACE TO BE.

>>28712324

The Hellion weaponry is free. It costs jack except energy or meter if you don't have an alternate power source.

>>28712332

Feed a little bit of the Nihl essence to Hellebore's emblem. We still have yet to figure out what the fuck it does. Start regening limbs.

"AKIRA YOU SON OF A BITCH. IF YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH AT LEAST LET ME DO IT."

>>28712332
>[ ] Free

Nihl_sphere to Emblem.

we can't let us fade and die here due to some dumbass lightning strike.

Connect the tachyon reactor, all power to the same spot.

>>28712332
>The twin to Cybele's mark burns: It's guttering, unstable, flickering in and out of existence...Fighting to hold itself *there*, for just a moment more...
wait.
Wait. The TWIN to cybele's mark?

She said find her.
She's here
Locked away.
The one stage that's normally inaccessable.

We ~need~ to claw ourselves together, take the scraps and legs we've found of ourselves in this place, regenerate. Do ANYTHING to get mobile again.

>>28712383

Yeah, I caught that too. We can't reason with our murderhobo friend to stop his bankai. By then whatever is here will be destroyed. We still gotta track down his reality marble int his place.

You know guys, the stage is disintegrating. That means the monument in the real world is probably sinking on the ground. While we're still there.

We should get the fuck out of here.

>>28712383

Let's give this a shot.

I love how the positions have reversed completely. Akira was trying to stop us from firing the Annihilator and now we're trying to stop him going super saiyan.

>>28712332
Let Hellebore's emblem do whatever it wants to do and give it all the power we can. Also get that damn tachion generator

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>>28712374
>>28712382
>>28712383

Sickening green light sears through the gloom - The water rising in twisting peaks, fringed with foam, the dull rumble the only sound you can hear...

There's a sickening taste you can sense, even in your helmet. A numbing dislocation. A kaleidoscope of nauseating colours. You can hear the shrill chatter, crisping and rubbing like insect wings in their double-millions, half-glimpse apparitions fizzling in the air-

...As - With a large, desperate surge of effort - you make contact with Cybele's Emblem.

The world vanishes in a surge of blue light.

You suffer the awful turbulence, buffeted by the winds of infinity: Electricity *sings*, right down into your bones. Reality strobes around you in bright, jagged flashes...

And the brilliance fades in time for you to see the eternal autumn of Cybele's paradise come up, like a kick in the face.

"Joker-kun!" You hear her sandals scuff against the grass - Her soft footfalls, as she crosses the distance. Limbless, your armour smoking with boiling vapour, it's all you can do to stare *through* the shimmering glass of her demense, at the crimson globe of the world below...

As far, far below, a seething spike of smoke-light rises from the city of Cocytus; A column of wretched, awful illumination, with the actinic radiance of a second sun.

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 71

TO BE CONTINUED

>>28712473

Can we plug the generator into us?

Might it be able to give us thr boost we need to regen fully?

>>28712489
Spoil me OP

Is Phantom Edge back?