False Gods: Take 2

[Ashenclaw]

When Telaer felt the pulse of energy he immediately dropped to one knee. His hands went to his pockets and then each hand moved to the opposite wrist, implanting small seeds. He pressed his hands onto the ground, his sleeves falling around them and hiding them from sight. Just because he didn't want to fight, that didn't mean he failed to remember how to. Beneath the ground, vines began to grow. "Kal, I'll take defensive. You take offensive." There was a soft light from Io, and both Cuddles and Telaer felt stronger. Cuddles hopped the the ground in front of Telaer and small flames appeared above his tails.  

[Edmund_Gallows]

"Mushi, wings if you'd please." He grinned when he felt the energy, embracing it's feel for a moment. It made him fearful, fear was something Arliss enjoyed, it made him strong. Mushi landed on his back, great ice wings extending around him.

A thin layer of fog rushed it from the ground, getting thicker as it rose. For a moment around Arliss, he could see, then it began to collect around his arms, tightly coiling around them until he had large hand shaped sheaths around them, which he could control as if they were his own limbs. The new fog limbs reached to the ground, and Arliss's mouth stayed twisted into a smile.

Mushi sighed, knowing this would end badly for the pair. But he'd follow Arliss into hell just so he could fail in keeping him from doing bad things.  

[ClaraDusk]

Claire felt a little less nauseated as Io's light absorbed into her body. She felt stronger, focused, and had more spring to her muscles. She watched as each person prepared for the enemy in their own way. She noticed Telaer looked on the defensive. "Telaer! Would you mind guarding our healer-friend if she needs it?" They couldn't afford to lose someone who's powers were such an asset to their strength.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Vergil's eyes, with 20/20 vision now that he was using his Pure Darkness Release, scanned the ground below him across the land. "Where the Roads Cross, Vergil." Instantly Vergil's eyes traced up the wide main road leading toward the East. He could see the tiny North and South Roads a few miles away at this height. "There." He could sense five distinct energies pulsating from the point. He frowned deeply at one in particular. "Here I come little nephew." He shot across the land like a bullet propelled by the wind against his wings. He landed like a meteor, right outside of the town on West Main, tearing up the cobbled road with his taloned feet as he skidded to a halt. "You should work on your landings. Release Down." The darkness enveloping Vergil dissapated into tiny peices that blew away like dust in the wind. His eyes turned back to their pale blue and he was blind again. "Hey! Why can't I use my Pure Darkness Form dammit!" "You need to reserve your energy. You have a large task placed in front of you. Remember the objective." The large duffelbag he had been toting began squirming slightly as if there were several creatures inside trying to escape. He placed it on the ground with a smirk and unzipped the main zipper. Ten Spiders, all numbered 002 thru 011, crawled out of the duffelbag and started down West Main towards the center. Vergil cracked a wide grin. This should be good."  

[Skye Venorum]

Jamie braced himself as the pulse of energy came, knocked back and up a ways "Ugh..." he said, floating over to the top of a building "Alaria, keep the demon charged." he squinted as he saw the dark man empty a bag, and watched the things crawl from it "Well now..." he touched a piece of metal on the roof "We'll have to change that."

"Do not expend too much energy. Stay focused."

Electricity temporarily charged in his arms, then arced multiple times through the town, finally hitting all the spiders.  

[ClaraDusk]

Spiders 002 thru 011 all screeched mechanically as they were hit with the lightning and froze momentarily. However, scientists had come up with a way to prevent electricity, wether natural or unnatural, from short circuiting the Spiders. Energy from the Spider's rechargable power source flowed into the bio-hardware and healed the damage caused. (Recharge) One by one the Spider's slowly regained function and progressed, each little move of its legs making mechanical whizzing sounds. Spider 001 logged this data for Vergil and concluded that the lightning god was Vergil's 'nephew'.  

[AngelicTurtle]

Io had boosted her own attributes along with those of her companions in this fight. She had to be in direct contact with someone in order to heal them and, considering most of them could fly, that meant she'd potentially have to do a great deal of darting around. She pulled her longbow from its position on her back, quickly casting a ward on her quiver of arrows. The ward would boost the arrows' effectiveness against negative energy, dispelling it and purifying the struck area on contact. It wasn't exactly arched lightening, but it would be enough, hopefully, to pick off a few spiders.

Being grounded, Io didn't have the vantage point that Jamie had, but few were as accurate with a bow as she was. She cocked her first arrow and waited for the first spider to come into view. As soon as she had a clean shot, she let it fly, hoping the ward would be enough to do some damage. If it wasn't, Io still had her quarterstaff. It was far less elegant a weapon, but even Io couldn't underestimate the value of a good ol' fashioned smashing.  

[ClaraDusk]

Spider 005 had been the fastest. The lightning had slowed him down, but he had recovered before his bretheren. He was hungry for a Host. As he skittered toward the first person he saw, the second thing he saw, was the bow. He skid to a halt and erected his Firewall, but the third thing he saw was the arrow as it shattered the energy shield with mere force and imbedded into a weak spot in his casing, peircing his bio-chip. He malfunctioned, and lost conciousness.

002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011  

[Skye Venorum]

Noting Io's success, Jamie drew his bow. He might not have the same experience Io had, but he did have a far superior bow. He drew an arrow, knocked it, adjusted the weight, and sighted through the scope. "Come on..." he aimed towards the next closest spider, and let his arrow fly.  

[Edmund_Gallows]

Arliss hardly noticed the spiders, the great wings of Mushi's flapping and propelling him into the air. Despite them being Mushi's wings, Arliss was still in control of direction, and before long he had set a course for the man.

His fist was clenched before him, the hardened fog casing shifting into a spiked bludgeoning tool. His other hand and it's fog casing was held over his head as a shield, and burning hot steam shot from both his feet to give him an extra boost in speed. The pirate aimed for the mans chest.  

[Ashenclaw]

Telaer nodded in response to Claire. Defense he could do. He remained in his spot rooted to the ground, not bothering with the spiders.

Cuddles decided to act. He ran a few feet forward, and a single purple and blue ghost flame fired at each remaining spider. If they made contact the spiders would hopefully ignite instantly because of Cuddle's empowerment.  

[AngelicTurtle]

Io smirked as the spider she struck spluttered and died. Brute force, it seemed, was enough to take down this first wave. She hoped it hadn't merely been a lucky shot.

"Enjoying the slaughter, are we?" Valko hissed in Io's mind. "Remembering the days when you and I spilled blood as one?"

"They are machines, nothing more. Their deaths are meaningless," she replied, but her smirk vanished as she launched a second arrow and then quickly followed it up with a third.  

[ClaraDusk]

Spider 008 passed his brother 005 and skittered toward the group on the ground. The lightning host was on the top of a building and had fired his own arrow like the first, but the Spiders were anticipating this method now. Just before the arrow let fly Spider 008 had coiled his legs and jumped straight into the air attempting to dodge the arrow, but it knicked his side and sliced off the middle two of his left four legs. He wobbled onward anyway, unable to regenerate them.

Spiders 002-004, 006-007, 009, and 011 had seen the cat-parasite fire its ghost flames. Each one erected a Firewall, and the energy was absorbed. However 008, who was damaged, and 010, who was too close to protect itself, were hit and incinerated. They left nothing behind but a black mark on the cobbled road. The data was logged by Spider 001.

Spider 009 had reached a solution to the arrows shot from ground level. He stopped and cocked his body backwards, and sprung forward like a waterbug right before the arrow had implanted itself in the stone road. Spider 003, who had tried to copy this technique, failed. Spider 003 was impaled, wobbled a few steps, screeched, and blacked out.

002, 003 (KO), 004, 005 (KO), 006, 007, 008 (X), 009, 010 (X), 011

((OOC: KO stands for out of commision but fixable... X stands for completely destroyed))  

[Skye Venorum]

Jamie rolled his eyes <This is taking too long...> He focused on his wind power, and a miniature tornado appeared around the 3 closest spiders, suspending them in the air. He lowered his eyelids slightly, focusing on his power.

**OOC**Hooray for no magical damage ^^**/OOC**  

[AngelicTurtle]

Io's brow furrowed. She had clearely underestimated the intelligence of the spiders. Someone had taken a lot of care in programming them...but to what end?

The spiders on the ground were growing too close for a ranged attack to be practical, and Io traded her bow for her quarterstaff. The spiders had to get through Telaer and Cuddles before they would be in range of her, but these foes had proved resourceful thus far. While she thought that Telaer and Cuddles were more than capable, she knew better than to assume anything.  

[ClaraDusk]

Claire watched while her comerades took out the first several of the spider-like things. What were these things? She had never seen anything like them. Suddenly a bot clearly labelled "004" skittered up to her. It jumped straight into the air and attempted to land on her chest. She leaned backwards almost doubling over, and raised a palm to the creature. She grasped her wrist with her other hand, channeling her energy. A white hot blast of flame erupted from her palm creating a column twice as tall as herself at a 45 degree angle to the ground. The spider melted and twisted and fell to the ground as a hot ball of melted metal, components, and diamond. Shocked she stood back upright and balled her fists. "What are these things!?"

Vergil's grin cracked wider at the sight of the Ice/Fog god. "Why hello there, cousin!!" He shouted sarcastically. Vergil's hand made slicing motions in the air and two air-blades were aimed at cutting off his ice-wings.Then Vergil stood his ground turning his scythe nearly upside down so that he could slice upwards and knock Arliss's limb upwards once the fog-spiked weapon/limb got into range.

Spider 001 reported to Vergil: "Casualties are already mounting. Three have been completely destoyed. Two have been incapacitated. There is the lightning/archer on a roof and an archer below. Another unknown man is in a defensive position and his cat-parasite is on offensive. A Fire God is present along with this one who appears to have both Water and Ice abilities. Be on guard."

Spider 002 and 007 halted their advance. They skittered up the bodies of Spider 003 and 004, respectively, and set two fore-limb on their fallen bretherens' carcasses. They bit off the arrows' shafts and turned their bretheren onto their backs. Using their Regeneration abilities they started attempting to heal the damage in their bretherens' bio-chips.

Spiders 006, 009, and 011 were trapped in the whirlwind, legs waving wildly, unable to advance.

002, 003 (KO), 004 (X), 005 (KO), 006, 007, 008 (X), 009, 010 (X), 011