Complete Comms Main Story (S4 Finale) DRAGON.end - Phase 3

[Ash Vargold]

From afar, Ash watches as Hanno breaks loose for the first time that he's ever seen.

"...that can't be good."

"Hey, @Luthien, how's the egg? It's probably not really Emmy in there, but it's still important...

The funk Aisling was in has faded. Ash seems to be more up to usual form.

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

That egg wasn't that big back when the Calculator was simulating it, was it?

She didn't have to shout everything she said, even if her blood was roaring in her ears. She looked at @Ash Vargold, then at @MAI, who appeared to be busy singing to the egg.

There was that cry for help when Szofrit first spoke to us. It might be the real Golden Child: that Calculator would have tried to copy her if it could.

Shaking her head she stepped closer until she could carefully pat MAI's head, turning around to face Szofrit once more.

Either way, Szofrit doesn't want to attack it and it doesn't look like the egg is about to start helping her either. You do your best to keep that egg safe and see if you can hatch it MAI: we'll have to take this opportunity to rally the pack.

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

It was momentarily hard to move, with her body mutating due to the magic fungi wrapped her skin. However, as soon as she was done, she turned her gaze to the familiar faces that were nearby.

"Thank you... For looking out for me..." She said, smiling to @Cadmean, happy to see that the woman was still safe and sound despite everything. "I don't know if I would still be around if it wasn't for your help."

Her eyes then turned to @Cleo Looker and @Ueno Mizuki.

"You as well... Especially for helping Mai..." Kyanna said, letting out a sigh and pursing her lips. "But there is still so much to do... How... How this egg will help us?" She wondered.

Then, she faced @MAI.

"It can... Hear you?"

 

[Luthien]

Cautious hands reach for the shell of the golden egg, her palm softly pressing against its surface as she feels the emotions whirling within. Ash's voice finally snaps her out of it, the concern evident in her face as she turns to look at the caenis.

"Not good..." Knitted eyebrows and th small downward turn at the edge of her lips accompanied her words as she looked at the man. "They're distressed... concerned, like all of us, about how this will all end."

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Tick Tock]

MAMAAAAA!

Tock cried out once she finally got sight of @Eva while wearing her Seigi cosplay outfit. The joy on her features was immesurable, and her smile didn't lose a single bit of it's energy, it's charisma, it's creepiness. Not even if the wounds the woman carried were still fresh in her mind, how there was one less eye in that human skull.

She broke formation for a second, if only to run over and give her a big, powerful tackle hug without the tackle part.

How many times did you die already, mama? Tock died... Two times! Pretty funsies, exploded like legos!

She gestured it with one hand.

Tick's very busy right now. OH! have you seen Tock's dearest, sweetest, most beautiful Kyanna? Is she safe? Oh you must know about it, Tock saw her with a very cute half-faced Magia. Is she nice? Is she Kyanna's other wife? Can Tock marry both now? We need your blessing, mama, no time to think about it!

The barest hint of concern blasted through the monotony of an ever lively, almost robotic voice of hers.

 

[Lune]

Things happened quickly, and when she next opened her eyes, she was already impaled through her chest into the ground by a massive lance, unable to move. She turned her head towards @Hanno Futaba, who was in the same predicament as her.

"Don't worry. It'll take more than that one to put me down. Now, if only I can remove this...."

She did notice another target of the lance, now laying lifelessly on the ground. The familiar red hair made her curse.

"Fuck, is that Zelrius?"

 

[Eva]

She was startled by a sudden hug, before turning to see that it was Tock. (@Tick Tock)

"Deaths? None. Isn't dying bad, even for you, Tock? What is this weird costume you are wearing? Where's Tick?"

It would certainly sound like a scolding if only the delivery weren't so cold and robotic, almost deadpanning. She looked around, trying to find Kyanna, MAI, and Tick.

"No one's marrying Kyanna, she's too young for that. Come, let's go help your sister and the others."

 

[MAI]

MAI remained by the egg even as others started gathering around it and discussing all manner of things.

"It certainly wasn't, but... look above us. The Red Egg, it is massive. Large enough to birth a titan demon. Either way, both of these eggs should allegedly contain the 'keychild' that will be capable of opening a path further into the dragonhead. Szofrit believes that whatever cycle she wants to break... it can be done from there. At least, that is what I have gathered."

@Ueno Mizuki

Those same words were there for Kyanna as well, although her own question was a bit more uncertain.

"I don't know for certain. But it was able to contact us before, when we were braving the God-Searing Light. If it was able to do that... then I think it is not impossible that it is aware of us now that we are so close."

Her eyes even shifted over at @Luthien and @Ash Vargold

"You two were there, too. When Null tried to prepare us for this. The worry is not displaced, but it should be cast aside now. Will you aid me in hatching the egg, should the chance present itself?"

 

[Ash Vargold]

"...you and me both, Emmy. Thanks, Luthien."

Ash nods to MAI, his attention as fixed on the battlefield as it is on the egg. It's amazing how much Null had shown them. Perhaps she knew more than they gave her credit for.

"I'm no healer, but I'll keep you all covered if it comes to that."

A moment, and he can't help but smirk slightly. The simulation had been similar, but...

"...at least we don't have a swarm of tiny insulting anklebiters, huh?"

 

[Jin]

"I will excise the sin of your existence," the Bloodsworn told her, "until the only memory left of you is obscurity, a barely jarring bump on the unending paths of eternity. You speak of salvation, of fate, but you approximate values and conditions based on logic where none exists."

He laughed, dryly. "There were times I longed for death before I ever came to this land, but not once did it take me. Humans are resilient creatures, Machine. Crush us once, twice, ten thousand times and we will always get back up. We will seek you out. I will hunt you down. And I...."

Jin blinked slowly, lips tugging upward into a smirk.

"...am relentless."

@Raid Boss

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

I don't know yet how it can help us, but Szofrit wouldn't be keeping it here if it wasn't important.

Back during the fight with the Calculator the Golden Child had ended up supporting them after she had hatched, but that had merely been a simulation.

But keeping the egg safe and hatching it is more likely to help us than to harm us. Worst case we can keep exploiting Szofrit's motherly instincts and force a stalemate so she has to talk.

She gritted her fangs.

Which she should have been doing from the start.

Ash's mention of Legion reminded her that she hadn't seen the strange multi-bodied magia yet. Had Szofrit gotten to her, or was she simply not online right now?

I don't miss the anklebiting, but she could've been useful here.

@Ash Vargold @Kyanna Wynne @Luthien @MAI

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Or Kyra's healing. I should be glad they aren't here, but..."

'I miss them', he doesn't say. Ash takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm back down..

"I won't call myself an 'expert' on dissonance, but... you saw what the Calculator became. Once they go too far, it doesn't seem like there's much left to negotiate with."

"I don't think you can remove eldritch corruption with an antivirus."

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[MAI]

"And yet, Szofrit is not a twisted monstrosity hell-bent on destroying everything. Not yet. She clearly has some of her senses still, some of herself that is inside of her. She is not rampaging as Calculator did, so I think there is still hope left."

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"...if this isn't 'rampaging, then I'm very worried about what you consider rampaging, MAI."

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

I'm not expecting this to be easy, but as MAI pointed out Szofrit isn't acting like she's completely lost her mind. That Calculator was babbling complete nonsense near the end.

She cast her glance back up towards the Mother of Machines hovering in the distance.

We have a plan. It might not work, but if that pink elf was telling the truth it's worth trying to keep Szofrit alive.

@Ash Vargold @MAI

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Did it not make sense...? It's been a while."

He remembered it making sense. Granted, Ash kind of 'died' partway through that one, and what happened after that was pretty fuzzy.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Erick Stryker]

Erick, who up to this point had kept his opinions silent, finally spoke up.

"Look, guys, I'm not a fan of the idea of killing anyone,"

He glanced back at them, still holding his weapon wardingly.

"If there's a chance anyone can be saved, no matter how bad the things they've done are, I think that it's worth it. But, if it comes at the cost of real lives, uncounted, untold lives for one life? That's not a trade, it's a tragedy."

He looked over now at Svofrit and shook his head.

"Astorea has already lost enough in this fight, and if we do manage to save her, someone else loses. There's no victory in this battle other than an end to the conflict. That should be our priority right now, not whether she lives or dies. We have to do this together, even if we don't agree on what the outcome should be. Let's worry about that when we get to the end."

@Ash Vargold @Ueno Mizuki @MAI

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

It was shouting something about math and got most of it wrong. I wouldn't have called it sane. Szofrit's corruption may have turned her hostile but I can still understand what she's saying.

She didn't know Erick, but his words were familiar to her. Arguments for why Szofrit's life wasn't worth all the lives already lost and those that could still be lost in this fight. The luna wolf turned her head to look at him with both eyes, gold and red fixed on him.

We're not keeping her alive for her sake. She's not some random monster that appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us: she's part of a bigger problem.

If you want to save as many people as you can not just now, but also in the future, you'll do your best to take her down without killing her so we can use her. Otherwise, get out of my way.

@Ash Vargold @Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

Erick sighed.

"Team Player, by the way..."

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Well, that's because it was forcing the math to be wrong. It was disrupting the simulation, same as us.

By the way, if Harper tries to eat a glitch again, I'm either stopping her or I'm doing it first."

This probably makes no sense to Erick. He turns his way, and shrugs.

"...same here. Really, this was a tragedy the moment we decided to log in. Not looking forward to seeing the news after this, assuming VRSA doesn't just block it all again."