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

[Jin]

"Should we just go about slaying others for crimes committed while they were not themselves in the name of justice?" A pointed glare was given towards the man. "Because if so, that same judgment would have to be applied to every Magia controlled today."

Jin looked toward @Luthien and closed his eyes, shrugging haplessly and shaking his head.

"A fine oversimplification of an incredibly nuanced situation, ma'am. Pray, do you expect to convince me with logical fallacies and emotional appeals?"

We're capturing her because if we don't we're back at square one, waiting for the next Dissonance-driven threat to come at us with us knowing nothing about how, why, or what to do about it.

And if anyone gets in the way of that, I'll pull their fangs out.

Jin's eyes moved toward the Caenis and his lips pulled up in a smirk.

"And now you would convince us with violence? How boring," he clicked his tongue, measuring his responses carefully to each individual.

Though he was not devoted to either outcome, he knew that a much more interesting result would come out if their emotions got in the way. Give them the opportunity to pour out their hearts, to show their truth to those who could see and hear them.

Perhaps even create a rift that could not be mended.

Vargold is right. This needs to end here. And the answer isn't as simple as letting the bitch live. The possibility exists that she will not be compliant, that she will not tell us what we want to know. There is a non-zero likelihood that she simply escapes custody and begins to work toward all of this-" he gestured around them, "again. The answers can be found without her. It would take longer, but so long as the threat of Szofrit exists, no one is safe. Least of all the Magia she was able to control by sheer force of will." He made one last pointed gaze toward the Elven woman who had so quickly shared with him her scathing report.

 

[MAI]

Spotting @Aerial and her unkind gaze toward the golden egg, MAI got a bit worried and tried to hurry herself toward her. She saw @Harper nearby as well, close enough to hear.

"That is still the case. Gaze ahead, she is nothing short of paralyzed... but instead of taking this moment to end her, we need to capture her alive! As Accelerator said, she very well might have information portraying to the possibility of returning UI-locked players back into reality... and much more than that. I saw it... just moments before we returned. She is from afar and she knows FAR more than any one of us here!"

As she did her best to convince those around her to not draw their weapons with the intent to kill, she also searched within herself. It worked with the lullaby just a moment ago... she could connect with all the magia here, talk to them even if they weren't right next to her. A voice that only they could hear.

"Please, listen to me. Some of us have experienced it... the pain of being controlled by someone else and made to commit atrocities against our will. The mother in front of us... is in the same situation as we were. Puppeteered around by dissonance as its pawn of devastation. We... should at least try to reject it and free her of its hold. Judgement can come after."

@Tick Tock @Omega Redux @Ayna Nietzsche

 

[Luthien]

Despite her best attempt she can’t hide the flinch that crosses her features at the unexpected sharpness of @Vargold‘s gaze, though it’s the unfocused look deep into those dark pools that steadies her own resolve… a look she’s already seen once today, though one she never expected on the awoo that’s always been the voice of reason for the ragtag group since their camp days.

Spectral claws rise as her palm presses to his hand, poised and ready to lash out before something seems to hold them back, but despite the drumming in her ears and the tightness in her throat Lúthien’s touch remains. Something shifts along his clothing, drawing her eyes towards it before the man’s free hand finally clutches over the eyeball in a vain attempt to hide its presence.

"Dying is probably the kinder fate."

"Is it, though?" She reaches out again, both hands now encompassing the one still keeping a tight grip on the hilt of his blade. There’s something else here, something more and she’s no longer sure to whom her words are meant. "Killing her won’t bring the dead back… but it could seal the death of others in a future to come."

@Mizuki’s voice breaks through then, causing the elf to give a soft nod in her direction before she stared directly into Ash’s gaze again.

"Dissonance will continue to corrupt and claim the lives of many, killing Szofrit now won’t change that, but if there’s a chance that she can lead us directly to its source so we can put an end to it… wouldn’t that be worth pursuing?"

The seeds of discord continue to be sown in the land around them, causing the blonde to take a deep breath and steel herself against the spilling waves of emotions that begin to flood her consciousness from those around and the influence they could have on her, before Lúthien's words are spoken loud enough for those near to hear—though her gaze remains on the green-haired caenis.

"No cycle has ever been broken without a proactive action, and that’s because those are the hardest pills to swallow. Killing Szofrit is the easy way out, a reaction towards the pain inflicted today without taking into mind the circumstances around it... besides, since when is death the only option for atonement?"

 

 

[Rael]

Rael's knees buckled underneath the pressure, her thoughts overcome by the incessant movement of the clock's hands as they ticked backwards, the moment of everyone's death suddenly averted. The elf grasped at either side of her head as she struggled to regain her composure, breathing in and out rapidly through her mouth, gaze cast downward as the crystalline blue reflected the maddening vision that had opened up underneath her and threatened to swallow her whole.

Yet she was privy to all that happened around her, and at once was The Seamstress by her side, aiding the frail Summoner through her unseemly state. The Seamstress' hand was pressed to Rael's back, and such contact was enough for the elf to project and voice her will through her, eyes immediately falling on @Luthien after the initial confrontation with the Explorers' leader.

The insults are undeserved, you should know better.

If this were your home, your words would mirror her own. But it isn't, and you are a nigh-immortal being on this Land that doesn't stand to lose anything from this.

Do try and show some compassion for those that do.

The Seamstress' eyes searched the battlefield for those with whom she had communicated earlier, catching glimpses of Childress' (@Raid Boss) form urging her forces to continue the fight against Kiryuu's wishes.

Fight, then, for the safety that you seek for those under your care. But do so with the understanding that we, who wish to stop you, are doing the same.

The Seamstress animated herself then, her voice growing louder in spite of how she delicately assisted the Summoner back to her feet, always looking outward to the faces in the crowd that surrounded the two.

If Szofrit is able to tamper with the system, who's to say we can't take that to our advantage? Wipe deaths off of the System, change what has been done, and restore what has been lost! The way ahead might be a difficult one, with many unknowns, but it doesn't make it any less worthy of our consideration.

The plan hasn't changed.

All of you who are sturdy, or quick on your feet - disarm those aiming to strike, as we discussed!

Give the Magia a chance to strike her software, earn them enough time!

If we would make a future without fear of Dissonance corrupting and taking our loved ones, both Landers and Starcalled alike, this is the first step towards making such a future a reality.

---

@Raid Boss @Harper @Ilusa Nakhalee @Luthien @Asher @Tick Tock @Ayna Nietzsche @Ueno Mizuki @Hanno Futaba @Aerial @Toko @Ash Vargold @Seigi Ling Ling
(And anyone else who wants to, I don't know who else to tag)​

 

[Madison Mortiere]

"We have to kill her."

It's almost embarrassing, stumbling up to Levi Pendragon (@Raid Boss) like this, in the middle of a heated battle we are living through for a second time. Nursing my injuries, the shadows reshaping the pulverized bones and muscles of my left hand. Compartmentalizing the memories of watching myself grow old and die in the span of seconds and shoving that box deeeeeeep into a corner of my subconscious to unpack later.

"Lord Commander, this renegade magia must die. We must strike now! So many have already died--starcalled and lander both. And every second you hesitate, you only damn even more! While she continues her rampage!"

I pointed towards Szofrit, floating in the air above. The dark tendrils squirming from her twitching form. "She is infected. She is already gone, Levi. No good can come from capturing her alive. The people will see this as a moment of weakness and lose faith in the Lions. They will mutter under their breaths about the how their friends and loved ones died in this assault while the Lions protected their killer. The badges we wear will no longer have their respect."

One by one, I press six fresh bullets into the cylinder of my revolver. "And without the trust and respect of the people, the Lions are nothing. We serve the people of this world, Lord Commander. Perhaps you should fucking act like it."

 

[Magi Heart]

Magi Heart

"...what... geezus wheezus... what... did she do.. *huff huff*... w-what did I ..."

Wendel was silent.

Magi was on the ground holding herself help with trembling scrawny arms. Her form reverted to its most base state. She wasn't hurt physically, most of the damage dealt to her outer body had been undone but... something had shaken her beyond anything to this point. The second time chronomancy had injected itself into her life.

A future for the fateless...

What was Wendel at that time?
What was Magi as a whole at that time?

Now a new path opened and yet she knew what Wendel thought. "It always will end the same."

Her eyes stayed gazing at the rocky earth as her hair hung at the sides. Right now, what was happening here felt so unimportant and small. She never had such a feeling like this.. she was just existing fateless until Wendel...

"...Raina... we n-n-need to talk... soon... I-I'm... going to r-r-rest awhile right h-here..."

She wasn't sure Seigi even heard her, but she was too lost in her own thoughts and maintaining her magic form to talk louder.

@Seigi Ling Ling

 

[Asher]

“You weren’t fucking HERE!”

He doesn’t care that he’s stepping up to someone that outranks him. He doesn’t glance at the blood dripping from Madison’s wounds. Stress and adrenaline swirl as a deadly cocktail in his chest and he swallows it down, attempts to master himself. It’s a thin line he walks.

“You didn’t bury bodies, you didn’t deliver the news to families and friends of what happened when that fucking thing fell out of the sky. You didn’t lose anyone! And at the end of the day, when things get too fucking dire, Sheriff, you can just fucking leave.”

(His chest heaves and his eyes narrow.) “Those locked in aren’t so lucky. The Landers aren’t so lucky. Imagine if we had been prepared, how many people we could’ve saved. And now the opportunity presents itself and you’d rather cut off the only possibility of information that we’ve had for four years. Forewarned is forearmed, Sheriff, and it’s the only way we can get back to what we’re good at fucking doing.”

@Madison Freebird

 

[Fina Drago]

Among all of the chaos, Fina managed to stumble across Levi, Madison, and Asher. Her ears quite ruffled by what she heard from the woman, and the man's yelling. The feline approached in a much calmer manner.

"Why the long face, Red Lion? Lost for what to do..?"

She offered a rather saddened smile as her eyes went to the other woman briefly.

"She's not rampaging right now, is she? And if she was really lost to dissonance... do you think she would be so unwilling to strike us all down together with the gold egg?"

Fina let out a sigh. She didn't have much to say, so she just let out what little she had.

"I'm no lion, so I don't know how you all operate. But you saved me at camp Hope, Levi. So I take it that's what you do... I don't know what it was, but as I approached Szofrit before, I saw something. A memory of hers, cradling a child of her own. An adorable little girl in a time of peace, before the dissonance. For some weird insanity disease to come and ruin something like that... well, I know that I want to try and save that woman from it! Because each life is precious, as is her own... so if we can ensure that this bloody war is one victim short, I'd appreciate it if you could charge there with me and restrain help me restrain her instead of driving that sword through her chest."

@Raid Boss @Madison Freebird @Asher

 

[Madison Mortiere]

I wheeled around on this frosty-haired motherfucker (whose name I will eventually learn is @Asher) and nearly clock him upside the head with the barrel of my gun.

"And you will wonder how many more you could have saved when she inevitably breaks free and does this all over again!" I close the distance between us, my face mere inches away from his. "We will never be fully prepared. For anything. Despite our best fucking efforts. Because that's the nature of video games, isn't it? Bad shit happening all the fucking time, and nobody can do a fucking thing to stop it until it's here?" It takes every ounce of cool I can muster not to press my finger into his chest to punctuate each and every syllable.

"Besides, who fucking says you need her alive to get information from her? Bring a corpse to any necromancer worth their deer hams, and they could get you their mother's maiden name, what they called their first pet, and their favorite food! With magia, it's the same fucking thing if you go prying through their memory banks. But she--" I pointed more towards the dissonance than to Szofrit. "--is corrupted. Take a fucking look for yourself, kid. Do you think anyone in the last four years has figured out a way to get through all that shit? Without succumbing to itself first? Of course they haven't--otherwise you'd have done it already, and we wouldn't be in this mess. So what makes you think we have what it takes to start now?"

(@Fina Drago tagging you to keep you in the loop)

 

[Aerial]

Intense red eyes (@Luthien) tried to cut through her but she deflected them with her own rage-fueled eyes. Why did so many people have allegiance to this damned egg who just saved its mother? Traitors.

She managed to calm her seething anger enough to listen to @MAI. Knowledge of saving the UI locked could save her friends but.. what about her?

"Let's say it can save the UI locked. Fucking how? Their bodies are DEAD. They're gone from real life so how can this damned game return what it stole? It can't bring the dead back. If it can then give me the fucking proof or any inclement that it's possible. By giving it more time, we're given it more chances to kill us and trap us here."

She was at two deaths. Whoever rewound time was, in her mind, attempting to kill her.

"I can't be the only one who saw that tin can's memory. Our answers might be in them. If that's so then we don't need to risk... I can feel the bitch's anger. Even before the dissonance she was angry because of some.. some creator.

That creator abandoned her so what is she besides trap metal?

If this egg is responsible for this, I fucking swear... Sentencing our exhausted selves to live in a damn cycle where - at any point - we could be trapped here forever."

​

 

[Toko]

She still wasn't entirely sure of what had happened, while her eyes had certainly seen her actions wound back her mind was struggling to comprehend how that was even possible to such a scale... and her body had certainly disagreed with the whole thing, judging by the colorful pool left somewhere out there as another had helped carry Toko back to the seemingly safe area around the golden egg.

"S-Sankyu..."

A clap was given to their shoulder before the hare allowed her ass to hit the ground, a long and drawn out sigh escaping her as she took a moment to pick up her bearings.

The voice of the Seamstress caught her attention first, the familiar voice of the faerin that had pulled her back from the plane of death somewhat detected in her tones, and as Toko listened to the message at hand she couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Mads?" Another argument soon broke out not too far, the loud voice of @Asher catching Toko's attention first before the lepus blinked in surprise upon seeing who the beastfolk was debating with. "Dooh shita no?"

 

 

[Cadmean]

Cadmean's gaze drifted to @Rael, as her mind (re-)replayed the last few minutes of the frozen world.

We have among us one who is willing to turn back time for the entire world for a chance to save Szofrit. And when she was unable to, we have some other being who was willing to lend their otherworldly assistance to make it possible. To pave for us the path to make a second choice, they earned the ire of some unknowable, higher being. Tossing that all away by repeating the same pointless violence as before would be quite the waste, no?

 

[Asher]

Asher takes in Madison's comments while standing tall, his arms still hanging loosely at his sides. But he can't help but overhear one sentiment [ @Aerial ] that he has long since struggled to accept. His crimson eyes dart to her.

"There is no going back. My body is dead and buried, was done so four years ago. And all I can do now is help this world, my new fucking home, survive."

His attention reverts to @Madison Freebird and his eyes narrow.

"Have you ever seen ANYONE do anything even remotely close to what Rael has done? What she just did?! But you're willing to throw away an opportunity on fucking…valor points and loot drops?!"

Exhaling sharply, steam pushes from his nostrils before he has the chance to shake his head, to reign in his beast.

"The World is different when the Starcalled are here. We haven't had you all for the last four years so, of course, no body could do what you're asking. But we can now! Right now! To-fucking-day!"

He allows himself a frustrated grunt and the muscles in his thighs twitch, rooting him to the ground when he only wants to pace.

"I'm not saying forgive and forget. Hell, I'm not saying we have to keep her alive past getting what we need out of her so that if something else bigger and badder is waiting to wretch our shit, at least we can prepare. We swore an oath to protect those who need our aid, Sheriff, and we can't fucking do that when we're blindsided at every fucking turn."

 

[MAI]

"The egg is..? No, not at all! It was the elf and that... nevermind. The elf, the one with pink hair, used some kind of strange magic to start rewinding. She is on our side. Both of the eggs are dormant and not doing anything right now. And... I am certain that we cannot cycle back again."

She tried to explain the situation as best as she could to Aerial, though it was clear that the girl was quite heated.

"Try to calm your breathing. I have seen a memory as well... of the moment Szofrit was claimed by Dissonance. And the reason for it. Her unwillingness to hurt her allies whom she loved. Even if she was angry at their Creator, she was no monster that would use that anger to hurt others."

But there was also the issue of logistics when it came to bringing those who were UI-locked back.

"I... can't give you anything to prove any of this. That is why we want her alive. It is the only way to find out. This game... can keep people alive even beyond their death in the real world. If that path goes one way, then it could go the other way as well."

@Aerial

 

[Hanno Futaba]

While they tried to convince Levi, it turned out @Asher and @Madison Freebird got entangled in an argument, one that shouldn't even be happening in first place. Tones and voices were raising, and before things escaped from the realm of 'only words', he stepped in.

"Hey there, let's calm down a bit."

He said, trying to get in between the two.

"We are meant to protect them, not to look good while doing it. I don't want to have their smiles, happy for a bloodshed, only for them to die later because we couldn't at least prevent one first attack. I'd rather have them mad at us now, and then give them a good dose of 'told you so' if we manage to catch our future enemies ready."

Hanno shrugged, then turning to look at the robot that was still a bit far.

"I understand what you want to do, buddy, but keeping her in captivity isn't an act of no return, killing her may be though. We don't have much time to think twice right now, but if we have her in our hands, we will have time to think twice, thrice, hell even the word that comes after that I have no idea what it is."

He said.

 

[Madison Mortiere]

I blink. I'm not sure which I'm more insulted by--the complete disrespect of my own abilities, or that I'm in it for stupid-ass loot drops and utterly useless VP swag.

"Yes I have," I spat at @Asher. "Every single time I aim down the sights of my revolvers, the seconds slow to a crawl. Every laceration or broken bone I suffer trying to keep landers safe from harm, I can rewind until I am good as new."

Luckily for him, however; @Hanno Futaba waddled his little tin can ass on over, wedging himself between me and Asher. "Did you not see how easily she was able to assume control of so many magia? All the havoc they caused at camp? How an assassination attempt at the hands of one of them nearly took the Lord Commander's life? The endless waves that charged the ruins shortly before we engaged her here? How many died because of her?" I lean down to meet him eye to eye. I almost pull a muscle in my back doing so. "Are you willing to accept the responsibility of each additional death she causes when, in a moment of our mercy, she capitalizes on it as the moment of weakness it really is and escapes to begin the cycle anew?"

My hand finds its way to the grip of my revolver. In a flash, it's drawn from its holster and aimed squarely at the head of the renegade in the distance. "Because I cannot. I don't have the strength to. I watched friend get UI-locked due to my actions, and it's a guilt that weighs heavily on me. Not a day goes by where I remember that someone is actually dead dead, and it's my fault. It fucking sucks, man. And that's why I took the oath. The same oath to protect these people that both of you did. And by that oath, I will do what I must to ensure that Szofrit doesn't kill anyone else."

A moment passes before I speak again. "Besides; some of these dumb motherfuckers tried to hold a concert in the middle of a war zone. If you think we are the Starcalled that are gonna solve Dissonance; then these people don't have a chance in hell anyway."

 

[Jin]

"You're wasting your breath, Sherriff. These people don't want to hear different opinions. It's an Echo Chamber. They've already manufactured the idyllic outcome in their minds and won't be convinced of anything else."

It was worth mentioning that Jin's eyes were slightly glassy for some reason, and he could feel his fingers shivering unbidden. Adrenaline? He hadn't induced... that...?

@Madison Freebird

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno tilted his head, looking at @Madison Freebird.

"I mean, and you will take responsibility of us not being able to prevent an incoming greater evil if we don't get any information? That goes both ways. But yeah, if shit happens, it will be part of my fault too, whatever I decide here, and whatever the outcomes be, it will be my and your fault. I'm sorry for your loss, but you aren't the only one that lost a friend in this fucked up world, me, or anyone else for that matter, is making those choices not thinking on saving as many people as possible."

The faerin scratched his head. Well, maybe there was one or another murderhobo in the crowd, or someone that was just following along with the spare without thinking too much about it, but still--

"But... If you really want to try to shove some lead in her head, go for it. I won't judge you, in the end, both of us are trying to do what we think it is right to save more people. We have far more chances of making a better choice if we have her alive though. Just make sure you guys are certain of what you are doing, and don't throw hands at each other."

Hanno said, also glancing at @Asher, who looked extremely tense, to make sure he knew that also applied to him, then peering at the black haired man.

"You think so? Seems like we aren't very different then, buddy."

He smirked at @Jin.

 

[Jin]

Jin glanced at Hanno with a vacant expression, working to suppress the effects of adrenaline in his bloodstream so that he wouldn't simply snap back at every single comment. Working- but not quite succeeding, yet.

"You must think you're quite clever for that one."

He had to bite his tongue to not say more than that; why at the most inopportune of times did his body want to betray him? The idea of screaming at someone for nothing more than the satisfaction of it was almost overwhelming.

With a long breath, he smiled and slowly opened his eyes to peer at @Hanno Futaba .

"No, we're quite different. I just haven't heard a convincing argument yet."

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash's gaze remains fixed on Luthien, as did the hovering claws. He was having trouble paying attention to her words. They kept slipping out of his grasp, leaving other ones in their place.

​

"The dead want their vote. Her victims will not stay quiet."

There's something strained in his voice as he jerks his hand free.

@Luthien @Ueno Mizuki