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Gabriel let out a sigh, standing up and walking around the area. There was nothing to interesting about it, it was mostly, if not entirely, luscious forest with a few of the trees possessing mechanical traits.
After walking around for a few minutes she saw the guide drawing in the dirt with a rock, the drawing seeming to be a sort of map or blueprint.
"Oh, angel girl." The man said, instantly noticing her even in his mechanical body.
"What're you doing...?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm drawing a map. We've got 2 more floors to the top, and those have an ever-changing structure, changes everyday. Through this map, I may be able to predict what's coming next." The man said.
Gabriel nodded slightly, crossing her arms. "...Alright. I've got some questions for you..." Gabriel said, "Why did Himmler set of those bombs...?"
"Hah, not even giving me a chance to think, aye? Well, its probably because they've been having their own little war for a while..." The man said.
"Elaborate." Gabriel said sternly, her arms still crossed, her eyes staring daggers into the man.
"Hitler thinks he's a messiah, Himmler is more of a man of... science, perse. They both have entirely different goals from each other. Hitler wants to use the Fantasy Tree of this place to exterminate the Jewish people... Himmler wants to go broader l suppose." The man said, chuckling. "Idiots... Both of them." He said.
"One a prophet one a scientist, then. A common struggle..." Gabriel said, "Then what's our goal? How do we defeat both of them...?" Gabriel thought to herself.
"Could we destroy the Fantasy Tree? It seems both of them are exploiting its power in some way... If we destroyed the Fantasy Tree then we'd be depriving them of the magic they use..." Gabriel began to ponder to herself, rubbing the bridge of her nose before letting out a sigh..
The man simply laughed at her, "You stress yourself out to much, angel girl!"
"There are a lot of variables to think about and a lot of things we don't know. Of course I'm ******* stressed...!" Gabriel said, "I'm simply trying to safely resolve this anomaly so we can all go home."
"Yeah Yeah, whatever. We're moving out." The man said.
"Why the heven are you even helping us? What's in it for you? We barely know you." Gabriel said.
"I don't have much going for me, girly. If the world's gone to shit may as well swim in it until you drop!" The man said cheerfully.
"...Whatever..." Gabriel said, walking away uncomfortably. Not because of him, but because of the implications of the challenges ahead.
"Lance seems to be in fighting condition... But what about Kiara...? Can she continue fighting with what she saw? I don't know if I'll be able to heal any of the damage we take later... I hope they don't have High-Frequency weapons... Oh, of course they'll have them! We're all completely ******!" Doubts began to swirl within Gabriel's mind, causing her face to turn beet red, her halo flickering with golden light as she leaned against a tree.
"I know you're physically well, Gabriel. But are you mentally prepared...?" Da Vinci asked.
"I'll be fine..." Gabriel said, letting out a sigh as she stared at her ring.
"That ring is important to you, right?" Da Vinci asked.
"It's my only way to communicate with Shalor and the only thing that allows me to remember Belial, so yeah..." Gabriel muttered.
"So hold onto it, then. Whenever you think you're about to collapse, something I always like to recommend is thinking about the people you love. Think of that ring as Belial, I guess. Think of it like he left a piece of himself with you." Da Vinci said.
Gabriel nodded, "...Alright."
And a few hours later, it was time to go. Gabriel had calmed down considerably, but it was evident that while she was physically fine, doubts about the situation continued to plague her mind.
David slowly opened his eyes, stretching as he stood up from where he was sitting.
"...guess it's time to get moving..." he muttered groggily. He glanced at Gabriel, still a bit concerned about her mental state, but glad that she seemed physically well.
Lance glanced around, putting out a cigar he had started to smoke while he waited for everyone to be ready. He walked up to Kiara, deciding to check if she was alright, since he knew that she had been disturbed by the previous battle.
"Oh, no. I have no idea why this kid is so ******* durable. I've been hit in my stomach so many times but for some reason nothing is wrong..." Kiara said.
The group set off to the next floor of the tower, Da Vinci pelting the guide with various questions about the challenges they'd face up ahead.
It was a generally peaceful walk to the next floor, until they actually got there...
"Well, ****." Da Vinci said.
The next floor was swarmed with machines that seemed to be far more advanced and disciplined than any previous enemies they had faced, dozens of them guarding the various exits to the floor to the next, but which one it was was unclear to even Da Vinci.
"I guess we split up..." Rory said, creating a long and thin katana suited best to cutting through metal.
Lance froze, hesitating slightly as he slowly reached for his sword, his hands trembling. These robots were on a different level than the previous ones, and that unnerved him more than it should. Images of his previous fight with Blade Wolf flashed into his mind as he subconsciously took a step back.
"...I guess that makes sense..." Lance murmured in response to Rory's statement. Though he moved behind the women, intent on sticking by her even while the others split up.
"Sounds like a plan!" David said. He dashed towards a group of robots nearby, increasing the gravity around them before slamming into them with his fists, intent on breaking a path through their ranks towards one of the exits.
David was pushed back by sheer numbers, their individual strength already being far beyond the norm of any individual enemy they'd yet to face, although, their sheer physical strength had fallen short of the mutated child they'd fought before entering the tower. David's muscles were pierced multiple times, nearly hitting vital organs.
"God ******* damnit..." Gabriel flew over as fast as she could to heal him, using her wings to blow away the robots from him.
"Looks like we've got our team set-up, then! Rory+Lance+Kiara, Gabriel+David, Yharon+Rhongomyniad since they're technically already a pair, and then Stukov can just **** around however he feels like it, and then we have Hank+Atalanta. Hey Guide, which exit!?" Da Vinci asked.
"Try the most heavily armed one in the dead-center." The Guide said, pointing to the large door in the middle of the room, which was being guarded by the most heavily armed and largest machines in the area.
"So we aren't getting through without taking out the riff-raff," Atalanta said, beginning to fire dozens of arrows across the room to whittle down the numbers of the machines.
"...Thanks Gabriel, I'll be more careful" David muttered, quickly standing back up as soon as he had healed enough to move. He silently cursed himself for trying to rush in like that, realizing that it was exactly what the old David would have done. And just like in the past, Gabriel had to put herself in harms way to bail him out. Frustration built in his body, but he breathed out, trying to focus.
"...Alright...don't dwell on it..just...be smarter next time..." David thought to himself.
"...Gabriel, I can't take these things in close quarters. If I slow them down with my gravity, do you think you can destroy them with your magic?" David asked, moving away from the mechanical creatures as he put himself in front of Gabriel, serving as a meatshield in case she was attacked.
Lance meanwhile, hid behind Kiara and Rory, having thrown his sword to the ground and opted to use his daggers, wildly throwing them at the machines as he amplified them with Metatron's strength. His breathing was quick, as if he was exerting himself much more than he was.
"Right now? No. But I can use my wings to absorb the kinetic energy from their attacks for as long as I can, which means I'll need you to focus more on attacking instead of being a meatshield so I can actually absorb anything... Given their sheer numbers and their strength I'll probably only last for 5 minutes." Gabriel said, continuing to use her wings to defend herself and David, coating them both like a large blanket.
David jumped into the air, holding out both hands and firing a barrage of gravitational impacts that would slam into the robots, quickly retreating back into Gabriel's wings as he continued to launch a barrage of gravitational blows at the approaching machines, hoping to dent and crush them before they could overwhelm her defenses. He targeted their joints specifically, hoping to cripple them to decrease their strength.
"Oh, robots now? Fun..." Masayoshi said, stopping time for everyone except her allies, at the same time, she engaged with some of the robots, firing off blasts of energy, as well as infusing energy with her gavel to do increased damage with her physical blows before dashing backwards to avoid engaging with them in melee combat. While she improved her fighting skill, it was still not her greatest area of expertise.
David's gravitational blasts didn't do much to the particularly durable machines, one of the winged ones slamming into Gabriel's wings at full speed, Masayoshi's time-stop providing a mere moment for Gabriel to prepare herself for the incoming attack as the enemies numbers were thinned at a slow rate.
"Agh...!" Gabriel let out a loud scream as the machine bit into her abdomen, sending her flying into the air with it, slamming her into the wall as she released a burst of kinetic energy from a flap of her wings, blowing the beast away from her as Atalanta finished it off with an arrow.
Gabriel fell to the ground, continuing to use up her energy to protect the group in hopes that they could continue to thin their numbers, but these machines were clearly on a different level than anything before, one of them stabbing into Masayoshi with a High-Frequency blade and another delivering a fatal kick to Lance's stomach, sending him flying into the air.
Cullthane was quick to work, physically crushing a machine before blasting any machine that got near Gabriel, at least where he estimated she was that is, with unidentifiable magic, even to someone like Gabriel
Cullthane's interference gave Gabriel ample time to heal her wound to the point she could continue fighting, continuing to gather energy in her wings, blowing away a portion of the enemies that came near her as Hank set up various traps around the area.
David immediately dashed towards the machine that had attempted to stab Masayoshi, delivering a vicious kick to its head before hardening his claws, attempting to tear into it as he used his gravity to repel nearby machines away from him. He saw Cullthane was protecting Gabriel, so he understood she likely wouldn't need his help.
Lance managed to erect a forcefield just in time, the kick slamming into his chest and sending him airborne as he felt his bones creak and crack. Lance quickly teleported to the far side of the room, sweat covering his body as he shakily grabbed more daggers from his pocket dimension, throwing a barrage of daggers towards the machine that just attacked him, amplified with Metatron's power.
The machine David attacked immediately retaliated with a vicious slash to David's stomach along with a skillfull kick to the jaw, sending him flying into a wall, clearly possessing deep knowledge of wrestling and martial arts as the machine put David into a chokehold, attempting to once again stab into David.
Hank's traps set off around Lance to keep some of the machines away from him while he retaliated with his daggers, the mercenary landing next to Lance and saying this with signs, "Back me up", he said before going to set up more traps.
David released a powerful, omnidirectional burst of gravity from his body an instant before the machine could stab him again, forcing the machine back a few feet as David staggered backward, blood pouring from an open wound in his chest.
"...if it knows Martial arts...I can't afford to rush in like that..." David thought, forcefully setting his dislocated jaw back in place. Using his gravity, he suddenly created an intense gravitational field around the machine's weapon, hoping to make it much more difficult to wield and knock the machine off balance momentarily. If successful, he would grab a piece of a destroyed robot from the ground, before viciously slamming it into the machine's head, using his body control to amplify his muscles, increasing the force of his swing.
Lance hesitated, before nodding slowly. He reached out his hand, imbuing Hank with one of Metatron's barriers. At the same time, he would begin throwing his daggers towards any machine that attempted to approach Hank, amplifying them with Metatron's powers as he attempted to help the man set his traps.
Even with the machine's slowed speed it was still capable of narrowly avoiding David's attack, attempting to slash David in various directions, his efforts hindered somewhat by the man's gravity.
Meanwhile...
Rory and Kiara fought off waves of machine's, protecting Gabriel along with Cullthane so that she could continue to blow away waves of enemies with her wings and heal the party at the same time, Lance's and Hank's contributions making this far easier on her. But...
"Huh!?" In an area where Cullthane didn't reach for a mere moment, Gabriel was slammed against a wall by a giant mechanical soldier, her head slamming against the wall and her eyes going blank, clear signs of a fatal concussion.
"G-Going... Black..." Gabriel then slipped out of consciousness.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much damage are you OK with me doing to the area as a whole?" Masayoshi asked, having a plan come to mind as she slammed her gavel into other nearby machines, "Honestly, if it's higher than a 3, I think I'll go for it..."
"...Gabriel...!" David said tiredly, too wrapped up in his fight with the machine to help her.
Davids's body received several gashes, blood flowing from his body as he staggered backward. As the machine went for another slash, however, he would quickly circle around, capitalizing on its slower moments to grab its sword arm, attempting to hold it in place so he couldn't be slashed, simultaneously using his body control to increase his strength to make his grip much harder to escape from. If successful, he would harden his fist before aiming a barrage of fierce punches onto the robot's chest.
"...just...don't bring down the building...honey." David thought to Masayoshi.
Lance saw Gabriel get launched into the wall, which fueled his anxiety for the whole situation further. He trembled as he ducked the slash of a nearby robot, slowly stepping backwards as he desperately flung his daggers into the wave of machines.
"Lance!!" Kiara jumped in to protect Lance from an attack from his flank, holding Gabriel's unconscious body in her arms.
"What the hell are you doing!? Stay on guard!" Kiara shouted, using a large explosion to keep some of the machines away from Lance.
The machine easily cut through David's hand with its High-Frequency weapon, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying, although, David's attempts to bring it down were clearly making it wary, as it seemed to be a part of the main attack force, displaying far more advanced sentience than the other machines through its consideration of this.
"...Your.. right...thank you." he muttered shakily. He desperately needed to focus. He wouldn't survive like this, nor would he be able to help Kiara or the others. He swallowed audibly. The Blade Wolf situation still flashing into his mind, a thought that was made all the worse now that the healer was knocked out. He attempted to steel his resolve and head Kiara's warning despite this, jumping into the air away from the machines as he pelted the robots around him with knives.
David ignored his hand being cut off, quickly dashing towards the machine once more. Reaching his remaining hand outward, he imbued the machine with its own gravitational pull, causing the nearby destroyed robot parts and debris to quickly fly into the machine, slamming into it on all sides. Should this serve to distract it, even for a moment, David would circle behind the robot, grabbing it with his remaining hand before throwing the machine headfirst onto the ground, quickly backing away afterward.
The machine cut through the debris, but was still ultimately damaged by David's attack, nearly cutting David in half as a last-ditch effort before Atalanta finished it off with various arrows, causing it to spark and lightly explode.
"You good? They almost got you." Atalanta said, not particularly paying attention to his wounds as she continued to fight.
David coughed up blood, while the wounds on his body bled from where he had been cut, dying his skin, and the ground around him a crimson color. His hand was completely missing, and bone could be seen underneath his broken flesh from where it had been sliced off.
"....I've been through worse...thanks, Atalanta" David muttered tiredly, staggering away from the robots for a moment as he tried to recover.
"Yeah, but from what I can tell, you ain't a hyper-dimensional person or whatever anymore... Fall back for a bit." Atalanta said, letting out a storm of arrows that homed in on various machines, piercing them through the head.
"Alright, man. Stay alive!" Kiara said as she dashed forward, noticing Lance was being attacked.
"Lance, stay on guard!" Metatron said, forming a barrier around him as he was nearly stabbed through his waist. "What is up with you today!? Your trembling!" Metatron shouted, going into human form to manually create barriers and blades to destroy the machines.
"...sorry...sorry..." Lance muttered, panic in his voice as he ducked behind Metatron, watching as the angel destroyed the machines. As much as he tried to steel himself, as much as he tried to keep fighting...his body felt paralyzed. Sluggish. He knew fear, he had experienced it many times before...but this was different. Every action he took, the image of Blade Wolf flashed into his mind. He knew these...machines were likely inferior to the wolf...but that didn't stop the terror from building in his body.
"I'm weak..." Lance thought. The words repeated in his mind like a broken record. Too weak to fight these things, too weak to survive. Too weak to assist Kiara.
"...I...I need to go..." Lance muttered. Stumbling backward as he watched Metatron fight against the machines.
"Go!?" Metatron shouted as he slashed through a large machine with a long katana, "Lance, what the hell is going on here? We're in the heat of battle, we can't go anywhere!"