"We opened the door to the shadows...

[nightbeyondfire]

The man sat alone, back slumped against a wall as he stared down at the pistol in his hand, unloading and reloading it in silence. Over and over again. How long had he been here, ignoring the sounds of life around him and the chatter and racket from the communication device on the ground along with the discarded necklace? Days? Weeks? Months?

It didn't really matter. None of it did anymore.

Load. Unload. Reload.

"You look like crap."

The man looked up, staring upwards at his only companion for what felt like an eternity. Himself... only different, like seeing a photo negative version. The colors were all wrong and there were a few things off.

It had no eyes. He'd found that strange once before the feeling had been bled out of him.

Load. Unload.

It was this thing that had shown him the truth. It had started with whispers in his mind when he was alone and had grown from there, appearing in shadows, taking the place of his reflection and finally standing right there beside him exposing the plain, hopeless reality of where he'd found himself.

An ugly grin split the negative version's face.

"So, what's the hold up, jackass? You know what you have to do now."

Load.

Yeah, he did.

-------------------


In the early morning, it happened without warning. A shudder ran through the entire city and for just a moment it was almost as if reality itself... bent for a moment, warping out of shape before snapping out of place and one of the buildings of Genessia's skyline vanished into a rising cloud of smoke and dust.

The thing rose up out of the cloud, standing over the buildings around it. Misshapen, grotesque, it could only be called humanoid in the most generous of terms. Its body was colored in splotches of red and black, its limbs twisted with the right arm many times larger than the spindly left and it stood on legs that should have been bent and twisted too awkwardly to support it at all.

The head swiveled from side to side on a too-long twiglike neck, wide, blanket white eyes that seemed painted on searched the city and a toothless mouth opened wide in a low, groaning howl that rumbled over the city.

The creature’s body convulsed and with a chorus of sickening splits and cracks its body bristled with weapons, and they all fired as one, shearing the top floors off of the next several blocks and covering the rest of the town in burning debris.




Through the city, every communicator screamed out a deafening alert, which was followed by the voice of the AI.

“CORRUPTED ELEMENTS DETECTED. PLEASE ASSIST IN PURGING IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED SURVIVAL OF THE CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS”


[OOC: Subthreads are up. Post in them for combat, or go nuts with planning/reactions through the rest of the comments.]

Comments

Thread 1. The creature

[nightbeyondfire]

The creature shambled across the city, swaying side to side heavily as it moved between the buildings, pausing now and then to swing its head from side to side or sweep its massive arm through another building to clear its path, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.


It was almost as if it were searching for something.

[Video]

[onecream_fivesugar]

[That has got to be the biggest, most ugly thing Ruby has ever seen. There was no way she was going to let that thing break the city and eat her friends, no way, no how.

But how exactly do you fight something that big? Well Ruby's best guess for the moment is get up onto one of the roof tops and try to land a few good shots with Crescent Rose in it's sniper rifle form.

Eat tiny bullets you big jerk!]

[nightbeyondfire]

[Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. The bullets sink into the monster's skin, leaving small punctures that immediately close up.

The red and black bulk stops moving and... well, it doesn't turn, but its head lifts.]

[Krik. Krik. Crunch. Crack. The thing neck bends sharply at several hard angles until the face is turned toward where the pesky shots are coming from.

And then a pair of rocket launchers stab out from its eyes and return fire. Rapid fire. Rapid fire missiles.]

[Open]

[explodewiththerage]

It's search was about to get interrupted as a massive plume of fire is shot from one of the rooftops straight at the creature's head. The source? One very happy Dragon Slayer who just used his roar as an introduction for this opponent.

[nightbeyondfire]

The fire slammed into its head and washed over it, leaving scorched "flesh" behind. The monster's jaw drops down in another groaning roar and one white eye slides around to aim towards Natsu as its head is still turned toward its other opponents.

More cracks and its back suddenly bristled with hundreds of automatic weapons that fired all at once, all focused on the rooftop where the attack came from.

[flamescout]

Raye couldn't sleep at all last night. That wildly surging chaotic energy was constantly shifting. She never knew when it was going to solidify, and she wanted to be ready when it did. She clutched her wand tightly in her head, paced the apartment, and waited.

Night passed. So did the morning. And Raye needed a shower.

It would be NICE, she thought to herself while gritting her teeth, if she'd been given a better fix on what time this evil was going to arrive. It could be an entire week from now, and Raye wasn't the patient type.

Reluctantly, she decided she would take just a quick shower, enough to rinse herself off and wash her face.

Naturally, that would be the time she felt those evil energies snap into focus, forming a concentrated entity that soon began to scatter corruption left and right. She practically tripped out of the shower, yanking on a sweater and a pair of jeans. The warning was blaring from her radio. As she reached for it, she heard a voice ring as clear as a bell in her head.

Run, child!

Raye froze. What in the world was that...?

No time to dwell on it now! She lifted her pen above her head. Definitely time for Sailor Mars! "Mars Power--!"

[nightbeyondfire]

She would never have the chance to finish her transformation as gunfire from the creature's first blast tore across the city, and straight through the top few floors of her building, blasting them in rubble around her.

Even worse, the last thing she'd be able to see through her window was its head turning in the direction of her building....

Open

[trigram]

[Sofia flew to away first to get some distance from the rampaging creature. Observing it in mid-air, she used her comm to contact anyone or everyone involved in the battle. Even if she's asked to stay away from this, this is literally too large to ignore]

This is Sofia Sinclair. If you copy, report in. What's your status?

[mouth_breather]

[Kirk got the alert on his communicator. That got him flailing up off of the couch. He snatches up his phaser, fixes his comm badge in place, and dashes out the door. Passing Spock's apartment, he hammers on the Vulcan's door.]

Up and at 'em, something big is going down!

[But he's not even really sure Spock is at home. If not, he probably got the message. He practically flies down the stairs when he hears Sofia's incoming message. He holds the radio to his mouth.]

This is Jim Kirk, I'm on my way. What's going on?

Classic Dresden

[no_love_potions]

The fight had dragged on for some time now, with the monster shrugging off everything thrown its way and still there was no sign of the wizard. Anybody might not be blamed for getting the feeling that, for once, he might not show up when he's needed. But that was never going to happen. Leave the people he cared about and promised to protect to face a threat like this on their own? No way.

He just needed to pick up his cannon.

No, really. His cannon.

"Fuego Explosio!"

There's a boom off in the distance and a glowing sphere of white hot flame rockets between the buildings still standing to hit dead center in the monster's chest, and explode like it had just been hit by a rocket.

And there's Harry, standing on the bed of his truck right next to an old iron cannon inscribed and carved with runes, the end result of months of work and preparation. Red-orange light still shines from the runes and smoke is curling up from the barrel.

"I'm really glad that worked!" He leaned over a little, shouting to his wheelwoman with a crazy grin on his face.

[murph]

Wheelperson Dresden.

"You didn't mention it might not when we were loading the damn thing into the truck and driving here." Murphy snared back at what she thought was a pretty damned big omission on his part.

Karrin kept the truck idling and scanned the area for other likely angles for attack. When things got dicey they would need to be ready to move, her hand rested on the shifter and she stretched her legs yet again to keep the clutch pressed. Even with the seat all the way up this was an over sized beast to drive.

Thread 2. At its feet

[nightbeyondfire]

... But it was not alone on its hunt. Wherever it touched the ground, whether its footsteps or by brushing past a building it left an inky stain.

As seconds passed these stains shifted, forming up into more deformed entities. Slightly smaller than a human, and pitch black in color, these beings are no less deformed and twisted. Faceless, except for a set of huge, almost cartoonish teeth set in a wide rictus grin. These creatures leap and bound through the city on overly-long, stretching limbs and immediately attack anyone on sight.

Although their main targets are anybody they come across with a necklace....

OTA

[celestial_wizard]

Whatever she was doing, wherever she was, she'd immediately stopped when her videophone suddenly started screaming at her. Startled, the voice of the AI made her think of Exsilium's AI at first - she shook her head. That place was literally a world away.

Of course with a message like that, she couldn't ignore it, and she doubted any of her friends could either. So she immediately made her way towards the scene of chaos with those who accompanied her. And when she saw the massive creature, she stopped dead in horror.

"What IS that thing..!" Seriously what the heck. She didn't have a chance to focus on it much, only given time to grab her whip with one hand. Those smaller creatures that came up from the stains were just as nasty as the one that left them. WELL, one thing was for sure - there was no way they were going to let any innocent people get nommed on today~!

OTA - about a half hour into the fight

[deathsought]

[ Well, Zeref has two necklaces, counting the silver locket? necklace. He was already somewhat near the city, creeping, and considering going into the city to buy food, hopefully before the Death Preying flared up again. But when his necklace started making an absolutely ungodly noise and he saw the monsters... well, he still doesn't know how death works in this city, and he'll be damned if something happens to Fairy Tail in general and Natsu in particular before they have a chance to kill him.

Zeref slowly made his way into the west side of the city. As he turned onto a side street, creatures lept out in fron of him, grinning that insane grin. Zeref thought they looked vaguely like Nemesis. If they were... ]

Leave. [ Zeref said sharply, his eyes shifting from black, to red, small black circles surrounding the pupils of his eyes. Killing other humans (and animals that don't know any better) may not be his favorite thing to do, even if he now has less reservations about it following his new canon point... but monsters? Monsters that were rampaging through a city and posed a threat to him, as well? He won't lose a damn bit of sleep tonight. The monsters, of course, didn't appear to be heeding his warning. Zeref's outline began glowing black, small wisps of black, entropic energy radiating from his body, his features growing darker by the second. ]

Make your first shot count, then. You won't get a second.

[OPEN]

[dramaticals]

[these creatures would be no match for him, that much was certain.

adam held wilt and blush at his side, scanning the area behind that mask of his. these entities didn't seem very strong, they would fall by his hand no matter what. he would chase the monster later, but for now he felt the need to get rid of the underlings.

he god into a fighting position, waiting for the enemies to make the first move. his hand on his sword, ready to attack, and he felt just as bloodthirsty as those creatures. no matter what, he's set on fighting, so anyone is free to come and back him up if they feel the need. just don't get in his way.]

[combatskirts]

[weiss had been observing the fight from the rooftops, observing the creature's tactics. so far, it seemed very erratic and offensive. this was going to have to change. weiss glanced toward her partner and saw she was in good hands, and jumped down. the wind took her hair, and she made a slash with her weapon to form a launching pad to throw her to the monster's feet. she was going to keep him in place so the teams upstairs had a better shot at its head. hopefully her plan would work.

she dashed toward its toes, twirling her dust compartments to blue and thrusting forward. the ice spread over its foot, holding it down to the ground.]

Team JNPR, assemble! And where's my lady-friend?!

[short_n_sweet]

"Hyah!"

Darn mooks, they were coming right for him! Well, technically that made his job of making sure people were protected from the unleashed hordes of whatever the heck these monsters are a lot easier, but it's making his other job of not dying a lot harder! Jaune had just cleaved clean through one of the inky monsters, leaving it to puddle on the ground as he grabbed his phone from his pocket.

"Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, we need to get to the streets right now! We gotta contain this thing before someone gets really hurt! Protection is top priority here, you hear me? I'm trying to follow it, but the thing can practically step a whole city block, and it's leaving monsters in every footprint!"

With that done, he pushes a button to switch calls, but not before some lanky creature leaps down upon him from a rooftop. He barely senses it in time to raise his shield and catch the thing. It landed on his shield like a platform, and tried to swipe at him from above.

"Raye? Raye, you there? Where are you?" He shouted into his phone, grunting as he desperately inched his head away from the mook's grabby claws. Pushing hard with his legs, he thrust his shield up, spring-boarding the thing away so it lands harshly on the street.

"Buzz off y'jerk!" He yells at the thing before getting to his phone. "Raye, if you're in trouble then tell me, alright?!"

[Open]

[monkeystowaway]

[This was hardly what he thought was going to happen with his day when he woke up. Heck, he didn’t think something like this would happen ever. But it would take more than this to really scare a Faunus like him. He stared at the spawning creatures as his tail went up the back of his shirt and looped around his staff. It pulled it from underneath his shirt and he brought it around to his right hand.

He took hold of one section of it and let the others fold out so it could link together in its staff form. He twirls and then falls into an offensive combat stance. Let’s rock.]

Alright you ugly creeps. Which one of you wants your butt handed to you first?

Open though not recommended you go near her if it attacks

[rules_winter]

Mab had no real interest in joining in the chaos around her. Clearly there were enough heros to wreak havoc and so she was sitting inside the building when it's top was blown off. Her own room about halfway down. For now anyway, inhuman gaze watching the carnage. The creature was interesting, the big thing lumbering around and swatting at it's enemies like they were bugs. Humans could be quite a handful in any real numbers and many of these ones seemed to have powers. Which she was also taking note of when it was in her field of vision. Of course. Knowledge is power, after all.

She certainly doesn't care if any of these people get killed. She has no personal investment outside of her Knight and if he can't handle this then perhaps she has chosen wrong. Although it would be really irritating to have spent all that time bringing him back and training him.

Looking down she can see the creatures scurrying through the streets now, odd jumbled bits and pieces just like their sire. For all her attention, her gaze just followed them, like they were part of a television show and she was completely separate from them. Indifferent.

The Matisse and Surrounding Area [Open]

[amelia_inglebert]

*THOOM*

A terrible rumble rocked the city followed by a bellowing roar, and soon, weapons! Several blocks worth of buildings were torn apart on the top few floors. Amelia's building was not one to escape such chaos - something pierced the upper floors and tore apart the building, causing rubble to collapse inwards.

Amelia had been working on something when the chaos started, and she bolted for her window when she heard... something. And of course she could see it, that terrible-looking monster. God, just looking at it made her stomach churn. But what looked even worse was the inky monstrosities that seemed to now be hunting throughout the city. Amelia barely saw them from her window.

"Holy moly...!" She darts back into her home to gather her things - a bag full of who knows what, and her gun. She's quick, too, as the creaks from her building's supports are... something to worry about. "Bit, come on! Shake a leg!"

Amelia loads her gun and barrels out her door into the chaos. With wide eyes, she stares out over the street below her, and then out towards the leviathan that had begun to tear apart the city. Bit had climbed up onto her shoulders, and the two of them seemed to be in awe as Amelia shoulders her bag.

*Creeeeak*

Amelia's gaze shoots upwards as an ominous groan from the building made itself known, and she barely scramble out of the way before the floor above her, the balcony-like walkway leading to the houses above her, gave way just above her head. The stone rubble crashed down where she stood and blocked her way back into her home.

"Gah! Jeez!" She shouts, panting as the surprise really gave her a jump-start. She didn't even notice at first that the monsters terrorizing the city had begun to notice her...

[leekspins]

Orihime was close by. She'd been having surprising luck with taking down the monsters. Most didn't seem to notice her at all until Tsubaki cleaved them neatly in two, destroying their composition and dissolving them into inky ether.

Tsubaki, for his part, had never been more excited. He zipped and dived in deadly aerobatics. The manic pixie devastator wasn't usually presented with an opportunity to literally cut loose, and now that day was here.

If anything, he seemed more lethal than ever before with his speed and accuracy. Even the muttering in the back of Orihime's head had quieted completely now that she was actively destroying things. ...That wasn't exactly a great reason for it to be quiet, but she would take what relief she could get!

She rushed into the street in the aftermath of a creature's destruction, then stopped when she realized someone else was out on the street too. Someone she recognized.

"Amelia-chan? Are you okay?"

Aftermath/Clean up (Either thread with Her or among yourselves, anything is awesome!)

[whos_this_bitch]

She didn't involve herself in the fighting too much, not because of intervention but because of collateral. the potential here was too big, and it's only the creatures here that deserved her Wrath, despite what some people might say about some of the incidents that have happened so far. But now she's getting involved. It's definitely her turn.

After the monster has gone and the fighting has died off, depending on where you are, you might see a certain deity picking her way through the rubble and destruction, until she hits the center of the city - as close to dead center as she can get - looking about and shaking her head a little sadly (and disapprovingly) as she can get. From there, it doesn't take any great sense of being able to sense power to feel her gathering what she can for what she's about to do as she rubs her hands together in preparation.

As God gathers her power, The air will feel heavy and laden with charge - the kind of feel that comes before a thunderstorm - to anybody with no sense of power. Even they can feel it. To those who have any sense of magic or psychic power, they're going to be hit with the feel of a massive energy in the center of town, pulling inwards as if gathering for a blast. It's off the charts, and it will feel neutral. While she herself tends to give off a generally warm feel to sensitives, this mass of gathering will feel completely neutral, both the possibility for a mass of anger and destruction as well as the possibility for love and healing. Anger at what has become of the city, sadness for the security of homes that people have lost to the creatures, the promise of better things than the current situation, the warmth of the sun, the coldness of winter, a mother's love and desire to protect, life - It's everything; and probably nothing they've ever felt before unless touched by pure creation. They wouldn't be blamed at all for not knowing whether to run from it, attack it, or bathe in it, or be simply be overcome by it.

It begins to wash over the city. It's slower than it would be back where she was fully connected to the power of heaven and creation, not quite an instantaneous fix, but the effect as it pushes out from the center is more than visible. As the surge of Power goes down through the streets, it touches everywhere. As it pushes over the streets, they clear the instant her Grace runs over it; as it moves over the buildings, they fix and you'd never even know they had been fallen moments before. Clouds of smoke and dust dissipate and clear, lingering fires still crackling go out completely, and it takes only minutes for the entire city to be as if it was never touched.

After the fix, the power of creation leaves the streets of the cities more suddenly, not fading out in the same manner it had built but cutting out and disappearing, the only sign of the power of creation was there will be the smell of ozone in the air as if there was a great storm.

She herself is going to slump after she's finished, for the moment completely exhausted. She'd used almost everything she had access to here and she's completely drained. Her intention is for people not to see her after that feat drained like this, for she has not too much pride for it to be sinful, obviously, but just enough that she doesn't like those contrary images. She makes it about three feet before she collapses onto the sidewalk, however.

get close enough, and you'll find her breathing and definitely showing signs of being alive. There's no signs of injury on her body. There might be a soft snore or two though. You'd better believe this chick is just sleeping right here.

[celestial_wizard]

That was a BIIIIIIIIIIIIG magic spell for someone to be able to fix up all the damage that monster did. It was no surprise to Lucy that the woman collapsed to sleep it off shortly afterwards. She's still amazed at the extent the repairs that were done - it was like the monster never even showed up.

What kind of magic WAS that?

Nevermind - she walked over to where the other woman had dropped to check on her and.. y'know, God might not mind sleeping in the middle of the area like that, but she really should rest somewhere more comfortably. Maybe Lucy should take her back to Fayren, to one of the inn rooms?

'Hime! [voice]

[baconandsnausages]

[He wasn't going to just ignore this invasion of the city. Up until the point in which the building he'd been sniping from had been targeted and he'd had to vacate, forced to also abandon the high-powered weapon (unfortunately - he definitely needs another one, goddamn it), at which point he had found himself in the streets with just a handgun and two knives which... needless to say hadn't ended perfectly. Or even what could be counted as 'well'. However, by some miracle - he's not even going to claim it as something else - he's managed to survive until the end. Just about.

He knows he's bad enough that he can't just slink off somewhere until he's feeling a bit more up to speed, so that means he's going to have to swallow what he has of his pride and what he has of not liking to actually show when he's hurting, and actually contact someone. His first thought is Mom (shut up), but he knows that as much as he wants her, the most she could do is take him to the clinic. He's going to need action a little bit faster (not to mention a hate of hospitals). The next, and in hindsight most obvious, thought is Orihime. She does that healy thing, and as much as he's going to hate her to tell her to basically drop everything... He really, really has to hope that she has also got the habit of carrying her comm around. Or at least, during the important thing.]

Orihime? I kinda- [coughing that's wet and probably gives up his state as well as if he'd videoed her] ...Okay, I really need your help right now. [He gives her his position. She'll find him pushed up against a wall, covered in deep gouges and bite marks. It's probably a testament to his stubbornness that he's even still conscious, even if it's barely.]

[betel_geuse]

Naturally, that much magic and such a spell would attract Betelgeuse. He watches the clean up in awe and feels real fear, something he has felt only once or twice in the six hundred years, since he has died. He finds himself drawn to the woman on the sidewalk. There's something about her, but he can't define it. He walks over to her and kneels close.

"Yo, babes. You okay there? Not the best place to take a nap, know what I mean?"