melodiesoflife | Legends of the Hidden Temple

After successfully harnessing mental energy from Sir Galahad, Mikleo had more to work with. He offered her a sincere look for her quiet thank you but quickly focused back on the battle at hand. Since Galahad was down, Arthur stepped up. Desperation was cast. There's no telling what sort of damage Arthur will do now that he's active. The counter attack was only the prelude and it was odd that he didn't counter them.

"Shoot!"

Mikleo shouted when he realized what was going on but it was too late to scatter the party.

Sir Lancelot's sacrifice did a heavy blow on the party. The Water Seraph is knocked back a few good feet, following bruises and other easily to hurt places. Defense was not his strong suit, thus leaving him on his knees for a moment and using his staff to keep him on his knees. Eventually, he managed to push himself up, albeit he was a little shaky. In the midst of that, Jade's Limit Break gives him enough time to cast Life on Sparks Nevada, conveniently right before Jade used Gift of Crystallis. Following that, he casts Curaga on Sparks Nevada as well to ensure he'd be on his feet.

He was too focused on casting and ensuring the safety of his allies, he spotted Geriant and his clone too late and was prepared to counter the attack by bracing himself for impact first and saving himself next but immediately stopped short when Tear jumped right in his way.

"!!!!"

Mikleo was saved by the initial healing from Chiaki and Tear's body as she shielded him from getting majorly hit. Thanks to them he was able to collect himself, but not after snapping at Tear in worry and concern while furrowing his brows

"What were you thinking?! That's dangerous!"

He didn't wait for her reply before quickly casting Curaga amplified by Tear's Them of the Crystals, on Jade.

Edited (I am eternally sorry because I keep making mistakes) 2017-01-10 22:59 (UTC)

Tsubomi staggered back as she was stabbed. She mentally cursed herself - why didn't she have any healing spells for herself?! However, with the buffs restored by Jade and Tear's song being played once more, Tsubomi opted to take the role of healer once more.

Thanks to the buffs and the power of Dualcast, Tsubomi pushed herself to perform four Zelda's Gifts, targeting Sparks, Chiaki, Sephiroth and Nanami and granting them a boosted mid heal with an added barrier of the same level.

Sparks went down before he even was able to process that one-two punch from Bors and Gaheris. When Revived, it takes him a few moments to gather his bearings. He'll never get used to that just-Life'd feeling. But he doesn't have time to think this over, because it's time to Right the Outlaw Wrongs.

Sparks knows the one guy he needs to get rid of in this fight if he wants to get anywhere. Sir Bors's Dark spells were hitting him too hard, and would keep taking him out of the battle if he wasn't taken care of now. He dashed toward his target, arming himself with his robot fists.

"I'm not stayin' dead, you hear me? I'm not callin' it quits on this dumb planet when I got my own to get back to. I'm. From. Earth!"

And on the last word of that bewildering statement, Sparks reached Sir Bors and struck him with a mighty pow that would send the knight flying out of the battlefield entirely. This left Sparks open among the enemy's side, which was probably bad, but now there would at least be one less knight to deal with.

With the King on the field properly, matters were clearly becoming more intense. K'pandolu gritted her teeth, activating Clone to call forth her double as her gaze flickered across the field, evaluating the strikes her allies were calling forth. With Jade and Jack striking out at Sirs Percival and Gawain, she turned her eyes on the knight attacking Jade.

"I think it's time you saw the might of a student of the Holyfist," she called, and directed her double to dart forth in an effort to distract him as she activated Perfect Balance. That done, she pushed forward, aiming to land the first of her blows on Sir Gareth.

In hindsight, Sephiroth would put that opening in his defense -though completely of his own slipped focus- as a consequence of his decision to lead the Berserked Warrior back towards the group of Heroes. The damage from such abilities as Cloud's Meteorain, as well as being within good range of the healers was enough of a gamble to play with. However, it did also call for more of his attention to be split towards the other Heroes too.

Perhaps he was looking for that chance to be the tank-class, to be the Hero he came here to be, a little too hard. Arthur was on the battlefield now, and the King couldn't be left to be picked up potentially by one with less resistance.

Like Jade.

Lamorak's heavy slash seemed to come from no where and connected with splintering force between Sephiroth's shoulder armor and collar on his off-side, driving the tall man down almost into toppling to the floor before he grunted through gritted teeth, twisted and swept a leg powerfully out at Lamorak's in a retaliatory leg sweep.

Thankfully between the buffs being re-cast that he was in range of, and in particular Tsubomi's well-timed heal, the moment later when Sephiroth was back on his feet Deathblow was then charged once more and quickly followed by Hellsgate; the intention to finally finish Lamorak regardless of whether the leg sweep had been a success or not.

Nanami was really going on a tear, especially between the defensive buffs and her own excellence in play. She fired back at King Arthur with both a Partial Summon: Ramuh and a Telekinesis attack. Between the staff throwing a bolt of lightning and loose objects being flung at the king, it looked rather like a sudden windstorm. "Just surrender, will you!"

[In the face of the triple assault of Meteor, Judgement, and Jade's Limit Break, Percival staggers. His staff drops from his hand, and a moment later, he falls to his knees. The other knights freeze as his body crumples, lifeless, to the floor. Their eyes grow colder as the holiest of their rank falls.

The power of King Arthur's Desperation can now be seen coursing around him, a translucent maelstrom of energy.

Jack's Jump lands on Gawain, but since he redirected mid-air, the blow does not land at full impact. His clones go to work attacking Gawain. Cloud and Chiaki's moogle's attacks strike all the remaining knights for major damage. Sparks' mighty punch sends Bors hurtling to the back of the temple, temporarily expelling him from the battle. As the Black Mages flies through the air, he cries out, 'But I am ALSO from Eaaaaaaarth!' K'pandolu's Limit lands strongly on Gareth, who, despite the pain, gives her an approving nod, acknowledging her Monk's skills. The poisoned knights weaken one more due to their status infliction.

Ever loyal to his foster brother and king, Sir Kay spurs his chocobo in front of Arthur and casts Chocobarrier over his king. He takes the damage for Ramza's Final Fantasy and Nanami's windstorm attacks.

King Arthur directs a Shock at Ramza, enhanced by his Desperation. Gawain, now the sole healer left on the field, Duelcasts Cura at himself and Lamorak, strengthened by his In the Red ability.

Gaheris aims a Heavy Shot at Jack Harkness, now that the slippery man has finally ceased jumping for a moment.Unfortunately, in the chaos of the battle, he aims for one of the clones, wiping it out instantly.

Bedivere throws down a Smoke Bomb, enveloping the back line with a cloud of smoke. He uses the confusion to sneak up behind Tsubomi and slash her with his kunai. Tristan uses Life Thief to siphon health power away from Chiaki.

Lamorak, weakened by Sephiroth's unrelenting attacks, uses Flame Tongue in a frenzy. His inflamed strikes send tendrils of fire sweeping around the Soldier. Continuing with the theme of fire, Geraint uses Dragon's Breath to send flames coursing out at all the Heroes. Gareth, granting himself a boost of speed with Fists of Wind, kicks out at Tear and Mikleo. The rush of wind accompanying the kick fans the fire even hotter.

King Arthur raises a fist into the air. Above him, the swirling smoke from the fiery attacks reform into a number 5.]

[Chiaki smiles at Mogomi as Percival drops, proud of her little moogle for contributing to the battle in such a big way. But it's a short-lived expression as she sees that cloud of smoke forming above Arthur's head. She's played enough console RPGs to know that they don't want to see what's at the end of this.]

This isn't good! We need to do something about King Arthur before the countdown reaches zero!

[She'll leave that to the more offensively minded party members, though. Right now, her job is to make sure they survive long enough. Two more Curagas - these ones aimed at Ramza and Sephiroth. And meanwhile, Mogomi herself sends twin Fira spells toward Arthur himself, fighting fire with fire.]

Lamorak's frenzied Flame Tongue ripped through the remaining resistance in Sephiroth's protect/shell combo and by the third strike he's left defending what he can without the protection he had constantly for the whole engagement thus far. Since Lamorak is still frenzied, he's not got the time to stop to recast his own Guard spell, and thus can only parry and block where he's able to.

The fire and it's accompanying heat quickly started to choke the air between the two combatants though and it became too much to bear as the fire-y tendrils swept around him. He could feel the scalding through armor and leather, smell the fly-away parts of his hair being singed under the assault. Skin was starting to burn.

"-argh."

He heard King Arthur's name mentioned again just before a Curaga swept through him, Chiaki salving the many burns that Sephiroth was starting to take as damage to his face and chest. Glimpsing where exactly the King piece was on the battlefield was impossible, however, thanks partly to the smoke but not helped by his own position in still being focused entirely on countering Lamorak's attacks where he could; he needed space, right now.

Sephiroth executed Dash towards the nearest person he could make out, be it an ally or an enemy, being confident that Lamorak would come charging still for him. Using the seconds granted by gaining some room, Octaslash was primed and unleashed directly into Lamorak's path.

Jack hears Chiaki, but he really really wants that healer to drop. Well, why not both? So, he reaches out with one hand towards Gawain, casting one more Drain, trying to get any bit of health back in the face of the opposing Dragoon's fire attack.

Then he grips his spear again, and sweeps twice in the air, before his spear appears to split, attacking all of their opponents with Chaos Thrust. That is gonna draw a lot of what he has left of energy, but it also increases his physical might, so if he's down to just physical attacks soon, at least they'll be more powerful.

Jade was quickly back on his feet and cast Curaga on Tsubomi. He'd have to leave the rest to the other healers though, as Chiaki's warning brought his attention to Arthur. Seeing numbers above people's heads was always a bad sign.

They had to get all their biggest damage-dealers on the King, soon. Once Sephiroth dashed back and there was some space around Lamorak, Jade switched gears temporarily to offense and aimed a Shadow Flare at the enemy Warrior. The sooner this guy was down, the sooner Sephiroth would be free to join the others teaming up against Arthur.

Nanami heard Chiaki, but she had noticed the same problem Sephiroth was having with Lamorak, and added her own Imitate to echo Jade's attack, then Partial Summon: Shiva to the assault to take the warrior down. Hopefully the ice would also cool some of the fire in the area, even if she couldn't use a full summon so soon after Odin.

"They're just going to all stand in front of him so he can pull that off!" Nanami wasn't as genre savvy as Chiaki, but you really didn't need to be to worry about a giant countdown. Nanami could only hope that they would have until the countdown reached 0. (Certainly, she would set any countdown visible to enemies to end early.)

[Wait, did that knight say he was from Earth too? No no, can't think about that now. Gotta stay alive and kicking.

Now mostly healed up, Sparks was feeling more confident again. Time to focus on Arthur. He didn't want to find out what happened when that counter reached zero. But so many of the knights were still jumping to his defense. Time to bring out the big guns.]

...I hope you guys brought enough ethers for everyone.

[Sparks firsts casts Firewall on himself again, before following it up with Judgment, the heaviest magical attack at his disposal, hitting every last knight.

Edited 2017-01-17 04:03 (UTC)

The fire was setting everything ablaze and it was hard to concentrate through the smoldering heat that licked at his skin. He winced at the feeling of the fiery tendrils surrounding the field, but Tsubomi was able to cool it a little with her summons.

With all the status buffs and haste in action. Mikleo is able to keep up his game, he uses Curaga to heal Cloud from the last round since it looked like he could use the heal from the Water Seraph's perspective.

Mikleo gets kicked back a few feet but thanks to all the protection he was able to pull back after much struggling. Following Jade's attack momentarily, Mikleo uses Ultima on Lamorak as well in hopes that it will any other knight within the wide range of the spell. Everyone seemed accounted for health wise, so he took the opportunity to take the offensive stance.

If they can eliminate more knights, the battle would be easier and Arthur wouldn't be protected completely.

Edited 2017-01-17 09:22 (UTC)

Her ears flicked up for a moment and she grinned at Gareth's response, pleased. There was no letting up, though, and K'pandolu braced herself against the oncoming flames, aiming to focus an ice ninjutsu on Geraint and hopefully take some of the bite out of the fire's strength.

She glanced up, taking in the number now in the sky, and scowled, ears going back for a moment before she pushed forward, unsheathing her blades. "Then we'll just have to take them all down!" Amped Strike might be a Pirate skill, but she still aimed for Gareth with it once more.

Tsubomi let out a soft sigh, glad to feel the recovering power of Jade's Curaga spell. She needed that badly. But, then she noticed the effects around Arthur. She didn't know what the numbers meant, but she recognized the effect of Desperation.

"We need to stop the leader! We kill more of these people, he gets stronger!" She called out.

Either way, it was time for dual CLimhazzards to strike out at the remaining Knights. It was the most she had at the moment.

Cloud was honestly a little surprised that after his waves of attacks that none of the knights had turned his way. He was dismayed that Ramza's own attack was halted, but at least he hadn't sacrificed himself needlessly either. And as he heard Chiaki call out about the number over Arthur's head he was glad for it. He may have disarmed himself but that didn't mean he was out of the fight.

"Ramza, I'll be right back." He called out. Feeling invigorated by the Curaga cast at him he ran forward into the oncoming Dragon's Breath, leaping into the flames. "SURTR! LET'S GO!"

The flames raged for a moment, and then a hotrod red and flame detailed magitek armor came running back out of the conflagration, leveling a Smash Attack into Arthur's side.

Like Mikleo, Tear was also pushed back several feet by Gareth's attack, still taking the brunt of the damage with her determination to shield him. However, when such damage was combined with the smoke borne of the flames engulfing the field and the injuries she was already sustaining, Tear's voice became choked as she mustered together her strength to remain standing upright. Without it, the effects of her songs would begin to ebb away.

But she wasn't going to simply stand around incapacitated. Breath uneven and struggling to regain her bearings, the soldier nonetheless narrowed her eyes as she raised her bow and quietly whispered a response to Mikleo's question. "There is no time to think—only act."

Aim focused on the king, Tear unleashed a Heavy Shot toward him before reaching for the harp attached to the bow barely a moment after, a precaution she had prepared in the event her voice began to fail her as it was doing now. Though the range wasn't as wide as her voice was, it was better than nothing as she began to pluck the strings to lay down the melodies anew, beginning with Troubadour.

Ramza nods at Chiaki, grateful for her spell. Each Final Fantasy he launches drains him of energy, but how can he stop? Cloud kept on fighting with less, with swords gone and energy sapped. If Arthur King seeks a worthy rival, he has it there in the soul of that young guardsman.

"I will clear the path. Be ready." He tightens his grip on Excalibur's hilt and points it at Sir Kay. The man has made himself Arthur's shield? So be it. That shield will have to be rent. He aims his Final Fantasy at the knight upon the chocobo's back.

[The flames rise higher, giving the fighting ground the look of some hell-scape, rather than a temple. When Nanami summons Shiva, though, the ice Eidolon raises her hand and snaps her fingers. Ice shoots out in every direction, a beautiful crystalline web-work that immediately sizzles and melts. Steam replaces the obscuring smoke, reducing visibility this round, but protecting the Heroes from taking residual damage from the fire. Her work done, Shiva dissipates. Only the smoking 5 still remains.

Between the choco-shield and the steam still rising up from the melted ice, King Arthur barely seems to feel the fire spells. Cloud's Smash Attack forces him off-balance, though, which leaves him vulnerable to Tear's arrow. Kay screams in rage, a cry that his battle-chocobo takes up as well. Not even Ramza's attack tearing into him distracts him from taking his revenge on those that would harm his little brother. He raises both hands, and above them, rocks from the temple break off and fly up to gather into a giant mass. He sends the Choco Meteor hurtling at the Heroes in front of him.

The repeated attacks finally prove too much for Lamorak, in spite of his Warrior's defense and strength. He staggers, and with the last of his failing strength, hurls his sword at Sephiroth. He falls. Arthur's Desperation can now be heard, a turbulent wind that comes from a raging storm.

Gawain sends poison into the rising mists with his Bio spell, and follows it with Holy Light. The light elemental attack cuts through the steam, letting his allies locate their opponents for just a moment. Sephiroth, K'pandolu, Lust, Cloud, Jack, and Chiaki all are poisoned for the next three turns.

Gaheris unleashes a Barrage of arrows at the Heroes, after spotting their location with the light of Gawain's spell. Bedivere darts back and forth in the mist, circling his prey. He attacks Nanami from behind with a Lightning Jutsu.

Geraint's movements are slowed by the ice in his armor's joints from K'pandolu's jutsu. He growls in frustration and launches himself into the air for a Jump. The attack is aimed at Mikleo.

Gareth moves to stand in front of Arthur and goes completely still. Tristan, however, does not. In the steam, he circles, until he finds what he was looking for. Something for his sticky fingers to steal, something that would hinder the victim. Something that victim should not even have. How dare he carry the king's sword! Using his Master Thief ability, Tristan lifts Excalibur out of Ramza's hands and slides it into his belt. "Only one who is worthy can wield this blade, boy."

Arthur looks out at the battle. In spite of his having lost some of his knights already, he smiles. And then, raising one hand, he casts a Holy so bright that it leaves everyone else in the room blinded for a moment. When their vision returns, the smoky 5 has reshaped itself into a 4.]

Attack after attack after attack hits Jack, chipping away at his defense, because there was a reason that he was trying to keep so mobile. The bright lights of Holy Light and then Holy, itself, blind and disorient Jack for a second, and he drops to a knee. Ribbon protects him from the poison, but not the direct damage of Bio. But he still isn't looking good.

When the world comes back into focus, it's as if he can see the tactic ahead of him more clearly, too. The ever-stronger whirlwind surrounding the King, with the countdown to the destruction of all his friends. The man must be stopped. So okay. He can do this.

Jack's hand reaches out towards Sparks Nevada, casting Flash, a buff that will allow the man to flicker in and out between positions, and maybe help him avoid attacks. He'd better not fall again, if this is what Jack is going to do.

"Chiaki!" He only half-turns towards the girl as he shouts to make himself heard over the battle. After all, he has a promise to keep. "I am about to do something stupid again!"

That counts as forewarning her, so Jack tucks the mask and hood over his face, and shoulders his spear. He springs up into a Jump, and his target for when he comes back down is clearly for the King, himself.

Edited (No wait let's make this better.) 2017-01-20 00:44 (UTC)

Jade shielded his eyes from the light. Holy, Desperation, Excalibur, Perfect Counter... That was four out of the ten skills Arthur must have as an Onion Knight. If he had mastered ten Jobs... Jade had a bad feeling about what was waiting at the end of that countdown.

He recast Enlightenment, making sure everyone had their quadrupled attack power for this push. A quick scan of the Knights around Arthur stopped at Gareth's still form. He could only think of one reason why the man was neither attacking nor buffing himself.

"The Monk is in Counter stance! Be careful!" Having called out the warning, Jade returned to healing with Esuna on Sephiroth. He had no idea what Jack was planning to do, so any response to that was best left to Chiaki.

Tsubomi winced as the light died down, finding herself attacked by the arrows and the Choco Meteor. However, it was Tristian taking Ramza's sword and calling him unworthy that set her off.

"How... how dare you! How dare you judge any of us on worthiness!" Tsubomi shouted. "I am tired of everyone looking down on us and treating us with contempt! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"

With that, Tsubomi lunged at Tristian, using the Haste buff to perform two Plunders, intending on using her attacks to get back Excalibur.

"Ever since we got here, we've been used by everyone, treated as pawns, food, looked down on because we think that we can do what others couldn't! If there is someone not worthy of Excalibur, it's you and your king!"

[Chiaki, staggering through the dull haze of poison and the damage from the Choco Meteor, leans on her staff as she looks around at all of the carnage. Another knight down. Another number off the countdown. None of the Heroes are in need of raising, and it seems like they're rallying for a counterattack. It seems time for her to contribute to that effort too.

Healing herself with a quick Curaga, she closes her eyes and begins focusing her energy into her staff. Mogomi plays defense, launching two Thundara spells at the airborne Geraint, hoping to bring the Dragoon down before he can strike at Mikleo. And meanwhile, Chiaki continues to build her strength, eyes closed and concentrating until...]

Let's end this! Melodies of Life

[The attack is sent hurtling straight toward King Arthur.]

Sephiroth executed a quick Dash of a movement as he caught the glint of edged steel coming flying his way, visibility had been reduced already and was more sheer luck that Lamorak's sword hadn't met it's target upon that knights defeat.

There was little to no time to locate or nod even the briefest of thanks to those who had helped. Holy Light and Bio which immediately followed both stunned, damaged and the first tick of that poison-shudder knocked Sephiroth's balance, coughing out on account of the inhaled smoke he'd taken now that he had-

Barely a chance to react so instead pressed himself to the floor as arrows sailed over his head. Sephiroth glared in the direction of Geraint from the floor but then all the surroundings were whited out again in the wake of Arthur's Holy. If it hadn't been for Jade's timely Esuna, likely he'd have taken another tick of the poison before being able to see well enough again.

Sephiroth reached out and took a firm grip around Masamune which had all but fallen a little limp in his one-handed grip while he'd been lying on his front waiting for the barrage of attacks and status' to reach something of a pause. Once back on his feet, Sephiroth cast ShinRa Guard once more before arching his sword back up into it's ready position and starting to rush for Arthur; he remembered Jade's shout about the Monk and logically by now, it could only mean Gareth. From the look of that Desperation, and the ominous 4 in the air, they had to focus now on getting the King down.

Just as he might have been in range from the front, and executing an attack directly at Gareth, Sephiroth used Dash to change his trajectory of attack and came in with a flurry of slashes to Arthur's left-side.

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