The March of a Thousand Squelches (Full Moon Boss)

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo watched as everyone started to gather and launch their attacks. The attacks seem to be having an effect with the exception of strike attacks. Fire in particular seems to work. However, then comes the painful part. The retaliation. Ringo raised his sword and sheathe ready to defend himself against whatever she got. The slime woman raised her right hand.

"Huh?" Ringo watched as the right hand created a funnel. He arched an eyebrow before slowly piecing together what this meant. "Everyone!" Before Ringo could say anything on the matter, she sent a rain of hardened slime spikes. Ringo managed to flick away one with his combination of his sword and sheathe but another pierced through his stomach. This was off to a great start...

...and with a great start comes an even "better" end as the slime woman sent her fingers after the group. His eyes noticed that those whipping fingers were more or less saws. Ringo's eyes glowed. Tokoyo seeping out of his body.

"Tokoyo!" Tokoyo drew her blades and sent a torrent of slashes to try to counter the mass of strikes...however it didn't stop some sand being kicked up...some even getting on his wound from earlier. Ringo shuddered in pain but kept himself going. He can't fall unconscious right now.

Action: Blade of Fury

[Amane Mana]

Amane kept her eyes upon the slime creature. It was strange but it suddenly took a womanly form. She wondered what possible function taking a humanoid shape would serve but right now wasn't the time for guessing. She raised her right hand and it transformed into a kind of barrel. Amane shuddered. She might have gotten over some of her fears but somethings are going to be a pain no matter how long she lives.

Amane right away summoned Viviane but would up having her right shoulder grazed by one of the spikes, breaking her focus. She then took notice of the slime's whip like fingers. Oh shit! Amane winced as she felt her left arm slash in her left arm...and all the sand getting into her eyes...and the wounds. Welp this was turning out great.

"Vivinae!!" Amane's persona once more appeared. She slowly opened her eyes that had less sand in it. "Garula!" Viviane once more raised her blade and from it sent a spiral of wind toward the core.

Action: Garula.

[Brynhild]

As the slime ball gathered itself into it's true shape, Brynhild immediately felt herself asking: Shadows could be female? Thinking about it now that did make sense but—no. This is not the time to get distracted. The fight just got more serious. A notice popped up on her display, warning that this monster was actually a demon. Last time she faced one had to be the hardest battle she was conscious for. Tonight may end up being just as miserable.

The girl fired out globs of herself(?), trying to gun the Persona users down. Knowing how bullets travel fast Brynhild expected to be hit, but still found herself attempting to get out of the way. Both feet shifted to the side and before she realized it the goo sailed passed her. Luckily no one tried standing back there.

They weren't in the clear just yet. The demon extended her fingers and whipped each one around in a flurry. Bryn quickly dove to the ground as the finger-blades whizzed by. Nearby sand flew in all sorts of directions but did not actually touch her body.

She clenched her fist, not even bothering to stand up, and called for her Persona. Another swing of the sword, which sadly could not literally chop an arm off. The battle needed to be finished faster than the last group fight. Waiting around would indirectly cause something crazy to happen.

Action: Arm Chopper

Potentially avoiding Wind damage
u0mxpZ8Q1-51-5

[Su Hao]

A malicious grin shined through the night, watching the oncoming battle from his little spot further behind the Users. The Dark Hour has come. With that being said, he was permitted some fun for the night up until the point when the Users were able to push them back as dictated by fate. Actually, could they? New power surged through his body, ebbing and waiting to be released upon them. He was sure that it wouldn't matter to some, but to others.... mhmhmhmhm... it might very well count them out of the fight for a good while.

Darkness surrounded the small body which was already hidden in the shadow. The diminutive height expected of a young boy grew exponentially, the final product just a little taller than a two-story building. Its wing-span was about twice its height, however, fluttering in the sky with dark majesty. Angra Mainyu's eyes blazed hungrily in the night. He hadn't tasted blood in a while, not since his previous defeat in the Citadel.

"Kreeeeeeeeee!"

This high-pitched cry ripped through the skies above Hao's enemies, the Persona Users, followed by an unusual shift in the wind. He positioned himself adjacent to Erubetie and flipped himself around abruptly to face the 'humans'. There was a moment of curiosity for the boy Shadow: could they feel his power over them? Everything was as exactly what it was supposed to be. The dominant would look down, and the subservient would bow. 

A ball consisting of purple chains grew around the bird-creature's mouth, pulsing with a negative power. Followed by a roar, it spread out and attempted to encircle his targets. It would not necessarily do much for their ability to move, but they may find that their spells could no longer be used. Silence is golden, after all. 

[Action: Silent Howl]

Silence rolls (1 for success)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Clickie}Ringo:
1WILLkA31-2
Ariane:
1-2
Tristan:
1-2
Xain:
1-2
Isolde:
1-2
Amane:
1-2
Alisa:
1-2
Anne:
1-2
Pyxis:
1-2
Holly:
1-2
Brynhild:
1-2
Aleister:
1-2

1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2�1-2

[Ariane Ivers]

As others appeared on the scene, Annes stomach began to rise into her throat. She was very quickly coming to the conclusion that this was no normal spook, not near like the small fry she was used to up until this point. As she watched, others in succession began to attack as well. First after her was an attack made of fire, which made her shudder, but seemed to sizzle harshly against the thing. The only other things she tried to make note of was the one of the girl who she met at her greenhouse--Isolde, her name was--one right up her ally, a blast of ice that seemed to make matters worse; and the attack of another’s Persona that seemed to like approaching things head on like she would yet didn’t seem to get it’s point across.

Baring her teeth and trying to ignore the terrible shaking in her knees, she narrowed her eyes to try and focus. ‘We could run.’ Frowning, Anne ignored the Hind's voice and kicked off her shoes, holding her arms tight in front of her once again trying to restore some semblance of confidence. Even if it seemed like she shouldn’t try punching it, it didn’t mean she shouldn’t try to be on the defensive. As she tried to restore confidence in herself, the newcomers seemed like they were trying to help. As she stood, she felt strength running through her and straightened her back. Smiling warily to those she hadn’t seen before, but very much seemed to be on her side, she turned back to the morphing thing… just in time to see a needle heading her way. Gasping, she held her arms in front of her--and between the resistance Cery gave her and the boosted defense the new arrivals gave her, it managed to just clip her arms without being too excruciating. The next attack, however, left her less than lucky.

Before she could react the now-’woman’s’ second arm came crashing down, slicing along her side and sending sand into places it really shouldn’t be. Grateful for the increased defense from her new allies, she inhaled deeply, nursing her newly obtained wounds the best she could. Blinking the sand from her eyes, she heard a blood chilling screech fall among them, and squinted up to where it came from. From nowhere seemed to arrive yet another terrifying creep, and before she could help it she felt herself groan. ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ Scowling, and not wanting to tempt the Hind’s chances with a flying target, her eyes rested on the woman again. It at least seemed to hurt a little last time, and now one of the other’s made her feel even stronger. “Cery, try it again!” The masked woman scowled from under her mask, spinning the blades that returned to her hands again and throwing them once more.

Even if Anne was starting to feel much less helpful than everyone else that had arrived, and even if she was now wounded, she was determined not to run. Scared or not, she would stand, and help what little she could.

---

Action: Twin Shot on
Erubetie

---

Dodge Wind (1-3)
2kywMFky1-5
1-5

[Ayakura Alisa]

I stood my ground as the great slime ahead seemed to form into a feminine shape, was this one of the fabled "slime girls" I had been hearing about on the BBSes? Well, that's no good. I'd be finally seeing one of these things in reality. And it looked to be much less pleasant than most would bargain for. It started shooting some manner of projectiles at us, they fell upon us and I felt some prick into my skin. It stung quite a bit, I hadn't installed the modification trinket yet, but perhaps I should finally do that in due time. Next was an attack originating from buzzsaw-like growths that it managed to form on itself.

As if to make matters worse, sand was all over me and I ended up weathering a bit of that second attack too. And then THAT thing appeared again. It was the flappy demon bird thing from hell. Trying to pick on the weak this time I see. But I was prepared this time. It attempted to roar in what should have sealed my ability to use my own sorcery, but it was ineffective against my resolute will. Try harder, kiddo.

"Pfft, that flying thing is small fry. I'll take care of it. Don't worry about that. I'll keep it under control. Just maintain fire on the slime lady!" I called out to everyone in the vicinity, as I spotted Pyxis and gave her a casual salute, and I also saw Anna. Vasuki was still materialized, and together we formed a sort of portable ion cannon. Balls of light energy formed in our hands as four beams of light struck at the slime, and four beams of light slammed directly into the flying demon bird dragon thing.

(( Action: Haja no Ken Severe Light Damage to All Enemies on Erubetie and Hao ))

[Layla Amare]

By all rights, she shouldn't have been there. After two seizures in the last week, she was in no condition to be fighting. Multiple people had told Layla this, and even she recognized it. But the longer the ominous atmosphere dragged on, the more restless she got. What was she supposed to do? Sit back and hope for the best? Pray? Prayer only went so far, especially when she had the power to do something else. And Layla could not just sit back when there was more she could be doing. It wasn't in her nature. The very same condition that had caused those seizures had also caused her to leave that way of thinking behind. It was not going to make her pick it back up now.

So she ran. She grabbed her shield and her urumi, and she bolted out the door, and she ran as fast as she could towards the source of the latest disturbance. All the while, she thought about what she would do and could do if things went wrong. She didn't have to be on the front line. She could easily just play support now. Her healing abilities had grown immensely since the last battle, after all. So there was that. Or she could keep her distance and blast the enemy with bolts of lightning. That could work too. Either way, she just needed to get there.

As she did, she took in the battle as it stood. A woman made of slime was their opponent...or was it the avian shadow that had just appeared and hit the lot of them with a silencing wave? Which one was responsible for the shadow time, and which one was just an uninvited guest? ...No, it didn't matter. The first and most important thing that mattered was making sure everyone could keep fighting. Layla hung back from the rest of the group, just in case, but quickly called forth Vajrabhairava and poured out a sample of the legendary elixir. It spread through the air, washing over everyone present. In addition, her gear added to the agility-enhancing aura of the present combatants.

[Action:
Auto-Sukukaja
Amrita]
Dodge - Wind
2JtS7eum1-51-5

[Anna Myers]

Oho, now this was interesting. The slime monster had an actual form. An oddly attractive female form, at that. And what luck, it was intelligent! Anna didn't encounter intelligent demons nearly as often as she wanted. "Well now, this is interesting," Anna said. She stepped back, away from the demon (there was no doubt that she was a demon at this point), but even with added distance failed to dodge the attacks sent her way. Ahh well. Her armor was still strong enough to take most of it. And soon after, another opponent showed up. It had a familiar-looking form, but this one was definitely a shadow.

The flappy bird monster shadow silenced most of the Users present, but that silence was soon after lifted by another unfamiliar new arrival. Then, a familiar voice called out claiming to be ready to take care of the shadow. Oh hey, Alisa was here. Anna flashed a grin in her direction. "Roger that," she said. "For the rest of you, I'm assuming you've all done this before, so I won't try to hold your hand. Whatever this slime lady's level of intelligence, it clearly wants us all dead, so let's bring her down!" She thrust her umbrella-gun-wielding arm skyward, and with the sound of breaking glass a massive bird of her own materialized above her. Thunderbird shrieked, and with a few flaps of its wings it stirred up a large whirlwind, which tightened into a tornado as Anna directed it towards the slime.

[Action: Panta Rhei]

[Pyxis]

Once again, definitely not a shadow. Was this what the latest intel reports were about, then? A 'demon' or some such. Pyxis would have to look through the organization's data banks (or at least, what of them were available here) for more information on that later. For now, putting down this slime demon was of a greater priority. But then, another shadow showed up, casting a spell of silence over the group of them. Pyxis was all too familiar with this by now, but she still had no way of effectively dealing with it. Nothing but to start shooting. Or, possibly, to redirect her physical skills.

But, that soon proved unnecessary. Alisa declared her intention to deal with the flying shadow, and proved capable of backing that up with her newly acquired firepower. Then, a wave of healing energy swept over the group, and Elpis came back into view. Turning to Alisa, Pyxis returned the salute with one of her own. Then, after turning again and giving a nod of acknowledgement to the familiar healer, she focused her attention back on the slime demon. She had noted from the attacks that hit it while it was forming that her usual meteor rain attacks had been less effective than usual, but that it had reacted badly to fire.

"I see...might as well give that a shot myself," Pyxis said. At her direction, white flames appeared in Elpis's hands. The flames grew until they reached several feet in height, at which point Elpis threw them at the slime lady. The flames trailed along the throw arc, like streamers, until they hit the demon and exploded in a flash of white fire.

[Action: Agidyne]
Dodge - Wind
A|Ds|njd1-5
1-5

[Holly Mason]

The moment her debuff landed it seemed to dissipate almost immediately.  Was the shadow just immune?  That seemed likely.  Most shadows or...not shadows seemed to wait a little before cancelling them.  Holly clicked her tongue and watched the rest of the attacks as they came trying to pick out its weaknesses.  It also meant that she was watching the creature's attacks carefully, allowing her to easily dodge the first one even though they didn't have that many agility empowerments.  Unfortunately, it left her in a position where it was basically impossible to dodge the second, so she took the full brunt of that.  Fortunately, her armor made her quite sturdy.  She could take several more of those.  

"Looks like it's weak to fire, so use that if you can.  Avoid ice and strike attacks!  I'm going to finish building our defenses, I'll start healing next round."

Shortly after that, another shadow appeared.  One that she was familiar with, but one she unfortunately didn't know the weakness for.  If she remembered correctly, it nullified darkness and was strong against slash attacks, but she wasn't quite ready to trust her memory just yet, or doubt that it had gotten stronger in some way similar to what happened with Vice.  For once in her life, she decided to keep her mouth shut, but she would be watching the shadow to see what worked and what didn't.  For now, she put the last stack of Rakukaja on the party, hoping to bolster her team and protect the few faces she didn't recognize.  She even had the decency to put it on that one asshole that attacked other people last time because in the end, it didn't feel right to let someone die because they were an asshole.

Action: Rakukaja

Notes:
Tarukaja x3 on party
Rakukaja x3 on party
Sukukaja x3 on party
Invigorate 2 on party
Regenerate 2 on party
No debuffs on enemy

[Boss-sama Desu]

The battle continued. Among the new attacks that flew at her, only one was inherently different from everything else lobbed at her- darkness. The darkness inflicted neutral damage to Erubetie! It seemed that the parasites were testing out every means of damage that they possibly could. While not a bad strategy, it was still annoying and loathsome that they did such things. And then a new presence appeared. A rather massive bird had appeared at her side. It was a Shadow. They were, ultimately, extensions of humans. Therefore, the Shadow was not safe from her judgment. However, the massive airborne devil had shown itself as an ally. For the time being, she would refrain from including it within her judgments. The humans, as they were, would likely prove to be bothersome, even without angering a Shadow.

The Shadow silenced a portion of the group. That was sure rendered ineffective by another appearance. Attacks with drastically greater power backing them had been fired off. It was becoming easier to determine exactly where the major threats were. Her core quivered and pulsed. Ripples spread and closed within her body. Erubetie slowly hugged herself, crouching as her form began to distort at the back. Two growths appeared and began to spread. Then, suddenly, they fired away, one to the left and one to the right. Both were extremely dense orbs of slime. Separate from Erubetie's body, they began to decompress, gradually taking the demon's shape. They were almost identical to her main body aside for one key fact- they lacked the red core within Erubetie's body.

While her two clones situated themselves, Erubetie spread her arms out and stood straight again. Then, clapping her slimy hands together once, what echoed over the expanse was not the sound of flesh on flesh, or even a sludgy smack, but the surging of winds. Underneath the group of humans, a large-scale magical rune began to glow through the sands, the jade light hardly relaxing or comforting. Then, without warning, a tempest cycled upwards, blades of wind slicing at the humans from every angle and creating a massive veil of sand in the process! Upon contact, the team would suffer major Wind damage!

Once the winds died down and the sand veil lowered, Erubetie Beta, the clone to her left, lunged at Tristan! Upon closing the distance, the slime trapped Tristan, limiting his movement! The slime clone's lower body was nothing but a mass of goo at that point, trapping his legs. The upper half of the slime slowly tried to envelop the boy from the waist up! Furthermore, intense burning can be felt wherever the goo meets flesh! Moderate Almighty damage will be dealt every turn until Tristan is freed!

At the same time, Erubetie Gamma, the clone to her right, lunged at Alisa! Upon closing the distance, the slime trapped Alisa, limiting her movement! Similar to the other clone, her lower body was just a mass of goop that clung to the woman's legs. The slime's upper body was slowly trying to rub against Alisa's to envelope her! Furthermore, intense burning can be felt wherever the goo meets flesh! Moderate Almighty damage will be dealt every turn until Alisa is freed!

Erubetie watched over the battle. Her core had gone silent for the time being. With her clones out, she could soon begin a proper assault.

Antagonistic Shadow Slot filled!
Friendly Shadow Slots (Currently): 0/2


Note: Those captured by Erubetie's clones can act. They cannot, however, dodge. Starting on the first turn, moderate Almighty damage will be dealt every turn. What happens the longer it lasts? Find out! To free a captured victim, a total of four attacks must hit the clone, unless it's a weakness or it's resisted. It would take a total of eight resisted attacks to break them free, and two attacks that strike at her weakness to free them.

This will free them, however, not kill the clones.

Try not to die.

[Layla Amare]

Despite hanging back, Layla was targeted and hit by the wind attack. She had some difficulty in staying steady after the attack, and she felt a little lightheaded, but she would manage. She wasn't severely injured, and Holly had said that she would take up healing next turn. That meant that, so long as the shadow didn't try to silence everyone again, she could go on the offensive. But she wasn't going to get close. Not in this condition. Vayavastra remained at her waist, and instead Layla directed Vajrabhairava to call forth a flare of light from the sands. A depiction of the wheel of life appeared, covering all four possible targets: the slime lady, the avian shadow, and the slime lady's two clones. Brilliant light erupted from it to damage them.

[Action: Samsara]

[Anna Myers]

The slime hit the lot of them with a blast of wind and sand, but Anna barely acknowledged it. It couldn't do anything to her. Even the sand was simply diverted to either side by Thunderbird's own winds. So that was how it was going to do things, was it? Anna could work with that. Her own wind was still stronger, after all. Of slightly greater concern was the clones. For the time being, there wasn't much she could do about them. Not without pulling her attention away from the main body. Perhaps the others could, though.

"If you have skills that can hit multiple targets, use them. This fight will go a lot faster if we can force this gal back into one body," she called out to the others. "Not to mention taking some pressure off the ones who got caught," she added, not quite as loud, soon afterward. "As for me, I don't have much that can effectively multitarget, so I'm going to focus on the main body." Again, she pointed her shotgun to the sky. Thunderbird let out a shriek, and much heavier clouds and stronger winds began gathering around its body.

[Action: Mind Charge]

[Pyxis]

Despite being struck by the wind attack, Pyxis wasn't nearly as adversely affected by it as she had been by that sort of thing in the past. The slicing wind blades were diverted to either side by her maid uniform armor, allowing less than half of the intended force through. For the moment, it was negligible damage. The clones that materialized from the slime's body, however, were not. One of them even clung to Alisa, rubbing against her in a manner that for some reason irritated Pyxis to think about. Her first instinct, flying straight in the face of logic and her mission, was to drop everything and try to free her. But fortunately, Pyxis had more self-control than that. She nodded at the green-haired woman's suggestion, and called forth a rain of bolts of light from the box at Elpis's feet. The light bolts would pierce through everything they hit - the slime, the slime's body doubles, the flappy bird, all of it.

[Action: Arrow Rain]

[Holly Mason]

Only one attack from the large creature came this time, and it wasn't one that Holly had to worry about.  As the blades of wind danced around her, making her hair blow around violently, it actually felt really good.  Refreshing even.  It healed most of her wounds from the last hit she took.  Everyone else was still looking fairly injured, and she didn't want to risk having the newer users being knocked out, so she would still heal everyone.

"I agree," she nodded at the green-haired woman's suggestion.  "For now, I think those that only have single target attacks should focus on the main body.  Both the people caught can take care of themselves, and I'll make sure they stay in good condition, taking out the main body is the most important part!"

With that, she called forth Lakshmi and all of her allies were bathed in a soft blue light, and all of their wounds closed.

Action: Mediarahan