Keep knew from the start, there was no way in hell that Phantom was going to just stand idly by while Keep tries to rush him. He had a plan.

A stupid plan. But still, better than nothing.

Right around the time he started his run, Keep had sent signals to Escha. As they had been together for years, he was confident that she knew what those signals mean.

Anyway, the moment of truth was closing in on him. one, two, three, four fingers were shot towards his front. The other gauntlet from earlier was turning around to slam him from behind (or so he thinks), the phantom itself was also rushing him a little behind his needle-like fingers.

The gauntlet behind him was most worrying though, he'll just have to hope that his little 'trick' can reach it.

2 seconds pass (give or take). It was now or never.

Without losing momentum at all. Keep spins in a forward motion while slashing his sword.

The handle on his sword that had been warming his hand reaches a critical point, and an explosion erupts with him in the center. Everything in a 8-10 meter radius around him has either been utterly decimated, burnt to a crisp, or sent flying.

Keep's arm was burning, quite literally. The fire didn't quite pierce his Divine Mantle, but he could certainly feel the heat. And it was a lot of heat. His sword arm felt a little numb now, but he could still move it, and that was all that matters. Almost without decelarating at all, Keep continues charging at the phantom.
----

Your move now Ember ;)

EDIT:
@Flame-Shinobi: The swarm invaded a year ago. So your backstory needs to be changed, and Lyn needs a different reason to be afraid of the dark.

Btw, Keep did not hear Nyroc telling him to stay in the camp. Hence why he rushed off to fight Strom.

(@Colray
I'd suggest Syber do it, as he was part of a cult before. Thus, he'd have a better understanding of what the guy is talking about.

Speaking of the cult, I'm tempted to bring back Drace.)

Grell looked over to the pod Caite locked herself in, then turning to Isphea, raising an eyebrow.

Isphea absentmindedly drew her gun.
". . . You should know better than to tell me not to fight, Nyroc." She said, with a foolish grin.
And off, Isphea went to fight Strom.

Syber watched the possessed girl sprint off, than ran after her. After a couple seconds, he slowed down and looked back, the lift was out of sight save Coryns flashlight, and they would probably go after her as well. But he hard voices, he moved off to the left.

"... promised you wouldn't try to control me!"

"Drace, calm down! Don't let the voices get to you!"

"I'm trying! They're... too... Much!"

Silent, Syber pulled his Apocrean hood of Devotion over his head and slipped the mask on. He unholstered his carbine and walked towards the noise.

(@Sonosuke: I can't be sure who your talking about, The Father, or The Eldest?)

"I know you." He just couldn't seem to place a name.

He raised the Carbine, then thought better of it. He holstered it and moved closer. He stretched out his disciple wings and retracted them again. The figures power was radiating, old memories were starting to come back.

"What are you doing here?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck hung from the edge of the deconstruction zone, he had missed his jump and had barely caught himself. He hauled himself up and checked his minimap. There was a dot by the lift, and another one moving away from it. Syber's dot was off to the side, a distance away from them both. He reloaded his rifle and moved forward, almost invisible in the dim light.

(First off, Syber ran after Lyn, then diverted and found the Acolyte plus the other two.
Second, after he ran he donned his hood and mask on, so he looks no different from another acolyte, especially with the more noticeable disciple wings.)

Syber turned and looked at Coryn, Who are you? His voice was deeper and reminiscent of the beast within him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beck move through the darkness and saw the light, he moved andound cover by a scrap pile, he saw the acoyte and bad memories surfaced. He wasn't in their job details, what was he doing here. Sighing, he donned his hood of sight and mask and stayed out of sight.

As she did so, Swarmbane lost his grip, and the two swapped places again.
"Never. Do. That. Again." She said to him, "Now where are the others?" Lyn checked her minimap, they were quite some distance away. As she walked towards the point on the minimap she heard a sound, "Miss me love?"
Lyn spun around quickly and swung swarmbane.
"Tsk Tsk Tsk, we know better than that don't we?" The phantom cackled and puncher her in the gut.
"Gah!" Lyn shouted collapsing. Swarmbane quickly took control of Lyn's armor, it began to glow and she quickly stood and delivered three slashes to the monstrosity.
"Urgh! You foul fiend! How did you find HIM?" the phantom said pointing to Swarmbane, "Ah never the matter. I will be back for you child." The phantom quickly dissapeared.
"We sure showed him huh," Lyn said to Swarmbane. There was no response, Swarmbane was innate, fast asleep.

No idea what the hell is going on down in the Decon zone lol,

@Ember: I can't see what Strom is saying when I'm using my phone. So, I'm gonna pretend Keep didn't catch what he said.
===
Keep notices Nyroc coming towards him,

Thank goodness, reinforcements, he silently thinks to himself.

Earlier, Keep had hoped for Strom to have been knocked down from the Fang of Vog's explosion. If not, then he hoped that the phantom would have at least been staggered and/or disoriented.

As that didn't exactly happen, he had to switch tactics. Thankfully, the phantom had switched it's focus towards Nyroc.

"Escha! Plan Annihilatus!" He yells out, since he had no idea where she was hiding.

This move is Keep's ace. It requires perfect timing and execution,

As afterwards, Keep's muscles will be so numb with pain, he'd become effectively helpless.

Beck grimaced and raised the rifle, he fired three times at Cult!Drace and moved sideways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syber froze at the mention of his name, he glanced at Coryn. Then he drew his Gran Faust.

"Sorry about deceiving you Coryn, but this is Apocrean business."

He thrust the Faust into the ground and a small group of tendrils erupted around him. Leaving the sword in the ground, he drew both guns and leveled them at Cult!Drace.

"My orders were to hide my identity, and you've cost me that."

Beck was already moving, he threw himself sideways and came up firing. When it clicked emptily, he pulled out his Venom Striker and Valiance. He fired once at Cult!Drace, and kept moving.

Syber narrowed his eyes and pulled the sword out of the ground. He sheathed it and raised the Carbine and Peacemaker, he leveled them and started firing. Keeping a steady stream of bullets directed at Cult!Drace.

[I suppose there wasn't any need to fire off Strom's Palm then. I'm gonna assume what happened was: Strom Swings -> Misses -> Strom notices the miss -> Keeps his palm as the stray Index finger hits Nyroc. Although I think you may have meant that it was Strom's palm that launched Nyroc into the tree, because it would be kinda hard for a finger to do that, considering Nyroc's physique.
If you did mean "It was then that Strom's Palm made contact, launching him into a tree." I'll edit my response after the edit is made. But the difference won't be that noticeable, so I don't really mind whether the finger hit him or the palm.

Also, I noticed that I didn't indicate which hands were which, so at this point I'll just say the Palm & fingers combined become Strom's Right Hand, and the Fist that's being fired at Keep from behind is Strom's Left.]

'Ŧħaŧ wɇnŧ ₥ưȼħ ƀɇŧŧɇɍ ŧħan ɇxᵽɇȼŧɇđ...'
'That went much better than expected...' Strom thinks as his palm, which didn't even need to be fired, floats beside him as Strom's elevation continues to escalate. Judging the power behind his Jump, Strom estimates he will probably peak at around 10m in the air if left unchanged. Besides his Left Palm, Strom also still has his Thumb, Pinky, and Middle fingers floating at 5m, 5m, and 3m from Strom respectively.
Due to Strom's Left Fist already being primed, in blasts through the combined 10m of acceleration distance towards Keep's back. Directly after leaving, Strom opens his right eye, causing the Swarm Eye to fade away, and allowing Strom to regain vision on his right. And he's glad he did.

With a glance to his right, to inspect how much damage he had done to the Hammer-wielding knight, he notices two new knights entering the fray. Combined with the other combatant's shout of: "Escha! Plan Annihilatus!", Strom goes for the best course of action. There were too many variables... Time to regroup the armor. Strom immediately brings his Left Thumb, Pinky, and Middle fingers less than a couple of centimeters to his Palm, not connecting them, but making sure that he could without a moment's delay. The Palm follows this plan of action by returning close to Strom's Left arm. It also doesn't connect, but much like the fingers, could without much trouble.

Strom closes his left eye, opening a swarm eye to regain his Right Ring finger, which had been blown into the forest. He had a rough idea of where it had landed due to the lingering sensation of his own finger fumbling about on the ground as it continues to decelerate from the impact. He fires it at an even speed, one that wouldn't take much to decelerate once it re-enters Strom's own 5m radius, and aims to the slight side of Strom's about-to-be-changed jump destination. After the finger leaves the radius, the Swarm Eye will disappear. it will take around 2 seconds to return.

Strom uses his feet, disconnecting them from himself and using them to push his body mid-air to cut his jump short and land much quicker than originally planned, but retaining the planned distance; 3m behind Keep (and increasing due to Keep's run). Once Strom is on the ground his feet re-connect and he stands slightly to the side, which will allow the previously primed and fired Right Fist to not continue to its destination, but be accelerated further by Strom himself before it makes contact.

Whether it makes contact or not, the Right Fist will still be within 5m of Strom, allowing him to decelerate it and regain control directly after the result takes place. It will take 1-2 seconds for the fist to reach Keep.

In the meantime... Energy is pulsing from Strom.

'Ŧħɨȿ fɇɇłɨnǥ... Ɨȿ ɨŧ ɍɇaȼŧɨnǥ ŧø ŧħɇ ᵽɍɇȿɇnȼɇ øf ŧħɇ ҟnɨǥħŧȿ?'
'This feeling... Is it reacting to the presence of the knights?' Strom ponders as the Swarm Energy continues to build, as if in anticipation of the 4 vs 1 Battle Magenta lines curl off of Strom's armor, and the black mist from within his helm increases, cubes of darkness spinning off, and disappearing from his helmet and armor. Strom turns to face Keep and the other Knights... If Strom had a face, he'd be smiling ear to ear.

"Ħøw ȼøưɍɨøưȿ..."
"How curious..." Strom says, audible static in his voice. Strom's crystal, which has a slight break in it due to Beck's shot way-back-when sparks continuously, reaching over to a pouch on Strom's right side.

'₦øŧ ɏɇŧ... Ɨ ₥ưȿŧn'ŧ ưȿɇ ɨŧ ɏɇŧ.'
'Not yet... I mustn't use it yet.' Strom thinks to himself, halting most of the sparks from his crystalline-impalement.
Strom then couches ever so slightly, allowing him to jump out of the way if anything... Unexpected happens.

Keep feels a tiny prick around the base of his neck's back area.

"It's over," he mutters to himself.

Keep feels a slight haze start to cloud his mind...

But right around the time when the gauntlet was about to hit Keep, he jumps towards the phantom.

Wait, no. He doesn't just 'jump' up, he 'blasts' up, with an almost inhumane amount of leg-power.

Within less than a tenth of a second, Keep was already level with the phantom,

"You're dead," he says with a tone of finality behind him.

Keep slashes at Strom's crystal.
---
A little explanation time,

Keep is currently in a kind of 'super-mode' at the moment. Basically, Keep is currently 'high' under the effects of a special drug. The drug shuts down a number of his nerves, the ones that let him feel pain, while simultaneously amping up his adrenaline levels to the very limit. He can only maintain this state for about 4 minutes. He can force himself to go for 5 minutes, but at that point, he'll pass out.

Also, in this state, Keep might not FEEL pain, but he actually takes MUCH MORE OF IT. So he has to be very careful not to get hit in this state.

The 'prick' in the beginning is the drug being administered via a needle from Escha. As to 'how' Escha can do this, I will explain in the discussion thread when I have time.

I'm in the middle of class as I write this lol.

EDIT: I thought I implied that Keep blasts directly at Strom's direction but I derped :p, basically he sorta jumped, not straight up, but at a slanted angle. He's slashing at the crystal.

I sorta imagined Strom to have jumped from in front of Keep to behind him, but while in mid-air he somehow turns to face Keep.

PS. From what direction did Escha's needle shoot from?

Bullets pelted the ground where Cult!Drace originally stood, the cursed armor now flinging itself towards Drace.

"No you don't!" It crashed headfirst into Meteko's Barrage, the impact knocking both back. "Drace, take the portal back to the surface-"

"No way!" Drace stepped closer to him as Cult!Drace continued dodging the bullet spray. "I'm not leaving you here with the Apocrea, it's me they want! It's just gonna follow me if I do leave."

"You've always been so stubborn. Fine." The duo went for another tag attack, blades in hand. Cult!Drace jumped over them, shooting Carbine shots from above. Drace raised her shield bubble to deflect the shots.

"Return to the Apocrea at once, traitors." It landed and flew straight at Syber, Edge in hand.
__________

(Wouldn't activating the bubble be counter-productive if you want them inside it?)

Grell saw the shield come towards them and set his claw buster to 'Burst'. Grabbing his cannon, he shot the ground, the recoil sending him out of the bubble's range. Landing, Grell fired three explosive shots at Strom.

@Sonosuke
I think the whole point of starting up the Shield was to stop Isphea and Grell from going into battle. Because of that, Nyroc threw his shield to effectively trap the both of them within it (because it could only be de-activated by Nyroc.) while giving them a form of defence from any stray attacks. Throwing away the shield ended up leaving him vulnerable, though.

@Keepscaite in Jelly-turret form
Not sure if that PS as the end of your post was supposed to be a clue to help out any attacks directed at it, but from what I can tell, in order to hit the back of Keep's Neck, Escha would have to be somewhere in the bush behind and a bit to the left of Strom's current position -- around the area where Strom set up a Swarm eye to fire off a rocket punch at Keep's blind-spot.

Also, with the slash to Strom's Crystal, Strom will be changing combat maneuvers, and some... Special stuff will happen. Better watch out. Special cutscene-ish thing, activate.
----------------
As Strom's Crystal shatters, the fist flies out of the radius, its speed only slightly changed due to Strom's concentration being more shocked of the knight's inhumane speed than on its deceleration. Three shots are heard, but Strom doesn't react, each shot hitting him dead on, sending him back at least 10 meters. Strom lays on the ground, silent for a moment.

[Reactions could be inputted here, but I'm not back 'till about 5 hours from now, so I won't leave it as a cliff-hanger, thus "2 posts in one"]

But before any victory cheers could even be thought of Strom's voice, heavy with static, can be heard by the four fighters, as if Strom was beside each and every one of them.

"Ŧħaŧ ɨȿ... Ⱥ vɇɍɏ ᵽøøɍ ȼħøɨȼɇ øf wøɍđȿ, Ҟnɨǥħŧ."
"That is... A very poor choice of words, Knight."

All of Strom's pieces of armor immediately dash over to him, connecting in mechanical "clink's". This inclodes the finger lodged in Nyroc, cruelly ripping back out, and over towards its master. A moment before leaving, however... Something latches onto the Hammer-wielding knight. Like a flame, it ripples through the wound it inflicted. It then pulses and feels like ice.
A wave runs through the area, invisible and undetectable, save for its effects. Everyone caught by it feels as if they are being crushed -- but it isn't gravity or the like being amplified. In fact, each and every knight could move should have the will to do so, but the crushing feeling is like a mixture of extreme dread and massive stage-freight, halting movement cold. Their wills captive, Strom continues.

"₩ħɇn fɨǥħŧɨnǥ an ưnđɇađ... Saɏɨnǥ ȿø₥ɇŧħɨnǥ łɨҟɇ "Ɏøư'ɍɇ đɇađ." ɨȿn'ŧ vɇɍɏ ɨ₥aǥɨnaŧɨvɇ."
"When fighting an undead... Saying something like "You're dead." isn't very imaginative." Strom's body floats back up from the ground slowly, bits of crystal pouring down to the ground and shattering like glass, despite the soft grass underfoot.

"Fưɍŧħɇɍ₥øɍɇ... Ɏøư aȿȿư₥ɇđ ŧħaŧ ŧħaŧ ƀłøw wøưłđ ҟɨłł ₥ɇ. Ɨf Ɨ waȿ a ҟnɨǥħŧ łɨҟɇ ɏøư, ƀøưnđ ŧø a ₥øɍŧał ƀøđɏ, ŧħaŧ ₥aɏ ħavɇ ƀɇɇn ŧħɇ ȼaȿɇ."
"Furthermore... You assumed that that blow would kill me. If I was a knight like you, bound to a mortal body, that may have been the case." Another pulse ripples through the knights, as if it were a heartbeat, with inhumane pressure running through its veins.

"Ƀưŧ Ɨ a₥ nøŧ łɨҟɇ ɏøư."
"But I am not like you." Strom reaches to his chest, where the crystal once was, and he reaches into the now gaping hole within. With his completed right gauntlet, he grips at something within.

As he grips, an even stronger ripple flows through the group of knights, as if he had gripped their cores as well.

"Ɏɇȿ... Ɨ a₥ ȿø₥ɇŧħɨnǥ ȿø ₥ưȼħ ₥øɍɇ."
"Yes... I am something so much more." Within one swift movement, Strom withdraws something from within himself. A blade. An Épée with a frighteningly black sheen, magenta ripples through it a moment, then stops, a line pierces through the blade, and Swarm energy erupts through the line. The blade lifts into the air above Swarm, it seems it will be able to move around just like his armor... But it may have different limitations.

"Ɨŧ ħaȿ ƀɇɇn a wħɨłɇ ȿɨnȼɇ Ɨ'vɇ ŧaҟɇn ŧħɨȿ øưŧ. Ħɨđđɇn ƀɇħɨnđ ŧħɇ ȿøưłȿ øf nɇwłɏ ₥ađɇ ȿwaɍ₥ ȼɍɇaŧưɍɇȿ, ưnŧaɨnŧɇđ... Ưnŧɨł nøw."
"It has been a while since I've taken this out. Hidden behind the souls of newly made swarm creatures, untainted... Until now." Strom walks forward a step, crunching over the "crystals" on the ground.

"Ƀưŧ Ɨ ȿưᵽᵽøȿɇ ŧħɇȿɇ ŧħɨnǥȿ, ŧøø, ħaᵽᵽɇn."
"But I suppose these things, too, happen." Strom reaches over to his leather book, as soon as he grabs it, a Swarm eye opens from the side of it. It glows brighter than the magenta on Strom's own armor. Strom flips through it, and finds the pages where he drew the knights in the camp, all well-detailed, despite not having a chance to look at them in-depth until now.

"Ƀưŧ ŧħaŧ đøɇȿn'ŧ ₥ɇan Ɨ ȼan'ŧ ađđ ɨŧ ŧø ŧħɇ ȿŧøɍɏ... ₦øw, łɇŧ ŧħɇ ŧɍưɇ ƀaŧŧłɇ ƀɇǥɨn. Ɨ a₥ ҟnøwn aȿ Sŧɍø₥."
"But that doesn't mean I can't add it to the story... Now, let the true battle begin. I am known as Strom." Strom rips out the pages, they float in the air a moment... And then Swarm energy envelops them. Shards lift off of the ground and gather in clumps, adding their energy. A short flash occurs, and from the four pages, four knights appear. Night-Black with ripples of magenta flowing through them. Each one has a swarm-eye in the center of their helmets. The clones look up at their originals.
More shards remain on the ground, pulsing with light slowly.

"Ⱥnđ ɨn ŧħɇ wøɍđȿ øf ɏøưɍ ȼø₥ᵽanɨøn ҟnɨǥħŧ... "Ɏøư'ɍɇ đɇađ." "
"And in the words of your companion knight... "You're dead." " Strom rips off the face of his helmet, and it floats maniacally in the air above his head. Within his helmet, the black fog disperses... Revealing a Bright Swarm Eye. A final pulse occurs, and all knights regain movement.

Let the true combat begin.

[I hope this doesn't become a fight of one-upsmanship. There are other characters fighting, after all.
That is why I will not be making any new actions 'till the other three characters (Nyroc, Grell, and Isphea) make their moves.

@Keepscaite's spiky jelly turret form
That means you shouldn't move 'till they do either, it'll be hard to manage if we get too far ahead in aciton-posts. Also, Strom's eye isn't floating. Strom ripped the mask off his helmet, which revealed the Swarm's eye. The eye is located within his helm, but it doesn't have a face-covering. The mask is now a Mobile-Armor weapon.
Also, solo-ism in the fight against Strom will be... Quite impossible.
Work together. Strom can't fand off too many attacks from too many angles.
-----------------
The copy knights fly into the air and at Strom... And meld together. Making a black slime-like object, covering Strom's entire body, then forming a second set of black armor. It looks mainly just like Strom's original armor, but due to the fact that essentially 4 knights were used to make it, it is three times the size f a regular knight, and has a dark hood draped over its head, emitting an ominous glow on its edges.
Judging by how the light reflects off of the now solid slime, it must be as hard as steel, and it covers every inch of Strom's body. A cold black smoke is being emitted by the armor, but despite it all, Strom's bright swarm eye still glows through the "face" under the hood. The eye is detailed enough to think that the armor doesn't even cover it (but it does). Four eyes (from the four knight-copies) flow in and out of the solid goop, reappearing on the outside for an instant to stare ominously, blink, then flow back into the odd material and not return to the outside as Strom takes an inward breath.

The air around the armor becomes freezing, and time seems to slow as words drift from Strom's mouth... Or... From his loss of mouth.

"₱łannɨnǥ øn ƀɇȼø₥ɨnǥ a ħư₥an ƀø₥ƀ, ɇnɇɍǥɇŧɨȼ ҟnɨǥħŧ?"
"Planning on becoming a human bomb, energetic knight?"Strom lifts a now hugely enlarged finger, and the Dark Épée responds immediately. Despite having no windup, it still moves at the same speed of Keep's approach, and it jabs downwards at the hilt of the Flame of Vog, then spins to the side. The jab brings the Fang of Vog downwards, and the side-spin is meant to flick the blade to the side. Due to the fact that the blade is gripped by Keep, it may also nudge his tradjectory downwards. At minimum, the spin would cause Keep's arm to be flung to the side -- still attached and in good condition, but it would take a moment to recover into another strike.

"Łɇŧ'ȿ nøŧ ǥɇŧ aħɇađ øf øưɍȿɇłvɇȿ."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Strom's voice rings deep, as if mellowed by the slime on his armor's exterior as the eyes re-surface individually, then fade back inwards.

"Ɨ đø nøŧ ᵽłan øn ƀɇɨnǥ ȼaưǥħŧ wɨŧħɨn ɏøưɍ "Ƀłaƶɇ øf ǥłøɍɏ," nøɍ đø Ɨ ᵽłan øn fɨǥħŧɨnǥ ɏøư ɨnđɨvɨđưałłɏ. Ɨf ɏøư aɍɇ wɨŧħ ŧħøȿɇ ønɇȿ..."
"I do not plan on being caught within your "Blaze of glory," nor do I plan on fighting you individually. If you are with those ones..." Strom points to Nyroc, Grell, and Isphea. His arm seemingly being in one place, and then the other the next instant. As if there's a weird frame-loss within his movement within the armor.

"Ŧħɇn fɨǥħŧ ŧøǥɇŧħɇɍ."
"Then fight together." Strom's lengthly arm then vanishes an instant, reappearing in contact with Keep's stomach. Another frame-loss within his movement, as if the very being of his armor is messing with reality. The blow would regularly send Keep flying, but a piece of Strom's Black-Slime armor keeps contact, and gives enough air resistance to make it appear that Strom lightly pushed him, and recovered him among his comrades. The piece that was in contact with Keep disappears once this movement is done.

The slime armor then disperses after a swift arm movement, swiping away the fiery air in front of him. The armor re-molds into the four copies... But with certain pieces missing from each of them. An arm. A leg. A chest. A foot. Each one is missing one part.
Strom's own armor seems to have taken damage by taking the Black armored form... But it quickly starts to regenerate, and Strom swipes quickly at his leather book, the eye seemingly blazing with pink light. He rips the page, and the pieces from the knights return to them. as if coming from their own void-like bodies in the blink of an eye. His drawing speed is quite admirable.

The book then glows, and the pages regenerate. It doesn't seem like Strom will run out of drawing room any time soon. The Épée swiftly floats down to Strom, as if guarding him from the front as he flips through the pages, holding a pen in one hand, and his book in the other. Magenta lines spark through the book's eye and Strom's own. There seems to be a connection between the two...

The four knights stand on guard this time, and approach slowly, their movements seeming to glitch as they walk, much like the large-armor did. They don't look very hard, in fact the slashes by Keep practically sliced through them like butter -- but the fact that Strom can reproduce any lost parts presents a problem.
Black grass with pink outlines form where they touch the ground. A similar effect is being produced at Strom's own feet. The Swarm influence given off by the knights, including Strom, seems quite Strom... Long contact is not recommended.

This is a little complicated, I'm sorry.
---
Time has passed enough for the inner cogs of the Clockworks have turned. The elevators and their destinations have greatly shifted.

By the time Caite had descended deeper into the Clockworks, she had found herself in a different place than the others. Namely, a Lichen Lair.

"Tch, not what I was looking for," Caite remarked to herself.

In preparation for the kinds of enemies she's going to fight here, she holsters he Magnus and primes an Ionized Salt Bomb.

The place seemed to be untouched by the swarm, so the enemies appeared as they usually do. Caite notices a Lumber in the distance, surrounded by a sizable colony of Lichens, and a swarm of Silkwings.

With a winning pitch, the Ionized Salt Bomb from earlier flies towards the pile. As the crystal is about to burst in the distance, Caite tosses three other explosives in the air.

By the time the Salt Crystal makes it's first burst, exploding into smaller shards that impale and stick to the monsters, Caite had taken one explosive from the air, an Irontech Bomb, and primes it.

The Crystal in the distance bursts into a flurry of electrified shrapnel at the same time as Caite lets go of her Irontech. In a moment, she catches a different bomb, Graviton Vortex, and starts priming that one too.

Approximately half of a second passes, and she catches the falling Irontech with the top of her foot like a football player while finishing up priming her Vortex.

She then proceeds to lightly kick her feet up while lightly lobbing the Vortex bomb as well. As both bombs halt their respective acceleration in a 50 centimetre vertical difference, Caite does a little spin before then kicking the Irontech, followed by a punch that also sends the Vortex bomb flying.

Before both bombs hit their mark, Caite grabs hold of the last explosive from the earlier three, a tiny little Cold Snap bomb. Naturally, she starts priming that one too.

By the time she finishes priming the easiest bomb, the Irontech explodes. And yet, before the Irontech's explosion sends everything blasting away at different directions, the Vortex Bomb also triggers, and reverses the direction of everything caught in the Irontech's boom.

Following that, Caite tosses her final bomb, and it hits it's mark right as the Vortex's vacuum was about to release the compressed matter it had taken in. The Vortex bursts at exactly the same time as the Cold Snap, causing everything to have been frozen in place a split second after having been blown away again. Effectively turning the pile of monsters into one big iceberg.

She un-holsters her Magnus, and fires a single bullet at the iceberg. The bullet pierces a spot in the middle of the iceberg. From there, cracks begin to form, travelling further and increasing in size before finally causing the whole iceberg to fall apart into a million pieces.

Caite re-holsters her Magnus, picks up the used bombs, and makes her way towards the next area.

[Waiting on Grell (@Sonosuke) and Isphea's (@Liminori) response to the transformation and starting moves.
To think it's been half a week since I posted in this thread... Time sure flies. ._.]

'Nothing but dried wolver meat for the last 12 days... I need... SPICES...' A small knight thinks to herself in the forest. She had been on her own for almost a year now, and her storage of spices above the average "shredded dew-bush" which has about as much flavor as dried grass, was dreadfully low.

"Why do I even bother... These shrubs have nothing but mildly toxic berries, and their roots are hardly nutritional..." Pippin grumbles to herself as she pokes around some of the shrubbery, pulling off a twig at the root every so often.

"Aghh!" The childish knight shouts to the air, clearly not caring who or what hers her; she takes out her frustration on the dirt around the bush she was previously pulling at.
"If only I could find some shred of civilization! A supply pod! A small box containing things other than useless currency! A chest half-buried in the middle of a cleari--" Pippin stops throwing dirt around in her fit of rage, stands up, and turns directly at the rectangular object in the clearing.

'It must have been dropped from somewhere above, or... Blown from such a place. It's partially submerged in the dirt, as if it was some stray missile which just happened to not explode. A missile quite possibly filled with SPICES!' Clear happiness washes over Pippin's face, smiling ear to ear. But the smile quickly vanishes as Pippin stops herself...

"... A trap... Right? No. A delusion. Or... A TRAP-DELUSION!" Pippin stands shocked at her revelation. Her facial expression changing to this.

"No, wait... A delusional-trap? A trap-like delusion...? But it really might be real... So just a trap?" Pippin thinks for a moment, holding her hand to her chin, and her eyebrows creased as if in deep contemplation.

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT. What is important is that it is one or both of those things! But it is more likely to be... A DELUSION!" She taps her fist onto her palm.

"Yeah... It must be a delusion caused by loss of proper seasonings for my pristinely-kept tongue..." She brings her hand to her chest, as if feeling pain over a fallen comrade.

"A tongue which has been at a loss for proper tasting food for almost a year..." She clenches her fist tight, her grip-modded gloves mending with her fist like the leather they were developed to act as. Her entire body slowly doubling over as if in great dread.

"But could be restored with the Spices in that chest!" Fire bursts in Pippin's eyes, and she dashes at the chest; her cleaver, almost as large as she is tall, seemingly weightless as she rushes to meet the object.

"COME TO ME, MY BEAUTIFUL SPICES!! DELUSION OR NOT, YOU SHALL BE DELICIOUS!"
Pippin dashes to the chest, ignoring any sense of caution she had. If she ever had any.

For the time being, because I still need Grell and Isphea to do something -- or at least acknowledge Strom's change into form 2... I can't move Strom. Oh well. :T
---------------
Pippin lands face-first onto the dirt of the clearing, the impact with the ground being quite louder than one would expect. The container on her back is pretty darn heavy.

In the open, she cringed in silence. Pippin doesn't usually cringe due to pain. But the fact that something the weight of an anvil just made her movement from running to the hitting the ground faster than a King Jelly falls from a Dark Retribution tipped her pain tolerance. Because of the monumental amount of crushing force she just experienced, she couldn't even let out a yelp.

If she could make a sound, she would have probably reacted like this:"WHAT THE HECK, HOW THE #@$* DID THAT HAPPEN. WAS THAT A $@&#ING BULLET THAT ALMOST HIT MY TOE?! WHO THE !%@# WOULD DO THAT?!"

She slowly picks herself up onto all fours -- or three, as she dedicates one hand to the sole purpose of holding her now surely bruised forehead. Then she hears a voice...

Unfortunately, due to the previously mentioned ground-collision, Pip could only hear one word out of all he said.
"kid"
"Kid"
"KID."
Pippin was called kid all the time when she first met people. Even as she climbed through the ranks as a Combat Chef, everyone who didn't know her would call her that. And even then, some people who knew her genius in the department of cooking still called her that name.

Until they were pummeled into the ground, that is.
But beating on the first person that she's met in months wasn't a smart move. Even with Pippin under flavor-starvation and sleight lightheadedness due to the previous fall, she could still understand that...
And so she lifted up her hand, accepted his offer to help her stand with one hand, and immediately directed a jab -- one that would make even pro fighters envious in form and power -- at the man's crotch with the other.

Just because she understood aggravating people wasn't a smart move, especially given the fall of Haven, doesn't mean she wouldn't do it anyways.
If there's one lesson that Pippin's learned while growing up under training, it's that you have to make sure people understand what names to call you, and what ones that they shouldn't in a million years. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with the name for all eternity.
And Pippin wouldn't let herself be labeled "Kid" for the rest of eternity.

(Sorry, sorry. I was getting held up in "Machinauts" and forgot about this.)

Grell fired his cannon, a bomb drill flying out straight at Strom's book. He then re-straps it to his back as he dashed towards the Copy Knights, seemingly going for his copy... before making a sharp turn and taking a slice at Copy Isphea. "Don't go after your own copy! Fight someone else's!"
__________

Cult!Drace spun its sword, obsidian shards dispersing and severing the tendrils.

"Right...." Drace, seeing as the husk was distracted, took the opportunity and stabbed straight through its back. "I won't go Back!"

Meteko skidded in front of them and leapt at Cult!Drace, spinning around. Cult!Drace, however, caught the blade and released a Dark Pulse, sending Meteko and Drace flying back.

"I'll have to spare you mortals for now. I'm needed elsewhere." Frosty tendrils burst from the ground and dragged it under.

The trio of knights were resting on the graveyard fields, where they were never heard of again. They heard noises and they instantly readied their guns and their swords. But these were not normal undead. They were not even undead nor were they more than one person! His name is still unknown but we do know all he had to do to kill them was a single slap.