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Around you, there is only fire.

The great, scorching inferno from the first explosion has dwindled, now - But fitful fires continue to burn, like ghostly echoes of the holocaust. Smoke, thick and choking, boils up from the streets of Dis: It's gritty, foul even through the insulation of your helm, the smoggy fumes playing havoc with your targeting sensors...

-Strange. You never thought iron could burn, before.

You stand in the shadow of the overhead tracks, black supporting columns sprouting from the broken ground like obsidian trees - The analogue of the railway line, a whole world away. But here, everything is twisted: The trains that do come are growling behemoths, serpentine blurs of motion and fury and glaring predator lights that never slow or stop - To ride in one is to ride in the belly of the beast.

Your left leg is mangled; Sparks flicker from the shattered joint, the myomer fibre crackling with fitful, spitting arcs as you struggle to stay upright...But both your Plasma Vulcans are levelled squarely at the crimson target less than fifty feet away, the Gnosis Engine in your chest cycling in perpetual motion as your Cobalt Booster hums, gathering charge...

In his scarlet-and-brass armor, Enfer hunches - Deep, gouging wounds melted into his armor, your Rifle Bits circling him like an uneven halo. In his remaining hand - His right arm's been entirely severed, twitching away somewhere behind you - he hefts a blocky, matte-grey shape: Four segments intelocking to form a cross fully as large as his head, telltale green links winking beneath the violet crystal of it's core, like a gem in a setting.

Impasse.

"Joker-" Chrome Cypher - No, Natsumi - rasps, at the very edge of your vision. He's missing a leg and an arm, green light pulsing from the rents in his torso - Enfer hit him with his best shot. "-don't let him get away."

(Continued)

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"Not very neighbourly of you," Enfer growls, in answer - His voice gravelly, like a thousand-year smoker. The eyeslits in his scarred helm pulse hot yellow; To your sensors, he's lit up twice over - First from the pulsing mark of your HARROW codeburst, and again from the etched symbol (A smile become a snarl) - etched on his pauldron.

> "Well, you have us at a disadvantage then. But you know as well as I do that this job you're doing isn't something you think is worth blowing yourself up for. So we're going to stand here at this stalemate until I get some answers."

"Works for me, friend." he crackles, remaining stock-still, poised. "The floor's yours."

Underfoot, you feel the ground shudder, faintly, from a distant tremor.

HP: 76.1%
COBALT BOOSTER: 49%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 56% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 45%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24838091

> "Why are you doing this? What could possibly be worth this?"

>>24838091
Keep on talking, if we build up enough Booster Exec_Disrupt might mess with his bomb.

"So, why don't you tell me about yourself?

Who you're working for? What are you here for? My death or something greater?

How the hell does mercenary work even work in the Red World? How are you getting reimbursed?

What could possibly be worth threatening to blow yourself up? What could possibly be worth willingly going into combat against me, the Red Joker, you do know that I have a habit of killing people when they get into a fight with me. I was eating cake and you just had to ruin it by blowing everything up.

Where did you get that rather fancy bomb with the purple shard it in? Who gave you the shard? Do you know what it is and what it does? Do you know where it comes from?"

>>24838091

God damn it. I absolutely loathe situations like these, because there isn't any good outcome. Either we let him go or he sets us up with the bomb.

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This answers my question!

>>24838091
We decided at the end of the last thread that we were going to get him talking and pray that our Cobalt Booster would regenerate enough to to get a Disrupt off. Asking him what Pazuzu's Smilers promised him to do this is a good start at that.

Once we've got the meter, Akumetsu him. Wonderful choice of images by the way.

>>24838091
And so begins Operation Stall for 26% Cobalt Booster Regeneration.

>Underfoot, you feel the ground shudder, faintly, from a distant tremor.
I believe people were suggesting last time that this could be an oncoming Monorail, which Enfer plans on using to escape.

However, that said,
>The trains that do come are growling behemoths, serpentine blurs of motion and fury and glaring predator lights that never slow or stop - To ride in one is to ride in the belly of the beast.
This implies we've had trains pass already that he HASN'T hitched a ride on.

(Also haven't we been on a train while in the Red World before? It didn't seem quite so terrifying the first time around, IIRC.)

>>24838300
We were on the inside of the train, and we only saw the exterior when we blew up part of the carriage. Plus, wasn't the interior pretty freaky? I was getting some SCP vibes.

And then there's the fact that the trains in the Red World don't have to map on to the trains in the real world. Places here are metaphors more often than they're direct analogues.

>>24838257
>>24838230
>>24838190

For a moment, there's silence - As Enfer, apparently, processes all that. Then you hear a sound; A harsh noise, an ugly sound like the relentless scrape of metal-on-metal.

He's laughing. Chuckling, really, a clotted, choked noise that sounds like an auto-loader cycling.

"Kraken *said* that you liked to jaw," Enfer sniggers. "-Said he had to crowd you into slapping leather."

> Asking him what Pazuzu's Smilers promised him to do this is a good start at that.
> So, why don't you tell me about yourself?
> How the hell does mercenary work even work in the Red World? How are you getting reimbursed?

"Well, I'm a godly man." He chuckles, again, but there's no humor in it. "Yes - You could say...I've found religion. Yes, I'm a real holy roller."

Enfer's eyes glow, vapor trailing off the wounds in his armor - Coiling skyward with the smoke, like twisting strands of incense. "'For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father - And then he shall reward the faithful according to his works.'" It sounds like a quotation, but there's something in the way he's saying it...

If the mouthpiece of his helmet would move, he'd be smiling. "The riches of Earth are nothing compared to the reward above...Or below, if you know what I mean." Again that ugly sniggering. "-Maybe it's both."

> Who you're working for? What are you here for? My death or something greater?
> What could possibly be worth threatening to blow yourself up?
> What could possibly be worth willingly going into combat against me, the Red Joker. I was eating cake and you just had to ruin it by blowing everything up.

(Continued)

"You seem like a reasonable guy. I think. I'm a reasonably guy. Let's say we put away the heavy ordinance that will blow us, this entire city block, the OTHER worlds city block, and talk, yeah? See, I typically kill those who interfere with my daily life, which is constantly. As you have me at an impasse what with the Mother of All Bombs in your hands, I see you actually have me at a disadvantage."

"Well played, I will say. Since we know you are crazy enough to actually use it, what actually possessed you to put points into such a skill anyway? I mean, it'd be great for setting ambushes and such, which I might add was ingenius..."

Spew as much horseshit as possible. Keep talking. Keep HIM talking. We need to buy time.

>>24838543
>If the mouthpiece of his helmet would move, he'd be smiling. "The riches of Earth are nothing compared to the reward above...Or below, if you know what I mean." Again that ugly sniggering. "-Maybe it's both."
Well, fuck, I was so, so far off the mark in suggesting that this job isn't something he'd view as worth blowing himself up over.

>>24838566

Hah. Good ol' martyr complex. Wonder where he picked it up

"Well, that's a perishing shame," Enfer answers - You can almost hear the twang in his voice. "...But it ain't always about you. A friend of mine had a message to be delivered...And I delivered it." He shrugs - Armored shoulders lifting, in an uneven arc.

"As to who I work for - That, you've already cottoned on. Why else would I wear *this*?" he nods at the scowling smile on his pauldron.

> Where did you get that rather fancy bomb with the purple shard it in?

"This? This a four-part cluster munition, with a flechette/incinderary payload - And a certain improvement, for that little extra kick." His remaining hand rotates, at the wrist; Turning as if to show it off, his oversized fingers clutching it. "-Mind the deadman's switch, Joker."

"And mind that I don't slip."

> "Do you know where it comes from?"

"Where all good things come from, Joker. From down Below."

>>24838549

"Yes, you're a fair man, and I'm a fair man - But there's a look in your eye that says I need killing. So thank you, but I'll hold on to this for now...Sir."

> Since we know you are crazy enough to actually use it, what actually possessed you to put points into such a skill anyway?

"It's my *thing*. Or didn't you know? Bardiel has-" Enfer pauses. "-Had," he qualifies, with mincing care. "-his wings, heaven rest him. Kraken is a friend to all good creatures. And his Lady..."

He stops himself, again. "-But that *would* be telling."

Enfer cants his head to the side - "...If everything had gone *just right*, I'd have been *you*. Funny how that works out."

Underfoot, the rumbling intensifies. It's far off - But this is going to be a big one, one of the trains that splits the air with it's sonic boom.

"Tell me something," Enfer says, suddenly, as the noise dips for a precious moment. "-What's it like?" Those glowing yellow eyes rise and fall, taking you in. "Must feel good, don't it? All that power - Like being on the top of the world. Or does it?"

And in your torso, the hum of the Gnosis Engine grows, as it continues to gathers speed.

HP: 76.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 56%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 51% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 40%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

Oh, hey, Joker Quest.

Was wondering where this went.

>>24838718
"Actually, it's a huge pain in the ass. I gotta deal with assholes like you on a daily basis."

If we have the power, hit him with Exec_Disrupt. Then we either blast the shit out of him or use the Nihl Sphere to gobble up his bomb.

>>24838774

Disrupt is 75% meter. We're trying to keep him occupied until it recharges sufficiently. I'm wondering how the bomb works, to be honest. Will it explode over there, or will explode in both worlds at once?

>>24838801
If it's any indication, probably both at once.

>>24838718
>>24838543

Enfer reminds me of a cowboy, or a hick. He's talking like a redneck. Is there a Japanese equivalent of a redneck?

>>24838726
"It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Seriously, I can't even go out to lunch without some bozo deciding that they have to interrupt me drinking coffee with a murder attempt. It's seriously inconvenient.

Sure I can kill pretty much anyone who comes after me, which is nice, but there's always bigger fish, nobody is ever 'on top of the world', there's always bigger, nastier things than you that you don't control.

And then there's the nightmares, you never get the moniker of the Red Joker in pleasant circumstances.

But I have to admit there are some perks. I mean I look absolutely fantastic, red is a really vivid color and I never have to worry about going to a party and nobody knowing who I am."

>>24838726
This is kind of a shame; unless the line about "continuing to gather speed" means the rate of recovery increases over time, this means we're going to have to wait 3 more combat "turns" for us to have enough for Disrupt. Not sure that's going to be long enough, let alone whether it will stop something mechanical that has already been primed, such as a deadman's switch.

>Kraken [...] And his Lady...
>He stops himself, again. "-But that *would* be telling."
Why does this give me a baaaaad feeling about this Lady's identity...

>>24838801
>I'm wondering how the bomb works, to be honest. Will it explode over there, or will explode in both worlds at once?
Our operating theory is that the purple crystal attached to the bomb allows it to interact with both worlds, as a similar shard was used by Bardiel to force elements of the Red World into the real one.

>>24838718
"Well, yes and no.

On the one hand, I have to deal with people like you on a near daily basis.

On the other hand, I get to deal with people like you on a near daily basis.

What is it with the entourage of suicidal mooks anyway? Do any of them, and in extension, you, seriously think they have a shot at being me? They rush at me after having seen dozens of their comrades cut down, each convinced to a delusional degree that they are going to be the one that kills me.

Frankly, I haven't seen a single one who'd be able to pull it off. They just don't have that theatrical flare."

>>24838718

"It's.. complicated, Enfer. I was sort of shanghaied into this gig."

"It's one of those things that you regret doing after a Sunday night out drinking. Until you realize what you did the night before seems to attract everybody with a deathwish and a chip on their shoulder."

"It's not all you think it is cut up to be."

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>>24838543
>"Well, I'm a godly man." He chuckles, again, but there's no humor in it. "Yes - You could say...I've found religion. Yes, I'm a real holy roller."
INTERESTING. He's either an adherent of the Black Cardinal's, or a candidate to head that suit. Still no idea what it entails unfortunately.

>>24838801
Purple gem. It'll have SOME effect on the real world.

>>24838718
>"Must feel good, don't it? All that power - Like being on the top of the world. Or does it?"
"Ever wonder what the Red Joker armor's for? What its purpose is? I've been thinking about it since Totenaz left. And while I don't know what it's for, I know what it does now: It evolves by integrating the specifications of the armor of the one who defeats the current Red Joker. Except I didn't. I was a melee player--heavy weapons, heavy armor--but it wasn't until I got an artifact that I had any melee capability in this form at all. And my defenses are shit.

"The armor's broken. And you know what? I STILL managed to job Pazuzu. It took him and a Player who exists to fuck with people like me, and a half dozen scrubs for him to fight on my level. How does it feel? Like being Kamen Rider with bigger and better guns. And I know what's wrong with me now, so in a couple of days I'm going to be feeling like every Kamen Rider at the same time.

"Answer a question for me: What does it feel like to be YOU? To know that this could have been you, except a no-name, bottom rank kid fell into Hell and landed in front of God?"

>>24839054
yeah, let's tell all this shit to a guy who is trying to kill us.
"get on my level" and "do you even lift" is somehow even worse.

>>24838774

"Ain't that the truth. It rather looks like we're the Black Hats here, don't it?"

Just a little more. You have one eye on him, one eye on the slowly charging Cobalt Booster - Enfer doesn't seem to notice anything amiss...But then again, neither can you.

What's he thinking? The constant scowl of his helmet gives away nothing. He seems comfortable right where he is, even as the ground begins to quake...As if the world itself in vibrating, tiny fragments of iron lifted from the ground, skittering across the beaten earth.

>>24838854

"Well, it *is* a big pond," Enfer agrees, with a solemn nod; "...Seems to me that we ain't all that different - Not where it really counts." Sagely wisdom aside, he seems to tense, slightly...Ready to move? Or just shifting his stance?

>>24838925

"You know what they say: Some people are born to be killed."

His gaze seems to turn inwards, his words slowing.

"-And some just need putting down. That's all there is to it."

> "Do any of them, and in extension, you, seriously think they have a shot at being me? They rush at me after having seen dozens of their comrades cut down, each convinced to a delusional degree that they are going to be the one that kills me.

"Oh, they know that. But then they think...'What *if*.'"

>>24839003
>>24839054

"Are you kidding?" that dark, growling chuckle again. "-This is all I ever wanted." Enfer's eyes flare up, momentarily - Burning hot, now, a furious yellow that lights up his helmet from within. In memory, or in rage.

"Most people have to live a godly life, it they want their wishes granted. I got mine in *advance*."

The rumbling is intense, now - Low and deep and grinding. It sounds like an angry roar, almost, as the serpentine blur approaches along the horizon, sheathed in howling winds.

(Continued)

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Enfer turns his head, to the side - A slow, deliberate move.

"-Train's almost here," he says - And then it strikes you; You've both been doing the same thing.

You've both been playing for time.

There's a *snikt* as his helm seals over, again - Ceramic plates sliding into place, leaving only his molten eyes exposed. The voice that issues forth is muffled, distorted, but still recognizable:

"...What will you do, hoss?"

HP: 76.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 68%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 46% (DISPERSING AFTERIMAGES)
METER: 40%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24839216
Cobalt boost our arm to maximum and throw the Nihil Sphere through the bomb. Dump all 68% into it.

>>24839285

No. Let's just use the disrupt like we planned.

>>24839285

I really suggest we don't throw it. So far, using it as a projectile hasn't worked very well. Keep aiming at him, and hope we CAN use disrupt at the right time.

>>24839216
Bide time.

Just a few more seconds, then EXEC_DISRUPT.

>>24839305
We don't have the power to do that. And time has run out. We have to do something to get rid of the bomb. This seems like the best idea right now.

>>24839216
>And then it strikes you; You've both been doing the same thing.
>You've both been playing for time.
This isn't a surprise, he knew there was no way we'd let him go.

Dammit, we need to get that bomb away from him. We can't lock him down like we'd hoped with the codeburst, we need one more round of charging.

I say deploy the Assault Shroud in Fortress Mode, try to box up his arm in particular. Crush it if possible.

Another possibility: Dump booster to meter, shoot him in the back with the Longinus. Been too long since we used it on anyone.

>>24839329
We're calibrated for FIRING PROJECTILES, not THROWING MARBLES. Won't hit, and at worst he'll be able to recover it and run.

>>24839346
Wait, are we able to dump booster into meter?

>>24839346
Assault Shroud Fortress Mode seems like a solid idea. It locks him down for a moment while our booster charges for the disrupt.

We really need that disrupt. We absolutely cannot risk letting that bomb go off.

>>24839351

No, they're two separate gauges. From the equipment page, anyway.

Damn it, is there anything we can use on him?

>>24839351
Oh shit, can we not do that? I swear to god I remember we could.

>>24839216
The EXECs are powered by either the Nihl Sphere or the Booster? Can we fuel 68% with the Booster and cover the 7% with the Nihl Sphere and EXEC_DISRUPT him and then launch a massive flight of Triskellion MIssiles at him and blow him to bits with Vulcans?

>>24839368
It'd be neat if we could, even if there was some efficiency lost in the conversion.

Otherwise we would just be able to dump it at the start of a battle and singularity cannon everything.

>>24839346
You know, this is one of those times I wish we had kept the blades on our bits. Cobalt boost them and slice his arm off. I guess another option is to go with Watashiwa's first plan, but dump the booster into us and the bits, trying to laser his arm off, grab it, and Fortress mode.

>>24839285
>>24839305
>>24839328

what about boosting our speed, flash-stepping to him and nihil sphering his bomb? If possible, along with his arm?

>>24839395

I like that, but I really think that the best move is Disrupt. We are SO CLOSE.

Also, god damn you OP. I'm on the edge of my seat here.

>>24839216
"Not entirely sure how you're getting up there with one arm, the fact that you've gotta keep a deadman's switch pressed notwithstanding. You've been more a runner than a flier from what tricks of yours I've seen. Guess the air was sort of Bardiel's deal."

"And if you ARE dead set on making a break for it, I'm going to have to consider that a free pass to take you out once you get up there and out of the way. Less collateral damage while you're way up in the air like that, you see."

"I DID tell you I just needed to get answers, right?"

I say we break out the Nihil Sphere and start trying to talk to him a bit about IT'S nature. Hopefully he's intrigued enough that he sticks around just a little longer to try and get a little extra data on what is, for all intents and purposes, the main thing Pazuzu is ACTUALLY interested in.

>>24839387
yeah, we slice off the arm, it falls off and releases the button.
Boom.
Anyway, i don't know if nihlsphering the bomb is a good idea. We don't know how shard will react with us shoving balls in device holding it.

(Gentlemen: There are a lot of suggestions here, so just to confirm -

Are you looking to hit him with EXEC_DISRUPT as soon as it cycles, then immediately seal him in with the Assault Shroud Fortress Mode? Also, would prefer to capture your Rifle Bits inside the 'cell', too - Or leave them at the ready outside?

>>24839404
Wait a sec.

>Your tenuous connection with the Sphere allows you to utilize it as a source of energy to cast CODEBURSTS - With unpredictable and disturbing effects.

We CAN try and use the Nihil Sphere to make up the difference in Booster.

This is probably our gameplan, as risky as it might be.

>>24839443
Hit him with EXEC_DISRUPT as soon as it cycles, and if it disables the bomb, hit him with a full rack of triskelions.

>>24839449
Yes, let's do this.

NIHL_DISRUPT

>>24839449
I completely missed this part.

Let's do it. Nihl sphere powered EXEC_DISRUPT, then take him out.

>>24839443
Well let's try and swing it like this, since everyone seems content to try and get the disrupt off. Nerf hammer him with the EXEC, encase the bomb/his hand if we can, him entirely otherwise. Bits outside.

>>24839478
>>24839494
I say we only Nihil Sphere_DISRUPT if he starts to make a break for it. Otherwise it's better to try and eke out the last 7% of Booster charge.

We have NO IDEA what'll happen if we power a Codeburst off of the sphere, and we don't exactly want to have to find out in such a high-tension situation.

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>>24839383
>singularity cannon everything
Fuck me, of course this is why we can't.

Tyrant Burst won't work on him, he's a good demoman so he's used to things blowing up in his face.

I honestly think our best bet is Fortress Mode. He either goes to hell and takes out a city block (which we'll probably survive, we're in good shape) or he tries to break free. He does the latter we get our meter and we lock him down.

>>24839387
>>24839428
The alternative is killing him instantly. Players relics don't activate if they're instantaneously eliminated from the Red World. Unfortunately, the only thing we have that can do that is the Quantum Singularity Cannon. Which isn't coming out this fight.

>>24839443
Yes. Capture bits within, they'll go immediately but the chance to blow his mark is delicious.

>>24839449
...7%. 7% chance of us moving the quest to Chinese curse territory.

What the hell, we live in interesting times anyway.

The Shroud is at 50%. It will not contain what he has. He's lugging around a fuel air bomb or a MOAB. Our dinky fortress won't stop that.

>>24839216
Well... You seem pretty set on being the red joker, same as any other player. But what if I could offer you something just as good? Pazuzu and Kraken, many many times has it been that I've snatched certain treasures out from under their noses- such a shame you have to toil beneath such incompetent management. How would you like to join the team that holds the winning hand? Currently, you wear the smiler's mark as a slave and my mark as enemy, -that- could change.

Join ME.

>>24839532
The fortress is probably going to be more useful to stop him from making a break for the monorail than to actually contain the blast.

It's probably our best way of restraining his movement that doesn't risk us triggering the mark and blowing his arm off, triggering the deadman switch.

It's also unlikely he immediately drops the deadman bomb the minute we deploy it, since he'll probably be at least a little confused as to what's happening.

Gives us a little longer to try and charge the last bit of booster, or if it's cutting it too close we can NIHIL_DISRUPT at that time.

Let's not forget we have Chrome laying down on the job right beside us practically. (S)he'll be caught in the shitstorm too if we screw this up.

>>24839419
>>24839564

Your left-arm Vulcans close themselves, and seal away. You curl your armored fingers - And a dark shape takes form, a swirling violet orb that pulses with it's own dark light.

"Joker-" Cypher rasps, warningly-

"You-" Enfer says - He actually takes a step forward, and you can *hear* the breathless, sudden greed in his voice. He says something...But then the grinding shriek of the oncoming train drowns out all words.

You use the word 'train', but 'centipede' is the better word: It reminds you, vividly, of one of those terrifying-looking things with the maw at the front and the hundred hundred legs - Like the great, writhing wyrms in the endless blackness below the city, forever sealed within the crackling fields of the magnetic line.

Harsh, slanted shadows slash across the distance - The tableau going a churning black on Enfer's side, stark red on yours as your grip tightens on the Nihl Sphere...

Things begin to happen very, *very* fast.

A surge - A *cold* surge - crackles up your arm, like ice water. It feels as if your bones have been rimmed with frost, for one aching moment; But Enfer is in your sights, lit up from within by the deathmark you've bestowed...And you unleash the Codeburst, ripping the power free-

Violet lightning flickers across the bomb he's clutching.

Just for an instant.

The crystal shard explodes.

(Continued)

>>24839621
as well as Mio and the whole fucking party.
Are we crazy? Yes. But are we crazy enough?

...you know, maybe we'll let him leave and trail him?

>>24839645
>Just for an instant.
>The crystal shard explodes.
[screaming intensifies]

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>>24839645
>The crystal shard explodes.
WHELP.

>>24839645
Fuck all of you.

>>24839679
Except you. You are alright Watashiwa

>>24839684
Hey, it's just the crystal, not the bomb itself...

...right?

>>24839645
Also am kind of interested in whether this means the codeburst used energy from the Nihil Sphere exclusively, or if it was used as a supplementary power source.

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>>24839645
I think we made a bad call, guys.

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>>24839645

>>24839645
And thus begins another self destructive revenge spiral

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It happens all at once - Even as your missile launchers snap open, even as your Assault Shroud whirrs away in a seething cloud of nanofibre, swarming towards him like angry locusts...

Reality *bulges* around Enfer. You're seeing colors you cannot name - For an instant, you make out a distorted reflection, as if through a lens: Weird sounds filtering in as if from an immense distance - In watery, translucent color, you see the patchy colors of the real world, hear the wail of sirens, the reedy screams as he suddenly appears *over there*-

...But then the Red World snaps back into place, and Enfer reels back. The tics of violet lightning are crawling over him, now, your Rifle Interceptors momentarily buffeted aside by the surreal detonation...

And then the new blasts come, a racking series of explosions, enough that you wonder if he's set it off after all-

Behind him, the train tracks - Just moments ahead of the bound, shrieking half-machine, half-creature racing along it's length - erupt. Plumes of flame belch outwards, as charges go off one after another, the overhead rail *groaning* as it gives; The sound is cataclysmic, like the end of the world, as the rushing abdomination above-

Derails.

Hexagons blister the air around Enfer, locking into place - You hear the juddering hiss as they begin to fire...But even as your rockets coil away from you, lifting on wings of jetair and flame - You're not even *looking* at them.

You have a lot more to worry about.

(Continued)

>>24839652
here.

I TOLD YOU ABOUT BOMB BRO
I TOLD YOU DAWG
alas, i was too late

>>24839775
Oh, so the plan wasn't to escape on the helltrain, it was to DROP IT ON US.

This fuckin' guy.

>>24839799
i agree, that was sorta cool.
If, by some miracle, En survive this we must invite him to a beer, he's by far our most bombastic opponent.

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>>24839708
Fuck, I was saving that pic to use later in the quest. Did you grab that from FSA?

>>24839775
FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK! He mined the area around the tracks so that when we inevitably chased him he could blow us the fuck up. The fucker!

Worse yet: We saved his fucking life with the Assault Shroud. AAAAAAAAAAAAA--

>>24839842

We just killed Chrome too. He can't do shit.

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>>24839842
>>24839775
Love is over. Welcome to die.
>was oadwedi
Guess it was fun guys. Unless....

>>24839883
Get back to Cypher, pick her up, and NOPE the fuck outta here with cobalt boosted scrander.

>>24839842
Don't think the Assault Shroud is going to save him from a gigantic trainmonster landing on him, and the Codeburst should've disabled anything that could get him out from under the shroud.

>>24839849
And we can still try and grab her and Scrander the fuck out of dodge now that the crystal is dealt with.

We can get the fuck out of the area and wait for the codeburst to wear off, letting the bomb blast the centipede train and whatever's left of Enfer to pieces.

The only reason we were worried about the bomb was our proximity and the crystal's ability to shunt the explosion into the real world. With the crystal gone and time to get away from ground zero, we can let the thing blow up without any serious worries.

>>24839883
EXEC_HARROW

Strafe and fire, strafe and fire for the love of god strafe and fire.

We need our railgun for this shit.

>>24839883

(Apologies, one moment - I forgot something important.)

>>24839883

"Well, that went to shit quick. Hey Enfer! if you're still alive let's grab a drink sometime!"

Grab Cypher and cobalt boost outta there on the scrander. Redline the fucker if we haft to.

>>24839883

You know what? Fuck this.

Let's get the hell out of here. Retract the fortress mode and just book it.

>>24838245
>God damn it. I absolutely loathe situations like these, because there isn't any good outcome. Either we let him go or he sets us up with the bomb.

I'm backreading at the moment, but if it's still relevant, we should EXEC_REND either his trigger or the bomb - get it out of his grasp where he can't trigger it, or if the theory about his bombs burning both worlds are true, bring the bomb from the real to our world where we can deal with it.

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>>24839883

FUCK, nhil Enfer, nuke the corrector! or fuck feed them both to the nhil

>>24839883
>To Enker
"you MOTHERFUCKER."

Okay, the good news is, DA BOMB apparently didn't go off.
The bad news, others did.
The worse news, we have to fight a train.
The worst news, we still have to worry about Chrome, Mio and others.

>>24839883
Keep this thing focused on us, pepper it with the plasma vulcans to maintain it's attention and use the tau gun to do actual damage once cypher is out of the way.

>>24839955

The support columns give way all at once, snapping like twigs - There's a monumental *crash* as goes outwards and *downwards*, huge chunks of falling onyx shattering on all sides...But as the gritty dust boils out on all sides, you see a flailing, twisting shape through the smoke - A bone-armored skull the size of a carriage battering against the ground, as the half-Corrector half-machine *sounds*, crashing to the earth with the detonating force of an artillery barrage, concussive waves smashing out from the impact.

Fist-sized chunks clatter off your armor; The magnetic locks in your boots engaged, locking you down - But you're buffeted by the blast anyway, even though you hunch down. It's coming down on all sides, but the shaped charges were well-placed; It's like a car crash, again and again, hammering at you from all sides as you weather the shockwave and the pummeling hail and the churning torrent of debris that sweeps over you-

"Oh-" Cypher is watching, utterly aghast - It's a frozen moment, where everything seems to be strobing - "Oh, *shit*-" His voice is momentarily drowned out, but he has the good sense to drive his fingers into the ground...And *hang on*, even as the blast sweeps over you...

The Corrector's flat arrow-shaped head rises, jaws open; Horned and tusked, big enough to swallow you whole, plated with glistening horn-plates and studded with the crimson spheres of it's eyes. As it batters free of it's prison, the tortured binary shriek knifes into your ears, filling your senses with static - For one moment, you're entirely blind, as junk code blisters across your HUD.

It's hungry. Hungry and angry and FREE.

(Continued)

Your missiles - The ones that you'd been aiming at Enfer, all six of them - explode against the Corrector's sides; It's a massive target, flailing between you and Enfer's diminishing form - EXEC_HARROW is still active - and the thing's screech becomes deafening, as it's pummeled by the hailing explosions. The wedge-shaped head swings back and forth, as it blitzes the air with it's howls - It seems disorientated by it's long confinement, at least for now - but as the armored shell of it's form drags against the ground, gouging deep, shrieking furrows through the metal...

-It's not going to stay that way for long.

HP: 63.3%
COBALT BOOSTER: 77%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0% (FORTRESS MODE)
METER: 43%
RIFLE BITS: 3/5 (3 ACTIVE)

YOU HAVE CONTROL

(My apologies: I didn't resolve the missile fusillade in the first post. My mistake entirely.)

>>24840028

We grab Cypher and we Scrander outta there.

>>24840018
>>24840028
Wait what? The city in the Red World uses bound Correctors to power its transportation system? That's... extraordinarily metal. *$@%ing retarded, but metal.

Anyway. Priority 1 is getting Natsumi out. Grab her, Scrander to the edge of the field, tell her to log out and run. Get help if she wants but her life is our priority.

Priority 2 is fucking over Enker. "Fortress Mode disengage" should do nicely, he can distract the Correctormobile for us while we get Natsumi to safety. If we can be the one to kill him for his experience so much the better, but I just want him dead.

Switch to Nova Cannon and point it at the fleshy bits. We want the eyes and throat so perforated it makes an LCL sea.

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>>24840028
This is our new plan.

>>24840028

FEED THEM BOTH TO THE NIHL!!!!

our purple mistress hungers!

>>24840048

New player here - what's the big deal with Correctors, and why are they so FFFUUCK when they show up?

>>24840048

>LCL sea
>Enfer has a god complex

It all makes complete fucking sense now.

>>24840028
>>24840048
Mostly agree with this plan.

End Fortress Mode so that Enfer becomes the Corrector's priority; he's probably not safe from its flailing, and even when it starts to come around, unless Kraken shows up out of nowhere, Enfer is probably on the menu.

Get Natsumi away from the flailing murderbeast.

Presumably the bomb is still primed, we just disabled the mechanism that explodes it temporarily, and got rid of the crystal that shunts the blast into the real world.

This means that we either have to kill the Corrector before EXEC_DISRUPT wears off and blows the whole block, or keep the Corrector in the area while we, personally, stay out of the blast zone.

I say we try the second; deploy Rifle Bits and keep them harassing the Corrector (and Enfer if he starts to try and escape) while we try and stay out of harm's way.

If it notices us, we change tactics, but the thing doesn't exactly seem bright, so maybe we can keep it chomping at the bits hue hue hue until the bomb takes it out.

>>24840078
They are the red world personification of natural disasters, the absolute wrongness of forces beyond our comprehension made manifest.

>>24840114
I dunno, so far correctors didn't give a fuck about smilers and why our Thomas gonna be different?

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>>24840072
*ahem*

>>24840076
They need to be compromised much further than they are for it to be remotely possible.

>>24840078
Correctors are the creeps in Joker Quest. Random encounters that give a small amount of experience, most useful for Players who don't want to get involved in killing other Players. The thing is that they're *probably* an aberration; we're not sure where they came from or what purpose they serve, but a lot of bad guys have been able to control them and they can control THOUSANDS.

And then there are things like this one here. There has been a direct correlation between the size of a Corrector and its lethality. The normal ones that we can one-shot are human sized and are lethal to the average player. This one is a multi-car high speed train in function as well as form.

Wait, this means it is MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING!

>>24840114
>Presumably the bomb is still primed, we just disabled the mechanism that explodes it temporarily, and got rid of the crystal that shunts the blast into the real world.

If we've disabled the mechanism that shunts the blast to the Real, then... shouldn't we use the bomb against the corrector AND get rid of its world-threatening boom at the same time?

You reach down, and grab Cypher - The Tempest Scrander at your back roars to life, and lofts you both into the air. Just in time, too; The Corrector's tail whips around, and flattens the place you were standing with a shuddering *CRASH* - This thing's mass must be enormous. Your first barrage has exploded against - Exploded *within* - the morass of metal and iron-hard plate that makes up it's exoskeleton - You can't begin to imagine how much it weighs.

>>24839955

As you fly, you fire - The emerald bolts of your plasma vulcan stich into the thing, carving a molten furrow; It chews through what looks like welded carriages, in slashing neon lines...But it's a mere scratch in all that uncoiling length.

You're fighting something the size and length of a train, with a bizarre, inhuman anatomy - Your shots are punching through, but you're not sure that you're doing that much damage. It certainly seems to *feel* it, though; The Corrector rills, flailing legs devastating everything around it - Like a dog tormented by flies, it drives the bullet-shape of it's head into the nearest building-

Correction.

*Through* the nearest building.

>>24839948

That motherfucker. You're probably going to kill him, but there's something to be said for a plan like this.

...

Okay, you're definently going to kill him.

>>24840048
>>24840114

The Cobalt Booster in your chest glows, and the Tempest Scrander - which had been carrying you, agonizingly slowly, out of the way - suddenly surges with renewed life. You're five storeys in the air when the Corrector shrieks again...

(Continued)

>>24840146
I never saw this thread before, but something tells me I got here just in time.

>>24840146
I couldn't find that one for some reason. But whatever. Tis a silly idea. I say we draw and boost the Annihilator to max charge, leveling this thing with a 'bitch please'.

>>24840172
y'know, guys, we COULD try to reduce the damage.

...somehow.

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>>24840078
These explanations are alright...
>>24840117
>>24840146

But if this clears the concept up for you even more, the Correctors are basically the Joker Quest version of these.

Unnatural horrors living in hives deep underneath the Red World, varying immensely in size, form and lethality, existing primarily just to terrorize people that wander into the Red World. Or so we think, for now. There's probably a looot we don't know about them, and we'll probably get more information later down the line on what their deal really is.

Rolled 12

(Just checking something.)

>>24840209
Ooooooor we just take our time and build up a silly amount of meter and see what happens.

>>24840233
Oh lord.

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>>24840233
>1d100
>12
>12
>12
>12
>12
DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE

>>24840237
>>24840245
Hey, don't freak out just yet! It might be the Corrector's attack roll!

oh god, we're doomed, aren't we

Rolled 44

>>24840172

-And then the distortion is back. It knifes through you, red alerts flashing on your HUD when it isn't fuzzing with static. The swirling cloud of your Assault Shroud - Sadly diminished, now - swirls back skywards; You can't sense any of your Rifle Bits, and you have no idea where Enfer is. Your deathmark has detonated, of that you're sure - But is he dead? You honestly can't tell.

Overhead, the sky has gone a fulminous dark yellow, awful clouds moiling: You can taste copper, ozone. Chrome Cypher has the good sense to clutch at you, his fingers clawing at your shoulders - You can't hear anything, as the edge of a building rushes up to meet you...

-You land hard, and tumble. Rolling and skidding, jets flaring wildly as you bring yourself to a graceless, bruising stop.

The ringing in your ears is dying away. As you stagger to your feet - Your left leg is in tatters, the armored edges sawing into the mechanisms below - you can finally make out what Chrome's saying:

"-kind of lightning storm," she's saying. "-can't reach them, Joker! I can't reach *any*-"

An ear-splitting *crack* cuts her words off. A wild bolt of lightning lashes down from the skies above - It hits a towering skyscraper, and annhilates the top in a hailstorm of rotating flechette shards. You can actually *feel* the electromagnetic waves crackling in the air - The Corrector's surface bristles with spines, and charge flickers between them. Unbound at last, it builds by the second, making the skies churn overhead...

>>24840168

The bomb. Where is it? You look around - It's somewhere down *there*, beneath you, but it can't be far. Enfer must have dropped it, but you can barely make out anything from her-

-There.

(continued)

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>>24840173
This isn't even the most awesome thing that's been in this quest, check suptg for "Joker Quest" and look for...eight, I think? We use a black hole gun on this thing's god.

>>24840233
Tell me that the roll is its attack on us and that it needed to roll high. Please.

>>24840268
>-There.
Ladies and gentlemen, it was an honor.

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>>24840268

>>24840268

As the steel-and-horn Corrector's writhing length crushes anything in the way - It's pushing a suppurating path through the street, now, still untangling it's full length - your sensors ping (miraculously untouched by ruin all around) on your enemy's signature...Or rather, part of him. Then, two:

The first signal is somewhere in the ruins of the collapsed tracks, behind a large chunk of rubble - Over and behind the Corrector, as it turns it's questing skull heavenwards, mandibles chattering.

The second - You're not sure what it is, until it clicks. Enfer's *arm* - His severed arm is still close by...But it's in the direction the beast is heading *in*.

>>24840209

You curl your fingers into a fist - The stark lines of your Fusion Annhilator shimmering into being, etching itself into reality. The weapon snaps into place around your left arm, green telltales winking on the sides as the charge begins to cycle...

"Anon-kun - You're going...*After* it?"

Natsumi sounds entirely appalled - Cypher's voxponder no longer hiding the clear panic in her voice. It's not fear - It's the helplessness, the way she can barely move, that fills her with seething frustration.

HP: 56.3%
COBALT BOOSTER: 58%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 0% (FORTRESS MODE)
METER: 46%
RIFLE BITS: 0/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

(If you're using the Fusion Annhilator, tell me the number of charges you want to use.)

>>24840314
All the charges, Cobalt Booster it to make it charge faster and better.

>>24840314
Is this time for tossing now? Because if En's arm still holds DA BOMB we could get rid of two problems at once.

>>24840314

Oh gods we're using the annihilator in the VICINITY OF THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS? ARE THE VOICES DRIVING THE PROTAG THIS DUMB?

How about we, you know, actually get The Bomb that would make the average Ork shit spores in glee before the Horror on the Orient Express kills us all?

>>24840318
Seconded.

>>24840314
I have to, or it will destroy everything. Natsumi, you need to leave NOW, please.

Primary plan is this: Get Enfer's mega bomb, toss it in the corrector's mouth and trigger it.

>>24840314
We need 60% meter to use the longinus, right?

I was thinking, get the bomb, throw it into the corrector's mouth, and then railgun both of them at the same time.

>>24840346
>>24840318
>>24840354

Guys, I have to say this.

We need to get one of the bombs. Either we go for Enger's arm, or we go for the MOAB he dropped. One or the other works for me.

But we charge up the FA anyway, to finish it off.

>>24840363

Shouldn't we go for Enfer's ARM instead?

Remember, throughout the fight, he was holding the detonator in his arm. The arm that we just blew off.
If we can get to it, we can use his bombs.

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>>24840314
"Well I can't kill it from *here*. For once I have a stupid plan that probably won't end in my death. Which, considering that the stupid plans that should have gotten me killed have not, is no longer comforting.

"Natsumi, log out. Or get to the spectator zone. This area isn't safe and if another distortion cuts through here the real world won't be either. I will be fine since I am stupidly heroic, but you need to keep yourself alive for the next one. See you tomorrow, okay? No coffee though, I think I'm jinxed."

And then we go find a bomb, JC.

>>24840408
>>24840363

She's quiet, for a moment - Or rather, Chrome is - head tilted upwards, the gathering storm clouds and baleful lightning reflected in the black line of her visor. Then Natsumi nods, slowly: "-I will," she says. And for the first time - For the first time - you hear her voice, without inflection or distortion - through Cypher's voxponder.

"I'll believe in you."

And then there's no more time for talking. The Tempest Scrander's turbines hurl you into the air, and you take flight. There's nothing graceful about it; the electromagnetic distortions are playing havoc with your sensors, and the span of the thing - It's incredible. Your optics flicker with ghost readings, and IT'S COMING RIGHT TOWARDS YOU-

As a pair of massive mandibles yawn wide, you jink to the side, your vision roiling at the sudden turn. You're not going to make it, not going to-

A flash sunders your words. For one moment, your vision feels with snow - Actinic pain, pain, *pain* blasting through every fibre of your being. Your finger spasms on the Fusion Annhilator's trigger - The charges cycling in the weapon go wild, spewing a skewed beam of white light shot through with arcs of fitful energy that misses the Corrector entirely, that smashes a molten fist through a cyclopean window...

Then the ground hurls itself up and you, and smashes you in the face. Your Assault Shroud - stiffened into impact-absorbing plates - shatters like glass; For one moment, you sprawl on the ground, webs of occluded electricity crackling over your form. You don't know what's happened, at first, until it comes to you-

So that's how it feels, you think, burned and blasted. So that's how it feels to be struck by lightning.

(Continued)

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>>24840473
brb, AC/DC.

Actually though, quick question: You've been using "his" and "her" more or less interchangeably when referring to Chrome Cypher. Is this intentional or at all significant?

>>24840473
Now that I'm thinking about it, does a lightning strike count as the kind of "energy attack" the Gnosis Engine can absorb?

>Also, the GNOSIS ENGINE can now absorb incoming energy attacks, granting you a measure of resistance.

Or does this only count laser or plasma weaponry?

And in retrospect, we REALLY shouldn't be charging our Fusion Annihilator to full, let alone Cobalt Boosting it, in an environment where there can be spontaneous lightning strikes.

>It's not advisable to 'hold' charges for too long; The Annhilator is a highly volatile weapon, and will discharge explosively if damaged.
>However, the Fusion Annhilator is even more volatile in this state; Any damage to Annhilator will likely result in a catastrophic explosion, when the charging element is breached.

At your back, the vanes of the Tempest Scrander twitch weakly - The containment field of the Fusion Annhilator is a hot coal at your left arm, as it begins to build a new charge. A shadow looms over you; You make out mad, glaring red eyes, as the Corrector's length sweeps across...

-And a half-dozen of it's trailing limbs, long as spears and as sharp as swords, rake across you. Only in passing; Just enough to scour your crimson plate with a flurry of slashes, cutting *deep* - It's turning, turning to bring that maw into play again, turning to swallow you whole...

You throw yourself forward, and down. Your right hand - Scrabbling - closes around the cross-shape of Enfer's bomb. It's immediately awkward to hold, with one hand; Your grasp can barely span it, so you're lifting it with by one of the 'arms'. The crystal shard has shattered in the setting - But the telltales flash between violet and green, violet and green, slowly going back to placid green and-

And the Corrector rears up. It's maw opens and keeps opening, like a lamprey's - To reveal mouthful after mouthful of scalpel-sharp fangs. The air bleeds ozone as it brings it's head down, like a plane crashing to earth; At this speed, it's going to leave a crater where you're standing, punch through the iron in blind, bludgeoning hunger...

-You don't think it cares.

HP: 30.8%
COBALT BOOSTER: 42%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 3%
METER: 28%
RIFLE BITS: 0/5

FUSION ANNHILATOR: 3/6 CHARGES

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24840519

(It's deliberate.)

>>24840524

(Yes, but it's more 'damage mitigation' than true 'damage absorption'.)

>>24840539
Feed it the bomb, then fire everything and RUN.

>>24840314
>The second - You're not sure what it is, until it clicks. Enfer's *arm* - His severed arm is still close by...But it's in the direction the beast is heading *in*.

Its not his arm - the deadman's switch he was holding, right?. GRAB that before anyone else does - if it goes off early in the chaos.
We saw which hand he was holding it in, so we our codeburst sensor hack ought to tell us whether its his left or right arm.

>>24840539
GUESS WHAT FAGET
DINNER TIME
THE MAIN COURSE IS A BIT TOO SPICY THOUGH

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>>24840553

which is probably why we aren't dead right now, unless 'yes' means that it can't absorb lighting, in which case we're just lucky or relying on plot armour right now

either way... feed it to the nihl sphere?

>>24840567

(My apologies: To clarify - He lost his arm earlier in the fight, when you severed it with your Rifle Bits.

However, he was holding the bomb in his *other* arm - His remaining arm - and dropped it after you used EXEC_DISRUPT on him.)

>>24840539
Welp, only one thing to do. Laser it in the face with full cobalt charge AND the Tyrant Burst beam at whatever charge we have left in the Cobalt Booster

>>24840539
Well, this is about the right place for us to execute our bomb gameplan.

Toss it at the Corrector's giant mouth, Scrander desperately out of the way (horizontally, maybe slightly diagonally up, I suppose, so as not to get so high up that the lightning becomes more likely to strike us again) and let loose the Annihilator once we're starting to get some distance from it.

And then Cobalt Boost the Scrander once we've made the shot, because we need to try and outrun the blast. Shouldn't do it before since it would probably throw off our aim, but we definitely want the speed boost.

>>24840579
feed him the bomb.

Then, next time we see Enker, thank him for lending us a helping hand.

>>24840595
First we spend a third of FSA making jokes about Illya's heart condition in UBW, and now we're cracking jokes about disarming Enker.

I love you /tg/.

>>24840605
Whenever a thread devolves into pun making it's always a blast.

>>24840605
you haven't seen what MGNQ turned into almost every time Mami appeared?

>>24840614

/tg/ quests are always rather Volatile

>>24840624
We must make sure to commend Enker on how he handled his escape.

>>24840621
I'm sure it was nothing to lose your head over.

>>24840638
Though his plan probably would've gone more smoothly if he had better training.

>>24840651

yeah! this motherfuck is off the rails

>>24840658
Though if he HADN'T showed up, the last few threads would have been a piece of cake.

>>24840584
>>24840589
>>24840595
>>24840564

You hurl the bomb, in the only direction it can go:

Up.

It's not an impressive throw. Your grip is slipping on the it, and the bomb's unusual shapes makes it *pinwheel* - Awkward in every sense of the word, as your Tempest Scrander kicks to desperate life...

-It also doesn't matter, as you're hurled into the air; When the Corrector's head comes down, that nightmare maw crunches through iron and stone and what passes for earth, as it's rippling mass batters the street on all sides - Even in the air, you can feel the shockwave, feel the world tremble, as the thing passes by you close enough to touch. A sword-limb slashes across you, in something that's almost a caress - It slices a vertical line across your crimson cuirass, scouring the glowing sphere of your Cobalt Booster-

You're in the air, still rising, as the arrow-shaped head twists, with a serpentine motion, and comes towards you. It's ready to snatch you out of the air, like a gnat - The thing's industrial-strength maw grinds the mouthful of iron and earth, still churning, as it hungers for tastier fare...

-Even as the blue light of your charged Annhilator is reflected in countless compound eyes. Even as it uncoils towards you, with deceptive speed-

...You pull the trigger.

Five charges. The fading light of the world seems to draw into the rotating chambers of the Annhilator, coalescing into an almost physical sphere of the purest, seething white: A photonic burst so bright, so eye-hurting, it is impossible to look upon.

The humming in your ears intensifies - For a moment, you think that the containment fields have been breached, that it's going to be the end of everything as wisps of ghostly energy lick out around you in tongues of blue flame-

And then hell spews forth.

(Continued)

>>24840595
>>24840605
>>24840614
>>24840621
>>24840624
>>24840638
>>24840641
>>24840651
>>24840658
oh goddamnit /tg/.
Seriously, we still need to throw a primed bomb that may or may not blow up fucking everything into collector and jump out of the way fast enough so we don't join the bomb in his stomach.
That said, with his mouth opened so wide corrector handed us victory (maybe) on a silver platter

I love you /tg/, I just want to let you know that.

Well spent insomnia has a most gratifying quality to it.

>>24840677

There's a tiny, impossibly bright flash. A flicker of the purest light, incandescent - The actinic light of an unveiled star, engulfed by the solar glory of a new sun. It grows bigger, expanding into a white line, brighter and longer and closer, until all can see is the flaming edge of a huge expanding blast; A column of hungry sunfire, a ray of raw flame, an anathemic force that smites outwards in concentric rings of annhilating radiance-

With so much energy being discharged at once, the storm moils and churns like the crashing waves of a blood-dark sea; Before everything lights up, against the horizon, space folding and distorting as you cut loose-

You don't actually *see* it. Your optical sensors cut out - defensively, a safeguard to avoid blinding yourself - but the horizontal blast sears into the Corrector's maw, through metal and carapace and chiting and fangs-

...And through the tiny, lethal cross that smells like the death of suns, green telltales winking as peristalic action drags it down the Corrector's gullet.

There's a spark.

The world goes white.

Then the noise and the shockwave hits you, and hurls you back through the air - Through the blinding, surging, expanding blossom of white light. You're pushed back, from the recoil - Even though that shouldn't be possible - As all color is bleached to nothing, as the Corrector's head simply *ceases to exist*...

A nuclear eyeblink.

(Continued)

>>24840746
So I'm assuming we're in the single digits right now, HP wise.

When we eventually crash land, I think the only real option is to rock back and forth laughing to ourselves, because *Holy Fuck* we actually just did that.

>>24840746

For a moment - Even through polarized optics - you have a confused impression of a mushroom cloud boiling up to meet the flashlight sweep of annhilation, the ray that sears across the heavens; Belching flame, a time-lapse flower in the dawn of a new sun...

-And you smash through a window, into the building beyond, the nauseous sensation of utter weightlessness banished in a heartbeat.

You hit the far wall so hard, you nearly black out.

And you-

You-

...And you sprawl on the floor of the cafe, with a coppery, salt-iron taste in your mouth. There's an ache in the back of your head, and you think - You're not entirely sure - that you might have bitten your tongue.

A vague shape resolves into your field of vision. Outside, you can still hear the moiling, slow-motion panic; Smell the flames and the smog boiling from the windows of the destroyed skyscraper...

For a long moment, you're not entirely sure which world you're in, until Natsumi squeezes your hand.

"-Anon, come back - Come *back* - You're all right. You *have* to be all right," she's saying, again and again - Her voice thin, reedy with concern - Red hair framing her features - A catch in her voice, and she gasps as you open your eyes.

"Oh-"

It's a soft, startled sound - You think she might be on the verge of tears. "-Anon-kun?" she says, her voice wavering - "...It *is* you, isn't it?"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24840810

(Apologies for the delay - Internet cut out.)

>>24840810

"I think so, might have sixty odd concussions but it's still more or less me"

start laughing like a nutjob

>>24840810
I really hope we got some experience there. We are due for a meter upgrade.

>>24840810
"Wouldn't say... alright... But, alive."

Laugh/Pass Out.

>>24840810
After we get the elation and awkward "well how the fuck did I survive THAT one" laughter out of our system...

"...thank you. For believing in me."

Gotta say something protagonist-y!

>>24840810

Troll answer: I AM A SHADOW, THE TRUE SELF!

Real answer: "If I'm not me we're all in trouble. Would you believe I didn't level up from killing it?"

>>24840815
No worries. Think I'm off though, have work in the morning.

I have absolutely no relevant background knowledge relating to this quest thread but it is terribly engaging. I may very well have to read up on the previous archives.

The writing for this quest is excellent and very descriptive. The action sequences are very well written and the overall plot is very engaging. This is great stuff guys.

>>24840860

you should, it's very good, along with MGNQ it's the only quest I read at all.

>>24840810
Slowly building laughter, with as much effort as we can muster in our current state. Laugh like a goddamn madman.

"I really just did that, didn't I? That was a thing that actually happened."

>>24840810
"... Is there a reason it wouldn't be me?"

>>24840871

I'm following several quests as it is, and this is one of the better ones. Going to dread the day OP up an disappears like Ellington did with Harlem Quest.

>>24840810

"dy bid by dong..."

>>24840880
>>24840853
>>24840833
Nutjob laugh time.

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>>24840833
>>24840853
>>24840858
>>24840856

You begin to laugh. You can't help it - You're laughing at it all, and you can't stop. Startled, Natsumi pulls back; Her expression wavering between surprise and shock - But then she begins to laugh, too - a spontaneous, giggling fit that makes her double over, tears tracking down her cheeks.

>>24840880

"Mmmnn," she manages, her voice still a little choked - "...I can't believe - I didn't *think*-" Natsumi begins; But then she shakes her head, apparently at a loss for words, as - With a suddeness that surprises you, and quite possibly herself - she hugs you, hard enough to hurt.

For a long moment, Natsumi's shoulders heave - Your face pressed against the front of her school blouse, the ringing in your ears muffling all noise. It's actually quite comfortable - Her clean, soapy scene miles better than the dust and dirt and sulfur that hangs in the air - but you can't tell if she's still laughing, or crying.

"-Idiot," she murmurs, just like when you were kids - "...Aaaaaannh, we're - we're really *idiots* to be doing this..." Natsumi murmurs - Her voice soft, low, almost to herself. "...I can't believe - I can't believe we're still alive. I just can't."

[ ] Free.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>24840950

spend some time in the comfort zone

"yeah... that was really off the rails"

>>24840950

Guys, I've just got into the quest, but holy shit is that girl gorgeous. Do we have a love interest or anything, at this point?

Just to be sure how we should respond.

>>24840973
... that's a complicated question, but Natsumi's off limits.

>>24840973

we friend-zoned her, go read the rest of the quest to find out why

>>24840950
Gonna re-suggest saying
>"...thank you. For believing in me."
>>24840856

Probably fits better now that we're getting all misty-eyed than it would've before, amidst the bouts of nervous/joyous laughter.

>>24840973
>Do we have a love interest or anything, at this point?
This is... a complicated topic of conversation, but yes? Several, maybe? (As is probably expected from quest-/tg/ at this point.)

>>24840990

not off-limits we're just biding our time....

I hope...

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>>24840973

We had one, but she's dead. The girl we're closest to is a gorgeous blonde cosplay maid and tennis player named Mio. About two chapters ago, we kissed her.

Pic related

>>24840973

I would say she's friendzoned for NOW.

Considering how things have gone, it's hard to say just who we will end up with. We have a pretty one currently.

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>>24840973
We have several. Natsumi is our childhood friend and is dating our childhood best friend--but probably likes us better. We friendzoned Natsumi pretty hard and went on to break her heart, but there's something building there regardless.

Regardless, we're in a quasi-relationship with the girl in this picture, and were dating someone with more than slight similarities to Lilith mother-of-demons before she was most likely killed defending us.

>>24840950
"Idiots, yes... Some things never change. Don't need to."

>>24841005
>she's dead
WE THINK.

MY bet's on her having been forcibly converted into a Corrector-Player hybrid a la Alecto/Megara, and her being the person Enfer referred to as Kraken's Lady, being manipulated by means of Kraken's Corrector control. Which helps explain why he got so cagey the minute the topic of said Lady came up.

I implied as much in this post, but was unsure of how much detail I wanted to put in to explain what I meant by that.
>>24838884

>>24841044
>>24840995

>"...thank you. For believing in me."

There's a...It's a silence, but not an uncomfortable one. Gently, Natsumi eases you back - She's smiling, now, even as she rubs at her eyes.

>>24841024

"Really-" she says, almost to herself - "...You're right. I thought - I thought you'd changed...But I was wrong, wasn't I? Deep down - You're still the same Anon-kun I've always known."

Natsumi's smile turns a little shy; "...The one I always thought - Was really, *really* cool!" The lilt to her voice - It makes her giggle, as her hand lights on your shoulder, resting there for a companionable moment.

At last, she stands - A little laugh teased from her lips; Oddly carefree, despite the ruin all around, until it turns a little sad.

"...Well, I'm never to change, either..." Natsumi whispers - So softly, it's as if you've nearly imagined it...But then she shakes her head, slowly, and offers you her hand.

"C'mon," Natsumi says - "We should go, before someone - Or *something* - else turns up."

Her old smile is back, at last - The one that suits her the best.

"...This time - Let me take care of you, all right~? You can rely on me...Anon-kun."

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 42

TO BE CONTINUED

(Gentlemen: I'd love to continue, but this looks like a natural stopping point. It's been a great chapter, and - As always - you've been a wonderful audience.

Once again, thank you for everything: And, as always, good night and god bless.

If possible, I'll be running the next instalment of Joker Quest this Sunday, 19/05/2013 - Hope to see you again soon.)

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>>24841024

While you're close. Mio doesn't wear spectacles, and that's actually a different girl. Our love interest is the girl on the left, but we haven't really started dating.

She's really into us, all things considered.

>>24841192
Great show OP. Thanks for running.

>19/05/2013
Whoops, I might not make this one, will be in LA that weekend. Still, hope I can.

>>24841220
OP used it once for her IIRC. Entirely possible I'm remembering wrong though, this was nearly a year ago.

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>>24841180

Awww, Natsumi. Isn't it sad to be the childhood friend?

>>24841005

Is there any girl in the story so far who ISN'T ridiculously hot? Because it's already a toss-up between the kemomimi maid and the redhead.

Does she actually wear the ears and tail?

>>24840997

(Oh, I'm sorry I missed that pun. The benefits of hindsight.)

>>24840992

This must be a first. A Quest MC NOT chasing after everything in a skirt? First time for everything, I guess.

>>24841406

It's not actually that uncommon. Some quests don't have girls at all, or a viewpoint character.

I quite like the Red Joker, however. It's rare for a game to have you be a total badass from the start.