towerofanimus | Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

"Doomed everyone. Such power." He tilted his head to consider this young Messiah character. Knowing the story of Cain and Abel certainly helped with understanding the attachment level he was seeing.

Gilgamesh settled his hand on his hip as he considered Naoya's question. "Go back to ensure your freedom." Yes, it probably sounded ridiculous in its own way, but it made perfect sense to him. "Our ability to be here proves that going to other worlds is possible. What we don't know is if we're here because of Ruana or the boy."

They could work with Zo. Ruana, not so much.

Grainne didn't reply right away, feeling a sharp pang at Naoya's words. A similar fate awaited her in her own world. She couldn't understand all the nuances of this world, but that, she can identify with.

"I can't offer you any reason other than that we need you. The others you will have to think on yourself. I do not know you well, but there is so few of us left, if there is any chance at defeating her, we will need everyone's power. That is at least something to keep her from ever doing this to another universe."

"Tch..." They had a point, even as much as it felt like he was unneeded. There were people who didn't deserve to be trapped in the Tower, even if he didn't care what happened to his own world anymore. Enoch, or Zelda...

He stood up, a little shakily. Getting used to a different body - his old body - had been a little bit of a challenge at first. A different weight, different hair... but not for too long. "I suppose... we should find our way back."

"Excellent." There was a thread of approval to Gilgamesh's voice as he watched Naoya slowly rise. "What a shame it would be to leave this dead world without collecting the only living thing left."

Now the next step was actually getting off the world. "If my powers were working, being trapped here would not be an issue."

At least Naoya seemed to be listening, though she didn't know quite how well their words reached him. Still, it was an accomplishment getting his focus elsewhere, for the time being. She thinks. It's still difficult getting back into the positive mindset.

Moving off to a short distance from the other two, Grainne started to look around, trying not to be bothered by the bodies. "If this is the child's doing, the next one must be around here somewhere. He would not leave us stranded, powers or no powers."

"Mm. The likely spot I can think of is..." He pointed up to the top of the tallest building nearby. It wasn't not too far away, but it'd take a while to get up there. There was no electricity working in the city after all.

"The fabric of reality is already weak there considering the King's Gate was summoned at that point. A powerful demonic force being brought from the demon world to the human world would not leave a hole that would be closed so easily."

"The King's Gate." Gilgamesh repeated the name, somewhat intrigued by the possible details of what had been going on in this world prior to its destruction. "Very well, then we have some climbing ahead of us."

Not that climbing should be an unfamiliar task after being in the Tower for as long as they have. With a destination pointed out, he was already starting to walk in the given direction.

"Quite a war you had going on here, Naoya."

Once her eyes fell on the spot Naoya pointed out, it became her new beacon. It made it easier to ignore her surroundings, despite Archer's reference to it, though her head still wanted to keep flashing back.

"Must you talk about war right now?" She might be a little more pouty sounding than she wanted. "Naoya... how many floors does that building have?"

"... Quite a few. Over sixty. And there's no power, so the elevator is out. In addition, I can't summon my demons, so we're out of luck on that front as well."

At least there weren't demons running around at the moment. That could make things much harder. He turned to look at Gilgamesh in order to answer his unspoken question.

"Indeed. But when the pieces of an ancient, god-like demon come together in order to battle for the right to become king of all demons, things tend to get blown up."

"The only luck we need is a continuous stairway." Did they even need to hurry at this point? ...Ah. Perhaps he should mention the state of the Tower when they had last seen it. "The countdown in the Tower is finished. Whatever that means now."

He walked around a deep hole gouged into the concrete, smirking as he imagined what had initially happened after the mentioned summoning. Had the battle been immediate? Had this god-like demon taken its time looking down on humanity?

It should be telling how skewed things are when someone thinks only about sixty is small. At least it could be worse, she supposed. "Mm... at least we will not have to deal with the staircase falling out from under us or dumping us in the middle of a dark floor."

Well, she can hope.

"I remember reading something about the Tower dying in one of those papers Waver and his friends always keep around. Maybe if we find somebody else, they would know what it said. I wonder why some of us were in the cells, and some of us on these wo--" Grainne would have said more, except she barged right into the hole Archer avoided and went tumbling forward. So much for not looking down...

Naoya shot forward, grabbing Grainne by the wrist and pulling her back with surprising strength for such a thin frame. "Careful."

Once she was safely back on the ground, he nodded. "The stairs should be safe. They were largely spared from destruction due to the building initially being surrounded by wards. This was where the server for the Demon Summoning Program was, as well as the cult of Belberith who commissioned me to make it. Even with all of the battles, it didn't fall."

Gilgamesh turned slightly at the sound of unsteady scratching and scraping of feet on the ground, watching as Naoya pulled Grainne to safety. "Do try to be careful, Caster," he remarked in a drawling, teasing tone that did not fit their surroundings.

He continued on after that, towards the base of the large building. "A server. So the program was expected to be widely used."

Stumbling a bit, Grainne still grateful for the quick save. That could have been something awful if she had landed hard. "Thank you." She righted herself. Unfortunately for both men, however, she started to puff up in irritation when she realized Archer was teasing her, and stuck out her tongue at him.

Biting back against a retort as well, she stomped out ahead of them.

"It was." He heads off as well, following along at a decent pace. He feels almost heavier somehow, back in his body. At least he assumes that's what happened.

"It's a roughly 100 kilometer area that was sectioned off, and there were many demons inside of it. Some were summoned by my program, others were not. But the war for the throne was to be here due to a few different factors, so the program to use demons for defending against them had to be distributed to many people. Those handheld devices you saw are gaming consoles with email and internet capabilities. I designed the program so it could be used on those in order to distribute it easily."

((Well okay one more since Lucifel's being handwaved until he's either directly addressed or until his player is available but whatever.))

Another portal opens not too far ahead and Enoch and Lucifel, or they in their wireframes, step through from another world, hands lightly clasped to avoid splitting up. Unfortunately, it's only to let them out and not the people already here, since it closes immediately behind them. Spotting the bright colors of other wireframes and movement of life, Enoch tugs Lucifel in their direction and they hurry over to the group.

"Great-uncle!" As he nears the others, he slows, addressing them as he recognizes their faces. "Gilgamesh? And..." He knows her face, but... "I'm sorry, I don't think I learned your name."

Gilgamesh listened to the details given with an interested hum -- the thought of such an elaborate setup was in a few ways not unlike the Holy Grail War. But demons... Hah. Perhaps he should have spent more time prodding the first murderer about the happenings in his world.

He stopped at the shouting coming from a distance away, turning his attention to the glowing forms approaching them. His curious frown gives way for a smirk as he recognizes Enoch, and he lifts a hand in greeting. "I see you're still in one piece, warrior of God."

The new portal opening had Grainne's hopes up (dammit) for a second, until out popped two more people in wireframes. She got the sense that there would be a lot of that happening in the future. Well, at least it gave her something else to think about other than the desolation and the others' talk of a foreign war.

"Ah-?" The voice sounded familiar, she had spoken to him a time or two, didn't she? "Grainne. I was the one with the tea."

"Grainne." He nods. "I remember you, but we never introduced ourselves. I'm Enoch, and this," he gestures to Lucifel, "Is my friend, Lucifel. I suppose it's belated, but it's nice to meet you."

He can't help but smile at Gilgamesh's greeting, returning it as he speaks to Grainne. It's probably a good thing at least one of them is between him and Naoya, otherwise the latter might have found himself caught up in a relieved hug. Honestly, the wastelands might be ghastly, but this is a far cry from being trapped on one. He has hope again, after fearing it all lost.*

Naoya raises his eyebrows in amusement at the appearance of the pair. "Well, then. You've just come in time for us to start climbing. The barriers between worlds is particularly thin at the top of that large building. It's a likely spot for any kind of portal."

"Quite a stroke of luck." With Enoch and Lucifel having caught up with them, Gilgamesh sees no reason not to continue to the entrance of the building. "Our world host here said something about there being over sixty floors."

Not that it would be too strenuous for him; he'd managed to scale the entire length of the Tower while Riki sent monsters to punish them. This would be nothing by comparison.

"It should be easy, but I will say I am quite sick of Towers of all types and sizes." And if the others weren't as well, she'd eat her stockings. If she had them. "I am eager to be away from this."

Grainne felt much more energetic, for some reason, she might as well use it to get to the portal all that much faster. This time, though, she was more careful after that near fall earlier.

"I've been told I have experience climbing long flights of stairs." He glances over his shoulder at Lucifel with a little smile. No hard feelings. It probably couldn't be helped.

In any case, he starts forward.

"Though in all honesty I'd much rather not." He doesn't get tired so easily but it's still annoying.

"Unfortunately, we don't have that much choice. Unless another portal appears to us quickly, I would suspect that it's easier to rip through a space that's already been opened." He's still a little frustrated that he can't summon his demons, but no point in sulking over it.

"... And don't mind the orange-robed bodies in the building. They're idiotic cultists."

"Is there any other kind of cultist?" Gilgamesh quips while continuing to walk, taking in the world that would probably have been somewhat interesting if it had not been warped into a land of utter death.

Endgame: This Broken Jaw of Our Lost Kingdoms; Part Two

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Hello! Room for two more?

Welcome to a teenage wasteland!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)