melodiesofeternity | The Final Loop

This is like nothing Corrin has ever seen before, but only heard of in ancient, epic legends dating back to before the founding of Nohr and Hoshido. And what survives of those are notably lacking in giant robots.

Shrugging off her very temporary death-she's frankly become far too used to that sort of thing by now-she makes a gesture with her free arm to summon the mystical flames of [Ragnarok], dealing powerful fire damage, reducing Bahamut's ability to critical by 15%, while reducing Corrin's Attack Power and Magical Potency by one rank each, recovering one rank per turn. The eruption of fire streaks upwards with the rest of the attacks to strike Bahamut. "For Vaikuntha!"

Edited 2019-04-19 17:56 (UTC)

Summoner defense. He could do that.

With a roar he advanced between Teraflares, the greatsword cleaving great lines of ice magic-empowered air foils. He started with a channeled Helm Smash, lowering foe defense by 5%. It wasn't much, but anything to get through a scaly bastard's hide.

Snow White grinned. They were back -- and it wasn't three days earlier. He'd had just about enough of dying, considering he'd never had to fear it before. The air stirred around him as he activated the power of Manafication, ready to hurl some choice spells Ramaa's way.

He might not have the full force of his demon nature behind him yet, but he was still going to make sure every hit count.

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This is fine, Selphie thought to herself sarcastically as she felt herself being revived again. It was a feeling that she was more than used to but still wasn't overly keen on dying constantly.

She thanked her lucky stars for the combination of Phoenix and Alexander as she looked up at Bahamut with a wicked grin on her face. It was time to put her new job to the test!

Knowing that her black magic had grown a bit in power, Selphie used Ice Mastery to fire an ice based attack toward Bahamut's left wing.

Dying was annoying. Losing your buffs was more annoying.

She re-applied Protect over the party and waited for more of the fireworks.

● ● ●

Dying hurt, but... he was used to that, by now. Kuja had a point though, Ramaa would appear shortly, and she'd have something to say about all this, no doubt.

Unlucky for her he's got a trick up his sleeve. Time twists for a moment as he charges in the direction of the descending dragon-

And then he vanishes, the faint emerald energy of an [Angelus Errare] the only visual cue left.

Edited 2019-04-19 21:12 (UTC)

This was it. This was really, actually it. After six months of looping, a month of figuring out how to herd cats with maximum effectiveness, and two days of incredible fear, this was it.

As Bahamut approaches, Frisk LOADs their files with practiced ease, a forced half-smirk on their face. "You know, I feel like we should be singing some big musical number. You know, with a lot of dramatic strings, a huge chorus backing us... no? Just me?"

They LOAD [LOVE], [BRAVERY], [INTEGRITY],, and three [Blank Files], increasing their Attack Potency, Speed, and Skill Potency by 50% each and their HP by 30%, while decreasing their Healing Potency, Physical Defense, and Magical Defense by 50%, with their HP going down 5% each turn.

They throw down a smokescreen, and--

Oh. They're dead.

It was comforting, really, hearing Asgore's words for one last time as Frisk drifted off to nothingness. A good thing to

And they're not dead anymore. And standing on a giant mecha.

"Holy crap this is badass!" they whisper reverently, before vibrating out of sight thanks to [Smokescreen].

It was a lot easier to do her job when there was no future to focus on. When there was just the now, the disasters she had to fix, the supplies she had to run, the corpses she had to watch pile up higher and higher and higher--

But no. That was all over now. They'd fixed it. Vaikuntha was... well, not safe. A place overrun by monsters with a fuckoff huge dragon god infused with the power of a world-destroying monster couldn't be called safe. But they'd fixed it. They'd saved so, so many people.

Now it was just time to finish the job.

Tyzias doesn't even need to study Bahamut--she's read every scrap of information about him, watched the destruction he wreaked upon Vaikuntha dozens of times, saw the exact impact that the airships had. Used her [Expert Profiling] skills to get a massive panic attack over how invulnerable he is.

Still, Tyzias knows his exact geometry. Enough to fire off some of her skills, at any rate. She raises her gun to--

--ow. Tyzias trembles, mentally tumbling back to that day now so many months ago that the drone killed her. Atomic fire bathing her body, disintegrating her, murdering her in an instant. Except that brought her here. Where she could actually make a fucking difference.

Gritting her teeth, Tyzias activates [Sunslammer Gavel Technique] and [Moonsetter Scales Stance], doubling her critical and evasion chances but quartering her Physical Defense and Magical defense, then raises her gun to fire a [Judgment Piercer] at Bahamut, removing the Studied status and dealing strong physical damage that ignores defense and evasion. Time to end this.

Well, that was.. shocking, to say the least. Tressa was worried they'd be sent back, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Shakily letting out a sigh of relief, she use Camouflage on the entire party, increasing everyone's evade rate by 10%. She did not want to risk anyone taking another attack like that, so this seemed to be the smartest thing to do.

Well, they'd all died again. It was alarming that Vimes was starting to become cavalier about that. But, as the Eidolons worked their magic, and he found himself standing again, he growled. What was there left to do, but spit defiance in the face of death?

They rise hands up, hands up, hands up,
They rise hands up, hands up high...

Vimes produced a cigar, lit it on one of the smoldering patches of flame, and slipped into the fury of [Vengeance]. Time to bring the law. "Bring that bloody dragon down! Knock it out of the sky!"

All it takes is magic and faith.

Castor grins as she sees the cold metal beneath her, remembering the machine from her own world - embrace The Metal.

The grin fades to something more forelorn as she turns her gaze back to the sky, to the Phoenix. Inwardly, to the secret held safe in her heart. Her gaze narrows as she focuses, unleashing her own energy to the others around her in an act of Brotherhood, increasing all damage dealt by %10 for five turns. They wouldn't have long to end this; they'd have to make the time they did have count.

S'reee... well, she had been preparing to flash back to 3 days ago and despair because they had done so much and it still wasn't enough... except then she felt hale and whole and full of a light that reminded her of the Heart of the Sea.

That was certainly something.

Trying to keep her Disguise up, she looked around for something that she could throw with Telekinesis Mastery, and pass as a human summoner throwing an object with a hand, rather than a whale illusionist throwing with her magic.

Bowser reacted to dying with nonchalance. He merely said "Showtime." as a 1-UP Mushroom sound effect rang through the air, or perhaps only his mind. Death wasn't a stranger to him, he had gone through it around 50 times already in this world alone, and he'd sustained so, so many mortal injuries in his home world. Fortunately he'd come back each time, sometimes as a skeleton, but he never stayed down.

"How many times can that bird thing do that?" he asked, deciding that was all he could do. Bahamut was much farther than any of Bowser's attack could reach. So rather than take any additional action he simply observed the situation.

Kenichi gasped for air when he was revived. Is that what dying was like? He barely had time to react but now he wouldn't waste this chance to strengthen themselves.

"Let's just keep it to this one time if we can!" For now, it was time to go on the defensive. In the meantime, making sure the summoners were safe was another priority. Kenichi cast Virtuous Shield on Finn as a safety measure. He would go on the offensive once he could gauge how much damage they could take with the Eidolon support.

It had happened so many times over the last six months-or-so worth of loops, staring certain death in the face; that when Bahamut approached them and unleashed its Teraflare it just seemed like -despite all of their efforts- some inevitability's were going to happen regardless. If anything, in that last second Sephiroth felt the sharp sting of angry resentment; he'd done all in his power to get them here, yet typically due to the dependence on others -namely, certain four summoners- it would ultimately be for nothing.

He hadn't even pre-prepared in any way for that flare to consume them.
Perhaps he might well have a better chance in the void, at this rate.

Until it wasn't the end.

Caught in awe as the brilliance of Pheonix passed over them, suddenly the shaking ground caught up and knocked Sephiroth's awareness back into the here and now. Spreading a stance as they were raised on the back of Alexander, as colossal wings stretched out and around the entirety of the party; Enhanced Counter goes out in readiness. Twisting the katana around in his grip Sephiroth slips onto the defensive back-foot almost, Eye for an Eye going on next - the need to prepare for anything is palpable.

Come on Ramaa, come out to meet those you had sorely underestimated, once again. Sephiroth thought to himself only, stoking his own internal fury with that sense of pride that -in all honesty, he'd been too long smothering away- as he knew well enough that such sentiments wouldn't be welcomed in this company.

Her absence bugs him though, more than he would dare to put into words lest revealing what they shouldn't know at this point.

Nozomi groaned in pain as she found herself dying and reviving. So... that’s what both felt like? She didn’t wanna go through that again.

There wasn’t much she could do right now except answer Bowser’s question. “I’d rather not find out!”

Teraflare tore through them and for one terrifying moment, Uendo thought they'd somehow messed up. But then he woke up, and Alexander stood firm under their feet and above them was...

Phoenix. He almost laughed out of relief. His dream from an earlier loop had been real, after all. The Legendary Eidolons had answered their call. Thank goodness!

'Don't just stand there gawking, focus!' Uendo got on his feet and had his staff ready -- but Bahamut was so far away, so towering, he wasn't sure even their ranged attacks could reach the dragon, let alone leave a scratch on the tough scales. Would it be enough to leave this fight to the Eidolons? Was there anything they could do?

He took out his iMog slate. Phoenix didn't need him anymore; he could swap to Bard and get ready for another inevitable confrontation.

"Kuja's right. She won't let this stand." He didn't know how or when Ramaa would retaliate, but she'd surely act soon. With the outfit change from Summoner's robes to a performer's garb, Uendo had his shamisen at ready to begin playing Aria of Narayana. A proper battle needed some music, after all.

"Let's prepare a welcome worthy of an Empress, shall we?"

> Final Eclipse

Suddenly, Bahamut itself starts twisting in pain in the skies above Sen Riqeaux as it gets entrapped by a sphere of darkness, seemingly unable to escape it. Forming near the sphere is an Eidolon that looks tiny compared to Bahamut. But soon it deploys gigantic wings that wrap around the sphere, large enough to nearly cover Bahamut in its entirety, thus revealing Zodiark.

> Feymarch's Wrath

Emerging from the ocean to the east, a four-faced Eidolon appears, four-armed and wielding four swords. Dashing toward the entrapped Bahamut, Asura readies its sword and pierce the dreadwyrm with them one after the other. Bahamut's shrieks of pain can be heard resounding all over the place—

So long as the Legendary Eidolons are allowed to continue doing their work, Bahamut shouldn't have long left.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Suddenly appearing before the Heroes of Light on Alexander's back, is the Empress herself. She looks radically different from last time they'd seen her. No smile, no bemusement. Only a mixture of anger and sorrow. She has a black crystal in hand, and without any other word in the way of words or warnings—

> Calamity Corruption
Kuja, Adrien and Corrin are surrounded by a purple aura and their eyes change hue, becoming purple. They will now fight against the Heroes of Light at Ramaa's side.

> Summon Bahamut
Bahamut-Egi appears behind Ramaa. This smaller version of Bahamut is 1.5 times the size of a regular human.

> Gift of Crystallis
Bahamut-egi and the three Corrupted Heroes get the following effects: Barrier, MBarrier, Regen, Haste (two attacks per turn) and Aura (melodies are usable even at full health). Ramaa was already under the Gift of Crystallis effect upon arriving.

> Time Kompression
All of Ramaa's skills used during the next two turns will be stocked. They will be unleashed at once in three turns.

The following effects are applied the Heroes of Light:

Blessing of Vaikuntha EX: +100% to all stats
Melodies of Life: Regen 15% of maximum health per turn.
Zodiark's Gift: Immunity to Time and Gravity attacks.
Alexander's Gift: +50% Defense
Asura's Gift: +50% Attack
Phoenix's Gift: Phoenix Downs are raining upon the battlefield. They will raise dead characters with 40% of their health. A maximum of three can be used each turn. A total of twenty can be used across the entire battle before they stop working. Picking up and using a Phoenix Down counts as using a turn.

Corrupted Heroes of Light are also affected by these effects. If all the Heroes of Light die, the four Legendary Eidolons will withdraw and be unable to finish their job.

Ramaa's Health: 100%
Bahamut-egi's Health: 100%
Calamity Kuja's Health: 100%
Calamity Adrien's Health: 100%
Calamity Corrin Health: 100%

The real battle begins now.

[Please use this form when posting your attack and what its effects are. You can RP normally in prose as usual, but appropriately using the form will make it easier to keep track of what's going on.]

Edited 2019-04-20 17:19 (UTC)

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"If you must know, Ramaa my dear, we were just thwarting your-"
And then the violet energy struck him. Despair. Hate. Rage and misery enough to scythe a planet clean, building in his gut, not the fire of a supernova but the terrible, all-consuming darkness of a black hole.

What was the point? What had they been fighting for, anyway, to prolong the inevitable? To stave off the end? Kuja knew what awaited, lurking within the darkness of eternity. If not Narayana, then Necron. If not Necron, then perhaps some other ancient horror, waiting for the opportunity to snuff out existence. "She's right, you know. I never thought about it- refused to, more like. But what are we even doing? A few pathetic, mortal men, struggling in vain to stave off entropy?" He speaks, now, with a cold, detached melancholy he hadn't felt since before Vaikuntha. Dimly, a part of him realizes that he can't remember something- something important, what was it? Someone had said something that was important to him, had shaped him into who he was today...

Do you think a defect like you could last forever?

All he can remember is Garland. Garland, father, maker, tormentor, enemy- and he'd been working for him the whole time!

You'll be dead, soon. Even as you die, you'll have died without ever leaving your mark on the world.

For a brief moment, Kuja watches dispassionately as his body changes, silver-white bleeding into crimson- as the Silver Dragon beneath him changes too, tainted by the Calamity's Violet in the eyes- and it takes off into the sky. "Once, they called me Reaper. An angel of death, come to cleanse the world and make way for a new one. A better one- and here Ramaa intends to do the same. Her victory is as inevitable as the dying of the stars- and you all seem to think you can fight it. How? Just by believing you can? It's time, I think, to dispel some delusions that you've all been laboring under. Now how did that line go, it was one of Avon's best, I thought- ah, yes." It's almost like a dance, the way he soars through the air, dozens- hundreds of orbs collecting around him, around the Silver Dragon that screams its rage at the rabble collected below.

MELODY LEVEL 3
TRANCE

"Cower now, brief mortals! For I am Death, 'gainst whom no lock may hold, nor fastened portal bar!"

> Shockwave (The Heroes of Light | AOE)
Deals Medium Non-elemental Magic damage.
> Focused Ultima (The Heroes of Light | AOE)
Deals Extreme Non-elemental Magic damage, doubled.

Corrin sees the purple vortex beginning to surround her. "What's going-" but then she begins to feel the change coming over her. "NO-" Is the only thing she has time to yell before it takes hold of her. That's right...she remembers now; the lessons her father taught her. Cull the weak, crush all who oppose you, and let no one, not friends or family stand in your way. There is only conquest; nothing else matters.

She is quick to pick her first target. It would have been that mewling fisherman's son, but the coward vanished before Corrin remembered herself. So she'll settle for the annoyingly peppy girl who seems to think herself Corrin's friend. Conquerors do not have friends; the very thought of it offends her to her core. [Selphie] will suddenly feel her strength begin to sap as Corrin hits her with a [Draconic Hex] before following it up with a surge of lightning from her fingers as she attempts to hit the girl with a [Mjölnir] to the back. "Thank you, my lady, for reminding me who I am." Corrin laughs, but it is a cold, arrogant, domineering one, devoid of her usual warmth and kindness. "I am a conqueror. Let the battle be joined."

> Draconic Hex (Selphie | Single Target)
A draconic curse that lowers a single target's parameters by 1 rank each; recover 1 rank per turn.

> Mjölnir (Selphie | Single Target)
Moderate lightning damage against a single foe; critical hits deal 4x damage.

Calamity Noble Stats
Physical Power: B
Magical Power: S
Attack Potency: C (Reduced to D for this turn by previous turn's Ragnarok)
Healing Potency: D
Physical Defense: C (Boosted to B by Shadow Yato)
Magical Defense: A (Boosted to S by Shadow Yato)
Speed: E

Black Shadow Yato also boosting evasion

When Tyzias charges Ramaa, there is no defiant yell. No proclamation of victory. Just pure, raw, undiluted hate in her eyes. The sheer animosity Tyzias emanates almost has a physical force, wrath and determination rolling off of her in waves.

Despite the skill displayed in [Redglare's Wrath], what the troll does next can't be described as "beautiful" or "elegant," as so many master fighters strive to be. It's efficient. Brutal. Blades that are almost too fast to track arcing towards Ramaa at precise, geometrical angles. Two entire clips of pistol ammo unloaded into the Empress. Even a series of brass-knuckled and steel-toed strikes, all aimed at nerve centers to inflict the maximum amount of pain possible and to cause internal bleeding. And she finishes off with a single, cruel slice of Redglare's Blades, aimed to cut off or cripple the Empress's arm.

She's so caught up in the troll battle frenzy that she almost doesn't notice Corrin's betrayal. "CORRIN!" she yells hoarsely as she executes the final strike, whirling around to face her friend. She didn't know that her hatred of Ramaa could go any higher, but here they are. Shooting one last glance at Ramaa, she curses and dashes forward to intercept Corrin, placing herself between the noble and any of her potential targets.

ATTACK
> Redglare's Wrath (Ramaa | Special [Single Target])
Inflicts the studied status on all enemies, then may remove studied status of any target to attack them with a severe physical combo that inflicts severe bleed damage for five turns. The caster can choose to only target one enemy instead to double damage with the option of permanently maiming the target (i.e. taking an arm and an eye).

ACTIVE BUFFS
> Stats Lore (Cast by Rutile | AOE)
Doubles the effect of buffs applied to allies and debuffs applied to enemies. (Note: I already applied this to every buff to save the mod team some math.)

> Camouflage (Cast by Tressa | AOE)
Increases party evasion by 20%.

> Brotherhood (Cast by Castor | AOE)
Increases party Attack Potency by 20%.

> Protect (Cast by Madhuri | AOE)
Increases party Physical Defense and Magical Defense by 10%.

> Succor (Cast by Rutile | AOE)
Places a shield on all allies that will absorb damage up to 14% of their max health.

> Aria of Narayana (Cast by Uendo | AOE)
Increases the stats of all allies by 100% when fighting an enemy using the powers of the Calamity.

> Blessing of Vaikuntha EX (Cast by Vaikuntha | AOE)
+200% to all stats.

> Melodies of Life (Cast by Vaikuntha | AOE)
Regen 30% of maximum health each turn.

> Asura's Gift (Cast by Asura| AOE)
+100% Attack Potency.

> Alexander's Gift (Cast by Alexander | AOE)
+100% Physical Defense and Magical Defense.

> Moonsetter Scales Stance (Tyzias | Single Target)
Quadruples* evasion chances, but halves Physical Defense and Magical Defense. When Tyzias evades an attack, she can use Deduction Cutter on her next turn without spending an action.

> Sunslammer Gavel Stance (Tyzias | Single Target)
Quadruples* the chance of a critical hit, but halves Physical Defense and Magical Defense. When Tyzias lands a critical hit, she can use Deduction Cutter on her next turn without spending an action.

*I'm uncertain whether Stats Lore would increase the doubling from Moonsetter and Sunslammer to tripling or quadrupling. Up to the mods' discretion.

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vOv

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Boss Battle: Ramaa

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