((OOC: the transformation takes no action on your part. Naomi is doing it for you using her one free action. Until Lumina gives Naomi a different order, she will continue sacrificing her turns to keep you transformed and our Shift Support Link active.))

Asch awkwardly coughs in to her fist and nods. "I see... I had no idea what you have to go through for your powers, Lumina... I think I understand you a bit better now..."

Sensing Lumina's runes, she smiles and nods. "Right then... let's see what your power can do, Lumina!" With that, she kicks off with her roller blades, rushing towards Shin.

As she rolls, grasping her shift in her right hand and holding her left hand open above her head, she announces, "Enchant! Power of Lightning! Enchant! Power of Force! White Blade of Rune-Charging, Rog-Limitation!"

Two runes, one a neon blue, and the other an intense heat shimmer, appear above Asch's open hand. She grasps them tightly, the two colors mixing in a brilliant flash, and forces the energy in to her shift. A brilliant White blade etched with lines alternating between the neon blue and heat shimmer explodes outwards.

Blade now firmly in hand, Asch approaches Shin and drops low, empty hand supporting a sweep using roller blades. As she strikes, her gauntlets, rollerblades and blade all shine in unison as Asch gets ready to follow up with a single powerful sword strike, the master keys having opened the locks of Shin's defenses.

[Action 1. Rog-Limitation : Lightning x Force]
[Action 2. Aggress - Target Action, Rollerblade Sweep @ Shin to disrupt balance]
[Action 3. Aggress - Power Attack w/ Rog-Limitation @ Shin, attempting to link using Prison Strip]

"You get used to it after a while," Lumina says from right. "I sometimes needed a disguise, and I got the idea from cartoons I watched when I was growing up."

Keeping pace with Asch, Lumina instinctively understands her team member's intentions through Naomi's patented Shift Support Link. As Asch makes use of Lumina's Force and Lightning Runes, Lumina pulls her rapier from its scabbard to reveal a twin to Asch's own Rog Limitation. "Let us see what we can do together! Avaunt, Villain!"

Charging forward ahead of Asch, Lumina slashes out at Shin's leg muscles with her copy of the Lightning x Force sword and carries on past to let Asch's leg sweep finish breaking Shin's balance and exposing his defense. Turning back to face Shin again, Lumina swings her sword at the exact same time Asch does in an attempt to skewer their opponent.

[Aggress - Targeted Attack w/ Rog Limitation] - Slash at Shin's legs before Asch's Rollarblade Sweep to help disrupt his balance.
[Aggress - Brutal Strike w/ Rog Limitation] Stab Shin in the back For Great Justice

Serpico looks in his bag, briefly. "These don't help. Well, theres always the other use." He focuses briefly, and ink flows out of the bag in a swirl of colors, refilling the pen. He looks at it for a moment. "Hmmm, usually don't mix it that thoroughly. Guess there's no time like the present."

He grabs the pen in both hands, and jams it directly into his center of mass, against the sternum. He thumbs the lever, and drains a little over half the pen into himself. With the transformation complete, he again takes a defensive position, making sure Shin can see the grin on his face as he casually stays within arms reach. "You ok, Boss? That looked nasty!"

Action 1: Ink retrival.
ACtion 2 Painted Soak 12 units, 3 each.
Action 3: PRepare defense.

Serpico dips his pen into his bag of holding and absorbs both dual-colored items inside... Indigo, Green, Yellow, Blue; Death, Poison, Speed, and Cold. His pen takes the colors in, and instead of mixing into a strange muck of brown, the colors combine.

Green and Yellow soak together quickly, to make a blue -- this adds itself to the blue already present and soaks into the near-blue hue of Indigo; what results is MIDNIGHT BLUE.Something clicks inside Serpicos head and he gets the formula perfect, remembering the exact mixtures to create the new color and thus, expanding his Rune.

< NEW COLOR UNLOCK >

[Polychrome - Midnight Blue] – Cold Blooded Effects; Potent mixture of a poison that not only slows the enemy down and drains life, but increases in potency the longer the effects last. Polychrome colors cost 20 EP to make ink, 30 to change an object color, and 30 + the weapon size cost to create weapons. When using a Polychrome to fill the pen, it takes a single action and the pen is filled to capacity.

Serpico takes his new color and injects almost all of it into himself, charging his blood up with the Ink and making himself not only stronger; but having a constant counter attack at the ready. Someone seems to have taken a page out of Xeno's book...

< NEW INJECTION SITE >

[Self – Center Mass – Painted Blood (Constant Buff; damage bleeds the buff down in potency, but unleashes a blood-based counter attack)]

The lizard-like God grins and prepares to defend himself whilst taunting Shin. "...looked nasty?! You little Mortal traitor! I'm going to blast your brains out and feed them to you when you resurrect!!"

"Well, what did you expect?" Serpico grins ferally. " But then, I never did put much stock in your reasoning skills. Enjoying the curse in your veins? Weighing your limbs down, I bet."

He stands up tall and spits on the ground, "Let me show you what a real Arbiter can do... SECOND SHIFT - SUPERNOVAE!!" His pistols glow golden again, folding outward like a mass of molten metal bubbling up from within; they elongate further into miniature railguns, at the heads of which appear lions with burning manes. Four more bits fly off the guns, surrounding Shin with 8 crystals, each holding a powerful square barrier.

"I really should have never raised a stupid Mortal up to be a God... this is the thanks I get for going out on a limb? I thought you would have made a good lackey Serpico... too bad you have to be an enemy. But this is what you get for going up against a Pureblood like myself..." Shin concentrates hard, each prism splits in two leaving 16 barriers floating around.

"Aw, thanks, I love you too, you arrogant hypocritical bag of gas" Serpico grins.

"Goodbye little Lizard."

He points his gun at Serpico and the 16 barriers suddenly appear around him, completely encasing him inside.

"So you don't want to hear what I just did? Well, you'll find out." Serpico readies himself.

"Lion Tamer."

There are four rapid explosions as Shin pulls his triggers faster than the eye can see, four spiraling beams of light briefly flash between Shin and his barriers before they soak into the prisms, and then explode outwards bouncing back and forth on each barrier with Serpico inside, fighting for his life against a hellstorm of 64 powerful, rebounding shots...

It only takes a few seconds... but so much happens...

Serpico is ready, bringing up his bracers and pulling his full speed into his body... in quick succession he's sent two bolts flying back at Shin and a spark of electricity, but the 4th shot catches him in the shoulder, tearing out a large chunk of flesh... the blood that sprays from him is blue, and forms into icy daggers in mid air, impaling Shin. Serpico follows through by sending another bolt tearing through Shin's leg before he gains a like hole in his, spraying Shin again in spiked blood. Without missing a beat Serpico catches the 6th bolt and takes off Shin's ear with it.

The 7th shot nicks Serpico and sends a lance of ice blood into Shin's arm, the 8th blasts a hole in his chest and sends a huge wave of iced daggers into Shin. The 9th Serpico swings hard and sends back at Shin, tearing off a finger or two, the 10th shot does the same to Serpico who returns the favor with on last lance of ice blood, his paint now spent. Serpico's in bad shape, but pulls it together enough to block the 11th shot and electrify Shin on the rebound off his bracers and spins hard to send the 12th shot directly into his chest where it explodes on impact - Shin stumbles backwards as his bullets continue to bounce around Serpico.

The 13th takes off Serpico's kneecap, forcing him to the ground. Grinning still, Serpico reaches up and blocks the 14th shot, sending a bolt at Shin. He returns the 15th, right between the eyes where it explodes and leaves a nasty burn... but the 16th shot goes right through Serpico's skull... followed by the remaining 48 beams rendering Serpico's body into a smoking husk resembling a gorey swiss cheese.

Shin laughs as what's left of Serpico hits the ground, only then realizing he resembles a blue pincushion as the poison in his blood kicks in and drives him to his knees. "Nasty little fool..." He draws in his remaining power, charges it up, and wraps his entire body in glowing green bandages... bandages that tear on the icy spikes sticking out of his flesh and do nothing to remove them. "Dammit... little poisonous bugger... how dare he damage me like this..."

Makosan nods as Alexis lets him out and gives him a bit of aid. "Not to worry; I won't kill him forever." He watches as the Bat-God hovers over him, keeping watch and gives him an actual smile.

Awakener then steps up and casts some very imposing limits on himself, attempting to link in Shin with him. As the chains begin to twist around Shin, a few of his shields come flying in, catch the chains and snap them with an outward thrust. The Awakener then charges, trying to impale Shin, whom gets a barrier between them but not in time and takes a deep wound to his chest. His Shift fires, the runes lining up to remove damage from Shin and transfer the energy to Asch.

Asch puts out the call for help and Lumina steps up, transforming and sending Naomi in to give Asch a transformation of her own. Blushing, Asch poses as a team cause things just got real. A red moment later and Asch is off after Shin, summoning up a blade of lightning and force - Lumina's own sword begins to glow with the same enchantment.

Lumina charges with Asch, together they swing low trying to take Shin's legs out from underneath him... Lumina tips Shin forward, whose then caught by Asch's sweep. Both women come up, Asch stabs from the front and Lumina from behind in unison... Shin's barriers can't compensate for the sudden movement, and he takes a force-lightning saber to each of his shoulders DEEP. He twists around as the ladies break off, screaming his rage and bleeding from his new wounds.

Makosan stops a moment to comment, "...and I thought I'd have to protect you from him..."

Harmony then speaks with Makosan a moment, before turning and buffing Makosan's abilities greatly. And it seems like he's about to need them, as Chandi is moving in for the kill...

Chandi appears behind Shin, a horrible spell charged... but the moment before she makes contact Shin is introduced to a large orange foot and sent skidding away. In a flash of lightning, Makosan grabs Chandi's arm with his left; her purple spell still shining, blue sparks flying from his. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Merits of scarring. I know this man, you do not. Judgement on how to handle this is my responsibility, not yours."

"And just what the hell has he done that makes him deserve to have his memories wiped out? Merits indeed... that's the act of a Demon."

"I seek only his memories of this moon. He forgets, and you won't have Arbiters constantly breathing down your neck." A pause, "I have done this before. Short term memories are easy enough."

Makosan squeezes, electricity flying as Chandi's rune begins to break apart, "Oh yes, done it before. That's exactly how it starts... something 'harmless', something nobody would ever notice... and then it just picks up from there and the next thing you know you've left someone as scarred as YOU are."

Chandi's eyes narrow, and the rune begins to spark and surge. What remains of her ether flowing into it to maintain it. "In the short time I have known him, Shin has done nothing to prove he will stop when an idea gets into his head. If he dies, we'll be punished. If he lives, you'll die, and we'll be punished. If I remove those memories, you and your windspread sweetheart get to live, we can do our jobs and ensure that you don't get tracked down by Arbiters. You heard my call. You know they cannot all be trusted."

"And I never stated it was harmless. I do not enjoy this. It is merely my Choice."

For the first time, Makosan grins, baring a long fang. "You are both oversimplifying and overcomplicating this... Shin isn't the person who scattered Eevee. Stopping him doesn't get her back... and what has he done eh? Shown disdain for Mortals? Killed some? Some Gods are completely stupid when it comes to that... but he's not a memory manipulator, he doesn't harm the soul. If he did, he'd never be in the Arbiters... what you are about to do is going to get you kicked out at best, arrested at worst."

He sighs, "I know most of the Arbiters cannot be trusted... but some can. Those who can are fighting against the corruption in the ranks... I won't try and fool you, it's there. But Shin is just a bully... he's not a monster. He's not my Brother. You are making a choice to risk everything you have to wipe 10 minutes of memories from an idiot."

He pulls Chandi closer, his face inches from hers, "And I know that you know it... I may only have a shadow of my old eyes left to me, but I can see the bonds you have with your teammates... they are all weak. Some of them even fraying already... you have no intention to bond with them, no intention to stay... you want to take what you can from the Arbiters and leave."

"But that is not the only way..." he inhales, "I can give you another choice."

Chandi's aura claw squeezes into a fist, and a snarl breaks out across her face. "I attempt a solution that eases everyone's pain in the long run, save for a petulant little whelp who will replace this memory with a lie of his own creation. I help, and all that I'm told is to talk. Talk, talk, talk. That's all that ever happens. Talk them down. Talk them into tricking themselves. Talk them into staying. Talk them into your choices. Talk them into your mindset. Talk them into trusting you. Talk them into sympathizing. I am a Nature God. Nature does not talk. You have ten words. And then I tear off your arm, and finish what I started."

Ten words is all Makosan needs, "I can help you undo the scars you caused everyone."

"Then you clearly don't understand why I did it in the first place." Chandi releases her fist, and reforms the claw, raises a foot and aims a kick at the Cat-man's knees, while bringing her face forward, aiming to clash skulls with the one claiming to be Makosan.

"It seems like talk won't do for you." Makosan raises his own foot and steps down Chandi's kick, he then leans back and thrusts forward, slamming his own head into Chandi's "OPEN YOUR DAMNED EYE!!"

The first headbutt forces Chandi back a step, but he's not done - he slaps her arm aside and slams his right palm into Chandi's face - lightning and thunder explode; Chandi's entire body convulses and suddenly her vision goes white...

When her vision clears, Makosan is standing over her, arms cracking with energy... and Chandi's eyes are open. All three of them. "I am a master of Soul Scars... and while I cannot heal them, I can ease the pain they cause, I can soothe the power they inflame and I can break through the barriers tossed up in memories."

Chandi can cornfirm this... her Weave is flowing more naturally, her third eye no longer stuck shut. "You want action - fine. You want choice? Fine. Here it is." Chandi's view of the world is changing... she can see chains wrapped within the strands of weave in each person around her... but they aren't confining, they aren't restricting - they are enforcing.

"You have a unique talent Goddess of Change... You have the ability to see a persons Chains of Memories. You have sway over them... now that you can see them clearer, you can either move to cut them... or reforge them."

<<<NEW RACIAL SKILL UNLOCKED - <Chains of Memories> - Chandi now has the ability to open her third eye at will. When she does, she can see the Chains of Memories that wrap around and make up the structure of a person’s Soul. If she knows, or think she knows, the target well enough then she is able to Reforge the Chain. In doing so, she can take piece of her own memories or her allies and insert them into the target’s Chain. Doing so can either aid her target, or harm them, depending on Those Who Remember’s points of view on the person.
This will have varied effects in game, and the more experience and RP the group has done with said Target, the greater the effect. Complete strangers are currently immune to Chains of Memory effects, but this is something Chandi can grow with.

Aside from a support or debuff by the insertion of memories, Chandi can also Dream Dive; by doing so she sends her soul into the targets Chains of Memories and learns about their past. She can either come up with that information and inform the group, or she can try and find The Weakest Link in the chain; the point in someone’s life where they changed for the worse. If she RPs with the memory she can either convince a person they did wrong and change them, or she can use those memories against them and drive them insane.

The most interesting part of this power is? No memories are removed… just augmented or used. So the method is not illegal. While Chandi may use this anytime, doing so leaves her drained, tired and vulnerable for quite a while afterwards… the risk if it fails is extreme, as it leaves her with no EP and no way to regain any for 3 turns.>>>

Makosan points at Shin, who's kneeling - stunned at what he's witnessing. "The choice is yours... will you take the path of a demon and sever these chains, making enemies where allies once stood? Or will you reforge the links, change the nature of Memory Manipulation and help those both scarred like you and those not heal, become stronger, and embrace your roll as Change?"

"You claim to be Nature. I say Nature is Change. Will you choose the path of a demon? Or will you walk a path as of yet unheard of in this universe? I've made my choice and opened your eye... what you do with it now is your choice."

Chandi's head throbs, an uneven noise and a dull headache filling the world around her as she slowly rises to her feet. Her vision is clear, but disorienting to the Goddess who has grown adapted to sight with a third eye blind. Her gaze, three pronged, raises towards the cat-man. "My choice..." she murmurs. The third eye, of its own volition, turns towards Shin's prone form. "Honor those words, Cat. Don't try to stop me again." The rest of her body turns to the assailant Arbiter. She takes unsure steps, steady but slow, until she stands next to Shin once more. Her hand reaches out, a twisting lattice of gold and purple runes covering her hand. She grips one of the chains, unseen by the others, and pulls it taut, straining it, focusing on two links in particular. "You've been with us since we arrived, haven't you." She says, bluntly, not a question. "But you don't pay attention. What good are these memories if you think they hold no value?" She pulls the chain tighter, the two links bending and twisting until they snap and break off, leaving a Chain of Memory in Chandi's hand. Chandi's hand lowers, falling until it lands on another chain.

This one from her own soul.

"I will give those memories value. You better damn well appreciate this." She lines the links up between the two chains, and then squeezes. The material warps under her hands, until the chains match in appearance, but neither resembling what they once were. Chandi plucks the smaller links along her own chain, tiny threads that link to the chains of those around her. "All I can give you is an imprint of their thoughts." She murmurs, finger sliding along the impressions in memory from where the small links were connected to her own memory. "But you get the full brunt of mine. Just as I get the full brunt of yours." She returns Shin's chain to its home, and the links once broke reform. "Now you know exactly what I think of you, and you have a pretty good idea of what they do too. You should also have a good idea of what we're capable of. I'd ignore your thoughts if I were you. Running is much, much safer."

As Chandi reforges Shin's Chains of Memories, the man begins to shake... scream... and eventually starts sobbing as his twisted reality comes crashing down around him. Chandi can feel exactly what happens... all of his views in the world, all of his delusions of him on top... of him being a leader, an Elder god... of him being a Pureblood God... all of them are shattered like glass as Chandi injects reality into his mind via her memories and the memories of her allies. A hidden layer of illusionary wrapping peels off of Shin's Weave... turning from a signature that felt like a Pure Blooded Full Immortal to one of Demi-Mortality.

"Daddy!!!!" Shin sobs, "PLEASE!!! IT CAN'T BE TRUE! MAMA CAN'T DIE! SHE'S A GODDESS! NOT A MORTAL!! WHY WOULD YOU LIE TO ME!?!"

Chandi can see the shadow of a tall man, peering down at Shin with all the compassion of a brick wall as he turns his back on Shin and walks away, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" The cry is both from Shin's voice, and Chandi's, as Shin slams his fist into his recall rune and disappears.

A moment later, Chandi's eye closes and she collapses onto the ground, exhausted.

Makosan is smiling as he visibly relaxes and walks back to his rock, taking a seat. "We probably don't have too much time until The Arbiters send someone to check on you all... depending on how loud Shin is when he returns to HQ. So if you've got something you need to talk about, now's the time. I'm leaving this planet afterward... I can see I have a hell of a ways to go before I can match my Brother again..."

"...and speaking of whom..." He looks at Harmony, "How is it that you all have his imprint all over you? Now that I've sensed it, I can feel it from you all... when did you encounter him?"

Harmony looks at Chandi several very long moments before giving a long breath of relief... finally shaking her head and turning to Makosan again.

"A planet called Utopia... his little 'experiment.' He sent a black Crystal - a rudimentary Runic AI - to draw power directly from its Leyline, corrupting it to his own use. Completely reversed the Leyline's power flow, its song, its music, so that instead of giving energy to its inhabitants, it was instead taking it away. It also radiated a... null field, for lack of better way to put it. Somehow the Crystal was made so it could assume direct control over you. Yet it was programmed to protect Weave. Or, at the very least, to not harm it. Though the mortals were dying, their core, their souls, their Weave, that was safe."

"As for why you can feel it from me in particular... well. I met him, not to put to fine a point on it." Harmony winces for a moment at her choice of words. "I went alone to try to get a message through the planetary barrier. What I found instead was..."

"Well, lets make this simpler. MUSE?"

At the prompt, it gives a cliffnotes movie version of what happened at Utopia, eventually showing Harmony's confrontation with Tiranade, and the ensuing battle at the Crystal.

"It felt like a... test run, if that makes sense. A trial. To see what his Crystal was capable of. He killed me, put me under the sway of the Crystal... but he underestimated me. With the help of my teammates, I was able to break the Crystal's hold, break its bond with its protector. We had almost captured it when Shin - who you just had the displeasure of meeting - got trigger happy and cut the planet's Leyline. We barely escaped its collapse."

"When we tried to show Athena who was responsible, she was completely incapable of seeing any data about him. Something I suspect would happen to you as well unless she was to see you in person."

"And that, Makosan, was three days ago. So. Tell me. What the HELL does Tiranade think he's doing, and what do you know about what he's capable of?"

Lumina is grinning wide with satisfaction at finally being able to vent some frustration out into Shin's hide. Her grin fades as she sees what Chandi tries to do to him and turns into a frown when he and Chandi both start screaming. After it is over, Lumina's first reaction is to run to Chandi's side on the ground and check to see if she's alright. Shift Support Link ends and Naomi trots over to Serpico to see what can be done about getting him back up and moving.

"Chandi? Chandi! Are you alright?! What did you just do? What happened?!" Lumina touches her friend's shoulders to see if there's a response and, if not brushed off, tries to help Chandi into an upright position.

Makosan's mouth twists, "Black Crystal? That's new... he never had anything like that before..." He watches MUSE's recreation of the events on Utopia silently until they are done. "He's still protecting Souls then... he's always done that. As screwed up as his methods are, he does everything in his power to keep the Soul intact. I really don't understand him sometimes."

He ponders, "I don't think Shin cut the Leyline... I think the Black Crystal was programmed to make it collapse if the create it was linked to died. At least that's what my eyes show me." He looks at Harmony with those same deep blue eyes, "Actually, Athena would probably be able to hear about me. I can see the bonds between people... Athena Sensei is still linked to me, but since I thought she was dead that bond was hidden until now." He stums something in the air in front of him, "It's weak, however. Tiranade tried to cut me from existence... think if he was as powerful then as he's become now, we wouldn't be sitting on this moon."

He folds his hands together, "A little more than 50 years ago... Tiranade disappeared. Eevee and I couldn't find him, we had no clue and no trace of him. We had about given him up for good when he just... showed up. He was changed... he saw something out there. Something that scared the hell out of him. He wouldn't talk to us about it... he dove straight into a session with the Elder Gods. He was in there for hours... ...but when he came out he was enraged."

Makosan stands, "Whatever happened in there, the Elders didn't listen to him. He disappeared again after that point and we never saw him again until I fought him and scarred Athena. When Eevee and I went to talk to the Elder Gods, even Athena didn't know he had even turned up at all. I think he removed the entire argument from the Memories of the Elder Gods." He pauses a moment, "That was 50 years ago... I shutter to think how much power he's gained since then if he can wipe his own existence out from even the Elders."

"I don't know his goals... but I do know what he can do."

"Eevee, Tiranade and myself are, as far as any of us know, the very last of our race; the Fessrians. If the race has a history, we never found it and the Elders never told us. We only know that each of us was different than other Gods. We all had very powerful, very unique Shifts and abilities that no other Gods had."

"Myself? Well you know already... my Shift can cut and scar a Soul. ...however, for such a powerful effect, it has a huge limiter placed upon it. It can only scar the same soul ONCE. One scarred, even just a prick on the finger, and that being becomes immune to any Soul Scarring my Shift can cause... or even my full power. I become incapable of Scarring the same God or being twice by any means." He picks up his Sword and sheathes it, "I'm thankful for such a limit... because it really is a terrible weapon. But, that's not the only thing I was able to do... Fessrian also have an ability called the Shiakugan - a runic eye augmentation we can summon. I haven't really been able to use mine since I was sealed up... but when I could, I could not only see the bonds between people and read the Chains of Memories between them, but I could see and re-direct the flow of any kind of energy. It made runic attacks useless against me... with my eyes and my Shift, I could cut any Rune and disable it. If I hadn't cut the Soul before? I could seal the Rune forever. It's what I did most of the time with Fireblaze."

"I don't use Runes much... in fact I only really have two, Wind and Lightning. But when I use them, I use them to infuse my physical power and launch close ranged powerful attacks. In the case of my Shift being open, I can do some ranged wide-area damage as well. Eevee was more balanced... she could attack physically as well as Runically. Her Shift, Starfang, was a spear capable of writing Runic Programs instantly... she could wave that Shift and write out a program so complex it would take 5 other gods an hour to do the same thing. This was only aided by her Shiakugan; it allowed her to instantly read Runes. You've seen Runes... simple ones. One or two put together... but fully experience planar Gods can write full programs, make things as complex as Leylines that would take hours to read and translate... well she could do it instantly. Instant reading and writing. She was a powerful Goddess indeed." He sighs.

"Tiranade however, was my opposite. My Twin brother couldn't fight very well physically, but Runically he was unmatched. His Shift, a twisting helix sword he called Black Fireblaze, was covered in Runes that allowed him a very potent power... I can cut the Soul and Scar it... he could do the same, but instead of just the soul? Tiranade can target Memory. He can literally cut away Memories with such precision he can erase an entire being from existence WITHOUT scarring the soul in the slightest. He can alter memory, erase it, re-write it without leaving a single trace he was ever there. It's how he sealed me. Mix that with his Shiakugan? He has an ability like Eevee's... but instead of instantly reading, comprehending, and translating Runes, he can copy them and paste them. Any runic program, any new runes, all he has to do is see it once and he can use it forever... beyond that, while Eevee could quickly write Runes, she was limited by the fact that she was just reading and writing... Tiranade can use his Shift to alter runes... change them, make them better and stronger. With a little time, he can take the most complex spell you've ever witnessed and make it 150% more powerful."

"So you can understand why I'm curious how you faced him and survived..." He smiles sadly, "And the only reason I can think of after seeing that battle with him is because he LET you live."

All three of Chandi's eyes remain closed, her breathing trying to steady as she focuses on something less horrible than the few moments she shared the same thought processes as Shin. As Lumina approaches, Chandi lifts her arm in the air, placing a single finger over Lumina's mouth. "I'm exhausted. I shared memories with Shin. And I have no idea. Now let me take a few moments to clear my throbbing head, and get your filthy hands off of me Half-Mortal." There's a pause, and Chandi's hand falls on her face. "I didn't mean that. That was not me talking. Lord almighty, I hope this isn't permanent. Help me up please." Aja crawls out from underneath Chandi's collar, a little bruised from the fall caused by the Cat Man, but otherwise okay, and makes a break for Lumina's outstretched arm, crawling up the Arbiter's limb and curling around the shoulder as it looks down at Chandi, an almost angry look in its eyes. "Sorry, Aja." Chandi mutters. "Forgot you were there for a while. Didn't mean to let you get hurt." Chandi opens her eyes, then stretches out her arm again, to grasp Lumina's hand, and rise to an unsteady standing position.

Lumina looks visibly hurt for a moment at the comment, but brushes it aside and helps Chandi up to her feet. Hooking her finger and scratching behind Aja's neck, Lumina lets out a short laugh at the tiny dragon's annoyance. "You certainly look exhausted... Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" Lumina looks Chandi in the eyes, concern evident on her face. "I'm your friend. If there's anything you need to talk about..."

"I'll be fine in a few minutes. I don't need your pity, scum." A frustrated and pained expression crosses Chandi's face. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean that. I just..." she sighs, and places her arm across Lumina's shoulder to support the scarred god's tired frame. "I don't think there's much to talk about yet. Just...working through this horrible amalgam of my memories and Shin's at the moment." There's a small pause, and Chandi squeezes her grip around Lumina's shoulders a little tighter. "Thanks though." She says softly, eyes pointed downward. Aja seems to almost purr at Lumina's scratching, and loses all focus it had on Chandi and being angry with her. However, when Lumina makes an attempt to remove her hand, the tiny dragon takes a small bite of her finger, as if to say 'You stop when I tell you to stop.'

A voice is heard. "Ow, Ow. Ow. Ok, you stupid fox, just stop. I'll heal the rest." Serpico drags himself to his feet, still bleeding from multiple holes. He shakes his head, and grins. "16 more than last time. Good news."

He looks at the others. "So, that was fun, wouldn't you say?"

"No question of that. I think he was... curious. About me. About us. About what his creation could do."

She pauses for a moment.

"I think he may have also had something to do with what happened on another planet. The main god there had a Memory Rune that... we're fairly sure was not his own, that he had been abusing for his own purposes. When confronted, the Memory Rune turned on him - wiped his memory a complete blank."

"...that wasn't Tiranade. If anything, he's extremely obsessive of his power. He'd never share it, not even in an experiment... least of all his powers over Memory." He blinks, "...you all have been through quite a bit haven't you?"

"Does the name Xancorp mean anything to you?"

He ponders a moment, "Never heard of them. Another Arbiter group?"

"A mortal corporation with... lets just say more than mortal capabilities." Harmony sighs and rubs at her face. "It's been a long week."

"Week?! All this in a WEEK?!"

"Let's see. Demon, first mission, defeated. That one ended well. Check."

"Encounter with more than mortal capability Xancorp tech with nanorobots, with a leader capable of shutting down my Shift remotely when I tried to hack him. That one ended alright. Check."

"Utopia, crazed zombie end of day hordes of mortals, corrupted Leyline, your brother... that one didn't end so well. Check."

"... I'm tired."

"...." Makosan, despite himself, starts rolling with laughter

"Oh man... Athena Sensei can certainly pick em!"

"Right. And this was AFTER Athena tried to kill all of us. You know, if I didn't know her better I'd say she was deliberately choosing these missions to get us killed, just to spite us."

Makosan grins, a grin that looks exactly like Athena's. "Oh she doesn't TRY to get you killed... but Athena has a habit of sending you against things that will test you to the utmost limits and cause you to grow much stronger by the time it's done. I think I still have brusies from OUR first missions..."

"Somehow I believe it."

There's a small silence as Harmony allows herself a smile... which fades again all too quickly, leading to a rather intent stare at Makosan.

Makosan blinks, "Erm..."

"You said that your Shift can only Scar someone once, correct?"

The smiles slides off Makosan like so much egg to the face, "...I know where you are going with this, and really, you want no part of it. I know you intend well but... Fireblaze is not a toy to be messed with... if I can't control it..."

Harmony pauses for a moment, eyeing Makosan consideringly. "I think you would surprise yourself, if it came down to it." She walks over to where Makosan left the Fireblaze and attempts to grab it by the hilt.

Makosan's hand is closed around her wrist before she can even blink, "I think your musical guardian may have some reservations about this... if your Shift is what I am remembering, I've heard his song before and I would not want to disrupt him."

There's a slight twitch from MUSE at that. "YOU... HEARD?"

Makosan smiles, "Of course I heard. A ton of people heard... but very few really understood what you were doing. However my power is that of being able to read the Soul... I know exactly what that song was."

There is a subdued note from MUSE as it... flickers, slightly, from a moment. "EVEN THEN, IT WAS NOT ENOUGH. THE REST..." it bobs at Harmony. "MY MASTERS WILL BE DONE."

There is a silence as it slowly floats to in front of her.

"YOU ARE CERTAIN OF THIS?"

She nods, a slight smile on her lips.

"WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF, AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE?"

"Because not all scars should be healed. Because sometimes... scars are what remind you. What makes you remember."

Makosan slowly draws his sword, "My heart was scarred horribly the day I lost Eevee... but it's because of that pain that she still exists. If you really want to do this... then I trust you enough to know you'd not use it against me."

"I have no intention of doing so. Not now. Hopefully never in the future. So long as you never turn your blade against those I am bound to protect. I believe you understand that, yes?"

Makosan bows low, "I understand. Where... well. It doesn't have to be big, just a nick will do it. Where would you like it to be?"

She holds out her left hand delicately. "Across the back of it, if you please."

"You are certain?"

Silently, Harmony closes her eyes... "Yes." She takes a deep breath...

Makosan takes a deep breathe himself and gently draws the blade across Harmony's hand... when she fully syncs with Fireblaze while being scarred.

The results are explosive.

Literally.

Two gigantic auras of weave explode around Harmony; suddenly she's remembering heartbeats of a past life lost to her. Suddenly she's seeing a blue feline smiling at her. Suddenly she's screaming for her life as her Twin Brother runs his sword through her chest and begins to slash away at her existance.

/flicker/

You open your eyes, staring up into the face of a scientist. A face that breaks into a wide smile. "Success! It was a success! Look at her! LOOK AT HER! WE HAVE DONE IT! They told me it was impossible! HAH!" He starts ranting and pacing around, while you watch quizzically. Eventually he winds down, and returns to you.

"Yes, my dear. Yes... it is you. You are what we need. You are what we have to have. We must win this war. We HAVE to win this war. No matter what the cost, no matter what we might have created... all of it is worth it, if it created you. The... perfect one. Flawless. Everything in balance... body and mind, spirit and flesh, in perfect... Harmony."

/flicker/

Makosan mutters, "Perfect... Harmony..." He then screams as a double aura explodes around him. Memories are intertwining, Chandi herself can see Mako and Harmony's links merging and breaking repeatedly, but before she can step in the two are thrown backwards away from each other...

/flicker/

"Makosan?"

"Yea Eevee?"

"We will be together forever right? No matter what?"

"Of course we will... where did that come from?"

"...just a bad dream."

"Tell me about it."

"It had to do with Tiranade. He came back... he... well... he unraveled me."

"...never, I'd never let that happen..."

/flicker/

"A... bad... dream..." Harmony clenches her teeth together through the surge of memories.

/flicker/

Training. Training to fight. Training to get stronger. To break. To kill. Hand to hand combat. Weapons training. Tactics. Pushed to her limits, day after day after day after day...

"Your results have been slipping."

"I know. It's..."

"What is it?"

"A bad dream. A... nightmare..."

"A bad dream?"

"I keep dreaming..."

"Of what, my dear?"

"Howling. At night. I keep hearing the wolves howling... they want something. They want to tell me something. But I don't understand. I can't... understand."

"... wolves, you say?" The scientist jots something down on a piece of paper.

"There's one that is always looking at me... it has golden eyes."

"I... see..."

/flicker/

Makosan trembles on the ground, reaching for his blade but before he can touch it he's overcome by another memory that Harmony witnesses... one that has been locked away for a long time.

/flicker/

"I think I found him Eevee. I think I found Tiranade. I can feel the Soul Scar."

"Of all the damned timing... Elder Solarus has a special assignment for me... apparently there's a world that's close to a Leyline Collpase and he wants me to use my Shiakugan to try and save it. I can decode what's wrong with it instantly."

"...Right. I'll come with you then."

"This may be our only chance to get Tiranade back. You go, talk to him. I'll have this planet healed in no time, I've done it hundreds of times before."

"...are you sure?"

"I want Tiranade back. I know you do too."

"...alright. Just be careful alright?"

"Heh. I'll be Wreckless."

/flicker/

Makosan grabs the blade and it disappears within his Soul, the reaction stops. "Damnit...what were you thinking girl?! Are you alright!?" He gets to his unsteady feet and stumbles over to Harmony.

Harmony blinks her eyes open, dazed at the surge of memories... and looks down at her left hand.

On her left hand is a scar that's shaped exactly like a conductors baton. Makosan stops and stares at Harmony, "...Harmony... your eye...."

"Wh---" She pauses a moment to clear her throat. "What about my eye?"

"MUSE... can you form a mirror?"

Silently, the sphere slowly morphs itself into a reflective surface, holding itself in front of Harmony's face.

What Harmony sees is her left eye... glowing Golden. Her pupil has formed into a Rune... her Harmony rune. Her iris has taken the form of a Runic Scripture, tiny and intricate, yet she knows what it says right away. 'Metronome.'

Makosan blinks, "That... looks just like a Shiakugan..."

"... I thought you said that only your race has them?"

"They do... but you went and synced to my Shift, my soul, AS I was scarring you... I got some of your memory... I think you got some of mine... which means we've traded bits of our Souls."

"Ah. I'm sorry. The memories..."

Makosan shakes his head, "It's alright. Really.... are you okay?"

Harmony has gone pale... her body begins to burn, she can feel deep gashes and cuts out of nowhere even though her body isnt damaged at all. Her right arm hurts most of all... it feels like it's on fire but not there at the same time.

"I... hurt." She looks down at her arm, half expecting it not to be there. "Why am I hurting when I am not hurt? Makosan? What---"

Makosan looks over at Chandi, "...Oh Gods."

Suddenly Harmony explodes, yet again, into a double Aura - one of them is hers... the other feels exactly like Chandi. She can feel Chandi's powers coursing through her... almost automatically she's synced up to all of Chandi's Runes - the land around her starts warping, the wind starts picking up, she can't control the chaos of off her power.

Chandi on the other hand, begin to feel quite tingly - and suddenly all of her energy has returned to her, her pains are gone, and for the briefest of moments it feels like she doesn't even have any scars at all. She even half expects her arm to be there... but when she looks down, its not.

Makosan moves like the wind and shuts Harmony's eye - in an instant the chaos storm stops and she slumps to the ground, exhausted. "You did get my powers... you're synced up to Soul Scars..."

-------------

<SPECIALIZATION UNLOCKED>

<Maestro’s Eye: Metronome – Harmony’s left eye opens wide and glows gold, filling the pupil with the Rune of Harmony and surrounding the iris with Runic Scripture that reads ‘Metronome’. This effect can only trigger when she is near someone whose Soul is Scarred; however due to this power she can feel the scars of other Souls by experiencing a burning pain on her own body where the scars are.

When this eye goes active, Harmony is surrounded by two Weaves, one of her own, and one that mimics the person whose Soul is Scarred. While the effect is in play, Harmony can sync to any and all aspects of that person without using any actions and have any effects that person can do as her own, but super powered. At the moment, Harmony can only use this power against the same person once – and since it’s already gone off against Chandi she no longer feels her scars burning.

As this evolves however…

Trigger Effects:
Single Round Full Sync with Scarred Targets Runes and Powers
+3 All Rolls For 3 Turns
+10 HP/EP Per Round for 5 Rounds
Random RP Flashback
Random RP memory swap with Scarred Target
Scarred Target is fully healed if an ally, stunned with the post-trigger effects if an enemy.

Post Trigger Effects:
All Scores Removed
-3 All Rolls For 3 Turns
0 Regeneration For 5 Turns
Cannot Trigger Again on the same scarred Target
[Current Lockout List – Chandi]

----------------

Harmony gives a short, bitter laugh. "So now I'm not just the sum of my scars, I'm the sum of others as well. Aaaaaaahhhhhahahahahahahahaha--" She continues laughing... possibly more than a little hysterically.

Makosan can only stand there and blink, "For the love of Athena... Sensei where did you FIND these Gods..."

"Oh, you know. The same place she found YOU. Obviously."

"Heh... hehehe.... HA HA!"

And with that, Makosan breaks down and starts laugh/crying with Harmony, as for the first time in a very long time, the Feline God feels he now has someone he can trust.

####################

[I warned you, Harmony.]

#...#

We've tried to keep you safe as long as we could. But the only thing we can't keep you safe from is yourself.

#MUSE... who... what, am I? What... was I? I saw...#

[Your earliest memories. You were an... experiment. A genetic experiment They cut, they spliced, they hacked, and... they came up with you. Their only success, after many, many failed experiments. Their solution to the war. Their own... super soldier.]

#And that...#

[Is perhaps one of the kindest memories you have I have kept from you. Though your... creator was mad, in that mad scientist way, he did care for you as well as he could. The rest of your memories... well. Let's just say things went downhill from there. You didn't lead a happy life.]

#Some day...#

[Yes. Some day... I believe you will be ready. Your growth has been startlingly quick. Enough so that I was willing to let you see what you were, once. What you may become, however.... well. That is up to you.]

##################

Alexis taps into the power of Darkness, concentrating on two targets; Chandi and Serpico. For Chandi, he taps into the relaxing, recuperative mental properties of Dark, helping her mind to recover from Serpico's artificially installed viewpoint; for Serpico, Alexis concentrates on the physical, easing the aches in Serpico's body as though he'd managed to get some rest.

None of the others appear to need any healing.

"We survived against your brother by only the slimmest of margins." Alexis says. "If Athena hadn't been where she was when she was - we'd have been sucked into the Leyline collapse." He takes a deep breath, and his Cloak of Shadows vanishes from Makosan to reappear about himself. "But we prevailed. We seem to do that a lot."

"While we were there," he adds, "we managed to create a knife capable of slicing through the Blight. Which looks very much like the stuff your chains are made of. We didn't bring it with us - we left it for the people looking at the Collapse site to study - but everyone who helped make the original knife is here. If we work together, we can probably make a tool that can cut through your chains."

"If we all agree that it's the right thing to do, of course." Alexis gives Makosan a quick grin. "You seem like a good person. With Chandi there, you put what was right before your personal benefit. You saved one of my teammates from doing something really bad. That counts for a lot, in my mind. But - given what went into that original knife, you'd need the unanimous approval of our entire team, I think. Especially Asch, since she's very, very good at finding out things about people that they don't want to say."

Alexis glances over his teammates. "What do the rest of you think?" he asks.

As the dust of the battlefield settles and Lumina separates the link, Asch returns to her normal outfit. The detective stands motionless, processing what just occurred. Returning her shift to her side, she turns on her heel and marches directly up to Chandi, cold rage visible in her scowl.

"What you did... was not illegal in the slightest. But you came close. Very close. It is my duty to inform you that you are on warning, and until a more formal injunction can be processed I will be monitoring you personally."

She then bites her lower lip and mutters in a low voice, "Just... don't go as far as you almost did again, okay?"

Turning again, she walks over to Harmony and Makosan. "I... don't like to interrupt, but I would like to have a few words with Makosan before we go."