[DBitp] Here Comes The Son

[Sagetim]

Delargo HQ: Showdown Against Relentless Market Forces

Max's eyes widened as the Janitor approached him. Still under the effects of his kaio-ken, his senses were pushed far beyond their limits, to the point that even as the mop was revealing itself to be a spear, Max was taking note of the deployment of a stasis grenade. Against Red Mantis, who had kept him safe from distraction. So Max went into full gear instantly, leaving an after image to be stabbed by the sudden spear thrust, and a trail of them as he danced around the effects of the stasis grenade and came to a stop next to the lizard, pointing his index and middle finger at the laser rifle it was wielding and saying but a single word, "Dodompa!" Suffice to say, with a relentless spear wielder after him, Max would not be holding still, especially if the yellow beam of ki hit the laser rifle and caused it to explode. Rather, Max would be trying to keep on the move to avoid getting impaled, at least long enough to get a better idea of what was going on.

[Emperor Ing]

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape

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Interesting fact about mindscape, it didn't matter how strong or weak someone was. Sure, psychic powers helped, but in the mind, it's all about willpower. If you believe in something, even the irrational, the minds of others is yours to command. However this did come with some other interesting quirks. Namely, Apfel's future-sense was completely useless, here, too.

This came as both a relief and a concern to Apfel when Red Mantis flew at him. He dropped low, rolling forwards that Mantis might overtake his desired mark. He dropped low, that the illusory Mantis might fly over him entirely. Apfel spun around to meet Mantis in the mindscape. Here, they were equals, except in the fact that Mantis is a figment of Rilla's fear and anxiety, whereas Apfel's manifestation was his full being. All his hopes and dreams, knowledge, wisdom, fears, and anxieties.

Red Mantis knows what horror you have endured, Ms. Rilla, and understands completely. He points imperiously to the fake Mantis. He knows how you suffer, far more than they ever had. Even Purple Moth. A blade of light then extended from his forearm. Not the traditional violet of Apfel's World Blade, but something else entirely, the color of truth, reflected in the pulsing light within, shining rays of understanding and reconciliation through the maze, as he swung once, to banish the creature.

Though he couldn't tell for certain, assuming the attack did have the effect Apfel hoped, he couldn't fight this battle for Rilla, and he suspected Red Scorpion would return in time. He is here to make a delivery.

To give Rilla the weapons she needed to fight her demons.

With this clarity, he entered the maze proper, and began to navigate, his sense of hope, guiding him through the twisting cooridors.

That was informative. Apfel repressed the desire to project a telepathic implied facepalm to Yellow Queen as he collected himself. Now go protect Purple Moth. The announcement of your peoples' existence can wait.

What ever happened with that person Apfel didn't recognize, for some reason the word 'Lagerin' came to mind, it wasn't something he didn't want to divide his attention even further with. Manifesting a mental avatar while also keeping a conversation with Yellow Queen while keeping a telepathic eye on both Oxy and Deglargo was quite mentally demanding as it was.

He thought about firing a Royal Lance into his ear-lobe. As amusing as it would be, he didn't need him spooked, at this moment.

Vodkana, hide your power if you can, and find us a way out of here. Apfel suggested, as he likewise tried to hide his power. Sure, the Unkillables could try to simply blow the facility up, but while Deglargo was inside of it? Not a chance. Safer if they hid in the facility itself, retreating from advancing Unkillables to give Apfel the time he needed to get Rilla the help she needed, so she could help them in turn.

[Lord Raziere]

With Max:
Red Mantis nods in thanks and speeds to block The Janitor as it turns to try and kill Max again, switching foes, his mantis blades and the mop clashing against each other. Red Mantis attempts to communicate telepathically.
....Orange Wasp is that you? You got a bio-android ki signature and no one else can shapeshift...
TERMINATE ALL ENEMIES OF KALZIN.
....Oh Frack. Your not Orange Wasp. Max! There is a bio-android I don't know here. My programming's not recognizing him as an employee either.
At least he knew to look out for that Stasis Grenade.

Lagerin:
His eyes widen as gets choked. As Oxy makes his offer, he realizes that he doesn't recognize him. He could use this. So he drops the syringe from his right hand into his hand.
"Offer.... accepted."
He then walks away from Purple Moth's room and deliberately goes away from any other bio-androids. But he didn't need to try that any longer. See, the thing about cellular biology, is that we're actually shedding dead cells all the time. Any species that gets as complex as sapience inevitably is made up of billions of cells that are constantly replacing themselves and shedding the old dead detritus on a level we can't even see. Even the most hygiene obsessed person in the world can't stop this. All that dust you see? Made of dead skin. His efforts to dispose of DNA were valiant and thorough, but the better bet was to grab DNA from rooms he commonly lives in and objects he commonly uses than grabbing it off his visible body parts.

All Lagerin has to do is to get the dead cells of Oxyribo that are on his neck into a vial. Then he can begin. This totally won't go horribly wrong. Just keep telling yourself that Lagerin. Just keep telling yourself that.

Jade Vs. Black Scorpion:
She Rainbow Bridges in Beryl and Pinappla, leaving Masala to fly around to distract and keep Grey Spider occupied.
"Pinappla, we'll handle them, you focus on taking out soldiers."
she nods and runs out, while Beryl aura turns red and goes into Chara Cosplay form, her hair brown and her eyes red, red knives appearing around her. Black Scoprion shifts to a defensive stance as both of them charge at him.

More importantly Pinappla Pierce Pistol's a few soldiers through the skull, kicks another aside and is laying into them when.... Vodkana shows up!?
"Nyaaaah.....time to kill you. In the heat of battle, no one will think it strange for you to die, I will destroy you.....then finally have Jade-senpai all to myself!"
"What!? but you......"
She checks the telepathy conference.
"Your Orange Wasp!"
"Bingo! Unfortunately, my battle strategy relies on deceptions like that. Which don't work very well when you have things like reading minds and ki sensing. Sorry, programming you know? Thought it was one of the best ways to turn you guys against each other."
She shapeshifts into a more normal Orange Wasp form
"Still killing you though."
Wasp charges, with Pinappla forced to dodge without being able to go Super Saiyan Berserker- it simply did not have the finesse or control needed to fight in here without causing massive collateral damage.

As for Vodkana, White Butterfly would like hm....probably....something sour or spicy. She is not a sweets person, definitely. That is all the narrator can guess.

Yellow Queen:
She thinks upon Apfel's advice. Go back? She guessed she could. She didn't know how much difference it would make. It seemed illogical even. She gazes at the next ceiling, ready to burst through, she was about to get into the news. She did not know why she would be needed. Oxyribo seemed strong enough.
She didn't know why anything. What a cruel and bleak world, to give no answer as to why anything.
Princesses. Blind fold yourselves. We are going to protect Purple Moth.
They all do so, conjuring the cloth and tying it around their heads to cover their eyes then teleport arriving next to Oxyribo to assist in taking out soldiers that come near, Queen and the six Princesses working in an odd amount of sync to fire small finger beams to hit the exact amount of people required, doing all this through ki sensing. They seem to be trying to be as efficient with their energy as possible.
Do not ask me why Apfel thought you needed help. I cannot promise that it will last.

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape

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You travel through to find room, bloody letters spelling out "I AM BECOME DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS." with two figures: A Black Scorpion yelling out: "SMASH! SMASH! SMAAAAASH! SMASH ALL PUNY BEINGS!" and charging at you with his claws. While a Rilla stands at a doorway, looking authoritative safe and inviting, seemingly concerned for you
"Quick! in here, get in before he kills you!"
You only have a split second to act.

Deglargo Depths
Yellow Queen thinks to Diamond:
A backup computer yes, one that can't connect to the rest of the internet.
Ironic how making something less advanced defends against almost all hacking attempts no matter how advanced. You reveal a maintenance tunnel with a camera pointed right at the elevator. As you venture in, you hear strange mechanical sounds, as if doors just opened. The darkness despite your light seems oppressive. Soon you come near a Power level and hear:
"Wha....why are they unleashing....No! No!"
There are screams, sounds of violence echo down to you, that PL winks out, silence. You don't sense any PL that did that.

Meanwhile Purple moth's astral form flies through the depths down past those two to try and find a certain room.

[Emperor Ing]

Another danger entered Apfel's awareness. He switched focus from Yellow Queen for the moment, whispering his thanks to her though she couldn't hear him. Instead, he made a telepathic communique to Red Mantis.

I sense you are engaged with an unknown. Apfel asked. He isn't one of ours.

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape

Show

Black Scorpion. Someone who should, by all rights, be a genius, but his own design designated as a brute limits his potential, to say nothing of his own frustration of lacking hands. Completely understandable frustration, mind you. His design as a brute made his manifestation a perfect means to project Rilla's anxiety onto, a creature with limitless killing power limited only by the physical distance between him and the next target.

Then there was this Rilla. Apfel flew towards the open door with just enough time to have the door sealed between him and the mental projection.

Though the Emperor wasn't fooled for a moment, remembering Orange Wasp's shapeshifting abilities, remaining in a defensive stance.

[Rater202]

Diamond quickly cyclkes through the settings on his scouter, settling on the one for machine power levels.

Does he see anything.

Oxy, meanwhile, takes the syringe, tosses it in his pocket dimension for later disposal, and keeps blasting guards.

As he does so, he searches the building to see if he can't find Delargo's power level.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Deglargo HQ - near Max]

The reptilian is thrown back by the explosion when Max destroys his rifle. "Ssstupid! He isss a thhreat to bothh of usss!" , he hisses at Max as the human dashes by, not quite comprehending why Max would stop to help Red Mantis.

Quickly, the reptile reaches to his belt to fetch another stasis grenade... when the janitor appears from behind the corner... and clashes with Red Mantis. "Hisss?"

Deciding it's best to let enemies fight enemies, he makes an astonishingly rapid exit.

Meanwhile, as Max runs, he sees more reptilians scouting the building, a detachment of the law-enforcement unit that's suspicuously far away from where all the action is and... was that a Yardratian Instant Transmissioning away in panic? Did everyone and their mother decide that this is the day to kill Deglargo and take his stuff? Because it sure is starting to look like it.

As if this wasn't strange enough, a panicked Arcosian engineer suddenly crashes through a wall. "This is it! This is the punishment for our sins! Save your souls from Hell!" And they exit the building by jumping through a window.

To top it all off, Max can sense that a portal to the Otherworld has been opened nearby... and then a very confused Spike the Devilman, summoned by the possessed computer, busts out of a nearby office and looks around.

[Sagetim]

Delargo HQ: Revenge of Kalzin

After bouncing around for a bit, Max makes his way back towards the fight between the Janitor and Red Mantis. He appeared suddenly, already having started to gather ki between his hands as he comes to a stop in the classic stance of the Kamehameha.

Telepathically, he gives Red Mantis a heads up ~I'll be charging an attack to erase it, then. If you don't mind keeping it busy, we can end this in one blow. If they aren't registering as an employee of Delargo, then I would not be surprised if this Janitor is a secret project by this Kalzin. Given the temporal anomaly, I would not be surprised if it's personality has been refined out of it's design.~

With a roiling mass of blue energy quickly growing between his hands, Max continued to concentrate ki between them, his energy signature shooting up once more as he displayed the trick that was so uniquely Earth in Universe 7: the ability to raise one's effective power level by concentrating energy with proper technique. Max relied on Red Mantis to run interference as he took a moment to plot out a safe exit course for his kamehameha to take. After all, he wasn't looking to kill any regular people with it. It was then that he recalled an earlier conversation with Fries...and altered his tactics. Shifting the position of his hands, the roiling ball of ki threatening to escape and explode, Max twitched and wiggled his fingers to set up a resonance to run through the chaotic ball of energy.

Edit note: Interrupted, post continued after Raz's after next post.

Throwing his hands out towards the Janitor, Max called out, "Resonant Kamehamehaaaaaaaaaaa!" A wave of blue energy flowing out from his hands, washing around Red Mantis instead of through him, doing no harm. Well, none to him. The beam continued to act oddly after passing by him as well, aimed to slam into the Janitor's position, before twisting around and looping repeatedly through the same location. Sure, it would dig trenches through the cieling, walls, and floor of the hidden room, but that was better than exploding out through the building, through people, through traffic, through the sky, and potentially hitting a planetary body before it ran out of energy. Max was aiming to keep the energy concentrated around and through the Janitor until nothing of it's body remained. This, of course, left him wide open. And that is why he was trusting Red Mantis to continue having his back.

[igordragonian]

Vodkana

Vodkana hiding her ki, and sending a nightmare mist to search for a way out. It will probably be drawn to a secret passage, or a passage with an aura of fear.
Vodkana make a sort of lemon(some alien version of it) tart, filling it with her love. It has miraclouse healing capabilities, but that not the feature needed-
They all could talk about what would be logical behavior. But White Butterfly wasn't a robot. She needed empathy, and right now, they didn't had the years to sit and sort this out in normal mortal way.
If she will eat it, she will exprience Vodkana's love and support, as if Vodkana soothed and sympathized with her for years.
This alone might give her strength against her inner demons. Probably on the long run more care will required.. but for now it might be enough.

'A moment, Apfel.' she said, and turned to White Butterfly.
'It might sound random... but you need to eat this. Nya. It... might help you.'

[Earth]

When Robba turns to ask Martin Victor, she notices he and Mr. Popo are conspicuously absent... because they somehow sneaked past her and to the middle of the village! How does a fat black pony even move that stealthily.

Martin Victor stands up on his saddle, hands near his hips, ready to draw his guns. "Fiends! Know that Martin Victor Lucifer, son of Sir Martin Lucifer, has come to put you to rights! Surrender now and I shall let mercy pass for justice!"

Did he remember to reload his guns?

Ha ha, don't be silly, of course he reloaded his guns.

...

He didn't reload his guns.

---

Robba gasped, breaking her apathy. 'You idiot!'

The wizards without thinking have launched dozens of curses and hexes at Martin- but luckily, the smoke elemental of Robba has snatche him away.
But the wizards started to chase after them

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth]

Martin Victor is too busy dodging the curses hurled at him to avoid Robba snatching him away. Mr. Popo, in a very non-pony-like manner, ducks under the barrage and lays flat on the ground with hooves over its head.

"Hey! What are you doing? I was just going to make them pay for their evil deeds!" , Martin Victor complains as Robba's smoke elemental drags him off. "Let me go so I can destroy them!"

[Lord Raziere]

With Max:
Okay. Red Mantis does so, pressing the attack.

The Janitor isn't stupid however, they see your charging up attack coming, any charged up attack its impossible to not notice really. They ditch their shapeshifted disguise: their true form is another female bio-android, this one also grey but with only four arms, yet at same time, short straight black hair with an expression completely dead of any emotion whatsoever. Two of her arms suddenly grow mantis blades just like Mantis's own to keep up the parrying so that she isn't interrupted, while one of her upper arms puts two fingers to her forehead to teleport, appearing behind Max to thrust one of those Mantis blades into his back, Red Mantis still turning around in surprise- before being kicked by a Junior version of this bio-android just as emotionless and merciless that this bio-android left behind.

Deglargo Depths:
You detect only one machine PL of....5. It is not moving, no matter how much you wait. It might be detecting you in turn.

Vodkana:
You hold out the tart. White Butterfly fails to grab and eat it, as she cannot control her body enough to take the offer. She continues supporting Black Scorpion who smashes Jade into a wall while Beryl dodges claw-smash after smash. Butterfly telepathically sends with zero tact:
I CAN'T TAKE AND EAT IT YOU IDIOT! I LITERALLY HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ANY OF MY ACTIONS!! IF YOU WANT ME TO EAT IT, FORCE IT DOWN OR SOMETHING!!! OR BETTER YET, DO SOMETHING USEFUL!
But its the thought that counts right? She meant well!
DON'T SPOUT THAT PLATITUDE AT ME!! RRRRAAAARRGGH!!
Jade is just wondering why Spike the Devilman is even here.
Why?....just.....why? Why is Spike here?

Spoiler: Rilla Mindscape:

Show

As soon as you go in, the door closes with a sudden slam, the words "THERE IS A SPECIAL HELL FOR THIS." written in blood upon the back, and the Rilla turns around, her face suddenly distorting into this nightmare-ish twisted, sharp fanged, deranged mis-matched eyes of a face as she yells:
"YOU IDIOT! ORANGE WASP JUNIORS......ITS TIME FOR ANOTHER REPLACEMENT."
A bunch of corpse-puppets suddenly appear in circles, of mothers, of leaders, of people trusted and people famous, their eyes dead despite the skill of the imitation, all smiling. Then Orange Wasp Juniors all burst out them in bloody messes all at once, all of them looking exactly like Pages, cackling as they all leap upon you.

Lagerin: Experience Karma
Once he is far enough, Lagerin, pulls out a vial and with extremely fine, ultra-surgical telekinesis pulls the trace dead skin cells of Oxyribo off of him and into the vial. He then adds a few other ingredients and mixes them telekinetically. They turn a sickly strange green light. Yes. He will finally have it! He pours it into a backup syringe and injects it directly into his bloodstream. He feels the change overtaking him.
"Yes.....yes! Aahahahahahahahaha....AHAHAHHAHAHAHA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
He begins laughing evilly as his body becomes more and more bio-android like, but suddenly he starts screaming at the top of his lungs and clutching at his head while the transformation continues, making him look almost exactly like Oxyribo aside from the snake eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!"
As he continues screaming, the more important transformation takes place within: what Lagerin didn't know about his own alchemical mixture was that he would gain all the inherited memories of the specific bio-android he took this from, and the memories of various people from Age 1000 invade his mind. He struggles to cling to his original identity as multiple other people flood his mind with thoughts aren't his own. Lagerin might be overloaded with Oxyribo's donor memories, which were the second least bad he could have: the only bio-android that were less bad would've been Red Mantis, and all the other options were considerably far worse, particularly Orange Wasp or Purple Moth.
"I'M LAGERIN!"
He exclaims in desperation, trying to cling to whatever will keep him afloat, from the sudden flood of memories and personalities.
"I'M LAGERIN, I'M LAGERIN, I'M LAGERIN, I'M LAGERIN, I'M LAGERIN..."
It becomes his mantra as he clutches at his head and he begins running back to Oxyribo, trying to hold onto his hate of Oxyribo. They were enemies. He had to hold onto that. No matter what. He had to remain himself. He had to. He just had to. And the biggest karmic punishment of all this? He didn't even get an infinite energy drive with the transformation. The alchemical concoction only transforms you GENETICALLY. He lacks the very component that makes the whole bio-android machine worth putting together. Which means his regeneration is of limited use.

Lagerin truly is doomed. No matter what he does.

Oxyribo senses Deglargo is in his office at the top of the building. Sipping some wine while surrounded by troops, overlooking the city.

Masala:
The Majin Girl frowns as she flies around, getting hit by Grey Spider's beams and regenerating from them. Despite her doing a useful thing by keeping Grey Spider preoccupied, she didn't feel like she was living up to her potential. Ever since she been traveling around with her moms, she felt....stifled. She remembered the good ol' days when she was traveling Earth and doing whatever she wanted. That was fun. But now it felt like she didn't get any opportunities to be fun and and crazy anymore. What had changed? She considers Jade. She always seemed cool, in control of the situation and calm and so on-even though Masala knew that was only due to enormous self discipline that HAS broken down before. To the point of seeming to suck something out of the situation. Like, you just KNEW that because she was there, that she was going to solve it.

Yet, Masala didn't feel happy about it. I mean, it was a good thing yes but.....Masala wanted to be a hero, the symbol of hope. To put smiles on peoples faces and tell them that everything will be alright. Yet everyone looks up to her mother as that symbol. Why? She knew Jade. While she wanted to do that...she didn't actually try to cheer people up or actively bring hope to people. She just saw a problem she could solve and pragmatically figured out how to solve it, and didn't give up on solving it, keeping herself disciplined and stoic while doing so. Was that all it took to be so inspiring? Masala knew that she herself had greater power and potential than her own mother, yet she had accomplished less.

Could she really bring such happiness in her mother's shadow? Could she really find herself while Jade with all her determination commanded her to protect? Perhaps Jade was right about her own power in a way. What could she do to bring hope? To be that hero that J-Mom just......seemingly was, naturally despite all her protestations to the contrary? Man, she was bad at being introspective. She remembers what Max said, and remembered that she had all the time in the world to figure this out. And yet....What should she do?

Pinappla:
She dodges and weaves around Wasps's attacks, trying to keep ahead but then gets slammed by a sudden giant fist into the wall, cracking it with a miniature crater, and there is a flash of anger in her eyes, her fists clenching as a flash of lime green energy sparks out. But she leaps backwards and and takes a deep breath, in and out, Remembering that if she gave in to the anger, she would cause a lot more damage than what everyone was doing. As she keeps her cool, her...chill the cold morning breath comes again, Orange Wasp charging at her but suddenly slows down as if moving in slow motion and Pinappla manages to dodge it much easier, a soft blue aura around her for a moment. She blinks as she considers this. Did....did that just happen?

[igordragonian]

[Vodkana]

'It just might be the thing to release you, nya- FEEL MY LOVE!" and shoved the her love empowerd food straight to her throat.
'I am still learning to use this form!' she has apologized.

[Earth]

Martin Victor is too busy dodging the curses hurled at him to avoid Robba snatching him away. Mr. Popo, in a very non-pony-like manner, ducks under the barrage and lays flat on the ground with hooves over its head.

"Hey! What are you doing? I was just going to make them pay for their evil deeds!" , Martin Victor complains as Robba's smoke elemental drags him off. "Let me go so I can destroy them!"

'Saving you.' Robba groaned. The Iron masked swordman prepared his rapier. 'Maybe the direct aporach might be a bit problematic.' as the carpet gotten a hex and exploded-
the smoke elementgrabbed the whole group, and by Robba's command led them to hideout among the trees. But the enemy wizards went out for a hunt

[Emperor Ing]

Jade! I sense a being of immeasurable destructive power near you and the Unkillables! Retreat to a safe distance. Apfel warned Jade, referencing Spike's ability to outright kill beings with even a hint of evil in their bodies. For someone with a past as checkered as Apfel's, it makes perfect sense for him to regard Spike as a terrifying threat.

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape

Show

Apfel, knowing full well what was coming without the help of prescience, was not at all surprised when 'Rilla' transformed. Though the incubators for the younger Wasps materializing was rather surprising.

Hmm, this won't be pleasant. He agreed, as the creatures burst forth. He quickly used a dash of speed to simply power through one of the edges of this rapidly closing circle, to give him some more breathing room. This won't be so simple, he imagined. Black Scorpion and Red Mantis are one being.

I've met an Orange Wasp Junior. Apfel says, as the Blade of Truth formed from his hand. He was born because his father forced him to murder. Wasp is not a murderer, he hated having to cause the agonizing death of someone who's only crime was to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. But the circumstances of his birth are irrelevant.

He will meet his father! Orange Wasp will feel joy at the life Pages has chosen, and there is nothing these illusions will do to stop that! He raised the sword and made a horizontal slash, attempting to catch as many of the Orange Wasp Juniors.

[Sagetim]

Max: Interrupted

Max's eyes widened as the bio-android assassin managed to slip past Red Mantis. He didn't have the time to spin around and throw the Kamehameha, and he knew that as he saw the fingers go up for the instant transmission. What Max Could do, however, was to rely on his armored clothing and stop planting his feet. Rather than being impaled clean through, the spike that was aiming to kill him encountered and crumpled, then got caught against his fashionable tuxedo-style jacket. The buttons on the front popped apart as they were designed to do under extreme pressure, those selfsame buttons then went flying across the room to bounce off the floor, given Max's new angle and trajectory. His dress shirt, too, was compromised as it was designed to be, the buttons popping off, the fabric acting like a solid under the pressure of the blow, and integrity of the shirt absorbing incoming kinetic energy and converting it to heat until the shirt vaporized. By that point, however, Max was already tumbling forward across the ground, down to a skin tight undersuit on his torso. There had been a tie in there somewhere, but it was clipped onto the shirt and went flying when it did.

Of course, just because he survived the hit doesn't mean he didn't have to deal with any consequences of his arrogant plan to try and 'solve' the Janitor problem too quickly. As he was tumbled across the floor, Max did his best to keep hold of the concentrate ball of energy between his hands, but after the third kinetic energy dissipating bounce, the ball of energy got away from him and dropped towards the ground. Rather than being released as a concentrated beam potent enough to annihilate the bio-android assassin, the would-be Kamehameha slapped against the floor and touched off like a bomb. The energy too diffuse to kill any of the combatants involved in this particular fight, but more than enough to cause collateral damage.

Having only a moment to react, all Max could really do was say, "Shi-" and throw up a ki shield over his prone form before the explosion cut his word off like the convenient bit of censorship it was.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth]

Martin Victor pops a vein when his brand new magic carpet is destroyed. "Hey! Not fair! I just loot-... found that thing!" He struggles against the grip of Robba's smoke elemental, looking like he'll storm off again right when they reach the hideout. "Lemme go! I will stomp them flat, grind them into dust and set the dust on fire! And then I will get serious! "

---

[Deglargo HQ]

Jade better believe that Spike is wondering the same thing.

I mean, he was just about to One Punch Kurumo, Solitus and their legions of Hell into oblivion, thus saving the day & the universe & solving that whole plot without the Rebal Alliance having to do a thing.

Haha, just kidding, he was really just taking a dump while reading the morning newspaper when he was summoned to random office cubicle in some far-off corner of the galaxy.

Or was he?

Elsewhere, a detachment of the blue reptiles runs into Lagerin. Coming from the other direction is the suspicuous law-enforcement squad.

They stop and look at each other. They look at Lagerin.

The leader of the reptiles shrugs. "Ehh, it regeneratesss. Let'sss jussst cut it in hhalf."

The masked leader of the "law-enforcement" considers this for a split second. "... deal."

And then, if Lagerin does not pull himself together, he will get bisected, stasis grenade'd, wrapped in graphite sheets and packed in two different cryo-containers before being shipped away to destinations unknown.

[Rater202]

Oxy was just about to Instant Transmit to Delargo and end this now, when suddenly he felt the energy signature of that guy who was going to change into one nearly identical to his own.

Then he senses that power level suddenly being surrounded by hostiles and he sighs.

"Queen? I'm sure you and your children can handle this for a bit."

Oxy instant transmits to Lagerin's location.

"Attention lizard persons and space police people who are acting suspiciously and might not actually be cops, you are interfearing with a joint police action by the Arcosian Empire and the Ox-Sea God-Kingdom." Oxy is not going to mention that the Ox Sea Godkingdom is just Oxy city.

"Leave now, and there won't be any problems, but attempt to take anything from Delargo and you will be treated as though tyou had stolen evidence from a crime scene and..." He notes the stasis grenades "And further attempts to Capture a Bioandroid or otherwise pursue their technology will be interpreted as an inteent tio violate Imperial anti-Slavery Laws and will be treated as such. I am authorized to use Lethal force if you do not comply."

Mostly, he's authorized by himself.

Meanwhile, in the Depths, Diamond and Poka slowly push forward, an eye out for any potential power levels... What's that machine they see?

[Lord Raziere]

Jade: Delivery Unnecessarily Long Exposition
She thinks back through the telepathy-conference:
Okay here is the deal: bad news, its Spike the Devilman. What your sensing is basically some weird devil guy who make peoples hearts explode if there is even a slightest hint of evil in them. called the devilmite beam. This ability....I'm not sure if its a technique. I certainly haven't heard anyone else learning it from him, but it looks like one. The only person in all of existence that I know of that is immune to Spike's power was Goku when Spike was working for Baba, which means his real motives could be anything. None of us are Goku.

But good news, anyone capable of making and wielding a spirit bomb is theoretically just as immune, as that requires a pure heart. So....Beryl is immune. and I think Max too...? Theoretically. That and Spike is really weak in terms of raw PL. Goku faced him when his PL was, like in the low hundreds or so. Also I sense that from his movements he is just as confused as I am about being here. And no I don't know if my my Goddess of Hyperdeath Cosplay "counts" in terms of pure-heartedness. I'm certainly not betting my own heart against an ability like that.

The legend goes that a mighty but compassionate warrior once lived and then devilman came along and amplified his dark thoughts and killed him on the spot by making his heart explode from filling his heart with them, unable to match his strength and on that day a great evil was born. I wouldn't regard his power as something GOOD at the very least, and Roshi himself said that its a power of unimaginable evil, he also said its "responsible for destroying more lives than war and pestilence combined" which I'd be skeptical to doubtful of at the very least? because while yes it can be used to say, explode Hailing's heart when he is not paying attention....it could also be used to kill any average joe. It brings to mind an Earth saying...."let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.". thats the problem with Spike's ability: who can really say anyone deserves the right to explode peoples hearts if they even have the slightest bit of evil in themselves?

So I'd agree with you just to be on the safe side. The ability has never been actually shown to work in actual records? also its a beam, if a spiral one.....so.....possible to dodge. Or block using something that doesn't have a heart to asplode. Its not a "guy points his finger and your auto-dead" thing or anything like that, Goku was literally standing still when that attack hit him twice. He was letting that happen. Meaning we're not actually sure of the attacks speed and how well Spike can track you or anything like that? but there has to be some truth to the legend if Baba and Roshi took him seriously. also, if the stuff about it being unimaginably evil is true, Spike might actually be someone we want dead. Like, really really "bad as or worse than Hitler" levels of dead. Well. When Solitus isn't a concern at the very least.
Well at least there are enough idiots around to volunteer to demonstrate for the class:

With Spike:
"Hey!" a Deglargo soldier comes up to him, pointing his hand with a glowing energy.
"You, guy in the fake looking devil costume! Stay still and I'll shoot you!"
"Don't you mean OR?" says another
"I know what I said!"
a random highly stressed civilian right next to him rudely goes "what the hell, whats this stupid looking guy in a demon costume doing here? Space Halloween was like, eight or nine days ago idiot! what're you drunk!?"
Lets just see how this plays out for a second, shall we?

White Butterfly: Behold
The food is shoved down her mouth. She is caught off guard by it, its sour, but her eyes widen as if she loves it, it was a sourness of sublime beauty, as if made into a masterpiece of the flavor, a masochistic paradise upon the tongue, the lemon filling her mind with its harshest edges of its taste bud glamour. She falls down over, completely distracted from everything.
SO.
FRACKING.
GOOD.
SCREW YOU, HOW IS THIS SO GOOD!? AM I DREAMING!?

Pinappla: Chill Out
She continues breathing in and out. She seems to enter some chiller state of mind. Even as Orange Wasp continues to attack her, she feels herself only getting more and more relaxed, as if entering a another state of mind, opposite of rage. Her movements becoming more fluid and Orange Wasp seeming to become slower in her presence. She could feel it....this was something new. But she didn't know exactly what. She landed a punch on orange Wasp and some ice appeared on where she hit, and he became even slower.
"Huh...."
"What are you doing!?"
"I don't know yet....but its something very very interesting......dude. so just chillax."

With Max:
As the explosion clears, a strange figure wearing a trench coat and fedora comes in and kicks the grey bio-android into a wall who starts to get back up and regenerate parts that got blown off, the explosion having made the area more open, with a bunch of rooms now broken into one an floor collapsed. The....Mysterious Stranger who kicked the foe, once you look at them....you can't seem to see any identifying features. everything about them aside from the trenchcoat and fedora seemed to be a silhouette, their mind is unreadable, while you can definitely tell a ki aura is THERE, you can't figure out anything else about them, the only thing you can tell is that they are there. The voice that speaks to you is feminine.
"Okay. That happened. Okay, Maxie: Good news! You solved the time loop problem. Bad news: that is exactly what Kalzin wanted. Cause that bio-android there? is called a Grey Ant. Its a bio-android sent back in time to eliminate all of you AFTER the time loop was solved so that you won't pose a problem for Kalzin in the future- or as he sees it, the present. At least its out in the open now. Unlike the others its a merciless weapon through and through and has all the advantages of the other Unkillables combined into one without any of the downsides. I was trying to find it out and take it out before anyone needed to know so as to not change the time stream but....too late now. Sucks doesn't it? As for me....my name isn't important. All you need to know is that I've come back here to save my Beloved Archenemy so that they may live through this and our rivalry may blossom in beautiful animosity! >C>!"
She somehow pronounces a spade symbol at the end of this sentence perfectly-You don't know how, and thinking upon might drive you insane if done for too long. While the Mysterious Stranger clasps her hands together lost in her rivalrous romance, the Grey Ant and the Grey Ant Junior advances slowly while Red Mantis gets up.
"Your the one who told me to help in the first place!"
"Well yeah, if Maxie here screwed up because of lizard guy, who knows what might've happened! This scenario is better than the alternatives."

Lagerin: Be evil.
Lagerin sensing both the soldiers and Oxyribo coming, smiles evilly as a dastardly scheme suddenly hatches in his head. He instantaneous movements out of the way of their grenades leaving them to fly at Oxyribo as he teleports in, growling with anger from both Lagerin and Oxyribo-like emotions Lagerin grabs one of the lizard men mooks, forcing his way through his mind to rip out the location of their home planet-
"So thats your home planet. Shame that ssssomethingss gonna happen to it. Shame that Oxyribo isss going to be the one to make it happen." He says with an insane smile-then instantaneous movements his way there.

Spoiler: Rilla Mindscape:

Show

You slash through the various figments, letting the truth shine through and soon come to a door, going inside, you see something a little....different:
Executive Kalzin was lounging on a couch with a sleazy smile, an outfit that would make Solitus run for his money and a glass of wine. But thats not whats bad about it. Surrounding him are various bio-android women: Grey Spider, White Butterfly, Purple Moth, all broken, hopeless and obeying him like slaves in various poses as if they're his harem, and even other female bio-androids that haven't been made- you can somehow tell they're just ideas- also apart of it, just as broken. He sips his wine, Grey Spider asking:
"What should we do with him, master?"
As a sudden flash of lightning outside in this fears window illuminates the room- and seems to freeze the light lingering forever, the still electric bolt in the distance acting as some twisted X-Ray showing that hundreds of corpses were butchered and stuffed into the walls, floors, ceiling, with the blood leaking out and forming one word repeated millions of times on all possible surfaces:
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO...."
Kalzin finishes his sip, the X-Ray Lightning showing his skeleton as well as all the rest.
"Kill it like the rest and hide the body, luv. Kill it like the rest."

Deglargo Depths:
You advance forward only to find.....a corpse of a guard. From examination, it seems that this guard died from being strangled by some rope or something. Yet the machine PL is right here.

[igordragonian]

[The Forest Near the Apchi Tribe Village]

"Being silent for a while, might be a smarter move." Said the masked swordman wishpering.
Robba withoht much ceremony, pulled off one if her boots and shoved her sock into Martin's mouth.
"S-H-U-T U-P!" She hissed.

One of the scouting wizards had a cruel idea- he fillee the forest with smoke, so he could make them choke, and when they would look for air- to expose themselves.
Conviently, smoke was the exact element Robba was proficent with. So with a deep "Hummmmm" and some funny handwave she made the smoke to pass by them.
"If it were so easy, I wouldn't have to run away in the first place." Robba stated


[Vodkana]

Vodkana smiled, but not as proud as in the motherly sense that she enjoyed seeing people enjoy, and especialy from her work.
"Yes! Nya! Let the love fill you, and push all other influnces! Do... you accept my love? Are you now.. free?"
If it worked... Vodkana could hunt for the others and love them out of being dangerouse!

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth]

"Mmmpgh... grrr... pthui!" , Martin Victor mumbles angrily, then spits out the sock. He glares at Robba, then begins digging through his pockets.

Hmmm, nothing there.

He takes off his shirt and turns it inside out.

Nope.

He does the same with his pants.

Nada.

He checks his boot.

Aha! There! Exactly...

... one bullet.

Martin Victor holds it between his fingers and looks at it contemplatively. "... so how many bad guys would you say are following us?"

[Deglargo HQ]

Spike the God-damned Devilman has better things to do than be threatened by this mook, nevermind listening him and his co-workers blabber. So halfway through the third guy's dialogue...

"DEVILMITE BEAM!"

... and in a flash of pink, the guy who was threatening him explodes in a shower of gore, if he doesn't duck real fast.

Jade doesn't know it, but among the many many alternate timelines caused by rampant time travel, Spike once substituted for Trunks in taking down King Cold and Cyborg Frieza. So fear him. Fear the mighty Devilman.

Elsewhere.... Oxy, oh Oxy. These people were in the middle of something. They have zero reason to stop and listen to him grandstand.

In fact, there are enough grenades exploding just when Oxy pops in that they don't even notice him and Lagerin switching places. The effect of the grenades distorts Oxy's voice and makes it sound like a slow moan.

"Hey! It's power level disappeared! That must mean we're winning! Bring in the nets!"

And there come the electroshock nets, graphene sheets and freezing gasses, expect now it's Oxy who's getting those piled on him.

---

[Elsewhere - unknown location]

Lagerin chose poorly with his hostage. The lizard's a simpleton, basically, he's the guy who's always asleep on the backseat when someone else is driving. So the lizard doesn't really know the route from here to their home planet. The home planet's name is some long hissing noise that Lagerin's not even heard of before.

So he ends up Instant Transmissioning with the lizard, into a place the lizard remembers well but Lagerin has no idea where or what it is. It looks like... he's in the dark corridor on some building or spaceship? There are racks on the wall, filled with eggs similar in size to those of an ostrich. The corridor end in a cave-like space with a deep, dark pool. Small, blue reptiles swim around in the pool with not a care for the world.

Lagerin can no longer sense anyone from the previous conflict. Where ever this is, it is far. Really far. Maybe another-quadrant-of-the
-galaxy far? In any case, the lizard soldier he grabbed is the only witness available to whatever dastardly deed he might commit.

[igordragonian]

[Earth]

The iron masked frog-swordwoman sniffed the air.
"About a dozen. Why?"
Robba:"What are you going to do with a single bullet?" She has asked.

[Frozen_Feet]

Martin Victor chambers the bullet into one of his guns and rolls the chamber closed. "Well I'm going to shoot them, of course."

[igordragonian]

Martin Victor chambers the bullet into one of his guns and rolls the chamber closed. "Well I'm going to shoot them, of course."

"All of them?" Robba has tilted her head.
The swordman said:"You better save the bullet for an emsrgency..."

[Rater202]

They don't notice that their hostage is suddenly enshrouded in purple fire and radiating a heavy pressure unlike anything mortal?

Oh well, their funeral.

The nets, sheets, and gasses all form around a spherical/dome barrier. And then purple divine light begins to crack through the shell of electrfied nets, eventually shattering it completly, revealing an absolutly unamused Oxy enshrouded in purple flames forming the aura of a self-made God.

"Okay," Oxy says, his voice radiating power, "Now I'm mad. As I said, you are interfering with a joint criminal investigation by the Ox-Sea God-Kingdom and the Arcosian Empire. You have just assaulted myself, the God-King of the Ox-Sea Kingdom, and allowed someone who is impersonating myself to escape. Now you can either surrender to arrest, inwhich case I will turn you over to the Imperial forces so you can face judgement in their courts, which are far more merciful than my own... Or I can find you guilty and execute you all here and now. You have three seconds to decide."

Meanwhile, Diamond and Poka are looking around for anything that might be a rope or that machine power level.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth]

"Well all of them, duh" , Martin Victor says as he arms his gun. "I only have one bullet, so it wouldn't do to shoot them one at a time. No, they're all going down with the next shot!"

That's... one kind of logic, you could say.

"By the way, what's with all the smoke? Did they set the forest on fire? Should we get moving?"

---

[Deglargo HQ]

You know what also exerts pressure and flashes in fancy colors? Exploding grenades, fire from pulse lasers, that kind of thing. Like said, these people were in the middle of something. Oxy's gotta work on his timing.

The crowd stops piling on containment devices for a moment when the sphere forms around Oxy, the leader of the reptile squad holding a clawed hand up, ready to give a signal to resume fire... when it notices one of its squad is missing. It hisses a hasty command to the two of its underlings, who head off to look for their missing comrade.

Then Oxy burts out of the shell. All eyes return on him. But Oxy doesn't even get to the end of his threat when:

"Don't listen to it! There's no such thing as Ox-Sea Kingdom!"

... shouts someone from the law-enforcement squad. Then they all resume firing.

Heavy pressure? Purple flames? Those have no special signifigance to anyone here, ki-users do such stuff all the time. From what they all know, Oxy's just another of Deglargo's bio-androids they're out to capture. If Oxy was willing to consider anything from his perspective, it really wouldn't help his case that there really are at least two shapeshifting bio-androids in the building and that Lagerin just used an alchemical concoction to look like him just a moment ago.

[Rater202]

Oxy proceeds to intant transmit behind the idiot who said "don't listen to him" and rap his tail around the man's throat with the intent of using him as a human sheild if they dont' stop firing.

"Well, you've all clearly decided that you want to die, but I'm feeling generous." No he's not. "Stop shooting, listen to me, and surrender NOW, and I'll ony kill this idiot. it's bad enuough that you idiots let that imposter get away. I swear to myself if I get blamed for whatever he's going to do I'm blowing up all of your home planets."

"Aphel, you've got moles in your empire's law enforcement. I've got a squad here that's clearly not aware of my role in the sting operation and they're currently collaborating with a member of the blue reptile person's race to kidnap an Bioandroid. I may have to kill them, they're refusing to listen to reason."

[Sagetim]

Delargo HQ: Mysterious Strangers

With the fighting stopped for the moment, Max dropped his ki shield and got to his feet, using the chance to steady his breathing after the unexpected near impalement. One part of his mind was busy learning a lesson from this experience about arrogance and impatience, while the other part that wasn't busy was listening to what this mysterious stranger had to say and responding, "So, are you here to help more directly, Mysterious Stranger who speaks with emoji's, or are you going to pull out now to avoid affecting the timeline any further, and leave this to us alone?"

As he was speaking, Max filed away a note to himself to think back to this incident later and consider any other lessons that should be learned from it and got himself into a fighting stance, a southpaw boxing stance to be particular, ready to dodge and weave should the grey bioandroids resume their attack.

[Emperor Ing]

This is your Emperor, speaking. Apfel telepathically communicates to the idiots Oxyribo is confronting. Do as the yellow braggart says, and go home. He then switches to Oxy.

You are free to engage, however use non-lethal force. Apfel orders. We're not here to cause moral panic about bio-androids.

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape

Show

Apfel recoiled reflexively, having only seen such uproarious decadence once before in Hailing's old 'parties.' Truth be told, Hailing would probably enjoyed having the entirety of the facility being made out of corpses.

Truth is that Hailing would have found it hilarious.

Nevertheless, this scene, straight out of a horror vid, struck a chord with Apfel as much as it probably did with Rilla. This was her fear made manifest. Bio-androids, people who were, by any standard of measurement, dead. Still living, but extinguished of soul, so broken and lacking in any sense of self, that they may as well already be dead. This soul-death is reflected metaphorically in the architecture of the 'throne room.' Built on a foundation of corpses, the bio-androids are every bit a part of this place as the mountain of dead, lives extinguished to fuel the decadence of their 'owners.'

Yet why was Kalzin a corpse, too? Is he the source? The being that anchors the bio-androids to Rilla's anxiety of the death they would most certainly cause? Someone who sold his soul, metaphorically speaking, to his desires and is now no more a person than the beings who come to his beck and call?

The Sword of Truth would be of little use, here, Apfel imagined.

You have no masters. Apfel explained, raising a finger, the tip glowing a golden light. And those who claim ownership over you deserve nothing but our contempt. He said, firing a Lance of Courage at 'Kalzin's' forehead. Not sure how the rest of the bio-androids would respond, but damn if killing the manifestation of Hailing in someone else's mindscape didn't make Apfel feel good.

[igordragonian]

[Earth]

"Well all of them, duh" , Martin Victor says as he arms his gun. "I only have one bullet, so it wouldn't do to shoot them one at a time. No, they're all going down with the next shot!"

That's... one kind of logic, you could say.

"By the way, what's with all the smoke? Did they set the forest on fire? Should we get moving?"

---

.

The Iron masked siblings have exchanged confused looks.
'We are safe. This is.. a smoke without a fire. This the spell of my Master. They have stolen it. But I am bending the smoke away from us.' Robba has answered.
'And you can't hit them all with one bullet.' she stated

[Lord Raziere]

Mysterious Stranger:
"Oi, the spades a singular thing, only for my passion for Beloved Archenemy. I don't do that all the time, Maxie. As for helping....see I'm a believer in strength through adversity. But at the same time, my plan to solve this without changing the timeline was shot when you fixed the loop thing. I might help...I might not...and what I consider help....may not be what you see as help. Though I do not want Beloved Archenemy to die. Yes yes, I know you made your logical spiel about how adversity can make someone weaker to me in your future, lets not repeat whats already happened, and no I won't help because of some attempt to convince me that its too adverse so that you can slip your way out of the problem. I want adversity and challenge so that people can grow, and I make this call on my own judgement. Smart people like you are too quick to try and step around a problem than deal with it."
The Mysterious Stranger reflects that its almost a pity that Oxyribo didn't kill the Red Bitch- so many opportunities for him to face adversity he never has before and grow from it!
"Oh but do tell Oxy-kun and Vodkana-chan that they're doing just fine in their struggles, yes? In fact tell them that they need to crash and burn from their own decisions more often, makes things interesting, and the faster you fail, the faster you learn how to succeed. I'm gonna go pay a visit to Beloved Archenemy. See what needs to be done..."
The Mysterious Stranger mysteriously vanishes in a cloud of shadows.

Lagerin: Take stock
He looks around. This wasn't a lizard person city open to the sky so he can fill the entire atmosphere with mustard gas to make Oxyribo look evil. Where the hell was he? He couldn't sense where Oxyribo was....or anyone else. Hm. Wait. This might be a good thing: his original objective was get away from Oxyribo, its only when he gave into temptation that he thought he was doomed and was going to ruin Oxyribo's rep to the galaxy at large since its not as if he could kill the guy. But if this simpleton sent him to a completely different planet by chance.....then he had time. Time to recover from the memory war raging inside his mind. Time to figure to lay low, hide, figure out a next step. After all if he can't tell where Oxyribo is....then Oxyribo can't tell where he is.

Already he was recovering bits from the formative memories as he fought them: they were telling him that Oxyribo would most likely search for this simpleton's soul to interrogate him to find his location in the afterlife if he killed him. So first step: figure out what to do with him.
"....You might have just proven useful to me, sssimpleton, no matter how accidental. You have further use in continuing to be alive. But-"
He telekinetically rips away all the lizard mans devices and crushes them. Lets face it: with the power Lagerin had under his control, it mattered little if this planet wasn't inhabited by sapient life. However it mattered far more that this lizardman was unable to contact anyone.
"-you won't be needing those anymore."
He then drops the lizard man simpleton and promptly begins flying through the cave to find an exit without him. The sooner he gets away from the witness and find a place to be safely alone to deal with....this change....the better.

Referas:
Okay....Spike killed a guard trying to attack him...but the nearby civilian is okay so.....Beryl, check on Spike, say hello.
Got it!
Masala, come in, Grey Spider seems to be keeping her position for now.

Beryl powers down- the Chara Cosplay fills her a hated for humanity, much like the super sayian transformation made Goku filled with anger, both transformations made the user impure of heart. Thats right, Goku was vulnerable to the Devilmite Beam while in a more powerful form. And as she goes to meet Spike Masala teleports in, spins around to randomly her next attack then:
She suddenly is dual-wielding umbrellas and uses one to block Black Scoprion claw like a shield while stabbing like a lancer with the other.

Suddenly the Mysterious Stranger teleports in and glomps Jade to the ground yelling:
"BELOVED ARCHENEMYYYYY!!!"
"Gah! what the hell!?"
Jade says while the Mysterious Strange nuzzles up against her.

Meanwhile Pinappla as she continues to fight, dodging Orange Wasps attacks smoothly as if its the msot relaxed thing in the world, begins to realize.
"I think....I'm discovering something new....a new way to fight...a something....that comes not from rage....but from keeping calm. From relaxing. From....chilling out. A power opposing the saiyan rage. What would Jade call it? This relaxing cold.....I think it should be called-"
She suddenly creates a disc-like winter shield when Orange Wasp attempts a beam attack, protecting herself. When she smoke clears she continues, smiling:
"-Chill Dude Style. Or the Chill-Out Fist. And I.....will become the first Chilled-Out Master."

Meanwhile Beryl finds Spike and says
"Uh hello? Mr. Spike the Devilman I take it? Hi, I'm Beryl Refera, I'm just here to ask what are you doing here, and umm specifically if the legend about your technique "causing more deaths than war and pestilence combined" supposedly? Because its seems pretty implausible that a power that kills only one person at a time could do that, just makes no sense. just uh, seeing whats up with you on behalf of concerned minds, is all. What your deal is."
The civilian that is rude to Spike is now gibbering and shouting:
"AAAAAAAH! HE'S A MONSTER WHO JUST BLEW UP A GUY'S HEART! WHY ARE YOU BEING POLITE TO HIM!?"
The other soldier is just running away now, hes seen some stuff, but seeing a guys heart blow up from the inside was an unusual if not unique brand of traumatizing.

Spoiler: Rilla's Mindscape:

Show

As you fire the bolt of courage, it pierces Kalzin and destroys him utterly, freeing the three bio-androids from invisible chains. they smile, the sky becomes blue and sunny, they part in flight to allow you into the next nightmare.....you feel as if your getting close. Only two remain.

The second to last nightmare is one of CEO Deglargo. The Chaos of war surrounds him as bio-android fights bio-android endlessly, rulers whipping them like slave drivers while throwing money to Deglargo while he sits upon a mountain of money under a skyscraper in an officer where he calmly, undisturbed counts every single bloodstained raditz given to him, one at a time, looking at the world burning around him in the devastation he allows without giving a single damn, the skies above swirl- he is at eye of the hurricane. A man of greed in retirement, smiling to himself that he alone enjoys peace while he watches all else fall to ruin, for what does a man who has everything care for anything else?

Upon the skyscraper are the bloody words written "I CAN NO LONGER STOP WHAT I'VE SET IN MOTION"

Deglargo Depths:
They look around, not seeing any in the enclosing darkness, when they take their eyes off the corpse, it suddenly springs up in a jerky unnatural motion, leaping upon Poka with sudden puppet like motions and a very powerful kaio-ken like aura drawing out power that they never achieved suddenly coursing through it, yet as it attacks, no coherent sounds come out of the corpses mouth, while it body twists unnatural ways to punch and kick at her, as if whatever is controlling this guard's corpse doesn't care a single whit for its biology or keeping it cared for.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth]

"Oh you of little faith" , Martin Victor says while peering into the smoke. "You and your enemies are about to learn an important lesson: never underestimate a real Hero!"

Then he vanishes from sight as he wades into the smoke.

Soon, one of the sorcerers sees a rock flying out of the forest, tumbling at their feet. It looks like it has a note attached to it?

---

[Deglargo HQ - Oxy & party people]

"Hngh. Wait! How were we supposed to- oh no. Crap! Dodge! DODGE!" the guy Oxy grabbed shouts as he realizes the tactical error Oxy is committing.

The other suspicuous law-enforcement people already drew their own conclusion and dashed back the way they came, to take cover in one of the side corridors.

You see, Apfel's orders are all fine and dandy, but only half the people here even tentatively take orders from him. The lizard people were just offering a temporary truce in case it would make capturing Oxy/Lagerin easier.

Since that's clearly not working, when Oxy went to grab one of the law-enforcers, they quietly decided to go back on the deal. Just as Oxy's "human shield" manages to shout his warning, there's a blinding flash of light as a flashbang the leader of the lizards discreetly rolled on the floor goes off. It's immediately followed by a hail of pulse lasers to cover the reptiles' retreat. If Oxy doesn't move quick, and depending on his facing, he either finds himself accidentally serving as a "human shield" for the guy he grabbed, or finds out the guy he grabbed doesn't make much of a shield against lasers as the beams go right through him.

---

[Deglargo HQ - Beryl & Spike]

Spike puffs his chest and gloats as the other soldier runs away in terror. "That's right! Fear me! FEAR THE MIGHTY DEVILMAN! BWAHAHA! THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY HAS NO PEER!"

Then he looks at Beryl. "Ah, your words are music to my dark soul, fair lady! It is clear my fearsome reputation preceeds me! But ..."

He leans closer to Beryl and continues by whispering. "... I'd very much like to know where you heard all this. Honestly, I only came up with my special technique last sunday when I was thinking of how to get rid of that annoying Solitus guy."

Remember: this Spike's some two hundred years younger than the Spike who fought Goku. He's not even managed to win the World's Martial Arts tournament yet. "Hell, I'm not even sure why I am here, I mean, someone summoned me, obviously, but it looks like the summoner bailed, because there was no-one around to finish the contract. While we're at it, where is here? All I see are these crazy strong weird looking people all Hell-bent on killing each other."

---

[Unknown destination - Lagerin]

Go through the cave, or through the cave? If Lagerin would've gone the other way, he would've found it ends in a perfectly serviceable door.

Anyways, the lizard looks prepared to fight Lagerin with just raw strength when Lagerin destroys its equipment, and is somewhat confused when Lagerin lets it go. It quickly retreats and dives into the pool.

Lagerin might realize the pools also serve as entryways to some kind of underwater tunnel system, leading to other caves. Some caves have moss and glowing fungi growing in them. Some pools have small, pale fish in them, which are merrily feasted upon by the lizards.

Eventually, if he keeps moving or just turns around, he finds himself facing a corridor lined with egg-filled rack again, and a steel iris which opens with a press of a nearby button. Behind it is a curving steel corridor, continuing both left and right. Lagerin might realize the corridor forms a circle around the cave system at the center. There are more doors ahead, leading away from the caves - if Lagerin takes a peek, he'll see they are filled with recuperation tanks and other medical equipment.

It's only a matter of time before he runs into the facility staff, if doesn't decide to just crash through the ceiling, compromising the facility's integrity and exposing himself to the harsh outside environment of some airless, lightless piece of space rock.

[Rater202]

The depth.

Poka's response is a perfectly rational "KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!"

Which she tries to do with a burst of magic fire using a supped up version of a spell Poka gets from Barbara.

"...You know, maybe we should come back and explore this place later. With the others. And flamethrowers.".

With the Lizard Jerks

Oxy jumps and spins to avoid laser blasts and tosses his now useless human shield in the direction of his peers.


"Okay, you clearly don't know when to give up."

Still spinning in the air, Oxy fires what at first seems to be a random barrage of energy blasts but upon closer inspection is actually rather carefully aimed.

About half of the blasts are aimed at the weapons of the Lizard Men, powerful enough to break them.

the rest are aimed at the lizard men themselves and are strong enough to incapacitate.

Those blasts are specifically aimed at crotches.