Hunting a Murakumo

========>The Imperial Bunker

To put matters bluntly, the facility was in shambles. Piles of mutilated bodies lay scattered across the courtyard and throughout the halls, deep gouges in the steel walls and stone were a dead give away to the blades of a Murakumo. Granted, there was only a light number of guards on duty here, barely enough to run the facility much less defend it, the fact that only one or two intruders had done this much was impressive. Then again this was the Grim Reaper and the Sword of the Imperator afterall. The 13th sample had not been with the Bloodedge during his assault on the bunker which made this the last place she was sighted. If he could not find her with a physical search of the area, Relius could always attempt to track her via her biometric signature. Having been one of the leads in the Murakumo project, Clover was well aware of Nu's abilities and inner workings. Engaging her in direct combat would be a tedious affair yes, but once that was taken care of shutting her down and reinstituting her proper programming would be child's play.

Behind his gold mask Relius' eyes scanned the darkness, someone had already taken notice of his presence. Too early to tell if it was indeed the 13th though. "I know you've been watching me for some time now and I highly suggest you reveal yourself. I must confess my patience is not the best today."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>(From the Former Heirarchical City, Ibukido)

As Rho had been tracking this strange guy with the mask, there was only one thing on his mind at the moment and that was to get himself a new fight, pronto. He didn't care what it was or who it was, as long as they could give one to him. He was sure for some reason or another that this guy with the mask knew better about it. Low and behold he was right, the guy would pick up on his following with little need to glance back right? The words he spoke meant he knew he was here, why the hell not show up? He was feeling like a good game today, this guy would give him one.

"So, you're the masked guy I've heard about. Some punk soldiers from that N.O.L thing do like confessing, thinking that was what I was after. But nope, I was just looking for a fight, none of them played good. How about you pal? They called you 'Relius-sama', so I'm going to assume you're the Relius Clover mentioned in my old memories. Just the same I don't care, as long as you fight...good that is." there was no reason or rhyme to his sudden building strength.

This man's very presence irked him, something about him made the nanites within his body activate the Ars within his body before he could command it; the plasma phase gauntlets hissed to life...he grinned widely at this. They were this afraid of this guy? The nanites spoke of the horrors this man could be capable of, Rho was far too excited to let any old grudges he had against it all: Magic, science, whatever else made him the way he was. This guy was certainly going to give him a fight and he desired just that.

Warning Host: Rho Digamma...the subject, Relius Clover is a combatant of high caliber and possesses a Nox Nyctores Class weapon-, almost immediately he cut it off, it wasn't that he didn't find it useful, but that was enough already for him. "Alright, so gear up stage man, I want to play...I don't intend to hold back on you." this would be fun indeed.

Relius remained utterly stoic as the mysterious observer revealed himself. It was a cyborg of some sort, one with an extremely outdated design dating to the Black Beast era if he was not mistaken. That being said, at first glance it seemed as if it was fully functional, a testament to just how well it had been constructed. Keeping his arms at his side in a neutral stance, Relius' expression remained completely devoid of insight into the inner workings of his unique mind. He had come here searching for a rogue experiment and had stumbled across a blood thirsty remnant of the past. "How intriguing. It's been quite a long time since I've seen one of your models walking about." While Relius himself remained stationary, from around the corner of the nearby NOL base a metallic figure appeared. The Flux Reductum: Ignis had appeared and moved silently to her master's side, her razor sharp claw glinting menacingly. "My purpose here has nothing to do with you. I would prefer to avoid pointless confrontation with an outdated model such as yourself but I doubt that would satiate your desire for battle."

As he heard his words, they only made him smirk at the sight of the large figure that appeared. "So this is the famed Nox Nyctores...I am uncertain of the strength, wht would it be eh? I think that I will enjoy this; since you are going so far to show me this thing. I'm definitely going to have to give it my all." was he sure that he'd be walking from this in one piece? Of course not, he had no intention, this was his lustful abandon for battle. He loved it...the rush through his body, however something here that might surprise Relius he imagined was just the fact that he had nanites...his model was horribly outdated, but here it seemed that he was greater than that. An evolved set of powers had come to him in the time since he was out of use.

It was one of the ways he'd just realized he could manipulate his body of strength, this would be working out in his favor and not that of his foe(s) if he had anything to say about it. "I've got a nice surprise for you masked man Relius, its called 'Cellular Cells open, optimal combat overheat' and through this we can really let loose...let's have some fun, no need to worry about that other model you're looking for, ya get me?" as far as he was certain, whenever this other model came he would play with her too; if he were still battle capable.

Though minutes after speaking the word, his skin opened up, revealing a less human looking skintone; this was the 'exhaust mode' persay, that the nanites had developed to shunt off excess bodyheat. This just meant one thing: He'd be fighting harder...faster and much longer than normal, he was perhaps at 150% his normal capabilities, this would be a smash up for a fight.

Note: (really just 50% xD, he's not massively capable of much more honestly, he maxes at 200%, and he can hold that even less. o:)

Still observing silently, Relius appeared unimpressed by the stranger's powerup. It was something of an interesting occurance, but nothing Ignis couldn't easily deal with. Behind his mask his eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. "Ignis, attack pattern sigma." he said coldly. As soon as the words left his lips, the crimson puppet rushed forward with both it's massive arm raised overhead. Those powerful fists would come crashing downwards in a devastating collision against the cyborg's shoulders with enough force to crush a full grown man. However, as Ignis initiated her portion of the attack, Relius acted aswell. Lowering himself to one knee, he placed his right hand on the ground and transmuted the earth behind Rho causing a sturdy wall of stone to rise up behind in cutting off any escape to the rear.

Rho grinned at the frontal attack, one of strength was it? Well as eager as he was to test the moment of power, he was also a little smart...sometimes. Rho threw himself to the right in a tumble to avoid those powerful hands, of course the act was not to say entirely fast enough; as one of those giant fists would graze the back of his ankle while he tumbled forward. There was little reaction from Rho beyond excitement at the blow, he loosely initiated a repair command. 'Sector Y of the ankle joint is damage, repair order delta-phi.' the order was given while he decided to make the move his own.

Launching his body forward with both fists drawn back, while he wasn't as strong as the puppet that attacked him; his body had been made of tougher alloys now, mixed with others while he rested for those 80 years...not to say his overall metallic structure changed, but segments of it were replaced with more durable metals that were nearby as he slept. He was largely unchanged, but with the strength of both fists, charged with plasma from his previous charges; he released all of it into the side of the puppet with great force. Holding nothing back in the blow, it was sure to send the puppet flying back. After all if anything Rho did have going for him, it was brute strength. Even though his ankle was being repaired, his speed was definitely hindered and he was clearly aware of it; not that it mattered in his mind. "How's that feel puppet?! You're next Puppet man!" his words of course laced with a growing wish to pound the man into a puddle of flesh, to turn the Nox into a pile of scrap if he could. This was no hatred...but pure and unadulterated love of violence.

The cyborg's fists crashed against Ignis' side charged with plasma and the Flux Reductum flew back from the force of the blow but there was no visible damage to her pristine crimson shell save for a few scratches and light scorch marks. It would take far more than that to bring down Relius' crowning glory. The Puppet Master smirked darkly at the cyborg's fierce efforts. He wouldn't be put down without a fight alright. Then again, neither would Relius and his puppet. Ignis fell to the earth several yards away and skidded along the dirt on her side before rising to her feet without delay. Crossing his arms over his chest, Relius kept his composure and simply ordered his puppet to attack once more. Her arms cocked to her waist, Ignis rushed Rho with long powerful strides. When she was just outside of arms reach, she lashed out in a double stabbing motion with her razor sharp claws. The strikes were aimed at Rho's shoulders to not only would injuries there inhibit the range of motion his arms had, but also immobilize him temporarily for the follow up strike. Using the long appendages attached to her headdress, Ignis would attempt to flatten the cyborg once more.

This time Rho had not been as simple about his actions with the puppet, as he noted that she was certainly strong enough, living up to the term 'Nox Nyctores' very easily to rise from one of his double impact blows. As far as strength went, he knew that the puppet had the advantage, that was cool...he was saving this trick for one other before this; but he decided to make use of it now; watching her arms parted wide, he knew better than to underestimate the doll as he did the first time.

"Well gotta do, what I gotta do...Plasma flair!" the words marked the maneuver of the moment, he released the small charge of plasma that had been stored within his gauntlets; the same moment as he leapt into the air partway before using that plasma boost to shoot him high into the air, while the Cyborg angled his body according to be the most aerodynamic; his eyes and scanner never fell off of Ignis. He was back building the heavy charge of his inner Ars Magus: Happa Banryoku, he was sure that the masked man didn't know he possessed it; but he knew well that he might need it. He would focus first...on the puppet. Perhaps he could have trashed her first, damaged it enough with an internal shock through a full power blast through his assault. It would have to be well calculated, for now Rho used some of that intelligence that he often reserved for a battle of this caliber; how he resented thinking...but it had its purposes really.

His arms still crossed over his chest, Relius studied the cyborg carefully, all the while making mental calculations and notations. He certainly had an advantage over Ignis in terms of agility but his prized puppet seemed to hold a major advantage in brute strength. Durability had yet to be determined but at the very least it appeared as if the cyborg's main weapons were located in its' gauntlets. Their nature was a mystery but at the very lest the specimen was creative. There would be ample time for study once it had been deactivated. As the relic landed behind Ignis after his acrobatic leap, Relius almost smirked...almost. "Ignis. 214 D." he commanded his puppet. Immediately, the puppet's arms twisted backwards well past the limits of a human's shoulder joints. Her fingers pointed directly at Rho's chest before extending with the blinding speed of a spear thrust to try and take the antique by surprise. In addition to this, Relius joined in the assault personally by transmutating another section of stone, this time creating a conical spike protrusion behind the cyborg attempting to impale him from behind while Ignis penetrated him from the front.

Rho realized just the jam he was in, while he hadn't looked back his systems were going nuts, trying to tell him all the action going on at once. 'Warning, approaching stone lance from behind. Warning, lancing blades from the front., the cyborg cursed the system for stating the obvious and took a chance. "Damn...you're something else, masked man! Happa Banryoku, activate!", he did it...he used the charge of his Ars Magus and unleashed a shockwave from his epicenter that would surely be enough to destroy the transmuted stone. To say that he was still in a pickle fit the bill.

Even though he destroyed the cone-shaped stone aimed for his back, his only defense now was to bring both of his bulky gauntlets and arms up in a form of defense; he took a chance with his defensive maneuver while his body assessed the damage. 'Release of Ars Magus from the center body: 10% damage to surface skin cells, 12% inner-damage total. Ill advised relea-', he cut it off right there, as he took the rest of the energy that he'd charged and released it once more. "Happa Banryoku, activate!" this shuddering blast echoing from the tops of his phase gauntlets, while his metallic gloves gave off a hiss of plasma; they were freshly charged...but the damage was racking up, as another damage report came in. 'Total damage to arm components: 22%, PHASE Gauntlet conductivity down 27%' this only bringing a new curse to him.

His dodging strategy had caused him some serious efficiency, with his ability to continue this fight; he'd need to do something...fast.

(OoC: Hope that wasn't too cheap dodging, I tried to keep it even through use of his Ars, lemme know if it should be editted there Relius~)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>(From 'Sector Seven Arrives')

Kageo landed on the outskirts of where he sensed the plasma traces in the air, through Nihongo he had been able to track the plasma samples taken earlier to this very point. Things seemed to be right about the area, though he could sense something else within the area; but something else that made him shiver to the core. As he crept closer to the area, spying the green light from emitting shunted plasma of sorts; he was almost not sure how he should react.

"Noel-san, there is...the assailant, but it appears that he is not alone. I sense a Nox Nyctores in action, the readings are..." he took a moment to be sure that it was just what he sensed right now, surely it was not Nirvana. It felt similar, but that he knew for a fact was held by the young Carl Clover. This device seemed almost sinister in its nature. 'Nox Nyctores confirmed: Flux Reductum Ignis. Warning: Danger reaches the rating of extreme, exert extreme caution and abort objective.' the last words Kageo almost shivered at, were ignored. As he drew Nihongo and gripped it tightly, as long as he didn't get too badly damaged here...let alone thinking about something worse, he decidedly would proceed in this action.

"Noel-san, this weapon is wielded by...Relius Clover of the Novus Orbis Librarium; we must not be too direct as conflict with him will end truly bad. he knew it, there was no way that getting wrapped up with Relius would end well for them.

----------> (From "Sector 7 Arrives")

Noel was transported by Kageo and listened to his warnings. "A Nox Nyctores you say?" She shivered at the mere mention of Ignis: she knew that word meant the presence of Relius Clover, and she immediately summonned her new guns, the Ars Armagus Eyludr, in her hands. Turning the two guns into what seemed to be a sniper rifle, Noel told Kageo quietly: "I am your person if it comes to distance fight. We just have to finish that assailant without being detected." She was ready and started to walk calmly towards where her target was fighting.

The cyborg's first pulse shattered the brittle stone easily enough and the second pulse was even powerful enough to push Ignis back several feet. Her metal feet slid across the ground as he sharpened claws were diverted away from their target. At this, even Relius smiled a bit. It was a disturbing, bone chilling grin that often appeared on the face of children dissecting a frog for the first time, blissful in their utter control and the discovery of new knowledge. Extending his right arm straight to his side at shoulder height, the transmutation circle engraved on the back of his prosthetic hand glowed blue as the stone beneath him was pulled upwards and molded into a razor sharp javelin. Hefting the weapon over his shoulder, he absentmindedly inspected the point with his thumb. Seemingly satisfied with the point, he gazed at Rho from the corner of his eye. In truth, his theatrics were something of a delay tactic. That last pulse of plasma had disabled Ignis' systems for a moment. She would be able to reset in a few seconds but all the better to draw Rho's attention away from her entirely. Without warning he flung the spear towards him, the transmutated weapon soaring towards Rho's chest.

As soon as the javelin left his hand, he noticed the arrival of even more unexpected guests. One was the cybernetic kaka he had encountered in the docks of Kagetsuchi, but the other... It was none other than the 12th sample, Mu aka Noel Vermillion. Following her defeat at the hands of Ragna the Bloodedge her usefulness had all but vanished. The fact that she had defected to Kokonoe's Sector 7 was immaterial but their presence here could become bothersome. All this and he had not even made contact with the 13th sample yet. Oh well, things would reach their resolution soon enough.

There was no time to lose now, it was a gamble time and this was the motion made; he threw himself to his right...hard. Spinning the body in an attempt to use the extra momentum to avoid the weapon already in flight. No smart-alec words and no foolish comments followed, just a grunt as the spear shredded through the upper-segment of his left shoulder. Due to his spinning it hadn't been completely bad, but it was enough that he naturally acted out on his next plan, since he was to ignore this whole thing: swiftly and completely.

'Execute Omega Episilon, I must take control, worry bout healin' later!', the shoulder immediately falling to his control as he felt the pain of it shooting harshly, there was enough of a bend in his arm. He grinned at it since it fueled his desire to crush his opponent and at this point he threw himself into a bend backwards, before he thew the stop lines out the window; he was giving it to this masked man. "I got something you for big chin! Have at this Masked man, Ars Magus, Happa Banryoku, break your limit!! Join me in...Plasma....Diviner!!" the maneuver was his most powerful...his plasma had activated, beyond their limits; sure enough he was unveiling something that he never hoped he would have to.

The last of his efforts in an all outwave, his gauntlets were going to be so done after this...he knew it'd take something like a week to fix as this was. A final crushing wave of his strongest plasma shockwave, propelled by the force of his Ars Magus, he had nothing more to offer and knelt there as his skin hissed and released a violent steam; hissing as his gauntlets sure enough lacked any form of a defensive trait. They were justly melted, he was gonna depend on this before he could move on out of here; unaware of those from Sector Seven.

Noel was with Kageo, moving as quietly as possible, to keep their presence unknown to the cyborg assailant, but even more to Relius Clover, whom both of the Sector 7 agents feared. Stopping at a high position, Noel calmed herself as she aimed at the cyborg's head, and fired: the energy she sent from Eyludr would be likely to take the cyborg down instantly. Now she just had to remain unseen, waiting for Relius to leave.

As helpless as Rho had been during this point, the shot hit him around the base of his neck. The cyborg's body was resilient, but after weakening it from within with the use of the Ars, the powerful blast of energy held its point towards putting him down. He of course knew that he was finished here, he cursed lowly while glaring up in her direction. He knew the trajectory the moment after it hit him.

"Y-Ya stupid...blond!" the last words he'd utter consciously...hating the girl who'd just hit him. He wasn't sure where the hell she'd come from, but he could put it into prospect, he had only just attacked Sector Seven a short time ago. He knew that she was probably from there, that was one of two things he'd have guessed. As consciousness left him, he felt himself a little relieved, he might not end up in the hands of the Phantom of the Opera instead; something about the man irked even him...down to the core. Those were some of his last thoughts before he fell limply to the ground.

Slippery aren't we? Relius commented silently in reference to Rho's impressive evasion skills. The specimen had managed to avoid being impaled and escaped with only a graze. Suddenly, a massive buildup of power alerted the Puppeteer to a danger he had not yet anticipated. With monstrous force, Rho's blast of plasma came bearing down on Clover like a great tide. Dropping to one knee, he slammed his palm against the ground with a previousely unseen urgency. If that hit...

"Alchemic Bonding!" he said with disdain, furious that he had been forced to call out the name of his signature technique. Before him three stone walls were erected, one foot thick and with a foot between each of them. It was the best defense he could construct in such a short notice. The first was was all but disintegrated instantly, barely slowing the blast. The second held for a few seconds before it too crumbles under the stress. The final wall held strong for some time, hot plasma burning through it but drastically slowing down and losing it's fury. Bracing his mechanical right arm against the wall, Relius prepared for the inevitable. His walls should have absorbed enough of the energy for him to finish the job. As if sensing his preparedness, the final wall broke and the remainder of the blast poured through, slamming into Relius' outstretched palm. Already in a kneeling position, relius would not give way any more and held his ground against what was left of the blast.

As his right hand glowed red hot and the internal servos quivered under the strain, the wave of power finally dispersed. Almost immediately, Clover's right arm dropped to his side limply. The inner workings were utterly fried and the palm still glowed red hot from its' brief plasma bath. "That...was quite careless of me. Had that attack of yours connected I daresay it would have killed me." Standing up, he brushed off his cape and slowly advanced on the now immobilized cyborg. Kokonoe's subordinates had done well to put him down. Now all that remained was to collect him. Orders aside, this thing had untapped potential. "Ignis, Omoikane, restrain the cyborg and escort him to the Bunker." he said, casually summoning forth the powerful Omoikane Unit. He doubted he would need her, but with his right arm disabled a little backup wouldn't hurt. Along with that she was a good way to discourage Sector 7 from interfering any further.

The powerful Omoikane unit, as Relius stated it was, appeared as a little girl, looking like a dark blue remake of . Her soulless sky blue eyes stared at her target as she heard her master's voice. "Objective is the capture of the target. Threat level is B." Aomi walked slowly and noticed the agents of Sector 7 hiding somewhere away: "New subjects detected. Number of subjects is two. First subject identified as the Murakumo Unit µ-12, threat level is S+. Second subject identified as a Kaka... Threat level is A+. Subjects aren't determined to be hostile." She didn't go to engage close combat as it was a weak point for her, so she just started hovering around the cyborg, and waiting for Ignis to make the move... she was mostly a backup Unit after all.

Kageo knew what had to be done...Noel had disabled him and now it was time for him to retrieve him, though this would not be something simple. Kageo's body already began to resonate as Nihongo began to awaken. "Nyow Noel-san, begin the retreat, I will retrieve the target. You've done your part and now I must do mine. Awaken, the sacred song of the waning moon, Kagennotsuki! The Final swing...that the Waning Moon cries; Artifice Resonance!!" the double release had been all in an instant, as the kaka suddenly engaged in a pace faster than the eye could see.

Within the single leap the kaka aimed his body directly for the downed cyborg, his appearance would be possible to follow for those of such a level, his power briefly crossed into a threatening territory; but as long as he kept this trip fast, it wouldn't be so bad. Immediately after rising from the kneeling position, his arms swept around the ridiculously heavy body which drew the kaka to speak to Kagennotsuki. 'Artifice Core System: Increase physical output via the Artifice Resonance, acknowledging difficulties...I'll bear with it.' this was a simple real-world factor, he was not superhuman in the portion strength and even with his improved physical attributes, without the resonance's help he wouldn't be able to lift him. The kaka heaved the cyborg over his shoulder with some effort, while the artifice cores blazed to life; though he'd activated the resonance he chose just now to unleash it.

The aura burned around the kaka as he hissed, this resonance hurt him so much on the skin level, unlike seithr which felt normal to him, the artifice resonance was slightly weaker and less threatening to his body. "We're...leaving!" the point in time was the moment he let the surge of energy flair to his feet, in this action he very simply took off of the ground; leaping as high as he could, hoping to find it was enough to break the wall's height and allow him to ease over it with the cyborg in tow. He knew well...he'd become a target of the puppeteer with this.

By the time she heard Kageo leaving with the cyborg, Noel did the job she assigned herself: randomly firing at any opponent to cover their retreat. "Come here Kageo!" She gunned repeatedly at her enemies, still unsure about their retreat. "If we get captured, the Professor will most likely won't leave me from her eye... I must make this alright."

Aomi noticed the Kaka taking the cyborg away, but she took her time turning around to where they fleed, then to Relius. "Target is fleeing... Demanding orders concerning current situation. Huh...?" Upon detecting the firing, Aomi used an shielding Ars to protect Ignis, Relius, and herself. Asking herself for her mission, she said:"Goal is capture of the Murakumo Unit ν-13. Capture of target and Murakumo Unit µ-12 aborted." She then teleported back to Relius' side, waiting for their next move.

Relius stood tall, the picture of apathy as he attended to the injuries inflicted to his mechanical arm. As expected, Aomi effectively blocked the oncoming attacks from the Sector 7 rabble that were so desperately launched to mask the kaka claiming the cyborg's body. His right eyebrow twitched at the creature's speed and ability to lift something as substantial as Rho. However, that was most likely the limit of it's abilities, such a pity he had revealed them for so pointless a goal. No matter, the relic was a secondary curiosity at best. If Kokonoe wanted it so badly she was welcome to it, Relius had much bigger prey. Turning with a flourish, Clover sauntered towards Ignis and Aomi, his cape hiding his limp right arm. "Ignis, Omoikane, begin scanning for traces matching the 13th Boundary Interference Device. I have no interest in Sector Seven at the moment."

Kageo was relieved once he found that he was not being chased, at this point with the resonance only 2 minutes in use, he decided it necessary to get them all back to Lambda's battle site. He would not get in the way, but with this move he intended to keep his promise: returning to Lambda's side with a mission complete. Despite the weight of the cyborg, he told himself to bear with it; he would get no stronger if he always gave into limits, this one included.

"Meow, I owe you one Noel-san, quickly hope onto my back okay? I'm gonna take us back to Lambda-san, we can all return to base with a mission complete." though even as he stood still, he could feel the teetering from the cyborg's body, in truth he didn't have that much time to wait; but he would give Noel a moment to decide what she wanted to do before either taking all of them to Lambda in that next moment or so, or leave Noel to move on foot. This all depending on what she wished to do.

Noel had covered her retreat with Kageo with abnormal ease, like if the NOL wasn't interested in her capture. The loss of the "wanted by all" status really relieved her. She ran to Kageo, and upon noticing the weight he was already bearing, started to run on her own: she was perfectly able to run as she didn't use much energy until that moment. "We would better help Lambda quickly. The faster I'm back to the HQ, the better it is." She thought that her presence in that little excursion could still be hidden from Kokonoe's ears.

--------------------------> Exit to "Sector 7 Arrives".

"Alright, here we go!" He said after her, leaping into the air and using the remaining minutes he had to power the retreat back to Lamba's side, he was probably at about 3 minutes now, the moment wouldn't be lost as long as he could de-activate the mode of combat. The artifice resonance was still under his control, even though it had already been depleting his reserves of power. Taking off after Noel, he fled the area; no longer paying a mind to the presences behind them.

(Exuent to 'Sector Seven Arrives')~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>