Free from fire and free to begin plummeting to the ground despite flapping, fraying wings, Draconua twists to grin at Bone with all her grisly teeth on display. "PALTRY, ORDERED FLAME. SO PRECISE AND YET SO EASILY DISPELLED!"

"YOU'LL FIND THAT CHAOS IS NOT SO EASY TO DISMISS." Arcs of black lightning crackles from her form, every bit of her mane rising with the static even with the wild winds.

The thunder breaks at the same time as the lightning bolt begins to crash through the air, arrowing for Bone. "DIE, THRALL!"

@Bone

Bone was no longer paying attention to Draconua. Her gaze glanced down, empty now, as the curl of void winds crushed away the flame--but the leviathan of the sky was plummeting. And Mother's voice was ringing in her mind, showing her new targets. Was it a great insult, to be ignored-? Bone did not care, nor think of this.

She simply banked away, relying on her shimmering Dragonhide to deflect the worst of the blow, should it strike.

White wings swept past, pumping for the beach, leaving the unholy surge of energy crackling scarring lines up her scales. The most glancing of blows, and given the flash of magic over her body, it was clear Bone hardly felt it. Her full attention--about the time Draconua was ranting about fire--was on the beach, and she left the hussar-winged monstrosity behind.

Let her fall; Bone had more important things to focus on.

Her wings beat powerfully at the air, and she dropped down lower, pale eyes fixed in intense focus on the beach and the distant figures ahead. Her speed carried her close and low, her wings folding and jaws opening as she came in close.

There were no words, no speeches and no mockery.

Just open jaws and a roar of flame guttering out and down to engulf the one attacking Orthus, her kindred--the one with the weapon, the one swathed in foul corruption.

BE CLEANSED, she thought, savagely, as heat flared out blinding bright. Her mind did not imagine cleansed. Her mind imagined burned, charred to a crisp, and dead.

Nidhogg would doubtless die if he remained stucked down here. To that end, he used this chance Zoisite had bought him to try and escape--not to flee the battle completely, but to get out of this death-pit.

"Fuck--YOU!" he managed as he scrambled free, leaving streaks and clots of bloodied sand behind him.

It wasn't entirely clear where he'd gotten this word, or even to whom, exactly, he was hissing it at--but he broke free down the beach, scrambling a safe distance away before turning to reorient himself. The chaos--the passage of a firebreathing dragon overhead and the clash of weapons and roars of battle--were both intimidating and invigorating, and left the little chaos monster with a rapidly-shifting, unsteady focus.

The thud of heavy wings fast-approaching drew his attention swiftly. We are being overwhelmed, he realized, with alarm. There were too many Drones fast converging on he and his child--on the Warden--and he could do nothing to protect them both. To add to that, the swirling sickness in his gut was growing, a horrifically unwell sort of feeling.

He turned, and spotted the white dragon banking down, her eyes locked on him, jaws opening--flame roaring up deep within her gullet.

Without thinking he hefted back the halberd--he saw the opportunity for a swift kill, here. It would leave him vulnerable--but he already was. As the fire bloomed, light lancing toward him, he threw the halberd with all his might, a thrust upward straight for those open jaws.

Then-... he ducked.

The coil of searing fire crackled over his back, and interrupted abruptly--an agonized choked-off roar followed by an explosion of flame, and the crash and slide of an enormously heavy body on the beach just to his other side.

"Mir...WRECKED?" Mirac parroted. "HAH! Mirac GETS it!" And then Ace came, diving for him. Mirac did not step aside, instead he looked up, willing the air itself to thwart Ace.

One moment she was soaring downward, jaws open, all the fury of Mother's rage and family love driving her lower and fuelling her roaring flame.

The next, a spear of black agony was driving through her jaws, her throat--almost belatedly she registered the pain, even as her body abruptly failed her. Wings faltered and went limp, the flame that had been welling in her chest smoldering and lashing back, igniting her own throat and gut. A roar of agony, choked-off, was followed a split-second later by a blinding, impossibly heavy crash into the sand, face-first, the foul weapon's axe-blade thrusting a murderous wound through head and neck.

Gone was any idea of fury, of Draconua, even of the Hive--only this last moment of agony, of retching and the spill of hot blood, the savage twitch of muscles as her body struggled and failed to rise. Then a rising darkness, as first unconsciousness and then a sheet of diamond rose to take her.

technically doubleposting but this is Bone's exit post and I gave myself permission
exit Bone to chrysalis

"Mirac APPLAUDS your efforts, but MIRAC is the one, TRUE blade. Mirac cannot be so EASILY thwarted. Mirac's oily stick shall REMAIN in your airspace." With Ace skirting by so close, Mirac was given a perfect opportunity to stop him from re-entering the air. "SkyREAVER will become the one in the sand. Mirac shall make you SkyDIER!" With another cackle, Mirac channeled his Magicka. A oily patch grew from the sand, swelling into a tentacle, before collapsing under its own weight. It lost cohesion, soaking the sand with black sludge. "HELL." Mirac said, disappointed.

@Ace

Orthus experienced many emotions in the span of a few seconds. First rage, at the centaur. Then relief, love at it's siblings assistance. Then dread. Despair. Rage bubbling once again. "BONE!" Orthus boomed, a desperate tinge to his voice. Gone was the fury at the centaur. However temporary the loss was, however Ill advised it was to charge at the Sentinel, Orthus would avenge a fallen sibling. Orthus ignored the warden's taunts, charging to snap his jaws on one of the Sentinel's limbs. Orthus would see how these chaotic beings would bleed, instead.

That's what Orthus would do, had he actually made it to the Sentinel. Instead, Orthus found himself slipping in the oilslick beneath him, what had been intended to be a chasm. Orthus' jaws were dunked into the sand, filling with that. While normally Orthus would have enjoyed that, the sand had a disgusting flavor, bitter and vile. Something unnatural. Orthus retched, spitting out as much of the sand as he could.

@the Sentinel

ORDER VS CHAOS

THE SIEGE

Mother could not react quickly enough to tamp out the sudden sensations of agony and death that seared through the Hivemind from Bone's impalement. The blinking out, so abrupt and final, of a life that had--only seconds before--been raging for her family was like the snuffing of a flame: light and furious heat into empty nothingness. Mother could not protect them from that sensation--but she wielded it as a weapon, a rallying cry for her childrens' fury.

"AVENGE HER!" came the cry, a spike of agonized righteous fury driving through every Order soldier present. Her flame would be lit in them, drive them on, ignite their rage if it were not already sparked.

Warden and The Sentinel were still her prime targets. And Vargas, now, as well: she showed him clearly along their link. "Destroy the head, and the body will fall!" This order rang along their link--whichever target was closer, they should focus on.

The three Praetors who had reached Orthus to defend him now lunged for The Warden and The Sentinel, respectively: two for the former, and one for the latter. (The Warden need roll defense only once for both attacks.)

---

Anyone may join this thread at any time, for any reason. (If you join to pick flowers on the side, note you may be injured in the crossfire.)

Chaos/Order successful rolls will be added to the overall Order vs Chaos event tally. Other characters of any alignment are welcome to try and stop them. THIS IS A FREE-FOR-ALL BATTLE THREAD: a character who is attacked may post additionally to roll for defense against each attack, as well as posting once for their own single action. See the Order vs Chaos Master Thread for scoring and more information!

SCORE TALLY

325

310

round four

@Vargas (Sentinel, Nidhogg, etc.) @Alcina @Cain (Zoisite) @Rue @Draconua @Azrael (Glory, Warden, Asimona) @V-Hiddenite-One @Orthus (Mirac) @Juggernaut @V-Labradorite-One @Siren @Ace @Pickles @Scorn