It was going bad already, the demon gritting his teeth against the pain of the heat on his arm and the rage that filled him as each of Legion's lights blinked out above, roasted from the fire of the dragon and the rest snapped away as the queen disappeared. "LEGION," he roared his anguish as he held tighter to the gryphon. He didn't care if he knew this one before. He didn't care what their odds were. He knew that there was no way to win - he was going to make this hurt. He was going to make all of them hurt.

For threatening them, for threatening Mother, for killing Legion (or the majority of them at least), and for hurting all of his siblings. They'd pay! He let out a deafening roar and surged forward, ready to throw Eythan off of him, but then gravity suddenly shifted. At the same moment, he felt the sharp pain of claws in his chest and both forces combines startled him enough to let go. He snarled with surprise as he was suddenly flung back, body crashing into Sergei as some magical force flung him back. At that same moment, pain ripped across his body and his eyes widened as the mycelial life within him, the bits of Mother he carried, were suddenly forced out of his body. He screamed as white fungus sprouted across his body. No! Mother! Wait, MOTHER I'm sorry! It wasn't going to end like this!

Half-blinded by rage and pain, he opened all six eyes and cast them into the darkness. There...a white one, glaringly obvious against the black. His jaws opened wide and a spray of fire burst from his mouth, shooting toward the stag in a desperate attempt to fight back.

Azrael is attempting to breathe fire at Pride.

The fighting had started to suddenly and so furiously, the young panda's eyes widened with horror. She was frozen as she stared out of the den as the chaos unfolding. The darkness that she'd have to fight through to escape. She was scared - terrified - and Mother's dooming command echoing through her head wasn't helping.

Pallas was whispering through the link, towards her, to the other children, and she nodded, wordlessly. She had to run - she couldn't fight, she'd didn't have anything like the kind of strength the others had, she had never even fought before, even as practice! She'd run, just as Pallas said.

Steeling herself, she grabbed a bit of Mother, as much as she could carry in her mouth, and slipped out of the den, trying to steer herself away from the fighting, hiding in the darkness as best she could. To escape towards the tunnel that would lead her and Mother out of here.

Shoko is attempting to escape

Reign
He who is to be a good ruler
must have first been ruled

The cheetah shook his head, flashed his teeth.

Everyone was occupied, the war in full swing. What was he to do? He feared shocking his allies, but he wasn't built for physical combat. But-there! A small Gembound, probably not more than a cycle or two old, trying to flee from the fighting, carrying some of the fungus.

He dug his paws into the muck and took off at a dead sprint, intending on pinning her to the ground.

Reign is attempting to tackle Shoko

"Nice!" Hera called to Dread, banking to keep from getting burned, swooping down and eying everything that was going on. A bear was being piled on, and something massive was flying through the air, clearly not through its own power. And there was something trying to attack that panther, so she swooped up before twisting, pinning her wings down and rocketing down... down... down...

WHAM!

She didn't know what it hit, but she slammed into a branch right next to Nassir's head with a very audible crunch, crumpling into the muck, her right wing laying very unnaturally next to her.

Speech. Thought.

'I smell something.' Brother said, and Artume's had snapped up.

She'd been observing Mother, making sure She had enough to grow on, when Sergei spoke into the bond. It could be nothing, of course, so she stepped around to take another look, 'One of the Children comes. To us, or just this way, we do not know. There are others. Should I look closer?' and then there was Legion, alarm trickling through the bond.

Bold looked at her, concern trickling through their own. She stamped her hoof, paced--should she go look? But she had Mother here, needed to make sure She was alright, and the other growths planted nearby. Her grove was beautiful with all of Mother's growths, but She could always use more. 'Did someone invite the Children? Are they here to join our family? Yes, we think you should check. I will help, too. We see something as well. It flies, like us. It comes towards us. But, maybe they are not here for us. Maybe they will leave.'

If they needed help, she would come. So she listened, going still, tilting her head, though that wouldn't help, of course. Pallas spoke, and she stepped towards them, uncertain, before making up her mind. If Mother called for her, she would come.

And she did.

"Those who can fight, defend the Hive. Those who cannot... flee Cetus, and take me with you."

She barely took the time to tell Bold to watch Mother before bolting, sprinting through Eridanus as quickly as she could, weaving between trees and over fallen trunks, the path well trodden and easily remembered. The stag's hooves barely touched the ground as she ran, flying more than she ran, head low and leading with her antlers, ready to slam into anyone who dare attack her Family.

He was stopped in his tracks, bonking straight into a shimmering nothing. The nerve! This fool was to reject Mother? Chaos reigned over him, streaking, and his mind shut out the inputs in order to focus solely on his objective.

Nassir. He feinted at first to the left, watching to see if the shield would follow, before bracing and using the momentum to leap off to the right and dodge around the protection. He would inoculate this person! If they had magic, they'd be useful, and they may know more about the others, their weaknesses...

Claws out, he reached again for the offending face, wordless breath escaping his mouth. The shield had followed, and he bonked against it again, hissing with frustration and lashing his tail.

Pallas is attempting to go around the shield

Its mount bucked, and it dug in with claws, teeth gritting as it tried to hang on for long enough to crawl up the beast's back. It had been joined by a stranger- no! This was its prize! But... Well, it could realize when it was too small to take this down alone.

It had to hang on, first. It struggled, claws slipping in the pristine fur, a growling hiss rumbling up from its chest.

It would have to try again. Before it got knocked into anything, it jumped off, glancing to Alpha to assess the damage it had taken quickly. It could take this. With a confident, brief nod, Gamma burst into the middle of the fray, looking for its next- easier- target.

Gamma has slipped off of Sergei.

Twice the shield wavered beneath this little creature's force, and twice Nassir had to strain and keep its integrity. Even one bullet-like motion, it seemed, was enough to wreck the entire structure he'd worked towards maintaining. If he were any manner of humanoid, the beast would have sweat dripping down his temples from the strain.

This one was small and fast, carrying fungus and hissing, spitting. No doubt he'd go off and infect - perhaps a more valuable and powerful Gembound in this war band. Nassir wasn't narratively talking himself down, but considering the practical: infection was a threat, and they needed to remove it as quick as possible.

His shield wavered, the energy shimmering more rapidly until he finally released it with a soft pop! and shot out with a mental grip, pale eyes gleaming as they fixed upon Pallas. His grip may have been shaky at best, but Nassir managed - and manage he did. The little man he grabbed went flying across Cetus with a flick of his head. Let gravity or the layout of trees in this swamp decide.

Nassir attempts to throw Pallas across Cetus.

Mother's group was being torn apart.

Legion was down. Sergei was being overwhelmed. Shoko, Howl, Temperantia-... all breaking away, attempting to flee. Mother howled her anguish and rage along their links, and then fell quiet. Instead of a raging exhortation to battle, her link, her voice, became a sad and quiet song.

"Those who survive... those who come back to me... I will embrace you, if you embrace me." There was mourning in it. She knew what would happen, and through her, so did they: they would be torn from her.

They would forget her.

They would betray her.

"This nest is lost. Flee... if you can flee. Save yourself. Come no closer." And save me, said the unsaid quiet thought; save me and spread me, and feed me, and grow me once more...

____________

As the battle waged on, another fight reared its ugly head at the Cetus entrance.

Astraea had not accompanied them here, no; the nest alone he could have rooted out himself, once he knew its location. No; the more insidious nature of the Hive was that there would undoubtedly be further disgusting nests, nodes, throughout the caves. And he knew that, faced with attack, Mother would call its tainted children.

He stood stoic at the entrance, fungus now emerging along Tunnel H, subtle and small. Any Gembound who came in sight of him would already be dangerously within the bounds of his magic, and his own spread influence: surrounded by myriad miniscule mycelia, treading on what was now his ground.

Astraea waited silent, and any Gembound who came in sight would find the Master's magic lashing out at them to tear their Mother away.

_________

Round 3 begins. Gembound should respond to any attacks against their characters last round, whether to defend against them or to take damage and launch an attack instead. Remember: only one critical action is allowed per post. Post order does not matter.

Gembound coming from Pisces, Polaris, or Eridanus may arrive at Cetus' entrance this round.
Gembound in Orion, Monoceros, Canis, and Hydra may arrive at Cetus' entrance in one round.
Gembound coming from Fornax may arrive in two rounds if by land, or this round if by water.

Gembound arriving this round at Cetus' entrance must roll to defend against, or escape, Astraea's attack. Gembound arriving next round may instead hear Mother's warning to abandon the nest in time, and turn back if they so wish.

@Dragon (Pride, Dread, Giggle, Sergei, Legion)
@Aure (Phlegethon, Eythan, Howl, Nassir, Orthoclase-Alpha)
@Aries (Septiezal, Opal Three-Seven-Six)
@Selenite-Gamma (Serek, Pallas)
@Zyros (Aquamarine, Zelk, Tethys)
@Lamia (Azrael, Shoko)
@Hera (Ischium, Artume)
@Temperantia

Dragon had a moment to stop, to observe, and to think, as the battle raged on around him. His flame had not come, and so for the briefest, dull dark beat, a pulse in the battle, he looked. He didn't just glance; he saw. His head slowly scanned, back and forth, across this body leaping and that being thrown, and then he realized something.

The tree. Alligator eyes scanned upward--and now he was grateful for it, grateful that he was made to look up instead of down, and how metaphorical could that be?--Gah--but he stared.

"THE TREE!" he bellowed, his mind and body bursting back into the here-and-now. The hollow, broken trunk jutted overhead. The Hive members were clustered around it--and they'd lived here, hadn't they? Oliver had said as much. "IT MUST BE IN THE TREE! DESTROY IT IF YOU CAN!"

Always one for action, Dragon ditched the words, and inhaled again, the thrill of battle riding him.

His flames were shorter, guttering blasts instead of a flamethrower torrent--but they pointed the way, and they would hopefully keep anyone, at least, from trying to step on his face or something. The first embers and tongues of fire began to catch and lick at the tree trunk, at Mother's hollow core.