To be honest, Juggernaut had been expecting a different kind of battle today - one with clear front lines, marching armies colliding in their solemn marches toward oblivion, the beginning of the conflict being a single defined point in time that it could easily identify. It had been unprepared for what they had found; Something messy and layered and quickly devolving into the chaos Mother had sought to suffocate.

His eyes darted around - to the two creatures he and Ace had tried to comfort, seeming thoroughly unconvinced, the scuffle from behind as the bear tried to escape the praetors venom and Alcina's gnashing jaws, Bone circling, raining fungus from above - and the flush of warmth from Orthrus and Mother in response to his efforts, though they felt small in the scheme of things. For his sanity, he tried to focus on those last two feelings, echoing them back through the network. They'd get through this; Mother's plan had made sure of that.

Still, when his eyes caught sight of a slinking shadow, a panic shot through his limbs. The last gembound who had caught them off guard had killed a praetor, and even though he was running for his life currently, a life taken is something that cannot be replaced. What if it had been one of the drones instead? If Orthrus had been the one, Ace or Alcina or Siren or-

Words blared through the link, not Mother's, but Juggernaut might've first mistaken them as such just by the sheer strength behind them. Scorn, who had been absent previously, made up for their lateness in spades. It sent a wave of a mix of welcoming affection, excitement, encouragement - it had been a fool for doubting Mother, a paranoid fool. Its stingers flailed excitedly like waving arms as it sent its own word down the line, available to everyone but directed at Scorn in particular. "KILL!"

With new energy, he drove down a limb into the shallow earth, hoping to create pits as Orthrus had done. It kept an eye on its siblings still - if they required his aid, he would be there.

At first the rage that burned in Alcina's eyes at the sight of Sergei was simply that of beholding the enemy. The bear had presented himself as the opponent when he skewered that Praetor. But when Mother goaded Alcina on, telling her that Sergei had abandoned Her and her siblings, that rage transformed into some sort of a paladin's righteous fury.

"ABANDON MOTHER, AND YOU ABANDON LIFE!" she roars as she rights herself after her earlier ungraceful faceplant. Luckily Sergei's attempts against her while she was down had also missed. But then Sergei was gone, running with a swarm of Praetors in hot pursuit.

But Mother wanted - no, needed - to show Sergei what he'd earned. Alcina scrabbled over rocks and bones, leaping upon the bear just as he fell in the scattered bones. Her jaws opened wide, ready to latch onto his back.

Temperantia, after cycles of drifting, noticed something. Something was different. Something strange was happening. A hallowed caller flew past, squawking in terror, a few words on repeat. Normally Temperantia may have ignored it. But what it mentioned gave Temperantia pause.

The Hive. Mother. Order. Dontacael. The command echoed. Temperantia would consumed Dontacael. And Temperantia would. Their eyes narrowed, oil flowing freely from them without stopper. Their wings, long tattered and singed, long stained with oil, fluttered.

"We will end this," the Angel of Chaos spoke. Their voice did not waver. It was spoken as if it were fact. And then, they flew for Canis. After cycles without hair nor hide of Order, for Temperantia to consume--to destroy, they felt relief. Anticipation. Joy. The mandate would be satisfied, and then Temperantia would be free to exact their justice on Astraea.

Temperantia did not try for a stealthy entrance. They did not even entertain the idea. When Temperantia entered, it would be well known. When they did, their vision was consumed with the stain of Order. Her creatures were everywhere. Her praetors spread. Her orderly shapes and designs twisting the cave into something else. Disgust--no, that wasn't it. It was more complex. More simple. Infinitely more brutal than that. It was hunger that welled up.


"YOU ARE HERE!" Temperantia said. They felt the pull. Their mandate, so unignorable for all these cycles, chose their next words. The memory of the hole replayed, cyclical. Over and over. The oil flowed more freely from their eyes, and had Temperantia a mouth, they would have drooled. "WE ARE THE CUTTING KNIFE. WE ARE THE DROWNING WELL. WE WILL EAT DONTACAEL. WE WILL EXACT JUSTICE."

Its eyes, a multitude of pale yellow, watched everyone and everything. Saw everyone and everything. Order had its foothold here. High above, some of its eyes caught a dragon. Its scream of victory, spoke aloud soon, drew Temperantia's righteous fury. All their eyes locked onto it. Their wings, previously flapping at an odd unseen rhythm, were thrust their wings open. They gave a war cry of their own. "ORDER WILL NOT CONTROL THIS CAVE." From the center of Temperantia, light gathered, concentrated. Eagerness for destruction of Order, eagerness to rid the caves of His and Her influence.

It was an exaction of their pure justice. Temperantia had judged, and Temperantia would sentence her and her creatures. The light fired, a blinding white tinged with threads of purple, and it shot for the dragon. To blind. To disorient. To maim. Whatever happened, Temperantia knew that it deserved.

"When I speak."

When I think.

((Temperantia is aiming for bone!))

He got his arm up--and then a weight was on him, something lacerating that arm through the thick fur, his spear clattering to the floor. He was stunned--dazed--and for something his size, his bulk, his toughness, that was impressive.

It was terrifying.

He roared, a series of grunting bellows, as he thrashed and slapped, but this was not something that Sergei would escape.

note: Sergei will likely chrysalize from this damage, but I'll let Alcina go wild for a round first and see what exactly his BRUTAL MAULING will entail! he might also roll to slap before he 'dies'-

ultraviolet might have been safe with the shelter of shadow, but no matter how low he slunk through the paths of bones, cautiously eyeing the trenches and jagged spikes of ice and bone, he was little more than a sitting duck.

and as soon as one of the hive saw him, the fight for life and death began. chaos and order. perfection and total destruction. the massive boar had come from... behind? it tore the earth in its bloodlust, kicking the feline beast into panic mode. adrenaline surged through his veins, and he went from skulking to sprinting, tearing across canis's boneyard with desperation.

the boar was faster. ultraviolet turned in a last ditch attempt to swerve out of the line of danger, and scorn's jagged tusk clipped his hindquarters, tossing him aside. he scrambled to his feet, racing away from the boar in the opposite direction now, desperate to survive.

do not get caught.

not yet. not now. not here.

there was no sun in the caves, but there was indeed a star that burst in the middle distance, a streak of focused light that tore through the sky towards a threat that uv had yet to even clock. it didn't matter. he was an insignificant speck of shadow, laid waste by the heat-death of a bright white beam.

which was to say, that for ultraviolet, the beam of light brought by the angel of chaos just fucking flash-banged the cat in his miserable attempt to get to safety.

Bone was high--banking to her right, her left wingtip toward Temperantia as it entered. Her eyes slid toward Temperantia--and she began to turn that way--as the angel flashed a brilliant, blinding beam of light straight for Bone's eyes. She jerked her head away reflexively, a guttural roar of protest shattering the air around her, and turned to bank the other way.

A few unsteady flaps and she'd regained herself, having managed to turn away from the worst of it--and, blinking, she swept away from Temperantia until her eyes had cleared.

She was kept at bay, for a moment--but already, her wrath simmered.

Engaged in a bit of celebratory aerial acrobatics, resulting from the pride lavished upon him by his loving Mother for skillful efforts, the assault upon Bone had been a none too welcomed intrusion. Due to his own position being a decent distance away from where the dragon wheeled, the spear of daybreak streaking through the air only managed to clip Ace's sight; lucky enough to be in the midst of yet another one of his somersaults, he'd been yet to fully face the light beam, snout turned downward but away from the attack's point of origin. Nevertheless, what had struck stung like a thousand needle points, and so blinding fury was answered with an inarticulate bellow of his own. That noise turned into a rumble low in his throat once what must've been the culprit was spotted.

It hovered in place, wings thrust out, passing judgement through its many eyes. Defying Order much as it defied gravity: pitifully if he had any say in what its opposition amounted to. A pale imitation of the Hive's design philosophy, this enemy caused his fangs to clack together in a bared expression of challenge. All-seeing traits be damned—he would test speed and accuracy against its foreknowledge. No defense could be raised if actions were too quick to perceive.

What was more, he'd save his stalactite spikes for worthier prey to down. Wasting them on this pretender to flight would be a disgrace to the ingenuity behind their concept.

Freed of any need for secrecy the other tactic might have required, Ace saw no reason to quell his shouts. They tore out of jaws, laced with killing intent and more than a little mockery.

"Hey, wings! You're hogging the airspace. How about I ground you so the real flyers can play!"

He divebombed, advance a flurry of slashing limbs and snapping teeth. However, these were more for show than the actual attempt to harm. Soon as he was close, the Drone would tip sideways to sail by the target, tail curved inward to loop its stinger through the levitating ring. See if he could send it soaring into the farthest cavern wall.

@Temperantia

Temperantia's wing's fluttered in a harsh downward, a rare marker of emotion, as the dragon avoided their beam. They would stay ungrounded, polluting the air, for now. Distasteful. Bone did not keep Temperantia's attention for long, though. Ace easily took that over--his booming shout instantly drew Temperantia's ire and confusion. Temperantia did not have time to process what Ace meant before the Drone showed them.

They got out a solitary "what" before Ace swept down at them in a divebomb, surrounding Temperantia in a whirlwind of fangs and claws. Temperantia swerved, tucking their wings and shutting their eyes to avoid the claws, Ace's ferocity in the attack stunning them. The last thing Temperantia had been expecting was for that fierce attack to be the feint itself. Ace's tail easily swept them up, and Temperantia's flinging them at the wall. Temperantia's eyes snapped open. Their burned and crumpled wings flung out, rapidly flapping to avoid being flung into the wall. Or... smashed too hard into it, at least.

Temperantia's wings burned with the effort, but they felt themselves slow. There was a spark of hope they'd avoided it, but Temperantia felt the back of their ring crash into the wall. It hurt, Temperantia was likely bruised and scratched, but not gravely injured. They hissed as they rose, instantly searching for Ace again. Order had already had their fate decided, but that Drone would face it first.

"When I speak."

When I think.

ORDER VS CHAOS

BATTLE FOR CANIS

Mother allowed them a triumphant glimpse--only a glimpse, so as not to distract them too badly--of the successes of their beloved siblings off in Eridanus. Threads of white clinging to the trees, being swept away on Lesser wings, infesting the soil below... With it came the knowledge that those Children were now to slip away unseen, and that the Masters were rushing to investigate. That they--here, in Canis--would be safe to claim this cave.

And then it slipped away, and she was praising her children here in Canis with her warm approval, as well. Encouragement to continue, and to win. Those pits dug by Orthus's jaws and Juggernaut's strength, the strikes by Scorn, Alcina, and Ace--this place would belong to them.

"Finish this," she urged them. "Defeat those who have made themselves our enemy. Claim this cave, lace it with our touch, and I will send you to your next target."

---

The forces of Order have gained 100 points in Canis. To win the Battle for Canis, they must defeat (kill, chrysalize or chase away) Sergei, Ultraviolet, and Temperantia. Giggle, Kerberos, Elayne and other non-Order characters who are not outright fighting may be safely ignored unless they choose to attack. Other enemies are welcome to join this thread, and must then also be defeated, but this is the last round in which new non-Order characters may join.

Sergei will already be defeated this round, by Praetors and Alcina. Sergei should be posted after Alcina's post detailing the type of damage inflicted, after which point he may enter his chrysalis or die, by player choice.

---

See the Order vs Chaos Master Thread for scoring and more information!

SCORE TALLY
This will be updated as the thread progresses.

12

145

@Bone (Giggle, Sergei) @Orthus @Ace @Juggernaut @Alcina @Elysium @Scorn @Rena @Siren @Kerberos @Elayne @Ultraviolet @Temperantia

When the Chaos Forge came, it arrived on asymmetrical, scarred leather wings, no larger than a domestic cat.

But hell hath no fury compared to it. So close to the place where Cain had been born, the cavern where Cain had learned to kill and make its Master proud, where it had shed blood and tasted blood. The burning in its chest from the flight here became an inferno fueled by rage, its instinct proven right, right, furiously right. Symmetry taunted it, the Praetors forming a massive infestation across the dusty earth.

There was no place for Order here.

The actions that followed were not the actions of an assassin, though it perhaps should have been. Vargas, Cain hissed through the mental link, not knowing if its magic would reach far enough. It didn't have time to care. Order is in Canis, it told the Master, if I don't return, prepare for a war, not a battle.

Cain had no intention of "not returning", but the message was clear enough.

The Overseer swept through the air, climbing up toward the stalagmites. It could nestle in and hide if need be, and the larger creatures would likely impale themselves if they tried to charge it. Cain, of course, did not know that the stalagmites had been weakened in the area, nor the danger presented.

The halfhearted attempt to hide was a secondary thought, however. Its main focus was on the massive warbeasts of Order. Its eyes locked upon the largest monster it saw: a strange, fractal beast of crablike armor and tendrils, flashing warning reds on Order's pristine white. Poison, perhaps? The barbs at the end of Juggernaut's tendrils looked deadly all the same, and so that became its first target.

Magic failed to reach its intended target, fizzling out as Cain scrambled among the stalagmites, digging claws into the surface to perch. Its jaws parted with a silent hiss as it covered its body with its leathery wings, and took a breath.

It needed to calm. To focus. The rest were on their way.