Her words had not been idly spoken. She'd had their leader towering above her, threatening her life in his demand for servitude. The brutes were no friends of theirs--but she had no time to explain that now, to speak of how the Orthoclase was lost and alone and seemed abused, how the rest of them slinked and threatened... No. The Bonebound were good people. They couldn't rely on that sort.

They could, however, rely on one another. On the bones.

As she turned to go, the sudden flood of magic between them shocked her into silence. She turned, dark eyes wide, staring up at Kerberos.

Is that-... You, Kerberos? she thought, with shock and wonder, the war around her abruptly (for the moment) forgotten.

In the back of her mind ran that siren screech--her familiar flitting from cave to cave en route to Draco, guided by Giggle, calling out her garbled warnings. Besides that, Giggle's own fear was palpable through that link, her shock at this new link. But-... it wasn't an unwelcome surprise. In fact, a flood of a different emotion--joy, love--cascaded through her then, and she pushed forward, attempting to press her head briefly into Kerberos's thick fur. It was a hug, of sorts--as best a hyena could manage--and then she was turning, a new lightness to her, making her way at a lopsided gallop for the bone pit.

She had never shared such a connection with anyone bar her familiar, before, and it was... wonderful.

exit Giggle

ORDER VS CHAOS

BATTLE FOR CANIS

This was it. The battle was won. A surge of triumph roared through the Hive drones, a battle cry, a war drum fit to carry their hearts. They had prepared this cave for the Hive: and Hive would sweep in and claim it fully as they moved on.

Mother's directives were swift and uncompromising. "Finish those. Be swift," and there was a necessity to it. Ultraviolet, Temperantia, Edric--they were to be disposed of, and quickly. Her Praetors marched for the nearest--Edric. Gnashing jaws came for him, carried by horrific, scuttling legs. It would be wise to avoid their venom, else a horrific final fate might await...

Her Praetors would hold this cave--the Drones were to move on and take the next. And then-?

Phase Two of her plan would begin.

---

Those attacked last round who did not yet roll to defend must do so this round before taking other actions.

Once Edric, Ultraviolet and Temperantia are chased off or otherwise disposed of, Hive members may exit this thread. They will be guided through safe passages by lesser Hive spies, coordinated by Mother toward the next assault point.

New characters may no longer join this thread.

---

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

SCORE TALLY
This will be updated as the thread progresses.

49

196

@Bone @Orthus @Ace @Juggernaut @Alcina @Elysium @Scorn @Rena @Siren @Elayne @Ultraviolet @Temperantia

A pure, intense focus on finishing Temperantia--as per Mother's orders--drove Bone's mind. She didn't turn to chase the fleeing feline, nor switch her attention to the boar--there were plenty of Hive here to handle those.

Temperantia--she would be Mother's once again. But Bone had no time for long, drawn-out attempts at converting anyone just now. It would be best for the angel to join their ranks immediately, but given the fresh burns, that was likely off the table.

She banked, curling one forelimb's white claws upward, attempting to coil her magic into the flames she'd breathed across the Ophanim. She would direct them, maintain them, keep them engulfing the angel. To burn her, and burn her, to send her back into her chrysalis.

Then Bone was landing--pulling free coils of fungus from between raw infested scales, ready to lace a growing cocoon with Mother's finest gift.

@Temperantia (Bone is attempting to return Temperantia to the chrysalis, and cover said chrysalis with some spicy dust)

His attention was held like nothing ever before, eyes unblinking until they were forced to shut to hydrate again. The battle, the chrysalis forming that snatched his interest. He couldn't see well from here but oh how he wanted to study it! Oh, he wanted to get close and look at it, see if he could see inside. Would the bear be curled up, asleep? Would he be unmade?

The violence, the screams, they were not terrifying to Anubis, although they were also not something he enjoyed. Instead, it made him all the more curious. His need to unravel what was happening before him had him reaching out magically, specifically towards the dragon and the...wheel, to feel through the link of fungus to watch as the angel died.

As soon as he felt the brush of magic, and overwhelming amount of feedback forced itself into his mind. Eyes widened and the link snapped shut, briefly. He realized, then, how much this fungus had spread. All that white like powder had been some kind of mushroom! Fascinating...would it eat the bones on the ground? The stones beneath? Would all be consumed in this white rot?

He would very much like to watch it, if it did.

Carefully, he tried to pinpoint the location and reopen his magical senses because oh how he desired to watch the angel die. If it died or if it went to sleep, any knowledge would be worth it, anything gained would be such a victory.

Even as Alcina rent through Sergei's flesh, she had not expecting him to be able to strike back one time. As his teeth neared her eyes, she lashed with her tongue, trying to hold him away from the insides of her mouth. His jaws latched onto it, clamping down on the appendage painfully.

Even so, he would eventually fall limp, his chrysalis claiming him. Alcina stood over the stone, vision still red, and howled triumphantly, as her Mother and her siblings cheered her on.

Her vision did not clear much, even as she shook blood off her face. Alcina had to be guided, prodded by Mother to turn towards that last few resistances. She sees the speck of movement of Ultraviolet fleeing, pointed out by the bright glowing touch of Mother.

There are hardly any thoughts of Alcina in the link, except for a pervasive sense of duty and the eagerness for bloodshed. She leaps off the chrysalis she was perched on, charging over bones after the corrupted creature.

Usually she'd lash for his legs with her prehensile tongue, but Sergei's strike had injured that. Instead her jaws yawn wide again, gnashing mandibles inside reaching for Ultraviolet's limp hind leg. With luck they'd latch on.

@Ultraviolet

Juggernaut had been such a fool, idiot, heretic, for doubting Mother. And yet she embraced him regardless, piercing through the pointless fear and worry - She was always there for him, regardless of what mistakes he made. He was such a foolish child. Through Her, and only through Her, could he learn to be a good one.

They had won they had won they had -
one more problem to resolve. Only one stinger had sunk home, and it hadn't been the harpoon grip it had desired - The cat slipped free, though his leg lagged behind it, damaged by spear-point and the venom it had brung. He could've let him be, let him slink away to whatever wretched oil womb he had wriggled from, let him learn his lesson and live to see another day.

Let him breed more chaos. soak the surfaces he touched with corruption. No, Juggernaut couldn't have.

He felt his sister behind him, the red-leaking hunger. Together they felt like a storm, a howling swarm of gnashing teeth - no anger, no hatred. These things must happen sometimes - the world must be cleansed before it can eat itself alive. Ultraviolet would have to choose, if things went its way. The removal of vital tissue, chunk by chunk, that lay in the grasp of Alcina's jaws; Or alternatively, as Juggernauts tendrils moved in a scooping motion: To be put through a chitin mincer.

@Ultraviolet

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

Mild Violence and Body Horror

He was HERE, doing what he was MEANT FOR, and the joy of purpose was a war drum that sung through his very veins. He did not have to look to others- with his eyes nor the glorious threads of mother's touch that connected them all. He trusted their place in Mother's vision, as he did their siblings in Eridanus. So perfect was the plan, slotting together like the bricks with they would build Mother's fortress. His attention remained focused on his personal part of the puzzle, although he replied to Juggernaut with a joyous and heartfelt 'YES! KILL!'

The WRETCHED BEAST whom he sought to demolish was of a size more fitting to be stomped by hooves than gored by tusks. [Although he did feel a smear on one tusk which glistened with oiled blood]

Then two things happened in quick succession.

His target, who had been wisely fleeing, foolishly turned around to face his wrath head on. Shadows solidified, buzzing into a swarm of hideous flies. This flimsy shroud could not hide his quarry from JUSTICE. Biting of flies against his bristled hide was easily ignored. Was THIS the strength of chaos? Pathetic.

Then pain exploded through him. Bundles of wrongness- lumps of mutated cells and disease- knotted into muscles and pushed up from under armored plating. This was NOT of mother's grand design, and the marring of that expertly crafted and purposeful design nearly hurt as much as what was destroying that design. But a mangled tool was a tool all the same, and Scorn would serve until broken beyond repair.

Before he could recover from the shock of what ravaged his body, a new challenger appeared.

A literal twisted shadow of himself, exaggerating every horrid difference Chaos corrupted into it's victims. He did not have time to fully, because it was soon barreling into his side in a BRUTISH and TRULY UNACCEPTABLE manner. Unstoppable force met unstoppable force, and hooves struggled for purchase on hellishly uneven and shifting ground. He could not fight gravity.

Fortunately, when you're absolutely MASSIVE and covered in armor and spikes, your whole body is a weapon. A weapon he fully intended to use to crush this IMPOSTER into the oil it crawled out of.

All of the momentum of the fall and the weight of Scorn's two foot larger frame would come crashing towards Edric, If he did not scramble out of the way. Sharp armor would cut where Edric lacked his own, and the force of the fall would surely fracture if not break bone. Corrupted tumors nearly burst within Scorn's own body as the force hit him in equal turn. He let out a squealing, yelling battle cry that was equal parts pain and rage.

Pain is temporary. Mother's reign will be eternal.

@Edric

every muscle in ultraviolet's thin frame burned with effort. he ran, full on sprinting, as the creatures of Order moved to intercept him. one came from behind, the sound of a wood-chipper at full blast coming closer and closer to his dead leg and lashing tail.

mandibles did reach his limp leg, but that did not stop him from running. flesh was shorn from bone, blood-oil splattering in his wake. but he continued to run with his five of seven good legs. there was no air left in his lungs. he was drowning.

if he could just reach the tunnel, he could escape.

more venom-barbed tendrils lashed out for his legs. he was barely aware of them, his senses burning. teeth bared, his leg muscles bunched and he tried to leap, to spring out of the way of them.

he had to survive. he simply couldn't perish to Order, not after everything he had been given. the opportunity to seek perfection. their flawed world would not contain and destroy him. he had been reborn for more than this.

somehow, he hit the ground running without becoming skewered a second time. his limbs did not given in, and he continued to tear his way toward freedom.