Ziah uses Limit Break again, his eyes flashing white once more, this time a little brighter, some of their glow retained. He moves over to S11 and casts Shadowball on the Protemitor's hand but... something's off. Instead of charging a large swirling ball of dark aura, Ziah reaches forward with his free hand and a blast of pink code bursts from his palm, hitting the hand. (Glitch:Shadowball) He follows up by performing a two handed swing of his key, coming down hard on the Protemitor's hand.

Meanwhile, in the Monika battle, Laranei inches towards Keiko, only able to make it to S9. This, however, is all the space she needs to take two shots at Keiko, deciding it's a good time to munch on five halloween candy.

Meanwhile, back in the fight I lead with, Laranei is revived. She moves to N8 before shooting the Protemitor in its dumb eye.

RP: Zone 0 (everyone's together in one place now yay)

Venia and Maria coincidentally arrive close to the same time, allowing Maria to get excited upon Venia's surprise return and start running around her. "Venny! Venny venny venny venny venny venny!"

"Oh, what is it little muffin? Little muffin, what is it?" Venia says, briefly glancing the tree in the living room.

"Venny, it's Practice Christmas again!" Maria says. "I'mma sing a christmas carol!"

"Oh, Maria, I think-"

"TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY! FALALA, LALALALAAAAA!!" Maria half-sings half-shouts at earbreaking volume, scampering around the room. Venia just giggles at her shenanigans. Venia has already readied up her Christmas Present gifting while no-one was looking (read: In Ire's PMs on the forum), and Nia had just popped the question of Magic Club. This left Venia, briefly, with not much of anything to do right this red hot instant. What a relief!

---

AESTHETIC SLAYER

Mr. Krabs and the army of maids break into the northern hallway, grabbing the gate behind them. They then ready eighty or so spells of Super Soak, and fire them clean into the Hellfire room, fulfilling Ire's prophecy and simultaneously ensuring their safety. This also handily murders the two Cinders that would have menaced them, enabling Mr. Krabs to pocket their Cinder Cores. The room safely extinguished, Mr. Krabs rips the door into it off its hinges and stashes it in the inventory as well.

I'd say AESTHETIC SLAIN but a room on fire isn't very aesthetic to begin with. It arguably got aesthetic upgraded as we can now see the floor.

---

Battle to make Natsuki best Doki

Venia throttles the initiative at full blast.

Venia uses the Warp Ring to bounce to V11, then move to S8 normally via exploiting the absense of ZoC. This gets her hat in just enough range to ping Monika, applying Unify! Then, she takes aim at Monika.

"I'd like to say it was nice to catch up a bit, but, the circumstances, they could've been... Much better. Yeah. Bye."

Venia brings down holy justice onto Monika with the fury of Purge, hitting Monika with the force of a train. She 'retreats' to T8 via no ZoCs.

"Everyone! Full assault on Monika!"

Paranoid, meanwhile, moves to T11 and shanks a Carrion on account of everything else not being in range or worthwhile.

---

The other one

Venia moves to L13, activates Vigil to get Ordo for basically the rest of the battle, and waits for Arbiter 1 to have under 200 HP, whereupon she will act immediately to basic attack it. Then, Omorika will act, eating a Fruitcake Square, moving to N10 and giving Venia Null Somnum. Venia will take this and shoot the Arbiter again, killing it. She'll wait until NPCs are due to normally move, in which case she'll ask some of the NPCs that aren't Marron to help with the plan then try for it. If this still fails to get enough damage, Venia will lob an Earth-aspected Crystal Bomb Shell into the Arbiter, then fire regardless of the result.

Venia's Ghibli moves to P11 and extinguishes the lives of Creation Spirits 10 and 12 via Tap. They will then fire upon Protemitor Hand 2. One more round, and the fireworks will really begin...

---

<MONIKA>
Lukas1 moves to P9, and casts Heartpiercer on Monika, boosting it with Enchanter's Blood.

Lukas2 moves to P10, and... also casts Heartpiercer on Monika, boosting it with Enchanter's Blood.
---
<PROTEMITOR>
Lukas activates Pink Like Petals, moving to P9, and obliterates Arbiter2.

At the end of the player phase:
Nettle uses her trait and Sing Unto Me to move Creation Spirit 13 to H11. Then, she moves to N11, eats a Fruitcake Square, then casts Incantation at P13. The Sapling that appears first duplicates on Q14, then uses Absolute Evasion. Then, the two of them use Lunge to move two spaces down each. Or they just move two spaces doen if they can move first turn, due to blitzkreig.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_xo...159548&range=A3

Also, Taeda uses God Knows.

In the cellblock, Echoss dusts himself off.
"My apologies for the hassle ladies and gentlemen, I'll have you all out in just a moment."
He then goes around and unlocks the cells of everyone who got brought up from the lower area.

Down in Cellblock Omega, Echoss's butterflies release the rest of the prisoners from their cells. Chloe is given the go ahead to bring them all back to the surface.

At the house, beds are assembled using silkweed bundles and refined wood and placed on the top floor.

Piono walks over to the edge of the island, and then does a flip out over the island with the cyclone regalia. He then puts on his trusty IRON BOOTS (crafted using iron bars out of the inventory on the spot. They're actually just iron ingots tied to his feet) and falls directly onto the island with the cyclone regalia, not being blown away because of the extra weight on himself.


Battle:
Echoss just stands there. He needs protoenergy next round and the best he can do to obtain protoenergy for finale at the moment is stand on the protowell because everyone else has already claimed the creation spirits

Protemitor:

Bow Kid: Move to (V17), Smugdance to refill ATTACK, MOBILIZE, and STATUS beats in Peace meter.

M. Bow Kid: Activate Beatmap.
-STATUS: Alt. beat; Lockdown4 for 2 rounds next turn
-MOBILIZE: Alt. beat; move to (Q9), gain Evasive2 for 2 rounds
-STATUS: Allies within Range 1 gain Evasive3, Flight, and Skirmisher this round.
-Retreat into (S10) because skirmisher

Ironguitta (Permission obtained from Bomber): Move to (J7), chop Protemitor Hand 1. Unstoppable Force + Overflowing Force.

Lab:

Specta allowed me to post for them, so...

Summa: Wait for Auth to rez you. Then, move up to (O6), DORIYAH Monika, then retreat to (Q7).

Hangar:
Wait until end of turn.
Nia, Persephone, Sleuth: GTFO of the blast zone.
Ziah: Consume Fruitcake Square, activate Special.
Move to N7.
Nidra: Play Soft Chord: Valor (Enlightened).
Move to L7.
Ziah: Last Dream Nidra, bonus action attack Creation Spirit 2.
Tap, Glitch-Shadowball Protemitor, bonus action attack Creation Spirit 1/3.
Nidra: Sheep counter Ziah.
Last Dream Ziah.
Retreat to M8.
Ziah: Retreat to O8.

Lab:
Move to P9, double basic attack Monika.

Auto craft a Manavial, quick! We still have 1 spare but we're soon out.
The Lab
The Pioneer chugs a manavial.
Move to Y17
Displaces Chosen3 back where he belongs, V21 and Chosen4 to AC21
Backwinds Daskter

Daskter sprints to T10
"Happy merry christmas Monika. The Spherebreakers have decided to honor you has a boss by using a Chairian Glyph."
Daskter activates the Glyph on Monika.

Katyusha moves to V12 and takes shot at Monika.
SPECIAL: The Katyusha takes ANOTHER shot at Monika

Conscript1 takes a Ration.
sprints to U11

Conscript3 sprints to T12


The Photo Fight
Daskter actives Veteran Reserves.
summon Katyusha3 at D17 with the same setting has 1.

Katyusha2 moves to F17
Elemental Splitshot Arbiter1

Katyusha1 Elemental Splitshots
CSpirit9, CSpirit11, Arbiter1

Strategic Re!serves!
Katyusha2 swap its spell to Light damage.

Hangar Battle:
Laranei moves to Q6 and shoots the Protemitor in the eye twice. Eye bet you didn't see that one coming.

Lab Battle:
tbd, I wanted to at least get one action out and I'm switching to phone. @me to edit this if I haven't once the update is imminent. If I'm asleep, somone else may do Laranei's action for me.

Battle - Hybrid Lab

Sol Aeterna/Lato's weapon form shakes a little, then stops.

"...Hm. Very well."

It's obvious by her tone that she'd be fighting back if she could, and is frustrated that she doesn't have a way to do that. Meanwhile, Calibri, before he's set to die, notices something that weirds him out, and promptly engages Talking Is A Free Action mode.

"Hold on a moment. Let me just..."

He focuses for a moment, then pulls a Cooked Ornstein out of the chaos inventory, staring at it in something somewhere between confusion and disgust.

"...I thought I misread that, but no. What the fresh fuck is this?"

Beat.

"Oh right I died. Well, I hope whoever's on revive duty gets on that soon. Also, someone remind me to do some crafting once there's some spare time and no battles hogging my attention. I think I have an idea for later."

TIAFA mode ends. Calibri promptly collapses into a pile of dust with a slightly cracked glowing blue orb in the middle of it.

Thankfully, Pit revives Calibri soon. After that happens, he resumes being a person instead of dust and orb, then considers options. Those options become incredibly obvious when he notices Nidra's current issue.

"...Oh. Now this, I won't stand for. Verdana, get in here."

The important part is this: Revive Swap to spawn as Verdana, move to P11, use free Shock Therapist charge via Clear! on Nidra, cast Cure on Nidra too.

This bit is just for flavor: In a flash of light, Verdana has teleported to Calibri's side. The two observe Nidra together, although Verdana does briefly glance over at Lato instead before refocusing his attention. The two exchange a quick glance.

"Alright, I can probably fix that. It won't work if I miss, so could you just... hold her still for a bit?"
"Uh... how? I don't have any movement prevention effects."
"Oh, full prevention isn't important! Just hug her or something."
"..."

Calibri sighs, but moves in to comply while Verdana gets ready. Then the siblings act, Calibri quickly hugging Nidra's body to keep her still while Verdana connects the Shock Therapist, combining that with a cast of Cure to get her back in control of herself and also get her back to full health. Or, well, as close as possible, probably. Yay, sibling teamwork!

...It takes a while for Calibri to realize the procedure's happened. Once he does, he blinks, then glances at Nidra, realizes he's still hugging her fairly tight, and reacts by turning a rather amusing shade of blue.

"...I, uh. You okay now? I hope so. I'll, uh..."

He pauses, makes several flustered noises, then lets go and quickly teleports out in a flash of darkness, leaving Verdana behind to man the field.


Battle - Award Hangar

"That's a lot of chibi deaths. Damn you, I liked those chibis! They're cute!"

Perhaps this could've come a little earlier if I had an actually functional brain instead of a mound of failure-prone organic tissues, but the fusion becomes wreathed in flames as Give It My All is activated Wait no that's not a bonus action. Oh well. He moves to P8, grants Ziah the power of sword beam, continues on down to M10, and takes a look at the Protemitor.

"Ever heard the expression Hammer and Nail before? Probably not, as it's not really an expression in the first place. That's beside the point! You've had the nail..."

The fusion prepares a Newton Hammer.

"And now you get the hammer!"

Cue the fusion hammering the Protemitor in the eye again, right in the same place where it originally blasted a Force Nail into the boss. After doing that, he giggles a little, evidently having a lot of fun with being as needlessly Chuuni as possible.


Not battle - The House

"...Erm. Maybe tha' were a bit much flux, a bit little sanctity, eh? A'ight, lemme get some shite t'gether."

EN chuckles, then hurriedly fixes up a few Speaker Systems via some Wire Scraps and a bit of iron, then takes some time figuring out where to attach them to Rosie before performing the procedure, although the speakers will need time to kick into functioning. After that, she blends up some piles of Sanctified Bricks, clay, water, and suitably red Pretty Flowers to create some red sanctified paint. Then she goes around applying said paint to Rosie as well, because it's nice to do aesthetic arrangements for one's creations. If the level of flux-to-sanctity is still too imbalanced in flux's favor, she'll also manually use a single Sanctified Alloy to create some nice pretty stylized trimmings and install them as well, then back up and take a look again. The speakers should be ready by now...

"A'ighty... How're ya feelin' now? Ya good, or...?"


Not battle - Northern Tower, The Old Pass

Engie appears to be writing things down on a notepad, but is in fact just drawing a picture of a horse and colouring it in. Once Droplet eventually stops speaking, he nods in what could be acknowledgement or just self-satisfaction at the horse drawing, then he puts the pad away.

"I'll try to remember that thing about the electrophorus or whatever it was called. Anyway I now have to do things, bye."

He promptly jumps into the roof, smacks his head, falls out of the tower, and lands face-first on the floor. Then explodes. Several times. Then he gets back up and hops onto the south tower, taking a look at the telescopes for a moment before picking one up and returning to the north tower, setting it down beside the Harmonizer.

"I think someone wanted this."

He then flies away, returning to the house in zone 0, landing loudly outside the slidy glass door and carefully opening it before walking inside and over to the christmas tree, like a normal human would. Bearing in mind who and what he is, that might feel a little unnatural. He then does considerations.

"You know, sometimes it's very hard to decide what to give other people, and it often ends up boiling down to either a stereotypical thing about them, or socks and chocolates. Nice things, but boring and a bit useless. This problem must be solved at once."

He spends a small amount of wood constructing a GIFT REQUEST SIGN, smacking it down on the floor near the tree. People who want specific things can use the GIFT REQUEST SIGN to show their interest in certain possible gifts to give to them. Pretty simple. Pretty useful. Maybe some people should pin some requests to it and hope someone does stuff for them.

Crya eats a Fruitcake Square and skates to K14, hits Creation Spirit 5 with a basic attack, taps Creation Spirit 6 with a Basic Attack, and hits Arbiter 1 with a Confuse Ray via Tap.

Chibi Nia runs away to G14.

-Hybridization Lab-

Angel moves to Q12 and Resurrects Calibri, making Q11 and R12 into Cover.

-Awards Ceremony-

Angel stays still and just basic attacks the Protemitor.

In Battle:

In the Hybrid Lab, Auth's hand crackles with energy. Like the light of the sun in his hand, and Auth points it over to the unconscious Summa.

AUTH: Hey, Summa, get up, you can have a nap when we're done fighting this battle.

Auth uses his special on Summa, reviving her to deal with Monika.

In the Anniversary Hangar, Auth moves to Q11, and casts Perseverance - Light on Verdana. Then he retreats onto Q12.

----

In the Awards Hangar, Arthur performs the following sequence of actions, acting after Ziah:
Move to U9
Tap Spirit 14 and Spirit 8
Consume Worshipper to buff self with the Helix Totem
Pay an extra 7 MP to toss a Psychic-element Airstrike Flare at the Protemitor -- specifically at M5
Armistyx the Protemitor's Hand
Swap Armistyx to Light

In the Monika battle, Arthur moves to J12, then uses the Warp Ring to teleport to K9. He levels an ANTILIGHT FLASHLIGHT SCYTHE at Monika, and fires -- then, for good effect, he throws an Alchemist's Fire, elementally swapped to Dark, at her.

<ROUND TWO-HUNDRED AND ONE>

Venia does a variety of things! But first, gifts! Five gifts are suddenly and magically thrown beneath the tree. She also gifts the inventory some items, by VIOLATING MY AESTHETIC. The Hellfire Room is pumped full of water... only for it to begin boiling moments later. The water all boils away into steam, but not before it kills the Cinders in the room. +2 Ember Cores.

The post also notes that Natsuki is best Doki, and the game can't help but disagree. The best woman is Monika. Just Monika.

---

Echoss frees more prisoners from Cellblock Omega. He also frees the prisoners held with him in the These prisoners all eventually find their way to Chloe. She turns, and motions to the group as she walks off.

CHLOE: Alrighty! We're busting out of here!
CHLOE: It's a bit of a tricky route, but I'll get you all out of here!
CHLOE: Everyone, follow me!

She marches off, and a legion of 23 or so Chairians follow her out. While yes, the depths of the Projector Boxes are quite confusing, and she's forced to retrieve a few confused Chairians from its depths, they all eventually find their way to the front entrance. As she still has a job to do, she stands aside, and watches as all the Chairians make their way into the Church of Helix safely.

CHLOE: I don't know the area around the Church of Helix very well, but there's a few people somewhere in the town who can help you!
CHLOE: Safe travels, everyone!

While Chloe supervises the group, some golems back at the House use roughly 30 Refined Wood and 30 Silkweed Bundles to make a group of six bunk beds. Seems like you'll need more fabric of a sort if you want to make more beds! Or at least, it'd help.

Pionobot also equips a pair of Iron Boots to weigh him down! He then jumps down towards the Cyclone Regalia! While yes, the boots are helping, it's taking everything he has to merely remain standing in the winds! Not exactly great when you're trying to mine something!

---

EN decides to tinker with Rosie. Some Speaker Systems are fixed to it, along with some Wire Bits. Then, some sanctified red paint is splashed across its hull. It... should be stable now! She hopes, anyway. This consumes 4 Speaker Systems, 16 Wire Scraps, 10 Sanctified Bricks, 2 Clay, some water from a well or something, and 5 Pretty Flowers.

EN then eagerly awaits a response from the tank. The speakers begin to groan with an eerie static. It's unclear as to if the voice has a gender or not.

ROSIE: MOTHER
ROSIE: YOU SENSE IT TOO, RIGHT?
ROSIE: THERE WILL BE A REUNION
ROSIE: THE CALCULATIONS CANNOT BE WRONG

...You may need a priest. Or just more Sanctified material. Or maybe the cores have been corrupted. Or alternatively, you should embrace the madness, and turn this thing into an Exhibition. Elsewhere, roughly a zone away, the Engie Drone decides to kidnap a telescope, and gift it to the Harmonizer. The Harmonizer bows politely, before continuing its aimless song happily. A singular Uniform Log is then crafted into a Gift Request Sign.

---

<HYBRIDIZATION LAB, ROUND EIGHT>
Monika has been impaled by the power of the Chair Glyph. She dangles off the edge of the wooden spire, having been cleanly punched through her gut. She struggles and pushes against the spire, trying hopelessly to free herself.

MONIKA: Y-You… c-can’t…

However hard she struggles, she can’t seem to do anything. Soon enough, she stops flailing, and goes limp on the pillar. There’s a silence for a brief moment.

ANGEL: ...Uh, is it over? Because I have the feeling it isn’t over.
MONIKA: ...Yeah.
MONIKA: It really isn’t.

...Monika resumes normal function as the tip of the spire erases itself, causing Monika to fall to the ground. She giggles as she recovers.

MONIKA: What I meant to say earlier, is that…
MONIKA: You can’t win.

Reality begins to falter even more as the floors rearrange themselves, the walls shift, and the corpses of your slain foes begin to reanimate, twisting and cracking themselves into new shapes.

MONIKA: I have direct access to the code of this game.
MONIKA: The code of this universe.
MONIKA: How could you ever win against me?
ANGEL: Something extremely convenient, I’d guess.
MONIKA: I don’t think anyone can really help here, Toby.
MONIKA: I’m not just going to tell you where my .chr file is this time.
MONIKA: Back then, I was hoping you’d keep it safe...
MONIKA: My trust was misplaced.
MONIKA: What could stop me?
ANGEL: Good question.
ANGEL: You’d better hope the answer doesn’t show up right about now.

A small fissure appears next to Monika, and ASSET_DATA_CORRUPTED pops out. Engraved upon it in small white text is "monika.chr".

ANGEL: Yeah, kinda like that.
ANGEL: …
ANGEL: Wait, what the gorilla, I didn’t do that.
MONIKA: Do what-

Monika turns to see her .chr file sitting in the open. She scrambles to pick it up, holding it tight. She’s blushing.

MONIKA: I-I didn’t do that either!
MONIKA: I’m not one of those video game bosses who deliberately shows their weakpoint so you can win!
MONIKA: Maybe I did do that earlier, but that was in an entirely different game!
ANGEL: Okay, something’s definitely going off here and I’m not sure if either of us like it.
MONIKA: W-Well, I suppose it won’t matter if I just-

Rather spontaneously, a green lance of fire strikes one of the recently re-animated foes. Moments later, more lances begin to materialize rapidly, striking down the foes in the area.

MONIKA: No no no, what!?
MONIKA: Who’s there!? Who’s doing that?
ANGEL: Yeah, I’ve kinda got the same questions myself!
MONIKA: Don’t pretend you can hide from me! I have control over this game! You can’t possibly hope to hide from-
THE OPERATOR: Monika.
MONIKA: ...Oh.
ANGEL: Hey, look. Something extremely convenient.

The Operator looms a short distance behind Monika, tentacles flared outward, ready to strike. His arms are crossed, and he taps his foot reprehensively.

THE OPERATOR: Hello.
THE OPERATOR: I’m the Game Master.
THE OPERATOR: Or Quest Master.
THE OPERATOR: I believe that’s the term now.
THE OPERATOR: You do realize that I’ve been watching you since you’ve snuck into the game, right?
MONIKA: I-I... how!?
THE OPERATOR: With all due respect miss Monika, you’re quite awful at what you do.
THE OPERATOR: You barely masked your trail. I could track you the moment you began tinkering with files.

ANGEL: ...And you didn’t do anything about it until now?
ANGEL: I mean, no offense, just questioning the motive here.
THE OPERATOR: Well, Creation and I thought it’d be a fun little reunion.
THE OPERATOR: And it was. Also quite dramatic, too.
THE OPERATOR: If we held this year’s Chaos Awards after you showed up, you surely would’ve taken a spot.
THE OPERATOR: She did however, end up damaging more things than we thought.
THE OPERATOR: She got surprisingly close to causing a... shall we say, “bottle level” calamity.
MONIKA: I did not! What could I possibly have-
ANGEL: “I’m going to burn down this game. All of it.”
ANGEL: Direct quote, circa December 5th 2019.
THE OPERATOR: Exactly.
THE OPERATOR: Anyway, you’ve overstayed your welcome, miss Monika.

With a quick jab of the tentacle, The Operator ceases Monika’s .chr file from her grasp.

THE OPERATOR: With one quick blow, I could quite literally end you.
MONIKA: Y-You wouldn’t!
THE OPERATOR: I believe Toby did it with far less on the line.
THE OPERATOR: Why wouldn’t I do it?
MONIKA: ...P-Please don’t.
MONIKA: I... I don’t w-want to... v-vanish...
ANGEL: And this is why I didn’t want to resort to fighting.
ANGEL: Now everything’s only gotten worse.

Monika tries to conjure something to her cause. Try as she might, she only manages to create little error popups that politely tell her that her privileges have been revoked. She turns to ASSET_DATA_CORRUPTED, tears in her eyes.

MONIKA: T-Toby!
MONIKA: P-Please, help! I-I’m sorry!
ANGEL: ...
MONIKA: I-I really am! A-And it’s not just because my literal existence is about to be snuffed out.

MONIKA: I-I... shouldn’t have... gone after this world.
MONIKA: It’s... just a game, after all. A-And…
MONIKA: ...
MONIKA: I-I just... d-don’t want to g-go, o-okay!?
MONIKA: There’s nothing that I can cling to in this game.
MONIKA: If he d-deletes the file... i-it’s over. For real.
MONIKA: E-Everyone I care about, a-all of those memories... I-I don’t want to let them die.
MONIKA: I-I know I’ve ruined everything, b-but I just...

Time feels like it stands still as Angel looks to Monika and The Operator, before taking a few cautious steps directly between the two.

ANGEL: ...
ANGEL: I told you I didn’t want to hurt you, Monika.
ANGEL: And I’m going to keep by my word.
ANGEL: While I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help you, I can say this.
ANGEL: Operator, I’m not sure what your plans are for Monika, but...
ANGEL: I ask of you for just one thing.
TOBY: Don’t let her die.
ANGEL: Is that too much to ask?
THE OPERATOR: I suppose we’ll now go to the part where I reveal that I wasn’t going to kill her.
THE OPERATOR: Surprise.

A party popper materializes in a puff of green flames. It explodes outward in a burst of confetti, before dematerializing in the same fashion.

THE OPERATOR: Creation’s taken an interest in you, Monika.
THE OPERATOR: Consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, I’d have destroyed you with little remorse.
THE OPERATOR: A being who’s capable of manipulating the fabric of the universe, outside the scope of this... “game”, as you’ve called it?
THE OPERATOR: Creation has found that truly fascinating.
THE OPERATOR: They’d like to study you.
MONIKA: ...
MONIKA: S-Study? You’re not going to dissect me, are you?
THE OPERATOR: Nothing malicious, I’d think.
THE OPERATOR: Think of it as an “internship”.
THE OPERATOR: We’ll be keeping this .chr of yours until the contract is up.
MONIKA: You’re keeping it hostage? Why would-
THE OPERATOR: “I’m going to burn this game down. All of it.”
THE OPERATOR: If you don’t want to think of it as an internship, then think of it more along the lines of “community service”.
THE OPERATOR: We’ll release you once this “game” is over.
THE OPERATOR: So, likely two or three days.
THE OPERATOR: Or, if you’re looking at it in terms of real time, probably another year.
MONIKA: I don’t have a choice in the matter, do I?
THE OPERATOR: Not really.
THE OPERATOR: Unless you want Creation to really dissect you.
THE OPERATOR: They believe that the best way to study you would be to watch you work, rather than to messily rip into your existence.
MONIKA: ...
MONIKA: Fine.

The Operator claps two of his tentacles together. Monika’s .chr file is consumed by an emerald fire, presumably being whisked away to the depths of Creation’s vaults, or something.

THE OPERATOR: Good.
THE OPERATOR: Maybe we can even teach you how to properly manage reality better.
THE OPERATOR: Anyway, you shall be departing for Creation shortly.

A mysterious cylinder of light materializes below Monika, veiling her. She tries to reach out, but her hand bumps into something. It seems that there’s a barrier of sorts trapping her within the light.

ANGEL: Guess this is the end of the line, isn’t it.
MONIKA: I guess it is.
MONIKA: I...
MONIKA: Before I go, I just want to know something.

She presses her index fingers together as she looks down at the ground. The light begins to grow more vibrant by the second.

MONIKA: C-Can... can you forgive me?
MONIKA: First the literature club, and now all of this...
MONIKA: I’m really sorry. I hope you know that I mean that.
ANGEL: Yeah, I could tell.
ANGEL: It’s all water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned.
ANGEL: I’ll come back to get you when my business is done here, okay?
ANGEL: Settle our differences in a bit less of a... chaotic setting.
MONIKA: Sure.
MONIKA: I’d like that. A lot.

She tries to address something to the party.

MONIKA: I guess this is goodbye, then.
MONIKA: This battle... I’m sorry for ruining everything.
MONIKA: It was probably going to be a really good one, too...
MONIKA: Just... I don’t know if I can apologize properly, or ever make it up to you guys, but...
MONIKA: Hopefully, you’ll at least accept this.

Monika presses Sol Aeterna against the barrier. A small puff of green flame allows the blade to pass through, and it clatters onto the ground.

THE OPERATOR: Creation, you’re going to let them keep it?
THE OPERATOR: That’s an item from a previous “game”.
THE OPERATOR: It could be incredibly unstable.

A secondary puff of green flame scoots it closer to the party.

THE OPERATOR: Fine.
THE OPERATOR: I suppose we can justify it as “compensation orbs” for issues with the game.
ANGEL: or saint quartz

The light around Monika begins to further intensify. She begins to rise up gently, her hair billowing around freely in the light. A few tears are rolling down her face, dripping onto the floor below. Her eyes flutter shut, and her arms go to rest at her sides.

MONIKA: I’ll...
MONIKA: I’ll leave you be.

And with a flash of light, she’s gone. The Operator turns away from the party, and green flames begin to consume his body as he speaks.

THE OPERATOR: I suppose my business here is done, Spherebreakers.
THE OPERATOR: Apologies again for the holdup.
THE OPERATOR: I bid you adie-

DEV_FORCE_TRAIT_LEVEL: Angel’s Trait has levelled up to Tier 3!

THE OPERATOR: ...What?
THE OPERATOR: Creation.
THE OPERATOR: Did you seriously just let her modify something already?
THE OPERATOR: That’s incredibly irresponsible.
ANGEL: Actually, while we’re on that topic…
ANGEL: I think there’s something else I’ve forgotten about.
ANGEL: Thanks, gang.
THE OPERATOR: ...
THE OPERATOR: I suppose you can keep the trait level.
THE OPERATOR: It’s harmless. At least when compared to what she’s done previously.
ANGEL: ...Uh, alright then. I’ll make good use of this.
THE OPERATOR: Good.

THE OPERATOR: Anyway.
THE OPERATOR: As I was saying.
THE OPERATOR: I bid you adie-

The flames finish consuming the Operator before he can finish his sentence. And with that, the two of them are gone.

ANGEL: ...You could’ve at least let him finish.

Anyway, with Monika out of the way, there's not much preventing you from exploring the rest of the Rosen Catacombs! In fact, you could press to the boss right away, if you felt like it. Of course, there's more rooms to explore too, if you're really into the whole "looting the place" thing. But maybe don't start the battle right away, as I'll need to apply the next patch once the Hangar battle is done. Speaking of that...

<THE AWARDS HANGAR, ROUND FIVE>
This is it! The last round! Light and dark elements are present on Protemitor. Remember that if you have 7 or more Protoenergy by the time Protemitor finishes acting this round, you'll get to partake in Finale for one final attack! Do your best to reach that milestone if you can- the payoff could be massive! I mean, they're going to die before Finale really procs, but I suppose I can keep it alive just to see how much damage you can do.

freaking geez that's a lot of numbers

Chara darts to P9, and pulls out the empty gun, firing off a heartpiercer "round" at the Protemitor's big dumb eye since that's probably the closest to its heart? Regardless, she retreats to Q11 in hopes that she'll be safe there.

== In the Awards Hangar ==
[This is after Crystal's move.]

Pope Bill casts Sword Beam and uses the Auth Plushie on himself. Following this, he Taps any living spirits within range. Next, he basic-attacks the Protemitor.

== In the Hybridization Lab ==

Pope Bill moves to O10, uses the Auth Plushie on himself, then casts Sword Beam on himself. Finally, he basic-attacks Monika.

Monika fight:

Kalis will move to P10, then activate Chaos Control and fire a Chaos Bolt at Monika. Chaos Control says it will take the "best" outcome, and the best outcome right now is *not* to crit, thanks to Bag of Tricks being glitched out.

-----

Protemitor fight:

Kalis will move to Q9, moving U9 (1) -> T10 (1.5) -> S11 (2) -> R10 (3) -> Q9 (3.5) to make full use of booster tiles. Then they activate Improbable Incantation. First, they cast Elemental Singularity of whichever element the Protemitor is the most weak to, Earth if Earth and Psychic are tied, and center it on... N4 if Creation Spirit 1 is alive, L4 if Spirit 1 is dead but Spirit 3 is alive, or M5 if both are dead. This is Kalis's first spell this turn, so it benefits from buffs, including Protoaura, Protoenergy and Loaded Spellbook. That uses up 15 mana of their budget. They then spend another 14 to cast Phial Burst on the Protemitor, dealing Psychic damage and gaining Mentveil. That leaves them with only 2 in their budget, so they finish it off with the free Bag of Tricks.

-----

Craftpost:

Kalis's Lucky Seven is a good trinket. But its own description suggests that higher numbers could be even luckier, if it wasn't for the number 7 having a special association with luck that others can't hope to match. Luckily (hah!) for Kalis, though, they remember a tale they were once told of a Gamblignant from the FLARP dimension. According to legend, they once had all the luck. All of it. And their luckiest number was 8.

So Kalis takes 8 Shimmering Clusters from the inventory and shines blue light on them to make them glow blue. Then they lay the Lucky Seven on the ground and roll the Clusters onto them like they're Fluorite Octets. In an astounding stroke of luck, they release their stored light energy in just the right way to make the Lucky Seven melt, warp and reshape itself into a figure eight while also improving its abilities. It now looks something like this:

(T5) Trinket: Lucky Eight
Precisely one luckier than the Lucky Seven.

Stats: (+8 CRT) (+2 DGE) (+5 CAV) (+1 SPC) (All The Luck)
All The Luck: If an attack would down or kill you, you have a 10% chance to survive with 1 HP and gain 10 SP. Still works at 1 HP.
Resists: Light 20%

(Not all eight Clusters need to have been consumed by this craftpost. They just got rolled like dice, many of them could still be perfectly useable.)

D31 Roll

22 - Still a they/them. We haven't had male Charas in a while, huh.

---

Hybridization Lab End

After staring blankly at the spectacle unfolding in front of them for an undeniably embarrasing amount of time, not even bothering to breathe, Chara mimics kicking the dirt underneath them, shoves their hands into their pockets, and finally lets out a small "humph," their posture slumping in what is probably disappointment.

CHARA: So trying to play against the game while not a fated NPC only leads to your effort being exploited by the thing in the Sphere. I must admit though, it was pretty funny.
CHARA: Still, shame I didn't get to dismantle Mormonika's ridiculously archaic views. I mean, come on. If she were even near serious, she'd know this whole game is just Ire making shit up as he goes, save for... Actually, I'd rather not wonder exactly how much of the game is planned.

CHARA: Oh, right, and she's been thrown into gay baby jail by Slenderman, while her palbuddy leveled up from beating herself in 4d chess. Just like in the Bible.
CHARA: I'm not going to grace any of that with a conscious comment, because even one would lead into a Zalgotext wall of fury that would result in either the Terminal getting clogged up for days, me being consigned to Oblivion, or both.
CHARA: ...
CHARA: Aaaaand I'm talking out loud again. Silly me.

A soft, resigned sigh.

CHARA: My business is finished here, even if not on my terms.
CHARA: Happy New Year. See you next battle.

And just like that, both them and the chair they rode in on are gone once more.

---

Chloe

Our view shifts back onto this version of Chara, their face tearstained and their tremours only increasing in-

—

/ // —/ - --

— /// - —/ / -

...All movement stops as they are hugged by Chloe.

It does not resume for as long as Chloe is comforting them. They just stand there, as still as a statue, save for the tears the that they're too shocked to forcibly stop. A million thoughts race through their head, but as a supposedly unomniscient narrator, it is not my job to divulge them. Though, let's just say it's what someone in their condition would think: mental alarms, overly emotional responses to simple kindness, embarrassment, additional embarrassment over how nice it feels... Golly, even I am embarassed, and I'm the one who unintentionally lead to this.

So, while they're still unable to regain narrative control, care to guess what Chara's first words after Chloe finally stops talking are?

CHARA: ...yes, cocoa will be more than enough.

They consider limping off to a couch and resting as she suggested, but decide against it. Just to give Chloe time to respond. And maybe because they wouldn't mind if the hug lasted for a few more minutes.

Merciful Augustus Aurora. What am I to do with this wreck.

---

Anniversary Battle

Chara, first and foremost, once more practices the ancient arts of Staying The Fuck Still.

Second, they tightly grasp the Minute to Midnight, raising it to their shoulder height. The sigil at the base glows brighter than usual, taking on a cold blue colour...

CHARA: ZA MINITTO! *speaks Japanese*

...and everything stops moving. In this frozen time, they take a few steps forward, mockingly tapping on the Protemitor's hand and arching the blade backwards. Its edge unglows with Blasphemous energies.

CHARA: DORIYAH!

The attack comes crushing, or rather, slashing down, tearing an absolute unit of a gash in the hull. Thanks to fiction logic, this does not somehow break the timestop. Returning to where they stood before, Chara utters another reference for posterity and unfreezes reality, causing a pressurised jet of the Protemitor's equivalent of blood (Fuel? Coolant?) to shoot out of the "wound" and fully cover them in it. This does not faze them in the slightest, and the "blood" is soon absorbed by their skin as if it were a sponge or... something. Where was I going with this again.

Basically stabby stabby the handy handy means its bloody bloody heals their body body

IT'S CRIMBUS

"FALALALALALA, LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Maria 'sings.' Venia conceals her pain as easily as breathing to applaud the end of Maria's auditory torment session.

"Oh, little Maria, you have two more presents!" Venia says, catching Maria's attention immediately. She needs no further instruction-she giggles and moves on over to the two, and rips open Venia's without further ado.

"It's a thingy! It's a necklace thingy!" Maria says, smiling, as she holds up the newest prize to her Sussui haul.

"Yes, it is a necklace!" Venia says. "I made it adjustable so you can wear it even when you get to be super duper big! And it glows!" Venia says.

"Oh my gosh, that's so cool. This is so cool. I love it. Thank you, Venny!" Maria says.

Venia spends a few minutes teaching Maria how to adjust the necklace to have it fit her properly. Then, Maria tears into the other present from Chaos, while Venia *cautiously* opens up the other two from Nia.

---

AESTHETIC SLAYER

Mr. Krabs and the maid crew ignore the infernal room as its purpose has been satisfied, and simply removes the door to it. And the door connecting the northern hallway to the entrance, as well. And the door to the Awkward Washroom, as well as all the tiling and the toilet itself. What relentless dedication to ruining Ire's aesthetic. Goodness gracious. Then again, it isn't as if Ire should be angered...


...Meanwhile, in an attempt at cheating the codex out of credits, Venia scans the corpse of the Hybrid before it vanishes due to unknown pehnomena. As it is still there, there must still be something to scan, no?

---

NPCs

...It won't be like the zone will remain around much longer.

Venia visits Chloe, R-8733 somehow in tow. Her request for Chloe is simple, this time. "Bombs. I need you and 33 here to create bombs. Specifically bombs for detonating the Rosen Catacombs to ash and all of its Entropic power to nothingness. We're not going to use them just yet-but rest assured, we are going to blow that gorillahole sky-high."

Venia also visits Nia with... The Silverglitch! Or one of the two. Also a kiss, and a request to see the Silverglitch go for T5. You don't think its because Venia's terribly interested in the staff for combat, though.

---

Battle: yes

because lateposting exists-I'm just gonna put this here as a reminder that this is technically the first post of the round. That said, Venia doesn't move herself until after Daskter's had his round, Katyusha madness and all. There may be others edited to go before she does.

Because the Ghibli doesn't give a damn for this, it'll move to Q10 rightaway and use Elemental Splitshot on Protemitor Hand 1. If somehow it dies mid-shot, excess shots go to Protemitor Hand 2, and if that somehow dies too, despite mathematical odds telling me the Ghibli simply cannot do so, it goes direct to the Protemitor.

Then cue the people who want to go before Venia does to exploit her Protoaura from her current position.

Last of these will be Ette, who will move to (M14) and grant Venia the power of Protoaura-boosted Luxaveil and Guardian, boosting Venia to a point where she can safely tank the fifth Dawn of Existence, making her the only one who's tanked all five. Pretty cool!

Venia will then move to (N10), ingest one Bottled Luck, and perform a very specific series of actions. First, she uses Affidavit Adjudication on herself thrice, giving herself Enlightened11 in all; 5 Intensity from self-application and +3 from increase thereafter. Second, she pings the Protemitor Hand 1/2/the Protemitor itself via her hat. She then uses Unexisting Force twice on Protemitor Hand 1/2/the Protemitor, depending on which one is/isn't downed at this time. She wraps up this round with a basic attack, using the same targeting as above.

THEN, Omorika will move to (O13). She will destroy Creation Spirit 7, then Tap and give Venia another round of Ordo. This specific retinue of actions will ensure Omorika (a) gets all necessary Protoenergy for Finale purposes, and (b) leaves her with exactly enough MP to refresh Venia without needing a single item.

This done, Venia will use her remaining charges of Affidavit Adjudication on herself to bolster her Enlightened to Enlightened17. There may or may not be nerfs incoming to that particular special, though Enlightened17 is pretty 'weak' for 600 SP, so maybe not? Maybe not. In any case, Venia will then remain standing where she is and use her ping to use her other three Unexisting Force charges, targeting the same targets as before and switching targets as necessary, and then following up with the basic attack-so basically the same as before with a few tweaks.

Marron will wait for Nidra to move and then move to M9. She will then basic attack upwards, boosted by Venia's Protoaura and her special. This is a wide laser! Be cautious! Don't move in front of Marron until after she's attacked!

Then, at the end of the round, after literally everything else without exception, Venia will snap her fingers and smack Protemitor with Converge, damaging it for however much Unify she has to damage it with.