Hexagon and Mexagon, at the end of the turn, will move to L20 and L21 and Basic Attack the Bearer Seeker Seeker Lest.

Bauhaus is asleep. His armor, however, turns on various lights and servos on and within itself and springs to life, dragging the space knight along with it.
-- ACTION! --
Bauhaus moves to I17 and uses Abduction to pull the Pinati to J16. He then Surprise attacks with the Greatbow.

Uhhh, late late post, but...

Battle Action:

Auth moves to O12, uses a Phoenix Up on Echoss, meditates for Aoki and directs some extra MP to Echoss and Nia.

---

Cards: The Card Game.

Auth and Prinplup slide to the far ends of the board, closest to them. Using the 1 Mana stored and the three Mana on the board, Auth casts the Major Power card that he has that requires 4 energy to cast. Let's see how that turns out. Swords of Revealing Light ends next turn, so he needs to be ready to beat Leshy come next turn.

<ROUND 333>

Adria does some science! She cashes in a lot of Samples, grabbing some upgrades for the RAC, Yggdrasil's Vessel, and Expel. The party drops down to -48 Samples. Mostly because I made a mistake a few days ago, and I'm not responsible for Past Me's errors. Well, I am, but shhhh.

Hannah, over at the Temple of Helix, continues to have a nice sit down with Chi. While teleportation isn't exactly public use yet, Xavier or Mari should be able to figure things out. Hannah also answers why she'd need to hide her presence. Aren't the Chairians wary of outsiders?

CHI: Well, yes.
CHI: There's always exceptions, though. WARE himself was once an accepted member of the populace.
CHI: When you become a citizen, there'll probably always be some kind of pushback, but I'm sure most of the population will be accepting of you.
CHI: Times are changing, you know. Who knows what will occur when the Spherebreakers depart?

CHI: ...And, worst comes to worst, you have the entirety of the Council as your party members.
CHI: They can probably pull some strings.

Chi giggles to herself. All war crimes can be forgiven if you have friends in high places. What can't be forgiven though, is throwing a salad at a child. A timeclone of Adria appears a short distance behind Sakura, her brow furrowed and hand readied to deal maximum damage. A slap that reverberates the heavens courses directly into Sakura's cheek. Though Adria has a hand made of flesh, and Sakura a face made of wood, it still hurts.

SAKURA: O-Ow! W-What the hell!?
SAKURA: Y-You... I-I'll... h-how dare you!?
SAKURA: G-Get back here! You're n-not going to j-just get away with this!
SAKURA: Come h-here and face your punishment!

Sakura shoots up from the couch, peeking over the backrest. However, the timeclone Adria has already faded out of existence. Sakura murmurs to herself as she descends back onto the couch, lying down.

SAKURA: friggin' hate children
SAKURA: goddamnit

The princess rubs her face. She bet she could deliver a harder slap than that. But should she really get into another brawl so shortly after getting the snot beaten out of her by Plana? No. But also, yes. She cannot allow her pride to be bruised twice in a row.

---

Echoss extends an invitation to Ette. Should she need a place to stay for awhile, the Echo Collective is more than willing to house her. Ette bobs her head, pigtails bouncing with each movement.

ETTE: Wow! Thank you, Mr. Echoss!
ETTE: ...Uh. Hm. Thinky, thinky...
ETTE: Um, what's an Echo Collective? Is it a really nice city?
ETTE: Are you like, a member of the Highchair but over there?

Ette stares blankly at Echoss, smiling. Was she around for any sort of initial explanation for this? Maybe she just forgot. I definitely didn't forget Ette's status with the Echo Collective. Nope.

---

JOE crystallizes his mana! All the excess mana he got from combat this round, he's gonna somehow use it to generate a lot of Crystallized Mana. 5 units of Crystallized Mana enter the inventory.

He then does an excessive amount of sweeping with his Bizarre Broom, cleaing up entire piles of rubble with it, as well as a single severed head. These are obliterated from existence, fading into nothingness. That's as tidy as it gets, isn't it? The farm seems moderately workable now, even if the soil is somewhat rocky. What else does this place need now? Maybe some sprinklers or other bits of machinery? There are sun lamps, but everything else was destroyed during prior Iti attacks. Being the god of farming is hard.

---

Blacklight approves Sakura's request to kick around IKEA. Kinda, anyway. If the others are open to it, he's open to it. Is what he's heard about him true, though?

SAKURA: Yeah. Just about everything you heard about him is true.
SAKURA: Even down to helping the Godmodder during that war.
SAKURA: If he were my leader, I'd call him as big a disgrace as father.
SAKURA: ...That's too harsh. Nobody could have gorilla]ed up everything as badly as father did.
SAKURA: But surely, you get my point. To punt his stupid head around would be absolute bliss.

Blacklight also explains exactly what the hell a cigar is. It's meant to be lit on fire for recreational purposes. Sakura sweats bullets.

SAKURA: ...H-Humans are absolutely terrifying.
SAKURA: O-Or... whatever it is you are.
SAKURA: You certainly don't appear to be human or Chairian. What the hell are you, anyway? The physical embodiment of edginess?

...She's not wrong.

Meanwhile, down in the the basement of the citadel, EN decides to attempt a resurrection. How much elemental energy can she pump into a corpse before it reanimates? Only one way to find out! A somewhat wary Marron equips safety goggles and stands a healthy distance back as EN begins to pump an absolutely cataclysmic amount of energy into the Chairian corpse. The entire corpse twitches violently as energy floods their body, elemental reactions swirling and crystallizing as they're promptly overloaded.

Soon, the torrent comes to an end. The Gardener appears to be breathing! Though, there's also a concerning amount of elemental buildup in their body, causing them to glow. Marron equips a twelve-foot pole, and gently nudges the body with itl

MARRON: Uh. I think you did it.
MARRON: Kinda get the feeling they're gonna explode though. Glowing like that probably isn't normal.
MARRON: I'm not a doctor. I only play one because I rarely have a choice in the matter!

While Marron sets up a pile of sandbags to hide behind, Calibri continues his past excursion. Disguising his voice, he transmits a message to the Eliti. He's fated to die here, but perhaps he can intervene? Daikon stares blankly at the time traveler. It appears to be the slightest bit hard to swallow, but Daikon nods anyway. This is about the time they're forced out of the pile as Droplet is violently murdered the first time, her timeline being rewound to pre-murder.

It's almost time to act! But... a member of the party has picked up on something. Did she hear a voice earlier? She's certain she did. Chloe runs to investigate, finding the Iti-disguised Calibri. Luckily for him, the disguise is apparently authentic enough to fool her. Perhaps it was worth dressing himself up in Iti after all?

PAST!CHLOE: W-What the hell are y-you...?
PAST!CHLOE: D-Doesn't matter! H-Here I come!

Chloe runs towards Calibri, swinging at him in a somewhat predictable overhead arc. She's still quite the amateur at this point. Shouldn't be too hard to parry the blow. Just... try not to harm her or do anything that'd disrupt the timeline, okay? You don't want the time police to get on your butt. And something tells me the time police consists of more than just a few Zweets.

---

Auth puts his heart in the cards! Auth slides his token to the far end of the board, and Prinplup to the other. Tapping all of his Land cards, he casts Unlock The Gates of Deepest Power! He's offered two interesting looking cards; Cast Down Into the Briny Deep, and Pent-Up Calamity. Both are interesting options, but what to pick? Pent-Up Calamity, of course. Cast Down costs too much Mana to use. It is unclear how helpful these cards will be. Prinplup also uses Aqua Shower, dropping Leshy's player pawn down to 2 HP.

When it comes to Leshy's turn, he's still unable to attack due to Swords of Revealing Light being active. What he is able to do though, is trade in Iceland and another card he just drew to play down an army of 15 Troops. Truly, a menacing sight. He also taps his mountain to play Hand of Protection, giving himself a Divine Shield. How bothersome. But perhaps one can figure out a way to break through this defense?

As Swords of Revealing Light fades, Auth draws into two more cards. Perhaps these can be used to end the battle? A card called Mystic Shot, as well as something called Gift Card. Odd.

---

[b]<MOMENTS FROM DESPAIR, ROUND 7>
The wooden walls of the Sphere shudder and splinter as the magic of the Council reaches its culmination. These reverberations are focused into a single point in the Sphere. In an instant, the energy is released as a swirling torrent. The oaken wall cracks and divides as if an invisible drill was slammed directly into it. The “drill” forces its way through at incredible speeds, rumbling its way down into the depths of the Sphere. The infected wood leaves a trail of viscera-like Thyme Matter as its obliterated, turning the slanted tunnel into a bit of an infected waterslide.

OMORIKA: No time to lose.
OMORIKA: Everyone! Down this way! I’ll be sealing the path behind us!
CHLOE: R-Rodger!
MARRON: Yeah, yeah. On my way.
NIA: I mean, the Iti barely even touched us. Do we even need to hurry-

Grabbing Nia by the hand, Chloe drags Nia into the gaping tunnel before her. She equips a shield from the inventory, throwing it onto the Thyme Matter before “snowboarding” down the path. One by one, the Spherebreakers pour into the cave, volleys of magic and arrows slaughtering Seekers before they can reach the mouth of the cavern. Those who are too injured to walk (or too pinned down to even move) are carried away by Ette or some of Omorika’s summons, plucking them from the tide of Iti.

The party roars down the thyme-caked slide. Some like Marron are content to just swoop down the tunnel as if she was wearing elytra, while those grounded like Acacia are forced to use whatever’s on hand to surf down- in particular, she has chosen to use Cypress as an unwilling surfboard down the waterway.

OMORIKA: This is it. The throne room isn't far ahead.
OMORIKA: He could move the room again, but that’d simply delay the inevitable.
OMORIKA: No more minions to fall back on.
ACACIA: Worst comes to worst, I’m sure Hex is willing to commit arson against the entire goddamned Sphere to-

The ceiling of the tunnel morphs in an instant, a single wooden spike streaking right by Acacia’s cheek. It barely grazes her, but it’s enough to leave a bleeding cut. Not even moments later, a practical rainstorm of spires fires from above, down on the party. Acacia screams as she frantically weaves around these blind assaults, each time being only milliseconds away from dismemberment.

ACACIA: W-WOW! Great going, Omo!
ACACIA: I sure am glad we HAD A PLAN TO DEAL WITH THE LITERAL GODDAMN STRONGEST ARBORMANCER IN EXISTENCE.
ACACIA: Who, may I remind you, is residing in a GIGANTIC WOODEN ORB.
ACACIA: WHY THE gorilla DID WE GO IN HERE!?
OMORIKA: There was no choice.
OMORIKA: One way or another, we would find ourselves here.
OMORIKA: But I believe that-

Omorika’s thoughts are interrupted as the walls of the tunnel begin to close in. Like a toothless zipper, the entry to the tunnel rapidly seals up, folding closed meter by meter. A team of Seekers who followed the party down the slide are mushed into nothingness. At the same time, like every hidden temple in the existence of mankind, the walls of the tunnel begin to close in on each other. At the very least, WARE’s stopped with the assault of spires.

ACACIA: HAHA, NICE! WE’RE TOTALLY gorillaED!
OMORIKA: N-No, allow me to explain!

Even as the walls contract, Omorika is still able to speak.

OMORIKA: Even now, as WARE assaults us! Something has struck me as inconsistent.
OMORIKA: WARE is more than capable of manifesting weaponry that can wipe out entire armies in a single blast.
OMORIKA: From the surface of the Sphere, we’ve seen him generate laser cannons. Fire wooden pods full of Iti out at the city.
OMORIKA: And yet, he’s never dared level those weapons against us.
OMORIKA: We’re certainly a threat. He knows that much. Without the Spherebreaker’s presence, he would be free to prime himself to explode.

OMORIKA: Nobody else has the coordination, manpower, or skills to even come close to what we’ve done.
OMORIKA: So. Why hasn’t he killed us?
ACACIA: gorilla. I-I don’t know?
ACACIA: Tell us, damn it!

The walls crunch the party into an increasingly small space. It’s getting quite hard to breathe in here. Chloe’s voice echoes throughout the tight tunnels.

CHLOE: M-Maybe… Ire doesn’t w-want to kill us?
CHLOE: WARE c-could’ve obliterated us at any point during our journey, a-and yet…
CHLOE: W-We’re… still here! P-Part of WARE is helping us!
OMORIKA: Precisely!
OMORIKA: Part of Ire still exists within this creature we call “WARE”.
OMORIKA: And, if I’m correct…


The Thyme Matter that acted as a rather malicious waterslide is now enough to fill the entire tunnel, depriving the party of air. And yet, the pressure builds as the space within grows ever smaller. There’s a rushing sensation as the pressure rockets through the Sphere’s many tunnels, forcing the party deeper inside. Like magma piercing the earth to become lava, the party shoots up into a gigantic, dimly lit chamber in a glorious geyser.

OMORIKA: …then we’re in the clear!

Carelessly, the party spills forth around the grounds. There’s naught but silence in here, the only sound being a gentle rhythm that seems to originate from the center of the room. The entirety of this almost-perfectly circular chamber is swamped with corrupted roots, Thyme Matter oozing its way through the bark. This has stained the finest of woods that make up the hall a royal, hazy purple. Individual splinters of wood stretch like fingers from the crooked bark, desperately grabbing at the feet of those around them.

From the ceiling of the room, a ball made of thousands of interlocking branches hangs from an arm made of pure, congealed Thyme Matter. Barely visible are whole logs poking from the aqueous surface, likely forming a skeletal structure within. The orb pulsates in and out, pumping hovering streams of Thyme Matter around the entirety of the Sphere. Right below it is the Sphere’s gigantic borehole, responsible for firing bursts of Iti at the planet below.

Chloe wipes a mixture of thyme and blood off her brow, creating another splatter upon the ground. She glances up at the ball of branches

CHLOE: I-Is that… him? Ire?
OMORIKA: That has to be.
OMORIKA: He’s the one who’s guided us here, isn’t he?
OMORIKA: But, the purpose of this structure… why does the Sphere have a heart?
OMORIKA: It’s an orb made of wood. By all means, it shouldn’t require a heart.
MARRON: Hell if I know.
MARRON: Maybe he thinks it's atmospheric.
MARRON: This totally seems like something Chaos would do, so… it’d make sense.
ACACIA: God, that’s insufferable.
ACACIA: I’m cracking this goddamned egg open, right now-

A single root ensnares Acacia’s leg as she steps forward, causing her to trip and faceplant.

ACACIA: ow gorilla
MARRON: Just… just let the eldritch murder thing have its moment.
MARRON: It’s probably for the best.

The beating of the “heart” accelerates to a rapid rhythm. The Thyme Matter streams around it are sucked into its core like slurped spaghetti noodles, whipping and flailing each way as they’re pulled in. They rip tears into the wooden walls, leaving oozing gashes behind.

As the beating further accelerates, the hand supporting the heart begins to move. It hoists the orb up towards the ceiling, tightly gripping the ball of branches. The branches break and crack underneath the grip as it grows tighter and tighter. Then, with a single, decisive motion, the ball cracks and shatters. Splinters and droplets of Thyme Matter spray across the chamber.

The hand unfurls, two fingers pinching a leg. A body dangles from the hand, adorned in a wooden robe. No light shines forth from the darkness of the hood. The hand throws the figure up a short distance into the air, before the entirety of the arm disconnects from the ceiling. It splatters down onto the ground, the arm melting down into the earth until it’s just an elbow and above.

The figure tumbles limply in the air, spinning as they land sitting-down in the palm of the hand.

One might call this eldritch construction an armchair.

As the readers groan at this awful revelation, two piercing thymium eyes pierce through from the figure’s face, no smile accompanying them. A scythe lies in the figure’s left hand. And in the other, an ancient hybrid shotgun crossbow medigun of sorts. As if dragged by strings, the figure sits up straight and tall in their little throne, hands resting gingerly on their lap.

WARE has arrived.

It’s unclear exactly how he’s taking, but with every word, echoes of crimson flow through his beacons that are his eyes.

WARE: Strange. The command I gave should’ve smushed you all flat.
WARE: But, not that it matters.
WARE: It’s good to see you all, gathered before me.
WARE: I’m happy that so many of you arrived here to wish the world a farewell.

From below the Spherebreakers, a deluge of chairs erupt from the ground. Everyone is forcibly knocked into a sitting position.

WARE: Please, sit.
WARE: Just a quick chat, before the inevitable.
CHLOE: U-Um… a-alright.
WARE: Thank you.

Chloe makes herself comfortable on the exquisite chair that has popped up below her. It’s almost like it’s not made of some hybrid sentient wood that wants to eat her ever so slightly.

WARE: The Reunion.
WARE: The joining of the triad butterflies, resulting in the end of the world.
WARE: You can’t stop this inevitable fate.
WARE: And neither can I. Believe me, I tried.
WARE: “We are all sleeping slaves to fate.”
WARE: We’re all going to die. Because of me.

WARE: It’s almost funny, really.
WARE: I was a hero. And now, what’s left of my legacy?
WARE: An endless mountain of corpses. Like every Descendant before and after me.
WARE: Those that stood before me during the Second Godmodding War. My own people, who I conscripted to fight in a war they had nothing to do with. And as if it wasn’t enough, even now I torment them with my endless legions.
WARE: Die a hero. Live long enough to become a villain.
WARE: Maybe it’s like that. I don’t really know.
WARE: I’ve never really known anything other than the battlefield.
WARE: It’s what I was made to do.
WARE: To kill.
WARE: And here we are.

WARE’s arm twitches. Crimson reverberations shine through the sleeve of his oaken robe. His scythe morphs into a sword that resembles a butterfly’s wings.

WARE: Change is so, so hard.
WARE: I tried my best, I really did.
WARE: But there’s always this voice, nagging, screaming in the back of my head.
WARE: I’ve ignored it. I always have.
WARE: But the Thyme… something changed.
WARE: It’s been getting louder, and louder, and louder… that voice.

WARE: I don’t have an outlet for it anymore.
WARE: Fighting the Godmodder? That was fun. Kept it satisfied.
WARE: Running a kingdom? Making sure everything goes nice and smooth?
WARE: I wasn’t designed for that.
WARE: The Sleuth wasn’t designed for that.
WARE: It really was just a matter of time before this happened.
WARE: The Thyme and Spark only accelerated that inevitable decay.

Another flicker of crimson runs through WARE’s body. A third eye, this one emanating pure crimson light, tears open on his forehead.

WARE: I wish… I wish it didn’t need to come to this.
WARE: I wish that lust for battle, for death, for destruction… that it could just leave me be.
WARE: But that hunger… is part of me.
WARE: The Butterfly has always been part of me.
WARE: The Thyme simply taught me how to embrace who I am.
WARE: There’s no need to deny my nature anymore.
WARE: Like my ancestor before me, I am a machine of destruction.
WARE: So I shall do what I do best.
WARE: Destroy.

=TURN 333=

=CHARGE=
-50 / 50- Guardians of the Second Directive -> EXECUTE.
-49 / 50- BRANCH
-708 / 744- Dawn of a New World

=EXECUTE=
My neck snaps upwards, thymium essence spewing forth from all three of my eyes. This energy surges down into the borehole below my majestic armchair. Perfectly synchronized, eight creatures rise up from the abyss. Angels with metallic bodies and six furled wings. They linger there, suspended in the air.

The Sephirah appear to assist! They begin in stasis so they don’t get one-rounded like everything else I’ve summoned leading up to this point.

Sephirah (x8) [Irecreeper - PS]: HP: 222 / 222. SHP: 30 / 30. AC: 4. Stasis: [IIII]

As just verbally described by WARE, a double quartet of Iti rise from the borehole that Iti are so often shotgun fired out of towards the planet. While the prior description is certainly accurate- metallic with furled wings, yes- it goes a bit further than that. The very forms of these Iti are inherently unstable, their wings convulsing with the raw energy of the essence used to create them. Droplets of their own essence drip from their bodies, oozing from their single, thyme-shot eyes.

WARE… of course, doesn’t even bother to sit up. He is the former Chairheir. Standing up to him is completely optional. His throne however, is more than happy to stand in his place. The armchair shoots up from the ground. As it lands it sprouts a set of five wheels, spaced out at equal angles.

WARE: You may remain seated.
WARE: In the end, there shall be a Reunion.
WARE: What you do here truly doesn’t matter-
CHLOE: S-Shut up!

Chloe rips her chair from the ground, and throws it at WARE. It bounces harmlessly off of him. One cannot hope to harm a Chairheir with a chair. The sheer audacity of this manuever has certainly gotten the full attention of the fallen heir, though. He glares down from his mahogany tower, staring one of his creators in the eyes.

WARE: …This was the fate of the world from the beginning.
WARE: What makes you think you can defy fate, Chloe?
CHLOE: Fate… fate only exists if you let it.
CHLOE: Fate is something that is created if you stand idle, and accept what might happen.
CHLOE: But none of us have ever just stood idle in the face of hopelessness!
CHLOE: Even if it seemed impossible, no matter how stacked the odds… each and every one of us has overcome the fate that the world had in store for us.
CHLOE: So there’s no way I’m just going to sit down and take it!
CHLOE: I’m going to fight! I’m going to fight against fate, and seize our future!

As Chloe raises her blade, four other Spherebreakers rise along her in turn. Their weapons are bared against the corrupted godslayer.

OMORIKA: Until the Spherebreakers arrived, I thought there was nothing I could do in the face of Spark’s reign.
OMORIKA: I had resigned myself to a violent end, whether by Spark’s hands or yours.
OMORIKA: And now, I see an end to our ordeal. Our pain.
OMORIKA: The flames I saw in my dreams… they were not my future. They weren’t my fate.
OMORIKA: We won’t be consumed by our misery!
NIA: I had given up on the world so long ago, even before I was a sacrifice to the butterfly.
NIA: But Chloe, Venia, and everyone else was there for me.
NIA: As much as I tried to reject this, pretend there was no hope… they proved me wrong.
NIA: We’re not gonna die, because we can’t! We’re unstoppable!~
THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth also throws his chair at the prior Chairheir.
THE SLEUTH: He had to take a stand here. If not even his own butterfly or his death could keep him down, then what could possibly stand in his way?
THE SLEUTH: The answer, was quite simple. Nothing.
THE SLEUTH: He thrusts his right arm up at his Descendant, pointing towards him menacingly.
THE SLEUTH: After all this, he has something to say.
THE SLEUTH: “This world… is real. It’s worth saving.”
CYPRESS: The impossible, defied. Our people, oppressed.
CYPRESS: Spark’s reign. Impossibly strong. Total control assumed. Rebellion, struggled valiantly. To no avail. Hope was lost.
CYPRESS: But, with help. A weakness, found. Spark’s reign, destroyed.
CYPRESS: We slew him. Defeated his loyalists. He couldn’t resist. And now, here.
CYPRESS: One final obstacle. Between Chairians, freedom. A new life. It awaits us.

The rest of the party follows suit. A variety of weapons are raised skyward, from swords to songbooks.

MARRON: Give it up already! I’ve killed one butterfly, and I’ll gorillaing do it again!
ETTE: I’ll protect everyone that I love, and everyone who loves me! You won’t hurt anyone, meanie!
MARI: As if we’d give up just because the going gets tough. Hell, that just makes things more fun!
ACACIA: There hasn’t been a problem I haven’t been able to solve with blunt force trauma. Wanna test that hypothesis?
TAEDA: Helix has a plan for us, and I won’t let you deny his message! We’ll get through this!
BASS: I’ve seen enough of the Rose Cult to know that whatever fate they believed in will never come to pass. Not while we’re here.
NANA: T-There’s a future I want to s-see come true! S-So if I need to fight this f-fate, then… I-I’ll pluck it out where it stands!
R-8733: This world’s full of dazzling colors and beauty! So, in the name of the boss, you’re gonna get blown apart!
MAPLE: A true heroine wouldn’t be afraid of your hollow words, villain! So I’ll stand before you, and fight for what’s right!~
MAXIM: *chittering noises*
CHI: Even if fighting for what we believe in hurts… I’ll be behind us every step of the way, helping in whatever way I can.
AOKI: There are still more tales to be told, more songs to be sung. Our path won’t end here!
GIBBET: *borb noises*
VULCAN: A prophecy a thousand years in the making… it’ll be disproven today. Brace yourself.

Even more members of the party rise up, weapons in hand.

ECHOSS: I'm sure we already know your answer, but for your sake I will one last time recommend you stand down before we come tear your wings off.
VENIA: I wouldn't even be here if these people weren't here for me... But now I'm stronger than ever, standing here with my friends. We'll erase that rotten moth for good, here and now!
ASHA: I'm here to keep the promise I made, and don't think for a second that I'll go down easy!
NETTLE: That horde backing you means nothing to me, gorillahole- Lie down and let the worms take you!
BAUHAUS: For all that is right and just in the stars, consider yourself defused!
HEXAGON: NUMERICALLY: YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED WITH THE POWER AND NUMBER OF FOAM AND FOES. I WOULD ADVISE SURRENDER, BUT I AM: EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL OF ITS SUCCESS.
ADRIA: I... I can't let you succeed. For my niece, for my friends... for this timeline, I will end this!
SHELLY: You know I can't just rot in a cell when everything I know and love is at stake. My story... our story won't end by your hand.
STAR: I know you are stronger than the siren song in your head,. we will save you, from yourself, o creator.
THE REFLECTOR: ...
DESTINY: Your crime is existence, fiend. As the Empress of Stars, I shall uphold the promise my brother took!
LATO: This is the purpose we were made for. Bringing an end to you.
VERDANA: We stand united with our friends, and united with each other.
CALIBRI: And by our power combined... you're gonna have a bad time.
JOE: so if you lose I can rebuild the farm right
SIMEON: I promised to do everything in my power to save you. SO HERE I AM! That's all I had left, I'm spent.
ZAHLIA: In this past week, the Spherebreakers powered through everything thrown at them. What makes you think you'll be any different?
IRONGUTTA: Oi! We've gone through 'ell to get 'ere. Either roll over an' die or give us a proppa fight!"
MAGNOLIA: Why not both? That sounds real fun!
AUTH: We've made it... the final scene. I don't suppose demanding you stand down and let us do our thing will be terribly effective? There's no doubt in my mind that we can beat you no matter how much power output you have, it would save us all a great deal of time and effort.
SOPHIA: Nyahaha! Great doomsday cocoon!
HANNAH: Seriously, perfect backdrop for an awesome final battle!
DOROTHY: L-listen up! You're thinking our universe will vanish?
BOSHI: (NOT TODAY! THIS UNIVERSE IS OURS! SO YOU VANISH!)
HANNAH'S BRACELET: ...The time has come.
KALIS: This world isn't mine. I still don't really understand it. But I'll fight to save it anyways, because that's what heroes do.
KEANE: This shall be your final audit! For the love of my ancestors, I will end all TAXATION! Keane McZupp, represent!
MARIA: I don't understand none of this… But I'mma beat up mister Chaos's weird purple brother too!

From the borehole below WARE, another figure shoots upward. A man clad in full power armor, followed by four monolithic hovering hands. Xavier lands a short distance away from the party, weapon systems charging.

XAVIER: I guess after all, we’re not in this alone.
XAVIER: I don’t need to be alone in cleaning up my mistakes.
XAVIER: But I guess… I never have been, have I?
XAVIER: It’s time for your shutdown, Experiment 14.
CHLOE: X-Xavier!? H-How’d you-
XAVIER: Your diversion was acceptable.
XAVIER: All of the Sphere’s defenses were redirected towards dealing with your squadron.
XAVIER: I was able to move through the borehole completely unopposed.
CHLOE: W-Wouldn’t have hurt to have helped us, t-though…
XAVIER: Can’t be helped. I was rushed enough as is.
XAVIER: Barely had time to cobble these last few God Hands together.
XAVIER: Nice speech, though. Got here just in time.
CHLOE: Um… t-thanks!

Chloe steps forward, completely unfazed in the presence of WARE.

CHLOE: We are the Spherebreakers!
CHLOE: And against all odds, against every fate… we’ll win!
CHLOE: We’ll destroy your plans, and claim our futures!
WARE: …And here I thought you’d have the courtesy to lie down and die.
WARE: But, who am I to complain?
WARE: This what I was meant to do.

WARE glares at his hands, stained with thyme and sap.

WARE: Executing the second directive.
WARE: Prepare for termination.



F I N A L ⠀ S T R I F E

WARE
Thyme Stained Hands

PLAY - Violation of Black Colors (Lobotomy Corporation)

---

<HEART OF THE SPHERE, ROUND 1>
Welcome to the end of the game. Do your absolute best to survive what hell is about to come for you. I'm sure you'll be fine though, right...?

Respec
Replace Singularity with Flicker of Insanity

Special wording clarification?
- Whenever your one of your summon uses an action the other summon also repeats the action. Each summon can only repeat an action once.
to
- Whenever your one of your summon uses an action the other summon also repeats the action within their own action's range. Each summon can only repeat an action once.
Also.
- Only main summon counters (mainly for swarmer summons)


The Finale
Daskter spawns and quickly sidesteps to (D14). They proceed to call upon a VETERAN Rocketeer.
[Same stats has the Veteran rocketeer from the first battle, except their spell does Light DMG)

Sophia:


Ette:
Echoss nods. Was Ette there for one of the original explanations? Doesn't really matter honestly, she obviously needs an explanation now.
"Yes. Well, technically several nice cities. Very large cities as well.
There's a lot of very good and skilled people who've helped make it a wonderful place, at least in my opinion."

HEART OF THE SPHERE:
Echoss takes Autorevive and Energized to the Heart Of The Sphere, and auto-spawns his cat again.


Consumables:

[WORLD]
The sun-lamps and the hose will do fine. This is a garden, after all, not a farm- only partially within my domain as He of Farming, but I do know this much. Gardens are much less focused on the efficient output of useful plants; much more focused on quality, particularly aesthetic quality. Most of the remaining plants in the garden were, after all, flowers of various descriptions. As a result, sprinklers would not be desirable- leaving aside that if they were active now the rot would simply return, as no flowers have been planted to replace the old, sprinklers also cause the water to fall from a height onto the plant, which could potentially damage the delicate petals of some flowers; and would also leave the water on the leaves or petals of the plants, which can cause mold. In a farm, with regular harvestings, and attention on productivity rather than aesthetics, this is acceptable, so long as it is kept in check. In gardening, this is less so. Hence the (former, and hopefully future) presence of a gardener, in order to tailor the amount of water and delivery of water to each plant and avoid leaving excess moisture to fuel mold and rot.

In other words, I make no further upgrades to this area for the moment, though I do take the time to carefully water those flowers which remain and which should be so watered. The Serenea and Sentinels, in other words.

[The following assumes the changes are: [Farmland Tap is 4 MP.] [the downing of enemies using Tap does not activate effects like traits or give SP for the downing etc]]

[I intend to recraft: Narahates Helm(Probably to get Fruit from spells I plan to keep, like Terraform), Chibi Steve(to Tier 7), maybe Armor: OMEGA (to swap overgrowth into something that's possible while I'm succeeding at things.)]
[I also intend to drop Deep Thinking for something else. maybe Mirror Image? it depends on changes to my trait, if my trait stays the same I'll probably swap in cherry energy so I can make full use of all the spare MP I have.]
[Craft1]
First things first, the Narahate Helm. I think it's eldritch or something? But I don't want it to be eldritch. There is something good about this hat that I want to keep, though: It produces fruit! As a farmer, this is something I favor immensely. It's perfect, symbolically. So I just need to override all the parts I don't like, like the eldritchness. To do this, I decrystalize one of the five pieces of crystalised mana I crystalised earlier and pour it into the hat. It's still my mana, sorta, the item description references me, so it kinda... pushes out the eldritchness, which drips out of the hat and onto the ground. This ground wasn't going to grow any crops anyway, though, so it's fine. I then inject lifeblood sap to replace the fluid content the hat lost when I removed the eldritch.[/Craft1]

The intention is to turn the Narahate Helm into... the Farmers Helm or something, changing the trigger condition for gaining fruit to 'terraform in particular'. or maybe to 'Summoning or Positioning spells'? flavor/maybe effect changes to the fruits it produces wouldn't be amiss either but aren't really important. Making the "(Narehate Knowledge)" effect switch to affecting [Other] type perks instead would also be nice, in that it'd save me 1 more kp, but is minor.

[Craft2]
Next, the Chibi Steve! He, I shall upgrade to tier 7! How, you ask? Well, one type of Steve is conspicuously missing: Farmer Steve! the, objectively, Perfect Steve! Consider Technoblade. His sheer quantities of farmed potatos show that he is clearly a farmer. Yet, he is also known for his capability in combat! And less known for his ability to look up redstone tutorials and then copy the placement of every block perfectly with no comprehension. The metaphor isn't perfect. He has, after all, only farmed a finite quantity of potatos. Unlike I, a true farmer. I am implying I farmed an infinite quantity of crops. Truly, I am a great farmer. The takeaway here is that Farmer Steve is the form I must upgrade this Chibi to possess. But how?
It's simple! I'll use all the resources that we definitely got from all of those Iti I killed on farmland on the second-last and last turns of the despair battle! Those resources were harvested from crops! truly, they represent farming to the utmost! I can't give any more detail because i don't know how many or what resources we got there. I didn't get a chance to see them being added, which surely they were when I wasn't looking because that's the point of my special is the resources it gives. Go on, Chibi Steve! Ascend to your perfect self! Become a Farmer Steve![/Craft2]

The intention is to craft a T7 Chibi Steve with only one option, Farmer Steve, where Farmer Steve gives the benefits of Techie Steve, and then either some other farmerly benefit (resources from downing foes? a buff for standing on forests and other plant-involving tiles? the ability to maintain Farmland on one tile in range 2, even when my special is inactive?), or the existing techie-steve-effect just gets higher by another buff level or several or a related boost like a spell slot I dunno.

[Craft3]
Lastly but not leastly, the Praetorian Armor OMEGA! Thematically, it's a fit! the benefit it gives is 'Overgrowth' - a plantly boost! But activating it would require me to get attacked and be hit!
ever!
There are two possible solutions! or maybe more! The ones that come to mind are the ability to sacrifice health to trigger Overgrowth, and making overgrowth into a different effect entirely. In the first case, the solution is obviously blood magic! I pour some fluxblood over the robe that is the Praetorian Armor OMEGA and look at it greedily, intimidating the fluxblood's flux into doing what I ask by way of my reputation. In the second case, the solution is equally obvious! I simply set a small bonfire of wood, burn 10 decay in it, mix the resulting fertiliser and ash in with 10 dirt, turn the fertile dirt into mud using some water, plant some seeds of various kinds, and cover the exterior of the robe in dirt! some magical encouragement of growth later, the armor will be literally overgrown!
Regardless of which of these things I did- or if I did both- the Praetorian armor OMEGA is modified!
[/Craft3]
The intention is to do something from/in the general family of the following: the ability to spend HP to trigger Overgrowth. The ability to spend HP to cast a spell like it's manafueled with spent-HP as the mana-cost-increase? Overgrowth being a passive buff not unlike steve. Overgrowth being a buff for standing in overgrowth. due to similarities to the will of the crops, perhaps overgrowth being an effect triggerable using GP instead.

I also swap out Deep Thinking for... Mirror Image. If one of these upgrades granted a spell slot, that spell is Spirit Blade if casting spirit blade, not basic attacking, casting spirit blade again, and then basic attacking results in two hits of 50% mana damage, or cherry energy otherwise.

[BATTLE]
I bring along my Knowledgeable and Enlightened.
Spawn on P23; Swift-terraform Q-S26 into mana wells, wherever Teag is going I don't know where that is into Fortified, and move to S26. 3 GP invested into a level of Eterna, and 2 kept in reserve; Normal-cast Mirror Image to R26.

Oh! and if nobody else uses the Ainifni, I use it normally on my Mirror Image.

BUILD CHANGES: Remove a Protowell Seeker, invest the KP into DEF.

He then purchases three Wormhole Edges and three Autoloaders.

—


Hexagon spawns at P22, then waits for Calibri to spawn. He uses Power of Friendship on Calibri, and then waits for him to move off the tile, before casting Mirror Image on P21.

He then uses Smith’s Boon on Remiel when they spawn.

Finally, he uses the Shard of Madness.

NPC Orders:

Xavier should use a Wormhole Edge to teleport down to Chloe, and use Linken’s Sphere on her. He can whatever with his remaining actions and that of the God Hands.

The following NPCs should join.
Some of them have some rough orders given.

- Chloe (1, locked)
- Marron (2) (Either expend some HP and use Reckless Revenge + Attack on WARE, or use Weapon Skill)
- Acacia (3) (Use Deep Thinking)
- Omo (4) (Summon)
- R8 (5) (Spawn a turret and hit WARE, Armorbreak him.)
- Maxim (6) (Hit WARE or Razor Focus someone and self)
- Gibbet (7)
- Sleuth (8)

Respec

Adria swaps out Watchful Eye for Encourage, and Overpowering Smash for Expel. She takes 1KP out of both of her spellslots, removing the Manafuelled, and places them into RES.

---

In The Final

ADRIA: ...E-even I can feel his power...
ADRIA: ...
ADRIA: (Is it just me, or is there something off about this? He almost feels... predictable. Someone of this power level shouldn't be predictable.)

She straightens up, ready for battle.

ACTUAL ACTION

First, setup.

-"New" Project: Keep Nanomend Duct Tape from Moments From Despair
Nanomend Duct Tape (13 MP). Restore (23-24) HP to a target. Range 1-3. Bonus Action. Nobody has any idea how this works. Except Adria. And probably Mari if given the opportunity.
-Watching Over You: Irongutta

Adria spawns in at (D13). She uses Full Attention To Praise! to get +4 Buff Levels (plus whatever's folled), then Loads Expel into her weapon for a minimum of +9 Buff Levels. Then, to make sure she doesn't immediately crumple like a piece of paper, she hops into the Exosuit one last time. The Exosuit has Flight Thrusters and Auxiliary Shielding.

---

Hannah

Hannah blinks.

HANNAH: Well, that explains the wariness pretty well, seems peckin' WARE exists.

A pause.

HANNAH: ...I guess there's physically no way I could get that bad.

Another pause and a sigh.

HANNAH: ...Yeah I'm still a bit scared.

---

Shelly

...Eventually, the sounds of writing cease from behind the isolated cell. While a quick check would confirm that the inmate is still there, she's set aside the journal and pen, and is sitting in the corner, frowning and staring off into nothingness.

Destiny replaces Phase Shift with Soaring Rush. She also claims the Patch Note Pen.

Destiny spawns G15, takes Empowered and Safety with her from Moments of Despair, moves to H16, Soaring Rushes to L15, activates Starstrike, observes WARE, and attacks WARE.

House

Blacklight chuckles quietly as he hears Sakura's vehement disapproval of IKEA and her formerly-alive father. He doesn't have much more to say there, as much as he agrees with her sentiments. Then the topic shifts.

"Well, you're not wrong on either account. Humans are... bizarre, honestly. Which probably also explains why they're seemingly everwhere..."

He shrugs. Then, onto himself.

"...As for the matter of me, well... physical embodiment of edginess is a bit much, but it's not inaccurate. (Even though my technical-brother would be more fitting a description...) In short - one of the party members, Verdana, cannot process certain negative emotions, namely Doubt, but they had to go somewhere. Ergo, I am probably an amalgamation of malignant code and his own insecurities given sapience and independence."

Beat.

"...So not exactly anything enviable, hah."

---

"..."

Loading.

---

Zone 6 - The Eclipsed Citadel

Good, that seems to have worked. At least, in the sense that the target of the resurrection attempt didn't literally explode. Still, Lato is wary of what could happen, especially since Marron is also wary and probably knows a bit more about resurrections. She glances back briefly to check what her current companion is doing...

"...In the event that something happens, you will not be harmed. (Probably.)"

She promptly piles on defensive effects, part of which includes manifesting a "hold your ground" + magic-element configuration weapon and selfcasting an Overload, then uses Shared Guard to project a shield around Marron. Then, for good measure, she also positions herself between Marron and the recently-hopefully-safely-resurrected gardener. Hopefully that's enough defenses... Now, she moves forward, carefully inspecting the gardener's glowing element-infused body. How to open dialogue...

"Greetings. Are you currently in a condition to communicate?"

---

The Past - Zone 2 - Whispering Library

{Oh GORILLA.}

Suffice to say, Calibri did not want this fight. Or any fight in general, really, but not this one in particular. Still, he's been found, but not found out. Best to act out the part while he's still in the costume...

"..."

Oh yeah he needs a weapon and it'd probably be pretty bad to use a future weapon of significance here... Thankfully, after a moment of thought, something comes to mind. A Maxim leg, wielded properly, should make for a suitably convincing Iti-themed sword... hopefully. He'll try it, at least.

Thoughts aren't instant, and an improvised sword is not a great weapon, so he fumbles a bit as he prepares. But he should still get the blade up in time to parry the incoming strike. After that, he begins moving around, trying to keep one eye on past!Chloe and one eye on what's happening near Daikon. Since he doesn't want to hurt her and also doesn't want to be hounded by time police, he doesn't really bother with attacking back, just defending and observing...

---

Battle in the Sphere - Heart of the Sphere

The siblings stand together. This is probably going to be the most difficult fight of their time here. But hey, the same applies for everyone else who's made it this far. So they're all FAR from alone in this. They have some time to talk among each other.

"We need a plan."
"Verdana, how you holding up, bro?"
"...I'll be honest, I'm not feeling it. Dealing with the Naclestial's final form and the rest of the horde took a bit out of me. That, and I'm not sure where those copies went..."
"Copies?"
"Yeah, part way through the battle, he made a bunch of copies of me. It was weird."
"Understood. Hopefully those will not become an issue later."
"Hmm, okay... Lato, you stepping in?"
"I would like some time to witness the fighting style of our enemy, so that I may work on an appropriate countermeasure. I will intervene if you need my assistance, however."
"Uh... Same! I might be tired but I can still fight!"
"Heh, okay. Guess I'm up first, then."

Calibri grins, while the others move back and hang at the edge of the fight, ready to assist. Then...

He spawns into the battle at P21 (carrying Lucky15 over from the Moments From Despair battle) and immediately uses Loyalty on Chloe.

"Cool speech, Chlo. Very inspiring, heh. Now let's show him how we won every other fight."

He then retreats to R18, then pulls out the Warp Ring and warps to O15. Sadly, Loyalty is a full action, so he'll have to wait for Chloe to come up and get things done.

BATTLE - AVENGERS ENDGAME

Star spawns at X13 with Sol Ultima in Lance form and their Focused and Empowered from the last battle. They fly to S12 and cast Soaring Rush with Manafueled2, flying to O13, and switch to Gladius form and attack WARE. They then eat some Infinipizza.

< FINAL BATTLE, FIGHT! >
Bauhaus spawns at G16, moves to K16, and basic attacks WARE with the Greatsword.

Bauhaus squeezes on the ever-shifting wooden form of the Jormungand, and a giant sword bursts from the hand, through WARE's back.

"If it's a fight you want..."

Teag spawns in and moves to N25 after JOE terraforms it, and before anyone else does any damage, blasts WARE with a railgun round of type... let's say Piercing, using the Range Hack. He once again has the Sprint, Dweller, and Timestop Kid's Hat Hats; he has the Timestop hat equipped to start out. He carries over his Empowered from the previous battle.

Zahlia begins by spawning in on D14 and meditating. There isn't really anything she can attack at the moment.

Heat of the Sphere
Spawn at E12.
Power Nap Zahlia.
Move to J11.
Basic attack WARE.

The Final Battle

Venia spawns at G12, keeping Safety and Ordo from the last battle. She uses Unexisting Theorem exactly five times at once, because of course. This gives, among other things, +1 MOV and thus the speed she needs, plus Snowfell Star buffs. She then moves to M13 and uses Material Transfer on WARE, healing herself. She retreats to M12.

Venia will use the Cardboard Callsign to summon Chaos, in whatever incredible aspect he may take, at N6. I doubt he'll remain in Keckleon cosplay for this particular battle. "Chaos! I'm not sure if you expected this or not, but we need you for this! Full power! For Maria!"

With Leshy, in the final moments, Auth makes a play for game:

Auth slides back to the left by one. He then tosses a Kunai at Leshy to break his Divine Shield, and then has Priplup cast Aqua Shower one final time. Auth then plays Tainted Remedy, tapping all his lands, and placing Gift Card face down.

During Leshy's turn, between whatever this game's beginning of turn phase, being either Standby or Upkeep probably, and his Main Phase, Auth activates the trap card Gift Card, which should burn Leshy for 3000 damage for game.

Assuming that victory is achieved...

AUTH: Good game.

Auth isn't sure what the correct social gesture for Chairians would be, so he waits for some indication from Leshy in the room he can't see.

---

Going into the WARE part of the fight, Auth swaps out Perseverance for Diligence and his Variable Resistance is set to Light..

Diligence is Alchemical Barrier set to Dark.

Auth then floats next to the Sephirah, on T14, and meditates mid-air. Thank god, he thinks except not because that thought hurts, that he doesn't have to try and go a whole turn without his trains of thought being interrupted.

There's probably an image of the fake angels glaring at this other fake angel who isn't in their faction that's really funny.

Endgame - Heart of the Sphere:

Keane shoots into the room at G16, taking the buffs Energized and Zillycharm. He does a loop-de-loop to J15, and immediately pulls out his Bancannon, sniping WARE in the face.

KEANE: call that a skill issue
KEANE: is this a good time to mention I don't actually know what is going on

Kalis swaps the Chaos-Binder's Halo for the Narehate Helm (but equips the Chaos-Binder's Halo in a vanity slot for the aesthetic).
This causes Kalis to gain 1 KP because Soul Hauler is discounted. They also remove 4 KP from SKI, because the Helm is now providing them with 4 SKI, leaving them with 5 floating KP.
2 KP goes into purchasing Manasurge, which is also discounted by Narehate Helm.
The remaining 3 KP goes into HP, in an effort to not have half-Kalises die in literally one hit after splitting.

Kalis also says a tearful goodbye to Chaos Bolt and swaps it for Channel Magic, truly embracing their role as a support caster.

Acting before everybody except Teag and JOE, Kalis spawns on U16, moves to S19, and Force Nails WARE with Armorbreak.