Underground Elevators

In a show of the superior ability presented by the Ancient hero, as his palm raised into something of an arched form, a strange glyph would appear upon the air. The strangest of markings that once stricken would push Ragna's blade to the right, while allowing the surprisingly fast hand of Hakumen's to grab the Criminal by his forearm. "What was that?" the condescending tone with which he spoke seemed suited to the ease with which he would toss Ragna away. Over his shoulder as if he weighed almost nothing, it was clear to see that the leader of the Six Heroes possessed a definite advantage in this battle thus far.

"You talk much, I expect more from you Dark One, do not disappoint me." The words coming from the Susano'o Unit's wielder, he'd stepped towards Ragna with plans to break his spirit and destroy him at once; had all but ignored Noel's presence. She was not a concern of his, it was here with Ookami effortlessly held to his right that he stalked towards the Bloodedge with a casual walking pace.

"Oh no, he's in trouble!" Noel's arms trembled with fear. She wanted to help, but she was too terrified. Her fear petrified her so badly that she remained rooted to her spot.

"If I don't help, he'll die!" The blonde thought frantically as her pupils were dilating "But I can't! I...I'm not strong enough! I don't stand a chance against t-this monster! There's no way! I can't! I can't-!"

It was then a strange buzzing noise rang in her head, causing her to feel nauseous as her rampant thoughts grew unnaturally calm.

"I can." she murmured as her eyes took on a blank look, a tell-tale sign that the Nox Nyctores Bolverk was in control. With almost mechanical efficiency, she raised her arms and took aim at Hakumen...

As the rush of energy was felt by Hakumen, he responded in kind by increasing his own force, a flood of rising energy burning within his body that showed more of the Ancient Knight's determined the Azure Grimoire's output to be near his own. He was not to hold back during this event, unveiling the depth of his present degree, despite the pressure of the Grimoire's release being a powerful amount, it still almost seemed dwarfed by the force from the Sankishin Unit, though at a better judgment would seem to pass; they were about...equal? It had not mattered really, Hakumen would not fail to destroy the wielder of the Azure, the Dark One would meet his fate. "You are prepared to show me your determination, I will meet you and your fate will come to pass. Oblivion awaits you, should that girl interfere, then she shall simply join you."

As Ookami was raised before him, Hakumen shot off of his position, throwing both sword and the power he possessed into the action, he'd intended to shatter the Grimoire and her abilities. It was time for him to meet his end. This battle would determine Ragna's very survival it seemed.

"Optic Barrel!"

Just before Hakumen could collide with Ragna, a small rip in space appeared just a few meters in front of his face, the tell-tale glyph of Bolverk manifesting before it would explode right on the silver knight's face.

As it turns out, Noel had used Bolverk's unique qualities to her advantage and joined the fray. Due to the Nox Nyctores influencing her actions, she heard nor heeded Ragna's warning. All her hesitation, all her fear had been locked away as the Nox changed her from the rather shy Lieutenant into the killing machine they saw before her.

Whether her attack would land or not, she would rush past Ragna and Hakumen, stopping just behind the latter before attempting to land a shoulder tackle to his unguarded back.

"Type V: Assault Through!"

The initial attack aimed towards his face, the knight's trajectory was altered, as he instinctively drew his head to the side of the explosive blast. Upon Hakumen's attention had very suddenly turned to the attack aimed for his back, it was just the impact of Noel Vermillion's shoulder that caused his blade to falter even more, causing the thrust to narrowly miss the Grim Reaper, his blade would shift by the side of Ragna's body, thrusting straight past his form, while the sheer force would still meet everything that the Bloodedge brought to the offer; it would not stop the immense effect of her tactic. "...Girl of the Azure, you choose a worthless fate!" he'd have come out of no where with his next blow, having the Ookami still out, he'd turned towards her while he turned and whipped his left fist outward; with the power of Order backing his fist towards the NOL Lieutenant, he did have to defend himself right away.

Mai arrived at the underground elevators along with her companions, only to be nearly blown away by a pressure wave coming from Hakumen`s swipe of Ookami. To her horror, it was directed to Noel, and she was too far away to help- her instincts told her to scream at her to watch out, but she controlled herself, knowing that doing so might cause Noel to loose focus.

In the meantime, she stared at the suit of armor she only knew from legends. The white, ceramic-like steel seemed incredibly tough as despite centuries of use there were no scratches or damages on it at all. Not to mention that the swipe of air she recieved from the giant sword told her it was incredibly heavy, not to be wielded by human hands. The helmet had no eyeslits at all- instead, multiple eyes were mounted on the armor- one of it was staring at her.

She was speechless, and unable to move.

Noel ducked the warrior's fist without even batting an eye, Bolverk doing well to shut out any fear or anxiety she may feel, and jumped back to create some distance. She executed two back flips before launching herself into the air with a third, using the height to her advantage as she unleashed a salvo of magic bullets at her target.

"Woah, what-"
Lusec was cut off by the mere sight of the faceless sword-wielding man. Wh-What is he? he thought.
He was literally shaking before he started trying to shake off the fear so that he can bust out his blade already.

He was practically suffering the same initial reaction as Ragna.

"Well, my little pet project went to hell."

Kokonoe sighed as she watched the fight. While she felt the same overwhelming pressure the other two had felt, she did her best to hide it. Still, she showed signs that she was affected, if the sweat on her brow was any indication.

"My exact instructions were 'keep everything from going apeshit.'" She shook her head as she watched the ongoing fight between Hakumen of the Six Heroes, Ragna the Bloodedge and Noel Vermillion. "And yet, here we are; watching everything go apeshit. To think I was gonna use you to carve Terumi like a turkey."

As the Silver Knight leapt backwards to evade the bullets that exploded near his body, each of the accurate shots forcing him to leap backwards until he'd grounded his feet burrowed into the earth; it was not until the end of the barrage that he'd ended his retreat. It was as each of the eyes upon the Susano'o made their focuses upon the sudden emergence of three more opponents, it was upon recognizing one of those as his liberator that he'd pointed his blade at Ragna still, not turning towards their direction while he spoke the words of simple facts. "You unleashed me to correct the world's path, Yuuki Terumi will perish but after the Dark One. It is only in this way that the world can know the proper path once again." As his blade followed the line of his new opponents, it rested upon Noel who was presently still airborne.

"The Girl has chosen her fate, will you each side with your Oblivion? Even should you be my liberator, my right is to the world. Make your decisions, I will stay the only path, I am Hakumen!" it was the very statement that sent another shockwave of force down the corridor once again; as if a declaration was all the reason that he required to do what was right.

Mai stared, and stared- Hakumens voice made her shiver with every word, and it took a minute to get out of her stunned state. She turned her head to look at Kokonoe, and it took every ounce of courage for her to speak up.
"What do we do? Is there anything we can do?" Kokonoe probably could do something, but her and Lusec... all they could probably do was watch, or maybe hinder Hakumen a little, buy Noel some time.

At the cost of their lives, that is.

Lusec had the same question in his mind as Mai's.
What could they do? They were not at Kokonoe or Noel's level to be of help. All he can do was watch the battle unfold.

Lusec gripped his blade, but nonetheless stayed at a safe distance. For the first time in his life, he felt useless.

"Target Confirmed."

Upon landing on the ground, Noel saw that Ragna had charged at Hakumen, the Grim Reaper bringing his massive blade down on the silver knight. Sensing the opportunity, she dematerialized her handguns...

Only to summon a big-ass minigun to hold with both hands. She lay her blank gaze on Hakumen, the multiple barrels of her weapon whirring to life as she prepared to fire.

"Zero Gun Fenrir!" With that declaration, she proceeded to unleash bullet hell on her target.

"Damn it...At this rate, there will only be scraps to clean up by the time Kageo and Tager get here."

While all this was going down, Kokonoe was trying to compose a plan. She looked around and took note of the environment, her eyes scanning the battlefield until, after looking past the Silver Knight and his opponents, she saw the unconscious Bang Shishigami on the crater from his earlier battle.

"I-It can't be..." Her golden eyes widened upon gazing at the giant nail the ninja carried around with him "H-how...how can that Ikarugan be carrying around the effing Lynchpin?!"

It was then an idea formed in her head. It was crazy, but if they can pull it off...Ragna and Noel just may have a chance.

The powerful sweep of the Grim Reaper's sword was something incredibly power, it was enough to have Hakumen deflect the blade with the full force of Ookami with both hands. While he stopped the swing with what appeared to be ease. The faceless mask of Hakumen's stared straight at Ragna before hearing him speak of the bastard's name. "Yuuki Terumi is going to be destroyed and I will do it!" the affirmed mention of the vile man had seemed only to anger the Ancient Knight. He'd looked towards the blond who had taken aim towards him once again, this lead for him while he leapt backwards and raised Ookami as a means of protecting himself from the onslaught of the magical bullet clattering against both his sword and his powerful guard glyph. "You will not change fate!" was the say that he'd said this as he drew his guard. Did they believe that they could stop him? The Ancient Hero would not be dissuaded from his path.

Mai panicked a bit as Kokonoe seemed to be as clueless as herself.
"Damnit, Professor, what do we do?!"
She turned her head with a huff and faced the white warrior instead, the one that threatened to kill her loved one.
"No one questions that Terumi should be destroyed! Did anyone ever say that?! And on top of that- he`s not here! The Hakumen i`ve heard of wouldn`t waste his time attacking innocents, even if they side with Ragna the Bloodedge.."
She bit her lip and came forward, placing her hands on her swords.
"Please stop that. I don´t want her to die at the hands of someone i know as a hero."

"Mai?"

Despite the the blank visage that manifested the Nox's influence, Noel Vermillion was still very much in there. It was all a haze to her, but the blonde could still perceive her surroundings. Thus she saw, though the image was a blur, her friend Mai Natsume walk forward with her hands on her sword.

"Mai...please don't! He'll kill you!" She screamed desperately within the confines of her mind as she desummoned her minigun and rematerialized the handguns. They then changed their shape and melded into something akin to a giant crossbow with energy gathering at the tip.

"You mean the world to me, Mai! I realize that now!" the tone she took was almost tearful, which did not show due to Bolverk's influence "If we get out of this alive...I'll tell you everything. How much you mean to me, how much I value you...how much I love you. So please, leave this place and run!"

"NEMESIS STABILIZER!" she roared as she fired the gathered energy in one, powerful piercing shot aimed at the silver knight.

"DAMN IT, MAI NATSUME! RUN!"

Lusec saw what Noel was doing and nodded. He took Mai's arm as he pulled her away from the silver knight, giving Noel a chance to strike at him.

If anything, he was prepared to die knowing he did something right.

Pleading from the enemy? The run of a strange woman before him had almost made him hesitate, had the silver knight not been so focused on dealing with Ragna and his attacks; then he might have almost stopped to listen. As the dark spikes were met with another stroke of his blade. The powerful missile too providing a target for the mighty hero of the past, with his focus unyielding, as the missile appeared that it would seal his fate, with his palm raised; the blade impacted on something and almost immediately, with a lightning fast battoujutsu slice of his blade; it would explode behind him. "Kokujin: Yukikaze(Empty Sky Form: Winter's Reposte)!"The only response that was given in this end, was something of a finite tactic. He would end this and everyone who chose to stand in the way of justice in one fell stroke. "...There is one way to end this quickly Dark One, it will be your finish." Though it appeared the words had fallen on deaf ears, the Ancient Hero would judge Ragna's worth within a final attempt on his life. That would judge the lives of all present as it were.

"Kokujin Ogi: Mugen(Empty Sky Form: Judgment)!" as he gathered the force within his blade, the hallway itself seemed to bend and curl under the sheer force. Was he releasing his true prowess before? The hallway seemed to be under the pressure of this ridiculous degree of power possessed by Hakumen. The pillars around shaking while he looked at each of those who'd bore witness to this. If the Dark One was truly different, if he had a chance; the fates would favor him here.[/color][/b]

When Kokonoe saw that he intended to end it all in one stroke, she knew that she had to act NOW.

Once she got hold of Mai and Lusec, she pulled them to the side and explained in a hushed whisper "I have a plan. It's not the best plan, but it's the only one we have right now."

She then turned their attention to where Bang lay, focusing on his weapon "See that giant nail? That's actually a weapon that can negate seithr, as well as sever ties from the Boundary."

She had no time for a history lesson, as the gravity of the situation was quite apparent "I'll help the Grim Reaper and that girl keep Hakumen busy, you two go grab that nail. Attack on my signal only, understand?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Chief Scientist of Sector Seven walked into the battlefield, her hands cackling with lightning. This was going to be one of the rare times she will use magic, and considering the opponent, now is a good time as any.

She noted that while the Lynchpin would do severe damage to Hakumen, it would not outright kill him.

"Good. I need him alive anyway."

Mai tugged her arm away from Lusec and gave her a nod. Anything to get Noel out of that dangerous situation.
She hurried over to the buffed man, grabbing the nail with both hands... And groaning as she lifted it up. For a normal girl this thing was far too heavy, but with Kokonoes beastkin strength aiding her it became almost easy.
"What now? What do we do with it?"