[spoiler]Alignment, we’ll go from here.[/spoiler]
Aifos gave you nod, with a smile, as Kokonoe fired off the gun once again.
“Just don’t take too long catching up..” Fukua said, before turning to you. “Okay, let’s go!”
English
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[i]Alignment rushes towards the pods and jumps on his platform to ride it, giving him a little extra speed.[/i]
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The two of you leave the Towers, thankfully winding up in Elysium rather than Venus’ maze. The place was in rather dire straights, however, as several large columns of Venus’ veins had broken through the tunnels, and took up large swathes of the hallway. Every few seconds, they would shudder, as Venus was struck by the railgun. You get through Elysium with little trouble, and soon find yourself in the Grand Hall. It had been cleaned up from the previous scuffles here, and almost resembled the grandeur of when you first arrived, complete with crowds of people gathering in the room, though they seemed more scared this time. You’re soon greeted by Tager, with Theta standing behind him. She looked a tad bit better than brfore, butnot by much. “Good, you’re here.” Tager said. “Most of the guests have been accountsd for, but we’re still missing a few. We need to do one last sweep of the hotel, and we should be ready to go.” “Right, and let me guess, that’s our job?” Fukua asked. “Indeed. Rho and I need to stay here. Venus has been sending a few monsters our way, and we’ve been holding them off. We’d have asked Joshua to make a sweep, but unfortunately he’s one of the few who haven’t shown up yet.”
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[b]Alignment:[/b] “If he hasn’t shown up yet, then things are getting more dire. We need to perform this sweep fast. I doubt we’ll be able to hold our ground for much longer.“
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Tager pushed up his glasses. “Kokonoe seemed rather confident her gun would buy us all the time we’d need. Even so, you’re probably correct that it certainly can’t hold her off forever. Thankfully, it’s only a few guests we’re missing. My guess is Venus probably sent some monsters after them to slow us down. If we’re lucky, Joshua is simply absent because he’s helping keep them safe. Otherwise, we’ll just have to hope Venus has enough honor not to kill unarmed civilians. For what small consolation it’s worth, however, as far as we’re aware nobody’s left Amaterasu’s Gift, so unless Venus dragged them through her secret tunnels, we can be reasonably confident they’re in there somewhere.”
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[b]Alignment:[/b] “Then we move through the hotel quickly first. Anything else I should know?”
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Tager hands you a paper of about a dozen names. You didn’t know most of them, but you may recognize Aaron, Ellie, and of course, Joshua. “This is everyone who’s missing.” Tager said. “The hotel has been relatively untouched by Venus’ vinestalk, except for the entrance to her tunnel. If she were to conjure any monsters to trap the guests, they’d probably have spawned from there. Though that’s not accounting for any of her cultists we may have missed, or some other problem holding them up. This shouldn’t be nearly as difficult as dealing with Venus’ maze, so the two of you together should be able to finish up rather quickly.”
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[b]Alignment:[/b] “Got it. I bet I’ll be back in 5 minutes or less. Why don’t you time me on that?” [i]He rushes towards the hotel with the cultist gun at the ready.[/i]
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You and Fukua run into the hotel. All of the doors were wide open, and most of the guest’s belongings had been removed, leaving the majority of the rooms cometely bare. This included Joshua’s room, if you stopped by there, which implied he had gotten ready to evacuate as well, wherever he may be. The same was to be said for Aaron & Ellie’s rooms; all packed and.. Well, left rather messy, but all packed up at least. Assuming you follow Tager’s recommendation, and head towards the tunnel, you can hear the sounds of fighting. It doesn’t take long to find a small group of guests backed against a wall by some of Venus’ monsters. Joshua was nowhere to be seen, but Aaron seemed to be standing at the head of the group, his skin turned to metal, throwing himself in front of every attack the monsters threw his way, as a living shield to the rest of the group. “Get out of here you freaks!” Ellie yelled, swinging a heavy case towards one of the monsters, with enough strength to send it flying backwards a good foot or two. While one of the monsters dove in for a counterattack, Aaron quickly blocked the way, his metallic body tanking the blow with ease. They both looked rather exhausted, however. The one Ellie had sent flying backwards notices you, and hisses as it crawls back up onto a wall. You catch a brief glimpse of an eye on its chest, but it was facing downwards, towards the wall. Suddenly all the creatures shudder, just like the veins you saw in Elysium. Likely anothet blast from Kokonoe’s gun.
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[i]Alignment tries to fire at one of the legs of the creature as it shudders to knock it off the wall.[/i] [b]Alignment:[/b] “I don’t know if everyone knows this yet, but you need to go for the eyes. It’ll take them out of commission permanently!” [i]If he succeeds, he tries to drive his spear configuration into the eye as a demonstration.[/i]
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Your demonstration was a success, and only a few moments later one of the creatures dove in to attack the group again! Aaron blocked it, and Ellie tried swinging her bag again to smack it in the eye, but her bag was too big, and only sent it stumbling backwards. They shuddered again, and Fukua followed up their assault with one of her own, grappling the monster closer to her, and then piercing the eye on its chest with a hair-drill. “Yeah, I think we’re going to have to handle it.” Fukua said, as the monster she had attacked vanished. With the two you took out, only three remained, all of them with their eyes on theur chests. Only one of them turned to face the two of you, however, and the other two turned towardsthe civilians! Aaron managed to block their assault for now, but he looked like he couldn’t hold on for long! The beast that faced you, leapt up on the ceiling, and formed several black stone spikes in its back, which it fired out towards you in a barrage of fallig spikes!
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[i]Alignment configures his staff into a shield above him to block the spikes and pushes it upwards to smash the creature on the ceiling, bringing it down afterwards to let it fall and go for a shot at the eye if it’s visible.[/i]
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You successfully block the spikes, and send up your shield, but the spikes extend, and keep it at a distance. Fukua dives in, however, and sends a soul-blast into its bottom, pushing it just that little bit further, smashing the creature, and sending it to the ground just as you wanted! Your shot takes out the eye with ease, and it disappears into blue fire, but you had other problems! The other two creatures send a barrage of slashes towards Aaron, and while he blocks several, a final heavy strike sends him crashing into a nearby wall, and he falls to his hands and knees. “Aaron!” Ellie cries, but the creatures promptly turned their attention to her, and she lets out a loud shriek as they lunge for her!
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[i]Alignment uses his strings on one beast and has them jump to the other so he can hold both of them in place as he pulls back with all his might.[/i] [b]Alignment:[/b] “Fuku, a little help here!”
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“You’ve got it!” Fukua yells, sending out her spectre to the front of the beasts. They both shudder, and a well timed kick to the head sends both of them reeling backwards, exposing their eyes for a follow up attack!
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[i]Alignment tugs at his strings to slide the beasts towards him and configures his balls into twin blades and descends both of them on each eye to finish them off.[/i]
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You take out the beasts in one fell swoop, and there don’t seem to be any more around, either. Fukua goes to check on Aaron as soon as the threat is cleared. “You okay?” She asks, as she helps him sit up. His metal skin returns to normal, and his face was bright red. “Ye-yeah. I think so.” He awkwardly mumbles out. “Can you walk?” “Yea-Ow!” Aaron yells as he tries to pull himself to his feet. “Maybe not..” “Then hold still.” Fukua stands up straight, and conjures her spectre, which lifts Aaron into its arms. Meanwhile, Ellie collapses to her knees. She doesn’t look hurt, just exhausted. “What the heck were those things!?” She yells out in a panic. “I thought we were getting attacked by a freaky cult, not whatecer those were!”
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[b]Alignment:[/b] “Those things were a part of what that ‘freaky cult’ worships. And believe me when I say that those are the least of our worries. You alright? Because you lot better get going to the escape pods while you still can.”
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“Yeah, I’m okay..” Ellie said with a sigh. “This is all just way too much..” She pulled herself back to her feet, and took her bag in her hands. Fukua pulled out the list Tager had handed the two of you, and looked it over. “I think this is everyone besides Joshua. We probably shouldn’t send them back unguarded, though, or Venus might just jump in with a sneak attack. I can take care of it if you want to keep looking for Josh, or we could go together and double back.”
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[b]Alignment:[/b] “I think I’ll get a head start here while you escort these folks back. If you see him there, tell me immediately so we can get out of here. And just to make sure, if you can’t find me or Josh for a while… well, I don’t think there’s a need to wait more than you have to. Just save as many as possible while you still can.”
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Fukua gave you a solemn nod, and called for the group to follow her. Though a few of them were a little hesitant, they ultimately all went along with her, leaving you in the hotel alone. Unfortunately, even a thorough sweep of the building turned up empty. Wherever he was, it evidently wasn’t here. Which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Last time he was seem was SAYU’s control room, and Tager said nobody’s come in or out of the hotel. Still, that meant it was up to you where to look. Bear in mind it be difficult to get arind thanks to Venus’ veins. [spoiler]A location list if you need it; The Observation Deck The Grand Hall (searched) Oceanview Amaterasu’s Gift (searched) Elysium (searched) Venus’ Tunnel The Garden Le Restaurant SAYU-Mart[/spoiler]
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[i]Alignment sprints towards the Observation Deck, trying to avoid conflict while he can.[/i]
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You leave the hotel, and head through the Grand Hall and towards the Observation Deck. Venus had left it more or less untouched it seems, amd nobody got in your way. Kokonoe’s former station was left unattended, and there were a plethora of error messages, though the specifics go over your head. You can see a map of the city and much of it was flashing red. Thankfully, the immediate area is not, including the Grand Hall, so things seem to be okay here for now. Some other screens have what appear to be cameras, though they all seem to be in the Grand Hall, patrolling the grounds. Joshua was nowhere to be seen, however. In fact, the room was completely empty.
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[i]Alignment tries to see if he can find anything in the view of the cameras. If not, he tries to head to SAYU Mart and see if there’s anything left he can salvage or any clues that might point to Joshua.[/i]
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The cameras are all only circling the Hall, and leave no clues. Heading to SAYU-Mart, the place is a bit better than you last saw it, but still quite a wreck. Things seem to be empty, until you notice Venus’ secret passage. The one in Amaterasu’s Gift was covered in veins, but it looks like somebody had cleared a way through these ones.
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[i]Alignment tries to make his way through the passage to see if there’s anyone still around the area.[/i]