The unnatural chittering was enough to put anyone on edge. It was the kind of sound heard in horror movies, where sound designers record the clanking of mandibles and the flutter of iridescent wings and magnified them to match some giant insect. That was what was facing the Fourth Supreme now -- the maddening cry of an insect goddess.

She roars into battle, little crying who else was there. Her mind was singularly focused on mystics and any who stood against her. The sweet teenager was gone, replaced by hardened carapace and bone sharp appendages. Each one lashing out, tearing through the ranks of guards as she focuses on tries to get closer to her one remaining family member.

Once more, through the din of shrieks and snapping, and angry voice yells out. "AGATHAAAAA!"

Agatha steeled her nerves; her army was blessed by God. There was no way a ragtag group of abominations would threaten her, regardless of how hard they tried. It helped knowing who she was walking with; the Fifth was the most destructive Supreme, but the First and Third were the most truly powerful.

Still, some of these young women were true monsters. "Malachai, pain is nothing! Devotion is everything! Slay the heretics!"

Her words reinvigorated the wounded Mystic, granting him a second wind. The white-flame energy radiating from his sword coated the rest of his body. "I will not be swayed by your devilsong, monster," Malachai bellowed, scorching heat flaring with his words before he charged the pink woman. He swung his blade, spawning arrows of burning light scattering toward Aura, Zek, and Lenna; he had to protect God's army from their interference.

One mutant was making a beeline through Agatha's soldiers. It took a moment, but she recognized the young woman with the grotesque features and grinned wickedly.

"Let her through!" her voice boomed, and the guards standing between Agnes and Agatha opened the path. "My darling, monstrous niece. You do not look well. In truth, I was hoping you would find me sooner," she admitted, her tone sickly sweet. "God has finally granted me the authority to solve the problem of your unfortunate existence."

After protecting her little corner of the woods, Madison realized the scouting mystics had slowed down, and instead a veritable squadron was moving in unison toward her location.

Vesiculo had taken a beating and Madison could feel her false life force dwindling. She needed to cast a new spell when her construct companion expired, so she chanted, "Deceiving protectors of the dangerous forest, heed my call. DRAW!"

Unexpectedly, Madison drew a Spell Card! This was still something she was learning to handle right; monsters were easier to manage, but Spells and Traps were harder to maintain. Luckily, this one was worth the investment.

"I Activate the Traptrix Garden!"

The consolidation of their enemies into a smaller area made the Garden more effective, spreading lush, vibrant green grass beneath everyone's feet. Sundew and Venus Fly Traps popped up around the field.

"Watch your feet," Madi said into the communicator, not loud enough for the enemies to hear.

Careless mystics inevitably started stepping on freshly spawned plants. The Sundew bulbs were sticky and caught their feet, causing them to struggle to pull away, and fly traps snapped at ankles to trip foes up.

Vesiculo vanished and Madi ducked behind a tree, doing her best to maintain the field effect. If someone domed her with a rock, that would probably be the end of that.

The enemies they faced were organized and strong. Ez had opted not to consume any gems that might keep her full of earth, so she was effectively a glass cannon. Running herself into a mob sounded like a reckless plan.

A reckless plan the insect girl was doubling down on. Fuck. It was not Ez's job to protect everyone who chose to battle today, but the girl's energy was... well, just all wrong.

If she was going on a warpath, Ez would use that as a window to make a best attempt at flanking the leaders. She was not an X-Man; team play was not her strong suit, but an assassin could end a war as quickly as a hundred soldiers, right?

Slinking between and around trees, Ez maneuvered close to the less-guarded backside of the army. And yet again, there was bug girl, shouting and screaming a woman's name. Much to Ez's surprise, the Mystics cleared a path. That absolutely reeked of a trap.

From a close but safe distance, Ez decided to give the girl a better chance. She slowed her breathing, focusing on the lapis lazuli in her stomach. As she burned the stone, a mist started rolling out, gaining body as it crept toward the back guard and the Supremes. "Give 'em hell, girl," she muttered, grabbing her handgun and inching closer.

She turned the mic off as she watched a mystic drop a dart in his neck and another crumpled one on the ground. Lenna charged into the fight and though Aura's instincts told her to help her, she was busy herself. "I think i prefer being on this side of the dance floor with you my Gorgeous friend." She said unable to hide a slight moan in her words. Their was always time to compliment women.

Aura was forced back by another Mystic coming to cover Malachi. She parried two of his sword strikes before she brought down her aura hammer on his shoulder, the crack echoed through the woods. She heard Agatha's words and was about to reply when Malachi became covered in the flames of his sword but seemed immune to it.

The back of her right hand was already burned black from the heat, her aura protected her from the blade itself yes but her Aura she had discovered was half as effective on Mystic magic. Trading the blows as she was, she was also burning through her aura reserves.

Malachi Charged and so did Aura. The arrows however her new and midcharge Aura had to try and tank one of them avoiding another. "watch out!" She shouted as the first arrow struck her, drove deep into her aura, the second struck her upper arm below her shoulder bone, and drove into, flesh muscles and bone. Aura screamed as her arm fell limp at her side. She kept the sword at her shoulder her reach no diminished greatly. It was then she heard lethal aide had been green lit.

Aura was glad the arrows had been light and not actual arrows. Arrows were messy to remove. The Malachi was on top of her again, each blocked swing blackened and crisped her flesh and each time she took a step back. She focused past the pain and at the hammer. She had, the Hammer lengthened and thinned out until if formed a long over shape as a chain formed around the over just in time For Aura to feel Malachi slip past her guard, her aura keeping it to a small cut on her wounded arm. In retaliation she raised her hand an in overhead swing and brought the chainsaw down, keeping the blade on her wounded side back for defense. She had to find a killing shot, her shoulder was screaming and only her aura prevented her from losing much blood. Every blow was a drain on her aura as well and stopping magic was hard, more so this guy with why ever he was glowing.

Their were plants on the ground now that seems to rise up and attack the Mystics. One went after her as well, but her Aura kept her mostly same from the carnivorous ones. It reminded her of Solkat. One of the stickier plants kept a Mystic from flanking her. She was grateful for whoever had done that. She never saw Ms. Diaz enter the battlefield to distracted by her own issues.

> As Lenna spun to look in the direction of the screaming Bug woman, the wand she had stolen cracked in two against the side of its owner’s head. Then, another mystic made an announcement.
>
> Lenna watched her feet, as plant life spread from one mystic’s spell. A friend mystic, it seemed. They warned, at least. Yet another effect caused smoke to envelop the area bug girl was in. Then, Aura said something to her.
>
> “I just see you as a frieeeend,” Lenna called back.
>
> After her bad experiences with Ty (and maybe others), she really was not certain she wanted to be in any relationships. She hoped the needed announcement did not dishearten aura and get her killed. Aura immediately got hit by arrows of light, so— Lenna felt a bit bad about that. Bad luck. Timing sort of made her mad. The mystic aura was fighting took advantage of her being hit to pile on with attacks. Burning her. That was far too much.
>
> Lenna turned her attentions to a nearby wild rose bush, and with 16 bubbles of telekinesis, she tore the bits of the plant with thorns free. Then, she thrust out the thorny bits at the face of the mystic that was attacking Aura. Malachi, he was named. And as she did, she shouted “F** you!!” Usually, she had some trouble focusing her powers but presently, her focus was clear as day.

Zek flashed Pink Lemonade an impossibly wide smile. "Nice to see you too! You throw the best parties!" he said, smashing an orb into a woman's face and vanishing her. All his pockets were full so he flicked out a knife to stab into a person's behind their knee. Zek happily applied a few more stabs and he started bobbing his head to the song. "The music's a little weird but I can dig it!" he yelled.

Then the guy Aura was fighting flung a ton of burning light arrows. "Whoops! Gotta refresh my dance card!" he said and hopped, skipped, and jumped into a portal to Zekworld.

He'd reconfigured it in the last five minutes or so. Added something, really. Normally the ballfield was just an empty space. Now it was covered in dozens and dozens of little boxes, each just big enough to a person to uncomfortably lay down in, and each was about ten feet tall. Walkways suspended over them allowed Zek to walk by six of the boxes and drop a red ball in each, depositing a person in each. By this point, about fifteen of the boxes were filled, the first four were just now starting to realize they were no longer where they had been - for them it had only been a few seconds since Zek had snagged them several minutes ago.

Then Zek was out another portal and time inside Zekworld ground to a halt.

In Dullworld, Zek's only movement ground to a halt. "Is that Lenna I hear?" he said. "How ya doin', Lindaaaaahhhh!" he shrieked as he fully stepped out of the portal and immediately tripped on some horrible flowers.

"Ack! Some flowers are trying to get fresh with me!" he shouted before remembering he was cooler than that. He stabbed at the ugly flowers multiple times and then gave up and smashed golden balls into the ones attacking him. Thus freed, he popped back into Tunnelworld, caught a zipline to a spot a dozen yards away, and re-emerged in Dullworld by Aura. "Hey Aura! I got you some flowers--oops!" he said, tripping as he flung red orbs that swiftly became sundew plants at Malachi.

Eisen had long gone darted away from the mess that was happening at the Mansion, recognizing that sure close quarters was his forte, but as soon as he was seen, the fight either had to end immediately or he wouldn't be able to keep up his assault. Offense was never his forte. His specialty lay in seizing his foes so that others or he himself could land a lethal blow.

He darted as quick as he could away from the Mansion front, using the trees at the peripheries to maneuver his way to where more action was happening. A gang of mutants were attacking an army of mystics, each robed in wicked glowing armor.

This, Eisen could work with. It had been a while since he got practice with his long range technique-- always looking for an opportunity to stretch the focus of his mutation to the farhest reaches. He had learned that his field of vision often limited the extent of his power, but with a war at their hands, this was no time to play it safe.

He secured himself to a tree, finding a comfortable spot in the branches of one wide enough, should he pass out, his body could lay limp and remain in the tree's crown, hidden from those watching.

Then, he set to work. He focus his soles and the palms of his hand, all at once, and kept his eyes on the battlefield. As the golden soldiers marched onwards, Eisen focused his mutation to extend his spatial lock down the tree, through the ground and a direct line following his line of sight. Then, he focused on the earth beneath the feet of their enemies.

His noticed the grass changing in front of their eyes as well, and decided to follow along the growing field effect spell of sorts, so that his mutation would seem to coincide with this new field spell.

His mutation could travel faster than the grass could spread, however, and so he targeted the soles of mystics would began to turn and run from the effect of the grass. Trip, Trip, Trip One by one, Eisen would essentially lock feet of them one at a time, as if they had stepped on a sticky surface, and with their momentum, causing them to lose balance and fall into the effects of the incoming grass.

"Booyahhh!" Eisen muttered to himself, snickering every time a glowing Mystic tripped and fell to the ground.
theultimatexmen.proboards.com/thread/15405/welldrinker-assault-on-xaviers-event

These Mystics were evil. That was the only thing that mattered to the timeless, bloody samurai. She had spent millennia doling out her particular brand of justice, to all those who deserved it. And this lot deserved it.

She didn't particularly play well with the X-Men. Their brand of non-lethal justice was flawed. But Niko still wasn't going to stand by and let them suffer. Especially not against these foes.

Moving through the tree, the red samurai is fairly unseen as she slips between shadows, drawing ever closer to the danger. Plants move and grab at her but a swipe of her katana is enough to end the threat. Then, she hears the commotion. Battle has come.

A few of the glowing mystics, one sheathed in floating rocks and the other, towering and muscle bound, try to get around the other heroes in the clearing to flank them. Cowards.

Leaping out from the shadows, she appears like a crimson demon. Blade arching overhead, she slashes directly for Rocks, slipping between the floating stones and stabbing through his heart. The other, however, is quicker than he seems and lands a punch on Niko as she pulls her sword from the others body.

"What!? Another X-Man!?" He growls.

Niko winces, feeling her armor concave slightly against the overly powerful punch. She stumbles a bit, exposed now to the others but little caring as he hefts up her sword.

"I am no X-Man," she growls in response and then charges, blade flashing in the light.

The Beckoner marched at a leisurely pace, watching minions throw themselves at the enemies seeking to challenge him. The Fourth thought her army indomitable and the will of her God infallible, but he only saw them as a shield to buy time. They served their use, but he kept his attention locked on his dagger's blade, waiting for a sign.

The chaos surrounding them was nothing of interest until a familiar voice broke through the cacophony.

The man spotted a woman, fashioning herself as a samurai, and he grinned under his mask. Disabling his voice modulator, he spoke with a deeper voice alongside a second, raspy voice. "As expected; the long-suffering samurai. It is only fair for you to be here with me today."

The insect queen roared a the egotistical way in which Agatha addressed her. But there were not words that Agnes could utter. The primordial mind of the insect queen had zeroed in on the mystic supreme as her enemy and that was all she was going to see her as. Aiding by the rolling mist, Agnes chittered angrily before surging forward and vanishing into the haze.

Agnes moved around Agatha, her snarl and clicking mandibles echoing throughout the dense wood. Battle around her easily hid her actions but she could only hold back for so long.

"Child..." Agatha soothed. "...you've been poisoned. Possessed by the abominations that we are trying to cure from this world." Agatha says as she looks around, trying to find Agnes. "I love you. God...loves you. That's why I did what I did. What I encouraged your parents to do..." She continues to say, hands glowing. "...Pestilence set its demonic influence deep within your body. We tried to release it. Pull it from your bones and we were close. So very, very close, sweetheart. Just...let us finish. Let us finish gods work and remove the fiendish parasite that continues to infect your heart. Be clean....child...be cla--URK!"

Agatha gasped. The words had the opposite affect of what she wanted. Each word, each syllable, dug deeper and deeper into Agnes' mind, pushing in the memories of her exorcism from so long ago, from the pain and the suffering that her parents and aunt had inflicted upon her. It was too much to bear. In that moment she released whatever control she had and the insect queen surged forward.

Appearing from the mist, Agatha didn't have time to turn as a spiny appendage lashed out, driving through Agatha's shoulder and lifting her painfully up into the air. There, standing upon two other pointed legs was Agnes, covered in a thick carapace, skin ripped away revealed a segmented jaw, compound eyes, and fluttering iridescent wings. She snarled hatefully, mandibles clicking as wasps, roaches, flies, and two amazonian centipedes encircled her body. The appendage which skewered Agatha drew the pained woman closer to her face and Agnes chittered.

"This one says..." The insect queen started. "...that the time for your judgement is at hand."

Moving around the towering man, the bloody samurai spun and turned, her blade sweeping through the open air and catching the emboldened warrior wherever she could. She couldn't get close to a solid hit, the minor ones were all she needed. Each time her blade cut, blood was pulled out, seeping down the blade and into her flesh. Each time it happened, Niko converted it, either to strengthen her armor, to sharpen her blade, or to heal her own wounds. One after another after another, for every dent her armor took or every bruise earned, Niko would counter it with another cut. She had been fighting evil for centuries and she wasn't about to be stopped by this behemoth anytime soon.

With an audible growl she charged but dropped low, slashing out with her sword to cut through the man's ankle. Any other blade would have been met with resistance, but Niko poured more of her converted lifeforce into the sword to make the edge sharper than imaginable. So with a surge of energy she ran the blade through, easily cutting through the man. As he toppled, howling into the air, Niko turned to see Aura as she challenged the mystic wreathed in fire. She had heard of Malachi before this, a mutant from years ago. He had been arrested before he was converted by these mad men. Taking her sword up, she readied herself to join the fight when a familiar voice echoed across the clearing.

Man of Shadows...eyes narrowed, she turned to face across the field where she spotted him, another of the "Supremes". Of course that was the mask he was wearing these days. Grinning under her demonic visage, Niko lifted her sword and pointed the blade to him. "I have chased you throughout time, Man of Shadows..." She says darkly. "What made you think this moment would be any different? Have you finally decided to accept your end?" She flicked her blade, taking on a combat pose. "For I am ready to deliver you to it myself."

Lenna looked up from her attempt to rake Malachi’s face with rose thorns through telekinesis. “Who is the orange woman with the samurai sword?” She shouted. And beyond her, another mystic who looked stronger than the ones they had been fighting… oh, and the woman with the blade had put several on the ground behind them while she was focused on what she should be focusing on before. So, friend. Lenna returned her focus to helping Malachi get gutted by Aura.

Ez looked on at the way Agnes looked at the Supreme talking down to her and recognized a growing problem. Those were not the eyes of a calculated plan; she was exhibiting something primal. Her features were quickly changing as well and before anyone could react, she lunged forward.

Hoping to intervene, Ez charged into her mist cloud, blasting flares of fire into the faces of the Cult’s back guard, rushing toward the Elder Supreme. Feeling herself running on empty without more gems in her system, she pulled out her sidearm, and her shot cracked through the air, putting a bullet into the old man’s back.

The vigilante held her breath, hoping a decisive blow to the leader could scatter the remaining forces.

The First Supreme felt the sharp pain of a bullet digging into his body. He gripped his staff tightly, illuminating the runes carved into it. Muscle fibers wove back together, pushing the hot piece of metal back up toward his skin until it fell into his coat and harmlessly to the ground.

He turned and saw a masked young woman behind him with a handgun. To his side, he saw an insectoid woman and his colleague, freshly pierced by an appendage. Mutants; he could feel their X-Genes. He chuckled. “You really presumed a Supreme could be defeated so easily? The arrogance of mutants.”

The man’s staff glowed and he held out a hand, grabbing the masked woman’s face and the insect girl’s shoulder. There was a flash of black energy, followed by the searing pain of genes being rewritten.

Insectoid features of the young assassin crumbled away. The mutant witch fueled by gems was suddenly hit with the great hunger of her body’s need for food for the first time in over a decade. Ezmeralda doubled over, falling to the ground as the pain of becoming human hit her.

“An arrogance I have freed you from,” he gloated.

The Fourth, still clutching her shoulder and swatting way insects that no longer heard the command of their former master, rasped out. “Enough of your theatrics! Heal me!” She could already feel the grasp on her mass charm weakening.

“Mind your tone, frau. I am not responsible for your carelessness.” He held the head of his staff to her shoulder, beginning the slow process of mending the wound. Healing any venom would be another spell, so this would take some time.