The 13th Hour, The Zeroth Hour, of the 17th of Three

[strangerfromthedesert]

Who: Zero & OPEN
Where: Sagittarius Ward, mainly
Summary: Zero tasks himself with defense of the city during the 13th Hour. He wasn't expecting old ghosts to persist in chasing him here so soon, but maybe he should have.
Warnings: Base level of violence dealing with constructs, up to who is there really.

The new phase of the moon shifted into its crescent the other day, removing peaceful nights for the rest of the month. It's Zero's first day of active duty — or night, rather. The night sky became blood-red, matching parts of his armored body. The world felt still for but a moment, engulfed in ruby hues and bloodied twilight.

It was then that what was left darkened black by the shadows of the industrial sector gleaned their own red, this time by the light given off from materialized things. Things not native to Hinoto-Ri. Things that should have stayed back where Zero came from. He readied his working Z-Saber from his holster, turning it on and brandishing its green glow in front of him as he took it with both hands.

If they're going to come that far to take him down, he'll see them to their own end as well.

---

Should you be anywhere around the Sagittarius Ward tonight during the 13th Hour, some new monsters have appeared to assault the city... except they don't seem to be interested in you. They trudge or fly along as if searching for something, or someone. Attacking them will cause a response in kind should you decide to bother them. Otherwise, they move toward an unspecified location that changes through the hour, where they find their eventual target: A lone warrior.


Enemy Roster
LVL 1
Pantheon Guardian x ∞
Pantheon Hunter x ∞
LVL 2
Golem (Head) & (Body) x 1+ depending on player activity. (Mention if you don't want to fight such things, wards have a lot of space in them. At least one WILL eventually find Zero's location in his own section.)

There's a section for characters getting caught up in the battle alongside Zero, and a section for those that want to pre-emptively attack the enemy forces. Have fun!

Comments

[ineedthemforanalyzing]

Latooni silently focused on her Persona. The big one was interesting, but it was more important to warn anyone immediately nearby about their approach. She'd probably need to launch in Wildraubtier to fight it anyway.

She attempted to use CommLink, hoping one of the people up ahead would be someone she knew, but it didn't seem like she was that lucky. Instead, without a sigh or a shrug, she climbed down to street level, running along in the direction of the noise of fighting and hoping she continued to be ignored.

[strangerfromthedesert]

The way wasn't obstructed by much; the group was sparse enough to allow slipping around them on the side. She was incredibly lucky, for they still didn't attack. Some of the walkers glanced over, facelights shining from cyclopean heads in Latooni's general direction, but nothing further as they moved along.

Farther up ahead, a swordsman of some sort could be seen engaged with the very front of the lineup of machines. They wielded a luminous lightsaber, edges reaching below the top of the hilt to create a triangular design for the blade itself. He moved around the ones with rods for arms, at each opportunity aiming his attacks and backing off. Unfortunately, he was getting pushed back even with the progress he was making from the numbers slowly stacking against him.

Taking out his Buster Shot, he looked for an escape route while firing at the Pantheons trying to take aim from the back. That's when he saw the human running along the mob to the side. An astonished, warning tone raised in his voice to yell, "They're after me, don't get caught in this!"

[ineedthemforanalyzing]

"What? You can't fight all these things alone! And there's a big one coming, too!" she called out, trying to move around to a more defensible position herself. She didn't know what was going on here, but she knew when someone was in trouble, and she knew how to deal with swarms of aggressive AIs.

She didn't have anything with her that could hit their weaknesses, but she could still find cover and get Omoikane ready to start raining lightning. "If you know what a Mind- or Almighty-type attack is, use that!"

[strangerfromthedesert]

Repeated firing from the Buster Shot took down some of the Hunters, but not without taking a hit or two himself. No noticeable damage was done, but the wince was obvious. He protected the attacked area on his chest with a guarding hand, edging further away from the mob but more to the side in case he needed to come to the girl's defense.

A big one? ... Either a Golem or another large Mechaniloid. That's going to make things more complicated on top of being distracted. He's used to fighting alone and usually not having to consider others potentially getting hurt, no matter who or what they are, human or Reploid. That's on top of other thoughts going through his head at the moment.

"No, I don't understand, all I have is my saber and gun!" It's too bad he isn't his fully-leveled self though, he'd at least have an Almighty attack to work with... though if he was he'd be tearing through these robots a lot faster than he is right now. Truth be told, he wasn't considering all his options, but some of them weren't available anyway with being unable to make use of his Element Chips.