Calrex

A lot of words were exchanged after Calrex spoke, enough that it almost seemed like they should be writing the information down somewhere. Unfortunately that was not going to be the case, at least from what observed.

Baldur gave a brief summary of what everyone had brought to light, with Shield and Hestia giving their perspectives on what could be done. However, the biggest news was from Macradon, who while supporting the idea of training up and coming frontline participants also announced his retirement from the raids. As much as it was a surprise, it was also understandable in his eyes, "I'm still surprised at times that I've participated as long as I have in these floor raids, although I guess in part that is out of obligation as the bearer of the Achilles skill."

With Shield speaking first to acknowledge the Scarlet Templar's words the bluenette waited while letting his eyes lock on the young man to give an affirming nod, "It's been an honor fighting alongside you in the raids up to this point Mac."

With that he decided to continue the conversation back on topic, "I'm also on board with some type of training to get people prepared. If anything it could help bring all of the participants onto the same page, kind of like what we are doing here today. To extend the analogy, even career gamers are constantly practicing as a team before any tournament, and the constant threat of death aside that is what we basically are at this point. However, I should probably point out something about Achilles. It shines most when absorbing a massive amount of damage at once, not against successive attacks. From what I've discovered of its properties it is an anti-burst damage skill, but its main weakness is debilitating effects like poisons."

Taking a sip of his tea he felt the warmth soothe his virtual throat before continuing, glancing over at Baldur and Macradon, the only two players that were present during the heyday of the Azure Brigade, "I'm not sure if Tristan gave this information when he had the skill, but if we're planning to make the frontlines more cohesive that information will likely be necessary..."

Turning so that he faced everyone again he continue, "It's true that you two have seen me take a lot of damage, but I'm nowhere near invincible. The floor and event bosses are constantly scaling and changing to meet our growing strength, which means there is the likely chance that there will be at least a handful that will be designed to exploit that very weakness. I think that this might be necessary for anyone else that is participating as well. If we are to succeed consistently, then we need to be aware of the weakpoints in everyone's builds, and not leave it chance that they will prepare for it themselves."

Finishing he leaned back slightly with a sigh, "There is also the chance I'm being a bit too cautious. However, there is always the chance that the unique skills can be treated like a reliable crutch. Back when the Azure Brigade were in charge of the floor raids I do recall the unique skill users being heavily relied on, and we should be careful to not repeat that."

Calrex let his mind remain open as Baldur, Hestia, and Shield said their pieces. At the same time it appeared that one more person would be joining them this day as Macradon sat down in the circle right after Shield finished voicing his concerns, "Not too much, since we just started actually. Make sure you get something to drink though, I have a feeling our virtual throats might start to run dry with the upcoming discussion."

With that he gave a small sigh before addressing the group, "I can understand where that's coming from Shield, although I should probably voice the concern that what you've brought up isn't exactly anything new, for better or worse. It is true that people started attacking each other in the last raid battle, but there have been more than a handful of floor fights previous to when you joined when players have actually been killed by other players both before and during the battle. In fact, two of the main players that contributed to getting us through many floors to where we're at were killed before a boss fight began. I'm sure Baldur and Macradon are still familiar with that raid, when Zelrius and Ssendom were both struck down, after all it was the same one that Tristan entrusted the Achilles skill to me before permanently retiring."

Giving a brief inhale he continued, "As for your concerns with the representation on Hirru's guild's behalf Shield, as Mac I'm sure is aware, the Knight of the Blood Oath's reputation has been in flux in the past due to the actions of previous members during raids. Of course I'm sure we're all aware at this point that what the Jade Hunter did was of his own accord, and not under the command of someone else. There is, after all, the concept of the uncanny valley, and in the past all of the floor bosses we have fought, spare the massive Spartan army, were nowhere close to human. It might be something we should be prepared for in the future, as there is the chance that this one-off might become a more regular occurrence if we're not careful."

Taking a small gulp from his tea the bluenette gave a small exhale, a brief glimpse of condensing steam becoming visible before he continued, "Part of the reason I think that other players that we've fought alongside seem to have issue, especially as of late, is that ability to listen to the chain of command breaks down right when something unexpected happens in the battle. As much as we do all of the planning ahead of time, and to some level the preparations have improved from what I first started helping, the ability for the others to make decisions while under stress has not been one that I've seen develop as we progress further. With that, people tend to fall back and act upon emotion rather than logic, as we could see with the previous raid. Plus, I'm sure there are still a handful of participants that still don't fully understand the risks we're taking by fighting these floor bosses, and the need for full team collaboration in order to guarantee our survival."

Calrex gave a smirk as Shield threw a couple of joking moments from their previous adventures, accepting the comedic punch to the shoulder with it, "Heh, well Roc is mainly an extension of my eyes, not my sense of balance, so I could probably see something coming from miles away and stillfind a way to not stick the landing. I guess it would be like a cat who's whiskers have been trimmed. Nonetheless it is nice to be chatting outside of the raids."

As the selection of drinks came around the bluenette decided to opt for green tea. Water would have also been good nourishment for his mind, but this time around the warmth of the tea would have aided to him keeping a calm mind."I mean it's really the sensation and experience of drinking a warm drink now. None of us actually need sustenance in SAO, so all of the things we ingest and imbibe are merely to keep our brains from freaking out."

With that he turned so that his face and body was directed towards Baldur, giving his mentor full attention. It was still a funny dynamic that the Western samurai was the highest leveled player's mentor, but Calrex still recognized it was because Baldur had taught him to improve his mental state, rather than his character stats. The man had been a guiding force for both him and Teayre in some of their more difficult moments, and the bluenette would always appreciate him for that.

"Makes sense. After being through so many raid meetings in the past, this seems like a good thing to try."  

"...You can count one more at least."

Not long after Shield and Baldur spoke the Ultramarine Knight entered into the "invisible bubble" that was the conversation area. Even though he wasn't far behind the others, it was enough that he suspected they didn't pick up on his presence. This time he was not clad in his full heavy armor, instead opting for his regular attire which actually exposed his face. 

Calrex had been doing his own personal reflections on the past couple of battles, but they were more focused towards his own actions rather than tactics or strategies for others to follow, something that had become second nature for him. As one of the few long-term frontliners at the meeting so far, he had seen these times come and go more often than not, and as such was not surprised when Baldur had previously requested his presence as he began to leave from the aftermath of the floor raid.

As nearly devastating as the Artamiel fight was, it wasn't the first time he had seen a lot of people come under threat, and as such his senses to some level were acclimated to that. The dark elf council fight was the one that had him pause for a moment in surprise. Not once ever in any previous floor raid did a player decide to protect the boss AIs they were fighting.

"Good to see you all."

With that he found a nearby seat before taking his hands out of his jacket pockets, ready to engage with the others gathered.

Words, actions, people, and events seemed to fly by as Calrex was lost in his own thoughts. Even though he could hear everything that was being said from Shield and the other people that decided to address the crowd, the words were merely flowing through and not really being retained. His mind was focused on improvement and reflection, thinking of what he could have worked better on in the last fight in terms of judgement calls. Of course, this was all masked by the expressionless helm of his armor as he continued to sit quietly on the rock he had picked out after their battle with Artamiel.

As he came out of his thoughts the Ultramarine Knight looked over as people emerged from the church and the priest congratulated them on their efforts. The bluenette gave a small sigh beneath his armor before swiping on his menu, the Grand Chariot III vanishing from his form to reveal his avatar beneath, clothed in his casual combat attire. Placing his hands into the his jacket pockets he gazed over towards the direction of Teayre's shop, the Amethyst Boutique, resting on the outskirts of the settlement.

Since it was in the same direction he walked past, giving a small wave to Baldur and the others in view, "I'll be heading out then. See you all again soon."

Calrex Exits Thread

Upon receiving the message that his new weapon had been crafted Calrex made his way back in, this time taking his time rather than being in a rush. As he entered into the new Grand Forge he gave a wave, also noticing King seemingly looking for something around him, "Huh, I guess I might have forgotten to materialize Roc last time."

In a flash of light Roc came into view, flying over to perch on a nearby ledge nearby the cub before gently swooping to land next to King, reuniting with the blue peregrine falcon's old friend. With that the bluenette looked forward, his eyes doing a double take for a second, "Dang it really has been a while. I didn't even realize that you'd changed your hair color, heh. In any case, thanks again for the quick order man."

As he inspected the item the Ultramarine Knight gave a nod, although a small sweatdrop formed on the back of his head, "I...had completely forgotten Roc takes up all of my Accuracy slots. Oh well, I can always request another one down the line, since I've still got a lot of materials from the Spectrum Coalition reserves after the guild disbanded. I guess Oikawa probably has the same situation, at least if I recall correctly."

"Alright, best get heading out to test it out. Message me when you're ready to go check out some stuff. I've been out of it for a while minus the floor raids, so there's probably a good amount of quests we can power through."

+ Grand Skypiercer

"Heh, seems like you've finally gone and upgraded Oikawa..."

A voice came from the front of the shop as Calrex entered into the new location of the Grand Forge. If he was being honest, he had randomly stumbled into it, since he had usually guessed that the blonde's shop was still on the first floor. Walking in the bluenette gave a greeting wave with a smirk as he approached the counter and grabbed one of the order forms, "Good to see you're still doing well man. After some time I'm finally in need of a new weapon again."

"With that latest update that seemed to come through it looks like I finally am able to move forward with the final plans for my build."

Filling out the sheet he placed it down to confirm his changes:
 

As he set it into the order pile the Ultramarine Knight glanced around the shop, as if to look for something, "Hm...how much do I owe you for this order? I'm not seeing a pricing list anywhere."

However after another few seconds the bluenette's eye caught a slip of paper placed against one of the sides, "Oh nevermind, I must be blind as a bat right now. I'll get the materials transferred. Let me know if you're free we can go grab a drink of fight some monsters or something."

With a smirk he swiped on his menu, send the materials over, and gave a wave as he headed back out.

With his teammates taking off the attention of the bats Calrex gave a cautious sigh of relief. He was, after all, a tank build as well, but the main problem they were dealing with at the beginning was the para-lock the bats were inflicting. This was gone now, but the bats were still far from dead. While one was dead, only two were just barely in the yellow. "Guess we really do still have a bit of a fight to go before we finish this quest."

His weapon shined bright blue once again as he readied <<Explode Catapult>>, his eyes locking onto the three remaining monsters before he rushed forward, his body pulling towards the creatures as his large axe came to the side. Slamming into the second bat it bounced off with regular damage, but it seemed that the third bat was not so lucky, being caught by the weapon hard enough to be pulled in front of the Ultramarine Knight, while the fourth bat gave a simple hop to avoid it.

This was finished with a leaping strike that caught the third bat a second time as red colors flashed by, a critical hit being scored. The bluenette gave a small sigh before hefting his weapon back onto his shoulder, "I've just got to keep this pace up now. Energy is starting to run low, but with Baldur and Hestia's AOE abilities as well we should be able to clean up."

@Baldur:   936/1090  ENG: 75/106    MIT: 79/39 EVA: 3 | DMG 19/36 Bleed | BH: 21 (Miss -14 energy, +1 regen)
Hestia: 1425/1425  ENG: 69/138  MIT:151/75 DMG: 16 EVA:-1  Regen: 3 on CD:6  BH: heal 57 HP Thorns:54
Calrex: 1765/1765  ENG: 109/172  MIT:72/44 DMG: 16 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 2 | ACH: 0.6 | Thorns: 30 (Battle Healing +89) 

(4/1/3) Cave Bat 1: 79/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/7/7) Cave Bat 2: 590/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/0/9) Cave Bat 3: 542/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/6/5) Cave Bat 4: 872/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)

With the battle over, Calrex gave a brief exhale as he returned with the others back to the outer area of the church, seemingly even more silent that he was normally. It wasn't hard to tell that he too had been shaken with the events that transpired. A small thud could be heard as he let the Grand Legionbane sloppily drop from his shoulder, as if he put no effort into guiding the massive axe-sword towards the ground. Swiping on his menu the weapon vanished as he gave a long sigh, one that he used to try and bring himself back to center.

There was a lot to process, and a lot for him to reflect on. The last series of actions put almost the entirety of the tier 3 party at death's door...all except for him. Part of the Ultramarine Knight was trying to understand what had transpired, while another was trying to analyze what could have happened if things were done differently, "Should I have been the main tank for the second party for the whole battle? Should I have brought mass healing potions?..."

Moving over to a nearby rock he dropped into a wide sitting position as he placed a hand against the "face" section of his expressionless helm, masking whatever emotions were flashing across his face as he continued to try and focus on his breathing. Eventually over the course of minutes he felt the wrenching spiral of emotions subside, seemingly coinciding with his breaths become more normal in pace and less erratic.

As he looked over at the people that were there he saw the ones they had supposedly lost in combat were still alive, Hestia, Morgenstern, Beat, and Seul all present and very much alive, all being surrounded by the others in the same sense of relief, although he himself was not expressing it to the same level. The sight gave him peace as a small smile came across his face, still hidden beneath his helmet, "It's not much of a comfort, but at least we haven't lost someone yet..."

Getting to his feet he gave a small nod to himself, "Don't be sorry, be better...that's all that I can do. If I was able to survive this, then it's not my character skills that need work. It's my tactics and decisions on the battlefield..."

"I've got work to do..."

There was no need to exchange words at this point in the battle. The blunette heard Baldur and Hestia discuss the change in strategy and beginning to implement it. With a single targeted Howl Hestia brought her Hate higher than his on the second bat, taking one of them off from targeting him. Baldur had already taken over for the first bat, and it seemed that this time around Calrex was not locked under Paralyze for two turns in a row.

Getting to his feet he wasted no time in quickly going into the position for readying <<Explode Catapult>> as his eyes locked on the fast moving creatures around him, "Come on...let me at least get one of them down..."

The Grand Legionbane lit bright blue as his Sword Art reached maximum level before his avatar was taken over by the assisted system. With a small exhale the Ultramarine Knight took his first swing, which was able to smash into the mid-section of the first bat, which was lowest in health. The massive axe-head cut through as the creature split in half before derezing and bursting into crystals. The momentum of the swing missed the second bat, but as he performed the last two strikes the third bat was caught in its path, being struck by the side swing. Unfortunately, the last bat was able to avoid the jumping helm strike of his final attack.

"Alright...at least that's one down. Making progress."

@Baldur:   936/1090  ENG: 76/106    MIT: 79/39 EVA: 3 | DMG 19/36 Bleed | BH: 21 (Miss -14 energy, +1 regen)
Hestia: 1425/1425  ENG: 73/138  MIT:151/75 DMG: 16 EVA:-1  Regen: 3 on CD:6  BH: heal 57 HP Thorns:54
Calrex: 1765/1765  ENG: 109/172  MIT:89/44 DMG: 16 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 2 | ACH: 0.6 | Thorns: 30 (Battle Healing +89) 

(4/1/3) Cave Bat 1: 79/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/7/6) Cave Bat 2: 739/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/0/7) Cave Bat 3: 705/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/1/5) Cave Bat 4: 872/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)

The battle was drawing to a close, at least from what the bluenette could determine. Artamiel was close to it's last chunk of health bar, plus it seemed the people that were under potential threat were now reasonably brought back up in health. The only person that was still of concern was Hestia, who was still in the critical red zone, on top of the fact she was also poisoned from Artamiel's previous attack, "This is really cutting it close. Might need to use one more..."

Before he could produce another safeguard potion, he watched as the healer-tank produced and consumed one, the barrier returning. With a brief smirk beneath his helm the Ultramarine Knight faced forward...or what he considered forward, "Guess that means I can focus once again on attacking. Unfortunately I can't switch back to Martial Arts just yet, but at least I've got my strongest single target for axe back..."

Hefting the Grand Legionbane so that it rested against his shoulder Calrex gave a small exhale as he centered his stance, the massive axe-sword weapon burning bright blue before he leapt skyward, pulled by the assisted system. At the apex of his jump his body was pulled forward into a front flip as he let his weapon come forward, building momentum before he brought it down in another helm strike. As he descended he kept the axe parallel to the ground and in front of his descent, as if he were performing a massive push cut for his entire descent, "Screw..."

Upon the axe-head making contact with the ground an echoing hollow ring emanated as the bluenette landed, a long blue tear present in the darkness from his attack before he completed the name of the Sword Art , "...Dimension!"

With his roar the tear seemed to collapse on itself before bursting, the mirroring slash taking effect to deal the damage a second time. Standing upright Calrex lifted his weapon so that it rested against his shoulder once again.

As one of the bats yet again successfully managed to graze his armor, the Ultramarine Knight felt the familiar seizing sensation that was accompanied by the lightning bolt indicator for the Paralyze effect. The simulated weight of his avatar took its toll as it forced him down to one knee once again, Calrex giving a small sigh at the situation. He gave a small smirk as he looked over at Baldur while the man was explaining their change in strategy, "Yeah, these things are being quite a handful, especially with their lucky strikes these past few minutes. It really does feel like I'm dueling Oikawa all over again."

Unable to move, there wasn't much he was going to be able to do in the situation other than wait for his status infliction to wear off once again. Luckily enough, only one was able to hit this time around, and there was enough of a buffer for him to have his passive Battle Healing bring him back up closer to full. "I've still got a good amount of energy reserves for AoE Sword Arts. The only thing we'll need to be aware of is when the Hate is equally spread out  to keep the bats from overlapping on targets other than Hestia and myself. Having multiple targets locked onto a DPS-oriented player is much more of a problem than having the bats targeting tank players."

@Baldur: 915/1090  ENG: 89/106    MIT: 79/39 EVA: 3 | DMG 19/36 Bleed | BH: 21 (Miss -2 energy, +1 regen)
Hestia: 1425/1425  ENG: 82/138  MIT:151/75 DMG: 16 EVA:-1  Regen: 3 on CD:6  BH: heal 57 HP Thorns:54
Calrex: 1696/1765  ENG: 127/172  MIT:89/44 DMG: 16 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 2 | ACH: 0.6 | Thorns: 30 (Battle Healing +89) Paralyzed 0/1

(4/1/3) Cave Bat 1: 270/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit) -
(0/2/6) Cave Bat 2: 769/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit) -
(0/0/6) Cave Bat 3: 854/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit) -
(0/1/5) Cave Bat 4: 902/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit

With his team's final series of attacks it seemed the battle had concluded, with Evahira's form dissipating in a seemingly more spectacular fashion than other AIs normally would. Their final target eliminated Calrex kept his arms up for a brief moment before he gave a small sigh, lowering them back to his sides. "Another raid completed, another floor hopefully unlocked. At this point there's no reason for me to remain, although I guess at the same time I'm not really feeling up for any more NPC interaction right now. This battle really was a mess..."

Looking over as the Queen regained her original form the bluenette's eyes lingered for a brief moment before closing them calmly, looking towards the other raid team members. His gaze beneath the expressionless helm of the Grand Chariot III paused on each of them for a few seconds, finishing with a small nod before he walked over to @Baldur, giving him a pat on the shoulder before heading towards the staircase leading upwards, "I'll be taking my leave. Feel free to let me know if you guys find out anything of interest from the NPC."

Pulling down his menu brief flashes of light engulfed his form as he changed back to his casual combat appearance, his face only being revealed once it was out of view from the others as he made his way over to the 24th floor exit. Without turning around he raised an open hand, addressing the group once more before he made his exit with a seemingly weary tone, "Be seeing you all at the next one..."

Calrex Exits the Thread

Open to all three tournaments, cuz why not? :P

It seemed that the event boss still had more tricks up its sleeve before this battle would be concluded. With another form shift the silhouette of the former fallen angel became...formless for lack of better description. The darkness that was originally condensed into the humanoid shape of its previous form spread out as if to engulf the entirety of the thirteenth floor landscape. It was becoming more and more difficult to discern individual objects, but to their luck it didn't seem to function like the darkness of the tenth floor caverns, which had an actual mechanical debuff to their characters, especially with the blessing giving enough light for them to see. The only thing that didn't seem to give the Ultramarine Knight concern was the change in voice, as he had heard such an effect in the past from other games as an attempt to instill fear in the player, but his mind had already broken it down to mere sound manipulation. "Another phase shift means that more abilities are coming as well. It's already done that for each of its forms, and that means it's gonna be using even more powerful ones now."

As if on cue suddenly a massive barrage of tendrils shot out from seemingly every direction, enough that it even proved impossible for him to avoid. However, to his surprise the bluenette noticed that it had attacked the entire raid party, and not just the one that was just attacking the event boss, "That's certainly going to be a problem, especially since that means players can potentially be attacked twice before they're able to act." At the same time Artamiel still seemed to retain the immunity to effects from its previous forms, as Zandra's normally helpful horn Stun didn't have any effect on it. Her call to burst down the boss at this point was almost a given, but there was something else that had Calrex's attention at the moment.

Hestia's health bar had entered the low yellow zone, and Ruby's was in critical red. This made him grit his teeth more than any critical hit on himself would. The others might have been occupied with taking the boss down, but he already knew that they were in very dangerous territory. Going from their past attacks, there was still the chance that Artamiel would survive with a sliver of health and unleash yet another mass party AOE attack that could wipe out at least one of the two low health players unless they did something immediately. Unfortunately, he didn't have any healing abilities, nor could he actually use anything on Ruby since she was in the first party. That meant there was the chance that the AOE attack would happen before anyone could actually do anything to stop it.

Cursing under his breath and pulling out one of his Safeguards the bluenette moved over towards @Hestia as he crushed the potion in his hand before sprinkling the contents over her avatar, the flash of a single attack shield appearing briefly before fading back to normal. "Can't have one of the only frontline healers going down can we?"

"That should be enough of a buffer in case a double attack happens again, although I'm not sure it will be enough to prevent a potential triple. Still we need to get Ruby back into the green as well if possible. Come on guys, for supposed strategists you're forgetting what's right under your nose!"

As the final dark elf seemed to regain her resolve, choosing to continue fighting, Calrex felt a small smirk come across his concealed face for a brief moment. The AI's choice made their decisions simple, and seemed to remove the complications that were previously introduced into the battle. They were frontliners after all, and that meant there was only one choice when it came to floor raids.

The other players took their opportunities to act, each one performing their role as the seconds passed. At the same time the bluenette placed his fists together for a moment as his eyes locked onto Evahira's form, lowering his avatar into the position to trigger <<All Might>> once again. His target locked his right arm began to glow bright blue like before as the Sword Art charged up. "With that there's no place for the exchange of words anymore. Whether AI or person, if our opponent chooses to fight to the last breath, then it is only right that we let them dedicate their entire focus to doing so."

His body became controlled by the assisted system as he pulled him forward like a slingshot, streaking across the battlefield until he was right on top of the tank boss AI, right fist drawn back. With a full body twist he drive his shoulder and arm forward with all of his weight behind the punch as it shot straight into the left side of Evahira's face. The momentum after the attack brought his back leg forward as his weight shifted before the energy faded.

With his attack finished the Ultramarine Knight looked at their opponent, giving a mere nod of acknowledgement to the dark elf's decision before taking a few steps back, ready to attack again should the battle come around once more.

After his team took their opportunity to strike Calrex watched as Artamiel's form deteriorated more and more, losing it's original angelic appearance and becoming more and more shapeless other than the silhouette of a humanoid body and various dark tendrils coming off it its form, "Geeze, throw a suit on this thing and it'll look like that creature someone made multiple fanfics of. Nonetheless, it's on the last bit of its lifebar, meaning that if things are right we're at the end of this battle. We'd better wrap this up before Beat and Seul come under threat."

Looking over at his stats the bluenette recognized that his strongest Martial Arts Sword Art was still on cooldown, so there was no way he was going to be executing <<All Might>> again until later on, and by that time Artamiel would have likely made another action, "Guess it's time to change it up again."

Seeing his opening the Ultramarine Knight righted forward, his right arm drawn back as if he was getting ready to throw a punch, but before that could happen suddenly he fully extended his arm, the Grand Gauntlets III coming off f his avatar in a series of lights which seemed to converge into a pillar of light extending from his right hand. With a calm exhale his eyes focused on Artamiel's form, feeling his form be taken over by the assisted system. As he leapt upwards the lights converged into his massive axe-sword hybrid, the Grand Legionbane.

While airborne he drew in a breath before swinging with all of his might behind his swing, coming down from above with a powerful helm-breaker slash that seemed to leave a tear in space as long as Artamiel was tall. Landing on the ground the axe head slammed into the earth below with a resounding clang as Calrex roared the name of the Sword Art, "Screw Dimension!"

Right as he did so the tear seemed to expand and quickly close, forming an air vacuum that performed a second slash on the boss.

After he had centered his mind once again, Calrex was greeted by Artamiel's technique, which seemingly drained the strength from his team, forcing a movement to have them drop to a knee. It certainly wasn't odd or out of the ordinary now, after seeing so many other tricks that Aincrad threw at the players in the past through multiple different quests, although life-stealing wasn't something he had seen since fighting alongside and against Ssendom when the man was in possession of the <<Berserker>> ability. Nonetheless, the attack's damage was already nullified by his <<Battle Healing>>'s amount. Getting to his feet he listened as Hestia took first action, energizing Baldur and trying to snap Morgenstern out of his thoughts. With a small sigh he kept his own emotions at center, clenching his right hand into a fist. "Interacting with this AI is merely playing to its game. Let's not waste any more words on it. We'll end this long conversation with our blades..."

As he got into his Martial Arts stance his eyes quickly glanced down in brief surprise at how quickly his <<All Might>> Sword Art ignited, blazing with an even more intense blue light than before. This caused him to smirk beneath his expressionless helm, as the Ultramarine Knight already knew what this could symbolize. "We already know what we need to focus on. If this creature truly was immortal, then it wouldn't be taking damage in the first place. If we wish to save Seul and Beat from their imprisonment, then destroying this thing as fast as possible is our only option."

Kicking off of the ground a temporary crater effect appeared beneath his launching foot as he shot like a bullet to Artamiel's face, closing the distance almost immediately with his left hand forward, the only indication of his travel path being a thin beam of light left in his wake. Putting all of his weight behind his right arm the bluenette thrust forward, the blinding light seemingly being diffused across the surface of his gauntlets and spreading outwards with an umbrella-like effect over his forearm. The force of the punch sent him crashing fist-first into the left side of the fallen angel's face once again with enough momentum to cause him to spin a full 360 degrees in place before descending back to the ground. A large red number flashed past, the sign of a high critical hit.

Landing softly on the ground below Calrex gave a long and easy exhale before locking his eyes back on the raid group target, "If only I could consistently keep that kind of damage up. Maybe one of my battle-ready slots needs to be used for lots of damage-boosting potions."

Calrex's eyes immediately had shifted over to the bat that was coming at him after finishing his previous attack, cursing under his breath as he tried to move the Grand Legionbane fast enough to intercept. Unfortunately, his movement was slightly slowed for a moment from the momentum from his previous attack. However, right before the bat dealt its strike he saw his mentor leap in, cutting the creature and stunning it before it was able to deal the strike. With a small sigh of relief the bluenette quickly sent a leg forward, kicking the head of his weapon back into motion as it burned bright blue once again with Sword Art power.

"Alright once more..."

Shooting back at the cluster of humanoid bats he executed <<Explode Catapult>> once more. Unfortunately he didn't have the aided ability of his <<Charge>> skill, which seemed apparent after he narrowly missed the first enemy. But, it seemed that the first miss built enough momentum as he briefly accelerated into the second bat's abdomen. Riding the momentum of his first blow the massive axe came around the other direction and slammed into the third and fourth bat, routing the trio into a small group before he was carried upwards, coming down with the powerful finishing helm strike of his technique.

Red numbers flew by on all three, as well as a large crater in the ground to confirm that he had dealt a high critical blow. With a small pull he lifted his weapon back upwards so that it could rest slowly onto his shoulder.

@Baldur: 994/1090  ENG: 90/106    MIT: 79/39 EVA: 3 | DMG 19/36 Bleed (Iai, -11 energy, +1 regen)
Hestia: 1425/1425  ENG: 90/138  MIT:151/75 DMG: 16 EVA:-1  Regen: 3 on CD:6  BH: heal 57 HP Thorns:54
Calrex: 1715/1765  ENG: 126/172  MIT:89/44 DMG: 16 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 2 | ACH: 0.6 | Thorns: 30 (Battle Healing +89)

(4/1/3) Cave Bat 1:   270/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit) - Attacked Baldur
(0/0/6) Cave Bat 2: 824/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/0/6) Cave Bat 3: 854/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)
(0/1/5) Cave Bat 4: 902/1250 MIT 75 EVA 3 ACC 1 DMG 175 | 225 + Para | 275 + Para (ignores half mit)

After being knocked back and taunted once again after his attack, Calrex slid to a stop, taking a moment as he straightened himself. He had prepared to rush in once again, arm drawn back ready to unleash <<Falcon Jab>>, but before he could the bluenette looked over to see Artamiel seemingly harvest Beat's soul, causing the young man's avatar to vanish and become taken into a floating orb, just like Seul right before. He was worried for a brief period, but as he heard Hestia and Baldur call out he gave a small sigh, calming his senses.

"What the heck and I doing? For a moment I think it was possible that the fallen angel's taunts might have been getting to me for a moment, not because they actually stung, but because it was just a constant barrage of things that are long past now."

The energy of his Sword Art vanished as he relaxed his grip, placing his right fist into his left hand as he brought them up to his chest for a moment. He took a long breath, letting his virtual body go through the motions of inhaling and exhaling as he let his mind refocus, "Letting my emotions run wild won't help anyone. I need to remember, feed those things to the fire inside, and let it fuel my focus. It drives my strikes, not guides them..."

His breathing became slower and slower as he let his body relax. Opening his eyes once again he let them focus on Artamiel calmly. Glancing over at his mentor, Baldur, the Ultramarine Knight gave a nod, acknowledging his words. The western samurai was right, as long as Seul and Beat's health bars were present, this meant that they were still in this fight and had not been eliminated from SAO.

"I don't have the ability to heal, so I'll focus on attacking. However, with those orbs it seems the angel had regained a bit of its strength. That means we'll need to prevent more people from falling victim to that attack as well. Over the course of this battle it seems both Seul and Beat had not taken any form of action, so there's the chance that the AI automatically targets players after a period of inactivity. I guess if this were a normal game it would be some kind of punishment for going away from the keyboard."

Dice Roll

As the raid continued, and seemed to be coming to its conclusion, Calrex gave a brief glance across the battlefield in a retrospective light. He had been participating in the frontline raids for a long time now, one of the longest "career" frontliners going from the group of people fighting here. He had seen strategies and fighters come and go for more than ten raids now, so things happening to throw a wrench into their plans was not exactly uncommon. However, what had transpired here was a beast all its own. People turning to stand alongside the boss AIs, attacking said players, and an inability to bring people back into line...it was basically a landslide of things going wrong, and for the most part after Hirru's initial action the Ultramarine Knight to some level kind of saw it coming.

"Shield tried to bring things into order, to try and introduce more hardened tactics so that it would make the raids safer, but it seems after the first time with Bialas the game threw us one curveball in the form of an uncanny valley and the while thing fell apart like a house of cards. I don't ever remember seeing battle cohesion fall apart like this so quickly and so far, even when the entirety of the Azure Brigade was participating."

With a small sigh he stepped forward, uttering a single sentence to get it out of his mind, allowing him to focus once again, "Guess the frontlines has degraded from before..."

His mind now back in the fight he looked forward at Evahira, the only remaining boss NPC for the raid. Their victory was already drawn into question with Durares' evacuation, and with Isaxi now fallen only the tank remained. his too didn't seem surprising from an RPG standpoint: The tank fighter is usually the one designed to take all of the hits, and thus is built the must durable of a party. However, without any ability to force the enemies to target them solely, the idea falls apart. That was pretty much what happened here, with the frontliners targeting everyone but Evahira, only doing so when they needed to try and lock her down. This result was the only conclusion.

Now with the Grand Gauntlets III equipped Calrex had switched access over to his Martial Arts techniques, and that meant only one thing. Lowering his stance the bluenette closed his right hand into a fist, the limb becoming encapsulated with bright blue light from the <<All Might>> Sword Art. Locked onto his target the assisted system took over, pulling him into striking range where he threw a fierce punch forward, aimed at the side of the dark elf's face. A red number flashed past his vision, the sign of a critical hit before the attack finished.

Straightening upright he gave a small sigh before looking at the raid's remaining opponent, "Only you remain. You have only two choices now: Try to run, or fight. However, know that we were never afforded that luxury since we were trapped here in this world."

Turning his back to her the Ultramarine Knight began walking back, his head turning for a moment to speak one last time, "We don't fight because we want to. We fight because we have no other choice."

Raid Party Stats

As he felt his body finally break free of the Stun effect in its entirety Calrex gave a quick check of his arms and shoulders in terms of mobility, "Alright, fully back and in action."

However, it wasn't long before he felt the chill as Artamiel lifted up into the air. Just from the past few actions of the event boss it definitely seemed like the demonic angel had changed encounter phases at this point. "Guess even the intelligent AI of this game still follows some fairly generic game mechanics after all. Alright the..."

Right as he was about to act the bluenette watched as dark energy left his avatar, seeing his cursor turn from green to orange. It did surprise him for a moment, but after a small bit he gave a smirk beneath his expressionless helm and looking forward, his eyes focusing on Artamiel's form once again as his body lowered into the stance for activating his Sword Arts for Martial Arts. With his most powerful attack off cooldown his right fist became completely encircled with light blue energy before he shot forward, <<All Might>>'s movement guiding his fist to the boss' face once again.

A powerful smash crashed into Artamiel's left cheek once again as the Ultramarine Knight made contact, "All this barking you're spouting is starting to be entertaining. Keep this up and maybe you'll finally match Tagas and the other fallen angels I've helped take down."

Right as he had recovered from his attack, the Ultramarine Knight watched as the angel quickly recovered from <<Full Cowl>>'s stun effect, coming at him. Surprisingly even though he was able to narrowly avoid the attack his eyes caught his health bar drop slightly. However, what had caught him off guard was the sudden stun that came over his body, "Tch, so much for stunning the target. I think Artamiel just somehow channeled the Sword Art effect back at me."

Before Hestia could act on his suggestion, Calrex looked as the priest stepped from his safe place, seemingly forcing a skin change on Artamiel. From what he could understand the angel was merely keeping up a disguise as a heavenly being, as majority of the party had originally suspected. The previous comment from the angel did take him back for a moment, but after a brief moment he had quickly recovered, "Wouldn't be the first time the Cardinal system used a memory like that for a cheap shot."

"Tch, I see the AI in Aincrad is still not low enough to avoid using low blows like that."

When @Hestia inquired he gave a small sigh, shaking his head from his crouched stun position, "Nevermind, it's a moot point now. Tagas was a fallen angel from a previous quest that could be influenced when a First Aid or health potion was used on him, supposedly to weaken him. Not sure if it would apply here, since it was the only time I've seen that mechanic used, but now that the angel has dropped the facade it doesn't matter."

Looking in the upper left hand corner of his vision he saw the Stun effect starting to wear off as mobility returned to his limbs. Getting slowly to his feet the blunette opened and closed his hands before continuing, "It could potentially still work, but at this point we're likely better off skipping it."

Player's Stats

As Artamiel pierced into his avatar, Calrex's eyes widened for a moment as he took a step back to assess his stats.

"Safeguard is still active...that's new. Does Artamiel have a skill that's capable of bypassing the Safeguard enhancement?"

He gave a small sigh to help center himself before looking forward, watching as Seul decided to step forward, swearing allegiance to the angel. At that moment the bluenette looked over at Baldur, his raised eyebrow hidden by the emotionless helm of the Grand Chariot III, "So...first Hirru then Seul, is this just going to be some kind of weird trend in these fights now? If this is some kind of new mechanic that's been discovered I'm sure it can be tested out in more useful and sensible ways than in the middle of a boss battle..."

Feeling Hestia's technique restore some of his energy Calrex looked up at the angel once again, this time his gaze seemingly more analytical than before. He had detached himself from the emotions riding high in the fight, if just for a moment. "This isn't the time to be acting purely on instinct. I've fought more than enough battles on this floor to have an idea of some of the tricks the Cardinal System can pull. If this angel is anything like Tagas, Leothiel, and Avarious, then there is one thing that we haven't tried just yet..."

Looking over at @Hestia he gave a nod, "Sadly that opening attack was my hardest shot, which is currently on cooldown. However, I want you to try something once you get an opening. It's something that was done to Tagas before, so there is the chance the mechanic may apply here. On your next turn, try using First Aid on Artamiel..."

Sliding his right leg back the limb blazed blue with Sword Art energy before he kicked off the ground shooting forward. Turning his shoulders to the left he threw all of his force behind his leg as he executed <<Full Cowl>>, striking Artamiel's legs with a stunning technique. It was certainly weaker than his second strongest attack, but it would hopefully give a clear enough opening for the rest of the team to get strong hits in.

Landing back on the ground the bluenette stood straight before crossing his arms, "Now to see if this works."

As the demons vanished with a single swing of the angel's spear, seemingly retreating back from the portals they spawned from, Calrex gave a small sigh before his eyes shifted over to the celestial humanoid. Because of the other players' initial reactions to her presence, it seemed that she had chosen to turn her weapon on them, calling them sinners. The bluenette himself shook his head before beginning to walk forward, "This reminds me too much of that conversation I had with Opal that night...She was pretty much saying with my power that I should serve as the judge, jury, and executioner. I already know that methodology to be flawed. The archaic belief system this floor is based on follows along the same lines."

The notification appeared in front of him, which may have caused his focus to shift, but he continued his walk forward. The cut and dry question made him give a dry laugh before his armor-clad finger tapped on the window. As he vanished his eyes shifted forward once again, as if to lock a vice-like grip on the target.

<<Sinful>>

"Even if you haven't killed before, the torturously strict rules would make it easy for anyone to have been misconstrued as having sin, even newborn children. However I've chosen to accept and live with that fact."

With his final step forward it pushed into the ground further as the Ultramarine Knight squared his stance, his right fist clenched as the gauntlet began to burn bright blue with Sword Art energy. <<All Might>> fully charged he looked skyward before shooting like a rocket from the ground, arm drawn back. In a flash he was in front of Artamiel's face, primed to strike.

"If you truly are loyal to your Lord, then start praying...maybe he'll forgive you before your end."

His haymaker blow came around, smashing into the right side of her face as Calrex performed a full 360 with the momentum before descending back to the ground.