The Midgar Zolom [Event!]

It was always nice when his sword cut deeply into the enemy. It wasn't terribly lethal on a creature quite this large, but on most humanoids, it was pretty darn definitive.

It wasn't very nice when his sword got stuck inside the still alive enemy, however.

"Oh bother." He muttered under his breath, smile growing strenuous as the Zolom reacted to the stabbing wound (as well as every literal other attack going on) by curling its body together and thrashing about wildly, rampaging across the wasteland in a berserker's rage. 

Naturally, Gawain wasn't about to let go of his sword, so...

It was not a terribly nice experience, the one that awaited. 

"Ugh...Ack!" He grunted as his body was dragged about forcefully, refusing to let go or be thrown off; he could still make use of this position; he just needed an opening... and luckily for him, a good friend had just entered the frame. 

Autumn Nevada's comm came to life as GAWAIN's voice came out.

"Hello, Autumn! Ghhr...!" Came out his usually cheerful tone, before quickly being interrupted by a grunt and the sound of static. "Sorry to be a bother, but I need you to take out the Zolom's eyes." Nobody was a better shot than her, after all.

"Even just one will be enough!" He assured her as he swung his body against the snake's firmly, one of his knees ramming against its body while the other leg was used to support his balance, both of his hands grasping the handle of his sword firmly before he began to twist the blade still inside the snake, gritting his teeth as his smile grew taut at the lips. 

If it couldn't slip out the slit it had made, then GAWAIN would just have to turn it into a hole!

Oswald watched as marines began to advance forward, joining them among the wreckage to assault the Zolom with small arms fire. The two surviving members of the security forces were happy to have the backup, letting out yells and cheers that were cut short as the serpent lit the helicopter on fire. A geyser erupted into the sky that quickly extinguished it, but his attention stayed forward until he saw someone in a SOLDIER uniform picking a helmet up off the ground. From the scuffs and damage to her helmet, they had likely crashed as well.

As she took position he could see the green glow of materia. She wasn’t charging in like the others. Bingo.

He looked down at a first aid kit at his side. He’d love to save things for his own, but an experienced magic user on the field could make a bigger difference than he ever could.

He rushed towards her as pieces of rubble kicked up by the snake peppered into his unprotected face. He pressed a switch at the top of the red vial.

"Mog Juice!" he yelled before tossing it towards her, a nickname some troopers used to stop other troopers from panicing about an item being thrown towards them. It landed on the ground at her feet and began to emit an azure light with an energizing mist.

He dove behind nearby unoccupied wreckage and focused back in on the dust cloud. As he started taking shots towards the silhouette of the creature he looked down and saw an unused RPG laying on the ground. A small smile formed on his lips.

Soon.

---

Elixir used on Amanda de Valliere, she gains +1 ATB (and any crash related injuries are healed). Item removal ticket posted here.

Luckily for Kaze, the Zolom didn’t seem to notice his silly attempts to defuse the situation. Or rather, before it could a dog came bounding over. “Ooo puppy-EEEEE!” the squealed as the hound took him down off the burned out helicopter; and out of the mighty creature’s sight.

Of course Nanika only saw some beast tackle her Kaze and reacted accordingly, charging onto the scene with a roar and fangs bared. But then she noticed the boy was actually smiling; not to mention hugging the dog as it walked them away from the serpent, effectively dragging him along with it. “Oh who’s a good boy!? You are!”

“Oh, uk, thank you,” she said, feeling strange talking to the canine despite being an animal, and part canine, herself technically. “But I’ll take it from here.” However the smiling Ancient was already gone, leaving Nani to look about frantically. To her complete and utter horror Kaze had moved even closer to the Zolom. Boy, you are going to be the death of me.

At the very least he had given up on communication and was now just curiously inspecting the scales that were cleaved off the Zolom by Azure or, as Kaze knew him, the cool looking blue guy. Bounding toward the Cetran at top speed once more, Nanika was about to yell when she heard a familiar voice.

Cocking her head to the side she noticed the boy they’d met at Kalm, Fieldy, and his adorable partner Choco. Meanwhile Kaze, having heard his new friend’s callout, looking around before his eyes grew wide; as if only just realizing how close he was to a gigantic monster. On sheer reflex he immediately stashed the scales in his cloak and reached out to cast Air at the creature (tier 1).

However the sudden blast of air at close range resulted in a blowback of sorts which thrust him backwards away from the beast. Leaping into the air, Nanika grabbed a hold of his cloak with her mouth. Landing on all four she immediately pivoted and began running away from the Zolom, heart racing with fear for the foolish boy’s safety.

As she predicted, SOLDIER had arrived. Even at this distance she recognized Janus Jaeger, 1st Class and Thalia Melpomene, 3rd Class, Damian Summers, the Iron Demon,. She should've known. It was a beautiful thing to witness Shin-Ra's finest fall upon the beast. Everyone who mattered was doing well. She was considering using the gathering curative magic on herself--being still for so long, she was starting to feel her injuries.

The Zolom itself began to realiate. It was breathtaking and terrifying. A skilled shooter's bullets ripped into it as SOLDIERs' blades struck. It began to kick up dust as debris as it thrashed with pain. She lost visuals on all of her potential targets. She could sense all of them, though. She had no clue what they were doing, but she knew where they were.

She blinked when a massive torrent of water erupted from the ground to save a helicopter. Even through the dust she could see it. She wasn't sure who from SOLDIER had cast it, as those on the field were mostly warriors. She saw Janus and a fish-like creature rise above the dust to strike.

Amanda wasn't a strong swimmer, and spent much of her time avoiding water materia.

But it was time for her to act either way. And the Zolom was covered in water.

"Mog Juice!"

She looked around. She'd heard troopers use the term before. She wasn't sure what it meant exactly, but she had an idea. A vial broke at her feet and she gasped as its light and mist healed and invigorated her. The good old Shin-Ra Elixir. She couldn't see the trooper's face and didn't know his name, but she thanked him with a wink and a blown kiss.

Then she turned her attention back to the fight. She could imagine where the Zolom was based on the materia around it. But she couldn't risk missing with what she was about to do. She let the Cure magic slip away, and the greenish glow went dark.

A few of the falling pieces of debris around her froze in midair, and some pebbles and bits of metal began to rise and join the rest in hovering around Amanda. She gritted her teeth as she reached into herself and brought forth the power that so distinguished her from other recruits.

The greenish glow returned, though it shone from her eyes. With some effort, she turned to look at the trooper who helped her.

"If you can help get me visual on that Zolom, that would be great."

She didn't want to hit anyone by accident, or waste her magical energies on anything but making the Zolom bleed. She turned her focus on where the materia was gathered. Though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, a rumble of thunder filled the air. She raised her arm, and her hand shone emerald green.

---

The Zolom let out a harsh hiss as chopper Dan’s helicopter slammed to the ground in a pile of bent steel, sending a cloud of roiling dust and steam into the air around it. It was no longer aflame thanks to Fieldy .

The snake coiled its massive form like a garden hose, pulling the tip of its tail protectively under itself in response to the mighty gash that Janus Jaeger had cleaved into it.

Blood seeped from the wound as Gawain dug his blade deeper into its side but if they weren’t able to escape the vortex of heavy muscle and scales, GAWAIN and Thalia Melpomene would soon find themselves crushed under the immense weight of the creature.

A jet of water cut across the Zolom’s elliptical pupil causing it to thrash violently towards Amanda de Valliere , Damian Reynolds , Sergeant Oswald and his men that had been firing upon it. Takeshi Minazuki ’s fist slammed into the side of its jaw as it turned away.

A nearby trooper caught sight of the boy being dragged away from the battle by Nanika and thought to flee as well. Though half-blinded the creature lunged forward with incredible speed, snatching him up and swallowing him in one bite.

It slithered after Kaze Walker but recoiled as a bullet from Autumn Nevada ’s rifle lodged itself deep into the creature’s remaining eye.

The whirring of helicopter blades and a heavy spray of bullets from above drew the behemoth’s ire and it sprung towards the helicopter with Dart and Autumn inside.

Leonhardt would watch the frame of the helicopter buckle like a can of soda pop as this creature of legend’s fangs sunk into the cabin and blades bent against its scaly hide.

The two turks would find themselves rattled around inside as they stared down the massive esophagus of the creature that was now crushing their ride.

Many things were happening at the same time, all over the battlefield. It was frankly difficult to keep track of everything going on. That was why GAWAIN just kept his focus to things directly concerned with him.

First one was Captain Thalia Melpomene , her voice pulling his attention away from the sword he was digging deeper and deeper into the Snake's thrashing body. At this point there was more handle than blade left of it outside. The blonde flashed her a smile as she came over running.

"Much obliged, Captain! Though I fear I may be keeping you from more important tasks-" He couldn't finish as the giant viper suddenly let out a massive, pained roar- if he guessed at what, he would say the multiple combined efforts of many of the fighters at utterly destroying its eyes. 

Sadly, it seemed like the monster had decided Autumn Nevada , who had been put up to the near impossible task of sniping a wildly moving target in the eyes by him, was most responsible.

And so had decided to take a chomp out of her helicopter, its jaw dislodging itself to accommodate the thing.

GAWAIN's smile thinned so much it nearly appeared to vanish entirely, before the suddenly man reeled back his fist, intent on punching the entirety of his sword all the way into the creature, his own arm moving to carve its way into the body, eyes flashing with mako energy as it began to flow outwardly from his body, his grip on his sword tightening as he channelled all of it into its edge.

Heretic Sword Arts-

The man growled as he swung back his body to try and tear the sword out of the snake in a gorey slash, a thin trail of light left in the sword's wake that shone brightly from inside the snake's guts.

Swordflash.

Said trail of light suddenly detonated into a violent explosion.

---

LIMIT BREAK: