It's time.
20 months ago, inspired by the wild success and popularity of Hyperkultra/TorrentHKU's Roll To Dodge game, I decided to make my own. I never thought that either game would grow to be as popular as they have. It hasn't been a perfect journey; I made mistakes along the way, mistakes that I was able to learn from, and sometimes the progress of the game was impeded by my absences. Other things in life would just take over and leave me unable to roll. I had a lot of help from Yoman987, who took the initiative to pick up the game after I was left physically unable to run it, and we've had some fun trying to figure out how to co-run a forum game like this, coming up with all sorts of hare-brained ideas, most of which were never put into practice. I ended up running a secret "evil" section of the game through PMs while he simultaneously rolled for the "good" section of the game in the public thread. There's been so much creativity put into this game by Yoman and the wonderful players who took the time to play it that it's grown incredibly and let me do things that I would have never been able to do before in the story. It's been a fantastic experience, and I hope everyone has enjoyed it.

Recently we decided to try rolling for everyone all at once, but it is a bit hard managing so many people, especially when school and work get in the way- we're not rolling machines, after all, we're human beings. At this point in the story, user actions would not have a significant effect on the outcome of the plot, so I've decided to resolve everything with one enormous Game Events roll instead of trying to squeeze two or three huge rolls together cohesively. I think this will be the easiest medium to understand as well as the easiest to write. So in case you're still not sure of what I'm saying: Today marks the end of the RTD2. Today is when ♥♥♥♥ really hits the fan. I can only hope that the wait has been worth it. I'll be editing in the game events shortly. Please be patient if it doesn't show up immediately within an hour or two like most of our rolls- it's chock-full of content.

Here we go.

Game Events
Part I: The Assault
The once silent night air was now being rendered by screams of pain and by the thunderous eruptions of explosives. The group advanced forward along the dark path as muzzle flashes, flares, and flames lit up the dark sky. Some trees had caught fire, casting an eerie red glow over the horrendous scene- the centre of the village was a circular clearing, and on all sides, bloodshed was clearly visible from where the group stood. Soldiers of all nationalities and Ban Ali alike were being slaughtered in the fight over the Tree. As the group descended from the still slightly inclined dirt path onto the clearing, weapons raised, they seemed to go unnoticed. "Slow and steady, now. We just go in quiet and wait for these bastards to rip each other to pieces an-" Damien's sentence was cut short as Andrew's head exploded, his body hurled to the ground from the sheer force of the bullet. Everyone gaped in shock for half a second, and then- "SNIPER! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" "Let's go!" "It's about ♥♥♥♥ time!" "Stay in formation, you morons!" Straight ahead of the group, almost two kilometers away, were the French soldiers they'd seen earlier and started to pick off by sniper fire- it looked like they had decided to return the favor. The French were also supported by their Chinese allies, emerging from the forest next to the French. To the far right of the clearing, Russians were storming out, and to the group's immediate right were their old American allies that they'd last seen at the compound. To the group's far left, a swarm of native guerrillas were rushing out, the largest group in number, but also the least disciplined, haphazardly firing towards everyone else with little effect and being cut down by the professional armies and the deadly Ban Ali.

Map

Yellow - French
Pink - Chinese
Red - Russian
Green - American
Blue - Group
Gray - Guerrillas
White (small dots) - Ban Ali Tribesmen
White (medium dots) - Ban Ali Tree Homes
White (large dot) - The Tree

"Tyme to die, fahkers!" With his cybernetics speeding him on, Vlad rushed forward toward a defensive line of Ban Ali. Despite the open clearing and the light produced by the fires, it was still hard to pick them out, as many were hiding by their treetop homes surrounding the Tree. He spotted a small squad of 10 Americans to his right- "Oy, comrades! Come vith me, aynd we vill crush these puny fahks!" The soldiers yelled their approval and ran with him, rifles raised, towards the thicket of trees surrounding the Tree from the clearing. A volley of arrows erupted from nowhere, cutting down half of the soldiers immediately. The rest began firing wildly towards the origin of the arrow rain, but Vlad kept sprinting until he took a giant leap forward, landing behind the first line of trees and right onto a surprised tribesman, crushing him under Vlad's huge weight. Grinning, he raised his Saiga-12 and dropped four rushing Ban Ali in a second, emptying the shotgun; as another ran at him, he deftly parried the spearblow and slammed the gun into the tribesman with such force that it cracked clean in two, the spearman dropping to the ground with a broken neck. "Now comes da fun part!" Vlad drew his knife, preparing to blitz forward once again, when he suddenly felt himself go extremely cold, as though he'd stepped into a freezer. Right in front of him, where there had been nothing a moment before, were a pair of snow white eyes. He opened his mouth to scream and nothing came out. The figure flashed and plunged a knife into Vlad's neck, then twisted it and slashed his way out. Vlad slumped to the ground as the Blur retreated casually back towards the Tree.

Vulcan Cannon whirring, Asfer advanced towards the area where he saw Vlad disappear. The 5 soldiers who had followed him were advancing forward cautiously, taking cover behind the trunks of the trees as they went. Suddenly, another wave of spearmen emerged from the woods; gunfire blazed as the soldiers, taken by surprise, were easily dispatched. Asfer's cannon roared as he began to cut down the few spearmen who were slow in taking cover. He stomped forward, streams of hot lead coming from the cannon as he tried to take out the quick and mobile Ban Ali. As one of them skirted in front of the trees and Asfer fired after him, most of his fire was caught by a tree barely 10 meters away, bullets shredding the lower trunk to bits. The tribesman noticed, and thinking quick, leapt behind the tree and kicked the top with all his might. Asfer heard it before he saw it- a deep creaking sound followed by the splintering of wood. He looked around a little before realizing too late where it was coming from. "FFFFF- Asfer tried to sprint to the side, but the huge tree still slammed into his left leg, knocking him to the ground and pinning him down. "ARGH! Bastard!" The spearman descended on Asfer, hoping to stab him while the latter was pinned to the ground, but a shot by Ruben landed right in his head. Asfer sat up, grabbed the tree trunk, and hefted the enormous weight off of his leg, then limped back towards his allies, firing towards oncoming enemies along the way.

Ruben flipped on his thermal sights and settled into his nest, staring at the enormous clearing ahead of him. Distinguishing between targets with the thermal imaging was a little tough, so he picked off the targets furthest away, the ones whom he knew were all enemies. One, two, five, twelve, Ruben was as accurate as he was quick. Somehow he failed to notice the French sniper nestled in his own nest two kilometers away until it was too late- he took a round to the shoulder, grunted in pain, and retaliated with a lightning fast shot that managed to lodge itself in the French marksman's head. He sighed, then noticed Asfer pinned under a fallen tree with a tribesman advancing on him. Raising the scope to his eye, Ruben let off another killshot, giving Asfer time to get free.

Johnny emerged into the clearing with his 7.62 rifle drawn and put the scope to his eye, scanning across the desolate scene of fire and bloodshed. In between the thicket of trees surrounding the center Tree, he could occasionally see French soldiers falling- likely from Ruben's work. He joined in, scoring kill after kill, until they started to thin out- not just from losses, but the French were beginning to actively hide from the two snipers. Johnny instead turned his attention to the right, where the VN Warrior Mech advanced on the group of Russians that were moving towards the Tree. A rocket suddenly took out one of the Mech's legs, causing it to stumble- another hit like that could have left it inoperable. Johnny watched the treeline carefully until the man with the RPG-7 reloaded and leaped out of cover, taking him down immediately with a shot to head and allowing the Mech to rout the rest of the Ruskies.

The VN Mech stomped forward, its thermal vision active and weapons spinning up. It looked to the right and saw the incoming flood of Russian soldiers, responding with a wave of machine gun and cannon fire. A dozen soldiers fell before they could even identify the source of the onslaught, and their bullets were ineffectual against the armored mech steadily advancing towards their contingent. A sudden rocket propelled grenade blasted out of the woods and hit one of the VN Mech's legs, splintering it into pieces. The Mech stopped firing as it stumbled, then quickly calibrated its movement and continued its assault, bringing down even more soldiers as it did. Another soldier with an RPG-7 leaped out of cover and prepared to fire it at the VN Mech, but a skilled shot from Johnny stopped him in his tracks. The Russian attack force was suppressed, and in trying to get away from the Mech and the sniper, they ended up flanking the Chinese, starting a skirmish that nearly wiped out both sides. The Chinese eventually won out against the thinned Russian force and rejoined with the French, both forces having suffered extreme losses.

James Blond stirred awake to the sound of a woman's voice. "James, wake the hell up! There's a huge fight going on!" His eyes shot open, and the first thing that he became aware of was an enormous spear in his midsection. "OW. What exactly do you want me to do about it?" he asks dryly. "Uh, get that stick out of your stomach and go HELP!" Maria retorted. Not a bad plan, but slightly flawed in that James could barely move from pain. "Maybe I'll just wait a little..."

"C'mon, let's go!" Advere shouted as he exploded forward, fueled by lust for blood. With his sword drawn, he leaped into the thicket around the Tree, hacking oncoming Ban Ali to bits. Occasionally he would feel the sharp sting of a glancing blow from a spear or knife, but for the most part, Advere went unscathed as he slashed his way forward. He suddenly felt an odd presence; the last thing he saw before being knocked straight out back into the clearing was a pair of glowing white eyes. He went flying into the air, landing hard on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. "Argh... what the hell was that?" "Whoa, you okay?" he heard Fred ask him. "Fine, but there's something strange in there... someone." He jumped up onto his feet, sword brandished and facing the thicket. "Let's move back to the group..." "Yeah, I'm with you." Fred said as they began to regroup.

"Those guerrillas might be a problem because of sheer numbers... time to fix that." Damien spread his wings wide and shot into the air towards the left-bound group of guerrilla fighters, soaring low towards the sloppy lump of fighters closest to him. Some of the men noticed and began to shout seconds before he slammed into the first guerrilla fighter, sending him flying back from the impact. His sword drawn, Damien flashed rapidly between groups of fighters, hacking down the disorganized mob. Some guerrillas rushed at him, others did all they could to get away from him. A series of Blasts sent the guerrillas scrambling towards the other flank of the Franco-Chinese forces, causing the two factions to nearly wipe each other in the ensuing skirmish, but it left Damien heavily drained of energy. David ran past him as he slowed, gleefully firing at the fleeing guerrillas with his PDR. "Whoo! Easy kills!"

Racking a new box of ammo in his M240, Fred shambled forward into the treeline, firing along the way at any Ban Ali who tried to rush him. Spears flew more frequently as he edged nearer and nearer, and then they abruptly stopped as Advere slaughtered the great majority of the tribesmen who were on side of the thicket closest to the group. Suddenly, Advere himself was launched bodily from the cluster of trees, and he slammed into the ground in front of Fred. "Argh... what the hell was that?" "Whoa, you okay?" Fred asked. "Fine, but there's something strange in there... someone." He jumped up onto his feet, sword brandished and facing the thicket. "Let's move back to the group..." "Yeah, I'm with you." Fred said as they began to regroup.

"Time to shoot more people with bullets from my gun!" David gleefully rushed the guerrillas that were fleeing from Damien's onslaught, firing at the targets in the distance. He passed Damien, who was standing still and panting, and shouted out "Whoo! Easy kills!" as he continued his nearly effortless massacre of the guerrilla forces. They eventually collided with the remnants of the French and Chinese forces, and the three factions more or less wiped each other out at that point. "Aw. There go all of my easy kills. "

Wilson advanced forward toward the center of the clearing, firing grenades from his M203 into the thicket of trees whenever his allies weren't inside and hearing screams of pain whenever he managed to hit a few tribesmen. Eventually, he runs out and has to settle with shooting the few tribesmen who pop up every now and then.

Game Events
Part II: The Counterattack
"Alright, looks like the fighting's dying down. Most of the other groups have wiped each other out. How are we doing?" "Running a little low on ammo but otherwise good." "I'm good to go here, too." "I HAVE RE-CALIBRATED MY MOVEMENT PROGRAM AND AM READY TO ADVANCE." "My leg hurts like a ♥♥♥♥♥, but I don't think it's totally broken- I'll be fine for now." "I took a hit to the shoulder... I'm not sure how well I'll be able to snipe." "I'm a little low on energy, but hopefully we won't meet too much resistance inside." Just as Damien had expressed this sentiment, Advere and Fred regrouped with the rest of the party. "Sorry to say that we'll probably meet even more resistance inside. I was merrily hacking my way through the spearmen when I froze up and got blasted back into the clearing. All I saw was a pair of really bright white eyes..." "Yeah, he came flying straight out and almost tumbled into me," Fred supplied. Die Angelus looked agitated. "♥♥♥♥. Well... if it's just the one, we can take him. Me, Blue, Damien, and Advere should be able to, at least." With that, the group began to advance towards the center thicket. As they neared the entrance, a sudden low drone overhead made them all look up to see a very fast, high-flying aircraft that dropped several figures out of the back. They rocketed towards the ground, much to the alarm of the group- "The hell?" "Are those bombs?" "Uh... why are we just standing here?" As the shapes neared the earth, hardly a thousand feet above the ground, parachutes were deployed. "Obviously not bombs." The men hit the ground not too far behind the group, emerging into the clearing a minute after. They were donned in thickly-padded camouflaged combat armor, with US flags embroidered on their shoulders. "Commander Romero with SEAL team 3 here, responding to the call for reinforcemen- uh... where's the rest of the American team?" the bemused leader asked. Everyone simultaneously pointed to the right, where the bodies of fallen soldiers were visible in the distance. "Oh. Well, I guess we're going with you, then." As Romero spoke, the rest of the SEALs emerged from behind him, 15 in total. They were obviously more than a little curious about Damien, Advere, Blue Demon, Die Angelus, and the VN Warrior Mech, but were professional enough to focus on the task at hand. "Right, well, we're going in there," Die Angelus said pointing towards the Tree, "For obvious reasons." "Let's get a move on, then."

Before anyone could do much moving, another volley of spears erupted out from the thicket. Everyone saw them in time to dodge them, but just as the spears started falling, at least a hundred Ban Ali tribesmen, hyped up on drugs, rushed out of the thicket screaming with rage towards the group. Of course, they're a lot less threatening now that the group has been backed up by 15 Navy SEALs. "Open fire!" The heavy bark of assault rifles and light machine guns joined the noise of the group's fire, and the incoming army was sliced to bits before they could even remotely threaten the group. "Wow. We should have just traveled with SEALs this whole time." "Uh, hello? Why do you think I'm here"? "Let's just go already!" Blue says, irritated and wanting to finish up. As they approached the now considerably emptied thicket, the thought of the "White Eyes" was on everyone's mind, minus the SEALs', who weren't even aware of that threat. A rough footpath was discernible between the bodies surrounding the outer ring of trees. The group slowly made its way around the fallen, until- "Hey... that's Vlad!" "Wha-" "Damn, you're right." "..." The motley crew of ex-soldiers, mercenaries, and scientists gathered around the body of their fallen comrade, the SEALs standing at a respectful distance with the Warrior Mech waiting patiently for the command to continue moving. After a few moments, Romero cleared his throat and said, "Sorry for the loss- we'll make sure he gets a proper burial when we get back- but we really need to keep moving. We're not sure what we're up against." The truth of his statement wasn't lost on the veterans of the group- they were going to confront the White Eyes sooner or later, and it may as well be sooner. "Right. Let's move, then."

Dead bodies were strewn everywhere. Some hung up in the trees in their homes, victims of snipers and indiscriminate fire. Occasionally, the soldiers could see a shape or two, casting a shadow in the dim light emanating from various small fires, but they weren't attacked. Ladders of a sort were visible on many of the trees, leading up to buildings and structures of all kinds. Not all of them were small one-room huts; one of the larger trees had an enormous three story building built around its trunk. After walking for perhaps just two or three minutes, they reached the center of the village, the lowest point in the valley, passing through a small gateway of sorts made from bent sticks and vines. Just about ten meters away lay the Tree. From a distance, it had seemed impressive; now, standing at the base of its trunk, it was very clear just how large it was. The roots alone were roughly two feet tall, reaching up past everyone's knees. The trunk itself was easily over 10 meters wide, and it reached up to the sky for at least 100. Romero turned to a SEAL who had radio gear on his back and said, "Call Command and tell them we've secured the area and will hold the perimeter until reinforcements get here." As the SEAL took out the radio and started the call, the entire group was aware of a sudden chilling presence. All of their eyes were drawn to the Tree, where a pair of White Eyes were the first thing that they noticed. The eyes were attached to a glowing blue body, and they weren't the only pair there- two more Ban Ali Blurs emerged from seemingly nowhere. Die Angelus was the first to react, shooting her chains out towards the center Blur in an instant, sure to envelop him in the crushing grip of the chains-

And he grabbed them, yanked them with extreme force, and sent Die flying after them. She didn't have time to react across the short distance, and was promptly kicked in the face and sent flying back. Bursts of gunfire erupted as the SEALs and the rest of the group all fired towards the Blurs, but they were no match- the Ban Ali darted with such speed and ferocity that they were impossible to track, and even Blue Demon and the friendly blurs weren't able to keep up with them. Two SEALs were floored simultaneously by one of the Blurs and hurled into trees, smashing to the ground in unconscious stupors. Another Blur slammed his fist into the ground, sending most of the group into the air from the force of the impact. Nobody could react offensively to the beating, and soon, all of the humans were knocked out from sheer force, and the Warrior Mech was incapacitated from external trauma. Only Damien, Blue Demon, Die Angelus, and Advere remained conscious, if barely so. They were forced into a tight cluster near the Tree, just barely able to ward off the lightning blows of the Blurs in their defensive position. "We can't keep this up!" Damien gasped in frustration and exhaustion. "We don't really have a choice, though, do we?!" Blue said as she narrowly parried blows with Colichimarde. "Damien! Listen, you need to fly up as high as you can and distract at least one of them. Die can hit him with her chains and then you take him out while me and Blue keep the other two busy!" It wasn't much of a plan considering how fast the Blurs could move, but it was something.

"Here I go!" Damien shot high into the air, sword at his side, and as predicted, one of the Blurs leapt after him. The Blur didn't have any wings, but the sheer force of his jump almost let him catch Damien until Die Angelus' chains were flung after him. "Nox Noctis Cruor!" Just before the chains reached him, the two Blurs being held off by the ground force both sprang into the air and each grabbed a handful of chains, sending them flying back at the ground. The Blur who had gone after Damien narrowly dodged his sword swing before sending a blast of energy at him, knocking the Hyperion Edge out of his hands. "♥♥♥♥!" Angered at the loss of his weapon, Damien soared at the falling Blur in a dive-bomb and unleashed a Blast that sent him speeding toward the three on the ground. Landing right in the center between them, he smashed their defensive formation, sending them all reeling in different directions, and the other two Blurs went down to help with his assault, taking each one-on-one. Damien, with his sword lost and unable to risk the damage to friendlies with a Tsunami, was left with no choice but to try hand-to-hand. He soared down at the Blur attacking Blue Demon, only to find that the Blurs had made an insidious plan of their own- the Blur had been expecting his surprise attack, and whirled with a series of blows that Damien was barely able to block. The other two Blurs showed up from behind and collectively pounded the living crap out of him, finally launching him high into the air with a series of blows before powerbombing Damien into the ground so swiftly that none of his allies could react. Already exhausted and running low on energy, the shimmer around him died, his wings vanished, and Damien returned to his human form as unconsciousness set in.

But instead of experiencing utter blackness, Damien opened his eyes a second after being pounded senseless to find himself standing in a white void. He was aware of what had just happened- namely that he'd been beaten to unconsciousness- but not quite sure where he was. "Have I died and gone to heaven or something? Not quite what I was expecting..." he mused aloud. "Ahah, not quite heaven, my eager pupil," said a voice from behind Damien. He turned around to see a man, with the appearance of being about 55 or 60, dressed in a white toga-like robe and with something slung across his back. He also became aware of the fact that he himself was stark naked, though he somehow didn't feel ashamed or awkward of that fact. "No, you're merely in my humble abode, though I agree that it is quite heavenly." Damien looked around, bemused. "Kind of empty, isn't it?" "To mortal eyes, all of the Ethersphere seems to be a void. But that is irrelevant at the moment. I'm afraid I've misled you in your quest- I seemed to have given you the impression that you would have the power to conquer the defenses of the Tree without any assistance, and this is clearly not the case. So, without further ado, I will give you some help."

The man grabbed the hilt of what was slung across his back- a sheathed sword. It was quite large, though he handled it easily in one hand as he took it out and held it in front of him. The whole sword was about a meter long, with the blade taking up most of the length- perhaps 85cm. The blade was also rather wide, about 10cm or so. The hilt was the first thing that Damien saw- ornately designed, the bottom of the hilt was an inverted fleur-de-lis made of silver and ending in points of gold. The center of the hilt was also silver, but the edges were made of gold. The crosspiece was gold as well and had elegant designs cut into it, and it was inlaid with an enormous sapphire in the center. As the man removed the sheath, he handed the sword to Damien and allowed him to inspect it. Damien saw that the blade itself was even more beautiful than the hilt. It was double-edged, and the edges and point of the blade faded to such a fine sharpness that it was nearly invisible to his eye. The thicker center of the blade was overlaid with gold that had marvelous designs and inscriptions cut into it. The very center of the blade was a hollow space that ran for about 40cm, beginning about 10cm from the crosspiece and edged with silver. A line of silver also ran from the tip of the hollow across the whole length of the golden center until it joined the sharp tip, splitting the golden area into two.

"Kusanagi. This is a very special blade. It is not a weapon; it is an instrument. You will find out what I mean soon enough. Try using it on the Tree. For now, go, with my blessing and with my sword." Damien felt very overwhelmed as he held the "instrument" in one hand- it was as heavy as it looked, but it felt weightless to him. "Wait wait, who the hell are you, and where am I, and how am I supposed to get ba-" He hadn't even finished his sentence before he found himself laying face-down in the clearing, Kusanagi still gripped in his right hand. He could hear the sounds of exertion around him and looked around- his allies were still holding up, but growing weaker. He could try to ambush one of the Blurs- or he could use it on the Tree. That's what the man had told him, after all. He stood up, unnoticed by anyone, and advanced towards the Tree, taking his time despite the dire situation they were all in. He felt awed yet calm as he stared at the behemoth. The idea sounded ridiculous- how could a single sword like this affect such an enormous target? It would take him hours to chop it down, despite the infinitely sharp point. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do, instinctively so. He gripped Kusanagi tightly in both hands and plunged it deep into the base of the Tree. Something very strange happened at this point- he felt a glowing warmth in the hilt, and the hollow of the blade began to glow and swirl with a miasma of reddish-orange energy, slowly at first, but growing quickly. Damien felt power roaring into him; his Null Field and Dragoon Wings both returned to full strength within seconds, and he felt himself grow even stronger and stronger. He was suddenly aware of what Kusanagi was doing- it was sapping the essence of what made the Tree so unique.

By now, all of the combatants had noticed Damien. The Blurs screamed in rage at what he was doing and ran at him, but as they approached him, Damien seemed to explode with energy. The Blurs were knocked down onto the ground as Damien drained the essence of their god into himself through the blade. The yellow energy field that was normally just warped around his skin was growing rapidly, and random bursts of energy were shooting out of it unpredictably. Blue Demon, Die Angelus, and Advere watched in surprised awe while the Blurs scrambled fearfully, unable to turn and flee and unable to run and attack. Suddenly, it seemed that something was wrong- Damien's field retracted, the glow of the sword dimmed, and it seemed, for a moment, that the process was being reversed. Then Damien gave a scream of exertion and there was a blast of energy that sent wind flying in every direction so fast that the onlookers were literally pushed back and deafened, as if a hurricane had just spawned in front of them. A second explosion right at the base of the tree sent dirt and dust flying everywhere, blinding the six who were watching this terrifying feat taking place. As the dust cleared, they saw Damien standing quite still at the base of the tree, the sword pulled out of the trunk; there was an enormous hole in front of him. The energy field around him was so bright that staring at him was like looking at the sun. Before anyone could do more than shade their eyes, Damien flashed over from his position to the nearest Blur in an instant, ripping into him with Kusanagi and plunging the entire length of the blade through the unsuspecting man. The Blur simply coughed up a copious amount of blood, unable to resist the attack, and Damien removed the sword by slashing it out of his side. All of his movements were like lightning; it was as if there was no transition between one position to the next. He suddenly pointed the sword at another Blur, and the hollow of Kusanagi filled with radiant white energy that flowed slowly down the blade before erupting out of the point like cannon-fire, slamming into the Blur and sending him crashing straight through a tree. Damien dispatched the final Blur by soaring high into the air above him, then diving down at a diagonal angle and cutting him right in half from head to groin, Damien himself landing behind the now split body.

With the guardians of the Tree defeated and the essence of the god within drained, there was technically nothing left to do, but Damien decided to make it damn clear that the Tree was down for good. Walking rather slowly to face it, he swung Kusanagi out behind him, gripped in both hands, and started to build up an enormous amount of energy within the blade before slashing it horizontally and sending out a crescent of energy that sliced straight through the trunk. At first, it seemed that nothing had happened; then, with an extremely loud creak that sounded more like a ship sinking, the trunk of the Tree started to lean backwards, slowly at first, before the giant tumbled back and crashed into the earth with an earsplitting bang that sounded more like a bombshell going off. Absolutely overflowing with power to the point where it was causing him pain, Damien turned to his companions and, using Kusanagi like the precise instrument it was, sent out the enormous quantities of energy stored within him towards the three conscious onlookers. At first, the streams of white energy seemed to be doing little to them, but just as had been the case with Damien initially stabbing the tree, this quickly changed- soon, they, too, started to gain enormous amounts of energy, though not nearly as much as they had expected. When it was over, the four were left standing there looking awkwardly around since they'd done what they'd come to do. "Question: Seems like we didn't get nearly as much energy as you had there. What do you think happened?" Blue asked. Damien shrugged. "My guess would be that pure energy disperses very quickly in mid-air, so a lot of it got wasted. To get the full potential, I would have had to stab you all, and I don't think you would have appreciated that very much." "True enough. Alright, let's wake these guys up and work out how we can get the hell out of here."

Game Events
Part III: The Escape
The four victors went around rousing their unconscious comrades, who were naturally amazed at the events that had transpired during the short time they'd been out. They were especially fascinated by the appearance of their heroes, particularly Damien, who seemed almost god-like in comparison to his earlier state, and was now wielding a magnificent sword of some kind. They were also naturally curious about what had sliced the behemoth of a tree clean in half. The four had barely started to recount the events before everyone's attention was diverted by the SEAL radio operator, who was becoming increasingly alarmed. "Soldier, what the hell's wrong with you?" Romero asked with a frown. "Uh, sir, I can't seem to get the radio working properly. I hear very faint responses through some static from the receiver, but I don't think the transmitter is functioning." The SEALs all looked extremely shocked by his statement. Romero gritted his teeth. "Dammit, of all the things to go wrong... it must have happened when those things were beating the crap out of us." Still not quite understanding what was going on, Damien said, "Well, what's the problem with us not being able to use the radio? Not like we need reinforcements at this point." Romero sighed. "Long story short, we were the last hope for pulling off this operation cleanly. If command lost contact with us for any extended period of time, they'd assume the worst- that we were all KIA or captured and that the Tree was compromised. Their response to this would be a tactical nuclear strike, eradicating everything within this damn valley." "Oh. ♥♥♥♥." someone commented. "How long would we have to get out?" "Not very long. When we left the airbase, there were four B1-B Lancers undergoing launch preparations. For all we know, they might have scrambled before we even finished our HALO jumps." Supersonic bombers with nuclear armaments were the last thing anyone wanted to deal with.

Before they could make any plans for escape, everyone noticed a man walking towards them from the way they had come. His dark brown skin was adorned with black age spots and ragged white scars. He was clothed in a tattered robe of sorts and limping in the direction of the group with the assistance of a staff that looked about as old as he did. Everyone become acutely aware that the remnants of the village were watching them from the trees as the aged Ban Ali advanced. He ignored everyone but Damien, walking straight towards him, slowing down as he neared him. He opened his mouth to speak, and Damien understood him as though it was perfect English, yet he knew innately that nobody else was able to understand the man or Damien's own responses:

<You are the one who destroyed the Great Tree Of Life?> <Yes.> <You- you speak the language of the Great One! Truly you are the one who committed this deed. I have known that this day would come.> <You knew? How?> <It was prophesied by the Great One himself, many, many years ago. He once roamed the Earth, he and all of the others in the Elect, taking the form of men and going wherever they pleased. A terrible war broke out, and he, like many, took refuge- in the Tree.> Damien's stomach lurched at that, and he looked at the aged Prophet with incredulous shock. <You mean... there was a god in the Tree?> <Of course. Trees do not become so empowered without a reason. But he knew he would not stay safe. The vengeance of the victors would eventually catch up to him; not through them, but through their servants. You are such a servant, are you not?> <...> <I see. You are a pawn, then? A soldier mindlessly following orders?> <I have my reasons and my motivations.> <Yes, the fear of death is indeed a great motivator. What men will do to avoid that eternal darkness! It is why my ancestors did what they did, after all... the Great One promised them power and prestige in exchange for their protection. He would even provide them with the tools for that protection- you have seen those tools in the past days, I would imagine, the various Guardians of the Tree, with your own eyes? None of them willing. All of them driven insane by lust for power. Only an elect few controlling the actions of thousands- I am one of them. The rest were never aware of their own actions, mere pawns and instruments of the Tree, as you are a pawn and instrument of the god you serve.>

The others standing in the clearing looked confused and agitated, failing to understand any of the exchange, worried about the imminent threat of being bombed out of existence. Damien knew he had to hurry up. <Be that as it may, why are you telling me any of this? I need to leave this place, I and all of my companions.> <That is precisely why I am telling you this! The prophecy said that he who finally destroyed the Tree would not simply eradicate it, but take its essence into himself. You absorbed the strength of the Great One; part of him now resides in you. We will not serve you, for you are not purely made out of the Great One- his own majesty is diluted by your mortality and imperfection. But we still owe you protection for at least a short while, and now I will lead you and all who came with you to safety, for it was prophesied that after the death of the Great One, the death of the entire valley would follow soon after.> <How will you get us out of here in time?> <Ironically, through the corpse of the Great One. I am ready to leave whenever you are.>

More confused than ever but knowing that they possibly had a way out now, Damien turned to the bemused group standing by. "Listen, I don't fully understand what's going on, but apparently he's obligated to lead us to safety because we destroyed the Tree. We can leave whenever." Everyone's face lit up at that, but then someone said, "What about Vlad and Andrew? We can't leave their bodies here." "Then let's grab 'em and get the hell out." "Damien, you're the fastest- go get Andrew since he's further away. We'll take care of Vlad." Without a word, Damien shot off into the air and above the thicket of trees surrounding the heart of the village. All around the area where the Tree had stood were the bodies of the dead slain in the intense fighting, some just minutes ago. He swooped down towards the entrance they'd come from and alighted on the ground next to Andrew's body. He was laying on his back, a single bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. "Ouch. 'least you didn't even see it coming. Alright, away we go!" Throwing the body over his shoulder, he took off again, alighting next to the stump of the Tree as Vlad's body was carried into the clearing. One of the SEALs carrying him had an urgent expression on his face. "Hey, are there any medics here? We've got a really faint pulse! He's lost a lot of blood, but he's still going!" "Sounds like that's up your alley, my shiny friend." Die said with a nod to Damien. Putting Andrew's body onto the ground, he hurried over to Vlad, hands glowing with light energy, and put both hands over the gaping wound in his neck. The blood had begun to clot up, but as the SEAL had said, he'd already lost a lot of it- his entire chest was drenched in the dark red liquid. The flesh around the wound started to creep back together as the energy did its job, eventually closing up the hole. Vlad stirred a little and his eyes opened. "Agh... vere da hell ahm ay? Deed ay haff too much vodka?" He tried sitting up, but blood loss had drained him of his strength. Two SEALs helped him to his feet, and he looked around dizzily at the scene around him, his eyes coming to rest on the stump of the Tree. "Aw sheet, ay missed all da fun! Deed ay at least keel sam more of dose fahking neyndortals?" "Yeah, you got plenty man, good to see you! We thought you were dead when we passed you!" "Ven you- you PAST ME? AYND DEEDN'T CZECH FOR A PULSE?" "Uhhh..." "Well, you see-" "We're not doctors." "I don't even know you." "YOUR PRESENCE WAS NOT VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THIS MISSION; ASSISTING THE LIVE HUMANS WAS A HIGHER PRIORITY." "Argh, yewr all aysholes!"

Damien turned to the Ban Ali and nodded. <We're ready.> <Good! Come, come. We will escape before the end arrives.> He turned and started to hobble towards the trunk of the Great Tree. The whole group followed, Vlad not quite certain where they were going, Andrew's body carried by four SEALs. The Prophet calmly stepped down into the hole made by Damien's stab, and was followed into the darkness by the group. They discovered an enormous system of tunnels under the Tree- roots of all sizes were visible in the walls, and it was lit by glowing mushrooms growing on the floor and ceiling. <This is where we nourished the Great One, and where he, in turn, provided nourishment for us.> <What do you mean?> The Prophet remained quiet, but as they went deeper into the complex, everyone started to murmur and point at the walls- it became clear what the Tree's nourishment had been. Sacrifices, animal and human alike, lined the inner walls of the cave. Some were hardly visible, and some were just barely covered by roots, sticking out of the wall, evidently recent sacrifices. <We provided the Great One with the resources necessary to grant us much of our warriors' strength...> The Prophet indicated dimly luminescent veins of purple liquid, flowing between the roots of the wall. He stopped and squeezed one until it popped, sending the glowing goop dripping down the wall. <We would add this Strength Of The God to whatever herbs and drugs we already used to amplify the effects a thousandfold. You saw how dramatic the effects could be, creating enormous behemoths out of the river monsters.> <The crocodiles...> <Yes. Sometimes, however, we did not know what we were doing; some of our advances were accidental. The bone-shredders are an example of that.> Bone-shredders? Must mean the piranhas... As they walked, Damien translated what the Prophet was saying to the rest of the group. The SEALs were aghast at hearing all of the threats the group had faced during their journey to the Tree. Romero in particular wasn't shy about expressing his wonder. "I don't think I'd believe any of this if I hadn't already seen how messed up these guys could get, back when those three- what did you call them? Blurs?- beat the living crap out of us at the tree. And you four, of course," he said, motioning to the four demigods striding through the cave.

After some time, they'd all noticed that the slope was becoming more and more inclined, as though they were climbing uphill. They came 'round a corner and saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel. "Hey, look at that!" "Is it day?" "Must be. It was already near dawn when we HALO dropped in; the mountains around the valley just blocked a lot of the early light." <Where does this exit lead?> <A small mountain not very far from the mountains surrounding the valley. You will be blocked from any public view by a waterfall.> Sure enough, as they got closer to the exit, the sound of rushing water became louder and louder. They gradually stepped out onto a rocky outcropping, perhaps just two or three meters wide, with a deluging waterfall in front of them. As everyone moved out from the cramped corridor and onto the wider space (the VN Warrior Mech doing so a little awkwardly), another sound became audible in the distance- a deep rumble. "Could that be...?" "Yeah, I think so." "Funny how that used to be a comforting sound." The rumble grew louder as the supersonic B1-B Lancers, initially hardly visible in the distance, flashed by at Mach 3, flying to the right of the group and out of sight as they released their deadly payload less than a mile away inside the valley. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the fading rumble of the sonic booms; then, the whole earth started to tremble as though from a minor earthquake, and a faint reddish glow was visible on the tree canopy in front of them for a few seconds. Soon, the tremor from the blast subsided, and the glow vanished, replaced by a brilliant blood-red sunrise in the distance.

The Prophet stepped forward and said, without turning around, <My god is dead, and I have fulfilled his final obligations; my life is thus complete. Farewell.> Before Damien could really process what the Prophet meant, he leapt off of the cliff, which was a sheer drop through the water into a pool full of jagged rocks. A loud crunching noise came two seconds later, the macabre scene causing everyone varying degrees of shock. "...right then, so what're we all doing? Now, I mean?" "Well, we have to go clear up that we're all live and well, right boys?" The SEALs murmured agreement to Romero's statement. "There's probably still a good handful of American forces at the research compound. It's not too far away, maybe a few hours' hike now that there aren't any giant mutated monsters in the way." "Yeah, that's what I was thinking of doing. How 'bout the rest of you guys?" "Uh, it's been fun, but my job's done. I may see some of you later, but don't count on it." With that, Die Angelus stretched her palm out and ripped open a portal in the air, which she promptly stepped through. "Seeya." The portal closed with a snap. "...RUDE?" "DIE! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME WITH THESE IDIOTS? D:" "First thing I'm doing is getting a stiff drink." "Cheers to dat, comrade; perhaps aye cayn joyn yoo?" "I wouldn't mind knocking back a few, either. Maria m'dear, what do you say?" "Honestly, I don't even know what the hell just happened, so sure, let's go get wasted." "Sounds like a plan!" "Only if I get to shoot things with bullets :U" "MY PRIMARY OBJECTIVE HAS BEEN COMPLETED, SO I WILL BE ACTIVATING MY RETRIEVAL BEACON SHORTLY AND AWAITING MY RETURN CRAFT AT THE RESEARCH COMPOUND." "I think I'm gonna find another helicopter to destroy with my mind. In the meantime, let's work on getting back to the compound before we starve to death- I don't think anyone has eaten a decent meal for two days." With general cheers of agreement, the 30+ group of SEALs, mercenaries, soldiers, demigods, and a robot made their way down the rocky path to start their trek back to the compound, and, hopefully, civilization.

~Fin~

Post Game Events
Later that day...
He strode into his office, tired after a long but successful day; he'd gotten what he needed. Settling into his chair and pulling a Coke out of the mini-fridge, he reached for the phone on his desk and dialed a number. After a few rings, he heard the person on the other end pick up. "Hello, sir, it's me... yes, I have what you need. Things didn't go quite as planned, but the Tree was destroyed... oh, I'll explain to you what exactly happened in full detail later, but you can easily verify through satellite scans taken this morning that the valley has changed rather radically. Yes, of course I have the photos and videos of the destruction and the aftermath. Yes sir, I retrieved samples of the Tree- bark, leaves, roots, seeds, and I even smuggled out a little of that nectar- what did they call it- the 'Strength Of The God.' Yes sir, it's right here with me. I'll make sure to personally show it to you as soon as I return. Yes... I've already anonymously contacted news stations all over the world with proof of the American nuclear strike, as well as photos of all of the different military forces present at the scene; most of the important governments are already aware of what happened, but the media coverage will let the whole world know. There'll be no way to cover it all up. Thank you, sir, I do take a great deal of pride in my work. Yes sir. Oh, I recovered something that you may be interested in- a sort of unmanned aerial drone manufactured by that researcher, Lovegale. I've already had the field techs disassemble it and reverse-engineer the designs and specs. It's rather crude and jerry-rigged, but a promising base for our own unmanned defenses. Yes, they should be faxing the copies any minute now. Very well then, sir, I'll leave you to your work. Goodbye...

Mr. Goodpants."