LOG-212.

Battle, it was not foreign to her. Such a thing had become a familiar constant over the long, long time since she had first formed into being.

A spear of pure telekinetic force passed seamlessly through the protective dome, piercing yet another deformed, blazing silhouette that was trying to tear her way inside, before instantly ripping through a score of her counterparts as if encountering no resistance at all.

On the opposite side, forming the second point of their evenly spaced triad, Eyes continued to defend the perimeter against a handful of far more refined looking phantoms (of the second generation? Or perhaps the first? It was difficult to tell), all of whom were attempting to work in tandem in order to destabilize a small section of the shield with synchronised streams of searing hot energy.

Unlike the clean, immaterial constructs Horn had used, she preferred to whip up a dense vortex of crystallo-metallic debris instead, tearing apart any phantom that failed to dodge the subsequent storm's path.

In the final point of their triad's formation stood Head, rhythmically unleashing wide shockwaves that blasted away those caught on the periphery and tore apart anyone caught at the epicenter.

The seeming clumsiness of these attacks did not, however, prevent her from cleverly alternating and overlapping their directions to disrupt and even orchestrate enemies' movements, keeping them from making any meaningful advance on her section of the dome.

It was a good strategy, for a bunch of Pearls given a ridiculous degree of power. And yet somehow despite those two facts, it still didn't feel like enough.

"No matter how long we try to hold them away, the number of burning projections only grows, and we can already see giants composed of seven or even ten of them appearing in the distance.

Head's voice was quiet, yet heard perfectly even amongst the screaming din surrounding them. Less talkative than in her sign-speak, she was still nevertheless quick to voice that they all very much suspected.

"As sad as it is to admit…I fear that the defensive barrier we still keep will soon be of no more use to us than a mere common shelter."

Horn wasn't afraid of that loss of protection, nor was she even particularly afraid of dying here. For a long time, the longest time, they had been prisoners in all but name, trapped within their home, defending but never leaving.

And now they had a way to fight back. Perhaps even a path to finally freeing their little Batchmates, small yet no less wondrous Pearls who cared about them and loved them.

She only hoped that her larger than average counterparts felt the same. It would pain her to know that right now they were fearing for their lives, or feeling that their coming here was a grave mistake.

Still, with the mental fog that had constantly clouded her thoughts finally lifted, came a purpose and ability to focus that felt almost as much like a power as her new capacity as a mobile artillery cannon, and so she kept her mind on what was important.

Sending forth a blade made of pure force, she watched as several far away, jagged looking giants were bisected in a moment, and then promptly dispersed in a couple more.

Even before gaining the prism that had been melded to her gemstone, she had always been the most powerful of their trio of abnormalities, capable of holding dozens of burning echoes away all by herself.

Now, she could reap them in the hundreds with an ease that perhaps would have left her feeling a certain disquiet, if she wasn't so occupied..

Still, Head was right. For each of the destroyed phantoms, several more consistently arrived from beyond the horizon to replace their lost swarm mates, and despite the new heights of power that had been gifted to them by their visitor, sooner or later one of the shrieking things would manage to get through.

Then it would be two, then ten, and then they wouldn't be able to hold the wall. From there they would inevitably fall, one by one.

There were more gifts beyond simple power in the modifications that the Nacre made to her and her sisters, though. Chief among them was the ability to unerringly achieve a unified state that they had never even known to attempt before, and yet with her newly received programming there was an almost inherent familiarity to it, in the certain way that she somehow knew what and how she would need to perform in order to accomplish such a feat..

Inwardly, Horn had found it somewhat strange that despite the new potential, they had not trained nor even truly tested it properly prior to the beginning of their exodus. As much as code and programming could make up for many things, experience was a far more real kind of reassurance.

Nonetheless, she could only assume that time had been of the essence, demanding their expedition occur sooner rather than later, a realisation that fueled her next few words.

"Head, Eyes!"

As one, the two's gazes met her own, even as she jerked her chin upwards, defiantly staring back at the countless glaring eyes beyond the barrier.

Time. They needed to buy time.

"Come, stand with me."

Directing part of her focus on keeping the protective dome holding, she graciously moved toward them as well, raising her palms in an anticipating gesture. Eventually, they stopped in a tight circle, holding each other's hands with interlocked fingers, and slowly leaning inward until their gemstones were touching, their lightforms beginning to shine.

The insane ghosts were trying to drown them in sheer numbers, seeking to break them beneath an unrelenting tide of pure, unfettered quantity.

It was only proper that they would meet such a crude assault with quality, then.

Maintaining the telekinetic force forming the dome during both the very delicate and yet incredibly potent process of combining their strength was an impossibility, and thus the trio of Pearls, Baroques, as they had been named, who had already begun to meld into one entity instead compressed it back for a few tense instants, before releasing that tightly wound energy in a violent obliterating wave that blasted outwards.

Born from the midst of the following storm of destruction, titanic lightform surging with power, the immense figure rose, a crown of gemstones decorating her voluminous layers of hair as she readied herself to meet the avalanche of adversaries awaiting her.

Hm…Crown, there was a name. She would be sure to share it with the others, assuming she survived the oncoming onslaught long enough to buy them the time they required.

The fusion could only hope that they were faring better than she currently was, considering the present circumstances.

—

Fast, she needs to be fast.

Fast enough to dodge, fast enough to protect the others, fast enough to hit back.

Thrusters that she vaguely understands have been set to an idle posturing mode over the past few hours abruptly flare to life, blue trails of flame left in their wake as she rockets forward.

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She doesn't know how this body works. Doesn't understand it. Stars, she barely even knows how her old body worked, cooped up as it had always been within her casing, and that one hadn't been an aspirant starfighter twisted into a Gemoid frame!

Even the mental side of things is rough, thinking is difficult with her mind and thoughts squeezed into something that was never meant to hold them in the first place, she must devote no small amount of focus just to keep her alien shaped legs obedient and active.

But the sight in front of her makes things clear. She can see. She can move. She can fight.

The fact that she does not at all stumble about like a defective Ruby can almost assuredly be attributed to the not-quite-intelligence inherent to her metal skin. Though she has inserted herself in place of any true pilot, the subroutines do their jobs, keeping her stable, guiding her limbs as they are needed.

And of course, showing her how to utilise her potential to the fullest.

Through her roaring charge, there is a hum. It starts as a mere sound, before it soon elevates itself into something truly physical, becoming a distortion amidst the air, centered around her right arm.

She does not know what it is, does not know what strange systems and mechanisms are working within the limb, but she knows to trust the machine code that she has enmeshed herself within, and so she rears back the appendage as if she is going to make a punch.

Metal is pulled, wrenching free from the floor and a nearby wall with a horrific shriek that proves so loud it briefly startles the monster playing at being a Pearl in front of her, still holding the Nacre (Viridian, her name is Viridian, rhymes with obsidian) within the palm of her glowing hand.

The stolen material twists and turns within the field around her arm, it screams and cries as physics is wrested under the control of Gem technology, and then it flows like liquid, filling out a shape in the back of her thoughts, a blueprint hidden within her body's engrams.

She likens it to a great needle, one that violently explodes forward, propelled by some internal process she is unaware of. The sharpened point of the newly fabricated weapon is poised to spear straight through the monster's head. A kill shot, surely. It will hit. It has to hit.

It does not hit.

Instead, a wave of living fire erupts from the floor less than a second before impact, and Atoll is sent hurtling backwards, thrust units sputtering to keep her facing the correct direction and previously white armour singed a coal black in the face of the unrelenting heat.

Faintly, she hears one of Viridian's Pearls cry out the Overseer's name amidst the blazing inferno that has engulfed the amphitheatre, the smaller of the two darting off to the side to chase the green gemstone currently sailing through the hair, lost amidst the conjoining flames.

Good Pearls, fine Pearls, just as precious as her own Batches had all been! She would protect them, she would not fail them like she had failed the others! Never again! Never!

"Horrid storm who stands so high, know this now, your end is nigh!"

Sparks fly as she digs a heel into the ground, sweeping her leg about in a sharp semicircle to stabilise herself, before boosting forward once more!

The torrent of searing hot energy has taken form, massive eyes glaring down upon her as the titan the Burning first confronted them with fully reforms. She can faintly make out the actual Gem floating deep within its chest, held aloft as if the wretched thing were in a pool of water.

Idly, she feels the needle reconfiguring at her side, lengthening and tightening into swirling links of chain that lash out with a swing of her arm.

The weapon makes contact, and the massive echo's body splits diagonally, though the moment of triumph fades rapidly as it merely reknits itself back together, an annoyed screech bursting out from its lips.

With a thought, additional power is drawn from her core, flooding the thruster assembly, she feels the flames turn white hot as the world blurs, her frame ripping its way through the air, just barely beyond the reach of a descending arm that promptly craters part of the ground.

Viridian's other darling creation (Patina, rhymes with arena) has not stood idly by in the meantime. She watches as the green Gem sprints to the side, long hair whipping about behind her as she lashes out with her weapon in a long slash, disrupting the form of an emerging hologram that had been reaching for both her creator and Batchmate both.

The specter is but one of many however, and soon enough the smaller one (Violet, rhymes with pilot) swings about rapidly, wings fluttering as she uses the momentum to throw the gemstone clutched in her tiny hands away from the questing hands and flames, the core briefly soaring along an arc before it is deftly caught by Patina.

But the two Pearls are surrounded now, one flying and dodging the floating forms of several additional echoes while the other brandishes her blade with a hand, the other cradling Viridian's gemstone.

She can see the titan rearing back for another blow, but it is slow, clumsy. She can afford to move the soft warmth within her center upwards, feeling energy pooling through her neck and head, before gathering upon her optics.

Leaning forward slightly and bending her knee, Atoll glares, and with the glare come two bright blue beams, careening forward before neatly discorporating a pair of the holographic manifestations.

A quick sweep from left to right dispatches the rest, leaving her allies the opportunity to flee through the opening she has provided them. The last she sees of the duo is their hands reaching for one another, a suspiciously familiar glow beginning to engulf the both of them.

Of course, any further observation or assistance is postponed as she is forced to rocket out of the path of the Burning's next strike

"S T O P! M O V I N G!"

It is only proper that the Gem turned machine does not cooperate with the roared demand, and the next moment is filled with rapid action as she outmanoeuvres the powerful but clumsy giant that seeks her demise, cycling through weapons as she does so.

More metal is torn up and away, repurposed into new arms of war throughout the fight. A sword, a hammer, grand claws of crystal and steel. All do damage, but nothing lasting.

Once more, Atoll brings forth her explosive needle, searching for a new opening. The flame cannot be broken, and so she will target the light-

There is another Pearl. Why is there another Pearl? Larger than average, with long, thick and wild hair, with sharp geometric wings that propel her forward and…

And…oh. Oh how scandalous!

The resulting urge to blush and shiver at the sheer impropriety on display is forcefully set aside as she reminds herself of their present situation, with the…fusion making that more than clear the moment she slices one of the titan echo's eyes open with a shining glaive.

Shaking herself, Atoll propels forward once more, taking the opportunity for what it is. Inappropriate as it might have been, Violet and Patina's union was serving as an excellent distraction, with the Gem rapidly darting in and around the Burning's wild swings, one hand clutched tightly to her chest.

That one was holding Viridian's gemstone, no doubt.

Still, the enemy is looking away, leaving their back exposed as she soars up past a reaching pair of smaller echoes and promptly dives right back down, energy pooling around her optics.

The subsequent pair of beams blast into and through just enough of the unnatural flame to disperse a decent chunk of it, and with a savage feeling of satisfaction, Atoll rears her arm back once more, needle clicking before jolting forward with a second explosive blast.

For just an instant, she thinks she has done it, those swirling eyes go wide as the tip rams into the Burning's chest, the Pearl having just turned around to face her.

The effect is…not precisely what she hopes for. Oh, by all means the monstrous Gem practically rockets backwards with her flaming shell following along with her, slamming into part of the amphitheater and ruining several walls and balconies.

But there is no damage. No break in the lightform. Stars, she doesn't even look all that pained, just infuriated!

Worse still, Atoll is forced to watch in horror as the titan waves a hand, before a sprawling wall of fire pours out, not to harm her, but rather to pursue the fusion that had been hovering nearby, fending off several smaller echoes.

The amalgamation is fast, but there is nowhere to run, and with a panicked yelp she is engulfed by the surging fire, her last act the wise choice of darting downwards even as her damaged lightform actively splits into two, both Patina and Violet harshly landing upon the ground with heaving breaths, the former still tightly clutching Viridian to her chest.

The words escape her borrowed vocabulator before she even truly understands what she is saying.

"Run now! Take flight! Without your creator we will not win this fight!"

The both of them hear her warning and thankfully seem to agree, picking themselves and beginning to make a run for it. Their Nacre had clearly had some kind of plan, if they can just stay alive long enough to bring her back, they might stand some kind of chance.

She prepares to fight on, to consume her foe's attention until they are locked in a deadly dance once more. One side unable to inflict meaningful damage, and the other incapable of successfully landing a strike. It is a stalemate that could go on forever.

But for all its madness, the Burning is evidently not entirely foolish. Those immense swirling eyes turn as the titan rises once more, regarding the retreating lightforms heading towards the exit of their battleground, and Atoll feels a chill.

"N O! S T A Y!"

The titan's arm extends, a surge of lesser copies bursting free from its hands to chase after the tired, battle weary Pearls.

She tries. Stars, Diamonds, she tries, but even with her speed, she will not make it in time to move them away from the oncoming onslaught. She will not be able to save them entirely.

So she does her best, and interposes herself between the attack and its targets. With great guilt she lashes out with a kick, her heel connecting with Patina, whose eyes bulge out in shock as the poor thing promptly wraps around her limb before rocketing off to the side, thankfully still maintaining a ruthlessly tight hold upon Viridian's gemstone as they are both forcibly relocated to a safer position.

She cannot do the same for Violet.

The precious creature is too small. The echoes are too close. Atoll feels the flames licking at her hardened skin, watches as the questing hands move as if in slow motion thanks to her overclocking processor, fingers surging around her armour to reach for the vulnerable tiny Gem she wraps herself around.

Though no tears can fall from her cold optics, Atoll nonetheless sobs as Violet burns, the gorgeous little Pearl's voice reaching several octaves higher than her standard as the searing heat rips across her screaming, pleading self, wings melting away first and body giving out shortly afterwards.

The heat chars the gemstone, but even as it roars, growing hotter and hotter, she refuses to uncurl, refuses to give way to the monsters scraping at her hull, demanding entry. Because her charge is intact, if blackened and seared.

Wound up into as tight a ball as she can manage, the machine desperately locks her servos and plates into place, forming a solid barrier even as angry subroutines and status alerts she can barely understand dominate the heads up display presented by her cracked optics.

Vision fades, sensation disappears, her new body, powerful as it was, falls short. She tightens around Violet's inert form harder, shielding the Pearl from further harm.

In the end, it is all she can do. Her last thought is the desperate hope that she bought her saviours enough time to succeed where she failed.

Somewhere in her distant awareness, she notices a scramble. The giant disappears. There are words thrown about like daggers as two Pearls face off.

And there is a small flash of pale green light.

Darkness follows shortly afterwards, and Atoll returns to the familiar realm of the loose mind, thoughts unravelling without her anchor's metal frame to ground them, consumed by the very rhymes that keep her sane.