Masks 2

Siren picked up the Spear of Oceanus, still lying on the floor covered in runes. As soon as her hand touched it, the eldritch influence on the weapon seemed to fade. The runes disappeared, and it resumed its once-shining look.

Furthermore, she felt the power she'd been granted so long ago coursing through her. She could still fight. She knew she could still fight.

Which was good because her former master had a whole lot of fish closing in on them. Fishmen, Crabcars, Artillery Shrimp, Eels, Anglers, Lampreys, Razorfish, Barnacles, all of it closed in on them from every direction as Thiotza’ma shouted out at them.

"IT IS TOO LATE FOR THIS WORLD. HERALD OR NO HERALD, IT WILL FALL TO MY WILL. EMBRACE THE SEA OR BE WASHED AWAY!"

Nobody seemed ready to follow his instructions.

Siren, spear in hand, rushed into the water provided by Maria and quickly rushed ahead. She sped around the tentacles before charging into them, impaling one with her spear at breakneck speed and tearing it off before moving to another. Every time one of the tentacles got close, she punched it away with rather astounding force.

Finn and Esen still lied on the ground, recovering from their wounds. Even Zil was a bit dazed. They were getting better, though, and the Demon, Candy, La Chat, and Nocturne had taken it upon themselves to defend them until they got up. Fish closed in from all directions, but they weren't a match for the Demon's sorcery and swordplay, nor Candy's devastating screams.

Ken and Sam used the parts of what used to be Polybius, combined with a dead crab car and pieces of an artillery shrimp, to assemble some kind of mobile artillery platform. Standing atop it, they used it to deliver devastating volleys at the mass of eldritch tentacles coming from the chasm. While Ken did this, Sam kept the fish hordes off the car with his shiny new guns.

Darkmagic loaded lightning rounds into her guns, firing into the swarm of fish with great efficiency. Earnest shot what targets he could with his bow (sadly he didn't have Vigil's knack for trick arrows), while the Bronze Boz rather ruthlessly and efficiently beat down any fish that crossed his path. Jim was beside him, dodging enemy attacks and slicing off rather important bits with equal measure. Goldpony, still in their horse form and now without a rider, rushed around kicking, smashing, and slamming everything they could. It was actually very effective, as horses were large and particularly dangerous when made of metal.

Mr. Smiley trailed behind, shooting what he could with his singular pistol. He wasn't particularly lethal, but this didn't get him down!

Maria unleashed a great many stabs, slashes, and water blasts as she advanced, also assisting Siren with her maneuvers. Elena landed beside her dear aunt, and fought beside her with a mixture of super strength and super durability.

Lone Star was still on his ethereal horse, and took a flank as he mowed down fish with a somewhat impressive amount of skill. Age hadn't slowed down his shooting much.

And finally, Theraea marched onward with her duty in mind. Siren and the artillery took out the remaining tentacles, and she descended down into the chasm as the others remained behind to fight off the horde.

Staring into the salty, indescribable depths of the whirlpool, she heard the Song of the Deep in her mind as the bandanna burned. She knew what she had to do. She just had to focus.