A New Direction

Slaaneesh has some of the same tricks. He can do the teleporting business. He can't do the ranged attacks, but he does his absolute best to physically damage Ares in any possible way. He focuses his mental attacks now specifically on Artemis, whose arrows are starting to cause him serious harm. He bellows, but the creation of actual words seems to be beyond his abilities. Being a god created out of every possible negative emotion, you kind of feel sorry for having to put him away.

You can almost feel the clock ticking on him here. That hope Lantern is definitely doing some good work, because any sane being would have fled here by now...

Earl appears, and tries to collect the ... dust motes ... left behind by the Laughing God. He seems to be specifically attempting to collect certain pieces and reconnect them. And it sort of looks like its working; maybe the Laughing God isn't dead.

And Athena finally has to drag Ares out of combat after he takes one too many blows and staggers back. They may be immortal, but they can be hurt. Athena takes Ares place in up close combat. After a few hits, Athena and Hades switch off. They keep this method of attack going.

Artemis keeps on with her arrows, though now she's disappearing between shots and reappearing somewhere different each time. She's trying to stay out of danger.

Ares is also keeping out of reach, regaining his strength. He's completely disappeared for now. His disappearance makes the others fight that much harder since they're down one for the moment.

Slaaneesh frantically looks around for someone he thinks he can fight.

He sees Earl picking up the pieces of the Laughing God.

He charges into them, colliding with them at top speed. Earl explodes into a series of motes, as does what was being recreated of the Laughing God.

An arrow from Artemis takes Slaaneesh in a spot that seems to immobilize him for a moment. One from Athena stops him again. The Bloody Handed God swings his sword as hard as he can, taking off Slaaneesh's head. Unlike Earl and The Laughing God, Slaaneesh does not explode into a a dust cloud. He slowly fades into the background.

Ares pops back in, ready for more. He pauses when he sees Slaaneesh fade. "Oh, well, that was easy."

Hades, Artemis, and Athena just look at Ares for a moment, saying nothing.

Ares shrugs. "What?" He goes over to the dust motes and studies them. He was paying attention to what Earl was doing before and starts doing it again.

***************************

To: Jenova
From: Shein

Ares missed the last bit so he doesn't know exactly what happened, but he did see Slaaneesh fade away. He believes it may be over. Completely over.

-Shein

TO: Shein
FROM: Jenova

Confirmed. Thank you for all you've done.

Sincerely,
Jenova

TO: Emperor Dmitri Medvedev, the assorted Lantern Corps.
FROM: Jenova Incinerator

We thank you for all you've done in helping us defeat the Destroyer. Let us know if there is any way we can provide some sort of assistance.

Sincerely,
Jenova

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Burnination, the heaps of melted, green soulstones lose thier color, becoming nearly transparent. The threat they were designed to counter has finally been destroyed. The people of Burnination are now once again free to live outside the shadow of the Destroyer. The Destroyer is dead! The Destroyer is dead!

The future seems bright. Assuming that the government can possibly avoid the inevitable power struggle here. Who's the person to lead now? Do the people stick to Thorgood? Jenova?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TO: Emperor Shein Darson
FROM: Emperor Thorgood

Right, thanks for your help here. Looks like I was wrong for once. This was something that ... couldn't be explained by science. Though I was on my way to describing it. I've invented some cool instruments that can pick up some of the energy readings these immortal beings emit.

Come over some time and check it out.

Also, it'd be nice if you could use some of your influence here and in your media to stop any dissenting voices here and solidify this government before something falls apart. I've got a power vacuum to fill.

Sincerely,
Emperor Thorgood

To: Emperor Thorgood
From: Emperor Darson

I told you there were some things that just can't be explained by science. I'm not really interested in knowing the energy readings. I'd rather that be one of the mysteries of religion for me.

I'm not sure what I can do to help your government retain power. If you could explain exactly what you need, I'll help. Were I you, though, I'd offer a very high ranking position to Jenova. The people there probably love her right now. The more people you put in that the people like, the better.

-Shein

While Thorgood has proven effective at managing the opinions of the masses in the past, he loses all measure of control here, and people are demanding all sorts of outrageous changes.

The government convenes to determine where it's going. Here's their solution.

Thorgood will be ProtoConsul, in charge of the military, industry, and some domestic policies. Jenova will be Consul, responsible for foreign affairs, diplomacy, and most domestic policies. The Parliament will be democratically elected, have 50 members, and deal with most day-to-day issues.

Successors to the Consul and ProtoConsul position are chosen by their predecessor, as done with Emperors in the past.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Earl and the Laughing God (or, what's left of them) thank Ares for fixing them up. They say they can take it from there and begin collecting their own remnants.

They'll likely approach the Rutian Gods to square their debt later, when they're more intact.

(OOC: This ends my use for this thread. Action is finished. You may continue to comment, but I've got no more plot to go through.)