There were a little more than fifty of us left.  

There must’ve been a lot more people at the start than I got the impression of in 8.1.

Hookwolf, Fenja, Menja, Genesis, Aegis and Manpower were among the fifteen or so standing combatants that remained and were able to go toe to toe with Leviathan. 

Considering how fast Levvy dispatches his enemies, that’s not a lot.

Parian, the girl in the doll costume, had formed some massive stuffed animals – a lion and a pig that stood as tall as Leviathan’s shoulder.

“formed”? So does that mean she has the power to make them, or has she been stitching all this time?

Tougher than they looked, according to her.  I had my doubts.  I mean, it wasn’t just that they were stuffed animals, but according to Parian, this was her first fight.

She is a rogue, after all.

While Kaiser worked, Armsmaster was simultaneously ensuring that he could maximize the damage delivered the second Leviathan moved again.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I suppose this is a golden opportunity to attack without Leviathan being able to react in time.

Gingerly, he worked with the grenades the Protectorate had liberated from Bakuda, the same explosives Miss Militia had been firing at Leviathan, and hooked them up as motion activated or proximity mines.

Oooh, that’s a really good approach. Got anymore of the time bombs? Although I suppose that didn’t hinder him that much last time.

A complicated affair, I imagined, when your target could start moving any second, and when you couldn’t fully know or understand what the individual bombs did.

I’m still kind of surprised the Protectorate is using them in the first place. I mean sure, take any advantage you’ve got, but this is Bakuda we’re talking about. I have a hard time believing she didn’t predict this kind of thing might happen if the Protectorate were to get their hands on her stuff, and it would be just like her to stick a bunch of bombs that would hurt/kill the user among all the other ones, and label nothing so that only she’d know which ones do what and are safe to use.

In the end, though, it was still our best bet to do one final measure of damage against Leviathan before he was free to wreak havoc once more.

Yeah, it’s a pretty clever way to go about damaging him the moment he moves – instead of relying on people to identify his movement and react to it, they’ve covered him with devices that do both parts automatically.

I got my orders and left behind a bizarre scene where Armsmaster was working hand in hand with Kaiser, of all people.

Heh, the things a temporary truce can do.

I suppose Kaiser is good at organization.

Kaiser worked to build the same sort of trap that he’d imprisoned Lung in, some time ago, creating bars of metal between and around each of Leviathan’s limbs, a cage tight to the body.

Oh, but apparently that’s not what’s motivating this cooperation.

This is a good idea. The more they can restrain Leviathan while he’s out, the more additional time they have once he’s back.

Rune and another telekinetic were working to bend the metal from Kaiser’s shaken barrier around Leviathan’s limbs and face.

Nice.

So what’s Armsy’s role in this?

It wouldn’t last.  Leviathan was too big, his tail extended a long distance behind him, and it was thin and supple enough to slip through almost any barrier Kaiser could erect, strong enough that it could bend metal.  Leviathan would get free, there could be no illusions on that front.

Yeah. It’s all about how long it takes him to do so.

Today’s powers: “happen (with) land”, “instruct (with) shade”, “snow (with) finger”.

I don’t think I’m gonna be much use against Leviathan today, unless I can instruct the shadows to do something against him, or to contact Scion.