[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h9ADWpQ.png[/img][/center]
[hr]
[center][h2]With Andreim & Lise[/h2][/center]
[center][@Dezuel][@Crowvette][/center]

People dove and scattered like frightened rodents before Andreim's charge. The crowds thinned but didn't disperse as he left the arena. There had been plenty of those who'd been much closer to the exits when they'd begun to flee and so had had a large head-start. This meant even as he raced down the street and around the arena, there were still people running ahead of them, either trying to escape on foot or attempting to get to their vehicles.

He didn't make it far from the arena before he'd have seen a flash of orange light, that faded to a dim, ominous glow. Getting closer, he'd have seen strange men in cloaks and [url=https://i.imgur.com/kBrFDlw.png]masks[/url]. Some of the feeling tournament goers had unwittingly charged right into their grasp. One man lay on the sidewalk, neck gushing blood. One cloaked individual was picking themselves up off the ground. Clearly the man had been killed for attempting to retaliate. The others weren't so lucky, being dragged off toward the light-source, some sort of pulsating rip in the air itself.

One of the strange individuals, [url=https://i.imgur.com/g1eQxEN.jpg]his appearance[/url] unique from the others who wore mostly the same outfits, noticed Andreim's rapid approach. His robes were pattered and had no hood, though a mask still hid his face. Lastly there was a staff slung over his back.

"Another meddler," he spoke under his breath, mistaking Andreim's pursuit of Katherine as an attack on them. He pulled a curved dagger from his belt with three rapid movements carved a shape into his own palm. He then thrust his hand at Andreim and a massive glyph burnt itself into the space between them. There would be no time to change direction. It flashed and sparked violently in reaction to Andreim's water vortex, disrupting it and dropping him and Lise to the ground. The glyph also vanished. "Quite the display... this one may be too much for you." The man turned away. He turned the blade against his palms once more and them slapped his hands down on the shoulders of two of his compatriots.

He then took his staff and slammed it against the ground. The glowing rip pulsed and beams of light shot out and seared into the two men he'd marked. They writhed under it, light pouring out of the holes in their masks. "Come, we must move on," the man with the staff motioned for the others to quickly carry their victims into the rip before following them, the rip shutting behind him. The few tournament goers still in the area picked themselves up and fled, likely saved simply by Andreim's appearance on the scene.

Thus Andreim and Lise were left with the two the man had left behind. Their eyes could not be seen behind the masks, but suddenly they way they carried themselves was like they were starving predators, staring down Andreim and Lise like prey.

[center][h2]With Diana, Michael, and Co.[/h2][/center]
[center][@AtomicNut][@Scarifar][@rawkhawk64][/center]

A flash of light illuminated the maintenance corridors of the tournament. A large, barefoot man stepped out of a rip in the fabric of the world itself. He wore a frightening mask and wasn't alone, though he towered over those who were with him. He tilted his head back and inhaled deeply.

"So this is the epicenter of the latest activity... but its source has left. Very well. Go, their spawn have torn each other apart and are ripe to be plundered. I will give them something else to think about." And with that he marched off alone. 

At the medical pavilion there was a frantic knock on one of the doors. One of the physicians left behind after Cel had left hurried over to answer. The door had a window, but there was no one beyond it. 

"Hello? What the hell is going on today!?" He swung the door open to look only to have a being who had been hiding around the corner lunge and drive a knife into his shoulder. A gloved hand shot out to cover his mouth and silence him, pushing the man back into the room. Three more cloaked and masked individuals stormed into the room. Any patients who had the strength to move were quickly pinned down by them, while the rest could only watch in terror. A fifth entered the room as the physician was dropped like a sack of potatoes, having been choked into unconsciousness. This one had a strange, [url=https://imgur.com/BsfT3U0]wooden mask[/url] quite unlike the others.

"I will prepare our exit. You, go check that other room. I believe that is where the most injured and most vulnerable will be," he told the first, pointing to the area where Diana was speaking to Michel. Only the cloth privacy flaps separated them from their attackers. "We should have plenty of easy prey."

[center][h2]And Elsewhere...[/h2][/center]

But these were not isolated incidents. Throughout the city, little points of light unleashed hell upon the unsuspecting. Some could fight back, but most were caught unaware. The world was filled with those with the power to do battle, but few had the will. The world had long become soft. They weren't warriors -- they were cattle.