[center][hr][hr][h2]Year 1017 YC
The Last Day[/h2][hr][hr][/center]
Humanity fought for every step forward. With each timeworn boot pressed against the bloody streets, they pushed the demon scourge back. A purple, crackling cloud spread over a shield like fog. It snapped together as a solid layer of crystal and blunted an orc’s cleaver. A speartip covered in viridian, twisting power drilled through armor, fur, then flesh. Those who became masters of combat had unlocked this power, drawn from their very life force. At a minimum, one’s Aura filled their body like blood and breath, amplifying their physical attributes. Yet, as demons were forced back and cleared from alleys, surrounded in the plaza...[b][color=red]something was wrong.[/color][/b]

"The ships!" the cry began. "THE SHIIIIIIPS!" Those who dared take their eyes from battle were first to realize the folly. Sails blazed against the sliver of blue horizon---wreathed in flames that stood out even against the town's inferno. Another volley of flaming ballistae arced through smoky skies. They were joined by flashing lights from Devil spellcraft. The artillery had been carried not by seige engines of pilfered wood and rolling stones, but on broad ogre backs. Massive wooden hulls creaked and lilted to one side as they took on water through great, gaping gouges. How had the Demons gotten around them?

Generals and captains called for a fallback. Those who had pushed so hard from the front now had to guard the rear, and the beastmen were only too eager to pursue them again. The human's rear lines had been lured too far from the shores; by the time they were upon the demons that somehow made it around their defenses, the second half of the foe's forces were ready for them. Goblins and lizardkin fell just as the pigmen and wolves had. Humanity bloodied their way towards the shoreline---knowing all the while that they were now in the middle of a pincer trap. 

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKfufVb3ZYE&t=84s]But humanity had one weapon left.[/url] A golden column flashed across the ocean. Parting waves as it barreled atop the water, it struck the shore before the sound of its travel echoed in thunderous reverberation. Hundreds, perhaps a full thousand demons, fell to that light---but they were not burned, nor crushed. They were...[i]divided,[/i] as if empty space had simply decided to invade their bodies, creating a separation between physical matter.

[b]"It's Lord Kaides!" came the cries of those still foolish enough to hope. "That's the Divine Rift technique!" Aura at a level beyond mortal understanding, converted into "space" itself. A heroic power wielded only by the man called the "Divine Sword." "He must have defeated the Merqueen's fleet!" But their hero was too late to save their own ships.[/b] A golden comet streaked across the sky after the blast, hitting the water once and skipping like a stone thrown around the world. A column of debris flew from the shoreline, sending down a rain of salty spray. Martenos Kaides, Patriarch of the Great Clan, still made an imposing figure as he trudged out of the perfectly circular crater he'd made in the shallows, clutching a great wound at his side while the other hand gripped his Aura-clad greatsword.

[center][h3]As you watched the Head of your House return to the battlefield, however...a new enemy appeared much closer to you.[/h3][/center]

[b][color=mediumpurple]"Finally..."[/color][/b]. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IkEUOfck5Q] He was suddenly there when he had not been before.[/url] If not for the sheer [i]flood[/i] of Aura rolling from every crevice of his [url=https://i.imgur.com/mz2nKkq.jpg]armor[/url], he might not have stood out from any other demon. But it was unlike anything you had ever experienced---if an Awakened Aura's likeness was that of mist, this was a cloud of tar. Yet somewhere in that dark nebula, glittering lights seemed to move back and forth...as if the stars themselves had been trapped by this viscous mass. The [b]Demon King[/b] stood amidst the battlefield. He was within reach of so many weapons, yet his gaze fixated upon only one among the thousands of humans.

"KAIDES!" he roared across the shores of carnage. "Will you face me this time?! Let us end this tale the [i]proper[/i] way---the so-called hero, and the demon king!" There was a mad glee in those words. A dark cape billowed in the draft created by the flare of that midnight-tinged Aura. The jet-black, glassy blade rose high in a triumphant fist. All around him, the demons flew into a frenzy and the humans despaired.

Little did the dark lord know that more than one "Kaides" remained on the field.

[quote=GM][color=red][b]Don't "die" yet---but your "last moment" begins here. Do you dare to engage the Demon King? Do you rush to the aid of your Patriarch, despite the living hell that was your life? Did you fall on your way to reach them, or defending another? This was the moment of your final, greatest loss...[/b][/color][/quote]