(This Roleplay takes place in the world of Isekai Hell. If you'd be interested in roleplaying with us, just message me! Take a look at our interest check! roleplayerguild.com/topics/196759-ise… )







Location: Mabaroshi-Mura/Nan Pass Misty Forest
Time of day: Hard to tell
Weather: It's a cold snowy mountain.

The fall ended soundlessly.

No thud. No pain. Only stillness.

The air here was thick and strange — neither cold nor warm, yet heavy enough to make each breath feel like drawing smoke through the lungs. When the haze cleared, the world revealed itself as a boundless, lightless expanse. The ground beneath their feet wasn’t earth or stone at all, but a surface so polished it reflected their shapes perfectly, as though they stood upon a vast, black mirror.

There were no walls. No horizon. Only the echo of their breathing and the faint ripple of movement beneath the mirror’s surface, like something vast turning in the deep.

Then — eyes.

High above, two immense golden orbs opened in the void, ancient and deliberate. Each blink sent ripples across the mirror world below, a slow pulse that they could feel through the soles of their feet. The light from those eyes wasn’t illumination; it was awareness, heavy and invasive, peeling through skin and thought alike.

And then—silence again.

The eyes closed.

The reflections in the mirror beneath them didn’t vanish. They moved.

A ripple traveled outward, distorting the mirrored world. Their reflections twisted, bled into shadow, then began to rise. One by one, the figures pulled themselves free of the dark glass, dragging long, whispering trails of shadow behind them.

Their shapes were familiar — too familiar — each a perfect mimic rendered in darkness. Yet when the last of the mirrored forms had taken shape, they did not face their originals. Instead, they turned toward one another, crossing paths as though some unseen hand had rearranged them.

Across from Kota stood a shadow with Yume’s shape, her form fluid and faintly glowing with golden light. The grin that touched her lips was cold and knowing.
Before Yume lingered a shadow Lenara, eyes half-lidded, expression unreadable, her hair drifting like strands in deep water.
Facing Lenara was a childlike shape — Moo’s reflection, her small horns catching a sickly gleam from the unseen light above.
And in front of Moo, towering, radiant, and wrong, rose Kota’s shadow, tails coiling like streams of liquid darkness, eyes faintly gold and faintly cruel.

The air trembled.

No one moved. The only sound was a deep, rhythmic pulse — thoom… thoom… thoom — the echo of a heartbeat that didn’t belong to any of them.

Then came the whispers.

They slithered through the space like wind through broken glass, indistinct at first, then taking on voices—some familiar, others not.

"Strength without purpose only devours…"
"Masks cannot protect what refuses to be seen…"
"The cage you built is just a shield made of guilt…"
"Loneliness is not strength… it’s surrender…"

Each phrase overlapped the next, spoken in tones that might have been their own. The shadows shifted with each whisper, the faint shimmer of movement hinting at hostility—or invitation.

The golden eyes above flared open once more, flooding the mirrored world with searing light. For a heartbeat, every reflection gleamed with its counterpart’s face, warped through the rippling surface like a funhouse mirror—each glimpse revealing pain, fear, pride, and the faintest glint of recognition.

Then the eyes blinked again. The light vanished.

In the darkness that followed, something stirred.

The surface beneath them rippled as though the world itself inhaled. The shadows straightened. And though no words were spoken, the intent was clear:

The second trial had begun.

The shadow that wore Yume’s shape moved first.
Her golden eyes gleamed like candles caught in oil. long silver drilled curly hair, catching the light in all the wrong ways, dripping liquid luminance that hissed when it struck the mirrored floor.
She stopped only a few steps from Kota’s reflection, tilting her head, a smile too wide and knowing.

"How many people did you lead who never made it home, I wonder?"
"You say you fight for others... but maybe you just fight to prove you’re worth following."
Her smile sharpened to a crescent.
"Show me, Champion — do you still believe in the strength of your own hands?"

The shadow of Lenara came next — rising slow, deliberate, her reflection forming like ink blooming in water.
She said nothing at first. Just watched Yume with a strange pity that felt worse than anger.
When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, trembling — like someone confessing a truth they wished they hadn’t learned.

"You pretend to forget so no one can see the cracks."
"But if no one remembers you... do you even exist?"
The shadow’s eyes flickered with green light, her lips curling faintly.
"What’s a mind made of illusions when it runs out of people to fool?"

The small horned shadow — Moo’s reflection emerged with a shuddering breath, the mirrored surface rippling around her hooves.
She stood across from Lenara, eyes gleaming faint red in the dark, her posture crouched, ready to charge.
But the tone in her voice wasn’t fury — it was hollow ache, like something that had been fighting for far too long.

"You always have to be the strong one, don’t you?"
"You protect, you lead, you tell them it’s fine… because you’re too afraid of what happens if you stop pretending you can."
The shadow leaned closer, whispering.
"What if this time, your brother isn’t the one who needs saving?"

Kota’s shadow was the last to step forward, and his movement was slow, deliberate — a reflection of power held in check.
His nine tails coiled like serpents, rippling with faint light, and every step he took left ripples of water across the mirrored floor.
He loomed over Moo, gaze piercing, but not unkind — almost reverent, as if recognizing a kindred spirit who never asked to be alone.

"You think strength means doing it by yourself."
"But real strength? It’s letting someone else fight beside you."
Then, softly —
"You’re terrified of what happens if you stop fighting. Aren’t you?"

The pulse returned — slow, deep, rhythmic.
The mirrored floor rippled again, the edges of the room fading into infinite shadow.
The golden eyes above flickered once more and vanished entirely, leaving only those four mirrored pairs facing one another across the dark.

The silence that followed was deafening.
Every breath echoed.
Every reflection seemed to lean forward.
And somewhere, beneath it all — the whisper of something vast laughing.

Yume was no stranger to weird dreams and mental shenanigans, but something about the scene before her felt uncomfortably ominous in a way that sent shivers down her spine. Something about it. Possibly the giant eyes. Those were never a good sign.

She stared at the mysterious swordswoman—or really, more of a dream copy of her—with a healthy dose of indignation marking her sharp, golden eyes. "Yes," she answered curtly. It was a question which had crossed her mind before. She’d answered it by marking a wall with a silly doodle and returning the next. Proof of existence, as far as she was concerned.

Instead, she turned her eyes to the Yume-dupe: Mr. Spookyeyes borrowing her face to harass the fluffy boy. Lenara was just trying to get under her skin. That was easy to ignore. But Doppelyume!? That really irked her.

Stepping forward, Yume raised her staff, and brought it down on Yume’s head with a solid THWACK, just enough to hurt, without threatening any serious harm. "Don’t you put stupid words in my mouth! That’s my job!" she declared, glaring daggers at her copy. "And if you’re going to provoke him, you could at least go for the tails! Like, save some fluff for the rest of the world! There’s probably 8 young foxboys somewhere crying because he got greedy!" It had the form of a teasing joke, though Yume’s delivery was horribly dry, leaving plenty of room to question it.

Glancing up into the sky, Yume watched the air for a while, waiting for the spooky eyes to return. After a while, the runes on her shoulders began to glow a bright blue, reflecting off the ground underneath. Yume felt her thoughts race at a dizzying speed, the world around her appearing to slow to a droning crawl as the endless flood of thoughts only magnified her natural impatience. At once, her magic reached out, probing the mind of whatever it was that had them trapped here.

Mythril Rune Tattoo

Cognitive Expansion | Grade B
Bolster B [INT & PRC], Magic D, Duration E, Feature [Lightning Calculator]
4 post cooldown
Yume's tattoo acts as a secondary brain, made not of grey matter and neurons, but mythril and magic runes. Until disrupted or forced to rest, Yume's dual-mind races with unnatural clarity, pushing her mental abilities to new heights. Can alternatively be connected via Telepathy to another mind nearby, offering it the benefits instead.

Yume

Telepathy B

Mentions:@tau

Kota had been rushing full speed at the enemy when they vanished. The arcade machine, and even his best bud who had been by his side.

They were all gone, it happened quickly. He felt his mind and body reform as one, it was as though a new dream was occurring as he started into the dark void of nothingness.

Up high he could feel just how small he was as two eyes looked down on him, it felt like they were watching him. Analyzing every part of him, Kota fought the nerves building up. He held his head high and looked up, clenching his fists tightly as he peered back at the orbs.

Yume appeared before the Kitsune, her patented drill hair not losing an ounce of volume even in her spectral form. Her grin seemed all the more twisted, and cruel. The words she spoke took hold of Kota's mind. There wasn't a single thing he didn’t feel he resonated with.

In the pursuit of strength you can go mad with power, being on both ends of the blade. Both a victim and the perpetrator. The beast republic is corrupted by power, the ones at the top who have no focus tend to look inward and hurt its own people.

The mask he wore often held many cracks, they are most visible in hours of stress. Many people take him for a fighter, someone who’s acquired great feats with his hands alone. Truth is, he’s more of a lover, not taking enjoyment in taking anyone’s lives. He only does so to protect the ones he loves.

His cage is built from the failures of his past life, a disgrace to his family. He was selfish and only lived for himself, never once did he care about how much he made his father stressed. The amount of times his mother broke down, not knowing what to do with him. The mess he forced his younger siblings to clean up. The pain he caused them not having the guidance of their elder sibling. Instead, he lamented them all, his weakness caused them all suffering.

In the end, it amounted to loneliness. He pushed them all away, even his best friend. Perhaps Nozomi was right, maybe she did care. She wasn’t afraid to tell him what was the harsh truth in the only way that he would respond. Nah, Jin didn’t listen. He just wrote her off too, it was easy to blame others for your shortcomings.

He couldn’t do that in this life though.

Yume dopple presented herself before him, despite her small physique it felt like she towered over the Kitsune. Her words weigh heavy.

There was truth,enough to make him question. In honesty, he didn’t believe in his own strength. It just felt like imposter syndrome, even becoming a champion felt like it was placed in his lap instead of something he earned. Kota clenched his fists, he felt contempt for his own ability.

“I do-“ As he was about to answer, he would see another Yume pop into his view. Whacking the dopple over the head. Kota’s tails lost their fluidity, dropping down in confusion. His ears followed the same movement. Her words came unexpected, was it a compliment?

“Pfft” he tried to fight back the laughter but couldn’t help it. He’d begin to chuckle while placing a hand on Yume's shoulder.

“Well that’s one way to snap me out of it. Thank you friend.” He smirked, “I didn’t steal my tails though, I’m not a thief. They’re just a reflection of me being a fully mature Kitsune, both in mind and spirit.” Kota would fold his arms, “Now if we wanted to know where all the conditioner went. I wouldn’t be surprised if you are the culprit with the amount of volume and the quality of your hair.” A compliment for a compliment should make them even, the Kitsune thought. His idea is almost too simple.

He’d notice the runes on her body as they lit up, it was intriguing. He hadn’t seen magic used in such a way before. “Interesting use of magic.” He’d add, but choosing not to prod her further at the moment. It seemed like she was concentrating.

M O O



Moo stood there, arms crossed and that shiny smile she always wore on her face gone. She was a bit annoyed. She had come to punch her way to victory and then she was being forced to face memories she wasn't even sure she had and feelings she never really explored. Normally, the horned woman was a peaceful creature, but this time, they were starting to tick her off.

Moo glared at the giant eyes, the only though in her mind being, she had an idea of where to punch them if she was aiming for the nose. Between those big ol eyes. They didn't last long and they didn't make Moo feel better. It felt like she was being hunted and she hated that. The moment the other thems started showing up, Moo only smirked. She didn't know what their purpose was or what the test was this time. But all she knew is she had a target.

"Na har felleens ya?" She called out while she swung her right arm in circles. "Terra-fy if ay stawp fawteen? Dass mah c-kret, ya heer? I nevah stawp fayteen!"

Moo took one strong firm step forwad and swung her right arm for a punch aimed at the kitsune's face. But she wasn't just going to stop there, with her other arm, she was already swining a clothesline. "Eenauf chatterr n mur pawnchin!"

Skills:
Basic Attack
Tech Core, Knockback

The first strike broke the stillness.

Moo’s punch collided with Kota’s reflection — and the impact was deafening.
The sound rang like struck crystal, sending a shockwave that rippled across the mirrored floor. Cracks flared beneath their feet, glowing red-gold, as if the world itself bled light.

The fox-shaped shadow slid back, its nine tails snapping outward like whips of water and flame. Where they struck, shards of glass and droplets of liquid shadow rained outward in graceful arcs.
And through the ripples came a mocking laugh.

"Still swinging at everything you don’t understand, are you?"
"Show me, fighter — what happens when the thing you punch won’t fall down?"

The shadow blurred forward, tails spinning together in a helix — not to crush, but to mirror her attack, meeting force with force.
The two impacts met midair — and the mirror under them cracked again.

Across the field, the shadow of Yume lifted its head from Yume’s earlier blow. The silver curl of her hair gleamed faintly as she smiled — too calm, too composed.
Her eyes locked onto Kota again, narrowing in delight.

"Oh, you laugh to hide the cracks. How noble. How exhausting."
"Let’s see how long you can keep pretending you’re fine."

With a flick of her hand, thin golden threads snapped outward from her fingertips — not ropes, but lines of shimmering illusion. They streaked across the air toward Kota and Yume alike, the reflections within the threads showing flashes of other faces — friends, rivals, family — each one saying nothing, just watching.

The shadow of Lenara moved next.
Slowly. Purposefully. Her bare feet left ripples of green light as she approached Yume. The air around her shimmered like a mirage, her expression unreadable — sadness or scorn, it was impossible to tell.

She raised a hand, and the mirrored floor beneath Yume’s feet began to fracture inward.
Glass folded like water, the reflections below twisting into countless eyes — all staring upward.

"You hide behind jokes. Behind noise. Behind all those bright words."
"But silence remembers you better than anyone ever did."

The next heartbeat brought motion — her hand sweeping downward, shards rising like blades to intercept whatever came next.

And then came Moo’s shadow.

The hulking shadow figure crouched low, antlers glinting, eyes glimmering faintly red. For a moment, she didn’t attack. She just watched Lenara — as if studying every heartbeat, every flicker of hesitation.

Then, in a blur of motion, she charged — not headfirst this time, but vanishing mid-step, bursting from a reflection on the floor behind Lenara instead.
When she spoke, her voice was lower, clearer, the childishness stripped away.

"Yew cahn'e ven pr'teck yersulf! Wha' gud is yew?"
Her strike came down like thunder — not out of hate, but inevitability.

The mirrored world roared.

Each collision echoed endlessly, glass and shadow and light tearing across infinity. For every blow they landed, the shadows shifted — growing sharper, faster, as if learning from each exchange.

Above, the golden eyes blinked once — slow, deliberate — and the pulse beneath the world grew louder, faster.
Thoom… thoom… thoom…
Like a heartbeat counting down to something inevitable.

And as the light flared again, the laughter returned — distant but closer now, a whisper curling through their minds:

“You can’t destroy a reflection…”
“…without breaking the mirror.”

Mentions: @Moonberry@Tau

The smile remained on Kota’s face, even while Yumedopple ridiculed him. “Can’t say I am fine, far from it actually.” He’d flex his fingers. “I’ve just had my insecurities exposed to me and was brought back to a more vulnerable, angsty, and hormonal version of myself. So yeah I’m anything but fine.”

His mind felt exhausted, restless, unsure. The negative emotions and trauma, the mix of living as both Jin and Kota. Swapping back and forth between their minds. It was all nauseating. The trial has not been easy, punching stuff is easy. Violence was innate, even celebrated as a beastkin. However, the hardest challenges were the one that you could not punch or kick your way out of.

“In this life, you can find so many things to be upset about. That you often take for granted the blessings you’ve been given.” He’d have lost a lot, friends, family, even himself. However he gained a lot, a second chance, new opportunities, growth and wisdom. Though it wasn’t easy and it came with a slew of new trauma. He had no regrets.

The flashes of threads reached out to him, flashing his best friend, his family, even Nozomi for some reason. As they looked at him with contempt, Kota stared back with weak eyes and a smile. “Surprised you’re here, guess you had a bigger impression on me than I thought.” He looked at the idle school girl. The triggered emotions of Jin threatened to bubble over but were capped at a point. He still harbored strong emotions for each one of the individuals gathered. Truthfully, he was not ready to come to terms with everything. Not at that moment at least.

“I will always hold you all in my heart, there, you’ll live on forever.” As he spoke, Kota raised a hand. Blue ethereal soul essence could be seen forming around his body as pressure began to build up around him. The pure white Fox tails on his back stood up, reacting to the flow of energy and extended out to their full length. They acted in a way as though they were stabilizing his focus, swaying mesmerically behind Kota.

His eyes grew misty, yet he pressed the mask of a smile firmly onto his face. The identity he had grown rather comfortable with over the years. He would flex his hands shut, the ethereal energy that had gathered around him compacted tightly before spreading outwards in a wave of soul essence that clashed with the threads and the Yumedopple. Perhaps if someone had been paying attention to the fox’s face, they would see a bead of water run down his face as he made his attack.

The fact that the foxy man managed to return the impact at an equal force as her, got Moo's blood pumping. "Naw'das guatt ay kal'ah gud faiwt!"

Moo jumped back after she collided with the shadow Kota. She swung her right arm in circles. The fact that she was fighting someone who matched her own strength meant that she had a rare opportunity to see what it feels like to fight herself. "Guan't fal'er dawn? Anly won'ay tah fayn ought!"

Moo slapped her left arm, bent her knees and charged at nega Kota once more, going for another clothesline. Her intentions weren't to stop there though, upon impact she planned to just start swining. To see if the enemy could actually match her power. She also understood that she wasn't usually the one to figure weird things out. That wasn't her strength. She didn't resolve things thinking, she did it with her fists. If she couldn't punch her way out, then she was out of options.

Yume returned a look at the kitsune by her side... the real one, supposedly. Her eyes narrowed, pouting slightly. "You have no idea, Fluffytails," she answered, bouncing a few of her curls with the free hand not clutching her staff. She closed her eyes as she began to concentrate. What flooded her mind began to make her head dizzy.

Voices. Endless voices, jumbled thoughts, seemingly meaningless jargon, or perhaps overlapping. It was absolutely sickening. At once, her magic snapped back, retreating from the cacophony like a burned finger. Her own voice (sorta) brought her back, continuing to taunt Kota with something strangely personal.

Then came the faces. Eris... Aedri... Martin. "That's..." she didn't have time to finish as Lenara shattered the ground (if it could even be called that) beneath her feet. More irksome reminders of who she was, mixed with a tone that had her eye twitching. She leapt back just in time to avoid having a crystal shard rip through her leg, gritting her teeth as the finally broke.

"Shut up, you freaky skyeballs!" Yume shouted, waving her staff menacingly in the air at the looming gaze above. Rushing forward, she opened her arm and wrapped it around Doppelyume's shoulders possessively. A bit too possessively, perhaps. Like a child clinging to a comfort blanket. "Like I'll listen to you. I'll bet you want me to shatter the mirror! Puppeteering my copy and putting stupid words in her mouth. You're hoping I'll destroy her!"

Yume had absolutely no evidence of any of this. The simple truth was... a living, breathing reflection just sounded like a dream come true. Memories began to surface: staring into the still bathwater, whispering at the curly haired girl staring back and pretending she was a friend who really knew her. It wasn't the first substitute for a lasting friend she'd had, and certainly hadn't been the last. But maybe this one could be. They could make their own movie theater, and eat popcorn, and laugh at the people they hypnotized into acting like chickens. She wanted that. Needed it.

"I won't! Because... my reflection is something I cherish!" she declared, her telepathy turning away from the dream itself, and narrowing in on just Doppelyume. One voice in the mess, finding the strings, cutting them. Or, perhaps they were all in her head, and what she was truly doing was drawing over a living doodle of the mind. Either way, she poured all her focus on wresting her reflection back from the influence of whatever nightmare Skyeballs was inflicting on them.

The mirror beneath them pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then split.

Light bled up through the fractures, thin and sharp, like veins of molten gold spreading through black glass. The air itself began to warp — each breath too thick, too real. The world wasn’t just cracking — it was waking up.

---

Moo’s next strike hit like a landslide. Her punch collided with the shadow of Kota again, shattering the mirrored floor beneath them into a sea of fragments. But this time, something else spilled out. From the cracks crawled hands — too small, too fast, too many.
Little creatures, like soot and bone given shape, scrambled upward — dozens, then hundreds, glowing faintly red from within. They hissed in her direction, child-sized demons with eyes like dying embers.

They came not to challenge her strength — but to drown it.
Each one grabbed and clung, tiny claws scraping against her arms, her legs, her horns.

And from somewhere among them came a voice, not hers, not the fox’s shadow — deeper. Malevolent. Familiar in the way a nightmare is familiar.

"Fight all you want…"crk crk"...but can you protect anyone when the flood never stops?"
"Strength without rest is just exhaustion with prettier scars."

The demons swarmed, but every one she struck turned to smoke — only to reform again behind her.

---

Across the mirrored world, Kota’s power clashed with his reflection’s once more, but something changed.
The shadow Yume he faced flickered. Her form glitched — pieces of her hair snapping between colors, her golden eyes turning black, then white, then too many at once.

"You say you fight for them… for everyone else."
"Then why do you always end up alone at the end?"

The words weren’t hers anymore.
The voice carried static — something ancient and distorted behind it.

And then, faintly — from nowhere and everywhere — another whisper slid through the cracks in reality.

"...a strong leader doesn’t need to be followed. He just needs to be watched.”

The ground rippled. Kota’s reflection multiplied — not as clones, but echoes.
Each echo replayed a moment he had failed someone. The faces of those he couldn’t save flickered through the air — spectral hands reaching out, accusing, begging.

Every movement now sent those afterimages scattering — but they always came back.

---

Yume’s telepathic focus latched onto her mirrored self — and that was the mistake.

At first, it worked. The golden threads connecting Doppelyume to the shadow above began to dissolve like silk in acid.
But then the reflection twitched — hard. The smile on her face froze. Her head turned too far, too fast, her voice stuttering through a dozen pitches at once.

"W-what... do you want, Yume?"
"Why—why do you—want to live so much—so much—so much—"

For an instant, the reflection’s eyes rolled back — and when they refocused, they weren’t hers anymore.
They were red.
Not glowing — burning, like coals pressed into flesh.

The voice that spoke next wasn’t Yume’s, nor her double’s. It was too vast to fit inside the space between words.

“How curious. A mind that dances so close to the boundary… and still thinks it’s free.”
“You reached too far, little dreamer. You touched something that dreams back.”

Every rune on Yume’s skin lit up at once — then inverted, the sigils glowing black.
The mirror rippled violently, the entire world shuddering as something massive and unseen began to crawl through the cracks above.

---

Outside the dream —
The forest screamed.

The snowfall turned to mist, the mist to crimson steam. In the real world, Tsukiko stood beside the sleeping forms of the adventurers, her fur whipping in the sudden wind.
Her violet eyes snapped open wide — the paper talismans she’d placed around them burned away to ash.

"No…” she hissed under her breath. “This isn’t part of the Trial—”

Her hands came together in desperate seals, chanting words older than the mountains themselves.
But even as her aura flared, the mist around them grew heavier — red threads snaking through the fog, pulsing with corrupted mana.

“Wake up,” Tsukiko demanded, her voice sharp, cutting through the storm. “Wake up now! Something’s in there with you!”

---

Back inside the dream —

The laughter stopped.
The golden eyes above were gone.

In their place, cracks spread across the void like spiderwebs — glowing veins of red that pulsed in rhythm with Yume’s heartbeat.
The reflections trembled, their voices overlapping, distorting, until every whisper in the world sounded like one chorus.

“Prove it.”
“Prove you deserve this life.”
“Prove you are more than what you were.”

The pulse became a roar. The mirror began to collapse inward.

Now it was clear — this was no longer just a trial of the self.
Something else wanted in.

---

🜂 The reflections are unstable — corrupted by something vast and hateful trying to breach the dream. The only way forward is to prove themselves worthy to wake — through strength, conviction, or acceptance. Every choice echoes into what awaits them on the other side.

Moo



"Yer'unna need'ah dowsen'ore tah teik'meh dawn!" Moo roared and stomped on the ground, again and again, even though she saw the hands blowing into smoke and forming back up again, she wasn't going to stop.

In fact, in her awesome head that wasn't good for puzzles but was good for punching, she figured something out. If the little demons were coming out from under her, it meant their spawn was under her and that meant all she had to do was punch the ground so hard, she would break into their nest.

Moo held her ground, raised her right arm high in the air, swung down and punched the floor. Then again, and again. Moo wasn't about to let some weird voice tell her how to live.

"Ay bout pratecten rrbody!Iz bout seivin's mach's ya kan!" Moo swun her arms and horns around to shake off as many demons as she could and went back to pounding the floor.

As the mirror began to collapse, Moo stopped to admire what she thought had been her doing. Whatever was next, she was ready. She wasn't shrunk, she wasn't lacking her power, she was more than ready to fight whatever stood beyond them. She especially wanted to deck those golden eyes right in the center, see if they were such big talk after a big punch from Moo.

Mentions:@Hecotoro

Kota watched in confusion as his attack clashed with the reflection, but to no effect. Well, not any effect he felt made sense. Instead, it seemed like the dopple was just glitching into a myriad of colors. The kitsune was rather perplexed at this turn of events. Even as she malfunctioned, she still hurled her words at him. It came out as jumbled static.

“Some paths are meant to be walked alone. I don’t expect anyone to make the same sacrifices as me.” His golden eyes were firm on the color-shifting woman. The kitsune’s ears faced forward as all his instincts were focused on the dopple. A voice would graze his ears from behind, and he would quickly turn his head to find no one, following the ground rippling.

Kota would look down at the floor, his shortcomings replaying like a myriad of memories. Ones that he wanted to bury deep in the back of his mind. He clenched his fists tight as he watched in horror. His eyes looked to his right in horror as he watched countless Fae being razed by the pink-haired Eastern Empire general. The beast's body was implanted firmly into the bloodied dirt alongside Yukan, Griffin, and Okami. The next echo would show the fox running through the tunnels with a bomb in tow before a bright flash of fire encompassed the memory.

Blood began to drip from his palms onto the floor, causing even more ripples, leading to more memories. The Fox gritted his teeth, showing the prominent canine teeth as he watched. He let a lot of people down; he likely will let countless more people down in the future.

He’ll still press on no matter what.

“Be careful what you wish for.” There was a silent storm brewing within the martial artist. His eyes would flicker towards the deer woman, “Sometimes coming, heads up.” Kota raised his fists, prepared to prove his mettle to whoever dared to challenge him.

Yume jumped back as she noticed it: the absolutely horrifying, dead-eyed stare coming from her own face. The stuff of nightmares. Or, in this case, a very particular nightmare. All around her, everyone seemed to be dealing with their own special brand of insanity, and Yume offered each one of them a brief look of solidarity.

"We could ask you the same question, Skyeballs!" Yume shouted, refusing to back down even an inch. "Why should I not just eat you?" It was a complete bluff. She didn’t even know if she could eat the mind of a nightmare being, much less if she wanted to. If brains could get indigestion, that sounded like the perfect recipe for it. And yet, somehow, it probably wouldn’t even be the worst thing she’d eaten.

"It’s not the living I’m after. It’s the legacy! Remembrance!" Yume finally answered, digging her heels into the fracturing mirrorscape beneath her boots. "And I will be remembered, even if I have to carve ‘Yume’ into the very concept of thought itself!"

The moment Moo’s fist struck the mirror floor,
the world gave way.

Not cracked.
Not splintered.
Collapsed.

A single, deafening KRAAASH tore through the void.
The mirror shattered beneath all of them like a sheet of glass under a sledgehammer, the surface buckling into an impossible whirlpool of falling shards and distorted reflections.

There was no time to think.
No time to brace.

The world simply dropped them.

Weightless.
Soundless.
A freefall through endless black.

Shards of the mirror spiraled around them like falling stars, each one flashing distorted images of their fears, their failures, their shadows—until they, too, crumbled into dust midair.

And then—

Impact.

The three landed hard onto a new floor—rough stone, slick with dark liquid that moved like ink. The air was heavier here, humming with corrupted mana that pressed against their ribs like a second heartbeat.

Above them, the shattered remains of the mirror realm turned into a storm of shadows raining downward.

Those shadows didn’t fall separately.

They converged.

All the doppelgangers—
all the demons,
all the fractured memories,
all the echoes of guilt and fear—
collapsed inward like iron filings pulled toward a magnet.

A roiling mass took shape in front of them, enormous, twisting, barely contained by its own form.

And then it rose.

When it inhaled, the room trembled.

When it exhaled, the darkness pulled toward it like a tide.

Then its face opened — not a mouth, but a void lined with too many teeth — and a voice rolled out, layered with every whisper they’d heard before:

“YOU FALL…
AND STILL YOU CLING TO PURPOSE.”

“SHOW ME.”

The demon slammed both clawed hands onto the ground, and the entire chamber quaked.

Yume struck the ground with a groan and a gross squelch that she felt in her very soul. Pure revulsion overtook her, not only from the demon sludge, but also her doppelgänger getting slurped up into a dentist’s worst nightmare. Her eye twitched and she pushed herself up just in time to be knocked down again from the earthquake of hands.

"That’s IT!" she shouted. The demon had committed the unforgivable sin of making her feel gross, and Yume’s full ire had finally been unleashed. "Give me back my reflection, you freak!" No more being clever or sassy, it was time for true retaliation.

Fae-like whispering quickly poured from her lips; words she herself hadn’t the foggiest clue the meaning of, they were merely repeated syllable-for-syllable. Her staff rose in her hand, humming with the high-pitched ring of enchanted mythril. The ornate tip began to glow like an artificial sun in the pitch-black nightmare, pouring light into the sky. As it filled the air above, the light refracted through the mirror shards above, covering the dark stone in a cascade of prismatic waves, as if they were under a crystal sea. For a moment, that was all the spell seemed to do…

"Close your eyes and stay near me…" Yume spoke with a low, uncharacteristically serious tone, taking her own advice before swinging the staff down like a hammer. In one breath, the fabulous lightshow turned from a gentle glow, to a radiant inferno. A wall of eye-watering white surrounded them, an eye of the storm, as Yume began to pet her staff. "Good work, Eris…" she whispered to it through the chaos, forcing a smile.

Daybreak | Grade B — Effectiveness 16 (21 if Cognitive Expansion is still active)
Magic B, Penetrating B, Blight [Radiant] B, AoE C, Selective C, Control Environment F, Affinity [Air] F
4 post cooldown (item)
Raising the staff, a bright cloud made of light pours out from the top, covering a half-mile radius. Moments later, it begins to fire devastating beams of destructive light across the area, dissolving whatever’s touched with radiant energy.

Moo


Moo wasn't sure if she was some sort of genius or if she got lucky. All she knew was that, she made the big bad come out. Moo stood up, a big smirk on her face, determination and excitement pouring out of her eyes. This was what she lived for. The quake sent shivers up Moo's spine, her instincts screaming danger but her more human side swelling with the need to fight something so strong.

Moo stumbled a bit but gained her footing and did a quick session of short jumps in her spot. "Bat tym ya chowed ya uglay mut." Moo lowered her head, ready to ram into the beast. Then she heard Yuma. Moo had been so focused on finally punching the beast that she had forgotten she had others with her.

Now Moo had no idea how magic worked or what it even was. But she knew better than to not respect something she didn't understand. There was a reason the white horned lady was here. Moo nodded and rushed to Yume's side, she was expecting some sort of magical aid to help Moo punch the monster, but instead, the whole area looked like a snow covered field with the sun beaming down on it. The whiteness made Moo shield her eyes with her forearm. Whatever the mage had done, it must've been pretty bad. Respect.

Moo blinked to try and get her eyes used to the area once more and noticed their leader standing by as well. "Go'giv'em hell baws!" The moose woman rushed over to her foxy teammate, grabbed him by the waistband, took three big steps and hurled him towards the monster as hard as she could. Moo burst into laughter as the heat of the battle began to spread through her body. "Kip'as ah-lai lil megik wowman!"

Moo leaped forward and started rushing towards the beast, she lowered her head gaining speed with each step. The thing was big, but if something Moo had learned from wrestling those beats in the forest every summer, the bigger they are, the more you should aim for their legs. Moo ran and ran until she could feel the monster's breathing or heartbeat, but she knew she was close enough.

"Big'ol'astard!"

Moo called out as she rammed into something. She bounced back, a big smile on her face, but ready to get up and keep fighting.

Ability:
Moo Smash - Super Strength F, Martial Art E - Headbutts a single target really hard - Grade E - 1 Post Cooldown

Mentions: @Hecotoro@Tau@Moonberry

Kota’s lip slightly twitched, trying to suppress the urge to comment on Yume’s hunger. He understood the girl was odd just from the fact that she wanted to keep the eerie double of herself. Either she was super desperate or self-absorbed.

The sound of shattering glass and his body going into free fall would break his train of thought. His stomach quickly dropped to his toes, and he let out a slight grunt of discomfort as he adjusted to the sudden change. The three of them seemed to just fall into the expanse of the abyss, the shards of remembrance dancing all around them. Teasing them as they helplessly fell.

Suddenly, he would feel his body collide with something hard. A dull pain would shock his body for a moment, but he would push the sensations to the back of his mind. Something more pressing needed his attention.

Rising from the stone floor, the corrupted mana lingering in the air would cause the hair on Kota’s body to stand up. His tails rising as something felt awry. Moo and Yume
were still there with him, and they, too, had seemed to be noticing the disturbance. Their eyes fixated on the pile of shards that were convoluted and combining into something aberrant.

It still chose to goad them, as the fox was about to open his mouth. The screaming of the petite drill hair girl.

Crying over her…reflection?

Whatever the case was, she entered a trance of chanting. Her staff, pulsing with an impressive amount of mana. Just from seeing her face twist into one of sheer determination. Kota nearly felt sorry for the monster.

The large moose-kin, on the other hand, mouthed a bunch of nearly inaudible stuff. Only by putting together select words did he piece together the woman's difficult accent. Something about the guy showing his ugly mug. He was glad that neither of their willpower seemed to diminish; they only seemed motivated to be honest.
Yume would instruct the two to close their eyes and stay close, her voice cold and serious. Kota hesitated for a moment, unsure if he could trust this stranger. However, the overwhelming light emanating from her staff was assaulting the fox’s heightened eyesight.

“Just this once.” Kota huddled close, trying to make his tails as small as possible as he closed his eyes shut. Questioning if this was the best idea at the moment. His eyelids would get bright and hot for a moment, then shortly. He would feel an overwhelming wave of intense heat. The ears atop his head would flop backwards slightly in the aftermath of the blast.

As the light began to dim, Kota felt a stone hand slip into his waistband before tightly grabbing hold of his pants and wadding them up in an inescapable clutch. A confused murmur would utter from his mouth as he heard Moo egg him on to join the fight, and then.

He took flight

The fox soared high above, his body doing a multitude of flips. The surprise caught him for a moment, but his face would grow stoic quickly. By tightening his core and flaring out his 9 tails, Kota attempted to stabilize in the air. Despite everything that was going on, his eyes never left the abomination. Blue specs of flames were dancing in his eyes, and a look of determination stained his lips.

The trail wanted him to prove himself, to peel back the layers of the onion, to see who he was at his core. He would oblige then.

In the endless expanse of the dark space, a blue star would ignite high above, releasing a conflagration of foxfire. Kota, who had now been reathed in flames, would utilize his centripetal force to his advantage. This caused his body to spin faster as he crashed down on top of the creature like a falling star.

The room detonated with color.

Yume’s radiance tore through the abyss like a newborn sun. The prismatic blast refracted through the falling glass of the shattered mirror realm, turning the darkness into a storm of molten light. The demon reeled, its form sizzling where the beams struck — parts of its body boiling into vaporized shadow.

Moo’s charge hit next.

Her ram-like crash slammed into the demon’s lower limbs with the force of a runaway boulder. Something cracked — not stone, not bone, but the shape the demon wore, its stolen silhouettes splintering where her horns met the void-flesh.

And then—

Kota fell like a star.

His foxfire spiral carved down from above, a streak of blue flame swirling around him like a comet’s tail. He hit the demon square in the chest, the impact shaking the whole chamber so violently the floor warped like water.

For the first time, the demon screamed.

A hundred voices.
A hundred agonies.
A hundred stolen fears, torn open.

Its massive body buckled—
—and then its claws swept out.

Not gracefully.
Not strategically.
Desperately.

A hand the size of a carriage slammed into Kota mid-spin, swatting him out of the air like an ember off a torch. He shot across the chamber and—

CRACK.

He collided with something invisible.
A curved wall of black glass.

Spidery fractures webbed across it from the point of impact. His body slid down
With a sickening squelch. His pristine white hair stained with patches of crimson blood.

The demon wasn’t done.

Its other hand rose — towering over Yume, obsidian claws opening like a falling guillotine. The air pressure dropped. The world bent inward.

But before the demons hand fell, it was as if the room suddenly filled with a cool grey mist. Cutting the darkness in a muted twilight. Like a foggy winter evening.

And from the mist, two forms rose. Not entirely solid, but not wholly mist either. As the demons hand came down to strike at Yume, the young woman would feel herself being enveloped in a strangely warm embrace. As the misty incorporeal arms of the other worldly woman with long silver hair wrapped protectively around her. And then a soft voice filled her mind.

The demon recoiled as though struck.

Her voice was soft — but it resonated through the chamber like a prayer made into light.

“You’ve grown so strong, my precious girl.”

Her forehead touched Yume’s briefly, affection pouring from her eyes.

“You shine brighter every day…
But you must wake now.
Shine so bright that the world remembers you.”

A gentle kiss pressed to the crown of Yume’s head.

“I will always be your biggest fan.” As the last words filled Yumes mind, the figure raised her golden eyes and glared at the demon.

The demon shrieked — not in fury, but in pain, as though the sound of her voice peeled something vital from it.

Meanwhile the second figure, a tall woman stepped forth, her long black hair unbound, a wolf’s tail swaying behind her with ghostlike grace. Her violet eyes were impossibly gentle. Familiar.
A face some part of Kota or Yume might think of as somewhat familiar.

She placed one soft hand atop Moo’s head, where Moo had just finished her charge.

Then she drifted—
weightless,
peaceful—
to where Kota was crumpled against the invisible wall.

She knelt.

Her fingers brushed his hair back from his face.
A small smile softened her features — aching with pride. And her voice filled Moos and Kotas mind

"My daughter has such good and kind friends. Keep fighting little ones. Your future is bright." There was a pause as her voice resonated between them, before she spoke again. "But it's time to wake up. There's danger waiting."

The cracks in the chamber pulsed.
Red.
Gold.
Blue.

The demon lunged at the women—

—and its claws passed straight through them.

Both vanished into drifting motes of mist, dissolving into the air like blessings carried on a breeze.

And for a split second, the demon almost seemed confused.



Location: Nan Pass Village, base of the Paizu Mountains
Weather: Bitter cold, drifting snow, wind howling down the pass
Time: Midday… though the sky looks darker than it should

---

The first thing that would be heard upon nearing the village, was the screaming.

Not the confused bustle of a busy village — but the kind of raw, terrified sound that only comes when a place meant for home becomes a battlefield.

Nan Pass Village sat nestled in the crook of the frozen valley, snow-dusted rooftops clinging to the mountain’s ribs. Smoke curled gently from chimneys. Lanterns glowed warmly along the main road.

Or rather — they should have.

Today the flames burned too bright.
The smoke rose too black.

And the villagers ran.

Beastkin families bolted between the houses, pulling children by the hands, carrying wounded over their shoulders. Snow churned under frantic feet as they scrambled away from the center of the village.

They weren’t running from a storm.

They were running from men and things that should have stayed buried.

It was chaos for anyone entering the scene. There were humans in mismatched armor with tattered blue sashes
and skeletal warriors, their empty sockets glowing with eerie cobalt light, each dragging chains that sparked with faint mana.

A pair of skeletal hands clamped around a wolf-kin woman’s wrists as she screamed for her child.
Two human raiders forced a tanuki teenager to his knees, binding him with the crackle of enchanted rope.
Shouts. Pleas. The thrum of dark magic.

Above the chaos, a single voice cut through the wind — hoarse, furious, barely held together.

“ROUND THEM UP!
Every last one — make them pay!
They stole from me… so I’ll take everything from them!”

She stood on the stone steps of the village headman’s home like a blood-stained queen.

A woman with crimson hair, wild and matted with frost.
Violet eyes burned fever-bright in a face drained of color.
She pressed a white handkerchief to her lips — and when she lowered it, it was soaked red.

Yet her stance held.

Rigid. Commanding.
A leader on the edge of collapse, refusing to bow.

Amongst the chaos, if one were to look for a while, they would hear and see a few of the elderly shouting and trying to guide folks towards the forest at the edge of the village.

Though it seemed to be quite the effort avoiding being captured themselves. One such of these would be a large wolfkin with one eye patch. He seemed to be a headman of sorts as people were listening to him, as he fought off the the men and skeletons around him.



Cold air hit first.

Not the still, muffled cold of the dream — but the biting, real cold of the Paizu Mountains. Breath left the waking body as a ghostly plume, drifting upward into a swirl of falling snow.

And then came sensation.

The ground beneath was not dirt — it was smooth, tangled roots, pale as bone and warm to the touch.
They rose and twisted like a great white serpent coiled beneath the earth, each root thick as an arm, polished as if carved from moonlight.

At the center of those roots stood the tree.

An ancient, towering thing with a trunk the color of morning frost, bark faintly blue under the snow. Its branches reached upward like outstretched arms, leaves shimmering translucent-white in the winter wind.
Nestled into the cradle of its roots was a stone shrine, half-buried by age — a small arch of granite carved with flowing runes, each rune glowing softly with pale silver light.

Those who woke found themselves resting with their backs against the roots or half-curled atop them, as if the tree had pulled them close for protection.

The serenity ended there.

Because only a few paces away—

Tsukiko stood in the snow, teeth bared, kimono torn at the hem, her breath forming quick, sharp bursts of steam.
Her right arm was raised, talisman paper fluttering between her fingers as she struggled to hold back a creature that should not have been walking at all.

It was humanoid in shape but twisted —
skin drained of color,
limbs too long,
fingers hooked like bone knives,
eyes glowing a sickly blue that pulsed irregularly like a dying lantern.

Each time it lunged, the snow hissed and steamed.
Each time Tsukiko countered, her runes flickered weaker.

The creature snapped forward, jaws gaping unnaturally wide, and Tsukiko barely managed to intercept with her forearm braced against its throat.

“Back—!” she hissed, forcing power into the talisman. “BACK!”

The rune flared once—
twice—
then guttered out like a candle in wind.

The undead thing slammed her into the roots of the tree hard enough to shake snow from its branches.

Mentions:

It hurts, it hurts to breathe.

The fox slowly came too, feeling the crimson liquid trickle down his cheek. He would find himself perched against the barrier of the dimension, his body curled in pain.

“Gnn” he groaned as a numbing pain shot up his body, he was pretty sure one of his ribs had been fractured from the blow. It felt like everytime his lungs expanded he was inhaling a stack of needles. The pain receptors were pleading for him not to move.

Move dammit, get back into the fight

Occupied by his own inner conflict, he would not suspect the figure approaching, a gentle touch would brush his silver locks up. Straining his neck, the fox would look up in bewilderment.

“A-Aedrianna? No..” His muttered, struggling for air.

This was a beastkin, her gaze was mature and from this Kota’s positioning. It felt like a guardian angel had descended to guide him to the afterlife. It couldn’t be, Aedrianna. The same person who got into a whole slew of trouble when searching for the Skythorne.Still, the facial features of the woman seemed nearly identical. Her words made him realize just who exactly it was. If not, who else could it be?

If it was her though…how? She was dead wasn’t she? Of all places to appear why here?

“Is the mist more than just a trial?” He muttered under his breath before wincing in sharp pain. Her words carried a sense of urgency.

Kota would feel strange all of a sudden, his vision growing hazy. It was as though his body had been suspended in a vast ocean and was suddenly shooting to the surface at an alarming rate.

The unconscious body he had assumed was fading, first he felt a chilling wind assault his body. Then a pleasant heat. After, the sound of jaws snapping and the cries of a woman.

Kota's eyes slowly opened, right when the woman had been tossed.

A monster. That was all he needed to know.

Instincts took over, and the beast was on his feet. His face twisting into one deserving of the title. The gap between himself and the monster was swallowed in an instant.

His hand was extended, like a spear, and it burned with intense smoldering heat as it flew towards the undead chest. Should his aim be true. The monster would find itself in the warm embrace of fox-fire.



[/Hider]

Yukan Koyake


Equipped Titles: [Beast] [Fae] [Tanuki] [Koyake Clan Member E] [Loyal] [Educated] [Triad Allied Leader] [Amphibious Vanquisher][Anti Slaver Commander][Evolved] [Champion of Holy Fire]

It didn’t take as long as one might have guessed for the Tanuki warrior, who had been responding to the letter he had received from the acting chief of Nan pass and mabaroshi-mura, to arrive at the base of the Paizu mountains.

After fighting in the war against the East Empire, Yukan knew full well what the sounds of war, or in this case slaughter sounded like he had been on the frontlines multiple times after all. So, while others might have fled, Yukan instead had advanced toward the burning until he found himself at the entrance. With his Flame blessed Yari equipped at the ready, the clan crest of the Koyake clan on his back flag which was well above his head on display.

At seeing the killing that was taking place, a look of steely conviction fell upon the Tanuki’s face, steam coming off of his body in great amounts now, and a fire of his own began to extend from his eyes as they became engulfed in a supernatural fire.

“[They take from you so you slaughter them?!]” Yukan roared outward in beastial.

“I cannot allow transgressions like these to go unpunished I will cleanse this evil.” Yukan spoke matter of fact.

Before without another word suddenly the Tanuki moved into position with Fast E + Energized E so that he could hopefully hit multiple enemies at once ( Particularly those directly threatening innocent people at that moment, like the raiders, skeletons and or enemy leader)

Yukan thrust his yari forward in a decisive motion and came shooting out of the blessed as the tip moved along in a concentrated slashing motion, fiery energy spreading out at his foes from all around him in a radial pattern as he thrusted his weapon, selectively avoiding allies, attempting for the main part of the attack to strike the blood soaked woman from where he stood if he had a sight line to try and hit a vulnerable spot on her leveraging his [Predatory Insight perk]

In other circumstances Yukan might have tried to rally the people who were capable of fighting left, but for now he was focused on trying to stop the immediate threats and give people time to keep escaping, hopefully he’d serve as a good distraction for them. With how thingsl ooked it was chaotic enough, and the village was clearly overwhelmed as it was, he didn't see a free soul who he actually could order without them being at risk of enemies..he'd have to wait and see if the landscape changed.

Evolved Perk:
[Predatory Insight] - Beastmen can always sense the weakness in their target. No additional actions or skills required to meet prerequisites for hot shot abilities.

Actions:
1. Move into position with Fast E + E Energized - E grade ability (0 post cooldown Energized)
2.
Attempt to strike blood covered woman with Yari main attack, hit any other enemies he can catch in 50 ft fire radial around him.
Transcending Thrust: Cleansing Fire - [Specialize] Fighting Style [Fire Lord: Falling Spear Style] B,
Energized B, Selective B, Range B, Fire Blight B, Penetrating B, Contact [Fire] B, Area E, Hotshot B, Reach

Yukan attempts to pierce a target up to 1000 ft away with his flame blessed Yari, a radial ring of fire spreads around Yukan at enemies up to 50 ft away, selectively sparing those who he does not wish to harm. Deals 5 extra damage on fire blight successfully effecting target. Ignores up to 5 grades of target(s) fire resistance. Ignore up to 5 grades of target’s defensively used item. +1 effectiveness against enemies more than 5 ft away, -1 effectiveness against enemies 5 ft or less away. Deals double damage if target weak spot hit. B Grade ability - 4 round cooldown (Energized)

Transcending Thrust: Cleansing Fire BE:

Mele: B (5) + Stre A (6) + ABL B (5) = 16 (17 on enemies who are more than 5 ft away from Yukan hit)
3. N/A

MoO



"Dun tarn'er bak tah meh!" Moo called out, a bit annoyed the demon had decided to focus on something else instead of the ramming moose woman.

Moo raised her foot in frustration and stomped the floor. She rushed towards the monster, gritting her teeth and growling while her eyes laser focused on her target. She spread her arms wide open, ready to clothesline the beast's legs.

"Ay'll tish'ya two ignur meh!"

Moo hadn't noticed that her team had changed, she wasn't paying attention if she was alone in the fight or not. Her mind was set on taking out what could possibly be the biggest opponent she's ever had. It was a thrill that traveled down her spine. The adrenaline in her soul shivered and exploded as her arm connected with the monster.

Tech Core: Knockback