Estylwen

Iris Ascendis

Yaaay!

Sorry to hear about a tough day...

Iris Ascendis

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Auditorium
@Nanaya @ERode @Psyker Landshark @Sifr @AThousandCurses

---

"Agreed. I refuse to let you commit a massacre. If you have even a shred of vaunted Nero's integrity, you will stand down, Leuvalt."

The knight gave Ciara a nod, which she returned. It meant she wasn't going into this alone.

"Third Shield: Repel!"

A loud crash. At the foot of the stage, a boy dressed in black prepared to defend the audience from the killing spell being cast. Three against one. Ciara liked those odds. However, she had to remind herself Valen claimed to defeat nearly every student outside. From the expressions on the students' faces, Valen was no easy foe to fight with whimsically.

The knight, and this boy dressed in black, both were exhausted. Ciara considered herself, and her exhaustion levels. She had spent the morning fighting off Mannekin and manipulating shadows on a mass level in the darkness of the auditorium. By all intents and purposes, she should be exhausted as well. However, using her Ethos as a package runner daily gave her a bit more endurance. She could keep going, but not for long.

Her eyes hovered on Valen, watching his every move. As he saw three enemies prepared to stop him, the symbols faded. But what he said... chilled her to the core.

"Shadow magic, is it? I suppose Vaal Shakta is more lenient with practiced Umbralists, but I was not aware that the good Verne lacked the sense to ship your ilk off to Mirris."

"How dare you." Came the sudden and sharp reply.

Mirris. A place she would likely be sent to die, if she were to ever find herself in the unfortunate circumstances of being even remotely close to such a hostile place. There would be no essence eradication, no package running. They would only see her like how her home saw her. A monster. A threat to the peace that heroes struggled and died for. A remnant of an ill-boded age where darkness ravaged and devoured the world.

In less than a few seconds, Valen had reduced Ciara to that small child abandoned on a doorstep.

It was enough to cause Ciara's blade to press a little more hungrily against his throat.

"Say that again, I dare you."

A pause.

"I suppose the world is changing with each passing day, and we now find ourselves united: those that worship the Leuvalts and those that worship dark art madmen like First Shepherd Meer in the same halls, blades trained at the same enemies."

It was that statement that caused Ciara to snap out of her bloodlust, staring at the knight who stood stoically on the front side of Valen. From a distance, it was all rather striking. The virtue of virtues, and the mistaken darkness, who could never truly escape her own shadow, united against a common foe.

It was almost poetic, if she didn't abore the notion of Umbralism to her very core.

She pulled her blade away, but kept it unsheathed, as he sipped from his wine. As he spoke, her expression narrowed.

A jape? All of this was his idea of a sick joke?

"Umbralist or not, fuck around and you will find out." The hunter said, standing beside the knight.

Ciara's gloomy expression showed the slightest hint of gratitude at that, the hunter quelling the storm inside the young shadow weaver. Ciara looked at the hunter a bit more closely, finding herself curious.

Grey. Lots of grey. But within the grey, the hunter's aura showed hints of purified light. Not as strong or refined as the knight. But enough to mark the presence of a person who did their best in any circumstance.

The echo of footsteps.

“That is enough.”

She glanced over. Otis had taken center stage, chiding the young boy dressed in black, who was struggling to stand.

From the corner of her eye, she saw it. A leftover Mennekin, and the first chair to be gifted. With just a handful of minutes left on the clock, they were reaching the next phase of Otis' plan for peace in the auditorium. With a final glare directed towards Valen, Ciara sheathed her dagger.

As she stared, she made a vow.

One day, she'd make him eat those words.

She then returned to the front of the sage and stood near Davil and Otis, watching the students form their rows as ordered. The analyst lurked in the shattered seating areas near the back of the auditorium, tending to a girl she didn't recognize. Cirar's own eyes glanced at the clock, then around the edges and crannies of the auditorium.

Time was short. Had they prepared enough for when the faculty would finally arrive?

Iris Ascendis

Very much excited.

Iris Ascendis

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Auditorium
@Nanaya @ERode @Psyker Landshark @Sifr @AThousandCurses

---

"Begging is beneath you. All of you."

Cira's face turned towards the knight, a mesmerized, Hungry glimmer in her eye.

"It's all the more tasty when it speaks like that." said a Voice.

Her eyes burned, still aflame from her feast on near-empty Mannekin. Everything was tastier now, her Hunger pangs were stronger from the lack of satisfaction, causing the knight to burn and glow temptingly in Ciara's eyes.

Her lips pursed. "We aren't going there."

"We'll see." Was all the Voice replied.

Ciara's gaze turned Otis, cataloging the students so, then to the hunter and the analyst, locked in an intense stare with each other. Then, the analyst walked away, shaking off the shadow gripping his wrist. Ciara sighed and gave Davil a once-over. He seemed fine, no worse for wear. Good.

Her attention turned to the hunter, who was now standing on her other side without the analyst blocking the view, and gave a friendly nod. "You're quite admirable. I'm Ciara."

"You have truly brought the best of us forward with this request, chaff."

Valen mocked her as he sat on his throne. She knew exactly why. The swarm of students that crowded around her area of the stage... were not the virtuous souls they claimed to be. She looked at them with disgust, watching the lies spew from their lips as dark, sludge-like auras and ashy grey lights greeted her. Totally inedible. Entirely unappetizing. Completely unacceptable.

Briefly, in the back of her mind, she considered the possibility that Valen's eyes might be as good as hers. However, judging from their actions, shoving one another to be the closest to her made it obvious.

Yes, the truth was obvious.

"All of you are a disgrace. None of you... not a single one of you holds a candle to the virtue of my companion. Your lies... make me sick."

"I can only wonder how this resolves. Go on." Valen's mutterings behind her. She turned, taking in his bored expression. The symbols he was drawing were similar to what Otis had once drawn. She was no expert when it came to the arcane-

"He's gonna kill them." The Voices informed matter-of-factly.

Her eyes narrowed, staring a bit harder at the noble. Just how dark was his aura to do something like that?

"Better for us."

A tip-tap of coldness crawled up her shoulders, her spine.

"What's a little less darkness and ash in the world? Not enough Light is here anyway."

She could feel cold hands pressing around her neck.

"It's better like-"

Maybe it really was better like-

"-this. It's... It's..." Ciara snapped into focus, feeling her apparition's hands around her throat. Quickly, she snarled, locking eyes with it before her shadow vanished from sight. The Voices almost had her, almost convinced her of something so dark, so awful, to even consider it-

Her eyes snapped onto Valen.

She almost stood by and let this boy kill a bunch of students just because of her passing disgust.

She vanished, reappearing in the shadow behind Valen's throne. Her hand was gripped around a gleaming silver dagger, the sharp point pressed lightly against the jugular of Valen's throat.

"Cancel the magic. Now." There was a hard edge in her voice.

She had to... She had to prove to herself she wasn't what they wanted her to be.

Iris Ascendis

He can't fight-

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"A future is not given to you. It is something you must take for yourself."

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Auditorium
@Nanaya @ERode @Psyker Landshark @Sifr @AThousandCurses

---

The light and elegant flourish from the stage was snatched by a dark red fire.

He called himself Valen Leuvalt. She wondered where in her mind that name felt familiar.

Regardless, as he approached the stage, she instinctively drew defensive. Her shadow morphed, dark mist rising up, taking the form of a ghoulish, vaguely shaped demon. It simply stared, watching along with Ciara as a striking golden throne was summoned.

She made a mental note. Another noble, same attitude as Gulliver. Has a manifesting Ethos. Perhaps a net zero creation ethos.

They had one extra soul on this stage that stole their seat instead of earning it. It made Ciara quietly seethe inside. Her red eyes glanced at the knight and the analyst. The knight was still out of breath and wanted to collapse right there, and the boy who had shot daggers at her for taking his seat still brandished his bandage.

Her eyes then glanced to the sharpshooter, who had struggled to fend off the last wave of Mannekin.

She sighed. The shadowy demon stared daggers at Valen before focusing its gaze on the swarming crowd. She couldn't afford a fight. They couldn't afford a fight. Not now. Now, all they needed... all they could afford, was presentation.

Even with her shadow glaring at the crowds, no one seemed to challenge Otis' authority. Except Valen, of course. This was good. Better than what she had hoped. They could do a bit of crowd control until the appointed ti-

Wait.

She counted the number of students. She was the one who threw the chairs away, her mind recounted how many the shadows had tossed in. To her dismay, even by a rough estimate, there were not enough chairs to go around. She was certain of this.

How would they solve this conundrum?

Her thoughts got sidetracked as she noticed movement in her peripherals. The analyst with glasses had walked around her and discreetly 'held' onto Davil, who was standing on her other side.

Almost as quickly, a shadowy hand from her manifested apparition held onto the boy with glasses. Its grip was gentle yet firm, without the intention to hurt, but to drive a point home.

"Let go of my pet." She said in a low voice, her eyes two simmering red orbs.

Her shadows had enough force to knock over a horse-drawn carriage. It was more than enough strength to pull the boy's hand away, which she proceeded to do. Gentle enough to not harm but strong enough not to leave room for debate.

She sighed. Davil had been through enough today. He appeared distressed by the swarms of students. Looking at the faces of the students, kids just like her, she had an idea where his anxiety came from.

By all intents and purposes, every student in front of them deserved to be there. However, without enough seats, not all of them would be able to call themselves a student of Wingram by the end of the day. Ciara's head tilted in thought, a bit pained with the dilemma in front of her. What constituted as a 'good' student? Who would stay? Did she have the right to choose?

Then, a wicked thought crossed her mind. A smile that wasn't her own curled her lips. The shadow behind her seemed to chuckle silently.

"Good idea! It's a good idea!" The Voices cackled. She had to admit, she was in agreeance with them. It was only to her ultimate destruction, but no other plan would serve her so delectably.

She was so Hungry, after all.

It would help to narrow down their options, at least.

Her red eyes gleamed as she spoke. "Those with a virtuous heart, step forward."

Iris Ascendis

Super excited for this round. Post should be up in 1-3 hours.

Iris Ascendis

I don't think I have any additions I would add to Ciara, just go ham.

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Yaaay!

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Will @Sifr be joining us this round? :>