"I don't get your world, Seth." Orpheus said. "Why would you make more humans to do the jobs humans were already doing? If you want something to obey your every word why even grant it the capacity to imagine something greater? It'd be easy to make something so dumb and complacent it can't even think of rebellion with the sort of technology that probably went into you. Especially since, and this is speaking from personal experience, you can do all those jobs without ever having to think a single thought."
All while speaking he had been walking toward the robotic heartless, bending down to get a closer look at it. He reached down and grasped the head, carefully placing his hands around the spikes, and lifted it up to eye level. "Like this guy." He said, staring into it's beady eyes. "You're a little dumb-dumb, aren't you?" He moved his wrists to make the head nod twice before looking up at Alex. "Some sort of nano-machine cluster, right? You made this yourself? It's like looking at a distant ancestor. I think I might share D.N.A. with him." As if to emphasize the point he held the head with one hand and raised up the other. It dissolved into orbiting cloud of sparkling purple lights before reforming back into a hand. "Hey, you're obviously some kind of genius. You think you could hash together a way to pick up my sensory information too? Five sets of eyes are better than four, right?" @Rex
Bak could only giggle as Samoth insisted that he wasn't the one at a disadvantage here, which peaked her interest. She wondered what sort of wonderful thing he had planned. "Then I will not be having to go easy on you." Her chambers on her missile pod flipped open, locked on to the area behind the couch, and prepared to fire.
Fortunately for everyone she was interrupted, letting out a short yelp as Yuuto suddenly popped out of nothing beside her. She quickly turned one of her spinning guns on him before letting it spin down when he insisted that he was here to help. Bak looked at him more closely. It wasn't really clear, because ninja's by trade all sort of looked the same in their uniforms. She had seen many Rhean movies featuring ninjas in battle with one another or their natural predator, men in tank tops. This ninja, however, looked suspiciously like that ninja that ninja that was always skulking around the school. "Hey, you are that ninja." She said, surprised. How had he known what was going on here? Wait, that was a dumb question. He was a ninja, he had probably gotten a carrier pigeon or something.
She didn't want to turn away good ninja help, but she couldn't think of a way for him to help while she was bowing away the room. This wasn't exactly a safe place for her to be fighting, let alone any ally that decided to hop into the crossfire. "Nyet, I have got this under control. OH!" She exclaimed suddenly, letting her guns wind back down and reaching up to lift the girl off her back. Bak handed her to the ninja, and said. "There are three men around the corner there." she said, pointing backwards with her thumb toward the where she's last seen the Vigilantes. "Please be delivering girl to them. Tell them is second present from Mephisto's." @rawkhawk64@Bartimaeus
Nasaraph Sana
Nasaraph joined his companions gawking at the edge of the hole, an expression of shock on his face. Not that the ghost had agreed to his ploy, nor at his throwing himself down the hole, but at his words. Alto. ALTO! They were here. All three of them, the young Royalty of Rhea: Alto, Clara, and King. What sort of fate was it that had brought all of the big three here, tonight, when he'd just been here for some light training? It was just like back on the mountain when the clouds had opened up and shown him his destiny.
He couln't decide an answer to Aram's question. He wanted to stay. He wanted to watch the conflict that was unfolding beneath them. Hell, he wanted to go down there and take a closer look, but he needed to find a reason to get involved. Luckily his eagle eyes caught just such a reason. Fate, it seemed, really had sided with him tonight. He pointed a finger down to a particular figure.
"Fellows, isn't that..." He squinted, acting like he was having trouble seeming to cover up the fact that he needed time to remember the boys name, "Yes, I believe that's Micheal in that mess! Did he come here with you two?" He asked, looking between Brutus and Aram. "Should we go get him?"
Gilliam was disoriented. One moment he was slithering to freedom, then there was a rumbling followed by a sudden weightlessness. He had instinctually drawn up into himself as soon as he realized he was falling, compacting as much as he could and hardening his skin with a hard coating of bone and enamel as he felt the vent he was in slam into the ground. He didn't have time to contemplate this before several more explosions boomed around him and he felt himself falling again. Slightly longer this time.
So now he sat, cubed up, and he could hear voices around him. On top of him? Yes, yes, there were people on top of all this rubble. Then he heard a familiar voice, screaming a familiar name, in a tome of pure rage and anguish, and he felt himself start to drool despite the fact that he at present had no mouth. The liquid seeped from his skin and began to puddle withing the busted vent, forming a steady rain of drips as it slipped through the cracks that had formed from the damage, and he sent out small bits of himself topped with crude eyes to prove and prod at the walls of his cage.
Sure enough and he found a few cracks, passages that led to the surface, and subtly his eyes watched out from those cracks to confirm what he heard. He was there! ALTO! He felt himself gurgle with hatred as the memory flooded into his mind, the phantom pain of that sword of light still burning in his soul. There was Vittorio too, the only member of their little group that hated Alto nearly as much as him. Oh, how he wanted to burst out right now and devour his hated enemy while he was busy dealing with Vittorio, but could he truly do so? No! He could never deny a man his revenge like that, especially when it was at hand. He only cared that Alto was dead and devoured, those things didn't happen at the same time. Anyone could kill Alto so long as they left a corpse he could devour.
There were others here, however, that were likely to interfere. He felt himself tense up. No, he decided. No, they would not.
Do what you need to do Vittorio. I have your back.
"Come then." Nasaraph said, feeling the deathly cold aura he's absorbed from the buildings ghosts begin to flare up around him. "Unless you intend just stand there and fluff up your feathers." He spread his legs apart, bringing up his fists in the stance his mother had taught him. "You two. Leave this one to me. You go on ahea-"
It was around that point that he heard the sound of something collapsing behind him. He spared a quick turn of the head to glance behind him and the others, not lingering on the sight to long lest the ghost in front of him use that opportunity to attack, but the short glance had been enough. He'd spotted, slightly around the corner, the ragged of a hole. He tried to keep up the sort of cocksure expression that the character he was portraying would wear, but inside it was obvious that something had gone wrong. What had happened? Had that robotic abomination fallen through the floor? How for did that opening go? Could Brutus and Aram still be counted on to leave? This had ruined everything.
He could call it off, but at the same time he couldn't. The whole point of this stupid act was to try and get the ghost boy alone, but they didn't know that. They probably just thought he was a brave fool, that's at least what he wanted them to think. A change of heart now would rouse their suspicions. Then he heard a second smash and his prospects only got worse in his head. Had that been more of the floor going down? What was happening in that hallway? He needed a reason.
Suddenly two strangers passed their little face off and ran further down the hallway, and then another hole opened up in the floor and swallowed them up like a hungry owl. He actually grinned. The gods had seen fit to deliver one.
"Would you, perhaps, like to save this for another time?" he asked the ghost boy, gesturing to the large hole behind him. "And a more stable arena?"
I figure that if none of the kids have any strong taint or signs that they were possessed, and if the dogs can's pick up any consistent evidence of its presence elsewhere in the school (the slim traces they did find probably being from its dash out), then it's likely that it was called up and spent most of its time down there. I'm going to need to look for any sort of occult ritual: the remnants of a circle, symbols, pages from a book, stray blood. Anything ooky-spooky that Curwen would recognize. Also any signs that someone was trying to dispose of something.
Bak wore a satisfied expression as she squinted through the dust cloud, trying to spot the boy she had put in there. These imps were not very good housekeepers. A sudden movement caught her eye, the artillery on her right shoulder moving to track it and firing. A pair of loud BANGS echoed through the halls as a pair of explosive shells spun out of the barrels, and another BANG followed as they detonated on the poor imp Samoth had knocked across the room. The impact threw the imp into the far wall with enough force to leave a crack that went all the way to the ceiling. It gurgled meekly as it plopped to the floor.
Samoth used that opportunity to get up and run in the opposite direction, retreating deeper into the apartment. Bak clicked her tongue at her own incompetence and advanced into the hole.
The other imps were huddled behind an old busted television staring at her with equal parts terror and loathing, but that wasn't what caught her attention. She almost stepped on it, and had to swing her arms to quickly shift her weight before her foot came down. It was a girl. One of the missing students! She had found one. Bak stooped down to pick her up by her shirt collar with one hand. Bak hadn't seen one of the students they were looking for yet, but this one was remarkably unharmed. She had expect some sort of injury. At least something from the imps, if nothing else. "Wake up." Bak said, slapping her across the face a few times. When that didn't work she grab the girl by the shoulders and shook her a bit. Nothing. It was weird. Something about it sent a shiver down Bak's spine.
Bak supposed she could just throw this girl to the Vigilantes, but she couldn't do that with Samoth spooking around. He must have been trying to get to Clara, she couldn't think of any other reason he would have come up like he did. Bak would have to handle him first, so she lifted the student over her head and placed the girl behind her back for safe-keeping, draping her across the spot where Bak's backpack connected to her body. She hung there like loose laundry as Bak turned to try and find Samoth.
Her guns began to spin, the droning mechanical noise filling the apartment. She wouldn't be caught off guard by him again. "St. Laural's?" She called. "Come out to play. Come, you had such bravery a moment ago."
Midnight Tournament, Round 2: The Demon of Despair and the Divine Fox
Masami stepped back as Danny “Thundercloud” charged towards Andras in a full-on frontal attack. He apparently had some considerable amount of power and, presumably, preferred to utilize it up close.
But he didn’t get very close before the Demon Lady made her own move.
Madami watched as the fight progressed, quickly developing into one case of a large beast against a less-than-large boy. But, it seemed Andras was indeed quite powerful. It took her only two moves to dispose of Danny, sending him on his way, aboard a stretcher.
Masami was watching, and analyzing, the whole time. She had never seen a Demon who channeled their power through...cards before. She was different.
The beast and the boy both fell, leaving just the two of them and the crowd, their cheers exceeding them.
The MC announcing that the next fight was to continue on, Masami turned towards Andras, placing her right hand on the hilt at her hip. “Your power, it is impressive.” She said, trying to keep her voice as strong as possible. A small grin appeared on her lips, erasing what little reluctance she had as she thought about the outcome of the battle and how fun it would be, “Let us see if it falters under mine!” She challenged, looking at Andras’ face for any telling signs of attack or emotion.
Smiling at Masami's words, Andras replied, "If you can make all of the magic in the world falter, you would indeed be a worthy challenger."
Andras regarded her opponent. 'No matter how cute, I mustn't let my guard down. But still, the fox seemed to perk up now that a fight was coming on. Perhaps she was the type to enjoy an honest spar?'
As she thought to herself, Andras looked over the fox's equipment. She couldn't quite tell how the newcomer would approach fighting. Andras would have to test the waters herself.
As the two looked at each other, the MC counted down once more. "&ras and Massami, round three! Start in 3, 2, 1! Go!" A gunshot marked the start of the round.
Andras took the initiative. It was important to gain information on how her opponent would deal with certain threats. She touched one of the cards that orbited around her and chanted, "O spell of the swamp, hear my voice and grant me your power!"
The card shined and disappeared, and from the ground several overgrown, mangy, and mud-slick rats sprouted. 'Not the most elegant creatures to bring out, but they'll work.' Andras pointed right at Masami, in a signal to attack. The rats began scurrying towards Masami.
The two stared at eachother, analyzing the possible capabilities of their opponent. Masami would have the advantage. But she still didn’t know the extent of Andras’ powers. Could she summon weapons? Only creatures so far, but she’d have to be careful.
As the MC began to count down, a white, bone-looking skull mask appeared in Masami’s hand from seemingly no where. She placed it perfectly against her face and left it there. “Go!”
Andras decided to move first. Chanting one of her spells, the other student disposed of a card, it shining briefly before disintegrating into golden dust, and forming a group of enlarged, mangy rats.
Masami took quick action, drawing one of her Starballs to her while easily snapping the weapon hilt from her belt. She grasped the ball, slamming it against the bottom of her helve, and from it erupting a long, curved blade of roaring red flame.
She swung it weightlessly, willing the blade of flame to detach itself, widening in length and flying towards the group of rats. It was instantly replaced by another blade, of which she also swept towards the beasts.
If the move succeeded, the swarm would be engulfed in a double blast of flame, and her first Starball would be expended.
As she performed this, she quickly started to move, pivoting her movement on the rats, running around them to meet face-to-face with Andras.
Andras watched as the rats were dispatched handily by a flame attack. 'Ah. She has elemental attacks, then. So be it.'
Andras looked at her hand. Several of the spells were too complex to cast without more mana... There was realistically only one option.
"Mystic of the moon, provide with me your ascendant knowledge. Heed my call!" Andras selected a card from her hand, and held it up high. It materialized as a strange humanoid, marked with tattoos that covered its pale skin. It sat in a meditative pose, hovering above the ground.
'I've already cast three spells today, counting Erayo. According to my understanding, then that means the next spell will allow Erayo to flip...' Andras waved for Erayo to stay back. 'That may provide me some breathing room. But until then...'
Andras turned and ran away from Masami, and readied another spell. This one was instant, so she planned on using it to distract Masami if she managed to close the gap.
Having dealt with the swarm easily, Masami would be upon Andras quickly if she did not move to prevent it. Her next maneuver wasn't exactly that, but it was close...kind of. She withdrew a card from her hand, presenting it to the sky. She chanted to the "Mystic of the moon", the card shaping into the figure of a vaguely-human form, and now levitating near her.
At this point Masami was approaching Andras from her starting postiton. However, the distance between them stopped closing so fast as Andras began to run away from the fox-girl, waving for her creature to keep its distance. Now, Masami isn't dumb. It was pretty obvious that this Moon Mystic was not an up-front combatant. However, it is uncertain to her how many times Andras is capable of summoning creatures. Not too many more...right?
Masami chose to chase Andras. As she did so, she removed her second Starball from the hilt on which it was attached, releasing it to join the other. She then willed them to rotate quickly around eachother, building speed. Combined with the movement of her arms and legs as she sprinted towards the fleeting Andras, she willed her wind powers to create a mini, twirling wind twister, which collected dirt, dust, rock, and various other bits of debreee as it sped towards the card-caster. (Btw the Starballs are not in the cyclone, they just generated the movement to produce it.)
Masami planned for the twister to blind and slow down Andras, maybe even throwing her to the ground. Upon succuss, she would continue her rush to tackle Andras, pinning her to the ground and immobilizing her. In the meantime, after the cyclone was already on its small path of havoc, Masami turned one of her Starballs to boiling magma, and using a pressured wind blast, shot it towards Erayo.
Andras was on her toes for this fight, being as her opponent was apparently known as a powerful demon. If she really did turn out to be one, maybe this could help ease Masami's fear of them, even if by just a little.
Andras wasn't a fan of running. Sometimes it was necessary, but she still didn't enjoy it. She looked over her shoulder to see the fox doing... Something with those orbs of hers. She directed them to spin, and they unleashed a whirlwind that was headed straight towards Andras. 'That seems good enough to react to.'
Andras turned on her heel and raised her arm to cast an instant spell. Before the spell could even resolve, her summoned creature - Erayo - seemed to disappear completely. Or rather, her body disappeared, and mysteriously, the strange and flowing tattoos that covered her body did not. Flowing around a jewel, they seemd to change into something completely different - no longer a living creature, but a magical enchantment.
Of course, Andras had planned on that. The next part of her plan, however, wasn't going to be fun. Andras grit her teeth and covered her face as she took the whirlwind directly. The wind knocked her off her feet, throwing back her hood and most distressingly removing Andras's eyepatch. Within the whirlwind, her now-uncovered eye glimpsed two new spells - before Andras reflexively and forcefully shut it. Andras groaned, covering Perfect Alexandria with her hand. The whirlwind had knocked her flat, but she hadn't been knocked out at least. She struggled to a knee, the mysterious ribbons from Erayo twisting around her. Andras smiled a little. 'At least that part of the plan worked,' she mused to herself. Andras held out her free hand, and the ribbon twisted around her, the jewel resting against her forehead. As if Erayo's Essence was intelligent, the shifting ribbon wrapped around Andras's head, covering her eye to replace the lost eyepatch.
'Thank you, Erayo.' Andras thought, grinning. The next problem was that the fox was charging right for her. She needed to act - and fast. Without any hesitation, Andras cast the spell she had just drawn; a simple flight spell. She would have preferred to take the incantation that makes it permanent, but she didn't have time. The spell instantly took effect, and Andras shot into the air, levitating magically.
"That was close..." Andras said, looking down on Masami. "You're something else, you know."
As Masami's attack was coming close to contact with Andras, the card-slinger turned, raising her arm, and evoking the use of yet another one of her spells. From the corner of her eye, Masami saw the Moon Mystic disappear from sight, her Starball shooting through the space they had just occupied. However, oddly enough, their tattoos hadn't dissolved. Instead, they now became a long ribbon, orbiting a magnificent jewel. Which now seemingly augmented Andras herself. These spells are so unpredictable!! Masami growled in er mind.
At that moment, two thoughts occurred to her. Well...thoughts? They felt like memories. She saw two separate visions of herself. In one, she saw herself holding up her arm, and from it, a blue dome of energy sprang, and upon that, fireballs and spells of all sorts were caught against the power of the dome. Ceased in their tracks.
The second vision, she saw herself holding her hand to the sky, draw clouds drawing themselves upon the sky, and dark tendrils seemingly reaching down from the sky as sizzling rain falling from the sky, searing those who lay unprotected under its wrath.
As she experienced these visions, her hands tingled with capability. She recognized the feeling. She could...cast a new spell...but why!?
In any matter, shortly after that moment, Masami's twister struck Masami, blowing her from her feet. Masami ran faster. She was nearly upon Andras, when suddenly the now ribbon-adorned student shot straight into the air, leaving little opportunity for Masami to stop her. Masami stopped, looking up at Andras.
You're something else, you know. ..that I am.. she thought. But so are you. Sh didn't say it out loud, but the thought was much the same.
"I'm something else?" Masami called from below her as her Starballs returned to her side. "Your apparent disregard for humbleness is worrying!" she teased, eyeing the exposed undergarments that weren't hidden by her skirt. Masami would then quickly grasp on of her nearby Starballs, once again joining it with the pommel of her would-be-weapon. The other Starball enlarged itself, turning into a sphere of tumbling wind, and began rising upwards.
Masami hastily hopped onto the orb of wind, increasing its traveling speed very quickly as she willed her other Starball to give life to her weapon. It once against sprouted a blade of deep flame. Masami swept it across her desired path once again, aiming to release the blade onto Andras and bring her from the air. But at the last moment, her blade faltered. The flame flickered momentarily as Masami traveled quickly upward, and then fully dispersed. What!?! she exclaimed in her mind.
No matter. She would already be upon Andras due to the quickly moving sphere below her feet. She would drop the hilt, leaving its Starball to float beside her as she grappled Andras, restricting any movement of her arms, and capturing her in as strong a bear hug as she possibly could.
She then put her mouth close to Andras’ ear, a toothy smirk appearing upon her face, showing her fangs. “Strawberries, huh? Classy!” she giggled, aiming to embarrass the card-slinger for her choice of undergarment.
Andras couldn't fly fast enough to dodge the fox's attack. Although Erayo's Essence did protect her from a magical attack, she had to admit she didn't expect a tackle. Andras wracked her mind for a portential out to this situation, before something completely scattered her thoughts-
"Strawberries, huh? Classy!" The fox girl teased.
'Strawberries? What is she-' As the two girls descended towards the ground, Andras felt a breeze on her legs.
"Straw... Berries..." Andras stammered, as the two hit the ground. Andras's legs gave out, and Masami crashed down on top of her. "Straw..." Andras couldn't formulate any more words. Only repeating a stammered word.
'What are you saying?! Why are you so embarassed? Say something cool, dammit! You're the Demon Lady of Despair! Who cares if she saw that?' Andras's mind was moving far too quickly; her body couldn't keep up. All she could do was stammer and be acutely aware of how her face was burning red. Even if Andras was in control of her senses, she had no spells that would be worth casting, apart from creating a momentary distraction that would ultimately serve no purpose.
She was defeated, in many ways. 'After all of that... To be brought down by a tackle...' Andras sniffled, on the verge of tears.
Andras had appeared to be stunned by the fox girl's comment, seemingly losing all coherency. They plummeted towards the ground, Masami landing on top of the other girl, who was still shocked after hitting the dirt in a less-than-gentle fashion from about 5 yards.
As Masami regained her bearings from her cushioned fall, she noticed the other girl's features reddening, and she was obviously extremely embarassed.
"Submit!" Masami shouted while breathing heavily, pushing the other girl's arms against the ground., while still on top of her. "You know i've beat you, so admit it." she uttered in a quieter tone to Andras.
Andras was snapped out of her situation when the fox girl ordered her to surrender. Of course, the fox girl was joking. She had no way to tell that Andras was out of options-
Masami roughly pinned her arms down. "You know I've beat you, so admit it."
Andras's mind sifted over the possibilities once again. Nothing she could do seemed able to turn the tables. It pained her, but it looks like she truly lost. The faster she admitted it, the faster she could leave. Plus, this fox was awfully close to her right now... And she could hear her panting.
Andras looked away, fidgetting under Masami. "I concede this day to you, Masami. You win."
Masami’s opponent paused briefly, assumedly considering her choices. But with obvious displeasure in the fact, she admitted defeat. The Kitsune was immediately from her spot on top of the other girl, and was now standing, throwing her arms into the air, with a giant smile on her face.
“Yeah!” She shouted to the crowd as their cheers exploded. She giggled, waving to everyone who had watched the fight. That was fun! she thought while panting and slightly sweating.
The appeal of musou gameplay has never been killing a million dudes for me, though it's certainly nice. They're just there to built meter for what I'm really supposed to be doing; criss-crossing the battlefield completing objectives, dealing with unexpected complications, and putting out fires (sometimes literally, freaking Wu.) It's what makes a musou game you want to replay. You don't just want to win a battle, you want to figure out how to win that battle perfectly.
Lugubrious
Izurich
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