KillamriX88

Royal Rumble!

The Arena

@Gentlemanvaultboy@RoflsMazoy@Scarifar@rawkhawk64@Bartimaeus@AtomicNut

The cannons fired and the projectiles screamed toward the masked man. The runes on his skin suddenly flared, engulfing him in a blazing, red light. He threw his arms out and split seconds before he was struck a massive, gaping wound was torn in the veil.A huge, red portal opened up and swallowed every shot that come at him. A high pitched ringing would assault everyone's ears almost as if the world itself was screaming in pain. Through the portal one could see a barren, discolored version of the regular world.

One could feel the ground tremble slightly as the blasts struck the mirrored ground beyond the gaping portal.

The masked man turned his head to look at Alto. His expression was hidden, but the look was taunting.

Knowing.

His hands relaxed and opened.

The rip in space shuddered and then rapidly shrank until it closed, but it didn't stop there. That point kept shrinking and shrinking, warping their vision as that one spot became a pinpoint.

"MOVE!" Off to the side, Gloria had come to her senses, though everything hurt. She tackled King, throwing herself and King forward and to the ground.

A moment later, it all finally snapped back. Everything went silent as their ears would be overwhelmed by the sudden boom. The arena stands were flattened, caving into the hollowed spaces beneath them. The upper level of the arena fared even worse, shattering and showering the surrounding streets and buildings with debris.

In the center of the chaos it was eerily safe, they would barely feel a thing as the world around them was torn apart. The warship would be lucky to stay airborne, let alone hold even remotely steady as the explosion rippled through it should it fail to pull back.

Those in the medical pavilion would feel the explosion rattle them, the walls around them cracking, but they were deep enough into the arena to stay relatively safe.

"Ahhh, so glad the rest of you could come and witness this," the man slowly turned to face the group that had just teleported in. Even as he spoke, his body heaved with each breath. Clearly causing such devastation had taken a toll on his stamina. "Look closely and remember well what will soon befall this whole, wretched city!"

A Certain Explosive Kid

@Crowvette@Dezuel

One, ragged boy ran through the streets. Suddenly ahead he saw a trio of strange men in masks and robes. On sight, they suddenly turned and drew curved knives on him. In response, he jumped and cocked a fist back.

What was he doing? Was he really punching his way into a knife fight? The cultists found this laughable.

SNAP!

An explosion blasted out behind the boy and his rocketed fist first into one, knocking him into the other two before another blast sent all three skidding and bouncing into the distance, their scorched bodies leaving a trail of smoke in their wake.

"OUT OF MY WAY! I'M COMING KATH!" Cassius sprinted onward. Finally he made it to the park. It had taken him a while to figure out exactly where he had to go, but eventually he'd been able to pick up on the commotion int he distance... though quite frankly there was a lot of commotion going on right now.

Just as he got there -- everyone left. Only Clara remained.

"OH COME ON!" He fell to his hands and knees, punching the ground. The exertion of such a long sprint finally hit him and he couldn't even find the strength to immediately get back up. Clara or no, he wasn't backing off. He'd make her tell him what was going on!

And then he felt it. A shock-wave passed through him and then the echoing BOOM! followed a second later. He turned his head to see the arena flying apart in the distance, an ominous red glow lighting it all up before fading a moment later.

"Wh-...what?"

"It's fine. I can walk. Don't worry about it..." Rurik spoke lazily from atop Bak's backpack, already having given in to being carried.

"'Sup." Rurik said as David was hauled up by Bak after fearfully protesting. Then he started freaking out... again. "Dangerous? Crisis? What cri-" And then the world flipped and they were back in the arena. "-sis?!" Rurik's eye twitched rapidly. ". . . gettin' real sick of this shit."

And then literally everything exploded.

Rurik felt like he must have stopped breathing for a solid minute. Finally he took a long, deep breath and let it out, just slumping weakly over Bak's shoulder.

He was so done with today.

Royal Rumble!

Arena Outskirts

@Gentlemanvaultboy

The newcomer saved the multiplying cultist, but another newcomer saved the two children, causing the tentacled cultist to focus on... Him? It? ...instead. He growled beneath his mask. His master had given him a gift! How could he fail!? No, he'd at least make some sort of statement. He would assist his masked brother to the best of his ability and then perhaps they could see to those brazen children if there was still time.

As Gilliam sunk his teeth into one cultist, he would suddenly find himself beset by the other's clones. They did not stab or punch or claw at him, they simply ran at him with no concern for their own safety and grabbed hold -- before pulling at their own masks to tear them off. Even with one hand, their grip was surprisingly strong.

Their master's gift was a valuable thing.

I Am Legion

Empowered by his master, his ability to multiply has ascended to new heights. Normally each clone is weaker than average, but now he is surged with demonic energy. Each clone increases his capacity for power, feeding it back into the survivors as each one falls. Thus, every subsequent wave of clones becomes steadily stronger than the last.

The Arena

@Gentlemanvaultboy@RoflsMazoy

Reacting to the attack itself was nearly impossible, but Alto had to aim it first, so its trajectory was clear enough. He threw up his arm, the attack striking the back of his fist. It stung like a son of a bitch, penetrating his defenses and drawing blood, at it was better than letting it hit his vitals. With a growl, he then swung that fist around, spinning all the way until he faced King. The air seemed to fold in on itself along his arms path, then unraveling into a wave of force that surged out at Alto and King, throwing them away if they didn't get clear.

"Such gifted children..." He raised his hand to the sky, and the burning lightning began to surge above him once more, the veil fit to burst at any moment. "But do you know what it is to struggle and claw? To truly fight? I will teach you. Let us see if you survive to learn from this lesson!" They had potential, and so he knew that if he got the chance he must snuff them out. Suddenly, that same burning energy crawled across his fingers and he tore at the fabric of the world around him. What followed was no simple shockwave, but the whole arena trembled, the ground seeming to become rubber as it rippled.

Anyone caught in it would feel as if their teeth would shatter from the impact of it. Whoever was unfortunate to be closest to him when it was over would soon find the hulking man bearing down on them like a freight train.

He had to end this quickly, before the veil put itself back together.

Royal Rumble!

The Arena

@Gentlemanvaultboy@RoflsMazoy

Fast. Even for the huge, masked man, that was all that he had time to think as Alto blitzed the gap between them and struck from behind. Striking form behind was as good a tactic as any, it was a vulnerable spot. And an obvious one. He lifted a leg and stomped as Alto made to strike. The resulting ripple sent through the veil should have been enough to push the boy away, but still... he was fast.

He felt the tip of the blade scratch him even as his own attack shoved the boy away. Predicting and actually having the time to react to such an attack were two different things. He would have to be careful with this one.

"I see. So you are dangerous," the man said. "Very well... I will take this seriously." He turned to take a step toward Alto but then blipped out of existence.

The man found himself in that next instant in a strange world where everything was died a fiery, orange hue and everything in the distance was obscured by a menacing haze. He could still see the world he'd just left but it was barren and empty. But at the same time, the veil was in tatters here. When he looked carefully he could see faint shadows cast by those on the other side.

He took a moment to circle the shadow that denoted where Alto stood. He could not contemplate long, stepping in and out of Limbo had a tendency to cause the veil to fight back and repair itself. And so he stopped in front of the boy and reared his head back before surging back into reality, already loosing a world-shaking roar to buffet Alto.

Royal Rumble!

With Andreim & Lise

@Dezuel@Crowvette@supertinyking

Lise's shadows met the copies. It seemed an even battle, if not in Lise's favor. That was, at least, until Andreim attacked. The spike of ice skewered the one in the back, but the body dissolved to energy. That energy flew into the remaining four who suddenly surged back against Lise's shadows.

One quickly shoved their shadow opponent away and ran off to the side, trying run away from the area that was covered in water.

Meanwhile, the ice pillars that Andreim had thrown up to block the fire began to shatter. The fire thrower had begun charging up larger balls of fire that were now strong enough to punch through the ice, though it clearly took him much longer to throw these. The pillars now gone, the next fireball would be on a course for Andreim once more.

And then suddenly an explosion burst from amid the battle of clones and shadows. One of the copies had torn their mask off and then blown up. The other two remaining copies made to leap upon their shadowy opponents before doing the same, attempting to take the shadows with them.

No doubt they'd soon be replaced if they didn't find a way to stop the source.

It was a safe-guard. If a cultist lost their mask in battle, they'd explode so as not to be identified. The copies shared this, but had nothing to lose and thus it became a weapon. But it was a weapon that could be felt by some...

The Medical Pavilion

@AtomicNut@rawkhawk64@Gentlemanvaultboy@Scarifar@Bartimaeus

"Necromancer? How droll..." This new one might be more of a threat. He tried to direct the draugr after him instead... but it no longer obeyed. He grit his teeth behind the mask. "How unfortunate." Well, the boy wasn't entirely wrong. The dead and dying made excellent tools.

Another glowing circle was weaved into the air before shooting out. The whole room flashed as the current ran through it. The cultists that had been dropped by Ulf began to squirm and then pick themselves up. So did the doctor they'd killed on the way in. Lying not far from Kheraket's feet, he lunged at his ankles to try and hold him in place. The doctor's face was blank, eyes still frozen wide open. It did not seem like they'd been raised, but still they moved to attack. Two of the cultists were directed to slow Ulf while the rest rushed at Kheraket.

The Arena

@Gentlemanvaultboy@RoflsMazoy

There hadn't been many cultists in the stands. The few that had risked going out in the open were soon caught off guard by the gravity girl's abilities. Most of the rest retreated back to the shadows, forcing a lot of the reinforcing vigilante's to chase them out into the city.

"When champions fall, you instead call upon... children?" The masked man lowered his hand. The ominous lightning still crackled above him, but its growth stalled for the time being. As powerful as he was, he could see Alto's blade. An ability like that might still harm him if he just took it. He tilted his head back and forth, watching the small army of vigilante's spread. They would feel like heroes. They'd feel like they won. For the moment. "Very well, I will entertain you for a moment. You children like games, right? Survive for two minutes and I won't tear that ship out of the sky and bring it and everyone on it to a fiery death."

Well, if it hung around too long it'd be destroyed anyway.

Royal Rumble: Side-story

Kakra stared at the floating heart, almost ready for another fight before Alexei announced himself. "I'm fine..." she grumbled. She then walked over to him and snatched the stone heart out of his hands. "Quit it, that's creepy." She turned it over once or twice, feeling the life still thrumming from it. Her grip tightened around it, but not enough to even come close to damaging it. She wasn't quite that strong anyway... yet.

He'd stolen from her, attacked her, tried to kill her... and then he'd mumbled some half-assed apology out of nowhere and turned to dust before she could get revenge and break him herself. How was she supposed to vent her frustrations now?! She grit her teeth and growled.

"You... you..." Her body trembled. "PRICK!" she spun around and just chucked the rock with all her might. He was a rock, he'd probably be fine, right?

Ivan was flung directly into a bird that was flying overhead at that moment. Wait, no, it wasn't a bird. It was Nidgardt. Kakra's jaw dropped in shock as she pelted him almost full force with Ivan's heart. "O...oops..." she swallowed hard. "I uh... I'm uhh... H-hey Gregor! Where'd you go!?" she glanced about nervously before running off in the general direction of where she'd last seen him.

She completely forgot Alexei was there -- him being invisible and all.

Kakra Remaining Time: 6m

Royal Rumble!

The Arena

@Gentlemanvaultboy@RoflsMazoy

In the arena itself, a tall, muscular masked man strode onto the field. One of his massive hands was wrapped around the face of a limp security guard. If one were to trace the man's steps back, they'd find a trail of bodies wearing similar uniforms.

"Damnation!" Up in the stands, Gloria had been trying to make sense of things. Too much had happened, but now she had a clear target that outweighed everything else. "Adenium, make sure all these kids get out of here! I'll handle this one!" She vaulted over the stands, making the long drop to the arena floor unscathed. She quickly made her way over to the hulking, masked man.

He dropped the guard as he saw Gloria storming toward him. Demonic runes crawled across his skin in preparation.

"Well, don't you look... saintly-" The man was cut off, as Gloria wasn't playing. A spear-like beam of light suddenly shot down from above and pierced through his torso. Two more shot through his arms, effectively crucifying him. The beams of light did not actually cut through their target, but they did hurt and hold them still.

Holy symbols shone into existence around Gloria's gauntlets, like circular holograms. She flew at the masked man, pulverizing his helpless form. With each punch, a section of the demonic runes disintegrated. It ended with one titanic punch that blasted him away, crashing into the arena wall.

He slumped over, falling to his hands and knees. Gloria closed in on him again, preparing one, final punch to end him. Her fist descended, but it was caught, his hand gripping her wrist firmly.

"Such holiness. You think it gives you the advantage? You will find the body of one who has walked among them is not so easily broken." The man rose once more, towering over her. "What you hold is not a counter to mine. It is simply the opposite. It may cleanse... or corrupt." The holy symbols began to burn and waver, before simply flickering out like dying fireflies.

"What?!" Gloria couldn't believe her own eyes, it was as if watching the very nature of her being become nullified in the face of the very thing it was meant to strike down.

The masked man threw his head back and inhaled. He then surged forward and let out something between a scream and roar. Ominous, orangey light poured from the holes in his mask and the very fabric of reality seemed to buckle. Gloria was sent careening away, landing in a ditch dug by her own body on impact. The world seemed to spin as Gloria tried to regain her senses. She soon realized it wasn't her, but that something was very wrong with the area around her. She clutched at the icon over her chest and chanted under her breath. Slowly she felt her power begin to reawaken after what the man had done to her.

She looked up, seeing him a fair ways away, but within one blink he suddenly stood before her. Her eyes shot wide before everything went dark, his fist crashing down, sending ripples through reality once more as it did.

"Almost, sister... almost." Faintly still did her sides still rise and fall with her breaths, but she wasn't getting up again any time soon. "The next few moments will decide your fate, then."

He strode back to the center of the arena, the runes once more adorning his skin. He lifted a hand to the sky and burning lightning cracked above him. It was time to make a statement.

Royal Rumble!

With Andreim & Lise

@Dezuel@Crowvette

The empowered cultists were clearly caught off guard. Neither had expected the massive vortex to sprout from a mouthy teenager. One was caught like a deer in the headlights, while the other actually managed to take action. He split into two, one copy of him sprinting clear while the other threw the less fortunate member clear. The copy itself however was caught in the vortex, sucked helplessly into Andreim's high temperature cutting attack. The other copy seemed to twitch and then straighten up upon the other copy being destroyed.

The one who had been flung clear got up and a fire sprung from his hands. It was oddly reminiscent of the imp fireballs from the abandoned building. He flung two balls of fire at Andreim in retaliation. Meanwhile, the copy-man split now into five, one hanging back while the other four closed in on Andreim and Lise.

The Medical Pavilion

@AtomicNut@rawkhawk64@Gentlemanvaultboy@Scarifar

It was truly unfortunate for the cultist that the beaten and battered kids in the tent had happened to be a bit more mobile than he had expected. The second the door flap shut behind him, the inky tentacles wrapped around him, binding his mouth and limbs. He could only let out muffled screams as then the hulking, undead berserker rose up before him.

The silence was shattered as a shattered body was flung from the "quiet" room. The other four cult members ran over. One was almost immediately cut down as Ulf tore out of the doorway. They were like chaff, being torn apart one after the other in the confined space by the mad draugr. The leader remained calm, however.

"How interesting that one among you children holds dominion over the dead..." he muttered under his mask as Ulf charged him. "But... your hold is weak." He could tell this draugr had a mind of its own, however weak the threads of sanity in its rotting skull were. Burning sparks flew from his hands as he traced a circle in the air before him. As Ulf ran through the rune, he skidded to a halt. Burning cracks spread along Ulf's body, and he slowly turned about with jerky, robotic movements. "Do not worry children, I assure you my control is much firmer than yours. I will try to leave you alive... for the time being."

Royal Rumble!

Clara

@Hammerman@Gentlemanvaultboy

Clara narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at Christine's words.

"I have no intention of letting this parasite infecting your sister out of my sight, Christine. It is a demon. If you cannot remain objective in this situation, perhaps you should not be involved," Clara told her. "It escaped once and I will not let it happen again."

To Clara's surprise, Rurik was actually keeping the demon's attention. As far as actually fighting it went, he was doing just awful. His face was bruised and bloodied, but somehow he only seemed more determined at the moment. That said, at this rate he'd just get beaten down again before the demoness actually had to exert herself...

How disappointing.

Even Yuuto was struggling. Not as much as Rurik, but far more than she would have expected considering his opponent's weapon of choice was... a water hose?

Royal Rumble!

@Gentlemanvaultboy

---

Rurik thought he might've actually blacked out this time. The beating must have stopped before it did permanent damage though, because he came to soon enough. The demoness seemed distracted for a moment, she he began feebly crawling away. He made it a few feet before he just stopped, needing a moment to breathe.

He lay there on his back staring up at the slowly darkening sky.

He was trying to remember what he was hoping to accomplish here. He had a vague notion that he'd wanted to help Christine... and so what was he doing? There was a reason he just didn't... do things. You didn't get to decide if you succeeded, life did. And life always turned on you.

The fall hurt less if you didn't climb too high to begin with.

So what the hell was he doing here, half-assing it and getting his ass handed to him? What did that accomplish? Why had he even let Christine into his life to begin with? He told himself it was what it was when she would finally, inevitably, drop him, but part of him wondered if he'd survive the landing intact.

Knowing all that, knowing it was inevitable, why was he trying to drag it out? He was garbage and she wasn't. He was supposed to be OK with that. He'd wanted that safe, shallow existence where he'd never fear walking off another cliff. That was who he wanted to be -- who he was.

Even the demoness knew it.

And that really...

really...

really...

Rurik shot up onto his feet like a vampire rising from it's coffin.

"So... it's really you deep down after all, huh Kath?" Rurik stared her down right in the eyes. "Yeah, you're so far above me so it's up to you whether or not I'm good enough for her, right? Well get over it already, I'm not going anywhere. But hey," Rurik pointed at his forehead with his thumb, "maybe if you hit me hard enough I'll forget all about her." And then he shoved his hands in his pockets and he let every ounce of resentment he'd stored up toward Kath over the years show on his face. "But I don't think you've got it in you."

Royal Rumble!

@Gentlemanvaultboy

---

Rurik was probably more surprised than the demoness that his punch had actually hit her. Though, quite frankly, he was pretty sure it had hurt him more than her. There was a reason bare-knuckle punching someone in the face was frowned upon -- too many bones.

And then he choked when the demoness grabbed his neck and swung him about as if she intended to thoroughly scramble him. In desperation he tried to shoot her, but his bolts flew off in random directions, far wide of her as he was shaken back and forth. Before he just blacked out, he was able to focus enough to realize that he didn't have to hit her, just make her let go. He focused his energy and fired at her wrist which being attached to him by her hand, was a much easier target.

It was just enough to break free by forcing her hand off of him. He fell to the ground and frantically crawled away. He tried to fire off more bolts behind him, but his vision swam and those went wide as well. He stopped and steadied himself, finally managing to take aim and fire two bolts directly at her... but at this point he'd expended too much energy without stopping to recharge. The bolts were weak.

He probably should spent that time getting back to his feet. If he even could. He tried to push himself up, but his legs felt like rubber.