RoflsMazoy

Royal Rumble!

Vanishers 3

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) for Lise, the situation was too serious for Alto to let himself show a reaction. He wordlessly shrugged off his blazer and passed it off to her without so much as a second look. Perhaps if the fate of 7 more students and even more students he'd personally sent into danger weren't in direct questioning right about now, he'd have allowed the time for a better reaction.

A small orb of light appeared in his open palm and formed into a blade.

"How many enemies?" He asked Lise.

@Crowvette

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, Round 4

A new cascade of cheering signaled the end of the current round of the tournament. 16 18 fighters reduced to 8. Not many were so brazen to just step in like Masami and Andras were, so the rest of the fighters had advanced the normal way.

"Alriiiight people! Round 2 is starting in 2 minutes! Take a drink, get a snack, and bunch up for the next round!" The MC announced. It looked as if there was some breathing room now, although for a couple of the fighters they didn't bother with much of a break. They just stood in the ring waiting for the next opponent.

The brackets had pictures pasted of the fighters pasted on, except for Masami and Andras of course. Their next opponent's name was Aegus Reister.

(Looks like this

It didn't seem like he'd taken many hits. None the worse for wear after his first round.
@rawkhawk64@Bartimaeus@Letter Bee

Royal Rumble!

"There was a time for emotions, and it was as unnecessary then as it is now. Do you ask me to feel responsible for someone I didn't know? For events I could not have controlled?" Alto said.

Alto was under the impression a police officer of all people would know when to set aside emotion.

"It was no simple murder, but neither was it a complex one either," Alto began. "Of course there were more conjectures to be drawn afterward. But none of them have significance or relevance."

This wasn't a simple murder, and but it wasn't complex. There was only one real conclusion, but there were too many unknowns. This was no locked room murder in an isolated castle in a storm. Of the many hypotheses one could make, many would be less likely than another, but none of them were more likely than the other.

"Judging by your statements on 'effectiveness'... I would say you would know more about these attacks than I would." Alto said suggestively. "We have said time and time again. St. Laurel's Academy bears his name only. I, as Student Council President, can attest to this with absolute certainty. That the attacker was one of our enemies is up for question. There are none of them who would act in such a manner in broad daylight, nor none of them who would have the open willingness to do such a thing."

"Now if we're finished, I have much more immediate matters to attend to."
@Letter Bee@Scarifar

---

"Assistance? I don't think such a thing is necessary," Clara said.

She had confidence in her Student Committee, but even if they lost it wouldn't hinder her plans so much.

"Act at your own discretion. There are enemies here, but they don't need to be yours or mine."
@rawkhawk64

Royal Rumble!

"...Then you would do well to read my witness report." Alto said, glancing over his shoulder.

Alto was almost perplexed by such questioning from Alexander. Of course, he had been questioned as a witness a little after the murders had occurred. He was 'close' to several of the victims, although his definition of close most likely differed from the others. His report had been as thorough as he'd judged a witness account would need to be. Any elements of the attack witnessed: No. Conjecture on the part of the killer: No certain ideas, many possibilities. Any possible reason for the attack: No certain ideas, many possibilities.

It was vague in summary. However, his conjectures had been fairly detailed. However, it was noted by many people that Alto had not been affected by the deaths as much as anyone else. That's why Alto wasn't exactly perplexed. In fact, he had almost been waiting for someone to ask such a thing, but he had other matters to deal with at this point in time.

"There is nothing else I could say. If you of all people have not had made any progress in such an investigation, how would I know any more?" He asked.

@Letter Bee@Scarifar

Royal Rumble!

Secret Messages

A black crow, a red shoe box, and a puzzle cube. What did all these have in common? Messages from Mephisto. Something a very select few were aware of, objects nearby which would normally have escaped notice, marked by red lightning. Messages for certain people in certain places. Just as it was for Kūgekino Yuuto.

A simple missive, Watch her in my absence. From a man behind bars, a simple, straightforward request. The reward? Well, anything.

It was interesting to watch the reactions of the people who were told it by that man. There was such an air of confidence about him that it made you think he could really find anything in the world to give it to you. It felt like it wasn't whether he could or not, but whether he would or not. There had not been many people willing to test such a thing, however.

The reward was as such each time.

There was only one person who could be the target for this message, his daughter, Clara Deimos Erdrigan. After all, she was the driving force behind his arrest. It could be anything but frivolous. She was plotting something, perhaps. But whether that was in Mephisto's concern was not something to care about.

@rawkhawk64

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, Round 1.5

"Give it up folks, for Danny the Thundercloud's round 2!" The MC shouted as the crowd cheered. "Start in 3, 2, 1! Go!"

A low-res looking gun materialized into her hand, and she fired into the air to signal the start of the match.

Danny immediately began to rush in. His thundercloud flew ahead of him, headed straight for Andras.

Andras picked out one of her spells and with a flourish, tossed it into the air. She thought of the friends she would call upon to cast this spell, and murmured to herself, "I invoke the magic of mountains, heed my call."

The card she had chosen shone brightly for a moment, before bursting into... An unsightly creature. Its skin was green, its stature short, and it was cursing and flailing tattered bits of cloth, barely managing to hover in place. It was nothing other than a goblin with a makeshift set of wings.

Andras gripped another card in her hand, and pointed at Danny, commanding the goblin to block him. 'If he does anything to the goblin, I'll just offer it up to summon my next creature.' Andras thought, smiling a little to herself. The Goblin swooped down to intercept Danny.

"Hey, that's no fun!" Danny shouted, his Thundercloud rising above the goblin. "Strike!"

A bolt of lightning shot out. The storm's trail now extended upwards.

Andras grinned as she saw Danny direct an attack towards the goblin. Normally, summoning a creature requires time and at least part of a chant, but some... Had their own ways of appearing. One such was a powerful monster that Andras called upon. 'Patron,' she thought. 'I offer to you this creature.'

The spell registered instantly, and another card disappeared from her hand. Summoned from the card, a large and menacing rock worm rose from out the ground, snapping up the flying goblin. It crashed against the ground, sitting between Danny and Andras. Around it, otherworldly fires seemed to blaze.

Andras laughed, covering her eyepatch with one hand. "Behold! The legendary spirit who watches over the Akki!"

Danny laughed even louder.

"Now THIS is what I'm talking about!" He shouted.

He kicked off the ground and leaped high into the air. He left a trail of electricity in the air as he jumped. He brought his hands up into a double-handed smash as the worm reared its ugly head. He came down on it, and a large amount of electricity passed from his fists into the worm.

The crowd went wild. It was one of Danny's signature moves, a sort of human thunderstrike. The electricity in his fists carried the same amount of power as a thunderbolt from his cloud.

Whether or not it felled the worm was a different question, however.

The great worm roared in pain as the shock ran through its body. "Tch. Not bad." She said to nobody in particular. She briefly considered how much that would have hurt if she was the one taking it.

'The Patron is pretty hurt. If I attack with it... It probably won't survive any counterattack.' Andras thought, her mind racing. 'But given its power... That might be fine.'

"O Patron, show him the spirits' rage!" Andras made a quick (but overall unnecessary) gesture to direct the attack.

The wounded spirit-worm reared up, the spectral flames surrounding it flaring up. Showing a sudden dexterity, it quickly whipped around, attempting to hit Danny with a sudden crashing blow to the side, augmented by the ghostly fire that surrounded the worm.

Danny saw the attack coming, and wrapped his arms around the worm as it struck. It was way too wide to get even a good enough breadth around it to hold onto, but his grip was strong.

"Ow!" Danny shouted, thrashing his feet up. There was fire, after all.

Electricity was streaming into the worm, but not with as much intensity as before. It seemed to be a more passive ability compared to his punch. In a few moments, the worm would be dead, but there was also the fire.

"Strike!" Danny said. The thundercloud was directly above him, and it struck.

The worm roared, and the fire faded away. It was dead it would seem.

Danny landed on the ground, hair and clothes singed in a lot of places, and he seemed unsteady.

"I... forgot," He said. "I'm not immune to my own lightning..."

And then he fell.

Andras watched Danny fall. At the same time, the Patron was unable to maintain its material form, and dissolved into the same golden specks of light that the cards seemed to be made of.

Andras posed triumphantly, letting her cards float around her once again. "A worthy challenger... But I am the winner." After a few moments of silence, she opened her eye and looked at Danny. "Hey... Are you alright?" Her concern broke her cool facade.

"Hahahaha... no." Danny croaked, then he passed out.

"...Make way," Jokey said. It seemed like he'd swapped out his cap for a medical worker hard-hat. There was an actual medic as well, carrying a stretcher between them, and an ambulance nearby which had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

They loaded Danny onto the stretcher and shuffled off for the ambulance, the thundercloud following them all the while.

"And it seems we have a winner!" The MC announced. She squinted at the tournament board. "Next match, &ras VS, Massami!"

@Crowvette @Bartimaeus

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, Round 1

"Hey hey! We've got two new challengers!" A voice shouted from some loud speakers.

The source of it was a figure standing on a nearby makeshift stage. There were a lot of laptops surrounding them, and music blaring out of the loudspeakers on the platform. She was wearing loud clothes and headphones around her neck. It seemed like she was the MC for the night. The Midnight tournament had a few regulars on call for these kinds of things and they all tended to operate differently.

"Pencil 'em in, Jokey boy!" She said. Off to the side, there was normal looking guy with a cap, standing next to a roll out whiteboard like one you'd see in a classroom. The tournament brackets were written on it with whiteboard marker.

"They haven't payed up though, isn't that not allowed?" The guy said.

"Oh come on, Jokey! You really gotta suck the fun outta everything like that?!" The MC shouted over the music. "Just put 'em up! If they win, they don't pay!"

"You can't have two winners, dumbass." Jokey grumbled, but he proceeded to put them on the board.

He very clearly spelled the names wrong and put them in a really badly drawn square and linked them to the tree in front of where Danny was. It looked as if Danny had cleared the first round. In the other squares there were other combatants fighting as well.

"You've got some spirit on ya, huh?!" Danny said, grinning ear to ear.

He was ready in a boxer's stance. The last fight had gone on for a little bit, and he was coming in without rest. He didn't look tired, but time would tell.

"Come at me!" He said, rushing forward.

@Crowvette@Bartimaeus

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, Start!

The streets of Rhea were always busy throughout the day, but like any other city, as the night drew in, the din of traffic quieted further and further. Eventually, when the streetlights turned off in the dark before the dawn, it would herald the true silence before another day in Rhea, but for some of the students of Rhea, dawn may well be a lifetime away.

In the centre of a certain park in Rhea, the sound of cheering could be heard. There were many arenas in Rhea, but this one was special in a way. It was only a collection of legal 'battle-zones', but it was the unofficial arena for the Midnight Tournament.

The Midnight Tournament was also an unofficial tournament, relatedly, and sort of a secret. Instead of ranking, winners received cold hard cash, which kind of wasn't legal because a while ago a bunch of them turned out to be massive money laundering rings, but recently they were coming back into fashion, so it seemed like that law might be changed pretty soon.

The Midnight Tournament still wasn't legal, but it was mostly just young punks looking for a little fun. The money came from those who were participating, and it was all gathered on the night. The organizers never really showed up, which made it sort of mysterious. The dates tournaments happened seemed to be random, and the venue was never usually official, or booked in an official capacity. It sort of just spread through word of mouth, or online, and people came.

The cheers escalated and a student was thrown out of the ring by a blast of lightning. Danny "Thundercloud" Olson, having earned his nickname for the black floating thundercloud which followed him around, as a part of his blessing.

"C'mon, who's next?!" He shouted.

Royal Rumble!

@Renny Oh alrighty then. :( Good luck on whatever you do in the future!

Royal Rumble!

Vanishers 2

King put a finger to his lips and slowly backed away into the apartment room. A few seconds later, the faint sounds of breaking glass could be heard.
@Bartimaeus@rawkhawk64

Down below...

Alto Ganze was finally here. Even after completing his duties as quickly as he could, it'd taken him until now to arrive, and that was for a reason.

He had more to do than just find the students, he had to find out why they were in such a place. Each student was similar in the same way. They were all the bad kind of students, habitually truant, borderline failing certain classes amongst other things. Friends of theirs had all noted a disdain for the system.

From what he could tell, however, was that these students hadn't had extended contact with one another before their disappearance. They hadn't met together during school times, but it was possible they met out of school time, but what kind of reason would they have never told their friends about it? There were many possibilities, and many of them weren't very wholesome.

A black limousine was parked in the vicinity, with windows tinted black. It contained some first aid supplies, enough room for 12 in the back, and the driver who had been sworn to secrecy. A little bit of the Ganze family assets Alto had access to.

He squared his resolve and went to enter the building, when suddenly a voice said something from above.

"Hey, do we get a reward for this?" King said, floating down to the ground with the student slumped over his shoulder still.

"King..." Alto said.

"I'm assuming these guys are what you're here for, right?" King continued. "You've got first aid kits, right? These guys might need something a bit stronger."

King patted the back of the student but he didn't stir. He was still breathing, however, so he was most definitely alive. Alto nodded towards the limousine, and its driver came out. King handed over the student, and the driver took him back to the limousine. The driver was a licensed medic, so the student was in good hands.

"If it's within my power, I'll have the adacemy provide payment for the Vigilantes." Alto said.

"Alright, need a lift by the way? There's a lot happening on the third floor." King said, already starting to lift off of the ground.

"I'll pass," Alto said, grimacing at the prospect.

King would have to lift him or give him a piggy-back ride, and doubtlessly he had suggested as such purely for his own amusement.

"Suit yourself," King said, lifting up into the air. The whole exchange had taken about 5 minutes or so. If nothing had conspired within that time frame, perhaps King's absence wouldn't even be noticed.

Meanwhile, Alto entered the apartment building. He had work to do today, and he needed to start now.