TheHangedMan

Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

@Eklispe

Sol the Windblade's Exam

"Hmm, yes, I see. You're a fairly simple one. No unusual talents or abilities; just simple strength," said the Skeleton. It was not in any way mocking, just an honest observation. "Not that such is a bad thing. Too many people on the field of battle have favored parlor tricks over true strength and have consequently fallen. Some times the simplest strengths are the best ones."

The Skeleton cut of his musings before abruptly disappearing from Sol's sight. Now, the massive Skeleton stood behind him, his billowing cape the only sign that he had moved at all. Asides from that, he made no other movement simply standing straight and looking at Sol impassively.

"That much, I can attest to."

---

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin groggily recognized the ground falling underneath her, before abruptly reappearing above her, and realized she should probably do something.

She drew the best rune she could, it was a rune that symbolized movement. Normally, Meruin would use it to teleport or to move out of the way quickly, but with that electric fence around her, she changed her mind. The rune graphed itself into the rock, and promptly sent the rock flying back to its caster.

Meruin still had a thousands of moves planned ahead, and was more than ready to act on them when her body froze and she collapsed into the ground.

"Eh . . . ? My body won't liste . . . n . . ."

The last thin Meruin could remember was her arm trying feebly to draw another rune.

Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

@Dash375 & @floodtalon

"None of my business why you lot like fighting," said the bartender with a cheeky grin. "All I know is that it tends to bring teachers, teachers and students both. Nice bit of headache that's best curable with alcohol."

The bartender flicked her left hand and tossed the bottle of white wine that suddenly appeared into her right, twirling it around before pouring its contents into a crystal wine glass. She slid it towards Chen, before turning to get hit by Sandra's barrage of questions.

"Whoa, whoa there lassie. Now, if you're refferin' to Chen here," she said, raising her arms up placatingly, giving Sandra an amused smirk while jabbing a thumb to the boy, "nah, he ain't a teacher. As for if he's the strongest or not, well, I can't rightly answer that without havin' a right old argument with a good portion of the room, an' as for whether or not I'm strong, well . . . I dunno; never been much o' a fighter myself - I prefer partying and drinking - but I ain't ever lost a fight either. I can say for sure that I'm not any weaker than your exam proctors though."

Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

@Eklispe

Sol the Windblade's Exam

The Skeleton stood stock still, the red pinpricks of his eyes gazing steadily as Sol rushed towards him. The sword swung and smashed against ivory bone, and stopped. The skeleton merely stared down on Sol, his axe shifting only slightly, to adjust it to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. The Skeleton clacked his jaws, as if making a 'tsk' sound, in absence of a tongue to do it with. Somewhere in the crowd of skeletons, one of them crumbled into dust. The blood on the axe began moving erratically, moving across the surface of his arm, travelling upwards before stopping.

---

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin was breathing heavily. Her vision blurred, and her legs wouldn't obey her and stop shaking. And yet . . . and yet . . .

This is so . . .

"Exciting."

Though her body was had been abused passed its limit, her mind was in rapture. Never had she once been in earnest combat - lessons with Master Reina were focused on research and the perfection of her spells. Application in battle was merely a footnote, and the most she had come across applying them was during her time with Mistress Chase, and those had never gotten too far. Not once had she been pushed to this extent.

Until now.

"Yes," she murmured. "Yes, this is is quite exciting."

So this was battle. The glory that Mistress Chase had spoken of, the violence that Master Reina had condemned as brutish and yet with an undercurrent of longing. This was what it meant to fight in earnest!

Somewhere, in Meruin's luggage, a book snapped open as a marking inscribed itself on the very first page.

Meruin's answer to her examiners question came in the form of a spell. A bolt of lightning shot forward from a rune drawn in the air, directed at him. The power behind it was unimpressive, but the speed in which it was cast and thrown were that as of true lightning. Meruin, her breathes labored and her shoulders trembling and her knees shaking looked up at her foe, and her face was that of pure, undiluted joy.

With the face of an expectant child, Meruin's eye's shone with an intense light.

"Please, show me," she rasped. "Show me more . . . of what battle is like."

---

@Dash375

The bartender gave Sandra a wide grin, before flicking her hand; out of nowhere, a glass of red wine rested on top of it. With much flourish, the lady slid the glass towards her, without spilling so much as a drop of it. "Don't worry 'bout the pay, lass, Chen," she said, jabbing a thumb towards the boy observing the fight closely, "over there has kindly paid for a few rounds of free drinks." She was referring to, of course, the generous amount he had surrendered for a drink.

"Anyway, that was a good job of the leprechaun. He's not the biggest fish in this sea, but he's still pretty big . . . er, relatively speaking of course." Swiping a bottle of vodka out of thin air, the bartender took a swig of it, before tossing it backwards haphazardly, where it promptly vanished and reappeared on a shelf three feet away. "Lotsa you fighting types come this time around, I see. I reckon your batch of students are gonna be a real fireworks factory. Ah well, least it won't be boring all around, and 'sides, fightin's good for business."

Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

@Eklispe

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin took a deep breath. It was now or never. The key to success was in the timing.

She dove towards the earth, ignoring everything around her, focusing only on the spell - no, focusing only on her inner world, what she had created there, and the means by which she could unleash it upon the world.

The blood she had spilled had heightened her magical powers immensely, yet that also meant that she had lost a considerable amount, for it to be so. Still, there was a technique she had fashioned in the midst of battle, a tactic devised solely to take advantage of this.

The fireball spells she had launched earlier were markers - indicators to test how powerful her spells had become, while also concealing another spell inside of them. The fireballs had become fuses that would light up any source of overwhelming magic, converting it into a massive, mana-dissolving explosion. Magic would crumble to nothingness, and the force from the explosion would dwarf any of her previous spells. There was only one safe place from it:

At the center of the explosion itself.

And so, Meruin dove towards the replica, touching it with a runed, outstretched hand. The rune spread towards its whole body, reshaping it, becoming a bomb.

And the world was bathed in bright green as magic dissolved and power rocked the world around them.

At its center was Meruin. Though her wounds had healed, thanks to the power of her converted blood, she was dangerously pale, and obviously fatigued. She had never gone through this much physical activity before, and she was also low on blood.

---

Sol the Windblade's Exam

A deep, rumbling sound was heard as the Skeleton King mulled over what to do next. Sitting straight up, the Skeleton looked directly at Sol, with dark eyes that's depths shone with a deep ruby red. He walked down from his throne, and hush fell on the crowd. Fo the fairy trailed off after him, looking curious as to what would happen next.

"I hereby declare, in my capacity as proctor for Mana-Script Academy, that Sol the Windblade's Exam be null and renewed. Subsequently, I declare his exam to begin once more, right now in earnest!"

With his declaration, a large battle-axe, fell from the sky, smashing into the ground in front of him, planting itself firmly. The weapon was a thing of wonder - made with pure white bone that glistened unnaturally. The blade was dark purple, however it's tips were a rusted red. The skeleton gripped his weapon, and blood began dripping from the edges, sliding into his hand.

Zetsuko's unconscious form, meanwhile, was being dragged out of the ring by a horde of undead. It was an eerie sight, especially so since it was done in utter silence, with all the attention focused on the two on the ring. They tossed Zetsuko into a swirling, dark-red void, whereupon he now landed right on top of a chair next to Chen, face down. _@floodtalon

The skeleton stepped towards Sol and rose to his full height - a towering 13ft - and brandished the large axe. "My wife shall be judge and referee of this battle. Conditions for victory is simply this: he who surrenders first, loses."

Fo took his seat on the throne, perching at the very top. With a nod, she raised her hands and brought it down with a chopping motion.

The battle had begun.

---

@The ghost in black

Aleksandra

There was a titanic clash, a deafening roar as their respective powers met, and the light that exploded from their meeting. Power enveloped the stadium, and everything went white, before the world faded to blackness . . .

It was at this point that she woke up.

Currently, she was laying down on the stadium, with the lap of the Woman as a cushion. The woman in question was looking down on her with what looked to be mirth and incredulity.

"I'm pleased to announce that you've passed your exam," she said, without preamble, "unfortunately, it was not with flying colors, as you might have wished. You will be disappointed, perhaps, once your results come out, but do know that this was a fair judgement."

The Woman nodded towards the arena, where the Silver Titan stood triumphant over his fallen foe, large, iron shoulder hefting with each fatigued breath. The Golden Titan was noticeably bruised all over, and what appeared to be the killing blow was the dent formed around his chest - still, one of his hands seemed to be warped beyond recognition, with the damage spreading straight upwards his arm.

"Your efforts managed to completely wreck his arm. It was thanks to that the Silver one was able to claim victory," she explained. "That is how you passed, and yet, you picked what was probably the worst solution to passing, which was fighting them directly. There were so many things you could have done: act as a referee, whilst setting rules that tilted the advantage to the other side slightly. Tripping them when least expected then retreating - anything but fighting.

"I understand that you see yourself as a guardian, a protector, but I want you to consider what it means to take up that role. It's not all about strength. A protector is also a mediator; not everything can be solved with strength alone. Do you understand?"

While she was speaking, the stadium around them sunk into the ground, slowly but surely, with mounds of sand taking their place. Soon, nothing left remained of the battleground, not even the Titans, and around them was a vast, sweeping desert. The only structure that stood was a bronze gate, with depictions of warriors new, old, and coming, engaging in bloodshed. The gate's doors were open, and yet they led to nothing, showing only the desert behind it.

"In any case, that gate is opening to the school. Feel free to leave, when you are ready."

Hogwarts: Call of Darkness [Full]

_{@LordofthePies & @Madly33}

Karen nodded. No point in denying the obvious: she was new to the sensation of having to interact with other children her age. "I am, though I'm hoping to get better with it soon," she said. "Not being able to communicate with others is an oversight that I can't ignore."

As Haley said his thanks, Karen thought there was something a bit strange with his response. "You're welcome," replied Karen primly. "As for my parents, my mother went to Hogwarts, as a Slytherin. My father went to Durmstang, however."

For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that the air had become a bit awkward. Then her mind processed Bishop's words and went back to Hayes's introduction.

Oh my god . . .

If her face had flushed red earlier, then right now, it was doing a good job of imitating a tomato. She scarcely heard the lady offering them sweets and simply replied with dull, wide-eyed nod. Forcing herself to look Hayes in the eye, she began stammering out an apology, before catching herself and forcing herself to calm down.

Inhale. Exhale.

"Mm . . . Hayes, I apologize for . . . getting your name wrong. I won't do it again, I swear."

Not even a day in and she had already screwed up; not quite the auspicious start she was hoping for.

Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

@Eklispe wait does this mean that the real one is floating above Meruin?

Hogwarts: Call of Darkness [Full]

@Madly33 Still waitin' for a reply m8

Faces In The Shadows

Bump-de-hump

Hogwarts: Call of Darkness [Full]

@LordofthePies Whoops, yeah. Missed an 'l' there. Fixed that :3

Hogwarts: Call of Darkness [Full]

_{@Madly33 & @LordofthePies}

Karen smiled back. A smile of full of confidence - about half of it was faked, however, though Karen did a good job of masking it. "It's nice to meet you, Haley, and you as well, Bishop," she nodded towards the other boy in the compartment. "That's an unusual name, though not unpleasant mind you. I like it."

As silence settled down between them, Karen thought that all three of them here were awfully quiet. She'd thought that most other children her age were much chattier. Maybe they were different? Well, time would tell.

The girl flushed visible at Hayes's comment on her dress. As with just talking with her peers, Karen was similarly unused to compliments from them. She nearly began stuttering her response before catching herself and calming down; this was not how she would conduct herself in front of her new acquaintances.

"Ah . . . thank you, Haley," she began. She paused. What should she say now? Did she even have to say anything else? But it felt rude to have to receive a compliment and not say anything in return.

Karen was aware that the silence was stretching into a uncomfortable length, and decided that there wouldn't be any harm in simply returning the compliment: "You look pretty as well."

Everything else aside, it would be awhile before Karen realized she had completely bungled up Hayes's name.