The Devil Kings' Domains

"Heretic and last of the stain of the Darkness, have you any last words before your infernal spirit is sent screaming back down to the Underworld?" A stern and elderly priest enrobed in white silk raiments and gold chains smirked down at the last Devil King, pinned to the bedrock by his hands and legs with blessed silver stakes. "Your kind will now finally cease to exist with your death, and Light shall finally triumph over Darkness! Speak now or forever hold your tongue, Rubis Shannaro!" Surrounding the two were a ring of heavily armored Inquisitors and Archmages, the former leveling crossbows at the pinned figure and the latter ready to immolate with arcane flames.

The pained figure simply smirked balefully at these so called "champions of justice", blood dribbling down his bruised and cut face. He did not look anything like a demon save for his eyes which shone as brightly as the red jewels they were named after, and more like a hawkish old man that was currently sporting quite a few injuries. He was skinny and wore rags that showed off his emaciated frame, a leftover from the tortures he was subjected to. And now he was dragged out for a public execution, right before the most powerful people in the capital of light. The fat king and his brood, loathsome tyrants who heavily taxed the people to grease the hands of the adventurers. The nobles who similarly did so to host decadent balls and parties, viewing the commoners as no more than slaves. And the Church, who cut down any that dared not follow the Pantheon of Light.

Yes, it was all worth it. Amidst the sneers and jeers and being pelted with rotten fruit, the elder Devil King activated his final gift to the world. "Shannaro..." The old man rasped, now sporting a full on manic grin that had projectiles and fire hurled at him. "SURPRISE!" Then, as his life was ended by the attacks, the magic bomb embedded in his heart activated and destroyed the surrounding area for a mile around in a flash of brief but supremely intense azure fire that seared even the clouds and razed the land in a perfect circle of that distance. Nothing but superheated dust was to be found at ground zero, with the only traces of the victims to be found as faint outlines on the ground or whatever remained of the stone walls. The first part of his plan had worked even with his death, crippling the forces of Light. A hundred of the most powerful people of the most powerful country was taken out in one fell swoop by his hellfire bomb, which paved the way for the restoration of Darkness. On to phase two...

On a parallel planet connected vaguely to the world where the last Maou spitefully blew himself and a hundred of the most prominent and powerful of his enemies, various people going about their day would notice something definitely out of place as they lived their daily life. No matter how much they blinked or rubbed their eyes, a translucent blue text box was following their line of sight. On it was a simple sentence that would change their lives significantly. It read as followed: [Do you want to be a Devil King -Y/N]

edited 23rd Jan '15 8:17:21 PM by Makaioh

Jack hated to close the shop early, but today wasn't a day that would turn a profit. All day, he had been followed around by peculiar blue box that has a simple to question on it. Jack was unsure if what he saw was a hallucination or a real thing and was to scared to touch it and find out.

The box itself was not as interesting as the question. Jack had no idea what a "Devil King" is, but knows that all deals are worth considering. He took a deep breath and told himself "Think of this as any other deal. What is the price and what is the profit?" Too bad that he didn't know either of those things. After several minutes of debate over what to do, he decided that he just wants to know what this box is and where it came from.

"Yes, I would like to be a Devil King."

edited 23rd Jan '15 9:24:26 AM by deadpool616

This thing'd pissed Nex off. Not because it itself was annoying, but it appeared while he was working. Sure, he worked in a simple shopping mall and it wasn't the hardest thing in the world... But it obscured his vision. And you kind of need that if you're placing products in the right place. After about half an hour of people thinking he's crazy for swinging his hands wildly in the air and still not going, he took a deep breath.

"I don't care what in the hell you think you are, but you came at a very, very bad time. Want me to become a Devil king, whatever that may be? Fine. I'll become one. Let's see what happens huh?" The blonde snapped, if he finds whoever made this thing appear in front of him would-

edited 24th Jan '15 1:30:34 AM by Nickpws

"I can assure you, mister Allen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your eyes."

George thanked the optometrist and left. Over the course of the morning, he'd ruled out hallucinations, pranks, stress, hangovers and finally eye damage. There was really only one more explanation left. The most illogical one, but in the words of the great sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". In other words, there truly was an invitation to becoming a Demon King.

To his best efforts, George had taken some time trying to research it (which was hard, because of the text box), but there wasn't any. In the first place, no one had through scientific means ever discovered Demons. However, that only ruled out the existence of demons on this plane of existence. George believed greatly in logic, but the limits of logic meant that the illogical could not be ruled out. Indeed, in this state of affairs, with the evidence literally right in front of his eyes (and refusing to move), the hypothesis was clear: somewhere, either in this world or another, there existed something or someone that had the ability to extend this kind of invitation to him in this manner. Following this, there was no reason to belie what was in front of his eyes.

However, how was he to proceed from here? From his books and electronic sources of information, George had extracted plenty of information about demons from a variety of mythologies around the world, but such a phenomenon as a person being invited to become a Demon King was unheard of. Mostly, demons were troublemakers, the evils of the world and human nature given form and evil purposes. And to a greater or lesser extent, they were perfectly capable of either organizing themselves without human interaction or otherwise preferred a state of disorganization and anarchy.

Furthermore, George was hardly the person any demon would choose as leader. Overall, he preferred to consider himself a friendly and helpful person, although one who above all loved sitting inside with a book. Hardly the kind of person that demons, usually characterized as relying on physical strength or savage shrewdness, would want as King. Unless, of course, they wanted to cover their weaknesses or go for an image change.

However...how could he refuse? An unexplained phenomenon, an unheard-of chance of new knowledge! There was truly only one possible course of action.

First, George made himself a cup of tea. Then he dug out from his closet the sturdy and durable clothes he usually used when his family took him hiking. As the tea went cold, he picked out a few books from his private library and (with a pang of guilt) from the university library. After careful consideration, he elected upon some notebooks and a sketchbook instead of his computer (in case there was no possibility for recharging it). Finally, he wrote a letter and put it on his desk, with a message saying not to read it before a month had passed. And then, as an afterthought, he got some tea and biscuits from the cupboards and put in his bag with the rest.

Finally, he sat down by his desk, bag in his lap. Outside, the birds were singing. The first lectures of the afternoon would soon be starting, students and professors returning from the lunch. If only a fraction of George's hypotheses were correct...that would be enough to change his life completely. He cleared his throat.

"Y. Or, yes-"

John walked into his dorm room at his college, throwing down his backpack and sighing as he looked once more at the text that had appeared in his vision earlier that day. He'd been in the middle of class when it had appeared and he had nearly jumped out of his chair at the sudden words right in front of his face. Now, sitting in his desk chair he contemplated the question. Did he want to be a Devil King? He spoke aloud, glad his roommate wasn't here to see him apparently talking to himself, "Eh, why not? I'll become a Devil King."

Eleanor waved cheerily at her coworker as she entered the main area of the Deerriver Astronomic Observatory. "Hey Jordan!" She called. "You bring stuff for tonight?"

"If by 'stuff' you meant 'marshmallows' then yes. Why exactly are you so cheerful about going hiking in the middle of winter."

Eleanor rolled her eyes and slapped the heavy pack she was wearing. "Just marshmallows? Anyways, we're hardly going far, and seeing the Geminids is totally worth it."

"Eleanor. They come every year." Jordan sighed. "Well, if you insist on dragging enough supplies to survive a minor apocalypse for a hike up to a spot literally within walking distance of work, I won't stop you."

"You couldn't if you tried!" Eleanor grinned, then frowned, waving her hand in front of her face.

Jordan looked at her curiously. "What's wrong? Didn't think you did the hand-flapping."

Eleanor furrowed her brow. "What? Yeah, no, that's not one of my stims. It just - there's something that looks a lot like a text box floating in front of me." She glanced at Jordan's expression. "I swear I'm not lying. It says 'Do you want to be a Devil King? Yin.' No wait, that says 'y/n.' If this is a hallucination, what exactly does my brain think'll happen if I say 'yes'-"

Ellie David could tell you she was an ordered person, thank you for asking. Chaos, weirdness and mystery simply didn't have a place in her compartmentalised world. Her office was the most organised for miles around, even though she occupied it for a mere ten days. She had a reputation for being the sort of bureaucrat you wanted under you, but not as a colleague or a superior — she did excellent work, but held everybody else to a very high standard indeed.
So when a blue box with “Do you want to be a Devil King” plastered on its side appeared before her eyes and would not disappear no matter what she did, she kind of got annoyed.
“Hey, Sharon,” she asked a co-worker, “can you see a blue box around here?”
“No. Are you looking for it?” was the reply, and Ellie sighed.
“Bloody hell. There's one floating, here” — she swiped her hand through the air before her face — “and I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen. “Do you want to be a Devil King?” What sort of stupid question is that? Yes, of course I want to be a Devil King...”

Sitting at her desk was a girl named Rachel who, until she had been rudely woken by the bell, had been having a very nice nap. She asked for five more minutes and when the universe refused to grant her wish she reluctantly stood up and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. When she opened her eyes again there was a small blue box that simply said "[Do you want to be a Devil King -Y/N]" She rubbed her eyes again to try to make it go away but the only result was that she saw some little swimming spots as well as the box. Rachel did a quick assessment of the situation and decided that she wouldn't be this tired if she was still asleep so she should probably get some help before any fairies showed up and started to tell her to burn things. As she started to make her way to the nurses office situated at the exact opposite end of the building her head raced with a million questions, but out of all of them one stood out. "What'll happen if I say yes?"

edited 23rd Jan '15 11:36:30 PM by Yewleaf

A deep sigh escaped Dr. Blackwell as he was dragging himself through the grey and dreary streets of his hometown. Today had not been a pleasant day at the hospital for him. The new guy they had hired was an absolute catastrophe. Not only had he dropped one of the jars containing a preserved brain, spreading foul-smelling cranial tissue everywhere, but he also managed the astoundingly incompetent feat of vomiting into the chest cavity of one of the corpses. How a person like that could ever have become a doctor was beyond Adam. The Pathologist was dearly hoping for this new guy's ineptitude to merely have been the result of stress as the new guy, as he was going to burst an artery if this hindrance would be allowed to continue for much longer. At least he'd have some time to calm down now that he had finished his workload for today. Drearily he unlocked his appartment door, got himself a can of soda from the fridge and sat down in front of his computer. On the flickering screen the character select menu for a very popular MMORPG appeared, displaying an array of fictional heroes Adam had developed. Choosing his undead priest, he soon found himself in this fictional world, completing quests and the like. Suddenly however something unexpected happened. In his field of vision a strange, blue box appeared, offering what appeared to be a quest. However the design of this box did not fit in with the normal design these things had. Had the game been updated without him noticing? Or maybe he had discovered some secret and was the first one to be shown this? Deciding not to worry about it too much, Dr. Blackwell made the choice to simply try it out and see what would happen.

And so he clicked on "Y".

Ran had been her cool-down exercises after her somewhat intense workout session, which had consisted of various kata honed over and over again until the actions were all but instinctive and pulled off in a split second. Anyone could learn martial arts, but only a few could actually take it seriously as the girl did. Martial arts was not just a set of exercises or a way to pull out a can whoop butt on people you don't like.

It was a way of life. It had many philosophies, though the core was to "better one's self". And that was what the third generation Asian American did: continuously practice to keep a healthy mind and body while continuously furthering herself in the Art. Once done, she dried off before shrugging her gray jacket back on and placing her blue beret on her head, since the winds were starting to get chilly to her now cooled down body.

That wasn't to say that she didn't use it for her own advantage every now and then. After all, being fit was a rather attractive side effect of the practice and there WERE plenty of cuties out there that one did want to impress... Slight giggles began emanating from the girl as her mind wandered while her body continued on auto-pilot, thinking of that particular person who worked in that one book store, her newest crush of the week. The girl did enjoy a good ogling every now and then, though she currently had no luck in the romantic department due to being too... overzealous. Like several magical girls from the various media she consumed really, no way were they going to end up with a guy that easily. And that made her a little frustrated.

"Mu..." Then, something blue and square flashed in her vision. Automatically, her hand lashed out in a twisting punch and only when she hit air did she blink in surprise. For what appeared was some sort of holographic text box asking if she wanted to be a Maou... and her fist had firmly struck the button intended for affirmation. "...Wha?" A split second later, something flashed under her foot and she felt the sensation of gravity acting upon her as she fell through a spacial corridor that connected the two worlds with each other.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Even trained martial artists can be surprised, especially when they land bottom first disoriented on rocky cobblestones in what looked to be a paved road that led towards a worn looking castle with its gates all but open. Otherwise, the landscape simply showed a meadow of tough grass and weeds as far as the eyes could see with nothing but hills and the occasional tree around. Looking around, she saw various other holes in the fabric of reality and other figures that had landed. "Owies..." Rubbing her rear end and rebuking herself for being caught off guard, the girl then climbed back up on her feet, before seeing that the evening sky sported two moons: a larger crimson orb that was full, and a smaller blue one that was a crescent.

[You and several others have accepted the proposal and have now been reborn as Devil Kings. You have gained the General Domain of {Overlord}, with the following Fields: {Overlord's Mind} and {Overlord's Body}.] Another floating display then popped up, catching her attention after having replaced the earlier message. Then, more information popped up. [{Overlord's Mind (Passive): Level Max.} Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through as though they are playing a game. Immunity to psychological status effects.] Reading that, Ran then focused her attention on the second box. [{Overlord's Body (Passive): Level Max.} Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a game and grow stronger through various actions.] Unknown to Ran was the fact that ever other prospective Devil Kings was getting the same thing displayed to them.

And then yet another message popped up. [<Tutorial Quest: What the Heck is Going On?!> Journey into the Abandoned Castle for the obligatory exposition and synopsis!] "...Huh." Oddly enough, she wasn't panicking at having been dimensionally kidnapped. Probably the effect of [Overlord's Mind] at work if what she read was true. "Well... I WOULD like to know what's going on..." The girl muttered, though she stayed put for now to look around for what the others would do.

edited 27th Jan '15 11:16:23 AM by Makaioh

"Holy crap, it's an RPG." He fell through the portal with a smile on his face.

edited 27th Jan '15 7:48:29 AM by deadpool616

Nex' eyes whited out for a second as he had to process WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED. Either he's been murdered and this is some form of afterlife, which would be highly unlikely, he's somehow on drugs which would be stupid considering how sentient he is or this is all real. Which is still silly.

"Fuckin'... I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Remaining confused as hell Nexim decided to play along, all anger gone and just... He doesn't seem to have much of a choice. He'll probably wale up tommorow somewhere in a ditch, anyway.

edited 21st Feb '15 4:26:56 AM by Nickpws

George felt a momentary thrill as he fell through the rift in spacetime and landed on the cobblestones of a foreign world. Surprisingly, but still not entirely improbable, he had been transported to a place unknown to him. He nodded to himself and made a mental note about this mysterious feat of magic.

So, what did he have? Cobblestone, grassy meadows, a somewhat weathered late castle of an indeterminable age and...two moons. How very interesting. George got out his notebook and wrote this down. Oh, and some new textboxes. He was starting to get used to them hanging around his field of view.

The Domain of Overlord...it seemed like the closest simile was to that of a deity's domain in a polytheistic pantheon. And the Fields...the Domain worked after a set of internal rules. What parts of the Domain George could command at this point in time was pre-defined, it seemed. Passive effects...in short, enchantments. Very interesting. Most likely this [Overlord's Mind] was helping him understand the effects faster as well, as well as helping him accept his rapidly developing situation. However, [Overlord's Body] was easily the most interesting one. He would "live life like a game and grow stronger"? ...ah, like a video game. George was no..."videogamer", but he knew the theory. You accumulated points or experience and could use this to develop your player character. How strange that the Demons would be using this kind of thing to receive a King...theories were forming in George's head at the speed of lightning, but he let them simmer. There were other matters to think of at the moment.

First of all, he was not alone. Several other people had arrived the same way he just had. Logic dictated that they also had accepted the curious offer that had been extended to them. But did the plurality of candidates imply a contest? Or were they expected to work together to overcome adversities? At present, they all looked as confused as himself, if not more. Since they were unlikely to be of any assistance in explaining the situation, it was a more logical next step to follow the text box and receive..."obligatory exposition and synopsis". Amusing way of putting it.

Spurred on by a mix of excitement and confusion, he put on his bag and started to make his way towards the "Abandoned Castle".

edited 27th Jan '15 7:21:49 AM by Lemurian

Post removed awaiting GM action

edited 26th Jan '15 4:30:27 AM by Gladonost

"Hey, Ann!"

The secretary looked up from her desk, addressing the young speaker. "Yes, Jane? What is it?" The scraggly haired blonde waved a pair of tickets in front of him.

"Got some tickets to the art show next week. Boucher's newest. You want to come with?"

Ann paused. The truth was, she had actually seen the artist's gallery once, a few months ago in San Diego. She had found it boring. But she wouldn't tell Jane that... nor did she want to shut her down. "Mmmm, give me some time to think on it? Bit busy, have to file some things."

Jane shrugged and turned away. "Call you tonight, then?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Anna said, turning back to her computer.

—

Several hours later, Anna left the workplace. She certainly could suffer a few hours perusing Boucher's art. She was new to the city, and it certainly didn't hurt to make friends, especially when the other had reached out to her. She withdrew her phone as it vibrated.

A partial message materialized on the screen.

[DO YOU WANT TO...]

Anna absent-mindedly typed it her reply, "Ya i can go", and no sooner did she hit send did the world disappear beneath her.

Eleanor shrieked as the floor fell out from under her. She managed to roll as she hit the cobblestones, but to her surprise she didn't hit with nearly as much force as she'd thought she would - she'd be surprised if she bruised at all. As she stood up, she took stock of her surroundings and supplies.

OK, I have my pack, so I'm not completely unprepared - but this road isn't near any towns... She blinked rapidly and rubbed her eyes. And now there was another text box. She scanned it quickly. While she didn't like the idea of anything messing around with her head and reactions, this at least seemed reasonably helpful. And if it staved off overloads, then that would be incredibly useful...

She noticed the others dropping out of the sky and started trekking towards the closest one. "Hey! Do you guys know where we are?"

“Not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” a blonde woman wearing a red shirt that, for some reason, sported a pair of epaulettes told Eleanor as she dusted her black skirt. She looked down at the broken tea cup that was lying on the cobblestones near her feet.
“We're also a we,” she said, looking around, “and our mysterious benefactors — if we can call them that — are offering “exposition”, which sounds like an explanation to me. That would be welcome, unlike... this.” She waved her hand around to indicate her new surroundings.

Anna quietly swore as she stowed the cracked remains of her phone back into her purse. She blinked as she looked around, closing her coat around her. What were these text boxes floating around her...? As she looked up, she almost loosed a short shriek.

Two moons!?

Eleanor hmmed. "Yeah, we should probably head that way. I'm not wild about just following the instructions from whatever dropped us here, but it's better than doing nothing." She peered at the castle. "Well, it's not too far away, that's good. And the road's paved. Could be worse."

Ellie looked down again. “Yes, you could be wearing heels,” she said. She looked up again and began walking, cursing her shoes — which were suited to looking presentable, not walking any meaningful distance — under her breath.
“I am Ellie. Ellie David, human resources sub-manager. Israeli Prime Minister's Office. Who might you be?”

"Eleanor Sern," Eleanor replied. "I work at an observatory in America. Researching the stars and such." She peered up at the sky. "Huh... Well, I can't tell much about the ones up there. Maybe there'll be star maps up at that castle," she said, mostly to herself.

A man in a three piece suit, nearly as impractical as Ellie's high heels, approached Ellie and Eleanor. "This is going to sound completely batcrap insane, but... did you two come here through a portal after being offered positions as Devil Kings?", he asked, rather nervous about sounding crazy.

"D-Devil Kings?" Anna interjected. "What do you..." She paused, as if finally noticing the floating text boxes. Slowly regulating her breathing, Anna grew strangely calm, as if suddenly accepting her lot.

Calmly and logically...

Tutorial. "I think... I think our answers should be at the castle, as the tutorial says."

edited 28th Jan '15 3:09:39 PM by HazzyHaz

"Shall we go then?", Jack asked with an exaggerated gesture toward the castle.

edited 28th Jan '15 5:27:45 PM by deadpool616

Rachel's arrival had been somewhat less than dignified. Nothing seemed to be broken but the pain had convinced her for the most part that this was not a simple case of insanity. It had taken her quite some time to get her thoughts organized and to stand up. It had taken even longer for her to decide if she should join the small group that had formed not far away. Despite her solitary nature the group seemed to have decided on a plan of action, something she was having a lot of trouble with herself. Finally, she brushed the dirt from her clothes, rubbed her eyes one last time, and attempted to brush her short hair over the large red mark on her forehead. Her face a mask she reached the group and asked "So what's the plan?"