Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Nohr Rescue Team (Corrin)

Jeridan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when the battle finally ceased for the moment, deciding to take this precious moment to rest and sort out his emotions. The young man leaned against a wall near Ban and considered the operation with his phone opened, looking at the photo he took of the map. His other hand held two Pickled Turtle Neck that he quickly tore into to consume the succulent flesh.

So there will likely be magic cameras from hereon, and they thankfully can't see through invisibility yet. Any attempts at stealth will probably result in the Rat Catchers using their mist, so I'll need to move slower than usual. It's also best to avoid killing them, since any further commotion can alert Iago... He suddenly looked rather morose as he thought about killing. "No, no, I'll let myself feel later, now's not the time." The honorary agent muttered to himself.

Then, he turned to face the entire group, schooling an expression that indicates he is in no mood for nonsense. "Alright team, I doubt that the lower floors will be as easy to clear as this one, so I would appreciate it if you all at least try to go about this stealthily instead of firing off a massive attack at first sign of danger." As Jeridan emphasized the last sentence, he casted a small glare at Subaru with a quick huff. "If we can go at this without fighting, we should, because Iago might use our VIP as a hostage if things get too chaotic. Think about it, wouldn't you all rather do something to pass through this trial without a fight rather than endure the onslaught of over 50 guards?"

Edited by cyzja922 on May 26th 2023 at 6:24:17 AM

rip suso

Dr. Kawashima dies of cringe by the explosion, dissolving into a cloud of pixels.

Dr. Kawashima will return!

...And Evil Kawashima too.

Mooseum

The vigilante, seeing that the criminal's focus had shifted away from him, disappeared once more into the dark. He could attack, yes, and nearly did so for a brief moment. However…He was given an advantage here, and he intended to use it. Rather than make an effort to damage this foe outright, he lifted his arm as the grappling hook fired from it. The intent of this was for the steel cord to wrap around one of the enemy's guns, so that he could jerk it from her hands and let it fly off to some dark corner in the shadow-strewn museum room.

Abandoned Pool

"Humans are naturally bent on destruction..."

Switch's gaze wanders over to Doombox. Doombox stares back.

   DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION.   

"You know, you're only proving this gal's point."

   I'LL BEAT YOU INTO A PILE OF SCRAP IF IT GETS YOU TO SHUT UP, YOU USELESS SACK OF BOLTS.   

"Later?"

   LATER.   

Switch looks back at Medusa.

"So, a giant war machine wrecked your... wherever you live, and now you wanna wreck everything. Can't you just wreck the war machine again if it starts destroying stuff?"

The way down the dungeon is pretty expectedly foreboding, with the group being forced to walk down the dark stairs, with the guard presumably leading. The Hoshidan ninja is walking behind him while Salazar walk in front, since it'd be awkward for him to fight with people in his way. Foxy hang out in the middle of the group, trying to fit between the "toughies" (Ban, Jeridan, Mordecai) so that he'll be spared from an attack on the back of the group.

He's silent. Mostly because of nervosity as he walks into a very dangerous place. And also because the sight of a bloodied Ban, his body full of holes, slapping him in the back proved lightly traumatizing. Salazar is much more used to this kind of image but is silent because of more practical reasons: the dungeon seem like a dangerous place to be in, with enemies of a different caliber than what's above.

As the group goes down, they'll walk down a spiraling staircase, walking down the stone stairs for five heavy minutes, in almost total silence. The deeper they go, the more something akin to light breathing hang in the air, the black stone almost our heroes (and foxy) slowly lifting up and down. The purple torches around the stairways hang silently. And the group will be able to hear distant moans further down, along with a disagreeable sound. Like water flowing but deeper.

And then a scream from above reach the group, prompting the spy to look up, frowning. It wouldn't be wise to ignore this but we need to keep moving. Salazar raises his hand in silence and step back, using his small size to slip back by the group without causing too much hindrance.

I have seen and done too much to sully my underwear at the sight of what lies down there. But I offer myself to check it out, he says. I will try to scream loudly if it is something dangerous. Or return to you screaming. If I fail to return within ten minutes or so, carry on without me, as much as you might miss me!

Y-yeah I'm sure it isn't much.

If Salazar leaves alone, then no one may know what's going on...

If he comes accompanied, then they'll get up to the third floor. In a manner that could upset Subaru or Jeridan if they come along (or even really anyone in the group), they'll see one of the prisoners standing over the decapitated body of a guard, his head having rolled to the floor, with Yammer's web stopping him from trying to fight back against his former victim. But it's not really the execution that got the prisoners screaming.

Rather, it's the way it immediately melts into the ground. Or it'd be more accurate to say that the ground becomes like water, with even something of a tiny splash as the body and its decapitated head disappear into the ground. All the corpses of the slain soldier, down to their blood, are similarly missing. And the survivors can only scream in confused terror, struggling desperately against Yamame's webs, as the prisoners standing over them observe the odd events happening around them.

T-they're melting into the floor! The castle's eating their corpses!

Well that's a fairly uncommon happenstance, articulates Salazar, eyes widening slightly. Still, after a few moments, he composes himself and shrugs.

Believe me, I'm curious about what's going on down there too. But there's not much we can do to solve this mystery now, can we? It doesn't seem like it can take living beings for whatever reason. So it could only eat us if we're killed to start with. And I assume that this would make the issue of being "digested" moot! Because corpses can't care about that.

If nothing else is said about it, then he begins the trek back to the group.

As for the group on the Fourth Floor, they'll arrive over a room with a red door. And a stair leading further down it. For that one door, the ninja simply open it with one swift movement, leading to what appears to be the shortcut to the higher floors. Presumably, this is where all those dead Nohrians she killed came from. It looks very much like the room on the third floor, table and all.

There's a single window of a sort, overlooking what appears to be the fourth floor. Cautiously, the ninja move to it.

The fourth floor appears to be slightly smaller than the third and is much more barren. In the middle of the room, there appears to be something akin to boiling grey pools of mud, bubbling fiercely. Disturbingly though, these pools appears to be melding with the ground. As in, there's no pools built into the dungeons that are later filled with the weird grey mud: instead, it appears that the solid stone become liquid-like at this point, with no real border to it.

There's still guards on that level but they seem almost sullen, dragging the helpless, battered, malnourished, despair-stricken bodies of prisoners from the last three floors by the ankles and casually tossing them into the pools. And as soon as their skin touch the pools, the poor prisoners suddenly snap awake, their previous wounds, on a physical and spiritual level, suddenly not mattering as they begin to howl with the energy of despair. With renewed vigor, they trash in the mud, reach for apathetic guards or simply scream helplessly as the muds slowly drag them down to nothing, their bodies appearing to simply vanish within it as their skin, their bones, their muscles, their eyes and tendons simply become one with it, badly charring the body in the process.

Some of the prisoners, the corpses, have a much quicker melding, simply being subsumed into the mud's mass upon entry instead of spending half a minute struggling like those who are still alive.

The whole sinister seance is overlooked by the famous Rat Catchers.

These elite mages, wearing black feathered cloaks, are equipped with a prodigiously large round helmet on top of their heads, concealing all but their lips and chin with the helmet. The helmet happens to look like an enormous eye, with a purple dot as the "pupil" and a black void as the scelera. Peering curiously all over the room, the eyes refuse to stay in place, not even for one second, spazzing about as if their every existence depended on movement alone.

On top of the feather cloak, the Rat Catchers also come equipped with a prodigious golden collar lined with (inert) eyes and black fur. More interestingly for the people trying to outwit them, they also have a purple wooden staff each, with a purple eye similar to the helmet at the right end of the staff. Very much like the actual helmets, they appears to be peering at a direction every quarter of a second, although they appear to move in sync with their helmets, glancing over at spots that the helmet isn't actively looking at and vice versa.

On their pale hands, with long garish black nails on them, they hold tomes of no less than Rexflame, a ridiculously potent Fire magic. To be hit by that would doom anyone in the group to a very quick trip to their afterlife. And even Ban would be testing the limits of his immortality having to come back from whatever few ashes of him are scattered about.

To make matters worse, there's a purple mist clogging the entire room. And big bulbous eyes appears to be coming out of corners of the room, looking around everywhere just like the helmets and staves. They act like organic magical security cameras, sprouting from one spot and keeping careful watch over one area.

Down the stairs, there's a worrying amount of purple mist leaking out of a door. It stays on its little lane. For now. But...

Anything moving within the mist, even if it stop doing so after entering it, will be seen by the grotesque eyes they've got and relayed to the Rat Catchers all at once. It works almost by extending their line of sight beyond mere walls and closed doors. And because they can actually see within the mist, they can see what is a mere object or distraction and what is a living being.

With their shared line of sight, anything entering the mist will also be exposed to multiple binding spells and Arcfires at once. It is... difficult to escape it.

I also have it on good word that the scum Iago visits prince Kamui on the fifth floor. Should we do anything liable to be spotted, they'll be able to transmit the information to him.

But a regular human mind cannot handle all that information so easily. There is one mage, somewhere in the fourth floor, who is charged with filtering the information and making it less... taxing for a human mind. There is usually more than one, but in a small room such as this, they will only need one such mage to guide their efforts.

There is a path to him from this room, with no mist inside, but they are growing especially paranoid by that level. There will be traps. And the space is too narrow for even I to take.

But of course, you are all superhuman or blessed with potent weaponry. I trust you could have a way to deal with it easily?

The group will need to turn the Mist against the Rat Catchers, somehow. They all see what's within the mist and their vision is carried through it. Whatever they see, they'll all see, and quite clearly.

Could that be turned into a weakness?

Hub Centralis - Museum

"There's no such thing as monsters. It's just shorthand, for the beastly and disparaged. For everything nobody'd bother to understand."

N lunges, forward and over Aofushi as she repositions herself, dodging the finger-beams in the process with an inelegant, catlike agility.

Perfectly, N fires a shot at the second using Waning Moon, totally cancelling it out. She aims at Aofushi with both firearms in an attempted followup, but the mystery knight's grappling hook sends Waning Moon flying across the museum and into a dark corner, beyond her sight.

"Oi! Keep your hands off my priceless artifacts, thanks!"

In the low light, the red highlights of N's Moebius uniform stand out among the darkness.

As does her core crystal, shining in the center of her chest.

To the depths

Ban walks a bit more to the front, coincidentally right in front of Foxy. He didn't find the four-pronged staff he was looking for, but he did find a drink that restores his Stamina. But only once. Better to keep it for when it counts. Odin also manages to get his hands on an Antitoxin and Elixer. Weapons-wise, Laslow got a Brave Sword. Morgan ended up not buying anything though.

"Wonder if it tastes like booze.", Ban says about the stamina drink as he's walking. Foxy may either be a bit more relieved or even more horrified when Ban's wounds start to close.

Morgan stays near the middle as well, as does Odin. Laslow is fine with staying at the back.

"We've been stealthy so far, right? ... at least Sawdust and I have been.", Morgan says to Jeridan, slightly confused on why he'd call that out. He also notices Jeridan's discomfort with this whole situation and looks curious.

"He's right though, it'll be better if we can reach Prince Corrin without running into Iago.", Laslow agrees.

They keep themselves silent after this, knowing that the sounds of their voices may echo through the halls otherwise. As they get lower and lower, the dreary and frightening atmosphere makes the four of them alert and serious. Even Ban's glancing around now, ready for any sort of movement.

The scream makes them jump though. Ban looks up, conflicted about the idea of ignoring that, but he knows that they can't save everyone.

Still, when Salazar offers to go on ahead, Ban wordlessly goes with him. Perhaps to protect him, or maybe to move on with his thoughts by focusing on other things. This leads into Ban witnessing the castle quite literally consuming a guard's corpse.

And despite everything Ban has seen and done, despite his personality, he looks just as horrified as any normal person would look upon witnessing that.

"This castle is a fucking nightmare.", he mutters before turning around. "Let's just go back."

—

When Salazar and Ban (and anyone else who came along) get back to the group, Ban's mood has visibly become dampened. Sneaking around, playing a prisoner and beating up some guards was fun, enough for him to offset the kinds of things he had seen down here so far, but in just five minutes' worth of time, this has switched to a level of disturbing that even Ban cannot find any sort of enjoyment in. He stays silent as the group descends further down, the four continuing to follow the ninja through the halls. Morgan looks disgusted at the gray sludge that they encounter along the way.

As they all see a moment later, Morgan's disgust was justified.

They then see the eponymous Rat Catchers. Ban's expression turns to a snarl and he's actually about to charge, but Odin holds him back in time and points at their tomes while looking nervous. Ban glances back at him, then at the tomes. He has no idea what's so special about them, but if Odin has to stop him and point them out while looking like that, they may be on another level compared to what they've encountered so far.

Morgan, meanwhile, ponders. How in the world did Nohrians get their hands on Rexflames? As far as he knows, only people from Tellius or Einherjar derived from them should have those. Either this world's Garon has been making dealings with Julius, which Morgan finds very unlikely, or someone must have delivered them to this world. Maybe that merchant guy from before?

"Would using wind to blast the fog towards them work, I wonder?", Odin whispers while holding Excalibur. It'd be the only way he can contribute, because even Excalibur can't compete with multiple Rexflames. Maybe against a single one, but no more than that for sure. But if the wind plan works, perhaps it would clear their path and overwhelm the Rat Catcher for just a moment, if only for the fastest of the group to get through without being seen. Then they can handle the head mage.

Edited by DevilPsyco on May 27th 2023 at 10:46:50 AM

Nohr Rescue Team (Corrin)

After finishing his turtle necks, Jeridan felt his stamina coming back at a faster rate when he's resting, and decided to move on without buying anything as he has no m o n e y. As he progressed down the spiral staircase, he decided to temporarily accompany Salazar in order to make sure he's safe.

The sight of the floor eating the guards' corpses sickened the young man to no end, the flowing fluid reminding the young man of the wax monster he had to fight. However, he refused to comment on it or even feel disgusted by it in fear of losing control of his emotions and simply returned to the group silently, a morose expression clear on his face. Upon hearing Ban's comment, there's only one thing he can express in his head.

A fucking nightmare indeed...

After checking the map photo on his phone one last time, Jeridan noticed the magic cameras and the infamous Rat Catchers mentioned by Beruka. While they cannot see through his nanomachine's invisibility, they are already using the mist, which can be troublesome. The boiling grey pools stopped bothering him after he forced himself to stare at it for a solid 10 seconds.

I'll feel bad later, because that's what a good person would do. Good people feel bad about their heinous actions... right?

Shaking his head free of distracting thoughts, the honorary agent entered the room overlooking the 4th floor and took note of the valuable new information given by the Hoshidan ninja. "They all share a single vision, you say?" He whispered with a small smile slowly forming on his lips. This is good. No, this is excellent. "Then allow me to toss in a distraction for these Rat Catchers before we take the shortcut to this information manager."

Jeridan then activated his ability and did his best to envision the item he wished to borrow. Due to him being able to borrow things from other worlds with his power, he can pretty much borrow anything as long as he has sufficient knowledge and understanding of it or it simply doesn't work. For things he lacks info on, he can use his imagination to supplement, and it takes less imagination for him to borrow a single item compared to a whole ability. With a very mute flash of light, a book appeared in his hand.

The book is structured similarly to a tome used by Nohrian sorcerers, but it seems to be longer in height and witch, and is slightly thinner. Its cover is colored purple and decorated with pink patterns that formed curving hearts and enticing patterns, save for the pictures on it. Lastly, the book the book seems to be tied shut by a small strap that's bound by a small lock.

The cover has the glaring title "The Witch and Her Captive", and the remainder of its space is not decorated with symbols like magic tomes, but painted pictures of two figures.

On the left, we have a Nohrian witch wearing their trademark pointy hat and wearing an outfit that's somehow even more revealing and seductive than what Nohrian soldiers are used to. The fact that she is in a somewhat suggestive pose only emphasized her more charming features. The witch is holding a tome that is expelling a small wave of pink fumes, while her expression is one of sadistic glee, presumably from tormenting the figure on the right, who seemed to be a captive.

Said captive is a Hoshidan pegasus knight with fiery hair that started as red around the base and ended in orange, making it appear as if she has a mane of fire on top of her head. The captive's outfit is predominantly white, decorated with orange patterns and reflective golden rims. However, her armors are broken and her clothes tattered, revealing a good bit of pearl-white and almost succulent skin beneath. Some tears even revealed that she has very lean muscles and even tanlines, revealed by her rather compromising pose due to being chained by her hands and hung from the ceiling. If the Hoshidan ninja look closely, she might notice that the captive looks a little like a certain red-haired princess of the Hoshidan royals.

Despite the book's cover, Jeridan doesn't even have as much as a blush on his face. In fact, his expression seems to be colder than a Fimbulvetr tome. "Hopefully, this will distract both the Rat Catchers and the filter long enough for us to traverse the traps." is all he said before opening a small slit on the room window and tossed the book downwards, directly in a position where both roaming guards as well as the Rat Catcher can see it, and made sure not to toss it into the mud pit.

Then, the young man turned to the Hoshidan ninja. "What path do we take to reach the Rat Catchers' guide?"

Hub Centralis Museum

"What a fine excuse to slaughter people!" Aofushi barked out as she observed the movements of her enemy and took note of her fighting style. She's fast, likely a gunfighter who relies on ranged attacks. Aerial superiority won't matter too much in such an enclosed space. Then, she took the precious opportunity granted by Batman to move and position herself between N and where Waning Moon fell to, silently praying for Batman to dispose of the firearm.

Now that N is down one weapon, the magical girl clasped her hands together and gradually spread them apart, revealing a web of plasma that dangled from her fingertips. With a grunt, Aofushi tossed the web in a spinning manner at the cat girl with a level of skill that would even make experienced hunters jealous in an attempt to catch N and electrocute her. Single concentrated attacks won't effective against someone who is fast enough to dodge, so she will have to cover large areas without getting destructive.

Edited by cyzja922 on May 27th 2023 at 12:34:24 PM

Museum

The grappling hook retracted to its source mechanism on the vigilante's forearm as the gun clattered into places unknown. He looked the woman, over, trying in vain to discern the reason for her sudden glow. As the other fighter's web of plasma neared the criminal, he moved in from behind with the intent of striking her. One fist to the center of her back, and another to the back of her skull. The intent was to disorient her—such a blow to the head, if successful, could leave her confused for even a few moments. The nighttime warrior knew the risks of attacking like this, though. Whether or not his attacks hit, he had left the safety of the darkness and into the general vicinity of an enemy who was unlike any he had ever battled before.

Hub Centralis - Museum

"Excuse? No, no, it's an explanation. There's a difference!"

N raises Roaring Anima, taking a shot at the net, which pokes a single hole in it- but Aofushi is absolutely right in picking this option.

Nets have proven themselves an excellent weapon against her before. This time is no different- the plasma net tangles N up, burning every surface it touches, pinning her arms to her side.

Rather a bit of a horrific sight. Yet, N does not seem to be in any pain.

"I didn't come here for a slaughter anyways. Don't you see?"

N pauses, and struggles against her bindings- only for Batman's disorienting strikes to undo the remainder of her balance, sending her to the floor.

She looks devastatingly injured, burns worsening every second. It is unclear if this would be lethal to any usual individual.

Not that such a thing particularly matters to N. She catches hold of the net, and shimmies herself a way out of it, cutting through with her claw-like fingernails.

Despite more than superficially resembling a burnt waffle, N nevertheless pushes herself from the floor and into a standing position, pushing a hand against her back like it hurts where Batman punched it.

"Guess you wouldn't. It is a bit dark in here, after all."

N raises her left hand towards the sky, and snaps her fingers. Instantly, every light in the room- curiously, even the ones previously broken or nonfunctional- turn on all at once, bathing the surroundings in furiously incandescent light. A perfect opportunity to strike, for N, but she doesn't make a move.

Instead, she allows her foes to watch, to whatever end, as the abominations of her design at last melt back into the slowly-waking forms of the individuals they were shaped from- at which point the justifiably terrified group of ill-prepared naked security guards flee into the darkness of night.

The look in N's eyes is somewhere between enthused and manic.

Nohr More

Yamame, upon hearing the scream, decides to accompany the others upstairs. After all, it might be some weird murder monster that would need multiple of them to fend off. Or at least that's what she thinks. (Un)fortunately it's not one, but what it actually was is arguably worse.

"Eugh... I live in what used to be Hell and this is too grotesque even for me." she mumbles, covering her mouth. She has admittedly heard of worse, such as the Hell of Blood Pools where the souls of the eternally damned melt into black water, but out of the things she's actually seen first hand this is pretty high up in terms of disgust.

She doesn't linger at all, though she says nothing else on the walk back down. She figures there's not much for her to add, after all if the shorter ninja lady can't fit in the path then she can't either.

Hub Centralis Museum

Aofushi wanted to take the web off before it actually cuts the cat girl into tiny pieces, but it seems like N has that handled on her own. Then, the light turned on, prompting the woman to enter a defensive stance as her eyes blinked furiously in an attempt to adjust to the light. She's surprised by the lack of attack on N's part, however, and decided to look around her.

The magical girl can't help but gawk at the sight. What were originally melted piles of flesh seemingly transformed back into the people they were and ran away. Taking this opportunity to talk and distract N for a moment for Batman to reposition himself, Aofushi asked in an bemused tone. "What... did you do? What, did you just melt these people and turn them back for some sick pleasure?" Aofushi can't help but gain goosebumps at the sight of N's expression. She holds no illusion that these people are exactly as they were, no matter how fine they seem to be at the moment.

sorry uwu jerry boy. She puts her hands up in defeat - all right, she'll hang back.

...

The stairs are scary. If she were a real-ass DBZ character with wanton ki to spare, she could use her chi to light the place up, bring some comforting warmth to this descent - but she isn't, so she can't.

Okay, the fourth floor is hellish too, but at this point she's getting kind of numb to it. The worse this gets... well, that's all the more reason this place needs to be stopped, yeah?

... She seems flabbergasted by Jeridan's idea to use a porn mag distraction against the Rat Catchers.

"... Wow, okay," she snickers. This some some real anime shit bruh. "Uh. I was gonna suggest something like a Flash-Bang grenade."

Mordecai starts to motion to Talon, but RF!Anna grabs his wrist before he can finish the gesture. "You send your bird in there, and we all die, starting with him."

"... I knew that."

"Then what were you going to do?"

The uncomfortable pause indicates Mordecai was about to do exactly that. It takes his booze-addled brain some time, but he manages to come up with an alternative use for Talon. "I was gonna have him go on ahead through the narrow path. People tend not to worry as much about what's above 'em, so I bet there won't be as many traps that could catch him."

"Nice save."

"I studied the schematics after the war. Destroying Apocalypsis would take climbing up its leg while being barraged by gunfire and magic spells from both above and below, getting inside and fighting through waves upon waves of armed forces as well as its own internal defense systems, and destroying generators inside each of three heads. That Laban managed it was nothing short of a miracle."

Medusa taps the ground with the butt of her lancesaw. "My world's technology is at the point now where making another Apocalypsis, or even multiple, isn't out of the question. A world where wars are fought with weapons that each take a miracle to stop is a doomed world. All I'm doing is making it quick and painless."

   CAN'T ARGUE WITH THAT LOGIC.   

"Hang on... so you're battling mass destruction... with mass destruction? If you wanna wipe out everyone in your homeworld, you could make your job way easier if you let those Apocalypsis...es just run wild for a couple of months. Maybe even drive them against each other."

Corrin squad

They got out the merchant without nothing, but still with their daggers.

Like their new friend Foxy, the sisters walk along the "tough guys", to feel protected between them.

They arrived to the mist room.

If only we had a way to get rid of the mist...

Upon hearing about the passageway without mist, Sawdust says:

Maybe we could get through that passageway. We are slim, so we could cross safely... I hope.

The ninja raises an eyebrow beneath her helmet at seeing the porn book and so does Foxy, although he accompanies it with a coy smile. Now see I don't mind- Jeridan toss it into the room and Foxy, while cunning enough to hold back on his horror, simply look incredibly forlorn and dejected.

I'll have this... accumulation of pages burned lament the ninja. Eyeing Odin's tome, she nods to Cardboard and pull out a small bag full of powder. This powder can briefly "blind" these... eyes when tied to the mist but you'll need to scatter it for it to work. It'll overlap their visions briefly. We will use it and get into position while one of these two and... the bird take down the "eye master" so to speak; she heads for the door but give her warning to the group. Once the eye master goes down, a... yes, she nods to Subaru, albeit incredulous. ... a bright light should disable them.

Salazar pulls out his remaining Flash Grenade and does a Slasher Smile holding it. The ninja simply nods to him, accepting it. This will also overwhelm their sight and Iago's by proxy. As soon as it happens, we enter the fifth floor and free Kamui. You'll need to do whatever you did on the third floor in a second but we can pull it off. Cardboard, you have four minutes.

It will be a small room. Be careful about not hitting Kamui.

Then it becomes a matter of escaping via the secret passage. I know of it. It will lead us far enough out of the castle that we will be able to return to Hoshido rather swiftly. And plan a retalitatory strike.

Don't forget the regulard guards as well... oh, and this one too. She says, knocking out the webbed-up guide with a nerve strike through his armor. So much for a reward.

Meanwhile, down in the incredibly ominous room, the book drop like a brick. And though the Rat Catchers react very quickly to it, their reactions are delayed, with the whole room briefly stopping short to make sense of what they're seeing.

The deep silence is defeaning in its own way before a Rat Catcher sneak up on the book, pick it up and start to peer into its pages deeper, flipping them one after the other, prompting his fellows to scream in disgust, moan weirdly, laugh loudly or simply stand there, mouth agape, not knowing what to do in a situation they likely weren't all that prepared for.

The two regular guards go over this as well but both proceed to likewise freeze over, although they simply happen to collapse on the floor, blood pouring out of their nostrils. The eye-cameras widen, as if they're doing a close zoom of a sort.

...

Fifth Floor

An half conscious Corrin watch as a small, sharp, painful little thing is dangled at the edge of his very blurry vision, the Wrymslayer needle causing him suffering by its mere presence. And though he attempts to look away, Iago replicates by shocking him through use of the magical spheres holding him in place. Corrin screams as purple lightning ravage his battered body, and Iago's laugh is echoed by his troops as he hold his index up, stepping back and nodding to his assistant mages.

After several seconds of this, he finally lower his index and a steaming Corrin is "let go", inhaling weakly. You know, I don't think you've seen your mother much in your life, little prince, taunts Iago, flourishing his needle, the dramatic lightning of the orbs illuminating his body and casting it into a ghastly light. It's why I have only so... little material available to me when coming up with your nightmares. There's only so many times I can repeat a banal murder by explosion...

You should thank me for the future opportunity to get a good look at her again, really. Lord Garon asked me to blind you but I thought it too cruel, really. It would be far better for you to see your mother's face again, wouldn't you agree? And I want you to get a good look when she dies again. I can promise you, this will not be so quick as it was... "last time". Oh, the initial script was brillant, but a true artist knows better than to stick too closely to the original. Rather, he chases after his own... hmm... vision.

And speaking of vision, I think one eye will d- Iago stop, blinking as his memory on another room are relayed. What is this? The Witch & Her Hoshidan Captive? Who, by the blasted hell, is reading such garbage so close to my inner sanctum when the far superior sequel is so easily up for grabs? hissing, Iago turns to his door and almost bark out an order... before realizing that he has put a strong spell around the room, so that no one outside will be able to hear what's going on inside.

A prudent measure in case of a royal snooping in too closely.

... Bah, I think we will stick to more rounds of shock therapy. My artistic urges have elapsed me.

...

The ninja move into position and scatter the powder into the mist, hoping Odin will move into position to silently blow it across the room. Or at least get them into position to break into the room and charge in. The sooner they are to the door and the room as a whole, the sooner they can break in.

The room's layout includes several thick towering stone pillars, with two rooms with wooden doors close to the eight Rat Catchers spread across the room near the doors, all of them still reeling from Jeridan's porn book. A metallic black door stands at the end of the room: it's where Corrin is held, most likely. At the opposite end of that door is a small red one, with three Rat Catchers in front of it. Probably where the Eye Master is at.

Salazar and Foxy hide behind the two nearest pillars, Salazar holding up his Flash Grenade while Foxy just awkwardly wait behind in case everyone in the room get caught or something.

Now they have to wait for Cardboard and Talon.

...

Cardbord and Talon who will need to navigate down a pretty narrow trap indeed. Though they can't fit eyes in there, they'll both need to travel a small claustrophobic tunnel filled with glass shards and nails. Primitive defenses but getting them out of the way will be difficult.

And the glass also works because being too loud in removing it will warn, without a doubt, the "eye master". A bald man in a black cloak, his laughter echoing through the tunnel. Luckily for Cardboard however, she'll be given a tool by the Hoshidan ninja: protection on her knees and hands, to try to hopefully trek across the glass shards or remove them one per one.

But that's if she need it. Claustrophobic as the tunnel is, she's barely small enough to be able to crouch instead of having to crawl. So she may be able to step over the rough traps along the way. And while Talon can't fly, he's also not going to be bothered too much moving along, at the very least.

Still, for a taller person, this would be quite difficult. And even they will need to be cautious about this.

At the end of the tunnel, they'll emerge on top of the "eye master", who's sitting in the middle of the room on a purple rug, with a warm red fire by his side; On his head is a metallic black crown, pulsating with an ominous purple aura, but otherwise the room is pretty bar. Most likely, he's too busy worrying about security to care about his conditions.

That or he's just a fanatic.

There's just enough space for Talon to fly and just enough space, mostly, for Cardboard to drop on top of his head. Both are liable to enjoy what's coming next.

Edited by Bolded1 on May 27th 2023 at 12:44:18 PM

Oh god why would they do this there are kids present-

Ban, Odin and Laslow all seem surprised and confused at the thought of using a porn magazine as a distraction.

... whereas Morgan is confused because he has no idea what kind of book that is. At least he's innocent in that regard.

Odin chooses to divert his attention and listens to the ninja's plan. He nods and gets ready.

And Morgan is still really confused by the reactions of the sorcerers. Did that book hypnotize them or something?

"It's a grown-up thing.", Laslow says to Morgan with a sigh, hoping that the kid accepts that as an explanation. Morgan raises an eyebrow.

"It is? ... that's weird."

—

Once it's time to act, he'll use Excalibur to spread the powder throughout the hall. Morgan, Laslow and Ban hide behind some pillars as well, ready to move once the Eye Master has been dealt with.

"If we need to fight again, I'm gonna take five to recover my stamina. I'll try to make my alpha strike count," she says, before ducking behind a pillar like the others.

Nohr

Ah if only she did bring her pets, Taiyo's explosiveness might be handy here.

"As will I, I don't really have much to do in this part of things." Yamame says, nodding at Subaru. She also doesn't bat an eye at the blatant porn mag, probably has seen raunchier things.

Nohr Rescue Team (Corrin)

Initially, Jeridan was surprised by how well that worked, but he simply donned a crooked smile as he noted the results his little gift to the Nohrians brought with vile satisfaction. Even in medieval times, it appears tactics like this still works perfectly. He has to actively suppress a rather nasty chuckle to avoid his allies looking at him weirdly. "Apologies for the rather uncouth tactic." Still, he felt the need to at least apologize to his allies for what he just did.

As the ninja and Odin works to spread the powder while Cardboard and Talon seeks out to eliminate the Eye Master, the honorary agent moved to hide behind a pillar as he recounted the powers he has borrowed: Misericorde dagger, Staff of Loss, sorceries, a tranquilizer pistol, potions, support spells, and the powers of Upper Moon Two.

With a quick mental command, he dismissed the dagger and the pistol, knowing that they will have no use in a direct attack. The staff will allow him to cast useful sorceries to deal with a variety of situations, so he kept it with him.

Leading the attack with cold wind to freeze the Rat Catchers' or the guards' movement would be helpful for his allies, and Luster Candy will provide enough of a buff so they do not die from an ambush. Since most enemies he will be dealing are mages (including Iago), Jeridan decided to primarily use physical attacks to rush them down rather than offensive sorceries.

The memory of a young man who has been broken and became the One Who Shall Grip came to mind as Jeridan considered ways to break in quickly. That halberd's sheer power would be overkill against an unarmored body, making it more suitable to smash obstacles in this scenario. The three swords of a certain purple fixer would suffice in dealing with enemies.

With a tactic in mind, Jeridan will simply wait for the time to strike.

While Talon may not be able to fly in such a tight space, his thinner legs make it easier to not accidentally step on any glass as he paces through the narrow corridor.

And once he's through and looming over the eye master, he dives down with the claws he was named for open wide to rip that dude apart.

"I don't want people to suffer, and I especially don't want the people who would build more of Apocalypsis to feel like they're winning. I'm hoping to convince a deity to end it all in an instant, but failing that, I have a plan to become one myself. And how that'll work is a secret," Medusa clarifies.

Edited by KiriK on May 27th 2023 at 8:22:16 AM

Cardboard & Sawdust show

Cool, a book!

...I don't think you should read it.

In the moment the ninja scatters the powder, both sisters go into the passageway.

Glass and nails. Whoever designed this security system, must have come from Garbage Island, since this very same technique is used in the island homes to deter thieves to entering.

Thieves like Cardboard and Sawdust, so seasoned that they know how to get rid from these.

Cardboard rips a piece of cloth from her blouse, leaving her showing her belly, and she envelopes the sheathe of her dagger with it. Then, she uses the hilt to break the glasses while advancing, the cloth helping to avoid doing noise. And for the nails? If aren't glued on the floor, she will pick them: those could be useful later.

Upon reaching the eye master, Cardboard signals Sawdust to stay on the ledge. Then, she jumps over the eye master, attempting to split them in half with the glass blade!

Museum

All that is done in the dark will be brought to the light.

Light flooded the room, the vigilante's night-vision lens automatically deactivating to protect their viewer's eyes. The vigilante stumbled back as a hand flew up to his eyes, the sudden brightness taking him by surprise. Once his eyes adjusted he watched in abject bewilderment as the globs of flesh returned to a solid form and simply fled into the dark out the outside, as if nothing at all had happened.

The vigilante's cover was utterly ruined. He'd need to improvise before an attack came his way, so the man reached for his belt and threw a cylindrical canister down at the criminal's feet, from which poured forth a cloud of smoke.

Hub Centralis - Museum.

N seems to ponder Aofushi's question for a moment, absentmindedly stroking her chin in thought.

"Eh, I don't remember," she concedes with a shrug, "I'm sure I had a reason to be here, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

A sinister energy crackles beneath N's feet as the smoke from Batman's canister begins to fill the area. Despite her injuries, N's posture is absolutely casual.

From within the smoke, her voice rings out.

"Not that it matters, f'course. This wonderful expression of ingenuity is well worth my time. And how bright you two shine together!"

N erupts from the smoke, leaping at Aofushi with catlike agility. Seems her attempt to act the distraction was more than successful, and all that time spent in monologue has given Batman plentiful time to reposition.

Unfortunately, N is quite strong, evidently a little stronger, even, then she was just moment ago. Her leap, which is really more of a jumping-tackle intended to take Aofushi to the ground, is quite the swift and momentum-carrying maneuver.

If successful in tackling Aofushi to the ground, N will try and hold her in place for the time being, rather than deliver a more decisive blow.

Hub Centralis - Near the Museum

...Someone, previously intent on a late-night walk, is met by the sight of several naked security guards fleeing through the night. Curious as to what that could mean, they begin towards the museum at a semi-urgent pace.