Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Combat Hospital A - City of Silence - Northern Hemisphere Surface

Filia floated betwixt consciousness and unconsciousness as she was transported, even more so as she lay in the hospital bed. The tranquility of the environment was of no help to Filia, her body still shaking from a combination of pain and fear, hesitant as she would be to admit the latter. Her gaze wandered to the nearest hospital staffer. Leaning out of bed with a groan, Filia tries to get their attention.

   "Narktus."   

She spat out hoarsely, slumping back into the mattress with gritted teeth. Just as consciousness solidified, Filia felt Raex's armored gauntlet clasped around her throat again, a crushing, unending weight on the demoness's life. Her breath grew panicked and frantic, her heart sank to her lungs. As she sat stewing in the chaos, a familiar presence echoes in the annals of Filia's mind, one the demoness is accustomed to feeling only when death has struck close, a blizzard cold.

Yet strangely, nothing more comes of it. The demoness suspects it's because this is the one time she'd welcome such an intrusion. All she can do is hope Narktus isn't preoccupied, and for her wounds to heal.

Gravitas

One of the nurses gets the memo and sends for the ruler of the space fortress. The others apply magic to Filia's wounds, allowing them to heal faster.

Moments later, there stands Narktus, in the blink of an eye. "Filia."

Nothing else needs to be said. He is there, and he is listening.

Train

Agent 8 nods to "Pyra" and approaches Octoling J as the latter starts to sit up.

"Who are you working for in this world? Why are you attacking us?"

"Shut up."

Agent 8 is saddened, then frustrated, then furious. She smacks the enemy Octoling across the face with each of her Dualies, kicks her over, stomps on her...

"What did I do to deserve this?! What makes me any different from you?!"

"...traitor..." the Octoling groans. Eight gasps.

Edited by KiriK on Mar 23rd 2024 at 1:18:50 PM

KiriK

Save

• Requiem

While “Pyra” is comparing apartment layouts, the UI is logging the conversation between the Octolings into their text history.

Edited by TheTropingAlliancer on Mar 23rd 2024 at 6:28:48 PM

Filia's recovery is hastened, but not to a degree that'll allow her to get up from the hospital bed for at least the next few hours. Filia's throat was soothed though, allowing her to speak fully, perfect timing, as Narktus appeared a few moments later. The demoness acknowledged Narktus with a nod, clearing her throat and sitting up with a grunt, Filia locked her gaze on Narktus.

   "My father's castle in Onyxis was destroyed, a templar. He is a foe of the old world, the war Krampus fought before he came here. He nearly killed me, and he's unleashed Trickery from its cage."   

She pauses for a moment, releasing a shallow breath.

   "The consequences could be dire if Trickery is allowed to roam free, and you'll soon have a vacant seat on the High Council if that templar finds me before I can recover."   

Raex Banishes the Banished

Raex whips around to where he left Filia after Trickery's sudden appearance, a furious scowl spreading across his face at the sight of the sand. Before he could attempt any pursuit, a shadow was cast on the templar, an eldritch voice crying out behind him.

   "THAT FUCKING HURT!"   

Raex pivots slightly, catching the goopy being by the throat, divine flame coursing through his palm. Trickery claws against his grip with an otherworldly sound, like a pig's squeal mingled with nails against a chalkboard.

"You will perish demon-spawn."

Raex declares with utmost certainty, tightening his grip.

"As will your putrid master."

He adds, his tone dripping with disgust.

   "MASTER?!"   

Trickery shouts so loud that Raex's grip is forcibly removed, sending him flying into the nearby mountain. Grunting, Raex pulls himself from the rock he was smashed into, his gaze snapping to Trickery, who's in the middle of a meltdown at Raex's comment.

Trickery releases another terrifying scream, and the sonic waves tear the ground apart around it. A crater forms beneath the entity's feet, and Raex stalks toward it at a walking pace, unintimidated. Trickery whips around to face the approaching templar, laughing to release some of its fury.

   "HOW DARE YOU CALL THAT IMP MY MASTER?! YOU MUST BE THE DUMBEST MAN I HAVE EVER LAID MY EYES ON TO COMPARE ME TO A GOD DAMNED SLAVE! AS IF I COULD EVER!"'''   

Raex continues forward without a word.

   "DO YOU THINK I'M SOMEBODY'S DOG YOU STUPID FUCK?! I'VE KILLED MILLIONS OF MEN YOU STINKING MOTHERFUCKING PIG! YOU ARE NOTHING SPECIAL, SHE FEARS ME!!!! NOT SOME BABY IN ARMOR! I AM A DESTROYER OF WORLDS; WHOLE PANTHEONS ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE HAVE FALLEN TO ME!"   

" False gods, false claims to power. You are as valuable as the weapon you sprung from."

   "THE FUCKING MOUTH ON THIS- RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"   

Trickery's arms lengthen and flatten, hardening to form the shapes of makeshift blades. The eldritch entity takes off in a blur, appearing on Raex before the sonic boom could propagate an inch. Raex's eyes narrow as the first blade approaches his gut, moving a hand to grasp the blade arm and whipping Trickery around to smash the entity into the chunks of stone behind him.

Raex raises his idle fist to pummel Trickery until the latter being's other blade arm morphed back into typical form, catching the templar's strike in its purple palm. Clenching tightly around his armored knuckle, Trickery chuckles, its head morphing into a massive axe head that smashes into Raex's face.

The man sails backward, a sudden pounding in his head, blood flying from his face, leaving a thick trail of crimson on the ground below. The Arena's daylight strikes Raex's skin for the first time, a massive gash in his helmet having nearly split both it and his head in two.

   "KNOCKOUT!"   

Trickery shouts as it shakes its head, reverting to its unnerving toothy grin cartoon style. Despite what the entity may believe, Raex is far from out, the templar shaking the mental fog long before he hits the ground with a furious thud. Raex places two fingers on his forehead, gently caressing the lack of skin, the unmistakable feeling of bone against his fingertips.

Blood dripped below him, and Raex ripped the remains of his helmet away from his head. Divine energy surges through his body, repairing the damage inflicted on his flesh by Trickery, burning away the excess blood. Raex took a moment to feel the wind against his face, taking a deep breath as his curled hair waved in the breeze. Whatever color his eyes usually held was supplanted by a fiercely intense gold, easy to distinguish against the templar's reddish-brown skin.

   "Like I said you little shithead, I've slain MILLIONS OF YOUR KIND!"   

Trickery's pink eyes flare, unleashing twin beams of atomizing energy, Raex matching them with two divinely gold eye beams of his own, the two attacks smashing into each other. The beams screech against each other, a luminous, blinding glow swiftly erupting, but Raex's divine technique holds the advantage, slowly pushing Trickery's assault backward.

This momentum continues to build, and Trickery's ego blinds it to the fact it's swiftly losing ground, not realizing what is about to happen until Raex's technique smashes into the eldritch being, that same otherworldly scream coming back in full force until it is silenced.

Raex looks at the smoldering crater deepened by his attack, Trickery's disappearance a relief to the templar. His focus returns to where Filia disappeared. The sand was swept away during Raex's brief battle with Trickery, Raex suspecting any opportunity he had to follow the demoness having passed.

Avar-Laren

Another coliseum... somehow visiting these always seemed to end badly, so Sebastien was on guard. He nodded to Luin, recognizing the tell tale roar of the basil goose. The second roar though, was vaguely familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. He opted to proceed quietly, signaling for Luin to do the same, lest whatever is ahead hear them before they see it.

Rats aftermath

"Wow... we did it." Murasa said, cracking a smile at the sunrise before promptly collapsing face down on the floor.

"I'm ok... just gimme a minute." she sighed, really needing to catch a break right now. "Wew... I didn't think I could still have sore muscles when I'm dead but that was a rough night."

Understating things a bit but she really is thoroughly exhausted.

Train

"You...turned your back on us. Those who couldn't make their way to the surface. Those stuck with Octavio."

"I wanted to come back for you. I always hoped to save everyone."

Octoling J scoffs. "You don't get it. You turned your back on us, and made peace with our enemies. And when I'm talking about 'us', I mean the ones who want the Inklings to all drown for their crimes."

Agent 8 takes a step back in horror.

"We have a new leader. She calls herself Medusa." The Octoling cackles. "And she's promised to wipe those lazy, pathetic, land-stealing squids off the face of the planet!"

Eight has no response. None verbal, but she usually lets her actions do the talking anyway.

She grabs the enemy Octoling, walks outside the train car, waits until the train passes over the surrounding sea, and drops her into it.

When she turns back to look at "Pyra", there are tears in her eyes.

Gravitas

"Say no more."

Narktus summons, or perhaps conjures, a digital tablet into existence. A viewpane through which Filia can watch what happens next from the comfort of her hospital bed.

"There is a strange entity that has recently appeared, holed away in a cave on the side of Death Mountain. Based on what I could analyze without provoking its ire, it seems to be a dark conqueror called Culex. Research on his world of origin indicates Culex possesses a charm that greatly reduces the injury the wearer takes from attacks. When you've recuperated, I recommend you pursue him."

With that parting advice, Narktus teleports away. Filia didn't tell him what to look out for in trying to identify Raex. But he has his ways, and she knows that.

—

Onyxis

No sooner has Raex begun to lament missing his chance to wipe out demonkind than does Narktus◊ appear before him.

"Holy warrior. You may have thought that the queen of demons was alone. That she would be easy prey, with neither family nor army to protect her."

He adjusts his gauntlets.

"You are mistaken. Filia has a master, and it is me."

He brandishes the Morphic Bloodletter, starting off in its usual Sith lightsaber mode.

"And I do not take kindly to threats to my subordinates."

Edited by KiriK on Mar 23rd 2024 at 5:51:38 AM

Intrigue

Phoenix finally catches her breath, wiping the last of the sweat from her brow.

"Yatagarasu... sounds familiar. Probably something I read- wait, did that eye on your chest speak?"

Phoenix doesn't seem overly surprised- probably given where she'd came from. She's more interested than anything.

"Also, I... can't really control mine. At least not yet. I never got a chance to learn- all I can do is have it on full blast or suppress it entirely..."

She sighs, looking somewhat downcast now, remembering her cursed existence.

"...the people who found me locked me away, kept me separated from anything that I could hurt. Never taught me, never... anything. I guess it makes sense, I could've made everything go up in flames with one single slip."

Emma isn't as thrifty as another blue-haired energy sucker to directly mimic what Loki did nor does she have the awareness of being capable of doing so. She rather use what remains to simply shoot more plasma shots at Loki until he seemingly disappears into the ocean. The moment Evelyn speaks, Emma flies up and back to the rest of the group.

"Gotcha!"

Luckily for WHM, Emma absorbs large portions of Evelyn's flames using him as a conduit. It would've driven her mad, but thanks to the man taking it first, she essentially takes in filtered water. It gives her so much power that her gun is simply not able to handle it, especially considering all the ambient energy close-by she's taking in whilst trying to focus on WHM's part.

Despite not being driven mad by Evelyn's flames, the amount of power surging through her does make her a bit high.

"OH I FUCKING LOVE KICKING YOUR TEETH IN"

Despite her firearm failing her, she warps up in a bright flash of light and spreads her body as wide as possible as she lets out a beam with the size of her frame for the ocean that is Evelyn. Practically pouring everything she has into just fucking blasting Evelyn. Even recklessly using up the energy absorbed via Tilra's sun heal.

This would leave her incredibly open afterwards, the high quickly fading and that immediate and very clear fear in her after realizing she's practically defenseless for the moment proceeding the blast.

Edited by BoniniBanana on Mar 24th 2024 at 3:59:13 AM

Filia

Filia grasps the view pane, staring with an intense focus. She didn't comment at Narktus's advice, but he'd know by now she'd heard it. As he disappeared, the demoness dropped the device to her lap and craned her neck.

Raex

Raex's gaze fixed on Narktus when he appeared on the snowy plains, a rageful scowl spreading across the templar's face. Ignoring Narktus, Raex grasps the shattered pieces of his helmet, pressing them tightly to his head. Raex's helmet is repaired with a golden flash, and his gaze affixes to Narktus.

[[gold: "''' I came prepared to slaughter demons without end for far longer than my mortal bones could carry me. I am a vessel of divine fury, vengeance for my people.'''"]]

Raex's speech seemed more a statement of fact than a boast, one he took little pride in, his position an appointed duty. He paused, grasping his blade with tightly coiled fingers and leveling the tip to Narktus.

" If you would stand in the way of humanity's vengeance, I will burn you to the same ash you spewed from."

Raex's threat carried a fury seldom spoken by mortal men, yet it was tempered, and the templar planned full well to back up his words.

" If she is truly yours, return her to me, or I will tear you and this realm to shreds until I do."

Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Mar 23rd 2024 at 2:14:22 AM

KiriK

Save

• Requiem

“Pyra”, reading through the conversation in the log and reacting to Agent 8, is making various “thinking” facial expressions due to the suddenness and not knowing how to react or respond.

| You |

“…Are you ok?”

“Pyra”’s still processing what’s going on, and Agent 8 is clearly going through something bad.

There are so many questions to ask, but Medusa? Are they talking about the snake haired lady or jellyfish?

| You |

“I… accidentally overheard some of the conversation, and there was something about a “new leader” and someone called “Medusa”. Who are they?”

Intrigue

"Yeah. Long story short, Yatagarasu was dying so he had me become a vessel for his divine spirit!" Okuu explained, as if this was a perfectly normal thing to happen. "I used to be a normal hell raven before then. It's why I have his eye on my chest now. And these."

At the last part she pointed to her conk crete boot and her arm cannon.

"Hmm, maybe I could help? I'm pretty fireproof." Okuu hummed in thought.

Game

Evan looks unsure as well, but he too seems to be waiting on what everyone else will say.

"I understand why you're suspicious. But I already got what I wanted. ... well, actually, no, I didn't manage to escape to the wider net, but I got something just as good out of it.", Noah shrugs.

"As for control... well... what can I even do with a glitched-up game world? Even if you beat the Dead King, the game itself isn't gonna magically recover. It's far too damaged for that."

He stares a bit at Victoria's conjured finger eyeball, then crossing his arms and looking away, clearly a little grossed out by the sight.

"I get it, please put that away."

Gregory still looks uncertain, but he decides to trust Charlie's judgement.

>Yes

While the majority vote has been achieved, Evan still also selects >Yes after nearly everyone else does.

... well, they all select >Yes, but it's indeed Delilah who has to confirm the prompt. And once she does, it's official.

• Noah has joined the party!

"Thanks.", he says, looking back at them, then smirking a little. "How about I make myself useful and try to locate where the shopkeeper is? Then we can't miss them."

"That's a good idea.", Evan says. "Then we can go."

Once the group starts moving towards the snow region, Noah's awesome chair◊ (minus the screens) manifests for him. It floats along with them as they move.

"Why do you get a chair?", Gregory asks as they're moving.

"It's part of my virtual data. Also, I need it to locate that shopkeeper. I can't affect this world with the wave of a hand like last time.", Noah says as he starts pressing virtual key buttons.

-

The group will go a good few minutes without finding anything at all, already crossing over into the snow area by the time Noah finds something.

"Got them. They're close to a chasm not much further from here. The automatic movement system's already making us go in that direction, so we cannot miss them."

"That's something good at least. ... hey, do you think you can see what the boss is like before we get there?"

"I am not sure I have that much power in this world yet, but I'll try.", Noah says. As he starts typing though, the flash of a starting battle happens. It's another hat, a top hat this time.

... but as the battle starts, nothing happens yet. No music, no movement.

On the outside the screen will start to flicker and the top hat's form will be filled with static. On the inside, the battlefield darkens slowly and ominously. Evan quickly grabs onto Gregory's sleeve in fear.

...

A large red scythe blade slashes over the top hat, which starts to glitch out violently before shifting into a glitchy version of Glamrock Freddy◊.

The darkness dissipates, but now (from both the inside and the outside looking in) the snow in the area around them all has turned black and is spasming as if glitching. The sky is yellow and glitching as well. All the colors have been inverted, save for the party's own. There's no sign of whoever or whatever swung that scythe.

"SUPERSTAAAAAARRRRRR..." , the Data Freddy groans, almost zombie-like in nature.

Call-on Freddy is disabled for this fight.

Gregory is inflicted with Fear.

Evan is inflicted with Fear.

Agony Leak

Call to adventure! The advert had read. Deliver packages, see scenic Estraole, get paid!

The last part, she’d been hesitant to include, but their Master-at-Arms had assured her that it was necessary. “Nobody wants to do chores for free.” And so it had been added, and so she had signed it with her own royal seal, and so it had been shipped out all over the Arena with instructions for whom it may concern on how to contact them back.

After extensive vetting, heavy scrutiny, and a careful selection process…this was who remained. A group of fifty men and woman gathered in the massive hall, called to the Kingdom of Al-Agadd in the northernmost reaches of Estraole. They were gathered into the main keep, and from there into an expansive room. Stalwart knights dressed in white and green lined the walls, standing between marble columns carved by architects long past. The tips of their blades rested on the ground with fingers interlocked and clenched upon the grips, squeezing tightly. Their family crests were emblazoned on the shields upon their arms, and in the midst of the green capes that flowed from their backs was the Royal Aegis in gold. Their faces were hidden behind the visors of their helms, but attentive eyes stared out nonetheless.

The light from the chandelier hanging above unfurled its fingers and stretched across the room, while wall-mounted torches below lit up the dark corners that the chandelier could not reach. There was a stained glass mural just above the door, the evening sun beyond painting the room in multicolored hues of green and red and blue and gold.

Mia watched the clamorous scene from above. She still wore her green dress, leaning over the carved balcony rails and looking with wonder at the adventurers below. It might’ve been a glorious sight to behold to her, adventurers and knights all under one roof, had the consequences not been so dire. Her face was drowned in distraught, heart paralyzed by her concern for the future of the home she’d spent all her life in. The doors behind her creaked open and screamed shut over the sounds of conversation. She saw her mother step through, clad not in regal attire but in gear for battle. There was a sword, the family blade passed down through generations, at her hip, and resting atop her head was the crown of gold, glittering in the light. Behind her lord mother came her sister in a white dress that flowed silkily behind her with her every step.

Queen Frilda the Ready stopped before the railing, resting her pale fingers on the banister and looking down from the balcony. She spoke in a voice that seemed to command, rising high above the chatter of the room and addressing all who had come. "The time is here. Adventure calls and each of you in this room were brave enough to answer. I am Queen Frilda, for those of you who do not know me. You have all been selected for a vastly important task—the survival of my realm, and perhaps the Arena as a whole, depends upon your ability to execute it. For each and every one of you in this room, there is a package you have been assigned. You will all take different routes to the city of Vahar Naghalis, following a specific route unique to you. You will be given directions with your package, and it is imperative that you follow them exactly. Your paths have been specifically chosen that none of you, at any point, will come across anyone else in this room. Do not stray from your path, stop for nobody and nothing, and do not look inside your package, or allow anyone else to hold it. If you do, we will know, and there will be consequences. If you have reached Vahar Naghalis on time with the unmolested package you were assigned, you will be paid accordingly. If there are any questions, any at all, speak them now or forever hold your silence."

As her mother and Queen spoke, Mia’s eyes wandered. There was something different from how she usually looked, something…off. Then, like a train, it hit her: the ring. She was missing the ring around her neck, the most safely-guarded object in the entire kingdom and the object of either their doom or their salvation. Where was it? Then the realization came to her, the hidden genius of her ploy with the packages. Ohh…

Lust

Sloth

Envy

Gluttony

Greed

Wrath

PRIDE

Seven sins, seven demons embodying each sin, a single vessel to hold them all at the time. And though she was weak and unworthy of doing so, her allies had held the line long enough for the sixth and final sin to apply to a Demon, ironically. And though the android has found a way around it, he, too, count as an offering, along with the white-haired man.

The mass of water freeze and then perhaps worringly to Bely, it becomes a mass of fire, unmoving in front of the blasts that are set to blow it apart and overcome Evelyn's durability and mass by sheer output. And though Bely will be able to escape in time, there's also the matter of WHM's blasts. One that Sarah is able to dodge (the fact she did so significant). The Dragon Whale is a fierce beast, but in the air, with Sarah's planet-crushing strength unbound, she doesn't have trouble holding it up. And dodged fast enough to spare the beast from being hit.

Sarah's basic idea was that Ovarr had summoned it. It'd strand to reason he could unsummon it and spare them the time and effort to dispatch it.

Indeed, seeing Ovarr all enraged, Sarah sighs in exasperation and strain herself a bit, trying to dig her fingers through the monster's skin to grab a better hold of it... before attempting to pull it apart all at once, being glad she moved out in advance, because if she succeed, then there's going to be an absurd amount of blood, guts and bones raining over the beach. And Sarah herself, who's absolutely drenched in demonic sea creature hemoglobin now. Not that she mind, lowering her arms while still carrying the two severed halves.

I don't think a dip at sea is gonna fix this. She quips, although she keeps the chunks at hands, hearing what Flandre has to say. And seeing that Veilman is indeed charging something.

Far away, the beams still reach THOR and Saitama. Unlike Sarah, their reactions to the beams are far more casual, Saitama being washed over by the energy of the projectile and simply continuing on with the punching, undamaged and unbothered. THOR smacks his own sphere away with Mjolnir in the same movement he use to match Saitama's punch, the shockwave of their hit dispersing the flame.

As for Evelyn, it, Emma's blast, Flandre's fire sword and Artemis's clone are about to reach her...

... Until they're all engulfed in an enormous column of fire, reaching into the sky high above. There's no stratosphere btw : Icarus would just eventually reach a random black void after miles upon miles of blue sky, but even being pushed away by a black hole won't give him that kind of leverage. But that doesn't matter too much : What does is that Evelyn has reached the Seventh and final Sin. PRIDE. The greatest of sins, and the strongest of the bunch.

In the middle of the pillar, appearing as a black silhouette, stand Evelyn's true form. Gone is her fragile appearance : instead, she's been replaced by a 18-feet tall demon, whose body appears to be a bunch of straw, bones and thorns set on fire, forming an unsettlingly thin figure with bits of flesh to barely cover up the torso, feet and parts of the arms, the beast having no less than six at once, all appearing to be made of blazing thorns and straw instead of flesh.

The claws on its feet and especially its numerous hands are especially long and akin to gigantic stingers more than anything. Black spikes that might as well be made of steel when compared to the rest of the body.

Inside the creature's body there appears to be a sort of magma-like substance keeping its body ablaze. Or it it's blood, for whatever's worth, its easily exposed thanks to the numerous wide gaps in its body.

But perhaps the Fiend had to do with straw and thorns because it overdid the flesh budget on its heads'. If its body is thin, almost sickly, seven fleshy heads rest on top of its thin shoulders, holding up in defiance of gravity, all of them appearing to be vivying for control. One head is fat and bald, chewing on its own chunk of shoulder mindlessly. Another is smaller and more vicious, headbutting the nearest heads whenever they get close to it. Another has hair made of its own purple flesh and appears to be imitating a woman's shape, bobbing up and down while laughing dementedly. Another head lay inert, completly unmoving. Another bites ferociously at the air, trying to wrench itself free from the rest. Another screams, and screams, without pausing.

They all bear the same bald look and sickly purple flesh, and while chaotic, they're sort of aligned together into an organic collerette, with the seventh head dominating over the rest of them. It's by far the largest and least human, with a smug grin that look deranged on its massive maw and with no nose or ears, instead apparenting itself to a triangle of flesh with eyes and a smile. And on top of the triangle is Evelyn's human visage, itself blank and neutral.

Notably, the "Pride" head has four massive horns jutting out of it, joining together behind its head to form a twisted halo, of all things.

Evelyn? Is she... Azura glances at Meteorika, herself confused and horrified at the ascended creature in front of her and hoping to earn some informations. The Demon-infested. The name made it obvious but it was her first time seeing it in action.

   There's no Evelyn to start with. It's only a corpse infested by demons - don't look sad, it's going to slaughter them for us!    Meteorika replies, grinning in joy at the sight of the Fiend. Azura only frowns. She wasn't about to switch sides and she knew that about Evelyn but... still, she wondered if the fiend itself wasn't on a side of its own.

Despite looking like they're fighting or too agitated to do anything, the glowing ember eyes of the Fiend move altogether at once unblinking, locking in on the fighters in front of it. They even briefly stop all together on the invisible Artemis. But when the Fiend disappear, it's not to attack her, but to attack oh-so-scared Emma, the monster appearing in front of her, glancing down at her with all eight of its heads. It laughs, and then, at speed just as great as what it used beforehand, it attempts to grab her face with one of its massive hands, moving over to try to impale her in the chest with one of its other claws.

Fuck, EMMA! Sarah, who had been as blindsided by the others, notice the monster looking up to her. Assuming it'd stabbed Emma, it drops her on the beach nonchalantly. The wound is deliberately non-fatal, but still, it's a pretty big claw. And it appears to take glee in bringing that particular appendage to the Lust head, letting it lick it clean of blood.

Seeing that it's the Fiend's next target, Sarah make a choice that could backfire on the crew and speed off towards Veilman. It's going to come after me from the start. If I attack the fire guy, then it's going to try and protect him on top of that, right? Sarah does not have a lot of demon friends (she punched two in the face, punched a cyberdemon in the face before becoming her friend, punched Ovarr currently present before becoming his ally too) so she doesn't know if the Fiend would care about Veilman's status but... It was a risk.

That said, barring interferences, she's right. A deep chuckle escape the Demon and it vanish, disappearing from sight and letting the water lift in its path as it make its way to Sarah. Seeing this, Sarah doesn't mess around and teleport to Veilman entirely out of fear that she could be caught up to despite having a headstart. Having had the barest of moments, Veilman convert his stored energy into a shield, but Sarah's fist easily break through it, and its only with another timely kinetic absorption that Veilman barely survive, a third, bigger hole being punched through him as he's sent flying into the sky.

Still active, still ready to throw down, safer than ever with the Fiend appearing on top of Sarah, having caught up in spite of her teleporting and headstart. This prevent the redhead from being able to finish off Veilman. And she brings up her two arms together to block the Fiend's one pair of arms; At the last moment, right as the Fiend is about to make contact, a moment of time too short for humans to even process, Sarah has a hunch and use Limit Breaker.

Good call - The tremendous impact of the Fiend's arms on her arms cause black cracks to fly out, some so great they appear to scar the sky, revealing a swirling white void beneath. Sarah's horrified to realize two things - first that the Fiend is hitting hard enough to warp the dimension, second that Croque is still alive and right below them while all that power is being thrown about. Keeping her cool, Sarah teleports to the side, her arms bloodied as she toss a bolt of black lightning at the Fiend.

Over here!

It ignores her - and instead just slam another pair of arms downward, attempting to have the sheer energy of the shock reach Croque and obliterate it entirely. With enough force that the force reach all the way to the bottom of the world, a black void just like its ceilling. From those two shocks, great waves rise along the coast, presenting a much more mundane danger to the group by threatening to smash them with rogue waves.

Azura use a minor Barrier spell to fend them off. And while she's at it, she attempt to use Light Magic to bend light to hide herself and Meteorika afterwards.

Sarah is nearly engulfed by the subsequent column of water but wisely care more about the demon that created it. And as it comes her way, she slams her fists together at it. Not trying to kill it so much as trying to buy time to the group. And for a second, it looks like the strength of her two arms are yet again a match for one pair of it, Sarah stopping its punches dead-on and containing the impact around her as much as she can.

Once again, black cracks fly out at the combined shock. But sadly, while Sarah is able to gain some time, the Fiend has more pairs to work with. And just to be a dick, it slams two of them right into her abdomen, the Sister's back bending backwards by a few miles as her eyes go white. Blood flows out of her mouth in drove before she's slammed back towards the coast with a devastating impact, screaming in pain all the way as she gets slammed deep into the jungle.

It'd be a neat twist if she was thrown into Cittufeni but she wasn't. Instead, after admittedly five seconds of stilllness, Sarah get back up to her feet, limbs and body putting themselves back together at stunning speed. I can't let the others down! I've got to-... huh? Cittufeni! Sarah says, hearing its pleas. She blinks, then approach its position to help it.

One of them's turned into a giant demonic thing, I've got to return to the fight - but how can I help you?

Meanwhile, the Fiend laughs as it flies its way back to the coast. Throwing one of its hands back, it attempts to snatch Tilra's sun before trying to literally slam it into her face. There's a bunch of "dialogue" it shouts at her while doing so but Wrath's screams, Lust's hollering, Greed's barking, amongst others, reduce it to pointless gibberish.

   WITNESSFUCKYOUKILLYOUHATEYOUROBYOUTHEPOWEFUCKYOUFUCKYOUAAHHHHHHHHHHROFTHE GREATEST OF ALL SINS!   

The Fiend was brought forth by the last of Sins. But like the other Sins, it had a condition. If it wasn't resplenished by blood -or oil, or just essence in general-, the Fiend would vanish and Evelyn would be left vulnerable and alone for a whole minute. And it had a ridiculously short time to get going, as a way to make up for its grotesque raw power.

Thus, it was soon about to need to kill someone if it want to keep coming.

So, The Fiends drops to all... six and start running down the beach, laughing as it spots what's likeliest to die first amongst the group - Bely. Whom the Fiend try tracking down with sadistic joy, using its other pair of arm to scoop up and toss sand in its numerous gaping maws for no real reason other than to delight in her probable fear and suffering.

And the heads must find it really funny - because they all start laughing in deranged unison.

   HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH   

PRIDEFUL FIEND : 1/3

Edited by Bolded1 on Mar 23rd 2024 at 10:40:25 AM

Church of Gor

The Dragon Whale ends up safe from the WHM's blasts thanks to Sarah still carrying it.

Only for it to get fucking gored by her right after to take it out.

Yeesh, that's a lot of blood. Shockingly, there's fewer bones, there's more scales than anything else. Regardless, the Dragon Whale is now dead.

The enraged Ovarr is moving around erratically as he continues to slam away at the ground, sending lightning everywhere. That is, until one of the WHM's fiery blasts strikes him in the wing, making him roar in a pain intense enough to snap him out of his state. The first thing he does is look at his wing, which looks to be total loss even with the armor that was placed on it.

Ovarr slowly but surely becomes enraged once again, but in not quite the same manner. Instead of losing his senses out of rage, he's about to lose his sense of self-control. The screams from one of the newly created Fiend's heads gets Ovarr's attention, though it does nothing to lessen his anger. What the hell is that thing? He doesn't know and he doesn't care.

The book starts flipping through its pages as Ovarr's expression twists into a furious and demented grin, one fit for a demon. He growls out his words, speaking this time around before casting a spell. It may be a requirement for this particular one.

   "DANZA SOBRE LA CABEZA DE UN ALFILER."   

A glowing symbol now appears on his chest and energy streams emit from Ovarr, targeting the Fiend, Azura, Veilman, Meteorika, and even the far-off Saitama. The energy streams will flow towards their targets and attempt to attach to them. If they evade, the streams will curve and try to catch up with them. Barriers will not be able to block the streams, but it will temporarily slow them down.

Any of them who get struck will start having their very life energy sapped and transferred to Ovarr. While a powerful-enough spell can be used to try and remove the streams, if nothing is done then they'll continue to sap their energy until they're nothing but dried out lifeless husks.

The Fiend's life energy will empower Ovarr a lot if he manages to get some of it. They are both demons, after all. And while normally this technique is morally forbidden to use between demons, Ovarr is too angry to give a fuck.

   "Who says you need skin-to-skin contact to consume life energy anyway!?"   

Though of note is that if a stream attaches to the Fiend, it'll be dispelled the moment it turns back to Evelyn. Vice-versa it works the same, if the stream doesn't get to the Fiend in time, it'll attach to Evelyn and be dispelled if she managed to turn back into the Fiend.

Atlantis - Makai

The fish-man laughs, "Indeed, I did... Always keep your eyes open for any tricks!"

Atlantis tries to blast Peppino with a Water Magnum laser straight from his mouth.

Church of Gor

Croque

Just before the second wave could hit Croque...

 //!\\ EXTREME ENERGY OUTPUT DETECTED, EMERGENCY BOOT IN PROGRESS... //!\\ 
Neural Cloud: Online
MIRAGE Gate: Online
Primary Systems: Online
Secondary Systems: Online
Emergency Reboot Complete! (2 ms)
Originium Burst Drive Activating...
'To safeguard our world- that is the true purpose of RI.' -Nilhis
Sysadmin authorization code accepted.
ME81 'Croque-EX' safety limiters removed.
Time until fatal deterioration: 1 minutes, 15 seconds.

Croque warps out of the path of the sudden blast. Her internals are burning with a blinding white light, and crystals are starting to form over her skin from an excess influx of energy. While Originium usually needs organic matter to replicate, sufficient amounts of power works as well.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

Croque had escaped the screeching horror for now, but she looked upwards at Veilman. She grits her teeth.

"Not gonna let you escape."

Croque bursts at full force towards the heavily-injured Veilman, dispensing her GAU-8 again.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

She fires off another burst, before the gun jams from Originium growing over most of the barrels.

"-dammit!"

She retracts the cannon before opting instead to use something more experimental.

Overclocked Originium Arts - Abyssal Burst

Many of the crystals growing on Croque dissolve as she uses most of it up to shoot a giant torrent of water towards the guy with a body literally made of fire.

Overclock (Fatal): 1/3

Artemis

It can see me... great!

Artemis gets rid of her invisibility. She grumbles in annoyance before noticing Sarah getting absolutely smashed by the thing. Then her look turns to one of fear.

Oh... no...

Artemis warps towards Bely, before yelling out and just hurling the woman into the air.

"GO!! JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!!"

Is Artemis actually... scared? That's a first. She teleports away after, turning her head towards Meteorika.

"OF COURSE YOU FUCKING WOULD, WOULDN'T YOU?!"

In an instant, Artemis had crossed the distance between her and Meteorika and Azura- her hands morphed into blades and her body looking oddly warped, both malnourished and fit at the same time. One of her wings is a dark black, and the eye on that same side a deep purple.

Fallen. Or rather, the power she'd absorbed from Fallen. Her fear, her anger... all put into a massive but terribly unstable boost.

She slashes out in a frenzy, almost like some sort of feral animal taking the form of a human.

I think Artemis is mad, or something.

Intrigue

"Mine was more... unwilling. I had the heart and eye of Hephaestus transplanted into me. Now I can produce fire and tinker pretty well... The only thing is, I have no idea how to use either of those things, so it's more of a curse than the blessing they thought it would be... They would've just used me as a weapon anyway."

Phoenix sighs.

"...and now I have no idea where I am. I stumbled through a portal during some raid on where I was being held, and now I ended up here."

Edited by RainbyPlays on Mar 23rd 2024 at 7:45:26 AM

Train

"...I'll be fine." Blatant Lies but go off.

"This is the first I've heard of anyone called Medusa. I...should've asked for more information, but I just couldn't stand that mindset another second."

The train pulls into a station.

"Thanks for the help."

Onyxis

"You and I are alike. We both seek vengeance on those who wronged us, and are fueled by our fervor."

Narktus closes his eyes. "Which is why I know how dangerous you are. I will not hold back."

The Soul of Gravitas (Chaoz Airflow)

He crouches down. A shockwave tears up the ground around him as he launches at Raex fast enough to make a sonic boom, then slashes with his lightsaber before ending up on the other side, stopping instantly in a movement faster than a blink.

Edited by KiriK on Mar 23rd 2024 at 6:05:18 AM

Intrigue

"Hephaestus?" Okuu asked, confused. She didn't know a god like that.

   "The Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes."    Yatagarasu helpfully explains outloud.    "I believe my master met with him once for his metallurgical skills."   

"Woah! So we're like, pretty similar!" Okuu smiles, invading Phoenix's personal space a bit. "Yatagarasu's the god of nuclear fusion and stuff."

   "...and the envoy of Amaterasu, not 'stuff'."    the dead crow grumbled.

"Anyway, this place is the Arena! It's like a big uh... crossroads! Yeah. A big crossroads between worlds. All sorts of people fall into this place." Okuu says, having a brief eureka moment upon remembering the word.

Edited by shroobot3000 on Mar 23rd 2024 at 2:25:17 PM

KiriK

Save

• Requiem

| You |

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you around then.”

“Pyra” leaves the train and starts finding directions to one of the apartments they found.

Save

• My Base (solopost)

At the apartment, the UI unzips several files, and “Pyra” swaps to a Sims UI as they start arranging furniture and tools, and unpacking clothing. One bedroom is used as a bedroom and the other a study and storage for various tools. (Such as their ninja gear and healing items)

Outside of furniture, there’s also various books and manga, plus decorations such as a CD player/radio, anime posters and memorabilia and a few potted cacti. There’s also a bike with a carriage attached for moving things around.

In their room is a laptop serving as a “fish tank” for UI, allowing UI to have its own body and let “Pyra” practise code-manipulation powers to more smoothly open and close files in the future.

[Act 1: Rough Welcome ends]

Church

Up in undefined space, Icarus can finally recover. Before his brain sim gets loaded, a record of what the mech had collected in terms of data gets replayed, giving him a full recap. He has a whole host of possible strategies in mind, but one seemed particularly relevant at this point.

Divide and conquer, if that's possible! Veilman is far out already, I'm gonna go for him too, but if we can get Azura and Mahito far apart from each other, that'd be great too! Had a grappling hook, but couldn't really use it until now, though if someone needs a shot do tell me.

He's currently plummeting towards the ground and back inside the "skybox" at dangerous speeds. Before his thrusters could carry him to Veilman, he fires a burst of foam at the Fiend - though this foam, unlike the previous substance, isn't flammable, but instead draws heat from anything it comes into contact with. It also faintly smells like mint. And while this foam couldn't be used to cool, say, an orbital laser, maybe it would have some effect on the Fiend?

Regardless, the mech is now en route towards Veilman.

Careful, railcannon shot inbound.

Firing the railgun while airborne was wonky - the backblast would send the robot backwards at roughly the same force as the projectile's launch. Nonetheless, with some upwards velocity, Icarus stabilizes his aerial position by aiming his thrusters in the opposite way of the railgun's muzzle, and fires one heavy tungsten rod.

Church

Tilra cancels Atom Heart Mother, disappearing it from the Fiend's hands. She figures at this point that she's got to come up with some method to at least slow that thing down while it burns itself out. Thankfully, she's got just the trick. Tilra raises her glaive, and it turns to stone.

She shadewarps between it and Bely, shouting    !DOGS!    as she thrusts her stone weapon towards the charging demon. Should it hit, the weapon will shatter on impact, turning the fiend itself to stone out from the point of impact at a rate proportional to its past weight of influence and sin. One way or another, though, Tilra doesn't re-summon her glaive, she's lost the ability to for the time being.

It's an attack not to be underestimated in potency. Dogs is a long song, and an incredibly important one.

Tilra doesn't back down one way or another, though, keeping herself between the conglomeration and its prey.

She looks tired.

Return of the Son of Nothing - 3/8

Onyxis

Raex narrowed his eyes at Narktus, his words falling on willfully deaf ears, despite the unlikely brotherhood in goals between them. Raex clenched his idle fist, his divine aura flashing in that instant between instants Narktus's feet left the ground, obfuscating the templar's position. There was no outrageous shockwave to accompany what Raex had done, but by the moment the world had blinked the pair were as far away as they had started.

The templar had moved faster than his aura could catch up to him, the divine glow lagging as it snapped to his current position a dozen feet away. Raex had never felt what it was like to move at such speed, it was a sudden rush of power that was like pouring alcohol on his senses, masking the burning sensation on his arm. Raising the injured arm, Narktus's weapon had singed his elbow, warping the metal slightly.

Raex looked back to Narktus, lowering his arm and kicking off the snow. A mile-high plume is the only indication Raex has gone anywhere, his divine aura slingshotting to his position, smashing back into him as he reached behind Narktus. If Narktus were perceptible enough, he'd notice Raex would slightly budge forward as the aura merged again with his flesh, increasing the strength of his approaching blow ten-fold.

It's almost as if the aura is its own entity, and their movements bounce off each other, gaining mutual strength and when they collide, meshing that energy into one larger strike, like a Newton's cradle. Raex's blade comes swinging in from the side, a thunderous swing that cleaves the air between the blade and Narktus.

Dawn Never Came

When Taye recieved the advert, she sensed something especially special about it. Something that made it different from the usual mission. It's why she'd decided to take on the quest. She's always loved a good adventure, and was itching for one with swordfights and good ol' medieval flavor.

Striding into the hall is a woman◊ with dark blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, and an outfit◊ consisting of blue and black leather carefully wrapped over metal armor, making it equal parts fashionable and practical for combat. On her hip is a sheathed sword, and hanging off her back via a leather harness is a wooden walking stick. Few people in this hall would know it's actually made of heartoak, a wood as strong as steel.

Taye pays the knights little mind - instead, it's Mia who grabs her attention. She looks up to the redhead dressed in green, and gives a gentle but visible smile, only tearing her gaze away when Frilda arrives.

A queen dressed in battle gear. Taye approves - she herself is wearing the outfit of a different queen who gladly fights alongside her army on the frontlines. But when she heard Frilda's instructions, she was taken aback. Was this the adventure? No, no, a queen like her must be intelligent. Taye racks her brain...

I bet a few of those packages contain items a hostile party wants, Taye thought. And that some of us will be ambushed along the way. Best to stay alert while making the delivery. I expect some of us will cross paths soon enough...

Outwardly, Taye remained slient. Her questions were not the kind that were wise to bring up, at least not at this point.

Edited by Hotpizza on May 19th 2024 at 7:22:19 PM

Intrigue

"That sounds... reassuring..."

Phoenix has a small quiver of worry in her voice. Energetic bird girl. With the power of nuclear fusion, if she's thinking the 'being a vessel of a god' thing right. Phoenix is suddenly glad for her innate resistance to fire. But then the second part makes her perk up.

"-a crossroads between worlds? So, like that library in one of my dreams, then... -well, it seems quite big... I'm going to guess I landed in some part with nothing around..."

She looks up at the sky, and then back at Okuu, who is... uncomfortably close. Phoenix takes a step back.

"I'm not used to people being... close. Last time that happened I-I uh... watched someone's flesh melt off their body..."

Phoenix shudders at the image seared (ha) into her brain, before shaking the thought away.

"-but if you think there's a way you could teach me to control my power, I'd be happy to hear it. I don't want to just randomly keep emitting pillars of flame the rest of my life..."

Dawn Never Came

Kai had walked in alongside Taye, his usual flowing robe trailing against the ground slightly as he walked. On his back he carried a naval cannon, though it was scaled down to be handheld via two grips on the top. He also had a harpoon hanging from a grip on his back as well, the steel tip gleaming in the light. His mind reaches out to Taye's.

Seems reasonable enough. Do keep in touch- I will call out to you if something goes wrong. Until then, it seems we may be split up. Though, do be careful, love. I'd hate to see that coat of yours torn...

Kai had come along when Taye had asked him to go. Besides, an adventure on land was a much-needed change from one at sea- though he had sworn himself off from returning to the hotel to sleep through to night. He may have been able to access it from anywhere, but if he didn't get the full experience, what was the point?