"You'll be free to move around for the most part, yeah." Tatsu confirmed, crossing his arms loosely across his chest and smiling. "I'll even introduce you to Seagull in a bit. He's our resident medic."
The young captain nodded slightly in thanks at Amber's explanation, and recommendation on who to approach if need be. He hadn't much planned to approach them in the near future anyway, but it was good confirmation to know just what kind of threat they could be. His expression turned confused and amused when the girl spoke next, prompting him to sit up. He looked the very obviously young girl over and asked, "Hide your age?"
"And it's a long story, and one that would need a lot of explaining to make sense to you, I think." Tatsu replied, cupping his chin in his hand, "But I can give you the general story and you can ask about anything, I guess. Anyway, I became the captain of the Red Sprite when I attacked the shipyard it was docked in, killed the soldiers guarding it and the evil bitch overseeing it, and rescued all the thundercore humans being forced to give it power. I gave them a chance to join me, and fight back against Edenia, the country that it belonged to, and they joined. And of course, since I was the one that did it all I'm captain!" The dark-haired teen grinned proudly, and a touch smugly, from across the table. Prompting a light giggle from Mono at his side.
Lucy (and Happy) - The Zone
"Voronin, huh? I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said, rubbing her chin in thought. So these guys used to be in the military. That explained why they seemed to be on the friendliest terms with the Ukranians - and why the other STALKERs seemed to give the impression that these guys had a stick up their butt. Like way, way up there.
"Well I guess that makes sense. Having a pre-existing relationship with them helps, plus well all have some things in common like not liking bandits or mutants or - wait...." She paused, quirking an eyebrow. Most of what she had heard either made sense, or made at least just enough sense that she could kind of guess at the general context. But not this.
"What's a 'weed-smoking hippie?'"
Mirajane - Castlevania
"Pity, looks like it used to be a nice bridge," Mirajane commented, glancing at the bridge. She had seen the Fairy Tail guild hall get destroyed before. Several times. She understood that pain to some extent.
She chortled as Trevor threw his coat over to Pyrrha. From what she had seen and heard so far, it seemed like the vampires and monsters here were simply weak to light magic, like Link's arrows, not that anyone here actually had specific enchantments against demons. Maybe they were weak to fire, too. She'd have to keep that in mind in case things went badly.
Still, when Link waved goodbye to them, she smiled warmly in return and waved back at him. Good kid, that one.
"Candles and torches are for us," she said to Ozen. "I don't think creatures of the night have any trouble seeing in the light of the moon. We only blind ourselves by relying on lamps, not able to see out the windows, and making it easier for them to look in on us."
Yomi - Common Room
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed but I have a few things that set me apart from humans," she wriggled her ears, wagged her tail, and winked at Delfi. "But no, to answer your question, we monsters aren't related to humans in any way, even if we may look similar. Not as a sub-species or modification or anything else. Though considering how long monsters have been around, who's to say that it's not simply the case that humans and elves were made to resemble monsters, and not the other way around?"
She gave her a playful smile, then looked over at the redheaded woman who had approached them. She wore a strange white coat of some sort, though she had seen some other humans wearing similar garbs these last two days, so that style must be popular.
"Exotic?" she teased Moira. "I've lived there for so many centuries, I wouldn't say it's all exotic to me. But to a human, perhaps it's incredibly exotic. You could always see it and judge for yourself, no?" She giggled lightly and tapped her umbrella.
Cana - Megucaopolis
"Now that's more like it! Lead the way!" Cana happily exclaimed, heading to the cruiser.
She marveled at the vehicle, that how despite getting power from something, she didn't see any sort of SE-plug or detect any magical energy being radiated. Aside from that quirk, though, and how they looked really sleek, it didn't seem all that different from the cars back home. It was a good thing that they had ditched allowed Wendy to go with Erza instead of bringing her on this trip, the kid would be puking her guts out right about now.
"Restored?" Cana asked the guard. "Why'd their stuff have to be restored? Did somebody take everything? You'd have to be some sort of pretty big-time thief to steal a whole shopping district's stuff, wouldn't you?"
Hiriko - Sakura Dungeon Gardens -> Egypt?
"Of course, let's just get going then...." Hiriko said, leading the way.
She headed the short ways into town, going into the inn
◊ and its warp room
◊. The transporter moved them into a similar-looking warp room in the dungeon far below them. Now instead of the medieval aesthetics, though, the doorway led into a large open area with remarkably high ceilings and Egyptian architectural features everywhere. Of in the distance were brick-lined hallways
◊ that led to other areas. Several dozen yards to the left of the room was a rather large pyramid.
"Welcome to the twenty-first floor," Hiriko said. "You can see what I meant about your part of Chaldea seeming familiar."
She paused, holding out her arm.
"You should hold onto me," she stated abruptly. "F-For safety, I mean. Don't want to get lost here, right?"
Edited by nman on Dec 19th 2018 at 2:16:52 AM
Vampire Hunter
Colosseum, Castlevania
Trevor listened to Tatl as she expressed a few concerns of her own, and replied in kind. "Well, I would have to check the potions myself to know for sure, but..."
Trevor showed the potion in his pocket that he had bought earlier that he never used because Havoc decided to somehow heal him and smiled, "I know this works."
"As for if he is the actual Death... Yes, or at least, the version of Death from my world. The Vampire Killer can destroy all those related to the vampires. So long as Death is related to Dracula, the Vampire Killer can destroy or in his case, banish him. However, the Cure has severely weakened his power, so he is as mortal here as you or I. He has lost two fights so far in Battleworld... Once against the divine power of another holy warrior and another against a lady using weapons like theirs," Trevor pointed to Nora and Ren, indicating weapons like theirs. "He is probably afraid of what a being like him being able to die even means.
"Should Link press with his light arrows, he might have a chance to win this fight," Trevor concluded about what tactics he believed the young Hyrulean should use against Death.
When Link offered Death his notepad to read, Death simply wrote his own answer down upon that notepad.
Truthfully, if it were not for Trevor and the allies he had brought along with Link as well as what his Master wanted, Death would have killed the Hyrulean where he stood. Death could see within his very soul that he manipulated the forces of time. The natural flow of events meant absolutely nothing to him in his quest for whatever divine beings he was blessed by.
Eventually, Death, Trevor, Link, Tatl, Nora and Ren entered the Colosseum. Whatever monsters, undead, or demons they saw on their way to the Colosseum had ignored them after Death gave them a look. Afterwards, Death held a finger up to Link.
"We wait until Slogra comes back with the potions."
Eventually, Slogra would enter the Colosseum carrying two Potions
, and Trevor grabbed one of them to examine it.
"Yeah, this Potion looks like one that will heal up Link," Trevor nodded to Tatl before pocketing it. He didn't quite trust any of Dracula's minions to heal Link first. As Death and Link entered the arena lit by the flames of blue fire and with empty chairs up above for an audience, those down in the arena would see an imposing figure approach the throne in the seating overlooking the battle. Only Trevor would know who exactly this figure was.
"Dracula!" Trevor clenched his fists and seemed completely on guard. The figure smirked down at Death and Link.
"BEGIN!" Dracula yelled as he slouched down in his chair.
Colosseum, Castlevania
"Because I find the moon delightful to look at," A figure off to the side of Ozen smirked. The figure was unnaturally tall and regal, and to those with a keen eye, clearly undead. Even Gaibon seemed to be completely surprised by this being's sudden appearance.
"Dracula," Shanoa stated. Even with the enemy of humans and the Order of Ecclesia, the raven-haired glyph user could not muster up anything more emotional than a factual statement.
"I am he," Dracula looked over at Mirajane. "And you are correct, having windows also lets me keep an eye on potential intruders to my castle, especially if they are... expected guests."
"I am disappointed that Belmont has not chosen to meet with me," The Vampire Lord waved his hand to show them an Aliorumnas who was currently carrying what clearly had to be the Vampire Killer. Both Jaune and Shanoa would note that the woman was dressed in similar robes to Sypha, though eschewing the more conservative blue robes with that of more revealing white and purple robes. She also seemed to be ignoring this thing called gravity given that she was floating just above the ground. Eventually Slogra whispered to him about the people before him. Dracula merely nodded, "I see... Well then, let us go somewhere... better to talk."
Dracula, Slogra, and the Aliorumnas began heading off in a particular direction, expecting Jaune, Pyrrha, Mirajane, Ozen, and Shanoa to follow. Eventually, the group would get to an arena that was clearly for an audience to look down at battles complete with seats and a throne for Dracula himself, and there appeared to be two very recognizable combatants already in the arena... Death and Link!
Dracula approached the throne as he smirked down at the two combatants.
"BEGIN!" Dracula yelled as he slouched down in his chair, and turned back to the others. "Come, take your seats and introduce yourselves while we watch this fight."
It seemed that, unlike Death, Dracula had absolutely no worries about the so-called invaders of his castle or at least, he showed no fear of them.
Edited by GameGuruGG on Dec 19th 2018 at 4:25:52 AM
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Eternal Princess
Ezra and Wendy's intervention allowed them to intercept the bolts of sand being fired from the floating sheep and send it right back toward it. They hit against the sheep, coating its white wool with the sparkling sand but seeming to do little else. It was already asleep after all. But the impacts one after another seemed to shake the sleeping thing ever so slightly, disturbing its rest. The peaceful face of the sheep first scrunched with discomfort, as if having a bad dream, before the eyes suddenly shot opened. They were empty sockets, pitch black and hollow.
The lazy way it floated came to an instant stop and it fell to the ground like a brick. But before reaching the floor, two hoofed legs grew from the fluffy center and caught the weight of the creature. Curious, as the legs seemed to point away from the sheep's head. A moment later, they would see as to why. From where roughly the sheep's tail should be grew out a rooster's head on top a long neck, giving it an almost ostrich like appearance
. As it stood at its full height, it was a good nine feet. At first the different colored eyes strewn about its form looked around, confused and angry at its sudden awakening. Then the eyes all focused on to the two Fairy Tail girls, as if it knew it was them who woke it from its slumber.
It let our an ear piercing screech. It sounded vaguely like a roosters crow, but distorted and high pitch with a sound not unlike nails on a chalkboard. It was loud enough to make one's ears bleed. The force of the of the creatures screech was powerful enough for one to feel the air pressure and vibrations in their body. As it screamed, it began rushing the two girls, focusing on whoever was closer, fully intent on removing these obstacles that kept it from dreaming.
Taliban's plan would go just as he envisioned it. Once close, the giant leeches all suddenly sprang at him. With his Darkstalker strength and reflexes, he had no problem maneuvering and launching the man size bug straight at the tree. Unfortunately the spiked branches of the eyed tree had no problem piercing straight through the smaller worms, armor and all. He had at least been able to get rid of some of the smaller worms, but seemed to only add to macabre decor of the tree as the goopy brown blood mixed with the red of its previous victims.
Felicia would be able to get to the wool coated agent and be able to pull her to safety with little interruption. Up close, she would be able to get a better look at the agent. She was young, couldn't have even been in her twenties yet. She had a turquoise bob, half stained with blood from her missing eye, just like her face. She had small curved horns, almost like a ram. But from what Felcia had seen from the agent showcase before the meeting, that was somewhat normal for the place. Though getting a good look at the coat and the sleeping sheep abnormality nearby, she could probably guess where the agent got her EGO outfit from.
Her wounded leg dangled uselessly as she was dragged. Most of the muscle had been torn off along with her knee cap. It hung by only bone and strips of meat, leaving a blood trail as the girl was dragged. It didn't take a doctor to tell that she would never walk again. Felcia could hear the agent wheeze from the pain, adrenaline and shock probably the only thing keeping her from succumbing to the agony. Before Felcia took off to help her friend, she grabbed the cat girl's arm to relay some friendly advice.
"Don't take your eyes off that thing, not even for a second."
The other agent impaled by the tree seemed out of it when Felcia arrived. There was barely any life left in her. The way she had been skewered made a rescue seem hopeless. The way the jagged branches bent and twisted made trying to slide her off a problem. As her useless attempts to cut herself free had shown, the tree was made of sturdy stuff. With an unfocused gaze, the agent looked toward her rescuer. The way her lips quivered made it seem like she was trying to say something. But her labored breathing seemed like it was all she could do to hopelessly gasp for air for these last few seconds of life. Soon she couldn't even muster that. Her red combat knife dropped into the small pool of blood that had been collecting below her as she stopped moving.
The Sefirots all took action. Malkuth went about enthusiastically stabbing the smaller worms about the room with her spear as if she was trying for a high score. Helping her were the twins whose pistols fired out bolts of white or black magic respective to the color of the gun. They were efficient enough, but they way they went about shooting was closer to as if they were playing a light gun game then actual trained marksmen. Chessed took a breath to calm his nerves then leveled his musket at the unharnessed large rock worm. Electricity crackled out of the barrel, then with the sound of thunder the weapon fired out. The projectile it fired was too fast to see, but it seemed to warp the space around its trajectory. It pierced straight through the large tank of the creature, leaving a large gaping wound.
Netzach, Hod, and Yesod all came to the aid of Talbain. Yesod found the soft spot between the rock plates and plunged his rapier. Hod kept her distance, her inexperience showing in the way her hands quaked. She would fire out with that delicate looking crossbow of hers. Every where her bolts hit, vines would spring forth and wrap around its target before blooming Wisteria. The bolts didn't pierce the rock worms armor, their tips were blunt after all, but the flowers seemed to put them to sleep on the spot.
With an opening from the other two, Netzach got on the back of the giant worm. He raised his massive mouthed hammer and brought it down with incredible force. As it hit the mouth closed, clamping down on the creatures flesh and crushing its plates between its teeth. Tearing his hammer away from its meal, he raised it up again in preparation for another strike. As he did so, the weapon began to quiver and let out a low roar, awake with the taste of blood. He struck the worm again as he proceeded tear his way into the creature. Every time he could swear the faces on his weapon was staring at him. He wondered if he knew any of them before they became this. God he wasn't nearly drunk enough for this shit.
The last two kept with Satori and the Hope's Peak teens and away from combat. The old man, Hokma, seemed lost in thought. He looked about the carnage with a melancholy look. So this was what was to become of all their efforts. All things came to an end, even time was finite. It was unfortunate, but inevitable. Binah, unarmed as she was, seemed unable to help even if she wanted. She merely watched the display with a thin smirk. It was all just so nostalgic for her.
The Hope's Peak teens would find their prospect for escape was not great. If they wanted to go back the way they came to the elevator that led up top, they would have to take the spiral walkway which the agents were fighting a losing battle. The slime creature they were in battle with seemed to take up to whole path like a blockade. If they wanted to go this route, it would have to be through that thing. Assuming they could fly, they could maybe make a straight shot for the elevator. However the large bird perched on the 3rd floor and crystal like entity sprouting legs at the top gave a bad feeling for trying this as well. This left the halls that exited out from this main room here on the ground floor. One exit was color coded red, the other blue. One can only imagine what horrors awaited them down that path, but at least it wasn't here.
The bird perched on the third floor continued its coarse breathing. Each time a glow from inside its body grew brighter. The yellow glow from within silhouetted its skeletal structure like shadow puppets on a screen. Small spots of fire erupted on the surface of its black feathers. Fire bellowed out with every exhale. The room grew hot. The temperature controlled room a moment ago now felt like summer in Baghdad. The pathetic looking bird looked more lively as it began to make small flaps with its wings. It looked like it was preparing to make its move.
The strange blue crystal entity above let out another pulse. Four more agents went limp. Like the others and floated up and got sucked into that thing's center. It was enough to turn the losing battle into an out right slaughter. What ever formation they had gone straight to shit with the sudden lost. What was left of the front line didn't even have time to scream as they were quickly absorbed into pink slime creature, their bodies dissolving within its acidic goo.
The ones in the back decided to try to make a run for it, only to be intercepted by the derelict robots behind them. Their attempt to run past only earned them being pinned to the ground with the large spike like appendages of these artificial bipeds. These forgotten machines collectively dubbed themselves Doubt, as if in honor of what lead to this rebellion. They gathered around the pinned humans and one after another took turns brutally stabbing them. The screams of the dying agents could be heard on the ground floor, along with the wet crushing sound that accompanied each blow. They did not die well.
The blops from the slime creature that fell to the ground floor made their way toward the scared man with the gun. Finally choosing a target, he pointed his gun at the smaller blobs and let loose with all the bullets in his weapon until it was empty. The bullets passed harmlessly though the creatures, striking the wall behind them. From their round forms sprang forth two nubs that could vaguely be called arms. They coated the poor man's arms and legs with their pink slime. To his horror, he could see his limbs dissolve in their pink forms. He screamed out as he fell to the ground, no longer having arms nor legs to support himself. The small slimes would slide over their helpless victim. To his misfortune, they did not start with his head.
The woman continued to laugh and cry in equal manner as she watched the horror about her. Despite being in the thick of it, she had been so far been left unharnessed.
The group on the ground floor would feel a rumbling from below. Just as it seemed all the rock worms were being dealt with, five more of the giant rock worms breached the surface. With them came legions more of the smaller man sized leeches. Two flanked the one Talbain was near. They wormed their way over to the wolf and the three Sefirots accompanying him. The host of new leeches threatened to overwhelm the sheep coated agent. She defended herself with her magnum, but it wouldn't take long to for them to swarm her in her condition. A third large one broke surface near the other sefirots and instantly began cannibalizing its dead brethren.
The fourth tried to breach right into Gebura like a sneak attack. The berserking red head was able to thrust her sword into the creature and hold her ground, keeping the maw capable of easily eating its way through bed rock just our of reach. The smaller ones tried to swarm her, but it was alright, she could take it. The bits of pain that came as their small teeth tried to tear through her exterior instead just renewing her resolve as she pressed her sword ever further into the larger one. That's right, all these disgusting abnormalities had to die.
As if what happened to Gebura was a short preview of things to come, Satori, the hope's peek teens, and the other non-combatants would feel the ground below them sink a little before the fifth large rock worm tried to burst out from right underneath. It burst through the surface like a breaching whale, standing tall before trying to crush the small party with its heavy body. It slammed to the ground with a loud thud. Almost instantly the smaller man sized leaches from its back tried jumping on nearest form of meat to feast upon.
What made things all the worse was that based on the tremors, there was a lot more of these large rock worms right below them. That, or something so much large it merely felt like it was a swarm of these truck sized bugs.At least Satori had her umbrella, it was just unfortunate that it was such an ugly gaudy looking thing
. The walking stick
was at least a little more tasteful.
Mirajane - Castlevania Colosseum VIP Box
So this was the infamous Dracula. Mirajane couldn't help but feel like he seemed a liiiiiittle bit familiar
◊.
Still, she couldn't help but be a little bit relieved that the throne room they were in was located in the stands so they could see how Link and the others were doing. It was better than being off in some sealed-off grand hall - like most throne rooms she was familiar with - not sure what was going on with the other group.
"Mirajane," Mirajane said, smirking slightly and speaking confidently. "I think it might be easier to have a conversation with cooler heads if we keep some space between you and Trevor. You don't disagree with that, do you? A proper discussion could wind up producing the best results for everyone."
Of course, if this was an arena, there was only one proper way to act.
She walked to the edge of the room facing the center of the arena and pulled out her Light Pen from... well, it was probably best not to ask where she kept things she wasn't using. She proceeded to quickly scribble out a message in the air. The result was a big 'banner' reading GO LINK in bright green lettering, gold trim, and a cutesy heart ♥ over the i. The skywriting hung there in the air as she cheered - she was considerate enough to do it far enough to the side that it wouldn't block people from seeing down below, of course.
"Come on Link, you can do it!" she shouted down at the arena. "WOO!"
Castlevania, Colosseum: Cue Smash Bros. Castlevania Music!
"He's lost twice now?" Tatl echoed. Losing to a warrior of light was one thing, but losing to something like normal weapons was something else entirely; she'd call it pathetic, but then she realized the shocking news had brought volume back to her voice. Ticking off the embodiment of mortality was probably not the smartest move.
"I agree, but there's a limit to how many light arrows the kid can make. He'll run out of magic if he uses them willy-nilly."
A few yards ahead of them, the little hero blinked at the note as if it snapped him out of a reverie. How did this thing know that? Wait, had he been scowling this entire time? Oh no, he was still scowling! They hadn't even gotten to the match and this monster could read him like a book!
And what was this about soul reading? How could it tell he had a reincor, reincina, a soul that kept coming back to life? Tatl was right: this monster couldn't be completely lying since it got the gods detail right. Death knew more than it let on...question was, how much more did it know?
As the group arrived at the arena, Link took the brief intermission to stretch and study the Colosseum. It had the same shape and groundwork as the one in Themiscrya, but the similarities ended there. The Amazons had more seats, and there was a lot more light, even in the nighttime! Where the Amazons fought in a space with warm colors and bright stone, this ring looked and felt as cold as the grave.
...which seemed fitting, considering there were skeletons tucked into the edges of the arena. Most of them were incomplete—a rib cage, a smashed skull, a femur and a pelvis—and most had scratches or bite marks etched into them. One skeleton appeared intact, held together by the spear impaled in its ribs. The sole reprieve of slate grey stone were the blood stains, some of which were as big as Link himself. Crimson smear was so high up the poor soul must've been thrown into the wall by a giant.
Link hadn't known that he could hate this castle more than he did ten minutes ago, but now he did. People died here. They died in some disgusting perversion of Amazonian sport. The incomplete skeletons were remnants of good men and women who'd been fed to something. Not fought against, fed to something. And there, in the cold light of blue fire, loomed a throne where Dracula would watch these massacres...
For fun.
The potions arrived, and Mr. Belmont stowed one away for safe keeping. Once the vampire hunter confirmed it wasn't poisoned (yet), Tatl flew out to meet her partner in the arena.
"Light arrows are our best bet, but use them sparingly." she advised. "We don't know how much punishment this guy can take."
Link nodded, and retrieved his bow and arrows. The Count's arrival compelled Link to react much like Mr. Belmont—except he held a weapon that could hurt the vampire.
"Stay focused." Tatl warned. "We're not here for him."
Link was less hesitant to agree with his fairy on that. Sure, they hadn't come here specifically to fight the vampire, but after everything he'd seen in this purely evil place...no, Tatl was right. There was an opponent right in front of him; defeating Death had to come first.
When the match was officially announced, Link raised his bow to shoot an arrow at Death's heartless core. He waited till the last moment to instill the power of light into the arrow, then let it fly.
"Well, uh…" The officer scratched his head, boy will this be hard to explain. “Think of people that love drugs and alcohol a lot, party a lot and also happen to be one of the strongest stalker clans next to Duty, and want everybody to see this place is not so bad. Uh, Corporal Artyom, can you explain her better?”
The spetsnaz obliged and nodded to the Officer, explaining Lucy more clearly the “wonders” of Freedom.
"Those people happen to be Freedom. They are a faction of anarchist Stalkers whose goal is to grant free access of the Zone to everybody in the world. I imagine once they find out about this situation, they would promote the Zone and it's artifacts and scientific advantages to all the places outside here. They're all friendly to neutral stalkers, the Ecologists and Mercenaries who aren't hired against them, though not so much to us and Duty."
The officer would then speak after the spetsnaz was done.
"Duty hates Freedom because they think they're idiots who don't know the dangers of this place, and Freedom thinks they're asshats who can't see the positive things of this hellhole. While you can convince Freedom to accept our cease fire, they're the least of our priorities and our focus is more on getting onto the neutral stalkers and Duty's good grace."
Edited by Darkomega245 on Dec 20th 2018 at 6:04:35 AM
"Holy magic, hmmmmm...."
She put a hand up to her chin in thought.
"I can say with certainty that kind of thing doesn't exist where we come from. Feels a little too convenient that he just had a weakness slapped on him, but if that's the case, I'm not complaining."
Then she looked over at BB Hood.
"Mostly because this entire situation is a result of what she did after this fight. You'd have expected her to finish him off after this fight, or call one of us who knows him to deal with the situation. But instead, she decided the smart move was to conscript him to serve her, took no measures whatsoever against the possibility of him leaving or betraying her beyond his word, and told no one about this. Those of you who were with the City 17 squad will know how that ended."
"So, she will not be joining us, and I have in fact banned her from interfering further with anything to do with him. If you see her or anyone with one of those red armbands searching for Vergil, I'll pay you a special bonus if you stop them without doing any permanent damage. I have some non-lethal bullets someone I know made for me, if any of you who use guns like me need a way to not kill them.
For Havoc, Wither landed just as planned, and the imp fell to the ground. The problem was, she had used the strength debuff on a primarily magic using enemy. It lifted its hand, and launched a small fireball at her from the ground. It would then die once Havoc undoubtedly responded with lots of shooting.
Carmilla's dark blast of energy, meanwhile, downed the imp in one shot.
In the middle, Vergil took a moment to stand in place and watch as his opponent, the headless giant, approached, wildly swinging a club. Then, suddenly, he moved in a burst of speed, and if they weren't looking directly at him, it might have appeared he teleported again, as he came to a halt behind the giant, sword out and held at his side. Then, as the giant turned around, he lifted his sheath, spun his sword around a couple of times, and then slowly sheathed it. It made a noticeable clink noise as it finished, and the giant suddenly halted. Then, it suddenly started to split into several pieces, each of which was sliding off of each other, as the monster literally fell apart, spewing green, acidic blood near where it had once stood. Vergil ran one of his hands through his hair, ensuring it was still firmly in place as he turned around, not saying anything.
"Don't worry, kid." Dante said as he shook his head. "If they were demons, they'd be attacking by now. But I get it. Having a bunch of dancing bears around is almost unbearable."
He grinned at his own pun.
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Arkos - Last Time They Were In A Colosseum, Pyrrha Committed Involuntary Manslaughter; Colosseum Royal Box, Castlevania
Pyrrha took the coat, and Jaune unconsciously patted the pocket Trevor had shoved the holy water into, both nodding at his instructions.
Along the way, Ozen asked a question about the Castle’s design, and while Mirajane gave a good answer, Pyrrha felt it wasn’t quite accurate.
“I’d think they’d serve well as firing ports, in the event of a siege.” She added.
Though when Dracula arrived and confirmed Mirajane’s answer, she felt a little embarrassed.
They continued to follow Dracula along, as resquested, only to find themselves in the Colosseum they’d thought they’d avoided. Pyrrha blanched, and Jaune looked over at her in worry, before taking her hand in solidarity.
“I think we’ll stand.” Jaune replied, unwilling to find out if Dracula had trapped the chair or something. “And I’m Jaune Arc.”
“Pyrrha Nikos.” Pyrrha added, trying to not let her lack of comfort show. “And you know what we wish to discuss with you, but your servant failed to inform us why you’d wish to speak with us.”
Renora - I Find Your Lack Of Maids Disturbing; Colosseum Stands, Castlevania
Meanwhile, the other half of Team JNPR followed along in silence, their weapons stowed but their wits about them. As the conversation so far had been whispered, they didn’t have the chance to insert themselves into it without making it incredibly obvious they were all whispering to each other.
They arrived at the arena, only to find it… horrifying, if they were to be honest. The ground was bloodstained and littered with skeletons of the fallen. It served as stark reminder that no matter how tame Dracula may be, he was still nowhere near being a good person.
Dracula’s arrival, on the other hand, took them by surprise. It seems the team wasn’t going to be split at all. But on the other hand, given what had happened the last time they’d been in an arena, they couldn’t help suspect this may be a trap.
“That’s Dracula? Huh. Kinda expected him to look scarier.” Nora said, not bothering to take a seat in case things went bad, a sentiment Ren quitely shared.
RWBY - Too Many Cooks...; Lady’s Armoury
The four girls looked at each other, a mix of concern and surprise at Lady’s words.
“So let’s get this straight: you’re refusing to ask either of the two people you know can beat this guy to help?” Yang asked, a single eyebrow raised. “Dante, I get, but if I screwed up as hard as Minako did, I’d be looking to make it right.”
“And I’m sure she’d be willing to submit to any conditions you’d seek.” Weiss added.
“Even if you didn’t want her to be on the front lines, I think I speak for all of us that we’d feel more sure if you at least kept her as backup.” Blake explained, glancing at the television screen once more as she did so. “Because I’m not entirely sure if we can beat him. Even with all of us.”
“Especially with all of us.” Ruby clarified. “While we know how to work as a team, the rest of you guys are strangers to us. If we all try to attack him together, we’re gonna end up falling all over each other. If we do this, we need to establish tactics and a leader, which also means explaining what we’re able to do.”
Ruby was also left wondering what exactly Minako had planned for Vergil. What did she see in him that made her want him to work for her? Was there actually good in him, despite what Lady said? Everyone deserved a chance at redemption, but it wasn’t something you can force on people. It was something you had to decide on.
Edited by GeekCodeRed on Dec 22nd 2018 at 11:08:03 AM
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
Kizakura & The Monokubs- Hope's Peak Academy w/ Nagi & Dante
("... Oh dear, he fits right in.")
On the cue of the white haired man's...barely (bear-ly? Now he's got him doing it) standable pun, he tried to assuage the girl's fears.
"No, they can be little demons, but not like that. They're robots actually."
"No, we're the Monokubs." the red, scarfed one said.
A silence filled the space between recruiter and the posse.
"..." The robotic green "bear" just stared.
"...Anyways, what's the deal? I thought you were out to ask a question. Time is money after all." came from the bespectacled yellow
"Ah, so he knows about that, huh?" So much for going behind his back. The fact they aren't stopping him, though, is a bit of a question. Perhaps Monokuma wanted to know too? "Either way, two people were on their way to Hope's Peak to look to see if they can allow a new student in."
The Bears' gazes fixed onto the small girl.
"Oh! Why aren't you the cutest little thing!"
"Well, we're the Monokubs were here to... uh..."
"Assist the students. You forgot the script again, didn't you?"
Kizakura could only sigh.
"Well, they try to help, even if it's...questionable. Don't let them get to you." He addressed the visitors.
Byakuya & Sonia- Facility X-394 w/Hokma & Binah
("Tch. Damn it. 'This is going to hell' is an understatement.") Rest assured, if the Lobotomy Corporation wasn't shut down by the end of this, he would do so himself.
"Okay... can't go back the way we came, or we get slimed...two routes, red or blue... looks like our only options..." The princess asked.
"Alright. Hey, either of you. What's down both of those halls?" Togami asked the two members who stayed. It would be suicide to just run into one of the paths without at least seeing if the employees know at least that much. Both options were likely equally awful, but best to know what kind first.
Tsubaki- Lady's Armory
"I see..."
She rather not harm people trying to help, truthfully, and Team RWBY does raise a good point that they beat him once... But, at the same time, orders are orders, and Lady has to have some reason for wanting them out of this... Hopefully, best case in scenario, those kids would know to steer clear of the whole situation, invalidating the entire issue... Either way, if this theory works out, she has a good chance against Virgil. Hopefully she, or anyone else, can intervene before too many casualties are taken.
Edited by Boomer75 on Dec 22nd 2018 at 3:42:22 PM
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
Manhattan, Sugar Hill (Northwest)
Soon enough, a small crowd of about a dozen people had formed in front of the Strahl, most of them gawking ordinary citizens, plus one priest with wispy white hair, decked out in all the traditional vestments and even carrying a bible. In short order, a blue and white vehicle with a funny little flashing thing on the roof pulled up beside the graveyard, and a uniformed, slightly heavyset man in blue pulled himself out, along with a handheld, conical device. Seeing the crowd, he hastened up the hill and began waving them back from the vicinity. Except for the priest, they meekly obeyed, forming a loose semicircle around the airship's front, at the center of which the two distinctive men stood.
After a short, quiet back-and-forth between the holy man and blue-shirted man, the latter nodded, then cleared his throat and put the small end of the cone-thing to his mouth. "Attention unidentified craft," his amplified voice came out loud and slightly tinny, "either state your intentions and disembark, or vacate the premises. You have five minutes to respond."
Lowering the device to his side, the man crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Beside him, the elderly priest stared up at the ship with a thoughtful expression. Behind the pair, the crowd watched with bated breath.
Manhattan, East Midtown
"What the fuck?!" the wall-stuck thug exclaimed, shaking his head rapidly, "No, God, it's not that! For Chrissakes, it's spider web or some shit! He like, shoots it out of his hands! Are you really telling me you never heard of Spider-Man? Even people from outta town know him. He's world-famous, y'know?"
Common Room
"Huh," Spider-Man rubbed his chin as he regarded the kids from Hope's Peak, "Well, it's good to see you have good heads on your shoulders. What're teens from the 2010s doing without phones, though? Don't tell me they don't let you keep cellphones at your school. Good God, that would be inhumane. I mean, I'm sure even our resident wizard has a—"
He turned to the suddenly empty air beside him and paused. "Uh, Molly?" He spun around slowly on his webline. No sign of her. "Er, maybe she turned herself invisible... yeeeeah. That's not creepy at all."
"Hey, do people usually just vanish in the middle of conversations around here?" he called out to the room at large, "'Cause man, that must get old fast."
Velvet Room
Minako moved uncertainly as if to stabilize the teetering masked man, but ultimately withdrew her hand to scratch at her scalp. "Um, sure I can heal him," she agreed as she pulled out her evoker with a gesture and quickly pushed it to her temple. "Persona!"
Out in the hallway, a towering figure materialized behind the injured visitor. In fact, it was the same one who had nearly crushed him the other night. Vishnu regarded the man before him with half-lidded eyes, but nonetheless pointed a finger at him, out of which shot a white light that enveloped him briefly and then fading, much like his injuries did in the next instants.
"But why did you come all the way here? Just for that? And anyway, who are you?" The Fool directed her questions at the man with a smiling mask for a face.
Meanwhile, behind her, Akihiko got to his feet and brushed some imaginary dust off his shoulder. "Yes," he begrudged curtly, then stepped over to slide onto one of the nearby couches.
"Oh man, that's so bullshit! You guys get to summon yours without evokers and hers is a rad motorcycle?!" Junpei complained, slapping a hand over his face, "Uggggh, this is totally lame! Why are you guys so much cooler than us?"
"Don't kid yourself, Junpei," Yukari added with a small smirk, "You were never cool in the first place, so it's not hard."
"I have to admit, I am impressed," Mitsuru chimed in, setting aside her teacup, "It must be convenient to be able to summon transportation any time you need it." Privately, she was also envious, though for different reasons than her underclassman.
Velvet Room(?)
"Philemon is my master," Igor explained, fingers steepled pensively, "He dwells between consciousness and unconsciousness, much like this Velvet Room. Occasionally, he calls upon me to aid certain individuals whom he has gifted with the ability to wield Personas. It is a rather exclusive list of special persons, including Lady Minako Arisato, and presumably, yourself. His reasons for doing this often appear mysterious, but he typically empowers Wild Cards for the sake of aiding them in a larger fate they have yet to fully grasp."
"By the by," the long-nosed man stroked his chin ponderously, "what is your name, my dear guest?"
Edited by darksidevoid on Dec 23rd 2018 at 3:40:48 PM
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
Now what do we have here?
Utsuho only managed to spot the distortion in the air a few feet away from it, on account of her daydreaming about many other things. Usually, when one's flying around, there's not a lot of stuff to run into, you know? Only people who wanna fight you. And stalactites, but that's not usual for someone from Gensokyo.
Her first instinct was to raise her arm and threaten it with nuclear death, but when it didn't move or...do anything, really, as her control rod began to glow brightly, she was convinced it was a non-living invisible thing.
Now, far be it to suggest that she's any kind of intelligent beyond being a savant. Far from it! But she could easily recall the one golden rule that makes showing people her reactor all the more easier: don't touch things you don't understand.
Have someone else touch them for you.
Or something.
She puttered around for a moment, trying to dig around for the piece of loose junk that looked the ripest for use as a probe. This tire iron was snapped off at one end, that tire was probably too large to throw easily, this long-ruined AK-47 with a skeletal hand attached looked un-aerodynamic...aha!
Utsuho settled on the skull that might've belonged to that hand. It was kind-of baseball-shaped, so it's gonna be super easy to land it!
Standing about ten feet away from the anomaly, she chucked the skull at it.
Velvet Room, Entrance: Is It Uhhh...Too Late to Say I'm Sorry?
As Hei's staggering subsided with the healing light, Misaki took a few involuntary steps away from the deity. The last time she'd seen one of these creatures, she was thirty feet away and more preoccupied with rescuing a high school kid from a deranged woman than with Minako's fight. Like her chat with Junpei and Akihiko, Misaki was given a friendly reminder that Personas were much more intimidating up close.
The mask rose from staring at the floor to gaze at Minako's sunbeam smile. Were these precautions really working, or was she just pretending not to know him? The talk they had back in Ikebukuro convinced Hei that she wasn't a fool, just an optimist. And unlike so many people from his world—humans and Contractors alike—Hei didn't equate optimism with foolishness.
"Two days ago you met a man named Lee Shengshun." Hei began, the mask creating a thin distortion to hide his true voice.
The statuesque presence of Vishnu helped Misaki rationalize he wasn't planning to attack, so she returned to the Black Reaper's side. As the explanation began with the alias, the Section Chief's concerns turned away from Minako, and back to the Contractor.
"You talked with him for a while, and then something happened. You began radiating a strange glow."
"Radiating?" Misaki choked on the word. "What color?"
"...light blue."
"You didn't."
The Reaper turned his head between Misaki and Minako. "The Syndicate had sent a hitman after me that afternoon. They knew I was in Ikebukuro, and—"
"You didn't!"
Hei turned full-force to the Section Chief. "Some Contractors can change their shape. After what happened at—"
"So that's how you knew she could heal you?!" Misaki pointed to the Hindu god. "She used him to save herself when you..."
All the pain you have inflicted, the people you fried like a fish.
Hei clenched his fists, grasping at the straws of anger that claimed to justify his mistake. It was an understandable mistake. A freak coincidence of powers that would've brought anyone in his position to act the way he did. Dammit, he'd been in this situation before with Nick Hillman a few months ago! A new friendship bonded through star-gazing and trust that was broken in an instant—he learned from that mistake!
You choose the path of Death, and it haunts your every waking moment. But despite that, you still kill.
He still tried to kill her. Did his past lessons really change anything? The one moment he believed Minako was another Syndicate assassin was the only moment that mattered. Were she anyone else, Hei would be forced to speak to Minako's friends instead. God, what must she be thinking right now? Minako might still be alive, but that brush with death would traumatize anyone. Hei scarred this kid for life because he thought her bright smiles masked a threat!
Why is that, Black Reaper? I know already, of course, and so do you...
"...yes." The Black Reaper replied. "When all's said and done, I did it: I tried to kill Minako Arisato."
The mask turned to the Persona user, its unnaturally wide smile resembling the grin of an ancient enemy. Then, with a simple gesture, it fell to floor. Minako could greet the face of her attempted murderer; his eyes dark, weary, and sad.
Their eyes would meet only for only a second before Hei dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the floor. He fell even further to a Doge-Fuse bow, his body prone on the Velvet Room's tiled floor.
"I won't ask for forgiveness. I just came to apologize."
Hei waited in silence for Minako's response—whether it was to raise him from the floor, or to feel Vishnu's almighty foot crush his skull.
Red Sprite, Dining Hall: Edenia? More Like Paradise Lost! ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Amber withheld the truth behind her age for now. It wasn't important, and she was more interested in learning more about her potential crew than in talking about herself all day.
"Edenia?" Amber chuckled at the name. "Sounds paradisaical, though if they're using people as batteries, the name's false advertising."
She waited for the Captain's boastful grin before raising her next question. "You've used two names for this ship now: Magonia, and the Red Sprite. I take it that the latter is what Edenia christened it, but why use the former?"
DMC, Lady's Armory: The Evening Primrose's D Team
"You sure she's willing to play well with others?" Dmitri objected to Weiss' statement. "Can't say I'm against the extra help, but if this kid's good enough to take him down one-on-one, I don't see why she'd want to take orders from us lowly plebs."
"Far as leaders go," Maria added with a thumb towards Lady, "I'm following the one who's willing to pay me."
"She's also from the same world as Vergil, so it's a bit of a no-brainer." Dmitri shrugged.
The topic of teamwork brought out a glance and a shrug between the Contractors. Dmitri leaned forward in his chair in a confidential manner. "Honestly, I don't need to know the first thing about any of you to know you're better suited to fight this guy head-on. Maria and I don't have the huge world-breaking powers our boss has; she's got camouflage, and I've got smoke bombs. Apart from that we've got some firearms and intel-retrieval experience, so we're probably best as scouts."
"We want to help find this verga." Maria added, her arms crossed against her chest. "That doesn't mean we can help much killing him."
Archades, Dungeons: I Want My Money Back!
Havoc cursed wildly as the fireball whirled towards her and she was forced to dive out of the way. She poured her frustration into filling the grounded imp with more holes than a chain-link fence.
Satisfied that not even the monster's mother would recognize its corpse, Havoc holstered her weapons and watched Vergil's cinematic display of giant-killing. She studied the green blood pouring from the giant's corpse and silently shook her head.
She was not drinking that.
With all three nuisances enemies dead, Havoc walked further into the dungeon and waited for her companions to accompany her.
The Grand Re-Vizier
How long had it been? He remembered fighting through a wave of robotic warriors in City 17, letting others pass him by to give them time to finish the fight and escape, the strange shadow creatures that fell away and burned at the touch of his blade, but the rest was distant, as if he had been in a fevered dream...
He had flashes of working his way through the remains of the city, years of training keeping him out of sight when he could manage it, keeping him alive atop mounds of cyborg remains when he couldn't. By now he was battered, bloodied and bruised, a mess of torn robes, wild hair and exhaustion.
But as Samurai Jack walked through the portal from City 17 to the Common Room, he was definitely still alive.
The warrior prince walked right up to the Cure with sword in hand. He was still panting with frustration and exhaustion, burning off the intensity of the battlefield and channeling it through a glare that had made seasoned bounty hunters run, though he knew it would almost certainly have no affect on the near omnipotent being.
"Demon! I said that I would not fight for your amusement. You...have proved me wrong." The prince slumped his head for a moment, seeming to falter before he lifted his head with a look of even greater intensity.
"So hear me now. I will wander aimlessly no longer. I will fight. I will defeat whatever creatures of dark sorcery or mad science you bring to this place. Every warlord, every criminal and every monster will face me. Every innocent will have my protection. Enjoy what entertainment I may give you, creature. This world is your toy no more! I am here to claim it."
Having said his piece and vented his frustration The Samurai slammed his ancestral katana home in its sheathe and turned to walk back to his room. He would spend a moment to bind his wounds and tie back his hair then return, for there was little time to spare.
Bringing peace to Battleworld would be hard work.
"Well, not exactly a team," Asgore replied, "But certainly talented indeed. You see, for many years the position of Royal Scientist has been filled by veritable geniuses, with each one's work building on those before. Doctor Alphys is the current Royal Scientist, and she's done a lot of great work for our community, from revamping Hotland's security system to creating a robotic television celebrity! We're all very proud of her here."
For the first time that day, Chara showed something like proper emotion as they stared incredulously at Majora. "What? No, it is a food. The best food. Sometimes it is a prize for games, though." Then Astolfo offered up the little bunny chocolate treats. Chara's eyes flashed with delight, and they plucked one of them up, observing the adorable rabbit shape for just a moment before voraciously chomping off the head. "Mm!" they went, surprised by the quality of the chocolate. "This is very good," they said through a mouthful.
"Is that an invitation?" Moira said with a smirk, "Because I'd be delighted to have a look around. Perhaps even learn more about the...fascinating biological variants." She eyed Yomi's tail, deeply curious about where the fox ended and the human began. She'd said they were a different species, not made through modification, but though studying her kind, perhaps she'd have the groundwork for something else entirely...
"WOWIE, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?" Papyrus was peering out the corner of the nearest window, eye sockets nearly up against the glass. "A REAL LIFE POLICE WAGON. WHO'D HAVE EVER THOUGHT WE'D BEAR WITNESS TO A HUMAN'S COP CAR IN ACTION?"
"URK! THAT'S OUR CUE." Papyrus hurried over to his adventurer's backpack. "QUICKLY, SANS, HELP ME FIND THE MIXTAPE!"
"i think it'd be better for the more human-looking types to make the first meet-n-greets."
"EXCELLENT POINT! FAMILIARITY BREEDS PRESENTMENT. CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN, WHO DO YOU THINK SHOULD VENTURE FIRST?"
So, a famous guy who shoots spider webs from out of his hands. Finally, something that might get a reaction out of tall-thin-and-icy. Could be someone to look out for. The question is, would they be for or against Talon's interests?
"Oh, that guy? Pfft. 'course I've heard of him." She casually leaned against the wall beside the webbed-up crook. "But see, what I haven't heard of is him splatter his webs and beat up on a bunch of guys for no reason. I mean, everyone's gotta have a motive, right? So what's the story here? He rob you guys? He stop you from robbing? Or maybe you taraditos got some juicy info he wanted squeezing out of you, huh?"
Ozen cocked her head to the side, looking at Mirajane. "Hmm. It's for the poor humans like us, who...aren't allowed inside this castle, I'm guessing? Unless the Lord here likes to entertain mortal guests." She chuckled, her armored shoulders heaving. "Maybe they just put them up before we got here. Very nice of them, very thoughtful."
Right about time, naturally, for this nice person to appear before them! Ozen guardedly observed him, taking in how...unlike her mental image this man was.
Aside from being very tall, close to her height even, she was expecting someone more openly rotting, not just a pale and even aristocratic-looking gentleman. The kind of person you'd expect to see lounging around with a mistress in hand at his manse on the mainland.
This was a disguise, hiding something much worse. Ozen was certain of it.
"I'd never imagine the undead to be that sentimental," Ozen replied to the other world's most infamous vampire. "If you want to look at the moon, though, I guess you've made it very easy on yourself."
Of course, right after this they got shuffled right back into watching Link get to fight Death itself. Odd that they were asked to return to this, like they couldn't have just been here to begin with.
Right. Introductions.
"You can call me Ozen," The Immovable Lord Ozen the Unmovable said. "Just that."
She ignored the fancy banner. It was pretty boorish.
As Utsuho throwed the skull to the anomaly, she would find that it would suddenly become active, creating a large shockwave blast,
◊ the unfortunate skull she just throwed exploding into tiny pieces due to the power of the anomaly.
It might be best not to pass through it, unless she felt suicidal.
Kowalski would nod after Lancer asked for proof and would then take out his PDA, and after a few seconds of clicking the screen, would show a video to the gate guardian.
The video would show from a far distance a stalker tied to a cross, desperately trying to get off his holds. It would then zoom in to show his captors...which just happened to be the 3 bandits that he just letted through. They were laughing and even holding some of the artifacts they showed to the Spartan. After a few seconds, Boris would then take out his pistol and then aim it to the stalker's head, the video ending right as Boris pulled the trigger.
"Is this proof good enough?" The Duty officer asked.
"You boys okay with gold coins?" Boris turned to his bandit comrades to see if they were fine with this reward.
"Yup."
"Very fine with that."
Boris then turned to the person who would soon enough make them rich. "Yeah, gold coins would be fine...especially in a chest."
Shit, they'll be rich soon enough, man! Then they can get the hell out of the Zone, and live a rich ass life outside! Surely nothing will screw this up at all!
"Interesting. We'll most certainly like to visit and interview a brilliant mind like her. She would most likely enjoy studying the artifacts from the Zone we will share to your land as a sign of thanks for letting us document this land. The medicinal and scientific advantages these objects have are just amazing." As soon as Kruglov just mentioned the idea of giving the artifacts away, Semenov looked very annoyed from his body language, though he had to stay quiet due to the fact the interview was still running, and he was holding the camera.
"Anyways, you said something about magic, right? The closest thing we have to magic comes from some of the mutants of the Zone which have psychic powers that can create hallucinations, control people....or well, drive them insane. Can you tell us if your people have something like that?"
Edited by Darkomega245 on Dec 28th 2018 at 7:38:27 AM
Vampire Hunter
Death, Colosseum, Castlevania
When Link fired the arrow, Death simply spun his scythe around to send the arrow flying into one of the Colosseum walls, which erupted into flames that soon died down. However, Death noticed what happened.
"Holy magic... Yes, I should have expected that from Belmont," Death then summoned small little scythes which would try to home in on Link unless he did something to avoid them. Clearly, Link needed to do more than just fire an arrow at Death to defeat him
Meanwhile, Trevor stood right between Nora and Ren, almost as if to keep the two apart from each other. After scanning where everything was, he then pulled out two glass bottles of Holy Water and put one each in Nora and Ren's pocket.
"If things do go horribly wrong here, I want you to throw these bottles at Death. Jaune's got one for Dracula as well. They are also holy magic." Trevor whispered to the Huntsman and Huntress before crossing his arms.
Dracula, Colosseum, Castlevania
"Curiosity," Dracula explained to Pyrrha. "Clearly, Mirajane and Ozen have both been touched by darkness in some way, and you..."
Dracula glanced over at Jaune and then back at Pyrrha, "Truthfully, you two remind me of when I was a mere human."
"An invincible knight and a genius tactician," Dracula seemed to actually look regretful but pointed out Trevor. "That is what I and his ancestor, Leon Belmont, were."
"I lost my first wife to illness and... well, you see the results of how I opposed God for that here," Dracula waved his hand around, frowning a bit. "I still have one of the Cure's Wishes, you know... If I wanted to, I could have brought Sara Trantoul back to life as a human and see if that would weaken the Vampire Killer back into the Whip of Alchemy."
"I also have considered bringing my first wife back to like, but I am... unsure how either her or my second wife would feel about that," Dracula chuckled with his eyes closed before looking at Jaune. "So you are Jaune Arc... Through being here on Battleworld, I have learned that there are multiple versions of me or well, beings who call themselves Dracula in the myriad of worlds brought here."
"There are also multiple versions of Death, but that was expected since he is more of an entity that multiple worlds would have," Dracula shrugged at them. It seemed like his curiosity was sated.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
CXZ - Checkpoint
Well, could be worse — they weren’t trying to kill her straightaway. A side glance at the memorial inevitably drew her attention — Chernobyl? It was a name familiar enough to Homura when she had started researching historical disasters, disasters which, in her world at least, were at least partially caused by particularly powerful Witches. Not all were by any means: in her experience along with what Kyubey had told her over time (which she always took with grains of salt, but in this case it seemed to be backed up by what she herself had seen) assuming every unexplained disaster was due to a Witch was a fool’s errand that would get you killed for stupid reasons. Just enough of a percentage was the work of particularly powerful Witches where the collective human desire to get to a normalcy could plausibly paper it over as “natural disasters”; most Witches (and the Magical Girls who were contracted along), rather, came from the resulting chaos, despair, extreme famine of grace and hope.
The warning being broadcast over the loudspeakers drew her attention back towards the checkpoint, a message that was rather too strident in its pleas for visitors to stay away. It stood in rather marked contrast at the rather inattentive guard posted at the gate - Homura allowed herself only a moment’s lament that her Time Shield had been tampered with, otherwise she probably could have slipped through without question. As it stood, though, one of them was addressing her — and her appearance.
Homura took a few moments to figure out what to say. Hardly a professional outfit here if one guy’s drunk like a skunk and snoozing in service. She decided simple and vague would be the best way to open: “I was informed this would be a place where equipment may be found.”
Homura ignored the second part of Andriy’s question entirely, having no desire to re-explore that path here or anywhere.
Mitakihara
“They were not stolen — they were destroyed. Five days ago, right before our city was apparently dragged to this BattleWorld, there was a massive storm that appeared here from nowhere. All these buildings you see around here…” The officer used a free hand to motion outside the windows at the approaching gleaming skyline of the city. “Heavy damage. Shattered glass, twisted metal — some of the smaller buildings toppled over entirely. Frankly, it was a miracle the death toll was as low as it was.” She paused for a moment to consider her next question: “Was it the same for you?”
Underground, Ruins: I'm...Allergic to Chocolate?
Majora turned from one chocolate-lover to the other, silently piecing the puzzle together. Rabbits were also a source of food back on Termina, but it didn't recall any of them being so small, or being as fat as the treats Astolfo offered. They didn't seem to be very lively critters either—were they already dead? If so, the eyes were still open...how eerie.
The masked child had just accepted his dessert when Chara consumed the creature's head in one bite!!! WOAH! That was CRAZY! Spurred by the violence before it, Majora snapped the chocolate rabbit in half to see what its guts looked like.
...only there weren't any guts. There wasn't anything inside the bunny but more of its exterior casing. It was one solid chunk of chocolate.
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
Whatever. Majora didn't have a mouth to eat the thing anyway.
"Awww. Sorry, Astolfo. I just remembered that—"
Wait, could it say it didn't have a mouth? The big guard in Former Hell wasn't frightened knowing the husk had no face, but Koishi was startled by so many things yesterday. How could the mask test their reaction?
"—that I can't eat this."
Well, that was one way to test the waters: literally say what the problem is. Fortunately, Majora's words could be interpreted as an allergic sensitivity. Not that it knew the first thing about allergies, of course.
So instead of following Chara's ravenous example, Majora handed both halves of its dismembered dessert to its new friends; one for each. Chara got the head, in the hopes that Majora could watch a repeat performance.
"Do you know any games we can play?" The masked child asked, a little hop in his bare feet. "Tag? Hide and seek? Good Guys against Bad Guys?"
Common Room (Goro): Playing Russian Roulette for A Gig
Goro studied the magic trick and its result with a thin line of skepticism. A generous offer, no doubt. Yet how could these tickets be valid when K/DA hadn't even started to find a venue? Perhaps the band would ensure the gift would be honored later?
Regardless, the frowning man accepted the tickets. At the very least, it would make an interesting chip to play in the future.
...come to think of it...
"It is possible that I may be of further assistance." Goro stated after mulling over Ahri's question. "I know a gentleman in Shinjuku who may be able to book a live house for K/DA. However, there lies an obstacle just beyond our portal; to overcome it, you will need me to clear your band for entry."
The frown creased deeper. "However, this may not be a simple challenge; the security measures at our city's portal do not directly answer to me, and it has been hardly two hours since I have been granted the power to welcome foreigners into Hell's Gate Tokyo. I have yet to test it."
Goro paused, allowing the implications beneath his words to settle into the minds of the pop stars. Then, he offered them the choice:
"Should you wish, I can add you to the list of friendly powers and grant you entry into Hell's Gate Tokyo. It should only take a text message and perhaps ten minutes to update the portal's security measures. If all goes well, K/DA should be free to travel where it wishes within the city's borders.
"...yet if the message does not go through, you will likely be attacked on sight. I need not waste time questioning your combat proficiency—if you had no means to defend yourself, you would not be on this planet—yet that does not change the fact you may be actively placing yourselves in danger.
"So: are you willing to risk your safety to earn a chance to make your debut?"
Common Room (Luca): Battleworld Group Disappearances 101 with Professor Luca
"People disappear a lot round here."
From over his shoulder, Spider-Man would hear the voice of the Contractor he'd been introduced to earlier. Luca—the fun one!
"I like to think of this planet as a big revolving door. Some squares come in then step out a few seconds later, and some spin around for a while, then get out. And then there's nut-jobs like us who spin around and around and around and around and aroooooouuuuund for ever and ever and ever. It'd be fun if living on this planet weren't so uhh...hazardous to one's health. It's not like this place is called Safetyworld, y'know?"
She smiled at the superhero and thumbed to Manhattan's portal...where Anna and her Doll had apparently walked through when Luca's back was turned.
"So! You ready to head out?"
Castlevania, Colosseum: AND THEN HERE COMES THE GIANT FIST!
The light arrow burst into radiant waves of yellow as it struck the Colosseum's stone, but Link had no time to try another shot.
Tatl spotted them first: four scythes summoned from the void, each a little more than two feet tall with about eighteen in blades like a deadly tooth. All were spinning straight for the little hero.
"Shield!"
Link shoved his bow back in his belt pocket with his left hand as he grabbed the Mirror Shield with his right. He side-stepped the first scythe, blocked the second to his right, grazed off the third to his left, and then—
"Duck!"
The fourth came just a hair away from slicing Link's jugular as it spun horizontally at the boy's neck level. Thanks to Tatl's warning, he ducked down just in time.
Taking a half-second to notice that the scythes disappeared on contact, Link unsheathed his Razor Sword and prepared to standoff with Death.
"Okay, so he can attack at a distance." Tatl coached by her partner's ear. "He's smarter than Gomess, that's for sure. We'll get nowhere if he can just swat away our arrows. You need to get in close fast, stagger or stun him, then hit him with a light arrow. Think you can do that?"
Link nodded as he returned his sword to its sheathe. In exchange, he produced a large coffee-colored mask of a big-mouthed creature with a tuft of hair under its lips. He pressed the Goron Mask to his face, and in a sudden flash of light...the boy was gone.
In his place was a massive hulking creature
that rivaled Ozen in height. His column-thick arms, tree trunk legs, and cliff slide back shouted that this being was a heavy-hitter. Link was fortunate that this arena was designed to hold minotaurs; it was clear just by looking at the thing that this Goron weighed more than a ton.
Wasting no more time, Link charged the reaper in a remarkably unexpected way: rather than dash at Death on his comparatively stubby legs, the Goron curled himself into a ball and rolled towards his opponent at surprising speed—matching a full-grown athlete in a sprint. Tatl flew just a foot behind him, ready to shout directions to steer the Goron away from any new scythes Death might summon.
Assuming all went according to plan, Link would stand from his speedy roll within reach of Death's handheld scythe; hopefully close enough to the reaper to avoid the blade. Now that he was close, Link would try to seize Death's scythe with one massive hand to pull it towards him, in the hopes that the reaper would be pulled forward with it. Simultaneously, Link would drive his free hand straight into Death's jaw, the force behind his Goron strength capable of crushing boulders.
"I'm afraid where I'm from there are no monsters like yourself." Delfi explained politely, filing away the new pieces of information and drawing out more as she glanced at the fox-woman again. The woman wasn't insulted at least, which was good. "So I know nothing about what you might be, and wasn't sure what your features might have meant. Are all monsters like yourself?"
"They like to imagine they're like that." Tatsu replied with no small amount of scorn, scoffing lightly. "And to most people that live there, it's not far from the truth. They're very good at controlling what the average person thinks and see, through any means necessary."
The young captain chuckled lightly at Amber's question, his eyes glazing over for a moment as his expression took on a warm, nostalgic look. "Not really. It did have a name originally, but I couldn't be bothered to remember what it was. It's not like it ever had the chance to take a christening flight with it. No, Red Sprite is the ship's name. Magonia is the name of our country. It was a story back in our world. The myth of a floating island covered in clouds, where people could live freely..."
Eternal Princess
The witches listened closely to the summaries of their neighbors. They wore worried smiles as the descriptions went on, trying to remain polite even as they became more anxious. Warmongers, advanced militaristic empires, and Dracula. It seemed Battleword was as they had first expected.
With mention of Outworld,Lukic narrowed her squinting bulbous eyes at the man. Easy target he says? The nerve! Over the ages witches had been called on to deal with the likes of titans
, dragons, demons, cyclopes, trolls, minotaurs, and all manner of horrors that towered over men like mountains. They may have fallen from the golden age of magic, but for him to suggest they fear an over sized man, it was beyond infuriating for the old crone. In her creaky voice she spoke out a reminder.
"Witches are supposed to be feared, not the other way around..."
Headmistress Holbrooke didn't share the old crone's sentiment, or confidence in their chances for that matter. With a worried expression she put a hand on her cheek and turned to the other teachers for their counsel.
"Oh dear...do have any way of dealing with such a fearsome foe?"
Of course the Lukic was the first to speak up.
"The school is surrounded by the Arcturus Forest, nothing that enters ever leaves. If their armies attempt to march on Luna Nova, then I am sure the creatures that reside there would appreciate the meal. Of course if you want us to be more proactive in this matter, then I will personally take care of security, kye heh heh heh HA HA HA."
The way the old crone cackled
◊ made it seem like she was looking forward to it.
Diana remained stoic as she spoke out, her voice as dignified as ever. She held her chin as she looked down thoughtful.
"We shouldn't underestimate such an enemy. If strength alone was his only virtue, he would have fallen long ago. Logistics go much further in winning wars then strength of arm."
She looked toward Nishijima to address him directly.
"You said he hasn't made any moves since his initial victory? He probably realizes what a disadvantageous position he is in and knows not to over extend his army. I am sure due to the way his tyrannical empire is constructed, calling for allies is frown upon. Not only would it make him appear weak in the eyes of his followers, but providing an alternative to those who languish under his command would only promote deserters.
How honest was the Cure in creating a balanced field of combat? Would the Cure provide Outworld with more resources knowing that they would not take on allies? If we assume that all chunks are relatively close in strength, then engaging another would be a costly affair that may explain their current dormant status."
The blonde took out her wand and began writing in the air. Lines of light hung in place as she drew out diagrams that illustrated her point. She quickly wrote out a number of scenarios that could explain the post Koopa Kingdom conflict. Given the lack of details, alot of the information based on estimated ratios. But the overall idea was that resources were incredibly finite on Battleworld. None of them had access to reinforcements or the greater resources that their full lands provided.
"There are very few scenario's in which Outworld ends up at a more advantageous position from this incursion."
With a wave of her hand, the different scenarios separated into two categories, one obviously larger then the other.
"For the rewards to have been worth the effort they would have had to have gained more personnel and resources then it cost them to seize it. For that to be the case they would have first had to have lost very little soldiers during the war. Then the personnel acquired had to ready to fight and ready to pledge fealty to its new lord. Resources acquired must be plentiful and in working condition.
The more realistic scenario is that not only did the battle cost them numbers, but the personnel received are both rebellious and of inferior quality due to their inability to hold out a single day. On top of that, Outworld must now relocate even more personnel to hold continued vigil over the prisoners of war lest they rebel.
The new territory means that he has to stretch out his forces even further to cover the new ground. His position in the middle of several chunks and his lack of allies means that he must be ready to face a threat from any direction at a given notice. Attempting another attack means diverting personnel from other areas, which leaves him incredibly vulnerable to counter attack."
She drew up a perfect rendition of the Battleworld map. She looked at it intensely as she tried to get into the head of the barbarian. He was in a pretty delicate position. She tried to imagine what moves she would make if him. What was this barbarian thinking? Were there secrets in Outworld and Koopa Kingdom that allowed him to circumvent these obvious shortcomings?
Though she seemed to be getting off track. This was made all the more evident by the confused looks of Holbooke and Badcock as they tried to follow what the young Cavendish had said. She cleared her throat and offered a conclusion to help ease the mind of the Headmistress.
"If he were to attack Luna Nova, he'd be a fool. We need not fear fools."
None the less, it was a enemy they could not take lightly. Diana turned again to Nishijima.
"If this enemy is as dangerous as you make them out to be, then no doubt you already have detailed information on their troop deployment, tactics, and equipment. We would like access to this information. We will conduct our own intelligence gathering through clairvoyance and divining methods. While we have no desire to engage any enemy in combat, to turn a blind eye to them would only be to our own detriment."
The talk of Castlevania and its lord got an uncertain look among the witches. They weren't quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand they dealt the the mystical on a daily bases, on other they read the book. Dracula was one of the classic villains of literature. However much of his threat came from the enigmatic nature of his presence. He was a vampire that walked among the populace unknown. Once his secret was out, it took only a small group of regular humans to do the deed.
The fact that he was seemingly non-hostile only exacerbate the problem. Lulling people into a false sense of security was Dracula's MO. It was like hearing a known liar say trust me. They them selves also knew how it was like to be feared and hunted however, as tales of Dracula's wife reminded them. There was the potential for this Dracula to subvert their expectations, but already there was the ground work that this would play out like every tale of Dracula ever told.
Surprisingly it seemed Holbrooke was of the most suspicious of the Count. Looking almost uncharacteristically serious, she spoke out a single thought that had to be on all their minds as they talked about their neighbor to the east.
"The endless night sky..."
The other witches all nodded solemnly. It did not take a witch to know it was an unnatural magic created phenomenon. From the looks on their faces, it was obvious they found this to be incredibly distasteful. At best it was an incredibly overly decadent display of power. However the ramifications of using such a spell must have had on the local flora and fauna made it truly despicable. It would be as if Pisces had decided to drown a whole region with a flood just to meet her own selfish needs. They did not desire conflict with anyone, but as long as that endless night persists, Dracula may have enemies in Luna Nova.
However, while the others thought hard on whether they should once again take on the mantle of monster hunters that witches were in days of old, one witch was trying to keep from smiling. She struggled to keep a straight face as her lips quivered. For while all of them were familiar with how vampires have been traditionally portrayed, she knew how they have portrayed in modern times. Night Fall.
Badcock's heart was beating so hard she could swear the whole room could hear. She knew Battleworld was a place of...well battle. But this, this had all the makings of a romance! Yes, the introduction of a lost Lenore type to make Dracula a much more sympathetic character was proof enough of that! No matter how she looked at it, it was definitely that kind of story, and if it was that kind of story then...oh the possibilities!
Do you not fear me? Do you not know that I am a monster!?
No monster can be as kind and gentle as you.
Your words can stir even a dead heart to beat once more. Feel.
You're so cold...
''No, its your hands that are warm."
Oh...Dracula...
Oh Samantha!
"KYEEEH!"
Realizing she let out that little squee out loud, Badcock quickly composed her self. With a light cough, she closed her eyes and covered her mouth, trying to play it off.
"We should send a delegate to at least meet with the Count. It would dangerous to send a student so I personally volunteer to go *ahem* check him out."
She kept her mouth covered, mostly because the sides of her lips kept creeping up into a smirk at the thought of actually living out her fantasies. If she was going anyway, perhaps Mr Nishijima could help her get a lay of the land. She tried to keep her tone professional, at least attempting to play it cool.
"Mr Nishijima, just so I know I found the right person, can you describe Mr Dracula. Is he handsome? Is he closer to Bela Lugosi or Gary Oldman? Are there other male vampires there? Vampires have a certain reputation you know? You know, hotblooded and lustful. I need to know if I need to steel myself for...from their advances."
It seemed the next two chunks were vaguely Asian. Maybe they should have brought Miss Kagari, though some how it seemed like she would not be of much help either. It seems there was very little information to be gained. The names of either the chunks or the representatives rang no bells among those gathered, which made deciding how to proceed with either of the chunks that much more difficult. There was a moment of silence before Badcock finally weakly made a suggestion.
"Perhaps we should run these names by Shiki, Shao Yi, and Lin Lin?"
She laughed nervously. Merely making the suggestion made her feel like she was being rascist. But she really had no idea of what to do. The suggestion did seem to spark something in the mind of Holbrooke however. As if just remembering, she turned to the other teachers.
"Oh, hasn't Marianne been spending alot her free time studying up on Asian culture. Perhaps she came across something in her research that might help."
As if on cue, one of the book cases in the room dropped to the floor, appearing to be nothing more then a print on a piece of cloth. Surely the only reason such a pathetic attempt at camouflage worked was because of magic, right? Right? Behind the fake book case was apparently a ninja
◊. The young ninja in Luna Nova's school colors spoke out in a calm and confident voice.
"You called Holbrooke-dono."
It seemed by the surprised look of everyone in the room, no one realized that the girl had been there this entire time. Finnelan in particular seemed quite enraged by the development. Not only was this girl trespassing on a private meeting but...
"Marianne! That is not a school approved uniform!"
Holbooke could only blink in surprise.
"Marianne, what are you doing there?"
The ninja laughed smugly, perhaps a little too proud of herself.
"Huyh huyh huyh. A Ninja must always be at the ready to serve their master. So you need me to infiltrate the lands to the north and south-east and serve as your spy?"
"No one said anything about-"
"Consider it done! Hyah!"
The ninjas clasped her hands together with her index and middle fingers pointed up. Smoke suddenly erupted from her location and spread out through the room. When it cleared, she was gone. After a moment of silence, Badcock, still flabbergasted at the turn of events, looked to her fellow teachers.
"Shouldn't we stop her..."
The young Cavendish remained as cool as ever as she informed the room not to worry and carry on.
"I have already informed Prof. Nelson of the situation and asked the student body to be on the look out."
Zi-Jin Cheng gave them as much of an alarm as Outworld, perhaps even more so. Outworld sounded like brutes, but they knew how to handle brutes. But the highly calculated moves of modern warfare, or future warfare for this matter, was still something new to them. Zi-Jin Cheng at least hadn't made any aggressive actions yet. But a military focused empire didn't exactly instill confidence in peace.
Diana muttered the leaders name under her breath.
"Sun Tzu..."
Was it a coincidence, or was this empire adhering to the Art of War. Somehow, she felt the actual Sun Tzu would frown upon using such an obvious tell. She shouldn't count on it though. Regardless, being something of a more traditional military gave them a certain predictability.
There was also the matter of magic vs technology which made a potential conflict unpredictable. They were simply from two completely different worlds, more so then most chunks. It was simply unknown unknowns. But this complete lack of information may be their biggest defense against them.
Assuming they had some level of competency to actually follow Sun Tzu's teachings, they wouldn't risk valuable multi million dollar equipment by sending it to an unknown situation. What greater unknown was there then a witch with a wand. For all Zin-jin Cheng knew, with a flick of a wand they could turn all the armor of their war machines to cotton. In fact, it was theoretically possible that they could do that given the magical talent and access to enough magical energy, not that she would care to test out that theory under fire. But the point was magic was an unpredictability. A skilled commander would not act without a clear path to victory. Until they can grasp what it is that Luna Nova is actually capable of, that path will forever remain muddled.
"We will have to be extremely careful with contact with Zin-jin Cheng. We will have to closely monitor the information is leaked to them. It may be best to avoid contact all together."
Finnelan nodded in agreement, her pronounced nose seeming to be held higher then usual. Though she did not say it out loud, she admittedly thought rather smugly that of course this was the future of man with their technology. A military empire, hmmph! For all their advancements they were still playing with swords and toys like boys in a sand box. The golden age of magic was defined by the charity and generosity of witches to help their fellow people. If there was ever a proof for a need to return to those times it was this sneak peek at things to come.
Finally some good news! It sounded almost too good to be true. Like a land where society had embraced both science and magic, allowing them to grow hand in hand. Holbrooke's face instantly lightened up.
"That sounds wonderful! I don't suppose you can arrange a meeting with Lord Vayne and Draklor Labs? Only if it is no trouble of course."
Her small legs kicked in her seat like an excited little kid. As she thought about what kind of place it had to be, another question came to mind. She turned again to Nishijima.
"Oh, do you happen to know the fashion of the land? I think I want to visit this place my self, and I have this hat..."
That was all that had to be said for Finnelan to let out a sigh put her head in her palm.
"Please, not the hat again..."
Finnelan's tone was softer with a tinge of concern. Closer to a friend trying to talk a friend out of a bad idea then a second in command talking to her boss. Holbrooke just waved off the concern, like it wasn't the first time they had this conversation.
"Come now, it is both cute and practical. What is there not to like?"
For her part, it seemed as if Croix was distracted. As the other's talked, she seemed to spend the portion of the meeting on her phone. But the way she busied her self, and look in her eyes, let one know that the gears were turning in her mind. It was obvious she was not goofing off. It seemed she was already up to some thing.
She had to admit, for all the threat of danger that came with them, Outworld sounded perfect. A bunch of savage violent neanderthals, they had to be angry 24/7. It was like a oil vein for her Noir Fuel Spirit. She would like to use them as a semi-permanent source of energy, but their aggressiveness made taking them out sooner better then later. If they were as angry as she was hoping however, then doing so should be easy. It seemed almost poetic to use their own unbridled fury to destroy them with. She was working on ways to use the potential influx of energy to overcharge her devices to make some truly monstrous creation. Nothing too strong of course, she wanted those barbarians angry and fighting, not whimpering and scared. Not nearly as good for fuel.
As much of a technological threat as Zin-jin Cheng was being made out to be, they sounded actually pretty quaint. Energy attacks witches had been using since ancient times. Converting it to gun form was child's play for any witch with technological know how. Power armor? For highly advanced technology, that was pretty dumb tech. They might as well put legs on a tank and call it progress. Technology was supposed to get smaller, smarter. Now if they were using nano technology with portable energy shields and a neural network that allowed them to target opponents from orbit, that might of been a problem. But power armor was a relief. It meant they were still using such obvious hardware.
With that much, she was pretty sure she already out beat them in the arms race. Or suffice to say, she didn't need to. Their tech was now her tech. She was sure they had advanced programming to prevent viruses and hijacking. They probably don't have any against possession, or magical devices that fuse and completely alter the physical properties of an object. She could easily bypass software by taking over the hardware directly, devouring the on board controls and replacing them with her own. She could replicate and improve upon their little toys on the spot thanks to fluidity of her Noir Fuel Spirit Devices. It would take her seconds. And that was assuming she didn't just take control of the weapons they had, keeping the poor pilots alive inside to use their scared screams to help fuel her new weapons.
For Dracula, send thee pixels and steak the guy when he is sleeping. Done and done.
She was pretty confident she could single-handedly take on all three of these aggressors herself. She was looking to take on the entirety of Battleworld and the Cure himself after all, she couldn't let her confidence be shaken by three little chunks. The only one that gave her pause was Archades. Magic and technology? She supposed she should be happy to hear that, but she was a pioneer of the field where she came from. To hear a whole land where it was the norm was actually kind of vexing. For all the talk of the betterment of mankind and education, science was very competitive field. While with the other chunks she felt she could take advantage of one discipline or the other to strike at a weak point, this chunk may be knowledgeable enough to deny her advantage while having the resources that would give them the advantage in a straight fight.
At least out of all them, they were the one to most likely ally with Luna Nova. But Croix didn't care if they weren't a threat, she had no intention of playing second fiddle to anyone! Not even a whole empire. This was her time. She was going to show all of them! But maybe she could still make use of them. Take inspiration from their designs and methods. Use them as a stepping block to stand even higher. Yeah, that might work.
She was good at hiding all those thoughts that bubbled under the surface. She simply looked deep in thought. Croix looked up and smiled at Nishijima.
"Tell me more about this Acrhades."
How do you kill that which has no life?
The Grand Re-Vizier
"If you mean the white haired swordsman with the blade that smells of blood, I am here to end him."
It was a strange reversal of fate. The samurai prince had spent endless days hunted by Aku's many bounty hunters, and now he was volunteering to hunt someone else in turn. Still, the man had dishonored his blade and betrayed them in battle to serve a dark master. Jack had already declared he would seek out the Cure's evils. So, he could not be allowed to roam free. Even if they had to duel to the death well, at least there might be some honor in it.
The Samurai looked around at the assembled faces. Some he recognized from the previous battle. The children carried strange weapons, might have some sorcery and were more competent than they seemed. The woman was skilled in the use of explosives and the other gunpowder weapons of Aku's time. He had overheard two of the others mentioning similar weaponry...
Should they risk their lives, though?
"I would prefer to duel him alone, but I am sure you are each...determined and I respect that this fight is not mine. If it must be, then I would welcome your support."
Edited by Dblade26 on Jan 1st 2019 at 2:31:52 AM
Red Sprite, Dining Hall: Is This A Pirate Ship? O_o
Amber smiled at the description of Magonia. A shimmer of satisfaction gleaming in her eyes, as if she'd suspected an answer like this, but couldn't trust her suspicions to be true.
"How romantic." she replied. "Though I can't imagine Edenia was happy to see you run off with a ship and her cargo. Slaves aren't cheap, especially if the comfort of a nation's citizens depend on them. Self-declared country or not, you're still fugitives in the eyes of Edenia."
She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms and legs, playfully profiling Tatsu's crew members attending at the table—specifically, Mono—as if they were potential suspects in a little game.
"So you're the Captain because you killed all the Edenians and hijacked this ship." she summarized. "You have armed guards at the portal, that's good, but exactly how many of them have taken a life before?
"Have you killed anybody?" she asked Mono, in a sing-song tone and a disarming smile. It seemed clear that if the kid had, she wouldn't hold it against him.
God knows she'd done far worse.
Underground, Dreemurr Residence: Time to Grasp at the Straws!
Over in the hallway, Huang gave the nearest mercenary a suspicious leer, then continued his point:
"With Ike and Dreadlocks gone, we've got no base of operations. We can't make contact with the Syndicate from here, and we don't know anyone from Mitakihara. That—"
"Actually, I've met someone from Mitakihara." Mao interjected. "His name's Kyubey."
Huang blinked, skeptical that a contact would've been made so...suddenly? "What's he do?"
"He's...well, he was vague on the details. He's some form of rodent who—"
"Hard pass." Huang snorted. "Unless we're sharin' more than dry food and a cage, we ain't gettin' much help from a house pet. That leaves us with Manhattan."
"Where's that?" Yin asked, her hand idly reaching into her pocket to find...
"It's part of New York City, I think." Huang shrugged.
"I think she means where is it on this planet, Huang."
"Oh. Yeah, it's northeast of Tokyo. Question is, can we get by without knowin' a lick of English?"
"I know English!" Mao protested.
"Great, we'll just let the cat do all the talkin'. No way we'll stand out doin' that."
"Well then our last chance is the Mushroom King—"
"Nope. Ain't gonna do it. Don't need to see the place to know it's weird."
Their destinations exhausted, the trio fell into a paralyzing silence. Did they really have no other options? Mao didn't know where Robin had run off to, and he didn't know where the Hunters came from. Huang's options were exhausted with Genosha and Ikebukuro gone, and all Yin had was a card from a Demon Hunter she couldn't even see. She fiddled with the thing, poking her fingers with its points.
"...Yin, when did you get that?" asked Mao.
"A few days ago." she replied. "I got it from a Demon Hunter."
Huang held back a chuckle. "A what now?"
"He said he knew Hei."
"Oh yeah." Mao hummed. "I completely forgot about him."
Another paralyzing silence. Over the lion's share of a week, Yin, Huang, and Mao had collectively gone through four betrayals, three car chases, three hideaways with wanted terrorists, two kidnappings, two hostage negotiations, two shootouts, one arrest, one invasion, and one mad dash for a headless horse that turned into a spaceship. All of which happened without knowing the first thing about where the fuck their missing team mate had run off to.
And in her pocket, Yin had the only god damn lead they'd gotten in five days.
Huang was beyond angry; even beyond words, for a minute. The old man just seized the business card from Yin's hands, and read the company's name.
"Say your goodbyes to the kid and the King." Huang stated. "We're goin' to Devil May Cry."
Devil May Cry, Lady's Armory: The More the Merrier
They lucked out; Devil May Cry had its own door just off the Common Room. Leas they didn't need to wander into any portals to find the place.
Inside, the place was a dump. A chick in a corset told them to head past another door for the meeting—Huang didn't get a word in before they were pointed towards the next door, but he wasn't about to get pissy with a potential lead—and then off to the armory they went.
The Vergil hunters would hear the jingle of a bell as Mao
stepped quickly into the armory. The cat's first glance at the meeting caught three familiar faces, all of whom knew he could talk. Guess there was no need to hide his cover; Ruby or Hood would just blow it immediately anyway.
"Weiss, Ruby, Hood. Good to see you again."
"You know a talking cat?" Dmitri blinked in disbelief at the Hunters.
"I'm not a cat, I'm just borrowing it. Call me Mao." the Contractor answered. Despite nearly meeting each other three days prior, Mao hadn't been present when the Stigma Bar was raided. Dmitri and Maria had never met Mao.
Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the old man that entered the armory next. Maria scowled at the bastard who'd labeled them all freaks he'd never join on a sinking ship. Why couldn't he have died in the raid, or the Empire's invasion, or pretty much any other time over the past three days? The world didn't need more bigoted old farts.
Of course, Huang
◊ was much more focused on the huge display of firepower. The Syndicate had provided weapons for him over the years, but nothing as ridiculous as half these weapons. Carrying a minigun like that would snap his spine in half!
Holding his hand was a young woman with silver hair who the Hunters would recognize as Mao's partner: Yin
◊. She stared with sightless eyes at Lady and Jack, a stoic expression etched into her face.
"Sorry for intrudin'." Huang nodded to Lady, who he presumed was the leader given her position in the group. "Heard there was a hunter or somethin' who knows an associate of ours."
"He has white hair and wears a red coat." Mao explained. "We didn't get his name."
"We're lookin' for said associate." Huang strained to keep the venom out of those last words. "Thought he might know where to look."
"Hm, that DOES sound rather disturbing. Do you have wanted pictures of these men in question or other proof of their misdeeds? Unfortunately I have to perform my job of being a guardsman so I need more tangible proof to allow outsiders access into the base prior. The earlier folks were let in because they showed me their fire resistant artifact worked as intended by shoving their arm into my helmet's flames so they were allowed access for proving that their wares functioned as intended."
Explaining things while hoping that the no fun brigade had such things on them so he could let them pass, Lancer waited to see if they were able to prove the guilt of those assumed innocent as of this moment in time.
"Oh, just leave it right here and I'll take care of the rest such as transportation and safekeeping. How would you prefer your gold? In bouillons, coinage, or maybe even skulls?" Waving her hand airily, Da Vinci then clicked a button so the holographic display showed the three different versions of the precious metals she had on hand.
"I'll even throw in an authentic pirate's treasure chest to make the overall aesthetics even more grandiose. Plus, you might even be able to sell it off as an antique to make a bit more profit, hm?" Continuing to play around the gobsmacked men like a fiddle via luring them by their own greed, the Renaissance woman smiled rather refreshingly.
"Looker?" Quizzically turning over that brief bit of newfangled slang on her tongue before simply thinking of it as modern military lingo (Chaldea has a bunch of those types), Nitocris looked a bit confused at the whole show that was going on under her nose but simply bit back her question because of her deeply ingrained headcanon of how a pharaoh should act.
Underground Ruins
Still, at the very least Hiriko was trying to cheer her up in a rather earnest way and though it didn't lessen the guilt all that much she could at least stop being so mopey in order to make the fox commander less concerned. "Perhaps... a tour of the dungeon proper. I'd love to see what sort of place has such high standards that got you and your forces' approval."
"I like chocolate too! I believe I still have some on me..." Humming thoughtfully while rummaging around on his gilded armored kilt to open up a secret pocket, Astolfo then took out a small box which then popped open to reveal two handcrafted choco-bunnies
personally made by yours truly. "You can have one both if you'd like. I have another one for your mom since she was a nice host."
Common Room
"I see, I see." Nodding her head every now and then at exactly the right time to make someone take the cue that their words were coming across without actually coming off as pedantic or artificial somehow, Ahri's fuzzy ears flickered every now and then when certain juicy tidbits made itself known.
Hope's Peak Academy
Already she could hear the biases and distaste creeping in for certain factions mentioned despite the man doing his utter best to remain professional and grounded, like a spring being compressed to its utmost limits that strained against the covering that kept it contained. Such people were more fun to interact with than truly emotionless puppets really.
"In any case, you were quite informative and helpful towards us- strangers that you've met for barely even less than five minutes even. For that, we are grateful. Perhaps you might like some tickets to our future concert? Even if you don't like our brand, maybe others you know might like to have a bit of fun to take their minds off of the gloom and doom of this enforced kerfuffle."
Twirling her luxuriously prismatic and crystalline tail around so that it was now hovering right in front of its owner, the gumiho turned off the glamour that made it look like clear-cut crystal to become a much more naturally fluffy appendage, flicking across the palm of her hand so that there was now official tickets laying on said hand via a magic trick (the sleight of hands kind).
"By any chance... do you know some people that knows other people that might make it easier for us to set up said concert somewhere? Human psychology might be great and varied but I do believe that too much stress would only result in more negative events happening further down the line via a domino effect. Perhaps a bit of music and good cheer might help alleviate some of said stress for the populace? I will admit that while this isn't a purely altruistic reasoning for this offer, it'll definitely serve to benefit both sides of entertainers and audience."
Giving a wink while trying to plant seeds of doubt in the efficiency oriented man's mind in regards of the whole 'bread and circuses' line of reasoning, the vixen got up into her old tricks once more.
"A-are you sure they're not demons? They feel weird and evil to me. Look like it too..." Looking a little disoriented by the rather creepily designed bear popping up out of nowhere to greet her, Nagi couldn't help but be taken aback so soon after actually setting foot on school grounds proper.