Battleworld 2.0

Castlevania, Colosseum: Cue the Jingle

...it stopped?

Who dared stop this execution? Who could stop this execution?! The deity snarled in anger at the vampire, only to watch the abomination remove its mask and snarl right back.

His feet were off the ground before he knew it, his body flying across the arena and smashing into the wall. The greatsword and Death's scythe fell from his hands mid-flight, and the mask fell to the ground after impact. With its wearer been drained of every ounce of magic, the god vanished in a flash of light. Only the battered, bleeding child remained.

Tatl fluttered by the sidelines between Ren and Nora, all the while keeping a close eye on the retreating Death and his master. When the Fierce Deity vanished, the fairy turned her attention to the boy inching to free himself from the dent he'd made in the wall.

"He's about to pass out." Tatl thought aloud. "Ren, Nora, you two mind catching him? Magic potion or not, I don't wanna think about what happens if those wounds close up with dirt in them."

...

Link returned to a state of semi-consciousness a few moments after smashing into the wall. He could feel the stones caving around him, hugging him in an uncomfortable makeshift chair. His toes brushed the arena floor, but he couldn't shovel himself free by the tip of his right boot—his left leg felt really heavy, and didn't want to move.

He opened his eyes to a world out of focus, only to immediately shut his right eye; something warm and wet was getting into it. With groggy fingers the boy clawed out of his landing spot and stood on his last legs. Despite how they wobbled on his weight, Link stepped forward: once on his right leg...and another on his right...and another. All the while glaring at the outline of the beast: the monster who'd stopped him from giving Death what it deserved.

Three limping steps forward and the kid was already panting, exhausted. He reached for the Razor Sword on his back, only for the wound under his ribs to shout what a stupid idea that was. His left hand fumbled through his utility belt for his bow, and when he looked back up to find the vampire...Dracula was nowhere to be found.

Perhaps it was the collective pain in his body, or perhaps it was the blood he was losing, or perhaps it was how his brain felt like it was getting smothered in wool, but the creature he saw through his one open eye looked different than it did just a minute ago. Its horns curved forward, not back. Its tail had grown thicker, more reptilian, with a bright yellow tip. It had hair now—long locks of fiery red—and a pig-like snout.

In his concussed and fainting mind, Link saw a creature of pure evil—just not one from Wallachia. The boy inherently knew he couldn't defeat it again, not the way he was now, and that fear pierced through to his very core. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, and as a name wavered on his frozen tongue, the world went dark.

HGT Freeway, Taxi Cab: Life in the Big, Frightened, Paranoid, City

The taxi driver (a man in his thirties named Masashiro Chou, judging by the ID visible from Ahri's seat) was happy to answer such a looker charming young lady. Yes. Forget that first description!

"It works pretty much like anywhere else, I guess." he chuckled nervously. "You work hard, and you'll make a living; but if you have money, or connections, and you'll go real far. Uhh, sorry. Guess that's a bit cynical! Eh heh heh. Anyways, Shinjuku's a pretty good place to visit: lots of shopping, lots of music, and some great hidden gems if you know the right locals. It's gotten a bit more TLC since the central wards disappeared, but I'd watch your back late at night in some neighborhoods...especially near where you're heading."

As the cab rolled onto the freeway, K/DA would be able to see an impressive overview of the chunk. Hell's Gate Tokyo had a postcard-worthy aesthetic of the thriving capital of a World Power, but for the lifting golden fog and an eerie slated imitation of the heavens just above the skyline.◊ It was the landscape equivalent of the uncanny valley, where the awe-inspiring sight of the metropolis was overshadowed (sometimes literally) by the veil of something that clearly—desperately, even—didn't want to be seen.

"Yeah, that's Hell's Gate." Mr. Chou stated without the question having to be asked. "Really creepy place. Good thing we're staying clear of it!"

The car drove on in silence for a few moments, before the driver finally mustered the courage to ask something that had been on his mind since he first laid eyes on Ahri.

"So, I'm not super sure where you guys are from, and that's fine, but I can't help but wondering...well, we just had this crazy ordeal with people turning into Mutants and stuff yesterday, and...it's really none of my business, I'm just curious because you don't see many people with fox ears and tails outside of anime, and...I'm not insinuating anything, of course! I've just never seen anyone with...y'know what I'm asking?"

Edited by TheodoreHastings on Jan 28th 2019 at 2:54:27 AM

Lucy - 100 Rads

"Yeah, they're pretty good friends to have around," Lucy said with no small amount of smug pride on her face.

Of course the man who appeared to be from a country that stole everyone's oil had to sour the mood. Seriously, m'lady? Who was this joker kidding? Who did he think he was?

"Excuuuuuuse me?" Lucy asked the American S.T.A.L.K.E.R. "Impressed by what, exactly? You guys killing each other like a bunch of criminals? Or animals! That's not impressive. That's not tactical skill. That's just stupid! How does this town even survive if you're all killing each other every day? Doesn't seem sustainable, you get what I'm saying?"

She shook her head.

"So what was your plan?" she kept digging in on the American. "Assuming you don't wind up dead, what? You think girls get so turned on by seeing you kill someone for a GAME that they'd just go on a date with you? As if! If you managed to get lucky enough to find a girl that messed up, she'd probably get more excited about killing your dumb butt than some stupid romantic dinner! No wonder I've barely seen any other girls around here."

Lyra happily played along to the song.

The lyrics were pretty messed up, though, if she was being completely honest.

The Mercenary looked quite displeased at Lucy's attitude, grunting in annoyance.

"Fine. Have it your way. Stay with those slav losers if you want, but you're losing on a potential ally here. You wish you had my friendship when you're starving and without money to survive in the Zone. Come on, team. Let's get the hell out of here. Bet Wolfhound will pay us nicely once we're done with our task."

With that, the 4 mercenaries stared angrily at Lucy and the stalker duo as they left. Shovel and Fiodor shook their head as they left, while the Barkeep gave a sigh.

"Sorry about that." Shovel rubbed his neck. "Most mercenaries in the Zone are usually douchebags who treat stalkers like crap and only care about money above all else. The only Mercs that aren't assholes to stalkers is Hatchet's group, and one merc who was called Scar, who disappeared to god knows where."

Yuri and Anatoli would soon arrive at the scene, bumping into the Mercs and the Mercenaries shoving them out of the way. "Hey, the hell's your problem?" Yuri exclaimed to them, looking confused at their attitude, as they came back to the group.

"Hey, what happened?" Anatoli asked, earning a sigh from Shovel.

"Damn Americans tried to harass Lucy here. Thankfully, she told them to to piss off."

"Shit man. Now I'm regretting betting on them." Anatoli facepalmed.

Meanwhile, the Stalker continued singing, playing along with Lyra.

"The life on the screen will not persist,

But reality hurts more than any mischief.

We forget about the calling from above.

Dead leaves cover the entire Earth,

And behind walls of trees hide deserted homes.

To this city no one will again come.

Melting the shadows of dreams,

We will suddenly remember the past,

The shadow of mistake in children's tears.

We can only live on.

Time to live;

Time to die.

It's not our time to dream of another life.''

You can't bring back

What's done and gone.''

Forgive me, my beloved home.

Time to live.

Time to live.

Time to live."

As the Stalker and Lyra finished playing the song, the other stalkers listening along would start clapping to the duo, giving them a thumbs up and cheering. Meanwhile, the Stalker looked at Lyra and gave a smile to her. "Thanks."

"Well, Twitch tried to care for his hygiene before, considering he's the medic of the team but the War kinda...affected him a little bit. Well, it affected him a lot actually." Fizz whispered to Vatista, so Twitch couldn't listen to them. "It's a good thing he's still on our side though."

Meanwhile, Teemo and Veigar glance at Juvia only intensified due to her comment, with Veigar looking downright mad at her, while Teemo's cold stare didn't faltered, the scout saying nothing and only sharpening his knife somewhat threateningly.

"Rodents?! Oh you will pay for this!" Veigar pointed his gauntlet at Juvia...but nothing came out of it. Veigar looked somewhat confused at the fact he wasn't blasting the human away with his magic for some reason, and started to point the gauntlet many times at Juvia, but nothing came out of it. Veigar groaned in annoyance, before pointing at her threateningly.

"Next time you won't be so lucky, human!"

Edited by Darkomega245 on Jan 28th 2019 at 7:01:14 AM

CXZ - Bunker

The way he described it, these bloodsuckers acted like mindless beasts acting on instinct. Not unlike Witches and Familiars, come to think of it. Liking to hit-and-run was a bit concerning, though, considering that that was Homura's generally-preferred approach to things and with her Time Shield tampered it would make it harder. So would the invisibility thing — she'd have to make sure to keep aware at all times to make sure she didn’t get cornered by several of them. At least it seemed like each of them weren't too difficult to physically take down.

“I assume the tentacles themselves aren’t poisonous or otherwise dangerous to handle?” Though at the moment there wasn’t any reason for Homura to doubt Sidorovich was being up front with a newcomer like her. “Other than that, is there a place here where I can get changed into a suitable outfit before I leave?”

Mitakihara - Downtown

“We’re almost there. We’ll use the garage entrance so as to try to keep a lid on the...public exposure.” Privately, Kanda was seriously doubting it would actually work: all the visitors they’ve had coming through that portal have at minimum turned heads judging from the reports of other police officers who’ve had to do this already. Seriously, what was with all the outlandish styles? She supposed she should be thankful they all could at minimum pass at the beach.

At any rate, one turn later and Cana would be able to at least see the front entrance of the Mirai Building as they passed by it. With their mysterious benefactor’s wish yesterday it looked good as the day it first opened to the public, with a few people already streaming inside to try to take their mind off of the stress of what BattleWorld had brought in the previous few days with some retail therapy. The police cruiser would roll past and enter into the side entrance for the garage, the ramp beginning to take them underground.

“Alright, was there a particular store you were hoping to check out first, Ms. Cana? I’m not sure what kinds of merchandise you would be used to seeing, but we can try our best to cover it.”

Edited by megarockman on Jan 28th 2019 at 10:28:02 AM

The mention of the Cure's god like powers earned a nonchalant gesture from the lunarian rabbit, like she was waving off the concern.

"Where I come from gods are pretty common. Actually, the Cure's behavior lines right up with many of the one's I met in Gensokyo. The irresponsible ones who don't actually do anything anyway. Something about having no worries for eternity tends to make someone into an ambitiousness, lazy, childish..."

Reisen stuck a piece of mochi in her mouth and started offhandedly chewing as she mumbled together a minute long string of insults before swallowing the piece and finishing her sentence.

"...worthless individual just looking to entertain themselves. Even if it is at the expense of others..."

A look of annoyance crossed her face, not all of it seemed directed at the Cure. Being one of the more sane denizens of Gensokyo seemed to make her a prime target to be the butt of everyone's jokes. Being stuck on Battleworld almost felt like a natural situation for her to be in.

"Still, this time is a bit different. Most the of the powerful beings I know are just bored, but not actually malicious. They may cause people to party non-stop for days on end or halt the changing of seasons for a personal cherry blossom viewing, but they aren't actually trying to hurt people."

Reisen paused a moment as she considered whether she should rethink that last statement considering how much people in Gensokyo love their Danmaku battles.

"The Cure is taking this too far though. He's just some loser god with no friends trying to play with people like they are toys. Since he is not taking the hint that some of us just want to go home, it falls to us to teach him a little humility.

I'm not so sure the problem is so much his power as it is our lack their of. Even back home I can think of a few youkai who could undo the entirety of Battleworld if given the chance. But while we are here on Battleworld, we're bound. So we just got to get past the power limiter and the pacification field, then take on the guy himself. If they were unbounded, I'm sure even the Princess and Master could have managed that. But since they aren't here right now, I guess we gotta take care of it ourselves."

There was the problem that Reisen wasn't the Princess or her master. She was just a lunarian soldier, and a deserter at that. A direct confrontation would go badly for her huh? She couldn't disagree, and yet that was the only way for this to go down. Watching the Miko and that thieving Witch had taught her that much.

As if almost reading the bunny girls mind, Akko began speaking her thoughts out loud. She too seemed rather laxed by the task ahead.

"You said it your self Sypha. We're the heroes, which makes him the villain. By the laws of just about every universe ever, those ugly teeth exist solely for us to kick them in. You can trust me on that, after all this isn't even my first time with one of these massive dimensional team ups."

Akko folded her arms wearing a rather smug smile. She seemed to be waiting to hear the awe and admiration in their voices. Instead she got an aside from Lotte.

"Um, Akko, I don't think that thing with the giant robots actually happened."

"What!? But I remember it so vividly! You remember right Constanze!?"

The silent German girl made no answer. Instead she was tapping her plan for Sypha to take a closer inspection. She wasn't just going to destroy Battleworld, she was going to destroy Battleworld and the Cure with a single blow from a drill designed to strike him from every conceivable point in time and every dimension simultaneously to ensure his destruction. Duh. She just needed an infinite power source and catalyst that allowed one to warp probability and space based on the wielders determination. And a literal mountain of steel.

"Nah, the tentacles from a dead bloodsucker are harmless and safe to handle, so you have nothing to worry about. As for a place to change..." Sidorovich would point to a door in the back of his bunker. "One girl that came over here changed in my bathroom right there. Has a lock for privacy and it has plenty of space. Just be sure to not make any mess."

Sidorovich wondered though, what exactly would she change? She didn't seemed to have any gear on her compared to the other girl that came a few hours ago.

Lobotomy Corporation

Aigis had been rather preoccupied with assessing the many, many threats present, her eyes flickering from one enemy to another even as her fellows went on the offensive. After finally settling on a course of action, she had swapped out her right arm for Metatronius, her beam cannon, and had charged up a shot to maximum power just in time for the newest rock worm to emerge from the floor beneath the party of guests. Aiming at one of the rockbeasts to the side, she fired, followed by swiftly swept the beam across the newly-surfaced worm and ending on a third identical target, rupturing the first and third, and neatly bisecting the second. Then she brought up her free hand and began unloading a hail of bullets into the grubs that had managed to crawl forth from the unfortunate victims.

CXZ - Sid's Bunker

So she wasn't the first one to come here for a bargain. That would explain his willingness to deal with her so readily like any other.

"That won't be a problem," Homura would reply before walking towards the bathroom and closing it behind her. The actual changing would be near-instantaneous — most of the time she spent inside that bathroom was checking over her current inventory:

• Glock 19, 15-round magazine. Emergency only, with just 3 clips on hand
• Walther PPK, 8-round
• Dragunov SVU, 10-round
• M249 LMG, 200-round belt-fed
• FN Minimi Para light machine gun, 200-round belt-feed as well
• Howa Type 89 assault rifle
• Several boxes’ worth of fragmentation grenades and flashbangs
• Mini-flamethrower disguised as a perfume bottle
• The “ghetto blaster”
• Several futuristic-looking laser blasters
• The portable teleporter from The Cure earlier today

Oh yeah, Homura had actually forgotten about the curiously shaped rocket launcher that Q branch had offered her. Still, that would only up her explosives-at-a-distance count from zero to one at start. Given that these were basically feral creatures on par with lower-level Witches, the disguised weapons wouldn’t be of much use anyway. The blasters she scavenged off of dead Space Stormtroopers in Mitakihara’s industrial district might possibly be an advantage against unarmored flesh, though since she hadn’t tested them she wasn’t sure if they would work now as they did a couple days ago. Might be best to save those for an emergency as well.

Once she returned all of her weapons back into her Time Shield save for the PPK, Homura would undo the lock and return back to Sidorovich, making no obvious reference to her new outfit as she asked him simply: “Which way to the mill?”

The Cure turned to look at the newest of the newcomers.

"Yes, yes, let me explain. This planet is a world of my own creation, made up of fragments of other worlds which I have brought here with the intent of them going to war with one another for my amusement. You are here to serve as one of many wild cards, you are basically free to do as you wish on my planet and follow your own goals, so long as you do something. Do so, and every so often I will allow you to make a request of me, an all powerful being, and so long as it does not render you or anyone else too powerful, I will grant it. Refuse to play the game, and I'll find a defenseless fragment of your world with people you care about and set them next to the most violent of our lands. That should serve to get you invested."

"And as for the people back on your worlds, they are indeed unharmed. So long as you do as I ask, they will remain that way."

Havoc would enter to find herself in a large, empty room◊. As she made her way inside and neared the center, the 5 targets would reveal themselves, as they lept from the ceiling, landing in a circle surrounding her. Then, as she no doubt lifted her weapons to attack the one closest to her field of vision, one threw a rock at the guns in her hand, attempting to throw off her aim or disarm her while the one being targeted ducked out of the way, moving too fast for it to be natural, as he currently had the Haste spell on, as did the rest of them. Behind her, another readied a spell, signified by a momentary glow, before he fired a confuse spell, which took the shape of a ball as it flew at her, and should it land, Havoc would suddenly get a severe migraine and find it difficult to focus. A third, whichever one was behind her, would run at her and attempt to punch her with hits that felt like a heavyset man was punching her rather then a walking fruit.

It was around this point that Vergil would casually walk into the room, Carmilla just behind him. He stood there a moment, looking over the scene.

"......So. Do we join the frey, or let the human learn a lesson for a bit first?"

As they passed through the portal, Jack and the Contractors would be meet with a line of 5 men in armor◊. One helf up his hand.

"Halt. You stand in the city of Archades. State your names, and your business here.

Off to the side, a man in fancy clothing rather then armor readied a quill made of a yellow feather and a sheet of paper.

"Good question." Lady said, nodding as she glanced at the paper.

She didn't look terribly impressed as she glanced at the paper, and turned it for the rest to see.

"I suppose demons don't have the best printers available?" Lady said, shrugging, before looking around.

"Hmmmmmm......if I was a power obsessed demon who had betrayed everyone who unwisely trusted me to serve some super demon, where would I go.....?

Lady, naturally assuming the man was some kind of employee, allowed the unknown man to lead her to the elevator. After he spoke in Bond's voice, she raised an eyebrow, placing a hand on her hip, conveniently only a few inches away from that Pulse Pistol that Zi-Jin Cheng had given her.

"It looks good enough, I suppose. Bit of a risky move to ask for shapeshifting powers when there's a shapeshifter running around causing trouble, but maybe that's why I'm not a spy."

She shifted her weight, leaning back on the elevator wall.

"I'm afraid this is a business call, I can't stick around long. I need your help with two favors, both of which should be well within your skillset, and probably won't require more then making a few phone calls and maybe placing some cameras. I'm not asking you to go out past the Common Room, and I'm prepared to compensate you for your time."

Lucy - 100 Rads Bar - Rostok - The Zone

"No big deal, I've dealt with worse," Lucy said, trying to act cool. A tiny bead of sweat ran down from her temple.

"Seems like pretty much everyone here hates those guys though.... Hey! What are the rules for these fights?" she asked. "There were four of them, is it two teams of four fighting? And who are the other four? And can you.... substitute... people on your team at the last minute?"

"Wooooow, that was nice but maybe a little dark" Lyra said when the STALKER finished. She stood up to go, then at the last moment leaned over and gave him a quick, chaste peck on the cheek. "Teehee, thanks for teaching me a new song."

She sauntered back over to the bar, and started strumming a gentle, quiet melody in the background.

Cana - Mitakihara - Downtown

Cana pressed her face against the window to get a better look at the Mirai building. It was truly impressive, something that big that looked like a giant glass bubble, its countless surfaces reflecting the surrounding city at every angle.

"Well nowhere in particular, just want to get used to what your world's like, see the sights. Maybe get a change of clothes. I was just going to explore but then ran into your guards and they called you," she replied.

"You're with the police, you guys got any monsters and criminals you need handled?" she asked out of the blue. "This place is called Battleworld, we're supposed to, you know, battle stuff eventually if we want to stay alive. But I'd rather not battle good people, so it seems like you'd be the best person to ask."

Juvia - Common Room

Juvia shuddered again. Ugh, if her magic worked here, she could at least boil off whatever fleas they were carrying.

"Well what are you, then?" she asked Veigar and Teemo. "You don't look like cats, so you can't be Exceeds."

Sidorovich wondered exactly how did the girl got a wardrobe change from nowhere, but he decided to let it pass.

"It's not far from here." Sidorovich answered her question. "You just have to head to the road to the north and you'll find the mill near a bus stop."

The stalkers were curious at what was Lucy thinking about. Yuri was the first to speak.

"The other team that is going to fight the mercs are a group of Dutyers. Last time we saw them, they were speaking with Arnie, the guy who coordinates the Arena fights. And yeah, substitutions can happen if one of the guys can't fight."

Shovel seemed to pick up on Lucy's idea. "You're thinking of replacing one of the dutyers so you can fight the mercs?"

Well. Now that is a new one. Taken to some weird cobbled together place by some big guy's amusemement. Never thought that she would end up in a situation like this. Not only that, but if they don't please this guy, Bandle City would end up here and be endangered by any hostile threat in this place.

This is kind of FUBAR...excluding for the fact that her squad could do whatever they want, as long as it pleased this red guy. Finally, they could do whatever they wanted without a officer or commander telling them what to do exactly, or to obey specific orders. That seemed like a pretty good trade off. Blow things up and do their own thing as long as they keep Bandle City safe from this place.

"Well, as long as you let us do our thing without trouble, you'll enjoy seeing the things we can do. Thanks for the information, big red guy! Omega Squad, let's plan things out!" Tristana waved goodbye to the Cure, as she and Twitch moved away to plan out what they will do in this new land, though her team were doing some things still.

"The heck is an Exceed?" Veigar seemed confused, before then answering her question, lookinh somewhat proud and overreacting in his explanation. "We're Yordles, human! The best of the best that the Bandle City military has to offer, and who are part of the elite Omega Squad! He quickly glanced at Twitch. "Well, he's a mutant rat and not a yordle, but still, you best respect us, human!"

Teemo glance was focused onto the Common Room, scouting the Common Room for any potential threats, but as Juvia asked what he was, he answered, trying to ignore what he assumed was the hallucination of Veigar.

"I'm a yordle scout from Bandle City. Now let me focus, human." He would then return his attention back to the Common Room, ignoring the two as if they were never there.

Veigar looked a bit confused at Teemo, he normally did not do this weird loner stuff at all. The heck happened to him?

JNPR - Go Go Gadget Conflict Deescalation; Colosseum, Castlevania

The whole team pretty much jumped into action at the same moment.

With both Dracula and Trevor on the field (and Mirajane following soon after), the match was most certainly over.

To fulfill Tatl's request, Nora and Ren sprinted down the stands and leaped into the arena, reaching Link just before he could finish prizing himself from his dent in the wall. Nora, being the physically stronger of the two, would catch him, while Ren would catalog his injuries and make sure there weren't any foreign objects in them. Tatl had made a good point about supernatural healing maybe being a bit too effective.

The pair also shared a look between them, silently agreeing with one another that they needed to talk to Link at some point. They were unsure of how things worked on Link's world, but the boy had been about to execute a disarmed and knocked down opponent. While Huntsmen and Huntress occasionally had to kill people in the course of their duties, it was not something to be taken lightly, and was only to be done in self-defense or the defense of others.

No matter his reasoning, nobody should be judge, jury and executioner.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha quickly made their way down from the Royal Box, weapons drawn. Pyrrha arrived first, leaping into the arena with grace and landing nearby to Dracula and Trevor. As she landed, she slammed the butt of her spear into the ground, the sound of the impact like a gunshot.

That was mainly because it was a gunshot, that she had fired into the Arena floor.

Jaune vaulted his way over the arena wall, and ran the rest of the way on foot, arriving a good second or two after Pyrrha had.

"The match has ended. Unless you wish to start one of your own, you should both stop fighting this instant."

"We've got what we came here for, Trevor." Jaune reminded the man.

"If I'd known there was a shapeshifter about when I wished for this, I might have thought twice myself." Bond said, his face morphing back to it's original shape.◊ "But all the more reason to remove him from the equation."

Bond raised an eyebrow, not at Lady's saying it was business call (if it was personal, she'd probably have called him) but at her offer of compensation.

"You definitely aren't a spy. Favours in kind are leagues more valuable than payment. But we can discuss that later. You're looking for surveillance, on two separate people."

Well, that was unfortunate. And unfortunately what she suspected. There was barely anything on the paper. If any competent authorities stopped them, that piece of paper wouldn't be accepted as permission to enter.

Then again, if that was the state of their border agents, they might just get away with it.

Lady asked a question she may have intended to be rhetorical, but Weiss did have a productive answer, so she gave it.

"Wherever the most power can be found. Somewhere he can acquire new allies, new abilities, or new assets."

It's what her father would do. At least, in a non-combat sort of way.

Castlevania, Coliseum

Mirajane would find that the potion was not poisoned, but that did not matter as Trevor glanced over at Pyrrha and Jaune and then at the body of Link. The vampire hunter left his confrontation with Dracula and ran as fast as he could to the boy, pulling out the potion he had used a little of on Tatl. Once Ren had ensure that all of the boy's wounds were clean, Trevor forced Link to drink the potion and as it healed his wounds, Dracula growled back to Trevor.

   "What about my wife?!"   

Trevor glared back at Dracula and tossed a spare cellphone that the vampire caught in his monsterous hands, "Call him yourself. That is truly all I know."

As if to interrupt the still somewhat tense scene, an Axe Armor walked into the Coliseum.

"Master, there has been no being fitting the description of the masked kid in our chunk."

   "I    see," Dracula replied to the Axe Armor, having reverted to his humanoid form, though the vampire was showing his age with his body language. "Well, keep an eye on him... I shall have a talk with Death about the fairy's injuries when he's recovered, but I do expect you to talk to your green-clothed kid about his own actions."

Dracula looked to have recovered his composure at this point, and put the cellphone in one of his pockets, "This was supposed to be a friendly spar, but it did not end up that way, and for that, I apologize."

"I've got one more question," Trevor stated to Dracula. "Sypha had just called me to check if you've seen white haired half-demon in a blue coat in your chunk?"

"You mean Dante's brother?" Dracula laughed as he remembered exactly how Vergil was brought into Battleworld. "No, no one has seen him in my land, that I am absolutely sure of."

"Since our last meeting, I have made sure to have my forces to keep an eye out for if either Dante or his brother enter my land," Dracula explained to them. "Mostly because I know they would be a threat to me."

"I will give you the time needed to make sure the boy is okay, but then you all must leave my land... I do not care how," Dracula turned his back toward the rest of the group.

"Dracula, know this," Trevor warned the vampire lord. "If I discover you have harmed any innocents on Battleworld, I will return, and I won't be as friendly as I was here."

For his part, Dracula ignored Trevor as the vampire left the Coliseum, but he did understand the message.

Carmilla, Archades Dungeon

"Let her learn a lesson first, of course!" Carmilla smirked right back at Vergil before watching the battle between Havoc and the thieving fruits unfold. "This offers a unique training opportunity for her."

"If you feel this fight has taken too long, we shall intercede, and consider this bit of training a failure," Carmilla knew that she would probably love watching Havoc get her ass kicked all day, so giving the more serious Vergil this choice made the most sense.

Morrigan & Lilith, Sakura Dungeon Gardens

"Oh, I would love to dance with Ceri!" Morrigan grinned as she stood behind Ceri and gently put her hands on Ceri's shoulders, before glancing over at Moira. "We've met some of the succubi in this land and they are certainly different from us."

Lilith nodded in agreement with Morrigan.

Edited by GameGuruGG on Feb 1st 2019 at 2:20:45 PM

The sheep turned rooster creature tried to let out another screech only to find it's cry muted. It looked about disoriented, only to find the small blue haired girl. It looked almost like she was trying to let out a scream of her own, but instead she was swallowing the air around it, creating something of a vacuum that limited the effectiveness of the creature's scream. It would have targeted her if the red head had not engaged it first.

With Erza's hand on its neck, it tried to use the snake like length of its neck to wiggle it self free and use its large beak to peck at the girl. But the fight came to a swift conclusion. The eye on the creature's body could only look on helplessly as sharp steel pierced through its iris and into the meat beyond. The eye would rupture and blood would leak out of the wound, dyeing the white wool a shade of red before dripping to ground. The creature would flail about desperately, but the wound was too deep. After a brief struggle, it would slump to the ground and enter an endless dreamless sleep. The creature known as Void Dream was dead. It would be the first of many abnormalities to finally die.

The ambush of the rock worms meant the old man could no longer enjoy the side lines with the Hope's Peak teenagers and the strange abnormality with the third eye. He drew the black and white scythe given him and with silent movements sliced in half the thing's offspring that tried to leap at him. His expression remained as stoned face as ever, ever dignified, ever the gentlemen. To add to this stoic facade, he began answering the young teen's question as he defended himself, keeping an even tone in his voice.

"To the west, the blue lined route, lies the Welfare Department. To the east, the red lined route, the Disciplinary Department."

In honest, he did not see the point. Everything he had dedicated himself to was being destroyed before his very eyes. Their lives were already forfeit, it was merely a matter of course. Still, while he had no desire to survive this, the scientist in him was curious. How far would these guests make it in their attempt to survive? How long would it take for them to die? He took out his pocket watch. He would just have to observe and see.

"The only way back up to the upper levels is through that singular elevator at the top of this room. However, we can take a detour though these side wings if you wish another route to the top floor of this room."

The enigmatic woman Binah seemed to remain undisturbed. The creatures seemed to ignore her. Perhaps it was instinct, even a worm knowing where it lies on the food chain. Perhaps her time in the Well has caused it to see her as something of kin, like a mother. She watched the resulting chaos with a thin smile.

Satori would find that her strike had something of a kick to it. Her hit seemed to recoil back toward her after the umbrella met the armor plating, as if hitting with the umbrella caused it to hit back. To her surprise she would find that her little strike had done some damage. The thick rock armor had been crushed, shards of rock forced inward causing the goopy brown blood to leak from the fresh wound. The area of impact crackled with black magic. That umbrella was something abnormal. It wasn't sentient, but it had something almost like brain waves. A signature to its design. If she concentrated, she may even hear something approaching a thought coming from it.

The minds of the rock worms were incredibly simplistic, almost frighteningly so. It wasn't like an animal who ran on instincts. It was unnaturally singular. Almost like how certain youkai can have a single thought or desire consume their entire being until it alone defined them. But even then they usually had some sort of, for lack of a better word, humanity to them. These creatures felt nothing else. Survival did not even register in their thought patterns. All they thought was...

   ...EAT...   

It was an endless insatiable hunger. If left to their devices they would devour everything they came across until their bodies burst at the seems. Then they would eat some more.

Up above, the strange entity known as Blue Star seemed to cave in on its self, like a black hole opened up at in center. Any who witnessed it may get the feeling that they will see it again. It wasn't destroyed, simply relocating. Perhaps it recognized what was about to happen and felt else where was better for adding to its flock.

Aigis attack made quite the mess, leaving large spots of big brown goopy viscera. Some of the smaller one's instantly turned on the corpse of their mothers, swallowing up what was left them selves. The others slithered their way toward the SEES weapon. They sensed no meat, but their teeth was more then powerful enough chew through that metal frame, and the way it moved made it appear so appetizing. It was their own small bodies that got chewed up however as a stream of bullets tore them apart.

The werewolf had no trouble continuing to launch his adversaries across the room like projectiles. Even if they were the rough size of a man, Talbain was a Darkstalker. Launching them at the larger rock worms seemed to have little effect. They bounced off the larger worm's thicker armor. Though, instinct caused the worms to eat anything in reach of their maws, causing the lager worms to eat the children without a second thought should they land too close. Launching them at the pink slimes caused them to be swallowed into their translucent bodies where they were quickly dissolved, adding to the mass of the slime creature. His efforts had made head way of thinning out this horde of worms. It almost seemed like they might be able to hold their ground at this rate.

Then the bird perched on the third floor let out a magnificent cry. Its black feathers lit with a beautiful flame, its haggard form becoming something as majestic as the Phoenix. With this transformation, came heat. Its light burned so brightly that the room felt like the surface of the sun. The people in the room would feel like their skin was on fire. It was hot enough to evaporate the sweat on their brow. Their eyes would feel like they were dried of moisture every time they opened them, and even then their vision was distorted with the waves of heat. In an instant, the Fiery Bird had became the priority target in the room.

The rock worms, used to the extreme demands of deep in the earth, seemed equipped to survive this new hell scape. They continued on in their eternal hunger. The bony tree too seemed undisturbed by the recent development. Though its collection of decorations seem catch fire in the heat. The pieces of bodies all charred as they burned. Blood seemed to glow under the irradiated heat giving off by the bird, pouring out like lava from the burnt corpses. It was surreal and unnatural, a testament to the law defying nature of the creatures here.

The surface of the pink slime seemed to bubble and boil however, much to the creatures annoyance. The large main body of the slime a floor above formed an appearance similar to a humanoid female◊ from its mass. It sneered at the bird for daring to harm it. With a flick of its hand, pieces of slime launched out at its body at the Fiery Bird. It quickly dodged out of the way, flying about the open space of the large room. It seemed the shots of the slime had forced the bird to fly lower however. It now flew roughly twenty feet from the bottom floor. It was now just out of reach, though the right people with the right equipment might still be able to take that thing out before it killed them all. However, being closer meant that everyone also had to deal with its intense heat all the more.

The arrival of Fiery Bird coincided with Felicia's attempt at trying to save the woman. She looked at Felicia, still laughing, but her eyes filled with terror. With Felicia attention diverted, and the sheep agent being forced to close her eyes from the heat, the tree was given the opportunity it needed. It did indeed follow Felicia, but how was she to know how impossibly fast that creature was. All it needed was for her to blink.

When Felicia opened her eyes, she would see that the woman was no longer crying, though she still stared at her in terror. Not only her, but the sheep agent too was there staring at Felicia. Both their heads had been torn from their bodies and impaled on branches, now displayed right in front of the cat girl. It seemed all the heads the tree displayed were turned to stare at Felcia, their faces crying bloody tears that burned as hot as lava as their faces melted from the heat. Even the creatures own eyes that hung like fruit on the branches were now all staring at the Cat girl, waiting for her to blink. The rest of the branches formed a cage around the Felicia trapping her.

There was no sign of the movement. Had they not known better, one would assume that the thing had started in this position surrounding Felicia. It was simply in one place, then another. Only the change of position, and new victims, let one know what had happened. Now it seemed to be waiting again. With no where to go, all it needed was for Felicia to blink one more time. She could squeeze through the branches, but in this heat they were like stove tops.

As if the entire room catching on fire was not enough, the ground bulged and split as something large broke the surface. Only a portion of it was visible, a section of skin, though it seemed to have the same rock armor as the other worms. However, whatever this thing was, it was gigantic. It seemed long and snake like, as if a subway tunnel achieved sentience. Between the pieces of its thick rock armor was sacs of brownish pus. The sacs ruptured and on the spot seven new large rock worm slithered from the giant creature. With that it disappeared beneath the surface once again, though one can see the sacs filling once more. It would take only minutes for a whole new large rock worm to fully form in one of these sacs, and this creatures body was littered with them.

From the fissure it left in the floor, one can see below. There were swarms◊ of them. Not just the small rock worms, but the large ones too. They had completely eaten out the ground beneath them, hollowing it out and filling it with their mass of squirming bodies. With the foundation gone, pieces of the floor started caving in, falling into the countless maws that awaited. One such piece was the very slab Talbain was standing. It slanted downwards, like a slide into the jaws of death. Below, the rock worms were already chewing away on the end of the slab, while others climbed atop their siblings all in a effort to be the first to taste that sweet sweet meat that awaited up top.

"Fuck this!"

The green haired Netzach leaped off the large rock worm he was on and rushed down one of the side halls. The red line suggested it was to the Disciplinary Department. He knew a screwed situation when he saw one and had no intention of staying any longer then needed.

"Wait, Netzach! You shouldn't go off alone! Its dangerous!"

The meek girl with long brown hair, Hod, called out to the man running off. She had attempted to fire her crossbow at the Fiery Bird, but with the flames burning her eyes, her shot went wide. She missed. Her fingers trembled as she struggled to reload, her eyes tearing up from the pain. She missed. She was useless. She missed. Even now, she couldn't get her hands to stop shaking so she could load another bolt in. After failing to even be able to load her weapon, she turned and chased after the green haired man. She needed to be there with him so he wasn't alone and vulnerable. At least that is what she told her self. Another voice in her simply whispered coward.

On the other side of the room, Malkuth was beneath the Fiery Bird, stabbing uselessly into the air. As if standing on her tippy toes would grant her the extra ten feet to actually hit the thing.

"You stupid fried chicken! Do you know how much money this fire damage is going to cost us in repairs!?"

Despite her determination to hit the flying abnormality, Malkuth was being dragged off by the two child twins. They too seemed to realize it may be high time for an exit. With the blue line exit being closer, they moved toward the Welfare Department to escape. The male Tipperth turned back toward the room. Any one whose attention he could get he would try to wave them over toward the exit. This included the tall blue haired Sefirot.

"Chessed!"

He heard, but didn't respond. He was focused on reloading the magical musket in his hands. He realized this was a bad situation, but he had no intention of leaving until every one else was gone. He was the manager of the Welfare Department after all, looking out for others was his job. However...his eyes looked across the room where Gebura was. She was lost in the blood lust. Slaughtering the rock worms that breached around her with a single minded determination. She didn't seem to grasp their situation, just a mindless killing machine looking for the nearest target, not unlike the monsters she was currently tearing apart. But he couldn't leave her here. Perhaps if he could get a shot off he could...he didn't know. It was starting to look like the two of them were going to die here, a fool trying to help a fool.

That didn't mean everyone else had to though. Mustering up a smile and as friendly a tone as he could manage while in this heat, he spoke out to any who would listen.

"Perhaps we should continue the tour to the next department?"

On the other side of the room, Yesod was taking everything in with cold calculation. There appeared to be an 100% casualty rate for the employees working in this department. Even in this extreme heat, he could only think of how things went wrong. What could have they done to prevent this. There were protocols in place, but it still ended up like this. This was his fault. If the protocols in place were without fault, the people here would still be alive. He needed to find these faults, fix them, so next time...next time...perhaps it was just this heat, but his whole body was starting to itch, it was driving him crazy.

He looked where the last agent in the room had died, her head now a decoration for O-04-72. Its branches were surrounding that nun cat woman, she said her name was Felicia. Yesod made his way over, to try to help her escape. Upon touching the branches, he could feel how hot they were. He began taking off his coat and turtle neck underneath, folding them and placing them on branches so Felicia would not have to touch the branches with bare skin as she squeezed through. He had been told how problematic it is that he wore so many layers of clothing, but it seemed Felicia may have been in a predicament because she took to the other extreme. As he tried to help her escape, he spoke out instructions to her in a voice that was eerily calm and cool.

"Abnormality O-04-72. Also named The Burrowing Heaven. Containment procedures, an absolute minimum of two agents should be present. Eye contact must be maintain at all times, no exceptions. To ensure this, it is protocol that an agent must loudly announce to their partner when they are blinking to ensure there is no overlap. Do you understand?"

As he took off his shirt, Felica could see he had countless scars across his body. They looked like scratches, self inflicted. Whenever his hands idled, they went about clawing at his own skin. Yet he kept his calm demeanor, as if he didn't even realize he was doing that to himself. Instead, he simply spoke out a single word, a word she had heard the agents repeat to each other when they had first entered.

"Blinking."

Meanwhile, the older gentlemen in white and the woman in black watched the guests, more interested in seeing what their next move was then actually assisting with the survival effort.

Sypha, Luna Nova

Sypha seemed to have sighed, especially at the German girl's plan which seemed completely unfeasible. "At least, you understand what needs to be done before we can challenge the Cure, Reisen."

"So do any of you have any idea on how we can break the power limiter and pacification field so we could at least have a fair fight against the Cure?" Sypha asked Reisen and Akko. She had her own idea, but that was more a win-win idea for her no matter what.

Felicia & Talbain, Facility X-394

"Shut the hell up, bird!" Talbain growled as he sent another of the worms flying at the Phoenix this time once it got low enough for him to hit with one of them. It seemed like Talbain was now prioritizing killing that thing since... Well, he was covered in fur and had the sweat glands of a wolf right now. He knew he would die if that Phoenix was not eliminated. Once the platform he was standing on started to collapse, even he knew that he need to get out of there.

Felicia screamed as she saw the decapitated melting heads looking at her. As she saw the cage of branches, it seemed to have dawned on her that she was about to die here. If Satori had been looking into Felicia's mind, she would have seen the image of Felicia being one of the decapitated heads on the branches of the Burrowing Heaven. Felicia will have nightmares about this for the rest of her life. However, Yesod had given her a way out of this very fatal situation for the Catwoman, and she waited until he was finished before answering.

"Understood... Blinking," Felicia said as she transformed her body into that of a typical housecat, and then jumped right through the branches. After all, the branches would be trouble for a human-sized being... But not a housecat. Felicia did blink as a cat, but purposely as she was instructed to do. Once out of the cage of branches, she turned back toward the Burrowing Heaven as she transformed back into her more humanoid Catwoman form.

Felicia then took the coat and turtleneck and wrapped them around her paws, all while she kept her eyes on the Burrowing Heaven... Once she was satisfied with the wrappings, Felicia began using her catlike paws to tear the tree apart, using the wrapping like gloves and only blinking when she said "Blinking," and never blinking when Yesod said "Blinking." This thing needed to die and it needed to die by her hand. After all, cats were good at tearing things apart as well.

Talbain readied himself and used the slab as a springboard to pounce over to where Felicia and Yesod was, grabbed the two in such a way as to ensure they would still be looking at the Burrowing Heaven and could still coordinate their blinking pattern, and fled with the others into the Disciplinary Department.

"That thing needs to die!" Felicia complained to Talbain, wanting to kill that monster.

"I love you too much to let you die here, Felicia!" Talbain growled back at Felicia.

"...Blinking," Felicia said as she blinked, absolutely shocked at what Talbain had just told her.

Edited by GameGuruGG on Feb 1st 2019 at 4:12:57 AM

Luna Nova, Meeting Room: Drafting the Deal

Tsuchi's mouth formed the smallest of creases. Her imaginings? Who did this kid think she was? First she has the nerve to play General in front of her teachers, and then all she comes up with is "don't worry, our forest will keep us safe"?! If they were in PANDORA right now Diana would've been laughed out of the room faster than she could wave her little Power Point wand!

"No, Diana, I don't think they're mutually exclusive." Tsuchi replied with a smile that felt a little too forced. "I just don't think they're equally weighed. Perhaps you haven't—"

"That's quite enough, Tsuchi." said Nishijima. It didn't take a genius to guess the girl was angry that her concerns had been brushed aside by someone her own age. Even if Nishijima found a great deal of merit in his niece's words, it wasn't their place to march Synths onto Luna Nova's campus uninvited and prepare for an invasion. If the professors wanted to take their pupil's words for Gospel, that was their prerogative—long as he got what he came here for, that's all that mattered to him.

Still, Nishijima shot a quick glance at Croix to judge her reaction. She'd been remarkably quiet throughout this meeting, only raising her eyes from her phone to ask about Archades. It seemed to him that she either didn't care for talking about a possible invasion, didn't view Outworld as a real threat, or didn't trust the report Miss Cavendish offered. Strange as it seemed, he couldn't pin down which possibility fit her the most.

Fascinating.

"I apologize for my niece's tone, Miss Cavendish." Nishijima smiled politely. "Though I must admit, your confidence in this forest is quite intriguing. I would very much like to study what sort of creatures lurk in the Arcturus, when there's time.

"Regardless of how you reached your conclusion, I'm delighted you agree with my advice. I can see why your professors have such high respect for you, Miss Cavendish—as the saying goes, amateurs speak of tactics, but professionals speak of logistics. Full marks."

Setting aside Badcock's increasing delusions and Marianne's admiration for the Shinobi, Nishijima retrieved a piece of folded paper from his inner coat pocket.

"I prefer to draft the agreement with the binding party, but I do have some language prepared far as appeasing the bureaucrats goes. Having glimpsed Luna Nova with my own eyes, I can certainly see a foundation for a deal:

"PANDORA can offer free and open access to Tokyo for the professors of Luna Nova and any students wishing to visit, pending written permission from the faculty. Should it be requested, we can also provide escorts and chaperones for any visitors. I can also promise limited access to our research facility in Hell's Gate to any interested professors, on the condition that they pass a psychological evaluation that's mandatory for all employees entering the area. Hell's Gate is a place that bends the fabric of reality itself—a fascinating phenomena to be sure, but one that can take a heavy toll on the mind.

"On a political front, PANDORA will provide diplomatic backing to Luna Nova. As I said earlier, we have established a network of trade agreements and alliances across the planet, and have influential connections in Archades and Mitakihara, not to count Hell's Gate Tokyo. Once the agreement's signed, I can begin arranging a meeting between Headmistress Holbrooke and Lord Vayne.

"As for something more tangible, PANDORA is currently manufacturing an advanced medical synthetic called a stimulation delivery package, or stimpak. Once injected into the arm or thigh, the stimpak speeds the body's healing process to mend wounds in minutes, rather than weeks. It's been rigorously tested, and has been proven to have no side effects on the patient when used correctly. Say the word, and I can have a chopper deliver two crates within an hour, and by this evening I will be able to supply Luna Nova with enough stimpaks to outlast almost anything. I offer these out of respect for Professor Finnelan's request to keep weapons off of school grounds—even if they are a technological marvel, I hope there are no objections to providing medical supplies, in case of emergencies.

"In exchange, PANDORA would appreciate access to Luna Nova for a limited number of personnel and persons of interest: including Dr. Schroeder and myself. Access will naturally be limited to the public spaces—libraries, laboratories, the grounds—and we will not interfere with the daily lives of you or your students.

"More concretely, PANDORA would like samples of textbook collections regarding the study and practice of magic and alchemy. We can create digital copies of the books should you not wish to part with them; these will be added to our own facility's archives."

Since Nishijima half-expected some sort of protest to this request, he paused. He was acutely aware that only Finnelan, Holbrooke, and Badcock were aware of his interest in these books, and he wanted to judge the reaction it'd have on the others—especially Croix.

He glanced at the magic-tech professor before adding his final request:

"Finally, I would like to enroll Tsuchi in Luna Nova to study Magitronics under Croix."

"What?!"

Tsuchi's eyes shot wide open. This wasn't part of the plan! She was just supposed to be his bodyguard! Where the hell did this idea come from?!

Nishijima chuckled at the girl's surprise. "Come now, Tsuchi. I brought you to a high school for girls. I'm honestly surprised you didn't figure it out sooner!"

"But—"

"And besides, it's not like you'll ever get a chance to study something this incredible again."

"But—"

"Think of it as studying abroad, taking courses you'll never find in our own universe, let alone Tokyo. It's an unbelievable opportunity for you!"

Tsuchi's objections tapered into a soft stare of disbelief. Could Nishijima really think this was a good idea? Shifting her objective mid-mission from escort to espionage? They'd ask questions about her! She'd need to explain who she is, why she's here, come up with hundreds of lies on a dime (not to mention keep them all straight), and that's not even considering the possibility of activating her powers! She didn't have nearly enough training for this!

Nishijima smiled at Holbrooke, then turned it to the young professor. "On this point, I'd like to speak with Croix, if that's acceptable. Accommodations will need to be made for my niece; she's from an alternate universe, after all. I doubt she's at the same place of comprehension as your other students."

The girl exhaled her last fumes of protest with a sigh. Orders were orders, so like it or not, she was stuck here. All she could do was grin and bear it, and try not to do anything to compromise herself.

Castlevania, Colosseum: Beats Using A Fairy!

Tatl flew towards her unconscious partner at a slower pace than the others. She made an active choice to be the last one over to Link's side; partly because there was nothing she could physically do to help, and partly because...well, she didn't want to see him like that. It made her sick, and gave her a cold feeling that shot straight to her core.

So she floated quietly into the arena, stopping only to glance at the Count when the news about Majora arrived, and Dracula mentioned the point of this whole mess.

"Yeah, a friendly spar." she murmured to herself. "Friendly wolves, friendly scythes, friendly battleground. Those are some really friendly skeletons in the ground. Whole darn castle place feels friendly! We're gonna be best buddies in no time!"

She reached the boy as the last drops of the potion trickled down his throat, and the wounds had begun to seal themselves. A few moments later and he groaned back to life. He opened his eyes in a daze, wondering why he was lying in Nora's arms, why so many people were staring at him, and why he tasted something stupidly bitter in his mouth. He turned to Ren as if to ask what happened, only to hear a voice he thought he'd never hear again.

"You won. Dracula stopped the fight before you finished Death off."

Was he hearing things? Link rose out of Nora's arms and searched frantically for the yellow ball of light.

"Next time we fight somebody, I'm staying at a safe distance. That was not fun for me."

The boy caught sight of the fairy just over Mr. Belmont's shoulder. His open mouth closed into a quivering smile. He sniffled.

"Noooooo, don't start that!" Tatl warned.

His eyes watered. His nose and cheeks flushed red.

"Stop it!" Tatl barked with a sharp crack in her voice. "I'm supposed to me mad at you! You shouldn't've used that mask, you big idiot! It could've been just like—Goddess, could someone get him a hankie? He's wiping his snot on his arm!"

As the boy quietly blubbered with joy, Tatl flew down to murmur something in his ear:

"Yeahokayso I'mgladyou'reokayandeverythingandI'msorryforworryingyou. There Iapologizedsodon'tgoholdingitagainstme!"

The message given, Tatl fluttered up again to Trevor's height.

"So you got your whip back, and we got a whole lot of nothing. Can we get out of this creepy place? Preferably to never, ever, ever come back?"

Former Hell, Gatehouse: Take Us to Your Leader!

Dmitri stared at the useless document and smiled. He tried to come up with a quip about bureaucracy, but couldn't pick one to match this level of...dumb.

Little Miss Rapier-Gun made a good point—accumulating power seemed to be this guy's bread and butter. What better place to grab it than from the hands of the guy in charge?

"Y'know where we can find the head honcho?" the Contractor asked Parsee and Yamame. Even if he didn't know where Vergil was, he'd at least be able to mobilize whatever passed for Demon Police to cover the search here. Then he could leave this place!

Archades, Portal: Is the Word "Welcome" Too Much to Ask?

...did all of these damn portals have weird-ass guards? Between here and the Underground it felt like the West half of this planet was one big fantasy show.

Huang stepped forward to speak with the inquiring knight.

"Call me Huang." he croaked in his raspy smoker voice, then thumbed to his companions. "The girl's Yin, the guy's Jack. We're here lookin' for someone: man with white hair, appears to be in his thirties, wears a long blue coat, carries a sword, and goes by Vergil. It's unlikely he walked through this portal, but he could've gotten in by crossin' the border."

Huang omitted the "cop killing sociopath" detail for now. He knew jack shit about this city, and couldn't guess how they'd react to a wanted murderer wandering around—or more importantly, a handful of strangers looking for said wanted murderer.

Archades, Underground Caverns: Food Fight

Havoc's super gun flung out of her hand as one of the fruit-headed bastards tossed a rock at it. She knew that trying to grab it would just leave her exposed, so she turned around and stepped backwards towards her weapon instead. If she had to tear these fuckers apart with her bare hands, then so be it.

Having turned to keep four of the five enemies in her line of sight, Havoc dodged the Confuse spell with relative ease—too bad she dodged it right into Pumpkinhead's unbelievably powerful fist!

The gut punch knocked the wind out of her, and Havoc had to struggle to keep herself from standing still to recover. Staying put seemed like a surefire way to die in the most ridiculous way imaginable: death by walking fruit.

Havoc tried to kick Pumpkinhead in...well, the pumpkin head. The hope was to knock it down for a few seconds so she could register where the other four were and what they were up to.

If they were all still in her line of sight, she'd focus on one that was readying another spell. That would be her opening: as the spell was getting cast, her body would begin radiating starlight blue, the center of her eyes sharpening with a bright red gleam. The spellcaster would quickly find it difficult to breathe, which would make it difficult to move, and which would hopefully end with its stupid head swelling up, breaking open, and making a satisfying squishy mush on the ground.

Edited by TheodoreHastings on Feb 1st 2019 at 1:58:40 AM

Vector — Lower West Side —> Imperial Palace

The Emperor smiled when he saw his visitors looking and sounding eager to join him at the palace. He could already imagine how smoothly the banquet would proceed.

"Follow me, then. General Christophe, you'll be joining us at this proceeding."

The little emperor lead the way (surrounded by his security detail, which included General Christophe) out of the slums of the Lower West Side and further into the city center. As the group headed up to the palace, they had to get past many flights of stairs that elevated certain neighborhoods above others. As the party got higher and higher up the hills, the neighborhoods appeared to get cleaner and wealthier, so to speak, though the factories and smog still loomed over the city, no matter what neighborhood they ended up in. Eventually, the group arrived at the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace◊ was probably one of the largest buildings in the city of Vector, and from the towering structure, one could see the northern skyline of Vector in its entirety, smokestacks, skyscrapers, smog, and all.

Two men clad in red and white robes opened the front gates at the palace, allowing everyone entrance inside. Past the cold metallic corridors, the Emperor walked across the royal red carpet that served as the only hint that everyone was in a palace and not some dreary factory, and sat himself at the fanciest chair when he finally arrived at the dining hall◊.

Banquets were apparently a regular occurrence in the Imperial Palace, as there was already food laid out. Bright red lobster, roast chicken, and fresh fruits were already laid out, sitting alongside various salads and cheeses. For drinks, there were plenty of bottles of chilled wine and plain water.

The Emperor folded his hands as he sat down next to General Christophe. "I'm glad you all decided to arrive here on such short notice. I understand how tempting a fine luncheon can be, but I didn't just bring you all here to sit down and eat. Some of my most trusted advisors will be here shortly. Truth to be told, I wanted you all here to discuss Vector's future here in Battleworld."

Just as the Emperor finished, two people entered the dining room. One was a blond young woman in a yellow uniform◊. The other appeared to be the court jester◊. They both took their seats on the Emperor's side of the table. The emperor himself used a fork to break open his offering of lobster, and poured a bit of butter and salt onto his food.

"I am not going to lie to any of you. The city of Vector represents the capital of a great empire that once reigned over an entire continent. But since we've arrived in Battleworld, we've had no contact with any other of our cities."

The Emperor lifted up the piece of lobster on his fork. "You see this lobster here? Imported fresh from the port city of Albrook. But now Albrook is gone, and we have no access to the sea. Seafood isn't the only thing we've lost since this transition, either."

The Emperor ate the piece of lobster, which seemed to vanish into his beard, considering his white mane covered his visible mouth.

"I brought you all here because I believe you may know of some place that might benefit from being occupied by the Gestahlian Empire. Some place uninhabited and close to our region. A place nobody will miss. Otherwise, our empire will stagnate."

Edited by TailsDoll on Feb 2nd 2019 at 8:52:40 AM

"Should I wish it?" Tatsu questioned lightly as he raised an eyebrow in the girl's direction, sounding curious. "I thought you wanted all your friends here so that you'd be protected. If they're willing to follow me and the rules, why wouldn't they join when you do?"

The abilities all sounded useful, and the 'prices' manageable for what they could provide. The eggs might be a bit harder to keep a good amount of, but it wasn't something a little trading or raiding couldn't hopefully fix. "What is the limit to Amagiri's range? And is there a size limit to what Luca can throw?"

The revelation that The Cure would go as far as to take away abilities from people he felt were too powerful was a surprising one. The young captain hadn't expected something even resembling fairness from the creature, though it was likely for more pragmatic reasons it had done so. Amber's new power would be a boon, though, with their previous ability to treat wounds limited to whatever supplies they could put together and Seagull's sadly limited skills. Tatsu chuckled. "Seagull is going to love you for sure."

"There are some." He admitted to Amber's final question, nodding. "Though, I don't really know much about them. Most thundercore humans are just the same, with differing levels of strength. But, there's exceptions. Three of them are right here now, actually." Tatsu grinned for a moment as he glanced back. "I'm a 'neural-type' according to Edenia, which means that my electricity runs directly through my nerves as well. It means I'm faster and stronger than most others. Alfred can control electromagnetic fields, which is way too flashy and cool for him to have-" The comment earned an amused snort from said teen. "and Mono has crazy amounts of power, but can't channel it offensively the same way we can. He's probably the most powerful of us all technically. There's probably more, and there's definitely something up with the higher-ups of Edenia, but we really don't know much about it ourselves."

Said white-haired teen blushed at the praise and dipped his head down, hiding the smile that spread across his lips. The group finally began to slow, and Tatsu stopped at a door for a moment before pushing it open and stepping inside. It was a medium sized, by airship standards at least, room that had been decked out like your typical medical ward. Cots sat evenly spaced through the room, cordoned off by white drapes on wheeled frames. A desk sat off to the side, with several chairs, and a series of cabinets and storage were scattered about the room along with basic medical equipment. Inside, a young man who looked to be in his early 20s◊ was talking to another of similar age, as a young teenage girl in a nurse outfit bandaged his arm, with a look of concentration.

The blonde haired young man glanced over as they stepped through, looking surprised for a moment as he spotted the procession. Leaving the girl to her work, who also glanced up and smiled politely before getting back to work, he moved towards them with a smile of his own. "Hello there, Tatsu, Mono, Alfred. What brings you all here? Newcomers to Magonia?"

Tatsu nodded. "Hey Seagull. Yup! I'm just showing them around a bit."

Seagull turned his attention towards the others and said, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Seagull, the Red Sprite's resident 'doctor'. Though I'd barely call myself a medic, let alone a proper doctor."

If Garnet was shocked, scared or impressed by the revelation he didn't show it to the girls. In fact, the young man looked more exasperated than anything. His tone was flat, and full of something that was hard to decipher as he replied, "Yeah, that sounds about right. Can't seem to escape from the crazies, can I..."

And now that they knew there were other people with that sort of power around, and willing to just walk in and start killing, it meant they'd likely have to make some changes to their defenses. Tatsu-proof defenses pretty much, from the sounds of it. Which was going to be a task and a half. Garnet ran a hand over his head as a long-suffering expression showed for a moment before he stowed it away. "Well thanks for the information, I guess-"

The grizzled young soldier halted mid-sentence as Blake's words drew his focus towards her properly for the first time since they had all entered, and he spotted the faintly twitching appendages attached to her head. Mouth agape slightly and brow furrowed, Garnet looked momentarily dumbfounded and lost for words as he stared at the girl's cat ears. After a brief reboot, he raised his hands briefly and shook his head. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask. So the person you're looking for isn't here. Is there anything else you need? Or can I go back to reworking our defenses now that stupidly strong psychos are a thing here too?"

Delfi let out a small, almost inaudible sigh of relief at the offered ideas, a wary part of her relaxing as it became clear that the sordid situation had passed. At least, for the moment. She knew it was still there, just lurking out of sight. But at least in a library or an observatory things like that would be less prevalent. And she did enjoy reading.

It would also help keep her mind off of things she didn't want to dwell on, which were beginning to return now that her shock had subsided. "If you're offering, it would be rude to decline seeing your library."

JNPR - On Second Thought, Let's Not Go To Castlevania. 'Tis a Silly Place; Colosseum, Castlevania

"We should go." Pyrrha agreed with Tatl, nodding her head at the fairy's assessment.

"I get the feeling Dracula's hospitality is on a timer." Nora added, following Link and making sure he wasn't gonna drop out of exhaustion or anything.

"There are things to discuss, but I believe they should wait until we have left the castle."

"You know the way out, right?" Jaune asked Trevor, glancing at the half-dozen holes in the walls of the arena. He'd probably be able to retrace his steps from the Royal Box (Pyrrha definitely would be able to, which gave him some comfort), but having someone who knew the quickest way out would be better.

"How are you so sure that he isn't here?" Blake asked, getting slightly annoyed at how they seemed to be rushing them back out the portal. "We just told you he could teleport. Even if this is place is an airship, or a flying island, you can't be certain he isn't hiding somewhere."

What also annoyed her was Garnet's reaction to her. Obviously they didn't have Faunus on their homeworld, but to be stared for being different was uncomfortable, whether or not the source actively discriminated against her kind.

"You obviously don't want us to go any further into this place. Will you at least do a search? I don't think either of us wants to just take your word for it, and then later find you all dead."

What an unsatisfying conclusion.

The Lord still sat in her seat as everything came to as limp of an end as she could have imagined. No victor in the battle, no vampires lying dead at her feet, no...okay, she did kill one wolf-man. And got robbed of a second kill.

Was she really justified in being mad about the lack of bloodshed for herself to be involved in? No, it was really stupid to ask for it, and Ozen felt childish. Pissed still, but still.

She got up a moment or two after the others had. There was only one phrase to be had from her. "I'll come and visit again," to Dracula, with a forced smile that was just as uncanny as her real ones.

"Hmm..."

Utsuho peered past the nice people with guns. "Are those guys to the north?"

Mirajane - Castlevania - Coliseum

"Well... no point throwing this away...." Mirajane muttered to herself as she didn't taste any delicious poison in the potion, only to have Trevor beat her to the punch. Though, she wasn't particularly injured, so she couldn't gauge the potion's efficacy - while Dracula might not have resorted to poisoning a potion, she'd have to check later if he had been trying to pass off snake oil.

"Oh wonderful, you look like you're getting better alright. You really had us worried there," she put a hand to her cheek and smiled at Link. "You did a great job today, Trevor managed to get his whip back, and I think that mean old skeleton will think twice the next time he wants to pick on some kids." She elected to leave out the part about getting throttled by a vampire. You had to know how to look on the bright side of life, after all.

She snapped her fingers as a lightning bolt of divine inspiration struck her.

"How about when we all get back, I make you a nice big batch of cookies for a job well done? How does that sound?" Her smiled widened and she nodded happily at Battleworld's cutest lil' Hylian.

"You know, you're pretty snippy for someone who should be thanking him for helping you," Mirajane said to Tatl, though the smirk on her face might indicate that she wasn't being completely serious.

"Why thank you, good soldier. You're a very honorable man, donating your precious time in performing such charity." Chuckling most merrily at the straight-laced man even as she watched the bandito get dragged away like a sack of potatoes, the Mona Lisa then put a thumb under chin before deciding on a decision.

"If there's anything you'd like as compensation and it's within our power to give, please ask. I'd feel rather bereaved if we were to get such strapping young fellows like yourselves working for free." Knowing full well just how low on manpower they were and how if others handled the straggling outlaws and such would free up valuable personnel for other projects, Leonardo Da Vinci got to work on building a professional working relation ship.

"Honesty is best policy. Especially towards onis. They hate liars." Espousing the reasoning in very brief snatches of statements that were shorter even then fortune cookie sentences, Majin Saber's mouth quirked ever so slightly up to show her amusement. Picking up her sword after receiving the okay, the Servant then gave a nod of thanks towards the gatekeepers for letting them through without a fight unlike a certain other swallow cutting man before shuffling around.

Sniffing the air here and there like a bloodhound on the hunt, the tanned woman then perked up as she sought what she was looking for before then homing in straight towards the nearest place that sold the delicious delicacy that was ODEN. And then promptly ordering everything on the menu with a neutral face that still beheld a laser focused stare as she sat down at the stall with great expectations.

"Cleopatra would be the one who'd enjoy the milk baths at least... that fellow pharaoh of mine really enjoys luxurious beauty treatments and her fighting style is based solely around high charisma. I don't think I've the right disposition to enjoy bathing in... valuable food and drinks." Grimacing at the sheer wastage due to being a somewhat more practical ruler than most other Egyptians, Nitocris then shook her head.

"I'd say the library sounds better as of this point in time. The desert though beautiful is cruel and not something to be traversed in unless one has a specific objective in mind. That and comparing histories would be rather... nice. I like more quiet areas." Mumbling nervously due to not wanting to be outed as a NERD, Nitocris chose the easier solution.

"Apt advice indeed. No matter how book smart one may be, street smart is also essential for overall survival- especially in troubled waters like these. Thank you, Mr. Chou for answering these questions of mine." Narrowing her eyes at seeing the positively ethereal constructs in place as well as the sheer ''wrongness' that it exuded to the point of fluffing up the hairs on her tail, Ahri couldn't help but level a rather bestial gaze at the thing before reigning herself in even as the girls in the back held down the buckling Kai'sa who was no doubt being high strung due to similarities with the Void.

Still, nothing was happening that warranted too much of a reaction (yet) and she'd rather not wreck the ride being given so the gumiho sighed before doing her best to relax. It was a good thing she's a pretty capable actress since now shock had passed after a single second and her face was back to its normal smug amusement. Especially when the man was talking about anime of all things.

"Well, now... it would be quite rude to presume simply by my features yes. Though you probably didn't mean that so I'll tell you... I'm a gumiho. A mystic fox from Korea. Not to be confused with the kitsune you see. We're rather... particular about our nationalism and for good reason. So yes, congratulations on making the acquaintance of a Korean pop star from the exotic planet of Earth." There we go, honesty done just right to ensure a bit of trolling could be done.

Well, the emperor guy wasn't kidding when he said that there was going to be plently of food. Crap, this shit is far much better than having to eat cooked meat from a Flesh.

Sadly, they weren't just taken here for a banquet, but to speak to give this guy ideas where to spread his empire next. Crap. He didn't knew why but he was getting a bad feeling. Would this guy attempt to conquer the Zone, not caring about the hostile environment of the place?

Strelok would start taking off the tubes connecting his screen helmet. After a few moments, he would take off his screen helmet, revealing his face to everybody in the area, while pulling his suit's hood on to cover his head, but still revealing his face.

Strelok cleared his throat before speaking to the Emperor. "I admit, that I still don't have much experience in this place yet and what it contains, as the one land I explored before heading here seemed to disappear from the Battleworld, so I can't give you much information of the others. The one where I come from and I have plently of experience, is The Zone. Though this place doesn't have much of value to capture, due to the hostile wildlife, the blowouts, the radiation and the anomalies that could kill you in a instant."

He tried to not give away the existence of artifacts, as he feared that if he knew, he would be interested in spreading his influence there to have a hold on them.

"If you're asking if the Ecologists are in the north, then yes. You'll have to head to Rostok, pass through the Wild Territory, and then you'll find them in what used to Lake Yantar in a science bunker."

The Warrant Officer looked to be impatient, as if he wanted to get this over with.

"Are you going to pay for the entrance or not?"

Slutsky nodded to the Mona Lisa. "Yeah, speak to Lieutenant Kowalski over here, he'll tell you what will be done." Eventually, the SEVA Dutyer and Lieutenant Kowalski would drag the other two bandits near the group, getting some makeshift cuffs from their backpacks and putting it on the bandit so they wouldn't try anything funny if they wake up.

Kowalski looked over at the Mona Lisa as she asked how they would be rewarded in exchange for aiding this place from any troubles that comes from the Zone.

"I believe that gear such as weapons and armor would be good enough. Right now, we got messages that we lost contact with the Ukrainian Government and we will need good equipment to fight back the horrors of the Zone. If you wish to be in further contact with us or need our help, I can give you my PDA number, along with the number of General Voronin, our leader. He'll gladly aid you in protecting your land from the threats of the Zone."

Edited by Darkomega245 on Feb 4th 2019 at 5:37:35 AM

"Head Honcho? Do—"

This was about to be the start of another fruitless dialogue between her and the rest of the clueless folk standing around, but Parsee stopped herself before that happened.

She had no idea who exactly was directly over her (assuming that was what honcho meant at all), but she could name some people. Some people that, as of today, had landed on her shitlist and needed to be bothered.

There was Komeiji, of course. Parsee knew that, even if they barely knew each other, she signed her onto this job just to spite her. She caused nothing but misery for everyone around her, as anyone living in Former Hell could tell you. Maybe her mind reading would be an asset to them, but she was such a horrible person that these people might actually come back pissed that they sent them to her...

That harlot, Tomomo of the Youkai Trade Association, she could probably be said to have some power. Her hoity-toity seal was on the paper as well, and she definitely knew Parsee well enough to have it out for her, as she imagined everyone who knew her would. Just because she had money, good business sense and a well-maintained network of close compatriots that she had cultivated over the years meant that she got to run things around here? But...then again, this could be connected to her...

Oh, Suiki. Just working with that farce of a wedding made it clear who you hated. He and his old boys club could be the real seat of power around here, even if it nominally lay with Komeiji. Best of all, even if he was sharp in his old age, he was very, very forgiving...

"—Do, do, do you know you've just asked...the best person to answer that around here?" Parsee smiled brightly at Dmitri, and she got a second piece of paper out. Though it was hardly comprehensive, she jotted down a general list of directions for him. "Just go ask the local Kishin Chief! He's a sweet old guy. Look for a real old oni, or just ask around for a Suiki. If anyone asks, make sure to tell them the new gate guardian Mizuhashi sent you," she said with a wink. "He'll help you for sure."

Unlike some people, Majin Saber had her eyes on the real prize: street food. Who fuckin' cares about demon hunting when you've got a stomach to fill!

Her nose was uncannily accurate, able to find the unique mixture of scents among the morass of many other things. The smell of bodies, brimstone, fish oil and commerce meant nothing to her schnoz, and soon enough even the scent of other foods was narrowed down to one. Among several other stalls like it, she found one that had few customers.

The proprietor was someone who looked young, purple haired and red-eyed. Even if she was at eye level, the way she swayed made it obvious that she was standing on a stool hidden by the cart. She smiled at Saber as she sat down, and ordered...and ordered, and ordered, and ordered...

This was the kind of prank that you'd get your friends to pull off when you're a kid, snickering in between every word at your own mastery of comedy. Yet, much to her visible disbelief, the owner could only listen because this strange person seemed entirely serious. Deadly serious, even.

With a look of genuine concern, she asked "Holy shit, lady, do you think you could even fit all of that in your stomach? The meal would probably weigh more than you do!" And yet, she could only look down in fear at the one bowl she had never thought she'd have to unleash. One that she had mentally labelled "The Big One" years ago...

Utsuho looked at the man, and looked at the orange thing on her arm...and closed her eyes. Her response was a firm "Nope!"

If this was anything like a spell card duel, this would be a technique she'd call Fusion 「Melting White」!

With a light bright enough to blind anyone looking at her, and a flash of heat, the end of her control rod glowed for just the brief moment she needed to. The moment she opened her eyes, even with the edges of her vision blurred from the flash, she flew forward as fast as her wings could carry her!

She'd try to put anything thick enough between her and the Duty soldiers, not being confident enough in her bullet dodging technique to want to take on the power of the AK-74.

Maeve and Ryuuou - Vector - Lower West Side -> Imperial Palace

The trip to the Palace was spent with Maeve gawking at the surroundings while being dragged along by a calm-seeming Ryuuou, whose focus seemed to be on not wasting a single moment outside that could be spent inside at a banquet.

Maeve sat down all at once, her sword clanging against the chair a few times as she adjusted her posture to accommodate it, leaning in on the table to grab a chicken. Not a piece of chicken. A whole one. A smaller-sized one that could be held comfortably in one's hand, to be sure, but a chicken nonetheless, which she plunked onto her plate. She picked up a knife from beside her plate and held the chicken's leg, slicing at it with the knife, her muscles flexing as she powered through the bird in one clean slice. Taking a moment to inhale the aroma, she then brought the quarter up to her mouth and dug in.

By contrast, Ryuuou approached her own chair slowly and deliberately, with great poise and patience in each step. One of her servants pulled out the chair for her to sit in, while the other took a napkin from the table and placed it on the dragon's lap, perfectly centered. Ryuuou took her seat and her two servants scooted it in to the table, served her a lobster, and then they took a step back, standing motionlessly until they would be needed. She gently - but precisely - cracked the lobster

"Sounds like one hell of a place," Maeve grinned at Strelok. "How dangerous is this wildlife? Families of ravenous lions? Magical creatures? Wandering owlbears?"

"I would think it obvious where you ought to go," Ryuuou said plainly in response to the Emperor. "It would be a waste of your time and resources to go to war with monsters and other non-humans who need not the same things to live as you mortals. Yours is a human empire, and as such you have human needs. More butter."

She held out her lobster claw, a piece of the crustacean's meat protruding from the shell of the claw. One of her servants diligently acquired the butter that was located a massive two feet away from Ryuuou and buttered her meat. Ryuuou inhaled once, chewed on the piece for a moment, dabbed at her mouth daintily with a napkin, then continued.

"From what I saw of the map before coming here, you have a handful of neighbors. Former Hell is a place for monsters who live under the earth, and has no access to the sea. That leaves three remaining lands. Pick a direction and be off, find the ones that have more of your kind and take what is theirs for your own. Because it was already made with humans in mind, you won't find yourselves floundering about like imbeciles. Could you imagine having to teach your lowliest soldiers to hold their breath in order to use an apparatus intended for mermaids? I think not." She grinned somewhat, amused at her own little mental image.

"That's not very heroic...." Maeve commented.

"Heroics do not get us fresh lobster." Ryuuou said with a small smirk.

Sakura Egypt - Throne Room -> Library

"O-of course not!" Hiriko readily agreed. "I simply mentioned the desert because it was nearby. Let's go to the library...." She nodded to the genie and led the Pharaoh out of the room, where just a short distance away down the hallway was a wide door.

She pushed open the door to reveal a large library.◊ There were tall shelves a dozen meters wide to either side of the entrance, with a second story providing more browsing room upstairs, and a spacious central area with several tables and chairs. Decorated windows let in light - how did they do that underground? Magic.

Despite its size and accommodations, it seemed empty. Though upon closer, there wound up being a pair of monsters occupying the space after all. A warrior monster and a noble monster were in the middle of an intense discussion◊ when they entered. The two broke apart quickly, the warrior grabbing her gigantic hammer from where it had been strewn beside her, the noblewoman collecting her parasol from the table where she had left it folded.

"Not again..." the Noblewoman mumbled something quietly under her breath.

"Ahem. Hello." The Hammer Warrior cleared her throat. "Welcome. If you have any questions while browsing, feel free to ask." She narrowed her eyes, and tilted her hammer forward. "And no fighting in the library."

Sakura Dungeon Garden -> Inn

"It's a date, then, we'll have to set aside some time for it. I think once we've gotten my young new friend here curled up with a good book, we could find a nice ballroom nearby," Yomi grinned at Morrigan. "Though of course, someone would have to entertain your sister while you do so."

"So you're lover of books, is it? A wise choice," she said with a smile to Delfi. "I actually have not just one library, but many, each with its own extensive collection - though as far as ambiance goes, some are far more quiet than others. We have assembled a number of interesting volumes over the course of the years. And while you might be used to human libraries, a couple of mending and preservation enchantments ensure that even the most ancient tomes found there will be kept in pristine condition. Many of the books date back to long before the reign of Queen Isis, and even before I became Lord of this Dungeon. Let's be on our way, then, it's just a short walk to the inn. We'll need to take its warp room in order to reach the library quickly; it would be a good chance to find a room for you while we're at it."

She led the way to a small town◊ and approached a building that was a good deal larger than the others nearby, with a wide foundation and a few floors. She pulled open the double doors to reveal the main room of the inn◊ which had plenty of tables and chairs for groups of traveling adventurers to sit at. It didn't seem particularly busy, only a few groups or individuals scattered around the place. It was an even mix of monsters who looked relatively human, and ones that had some sort of animal trait, but nearly all of them looked like they could fit into the Industrial or Medieval era. One of the fox monsters had a pair of little fox animals seated at the bench next to her, while another pair of foxes at a corner table had strange space-age-looking light armor and big space-age-looking weapons. All of them were either eating or drinking something as they conversed or otherwise hung out with each other, only momentarily pausing to look at the newcomers before noticing they were with Yomi and turned their attention away again.

A big bulletin board had all sorts of things pinned onto it, a sturdy dartboard was suspended from another wall with a healthy supply of darts near it, a full-service bar had all sorts of drinks behind it and led into a kitchen area, and several doors led to other sections of the inn.

A woman behind the counter◊ smiled when the doors opened.

"Hello and welcome," she said. "My humble master seems to make so many new friends, quite the change of pace seeing new people so often. Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

Edited by nman on Feb 5th 2019 at 1:25:33 AM