[System]
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance:

Personality: Calm, not easily angered, Alexandra believes in stability and order above all else. She finds warfare and violence distasteful, though she will still engage it in necessary. To those who have earned a friendship with her, she will stand with them to the end when they are in need. To those who aren't she is a position of stability, to be respected and feared for her position.

Resolute once she has made her mind up, she doesn't mind the scheming of her underlings, so long as it doesn't result in open fighting. She likes her peace, and she will keep it.
Bio: Alexandra has lived in Aurora her whole life. Originally only an average girl, she grew up as a single child in a moderately well off family, one that had made itself useful as part of the government. There was resentment as a result, but that never seemed to be an issue, and Alexandra enjoyed a relatively peaceful childhood. The concerns of Witches and magical girls were none of hers, beyond how it impacted her life.

That all changed with an attempted assassination and a crackdown, purges running through the government as supposed traitors were eliminated. Her father was caught up in them, and the purges themselves only served to further opposition. Alexandra's peaceful life was shattered, and she found herself increasingly isolated. And with that hardship, when Kyubey approached her, she took the deal, and became a magical girl. Her life restored itself, her father returned, but things wouldn't be the same for her.

She worked her way through the ranks from the bottom up, proving herself as a fighter, and as someone competent, as she rose in the process. It was during this time that she met Caroline, and they established a firm friendship that would last to the present. She also met Kolya, though he would not join until later.

Eventually, she made her move. Drawing on a coalition of nobles and lower ranking magical girls, she staged a coup and overthrew the cities old leadership, placing herself in power. Land and positions were doled out to supporters, and she went about restoring stability to the city, cracking down on organized crime, as well as open conflict. Since then she has enforced peace, preventing encroachment by her neighbors and keeping things under control. The Shadow Compact has been pushed back, and she is very much satisfied with the way things have been maintained. It is a state of affairs she plans to have endure for some time.

Allegiance: Aurora City Authority
Skills: Diplomacy, Administration, Singing, Proficiency with her magical girl abilities
Weapons: None
Other: Nothing

Magical Girl Section:

Magical Girl Appearance:

Wish: "I wish things would just go back to the way they were."
Weapons: She wields a magical Great Sword, that can also shift into a kite shield.
Powers: Gravitic manipulation. She can alter the affect of gravity on any object she touches, making her able to effectively render any object weightless if she so desires it, or as heavy as a neutron star (Though that would take an incredible amount of power, and it would atop the second she let go.) She can also use this power on herself.

[User]
Though Maria didn't show it on the outside, she was furious. She was outraged at the insolence of the rogue for completely defying her threats on Shadow Compact and her life and talking back to her with reckless abandon, but more than that, she was angry at herself for making a mistake like she said.

It never occurred to me that a Shadow Compact agent wouldn't have any loyalty to them. Or a sense of justice for that matter. How could I have been so blind?

Maria's rage started to take the forms of fantasies: they were about dragging her to the basement and torturing her, making her slowly bleed until the floor pooled with her blood. However, she managed to take a hold of herself once she remembered that she was actually willing to co-operate in a certain fashion, and Maria had a policy of not turning down the help of useful people, as loathsome as they could be. There was also the fact that Maria finally had a means of communication with Shadow Compact that was unknown to the rest of the Authority, which meant she now had as good chance as ever of actually achieving her objectives.
Still, she couldn't believe how little value the rogue placed on her own life or the life of anyone else, and wondered for a moment if she was actually a witch in human form, so alien did her thinking seem to her.

After a moment of sitting silent and staring at the rogue like an overweight man would look at a plate of salad, she finally spoke, in a low voice: "Take these." She called Fantine over and had her deliver two items to Chloe: a flash drive and a cellphone. She explained the items:

"The cellphone is in case I need to contact you or Shadow Compact. It only has my number listed, but you can call other numbers with it too. The second item is a flash drive: it contains important data on all the territories and personnel of Aurora City with the exception of mine or my people. It also has a list of weak points: buildings, locations and the like. Attacking these weak points is sure to destabilize the government and loosen Alexandra's grip over the city. Shadow Compact would sacrifice several magical girls to get their hands on that, so treat it with care."

She paused for a moment, and then said: "In return, I only ask for one thing: the name of the one who would stand up to me without fear."

[Assistant]
When Chloe stood up, Eponine did the same, wordlessly grabbing her hammer in preparation for a surprise attack from Chloe. All this talk of rebellion confused Eponine, and not only was tension rising between Chloe and Maria while they negotiated, Eponine felt an increased tension between herself and Maria. But when Chloe told Maria to 'discuss her plans with her restless subordinates', Eponine retorted, falling back to her default thinking, "How dare you question my loyalty to Lady Maria?!" For Eponine, it was more of an emotional release; it was so much simpler to not have to think, to fall back on habit, on programmed behavior. Of course, Eponine would have to ask Maria about it later, but for now, Eponine took comfort in her zealotry, solidarity, loyalty, ignorance, and blindness.

Fantine did as commanded, while Eponine shifted from foot to foot nervously until Fantine was a good distance from Chloe. Eponine worried now more than before since Maria was actually sharing vital information with an unstable deviant, but resolved to hold her tongue until after Chloe had left. When Maria asked Chloe for her name, Eponine stared at Chloe with a look of judgment, mixed in with a slight smugness. Of course, Eponine already knew Chloe's name since she ahd told her, but Eponine wanted Chloe to say it herself as Maria had ordered. For Chloe to tell Maria to ask Eponine to tell her her name would be an act of incredible insolence that Eponine was not going to tolerate. She gripped her hammer tightly, waiting for Chloe to make that mistake and give Eponine a justifiable reason to smear her bloody corpse-paste along the estate grounds.

[User]
At the Incubator's response, Yume felt her anger be snuffed out by shame. "You are correct. Forgive my childish temper." She now spoke quietly, shifting back into her normal form. Betraying her lingering feelings, she let out a small sigh and tucked her platinum hair up under a baseball cap. This coupled with a regular shirt and pants made her appear a young boy, something that freed her from any suspicions of being magical girl when it be dangerous to be one. That's just how she liked it. "Fly under the radar and no one will hassle you." was her continual motto. It could be dangerous for a rogue like herself in this world of nobles and their subordinates, and she had no intention of making her situation worse, what with the whole "despair" thing and all.

"I'm honestly surprised to have gotten a response out of you, Kyubey." she said breezily. "Which makes me regret having wasted your time." As she started off, however, someone caught her eye. A man. Sneaking glances at her. She shuddered and turned toward him, maintaining a good distance so as not to appear threatening.

"May I help you?" She asked politely.

[Assistant]
Chloe took the items from the serving girl, listening to Maria's explanation, and seeming to completely ignore Eponine's outburst. In truth, she was now more interested in the mental state of the uptight girl than the political proceedings happening in front of her, but it wasn't the right time to shift topics. It seems like her terms had been accepted after all. It was a bit of a relief that she was even still alive. Maria wasn't happy. Eponine wasn't happy. Chloe was on the fence, as usual. She'd fight against Alexandra and her law enforcement. She'd give this info to Oscar back at the safehouse. As much as it made Chloe happy to knock down buildings by herself, there was too much work to do. Work better suited to humans and their bombs.

"Cooperation really is something, huh?" Chloe remarked casually, as though she was coming across some kind of revelation. Ever terrible at reading a room, she was back to her usual casual demeanor. "My name... your knight's got the priveledge of that info already... but it's Chloe. Chloe Hartmann." She scratched her head lightly with a huge steel finger. "Dunno if maybe you're overstating my accomplishments there, but whatever floats your boat. Good to be working with you. I look forward to the day you try to bump me off. Might just be the best day of my life, heh." Just a little gallows humor as she stood staring past such a dangerous situation. "I hope we can get along until then. Though I guess maybe that's just in the definition."

[User]
There was a moment where Maria was starting to lose her cool and turn uneasy, feeling like she has lost control of the situation. However, the moment Eponine defended her Maria once again felt relaxed and reassured. She definitely needed to consult the recent turn of events with her once the rogue left, not only to secure her loyalty, but also to clear her own feelings on the matter. Though she had planned for this to happen, having it actually happen is a completely different thing, and something she also needed to cope with.

Feeling like the situation was in her grasp again, Maria returned back to her cheery self, like her previous episode was just a dream. For a moment, she thought of rewarding Chloe with a chance to leave the city once she has become queen, but knew that it would be pointless, and there was nothing she could do to avert their eventual confrontation. She smiled.

"Chloe Hartmann...let's do our best together." She then turned around on her wheelchair, not wanting to see her face for a moment longer. "You may now leave," she said, and made a call to confirm that order to the guards at the gate outside.

[Assistant]
Chloe nodded. Their business was finally concluded. She didn't say another word, smart enough to realize that was probably the best course of action in the tense room. Her self-defense instinct told her than any wasted words might chip away at her life. Instead, she turned and left the room, leaving the other two magi alone to discuss what would surely be some sort of plot. But that, as she had told Maria, was not any of Chloe's business. She knew these political types enough to know they were never trustworthy, but Chloe herself was just as bad, if not worse. Chloe had never met a predictable magical girl.

The guards at the gate had been told of her arrival, and she waved jovially to a few who were standing stiff, their fingers on the triggers of their guns. Now free and uncaring as she was of being followed, she reverted back to human form and grasped her soul gem tightly in her hands. She would need a grief seed, and soon. But for now, she had a delivery to make.

Knocking on the door of the safehouse she had so recently left, she forced her way in the door after giving all the proper safe words and planted the items she had received on the table.

"Brought you a gift, to solidify a new friendship. Up for a little sabotage?"

[User]
Kyubey didn't react as Yume calmed down from her anger, his purpose essentially accomplished by that. While he was busy, as were his brethren, the means and methods were still in place to harvest despair from this world. The Incubators shepherded along magical girls to their inevitable fate and they became Witches, as they had for so long. One might wonder why Yume had no inquired as to the exact reason for her friends fall to despair, but Kyubey would not complain.

It is no problem, he replied calmly from where he was. I had nothing immediately pressing to deal with. Thus consoled, he would wander off as she turned to address the man watching her, vanishing back into the shadows from which he had come from.

---

Oscar looked back up as Chloe returned, surprise evident on his face as she entered the safehouse. "Welcome back. I'll be honest, I didn't think you'd come back, much less in one piece." He'd known that there hadn't been a fight, since a full on battle between magical girls would have been a relatively hard thing to miss if not in the confines of a Witches Barrier, but there was no way for him to know of the deal she had struck. As far as he was concerned, she was either very lucky, or very crazy. Or both.

He picked up the flash drive after giving the cell phone a look, examining it for a moment before moving over to a nearby laptop. "I'm just not going to ask where you got this," he said without looking back as he booted the thing up. If it was a trap, they would not be caught unawares and ratted out. But as Chloe knew, it was not a trap, which would be the better for them all.

That would become apparent as he opened the first file and practically froze, simply stuck reading what was there before him. "Okay then, if this is legitimate then I'm definitely not going to ask where you got it from. But my apologies for doubting you. This is going to be very helpful. If it was legitimate. But only time would tell that.


[System]
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: Polish
Description: Growing up in a family of middling means in Krakow, Stanislaw was an avid fan of gaming, spending as much time as he could on his computer when he wasn't studying. Strategy games and MMOs were his vice of choice, and his childhood was spent playing most of the big name ones. However, he soon discovered that he was actually rather good at RTSes in particular, rising up through the ladder during his early teenage years until he found himself qualifying for his first LAN tournament at fifteen.

From there, Stanislaw saw a string of dizzying successes in the RTS world under the tag "Acturus", placing well in several LAN tournaments across Europe and even winning a few. Over the next decade, he made a name for himself as he continued to compete, being picked up by an esports sponsor and traveling across the globe to compete. Still, all good things had to come to an end. Faced with dwindling results and worsening reflexes in comparison to 17 year old Koreans at the top of their game, Stanislaw made the decision to retire from professional gaming at the age of 25. Most of his money from his winnings and sponsorships had gone into investments, and he found himself able to live rather comfortably when he returned to his native Poland.

For the past three years, Stanislaw has still had somewhat of a presence online, maintaining an active Youtube and livestream profile both for the hell of it and for a bit of extra money. Still, he spends most of his time these days working on finally going back and getting his college degree. After three years of studying and getting a business degree out of it, Stanislaw decided to delve back into online gaming, having heard of Cacophony Concord's rising popularity. Now that he'd graduated, he found himself with enough time to just outright mainline a MMO again when not making the occasional Youtube video. The sheer versatility of the game system impressed him, and he set out to create his desired build: emulating his RTS glory days by summoning minions and directing them how he pleased.

Username: Amulak al Acturus
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Voice Pitching: -60
Decorations: None
Appearance: Wears unadorned, hooded black robes.You start with 80 points. When applied to HP, MP, or SP, each point consumed grants 10.
HP – 150
MP – 200
SP – 50
STR – 5
AGI – 10
END – 10
DEX – 5
LUC – 10Classes: NonePerception: Fantastic
Gore: On
Pain Setting: 15%
Clothing Damage: On
Nudity Censor: Off
Profanity Censor: Off
Combat Action: Manual
Spell Incantations: Manual

[User]
Lv. 128
HP: 330/1210 SP: 183/1830 MP: 30/30

STR – 1038 | AGI – 253* | END – 276* | DEX – 117 | LUC – 70

Inspect

With nothing more than a fragment of HP and SP left and her body looking extremely charred and cooked through, Mags felt something deep and primal about the world.

Magic fucking sucked. There was nothing worse than being cockblocked in what you could and couldn't do. Thus, being trapped in the shame cube made it a bit rough to do anything. Still though, Mags had something that the Kannushi didn't: a slight numerical advantage. If one of her numerous allies could free her, she could certainly do something.

With one of the few things she could do, she summoned her field and lamented its ability. Sure, it was a cool novelty. In a world of magic, constructs, death beams, and bikes, it was a little lacklustre to not be affected by physical crowd control. Still, it was her field. If there was even a 1% chance of it doing something, she'd pop it up at this point.

With the warm seawater under her, she charged at the kannushi. Even if the barrier stopped her, her raw physical strength was certainly something to behold. She refused to die to some wacky snare plus death-beam-for-over-half-HP combo. She'd run over to the Kannushi and do what she was meant to do: pummel this motherfucker directly into the ground.

Especially because her god damn puddle cost SP and the Kannushi's solar sun cost nothing since he could cast that shit while unable to consume resources.

God she was jealous of that shit.

[Assistant]
aмeℓιa

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HP: 1887/1920 - MP: 1720/1920 - SP: 1471/1920

_________________

[spreadsheet for most recent changes]
 I want a space here.
Avatar Appearance
Username: Ames
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 176cm | Weight: 69kg

Classes:
Warrior lvl 50 (+10% HP | +10% STR | +10% END)
Animist lvl 50 (+10% HP | +10% MP | +10% SP)
Ascetic lvl 28 (10% MP | 10% DEX)

Weapon Proficiency: LVL 4

Attributes:
HP – 55 (810)
MP – 60 (660)
SP – 60 (690)
STR – 65 (98)
AGI – 52 (74)
END – 50 (65)
DEX – 65 (80)
LUC – 70 (78)

Abilities:
▶ Power Attack
Actively consume SP while preparing for an attack; unleash for increased damage on attack.

▶ Combat Stance
Passive. Increase STR, END, or DEX by 10% at will. Five second cooldown.

▶ Double Strike
Active. 25% SP cost. Attack twice with your weapon, dealing incremental bonus damage based off SP consumed. Can be combo'd into from Power Attack.

▶ Sundering Blow
Active. 40% SP cost. Strike downwards, causing a burst of energy around you and dealing damage to all enemies. May inflict Stun. Range increases by 5 meters for every 100 SP consumed, starting from a radius of 10 meters. Can be combo'd into from Power Attack.

▶ Reinvigorate
Active. 100 MP. Regain 100 SP. Can be used in tandem with Power Attack.

▶ Fluid Power
Passive. Power Attack can combo into any offensive skill.

▶ Harmonic Cycles
Passive. 5% of HP/SP/MP can be converted into HP/SP/MP. Can be used once per round.

▶ Art of the Split Soul
Active. 5% SP and 5% MP per round. Imbue a Weapon or Shield with a portion of your soul, enabling it to float within a 20m radius of you, attacking or defending at your command. This bypasses Equipment slot restrictions. Imbued Weapons or Shields do not grant stats or effects.

Funds: 15883 Rishi

Item Pouch (Common):* Ankle Bells (dented)
* Common Health Potion x4
* Common Antidote x2

Equipment
* Main Hand: Water Tiger Hook Sword UC +7 STR +3 DEX
	+ Weapon can be used to Grapple while attacking, at 80% efficacy.
* Off Hand: Adventurer's Buckler C
	+ No extra effect.
* Head: Battlerider's Cowl R +50 HP +10 AGI
	+ Increase [Charge] attack damage by 20%. Increase [Riding] proficiency by 10%.
* Armor: Lacquered Woodplate UC +30 HP, +20 SP, +5 END
	+ Reduce damage taken by wind and water attacks by 50. Increase damage taken by fire attacks by 15.
* Arms: Phantom Flame Bangles R +100 HP +3 AGI +5 END
	+ Reduce fire damage by 35. Consume 100 HP to enhance your equipped weapons with magical flames.
* Legs: Barbarian Leg Paddings UC +20 HP, +4 STR, +4 AGI
	+ 10% resistance to Restraint effects.
* Shoes: Sturdy Sandals UC +5 AGI, +2 DEX
	+ 5% resistance to Knockback effects. Mitigates difficulties of movement on slippery terrain.
* Accessory: Divining Rattlebones C +8 LCK
	+ No extra effect.
* Accessory: Banner of the Raid Chief R +30 SP +15 STR +10 DEX
	+ x% chance of increasing ally's damage by 10% when they attack. X equals 5 x the amount of party members. This effect does not stack.
* Accessory: Deep Red Cloak C
	+ No extra effect.
* Accessory:

Perception: Fantastic
Gore: Pixelated
Pain Setting: 40%
Clothing Damage: On
Nudity Censor: Personal
Profanity Censor: Off
Combat Action: Stylish
Spell Incantations: Stylish
aмeѕ
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_________________

Ames was stunned. Literally, stunned, and unable to even brace herself for the blade that was about to pierce her throat. Honestly the red haired swordsman didn't expect any help from her allies, not even considering the fact that most of them were out of range they still didn't really have many strategies focused on teamwork. So the net suddenly yanking her out of the danger zone was a surprise. She stumbled backward briefly and came to her senses after the stun, her equipment blazing hotly as it absorbed some kind of flame effect. No time to even say 'thanks.'

C'mon Amelia, time to get back in the game! She thought to herself. Some shit was going on passed the samurai with the other members of both parties, but it wasn't like she could do much about it... oh wait, she had a healing ability. She hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet, but maybe now was the time. The rest of her teammates had picked up the slack while she was stunned, so might as well leave the "DPS" (she knew what that mean now!) to them. Just had to throw in some support while she was at it.

Leif had the lowest current HP out of everyone, but he was presently a wolf and locked into aerial combat. So next would be Magpie, and hopefully the brawler could last a bit longer until Ames got there. Ames moved to disengage the current opponent, sending Leif and the samurai off with two parting gifts.

"Honō!" The first was the fiery blossom that formed from the sleeve of her haori and burst in front of the samurai's face. The second, an apparition of Ames herself as she activated [Art of the Duo Self]. "Alag hona!"

The two Ames split up, the phantom soaring up to help Leif finish the samurai off, and the original sprinting across the battlefield towards Mags. With luck they wouldn't even need the healing, but best to prepare for it just in case.

[User]
Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP: 2370/2370 MP: 3643/5650 SP: 460/460
Character Sheet

Ah, cock. This samurai had some kind of spell-absorption skill going on. How wonderful. Leif would be giving him so much shit over this later. The rest of the battlefield wasn't going as well as it had been but a few moments earlier, either. Mags got trapped in a cuckshed, Raime was about to go for a mutual kill, and, alright, well, at least Ames was moving to help. That left Amulak a split second to decide his next move.

With the amount of time he had and the resources available to him...oh, wait. His meatbag golem was back within spell range. Perfect. Amulak had a good card to play, but it was only limited to one target. Raime had a shot at killing the crusader bard, so helping would be redundant. Leif and Mags were both nearly dead, but Leif still had a fighting chance. Mags was locked down, so her it was. Sure, if Leif died, so did his own link to the party, but he had to go for the play that had the better chance of finishing the fight.

Amulak's remaining Earthrot golem lumbered up toward the kannushi, with the necromancer himself casting Deathly Toll as soon as possible, binding the kannushi's life to the golem's. The moment the carrion construct was in explosion range, he snapped his fingers from his hiding place and detonated that bitch, hopefully comboing off the last of this prick's life.


[System]
Appearance:

Symbol:
Age: 18

Height: 6'0

Weight: 130 Ibs

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Weapons: He wears bracers that have a retractable 7-inch blade in the shape of an arrow. When retracted, the bracers shoot 10mm rounds. Each bracer holds 20 shots, with extra ammo in pouches on his belt. A visor he wears with its own Heads Up Display uses a pair of crosshairs to show where he is aiming his weapons, improving his accuracy. They were designed and created by his dad when he unsuccessfully applied to Beacon around the same age as Robert. They are the only physical objects remaining from his family's past.

Specialty: Robert is best at fighting an opponent one on one, and because of this he relies heavily on teammates when in a large conflict with multiple enemies. It is also because of his helpful and team-player attitude that his teammates chose him to be the leader of his original team, RPGD, to his surprise.

Semblance: Robert's semblance allows him to subliminally affect probability fields, causing improbable, but not impossible, "unlucky" events to occur to enemies within his line of sight. At the time, Robert has no idea that he even has a semblance, let alone has been using his semblance on himself for years to increase his already bad luck to near-immeasurable levels.

Personality: Robert is an average geek with an interest in subjects like comics and ancient world history. Most groups of people would probably describe him as everyman due to him not having much in the way of impressive skills while others might see him more as a goofball thanks to his usual optimistic and joking attitude. When the going gets tough though, the red haired boy is a good person to have by your side as he will never give up or surrender, even when all may seem lost.

Eight year old Robert sat in front of the television, playing with his toy cars and action figures. Behind him, Robert's dad sat in a reclining armchair, half reading the newspaper in his hands and half listening to the TV. "John, could you help Scarlet with her dinner," Robert's mother called from the kitchen. "Yes, Marian," Robert's dad answered, walking towards the small toddler that was Robert's sister. Robert looked up from his toys to see the news channel that was on show the words "Breaking News". The anchorwoman then read the new news, "A warning to all human families living in neighborhoods with large majorities of Faunuses, the organization known as the White Fang, previously known for its peaceful protests, has been attacking humans in the before-mentioned neighborhoods. This recent aggression is suspected to be a result from-" Robert's dad turned the TV off. "You don't need to listen to that garbage, son," he said. He then walked back to the dinner table where Scarlet was playing with her food. Robert went back to playing with his toys. Unbeknownst to the Fallson Family though, a small crowd gathered outside.

Six Faunuses stood, looking at the happy family inside. "Burn it down," said the leader. The other five threw Molotov Cocktails at the two story house, the fire quickly spread throughout the bottom story and the roof. No one inside knew what was going on, all they knew was that the house had spontaneously burst into flames. Robert's mother screamed, Robert's sister cried, Robert's father yelled orders, and Robert continued sitting there confused, trying to understand what was going on. His father grabbed Scarlet, his mother grabbed a family photo album, and they both sprinted towards the staircase. As they reached it, his dad stopped and turned around, "Come on, Robert!" he cried. Outside, the leader of the attack turned and grabbed a baseball bat that was strapped to his back. It suddenly transformed into a grenade launcher, and one shot was fired. The single grenade incinerated the wall it struck, as well as the three humans standing next to it. In a flash, Robert's family was gone. A single, burning photo floated into Robert's lap. He stood there dumbstruck at what just happened. The creaking of the roof brought him back to reality though, as a large burning beam fell from the roof. He tried to dodge, but was too slow. It fell right on his back, pinning him to the ground and burning his flesh. He was able to quickly wiggle out from under it though, and jumped out of the hole in the wall that the grenade had made earlier. He laid on the lawn of his house, clutching the photograph from earlier. He saw the six Faunuses slowly approaching him, ready to finish the job. The sounds of sirens around the corner stopped them in their tracks though, and they escaped. Robert continued lying there, unable to move, sobbing. One of the officers picked him up and carried him to a patrol car. After sitting in the passenger seat for several hours, one of the firemen walked up and gave him the only other thing that survived the fire, his father's visor and bracers which were in the basement during the fire. Afterwards, the officers and firemen left Robert alone. Bad choice. He rose from the seat and walked off into the night, passing a street sign that read "Loxley St." Robert's eight year old mind thought of nothing but wanting to be alone.

For the next several years, Robert would live on the streets. Stealing food and other necessities only when he had no other choice, and only from people who could still live without those necessities. Witnesses would often report to the police that the only thing they saw before their things were stolen was a figure with a green hoodie.

Robert didn't go it alone for all those years though. He did make some friends at a restaurant named Fryer Tuck's Diner; namely Tuck, Alan, and Miller. If not for them, he might not have been able to go to Beacon as they were the ones who helped him acquire a GED as well as the application for Beacon. If not for their moral support and assistance, he would have probably never gotten off the streets and into the prestigious academy.

Theme Song: Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

Based off of: Robin Hood

Color: Rosso Corsa

[User] Having arrived at the firing range with the required protection, Sepia nervously picked up a rifle and magazine. As her weapon required good aim, she wasn't particularly worried about accuracy. What she was worried about was loading the stupid thing, especially after Ms. Vanhomrigh's rather emphatic words on the subject. Thankfully, the ammo went in without a hitch. Once on the firing line, Sepia assumed position with nearly perfect form and waited for further instruction. She was especially careful not to point the rifle anywhere near other students, having nearly blown a hole in her face in the past from careless firearm handling.

[Assistant]
Esther Vanhomrigh - 5th Period, Practice Class

As the students approached the firing line and readied themselves for the first string of fire, a vein in Esther's temple visibly throbbed. She couldn't help but feel more than a twinge of burning annoyance at Ms. Montgomery. Not only had she not done well at the obstacle course, but she apparently had issues paying attention to her instructions. To be honest, her decision to change her mind about them using their own weapons had been sudden and not necessarily planned. But, even still to have her words so easily ignored enraged her. Esther wanted to break the girl, but that wasn't her purpose here. Priscilla chose to remain in the class, so Esther would do everything in her power to guide and train her. Even if the girl had a rather vapid personality and troublesome first day. Still, she would work with her and give her a chance to correct herself. One chance.

"Ms. Montgomery! The instructions were for you to use the stock rifles on the range! You'll be using your own weapon at a later time and date. Remove yourself from the firing line and select a stock rifle at the weapon rack. Don't worry, we'll wait on you." She barked her commands at Priscilla, the last sentence spoken with a sneer. Sarcasm oozing from her words.

After waiting for Priscilla to swap out her weapon, Esther adjusted the brim of her cover and pulled out her Scroll yet again. Habitually checking the time, she looked up and down the firing line to ensure everyone was ready. Expanding her Scroll and accessing a special application that controlled the range, she began tapping on a few icons. As she did so, small square targets with a large black circle in the center popped up in front of each student 25 yards away. Slowly, the targets dropped down low to the ground.

"Eyes and ears! Shooters! With a magazine of rounds, load!
She waited to see that everyone loaded their weapons.
"Make ready!"
Again, she waited to allow the students to charge and rack back their weapons in order to chamber a round.
"You may commence firing when your targets appear!"
Tapping an icon on her tablet Scroll, the paper targets popped up within line of sight of each student. After a brief pause, the first shots rang out and thundered. She couldn't help but smile a little to herself, though it would unnoticed by anyone else.

Kuhaku Shiro - 5th Period, Practice Class

On Ms. Van's command to load, Shiro tightly gripped the boxy-thing and slammed it into the rifle first go. With an extra tap on the magazine's bottom for good measure, he resumed his stance exactly how Ms. Van instructed. Stock deep in the pocket of his shoulder, rifle brought up to the side of his cheek. Peering through the sights, he focused on the front sight until only it was clear and everything else was blurred in the background. With the command to make ready, Shiro grabbed the charging handle and ripped it straight back to chamber a round. Getting as stable and as comfortable as he could, he tried his best to relax his body save for his hold on his weapon. He couldn't help but get a little excited though, evident by his tail flicking back and forth behind him. He loved guns and shooting them. As he maintained his focus on the front sight, the sclera of his eyes narrowed into a slit.

Calming his breathing, he allowed the muzzle of the rifle to drift up and down slightly. Hold and grip firm on his weapon, he did a little butt wiggle to make sure his stance was positive. As his target popped up, his ears did the same and perked. Hearing Ms. Van's announcing the range was hot, Shiro's thumb swept the rifle's safety selector to 'Semi/Fire'. There was a brief pause and silence as no one had fired a shot yet. In his curiosity he half wanted to look around but decided against it. Being a young man of action, he decided he would be the first to break the silence. With the pad of his pointer finger, he slowly began to squeeze. Waiting until the moment the front sight settled in the center of the blurry black circle and for the moment of exhalation, he squeezed the trigger all the way through and fought the urge to flinch as the air cracked and boomed with the sound of his shot.

For his following shot, he tried his best to maintain consistency between each shot, taking his time before the next. After 5 well-aimed shots, he ejected the magazine and let it drop to the ground. Grabbing the charging handle and racking it back a few times, he inspected its chamber to ensure it was cleared and swept the safety back on to 'Safe'. Lowering the muzzle of his weapon safely at the ground in front of him, he waited for further commands from Ms. Van. Heart pounding and breathing a little excitedly, he couldn't help but beam and smile. He wondered how his shot group looked. As he stood there waiting, his target slowly lowered closer to the ground to indicate he was complete with the first string of fire.

[User]
Robert Fallson - 5th Period, Practice

Robert continued hoping that Ms. Vanhomrigh wouldn't notice him taking the wrong firing stance. He felt sympathetic for Priscilla, since Ms. Vanhomrigh had caught her even though he was making several more mistakes. Robert waited for Ms. Vanhomrigh's signal before preparing to take his first shot. He looked down the sights; lined up the crosshairs with the center of the target, completely disregarding bullet drop, wind, et cetera; and pulled his finger back, since he hadn't been listening to Ms. Van's instructions to keep the fingers off the trigger until ready to fire. Nothing. Nothing happened. Robert made an irritated grunt before trying to pull the trigger again. Still nothing. Why wasn't the rifle firing? He continuously pulled on the trigger, again and again. Nothing was happening. He began inspecting the gun for issues, but didn't find anything. The magazine was in properly, the charging handle had already been pulled back. "What's wrong with this thing?" Robert then noticed the small switch next to the trigger. "Wait, what's this?" he said as he flipped it from 'Safe' to 'Semi/Fire.' He had forgotten to turn the safety off. Robert looked back at the target and resumed where he had left off.

He pulled the trigger, not expecting the recoil this time, and the muzzle quickly lifted upwards. "Whoa," he said aloud as he felt a sudden feeling of power over the paper targets that sat 25 yards away. He smiled and looked through the scope again, trying to see where his shot had hit. Robert was pretty sure he saw a small hole in the lower right corner of the target. He aimed higher and to the left of his target, hoping that this would get his shot closer to the bull's eye. By the time their shooting session was done, Robert had fired five shots that had all just barely hit the target. Not a single bullet had gotten close to the bull's eye, let alone hit it. Robert had a lot to improve on over the year. At least if he wanted to get better at using weapons other than his own. Robert was pretty sure he was way better with his own bracers.

Robert began to set down his gun, realized he hadn't turned the safety back on yet, picked it back up to turn the safety on, and set it back down again. He was about to walk away from the range, when one of the students next to him fired a late fifth shot. Robert was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the discharged bullet casing flew into Robert's shirt. The unexpected feeling of heated brass touching his skin made him jump and yell out, "Ahh!" Robert tried to shake the casing free, only for it to slide into his pants. He tried to grab it as it quickly slid down his leg and onto the dirt. Robert looked around to the several students staring at his ridiculous display. "Darn Fallson luck," he whispered under his breath as he joined the students that had finished shooting.


[System]
Nathan James Hunter

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Gender: Male

Age: 25

Place of Birth:
Originally from Los Angeles, Nathan has been all over the world. He goes wherever the security firm he works for sends him and he is currently in Buckhead, working as a bodyguard for a wealthy client.

Sexuality:
Nate identifies as heterosexual but he's not entirely against the idea of being in a relationship with a man. He just hasn't found one he's interested in that way.

Relationship Status:
Single but there's no shortage of women in his life. He's just not one for committed relationships.

Occupation:
Bodyguard.

Power:
Self Duplication – Nate can make exact physical copies of himself. These duplicates are aware that they're not real but retain a certain amount of autonomy. They are compelled to follow orders from the original but how they go about this is entirely up to them. Duplicates generally think, act and feel exactly like the original but occasionally one will display a different personality. This is rare however. There's no hive mind between Nate and the duplicates but, when they are reabsorbed, he gains all of their memories and knowledge learned since their creation. Nate can comfortably make up to ten duplicates (although usually only creates three or four) but is capable of making far more. The problem is that after around ten, the duplicates become progressively less intelligent, less reliable and potentially even dangerous. Each duplicate is capable of making another duplicate but the rule of ten still applies. Any more than ten duplicates in the world, regardless of who created them, and they become gradually less intelligent. If a duplicate is ever knocked unconscious or killed, they aren't immediately reabsorbed into the original. Nate has to be within a certain distance to call back his duplicates and the further they travel away, the weaker their empathic connection with the original becomes.

Cost of powers use:
The cost of Nate's powers comes in the form of his slow but gradual decent into insanity. Nate will eventually become less stable as a result of splitting his mind over and over again. Nate redefines split-personality and it's not entirely impossible that one of those rare but distinctive other personalities may take hold of the original.

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Appearance:
With blonde hair, green eyes and a flawless complexion, Nate is a very good looking young man. He stands at about 6ft tall with a body that has been toned by years of military training. His hair is light and when not cropped close to his head, a rare occurrence, it tends to form loose curls. Nate is always clean shaven and well presented. His style of dress tends to be smart casual when not working but when he is working, he usually sports a suit.

Skills:
* Strength and Athleticism - With years of military training, Nate is a very physically capable individual. He is well conditioned and able to run, jump, climb etc. far better than a civilian. He can fight with the best of them and is trained in a number of different styles.
* Mechanics and hacking – Nate has always had an affinity for machines in whatever form they take. He's hardly the most intelligent person ever but he can repair an engine and break into a someone's computer with surprising ease.
* Battlefield medicine – Nate comes from an entire family of doctors so he's learned a thing or two. He put this knowledge to good use in the military where he was a trained field medic. He's no doctor but he knows how to stitch up a wound.
* Piloting - A skill he learned while seeking thrills. He's probably not the safest pilot but he hasn't crashed a plane...yet.

Personality:
Nate, at first glance, seems like the average jock. He can come across as obnoxious and loud. He's not afraid to say what's on his mind and frequently does just that to the point of being rude. But he is surprisingly intelligent and tends to plot and plan just about everything unless he's in the thick of the action in which case he generally goes with his gut. Actually thinking under pressure is not something he does. He just reacts unless he has time to stand back and take things in. He has an alarming tendency to find dangerous situations and he couldn't be more thrilled about that. Nate lives for excitement and adventure and if it doesn't come his way, he'll actively go out and find it. There is generally always a smile (or at least a smirk) plastered on Nate's face, even if he's feeling terrible inside. He's a joker and always has some smart ass comment about everything. Despite his tendency to be an ass, Nate can also be a very caring person to those he considers a friend or, to a lesser extent, those he sees as just generally good people. He doesn't meet a lot of those people though.

History:
Nathan lived a pretty normal and predictable early life. High school football star, homecoming king, relatively decent grades. But then he joined the military and normal and predictable went out the window. His mother, father, brother and sister were all doctors and everyone expected Nathan to follow in their footsteps. Nathan had other ideas. He wanted action and excitement. He got plenty of that. After basic training, Nate found his way into a special operations team where he was the youngest member but he quickly earned a reputation as a capable and talented operative. Nate was sent to multiple parts of the world. Iraq, Afghanistan, Detroit, Somalia. It seemed like everywhere their was danger, Nathan James Hunter would show up. And he loved every minute of it. The excitement, the danger. Living by the skin of your teeth. Nate loved it and then he [REDACTED] and was drummed out of the military.

It was all over.

The excitement, the adventure, the foreign women with the massive bazongas. It was all gone. And Nate was lost. What was he supposed to do now? All that training and living life on the edge. And now there was none of it. Nate spent some time travelling on his own, seeking out adventure. He learned how to fly a plane and how to fall out of that plane without dying. He used his considerable fighting skills as a professional fighter. He even tried his hand at bounty hunting for a time until he fell into his current profession of bodyguard. He literally fell into it. But that's a story for another time.

Joining a security firm, Nate found himself being hired out to various clients to protect them. It was a line of work he proved talented at and he stuck with it longer than anything since leaving the military. Some of the gigs can be boring and there's a lot of charity functions like the one he currently finds himself attending in Buckhead but people don't generally hire bodyguards unless there's at least some threat of danger. And if Nate's around, that danger will probably find him.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

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[User]
Watching Eli go, Nate felt like it was both a blessing and a curse all at once. On the one hand, he felt much more relaxed when the unpredictable redneck wasn't around but in the other hand, he knew that this place was about 30% less safe with him gone. It seemed it was up to Nate and Eric to make sure everyone else stayed safe. He waved at Eli ad he went and said with a smile "Bye. Have a good time. Call me that again and I'll murder you in your sleep."

It wasn't long before he heard the sound of car doors slamming and turned to see Brooks and Abigail tear ass away from the mine. He watched them go with a look of complete disinterest. He didn't really blame them for leaving. They hadn't exactly been made to feel welcome but practically every member of the group had been held at gunpoint at one point or another. It was practically an initiation. Vin seemed a lot more annoyed by the whole situation though. Nate wondered if Vin, or anyone for that matter, would be so upset if he left.

When Vin asked where JJ was, Nate looked slightly annoyed by the question and complained "How the hell should I know? I'm not her keeper...anymore." He moved away from Vin then and towards the entrance to the mine where he yelled "Eric! Get out here!"

[Assistant]
"Eric! Get out here!"

Jennifer snapped out of it, immediately returning to the real world as Nate's voiced boomed from the entrance. She hadn't heard any gunshots, and as she got to her feet she only hoped that the rest of the group wasn't in any sort of trouble. Eric had all the guns, and calling him outside could mean that someone was thinking about getting violent. Once Jennifer stepped outside though, she saw just a handful of people from the group, none of them appearing to be the least bit hostile towards one another.

"Nate, Vin, what's going on?" The moment she laid eyes on Vincent, Jennifer couldn't help but become a bit concerned to be in his presence. She was well aware of the fact that he'd only hurt her in her dreams, but she also knew that his dreams weren't any less violent, and in a world were superpowers were now a reality, maybe she should be paranoid around him. For a moment, she thought about breaking off whatever relationship they had going on, but she had to be smart about it. Ending things too quickly could set off alarms. On the other hand, he had been nothing but kind and understanding to her, taking her feelings into consideration and respecting her enough to avoid crossing any boundaries, so maybe she shouldn't jump the gun, not just yet, regardless of whatever crazy shit they'd all been through.

"Is everything okay?"

[User]
"Nate, have I told you recently that I hate you?"

Vin couldn't help but smirk at the offhanded comment, which made him feel less upset by the fact that Eli was becoming more of a pain in the ass than Nate. He couldn't help but feel responsible -slightly- for Abigail & Brooks sudden departure, as though he could have done more to convince them to stay, but maybe they didn't belong. Did any of the group really belong here? Vin looked over at Christy, who kept her dog Jack close by her side at all times, although he couldn't blame her. Not out in this part of the country where any protection was better than nothing. Although for the short time that he'd held the pistol dropped by Brooks earlier, he didn't feel all that much safer. But he was never much for guns, especially guns held by psychopaths.

His attention immediately snapped to Jennifer's voice calling out to him and Nate from the mine's entrance. There she was. Disheveled expression, frazzled hair, dirt and soot covered clothing, and yet still managed to look as good as the day he'd met her. Perhaps not the same floral and coconut scent he'd become accustomed to, but none of the group had properly bathed in a few days and Jennifer most likely smelled the least repulsive. Either way, he was happy to see her face, and that fact that she was unharmed.

"Well hey, what's up sunshine?"

He quickly mocked a debonair expression, if for no other reason than to break up the weird and dark shit that had transpired only moments ago. But her countenance seemed to take on a grim tone as she gazed at Vin for what had felt like an eternity to him. His own smile seemed to fade as well, returning her stare with a slight tilt of his head and arch of an eyebrow as though he were mentally asking the question: What the hell is wrong with you?

Her question then brought him back to his current mindset, shaking off the weird feeling he got from her.

"Eh…yeah, we're fine out here, I think. Nate? Are we fine?"

[Assistant]
Nate gave Vin a 'fuck you' smile as Vin commented that he hated him. He didn't much care but he had a feeling Vin liked him more than anyone else in the group did. It was an odd thought that the person who liked you the most still hated you. It was almost enough to make a person cry. A less awesome person.

He gave both Vin and JJ a weary look of vague annoyance as he watched their exchange. He wished they'd just get on with it already. Being stuck in the middle of a will-they-wont-they rom-com was ruining the fun of his adrenaline fuelled badass spy adventure.

"Thoughts like that are why you have no friends." he heard a voice in his head say.
"I have lots of friends!" he thought back at the voice.
"Name one."
"...Michaels."
"Hates you."
"Eli."
"Hates you."
"Bobby."
"Dead. You killed him."
"Jake."
"Dog."
"Steve the unicorn."
"Imaginary. Doesn't count."
"...Fuck you."

"Nate? Are we fine?"

Nate snapped out of his own thoughts as he heard Vin ask him a question. "Well I'm fine." he replied "But you're liable to take a shotgun to the face at any minute." He didn't wait around for a response to that. Instead, he wondered into the mouth of the mineshaft and again yelled "Eric!"

"Stop yelling!" came Eric's response as he wandered up, rubbing his temple. "In fact stop talking. Stop even thinking."
"I wish." replied Nate with a low voice. "I need one of your guns."
Eric looked confused and slightly annoyed by that comment and asked "Why?"
"Because I want to set up a perimeter and it's harder to do that with the stupid shotgun Opie gave me than it would with a rifle."
"No offence" said Eric "but why would I give another gun to someone who's just as likely to shoot me with it as he is the bad guys?"
"That's a valid point, kid." admitted Nate. "But what do you think is going to happen if you don't give me the gun?" He then thought really hard at Eric.
Eric paused for a moment before thrusting one of the rifles at Nate. "Just take the stupid thing." he complained.
"Thank you." said Nate before turning back around towards the others.

As he did, a clone split off from him which in turn spawned another, which spawned another and so on until there were five of them. A veritable conga line if obnoxious. Each of the clones spawned with a duplicate rifle. All except the fifth one, who looked down at his empty hands and said "Awwww."
The fourth turned around and in a chipper voice, said to him "Don't worry, buddy. You can still provide moral support for the rest of us."
Five looked at Four with an annoyed expression and said "Shut up, Donut." before barging past him.

Nate turned to Vin and JJ and as he passed them, he said "Don't go anywhere while I'm gone." He and his clones spread out and began heading into the woods but one shouted over his shoulder "You know I'll find you"

Four was the last to leave and he flashed the others a genuinely friendly smile before he left. Eventually though, they were all out of sight, leaving JJ and Vin to babysit the kids. Or, more accurately, leaving Christi and Eric to babysit the adults.


[System]
Appearance(if able):
age(if applicable): 22/23

bio(optional): may reveal in rp.

role in the story: She runs a small diner at the edge of the town, a local place for everyone to enjoy themselves....when the creature isn't around.

other(optional): unknown

[User]
Flickering candles in the dark shadows of the woods moved, the creature that haunted Warlington over the centuries was awake. It rose from its lair and strolled through its forest at a leisurely pace as the sun set beyond the horizon. It had no little care for this monotonous tradition these days. They celebrated the sacrifice with a festival, the creature could hear the sounds echoing through the trees. The humans feared death more than they feared its wrath, how very different the new generations were from the ancestors who made a pact with the monster of the woods. The ancestors who had the decency to fear the unknown.

A large skeletal maw unhinged itself to left out a dull croak of noise. The sky would render itself dark for the creature soon and as the bright glow of the sun cast its red hue on the town, the birds fled their nests and screeched across the skies above Warlington. At least they knew fear, they knew to flee the very sound of the awakening.

What even was the point in accepting this sacrifice? The creature wondered as it passed through the forest. Darkness fall and the festivities ended. The town went dark shortly there after, save for the circle of candles around the fountain at the center of the main road. A supernatural darkness followed, should any civilian attempt to peer through their window to catch a glimpse of the horned beast all they would see was shadow, not even the candles could penetrate the shade cast upon them.

The beast entered, as it always had, from the forest and across the fields to the welcome sign at the front of town. It drew breath, the black cloak masking its physique billowing despite there being no breeze. The air was eerily still. It moved forward, its pace unhurried, the sacrifice wasn't going anywhere. Wait, was the sacrifice was crying? That was new, they hadn't done that in many years.

Large skulled head tilted as amber eyes peered down at the sobbing thing. It had crumbled to the floor, this one was different. The beast rose and looked about the silence of its surroundings. No noise, save for the quiet sobs of its sacrifice. What was the beast to do with this?

Already hesitant to accept this year's offering and perhaps cause a bit of chaos for the humans who had taken over its lands, the creature slipped back into the shadows. Why not change things up? It could be fun, something different, something new. He left the girl to cry herself to sleep, leaving behind only a bone pendant to mark that the beast had even been there.

[Assistant]
Creed drove the old beat up green Ford truck down the gravel road, radio blasting country music.
His Native American friend, Jim Thunderhawk looked at him with puzzlement.
"You sure are in a hurry to get there, it's not going anywhere, you can slow down."
Creed let up on the gas pedal and slowed down, turning the music down as well.
"Sorry, I'm just...I dunno how to explain it Jim. "
" We have to stop the killings, we gotta kill this damn thing, not just for Molly , but for all that have been sacrificed."
Jim nodded his head in agreement, "But, we have to be very careful , we are dealing with an ancient evil."
He shook the medicine bag around his neck, "It's gonna take a lot more than this or me to defeat it."
Creed looked over at him, "We have to try Jim, no matter what happens, we gotta stop it."
The young man turned left and down a paved road, only a few miles now from his hometown.
"So, you think he will let us stay?" Asked Jim.
Creed snickered, "who? My old man, that son of a bitch is nothing but a drunkard, his ass will be so far up Jack Daniels , the end of the world could happen, and he wouldn't give two sheets in the wind."
"It might come to that. " Jim said.
Creed glanced over at him, "Huh?"
The old medicine man looked at Creed with a blank face and said, "End of the world."

[User]
NPC Bobby Duncam Jr.

The flashy transam pulled off to the side of the road, and the driver door opened, a few beer cans fell out onto the pavement.
Bobby Duncam Jr stepped out and shook his medium length blonde hair from his eyes.
He gulped down another beer, before tossing the empty behind him, letting out a loud belch.
Bobby reached back into the car, grabbing a flashlight and the remaining two beers from the six pack.
He clicked the light on in his eyes to check the brightness, "Shit!"
Bobby blinked his eyes a few times, trying to get his vision back.
Taking his phone out, he looked at the directions Steve gave to him.
"Alright, so I just cut thru the cemetery and I should be able to find the boogeyman, hahahahahaha."
He shut the door of the transam, and walked around to the other side.
Unzipping his pants, he relieved himself on the cemetery gates, and even spelled his name out on the dirt.
Laughing , Bobby entered the cemetery , popping open another beer.
As he walked along , not caring if he walked over graves or not, and even kicking a few headstones over, he finally reached the back fence of the cemetery that lead into the haunted woods.
"I bet anything the guys already out there and they are gonna try and scare me, but I got them, they'll get it good." He said pulling a can of mace from his jacket.
"THE JOKE IS ON YOU, ASSHOLES!" Bobby yelled at the top of his lungs.
He climbed over the fence as best as one could being not fully sober, and managed to rip his pants near his crotch.
" Son of a bitch!, damnit! "
Bobby nearly lost his footing but managed to stay up right, "Damnit you guys, you're gonna pay for this, literally. "
He walked for what seemed to him like hours until he came upon some weird Blair witch looking symbol made out of sticks and a deer head.
"What the fuck?"
Bobby pulled his phone out to take a picture, but heard something , like a branch break.
" Oh ha ha I get it, you guys think you can scare me? "

[Assistant]
The creature was on its way back from the town, leaving behind the sacrifice with a token to be found in the morning when the ruckus had been heard. Who dared!? The creature picked up pace, feeling the pull of some fool upon its lands. The creature moved through the woods with great agility and silence until the misfortune of a branch crunched beneath a hooved foot. The mortal laughed, looking about with a phone in his hand and a tear in his pants.

Croaking deep and dull the eerie sound echoed around the unfortunate drunk who thought this all a joke. This, the creature thought as it observed, this was far more interesting than some dedicated sacrifice aware of its impending doom. This could be fun. In a swirl of mist the creature vanished, retaking form.

A dark haired young woman approached and it had to be the alcohol in Bobby's system that made her eyes appear red in the dim lighting of the forest. She seemed to be caught off-guard, looking up shyly as the boy looked about and questioned the friends that were not present. The creature had observed humans long enough, it could speak their tongue and take their shape.

"Are you lost and scared?" The girl questioned in a gentle voice that was just a touch off, again nothing the copious amount of alcohol coursing through the man's body couldn't misinterpret.

[User]
Whoa, where did you come from baby?" Bobby asked as he finished off his fifth beer.
He dropped the phone into his jacket pocket,"Steve and the guys put you up to this?"
Bobby lightly touched her cheek, and then moved in for a kiss, pushing himself up against her, his hands felt all over her body.
"Mmmmmm baby, if this is what nightmares are made of, terrorize me" he joked, as he kissed her neck.

[Assistant]
Danielle Wolfe was attending a booth during the festival/ceremony preparations. She was actually in slight tears over it. She had actually considered the sacrifice to be a friend, but had never been able to voice it out loud. Mainly because her voice was always cut off or drowned out by others. But, another big reason, was that she was never allowed to be friends with her. Her parents had always told her to stay away from the girl. Her father, to this day, sent goons to keep an eye on her and keep them away from each other.

Danielle sighed and fought to keep from showing how upset she was around her family when the time came. She was forced to watch as it happened. When no one was looking at her, a tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away before anyone could see it. Luckily, no one had, not even her parents.

She looked up at the red moon....

it would soon be time......

She was dragged off by her parents and others since the creature was arriving......

That was the last thing she saw before she had to leave. She was now pacing in her home, thinking the girl was.....She did not finish that thought.

[User]
Well, it thought this would be fun but this fool of a mortal was worse than the creature could have fathomed which was saying something. Its female form tilted her head to the side, seeming to permit the man access for his affections. Her head turned, lips near his disheveled hair as the voice begun to twist.

"You are not nearly frightened enough," The body beneath Bobby's hands contorted, bones rising up through skin in a visceral crack and pop of joints. If the human hadn't stumbled backwards, he would have been torn by the change. A root rose up and tripped Bobby onto his arse as the creature shook out its mangy black mane.

"Foolish child, daring to come tread away from your town and into my woods? Is it not enough that I permit your kind access to my lands, my fields?" The angry low-octave voice wrapped around the area with a snarl. The creature reached out with one long black hand to grab the human by his hair with its clawed fingers. He severed the man's head from its body with one thorough upward jerk of its arm.

The creature devoured the meat of the man, leaving the shredded body at the edge of the woods along the field leading back into the town as a warning. It may not have taken its sacrifice, but it would not tolerate further trespassers.

[Assistant]
Melissa and her father, Aleksander, manned the library's booth during the festival though the young adult spent the majority of the time with her nose in a book like always. This one was about the very beast that was to come as the red moon rose to claim its sacrifice. The historic tale was convoluted, at best. There was cohesion between the accounts of centuries prior and none of the more recent generations had every laid eyes on the beast.

The moon rose and, just like the rest of the town, the families returned to their homes. Melissa paced the windows facing the center of town on the second floor of the library, eager to try and catch a glimpse at the thing that had taken her mother a decade ago. The thing that had taken her childhood friends from her.

The night went dark, unusually dark. Even pressing her face against the window, she couldn't see a thing. Not even the candles. How strange. The redhead turned to click on the flashlight of her cellphone but even that seemed to fail. She scrambled, tripped over the couch and thudded to the floor. That would leave a bruise. At least it was comfortable on the couch.

A yawn escaped her lips and she felt a wave of unexplained tiredness take over. The couch was comfortable, the night was dark, and in moments she fell into a soft slumber.

[User]
Creed pulled into the driveway of his old home, his dad's mustang was there.
He remembered when him and his dad used to work on it, before his mom died and his dad turned into a drunkard.
He turned the pickup off, and got out, closing the door quietly.
Jim on the other hand slammed the passenger door shut.
Somewhere down the street a dog barked.
The two of them walked to the front porch and a motion light came on, shining in their faces.
The front door opened, "Who's there? Who...my God, Creed?"
Creeds father stepped onto the porch and hugged his son, kissing his neck.
For once , his father didn't smell of cheap booze, his father smelled like old spice and car grease.
"Dad."
They hugged for several minutes on the porch, Jim was glad , this was a good omen.
"Come on in son. Jim good to see you again." Said Martin as they shook hands.
" Does anyone else know your back?" Asked his dad.
"Nah, this is our first stop, was hoping to stay the night."
"Just the night?"
" We didn't wanna put you out dad."
"Creed this is your home to, have y'all eaten, I got some tv dinners."
"Sounds good dad, I'll go put our things away."
Creed grabbed Jim's bag and went to his old room, it hadn't changed since he ran away.
He sat the bags on the floor and sat down on his bed, he was looking around the room and saw a picture of his best friend Melissa.
Creed picked up the phone, " What's the chance their home number is the same?"
He dialed Melissa's number, and it rang once, then twice, and then someone picked up and creed chickened out, and hung the phone up.

[Assistant]
Aleksander had awoken well before sunrise yet well after the time the sacrifice was to be taken. The older gentlemen stumbled from his bed with a long yawn and stretch, making his way from the bedroom down the hall towards the kitchen. Spotting his daughter asleep on the couch, he shook his head and detoured to pull a blanket over her as she slumbered.

The landline connect phone rang, something it didn't do often. He made no rush to answer, given the time of morning and the likelihood of it being a junk call.

"Rudel Residence, hello?" The light haired man answered, waiting, shook his head, and hung up. Another answerless junk call, he assumed and continued on to make a pot of coffee.

[User]
Anna Smith was about to open the doors to her little place of business, if only for the evening/a short time. She thought she was doing alright with it despite the threats that loomed over it. However, this was not the most important thing on her mind.

When it had been time for the festival/ceremony to start, she felt a great weight against her heart. She felt guilty that she was not trying more to stop it. She may not have been friends with the girl in question, but even SHE felt that this was wrong.

Anyway, she mainly sighed as she thought about that.


[System]
"The frigid heart that I have is gone, but don't think I'll just let you go."
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Abilities: Agni is a controller of dark fire, using both Fire and Dark elements at once. After some training, Agni changed his style of fighting. Now he places exploding spheres on random places and he can generate small bombs made of dark fire. Due to his changes, he abandoned his Devil Lord Form.
How you could work in a team: Offense.
Personality: Agni can be rather clumsy when it comes to sociable. Since he became more outgoing recently, he isn't able to talk to a person without sounding sarcastic or cold and in some situations, he can't fully express what he means. He became more kind and attentive. Even so, if he makes an enemy of a person, he'll definitely rever to his previous state with him/her, being frigid, sarcastic and definitely mean.
Other: Agni's weapon is a special 8-card set created by his friend Cruz, which he gave the name of Undefined Fate. It's his way of shooting and setting the exploding spheres and bombs, although he can still do that with his hands. The cards float on battle.
Also, he has a cellphone made too by Cruz so they can keep in contact with each other.
Card Tosser (Special): Agni toss a card at the enemy or shoots it at a random space to set it as a trap.
Blazing Line (Special): Agni creates a line with his cards and explode all of them at once.
Shadow's Step (Special): Agni uses dark fire to increase his movement speed when evading.
Exploding Shield (Special): Agni surrounds himself with the cards and generate a concentrated explosion around him. The explosion is unable to destroy incoming projectiles.
Maniac Shooter (Super): Agni shoots all cards at the enemy. Once he stops shooting, he explodes the cards, one by one.
Bombard Whirlwind (Super): Agni spins the cards around himself or around the enemy and generates explosions.
Devil Full House (Super): Agni traps the opponent with three cards. He converts the reamining five into a single glowing card and toss it at the ground under the enemy. The card explodes and raises a pillar of fire.
Eclipse from the Scorched Earth (Ultra): Agni's ultimate attack. Converts the 8 cards into an fire orb and expands the fire until it becomes a sun. *Similar to Fujiwara no Mokou's Last Word in Urban Legend in Limbo, but with a defined area.*
History: This Flare is not the same as everyone. At least, not in time. He came from an alternate timeline where Mana-Scrpit has fallen once again. Luckily, everyone who studied there managed to escape, but that drastically changed the fate of the entire world. Since the academy had a renowed name, its destruction could meant to radicals the possible end for magic's progression. Thus, witches and wizards, sages and
necromancers, magical creatures opened the curtains for a never-ending battle to define the future of magic.
Flare had escaped with Cruz Meister, Pamela Armellia, Lynda "Lyn" Hermit and his familiar Cerberus to the Hidden Realm of the Technomages, where Cruz came. They all knew that this wouldn't be a safe place for so long. Then, the technomage king took the decision to flee through time, so they could restart everything and prevent this from happening. Lynda, however, had warned that there were those magicians of time that could freeze them forever if they went to the past. Flare suggested that they search for another timeline, where they had never met before and where history was way more different. All of them agreed with the idea and went to this timeline through a special code/spell that Cruz had access as a King of the Technomagicians.
Upon arriving on the timeline, all the progress that was done by them to restore the Realm went back to zero. But the revival became a secondary plan, since the fate of the world was more important. With the help of Cerberus, the group managed to take their "past" selves and put them into a deep slumber. After that, Pamela spoke about Mana-Script, reminding them that the tragedy could begin from there once again. Not mattering all the possible risks, Flare decided to go and be the eyes of them in this new Mana-Script, so he could try to prevent that all those bad memories happen again...
Main Theme: Spring-colored Wings ~ Devil/Angel
Battle Theme 1: Labyrinth Walker
Battle Theme 2: Bright Smile Madness

[User] Kieran woke when he hit the chair and tumbled off onto his back. He scrambled to his feet wide-eyed for only a moment before he felt the effects of his lack of sleep again, dulled slightly from his brief nap in the arena. He sunk back into the chair and stretched his arms over his head with a yawn. He blinked a few times and realized he was in a sort of bar, stumbling up to ask for a water and upon receiving one promptly splashing it in his face. He shook his head, based on how his body reacted to that sort of thing in the past he had a good while before he felt sleepy again, and by then he will probably have gotta some actual sleep anyway. It was then that he noticed that Sol was going up against that skeleton he saw in that arena. He leaned on the bar counter to watch.

[Assistant] Coming to her senses again Sandra sat up and looked around seeing more people were in the waiting room, she wondered if they knew each other or had already introduced themselves. Coming to her senses a bit more she got to her feet and started stretching "Damn that really does a number on muscles." The blonde haired girl muttered and took a seat at the bar "Any drinks fine." Sandra spoke to the bartender not sure what to really order since she never drunk alcoholic drinks. She then took interested in Sol's fight which was being shown most interested in how he fought with a sword since she always just made it up as she went along.

[User]
The Skeleton stood stock still, the red pinpricks of his eyes gazing steadily as Sol rushed towards him. The sword swung and smashed against ivory bone, and stopped. The skeleton merely stared down on Sol, his axe shifting only slightly, to adjust it to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. The Skeleton clacked his jaws, as if making a 'tsk' sound, in absence of a tongue to do it with. Somewhere in the crowd of skeletons, one of them crumbled into dust. The blood on the axe began moving erratically, moving across the surface of his arm, travelling upwards before stopping.

---

Meruin was breathing heavily. Her vision blurred, and her legs wouldn't obey her and stop shaking. And yet . . . and yet . . .

This is so . . .

"Exciting."

Though her body was had been abused passed its limit, her mind was in rapture. Never had she once been in earnest combat - lessons with Master Reina were focused on research and the perfection of her spells. Application in battle was merely a footnote, and the most she had come across applying them was during her time with Mistress Chase, and those had never gotten too far. Not once had she been pushed to this extent.

Until now.

"Yes," she murmured. "Yes, this is is quite exciting."

So this was battle. The glory that Mistress Chase had spoken of, the violence that Master Reina had condemned as brutish and yet with an undercurrent of longing. This was what it meant to fight in earnest!

Somewhere, in Meruin's luggage, a book snapped open as a marking inscribed itself on the very first page.

Meruin's answer to her examiners question came in the form of a spell. A bolt of lightning shot forward from a rune drawn in the air, directed at him. The power behind it was unimpressive, but the speed in which it was cast and thrown were that as of true lightning. Meruin, her breathes labored and her shoulders trembling and her knees shaking looked up at her foe, and her face was that of pure, undiluted joy.

With the face of an expectant child, Meruin's eye's shone with an intense light.

"Please, show me," she rasped. "Show me more . . . of what battle is like."

---

The bartender gave Sandra a wide grin, before flicking her hand; out of nowhere, a glass of red wine rested on top of it. With much flourish, the lady slid the glass towards her, without spilling so much as a drop of it. "Don't worry 'bout the pay, lass, Chen," she said, jabbing a thumb towards the boy observing the fight closely, "over there has kindly paid for a few rounds of free drinks." She was referring to, of course, the generous amount he had surrendered for a drink.

"Anyway, that was a good job of the leprechaun. He's not the biggest fish in this sea, but he's still pretty big . . . er, relatively speaking of course." Swiping a bottle of vodka out of thin air, the bartender took a swig of it, before tossing it backwards haphazardly, where it promptly vanished and reappeared on a shelf three feet away. "Lotsa you fighting types come this time around, I see. I reckon your batch of students are gonna be a real fireworks factory. Ah well, least it won't be boring all around, and 'sides, fightin's good for business."

[Assistant] "I enjoy fighting. It reminds me that I'm alive and it helps train the mind as well." Chen tapped on the side of his head as he said this. "I can't think of a better way to train your brain then making quick plans in the heat of battle. My real goal here though..." Chen trailed off and the smile on his face faded, replaced by a solemn frown. "I need another drink." He slid his empty glass towards the bartender and sighed.

[User] Flare kept hearing all the conversation. He was already put into the "fight lover" batch of students. ... Those who love fighting, huh... looking back now, I could say I enjoyed bringing others down to the ground. Maybe I still enjoy doing that, but I'm controlling myself., he thought. Instead of speaking, he decided just to watch.


[System]
Age: 20

Race: Lunairan

Bio: Caeyin has only ever known the inside of a spaceship. He was born after the Lunairans fled from their own dying planet in search of a new land to call home, and he was only four when they found the Earth. The Lunairans spent the next five years analyzing and monitoring the planet, occasionally sending down spies once they realized how similar they looked to the dominant race: humans. Caeyin's father was one of these spies. He was also part of a squadron that spread the Plague.

Until that day, Caeyin's father was the one who taught him about the humans and their planet. He always had interesting stories and tales of fascinating inventions. Caeyin was immediately taken in by the humans' ingenuity and secretly admired them for their efforts, though he never told anyone about this. Not even his father.

Towards the end of the first infiltration wave, his father's luck ran out. His ship was attacked by the humans in a last ditch attempt to stave off the Lunairans. No one survived. Caeyin was initially angry when he found out that the beings he had so admired had killed his father, but after a while, that anger gave way to understanding. The humans were being forced off their own planet by a group of foreign beings they had never encountered before. It was only natural to fight back. He came to accept that his father had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

His mother didn't share his opinion. She developed a burning hatred for the creatures that murdered her mate. She wanted to launch a full-scale attack to avenge him, but the Higher Powers refused to let her take their fighter ships. They were set on their plan of letting the Plague do the work so they wouldn't need to shed any of their own blood. His mother would not stand for it. One night, she stole a solo-fighter ship and piloted it down to the Earth to strike back at the humans. It was still early enough that the Plague had barely taken effect, so the humans were strong enough to fight. They shot her down in a matter of minutes.

Unbeknownst to her, Caeyin had also snuck on board her ship. Being young and not understanding what she had been about to do, he was taken down with her. However, by some miracle, he made it out of the crash with his life. He came away severely injured and disoriented, and he passed out almost immediately upon seeing his mother's dead body. What happened next was all a blur. He vaguely remembered someone finding him and nursing him back to health, but as years went on, the memory faded and he assumed it must have been one of his people, since he had ended up back on the Lunairan ship again after the incident.

As he got older, Caeyin slowly moved past losing his parents in the war against the humans. He focused instead on his studies that would determine his future career. It was about this time that he learned he had a slightly unique ability that none of his peers shared. Instead of simply sharing visions and thoughts with others telepathically, he figured out that he was able to completely take over a target's optical pathways to make them see hallucinations.

As soon as his teachers realized his distinguishing capabilities, he was immediately placed into training to become a foot soldier for the Lunairan military. He learned to use his enhanced telepathic abilities to fight by making his opponents blinded by hallucinations during a battle. In practicing this, he discovered that he was only able to target one opponent at a time with the trick, but in one on one matches, he was unbeatable.

His instructors were pleased with his capabilities, but unfortunately, the feelings did not extend to his peers. The other Lunairans in the military training program found his unique ability both strange and frightening. Because of this, they distanced themselves from Caeyin, distrusting of him since he didn't fit the same mold as everyone else.

So, when he found out he had been chosen by the Higher Powers to scout out the Earth in search of any living humans, he was more than happy to go and leave his suspicious peers behind.

Other: Marked on his right wrist with traditional Lunairan brandings for bloodline and military rank.

[User]
As the human tried to defend herself, Caeyin held her gaze, unimpressed. She had already lied to him once about the presence of others of her kind, so he was sure she was also bluffing about the creatures that were more frightening than the Lunairans. Alone in the world, he felt certain that she was just putting on a tough façade to discourage him and seem stronger than she really was. Whatever her motive was, he didn't buy it. The reality was that she was one of the last humans—or possibly the very last—on the Earth, and her death was drawing near now that his people were preparing to make their settlement. He believed she was secretly afraid, and he would just have to keep doing his best to exploit that until her calm exterior splintered, and he could kill her.

He stretched his legs as she turned back to her plant and gave him a self-gratifying speech about how important it was to value life. Despite what she seemed to think, his kind did value life. That was why they were getting rid of the human race. He knew the history based on the lessons he'd been taught in school when he was younger. When the Lunairan people had first discovered the Earth, they had seen how violent and threatening the dominant species was, and that was what had led them to clear them out to make room for themselves. Their determination to survive outweighed their concern for other life until they were stable enough to afford to care. Once they were able to settle comfortably, they would tend to the planet better than her kind ever did.

However, there was no point in arguing with someone who was so clearly biased against his species that she would call him a monster. Choosing to ignore her instead, he absentmindedly fingered the chain around his wrist, indicating with his silence that he wasn't in the mood to keep talking to her about it.

As he let his thoughts wander to other things, he was caught off guard when she suddenly backed away from a window and said something that sounded like a swear. He looked up again and watched as she began running around, apparently searching for her weapon. For a moment, he was tempted to brush off her fluster as another petty trick, but then he wondered. What if she had actually seen something outside that would give her cause to panic?

His eyes widened slightly. It had to be the other scouts. The Lunairan vanguard had found her hiding place and were on their way to investigate it. His heartbeat quickened in his chest with a mixture of excitement and anxiousness. On one hand, he was eager to get out of his prison and return to the mission he'd been assigned, but on the other hand, he would have to suffer the humiliation of being caught tied to a pole. He had mixed feeling about the scenario he painted in his head, but as long as he got away from the human, he supposed the humiliation would be worth it.

Shifting his weight on the ground, Caeyin repositioned himself so that he was sitting on his heels, ready to get up as soon as the opportunity presented itself. The human was still frantically hurrying about the vehicle, seeming to take no notice of the change in his demeanor. He glanced at her once more, just in time to see her bump into a shelf and scatted its contents to the floor. Following the displaced objects with his eyes, he froze as he spotted something amongst them that snared his attention. It looked like a key. His violet eyes darted to the key hole in his chain, and he quickly swiped the little metal piece and plugged it into the slot. It was a perfect fit.

Reenergized by the prospect of breaking loose from his bonds without help, he twisted the key and felt the restraint pop open, no longer tying him to the pole. He slipped his wrist out and rose to his feet, turning toward the human the instant he was free. She was still distracted, arming herself with both her weapon and his, and had turned her back to him. Wrong move, he thought with a victorious smile.

In a flash, he crossed the distance between them and caught hold of her wrists, forcing her arms behind her back and spinning her so that he had pressed her body between his and the nearest wall. "Looks like death finally caught up with you," he growled in her ear from behind, stealing the silencer back from her waistband and pressing the barrel to her head. With his other hand, he gripped both of her wrists tightly to encourage her to loosen her grip on her other weapon, which he then brushed out of her hand with his leg and kicked underneath the bed, out of reach.

In the second that he'd pinned her, he could have fired his silencer and ended her life, but he hesitated. She had made a fool of him when she'd knocked him out and made him her prisoner, and now he wanted to do the same to her. What better way than to flaunt her as his trophy in front of the other scouts?

Deciding to make her regret what she'd done, he let go of her and stepped back, though he still kept his weapon trained on the back of her skull. "You say we don't scare you, so let's put that to the test," he challenged her haughtily, backing toward the door of the vehicle. "I'll let the others in to join us, and then we'll see if you're still as brave as you claim you are."

[Assistant]
Eve had just gotten both of the weapons secured and was ready to defend herself. She had no idea how the Beast had gotten into the compound. Had it scaled the fence? Found a weakness in the fence? She would have to go out at sundown to see if she could find any holes that the thing could have gotten through. But for now, she had to go get rid of it while it was in her sights. Otherwise, with it being in the compound, it could surprise attack her later on when she didn't know where it was on the run way. She would take care of the thing now and get back in the plane before anything else could happen.

She wouldn't get the chance however.

Suddenly she felt someone grab her and she gasped, struggling in their grasp, trying to jerk or get away, twisting her body and kicking her legs backwards when she could to try and get a hit in. Soon she was pushed against the wall and seared with anger as she heard the Lunairan's voice growl in her ear. How had he gotten out?! At first she couldn't help but wonder for a moment if perhaps this was another mind trick, but no. He wouldn't be able to physically grab her if it was. Even pressed against the wall, she was able to turn her head slightly, glancing over to see that the key was in one side of the handcuffs, the other side still clasped to the bar. The key had been among the things she had knocked over. She mentally cursed to herself. How could she have been so stupid?!

Soon she was disarmed, her gun getting kicked under the bed and his Silencer pressed to her head. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the shot to her head, only for him to speak again. Soon he was backing away from her, claiming that he wanted to see if she wasn't really scared of him. That he was going to....let the others in? What?! He thought the dangerous things outside where the other scouts. Her eyes widened as he backed to the door and she even dared to step forward, speaking quickly, panic rising in her voice, "NO! Stop! If you go out there, you'll let that thing in! It'll kill us both!"

[User]
"Right," Caeyin drawled in disbelief when the human tried to dissuade him from opening the door. He knew she was just trying to pretend like she wasn't afraid of his people. She was spinning a lie about another frightening creature to prevent him from reuniting with the other scouts and reinforcing the reality that she was outnumbered by a group that was here to make sure she died. He didn't know why she bothered. No matter what, he was going to shoot her before he left her wretched vehicle. This way was just more entertaining for him, since he wanted to make her grovel after she had tried to turn him into her captive.

Unperturbed by her panicked begging, he lowered his silencer to the ground just in front of her feet and pulled the trigger to fire a warning shot. "Stay put," he barked. "Or the next one will strike you in the head." With an impeccably steady hand and a keen eye, it was far from an empty threat. Even if she tried to charge toward him, he was confident that he could kill her before she took two steps. He finally had the upper hand against her, and he wasn't going to lose it again.

When he reached the door, he risked looking away from her for a flicker of an instant to locate the handle, then fixed his gaze on her again while he took it in his free hand and undid the latch. Keeping her in sight to make sure she didn't run while he multitasked, he turned the handle and gave the door a sharp pull, calling out as soon as it opened, "Over here!" Unsure if the other scouts knew he was already inside the vehicle, he wanted to be certain they heard him and recognized his voice, so they wouldn't mistake him for another human and blindly shoot.

However, when the door swung open and the figure on the other side came into view, he bristled, realizing too late that something was wrong. The person outside the vehicle wasn't a scout. It wasn't even a Lunairan. His clothes were tattered and not at all like those that were worn by his people. His hair was light brown, and his eyes were a similar shade. In his peripheral vision, Caeyin recognized that it was a human, but when he turned fully to look at it, he saw that it seemed different than the female that had captured him. It had a glazed look in its eyes, and it was spattered with dried blood.

The sight made his survival instincts flare, and he twisted at the waist to aim his silencer at it, but the deranged human was just as fast. It lunged and collided with him roughly, knocking the wind from his lungs and the weapon from his hand. The latter clattered to the floor and skidded out of reach, and he inhaled sharply as he hit the ground, barreled over by the weight of his attacker. Quickly, he scrambled to push back against it with his hands, turning his head away as the thing gnashed its teeth and writhed, attempting to overpower him.

As he wrestled against it, Caeyin's mind raced. He was shocked that human had been right and that her warning hadn't been a lie. He was perplexed as he tried to figure out what exactly was fighting with him now. He was even slightly frightened by the fact that it had managed to get on top of him so easily and pin him to the floor. Reflexively, his pupils dilated, and he attempted to take control of its optic nerves, relying on his trump card to confuse the human and slip away. But it didn't work. He felt the connection take hold, but the thrashing didn't stop. It was as if the creature was immune to his invasion into its mind.

Grinding his teeth, he severed the link and continued to try pushing it off of him, giving up on tricking the creature with a vision when his usual method didn't seem to be effective.