It was supposed to just be another normal day. He would wake up go to work and then go to school, but of course, the tournament was going on and he was now down half a crew and the other half was itching to split at any moment. The only compromise Hughes could make to keep the rest was to make a promise to let everyone off early for the finals if they finished planting the charges in at at least one of the two shafts they had planned for today. He also put the tournament on in the break room so the guys could check it every now and again. The crew moved at a fair pace, but David would always catch guys staring at the screen when they were up top grabbing supplies. David only carried a toolbox lid and several rolls of wire as he spent the most time down under. He didn't need to go back up for more charges when he had multiple marked boxes tied to his portals. He could just keep planting and wiring without having to slow down. He didn't really care about the tournament anyway beyond the fact it was giving him a migraine.

"Dam this fucking tournament!" David yelled into an empty tunnel, "Why does my blood have to boil every time a bunch of dumb people loses their collective shit!" He starts speaking in a mocking voice, "Oh David, the tournament is safe it shouldn't bother you." He yells into the void, "Fuck you, Hughes! It doesn't matter if it's real or even staged. When people see someone get their shit kicked in there going to get excited about it!" David kicks a rock only for it to bounce off a wall and hit him in the face, making his headache worse."Goddamit! I hate this fucking city!" He flails around a minute venting his anger before picking up his wires and going back to work.

As evening approaches David finishes attaching the last of his wires and starts running them up top to connect them to the detonator board. It was getting late, but he was almost done now, and could finally go home. He intended to lay in bed and down a bottle of aspirin maybe see if he could sleep off the tournament. However, as he reached the top he found that no one was there. The place was crawling with people last time he came up. "They couldn't have left without me." he thought, "Hughes could be an ass sometimes, but safety was a big deal to him," David noticed the break room door was open and saw everyone was standing inside. David couldn't believe it. They were almost done and yet they all had taken a break now of all times to watch the tournament. "Can't these people just finish their goddam jobs and go watch it in person." he mumbled angrily to himself, "I'm going to give them a piece of my mind." David approached the tent fuming, ready to give everyone an earful, but when he entered the room he became aware that something was wrong. No one was cheering or shouting in excitement as he had expected. They were all just standing there silently watching the screen, even Hughes was sitting up front. They all had the same look on their face as well. They looked worried. David had been too angry to notice, but his head was hurting a lot more then it had been a few moments ago, in fact, his whole body was starting to feel like it was burning. He looked at the screen and listened to a frantic announcer trying to calm a panicking crowd. A girl was at the center of the screen, a caption revealing her name as Katherine, and she looked like hell. She was on her knees bleeding from multiple wounds and she had an arrow sticking out of her chest. You could actually hear her whimpering as she struggled to breathe. "What the fuck happened?" David spoke without thinking. Hughes answered, "I'm not sure David, but I've seen some terrible things and, unless the gods intervene, I don't think that girls going to make it." As Hughes says this the Katherine suddenly stands strong and rips the arrow out of her chest.

David's building horror is washed away with relief, "You were saying?" David responds snidely as he felt his headache lesson as the crowd calmed, but his smugness was wiped away when Katherine burst into flames and transformed into a demon in front of everyone. "Perhaps the gods weren't the ones to answer her call," Hughes replied sagely. David only watched in stunned silence as Katherine blew the barrier protecting the stadium away. He felt another burst of fire in his blood as the people began to panic again. The officials tried to stop her, but wings emerged from her back and she flew off into the city. The burning was now becoming unbearable as the whole city seemed to freak out more and more about what they just witnessed. David's body was in agony. His power demanded that he interfere, but the truth was David didn't want to. What could he possibly do to help? Hughes looked at David's pained face and with a look of conviction upon his face told him, "You need to go."

"Are you crazy?!" David replied looking at Hughes like he had just suggested he should jump off a bridge.

"David that needs help those students were trying to kill girl her. You saw it" Hughes looked at David with pleading eyes, "Please, I don't know what they're after, but they don't deserve it. What they did today is desecrate a long-standing tradition of this city and its founders. Only you can act fast enough to possibly prevent this from getting more out of hand. Help her David. Even if she doesn't want it. She needs it."

David stared at him, a low growl building in his throat, until finally, he screamed, "FUCK!" He jams his finger into Hughes' chest, "I swear to god old man. This is none of my business."

"Everything's your Business, David. Whether you like it or not that is what the gods chose you for. Now do something useful for a change and actually save someone who needs it." Hughes retorted without breaking stride.

David spits on the ground, "Fine, but if this shit gets me killed I'm haunting your ass!" David takes a step back and draws his pen, then yells into the heavens, "Crisis!" with that final word David is swallowed by a purple and orange portal that forms from his body.

In Central Park as the demoness stood ready to attack the old man. In the space between her and him, a purple and orange tear would open in the sky, and David would be seen emerging from it. As he does the old man, whom the demon had just threatened, would take the unexpected opportunity to run away.



David would wave the remnants of the portal away as he stared intently into the eyes of the Demoness, unaware of what almost transpired. He slowly points at the Demoness with his pen, full of enchanted blood, and asks "Hey, Your Katherine right? I don't know what kind of shit you got yourself into hot stuff but I'm here to help you. I was told some assholes want you dead, and I'm here to fuck that up for them." David looks at Katherine's body and notices it was looking a lot better. "Good, you don't look like a trainwreck anymore. Healthwise." He quickly added, "You're beautiful to look at. I mean your appearance is fine." He rubs his head, "Fuck you get what I mean. Look I know you have little reason to trust me, but if it makes you feel better. I'm probably no match for you if you chose to attack me right now, but you may just lose a valuable ally if you do. So, what do you say, Friends?" David holds out his hand hoping that she would accept his offer, and not use his outstretched hand to throw him into a tree or something. If she did accept his offer he would start telling her what his abilities are, so that they could coordinate if needed. If she didn't accept then he'd have to improvise.

Vittorio

Vittorio raised his head slightly from where he sat in the crowd, a small trail of blood leaving the corner of his mouth. He had overdone it yet again, but this time he could move. He had to move. He reached up with his right hand to his mouth, wiping the blood into the palm of his hand and then pocketing it into his large hoodie-pocket, wiping it off on the inside of it. He got unto his feet and began to walk in the quickest manner he could towards the St.Laurel's students corner. Alto had to be there somewhere. Along the way he found the instrument of his revenge, some less known members of Mephisto's school had broken a window to a cleaning shed which was outside the stands where people sat or stood in. Vittorio approached the shattered shards of glass on the ground, he leaned down as best as he could. Pushing back the feeling of throwing up and passing out, he'd grabbed one of the larger glass shards and then went around the shed.

He quickly raised his hoodie abit to grab the shirt he had under it, using the glass shard he began cutting out straps of cloth from it. Some smaller glass shards would get into the palm of his hand as he did this. He flinched at the pain, but pain was something he was used to. His entire existance as far as he knew was a pain, he could handle this. After all it would soon finally be over, once and for all it would be over. The long haired young man began to swiftly wrap the pieces of cloth around the bottom part of the shard, giving him a good grip to hold unto. This improvised dagger which would surely find it's way to the core of his suffering.
Vittorio pocketed the glass shard into his hoodie pocket and hid it there with his bloodied hand.

He said in a low voice. "I'll put an end to everything... this time for certain." Vittorio stepped out into the St.laurel gathering of students, moving slowly past several of them, his hood over his head. Where was he? Where the hell was Alto?

In the end, all he believed he could count on was himself. The Mephisto school and it's members had aided him, but the way Yuuto had attacked Katherine. With the same look in his eyes as Vittorio himself had reserved for Alto. Maybe there was something he didn't know? Well it didn't matter. Katherine was not his enemy. Neither was William. That's when he saw his enemy. Further up ahead. Standing close to some of the St.Laurel's staff.

Nothing can stop it now... just a few more steps... I won't let anyone get in the way.

@AtomicNut

---

Bak was running. As she'd proved in her last match she could actually build up a good amount of speed in a straight line. Like a t-rex her footfalls echoed down the hallway, telling everyone around that they had better get out out of the way if they didn't want to get run over. What was pulling her forward was less an emotion and more an ingrained need. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the pallid bleating of one her flock, alone and lost in the depths of the freezing snow.

She was halfway to the Mephisto's locker room when she remembered something important. She tried to skid to a stop, but her forward momentum was to much and she flailed wildly for balance as she began to tip forward while her toes skidded along the floor. Luckily for her she was close to one of the stadiums many soda machines, and with a push she managed to redirect herself into its side to catch herself. The side of it crumpled inward as she slammed into it, its plastic facade shattering into a flurry of little plastic flakes, and the air was filled with a fizzing sound as the dispenser began leaking the contents of crushed cans. She stayed there for a moment, nearly embedded into the machine.

He hadn't been in the locker room. No, no, he had, but that had been the ghost him. She wasn't looking for the ghost him, she was looking for the body him. She knew his body was here, he'd left with the rest of them that morning, but then he'd...he'd gone somewhere else and the ghost had come back.

Bak's heart sank as she realized she had no earthly idea where he was.

"Attention. Attention." A stern, authoritative voice suddenly came over the intercom. "In light of recent events the tournament has been postponed. I repeat, the tournament has been postponed pending investigation of today's events."

Bak pulled herself free of the soda machined embrace, the side of her uniform now soaked through with sickly sweet sugar water, and turned to Celestine. "Alto." She said shakily. "He will try for Alto. Even if...," She hesitated. She didn't want to say it. She hated acknowledging it. "Even if he were dying this is his one chance. He will try."

It was bad enough to hear that bleating. It was another level of terror entirely to know it might be directed at a wolf instead of you.

"Where is Alto!?!"

---

@KillamriX88

---

"We ask everyone to remain calm and in their seats until we can confirm there is no demonic presence in the surrounding area. I repeat, remain calm."

The restroom mirror in front of him shattered. Slowly, shaking from rage, Nasearph pulled his palm away from it and allowed the shards to slip through his fingers and tinkle into the sink. He had been watching in the locker room when the Mephisto's had started going too far and, deciding that the match was pretty much sure to be canceled at that point, had taken a much needed bathroom break. It had turned out to be a stroke of good fortune, as the bathroom was much more private.

All the good feelings that had been with him since he smashed that cocky bitch Ria's ankle had evaporated the instant he'd heard that announcement. They were postponing the tournament? Over what? A few demons? A little bloodshed? He wished these people had been around when their ancestors had been battling demon lords and monsters, they wouldn't have lasted two seconds if they were this squeamish. Those ignorant, pathetic Mephisto's, if they wanted to murder the girl could they have at least tried yesterday?

He grabbed his head in two shaking hands, raking his fingers through the meager feathers of his head, and almost lost it. He closed his eyes. He counted to ten. He breathed. He did everything he had been taught to do, and just like always it accomplished nothing. His eyes opened into slit and he stared hatred at the broken reflection that faced back at him from the sink, picturing the Mephisto's team in his head. The ghost, the flesh creature, the ninja, all vivid in his mind from the days events. If he had known of what they had been planning today he would have crushed them all back then even if he had to reduce that entire building to rubble. "I can not wait on your games, I do not have that kind of time."

The Mephisto's locker room was nearby. Sure, the ones on the field were getting away but maybe a trip over there would give him an opportunity to relive some of this stress. Yes, the sight of a couple of broken bodies lying at his feet would give him at least some satisfaction and perhaps if he eliminated enough of them this sort of delay thing would not happen in the future.

Whatever his plans were, though, they were cut short as he stepped out of the bathroom and saw Wolf walking toward him. Nasearph stopped short in the restroom doorway, suddenly feeling very exposed, trying as casually as possible to pull his hands out of his hair as though he's just been brushing it back. A few feathers he's pulled out without realizing fell from his scalp as he did so, but luckily Wolf didn't seem to notice him. Wolf didn't seem to notice anything. He marched past without giving Nasearph a second thought. There was something about his eyes. Something calming, familiar. A familiarity that compelled the bird man to follow.

"You have the look of a man resolved to war." He said, filing in behind Wolf. "Would you mind company?"

---

???

@Crazy Scion@6slyboy6

---

The demoness had reacted quickly to the portal appearing in thin air. She had expected Clara, or the ninja, or perhaps that boy her host so disliked that was also under Clara's thumb, and so had reeled back her arm in preparation to attack. She had precious little energy, she couldn't run anymore, but she would damn well carve her epitaph into whoever came for her.

What she hadn't expected was this boy. She cocked her head in confusion as a new boy all of a sudden strutted onto the stage in the middle of this absurd drama. At first she still thought that this might be some trap of Clara's, but that didn't make any sense. If Clara wanted here she could just take her, there wasn't much to do about it now. Besides which, the old man had run. She had no options left other than to rely upon, and she felt a shutter run through her at even thinking this, the kindness of strangers.

No doubt her host would reprimand her for this later but the demoness had already flattered and groveled to survive once, what was one more time? She let a look of relief flash over her face as she advanced on David, letting out a tired "Oh thank goodness." before suddenly going limp and tipping forward. She threw her arms around his shoulders to catch herself, burying her head in his neck. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's happening to me." She whispered. "It took everything I had just to get away from them. I just...I need to get my strength back. I can take care of them, if I could only have a little time to rest. Just a little energy..."

She felt like she was forgetting something, but what? What else had mother said about convincing human males to do anything for you?

Ah, right.

She pulled herself up a little, pressing Katherines chest up against his. "Please, I don't know how far behind they are. I just need a place to catch my breath."

---

---

When the announcement for Mephisto's victory echoed across the arena, Christine jumped with joy, flashing her blue-striped panties to the audience for the last time. She didn't care about the booing, nor the fact that her team had beaten the Vigilantes to a pulp. She waved around cheerfully to the audience, proud that they had won the match.

Afterwards, she took her seat amongst the audience, eager to watch the other matches. She had politely rejected Celestine's invitation for medication, saying that she wanted to watch the other matches.

She watched as the ghost of Lise's ancestor appeared in the battlefield. It was such a spectacle she almost fell from her seat from leaning forward too much. It turned into a knights vs knights battle. Ghostly knights that served the ghostly princess vs flesh and blood knights and a flesh and blood princess (she selfishly just thought of Samoth as Lise's guardian as well). Who would win, she wondered?

She disliked the fact that the battlefield was now covered in a fog however. The chill might bother others but as a snow user, it was nothing to her. In fact, it just made the arena more comfortable. She was still tired from her fight so she didn't cool the air around her. She even had to resort to lifting her coat and using it as a makeshift fan. Her panties would show but everyone was focused on the match, right?

Before the mirror match could be decided however, a new force appeared in the battlefield as one of them decided to transform into a demon. It was clearly not in their plans to do so as her own teammate attacked her for it.

Oh my, this match sure has a lot of twists and turns! How exciting!

Even with the demon in the field, the St. Laurel fighters still managed to hold. Christine was impressed by the durability of the ghost lady, though she supposed it just came naturally with her being already dead and all. But eventually, she was defeated by Lise and her servants, lifting the spell of fog and chill upon the arena.

"Good job, Lise! Keep it up!" she shouted standing up, impressed by her performance.

Next to fall was the demon. Even with such a ferocious enemy, with their teamwork, they managed to win brilliantly, even finishing off the match with a style.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Christine shouted as everyone clapped for their victory. She now wished they had finished their match as stylish as they did.

The next match was longer, and more one-on-one than the previous. First, Wolf faced against Meredith, with her taking the initiative. Wolf however managed to gain the upper hand against her eventually.

Until she decided to go second form at least.

I wish I could have a second form as well... Though probably not without the "outfit turning skimpier" part...

However, her attention was soon diverted to Diana who now somehow had a coat of dark flames all around her. She then shot across the arena like a comet, clearly aiming for the opponent's flag.

Wow, that is so cool!

She noticed Ria and Nas facing off against each other from the corner of her eyes. But her attention was still fixated on Diana.

And then she suddenly stopped on mid-air.

Aaw, why does she stop? The flag is right there!

Her question was answered right away, as Diana began bombarding the area with her flames.

Aah, so there's an enemy there! I didn't notice at all!

Her attention then came back towards Meredith, who was still fighting Wolf. Now, she was clearly superior to him, both in speed and power. Christine now wondered just how long Wolf would last. And she soon was answered by an explosion coming out from Meredith, knocking him down to the ground.

With the action over, her attention turned back to the witch. To her surprise, Michael actually managed to subdue her.

And I thought she got that in the bag...

However, the witch ended up turning the table by summoning a familiar from such a precarious position. The slaughter that ensued actually made Christine worry about the boy.

That looks really painful! And that! And that too!

Averting her gaze from the brutality, her sight moved back to Meredith.

Oh my, another transformation? That's Wolf, isn't it?

She saw the fully armored figure that stood up against Meredith. Expecting a more equal fight, Christine braced herself with excitement.

Only for Meredith to just ignore him, going after other targets instead.

Oh come on!

However, they only switched opponents. Now Wolf faced off against the witch and her familiar, somehow making it toss its master to the side, while Meredith was actually stopped by Nas' barrier.

W-what is this sudden development?!

She watched tensely as the familiar went all out against Wolf while Diana was doing her witch stuff to try to regain control. And she actually did, summoning a terrible-looking horse while banishing the previous one. She rode on top of it with the last of her strength, intending to obtain the flag victory right away.

Hmm, she could've let the old familiar pummel Wolf to the ground. It was clearly winning back there...

Back at Meredith, she was engaging Nas. At least until she decided not to, leaving her imps for him.

I think Nas got her team's flag. So she's chasing after it after he had thrown it over the wall...

Christine looked around for the flag. It turned out that the flag had landed near Diana.

And now Wolf was challenging her for it.

See? I told you. You should've finished him back then!

Diana charged with a spear but Wolf simply outplayed her with his net. The witch fell off her horse, harshly crashing her body to the ground.

It was over for her.

Wolf took Nas' flag before taking Diana's flag from her limp body. Meredith, who thought to ambush him, was instead ambushed herself, falling face first to the ground with her panties exposed.

Christine couldn't help but blush at her choice of risque underwear.

And now, he just has to carry those flags to the goal.

To her exasperation however, he instead decided that he wanted a rematch with Meredith, throwing the flags away to the ground.

Ooh, what are you doing?

Wait, he's not even going back for a rematch. He's helping her stand up.

Whaaat?

And then, something even more surprising happened. Meredith pulled Wolf towards her. Christine wasn't sure what was going on only that right after that, Wolf resummoned his armor. And it seemed it was heavy enough to keep the girl down.

Thus, the only one left was Nas, who was sprinting after the flags while fighting against Meredith's imps. In the end, he remained triumphant, as he managed to knock out every last imp that was attaching itself to him.

And with that, the Vigilantes won the match.

Haa, that sure was a hectic match...

And now, it's time for Kath's match...

Kath's group started off with what she assumed was a team buff of sorts. And then, Kath boldly threw William upwards. As ethereal wings grew from his back as well, Christine understood.

They want to utilize his copy power!

And then, Vittorio went on a rampage, lasers firing everywhere across the fields, destroying pillars and walls alike.

Wow, that is amazing!

...Wait, Kath! Where are you, Kath?

She found her sister hiding behind one of the enclosure walls. She didn't stay there for long however until she charged right towards Mr. Laser Man.

Always as hotheaded as ever...

Vittorio noticed her and he seemed to welcome her assault. He glowed blue and aimed his laser-firing tentacles towards Katherine. But Kath managed to dodge all of them, to Christine's relief.

Only to get caught by the tentacles themselves.

"Kath!" Christine shouted. She could only watch as her sister tried to free herself. She could see her clothes slowly evaporating as she turned up her heat. It didn't work however and Yuuto used the opportunity to throw in some punches of his own.

I know I'm supposed to root for my school, but...

And then, Katherine suddenly bounced back into the fight. With her much more intense heat, she cut through Vittorio's tentacles with ease, freeing herself immediately.

I knew I shouldn't worry about her! She's a monster after all!

But then, Yuuto upped his game as well. He began slicing and dicing at Kath with deadly precision, to the point that Christine felt he was actually intending to kill her. And to her horror, even with her boost, Kath was still being overwhelmed by him.

"Kath!" Christine shouted once again. Could it be that Yuuto was actually trying to... b-but why?

The fight turned even more chaotic as Vittorio suddenly turned against Yuuto. It was just enough to stop the ninja temporarily.

Only for William's arrow to land on her chest, as the ninja was gone.

"Katherine!" Christine shouted even louder.

The girl fell, blood coughed out of her mouth.

And Christine leaped out of the stands, only to crash into the separation barrier she forgot existed.

She fell back to her seat with a slight bloodied nose.

She could only witness in a disoriented state as Kath's demonic form rose, shattering the very same separation barrier that had hold her back.

"K-Kath... w-wait..." Christine said weakly as she saw her sister flying away.

And then, she bolted, running straight towards the exit of the arena. She froze any person who would bar her path, leaving a trail of frost in her wake as she used her skating ability to move as fast as she could.

Kath, wait for me, I'm coming!

---

It didn't take her long to reach the park where Kath had landed.

Only to find Kath snuggling against a boy she was unfamiliar with.

"Kath!" she shouted, before going to her location. She knew there was something wrong with her immediately just from what she was doing with the boy.

Halting herself a safe distance from her, she said with a suspicious expression, "You're not Kath, aren't you? Kath would never act all lovey dovey with a boy! You're some kind of demon possessing her!"

Clara narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as the demoness stared her down. The creature probably thought itself clever for noticing Clara, but it had so far walked right into her trap...

Of course it then blasted its way out of the arena, but that was a small setback at the worst. Already one of her beholders was lying in wait, taking off after the demoness. It lagged behind, but the demoness could only fly so far. Clara had suspected, correctly, that it was weak.

The beholder found her, claws wrapped around an old man. However, the man soon broke free, bleeding slightly, but never the less escaping her grasp. She didn't even try to stop him. How curious. Then another appeared out of nowhere. A boy... One she realized after a moment that she knew, though only in passing. One of Mephisto's few night students.

He then offered help to the demoness. How... unfortunate. Clara stifled a sigh and vanished in a swirl of black. She'd see to the rest of this herself, though she was sure Yuuto at least would join her soon. There would be no escape for the demon this time.

She held back a bit, letting the scene play out... But then Christine arrived and thus it was time to reveal herself.

"Save your breath, Christine," Clara spoke cooly. "You're quite right, this is not your sister. She may or may not still be in there, somewhere, but your voice can't reach her now. I suggest you help me subdue this vile thing and we'll see to your sister later... Assuming there's anything left to see to."

She then looked to David.

"You there, boy... Mr. D'artagnan was it? I'll reiterate it for you. Do not get too cozy with that thing. It has nothing but lies to offer you. It is a demon. Get clear or offer us assistance, but do not stay in the line of fire long if you value your safety."

David hadn't expected the demoness to practically collapse into his arms and was actually not sure how to take this sudden show of vulnerability. He gave her a half-hearted one-armed hug as she leaned into him. "Was she just faking the tough girl act at the tournament." He thought to himself as he gently pushed the Demoness off him by her shoulders, "OK, look I'm glad you trust me, My names David by the way," He quickly adds, "but now isn't the time to break down. I need you to put the tough girl act back on at least until we can get out of this park. I have the ability to create portals using this fancy pen here, but it's difficult to do with dirt and trees. If we reach the street I can portal us to my house, then we can relax and figure this all...Ah shit." It seemed David had even less time to act then he thought as a girl wreathed in ice, Christine, skated up to them at an insane speed. "Did I just see a car crash because of the ice in the distance?" David had little time to dwell on this as Christine started rapid fire accusation's about Katherine's identity. At the same time, another girl who David thought looked like she shopped at Hot Topic emerged from seemingly nowhere. The worst part was she called David out by name so there was no playing dumb with her. He swears he knew her from the student council but didn't really pay attention given he never saw any of them at night. Well, except for the crazy cyborg girl with an itchy trigger finger, but he just avoided her for safety reasons.

He wasn't sure what to do. They all wanted him to get out of the way so they could deal with the Demon. There was a chance that they told the truth and could help, but David knew someone was after Katherine and they had less than noble intentions. He didn't know these people, and that sadly meant he couldn't trust them. David looks the demoness in the eyes while sliding his arms down her shoulders and into her hands. Then with a determined expression on his face, he whispers to her, "Run." then without missing a beat, he starts sprinting towards the street dragging the demoness by her hand. As he runs he hastily scribbles a circle inside a square on his chest. If these people pursued him he had some nasty surprises waiting for them.

---

---

"Huh? Clara?"

Suddenly, the student council president showed up out of nowhere. Christine didn't even notice her coming.

"Save your breath, Christine. You're quite right, this is not your sister. She may or may not still be in there, somewhere, but your voice can't reach her now. I suggest you help me subdue this vile thing and we'll see to your sister later... Assuming there's anything left to see to."

"S-subdue? And what do you mean by 'if there's anything left'? I won't let that happen to Kath!"

Fine! If we have to take her back by force, then so be it! Kath, I'm coming for you!

However, the boy had a different idea. Instead of handing her over, he decided to help her run away instead.

"Hey, wait!"

Christine immediately chased after him, creating a trail of ice in front of her to skate with. Not only that. She also conjured icicles mid-air and fired them off towards him. Not to kill. Just to immobilize.

Andreim

The first match of the tournament, had been between Christine, Rurik and Bak, against Brutus and two other vigilantes whom he did not know of prior. From the beginning Andreim had thought it would be a fine showdown between two individuals whose skills he'd respected. Christine and Brutus. Both of those were after all a threat to him would he ever have to fight them. Though it came as a surprise to him, just how badly beaten the vigilantes were.

Bak had a natural weakness against Brutus, even so she managed to get through the fight without having passed out. Even that careless slacker Rurik was standing at the end. Was Christine's defensive powers really that effective?

"Looks like they've underestimated Katherine's sister... now they pay the price for doing so. I am certain it will come as quite the shock even to Brutus." He mused and looked Lise over, before they were the ones to get into the fight. Their own fight had gone quite smoothly, despite the annoying start it had ended up with a decisive victory. Andreim had afterwards wrapped his hand with some bandage he was carrying with him.

"Water bore our ship of victory, and also sank theirs. Fitting as our goal is to sail to the stars..." He softly began to smile to Lise, then gave an approving nod to Samoth. "Well done Samoth, you'll be a great military leader someday the way you charged into battle like that." It was true, Samoth had performed really well. Andreim did respect him for his dedication to honing himself, with or without his power. Samoth was an adversary like few others, someone who could do battle with both mind and body. A valuable ally or a horrible enemy. Andreim recalled having thought of how he would best fight his fellow St.Laurel student would such a moment come. It was however not an easy task, as that boy whom was a few years older than himself was not typical combatant. Then again. Same could he say for himself.

The match following theirs was one which didn't interest him as much as the other ones. This was partly because the St.Laurel students which partook in it was not any favorites of his. It was the tainted Meredith girl and the completely unbearable Ria. You either had to be an idiot or someone with leacherous intent to find any interest in Ria at all. She was blunt, repulsive and overall foul mouthed.

Their third member was someone they had appearantly just picked up. The other team were the second set of vigilantes. Among them were Michael, whom they had met recently in that apartment incident where he had appearantly been supporting William's older brother. While Andreim never had really talked with the guy, he didn't seem that bad of a person. His two teammates were a knight looking boy and that weird birdlike boy.

He had cheered slightly on the team with Michael, despite knowing it was up against a fellow St.Laurel's team. To Andreim it didn't matter much though what school you were part of, what matter was what you stood for as a person, what ideals you would try uphold and overall impression. The St.Laurel's team had in the end lost, much to Andreim's amusement. "That will likely taste bitter in Ria's mouth for months to come."

Then on the final match, it was highly anticipated. Katherine and Cassius, the two powerful fire users of St.Laurels and William, whom was an adept support type in a fight against that weird butler guy, a ninja and that witless ghost guy. There was no way in a million years Katherine, Cassius or William would end up losing against them. The ghostly guy and the ninja had suddenly grappled and simulataneusly attacked Katherine. Andreim narrowed his eyes to seeing it. Come on Katherine... He had his rivalries with Katherine, but even so she wasn't someone which he really disliked. They teased each other on a regular basis, so it did trouble him seeing Katherine in the situation she were in.

Twice the victory if one could come out on top, Katherine for certain had that kind of potential at least in a short term. Cassius had engaged that weird butler guy and was being thrown about, while William had tried his best to aid Katherine. The match had gone on for awhile, but had taken an interesting yet odd turn when the ghostly guy had opened fire on his teammate, the ninja. While they were ganging up on Katherine.

"Hm.. what's going on in there...?" Andreim asked as he looked at the scenery, then to Lise, pointing over to what was going on. Then as the situation got worse he got up on his feet, stretching out his hand to Lise, while starting to call forth a vortex of water using his other hand, gathering it around him where they stood. With just enough distance from other people to be caught into the whirlpool.

"We are going in there, something is really wrong, this isn't going according to the rules. We have to aid our comerades!" He proclaimed and motioned to any other nearby student of St.Laurel's to also get up and join in. His sight set on Samoth for a moment. "Samoth! Use your power to make people clear the way and get to Katherine as fast as you can. We are going to her right now!" Andreim would wait for Lise to take his hand, as he would not leave her during such a crisis. Protect his queen, aswell as his comerades in arms. The Mephisto team was somehow involved in this. But perhaps not all of them, as there had appearantly been some disagreement. Whatever was going on down there, they would find out soon enough. He was preparing himself for the worst, as he always did.

@Dezuel

---

Celestine followed Bak, rushed as she was. His mind, avid for information was building the entire picture from scratch. He had come to the same conclusion as the machine girl. Vittorio was likely alive. His face showed a hint of disappointment when the girl continued on her frantic chase. She was not chasing the demon, but Vittorio. It was clear what she was pretending to do. Celestine looked at Bak with a mirror of worry at first, and then ... as if an act of magic, his semblance hardened and his stare was piercing.

"Why, Bak? Let Vittorio deal with the thing he has set to do, even if he refuses to heed my healing advice. Shanking that preppy boy is an amusing thought."

"He will not survive, though!" Bak said. "He does not mean to." She said, downcast. "He is one of us. That is reason enough to help him, da?"

"What do you know? He has been prattling about this for ages. He really..." Celestine paused. "Oh I see what's happening here."

He clasped his hands, giggling. "Very well, Bak. You win. I don't need more convincing." He added, doing a deft turn. "Alto should be in the st Laurels rendezvous point. With the rest of them." He paused indicating the way.

"I want a wedding invite though..." Now that was more amusing than a shanking. Could the tank girl rescue the crippled boy from his own hell? Some love stories, no matter how cliché, were entertaining.

"Wh-wedding?" Bak said, but no, wait, that wasn't important right now. Celestine had pointed the way. Bak felt kind of stupid, but that's why she liked Celestine so much. If Bak had a question they had an answer. Still running on high emotion she reached out and embraced who might as well have been the most beautiful woman in the world. "Thank you, thank you!"

"My ribs..."Celestine squeaked, unable to fight against the mechanized hug. Fortunately it didn't break anything. Yet. As she left he followed the tank girl with his gaze. "Well, guess I will be heading with my own interest..."

---

An air of confused worry permeated through the crowd as Bak walked out. People were milling about near their seats, with officials trying to convince them to remain. Some were arguing, or had forced their way past and were leaving anyway. Some were just standing, or had clumped into groups leaving whole rows empty and inadvertently blocking anyone attempting to leave. The worst of this was in a place she could see across the field, where an entire section had been abandoned all the way to the top of the arena as though something had inspired the spectators to flee it in mass and huddle together in two long rows in the walkways on both sides. Another part she could see sparkled in the sunlight and it took Bak a moment to relize that was because it had been frozen over. Every so often an announcement came over the intercom, but it joined with the roar of thousands of people talking. No one would much notice one boy in all this mess.

The tension in the air came when a girl caught sight of Bak and screamed, drawing the eyes of everyone in the surrounding area. Bak could feel their eyes boring into her, reminding her far to much of home for comfort, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now. She had a job to do. She shoved her way though people milling about, unconcerned over whether she was being too rough, to make her way to the St. Laural's sanction while adding her own voice to the roar.

"Vittorio! Vittorio!" She called out, cupping her hands over her mouth. "I know you are hurting right now! Where are you? I can help!"

Katherine and ???

@Crazy Scion

@KillamriX88@Hammerman@RoflsMazoy

---

Kath awoke in darkness. A familiar, yet alien place that had no marking or landshapes, only a darkness that crawled until the horizon. It seemed that the very ground she stood on was solid darkness, only illuminated by a faint, distant light that helped her see somewhat. She was lying on the ground and she groaned as she sat up, and looked over at the light. It was faint, but...she immediately noticed it as her own flame that kept the demoness bound. But...she was nowhere to be seen, and the fire was more embers than anything else. "Ugh...what the fuck..." She groaned again and tried to stand up, but quickly fell back. Her body felt weak, broken, something she had never felt before. She had no idea what was going on and why she was here. Everything was a blurry mess...she had no memories of anything after the tournament began. And now she couldn't even stand up...great. As much as she hated to admit, her only chance was the demoness. She should know what was going on. "Hey! Where are you!" She called out into the darkness. "What's going on?"

"Master, please, not so loud. I am rather concentrating right now on keeping your heart beating and your voice is defining when you yell inside your own head." Her demons voice called back out of the dark.

"What..." Kath asked a bit confused. Keeping her heart beating? What did she mean. And what exactly was she doing controlling her body? She let out another groan as she painfully stood up, wobbling unsteadily for a few seconds before she secured her footing. "Sorry...but, what is going on?"

"I can see the void cuts deeply indeed. Damn that ninja." The voice paused as though considering. "Do you remember when I inquired about who your enemies were? No need to tell me, Because we've met that. Mephisto's attempted to assassinate you, right in the middle of the tournament for everyone to see. You were on the verge of death, so I offered a hand and you took it. I've managed to keep your wounds closed so far, but we're being pursued."

"What!" Kath exclaimed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing! And...how could she forget that! This was just supposed to be a friendly...well, somewhat friendly match between students! And isn't there a ward? This was wrong, all wrong. She felt angry but as she clutched her fingers into a fist she felt her heart ache. She really was...dying, and it scared her. "Damnit..." She mumbled as she sat down. "I guess there isn't much for me to do now, is there?"

"Steel yourself, child." The demon replied, not entirely unkindly. "Take that emotion and use it to fan your flame. If we get out of this you will be stronger for it. If not, then you may have at least prepared one last nasty surprise for our-oh damn it! Clara is here. So is your sister. You're certain she's trustworthy?

"Christine?" Kath exclaimed, as if she was calling out for her sister. "Christine is here?" She asked and mustered the strength to stand up again. She felt a newfound strength surge through her veins. It was still faint, but she felt much more confident now. She just wanted to protect her sister, and her presence was invigorating. "Yes, you can trust her! I'm sure she'll help me...I mean, us!"

"I'll trust your judgment." The demoness said, appearing suddenly out if the dark and holding out her hand. "She's attacking us right now, you need to talk to her. She knows I'm the on in control so she will disregard anything I say. You won't have long, so you will need to be convincing and when I pull you back you must let me. I can not channel you and keep your wounds closed for long. You need to buy us at leat some time to get away."

"What!" Kath exclaimed. That can't be...Clara must be manipulating Christine! Oh poor soul, she will be torn to her she's actually hurting her like that. Kath nod and reached out to the Demoness. "Alright, fine. You have my trust, you've kept me alive this far. I'll make this quick!"

"Don't mind the boy, I convinced him to help us. And make sure to hit the ground running." The demoness said, grasping Kath's hand and pulling. There was feeling of great speed as it seemed like she shot past the demon and through the darkness toward a pair of lights that flickered in the distance. They got closer, closer, blindingly bright, them with a sudden jolt Katherine found herself behind her own eyes again with the phantom feeling of the demons claw clasping her hand.

Kath did as she was told: once the bright light faded and she saw the world again, she started running as fast as her legs carried her. She almost tripped at the weird transition, but thankfully managed not to fall at the last second. She quickly looked around, her eyes searching for Christine. It didn't take long to find her at all, the ice was a pretty big giveaway to her location. "Christine! Christine it's me!" She shouted, and as much as she wanted to stop she kept running. "The demon it's he-" She couldn't finish the sentence as she ended up coughing up blood into her palm. Oh my god She didn't have time to look over herself, but the pain from her wounds have started seeping through the rush of adrenaline. "It's helping me! Let us go, I'll be fine! You have to trust me Chrissy!"

After resting for a while, Yuuto saw one of Clara's Beholders fly away. He knew that was his signal that he needed to get moving again. He tailed the Beholder, trying to allow more of his Void Energy build back up. By the time he neared the park, he was running high enough that he hid in the realm that he knew so well. There, he saw the confrontation, and the attempted getaway of the Demon and the mystery boy. Yuuto popped out of the Void in front of the two escapees, though off to the side so as to avoid a direct collision. He flung some shuriken at the boy, aiming for a crippling blow to the lower legs. "In name of Void, halt! Hand over girl who houses demoness if you value life." Yuuto called out in that same cold tone. This was a job. He had to play the part of obeying Clara's orders. What interest she had in the demoness, he didn't know. Nor, he told himself, did he care. He was a ninja. He was a tool for his employer. While that technically was Mephisto-dono, he had been told to obey his daughter's exact orders. That meant he was Clara's tool, to be used however she saw fit.

---

A team of Saint Laurels students beat a bunch of weird nuns. Then a knight fought some demons in what felt like some sort of fantasy play rather than a tournament battle. Then Kath got shot in the ribs with an arrow.

"Ah... fuck," Rurik sighed. Christine wasn't going to be happy about that. In fact she was getting up. "Christine there's a-"

BZZT! Christine bounced off of the force-field in a failed attempt to save her sister.

"-barrier..."

And then his girlfriend skated off, leaving a scattering of iced over people in her wake. ". . . wait." Rurik said pathetically, long after she was out of earshot. He probably could keep up if he tried. But he didn't like to try... And to what? Save Katherine? That held no appeal for him.

He recalled hearing Bak panicking somewhere nearby after Vittorio had blown up, so that was also happening.

It seemed he was at a cross-roads. Christine and Kath or Bak and Vittorio. Both people he associated with somewhat willingly, and both trying to save someone. What should he do? What should he pick? The tournament was canceled and his team was in shambles, so that wasn't an issue anymore anyway.

"Oh to hell with this, I'm going home..." Rurik muttered and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"...he was so strange, it was as though he wanted to pour out his entire heart. He has never talked to me like this before, not for that long. And, and...look! He gave this to me, asked me to keep it safe when he was gone. Rurik, I know he talks often about killing Alto but this feels different. I do not believe he intends to come back this time."

Rurik clenched his teeth a bit, but kept going.

"That sucks. And?"

"Please promise you will stop him! You always lie about going to class so this time you must promise!"

"Why me?!"

"Please promise, please promise, please promise, please promise, please promise-"

"GAH! FINE!" Rurik slammed his hands over his ears. "I promise! But you owe me!"

He was now grinding his teeth and picked up his pace.

"Thank you! I knew I could trust you!"

"I don't know why..." he mumbled to himself.

He stopped, eye twitching madly.

"I promise!"

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Rurik half-growled half groaned through his teeth and spun on his heel. "FUCK!"



Bak would have suddenly felt a weight land on her backpack.

"Get real, Bak. He's not gonna friggin' answer you. He's more of a robot that you are..." Rurik grumbled, now crouched on top of her. Now, how to spot the guy? He had his hand over his eyes, blocking the sun, as he peered around for Vittorio. What did he know about him? Gloomy, kinda weak in his real body, and... probably the only one skulking around in a hoodie walking toward Alto. From his perch, it was easy to pick him out. "Right then." He jumped off Bak and landed next to her.

"So I've got an idea you might not enjoy..." Rurik said and began gathering energy.



Meanwhile up in the crowd Alto stared, hands clenched into fists, in the direction the demoness had flown. So it was back, drawn out by Clara's pet killer. He could tell the demoness knew, the way it had stared at her. He'd put it together as well. And now the tournament was canceled. The students nearby were all abuzz, some making their way out, other's just chattering anxiously. Some... distracted by a strange, screaming robot girl. And then there was one moving against the tide -- toward him? He thought he saw something shiny...

Vittorio

Just a few more steps... justice and the final requiem. His eyes all of a sudden was drawn to the side, it was a voice in the crowd calling out to him as he mentally hymned on the song Charlotte had sung, what felt like so long ago. Every now and then I hear you calling out to me, say won't you come here... ? It was Bak, not mistake about it. She had come to try to stop him? To try save the lamb from the butcher's axe. But it's too late. Too late.

...when I'm my weakest and nothing can rescue me. Vittorio own voice echoed in his head. He then saw her through the crowd of people, followed by Celestine. He allowed a slight smile decorate his face, his eyes closing for just a brief moment after meeting with Bak's and Celestine's. Vittorio formed something simple, yet something which many people could read out just by appearance alone usually.

Good...bye. His dry lips formed, without actually saying the words, spotting Rurik also appearing on the scene, he knew he had to hurry to not be interupted, as his eyes set on Alto whom was just within reach of him. The way they were yelling his name in the distance would be caught unto by Alto if they kept this up, he had to move now. It was his one and only chance. He pulled out the improvised dagger made out of glass from his hoodie pocket and did the quickest thrust forwards he had ever done since his injury, everything was put into this strike. Two years of pain and reoccuring nightmares.

When the glass blade finally connected, he felt as if every part of his being recoiled as an effect. He looked down to his chest, stumbling backwards abit. The glass shard had found it's way into Alto's side, the boy had quickly turned and shot Vittorio through the shoulder area using his finger lasers. Abit of blood poured out from Vittorio's mouth. It also felt as if it had not been the only thing hitting him, but he wasn't certain.

"This is for you Alto... from all those lives you led astray and destroyed..." He said in a mix of pain, weariness and anger. His vision going blurry, he fell backwards with his hands held out. The surrounding people gasped and panicked around him, but their voices were now being muffled to him. Some of the security were on the way, as was Bak, Celestine and Rurik. He could see them well enough, as he tried to focus his vision. As if everything was happening in slow motion.

This world... I hate it. You made my existance in the end a little less painful. For that you have my thanks... Am I forgiven for failing you, mom... dad... Charlotte... Geon...? At the end... I cannot help but feel it, the wish... to live. Is is allright for me to let go? To finally let go..? He made a faint attempt at moving his left hand, the pain he couldn't feel it now, but the movement was not overly refined. He made a crude childlike motion of a wave using his bloodied hand. Goodbye Bak... Celestine...Rurik.. Then his eyes closed and the darkness was all around. He saw Charlotte as an ghostly manifestation in his mind. 'There's still alot of things you can do Vitto! Don't give up! Fight on!'

Charlotte... A single tear fell from his right eye. Those present by his body could now see the astral manifestation of the boy, how he looked two years ago, just for a brief moment. His sight set on Bak, with a smile on his face before the astral figure broke apart and began to fade away.

Meredith did not know what or who had roused that much demonic energy at the tournament. It was unlikely her mother had actually moved a finger to help her, and those siblings of hers were only useful as distraction, even. So whoever it was, it probably was wise for her to put as much ground as she could between them and her. It was somewhat helpful that like her mother and siblings, was a deft flyer. Even more now that some parts had lost quite some useless weight.“This is nice, I can fly better, even when encumbered.” She muttered to herself, her clutches firmly but carefully seizing her prey, Andras. Poor girl would've loved for a flight were she awake, such was her strange mind. To like what people hated, and to be reluctant about things she really liked but were deemed too childish. It was a pity that she was about to be handed over like a token.

But such was the way of this world. People were selfish and mean all the time. She just... had realized that. Her wounds kept closing and sealing, even though she was getting hungry. But there was not a moment to waste. She descended gracefully, the girl cradled in her arms, and knocked at the shelter's door, being careful to not rouse any bystanders.

“Gally, Mer's hooome!” She chided. “I got your package. Did you do what we agreed? Could you bring some proof so we can conclude this business? A finger would be nice.” She said, without batting an eyelid.

@Dezuel@KillamriX88

@Dezuel@rawkhawk64@Hammerman@Crazy Scion@6slyboy6

---

"The key here is to grab him before you smash him, got it? Good," Rurik told Bak as he took aim-

And then Vittorio got shot. "Well that's probably not good..." He couldn't very well aim if Vittorio was lying on the ground...



As Vittorio began to fall, he'd have felt a hand reach out to grab him. It was Alto. As his delirious thoughts drifted through his mind, Alto pulled him closer, glaring into his eyes. "Wake up!" Alto commanded. "I've been told of this misguided vendetta of yours and now I've been stabbed over it!" He clutched his injury even as he spoke. He didn't exactly raise his voice, but he was clearly... upset. "So, right now, explain yourself! I want to hear it directly from you why it's come to this!"

"Alto, you're bleeding-" Someone tried to interject, but an icy look silenced them.

"I... am aware."



Rurik saw that Alto had caught Vittorio. How fortuitous. Well in that case... "Just a little more, Bak." He firmed his grip on Bak's gear. It'd do them no good if she charged off before he was ready.

"WATCH OUT, SHE'S GONE CRAZY! SHE'LL KILL US ALL! TAKE COVER!" Rurik suddenly shouted in a mock panic.

A moment later a dozen St. Laurel's students had all turned on them, taking fighting stances. No doubt they'd already been set on guard after the stabbing. He... probably shoulda seen that coming.

". . . their loss." He suddenly fished a leathery ball out of his pocket. With a squeeze it unfurled wings and it's massive eye blinked open. "Hope you have good timing, Clara!" He chucked it into the air over Vittorio and Alto where it began flapping to hover, it's one, bloodshot eye frantically glancing back and forth to survey the area. "Your turn!"

And indeed it was. The next thing Bak would know G-Forces hit her and she was sent flying toward Vittorio as if shot from a cannon. Any students too slow to dive clear were scattered like bowling pins.

Alto would not get his answers that day it seemed. He turned at Rurik's yelling only to moments later see Bak flying through the air at him. There was no time, it was either lose Vittorio or get steamrolled. He jumped away at the last second leaving Vittorio behind.

As Bak flew she fired. BANG BANG BANG went the flak cannon and explosions rained down around Vittorio's position. The students that had managed to dive clear were thrown to and fro from the explosions, but all Vittorio felt from this was a pleasant summer days breeze. None of the force of it seemed to touch him.

Speaks flew from the bleachers as he feet scraped deep grooves in the floor beneath her, slowing her down as she made her approach. Before hitting Vittorio she lifted one leg, allowing herself to turn slightly, and instead of hitting him head on she spread her arms wide and scooped him up in an embrace as she flew past. She pulled him in close, ready to protect him for the shock on the inevitable fall.

---

"Do not give it any heed, Christine," Clara spoke with just a little more force than normal. "Keep in mind what it is. A being that would drag children off into who knows what kind of hell. A being that not long ago tried to kill us all. I'm sure it does not remember you fondly from that day. No doubt its been rooting around in your sisters mind long enough to mimic her. Were I you, I'd be offended..." Even as she spoke, she'd directed the beholder that had led her there to move. It swooped down in front of D'Artagnan in coordination with Christine's earlier attack. It's one, massive eye was opened as wide as possible and it's wings outstretched, aiming to startle him or even just cause him to run face first into it. Even Clara did not expect that she was also coordinating with Yuuto who moments later burst from the shadows. "Keep your resolve, or would you rather it run off with your sister's body, perhaps never to be seen again?"

A moment later Clara felt a small vibration. It seemed another of her beholders had been awakened. To her surprise, it had been by Rurik of all people, but she quickly understood why. Moments after Bak grabbed Vittorio, the beholder flying above would pulse, it's eye threatening to pop out of its body, and soon darkness would swirl around the two, whisking them away. A shadowy portal then opened beside Clara, and Bak and Vittorio came careening out, digging a furrow into the dirt.

"Hey! Me next!" she heard Rurik yelling at the beholder. She pursed her lips, but then somewhat reluctantly repeated the process. The next portal opened up a little higher though, causing Rurik to flop to the ground behind Bak. He lifted his head to look at her.

"That was on purpose..." he grumbled. She simply stared back at him emotionless before shifting her attention back to the matter at hand.

Bak hit the ground on her side and slid roughly, hugging the boy to her chest. She looked around, confused. Instead of the concrete she had expected she'd slid through grass and dirt. This was some kind of park, it looked like, and instead of being surrounded by St. Laural's she could see that most of the people here were her friends. She let out a sigh of relief.

That relief lasted about as long as it took her to release her grip on Vittorio. She laid him gently onto the ground and got her first good look at him. She felt a lump jump up into her throat and rolled herself to a better angle, managing to get her legs under her and kneel at his. "Vittorio? Vittorio, can you hear me? Oh no, oh no, no no no no no." She hovered her hand hands over his body, unsure what if anything she could do. Finally she decided the press her hands down over his wound, feeling the sticky wet feeling as the blood soaked into her gloves.

"You will be all right. You are stronger than this, I know it. You have to survive this, you do not yet have your revenge yet, da?" She asked desperately. "It is all right, we will get Celestine and you will be all right. We can just.. Tovarisch!" She called out to Clara. "You must bring Celestine here, or, or, or something! You must do something!"

She looked back down at him. The bleeding hadn't stopped. It didn't look like it was going to stop. "Please do not die." She begged. "We need you to live....I need you to live. My world is so small. I could not bear it. These friends you are always speaking of? These dear ones of yours? That is what you are to me. You understand this, da? If so you understand why you must live. Please, come out of the cold and live!"

"Hold him up..." Clara eventually spoke, flipping open her grimoire. Out of its shadowy pages crawled a large spider than crawled across Vittorio's body, quickly weaving silk until the wound's bleeding was stopped. "It will hold for now. It was Alto, wasn't it? The wound was non-fatal to begin with, if only he weren't so frail. He will live." Well, she didn't really know that for certain, it was Vittorio after all, but in theory he should be fine.

Bak wasn't so sure. Normally if Clara said something she took it as truth but...

Since she no longer had to put pressure on the wound Bak went back to finding something she had to do. Anything that might help. Anything that could keep her busy. But there was really nothing she could do now but hope. Whether or not he lived was entirely up to him.

Well, there was one thing. She reached down and held his hand.

"Now... let us be done with this," Clara spoke, focusing once more on the demon. Yuuto had her little helper under control. If Christine didn't stay under control, she needed to be ready. Her book once more brought something dark into the world. From the shadows crawled a hulking beast. It was hard to say what it was. It had a thick hide and lots of muscles though. It could weather some fire and had an iron grip. That was all Clara needed...

Meanwhile Rurik was now in a sitting position. He looked at Christine, and then at Kath, or what had been Kath at least. And then at Clara's new monster.

And then back to Christine. It was so strange to him. Christine was almost always happy, no matter what. Always. But now...

And back at Clara's new monster.

"Yeah, about that..." Rurik pushed himself to his feet.

"Wher-" Clara began, but Rurik walked right up to the monster. It barely reacted, he wasn't its target after all. Rurik then placed his hand on it and it froze up. Then it twitched a little.

Then it blew apart into meat chunks and dust before finally turning into black vapor and vanishing.

"What-"

"So. Last time we did this you fucked it up," Rurik said to Clara, though his gaze was focused on Katherine.

"Excuse m-"

"And last time you even had those other two idiots helping you," he told her and finally glanced over his shoulder at her. "But you know, I didn't do too bad last time, so how about you just leave it to me."

Clara had to take a moment. This level of blatant defiance from Rurik was taking a moment for even her to process. Well, what she said in response took Rurik a moment to process, so it all evened out. "Fine. Very well. Go ahead," she said. What was the old saying? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes? Then Rurik was free to win all the prizes he wanted. Maybe he would at least tire the demon out. "Everyone else stand down. It would seem Rurik will handle this. Yuuto, that boy there is Mr. D'Artagnan, a member of our night school. Please... see to his safety."

Rurik swallowed. Well, that had gone a little too well actually.

Shit.

Bak's attention was called back over to the scene playing out around her by the explosion. She hadn't been paying attention to what was happening, she didn't think she'd needed too. But now her friends were fighting one another on top of everything? What was Rurik thinking, blowing apart Clara's monster like that? "What are you doing? Why?" She asked shakily.

"Because..." Rurik turned ever so slightly to look at Christine. "If I don't find a way to stop this, Christine will be sad..." "... deep down..." He clenched his fists. "It's still Kath." He looked back at the demonic girl in question. "And I really want to punch her in the face."

Michael Angie

Michael watched the screen with mild concern as one of the contestants seemed to be injured rather heavily, and the others rushed off in an alarmed frenzy. He would have joined them, but with his body as injured as it was, he knew he was in no shape to offer any sort of assistance. Both arms and a leg were too injured to move properly, and Michael felt lucky to have gotten away with just those injuries too, considering the thrashing he had gotten. Instead, he turned his attention to the patients who were still around. Ria and Diana were still around, but it seemed like they were asleep. He knew Diana was for sure, but was less sure for Ria. He briefly considered the possibility of waking her for some idle chatter and possibly a few pieces of intel, but decided it would be unwise to do so at the moment. Like him, she was recovering from whatever wounds she had gotten, and he'd rather not start unnecessary trouble for his own self-interest.

That left him to his own devices for the time being. He looked down at his own body and considered trying to apply some Body Arts to himself with a paintbrush in his mouth. A few attempts were made, and Michael tried his best to maneuver the stick with his tongue and lips. It ultimately proved to be harder than it looked, and Michael spat out his paintbrush in defeat. He pondered about what else he could do to pass the time. He hated having nothing to do.

David was running as fast as his legs would carry him, deadest on reaching the road. He knew if they could reach the road He could make a portal and escape. His hopes were dashed when he realized Christine was chasing them. He had seen that girl roll in and she was fast as hell. "Maybe she won't do anything crazy with her sister near?" David thought, but then felt a stumble from on his right he looked back as Katherine start pleading with her sister to let her go and that the demon was helping her. He saw her cough up blood though and was so shocked he didn't even see the beholder. A barrage of ice cycles flew into his legs while he was distracted, "Guess she had faith in her aim." David thought as he felt several cuts along his legs and a shard of ice was stuck in his left calf. He couldn't stay on his feet and fell to the ground dragging poor Katherine with him. He luckily ended up accidentally ducking under a bunch of shurikens when he fell. "Well, this is bad." He thought as he struggled to get to his hands and knees.

He was surprised when he didn't get immediately kicked on his ass. He heard Clara start lecturing Christine, apparently, Kath had gotten through to her enough that she had paused her attack. Yuuto likewise seemed to be waiting for the outcome of the argument. This was good as it gave David time to think. He could feel that his leg was bleeding, but the ice shard was actually soothing the wound a bit as it melted. Still, Clara was trying to convince Christine that everything Katherine said was a lie. He was getting agitated, but her talking was distracting everyone, so he needed to make the most of this opportunity.

As Clara spoke he whispered, "Open." and opened the square portal on his chest. This portal connected to a shelf in his garage which was filled with bookshelves and racks of all kinds of random objects. The walls and back of the shelves were covered in circles and squares of varying shapes and sizes designed to make it easy for improvise portals to connect. David reached inside and awkwardly grabbed a high-pressure nozzle, complete with a grip and release bar, and set it on the ground underneath him. He hoped his body would obscure it from view while he worked. "Close, open, open." He again whispered. A portal opened on the back side of the nozzle and the one on his chest closed and reformed in an instant and he reached inside.

This portal was special as it was not connected to David's house, but to one of many, he'd hidden in Mephisto's. David had taken every opportunity to explore the school and hid portals everywhere he could. This one was inside a fire hose cabinet placed right over the turn nozzle. The other portal on the back of the high-pressure nozzle led straight to the outflow pipe. He grabs the wheel on top and starts turning.

As Clara finishes trying to talk Christine down she seems to get distracted by something. David notices the pause in the conversation and looks over in time to see a black portal opens in the air. "That's not fair," David muttered upset that his portals were far less convenient than her's. However, what came out of the portal crushed his envy with a feeling of panic. The crazy missile girl, Bak, came skidding out of the portal carrying a feeble looking guy bridle style. Vitorrio looked like a corpse in her arms and David actually flinched when she hit the ground. His sympathy wasn't long as another portal opened a man, Rurik, fell onto the scene. David had never seen him before but knew that reinforcements were a bad sign. "I may need a lot more 'fire' power then I thought." David pondered. Bak starts pleading with Clara to heal Vitorrio. David uses the distraction to close the portal on his chest and start drawing additional circles on his shirt. He creates a set of seven circles on the inside of the big circle and square, then draws circles on the palms of his hands and along his forearms. His leg was starting to feel numb, but the ice had completely melted away. There was a lot of blood pooling around his left calf. He was pretty sure he couldn't stand without help. He was going to have to rely on Kath to get him to the road now. However, he wasn't going to let himself be dead weight.

As he finished drawing circles around his chest and on his back he had to pause as Clara summoned a demonic looking bear from her book. It seemed his enemy had settled their affairs and were ready to attack again David was starting to feel the huge power gap going on when looking at that bear. He was not looking forward to getting mauled to death today. However, the world really liked to fuck with him it would seem because Rurik walked up to the bear and literally exploded it in front of everyone. The things guts flying everywhere. "What the fuck?" David said allowed "Did he just? Fuck this City." it seems Clara also took offense to this and they argued a bit. David was in shock still and ended up wasting the time listening instead of working. As Clara and Rurik settled the matter things took a turn for the worse when Rurik challenged Katherine to a duel in front of everyone. At the same time, Clara ordered Yuuto to protect him. "They got to be mocking me?" David thought, "I'm on the ground crippled, so she shows pity to win brownie points with her subordinates. Well, fuck that shit. I might not be able to stand, but I can fight." he thought angrily

As Rurik stood at the ready David felt a steady anger building. That asshole wanted to fight the Demon, but all David saw was a scared girl. In his anger, he yells at Rurik in front of everyone, "Yeah your a real tough man! God murder must get you rock hard you sick fuck!" David turns his head enough to look right at Rurik with a death glare, "So, you want to fight?! Then why don't you fight me instead?!" As David makes this declaration he would roll off his hand and knees and onto his back. Rurik would then see the high-pressure nozzle aimed right at him."Now get fucked!" David would shout as he wracked the handle. A one hundred foot jet of water would shoot out and right into Rurik. In the distance at Mephisto's school for the Wickedly inclined, the fire alarm would start to ring as the pressure sensor is tripped. Unfortunately, with no one at the school due to the tournament, it would take hours for the fire department to figure out the cause and shut it off. David would let the water flow for several seconds before turning it off. If Rurik came at him, then he had another surprise waiting.

@Gentlemanvaultboy@KillamriX88@Hammerman

---

8 days ago

“Thobias, slow down!” The boy in a simple leather jacket paced behind Thobias, clearly having a hard time keeping up with him. He was a large guy, over 2 meters in height and hulking in every way possible. His clean shaven head and think beard coupled well with his rough facial expressions and bursting muscles. He was an intimidating presence at other times, be he followed behind the much shorter Thobias like a puppy after it’s mother which broke the illusion in matter of seconds.

Thobias groaned and finally stopped in front of the large cast iron gate to a crumbling factory, turning a 180 to face his follower. “Brutus, what the heck did I tell you?” He asked an a brash tone, shaking his head in disapproval. “They said only me, no bodyguards. Liam and Sarah understood that. If you come with me, the deal is off and then you’ll have your monster sized hands full of trouble!” He leaned against the brick wall of the factory, still bearing the remains of the bronze insignia that bore the name no longer. “I’ll be fine, that’s my whole gimmick, remember? In and out, nobody caught me before and they never will.” He explained to Brutus and waited for an answer from the beast in man’s clothing.

“Boss, you know I trust you, but I don’t like a single bit about this deal.” He exclaimed, hoping to put some sense into Thobias. But he wouldn’t have any luck, he already made up his mind about this deal. Still he tried, pulling out a pistol from his pants. “At least let me wait around the corner. If anything goes down, you know I can deal with them in a heartbeat.”

“With that peashooter? ” Thobias asked and let out a smug laugh. “Brutus, your hands are your weapons, don’t make me laugh mate!” He exclaimed and shook his head, than took a step closer Brutus and looked into his eyes with a killing gaze that bore no empathy for his concerns. “Now put the fucking gun away unless you want a bullet hole in both of us.” He quickly looked around and leaned closer, following up in a more quiet tone. “If you want to stay so bad, wait around the corner. In and out, easy breeze, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” With that he pat the arms of Brutus and flashed him a quick smile before turning on his heels and lighting a quick cigarette before making his way inside the compound, blinking through the bars and out of sight.

A more run down place you couldn’t have imagined for a drug deal. Well, it was exactly the sort of place that that cops would love to check from time to time, and that didn’t help ease his worries that this deal wasn’t what he imagined it to be. But the cops would want all his mates around, so it was probably something else. Or maybe he was just thinking too much about it for no reason. That must’ve been it. He took a deep sniff of his cigarette as she casually walked around a broken warehouse, leaving behind a puff of smoke.

And there they were, bunch of gangsters who he had to put up with so long with little disputes here and there. But they offered him a deal the other day that he couldn’t refuse, something to put and end to their little squabble. And Thobias had to take it, he wasn’t exactly running a gang to rival the size of others. What his team had in powers, these people made up for in manpower and equipment. At least a dozen men, all armed with automatic weapons. Not a pretty sight to meet on such a fine day, but he had no other choice.

He looked around as if he was examining the architecture if the place and threw his cig away. “Why are we meeting out here mate? Was the plaza closed or something?” He asked jokingly and looked over at the one man he knew from the group. A short guy in white clothing and a dark skin complex with a very ugly face. Yeah, he wasn’t the biggest fan of this “Juan” character, but again, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He walked out into the middle of the little area that the people already present set up a barrier around with the cars and guards and beckoned at the short man. “We doing this deal or not?”

He probably looked more confident than he was. Dodging a knife or a few thugs with a pistol was one thing. When there are people actively aiming their gun at you, that’s a whole different thing. His muscles tensed as he waited for an answer and his mind was already focusing on a nice and quiet place where he could escape to if the situation turned hot. And after what seemed like forever, the man finally spoke up.

“Thobias, thobias…” He begun, shaking his head as he pushed himself away from the car he was leaning against. “We’ve been rivals for the longest time, and despite all my attempts to squash you out, your seem to resurface somewhere else and slip for my grasp.” Uh-oh, that didn’t seem like a good start? Was he too cocky to come here? Probably yes, this wouldn’t be the first time he got shot for being a dumbass. But he wasn’t in the mood for getting turned into swiss cheese either, he felt like a few hundred bullet wounds aren’t something Liam could fix up.

“But… I realize that this rivalry is killing us both. I’ve lost too many men and supplies to our little disputes, and since I’ve tried everything to get rid of you and nothing worked, I’m going to extend a deal to you.” He said and then beckoned for his men. CLICK He hated that sound. Why did it have to be a trap? Man, these bad guys never played clean did they? A dozen or so guns pointed at him, and he started to feel the burn under his feet. He couldn’t dodge them, not at this range...if only he had any idea how he did that thing with his fight against Rurik! Man, that would make this a walk in the park…

“You are a talent, I recognize that. We have a place for talents like you. Heck, I’ll throw in your little friends too just so you know how nice I am. You’ll be my dealer and we’ll agree on a cut.” Oh yeah, so I can get bossed around for pocket change? This guy thinks he is doing this for money? Man, he must have something wrong in his head. He didn’t like the deal, not one bit, but he had to make a decision soon, or one of these armed thugs will get an itchy trigger finger soon. “Tick, tock, time is ticking Thobias. Make a decision!”

“Chill mate, gimme a sec.” He exclaimed. Maybe he should’ve brought the others along too, they could’ve cleared out these miserable excuses of gangsters in seconds. As if Brutus heard his thoughts he turned around the corner, already in full sprint. “Nobody move!” Man, he wasn’t messing around, but he clearly didn’t think about this. Oh well, it was a fun life while it lasted. He already heard the hammer’s hit the pins in the guns, the bullets whistling their way through the air at him and Brutus. He concentrated, hoping to blink away just in time, but things didn’t look up for him. He closed his eyes and waited to see if he was faster or the bullets.

And then...nothing. A terrible shockwave seemed to have hit him, but it wasn’t the familiar searing pain of the a bullet. Or multiple in this case. No, it was something else...but still familiar. Like when he tried to use his abilities one too many times and the universe metaphorically punched him in the kisser for messing around with it too much. So, he opened his eyes to see what was going on.

An eerie yet familiar gray hue greeted him. Everything around him just...stopped. Not a single movement, the bullets frozen in the air and Brutus still in the act of running, his legs not touch the ground. He wanted to say he did that but...he didn’t. So...what the heck was this, and why was it so familiar.

“Hey there kiddo! Seems like you’re in a big bloody mess, aren’t ya?” He quickly turned around on his heels to look for the source of this unknown voice. And there he was, standing in front of him...yes, literally he himself was standing in front of himself, but...older? And wearing a weird outfit too, but he could definitely tell it was himself. Only one person was as handsome as himself and that was, well, himself. But before he could speak up, the man, or himself if you want to put it like that, interrupted.

“Kiddo, I’m sure you have tons of questions, but I can’t answer them all.” He exclaimed and his hands shifted over to a holster he was carrying and he pulled out a revolver...or at least something that reminded him a lot of a revolver. The man, himself, errr...he’ll have to come up with a name for sure...anyways, he checked the mag of his gun before he started walking over to the thugs, still frozen.

“Let’s make this quick. I’m you, in a way, from the future and from a whole other dimension.” Yeah, they should totally talk some other, time it was being a little too complicated already. “Call me the Caretaker if ya would. I make sure none of you idiots make some stupid mistake that ends up wiping your whole gen.” He exclaimed, and walked over to one of the thugs, sending a bullet through their head. Well, Thobias expected it, but the bullet just stopped an inch away from their head, frozen like everything else. What was the point then? And more so, what was he talking about with gens? “Usually I don’t have to, but you live in a super annoying world where everybody seems to have powers. Which is great, because at least you can defend yourself as well. But clearly not well enough, not yet at least.” He exclaimed, walking up to each tug, and doing the same motion he did before with his gun. What was he on about.

“Wait, not yet? You mean I could do...this?” Thobias asked and pointed around himself. The Caretaker laughed and shook his head, holstering his gun. “You wish Kiddo. Not in a lifetime you won’t...at least, not like I can.” He walked up to Thobias up close, and squinted his eyes as he took a good look at him. Wow, creepy figure. “But you have potential. Whatever you did back during that fight with that Rurik guy, it really set things in motion. That’s the whole reason I’m here.” Finally he took a step back away and Thobias let out a sigh. “You have potential, but I always need to be at hundreds of places at the same time, so I can’t exactly teach you right now. You’ll need to break free before I can properly teach you, and I doubt you have the balls for that.” First of all, that was incredibly rude. Saying he didn’t have the ball, hah! Second of all...he didn’t understand a word of that. Nope, not one bit, he was absolutely clueless. Did this guy really expect him to know what he was talking about?

“But, I’ll give you a parting gift Thobias, cause you’re on my watchlist now and I want you to live just a little longer than what is written for you.” Without a warning the Caretaker teleported up to him, using the same ability he always used, and placed his hand on his forehead. Suddenly it felt like he had a glimpse at everything, images flashing by his eyes at speed even he couldn’t comprehend, and then everything went black. Suddenly, he felt a weird feeling deep in himself, as if his heart was pounding more than before, but...it felt off.

Before he could ask the caretaker took a step back and tipped his hat at Thobias. “Feel that beat? Think very hard of someone and you’ll feel their presence wherever they are. The closer your connection, the less vague it will be. And if you can’t feel that beat, well...you know what that means!” And then just like that POOF he was gone. What the hell was that all about? And what did he mean! No, he didn’t understand.

He didn’t have too much time to think about it as he saw the field shimmer around himself, and he realised that bullets were still flying at him. Thobias quickly teleported over to Brutus, just in time to see time return to normal.

The sound of a dozen distinct shots ringed with the other sounds, and the gangsters all dropped dead at the same time, a familiar bullet passing through their craniums. The bullets mean for him? They harmlessly splashed on the ground where he used to be. Brutus stopped in surprise, kicking up a cloud of dust as he came to a halt, and Juan...well, he looked more than surprised. “Would you look at that?” He mumbled under his breath. He had to admit, that was some grade A badassery from whoever this mystery guy was.

He let out a snarky laugh and lighted a cigarette as he approached Juan with smalls steps, Brutus following behind him. “The deal’s off Juan. If I see your goons on my turf again I’ll think twice about letting you live.” He exclaimed with a chuckle and patted Juan’s cheeks a few times before turning over to Brutus. “Alright mate, I think we’re done here. Thanks for the worry, but this bum is nothing I can’t deal with.” He exclaimed and then walked away from the site, with Brutus in tail. And he had no inclination on telling him this wasn’t his doing.

---

The day of the tournament

Thobias was sitting on the top ledge of the stadium, watching the match from a bird’s eyes view. He was dangling his legs as he watched the tourney, eating a bag of popcorn. Yes, he bought it just to mock everyone else who would see him. No, he didn’t care. He really had the best place in the entire stadium after all. He noticed that a few other people with similar abilities sparsely populated the roof along with him, and there was a silent union in it. Everybody here had the silent agreement that they had the coolest ability ever. Even if everybody thought theirs was the be all to end all, nobody would dare say anything to the other because they had a common laughing stock in the form of the people who couldn’t fly or teleport.

He spent the last few days practicing his abilities, especially the one he got from the Caretaker. He still didn’t manage to recreate the ability he used to win against Rurik, but this new ability he had… man, it was something else. Whenever he thought of someone really hard, he could feel their heart beat within his own chest, and have a vague idea of where they were. It wasn’t omnipresent, they tested it with Liam, Brutus and Sarah. He teleported across half the world to see how far the range was, but in the end it seemed to be only effective within the city, and a bit extra. But at the outskirts of town, it was just the faintest feeling, a hard task to pinpoint anyone. Still, it seemed to improve over the days, and he gradually kept pushing his range out. Just like when he was training his blink ability, using it more and more helped, yet it put a similar strain on his body, so he could only do it so much.

Today he came around to check the matches. On one hand, he wanted to see how strong these people really were, and whether or not he could match up with against them. Of course, not that he wanted to, fighting head on wasn’t his style. He was more like the head of the body anyways. And secondly, he came to check on Katherine. He had to admit, he couldn’t get her out of his head as much as he wanted to. And yeah, he came all the way just to see her match. Now everybody shut up, the match is about to begin.

Honestly, he didn’t like it one bit. Not that it wasn’t a pretty fight with explosions and people getting punched in the face. No, it was that there wasn’t enough punching and explosions. He honestly expected more from Kath, he knew that she had a lot more in her. Even as he saw the sword from Yuuto, he didn’t intervene. He had every right to believe that Kath could just pop her final form, clear up their entire team and then be done with it. The demon be fucked, he was sure Kath could deal with it.

That was, until she couldn’t. He was perplexed, wasn’t Kath the best brawler in St Laurels? Of course, that’s not exactly much against a sword, but he expected a lot more. But what was worse...the bleeding didn’t seem to stop. Whatever was going on, it didn’t seem that the stasis field put up for protection was protecting Kath from the cuts. His heart tensed up, and he felt that second heart beat within his chest faster and faster: he knew it wasn’t going well for Kath.

He couldn’t watch this anymore, he had to do something without directly interfering...but what? Well, he knew the first thing he head to do. He took out his cell, and quick dialed Liam. It took only a few seconds before the he answered. “Yeah boss, what’s the matter.”

Liam, grab Brutus and Sarah, and get to the hideout. Chances are, I’ll be bringing a few guests who need some help, so get a few-” He glanced down at the tourney, where it seemed that Kath had been taken over by the demoness, leaving behind a trail of blood. “Scratch that, all the blood you can carry. You’ll have your hands full.” With that he ended the call and hopped to his legs, going down around the far end of the roof.

Before he could do so, he felt Kath move, and move fast. He turned around, just as to see her use some sort of a...demonic wings to escape. That was new… Funny the things you don’t know about a girl that you used to sleep with. Of course, he knew it was the demoness, and it was all the more unsettling. If she had taken over, who knows what kind of trouble Kath might be in. But still, it was a slight relief as well: the heartbeat so erratic before seemed to have calmed down. So whatever the demon was doing, it was at least helping a bit.

Thobias trailed behind the group until they ended up in a nearby park. It seemed like this was where they were going to finally have at it. Thobias didn’t like one bit that Clara wanted the demon from Kath. Maybe, if it was malicious. But it was her orders that hurt Kath, and now the Demoness was keeping her alive. No, he couldn’t just let that happen. Sure, she was her superior in school and all that, but he didn’t give the slightest fuck about that at the present moment. No, he had to act quick, and he knew exactly who to turn to to tip the scales.

Christine. Kath’s sweet, and admittedly more pervy sister that has already managed to cool her sister down on so many occasions. He didn’t want this to be one of that. All this time he was trailing from a safe distance, but now he leaped into action, messing with the brains of his foes as he liked to do.

With a quick blink, he appeared right by Christine and grabbed a hold of her arm, giving her and Clara a quick wave. “I’ll take you for a quick trip hun.” He quipped, and he was gone just as soon as he arrived. Yes, he could’ve taken Kath straight out of here. Yes, he could’ve teleported most of Kath’s enemies far, far away, but he didn’t want to do that. He enjoyed watching a good trashing like anyone else, but he needed to make sure the match was fixed. So, he made it quick with Christine as he teleported with her just around the corner, still in sight of the fight, yet a good distance away.

As he did so, he quickly released her and took a jump back before she could potentially hit him.”Don’t hate me Christine, but I can’t watch you beat up Kath, blinded by that madwoman Clara.I can feel it, she’s not lying-” He exclaimed and put his hand on his heart. “Kath’s going to die if the demon leaves her body, it’s the only thing keeping her alive. I’ll explain all of it later, but you have to trust me!” And just like that, he said everything he wanted to, and felt like he could muster out of himself in one breath. He wheezed, and took a deep breath before staring at Christine for her answer. He couldn’t let her get back into the fight as an enemy.

---

D'Artagnan's attack might've had more success if he hadn't announced it so fervently. Even so, Rurik didn't quite expect that kind of attack. His hand instinctively shot up, but the blat of water was already upon him, striking with enough force to turn his head. However, his shield deployed a second later, redirecting the remainder of the jet of water away harmlessly. Rurik slowly turned his head back, wet hair sticking to his face. He wiped it away revealing himself to look quite pissed.

If nothing else, it had certainly put him in the mood to punch someone in the face for real.

"Yuuto... hurry up and 'protect' that guy before I kill him myself!" Rurik growled loudly as the water stream came to an end. He then dropped his shield and pegged a bolt at the guy's head. After blowing up Clara's monster, he hadn't had time to fully charge up again, but the transparent projectile still shot out with a solid 85% power. Enough to punt D'Artagnan's head back into the dirt should it hit. "Please and... uh... aricatto. Whatever..."

He then took a few steps closer to the demoness. "Well come on, you flaming bitch. You gonna let gimpy there protect you or step up? There's no where to go so I suggest we get this on with before it becomes a party again." The last thing anyone wanted was Clara getting impatient.

---

---

Got him!

Christine rushed forward when she saw her attack landing on the boy, intending to snatch Kath away from him.

However...

"Christine! Christine it's me!"

"K-Kath?"

Her sister suddenly called out to her. And to her disbelief, she actually said to let her go and that the demon inside her was helping her.

"Kath!" she shouted with worry as she saw her sister cough up some more blood.

"Do not give it any heed, Christine," Clara spoke to her. "Keep in mind what it is. A being that would drag children off into who knows what kind of hell. A being that not long ago tried to kill us all. I'm sure it does not remember you fondly from that day. No doubt its been rooting around in your sisters mind long enough to mimic her. Were I you, I'd be offended..."

"Clara..."

Christine was conflicted. She knew Clara's explanation perfectly made sense. The demon could just be mimicking her sister, trying to trick her to give her symphaty. But, her gut sense spoke otherwise. It was Kath herself who spoke. She just knew it.

"Keep your resolve, or would you rather it run off with your sister's body, perhaps never to be seen again?" Clara continued.

Then, she saw Clara transporting a bunch of people here with her portal from the corner of her eyes. She couldn't tell who they were exactly, but it seemed like Rurik and Bak were amongst them.

...Wait, Rurik! She got an idea!

"Hey, Kath! Rurik peeked at me changing at the locker room today! Can you believe it?"

There! If she's the real Kath, she should be really mad at him!

She did actually change there though Rurik wasn't peeking, of course. She changed into her lucky coat and panties, the ones she always wore over the years into important matches and fights. They had gotten skimpier over the years as she grew up, but she still wore them nonetheless.

Before she could see how Kath would react however, Thobias suddenly appeared out of nowhere and teleported her away.

"W-what, Thobias?" she said in bewilderment.

”Don’t hate me Christine, but I can’t watch you beat up Kath, blinded by that madwoman Clara. I can feel it, she’s not lying-” He exclaimed and put his hand on his heart. “Kath’s going to die if the demon leaves her body, it’s the only thing keeping her alive. I’ll explain all of it later, but you have to trust me!”

Christine paused, staring at him.

"I know..." she replied. "I have a hunch she's the real Kath too!"

"...Clara is wrong. I have to go back to tell her that!" she continued, a determined look on her face.