@AtomicNut @Gentlemanvaultboy @KillamriX88@supertinyking

Celestine eyed the exchange with some glee, hopefully hidden with his mask. Trust Vernon to come here stomping and puffing his way in, overbearing mafia style. Well, he would make a fine example if need be... Luigi's entrance was more worrisome, as he was... not as keen and as sharp he remembered him to be. He even had addressed him as Celestine, when he was wearing his Fallen One getup. Well, no big deal, half of these people knew his identity already.

Whatever blackmail the other half could get would hopefully be rendered moot by his power. He eyed Bak. Well, at least she did not shoot Diana on sight. That was a great start. But he somehow needed to dispel the notion of her being St Laurel's. "Her school is very poor so she was conscripted by St Laurels, but now I've arranged her situation." Celestine indicated to Bak in a hushed whisper. He just raised an eyebrow to Bak's description of a Witch. "I dunno, maybe she feels like rebelling against stereotypes."

Diana on the other hand, was more concerned about the situation, as she moved alongside her snake-seat to where the stack of papers was, and had begun to sort them out. "Seems like we have gotten ourselves a bit of work, and we're in such a haggard state. It is as the others say, mr...Jester and mr Alexeev. Infighting will get us nowhere, so I would ask of you to help your comrades." She kept reading through all those. "Mr Vile and Miss Tsarevna. It is regrettable, but you do not seem in top condition... yet this meeting has to go on." She added, as she shuffled out of her chair... and began floating in midair, the massive python coiling and shuffling about to one side of the room, and standing upright while grabbing a curtain end, thus creating a makeshift privacy barrier for Vile to perform his duties. "You may go there, and keep an ear in what is being discussed. Afterwards, I shall see that you're both tended properly." The Witch added.

"Regarding Clara's disappearance... I have to admit I was in the middle of being recruited when it happened. As such, the negotiations had failed at that moment in time and I left the premises until Lightbringer approached me. There was another student, who picked Clara's phone. He was pretty eager to try and recruit me to his fold instead of Mephisto's. I think his name was Ward. He might hold the clue to this disappearance." Diana said, carefully omitting the part where she exploded the poor fella's back. He seemed an adequate scapegoat.

"But the world won't stop because of her." She added, as she folded the stack of papers. "We have to strenghten our defenses and be wary. What happened during the tournament was a bitter wake-up call. We won't get so lightly twice."

Meanwhile, Celestine was resisting his urge to clap, instead choosing to make a remark at whoever was near him. "She was so tough to recruit, but worth it."

---

@KillamriX88@Scarifar

Meredith bit her lip. So she had chosen that kind of route towards her. "That was your cue to not interfere. If you try to help, It will likely be worse. I can endure this kind of punishment. I am quite tough. Eventually I will outlast every single one of them." Meredith added, as he took Belinda on her arms and tried to fly away from the nurse's office. "Besides... this is a school full of people with connections." She bitterly added as she hugged Michelle closed to her chest, while trying to lift off towards the class.

"Oh Sis..."

The hug took Christine by surprise. Ignoring the fact that she was sorta kinda burning her by the act, it was certainly a pleasant act that she welcomed.

"You're welcome," she replied with a short giggle.

They soon arrived at their house. Stepping in, Christine could feel a mixture of strangeness and familiarity. She hadn't been there in a while, and the darkness from the lights being turned off certainly didn't help.

"Hmm..." Christine paused as she pondered, tilting her head with one finger pressed to her chin. "1 think you got a point, Sis. No point in going to school now. And we can certainly use the exercise."

She looked at the blinking phone. Yeah, she wasn't in the mood to listen to the tons of messages they had gotten over their absence.

"So yes. We can go to the gym for a short spar. Just don't overexert yourself, sis. I'll take it easy for you if you want," she added with a little teasing smirk.

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Unbeknownst to the majority of students, and even many amongst the committee there was a secret area underneath the greater St. Lucifer's campus. It wasn't so large, but it was no mere panic shelter. A little larger than the average basement, but it was divided into several rooms.

This was Clara's workshop. Many unspeakable dark rituals had been performed here, but she also sometimes came down here to study. Right now, she was laying back on a velvet couch. The only sounds in the room were her quiet breathing, and the slow dripping of blood in an IV as she siphoned it from her body.

Blood was required for her contracting ritual. Riches pay for the price of a soul's departure into the world beyond, but to take a life requires some measure to pay for that life. Blood pays the price well enough. She had to take care to watch the amount. By carefully controlling her nutrient intake she could maximise the amount of blood she could take without developing adverse health conditions.

The amount of blood required differed between being to being, but the logic was simple enough. "The same measure of life as would be required to end it." In other words it was enough blood for the creature to die if they were the one to lose it.

Many creatures she had contracted to were possessed of a much higher vitality than her. Many of her smaller ones, when their numbers were added together would be enough to kill her as well. Preparation was essential as well as pre-planning. Unplanned additions to her army were few and far between, but if she saw a chance attractive enough she had to seize it. Unfortunately that hadn't worked out so well for her in recent days.

She let out a sigh as she gripped her arm tighter. Enough of her blood had been collected. She carefully extracted the needle, only taking note of the pain once it had exited her flesh.

She went through the motions of dressing the wound. She wiped the blood with a cotton swab and covered it with a bandage. For her the act was close to meaningless, really. It was important to dress the wound, but what else was there to it than that? It was like having the wound was more of an inconvenience. She took care to choose a bandage which blended in with her skin to conceal it. The image of an unblemished, unmoving leader with clean hands at the forefront naturally helped obfuscate her reach behind the scenes. She needed it, really. She had been walking a spider's web all her life and now it was stretching rather thin.

It was the nature of a web to stand even if one strand snapped another would hold it together. But just as each line in the web acts as a support making it stronger, each line snapping made the web weaker and it could be catastrophic to the shape if she let things continue like this. And truly, what shape could she claim the web was in now? She couldn't afford to let go of her threads.

The shape of her web and how tightly the strands were woven were a factor. But more than that, perhaps it was just what manner of spider she was.

She felt a presence weighing on her mind. A presence she had felt many times before.

"How is it that you only appear to me when it's convenient for you?" She spoke to the empty air.

"…I only appear when Death is to have a presence." A voice said from the darkness.

This was the God of Death. There was a class of gods known as the Reapers who were responsible for managing the afterlife. Long ago in the days of the Ancient Evil, the concept of death existed as only a minor presence. Humans, the favourite creations of the Gods were immortal. Of course, they would not allow Death to touch them. But when the Ancient Evil appeared, they too were unable to be slain by normal means.

The blessings of the gods proved sufficient to stand on equal ground, but not sufficient to regain the ground already taken by the Ancient Evil. Seeing that something had to be done, the Gods reached a second great agreement. None in the realm of the Gods would be spared Death. Not even the Gods themselves. At once they rewrote the rules of their existence, and Death was visited upon the Ancient Evil. So it was written.

The Reapers existed to embody the concept of Death in the Gods' realm. Each of them has the ability to separate a soul from its body, but they had vastly different roles. The True God of Death was the one who watched over all of Death's domain. They watched over the dealings of the other Reapers while officiating pacts and bargains.

That statement that they had made stretched a little further than mere presence. The Death God was only visible to those who were to have Death visit them at a time appointed for them. Clara had only ever been able to see the form of Death when forming a contract with someone. Where Death needed to be promised if the terms of their contract were ever broken.

"There is no issue with the payment. I shall place the seal." The invisible presence said.

A black ring formed around each blood pack. When preparing payment ahead of time, the most important thing is verification. To make sure you're not cheated one needs an assurance. The presence of Death is one that can be felt by all beings in the Human realm. Although besides that, the seal didn't do anything else except preserve the blood she'd lost. Not unlike an RFID chip, or the security measures in place to ensure the legitimacy of bank notes.

It was all routine at this point.

Clara's mind was muddled. From the blood loss, from fatigue… from everything. She was tired. Just tired. She felt fear creeping up on her, fear that she would lose it all.

…How long had it been since she was last afraid?

"…If that is all, then I will take my leave," The God said, cutting through the silence.

If this had been her normal days, she would have simply left off with a polite farewell, but Clara turned her head to fix her gaze on where the God should've been. She imagined the face of the God she was all too familiar with as she uttered her question.

"…Why?" She asked.

"…" The God paused for a moment. "…Why?"

"Why do you… help me?" She instinctively choked on the last syllable of her sentence, but it was too late to stop herself from asking it.

She already knew the response she would receive from that question. She wasn't receiving help from the God of Death, she was merely an extension of their duties. But she couldn't stop the words from welling up from inside her. She had to salvage this situation. She already knew the real question she wanted to… ask.

"Why… did you bestow your blessing upon me?" She said. There was more she could have said, but she stopped there. She was going too far already.

"…I told you that answer a long time ago." The God simply replied.

Clara felt like the floor had disappeared beneath her. Her mind raced. She could not for the life of her conjure the memory that the god spoke of. She could not reconcile what the god said with reality. Her memory was one of her greatest assets, but all she could trace from it was void.

The God of death was not one who jested, nor one who lied. But the truth that they spoke of was one that Clara could not find.

"If that is all, then I will take my leave." The God said.

Clara could return naught but silence, and so the God left.

---

It was with the events of the days prior burning in the back of her mind that Clara awoke the next day. The same thoughts burned in her mind as she made her calls and mended her web. On her final call, they had worn her down to a point lower than any of her days at Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined. She delivered her message, and as her phone fell to the table, she sank far deeper still.

(because the site still doesn't let us delete our posts)

@Gentlemanvaultboy@AtomicNut@supertinyking

---

Vernon mostly ignored Luigi as the boy stormed in. He seemed mostly focused on Bak and if he wanted to play mechanic, that was fine.

"Oh, so we're discussing Clara? So you don't fucking know then? Nobody knows where she is, do they? Well that's just fucking fantastic," Vernon snapped. She was literally the only person he respected around here. Sure, he had a healthy "respect" for certain people based on how difficult they'd be to deal with in a fight, but he didn't make a habit of listening to anyone but Clara. No one else could really match her presence.

"As opposed to just plain old fantastic?" Rurik rolled his eyes and reluctantly dragged his feet off the table and onto the spare chair he'd been provided.

"One more fucking word and I swear-" Vernon grit his teeth, but made to take the chair Bak had offered him. For the moment he'd play nice. He didn't dislike Bak, he just had absolutely no fucking desire to deal with her as a leader for more than the duration of this meeting. Her little display of refusing to believe Diana was a witch because of all the childish stereotypes she apparently believed was proof of exactly why.

Before Vernon could even step around the table to sit, someone else stepped through the door. Or rather, the poorly repaired door that was currently hanging at an odd angle.

"Ah, so you are holding a meeting today. Oh, and if it isn't Diana here after all." He, and Diana at the very least would recognize him as Ward, spoke. "Greetings."

"OK, and who the fuck is this?" Vernon threw his arm in a dramatic gesture toward the intruder.

"Ward Cross," Ward answered for them.

"You become a member of the council while I wasn't looking?" Vernon raised an eyebrow.

"Not quite. But interestingly, it seems the usual channels for the council have all been inconveniently cut off. Head of the school is unavailable, and the head of the council is... missing?"

"Yeah, sucks to be you. Get out." Vernon glowered. He just didn't have any patience today. "You have three seconds before I force the issue."

"Oh, well, if I'm not welcome, so be it." It seemed he chose not to push his luck and held his hands up in capitulation before stepping back out.

"Wait, didn't Deeana say Ward might know stuff?" Rurik chimed in, if only to press Vernon's buttons. "Hey Ward! You know stuff?!"

Vernon was silently fuming and shooting daggers at Rurik when Ward slid back into the room, a tiny, knowing smile on his face. "Well, that depends, what is it that you think I might know?"

Vernon's face twisted in frustration, "Oh bullshit, like this guy knows anything!" he spat before stomping over to his chair. "Just kick him out, Bak," Vernon growled and sat, arms and legs crossed.

"Well, since he seems to be deferring to you..." Ward looked over to Bak. Ah yes, the strange girl who disciplined people with bullets. She was hard to miss as she stomped around the campus gunning unruly students down. "I'll leave it in your hands. What shall it be? Hear me out or kick me out? I can't promise I can solve your immediate problems, but I was hoping to speak to... you, I suppose."

Duel of fates

The one whom craves the past, and the one which desire the future.

It was with determined steps that the young man strode down the streets of Rhea, his intended goal being one of the local tailors. His hair blowing slightly in the wind, his hands in the pockets of his green jacket. He had parted from his maiden at the nearby church, thinking that it was time to do some work on his own. There was also faith in that his other half would be capable of handling herself well, like she had done prior to their relationship.

Andreim allowed a small upturn form at the corner of his mouth as he gazed ahead to the rising sun, despite not having gotten many hours of sleep he felt it had been sufficient. He breathed out through his nose softly, as he passed by a graveyard. It caused him to stop after awhile, glancing in on the silent walled area filled with stones and names of those no longer alive. He decided to take a small detour, thus reached for the gate handle, turning it and going inside of the place.

His black boots didn't make his steps on the gravel soft, some small stones flew here and there until he reached a grassy area, wandering further ahead, passing by many gravestones as he did. Until he finally stopped at a somewhat large gravestone, a family grave by the looks of it, for a man and woman.

"Father. Mother. You forged me into a tool of destruction, while you may have had your own plans for me, it was your own destruction you should have worked to prevent. I guess I should thank you for aiding me to harness this power, for it is with this power that I will change this world. I'll make certain it will never, ever fall into the hands of people like you. Because you are wrong. The world doesn't desire a tyrant, it desires a god. I will become that god and make Rhea into what it needs to be... what it should be... what it must be."He stretched his back abit, looking at the gravestone and the names written on them.

"Hmph. There will always be those who would try to stop you, those who cannot and will not understand or appreciate what the world could be. Utopia. You too were unable to find it, you were too busy looking for ways to bring the world to ruin. I desire to change it. Today I will gather the first of the chosen. Those who will do what the current protectors have failed to do."

Andreim allowed a satisfied smirk to decorate his face as he arrogantly stared down at the gravestone. "Watch if you can, from wherever you are. Father. Mother. Watch and despair as I will bring ruin to all that you desired. Hnn..hnn.. hahahaha!" The young man began to laugh out loud, his head leaning backwards slightly as his face looked up to the sky above.

A cracking sound in the background however caught his attention, someone or something was approaching. Andreim narrowed his eyes and adjusted his stance, making sure his footing was good and he tightened his hands into fists.

"Who goes there?" He asked as he activated his thermal vision, and it picked up a humanoid form behind a tree a distance away from him, abit out of proper hearing distance.A figure began to slide out from behind the tree, and Andreim deactivated his thermal vision to see who it was. The person in question wore a dirtied sun bleached white hoodie and had long hair, it was a young man like himself, abit taller though. He also were more pale and thin looking. Wait... this young man seemed familiar.He thought back to the apartment incident and the tournament fights, this young man was that ghostlike boy. But he seemed different, not only that he wasn't translucent looking, he looked as if older.

The young man, Vittorio approached slowly, almost dragging his feet behind him. As if every step was a deep task for him.

"...you must be quite grim to laugh in a place of peace like this..." Vittorio said as he came closer, his voice slightly raspy but also strangely soft in a sense. His eyes inspecting the slightly shorter boy before him.

'This is... Katherine's friend...' He thought to himself, recognizing him.

"You are... that spiritual pretender.. Vittorio, am I right? I saw what you did on the tournament grounds... what the hell is Clara up to?! And where is Katherine?! Answer me!" Andreim yelled out, angered as he remembered the day before and how things had literally gone to hell. How everyone had gotten separated and how he had lost contact with everyone. Had he and Lise been the only survivors? Impossible.

"Clara...? I don't know where she nor Katherine is... Clara is an abomination. Evil. Despicable. She uses people to harm the innocent and is the source of this conflict. A trait she shared with Alto. Before I killed him... with these hands..." Vittorio replied in a calm tone yet cold mannerism, his hands shaking slightly as he turned to look down on them.

"What? You've done what?!" Andreim raised his voice again, blinking and gritting his teeth. 'It had to be a lie. He couldn't have killed Alto... this guy? There's no way.. without Alto the school would be in disorder, someone will have to- I will have to...'

"...theres no way he could have survived, for the crimes he's committed. They gave me the strength to see it to the end..." Vittorio said his teeth slightly gritting together, as he began to manifest spectral images of his dead friends and parents at their graves, which was all around the duo. Having been buried during the same year as Andreim's own parents.Andreim's eyes quickly darted to the sides as spectral images of people began to appear, three boys, a girl and two adults.

'These people... what is he on about? Who are these people?' Andreim narrowed his eyes, knowing fully well that just any moment their meeting could turn into a fight to the death. Vittorio soon allowed the imagery of his fallen friends and parents to fade away.

"You don't believe me? The light can be blinding... much like the darkness... Alto and Clara..." Vittorio added, raising his right hand to the sides. Creating spectral images of Clara and Alto both. The one with Alto bearing something stabbed into it and with a shocked expression on his face.

"Where is your proof? You are just judging people right and left, what gives you that right? You who supported Clara in her goals, you should just be silent..." Andreim said in a displeased tone of voice, showing his obvious dislike of the boy ahead of him and Clara.

"I have lost everything. My past. Present and future. I have all the right in the world to judge the unfair world which allowed the guilty to slip away and my dear ones paid the ultimate price..." The pale boy explained, a look of hatred glowing in his eyes.

"Justice.. then? So that's what you want? In that case.. I will give you justice. This is for Alto and everyone else who ended up hurt because of you and Clara..." Andreim began to manifest a vortex of water under his feet, and two smaller ones in his both hands, as the one under his feet began to lift him up abit.Vittorio narrowed his eyes, troubled by the response of Katherine's friend, whom Vittorio had no intention to fight.

"Don't do this.. not in this place. Respect the dead unless you wish to join them. Please don't make me fight you.." The pale boy implored the other as he began to gradually walk closer towards a tree.

"The dead are just dead. From what you be telling me, both Katherine and Alto may be dead. You are too much of a threat in itself... It's time you left." Andreim then flung pressurized water projectiles towards Vittorio, like spinning sawblades midair, they turned into ice mid-air and sliced into the tree which Vittorio flung himself behind. The pale boy landed on his chest against the ground, he had to live.Vittorio narrowed his eyes as he had landed in some thorny rosebush and cut himself. He closed his eyes and knew what he had to do. He thought of Bak who had risked harm by saving him, the least thing he could do to pay that back would be to defeat Clara. So he had to live.

'I will... LIVE!' He allowed his astral form to take shape, his spectral shape pouring out of his body and his tentacle-like wings spreading wide, lifting up his physical body and shielding it from the incoming ice projectiles.

"Fight as much as you wish! It will not matter I'll be taking you down right here and now! How ironic that this will be the place. Where your life ended, and mine began!" Andreim spun forwards with his vortex of water, to get around the tree. He held out his both hands, shooting jets of water towards Vittorio's astral form, as it used it's wings to shield him, causing the water to spray against it.His astral form began to rise and then threw his physical form to the side, out of harms way, landing on the nearby grass as the astral form became incorporeal to slide through the jets of water. Vittorio's astral tentacles assumed an attack pattern before coming back out from it once he had gotten close enough to be within striking distance to Andreim.

The mercury blooded boy sped backwards on his watery vortex, Vittorio's tentacle wings lashed through the jets of water and a small section of the vortex Andreim stood in. This angered the young man, who instantly began to hurl sawblade like projectiles towards the astral form of Vittorio, two of the tentacles were severed as a resykt. Two others reached out to attempt to grab Andreim by the legs, but the young man began to freeze the water around his feet, trapping the appendages in it, then pressing a superheated hand against the ice, creating a jagged icy shotgun effect, demolishing the tentacles and creating holes in the astral form.

At this rate Vittorio would end up dying, he knew this. He had to fight on, not only to defeat Clara but also to free Bak. He must win. Thus he gathered his focus and the holes in his form began to close, and his tentacle like wings began to reform, one of them reached out and took hold of the other boy's wrist and flung him through the air.Andreim was surprised by the ghostly boys persistance, he however didn't let this get the better of him, he dampened his fall by shooting powered jets of water against the ground, as he was flung across the pebble ridden road.

"Why you!" Andreim grit his teeth together forming two orbs of water in both his hands, then attuning to cold, turning them into a blade of ice and a shield to go with it. He then dashed forwards towards the astral form of Vittorio.

Vittorio gathered his tentacles into attack formation, four of them shooting beams of energy towards the incoming boy, two others reaching out to lash at him, the remaining two were kept back as defense.As the beams of energy came forth, Andreim under two of them, another he defected by throwing his shield, causing it to cut into a nearby tree instead. The third cut past his face, scorching away the tip of his hair. Vittorio lashed out with the two other tentacles, one was cut off by Andreim's icy blade, the other made a sweeping slash at the boy's legs, causing him to slip and fall prone.

Andreim grit his teeth yet again, this time reaching both his hands in front of himself, forming an inversed cone of water putting a focus point at the astral forms mid-point before shooting it forwards and turning it into ice. Two of Vittorio's tentacles which were on the defensive placed themselves before him, but they too were cut through. Vittorio's physical eyes snapped open, his astral form had fallen into pieces. He felt his head ache, but this was a fight he had to win or get away from. He began to crawl along the grass, then leaned up with his back against a tree and closed his eyes.

The other boy had watched the astral form fall in on itself, he then looked around for the physical body, switching on his thermal vision and it didn't take him long to find it. It was close. Andreim switched out of the thermal vision and that's when he saw a new astral form come at him, he had not been able to detect it as it did not give off any heat. Vittorio had already sent forth a new one.

Andreim knew he had to sever the head of the snake by attacking Vittorio's physical body, thus he gathered two new vortexes of water in his hands then attuned to cold, flinging a dozen jagged shards towards the astral body, but also towards the tree behind it. Vittorio became quickly aware of the other boy's intentions and moved his astral form to pick his physical body up. Then he focused.

His astral form began to lift from the ground, the colours which were spectral silver in colour began to fluctuate and then turn into golden colour. Andreim's eyes widened. He hadn't seen him do this at the tournament, something had changed with him. But even so, Katherine and Alto may have been slain by him. Killing his comerades was a sin. Andreim then formed a large watery vortex around himself, sending forth a swarm of sawblade like watery projectiles towards the now levitating form of Vittorio.The golden spectral form lashed with six of it's now golden appendages and sliced the icy projectiles to pieces like as if it was meat going into the grinder.

"I cannot afford to die just yet! Not in this place! Not like this!" Vittorio's ghostly echoing voice uttered as he flew higher up into the air away from the boy on the ground.

"Coward!" Andreim yelled out in an angry tone, as he shot himself up into the air using his jets of water, and then forming a spear of ice in his hand, tossing it towards the flying Vittorio as he was leaving the area. The spear was on route, but was grabbed by one of the many tentacles.Andreim shot out some jets of water to lessen his fall as he landed on the grass below, his hair and clothing wet. His eyes narrowed as he looked up to the sky and the glowing golden figure slowly disappearing in the distance.

'Tch. Could he really have killed them? This pathetic guy?' The hydromancer thought to himself, as he looked at his surroundings.

"A monster who claims to be rightious and killing monsters. Such hypocracy... don't think for a moment that you will find a haven in this world. If you killed my comerades, you will be destroyed until theres not a trace left. For certain." He furrowed his eyebrows, then put his hands into his jacket pockets as he began to leave the graveyard.Meanwhile Vittorio's astral form watched from the sky. He had to find King.

For Yuuto, his day had started out normal. Well, as normal as it could when he was dealing with a couple of cracked ribs courtesy of his training last night. When his father wanted to punish him, he made sure that his son could at least gain some use from the punishment. Still, it hurt to breathe. That was when the call came. Yuuto chose to ignore the call when he saw who it was. However, he figured it had something to do with the council and quickly made a decision. He slowly made his way to the Council Room.

Just before reaching the room, Yuuto ducked into an empty classroom and climbed the walls up to the ceiling. From there, a quick hop into the Void ensured that he could spy on the entire meeting with no one being any the wiser. Thus it was that Yuuto entered around the same time as Vernon, and heard the details. So, Clara was missing, and it seemed the nurse had a plan for a temporary leader. Yuuto watched, crouching closer to the ceiling as the meeting continued. His mission-trained mind were taking in the most important details to report to both Clara and -- Mephisto-dono if necessary. Yuuto remained mostly near the door just in case he ran low enough on Void Energy that he needed to retreat. The events after the tournament had seen his reserves grow, but he still didn't want to risk running out and being seen. He also chose not to risk staying in the tangible world for the risk of someone actually thinking to look up. No, this was safest. He was nearly undetectable in the Void. He doubted even Clara could find him.

Galbrek Ravenovich

It was slowly in which the eyes were opened and the half-demon adjusted his sight to the bright light.

"Shut that fucking light off..." He muttered, squinting and trying to lean back up and feeling overall groggy. Where was he, and why did his legs feel so.The half-demon set his eyes down to his bandaged legs, he tried to move his legs but couldn't feel his feet. He looked to the individual who was next to him, the face slightly obscured by the light.

"Ahh! Master Galbrek, It would seem like the drugs you had in the bedroom came to use." The overly familiar sound of his doll came into memory. Fegin.

"Fegin! Don't tell me you wasted my expensive shit? Ahh fuck! Help me stand." He commanded as he slammed away the lamp which was hovered over him as he was lying down.

"Master, It is not a good idea. We have just managed to stop the bleeding, your legs are too weak, you cannot-" Fegin began to explain to his half-demon master.

"Did you just call me weak, Fegin?" His attention flipped to his doll, as he tried to move his legs to the side. "I-I... my legs.. I can't feel them." He said to himself aloud, his face growing white and his eyes looking unfocused as if staring out into nothingness.The half-demon let out a slight sniff, and then attempted to lift his both legs to the side in order to properly sit up. The half-demon quickly became aware how painful that was and he threw his upper body against the pillow again. "Fuck! Shit! Look what that bastard has done to me!" He yelled out in utter disbelief, mixed with anger and the realization that he had indeed gotten crippled.

"Fegin..." Galbrek said, his hair falling down over his eyes as he sat back up, his head turning to the nearby window.

"Yes master?" The doll replied, tilting his head as he did.

"Carry me. Carry me over there." He said in a solemn tone of voice, his right hand pointing to the chair next to the window.

"As you wish..." Fegin replied, throwing a look towards Giselle which stood in the doorway to the room their master were located, before picking up the short half-demon.

"Careful.. you lout..." The half-demon said through gritted teeth, as he was carried over to the chair, giving him a slight view of the street outside.Taking a look outside of the window, the half-demon began to watch various people pass by, some drove past with various vehicles. A truck passed by. A mailboy on a bike soon after. It was then that he saw it. His path forwards.

Just outside of his window, across the street were an elderly woman in a wheelchair, waiting to cross the road.

"Fegin... Destroy the video recordings. I have a new task for you." The half-demon said, as he allowed a minor smile to decorate his bruised and badly beaten face.

'If they think they have me beaten, they are dead wrong! I'll get it back! I'll get everything back!'

All across the campus of Laurels, innocent students were walking, chatting, studying. All of them completely unaware of the storm that was coming. The days of planning. The sweat upon the brows of the workers. The absolutely exorbitant amount of money that exchanged hands, both to pay for services, and further under the table as a bribe to deal with a spoiled child's whims.

That was, until the PA system rang out with a burst of haughty laughter. "Ohohoho! Students of St. Laurels, listen well! The illustrious House Valois-Saint-Remy is holding a charity event for the brave souls that helped keep Rhea safe during the recent crisis that unfolded! Enjoy the hospitality of true royalty for once in your lives! See your invitations for more details! Ohoho-" The PA thankfully cut off the next bout of laughter.

Throughout the campus of Laurels, snow began to fall to the ground. Or... Rather, like snow, hundreds of pamphlets filtered down from the sky, dispersed by a passing helicopter.

Of course, this was only the beginning. Lise knew that the other schools also were to be invited; and in order to plaster the great name of Valois-Saint-Remy all over Rhea, she had also taken out tracts of advertisement across TV, radio, on billboards, newspapers, buses... Everything.

Of course, the ball was also to benefit the town's emergency response teams, but Lise directed her focus mainly on the part for the schools. She suspected that some other representative of Valois-Saint-Remy was handling the adults' side of the ball, which she didn't mind. Adults already understood her position, but for some reason those of her own age seemed to be unaware. That would change after this, of course.

As Lise confidently walked from the main office, her phone began to ring. Pulling it from her bag, she had trouble with the screen for a moment, before finally answering. On the other end was one of the organizers for the event - Lise remembered his voice, though she couldn't be bothered to remember his name. She had more or less worked out the majority of the ball, but she still was receiving calls now and then about inane aspects of her choices. "Ms. Val- I mean, Lady Valois-Saint-Remy, I understand you have an orchestra scheduled for this high schooler's ball?"

Lise nodded, despite the coordinator not being in person to see her do so. "Yes, and I know for certain there is enough space in the floor plan to have them. So what is the issue?"

"Well, wouldn't something more modern make sense for a high school ball? The venue has an excellent system for a DJ-"

Lise cut the man off. "This ball is not some filthy dance party for peasants! I will hear nothing more on this matter. Goodbye." Lise would have hung up, but she struggled to do so with her new phone.

The man continued, unaware of Lise's struggle to handle a phone. "All right. We're going to leave the equipment there just in case you change your mind. Again, thanks for working wi-"

She eventually managed to turn the call off. Of course, now her phone's screen was far too dark to see. Lise wondered for a moment why her parents wanted her to have one of these 'phones' so badly. They never seemed to work for her.

Lise picked up one of her fliers that had now settled in the Laurels courtyard, looking at it to admire her work.



Fliers like these were being dusted over all of the invited schools. 'Now... They will all have to recognize how great I am!' Lise swelled with pride as she walked back to her dorm room, all the while ignoring the chatter amongst students who were reading the fliers.

"A masquerade? That just means a costume party, right?" "It is the time of year for a costume party, so that would make sense." "How did she get that place AND the park area reserved at the same time?!" "Are you going to go?"

Andreim Volkazar

Some time had passed since he were at the graveyard, and his encounter with the spectral mephisto student had taken place. His clothing were now dry and he was standing outside one of the local clothing stores, one which he had visited on some rare occasions due to their sortiment of military like clothing. Andreim opened the door to the store, stepping inside and taking a look around, there were a few customers about and a woman with eyeglasses behind the counter.

He politely nodded to her in greeting as she said welcome to her store. The young man walked over towards the clothing racks and after some searching he found a fitting green shirt with pockets on it and fitting green pants. He looked them over to check the quality, and then after accepting that they would indeed do, the young man walked over to the cashier.

"Excuse me, how many of these do you have?" Andreim asked as he put the shirt and pants at the counter.

"Hey sweetie, these would look great on you. How many do you need?" The woman smiled with her eyes closed to Andreim, who seemed bothered by being called sweetie.

"All of them." He said in a firm tone, setting his eyes right into the womans as her eyes opened abit surprised.

"All of them? Oh.. dear.. that's alot of shirts and pants, I-I could take a look at the storage, I think we have something around a hundred. But how are you going to pay for all of this? Do your parents know about this?" The cashier asked, lifting her eyebrows as she adjusted her eyeglasses.

"My parents are not around. I have a card with the money necessary, don't worry." Andreim said in a reassuring manner, if not abit cold as he waited for the woman to go into the storage to gather all the things he needed.

"Oh, allrighty then." The woman said biting her lower lip, as she opened the door to the storage, confirming after awhile they had plenty in storage.

"We have currently ninety seven pairs of shirts and pants, how are you going to do with transport?" The woman asked as she returned to the counter.

"Please put them in plastic bags and close them up. I have a means of transportation. Besides I don't have far to go." Andreim said with a smirk on his lips, while he waited for the woman to count just how much he would have to pay.

Half an hour later, after much packaging and payment having been done, the young man asked the woman to help him carry the bags out into the street, and when all of them had been gathered, the young man began to form a large water vortex in his right hand. Then he tossed bag after bag into the vortex with his left hand, having them swirl around within it. The weight of the bags would not go down against Andreim, but rather be spent twirling around and around, and around. Like clothing in a washing machine.

The cashier blinked and had a shocked look on her face. "Oh! Be careful to not drop any of them!" She yelled as she moved inside of her store again. The young man waited until all the bags were in the vortex and he began to form a smaller vortex under his feet, using it to carry himself over the ground, spinning away along the street. The odd sight catching alot of glances by passerbys. It took him awhile, but soon he reached his destination, St.Laurel's school. He gently manipulated his large vortex to slowly reduce the speed of the whirling water, to make sure the plastic bags and the clothes within wouldn't be ruined.

He had to make sure none would steal his things, thus he used his water manipulation along the school corridor then attuning to cold, creating a slippery cold floor. Just like an iceskating arena. Then he arranged all the bags in a row and once they had been arranged, he rushed against them and slid all the way towards his dorm door.

"That was easy." He smirked and patted one of the bags with his right hand, before attuning to heat, causing the ice nearby to melt, albeit leaving ice along the rest of the corridor. He inserted the key, and twisted it inside of the door, opening the room, then tossing bag after bag into the room. The young man gave a satisfied smirk as the last of the bags were thrown into the room, then he locked the door and looked down the corridor. He had to clean up the ice before someone would slip. He held out his right hand and attuned to heat to melt the ice, causing it to turn into steam.

'That will do' He thought and then headed outdoors, breathing out abit. Seeing a helicopter fly by over him.

"Guess theres alot of clean-up to do. What a mess..." He said to himself, as the soothing and unmistakenly beautiful voice of his dear lady Liselotte caught his attention. She was speaking through the speakers of the school.

There were going to be a masquerade ball, such lovely timing, she was truly his destined twin star. It would prove to be the perfect recruitment ground for the youth movement which would be born. It was as if the gods themselves were on his side, to bring all this chaos under control with supreme order. A youth movement to fight against the evil, which the city officials and others cannot do a thing about. To raise an armed militia may be seen as a threat to the leadership of rhea, but an unarmed force of youth doing good for the city would be the perfect base for what would eventually become the forefront of the new Rhea.

'Our dream is soon about to be realized, one step at a time. I will realize this dream and also have you along with me Lise, I have all I need in order to set forth. My focus and my heart are in unity. The indecisiveness of the current leadership is making the guilty go free and the innocent suffer. What Rhea needs is an all powerful leader to guide the rest away from all this chaos, an emperor and his empire.' The young man thought, as he smiled in a satisfied manner to the nearby speaker system of the school.

"Let's wear some masks for now milady, til the moment comes for the coup de grace." The young man began to softly chuckle.

@rawkhawk64 (and anyone else at the Vigilante HQ I guess?)

"And so I was just standing there, in the landscape of my own mind, amongst the millions of spells, raw magic contained within the Root of All Magic, before me a mirror image; a reflection not of myself, but a reflection through myself. While she looked like me, I could tell that I was not dealing with any normal dream - this was really happening, and my spirit was contained within the Root of All Magic, and I was confronted by the one of the gods that presided over it!"

Andras was standing in the main entrance of the Vigilante's headquarters, giving some kind of (probably) blasphemous sermon. She had tried to tell plenty of people what had happened, but most of them simply thought it was a strange dream. Andras hoped that telling the people that filtered in and out of the Vigilante's church would have worked, but for some reason all that happened was the people within shuffled away, turning their heads as if to avoid eye contact. Almost like she was being a nuisance.

Luckily, Andras had collected her thoughts a little more since the first time she told about her dream. She didn't need to include that the apparition looked a lot like one of her characters she thought up herself, like she did with Vera. After all, that was just a silly coincidence. She wouldn't have said it anyway if she wasn't so distracted with everything else that was happening at the time. Looking back at the details of what had happened, Andras was surprised that she managed to get out of Vera's house alive. Had it happened a few months or so earlier, Andras would have surely been killed by Vera. To prevent anything like that from happening again (and Vera perhaps not being as kind as she was that one time) Andras had worked out a living situation with Wolf for the time being. She still was apparently sought after, so Wolf's house was a fairly safe place. Provided that Andras didn't, in Vera's words, "run off without telling anyone to a kidnapper's convention."

Andras decided to stop her recounting of the near-god experience, at least for now. It seemed like it wasn't getting through to anyone either way, and if she got King mad again for making a scene then she'd probably be doing janitor work for the next few weeks. The majority of the people filtering in and out of the headquarters were reading leaflets and talking about some kind of party. Her curiosity piqued, Andras stepped outside and saw the outside littered with white pamphlets. Grabbing one, she read the invitation. A masquerade ball. Costumes required. (Probably) free food? And it was close to her birthday! Andras laughed aloud, perhaps too loudly. "Ufufu. Finally, this world is bending to my whims. Prepare yourselves, mortals, for I shall be the shining star of the ball!" Andras let out one of her well-practiced ominous laughs.

As she got her phone out to text everyone she knew about this new development, she spied her partner, Brutus, on the grounds of the Vigilante Headquarters. She put down her phone for a moment, dashing towards the boy. "Brutus! Have you heard about the ball?! What are you going to wear?" Andras's train of thought derailed for a moment as she remembered something. "Wait! Did you get my texts about my dream? I saw a god and the source of all magic in this world! You believe me on that, right?! Everyone else isn't really convinced for some reason!" Andras took a gasp of breath after delivering a barrage of questions on the hapless bystander.

@supertinyking@KillamriX88@AtomicNut@rawkhawk64

---

"This is fine." Bak said as the snake made its little makeshift privacy screen, even as her face conveyed the idea that this wasn't ideal. She wasn't comfortable with people watcher her maintenance, seeing into the nasty inner workings of her metallic bits. If anyone else in the room but this intruder prospective member in good standing with the council's trusted advisor had offered something like this she would have accepted it out of hand, but when an outsider new recruit allegedly hand picked by Clara herself did it it was almost like she was hiding Bak away. That thought turned over in her mind, stirring up the embers of an old resentment she tried her hardest to pretend didn't exist. Memories of a hastily constructed little room with a dirt floor, connected to her home yet separate from her home.

This was stupid. She was stupid. Celestine trusted this girl, Luigi didn't seem at all surprised to see her there. That should be enough, right? Right?? But at the same time, be wary. Bak trust in Celestine crashed up against the walls of her suspicions and even if she could feel her muscles tense up every time this supposed witch used words like "Us" and "We" like a cliff being assaulted by the sea some erosion had already been produced.

"Meeting has not begun yet, though." she said as she turned to walk toward the veil. "Give a few minutes for others to arrive." Luigi was good at his job, so maybe he could get this done before the last of the members she expected to trickle in. Though, looking at the room, she couldn't help be feel like this was about the best she could do. It would still give her a chance to ask Luigi about this Diana girl in semi-privacy, just to assuage her own fears you understand, if they waited a few minutes for new faces to show up.

As if on cue a new face decided to show itself right then. Another face that Bak didn't recognize, but Diana did. She'd introduced this boy before just seconds before, and it was only what she'd said before that stopped Bak from tossing him out right away. "You are student here?" she asked politely even as her eyes seemed to paint crosshairs on his forehead. "You must be recent transfer, because if you were not you would know any member of council is approachable at any time if you have concern or problem." This was true on paper, but in practice the only member of the council likely to be approached was Luigi. Bak had tried to remedy this with a suggestion box on the council room door, but had taken it down and burned it after a week when the only things that were dropped in there were joke suggestions, insults, and obscene drawings of council members.

"I can only think that you are here, and not in class, in order to return phone that you picked up?" Even though there was a question mark at the end of that sentence it was clearly not a question. She held out her open hand to him. "But I would very much like to speak with you as well. After school maybe? I am always around." This boy had supposedly trying to poach someone from Clara? That piqued Bak's suspicions. Finding who was trying to "take charge" in Clara's absence was very much on the agenda today, but considering what had happened she didn't want to force the issue and risk starting a fight when the regular students were trying to attend class.

Diana had found that agenda, among the papers she'd been looking over. It stood out because it was a plane white sheet with a list of the most meticulously scrawled chicken scratch you were ever likely to see.

- St. LaUral'S AttaCks. SeCret loCatiOn diSCOVered? (Beside this is a crude drawing of Bak stepping on someone with explosions in place of their hands. Bak is triumphant and the boy has Xs instead of eyes.)

- MiSSing MeMbers: ChriStine, LUigi, VittOriO --> Wanted Man! SiCk and COnfUSed!!!

- Rabble rOUSer

- YUUtO

- ClUb bUdget

Michael had been rather interested in Andras' speech about her dream of the Root of All Magic. Ever since he obtained Diana's tips on improving his art, Michael couldn't help but notice a connection between magic and the Blessings. The idea of magic itself was rather vague. It seemed many people had differing opinions of what it actually was, whether it was a form of energy to tap into, or a process to perform a certain action, or something else entirely. However, the main point of magic as a way to influence the world via supernatural means remained consistent throughout most peoples' point of views. Some Blessings granted by the various "Gods" allowed for similar means to achieve similar results. Some were more specialized, while others allowed for more flexibility. Even if it was merely a correlation, he still felt it was worth looking into. As for Andras' dream, there wasn't much he could get out of it. Most of it was just rambling about the Root and the "millions of spells". Still, it did raise the question of what magic really was and how it could be harnessed. Diana's form of magic had many uses, but took a lot of time and resources for it to get results. Magic granted by the gods allowed for a shortcut to achieve faster results with less effort, but it was debatable whether or not it could be called "magic".

Michael's thoughts were cut short by the sudden appearance of the flyers. Upon reading it, he saw that it was about a ball of sorts. Michael's immediate decision was to dismiss it, thinking there was no way he'd enjoy something like this, but still folding the flyer and sliding it into a pocket. He wasn't one to waste anything, not even a sheet of paper. He figured if he really had to go, he could find a cheap mask and costume. Best case scenario he'd find a new connection and figure out where to go from there, and worst case he'd only lose a few hours of training his Arts.

Ward was confused. They thought he still had Clara's phone? He had discarded that about as quickly as he'd found it. In this very room, for that matter.

"I am new, yes," Ward told Bak. "I've spent a majority of my time trying to understand how this school works to be honest. In the end I decided that the quickest course of action would be to attempt to address the council all at once at one of your meetings..." He shrugged. "As for the phone you speak of, I left it in this room. If you haven't seen it... well..." He'd have said someone else must have taken it, but as much as he'd have liked to be petty and blame Diana, he knew she had left right after him, so that was far too unlikely.

However, there was another explanation.

"I believe I left the phone... here." He pointed to the table, a few feet to Bak's right. "Now, if none of you have it, then it is likely still in this room." He stepped around the table, glanced back at the doorway, and then looked to a bookshelf that sat behind the table, across from the door. He bent down and reached under it and when he pulled his hand back, he held the phone. "Ah, almost as if it was sent flying somehow..." Like something had exploded nearby, perhaps.

Diana meanwhile frowned, knowing exactly what he was insinuating.

"Here you are." Ward placed the phone next to Bak. "So, I'll cut to the chase. I've come to this city with a few goals in mind, goals that would be much more easily accomplished if I was a part of your council and not stuck on the sidelines. My conundrum is that I've transferred in my final year of schooling. I hardly have the time to work my way up, now do I?"

"Wow, yeah... sounds like a you problem to be honest," Vernon scoffed. "Thanks detective, but you can go now."

"Well, I see Diana here. I must confess, Diana. I wasn't aware you had decided to enroll after all." Ward wasn't going to give up quite that easily.

"I had people to advocate for me. I don't suppose you do as well?" Diana crossed her arms.

"Yeah, so since you don't, uhhh, bye." Vernon leaned forward for emphasis.

"Well, I'm sure I could find someone. But I see I've overstayed my welcome," Ward capitulated. "Though I do think I will take you up on your offer later, Bak."

"Aww, come on guys, we're being rude to the new guy," Rurik suddenly spoke.

"No, no, shut the fuck up!" Vernon shot back to his feet. "You're just doing this to spite me!"

"Would I do that?" Rurik asked.

"Yes!" Vernon snapped. "You have no good reason to speak up otherwise!"

"OK fine then, in the spirit of spiting you..." Rurik slowly stood up as if the act of straightening his legs was more effort than he really wanted to give. "I heard he kicked Gabriel's ass. So he's strong enough. Not to mention, you know, he's here and Gabriel's not so he's got the guy beat on attendance too."

"Yeah, trespassing, great." Vernon glowered.

"Well, that and he hasn't yelled at me yet..." Rurik shrugged.

"I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up."

Cel sat back all the while, watching the drama unfold. Judging by how Diana had started bristling the second Ward showed up, he wasn't sure he wanted Ward around. Not for the overflowing affection he may or may not at all have had for Diana, but because he had the sneaking suspicion that if Ward stayed Diana might not. However, keeping Ward around might also piss off Vernon which was tempting.

Unfortunately he had been busy lately and knew next to nothing about Ward, so a decision was hard for him to reach just yet. Well...

"So, Ward is it? What are these goals of yours exactly?" he broke his silence to ask.

"Well, Rhea is an influential city, the influential city, but as of late it's in a precarious position. The cultists that attacked will return, and with every attack they launch they will erode the foundations of this city," Ward told them. "My family has run across them before. Ironically, they find us to be an abomination. Pot calling the kettle black as it were. I have my personal motives, I want to spread my family's influence to this city. It being under siege is both an opportunity and a motive for me to act. After all, if the cultists have their way I can't have mine. I simply need a platform from which I can take action. So long as the cultists lose, I hope that the rest of us can all win."

"Oh, so that's how it is. Why didn't you say so? Yeah I don't care." Vernon was at his wits end. If anything, he liked Ward even less if that were possible. He didn't need some asshole muscling in and carving out a piece of the Rhea pie for himself. This was his city, not Wards.

"Vernon." Cel slowly turned his head, shooting a look straight through the gangster wannabe. "Shut. Up."

"Wh-..." Vernon's voice got caught in his throat. He bared his teeth in an angry sneer, but he broke long before Cel ever would have, looking away and sitting back down. The memory of Cel's blade flying toward his throat was still a little too fresh in his mind.

"Look, I don't personally have authority to add you to the council. I'm not sure any of us do..." Cel admitted to Ward. "But I do have one question. I don't care about the details necessarily, but I'm detecting some hostility between you and Diana. So, Diana, what's your stance on all this?"

"Say what you really mean, Lightbringer. You mean will I keep my end of the deal if he's allowed to join, don't you?" Diana narrowed her eyes. Of course she wasn't thrilled by the idea, but how much was her grudge really worth to her? "Maybe. But there will be a lot more conditions."

"Of course there will be..." Cel sighed. Greedy little witch. Well, it was one of her endearing qualities he supposed. "Well, we can work around that if it comes to it." He took a deep breath. "We have other things to worry about today, Ward. You told Bak you'd speak to her later, so do that. The rest of us will keep what you've said in mind, I'm sure." A smile split his face, but his eyes still held the same soul penetrating look he'd given Vernon. Oh, he'd keep Ward in mind. Such grand designs required one to fly high -- and great heights left the door open for great falls. It would be a shame if someone stuck their foot out at an inopportune moment.

"So wait, we're asking the new girl what she thinks but I have to shut up?!" Vernon was incredulous. Was Diana even really a council member yet?!

"Yes. Yes we are. As much as I loathe to agree with the wet noodle-"

"You mean me, don't you?" Rurik frowned.

"-you've been very... loud today. But that's about it. Something going on in your personal life, Vernon? Care to talk about it?" Cel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh fuck off..." Vernon just huddled down in his chair.

"I... see..." Ward cleared his throat. "Very well, thank you for hearing me out. I'll see you later, Ms. Bak." Ward nodded politely and took his leave. Well, it hadn't been a total loss. In fact, it may have been a very important first step. Time would tell.

@KillamriX88 @Gentlemanvaultboy @AtomicNut @rawkhawk64

Luigi Vile wasted no time, affixing the wire brush to a mechanical tendril that slipped from his sleeve, the gentle wirring of an engine escaping as it spun about. He watched as the serpent skeleton moved and weaved itself into a privacy screen, and Bak let him know it was fine, or, she said it was fine at least. Luigi gently hummed to himself as his scan completed, and he gently began to work the spinning wire brush into the barrel of the rocket launcher. The bristles scraped and tore at the gunk as it tried to clean it away, and Luigi worked the brush as though he knew the weapon inside and out.

However after a few moments, Luigi's mind registered what Bak had said to him, asking if he was alright. He cleared his throat a bit, a reflexive gesture as his throat was mostly mechanical at this point making the act pointless, and said "Family problems, Bak. I'm dealing with some family problems." He said, quietly, almost whispering it as though to avoid the others hearing. His grip on the brush tightened, and he redoubled his efforts, another tendril snaking from his sleeve, deploying a gentle solvent to help with breaking up the gunk. He started to work the brush further into the weapon, quietly saying "Tell me if this starts hurting, or if it becomes uncomfortable." in an almost hum like manner.

Luigi let his muscle memory of his previous work on Bak take over, his mind drifting to the conversation being held beyond the snake viel. Talks of bringing this Ward into the fold, where Clara had gone, her phone? Then Vernon spoke up, and threatened to kill Rurik. Luigi had half a mind to get up from his work, and tear off Vernon's arms as the stress he was under almost came to a violent head....and then Cel told Vernon to shut up. Luigi even in his rage knew better than to strike out at Vernon now, Cel would do that if he acted up again. Cel, at least to Luigi has saved Vernon a lot of trouble and pain. As he heard Ward's departure, Luigi knew he should give some way for Ward to contact him. Reaching into his pocket with a tendril, Luigi pulled a business card which with a flick of his mechanised wrist was sent sailing towards the back of Ward's neck, aiming to nestle itself right in his shirt collar.
On the card it would read "Luigi Vile: Fixer and Acquisitions expert. 999-999-VILE" which would come off as strange, as that number shouldn't be for anyone in Rhea....

Charlie Forstwidth

When the cold in his mind hand become enough Charlie rose up from the hood of the beaten up and rusted pick up truck. And lowered himself onto the dead grass he inhaled held the breath in and walked to the left side of the old pick up truck and reached onto the seat, carefully. Exhaling Charlie entered reality again from his happy place and-now conscious once more-he slowly pulled his right arm and the papers out of the piece of shit he loved so much. After taking a few steps back and cracking his joints Charlie had read the notes. Each three pages were information on fellow students at the Wickedly Inclined. Internally Charlie sighed. [color=f49ac2]"MY school name's too fockin long for me to memorize. Now, what are my fellow Wickedly Inclined up to?"[/i] He said to all that could hear him just before he began to walk away and read the notes with every step he took back into Rhea.

"So, that's nineteen pages out of twenty-one." Charlie spoke quietly and tucked the notes inside of his jacket's inner pockets. As he was in a public place now he had to keep suspicion off of him, after all, he had been doing quite the bastard's dinner while the others here were becoming everso. Unforgettable. A few seconds passed before Charlie stopped to sit down and swing back a bottle of 'water'. (As the drink was just named 'water' Charlie had no idea what it was.) Oddly the 'water' didn't taste alcoholic yet it was rather bitter, thick, dark. It didn't feel like a drug Charlie continued to muse this was the second drink he purchased outside of home. He liked it after downing the remaining amount. It just felt...Pure yet demonic. Charlie checked his surroundings and removed the remaining two notes and look at them. The last of his 'spy-work' was illustrations of his classmates.

Now at the door where his target; Luigi Vile was he had enough data on the others to know that he'll have to talk, act, and react carefully. Yet he earnestly did want help from Mister Vile. Charlie almost laughed he bit down on his lip to stop himself, then licked the snake bites and then knocked on the door. "SUP? I'd like to speak-" all of a sudden Charlie felt the way he was speaking, and was disturbed. So, he tried again. His own voice was a fucking skeleton in his closet just now. "Hey, I'm Charlie Frostwidth. I gotta speak to Mister Vile about a wounded close pal a mine. I've got the fokin' money." At this attempt Charlie sounded clear, strong, full of self-defamation. Charlie reminded himself to be careful,cautious and to make himself come off as a young man worthy of his fellow students respect. Yet his shaky relationship with himself caused Charlie to create a new first impression. 'Luckily, or rather unluckily. None of them know me, or of my illicit hobbies. So, I gotta be in the fokin' clear. If not, haha. Then momentum anima."

---

Katherine grinned down at her sister, leaning super far over the raining like the che her cat. "Oh, she thinks she can afford to go easy on me, does she?" She giggled, disappearing up the stairs. "Don't you dare use that as an excuse when you lose." She called back.

As soon as she was at the top, out of site, she leaned against a wall and clutched at her chest with grunt. "Note to self, no more leaning like that for a while...," she said, making her way more slowly to her room.

Once she got there she threw off the two sizes to big shirt she'd taken from Thobias's closet to replace hers and started digging through her closet.

She came down in what she thought of as one of her throw away shirts, a red tee with no sleeves to speak of and a big cheesy fantasy dragon emblazoned on the back. It was the sort of cheap thing you find in dollar store clearance sales, which is exactly where she'd found it. It paid to have cloths you didn't really mind burning if you were in the habit of burning them.

Christine giggled back. It's always nice to see her sister be her usual energetic and cocky self.

Unlike her, Christine didn't need to wear some cheap shirt into the battle. She simply wore her usual coat dress. Even if it were to get damaged by her sister's flames, which she had no intention of letting the battle situation to ever get to that point, she still had a couple more replacements in her wardrobe.

She went to the gym first, as she had no need to change her outfit. The place was located in the basement of the house, a (relatively) safe place for them two to spar. With a layer of dirt and rock separating it from the rest of the house, even if they would go all out (well, mostly Kath since her ability was the more destructive of them two), the rest of the house should (hopefully) be not affected. She turned on the lights, smelled the dusty scent of unuse, and then walked to the middle of the room to begin her stretching exercises. Just a little something to prepare her muscles for what's to come. She had been out of commission for a while after all.

The place they would fight at was the central empty room of the complex. The side rooms contained all the expensive gym equipment they couldn't really afford to destroy with their fights. It was decently large, though the ceiling certainly could be taller. A wind user would probably feel suffocated in such a room. Thankfully, none of them was that.

Her stretching was short and simple. Just a series of muscle elasticity training. When Katherine entered, she would be greeted by the sight of Christine reaching down with her arms until her fingers could touch the tip of her boots.

That, and the sight of her tightly-fitting black panties covering her butt, as she was facing away from her.

"This is some advanced form of psychological warfare."

Katherine rolled her eyes at her soulmates suggestion as she stepped quietly into the middle of the room, standing opposite her sister across the dusty floor. Slowly she took a deep breath, then shouted a mighty "OSE!" that echoed through the basement.

"Aaaah!"

The shout took Christine by surprise, making her lose her balance, falling forward with her butt up in the air.

"Uuu, you didn't have to shout so loud, sis..." she replied with a muffled voice.

She quickly recovered however, standing upright in no time, dusting her coat with her left hand.

"Alright, I'm ready!" she declared, taking up her fighting stance. "You can come anytime, sis!"

Cold air began to gather around her as she exuded her power. The moment Kath launched at her, she would shield herself with her ice, as well as freezing the air around her sister in an attempt to douse her flames.

Katherine just laughed before jumping into her boxing stance, raising her fists up to her chest and bouncing from from foot to foot as she felt the air in the basement drop a few degrees.

"Not gonna let me warm up, then?" She asked, but inside she was already trying to size Christine up. Unlike her, Christine had always focused on her God given powers. It wasn't surprising at all that she was pulling them out so soon. She concentrated for a moment, and her own temperature began to rise to counter the chill that now hung in the air. Under her shirt a light began to glow from the sun shaped scar set over her heart and as the heat seemed to radiate from it into her limbs she felt her arms get stronger, her feet faster. The palm of one hand grew hot, so hot it glowed.

She suddenly sprinted forward, darting in a zigzag pattern up to her sister buy stopped short of throwing a punch just as a wall of ice sprang up between them. That was about what Katherine had expected from her, but she was confident she could drill through that ice. It was then that she felt the cold closing in around her, like the fangs of a wild beast. She could already feel the ice forming on her body, but she threw her flaming arm to the sky and fired a beam of plasma into the ceiling. It collided with the stone and fell back down like snow all around them, heating the air to try and weakening the effect of Christine's chill.

The ice on Kath's body formed, but slowly and thinly. She flexed, sending it flying off in shards of wet crystal.

"Tee hee, of course not! There's only going to be the cold here when I'm done!"

As she wanted, Kath took the first move. She charged forward in a zigzag pattern, dodging all the frost Christine generated on the floor. When she closed the distance, Christine erected her ice wall, blocking her blow just in time.

"Ha, it wouldn't be that easy, sis!" she cheekily shouted.

The cold suddenly grew from all sides; from the wall itself and from the air around Katherine.

She escaped just in time however, firing off a blast of plasma up to the ceiling, sending off heated fragments of rocks downwards, heating the air back up. Christine quickly shielded herself with even more ice walls as a defensive measure.

"H-hey! You're ruining the ceiling, sis!" Christine protested.

She quickly countered by transforming the wall near Katherine into a swarm of icicles, Like machine guns, she fired them one by one in a rapid motion towards her. And simultaneously, the ice under her spread forth once again, wanting to catch her sister unaware.

"Like I've never done that before." Katherine laughed, even as she jumped back to brace herself. Christine had thrown up more of those walls. Was she planning to layer herself in?

Nope. Tuned out Tue original wall was just ammo, as it shattered into shards that began flying at her he by one. Katherine raised up her fists and divided now was as good a time as any to test her speed. She threw a curved hook at the first of the icicles, catching it in the shaft. It shattered, then boiled into a cloud of steam from her still heated fist. She caught the second one like this as well, and third, missed a fourth which buried itself in her shoulder, hit a fifth, and then was forced to duck and weave as the pace of the ice started to pick up. She put all of her boxing prowess to use to moved herself between the rain of ice.

Then she suddenly felt cold on her legs. Flicking her eyes down to see ice climbing up over her shoes and up her pant legs. Her sister was trying to lock down her legwork! Smart, but it also showed how dedicated she was to not getting into melee where Kath wanted her. She was determine to turn this into a contest of powers, power she knew Chrissy was better at controlling.

Well, is that's what she wanted...

Katherine threw out her hand, burning palm pointed directly at the ice walls and let loose. A blast of fire rolled out, engulfing the icicles flying at her and colliding with the ice walls her sister had set up to try and melt her out of there.

Christine saw how her barrage of icicles managed to land at her sister. Not all, certainly, but some. Enough so that she was taken aback, immobilized at the spot where she was standing.

Exactly where she wanted her to be.

Her second attack, the spreading sheet of ice, had traveled to her feet, paralyzing her even further. It traveled upwards, until eventually it would freeze her body completely.

She wasn't naive however. She knew there was no chance her sister would just let that happen.

And she was soon proven to be correct, as Kath blasted her flames straight towards her direction. With her ice walls thinning due to her using them as ammunition for her so-called "icicle gatling gun", it was a genuine danger to her.

She had to change her strategy. Fast!

She stopped both her icicles and her creeping frost attack, focusing her power entirely on defense. Before the flames could reach her, she dropped her own body temperature to near absolute zero. And then, using the cold as protection, she ran straight into the flames, straight towards Kath.

On contrary to her expectation, she was perfectly willing to engage her on melee combat.

She came out of the flames, scathed but still relatively fine. Her coat now had holes all over it, revealing both her panties and half of her breasts.

She immediately ran towards Kath, intending to give her the tightest hug she could muster.

Of course, it wasn't just any hug. She would freeze her instantly the moment they touched, as her temperature was now dropping down once more after being heated up by the flames.

She called it the Death Hug. And she would only dare to use it against her.

She couldn't just possibly hug random strangers to death, could she?

"Hell yes!" Katherin said, fire burning up in her stomach as she saw Christine burst out of the fire. The middle of her shirt lit up as fire poured down the and filled the lines of her scar like a flood rolling down an canyon. Her blast of fire stopped as her arms began to glow from the heat continued to build and build. She drew back her arm as Christine came at her, huge grin across her face.

As Christine brought her arms down to wrap Katherine in their chilly embrace Katherine punched her in the boob.

Christine did not see it coming at all.

Or perhaps, even if she knew it was coming, she would've not been able to counter or defend herself either, as she was fully focused on giving her sister her so-called "hug of death". Most of her power was spent keeping the temperature of her own body as low as possible.

However, said ignorance became a blessing anyways, as even though the blow landed, Kath would soon find that her fist was stuck there, as the frost had climbed into said hand, freezing it stuck.

Normally, her flame could neutralize such an effect, but when the one being punched was near absolute zero in temperature, even her flame wasn't good enough.

"Aaah!"

Christine yelped in pain the moment the blow landed. She would've been thrown backwards from the force, if not for Kath's fist being instantly stuck to her skin in the split second of contact.

Now there were two options on how the attack could end. Either Christine kept her balance as the adhesive force was strong enough to counter the raw force the punch had given, or Kath would be thrown away with Christine as the latter's feet failed to stay in place. The two would fall down to the ground—both losing their balance at the same time.

"Gyaaa!" Katherine yelped in turn as as she felt her hand flash freeze. Christine, surprisingly though, held firm. It was weird, she felt like she should have sent Christine flying but the strength just hadn't come to her. So she was left in this awkward position.

"This is what I get for trying to be funny." Katherine said as she tried to pour heat into her arm to thaw it out. At least she hadn't gone for the slap like she'd been thinking about, that would have been terrible.

As though the universe had a sense of humor it was at that moment the fire from her scar finished burning a big long trench down the middle of her shirt, magically transforming the shitty dollar store shirt into a shitty dollar store vest.

Trying to ignored that, and now very wary of being within literal arms reach of her sister, Kath leaned back and pulled, falling onto her back. Either she was going to pop free and roll away backwards or Christine was going to come with her, get a shoe planted on one of the non-damaged parts of her coat, and get thrown over Kath onto her back.

Kath's response was, once again, something Christine had not predicted.

Ignoring the ruination of her sister's clothes, though she still blushed at the sight nonetheless, she tried to move her body forward once again. The more flesh that touched, the more her frost could spread.

Only that Kath had anticipated it. She pulled back and lift her overhead like she was some sort of a wrestler. She was tough, she knew that perfectly well, but to lift her up like this?

"W-what are you do--aaahhh!"

Christine could do nothing as her feet went up on the air, landing with a thud on her back. The impact was hard enough that it disoriented her, making her unable to move from the spot, with the pain crippling her momentarily.

It was a clear opening. Kath could end their match right then and there.

That is, if she still got any strength to spare.

"Okay." Katherin said, breathing heavy. "We're both on on backs. You want to call this one a draw?"

"Y-yeah," Christine replied, panting as well. "I-I think a draw is fine..."

"You want to warm back up so I can pull my knuckle off you boob?" Kath asked in a sing song teasing voice.

A-ah, r-right..."

Christine immediately dethawed the frozen hand that was still attached to her left boob. She had completely forgotten about it, thinking that she had already released herself on her own.

"There... You should be able to pull it away now..."

"Thank you." Katherine said, pulling away and shaking some of the water off it. She pulled herself up to a sitting position, looked down at the shirt, and sighed as she took the two sides and tied them together in a knot. She looked like a ranch hand."I hope that doesn't happen every time I fire up from now on."

She stood and reached down to help Christine up. "Nice fight. You were kind of kicking my ass there."

Christine took her sister's hand, standing up as well.

"T-that's not true. I think you win this time, Kath," she replied with a giggle. After she stood, it was clear just how much damage she had took in the fight. Her coat was unsalvageably ruined, with its hem burned and blackened at the front, showing the black panties she was wearing (that, mercifully, didn't seem to be damaged in the slightest). And the top part was utterly in tatters. And whatever flesh it failed to cover showed signs of burns on them. Nothing too serious to demand a medical emergency, thankfully enough.

"So, I think we should change right away, sis. Our clothes... they don't seem to be in the best condition," she said with a blush, looking at both her sister's and her own outfit.

"Good idea. This is the exact time someone bursts in unexpectedly on TV." Kath said. She looked over at the stairs for a few moments, as though daring the universe to screw with them.

The universe blinked first.

"Right, let's go get changed." She said, starting toward the stairs. "Then figure out how to spend the rest of the day."

"Alright, sis," Christine happily followed her. For some reason, every time she lost to her sister, she never felt that upset about it. Perhaps it was because of her adoration of her. Or it could be just some simple sibling love in the act. Whatever it was, she never reacted badly from being defeated by her.

Though of course, if she were the one to win instead, she would be terribly elated, to the point of, perhaps, bragging about it to her.

@supertinyking@KillamriX88@AtomicNut@rawkhawk64@CavnderOHeart

---

Bak apprehensively watched the new boy leave, Luigi's card nestled in his shirt, as the machine boy got right to work shoving something deep down one of her missile tubes. "Is fine." She said. "It does not ever hurt unless part is new." One part he had gotten close to one of the wires that melded into her nerves, but all that had done was sent a tickle feeling surging up her arm that had almost put her on her butt. She let him work in peace, forgetting about the problem he didn't want to talk about. You should never have to talk about family issues if you didn't want to.

So she waited, letting the meeting lull as Luigi worked, Diana sorted her paperwork, and they waited for more members to show up. While they were waiting she picked Clara's phone up off the table and started taping buttons on it, flipping past different screens. She knew that phones like this had some place in them where you could see the calls that were made, and after a few minuted of pressing aimlessly, going back, pressing to get where she'd been before, figuring out that there was a "back" button, and then just opening everything she finally found what she was looking for; Recent Calls.

She recognized Christine's number from where she'd called her during the week, and that one sat at the very top. The one under that...

Diana's phone suddenly went off as Bak selected that one. She looked sheepishly at the floating girl. "I am sorry." She said, holding up the phone to her and shaking it before looking back at the screen and pressing buttons until the buttons until the ringing stopped. Well, that confirmed things at least. Clara really did want this girl.

But who else had she called before she went away? Bak was about to press the next number down when she heard the door open. She looked up like an excited dog, only for it to die in her eyes as she saw someone else barge in searching for Luigi, in search of help with a-

"Have we been attacked by St. Laural's again?" She said quickly. She hadn't heard any explosions this time, but if another student was wounded that was the first idea that jumped to mind.

It was only moments after Bak asked that question that she heard strange sound. A rhythmic beating of blades chopping the air echoing over the school. Shadows flickered across the room as something streamed past the long windows of the council chamber. Bak looked over, pushing her way past Luigi as he was still trying to diagnose her and pulling open the window for a better look.

Outside papers was fluttering down through the air, hundreds of them, from the door of a helicopter as it made slow passes over the building. The papers already coated the ground like a flock of white birds or a snowstorm that had decided to settle over the school. As she looked around she could see other windows being pulled open, other heads poking out curiously. Down on the ground floor some even ran out into the courtyard, taking any opportunity to distract themselves from this school.

She reached out, snatching one of the fluttering pages out of the air and examining it. A worrying combination of emotions played across her face as she read. Bewilderment at first, then anger, sudden surprise, a moment of quiet happiness, contemplation, panic, panic, panic, panic...

She turned back to the room, holding up the invitation they'd just gotten to attend a ball. She shakily pointed a finger at the name Lady Liselotte Castellan de Valois-Saint-Remy, a name she recognized from the tournament. A St. Laurels student.

"How do these people know where we live!?!"

You are cordially invited too-

It was the talk of the Rhea, a little bit of sunshine in the midst of a dark mood. Some might have considered it in poor taste but none could deny the dedication that was being put into this little swarey, especially the marketing behind it. There wasn't a soul in the city that wasn't somehow informed, down to the lowest of the low.

After all, it wasn't every day that someone saw fit to invite Mephisto's school for the wickedly inclined to anything. After how they'd acted during the tournament there were still a subset that suspected they had something to do with the masked men that had poured into the city, even with the witness testimony from survivors that they had appeared suddenly to the aid of both Alto and King. Add to this the way they'd nearly killed a fellow competitor and throw in Altos attempted assassination and it became a confusing, disjointed mess that didn't fit neatly into any narrative the media cared to spin.

A more pressing matter to any of the students wishing to attend was this, though; what was a costume befitting a masquerade ball? That was just like a costume party, right?

---

Bak had already decided to go. Even if it was a trap. especially if it was a trap! If she didn't walk into the trap that would be an unacceptable show of weakness on their part. Besides, who knew what the vigilantes and St. Laural's would conspire if they weren't there to put a stop to their sneaky schemes?

Well, that was one reason. The other was, well...if they were conspiring than Alto, king of conspiracishus schemers, was going to be there. And if Alto was there than Vittorio wouldn't be far behind, she was sure.

For the first time she hadn't been spending her nights at the school. She'd been going out, late. Gumshoes on television shows referred to it as "coming the streets." The city was more quiet at night, at least in the parts she could reach without taking the bus. People were out there, sure, but most of them crossed the street when they saw her coming. No one she met ever talked to her, and that was fine because she wasn't out and about for them.

She'd hoped he'd stayed nearby, at least, but that didn't look to be the case. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of a tell tale ghostly glow, only to round the corner on a lit up sign or the glare of someones phone. Every night she worked up the nerve to range a little farther out, but it was impossible for a single girl to a single boy in a city this big.

So in a way she had to go, even if the thought terrified her. If it was a trap, fine! She'd blow them all the pieces before they even laid a hand on a Mephisto. She could handle that. No, the thing that scared her so much was the idea that it might not be a trap.

She might actually have been invited to a party.

---

Katherine beat on the punching bag in her basement, taking out her anger on it. Recovering at home was in some ways a whole lot more restful than at Tobias's fancy apartment. Here everything smelled familiar. Here she knew every creak and moan of the old wood. She had her own clothes, and her own room, and her own stuff. it was...home. There wasn't any other way to describe it. She was home and it felt good.

So good she never wanted to leave, apparently.

Katherine hadn't left the house since she'd gotten here. She hadn't made any calls. She hadn't seen anyone but Christine. Because, you know, she wanted to surprise everyone. Katherine shows up, good as new, 100% back, no worries for anyone involved. Wouldn't that be such a surprise? The looks on their faces, it would be a real hood. Like Tom Sawyer.

It wasn't that she didn't know how the rest of her school would react to her after the whole possession thing. She certainly wasn't looking over her shoulder for Clara to take another shot. She wasn't afraid.



She wasn't afraid of anything.



She would go out when she was damn well ready!



The last impact send the bag flying across the room, a ragged hole burned right in the center of it. She stared at it for a minute, then scoffed and walked upstairs. She hated being reminded.

Unfortunately coming up from the basement put her face to face with the phone.

Cassius's calls hadn't been the only ones that had messed with her when she'd finally played all those messages blowing up the machine.



She only had a vague outline of who that guy even was, and that was just from what her soulmate had described to her. Ever since she'd gotten that message the demon had been suggesting they call back, as the boy "held value" in her own words.

Then there were the ones for Christine.



That had been the understatement of the year. Bak must have been that ugly one from the apartment because she recognized her stupid accent. That girl was on a rampage all right, because most of the messages were from her. Checking in on Christine, trying to get in contact with Christine, telling Christine what homework she had missed, calling to tell Christina that thrice damned Clara was going to call. One just thirty seconds of silence followed by a quiet "I am sorry."

He'd been right about Rurik too. She was actually surprised by how pissed off she was that he hadn't tried to get in contact with them. There was just nothing! It made her want to kick his teeth in all over again, which made her a fucking hypocrit, which only pissed her off more!

She wandered into the living room an flopped down in front of the television she had left on, flipping through channels to try and take her mind off things before landing on a commercial for the great Lady Liselotte's masquerade prom extravaganza! It was just so...like...this was the reason guillotines were invented. Like literally the exact reason. It was frustrating.

"Then why not go?"

Katherine say up at that. "What?"

"You want to go and see your companions, yet refuse to. That is the only source of your frustration. Be aware girl, a heart in turmoil is said to be a demon's plaything."

"Don't even joke!"

"Face this fear with your head held high, my girl. It will only temper the fire in your heart."

Katherine held a hand to her chest, then sighed. "I hate it when I agree with you."

---

Nasearphe stalked through the halls of the Church of Candles, late on the uptake yet again. He had been distracted, buth with his training and the shiey new car that was parked out back that he now owned after an impressive argument with Wulf's woman. He couldn't even drive it but she couldn't very well take it back to her home or else it would expose her web of lies. He had attempted to explain this, and the fact that you did not just have the right to take back a gift. Eventually he had managed to yell consistently louder, thus securing flawless victory and winning the car in a fair contest of skill.

All that mattered right now was that he was the last person to learn about this party they had all been invited too, and this news resulted in his furiously searching out one Vigilante in particular. Ria trailed behind him, slightly limping and smiling like a cat that ate the canary.

Finally he found her.

"Andras." he called out, approaching her clearly intent on important business. "I have come to understand there will be some form of large mask festival happening in the near future."

He looked back at Ria, who nodded an encouraging confirmation that, yes, all of this readily available information was correct. He nodded to her and turned back with utmost seriousness.

"Would you be averse to accompanying me to this mask festival?"

---

@Crowvette@Crazy Scion@supertinyking@CavnderOHeart@Dezuel@Scarifar@Bartimaeus@KillamriX88@rawkhawk64@Hammerman

Christine did indeed receive all the messages Bak (and Celestine) had sent to her. However, she still felt that she wasn’t ready to return to school yet, so she didn’t. She trusted Bak, thinking that she was just being overdramatic, as usual.

As for Rurik, well, he’ll continue being Rurik. He’ll be fine without her as well.

The invitation papers though… that changed everything.

-----

"Kath, Kath, look at this!" Christine shouted as she barged into the living room, holding one of the leaflets in her hand. "An invitation for a party! Even us Mephistos are invited!"

She walked over in front of her, thrusting the leaflet onto her lap.

"I think this is the perfect opportunity to make our comeback!" She clapped her hands with a smile. "Though it's supposed to be a masquerade, and I don't know what kind of outfit I should go with…"

@Gentlemanvaultboy