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@Lmpkio

Dante watched as Doom Slayer backed up to avoid Dante's sword and started to fire at him from a distance again. Thinking quickly, Dante held his sword horizontally in front of his chest as the shots were being fired. The broadness of the sword allowed it to catch quite a few shots, but some of them managed to fly by it and hit Dante in his left arm, the right side of his waist and his thigh in particular. The shots hurt, not as much as the last ones but definitely enough for Dante to take pause for a moment before running in the opposite direction that Doom Slayer was, just to throw him off

Alright, if bullets didn't work and he wasn't gonna let Dante get close, then he'll just have to try something else. While still running, Dante made a vertical slash with his sword in the air, followed by 3 more slashes. On the 4th slash, a wave of energy flew out of the sword and flew straight ahead at Doom Slayer. The energy wave was about the size of the sword, was crescent shaped, and had the same glow and color that the sword itself did only a moment ago. It wasn't as fast as a bullet, but it flew quick enough to be difficult to avoid

Dracula awoke, his eyes briefly flaring a bright crimson that died away soon after as he slowly got to his feet. Resting a pale hand against his forhead with a soft grunt, he tried to recall exactly how he had gotten here, wherever here was anyway. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift, back, back over the events that had led him here.

The one's he could recall, anyway.

Dracula, Prince of Darkness, stared at the empty display with disdain. His old combat cross, the only thing that could end his eternal existence permanently, had been stolen. And the ironic thing was he knew exactly who did it.

Alucard. His own flesh and blood.

He was the obvious culprit. No one else had the skill or fotitude to infiltrate his vault. No one else could have possibly seen that battered and burned old cross as something worth stealing...

Besides him that is.

Of course the question now was why?

That the ancient being couldn't even begin to guess, though he suspected it might have had something to do with his own mood as of late. Truth be told, he had been becoming much colder recently, which must have been why Alucard had taken the cross. He must have feared his father was going to slip back into the same dark pit he had been trapped in for so many centuries, and acted accordingly.

In all honesty, he didn't blame his son. He would have done the same most likely, had their situations been reversed.

Still, the weapons loss troubled him. It was the one thing that could put a final end to his long existence, and send him into the comforting embrace of death. And not having it here with him, especially after everything he'd gone through to reclaim it, infuriated him.

"But," he reminded himself. "I am nothing if not patient. I have waited this long for death, I can wait a bit longer."

Turning away from the display, his long coat unfurling dramatically, Dracula made his way back through the long and winding halls of his underground vault, a hideaway he had constructed in place of his castle, albeit within the ruins of the city rather than the mountains barren expanse. While it wasn't anywhere near as impressive as his old home, or as fortified, it served the purpose towards which he put it well enough.

Making his way through the structure, his hands clasped behind his back, the elder vampire turned a corner, only to have his vision obscured by a blindingly bright light that slowly consumed him. Mind, body, and soul, until there was nothing left.

Was this it? Were his wishes finally being granted?

Was he finally receiving the death he so desperately craved...?

"Apparently not," he thought sourly, carefully examining his surroundings. He was in a ruined office of some sort, with rotted stacks of paper and ruined pieces of furniture scattered haphazardly throughout the room. Shaking his head to clear it, Dracula cautiously made his way towards the nearest exit-a worm eaten wooden door barely attached to the frame upon which it hung-tore it off its corroded hinges and tossed it to the side.

Sprawling out before him was a ruined husk of a city, massive in scope, filled with all manner of decayed buildings. Hollow sentinels of a civilization long since fallen from grace. Much like him, in a way.

Shifting his gaze downwards, away from the silent remnants, Dracula's eyes narrowed into thin slits. He was standing before a yawning precipice. Had he taken another step, he would have found himself becoming more intimately acquainted with the ground below. Not that it really mattered. Survival wasn't an issue for him, but time was. He wanted to find Vampire Killer as soon as possible, and loathed the idea of having to spend what could be days clawing his way back up to the surface.

No, he'd have to find a different way, if he didn't just fly to the other side outright that is. Speaking of flight, he felt... different. Weaker, somehow. As though some vital parts of him had been torn away, although he wasn't sure what that could be.

He didn't have much time to ponder this, however, as a gilded parchment materialized in the air before him. Remaining suspended for only the briefest of moments, the scroll dropped to the ground, only to come to a halt at the last moment as Dracula used his telekinesis to hold it aloft. Positioning it where he could see it's contents, he unfurled the scroll and began to read.



Rolling the scroll back up now that he was finished with it, Dracula looked down to find five crimson and gold colored chips lying on the floor, which must have fallen while he was preoccupied.

"Those must be the tokens it mentioned," he muttered, picking them up and smuggling them away into a newly created pocket in his coat. Taking hold of the scroll, he took a few moments to commit its contents to memory, before summoning his chaos claws and setting it alight. Even though he now knew the name of the place he was in, despite not knowing where it was in relation to Europe, he had no idea how valuable the information he'd just received was or if there were other's here who might be after it, so he decided to play it safe and destroy the original outright. That way the only place it existed was the one place it couldn't be stolen from.

His mind.

Once he was done with that, Dracula dispelled his claws and strode back over to the open doorway he had peered through earlier. Fixing his gaze on the chasms far side, the old vampire focused on his body, willing it to shift into a thin, black and red mist. Taking to the air, the Prince of Darkness descended upon the desolate wastes below.

Upon the Crossroads.

---

---

Hiccup felt.. sad. Listening to the child talk about all of his problems - the fact he had to fight off.. 'Aliens', whatever they were, at such a young age? Of course, to him, his mind filled in the blanks - thinking perhaps Aliens were a band of weird villagers trying to work towards overtaking as much as they could and he, a very young Chief or Chief's son had to work everything out. It made him feel awful - that he seemed to not even have a childhood - but he continued to listen.

Though he found he couldn't explain the space part or the planet part or... He felt his blood run cold at the 'poison filled injector' bit - but.. No, of course not, he definitely died all those years ago, right? ..Right? Yeah, of course! Of course. If he wasn't he'd come back, knowing him. But then another part stopped him. "Everybody's safe. Now I'm-" Hiccup was taken aback - and it didn't help when the child paused. He was about to ask when he chimed in again, presenting his identity with a weird hand gesture that he couldn't help but smile at - despite the moment that had just occurred. Hiccup's feelings didn't stop, however, evident by the fact that when he was done with his adorable, gushy speech - he gave a sigh and ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry you had to go through that-" Hiccup paused. He had never even heard the name Steven before - it kind of made him nervous, but with a proud inhale he progressed. "Steven. But you're in Berk now - and as long as we can get you back to your village, you'll be safe here."

---

---

Ouch Thought the dragoness as she stood herself up - the sound of rushing water all around her not at all helping her headache of sorts. As she shook herself down, she realized she was on a ledge, right outside of The Hidden World. How odd! As she went to fly towards the entrance she realized - there was no entrance. As she seemed to hover in the air she landed on what appeared to be a land mass of rock, with very small entrances for the water to flow through. Okay then. The dragoness seemed to scratch at the rock formation, becoming more and more curious. Perhaps she was at the wrong place? But then again where is this place? She shook her head, flying back up to the ledge, as something caught her eye.

As she landed, she saw a rock with weird circular objects around it. As she inspected the weird rock, she made out a bunch of words in a form of dragon language - this certainly interested her, so she, like any other dragon would, seemed to eat the chips up and take flight, still wondering why on earth her home wasn't.. Well, there. At all. No matter, she was fine with stretching her wings - the exercise made for a good pass time - she even seemed to find a.. Forest. Well this certainly looks interesting - maybe I can find something to eat here.

---

Toph slowly awoke from unconsciousness. Getting to her feet, the first thing the blind girl noticed was that she was lying on what felt like sand. She tried remembering how she could have ended up wherever she was but her mind drew a blank. To make matters worse, because she was standing on sand, it was going to limit the use of her seismic sense and make it difficult to travel anywhere.

Toph took a step forward when she noticed that her foot had touched something that didn’t feel like sand. She bent down to pick up the object and while she did this, her hand brushed passed what felt like another one of the same object.

After patting around the desert sand for a tiny bit, Toph managed to find a total of five of those small, coin-like objects. She also found a scroll along with the small tokens that no doubt had something potentially important on it that could be helpful to her but with no way of actually reading it, Toph stashed it away like she did with the tokens. She would have to find some other way to find out what is written on the scroll.

Before she moved on though, Toph wanted to see if she could bend the sand around her. Placing both feet firmly on the ground and stretching her arms out in front of herself, a small portion of the sand directly in front of her began to rise up on it’s own. Toph twisted her arms in a circular motion and the sand copied the motion. Satisfied, the blind girl stopped bending and let the sand drop back down.

Now that she was done with that, Toph thought that this would be a good time to try and find out where she was. She didn’t know how expanse this desert she was in was or how to travel through one by herself. After all, the last time she had been in a desert she had some company with her. With not much else she could do about the situation, Toph simply started walking forward, trying her best not to fall over in the process. With any luck, she would be able to run into something other than just the emptiness of a desert.

With his opponent on the move, the Slayer prepared to tackle his demonic foe head on. Yet as soon as he saw his demonic foe erect a beam of energy from his sword towards him, he had little to react other than to brace for impact. The beam collided with his suit, sending him knocking back considerably. He slammed his right gauntlet onto the wrecked asphalt as he grind himself to a swift halt. While it wasn't powerful enough to break through his suit, it definitely backed quite a punch.

Still it did little to halt his rage.

It was time for him to up the ante. Once again, gripping his weapon he proceeded to make a mad dash towards Dante with surprising speed. Perhaps before his opponent could get another his on him via a crescent beam, the armored Slayer would leap into the air and unload several more shots into his opponent. Whether or not they would hit, he would would then proceed to try and stomp on Dante with his mighty metal boot just before he would land.

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@Lmpkio

Doom Slayer suddenly rushed forwards and leaped towards Dante, firing at him and winding up a jumping kick at the same time. Dante, thinking quickly, managed to make a quick dive to the side and quickly rolled out of the way, moving himself about 3 feet to the left. He managed to dodge almost all of the bullets (though a couple did graze him on his back), and as he got back into his feet, he held his guns up towards Doom Slayer, completely turning the tables on him. "Whoa, better calm down there, buddy. Don't wanna blow a gasket now, do you?" Dante said in a smarmy tone

Eltariel’s eyes went wide as she felt herself suddenly stop. So close to severing this armored one’s neck. What happened? She was flung through the air with an indignant look on her face. The primitive landed in a graceful three point landing, rotating in the air and dispersing the weight of the impact on the snowy ground without issue.

She hated being out in the open like this. This man could track her ruthlessly. Without stealth, her biggest advantage was gone. Normally this was when she would retreat and come back to fight another day, but there was nowhere to run. Eltariel was never on the defensive, only ever on the attack. An infiltrator and assassin, never guardian. The Uruks rudimentary weapons couldn’t bring down her Silver Towers, and they weren’t even aware of their purpose. But were these advanced beings to claim her Tower for themselves, she would be doomed. If they destroyed the four foot tall artifact on the roof of this tower, the New Ring would not be able to resurrect her.

The invaders seemed to have stopped their assault. Eltariel however, did not respond to Kylo’s question. While she could avoid a reasonable amount of fire just by being hard to hit, if the white one’s ranged weapons hit nearly as hard or fast as the black one’s sword, she would be shredded.

She had five arrows left, and some of her focusing power had returned to her. Eltariel, with supernatural agility, dove backwards and rushed back into the treeline, finding a heavy boulder to crouch down behind. It was nothing more than cover against their ranged fire. As long as they were within her line of sight she could instantly close the gap.

If a truce was possible, she would much rather have that. But Eltariel was much less willing to negotiate for such a thing than one might imagine.

”I live here, you stuffy-tongued oaf. Leave this place at once, while you still have your lives.” She spoke with an accent that was similar to Rey’s, one unknown by either of them to be called in some places a British accent. Though there was a sophistication and spitefulness in her voice towards those who levelled their guns at her.

Indeed, did the girl’s voice seem to resemble the very scavenger girl Ren sought back in his world. It had the same fiery spirit she had as well. However, he knew fully well that she was someone else, especially with the skills she brought to the table. She had magical powers that vaguely were akin to the force, but not quite. And her arsenal didn’t reveal a lightsaber either, just regular metal blades and supposedly a bow and a few arrows. Plus, if it was her she would be quite familiar with him already.

She would’ve known of the Supreme Leader’s true name… the one before he called himself Kylo Ren.
He would find himself flashbacking to several various events in rapid succession; from their introduction on Takodana, to their duel on Starkiller Base, and even as recent as their battle onboard the Supremacy. He could hear the various derogatories being thrown at him, as well as the pleads to head back to the light. All of this would’ve happened within seconds before Ren returned to the premise at hand.

He then proceeded to take another few steps forward, but he didn’t sheath his own lightsaber quite yet. "Do you really?" the Supreme Leader asked in a calm and assured manner, before taking a quick glance back at the tower, "The tower may be yours yes, but the land that you walk upon is not. Quite frankly, none of us are supposed to be here in the first place."

The elf wobbled her head in disdain. No doubt this one was some kind of warlord. They all carried the same stench of tyranny. ”Obviously. It’s fortunate that we speak the same language. Still… go away. This Tower is mine to protect. If you want to keep your tokens, and your life, you’ll leave.” Eltariel threatened, staying hidden behind the boulder. This was bad. She was outnumbered, and potentially even overpowered by the red sabered warrior. More importantly, the environment she was summoned in was terrible. There was a clearing around her Tower. Perhaps if she could have engaged them in the woods it would be a different story, but right now they had the advantage. Her only move would be to target the caped one and try to disable him before he could toss her away again. But for now, she waited for a reply.

Unfortunately for Eltariel, the Supreme Leader was not nearly as intimidated by her words as she may have thought, especially for someone who had just unknowingly been catapulted away by the force, and killed one of his men. It was not really a good look for her either. And considering all this, Ren was not going to leave just yet. He looked back at his men for further confirmation.

"Troopers." he boomed as he looked at FN-602 and FN-149, "What is your officer’s status?"

602 was about to go check, before 149 stopped him. The latter then revealed the Officer’s loose orange pauldron to Ren.

”He’s gone sir.” he reported, abit with less emotion than one would’ve expected.

The other troopers were silent at this revelation, as several found themselves looking at the ground in silent mourning. That settled it then.

"Grab his items," the masked warrior ordered as 149 proceeded to collect what was left from the officer.

The Supreme Leader then looked to Eltariel’s position once more.

"Considering you killed one of my troopers," he replied to her initial statement with a hint of anger in his voice, "I’m afraid that I won’t leave the premises until I get something of equal payment. I would normally kill you, but considering your refusal to show yourself, perhaps your Tower will harbor something of use instead."

The Supreme Leader would then use the force to create a spiral staircase up to the top of the tower out of snow and dirt. Looking back, he would cock his head to have two of his men to check the crow’s nest.

"Search it." he ordered as FN-453 and FN-602 would be the two to investigate.

As they did so, Ren began to issue a warning towards the girl.

"If your tower contains something useful to us," the masked warrior explained, "We will leave you and everything else unharmed. If you attempt to kill anymore of my men as they search the premises, then you will die. And if there’s nothing useful for us in the tower… then you will also die."

Eltariel narrowed her eyes. So be it. She would just have to fight. Ending a life had been action she had committed so many times it had lost all meaning and impact on her. Add one more lackey to the pile. She did not respond to Kylo, talking was getting her nowhere.

It became apparent to her that the leading man had some kind of telekinesis, a rare gift on Middle Earth. He bent the earth itself to his will and created a staircase. Eltariel would wait until 453 and 602 were about halfway up the fifty foot tower, by a series of small handholds she could use. All Silver Towers were identical, she knew the placement of every nook and cranny on it’s nearly smooth surface.

Then, she reappeared from behind her boulder, and Kylo would see that she did indeed have a spectral bow that matched her incorporeal arrows. He attempted to get the first move on her as he rose his lightsaber, but then she quickly vanished, with only the sound of wind filling the space she had left behind, as well as a barely perceptible flash of light.

Unaware of the events that had been transpiring, FN-453 and FN-602 began to quickly jog up the newly erected staircase. While the former was relatively confident about the situation, 602 felt a dark wave of despair flow through him, as if he believed something terrible was about to happen. He was about to say something before Eltariel reappeared halfway up the Tower, standing on top of Kylo’s dirt staircase.

”Watch out!” 453 shouted as she drew her blaster and began shooting at her opponent.

Unfortunately, for being the closest person towards her, she would find herself to get hit first.

”Gah!” the female trooper groaned as a blade would slice through her armor and into her lower side, slamming her up against the brick wall of the Tower.

”No!” 602 paused in terror as he stared at the event taking place.

Eltariel reversed the grip on the blade lodged inside the trooper and span around her side to come face to face with 602. Yanking the curved blade free would cause a spatter of blood and a little pull to convince 453 to fall off several meters into the snowy ground below. Still pointing his blaster, 602 made the grave mistake in hesitating to fire out of pure intimidation. By the time, he did try to fire however, it would be too late. Bringing her hand to bear, Eltariel fired a small bright orb of light at 602, hitting him with the force of a well aimed kick to the chest.

”Aiee!” the trooper yelped as he collided with the wall. And as soon as he did, he started hearing an obnoxious ringing surging through his ears while being blinded by an extremely bright light. Screaming in utter pain, he found himself against the tower wall as he tried to regain his senses with everything he had within him. He could even feel his skin as if it was gradually getting hotter and hotter. For a brief moment, he truly believed as if he was going to die, being cooked alive, while experiencing the sensory depredation of being both blind and deaf.

It would truly be a terrible and pathetic way for him to die now.

Now the elven woman was going straight for his throat, as if she was about to spare the poor trooper of his suffering. Perhaps his death would be a blessing in disguise. Yet fortunately, or unfortunately for him, the blade would stop just inches from his throat. Once again Eltariel would be robbed from causing another death as she would find herself stuck in place and unable to move. The staircase below her began to dissipate, with 602 falling back down towards the ground. Only the girl would find herself still suspended in mid-air.

But this time, she would feel as if someone was choking her. ”Auck…” Eltariel grimaced, gritting her teeth and watching as the trooper fell to the ground. Frozen. She dropped her dagg and tried to reach out for the Tower.

From the ground, Kylo Ren’s anger began to surge as he turned the girl to face him. His arm was reaching towards his target, yet his fingers was not splayed out like before. They were curving into his hand, as if he was about to grip onto something. In reality, he was using the force to choke Eltariel for her failure to comply. He didn’t truly know as to why she was defending her tower this audaciously. What was it that she was hiding that allowed her to risk her own life to protect? Was it a precious artifact? A weapon? Perhaps her stache of tokens if she left them up there? Whatever was the case, it would all culminate in her undoing.

"How bold," the dark warrior malevolently mocked towards the helpless elf, "You’ve had a chance in being spared, had you only allowed us to inspect your tower."

Slowly Ren began to reel Eltariel in using the force, with his grip tightening for every inch he gained. Eltariel gasped, bring her hands to her throat by habit, trying to pry off the invisible force that constricted her breathing. For the first time in a long, long time, Eltariel felt fear. Her eyes were wide and her mouth opened and closed like a fish on a dry dock, her hands and fingers forming desperate claws at her neck. This shouldn’t happen. Eltariel wasn’t supposed to die here. They would destroy her Tower. ”Gggck…!”l Eltariel squeaked. She was going to die, and she wouldn’t even die on her homeland. Her afterlife would be stolen away from her, her soul disconnected from Galadriel. All these years...all these years! All of her suffering! It meant nothing! The Uruks would destroy everyone and everything she cared about and she wouldn’t even get to see it burn! Tears sprung to the Elven warrior’s eyes. For much deeper and far reaching reasons than just a dying woman fearing for her life. She would die unredeemed, her mistake on Middle Earth dooming all of the good people. It was all her fault.

"Yet you chose once more to defy the First Order," he continued, his voice becoming sharper in tone, "Whatever is in there surely meant something far more to you than your own life. And if that’s the case..."



Suddenly, he rapidly proceeded to pull his victim in, causing her to lurch forward due to the sudden acceleration. And the next thing she’d know, she found herself impaled by her aggressor’s plasma saber as a sickening screech emerged from her stomach region. ”Augchk!” The woman wordlessly articulated the sensation of her innards being cauterized.

Ren would jam his saber in one more time before he gently caressed the elf’s neck.

Eltariel’s eyes widened to two saucers, her mouth a gaping hole. ”Aah..” He then lowered his helmeted head and whispered in her ear: The elf placed a trembling hand against his helmet.

"Allow me to aleve you of that burden."

With that said, Ren would swiftly lower his blade and sheath it, allowing the fallen elven warrior to fall to the ground. With a quiet, breathy release of air her hand dragged down the man’s helm and cloak and she flopped limply onto the snowy dirt, staring at Kylo Ren’s boots. The fear had left her face, and she merely began to twitch and writhe. The agony was unbearable, her abdomen and back were splintered open with two cavernous black holes. Trying to muster the energy to stand only resulted in a hand digging at the dirt in a futile attempt to cling to life.

”Lothlórien will burn...” Eltariel admitted quietly to herself with something between a hollow inhalation and a sob.

As his opponent laid helplessly beneath his feet, Ren shed not a single tear regarding her demise as he looked down at her cold, near-death corpse. The only sort of compassionate emotion he gave was merely a shed of pity. Afterall, he gave her a chance to live and she ignored it. And for her defiance, she paid the price for her futile efforts. Otherwise, she was nothing but an obstacle, as simply someone who got in the way of his goals.

Then, at the corner of his eye, he noticed a shiny object that laid in the snow. Bending down, Ren picked up what he soon recognized as a token. He said not a word, only smirking to himself underneath his faceless helmet before putting it in his pocket. Still standing over the elven woman, he called out towards FN-149 who was tending to FN-453.

"Status report." he ordered towards the standing trooper.

He looked up as the injured female trooper tried to cover her wounded side. ”FN-453 has been injured. The enemy managed to stab through the armor protecting her abdomen. It’s a deep but clean cut; nothing that a bacta shot can’t fix.”

149 then proceeded to inject a bacta shot into the wound, causing 453 to groan in pain before her breathing slowly began to stabilize. Ren would then move his glance slightly to the left to see a fallen FN-602 whimpering by the base of the tower. The trooper’s senses were still fairly compromised, although he could feel the ringing and the blindness slowly going away, but he was still in shock.

"And FN-602?" he asked curiously.

149 would proceed to inspect the smaller trooper’s form, giving various signals as to confirm his consciousness. He gently shook him, already getting a light groan in response. He then proceeded to lift 4 of his fingers up to him.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked 602.

The fallen trooper then weakly rose the correct amount of fingers. ”I’m… I’m fine… Stop giving me math problems.“

149 nodded before turning back to the Supreme Leader. ”Conscious sir. A little dazed but he’ll walk it off.“

"Bring them away from the tower." Ren ordered as 149 and 768, respectively, carried the two troopers towards the edge of the clearing and sat them against a large boulder. He then proceeded to crouch over Eltariel, staring her directly at her red, swollen-looking face.

"You’re still alive..." he mentioned casually before pausing to give one good glance at her tower, "No matter. I don’t care for taking whatever is in there anymore."

He then cocked his head back to glare straight into the elf’s pale blue eyes. She returned the gaze, searching the dark visor for something. Anything.

"Nor do I care what happens to it." he would coldly finish as he stood to face his mean. "Troopers." he called, gathering their attention as he pointed towards the structure, "Plant some charges on the tower base. I want to see that petty eyesore topple to the ground."

Eltariel gasped, both from pain and from shock as she tried to muster up the strength to speak."No!...No...don’t do it, please.” She reached a hand out towards him.

Ren paused just as he was about to step forward as he looked to see his victim’s mortified face.

”...M-more lives than mine are at stake. If..y-you destroy that T-tower…” She rasped, her face having turned a ghastly shade of white. ”M-millions will die. Please.” She begged, before coughing and taking in her shallowest breath yet.

The dark warrior paused, but only for a moment. He had absolutely no clue as to what she meant by millions dying. Was it of her own people? Was it regarding the people here? No… that couldn’t be. For a tower of that size, with little defenses to protect it outside of a smooth wall and a mere girl, he couldn’t help but to believe that she was deeply exaggerating the situation. And even if what she said was true, then she did a terrible job in preventing it. He jerked his boot away from Eltariel’s grasp, as he stared deep into her fragile face one last time before leaving her to die.

Eltariel tried to crawl but groaned as the pain in her abdomen shut down any movement. ”Pl-please! It m-means more than you know! They did nothing wrong!” Eltariel was pleading for the lives of those of Middle-Earth. Without her, Sauron’s forces would organize and march on Gondor. They were not ready. Worst of all, the previous protector had died because of her. She took his duty upon herself and already she had failed. Already was a relative term, for it had indeed been sixty years since that day in Gorgoroth, but that hardly mattered now.

Meanwhile, the troopers were already searching their armor’s components for any explosives they had on board. While they didn’t have any proper charges that they could just plant on the wall, they did have thermal detonators that they could activate. Each stormtrooper had at maximum 2 to 3 detonators within their designated case on their utility belt. In total the squad of six should have up to 12 or 18 maximum or a mere 6 at minimum.

After gathering the troopers’ detonators, they would have a total of 8 charges on hand. They were a little on the short side, but nonetheless even the minimum amount would be enough to blow one side of the tower open, allowing it to topple over with ease. Of course, if that didn’t work, Ren would have had to resort in using the force in order to topple it manually.

Scorch chuckled mischievously as he grabbed two in his hand. ”Alright,” he spoke lowly, ”Let’s tear it down boys!”

Eltariel rolled with a groan over to her back, placing a hand on the two cavernous tunnels in her torso. Through gritted teeth she watched as they went about placing the devices necessary to destroying her tower. Her pleading had fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps she could have handled this situation better. After all, it was her who struck the first blow, killing the officer of their group instantly. When was the last time she had tried to negotiate with anyone? It had been so long. Only used to fighting Nazghul and Uruks. A fatal mistake, There was no blood on her. The wound was instantly burnt to a crisp. Eltariel sputtered and then let her head fall back, staring up at the blue sky and waited for her final, ultimate death.

Both 768 and 149 collected their share - holding three each - as they began to walk towards the tower. Ren watched with anticipation, his gaze set directly on the structure, as he awaited its imminent destruction. Victory was his, and there would be nothing that would stop him...

But then they heard a faint bellowing noise emanating in the distance. It was an ominous noise that started with a sharp screeching noise before ending in a low, echoing growl.

The sound lasted for several long seconds, resonating throughout the trees as bird began to flock from the tree tops. The advancing stormtroopers paused in place, visibly shook by what had just transpired. They looked at the trees, then each other, and then dared to look directly back at the Supreme Leader who also paused to address the disturbance.

602 groaned as he would be the first to address the situation. ”Uh…” he paused as he began looking around him, ”W-What in death’s name was that?”

No one seemed to be sure on what it was. Eltariel blinked and glanced around. Something was happening.

”I...” 768 paused as he too looked around in absolute confusion, ”I don’t know… it sounded like~”

But before he could put a finger on what could’ve made that sound, they would find the local fauna - made up of a collection of various woodland-based animals such as deer, rabbits, birds, and other creatures - stampeding towards them in a mass gathering. However, they did not seem to bother, or perhaps even recognize their presence, as they ran past them in a mass panic.

The troopers were stunned by such an odd sight and said nothing until the wave of fauna ceased. Scorch made a loud hissing sound as he took a few steps back in utter bafflement.

”Feeeeech,” the flametrooper cursed, ”Whatever it was, it sent the entire forest packin’ to the hills.”

768 quickly jerked his head towards Scorch’s direction.

”You do realize what must’ve caused that right?” the trooper asked him concerningly with a subtle rise of fear in his voice, ”That sounded like it came from some kind of massive beast just lurking in the woods!”

Scorch simply shrugged, almost as if he didn’t quite buy it. But then they felt something ripple through their feet, as if they had detected a faint seismic tremor. Then they felt it again, this time a little stronger. Then again, even stronger… and again.

And again… repeatedly.

”And I think we just woke it up...” 768 finished worryingly.



Now the stormtroopers were beginning to panic, already having dropped their detonators in their fright. As they backed towards their Supreme Leader, they could now hear the faint sound of rustling foliage and falling trees. This too got louder to the point where they could now see the very trees moving. By now the ground was shaking violently with every step this thing took and the troopers were raising their blasters in a cowardly excuse of courage. Ren stepped in front to greet whoever would emerge from the forest, igniting his lightsaber once more.

Then the great beast showed itself at last.

A large blocky head emerged from the trees revealing an ancient saurian design with golden-amber eyes and sharp jagged teeth. Bony scales and osteoderms covered his entire face, and as it revealed more of itself, a row of sharp spines ran down his neck and down his back. These spines got larger and larger the further back it went, with the largest ones gaining outwardly portrustions that made them look almost like leaves. A few of these spines even looked as if they’d been broken off.

Its overall form was massive, being bulky yet muscular, and covered in various scars as it wielded powerful arms that ended with four black claws. Even with his hunchbacked stance, the monster was nearly as tall as the tower itself. It’s feet resembled those of elephants - thick and trunk-like - with four sharp toe claws protruding out of them. And ending his gargantuan form was a long crocodile-like tail that swerved through the snow like a serpentine.

The stormtroopers were shaking in their boots as they marveled in awe and terror underneath the giant beast’s presence. The elf on the ground stared incredulously at the beast. She would have believed it to be a dying hallucination were it not for the fact that the soldiers were seeing it, too. All the fear had already left her, she had been resigned to her fate. Now she just stared on with a curious but ultimately removed apathy. Though...would this interrupt the destruction of her Tower? Suddenly she found herself rooting for this gigantic creature to scare off the soldiers and hopefully leave the Tower alone. That was all she needed. Eltariel’s eyes widened and she propped herself up on an elbow.

”Sir....” Scorch mentioned as he attempted to close his gaping jaw, ”Permission to label that as one GIANT-ASS monster?”

As soon as he mentioned it, the beast took a deep breath in and unleashed an ear-splitting roar towards the heavens that rocked the entire vicinity. It was so loud in fact, it could be heard for several miles. Anyone within that range would at the very least feel its very vibrations travel through the ground and up their very bones. And for those at ground zero, it would be a miracle for anyone to not have their eardrums blown by such a deafening noise.

And yet, the fearsome Kylo Ren was not intimidated by this territorial gesture. As his men continued backing up, Ren would stay put as he rose his hand towards his men.

"Return to my ship." his voice resonated as he continued to glare at his monstrous opponent "I will deal with this beast..."

"PERSONALLY."

---

---

A thin mist wormed its way through the air, the intelligence that comprised it scanning the devastated ground below with mild interest. After a while, however, the entity noted a marked change in the environment. Where once there had been ruins and decay, there now stood a uniformly drab city of imposing monoliths that seemed to stretch on for miles, even intersecting with a desert at certain points. Taking note of this, the consciousness within the mist made sure to remember the fact that not everything here in the Crossroads made sense. Not even the ground. Moving on, weaving its way in-between said structures, the entity eventually spotted a building down below that was quite different from all the others. Unlike all the uniform monoliths rising to pierce the sky around him, however, the look of this one structure in particular was similar to that of a castle-albeit warped and twisted-made of yellowish sandstone. Swooping down towards it as the blazing sun slowly lowered itself towards the horizon, Dracula shifted back into his human form, landing a few feet away from the castles' entrance.

Standing across from him, directly in front of the main entrance, was a man dressed in clothing that he could only describe as foppish. It was similar to the styles of clothing worn by those back on Earth, only more... extravagant. Excessively so. Granted, he wasn't exactly one to talk. His own long coat was centuries out of date in his world, a clear indication of his total lack of sense when it came to shifting trends in fashion. Still, he couldn't help but find the clothing worn by the man standing before him visually annoying to look at.

Shaking his head slightly, doing his best not to focus on what he was wearing, Dracula approached the man as day slowly turned to dusk.

DIO had a hand on his hip, his face obscured in shadow. It had taken him only two minutes of observing to notice the thin beams of light in his mansion that emanated from below the curtains trawl slowly across the floor. "Day and night do indeed exist in the Crossroads. With this knowledge in mind, I shall venture out into the landscape around my eternal mansion and explore. There is a certain delight in the experience of new things. Nothing can be gained without risk. Always have I strived for excellence, for perfection, this alternate dimension offers me nothing but further opportunity." DIO took a single step down the stairs, reflecting the patience only an eternal being could possess.

"When I, DIO, was a child, in order to survive I sharpened my mind to that of a knife's edge. That was ultimate tool. As I grew older I slowly vanquished the weaknesses cursed into my soul from the moment I was born. Anger, ego, remorse, empathy, these feelings were nothing but liablities. To grow furious is to expose my own weaknesses. All actions I take are rational in nature, all in order to achieve victory.

But then I learned that the schemes of humans were limited. As long as I was human, I had reached the end of my progress. In order to grow, I chose to forsake my humanity and become greater than any who had come before me. Even then, I did not stop. The powers I took for myself were vast and limited. But the skill of my rivals was not to be underestimated. Though I was the most lethal and dangerous man on Earth, my quest for further abilties continued. Next, I took the power of Stands for myself. As proof of my sheer willpower and determination, the Stand awakened within me was the ultimate, perfect Stand, unbeatable by any other. Second to none, the World is indeed, the power to rule over the world and make it my own domain. But there is room for more improvement as there always is. As I train, my ability to stop time grows in length. I started at three seconds, and was able to increase that to four, then five seconds. Soon I will be able to stop time for ten, thirty, a minute, an hour. Then..." DIO smiled maliciously.

"...as long as I may desire. The thought alone brings me joy. Perhaps that is what I may use my wish for. To increase the power of my Stand to infinity. To be able to bend the very universe to my will. Imagine, slaying millions in what others would percieve as an instant, less than a blink of an eye, a time frame impercievable to all except my own. The power to control the world. The power to create Heaven."

Dusk fell, and the vampire lord stepped out into the shadow of his mansion. His yellow, black, and green outfit practically shined against the dull grey concrete of his environment. "This place is fascinatingly unique in it's monotony. Tedious and repitious, it is utterly alien to anything seen on Earth. Unlivable by any, with no doors or windows to enter these mysterious blocks of concrete. Indeed, it is reasonable to surmise that this place, this City, was constructed by the whims of the cosmos itself rather than by any mortal hands. I know, of course, that there is no God, for any wise diety would surely not allow a being such as I, DIO, to exist." The Vampre Lord surmised, crossing his arms and leaning backwards at a degree that was slightly more than reasonable. At some point he had draped a long red scarf around his neck, that fluttered in the non-existant wind.

No sooner than he had crossed the threshold of his doorway did a man appear to him. DIO smirked, raising an eyebrow and giving the man a once-over. Dressed in the antiquities of days long gone by, he reminded DIO of his own fashion choices one hundred years ago. "This only confirms my suspicions. If this Crossroads has the power to cross the barriers of space, then of course it would have the ability to manipulate the streams of time. To pluck people from their timelines like fish from a river. You, who has come to me at this late hour, may call me Lord DIO. You seem yourself a man of high class and esteem..." DIO hesitated, narrowed his eyes, the smirk showing his gleaming white sharp teeth.

"That porcelain skin, your distinctly unbreathing form. I do not sense the presence of decaying life within you. You are a being similar to myself, are you not? A creature greater than mere mortals- a vampire. This fascinates me greatly. Though I seek to explore this Crossroads, I would be remiss to not invite you inside my esteemed abode and learn more about you. Would you like to help yourself to wine? I keep collection of the finest drinks from all over the world in my cellar." DIO spoke in a refined way, one that was calculated and honed. He oozed arrogance from every pore of his clean-shaven face. Before Dracula was man who cared deeply about his appearence and how he presented himself. His golden-blonde hair was matched only by the luxurious fine leather jacket he wore. Keeping his hair up was a green headband with a peculiar verdent heart was attached to it. Here was a man who's bizarre fashion sense was unapproachable and uninsultable- to do so would be nothing but an ignorant mistake from an untrained eye. As dusk faded and light fell, the amber glow of the setting sun seemed to trapped within his glittering orange eyes.

DIO had taken a few slow, elegant steps backward, holding the heavy, shine-polished door open, revealing the dark abyss of his home within. Inside could be seen a large, long table, with a golden chandelier hanging above, lit by flickering candles, all above an intricately designed red and orange rug.

---

---

Dracula's eyes narrowed into thin slits as he considered the man's words. From everything he'd seen and heard, this stranger simply wished to know more about him. A harmless request, especially for a being like himself, though one that had the potential to become far more dangerous should he give away too much. Still, Dracula knew the limits of his power-despite any weakening it may have undergone during his transportation to this place-so even if this Dio fellow did try something, he was confident he could put him down if he needed to.

Given the nature of the man's offer, however, he doubted either one of them would be trading blows this night.

"A tempting offer," Dracula replied in a friendly manner, a slight smile twisting its way onto his bloodless face as he briefly pondered the immortals' motives. "And a curious one at that. I cannot help but wonder why one such as yourself, who seems to be as out of place here as I am, is so hospitable, especially given the fact we've just met."

Dracula paused briefly, before continuing with a small shrug.

"Granted, I don't suppose it matters. You wish to know more about me, and I have nothing better with which to occupy my time at the moment, so why not?"

Striding toward the open door, Dracula clasps his hands behind his back as he goes, a rather unusual gesture for him but one he felt was somewhat fitting given the current circumstances. Sparing one last look at Dio as he crosses the threshold, Dracula enters the opulent mansion interior and takes a seat at the long table sitting in the middle of the room.

---

---

Hiccup paused - and was slightly taken aback. He let something very important slip - but he wasn't about to let this child know - gods no! Though, he supposed the bridge was crossed when he accidentally let himself say as long. Maybe he could play it off - yeah he could play it off! Hiccup gave a chuckle and shook his head. "Yeah. Sorry, I'm kind of confused. One moment I was speaking to Astrid, my wife, and now I'm barely even walking back to Berk with.. Well, Toothless - whom we vowed to rarely meet by the way-" Toothless gave a tilt of his head and a small coo - trying to tell him he didn't really have a choice in where he was, but he knew, from pure instinct alone, that something was up - but Hiccup didn't truly listen. "But.. you know what I meant.. Anyway! I think it's time I show you around my village." Before either of them had a chance to object, he ushered Steven into a properly planned path - into the village. "I'm sure you'll like it here! Over there -" Hiccup softly started, pointing towards an obvious blacksmith forge - before continuing. "Is where my good friend Gobber works. He's been with me since I was born and he'll probably be here longer than me. No dragon nor viking could defeat him, shown by his missing arm AND leg." His voice was a mix of amazed and gleeful to even be explaining his good friend. As he was gesturing to another place - he heard a distant call. Wait. Wait what? The call seemed to rumble through the earth itself - causing a moment of panic. Oh no, was that..? He looked over at Steven, then to Toothless - to which Toothless gave a much more concerned back. Oh gods, that was certainly not a dragon either of them knew about.

---

---

As the dragoness fluttered down to the forest she began to sniff out a potential candidate for food. The Deadly Nadders, like Stormfly herself, have been evolving to hunt down more achievable prey - such as rabbits and smaller birds. As the Nadder sniffed about the area, she caught the scent of a rabbit, to which she followed slowly and slyly. Indeed - this was a rabbit, and with rabbits come a warren, and with a warren- Does. Of course there's does. Stormfly gave a snort, shaking her head. She wasn't about to kill the does - not this season at least, they'd most likely be nursing or bearing kits of their own - which would ruin the balance of things. Stormfly, looking about, started to search for a buck. A buck would be missed, but easily replaced by another. It took her a moment or two - but she found a buck alone, clearly older than the rest. Perfect. He had already passed his time as a valued buck of the warren.

Ever so quietly she snuck closer and closer to the old, grazing buck before- There was suddenly a rumble in the trees and a distant noise, causing the buck to flee the area. Stormfly gave a small squawk of anger before really taking in the noise. It didn't sound familiar - and it was not Toothless - this took her back slightly before regaining her composure. Perhaps she should investigate.

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@Ladypug

Despite his efforts, Dante proved to be just a little too quick for the Slayer to catch. The armored warrior skidded across the cracked ground before swiftly getting up and pointing his shotgun at his opponent's face. Yet the half-demon too had his pistols pointed straight at him in a standoff, while attempting to ease the situation with what little charm he had left. The Slayer had to admit that his opponent - whilst not nearly the most powerful opponent he had face - was pretty damn swift and sturdy. That compressed with his human-based made him rather unique, even if he's simply a half-demon. His regenerative powers were fairly impressive, but at the end of the day he could feel each bolt that penetrated through him.

He could feel pain.

And if he could feel pain, he could sure as hell be killed.

With only a few weapons at his disposal, the Slayer didn't have his full arsenal of weaponry to challenge his half-demonic foe. But in truth, he probably wouldn't need them. He needed to focus; to concentrate his brutal rage upon this new entity. But just as he was about to pull a trigger and continue the fight, he would hear something open just a few meters away. The Slayer paused as slowly turned his head, where he could see a large portal having opened up in an alley. It was a swirling mass of crimson rage, one which spiraled in rapid succession as energy violently emanated off it. And in the middle of it all, was an image of what laid on the other side.

It was a twisted, mangled mess of a spiraling world, one that seemed to comprise the content of two separate realm; in this case two different Hells. Indeed, this was a Hell portal, but nothing like the traditional rifts through the warp that the Slayer was familiar with. From it, the Slayer would recognize bits and portions of his Hell - such as sharp bony pillared structures belonging to Kadingir Sanctum or the giant bones of the long dead demon known as "The Titan" from Titan's Realm. And intermingling with his reality, would be locations of the Demon World that Dante would recall from many of his past adventures - from large fleshy interiors and endless lakes of blood to more complex interiors filled with mirrors, chest boards, hourglasses, and white voids.



For a moment, the Slayer considered to jump into this portal as a way for him to prematurely escape the Crossroads. But then, having bolted just straight out from the portal in a savage prance, came a very familiar face; being one the Slayer was all too well acquainted with. It was the unmistakable figure of an imp - small, human-sized demons that serve as Hell's common-grade warriors on the frontlines. It screeched savagely as it attempted to pounce upon the armored warrior, only to get hit with a single blast of the Slayer's shotgun at point blank range. It hit the ground with a hard thud, reeling in agony as it looked up to see the Doom Slayer looming over him. It was then when the imp seemed to remember who he attempted to attack, an act of bravery that soon ended in a pathetic act of cowardliness.

It made the Hell Walker sick just looking at it.

As the imp tried to crawl away, the last thing it would see was an armored boot rapidly approaching its soft meaty skull. Then it utterly squashed his head in a gory explosion; its insignificant life having came to a swift and bloody end. How it pleased the Doom Slayer to have such demon filth recognizing their place in the nature order and how he took great pleasure in seeing it reel back in utter terror before ending its worthless existence.

And now, the Doom Slayer's blood lust has risen once more. He now wanted more sacrifices; more demons to rip and tear.

The Slayer looked back towards the portal, silently yet eagerly awaiting the arrival of the imminent demonic invasion to commence.

And indeed, how many more did come.

More imps rushed through the portal, stopping short to screech and moan at their revered nemesis and ogle curiously at the other who stood beside him. But imps wouldn't be the only ones to rear their fleshy gremlin-esque heads. Reanimated humanoid corpses, having been melded into their armor and weaponry as possessed soldiers quickly emerged from the portal as well, with a number of larger, brute-like Hell Knights prepping their charge into the battle.

The Slayer would also notice a number of other demonic entities that he did not recognize, which would perhaps be more familiar-looking to Dante. The two battle-hardened warriors were now pressed up against a battle against two different Hells, each one sporting their own unique units and abilities to the table.

Perhaps recognizing his previous opponent's reaction to his familiar demons, the Doom Slayer would turn his head to look at Dante. While he said nothing in the terms of their situation, it was more then clear that he was willing to set aside his differences with the half-demon so as long as his hatred for Hell was synonymous with his. He gave only an affirming nod to confirm their "truce" before putting away his combat shotgun to reveal a larger yet classical Super Shotgun. Once reloading his trusty double-barreled shotgun, the Doom Slayer was now more than ready for battle as he proceeded to rush into the horde.

It was time to Fight Like Hell.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

@Lmpkio

Dante was just about to make his next move in the battle, when all of a sudden something started making a strange sound and forced both Dante and Doom Slayer's attention away. Dante looked to see a portal opening up in front of his eyes, leading to what seemed to be the Demon World of his own universe. Well partly at least, there also seemed to be a portal to a whole other hellish dimension that Dante couldn't identify mangled within it, creating some kind of unholy amalgamation. Before Dante even thought to do anything, a gaggle of 6 Hell's Pride stepped out of the portal, with a creepy cackle that would frighten a lesser person. Their ethereal cloaks flapping in the breeze, they brandished their scythes threateningly, prepared to attack at any moment. Following them immediately was a duo of Hell's Lust and another duo of Dullahan leaping out of the portal as well, just as ready for a fight as the others

Dante rolled his eyes. Not 3 minutes into this bizarre place and he's already fighting demons. He was beginning to like this place more and more with every passing second. He made a glance towards Doom Slayer and, even though he didn't say anything and couldn't see his face, Dante could somehow tell that Doom Slayer seemed just as unhappy about these new uninvited guests, possibly even moreso. And with a quick exchange of head nods indicating a stop to their fight, Dante gave a sly smirk as he turned to face the crowd of demons. Alright, if he was gonna do this, might as well have some fun with it. "Well well well, look who's ugly mugs decided to finally show up to the party! Fashionably late as always, of course..." Dante said in a casual tone of voice, as he started getting his sword ready in his hands and made a couple steps closer to Doom Slayer. "...but I gotta say, as the party planner, I'd feel awfully guilty if I and the, ah, guest of honor here didn't ask..." he continued, holding a hand out to the demons

"...could we have this dance?"

After their encounter with the deserter android, Type A No. 2, they decided to return to the Resistance Camp to rest. Yet something happened while they were asleep. "2B! 2B, wake up, we got a problem!" 9S woke 2B up, quickly grabbing his katana, Cruel Oath, before stepping back outside. The battle android was confused at first. Did the machines find the camp? Were they under attack? Getting up, she noticed she was holding some black and white coin-like chips in her hand. Odd. Where did she even find something like that. 2B followed her partner outside, and that's when she realized what he was frantic about. Their room, and the terminal beside it was still there, but it was like the resistance camp was...gone.

"I dunno what happened! I've been trying to contact the bunker for a while now, but it's like something's jamming the signal." 9S explained, trying to fix the terminal with Pod 153. "The transport function on this isn't working either, but- Hm?" the scanner noticed that they got mail from an anonymous sender. No subject or anything. No notification appeared on their visors either.



"Tokens? Is that what these are?" 2B held up one of the tokens, showing it to 9S. "Guess so."

"Either way, we have to get back to camp before Command thinks we deserted the mission. Let's start collecting tokens as soon as possible."

"Got it." 9S nodded, both androids walking off to start looking. "We need one hundred to escape, right? That makes about twenty enemies we'll have to face. Seems easy enough." He said, smiling. Even if the scanner believed they could make it through no problem, the androids were in unknown territory. Who knows what kind of adversaries are out there.

DIO smiled and let the stranger inside and considered his first question for only a moment. Why would DIO let a stranger into his home? "Those without manners aren't fit to live." He explained simply, his philosophy as succinct as it was oddly specific.

He followed him and fetched some wine from the cellar. "Normally, I would have one of my servants fetch us drinks. But it seems they were unable to join me in the Crossroads. It matters not, they are ultimately unnecessary." DIO held a bottle in one hand and two clean glasses in the other.

He carefully poured one glass, then another for himself, placing the wine on the table. Then he took a seat opposite Dracula, crossing one leg over the other and tilting his head to the side, the crimson liquid swirling from side to side. "That wine comes from Morroco. Morrocan wine is particularly hard to come across these days in comparison to other brands due to overcompetition in the Mediterranean. Most of the wineries have been taken over the state at this point, unfortunately. Most people seem to prefer Algerian wine, apparently, but I once had a sip of Boulaouane wine in my youth and developed a taste for it. But both share the same lineage of flavor. All of the North African countries share some of their heritage with the ancient Phoenicians. Their empire stretched from modern day Lebanon to the strait of Gibraltar, and like many great empires of that time, pursued viticulture in the quest to appear modern and sophisticated. But, like all things human, the Phoenicians crumbled away and turned to ash. Carthage is nothing more than a festering suburbia on the outskirts of Tunisia's capitol city." DIO stared into the abyss of his dark red drink as he went on this historically themed rant that was tangentially related to his philosophy. No doubt he had an extensive library somewhere in this mansion.

Finally, he took a sip, and to him, it tasted of the forgotten past. Then he looked over at his fellow vampire. "What is your name?" He asked.

FN-768 shook his head in disbelief before shouting back at the Supreme Leader.

"You're going to face that thing ALONE?" he asked as if his leader was insane.

"I've faced larger monsters before," Ren claimed confidently without looking at the stormtroopers behind him, "Nothing's unbreakable."

The baffled trooper tried to wrap his head around that bold claim as he and the others hastily retreated back to the ship. However what he didn't realize was how much truthful merit was behind it. There was one monster that Ren took great pride in having slain, one that his grandfather had failed to do prior on the planet belonging to the huge Benathy race. He took down what they claimed to be their god - a massive Zillo Beast.

What he faced wasn't just an oversized rancor, nor a Krayt Dragon, or even a Greater Kryat Dragon. No. Having stood at nearly 100 meters tall, it was one of the largest terrestrial fauna in the galaxy. One of its species had infamously been taken by the Old Republic back on Coruscant after being accidentally unearthed from the planet Malastare during the first few months of the Clone Wars. They foolishly believed that they could contain it and experiment on it for their own evils. There it escaped from confinement and rampaged through the capital city before being taken down by a powerful toxin. Not even a lightsaber could cut through its absurdly thick plated armor...

Ren only succeeded to kill it by willingly jumping into the monster's mouth and slicing through his gargantuan guts from the inside. His victory had helped him to conquer the Benathy race and have them swear allegiance to him. Comparing that feat towards the creature that faced him now, it didn't seem like much of a challenge. This beast was fairly large enough for Ren to be capable in repeating a similar feat if he was ultimately forced to. Yet, like the Zillo Beast, it also seemed just too large for him to manipulate with the force...

Or was it?

Using the force, the Supreme Leader first attempted to trick the beast into submitting to his will - a test to see how sentient this creature really is.

"You... will... SUBMIT...." Ren struggled as he used all of his available concentration to try and pull it off.

The titan would pause for a moment, his gaze still fixated on the tiny man in front of him. For a second, it would seem that it could work, before the monster roared defiantly and proceeded to charge at him. For such a lumbering beast, it certainly had a surprising amount of speed to boot. That definitely didn't work. The masked warrior immediately dropped the act and jumped out of the way as it attempted to bite him. Ren leapt onto the beast's spiny back and attempted to plunge his saber into its back.

Only for it to be effortlessly reflected off, just like the plates of the Zillo Beast.

In a violent fit of rage, he attempted to jam his saber into the hide with repeated effort only for each attempt to fail like the last. The titan began to shake violently to try and shake this intrusive figure off him, with Ren being barely able to hold on. He grasped onto one of its osteoderms as he tried to figure out if there was some kind of weak spot for him to hit. That's when he began to notice the exposed fleshy scars that the creature must've gained from his previous battles. Surely they wouldn't be able to deflect his saber would they? The closest scar to him was one on the beast's right side, located near the base of its neck. If he could just leap onto it without falling off.

Then the monster issued another guttural growl as he willingly began falling on its side - the same side that Ren happened to be on. He was forced to leap off as a force of the impact kicked up a large amount of snow and dirt into the air. The dark warrior leapt back onto his feet, his vision already obscured by the debris cloud that lingered in the cold air. And from the cloud, he failed to pick up the sudden approach of a massive tail slamming into his body.

"UMF~!"

The force of the tail was strong enough to lift him off the ground and toss him into a tree, breaking it upon impact. Ren fell back onto the snow-ridden ground with a pained grunt. He could see the monster's head rear out from the fog and glare directly at him with a purposeful grimace. There was definitely no chance that he could engage this monster head on. Even regarding the creature's exposed scars, he had a feeling that he'd have a hard time getting to them and that they wouldn't do much but to enrage him in the long run. At this point, Ren would be left with no other choice but to initiate the same technique he used to defeat the Zillo Beast.

Picking himself up, the dark warrior already began planning his next move as he began leaping from one tree to another in an attempt to have the high ground. The beast watched Ren with a scowl as his tail slowly swished from side to side, almost as if he was studying him...

Almost as if he had an idea of what he was going to do...

Another growl emerged from his throat as the dark warrior finally got into position. The beast roared again as Ren quickly calculated his trajectory and leapt off the top of the tree. He soared through the air as his lightsaber ignited once again, ready to plunge deep into its gaping maw and straight into the belly of the beast.

But the Supreme Leader would quickly recognize one fatal miscalculation in his plan. For just as he left the tree, he would hear a faint ominous hum, followed by an unusual blue light coming from the monster's tail. Then, one by one, the spines on its tail began to ignite with the humming noise getting louder and louder as the lights continued to rapidly raise up its tail and back. The creature's eyes began to glow that furious blue while his jaws continued to get wider as the light began to illuminate its entire throat. Ren's own eyes widened in fear in sudden realization of what was going to happen next. He only had a split moment to react before calling upon the force one more time. He quickly redirected his decent away from the beast's pulsating mouth...

At just at the nick of time.

He felt a sudden burst of heat raze off his right size as the titan unleashed a powerful beam of blue fire into the sky. This beam of violent plasma energy illuminated the entire sky to the point where it could be seen for miles on end, whether in the form of the beam itself or just the mesmerizing blue glow in the distance. Had Ren been just a second too late and he would've found himself be completely incinerated by the blaze. He slams into the ground hard before skidding to a stop, being nearly buried in the snow itself.

As the beast's breath ceased, it took a moment to regain its composure. It then proceeded to look around for his opponent, before finding him struggling to get onto his feet. A now fatigued Kylo Ren breathed heavily through his mask as he glowered at his titanic foe. He had clearly underestimated his foe, for he had never encountered any living creature that could produce that kind of power. Now that it had gained the advantage of the situation, it was a good time for the Supreme Leader to take his leave. Another surge of rage began to influence his tired body, to give him additional strength to continue to fight, but he had expended his energy too fast; too quickly. He needs to recover his strength and regroup with his forces.

Saying nothing else, he then hastily made it for the trees, leaving the scene to regroup with his troopers and therefore leaving the kaiju to claim the tower for his own. It seemed to smile at his own accomplishments with a snort before proceeding to give a victory bellow that would shake the entire forest to its core.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOONNNNNNNNK~!"

With his dominance secured, the great beast could finally rest as he began to properly observe his surroundings. The tower situated at the middle of the clearing still stands, completely untouched by his fight with the masked warrior. In fact, it almost didn't seem to notice that it was there until now, now that his mind was not fixated on the threat at hand. But then it caught the whiff of another scent. Smelling the air, it would lead his nose to another fallen body in the snow... one revealing that of a pale woman. She was already far more at risk at getting crushed or harmed by the creature compared to her tower. Was she harmed by the man it just faced prior to getting here?

The great beast slowly proceeded to bend its head down to get a proper look at the woman, while gently sniffing her... Who was she?

---

---

Dracula nodded at the man's simple answer. It wasn't much, but it did speak volumes about how the other vampire saw the world. Or at least the world of manners and etiquette anyway, which was once again in opposition to his own views. Where Dio was cordial and hospitable, Dracula was less so. He wished to be left to his own devices for the most part, only really letting his son visit him. Although now he was quickly coming to regret that choice.

It was, after all, the reason Alucard had been able to steal Vampire Killer in the first place.

"It is no trouble either way," Dracula replied with a slight wave, shifting his attention off of his thoughts and back to his host. Taking hold of the glass, he raised it to his lips and took a sip, nodding appreciatively at the flavor as he absentmindedly listened to Dio's musings on history. After a while though, the other vampire paused to take a sip of his own drink, causing Dracula to return his focus to him just in time to catch the question that followed a few seconds later.

"My name is Dracula," he replied, taking another sip before lowering the glass with a slight smirk. "Dracul for short."

---

---

Finally managing to pry his eyes open, Lucifer found himself falling once again, only this time towards dark spires of light and steel. Clearly this wasn't Heaven, the architectural style was too different, and it obviously wasn't Hell either, despite the rather uniform and bleak looking layout the structures-a city apparently-sprawled out beneath him had. So if it was not Heaven nor Hell, then what was it? A place in Chaos and her consort Night perhaps? Earth, perchance?

It certainly seemed that way to him. Given the speed at which humans had advanced, physically anyway, it stood to reason that this was one of their cities. Of course that didn't explain why he was falling towards it, nor why it looked the way it did. From what he could recall, man had built things on the same scale, but they were markedly less dystopian, quite unlike the dark and cold vision he was now confronted with.

Granted, they could have simply strayed further from father in the brief time he'd been tending to matters in Hell, which would also explain the sudden shift in appearance, and if that was the case then he took no issue with it.

The disobedience of a beloved creation was the greatest spite after all.

Appearance and purpose aside, however, the city wasn't his most pressing concern at the moment. No, the fact that he was plummeting towards it at a million miles a second was. Flailing about helplessly for a bit, looking for anything that could help slow the speed of his descent and finding nothing, the fallen Cherub eventually decided to brace for impact as best he could, and hope-a notion whose irony was not lost on him-that the landing didn't injure him too much. Where once such a thing would have been as trivial to him as gathering water was for a human, now it was truly a matter for concern. No longer was he able to rely on the gifts that had been given to him by his father, such as the wings that were torn from his back just like the painless existence he once enjoyed.

Now he was forced to make due with significantly less, making a fall like this even more of a gambit than the one that had led him here in the first place.

Still, it was all he could do. So, splaying out in mid-air, hoping to slow his descent as much as he possibly could, Lucifer waited and watched as the ground rushed up to meet him.

For the longest time, there was nothing save the deafening roar of wind as it sped past.

A few more minutes crawled by as the ground drew closer.

Still nothing.

Then, a few more minutes ticked by, followed by more of the same until the moment finally came...

And he was sent flying through a solid wall, momentum carrying him downwards through apartment after apartment, until his battered body was violently thrown out into the street and his mind into the soothing umbral embrace of unconsciousness...

---

---

Inosuke Hashibira woke to a day just like every other-- Or so he thought.

The grass was lush, thick and emerald under him, almost pillowy under his bare skin, weak sunlight dappled through the trees' breeze stirred canopy, washing little sections of his body in light warmth. He'd slept as he always did-- sprawled out in almost inhumane angles, with his mask on his head and swords at his side.

Inosuke was content to simply roll over and go back to sleep, but that train of thought was quickly aborted.

"Hey--! Wake up! Message!"

A familiar harsh, shrill voice cut through his daze, and Inosuke's eyes snapped open to the crow standing on his chest, one beady eye locked on him. Inosuke's expression shifted into a dark glare under his mask as the crow begun to speak, fully awake by then.

The crowlifted into flight, flapping nervously just above his reach as the fur clad boy sat up, bringing his legs together in a criss-cross fashion. The messager crow launched into an explanation about tokens-- some kind of currency? -- and Inosuke found himself being immensely interested yet bored throughout the entire interaction. The crow finished it's tangent, and finally regurgitated five of the aforementioned tokens into his lap.

Inosuke picked one up to inspect it, curious. Scrubbing the stomach acid with the deer fur around his waist, he tilted it at all angles. It had a deep navy blue edging, the same color as the ombre tips of his hair, and had his face inscribed in the middle. After testing it's durability-- and edibility, admittedly-- with one of his canines, Inosuke pulled his mask off, dropping the tokens in and shoving it back on his head. Maybe they'd stay in there.

Getting to his feet, A sharp grin spread across Inosuke's face.

"I'll get all the tokens! I'll beat anyone who stands in my way, and take theirs! Gwahahaha!" He cackled, grabbing his cloth wrapped swords and shoving them through the waistband of his furry belt. He turned towards the crow, ready to snatch it out of the sky for breakfast, before blinking when he'd realized it was gone. Whatever.

Taking a closer look at his surroundings, Inosuke immediently went rigid with shock. That--That wasn't how weather worked!

He was standing in a sunny little patch of forest, ringed by a seemingly never-ending tundra of snowy undergrowth. Strange, but he wanted to see what lay beyond. He was king of the mountains, after all!

Forcing through the foliage, Inosuke trekked through the woods quite a ways, before detecting air disturbance-- two creatures nearby. Already! He'd hit the jackpot!

Grinning beneath his mask, Inosuke grabbed his swords, unwrapping them and holding them at ready as he began to stalk in the direction of the two, footsteps steadily picking up speed, until he was at a full pelt.

Catching sight of them, Inosuke shouldered through a thistle bush, ignoring the thorns snagging his skin as he launched himself at the newcomers, swords held straight infront of him.

"Pig assault!"

---

---

Tsukasa regained consciousness with a small trill, and a raise of his head.

Was he... asleep? He hadn't slept in over 58 years! It wasn't like he needed sleep-- he was a ghost! why was he unconscious?

Blinking around the room, he discovered he was sitting on a desk in the Broadcasting Club room, his blood spattered whiteboard at the front of the room, and his cathedral style vintage radio supporting him from the side. Beside it, five casino style chips were laid out.

Curious, Tsukasa reached over to take one, before freezing when the radio crackled, a voice fading in. It wasn't Sakura's, that was for sure, but he was still interested, a smile spreading ear to ear on his face as they droned on about the 'tokens', as they were called.

Interesting... He might need more of these!

Eventually, the transmission faded out, and he grabbed the chips, taking a closer look. The edges were a deep russet red, with his smiling face carved in the middle. Very seemly! Tsukasa tucked them away in his hakama pants' pocket.

Obviously-- something was wrong here. The blinds of the room were opened for once, and he could see outside into his dystopian esque surroundings. The streets were relatively deserted, but everything seemed intact, like it wasn't abandoned. Strange. Looking around the room again, Tsukasa hopped down from the desk, his sandals clacking on the floor as he tottered over to a little cup, pulling out a small pen, stained with old, tacky blood. He tucked it in his pocket, before allowing his legs to lift off the ground, floating over to one of the windows.

Tsukasa pried it open, nearly tumbling out when it flew open with a whine, clambering out through the window and into the sidewalk before him, amber eyes blinking at his new surroundings, a devilish grin slicing across his face. So much to explore!

Tsukasa had been drifting around the city streets, getting aquainted with his new world, before a still shape caught his eye, sprawled out in the middle of the street. Eyebrows raised, the ghost boy floated over to him.

There appeared to be some rubble around him, he noticed, blinking at an apartment building behind him, which seemed to be considerably worse for wear-- there was a pretty big hole in it.

Tsukasa bent down, examining the strangers face. He didn't seem to be dead, just unconscious, but you could never be too sure!

The ghost plopped onto the street next to him, taking the blood stained pen out of his pocket and clicking it, poking the unconscious man in the middle of the forehead, the poking getting more and more insistent as time passed.

"Sir~? Are you dead?"