<Snipped quote by The World>

Lucian, disappearing as the sleeping bodies now lay on Center Stage, entered into a vast mindscape, where these sleeping protagonists found themselves in familiar, yet twisted places.
Then a man with a presence who was unmistakably Lucian, but looking much older appeared, still dressed in a very old fashioned way, but nonetheless differently.


"Welcome to your Nightmares!"

Ghirahim was needless to say caught in the attack, forced into a slumber by the same magic that forced most of the other protagonists asleep. When he awoke he did so in a twisted version of the sealed grounds where his master had been bound for generations until he had successfully released the dark lord, needless to say two things were clear

1:he liked what the place looked like now, definitely better than the last time he was here.

2:this human Gnat might be slightly more of a threat than he anticipated, not as much as that Goddess serving Dog he had fought thrice but he might have to use more of his power to defeat him, like about half.

"My my, a bit drunk on demonic magic are we?" Ghirahim snarked as soon as the old man appeared. "You certainly have the dark wizard look down" The demon sneered.

Back with Fei since it has been a few posts since we saw what she was up to.

Fei was initially enraged when it appeared that her game had frozen right in the middle of a boss battle when Demise informed her that someone had used time magic to freeze the entire area in time, likely the sorcerer that Ghirahim had been sent to track down. Fei cursed at this, someone was gonna have to figure out how to unfreeze time, with her luck it would probably have to be her, a suspicion which was confirmed when she found the other Protagonists and Ghirahim down and unconscious, the wizard was nowhere to be found.

Albert quickly makes his way through the complex, faster than he could have if the people filling the halls were actually moving. He's at the entrance to the main stage before he consciously realised that's the direction he was headed.
Initially he doesn't see anything different, just more frozen people, mostly staring at the stage itself. But as he turns to wander elsewhere, another of his new friends spoke up in his head.
"Not so fast, remember what I said before, when you encounter a coincidence or wander somewhere seemingly by chance, that's not chance, that's the force sticking its nose into your life, and it's probably best to roll with it. Let it guide us, I think the stage is why we're here."
Albert hadn't had company in his head for long, but they'd yet to steer him wrong, possibly because they are him? Point is that he did as suggested, approaching the stage, at which point he notices the drops of blood, and isn't it weird that he doesn't even entertain the notion it's anything else, and more importantly the fact that the people lying on stage were not actually frozen, their chests moving slightly as they breathed.

Albert quickly makes his way through the complex, faster than he could have if the people filling the halls were actually moving. He's at the entrance to the main stage before he consciously realised that's the direction he was headed.
Initially he doesn't see anything different, just more frozen people, mostly staring at the stage itself. But as he turns to wander elsewhere, another of his new friends spoke up in his head.
"Not so fast, remember what I said before, when you encounter a coincidence or wander somewhere seemingly by chance, that's not chance, that's the force sticking its nose into your life, and it's probably best to roll with it. Let it guide us, I think the stage is why we're here."
Albert hadn't had company in his head for long, but they'd yet to steer him wrong, possibly because they are him? Point is that he did as suggested, approaching the stage, at which point he notices the drops of blood, and isn't it weird that he doesn't even entertain the notion it's anything else, and more importantly the fact that the people lying on stage were not actually frozen, their chests moving slightly as they breathed.

Fei was admittedly relieved that there was someone here who was both Unfrozen as if they had been caught in Chaos Control and conscious. Both of those were extremely rare at the moment considering the magic at work here, hopefully he'd actually be helpful, moreso than Ghirahim was at the moment considering he now slumbered with the other protagonists which admittedly concerned Fei a little because whoever could make somebody on Ghirahim's level sleep with magic isnt someone that should be underestimated.

"Once again, Ghirahim's Arrogance has become his undoing." was all demise had to say on the matter, having decided not to state that the other humans power was quite noticeable because he knew he wasn't the only one feeling it.

The necromancer reappeared before Scarlet and made a sign with his hands. She tried to move, but she felt very sluggish suddenly. Then her eyes went vacant, and her body hit the floor. But she had made a move in the brief window she was awake. Her body moved involuntarily, and she bit into her lip, drawing a small amount of blood. After she fell unconscious, three large white snakes emerged from her sleeves, and they used their bulk to entirely cover her frame. These were no ordinary snakes - they were mystical beasts of superhuman strength. For the moment they just remained there, watching the surroundings and shrouding Scarlet from harm.

'You're strong, girl. But still quite green, aren't you? Not used to genjutsu? I helped you out this time. But before I pull you out - get up and see what you can learn from this place.' It was the strange voice from before.

Scarlet rose with a groan. She was in some kind of strange spaceship. The walls and the nearby machinery looked almost organic. But the lights above were dim and flickering. It was like something out of a horror movie. She felt her anxiety rising, but then she spotted an old man ahead. It was Lucian, she realized - but he was changed. She sprang into action, rushing the necromancer and attempting to deliver a powerful overhead slam. If that failed, she would swivel around and try a kick. And she wouldn't stop there. She would continue delivering strike after rapid strike. The purpose of her intensely focused attack was partly to keep her mind off of the horrific surroundings. But also, the necromancer had proven to be masterful with magic - it was time to see how he would deal with her terrific physical strength.

---

"Tsk." came from Nyx's mouth just before she regained control of her body.
It was only once she did that she noticed the other people around were now frozen in place, as if time around her had stopped.
Check the clocks.
So she did. Nyx turned towards the nearest clock and watched as the voice counted upwards to sixty. But there was no movement on the digital screen.
Looks like someone has stopped time, somehow. Get outside.
Nyx ran as fast as she could towards the nearest exit, and soon found herself outside, where she watched a car pass by and many people standing around, confused.
Of course. Nobody can stop time, not fully. I wonder if this is a Geass, or something else entirely.
Oh so you know about magic existing too, good to know.
I suppose one could think of it that way.
What do you mean by that? You literally said 'geas,' that's a type of magic.
We can discuss this later, right now we need to focus on surviving.
Nyx ducked back into the center, when the animalistic voice in her mind spoke.
Hear. Hear something. Listen.
Good idea. If everyone is frozen but us, then any movement you hear is an enemy.
So she did. She listened intently to her surroundings, hoping to hear footsteps or speech with her enhanced hearing.

Stregobor, On The Roof
A strange demon could be seen on the roof of The Complex. The world was watching this on their screens. Stregobor stood with his wizard's staff on the opposite side of the roof. The demon, identical in appearance to the Balrog from the Jackson films would have smiled if it could. There was a strange, sick sensation that would slowly spread from the Complex if Stregobor didn't stop his foe. Stregobor listened to his small council of smart old men to try and give him an idea how to stop this. He could feel that Balrog was stronger than he ever was before. Suddenly, Balrog sprung towards the old man. All the voices spoke in unison, within a split second.

Tellah: "It's made of fire. . . use Blizzaga!"
Oppo Rancisis wondered allowed. "If that doesn't work, use your speed and slash it to death with your light saber!"
Lastly Gandalf suggested. "Before any of that, use your staff! Erect a shield before it runs you down!"
The powerful forcefield was created, spreading forth from Stregobor's body, forcing Balrog off the nine stories of The huge structure. The Forcefield sparked with a mysterious energy, visibly harming it, but not enough incapacitate it, yet.

Meanwhile. . .
Maldis laughs at Scarlet @Olive Fontaine, vanishing, feeling her attempting to strike him. "You can't harm me that way, you FOOL! I'm incorporeal! But I, can. Hurt. You!!! Telekinetically, Lucian blasted out pure force, attempting to break her bones."

Scarlet crossed her arms in front of her as the telekinetic pulse rushed through her. There was an audible impact as it did, and much of her surroundings crumpled from the force. The floor and the walls broke apart around her, but the girl endured. Her defenses were impeccable. And while this wasn't her real body - it seemed to have the same properties; or perhaps it was simply Scarlet's confidence in her resistance that allowed it to function in this place. A bit of steam rose from her forearms in the wake of the blast.

'Crap, what do I do? I can't seem to hit him at all.'
'Tsk tsk tsk. Dealing with an intangible foe like this is going to be tricky. I know a move, but it's complicated. Buy some time and I will show you how to perform the technique.'

Just who was that voice? But Scarlet didn't have time to argue. In a flash she took up a different position, and then she released a large bout of dragonfire at Lucian. It was intensely destructive, in normal circumstances. But in this case it was just a holding move she made while listening to the voice. Still, the other side of the ship's interior exploded into light and plumes of smoke. Metals quickly melted into puddles under the influence of her breath.

Suddenly, the time space continuum seemed to warp it'self randomly. Portals opened up in the massive Con building, and seemingly innocuous people began to pour through these portals. Auras of danger and strength were emanating from these however, and their eyes were glowing dark red.

Suddenly, the time space continuum seemed to warp it'self randomly. Portals opened up in the massive Con building, and seemingly innocuous people began to pour through these portals. Auras of danger and strength were emanating from these people however, and their eyes were glowing dark red.

These portals did not go unoticed by Fei, neither did the not so innocuous people, who seemed off to the King of evil's reincarnation. It was honestly the glowing red eyes that truly tipped her off that this was yet another weird occurrence that she was gonna have to deal with. And deal with it she did by sending waves of darkness to push the group of people back and also Punching a few to send them flying.

@Dimentio@Olive Fontaine@The World@Thunder999999
A resounding thunder could be heard, as Stregobor appeared, suddenly unleashing a deafening whitish blue flashbang spell, knocking all the demonic possessed men and women on their backs. The protagonists are untouched by Stregobor's spell, except . . . the enchanted ones were forced awake, shaking off Maldis'es sorcery keeping them asleep. Suddenly, Lucian appeared as his dark robed self. He had a very annoyed look on his face.

Stregobor had a look of urgency on his face. "Get up! All of you! We have to fight!"

Shaking the sleep off, a green glow emanated from with Rhyder as his bones cracked into place. “You put me through hell, you better be ready for the consequences.” Rhyder yelled out as he fired a single bullet at the dark wizard as he stormed up to the stage.

Albert was not sure precisely who any of these people were, still it wasn't hard to guess which side he should be on, glowing red eyes were never a good sign and he could almost see the malevolence radiating from Lucian.
As he considers that fact a familiar voice echoes in his mind "Now that's a familiar feeling, whatever other abilities that man has, he's deep into the dark side, but don't tunnel vision, the old man has quite the force presence of his own."

"Happy to help, but I really hope there's an explanation when we're done." Calls out Albert as he acts, a sweep of his hand sending three balls of blazing hellfire toward Lucian and sickle shaped blades of magic towards the red eyed men.

@Dimentio@Olive Fontaine@The World@Thunder999999
A resounding thunder could be heard, as Stregobor appeared, suddenly unleashing a deafening whitish blue flashbang spell, knocking all the demonic possessed men and women on their backs. The protagonists are untouched by Stregobor's spell, except . . . the enchanted ones were forced awake, shaking off Maldis'es sorcery keeping them asleep. Suddenly, Lucian appeared as his dark robed self. He had a very annoyed look on his face.

Stregobor had a look of urgency on his face. "Get up! All of you! We have to fight!"

Ghirahim was among those awoken from his slumber, drawing his sabre immediately the demonic swordsman approached Lucian and immediately began laughing, in his own words "That Silly little nightmare sequence you put on was quite a show I must admit, one you won't be able to Put on again in your lifetime." The Sword spirit grinned menacingly before moving to attack the sorcerer and cut him in two.

"Hey you! The wannabe Edgelord on stage!" Fei pointed angrily "I'm not entirely sure what's going on but whatever You're up to is gonna ruin my day big time and I have a strict policy against that so I'm gonna kick your fucking ass! CHAOS SPEAR!!!!" The girl yelled as she fired a Chaos spear attack at Lucian.

'So that's how it works. You're right - there really is a lot to it,' Scarlet thought. But before she could attempt the new technique, she was pulled out of the nightmare realm. She immediately rose to her feet, with her summoned snakes making way for her. "Subdue those people," she commanded, and the white snakes took off into the crowd. They would bite the possessed men and constrict them with their massive bodies, picking off some of the enemies.

Scarlet herself focused on Lucian. She sprang at the necromancer and joined Ghirahim in battle. If he escaped the demon's blade, he would have to deal with her devastating punches and kicks. The impact of her physical attacks would set the entire auditorium shaking. If Lucian managed to get away from both her and Ghirahim, she would blast after him with a quick thundara, not giving him a moment to rest.

Eventually, the dark wizard's physical body was destroyed. He felt no pain or suffering, other than frustration, as he was thus overwhelmed with great violence. Finally, Lucian vanished, seemingly without a trace. However, he unleashed a psychic blast, no physical force was expended on the protagonists, but the psychic scream was intense, leaving a message as he made himself loud and clear. "I cannot be destroyed! You are all damned!"
Meanwhile the portal grew with intensity. More people were unleashed from the Hell dimension to devour the protagonists. These people were all strong enough to rip cars to shreds, at least. Even those who were being destroyed could recorporate, eventually.

"He's definitely off the deep end alright, seems to have run away for now though, so proving him wrong will have to wait. As fun as the ability to hurl fireballs is, you're not fighting smart, crush their minds and the bodies will follow, it's as simple as THIS."
With the final word Albert follows directions that go beyond words, with a clenching of his fist and a touch of darkness madenning, all consuming fear floods the minds of his opponents.

---

"I cannot be destroyed! You are all damned!" The thought reverberated through Nyx's mind. This on top of the red-eyed people? How was she supposed to-

Fight! Bite! Tear! Strong, strong, strong!
Hate to agree, but that's right. We're going to have to fight our way out of here.
But I don't want to kill anyone!

It was about the time she thought this that she saw one of the red-eyed people bash its way through a nearby wall.

BITE! Strong foe!
I don't think you have to worry about killing these things.
Good point. I doubt that sword of yours will be enough to kill these people anyway.

Nyx felt herself go limp. She was in way over her depth here, and if she did accidentally kill someone, she'd never be able to get past it, she knew.

You need to grow up. If you want to survive, you might have to kill something. That's part of life. Something has to die for another to live, it can be as simple as eating. Something died for you to live. So fight back!
Be that as it may, fighting is different. The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed. And our host doesn't fit that category.

Nyx was struggling to breathe as these thoughts raced through her. She tried to grasp at the hilt of her sword, but couldn't get a grip on it.

Screw this. At that moment, the voice that declared itself 'Archer' took control of Nyx's body once more, taking advantage of her muddled mind to do so.

"He who runs away and doesn't fight, runs away first!" Nyx heard herself say before feeling her body run far beyond her top speed up the nearest stairs to the next level above her.

Wh-what are you doing!?
Saving your ass!

When they finally arrived at the highest level of the convention center Archer, as Nyx, scanned the area below to get a grasp of the situation.

H-hey, maybe we can talk to them? Or the others might be able to-
You've been wanting to fight people recently, right? So you don't want to kill them, fine. But now that you're finally given a fight you're cowering? You need. To grow. Up.

With that, Nyx found herself holding a much more impressive bow than the fake one Archer had shot at Lucian, and she felt her body obeying her again.

Now focus. I'll handle the arrows, you just aim and fire. If you want to survive, you have to fight. And if you want to avoid killing anyone, you'll just have to be stronger. Now get to work!

Nyx gulped down a deep breath of air, and pulled the string of her bow back experimentally. As she did, she thought back to when she was in middle school and they taught archery in a gym class. She was lost a moment in reminiscence, and when she focused on the present again she found that an arrow was notched on her bow.

She looked down at the floor below and towards one of the red-eyed people -- how was she able to tell that they had red eyes? She could never see that well before, she had to be well beyond 20/20 vision at this point -- that was approaching the other girl who had been in the Expanse with her.

Breathe in. She did.

Breathe out. She did.

And show them hell.

She let loose the arrow at speeds that left behind a burst of air around her straight into the leg of the would-be attacker. As she was knocked down by the force of loosing the arrow, she had a single thought in mind: hopefully that girl would be able to react in time now.

“Demons.” Something deep within Ryder was amused at how simple it would be. A third of him was a professional demon Hunter and another third was a professional monster Hunter before becoming a vampire. The remaining third was a soldier for hell.
As a red eyed figured lunged at Ryder he gracefully side stepped and placed Ivory on the being’s forehead before blowing its brains out. The bullet infused with demonic magic to prevent it from reforming. He levelled Ebony at another red eyed individual. Painting the room behind it with its brains. “Is this it?” Something within Ryder wanted to flex its muscles.

"Psh. Talk about a sore loser," Scarlet replied to Lucian's final words. She flicked his blood off her knuckles, and turned her attention towards the horde of demonic humanoids. They continued to pour from the portal, intensifying the situation. One of them charged the horned goth girl and attacked with surprising strength. Scarlet batted his arm away and countered with style; she leapt up and severed the creature's head with a fluid kick. It flitted across the theater and burst into a splash of crimson on the far wall. Handling one of the zombie-like beings was no trouble, but this situation was a lot more complex than that. Besides, she spotted one of the demons reviving after having been slain.

'What do I do? Hit them all with a massive attack? Should I try and bring this whole building down? Or should I put barriers around the portal? But that isn't a permanent solution...'

'Use the darkness in their hearts to your advantage,' came the reply of a new voice within her head.

Somehow Scarlet began to realize what he meant. 'Yeah... Yeah, that might work.'

She held out her pale hand and called out to the weapon that she knew would be waiting for her. In a puff of inky clouds it appeared - a black keyblade with jagged teeth and a red handle. A terrible chill came over her just from holding it. This was most certainly an evil tool. Somehow she already knew what its purpose was. It would twist unwilling beings into creatures of pure darkness; creatures that she could command.

She used the keyblade to pierce the next demon she fought. At once, it transformed into a tall, slender heartless with long trailing antennae. "Heel," she commanded it with a layered voice. It obediently stood up straight and waited. Then Scarlett struck down another demon, and another after that. Each time she defeated a demon with her superior strength, she would force it transform with the keyblade of heart. After a few minutes, she had gathered a small group of heartless minions. "Fight with me," she told them - and they did. They jumped into the fray silently, but eagerly - trading evenly with the red-eyed zombies.

Scarlet herself was feeling a strange type of fatigue however. This wasn't like physical exhaustion, or simply running out of mana. She clutched at her chest, not comprehending at first. Was wielding this power over darkness weighing on her own heart?

By now over a hundred of the demonic folk had been killed. Stregobor looked worried now. . . He had been attempting to close the magical rift, invisibly, unseen by both the protagonists and the demons all the same, with no success. Stregobor's look of concern was nearing panic. "The Rift is unstable! It's going to blow, but if it does. . . the civilians will all die!"