Art of Fun

Herculean Academy, The Top School for Aspiring Superheroes: Prologue

Empyrean, the Human Spirit

Real Name: Lukas Holt

Superhero Alias: Empyrean

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Power Set:

• Eternal Reincarnation: A designation and title prior to its adoption as a superhero/villain name in recent years, Holt is far from being the first Empyrean - a good couple of hundred thousand years too late for that. It is unknown what the Empyrean is exactly, other than that it may have some place within a greater cosmological hierarchy, but it either links individual humans and their memories/experiences to another individual humans, or it is these individual humans. Each new Empyrean adds to the memories and experiences of the collective Empyrean, accessible to the next one born after the prior Empyrean's death.
• Eidetic Memory: Each Empyrean has perfect recollection of their own experiences in order for their memories to be added to the 'collective' without flaw. Holt is no different, and is seemingly unable to forget things. While this would eventually cause confusion and distress for most past a certain age, Empyrean's have long since been able to parse and organize these thoughts to the extent of willingly 'deleting' some. Their perfect memory does not always include retaining any glimpses of their past-selves, and may forget things they learn from them.
• Past-Self Recollection: On top of their own perfect memories, the Empyrean of the time has the chance of being able to recollect the memories and experiences of their past selves. This is an unreliable ability at best, seemingly happening at random most of the time with each recollection pertaining to the situation the Empyrean finds himself in, and an increased chance of it occurring in stressful situations. While any experience gained from this is not permanent (example: Lukas may suddenly have the experience of a Spartan soldier but quickly lose the ability and skill of that soldier), however he will have the experience of having experienced having that ability and skill, so can work towards attaining it himself with relative ease.
• Enhanced Physiology: Beyond his recollection of past lives, Lukas has no other superpowers to speak of. However, each Empyrean could be considered at the 'peak' of human conditioning and development (with the limitation being how conditioned and developed one can be at their age). From strength to speed, from healing to senses and processing, Lukas is an outstanding specimen of human biology.
• Supernatural Invulnerability: Rather than invulnerability gained through supernatural means, Lukas is highly resistant to supernatural phenomena effecting him. Most notably telepathy and 'magic', or any combination of the two, are useless against him for the most part. A blast of purely arcane energy may take out a building, but the blast will do little more than beat him up a little - it will be the falling building that'll really hurt Lukas. However if say an alien had telepathy as part of their inherent nature as that species of alien, then they would be able to read Lukas' mind. Lukas is a magic-users worst nightmare. Why the Empyrean has this ability is unknown, but it may be an indicator to the true nature of the Empyrean.

Other Skills:

• Multi-lingual: Lukas can speak English, Mandarin, Wu, Egyptian Dialect Arabic, Welsh, French, Hindi and some supposedly dead languages. While learning Welsh was of his own time and effort, the others were learned through direct transplanting from past-selves. While he cannot read any of the above languages (other than the dead ones, oddly enough), he is a competent speaker of them.
• Martial Arts: One of Lukas' first encounters with his past selves was with the 'afterthought' of a man called Kei-ying. With the experience of Kei-ying, he quickly came to master Hung-Ga even after the exact details of Kei-ying faded. Since then he has branched out to learn more of his own accord, adding Boxing, Judo and Jujitsu under his belt of martial experience.
• Amateur Historian: As is expected from one who has the memories of countless, outstanding humans somewhere in his soul, Lukas is rather fond of history and the contexts of those times.
• People Reader: As part of his own experiences earlier in life, Lukas has become rather good at getting a 'read' on individuals and their feelings due to being a quick and convergent learner.

Weaknesses: Physically, Lukas has no real 'weaknesses' so to speak. Nothing which would not harm the average human (not counting what is resisted by his invulnerability) is enough to harm him, such as a car crashing into him or a solid punch to the face, but that in its self is not so much a weakness as it is his state as being mostly-human. He is a jack-of-all-trades with no real area of physical weakness, but nothing superhumanly outstanding.

Personality: Growing up Lukas was never much of a joker. Even as a baby, he was considered oddly quiet and complaint free, often distracted by mirrors and staring blankly off into the distance in a strange manner. This trait never faded as he reached his pre-teens and beyond, a quiet, serious but harmless child. A good word for Lukas would be 'intense', being very driven and full-on when it comes to things like learning and training. He's not much of a Daredevil.

Backstory:

Holt's Journal

Journal Entry 89
"Hello Journal. It has been a few weeks, I have been busy with issues at home. Mum and dad are not going through the best of times, and I'm not exactly feeling well either. I know I'm ill, I know the symptoms and effects of schizophrenia and I appear to be going through them to a bloody T. The visions have become more frequent, the man in the mirror is still there whenever I look. Kei-ying, he said his name was finally. He showed me some things, how to clear my mind with martial arts.

Do you know what it's like to never see yourself in a mirror? Does anyone know what that's like? Vampires, maybe. But that means they were alive once.

I'm going to tell my sister about this. She's older, she'll know what to do. "

Journal Entry 90
"Hello Journal. It has been a few months, things did not go as intended in the end. I am currently on section and undergoing medication for schizophrenia. I find myself being more and more tired each day, and my ability to feel has been numbed greatly due to this regimen. I am also putting on weight, apparently. How annoying.

Amusingly enough, the visions - no, they are memories, still occur and someone else has taken Kei-ying's place in the mirror. I have yet to learn their name. To be honest, I feel like I might die here. Hopefully I can be let out soon."

Journal Entry 92
"Hello Journal. Won't believed what happened since my last entry. I am off section, and they have put into the care of a superhero of all people. Apparently I'm not crazy, but something called the 'Empyrean'. Each vision is the experience of a past life, imparting knowledge briefly most times, and permanently rarely. Explains why I can speak Arabic and Mandarin. She said that more explanation will follow in the coming days. Will update when I get the chance."

Journal Entry 93
"Hello Journal. A year is a bit longer than I intended, but that's just how things are sometimes. I'll be going to a school for people like me, people who have power. Before I go I have to find something. I experienced another memory, a few of them actually. It was disconcerting, very recent and very dark. Given what I remember, no more than thrity-twenty years ago. I intend to investigate what I saw."

Journal Entry 94
"Directly from Heropedia: 'Empyrean was a supervillain who opposed the hero community between the years of XX39 to XX85. Among Empyrean's extensive list of villainous acts is: The murder of several superheroes (including the superalien Firehawk and his team, the Frontliners), destruction of several notable cities, creation of a mutant subspecies of human, alliance and cooperation with cosmic entity Xarros the Eternal and forming the pan-global supervillain team 'the Infinity Committee' of which he chaired.

Empyrean is not considered the most powerful villain of his time, but he was one of the most diverse and is considered one of the most intelligent still by the veterans of the hero community.'

In short, it appears I am the reincarnation of the devil. I will investigate more."

Journal Entry 95
"Paragon was kind enough to take me to a place I remembered. It was Empyrean's...the one who came before me, his base. His actual one, the one they never found. Most of it was perfectly in tact, well preserved other than the thick layers of dust and the odd, mutated animals that had taken it as a home. There was not much for us there, but it was enlightening. It felt good to know that I was not him.

However, I did feel an odd attraction to one of his costumes. With the hesitant approval of Paragon, I took it with me. It may be in bad taste to wear this, but it looks and feels right. When I become a superhero, I shall take the name Empyrean. I will not let one of my past selves taint the entire line."

Other: A lot of people still remember the previous Empyrean, especially a certain cosmic being.

Obsolete Angels

This was not the most unusual thing to happen to Kimaris in all his existence, but it was somewhat noteworthy in terms of events within the day. A long time ago, this might have surprised Kimaris. Now it was 'normal'. The demon approached the child at a steady pace, staring down at their small and yellow-clad form sceptically. His lethargic stare went straight into a dangerous glare, hands remaining in his pocket. "You have something for me, 'child'?" He knew better than to think this thing was really a child. No, children did not appear from where there was nothing prior. They were rarely so quiet of light footed that he could not identify them from a mile away.

Someone else was at work here, and they wanted Kimaris' attention. One of his colleagues perhaps? No, no. They would be more direct and go through his attendant, there is no need for this level of odd theatrics or secrecy with him. Even stranger though, who would want anything to do with him outside of his colleagues? Darn strange. Either way he had little to fear from whoever sent this child, or the child its self. He was Kimaris after all, and anyone with a memory long enough to remember the forming of the New Society knew that attacking Kimaris was like running head first into a truck-

Not wise at all.

Reaching a hand out of his pocket, he snatched the letter from the suspicious little thing's hands, peering it over.

Titans Together!

A... human?

Between the invaders and the ship design, Gladiator certainly was not expecting a human of all creatures to be leading this rag-tag assault - enough so that Manta's blasts went unnoticed, if only for a moment. Spinning her spear around, she whacked the blasts with the golden weapon, dispersing most of them. One got away from the New God, slipping past her guard and slamming into her shoulder. She moved with the force of the blow, spinning on the spot and recovering with little to not issue. The shoulder in question steamed, the seamless black substance covering her blue skin blown away, steaming and slowly burning from the blast. The radiation of her eyes took an aggressive turn.

"Human. You are human, correct? I suggest you run and join your allies, before you regret not taking the opportunity to do so."

She would survive the crash. It would take more than a downed craft to take her out - the explosion of said ship might be a slightly different matter, but she had no immediate concern as it was. Pressing a foot down against the floor grating, it creaked and cracked under her strength, a subtle sign that she was done playing nice with this human. She was not as nice as Superman when it came to holding back with her blows...

She lied about the letting him run part.

In one fluid, trained movement, Gladiator raised one leg up, along with her spear in one hand and launched it at Manta. Upon leaving her hands, the weapon made a 'boom' as it flew between the gap at terminal velocities

Sengoku City: Zero Pressure - A high-octane over-the-top action RP interest check and signups

Ask and ye shall receive a delinquent.

"Hurt me more! It makes me stronger!" [+]

Name: Isuka Kikai
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Personality: A stormcrow and a warhawk, Ikusa has a single-minded drive towards finding her next opponent and fighting them. Her interest in the politics of Sengoku City extend to where the next big clash is going to happen, and how she can work her way into it. Her odd obsession, which seems to be fueled by something completely unknown, leads to her being regarded as an intense and absurd girl, shoehorning her into the role of a 'wandering storm' through out Sengoku City. Although definitely battle-mad, she does not seem to be a killer. Looking deeper than that, the bandaged girl is quite savvy about, well, things in general if you can get her into an actual conversation.

Brief History: Most would not believe it if they heard it, but Isuka was once a rising star in the Science Club, working towards deciphering the secrets of Zero Pressure. Those within the Science Club would remember her and her sudden 'change' of personality and unlocking of her abilities, suspiciously not long after she claimed that she might have made a breakthrough in Zero Pressure research. Whatever she learned is now long gone, destroyed in the midst of her initial rampage and most likely intentionally forgotten by Isuka. Now she wanders Sengoku, picking fights and occasionally attending lessons... much to the displeasure of her classmates.
Weapons: Uuh...
Abilities:

• Kali-Durga: Ikusa has the ability to generate energy in the shape of solid structures, these shapes always being additional arms and weapons for them. The number of limbs and weapons she can generate are limited by her ability to properly control and conceptualize them, capping the number of arms at an additional six at a time, with eight weapons max present at any given moment. It is unknown if this is part of her power, but she seems to have intricate knowledge on how to use every weapon she generates to a masterful level.
• Draupadi Inferno: One of Ikusa's weapons becomes wreathed in a flame of a similar purple-hue to the rest of her projected structures. The next attack with that weapon becomes devastatingly explosive - which means it rarely sees use on her weapons, short of maybe a javelin. This can only functionally be used twice in a single battle, as it is simply the raw 'energy' which she uses in a wild, volatile form and condensed, creating great strain on her ability to control.
• Shakti-Parvati: An additional stage to Kali-Durga which she has yet to unlock. It'll happen, someday.

Side: Delinquent
Club: N/A

"Down on your knees like the dog you are! Show your loyalty you piece of trash! Sengoku High School has no place for people who won't obey their Student Council President!"

Tokyo Ghoul - District 8 [18+ - Mature & Graphic Content Inside]

Even if Hisoka had not had all the camera's in the city aiding him through his work phone, the CCG radio channel chatter and decent vision, it would not have been hard to find Knight. All you had to do was follow where people seemed to be fleeing from where the self-proclaimed SS-rating ghoul was going on a rampage. Kakuja, there was an interesting topic.

"Matsuoka-san, did you know you can potentially make multiple quinque from a ghoul who has acquired a kakuja? Not to mention if we bring Knight in, we can make special use of the armour capabilities of a Kakuja. Other investigators could be armed with enhancing armour, if the rumours about the Corpsepicker Armour are true." He spoke clinically, seeming to be a neverending encyclopaedia on ghouls and ways to combat/make use of them. It was almost sad, to see an 18 year old at this level already. He suddenly smiled, almost dissonantly given the urgency of the situation.

"It'd also be nice to have a potentially S-rating ghoul as my first take-down."

Clearly breaking the speed limit in Yuuka's dinged up car, Hisoka pushed the old banger to its limit, the sound of its strained engine audiable to even the preoccupied Knight from a distance away. Hisoka turned a corner sharply, the car leaning to ride on only the right side wheels, swerving so Yuuka's side of the car faced the now-SS-rating ghoul. "Matsuoka-san, go! I'll draw Knights attention. You go around and wait for an oppritunity." Hisoka advised to his superior, a plan he had been thinking of on his way here coming to form.

---

As horrible as it was to say, the dead Investigators were useful. A battle plan was already in place.

Tristan 1/20.

The quinque its self was made up of twenty arrows, the sturdy recurve bow was just the means of firing them which came with it. Where Q Bullets did some damage to ghouls (more than a standard bullet), the Tristan 1/20 surpassed them in every way in exchange for being harder to hit. In the right hands, it could very well be one of the most deadly quinque to come out of the CCG in the past year - quiet, unsuspecting and fast.

Hisoka aligned quinque, bow and target, one eye squinted somewhat. The element of surprise was his at range, so long as Knight did not turn around as he was firing. He waited on the wind...

A gust against his back. There.

The red-tinted arrow launched through the air, only a faint whistle acting as its heralded as it headed straight for Knight's upper back.

Hisoka dropped the bow, immidiately reaching for a bladed quarterstaff quinque collected along the way, a common design amongst Investigators. Reliable, tough and downright dangerous to be on the other end of. No matter the outcome of the shot, Hisoka spoke.

"A-rating Ghoul, Knight was it? Matsuoka-san could not make it. She had to deal with an S-rating somewhere..." The boy spoke in a purposely formal and dismissive tone. "They sent me instead. Rank 3 Investigator. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." The mentioning of his rank was an insult in its own right.

"You know, Ghouls don't pick their own rating. I don't think you really know how the rating system works, honestly. I'd say you're still an A, at least, an S at most." He got into stance with the quarterstaff, a nameless quinque to Hisoka, readying himself to fend off Knight if he charged.

Titans Together!

"Outnumbered and outmatched." Gladiator spoke loud enough for the assailant to just catch her words, said as if it were simple fact.

With her opponents focus momentarily drawn by Hotsocks, she pressed the attack once more. She knew he was not invulnerable to her strikes, and so had no reason to stop. With a forceful push and tug, she broke free of her would-be water bindings. With a spin, she leaped into the air, swinging one of her powerful legs around to slam a foot into the leader's helmeted head with the force of the spin behind it. She would know their face before defeating them. Gladiator was not ignorant to the power fluctuations through out the ship either, all she had to do was keep her opponents attention on her. Someone else was dealing with the larger battle, evidently.

Getting back into stance, she spun her spear around in her hand, ready to react to the leader's next move.

Obsolete Angels

Puddle water on his pants. He'd suffered worse, far worse, in the past as well as having moved beyond such a petty squabble. With an non-bothered shrug, he looked up to the culprit of this act. A pretty thing - at least on the immediate surface, Kimaris was old and experienced enough to spot the tell tale signs of a disguise, much like his own current one. Kimaris' squinted, dagger like gaze seeming to see straight through her cover.

"Be more careful." He said, turning his gaze from her to the direction she had come from. Desium Corp. A sudden feeling filled the air, noticeable to Kimaris by pure coincidence. A horrid, familiar feeling which only battle-honed individuals like himself could pick up on. Directed disdain and the intent to harm. Oddly enough it was not aimed at him, but rather the woman before him.

"Suggest you get in doors. And watch your back. I think you have an enemy out there." He offered, turning on his heel and continuing on his walk deeper into the city, hands in his pockets.

The rain felt nice.

Tokyo Ghoul - District 8 [18+ - Mature & Graphic Content Inside]

CCG 8th District HQ

"I know what I'm doing." He puffed out his cheeks in a petulant manner, making his way to the buildings exit. "I guess it's my first time actively hunting a ghoul, yeah. But that does not mean I don't know how to fight them!" He quickly pointed out with a raised finger, looking back to Matsuoka, his smile showing a little bit of teeth. "Valedictorian. I was really bad at a few subjects, but my average was higher than everyone else's thanks to Combat Education and Ghoul Biology." Hisoka puffed his chest out proudly, looking back infront of him with shut eyes and a wide smile. Of course, that would only go on to reveal another one of his odd traits. Although it was unknown over what, Hisoka tripped forward and landed face first with a rather painful sounded 'thud', lower back raised in the air. How embarrassing. Slowly lifting himself upwards, Hisoka brushed off his front with a clear of his throat, trying to return to his near-professional demeanor as if nothing happened. "Should I drive?" He asked, trying quickly to divert any attention from his fall to a different matter, hiding the burst of red on his cheeks. Yuuka couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "Sure thing. Just uh, be a little more careful behind the wheel, okay?" The Special Investigator and her new partner exited the cafeteria. Yuuka shoved a hand into the pocket of her CCG blazer, expecting to find her car keys, but she came out with only a fist full of empty air. In the end, she wound up patting herself down to find her keys. "Where did I..." she said, pausing as she came to a slow realization. Awkwardly (perhaps more for Hisoka than his partner), Yuuka reached into her cleavage with a black hand and retrieved a set of keys which she started swinging around on her index finger. "I always lose these things in the weirdest places..." she muttered. Alarms blared. Yuuka snapped to attention, but quickly realized she was already at the centre of it. With one foot on the other side of an active RC cell detector, her Quinque prosthetics had tripped the alarm. Guards flooded into the room, packing guns armed with Q bullets. They took aim at Yuuka. She sighed. "Relax, boys. It's just me again." She held up her badge and her license, and immediately everyone lowered their weapons, mumbling and groaning about the trouble Yuuka had caused them. Yet more fuel for quiet gossip. "Sorry about that, Hisoka-kun. These Rc cell detectors aren't calibrated to tell my prosthetics apart from real Ghouls. They keep telling me they're gonna fix it, but they never do. I'm supposed to exit through a special door so this doesn't happen, but I guess I got a little careless, what with how excited I was." She dropped the sweaty keys in her subordinate's open hands. "My car's over here. You'll probably recognize it once you see it. It's the one that's all beat up and stuff." The car in question was more than beat up. It was dented, scratched, dinged, keyed, and even missing a mirror in an astonishing display of ignorance towards road safety. Either someone had gone to town on this car, or Yuuka should've been barred from driving ever again. "You still wanna drive, right?" Hisoka said nothing, taking the keys and approaching the beat up car. It's not that he refused to say anything, but more that he could not find the words. Ignoring the feeling of the keys, he unlocked the car doors, slipping into the drivers side. Just like moments before, he tried to redirect the conversation to something less awkward for him. Never mind the fact his face was beet red. "When I was going through the academy, I was always thinking about ways to hurt ghouls without a quinque or Q-bullets. Knight reminded me of something I thought up. Ghoul skin is tough, really tough, but it's not hard. If you poked it, it'd be all squishy and stuff, but if you stabbed it the knife would probably just bounce off." With them both strapped in, he started the car, testing the engine a little to get it started, "In a purely scientific sense, things cannot be hard and tough. It's a scale, I guess. The reason why maces were so effective against full plated knights was because they bent the armor, rather than trying to stab through it. Ghoul skin is a little bit tougher than that." He paused, pulling out of the CCG carpark, eyes on the road. "When things freeze, they become hard, but not necessarily tough. Take a rubber ball for example; if you hit it with a hammer, then it'd just bounce off. But if you froze that ball, then hit it with a hammer, it'd smash. This should apply to the body of a ghoul." He finished, the embarrassment of the earlier exchange having faded away behind his vocalised thoughts. "...So I was thinking, if I threw liquidized difluoroethane at a ghoul, it would freeze the surface it hit and make it easier to break, exposing whatever is under the tough layer of skin and some of the flesh." Hisoka's phone went off in his pocket, drawing his eye from the road momentarily. He quickly reached for it, placing it down on the car dash as he drove towards downtown. "Could you check that, Matsuoka-san?" Of course, it was a news flash. Knight's most recent actions and his challenge to Yuuka. Note: Collab between Turbo and Art

Obsolete Angels

The place that was once San Francisco, ??? "Leviathan; a sea monster mentioned in the Old Testament. Its power and size left humans in awe and unable to harm it. More importantly, Leviathan is also the name of Thomas Hobbes' masterwork." The disinterested voice of Marquis Kimaris called out into the dark gathering hall, sat with one knee raised at the front of it all, countless faces obscured by darkness before him. This is how he preferred them, quiet and in the dark. Lazily turning a page in the aforementioned book, he continued. "Supposedly it's rather profound, had quite the impact on politics as it is known. Have any of you read it?" He spoke to the quiet mass, their forms unmoving from a sitting-bow. Silence was his answer. "Did not think so..." He sighed. "I've only just started it, and make my judgement on Hobbes' conclusion when I'm done." He snapped the book closed, moving to stand. The trainees would not need him today, and it was not like he had much of a duty towards them in the first place. Kimaris' aided the New Society simply because it was a more quiet change from the chaos of the netherworld, so thought his 'allies' within the New Society's inner circle. If this were true, his aid was mood based if anything, and his behaviour only illustrated this point. While the trainees who went through his training more often than not turned out to be useful human pawns, he at times did choose his other hobbies over teaching humans how to fight. He walked through the silent crowd of uniformed and masked trainees towards the halls exit. The place that was once San Francisco, City Streets Rain pattered down outside the tucked away building in the industrial sector, unnoticed by passers by. Kimaris let out a huff, his breath visible in the cold air. Adjusting his winter coat, he prepared to set out into the wet weather. "Will you be requiring transport, sir?" Kimaris' attendant asked off to his side, a formal yet meek person he found. She was ever concerned with formalities and appointments, where Kimaris was the opposite. Frustrating, from his perspective, but he saw the use of having a moving diary. "No, no. I feel like a walk. Go back to central office. Give me a call if I need to be somewhere." He said dismissively, walking ahead before the small woman could say any more to him. Kimaris was a notable player in the initial creation of the New Society, yet he was probably the least known. Walking among humans was an uneventful thing for him, where for some others it might be more prone to drawing attention. Anyone who did remember Kimaris were not likely to say anything either, it's not as if one actively sought someone such as him anyway. He simply had nothing to offer, unlike the more political sorts. Like all things Kimaris' did, he walked among them because he could, feeling the want to simply wander aimlessly for a while.

Titans Together!

With the Leader... "Love? Blood shed? No. We love our leader, and we would do anything in His name, including the act of killing." Even here, she thought to herself with growing frustration, His reach is inescapable. Each footstep towards River was slow, contemplating. Her mind went into overdrive, trying to consider the possible options. Upon viewing an Earth local, she felt no love for them nor any disdain. If anything they were simply 'cute', holding the features of one of her own with not even a tenth of the potential. Adorable indeed. Stopping in front of River and the soldiers which held her, directing her words at the leader still. "Most, at least." It was a brief movement without any warning, both of her fists shooting out simultaneously and slamming against two of the soldiers to either side of River with all the force of a tank. Launched back into the walls of the ship, the two would likely survive given their tough disposition. With a nod of reassurance to River she faced the Leader, the Thunderlance booming into existence. Bellona's eyes ignited with Source-energy once more, lowering herself into stance. "A few reject Him and would rather see Him destroyed, and His allies removed from existence." Bellona - no, Gladiator - lunged forward, ramming the techno-mystical spear out in an attempt to end the fight quickly via impalement, her strike carrying all the might her perfected body would allow, the spear practically howling through the air as it shot out. "You face one of the few!" She roared, engaging in battle with their leader.