Estylwen

Iris Ascendis

"Even if it's pointless, you still have to do it! Because [these are the friends we want to] save!"

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Auditorium
@Nanaya @ERode @Psyker Landshark @Sifr @AThousandCurses

---

It was… mouth-watering.

The knight, soft light just radiating off her deliciously, looked harder and harder to resist as she swung her way through the horde of Mannekin, dead center of the auditorium.

It made Ciara almost forget how the trio rushed past them.

Davil echoed her thoughts before taking point, and entered the auditorium first out of their group. She glanced at Otis briefly before watching the scene unfold.

To say the situation went from bad to worse… well, it was an understatement.

"Upon the name of House Bronsteel, this chosen heir invokes the name of Eligor, compelling Him to battle once more against hounds of hubris. Rise, Foreteller!"

Ciara stared wide-eyed up at the golden mechanical giant towering over them as she stepped into the threshold of the auditorium. Where in the blazes was this kid getting this unfathomably powerful Rekordian technology? She had walked the streets of Vaal Kastrix and Vaal Shakta, and had never seen magitech like this before.

A painful knot formed in her stomach.

That was, until a blade sailed towards the giant. Her eyes quickly found the source, a young boy wearing glasses. A fellow student. With a faraway look in his eye, possibly an analyst?

Great. Two strategists, one analyst, one tank, a pet, and one… unknown as of yet.

Surely they could put their heads together and come up with something. Their future depended on these seats. Thankfully, there was plenty to share, if they survived long enough to see it.

She took another step as a door opened to a breath-taking void. It made her freeze briefly before her gaze flickered to Otis. The message was clear, as well as their objective. The chairs.

Before taking a single step, she was swarmed by upgraded and slightly more ruthless Mannekin. Her eyes immediately narrowed, and she sidestepped them before disappearing, reappearing on the other end of the auditorium. Strangling the Mannekin closest to her with dark tentacles, more shadowy appendages snapped up the chairs needed. Three in total.

With a quick pop sound, she fractured the torsos of the Mannekin she held, dropping them before she sent a small wave of darkness to clear part of the way in front of her, moving closer to the door. Tentacles threw the string of chairs, torn from their seating place, into the void, along with a couple Mannekin who managed to get swept up in her work.

She didn't have time to finesse things. Not right now.

She stepped back from the Mannekin, disappearing in her shadow before appearing in another less populated area of the auditorium. Near instantly, she was seized upon by Mannekin again, causing her to teleport… again.

Nowhere was safe. Getting too close to the giant meant getting hit with a mechanic arm, possibly shrapnel. It was too powerful to take on at once. She teleported once more, behind the boy. Gulliver. Her daggers were in her hands, coated in shadow, and she made a slash at the boy.

Oh how she wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

Unsurprisingly, her attack ricocheted off invisible essence, and she hissed in annoyance.

"All this.. All these theatrics. Are you trying to get these kids killed?" She said, her tone cold as she used her blades to block an attack from more Mannekin, pushing her away from Gulliver.

She glanced again at the knight, hacking and slashing her way through the auditorium.

She swallowed her Hunger, looking away, calling out to the the boy with glasses and the older girl with brown hair.

"Hey! If you got a second, smash some of those window shutters shut!"

She shoved another Mannekin off her blade, teleporting into the rows of seats, taking a couple steps before weaving through more Mannekin. She approached one window and pulled the shutter shut, fending for herself with her free hand. It delayed her progress, more so than she liked.

If she could get help shutting out the light, her shadow would extend the entire breadth of the auditorium, and she could do something about these upgraded Manniken, and that giant golem.

Iris Ascendis

Working on a post, should be ready in 1-3 hours.

Iris Ascendis

*Kinda Hungry.*

Edit: T-pose!

Iris Ascendis

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Main Building
@Nanaya @ERode

---

"Oh, and you too, actually. You were really great, uh, whatever your name was?"

She blinked, a little overcome at simply watching Davil. He… He didn't react to the word. The Mannekins were still, and even she was struggling to come back to herself. Yet he…

Davil's aura was dark, similar to her friend. Dark auras proved to be the most unpredictable, despite the comfort they gave her. This one, this Davil, the one she pulled out of the sky to save the Light, was proving to be very, very interesting.

"Ciara." She said, stooping to pick up her daggers, sheathing them at her hips, trying to hide the gears turning in her mind. She shifted on her feet in agitation, trying to shake off the last of the word. Her eyes followed the Mannekin as they moved slowly. Something had… changed.

"Because of that little stunt, all interior units are being recalled, and you may follow them if you so wish to find your precious auditorium. I will be there, waiting for you all."

Ciara glared up at the edges of the hallway, picturing where she imagined the puppeteer was watching from. "Challenge accepted."

She disappeared in shadow briefly, appearing beside her friend near the front of the trail of Mannekin. Her head tilted as she moved at a quick pace, hearing the sounds of utter chaos outside. It wasn't a surprise they were the only students who had made it thus far. But a part of her frowned. All students deserved a chance. This entrance exam was… well, dangerous, to say the least. Ciara could imagine all the coddled Ethos users from warm, bright homes coming to Wingram. They wouldn't stand a chance, couldn't stand a chance. The entrance exams favored battle prowess strongly.

Ciara's brows furrowed.

Was Wingram secretly a military academy?

Her friend, the Stridigae, spoke as they moved down the hallways at a rapid pace. He explained a well-thought out plan, especially given the urgency of their situation.

“We need to be seated inside the auditorium at 10AM. Nothing more, nothing less. Our opponent is arrogant and desires a true confrontation, but we don’t need to give him that.”

She smirked inwardly at that, feeling the urge to strangle that snobby kid.

“Davil, you go first, on my gunshot."

Her head tilted, gaze flickering to Davil briefly before returning to her friend. Was he… wait, no. He knew Davil was useless on the battlefield. Why would he send their weakest member out first, even under the cover of light?

She had her own theories on Davil, but there was no need to get the boy injured needlessly.

“I’m Otis Tan Arillo. I’ll need you to secure three seats or one bench after Davil gets in. A door will open up beside you. Toss the seat in and if you don’t wish to fight, enter that door."

Ciara gave a polite nod of her head, "Ciara. Ciara Ventura. Thank you, by the way."

Otis had come through when she pulled on the telepathic link. A part of her thought she would have been abandoned, given the gravity of the situation.

Her nose wrinkled briefly. "A flash of light, huh?"

She sighed. "Your battle plan is sound, and I agree with you. But… Might I… make a suggestion?"

She pulled on the telepathic link. He had given no indication of closing the link, so she used it to her advantage.

"Either give Davil a flash of darkness, or let him walk in and pretend to be a hero. He's a good talker. He can buy us time by stalling the boy waiting for us.

"A flash of light will render me useless as long as it's overwhelmingly bright. It'll kill my shadow. I'd rather use those first few seconds to get into a strategic position."

She paused, glancing at the eyeballs in the dark corners of the hallway as they scattered from her sight, before her focused gaze returned to Otis.

"We're being watched, and I'd rather have the element of surprise, whatever plan we decide on."

Time was short. Terribly short. She would make it work if Otis went ahead with his plan. But, she did have an idea. A way to improve the plan.

Her head tilted, a mischievous glint in her eye. "If the auditorium can be drowned in darkness, all the lights shot, curtains blocking the sunlight… I can grab every seat needed, and destroy that twerp."

A dark mist rose off her arms briefly as her expression became vexed. "This kid is needlessly causing trouble… I'm gonna teach him a few manners…"

It was the opposite of what Otis had recommended. But she couldn't help how she felt.

She wanted to strangle the kid.

Iris Ascendis

Nice! Definietly the fastest round yet. Epic posts.

Iris Ascendis

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Main Building
@Nanaya @ERode

---

Darkness.

Upon closer examination of the spirited boy, calling himself Davil, Ciara would tilt her head curiously and relax a bit. She inwardly smirked, "You should never judge a book by its cover, idiot."

"Don't call me idiot, idiot!" The child-like Voice bit back harshly before seeming to relax as well. "It's dark... It's all dark..."

Cirara hummed, nodding to herself, her initial impressions of Davil changing to one of strange, unexplainable comfort. Logically, one could never trust a person with so much darkness in them. But people like Davil and her new friend made the Voices in her head relax, which was something she could never do on her own. So she took it all in stride, the benefits outweighing the risks for her.

As her friend carefully examined the disarmed Mannekin, her gaze flickered to Davil as he enthusiastically charged at the intruders down the hallway.

Before... well, he came crawling back, covered in dark grease stains.

She sighed, already taking a step forward.

"There's no way this is your help, right? I mean, that would just be downright sad."

She heard the voice echo through the halls, staring at the walls where she saw the eyeballs briefly before blinking out of existence. She had to scoff again, taking another step forward as a wave of darkness grew in front of her feet, sweeping down the hall to push away the Mannekin, slowing down their charge and giving herself a few precious seconds.

"If you're really so confident, why don't you tell us where the auditorium is? I imagine that's where you're holed up. We can settle this, face to face." She said to the hallway, trying in vain to find the source of the snobby boy's voice.

She smirked coldly. "Unless you're scared."

As she spoke, her tentacles were busy at work, pulling out whatever loose furniture she could get her hands on. Quickly, classroom chairs and desks filled the hallway, stacking on top of each other to create a barrier between Ciara and the approaching Mannekins. Almost instantly, the sounds of bats smacking against wooden desks ricocheted off the walls, creating an uncomfortable staccato in the air.

She pursed her lips, trying to ignore them, tentacles pushing the desks and chairs to give more strength to the barrier. At the same time, she eyed the katana spinning uselessly on the floor. She gingerly snapped up the handle of the katana, taking great care to avoid having her shadowy tendrils touch the razor-sharp edge before shutting it off with another appendage and returning it back to the grease-stained Davil.

She thought they might have a moment to relax. But alas. That was before she saw another leader-type Mannekin making its way to the barrier, and she gritted her teeth. A bashing sound louder than all the rest resounded as the pompadour wig Mannekin's lightning bat crashed against her barrier. Desks and chairs were knocked into the walls, until the Mannekin made contact with bare tentacle.

"Ow!" Ciara hissed, tentacles buckling the moment they were hit with an electrical shock.

With the air charged with electricity, one final smack caused the barrier to fall, desks and chairs flying across the hallway in a haphazard manner. Ciara quickly moved back, shifting out of the way as a desk landed where she used to stand. Quickly, she unsheathed her daggers again, darkness coating the blades as she eyed the pompadour Mannekin with an intense glare, aftermath lightning arcs flickering across her twitching arms.

How would they make it to the auditorium, at the rate they were going now?

Her eyes shifted to her friend staring hard at the incapacitated Mannekin on the ground, before the air was charged a second time. This time with essence.

"Calm."

Her knees wanted to buckle as she heard the magic-filled word, and everything grew unimaginably still on the battlefield. She couldn't even hear it when her hands dropped the daggers out of blind serenity, the hilts making a metallic clink as they scattered at her feet. She tried to blink, hearing nothing, not even her own heartbeat.

Wasn't she in the middle of a fight?

She blinked again, trying to get her bearings uselessly. She could only stare at the Mannekin on the ground, wondering how the word would affect it and if they finally had an ace with which to seek out the auditorium.

Iris Ascendis

Yaaay!

Iris Ascendis

Who's turn is it now? :o

Iris Ascendis

Ciara Ventura

Wingram Academy, Main Building
@Nanaya @ERode

---

"I've been given a special privilege in this... weeding out process. This divine culling."

The resistance this academy gave really was on purpose. But why? Why did they only want a few select Ethos?

Her expression darkened as she spotted the eyes watching her, keeping pace as she ran through the hallways. Was that how this student was keeping tabs on her?

All hints of the auditorium's location were destroyed. Maps, directories. Hastily torn away. It was either this student's doing, or some of the teachers who were heavily interested in causing more difficulty than they initially intended.

She felt a positive response while sending out an SOS on her telepathic link, her feet hitting the floor at a rapid pace. But, before she could get the full message out, something grabbed ahold of her. Her entire body froze up, and instead of turning the corner, she smashed into the wall of the hallway, a surprised whimper escaping her gritted teeth.

The dread set in instantly, her blood running cold as a new Voice spoke, either inside or outside of her head, she couldn't tell. She only knew blinding fear. The air was heavy with blood-curdling darkness. She couldn't see the hallway or the approaching Mannekins. She could only feel the claws digging into her skull.

"Time will progress apace, and as I am time, I decide when to move. You forget yourself. Perhaps a thoughtful begging will see you with more fortunate results."

"P-please don't kill me-" Was all she managed to think before she was released, her thin frame trembling, supporting herself against the wall as she tried to regain her breath.

The voice over the loudspeaker pulled her out of her existential dread just in time to see the glossy wig-wearing Mannekin sailing through the air, the space between them charged with static. She hissed, snapping back just in time, the bat catching the curls of her hair as it missed its mark by a hair's breadth.

The ground shook, tossing Ciara back as she took the full brunt of the shockwave. She landed roughly, rolling to a stop on the floor, body twitching as lighting sparked over her body. The air was charged with singed hair and dust. She coughed weakly, trying to drag herself off the floor. She could hear footsteps. A bat scraping the floor as the lead Mannekin drew closer, others close behind.

"I'm hungry." Came the child-like Voice, whining. It echoed her thoughts, feeling the ache in her stomach. It was more pronounced in this moment. It always was when she was in pain. Her entire body was covered in bruises. Her mind still felt sore. It hurt.

"I'm... hungry." She thought again, half-raised off the floor, squinting up at the Mannekin towering over her, raising the bat for a final strike.

"I'm... HUNGRY!" She cried out, her shadow reacting faster than the bat could be swung. Tentacles sprung at the leader Mannekin like a python, constricting around its torso and limbs, wrapping tighter as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes darted to the other approaching Mannekin, and another tentacle sprung forward, knocking them off their feet with a heavy blow.

Ciara stood, drawing the Mannekin closer to her. There was a maroon gleam in her eye, her expression darkening. She was so Hungry it hurt. Everything hurt. Her prey, squirming in front of her, was full of essence. Delicious essence. More so than the limp grass in her satchel. She wanted it... needed it...

She brought the Mannekin face level, tentacles squeezing tight enough that she heard a pop somewhere in its 'spine,' and the Mannekin went limp. Drool escaped the edge of her mouth as she leaned forward, preparing to consume it, to breathe its essence in.

Before cracks of thunder echoed behind her head.

She blinked out of a near-drunken daze, alerted to the sound of another Mannekin toppling over. Ciara looked over, finding the dark one with his pistol raised, entering the hallway from what appeared to be a classroom. He had shot down the Mannekins that had tried to jump her unaware as she was, well, fully engrossed at the prospect of Eating.

"It interrupted-" The Voice whined, recognizing her new friend, yet torn at the prospect of nearly being satisfied.

"It saved us." She thought, coming back into her senses a bit more.

Self-conscious. Hasily, she wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, offering her friend a prize: the leader of the Mannekins, wrapped tightly in shadowy tentacles.

"It can't move. I think I snapped something in its torso. Do what you want with it."

Her eyes glanced at her friend's companion, the boy with winged boots. She recognized him from before. She stared curiously, noting he only seemed slightly banged up, before swatting at a Mannekin trying to attack him from behind. Her tentacle retracted, eyes veering to the Mannekin that was now sailing towards the far wall.

"It... looks kind of delicious." Said the Voice, watching the winged boot boy with interest.

"It... does..." She thought, eyeing the boy curiously, her face a blank. She painfully remembered she had been interrupted before Eating the Mannekin of its essence, and was still somewhat Hungry.

But...

"Attention, all students. The time is now 9:30 AM on March 1st of the Sacred Record..."

She glanced at the dark one, a serious expression in her eye, trying to swallow the Hunger gnawing at her chest.

They had other problems.

Iris Ascendis

*excitedly working on a post. should be ready in 1-2 hours.*