FujiwaraPhoenix

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Following after Hakuno and Kiara (though it was less 'following' than it was 'being dragged along') Jason came to a pause as the others had. With Benienma now sprinting down the hallway, the conclusion that the other Kiara had not yet been defeated—and given the expression of the Kiara at their side, that was more than likely the case.

"...The other way is blocked by patients who have been manipulated by that... Thing," Kiara said, glancing back at the hallway from which they had come before turning towards the Saber. "I can feel that unrestrained evil getting further from us as we speak... But at the same time, I feel that blindly pursuing her on your own may be unwise. The interest that she has shown in Ms. Kishinami coupled with how the roadblock that we had encountered back there only furthers my own suspicions; could I ask if you could escort us towards her location? Despite the danger, leaving us to be picked off might only end in disaster."

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Despite her best efforts to dodge around the incoming attacks, Meltryllis found each shot moving closer and closer to her center of mass. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been much of a problem, if at all; her body, as it was, could easily allow attacks to phase through without much of an issue. But be it because of her contract or some other factor, each of the shots had wounded her. Dealing with both of the shadows present made taking out the Archer far more of a hassle than would be ideal, as each time she had warded off the larger one, the shadow had retreated to take another shot.

"You two are really a pair of nuisances, you know?" she grumbled to herself. After having been forced away from dealing with the Archer yet again, the Alter Ego prepared to simply put all of her attention towards the Archer, all else be damned.

Or, well, she would have, had she not been tackled to the ground by her Master. Pushing her out of the way gave Meltryllis a moment to turn, half in surprise, towards Nanako, who now had a crossbow bolt lodged firmly in her shoulder.

Though Meltryllis had fallen, the bigger worry on her mind now was that her Master had decided, for some reason or another, to take the arrow in her stead. She had put so much work into keeping her on the side so that she could act as she needed—even if that meant injuring her in her own way.

But to think that she would do something like this...

"...You idiot. I can handle the rest of this myself," she said, slowly pushing Nanako off of her and turning towards the Archer. There was a cold glint in her eyes as a sadistic smirk crept onto her face. "That little rat will wish it had died by the time I'm done with it."

In an instant, Meltryllis had left the injured Nanako behind. Before the shadow Archer could leave again, Meltryllis had moved behind it, spearing it through the chest with her left leg. Before it could react in turn, the purple-haired Alter Ego leaped into the sky and, without missing a beat, flung her opponent onto the ground next to her injured Master. The second after, she came flying down after it, a manic grin on her face as she repeatedly stabbed into it with her legs. This time, however, she had made sure to separate it from its arms and weapon before leaving it without any limbs to speak of.

Once that matter was handled, though, Meltryllis turned towards the other shadow before springing off after it in turn. Handling it in the same way she had the Archer would be impossible, but with her own sadistic urges now on full display, her earlier restraint held no bearing upon her as she was now.

Caster — Da Vinci-chan

With Alkyrieaze's own addition to HECATE's information, Da Vinci crossed her arms and nodded her head in agreement. Though she had been the one to posit the possibility of the Master being the target of manipulation, ruling out the founders made matters fairly straightforward.

Her own Master's own suggestion, though, caused the Caster to pause for a moment before looking back towards HECATE. As things were now, there were too many questions to be answered without further investigation; in her mind, the only thing left to do now was to trace their only lead.

"Mmm... Well, I don't think that we have records of the incident on hand, per se, so it might do us just as well to simply visit all of the Servants that fit what we have so far. I don't think it should be too hard to investigate if we've got some official clearance, after all," she said, glancing at the others she had come here with. "Does that sound all right?"

@DocRock@Raineh Daze

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

The Ruins

Despite their best efforts to hold the pair of assailants back, both the armored skeletons and necromancers found themselves at a heavy disadvantage against their opponents—the latter moreso, given their comparative inability to mount even a confident defensive front against the fox-eared girl tearing through their summons. The subsequent gap in their undead keeping Link at bay only served to further drive them back.

The combined assault of the pair made quick work of the undead that worked to try and block their path, and one by one the remaining necromancers fell. Though the thralls that had been brought back to life by their magic remained (and more than a few were already moving upon the pair despite their masters falling), their destruction meant that there was no further reinforcement to their number.

Among the remains of the twice-killed necromancers, though, there was a single collar that seemed to pulse with energy despite its owner's demise; trinkets and jewels lay strewn about as well, though it would take a sharper eye to sift them out through all of the skeletal debris.

The defeat of the necromancers was soon followed by the feeling of someone watching the pair—a feeling that was more disconcerting than not, as the faint traces of magical energy in the air differed heavily from the skeletons that were 'looking' at them with no such effect.

@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

Life in another world as a Enemy Mob! - An Isekai RP

Lin Quan

Lin simply sighed at Lena's own assertion regarding her own ability to move about before motioning towards the ever-shrinking objects beneath them as he continued to ascend.

"If you could fly on your own, then we could do without. This is simply a faster way to get us both the information at once," he responded, slowly moving over the walls of the settlement before glancing downwards.

As things were, the locale seemed fairly barebones at best, and completely primitive at first. Of course, this was itself no indication for what the grander world was like, but it would function well to place into perspective how to put their current existence into question. Given their current equipment (or lack thereof), there were a variety of options to be taken in how to present themselves, each of which was worth consideration.

Of course, that was before his companion promptly decided to get a bit too curious and slipped out of his grasp. After a second of realizing what had just happened, Lin moved to cancel his 'platform' and fell after Lena (in a far more controlled manner), regardless of the person that was aiming for him. An arrow wound, at the very least, was easier to manage than letting an ally die in front of him.

Hopefully, he would be able to catch her before anything too unfortunate occurred.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

The Cove

One by one, the unfortunate members of the drowned vessel met their second end, their bodies promptly annihilated with more force than any member of this world could deliver in a single strike. What remained, pallid and cold as it was, seemed to still emit traces of whatever foul energy it was that kept them shackled to their vessel, but even that seemed to be unable to bring them back a third time.

The prompt defeat of those present, despite whatever unnatural capabilities a scant few had, would allow for the source of the magical signal to be come far clearer—laying in the hands of the captain of the ship, who had been stricken down at the helm, there lay a single handbell, pulsing with a similar energy that the horn that the siren had been holding.

Of course, cleaning the ship out of any remaining treasures was certainly an option, but that was a matter best left to the girls present to decide upon.

@VitaVitaAR@KoL

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Despite the apparent joy she was taking in watching her opponent mentally flitting back and forth between the puppet that she was commanding and the blockade preventing flight into the hallway, Kiara felt no more committed to having to deal with the Saber than she did about letting the shadow give its 'life' for her. There were more important things to handle, after all, and as fun as toying with Benienma was, it was, in the end, stalling for time.

"Beast... Beast... Hm... That wouldn't be entirely false..." she responded, licking her lips as she began to sink into the floor, her body slowly disappearing into the shadows. "But if you'll excuse me, I have my own matters to attend to. It certainly was fun, watching that foolish boy suffer. Thank you for the treat."

As she completely disappeared, the shadow Hijikata immediately moved in turn, striking out once more at the Saber as if to stall her for but a second longer.

---

Just as the group seemed to back off (or, in the case of Jason, led off by Kiara), one of the patients struck out at Hakuno with an IV pole. Before the attack could connect properly, though, their arms seemed to be restrained by a pair of snakes. The attention of those controlled still seemed to be trained upon Hakuno in particular, but the Servant that walked up from behind the three seemed to be mildly irate with the situation.

"Honestly, this has become something of a bother..." he sighed behind his mask, glancing at the three before motioning to them to leave. "Half of the other members of the staff are dealing with their own headaches right now, and I'd rather not deal with additional patients if I can help it. As the head of the hospital, I'll deal with these unruly patients; the other exits should be clearer, though I'll make no guarantees about the safety of this place regardless."

@RolePlayerRoxas@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Despite her apparently dominant position in combat, the shadow under her had enough strength to aim its weapon for her body once again. The roar from its ally did not go unheeded by Meltryllis as she moved to swipe the crossbow away, and in the brief moments that she had as it drew nearer, the Alter Ego swiftly spun in place and struck and the weapon before springing into the air, the bolt firing and leaving a long cut along her right arm as she did so. After a brief moment as she seemed to float in the air, Meltryllis aimed at the new enemy's face. Without a second to waste, she propelled herself downwards onto its head. The initial impact seemed to cause it to pause, but the flurry of strikes as she began to rapidly stomp where she had landed before gracefully backflipping away seemed to do enough to her opponent for the moment.

"Honestly... If I need to use my Noble Phantasm to deal with that..." she complained, shaking her head as she brushed herself off, blood slowly trickling from the wound. "Two on one is always such a hassle, and fighting in a non-virtual environment is..."

The Arena

The mounting counterattack on part of the Servants present had kept deaths following the initial surprise strike of the shadow Servants to a minimum, and though there were still a scant few unlucky enough to fall victim to the continued assault of the enemies to feed their ranks, it did seem as if the number of enemies present had begun to thin in comparison. Their number, though still nothing to scoff at, had actually begun to thin by this point.

Thinking that such a thing would be the end of it all by this point would be a naive thought, though, as one heavily-damaged section of the stands began to shake in turn. As the scant few surviving groups were slowly being ushered into a safer area (save the various Masters and their Servants that had slowly begun to congregate in the center of the battlefield itself), a shadowy claw seemed to burst out of the ruined seats.

Then another.

The mana from the deceased, it seemed, had been congregating elsewhere—and this happened to be it. Soon, the creature that rose from the stands, a facsimile of a Phantasmal dragon that towered well above the Servants present, let out an earthshaking roar as it breathed out a stream of black flame at the exits before turning its attention towards those who remained.

By now, the shadow Servants that DID remain had begun to refocus their efforts towards those who could actually fight, as it was amply clear by now that killing them would supply their own side with more than the average powerless spectator could.

@ghastlyInc@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@1Charak2

Life in another world as a Enemy Mob! - An Isekai RP

Lin Quan

At the goblin's own assertion to scout ahead, Lin simply paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. As much as he wanted to scout out the area directly, opening the gates if there were still others inside would likely lead to issues. There was another path ahead, though; one that would probably lead to far less risk to the three of them, all things considered.

"If you want to scout the area a bit further, I won't stop you," he began, picking up Lena in a princess carry before staring up at the towering walls in front of them, "but don't go so far as to directly open the gates for us. Gather information, try not to agitate anything, and run if things get too far out of hand. Since this is faster, I'll bring Lena up to get an aerial view past the walls."

Without waiting for anything within the realm of agreement from the doll, Lin began to 'walk' upwards, slowly circling about as the two rose higher and higher into the air. It wouldn't take too long to see inside, at the very least; a steady pace would make sure of that much.

Fate/Eternum

@1Charak2: Medb accepted.

One of these days, I should really clean out the character list...

Pokemon: ROMA Edition (Invite Only)

Dante Giordano

The walk towards the laboratory was, for the most part, fairly uneventful—or, at the very least, that was how Dante had expected it to play out. With his attention focused on getting to his destination, the young man was caught well off guard by someone bumping into him. It wasn't exactly much of an impact, per se, but it had enough weight behind it to cause him to stumble for a moment, the sole Pokeball at his waist shaking about as he steadied himself.

There was a brief pause as Dante slowed to a stop before turning around to see the cause of the incident; upon seeing the Pokennoli scattered about on the ground, though, he quickly turned his head around to glance at his jacket.

A jacket that, as it turned out, was now covered in the things.

With a glance at the apparent culprit—an Unown, by the looks of things—Dante sighed before taking off the unfortunate "victim" of the incident and responded in turn with a glare.

"Didn't your Trainer teach you how to act in public?" he asked, gesturing towards the mess that had been made on the ground and on his clothing as he continued. "Or are you just a freshly hatched Pokemon, with no clue on how to do so in the first place?"

In a place like this, where Unown didn't even exist in the wild, there had to be a Trainer nearby; he could turn his irritation towards them afterwards. Well, that or find a place to clean off his jacket before the stains set in. One or the other.

@Rune_Alchemist@1Charak2

Pokemon: ROMA Edition (Invite Only)

Foliare Town

With a nod and a slight adjustment to his labcoat, Professor Cypress looked over the paperwork that his assistant had prepared for him. Mornings in Foliare Town tended to be fairly lax, which was the reason he had set up his laboratory here, but that didn't mean that this one was as every other was. No, today was the day when a bunch of new Pokemon Trainers would begin their journeys, and he had a job to give them their first push on their way.

Quite literally, in fact.

Quietly nodding to himself as he checked the materials that he had prepared—six Pokedexes, six Trainer Cards, and a set of Pokemon just in case—the Professor smiled and calmly took a seat at his desk.

"I hope I haven't forgotten anything..."

---

Rolling his shoulders and stretching his legs as he got off of the bus, Dante glanced around Foliare Town with a mild lack of interest. As far as 'first steps' went, it wasn't exactly the worst place to begin, but given that he had long since become accustomed to life in Septemane City, it was hard not to compare the two. The quiet, unassuming nature of the town made him feel restless—or maybe that was just the pre-journey excitement speaking. This would be his time—his chance to make a name for himself—and there was no way he would let anything get in his way.

With a shrug, the young man turned and glanced at the nearest map (and given how it was a bus station, one of those was but a given) before silently tracing the path to the Pokemon Laboratory with a finger. There seemed to be a few others who were also glancing at the map, it seemed, but given that he knew where to go, the rest didn't really matter.

"So, this is where it all begins, huh?" he asked out loud, slipping his hands into his jacket as he walked along the paved stone road. "Shouldn't be too hard to storm the League, at least."

His destination, a medium-sized white building that seemed comparatively out of place next to the quainter houses nearby, seemed to be buzzing with life even as it just barely came into view. The question of what the Professor there was like, though, was still yet to be answered.

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

At Benienma's reaction towards her own bout of entertainment, Kiara brought her hand towards her mouth and licked her lips. The anger that the Saber in front of her was feeling was quite palpable, even from her position behind her puppet, but given that she seemed just as intent on protecting her Master and those with her as she was in trying to take her head...

There was really nothing to call this other than 'exhilarating'; it was an experience that she hadn't felt in ages.

"Your energetic chirping really is music to my ears," she said, gesturing towards the doorway as she spoke. "But do you really think that you are in a position to be able to talk as you are now?"

With another gesture, a giant hand seemed to rise out from Benienma's shadow, acting as a momentary blockade to prevent her from retreating or moving into the hallway. In that same instant, the shadow Hijikata rushed forth, blade ready as it moved to strike at the Saber in turn.

---

No matter how much he wanted to ignore the 'fake' Kiara's words, the similarities to Mary's voice had taken their toll on Jason's mind as he was dragged away by the two other people accompanying him. As pathetic as he felt, the ever-sinking feeling in his heart as his own doubts seemed to reverberate in his mind only caused him to move forward mindlessly in turn.

As he continued to move along, though, the sound of Hakuno's radio crackling back as it was activated served to only give momentary relief, if only before the next statement dashed it in an instant.

"HQ to Kishinami. Code Red at the Fusang Arena; multiple hostiles, confirmed dead in the dozens. Situation continuing to escalate; all reserve forces are to move to the Arena to aid in relief and suppression efforts. Request denied. Over."

At the same time that the transmission ended, though, a few of the patients and visitors seemed to move and block the group's path. More than a few simply stared at the three, their eyes glassy as they seemed to move forward. More than a few seemed to be wielding makeshift weapons—IV poles, needles, and their ilk—as they seemed ready to strike out at the group.

@RolePlayerRoxas@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Grateful that her Master had finally decided to turn her brain on and moved to hide, Meltryllis swiftly pushed herself off the ground and brushed herself off. The Servant that had fired the arrow at her seemed to be retreating—or, at the very least, attempting to do so.

She would make sure that he wouldn't have the chance.

In an instant, the Alter Ego sprang forward, leaving the restaurant behind as she struck out at the shadow with her knee. The spike, this time, seemed to catch the weapon that the shadow was wielding, and Meltryllis moved in an instant to counteract that. Without missing a beat, she flung her leading leg upwards, dragging the weapon with it as she used her other leg to catch the shadow's head in turn and bring it toward the pavement.

"Annoyingly durable, aren't you?" she complained, stepping forward and glaring at the shadow as it lay prone on the ground. "But at the very least, I can make use of you with no problems."

The Arena

The immediate combined efforts of those present served to greatly reduce the number of casualties in the areas that they were present near, but the sheer number of shadow Servants made protecting the entire arena, even with the combined support of all of those present, a far more trying task than one would expect. There were small pockets of people that seemed to be barely fending off the oncoming threats on part of a Servant or two here or there, but the slowly increasing count of enemies encroaching upon them made it difficult for them to even attempt to move, much less evacuate.

Among them, though, one red-headed Servant, his wiry frame and feather quill making him well-known to even those who those who paid little attention to the matters of Fusang knew now, seemed to be furiously scribbling away in his book.

"Hm... Hmhm! Yes, this is the sort of tragedy that I have been waiting for! Yes, the bloody affair that Macbeth bore witness to seems to pale in comparison to this! The darkest of—"

"Whatever ideas you might have now, Shakespeare, please save them for AFTER we get to safety!"

It was fairly apparent that his Master wasn't exactly pleased about how much fun he was having in the middle of such rampant carnage and chaos.

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@ghastlyInc@1Charak2

Tower of Babylonia

The trip through the building itself gave Da Vinci a chance to fully take in her surroundings. The method by which the building itself had been optimized in terms of using the leylines that it sat on made itself fairly obvious, and despite the sci-fi atmosphere that it seemed to give off, the Caster could appreciate the work that had been put into this in the first place.

That gave her time to consider the testimony of the Einzbern, though. As straightforward as it was, there were few places where she could interject. There were a few questions that she had even so, though, and the trip towards their destination meant that she had enough time to ask them.

"Hm... I see, I see... It's quite possible that someone had tampered with the Master you had seen beforehand, rather than the Servant... But if they are in custody, maybe we could obtain the clearance to question them? Assuming, of course, that their memories weren't tampered with as well..."

Upon seeing the smaller physical form of the A.I. after entering the next room, though, Da Vinci simply laughed. Patting her Master on the back as she took a step forward, the Caster seemed to retain a warm (if not slightly cocky) smile as she simply bowed in turn.

"HECATE, was it? Hm, hm... Don't worry, your secret is safe with Da Vinci-chan~!" she teased, winking at the woman that had taken the child's place before taking a step back. "In any case..."

Clearing her throat, the Caster placed one hand to her chin and quietly contemplated the situation a bit further before looking straight at the woman in front of her.

"Is there any possible method by which a Command Seal could be intercepted? Despite all that I have learned about the ritual, what stands out to me is that it is still a relatively recent creation in context of magecraft as a whole. If the first question cannot be answered directly, would it be possible to search for origins of the ritual that could be twisted in turn to achieve a similar effect?"

@DocRock