RoflsMazoy

Royal Rumble!

@Dezuel
Rhea's metropolitan police department reacted quickly, seizing whatever tapes they could. However, 'reacted' was the key word. They didn't have prior knowledge of what would happen, so there was no way for them to stop it from airing at all, unless the stations themselves didn't air them. A lot of them didn't, since the tapes seemed frankly strange. The concept of having an ability like the Narrative Role of Familiarity wasn't strange. There were plenty of stronger powers written in legend, and there were plenty of demons who had been able to assume similar powers in legends, who'd been dealt with one way or another. There were even demons who'd been able to copy powers before, and there were ways to deal with them then too. A combination of the two however had never been encountered before, and would be a concern except none of that part was the strangeness.

The strangeness was that someone would record tapes for something like this. If the people he claimed were truly terrorists, then it would be a military matter. He could report it to the authorities and they'd put resources into destroying the threat. If Galbrek had simply been angry that he'd been punched in the face, the normal process would be to file a lawsuit and press charges.

The tapes felt like fake sensationalist propaganda. The stations that didn't air them were happy to hand over the tapes since they would most likely have ended up collecting dust in their storerooms.

Some stations didn't care so much, however. Stations on their last legs and tabloids, those ones showed the tapes for a brief period of time before authorities forcefully intervened. The tapes were shown, but what effect they had is another matter.

The stations showing the tapes couldn't do much to mitigate their strangeness. Part of it was the production of the tapes was rather good quality for that type of thing. It wasn't believable. It looked too pre-mediated to be so unofficially sent out like it was a forbidden plea which may never see the light of day.

However, someone had been named. Regardless of whether or not they believed in what he had said, someone had been named. The damage which would result from this event was now up to the Ascot family. They could release an official statement through the police which Alexander was a part of. Or they could keep silence in order to hide their long-held role in human history.

One way or another, the decision they made would either keep the peace or begin to tilt Rhea slightly towards disorder.
@Letter Bee

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, Epilogue

As the van made its way screeching through the streets, its driver was placing a frantic call.

"Boss, we got interrupted!" She said, hurtling around a corner. "We thought it'd be fine because Alex was there, but then more cops showed up!"

She swerved suddenly, narrowly avoiding a cat which'd run onto the road. The voice on the other end of the line came through static-y, but clear enough.

"Are you driving right now?" The voice on the phone said.

The van ran straight into a speed bump and sailed through the air for all of half a second before crashing back down with a loud bang!

"Yeah?" She replied as she regained control of the vehicle.

"I can see you're going double the speed limit right now, and considering you're not exactly slowing down I'm guessing Jokey is unconscious in the back." The voice continued.

The dj turned driver looked into the back of the van to see a body sprawled out on the floor.

"No one's chasing you so I suggest you slow down. It's dangerous to talk while you're driving, anyway."

The van screeched to a halt, catapulting the unfortunate Jokey into the front. The impact seemed to finally wake him up and he glared at the DJ as he got to his feet.

"Right, sorry boss. So, usual procedure then?" She said sheepishly.

"Yes, I'll send you the locations so you can give the money back. I'll also have your usual pay at the end, although I'll have to do half now and the other half later."

"Why only half?"

"Circumstances on my end, nothing I can do about it. More importantly, did you find anyone interesting?"

"Hah, that's a no on our end," She sighed. "There was sort of one person who might've had potential, I guess? It looked like she used cards or something but I think she just makes them herself."

"Hmmm, alright then. Just make the rounds and switch off for tonight." The voice finished.

Royal Rumble!

Update for this weekend is up, and we're officially done with the first arc. Now, here's a couple of preliminary details;

As mentioned before, after this you can choose to give your characters a minor ability just after this 'night' so to speak, if you feel like your character did enough to power up. You can also bank the 'exp' and save it up along with the month we'll have before the tournament do develop a stronger power, or just save it up for the future for a strong one.

By minor I mean like Alto's new ability which I'll end up ironing out later, since I've got to do some study for now. But also do note Alto's only gaining a slightly weaker version of the ability he used in the post. It broke the seal because the Greater Demon was already dying at that point, it has more piercing power than anything else anyway.

Going forward from after this apartment thing, we'll be able to roleplay the month between the apartment and the tournament, but we're not going to be doing the entire month day by day, or any events everyone has to participate in.

Rather, treat it more like an intermission where you can ask someone if your characters want to meet up and do something on a particular day for example.

It'll take me quite a while to do the next arc since I'll have to iron out the rules and systems in place and whatnot, and I still also have to finish exams and stuff.

Royal Rumble!

Welcome, to the Beginning.

Alto's power was the power of light, but to call the thing he used light was not accurate, or at least within the current understanding of light. The easiest example of this was his Blade of Light. If you think about using light to cut something, you would normally think about lasers which use concentrated light to cut through things. The concentrated light has enough heat energy to melt through the material rather than cutting it.

Alto's power had been a source of fascination because it was 'true' cutting power. A clean separation of the two sides of whatever he cut, though there was some burning involved, but not the same as a laser would be. There was less burn, since a laser tended to burn out your nerves as it cut through and generally delivered more pain for a shorter time, whereas the pain from the Blade of Light lingered.

This wasn't normal light, it was something else. The possibilities of such a power were almost endless, and this was one such way of using it.

When creating the Blade of Light, he usually gathered 'light' in his palm and it would take the shape he wished it to, but now he shifted it to the tip of his finger. Next was to build the power. It would take much more than the Blade of Light to pierce the Hellfire Seal, and it needed to be focused on a single point.

He could feel the tension as he reigned in the power. As it hit fever pitch, he unleashed it.

There was a small flash, and a thin stream of light burst out from his finger tip. It burst the wall of the Hellfire Seal like a rotten eggshell. However, there was no floor. It seems outside of the seal the battle had been continuing... and had finished. There were only the dying flames of the battle and a cluster of students in the middle of it all.

It wasn't too great of a drop considering the seal had been on ground level of the rooftop. From above, the final missing student wafted down while still inside the bubble. It floated towards Alto and popped while it was right above him. The student dropped into his arms.

She was still wearing the St. Laurel's uniform, and she had short, curly blond hair. For a moment he thought he felt something flicker across his awareness when he looked at her sleeping face. He knew who this student was, but the feeling was something else. There would be time to find out what it was later, however. They'd be able to find out whatever it was with the latest in medical and magical detection.

These students had been under the influence of a Greater Demon, there was no telling what kind of influence it was.

"I guess we're about done here, then?" King said, fishing out a water bottle from somewhere under his cape. It was most likely warm, but if you're dehydrated you need any water you can get. He opened the cap and let the cat who was still in his arms take small sips until it mewed happily back at him.

"I suppose we are." Clara said, appearing a bit disgruntled.

It seems she wasn't able to get what she wanted, in the end, but seeing another one of Alto's hidden cards was still a bonus in and of itself.

The night was over, and their impromptu alliance would be at an end. They each had their respective factions to return to, some of which had shown the full extent of their abilities, and some which had still not shown anything at all. A lot could change in one month, and many of them would meet again during that time, but the next time they would all meet again would be in the tournament.

Clara had already stacked as many odds as she could in their favor. There was nothing more for her here, yet she decided to stay to keep up appearances.

There was time, maybe, for final words. But other than that, the night was finally over.

Royal Rumble!

small update is up y'all. By next update I'll be getting the faction leaders to bust out of the seal, and if you're not done by that point they'll finish the demon off, events permitting. If one of you is already in the motions of claiming the kill, I'll probably let your character have it though.

@Gentlemanvaultboy It's probably better to finish it sooner rather than later so that's what I'm gonna stick with

Royal Rumble!

The Hellfire seal. An extremely powerful seal meant for punishing demons under their command, but used to great effect against whatever they happen to cross at a given point in time. It was made to render even demons who usually have good resistance to fire helpless. If the heat didn't get to them, the Hellfire Seal is a spell for capture and confinement before a spell used for combat.

"Dream eaters, heed my call!" Clara said.

From her book came surging waves of black worms, all around them eating up the flames before they could reach them. But the flames came from everywhere, above, each side, and below. For all the worms could eat, they could only eat in one direction each. They were bearing the brunt of the heat, and they too could die. However, for now it would serve as an effective shield for the trio inside.

"This cat isn't going to last too long under here," King said.

The cat he was holding was wide eyed and looking around the place. The heat was high, but bearable right now. As Clara's numbers thinned however, that would change quickly.

"My dream eaters can't destroy something of this calibre." Clara said. "They need time, but they'll be destroyed before they reach the boundary."

She had something stronger, in fact. Something she wanted to keep a secret far more than the dream eaters, but she had no choice.

"I need a hole," She continued. "I'll be able to do something if there's a gap in the seal. It's in the nature of the seal to be self-sufficient, so it'll repair itself automatically if there's a hole. If that happens I can siphon energy from the entire seal at once."

"A hole..." Alto said, gazing at the raging flames around them.

If he focused he could just about make out the sounds of battle outside. They needed to escape. The life of a student was on the line.

"...I think I have a way." He said.

Royal Rumble!

Midnight Tournament, End

Suddenly there were sirens in the distance.

"Damn…" Jokey said, immediately springing into action.

He unplugged the speakers with practiced precision. When the MC let down her headphones she heard the sirens too.

"Damn!" She shouted, immediately shutting the laptop in front of her. The platform, speakers, and equipment began to rapidly deconstruct into digital blue squares.

Many officers turned a blind eye to the Midnight Tournament due to its mostly benign nature. The money never vanished, and people weren't being killed so it wasn't exactly a problem. However, if they were given a noise complaint and they happened to stumble onto a tournament in progress, it wasn't as if they could pretend it wasn't occurring. There were officers who were sticklers for the rules, and there were also superiors who just didn't like fun.

It wasn't exactly safe to bet on who would come, the crowd knew that as well. Some new-comers to the tournament were looking around confused, but they'd follow the bulk of the crowd eventually and run for the hills.

The MC and Jokey jumped off the platform as it deconstructed beneath them. She had her laptop and the big box of money tucked safely under her arms. As soon as she hit the grass, she made a run for it, Jokey wheeling the whiteboard with him as fast as he could. They sprinted over to an unmarked white van nearby, and Drake gave it a hard kick and the doors unlocked.

She went in driver side and started the engine while Jokey laid the whiteboard on its side in the back of the van. He barely got to shut the door before it took off, tires screeching.

Within moments, the Midnight Tournament and all of its watchers were gone, save for a few remaining stragglers and a non-permanent whiteboard marker left in the grass.

Royal Rumble!

@KillamriX88 Ooh, sounds interesting >:D. I've said before that you can grab new powers when you feel like you should, so if you think your character's developed enough through the adventure I won't say no to a new power.

In that regard, after the Apartment you'll all be able to get a new minor power if you want, or save the 'exp' so to speak for a major one later on. There'll also be a handy timeskip to fasciliate this so you can say you trained it or something along those lines.

Royal Rumble!

Update is up. The Demoness will begin by attacking the three faction leaders currently on the roof by casting fire pillars. As people enter the scene, she'll split another clone off for each group and begin attacking them with fire pillars

Royal Rumble!

Vanishers, We are here, To end the prelude.

The final floor, the final student, and the cat. They each had a separate reason to climb the Apartment building, and now they were about to face it.

"Isn't it a possibility that that cat of yours has moved on to the lower floors by now?" Clara asked as they climbed the stairwell.

"Sure, but I'll just find it again when we come back down," King replied.

"But surely it could move past you and into the apartment by that point?"

"Then I'll find it again on the way up."

"..."

The other two didn't seem to be taking it all that seriously because it was likely they already knew the nature of the threat. Alto had also figured it out by this point but it still just felt like spinning around in a revolving door, listening to these two.

If this many imps hadn't been found yet, then it meant only one thing. They were being kept here by a greater Demon. The Otherworld is ruled by Demon Lords, but they fulfill the same purpose the Gods do in this world. The only difference is that they tend to rule, and interfere with affairs, directly. This quells major rebellion for the most part, and they remain free to crush anything they wish to.

They can crush rebellions effortlessly, and their people don't need to advance, they only need to make their Demon Lords stronger, and they will become stronger in turn. However, living under the shadows of the Lords, those of lesser, but still great power were bound to chafe eventually.

No one in the human realm knew what a Demon Lord looked like now. They're images were lost to time, and even back then, stepping into the Human world would provoke a direct intervention from the Gods, so it wouldn't have happened often.

A Greater Demon at the very least was needed to open a portal between worlds. Such an existence was not beyond their powers. It would seem that this one had chosen to act subtly. Taking the 8 students rather secretively, and amassing a small army of imps and ghosts.

Clara's and King's actions made more sense with that assumption. Clara would not miss the chance to turn a Greater Demon into her minion. King would stand to gain a reward for not only the death of the Greater Demon, but also sealing a portal to the Otherworld, and perhaps also stopping a potential invasion before it started.

And Alto was just here for duty. Out of them all, he had nothing to gain, but that wasn't exactly an unfamiliar feeling.

They rounded the stairs and finally found themselves on the rooftop.

"So you've finally arrived." The Demon said.

His suspicions were correct, this was most certainly a Greater Demon. A female one it would seem, in her lap was a cat with an orange collar, and floating next to the throne in a purple bubble of demonic energy was the last missing student.

"You can have him back, by the way." She said. Unfortunately she wasn't talking about the student, who was female anyway.

The cat jumped down and padded over to the trio, where King was able to pick him up.

"Ah, but I can't have you moving right now."

She clapped her hands together twice, and a red magic circle appeared, floating just above the back of the cat's neck. It activated an invisible magic circle right under their feet which erected a wall of flames around them.

The three weren't fazed in the slightest, however.

"What is your goal?" Alto asked.

"I don't see the need to reveal such a thing. I don't know how it is in your world, but in ours, the dead don't keep secrets as easily as the living," The Demon replied. "Though I must say, I was never expecting to succeed here. I was simply testing the waters, but I never anticipated it would be so easy to just... take you humans."

She drew the bubble over with her clawed fingers, and stroked the shell while gazing at the student inside.

"You took so long to respond, who knows what I could've done in that time? You are fortunate I have to return to the Otherworld, but before that..."

She finally got up from her throne and began walking towards them, magic circles forming in her hands.

"I'll eliminate you. I apologize, but I can't leave any witnesses." She finished. "Any last words?"

Alto felt a light touch on his back.

"Are we finished?" Clara asked.

"...Yeah." He said.

Clara's book unfurled and an inky blackness surged out from it, engulfing the trio and the magic barrier. The Demoness didn't drop the initiative however, and a pillar of fire erupted from the centre of the darkness. Yet the darkness seemed to absorb it all. It was only absorbing light, of course, but the light which should've emanated from the pillar didn't appear at all, until the pillar breached the dome. However, through the inky darkness a light shone through.

And suddenly, Alto was behind the Demoness, blade racing towards her neck. A spark of light, and her head fell forwards with a spurt of blood. Yet Alto did not put away his blade.

"...Interesting." The Demoness said from above them.

She had sprouted leathery wings and was flying in the air while her 'body' slowly faded away. The inky blackness was disappearing as well, little bits of it simply ceasing to exist, like fog disappearing as the sun reappears. Through the darkness, the magic circle which had created the barrier, already in pieces, crumbled away.

Clara's Dream Eaters, the worm-like creatures in her Grimoire could eat away Demon magic as well as metaphysical existences like Ghosts, but they ate magic at a much slower rate. To destroy the circle, she just had to destroy the essential components, but it was vital to keep her strengths and numbers a secret from an opponent like this, one who was the same type as her.

"On your left," A voice said suddenly.

The Demoness whipped around to her left, and then was impaled from the back by a light saber. The body faded before it hit the ground.

"You..." She said, holding her hand to where she'd been impaled. It seems she'd been able to escape death, but not the entire attack.

The cat in King's arms mewed? at her before looking back up at King.

"I can't pet you up here Donatello," King said. "I can fight fine with one hand though."

"Fine, then so be it..." The Demoness said, many magic circles appearing in the air.

The floated and settled down over her skin, and then she multiplied. Her shade separated from her as if someone hit duplicate in some editing software and pulled the two copies apart. The spell repeated, and now there were four.

"How will you handle this?"