VitaVitaAR

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

As Youmu listened to Sanae's explanation, her grave expression grew increasingly intense by the moment.

"I... really?"

And yet when she finally spoke, she sounded more frustrated than anything else. If this deity had spoken to her mistress and asked for her assistance, and her mistress asked her to go, she would have come gladly. Perhaps it was difficult to do so at the time, but she had appeared much later than anyone else.

And that wasn't it.

"When she dragged me here, she nearly tore me in half," the half-phantom added, glancing towards her drifting phantom half as she did. She could still feel something was wrong, even if it didn't manifest painfully now.

"But if she was seeking powerful assistance, I guess that explains why she would ever summon Scarlet-san," she added, with another look towards the vampire. While her impression of Remilia Scarlet wasn't particularly favorable overall, especially given her first meeting with that maid of hers, she considered it foolish not to recognize that the child-sized vampire was considerably powerful.

"But now that I'm here, I can't really look away when there's people suffering," she added after a few moments with a sigh. While her duty was to the Princess of the Netherworld, it didn't sit particularly well with Youmu to simply ignore it if people were being hurt. The sight of the bodies laying outside in the ruined part of town was emblazoned on her mind, no matter how she tried not to think about it.

Of course, focusing on any of that was difficult when someone so completely bizarre was standing nearby. The humanoid machine reminded her of something the kappa would make, only it turned out he wasn't really a machine despite looking like one? Not only that, but there was some form of god of these living machines that was responsible for all of it?

It was a lot to take in when coupled with the situation as a whole.

Were these the deities of other lands like Gensokyo? Gensokyo had many gods, though, and she had met some of them. These places appeared to have only one as far as she had heard, but she'd only been here for a short time---

Ah, it was way too confusing! And she was already so frustrated at it all!

@PKMNB0Y@Izurich@Lugubrious

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

The crack of gunfire.

Had Arisa not reminded herself just moments before what A-188's nature was, the sight of her skull splitting would have been horrifying.

But as it stood, Arisa immediately traced where the bullet had come from.

The figure on the ruined roof, aiming downwards, was clad in light lacquered armor, body seemingly composed of shadows in the shape of a human, with red pinpoints of light serving as eyes.

It wasn't the only one of its kind. Others had emerged from darkness of the deeper ruins, yari pointed downwards as they hurtled forward, poised to impale the other Agents and herself.

She couldn't reach the matchlock-wielding one on the roof before the yari-wielders reached them, and if it still had to be reloaded that would take time. So she'd take the closer target.

There wasn't much time to ponder their nature, though they seemed to be some kind of phantom. She could guess the arquebus was responsible for the shattered skull of one of the victims, and that the yari were responsible for the puncture wound. A katana could explain the bisected victim as well.

Arisa took one step forward.

Whatever their nature may be, she was certain the phantom ashigaru were responsible for the killings.

So, she'd stop them.

Ifrit raised. The first step was simple.

Channel her mana down into her legs. It was almost as if she was willing her own blood through her veins, faint lines of light spreading along her thigh and calf muscles.

When she launched herself forward, it was this magical energy that increased the power of her legs, letting her reach the yari ashigaru in an instant.

In that some movement, Ifrit's enormous blade cleaved the air, snapping the nearest weapon's shaft and reaching its wielder. The lacquered armor wasn't enough, splitting under the impact.

Ifrit sliced through the ashigaru from shoulder to hip, both halves flying apart. What spewed from the body wasn't blood, but rather an inky, hazy black fluid.

Arisa twisted in place, dragging Ifrit's tip against the wall as she brought the enormous blade around, slamming into the nearest phantom ashigaru from behind and cutting its upper half from its lower.

@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Raineh Daze

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

While Arisa didn't have the deepest familiarity with mysticism outside of Western European magic and of course Japanese occultism, it didn't take exceptionally deep knowledge to understand what Agent Mae had given her, even without considering the fact that similar objects existed in Japanese mysticism as well.

In fact, such things were common all over the world, though they took a variety of different forms. Charms designed to grant the wearer luck and protection against wickedness were not only a staple of worldwide mysticism for thousands of years, but also commonplace for Agents of Sefirot. With the presence of curses and other similar methods of attack, it only made sense to associate with the local shrines and utilize their services.

"Thank you, Agent Mae," Arisa said with a nod. From what she knew of the Korean medical operative, this wasn't exactly out of the kindness of her heart, but it was still going to be useful against an unknown anomalous threat.

After taking one of the charms, Arisa paused outside of the property. Supplying them with A-188 made sense. The kind of harm that was done to the victims of whatever lurked in this ruined mansion wasn't immediately threatening to the shapeshifter, and she was quite docile and easily-handled by Agents.

While a part of Arisa wanted to forge ahead quickly as possible, she instead decided to take a position alongside the Anomaly rather then taking the lead.

If something attacked the currently-childish-looking entity, she could respond quickly and counterattack herself, possibly before the enemy could understand their attack was ineffective and try again, or choose a different target.

Just because A-188 could survive far more then a a human didn't mean Arisa was entirely comfortable with her soaking up every attack leveled at them. Only an idiot and a coward would operate in such a callous way.

"Operation start," the redheaded mage said, glancing bac over her shoulder at the others.

She only started at the waving Kawahara in exasperation for a moment before stepping onto the property proper.

The gardens that had once surround the property were surely beautiful once, but were now wild and overgrown. The entrance was still somewhat intact, but beyond that the roof had largely collapsed in this part of the property, and large sections of the floor had rotted away. In some places, plants had grown up through it.

Given that the rot was wet rather then dry, Arisa felt fairly comfortable using her spells here.

Did she just hear something on the roof above---?!

@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Raineh Daze

---

The rear of the mansion was more intact.

The roof hadn't collapsed as much, here, and thus it had somewhat protected the floors and walls below. While there were certain gaps in its structure, it was really only enough to let the dying light through, now.

Old, damp floors creaked. Some crumbled slightly with the pressure of footsteps. But the rear team had yet to see anything unusual. If anything, aside from the unpleasant feeling the property itself radiated, there was nothing but an eerie stillness in the ruins.

At least, that's how it was at first.

Then there was a creak.

Then another.

They didn't come from the Agent's footsteps.

No, these sounds came from deeper in the ruins. Of course, in a decrepit building such as this, it was hardly unexpected to hear such noises.

And yet---

The figure lurched around the corner.

There was a flash of steel, a blade attached to a long pole, thrusting for the nearest Agent immediately.

It wasn't alone.

The figures that swiftly emerged from ruined walls and from around corners were human in size and shape, clad in light, lacquered armor dating from hundreds of years ago. Beneath it was a shadowy mass, pitch black and possessing to red pinpoints roughly in the location of a human's eyes. They advanced swiftly, at least eight currently visible and wielding both yari and katana.

But there was another, further back, already leveling an arquebus towards the agents and taking aim.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

@VahkiDane: Heeey sorry for the delay.

This is a little nitpicky but can you change the surname? It's just standing out to me given it's not an actual Japanese surname. ^^;

There's some other things I want to talk over with @Raineh Daze a bit more before I give my final verdict, but I'd like to know exactly how strong and how useable you want the sword to be too, even if you send it privately.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

"K... Kochiya-san?"

For a few moments, Youmu wasn't entirely certain how to react. After seeing all the pain and destruction that had clearly been wrought here, the last thing she expected was an even slightly familiar face. The half-phantom didn't even know the Moriya Shrine's miko particularly well, but at the very least she'd met her more than once.

That was more then she could say for most of people she'd run into so far. The unfamiliar atmosphere was all somewhat overwhelming for Youmu. She'd never seen this many people with serious injuries, let alone the actual dead bodies she'd seen outside.

The next familiar face that showed up was more confusing then anything.

"Scarlet-san?!"

Youmu couldn't help but exclaim at that point. Of all the people she could have possibly expected to see, that certainly wasn't one of them. The Mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion wasn't exactly the sort of person who was commonly seen wandering around in random locations.

"... Er..."

The half-phantom took a deep breath. She had to compose herself and handle this seriously. The only other remotely familiar figure was what appeared to be some kind of oni, a tall, silvery-haired woman wearing extremely unfamiliar clothing. But was she an oni in the first place? Was that a tail?

"Kochiya-san, Anne-san said you could explain what was going on," Youmu began after a few moments of hesitation, "Where are we? What happened to all of these people?"

Something truly terrible had occurred, and this didn't look like anywhere in Gensokyo. She had to know.

Meanwhile, as Lily and the Knight kept watch over the injured, girl that they'd managed to recover from the debris was stirring. As she sat up, her breathing still somewhat heavy, her eyes travelled across her surroundings for a few moments before settling on Saria.

"You... you were the one who carried me back, weren't you?" she asked after a moment's pause, "Thank you, I was out of it so I wasn't sure at first. I'm Raya, my father is-"

She paused for a moment, her eyes drifting downwards.

"W... was, the leader of this town..."

@Raineh Daze@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious@Izurich@PKMNB0Y

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fanilly was speechless.

Meeting heroes from two-hundred years ago was one thing. It certainly wasn't a particularly normal thing, but nothing here was normal. Even if she'd struggled with it at first, ultimately her mind had been able to adjust somewhat after meeting Sir Cyrus.

However, the sight of a card game between the legendary knights who were the first of the order, the fact that some of her own knights had joined them, the fact that one of them was Sir Edwin and yet now he sat among his fellows once again...

It was a little much for the Knight-Captain, to put it simply. She hadn't actually managed to speak since she entered the room, despite the fact that it certainly was a situation where she should have tried.

"I..."

She trailed off for a few moments.

"I-I'm not familiar with this game, so I'll just watch..."

It was all she could manage in the face of such a surreal situation.

@Raineh Daze@Psyker Landshark@HereComesTheSnow@Octo

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

In the training room, the statue’s whirling fists suddenly stopped, followed by the simulation dissolving as if it had never been there in the first place.

Across the facility, more then one agent was already being buzzed on their personal communications devices.

But it was likely the voice on the intercom that reached them first.

“Agents Amano, Kawahara, Mae, Murakami, Otsuka, Tachibana, Yakumo, Yamamizu, and Zhao, please report for briefing immediately.”

The voice was feminine, pleasant, and immediately identifiable as not belonging to a human being. No matter how human she sounded any Agent who had been working for Branch-092 for even a brief period would likely be able to recognize the source of the voice as the branch’s AI, AMATERASU.

Arisa, who had been moments from proceeding to Containment and volunteering for support duty, paused for a moment after she heard the request.

“I see,” she said, simply, before changing course to heading for briefing. Out of all of the on-duty agents, she was pleased she’d been selected for duty. Whatever it was, she was certain she’d succeed no matter what.

It wasn’t just a matter of pride, but because of the alternative as well.

The briefing room was large and plain, with a holographic projection screen on the far side, opposite of the seating area and the individual consoles that were available for Agents. In front of the projector were two figures.

One an older, well-groomed man with stern features and neatly-kept hair and wearing a black suit. The other, a beautiful woman whose flowing white coat and white and yellow hair only served as a stark contrast to the figure beside her.

Both were immediately recognizable.

Director of Field Operations Murata Enji and the projected form of AMATERASU.

“Welcome, Agents,” began Director Murata, “I think you all know why you’re here, so I won’t waste any more time. Amaterasu, if you will.”

The holographic screen hummed to life, showing the ruins of an old traditional mansion. At the same time, the same image appeared on each Agent’s personal screen as well.

Arisa quickly looked it over. There weren’t very many details that could be gleaned just from this image, but at the same time she could at least tell that it had to have been abandoned for a while simply due to the sheer overgrowth and state of decay the mansion had gone through.

It was something of a shame, given how stately the property must have been at one time.

“These are the ruins of a mansion once belonging to one Takemura Genjiro, in the Nagano Prefecture. He passed away with no heirs, and the mansion has since been left to decay,” Murata began, “One a week ago, a young woman who will from here be referred to as Victim A was killed while attempting to obtain ghost photos.”

With a click, the holographic image changed, revealing the body of a young woman dressed in light clothing. A puncture wound had pierced her torso, roughly in the location of her heart.

“This was ruled an accident, with the death seemingly explained by Victim A’s fall onto nearby debris,” continued Murata, “However, on Monday, there were two more victims.”

While the first death had been relatively clean, Arisa couldn’t help but grimace slightly when she saw the bodies of Victims B and C. Both were young men, and they had died quite gruesomely.

Most of Victim B’s head was entirely gone, as if a strong impact had simply blown it away. Only his lower jaw remained.

Victim C had been cut in half, quite cleanly, at the waist, his internal organs spilling onto the ground.

“You’ll note that Victim C appears to have been cut with an edged weapon,” commented Murata.

It wasn’t merely the gruesomeness of their deaths that made Arisa tense, but rather the fact they had died in the first place. None of the victims should have been there, it took an idiot to wander into a place like that when they didn’t have any particular abilities. But at the same time, they shouldn’t have had to die in the first place.

“I shouldn’t have to explain why these deaths are far less easily explained,” Murata continued, “Additionally, our drone observation of the site over the past few days observed unusual levels of spiritual activity, though no specific incidents were detected.”

After allowing the Agents to observe the bodies of the victims for a few moments more, the image returned to the ruined mansion.

“As you can see, there’s reason to suspect that there may be an anomalous entity behind these deaths,” Murata level voice added, “And so that’s where you come in. Agents Kawahara and Otsuka, you’ll be on perimeter duty.”

Agent Kawahara, a young woman with fluffy orange hair, looked immediately disappointed at the idea of being assigned to simply guarding the perimeter. Agent Otsuka, a blue-haired man of similar age, didn’t seem to react beyond a nod.

“Agents Murakami, Amano, and Yamamizu shall enter the property from the front, utilizing a combination of natural resistances and anti-spiritual wards in case of curses,” proceeded Murata, “Agents Yakumo, Tachibana, and Zhao will infiltrate the property from the rear, also utilizing anti-spiritual wards. Agent Mae is to remain on standby to provide medical services and additional combat support. Additionally, you’ve been cleared for the use of A-188 as active combat support. You shall also be supplied with a Portable A-5 Containment Unit.”

Arisa didn’t have any particular issue with this approach. Malakim-class Agents and above were typically given a degree of freedom on how to approach most assignments, and it only made sense to utilize her magical resistance to spiritual interference actively. That, and she was confident that she’d be able to counter any initial threat.

However…

“Do you expect that this Anomaly is of a higher grade then Avon?” she asked. There had to be a good reason to send so many Agents, after all.

“Tentatively, we’ve classed it as Avon,” responded AMATERASU, her smooth and pleasant voice only coming as a mild surprise after Murata’s cold tone, “However, the Director doesn’t want to take any chances, given the violent nature of the killings.”

Arisa certainly didn’t want to let this thing have any more chances, either.

“Assemble and prepare for deployment,” Murata’s voice came once again, “Utilize Agent Yakumo’s ability to reach the site. Dismissed.”

---

Assembly, preparation and gathering A-188 took some time.

By the point the Agents arrived, the sun had already begun to set.

The mansion’s decrepit state was no surprise, given they’d already seen it before. But for the spiritually-sensitive, the sense of general unease was new.

While Arisa wasn’t among those blessed with high aptitude for spiritual channeling and communication, she was still a magician. It felt like a tingling sensation slowly creeping up her spine, crawling over her skin like fingers.

She didn’t like it at all.

“Tch, this place feels terrible already,” she commented with no small amount of dissatisfaction as she undid the clasps on her case, “Well, there’s no reason to delay any more.”

Her fingers wrapped around it.

Ifrit’s hilt.

The blade drawn from the case couldn’t possibly fit, and it was difficult for an observer to understand just how such an enormous weapon could be wielded by Arisa with one hand.

“Aww, look, they’re going to have all the fun…” came a complaint from Kawahara, the orange-haired girl sighing heavily as she rested a large bronze-colored hammer on her shoulder.

“Fun?”

Agent Otsuka’s voice carried with it only a small hint of incredulity.

“Wouldn’t you rather be in there, kicking its ass?” asked Kawahara, “It’d be awesome!”

By this point, Arisa was already glaring over her shoulder at the taller Agent. Awesome? While it was certainly a matter of pride for her, she couldn’t comprehend how the other Agent was talking about this like it was some kind of fun game. How did someone like that even make it to Malakim?

“What kind of an idiot are you?!”

It appeared to be a question Kawahara wasn’t unfamiliar with, given she barely reacted.

Otsuka simply sighed, one hand placed on the hilt of the katana sheathed on his left hip.

“We’ll provide backup as needed,” he said, in a level tone.

With one last glare at Kawahara, Arisa simply nodded and stepped forward.

They were on the property’s edge, now.

Whatever happened from here on out, it was all up to them.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Indeed, there was no risk of damage to the blade even striking the stone helm of the samurai statue full-force. It didn't truly exist, after all, and so there was nothing actually there to damage the steel.

With that being said, that didn't mean it would be rendered any more effective then it otherwise would have been.

With a metallic twang, the blade bounced off the stone samurai.

However, the attack was enough to get its attention, and it swiftly lurched forward again, one fist raised to try and strike another blow towards Agent Jinbei.

At least, until it suddenly faltered.

The first of Masaru's arrows had found its place, slipping between the gaps in the stone armor the statue had become and finding something red-orange and fleshy.

With an unpleasant hiss, and a spurt of foul-smelling pale fluid(just how did a simulator get that part right?), the statue suddenly ceased to move, a stony crunch indicating it had suddenly locked all its joints.

The creature infesting it wasn't unaware of its weakness, the other two arrows failing to find their target and instead being sent skittering off of the rock.

The moment the creature sensed it could attack again, suddenly it had outstretched both of its arms, stone grinding as it whirled in place, entire torso twisting backwards to try and catch Agent Tachibana in its spin.

@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Good. At least he wasn't an idiot.

"At the moment, I was considering clocking in for the containment wing," Arisa responded. Of course, anyone on containment duty would be assigned ahead of time, but Agents could also volunteer as containment support. It was always important to ensure that every contained Anomaly remained so. A single breach could be devastating, and in certain cases containment units could degrade or weren't sufficient on their own to keep an Anomaly sealed away.

"That, or training," she continued, "I don't particularly need help, but I suppose if you want to follow, I won't stop you."

It wasn't as if Arisa needed any help, even if she went on containment duty. There would already be Agents there anyway, she'd just be there as further reinforcement.

@Eisenhorn

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

The Branch-092 Training Room was equipped for a variety of different training exercises. Indeed, this included having an area for the purposes of training against recorded data from assignments. It was, indeed, about as close as one could get to live-fire training against actual Anomalies.

While the entire system was managed by one of AMATERASU's subroutines, exactly how it worked was somewhat mysterious to most Agents. It was similar in nature to some altered reality VR games, but didn't require any specific gear on part of the ones utilizing it. The room itself was instead outfitted with whatever technological and magical innovations were required for the purpose of digital reconstruction of a given Anomaly.

By default, it was black white. But as new data loaded in, that changed. A stone path formed beneath their feet. Grass sprouting along the ground, followed by a few trees. As the recreation of the recorded mission data continued, a clear night sky formed above them, finishing with the light of a number of stars and a crescent moon.

Before them stood a statue.

It was large, depicting a rather imposing man in armor identifiable as dating from around the Sengoku era, one hand near the sheathed blade on his hip. While no clear name was depicted, it had to be in honor of one famous figure or another.

A cool, pleasant female voice soon announced just what they were up against.

"Termination Mission Data 2231B: U-101 "Infested Stonework" Instance 82. Commencing training exercise."

There was a sound of grinding stone.

The statue's head turned towards the Agents.

Almost immediately after, it lurched forward with surprising speed, arms now raised and hands balled into fists, bringing them slamming down with enough force to pulverize concrete. Needless to say, a direct blow wouldn't be pleasant even if real injury was unlikely in the Training Room.

@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark