OOC: Astonishingly beautiful guys ,£ I'll come back with better feeedback. I would've given it yesterday but fell asleep at like 7:30pm/ Gargh this is ridiculous I'm getting old!! -_-
Action was superb, emotion raw and I like the repurcussions mentioned of certan concepts in the RP... like the Synthetic Eden organisation > D Kari's past is also a lot touchier than I though o.o ANyways better feedback ;ater. Time for work x_x

(OOC: Actually...Reni's concience was refering to her killing the doppleganger...not to anything from her past, though I do have something planned for that. Just to clear up some confusion. Yes, She's having concience issues about killing even an EVIL entity.)

OOC:

Just a quick update for now. I just had to post something so I could say HOLY FREAKING CRAP, you guys are all AMAZING!

These posts have been just WONDERFUL!

Kate, do I really need to say anything about your posts? Consistent as always, you never cease to show off those descriptive skills of yours. Very nice indeed.

Ash, I never properly voiced my love for the fight scene between Kenneth and his double but i'd like to take this opportunity to say that that fight as well as every other one you've written have been superb. I'm rather jealous of your ability to describe such dynamic scenes so concisely while also giving an incredible amount of vivid detail. Nega-Nathan was actually a really interesting, if not short-lived, villain as well.

Shy, I'm loving learning more about Lani as well as reading about her in action. She's an enigmatic warrior that i'm growing increasingly more curious about. Strange how the more we learn about her, the more I wonder. I'm thoroughly enjoying her interactions with the others, as well.

Violet, reading about Reni's interactions with the dark world she's been thrust into has been very interesting thus far. It seems no matter what's thrown her way she's always got her own way of dealing with it. It actually raises some interesting possibilities for how she's going to develop as a character as she continues to take part in these strange trials. The act of taking a life, i imagine, is very new to her, for example.

Rexcalibur, Glitch never ceases to amuse. Glitch is another character that i'm very interested in seeing develop. It seems like the world around him is affecting him more than he's letting on. It's great to read about whatever he's got his hands in, if not only for your wonderful descriptions of his exploits, alone.

LadyFoxFire, that was one hell of a fight scene between Kari and her doppelganger. You've developed her wonderfully in the space of a single post, giving us all some interesting insight into who she is as well as showing off more of her own capabilities in a very entertaining way. It's going to be good to be able to have Wren interact with her at some point.

Indeed it's going to be interesting to have Wren interact with ALL of you guys at some point. I'll have another post up soon, promise. In the meantime, you guys continue being amazing so that I have more to read between everything else I do. It's because of all of your awesome skills and contributions that I always look forward to reading updates on Black Rainbows, even when I don't have time to write a post of my own.

EDIT:
I forgot to mention, LOVE that artwork, Ash! Kate, when are you going to show us those sketches of the Black Rainbows cast you've been doing in your spare time? I'm sure i'm not the only one who'd love to see them! Be a cool kid like Ash!

OOC: Quick post for me; I gotta make an appointment in a few, and then I'm heading out to visit a friend for the night. (Also, I must recover from being hugged with the force of a million exploding suns, haha)

All I have to say is, thank you so much for the compliments you guys! I had doubts that maybe I didn't develop Kari's character enough or developed it too much, but you all put that to rest quite nicely. 🙂 I also wasn't sure about the quality of the "action" in my post (I wrote it at, like, 1 in the morning @.@). But you guys give amazing feedback, so thanks again! I feel like my writing/RPing is improving with every post, lol.

And Ash: SUPERB fight scene between Nega-Nathan and the others. You portrayed Kari's personality perfectly, and that little tidbit about the SEO has gotten me suuuuuper curious now! Even though he was evil, Nathan's doppleganger really gave some good (albeit mysterious) insight into the real Nathan's past. You are fantastic! *tackle-hug* (P.S. Do you think Kenneth would mind if I glomped him? He's just made of so much Awesome I can't help myself, lol)

IC:

Hikari looked up at Lani as she spoke, wishing instead that the three of them could take a nice long breather from the taxing battles they had just recently fought. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford a break. If any of them were to survive, they needed to work together; Nathan's double had proved that. So instead of whining and complaining, the Siamese merely nodded her head at the swordswoman in agreement and proceeded to coil up her whip and fasten it to her waist.

Nega-Hikari's sinister words still haunted the back of her consciousness, but she would have to deal with her doubts later. Right now, action was needed.

Walking to the edge of the platform, Kari warily peered over the side, flesh hand still gripping and holding steady her dead prosthetic. She then turned back to Xell and Lani, asking in a tired voice, "Any ideas on how I might possibly climb down myself? My right arm may be stronger due to the absence of my left, but I have never attempted climbing without a prosthetic to help."

OOC: Writing a post now. And don't get in my way *record scratches as Shadow's line gets stolen*
Damnit xD

OOC: I concur with what everything James had said! It’s wonderful to see you back in Kim. Hope you’re well recovered from the Trials and Tribulations of Real life and the horrid sick bug in between :blergh What character development in a short span of time indeed.

As mentioned Ash, beautiful fight scene with Nega-Nathan. He was hard opposition man. Unreal. It was twisted to see such a uniquely dark character who starkly contrasted to his authentic form n.n Oops I feel bad Xell kicked Lani too. Oh good use of his ‘Tiger claws’ too. Seem to have a feel for the action moves better than I do o.o

James, be a cool kid you say? Dunno man. I feel a bit intimidated by Ash’s stunning art now xD I’m no match for that sort of stuff. But yeah yeah, I’ll upload when I’ve cropped and edited and all the rest. Next time. ^_^
Also, well done for keeping up. You're one of the few I know who doesn't feel overwhelmed by lots of loooong posts. It is quality not quantity but I feel everyone's got a good balance for this RP and it just gets better and better ^_^

Spectator’s watch balcony

The chorus of the audience whittled down to a uniform balance of boos and cheering. The Underworld populace had cottoned on to the statistic that at present, all trial members had survived the battle- whereas their forged stunt doubles had fallen. After much effort and combined teamwork. Consequently, however, the protagonists found themselves either withered, weakened, moderately-severely injured or
unconscious to the world at this present moment.

The scene zoomed in to the suite of dark spectators. Sitting in their high thrones with intense, watchful eyes. Composing of a cold emerald green set, a blaring-flame ember pair and the monocle clad kind.

“Well now. That was quite a feat. I rather enjoyed that,” Jack said in a jolly manner, showing a full set of teeth as he spoke.

“Uneventful…” Athena commented with her mouth slightly ajar as her eyes followed the black dragon that had netted Glitch, unconscious Nathan and Seipher. By now it had got lost within the swarm. Circling in the skies with clouds that drifted like endless ocean waves.

Julien creased his brows, somewhat lost in thought as he as he held his chin with his left hand, and used the other hand to cast his foresight baring eye to extract visual and auditory motions proceeding amongst the Trial Runners in question. Naturally the information feed was able to engage all happenings and episodes. Past and present. Bar the scene surrounding that of Wren, that is. His view had been completely obliterated with an obscuring white cascade of visionary fuzziness when any foresight was laid upon purple monstrosity.

However, a significant finding regarding that frontier was that of who Kenneth had been barking at someone before he passed into unconscious. Julien noted that every time he tried to gain insight on the individual he was talking to- his vision was obscured once again. Though he could not hear nor see who Kenneth had been talking too- the only deduction he could draw upon was the fact that the creature had to be Wren.

“Well, what do we have here… hmmm?” Jack remarked, as he peered from over the seat to look down on a still and motionless Overlord. So deep in thought.

“…you’ve been rather introvert these past few minutes my lord. What ho? Have your toy soldiers fallen a little sooner than you had anticipated?”

“Hmmmm?” Julien asked nonchalantly as he closed his palm and gave his undivided attention to Jack, Athena and the surroundings he was sitting within.

“Don’t be presumptuous you old swindle,” Julien derided as he raised his long ears and nodded his head down with condescension “honestly? I can’t believe it took them this long to defeat such entry forms of wickedness. Still, the pressure and blood spill has enabled me to scratch at the surfaces of more secrets than I had anticipated.”

A cold smile spread across Julien’s mussel as he drummed his fingers together rhythmically. Staring at Athena and Jack with anticipation.

“Well, you saw and heard better than we did…” Athena began, motioning towards Julien’s palm baring eye. She looked down on his hand before flitting her eyes up to meet his “what concealments would you have unveiled?”

“Ha. You really want to know?” Julien laughed softly, a devious smile on his face.

“Well, yes, quite,” Jack announced whilst Athena shifted forwards to listen. Gripping the arm rests as she tilted in an inquisitive ear in the Overlord’s direction “I know you wouldn’t have us in suspense.”

“Where do I start?” Julien poked a finger through his top lip as he cast his eyes upwards in reflection. He steadied the palms of his hands on the armrests and accentuated his form as he spoke up..

“A certain white con fox really isn’t as poised and confident as we should allow ourselves to believe. Findings reveal that his sinning entails the death of a female he once knew. And he masquerades with a sense of conceitedness and egotism. All the while he hates himself so much, he would have others hate him too. Almost a form of penance to ease the burden of what’s he’s done.”
“Really?” Athena asked raising an eyebrow “well, I thought he was just an arrogant ass.”

“Well, that too,” Julien rolled his eyes “and I hate to break it to you but the scaled one with anterograde amnesia is still alive.”

“Don’t have us had. Lord Julien. Myself and Lady Athena saw him fall,” Jack cheered with merriment, and yet donned a sinister expression at the same time.

“He lives,” Julien repeated with a grin “and our forge breed revealed to a subgroup of the Trial Tunners something I already know.”

“And what would that be?” Jack asked with a continued widespread smile as he tilted his head to one side curiously. Eyes wide shut.

“Hmmm. I don’t feel like telling you!” Julien sat back and laughed. Folding his arms and closing his eyes with a smirk. Jack scratched his chin curiously whilst Athena harrumphed.

“Let’s just say the entity will play a bigger role in the Circle II. Now then…” he said opening his eyes with his arms still folded.

“We also know that stupid little vermin recreant betrayed me as she never grew fond of the sanctuary I provided her…” he closed his eyes, before feigning tears and sniggering.

“Oh you mean that mousey hooker?” Athena asked dully, rolling her eyes in the process “don’t tell me you’re surprised right? Girls like her all think the same. Allure men and coax them into a haven of false love and pretence. Only to leave them for dead once they’ve been spent.”

“And I offered her an alternative to the life of a slut,” Julien drawled with a smile “ so why would she spit it back in my face?! God damn it. I’ll get her back for that…” his smile broke into a dog’s snarl as he diverted his glare into the distance. His hair blowing in waves as an air current howled through the balcony arena.

“What about Judas?” Athena’s eyes chased the circling dragons once again. Trying to identify the beast that had snatched the trio from the thorn bush maze “anything new of his past?”

“Oh yes!” Julien’s side profile suddenly broke into a wide grin. A sense of glee overrunning his previous annoyance “he ate his sister. Sarah.”

Athena’s eyes widened, and she suddenly bolted her head forwards with interest.

“What?!” she demanded, her ears piqued with inquisition which married up with her disbelieved expression.

“Why are you so surprised lady Athena. Hmm?” Jack said, sensing her adamance to know more “we all know the true nature of that flesh-hungry mogul. Especially him being rather partial to cannibalism.”

“But he ATE his own sister?!” Athena exclaimed indignantly, opening her palms out with question. An incredulous look on her face “god!!!”

“He’ll have a chance to relive the magic moments,” Julien promised.

“I hope Wren will have the same opportunity,” Jack laughed “tell me, what did you see before you lost your foresight on him?”

“What does it matter?!” Julien erupted with laughter “I already know his sick past. It’s nothing special really. A former aspiring creature of high calibre and intellect if I may say something positive. His meddlesome experiments for the darker side of life inevitably dragged him down. Sacrificing everyone he liked and loved…” he shivered when he said the last word in jest.

“...and the one that loved him…?” Athena enquired, wondering if that was even possible.

“I think I know where she is…” Julien said softly “I wonder if Wren would be interested to see her again. I shall have to make a plan for that…”

Julien sniggered as he made a mental scheme for some devious venture in correlation to his last comment whilst Athena made a mental note not to betray Julien any time soon. Not that she had the slightest inclination anyway.

“Xell Rhinestone,” Jack cleared his throat, his anticipation growing on series of eye-opening divulgences being exposed from the Protagonists.

“Oh. But I know his past…” Julien explained swivelling a demon palm open. The one revealing his 3rd vampiric eye. Julien gruffly, slowly fell silent “…however…”

“I’m sure I’ll know more later on. I look forward to Nega-Nathan’s mention of a certain entity truly bringing out the worst in Rhinestone. Hehe~!”

“He hasn’t been that great in combat,” Athena scorned “his counterfeit seemed competent. Tell me, did you enhance him Julien?”

“Not at all…” Julien gave a casual wry smile “the authentic one is capable of the same. But he won’t let go of his past. It’s pathetic really. But so entertaining. Why stop now?”

Athena shook her head and rolled her eyes, whilst Jack raised a finger with a delighted smile on his face.

“And NOW I’d like to talk of Hikari. Now, didn’t we have quite a fine show there? Would you agree my Lady and my Liege?”
Julien swayed a flat hand in the air to express his reservations. Athena simply harrumphed and turned her back to Jack.

“She sure had story to tell, however,” Julien sat back and smiled with his hands clasped behind his neck “turns out she betrayed your brother in the end. My dear Athena…”

Athena froze. Her heart skipping a beat. Her eyes constricted whilst her mouth was left ajar.

“My my. Now just WHY do you look SO upset?” Julien raised his eyebrows with deluding concern. Still sat back “you decided a long time ago he didn’t matter anymore. Bleeding that sibling bond to ashen aversion and hate…”

“…don’t tell me you still care?” Julien asked, surveying her from the corner of his eyes as she sat forward. Her hair veiling her face in an unfathomable fashion. Just as she did before when Jack had mentioned the Wing Commander’s name.

“What else is to be told of our fine warrior?” Jack asked, his tone betraying some slight concern for Athena in spite of the fact he maintained his stand.

“She, too, managed to disgrace her father and have her younger brother killed when she left the Air Force,” Julien articulated “just how and why I suppose is to be revealed. It’s disgusting all the same. How can someone live with themselves with such a heinous past?!?” Julien bellowed with laughter. Jack chuckled at the irony of his statement, tapping his cane against the floor twice.

“Here here!” he pronounced.

Athena sat back again and swished the hair out of her face. Her appearance apathetically composed once again.

“And Serenity?” the femme fennec asked, leaning her head forwards to gaze at the lonesome, wandering violet hedgehog in the arena distance below. Every now and again she’d stop and glance at her surroundings which comprised of the intimidating forests of thorn bushes. Ready to swallow her whole almost.

“Don’t know nuthin’,” Julien stopped laughing as he frowned “still. She seemed a little coy to kill her counterpart. I wonder why that is?”

The lords shrugged in union. Before clearing their thoughts to surrender their minds on the last Trial runner in question that had been part of the battle.

“Lady warrior Lani. Hmm…” Julien scratched his chin as he dedicated some thought to the revelations that surrounded her when she encountered the face off with her opposition. He stood up and cast his view in her direction.

“I certainly know a damn sight more about her than I did before. Though that doesn’t wrap half of it.”
Athena and Jack simultaneously fixed their heads downwards as they faced the back of Julien. Concentrated as they awaited some elaboration.

“Her sword knows it all. Illiachen its name goes by. How curious indeed,” he turned his head to look over his shoulder at Athena and Jack “my suspicions are confirmed. The sword has a life of its own and contains all her secrets. But for how much longer will they remain unearthed I wonder? Heh.”

“What are you up to Julien?” Athena tilted her head as she crossed her arms. Looking on with doe-like eyes.

“The next part of the battle will reveal all of that,” he raised his eyebrows twice with glee.
“…but first we need a clean-up.”

Still stood up, Julien made took some haunting footsteps towards the balcony. Taking a moment to rest his sleeved arms against the marble support supra-structure as he gazed at the battle arena below.

He nodded smugly as a demonic smile arched across his face at the panorama beneath him. The high platform, thorn bush and trenches littered with blood and green smog that had evaporated. Reminiscent of the defeated Antagonists.

He then cast his gaze upwards. His eyes an intense flare and sparkle of red as his imposing look locked onto one of the black dragons in the sky.

’Ebroné, come back down and drop them. I’m not done with them yet,’ Julien commanded his thoughts to the skies above. Awaiting one of the great, mammoth, mythological beasts to hail his call and plummet to the grounds below.
Indeed the receptive beast was instantly lured by his Lord’s reigning voice, and swerved its hulk body to dive down to the balcony from where the summoning call was signalled. Ready for its Master’s beck and call.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Frozen time

An invisibly formidable, shimmering cyclone evolved from the sky and bolted towards the grounds below. Gails and twists of light of powerful impact that spread out like an umbrella suspended all that fell within its wake. Freezing everyone and everything in time.
Motionless in their stances everyone stood. All sound muted. All gravity defied as everyone maintained their last stance or position before the force had washed over their standing.

A spectral filter of red lights, ranging from dark crimson to intense cerise washed over the surroundings during this silent and still interval.
The only figure to be animated within this frozen black Garden of Eden himself was the Patriarch of the Underworld. Julien.

Looking down on the panorama from the dragon he was standing upon, he plucked out the fallen Trial runners from the ones that had remained conscious. The dragon continued to strum its wings with a forceful, echoing rhythmic beat whilst the amethyst beast morphed the battle ground into the new setting of the final battle within Circle I.

Satisfied that he had completed his venture, he gave a single nod to the dragon- who gave an ambient shriek which infiltrated the panorama setting… before dissipating into the boundless perimeters of the dimension.

That was one of the black dragons' many talents. Time suspension. Otherwise known as 'Dragon time'. Not that many believed its myth or knew how to unleash its potential.
___________________________________________

Reanimated battle arena

A click of the fingers rudely awoke a dumb folded Kenneth, who was found sprawled on the sandy tarmac of the arena battle ground.
His vision was blurred and hazed. Blobs of colours morphing, spiralling and dancing across his vision as his hearing slowly became more acute to the surrounding audiences who were leering and mocking.

“Off your face were you?” an unfamiliar voice asked with a hint of contempt. It belonged to that of a tall, armour clad knight. Highly decorated it would appear as Kenneth’s vision finally focused upon the figure to a reasonably coherent fashion.

The next sensation that crashed across his senses was a central, crushing pain that dominated his forehead and made him wince.

“Get up! The battle isn’t!!” over Jacob hissed as he reached out and grabbed Kenneth by the scruff of the neck to force him up. If perhaps out of character, Jacob had a reason to try and force a sense of bearing for the white fox if he could.

“Come on man… who the hell are you anyway…?!” Kenneth groggily tried to push him away- aiming some lack lustre punches and kicks at Jacob which missed the knight spectacularly. This caused Jacob to sigh wearily and tug the collar of his suit more forcefully to restrain him.

“May I urge you to get a grip!” Jacob snarled “if your orientation is too out and your bearings are gone then I am going to have to prop you amongst the rest of the fallen Trial runners…”

Kenneth stopped still. His eyes narrowing with suspicion as he stared back at Jacob defiantly. He then stood up and followed Jacob’s motioning hand which lead him to an angst provoking sight ahead of him.

On a linear wooden platform to the lateral side of the arena, Nathan, Mordie and Seipher all stood upon wooden barrels. What was even more sinister of the sight ahead of him were their sullen and scared looks. Donning tied hands behind their backs and ropes around their necks that dangled by a wooden beam which towered above them- it was clear what the plan was.

“The noose…?” Kenneth uttered out loud in disbelief.

“Yes. Their fate. Should you fail,” Jacob said grimly, before gesturing his hand to the rest of the Trial runners who were standing in a semi-circle to the other side of the arena. Their gazes grave and determined as they looked on at Kenneth.

Xell, Glitch, Lani, Kari, Reni, and even Wren. The very latter of the group blinking enigmatically.

“The Overlord has only deemed those fit to fight to take on the Raven Blood Child to enter this battle,” Jacob explained “some of the standing Trial runners are barely fit themselves. The lady warrior and her wounds, the Siamese and her obsolete mechanical arm… they need ALL the help they can get. Kenneth Lay…”

Kenneth tilted his head. A scrutinizing if not confused look on his face as he looked back at Jacob.

“So listen to me! Are you in… or out?” Jacob asked solemnly, as he pointed to the Team runners and the noosed group respectively.

________________________________

Battlefield Arena, elsewhere

The last standing Trial runner all stood there in the meantime. Muttering amongst themselves but careful to keep their tones low in fear of being singled out or attacked. Or being prepared for any surprise for that matter.

“Do you think he’s going to make it?” Glitch asked Xell, stretching his limbs which were aching from his former ensnared disposition.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see his show down with his counterfeit…” Xell sighed and shook his head “you don’t look as if you sustained many injuries yourself. How did it go?”

“Yeah. Piece o’ cake…” Glitch simpered “but I did get a picking from one of those black dragons…” Glitch said pointing to the skies above.

“Unless it was a dream. Heh. This is weird. In fact, did I even fight myself back there at all?” Glitch’s eyes widened as he reflected on the former surreal events.

“Yes you did. If you didn’t then we had the same crazy dream,” Xell answered morbidly.

“Same goes for me,” Reni answered “except I raced my faker.”

“And me,” Kari said, nursing her mechanical arm “and it wasn’t pretty either…”

“I can also say my ordeal was real, if not the same dream you all had,” Lani answered, tugging a blood crusted lock of hair back “and somehow I don’t think it’s over either. Whatever Kenneth went through, I do so hope he’s deemed fit to join us.”

“That’s right… or our friends are going to suffer…” Kari said anguished as she cast a sorry gaze to the noosed victims on the other side of the arena.

Wren simply stood there. A smirk on his face as he folded his arms and shook his head. Not sharing the sentiments of the rest of the team at all.

Wren suddenly emitted a slight growl as he noted an impending presence. Slowly forthcoming. Almost sensing ripples in the sand as the toll and haunting chorus started to fade in with every second passing.

It was during this interval that the rest of the Protagonists stopped muttering amongst themselves and slowly but surely raised their heads to absorb the sight ahead of them.

A blinding white light blasted forth from an earth-shattering door that crashed open and sent a quake heaving across the grounds.
The Protagonists covered their eyes and looked away- whilst trying to maintain their balance as the chasm agitated the grounds on a large scale.

As the chaos died down, the group slowly turned around and lowered their hands. Opening their eyes slowly as they once again, engaged upon the new sight ahead of them.

A forlorn, black cloaked figure. No more than the height of a child-like girl it seemed.

All that could be seen apart from its inky black drapery was its deathly white arms and raven nailed feet. Its hooded face a black void but for golden-tiger eyes that pierced through. To stare at the group raptly.

It rocked back and forth. Sinisterly. All in the meantime clutching the body of a wooden, splintered baton that carried an overhanging curved scythe blade.

It simply stood and watched. Rocking back and forth like a reed in the middle of the lake. Unrevealing of its motives and intentions as it wavered back and forth. Haunted and spook-fraught.

Xell looked on. Somewhat unnerved to say the least, before casting his glance towards the rest of the group.

He wondered if anyone would dare chance the first move.

OOC:
@Kim: It's so great to see you back! =D Hope everything's rolling better for you now! && that epic post of yours was /definitely/ worth the wait. Learned so much about Hikari's past in such a short time. I love how she tried so hard to keep her cool - and then nearly exploded midway through the fight. I hope she can still get through the upcoming battle without her mecha-arm though. T_T
@Ash: <3 You already know how much I loved your post. I don't need to repeat myself lols. /praise praise praise
@Kate: Quite an epic way to move the scene forward! I really like how you had the lords in the audience basically sum up the round in its entirety amongst themselves. I'm definitely eager to see what you have in store for this part && next circle.
Pretty interesting power there too, with the Dragon Time. owo So much potential with that - can't wait to see when you use it again~~
&& hnnggg Mordieeee T_T.

Thinking up an IC right now for this next part. It might take me a little while, but expect another post from me soon nonetheless <3.

Without further ado, before Kenneth could even give his answer, the white hedgehog stepped forward towards the Raven Blood Child, his narrowed eyes flaring with irritation. Any prattling heard amongst the standing trial runners came to a cease with his words; "All right. I've had it with this bull!@#$."

Still far from the cloaked figure, Glitch held his sword forward in a challenging stance, his eyes locked with the ferocious tiger-eyes across him. "I don't know who you are or whatever the !@#$ you plan to do with us. The fact of the matter is, you're going down, along with the rest of this God-forsaken Abaddon once we're through with it." Half of his mouth cracked into a wry grin. "You guys think you can get to us all too easily by shoving our pasts down our throats like they're some sort of plaything for you sickos to !@#$ around with, don't you." He cast a scrutinizing eye back towards a few of the protagonists, catching a sense of forlornness still stricken across their faces, whether they attempted to hide it or not. Keeping in mind his earlier standoff with his own nega form, he knew something went down with the others as well - but he could care less. "Everyone. Chin up. Don't let their cowardly antics and nostalgia-attacks get to you. These doppelgangers were thrown in our faces just to try to slow us down and bring out our weaknesses."

Xell attempted to reply back to his order, but Glitch caught this in time and continued on, directing his words to the group as a whole. "I'll say this right now - I could care less whatever the hell you all were put through before this mess. We're all down here because of our own foolish mistakes. Of course that sadist overlord is going to do what he can to use our own daymares against us. Everyone needs to man up and set those aside for now. The Patriarch wins if we let them get to us." He added on almost playfully, "And if you even think about complaining that you've had it worse than everyone else combined... I will cut your tongue out."

Glitch immediately returned his attention to the unresponsive figure before him. Silently, he shook off his memory of the battle with his replica. Can't afford to let that happen again. I know they'll try to pull the same bloody trick sometime again in the future - but I'll be prepared. At least I'm nowhere near as groggy as some of the others turned out to be.

"Well?" Glitch taunted, waiting for the hooded figure to make its move. "I'm sick of this waiting game. Let's get this dance started."

-----

Mordie winced as silent tears trickled down her cheeks, still dirt-ridden and blanketed with scars, from when Nega-Mordie had nearly ground her face off. The pain locked in her waist had not yet subsided either, and now she was doomed to face death by hanging? Was joining to protagonists in hopes to redeem herself a good idea after all? At least under the Patriarch, she was promised some sense of security...
Nonetheless, there was no turning back, and there was nothing she can do but watch. Waiting. Hoping.

The hedgehog's words momentarily brought a scanty smile to her face; lucky for her, her nega form had not taunted her with her own past, as there was nothing in her life she could admit to regretting. Other than her recent betrayal, which she hoped--no, she knew was the right choice, there was nothing for the mouse to dwell on. She had it easy then - but she was still weak.

"S... sorry, fellas," Mordie murmured softly, her voice close to a whisper but still maintaining composure. "Ah ain't skilled or nuthin'. Probably coulda done better but... Ah hope ah haven't hindered ya's..." Her sullen eyes drooped down to her uneasy feet and the unstable barrel beneath her, wavering. She opened her mouth as if to speak again, however no words escaped this time.

Her eyes darted around momentarily, examining anything they could catch - and she noted that the rabbit child was still nowhere in sight. But everyone else seems to be here? She bit her lip for a second. Poor cutie, probably trapped somewhere, or wandering all alone... if only I could... Mordie then lowered her head, as if she were ashamed, completely hiding her face from the others.

Lani just nodded. "Glitch is right. Now is not the time for self-pity or doubt. This fight is not yet over." She was sore and tired, but she had faced worse than this before and pulled through. She stepped forward to join the white hedgehog, adjusting her grip on her sword. Whatever this new opponent had planned for them, she was ready. The child-like appearance of their new foe didn't phase her. A child could be just as deadly as an adult -- sometimes more so, because people were less inclined to mistrust children.

OOC: Woah guys. o.o Just... woah.

Thank you all for the excellent feedback and kind words, guys! My writing is only as good as it is because of all of your posts and the inspiration it brings in not only ideas but the actual writing itself. There's no way I'd be able to possibly write a story or novel by myself, but writing with you guys really gets my creative juices flowing and hot dang does it feel awesome! And thank you everyone for the compliments on my art |D But you should take your own advice as well, James! Be a cool kid like me and post more art, of Wren, Jacob, whoever! 😯

Kim, of course you can glomp Kenneth! He welcomes all ladies the world over to glomp him n____n Even I can't refuse to! Just be careful, someone might get jealous...

Glad I got people's characters right. I always feel a lot of trepidation when it comes to that. I also realised after I made my post that I couldn't seem to remember if Xell had ever used his vortex ability to create a vortex in a distance for somebody else to use and if it was actually possible... hopefully that's okay. >> Could always chalk it up to needing more concentration for it, if not? Limit Break? Desperation Move? I dunno >>; <<;

Kate, wow, thats a brilliant set up you've created here for the final boss of Circle 1. I've noticed it before but I have to agree with K that I love how you manage to sum up the events and characters in your ICs... but using our antagonists at the moment to do so is a very inspired way of doing so, and gives a rather unique perspective on things. I love it! Also, your whole description of the arena and battle setup, and your ideas are just... well, epic. 😯 Utterly, utterly engrossing stuff. Take Kenneth for instance... there's so many ways I could play his reply out. The question is which one...

K, you know how much I love your writing. Seriously. Glitch is awesome and you always play with my emotions and heartstrings with Mordie. I want nothing bad to ever happen to her. T_____T

IC:

Spectator’s watch balcony

"Hmm..." Jack mused, as he straightened his monacle out as he peered down from his vantage point to the unfolding drama below. Three of the trial runners, the most injured, Nathan, Mordie and Seipher, were all tangled in a rather dangerous predicament. Unless their companions could succeed for them, all of them would die by hanging. Jack unconsciously began stroking his neck, and the scarring that surrounded the entirety of it. Jack could certainly testify that death by hanging was not a particularly pleasant experience at all. "Our lord certainly likes to put on a fine show, doesn't he?"

Athena grunted in approval, as she continued to stare down at the scene below. She turned towards the victorian clad gentleman. "Tell me, Ripper, how do you consider your wagr's chances of succeeding now?" A small wry smile creeped across her lips, which was rather unusual for the normally apathetic appearing femme. "Takeshi there didn't seem to have such a great battle, did she?"

Jack stroked his chin in thought, before looking towards Athena with a rather suprised expression on his face. "Is that what you thought of her fight?" His tone was genuinely surprised. "I thought she fared marvelously. True, she may not have performed quite to the same excellence as your dear Judas, or our Lord's favourite, Wren, but I thought her match was inspiring. The determination to continue fighting no matter what, despite her double's attempts to rile her emotions up... and the coup de grace was fantastic. Did I not tell you she was a born survivor?"

"You genuinely think she's going to survive this?" Athena asked, nodding her head towards the battle below against the sinister new apparation that had arrived... who looked to resemble the traditional visage of Death itself.

"But of course, and she will do so amicably, that I am certain." Jack nodded to himself with a wide smile, tapping his cane against the ground. "I feel a more balanced fighter will win the day, or at least survive to the end. Judas and our old friend Wren have shown to have no big challenge in defeating their adversaries... as such, I suspect such overconfidence in their own abilities will lead to their downfall."

Athena said nothing. She was more interested in concentrating on Circle 1's final challenge for now.

Jack just smiled and laughed a quiet laugh. Circle 1's final trial was a challenge that would not be easily won... but for those fortunate to survive it, what awaited them in the next circle would prove to be even more entertaining yet.

Battlefield Arena

“So listen to me! Are you in… or out?” Jacob asked solemnly, as he pointed to the Team runners and the noosed group respectively.

Kenneth scratched the back of his neck. He was still pretty confused about everything, and still feeling rather exhausted from everything so far, but he was sure he had the general gist of everything. His teammates' lives... Mordie, Nathan and Seipher; their lives literally hung in the balance. It seemed that the only way to save their lives was to ally with the remainder of his group and battle whatever the hell that beast was that just appeared from out of nowhere. And from what he could see, some of his allies, Xell, Hikari and Lani, all looked worse for wear. Their own battles must have been ferocious indeed.

But Kenneth wasn't happy about the game that was laid before him. And he certainly wasn't happy about this particular guy. Jacob. He didn't know his name as of yet, but already from their brief encounter, he could tell he was one of Julien's lapdogs, and he was quite certain he didn't like him.

He was still also upset that his nap seemed to be as brief as it was. Better to have been woken up then precariously hung though, he guessed... he was in control of his own destiny and fate still for the time being.

"Suppose I say out... what'll you do then?" Kenneth asked, a smirk creeping across his face.

"Did I not make myself clear? If you decide on that unbelievable course of action then you'll have to join those three!" Jacob pointed towards Mordie, Nathan and Seipher whilst still holding Kenneth's suit in his grip.

"Oho... you think you could take me then?" Kenneth's eyes twinkled. Jacob was taken aback by the fox's cockiness.

"...you certainly can't be suggesting you want to battle me?" Jacob asked.

"Never know what the odds are until you try, can you?" Kenneth replied with a sly grin. Jacob rolled his eyes, before bringing his free hand back, ready to deal a swift blow to knock the conman fox unconscious for an easier transportation to the noose. "Hey, wait a minute, hold up!" Kenneth shouted, wearily raising his arms up to prevent Jacob's attack. "I said 'suppose I say out'... it was a hypothetical question, not an answer!"

"Do you honestly think you have the time to be playing these silly little games, Kenneth Lay?" Jacob asked, his tone becoming more intense and irritated by the second. "Do you really want to watch your friends die before you? Not just those three there," Jacob indicated towards the endangered three, whose necks were tightly wrapped with rope. "But also the others who must challenge that." Jacob's hand shifted from the hangman's platform, towards the rest of Kenneth's companions, who seemed ready and set to battle whatever the hell that abomination was.

"No, I don't as a matter of fact. But at the same time, I need to have these damn rules of yours and that moron Julien's clarified! How the hell do I know you won't hurt them and kill them anyway, the moment I turn my back on them?!" Kenneth shouted in anger towards Jacob, summoning what strength he could to shove himself free of Jacob's grasp, landing softly on the ground and taking a few steps back, to distance himself from the knight. He then dusted his suit down.

"You have my word..." Jacob tried to clarify. "As Captain of- "

"Your word means nothing! Neither yours or that asshole in charge, Julien! You guys are from hell, fr'christs sake! You guys are like the epitome of sin and lies! Hell, Julien's the fricking devil! How the hell can anything you say be taken to be true!?" Kenneth shouted, his arms raised in the sky. His throat was beginning to become rather dry and hoarse, as he was feeling incredibly agitated and becoming more and more desperate.

"I'm afraid you've no choice in that matter... call it a leap of faith. Your only other certainty is that if you fail to act in assisting your friends with the Circle's final enemy, then they will all die." Jacob glared.

"Give me a break! As if Julien wouldn't hesitate just to wipe us all out in an instant even if we even did reach the end of this damn Game of Redemption! And besides... I think I know a little something or two about believing in something. And I believe that they can defeat that monstrosity, even without my help! So I..." Kenneth pulled out his knife, and took as best of a battle stance he could, holding the blade defensively in front of his face, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "...I'll believe in myself to take you down!"

"You... you must be suicidal...!" Jacob grunted in surprise again.

"No, far from it! I do this because I want to win! Because this is the only way to truly beat Julien's damn game! To truly protect those around me, who are important to me!" Kenneth hissed.

"Hmph. I admire your tenacity and courage, Kenneth Lay, but this course is simply reckless... I cannot blame you for not being willing to trust me. But risking to throw away your life for these people, whom you barely even know, just to defy Lord Julien himself..." Jacob frowned.

Kenneth laughed, the tense scene lightening somewhat for him as he did so. "I admit, part of this is to defy that bastard, but there's more to it than that. You know that's obvious, just as you know its inevitable that I fight you now! Even if the odds are slim, you should know it'd be foolish of me to turn my back on you and expect you to safeguard my 'friends' safety!"

Jacob sighed. "Very well..." The Knight Captain began to ready himself, locking his eyes in anger towards Kenneth.

Kenneth was still exhausted, and almost at the end of his rope, but he'd be damned if he backed out now and refused to fight Jacob. He was willing to risk his life to try to one up Julien's game and save his friends' lives, but even then he doubted Jacob would kill him, because for now it went against Julien's rules. Kenneth may not have neccessarily been playing by them anymore, but Jacob still was. And Kenneth doubted Julien would outright kill him either. To do so would be an admittance that somewhere, deep down, Kenneth was right about him. To save face amongst all of this crowd, to even be morally right about the situation and to truly be the victor in that personal fight between them, Julien would have to keep Kenneth alive long enough for him to die as per the trials of the Game. Plus, it would be a far more deserving death for the fox, to die in a long and torturous agony of the prolonging game's events... and because that would also be more interesting.

But who knows? Maybe Kenneth would win. Strength was not all that decided a battle. Wits, intelligence and belief... Kenneth had all of that in spades.

He began to use his own belief ability on himself. Believing he wasn't as weak anymore, believing he could still fight, to even win. The fatique and dread seemed to wash away from him, and to Jacob's surprise, Kenneth's body and form seemed like that of a completely different person to the one he was but moments ago. His flesh was still far, far too weak, but his spirit and resolve... was unlike anything before. Renewed determination. The sheer belief he could win... and the resolve to see it through.

For Jacob, it was still all too futile, but he knew he'd have to humour him. Perhaps Julien would glance some other decidedly delicious and juicy weakness from the fox from which he could use to later torture him in the expanding game.

"So tell me... how do you intend to win this...?" Jacob asked, his eyes completely locked onto Kenneth's own. Still trying to find any doubt within Kenneth's resolve... and coming up short.

Kenneth laughed. "How about we try this out for size, first...?"

Right before Jacob's eyes, the impossible seemed to happen. A bizarre light formed around Kenneth, spiralling across the entirety of his body. And then, at once, his body seemed to stretch and expand... before breaking off, into a perfect copy. But this didn't happen just once, it happened multiple times, until at last there were sixteen Kenneth Lays, all within an even semi circle, each with a blade, in the same exact stance, ready to fight against Jacob.

None of the copies were real. There was only the one genuine Kenneth Lay, who was using what remained of his ability to fight as best he could to make Jacob believe that there was more than one of the conman fox. To make the Knight Captain begin to doubt his own chances of winning.

Kenneth doubted this particular facade would last long, but it was a start. And he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

For his companions' sake, he refused to back down.

Against this foe, he refused to die.

(OOC: Editing out last post. Sorry it upset people.)

OOC: Okay, I really hate to sound like an arsehole and I'm afraid I'll cause all untold levels of friction and drama and such, but I have to say I've got a really big problem with your last post, Violet. Did you even read my last post? Did you not understand the theme I was writing about?

My post was made to show Kenneth's character developing, in his ideals in defeating Julien through not exactly playing by his rules and by attempting to save Mordie, Nathan and Seipher through a confrontation with Jacob. I think I worked hard in making the scene tense for their confrontation, and for building things up to a point that his and Jacob's fight could seriously affect the safety of the three who are trapped.

But your post disregarded all of that completely. By having Reni randomly attack the platform and be blocked, you demonstrated that it was impossible to save the three trapped in any other way than fighting against the 1st circle's final boss. You've made Kenneth and Jacob's upcoming fight redundant.

And then you made Julien somehow have mental telepathy abilities and mentally speak to Serenity about how its pointless to resist the game, and they have to follow his rules exactly. That also completely wiped out Kenneth's intentions, to be able to resist and overcome Julien throughout the developing Game of Redemption by thinking outside of the box, outside of his rules. Correct me if I'm wrong, Kate, but I also don't believe Julien has any sort of telepathic abilities. I know he's insanely powerful which is justified for being the big bad, but if he's got telepathy, why would he need to use a cellphone as demonstrated earlier in the rp? I just... everything about your post just then completely ruined my last post's theme and the point that Kenneth was trying to make. I'm pretty upset by that.

I also have to admit that I've been a bit annoyed by some other aspects of your posts. Maybe I should have posted these sooner, maybe not, but I like to think I'm a relaxed person and I'm willing to work with what other people have introduced in an rp because, hey, rps are interactive writings sessions and if you're not willing to work with what other people introduce to the story then whats the point, right? But I'm sorry, and I know this isn't my rp, but it feels like you've missed the entire point of the rp's theme; that being its about a bunch of less then perfect people who have commited sins who are trying their hardest to atone for their crimes. But Serenity's never been written to be anything less than a perfect person, really.

From the start of the rp she's never had a sin, and you yourself only admitted to having an idea for what her 'sin' could be recently. Her thought about "If we don't fight and win...they will die...Even if they ARE bad people that are down here for a reason while I'm a hero and shouldn't be down here at all..." particularly infuriated me because, whilst I suppose its within Reni's personality to think such a thing, I've gotten the impression from my current reading of the rp that its how you feel about the rp, and that the rest of our characters don't really matter.

I've barely seen you write posts where Reni actually interacts with other people's characters. Your last post, for instance, had her completely ignoring Glitch's comments about the situation and just going off doing her own thing. She did the same in her fight, and your earlier posts have had her do that a lot before. I'm not saying having your character musing to themselves and doing their own thing is a bad thing at all, but the point of rps is to interact with other people's characters. Your posts really doesn't ever seem to do that imo. As an aside, in For the Future we Fight, the present Liayra has interacted with no one. Her future self has pretty much interacted with no one either. Cody in the future has interacted with no one either, bar for what interaction I wrote in my post. Present Cody has interacted with no one either. Wraith's still waiting for that, and his character there is stuck in limbo until it happens. In Hollow Stones, you also ignored posts I wrote which involved a character of mine (Johnny) admitting to Reni that he'd be willing to risk his life to help save her when Bej (your character as well) came to attack her. You wrote your post, having Reni interact with Bej and having resolved the whole situation itself, without even involving my character in any of it. Johnny's intentions and characterisations then were shot down too. Johnny's story couldn't go anywhere from there.

One final niggle from me. The Sonic references. I may be alone in this, I'll have to default to Kate's wishes for this, but I also get a tad bit frustrated by the Sonic references for a multitude of reasons. One, the rp has never seemed to be connected to the Sonic universe in anyway before. Nobody else's characters are. The story and world aren't. The theme of the rp certainly isn't (a bunch of villains and sinners in hell isn't really material for a Sonic story), and finally, I have to say, our rp's characters and stories are so, so, SO much better and richer than anything that the Sonic franchise has managed to pump out storywise. I'm not saying that the Sonic franchise is bad, I just feel that the references, and therefore association to the Sonic franchise is a stepdown for this rp which has otherwise seen such truly phenomenal and fantastic writing by everyone involved. Seriously people, you guys are writing real novel worthy stuff here. I just feel like the Sonic references are a disservice to everything else we've created so far.

Sorry if this seems like flaming, but your last post really, really got to me, and I'd like to try and get this out in the open before it just infuriates me more and causes more problems. To everyone else, and Kate especially, I'm really, really sorry about having to degrade this rp into my problems like this, and I could probably word everything I typed above a lot better, but I just... I dunno. Praising everyone is very well and good, but I'd like to think criticism can help as well. I hope this doesn't disturb and ruin the rp in any way shape or form.

Seriously, this is my favourite rp. Everything thats been written up to now has been fantastic and I only wish to see this rp continue at its best. I'm hoping we can get this situation resolved in some way.

OOC: Those were interesting points Ash.
You had something to say, and said it. So, that's not a bad thing. I thought it was an interesting scene you played out and I certainly wouldn't have gone against it with Julien's uber super pooooowas > D

With that said I probably should articulate Julien's powers but then again I don't really want to either since it'll give away lots and you may as well all leave the RP ¦D.
What we have learnt so far is that Julien has a phantom arm (I stole that concept off of Elven Lied). Well actually he has two. But that's besides the point. That's where the invisible forces come from. There's a range of 10 meters. You remember the time Wraith got picked up by the scruff of the neck at the beginning? Plus the time Dux had his jugular vein scratched open and the time he tipped Zach's canape platter all over Athena.
We've also learnt he has foresight. He can get distracted when people talk to him so yes it's safe to say he'll miss out on scenes. Not that he can't catch up on footage later. So present and past. He cannot see into the future though. That's dull. He may as well quit the game now.
He can talk to non-anthromorphic dark creatures of hell through their minds. Namely the black dragons (who can suspend time as recently articulated from my last post and I deliberately made that power exclusive to the dragons just for... something different I suppose). And ravens as well as we have learnt. But not the other characters. He certainly can't read minds either.
Obviously he can change landscapes too to a greater or lesser degree.
This could go on for a bit. I suppose it's also save to say he can reap souls from those who sell them- and he can perceive fast speed that others can't. Like Lani's sword strikes.
And that's all I can think of for now. Telepathy. No. Future foresight also no. And he can't see Wren right now either. xD

I'd prefer it if the RP stayed away from Sonic. I realise Wraith was originally a Shadow clone and was my first fan character from years ago and he's still my favourite one in many ways. However, I am revising his background big time. Hence some mention of SEO or whatever as opposed to GUN.
I do agree with Ash I think we can do better. We already have done hey.

I don't really have anything more to say. Except I'm off to bed. Hope everyone feels better in the morning ^_^

(OOC: All your points are valid. I have edited out my last post. Brain fart on my part, I don't know what I was doing. I did kinda think that since Julien was so powerful, he'd have mental powers. Sorry to have misjudged his character. And I'll try to tone down the Sonic refferences. I was under the impression (possibly wrongly) that this was a multi-universe-spaning story, since nobody answered my question a couple pages back about that. I just...I dunno...attempting to free the characters that are in danger of hanging seemed like something Reni would do...but I couldn't figure any other way to have her fail than having julien prevent it. My writing/RPing skills have been failing recently, and I don't know why. Feels like I've lost my touch. *flail* ;_;

And as for the lack of interaction...I know it's a problem I've been having recently. And I hate to mention this, as I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for myself, but I recently found out something about myself that I wasn't aware of in previous years. I have what is called Asperger's Syndrome, which essentially means I have trouble in social situations, and it appears to be coming out in my RPing. Again, I'm not trying to make excuses for myself, but I've also been suffering a lack of self-esteem in my writing ability lately because of this.

Again, sorry to cause problems.)

((It's alright, Vi. I have Asperger's too. I didn't see the post, but Pachi does have a point about your interactions in the rp. I wish you the best in earning to cope with your illness. You can do it!))

(OOC: As Kate said, you made a lot of good points Ash. Certainly, we've all accomplished a great deal in this and other RPs, and I'm glad I came back into the community. I missed this so bad!

Vi, I'm so sorry to hear about your illness. I have to agree with Shy; I didn't see your post, but Ash is right when he says that a little more interaction between Serenity and the other characters would be great. Keep in mind, though, that we're all here to help you, not judge you. =)

Will post later, when I've had some rest.)

OOC: I'm sorry to hear of the late revelation Vi and sorry if it's getting you down. But try and see it as a condition as opposed to a hindrance. A lot of individuals with Asperger's are supposed to be talented individuals and I'd say you're one of the creative kind, right?
Some individuals simply need a way to adapt to life that suits them.

My middle brother is autistic and has some Asperger's traits and whereas it was a shock when we learnt, we found a way to move on.
And sometimes I wonder whether my oldest brother has the mild form but he's a high-flying trader so it hasn't potentially got in the way of his abilities. Yes his social skills are pretty bad. He tends to grunt at me when I call him and sometimes sounds completely heartless, cold and logical when he talks. Then I figured that was just the way he was for whatever reason. Doesn't mean he doesn't care.

Your writing is fantastic and your ability to keep up with posts and remembering the details is commendable. AS the others have said, some interaction would be fantastic. Or at least acknowledge where the last scene left off 😉

At the end of the day we're all here to help. If there's anything you want to talk about just pm me or such any time 🙂

PS I think I used to have a problem communicating with people. Not that I think I have your condition but I do remember someone saying I was very introvert and had to try and break away from that if I wanted to progress with Dentistry. Was annoying to have to hear at the time but the guy had a valid point and its made me a better person. I hope xD

OOC: Okay, first of all I'd like to thank everyone, and especially you, Violet, for being as calm and reasonable about this. I was actually feeling rather guilty and apprehensive about posting that because I was worried it'd seriously damage this rp. I'm glad to see it hasn't.

First of all, thank you for deleting that post, Violet, I understand it must have been difficult to do but I'm grateful for your willingness to co-operate with me there. Secondly I'm sorry to hear about your disability. Unfortunately I've never really encountered and interacted with anyone in real life who has the condition so I kind of feel at a loss to the whole thing and how I should interact with people like that. But obviously you shouldn't treat people any differently really to anyone else, as Kate said its a condition not a hindrance but it still feels like I might be walking on egg shells with this issue. Kim also made a fantastic point in that we're here to help you and not judge you, and that goes for everyone else as well.

I'd really like to thank you and everyone else again for being as mature as you have. Seriously, thank you so very much.

One final point I want to make is that not everyone's perfect and no one should feel like they are. I'm sure I've made a few ballsup in this rp so far... heck, I know I have. XD I'd appreciate it if people were also willing to point out the moments and parts where I make a mistake as well, as I'd like to do for everyone else. As I said before, complimenting is fantastic but critique is also very valid as well. How else can we improve?

Oh, and Kate, I totally got the Elfen Lied reference when Julien first uses his 'shadowy arms' technique against Wraith! XD Haha telekinesis but not quite. Also... quite a strange anime >>; Awesome stuff, tho! And no, don't go revealing all of Julien's abilities at all, please. =x Looking forward to the developing mysteries and its always nice to see an unexpected surprise. XD

(OOC: thanks for being understanding, guys. I was kinda upset after I read your complaint, but at the same time, after re-reading that post I made, I saw how absolutely abysmal it was. XD; I deleted it from my archive as well, so...if anybody had wanted it back for some strange reason...tough luck XP; I was also PMSing a bit, so that may have accounted for some of my tears. XD;

About my condition...most of the time, it's actually...leaves me kinda relieved. I always knew I was different...it's kinda nice to know WHY. XD; If only it wouldn't get in the way of my self-esteem when it comes to getting a job and/or writing. XD; I know I'm a good writer...but...lately I've started to doubt myself. And I HAVE been having an issue lately with isolating my characters a lot. Trying to stop that. XD;

I'll work on damage control with a new IC sometime when I'm not so tired. It's like...5AM and I've been up all night. AGAIN. XD; )

OOC: Niggles and such happen. You can't let them build up. I learnt that the hard way at work. But I'll keep that to a minimum because it's unprofessional of me to complain out in the open about that frontier.

I agree constructive criticism allows us to develope. A few years ago I was awful at accepting it and I won't lie. Now I am fine with it. Though I'll be sensitive to tone so that fine balance personally will either make me defensive or receptive.
We're always always learning so I guess that's something to take home for what it's worth.

Try not to feel low Vi. Though I can relate I think I used to have the same negative outlook on myself. I only realised much later on when someone I respected (my Prosthetics clinical tutor) said he had more faith in me than I had in myself when I was about to sit my final dental exams xD Same guy that told me I was an introvert and who I dispised at the beginning.
So I've tried to acknowledge my own traits in positive light. I just don't want to come across as arrogant as opposed to confident.

Oh well done Ash for correlating the Elven Lied theme there xD I thought that scene had been forgotten. Poor Wraith. Lol. As for location- I shalln't tell for now. But if there is anything else that needs clarifying on Julien and the dark forces just shout. Not here to be the biggest baddest player.

Small IC in process unless someone else gets in before me.

EDIT: As for Asperger's, yes lived with one. I see and treat them all the time in Community Dentistry too and they're all different and diverse. Don't really dedicate a second thought to someone who has it or tells me they have it. One thing I've noticed is that many of those individuals have a photographic memory and other remarkable skills :O No fair, I have the memory of a sieve.

Battle Arena

Xell acknowledged what Glitch had to say and gave a single nod. He certainly didn’t beat around the bush with his harsh words. His callous comment on threatening to cut anyone’s tongue off who dare declare they had it the hardest also apprehended him from deliberating any further.

Lani had also supplemented this notion. In brutal honesty, now was not the time to be dwelling on traumatic memories in spite of the old scars that had been cut open afresh- as per happening from the previous one-on-one combats and mêlées.

“Hmn?” Xell broke out of his dream-world, twitching his ears as he heard Glitch verbally command the first move.

“Well?" Glitch taunted, waiting for the hooded figure to make its move. "I'm sick of this waiting game. Let's get this dance started."
The child simply rocked back and forth. Before standing up so suddenly and thrusting the baton of the scythe against the ground. Causing a dispersion of sand to fly in the wake.

It finally shook its head with a screeching cry. The hood veiling off whilst shoulder length black hair followed its motion.
And there she stood. Her face finally revealed.

A gaunt, doll like face with soft features that would’ve belonged to that of a 7 year old child. A face which would’ve had a pure base had it not been for the train tracks stiches and sutures that secured the midline of her face, forehead and scalp together. Other features that otherwise tarnished and tainted her looks somewhat was the crimson blemish around her neck. The ‘ring of roses’ reminiscent of the black plague. In addition, ulcers, boils and fibrotic lacerations were seen in zig zags and cascades across her arms.

Her golden eyes also continued to pierce everyone’s heart with its cat like irises. A threatening glow from its orbits.
After the deathly stillness and the air currents that silenced everyone and everything during this ominous and almost foreboding exposé- a simpering child-like smile crept across her face whilst her eyes adorned a calmer opalescent colour.

“So you’d like to dance would you?” she asked in a child-like manner “what moves do you know?”

“It’s a figure of speech kid! We’re gonna kill ya!” Glitch thundered back as he shook his crescent blade threateningly.

“Hmm…” the child’s smile dropped, her eyes drooping to the ground as if she was relatively upset “now that’s just mean Judas. What did I ever do to you…?” she cried out in a whine. That of a child-like figure once again.

She looked up again and stomped the scythe against the ground a couple more times. Almost in a tantrum like manner as she did so. Reverberations causing the ground to ripple with cracks.

“Stop horsing around you little brat!!! And bring it on!!!” Glitch exploded, infuriated by the mention of his real name by that forsaken child. He’d be damned if he would be allured into her delusional innocence she was portraying furthermore. The indecisive moment really was grating on his patience at this point and he really was eager for someone or something to deliver the first move.

“Not very good with children are you Judas?” she asked once again in a delicate but creep infected voice “did you used to talk to Jillian like that?”

_________________________________

The Noose

So glad to see you well
Overcome them
Completely silent now
With heaven's help
You've cast your demons out
And not to pull your halo down
Around your neck and tug you off your cloud

But I'm more than just a little curious
How you're plannin' to go about makin' your amends
To the dead
To the dead

There Seipher stood. Sweating, and shaking. The ahce of his wounded shoulder that continued to radiate a dull throbbing pain to his the right side of his torso and mandible. And this had all been excacerbated given his previous ordeal of having his body practically crushed within Ebroné’s grasp.

He couldn’t help but notice the black mouse next to him, Mordie, mutter something softly. Before hanging her head in defeat and dejection.

He slowly turned his head to his side. Fighting the ache of his throbbing wound and the fibers off the rope that scraped against his neck.

"S... sorry, fellas," Mordie murmured softly, her voice close to a whisper but still maintaining composure. "Ah ain't skilled or nuthin'. Probably coulda done better but... Ah hope ah haven't hindered ya's..."

“Hey…” Seipher cooed a form of reassurance for what it was worth. The sort of thing he would’ve said just before someone was about to cry. Especially the numerous times he used to reassure Athena when she was little. The characteristic break before a stream of tears would streak down her face.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You shouldn’t be here,” Seipher winced as he spoke “no one but the fiend himself would ever mean for you to fight these brutal battles. Don’t tell me you used to wrestle alligators for a living right?”
Mordie continued to hang her head low. Her expression enigmatic for Seipher to deduce what she was thinking.

“You’re still alive. That in itself doesn’t mean you have failed or given in yet,” the three-tailed vulpine continued, before slowly turning to centre his head and lean it forwards to ease the discomfort “keep morally strong and believe. In yourself and the others out there. It’s all we can do for now.”

________________________________________________________________________
OOC: Sorry it’s short. Wanna go exercise now. If someone gets mad and feels the urge to attack RBC go ahead >D
Lyrics taken from ‘A Perfect Circle’ ‘The Noose’
Unless James takes over we’ll see how Jacob can handle that whitty fox next time. xD

"Let's go, everyone." Lani didn't fool around. She summoned her strength and dashed forward, closing the distance between herself and the disfigured child swiftly, not deterred by the shaking of the ground. As she reached her target she started to swing her blade upwards, using her forward momentum to add power to her attack, designed to slice an opponent waist to shoulder. She fully expected the child to try to block her, and if she was lucky it would be with the shaft of her scythe. None but the sturdiest of woods could hold up under such an attack. At the very least she would take a bite out of the wooden pole, weakening it so it would be more likely to snap later on under the stress of battle. Even better would be if she cut through the haft entirely and maintained enough force to injure the girl as well.

OOC: @Kate: Your handling of Glitch makes me want to cry at night sometimes LOL. Gaddamn you've got such a great grip on him && his ticks/overall characterisation <3. Love how you're using practically every aspect of his past against him at some point, tiki'ing him off by having his actual name said over and over again and bringing up his daughter as well. Poor thing has too many things that set him off XD. Also, a doll-like face laden with stitches and boils galore? I think I'm gonna have nightmares for like the next three weeks lol.
@Ash: Goodness, sixteen Kenneths!? Hnnnggg-- oAo
@Shy: Ooh, can't wait to see Lani fight alongside Glitch here. |D It's gonna be epic, hahaha. Love what you have done with her fight scene so far as well. /cheers her on with pompoms

Gonna give others a chance to respond to all that's happened so far before I IC again. |3 Keep up the great work, everyone~

IC:

With Glitch's final words, Hikari felt something inside of her shift. Determination and perseverance simmered within her blue eyes as she proceeded to shove her skeletons back in the proverbial closet they came from. The hedgehog was right: they all had their sins - that's why they were down here in the first place - but now was not the time to dwell on them and mope about like children. Now was the time to fight.

After all, whoever said gaining Redemption would be easy?

Hikari let out a weary sigh and straightened at that thought. They had chosen to enter into this game with the knowledge that nothing would be easy and that they would be challenged at every turn. Giving up now would simply be a waste. A glance towards Seipher, Mordie, and Nathan drove the point home even further; she would not let them die without a fight just because her past sins were troubling her.

Sins were never meant to be shouldered comfortably, Kari reminded herself.

With that, Siamese feline moved her flesh hand from the elbow joint of her prosthetic to the shoulder, where it attached to her upper torso. She carefully applied pressure to that seam and twisted, wincing a little as her mechanical limb detached from its socket with a resounding pop. Holding the limb against her chest, Hikari then squeezed her thumb into a depression on the underside of her prosthetic's wrist. A compartment opened on top of the wrist almost immediately, with a short cylindrical object sliding out with a hiss.

Kari gripped the cylinder in her teeth and proceeded to fasten her useless prosthetic to her waist, opposite her whip, knowing that in time it would recharge enough to initiate its own auto-repairs. It wouldn't be perfect without a skilled mechanic, but it would hold.

"Let's go, everyone."

The she-cat jerked her head up to see Lani separate from their little group and dash toward the "child," sword poised to strike. Hikari hurriedly made sure her false limb was secure before she took the cylinder she had recovered from it in her flesh hand, twisting various components at the tip to produce a thin blade of light about the length of a typical fencing sword. It buzzed and hummed with deadly plasma energy as she gripped the metal hilt. The Siamese darted past the others with a shouted "C'mon!", moving to assist Lani in her attack.

She glanced back at Kenneth, wishing him all the best. She hadn't interacted much with the fox, but she knew within her heart that if she saw he needed help, she wouldn't hesitate to go to his aid. For now, though, they had their own battles to fight. Hikari focused her attention on the deceptively innocent figure before her and watched, waiting to see the outcome of Lani's attack before going in herself...

OOC: If anyone has a problem with Kari using a "lightsaber" please let me know. I figured that if the people in her lifetime were smart enough to make functioning prosthetics like the one she has, they'd probably be able to figure out pulse-cannons and lightsabers too. Just lemme know and I'll change it if need be. : )

OOC: Ha ha, thanks K. xD Yeah I’m a bitch like that. Dragging up the past on Judas. Just as well I’m playing that fiend Julien.
EDIT: Ninja post! Sorry Kim will get Kari back in in my next post. Oh what a nightmare. So many people online every time I've tried to edit ^^;
IC:

The child looked on indignantly as Lani bolted forwards at an incredible speed. Silver and sparkling shimmers from her light-reflecting sword streaking behind her as she began her attack.

The child managed turn the baton of her scythe 180 degrees to shield the effect of the incoming sword attack aimed towards her torso…
clang!

The raven blood child’s claws grew, gripped and dug into ground so as to steady her balance. Her eyes were daunting and wicked as they glared over the blade she was holding to look back at Lani with sheer hostility. Their positions locked as Lani tried to force the blade into her whilst the child pushed back.

The raven blood child drove Lani off back sheer force. Force that was of a much higher magnitude than the child’s height and frame suggested.

The child quickly jumped forwards and emitted a cry that sounded like rusty metal shards being scraped against black chalk boards. She deftly came in to swipe Lani, aiming to slash her throat.

Lani jumped back and countered. Another curve of the blade from the opposite side as the child rotated the blade which was countered once again. A chorus of clatters and clang as the pulsating battle took place like clapping thunder.

Xell, Kari, Reni, and Wren looked on. Gobsmacked whilst Glitch had had enough and decided to contribute his moves.

“You bloody well drag my daughter into this…!?!”

The child’s haunting eyes could be seen lurking on top of oversized blade which she was using to push Lani back. As if the scene was suddenly suspended by perceived slow motion, the child peeled back a part of her black cloak which hid her torso.

As she did this, a shroud of 20 ravenous black ravens with piercing blood shot eyes screeched out of the pocket and flew into Glitch’s face.

Flapping their wings with feral and aggitated motion. They began to fiercely peck at his eyes, nose, mouth and the rest of his body. Before long he was being ganged up upon by the buzzarding, snapping beaked fowl swarm that squealed like pigs.

Lani stood her ground, momentarily distracted as she turned her face from Glitch to the child. Her stance leaning forwards as she steadied her long sword midway. A position that would either enable a quick attack or defend her need it be. She gritted her teeth as the child steadied her scythe with one hand whilst she brushed a lock of black hair off her face. Her fingers long and scabbed as she steadied the baton.

“You naughty girl Lani. Or should I say naught Illiachen!!! Te he he!!! He’s keeping secrets from you…” she said as she pointed the tip of her scythe at the sword “should we dual again?”
Lani didn’t hesitate to stop pull the next move post-haste. Coming in to slash the child’s mandible, which was met with the blade sheath once again.

Strike strike strike strike the series of clatters and clangs continued as the opponents battled it out.

“This is boring, I need a change,” the child cooed as she swung the baton effortlessly within one hand after jumping back a meter’s distance.
She then came running in again. The scythe being turned at abseloute rapid speed within her right arm. A speed so fast that it acted as a chain soar as flickers of silver, white were reflected.

“Take thhhhhhhhhhiiiiis!” the child cried with sadistic glee, running into Lani as she prepared to scathe her face with the rapidly spinning blade.

(OOC: Ok, question. I don't want to write myself into a corner again, so...I should probably ask this before I post, as it's confusing me. the RBC's power is fear-manipulation, right? So...does she do it through visions, or just talking? It's kinda important so I know how to trigger Reni's locked-up memory right. Especially after that failpost...I wanna do this RIGHT this time >.>

Also...as for another thing Pach mentioned that I forgot about....I wasn't trying to sound condecending or anything toward the other characters in this. For what it's worth, I enjoy all of them. n.n Reni might be condecending...but that's because she forgot what it was she did that got her here and thinks she's better than anyone else. I do have intentions of revealing what it was she did, but...it has to be at the right time.

Also...my previous question still stands...Is this one world/universe, or is it multi-universal?)

((Lani wears travelers' clothes, not armor. Just sayin'.)) %Anything Illiachen is keeping from me, it is for my own good,% Lani thought to herself at the girl's taunting words. She just smiled slightly. She could trust her partner with her life. Indeed, she had before. She didn't bother replying. This was a battle; talk wasn't necessary.

When the child charged, blade spinning, Lani dived aside. The scythe slashed where her head had been moments before. "Xell!" Lani called. "Get over here!" The young lady somersaults aside but stays low, sweeping her sword out at the girl's ankles. Her position is compromised now -- she's open, and vulnerable.

OOC: 'Tis alright Kate! Kari hadn't started attacking yet, more like circling. No harm done. <3

IC:

At Lani's shout, Hikari immediately realized that Xell would never make it to the swordswoman's side in time. The Siamese sprinted toward Lani from her position on the sidelines, closer than the others but far enough away to give the combatants plenty of room to maneuver. With an angry buzz her plasma-saber went arcing through the air, catching the Raven Blood Child's own blade just in time.

As Lani rolled out of reach and resumed a defensive stance, Kari remained before their enemy, purposely locking their weapons together so that one of her companions might be able to strike the child's unguarded side. The Raven Blood Child didn't look worried, however.

Abruptly she began giggling, her eerie gaze locking on to Hikari's. "You're so very silly, Hikari! Not telling Commander O'Shea what really happened to Katsurou... tsk, tsk!" The girl tittered, a feral grin stretching her disfigured face.

Hikari blanched, though her mouth set itself into a firm line. "What... what are you talking about? Katsurou died in an accident!"

"Did he really?" Came the malevolent response.

Kari found herself unable to answer.

OOC: @Vi: What exactly do you mean by one world/universe versus multi? If I'm understanding you right, then as far as I'm concerned, this is its own world/universe (which would count as just one?) ~ but I'll let Kate get back to you on that one. :3
@Kate: Forgot to ask earlier; how far are the gallows from the other protagonists? Are the victims able to see and/or hear what's going on in the fight? I shall edit my post accordingly, depending on your reply.
Short IC here~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordie smiled lightly to herself as she lifted her face into view, still sullenly. The tear streaks along her cheeks had dried by this time. "Thanks, hun."
Slowly, she turned her head towards the other side, where Nathan stood silently. His head too had been drooping downward, his face completely out of view due to his hoodie falling along with it. No reply or movement from him whatsoever. Mordie bit her bottom lip; the salamander was still knocked out completely, it seems.

Her attention then focused on white fox, faced against another unfamiliar figure. Nothing had erupted between the two yet, but judging from their stances, Mordie knew a storm was to emerge in seconds. Kenneth seemed to be going at this knight alone - perhaps he was the one who roped the three to this despicable form of torture?
"My, he sure is a toughie..."

Mordie averted her eyes back to the dance between the Raven Blood Child and protagonists.

-----

Glitch had been ready to charge in after Lani to guard her back - however the new flock of birds had hindered him from doing so, pecking and clawing at him rapaciously. "Goddamn birds!" Glitch cried out, one eye glued shut with the other partially open as he swung his blade around in a wild pattern, attempting to drive them off. Three had been caught by curved cold steel and immediately vanished in a puff of black smoke and fallen ebony feathers. However the others remained perched along his spines and other various parts of his body, clinging on with their scissor-sharp talons as they continued with their assaults.

The hedgehog managed to snag a raven beneath his foot, stomping it into oblivion as he tore down another bird or two. His ears twitched with agitation as the remaining ravens grew more and more belligerent and agile, deftly escaping his swipes with ease as they continued to peck and yank at his fur. Glitch calmed himself as he continued to slash at the birds less wildly than before, but still refusing to remain still for even a moment. At some point, he turned his head back towards Xell and Wren - "A little help??"

OOC: Posting an IC now. Bare with me...

OOC: The way I've always viewed this rp is as one world/one universe, but the characters themselves are from different time periods throughout the world, since it easily explains their different characteristics, attire, and weaponry, and is pretty easily explained by the fact that once they arrived in hell, they wouldn't be able to tell the length of passage of time because hell would feel like eternity.

As such, I've always imagined Lani to be from the past, maybe medievalish due to being a swordswoman, Reni from some point in the past too due to being a princess, medievalish again because that concept might not really remain anymore in the modern time period.

Jack is from the Victorian era, natch.

Xell and Kenneth are from the same time period, being a more modern-day setting, due to their past associations, and their attire plus Xell's familiarity with guns and being a soldier. Similarly, Nathan (hoodie attire, mobile phone) and Wraith would be at the exact same time period as them, due to their connections with SEO.

Seipher, Athena and Hikari are from a time period set more towards the future considering Hikari's prosphetic arm and the technology improvements. Unless I've missed something and any of these characters have been associated with any of the modern characters I don't particularly see any discrepencies in that regard. I'm not sure if Dolly fits somewhere along these lines too considering her metal arms and legs... have I had a brainfart or has it already been shown that Dolly was with Seipher and Hikari before the whole hell fiasco?

Glitch, Mordie and Wren haven't shown to have any particular time period settings for me, personally. I sort of have a mental impression that Wren's not modern, and somewhere between medieval and victorian, but considering his fight with his counterpart and the mention of a coming rapture, Wren could probably be from a far more future setting than any of the rest of the characters.

Jacob and Scar could be from a medieval type setting if they weren't naturally created in hell to begin with.

Glitch and Mordie are probably modern, although I've sort of had this imrpession of Mordie being a wench type character in an age of piracy haha.

Julien's probably been around since the beginning of time |D

But even when I say past, present, future, I mean for the characters in relation to each other. The story for the characters themselves is set after the world has ended, so it's obviously after all of them have been sent to hell to begin with.

But then again I could be completely wrong about this, naturally its all down to Kate.

OOC: RBC is competent and swift in combat. She is also a shape shifter and if she subdues you and/or manages to grip her victim’s forehead then she can draw out their lucid past memories for the victim to relive and Julien would be able to see it. In which case if she had that chance no one would be able to attack her in the interim until she was done extracting the memories.

I’m not too sure what you mean by what universe/multiverse. It’s just the Underworld trial game governed by everyone’s creation but not Sonic or any other crossover if that’s what you mean?

Shy, sorry once again! I wasn’t thinking. I corrected ^^;

OOC2: To Ash.

Yes I agree to what you’ve said ^^. I didn’t really have a fixed idea in my mind TBH but I think we should go with what Ash has outlined. It fits and makes sense. With my OC’s anyway. And lol @ Julien being around since the beginning of time xD
Dolly is from the same time as Hikari and Seipher. I’d say sort of post-present. A decade or so beyond Xell, Nathan and Kenneth. I didn’t articulate Dolly’s past much at all so I wouldn’t expect anyone to know better.
This RP has worked out interestingly with all these themes. It’s good to discuss matters though to tie them up. Hope I don’t end up writing an encyclopaedia though >> xD

IC:

Battle Arena

Xell heard Lani’s call. He stood tall to peak at the scene ahead, clenching his fists on either side of him. Before hesitating.

Lani and Hikari by now were up against the Raven blood child. Glitch was desperately fighting off a swarm of black ravens.

Wren, however, had simply stood there the whole time. Stretching his neck which gave off painful cracks as he flitted his eyes amongst the happenings and proceedings, before folding his arms and leaning against the arena wall.

“Well, aren’t you going to go help your friends?” a half-smile curved upon Wren’s mussel as he turned to look at an apprehensive Xell.

“And where is YOUR input you son of a fiend?!” Xell demanded angrily, his opinion of the purple monstrous rabbit no better at all since his first encounter with him at the ‘Bard & Troll Inn’.

“Will you leave my mother out of this?!” Wren fired back with a gnarled set of teeth as he hissed “sheesh. I don’t know why everyone picks on her and calls me that.”

“You can’t just sit back and watch us die!” Xell continued.

Before Wren could answer, the dragon and the rabbit found their stares drawn to a nearby yet significantly distant cry:

"A little help??" Glitch shouted his battle against the Raven infestation proving to be a struggle. Feathers and screeches in the wake as he frantically tried to claw off the buzzards.

“Oh can’t I?” Wren smirked deviously as he returned to Xell’s conversation “nah, I’ll be your reserve. Just call me when you need me and I’ll silence that brat once and for all.”

“Likely story!!” Xell shouted sarcastically as he got pulled back his talons and sliced the air “Tiger claws!”

With that, a vortex materialised into the air which held infinite dark clouds and ebony skies within. Xell immediately stepped through and vaporised from the spot he was standing in to teleport elsewhere.

_____________________________________________________________

The Raven Blood Child took a moment to put a finger to her mouth. Smiling sweetly, curiously and yet sickly as she stared at the Siamese whose face was confessing some guilt.

“Why so still little one? Is something the matter…?” the child cooed, a lingering sense of false pretence and dread in her voice, as well as a sense of taunting. Kari tried to regain her bearings, mustering some mental strength to shoot the disfigured child a look of contempt.
“…but of course that’s it. Your twin brother actually died because of you,” her voice spoke with echoing death “but I still don’t know how. Tell me, did you kill him? You did didn’t you? You damned feline. How truly truly ghastly. Tell me, what was it like? To be that person… staring back at the bloodspill and the dead eyes of your own brother…?”

“Like tears of blood that roll off your hands
As if you were crying blood…” she sang in a deathly whisper. Her purple blemished eyelids closing seductively as she did so.

“I’ve… I’ve had enough of you!!!” Kari cried, tears streaming from her face as she leapt forwards with her light saber in the air to deal a blow.
The Raven blood child was prepared to counter. Her scythe holsted back in preparation to swing and severe the Siamese in half. As she vacillated the blade with her palm, she suddenly cried out as Lani came crashing in from the side- the knight’s elbow along with the force of her body colliding into the child which sent her flying laterally.

Kari in the meantime, landed unscathed. She turned around and flicked her tail as her eyes followed the fate of the blow dealt to the Raven Blood Child.

The child eventually collided with the nearby arena wall. Her body giving off a series of dislocating crunches and clicks on collision- with her neck lolling to one side as it had also been dislocated severely. Blood running down her forehead where an old suture had been slightly reopened from the smash.

Silence followed the wake as dust from the ground picked up and veiled the casualty.

She eventually picked herself up. Snapping her disjointed fingers and other various ligaments and limbs into place with a series of snaps and cracks. She glowered upon the knight and Siamese in question. Body trembling with rage as the blood continued to pour down her forehead and dripped across the membranes of her eyes.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!” she thundered as the ground shook and flint and debris was thrown all over the place. The audience silenced somewhat as they clutched their heads from the unbearable resonance given off by their cries. Their hearts aching from it moreover.

A shroud of suffocating, purple mist suddenly clouded over her. Surrounding her form as she began to make her daunting footsteps forwards.

Hilkari and Lani looked on. Trying to rapidly decipher the child behind the metamorphasizing shroud of cloud that covered her so thick in smog.

Their inquisitive looks were cut short when a pair tentacles stretched out from the smoke within their range and smacked both Lani and Hikari hard against their bodies. Causing them to collapse on to their backs and skid across the ground.

“Just gets better and better…” the child stood over the fallen victims as she came in and invaded their personal spaces. A more daemonic form noticeable as they noted a pair of horns protruding from her head, some scathed wings, 4 tentacles from her back and her voice a few octaves lower than what it was before. Swinging the oversized scythe in one of her hands. Her skin was also tarnished with purple and red which resembled scaled-like skin.

“I think it’s time we knew about your past Lani. What do you say?” it spoke with full set of sharpened teeth. She bent down and reached a claw like hand to her forehead. Ready to clasp it and draw out her memories…

______________________________________________________________________________

Jacob stared at the 16 Kenneths in front of him. All smirking at him and twirling their knives so single-handedly with conceitedness. He blinked with slight frustration, biting his lower lip as he trained his eyes on all of them with wearily.

“You really are making life difficult for yourself Kenneth Lay,” Jacob spoke humourlessly, realising the irony of his own statement. However, he wasn’t about to back down to someone so unbelievably insubordinate and cheeky.

“What a statement to make, “ one of the copies spoke
“…when you have no leg to stand on.” Another finished the sentence.

Jacob uttered a low growl as his vision meandered across the line of illusions in front of him.

“You are presumptuous too Kenneth Lay. That’s a very weak trait to have.” Jacob furrowed his brows, maintaining a guarded position as he stared at all the replicas. The Knight Captain was sure he could’ve snuffed out the real one from 2, 3, or possible 4 copies. But 16? It was crazy.

“Says the lapdog who works for Julien,” a Kenneth from one end of the line spoke out with a smile.

“…but there’s something mal-fitting about you. Dog.” Another spoke from the middle.

“…there’s something lacking in your personality. Something that spells a misfit before us…” three Kenneths spoke in union from the middle of the line.

Jacob was finding this fox to be somewhat unnerving. Attacking recklessly wasn’t the way forwards however. A 1/16 chance of striking the right Kenneth? Even if he did step forwards, what would stop the other 15 attacking him en masse? Or tricking him into stabbing his own chest which is what he had perceived from the battle against his doppelganger. Whether that was how he really killed his counterfeit or not. He was up against an illusionist beyond his thinking and this battle may be skimming the knight captain’s limits.

He cast a glance over his shoulder to look at Wren, who waved back mockingly. Before shrugging his shoulders. His grin spreading all the more as he looked on with curiosity.

Jacob maintained his stance- turning his head around abruptly to cut off his look from Wren.

If there was person apart from the Overlord himself who could pick out the Mastercopy, it was that soul density deciphering monstrosity. Wren. Not that he’d stoop to that level and ask him. Even if he did, he doubted he’d get the answer he was looking for in return from that treacherous beast.

Asking Julien, furthermore, would also be a surrender of weakness. The Knight Captain had some pride to maintain. Even if he’d die in doing so.

A game of chance thus stood before him. A 6.25% chance of deciphering the right Kenneth whilst ensuring he, himself, didn’t fall to the other conmen.

“So you want to win Kenneth?” Jacob asked at last as he unsheathed his long sword, which glinted against the overcast sunlight “I regret to say you’ve chosen the wrong way…”

Jacob had enough belief in his mind to justify his upcoming actions. Not only had the fox been recklessly insulting towards the Overlord, but he was also putting his friends at risk. Both those fighting the battle against the Nemesis of circle I and those up against the Noose. Although suffering from any one person wasn’t what ultimately drove Jacob to battle an enemy out, he was confident he had enough rationalisation to silence Kenneth. Or to at least subdue him for his reckless and irrational behaviour. Who did he think he was? Setting up his own rules for this game. It wasn’t for him to say. He really needed to take a hint and fold his cards.

“Take this!” Jacob unexpectedly lashed forwards with the ‘cat of nine tails’ whip that he had prepared in one of his holsters. Each barbed rope flinging out at the Kenneths in front of him.

If he could nail at least nine of them in one go, it would be an easier number to settle for than 16!

_____________________________________________________

Xell stepped through the Vortex at the other end and dove straight for the Raven-infested Glitch.

“I’m here Glitch… I’m here!!!” Xell hollered as he made his way to fight off the ravens.

The dragon pulled back his talons and scratched the birds off. One by one they screeched and flapped but fell to the ground like wriggling maggots as they found half a wing ripped off, as well as other scattering beaks, legs, talons, flesh and bones. All fallen to a pile.

The remaining few crowed ferociously with lolling tongues, before accepting defeat and flying off into the distance.

“Yeah!! And go tell ya ugly children I’m coming back for them!!!” Glitch waved a vengeful fist to the skies as they disappeared “hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha!!!” he resounded manically.

Xell breathed a sigh of relief, but also shook his head confused as he faced the hedgehog. Granted he was somewhat grazed and scarred where the birds had pecked and scratched at him. He still remained… somewhat untraumatised.

“Dude. You just got attacked by a bunch of birds,” Xell leaned forwards with an incredulous expression as he opened his palms out. One hand baring the Tiger claws.

“…that’s not really funny.”

OOC2: Apologies in advance if there's an OOC. You know you can tell me right? I'm not going to bite you ^^;
EDIT: Oops figured there's no evidence that Kenneth knows Jacob;s name. Editted.

((Can even sealed memories or ones that have been wiped from a person's mind be replayed? What if the memories are stored elsewhere? I'm going to consider how I want to handle this -- I know for sure I don't want to have the /whole/ story revealed yet -- but certainly some of it. Will post IC a bit later after I get an answer/decide.

Oh, and Lani is actually from a modernish time period, though she was born in a medievalish one. She just hasn't given up her style of combat.))

"Take this!" Jacob bellowed aloud, as he charged forward at the group of 16 Kenneth Lays, his 'cat of nine tails' whip shooting out at once, each of the nine strands of barbed rope shooting forth out at nine of the Kenneth's bodies, hoping to nail them in one go and make the developing battle an easier fight to win.

At the same time as Jacob's own charge began, the sixteen copies all moved in unison, pushing themselves forwards in their own charge. Some of the copies managed to deftly avoid the snaking assault, and with Jacob's first initial assault, five of the copies were obliterated. The barbed rope piercing the Kenneth copies in various spots across their body, the chest, shoulders, forehead... each one of the whip piercing through the copy and dissipating the copy in a spiralling billow of blurring light. Jacob was grateful for the initial strike, it would make things easier, but he couldn't allow himself to become overconfident. None of the ones he had hit proved to be the genuine copy, and there were still 11 of them remaining.

One of the Kenneth copies had gotten close enough to pierce Jacob's guard, and swung for the Knight Captain with his knife. Jacob reacted like a warrior pro, dodging the lunge, and swung his longsword deftly with one hand, slicing off the fox conman's arm. But, again, it was a fake. The copy dissipated in a vertically seperating blur of light.

'Ten left...' Jacob mused to himself, as he dodged another two copies' lunging assaults, this time from either side. He leapt into the air, and managed a roundhouse kick to both of the copies' faces with his legs, kicking each of the copies simultaneously and landing effortlessly. Both of the copies stumbled backwards and landed on their behinds, but niether one followed the same course of dissipation as the other copies did. It was most likely due to Jacob's attack not being a killing blow, but even then, there existed the possibility that one of the two was the real Kenneth Lay.

Jacob didn't have time to pursue it further a he ducked low, narrowly dodging another thrust by a Kenneth Lay from behind. Continuing in his swift motion, Jacob stretched out and swung one of his legs out in a semi circle, tripping the copy from behind by kicking his legs out. As the Kenneth Lay fell towards the ground, Jacob swung out with his sword, slicing the fox in the legs. A shallow wound, but even then, this copy dissipated in a blur of light as well.

It didn't make much sense... a killing blow wasn't neccessary to destroy the copies? Then what was? Was it more trickery of the conman fox, or was he getting tired? Was something inhibiting his abilities...?

'Or maybe he just wants me to doubt myself. I need to focus myself, get this done.' Jacob thought to himself, as another of his sword strikes destroyed one more copy.

Nine left. He'd already destroyed seven, and yet he still had no idea which of the Kenneth Lays was the genuine article. How long would this take?!

'As long as it has to. I won't fail.'

Jacob took control of the battle's pace, as he dodged more of the Kenneth Lay's clumsy lunges and swipes with their knives, and in due process, destroyed each with a single stroke. Kenneth Lay, or his copies at any rate, had no real fighting experience. And against Jacob, that was both foolish and suicidal. Ridiculous.

"Reveal yourself!" Jacob commanded, as he destroyed another copy with an upwards vertical slice through the copy's chest, chin and face. The copy followed suit in its brothers' example and vanished in a bright blue blurring light. Of all his work so far, of the battle's progress, he had managed to destroy thirteen of the copies, and he hadn't even worked up a sweat. More irritated than anything else.

Of the three that remained, two of them were close to Jacob, flanking the captain of either side. The remaining Kenneth Lay stood back at a distance, his knife raised in a defensive stance, a wide smirk across his entire face. That cocky grin only served to anger Jacob further.

The two suited conmen on either side of him lunged forwards, aiming for a decisive simultaneous strike against Jacob, much as the technique that had been done earlier. In a calm and practiced fashion, Jacob did a swift, circular slash in a 360 degree fashion, his sword slicing off each of the Kenneth's heads across the necks. He had lost his patience for the fox now, and he knew that both of those Kenneth's were nothing more than a copy... the real one staying back, keeping himself out of harm's way. His suspicions were confirmed a second later with the dissipation of both copies, leaving only one Kenneth Lay remaining... and the knight captain Jacob.

"Cowardice... pure cowardice. What on earth were you planning with that gamble?" Jacob asked, his brow creased with a frown as he strode calmly towards the remaining Kenneth, his grip on his sword tightening.

"Well, I may be a coward. But I'm a damn good looking coward, at that." Kenneth laughed. "And smart too." A twinkle glistened in his eye.

"No, you're just a fool!" Jacob shouted, and in a surprising burst of speed closed the remaining distance between the two fighters. His sword swung forwards, striking the remaining Kenneth in the face with its backside. He didn't want to have to kill him if chance permitted, but at the same time he was still willing to if he was pushed to it and there was no option remaining.

Kenneth went flying, skidding on the ground in desperate pain. Even then, Jacob was following Kenneth's body, racing towards it so he could continue to keep the pressure on the fox and end the battle once and for all.

But then he stopped as his eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

Kenneth's body came to a stop, dust kicked up from the arena's flooring. But where was once a still and unmoving Kenneth, a second later was the same distinctive familiar blurring light that had accompanied the rest of the Kenneth copies' dissipations. The Kenneth he had just attacked dissapeared completely, leaving no one else to remain but Jacob himself.

He had been played.

--------------------

"Amusing," Jack commentated from his position off the Throne of the Damned, standing still next to Athena. Gazing down at the developments below, he could only laugh at Jacob's actions. "The gentleman seems to prance about like a mad fool. I dare say, I'm sure Julien won't be so amused at this spectacle, especially coming from his knight's Captain."

Athena nodded in agreement.

--------------------

3 Minutes earlier

Slice.

"Wh-wha?" Mordie called out in surprise as her body suddenly lunged forward, collapsing off the barrel and towards the wooden flooring of the execution stand. Her tumble was ended in midmotion however, as her body was caught as gently as he could allow by that of a familiar, smartly suited white fox.

"Kenny??" Mordie weakly called out in surprise, as Kenneth lowered her to a sitting position.

"Shush there, darling, don't want to go alerting our resident pain in the arse, over there." Kenneth winked with a finger to his mouth, silencing the injured's mouth, whilst his other hand pointed over his shoulder and to the ground below, where in the near distance she could see the knight captain whom Kenneth had been facing off doing something rather... bizarre. He was battling something, but for whatever it was, she couldn't see it. An invisible enemy that only Jacob see; Kenneth's delightful magic at work.

"Now hold on there a second whilst I free your hands and the rest of our friends." Kenneth instructed, reaching around Mordie's back and slashing the ropes bounding her wrists back. As the ropes were released, a wave of relief washed throughout Mordie's arms, but as she moved them, she was reminded of the painful injuries she had suffered from her battle with her counterpart. She winced in pain, clutching her wounds.

Kenneth wasted no time in letting Seipher down as well, freeing his own bondage, and then doing the same to the still unconscious Nathan. Kenneth put his fingers to Nathan's neck, searching for a pulse, for any sign that the salamader was still alive. He was fortunate, there was one, albeit significantly weak. He needed medical attention as soon as possible, the same with Mordie and Seipher, but Kenneth had no idea where they'd be able to get any to treat their wounds, especially in their situation. The best he could hope for at the moment was to finish off these battles, these trials, and find some help after.

"You any good with that gun?" Kenneth asked a still disoriented Seipher who was nursing his neck. It took a while for the Air Commander to comprehend what Kenneth was asking, but he nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, yeah, of course I am. What're you thinking...?" Seipher asked.

"Buddy, I'm placing you in charge of protecting our lady here and Nate as well." Kenneth nodded towards him, pulling his suit jacket off and handing it to the three. He wasn't sure what good it could do, but maybe they could tear it up and use it to help treat their wounds as a makeshift bandage somewhat. "You sure as hell better not let me down, buddy."

Kenneth stood back up, looking out from the execution platform to the rest of the arena. Towards the battle where the rest of his companions fought with the Raven Blood Child, and then towards the knight captain Jacob, who at this point believed he had defeated all but three of the Kenneth copies.

"K-kenny...? Where do ya think you're goin'...?" Mordie asked, her eyes wide with concern.

"Gotta try and clean up a bit of the trash still here, I guess." Kenneth mused to himself.

Seipher focused his eyesight in the direction Kenneth was looking in. "You can't seriously believe you can kill him, do you?"

Kenneth laughed. "I don't plan on killing him."

With that, Kenneth jumped off the execution platform, to the rocky ground below, dissapearing out of sight from the rescued twosome's eyesight. Kenneth landed on the ground with a dull thud and a wince of pain that shot throughout his body. Whilst he was still making himself believe he was strong enough to fight, his body was certainly one to disagree. He had to be careful to take things easy, and to try and finish this battle as soon as he could, before his body would give way and collapse for good.

Trying to kill Jacob would certainly be the quickest option. But it was an option Kenneth was never going to attempt, for a couple of reasons. One; he was an arrogant prick and a complete arse, but he was not a murderer. And becoming a murderer, here and now, was certainly not going to help in redeeming his soul. Whether his other companions realised that or not, Kenneth had no idea, but if one wanted to absolve themselves of their sins, continuing to kill was not exactly the best way to go about that. It helped their continued survival, certainly, but it didn't make it any easier to win this game. The best way at success was never neccessarily the easiest.

And secondly, killing Jacob would not be in Kenneth or any of his companions' best interests. He had no idea what would happen to Jacob if he was killed, but he suspected it likely that Jacob would simply revive and rematerialise back in hell, where he could quite easily come back to haunt the party further still. No, the ideal way to succeed in this battle would to incapacitate Jacob. Wound him for the longterm. Break an arm, or a leg... something like that, as well as knock him unconscious. That'd be the optimum solution.

Kenneth continued to slowly walk towards where Jacob had been fighting, clutching his one last cigarette he had in his mouth before realising he left his packet in his suit pocket. He still had his lighter though, and with it lit the cigarette and took a drag of the nicotine.

Would this battle be decided in a single smoke's time...?

"No, you're just a fool!" Jacob had called out, and seconds later, the last fake copy of Kenneth had vanished. Jacob looked around in surprise, searching for the real Kenneth, and finding nothing. His count wasn't wrong. Sixteen of them had been killed, so where...?

"Yo." Kenneth called out from behind the Knight Captain, making him swerve at once to face against Kenneth in a battle stance. His face still looked confused, moreso than usual now that Kenneth's appearance was different. His suit jacket was gone. What in the world was the meaning of that? It didn't really matter though, all that was important was the fight.

"What is your game, Kenneth Lay?!" Jacob demanded. "Enough of these irritating tricks! Fight with pride like a real man!"

"Oh hey, I'm all man, let me assure you of that!" Kenneth shouted back in anger. He calmly took another drag of his cigarette, and then pulled out his knife, twirling the blade up and down in his hand. "But fighting with pride and honour is a quick way to getting oneself killed, y'know? So I fight smart... what's the problem in that? Means I live longer."

"The way you're going, that statement isn't true!" Jacob shouted. His eyes widened in surprised however, as Kenneth without warning threw his knife towards Jacob, aiming straight for the Knight Captain's forehead. Jacob easily parried it, his sword swiping up to knock the knife into the distance, away from the two. He grunted in dissaproval. To throw away his weapon like that... he must have been desperate-

Jacob's eyes widened in surprise once more at the impossible. His body instantly reacted, jumping back to barely avoid a searing cutting pain shoot across his forehead from an invisible object. A thin stream of blood sprayed outwards, as Jacob turned to his attention to try and find what on earth had caused his injury. From out of nowhere materalised a knife. Kenneth's knife.

But how? Did he have a second knife he'd been concealing the whole time? He doubted it, none of the copies' seemed to use a second blade, but then what was it?

Kenneth wouldn't admit to his actions, but in actuality the first thrown, and blocked knife never existed. An illusion that Kenneth made Jacob believe was real, all so it would lower the Knight Captain's guard. And then, the second thrown knife, the real knife, made invisible by Kenneth making Jacob believe he couldn't see it. But through some annoying twist of fate, Jacob had sensed the impending blade and dodged it. He was wounded but the wound was shallow and inconsequential. Kenneth had failed.

But he refused to give up.

Jacob turned around in time to find Kenneth's fist square in his jaw. A burst of pain shot through the Captain's face, an impossible level of pain considering the fox's prior condition. But before Jacob could possibly question the madness of it, Kenneth continued to attack and assault Jacob with his fists and legs, kicking the 'cat of nine tails' whip out of his hand. He had tried the same for his sword, but Jacob's grip refused to relinquish the weapon. All the whilst, Kenneth continued on the offensive, barraging Jacob's body with a furious and unrelenting attack. And constantly, the feeling of sheer pain coursing through Jacob's body. It was unimaginable.

Last strike.

Kenneth gripped both his hands together in a single fist. Standing above the kneeling Jacob, Kenneth jumped up and swung his fists down upon the back of the Captain's head with all the force that remained in his body. The attack collided against Jacob, and drove his head down to crash against the rocky ground, an explosion of pain flooding Jacob's entire body and senses, threatening to topple him into complete unconsciousness. A billow of dust and smoke washed up from Jacob's fallen body, and with it, Kenneth took a couple of exhausted steps back, almost collapsing himself, to take another drag of his cigarette.

'Please let that be enough...' Kenneth prayed.

But Jacob was still conscious.

He took a moment's breather, his body still sprayed on the floor, to try and puzzle out the confusion that still plagued him. The ground that his face had been smashed against showed no sign of cracking or the force that should have been required to damage it that he had felt. Similarly, his face showed no signs of any other severe wounding bar the knife throw. None of the wounds that he should have recieved from Kenneth just then existed... at least not with the painful intensity he had just felt. He felt no exhaustion or everlasting pain whatsoever. Just confusion... and anger.

"Oh crap..." Kenneth muttered in the few moments he had left before a swiftly rising Jacob kicked the conman in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. Kenneth's gamble had failed. He had used what little remained of his belief ability to make Jacob believe that every single instance of Kenneth's attacks were far more powerful and painful than they were, especially considering his weakened and exhausted body. But whilst Jacob may or may not have pieced together Kenneth's plan, the simple fact was that his ruse was not enough to succeed.

Kenneth tried everything he could to pull himself off the ground. His arms felt like jelly, and his knees like lead.

But he couldn't give up. He damn well refused to. He had to protect them. HE HAD TO BEAT THIS DAMN SON OF A BITCH!

Jacob's sword pressed against the downed Kenneth stalled his efforts. Kenneth weakily looked up to the Knight Captain above, whose figure and form was shadowed to Kenneth's sight by the bright sun above.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't execute you right now, Kenneth Lay." Jacob demanded an answer.

"Heh... I can... think of several, actually..." Kenneth laughed through the pain. "F-for one... I don't think your boss Julien would r-really appreciate one of his subordinates here just k-killing me like this... I'm sure he'd rather see me die some p-painful and torturous death later on in the g-game... when my spirit and will is completely broken... right?"

"..."

"Me dying like this is h-hardly a victory for h-him. Only when I've l-lost everything, I'm sure would b-be a satisfactory victory. And besides, w-what threat could he possible f-feel from me?" Kenneth coughed out some blood from his mouth. "B-besides... I'm just too damn gorgeous to kill."

He smiled.

Jacob's anger and frustration had reached its boiling point. Jacob relinquished his sword from the conman's neck, and with a single, effortless swipe, sliced off Kenneth's left ear. A stream of blood splattered out onto the ground, and the white fox howled in pain. A scream that was cut short as Jacob's used the backside of his sword to bluntly smash against the side of Kenneth's face, sending him back to the black and dull state of unconsciousness. A state he had been in no short while ago.

Jacob had done his job. Subdued the fox. He would have liked ending such an obnoxiously cocky individual's life at once, but even then he had to admit Kenneth was right about something. Julien would gain more pleasure from the fox's death later on in the game, and he wasn't willing to risk Julien's wrath for personally taking a life of one of the trial runners in a fight that wasn't an actual intended part of the game. Plus, he had taken the conman's ear. It was something that Kenneth would not forget for a long time... or for whatever time he had remaining to him.

But for Kenneth, it was in some small part a victory. Mordie, Seipher and Nathan... their lives were still in peril, but for now at least at a far less alarming state than before. For now, they had a chance. And plus, his trickery on Jacob, and the knight captain's actions in battling the copies something that didn't exist which only he saw... hopefully that would do something to help discredit Jacob in the eyes of Julien. That would be satisfying.

And he was still alive.

Something to be grateful for.

OOC: Long post is long >>;

OOC: Writing a post up right now! But I can't finish it at the moment, I must leave the house for school soon (which has the forum blocked for some sodding reason). :c

I shall complete it and post it once I get home though. So... it'll take more than a few hours before I get it up, but please wait for me? c: (Unless, Shy, you want to take care of something regarding Lani's memories/reaction/fight in the RBC scene first? Because that's aight with me if you'd like to~)

I just don't want to lose what I have in mind for my next post lol.
Happened before last time I had an idea and went to school, so... x___x
Will have commentary and all that jazz in my next post too. Til then!~ *flies off*

(OOC: Ah now I see why you were so upset at my failpost, Pach. And with good reason...that was an amazing post! Also, your theory about one world/different time periods seems reasonable. It could also be different countries from that one world or something.

Anyway...I'm having a bit of writer's block at the moment...just...not sure how to get in on this fight. And as stated before, I'm not very good with fight scenes. Which makes me question my joining this in the first place, as it seems to have a lot of them, but...I'm not just gonna cut and run. XP I just don't know what to do right now. *shrug*)

OOC: Holy crap. What a post Ash! I can't believe what a masterpiece that was. I'd be so chuffed if I had written that.
I was quite scared for Jacob (even though he isn't my character)... and Kenneth xD Weird of me. It's normally my own OC's I am so absorbed with but... I guess most of the OC's are so real seeming that I feel empathic about them.
I can't believe Kenneth has lost his left ear!!!
I felt that when I read it! The dialogue was intense and the descriptions vivid. Magnifique! nn

I had no idea of the outcome. It kept changing and kept me in suspence.

Beautiful work.

Well off to bed. Besides I've been post-whoring a bit. Just as well its work tomorrow. ^^; 7AM start o__O *dies*

PS VW if you don't like battle scenes you can just get Reni to reflect or something. It's just the Arena battle that's been intensified with battles but that was a given. Maybe Circle II will prove to be more your fancy. (:

The Raven Blood Child's hand closed around Lani's head, and the female warrior was thrust suddenly into an unfamiliar world. It was the village of elves and dwarves and humans and all manner of different types that she had seen before. The perspective was that of a child's height. %I must have lived here,% she thought. But there was still no sense of recognition, no /connection/ with the memory. More bits and pieces flashed through her mind. The scene changes, showing a blonde man with piercing blue eyes. The perspective of a young woman, this time. Obviously a good friend, someone she must have cared for. And then the village again, but this time devastated, parts of it burning, others reduced to rubble. It would seem she was helping clean up the damage and dig out buried survivors...but what had caused the destruction? So many people injured or dead....

"Oh, but you've been a /very/ bad girl," her double had said. "The destruction you left in your wake" -- was this destruction her doing? But she would never do such a thing -- would she? "A whole /life/ you don't remember," the creature had told her. What sort of person had she been in that life? But if she was responsible, why would she be helping in the aftermath? Something in the back of her mind was tearing at her thoughts, causing her pain.

OOC: Separating my commentary from my actual post.
Forewarning though; my next IC is.. definitely my longest. >__>;

@Kate: Holy geez, I love that "Leave my mother out of this D|" lolcomment from Wren. You come up with the most genius lines ever, I swear. XD I always get such a good laugh from your posts, even if they're coming from a character as scary as Wren, or during a matter of life and death. Quality work as always! && Also... tentacles!? *shudders madly* I've developed some fear/hatred of them over the passed couple of weeks. Way to drag it into the RP. D| lol

@Ash: ... Gaddamn man, I laughed so hard at my mental image of when Jack commented on Jacob prancing around like a fool. You have no idea. I nearly spat my water all over the screen. I'm speechless at how wonderfully yours was written as well. Lovely fight scenes and all. But other than that. Yeah. I hate you right now. :c
/cries over Kenneth

@Shy: Ooh, this is pretty intriguing! I like where you're going with the village's ruination. Poor Lani doesn't understand a thing that's going on. D: Can't wait to see more of this developed and brought into the RP <3.

Heavy apologies for any oocs! Please let me know asap if I goofed on anyone's characters (or, Kate, if I visioned this arena incorrectly XD; I've never been good with settings) and I'll fix it up immediately! Also.. sorry Glitch has been cursing a lot in these passed few posts. He's been pretty angry. :c

Anyway! On with the IC;

"It really wasn't," Glitch gritted his teeth as he dove in after the enigmatic cloud of smoke emanating around the Raven Blood Child. Two fallen silhouettes lingered in the distance nearby it, also clouded by the surrounding smog - no doubt Hikari and Lani. Another figure possessing multiple new limbs approached one of them.

"I think it’s time we knew about your past Lani. What do you say?" a familiar voice rang from the distance, in a tone deeper than what the child spoke in before.

There wasn't another moment to lose. It was clear to Glitch now - the morphed monstrosity had closed in on Lani, her palm affixed to Lani's forehead. "Oh no, you don't!" Glitch exclaimed at this as he neared closer and closer. The Raven Blood Child's expression quickly swapped from that of a demoniacal smile to eyes widened in astonishment as she jolted her head towards the incoming hedgehog. Lani remained motionless to Glitch's battle cry as the child's hand remained on the warrior's head.

Not even a second had passed before the child turned to see Glitch close in on her - and with a deft slice of his blade, completely severed off the child's hand from Lani. The Raven Blood Child jolted back from the impact as inky-black blood began to spurt like a fountain from where her wrist once was. The swordswoman too fell back, however the hand continued to remain closed in around her forehead, until Glitch yanked it off and tossed it to the side. The fingers closed in on themselves into a wrinkled fist as the rest of the limb began to shrivel up like a crunched spider. "You okay?"

Lani coughed, slowly regaining a grip of her surroundings. Her head ached immensely, pulsing along with her disturbed heartbeats as she attempted to sit herself up. What in the world was...? No, she couldn't afford to let herself dwell on that vision - not here. "I'm... fine."

"Good," Glitch replied back, returning his attention to the screaming abomination. "I'd offer a hand, but it's kind of full right now. But you're a big girl - you can stand yourself up." The hedgehog nearly lost his footing upon saying this, as the child's glass-breaking screams began to morph into a lurid cackle that echoed throughout the entire arena. The bloodspill pouring from her exposed arm had ceased completely. She twirled around her scythe as Glitch charged in for another attack, his blade held high - only to stop midair as one of the child's tentacles had snapped at his wrist just in time.

The Raven Blood Child inched closer to him, eyes wild with fascination as she encroached Glitch's face, staring in wonder at his own two eyes. How else can she tear down this overconfident fool and bring out the baby within him? "You're soooo protective over your family, aren't you, Judas."

"What's it to you, scum!?"

"Jillie wouldn't appreciate you beating up another child like her, wouldn't she. She'd see you as-"

Without any warning, Glitch spat in the child's ghastly face, and she momentarily snapped her eyes shut. Glitch then yanked his arm down with enough force to pull the Raven Blood Child towards him, nearly causing her to stumble over as her tentacle lost its grip on his arm. While her back was now vulnerable, Glitch aimed for another swipe - but again was caught by a different tentacle. He snarled at this, merely held in place while the hellion straightened herself, wiping the saliva from her face with her arm. "Aww, you don't like it when I talk about poor little Jillie, don't you."

Footsteps were heard approaching rapidly from both sides of the child - Lani and Hikari - though neither Glitch nor the child turned their attention to either of them. Before either of the two sword-wielders could even launch their attack, both were thrust back down by two other tentacles and rolled off to the side.

"Well," the child continued, "she wouldn't appreciate you hurting her friend very much either."

All aggression in the hedgehog's face dropped as his eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. Dumbfounded. "What the !@#$ are you talking about!?"

The child's smile widened from ear to ear as she revealed her razor-sharp teeth once again.

"I mean exactly what I say."

More footsteps emerged from behind the duo - this time it was Xell, charging in with his claws, ready to shred apart the monstrosity. The child loosened her grip on Glitch's only arm as she swerved around to halt Xell in his tracks, wrapping another tentacle around his claws. Xell's eyes widened - "What the!?" - and he was thrown to the side with ease.

Catching this moment of vulnerability, Glitch sliced his blade horizontally at the child's head, yet once again his attack was deterred; while she parried it effortlessly with her scythe, an elongated tentacle had swiped below him, like a jump rope, causing him to topple over. Immediately afterwards, another tentacle pinned down the hedgehog's back, nearly crushing his ribs against the cold cement.

"She's here!?" Glitch managed to cough out, nearly gagging from the weighted force atop his back.

"She oh most definitely is!" the creature beamed enthusiastically as she made her way towards the hedgehog once more.

Before she could say anything more, Glitch exploded, "You're lying--you're lying, you sick bastard!"

With immense newfound strength, Glitch rolled over towards the tentacle and, similarly to her hand, managed to sever half of it clean from the rest of the limb. Once again, the Raven Blood Child staggered backwards, emitting another ear-splitting scream as more inky blood sprayed from the topsy-turvy appendage, flying about like an overpowered firehose. Glitch managed to roll to his feet, his torn ears twitching from the outcry, and the surrounding protagonists all guarded their ears as well. "Kill us through our ears, why don'tcha!?" Glitch screamed back.

Yet even after her screams, which again mutated into a desperate cackle, the Raven Blood Child still managed to shoot back another taunt; "Y-you've... never had a good grip on... parenthood alone, have you, Judas...?"

"Shut your trap! I'm sick of all your empty taunts!"

"You-- you're sick of everything, Judas!" The child then turned to the side and gagged - a glob of thick, ebon blood oozed from her mouth, splattering amongst the floor. Glitch turned away in disgust. Slowly, the dollfaced child returned her attention to the hedgehog, still smiling widely all the while. "Y...you need to calm down sometimes..." she giggled creepily, "Take... take a chill pill."

Glitch began to tremble with rage - very similarly to his reaction during his previous fight with his doppelganger. His blue eyes frantically darted to and fro, seeking out a spot for where to attack next as the monster approached him once more, slowly.

Glitch had raised Jillian well, even without the help of her deceased mother. He knew that. He may have a sailor's tongue and a lack of patience, but deep down inside, he knew he had raised his child lovingly. With care. With patience. She turned out to be as sweet as her mother... But why would she be down here, of all places?

"Hyaa!" another feminine voice was heard from his right - the Siamese Kari leaped in, thrusting her saber at the child in a parabolic motion, only to have it just barely parried by the scythe. The child nudged the cat to the side, leaving Kari open for a moment. Before she could move to split her back, the swordswoman Lani also jumped in and knocked the Raven Blood Child aside, by an adept hack at her waist. Though the slice was a minor one, barely inciting any new bloodloss, the child was still taken aback by this surprise.

It was a damned lie.

However, before she could topple over completely, a free tentacle managed to snag the Siamese's saber in a rigid grip. As vapors emitted from the flesh, singed from the heated light, the child managed to pull Kari along with her as she fell and threw the cat over her in a rapid, semi-circle motion. Lani dove in for the kill, yet the agile child rolled to her feet and countered her strike once again. She smirked widely - "Foolish girl!" - and pushed her scythe's blade passed Lani, nearly nicking her neck. Lani however managed to turn away in time as she dodged to the side, keeping low as she landed on her ankles, ready to pounce again.

No way in hell would Jillian be condemned to such a fate here.

Another shout was heard in the distance: "Tiger claws!"
The dragon Xell could be seen from the corner of the child's eyes, leaping into a newly created vortex as he vanished into nothing.

It doesn't make any sense.

"Na-ah!" the child cried out playfully. Seconds later, a newly ripped portal materialised beside her and Xell pounced out - only to be knocked straight down yet again. The Raven Blood Child approached the dragon, with a wild malevolent smile spread across her demented face, bigger than ever before, seemingly splitting it in two.

"And you... Xell..."

"Your target is over here!" Before the child could react this time, she was kicked down by a pseudo-roundhouse kick delivered by Glitch to her waist - the same side she had been slit in moments before by Lani. Her three whole tentacles shot forward to catch the falling child, flipping her up in a somersault-like motion as she fell. She whirled around upon landing, assuming a mock fighters stance. "Is that the best you can do?"

Glitch seethed at this and dove in to strike again, slicing and dicing the air in a haphazard manner, completely missing the child with each slash. The child yawned as she ducked and dodged every incoming move. She then sucker punched the bitter hedgehog across his face with a curled tentacle, sending him to his side. Glitch coughed out a clot of blood as he sat himself up, twitching rigidly. He brought his dirtied arm to his face, coughing some more. All the while his fiery eyes remained glaring at the atrocious child before him, who let out another cackling guffaw to her audience, expressing her raging sense of victory, despite her missing arm and destroyed tentacle. Glitch ground his teeth together.

"Glitch!" Kari cried out from a distance, standing herself from her previous fall. "Calm yourself!" Though she knew nothing about his past nor his previous battle with his replica, she knew well that his hasty, bitter reactions would eventually lead to his downfall. "You are the one who told us to keep our ground!"

"Yeah, after that speech?" Xell butted in, flinging off a drop of blood from the side of his mouth as he pushed himself up, "You better stick to your own word!"

Swaying side to side in an effort to keep himself balanced, Glitch managed to stand himself, his fingers drumming angrily along the hilt of his sword. At this moment, Glitch had ceased his trembling. "Right. Sorry."

Though his voice and stance remained confident and upright, in his eyes dwelled a heavy sense of trepidation. Worry.

-----------------------------

Mordie and Seipher, who had the unconscious Nathan slung across his shoulder, had dashed through the route opposite to where Kenneth had ran off to. After minutes of aimless running (or rather, speed-limping, as neither of the two standing had enough strength to actually run), the group halted to a stop. "Goddammit," Seipher cursed, "where do we go!?"

Mordie, a few feet behind Seipher, limped towards him, using her halberd like a cane as support (which she had swiped from the ground nearby where the trio had been tied before taking off), glancing left and right, trying to catch any sense of direction they should retreat in next. While there were many routes they could take, however, there was truly nowhere safe for them to head to. "We can't stop here," Mordie commented, gasping for breath as she rested her flaccid wrists atop the halberd's hilt's rounded tip. She rested her forehead along her forearms momentarily before looking up to Seipher again. "If we do... if we do, that guard--or some otha' guard will catch us."

She inhaled deeply as she brought her binoculars, still dangling from her neck like a necklace, to her eyes and scanned the arena. Rhino guards were scattered all throughout the area, mostly perched along the corners, as if to prevent any attempts of escape. They were all much too far to even see the ongoing battles. "Surely we'll put up ta... th' noose again."

"I know that!" Seipher shot back in agitation - not at the mouse herself, but at their situation as a whole. "Ugh!"

The salamander Nathan suddenly made some sort of moaning noise, quickly drawing the mouse and fox's attention to him. However, his moan dissipated just as quickly. He was definitely still alive, and would hopefully come to his senses soon - though he still would likely be much too injured to even walk alongside the duo.

Weakly, Mordie pointed straight ahead to the clamor occurring not too far off - the battle with the Raven Blood Child. "Big ol' fight goin' on down there... though ah don't think..."

Seipher looked over to Nathan's shrouded face - Should they risk it? Should they risk running into the battle, despite all their injuries and hindrances? At least their other allies would be nearby then - and they can't keep running forever. That knight... he may...

"There's nowhere else to run to," Seipher glanced around again, "You said it yourself - they've got guards surrounding the outskirts of this battleground. They might come after us if they've been alerted that the rules were broken."

"'nd we can't hide!" Mordie blurted, "We'll be found in a jif'!"

Noises erupted from the direction the two had darted from moments ago - sounds of steels colliding against each other, parrying, along with Jacob's irate shouting. While the clashes weren't loud themselves, the sounds did indeed reverberate throughout the area, carrying on to at least where the escapees stood. Moving a bit to the side, Mordie brought her binoculars to her eyes once more, peering just beyond the gallows.. and dropped it almost immediately.

"Ah! No!" the mouse blurted. She began to run back towards the death mechanism. She nearly stumbled over after the first few steps, but managed to catch herself with her halberd.

"Mordie!" Seipher grunted, using a fraction of his strength just to reach out in time and snag her by her shoulder. "Are you serious?? You can't go back there. It's suicide!"

"Nooo!" Mordie cried back, "But--but Kenny, he's injured! He's--he might be..."

Seipher snarled, "But what do you expect us to do!? We're injured ourselves, did you forget!? You can hardly walk!"

Mordie gripped onto her planted halberd, tighter, despite the buildup of sweat gathering in her palms. "He's.. he's riskin his life to protect us, when he..." Before another moment could pass by, Mordie aggressively shrugged off Seipher's hold and limped away once more.

"Hey!" the fox burst, nearly charging in after her. He, too, couldn't walk straight and was condemned to limping as well. "What do you think you're doing!? We need to stick together - going back there will just get you--"

"Ah can't let him do this on his own! Ah'm goin' back.. whether.. y'ou comin' or not!"

---

Hobbling back with all her might, Mordie darted back towards the gallows, towards where her fox friend had ran off to. Pain seared through her waist still, but the mouse bit her bottom lip tight - she couldn't afford to give in. Her friend was in danger. And though she had no fighting experience whatsoever - she couldn't leave him to fight by himself, she couldn't just leave someone to die like this, she couldn't--

The mouse tripped over a larger stone lying in her path halfway. Though she fell flat on her face and her halberd flew meters ahead of her, out of reach, she did not hesitate to force herself up with what little strength she had left. More dull pain ran through her crimsoned waist - but she ignored it completely as she rose to her feet and was on the run again. "Ah... ah can't turn back now," she grumbled to herself on the way. Her vision blurred all the while - but now she could spot Kenneth and the malignant Knight Captain lying ahead.

When she fell the second time, out of sheer clumsiness, she lied still for a moment, her head turned to the side, gasping for breath. She could hear the anti's voice, along with her haughty laughter, still ringing inside her head - Yer a fool. Y'ou know that, right? Her hands laid beside her, palms downward, slowly clenching and gathering the dirt below into weak fists. The voice continued, Goin' back to kill yerself over someone y'ou just met. Just because he's a pretty boy, innit. Y'ou've always been like this, Mordie-girl. Always doin' stupid things fer people ya don' even know... just because they--

"No!" Mordie shouted at herself, immediately rising back to her feet in lightning speed. She used the last bits of her strength to charge forward to the two combatants, completely disregarding whatever smarts reigned through her body now. "No... ah have a reason... this time. 's time ah stop... 'nd learn ta fight... ah can't... run away... o' hide any longer... ah can't..."

Her self-directed monologue was cut short by a gasp as the mouse skidded to a stop. The conman fox Kenneth let out a howl of anguish as his ear dropped to the floor, engulfed by a growing pool of crimson. "No," Mordie reached forward with her dying left arm, the fox seemingly within her tender palm's grasp from her perspective - though he was still meters away.

He's dead, he's dead! the nega-Mordie sang.

"No!" Mordie screamed out this time, charging forward once more, towards the knight. Jacob's ears perked from this incoming cry, and turned just in time to parry her halberd's thrusts. "Y'ou can't--you monster!" Mordie cried, weakly retracting her spear to thrust it forward again multiple times, with each thrust significantly slower and weaker than the last.

Jacob, eyes twitching from agitation, merely continued to parry the poor mouse's attacks. Still with a sense of satisfaction from subduing the conman fox, he commented dully, "What are you doing."

No response. Mordie cried. At some point, her spear began to tilt downwards, practically aiming at the captain's feet instead now. She could hold it up no longer. Her eyes were far too buried in her own tears for her to even realise where she was attacking at this point.

"I asked you a question," the Knight Captain reasserted himself in a tone more stolid than the last.

When Mordie aimed for his face this time, the spear fell short, and she was left wide open. Jacob, catching this, grunted and elbowed her back. Mordie let out another cry as she fell to the ground once again.

My fault my fault my fault my fault

"Though I will thank-you for making tracking you down easier," Jacob added on. Mordie pounded the ground before sinking down to her stomach, nearly mirroring exactly as she had fallen against her doppelganger.

Still weak... still...

The fox's body was in reach. Mordie slid her unfolding fist forward, as if to reach out to Kenneth.

So brave, but I--

She succumbed to unconsciousness.

Still unresponsive to the display of bravado the mouse had shown moments ago, Jacob merely looked off to the distance - Seipher with the still-unconscious Nathan were far off in the distance, though within his sight.

(OOC: I didn't say I didn't like fight scenes...just...I'm not very good at them, that's all. XP)

IC:

Why...am I just standing here...doing nothing...I should be helping them! Serenity thought as she stood, watching the battle with the Raven Blood Child. She shuddered. That thing had been creepy even BEFORE it sprouted wings and tentacles...Serenity continued watching. She wanted to turn away...or to join the fight, but the scene held her attention, morbidly fascinating. I have no idea how to fight that thing...Eww. She winced as the severed hand went flying, and the arm it had so recently been connected to shriveled and crumpled to almost nothing. ...Eww again... as the...THING... disgorged vile black sludge.

TBC

(OOC: Meh. But has to be better than the failpost. XP )

OOC: Woah, guys. Talk about fantastic posts all around. Thank you so very much for the compliments K, Kate and Vi, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Ha ha yeah, I definitely tried to go for an unpredictable fight, since they're always the most fun, and Kenneth losing an ear was just the right amount of squick, eh?

Also, K, wow. Wow wow wow. Gosh I can tell how much effort you put into that post and it was jaw-droppingly amazing from start to finish. Seriously, I know you had your doubts when it came to writing a fight scene but seriously, you nailed that. I thought it was tough writing a character versus three others, but you managed to do so with one character (RBC) fighting against four and you made it such a vivid rollercoaster of a battle. I managed to picture it all perfectly and your writing was flawless. Edge of the seat stuff. Amazing. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit my favourite part of your post was Mordie's scene... and once again you pulled at my heart strings all the way through. Really powerful stuff, you play with my emotions all the whilst when it comes to Mordie. I don't want to ever see her hurt. T________T Seriously her actions are just... wow. That's gonna have a very powerful effect on Kenneth, believe me. And ahahahaha @ being afraid of tentacles. Ahahahaha can't imagine why. |3

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention everyone else's contributions in battling against the RBC. I kinda regret not having Kenneth join the battle, but y'know me in always going for the unexpected route. XD And I think I can safely leave dispatching her to my female rpers. |D (lol @ Wren just chilling all out, maxing out cool...)

Seriously, really incredible stuff. Your description of her was incredibly brutal and creepy, Kate. Hell, your description of everything and your metaphors are simply perfect. Such a fun read watching everyone's struggles versus her... and her ability to see into the character's pasts and be such a nasty bitch about them is fantastic. A very, VERY well crafted villain, to be sure. I'm so intriqued by her that I'm actually wondering what on earth her own story is... how on earth she got to be the way she is. She criticises everyone else's past but I'm sure she has quite the tragic and heart-breaking tale herself. Not neccessarily saying we'll see it or that it would redeem any of her actions, but yeah... amazing villain. Top quality stuff from everyone.

I cannot begin to describe how pleased I am with everyone's posts. Simply amazing!

Best rp I've been in without a doubt. Without. A. Single. Doubt.

Just amazing.

OOC: Ash, you said it! I come back to see if anyone has posted any updates, and here I find a series of amazingly epic posts that just take my breath away! I am so jealous of you guys and your fight-scene-skills that it's not funny. D:

Ash... I am coming to love Kenneth more and more with every post of yours. His character is developing super-nicely! The guy people were prepared to hate at first is starting to become the guy that everyone adores, because deep down he's one of those courageous souls that just isn't willing to accept a compromise where victory is concerned. I'm especially touched by the fact that he refuses to start killing despite the fact that most wouldn't hesitate because hey, they're in hell, and what could it hurt? Fantastic job man! I'm looking forward to more Kenneth-action, lol.

Rex, superb job to you as well! As Ash mentioned, you managed the feat of writing four characters (three of which weren't your own) at the same time in a spectacular way! The action was fast-paced and exciting, yet at the same time it contained enough brief respites so that Glitch's past/character could be developed further. I feel bad, but I had to lol at the "overpowered firehose" line for some reason. xD Great job!

I echo Ash's sentiments: BESTEST RP EVAR GUYZ. WHOOP-WHOOP.

OOC: Well you all know the hard work comes from all you right? You’re all integral players of the RP so if anyone one of you was gone, it’d either suffer bad or not work. Well maybe it would but not as phenomally as it has done.

K, I was blown over by your post. Read it on my iPhone after pulling out some teeth yesterday in hospital and everyone was packing up (hey I offered to help!) But I was so transficed by what you wrote that I think I must’ve stayed still for a good 30 minutes taking everything you wrote because it was so vibrant and real with articulated surroundings, actions and emotions that I couldn’t put it down. Indeed Seipher would’ve been frustrated with Mordie’s brash actions xD. Love your vivid rendition of RBC. That was pretty grossly awesome xD She turned out nastier than I thought. Lol. Clearly someone you’d want to take home and introduce to your parents.

Writing post now. Bare with me, I have the sniffles.

OOC: On 2nd thoughts, I wont post today. Feel rotten to the core. Besides, I think I'll post some questions to you individually just to clarify concepts and all that jazz.
Later ^^

OOC: Oh I am so out of the loop. Sorry if I have messed anyone or anything around with this latest post.
Also heads up GemaJinn will be joining us once Circle I is completed.
...Spose I shouldn't say that seeing as you all might lose Circle I >D
But welcome GJ when he comes 🙂

Also, K, study for your exams. Snagging your msg from another RP. If you don't I'll come over to your house, sneer at you from the doorstep and then I'll come in and you'll have to watch MY tv and listen to my music!!!! > D

IC:

Jacob looked down on the dispersed members of the defiant trial members and shook his head with his eyes closed. Sentiments of disapproval, contempt, disappointment and possibly a sense of forlorn audible from his face alone.

Mordie, who was sprawled across the floor. Her sleeping face suppressing an immense amount of pain and anguish. Kenneth similarly remained so silent and still- the left side of his head bleeding moderately from the area where his left ear once was.

“You are all… so incredibly juvenile,” he opened his eyes to give them a disdainful look. Whether he was feeling victorious of his venture at all from looking at him was questionable. However, he had managed to achieve what he had set out to do. Even though his intentions at the start where to try to give the Trial runners a chance by trying to shake Kenneth Lay into a state of coherent standing.
In spite of these intentions, the conman buggered it up by throwing a spanner in the works. Truly pitiful. What was he trying to achieve by defying the rules? The rules regulated by the most powerful Lord of the Underworld. If he had just followed them, he may have had a chance. Surely it would be within anyone’s best interest to know their limitations and follow the straight and narrow given to them.

“Not a bad effort. Jacob,” a well-groomed voice resounded. With a suggestion of malevolence and condescension.
Jacob abruptly turned his head. Thoughts interrupted from the authorative tone of voice despite the lack of verbal command.

“You can do better though,” Julien materialised into view in front of Jacob who still had his head turned to look for him. Jacob gasped when he found the Overlord standing right in front of him. Tall, and black-suited. No one else at this point could see the Overlord. As his presence was albeit shrouded from all to see bar Jacob at this given time.

“Honestly, was it that hard to decipher that none of the foxes in front of you were the Kenneth Lay in question?” Julien sighed unenthusiastically, pitching his flickering eyes around the area where the conflict had taken place. Taking note of the footprints, bloodstains and reminiscent blue sparkling lights where the placebos once stood. He then cast his eyes over the unconscious Mordie, and Kenneth respectively.

As Jacob raised a reluctant finger in order to speak diplomatically, he found his thoughts arrested when Julien pulled out a rubix cube from one of his blazer pockets and began to twist the colour combinations around. Seemingly lost in thought. But Jacob knew better than to dismiss his appraisal.

“Sir, Lord Julien. I was up against 16 conmen. All identical in appearance, speech patterns… and…” Jacob trailed off. Julien’s divided attention not ascertained. And surely unimpressed as of yet.

“Well clearly my ability to identify none of them were him perhaps needs improvement.”

“Pft, understatement of the century,” Julien muttered sarcastically as he shook his head. Hands still twisting the rubix cube.

“My point is…” Julien took a moment to look at the knight captain. Coded rubix cube held in one hand with its face predominant with red patterns “cheap taunts are aimed to anger, narrow your sense of peripheral vision and dull your senses to the rest of the world around you.”

Julien paused and smiled cheekily, before dedicating his attention back to unwinding the rubix cube. Twisting it calmly and methodically.

“So perhaps I might’ve seen the real one for myself had I kept a calmer temperament Lord Julien?” Jacob asked.

“You may have been immune to all of his illusionary tricks had you kept composed and kept your emotions at amr's length,” Julien said, the cube nearly decoded as he held it up “you expected 1 of 2 outcomes. Either that Kenneth would comply and fight, or resign and fall back.”

“…you didn’t even consider the fact he might challenge the rules. Deceiving you with his optical illusions…” Julien pointed his free handed jagged claw to bring his attention to the scar on Jacob’s forehead.

“You sensed his upcoming actions.” Jacob said.

“No. But that’s what makes the game so much fun,” Julien considered as he scratched his chin with his other hand. He gave the cube one last twist and decoded it. Each face a perfect square of block colours.

“And you won. So feel good for what it’s worth,” Julien laughed arrogantly “and what’s a scratch on your forehead compared to his separated ear? He'll never forget you for THAT one!” he drawled.

Whilst Julien cast his gaze around, still curious and intriguingly excited about all that had transpired, Jacob stood with a bleak and somewhat empty expression on his face. Truthfully he didn’t want any of this to have transpired. He only cut off Kenneth’s ear for two principal reasons. One was to demonstrate some wrath of cruelty to satisfy the Overlord’s yearning for such that. To inflict some pain as opposed to permanently silencing Kenneth Lay and sealing his chance from the Trial game. Thus preventing him from redeeming himself of a 2nd chance in life. Jacob would also hope that the fox would now damn well know his place, and if the time would come again such that they did dual it out- that Jacob would not spare his life.

Would someone so arrogant be able to acknowledge that, however? Especially one poisoned with so much rebellion.

“Anything you want to express yourself Knight captain?” Julien interrupted his thoughts and threw the rubix cube in his direction.
The dog’s eyes widened momentarily, but immediately resumed a focused state as he caught the multiple coloured cube with his non-baring sword hand. Staring at it ominously.

“Nothing on my part sir…” Jacob said, looking down on the cube before looking back up at the Overlord “how shall I manage the traitor Mordie, and Kenneth Lay? Not to forget Seipher and Nathan…”

“So glad you asked that,” Julien answered with a daemonic smile on his face “simply ensure that Kenneth is secured and placed under Exetor and Sultan’s watch. Should the remaining Trial runners succeed against the Nemesis…”

“…let him go.”

“As for Seipher and Nathan, they’ve already been secured and taken care of. Like Kenneth, their fate lies in the remaining trial runners’ hands.”

“And what of that of Mordie?” Jacob asked.

“Oh don’t mither yourself over that one,” Julien laughed “she needs a slap on the wrists before I let her go…”

“And it would just be that, wouldn’t it?” Jacob asked with concerned eyebrows, taking Julien's figure of speech a bit too literally and with a hint of blind optimism.

“Now that will depend on how cooperative she is.” the beast smiled back.
One of the Rhino guards approached Julien, and the Overlord nodded towards the fallen body belonging to Mordie. With that the guard bent down and scooped the mouse up to carry her away.

“I’ll come back to that twerp another day. In the meantime, he’s all yours.” the Overlord looked down on Kenneth with disgust.

As Julien turned his back to the Knight captain, he took a few footsteps, before dematerialising and vanishing from view. Not that anyone bar Jacob and the Rhino guard saw him anyway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Xell turned to look at a perturbed Glitch. His supposed composed expression was not really fooling the dragon.

“Supposedly immune to cheap taunts huh?” Xell murmured, before clicking his tongue with irritation.
The dragon turned to look over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows with subtle alarm as he noted Mordie was gone. Seipher had been handcuffed by the Rhino guards, and Kenneth and Nathan were being carried away.

“Oh no… oh no… but… but why?” Xell asked himself quietly, before turning his head to cry out with shock. The Raven blood child’s face inches away from his.

“You poor soul, have I left you out soldier boy?!” she grinned maliciously, before wrapping a tentacle around his neck. Before she was able to constrict the limb, however, Xell quickly brought his tiger claw up and slashed the top of it the upper trunk of the mostreous limb clean off.

Simultaneously he delivered a side-kick to the child’s torso and sent her flying back. Her deafening scream grinding from the start which Xell had to deter is focus away from whilst he dealt his last attacks. And what a struggle it was too.

“Gaaahd…” Xell clutched his head to ease his cranium from the burdening pain of the scream. He would’ve suffered less discomfort from walking on hot coal.

“Hey, it’s ok… good move…” Hikari managed to walk over and reassure Xell. Shouting over the flying child’s screaming.

She rolled onto the floor. Sand and dirt flying in the air as her one arm and remaining two tentacles struggled to scavenge for any ledges on the ground to grip onto to slow herself down. Her skin grazed and grated from the friction-bearing ground.

Eventually she stopped. Sprawled in a heap now, with a missing arm and two thrashing tentacles. Her skin still brazened in purple and red.

The crowd booed ferociously and threw some half-filled beverages and maggot infested apple cores at the trial runners.

“Hey… hey….!” Reni protested.

Squish!

She sighed as a rotten apple had splattered all over her face, which still had wriggling maggots in it that were now dangling in front of her vision.

She flicked what hand landed on her with disgust before casting her gaze at the rest of the trial runners. The suspense and tension growing as the child still lay sprawled in the distance. Face down whilst the Protagonists looked on warily and cautiously.

“No… I’m failing… damnit…” the child uttered. Eyes reverberating with hallucination and panic.

“Yes you are. It’s pathetic really…” a purple hand reached out and pulled the child back by her hair to steady her up. His read aura dominating and shrouding the scene which caused shadows to cast themselves on the battle field. Filling all watching with a sense of pertubance and angst. Dragons screeching from the backgrounds as the sinister revelations were about to take place…
To everyone else watching however, it simply looked as if the child was being suspended by an invisible force in the air. Held by the locks of her head as her ankles dangled above the ground.

“Julien…” the child said helplessly, face cast in shadows as he looked downwards with shame and defeat. She could sense he was standing behind her.

“Why are you tripping. Is it too much to handle?” he asked contemptuously. Another dragon roaring demonically from high above as he spoke.

She let out a skulk and childish murmur. As a juvenile being would if threatened and intimidated. Suppressing the painful cries from the locks of her hair that continued to keep her swaying back and forth.

“Don’t call it a day yet young one! Look what sinners you have to beat before you,” Julien smiled as he continued to suspend her. His voice uncomfortably close to her ear.

“We have a knight who has supposedly betrayed a populace of people. A Siamese who shamed her father and killed her own twin brother- lord forbid!” he laughed hauntingly, causing the child to wince somewhat more.

“…and who else do we have hmmm? Well I can think of a certain dragon who’s poor professional conduct has marked unnecessary Epitaphs. But I know YOUR favourite one would be the child beater… wouldn’t it…”

“WOULDN’T IT?!” he thundered loudly. Everyone’s teeth gritting in spite of the fact that voice could not be heard and the figure could not be seen. All could be sensed from the rising child’s anguish as she found herself cut by the words spoken to her.

“Now do something about it and kill them all…” his voice dropped down to a sharp whisper “and especially do something about that stupid rabbit. Standing there. He. Especially,. Thinks you are a joke. A failure. Someone that couldn’t even pass these entry-fighters to take him on.”

“…so do it.”

With that, Julien suddenly faded out again. Whilst the Raven blood child never once saw or made eye contact with him. She certainly heard him and felt his presence however. She found her feet come back down to the ground gingerly. Her face still shielded with the hood of her veil to give her an enigmatic look. She shook an assembly of able fingers on the hand of her remaining arm. Noting that her scythe was missing. She must’ve let it fall at some point during her face off with the trial runners.

By drawing on her last ounce of strength, a torrent of winds suddenly shook the scene as she swiped the scythe right back within her hand. A show of grey, white teeth coming from the dark space from beneath her hood pronounced her will of satisfaction on re-retrieving the weapon.

She made some daunting steps forwards. The haunting strides stronger, faster and calling on the dead all the more as the Trial runners felt an impending sense of doom with each announcing footstep.

“You have ALL sinned you naughty naughty people…!” she spoke with her voice haunted with even lower octaves than before “you abandon your own people and leave them to die. You let your own soldiers die who would STILL be alive today!” she listed, smiling with glee as she watched their reactions with intrigue.

“You kill your own brother and you beat your own children. Some of which couldn’t hack it and took their own lives…!” the child chanted, aiming the last comment at Glitch enigmatically. Even though it was uncertain whether he clocked on to the underlying suggestion.

“Now be good rotten sinners and accepts your fate…!” she cried delightfully. With that, she boomeranged her scythe which whirled through the air and eventually transformed into a giant cobra. One that made up the size of Lani, Glitch, Xell and Hikari combined. Black scaled with bloodshot misty eyes.

The cobra hissed and squealed with a wrathful cry as it looked on at its eyes on its victims.
Like rabbits staring back at car headlights, the trial runners look on at the Monstrous serpent in front of them.
It didn’t hesitate to carry out its first attack, by baring its fangs and bolting its head forwards to aim a poisonous bite on Hikari’s live arm.

__________________________________________________________________

Wren continued to lean his back against the arena wall comfortably. Stretching every now and again as he cracked his limbs and neck from standing about for prolonged intervals of time and yawning at the sight in front of him.

What a fight everyone had put up. Even if it was somewhat pathetic. The most amusing scene was probably seeing one of his former colleagues get duped by Kenneth Lay into fighting 16 placebo versions of him. What an idiot he must’ve felt like. Some knight captain replacement.

Wren suddenly noticed something about the air stir, before straightening up with his arms in fists on either side. Somehow he sensed a confrontation coming on.

'Well good. Things were getting dull anyway.

“And if it isn’t the freakshow who always seems to step in late…” a childish laugh came about as the Raven blood child stepped into view to look at the demented looking rabbit in front of her.

“..do you think I forgot about you? Silly silly rabbit! If I didn’t know any better, I would put you down to being lilly-livered and cowardly…” she taunted, unveiling her hood which showed a disfigured face. Covered with scars and sutures. Some of the latter having been ruptured open from the previous battle to expose flesh and crusted lesions of blood.

“Yeah…?” Wren answered back, unfazed and malevolent.

“Well ‘yeah’…” she imitated his voice. A smile creeping wider across her face “anyone can sit back, relax and watch everyone else do the dirty work. Pathetic low life. What do you have to offer other than macho scum attitude?”

“…not a lot I gather…” she said. A somewhat posh and ironic English accent in her very last statement. A deceiving sense of innocence and class intended as she lifted up her hand.

As Wren took his first step forwards to challenge the silly child’s statement, he suddenly cried out in pain as blood splattered out from four points of his neck. In a heart beat, he found himself nailed to the brick wall arena.

“…what… what the hell…?!?” he demanded, spluttering out blood as his blurred eyes focused on his current disposition.
As everything refocused within his decadent eyes, he frowned with contempt and frustration as he the girl standing a few good meters away from him. Her hand outstretched as her ghastly nails had grown meters long and had in fact nailed him into the wall. Pinning him through the bilateral sides of the posterior triangles of his neck and through either sides of his shoulders.

“Continue to writh and cry. Until you diiiiieeeeeee…” she sang merrily, watching Wren writhing away.

IC:

"Ugh...Who threw that?!" Serenity flattened her ears and glared at the crowds. Sighing, she realized it would be useless to pursue the matter and turned back to the battle. She started pacing in agitation. "I have to DO something to help them! But what...?" Araugh...I'm so useless... "Ah geez...now there's a giant snake?!" Maybe I can distract it...I just KNOW I'm gonna get myself killed doing this...

The purple hedgehog grabbed a handful of sand from the arena floor and raced over, releasing the sand into the snake's face. "Hey lizard lips! Betcha can't strike faster than I can run! Pbbbtht!" SOOO gonna die...

TBC

(OOC: Hopefully that was ok...>.>)

((Hm, what to do. I'm always so uncertain of the capabilities of my opponents in a battle...))

OOC: Amazing, thrilling, scary post as always, Kate! I'm especially terrified for what Julien has in mind for Mordie now. o____o
Also, Vi! I'm also scared for poor Reni, finally able to throw herself into the face of danger. XD Excited to see what's coming next for her too!

I do just want to make something clear to the other RPers about Glitch; he's actually not a child-beater. XD

Just to avoid any confusion with everyone else. Dunno if I don't know if the RBC said that just to throw him off, or because he was beating her (which makes him one in her eyes lol), or if she && Julien truly believe that he is... so at this point if all the other protag's believe him to be one, then go for it lol. (Poor Glitchie XD.)

No IC here for now! :3 Keep up the great work, guys~

OOC: Cheers for that.

Yes it was just to throw him off. They are just taunts at the end of the day played up for aggitation and to provoke everyone else whether they choose to believe or not. We've heard a lot of sinnings in the RP but not a lot on lying or distorting the truth so I thought I'd throw it in.

Shy I don't really mind how people handle the snake scenario. It was an excuse to get RBC to pin Wren down.

VW, that was a good post. I liked it.

Dgeeze I somehow get the impression I trod on some toes. ¬_¬