Infinite Realms: War of the Black God

[Lordxana0]

You awaken in a large dark room illuminated only by a few flickering bulbs. You have no memory of how you got there. Your last memories were of doing some activity and then nothing. Just a flash of nothingness and now you are here waking on on the floor. You see that you have all of your equipment and you notice people around you waking up as well. The room doesn't seem to have any doors or windows, no way in, and no way out.

(Okay so until the plot kicks off have your characters wake up, interact, and otherwise have fun, please don't kill anyone at this point, fighting is okay as long as it doesn't ruin everything, if you are wondering in which order you should post check out this link viewtopic.php?f=8&t=135)

Or just read it here I guess.
AmimsyBorogove
Sicon112
Neverslender
Guyshane
Pixelmage
IslaKariese
The Finch
Victin

This order may only be broken by a GM and for a good reason. Barring death of a player or being kicked out there is NO reason this order is to be broken. This is your warning.

[AMimsyBorogove]

Giving a few twitches, a shape clad in black uttered a quiet groan that sounded suspiciously like the rather nonsensical question "Augh... did I eat mushrooms from the Forest of Magic or something?" This question, like many others the source of the inquiry had, would go sadly unanswered for the moment as the small shape in black slowly rose to a half-seated position, dusting itself off and adjusting its almost comically oversized pointed hat, a small cascade of unkempt golden hair issuing forth from the silly-looking headgear as the Ordinary Black Magician rubbed her golden eyes, trying to drive the sleep from herself by force. If only lasers had some sort of utility as a morning pick-me-up...

Glancing around herself, Marisa Kirisame quickly took in her surroundings. She had awakened in an unknown place - possibly the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but the lack of doors, strange, bulbous lights, and the fact that she was still in existence and not just a small red splotch on the floor all seemed to disprove that theory - and didn't remember how she had gotten there. Evidently, she'd come prepared, since her hand was clutching the familiar form of her Mini-Hakkero greedily, as though she had been afraid of losing it before she passed out, and lying on the ground before her was the battered shape of her trademark broom. She could remember flying on it, but after that, everything was... missing. She had never heard of a Youkai with the power to rewrite memories - or maybe the Satori sister from the underground could do that? She wasn't sure if manipulation of the subconscious included the ability to alter recollections of the past. Still, she couldn't think of any explanation for why she couldn't remember anything, which meant she'd have to leave that unanswered for now, a thought which rather angered her. It was annoying to have things you didn't know, especially when you couldn't find an answer to those things readily available and didn't have a handy source from which one could steal the necessary information.

But, there wasn't time to dwell on her frustration. Similar sounds to her own grumbling were beginning to make themselves audible around her. So there were other people here too? Sure enough, other figures were faintly visible, strewn across the floor in disheveled heaps as though dropped from a great height. So, something had snatched up a great number of people, without any explanation. This seemed like a probable incident, and it looked like she wouldn't even need to go out blowing up random fairies before she actually got involved this time. This was both convenient and boring.

Still, something felt distinctly off about this place. The feeling of magic she was perceiving here wasn't anything like what she was used to. It wasn't the same as the quiet pulsing of the Gensokyo boundary, or the flood of ancient energy she had felt while traveling through Makai. Then... was this some other world entirely? The outside, perhaps? But in that case, wouldn't she have lost her power to do magic? After all, if nobody believed in her ability, common sense would take hold and her powers would be rendered ineffective. But, since she could still perceive magic around her, that meant this had to be somewhere else entirely. Another world altogether... the question was, just where was she?!

"Well," She mumbled discontentedly, keeping her Mini-Hakkero ready to start firing in case something unexpected happened. Shoot first, ask questions later was always a good strategy to keep in mind. "This sure isn't the best way to start off my day."

[NeverSlender]

"Oh god... I overdid the sake again..."

Marco dragged himself into a sitting position. His head hurt and his eyes were blurred. He seemed to be in a dark room. There were several other piles which were twitching and groaning. He could just about make out a woman with golden hair and a strange hat.

He looked down. He still had the open shirt and trousers he went out in. That was an improvement on most nights out at least. He slowly rose to his feet.

"Remind me not to touch the the green sake again."

[Sicon112]

Sabrac went from unconscious to alert in an instant. Instinctively, his Power of Existence spread through the nearby area. What is this? He was not overly worried by the odd situation he found himself in, though in all of the time he had existed, he could not remember something similar.

A rustle and a shifting, black-covered form focused his attention on the section of the cave where his consciousness floated. As he detected multiple existences in the surrounding area, he did not materialize. Are they the Flame Haze? No, they seem different. How strange. Perhaps it would be best to observe them. Another form rose up off to one side, and Sabrac took extra measures to cloak his presence. There was no telling how sensitive they were to power fluctuations, after all.

[Guyshane]

The Wizard awoke slowly. The dim light showed several other shapes moving nearby. He could see at least two of them were already fully awake. In addition his eyes were continually drawn to one wall of the cave for no reason he could discern. Try to open the ancient spell book they said. What could possibly go wrong they said. This is what you bastards...wait a minute. He felt the ambient magic in the air and it wasn't right. Well I could probably still work at least some of my spells but I'm certainly not on the same world I was before The others in the cave were moving more now Time to meet them all I guess.

[Pixelmage]

Alice was sleeping, covered by what seemed to be a rug or small curtain. It was however, time to wake up. The room was dark but she could see what seemed to be other people around her.

"OH! More friends came to play with me? Mr. Heart, do you see them?!" She said with a giggle. At those words, the 'rug' rose to it's feet. It was a man sized card, a Jack of Hearts, with arms and legs and carrying a simple spear.

"WHY YES MISS ALICE. THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE HERE TO SEE YOU.", Said Alice herself imitating a more grave voice while the card simply stood still by her side.

"How do I look? Should I ask them to come play? What will they look like? Do you think they like tea?" With a storm of questions and giggles Alice took a small hand mirror, seemingly from nowhere, and started to examine her appearance while the other shapes were still raising.

[IslaKariese]

Kestral groaned and pulled herself from the hard ground, rubbing her head. What the Hell... She brushed long red-black hair out of amber and glasz eyes, trying to see where she was.

The lighting was woefully dim – the most she could tell was that she wasn't alone. Some were grumbling, others staying silent, but no one that she knew. This made her tense and automatically feel for her bow, which to her relief was still securely slung across her back.

She watched as the others woke up, and could tell very little from them other than that they were very likely to be threats. Wary and unsure, she stood and felt her way to a shadowy corner, where she could observe and not be sneaked up on from behind.

[The Finch]

Uh.... What... huh...

Jacob Finch woke up, somehow not noticing the flickering bulbs above him.

(Cling!)

"Ow! What the hay?"

He finally awakens the second eye to a room of near darkness, the only light being the lights that he has bumped into.

Where am I? Hell, how did I even get here? Ugg... Ok, try to remember what you were doing last.

...
...
...

I was... watching MLF:FiM... before bed on Youtube... and then my father... told me to go to the nest... and then I woke up here...

"Well... that did nothing..."

Jacob decided to walk around the room, trying to find something that seemed familiar to him... feeling around the floor when all of a sudden...

(Clink!)

What was that? OHMYGODWHATTHEHECKWASTHAT!?!?

...
...
...

Wait a minute... I remember that clink... That was the clink of my sword!

He fumbles around and eventually grabs a small handle off the floor.

"Metal... this must be it..."

He pulls it up and eventually unsheathes his trusty sword, Feather's Fiery Blade!

All of a sudden, a random box appears below him and caused him to lift his weapon, high in the air.

(YOU PICKED UP A FIERY BLADE! THIS BLADE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION OF THE FINCH FAMILY AND ALLOWS FOR SWIFT BLOWS THAT GIVE OFF FLAME! EQUIP NOW? Y/N)

"Yes... Who wouldn't equip their blade?"

Jacob equips his blade and the box goes away, giving Jacob full control of his sword. In a wild fury, Jacob starts swinging his sword around the room. The blade gives off a tiny light, just enough to see a couple of inches in front of him...

Dang, it's just been fully used! It'll take ten hours for it to fully charge again! At least it's something...

Jacob moved around and managed to find and pick up more of his things. The random box appeared every time he picked up his items and disappeared every time he said yes to putting it in his inventory. In the middle of the box that he got his Magic Wing, he decided to name the time standing Box Time. It was quite annoying, but he managed to finally find all of his goods and caused put them in his inventory, which was rapidly filling up.

"If I ever get out of here, I'll need to get a bigger inventory..."

While he was in Box Time, he noticed that the room he was in had no windows... or no doors...

Strange...how did I get in here if there are no known doors or windows? Second, how am I still breathing? Wouldn't I have lost air by now? Third, why am I asking myself all these questions!?

As Jacob pondered around, he also noticed a couple of bodies on the floor.

"I don't want to wake them up just yet... It would be a pretty bad start to any relationships...."

Wait, why is that body moving?

[Victin]

Slowly, Isaac took his hands out of his eyes. Even crying, he could see that he was once again, only deeper in his basement.
He cried more.
He started to stood up, first by sitting on the floor, after being in a fetal position by who knows how much time. Then he stood up, and looked around, seeing piles and piles of bodies.
He started to wonder what kinds of abominations would raise from there, and while he pondered, he realized the ones already standing up.
He cried more.
These creatures didn't seem like the ones he have faced. This could be his end. His mother would finally get what she wanted.
He sat on the floor and cried loud.
He asked himself why he mother would do this to him. Why his mother would take his clothes away, his toys and why she would try to kill him. But wouldn't know.
I am going to die. - He thought - But not without a fight.
He stood up, once again, looking to the sides. And decided that the first one to feel his despair would be the monster behind him. The one playing with a box. He would feel his despair. All of them would. At least, until he died.
He cried more: this time, ready to fight.

[Lordxana0]

Ulrich woke up on the ground confused for only a moment before he jumped up from the ground. Okay Ulrich think, how did you get here... another one of Xana's plots maybe? He looked around the room at the other people who had woken up. Okay where the heck am I and who are all these other people He looked down at himself. And why am I wearing my Lyoko gear He pinched himself and winced. Okay I am definitely not in Lyoko, I guess the only thing I can do is ask these other people. He walked toward the nearest normal looking person. The girl with the blonde hair and the purple shirt (Alice).

[AMimsyBorogove]

Marisa looked warily around her, searching the darkness as several other shapes rose to their feet. The actions they took ranged from mumbling to themselves sleepily as she herself had done to one of them beginning to hold an entire conversation with herself. She couldn't tell who see was looking at, but considering the figure's blonde hair and the rather... demented way in which the girl was talking to what appeared to be a giant puppet or doll of some sort, the Black Magician couldn't help but be reminded a certain city magician who spoke to herself through her dolls in much the same manner, if not quite so... well, madly, for lack of a better word. And, if the girl's conversation was anything to go by, her name was even Alice, a coincidence which, under less noisome circumstances, probably would have amused her greatly. Still, the way she talked about "playing" was more reminiscent of the demented basement dwelling Vampire, which ruled out the chance that this was the same Alice she knew. More than likely, these people were either denizens of this world, or had been snatched up in a similar manner to herself, either from Gensokyo or somewhere else. Of course, she couldn't prove that theory, but it seemed reasonable to assume at the time.

Just then, there was a slight ripple in the magic surrounding the area. Marisa couldn't make much out, but maybe that meant that these people around her had magic as well, and their power as they woke up was what she was sensing? Again, it seemed reasonable enough to assume that, since it seemed like that if she, a magician, had been taken somewhere, then other people taken to that place would also be magicians. But... in that case... Didn't that mean that they, like her, would be expecting answers from those around them? The natural way to get those answers was through Danmaku, since that always seemed to work out in the end, so...

Ah, crap. She was right in the middle of a battle zone waiting to happen! In that case, the only option was to strike first! In an instant, she had begun to draw on the power of the Mini-Hakkero as she leaped into the air, snatching up her broom and sweeping it - no pun intended - beneath herself as she rose abruptly, seating herself sideways on the broom's shaft as she quickly spread her magic around her, concentrating it into four points in a rotating square around herself. At those points, four different magical orbs took form as she temporarily worked around the necessary powering up and summoned her best magic through a ritual spell known as "Orrieries Solar System," creating her four usual orbs in an instant. Setting them to disperse lasers, she abruptly fired a single beam upward from her upraised Mini-Hakkero, and spread four lasers around herself, firing one outward from each corner of her square orb formation.

"Good morning, everyone~! Rise and shine~!" She declared in a sing-song voice, a rather disturbing grin (that seemed to include an inexplicable fang) forming on her lips as she ceased fire. She'd got everyone's attention with the first shot, so there wasn't really any need to keep firing aimlessly into the walls. Considering they were in a cave or cellar of some sort, that would probably just end up dropping the roof on everyone's heads. Besides, her orbs were light enough to show her who exactly she was looking at anyway. Something that sounded like a child crying reached her ears from a distance, but she decided to ignore it as improbable. Why'd there be a kid here, anyhow?

"So, I don't know who you are or where this is, but I intend to find out! Either surrender now and tell me everything you know, or get shot down and tell me anyway!" Giving an innocent, yet malicious chuckle, Marisa lowered her Mini-Hakkero, now aiming it downward at the assembled crowd of mis-matched individuals, her four orbs aligning in front of her as they began to charge up.

Well. She hadn't had a good incident in a while, anyway. Might as well enjoy these little adventures when they happened, no? This would be a fun and refreshing exercise in blowing the living hell out of everything that happened to get in her line of fire!

"I'll count to ten, then! One, two, threefourfivesixseveneightnineten! Just kidding! Time's up!" With this rather abrupt statement, Marisa didn't waste a second in giving the confused mass beneath her time to respond. Instead, she simply fired off a spinning wave of magic missiles over a wide area in front of her, and waited to size up the results after the smoke had cleared.

[NeverSlender]

The light was blinding. Not what Marco wanted to see while hungover. It seemed to be coming from orbs around the golden haired girl. The lights went out and the girl shouted something. Suddenly lasers came firing towards him. He jumped backwards and managed to dodge most of them. One was aimed towards his shoulder. He turned it to flame, and it went straight through.

He turned his arm back to normal and backed away cautiously. The other piles were on the move and there was... Something else. He would wait for now, and watch. When the real fighting started, he knew what he would do.

[Sicon112]

Sabrac scanned the people below him quickly, stretching his senses to cover the whole cave. This is not an ideal situation. I have had less time to cloak myself then I would like, and with our location underground, the cave is already too saturated with my power. I believe I have felt a few existences brush against mine already. Well, even if things become troublesome, I must accept it and do the best I can.

Eight targets. A undesirable situation, but one I've dealt with before. If needed, I can end at least a few of them with the first strike, and the others will soon fall to my Stigma. Thinking this, he began to examine the possible opponents closer. The first one he had seen move seemed to be a short, golden haired girl who was quickly gaining her bearings. Strange. She appears human, but the level of her existence and her control over it is far above the normal. There is an odd power emanating from her area that I cannot pin down. How unfortunate; unknowns always make a job more difficult. A chill ran through him as his senses crossed the area where the strange, young girl sat, playing with a mirror. It was not fear; he did not understand such an emotion. However, it was a warning from senses fine tuned to danger and trained over an immense period of time. What is- He focused his attention on her. She appeared human, but everything about her was just a little off. A Crimson Denizen then? No, her nature is different. Perhaps it would be best to observe further. A second, red-cloaked human quickly went through an examination, and Sabrac concluded that he was something similar to the first girl. A strange, crying thing that looked like a young boy sat off to one side, and behind him there was another human, though he differed ever so slightly from each of the first two as well. He seemed to be picking up various items strewn across the ground, and Sabrac noticed a well crafted sword among them. Another shift drew his attention to a form walking towards the strange girl that he couldn't classify, and he made out dual blades in the figure's hands.

A tiny, almost imperceptible sound near the back of the cave, where he had awakened, made him go even further on alert. Apparently one more figure had slipped into the corner, likely expecting a fight. Hmmm, perhaps my focus needs work. I almost didn't locate that one. I suppose this is a result of plans always going my way. Even victories can have their setbacks, it seems. While obviously skilled, the stealthy figure was guaranteed to fall, leaning against the cave wall as they were. Sabrac's attack would shoot out of the rock face and leave no time for a reaction. However, he pulled his power away from the area where the figure stood. He did not want to further complicate the situation by alerting them.

The last figure was holding it's head, as if disoriented. Sabrac filed that away to use if he needed to join battle. Strangely enough, while all of the others seemed slightly off to his senses, this final figure seemed almost identical to what he was used to. He could even see the blue flame of existence inside the person's heart.

As he completed his observations, he sensed a pulse of power from the first target, which he immediately recognized as flight magic. A large explosion suddenly shook the walls of the cave as a laser shot from the magic wielding girl.

"Good morning, everyone~! Rise and shine~!" With a grin Sabrac decided was distinctly unbalanced, she continued. "So, I don't know who you are or where this is, but I intend to find out! Either surrender now and tell me everything you know, or get shot down and tell me anyway!"

She doesn't know, hmm? Intriguing. However, it looks as though I've got to deal with some very violent targets. Usually, that is unpleasant, but I think in this situation, it will make things easier. That girl should know better than to just start combat frivolously. Now all I have to do is allow them to tire, before ending everything with a single blow. Since I don't have them as targets, and they do not seem to be directly hostile, I suppose I can end this situation without having to kill them. This is simpler than I expected. Always a welcome and pleasant surprise.

[Pixelmage]

"It's too DARK to SEEEEE!" Alice said when she realized it was impossible to use a mirror in the dim light. "Mr. Heart! Do something! I can't go play like this..."

"WHY NOT LIGHT YOUR SURROUNDINGS, MISS ALICE?" She answered in the knights voice.

"That's it! Thank you Mr. Heart!". At those words, what seemed to be another card started raising from the floor, this time a Four of Clubs. Alice did not direct him any words, just touched the card with her index finger and it's top corners caught on fire. The room was now illuminated... Way too much in fact, for it to be the effect of a single fire. The reason was another blonde girl hoovering above with some sparkling spheres around her.

"OH! Look look! Another girl to play with me! And more pepole too! Mr. Heart..." She spoke cheerfully, paying no heed to what the other girl was speaking at all. The blonde girl then abruptly shot some sort of balls around. Luckyly none of these orbs hit Alice herself, but one smashed into the Four of Clubs. The card was shredded instantly.

"Teehee! These others are so stupid, aren't they Mr. Heart? They don't even know how to play dodgeball. You can't be hit by the balls!" She started giggling. "I want to play too!" With that, the Jack of Hearts moved as if to cover Alice from the balls. And she launched herself a single ball of energy, about the size of a tennis ball in the direction of the girl floating in the room.

In her daze of playing with the floating girl, she didn't notice the man that had started to walk toward her.

[The Finch]

"Good Morning, everyone~!"

What the heck...

Jacob turns around to notice a Black robed girl with four little orbs around her body. She must be a Magic user or something...

"Rise and Shine~! So I don't know who you are or where this is, but I intend to find out! Either surrender now and tell me everything you know, or get shot down and tell me anyway!"

Who the buck does the girl think she is? Sure, she thinks she can make me surrender by some floating orbs! HAH! I've faced much, much worse!

"I'll count to ten, then! One, two-"

Oh crap, she's serious?

"-threefourfivesixseven-"

Gotta do something!

"eightnineten! Just kidding! Times up!"

"Crap!"

(Flap! Flap! Flap! Flap!)

Jacob's Wings start flapping rapidly, like an uncontrolled reflux. It sends the Finch flying 3,4,5 feet in the air!

"Huh, forgot I had those..."

Jacob decides to pull out the Bow, pulls out an Regular Feather Arrow, pulls back on the iron string and attempts to shoot the girl really much anywhere, just shooting her to make sure the others aren't severely hurt.

I really sure hope that Archery class I took works right now...

"Dear God, I hope this works..."

[IslaKariese]

Kestral took in as much information as she could, noting the people that she could and couldn't see. She knew at least one person was hiding their presence from the room, though she couldn't make out their nature. There was someone crying to the side, but there was something... wrong about it. She couldn't pin it down, but he unsettled her. So did the two blondes that she could see.

This was bad. She knew absolutely nothing. That didn't work out in her favor as far as survival. And she had a sick feeling that that was why they were all here.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when one of the blondes took action. A swell of magic filled the air menacingly, and the expression on the girl's face was just as bad. "Good morning, everyone~! Rise and shine~!" she said after her destructive light show was finished. "So, I don't know who you are or where this is, but I intend to find out! Either surrender now and tell me everything you know, or get shot down and tell me anyway!"

This made her heart clench. She didn't know! And judging by the looks on some of the others' faces, they didn't know, either. Kestral pulled herself together and pulled her bow from her back, feeling it hum comfortingly in her hands. The girl gave a demented parody of a countdown, and when one of the magic missiles came her way, she held Celoivera in front of her and cast a shield spell.

It only barely worked. Standing to the wall may not have been so wise, because the force of blocking it pushed her back with unbelievable force. Her back hit the wall painfully, and though the attack was successfully avoided, she fell to the floor in agony. Pushing the pain to the back of her mind to be dealt with later on, she stood on shaky legs, casting her awareness in all directions. However, she didn't react in time to catch the lasers coming directly towards her.

[Guyshane]

Ow that hurt okay she's asking for it. The wizard rose to his feet very unsteadily amazed he hadn't broken anything. Which is not to say he survived unscathed he was bruised, bleeding and would probably be sore for weeks. I'll consider it fair trade since I actually survived. Looking around several of the others were in a similar state to him, however the one who had blasted him was still floating in the air happy as could be. Yep just hang out right up there where your an easy target.Now lets see fire in an enclosed space is a bad idea, I need to be outside for Thunderbolt, Haste won't help right now. So my only option is... He grinned drew in the new world's magic and cast his spell. Then with a loud "Moo" a cow was launched at the girl on the broomstick

[Victin]

Isaac was about to attack the thing behind him, when he heard a voice from behind. What looked like a girl raised in the air riding in a broomstick, while shining and shouting "Good morning, everyone~! Rise and shine~!". He stood still watching a creature that he has never seen before. More human-like than most monster he had found, but much more powerful.

A witch! - He thought... - How could I fight her!? - ..as the girl kept shouting and shining, only brighter.

"I'll count to ten, then!" the girl said. Wait, is she speaking!?

"One, two, threefourfivesixseveneightnineten!" What is going on?

"Just kidding! Time's up!" - And orbs of light were shot in a direction that was not that of Isaac.

He breathed relieved for one second, until he realized that the girl was problaby shooting at something. He looked to his sides, and could barely distinguish the others creatures, due to the blinding light. But he wouldn't die without fighting. He started to think in the best way to fight these individuals, while some of them were hit by the attack of the witch.

I need to survive these attacks while counterattacking! He decided. While the winged humanoid behind him took flight, he hid in a small pile of bodies.

Then, Maggy raised from it, and quickily attacked the winged humanoid with her tears, aiming at its wings, hoping that it would make him fall down. But before she could see the results, she hid herself in the same pile of bodies she came from.

[Lordxana0]

Ulrich had almost reached the girl when the insane witch had started rambling off her countdown. Oh what fresh nonsense is this? When the lasers began to fire he drew both of the swords from their holders on his back and began to deflect the blasts to the sides of him. "Okay not Lyoko, but enough like it so I know what to do, Triplicate!" two clones of himself appeared next to two different people and began to deflect the mass of the blasts away from them. One was a small child looking... thing. And the other one was wielding a bow and appeared to have fallen. "Hey what's up with the attacks!?" he called out to the other people around him.

(I am protecting Kestal and Victis right now)

[AMimsyBorogove]

The Ordinary Black Magician gave a quiet whistle of slight surprise as she watched the results of her attacks. The girl, Alice, summoned some kind of playing card to deflect one of her Magic Missiles, and skillfully evaded the rest while rising into the air. Marisa would have to change her opinion of the girl. She was definitely experienced when it came to evading danmaku. From just this much, she could tell that this would be an interesting spellcard duel. As the girl fired off a single blast of energy at her, Marisa darted to the left, grazing along the side of the energy ball to absorb some of its power with her ritual orbs after confirming that it wasn't tracking based. It was strange, though. What kind of bullet pattern fired only one shot? And such a small one, too. Sure, it held a decent amount of power to graze, so it'd probably have blasted her into her next sign if it hit, but it wasn't moving nearly fast enough to pose a serious threat when there was just one, straight-firing bullet. And yet, this Alice girl clearly was good at dodging Danmaku, so... Was she taunting her?

Several other things, however, happened at the same time, which caused Marisa some small surprise. One of the closest targets, a man - a sight she passed off as rather unusual, but didn't dwell on - abruptly shifted into some kind of blue flame as her missiles hit, causing them to go right through him and explode harmlessly behind him. What was with that dodge? Being able to just have bullets phase right through you wasn't fair! Even the gap hag's annoying abuse of teleportation hadn't been that troublesome. Was that a spell card, or some kind of innate power? How many times could he use it? This was gonna be a real pain, either way. Another individual - she couldn't see them very well - drew what looked like a bow and used some kind of shield to deflect the witch's attacks, while another boy drew twin swords and, copying himself twice, began to bat aside her shots. A defensive spell? Sure, Yukari, Reimu, and Youmu had all blocked attacks on occasion, but generally that was the exception rather than the rule. Danmaku revolved around dodging, not defense, and yet here were two people using that as their first response, while another was using some sort of weird transformation ability. All of those things were frowned upon by the Spell Card rules, weren't they?

Then... in that case... did that mean this world didn't run on Spell Card regulations? It made sense, since Reimu wouldn't be around to enforce them. In that case, fighting here would be just like it had been back in the old days, before Reimu had set up the Spell Card system. Which is to say, completely unbalanced, and, moreover, potentially lethal. Marisa made a note to tone down her spells a notch, and to be extra careful from this point on. She'd rather not kill anyone, and she certainly wasn't planning to die herself.

A loud twang snapped - again, no pun intended - Marisa back to the present just in time for her to see a boy aiming a bow her way and releasing a swift arrow aimed straight for her. Sweeping up her four orbs, she quickly fired back with a quadruple barrage of lasers which she dragged over the area around him, aiming to both shoot down his projectile with her own - after all, without spell card rules, a counter without actually using a spell card should have been a piece of cake, right? - and singe him up a little bit.

Not wanting to leave the one who seemed like her most experienced adversary unattended, Marisa turned back to the girl, Alice, with a pleasant grin, that inexplicable fang peeking out from beneath the edge of her lip as she gave a grin, adjusting her hat.

"I think you'll find I'm better at this kind of dodgeball than most," She replied cheerfully, raising her Mini-Hakkero to fire once again. However, at that moment, a rather sudden and unexpected noise took the young witch by surprise. The sound was not incredibly loud, or even very uncommon. Marisa had heard it countless times before. No, what was surprising was that she was hearing it here, now, and flying towards her at a considerable speed.

Marisa Kirisame was a witch of incredible renown. She had faced Demons, Ghosts, Gods, Humans and Lunarians, and even the creator of Makai! She had defeated immortal Phoenixes, reality warping Youkai, Vampires who could remove a person from existence just by clenching their fist and making a childish sound, and terrors which most people couldn't even dream of! She was the second-strongest being in all of Gensokyo, and when one was second-place to someone ridiculous like Reimu, that was a pretty high honor! She had seen, in all of her battles, all sorts of weapons. She had darted between thrown suns at the center of a burning Hellscape, had faced the smiting powers of the very gods themselves and slipped through unscathed! In all of her battles, Marisa had seen many, many different things used as weapons, some things most sane people would never even think of in that way. But, in all of her battles, she had never once been forced to evade something quite so ridiculous as this...!

"Moo," said the cow, its rather pitiful low drowned out by the noise of Marisa crying out wordlessly in surprise, hopping swiftly to her feet and leaping into the air as fast as she could, the bovine bullet blasting beneath her as she backflipped over it, landing expertly on her broom once again and catching her hat as it fell by, quickly placing it on her head once again before turning to gaze out upon the group of people assembled below her.

"What the hell was that?!" She roared, gesticulating wildly with her brilliantly glowing Mini-Hakkero in a manner which was enough to make one fear that the unstable magical reactor would explode for sure. "Someone just threw a freakin' cow at me! Who even does that?! No, better question, who even invents a spell that does that?! What's even the point? Are you trying to make a joke, or something? Do you just not have any decent danmaku to break out, so you just throw a cow?" Sighing, Marisa took a deep breath, then leveled her Mini-Hakkero. Abruptly, the small solar system of magical stars orbiting her stopped, aligning in a square around the small reactor as it suddenly began to glow with a brilliant blue light, with every other color of the rainbow dancing around it in quick succession, as though some sort of prismatic vortex had been created in the palm of her hand.

Step one: Mutter the spell to the Mini-Hakkero tenderly. Check! Marisa thought, tracing the path of the lowing projectile back to a wizard in red and pointing the dangerously bright magical weapon in his direction. Step two: Aim at someone you don't like. Definitely check. And step three: Unleash your annihilation of love!

The Mini-Hakkero's light had reached the point that it was like a star, and, with an ear-piercing whine, energy yet continued to gather as the formidable laser took form. Marisa, her face painted in countless different hues, smirked.

"You want an attack spell? This is an attack spell."

"Love Sign: Master...!"

But, at that moment, she was abruptly cut off...

[Sicon112]

The explosion from the blasts rocked the cave, even though the witch seemed to be holding back her full power. Settling his consciousness into the back corner of the cave, Sabrac watched the beginning of the battle intently.

I see. That object in her hand is the source of my unease. A type of spellcasting amplifier, perhaps? An ingenious idea. As he watched the other odd girl's actions.

"Teehee! These others are so stupid, aren't they Mr. Heart? They don't even know how to play dodgeball. You can't be hit by the balls!" Her actions are similar to the less mentally stable Denizens, it seems. However, I am curious as to what she did with that playing card just now. A transfer of existence, perhaps? I wonder... His eyes followed the spherical energy attack the girl released as it headed toward the witch.

His musing was cut off as, so his surprise, the large figure that had been disoriented a moment before leaped sideways with impressive speed. I had thought he was incapacitated. It seems I underestimated him. How foolish. Still, it won't come to anything in the end; he was too slow. Just as Sabrac predicted, one of the many twisting lasers whirled into the path of his jump, and slammed into his shoulder. There was no explosion, as had been the case with the other beams. It...passed through? There was a moment where I saw something, the spreading of wings... Ah. I see. Then he is similar to a Denizen after all. Superb transformation timing. He might even be able to weather my strike.

A quiet cry of pain from off to one side was barely audible through the explosions. Judging by the remnants of a magic shield that were dissipating before her, the stealthy figure had miscalculated and tried to block the attack directly without realizing that it would explode on contact. A second and third wave of lasers rushed toward her, and Sabrac, observing her damaged state, determined that she would not be able to avoid or block them.

"Triplicate!" A figure appeared in the darkness and, in a whirl of blades, deflected the blasts off to one side. Another person was here? Wait... To his surprise, the man with dual blades seemed to be in three places at once, defending both the wounded figure and a pile of bodies, from which a crying sound was emanating. He is defending them? Are they part of a group? As much as I hate to admit it, there is probably no way to tell yet. In any case, he wields those swords with impressive speed. Ah, he seems to have noticed the detonation properties of the attack. Those clones are quite curious, however. Are they autonomous, or is he in control of three bodies at once?

The shaking of the ground and the rumble of detonations slowed to a stop a moment later. Through the clearing smoke, he watched as the witch easily dodged alongside the orb of power thrown by the strange girl, seeming to go out of her way to stay as close as possible to it without getting hit. Perhaps she was showing off. A moment after that, she expertly countered an arrow sent at her by the inexplicably winged human flying towards her with a barrage of lasers. Impressive. While she is impulsive, her skills are more than enough to compensate. I shall remember that. As Sabrac prepared to observe the next move, however, there was a sudden movement on the far side of the cave, and with a confused "moooooo!" a cow came hurtling from the darkness.

Sabrac had never, in all the time he lived, experienced the condition called "speechlessness", and he did not reach it at that moment. However, he had a much better idea of how such people felt. What kind of foolishness is this? With a surprising grace, the witch leaped from her broom in midair just in time to avoid the attack, landing back on the levitating cleaning tool with a look of outrage on her face.

"What the hell was that?!" Yes, that was about what Sabrac was thinking as well, though with less emotion behind it. Judging by the malevolent glow coming from the small object in her wildly waving hand, she was rather angry. "Someone just threw a freakin' cow at me! Who even does that?! No, better question, who even invents a spell that does that?! What's even the point? Are you trying to make a joke, or something? Do you just not have any decent danmaku to break out, so you just throw a cow?"

Danmaku? I have not heard of that word referring to a type of spell, and yet it seems to be one. But the witch was not done, and before Sabrac could finish his thoughts, a deadly aura began to settle on the room, and the witch's face abruptly became calmer. Now there is a look I know well. It seems that this girl is capable of seriousness after all. That just makes eliminating her all the more troublesome, though.

"You want an attack spell?" The voice was the voice of one who was absolutely asured of their victory. "This is an attack spell."

A power buildup like nothing before began to emerge in the small object held before the witch. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. If action is not taken, there will be inevitable casualties. Since I cannot be sure whether one of these people holds the explanation for why I am here, such a result is intolerable. It seems I must reveal myself.

"Love Sign:" As the beginning of the spell was invoked, Sabrac gathered his power mentally, extended his senses over the area, and calculated the exact trajectories he would need to avoid causing casualties with the spell he was about to use. "Master..."

Sabrac struck.

There was absolutely no warning. Sabrac was an assassin, and this was the epitome of his style; tried and tested on hundreds of targets, and whether they were unsuspecting or actively attempting to find him, not a one had ever seen his First Strike coming until it had already occurred. There was no target he could not eliminate. With a brilliant glow of madder-red light, flames exploded from every surface. Thousands upon thousands of tiny balls of fire roared out of the rock face, pelting the winged human from all sides. A wave of flame with blades hidden in it's depths tore the ground before the small girl and her card minion asunder and smashed down towards them. Splitting the roof along a straight line, a giant blade like flame swung down towards the witch mounted on her broom, as if to bisect her. At the same time, an explosion tore the floor out from under the red-robed wizard, and innumerable fireballs spewed forth like hornets. With the loud ring of metal on rock, blade after blade rained down on the area with the three identical swordsmen, the stealthy bow-user, and the pile of bodies that the strange boy like being was using as cover, as the walls exploded in more fireballs.

The tiny lights began to whirl and spin around the room clockwise at an insane rate, tearing through outcroppings of rock and anything else that got in their way, and then, all at the same time, they shot outward and slammed into the walls with a deafening explosion.

A barrier of fire lined the chamber that was now lit as bright as day, and before the eyes of the watchers, trails of flame began to trace inwards in a counter-clockwise spiral, as though a whirlpool was forming in the center of the room.

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Faster and faster the trails of flame flashed across the floor, passing amongst the blades now embedded all over the cave, but, instead of twisting ever downward as they reached the center of the tornado, they began to twist up from the floor. As the tail end of the twisting flames was pulled into the cylindrical shape rising from the floor, it finally reached it's full size, standing roughly as tall and as wide as a human body. The wall of flame around the edge of the room, still burning strong, flared up all at once, charring the stone of the ceiling, and at that moment, there was a rustle like that of cloth. With the flash, the rotating crimson cylinder became deep black, and an ominous, mantled form pivoted and came to a stop, leveling his cold, glowing, red eyes on the rest of the characters. Then, he began to speak...

[NeverSlender]

Cow. A flying cow. After nearly three decades of travelling in the Grand Line, Marco had seen many sights more extraordinary than this but none so oddly hilarious. It flew towards the girl on the broom, looking as terrified and surprised as a cow can. The girl leapt of her broom and landed on the floor. Her demeanor seemed more serious all of a sudden. She started speaking and then shouted, "Love Sign: Master..."

He didn't hear the rest. Blades started to pour from the ceiling. They seemed to concentrate on the golden haired witch but a few came his way. He managed to dodge most of them but one struck him on the leg and stuck in his thigh. He ripped it out and threw it to the side. He turned his leg to fire for a few seconds. When it became flesh again, it was healed.

He looked up. There was a red glow illuminating the cave and the walls were burning. In the commotion, he'd barely noticed. He was used to being on fire after all, this was nothing.

He could now make out several of the other people in the room. A girl with a large bow, a boy with wings and three identical men with twin swords. He wondered whether they had also consumed Devil Fruits. There was a pile of bodies near one of the men with swords. It seemed to be... crying. Odd.

He turned towards the middle of the room. The fire there had started twisting, and a figure rose from the centre. He walked towards the others. A burning cavern, raining swords, strange people and the delicious smell of cooked steak. He started to smile. This was more like it.

[Guyshane]

Why does this keep happening to me? For the second time in about five minutes the Wizard was picking himself up off the ground because surprise, surprise someone had attempted to blow him up. To be fair it was at least partially his fault Not likely that I could have dodged it anyway but the fact that I had to restrain my laughter certainly didn't help The cow had almost worked, the witch he had thrown the unfortunate Holstein at had been somewhat less than amused asking if it was meant as some kind of joke. It wasn't but he thought her reaction was pretty hilarious.Right now who else did I see before someone attempted to kill me again? There had been three samurai but that could have just been head trauma making him see in triplicate. Note to self: check for concussions There had been someone flying, A small girl with an animate playing card, and some guy who was shifting out of a fiery state. And then theres this ass who tried to kill me who was again using fire, so this isn't a normal cave otherwise we would have all run out of air by now since fire requires oxygen,not a normal cave which may mean that Thunderbolt could work in here.Whatever the case he was certain things were about to get ugly.

[Pixelmage]

Alice was preparing to throw another energy ball after seeing that the girl in the broom had dodged the first. "Teehee! She knows how to play!", she was saying when she noticed a voice close by.

"Hey what's up with the attacks!?" Said a man near her with two swords. And there were two more of the same man nearby, along with others now clearly visible.

"Oh! Look Mr. Heart! There's a girl archer here and there's the boy with the swords and...". That's when she heard the voice of the girl floating above: "I think you'll find I'm better at this kind of dodgeball than most,". Alice felt delighted at the notion that the girl would play with her! But before she could answer...

"Moo" There was a cow flying past the the girl in the broom.

"A COW! There's a cow!" Looking around she saw what looked like a wizard. "You think he brought the cow? Do you think he brought any ponies too? He has a robe. So he must be a wizard. If he's a wizard he can make a pony, right?"

As she began to talk in the Knight's voice, the ground roared and a wave of fire and blades erupted towards the floating girl, some of the cracks however threw Alice back into the ground. She was safe from the fire there, but a piece of rock would fall on her.

"Help Mr. Heart!" She screamed, and four new cards rose from the floor. Two didn't even make it upright and were consumed by the flames. The other two, The Queen of Spades and the King of Diamonds did manage to deflect the falling rocks to the side keeping her safe while the Jack of Hearts kept his position as if it was a human shield.

Getting back on her feet, she directed her gaze to the man that had just appeared, the Queen and King cards fell back to the floor and vanished.

"The ground came up Mr. Heart. I never knew the ground could come up." She said, staring at the new man in the room.

[IslaKariese]

With a last look at the beams speeding towards her, she had closed her eyes, convinced that she wouldn't escape this unscathed. Perhaps not even alive. But after several seconds without more pain, she had opened her eyes to find something... odd.

A boy, nearly a man, was before her, wielding twin swords to deflect the beams. Was that possible? She wasn't entirely sure. The swords glowed blue with each impact, and no metal she knew of could do such a thing. She was further startled when she saw two others exactly like him doing the same thing, with one of them protecting the crying... boy? Girl? Person, from the lasers as well. Drawing on her inner strength, she stood fully, holding her bow at the ready.

The spells eventually ceased, and Kestral heard the swordsman cry out to the others in question, but she couldn't quite formulate an answer when a large cow came out of nowhere and flew towards with a pathetic 'Moo.' The blonde witch, of course, dodged it entirely before going on a tirade about how little sense such an attack made. As much as Kestral hated to agree, she found herself wondering what the point of that was, besides making the witch madder.

As the witch's face became less enraged and more serious, Kestral found herself tensing. She knew warriors who could decimate entire armies after getting a look like that, and knew that this person was very likely stronger than they were. She clenched her hand tightly around her bow and prepared to Shift to get to a better vantage point, when the witch's spell was abruptly cut off.

The world exploded.

Fire poured from the walls, blades tore from the ceiling, and the ground exploded with abandon. Multiple swords were aimed straight at her and her savior, and every thought of escape fled from her mind. With barely a thought, she ran up close to him and cast her strongest Dome Shield around herself, the crying being, and the swordsman's three copies. The blades were merciless, and her arms and Core strained with the impact, but eventually the onslaught ceased.

Waiting a moment or two, she lowered Celoivera and looked around in time to see the flames coalesce into one being - a being filled with so much raw power she trembled with a mix of awe and fear. She blinked and all her attention was focused on the man with the red eyes as he prepared to speak.