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Shadow Network: Thrill of the Haunt
Despite it being a few months away from Halloween, someone has turned an old boarded-up house into a creepily-decorated attraction. A green mist flows out of the doorway, and cobwebs and orange and black decorations litter the porch. Anyone passing by could see some movement inside beyond the "Take One" candy bowl at the front steps.
(Just to check, Can I still join this even if I wasn't part of the last thread?)
(Of course. The only thing you'll lack is some background on the nature of this thing.)
Devon stared at the house, having heard about this green mist, he pauses,
"Maybe I should give the dark light a warning of sorts..." he murmured
"Ooooooh ! Candy !!!! I'll take your whole stock !!!"
She picks up the bowl and starts nomming the candies one by one.
The little fairy was simply passing by. Truth be told, she was actually lost and she came by the house by pure coincidence. How lucky.
(edited by Cirno)
*A girl carrying a violin case walks up to the house.*
The Idiot mentioned that this was the place.
* She would look at the green mist and upturn her nose.*
There are better people for this. Ugh. Why does it have to be me? Damn it all.
"Hey!! Who're you calling an idiot !!"
Cirno hated being called that. It's the one thing she'd never let slide. Unless there were other things? Well it doesn't matter right now, the newcomer had called her an idiot and that was grounds for a beating !
Gah!
*Melody would gasp, realising someone had heard her mumblings. She would turn around with an aloof smile.*
N-Not you, I assure you. Just a friend of mine is all. Ah ha ha ha.
A young man with white hair steps up to the area, a bored look on his face while staring at the green mist. He'd mutter a bit while glancing around.
"Demons...? Could be I guess, but I haven't seen those guys using anything like this before. Guess that's why I'm here though."
He ignores the idiot asking for candy, and the person who might or might not be an idiot that he didn't understand. The blonde though draws his eye for a moment, and Dante wanders over to her with a casual wave.
"Better people huh? Can't help but overhear, you some kinda investigator of the strange lady?"
Regardless of her reply, the Devil Hunter would begin walking forward to try and get a better look at this movement further in.
Cirno began devouring the candies from the "Take One" bowl. She felt shameful but the sweets temporarily filled the void in her soul.
The mist caused those present to be dizzy for a moment, but once it faded, there was a sense of dread. The doorway almost seemed to ominously beckon the group.
Whatever was moving inside looked like a teddy bear. Whether it was a robot or monster, only time would tell.
(edited by Hundred-S)
"Huh. Then it'sh fine" She says as she bites down on one of those really hard candies you're not supposed to bite on. She sits down on the ground wherever the bowl was before she picked it up.
A large, blonde man with a nice hat and a scar running diagonally down his face, comes upon the house while walking down the road, and stop to look at it. "I've seen many things in my life, but even among them, this is rather curious!"
While speaking, the man's eyes roam over all the people in front of the house, a curious expression on his face.
A teenage girl walked nearby, texting on her phone and sipping some tea. Once she saw the haunted house, she instantly threw it aside like she always did and check it out.
“Hi guys, Sana here.”
Sana said in a voice that sounded so bored people who didn’t see her wouldn’t think that it came from an AI. She looked at everyone else, and then at the door.
“Ooooo, creepy. Welp, I’m going in. See ya losers.”
She walked in not really caring what comes for her afterwards. Her heels clicked as she hummed to entertain herself.
*Melody would walk in after Sana, uncaring about Cirno's retort. " According to the idiot, a strange power source is supposed to be in here. Eh. It's not that big of a house. Seems like a five minute search, all in all." Confidant in her abilities, Melody smirks.*
"Huh? Why're you all going in? Is this you guys' house? I wanna see too!!!"
Cirno is quick to follow the group. She closely follows her newfound friend Melody, all while holding (and devouring from) her bowl of treats.
As Speedwagon spots everyone entering the house, he takes a deep breath, affixes his hat and proceeds to enter behind them, curiosity still present on his face. "What a strange attraction this is, I can't possibly miss out!"
Hurrying along, Speedwagon eventually ends up next to Dante, looking over to him. "Hello, good sir, would you happen to know why everyone is entering this house?"
He nods to Melody, sighing rather heavily as Sana starts to rush off ahead. She'd find herself behind Dante in mere moments despite the headstart, the man smirking at her with a chuckle as he takes up the lead.
"Heh, you've sure got guts lady but I don't really suggest doing that. Something tells me this place isn't gonna be too safe all told. Lemme take the lead, yeah?"
Despite the sense of dread, his face betrays no such thing. It's felt, but not shown. And he waves to Speedwagon as well in the process of going inside.
"Hah, you and me both man. Sure ain't any kind of strange I've ever seen before at the least. As for why... If I had to take a guess, they're all either weirdos or getting paid to look at weird stuff. I'm the second type."
There's a shrug while he looks the man over, no reason not to be honest about it if asked. Or so Dante feels.
(edited by Dark-knight-Dante)
A boy with the appearence of an elememtary student strolls through the yard, a large staff on his backside.
"This seems dangerous. I better investigate before someone gets hurt."
Negi moves to approach, only to be surprised by the large group of people moving in at once
"Huh? Are those guys magicians, too? I better follow them."
Negi runs at the back of the group, placing his right hand on the hilt of his staff while looking around and frowning mervously.
"...This place better not be haunted."
A handsome pokemon walked by and notice a haunted house. Star-yu's eyes light up.
"OOOOOHHH! A haunted house! I heard about them in books and movies!"
Star-yu runs toward the eerie house, but as he get closer, he slows down and starting to shiver in fear.
"Ya know, maaaybe some other time...I, uh, just remembered my people need my help! Yeah thats it! Have fun surface dwellers!"
Star-yu cowardly runs away. Very unfortunate.
The inside of the house had no conventional lights. However, there were green lines forming a pattern on every surface that gave off a soft glow. As the group moved onwards, they'd notice that this hall had gone on for much longer than the apparent size of the house would suggest.
Out from a set of stairs that broke the monotony of the hall, that teddy bear returned. Its body was stained with red and skulls peeked out from its nearly-bursting belly. In place of the blank button eyes of a normal teddy bear, there were glowing green orbs that cut through the mist.
"There you are... THERE you are... come on, let's play!"
It giddily spun around, then stumbled down the hall again. The stairs it had come up were off to the side, but the bear itself ran down the path straight ahead.
"Catch me, catch me!"
Twilight walked in, no hesitation, being the one Devon referenced earlier,
"Glad Devon got my attention to this, who knows? Might see Kaito and Kali again" she said as she stepped into the house
Hee casual clothes instantly were switched out for a more odd outfit, a short cloak like thing wrapped around her waist, showing her shorts, a dark purple muscle shirt and mesh sleeves going up to her black gloves, and the mesh leggings going with her dark purple shorts, and a black mask resting on her face, the green mist left it's effect, but she'd dealt with it before,
Sana looks at Dante and gives a heartfelt giggle. It was only then that she took out a small pocket notebook and an expensive fountain pen, scribbling in it before ripping a page out and giving it to him. It reads the letter “k”.
“k.”
Was all she said before she slowed herself down a pace in order for him to take the lead, but at the same time, it was as if she was always just 1 centimeter behind him. She is doing what he asked after all. Meanwhile, she looked around with her phone, recording inside the house with her flash on.
“This is going in my blog.”
Once she saw the bear, her phone immediately took notice of it, recording it as it spoke to them. Afterwards, she tried to follow it, but still kept at her same pace of a leisure stroll in order to let Dante take the lead.
*Melody's mouth would twitch as she looked at the size of the hall. "This might take a little longer than I thought." She would pretend to be suprised as the bear appeared.*
W-What the..? A toy bear?
"I agree, though I came upon this residence by pure coincidence, it outmatches much of what I've seen before in strangeness, as do the people currently exploring it! Speaking of-"
Speedwagon is interrupted by the sight of the teddy bear. As it speaks, the blonde man sniffs the air slightly, then gasps, leaning back and shouting out. "What sort of evil is this? I haven't felt such malevolence since my time accompanying Mister Joestar!"
Wasting no time, Speedwagon steps ahead of the group, moving at a faster rate, though not yet chasing after the bear actively. "Good lord, we must not let this being escape!"
"OOoooooh !!! A teddybear!! It looks so cute! Can I freeze it? pleaaaaaase! Can I ? can i? Can I? Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase! "
She liked freezing things.
His face is a blank stare while the talking object appears before them, of all the things he exxpected to find here this was most surely not on that list. Indeed, it is if anything quite surpising and more than a bit annoying. On the whole, he's adjusted enough to madness that weird lights and a talking bear stained in blood aren't all that shocking or scaring for Dante.
"Play... Man that thing looks like some kinda demon, bet it'll try and kill us soon enough. Oh well, I can handle that."
Rather than allow the obviously inhuman enemy to get the drop on them, the Devil Hunter smirks as a pair of pistols apppear in his hands.
"Let's rock guys!"
Gleaming red energy takes shape in the gun's barrels, crackling demonic power that would soon enough blast out toward their enemy at a rapid pace while the shooter observes.
"I got a great game that we can play together pal, I call it ring around the gunslinger! It's where you run for your life, and I shoot till ya die. Real popular in some places these days or so I'm told!"
Devon came up, swords made purely of darkness appear in his hands,
"Shall we fight this then?" He asked
He prepared for the fight, expecting a strength that would be unnatural and abnormal, or rather paranormal,
Negi runs to the front of the party, looking past Dante and noticing a monster in the shape of a Teddy Bear, he screams at the top of his lungs.
"Dear lord, what is that? Ah, ahhh!"
In a frenzied panic, Negi curls up on the ground facing away from the teddy and waves his staff behind himself frantically. As he does, he mutters a series of jumbled latin words, several icicles forming in the air and thrusting towards the teddy bear all at once.
"Please, get rid of it!"
The teddy bear cackled despite the gunshots putting holes in its body. Stuffing flew out behind it as it somehow kept dashing down the hall.
"Catch me, catch me!"
This chant was cheerful yet hollow. It was like a pre-recorded message from a toy. Inevitably, one gunshot hit its leg and an icicle hit the other leg, and it fell face-first onto the ground just in front of another stairway, this one leading upwards.
"Catch me, catch me, catch me..."
(edited by Hundred-S)
"Hey! I was gonna freeze him first!!"
She begins pummeling negi with her tiny fists. She's giving it all she's got, which equates to a toddler's strength. Not much to worry about.
*Melody sighs at Negi and Cirno's action.*
You two really are just children, huh?
"I'm not a kid !! I'm at least... uh... What was it again..? itty? etti? oh! yeah ! I'm at least eight years old!!! HAHA !!! now bow before your elder!!!"
She looks oh so proud that she already forgot all about the teddy bear.
"Good shot! It fell down, kill it before it gets back up!"
Speedwagon grabs his hat, his fingers deftly avoiding the numerous blades that eviscerate the rim of the bowler hat, before he launches it at the bear.
The hat speeds towards the downed teddy bear, almost as if free of any wind resistance, seeking to slice it's head off. Even if it doesn't achieve that, Speedwagon has a hand inside his coat, gripping onto a revolver, though he doesn't yet pull it out. "Shoot it with all you have!"
Hate to break it to you, but in human years, Eight years old is a kid.
While Negi's magical talent far surpassed that which is possible to most, he was physically just a bit older than a toddler, therefore Cirno's assault was quite effect on the kid. He gets knocked to the ground, the onset of a fearful cry welling up in his eye.
"Waah, what did I do!?"
"I'm not a kiiiiiiiiiid!!! I'll show you!!!"
And so Cirno dashes as fast as she can towards the teddy bear. Used to fleeing from strong opponents, Cirno's speed is actually pretty good. She's even charging up her power in order to freeze everything around her as soon as she reaches the bear.
H-Hey wait.
*Melody would chase after Cirno, afraid the fairy might do something stupid. She beckons Negi to follow her.*
Come on, other kid. Take some responsibility for being trigger happy. You can appologize to the bear or something.
Rushing forward in a blur, his guns vanish to be replaced with a set of heavy gauntlets and greaves. The weapons gleam with light magic and soon enough his armored foot stamps down onto the target with superhuman strength.
"Well unless that one was way tougher than it looks, I do believe this demon is cleaned up. Doubt it'll be our only encounter though. Places like this usually have a few of those schmucks."
He chuckles a bit and begins some basic warm up motions. Grinning while he looks around for more foes and gets ready to fight off whatever may come.
"Anyways, let's keep moving on I guess. Wanna get through with this job sooner than later."
Dante sets off at that. Walking ahead with his weapons out.
"Uh, alright."
Negi gets up and relunctantly follows Melody, shirking back in shock upon hearing what Dante said
"Wait, you mean there'll be more!?"
The teddy bear's stitched-on smile seemed to widen as the hat chopped off its head. As the lights dimmed, those rushing forward would be met with a nasty surprise...
Crack
Anyone who had run forward would be thrown off balance. The floor beneath their feet crumbled and fell into the black abyss. It would be difficult yet possible to escape this trap, but anyone unlucky enough to fall would find themselves falling...
falling...
...until their body was caught on a web of sticky string. They could still move, but it was a struggle.
W-Wah!
*Melody would try to herself, on;y to fall all the same. She would hit the web and sigh.*
This is why I don't help people.
*She would begining whistling a jaunty tune. Beneath her, a large white bird would appear. It would cut through the web with ease before letting Melody grab hold of it and start flying her back out of the hole, all while Melody continues to whistle.*
Cirno looks on as a the floor crumbles underneath her feet.
"Oh. A hole. I wonder what's down there. Anyway... HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Cirno then kicks towards Buggs' corpse, leaving a trail of frozen air behind her. Upon impact, a large explosion of ice would freeze everything around her.
"Hahah!! I told you all I wasn't just a kid! See how.. Strong... Uhh... Where'd they all go to?"
Sana, who was still not giving Dante much personal space to work with, stayed close behind him and peeked over his shoulder. Somehow, she was able to keep up with him even when he dashed forward and stomped on the teddy bear.
“Never thought I’d see the day where people start jumping some ghostly teddy bear.”
Peering from behind Dante’s back, she took pictures of the Teddy Bear from where she stood, casually taking the whole haunted house lightly as most could tell.
“This might get some likes on Instagram or something. Alright sir, whatever you say.”
Little did she know, going to such lengths to follow an order that she normally would’ve ignored entirely has her falling down, into the ground. Still with a nonchalant attitude, she pulls down her blue skirt and takes a selfie of this moment on her phone.
He stares at Negi for a moment, chuckling while speaking in a clearly sarcastic tone.
"No of course not kid, weird places filled with screwy energy are always safe. It is a proven fact that nothing bad ever happens and they're not infested with demons!"
As he begins falling, a glowing red platform takes shape under the man. He leaps up off it and escapes with relative ease. All while smirking and looking down.
"Yeesh, talk about a place that isn't up to building code. Good thing I'm a devil hunter and not a safety inspector, otherwise I'd have to give it a failing grade."
There's a sigh as he calls out to the fallen girl though.
"You okay down there lady? Much as I love playing knight in shining armor, I'm hoping to meet at least one other self sufficient person here."
"Woah, the floor just burst open and everyone fell inside!"
Speedwagon gasps even as he extends his hand to grab his hat at it ricochets off the stairs and returns towards him, once more deftly avoid the blades. He steps forth, next to Dante, looking down at the hole. "Even I can't cut them free, with so much web."
Aiming carefully, Speedwagon launches his hat once more, the sharp blades cutting a line through the web, but ultimately not doing much to free those who are entrapped within it unless they try to escape as well.
Negi caught offguard by the floor opening up and grips his staff, quickly uttering a spell to protect himself from the fall. "Rastil magisomething" and a whirlwind appears beneath Negi's feet, serving to slow his discent as well as disrupt the cobwebs beneath it. He gradually weakens the strength of the whirlwind, disperse it completely when he gets near enough to fall safely.
When he lands, he overhears the rest of Dante's comment. Offended, he furrows his brow and interjects the conversation between Dante and the lady.
"I'll have you know, I can do just fine on my own."
Sana looks up, now knowing that Dante was still up here let’s out a disappointed sigh. While it seemed like she had nothing to work with, she took out a bottle of perfume and sprayed it in the air, seemingly a sign to Dante that she’s still alive. Afterwards, the purple cloud that went upwards would travel out of the hole, and Sana would end up reappearing right next to Dante before she got herself stuck in the web.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not some dumb, blonde college girl.”
Afterwards, she’d inch herself closer in order to close distance, taking out her phone and texting on it as she did so. Once she was exactly 1 centimeter away from Dante, she’d stop and put her phone away, flipping her blue hair and giving out a little sigh.
“Sorry, it was off by a bit. Alright leader, chop chop. Where do we go next. I’m getting bored.”
She said, snapping her fingers as a sign of slight annoyance. For all Dante knew, the girl didn’t really care about her surroundings. She probably thinks that this is still a normal haunted house that’s not filled with demons.
With everyone back on solid ground, the hole was more of an annoyance than anything, as it blocked the path of whoever was on the other side. Eight green eyes stared up from the darkness before vanishing into the tangle of string.
The staircase on the side of the hole the bear had been killed on lead upwards, up towards the unknown. There was also the stairs leading down on the side the teddy bear had first appeared.
Cirno is taken by curiosity and just flies on ahead without paying attention to where she's going.
"This place sure is weird though. I wonder if there are any more teddy bears... And candy!!!"
The thought of the latter lights a fire in her eyes.
Sigh, not much to be done about it from up here. Hmm... Maybe someone else can deal with that gap, he could jump it sure, but trusting the seemingly mostly normal humans to do that is asking for trouble.
"Anyone here good at building bridges or something, I don't really care how you all get past it but uh... I can't really do that, not what my power is geared towards really."
Demonic power has many varied uses. Destroying things, murder... Okay it's mostly just those, it is solely good for inflicting violence on the world so trying to create with it is a bit like slamming a round peg in a square hole.
"Nope, not suited for that in the least bit. So who's got bright ideas, everyone?"
Spedwagon puts his hat back on his head, looking down at the eyes with concern, stepping away from the edge. "We could tear apart some of the boards around the hallway and use those to make a bridge?"
Speedwagons steps back once more, observing the wooden floor and walls carefully, his eye catching the stairs downwards, from whence the bear came. "Or we could go downstairs instead. Maybe there's another way up from there?"
Speedwagon continues thinking, before his eyes widen and he smiles, as if he had an epiphany. He looks at Dante, speaking enthusiastically. "I know, Mister Demon Hunter, you said you didn't care how we got across, not you, so can you perhaps carry us across?"
(edited by Robert_Speedwagon)
*Melody lands outside the hole and dusts herself off. As she stops whistling, the white burd vanishes into waves of low frequency sound. She looks over at Cirno.*
And that's why you should run off. People might get hurt. Dumbass kid. Huh?
*She would sigh when she noticed Cirno wasn't there.*
I hate you... so much.
(edited by Melody)
Negi closes his eyes, his body stiffening up as he appears to be deep in thought.
"I could use a wind spell to carry us across, unless anyone has any better ideas."
(but cirno isn't there anymore...)
He shrugs and nods at Negi, sure whatever. Seems a good enough idea for the humans in the audience.
"Got it, go for it I guess. If ya need me, I'm just gonna cross myself though."
His knuckles audibly crack while the man prepares to leap across, doing so in a few moments with his usual impressive speed and power. A moment is taken to look around and make sure nothing else leaps out, but with that done he begins scouting ahead slowly.
Speedwagon looks down at Negi, impressed at the suggestion. "You can do that? Then go ahead, good sir! We can't waste any time!"
Sana simply texts on her phone once more, holding out a finger towards everyone else as she snaps a photo of Dante going over the gap by merely leaping across. Unbeknownst to her, they were just about to use Negi’s suggestion and go across with some wind spell.
“Right, you losers can have fun using wind to get across. See you on the other side.”
Afterwards, she sprays some of her perfume once again, making a purple cloud travel across the gap. Once it traveled enough distance, Sana popped into existence, her figure appearing from across the gap in a matter of seconds. Afterwards, she’d follow closely behind Dante and stop once she had gotten 1 centimeter off distance apart from him.
“Hi, Sana here.”
She said blankly in a full expression, sounding so bored it was almost like it came from a lifeless corpse. She peered over his shoulder once more to “scout”, but she really just felt a bit short.
"Right, [Latin words]!"
A green whirlwind appears beneath the pit, spinning faster every second. It grows to encompass the entirety of the hole, spinning fast enough to appear as if it isn't moving at all. The molecules that composed the wind were moving so quickly that they were in every possible location at once, making it so that they had the same attributes of tightly bound solid molecules. Consequently, Negi was able to be kept aloft in the air when he stepped towards the abyss, turning back to the rest of the party.
"Walk across as quickly as you can, try to follow my footsteps."
He then catches up to Dante, standing by his side.
"Uh, if anymore 'demons' show up i'll do my best to help defeat them!"
With the general consensus being going ahead, those at the forefront - namely Cirno for certain - will end up ascending the stairs...
The ice fairy and anyone following her would find themselves in a fancy living room. A chandelier glittered in the green light. A flatscreen TV sat in front of a couch that had nothing sitting on it but soft pillows. The doorways ahead and to the right led to the kitchen and bathroom, respectively. There was also another winding staircase that led further upwards.
Cirno ran towards the tv and tried turning it on:
"I wonder what's on tv right now :D"
"A TV, you say? What exactly is this thing?" Speedwagon follows Cirno, leaning down with a hand on his chin to observe the television. Nearly everything else around the room is uninteresting to him, in comparison to this strange invention.
*Melody would soon reach the room Cirno is in.*
There you are you little... woah. This is fancy.
*Melody would look around the room. She would look over to Cirno*
After the trap in the hall, I wouldn't be so eager to touch stuff if I were you.
"Traps have nothing against me! I'm not scared of men! "
The narrator is back from food. Everything shall continue once enough people post. In the meantime, stay hydrated, relax, maybe get a tiny bit of exercise in, and enjoy life.)
His head shakes back and forth as the man walks in, Sana close behind him as he's quickly getting used to. Cirno's words just draw a suffering sigh out from the Devil Hunter, he watches the TV though. With a large sniper rifle in hand and ready.
"I swear, if that TV lets loose monsters to try and kill us or something stupid like that then I'm blaming you entirely ice kid."
It'd be just the kind of thing to happen in a demon infested hellhole like this one by his guess. On the other hand, he's almost getting bored enough that such an event has an appeal to it all on its own merits.
(exercise is for the weak. I'm watchin' tv ! )
"He's right, you really should be careful around this place."
Negi glares towards the tv nervously while also creaking his head towards the other parts of the room. Thinking to explore, he instead jerks back where he stood, beside Dante.
From where Negi is, he can see a cracked mirror in the bathroom. There's a golden gleam in his reflection's eyes, although it might just be a trick of the light.
The TV's screen became covered by static once it was turned on. It was almost dizzying to look at, especially with how it appeared to be rippling. Cirno, ever excited, was unlucky enough to be the closest to the screen. A hand formed out of the static and grasped at her outstretched arm. Despite its fuzzy appearance, its grip was like iron.
What did I just say?
*Melody quickly whistles. A white gunman appears by her side and fires a gun at the hand before vanishing into sound waves.*
Speedwagon gasps and pulls away from the TV, staring at the arm holding Cirno. "A hand came out of the 'TV'!"
Shouting out the current events loudly, Speedwagon grabs his hat and forces it downwards, aiming to cut off whatever remained of the hand after it was shot at. "I'll cut it away before it can do anything to us!"
(edited by Robert_Speedwagon)
*Melody rolls her eyes at Speedwagon and mutters something under her breath*
Thank you captain obvious.
Sana, being the helpful girl that she is, takes a little group picture of everyone that went and tried to help Cirno her away from the hand in the TV trying to grab her. Afterwards, she gave the picture a little caption before putting her phone away. She bent her body sideways a little to peer over Dante as she snidely comments.
“Hey now, surely that disgusting hand from the TV wants to be friends.”
Dante chuckles as the hands appear, of course this would happen.
"I told you some nonsense was gonna go down, but does anyone listen to me? No of course not. Whatever, let's do this Rebelion!"
A large sword with a skull and ribcage for its handle appears in the man's hands. Guns are all well and fine, but firing into melee is a poor idea indeed.
"Get some!"
He rushes forward in a blinding burst, the sword stabbing right into the enemy's arm.
"Blast off!"
Rather than press that though, he quickly changes aims and slices his sword upwards. Striking straight at the TV and aiming to launch it up into the air. He follows along with that motion somehow, blade replaced by the gauntlets again and sending a shockwave of light straight at the TV. He'd then land on his feet with ease and dust a bit of dust from the jacket with a smirk.
"And that everyone is how you kill a demon. At least it better be, cause I don't wanna waste time on these mooks!"
A few gunshots shattered the hand and the screen, but Dante's air juggling with the TV short-circuited the thing for good. It fell down in a mess of glass and wires.
Thankfully, this trap hadn't harmed anyone, but time would tell if the rest of the house would be the same.
Cirno fell on her knees crying... It had been a harrowing experience... Her carefree demeanor had caused her to let her guard down. Such a turn of events was beyond her expectations and thus, she let out a cry of despair.
"MYYYYYYYYYY TTTTTTTTTTTTTVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!!! YOU BROKE MY TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!!!!!"
At this exact moment, Sana snaps two pictures with her phone, a nonchalant expression still on her face. She blankly comments her captions as she puts them on them.
“Florida man decimates TV. Local child cries about it.”
That freaking kid, she's seriously going to cry after having been saved from that thing? What kinda idiot doesn't notice a monster trying to grab them. Utterly unable to help himself, snark is deployed toward Cirino. Despite the annoyance though, he simply leans back against a wall with a casual grin.
"If this is how you treat people who help, I would frigging hate to see what you do to enemies Ice Kid. Truly, the rewards of heroism are both tiny and not worthwhile."
He then sighs, absently raising a hand up to Sana.
"Hey now, no flash or non-flash photography please, you're gonna get me known all over..."
Dante pauses for a moment, considering the fact that could be a marketing gimmick if he's clever.
"Actually maybe it isn't all bad, I am in need of free advertising all things considered."
The young man laughs for several seconds as he realizes something very important here.
"Oh wow, I never introduced myself did I? Name's Dante, Dante the Devil Slayer thank ya very much."
All that said and done, taking a closer look around the area becomes his goal. Eyes darting around carefully to try and get an idea of anything that might be important.
Negi stumbles backwards, gasping at the sight of the hand gripping Cirno but breathing a heavy of sigh of relief upon noticing the TV's destruction. He comes to face the hero would just introduced himself and follows up with his own introduction, speaking loud and clear to the rest of the group.
"Nice to meet you, Dante. My name is Negi Springfield, I teach English over at Mahora Academy, although many just know me as the son of the Thousand Master."
He bows respectfully, following Dante's eyes to make sure he himself isn't surprised by anything.
You're... worried about the TV.
*Melody shakes her head.*
I mean, you could have died but sure. Poor TV.
Speedwagon looks at Cirno strangely, as if he's observing a deranged person. "Strange, this person is utterly strange." The far larger man shies away from her, as if afraid. Hearing Dante and Negi introduce themselves, however, Speedwagon waits until they finish, and then promptly speaks aloud.
"Good to meet you, sirs! I am Robert E. O. Speedwagon! I don't have any really strong powers, but I'll do by best to make sure I won't drag you down while we explore this den of evil!"
Grabbings his hat and laying his hand on his heart, Speedwagon gives a polite bow to those present.
(Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, and Russian bots. Your narrator shall be here till 2:15 EST.)
The TV is beyond repair. Goodnight, sweet prince.
The room the group is in didn't pose any more immediate threats, aside from the occasional worrying sway of the chandelier. A high-pitched whine came from the kitchen - someone left the kettle on the stove, perhaps? The bathroom door was open, revealing a cracked mirror and claw-footed tub to anyone looking inside. For those unsure about this floor, stairs wound up to the next.
(edited by Hundred-S)
"Oh! Oh ! Are we introducing ourselves? My name's Cirno! I'm the ice fairy that rules over the frozen lake! And I'm teh storngest! "
Or so she says as she flutters back towards the main group with her chest puffed out and a finger pointing towards her.
Dante nods to the introductions, quite a lot of them and rather than spending time snarking at each he simply waves a bit before responding to them collectively.
"Hah, quite the convention we have in this demon infested house yeah? I'd have stocked up on beer and pizza if I knew the party was so big, but alas I came to work!"
The man chuckles and begins walking into... The kitchen, somehow he doubts that whine is just a kettle. Saying as much while the gauntlet set remains formed upon his arms and legs. Beowulf is easier to use in confined spaces than Rebellion, much to his thanks right now.
Inside the kitchen was, surprisingly, a hot tea kettle on a gas stove. The rest of the kitchen was filthy and run-down. The refrigerator made odd clunking noises and one of the chairs was termite-ridden and missing most of a leg. Tending to a pot on another stove burner was a hunched-over figure with long, black hair. It hadn’t noticed Dante yet but all that could be seen of its face was the white surface of a horse-like skull - only bone, no skin or muscle.
Rather than strike first as all his past dealngs with such beings say to, Dante mouths off a bit and greets the creature.
"Sup there Skeleton Horse Person, what's the deal with you? My gut says you aren't gonna invite me to just sit down and have some tea. Also if you do, got any beer instead? Or at least soda, I never was much of a tea guy."
He chuckles a bit and keeps his arms ready to rise in a moment's notice, his reaction time is incredible when actually trying to focus on it. And if the figure were to aim an attack towards him, they'd find it being blocked. Not merely with the man's arms, but with a glowing red demonic energy that covers them and if not negates the damage entirely. At the very least heavily reduces it down to a mere slight chip. Along with offering a quick counter in the form of a blasting light that bursts out of Beowulf, straight for the eyes in an effort to stun and open up to other's attacks.
On the other hand, if they actually decided to speak with him rather than being a threat he would... Stare in shock for a while, taking a moment to just absorb the fact that something is for once not murdering him.
As soon as Dante said not to take pictures of him, Sana immediately made use of her phone's options with the camera, mainly being the flash mechanism and the burst mechanic, using them in tandem making a very annoying way of letting a multitude of pictures at once be taken. It was similar to if he was surrounded by a papparazzi crew, only in the form of one girl and her phone.
"Oh wait, you want advertisement?"
Letting out a disappointed sigh, she went ahead and deleted all the useless pictures in a bulk of exactly 125 pictures. Rather than wait around idly by, she decided to finally introduce herself in the best way possible. Which was by standing right in the epicenter of the chandelier that really looks like it could fall at a mere moment's notice.
"As you've heard 3 times by now, my name is Sana. And that's all you losers get to know."
Swift, and also, uh, anti-climatic. If the chandelier fell, she'd merely end up warping away, with a noxious scent of burnt money, rich tears, broken dreams, and finally, some nice lilac and lavendar. Afterwards, she went ahead and stayed 1 centimeter behind Dante as she ought to, following him into the kitchen. While she didn't really comment on the thing he was talking to, nor really seeming to care much, the most reaction she had gotten was to take a picture of it. If it dared to attack, she'd jut hide behind Dante as she took yet another picture in the form of a selfie.
(edited by Sanana)
Surprisingly, the chandelier didn’t instantly crush anyone. Yet. It was being a good decoration for now.
The skull-headed woman turned her head. Her eye sockets had a yellow light that acted as her “pupils,” which widened.
“Oh, children, there you are! I was wondering when Alice’s friends would come.”
The creature’s voice echoed slightly, but otherwise sounded like a normal middle-aged woman. She spoke gently and warmly, as if she had known them for years. She attempted to give Dante a hug then seemed to glide over to the fridge afterwards.
“Ah, yes, I can get something for you... I am afraid I only have some milk and water... ah, here’s some wine too.”
Cirno flies at mach speed towards the old woman:
"I wants milk!!! That way my boobs'll get super big!!!"
She eagerly flutters about, thoughts of milks and wondrous bodies filling her mind.
(edited by Cirno)
*Melody sighs at Cirno's actions.*
Have you not learned that everything in this place is out to kill...
*She pauses and looks at the woman.*
Wait, Alice?
* Melody tenses up. "Why is it every time I meet someone called Alice something bad happens?"*
The devil hunter stares, mouth agape for a moment while he dodges the hug with casual and reflexive ease. After several moments of stunned quiet from the fact this weird clearly inhuman being isn't aiming to murder him directly, he'd speak up again with the standard snarky confidence.
"No touching the merch miss, I just can't allow something like that right now. And thanks for the offer, but eh. I'm on a no liquid diet."
That's a bad joke and a lie, he just doesn't trust the wine here. This Alice though... There's a demon he can think of by that name, stories heard from other hunters in this strange world. The tales claim of a 'child' holding horrible demonic power, a 'Fiend'. However, Dante hasn't ever met any such beings and always wrote them off as mere tall tales.
"Haha, yeah we sure are friends of Alice. Alice is a cool person, yup! Where might we find her though, didn't get told that sadly."
He's trying to act like far more is known than truly is. Fishing for info without showing how ignorant he actually is. Of course, worst case is he can just beat the info out of them most likely. Now that sounds more fun anyways.
Speedwagon looks rather disturbed at the sight of the skull-headed woman, and, after sniffing at the air once more, visibly moves away from her, and from the unstable chandelier, eventually deciding to begin walking towards the other door in the room. "Ah, since you seem to have this under control, I'll go look at the bathroom in case there's any trap in there too."
Entering the small bathroom and looking at the mirror, Speedwagon sighs."Even Speedwagon is afraid..." He whispers to himself.
The cracked mirror showed the reflection of the wonderful Speedwagon. The golden gleam in the reflection's eyes was but a side note to such a gentlemanly reflection. If he moved, he'd soon notice that his reflection's movements didn't quite match his own...
---
The creature's head drooped slightly when her hug was avoided. Her face wasn't one for revealing her feelings, though. Cirno's excitement brings a spark to her eyes.
"Very well, child. One moment."
As she began setting out a glass and pouring some milk for the ice fairy, she spoke again to Dante.
"I assume she is in her bedroom upstairs. Perhaps she is busy with her new kitten. But are you sure you don't want anything? Without liquid, you will dry up, my child."
Cirno gulps it all down in one go!
"haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Can I get some more, Miss?"
Her glass empty, she didn't even stop to think about the taste or the texture of what she just drank. All she wanted was a smokin' bod'. Unless of course this was cirmilk, in which case it'd make her much smarter for a short while. This was fine too.
(edited by Cirno)
Contrary to Dante who was showing an actual and maybe reasonable reaction to the skull woman, Sana merely stayed behind him, 1 centimeter as always. She stared blankly at the woman like she has always been when she first got here.
“Sorry, still a minor. That was a terrible joke by the way, I hope you know that.”
She texted back and forth, barely looking up from her. The name “Alice” seems to be a bit suspicious though, even if it’s the same name of a girl that ended up going through an acid trip, it also felt like one that meant problems.
“Wow, ok. Alice is a cool person. Sure. Let’s go with that. Maybe we can also have a tea party as well? Speaking of, do you have other liquids? Can’t really go with wine after all, I’m only 17.”
"They have MILK !!!!" the small fairy shouts at sanana.
"Milk is great for you so you should drink some! And when you get home, don't forget to buy a batch of CIRMILK ™ !!!"
"What?!" Dramatically, Speedwagon gasps and steps back from the mirror, getting in a position for fisticuffs as he stares into his apparent reflection. "The mirror doesn't match my movements!"
Speedwagon, concern and mild anger obvious in his scarred face shakes his head in an attempt to perhaps clear his head from an illusion, his blonde main losing a few hairs to his bladed hat while doing so. Should the reflection remain, however, he shouts at it loudly. "What the hell are you?!"
Negi follows closely behind Dante, albeit not as close as Banana. He jumps back upon seeing the skeletal creature, hugging Dante's leg nervously. Wanting to keep some measure of control, he grabs his staff and plants it in the ground in front of him. He breathes a sigh of relief upon noticing there was no immediate danger and simply shrugs off whatever snark Dante would utter while also still tugging lightly on his leg.
Devon eventually caught up with the group, this time though, he didn't seem to be alone, following close behind him was a dragon, one big enough for him and several others to ride, clearly that is how he got other the gap in the floor, he notices Speedwagon before anyone else catches his attention and he slips in behind Speedwagon, his reflection becoming visible, along with the reflection of his dragon, Speedwagon would be justified to freak out over the large creature, although it seemed friendly,
(edited by DevonNevera)
The mirror Speedwagon smirked and grabbed the brim of his hat. He leapt through the mirror and prepared to strike, but...
...the reflections of Devon and the dragon leapt through as well. The dragon barely fit in the bathroom as is, but two dragons...
That caused what was now a very crowded bathroom. The occupants could barely even move in their nearly-crushed state. The mirror doppels didn’t make any more moves to attack considering situations like this tended to call an unspoken truce. The walls began to crack and give in, and water leaked out at a rapid rate.
—-
“Hm, yes, I have plenty of milk. But I should be able to serve the tea in the kettle. Is chamomile good?”
The skull-faced woman finally turned off the whistling kettle, seemingly oblivious to the concerning sounds coming from the bathroom.
* Melody glances over to the direction of the sound and rolls her eyes.*
What is that idiot doing? Whatever.
*She looks back to the maid and nods.*
I'm sure that'll be fine. Thank You.
(edited by Melody)
Devon coughed lightly,
"Maybe coming in here was a mistake..." he said with yet another cough
(edited by SetsunaKin)
Speedwagon shouts in surprise once again at the entrance of Devon and his dragon, along with the actions of their reflections. He moves to punch his double, only to freeze as the entire group gets stuck in the small bathroom. "These reflections are too big for the room!" He announces as he struggles.
As much as he tries, Speedwagon can't manage to exit the room, even though he finds himself close to the exit. Seeing the walls begin to leak water, Speedwagon sighs, looking towards Devon. "Kid, I'm about to try and get us out of here! Make sure you're not hurt!" Finally, the older man turns towards one of the cracked walls leading into the living room, and shouts even louder than before.
"『Take It On The Run』!" Instantly, with the sound of creaking wood and blowing wind, a strange figure appears, floating above and directly behind Speedwagon. It seems to be primarily made of wood, with ornate, flowing golden designs on every part of it's body, it's two eyes glowing a similarly golden colour.
On both it's shoulders are placed wooden wheels, similar to those of an old, wooden wagon. Overall, it looks almost like a horse-drawn carriage turned into a humanoid figure. In a decisive motion, it pulls back one arm, before smashing it into the wall with a fierce cry. "YATA!"
The cry is repeated as the Stand continues attacking the wall, the wheels on it's shoulders steadily beginning to turn with greater and greater speed, second by second, the supernatural being's punches' speed increasing in the same manner, to the point they can barely even be seen as they smash into the barrier separating the two rooms. "YATATATATATATATATATA!"
Dante would shake his head a bit, sighing as he realizes the kid is hanging this close.
"I'm good Miss, really. Now if you'll excuse me I think I gotta head up stairs and... Have a chat."
Yes, that's his plan. Chat with Alice, or it was up until he hears rumbling sounds coming from the bathroom and dashes off towards that area. Though due to the clear attempt at leaving and devastation in it, he doesn't get anywhere close enough to see the room. Or mirror, before shouting out in annoyed voice to those fleeing.
"Christ I leave for a few minutes and you all manage... Whatever this is!? Oh who cares right now, just gimme an idea what's trying to murder us. Or don't, I'm pretty comfy with attempted murder against me so figuring out how to slay the enemy's half my fun baby!"
Ebony and Ivory are aimed forward, demonic power charging within the guns as his proper [Gunslinger] stance gets taken up. Ready and willing to unleash hell on anything that makes a hostile move.
Sana merely took a glance from wherever the ruckus is coming from, rolling her eyes and turning around, flipping her hair and putting away her phone.
"Jesus christ, it's just a bathroom! Keep it down!"
When she turned back to the lady, a slight smile appeared on her face as she gave the tiniest and effortless of curtsies, speaking in a tone that was slightly entertained.
"Chamomile is fine, yes. If you can, please add cream and sugar. Thanks. I'll be coming back for it!"
When she saw Dante going upstairs, she followed suit, always staying at exactly 1 centimeter. When she finally saw what was actually going on in the bathroom, she peered from behind Dante and snapped a photo of it.
"Why is this haunted house so low-budget, I swear..."
With the other copies crushed under the mirror dragon’s weight, the only doppelgänger still standing is the oversized lizard. As the wall shattered and the group tumbled out, the yellow-eyed beast rolled to its feet and crouched down. Its scaly tail swung like a whip to smack away anyone too close to it.
—-
Still ignoring the crashes and roars, the skull-faced woman poured out two cups of tea and another glass of milk - the latter for Cirno.
“Kids these days, always so busy... reminds me of my youth.”
The Devil Hunter chuckles a bit as his guns crackle red, rushing forward and briefly replacing them with Beowulf again.
"Hey big guy, open wide and take your medicine!"
The dragon would find its jaws grabbed onto with truly inhuman speed and force. Dante using his armored grip to try and force it's mouth torn open, or even torn off if he gets the chance.
"Hope your diet requires a daily dose of hot pain!"
Assuming he were able to get said jaws open. Then The man's next move would be to draw out his fully charged guns and quickly stuff them down the thing's throat. Blasting away with powerful bursts of demonic energy for a few moments before bursting up into the air to try and stay mobile.
"It crushed the others! Kill it before it does the same to us!" 『Take It On The Run』's furious cries quiet down as Speedwagon emerges from the bathroom, taking in the situation for a moment, before raising his hand up to his hat.
The scarred man's Stand, disappears, then interposes it's arms onto his own, it's wheels slowing down their spinning for but a moment, before they touch Speedwagon's bladed hat, whereupon their speed ceases to exist, and the wheels abruptly and loudly come to a complete stop. "I'll make sure it goes nowhere!"
Lines of pure golden energy race through the weaponized apparel, forming intricate designs depicting a beautiful carriage, within which sit three muscled, faceless men. Visibly vibrating with this energy, the hat almost falls of Speedwagon's head, before he catches it, 『Take It On The Run』's arms disappearing, leaving only it's user.
"Take..." With a grunt of effort, Speedwagon holds his weapon steady, pulling back, before launching it towards the golden-eye dragon's wings. The hat takes off with the sound and force of a speeding bullet, moving towards the draconic monster's means of aerial movement with immense speed. "This!"
Whether or not the wings are removed in the first shot, the dark, humble hat turned into an impromptu saw continues moving towards the wall on the other side of it's target and ricochets back to tear into the Shadow dragon's flesh.
Sana simply stood in the sidelines, or at least, the closest thing to the sidelines which would be the other side of the doorway to the bathroom. She gave out a sigh, still looking disappointed, as well as a bit impatient.
"Nice effects. Knowing our good and great leader, I thought this peabrained reptile with wings would be finished off by now."
Instead of deciding to stick onto Dante like glue, she looked left, and then, right, before giving some casual whistling in a horribly perfect tune. Turns out, she's straight up abandoning the two fighting the dragon and trying to go somewhere else.
"Have fun with that boys, I'll be on my way to wherever Alice is! Make sure to pick up my tea for me."
Her dismissive little ode to a farewell almost made it seem like she wasn't stupid, callous tone and a lofty smirk. But it probably was still a bit dumb to go off on your own, knowing this place.
The dragon, if the same strength as the one it was copied from, would have been defeated, Darvin seems to try and hide behind Devon, though his size was over three times that of the teenage boy,
"Darvin, they aren't gonna do that to you, that was an evil copy of you, ya silly dragon" Devon chuckled lightly
Darvin: "it's still terrifying to watch them against that fake me... tell me if you saw them fight a fake you with that much ease you wouldn't be a little scared"
"Varin is equal in strength and magic ability to me and I never once winced upon seeing him get beaten" Devon said "except when he finally got free of Nitra's command..."
Thank you.
*Melody takes the offered tea with a smile. She doesn't drink any though. While it was best not to annoy a resident of this killer house, she still wasn't gonna eat or drink anything in here. As she said, everything in here is trying to kill them. For all she knew, the tea was poison. She would glance towards the Bathroom again.*
What the hell is going on in there?
The Shadow dragon, though it cut Dante’s stylish combo short with a burst of flame that set a wall on fire when its jaws were opened, couldn’t avoid the rest of the blows. It let out a pitiful roar then collapsed into a puddle of black goo.
—-
The skull-faced woman went back to tending the pot on her stove. She seemed content for now.
—-
The second floor had a hall with some kind of panel on the ceiling. It had a string dangling from its center. Nearby was a door to a purple-painted room. Inside sat a blonde-haired girl at a tiny table with a plastic tea set. At one spot was a green-eyed white tiger. The girl frowned and adjusted the pink bow around its neck.
With a victorious fistbump and a cheerful laugh, Speedwagon lowers his defensive posture,[b]『Take It On The Run』[b] manifesting once more to grab his wildly ricocheting bowler hat with elegant ease and softly place it back onto Speedwagon's blonde mane. "We killed it!"
Sparing a concerned glance towards Devon and his dragon, Speedwagon then turns towards Melody, waving her shouting off. "Nothing to worry about, girl! Just another trap, we dealt with it quickly!" Finishing that, the muscled criminal walks towards Dante and crosses his hands, looking towards the floor above them with a frown.
"So, Mister Dante, what do we do now? Short of walking all the way back downstairs, the only way to progress is to go up. I've dealt with a lot of evil in my life, to the point I can smell it, and the scent from over there is absolutely rancid, just like everywhere else in this awful house."
Dante's combo is interrupted, this annoys him greatly. Rather than stuffing guns down the dragon's throat he's forced to evade. Rushing with a side step that leaves him only slightly torched on the left side.
"You are one hot customer buddy, but I got just the thing to cool your head!"
Beowulf vanishes, replaced with a blue set of nunchucks made of ice. However before this next move begins it just... Dies, much to his shock. The man shrugs and casually spins Cerberus over his shoulder, flames put out by demonic ice while a reply is given to Speedwagon.
"Mister? Pff, no need to be so formal. Anyways, old skeleton lady thought we're friends of an 'Alice'. Smart money says Alice is probably the cause here, so I was thinking we tromp upstairs and check it out. Chat with her, maybe engage in violence, which if so she better be tougher than these loser demons. That dragon was way too weak man..."
A sane person would be happy the threat is gone, the Son of Sparda is if anything disappointed. Sighing while he begins to search for a way upwards and moves on when possible.
(Maybe I should have pointed out that Darvin isn't a fire dragon... but a darkness dragon... slightly embarrassed that I didn't think to point that out earlier)
Devon clears his throat, he nods lightly, as does Darvin
"That plan sounds fine to me, let's go then" Devon said
Sana arrived on the second floor first, looking around a bit before going next to the purple door. Before she had actually went in, she sprayed a bit of perfume from her bottle before creaking the door open. Seeing the girl at the table with her little crew having a tea party made her think back, back to when she did it. It made her feel some nostalgia.
"Ahem. Hello there, mind if I join?"
Her words were said in a tone of voice implying she was actually impressed. She fixed her oversized, beige, puffer jacket, looking around with a bit of enthusiasm. Flipping her long, blue hair aside, she looked at the girl, and then at her fellow guest; more likely the girl's friend.
"Nice set-up you have here. Would there be anywhere you'd like me to sit, or would the floor be better for someone like me?"
The little girl’s eyes gleamed and she smiled at Sana. The tiger lazily examined the stranger.
“Of course! There’s a seat next to Bya-chan!”
She gestured towards a small plastic chair. To the left was the tiger (Bya-chan probably), and to the right was a doll that was missing part of its head. She grabbed the teapot and pretended to pour something into a dainty flower-patterned teacup.
“Bya-chan says there’s lots more friends here to play. Come in!”
She looked right at the doorway just as the others ascended the staircase.
So, if I may be so bold, what's your name miss?
*Melody says to the Skeleton Woman.*
And how long have you been in this place?
The devil hunter is more than happy to come in, smirking casually at the scene before him while leaning back against a wall and twirling Cerberus around like a toy.
"So you must be Alice, huh? Wanna play a fun game I call answer some freaking questions kiddo? It's where I ask questions, and you answer em."
Judging by the look in his eyes, you might think Dante is hoping she doesn't want to play. And that she is far more deadly than she looks as well. That thought is correct, he's been bored this entire time and can only amuse himself by performing inhuman acrobatics with the ice Devil Arm so long. Weapon swiping under his feet with a burst of ice while the user leaps over it and drawls at Alice.
"What's the deal with all these demons in your house, for a start? And second... What exactly are ya doing living in an abandoned house?"
Boards on the windows, unkempt, falling to bits? The entire place screams unused so what the hell is someone doing living inside it? That's the million dollar question here, and he can't help asking it.
Sana merely gave a chuckle to the girl, pulling herself into the little tea party by sitting down on the plastic chair and looking around once more. After Alice had poured the "tea" into the teacup, Sana held the teacup in her hand, pretending to sip air as she held her pinky out.
"Ah, thanks for that. I was waiting for a nice and healthy dose of some oxygen."
However, once she saw Dante bust into the room, Sana herself rolled her eyes. As a response, she sprayed some more perfume onto her body before replying to Alice. Her voice was simply reeking with sarcasm, but knowing how Dante was, she was probably used to it with the dismissive tone it gave off.
"While I do admit the bathroom area is absolute garbage, don't mind him. He's the leader, but it doesn't excuse the fact that him slaying the dragon had taken way longer that it should have."
Devon walked up, followed by his dragon,
"Dante, unless we have reason to believe this girl is an enemy, do not point weapons at her, and also, hey kiddo, I'm Devon and this is Darvin" he said
“This place gives me many names and many forms. Here, just call me Mother Tudo.”
The woman’s jaw scraped against the rest of her horse-like skull as she spoke. She delicately turned off the stove with the dulled tips of her skeletal hand.
“I have been here for as long as you, and yet shorter as well. Time means nothing to me.”
—-
Alice giggled despite the apparent danger Dante presented. She poured some more pretend tea for her pet tiger.
“Yes, I’m Alice. It’s fine, Mister Devon. It’s kinda fun when visitors get angry. The things downstairs are Shadows like me, but...”
She put a finger to her lips.
“You can call them demons if you want! It sounds scarier. This place is meant to be scary! That’s why Big Bro chose it! They even let me come along! But this game is getting bo-ring. Can we play something else? Big Bro said that I could do fun stuff with you guys!”
(edited by Hundred-S)
"Oh wow, this place is supposed to be scary?...well, you did a really did a great job. Tell whoever "Big Bro is" that it gave me the spoopies."
Hard to tell if that was sarcasm or not due to her voice usually being monotone, but the air quotes and the slight overdramatic expression leaned moreso towards an insult. She looked around a bit, and then giggled at their new arrival. Devon. And his dragon. Sana sighed before continuing.
"Right, well, I'd much rather try and have this tea party now, with Bya-chan here. I'll give you full permission to have the opportunity to play some fun little games with those...three. Can't forget about Mister Devon's pet."
She sprayed more of her perfume into the air, glancing back at Dante. While it seemed as clear as day that she was betraying him, in actuality she's just like him. She's extremely bored. Of course, any feeble attempt at a fight starting, and she'll immediately step out of the way. It's just a matter of if Dante really wants to try and fight a child. Even if they're a shadow like she said.
"Unless you really want me to play too. I won't mind. Just that I have other plans, you know?"
*" Time has no... Right. Skeleton. Duh."*
I see. Well, Miss Tudo, are you the master of the house? I know you mentioned Alice before, but I assume she's just a young girl. So does that make you the head of the household? Is there a Mister Tudo? Sorry if you feel like I'm prying. This is just... a real interesting place and all.
Devon smiled lightly, though if you look into his red eyes you would see a slight sadness,
"You know, in a way you remind me of someone, you have a cheerful personality like her's, and you're adorable too!" Devon said
Darvin: "Devon, you doing alright?"
Darvin sounded concerned about Devon, it may seem he knows who Devon was reminded of,
Dante just stares a bit blankly, when the girl called herself a 'shadow' which in his eyes means 'demon' he'd expected her to turn into some other worldly horror. A fun time in short. However instead of getting the party he craves from this silly charity case, he's got a kid asking to play.
"I love games, really they're just my favorite thing to do..."
His voice is a sarcastic drawl as the man's nunchucks are quickly replaced with Ebony and Ivory once more. Guns twirling about lazily on one finger each as he's really got nothing better to do right than show off a bit.
"So what kinda games do you like playing, something tells me they aren't any that I'd be familiar with but maybe I'm wrong there. Honestly people usually just play 'Try to kill the demon hunter' with me, I've gotten pretty fond of that lovely game over the years."
He doesn't even react to Sana's seeming betrayal, she had no reason to be loyal to him from the start frankly. And if needed he'd still feel obligated to bail her out, not that admitting to such a thing is on the agenda. Devon simply gets a sigh from the man and a brief remark.
"Yesh, considering this place has been trying to kill us if badly you sure are comfy all of a sudden man."
Speedwagon eyes Alice with suspicion, having stayed silent while everyone else talked. He doesn't know anything about this 'shadow' or 'demon' business, but surely they can't be any better than the vampires and zombies he faced in the past. The mention of 'games' does nothing to ease the tension he feels.
"I'll agree with Mister Dante, for now," He says, leaning towards Devon. "We can't trust anything in this house." With a final nod, Speedwagon turns back to look at Alice, leaving the talking to the others once more. His hand grips the revolver in his coat, silently waiting in case someone attacks.
“Alas, someone with more authority than me is in charge. They live in the depths of the house and watch over it like its own child... or perhaps its own toyhouse. But my role is to be here and care for you children by myself.”
Mother Tudo, had she had any skin or muscle, would have smiled.
“This place is meant to bring fear to all who come. It is not meant to kill, but to scare.”
—-
Alice clapped her hands and stood up.
“You should really play too, miss. Bya-chan’s coming with us anyway. How about we play...”
The girl scratched her head. The tiger nudged her arm, and she put her ear up to its muzzle.
“What’s that? Tag? That’s perfect, Bya-chan! You’ll all run, then I’ll try to catch you. Ready? Three... two...”
The countdown was already starting. They’d better move fast.
Devon knew that being calm wasn't safe, but it was being around this girl that reminded him of someone from his past that made him calm, he starts to run, perfectly fine with playing tag, Darvin follows, flying beside him, he still was worried about Devon, but he understood why the teenager was so calm with the girl, Devon seemed extremely happy, but still a sad look could be seen in his eyes, just more distant, he seemed perfectly fine with playing tag,
"I know what to do! I'll borrow a friend's family technique!" In absolute confidence, Speedwagon seems to take on a fighting stance for but a moment, before immediately turning around and bolting down the stairs. "Run away!"
『Take It On The Run』 manifests as Speedwagon begins to retreat, simply floating above him defensively. The wheels on it's shoulders begin to spin, but due to a lack of any targets to attack, they do so rather slowly. Regardless, the Stand User does his very best to avoid having to fight a no-doubt supernatural tiger.
Dante doesn't run, well, he does but it's forward and with guns in hand.
"Tag huh, okay then, you're it ya stupid overgrown housecat!"
E and I would blaze with bursts of demonic energy as the man approaches his target, only to be cut short when he reaches the tiger and suddenly pulls out his sword once again.
"Ready to die!?"
His sword moves in a blur, wide arcing swings rushing from the weapon at terrifyingly fast speeds before he suddenly plants it into the ground.
"Then die!"
Spinning around on the blade several times with his legs out, armed with Beowful upon them no less the kicks would harm whatever is nearby heavily. Finally, his move ends with leaping back to the ground in a fraction of a second before letting loose with a heavy diagonal swing downward that's aided by his momentum.
"Dance Macrabe baby!"
One might notice this entire move would likely strike at Alice too, one would be right, unless the demon child moved quickly she would no doubt be harmed along with her pet.
*" The depths, eh? Well I guess I have my target destination."*
Thank you, Miss Tudo. It was nice to talk to you. I'm gonna go see what the rest of my friends are up to now. Thanks for the tea.
* Melody would pick up her Violin Case and make for the rooms exit. " First things first. How do I get to the depths of the house? I doubt that hole would lead there. I guess I should find the stairs."*
Upon seeing Dante immediately rush towards the girl and her tiger, Sana was almost impressed. However, it wasn’t like she was going to go back on her word. She looked at Alice before spraying some of her own perfume at her.
“You really want me to play? Fine then. See you around.”
As soon as the perfume hits her, she’d immediately feel a bit woozy for a second, and then happy. In turn, whatever it was made out of, it made her forget Sana was ever here in the first place, her hiding spot being the other side of the doorway where she came in.
“You know, I would’ve simply played along if not for your bold move. Go and try to commit child murder Dante, see what happens.”
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on what way you look at it, Alice’s senses would be heightened a bit after she got hit by the perfume, most likely increasing her chances of dodging Dante’s assault. But it’d also seem to have a lingering poison effect, so either way she’s uh, helping.
“The stairs could lead you down there, or even the hole. Either is a route, my child.”
For a possible Shadow, Mother Tudo was being very cooperative.
—-
The white tiger had been prepared for gunshots, but not the sudden switch to melee. Dante’s strikes left deep black gashes in its white fur. Though dazed from the perfume, Alice managed to get out of the way. The little girl pouted.
“You’re supposed to run away, not fight! You’re no fun. Could you please die for me?”
Shadows formed under the girl’s feet. They spread out, then formed spikes that struck from both above and below. Her pet took this chance to leap back and form an icy wall between the two and Dante.
—-
Those fleeing would notice a number of possible routes. The wooden panel leading up was still loose in the ceiling, able to be pulled down with a string. There was also the stairs leading back to the living room, as well as another set at the end of the hall that hadn’t been there before... although that set felt ominous.
Dante's got an excited grin on his face while looking over at Alice, the girl actually being capable of surviving his opening onslaught and launching a counterattack actually seems to make him happy.
"Could I die for you... How bout no you brat, the name's Dante the Devil-Slayer and I'm about to show you a whole new style of gaming."
The spikes from above are quickly evaded by the man rushing down to the ground, sadly that means he's struck dead on with the ones below... And seems only mildly harmed, not even enough to slow down.
"Not bad for the first act, lemme show ya a real performance though!"
[Trickster] style is once again used for mere moments, the icy wall between them is just... Bypassed entirely, Dante leaps up then vanishes from sight one-half second and reappears right above them in another.
His sword has been replaced again as well, a very large high caliber sniper rifle is the first weapon used which would blast out a shot and bounce from the walls while somehow building more speed and power. From a glance, it seems to have missed, but as Alice might learn it's actually slamming towards the back of her head as the Son of Sparda lands with a heavy slam from Beowulf and light bursts out of his fists.
(edited by Dark-knight-Dante)
Huh?
*Melody would spin around, suprised. She would smile.*
You're... really perceptive. Thanks.
*With a smile, she would head for the stairs, beginning to head down them to find the person behind the mystery of the horror house.*
Sana would look at all of her possible escape routes for hiding, but ultimately ends up just picking none of them. Instead, what she does might just be extremely stupid, but Dante the child murderer over here probably still has her back. Because of this, Sana keeps waiting by the doorway, peering from behind to watch the fight unfold.
“Never knew I’d find the day that I get to film something like this.“
She gets her phone out and starts her recording session, most likely being in a clear line of sight to anyone that comes onto the second floor. It was almost as if she was an entirely different person than how she was when she wanted her tea party.
“Maybe if I’m lucky, some sickos will be entertained by this.”
It has been long enough. The wheel of fate is turning.
Melody would meet no resistance as she descended the stairs. Assuming she didn’t jump into the local spider’s hole, she would find that the next set of stairs led to a sewer-like passageway with knee-deep (but oddly clear) water. The tunnel’s lights gave the water a green hue. If she listened closely she would hear the faint hiss of water turning to steam in the distance.
—-
Alice and her pet stood there for a moment, too surprised by their barrier being ruined to act. The girl laughed and stuck out her tongue once she leapt away from Dante’s slam attack.
“Haha, missed-“
The bullet slammed into the back of her head. Despite the bullet exiting her forehead, the black insides re-formed. Alice groaned, both from the pain and the lingering poison.
“I don’t feel so well... Bya-chan, let’s get some fresh air. Megidolaon!”
The tiger was more than happy to oblige. Though the white explosion was clearly weakened, it was enough to deal some serious damage to Dante and the ice wall. The tiger assisted with a flurry of blows that lashed at those same targets. The girl would then leap over the frozen remains and dash out the doorway. She didn’t even notice Sana on her way out.
“Gotta continue the game, too~!”
She wasn’t the fastest, so Dante could catch up if he got Bya-chan out of the way.
Gross
*Melody would whine upon looking upon the area. She sighs before blowing some hair out of her space. She would throw the strap over her shoulder and pull out her Violin and Violin Bow, leaving the case as a sort of wooden shield over her back. With a determined look, she would proceed forward, trying to avoid the water.*
But it'll take more than a sewer to stop me.
That spell was powerful, it hurts the Devil Hunter a good deal... But even this doesn't actually seem to slow him down. And as the tiger begins lashing out at him, it would find itself being quickly blocked with incredible timing. Each blow simply slamming against a sudden burst of demonic power geared to defense. [Royal Guard] Style.
"I gotta hand it to you Alice, this party is finally getting crazy! Now let's rock!
As he intones those final words the man's body would grow some, but more importantly it reveals itself to be truly inhuman. His head almost looks made of metal, and his back now extends with large spikes made of red material going all the way down to his legs. Along with scales where skin should be, and a pair of blades in his hands, one red and flaming, the other blue and streaming wind around. His voice takes on a far deeper tone as the man shouts at his foe.
"I wasn't planning to use this, but you've gone and made me mad now kitty cat, so I hope you like learning tricks cause I'm gonna teach ya to play dead!"
Another Royal Guard move, this time however he doesn't block. He lets loose a thunderous punch that dishes out what's best called Almighty damage in a purely physical form, raw power coursing through his veins as the man Releases his rage upon that cat before letting out a quick flurry of sword strikes from Agni and Rudra that both burns and slams about anything fool enough to be hit. All far faster than he was moving before no less.
The girl keeps on recording the video from her side of the doorway, her only reaction to Alice somehow missing her was to scoff at her. While childish instincts say “blow a raspberry”, the girl was more focused on Dante...being Dante.
“Well damn, it’s just a fucking cat. Dramatic much?”
Sana says, not really looking too shocked at it, moreso the slightest bit disappointed. Granted, the girl didn’t really care, but at least now she knows that the demon hunter likes to do stuff like this, presumably for no reason. She muttered a little message as she finished up her recording session.
“Thanks for crashing my tea party, stupid.”
For the sake of time, I assume only these three are actually still active. The others on this journey will be seen as either lost or defeated until further notice.
The water was almost impossible to avoid, as the tunnel edges had mere centimeters of dry land. Melody could feel liquid dripping down on her halfway through the tunnel. A warm breeze touched the top of her head. It felt humid and yet chilling.
—-
The heated strikes scorched the tiger’s fur as easily as a flame against frost. Blow after blow struck the beast despite its attempts to counterattack. It let out one last roar then leapt back with one leg stuck at an odd angle. It narrowed its eyes at Sana.
“Bya-chan, don’t worry about her! Play with him instead.”
Alice winked and twirled her finger. More shadows spread out, but this time, they spiraled like a vortex beneath her feet.
“Mister Demon Hunter, Big Bro will be angry if you kill his eyes. And your friend here’s reeeeally bad at tag. She’s not moving at all! But I guess I can’t stop you from chasing Bya-chan, so I’ll play with her instead! Maybe she’ll actually know how to play dead!”
With the shadow vortex that stands below her, the girl doesn't really seem to be doing much about it. Other than mostly just giving Alice a blank stare, and then geting a quick selfie in with her phone just to show how little she really cared. She sighs, and starts to speak in a dull and disappointed tone, acting a bit as if she were the girl's mother.
"Who said I wanted to play either of those games? What I wanted was a tea party, because frankly, everything else in this house was trash. But since you're so hellbent on being a little brat,"
She let go of her phone, letting it drop to where the shadows were, but instead of getting decimated in the process, it merely disintegrated into a purple fragrance extremely similar to what she had sprayed Alice with beforehand. A little smirk crept up on Sana's face as she gave the little girl a wink of her own.
"then pay attention so you'll learn how to get schooled properly."
She blew a half-hearted raspberry before her whole figure ended up disintegrating as well, a faint trail of perfume being left behind from where she once stood. Afterwards, the girl would suddenly reappear close behind the girl, putting her fingers up to her ear and snapping them. The sound itself coming from the snap would end up being extremely loud, an intense vibration would be the after effect, the room that Dante was in shaking a little.
However, Sana wasn't actually finished. She made the girl turn around to face her whether she liked it or not, pulling out her phone and taking a random picture of her with the flash on to try and blind her for a bit of insult to injury. What would come after that would be her taking out the perfume bottle and spraying a whole cloud of purple fragrance to try and dampen her vision once she does open her eyes. This time, it wouldn't do anything to help the girl, only serving to make her senses feel weakened and have a lingering feeling of poison.
*Melody would upturn her mouth at the watery passage way.*
This place needs to be better maintained. Then again, I suppose it is made for fear. Makes sense this place would be made to make anyone who played Amnesia have PTSD. Fine.
*Melody would take a deep breath and begin singing in the oldest sense of the word. The song would echo through the tunnels, adding to it's power. As She did, the soundwaves came together and formed a small platform that if it were real would be made of wood floating in the water. Continueing to sing, she would step on the platform and will it forward, continuing through the passage way.*
The type of thing I mean for what Melody is doing in this scene, just for clarifications sake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhmEeZsVXoU
Dante's DT fades away as he fakes being hopeless. The act just comes off over the top and goofy though, with a voice that sounds like mocking Shakespearean acting.
"Woe is me! For the impossibility of being in two places at once shalt be mine downfall! Were it only so, that I had some sort of Doppelganger power!"
The tiger would find itself being attacked with a few blasts from the anti tank rifle, capped by firing a high powered rocket imbued with demonic power... Except it isn't Dante, it's his shadow, risen up and staring with blackness as it tries to slaughter the beast. The real one has appeared close to Alice yet again, rebellion in hands as he smirks while slamming down the sword from his Air Trick's pose above, before starting to rapidly stab her with quick weak blows.
"Kid, I don't really care what 'Big Bro' will think! If he's another monster then I'll be sure to party with that guy after I'm done in fact! And oh yeah, totally can be in two places. Funny the things you can learn by killing demons, ain't it?"
He chuckles with a gleam in his eyes. If her Big Bro is as strong as the kid thinks. Chances are he might just be able to get something out of taking him down.
A minute after Melody’s raft passed the halfway point, leathery wings beat against air and water. A bat-like creature rocketed at the girl from behind. A broken screech rang out...
But was silenced in an instant.
A wet crunch halted the bat. Its body caved in, twisted and pierced by something. Whatever force had caught the creature had come as soon as it heard splashing.
The force continued to chew the poor creature as Melody moved onward. She could see pipes hissing steam at the end of the passageway. The water itself picked up speed and would inevitably cascade as a waterfall onto something unseen.
—-
All the punishment the tiger had taken was enough to let its life be ended by the final assault. It roared and melted into the floor, both its white fur and the area becoming dark. Despite the dim light, Alice’s shadows were clear as day. Alice herself took quite a beating as well, since she was completely defenseless from the disorienting actions of Sana.
“This isn’t fun anymore. I can’t play right like this! Just DIE!”
The vortex of shadows finally burst. Much stronger than before, the shadows’ spikes pierced all around Alice all the way up to the ceiling. Though the girl was mostly blinded, the attack’s area of effect nature and long range made up for that.
*Melody would look over at the hissing pipes at the passageway's end before looking over at the waterfall. "It's supposed to be below but how far down am I supposed to go." She would ride her raft to the edge of the waterfall and take a step forward just as the raft was about to go over and stop singing. Like the falcon from earlier, the raft ould vanish into low sound waves and Melody would let herself fall a short distance before singing again.*
This place is a den of demons
Let the angel of song descend
Deliverance will be gifted to thee
*Angelic wings would sprout from her back, allowing Melody to return to the top of the waterfall. She would look down to where the waterfall would end up, her arms folded, investigating before she even dared descend herself.*
Dante's fists are raised up in an instant, he can't block this perfectly. It's simply too sudden for that, but the demonic energy that rushes to his defense while the man stands between Sana and this brutal assault would block most of it. Leaving him with merely a few gashes and cuts along his skin and clothes. He's wounded now, even a bit slower than before. But the Doppelganger is also rushing at her from behind.
"Oh come on kid, you can't handle when the game doesn't go exactly like you want? Nobody wins every time, but I guess you've gotten too used to people who don't know how to play!"
He chuckles while starting to unleash a two-sided combo, from the true Dante there's a deadly dance of gunfire. E and I blazing for a few moments before he closes in and lets loose a charged blast of demonically empowered shotgun shells, and finally finishes off with a rocket blast.
His copy draws out a guitar that seems to crackle with lightning. As it begins to play some sort of fast-paced rock song, lightning would start crashing down around the room and rushing towards Alice. Song interspersed by rapid cuts as the strange weapon becomes a scythe for brief moments, somehow the whole thing's timed just right for Dante's hail of gunfire to be evaded by his double. Finally, as the rocket slams forward Doppelganger rushes backward and strums out a finale. Massive blasts of crackling power slamming down alongside the RPG while the copy itself vanishes back into its master's shadow.
"Well, that was a fun time and all. Hope you enjoyed our little performance. Hey, I can even give an encore if you really want!"
He gives a casual laugh while looking forward carefully, wondering if Alice will have survived that onslaught. Yes would be the guess.
Sana was about to find a way out of this stupid little counterattack, but then Dante swooped in and saved the day, seemingly pouring out a horribly lot of energy onto the little demon child. Her eyes also met the doppelgangers too, as well as the gunfire.
"Well damn, does stylish shit have to happen all the time with you around?"
All she could really feel like doing was to take out her phone and snap a photo, and then a selfie of her behind it. Overall...it still looked like as if she didn't care too much, but hey, at least she helped I guess.
"Thanks for the cool background. That'll get some likes."
Melody could see that the waterfall crashed down onto red-hot metal pipes, bathing them in water and steam. A few pipes around the room leaked a green liquid, but all were connected to a green sphere. Inside the sphere was... something. It was hard to call it anything besides an “amalgamation.” It was as if someone took many creatures and frankensteined them into a nonsense monster, complete with bad stitching. Shadowy blobs were scattered around. Some worked on the hissing machinery, and some just lazed around the core’s base. The black and green color scheme of the area gave it the appearance of a secret laboratory.
—-
Alice had not expected Dante to handle her attack that well, nor for the doppelgänger to rush in to gang up on her. The ground shook with the sheer force of the assault. Once the sawdust finally faded, Alice was nowhere to be seen.
“You... you’re supposed to be just a human plaything! Big Bro said nothing about this!”
Looking up would reveal the girl sitting on the edge of a break in the ceiling. Her shadowy insides somehow managed to hold her nearly-broken body together. She swung her legs back and forth in the open air.
“I don’t wanna play this anymore... you’re too old to play with anyway.”
The shadows of the hole in the ceiling burst downwards and through a few floors below.
“Go play with Big Bro instead. He couldn’t see the rest of this, so he needs to meet you down there so he can make a scary thing just for you!”
*Melody would float down and look at the green sphere. Something about the amalgamation turned her stomach. ' Even the idiot would think this is too much.' She would think. ' But if this is the monster, where is Doctor? Hmm. I need to get my bearings.' Melody would fly back to the top of the waterfall and let her wings vanish, skydiving down into the hole. As fell, she would throw her Violin and bow above her and bring her hands to her mouth and let out a long and loud whistle.*
Soundwave: Echolocation
*Just before hitting one of the pipes, Melody would start humming again, causing her wings to reform and lift her safety. She flew around, catching her falling instruments before floating back to the sphere and waited. Her whistle would rebound through the lower area where she was before rebounding to her, giving her a better idea of what else was down there.*
Just a human play thing... This stupid brat, she has no idea huh? Can't even smell that man's blood within him despite spilling it over the ground. As she starts to leave, there would still be a hail of gunfire upon Alice, but if it kills her or not Dante isn't sure of while he lets out an amused retort to the girl.
"Haha, a human. 'Kiddo', humans don't turn into monsters the way I do."
Regardless of the results of his parting gift to her, the man would simply keep on moving. Casually waving to Sana while he simply leaps directly down without even a second thought and a gleam in his eyes.
Upon seeing Alice finally leave the two of them alone, Sana sighed out, checking her phone battery before taking the time to make a choice on whether or not to vlog this moment. With a half-hearted wave, she says goodbye to the girl, still questioning why Dante is so dramatic.
"Good riddance, little twat. And did you have to give her some lead at the end?"
She said to the one-man army...who's probably even stronger than that. After all, he did say that super vague and ominous line in retorts to her calling him human, so he has that edgy stuff going for him. Either way, she takes off after him, leaping down as she uses one hand to keep her skirt down and another to extend her hand out for yet another selfie.
The sound echoed off the metal all around, giving Melody a clear image of the area. While there wasn't much more than pipes near the green core, there was an indentation that suggested a door at the other end of the room. There were also walkways along the walls for the shadowy blobs to move along. There was also a... concerning sound of something collapsing in the distance but there was no visible damage as far as Melody could "see."
---
Alice managed to dodge most of the bullets with surprising agility, although she still barely managed to keep herself together - literally. She scowled at the two down below as they fell.
The fall was at least five stories, passing wood floor and then stone. The place where the two landed was dimly lit with green light and some flickering fluorescent ones. Various surgical equipment was scattered around. Outside the only door's window, the two could see a white-haired man with a black cape walking by.
* "There you go." Melody would float down to where she sense the door like indentation. Putting her violin bow in her other hand with her Violin, assuming there was actually a door there, she would go to open the door and see what was behind it.*
A five-story fall would really hurt some people, Dante just dusts himself off and stands up like he simply leaped off a freaking four foot step. Upon noting the white-haired fellow, his voice would call out in an amused tone while Rebelion takes shape in his hands again.
"Yo man, nice place you've got here. So I'm gonna just take a guess and say that your master plan involves making the world a better place for all to enjoy yeah?"
The sarcastic drawl as his blade spins about ready to strike clearly gets across his true meaning behind those words. And that feral grin placed over his face might show he isn't even hoping for those words to be true.
"But hey, at the very least we can engage in some witty banter before trying to scatter each other's guts all over the ground. And I gotta say, that hair almost looks like mine, we damn well better not be related cause the last relative I met was a serious dick."."
There's a slight chuckle as he looks forward, placed into a loose fighting stance while preparing for whatever may come.
Sana didn't actually realize that the fall was five stories, so she used her oversized puffer jacket as some kind of parachute that'd slow down her fall a little. Granted, it didn't work too well, but the girl didn't seem to mind as she brushed off her clothes.
"Ugh, again? Really? Take it over there, I don't feel like doing this again."
She got out her phone again, and played some random mobile game instead of taking a selfie. Though it was dimly lit, she didn't really care much for her eyes slowly deteriorating since it was only for a little bit.
The door opened, revealing a long hallway. Only one person was walking down at the moment, but they soon entered a room off to the side. The various rooms had windows on the doors which allowed Melody to glance inside. They were mostly surgical areas and rooms with beds. For a hospital-like setting, though, there was a concerning amount of rust and black goo.
---
"Kehehe... a good guess, but it's been done to death already. A little chaos is more fun."
The man smiled and pushed open the door. His outfit was elegant but out of this century. He had the appearance of a count, or perhaps a vampire lord due to his skeletal hands and oddly-colored skin. His smile wasn't friendly, but rather amused.
"I'm just the director of this place, not the boss. You'd be better off looking for the chimera... It's near, but you're not getting close to it. The head surgeon's the one protecting it. Speaking of that fellow, I should call his associates. You two look like you need some... bodily reconstruction."
*As Melody stepped into the Hallway, her wings would vanish. Using her powers, she mutes her footsteps, allowing her to begin stealthily moving. She would peer into the window of the door the person had slipped into and watched. ' What on earth is this place? This place must be the source of the signal the idiot sent me check up on, I guess. But what is going on?'*
There's an amused smirk on his face as this freaking weirdo appears, another one huh. Fine then, this could be fun.
"The director huh... Cool deal man, so how much do you get paid for running crazy kinda magical mad science or whatever you losers do here? And don't worry about calling anyone, I'll be sure to deal with him and his pals once I get through with you dude. Cuz I'm about to perform 'bodily reconstruction' on your guts!"
With that statement made, he rushes forward in a blinding blur. In fact, it's far faster than anything he's done up to now, mostly because Dante's not entirely playing around anymore. A hail of gunfire bursts from his pistols on the movement up, capped off with a demonic power charged blast from his shotgun right before closing into melee.
"Now get a taste of this!"
Rebelion carves through the air, a blur of metal slashing directly toward this so-called director's chest while tearing upwards at incredible speed. Aiming to send him flying straight into the sky if it connects.
Looking up from her phone, Sana's eyes make contact with this stupid looking crazy person, and the disappointed expression on her face tells them that she wishes that she didn't waste time doing that. A sigh and an eyeroll are the only things that this director gets from her.
"What is this, some bootleg plastic surgery office? No thanks, I prefer being authentic."
Right afterwards, Dante the good-hearted leader immediately goes on and squares up with the loser, in which Sana shakes her head and goes back to her mobile game.
"Are you serious? Whatever, the faster the better."
The window Melody looked into revealed the director, Dante, and Sana. All roads lead to Rome, it seems.
The bullets pierced the director’s body like a rock against wet paper. Even as he was thrown into the ceiling, he cackled.
“A rily patient! How fun! Go on, burn up your anger so we can sedate you later!”
His hands, drained of life yet still strong as iron, gripped the ceiling to keep himself in place. Multiple icicles formed across the room before crashing down. Upon hitting the ground, they would burst outward into needle-like shards.
*Melody looks in suprise as she spots Dante and Sana. "Those two are... how the heck did they. Oh forget it. They look like they can handle themselves. Besides, it's not like I owe them anything." Melody would place a hand on the door and let out her loud whistle, triggering her Echolocation. Due to her abilities, she blocks sound from entering the room Dante, Sana and the man are in, stopping them from hearing her whistle. As a side effect, it also stops her from hearing anything going on in that room as well. Using her Echolocation, she would try and find where to go next in the lab, hoping it's not in the room next to her. " I'd rather not have to deal with whatever is going on in there. Let's just hope luck is on my side for once."*
(edited by Melody)
Dante chuckles a bit, anger. Oh that's a freaking good one.
"Angry, haha oh man you have no idea what I'm like do you? This is fun, this is amusing, this is a damn party!
The ice forming would be a minor issue, but Dante does have a counter in mind for it. A quick backstep followed up by pulling out his own ice, three ended nunchucks that have the chill of hell within them.
"ICE AGE!"
And with a quick snap of the weapon, he's frozen solid...? Ice was mere moments from slamming into him, but soon the use of this move would be revealed. It slams against his frozen self harmlessly, and if this man were fool enough to keep attacking Dante they'd note themselves being harmed and left coated in heavy chunks of ice that hamper movement.
Since Sana didn’t have to worry about any type of things attacking her due to Dante’s presence, she goes back to playing her mobile game in peace...until she heard Melody’s whistle which interrupts her experience. After glancing back towards her bloodthirsty protector to make sure his ears didn’t catch that sound, she sends a message Melody’s way.
“The fuck are you trying to do? You know I could hear that, right?”
Before the other girl left, she flipped the bird her way for interrupting her game. To any sane person, it looked as if the girl was simply muttering to herself, but Melody, despite being most likely a far bit away from the room, could hear her Sana’s condescending tone loud and clear.
“Mind telling me anything that happens so I can have an excuse to ditch Dante and this other loser?
Though some ice was reflected and froze the director’s limbs, he laughed as if he were having the time of his life.
“Wonderful! WONDERFUL! Now let’s change things up...”
The same ice attack, although completely missing Dante. Rather, it was aimed anywhere BUT Dante - trying to freeze both Sana and the rest of the room. The director was close to death, but his worries were absent.
“I feel young again!”
—-
The lab areas are empty except for a surgical room at the end of the hall. A gargantuan humanoid in white clothes was slicing into a body on an operating table. A zombie-like nurse would occasionally give him tools from a small sliding rack. On the other end of the room was an empty table with shackles for wrists and ankles.
The icy barrier doesn't last forever, but it lasts long enough for the director's attack to miss Dante. A fact which he's glad to capitalize on by launching his own move in return.
"Hope you can handle the heat then old man, because I'm about to to make it a broil!"
Red and blue flash in his hands, winds roaring all around the man as he uses a [Swordmaster] motion. Both weapons being tossed into the air, from blue a raging whirlwind rushes forth that sends both flying at the enemy. From red, a terrible torrent of flames that suffuses the winds within moments and burns away any ice in it's path. Dante would also fire off a rocket from his launcher, blasting straightforward into the tornado right as it reaches its target and causing a large explosion.
"Hope you enjoyed that performance, cuz I got plenty more!"
*"This place is disgusting." Melody would think as she senses everything. But something else troubled her a little more. "I can't find an exit. Just another bunch of freaks." Melody would take another look into the one room she couldn't sense what was inside and examine. " Please. Please don't be in here."*
"Hmm, that's nice. Hold that thought."
The girl would take up her beige puffer jacket so it'd cover her shoulders, barely looking away from the hand that holds her phone as she extends her free arm. From under the sleeve of the oversized jacket, a hidden blade is revealed, and she uses that blade to cut away at the ice that comes her way whilst she texts someone random on her phone.
"Stupid idiot trying to get me to be involved."
Sorry, Melody, but it is exactly who you think it is in there. Flames obscure the door’s window for a moment. Once the flames settle down from wildfire-level, all that remains is a pile of ashes where the Director once was, a scorched room, a demon slayer and a girl who is starting to face her biggest enemy: horrible data connection.
If Melody opened the door, the ashes would spiral out on a gust from out of nowhere.
*With a groan, Melody would step through the doors. She would cover her mouth to stop herself from breathing in any ashes.*
You two really know how to make a mess, don't you? Geez.
With a scoff, Sana looks upwards from her phone and tries her hardest not to burst out laughing at Melody as she enters. She takes out her perfume bottle and sprays it so that perfume reaches her lungs instead of ashes.
"Oh excuse you, blame that guy over there."
She points at Dante, putting away her perfume and walking towards the doors that Melody entered through. As a result of the horrible connection, she also aggresively taps on her phone as she groans more.
"Seriously I hate this place, this wifi sucks! What is this, McDonalds?! Explains the low budget."
Dante looks at the ashes with a confused expression, is it really over? Did that man actually die so easily? The kid was much tougher than him if so, and that's disappointing. He walks forward with his blades in hand, ready to drop into a [Royal Guard] stance at the slightest notice while moving towards Sana and Blondie.
"So, I think I... Won? Kind of surprised if he died just to that, but maybe this dude wasn't as tough as he tried to look. Or he's gonna pop out and strike again within any moment, one of those."
He's also careful not to take in the ashes, a slight wind bursting out of the blue sword and sending them tumbling away from the group just in case it's some weird demon BS or another that harms when ingested.
"Also, are you still going on about that haunted house crap Phone Lady? I'd kinda hoped you figured out this wasn't just that after ya know, seeing a little girl shrug off being hit by an anti-tank rifle. But maybe that's normal in your messed up worldview."
There's a shrug while he once again takes the lead, twirling the swords around as they... Seem to begin speaking up, only to get slammed against each other's hilts with a loud groan out of their owner.
"You two both be quiet, I'm not in the mood."
*Melody would raise an eyebrow as Dante tells "you two both" to be quiet, assuming he's complaining to her and Sana.*
What's the matter, big man? You can burn a room to ashes but you can't handle being called out for it? Talk about temperamental.
* Melody would let out a long, loud whistle, triggering her Echolocation in order to scan the room for any sort of room or anything else interesting she could find. She would place a hand on her hip, holding her violin bow in that hand, and looks unimpressed at Dante while she waited for the results*
(edited by Melody)
"Pfft, phone lady. What am I, a telemarketer? Did I not tell you my name thrice right now during this abhorrent adventure that I'm getting dragged on? Because if you are as deaf as you are daft, then I really don't feel like bothering for a fourth."
In regards to trying to search the room, or trying to clear up the smoke, instead she goes ahead and tries to connect her phone to a mobile wifi hotspot for some free data. Because surely that's more important then helping everyone else, mostly since it helps herself, and most likely only herself.
"Don't worry about his little temper tantrum, whatever your name is. Now I know he's one of those types that like to talk to their weapons, and you should too. Wonder why he didn't scold his bargain-bin "Anti-tank rifle" in that case, since that stupid little girl could survive it."
Oh, so he's that kind of wierdo. Unfortunately, I know the type. What a joke.
*Melody would smirk and shrug.*
Well, whatever. As long as he's on our side, I guess I don't mind him being a bit insane.
The room would have been a surgical room like the ones Melody passed, but the fire did some... remodeling to it. There was also a hole in the ceiling courtesy of Alice.
A nurse passed by the window without looking in. Her movements were unnatural, like they were made by an amateur puppeteer. She stared with glazed eyes at the path ahead of her with a stitched-on smile.
As Melody mouths off, she would find the blue scimitar floating in front of her face. Having somehow escaped Dante's grip as he sighs. Its handle appears to be a head, a head which she would note is in fact speaking alongside the red one while the owner of these blades covers his ears.
D: "Oh now you've done it, idiots. They're annoyed. And for once, I'm not stopping them."
The voices of the blades boom out, each one sounding very much alike. But red is somewhat slower and deeper, while blue seems to be quicker and carry further somehow.
Agni aka Red: "Hah, foolish mortals! You thought us mere blades, but we are the great demons Agni and Rudra!"
Rudra aka Blue: "Indeed brother, these fools have mocked the power of our wielder as well! W-"
Dante would snatch up both weapons, slamming them against each other again before they vanish.
"Come on, my one rule for those two is no talking. That said, no I'm not crazy for thinking those stupid swords talk. And no Sana, I didn't forget your name or not hear it. I just don't care is all."
Melody he can't even be assed to speak with right now, instead he turns towards the window and nurse. Spiral the anti-tank-rifle once again forming in his hands and a massive bullet from it blasting straight towards her chest as he smirks.
(edited by Dark-knight-Dante)
*Melody wouldn't even seem phased at the talking weapons, simply rolling her eyes as Dante blasts the nurse.*
Yo Rambo. Can you not cause a scene? Do you not know the first rule of being in enemy territory? Keep your head down. Be stealthy. If you don't, there's a chance of us getting swarmed. You've seen the BS they've thrown at us up above. I for one don't want to know how many more of those things they have active. You and talking armoury can be suicidal all you like, but i'd rather not die to a horde of monsters, thanks kindly.
"Well, I have a better plan, so listen up bozos. Dante, while extremely stupid, actually can pretty much do whatever he wants thanks to being this strong. Why do you think that I spent most of this trip on my phone?"
Sana merely glances at him with more disappointment flashing in her eyes. Of course, he always tries to go for the kill. With the anti-tank rifle no less; surely if the little girl couldn't survive it, the hag won't be the same. As for her little plan, she resumes trying to play a game on her phone and speaks in a horribly droll tone like always.
"So I say he can play by himself while we ditch him and explore this stupid place. Maybe we can blow it up if we're lucky. He'll obviously come back so I don't see any problems with leaving him to let both his kill streak and his ego up."
Black fluid burst from the nurse’s body where the rifle’s shot hit her. A door slammed open down the hall.
“Now now, don’t be hasty. I can handle it myself. This Node Shadow can’t stand a chance.”
The director’s voice could be faintly heard reassuring the massive humanoid in surgeon’s clothing. Once they reached the fallen nurse, the shocklingly healthy director sighed, brushed soot off his cape, and opened the door with a firm kick.
“My my, you are all so troublesome. Not what the Core expected at all. Fine. If you’ll play that way, you’d best get out.”
The director looked down the hall as a powerful tremor shook the ground.
“We’re going to close up shop and move somewhere else. Take this as a victory with all the trouble the demon hunter has caused. Perhaps if you had played along, we’d have fulfilled this place’s purpose...”
"Yeah no, I have no idea why I came to this stupid place either. The only one true purpose I have right now anyways is to fuck off somewhere far from here."
The girl looks at the time, then at her battery percent. As she quietly scanned the place for any possible exit, she sighed out and then tapped her foot impatiently. Sana seemed just about ready to shank this director right in his demon guts, but that'd be a waste of time, and it would also mess up her clothes.
"Alright new plan, you heard the weirdo. Where is the exit? I don't feel like listening to anymore of this garbage. Dante, if you do some stylish shit that can get me out, I'll give you my ad revenue (cash money)."
For a moment his guns blaze at the director, but it's half hearted and as the shaking begins quickly stops.
"I dunno who you losers are, but tell your Core I'm coming for it! Bye bye for now though!"
The man moves with inhuman speed, he'd quickly grab Sana in one arm. The triple nunchucks forming in his other.
"CERBERUS!"
Once again the full demonic nature of this man becomes apparent, check the spoiler to see it. His movement suddenly rushes even faster, weapon flying high up into the air and tearing straight through the house. He'd grab onto Melody as well with a laugh, ice suddenly bursting up from directly under as Dante and co fly back up and nearer the exit. Upon finding solid ground, he'd return to normal and casually snatch his weapon from the air as it was falling down.
"Welp, one exit plan made to order. All's well that ends well right?"
There's a chuckle as he begins walking forward, looking to see exactly how close they are to getting out.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/49/8f/d6/498fd699fdfdf81a48012763661f3a03.jpg
Above the roar of the stylish exit, the director waved with a sharp-toothed grin.
“May we meet again!”
As Dante and the others returned to outside, the ruined house slowly collapsed in on itself. The green mist disappeared along with the house’s sturdiness. Though it was gone for now, the creator and its pawns left safely...
Perhaps it was for the best.
What are you-Woah!
*Melody would cry out as she is suddenly rocketed to the surface and dropped off at the enterance of the house. She would sigh before taking the violin case of her back and putting the insturment back into it.*
Well, that was a waste of time. But something fishy is going on around here. Hmm...
*Melody starts walking off, thinking to herself. "Great. Now I actually have to compile a report of all the shit that just went down. Ugh." She waves lazily as she walks off.*
Later or something.