"Then we'll search the city. Whilst I don't doubt that finding him within the vast expanse of a city will be difficult, I can't imagine we'd have much luck searching for our foe in a nearby village or a castle that is already occupied by spirits. I can only see a criminal like this laying low in the city. Besides, what's a better place to hide then among tens of thousands of other people? I'm sure that he wasn't smart enough to erase his presence from any CCTV camera." Honestly, you're opinion on this mysterious attacker is already at rock bottom. What could his goal have even been by attacking the circus? Was he looking for the source of the dark energy to claim it? Or was he simply looking to pick a fight against a powerful opponent? He would've gone after Ecclesia if we were actually seeking the power hidden within, that's for sure.

Or, you suppose, the man is actually just an idiot, and decided the best way to get a hold of the power would be to attack everything in sight until he had eventually destroyed enough to uncover it. "The city it is!" Jeste happily agrees with you. "We'll need to ask around for people who match his description. That and look for him in all the security footage the city might have recorded." You don't know just how much success you'll have like that though. It's certainly worth a try though. There's something appealing about the idea of being able to corner an opponent without really needing to lift a finger.

It's Anna who speaks up next. "Looking for him in the city would probably be our best best, honestly. I don't really think we'd have much luck scouring the nearby village for him, and I don't want to run about a haunted castle looking for him either." Seems that everyone is in agreement then, though just to make sure that you aren't going to get any complaints, you turn to Mistral, hoping to get her insight onto matters. Clearly a goddess like herself would have some wisdom to offer?

You look at the woman for a long while before she even notices you staring at her. When she realizes that she has become the center of attention in the conversation, she quickly swallows a mouthful of food to speak. "The city? Right, yes. That sounds fine by me." So much for divine wisdom. It seems that despite her new form, Mistral is still as airheaded as ever.

With Mistral obviously not able to provide any form of input on the situation, you simply continue to eat your breakfast. Jeste is a fairly adequate cook, but you notice that she doesn't really seem to be enjoying her food at all. Just mechanically going through the motions of eating, not a hint of enjoyment or emotion on her face as she eats her breakfast.

Eventually, the four of you finish your meals in relative silence, there's clearly not much of a mood for talking right now, and Anna seems more focused on looking at Alura anyway, her plant having somehow managed to have been moved to be directly in front of the girl. You don't even know when that happened. You certainly don't recall seeing Anna reach over to pick up the plant pot at any point. You must've just missed it, you suppose.

"You three stay here, I'm going to... go and get some demon blood... for your..." She looks at the plant pot, her eyes betraying her utter confusion on the matter. "Friend. I'll be back in half an hour or so. Make yourselves comfortable." Jeste begins to walk out of the caravan but continues to speak as she walks out. "I can't wait to kill that red haired insect by your side, Arthur." Then she closes the door and you can hear her no longer

"So... Mistral, what happened to you? Why did you get so big?" Seems that Mistral's change has managed to evoke a sense of curiosity in Anna. Of course, it would be quite an odd sight, for one of your allies to suddenly grow many times larger. Especially if you had mostly discounted them as an ally on account of their size and lack of participation.

Mistral looks at Anna for a moment before she answers, "Some strange thing happened with Arthur's magical energy, and it caused some sort of overload with my... fairy body. After that, I just grew larger." She then looks at you. "Arthur really does have a lot of potential as a magician, I think. With enough practice, he'll probably even surpass the magicians that the gods and goddesses of thousands of years ago favored." Her eyes narrow slightly as her eyes dart down towards one of your hands. Looks like Mistral saw you experimenting with your magic this morning.

Anna looks intrigued by that. "So, you think Arthur has a natural talent for magic? What makes you say that? The connection you share to him as a familiar?"

"Mostly. I've always known that he has quite a vast reserve of untapped energy he could tap into. It's just he's only now begun to start to figure out how to use it." You feel a little disingenuous

"I see." Anna responds to Mistral's somewhat unwanted reveal of your magical ability. "Well, I suppose I could teach you some of what I know about magic, if you would like, Arthur. I might not be able to make use of it anymore, but I imagine you could put the information to good use.

"Anymore, Anna? Why anymore? Could you have used magic once?" You finally ask Anna the question you've already started piecing together the answer to.

"Once, when I was a child, yes." She holds up her hand, showing you it's back and seems to focus for a moment before grimacing in pain for a moment. A glowing blue circle shows on her hand. A six pointed star is formed within the circle. "This put a stop to that. A magic seal, put upon me for no reason other than to prevent me from ever acting against the Church after the rest of my family were wiped out. Kill the adults and spare the children. Very noble of them." Her voice becomes utterly venomous as she recounts the actions taken after the final defeat of Dracula. Then she begins to laugh a bitter laugh. "But look where that got them! It's because of what they did that I was able to meet you, Arthur. It's really quite funny how that worked for them, isn't it?"

While Anna is busy laughing at the mistakes of her nemesis, there's really only one question on your mind. "Anna... that seal, is it possible for it to be removed?"

She looks at the glowing circle on her hand and sighs, her previous fit of laughter being stopped in it's tracks by that single question. "...I don't know. I don't know how I would go about doing it myself. I was really hoping I would get the opportunity to ask Sophia if she could remove seals like this one, but Alucard put a stop to that." She pauses for a long time after that, seemingly deciding whether she should continue speaking or not, before eventually a look of determination shows on her face. "Well, that's a lie. There is one way I know of for the magical circle to be removed, and it's the other reason I wanted to speak with Sophia." There's only one place she could be going with this. "If I were to die, the circle would fade from my body, and no longer restrict my magical power. So vampirism is a guaranteed way to rid myself of this damnable seal."

"You'd even be willing to throw away your own humanity to rid yourself of the curse laid upon you?" Your question feels a little hypocritical when you ask it, but you really just want to make sure Anna isn't just talking about something she doesn't actually wish for. After all, thoughts of becoming a vampire come to you fairly often, and the only reason you really haven't become one of them is the lack of a Crimson Stone. If you were to gain one of those, you probably wouldn't even look back when it came to becoming a creature of the night.

She looks a little offended by the question, unfortunately, but she quickly regains her neutral expression. "Of course I would! Why would I want to anything to do with the people who ripped my family away from me? It was for the sake of humanity that my family were slaughtered. Just in case they might one day threaten the Church's new order. I'd gladly throw my humanity away if it meant I could get my revenge on them, and to fulfill the duty that my family was slaughtered for!" She gets more and more incensed as she continues speaking, until you hold a hand out to stop her.

>>4310563
>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.

Did you lose a chunk of text between these two updates? Or am I just dumb?
>>4310555
>>4310559

"Thank you Anna. For your loyalty. I know that you've been through a lot at the hands of the Church and the Dorin Organization, and I can promise you. I'll make them pay for their crimes." You have no problem with promising such a thing to Anna. After all that the Church and the Dorin Organization have done to further their own goals, they really do deserve some form of retribution, and who better to give it to them then the Dark Lord that they tried so desperately to avoid returning? Yes, all the evil they did in order to stop the creation of a new Dark Lord would no longer be able to be called a necessary evil at that moment, all their sacrifice for the greater good having in the end accomplished nothing at all despite taking so many measures and disregarding the cost of doing so.

Mistral is being oddly quiet as she watches Anna. You don't know why, but it feels like she wants to say something. Before you can ask her what it is though, Jeste bursts back into the small dining room effortlessly carrying a large glass bottle that seems to be almost filled to the brim with a deep red liquid. She looks you dead in the eyes as she places the blood on the table. "Here's the blood that you wanted, Arthur. You realize that demon blood is more more toxic to humans than even the deadliest poisons in nature?" She places the large glass on the table next to the plant, there's nearly a gallon of blood sloshing about inside the container, by your reckoning.

You decide to change the topic now that Jeste is back, and Anna looks delighted by the vast quantity of blood in front of her. "Yes, but we aren't going to be giving this blood to a human, are we? Watch." She attempts to lift the bottle up with a single hand and fails completely at doing so, she must've subconsciously underestimated it's weight by seeing Jeste carrying it with such ease. After a brief moment of embarrassment, the botanist girl picks up the glass bottle with both hands and begins to slowly pour it on top of the plant. "Demon blood is an incredible source of magical power. It's really no wonder that so many people seeking immortality used the blood of your brothers and sisters in their experiments." She addresses Jeste with a smirk. "You see, while your blood might be toxic enough that it is able to kill a dozen humans with just a single drop, but there are monsters that have the capability to use that power locked within your blood. In a way, I suppose it could be said that I'm going to use this blood to help regrow the natural predator of not only humans, but demons like yourself too. Or should that be supernatural predator? It doesn't really matter." Jeste visibly pales at that, her look of confusion becoming one of fear for a single moment before she recovers. Anna doesn't even look as if she cares, continuing to pour blood into the plant pot. She hasn't actually paused once since she started pouring, yet the blood hasn't managed to overflow in the pot.

"Anna, please don't taunt Jeste by talking about Alura like that." You turn to Jeste in order to attempt to calm down the now apprehensive looking demon. "Don't worry about what Anna says, Alura might feed on blood, but she's really quite affable. I'm sure you'll get along with her quite well!" You aren't really sure of that at all. It's really just as likely Alura will end up loathing the demon, if not more likely, actually.

As you try your hardest to make sure Jeste doesn't lash out at Anna as a result of the botanist girl's blatant threat towards her, you hear the sound of the now empty glass container hitting the table, as Anna breathes a sigh of exertion. "And done. How was that, Alura?" She asks the plant on the table, which seems to shake slightly in response. Then it begins shaking faster and faster, the plant within the pot growing far larger very quickly. The bud swelling to a huge size, flanked by huge long leaves, for a minute you think that Alura herself is about to appear from the plant, however, the bud remains closed. The plant itself is now far too large and bulky to be comfortable for you or Anna to carry. Anna turns to you as she finishes examining the plant on the table. "Well, at this level of growth, we can expect Alura to be rejoining us either later today or tomorrow. Although... have you considered helping her think of a name for herself? I don't imagine she would listen to my own suggestions, and it is getting a little odd to keep calling her Alura. You wouldn't call Sophia or Anna 'Vampire' or 'Vamp', would you?" She raises a pretty good point.

"No I suppose I wouldn't. You might have a point about that. I suppose I'll start thinking of names she might like to call herself then." You suppose it wouldn't hurt for Alura to be given a true name. You were sort of getting used to referring to her as Alura, but you suppose you'll have to ask her if she wants your assistance in coming up with a new name.

"I take it that the plant is coming with us then?" Jeste asks, trying to hide her dislike of the notion of a natural predator for demons. But she'll really just have to deal with that. After all, you've managed to ally with three such beings as well as Effi, who loathes humanity utterly. If you can do it, there's no reason to believe that she can't. After all, you've been led to believe that succubi like herself are supposed to be charismatic.

"You would be correct in that guess, Jeste. Now, shall we be off? If we make it to the city in good time, the odds of us running into that Dark Lord Candidate dwindle for every moment we spend talking now." You then look at the plant on the table, and immediately realise that things are going to get very awkward.

"I'll take Alura, don't worry!" Only for Mistral to suddenly pick up the heavy looking plant with strange ease. That's quite odd. You were working under the impression that Mistral was physically still weak. Wait. Doesn't that mean she just let you struggle with the chest with Anna for no real reason? As much as you want to yell at the forgetful ex-fairy, you don't have time for that sort of distraction right now.

Instead, you suppress the anger you feel at the goddess and simply turn to Jeste. "Lead the way then. I think we're about ready to set off now."

"Excellent. The drive to the city shouldn't take us more than fifteen minutes or so."

It's only a short walk to where Jeste had parked her car, and you find yourself amused for a moment that Jeste would even feel the need to bother with one. If her wings are any indication, she ought to feel quite at home soaring through the sky, but maybe she just enjoys driving? After all, you would be able to carry more objects and passengers in a car than by simply flying through the sky. You end up in the front seat next to Jeste, while Mistral and Anna sit in the back. Alura is loaded into the boot of the car with some difficulty.

Jeste speaks to the rest of the car as she drives towards the city "Remember, if anybody sees the Dark Lord Candidate or somebody they suspect to be the man, make sure to follow him and then tell me when you're certain he won't be moving for a while. As little as I care about innocent lives, he might start to get suspicious if red haired people in the city that match his general description keep ending up dead."

She turns a corner, and the city comes into view. You then realize that something has likely gone terribly wrong with the city. "You know, Jeste. I don't really think being discrete is something we're going to have to worry about." You see hundreds of plumes of smoke pouring out of the city, there's a skyscraper that seems to have been snapped in two, the upper half resting on the other buildings, ready to smash into the street below at a moments notice. There's similar damage all over the city, only on a smaller scale.

Jeste slams her foot on the brake a few seconds after the city comes into view. That was quite a delayed reaction, wasn't it? Of course, apocalyptic scenes like this would've caused you to take the same action, but you get the feeling that it isn't the damage to the city that has caused Jeste to suddenly break. "Arthur. Something terrible is happening to that city. I can feel it from here. Somehow, a rift to hell has opened up in that city. We really ought to get as far away from here as quickly as we possibly can. I'm... not on best terms with a lot of the demons of Hell, after all, and a lot of them will simply see you and think you're another human to kill." The demon clearly looks worried by the city in front of her.

Anna interrupts Jeste. "A portal to hell opened up?" She pauses in thought as she tries to recall some obscure factoid." If I'm not mistaken, that's something that not even the most powerful of demons can manage. In fact, that's something that is said to be a power that has only ever been exhibited by the Dark Lord. After hearing that, I'm certain that this Dark Lord Candidate enemy we're up against is in this city. Unless you're going to be swayed away from them by the words of a cowardly demon?"

>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.
>Disagree with Anna and instead follow Jeste's advice. You want no part in having to deal with a city swarming with demons. Leave that madness to the Dorin Organization. (Choose another area to explore.)
>Write-in...
Yes I know about the error in the OP. I can't fix it and it's meant to read "Leader of a slowly growing Army of Darkness."

>>4310573
No anon, you were quite right. I managed to skip over posting a chunk of the update.
Thank you for pointing that out.

>>4310586
>>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.

>>4310586
>>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.
We've killed golems. Mages. Some thugs. A bunch of plants. It's time to bag some demons. Oh and a DLC. I just want to give something a great big destruction hug. Jeste must only be mid-tier despite being so old. She's clearly smarter than she is strong. Why else would she be so worried?

>>4310586
>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.

Jeste should face her demons someday anyway, and Arthur can handle himself, but *name to be decided* and Anna will need to be protected.
That weird look Mistral was giving Anna though, does she have an idea as to how to break the seal? We can talk about it after we deal with the DLC though, but I'm pining on the PoD being able to do something about it, and if not that then maybe our new magical aptitude can help.

>>4310586
>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.
I get the feeling there’s a certain 9 years old Dark Priestess waiting to be recruited here.
Question, is Alura blue now?

>>4310892
I thought she had the blue appearance from the start, being green and all. Funny how blue refers to the hair and flower color. Maybe we're all wrong and the flower really is the magic plant and the girl is just a lure, eh? It's a phonetic pun, get it? A Lure Eh? Man I'm so fucking funny.

>>4310586
>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.
Let's go!

>>4310892
The petals of Alura's plant change depending on her diet of blood. So yes, right now, her petals are blue.
A starved Alura Une would have pure white petals, and one that has glutted itself on human blood would have red petals.
As for their hair and skin tone, that's entirely up to their personal preference at the time.

>>4310586
>Agree with Anna, while the city might be full of demons, it's almost indisputable that the Dark Lord Candidate is in the city somehow.
I don't think I've voted yet, have I?

>>4312256
Mind filling me in on why demon blood leads to blue coloration while human leads to red?

>>4312261
The magic content of the demon blood messing with the pigmentation of the petals and causing them to shift to the colour blue. Think of the petals as something that stores the magic from the demon blood. You could probably get some even more interesting colours of petals if you had say... fed the plant with the blood of a goddess.

"You're right Anna. This is almost certainly where our enemy is hiding. But opening a portal to hell? What sort of game is he playing at, is he trying to get the Dorin Organization to pursue him? I suppose we'll find out just what he's planning when we actually confront him, won't we. Now, Jeste, do you have any idea just what we can expect in that city? You're the expert on this matter, after all."

The demon looks uneasy at your choice to push on to explore the city, but eventually sighs and begins an explanation. "Well, for one thing, you can expect to run into a lot of undead. Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, you've heard of them before. It's not only demons that will flood through an open gateway. The twisted souls of the damned will also flood through, possessing corpses if they are available or turning into wraiths if they can't find a body to take control of. Of course, you don't really have to worry about them. They aren't really all that dangerous, and even a normal person could deal with one or two of them. Being possessed by an evil spirit usually rapidly decays a body and means they split like overripe fruit the moment they take damage. Ghosts are even less of a threat, because of their lack of a host, they are forced to take on a semi-tangible form."

"Semi-tangible?" How can something only be partially tangible? That hardly makes sense, hopefully, Jeste can explain it further for you.

Jeste thinks for a moment before responding "Right. So when you think of a ghost, you think of some incorporeal being that can pass through anything, I take? Well, that's mostly correct. However, the majority of ghosts, especially weaker ones like the one's we'll likely be encountering, are unable to pass through anything organic. Plants, humans, blood, all of these things a ghost will find it impossible to pass through, and in turn, it's quite easy for humans to deal with them. Of course, trying to hit a ghost with a metal sword is just going to end up failing, but if the sword were coated in blood, it would slice it cleanly in two, dispersing the soul." She says in an informed tone.

"Are you telling me that it's possible to... punch ghosts to death? That just sounds ridiculous. You can't be serious." It sounds absolutely bizarre, the notion of being able to just kill a spirit with a single punch. It sounds even more unbelievable than the notion of ghosts existing in the first place.

"Why would I lie to you about this? It might sound odd, but do you really think most people would think to punch a ghost if they saw one? Life abhors spirits such as them." She sounds slightly annoyed by your questioning.

There's really no point in questioning her on this, you'll just have to take her word for it, as odd as it might sound. "I suppose that makes some sense. What else can we expect to encounter?" Best to find out what else might have come through that gate then.

"Quite a few bottom feeder demons and low-rank demons. Imps, mini-devils, lesser demons. Imps and Mini-Devils are really just pests, though if you are caught unaware by them, they can easily kill a human. Lesser demons are a bigger threat though, about nine foot tall, superhumanly strong and some are capable of using all kinds of magic." That sounds more than a little bit dangerous. While you're certain that right now you could easily dispatch most enemies, you aren't exactly inspired with confidence if superhuman strength and magic is something possessed even by the lower ranked demons. "Oh, and something to remember with demons is that death isn't permanent for them. If they die in this realm they'll just return to Hell to reform unless their souls are destroyed or bound somehow. Though it'll probably take a week or two for them to actually repair their bodies." That's a real pain, but you suppose you'll just have to deal with it unless you somehow discovered a way to destroy the soul with the Power of Destruction. If the soul exists, then it must be possible for you to target it with chaotic energy of the power somehow, it's only a matter of how...

"Anything else? You've not mentioned anything above low rank yet. What can I expect of demons ranked higher than that?" You are quite unaware of the combat strength of demons, really. The only experience you have is that demon you faced with Shirley's help all that time ago in the hotel. It seemed to be quite the powerful opponent, too.

"Honestly? After those classifications it really begins to fluctuate wildly. I could spend a day describing every variety of demon, and I'd really not want to do that. If they look more humanoid than monster or are... well, huge. It's probably best if you avoided getting into a fight with them if you see any like that. Or Demon Lords, but I can't imagine any of those are going to bother getting off their thrones to investigate a rift to the world of the living." A Demon Lord? You briefly wonder just how powerful a ruler of demons would be, before you're brought out of your thoughts by Anna questioning Jeste.

"And what rank of demon are you then, Jeste?" Anna decides to question Jeste on her own classification. It's actually something that is of some interest to you as well. You eagerly await the succubi's response to the question.

"Me? I was a high ranking demon back when I actively participated in the affairs of hell. My extended vacation though, well, let's just say that I've lost a bit of my power thanks to that." So she's a high ranked demon? As much as you'd like to quiz her on the hierarchy of Hell, a quick look to the smoke pluming out of the city reminds you that you really don't have the time to ask her to satisfy your need for unrelated information.

Though as you look at the city, you can't help but think of it being a danger to the two members of your group that will be unable to defend themselves from the monsters within. Namely, Alura and Anna. Anna has no chance of being able to fight off any sort of enemies really, despite her loyalty, she is completely devoid of combat skill, it seems. Alura meanwhile is just an incredibly thirsty plant, hardly something that is going to be of much of a threat against demons in her current state. Maybe when she grows, but until then, she's quite a liability thanks to the size of her plant form.

Of course, there's also the problem of what approach you ought to take when it comes to actually infiltrating the city. Of course, the idea of going in all guns blazing and destroying anything that attempts to get in your path is appealing, but probably foolish. Of course, you could attempt to sneak into the city too, and almost certainly run into far less resistance. Shutting down the portal to Hell as soon as you can is probably going to be your best move, unless the demons all agree to serve you unconditionally, then they are simply an obstacle to your goals. Power you cannot control is no power at all.

>Double Vote (pick from both)
>Leave Anna and Alura in the car and walk the rest of the way into the city on foot. You can't risk the possibility of either getting hurt.
>Take the two of them with you into the city despite the danger. Being able to drive into the city will save some time at least, and leaving the two unoccupied might be just as dangerous if a demon wanders out of the city.
>Write-in
And
>Take a stealthy approach into the city, sneak through ruins using the Power of Destruction to cut a path and take out any demons that spot you stealthily.
>Take a blatant approach and use your magical pistols to smash your way through any demons in your path.
>Ask Jeste if she can carry you all up to the rooftops. Navigating across the tops of the tall buildings ought to reduce the odds of running into any resistance.

>>4312275
>Leave Anna and Alura in the car and walk the rest of the way into the city on foot. You can't risk the possibility of either getting hurt.
>Take a stealthy approach into the city, sneak through ruins using the Power of Destruction to cut a path and take out any demons that spot you stealthily.

>>4312275
>Take the two of them with you into the city despite the danger. Being able to drive into the city will save some time at least, and leaving the two unoccupied might be just as dangerous if a demon wanders out of the city.
>Take a blatant approach and use your magical pistols to smash your way through any demons in your path.
If they get ambushed they're dead, and we can definitely protect them if they're with us.
Might also have the opportunity to feed Alura more blood if we kill enough demons.
If we approach with our pistols we could attract the DLC's attention, but I'm open to being stealthy too.

>>4312275
>Take the two of them with you into the city despite the danger. Being able to drive into the city will save some time at least, and leaving the two unoccupied might be just as dangerous if a demon
>Ask Jeste if she can carry you all up to the rooftops. Navigating across the tops of the tall buildings ought to reduce the odds of running into any resistance.
Conserving our magical energy is priority here, especially if we're expecting to take on another dark lord candidate

>>4312465
We have a ton of magical energy, saving our vigour is paramount however.

>>4312467
Well obviously you knew what I meant then.

>>4312469
Can never be too sure, someone could mix the two up pretty easily...

I would like to start writing, but we're tied 1-1-1 on the second vote choice.
Seems that we're waiting for a tie-breaker again.

You guys have a bad habit of tying votes.

>>4312275
>Take the two of them with you into the city despite the danger. Being able to drive into the city will save some time at least, and leaving the two unoccupied might be just as dangerous if a demon wanders out of the city.
>Ask Jeste if she can carry you all up to the rooftops. Navigating across the tops of the tall buildings ought to reduce the odds of running into any resistance.

>>4312275
>Take the two of them with you into the city despite the danger. Being able to drive into the city will save some time at least, and leaving the two unoccupied might be just as dangerous if a demon wanders out of the city.
>Ask Jeste if she can carry you all up to the rooftops. Navigating across the tops of the tall buildings ought to reduce the odds of running into any resistance.

>>4312267
>"Are you telling me that it's possible to... punch ghosts to death? That just sounds ridiculous. You can't be serious." It sounds absolutely bizarre, the notion of being able to just kill a spirit with a single punch. It sounds even more unbelievable than the notion of ghosts existing in the first place.
>"Why would I lie to you about this? It might sound odd, but do you really think most people would think to punch a ghost if they saw one? Life abhors spirits such as them." She sounds slightly annoyed by your questioning.
Have you read that GHOST PUNCHA pasta before, WhatIs? The memetic fusion of /fit/ and /x/?

After taking a minute to think things through, you turn to Jeste in order to ask the demon a question. "Jeste, do you think you can fly us up to the rooftops?" Her answer will really determine the effectiveness of your current thoughts on the matter.

"Of course I can, I could probably carry two of you at once, if I wanted to." Jeste shrugs, though her non-committal answer is still of great use to you. Knowing this, you can swiftly move everyone from rooftop to rooftop without needing to take too many trips.

Mistral cuts into the conversation, apparently annoyed for some reason. "Hey, don't forget that I can fly too, Arthur. I could carry you if you asked!" Her sudden interjection actually makes what you had planned even better. Of course you can't just leave Anna and Alura unattended, but actually going into the city with the two while being forced to make two trips to get everyone to the rooftops would needlessly put Anna and Alura in danger. With the amount of enemies that ought to be in the city, you can't really expect safety to be certain at any point.

You clap your hands together. "Excellent, then in that case, we'll all be heading into the city with the car until we get close enough to one of the skyscrapers. Not only will we be able to avoid the majority of conflict with enemy forces this way, but we'll be able to take stock of the situation from above." Honestly, the last place you want to be in a city that is swarming with demons and the undead is on the ground. The amount of enemies you could end up facing could easily overwhelm even you. Especially if you can't quickly dispatch them with the Power of Destruction.

"Alright then, I suppose we ought to get going then. Just don't blame me if this goes terribly wrong. I did warn you, after all. Also, we better be quick, a full scale demon invasion is something that hasn't happened for centuries, the Church will be cracking down on this the moment that they find out about it." Jeste does raise a good point. Odds are that you won't just have to hide away from the demons within the city, but also whatever force is sent to subjugate the demons. In fact, if you're truly unlucky, you might even run into Alucard once again.

After a few more minutes of driving, you have Jeste turn off the road to hide the car in a small thicket of trees, obscuring it from sight. The lot of you get out of the car with Mistral opting to once again hold the plant pot containing the now really rather large plant that will hopefully soon fully develop into Alura. You are just on the outskirts of the city, and there are a few smaller buildings you will need to pass by until you can actually reach the rooftops of the higher buildings. Strangely, you can't really see anything terribly wrong other than a noticeable lack of people on the streets and a few doors to buildings left wide open. You're sure that you wouldn't like what you found if you actually went into those houses though, and you'd rather not walk into an unknown like that anyway.

"Right, so you can all see that apartment block there, can't you?" You point out a tall building closest to you. "That's going to be our target. Jeste will take both Anna and I, while Mistral will focus on flying Alura up there. We don't know just how many demons are in the city, and hopefully we'll be able to get some sort of an idea as to what we're up against that way." Really, you would have to be incredibly foolish to think that trying to confront the forces of hell directly would work in your favor. Even if you were able to dispatch hundreds of them, they wouldn't fear death, and would just keep attacking you until you were out of stamina.

Of course, you may have had more luck trying to navigate your way through the buildings ground floor stealthily, but just one wrong move would've led to you being surrounded by all sorts of monsters on all sides. At least by taking the rooftops even if you are found the only enemies you can expect to be fighting are ones capable of flight, and with both the revolver and Agartha at your side, you don't imagine you'll have much difficulty sending a few demons crashing down to the ground with a few well placed shots.

"Well then Arthur, Anna. Let us be off." A pair of wings sprout from Jeste's back, and she flaps them a few times, almost as if she was attempting to show off. She then proceeds to take both you and Anna by the wrist. "Now, my grip is pretty good, but you might want to hold on anyway. I won't be able to catch either of you if I drop you." The demon warns the two of you.

Mistral looks the winged demon straight in the eyes before narrowing her own. "No, I suppose despite being capable of flight, you really have absolutely no mastery of the air, do you?" With that, Mistral simply begins hovering, unassisted in her flight by wings of any kind. Alura's leaves move in the wind as Mistral hovers in place.

"Can we just go?" Anna cuts in to what is quickly turning into some sort of competition between the demon and the goddess. Her voice is clearly quickly tiring of the two's bickering, and it's a sentiment you can agree with. "We don't have all day, you know, and I would much rath-"

At that comment, Jeste just shrugs and leaps upwards, cutting Anna off with a gasp of air as she begins to soar into the air. You don't really fare too much better than Anna, the sudden acceleration as well as the disorienting effect of suddenly being dragged into the sky overwhelming your senses for the moment and causing you a minor headache.

You look down to see Mistral following with a far steadier looking flight. Of course the wind goddess would be able to fly. She was able to fly around when she was still a sylph, so it would make sense that now she is in a more powerful form, she wouldn't have had a reason to lose such a useful ability. The only difference is that now she has physical strength that would put even the strongest of weightlifters to shame. As you soar through the air and begin to feel a little sick from the unsteady flight, you quickly come to realize that you have already arrived at your destination. Seems that Jeste really is quite the fast flier.

Jeste lets go of the two of you as she touches down on the rooftop, Anna immediately falls backwards and lands on her rear, clearly having been way too shaken up by the flight. You however manage to deal with things a little better and remain on your feet. Though you can feel the headache from the flight hasn't gone away. It's more of an annoyance than it is actually distracting though, so you do your best to ignore it.

Mistral quickly touches down behind you as you walk towards the side of the apartment block to get a better look at things down below. You gaze over the concrete barrier in order to gauge how things actually are, and a single glance at the streets of the inner city make even your face pale. Hundreds of shambling figures roam the streets, the reanimated corpses of the dead, no doubt. You can see a few demons wandering among the dead too, but none that look to be of any major threat to you.

Though as you walk around the top of the building in order to get a better look at the rest of the city, you can see that one of the monster infected streets seems to have been cleared of enemies. Unlike the rest of the streets you can see, this street is covered in pools of blood and pulped flesh, as well as dozens of demons lying face down in the pools of blood, you can't make it out with much detail, but you can see that lots of them are missing limbs, and some of them have been completely decapitated.

By the looks of things, there's already another party in this city interested in dealing with this invasion from hell. The Dorin Organization, maybe? They don't seem to have been burned, so it's unlikely that it was the other Dark Lord Candidate getting into a disagreement with his demonic allies.

Well, if it is Alucard, perhaps you'll be able to get your revenge sooner than expected? All you need to do is wait for him to be distracted in a fight with a sufficiently powerful demon and hit him with the Power of Destruction when he isn't aware.

"So, Arthur? Which way are we headed? I can lead us straight towards the portal, if you want me to." Jeste snaps you out of your silent observation of the streets below in order to ask the next stage of the plan.

>"Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there."
>"No. I want us to follow that trail of destruction carved through the demons forces down there. Alright?"
>"Yes, perhaps it is best we get to the rift first. I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to kill this Dark Lord Candidate myself, and I don't think we're the only people here interested in going after him."
>Write-in...

It might be a little unclear but
>>"No. I want us to follow that trail of destruction carved through the demons forces down there. Alright?"
Means you'll be following the trail while still on the rooftops.

>>4312927
>>"Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there."

>>4312927
>>"Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there."

>>4312927
>"Yes, perhaps it is best we get to the rift first. I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to kill this Dark Lord Candidate myself, and I don't think we're the only people here interested in going after him."

>>4312927
>>"Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there."

>>4312927
>"Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there."
yeah ditch the rooftops

>>4312927
>"Yes, perhaps it is best we get to the rift first. I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to kill this Dark Lord Candidate myself, and I don't think we're the only people here interested in going after him."

If the guy who's killing all the demons are trying to find the DLC, then if we head straight to the portal won't we beat them to the punch, and be able to deal with them after we've dealt with the DLC?

>>4313683
The DLC won't necessarily be at the portal and we don't really care about closing it. And I think Dario isn't the one who opened the portal...

>>4313689
Either way, if we head to the portal we'll find someone connected to Dracula or Chaos.
Given Anna's knowledge has been fairly accurate so far, there's not much reason to believe it wasn't Dario that opened the portal.

>>4313693
I don't think Dario could pull it off alone. Mainly because he's kind of stupid. And I don't think he has enough power to do something like this.

>>4313707
Well using Dracula's powers is pretty instinctual, so if it was Dario he wouldn't need smarts.
It would actually make more sense if he just did it on accident, then had some fun fighting the demons pouring out of the rift.

Any ideas on who put us in Romania? It could be Chaos trying to help which seems likely as she probably wouldn't bother telling us if we did, but it could just as well be fate trying to make us useful by stopping Dario from burning shit too audaciously.

>>4314198
Either Chaos or Dracula. Probably Chaos.
Fate shouldn't have a part in our existence anymore now that we're free of it.

>>4314214
I doubt Fate can be escaped so easily, if all it took was one surge of Chaos to sever the threads of destiny, than no living being would be truly bound by Fate. We avoided one fixed event by saving Sophia with the Power of Destruction, but it seems inevitable that Fate will attempt to remove us again. The only way I can see that would give us a chance to live apart from destiny is to become the Dark Lord and master the powers of Chaos.

>>4314393
Arthur sees becoming the Dark Lord as a step on the path of seizing his own fate.
Given how Dracula was vanquished several times, being the Dark Lord doesn't exempt someone from being toyed with by God.
It may not be easy to try and escape what he does to try and stop us, but if we've done it once we can do it again.
If it was God instead of Chaos that messed with the teleportation, I'm sure she would've been more angry when we went to see her.

>>4314423
I don't know if Dracula really cared about escaping Fate or much of anything really.
He could have used his powers to prevent his deaths, but he never really put any effort into doing so.
My thought process is that because the powers of Chaos seem to be exempt from Fate, having greater mastery of them allows you to change destiny to a greater extent.
Also, Chaos is pretty inscrutable emotionally a lot of the time, and seems to have difficulty considering that we have a much more limited view of things, and could have just decided that Fate guiding us to Romania wasn't something important to mention when she was more interested in spending time with Arthur.

>>4314432
Eradicating humanity, or enslaving it under his will would definitely go against any fate God had in store.
And it's not that they're exempt from fate, its more like they throw wrenches into Gods work, and the cogs get stuck where they shouldn't.
Even though we didn't die on our predestined death-day, that doesn't stop God from sending people to kill us or having his agents get rid of things beneficial to us before we can obtain them.
I don't really think Chaos is that inscrutable, she seems pretty open about her emotions.

>>4314575
>I don't really think Chaos is that inscrutable, she seems pretty open about her emotions.
Friendly reminder that if someone is nothing but nice to you, they probably just want to use you. Probably. I mean shit man even people in love are mean to each other every now and again.

This is like "How to manipulate people 101 for dummies".

>>4314654
Sure, but when you're all powerful in your own realm you don't need to play such a game of manipulation, you can just give ultimatums or force people to do what you want.

>>4314660
Except when you're trapped in said realm and can't get out of your own accord. "Do as I say or I'll kill you right now. No it won't affect me at all, the thing trapped inside of you. I can absolutely make you do whatever I want because I am all powerful. In here."

C'mon bro.

>>4314654
I don't think Chaos is using us for some ulterior motive aside from becoming the Dark Lord and opposing God. She seems pretty sincere in her goal to corrupt God's creation with Chaos, and her attitude likely stems from her frustration at Dracula's failure to pursue that goal.
Something to consider is that the Chaos we speak to isn't actually the cosmic being Chaos, but a split persona with a portion of its power.
It has emotions and attitudes that are closer to a human's than a supernatural intellect.

>>4314699
But she can still use her power to effect the world even outside her domain, or just lure us inside and mindrape us.
She isn't powerless, just has less power than she did before.

>An offshoot of Chaos isn't actually Chaos.
That's like saying one of the corpses of Legion isn't actually Legion.

>>4314733
>>4314743
Forgot to link you.

>>4314743
I'm not saying that Chaos isn't Chaos, I'm saying that Chaos isn't all of Chaos.
Much like how your right brain isn't your entire brain, the Chaos we see isn't the whole of Chaos.
The chained angel fragment of Chaos isn't entirely representative of the collective will of the entity. So we don't confuse the part from the whole, I move that we call this fragment Abbadon.

>>4314815
I think we should hear the whole story from Chaos herself before we make assumptions like that.

>>4314818
Abby told us the first time we talked to her.

>>4314815
>I move that we call this fragment Abbadon.
We're calling her Louisa.

>>4314825
why louisa

>>4314827
Because Louisa Ferre is the best name for our fragment of Chaos.

>>4314815
She's obviously more of a Cerise.

>>4314833
Dude she's a Bianca. Duh. The white wings and dress and stuff? Total motif going on there.

I find it funny you guys can come up with names for Chaos, but no suggestions for Alura have sprouted.

>>4314859
That's because it's easy to make up names for someone you don't like but really hard for those you do. Maybe if Chaos wasn't so shit it would be more difficult.

Shots fired.

Really people'd be suggesting lame flower names for Alura. Or naming her after other people associated with flowers/greenery, like Persephone.

>>4314855
Blanche, I think, would be the name to go with in that case.

>>4314859
That's because it's easy to come up with fitting names for a character you care about, but hard to muster up the enthusiasm for one you don't. If Alura weren't so forgettable, and hadn't been quickly made obsolete by Sophia, I'd be more inclined to think about her.

>>4314904
>>4314912
The difference in onion here is staggering.

How do you think Chaos would feel about being named anyway? Do you think she'd like it? Abbadon probably existed at one point you know.

>>4314912
Nah man. Bianca is Italian, where Vatican city is. She lookin like an angel name her with the convention of the country with the center of the respective religious imagery she utilizes. Blanche got that German swag to it.

Also looks like blanch. Which can be interpreted as sickly. You don't want to call her a puke angel do ya?

>>4314918
>How do you think Chaos would feel about being named anyway?
Either amused or insulted. If she really wanted a name she'd come up with one. She's got plenty of time to think about it after all.

What about Lucina?

>>4314930
Blanche is French, anon. It's a feminine name connoting fairness, of which Bianca is the Italian derivation. Where did you get German from that name?

>>4314939
I don't think Chaos has any children with a body like that.

>>4314941
German chick I knew a few years back. Just assumed. Guess that shows me huh?

>>4314859
What about Solanna?

Looking at the freshly carved path of destruction, there's really only one way you can really go about this. While it might be better to get to the rift sooner rather than later, you can't just ignore the presence of a third party in the city. "Actually, can you take us down to the ground? I want to follow the trail of demon bodies down there. Better we find out just who else is here. I don't want us being caught unawares by this third party when we are in the midst of fighting the Dark Lord Candidate.

"Really? You want us to go down to the ground? Well, I suppose that part of the street is clear, but still, it could easily be a trap. If that's what you think is best though, I'm not about to disagree." Jeste doen't seem all too bothered by the change of tactics, especially as she looks over the side of the building too, catching sight of the carnage unleashed upon the demons and whistling. "Wow, looks like those demons really picked a fight with the wrong people, huh?"

"Oh, are we going down already? That's... great." Anna however sounds less impressed by the sudden decision to switch up your plan, still evidently quite unwell from the ascent. Annoyingly, your own headache has yet to subside, and you begin to wonder if the cause of it truly was the ascent after all. "Well, if we're going back down, could you at least tell me what it is you're so worried about?" She peers over the side of the building, apparently unable to discern anything wrong from on top of the building.

Jeste decides to explain your reasoning to the uninformed girl, or at least her take on your reasonng "It's quite simple. Somebody down on the streets is powerful enough to butcher any demons in their path. Judging from the amount of body parts down there, they must've killed at least ten of them. Arthur probably just wants to make sure that this mysterious third party in the city isn't going to interfere with us, or if they are, that we can get them out of the way as quickly as possible." She moves in between you and Anna and grabs both her arm and your own before quickly whipping her foot out in front of her, the delicate leg smashing straight through the concrete barrier. "Going down." The demon pulls both of you down along with her as she takes a step off of the rooftop.

Thankfully, the trip down is far shorter than the trip up. The angle of Jeste's glide to the ground is far more comfortable than the rapid ascent to the rooftops. As you touch down, you notice that Jeste makes something of an effort to not to land in any of the large pools of blood as she touches down, seemingly wanting to avoid ruining her clothing by stepping in one of the piles full of decaying organs and exploded fragments of bone. Eventually, she picks a landing spot and lets the two of you go. Looking around warily, as if expecting to be ambushed at any time, she folds away her wings as if they were never even there.

"Come on everyone, we best hurry up. We don't know just how much of a headstart whoever did this has on us, so we can't spare any time to investigate." The fact that no more demons have come to investigate their slain brethren however does inspire you with a little confidence. It can't have been too long since this happened, otherwise this place would be swarming with demons, you think.

Still, you can't help but admire the path of carnage that has been cleaved through the monstrous demons as you race deeper into the city, your allies following closely behind. They are all very similar in appearance to that demon that Shirley struggled against back at the hotel, except you pass dozens of them and countless piles of slain undead. The corpses that you can actually really still identify do share one prominent detail between them however, one that you pick up on even as you rush past them. They've all been cut or pierced by what must clearly not only have been an incredibly sharp weapon, but also one with some sort of power over flame. Every single cut on every single body seems to have been carbonized and completely burned.

You follow down the path of destruction, smashing the occasional shambling corpse that has managed to accidentally stumble upon the path you are following. Thankfully, there are no demons on the path so far. If they are going to be anywhere, they are likely going to be trying to fight off whoever was the one responsible for all this. Though you do wish you had the opportunity to test your strength against another opponent that you couldn't have ever have managed to defeat on your own before your awakening as a Dark Lord Candidate.

Eventually though, the trail simply ends, the demon corpses coming to an abrupt end. Did they go into the building? Were they finally overwhelmed by the demons? "Well, what a waste of time this turned out to be." Jeste quickly begins to voice her complaints towards your complete lack of success in tracking down the one behind all this. Her voice is bored and obviously irritated at the lost time. "Let's just get going, Arthur. With any luck, we can move on to portal without much hassle and shut this whole problem off."

"Oh I don't think you'll be going anywhere." An angry voice cuts through the air as it addresses you all. "What's this? Jester has found herself some humans to play with? I always knew you were good for nothing, and abandoning your duties was really all the confirmation I needed. But to even go so far as to attempt to interfere with something like this?" You finally spot the figure the voice belongs to, a white haired bearded man in black and red spiked platemail stands atop a lamppost. His wings are tattered and black, being similar to Jeste's wings only in that they seem to both been based originally on some kind of bat. "You've gone soft!"

"Furcas. Of course you would've gotten involved in this nonsense. Now, would you mind telling me what exactly the plan is for all you demons in this? For old times sake? I can't imagine you're just all here to kill some innocents. Usually there's something bigger planned when there's a rift like this" Jeste tries to press the new arrival for some information, apparently the two know each other somehow.

The man hops down from the lamppost to stand about twenty meters away from you and Jeste. "You see, while I absolutely could tell you what the plan is here, I'd rather just kill you and your little gathering you've got going. You know, for old times sake." The demon's face twists into a maniacal grin as a three pronged pitchfork of red metal materializes in his hands. "Now, which one of you should I kill first?" Even more alarmingly than the enemy in front of you is that you can spot dozens of those blue skinned demons approaching from the shadows on all sides too.

>Attempt to keep the demon talking, Jeste was unable to get him to spill any info, but you might have better luck. (Say what?)
>Pull out both of your guns and see how he likes being shot.
>Activate Dominus and show him the power that comes as a right of being a Dark Lord Candidate.
>Goad him into fighting you in a one on one fight and then use the Power of Destruction to obliterate him utterly.
>Write-in...

>>4315119
>>Attempt to keep the demon talking, Jeste was unable to get him to spill any info, but you might have better luck. (Say what?)
He could at least tell US what the deal is. Dying without knowing why is irksome no matter who you are. Surely he wouldn't deny us this one courtesy before putting us on the express train to Hell?

>>4315119
>Goad him into fighting you in a one on one fight and then use the Power of Destruction to obliterate him utterly.
>You're welcome to try your hardest if you're feeling confident in that little fork of yours.

>>4315119
>Goad him into fighting you in a one on one fight and then use the Power of Destruction to obliterate him utterly.

>>4315119
>Goad him into fighting you in a one on one fight and then use the Power of Destruction to obliterate him utterly.

Well, this demon clearly thinks very highly of himself, so it would almost certainly be very easy for you to use that arrogance he seems to hold against him. If you can kill the leader, then hopefully the rest of the demons beginning to surround you will think twice before coming for you. "Well, you're quite an arrogant fool, aren't you?" You step forwards with a smirk. "Rushing into situations he's obviously not prepared for. I bet you don't even know what I am."

The demon looks at you with an annoyed frown, he's clearly unamused by your taunts "Oh don't worry, human. I know a dead man when I see one." There's no more warning as the demon leaps towards you, the deadly trident in his hands speeding towards you at incredible speed. It's only thanks to your ability to somewhat read his movements that you manage to avoid getting impaled utterly upon the prongs, even then, you receive a nasty cut from just the edge of the trident, which easily hurts you through both the wind blessing and your suit. Damn it! It must be magical in some way, to have such a keen edge to it. It would make sense, it being the weapon of a demon, you suppose.

Still, it's pretty clear that this demon, this 'Furcas' wasn't expecting a human to have been able to dodge his attack. If he's capable of sensing the presence of your dark powers, he's not making it very clear. The reaction on his face is more like one belonging to a man in disbelief, as if you were just a regular human that had dodged his attack. But just before you can capitalize on his moment of surprise by using the Power of Destruction, he recovers. A ball of flame appearing in his free hand which is quickly lobbed towards you.

While before, you might've needed to call upon the Power of Destruction just to defend yourself from this magical attack, now you find such a thing quite unneeded. Instead you simply call upon the magical energies that dwell within you in order to take control of the flame before it can even singe you. The fireball an extraordinarily simple spell, so usurping control of the fire is a simple matter, as is redirecting it back towards the demon instead with your new grasp on magic. He sees what's happening before the flame hits him however, and jumps backwards a few meters before being hit by the magic.

His reaction to your skill isn't quite what you expected, however, as he begins to laugh before addressing you. "Oh, so you're a magician, are you? Well, I suppose that explains why Jester decided to keep you around, magicians capable of casting magic that quickly are really quite rare." He then looks you dead in the eyes. "I'd even be considered to keep you around myself, if only you knew when to shut your mouth."

You respond to his threat with a smug smirk "Go ahead and keep running yours, demon. If you knew your place, you would prostrate yourself before me and beg for my forgiveness." You decide to take your taunting to the next level, attempting to incite the demon into taking another attack. You've gotten a better grasp of his strengths now, and if you can get him to go for the same attempt to pierce you with that trident, you're certain you'll be able to punish him severely or it.

"You dare speak to me in such a way? Know your place, mortal!" It seems that despite the confidence that this demon held at the start of the battle, he's really kind of an idiot. His charge is barely any different from his first one, the only change being that it's a fair bit faster than his first one. Unfortunately for him, you were expecting exactly this move, and in the same moment he begins his charge, you create a shield in front of you out of the infinitely destructive energy you command.

He realizes his mistake but a moment too late, he's charging at you far too quickly to avoid the shield of energy spread out before you, and despite his trying to twist his body away from you at the last minute, his platemail slows him down, and one of his arms and half of one of his wings collides with the dark shield in front of you while the demon himself tumbles past you and lands on the asphalt ground with a loud crash, his red trident skittering across the concrete as he collides with the floor. You turn around to spot Jeste already holding the dropped trident, happily making a show of spinning it around in circles rather rapidly, almost as if it were some sort of performance. Though you don't let yourself spend much time looking at the show-off succubus, instead focusing all your attention on the demon struggling to pick himself off the ground. "You were saying Furcas?" You smile at your defeated opponent.

The demon glares at you with hatred in his eyes "You... you might think yourself strong, human. But you made one simple mistake." You raise an eyebrow at the demon's sudden declaration, for some reason, it almost sounds as if he's claiming victory for himself. "No doubt that you thought that if you were to defeat me in a single duel that I would be somehow bound by some form of honor to not do this." He looks around at the dozens of demons surrounding you. "Kill them all. Start with the man in the suit."

The moment the words leave his lips, the demons surrounding you leap into action, there must be at least fifty of them, if not more, and what's more, every single one is focused on you alone! You prepare to defend yourself using the Power of Destruction, you don't know if you have it in you, but you can't allow yourself to fall here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHgAYzVo-Ag

Just as the first demon is about to reach you, a glowing blue disk of light from afar splits it's head in two, causing the demon's entire head to burst into flames. The glowing disk continues in it's path, slashing through almost a fifth of the demons before it begins to return. Though as soon as it begins to head back into the shadows, you can already see a follow up coming from the same location, again slicing through the horde of demons with ease, the demons quickly cease their attempts to attack you and cautiously begin watching out for another attack. As you look about the street, you soon notice that Furcas must've been moved away from you by his underling, how irritating. Then a man's voice rings out in a commanding tone. "I don't know who any of you are, but if you are here to help, follow my voice!" Judging from where the bizarre returning disks returned to and the position of his voice, you can tell with certainty that he's hiding in the upper floors of a a building only a hundred meters or so away, given the vulnerability of Anna and Alura right now, being able to properly take cover against the demons would be useful, but can you really trust the mystery man?

>Take the chance with trusting the man, it's either him or the demons, and he's at least shown some goodwill by saving you from being dogpiled by them.
>Use the caution the demons are now showing to extricate yourself from this situation. Your mystery benefactor will have to remain a mystery for now.
>You don't need to show caution, nor do you need to retreat and hide away. Use Dominus. Have them behold your true power.
>Write-in...

>>4315737
>>Take the chance with trusting the man, it's either him or the demons, and he's at least shown some goodwill by saving you from being dogpiled by them.
Let's save Dominus. I'm also guessing our mystery savior is the dude who left the trail, so it's worth at least seeing what he's after.

>>4315737
>Take the chance with trusting the man, it's either him or the demons, and he's at least shown some goodwill by saving you from being dogpiled by them.
He was killing demons before we showed up so I have no reason to believe this is a trap. I'd rather save Dominus to style on Dario anyways.

>>4315737
>Take the chance with trusting the man, it's either him or the demons, and he's at least shown some goodwill by saving you from being dogpiled by them.
From the music and the sub-weapon, I take it this is when we meet Julius Belmont? Fun times.

>>4315797
>I take it this is when we meet Julius Belmont?
Maybe he can suggest a good name for Alura.

>>4315737
>Use the caution the demons are now showing to extricate yourself from this situation. Your mystery benefactor will have to remain a mystery for now.

I say we don't get involved with Julius yet. It will probably limit our actions if we meet with him.

>>4315829
On the flip side of that, if it really is Julius then there's no better ally for us in here. Especially since we want to shut that gate anyways.

>>4315867
But we don't care about the gate though.
We just want to kill Dario.
And maybe adopt Celia if shes somehow involved.

>>4315880
We do care about the gate. Hell Gates are literally bad for everyone, no matter what side of the equation you're on.

>>4315880
Julius'd definitely help kill Dario. Because Dario is a dick and he'd attack Julius. And closing the gate is still in our interest too. Even if you don't care about the havoc free demons cause it will hurt the summoning economy and make demons less agreeable when negotiating if they can just walk straight on out of hell instead. And you open one hell gate and a demon sorcerer gets out and starts opening more and then inflation kicks in and demons just start ignoring your calls altogether. It's a hassle.

>>4315737
>You don't need to show caution, nor do you need to retreat and hide away. Use Dominus. Have them behold your true power.

Strangling 2 year old Soma in his crib when?

>>4315888
>>4315893
Someone else will do it, which is why Arthur doesn't feel any sense of urgency to close the portal.
I say we stop dilly-dallying and get on with our task.

>>4315951
>which is why Arthur doesn't feel any sense of urgency to close the portal.
I'd think Arthur feels a good bit of urgency to close it, since we're getting attacked by demons. Besides, why let someone else get the glory?

>>4315956
>being attacked by demons in the city he headed into knowing was infested with them means he feels urgent to close it.
I see none of that in Arthurs internal monologue.
And glory? What? Closing a portal to hell will be trivial to us when we get relatively stronger.
All we came here for in story is to kill D bag.
Let's go do it and regroup.

>>4315966
I see nothing about him not feeling any sense of urgency to close the portal in his thoughts either.
And you don't see the flaw in the plan of
>Come here to kill Dario
>Most likely place he is, would be near the gate.
>Hey, let's just waltz through this mess to the center without help and then just leave the portal open when we get there.

>>4315970
>Fly to it the same way we were earlier.
>Kill Dario.
>If doable close the portal, if not someone else will do it.
>Leave.
What flaw.

>>4315970
Arthur wants to kill Dario for his kill checklist, not to stop him from wrecking stuff with demons.
Leaving the portal open actually helps us by being a big mess for the foundation to waste time on.

>>4315973
Well, you're missing the flaw that we just pissed off one of the commanding demons, who's definitely going to tell his minions to kill us like he's already done.
You're also assuming the demons will just stand by while we fight Dario and that we will be able to kill him in the first place. Because you know, the dude can teleport and regenerate from fire and the city is current on fire.

>>4315993
We were already going to attract the attention of the higher demons due to Jeste's presence, so this was almost inevitable.
We can just use our guns to shoot the demons.
>We can't kill Dario with the PoD, Dominus, and our new Magical Affinity.
I'd want a refund if thats the case.
Why don't you want to kill Dario anon?

>>4316011
>We were already going to attract the attention of the higher demons due to Jeste's presence, so this was almost inevitable.
Which is a good reason to have Julius backing us up.
>>We can't kill Dario with the PoD, Dominus, and our new Magical Affinity.
I wouldn't be surprised. Dario's powers are stupid strong and he can use them very well instinctively.
>Why don't you want to kill Dario anon?
Nice job putting words in my mouth.

>>4316022
>It's a good idea to have the expert demon hunter next to a demon, a DLC, his familiar, and an Alura Une.
He may not attack us at the moment, but every second in his company is flirting with disaster for us.
The PoD can kill anything, all we need to do is get one good hit in and he's dead.
Have you forgotten we can teleport too?
And with Dominus we can dodge any of his attacks, or the attacks of any of the demons who decide to fight us, if not kill them outright.

>>4316037
He has bigger things to worry about then attacking us. Quite literally.
The PoD can assumingly kill anything. We would also have to get a direct hit in on his head, which is also assuming he can't just teleport regen that back.
Our teleport is not as good as his, hell ours isn't really a teleport. We remove space between us and wherever we're going and it's a fairly exhausting use of the PoD.
We get 30 seconds of dominus, then we're worse then an average human. This is on top of assuming we're using the PoD at the same time which also tires us. While we fight another DLC and a shitton of demons at the same time, in an arena that is advantageous to our opponent.

>>4316043
>Teleporting is exhausting
No?
Last time we did it we didn't get tired at all.

>>4316054
When was this?

>>4316061
While fighting Alucard?
And 30 seconds is plenty of time, we don't even have to use the full duration every time we use it anyway.

>>4316064
That was also the first time we used it that day if I remember right, and we weren't using it on top of Dominus.
You're assuming 30 seconds was enough. It was also barely enough to get us out of the final guard room.

>>4316073
>Comparing Final Guards to Demons.
What does it being the first use have to do with anything? If it's a tiring move then the drain would be more pronounced if we're at full health. As it wasn't, then it must not be.

We also have backup. Maybe Mistral can choke the Oxygen out of the air and get rid of the local flames when we fight Dario.
We can go all out too, since Alura will be joining us in a non-budded capacity soon.

>>4316088
>Assuming Final Guards aren't comparable to demons.
Because going from 100% to 80% is different then going from 50% to 30%. On top of that, Arthur was more focused on his newly snapped leg then how tired the use of PoD made him while he was pumping adrenaline fighting for his life.
>As it wasn't, then it must not be.
You are making a massive assumption on something that can only be confirmed by the QM.

>We also have backup. Maybe Mistral can choke the Oxygen out of the air and get rid of the local flames when we fight Dario.
>We can go all out too, since Alura will be joining us in a non-budded capacity soon.
Maybe. However, aside from the blessings Mistral has been fairly useless combat wise and only the QM knows when Alura will finish growing enough to actually do something.
Your entire basis of planning is made on a pile of massive assumptions that you really shouldn't be assuming,.

>>4316088
>Maybe Mistral can choke the Oxygen out of the air and get rid of the local flames when we fight Dario.
That sounds kind of dope. Moot point when Dario can just spontaneously create fire. Who knows what strange properties he can give to his flames. Dario's power is all about fire so we should assume he can do wild shit with it like we can with the PoD. Basically we should be trying to overestimate him, not the other way around.

If Dario was such a pushover he'd definitely be dead by now considering how he behaves.

>going to meet Julius while we have a succubus and aluraune in tow
But why.

>>4316118
Because he's a cool dude, Anon. And neet wizards always have succubus and alura une minions. It's like the go to for lonely magic users.

>>4316106
There is no scientific method, no objective standard in fiction.
Everything is impossible to quantify outside of narrative causality, so you're better off playing bold than meek.

>>4316106
If it was that big a drain then he would've noted it, even if he was focused on other things.
He didn't, so it couldn't have been that bad.

What are you talking about? We have confirmation that Alura will be coming back tonight or tomorrow, and Mistral herself has told us that she can deal with enemies using her wind magic.

Alura can full heal us you know.

Also, the absence of urgency in Arthur's monologue gives more credence to him not feeling urgent to get rid of the portal, not the opposite.
It would be quite glaring if he felt such an obvious desire.

>>4316118
I don't get it either anon.
I'll even switch over to just using Dominus and getting +1 to the Dracula possession meter just so we don't meet him.

>>4316121
That doesn't mean you should be assuming your power won't tire you out, or you should be giving your opponent who has powers equal to yours every possible advantage you can.
We have to stack the deck towards ourselves as much as possible.

>>4316122
Hey man if you want Julius to come down and slap our shit go ahead and use Dominus.

>>4316126
Better than just walking up to him.

>>4316126
Obviously at this point he's just trying to poison the well and get Arthur killed.

>>4316127
>walking up to the guy
>worse than wearing yourself out and simultaneously painting a target on your forehead
If we could maintain Dominus for longer than the average time a woman looks at anon it might not be such a terrible idea.

>>4316129
He just doesn't like the almost cowboy Belmont. It's okay. We all have preferences.

>>4316129
>>4316131
If we use Dominus to get rid of the demons we can still leave by flight you know, if we don't decide to run using the speed boost it gives us.

>>4315737
>Use the caution the demons are now showing to extricate yourself from this situation. Your mystery benefactor will have to remain a mystery for now.
Forgot to vote.

>>4316137
Julius has a tool for every scenario you can propose you know. On top of the fact he's raw beefcake. Dude forgets his own name and still remembers how to push in the shit of evil.

Just don't start a fight with the guy man.

>>4316150
He did just save our lives, even if we used Dominus he'd probably react to our presence the same way he reacted to Soma's.
I'm not worried about him killing Arthur, I'm more concerned with our entourage.

So, is my count of the votes wrong or are you going to meet the mystery man?

>>4316276
Time to mystery his mystery with our mystery.

Whoever this man is, there's no real question that he either saved your life, or at least saved you from the possibility that you might've died. You don't know just how long you could've lasted against so many of those lesser demons, so you're thankful for his assistance regardless of whether or not you could have survived with just Jeste's assistance. Though with the way he so effortlessly slaughtered almost two dozen of the demons, you're pretty hesitant to meet him even despite him apparently being willing to ally with you for now. It's pretty clear to you that whoever this man is, he far outclasses you in strength.

You call back to your allies as you look towards the building the man is inside "Alright then everyone. Follow me! Quickly!" There's really not a moment to waste, there's no telling when the demons will get over their fear of the man and renew their attack. You wait behind for a moment to let your allies go ahead of you as you keep watch over the demons first Jeste, then Mistral and finally Anna. When Anna reaches you, you turn and start running towards the building alongside her. She's easily the weakest link in your formation right now and you have no intention of letting her get picked off by some opportunistic demon.

You reach the building, some sort of middle of the range hotel, after making sure everyone else gets inside first. Upon entering the building, you immediately spot the man responsible for attacking the demons, there's something about the man that gives you a feeling that he is unbelievably powerful. Maybe even moreso than Alucard. Luckily for you, the man's posture is relaxed, though he is watching Jeste very closely indeed. His hair is brown and there's some stubble growing on his face, a result of not shaving for a while. His outfit isn't really what you expected your mysterious savior to be wearing at all. A light brown duster, almost like something you'd expect to see straight out of a western is worn above what looks like some form of hardened leather top. There's a red bandanna tied loosely round his neck. The man looks to be around about in his mid thirties, give or take a year or two.

You can also see what is obviously a weapon of great power currently resting on the man's shoulder. A long spear with a royal blue haft that is gilded with gold in some places. The tip of the spear however is really an odd design though, the spear blade is positioned on the top of what you can only assume to be a decorative ornamental piece, shaped like the wings of a bat with a cross emblazoned in the middle of it and tipped with a traditional speartip. Lots of these supernatural beings take after bats, you realize. Do they just like them or is there any other reason behind this conceptual similarity? Though regardless of the over the top complexity of the spear's design, you can tell that this weapon is far more dangerous than the trident that Jeste has taken to whirling about like a twirling baton.

The man, having apparently taken his own measure of you and your allies, finally speaks. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, stranger. I don't know what that demon who you seem to be on good terms with is actually doing travelling alongside you, but right now, I'm not about to pass up on some extra help, no matter who or what might be offering that help." The man's voice is rugged, and he's clearly seen through Jeste's inhumanity. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to care about Mistral or the plant she's holding. "I'm J. I felt something was wrong in this city so I came as quickly as I could manage." He... felt something was wrong?

You can't hold yourself back from asking the man a question before introducing yourself and your allies. "Just... who are you, J? What are you, even?" There's absolutely no way that this man is human. He couldn't possibly be after having caused such destruction against those demons. Or in the slim chance the man really is human, then he's clearly not a normal one.

"Who am I?" the man pauses, apparently trying to remember something. "Sorry, that's a question I wish I knew the answer to myself. Truth is, I lost my memory a few years back. All I can remember is a duty to kill monsters and protect the innocent. So that's what I've been doing." The man is clearly frustrated at his inability to recall his life. "Hopefully after a few more years of this, my memory will come back." Then 'J' sighs. "That's just a hunch I have though, yet it feels like no matter how many demons and monsters I end up killing, none of them get me any closer to remembering who I am."

This man is undoubtedly unbelievably dangerous. It occurs to you that had you not met him under such circumstances, he may very well have targeted you and your allies himself. Still, you try not to let that particular worry show as you decide to introduce yourself and your allies. "I'm quite sorry to hear about your memory problem, J. But I ought to introduce my allies and myself now too." One by one you introduce your allies to the man, and once you are finished introducing yourself and your allies, the man simply points towards a trapdoor that Anna is standing on with an indifferent expression. Apparently, the man without a real name isn't fond of introductions. You suppose you'll have to keep that in mind in the future.

The man quickly gives an explanation as to the purpose of the trapdoor "This leads to the underground railway system of the city. It's one of the few ways to get around the city unless you are capable of taking on an almost unlimited number of those demons." Oh, like he is, he means? "It's far quicker not to continually get forced into fights with demons too. I've managed to get a few survivors together in a small improvised settlement underground. They don't have that many supplies though, so I'm hoping I'm going to be able to get the gaping wound in the world that they keep flooding out of closed as soon as possible."

Anna quickly steps off the trapdoor and J opens it with his free hand, revealing a wooden stepladder down into a candle lit basement. He practically leaps down the trapdoor, ignoring the ladder entirely. In fact, so does Jeste, leaping down the trapdoor a few seconds after the man. Then Mistral too doesn't even bother with the ladder. For a moment, you're tempted to follow their leads, but quickly decide against it, especially when Anna looks at you as if to ask permission to go next. You can hardly leap down the ladder when she's actually climbing down it.

Finally, you approach the ladder and begin your descent. You shut the trapdoor securely behind you as you descend the ladder, and soon catch up to the rest of your allies and the enigmatic 'J', who have walked through a segment of the basement that has been smashed through to reveal a train tunnel. You're glad that the normal services aren't running, what with the demon invasion. Something about standing on train tracks like this makes you uneasy.

J turns to address you, having garnered that you are the defacto leader of the group and the one behind all of it's decisions. "This tunnel can take us to two places. One of them leads towards the rift, and to hundreds if not thousands of demons. The other leads towards the survivors I've managed to gather. If you need to rest up a little or if you don't think anyone is up to this and should stay behind, we ought to go there first."

>Go to the rift to hell with everyone following you.
>Go to the survivor camp.
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.
>Write-in...

>>4316437
>>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.
I want this just so we can brofist after we beat up the demons.

>>4316437
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.

>>4316437
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.

>>4316437
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.

>>4316437
>Send Jeste, Anna and Alura to the camp
Best behaviour please, girls.

>>4316437
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.
Will Jeste be returning to fight? She did want to help kill Dario.

>>4316437
>Have Jeste take Anna and Alura to the survivor's camp, while you and J go on ahead to the rift.

>>4316437
>Go to the survivor camp.
Shouldn’t the Book of Spirits tell us J’s real identity?

>>4317702
Let's say for the sake of Arthur not immediately getting himself killed and the story ending immediately, the Book registers his name only as J.
It can't name things or people who are themselves unaware of their name.
It wouldn't give you a name for Alura right now either, it would just register her solely as Alura Une.

>>4317709
I also might make it only trigger from now on when Arthur wishes for it to actually trigger. Otherwise I'm going to be forced to write really strangely from now on where Arthur is capable of Joseph Joestar-ing anybodies introduction without even trying.
It would lead to terribly disjointed looking text.

"Jeste, would you mind heading to this survivors camp with Anna? You might as well take the plant with you as well. I don't want it getting damaged in the fighting." If J is currently unaware of what Alura actually is, you certainly aren't about to tell him by referring to her as a person in front of him. If she can actually hear you right now, you'll apologize later on anyway. Keeping her identity a secret from this man is probably more important than her feelings on the matter anway.

J frowns at your suggestion and looks the demon straight in the eye. "It should only take you about ten minutes or so to get there, even at walking pace. I'll expect you back in less than 20 minutes after getting Anna to safety. Getting non-combatants involved in the fight we're going to be walking into is just begging for trouble, but that doesn't mean I trust you." He then narrows his eyes as his voice takes on a threatening tone. "Don't get any ideas either, I specifically warded the area against demons like yourself anyway."

"What? You think I'm just going to go ahead and randomly butcher some civilians? Who do you take me for? But... I can understand your hesitation towards trusting me regardless." Jeste simply begins to walk in the other direction upon taking the plant off of Mistral. "Make sure you don't get too far ahead though, I wouldn't want to miss out on killing a few of my fellow demons." She turns her head towards you and smiles before leading Anna down the tracks. Mistral simply shrugs after her duty of carrying Alura has been taken from her, and disperses into wind in order to follow you invisibly.

Jeste's sudden declaration has quite obviously thrown J for a loop. It's clear that he doesn't trust Jeste, on account of her being a demon, but was she truly sincere in her hatred of her fellow demons? What could be the reason behind such hatred for her own kind? Does she simply think herself above them all? It's clear that she doesn't revel in violence and carnage like so many of these other demons seem to enjoy. The mysterious man simply remains quiet for a while before he begins walking forwards. "Let's go, the more time we waste standing about the greater our odds of failing become and the more innocent lives are lost."

"Right." This man is all business, it seems. Then again, you suppose if you actually truly cared about the lives of the people of this city, or indeed the lives of those innocent people you don't even know the faces of, you too would be in something of a rush. Still, while you might not feel a need to save these people, it's pretty clear that J does, and you feel no need to antagonize the man by letting your thoughts on the matter be known. You follow after the spear-man in silence.

J doesn't seem all that much of a hurry however, it seems like despite the urgency, the hunter is prioritizing stealth and remaining undetected over haste. Well, you can't argue with that. Remaining undetected and getting there a little slower will just reduce the amount of enemies that you'll actually need to deal with when you reach the portal. Though now that you think about it, you don't know the first thing about actually well, closing a portal. Maybe Jeste might, but you feel compelled to see what J knows of the matter. "So, what's the plan for the portal anyway, J? Do you have some way to close it?"

"Yeah, I'm going to ask the person keeping it open to close it. Then I'm going to ask them a little more forcefully if they refuse." Well, it's hardly what you were hoping to hear from the man, but you're more than certain that unless this other Dark Lord Candidate far outmatches you in power, then this J will have the same amount of trouble with dealing with him as Alucard seemed to have with you. Still though, the plan doesn't exactly inspire much confidence in you. What if the portal to hell can't be closed by such means? Well, you suppose it would be a good opportunity to pit the Power of Destruction against something far more esoteric in nature.

Still though, it's not really like you were hoping for J to be anything other than an incredibly powerful weapon to be pointed in the direction of your mutual enemy. Him not having an actual method to shutting down the hell gate isn't something of much concern. "Well, I guess we'll see what happens, huh?" You don't really want to reveal the limits of your own powers to this man for some reason. So you refrain from telling him of your potential ability to deal with the gate yourself.

After a few more minutes of walking, you are rejoined by Jeste, the demon trying to sneak up on the two of you and getting J's spear pointed directly at her throat for her trouble when the man whirled around when she was close enough. "Woah there, mind calming down? I understand the need for being jumpy sometimes, but I was just trying to surprise Arthur." She moves to nudge the spear away from her exposed throat, only for the man the retract it himself, quickly returning it to a resting position on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that again." The man warns the demon. "Next time I might not judge the distance correctly, and I don't think you want that." Jeste looks at the man with an annoyed expression, but obviously isn't stupid enough to actually speak up or call J out on his threat. A reminder that this man is only allied with you right now due to the current situation. It's really quite lucky that Jeste knows how to operate with at least some form of discretion. You are approaching a section of the train tunnel that seems to open out into a larger area before a really rather horrid smell assaults you, the smell of roasting human flesh. J seems to have also smelt it, and holds out his hand to stop everyone's movement before motioning for everyone to follow him as silently as possible.

Silently, the three of you creep into the larger area and quickly come to see the cause of the horrible smell. Three humanoid demons stand around a bonfire of human corpses, each of the demons appears somewhat similar in appearance, despite being different colours. Each are around the size of an man, with a small set of wings protruding from their waists that in no way look like they would be able to allow the demonic beings to fly at all. Their hands and feet end in dangerous claws. Oddly, only two of them actually have horns, the red and the purple ones. The red demon's horns are far more impressive than the purple demon's horns, which are barely even a few centimetres long. The leader's horns however are like that of a ram, large and powerful looking. As for the third demon with the green skin, he instead has what looks like a dorsal fin on the top of his head. The other trait that the creatures all share is that each is armed with a spear.

You're close enough now to overhear the demons speak with each other "Come on Malacoda, you have to admit that burning the corpses like this is just a complete waste! Some of us would like to eat, you know. It's been ages since I last dined on human flesh." The purple one seems to plead with the red one, the leader?

"Barbariccia, I saw you carrying off a human child just a few hours ago." The red demon responds to the purple one with an exasperated tone. "Now, if you persist in questioning our orders and lying to me, then I'll be forced to make an example of you." There's a deadly tone in the red demon's voice as he speaks to his underling. Who seems to shrink away from the leader. Of course, you'll need to get past these demons somehow, but they might reveal some crucial information if you just stay and listen to them for a while.

>Stay where you are and listen to the demons.
>Just sneak past the three of them without initiating a fight.
>Deal with the demons by yourself (How?)
>Ask Jeste if she would like to deal with the three of them.
>Let J do his thing.
>Attack them with everyone fighting together.
>Write-in...

>>4317727
>>Write-in...
Sneak kill the demons. While we're getting into position, we can listen to their conversation more, then once it's done or it looks like they're going to leave we can kill them.
Have J take the leader, and Jeste take the next farthest since I assume they're both better then Arthur at stealth. Arthur will get the closest.

>>4317731
+1

>>4317727
>>4317731
Support.
Hey, could Mistral use wind magic to help us communicate without being heard?

>>4317731
supp

>>4317727
>>4317731
+1

>>4310544
ay QM. gimme key to powder QM. it's cloves

>>4318300
https://discord.gg/DnUN5S

Just somebody from a discord channel I sometimes post in, for context.

You hold your hand out to stop J from acting. Then you silently gesture to him that the demons ought to be killed as silently as possible. There's the chance that one of them might alert more demons and compromise your entire objective if they get the chance to. So obviously the only solution is to not allow that to happen and not even give them a chance to call out for help.

You make the same gesture to Jeste as you creep closer to the demons, hiding behind one of the pillars as they continue their conversation. The red demon begins to lecture the other two on something. "I hope the two of you remember the reason the three of us are down here in the first place.

The green one finally speaks up, his voice slow as he obviously has trouble formulating his response. "It was... to guard rift?" His answer is terribly curt, and not out of a wish to be rude to his superior or expedient in getting his point across, but simply out of a lack of intelligence.

"No Draghignazzo, you idiot. We were stationed here simply because the two of you are some of the most incompetent demons in hell! It's my job as leader to watch the two of you to make sure you don't get the Malebranche into any more trouble! This is a rare opportunity to show our usefulness to a Demon Lord, and I'm not going to let you two idiots screw everything up even if that means I have to stay here and watch you for a month!" The red demon, Malacoda, turns towards the green demon. He's clearly quite angry with the two subordinate demons for whatever reason. "Thankfully, Scarmiglione will be here to replace me shortly. You'd best make sure you don't fail me. I don't want to be made to look a fool in front of Lord Stolas."

"Sure sure boss, whatever you say." The purple demon, Barbariccia gives a completely halfhearted answer to his superior. "I'll make sure we don't let any intruders pass us, you can count on m-" The demon stops in his track and points towards the shadows "Malacoda! Look! An intruder!" He's not pointing at you, Jeste or J. Instead simply pointing to an empty part of the underground room and bursting into laughter. "Whoops, my bad. I guess I was mistaken, huh?"

Malacoda snarls as the inferior demon quips at him, and for a moment looks like he might attack the demon for his foolishness. "I swear to you Barbariccia, one day, that mouth of yours is going to get you killed."

"I concur." Jeste springs from the shadows with the red metal trident in hand, and pierces the demon through the chest with each of the unbelievably sharp prongs. Barbariccia can't even speak as he looks down at the sharp weapon impaling him, trying to say something before his eyes lose all their light.

You quickly follow up Jeste's attack with one of your own, plunging the holy knife deep into the neck of the green demon and watching with satisfaction as it tries to pull out the weapon before it's head is incinerated by the stored energy within.

As for the red demon, he fares slightly better than the other two, even managing to deflect J's first strike against him with his own spear, though with the way he struggled to even manage that, it's clear to you that the demon is horribly outmatched against the hunter. Malacoda is forced to block a blow from the monstrously powerful spear being whipped about by J with ease. A single one of the attacks landing causes the demon to be forced to take a step away from J.

Honestly, if not for their appearances, you would easily believe that J was the demon and that Malacoda the helpless human spearman attempting to fend off an inhumanly powerful adversary. Really, watching J so easily deal with his opponent is a truly bizarre situation. Malacoda is clearly a notch above the two demons you and Jeste just killed by sneaking up on them, but despite Malacoda's strength in comparison to his underlings, he's nothing compared to J, the hunter dealing with him as easily as a mighty warrior might deal with a boy who only just picked up a spear.

Eventually, J spots an opening in the demon's spotty defense that he chooses to properly exploit, slipping through the demon's guard and thrusting his own spear through the demon's throat. Malacoda looks as if he's trying to say something in response to his mortal wound, but only ends up making a gurgling noise, which soon turns into complete silence as J pulls his spear upwards, splitting the demon's head in two and turning it into a smoking mess of gore as the magic within the spear burns away the demon.

You're basically speechless upon witnessing J's brutal execution of the powerful opponent, and Jeste's face has blanched upon properly realizing the power that the human holds. J however is completely unphased by the combat. "Let's keep moving. If these three were stationed here to protect the rift, then there's probably a route up around here."

Jeste is still pale as she responds to J's decleration. "R-right, I can feel the portal to Hell is nearby now, with any luck, we'll be able to find a ladder up." After watching J's display, Jeste seems to have a newfound fear for the man that wasn't there before.

>Look for the route up the demons were apparently defending.
>Make your own route up using the Power of Destruction.
>Ask J if he can do anything that would allow you to reach the surface.
>Write-in...

>>4319039
>Ask J if he can do anything that would allow you to reach the surface.

>>4319039
>>Look for the route up the demons were apparently defending.

>>4319127
Those guys were the cast-offs, if we take the route they were guarding then it'll lead directly to the competent Demons.

>>4319132
They also won't expect a bunch of humans to be using that route, giving us an advantage we wouldn't have if we use our or J's abilities to bore a hole through the earth or what have you.

>>4319039
>Look for the route up the demons were apparently defending.

>>4319132
Spartan training is the best training.

>>4319039
>Ask J if he can do anything that would allow you to reach the surface.
Time for a sequence break.

>>4319241
The opposite would be the case.
You send out the idiots to die and keep the strong guard at the top.
They'd get a feel for the strength of the enemy by the reactions of the idiots.
Their lack of immediate response in the way of screams would tell them all they need to know about our strength if we show up that way.

>>4319039
>Ask J if he can do anything that would allow you to reach the surface.
hit your head on the ceiling more by spamming uppercuts/feather/whatever like Alucard must have done endlessly back in his time in SotN?

>>4319438
Alucard just had boots. Them Air Jordan's in Timbs style.

"J, do you think you can break through the ceiling here? If we go up now, we might be able to catch the other demons off guard and have a better shot at taking more of them out by surprise. I imagine they'll be watching any actual routes upwards, or worse still, made sure to trap them against anyone that might try to use them." You're apparently getting close to the rift now, so it stands to reason that the opposition you're going to face on the surface will be of a far greater magnitude than just lesser demons. The three demons you killed down here already were likely far stronger than the typical demon anyway. While you and Jeste were able to dispatch your targets without much effort at all, their leader wasn't immediately killed when he faced off against J, who's far stronger than either you or the succubus. Of course, he was still no match for the monster hunter in the end, but had you fought Malacoda by yourself, you aren't so sure you would've had such an easy time of dispatching him.

J looks concerned for a moment as he thinks about the question before finally answering you. "I could... but you'd have to get a fair distance away from me. I can easily break through to the surface from here, but it's quite an... indiscriminate ability. You'll have to get back to the tunnels before I can safely use it. It's an... extremely destructive ability, after all, I'd say it would be best if you got at least a few hundred meters away, to avoid the effects entirely." Well, that's fine. The more explosive your entrance, the more disoriented your enemies will be when you actually head to the surface.

If J thinks he's capable of blasting a way through that is so powerful that you'll have to stay in the tunnels though, you can't even begin to imagine what he might be about to do. "Right, I don't need much more of a warning than that. Come on Jeste, let's let J do his thing." You look around your empty surroundings before following up with an address to Mistral. "You too, Mistral. I don't want you getting caught up in the attack." You can feel a gust of wind blow past you after saying that. Looks like the goddess has got the message.

All three of you walk a fair distance into the tunnel before stopping. While you're interested to see just what J plans on doing to break through, if his ability is really so dangerous that you have to stand so far away just to remain safe from it, you're fine with not finding out. You and your allies remaining safe far outweighs your need to sate your curiosity on this matter.

The three of you come to a stop shortly after you're confident you're at least three hundred meters from where you last saw J, Mistral having taken her physical form once again to ensure you that she's actually following along. Then all you can do is wait. You really should have asked J for some kind of signal to inform you of when he was finished.

That need quickly evaporates when the tunnel begins to violently shake, with dangerous looking cracks forming on the brickwork that give you major concerns as to the safety of staying underground for much longer. Shortly after the shaking begins, you can actually feel the energy being put out at the end of the tunnel. What's more, there's a strange sensation that seems to literally be trying to pull you towards the source of the energy. Thankfully, the three of you are far enough away from the source of the pull that the intensity is like that of a breeze. Though it is still concerning, and Jeste looks even more concerned than you do.

"He... He's even strong enough to mess with gravity? Just what sort of monster did we run into?" With every passing moment, it seems that Jeste becomes more and more scared of J. Honestly, you share her opinion, but you wouldn't admit it out loud. J would be a truly terrifying enemy to have fighting against you.

Eventually, the shaking subsides, and the energy seems to disappear. Not wanting to hang about in the now potentially unstable tunnels, you turn to Jeste and Mistral. "Let's get a move on, you two. Before the tunnel collapses entirely." After all that shaking, and visible breakage in the stonework of the tunnel, it's pretty clear that you're at risk of being crushed to death right now, so you decide to run the rest of the way back to J.

Eventually you can see the part of the tunnel that opened out into the wider area, the room is now flooded with natural light, and upon actually reaching the end of the tunnel, you soon find the room is far larger than it was before, the walls having been vaporized by the massive output of energy, and the entire ceiling and any buildings that might've been above you having similarly been erased by the powerful attack. Just what on Earth is this man?

J is kneeling at the very centre of the circle of destruction about a hundred meters away, bathed in the natural glow of the sun. Apparently using whatever he just used took quite a bit out of him, though even so, he gets to his feet upon noticing your reappearance. "Come on! We don't have much time before they start swarming us!" With that, he takes up his spear, sprints, and leaps out of the now opened underground area, at least forty feet upwards.

"Guess we should go after him then. Mistral?" You call out to the goddess to give you the lift you would need to actually get out of the hole you're in. While you could get yourself out by using Dominus or the Power of Destruction, this is far simpler and energy effecient. The goddess huffing as she picks you up and carries you out of the hole.

Finally though, you find yourself back on the city streets, surrounded by a lot of demons. Not just lesser demons and imps either, but more powerful looking creatures are mixed in amongst the vast army of demons you face. Just behind the army blocking your path is what looks to be a bleeding slash in the world itself, the rift to hell. Curiously, there's what looks like a large humanoid owl and a... little girl? Regardless of your brief confusion at the presence of the girl, the two are standing right in front of the portal, though the child is bound in chains for some reason. You focus a little more closely on the owl to try to discern his name. Predictably enough, it's Stolas. The one those demons down below mentioned. You don't have time to focus on the girl though, you need to hurry up and get moving.

With all these demons, it's pretty obvious that it's going to be something of a challenge to pass them all to reach the portal. Though you could try to bypass the problem entirely by just using the Power of Destruction to get there. Problem is, you aren't quite sure just how you'd go about shutting the bleeding hole in reality.

>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.
>Activate Dominus and race towards the portal, prioritize the death of that humanoid owl.
>Use the Power of Destruction to get closer to the rift and then use the energy to attempt to destroy it.
>Shoot Stolas with both of your guns from a distance.
>Write-in...

>>4320254
Shooting is likely to be ineffective and I doubt we can destroy the portal from this range. We also can't afford to waste Dominus time on cannon fodder when we don't know what the owl can do.
>Cut a path to the owl as a group, and then engage the owl with Dominus.

>>4320254
>>4320273 Sounds good to me. Supporting.

>>4320254
>Cut a path to the owl as a group, and then engage the owl with Dominus.

>>4320254
>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.
Don't out yourself while this monster of a man is stading beside you.

>>4320254
>>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.

>>4320254
>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.

>>4320254
>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.
They are thousands and we are four, the odds are in our favor.

>>4320254
>Just stick together with everyone and cut a path to the gateway to hell as a group.

"Everyone, stick together! We'll cut a path through as a unit!" You call out to the rest of the group, you aren't about to go running off alone when there's this many demons spread throughout the area, there's far too many of them for you to even begin to count, so actually running off ahead of the group is probably just going to get yourself hurt. Even if you used Dominus to aid you in getting to the demon in charge of this invasion, there's no guarantee that even the power you wield with Dominus would be enough to slay the owl demon.

"Understood!" Jeste answers you as she drives the trident through the chest of a demon that gets too close. Mistral is mostly trying to keep away from the demons, but a gust of razor-sharp wind seems to slit the throat of any that get too close to her. Seems she's trying to conserve her power, to some degree, at least. Both of them don't seem all that confident in combating a potentially endless horde of demons, not that you can really blame them. It is a bit of a daunting prospect.

J however is unbothered by the number of demons surrounding him, using all sorts of weaponry against the monsters trying to touch him. His spear lashes out at any that try to get too close and even those at a distance are torn apart by those deadly throwing weapons he uses. "Quickly everyone! We must get to the portal!" He reminds everyone of the goal, and not to get caught up in just killing the demons.

Of course, you don't need the reminder, but it is true that there's basically a wall of demons trying to block your path. Thankfully, Agartha seems to have enough power to dispose of one of the demons in a single shot to their heads. In addition, with the Power of Destruction fashioned into a long thin whip, you have very little trouble disposing of the demons directly in your path. Unfortunately, the four of you still need to clamber over the bodies of the demons you slay as you push forward.

Progress towards the lead demon is slow, yet there is progress, at least. Dozens, if not hundreds of demons fall to the four of you as they try to harry your attack on the rift. At one point, one of the demons gets lucky, slipping through your guard and managing to scrape across your face with one of their clawed hands, the damage would've been far more severe than it ended up being if not for the wind shield protecting your entire body, but still it leaves a pretty nasty gash on your right cheek. Moments after you are wounded you take your vengeance on the demon as you place Agartha against the monster's forehead and send it on its way back to hell.

"Arthur! Are you OK?" It's Mistral who notices your injury first, her voice is worried, but also somewhat relieved that your injury doesn't seem to be bad enough to be considered dangerous. You'll just have to get it sorted out after you've finished up here.

"It'll take more than a little scratch like that to stop me, Mistral." In truth though, the pain from the wound is basically nonexistent. It's barely even registering as painful to you, your tolerance for coping with physical pain has reached a level beyond what a simple cut could reach.

You do fight more defensively from that point onwards, using the Power of Destruction as a more defensive weapon than an offensive whip, you just need to keep moving after all. While you avoided taking a serious blow from that demon, had you been a little less lucky, it could easily have gone for your neck instead. It's a rather chilling thought even with your tolerance you probably wouldn't be doing so hot.

The fighting continues until only a few demons separate you from the bleeding rift to hell, the horrible liquid it secretes having burned a pit into the asphalt of the street like an impossibly powerful acid. Whatever that stuff is, it's probably not a good idea to touch it.

The last few demons in your path to the rift are cleared away when J throws a few vials of liquid at them, each vial explodes into a great blue flame, incinerating them in an instant before clearing, leaving no evidence of the demons' existence except for a few shards of glass on the ground in the places they once stood.

When you look up at the demon, you notice a huge magical circle just behind him, and he's tracing shapes in the air with one of his clawed talons, the circle behind him growing as he does. The girl who was beside it is now laying on the floor, unconscious, apparently. You do find that her name is Celia, but you don't get any time at all before J suddenly seems to realize something "We can't let him finish that spell!" J roars as he throws a heavy looking knife towards Stolas.

>Do nothing and see if the knife kills the demon.
>Try shooting Stolas with Agartha.
>Try using the Power of Destruction as a projectile.
>Activate Dominus and use your enhanced speed to reach Stolas.
>Write-in...

>>4321887
Use the power of destruction to destroy part of the circle

>>4321887
>Shoot a projectile at the circle with the Power of Destruction.

>>4321891
+1

>>4321887
>Activate Dominus and use your enhanced speed to reach Stolas.
This is basically just finishing what we already voted for last time.

>>4321887
>>4321887
Switching to >Activate Dominus and use your enhanced speed to reach Stolas.

>>4321887
>Shoot a projectile at the circle with the Power of Destruction.
Swipe forward to send an erasing arc of energy at it?

>>4321887
>Shoot a projectile at the circle with the Power of Destruction.

>>4321887
>Activate Dominus and use your enhanced speed to reach Stolas.

Are we fast enough to reach the thrown knife, grab it and toss it once more with our heightened strength and wind blessing? Then continue behind the re-thrown knife to finish Stolas off after it hits?

Very anime but this IS Castlevania.

>>4322666
nice devil trips

>>4321887
I'm convinced. Changing my vote from >>4322005 to >>4322666. Go for the combo kill!

>>4321887
>>4321910
>>4322666
That is so cool that it would be a sin not to change my vote to it.

>>4322666
I never really saw Castlevania as being very anime. Excepting the two sorrows of course.

>>4322666
That's retarded though.

>>4322828
>Forgetting about 90s Anime Belmont

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sME5_tyRbkg

>>4323333
That's not really anime. I dunno I'm just not feeling it.

>>4323338
Man, Rondo is super anime. From the art style, to the aesthetic, to the item crashes, to the magic super loli, to Richter's headband.
Shit's laid out pure shounen style.

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>>4323343
Neither the art style nor aesthetic is particularly anime. The item crashes too are just a way of doing an item, but bigger. Not really anime there. And despite the prevalence of little girls in anime it isn't exactly exclusive to anime to have special children. Though I concede it really is far more common a trope in anime. But the only reason I'll concede Maria specifically is because of the nature of her attacks being the cardinal beasts.

The only objectively anime thing in Rondo is Richter's appearance. He looks like discount Ryu from street fighter. The rest of the art just looks like typical late 80's/early 90's animation. You see similar in tons of other computer games of that era East or West.

I'm telling you bro I just don't get it.

>>4322666
I'm pretty sure that this is the winning vote.
Oh.

>>4323429
Isn't it tied?

>>4323450
Is it?
I might have miscounted with all the switched votes.

>>4323451

>>4321891
>>4321912
>>4322203
Wants to use the PoD to destroy the circle.

>>4321942
Just rush at him.

>>4322666
>>4322696
>>4322735
Combo

>>4323456
Ah.
I was counting the rush as part of the combo's votes.
Guess we're tied then.

>>4323457
Ill I'll switch to circle to break the tie.

Whatever that demon is about to try to do with that magic circle, you aren't just going to stand around and find out! Focusing on the Power held within you, you begin to generate a large amount of destructive energy. It's pretty clear that unless you activate Dominus, you aren't going to reach the owl in time, so instead you begin to formulate a plan. It's time for you to see just how that magic circle in the air holds up against the Power of Destruction.

The demon lord stops J's projectile from even reaching it with some form of magical barrier, the knife simply freezing in the air inches from the owls face. You aren't sure if it has the capacity for actual speech on account of having a beak instead of a more human mouth, but it certainly looks more than intelligent enough to comprehend the situation. With a flick of one of it's winged arms, it sends the knife hurtling back towards J.

However, while it's busy focusing it's attack on the monster hunter, you're able to finish up the preparations for your own attempt at putting an end to both the beast and the magical circle behind him. It's just a shame that the hell rift is too far away for you to hit as well. You guess that you'll just have to focus on destroying the rift when Stolas is dead. Taking out the most dangerous targets is vital to succeeding at shutting off the rift. Annoyingly, the enemy Dark Lord Candidate is nowhere to be found. Did he cut and run already?

Regardless as to the lack of your fellow Candidate's presence, it would still clearly be for the best if you shut this rift down. If you were officially the Dark Lord, you could likely command their loyalty and respect, but trying to negotiate with these creatures as you currently are just isn't something you can see as possible. Especially if they've already pledged themselves to that fire wielding Candidate.

You've got enough energy built up now to accomplish what you want to do now though, and you know based on the last time you attempted to do this that you can really only expect the consequences of using so much of the Power of Destruction as a projectile to be pretty severe. Still, it's about the only thing you can think of that might reach the demon in time, as well as destroy the circle it's trying to complete.

You swipe your arm outwards towards the owl demon, willing the energy gathered upon it to spread out as an arc of destruction. The arc of destructive power soars through the air with incredible speed, and the owl tries to use a magical barrier to impede the progress of the attack, only for the barrier to shatter as it is immediately pierced through by the deadly arc of energy. You can feel a lot of your strength leave you as you let the attack loose, but the results make that sacrifice worth it.

The owl's eyes go especially wide as it realizes it's mistake far too late to actually avoid the consequences, it squawks in agony as the arc of all consuming energy passes through it's feathered body, bisecting the creature just below what would be it's shoulders, if it were a true human.

The energy continues on past the demon however, and passes through the magic circle, erasing a fairly large portion of the magical lettering in the air. Seems that magic is completely and utterly useless when pitted directly against the Power of Destruction. The owl creatures upper half slaps down onto the floor moments before it's lower half collapses on top of it.

The death of Stolas is really quite anti-climactic, at least compared to the lightshow now going on directly behind him, the magical circle is going completely out of control, the lines and the letterings that once made up the circle merging together into some strange formation, flashing colors from red to black and back over and over. You keep moving towards the rift however, undeterred by the strange actions being undertaken by the haywire magic circle. A quick glance behind you shows that the rest of your allies have once again been swarmed by the demons. They don't look like they're in trouble right now, but it will be at least some time before you can count on their assistance.

You stand just below the rift to hell now, and other than the rift to the underworld, in front of you is the pulsating warped magic circle that seems to be growing more and more unstable and the bisected demon lord. Of course, there's also the unconscious girl lying on the floor, Celia. You aren't sure just how she's related to all of this, but you feel like she's unlikely to just be intended as a human sacrifice. Though as you look down at the unconscious child, you spot something that gives you immediate pause. Stolas' corpse... it seems to be knitting itself back together! You need to act fast!

>Destroy the warping magic circle with a more liberal use of the Power of Destruction!
>Grab Celia and back away quickly by activating Dominus!
>Use the Power of Destruction to finish Stolas off for good!
>Try to destroy the rift to hell with the Power of Destruction!

>>4323492
>Grab Celia and back away quickly by activating Dominus!

>>4323492
>Grab Celia and back away quickly by activating Dominus!
Careful that she doesn't get injured from the whiplash!

>>4323492
>>4323492
>Grab Celia and back away quickly by activating Dominus!
NIGERUNDAYO!

>>4323367
>The item crashes too are just a way of doing an item, but bigger.
>Big super item explosion that causes it to rain holy water, or blast a pillar of light with crosses flying around it isn't anime.
Bruh, come on now.

>The rest of the art just looks like typical late 80's/early 90's animation.
Most late 80s/early 90s animation was outsourced to japan or was directly japanese. You think it looks typical because you're use to seeing it.
It's extremely clear Konami was going for an anime aesthetic in the art, similar to Snatcher.

>>4323492
>Grab Celia and back away quickly by activating Dominus!

>>4323828
>So that would make Dragon's Lair a cartoon?
Yes? Sure it's a game, but its style is definitely that of a cartoon, just like Rondo of Blood's is anime. I'm just stepping into this argument now, but come on, anon. It really seems like you're being weirdly stubborn about this.
Also, are you implying a cyberpunk aesthetic is mutually exclusive with an anime one? Ever heard of Ghost in the Shell?

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>>4323828
>You know who did torrential rain and pillars of holy light first? The Bible.
I sure do remember the part of the bible where Jesus fought Satan after tearing pages out of the new testament which formed a magic array and shot a giant laser at him.
Or at the crucifixion where he broke free of the cross and punished those against him by causing his cross to rotate into the sky and explode with magical energy.

>>4323828
>So that would make Dragon's Lair a cartoon?
Dragon's Lair has a cartoon aesthetic, yes.
Snatcher was a cyberpunk story with an anime aesthetic.

But, no let me post some official Rondo of Blood art while you keep saying it's not Anime as Shit.

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>>4323859

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>>4323861

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>>4323865

>>4323859
I have to admit, Rondo is really the most anime entry in the franchise.
Maria especially.
Even more so than the DS entries.

>>4323925
Art style falls under art direction...

>>4323925
Dude, you have me, this anon >>4323856 and the QM all telling you that Rondo is anime as fuck.
Are you literally autistic?

>Snatcher was a sci-fi thriller with a cyberpunk aesthetic.
Snatcher was a cyberpunk story with an anime aesthetic. Even so, anime aesthetic and cyberpunk aesthetic are not mutually exclusive.

>Now lasers and explosions are anime, too? Fuck man. I should tell the Navy that Japan has had their number for decades.
I didn't know the navy had bible powered magic lasers and explosions. Why the fuck are we still using cannons and torpedoes when we have magic available?

>An aesthetic is better attributed to an art direction than an art style.
Art Style falls under Art Direction.

>Rondo's two main characters are anime as fuck.
>It's art style is anime as fuck.
>It's story wouldn't be out of place in a shonen manga.
It is anime as fuck.

>>4323970
Yes, and Rondo evokes an anime theme. Everything about Rondo evokes an anime theme, unless you're playing one of the remakes.

>Woah now magic in general is anime? I guess Merlin needs to watch less YYH.
Man, you just keep pounding that fallacy. How much further can you shift it?

>And art direction encompasses a metric fuckton of things. That's why you can have style that clashes with aesthetic.
So you're admitting that Rondo is anime then?

>You can't just throw "anime" at every single thing.
I can when that thing is fucking anime as hell.

>>4323981
Except it doesn't. Then again you seem to think absolutely everything is anime so what do I know?

I'll keep doing it as much as you keep saying "Nuh uh". Just having fun with it.

It isn't.

Again. It isn't.

It's pretty clear we aren't going to agree. So Let's agree to disagree, right?

>>4323970
It seems like you feel that no element of a game can contribute to an anime aesthetic if it's been used in anything other than anime. I find this perspective baffling, so let me flip this around and ask you a question. Can you give me an example of a videogame that you do feel has an anime aesthetic, and tell me what aspects of it make it 'anime'?

>>4323993
Except it does. Hell, you've had multiple people tell you Rondo is anime as fuck.

So you literally have no argument for that, outside of shifting goal posts? Then again, I keep noticing that's a running trend with you.

It is.

Again. It is. Multiple people agree it is. You're the one sperging out about how it's not without anything to back it up.

>>4324003
He's in too deep. Just let the man abscond with what meager remnants of his dignity he still has.

>>4324000
No it's just Castlevnia specifically was some ungodly mishmash of Neo-Gothic and classic monster films. So its aesthetic is just a bizarre toss-up. Lots of games have a very anime aesthetic. Armored Core is a good example of a non-anime-attached mecha game that apes anime very well. It's not a Gundam game but it gives you a similar vibe. Distinct but still prevalent. Most of the Final Fantasy franchise is turboanime. Oni is very anime.

It's just that anime is hard to finger because it's more of a catch-all term referring to the whole of an industry than a specific characterization. Like you could lump say Lupin III and OG Dragonball as anime but they are incredibly distinct from each other.

It's basically asking "If you watch it played does it feel like watching TV Friday night". Watching Castlevania being played doesn't make me feel like I'm watching an anime. Not even Rondo.

>>4324055
That really highlights the pointlessness of this whole argument, doesn't it? At the end of the day it comes down to a feeling, and obviously Rondo of Blood does "feel" anime to the rest of us; that's why this argument has been happening in the first place. It's all at least a little subjective.
For my part, I'd say that the visual style is blatantly anime and that's all I need to call it an anime-game, but there's also the fact that it does remind me of a number of anime from that period of time. Vampire Hunter D particularly. It's also worth pointing out that lots of anime ape neo-gothic themes, so these things are by no means mutually exclusive.

A netflixvania thread was once allowed to hit bump limit on /a/
gg no re

>>4324061
>At the end of the day it comes down to a feeling
I mean that is literally the meaning of "aesthetic".

I understand there's stuff out there that goes after neo-gothic but it's the combination of classic monster films that makes it feel distinctly not-anime. It's hard to think of The Creature From The Black Lagoon and Wolfman and say "well that's kinda anime". Which is why I feel like later entries in the Castlevania series are more anime. It's not that it's mutually exclusive it's that if it feels more like one thing than another that's where it counts.

>>4324087
And Rondo feels amazingly anime. Not just to me, but to a large number of people. From the art, to the style, to the story. Hell, even you admitted a good portion of it felt very anime.

I mean heck, while they don't have the more cartoonish appearances they do in the newer games, Medusa, Mummy and the Creature are all summoned in a progressive boss fight as the new badguy laughs and makes us fight enemies from the past.

I honestly feel proud that an off hand comment I made for write in inspired this level of shit flinging. Reminds me of shitting up Banished quest thread back in the day.

Getting a truly terrible feeling about this whole situation, you are forced to make a decision that you hope you won't end up regretting. You focus on the glyph on your back and activate it, allowing it's power to flow through your body once more. The sensation of power you feel upon it's activation is just as incredible as it was the first time you activated it, but this time you cope with the sudden flow of energy flooding your body a little better. In the blink of an eye, you pick the girl up, making sure to support her neck as you do. You wouldn't want her getting whiplash from the incredible speeds you can manage, after all.

With the girl in your hands, her already minuscule weight barely noticeable thanks to the enhancements [red]Dominus[/red] provides to your strength. The girl gasps in surprise as she's woken by the sudden movement. She doesn't sound hurt though, fortunately. She also doesn't try to struggle against your grasp as you hold her against your chest so she doesn't get hurt by the force as you leap backwards away from the three obviously dangerous entities.

You deactivate [red]Dominus[/red] as soon as you are a safe distance from the portal, running back to your allies to see if they need any assistance with the demons, though they are obviously doing much better now than when you last saw them. The swarming of the demons has subsided a little bit and the demons are now backing away from your allies. Jeste is quick to notice the girl in your arms, though despite that, she doesn't bring it up. Instead opting to point out the out of control magic circle. "Arthur! We need to get away from here! The magic in that circle is going out of control! There's no telling what it could do!"

You grit your teeth, not wanting to flee from the rift. Sure, the Dark Lord Candidate isn't here, but you aren't really the sort of person to just leave a job half done. These demons have had the audacity to attack you, so you certainly don't want them getting whatever it is they want out of this situation. Their transgressions against you will not go unpunished. "Damn it! J, do you think that attack you used earlier might be able to wipe out the portal as well as whatever it is that magic circle has started doing?" Hopefully the amnesiac hunter can help out again.

He looks at the gateway with a frustrated face. "No, I can't use that power without hurting the three of you." He pauses as his frustration grows more intense. "I feel like I should know other methods of attack that would allow me to blow these demons away entirely, but I just can't remember." You should've known things wouldn't be that easy.

Mistral cuts into the conversation. "Well, whatever it is you decide to do, can we do it fast?! The haywire magic has started doing something!" True to her words, the magic circle has now completely condensed into some sort of ball. Stolas is getting back on his feet now too, and looks about ready to attack the four of you with some sort of spell.

That is, before the black ball of energy fires some strange black tendril at the owl demon, piercing through it's face and drawing the demon's corpse towards it's surface. The moment Stolas' body touches the black ball is the moment his entire body turns into a goopy mess of flesh and feathers, which seems to drain away into the swelling black orb as it begins to take on a red color. In mere seconds, the entirety of Stolas is gone, leaving the strangely organ like ball floating just above where the demon was standing.

"What on Earth, is that thing?" You can't help yourself from asking, but you do notice that every single demon is now trying to turn tail and flee from it in abject terror. You notice Jeste is cowering behind you. "Familiar! Become Incorporeal! Arthur! Shield us, now!" Her voice is shaky as she orders you to follow her commands, seems that whatever it is you're up against now, she's somehow recognized it. Still, you find no reason not to follow her warning, and neither does Mistral, who quickly turns into the winds.

You shift Celia into a one handed hold and hold out your other hand to generate a barrier of destruction to cover your entire body, as well as Celia and Jeste behind you. Though as soon as the shield is fully formed, the organ like being floating in the sky seems to explode outwards with tendrils, piercing and absorbing any of the lesser demons unable to get away from the organ which begins secreting some strange sort of mud. The tendrils that head for you, Jeste or Celia however are devoured by the thin layer of destructive energy in front of you.

You look over to J, who didn't have the protection of a defense like yours or Mistrals, only to see the spearman whirling his spear about to destroy any of the strange red tendrils that try to pierce him. He doesn't even seem to be exerting himself as he deals with the situation with ease.

Eventually though, the remaining tendrils extract back into the odd entity, every demon that was surrounding the portal has been absorbed by this... thing. Which has begun to hover higher and higher as it grows larger. The beige mud like substance that it excretes begins to harden as the ball reaches a size where it can just about fit in between the streets.

Not only does it begin to harden, however, but it also begins to mold the shell of mud into a truly horrifying form. The ball's outer appearance being transformed into that of what looks like thousands of writhing naked humans. "What is that thing, Jeste?" Just as you ask the circus demon, one of the naked humans drops off the ball, without a face or any... features, that would allow you to determine what gender they are supposed to be. Somewhat reminiscent of those mudmen you fought back in the hotel, but these things look a little more organic.

The succubus looks worried as she takes a good luck at the monstrous orb "It's Legion. A sort of... composite demon that can absorb other demons in order to gain their strength. The only way to stop it is to destroy it's core, but that's defended by that huge layer of bodies!" She sounds really quite worried about your prospects of actually defeating the giant disgusting orb. Whereas J is simply observing it, spear in hand, clearly looking for some sort of weak spot.

>Retreat for now, with all the demons absorbed into that thing, escape will be easy, and J can beat this thing alone, you don't doubt.
>Try to use the Power of Destruction to create a blade large enough to sunder the huge orb entirely.
>Try to use your grasp of magic to destroy Legion.
>Just fight alongside J and assist him in defeating the huge monster without getting too ahead of yourself.
>Write-in...

>>4325368
>>Just fight alongside J and assist him in defeating the huge monster without getting too ahead of yourself.

>>4325368
>Just fight alongside J and assist him in defeating the huge monster without getting too ahead of yourself.
Whip it good!

>>4325368
Coordinate an attack to create a path to the core with ranged destruction, followed up by J destroying the core through that path.

>>4325366
>this entire segment
WhatIs, is this supposed to be reminiscent of of Dark Sakura's shadow attack in Heaven's Feel? Because it sounds awfully like the exploding tendril orb move. The mud mention also sounds like the Holy Grail curse mud.

>>4325368
>Just fight alongside J and assist him in defeating the huge monster without getting too ahead of yourself.

>>4325531
I might have taken a little inspiration from other sources...

>>4325368
Since there's not a lot of active conversation here in comparison with the other quest, I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed the last several updates and I'm looking forward to future developments, especially in terms of what we can do toward raising Celia as a dark priestess.

>>4325768
That's kind of you to say, anon.

"J!" You call out to the hunter. "Do you think we can kill that thing?!" J nods silently in response as he looks at the ball of flesh for a weakness. That damn orb of false flesh looks impossibly dangerous, those tendrils it shot out alone being enough to completely clear the street of demons. You could protect yourself of course, Mistral could assume her wind form for protection, and J could also defend himself against the assault. However, Jeste isn't going to be much help against this enemy. "Jeste! Get to a safe distance from this thing! Take the girl too!" You opt to avoid referring to Celia by name, while you only know the girl's name is 'Celia Fortner' thanks to the spirit book you have, you wouldn't want your new ally to think that there's some sort of foul play going on. Oddly enough, the book only gives his name as J anyway.

"Understood, Arthur! Make sure you stay alive, OK?" The demon woman gives you a determined look as she spreads her wings and takes Celia from you before quickly taking to the skies, quickly leaving your vision with the small girl. You aren't quite sure what it is that's made you take such a vested interested in that girl remaining safe, but you don't really want to see her getting hurt.

After the demon is gone, you allow yourself to properly focus on your enemy once again. It's really just sort of, hovering there. Not really acting as much of a threat right now. You decide to see what response the monster might have from a volley of bullets from Agartha.

All eight of the fired bullets simply sink into the disgusting flesh of the horrible floating blob. Despite the apparent power of the weapon against the demons, this Legion doesn't seem to have taken even the slightest bit of damage from the magical pistol. It looks like you'll have to use the Power of Destruction to deal any lasting damage to it, you slip Agartha back into it's holster as you groan a little, such a troublesome enemy.

It does seem however, that the barrage of bullets has managed to spur the big blob of writhing flesh and bodies to actually begin some sort of attack, as dozens of the bodies making up it's form seem to gain some form of intelligence, pushing themselves off of the surface of the creature towards you and J. Mistral begins actually picking a few of them off in the sky, materializing for very brief moments of time in order to slice through the clay-like humanoids bodies with kicks and swipes of her arms. Seems that Mistral isn't nearly as useless now as she was when she was still stuck as a fairy. In fact, she would actually be a pretty frightening opponent. An enemy who at any time could become incorporeal and nigh-undetectable.

Still, it's pretty clear that she doesn't have the sort of firepower that would allow her to actually attack the monster creating those minions. Looking over to J, you already see that he's begun to practically leap up the side of a building in order to get a better angle to attack. You decide to follow the hunter upwards, and activating Dominus for just a few seconds, you quickly leap up the same building J ascended.

"J! Do you have any ideas on how we might be able to kill that thing?" Hopefully he has some ideas on getting to the core and putting the monster down for good. You don't exactly want to get close to the beast and your ranged attacks are just not powerful enough to damage it.

He looks over to you as he begins to think of a strategy to defeat the creature. The man looks inside his coat and there's what looks like a flash of inspiration on his face "I can create you an opening that will burn away it's outer layer, but it will be up to you to actually destroy the core. I don't think that this attack will be enough to actually kill it for good, and I won't be able to actually attack it's core while I'm using it." He takes out another vial identical to the ones he threw at those demons earlier. Does he plan on throwing it at the demon amalgamation? You suppose that might work.

"Alright, let's do it." There's no reason to reject the man's plan right now. You don't exactly have any other feasible plans that would allow you to kill the giant ball of demonic power springing to mind. J nods at you as he closes his eyes and begins to focus for a few seconds before smashing the bottle on the floor beneath his feet and raising an arm in the air, pointing at the sky with a finger.

"Hydro Storm!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ZWY8aAiKg

At the man's command, the heavens open, and rain begins to fall. But no, not just any type of rain, the rain feels... hot. Charged, even. It's actually quite uncomfortable for you to stand in. Was... was this his attack? Of course, being able to change the weather is impressive, but it's hardly anything that will be able to help you here. "Now! Go!" You're jolted out of musing about the completely unexpected ability by J's voice, and you look upon Legion.

The rain seems to be causing the shell of the horrible monster to literally melt away, evaporating the mud that made up the writhing shell of the creature and exposing the core to you. The core has grown five tendrils that seem to flail about wildly in confusion. Obviously Legion wasn't expecting this sort of attack, that is, if it were expecting anything at all. It hasn't really shown many signs of genuine intelligence.

Still, the opportunity isn't one you're about to waste, and once again, you activate Dominus, leaping off of the building towards the core of the monster down below. You force yourself to twist in the air as the tendrils which you had assumed were only capable of uselessly flailing fire out beams of shining energy at you, it's only thanks to the additional agility provided to you by the glyph that you can avoid the deadly looking energy beams.

As you finally reach the core of the huge being, you deactivate Dominus, and instead focus on gathering a large amount of the Power of Destruction and slamming your energy coated fist directly into the pulsating organ that is the true body of Legion. There's no resistance at all as the endlessly destructive energy tears through the core of the monster, and after piercing all the way to the other side, you pull your arm upwards, and use the energy coating the rest of your arm to partially bisect the core.

You're about to proclaim in victory, up until the moment the energy within the now unstable demon begins to rupture the damaged core. You try to cover your face with your hands as you are engulfed in a blinding white explosion and lose consciousness.

When you come to, you find yourself laying on a hastily constructed bed made of pillows in an unfamiliar looking room, there's a small girl that looks somewhat familiar staring at you, she looks only a year or two older than Celia. Then you realize that your limbs have been bandaged in what seems to be incredibly soft bandages. You're getting awful feelings of Deja-Vu when you look at the girl, her red hair and green eyes somehow concern you more than they ought to.

She's still looking at you, as if waiting for you to make the first move in the conversation.

>"Who are you, and... what happened to me after the battle?"
>"Where are the others and how did I get here?"
>"What happened to Legion?"
>"...Alura?"
>Write-in...

>>4327220
>"...Alura?"
>"Where are the others and how did I get here?"

>>4327230
This

>>4327220
>"...Alura?"
>"Where are the others and how did I get here?"

>>4327220
>"...Alura?"
>"Where are the others and how did I get here?"
>"I missed you!"
WhatIs, I wouldn't have used Divine Bloodlines for the segment in >>4327219 and >>4327220. I would have used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJuXmC3XXaQ instead.

>>4327493
Wouldn't something more like "I'm glad you're alright." Be more fitting than "I missed you." Though?

>>4327220
>>Write-in...
Immediately grab the mysterious girl and apply hugs and headpats.

>>4327566
ok yes that's good

>>4327689
this is also good

>>4327689
>>4327909
I'd prefer to save those for Chaos, personally.

You stare at the young girl for a long time, before slowly and quietly murmuring a name. "...Alura?" Could it possibly be her? Why is she so... small? Did something go wrong with growing a new body for herself? You had just assumed that she would've just been identical to her previous body when she had finished growing. Instead, the plant woman has the form of a much younger girl. Well, that is if the resemblance isn't purely coincidental, but you somehow doubt.

"Of course. Who were you expecting? Once again it was down to me to save you when you were in trouble. I do wish you'd stop getting yourself hurt though, at some point, you might end up hurting yourself in a way that I can't fix." The small girl tries not to mention her change in form, but you can't really help but stare, prompting her to explain things with a sigh. "When you got here, carried by your pet fairy and demon, you were in a... bad way. I was forced to skip to the end of my growing process in order to help heal you." A quick look down at the amount of those soft petal-like bandages wrapping you is enough for you to realize just how much damage you must've taken from the explosion caused by destroying Legion. Really, it's a wonder that you didn't actually die from all the damage it appears that you've taken. You aren't sure whether or not you should be concerned by the total lack of bandages on your left arm though.

"Well... I'm glad you're alright now, I was really worried about you, Alura." The girl blushes at your words her pale white face gaining a crimson tinge to it.

"Y-yes, w-well I'm happy you saved me too! Even better, thanks to what you did with those potions, I'm stronger than ever before!" She quickly tries to change the subject. "Next time that vampire bastard shows up, I'll tear him apart! No wait! I'll tear that girl he was with apart in front of him while I force him to watch!" She's... she's just the same as always. Not that you can fault her anger. She was vertically bisected by the half-vampire.

But you are really quite interested in what she means by having become stronger, so you may as well ask. "In what way are you more powerful than before? Your... current body would really suggest you having become weaker." It's true, she looks almost completely harmless now. It's a completely disarming appearance, and even you find yourself thinking that she couldn't possibly be as dangerous as she was before, even despite her stated intent to violently enact her revenge on Alucard.

"Of course my body isn't as strong as it could be, but being able to put people off their guard is really easy like this! But I'm talking about those potions you poured on my heart. Thanks to you, I'm not only way stronger physically, but my natural ability to regenerate was bolstered by an incredible degree! Oh! One more thing too!" She runs out of the room, leaving you alone... Well, mostly alone. You can see in the corner of the room, Mistral has managed to find herself a comfortable place to sleep. You think of waking up the goddess to ask her what happened when you were unconscious, but you can probably just ask Alura when she returns.

After a few minutes of waiting, the overexcited plant girl returns with a torch, burning with a bright flame. She smirks as she looks you in the eyes before hovering her hand over the fire. "Watch this!" With that last comment, she grasps the flame with her bare hand, extinguishing the torch without even the indication that she might have felt it. "I've become completely fireproof!" Oh. Well then, that's going to a fun surprise for your Dark Lord Candidate adversary when you finally meet him, speaking of.

"Alura, do you know what happened after I was knocked out, where is everyone else? Did the Dark Lord Candidate I was looking for ever show up?" You hope he didn't, otherwise it would've just been another case of him slipping just past you despite being so close. You really don't want to disappoint Chaos, especially as she's given you a job to do. Not only that, the guy has acted like a completely irresponsible maniac with his power. Putting him down will probably be a mercy.

She holds a hand to her chin as she thinks. "They only told me a little bit of what happened, and then the scary looking hunter went off to kill the rest of the demons." You continue to quietly look at her, waiting for her to elaborate. "Well, they said that after you killed the big monster, the portal to hell became unstable, and J was able to seal it for good. Then you were taken here to rest and heal, the demon and fairy didn't know if you would make it,and I did have to end up using the last of the regeneration tonic to help you to regrow one of your arms." That explains the lack of bandages, you suppose. But more importantly, you had a potion that could regrow limbs? Perhaps looking into alchemy in the future really would be a good idea. "But no, nobody mentioned any Dark Lord Candidates. Though you might want to go talk to the little girl you rescued. She... probably knows more about what happened than she's trying to say she does. The demon realized something about the girl too, but she decided to wait until you woke up, I think. Especially because she can't get through the barrier!" She suppresses a laugh as she mocks Jeste.

"Right, well. Once again Alura, it seems I'm in your debt when it comes to being saved." You do hope that your relationship won't only consist of saving the other from near-death situations. It's happened an awful lot so far.

>Suggest coming up with a name for Alura (What name?)
>Go and see what Celia is hiding from everyone. Or at least try to find out.
>Go take a walk. Look for J. You feel like you ought to speak with him.
>Go check on Anna and make sure that she's alright.
>See what Jeste is getting up to, being unable to get through the barrier.
>Write-in

>>4328791
>Suggest coming up with a name for Alura (What name?)
Solanna I suppose?
I don't really have many good ideas for this, does anybody?

>>4328814
Can be but please, let's just call her Sola for my sanity's sake.

>>4328791
>Go and see what Celia is hiding from everyone. Or at least try to find out.
I've been looking forward to this discussion.

>>4328819
A 3 syllable name would just take you apart? She does have one already.

>>4328791
>Go and see what Celia is hiding from everyone. Or at least try to find out.

>>4328791
>Suggest coming up with a name for Alura (What name?)
Alma?

>>4328814
>>4329116
Now I'm not voting to name her because I'm more interested in what information Celia has, but if we are going to give Alura a new name wouldn't it be nice to keep it flower themed? What about Fiore or Ornella? Marguerite? Narcisse?

>>4328791
>>Suggest coming up with a name for Alura (What name?)
>>Go take a walk. Look for J. You feel like you ought to speak with him.

>>4329116
>>4329134
Ok, then how about Camellia or Dahlia?
I want to visit Celia too, but I did want to talk to Jeste about what she realized about Celia first, since I'm sure she's feeling a bit left out or worried at the moment, and I'm uncertain whether Arthur will be able to detect anything from Celia, given that he didn't when he was holding her.

>>4330274
If it were a choice between the two I'd vote Camellia. Either'd be fine, though.

>>4330312
Yeah, I like Camellia better too.
>>4328814
I'll change my vote to that then.

>>4328791
>>Suggest coming up with a name for Alura (What name?)
Xóchitl, Rosetta?
>>4328814
That’s just Anna with “Sun” in front.

>>4330488
>>4330316

Ok, so I'm trying to make sense of the votes and it looks to me that Camellia is the victor when it comes to naming Alura?
I'll get to writing then.

"Actually, there's something else I wanted to do, now that you're back... Alura." It's true that ever since you've been made aware just how strange it is to refer to Alura by the name that you've wanted to help her come up with one of her own that would truly belong to her and her alone.

"Oh, what's that, Arthur?" Alura doesn't look like she was expecting this. "If you just want to spend some more time together, then I'm not about to go anywhere. I'm going to be by your side to the very end." You fail to hide the small embarrassment you feel at her declaration of undying loyalty towards you.

You compose yourself before you speak again "It's about your name. I was thinking that we ought to come up with a... more real one for you, instead of just calling you Alura. It feels really odd just calling you that, now." If you hadn't been undressed, then you would've been able to determine what her name really was right now with the Book of Spirits, or maybe she was simply operating without a genuine name for this entire time?

"Y-you want to come up with a name for me?" Now it's Alura's turn to blush as your suggestion apparently resonates within her causing the plant girl to turn her back to you to try hiding her face.

After waiting for her to get over her sudden influx of emotions, you speak once more "Of course I do! We can't just keep calling you Alura, can we?" Honestly, what if another Alura Une joined you at some point? Things would get awfully confusing, and odds are that she won't be the only Alura Une to ever join you. Especially if you become the true Dark Lord.

After a while of consideration she finally starts talking again "A name...? If it's you, then it's alright." She turns to you and gives you a smile. "Did you have any ideas then, Arthur?" Seems that she's accepted your suggestion to have a true name. Thank goodness.

"Well, I've got a few I've been thinking of, actually. What about... Camellia?" A name of a flower for a woman who is well... a flower. It's not exactly the most original idea you've ever had, but when it comes to a name, it's not really a bad one, you feel. Besides, naming an Alura Une after anything other than a flower would just be

"Camellia, huh...?" She seems to be thinking quite deeply about the name. "Camellia..." She repeats the name as she seems to judge it, before eventually smiling at you and happily pronouncing her acceptance. "I like it, Arthur! Call me Camellia from now on!" Her voice is so full of joy that you wouldn't have expected it to have come from Alur... Camellia. The plant woman before was quite the serious figure most of the time. As she happily smiles at you, you notice a flower suddenly appear in her hair. A single delicate looking white camellia. "Actually, seeing as you've given me something, I should give you something too! Hold on for just a second, OK?" She turns away from you and begins to do something. You try to look at what she's doing, only for her to shift away from you "No peeking!" She scolds you.

You spend about ten minutes calmly waiting for Camellia to finish up with whatever it is she's doing, she seems to be intensely concentrated on whatever it is she's doing though, so you try your best not to distract her. You instead simply opt to sit down and wait for her.

Soon enough though, Camellia s finished up with whatever it is she's doing and turns toward you, presenting you with a complete set of clothing. An inky black suit and a dress shirt. "You're still wearing that suit I made you aren't you? I'm a little stronger now, so here! Try it on." You oblige her and put the clothing on over your still bandaged body. It's a perfect fit. "Because of my growth in power, that suit has a few extra features the last one I made for you didn't have. Like me, it's completely fireproof, and it will repair itself far faster than your previous suit did. Oh! And as long as you wear it, it will somewhat supplement your strength and make you just a little stronger than you otherwise would be. It's a masterpiece, if you ask me." Camellia declares proudly as she explains the new suit to you.

"Wow, Camellia... I don't know what do say." You are silent for a moment as you look the plant girl in the eyes, she matches your look of silence with one of her own. You eventually decide on the best method of thanking the (now) small girl and embrace her in a hug. "Thank you, Camellia."

"Y-y-you don't need to go that far! Arthur!" Strangely enough, the once flirty woman seems a little more embarrassed at the idea of physical contact with you. Is it a consequence of her current form? You don't let go of her for a few seconds despite her protest though, watching her recoil with a beet red face when you finally release her. How strange.

"D-don't you have some other people to g-go talk to?" After the unexpected physical contact Camellia seems to have become an emotional wreck. "N-next time a little warning if you're going to t-touch me too?" Good grief. She's quite clearly the same person she was before, but it seems that her sudden lack of size might be the cause of this reaction. You have to suppress a laugh at her reaction. The once seductive and flirty Alura having now become the adorable Camellia.

>"I think I'd prefer spending some more time with you Camellia. Why don't we go for a walk?"
>"Now that you mention it, I suppose I should go talk to that little girl about what she knows. I get an odd feeling from her."
>"I should probably catch up with Anna, actually. I want to ask her a few things anyway."
>"Right. I need to go find J and try to find out whether or not he's got any info on the Dark Lord Candidate."
>"Yeah. Jeste is probably waiting around for me to show up, she's probably the best person to ask about the city right now, as well as about the Dark Lord Candidate I'm hunting."
>Write-in...

>>4331043
>>"Right. I need to go find J and try to find out whether or not he's got any info on the Dark Lord Candidate."
I wonder if he has any ideas to help with our stamina problem. Only lasting 30 seconds before blowing our load is kind of a drawback.

>>4331043
>"Now that you mention it, I suppose I should go talk to that little girl about what she knows. I get an odd feeling from her."

>>4331043
>"Now that you mention it, I suppose I should go talk to that little girl about what she knows. I get an odd feeling from her."
Let's go handle Celie Fortner before she becomes head of yet another retarded cult of evil that leads to Drac being summoned for the nth time.