Welcome to Gaia! ::

The fancy auditorium was completely silent, except for the muffled sobs, frantic whispers, and not-totally-silent attempts to cut through the ropes binding people to the chairs. And the loud carnival music, of course. With tears (and often blood) running down their faces, the first (and last) generation of the Inaba Captive Chorus sang loudly, off-key, and not at all in sync to the gathered guests.



Through the noise and trouble, a loud voice called out. "Buddy! Is everything ready?" And in the back of the hall, lit by a spotlight, Zazi gave a thumbs-up and pulled a lever. A trapdoor underneath the choir popped open, sending the unfortunate singers plumetting to their collective demise as a tall man leaped down from the rafters and crashed onto the stage, spreading his arms wide. "Heeeeey, everybody! Thank you all SO much for coming to my birthday celebration! In honor of me, I decided to give everyone here a present today! Specifically, you don't have to worry about growing older!" Complete silence. "Come on, cheer!" Naniyori said. Complete silence. "Or you'll all die right now." Thunderous applause, complete with cheering, whistling, and very vocal support for the Asura of Blades. "Hey, that's better! I knew you could all be obliging folk. To celebrate, it's the highlight of the evening, my puppet show! Say, Ria!" Naniyori plunged his hand into a box, and when he pulled it back out, it was inside what looked like a disembodied human head. The mouth chattered up and down in a terrible show of ventriloquism. "What is it, Naniyori?" Naniyori said in a very fake-feminine way. "I've been trying to learn lately. Crazy, I know. But anyway! I was talking to my good buddy Tala, and he told me the best way to get babies into a bowl! Do you know what it is?" he asked the head. "No. What?" "A blender! And how do you get them out?" He chattered the skull's jaw up and down for a bit. "I don't know. How?" Naniyori pitched the skull into the crowd, sending it straight through a line of ten people. None survived. "That's because you're stupid and don't have a sense of humor! Nachos! Duh!" He grabbed a can of Pringles from his box, popped it open, and scooped out some of the dip that was on the celebratory table. Nom. And then, cheerfully, he finished the can and the dip. "It's true! Once you pop, you just can't stop! Especially heads!" He chucked the empty bowl over his shoulder. "So! Now we're going to play a game, everyone! It's called 'Who has the most blood?', and to find out, I have this contraption!" The audience could do nothing but stare, aghast, as two of Naniyori's minions wheeled out what looked like a... giant... pressing device... with a vat under it into which liquid could drip... He couldn't possibly be serious, could he?

"Nah, I'm kidding. I didn't get enough volunteers. Imagine that! Nobody wanted to find out how much blood thay have!" the Pale Rider said, shaking his head sadly. "Kids these days. You're all 'Persona' this, and 'Summon' that, and 'I'm an annoying emo now because no one likes me'. Back in my day, we were constantly finding out how much blood other people had! Of course, it's still my day. In fact, it's especially my day today, because it's my birthday!" He opened his hands wide again, ignoring the frantic attempts by various people to get out of the ropes and away from the building. "I killed a dragon!" A catapult at the back of the room flung a massive, scaled head across the building, splashing the people below it with its vital fluids even as Naniyori reached up and caught it. "And I'm telling you, there was nothing like-" The hall went quiet again. Every lamp in the stadium went out without warning, and from behind Naniyori, there was a sudden surge of light in the shape of two long, thin cylinders of light. The Asura of Blades turned around. "It... can't be..." he whispered. But it was.

There, lit by the light of two glowing swords, stood the greatest of all creatures, and the truest foe that Naniyori had ever known. Yet something was different this time. Where once had been scaled, green organic material, now there were many parts of steel and chrome, as well as one glowing, red cybernetic eye. The Sewer Gator, returned, and augumented to an incredible degree. "This is MY birthday party, beast, and none shall take it from me!" Naniyori lunged forward, his massive sword humming to life as he brought it in a sweeping arc towards his reptilian foe. One glowing blade flashed over to block it, and Naniyori grunted as its power, so much greater than before, held back his desire for the beast's head. Then the duel began in earnest, lit only by the flashing lightsabers of the Gator, as the two wove back and forth in their deadly dance. It took under a minute for everything on the stage to be trashed. and Naniyori howled his anger as he leaped back, preparing for one powerful blow. "What makes you think you're so tough, eh!?" The Gator spat something across the stage, and Naniyori summoned a spell in his hand to light up the area. There, on the ground before him, lay Tala Ivanov's head. The heads of the other Horsemen followed a moment later, and with more shock than he would ever have shown, Naniyori realized that all of his companions were dead. Dead... at the hands of the Sewer Gator! "Yoooooooouuuuuuuuu!" he bellowed. "I WAS GOING TO BETRAY THEM! I WAS! AND NOW I'LL NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO TRY AND OVERTHROW THE GENERAL!" He shot across the stage, and the Sewer Gator got both of its blades up in time to block Naniyori's downward chop. "I'll get you, you stupid rep-" One more beam of light lit the area. There, held in the Sewer Gator's foot, was one more lightsaber. With its beam piercing straight through Naniyori's chest. "I see... I raised you... well... Mr. Teeth..." Naniyori whispered. "I'm... glad..."

And that night, what would become known as the 'Massacre of Inaba' (the most traumatizing event in the lives of everyone forced to attend) was Naniyori's final birthday celebration...

"I must admit, I did not believe you would come so far." the man said softly, holding his hands palm up. Responding to his will, the Magatsuhi energy flowing through the realm swirled around the platform where he and his guest waited, and images began to appear. From years in the past to mere days before, countless images slowly circled the pair, depicting major events. "You must be tired. Come, let us speak for a little while." Louis Cyphre strode forward, in the body of a young man with blonde hair. "I sense that you have many questions."

Kisa looked up at the figure, shaking slightly. Just being here, his power was so high. He wasn't like any of the others had been; even his most powerful minion wasn't so radiant. "I..." she whispered, her throat dry. No, no! She couldn't lose everything she had gained at a time like this! The girl took a deep breath and looked forward. "Tell me. Why did you do this to me?" she asked. It was the only question that truly mattered to her. She had long since come to terms with what she was, but always, the need to know why had remained. "Even when I was younger, I can't have been what you were looking for! I don't share your beliefs, I don't want to work for you, I..." her arms shook, and slowly, Louis smiled.

"I suppose that, in you, I just saw... potential." he said. "It was buried so deeply that I almost missed it, but I found it in the end. When my warriors have no enemies, they grow complacent in their power. I suppose you could say that I wished to test them... and that is why I have supported you along your journey even when you didn't realize it." Kisa's fists clenched tighter.

"So you... you ruined my life... all so you might be able to create a challenge to your minions!? So you could play a game with Tala!?" Energy swirled out of the girl's body and plunged back inwards, infusing every fiber of her body with amplifying force. "My life isn't a tool for you to use however you want! When you're just using people, you aren't any better than those stupid angels!" A flash of irritation crossed Louis' face, though it was hidden as quickly as it came. "You've never helped me at all! It was just for your plans... and I'm nothing to you except one more thing to be disposed of!"

"Have a care with your tone, girl. I have guided you to power that make even gods tremble. You stand equal with the best that have ever walked beside me. I've given you everything you wanted." Kisa stared upwards, then held out her hand. Into it formed a shape with dancing flames on the top, a Candelabrum with fires burning bright.

"No." she said harshly. "Everything else was only a stepping stone. I made up my mind long ago that I would become strong enough that nobody could challenge me. I'm not going to let the angels brainwash everyone I care about... and I'm not going to let you create a world of anarchy, either!" The Candelabrum vanished, and out from where she stored all of her things came a massive sword. One half of the blade was dyed white, down to the last detail, with feathers as a motif and purity as the idea, while the second half of the blade was dark, but marked with red lines that crossed its length. "Please allow me to introduce my blade, the Neo-Nihil. It has the peculiar trait of being able to take power from the demons I defeat... and just for you, I gave it the energies of that angel as well as your General." The most powerful shape her weapon had yet taken should have taken several men to lift, but the Demi-Fiend girl had stopped being human (and playing by human rules) a long, long time before. The distance between her and the Lord of Chaos seemed to vanish as she swept out with her weapon, and the man abandoned his human guise entirely as he leapt backwards and into the air. Six brilliant white wings erupted out of his back as his form twisted into something far greater.

And the transformation was met by a hail of bullets. "It's Showtime." the man in the red jacket said as he dropped to the ground next to Kisa. The Son of Sparda pointed both of his pistols as the momentarily-frozen Fallen Angel hovered there, a look of surprise on his face. "How do you like the new bullets? Borrowed 'em from the little miss with the Tubes. Pretty good against demons, they are." Kisa launched forward again, bringing the Neo-Nihil sword down across Louis Cypher's chest before kicking backwards as the momentary paralysis vanished. She was not, however, facing an enemy that would fall nearly so easily, and the Fallen Angel raised one hand and pointed at the intruders. Light seemed to explode out of his finger as his Photon Cannon lanced out; the Legendary Dark Knight managed to flip into the air, out of the way of the blast, but his companion wasn't so lucky. Kisa lowered her arms again as the light vanished, the blast marks visible on her tattooed skin and all the places she hadn't been able to cover. The twin pistols of her ally vanished into their holsters as Dante pulled out his blade, Rebellion, and dashed forward to occupy Louis Cyphre's attention. And it worked quite well as the Fallen Angel shot back and forth, avoiding the blows of the Half-Demon swordsman. "I had nearly forgotten how irritating you could be..." Light flickered from in front of him, and Dante dove to the side as a stream of energy, a powerfully charged Freikugel, shot past him and slammed into the Fallen Angel's chest. Louis Cypher was, in point of fact, one of the few who had the power to resist Almighty blows. Even the most powerful wouldn't do much damage to him. Usually. That was not the case this time, however, for the Demi-Fiend's Magatama contained the power to Pierce his guard, and at this stage, that kind of a blow from her was noticeable.

In the sense of a bee stinging you, anyway.

Energy swirled around his hands, and Fire launched out, covering the field in a wave of fire before a burst of ice followed close behind, jagged edges cutting out of the ground and sweeping forward to rip through everything in their way. As if mocking the Fallen Angel's attempts, Dante leaped between the blows, riding the ice up even as his companion endured the powerful blows. A wave of healing energy surrounded her a moment later as Dante unleashed another hail of bullets from his pistols, and merely a moment later, another Freikugel struck Lucifer.

"I am beginning to tire of this..." he growled. Space and time seemed to scream as he raised one hand, and a sphere of Almighty energy shot down from the sky and crashed into the battlefield. Dante went flying backwards, unable to avoid it, and Kisa was thrown straight into the ground. The head of Chaos didn't always play by the rules, and Megidoladyne was a spell that went straight past the power level that anyone should have been able to put out. Even with the blessings of her body, her powerful resistance to pretty much everything... the damage it did to Kisa was incredible, and the girl lay on the ground, coughing out blood. "You aren't really worthy to fight me, little girl. Know your place." the girl panted heavily as she stared up at him and sent another wave of healing energy out, this time to Dante as well as herself. They needed it so badly.

"I don't... care..." Kisa whispered. "I'll beat you, no matter what it takes!" Neo-Nihil flashed again as it spun through the air and stabbed deep into the Fallen Angel's chest before vanishing and reappearing in her hand. He regarded the wound with distaste as he looked up again. "Then here is another present for you. High King!" Energy lanced out of his hands again, every bolt as strong as her most powerful, most amplified Freikugel. Once, twice, three times the rays plunged into the girl's body, ripping apart flesh and bone like the fragile things they were. The body that had endured the rage of gods, that had fought his greatest minions, that had gone through every ordeal was being broken by this last opponent's will. And he wasn't even sweating yet. Another burst of healing swept into her body. "Is that all you are going to do, girl? Heal?"

"Hey, now, don't be forgetting about me!" Rebellion lanced upwards, severing one of the Fallen Angel's wings, and he bellowed in anger and pain as Dante flipped over his back and landed in front of him, then shrugged. "I got a job to protect the little lady here, so I can't very well have you getting rid of her." The Fallen Angel's face twisted in irritation, and his body suddenly blurred as he dashed across the battlefield, striking each of his enemies not once, not twice, not even three times, but eight times each with the power of his War in Hell. Dark tendrils shot out a moment later and plunged into their bodies, ripping away nearly all of what little life they had left. "Guh!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The ground cracked open beneath Kisa's feet, and an apocalypse of energy erupted out of it. Her most powerful skill, the Gaea Rage, charged and amplified and even, as luck would have it, powerful enough to strike critically, and the Fallen Angel sank down to one knee. Once upon a time, even that wouldn't have been enough to really injure him, so great was the difference in their power. But she had overcome the trial he had arranged. Defeating his Fiends, trashing the enemies in her way, annihilating angels and demons and deities alike, and in doing so, her power had grown.

But not quite enough.

"That is... enough." Louis Cypher said. And into the field crashed his Armageddon. When the smoke and dust cleared, which actually took a little while, the bodies of the two attackers were lying on the ground, unconscious. The form of the Fallen Angel faded, replaced by that of a young man with blonde hair as he strode forward, then picked up the body of the Demi-Fiend he had created. "You never had any hope of defeating me. And your dream of ever more power... perhaps there is hope for you yet. Return to me, Kisa, when you have acquired true power... and out of respect for what you have gained so far, I will let you have the chance to get that strength."

There was no sense in using distance to calculate the way the message went. Distance was a product of the universe, and this message could travel infinitely far and be no closer to its destination. Perhaps 'sideways' was the best term for what occured, as entire universes were crossed in an instant. Where darkness had fallen across Japan, and an army of demons marched, things ground to a halt. Not instantly, not with the forces that had been sent, but... eventually. Here and there were armies that had grouped together, with their many powers, striving to hold back the uncountable hordes of their enemies. Yet for all their strength, they had been slowly pushed back by the march of Chaos. But the order from above had come down. Their Generals were gone, and their Leader had called for them to return. By ones, then twos, then tens and twenties, the demons vanished from the world, and the fighting came to a halt.

Kisa had not won the fight. With an experienced one beside her, she had gone to challenge the master behind the forces cutting through Japan, hoping that his defeat would send his forces into disarray. This outcome did not occur. Yet at the whims of Chaos, Japan had been spared... for now. And back to her world was cast the body of a Demi-Fiend, her ally beside her. Injured, but alive, with a faint laughter echoing in their ears...

And deep in the shadows, a Trickster smiled.

The Curry Fairy

A black haired individual sighed as he browsed through the food in the grocery section of Junes, the Kirijo Dormitory was running short on food, and Toru and the others kept mentioning about something to eat. So of course without thinking Allen volunteered to bring some food and cook instead of some take-out. There was only one problem.
He wasn't that experienced with the names of different foods.
"Are you sure you don't need any help Allen-kun?" asked Mikuzaki before he had taken his leave to Junes, 'Yeah I'm fine.'
Ellen suddenly slid over to Allen in her socks with a list of... stuff.
'Okay then, just bring this stuff and make some curry.'
'Uh-huh.'
...
That was such a stupid idea.
All of the things on Ellen's grocery list all sounded so exotic and otherworldy and...dangerous. He had no idea if he was looking for spices or fruit or meat or friggen aliens! But he couldn't just leave Junes empty handed and look like an idiot, but then again he couldn't just bring some random ingredients and accidentally poison the SEES-2 team with horrible cooking. They put their trust in him! But then he would put that trust to waste. God dammit.

Meanwhile at The SEES-2 head quarters
'Miku! Come here this is an emergency!'
The brown haired girl rushed over to Ellen who was in the kitchen to see what the problem was, and gasped. Ellen had sent the wrong list to Allen! Instead he gave him a seperate list of dangerous chemicals that would really damage one's internal organs if they were to consume.
'OH MY GOD MIKUZAKI WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WHAT ARE GOING TO DO?!' In panic she started shaking Mikuzaki's shoulders as she tried to pull away from Ellen's grip or at least calm the mad woman down,
'E-Ellen just relax we can just call Allen!'
'Oh, right.' The raven haired girl immediantly released her grip off of Mikuzaki with an apologetic bow of her head. Miku proceeded to pull out her cellphone to dial Allen, and a ringtone suddenly went off that was located right from the couch. 'I'll get it.' Said Ellen as she went to answer the ringing cell phone.
'Hello?'
'Oh, hi Ellen.'
'Hello Miku.'
'Okay bye.
'Bye-bye.'
The girls closed their phones and simply stated to one another in unison.
'We're screwed.'

Back at Junes, Allen lamented at his horrible knowledge of food, but suddenly he heard an odd voice singing a song right next to him that wasn't so far away,
'Everything is for the love of turmeric!
Mexican Mexican Jalapeno!~'
The eyepatched junior turned his head to face a rather dangerous looking man, but he couldn't put his finger on where he had seen him before. All that he knew was that he had fought along with him a while ago... and he was strong? Allen furrowed his eyebrows as he listened intently to his singing, they sounded like ingredients for a recipe or something...
'Don't wanna cry, Cinnamon, Cardamom
It'd no use, Paprika!'
Green green Corianders~'
The Embryon General didn't seem to notice the amount of attention he was getting as people turned around to look at him rather strangely, but to Allen he was getting the odd song stuck in his head as he continued to sing the song as he picked out ingredients from the shelves.
'Confusing Saffron
A little bit of Chocolate!
Followed by Garam Masala!'
But if there is tommorow, Cinnamon, Cardamom
Tasty Curry is served!'
Allen blinked as the man finished his song, looking back at his list to observe the ingredients that he decided he would replace with the sung recipe, 'I see. So those were all spices for curry.' murmured the junior to himself as he browsed through the shelves looking for the said ingredients, as the mysterious man was fighting off a band of security guards that were trying to kick him out of the store due to several complaints. 'That big guy... he must have been the curry fairy!'

As Mikuzaki and Ellen sat at the table trying to discuss the best way to bring the horible news to Allen (as his self confidence was running a bit too low) they immediently looked towards the door as they heard it open, and prepared for Allen's outbreak of deppression, but to their suprise he was singing a song with a pleased look on his face. Walking over to the table with grocery bags held in his hand he began to take out the ingredients by name.
'Everything is for the love of turmeric...
Mexican Mexican Jalapeno.'
Ellen and Mikuzaki exchanged looks of surprise as Allen continued to take out the ingredients along with his song.
'Don't wanna cry, Cinnamon, Cardamom
It'd no use, Paprika.
Green green Corianders.~
Confusing Saffron
A little bit of Chocolate.
Followed by Garam Masala.
But if there is tommorow, Cinnamon, Cardamom
Tasty Curry is served~.'
'Hey... Al-kun, how did you know which spices to bring?' Questioned Ellen in bewilderment. 'I was visited by the Curry Fairy.' Responded Allen almost immediantly and simply. 'Wh-what?' Allen answered Mikuzaki's question with a shrug as he brought the ingredients over to the kitchen to cook the curry, both Ellen and Mikuzaki were left in confusion trying to determine what the hell Allen was talking about.

The available SEES-2 members who currently weren't busy came down to the amazing smell of food, especially Toru. And to their delight, they saw that Allen cooked some curry to make up for the low amount of food they had for the past week. When everyone had their curry served, they all dug in the food with delight. 'Whoa Allen, this curry tastes fricken awesome!' chimed Ellen as she continued to wolf down the food. Everyone agreed and enjoyed their meal, not paying attention to the news that was coming from the tv that sounded quite a bit alarming.
'Earlier this afternoon three security guards have been seriously injured by a sword wielding madman, witnesses say that he was causing trouble in the grocery section of Junes, casualties include...'

Quote:

The SEES-2 sends their thanks to Naniyori, the Curry fairy!~

Dyshana quietly sat inside of the main base of the Yatagarasu. She seemed almost statue-like, truthfully, except for the occasional twitch of a finger that moved a page in her book. Unaussprechlichen Kulten, best translated something like 'Unpronounceable Cults', was one of six grimoires that had been penned for the recent sealing inside of the Confinement Chambers. Writing any such book was quite a feat in and of itself, of course; a grimoire was not a book in the normal sense, but a tome infused with magics, rituals, and often power of the darkest degree. Which probably explained why most of them were locked up within the Chambers; they were extremely dangerous tools, but... they did have the benefit of being mostly harmless as long as nothing was going on around them. Open them to read, or put them in as part of a ritual, and things could go very wrong if you didn't know what you were doing. They weren't self-aware, however, and the majority could easily be stored and largely forgotten, since they weren't active threats. Mostly.

Of course, five of the six such tomes penned for the sealing had... not been entirely normal, as each had been written to do things in a different way. Illusions, barriers, seals... magical formations of mind-boggling complexity needed to hold onto just a tiny sliver of the power they wanted sealed. Any one of them would have earned the author employment for life, but all five had been written by the same individual, a fact not at all obvious by reading them because each was so different from the others. Those, however, were just seals. It was the book she currently held that truly concerned her. Dyshana flipped another page, quietly looking over the dense, complex magical patterns that filled the pages. They were the sort of thing that would give most people a headache just trying to figure out where to begin, but the odd woman merely nodded slightly. This book was unlike the other Grimoires in both type and degree; rather than a sealing fueled by the life of a demon, it was a Grimoire of banishing. The restrictions upon it were legion, of course. The first hundred pages had been a set of enchanted instructions that set things up so Unaussprechlichen Kulten wouldn't even activate at all unless all five of the other books had already been used, since they were designed to activate as a set. This was something that Dyshana rather approved of; you couldn't be too careful when dealing with such power as this book provided. But it was the rest of the book, the part that actually did something, that mattered.

[Rejection of Existence]. The hundreds of self-running rituals within Unaussprechlichen Kulten created what was, in effect, an artificial deity. Rather than a soldier, however, this false deity had one purpose, and one purpose only... to completely deny the reality of something, preventing it from being inside of the universe in any way. Something touched by its power simply ceased to exist. It was a power that violated all the laws of the universe, surpassed reason and sense, and went beyond what most people could even begin to comprehend. It wasn't particularly reversible, either; even if all five secondary seals were broken, anything else in the area would be subject to the power of the Nameless One if it got too close and likewise wiped out of the universe itself for as long as the barrier held. And, Dyshana had to admit, it was probable that the barrier would hold pretty much forever. With the secondary seals in place, it was inaccessible by any method, because it simply wasn't there to be accessed. Destroying the secondary level of seals would trigger the appearance of the primary level, and anything trying to get to the unlocking part of it would first have to get through the rejection barrier. There was, in the end, exactly one way to turn the thing off... but they didn't intend to ever do that. The author could probably rewrite the seventh tome from memory, but that was the only way the seal would ever break... since Dyshana had burned the only physical copy shortly after receiving it.

The woman's lips tightened slightly as she continued to read through the magic formulas that had been written into the book. Unaussprechlichen Kulten was an artifact of the highest order, and even looking at it from a distance wasn't tolerated for anyone without permission from someone. Someone like her. Dyshana quietly shut the book and slid it back onto the shelf, where various mechanisms pulled it somewhere safe. That was power beyond what humans could do. Power, in fact, beyond what most deities could manage. She reached out with one finger and touched an intercom button. "The girl who made today's ritual has grown up enough. Bring her in; it's time to start her full training. She has too much potential to allow us to squander it when we can use her to help fight back." And the fifth-highest-ranking individual in the Yatagarasu, a position she'd held for over four hundred years, quietly settled back in her chair, thinking.