Devil Arms - Mission 1: The 32nd Night

[Toastburner B]

”My honored brethren
We come together
To unite as one
Against those who are damned
We show no mercy
For we have none
Our enemy shall fall
As we rise up
To claim our fate
Now and forever.”
- Shall Never Surrender (Devil May Cry 4 Soundtrack)

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Saint Catherine’s Private School for Young Women was a normal enough place, without much of a history.

Until about 4 weeks ago. That was when the first disappearance happened.

At first, it didn’t seem like that big of deal. After all, the daughters of well-to-do parents often get it into their heads to go on impromptu “vacations”, often without informing the school or their parents, until their minders can get them back to the school.

It wasn’t until the second student vanished three days later than things looked odd.

When the third vanished 3 days after that, with no trace of the other two missing girls, that people began to worry.

When the fourth girl vanished on the 12th day, the headmaster of the school hired a private investigator to look into things, and a few extra security guards. However, instead of improving the situation, it seemingly only made things worst. For the next week, one girl vanished every night.

On the 8th day of his investigation, the morning after the 11th girl had vanished, the PI entered the headmaster’s office, threw half the money he had been paid on the desk, along with a phone number. The PI then said that what was going on at the school was outside his area of expertise and his pay grade, and advised the headmaster call the number he had given him, and to ask for a Mr. Johansen, and that Johansen would be able to get him in touch with someone who would be able to deal with the problem.

Three days and three more disappearances later, a new student-teacher and a new security appeared on the campus of St. Catherine’s. The night of their arrival was the first night in over a week that there wasn’t a disappearance. In fact, for almost a week, there were no disappearances.

Until the 30th night after the first disappearance. And the 31st night.

The headmaster called in the two he hired, furious that his charges were vanishing once more. The two assured him that, one way or another, things would come to an end tonight…the 32nd night. When the headmaster asked what they meant by “one way or another”, the two replied that if was alive the next day, it was nothing to worry about.

Needless to say, the 32nd night wasn’t a very pleasant one…

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St. Catherine’s had a very interesting building design, built more like a European castle than a private school built in the American west. The main building was a large square, with a hallow middle, allowing for a grassy commons/sports area. The main building was very large, with eight floors, not counting the “towers” at each corner, which reached up to eleven stories high, and served as the dorm areas for the girls. So, in theory, it would be easy for the handful of teachers and security personnel to keep an eye on the students as, they were safe and secure in an area of the school that had only one or two entrances.

In theory being the key phrase. After all, the first thing the older students teach the newbies is how to sneak out of the dorms at night.

So it wasn’t too surprising for the new student-teacher to find a group of girls sneaking around.

What was surprising was their excuse.

“I’m sorry?” the student-teacher asked.

“Lizzy Piper opened the door and peeked inside our room,” one of the older girls explained. “We all recognized her…I’ve know her for years.”

“Lizzy is one of the missing girls?” the student-teacher asked.

“She was the fifth one to vanish,” another one of the girls confirmed.

The teacher nodded. “Did you see which way she went?” she asked.

From the chorus of conflicting answers, the teacher got her answer: they didn’t.

“Alright, I’ll call security and look around for her, but its not safe out here. Now you girls go back to your dor-“
“Look! It’s her!” one of the girls yelled.

The teacher turned around, and swallowed hard. The one figure of was joined by nine others…all appeared to be the lost girls. But something was wrong…the way they carried themselves, the dull, wooden sound that was made when they took a step…

…the large bladed weapons they carried in their hands…

“Girls, run! Make for the teacher’s lounge!” the teacher yelled. The students did, screaming, the teacher close behind, and the echoing of wood on title signaling that their pursuers weren’t too far away. The teacher pulled a radio from her pocket. “Brett! Brett, 3rd floor, west wing! Yeah, I know we already checked these floors, but they must be coming from below! Just get down here! We’re heading for the teacher’s lounge, that’s where I stashed Hydra!”

The teacher put away the radio, and pulled out a handgun. The gunshots echoed like thunder in the empty hallways, but seemed to have little effect on the figures chasing them. “I knew I should have packed a shotty,” the teacher mumbled to herself. Finally, the students ran into the teacher lounge, and the woman slammed the door behind her, and quickly threw what furniture she could against the door. She reloaded the pistol as she dashed over to one of the large teacher lockers, and quickly began to enter the combination as the sound of splintering wood filled the room. “Miss Harkin,” one of the girls wailed, “What are we going to do?”

Emily Harkin opened her locker, and shot the girls a reassuring smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said as she pulled a large object covered in cloth out of her locker, “I was actually hired to handle this. Well…me and my brother.”

The blades wielding by the things outside were making short work of the door. Emily strapped the object to her back, and pulled off the cloth, revealing something like a shield, with eight dragon heads spaced evenly around the outside.

“You girls stay behind me,” Emily said, standing between them and the door. The door buckled, ready to give. “And don’t look…”

Emily reached back, and pulled on two the dragon’s heads. The separated from the shield, attached by a chain, and a blade extended from their mouths. The other six heads separated from the shield as well…but seemingly by their own volition…

The door shattered, and two of the “missing students” dived into the room. In the light of the teacher’s lounge, it was clear that they weren’t human…they were finely carved puppets, seemingly crafted to look like the taken girls.

The two puppets didn’t last long, however. Each was transfixed by three floating blades, and flung harshly out of the room. Emily ran out after them, parrying and countering against the awkwardly moving puppets with skill imbued by years of experience. While she used the two blades in her hands for defense, the six free-floating blades struck again and again, dismantling the wooden bodies. It was over in minutes.

The school girls looked on in horror. After all, it’s not very often you see a substitute teacher lay waste to human-sized, knife-wielding, animated puppets with a bunch of flying daggers.

More footsteps came down the hallway. But instead of a puppet, a security guard appeared. “Em! You okay?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah…just puppets, and pretty weak ones at that. What ever is controlling isn’t too strong, thank goodness. We should be able to polish this off pretty easy.

The guard nodded, and looked in the direction of the school girls. “New fan club?”

“Wrong place, wrong time. You came past the north-east dorms?”

“Yep, it’s clear.”

Emily turned to the girls. “Get back to your dorm, and lock and barricade the door. I’ll be back to tell you when its safe to come out. Hurry.”

As the girls ran past, Emily turned towards her brother. “So…the basement?”

Brett Thomas nodded, pulling Laccolith from its sheath. “Must be. I started at the bottom was moving up, and didn’t come across a single one of these things. So they must be coming from the basement. And speaking of which, I’d say you got their attention,” he said, pointing down the hallway with Laccolith. More puppets appeared at the edge of the light, carved with the same faces as the ones Emily had just destroyed. “And I don’t think they like you.”

“Well…that’s a shame.” She muttered, preparing to meet the next wave.

The puppets tensed, and leapt to the attack.

((OOC:

For those who didn't check the sign-up thread, here are the people who made the list to participate in this RP:

Thomas Reese (Hawk)
Yukari Shimizu (PhoenixFlame)
Lazarus (Arcanum Darkfire)
Vespa Adea (Arhra)
Krista Hestin (Mauve Mage)
David Tiydel (Steel Shadow)
Aaron Gravely (lazy man)
Bryce Dunnsen (Gir)
Raphael (Krylo)
Vincent Salvatine (Inbred Chocobo)


Okay, so obviously enough, this takes place at St. Catherine’s. It’s up to you to decide how you got in on this…maybe one of the parents hired you, maybe one of the staff, maybe you just sniffed out the job on your own.

The only foes at the moment are the puppets: weak monsters carrying blades that range from knives to machetes. All of them are carved to look like one of the missing girls. However, for experienced devil hunters, these should be relatively easy to dispatch.

Go ahead and make your entrances.))

[Krylo]

Raphael knelt before a great cross in the school's chapel, the doors open, when the shadow fell over him. It was in the shape of a girl, and he could see in the shadow's hand, something large and dangerous. She said nothing and the priest moved his eyes up to look at the communion chalice, using its reflection to look on the girl. He could see the dangerous blade in her hand as she stepped over the threshold of the chapel.

As her wooden foot came down, Raphael's voice echoed throughout the small chapel, a slight irish accent marking his words:

"The lord is my shephard. I shall not want."

His hands moved into his vestments, feeling the grip of his guns as the girl took another step, and two more marrionettes moved into the doorway.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."

He tilted his guns, never drawing them but aiming them behind him, through his vestments, and, as he finished the sentence two gunshots rang out in unison, the bullets tearing directly through the wood of first puppet's ankle. There was the sound of splintering wood, and then she fell.

"He leadeth me beside still waters."

Raphael released the guns, still hanging on their holsters within their holsters and began to walk toward the altar as the puppet who had fallen clawed her way foward, and the number in the doorway grew.

"He restoreth my soul."

He reached onto the altar, laying a hand on the end of a chain which lay there. The metallic object immediately sprang to life, wrapping itself about his arms and body as the dolls in the door charged forward, one of them leaping toward him.

"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake."

The chain brightened with a terrible heat, and struck out as though of its own accord from the priests outstretched hand, cracking through the wooden doll's body, sending burning splinters of wood across the floor of the chapel, and igniting the ceremonial carpet.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,"

He turned, the chain lancing forward, from each of his hands, cracking through the next two closest doll's, boring through their torsos and lighting them aflame.

"I will fear no evil,"

Two more dolls moved close, preparing to strike at the priest, as his chains lifted in the air behind the burning dolls.

"For thou art with me;"

The chains plunged down, wrapping around the body the doll with the broken leg, as Raphael dropped into a crouch, narrowly avoiding the blades the creatures had swung at his torso and head, meaning to cut him apart.

"Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

Raphael tugged at the chains, stepping backwards into the doll on his right, bringing his shoulder into it, and knocking it momentarily off balance as he spun to the left, shortening his chains as he did so. The three burning dolls swung around, one of the three dolls smashing into the creature on his left--its flame weakened body shattering apart and igniting the attacking creature as well as shattering its arm and knocking it away.

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;"

Raphael continued to spin, as he stood and stepped back from the doll that was on his left, another of the entangled dolls smashing into it with similar effects.

"Thou annointest my head with oil;"

As Raphael finished his spin, once more facing toward the doors of the chapel he released his hold on the last of his entangled dolls--allowing it to fly into its companions in the door way, shattering some and starting the rest on fire.

"My cup runneth over."

His chains wound themselves back around his arms with a mind of their own.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever."

Raphael finished the Lord's Prayer as he walked amongst the burning dolls, and left the chapel in flames.

"Now where did they come from..." he asked out loud as he looked first left, and then right, down the hallway.

Then he heard the report of gunfire coming from the direction of the teacher's lounge. He turned and followed the sounds of battle.

[PhoenixFlame]

It is human nature to fear the unknown. It is affirming to one's humanity to seek out and destroy those who are inhuman, those who would seek to destroy your body and soul. It is then a grim fact then, that not all of humanity are entirely human, nor are they intrinsically better than the monsters they fear.

It mattered not. Conclusions could not be reached in such an external way.

Word spread in names, calling cards, numbers, satisified customers and random tabloids. These are things that the normal woman does not consider as anything beyond fantasy fiction, until of course, her daughter is endangered by such conspiracies.

Yukari didn't exploit her like another 'professional' might have. Her work was but a small part of a larger game, and any lives she saved in this way were as valuable as the money that came with it.

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Yukari entered the school dressed in the same uniforms of the girls whom studied here. Perhaps she was not the right age, or the right build or ethnicity, but it would be disguise enough for the night. Reports indicated the girls were abducted at night, and Yukari began her search at the dorm towers.

Along the way, she admired the architecture. Ancient european; the design encouraged decoratives, statues, and pillars all while maintaining a generally strict geometric layout. As she entered the first floor of one of the towers, the outlay was obviously octagonal, outside of which rose a spiral staircase to the girl's rooms. Yet, as Yukari stepped into the room, she felt something was off about the whole arrangement. In the darkness, she could see little, yet a telltale clicking of what might be as benign as a grandfather clock, pierced the silence in an exceptional manner.

*Click... Click*

A cloud had parted outside, and moonlight shown through the second floor window to the floor, illuminating Yukari and the eight pillars between which she stood. From behind each one walked a similarly dressed girl, awkward in their movements and bearing weapons far crueler appearing than their hunter.

Yukari stood motionless, hands at her side, legs apart and taking no stance. Given the type of her opponent and that they had surrounded her, she expected at least six seconds before they struck. A common hunter would panic at an ambush, act immediately, relying on reflexes superior to the speed of his mind. It could work... Yet Yukari understood that one can only act as quickly as one can think.

Each doll took a step forward towards her in unison, raising their weapons. Yukari's head dipped low, and right beneath her feet, her eyes met the unmistakable face of a compass tile, set in the center of a floor arrangement as a decorative flair. With this, she had everything she needed.

*Fshik!* With a flick of her wrists, Yukari summoned Kamikaze to her hands, hidden beneath the longer sleeves of the school's uniform. In a single fluid motion she unfolded the fans, twisted her torso and fell to one knee.

One, two, one, two. Four practiced motions covered eight directions... Once. Splintered legs resounded through the silent hall in time with howls of equalising pressure. Yukari worked her way up, chaining each bidirectional motion into the next one clockwise the last. Never once did she look at her staggering, buffeted opponents, as they were unable to fight their damaged limbs and scatter their formation quickly enough for her kata to become invalid.

*Shing!* Ending crisply with right fan overhead, all nine combatants remained still. Three seconds passed, and Yukari discerned no movement from the dolls. Spinning Kamikaze around each hand and sliding the weapons closed, she assumed an at-ease posture as each of the eight dolls crumbled, torsos seperated from each limb.

"She went and hanged herself." Yukari whispered, drawing her camera and snapping a picture of the destroyed demonspawn.

"And then there were none."

Scattered gunshots rang from different parts of the school, signifying to Yukari that she, nor her quarry, were quite so alone. Resolving to find more information, she exits the tower in search of the gunfire nearest the courtyard.

[Steel Shadow]

Demon hunting is a funny thing. You can leave the game, but you can never leave the world.

It took Drasco four days to track David down. The boy had never been fond of staying in one place for to long. When he found him it was in a Northern town, taking care of some nameless demon which had been causing problems for the locals. Not a particularly interesting job, but it paid the bills.

Their conversation was brief. Neither one of them was any good with small talk or general pleasantries, and the fact that it was held over the phone was hardly conductive to things either. But David got the gist. There were suspicious signs at St. Catherine’s, disappearances. Drasco suspected demons.

It was David's respect for the man that made him take the job, really. Disappearances weren't all that unusual, and there really wasn't that much evidence of demonic activity. But Drasco was certain, and the old man had always had good instincts.

Which was why David now found himself sitting on the schools outer wall, out on his seventh night of patrol, holding his jacket closed against the cold and complaining loudly into his mobile phone.

“Look, Old man, there hasn't been a single sign of anything unusual all week. The disappearances have stopped, I am cold and hungry, and there is no pay check in sight. Can you give me any reason at all to stick around instead of, I don't know, finding an actual job to do?”

Drasco's voice was a raspy as ever. “David there is something happening at that school. I'm certain of it. And the disappearances haven't stopped, there were more these past two nights. If you would actually take this seriously for five minuets, perhaps we could prevent there being any more tonight!”

“Kids sneak out all the time Old man! Just because a few haven't made it back does not mean this is a demon feasting ground! I mean for gods sake, do you know how much trouble I could get into if anyone caught me scouting around out here in the middle of the night with two loaded pistols? Why are you getting so concerned over this?” David lowered his voice as a man wearing a security vest walked by on ground level, hugging to the shadows.

“Look, David, I know you have your doubts, but trust me when I say there is something going on in there. You know I'd investigate myself if I could.”

“Yeah, well-” David began

Bang

David's head shot up, eyes darting around to locate the source of the noise. It wasn't hard. A window on the third floor shone for a flicker of an instant.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“David?” Drasco's voice crackled with concern. It wasn't like the boy to cut off in the middle of a complaint without a reason.

The boy in question didn't remove his eyes from the window as he spoke. “Gunfire. Third floor corridor, I think. Something's up.”

“I see. Security must have engaged the thing. You have to get in there, there's no way ordinary humans will be prepared to deal with this!” Though his tone was serious, David could defiantly make out a hint of smugness in his mentors voice.

“I don't know. Maybe they're just really strict about the curfew here.”

“David!” He winced as Drasco yelled down the phone lines. Apparently his joke had fallen flat.

“Alright, alright, I'm going in. I'll contact you later when I'm done.” He muttered, dropping down from the wall and landing lightly on his feet.

“Thank you. And David... be careful. Try not to get caught up like you always do.”

“No promises.” He snapped the phone shut and slipped it back into his pocket. “Now let's see...”

He peered upwards, searching the building for an outcropping or a hand hold of some kind. The poor light didn't make it easy, but it wasn't to long before he spotted a gargoyle hanging out high above. He grinned and raised his gauntlet covered hand towards it.

“Well then Tonare, let's get to work. Lightning chain!” He whispered. The gauntlet glowed for a second in compliance, and then a chain of light shot of of it's palm, flying up into the darkness and looping around the gargoyle before knotting around itself and pulling tight. David gave the chain a few testing tugs before nodding in satisfaction. Then, glancing around to make sure he hadn't been spotted yet (that always made things complicated), he lifted one leg and planted it firmly on the wall, hanging onto the chain tightly. Quickly he began to pull the chain back in, and in turn hoisted himself up further, smoothly walking up the stone wall. It wasn't long before he'd reached the third floor.

A glance in the nearest widow showed a deserted classroom. No sign of whoever had fired those shots, or any demon. Good. Neither group would take kindly to him showing up out of the blue like this. He reached for his belt with his free hand, drawing a pistol. He spun it round, grasping it by the barrel and smashing through the glass window with the handle. Slipping the gun back onto his belt, he reached inside and let the lock loose.

He let the chain disperse itself as he climbed down from the widow sill, redrawing the pistol and clicking the safety off. Now that he was inside he could hear the sounds of a fight, muffled by distance and walls. Whatever was going on, it sounded violent. Maybe this would be worth it after all. He hurried towards the source of the noise.

Whilst the classroom had been dark, David found the halls were still well lit despite the hour. 'Must be for the teachers to patrol around.' Despite the light, the place still sent a small chill down David's spine. Maybe it was the odd silence, apart from the sounds of battle not far off. Or maybe it was the oddly moving figure standing in the nearby doorway.

He slid to a stop, peering into the shadows. It looked like an ordinary student, but you never survived as a demon hunter if you took everything at first glance. And there was something.. off about her.

“Who's there?” He asked, sliding into a battle ready stance. He kept his eyes locked onto the girl. She didn't move, seemingly just staring at him. Fortunately he also had ears.

At the first sound he spun around, finding another girl charging at him, a nasty looking blade drawn. In the light he could clearly see her finely carved features as she bore down on him. At least he could before he fired his pistol, and her features became splinters. He fired again, blasting he body back down the hall, before spinning back around to face the girl in the doorway. Except she wasn't in the doorway anymore.

He stepped back, dodging her sword as she swiped at him, and dashed forwards past her guard before she could recover. He raised his sparking devil arm, ripping it through the puppets arms before continuing through her wooden body. Her blade felt to the floor with a clatter as her body collapsed.

David looked around, not spotting any more. The sounds of the fight ahead were closer now to. He grinned.

“Alright, so there are demons.” He muttered, rolling his eyes. Drasco would never let him hear the end of this.

And with that, and one last quick check to see if there were any more behind him, David continued on his way towards the teachers lounge.

[lazy man]

Aaron walked out of the dining hall, not expecting to find anything after just getting on the scene. He had gotten into the school through the back, getting in through the kitchen area and starting his hunt through the surrounding area.

Aaron himself had been hired recently by the parents of one of the recently disappeared students who went to the school. While the sum was enough to attract his attention from the start, he knew he didn't have long to try and sneak around the school to find clues. He had been here the past couple nights, scouting out the school and attempting to get to know the hallways just in case something happened.

Walking around some more of the hallways, Aaron found himself getting that familiar feeling of being followed. He never liked that feeling in this business, but he played along with it for now. Heading towards one of the towers that stuck out at the corners of the "castle", he started searching for anything that might have resembled anything like a clue.

*BLAM, BLAM, BLAM*

The sounds of gunshots echoing through the school's halls could have only meant that someone else was getting their fair share of action. And if that was the case, Aaron would only have to follow the sounds of the action to track down the potential source of the disappearances.

Changing directions in a way that may have led him toward the gunshots, Aaron finally caught a glimpse of the thing following him. It looked like a girl, moving slowly through the halls. But Aaron's eyes caught the odd, wooden movements, the carved out face, the blades in its hands. A puppet.

Pulling out the sawed off shotgun on his left hip, Aaron quickly aimed and fired using his left hand. The puppet had large chunks blown out of it with the buckshot, but kept on coming toward the devil hunter in a bad attempt to try and kill him with its simple blades. A quick reload later and the puppet was motionless, and in pieces, on the ground. The two roars of the shotgun echoed through the school like a whole other monster unlike the simple handguns.

"Now where'd you come from," Aaron muttered, going backwards to where he knew he was being followed. "And obviously you couldn't be alone."

Not long after he said that, two more of the puppets came from another hallway. Whether they were following the first one or not, Aaron didn't know, but he wouldn't be able to just use a shotgun on these without wasting too much ammo.

"Hmph, time to do my thing," Aaron said to no one in particular.

Without pause, Aaron's black gauntleted arm sprang to life, changing shapes into a thick, flat shield that was attached to his arm by some sort of band. The glowing blue eyes of the shield didn't give much illumination to Aaron's surroundings, but it gave a good view of the shield as teeth, razor sharp and silver in color, burst from the sides of the shield and began to quiver, quiver... and then spin around the shield at frightening speeds.

The soft whir of the blades going around the disk was traveling toward one of the puppets before the demonic things could even respond. The sound of wood going through a saw went through the halls as Grendel chewed through the shoulder of one puppet, its arm falling uselessly with a loud clunk to the floor.

With a quick, strong tug on the now-stretched band from Aaron, Grendel redirected toward the other puppet, biting through its torso with the greatest of ease. As the puppet fell to the floor in two pieces, Aaron twirled his arm around as Grendel came back to him. The Devil Arm went over and around the hunter and spiraled toward the one-armed puppet, biting into the stone wall briefly before sawing its way through the puppet's torso.

With both puppets down, Aaron ran down the hall he had seen them exit from. It probably wouldn't be long before he came to something that would point him in another direction, and hopefully towards the source of these things.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Outside the school, all was quiet. Or it was, until the distinctive sound of a motorbike engine became audible as Thomas Reese roared into town. He turned into St. Catherines carpark and pulled into a free space, flicked down the kickstand and turned off the engine. He had the look of a man who had been on the road for days, and indeed he had, having had it on good authority that the dissapearances going on here really were demon related.

For a moment he simply sat there, looking up at the school and flexing the cramp out of his hands as he decided on the best course of action to take now that he was here. It was late, but still enough time for at least a quick scout of the area before dawn. But then he saw a flash of light from one of the windows and heard the muffled thud that accompanied it. Gunshots, he realized. Seems I'm right on time then. He swung himself off his Harley and grabbed his sword and Ixion, readying himself for action and made for the main entrance. The door was large and looked pretty sturdy but he barely broke pace as he approached, unslinging his glaive from his right hip. No time for knocking, he thought to himself as he threw the weapon towards the obstruction with a practiced aim. Ixion wasn't to be impeded by a mere door though, as it sliced easily through the lock and threw the barricade wide open with a defeaning thud which probably woke everyone in the neighbourhood.

As Reese crossed the threshold he raised his hand and caught the returning blade, before pausing and listening as he caught more sounds of battle happening above. Whatever was going on it was happening upstairs and so that's where he needed to be. With Ixion in-hand he quickly found the nearest staircase and set off at a brisk pace to find the source of the disturbance.

[mauve]

Four puppets lurched down one of the school's winding hallways, mindlessly pushing onwards towards one of the classrooms. One of them, carved like a short brunette in glasses, stopped, its vaguely human sense of hearing noting something. Awkwardly it swiveled its head around.

Then it fell over as a streak of blue slammed into its chest. Spikes of ice erupted from its point, shattering off into one of the other puppets.

"Bah bah ba ba!" A figure dropped from the top of the staircase. She was.... singing. "Nevah thought I was a fooool for no-ooone!" She held out a hand, and the silver-blue trident returned to her grasp. "But oooh baby, I'm a fooool for yoooou!"

The puppets lurched towards their new target, swinging their bladed weapons.

"You are the queen of the suuuperficiaallll," she spun the trident deftly, seemingly unconcerned with the approaching puppets.

The puppets gained speed, and suddenly the human woman ran forwards, straight towards the group of puppets. Surprisingly fast for their awkward movements, the puppets thrust their arms forward in unison, putting all three of their bladed weapons directly into the human's path. She did not slow down.

"Ba ba ba ba," At the last minute she dropped to the ground, sliding under the blades and into the center of the group. She lay on her back as momentum failed, leaving her directly between the three puppets.

"Hey," she said, waving. The puppet changed direction and swung, and the woman raised her trident into the air. "Scylla?"


The trio flew backwards as a miniature tornado of ice particles erupted from the floor around the woman. She hopped to her feet and the whirlwind subsided.

"Ba ba ba ba. How long before you telll the truuuuuuth?" She hurled the trident at one fallen puppet, drawing a pair of handguns and targeting the remaining two. Gunshots rang down the hallways.


"Oooooooooooooohhhhhh, you set my soul aliiiight." One handgun returned to its holster, and the trident reappeared in the woman's hand. She continued down the hallway.

One of the puppets twitched. Spinning on her heel, the woman threw the trident in one swift movement. The puppet ceased moving.

"Thank you. I'm here all week," Krista said, giving a bow to the invisible audience.

[Arcanum]

Lazarus walked along the side of the road at a lazy pace while whistling a random tune. The chainmail within his coat clinked softly with each step and the occasional gust of wind. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his gaze shifted back and forth from watching his feet to watching the night night sky. While to any onlooker he may seem like somebody wandering about after hours, he actually had a purpose and a place to be. Yet it seemed like he was in no rush to get there. Farther down the road he could see the towers of St. Catherine's and he heard the faint, muffled thuds of what could be gunfire or a very solid door getting slammed against a very solid wall. He took note of the sounds but did nothing to quicken his pace.

He knew he wouldn't be the only one with this job, people panicked whenever there were children involved. It was more than likely that the parents of the victims or the parents of the surviving girls would ask desperately for help, even if it ment accepting something as absurd as demons. And so he kept walking at his leisurely pace. If he was lucky than maybe it would all be over without his help and he would still get paid. He doubted it was that simple, plus his contact normally knew when he did the job or someone else did. He didn't entirely trust the man, but he kept giving Lazarus good tips about jobs. On top of that he was suprisingly resourceful, especially considering his last tip.

----

Two weeks earlier...

Lazarus was hot on the trail of a demon that was supposidly "very familiar" according to his contact. He was given just the name of a town and the guarantee that he would recognize the demon on sight before the man walked out of the bar and seemingly disapeared. On the plus side, he was guaranteed good pay from the town once he arrived and explained himself to the mayor. So here he was, running through some cramped sewers that smelt worse than the bathroom at a mexican restaurant during bean burrito discount night.

This was around the point that Lazarus decided that either demons couldn't smell or just plain didn't care, because as he entered a slightly larger tunnel (he only had to lower his head instead of half-crouching) a trio of humanoid, fleshy demons faced him. It looked like they were made out of muscle and bile, and their arms looked more like blades made from meat.

"You guys," said Lazarus as he unsheathed Wrath, "are ugly as hell."

The demons responded by rushing forward, their meat-blade arms raised and ready to strike. Lazarus ducked under the lead demon's attack and slashed at it's legs. The creature stumbled and stopped it's fall with it's pointed arms, but then fell sideways as one of it's legs slid off with a sickening sound similar to a plunger in a clogged toilet. Meanwhile Lazarus blocked the second demon's strike and knocked it back with a kick to it's chest. He then crouched and slashed at the third demon, cutting it in half at the stomach.

The second demon regained it's balance and charged forward again, but Lazarus brought an end to it with a well placed stab to it's contorted face. A small amount of blood trickled out of the wound, but the bile that coated the demon's body quickly tried to cover the wound and the sword still inside it. With another kick Wrath was freed from it's slimey prison, and another stab finished off the final and legless demon.

"Alright, where's your master?" Lazarus asked the darkness. Lucky for him it had an answer, although not quite what he expected.

"You... I know you..." the darkness said, it's voice vaguely familiar. "I know your voice... I know your smell... I know the taste of your allies. Finally I can taste you too, devour you, devour your soul. Finally I'll avenge my brother!"

Then something clicked in Lazarus's mind and it all came crashing together. This demon was the same that accompanied Wrath all those years ago. This was the demon that swore revenge and disappeared into the night. Lazarus ran to the end of the tunnel and emerged into a much larger area where it seemed several tunnels converged into before heading down a much larger one.

In the center of the area stood a demon that was more stomach than anything else. It was basically a large bloated sac that rested on four stubby legs, each only two feet long and nearly a foot thick. The top of the sac formed into a bloated upper body that supported a large mouth and two black eyes that could be called a face. The demon's head was just a few feet short of touching the ten foot tall ceiling, and it's legs and lower stomach were concealed in the knee-deep sewage.

"I never expected Gluttony to survive so long on his own," a faint voice rasped in the back of Lazarus's mind. It always suprised him when Wrath decided to speak, especially since it was very rare to happen.

"Well he won't be alive much longer," Lazarus said.

"I've resigned to help you all those years ago," responded Wrath, the voice beginning to fade. "I won't go back on that now."

Lazarus nodded and readied Wrath with both hands and rushed through the sewage waters towards his bloated foe.

----

Lazarus snapped out of his reverie and looked down at his left arm. There were some fresh scars underneath his shirt sleeve from his battle with Gluttony, and he was lucky that he still had his arm. He managed to kill Gluttony that night, but the demon continued to spit threats and curses in it's death throes. It claimed that it had more siblings that would come after him, and that he would never betray his family like Wrath. After the battle Wrath confirmed that he did indeed have five other siblings, however he doubted any of them would form a vendetta against him.

Lazarus's footsteps stopped as he finally reached St. Catherine's. He looked up at the school and finished his whistled tune. He then looked at the door and saw that it was wide open and that the lock was busted, probably the work of one of the more care free hunters. He let out a sigh and walked up to the school. He knocked on the open door and stepped inside, looking up and down the entrance hall. He swung the door shut behind him and pulled Wrath out of it's sheath. He doubted the teachers or security would treat him any differently if his sword was sheathed or not.

"Alright, time to find some demons," he declared as he made his way the upper floors.

[Toastburner B]

“Hey,” Brett said, Laccolith burning cleanly through the last puppet in this particular wave, “do you hear that?”

“What?” Emily asked. “I thought I heard some gunshots a while back…”

“No,” Brett said, shaking his head. “I thought I heard some singing. That wasn’t weird part though…whoever was singing was singing Muse. I mean…Muse? In this setting?” He said, theatrically raising his arms to gesture at the darken hallways. “If anything, this calls for some Iron Maiden or something.”

“Well…I knew it was going to happen sooner or later…but I wasn’t expecting this to be the job to finally push you into the deep end.” Emily said dryly.

“Okay, fine.” Brett muttered. “Which way did you think the gunshots came from?”

“Over thataway,” Emily said, pointing south.

“Alright,” Brett said, “I’m pretty sure what I heard came from over that way,” he said, pointing north. “We’re going to have to spilt up anyways to cover this place. I’ll take the north and west hallways, you take the south and east hallways. Clear them out to the bottom floors. If any of these things get past us and into the dorms, it’s going to be bloody.”

“I’m impressed,” Emily said, “You came up with a plan all by yourself. And one that isn’t half bad. Alright, we’ll meet in the commons area, or call if you come across something odd…er…odder than everything else that’s going on.”

“10-4,” Brett said, throwing his sister a mock salute as she turned and walked away. He shook his head as he also turned. “Muse. You gotta be kidding me.”

Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t help himself, and he began to sing softly to himself, “I am the man who walks alone, when I’m walking a dark road…”

[Inbred Chocobo]

Vincent stumbled out of the room a little bleary eyed. His shirt was buttoned crookedly, his jacket was ruffled, and the belt that was suppose to hold up his pants wasn't even on yet. Of course, getting dressed with a gun in your hand would make that kind of hard.

Being hired by parents to watch the... "older" young women of the school, Vincent had been at their side making sure nothing was going to happen to them. He may have taken it a bit to literally, but now with wooden dolls with swords he can do what he was hired to do. Course, gunshots had awakened him up, and just as he found his pants a couple of dolls burst into the room. Vincent had already shot them, and on his way out told the girls in the room to barricade the door.

With a few careful shots, he knocked out a few more of the dolls that were around. Then Vincent went to work fixing his clothes, which was a much bigger crisis than the dolls and gunshots. Once he looked acceptable, he started down the hallway, being an idiot and instead heading towards gunshots rather than running away from them. Once in a while he saw a doll and shot it, but besides that nothing exciting.